“And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” – Colossians 1:18

In 1933, Protestant Christians in Germany faced pressure to “Aryanize” the Church, expel Jewish Christians from the ordained ministry and adopt the Nazi “Führer Principle” as the organizing principle of church government. In general, most churches succumbed to these pressures, and many Christians embraced them willingly. The pro-Nazi “German Christian” movement became a force in the church. They glorified Adolf Hitler as a “German prophet” and preached that racial consciousness was a source of revelation alongside the Bible. But there were some Christians in Germany who opposed the advancement of Nazi ideology within the church. From May 29-31, 1934, these Christians met in Barmen, Germany and produced the Barmen Declaration. It reaffirmed their faith through six confessional statements of Christ’s Lordship. The first confessional statement is: “Jesus Christ, as he is attested to us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God whom we have to hear, and whom we have to trust and obey in life and in death. We reject the false doctrine that there could be areas of our life in which we would not belong to Jesus Christ but to other lords, areas in which we would not need justification and sanctification through him.”

There is only one head of the church – Jesus Christ. Jesus said: “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” Does Christ have supremacy in all that you do? Today in prayer, give thanks to the Lord that He and He alone is worthy of your worship.

“Many are willing that Christ should be something, but few will consent that Christ should be everything.” – Alexander Moody Stuart

God’s Word: “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,” – Ephesians 1:22

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2002, Devotional E-Mail DEVOTIONS IN COLOSSIANS pkennedy@devotional.com