The Supremacy of the Work of Christ, Col 1:19-20

(19) For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, (20) and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. (21) And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, (22) yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach — (23) if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister. (1:19-23)

Now we turn to the work of Christ, and His reconciliation of mankind. The word “reconcile” in verse 20 is one of the five key words used in the NT to describe the richness of our salvation in Christ. The other four are justification, redemption, forgiveness and adoption.

• Justification – sinners stand before God guilty and condemned, but declared righteous. (Rom 8:33; 3:21-26; 5:18-19; 2 Cor 5:21)
• Redemption – sinners stand before God as slaves, but are granted freedom. (Rom 6:18-22; John 8:32, 36; Gal 5:1)
• Forgiveness – sinners stand before God as debtors, but the debt is completely paid and forgotten. (Eph 1:7; Ps 103:8-12; 1 John 1:8-10; Heb 9:22)
• Adoption – sinners stand before God as strangers, but are made sons. (Eph 1:5; Rom 8:15)
• Reconciliation – sinners stand before God as enemies, but become His friend. (2 Cor 5:18-20; Rom 5:10; Col 1:20)

'Reconcile' means to change or exchange. In the NT it’s used to speak of a change in a relationship. 1 Co 7:11, it speaks of a woman being reconciled to her husband, and Rom 5:10 and 2 Co 5:18-20, speaks of God and man being reconciled. So, in the NT it refers to the restoration of a relationship to its rightful place.

Paul uses a slightly different Greek word in Col 1:20 and 22 to intensify the meaning to be “thoroughly, completely or totally reconciled.” Because the heresy attempting to invade the Colossian church taught that Christ was merely another ‘spirit being’ emanating from God, it denied the possibility of man being reconciled to God by Christ alone. Paul made sure that he emphasized that there was total, complete and full reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul points out four aspects to our reconciliation.

His Work in Relation to God

For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, (1:19)

• ‘For it was the Father’s good pleasure’ –
• Definition: ‘good pleasure’ (‘pleased’ - KJV) – is the Greek word, ‘eudokeo’, which means ‘to be well pleased with, take pleasure in, to be favorably inclined towards one; one’s good pleasure.’
• The word ‘Father’ is not in the original Greek, as noted in the KJV, NAS and NIV, but it is implied, and therefore supplied in the text of all versions.
• The focus of God’s pleasure in this verse is in the indwelling fullness.

• ‘for all the fullness to dwell in Him’ –
• Definition: ‘fullness’ – is the Greek word, ‘pleroma’, which means ‘that which is or has been filled; the sum total, fullness, completeness.’
• Definition: ‘to dwell’ – is the Greek word, ‘katoikeo’, which means ‘to dwell in, inhabit; to reside.’
• And who is this fullness dwelling in? In Jesus. 
• Some understand the ‘fullness’ to be referring to the fullness of deity, possessing all of the divine attributes like omniscience and omnipresence, and divine powers, as will be seen in verse 2:9. As we saw in verses 1:15-18, Jesus is fully God. Every bit of God dwells, resides and abides in Jesus.
• There is no doubt that the above is true, but there are others who do not believe that that is what Paul was referring to in this passage. Here are three reason why:
• Some contend that definition does not seem to fit the context of what we will see in verse 20. Verse 20 refers to the salvation that He brings, reconciling ‘all things to Himself ... through the blood of the cross.’ Therefore, it would seem more logical that Paul is referring to the fullness of God’s plan of redemption that He brought to mankind. In Christ resides all the fullness of God required to save a fallen world. Salvation has been purchased for us and placed in our reach. Christ has shed His atoning blood for us and sprinkled it upon our hearts, purifying us. That is the fullness Paul says dwells in Christ.
• Another reason that the context does not fit a meaning of ‘fullness of deity’ is that in verse 18, Paul is in the midst of giving the reason for Jesus’ preeminence in the church. Again, it is salvation that Paul references in referring to His resurrection from the dead.
• A third reason is that it really doesn’t make any sense that God the Father would be ‘pleased’ that divinity resides in Christ. If Jesus is God, then His divinity does not require the Father’s consent. It has always dwelled in Him and is unchangeable.
• We also need to remember that Paul was countering the beliefs of Gnosticism that were developing at that time. The Gnostics used the term “fullness,” for the assembly of emanations or angelic powers, coming from God. Through Paul, the Holy Spirit was declaring to the Church that the true “fullness” of God was the complete plan of salvation that dwells in Christ alone.
• Albert Barnes said, in effect, that we do not have a Savior who is inadequate or deficient in wisdom, power, and grace to redeem and save us; Jesus lacks nothing. There is nothing required to be done in our salvation which Jesus is unqualified or unable to do; there is nothing special that we need to be able to perform the works that Jesus has already prepared for us to do, or to handle temptation, and to endure trials, for which He has not already imparted to us exactly what we need. There is no situation or trouble or danger where the church will find that there is a deficiency in Christ; in no endeavor for which the Church is called to put her hands to, that will, in any way, lack the power needed to accomplish that task. If the church is called to a task, Jesus will supply that ability abundantly. That, Barnes says, is what fullness in Christ is.
• John Gill says that the fullness of God refers to God’s grace in Christ, as well as a fullness of God’s glory, from which the saints of God (the church) receive. The purpose of this grace and glory? A continual daily supply of that grace and glory is imparted to the saints to enable believers to endure to the end of time. This grace and glory in Christ is as sufficient for the very last believer as it is for the very first. God’s supply never runs out.
• We do not need angels (or saints, or Mary) to help us get saved. We have no need to look to the heavens above or to the earth beneath for any revelation of God’s character. We have no need to draw inferences as to who or what God is like from nature, or from the mysteries of human history with its miseries. Everything we need is in the Word of God!

