Although Colossians is a short book, different parts of it are written from different directions, from different points of view. In chapter one and in the first part of chapter two, Paul writes from a universal direction. But starting from the middle of chapter two, he begins to write from the direction of our practical daily life. In turning from the universal perspective to the practical perspective, he enables us to see the economy of God’s salvation.
In His salvation God has no intention to preserve the law; neither does He intend for angels to occupy a prominent position. In the economy of God’s salvation, both the law and the angels must be taken out of the way. In the salvation of His people, God does not want to use any indirect means. Instead, He desires to have direct contact with His chosen ones. The fact that God has wiped out the law and stripped off the rulers and authorities means that the way is now clear for God to contact His people directly without interference of any kind of mediation.
All the positive things that remain after the law and the angels have been taken out of the way are shadows of Christ. The heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars, food, and drink are all shadows, figures, of Christ, who is the body, the substance, of the shadows. All that we need for our physical living daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly is a shadow. Only Christ is the reality, the body. It is a serious mistake for believers to go back to the observances of the law. Furthermore, the worship of angels is a great insult to God. In like manner, we insult Him if we respect physical or material things more than Christ, for all such things are shadows of Christ. To repeat, the law has been taken away, the angels have been stripped off, and the material things are shadows. Therefore, we have the ground to say that Christ is all in all. He is our law, ordinance, observance, angel, universe, sun, moon, star, heaven, earth, food, and drink. He is the reality of all positive matters in our daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly living.
Writing from a universal direction, Paul shows that Christ is the portion of the saints, the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, the Head of the Body, the firstborn from among the dead, the One in whom the fullness of God dwells, the mystery of God’s economy, the indwelling hope of glory, the mystery of God, and the One in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. As such a One, Christ is profound, preeminent, all-inclusive, and universal. Nevertheless, He dwells in us to be our hope of glory (1:27). Turning from the universal perspective to the perspective of our daily life, Paul shows us that Christ is the reality of all the positive things for our daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly life. Therefore, Christ is not only all-inclusive universally; He is also detailed practically.
The turn from the universal perspective to the practical perspective is made in 2:14-15. In these verses Paul makes it emphatically clear that in God’s salvation God has no intention to have anything between Him and His chosen people. In order to clear the way to enliven His chosen ones, He nailed the law to the cross and stripped off the angels. Although God used the law temporarily and although He ordained angels for His government, He will not allow either the law or the angels to stand in the way of His salvation. Now that the law and the angels have been taken out of the way, God has a clear atmosphere and an unhindered environment to contact the ones He has chosen and enliven them. He not only redeems His chosen ones, but also seeks to enliven them. Today the redeeming and life-giving God can have direct contact with His chosen people.
After making the turn in these verses from the universal direction to the practical direction, Paul goes on to speak of the physical things, of our daily eating and drinking and of matters pertaining to our weekly, monthly, and yearly life. In just two verses he deals with eating and drinking, Sabbaths, new moons, and festivals. He points out that these things are shadows, whereas Christ is the body, the reality, the substance. This means that if we do not have Christ, we do not have reality; we have only shadows. Christ is the reality, the body of all positive things. Hence, in God’s economy there are no physical things or material things— there is only Christ. Moreover, Christ is not only the image of God, the firstborn of all creation, the firstborn from among the dead, the embodiment of the fullness of God, the mystery both of God’s economy and of God Himself; He is even the law, the angels, the food, the drink, the new moon, the Sabbath, and the feasts. Based upon such a revelation, we have the boldness and the assurance to declare that Christ is all in all. This is not our teaching; it is simply a recognition of what Paul says in Colossians. What a mercy that we in the Lord’s recovery can see Christ in all these aspects! With Colossians 1 and 2 as our basis, we have the confidence to say that, as the One who is all in all, our Christ is the reality of every positive thing in the universe.
It was crucial for the believers in Colosse to realize this. There was no need for them to accept religious ordinances or the highest products of culture, including mysticism, philosophy, and asceticism. At Corinth there was the problem of fornication, but in Colosse the saints were practicing asceticism in order to restrict the lustful flesh. The Colossians had not seen the vision that Christ is everything. Otherwise, they would not have allowed culture to pervade the church and to defraud them of Christ.