Preeminence of Christ
We can do ministry because Christ is Preeminent
Probably no paragraph in the New Testament contains more concentrated doctrine about Jesus Christ than this one. We can keep ourselves from going on a detour if we remember that Paul wrote to prove the preeminence of Christ, and he did so by using four unanswerable arguments.
Christ is the Creator v. 15-17
He, the Son of God in whom we have redemption, is the image of the invisible God. No-one has ever seen God, wrote John in his Prologue (1:18), but God the only Son has made him known.
This is the first unit of the great Christological section, the other is found in v. 18–20. The first deals with Christ’s supreme position above the whole universe of creatures (Creator, Preserver); the second deals with him who is this in the universe as the head of the church. The parallel passages are Eph. 1:20–23 and Heb. 1:3, which should be compared.
Humanity was made as the climax of the first creation (Gen. 1:26–27): the true humanity of Jesus is the climax of the history of creation, and at the same time the starting-point of the new creation. From all eternity Jesus had, in his very nature, been the ‘image of God’, reflecting perfectly the character and life of the Father. It was thus appropriate for him to be the ‘image of God’ as man: from all eternity he had held the same relation to the Father that humanity, from its creation, had been intended to bear. Humanity was designed to be the perfect vehicle for God’s self-expression within his world, so that he could himself live appropriately among his people as one of themselves, could rule in love over creation as himself a creature
Indeed, it is only in Jesus Christ that we understand what ‘divinity’ and ‘humanity’ really mean: without him, we lapse into sub-Christian, or even pagan, categories of thought, and then wonder why the doctrine of incarnation causes us so much difficulty. Paul’s way of expressing the doctrine is to say, poetically, that the man Jesus fulfils the purposes which God had marked out both for himself and for humanity
The false teachers were very confused about Creation. They taught that matter was evil, including the human body. They also taught that Jesus Christ did not have a real body since this would have put Him in contact with evil matter. The results of these false teachings were tragic, including extreme asceticism on the one hand and unbridled sin on the other. After all, if your body is sinful, you either try to enslave it or you enjoy it.
In this section, Paul explained the fourfold relationship of Jesus Christ to Creation.
He existed before Creation (v. 15). The term firstborn does not refer to time, but to place or status. Jesus Christ was not the first being created, since He Himself is the Creator of all things. Firstborn simply means “of first importance, of first rank.” Solomon was certainly not born first of all of David’s sons, yet he was named the firstborn (Ps. 89:27). Firstborn of all Creation means “prior to all Creation.” Jesus Christ is not a created being; He is eternal God.
Paul used the word image to make this fact clear. It means “an exact representation and revelation.” The writer to the Hebrews affirms that Jesus Christ is “the express image of His Person” (Heb. 1:3). Jesus was able to say, “He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). In His essence, God is invisible; but Jesus Christ has revealed Him to us (John 1:18). Nature reveals the existence, power, and wisdom of God; but nature cannot reveal the very essence of God to us. It is only in Jesus Christ that the invisible God is revealed perfectly. Since no mere creature can perfectly reveal God, Jesus Christ must be God.
From this kind of usage we can say that Jesus is the portrait of God. However, the meaning goes even beyond this because being the eikon, the image, of God also carries the idea of revealing the personal character of God. We see this in some of the texts in the Wisdom Literature, such as Proverbs 8:22–31 or the extra-Biblical Wisdom of Solomon 7:24–26, where wisdom was described as the eikon, the image or revelation, of God’s goodness. Thus, Christ as the “the image of the invisible God” is not just a plaster representation of him, but the revelation of what God is really like. The writer of Hebrews expressed the same thought in very powerful language: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (1:3). The Greek word translated “exact representation” here meant the impress left by a die on a coin or a seal on wax. He is the exact impress of the essence of God.
Christ’s supremacy in eternity is boldly proclaimed as Paul says he is the eikon of the invisible God. He is supreme! Jesus is no second-rate emanation from the true God, a Gnostic step in the ladder to the true God. He is God. This not only tells us about Christ—it also tells us about ourselves, because as Jesus is the image of God, he is what we were meant to be in terms of character: we were created in his image (Genesis 1:26, 27). Jesus is supreme in eternity, and we ought to give him first-place in our lives.
As “image” emphasizes Christ’s relationship to the Father, “the firstborn over all creation” introduces his relationship to creation. Here also he is supreme.
