What Does Colossians 1:17 Mean?

He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

Colossians 1:17(NASB)

Verse of the Day

The irreducible deity and eternality of Christ is often a stumbling block to the limited minds of men which gives rise to a plethora of false teachings and gnostic gospels. This results in esoteric, mystical confusion about the Person and Work of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God and perfect Son of Man.

And today as in the time of Paul the apostle, the false teachings that deny the eternal divinity, the supreme importance, and the preeminent position of Christ, is flooding Christendom with many alternative 'Christs'. But the hypostatic union of Christ's sinless humanity with His eternal, irreducible divinity in one individual Person, is a truth that threads its way throughout the Word of God.

For Jesus Christ is the Creator God Who was, and is, and is to come. He is outside of time and space and existed before the universe was created: "For by Him all things were made, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities, all things have been created through Him and for Him."

Jesus Christ alone can claim: "I Am that I Am" He uniquely can declare: "Before Abraham was, I Am." Only Christ can proclaim: "I Am the Way and the Truth and the Life; the Alpha and the Omega; the Author and the Finisher; the First and the Last; the Beginning and the End," for He alone "is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."

The irreducible deity and eternality of Christ is often a stumbling block to the limited minds of men, but by faith we understand Christ is the second Person of the eternal Trinity. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the Word of God, and by faith we understand that "the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we behold His glory by grace through faith in Him."

But we know that when Christ appears we shall see Him as He is, full of grace and truth, and on that day - we shall be like Him.

My Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word of truth and for revealing Christ to me through the Scriptures. Thank You that He set aside His eternal glory and came to dwell among us as a Man and identified with our sinfulness so that by faith, we could be forgiven of our sins and be identified with His righteousness. Thank You that in Him, I live, and move, and have my being, and that He holds all things together by the strength of His great and mighty power. Thank You that in Christ, I have been made a child of God, through time and into eternity. In Jesus' name, AMEN.

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