Identity in Christ Statements in Colossians

Below is an excerpt from an Appendix from my book Finding Satisfaction in Christ: A Devotional Study of Colossians. The book walks through Colossians a few verses at a time, explaining and applying the passage in a Christ-centered way. You can purchase the book on Amazon in paperback or Kindle. Here’s day one to give you a feel for the book.

As I’ve been studied Colossians, I’ve been amazed by the glorious, sweeping statements about the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ. Colossians is all about clarifying who Jesus is and why nothing and no one is needed beyond him. No additives in necessary here.

Even when a passage at first seems like it might not about him, it’s all about him. For example, the whole point of the vain and empty ascetic lifestyle that can’t stop the desires of the flesh (2:20-23) is to demonstrate the supremacy of Jesus. He alone puts to death the flesh in us and resurrects as new people (2:11-14; 3:1-4).

As our eyes are redirected toward him we see equally glorious, sweeping statements made about us in him. We’re told not only who we now are in Christ but what’s true of us and what belongs to us because we’re in Christ. Here are some of those gigantic statements about Jesus and then about us in him I’ve found in Colossians.

Glorious Statements about Jesus Christ in Colossians

His Person
• He is the image of the invisible God (1:15)
• He is the firstborn of all creation and the firstborn from the dead (1:15, 18)
• He is the creator of all things (1:16)
• He is the one whom all things point to and glorify (1:16)
• He is before all things—pre-existent and first in rank (1:17, 18)
• He is the one holding all things together (1:17)
• He is the head of the body, his church (1:18)
• He is the fullness of God (1:19; 2:9)
• He is the fullness of God who became a man (2:9)
• He is the redeemer and reconciler of all things (1:20)
• He is God’s glorious mystery revealed (1:27; 2:2)
• He is the treasure-house of all wisdom and knowledge (2:3)
• He is the head of all rule and authority (2:10)
• He is seated at the right hand of God—as the Davidic King (3:1)

His Work
• He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into his kingdom (1:13)
• He has redeemed us and forgiven us our sins (1:14)
• He has reconciled creation to himself (1:19)
• He has reconciled believers back to God (1:22)
• He has made us holy, blameless, and above reproach (1:22)
• He has circumcise our hearts through his death and resurrection (2:11-14)
• He has cancelled the record of debt against us at the cross (2:14)
• He has disarmed the spiritual rulers and triumphed over them (2:15)
• He has been raised from the dead by the power of God (3:12, 13)
• He nourishes and grows his body, the Church (2:19)
• He gives a new identity to us by being all (everything) and in all (3:11)

Glorious Statements about us in Christ in Colossians

• We are saints (1:2, 4)
• We are forgiven and redeemed (1:14; 2:14; 3:13)
• We are holy, blameless, and above reproach before God (1:21)
• Christ is in us (1:27)
• We are united to one another (1:2; 2:2; 2:19)
• God is our Father (1:2; 3:17)
• The Spirit is in us (1:8)
• There is a hope laid up in heaven for us (1:5)
• We are bearing fruit and growing (1:6)
• We have heard and understood the grace of God and the truth of God (1:5-6)
• We get the knowledge of his will (1:9; 2:2)
• We get wisdom, knowledge, and understanding (1:9, 10; 2:2)
• We walk in a way that pleases him (1:10)
• We image or reflect God (1:10)
• We receive God’s strength and empowerment (1:11)
• We have an inheritance (1:23)
• We’re delivered from the domain of darkness into Christ’s kingdom (1:13)
• We’re forgiven of sins and redeemed to Christ (1:14; 2:13, 14)
• We’re reconciled back to God and made at peace with him (1:20, 22)
• We have the hope of glory because Christ is in us (1:27)
• We are maturing in him (1:28; 4:12)
• We are filled in him (2:10)
• We are circumcised in our hearts (2:11)
• We are dead to the old man/flesh and the things of the world in Christ  (2:11, 12, 13, 19; 3:3, 9)
• We are raised with him as a  new man (2:12; 3:1)
• We have victory over spiritual rulers and authorities (2:15)
• We are nourished and grown by Christ our Head (2:19)
• We are seated with Christ at the right hand of God (3:1)
• Our life is hidden with Christ in God (3:3)
• Christ is our life (3:4)
• We will appear with Christ when he appears in glory (3:4)
• We have put off the old self with its practices and put on the new self with its practices (3:9, 10, 12)
• We are being renewed in knowledge after the image of our Creator (3:10; 17)
• We are in Christ, and Christ is all and in all (3:11)
• We have the peace of Christ ruling our hearts and the word of Christ dwelling in our hearts (3:15, 16)