Read Colossians 1:18. What is the connection between the idea of Christ as the head and Him as the “beginning”?
In Hebrew the words for head (roʾš) and beginning (rēʾšît) are related. The first instance of the latter word in Scripture is in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning [_rēʾšît_] God created the heaven and the earth.” Jesus is head of humanity and of the church, not only because of the Incarnation but also because He is the Creator.
In Greek, the word for beginning (archē) has a broad meaning. Here, “beginning” refers to Jesus as the source or initiator of the church (Col. 1:18), and therefore its Head, just as He is the “beginning” or initiator of Creation.
Jesus is not only the initiator in terms of Creation and the church, He is also—through His resurrection from the dead (Rom. 6:3, 4)—the initiator of the new creation. Because the wages of sin is death, His victory over death also shows His victory over sin and His power to re-create us in His image. All this demonstrates why He is “the firstborn from the dead” (on the meaning of “firstborn,” see Monday’s study). His is the preeminent resurrection, even though not the first (Moses was the first, which is why the dispute with the devil ensued over his body [Jude 9]). Without Christ’s resurrection, no one else could be raised from the dead.
It’s helpful at this point to review briefly all the reasons Paul has given for Jesus having preeminence:
- He is the perfect manifestation of the invisible God.
- He is the agent by whom all things were created.
- He existed before all things, and all things are brought together in Him.
- He is the head of the church, which is His body.
- He is the initiator of Creation and the re-creation.
- He has conquered sin and death and thus earned the right to resurrect all who put their trust in Him as Savior.
- Jesus has always existed, but now, by virtue of all this, He has come to have the preeminence as Head of humanity and Head of the church.
What must you change so that you can better experience Christ’s preeminence in your own life?
Supplemental EGW Notes
Our growth in grace, our joy, our usefulness—all depend upon our union with Christ. It is by communion with Him, daily, hourly—by abiding in Him—that we are to grow in grace. He is not only the author, but the finisher of our faith. It is Christ first and last and always. He is to be with us, not only at the beginning and the end of our course, but at every step of the way.—The Faith I Live By, p. 125.
The law and the gospel go hand in hand. The one is the complement of the other. The law without faith in the gospel of Christ cannot save the transgressor of law. The gospel without the law is inefficient and powerless. The law and the gospel are a perfect whole. The Lord Jesus laid the foundation of the building, and He lays “the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.” Zechariah 4:7. He is the author and finisher of our faith, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. The two blended—the gospel of Christ and the law of God—produce the love and faith unfeigned.—Our High Calling, p. 141.
To Him the present and the future, the near and the far, were one. He had in view the needs of all mankind. Before His mind’s eye was outspread every scene of human effort and achievement, of temptation and conflict, of perplexity and peril. All hearts, all homes, all pleasures and joys and aspirations, were known to Him. . . .
“Immanuel, . . . God with us.”
In the Teacher sent from God, all true educational work finds its center. Of this work today as verily as of the work He established eighteen hundred years ago, the Saviour speaks in the words—
“I am the First and the Last, and the Living One.”
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” Revelation 1:17, 18, R.V.; 21:6, R.V.
In the presence of such a Teacher, of such opportunity for divine education, what worse than folly is it to seek an education apart from Him—to seek to be wise apart from Wisdom; to be true while rejecting Truth; to seek illumination apart from the Light, and existence without the Life; to turn from the Fountain of living waters, and hew out broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
Behold, He is still inviting: “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said,” out of him “shall flow rivers of living water.” “The water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life.” John 7:37, 38; 4:14, R.V.—Education, pp. 82, 83.
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.