Colossians 1
13For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers of authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him.
17He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
18He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He himself will come to have first place in everything.
19For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,
20and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross, through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
21And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,
22yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him, holy and blameless and beyond reproach –
23if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.
15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
Jesus, the beloved Son of verse 13, is the image of the invisible God. “To say that Christ is the image of God is to say that in Him the nature and being of God have been perfectly revealed – that in Him the invisible has become visible” (F. F. Bruce on Colossians).This idea of ‘image’ is given more detail in Scripture.
Hebrews 1
1God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,
2in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
3And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
John 1
18No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
John 14
9Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
This speaks of Christ’s divinity, that in seeing one you have seen the other. It is quite clear through the whole Old Testament that God alone is to be worshipped, that YHWH is the only God.
Isaiah 42
8"I am the LORD, that is My name;
I will not give My glory to another,
Nor My praise to graven images.
God will not give His glory to another, yet Christ is the radiance of His glory. How is this possible, how can God allow another being to be spoken of in this way, unless they are one and share the same attributes.
This same Jesus is said to be the firstborn of all creation. What are we to understand this word – ‘firstborn’ – to mean? In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the LXX, the same word is used approximately 130 times. Of these about half refer to the literal physical first-born from the womb. In the other usages we start to see alternative treatments of the word. In Deuteronomy 21:17, Genesis 27, and Genesis 43:33 the firstborn was associated with special rights and privileges. In some instances ‘firstborn’ was given as a title of honour with relation to God’s special choosing, as in Exodus 4:22 for Israel (second born of Abraham), Jeremiah 31:9 for Ephraim (second born to Manasseh) , Psalm 89:27 for David the king (the youngest of his brothers).
So the question remains, when Paul by the inspiration of the Spirit calls Jesus the firstborn of all creation, what does He mean? Was Jesus the first created being of all of creation (as the Jehovah’s Witnesses believe)? When we look at verses 16 and 18 it becomes clear that this word is used as a title to distinguish Him above all of creation as supreme.
16For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers of authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him.
If Jesus Himself was a creation of God, then what part of creation would that be? This list which Jesus created is all inclusive, and laboriously so. Paul could have said Jesus created all things, but he chose by the inspiration of the Spirit to list these things. Things in heaven, on earth, invisible, visible – is there any realm which is not included? So if Jesus created ALL things, this excludes Him from being a part of that creation. To be the firstborn of all creation thus can be seen to be a title of God’s special choosing of Him ‘so that He himself will come to have first place in everything’ (verse 18).
God is clear in the historical narrative of Moses and the prophecies of Jeremiah that He alone is the Creator, and so by crediting Jesus with creation, the Holy Spirit testifies to Jesus’ divinity.
Genesis 1
1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Jeremiah 10
10But the LORD is the true God;
He is the living God and the everlasting King
At His wrath the earth quakes,
And the nations cannot endure His indignation.
11Thus you shall say to them, "The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens."
12It is He who made the earth by His power,
Who established the world by His wisdom;
And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens.
16The portion of Jacob is not like these;
For the Maker of all is He,
And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;
The LORD of hosts is His name
God the Father and God the Son are intimately linked in 1 Corinthians 8. Whereas in Colossians creation is by, through, and for God the Son; in 1 Corinthians 8 creation is from and for God the Father, and by and through God the Son. This is only consistent when we understand the godhead as a Trinity, one God three persons.
1 Corinthians 8
5For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords,
6yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.
17He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Any other so-called gods have no claim to glory or right to worship, for there is One who was before them and who sustains all things. Christ existed before anything else.John 1
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2He was in the beginning with God.
His power and wisdom are shown as He acts to hold all things together.
18He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He himself will come to have first place in everything.
Christ is supreme not only in creation but in the church also. The idea of Christ being the head of the body is familiar to us now, but it was peculiar of Paul when he first wrote his letters. He conveys the “picture of Christ’s power, wisdom, life and will directing the body, protecting and nourishing it” (F. F. Bruce on Colossians).
And He has first place in the resurrection from the dead. Again we have the term ‘firstborn’, but this time coupled with ‘beginning’. Many rose from the dead before Christ did (e.g. Lazarus in John 11:44), but it was by the power of Jesus that this was possible. Those who rose again did not rise to eternal life, but perished later. Christ was the first to rise by His own power, vindicating His claims to divinity, and the first to rise again to eternal life. Thus He has the title of being ‘firstborn’; He is the Supreme One who rose from the dead ushering in the new way. It is in the power of Him and His resurrection that we have hope for our own.
1 Corinthians 15
20But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.
21For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.
22For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
23But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming,
24then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.
Paul says that Christ has first place in creation, in the church, in the resurrection – that He has first place in everything. With this in mind, what do other gods have to offer? If the Colossians were ever tempted to follow after another god they only had to look at Christ and see that He was the Supreme One, the First, the only Creator and Sustainer of all things.
19For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,
God was ‘pleased’. It was His foreordained will that Christ should have all the fullness dwell in Him. What was this fullness?Colossians 2
9For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
“All the attributes of God, His Spirit, word, wisdom and glory are disclosed in Him” (F. F. Bruce on Colossians).
20and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross, through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
The Father was well pleased to send Christ and reconcile us to Him. The question however remains that if all things were by Christ, through and for Christ, why did they need to be reconciled to Him?
Romans 3
23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
The peace which we have is through the blood of the cross. The cross brings redemption, forgiveness of sins and the right to be a part of the kingdom of God. Praise God!
Colossians 1
13For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
21And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,
Paul speak of this often in his letters, he wants us to know of our former state before God, that we were lost and now we have been found, blind and now we see.Ephesians 2
1And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
2in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
3Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
4But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
Do we know and rejoice in the change God has wrought in us, or do we not even consider that we were once hostile to God? It is key to the message of the gospel to know our fallen-ness before God, and the hope in Christ.
22yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him, holy and blameless and beyond reproach –
Praise the Lord for the incarnation!Romans 8
3For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
What we couldn’t do, Christ did – in the flesh. He knows our frame, He knows our temptations, but He lived the perfect life for us.
God was well pleased to send Christ, for He had a distinct purpose – to present (us) before Him, holy and blameless and beyond reproach.
23if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.
This is the first statement in the passage which focuses on our response. Everything else has been on who God is, what God has done, what we were like before we came to Him. Now Paul turns to us. Paul says ‘if’. We will stand before God, presented by Christ as holy and blameless and beyond reproach, IF we continue in the faith not moved away. Considering the proceeding 10 verses, when we understand the true gravity of who Christ is, and what He has done, how can we be moved away from the hope found in Him to any other belief which is offered to us? As we saw in Jeremiah 10 any god which did not create the heavens and the earth will perish. We cannot place our hope or trust in any other than Christ who was before all things, created all things, who reconciled us to God and who is our head. Anything else is insufficient, is in subjection to Christ.Paul wants to make this clear to the Colossians who were being surrounded by all sorts of contrary teachings. We also have a world where every belief is considered equally valid, equally true - ‘if it works for you’. The Word of God is clear, Christ is first in everything. We need to continue in our faith, firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel. Christ is our hope, so let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of faith (Hebrews 12:3).
God bless you, and may you be encouraged by Christ, who He is and what He has done. Praise the Lord.
