who is image of the invisible God, firstborn of all creation;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
because by him were created all things, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, or lordships, or principalities, or authorities all things have been created by him and for him.
The verse opens with "for" — it is the reason behind the title just given to Christ, the firstborn of all creation. Everything that exists, from the dust of earth to the unseen ranks of heaven, comes from Him and exists for Him.
The title "firstborn" is not a claim that Christ was the earliest thing made. It states rank, and this verse supplies the reason for that rank.
But Colossians 1 calls Him not only the "Image of God" but the "Firstborn of all creation." Even if He had been the last to be born, He would still hold the Firstborn's place. Here is the reason: He created all! And when the Creator-Son comes into His creation, He must have the first place.
The sweeping language of this verse is deliberate. It fences off any suggestion that Christ Himself belongs among the things made.
In this detailed description of the Son's creative work, the Spirit leaves no loophole for unbelieving man to suggest an exception that might seem to disprove His claim: the Son of the Father's love is the Creator of the whole creation. He created all things Himself, in His own right, and as the instrument of God's purpose and glory. So, according to the Spirit's teaching, nothing can cross the fixed barrier between the Son, the Creator, on one side, and the created things He produced on the other.
Three small words carry the weight of the verse. Older English translations blur the first one.
Verse 16 states this great fact in a threefold way, using three different prepositions: in, by and for. In our Authorized Version the first preposition is "by," just like the second. Word for word, though, it is "in." Look this passage up in Darby's New Translation and you will find footnotes. They tell us that "in" means "characteristic power": "He was the One whose intrinsic power characterized the creation. It exists as His creature." They also tell us that "by" means He was "the active Instrument," and that "for" means He is "the End" for which creation exists.
That first preposition means the universe carries His stamp.
He created the whole creation, the "all things," including thrones and so on, to bear some mark of His glory — each detail in its own measure. Suppose we knew the language of the heavens above our heads, or of the earth beneath our feet, as He created them. Then every form of life, every atom, every colour, every shape, every sound and every authority would tell us something of the wisdom and glory of Christ.
The four terms name positions of office, seen and unseen. Older versions call the last two "principalities" and "powers."
Whether they are thrones, the highest officials; or dominions, rulers over parts of God's vast universe; or principalities, lesser authorities; or powers, every angelic being glorying in its strength, fallen and unfallen — though all were unfallen when He created them.
Writers admit the exact difference between the four is beyond us — and that this does not weaken the argument.
What may be the real distinction between thrones, dominions, principalities and powers we do not know, but we do know that they all owe their very existence to our Lord Jesus. Twice over in this one verse is it stated that He is the Creator of "all things."
The closing words rule out the idea of Christ as a workman serving someone greater.
He is not a lesser workman creating for the glory of a higher Master, for a God above Himself, as Arianism later pretended. He is the End of created things as well as their immediate Source. When a creature lives for Him, it finds there both the explanation and the rule of its own being.
Some later taught that Christ was Himself a creature. That claim cannot survive this phrase.
He is Creator, not created, and all created things are not only by but for Him. Did He, a creature, create all things for Himself? What is left then for God?
Teachers at Colossae offered a religion of ranked spirit-beings that pushed Christ down the ladder.
The Colossian heresy turned on a subtle error, a false mysticism that only a privileged few could enter. It set out to explain evil and creation. God is good and matter is evil, so a descending series of angelic orders (principalities and powers) must connect God with the universe. The result was that the Son of God lost His throne and angels received worship.
One day every seat of power He made will stand for Him.
In the end, someone who represents Christ will fill every throne in the universe. All will be conformed to His image and represent Him. And every place of lordship will be held for the glory of Christ.
- Reason — "For" explains the title before it. Christ ranks first over creation because He made it, not because He was made first.
- In Him — creation bears His stamp. He formed every atom and every authority to show something of His wisdom and glory.
- By Him — He is the active hand behind everything in heaven and earth, seen and unseen, from the dust to the highest thrones.
