Colossians (2)
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Colossians brings out a picture of who Christ is. Explicitly emphasis Christ deity more then any other book in the Bible apart from The Book of John.
This is called Christology.
Christology - The study of Jesus in the New Testament, namely, His persona, activity, and especially His role in salvation. Another more specific use of the term concentrates on how Jesus fulfills, exercises, and redefines what it means to be the Messiah of Israel.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
The word “image” is the greek word “eikon” which means likeness, resemblance, image.
Eikon presented one of two nuances of meaning
The first is one of representation. The image represented and symbolized what the object pictured.
Just think about the image of a coin. How it reflects many things. It reflects George Washington, it reflects the states, it reflects currency. It reflects the approval of an entire nation of its acceptance and value.
But this coin isn’t George Washington, it isn’t the United States but it reflects them.
So if this meaning is used it wouldn’t be talking about Jesus being God but is a image of Him.
Romans 8:29 (NKJV)
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
This word image means reflection. Like beholding ones face in the mirror.
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
When the Bible speaks about man being created in the image of God, its referring to as being His imagers. Or image bearers.
2. The second meaning of the word for “image” (eikon) is manifestation.
When the term was employed, it meant that the symbol was more than a symbol. The symbol brought with it the actual presence of the object.
Philippians, Colossians, Philemon Jesus: Lord of Creation (1:15–17)
J. B. Phillips translated it, “visible expression,”
Paul meant that Jesus brought God into the human sphere of understanding. He manifested God.
who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
John 1:18 (NKJV)
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
Jesus has made the Father known.
The point is that in Christ the invisible God became visible. He shared the same substance as God and made God’s character known in this earthly sphere of existence.
The revelation of God in Christ is such that we can actually see him, even with all of our limitations.
Jesus was unique in that he manifested the image of God
Jesus bore the image of the earthly, Adam, and the image of the heavenly, God. He was the unique manifestation of both God and man, always embodying the best of both wherever he was. In choosing the word “image,” Paul stressed that God was present wherever Jesus was. He was the personal manifestation of deity.
First born over all creation
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
“Firstborn” had all kinds of meanings and various definitions.
Arius a preacher from Alexandria, Egypt taught that Christ was a created being.
Stating that he is greater than the rest of the creation but lesser than God Himself.
Arius hoped this position would protect Christianity from the charge of polytheism. But this position was condemned in the church in AD 325
Arius position still lives in several sectarian groups. He understood this text to teach that Jesus was the firstborn (part) of the creation (whole).
Even though Jesus was unique among created beings, he was still created. According to Arius, Jesus occupied the strange position of being “created creator.”
The Greek word “firstborn” comes from two words which mean to bring forth, or beget and first.
This word is seldom used outside of Biblical materials, and its use in extra biblical sources has limited value to Biblical meaning.
The point of the metaphor is to distinguish Jesus from creation, not to tie him to it by placing him within it.
The NIV translation correctly states that Jesus is “over all creation.” The term “firstborn” distances Jesus from creation rather than subsumes him under it.
Therefore, the point is that Jesus is the firstborn (preeminent) with reference to the creation
Two things are being said in this one verse about Jesus
In his work toward us as revealer of God, he manifests God to us. In his work toward creation, he is prominent over it
Colossians 1:16 (NKJV)
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.
This verse gives the reason why Christ is Lord over creation. The three phrases / By Him, Through Him, and For Him indicate the relationship.
The first “By Him”, should said “in Him”
“It should be understood as in his mind or in his sphere of influence and responsibility. Practically, it means that Jesus conceived of creation and its complexities. Creation was his idea.”
This statement about Jesus, therefore, speaks to Jesus’ originating the details of creation and bringing them into existence by his own creative energy
Second phrase is “Through Him”
“This phrase means that creation came to be through his power and ability. He is the effective agent of creation.”
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
Everything owes its existence to Christ.
Jesus’ creative and sustaining power in relation to all material things.
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Finally, the passage affirms that creation exist “For Him”.
The literal expression is “unto Him”
This means that Jesus is the goal of all creation. Everything exists to display his glory, and ultimately he will be glorified in his creation.
Christ essentially is the sculpture. Christ being the artist determines how the statue should look.
He determines the size, the beauty, the proportions , the perspectives, the figures, the emphases desired from the statue.
Then, the sculpture is constructed by the artist as he and he alone can “see” it.
Also long as the statue stands we appreciate the artist. Its not enough to just admire the statue, but the Artist.
Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi
