Jesus and Creation Col. 1 15-17
Big Idea: Jesus is God the Son and Supreme over all Creation.
Unifying Phrase: 3 Qualities of Christ’s Supremacy over creation
1. Jesus is the Uncreated, Visible Image of God He is the image of the invisible God
What is the purpose of a logo? I will show you some famous logos and you see if you can name them without any wording associated with the logo. These images are made to represent the real thing.
Jesus here is referred to as the eikon of God. The Greek word eikon is used in three main ways in the New Testament. First you have the eikon on a coin or a sculpted eikon of someone else. In Matthew 22, Jesus takes a denarius which was a Roman silver coin and he asks, “Whose likeness (image) and inscription is this?” 21 They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” So they saw a coin with an image was Caesar on it. But Caesar was not physically lying on the coin. It was an image of him. So this form of eikon is only representation or picture of a real, physical person or thing. So is Paul saying that Jesus was just a representation of God but not the real thing? The anwser is no.
The second definition of eikon is an image or likeness of something but not an exact copy of them. You could be referred to as the eikon of your parents for you contain a resemblance or likeness to them but you are not identical to them. We are even told in Genesis that we were made in “God’s image” but this classification must be viewed differently from Jesus as the eikon of God. John Macarthur says,
“Man is not a perfect image of God. Humans are made in God’s image in that they have rational personality. Like God, they possess intellect, emotion, and will, by which they are able to think, feel, and choose. We humans are not, however, in God’s image morally, because He is holy, and we are sinful. Nor are we created in His image essentially. We do not possess His incommunicable attributes, such as omniscience, omnipotence, immutability, or omnipresence. We are human, not divine.[1] “
The true definition of Jesus as the eikon of God is that he is the exact representation and manifestation of God. If you think of God and his being as “invisible” as Paul calls Him, then we can look at Jesus as the visible image of the invisible. Jesus allows us to see God where we could not see God before. For Paul brings this point home later in Colossians 1:19, For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and 2:9, For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.
Jesus even says of Himself, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
The second truth about Jesus is …
2. Jesus is the King of All Things Created- the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him
Jesus’ Rank over Creation the firstborn of all creation
There has been much debate about the term “first-born” here in verse 15 of Colossians. It is the very proof text that the Jehovah’s Witnesses use to say that Jesus was a created being.” They argue that Jesus is the eldest in Jehovah’s family of sons. They say he was a created being and he was just an agent of creation instead of co-creator with God. Thus they deny his deity and equality with God. They use the Greek word prototokos and translate it as firstborn outside of its true context. Macarthur comments on the true meaning,
Although prōtotokos can mean first-born chronologically (Luke 2:7), it refers primarily to position, or rank. In both Greek and Jewish culture, the first-born was the son who had the right of inheritance. He was not necessarily the first one born. Although Esau was born first chronologically, it was Jacob who was the “first-born” and received the inheritance.
Exodus 4:22 says, ““Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Israel is My son, My firstborn.” Israel is called God’s firstborn because of rank among all people in God’s eyes not because it was the first nation born of all people.
Psalm 89:27 says, “I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth.
God claims David as His firstborn, yet he was the youngest of his brothers.
Jesus’ Role in Creation: For by Him all things were created
So you can see here, that Jesus is titled “firstborn” out of rank in the universe. He is the King of creation, and the next small phrase explains why he has been given that title. “in him, all things were created.” He is firstborn, supreme above creation because “in Him” all things were created. This speaks of Jesus as being the agent of creation. Not only was Jesus, “in the beginning” as John 1:1 tells us, but all creation started with Him.
We learn in Genesis that all persons of the Trinity were involved in the act of creation. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit each had their part. The Father “is presented as the architect; he determined to bring creation into existence. The Son, Jesus, actually brought the plans into existence. Through his creative imagination and power, the created order exists. He is, in a sense, the foreman of the construction. The Spirit, finally, does the actual work of applying the plans in a hands-on relationship to creation. This statement about Jesus, therefore, speaks to Jesus’ originating the details of creation and bringing them into existence by his own creative energy.”
