«　WEEK 1　DAY 4　»

　　Col. 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation.

　　17-18 And He is before all things, and all things cohere in Him; and He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things.

　　The revelation concerning Christ in Colossians is both all-inclusive and extensive. Colossians reveals that Christ is everything. Christ is the Firstborn both of the old creation, the universe, and of the new creation, the church (1:15, 18). The new creation is not as extensive as the old creation, the universe. The church is all-inclusive, but it is not extensive. For Christ to be the Firstborn of both the original creation and the new creation means that He is both extensive and all-inclusive. In the new man there is room only for Christ; Christ is all and in all (3:11). This shows His all-inclusiveness. However, the fact that He is the Firstborn of all creation indicates His extensiveness. In the words of Ephesians 3, Christ is the breadth, length, height, and depth.

　　The completion of the Word of God found in Colossians is the mystery of God’s economy—Christ in us, the hope of glory (1:27). This means that without Christ in us as the hope of glory, God’s revelation would have no completion. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 433-434)

　　Many Christians think that to receive Christ is simply to believe in Him. Receiving Christ, however, is not as simple as this.... According to our concept and according to traditional doctrine, Christ is rather simple. Many believers only realize that Christ, the Son of God, is the Savior who loved us and died for us. If we believe in Christ, we are saved. However, the receiving of Christ in a book such as Colossians involves a great deal more than this.... This Christ is more vast than the whole universe.

　　Receiving Christ can be compared to breathing. Just as breathing is a continual process, so our receiving of Christ should take place continually. Regrettably, however, a great many Christians have had only the initial receiving of Christ. They do not receive Him continuously. Many believers can tell you that at a certain time in the past they received Christ. But they have not continued to receive Him. If we do not receive Christ continually, we shall not enjoy the full benefit of the Christ we have received initially.... We must realize that our receiving of Him must be consistent and continual.

　　How much have you walked in Christ today? How much of your talk, actions, and attitudes have been in something other than Christ?... According to the book of Colossians, we should walk in the extensive Christ, in the Christ who is universally vast and who is everything to us. We do not need philosophy—Christ is our philosophy. We do not need tradition—Christ is the best heritage. We do not need the elementary principles—Christ is every principle to us. What we need to do is to take Christ as everything and walk in Him.

　　We should not be held back by the narrow view of Christ held by many Christians. Christ is exceedingly extensive; He is unlimited. The Bible even speaks of “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph. 3:8). Although Christ’s riches are unsearchable, many Christians limit Him by their theology and teachings. They have only an elementary understanding of Him. Christ, the Savior in whom we believe, is not limited. He is inexhaustible, all-inclusive, limitless. No one can say how great He is. Since He is without limitation, the revelation concerning Him must also be without limit. In this matter the book of Colossians is crucial. Without this book, it would be difficult to realize that the revelation of Christ is unlimited and extensive. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 417-418, 403,350)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 8-10, 15, 39-41, 45-46, 48, 50