Listen for God’s word to you from Colossians 1:15-23…
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 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. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
But, at the same time, it should be noted that Paul, curiously, never names Jesus in this passage. The passage begins with the Greek word “hos” which should be translated “who”. This “who” refers to the previous verses we looked at last week. Colossians 1:13-14 says, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” That’s why the NIV adds the words “The Son” at the beginning of verse 15. Paul is talking about “The Son whom God loves”, namely, Jesus of Nazareth. And in today’s passage Paul tells us…
Ten Truths about the Son of God
1. He is the image of the invisible God.
Jesus is the image of the invisible God. What does this mean?
In the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament Wisdom is often personified. And some of the same things that are said of Wisdom there are said of Christ here. For example, in Proverbs, Wisdom is said to be co-eternal with God, and Wisdom is said to have been with God when he created the world. So, there is precedence for this idea in the Jewish world.
In the Greek world there is the idea of the Logos. The Logos is the reasoning power behind the universe. John identifies Jesus with the Logos in the prologue to his gospel.
Philo was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, from about 20 BC to AD 50. The same Greek word that Paul uses for image, “eikon”, was identified by Philo over and again with the Logos.
In Genesis we are told that the first human beings were made in the image of God. The same Greek word for image, “eikon”, that Paul uses in Colossians, was used in the Greek translation of Genesis to translate the Hebrew word for image. So, there is a sense in which Paul is telling us that Jesus is the perfect human being.
The diminutive form of the word “eikon”, “eikonion”, was used for a portrait in Greek. It is the nearest equivalent in ancient Greek to our modern English word, photograph. So, perhaps, Paul is telling us that when God sat for his portrait, Jesus was the result. Jesus is the portrait or the photograph of God.
This is amazing stuff. And it gets even more amazing still.
2. The firstborn over all creation.
Secondly, Paul tells us that the Son of God is the firstborn over all creation. Now, this can make it sound like the Son of God is the first thing, the first person, created by God. But when you read this statement of Paul in context, it is obvious that this is not what Paul means.
It is important to remember that this word, firstborn, “prototokos” in Greek, is a title of honor in the Greek translation of Exodus 4:22. It also appears as a title for the Messiah in Psalm 89:27.
And what was the firstborn son in the ancient world? He was always the heir of the father. And the writer to the Hebrews says the same thing about Jesus. He is the heir of all things. (Hebrews 1:2)
3. In him all things were created.
Thirdly, Paul tells us that in him, in the Son of God, all things were created. This language gives us an interesting picture. We tend to think of God’s creation as something separate from him, almost ejected from him. But Paul says that in the Son of God, all things were created. We almost get a picture here of God, or the Son of God, being like a mother, carrying all creation in her womb.
In case we were wondering what Paul means by “all things”, he spells it out for us. “All things” includes things in heaven and on earth. It includes things visible and invisible. It includes thrones, powers, rulers, and authorities. I love the King James translation of these entities: thrones, dominions, principalities, powers. These may be designations for different levels of angels. Paul is telling us an astonishing thing. He is saying that Jesus is the creator of everything.
4. All things have been created through him and for him.
So, the Son of God was involved in creation. But not only that. Paul says that all things have been created through him and for him. Not only is the Son of God involved in creation, but all things that have been made were made for him. In other words, we are not made for ourselves, to please ourselves. We are made to please him. And when we live for that purpose, we find meaning. Apart from living for the Son of God, there is no meaning.
5. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Fifthly, Paul says that the Son of God is before all things, and in him all things hold together. This statement makes it clear that the Son of God is not part of creation. He was involved in creation and in fact he existed before the universe was created. This is almost identical to what John says in his prologue…
Jesus is the image of the invisible God. What does this mean?
In the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament Wisdom is often personified. And some of the same things that are said of Wisdom there are said of Christ here. For example, in Proverbs, Wisdom is said to be co-eternal with God, and Wisdom is said to have been with God when he created the world. So, there is precedence for this idea in the Jewish world.
