Coherence in Christ
Preached by Apostle Aje Pelser
Harvester Reformational Church, Cape Town

“And He himself antedates all things, and all things in Him cohere. And He himself is the Head of His Body, the Church. He is the originator [i.e., the creator], the firstborn out from among the dead, in order that He might become in all things himself the One who is pre-eminent, because in Him [God] was well pleased that all the fullness be permanently at home. And [God was well pleased] through His agency to reconcile all things to himself, having concluded peace through the blood of His Cross, through Him, whether the things upon the earth or the things in the heavens.” Wuest’s Greek Translation. Colossians 1:17-20.

Compare the New King James
Col 1:17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
Col 1:18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Col 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,
Col 1:20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

The word: “cohere” triggered much revelation: verb
Synonyms of cohere, intransitive verb
transitive verb: to cause (parts or components) to cohere
• to hold together firmly as parts of the same mass (We are part of His Body the Church.) 1Co 10:17 For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.
• broadly : stick, adhere (Love is the bond of perfection…)
Col 3:14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
• to display cohesion of plant parts (grafted into the Vine…)
• to hold together as a mass of parts that cohere (Jesus is the centre of our galaxy)
• to become united in principles, relationships, or interests (Unity of the faith, blessing) Eph 4:13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
• to be logically or aesthetically consistent (incoherence is a problem exposing deeper issues.)

Contact points of divine Coherence in Christ Jesus.
1. All time and space cohere within Christ. He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. “Before Abraham was, I Am.”
Joh 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
Joh 8:59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God and the Word was God.
John 1:1
2. The Body of Christ is coherent when we focus on Him as the head and centre of all things church.
Eph 4:15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
Eph 4:16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

3. Creation finds coherence in the Word, Jesus Christ, the son of God.
Joh 1:2 He was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God. Hebrews 11:
4. The fulness of God finds coherence in and through our faith in Christ.
Remember the heresies that the Colossian church was facing, others had tried to convince them to follow knowledge and exclusivity in revelation and manifestations – this still happens every few years in Christian circles some of whom have been duped into believing frivolous manifestations that mean nothing and are often exposed as fraudulent. The danger of following signs is that signs should rather follow the accurate preached word, not the other way around!
Col 2:6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
Col 2:7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
Col 2:8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
Col 2:9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;

5. Christ is the agent of reconciliation that brings coherence in relationships.
Rom 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 5:9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
Rom 5:10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Rom 5:11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
And further,
2Co 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
2Co 5:18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
2Co 5:19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
2Co 5:20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. Yes let’s be reconciled to God and help others to enter reconciliation through the coherence that we only find in Christ.

Jews and Gentiles grafted into Christ the Root
The fulfilment of Abraham’s promise the in His Seed all the nations of the world would be blessed: Gen. 22:18
Dr Roy M. Gray Writes in his commentary on the book of Romans, part of our MBTC Core Bible Course:
In the fullness of time Christ came. The fullness of the nation of Israel came when they were once again offered the salvation they had previously rejected. The gospel came first the Jews on The Day of Pentecost. 3,000 Jews and Jewish proselytes were saved from all the nations of that time and then shortly after that the first church grew to such proportions that it became a threat to the then governments of the world. “Those that turn the world upside down have come here too” (Acts 17:6). The Jews were the first to preach the gospel of Jesus to the world. This they did such with vehemence and conviction, that for instance, that the whole of Asia heard the word of God within the space of two years, (Acts 19:10). The Kingdom of God has come with power – as Jesus had predicted it would, and that some of His disciples (“…some standing here…”) would see and experience it, (Mark 9:1).
The blessings of Abraham spread to the entire world through the evangelistic zeal of the first church, mostly made up of born-again, spirit-filled believers who forsook their Jewish traditions.
The word “if” that Paul uses throughout his argument is not ean – the ‘if’ of a hypothetical condition, but ei – the ‘if’ of a fulfilled condition. Paul is not arguing upon the basis of a hypothesis, but upon the basis of facts (Wuest). Not only has God set Israel aside as a channel through which to bring the good news of salvation to the world, but has also brought Israel back into fellowship with Him. Not as most commentaries would suppose in the Millenium, but on the Day of Pentecost when the promise of the Father was poured out upon the Jews who believed – all 3,000 of them, and within the space of a few years 10,000 or more were added. This resulted in a direct ministry to the Gentiles; the Jews being the heralds of salvation to the Known World, and not as traditionalists would presume that one day after the second advent of Christ! “All Israel will be saved” refers to a national event – yes, but one which occurred on the Day of Pentecost. If that were not true the church was simply an after- thought – as if the Bride of Christ could ever be an after-thought! Note: 200 years after Christ, the Jewish leaders designed their present religious system called the Talmud because they were afraid that all the Jews would become Christians.

Grafted into Christ
Jesus is the true vine and we are the branches.
We, the gentiles, were not ‘natural branches’ but we were grafted into Christ when we believed in Him and became born again. Jews who come to salvation by believing in Christ are natural branches. It was God’s plan to have both natural branches and branches that were grafted into Him, the vine.
All Jews are not natural branches, only those who have come to salvation through their faith in Christ. When Jesus died and rose again he broke off the Jews who did not believe in Him. He did that so that all believers, Jews and Gentiles, can be grafted into Him.
In the wine industry they graft different vines to make new vines. Cabernet Sauvignon is the result of grafting Sauvignon Blanc into the root system of Cabernet Franc. This life force of the Cabernet Franc flows through the Sauvignon Blanc and produces a new grape, Cabernet Sauvignon. From the seed of the new grape they grow new plants called Cabernet Sauvignon.
In South Africa we cultivated Pinotage. Pinotage is Hermitage that is grafted into Pinot Noir.
The grafting is done with a special tool called a grafting tool. The tool is used to make the cuts into both the root system and the other vine. They fit into one another like puzzle pieces. Then the two pieces are bound together which speaks of healing (binding up the wounds).

Romans 11:16 says that “if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.” Because Jesus is holy, we also are holy because His life essence flows through us. His holiness flows through us and makes us holy. By our faith in Jesus we became partakers of His nature. We are partakers of His divine nature through His precious promises (2 Peter 1:4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature.) Romans 11:17 says “And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree.”
2 Corinthians 5:17 says “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
John 15:4 says “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” We cannot bear fruit by ourselves. It is our abiding in Him that causes Him to bear fruit in us.
Jesus wants us to bear more fruit. John 15:2 says “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”