His Work in Relation to All Creation

and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. (1:20)

• ‘and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself,’ –
• Definition: ‘reconcile’ – is the Greek word, ‘apokatallasso’ { ap-ok-at-al-las’-so }, which means ‘to bring back to a former state of harmony; to reconcile completely.’
• J. Hampton Keathley points out that the Greek word, ‘katallasso’, means, ‘to change, to exchange; return to favor with, be reconciled to one; to receive one into favor.’ The word carries a one-way directional reconciliation. It is not bi-directional, as in God to man and man to God. If that were the case, Paul would have used the word ‘diallasso’ for that. Biblical reconciliation is one-way – towards man, God reconciling man to Himself. God does not need to be reconciled to man; He has never stopped loving mankind. But God desires to be reconciled to mankind, so He provided the means for that reconciliation by sending His Son, Jesus. (2 Cor 5:18; Rom 5:10; Heb 2:17; Eph 2:16)
• Keathley also writes concerning reconciliation, ‘Is it possible that man can somehow please God by his own good works? No, not at all!! The reason is found in the facts that by nature, man is separated from God (Rom. 3:23; Eph. 2:3); by his deeds, he is alienated from God (Col. 1:21); and by his condition, being dead in sin and without life, man is incapacitated and unable to deal with his problem (John 1:12-13; 3:3-6; Eph. 2:1; 4:18-19). If there is to be reconciliation to God, it must come from God Himself.’ [1]
• ‘through Him’ – It was through Jesus that all things were created, and it is through Jesus that all things are reconciled.
• ‘all things’ – All things were created and are sustained in Christ, and the same ‘all things’ are reconciled. (2 Cor 5:18; Heb 2:17)