- For Him — He is the goal, not a workman building for someone greater. Each creature finds the point of its existence in Him.
- Therefore — no spirit-being, philosophy or angelic order stands alongside Him. One day every throne in the universe will represent Him.
And *he* is before all, and all things subsist together by him.
Paul is describing where the Son of God stands in relation to everything that exists. This short verse makes two claims about Him: one about time, and one about what keeps the universe going. Both shut the door on any idea that the Son is part of creation.
The verb matters here. Commentators point out that it rules out any idea that the Son had a starting point.
Some men claim to believe in His pre-eminence over creation, and yet say that He Himself had a beginning. We are guarded against such mistaken thoughts, for we are clearly told, "He is before all things." This statement tells us in no uncertain terms of the divine and eternal glory of the Son. We are carried back to a time before anything created existed. There we learn not merely "He was," but "He is." These words forbid the thought that "He began" or that "He was made." They tell us clearly of His eternal existence as the Son.
This way of speaking is not unique to Paul. The same timeless "I am" is heard from Jesus Himself and from God at the burning bush.
The verb establishes His existence before all created things: "He is," not was, "before all things" and beings. It is the scriptural phrase signifying absolute, timeless existence. The Holy Spirit uses it here of the Son. Jesus used it of Himself when He said to the Jews, "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). God said the same of Himself when He sent Moses to the children of Israel: "I am has sent me to you" (Ex. 3:14).
There is an extra weight on the word "He" in the original that English readers can miss.
The special force of the pronoun may be lost to the English reader, but the original Greek uses the emphatic pronoun autos, which means "very self." So the verse declares that "He Himself," or "His very self" is "before all things." It is He (that is, the Son) and no other. The Person of the Son preceded the universe, and He is also the universal Cause.
The second half of the verse moves from where things came from to what keeps them going.
"And He is before all things and by Him all things consist." Everything depends upon Him; all things are held together by Him. Without Him all would cease to be. Four times in these two verses we read of "all things." All things created by Him; all things for Him; He is before all things; all things consist by Him.
Older translations read "by Him all things consist," where the ESV has "in him all things hold together." Commentators say that little word "by" means more than simple agency.
"And by [or, in virtue of] him all things consist." In virtue of Him gives a clearer and more intimate idea. The object here is to take away all vagueness in exalting Christ.
Commentators press the word "together."
Created things do not only continue to exist; they continue together. The Son sustains the vast creation in all its parts as one harmonious whole. Men would use what they call the laws of nature to shut the Creator out of His universe. But without the sustaining power of the Son, all would collapse into ruin.
Science can map the universe. It cannot find the centre this verse names.
Our sun and other suns may all revolve around some great central point, and astronomers have tried in vain to discover it. But the simple Christian is after all wiser than the astronomers, for he can say, "By Him all things hang together." He is the central Pivot, the glorious Person in whom every part of the universe is concentrated, and He holds everything for God.
Such a Person could seem far away. But believers are united to Him, in what is called here the assembly, or the church.
All things subsist together "by Him," and in what relation does this wonderful Person of such glorious pre-eminence stand to us? "He is the Head of the body—the assembly." Oh! to think that we are so closely united to such a One! He is our Head, and we are the members of His body! He gave Himself for the assembly.
- Before — "He is," not "He was," marks timeless existence and shuts out any beginning for the Son.
- Himself — the emphatic pronoun says it is He and no other who precedes the universe and causes it.
- By — "in virtue of Him" is closer than mere agency; the wording exists to remove vagueness about Christ.
- Together — everything depends on Him moment by moment; He holds creation as one whole, and without Him all would collapse into ruin.
- Ours — the Person holding the universe together is the Head of the body, and He gave Himself for us.
And *he* is the head of the body, the assembly; who is [the] beginning, firstborn from among the dead, that *he* might have the first place in all things
Paul has just called Christ the Creator of all things. Now the focus narrows to one small circle — a body, a church — where the same Person is first, leaving no sphere where He comes second.
