The Genuine Jesus Christ
Colossians 1:15-18
It’s been said that the best way to spot a counterfeit is to truly know the genuine thing. The best way to recognize counterfeit money or a counterfeit painting is to thoroughly and accurately know the original. It’s the same way with any false teaching about Jesus Christ. The Colossian church was in danger from false teaching about Jesus Christ and the salvation that He gives. Most false teaching, then and now, distorts either the person or the work of Christ, or both. And so, Paul’s solution to the false teaching in Colosse was to remind them of the truth about who Christ is and what He has done. That’s what we find in Colossians 1:15-20.
15 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.
19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,
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.
(Col. 1:15-20).
These six verses give us one of the most breathtaking declarations of the person and work of Christ in all the scriptures. Piper calls it the Mount Everest of Christ-exalting scriptures.[1] In a very concise and compact way, Paul beautifully unfolds the absolute supremacy of Christ in creation and redemption. This is the molten core of Paul’s message to the Colossians and to us. Christ is preeminent. He is sufficient. Look no further for fullness than to Jesus Christ. Christ is all that we need.
Because this passage has a very poetic form, scholars believe it may have been a hymn that they early church sung in worship. Sometimes, truth is too beautiful for prose and requires praise.[2] This truth about the person and work of Christ is meant not only to inform our understanding, by to inflame our hearts so that we bow in wonder and worship our Lord Jesus Christ. These words should cause us to sing of the glorious majesty of Christ in His deity and His humanity. There is majesty in the greatness of their scope, revealing to us the significance of Jesus Christ with respect to everything that exists. Eight times in these few verses, we find the word “all”: He is the firstborn of “all creation” (Col. 1:15), by whom “all things” were created (Col. 1:16), through whom and for whom “all things” were made (Col. 1:17), who existed before “all things” (Col. 1:17), by whom “all things” consist (Col. 1:17), who is preeminent over “all things” (Col. 1:18), in whom dwells “all the fullness” (Col. 19), and by whom “all things” are reconciled to God (Col. 1:20).
Today, we are going to look at Colossians 1:15-18 which focus on the person of Christ, and then next time, we will look at the work of Christ in Colossians 1:19-20. The point that Paul wants to drive home in found at the end of Colossians 1:18, “that in all things He [Christ] may have the preeminence.” Christ is supreme over all things, which is why Christ is central to all things, which is why we are called to live a Christ-centered life.
In this powerful passage, Paul answers three questions about the person of Christ: who is Jesus in relation to God; who is Jesus in relation to creation; and who is Jesus in relation to the church? Paul’s inspired answers are: 1) Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15a); 2) Jesus is the firstborn over all creation (Col. 1:15b-17); and 3) Jesus is the head of the body, the church (Col. 1:18).
Jesus Christ is:
1. The image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15a)
What does Paul mean when he says that Jesus Christ is “the image of the invisible God”? Image translates the Greek term from which we get our word “icon.” It is the representation or manifestation of a thing. When we think of image, we normally have in mind a copy of something. In our thinking, an image is not the reality, only a copy of it. A photograph is an image captured of some reality, maybe a sunset or mountain scene. It is not actually the sunset or mountain scene but an image of it.
However, the Greek word used here means not just a copy, but an exact representation. Do you want to know what God is like? Look at Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1 says that God’s Son is “the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person” (Heb. 1:3). Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God.
Scripture consistently teaches that God is invisible to our eyes. John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit.” 1 Timothy says that honor and glory forever and ever belong to “the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God” (1 Tim. 1:17, KJV), “who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (1 Tim. 6:16). John’s Gospel declares, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” (John 1:18). Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God.
In John 14, when Jesus was talking with His disciples about God, Philip asked him: “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us” (John 14:8) Jesus answered, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9) Jesus is the image of the invisible God. If you’ve seen Jesus, you’ve seen the Father. People who knew my dad say that I remind them of him because I look a little like him and even sound like him. But I could never say, like Jesus, that whoever sees me sees my father. But Jesus could because Jesus bears more than a resemblance to God the Father. Jesus is God in the flesh.
Later in this passage Paul says, “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,” (Col. 1:19). In Colossians 2:9, Paul writes, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” So, Paul is not speaking of one who is only a faint copy of what God is like. Nor is he referring to one who is merely God-like in character but not in nature. Instead, he tells the Colossians to see Christ for who He is, He is “the image of the invisible God.” This can only mean that Jesus is God. He’s not merely the representation of God, but is actually the manifestation of God.
