What is the supremacy of Christ and what are its implications?
The supremacy of Christ unfolds in Scripture along two great lines: His supremacy in creation and His supremacy in redemption — and from both flow profound implications for believers individually and for the assembly collectively.
Christ's supremacy in creation
J. N. Darby, in his Synopsis of Colossians, traces the foundation of Christ's supremacy to His very Person. He is not merely elevated to a high position — He is the Creator, and when He enters creation, there is only one place He can occupy:
J. N. DarbyThe Lord Jesus is the image of the invisible God. It is in the Son of His love that we see what God is ... But then what place can He have in creation when He has come into it according to the eternal counsels of God? He could have but one, namely, that of supremacy without contestation and without controversy. He is the firstborn of all creation; this is a relative name, not one of date with regard to time. It is said of Solomon, "I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth." Thus the Creator, when He takes a place in creation, is necessarily its Head.
And further:
He created it. It was in the Person of the Son that God acted, when by His power He created all things, whether in heaven or in the earth, visible and invisible. All that is great and exalted is but the work of His hand; all has been created by Him (the Son) and for Him. Thus, when He takes possession of it, He takes it as His inheritance by right.
Arthur Pridham, commenting on Ephesians 1, brings out the staggering implication of Christ's supremacy for every other claim to authority:
Arthur PridhamNothing could more emphatically declare to the whole intelligent creation, both the majesty of the power of God, and the sovereign supremacy of His will, than this elevation of the Man Christ Jesus to the throne of heaven. For the natural place of man is earth. ... Not only supremacy of place, but of name also, is conferred on Him. For the Name of Jesus is now named in Heaven as well as in the Church below, with the worship due to God alone.
He adds a sharp practical point:
It is most important to remember that the supremacy of Christ is not here affirmed with reference only to the coming manifestation of His power, but is in active operation as a present truth. His Name is exalted above every name in this world (or age), as well as in that which is to come.
And concerning what this means for every lesser claim:
God has bestowed on Him a name and place of such universal pre-eminence, as to give to every assumption of independent power or action, the definite character of rebellious enmity against God. Whether confessed or denied, He is "the Head of all principality and power."
Christ's supremacy in redemption
Darby shows that a second sphere of supremacy belongs to Christ — not by creation-rights, but by conquest through death and resurrection:
Another category of glory, another supremacy, is now presented. He takes a special place in relation to the assembly in the power of resurrection. It is the introduction of divine power, not in creation but in the empire of death; in order that others may participate in His glory by redemption, and by the power of life in Him. ... He is the Head of the body which is the assembly, the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead, that in all things He might have the pre-eminence.
He summarises the two spheres:
He is the Firstborn of creation, the Firstborn from among the dead; the Creator and the conqueror of death and the enemy's power. These are the two spheres of the display of the glory of God.
The implications: Christ's supremacy in the assembly
Hamilton Smith draws out the practical result with the help of the type of Joseph. Just as Joseph used his position of supreme power for Pharaoh's glory and for the people's blessing, so Christ exercises His supremacy for God's glory and for the blessing of His own:
Hamilton SmithIn all this Joseph is a striking type of Christ in exaltation. If we are to be saved from the present power of evil, nothing can be of greater importance than to realize that Christ is in the place of supreme power, and to submit to Him. ... He is set "far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come." But if the Father has glorified the Son, it is that the Son may glorify the Father ... Moreover if the Father is glorified, His people are blessed.
J. T. Mawson presses the implications into the most practical sphere — how believers gather together. He insists that the assembly is nothing less than Christ's own circle, the one sphere on earth where His rights are to be maintained:
J. T. MawsonNo one has any rights in the assembly but Christ; that is fundamental to the truth of the assembly, and of every gathering having an assembly character. Where it is not acknowledged the assembly is not. ... the assembly is Christ's own circle, the sphere in which He is to be supreme, and where His rights are to be maintained. It has been formed on earth by the Holy Ghost for this very purpose.
When the assembly is gathered it is a circle formed upon earth in which Christ's supremacy must abide unchallenged, or it loses its character and ceases to be for His pleasure. It is a circle where Christ is all and in all, and the Holy Ghost dwells in that circle to maintain in it the rights of Christ.
And the blessing that flows from owning His supremacy:
What blessing, what continuous streams of blessing would flow to the saints if His supremacy were owned by all, for He exercises His authority in perfect love. He, the one perfect, all-wise Administrator, administers the fullness of God for the blessing of His own when they are gathered together in His name.
F. B. Hole states the principle concisely:
F. B. HoleThe truth as to the Body of Christ puts special emphasis on the supremacy of Christ as head and on the pervading energy of the Holy Spirit as power with the consequent unity, love and spiritual growth of the body.
The Holy Spirit Who brings all this to pass is the Spirit of and from the ascended Christ. The body, therefore, is Christ's and He rules in it. In the age to come (the Millennium) His administration as Lord will cover the whole earth. However, at present, the Church is the sphere of His rule as far as the earth is concerned. The will of God is found in the Church on earth.
The supremacy of Christ in the age to come
W. J. Fereday traces the line forward to the Millennium:
W. J. FeredayEach nation retains its own sovereign, but all own the supremacy of Christ (Ps. 72:10-11; Rev. 21:24).
And H. J. Vine speaks of the mystery of God's will reaching its consummation:
H. J. VineWhen the day is reached for the manifestation of the supremacy of Christ, and all things in heaven and on earth are headed up in Him ... the mystery of God's will being consummated — we can readily perceive that His will in every part of that glorious administration will be done by all.
The supremacy of Christ rests on two unshakeable foundations: He is Creator of all things (and therefore Firstborn of creation, its rightful Head) and He is the conqueror of death (Firstborn from among the dead, Head of the body, the Church). These are the two great spheres of God's glory. His supremacy is not a future hope only — it is a present, operative truth. In the assembly gathered in His name, He alone has rights; the Holy Spirit dwells there to maintain those rights; and it is precisely as His lordship is owned that blessing flows to His people. In the coming age, that supremacy will be publicly manifested over all nations. But already now, the Church is the sphere where the will of God is carried out on earth, and where Christ is to be "all and in all."