In the Greek world there is the idea of the Logos. The Logos is the reasoning power behind the universe. John identifies Jesus with the Logos in the prologue to his gospel.
Philo was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, from about 20 BC to AD 50. The same Greek word that Paul uses for image, “eikon”, was identified by Philo over and again with the Logos.
In Genesis we are told that the first human beings were made in the image of God. The same Greek word for image, “eikon”, that Paul uses in Colossians, was used in the Greek translation of Genesis to translate the Hebrew word for image. So, there is a sense in which Paul is telling us that Jesus is the perfect human being.
The diminutive form of the word “eikon”, “eikonion”, was used for a portrait in Greek. It is the nearest equivalent in ancient Greek to our modern English word, photograph. So, perhaps, Paul is telling us that when God sat for his portrait, Jesus was the result. Jesus is the portrait or the photograph of God.
This is amazing stuff. And it gets even more amazing still.
2. The firstborn over all creation.
Secondly, Paul tells us that the Son of God is the firstborn over all creation. Now, this can make it sound like the Son of God is the first thing, the first person, created by God. But when you read this statement of Paul in context, it is obvious that this is not what Paul means.
It is important to remember that this word, firstborn, “prototokos” in Greek, is a title of honor in the Greek translation of Exodus 4:22. It also appears as a title for the Messiah in Psalm 89:27.
And what was the firstborn son in the ancient world? He was always the heir of the father. And the writer to the Hebrews says the same thing about Jesus. He is the heir of all things. (Hebrews 1:2)
3. In him all things were created.
Thirdly, Paul tells us that in him, in the Son of God, all things were created. This language gives us an interesting picture. We tend to think of God’s creation as something separate from him, almost ejected from him. But Paul says that in the Son of God, all things were created. We almost get a picture here of God, or the Son of God, being like a mother, carrying all creation in her womb.
In case we were wondering what Paul means by “all things”, he spells it out for us. “All things” includes things in heaven and on earth. It includes things visible and invisible. It includes thrones, powers, rulers, and authorities. I love the King James translation of these entities: thrones, dominions, principalities, powers. These may be designations for different levels of angels. Paul is telling us an astonishing thing. He is saying that Jesus is the creator of everything.
4. All things have been created through him and for him.
So, the Son of God was involved in creation. But not only that. Paul says that all things have been created through him and for him. Not only is the Son of God involved in creation, but all things that have been made were made for him. In other words, we are not made for ourselves, to please ourselves. We are made to please him. And when we live for that purpose, we find meaning. Apart from living for the Son of God, there is no meaning.
5. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Fifthly, Paul says that the Son of God is before all things, and in him all things hold together. This statement makes it clear that the Son of God is not part of creation. He was involved in creation and in fact he existed before the universe was created. This is almost identical to what John says in his prologue…
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.
But Paul goes a step beyond John when he says, “In him all things hold together.” Deists, like Thomas Jefferson, believe that God created the universe like a watchmaker. Then God wound up the universe and let it go. Deists do not believe that God has any ongoing involvement in his creation. Thus, for the deist, there can be no such thing as a miracle. Once God created the world everything ever since has functioned according to natural law. And for the deist, God does not interfere with his creation.
This is not the Judeo-Christian belief. Christians and Jews believe that God has ongoing interaction with his creation. He providentially governs all things. New Englanders originally believed this so much that they named a city after this idea. They called it Providence, Rhode Island.
But I love this statement of Paul, “In him all things hold together.” To me that means that if I am in Christ, then he holds me together.
They say that a Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t. I believe that is true.
But it is even more true to say that if we are in Christ, then he holds us together, even or especially when we feel like we are falling apart. After all, how can it be said that Jesus is not powerful enough to hold us together, when he is holding the whole universe together?
