Christology is the theological study of the Person of Christ. Some teach the truth that Christ is both God and man. Others, however, teach that Christ is God, but not man or that He is man, but not God. There is no need for disputes concerning the Person of Christ. He is all-inclusive. He is God, man, and the reality of every positive thing in the universe. If we see that Christ is everything, we shall not argue about Him. A number of verses indicate clearly that Christ is God. For example, Romans 9:5 speaks of “Christ, Who is over all, God blessed forever.” At a certain time Christ became a man. Then through death and resurrection He became the firstborn Son of God.
In His life on earth, the Lord Jesus was among His disciples, but He was not in them. Hence, it was necessary for Him to pass through death and resurrection in order to come into His disciples as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45), the Spirit of reality (John 14:17). In John 14 through 16 the disciples were troubled by the fact that the Lord was leaving them. It seems that He was telling them, “If I do not go, there will be no way for Me to come into you. I must pass through death and resurrection in order to become the life-giving Spirit. Then I shall be in you forever.” On the day of His resurrection, the Lord appeared to the disciples, breathed into them, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). This is the Spirit promised in 14:16-17, 26; 15:26 and 16:7, 13. The Lord’s breathing of the Holy Spirit into the disciples was the fulfillment of His promise of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter. By breathing the Spirit, the holy breath, the life-giving Spirit, into the disciples, the Lord imparted Himself into them as life and every positive thing.
As the Son of God, Christ took two extraordinary steps. Firstly, He took the step of incarnation to become a man for the accomplishment of redemption and for the termination of the old creation. Secondly, in resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit in order to regenerate us to produce the church, God’s new creation.
In both the old creation and the new creation Christ is the first and occupies the first place, the place of preeminence. Both in the universe and in the church, Christ is the preeminent One. If we see this as a vision, not as a mere doctrine, our living and our church life will be revolutionized. We shall realize that in all things Christ must be the first.
In 1:18 Paul says, “That He might have the first place in all things.” In the Bible to be the first is to be all. Since Christ is the first both in the universe and in the church, He must be all things in the universe and the church. As the first, He is all.
God’s way of reckoning in this matter is different from ours. According to our estimation, if Christ is the first, then something else should be the second, third, and others in sequence. However, from God’s point of view, for Christ to be the first means that He is all.
The first Adam included not only Adam as an individual, but all of mankind. In the same principle, in the eyes of God, the firstborn of the Egyptians included all the Egyptians. The firstborn includes all. Therefore, for Christ to be the firstborn in the universe means that He is everything in the universe. In like manner, for Christ to be the firstborn in resurrection means that He is everything in resurrection. For Christ to be the firstborn both of the old creation and of the new creation means that He is everything both in the old creation and in the new creation. This corresponds to Paul’s word in 3:11, where he says that in the new man, in the new creation, “There cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but Christ is all and in all.” In the new man Christ is everyone and in everyone. In the new creation there is room only for Christ.