Unbound: Freedom in a Digital WorldSýnishorn

We have already encountered one Christian hymn in Philippians chapter two, and now we come across another in Colossians 1:15-20. This hymn is placed so early in the letter because it is theological bedrock for all that Paul is going to share with the Philippians. The problem in the church in Colossae and the reason that Paul writes the letter appears to be an obsession with mysticism.

In our world today, we often think of people who aren’t Christian as secular. In the ancient world, there were no “secular” people. Everyone was religious and spiritual. As Clinton Arnold aptly points out in his commentary on Colossians, “There were no secular humanists at this time. In fact, most of the people living in this country area [around Colossae] could aptly be described as animists. They believed in the reality of the gods and goddesses as well as in the pervasive influence of good and evil spirits.”

This led the Colossians to an obsession with the spirits and things beyond what can be seen, that we refer to as mysticism. As Judaism and then Christianity took hold in Colossae, many mystics, whether formal or not, naturally adopted Christianity into their mystic worldview and began to craft a modified view of Christianity that was obsessed with all the mystical powers and forces in the world.

To refute this mysticism, Paul quotes from this early hymn that establishes Christ as specifically the creator and upholder of all “things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities.” Likewise, since “he is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead", he reigns as supreme in everything and reconciles all things to himself. He is indeed the fullness of God.

We are definitely no longer animistics or mystics, seeing the world through a mystical lens, but we definitely now see the world through a digital reality. We don’t simply watch our child’s first steps, we watch the screen that is recording our child’s first steps. Whether good or bad, we assess and analyze the happenings of our world within a digital worldview.

So Paul’s words in Colossians 1:15-23 remind us today that no matter the pull or force of the digital reality we live in, Jesus is still supreme over, through, and in all of it. His reign is supreme over our digital lives. Practice Jesus’ supremacy today by setting your phone “face” down in front of you and simply repeating the phrase a few times towards your phone, “Jesus is supreme over all things, including my digital life.”