Christ's Reconciliation of All Things in Heaven According to Colossians 1:20
Colossians 1:20 states, "and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross" (BSB) [1]. This verse is part of a larger passage (Colossians 1:15-20) that describes the supremacy and cosmic role of Christ, emphasizing His preeminence in creation and redemption [2].
The immediate context of this verse is Paul's explanation of Christ's role as the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, and the head of the church [1]. The preceding verse, Colossians 1:19, notes that "in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell" [1]. This fullness is directly connected to God's will to reconcile all things through Christ [3]. The reconciliation described is comprehensive, encompassing "all things" in both "heaven" and "earth" [1, 2]. This suggests a re-establishment of God's rule over the entire created order, including both spiritual and earthly realms [2].
The means of this reconciliation is explicitly stated as "making peace through the blood of His cross" [1]. This highlights the atoning sacrifice of Christ as central to God's plan [5]. The shedding of Christ's blood on the cross serves as the "price and pledge" of reconciliation with God [4]. This act addresses the barrier that God's justice interposes against humanity due to sin [4]. The enmity was primarily on the part of the creature, and Christ's death made atonement for sin, restoring peace between God and humanity [5, 7].
While the reconciliation is cosmic in scope, the letter then applies this general truth specifically to the Colossian believers. Colossians 1:21-22 states, "And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him" (ESV). This shows that the Colossians, who were once alienated from God, became beneficiaries of this reconciliation through Christ's death [6, 8, 9]. The reconciliation made through Christ's sacrifice allows believers to be presented as holy, blameless, and unreprovable before God [7].
Sources
- Colossians “Colossians 1:20 (BSB) — and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross.”
- Colossians (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Colossians 1:20: 1:20 Through Christ, God has reconciled everything to himself, reestablishing his rule over all creation, including both the spiritual and the earthly realms.”
- Colossians (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Colossians 1:20: And by him to reconcile all things to himself,.... This depends upon the preceding verse, and is to be connected with that phrase in it, it pleased the Father, Col 1:19; and the sense is, that it was the good will and pleasure of God from all eternity, as to lay up all fulness in Christ for his chosen people, so to reconcile them to himself by him; and which is another reason why Christ is, and ought to be considered as the head of the church, whose reconciliation he has procured, and why he ought to have the chief place in all things, and among all persons. Recon”
- Colossians (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Colossians 1:20: The Greek order is, "And through Him (Christ) to reconcile again completely (see on Eph 2:16) all things (Greek, 'the whole universe of things') unto Himself (unto God the Father, Co2 5:19), having made peace (God the Father having made peace) through the blood of His (Christ's) cross," that is, shed by Christ on the cross: the price and pledge of our reconciliation with God. The Scripture phrase, "God reconciles man to Himself," implies that He takes away by the blood of Jesus the barrier which God's justice interposes against man's being in union”
- Colossians (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Colossians 1:20: And, having made peace through the blood of his cross - Peace between God and man; for man being in a sinful state, and there being no peace to the wicked, it required a reconciliation to be made to restore peace between heaven and earth; but peace could not be made without an atonement for sin, and the consequence shows that the blood of Christ shed on the cross was necessary to make this atonement. To reconcile all things unto himself - The enmity was on the part of the creature; though God is angry with the wicked every day, yet he is never unwilling to be re”
- Colossians (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Colossians 1:21: And you that were sometime alienated,.... The general blessing of grace and reconciliation, which belongs to the whole body of Christ, the church universal, all the elect of God, whether in heaven or in earth, is here particularly applied to the saints at Colosse, who were eminent instances of it; and that the free grace of God towards them in it might more illustriously appear, the apostle takes notice of what they were before the coming of Christ in the flesh, before the Gospel came among them, and while in a state of unregeneracy, as that they were "alienated":”
- Colossians (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Colossians 1:22: In the body of his flesh - By Christ's assumption of a human body, and dying for man, he has made an atonement for sin, through which men become reconciled to God and to each other. To present you holy - Having saved you from your sins. Unblamable - Having filled you with his Spirit, and written his law in your hearts, so that his love, shed abroad in your hearts, becomes the principle and motive to every action. The tree therefore being good, the fruit is also good. And unreprovable - For, being filled with love, joy, peace, meekness, gentleness, and goodness, ”
- Colossians (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Colossians 1:21: The Colossians are included in this general reconciliation (compare Eph 2:1, Eph 2:12). sometime--"once." alienated--from God and salvation: objectively banished from God, through the barrier which God's justice interposed against your sin: subjectively estranged through the alienation of your own wills from God. The former is the prominent thought (compare Rom 5:10), as the second follows, "enemies in your mind." "Actual alienation makes habitual 'enemies'" [BENGEL]. in your mind--Greek, "in your understanding" or "thought" (Eph 2:3; Eph 4:1”
- Colossians (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Colossians 1:22: In the body of his flesh through death,.... Or "through his death", as the Alexandrian copy and some others, and all the Oriental versions, read. These words express the means by which that reconciliation was made, which in the virtue and efficacy of it was applied particularly to these Colossians at their conversion whereby their minds were actually reconciled to God, as "in" or "by the body of his flesh"; that is, by the offering up of his body on the accursed tree, in which he bore the sins of his people, and made reconciliation for them: and it is so called ei”