That’s who Jesus Christ is in relation to God the Father. He is the image of the invisible God. Next, we see that Jesus is:
2. The firstborn over all creation (Col. 1:15b-17)
This phrase “the firstborn over all creation” is an important phrase to understand correctly. Literally, it says “the firstborn of all creation” (NASB). Unfortunately, this phrase has been wrongly used by false teachers to say that Jesus was the first created being. For example, there was an early heresy in the church called Arianism. Arius taught that Jesus was created rather than eternal. His famous slogan about Jesus said, “There was a time when he was not.”[3] The Jehovah’s Witnesses today teach that Jesus was the first creature created by God.
But this false teaching violates the very context in which this phrase is found. Here, we have just shown that Paul is exalting Christ as God. Jesus could not be part of creation because the very next verse says, “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.” (Col. 1:16). John’s Gospel agrees with this when it says about Jesus, “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (John 1:3).
The term “firstborn of all creation” does not indicate that Jesus was created. The NKJV conveys the meaning correctly when it translates it, “the firstborn over all creation.” In the Bible, “firstborn” speaks more about rank than it does about time. It means the one who has the highest place and the right of inheritance. The firstborn son in a family had the birthright that gave him the double portion of the inheritance and made him head of the family. In Exodus 4:22, the LORD said, “Israel is My son, My firstborn.” Israel was not the first nation or the greatest nation. Firstborn meant that Israel had special rank by divine favor among the nations. In a prophecy about the Messiah in Psalm 89, the psalmist declares about David, “Also I will make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth.” (Psa. 89:27).
Paul is teaching the same thing when he declares that Jesus Christ is “the firstborn over all creation.” He is king and heir over all creation. As the firstborn over all creation, four things are true of Him:
a. Jesus created all things (Col. 16:a).
Why is Jesus the firstborn over all creation? Paul writes, “For,” or because, “by Him all things were created.” When Paul says “all things” he really means all things. He says Jesus created “all things … that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.” Genesis 1:1 tells us, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Colossians tells us that Jesus created all things in heaven and on earth. The conclusion is unmistakable: Jesus is God, and all things were created by Him. H.B. Charles says, “Every created thing bears the stamp: ‘Made by Jesus!’”[4]
Jesus is not only the creator of the visible, physical world, He is also the creator of the invisible, spiritual realm. We only see the physical world, but the spiritual world is just as real. Paul describe this invisible, spiritual world even further when he says: “whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.” These terms refer to the various angelic beings that inhabit the spiritual world. Jesus is not one of the angels or even the greatest of the angels—Jesus created the angelic spiritual beings. They are all under His authority and power. Even the demons aligned with Satan are under the sovereign authority of Jesus. That’s why it was no problem for Jesus to cast our demons and evil spirits from tormented people in the Gospel accounts. He created them and they are subject to Him.
Not only is Jesus the source of all creation, He is the agent of all creation. Paul says, “All things were created through Him” (Col. 1:16). Hebrews 1:2 says God, “… has spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.”
Second,
b. Jesus is the goal of creation.
The end of Colossians 1:16 says that all things were created “for Him.” All of creation exists for Christ. Remember that the firstborn has the right of inheritance. Again Hebrews 1:2 says that God has appointed His Son “heir of all things.” The great purpose and goal of the created universe is Jesus Christ. All things, including you and me, were created for Christ and His glory. We were created to declare the preeminence of Christ. “Christ created everything and sustains everything for the glory of Christ!”[5]
c. Jesus is before all creation.
Colossians 1:17, “And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” When the universe began, Jesus already existed. John 1:1-2 says it clearly, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” (John 1:1-2). Contrary to Arius, there was never a time when He was not. Just as God the Father has always existed, God the Son has always existed.
Because He is before all things, Christ is greater than all things. In John 8, the Jews would not accept Jesus’ claims about His relationship with God the Father. They confronted Him asking, “Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be?” (John 8:53). And Jesus told them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:58). And they took up stones to throw at Him because they understood He claimed to be God.
d. Jesus is the sustainer of all creation.