• ‘having made peace through the blood of His cross;’ –
• In Scripture the Apostles speak of blood as representing Christ’s atonement on the cross. As with Peter (cf. 1 Pet 1:18-19), Paul’s intent is to connect Jesus’ death on the cross and the blood that He shed with the OT sacrificial system. As Heb 10:4 says, ‘it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins’, the peace brought by the reconciliation with God is only possible by the blood of Jesus Christ and His death on the cross. Nothing else will do; nothing else will satisfy a Holy God.
• Man does not have the capability to reconcile himself to God. He is naturally opposed to being reconciled to God because of his sin. He requires the blood of Christ to take away his sin, which is a barrier that God’s justice sets up against him, preventing him from having a relationship with God. God's holiness demands perfection, sinlessness because God cannot abide with sin. The only thing that can atone for the sin of man is the blood of Jesus Christ. This atonement is offered as  a free gift to man, and it is the Holy Spirit who draws man to accept this free gift before his relationship with God can be restored. (Heb 13:20; Eph 2:13-17; Rom 3:25)
• It is important here to note that the physical blood of Jesus Christ did not have any magical or mystical powers. Jesus was the final lamb, the perfect lamb, and His blood, in this passage, is meant to represent His sacrificial death on the Cross, which is what saves us (Rom 5:10). His physical blood ran into the cracks of the floor where He was scourged and into the dust and dirt where He was crucified. Too many people throughout history have collected or purchased icons, as if these objects have magical properties. It is His sacrificial death for our sin that Scripture repeats over and over. There is nothing in Scripture that suggests a single drop of His blood exists today. If Jesus' physical blood was required for salvation, then no one since the day of Jesus' death on the Cross has ever been saved. 
• If physical blood is meant, then what is to be done with Scriptures like John 6:53-54, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves”? (See also Mat 23:30-35; 27:24-25; Acts 5:28; 18:6; 20:26, 28;1 Cor 10:16) As John MacArthur points out, “To one degree or another, we must acknowledge that there is symbolism in what Scripture says about the blood. Otherwise we will wind up with an obviously unbiblical doctrine like transubstantiation to explain how literal blood can be applied to all believers for salvation.” [2]
• So what about Heb 9:22, ‘without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness’ (NIV)? Rom 5:9-10 shows that to be ‘justified by His blood’ is the same as being ‘reconciled to God through the death of His Son’. Scripture uses the phrase ‘shedding of blood’ as a figure of speech to represent Jesus’ atoning death on the cross. In the OT the animal sacrifices were bled to death, not clubbed or strangled or burned. This was intended to represent the pouring out of life (the life is in the blood – Lev 17:11). Jesus’ blood was shed as a visible manifestation of His perfect life being poured out as the perfect sacrifice for all sin.

• ‘through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.’ –
• There is some confusion about the end of this verse. ‘Things on earth’ is the easy part, where no real confusion exists. But that cannot be said of the phrase ‘things in heaven.’ The ‘things of earth’ would seem to focus on man’s need for reconciliation with God, but not exclusively. With Christ’s death God reconciled mankind to Himself.
• But what does ‘things in heaven’ refer to?
• One commentator views the reference to earth to mean the redemption of man, and the reference to heaven meaning the preservation of angels. However, this would seem unlikely because the rebellion of the angels occurred before the creation of mankind, and only a third of the angels fell. Also, at the time of the rebellion, the angels were continually in God’s presents and preservation would not seem to apply. According to Jude 1:6 the fallen angels do not get an opportunity to be reconciled to God, because just like mankind, the angels wholly depend on Jesus, the only true object of worship. But unlike mankind angels were created to worship and minister to God, whereas mankind was created to have a personal relationship with Him.
• John Chrysostom understood it this way: ‘Christ not only reconciles man on the earth, but raises him, who had been an enemy to God, to heaven and gives him a place there at peace with God, so that in the heavens the fruits of reconciliation are seen forever.’ [3] However, I think that Chrysostom is referring to the things on earth here, so I don’t think his answer is complete.
• John Wesley understood it as the saints that had died before Christ and were waiting in Paradise for Him to fulfill God’s plan of reconciliation. This would seem to be the best answer for what this verse means. As a different commentator put it, the OT saints could not have gone to heaven without the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross because of what we just saw above in Heb 10:4, the blood of bulls and goats does not take away sin.
• It is also important here to point out that Paul’s meaning is not universalism. Some have said that if it was God’s good pleasure to ‘reconcile all things to Himself … whether things on earth or things in heaven’ then that means that all men, without distinction, are saved through the atoning death of Jesus Christ on the cross. The consequences of saying this would be:
1. Faith, as well as repentance of sin, is unnecessary. Since Jesus’ death paid for everyone’s sin, no one needs to confess anything. But Scripture says quite the opposite. (Heb 11:6; 3:8-9; John 3:18; Heb 6:1; 2 Pet 3:9; 2 Cor 7:10; Rom 2:4; Acts 3:19; 26:20; Rev 2:5)
2. All are going to heaven and no one goes to Hell. It also means that all of the Scriptures that talk about hell are wrong. Again, we know this is not what was meant. (2 Pet 2:4; Luke 12:5; 16:23; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Mat 25:41; 13:42)

