Colossians 1:15-18
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 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.”
One thing to understand is that the false teachers in Paul’s day were very confused about Creation. They taught that matter was evil, including the human body. They also taught that Jesus Christ did not have a real body since this would have put Him in contact with evil matter. These false teachings resulted in extreme asceticism on the one hand and unbridled sin on the other. The consensus was that if your body is sinful, you either try to enslave it or you enjoy it.
In these verses, Paul explains the relationship between Christ and Creation. The term firstborn does not refer to time, but refers to importance. Jesus Christ was not the first being created, since He Himself is the Creator of all things and preceded Creation. Firstborn simply means “of first importance” or “of first rank.” The use of this term implies both Christ’s priority to all Creation and His sovereignty over all Creation.
The next thing to notice is the phrase “image of the invisible God.” How can someone be an image of something invisible? Jesus said Himself in John 14:7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” Jesus was telling His disciples that if they truly looked into His heart and His character, they would see God because He was God. The word for ‘image’ means exact representation of. Even though God is invisible, Jesus has made Him clear to us as explained in John 1:18 “No one has seen God at any time. fThe only begotten 8Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”
The question we have to ask ourselves is this: “If Jesus is the image of God, are we the image of Jesus?”
1 John 2:6 says “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” Are we?
We see in verse 16 that all things were created BY HIM, THROUGH HIM and FOR HIM. Paul used three different prepositions to describe this relationship between Christ and Creation (Greek: en, dia and eis). By stating that Creation was created by Jesus (en), through Jesus (dia) and for Jesus (eis), Paul is declaring not only that the Creation came into existence through Christ but that it came into existence for His good pleasure.
John 1:3 echoes this description of Jesus “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
Verse 16 also removes any doubt as to just how far Jesus’ dominion extends. It covers everything in heaven, on earth and Jesus is over every ruling body (governments, kings and yes, even our president) in heaven and on earth. That pretty much covers everything.
This is further declared by Paul when he quotes the prophet Isaiah in Romans 14:11 “For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.” and in Philippians 2:10-11 “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
In verse 17 “and in Him all things consist.” would be better translated “holds all things together” because the word for ‘consist’ in the Greek means ‘put or place together’ or ‘to unite parts into one whole.’ Scientists will tell you that everything consists of matter that is made of rapidly moving particles but if you ask what holds those particles together, they have no answer, but we do, it is Jesus. By declaring that Jesus not only is the Creator of all things but that He holds it all together, Paul is declaring Jesus to be God. Don’t let anyone tell you that the Bible does not claim Jesus to be God because these versus along with John 1:1 and 1:3 and others clearly state it.
In verse 18, Paul states that Jesus is the head of the body which is the church. No one denomination can claim to be the true church although many do. Some think that they have the market cornered on the Holy Spirit. They are wrong. The church is made up of every true believer. The word for ‘head represents the ‘source’, ‘origin’ and ‘leader’ of the entire church body.
Paul is making it clear that it all begins with Christ. His phrase “Firstborn from the dead” is interesting because I was thinking, “But what about Lazarus and the young girl that were raised from the dead.” Jesus was the first to be raised from the dead to an immortal body. That is what Paul is referring to. Again, no matter how you describe Christ, he is preeminent. He is the first!