Verse 15b calls Christ “the firstborn over all creation,” which at first sight might be taken as teaching that Jesus was the first person created. Indeed the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the heretic Arius long before them, take it this way. But they do so by ignoring the context, which makes him Creator of everything, as well as the rest of New Testament revelation, which makes him eternal (cf. John 1:1). Most of all, they ignore the indisputable fact that while “firstborn” can mean first child, it very often is simply a term which means “first in rank or honor.” Sometimes the Torah was called firstborn to indicate its elevated rank. “Firstborn” was a code word for the coming Messiah, as in Psalm 89:27—“I will also appoint him my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth.” The people of Israel as a whole were sometimes called firstborn to indicate their high position as recipients of the Father’s love (Exodus 4:22). So when Paul called Christ “the firstborn over all creation,” he meant that highest honor belongs to him. Christ is completely supreme in creation!
Why? Because Christ is Creator. “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him” (v. 16a). Jesus is the agent of creation ex nihilo, from nothing. The extent of his creation is dazzling. It includes even the things in the heavens and the invisible. In fact, it even includes the angels. The Scriptures and Jewish literature reveal that the four descriptions “thrones … powers … rulers … authorities” refer to four classes of angelic powers, with the last two referring to the highest orders of the angelic realm.7
The Gnostics taught that Christ was a spiritual emanation from the true God, but here Paul boldly said that he is the true God who created everything, even the invisible spirit-world. This is an astounding, combative proclamation!
Christ is Creator of all! We are well aware of what this implies when we think of a universe which is millions of light-years across, but here on our earth it is astounding too. He created even the tiniest creatures. There are 800,000 catalogued insects, with billions in some of the species—all created by Christ.
Since this is true, we should live completely for him. Any other course is completely irrational for the believer. Paul used similar logic in Romans 11:36 where he said, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” Then he called us to total commitment, which he concluded was “your reasonable [logikos, logical, rational] service” (Romans 12:1, KJV). As a believer, is your life rational or irrational? Are you living totally for God, or are you living outside rationality?
He created all things (v. 16a). Since Christ created all things, He Himself is uncreated. The word for that introduces this verse could be translated “because.” Jesus Christ is the Firstborn of all because He created all things. It is no wonder that the winds and waves obeyed Him, and diseases and death fled from Him, for He is Master over all. “All things were made by Him” (John 1:3). This includes all things in heaven and earth, visible and invisible. All things are under His command.
All things exist for Him (v. 16b). Everything exists in Him, for Him, and through Him. Jesus Christ is the Sphere in which they exist, the Agent through which they came into being, and the One for whom they were made.
Paul’s use of three different prepositions is one way of refuting the philosophy of the false teachers. For centuries, the Greek philosophers had taught that everything needed a primary cause, an instrumental cause, and a final cause. The primary cause is the plan, the instrumental cause the power, and the final cause the purpose. When it comes to Creation, Jesus Christ is the primary cause (He planned it), the instrumental cause (He produced it), and the final cause (He did it for His own pleasure).
If everything in creation exists for Him, then nothing can be evil of itself (except for Satan and fallen angels, even those God uses to accomplish His will). Gnostic regulations about using God’s creation are all foolish (Col. 2:20–23). It also means that God’s creation, even though under bondage to sin (Rom. 8:22), can be used for God’s glory and enjoyed by God’s people (1 Tim. 6:17).
All things, which in the Greek has an article indicating that Paul sees this created world as a single whole (i.e. ‘the totality’), is now further specified: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities. (NIV obscures the parallel between this verse and 2:15 by translating archai in 1:16 as ‘rulers’ and in 2:15 as ‘powers’.) Wherever you look, or whatever realities you think of, you discover entities which, even if they do not acknowledge the fact, owe their very existence to Christ. They are his handiwork. Paul has here chosen to mention especially what we today call the power structures of the universe.
17. Paul now sums up his statement of Christ as the intermediary of creation, before setting in parallel to this the fact of his work in the new creation. He (NIV omits the ‘and’ at the start of the line, thus losing the exact parallel with 18a) is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
In verse 17, Paul reached the apex of his argument: Christ is superior in creation because he is the sustainer: “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” The perfect tense here tells us that he continues now to hold all things together, and that apart from his continuous activity, all would disintegrate. The writer of Hebrews puts it this way: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (1:3).
Physicists tell us that among the atom’s whirling protons and electrons there is vast space, not unlike our solar system. Though some have theories as to why the atom holds together, none know for sure. Christ is not contained in matter, but he holds it together by his word!