The verse gives Christ a second "firstborn" title, and the two are not the same.
It is interesting to see two very distinct firstborns. He is firstborn of all creation, because He is the Creator. And He is firstborn from the dead — a new, plain and weighty fact. So Christ is not only the Head of creation as man, but He is firstborn from the dead as risen. It is in connection with this that He is Head of the Church. He was not in this relationship on earth. He was not Head simply by becoming man. Becoming man is a completely different truth from His headship of the Church, which brings in the further truth of union. Many confuse union with His becoming man. Union is not His taking flesh and blood here below. It is our being made members of His body, now that He is risen and glorified. There could have been no union with Him until death and resurrection, and the Holy Spirit was given to unite us with Him in that risen condition. Then, and not before, we have the body, the Church.
The word "beginning" here is not a date but a starting point for a whole order of things. Commentators tie it to what the cross did to the old order.
It is God's new start, after the failure of the first man and his end under judgment in the cross of Christ. When He was on earth, Christ was the Second Man from heaven. But in God's purpose He was not in the condition of the Second Man until after He was risen and glorified. So it is as the Firstborn from among the dead that He is the beginning of the new order of things. God is working to that pattern now, and He will bring all His redeemed into it, made fully like Him who is glorified at God's right hand.
The new creation has its source in a Person.
He is "the firstborn from the dead," and so He is "the beginning." Everything that forms part of that new creation finds its origin in Him and takes its character from Him.
Being Creator cost Him nothing; being Head cost Him His life. One writer notes the difference between the glories listed before this verse and the glories listed after it.
As the apostle comes to speak of Christ as the Head it becomes clear that death was needed in order for Him to become the Head. This was not the case with the first series of glories: He did not need to die in order to be the Creator, but He could only be the Head of the body if there was a body, and this could only be formed when the Holy Spirit came to dwell on the earth which, in turn, could only happen after Christ had died.
The word "head" is not honorary. It carries the plain sense the word has in everyday life.
Christ is the head of the church (Ephesians 5:23; Colossians 1:18), and He is head over all things to the church (Ephesians 1:22; Colossians 2:10). As head of the church, Christ completely removes every other controlling or guiding authority. As the head of a man guides and controls his body, so Christ has complete control over His church.
The last clause gives the purpose behind every title in the verse.
If the Creator Himself steps into His own creation, He must take the first place. This is one of the glories of His supremacy. Then the apostle brings us into the new circle of the Church, and reminds us that He has the first place there too. He who is the head of His body, the Church, is the Beginning, the Firstborn from the dead. So wherever Christ is, in the first creation or the new, He is first. He holds absolute pre-eminence in His personal and acquired glories.
In the church, that first place can be stolen.
Is it not striking that the only other reference in Scripture to this word "pre-eminence" is in 3 John 9? Diotrephes sought the place for himself, and wanted to cast his brothers "out of the church."
The Colossians show what is at stake when this truth is held only on paper.
The young believers at Colosse were led astray because they were "not holding the Head." That left them open to false teaching: the worship of angels, ritualism, and philosophy or rationalism. To hold the teaching of the Headship of Christ is one thing. To hold the Head Himself, in the faith and affection of our hearts, and so be in communion with Him, is another.
- First by creation. Christ steps into the creation He made, so first place there is His by right.
- First out of death. "Firstborn from the dead" is a second, separate title. He gained it by dying and rising. It is a new fact, not an extension of His becoming man.
- First as Head. A head needs a body. The body came only after His death, when the Spirit was given. So His headship rests on resurrection, not on His life on earth.
- First in control. Head means what it says. Your head governs your body, and Christ removes every other controlling authority in the church.
