So, what are you doing during your COVID-19 quarantine? Watching TV, playing games, reading a book? While your quarantine is but for a few weeks, the apostle Paul was “quarantined” as a Roman prisoner for two years. What do you suppose he was doing during that time? The book of Acts ends by telling us that Paul “received all who came to him… teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence” (Acts 28:30-31). While he was imprisoned for teaching about Christ, he spent his entire prison term continuing to teach about Christ! It was during this time that Paul wrote a letter to his Christian friends in Colosse, exalting the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ.
While in quarantine, Paul focused on the superiority of Christ as God. Christ “is the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15), still bearing in the flesh the very essence of God. Christ was not inferior to the Godhead, for “it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell” (1:9), which is expressed again by saying, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (2:9). We need to see Christ’s superiority as God Himself!
While in quarantine, Paul focused on the superiority of Christ over all creation. Christ was not a created being, nor did He sit and watch the Father create the universe. “For by Him all things were created…All things were created through Him and for Him” (1:16-17). He made all things, and by His providential care, He continues to sustain all things (cf. John 1:3; Heb. 1:3). We need to see Christ’s superiority as Creator!
While in quarantine, Paul focused on the superiority of Christ over His church. The church is first referred to as “the kingdom of the Son of His love” (1:13), emphasizing that the church belongs to Christ. “And He is the head of the body, the church” (1:18; cf. 2:19), emphasizing the authority that He has over it. He holds such a position because of “His blood” which He shed (1:14; cf. Acts 20:28) and His resurrection “from the dead” (1:18). We need to see Christ’s superiority as head and Savior of His church!
While in quarantine, Paul focused on the superiority of Christ in our lives. Being “in” Christ makes us “complete” (2:9), and having Christ “in” us gives us “the hope of glory” (1:27). That affects us every day, as we seek to “walk worthy” of Him (1:10), to “set” our mind “on things above”
(3:2), to “put off the old man” and “put on the new man,” striving to live “according to the image of Him who created” us (3:8-10). We need to see Christ’s superiority as our “all”!
Although Paul was separated from his friends, he wanted Christ to “have preeminence” in their lives (1:18)!