Paul’s hymn sings of the supremacy of Christ in creation: he is firstborn, and thus has the highest place. He is Creator of everything, every cosmic speck, every spirit. He is the goal, and all creation is moving toward him and for him. He is the sustainer. He is holding the very breath that falls on these pages. What a stunning revelation this is! It is meant to stretch our puny minds and dominate our thinking and change us. When we truly understand what is being said here, it is amazing that we should ever look anywhere else for meaning and purpose in life. Since he is the Creator who holds all things together, he knows how to best fix and order our lives.
Christ is Head of the Church v 18
Each Christian is a member of this spiritual body, and Jesus Christ is the Head. In Greek usage, the word head meant “source” and “origin” as well as “leader, ruler.” Jesus Christ is the Source of the church, His body, and the Leader. Paul called Him “the Beginning” which tells us that Jesus Christ has priority in time as far as His church is concerned. The term beginning can be translated “originator.”
The reason for Christ’s exalted position in the Church is that “he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead” (v. 18). We saw this word “firstborn” in verse 15, where it meant first in rank, and here it means the same thing. Paul was not saying that Jesus was the first person to be raised from the dead, for he was not. However, he was the most important of all who have been raised from the dead, because without his resurrection there could be no resurrection for others (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:20ff.).
Christ chose to enter his own creation, take on a body created and sustained by his power, die, and then undergo resurrection and so be “the firstborn from among the dead”—and first in rank in salvation. What a wonder! The Gnostics in all their arcane speculations could never have dreamed up something as stupendous as this. Such a plan, such a dream could only come from the mind of God.
What should this mean to us? Simply this: “that in everything he might have the supremacy” (v. 18). “Everything” extends his “firstness” to as wide a scope as is conceivable and beyond. There is no room for a “Parliament of Religions” here—only Christ preeminent. He must have first-place in everything.
• First-place in our families.
• First-place in our marriages.
• First-place in our professions.
• First-place in our mission and ministry.
• First-place in matters of the intellect.
• First-place in time.
• First-place in love.
• First-place in conversation.
• First-place in pleasures.
• First in eating.
• First in play.
• First in athletics.
• First in what we watch.
• First-place in art.
• First-place in music.
• First-place in worship.
Let us give him first-place
Christ is the Beloved of the Father v 19-20
Paul had already called Jesus Christ “His [God’s] dear Son” (Col. 1:13). Those who have trusted Jesus Christ as their Saviour are “accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6). For this reason, God can call us His beloved (Col. 3:12).
Then Paul took a giant step forward in his argument, for he declared that “all fullness” dwelt in Jesus Christ! The word translated “fullness” is the Greek word pleroma (pronounced “play-RO-ma”). It was a technical term in the vocabulary of the gnostic false teachers. It meant “the sum total of all the divine power and attributes.” We have already noted that Paul used this important word eight times in the Colossian letter, so he was meeting the false teachers on their own ground.
The word dwell is equally important. It means much more than merely “to reside.” The form of the verb means “to be at home permanently.” The late Dr. Kenneth S. Wuest, noted Greek expert, pointed out in his excellent commentary on Colossians that the verb indicates that this fullness was “not something added to His Being that was not natural to Him, but that it was part of His essential Being as part of His very constitution, and that permanently” (Ephesians and Colossians in the Greek New Testament, Eerdmans, p. 187).
The Father would not permanently give His pleroma to some created being. The fact that it “pleased the Father” to have His fullness in Christ is proof that Jesus Christ is God. “And of His [Christ’s] fullness have all we received” (John 1:16). “For in Him [Jesus Christ] dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9).
Because Jesus Christ is God, He is able to do what no mere man could ever do: reconcile lost sinners to a holy God. When the first man and woman sinned, they declared war on God; but God did not declare war on them. Instead, God sought Adam and Eve; and He provided a covering for their sins.
The natural mind of the unsaved sinner is at war with God (Rom. 8:7). The sinner may be sincere, religious, and even moral; but he is still at war with God.
How can a holy God ever be reconciled with sinful man? Can God lower His standards, close His eyes to sin, and compromise with man? If He did, the universe would fall to pieces! God must be consistent with Himself and maintain His own holy Law.
Perhaps man could somehow please God. But by nature, man is separated from God; and by his deeds, he is alienated from God (Col. 1:21). The sinner is “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1ff), and therefore is unable to do anything to save himself or to please God (Rom. 8:8).
If there is to be reconciliation between man and God, the initiative and action must come from God. It is in Christ that God was reconciled to man (2 Cor. 5:19). But it was not the incarnation of Christ that accomplished this reconciliation, nor was it His example as He lived among men. It was through His death that peace was made between God and man. He “made peace through the blood of His cross” (Col. 1:20).