Daily Bible Verses for 5/22/2016

Bible Verse
For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

Reading Notes
Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians church which had been under the strain of a heresy brought by false teachers. They were teaching false doctrine, that would later become known as Gnosticism. Basically, they taught that all spirit was good and all matter, that is all physical things we can see and touch were bad. And based on that they claimed Jesus never really came in the flesh. They also taught that people had to seek out a hidden knowledge that was above what scripture taught in order to receive salvation. They used this false teaching to deny the humanity of Jesus and instead taught that Jesus was an emanation from God, or something less than divine. Dear child of God this is a false doctrine, because if Jesus didn’t come in the flesh, then He could not have paid the price for our sins, why? Because only sinless humanity can take the place of sinful people. The fact that Jesus was both fully God and fully man is central to the Christian belief. Without the divine and human attributes of Jesus’ nature, we would be lost in our sins and without hope.

Moreover, if we believe all spirits are good, because they are not composed of physical matter, then we open ourselves up to the false doctrine of demons. Therefore, Paul is correcting this false teaching. The term used here for fullness carries the meaning that Jesus was fully God and fully man. We have to be careful even today, because this false teaching can persist in many forms. The word used here for reconciling means to bring about a change in our relationship as well as our submission. Those who accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, experience a change in relationship with God. Because of Jesus, we have a restored relationship with God the Father. We were once separated by sin, but now through our faith in Jesus, we are reconciled to God. A time will come when every human who has ever lived will confess Jesus. Believers will confess Jesus as our Lord and Master, and we will do so from a position of joint heirs and children of God. Whereas those who denied Christ will confess Him from a position of eternal suffering and separation from God. Knowing this we should always keep close to our hearts the Gospel message and the condition of those who are lost.