What does it mean that in Him all things were created (Colossians 1:16)?

But, as I have said, it is not by Him, but in Him that all things were created. It was in His own intrinsic power He brought the universe into existence. There is no created thing that does not owe its creation to Him. Whether they be things in heaven, or things on earth; whether they be visible, or invisible, He created them all, and He created them both by Himself, and for Himself; and in His power everything subsists. He holds everything together by the Word of His power.

It is so here; and in verse 16 this great fact is stated in a threefold way, three different prepositions being used, in, by and for. In our Authorized version the first preposition as well as the second is by. Literally, however, it is in. If you turn up this passage in Darby's New Translation you will find footnotes which instruct us that in signifies "characteristic power:" that "He was the One whose intrinsic power characterized the creation. It exists as His creature." They instruct us also that by signifies that He was "the active Instrument," and that for signifies that He is "the End" for which creation exists.

You will notice too the comprehensive way in which the creation is described in this passage. Heaven as well as earth is brought into view. Things invisible are contemplated as well as things visible; and the invisible and spiritual powers are spoken of under four heads. 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." Consequently He is before all both as to time and place; and all things hang together by Him. The stars pursue their appointed courses, but they only do so because directed by Him.

Greek students tell us that in that verse there are three prepositions bearing upon this creating of all things. The last one is "for Him." That we can perhaps understand a little. We, and indeed the whole creation, are not made as a man might turn out something by machinery, but really to serve the purpose of glorifying Him who made us. Then also "by Him" in the end of the verse, we can somewhat grasp. He was the active agent in the work of creation. But the first line seems to me to be deeply mysterious. It was not merely that He was agent in their creation (it may perhaps be rendered "in Him;") but it implies that "He was the One whose intrinsic power characterised the creation." The creation, all creation, the all things, including thrones, etc., were so created as to bear — each detail in its measure — some impress of His glory. If we knew the language of the heavens above our heads, or of the earth beneath our feet as He created them, every form of life, every atom, every colour, every shape, every sound, and every authority, would utter some impress of the wisdom and glory of Christ. He created it in such a fashion that there is no part of it but interprets, and brings into evidence, something of His majesty, His wisdom, His power. "From the world's creation the invisible things of Him are perceived, being apprehended by the mind through the things that are made, both His eternal power and divinity" (Rom. 1:20, N.T.).

Then: "He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." By study of this little planet we are supposed to know something of the law of gravitation, by which it, and the other planets, are held in relation to the central sun; orbits within orbits, wheels within wheels. So also our sun, and other suns (possibly with attendant systems of their own), may all revolve around some great central point which astronomers have tried in vain to discover. 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. He is also the central authority, and He has put the stamp of His glory upon every subordinate authority.

En has the force of what characterises by the power which operates in that governed by it, dia used in similar connection is of course instrumental. Thus en auto ektisthe ta panta. This past act of creation was wrought in the power which was personally in Him. For this reason He is prototokos when He personally takes His place in creation. So continuously all things consist en auto. It is the same power which continuously holds all together in the unity of the kosmos. When He speaks of the instrumental action by which all have been and are created, it is dia and eis auton. In verse 19 en has the ordinary sense of "in," or place, pan to pleroma being the nominative (compare chap. 2:9), and this will reconcile di aulou: so verse 22, en to somati, and dia tou thanatou. So en in a lesser case, verse 29, en dunamei, and chapter 2:2, en agape: cf. 2:23; as often en sarki, en pneumati, ye are en pn; Rom. 8.

We have here statements in connection with the wide ramifications of His creatorial activity. We get "… by Him were all things created" at the beginning of verse 16 and "all things were created by Him, and for Him" at the end of the verse. The footnotes in the Darby translation show that there are actually three different prepositions used. The fact that all things were created by Him, that His was the instrumental power, and for Him, we can all easily understand, but the first "by" shows that His characteristic power is seen in the whole of creation. It connects with Romans 1:20 where we read that "the invisible things of Him (God) are perceived, being apprehended by the mind through the things that are made, both His eternal power and divinity … ". As we look out on the wide creation we can see the hand of the Saviour.

Am I right when I say that the same preposition is used further down where we read that "by Him all things consist"? It's the same word as the one you have referred to in the beginning of verse 16. We could say "For in Him were all things created". I understand that the latter part of verse 17 could be rendered "… and in Him all things consist".

In this verse the emphasis is on ‘he’ (Gr. ‘autos’, a demonstrative pronoun). The one who has just been described in His sevenfold glory in relation to the first creation (vs. 15–17), the one who is the ‘image of the invisible God’, the ‘firstborn of all creation’, the one who created all things (note the three prepositions: all things were created ‘by’ or ‘in’ Him at the beginning of verse 16 (Gr. ‘en’), i.e. in His power; He was the instrument (‘by’ or ‘through’ Him at the end of verse 16, Gr. ‘dia’); and He is the ultimate aim and object of the creation of the universe (‘for’ Him, Gr. ‘eis’)). He is the one who ‘is before all things’ — in time as well as in rank — and the one by whom ‘all things subsist’ (He upholds them all, keeps the planets in their place and maintains the laws of nature) — this is the one who is the Head of the body.

