Christ is at the Father’s right hand. We have more than “his works” as the foundation of our lives. We have his very existence as God’s ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON who is now raised and seated in the heavens FOR US. He is the ACTUAL HEAD of the spiritual body that we are members of. We belong to him as much as we do to each other. Paul warned people of not falling prey to Bible teachers who would minimize who and what Christ is for us today.
Ephesians 4:7,8,12-16 [James Moffatt Translation]:
But each one of us is granted his own grace as determined by the FULL MEASURE OF CHRIST’S GIFT. Thus it is said, When he ascended on high he led a host captive and granted gifts to men.
…for the equipment of the saints, for the business of the ministry, for the upbuilding of the Body of Christ, till we should all attain the unity of the faith and knowledge of God’s Son, reaching maturity, reaching the full measure of development which belongs to the FULNESS OF CHRIST — instead of remaining immature, blown from our course and swayed by every passing wind of doctrine, by the adroitness of men who are dexterous in devising error; we are to by the truth, and by our love to grow up wholly into Him. For He, CHRIST, IS THE HEAD AND UNDER HIM as the entire Body is welded together and compacted by every joint with which it is supplied, the due activity of each part enables the Body to grow and build itself up in love.
Colossians 2:8-19 [James Moffatt Translation]:
Beware of anyone getting hold of you by means of a theosophy which is specious make-believe, on the lines of human tradition, corresponding to the Elemental spirits of the world AND NOT TO CHRIST. It is IN CHRIST that the entire Fulness of deity has settled bodily [GOD WAS IN CHRIST], it is in him that YOU REACH YOUR FULL LIFE, AND HE IS THE HEAD of every angelic Ruler and Power; in him you have been circumcised with no material circumcision that cuts flesh from the body, but with Christ’s own circumcision, when you were buried with him in your baptism and thereby raised with him as you believed in the power of the God who raised him from the dead. For though you were dead in your trespasses, your flesh uncircumcised. He MADE YOU LIVE WITH CHRIST, He forgave us all our trespasses. He cancelled the regulations that stood against us — all these obligations he set aside when he nailed them to the cross, when he cut away the angelic Rulers and Powers from us, exposing them to all the world and triumphing over them in the cross.
Let no one lay down rules for you as he pleases, with regard to fasting and the cult of angels, presuming on his visions and inflated by his sensuous notions, instead of KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH THE HEAD under whom the entire Body, supplied with joints and sinews and thus compacted, grows with growth divine.
We need to be “keeping in touch” with Christ the head by way of God’s spirit in us. We also have the scriptures to explain our rights and privileges in Christ. This risen and seated Christ is more than the sum of his accomplishments for us. He is IN US and works as THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST to direct his body in love.
