"For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." Colossians 1:19 – 20
In these biblical times there are so many false teachers as there have been throughout history and even as they are today. Today they are known as Arminian teacher’s named after James Arminius who lived from 1560 – 1609. Arminius was a very radical teacher against the 5 points of Sovereign Grace also known as T.U.L.I.P. He was well known as one of the great religious leaders to start the teachings of choice, decisions, works, etc. All these well-known terms of today’s anti-God, anti-sovereign grace teachings that the vast majority of Pastors, teachers, and congregations use to combat the truth of God’s Sovereignty. In doing so they belittle the True God as weak and useless in salvation, they also weaken Jesus Christ ability to save sinners in totality in His death, burial, and resurrection. They are all responsible for turning the biblical truths of God into humanistic lies. “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. Romans 1:25 These people who teach these false teachings have rendered Jesus Christ, the Father, and the Holy Spirit worthless in the sinner’s salvation. God said, “Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” 1 Corinthians 12:3 The word “accursed” means - excommunicated or banned – it is talking about in salvation or anything else, even leads to the Father and the Holy Spirit in calling them worthless. When people follow the false teachings of Armenianism they are calling the Sovereign God of the bible useless. Paul wrote to Titus these words recognizing the Trinity as our Saviour, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;” 1 Timothy 1:1 God the Father elected us, God the Son died for us and was rose again from the grave, and the Holy Spirit is the power of our quickening and giving us the internal power to believe. This teaches us that the entire Godhead is our Saviour, in different ways. This is why it “pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell...” meaning The word translated “fullness” is the Greek word pleroma it was a technical term in the vocabulary of the gnostic false teachers. It meant “the sum total of all the divine power and attributes.” When God added the word “dwell” God shows us that these divine power and attributes were not added to Jesus in time, but rather they are eternal to Him. Dr. Kenneth S. Wuest noted this is “not something added to His Being that was not natural to Him, but that it was part of His essential Being as part of His very constitution, and that permanently” This is not a fullness dwelling that God would have ever given to a created being, but He had because He (Jesus) is part of the Trinity bringing us to understand that in Him was the fullness of the Attributes of the Trinity. This is why Jesus Christ is Preeminent in salvation and in everything else. He and He alone is the Saviour of mankind, to render Him any less would render Him excommunicated or banned from the salvation of the lost and dying soul. Therefore, Paul wrote “by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." Jesus Christ is “preeminent” reconcile all things unto himself because it is He as the Son of Man who died, was buried, and rose again to buy our salvation. Nothing else can be or is involved, because it was through His death that peace was made between God and man, “having made peace through the blood of his cross”. Our first parents Adam and Eve brought a division or a war between mankind and God, but it is Jesus Christ that brings God and sinful mankind to peace. Jesus accomplished this by provided a covering for the sinner’s sins. God talked of the war in Romans 8:6 – 8 “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” Therefore, God reminds us of the Preeminence of Jesus Christ because the lost sinner can do nothing to please God. The lost sinner may be sincere, religious, and even moral; but he is still at war with God and cannot be any part of their own salvation.
