The Supremacy of Christ
Taught by Pastor Isaac Oyedepo
This session opens the Berean Sessions study of Colossians by establishing the supremacy of Christ as the mega theme of chapter 1. Pastor Isaac lays historical groundwork: Colossians is a prison letter written by Paul around 60 AD from house arrest in Rome to a church founded by Epaphras that met in Philemon's house. He explains that 'epistle' means a letter of instruction, not suggestion, and walks through Paul's credentials, his greetings of grace and peace as kingdom currencies, and prayers in verses 3 through 12 that model how believers should pray for others. The heart of the teaching hits in verses 15 through 20, where Paul confronts three heresies circulating in Colossae: that God would not come in human flesh because matter is evil, that God did not create the world, and that Christ was merely one of many intermediaries between God and man. Paul's answer is absolute: Christ is the visible image of the invisible God, everything was created through him and for him, and God in all his fullness was pleased to live in him.
This is the first session of the Berean Sessions study through Colossians, held as a live online Bible study on Wednesday, March 18, 2026. The Colossians study was a direct follow-up to the impromptu Berean Sessions study of Jude. The series covers three days: chapter 1 (supremacy), chapter 2 (sufficiency), chapters 3–4 (life of Christ in the believer).
Summary
This session opens the Berean Sessions study of Colossians by establishing the supremacy of Christ as the mega theme of chapter 1. Pastor Isaac lays historical groundwork: Colossians is a prison letter written by Paul around 60 AD from house arrest in Rome to a church founded by Epaphras that met in Philemon's house. He explains that 'epistle' means a letter of instruction, not suggestion, and walks through Paul's credentials, his greetings of grace and peace as kingdom currencies, and prayers in verses 3 through 12 that model how believers should pray for others. The heart of the teaching hits in verses 15 through 20, where Paul confronts three heresies circulating in Colossae: that God would not come in human flesh because matter is evil, that God did not create the world, and that Christ was merely one of many intermediaries between God and man. Paul's answer is absolute: Christ is the visible image of the invisible God, everything was created through him and for him, and God in all his fullness was pleased to live in him.
Key Points
An epistle is a letter of instruction, not suggestion. Pastor Isaac compared it to a pilot's manual: you do not get to skip a button because you don't feel like pushing it.
Grace, peace, and mercy are kingdom currencies. Paul opened with 'may God our Father give you grace and peace.' If you are in the kingdom and lack God's grace, peace, and mercy, you are bankrupt.
Colossians 1:3–12 contains a model for how to pray for others. Pastor Isaac extracted seven prayer points from these verses.
Paul was dealing with three specific heresies in Colossae. The false teachers believed God would not come in human flesh, that God did not create the world, and that Christ was just one of many intermediaries between God and man.
Colossians 1:15–20 contains one of the strongest statements about the divine nature of Christ. Christ is the visible image of the invisible God, everything was created through him, he holds all creation together, and God in all his fullness was pleased to live in him.
Bearing fruit requires dying to self. We cannot bear fruit as Christians without being seed in the ground. That means dying to the applause of men, to the hunger for relevance, and to the associations we chase.
The good news is not good because it is sweet or full of hype. It is good because Jesus is at the center.