Col. 1:15-18. Who, as now incarnate, but the ever existent God, is the image or exact likeness in every attribute and moral character of the invisible God "who dwelleth in light unapproachable, whom no man hath seen nor can see," but who has been declared, made known, by the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father; the Firstborn, not in point of time, but of priority, establishing His headship of every creature, or of all creation, being thus its Master and its Head; for, the reason why this is the case is that by Him, in His power, the Author and Agent, were all things as hereafter stated, created, not formed out of pre-existent matter, but called into being from absolute nothingness, that are in heaven, the vast universe above and about us, and that are in earth, the sea, the land, all things, vegetable and animal, in various families and orders, with their characteristics and possibilities of further development, in fact every possible and conceivable existence outside of Deity itself; visible, the material creation; and invisible, the world of spirit; whether they be thrones, highest official dignitaries; or dominions, rulers over parts of God's vast universe; or principalities, lesser authorities; or powers, every angelic being exulting in strength, fallen and unfallen, though all as created by Him were unfallen, intelligent, responsible, superhuman, immortal spirits: all things as thus characterized, without a single exception were created by Him, who thus proves Himself to be absolute Deity, one with the Father, in essence, power and glory; and for Him as the expression of His attributes of power, wisdom, skill, of His divine mind with its infinite and glorious conceptions — that vast plan in which His entire universe is to set forth His glories, and those more blessed ones of righteousness, holiness, goodness and love; and He is before all things, nothing can compare with Him in importance; no subject can engage our thoughts equal with Himself; He rises above all the affairs of this world and of the universe; even as He existed before them, so now He is infinitely superior to them; and by Him, by His wisdom, and the power of that word which called all things out of nothing into being, not by anything inherent in themselves, all things consist, are held fast together, the stars in their immeasurable orbits above us, the tiny drops of water that sparkle upon a blade of grass, all are held fast by the same omnipotent power of the eternal Son of God; and He is the Head, supreme Master and sovereign Lord, not only in an administrative way, but vitally the controlling power of the body, composed of all believers since Pentecost, being united to Him by the baptism and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, no longer a Jewish nation or an earthly people, but Me Church, the truth as to which forms the mystery spoken of in this epistle, and made known by special revelation to Paul; who is the beginning, the Author and Head of the new creation which rests not upon fallen man, but upon the Son of God incarnate, who is the Firstborn from the dead, victorious over that death and judgment under which His people lay, He the first-fruits and the Forerunner of all His redeemed; that in all things, in every department of existence, wherever the thought can reach or wherever the Spirit of God can lead to still higher and ever higher conceptions of the breadth and length, the depth and height of those domains which have no boundaries, to all, with every family in heaven and earth, angelic, human, infernal, He might have the pre-eminence, Head over all things, Lord of all, to whom yet every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

It is in this terse account of creation (vers. 16, 17) that the Spirit both testifies to the Son's personal glory, and "sets bounds" to the inquisitive intrusions of the human intellect. In His detailed description of the Son's creative work, He leaves not a single loophole for unbelieving man to suggest an exception, which might seem to invalidate His claim that the Son of the Father's love is the Creator of the whole creation. He created all things both personally in His own right, and instrumentally to the purpose and glory of God. Therefore, according to the Spirit's teaching, nothing can pass the fixed barrier between the Son, the Creator, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the created, produced by Him. The whole creation sprang into being at His voice and by His hand. The Son, therefore, is before and above the whole creation.

(1) The Son acted in virtue of His own power in creation. (2 )The Son acted as the direct instrument in creation. (3) The Son's honor and glory are the end or purpose of creation. (4) The Son's power upholds the whole creation.

These Colossian truths are revealed to us in a suitable sequence that we may see their proper correlation, which exists only because of the Deity of the Son. First (1), we behold His absolute supremacy, for He created all things in virtue of His own inherent power and right. Then (2), by changing the preposition from en to dia (not observable in the A.V.), the Spirit unfolds that in the work of creation the Son “acted instrumentally for God the Father's glory."

There is a remarkable use of prepositions in v. 16, "For by Him were all things created … by Him, and for Him". They give us a clear view of the greatness of the Son. The first "by" indicates that He is the source of all creation, though we know that each Person in the Godhead is spoken of in relation to the original creating of the universe. Yet this second "by" means that the Son is the active instrumental Agent in bringing it into being. While all three Persons are associated in the creation, as the source of it the Son only is spoken of as the active instrumental Agent. Then, "for" means that in bringing it into being He did so having His own glory in view.