Colossians--The Supreme Sufficiency of Christ

Just started reading Douglas Moo's new Pillar NTC Commentary on Colossians and Philemon.

Thus far, I've been very impressed with the Pillar NTC series (though, admittedly, D.A. Carson's The Gospel According to John sets the bar rather high!). So far, Moo is entirely living up to expectations. (Not that this is terribly surprising, of course--his NICNT commentary on Romans remains the best such work in the English language...and that from such a discerning reader as Carson!)

Colossians is a letter I've been turning to a lot lately; the picture there of Christ in all His Glorious Majesty boggles the mind:

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 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." (1:15-20, ESV)

What rich, profound thoughts these are! And yet, I find myself convicted in that, like I do all too often, I encounter passages such as these and pass too quickly over them, not savoring or delighting in them as I ought, not considering what enormous consequences there are to such concepts.It's one thing, after all, to talk blithely (and even dismissively) of "the supremacy of Christ"...I've yet to meet a professing Christian who argues otherwise, of course. And yet, ought not the SUPREMACY of Christ necessarily entail the SUFFICIENCY of Christ?

This is a challenging notion for me--how often have I really considered what it means for God's Grace in Christ to be "sufficient" for me? How often do I content myself with a superficial acknowledgment that "yes, Christ is indeed great and glorious and above all," without considering that what that must necessarily mean is that in Christ God has given me absolutely EVERYTHING I could possibly need?

"The false teachers [at Colossae] were appealing to spiritual beings, visions, and rules to find security in this very uncertain universe. In doing so, they were questioning the sufficiency of Christ. They may have done so directly, but it is more likely that their questions about Christ were implicit in their approach and that it is Paul who draws out the implications of this "philosophy" for Christology. The false teachers were so preoccupied with their own program for spiritual fullness that they were separating themselves from the only true source of spiritual power: the Lord Jesus Christ, the one in whom God in all his fullness is to be found and the one through whom God has accomplished the reconciliation of the world. Here is the essence of the false teaching: it is "not according to Christ" (2:8). And, at the risk of generalizing unduly, we might suggest that here as well is the point of contact for the application of the message of Colossians to a wide variety of historical and contemporary teachings. Any teaching that questions the sufficiency of Christ--not only for "initial" salvation but also for spiritual growth and ultimate salvation from judgment--falls under the massive christological critique of Colossians." (Moo, p. 60)