The Christ Hymn in Colossians: 1:11-20 (I)

"May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 1 9For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross."

I. Introduction

There is no Epistle passage more fitting for Christ the King Sunday than this one, the "Christ-hymn" from Colossians. On second thought, it might be interesting to play this passage off against another early Christological statement--Phil. 2:5-11, where Christ is portrayed as the humble one, who empties himself of all prerogatives. Christ the one in whom all things "hold together" (Col. 1:17); and Christ the one who "humbled himself" to an ignominious death (Phil. 2) make for a rich contrast.

The passage for today is one example of early Christian hymnody, wherein confessions of Christ are made in rhythmic patterns. Early Christian preaching in Acts 2 and 3, hymns in Phil. 2, confessions in I Tim. and other places show us that faith was first sung before it became the subject of theological speculation. Hymns arose out of communal need, out of the weekly requirement (not unlike our weekly lectionary reading and preaching!) to have the message of Christ in a memorable and powerful form each week. Thus, even though we use the Col. 1 text for a "doctrinal" Sunday (Christ the King Sunday was inaugurated in 1925 by Pope Pius XI in order to "stand against" the erosive capacities of modern secularism), we see it as something that emerges out of the sung faith or confessed faith of the earliest Church.

As we look more closely at the text for today, we see that the Christ hymn is embedded in a text where Paul exhorts the community of faith to gratitude and thanksgiving. Once the importance of gratitude is shown, the celebration of Christ's lordship over all creation follows quickly. That Christ hymn, then, can be divided into two major parts or "stanzas," as it begins with the same Greek words in v. 15 and v. 18b. Thus, in this exposition, I will focus on three things: (1) the community's faith; (2) Christ the first-born of all creation; (3) Christ the first-born from the dead.

II. Gratitude, the Foundation of Faith (11-14)

The language of these four verses is incredibly rich, drawing as it does on the familiar words of early Christian writing as well as words from military contexts. The hinge between vv. 11 and 12 is the little phrase "with joy." Most scholars argue that these words "look forward" to v. 12, but I think a good case can be made for "with joy" connecting both to v. 11 and v. 12. The thought then would be that the congregation experiences the patience of faith with joy and that thanksgiving is also given "with joy." Joy, then, is a sort of "Janus-headed" concept, a door that swings both ways, one that looks to our situation and to God's action; to the realities of patient endurance and divine blessing.

But a word needs to be said about the words of this section. Eduard Lohse, in his commentary on Colossians, is especially aware of these linguistic wonders. First we have the phrase "strong with all strength" (v.11). Standing behind it are two Greek words that are cognates of each other. Literally they are translated "empowered by all power..." This Greek construction reflects the Hebrew way of emphasizing something, by putting a verb alongside its cognate noun, thus forcing us to translate it as a sort of intensive phrase. Paul truly believes in the empowering action of God in our lives. It is no joke, nor is it a mirage.

Then, later in v. 11 we have the words translated "endurance" and "patience." The former translates upomone, which "signifies the kind of perseverance which is to be proven in battle by holding the position one has taken against all enemy attacks," Lohse, p. 30. Then, our word "patience" is a translation of makrothumia. We can take that word apart quite easily and see it is "great" and "soul" or "temperament" or "breath," and that word expresses "the deep breath which enables one to wait patiently," Ibid., 31. I like the image presented here; when we tell a person who is about ready to lose it, "take a deep breath," we are unwittingly reflecting the Greek concept of makrothumia.

More can be said about words here. A whole article could be written on "joy" in the New Testament. Prayers are to be said with joy (Phil. 1:4), and the praise of the community of faith is with "unutterable joy" (I Pet. 1:8). Joy is one of the fruit of the spirit (Gal. 5:22), and it becomes the core concept for Paul's exhortation to the Thessalonians: "Rejoice always, pray constantly..." (I Thess. 5:16-17). Finally, joy is the vade mecum of the Christian life: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice" (Phil. 4:4).

Let me close this point with brief references to two other words in v. 13: "deliver" and "transfer." The Greek verb for deliver is rhuesthai, and it is a word dripping with Old Testament memories. God delivered the people from the Egyptians (Ex. 14:39), from the house of bondage (Ex. 6:6) and from all the foes (Jud. 8:34). Then the concept of deliverance is taken from history and put into liturgy, and becomes a foundational word in the Psalms. We are delivered according to God's mercy (Ps. 32:18) or for God's name (Ps. 78:9). So important is the notion of deliverance for the early Christians that Jesus uses the word in the prayer he taught the disciples: "Deliver us from evil" (Matt. 6:13). Paul picks up the language in his letters, by celebrating the Christ who "delivers us from the wrath to come" (I Thess. 1:10). Examples can be multiplied, but the "bottom line" is that our joy is based on a prior act of deliverance, a deliverance that really began with God's work with Israel.

Not much needs to be said about "transfer." The Greek verb is used rather sparingly, but when it appears it describes an effort by an ancient king to move people from one part of his empire to another. Specifically, the Jewish historian Josephus talks about Tiglath-Pilesar's raid into Palestine as leading to his "transporting" people to his own kingdom. This passage is wonderfully freighted with richly exploding words. It prepares us nicely for the description of Christ in 15-20, to which I now turn.

3026