6. He is the head of the body, the church.
The sixth point Paul makes about the Son of God moves on from creation to the church. Paul says the Son of God is the head of the body, the church.
Now there are two possible meanings of the word “head”. Paul may be using the word “head” in the sense of “source”. Paul may be telling us that Jesus is the source of the church’s life and being.
It’s amazing to me how some entities that call themselves churches can pretend like they are supposed to be something else. There is no other purpose for the church. We exist for Jesus. He is the source of our life and being. As C. S. Lewis says,
… the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time.
In a community where I used to live a resident of that town said to me one day, “I hear your church is really into spiritual growth.” I felt like responding, “What else is there?” That’s what the church is supposed to be about. It’s all about Jesus.
So, Jesus is the head of the church in the sense of being its source. The church would not exist if it were not for Jesus. But he is also the head of the church in the sense of being the director of the church’s continued activity. Got that? The pastor is not the boss of the church. The Church Council is not the boss. The Trustees are not the boss. The Deacons are not the boss. The Pope is not the boss. Jesus is the boss. He is in charge, and he is the only one who deserves to tell the church what to do. Are we listening to him?
7. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead.
Paul’s next point follows on from this. If Jesus is the head of the church in the sense of being its source, then he is also the beginning of the church. The church would not exist if it were not for Jesus and for one event in the life of Jesus—the resurrection. Jesus is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the church never would have gotten going. Remember what the disciples did when they thought Jesus was dead and gone? They went into hiding. We even see them going back to fishing. But then Jesus comes and appears to them, in his risen body, and he says, “I’ve got work for you to do.” That is the only reason the church ever got going and that is the only reason why it has existed for two thousand years. And Jesus promises the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
8. So that in everything he might have the supremacy.
And Paul says that all of this is for a purpose. If all of these statements about Jesus are true, then Jesus ought to have the supremacy. Jesus ought to be pre-eminent in everything for the church and for the world, and even for the universe. Because of the resurrection Jesus may rightly be considered Lord of all. Is he Lord of your life? Is he pre-eminent in your life?
9. God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.
The next point Paul makes, using a word that I believe is the key word in all of Colossians. Paul says that God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him. That is to say that there is nothing of God left out when we look at the Son of God, when we look at Jesus. This is about the most dramatic statement of Jesus’ divinity that could be made. Jesus is no demi-god. He is fully God, while at the same time being fully human. There is nothing of the godhead that isn’t in Christ.
10. And through him God reconciled to himself all things.
And then the final point Paul makes about the Son of God, having told us nine important truths about his person, he now tells us about the work for which the Son of God came to earth. The Son of God came to earth in the form of Jesus of Nazareth so that through him God could and would reconcile all things to himself.
Again, if we are wondering what Paul means by “all things” he tells us. Paul says this includes things on earth and things in heaven. This tells us something about the scope of reconciliation. The scope is universal.
You might wonder, “What needs to be reconciled to God in heaven?” Some commentators have thought this might be a reference to fallen angels. The early church father, Origen, thought that. He believed that in the end, God would even reconcile fallen angels, like Satan, to himself.
I don’t know if that is what Paul means by this statement. But I do believe that reconciliation includes the whole universe. And that is the best good news there could be.
How did the Son of God bring about this reconciliation? He did it by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. This is the means of reconciliation. The cross proves that there is no length to which God will not go to reconcile you to himself.
Two truths about us…
And this leads to two truths that Paul tells us about us. The first truth is that once we were alienated from God, we were enemies in our minds because of our evil behavior. That is the bad news… the fact of sin. But thankfully, Paul does not leave us there.
Paul closes out this passage with one of his famous “buts”. But now God has reconciled us by Christ’s physical body through death to present us holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if we continue in our faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the good news that we heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven and of which Paul has become a servant.
John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace, summed this up so well when he said, “Although my memory’s fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”
Even if we forget everything else, but we remember those two truths, we will be alright in the end…
Let’s pray…
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