“For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross. This devotion pairs with this weekend’s Lutheran Hour sermon, which can be found at lutheranhour.org. St. Paul composes these words for a specific purpose, to address the false teaching about Jesus. “For in Jesus Christ all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.” (Colossians 1:19-20 ESV)
The young church at Colossi didn’t possess this peace. They were on the brink of a break-up because some false teachers called Gnostics were teaching that there was a higher spiritual world and a lower material world. These Gnostics also denied that Jesus, the Jesus who walked on this earth, the Jesus who died on a cross, that this Jesus was fully divine, fully God. It is not Gospel Good News if Jesus is just a half-god, or just a holy role model.
You see, the Jesus you see in the Bible is human, totally human, but He is also not only a man; He is totally God, the fullness of God. So, when we look upon Jesus, it is the image of God our eyes behold, when we listen to the Words of Jesus, it is the voice of God our ears hear. Jesus is God begotten from the substance of the Father before all ages. And Jesus is Man, born from the substance of His mother the virgin Mary in this age. It’s takes the One “in whom all things hold together” to bring reconciliation and peace on earth.
Jack Preus was one my most encouraging mentors. He died several month ago. In his book, Just Words, he writes, “Reconciliation signals the solution to the separation between people. Peace calls attention to the resolution to the friction between and within people.” And how we desperately need both: reconciliation and peace.
When you think about our culture how divided we are, when you think about the extent to which the pieces are not coming together for so many of us, the friction that afflicts us needs more than just a mere man to fix. It took the fullness of God dwelling in the Person of Jesus to do the work of saving us. It took the One who fully took on our human nature, yet was without sin.
That’s whom we have in Jesus.
Prayer: We thank You Lord Jesus for all of the ways that You have become for us the reconciliation we need in life. For all of the ways You bring peace to all of the brokenness in our world. We pray, Lord, that You might inspire us by Your Spirit that we might become reconcilers and peace-makers for the sake of You, the Light of the world. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. John Nunes.
Originally published in The Lutheran Hour on November 18, 2022
Used by permission from International Lutheran Laymen’s League, all rights reserved
Reflection Questions:
1. Though some may see it as just a doctrinal detail, why does it absolutely matter that Jesus was fully God and fully Man?
2. What are some of the cultural divisions that we need Jesus to help us overcome?
3. Think of a time you felt spiritually fractured. How did God become a healing, reconciling, provider of peace?