- First in the heart. Colosse drifted because it did not hold the Head. Holding the teaching is not the same as holding Him in faith and affection.
for in him all the fulness [of the Godhead] was pleased to dwell,
This verse gives the reason behind everything Paul has just said about Christ's supremacy. The whole fulness chose Him as its home. Two questions follow: who was "pleased," and what does "all the fullness" cover?
Older English Bibles supply the word "Father" in this verse, which the Greek does not have. One writer explains why they may have done it, and what the passage itself shows:
The passage has an unusual wording. It may have led the English translators to put in "Father" in verse 19. If that guess is right, the reason was not this verse so much as the next one, verse 20 — "to reconcile … to himself." They could not see how it could be to Him unless it were the Father. But I think the context is framed on purpose to show us that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in Christ. No one Person of that divine fulness acts to the exclusion of the rest. They all had one counsel — not merely similar counsels, as so many creatures might have, but one and the same.
Commentators differ on how to read "the fulness" here. Some follow the pronouns through verses 19 and 20. They take the Fulness itself as a personal reference to the Son:
"Dwelling" and "reconciling" are both personal acts. The verse states plainly that all the fullness is pleased to dwell in Him, and also to reconcile all things by Him to Himself. Notice how the run of pronouns in verses 19 and 20 keeps pointing to the same Person: "in Him"; "His cross"; "by Him"; "to Himself"; "by Him."
Paul does not define the term here. Chapter 2:9 fills it out as the fullness of deity. One writer traces how far the phrase reaches:
It sums up first all the varied glory of verses 15-18. But the words "All the fulness" go beyond even that expression of His glory. So we can think of nothing in the Godhead as revealed that did not find its revelation in Christ Himself. For instance, Christ revealed the Father so fully that He could say, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." … Again, besides creatorship and redemption glories, the Father dwelt in Him, John 14:10, and He was in the Father, verse 11.
Verse 19 and chapter 2:9 sound alike. But they speak of two different times:
There is a strong likeness between Colossians 1:19 and chapter 2:9. Only 1:19 refers to what was true of Him in the days He lived on earth, while 2:9 states it as true of Him today. It is hard to imagine a stronger statement of His deity. Yet the word "bodily" plainly implies that He is still Man.
Paul's sentence runs on into verse 20. The dwelling had an aim: reconciliation. Only a Person of this greatness could carry it out:
The question is no longer how to create a world, or how to form a sphere for the display of glory. It is how to reconcile, where sin has entered and defiled. The creation must be cleared of the defilement of sin, so that God can have rest in His own creation. And man must be brought back to God, in keeping with the righteousness as well as the holy love of His own blessed nature. None could do this but that One in whom the Godhead fulness was pleased to dwell. There lay the value of that work of expiation, and the blood of His cross was its witness.
Because the whole Godhead is behind the plan, the outcome is not in doubt:
Verse 19 tells us that all the fulness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell in the Son when He came to do His mighty work… And we may safely add that what the Godhead aims at, the Godhead always accomplishes.
This is not only a truth about Christ. It also settles what His people already have:
Here then is the grand antidote! The fullness of the Infinite One dwells in Him, and in Him we are complete. He came down beneath all for our salvation. He is now above all in exaltation. He is the glorified Man who glorified God on earth and is now crowned on high. In Him the Godhead fullness dwells bodily, and we too are filled full in Him.
- Pleasure — The verse starts with God's own good pleasure. The fulness chose Christ as its home.
- Person — The wording holds every Person of the Godhead in one counsel, with none acting apart from the rest. Commentators differ on whether "the Fulness" points to the Son Himself.
- Fulness — Chapter 2:9 fills out the phrase. Nothing of God as revealed lies outside Christ, and "bodily" shows He is still Man.
- Purpose — The dwelling looked ahead to reconciliation. Only One of this greatness could clear a defiled creation and bring man back to God.
- Provision — What dwells in Him now fills His people. They are complete in Him, and need nothing added.
and by him to reconcile all things to itself, having made peace by the blood of his cross -- by him, whether the things on the earth or the things in the heavens.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.