• As the Scriptures above point out, universalism is in conflict with the Word of God. But, how can a ‘good’ God condemn anyone to an eternal Hell? First, we know that God is a ‘good’ God (Mat 19:17; Luke 18:19; Ps 106:1; 118:1, 29), but the problem is not with God, it’s with our question. We ask that question because we do not know who God really is. We are either uninformed, forgetful, or we just don’t like the answer. Where is the justice and righteousness of God in requiring some to repent of sin, and allowing others to do as they please, to sin as much as they want with no consequences? It’s because we misrepresent who He is. 
• God is perfect, holy and righteous, which means nothing imperfect, unholy or unrighteous can come into His presence. God is perfect and nothing can be added to or taken away from His word. It also means that He wants us to be perfect too! God’s holiness demands that He hate sin, and since we are sinners, that puts us at odds with Almighty God. His righteousness means that, as law-giver, He is judge and jury, and He must punish sin. 
• Universalism may be a popular belief by cultists and some Christians, but the Bible says just the opposite. Scripture is abundantly clear that fallen men and fallen angels will spend eternity in hell (Mat 25:41, 46; Rev 20:10-15). There will be a reconciliation for all things that oppose God, but it will be for judgment, not for salvation. Fallen man’s reconciliation will be in the sense of being submitted to God for final sentencing. Ultimately, every knee will bow to Christ Jesus as Lord of all (Php 2:10; Isa 45:23; Rom 14:11). As Gleason Archer put it, 

If the sacrifice of Christ means the reconciliation of all moral agents of all ages, whether in heaven or on earth, whether or not they repent and believe, then there is no reality to divine justice (except insofar as Christ suffered for sin on the cross); and heaven will swarm with hate-filled, blaspheming, God-despising, Christ-mocking degenerates, who will condemn as fools all those who in this life ever denied themselves anything that they wanted for themselves, just for the sake of moral scruples. In such a heaven Satan will reign supreme, for his cause will be magnificently vindicated. [4]

For it has pleased [the Father] that all the divine fullness (the sum total of the divine perfection, powers, and attributes) should dwell in Him permanently. And God purposed that through (by the service, the intervention of) Him [the Son] all things should be completely reconciled back to Himself, whether on earth or in heaven, as through Him, [the Father] made peace by means of the blood of His cross. (Col 1:19-20 AMP)

Footnotes

[1] J. Hampton Keathley III, Paul’s Letter to the Colossians: An Exegetical and Devotional Commentary, 8. The Supremacy of the Work of Christ Part 1, The Plenitude and Description of His Work (Col. 1:19-20).
[2] The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Colossians & Philemon, p 63.
[3] People’s New Testament Notes on Colossians, p/o the Online Bible, Computer Program, © 1987-2005.
[4] Gleason Archer, Bible Difficulties, p/o the Online Bible, Computer Program, © 1987-2005.

The primary sources for this study use J. Hampton Keathley III, Paul’s Letter to the Colossians: An Exegetical and Devotional Commentary, from bible.org, Copyright ©1996-2020 Bible.org, and all attributions are reprinted with permission granted by bible.org, and John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Colossians & Philemon, (Moody Bible Institute: ©1992).

This study uses many of the commentaries, dictionaries and the Greek Lexicon which are all part of 'The Online Bible', Computer Program, © 2023, Larry Pierce, http://www.onlinebible.net/, unless otherwise referenced. See Greetings and Thanksgiving, Colossians 1:1-4 for full attribution.

All Scriptures quotes are from the New American Standard Bible, 1995 Revision, unless otherwise noted. Verse links from Blue Letter Bible, https://www.blueletterbible.org/