Colossians 1:17 again says, “and in Him all things consist.” The word implies continuance, endurance, existence, coherence. The verb tense shows that He has been holding everything together since creation and will continue to do so. Jesus is not only the creator of the universe, he is also the sustainer of the universe. Or as Hebrews 1:3 says about the Son, “who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power.” Every star, every planet, every atom, every molecule at every moment is completely and totally dependent on Jesus Christ. If Christ should cease to sustain, the creation would cease to exist. Every flower that blooms or fades or falls does so by the hand of Jesus. The seasons change as His command. Every breath you take in this world is dependent on the sustaining power of Jesus Christ. Nothing is outside of His authority and control. This world is not governed by blind chance. You don’t have to live in utter fatalism. Christ rules over all. If Christ sustains the order of creation and the course of human history, how could I ever think that He is inadequate to save me or sustain me in my walk with Him?
Christ is supreme over creation in the past, in the present and in the future. He is supreme over creation in the past because he is the creator of all things. He is supreme over creation in the present because he is the sustainer of all things. And he is supreme over creation in the future because he is the heir of all things.[6]
We have seen who Jesus is in relation to God and in relation to the creation. Finally in relation to the new creation, Jesus Christ is …
3. The Head of the body, the church (Col. 1:18)
Colossians 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.”
Paul ascribes three titles to Jesus in this verse. First, He is “the head of the body, the church.” No one on earth is the head of the church. No pastor in any church is the head of the church. No pope is the head of the church. Jesus alone is the head of the church. The church is the body of Christ, and Jesus is the head of the body. That means that there is a living relationship between Christ and the church. The body is totally dependent on the head. I like the way H.B. Charles puts it, “Anything without a head is dead. Anything with more than one head is a monster. Jesus Christ is the only true head of the church.”[7]
As the body of Christ we are united with Christ who is our head. As the head, Christ is both the source and the authority of the church. Paul says that Christ is He “who is the beginning.” As the beginning of the church Jesus is both the founder and ruler of the church. Jesus is the “the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2). In Revelation 22:13, Jesus says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
How did Jesus begin the church? By saving people by faith in His death and resurrection. Paul says, that Christ is “the firstborn from the dead.” This is the second time that Paul has called Jesus the firstborn. He is the firstborn over all creation and He is also the firstborn from the dead. He is the first and greatest to be resurrected. Now we know that Jesus was not the first person to be raised from the dead. The Gospels record that Jesus Himself raised three people from the dead. But they experienced more of a resuscitation than a resurrection. They all eventually died again and they await the resurrection of the body at the end of the age. But Jesus was resurrected never to die again. He is alive today and forever! In Revelation 1:17-18 Jesus says, 18 “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.”
Because He is the firstborn from the dead, Christ’s resurrection guarantees our resurrection. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15,
20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 2.1 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. (1 Cor. 15:20-23).
The firstborn from among the dead carries a similar meaning to the firstfruits. Because Jesus is the head of the body, and because Jesus rose from the dead, we who are part of the body of Christ will be raised from the dead, too.
Paul concludes from all this “that in all things He may have the preeminence.” Christ’s resurrection from the dead completes the picture. He is the firstborn over all creation, and he is the firstborn from among the dead. He is supreme over the old creation, and he is supreme over the new creation. Christ is supreme over all things.
Jesus is supreme over all things, and He should always have first place – first place in the universe, first place in the church, first place in your heart. The false teachers at Colosse tried to move Jesus out of first place. But Christ is supreme. Christ is central. And He deserves first place in everything.
What place does Jesus Christ have in your life? If Christ is supreme over all things, then he should be supreme in your life as well. “Christ first” should be your motto in all things
[1] John Piper, The Supremacy of Christ in Everything, https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-supremacy-of-christ-in-everything.
[2] David Strain, That in Everything He Might Be Preeminent, https://fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/that-in-everything-he-might-be-preeminent/.
[3] Origin, The Deposition of Arius, https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2803.htm.
[4] H.B. Charles, THE SUPREMACY OF JESUS CHRIST, https://hbcharlesjr.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/The-Supremacy-of-Jesus-Christ-2017.pdf.
[5] Piper, ibid.
[6] Ray Fowler, The Supremacy of Christ, https://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/colossians/the-supremacy-of-christ/.
[7] Charles, ibid.