Jesus’ Range of Creation: both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible
As we learn of Jesus’ rank and role in creation, we can now see the range of His creation. First, we must notice that in verse 15, He is said to be first-born of “all creation.” All is the Greek work “pas” and it is found here once, and four times in the next set of verses.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
What point do you think Paul is trying to make about the range of Jesus’ creation. How much of existence did Jesus create? ALL THINGS.
But in case you missed his point, he makes the same point in a different way. He says, “both in the heavens and on the earth, both visible and invisible.” Now this list is know in poetry as a chiasm, which is a line of poetry that follows a pattern such as a-b/ b-a. Here Paul follows that structure by joining A-heavens, B-earth/ B-visible, A-invisible. Here “heavens” is referring to that which is above the earth and unseen, much like the general spiritual realm, where things on the earth are the visible, physical realm. If he uses this chiasm as a range of God’s creation from the earth to the heavens, what is left out? Nothing! Because Jesus created it all.
Jesus as Reason for Creation all things have been created through Him and for Him
Paul makes one last point here in this phrase and that is that the purpose that creation came into being was because of or for the sake of Jesus. All things were created for Jesus. Because it was in God’s will and plan to exalt His Son. We learn this in Philipians,
For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
One author illustrates this beautifully by saying,
Everything exists to display his glory, and ultimately he will be glorified in his creation. Paul’s argument in these verses may be illustrated by an artist who produces a sculpture. Originally the idea and details of the sculpture come from the mind of the artist. He builds the proportions, the perspectives, the figures, and the emphases desired from the statue. Then, the sculpture is constructed by the artist as he and he alone can “see” it. Finally, those who admire the finished work think of the artist who imagined, planned, and accomplished the work of beauty. As long as the sculpture stands, people remember and appreciate the artist. In the same way, Jesus is the central point of all of creation, and he rules over it.
Paul made a point to teach these truths to the Colossians because of the heresy from the false teachers in this church. They confused the Colossian Christians with their belief that Jesus could not have been God because he was human. And humans are made of matter, which is evil. So if Jesus was made of matter which is evil, then he could not be God, which is good. Also, since the world is made up of matter-composed humans, then creation must be evil and it could not have been created by a holy God. But Paul was here to prove these heretics wrong and show that Jesus was the supreme in creation, He was the agent of it, He created all things that exist and it was for He was to be King of it all.
The last truth from this passage is…
3. Jesus is Harmonizer of All Things Created He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Paul ends his thought with the functionality of this universe that was created. He uses the Greek word sunhistemi- which means to hold together. Paul’s intent here is to prove that the Creator is also very active in his creation. This conflicts with the once popular view of deism in our world today.
Deism is the belief in a God who made the world but never interrupts it with supernatural events. God does not interfere with his creation. Rather, he has designed it to run by immutable natural laws. He has also provided in nature all that his creatures need to live by. Some more notable American deists were Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) and the author of the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson.
Obviously, this was a problem in the church at Colossae which is why Paul wanted these Christians to know of the involvement of the creator in His creation. Paul uses this verb in a perfect tense which shows us that as Jesus holds things together here in our world, it is an action that occurred in the past, but we feel the results currently in the present.
We can lay our heads down on our pillow at night, knowing that gravity will not evaporate and we will float thousands of miles into frigid space in our night gowns. Or that as we sleep, we can know that earth’s rotation will not misalign closer toward the sun which would cause us to burn to death like an eggs in a skillet.
Hebrews 1:3 says, “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. “
Many people question that power of Christ as the Son of God while he was here on earth in the form of a man. Did he release that power when he became flesh? Wayne Grudem answers that beautifully-
“If someone asks whether Jesus, when he was asleep in the boat, was also “continually carrying along all things by his word of power” (Heb. 1:3, author’s translation), and whether all things in the universe were being held together by him at that time (see Col. 1:17), the answer must be yes, for those activities have always been and will always be the particular responsibility of the second person of the Trinity, the eternal Son of God. Those who find the doctrine of the incarnation “inconceivable” have sometimes asked whether Jesus, when he was a baby in the manger at Bethlehem, was also “upholding the universe.” To this question the answer must also be yes: Jesus was not just potentially God or someone in whom God uniquely worked, but was truly and fully God with all the attributes of God. “
Do you like oxygen? Did you know that:
· Oxygen makes up about 65% of the human body, 47% of dry soil, 46% of igneous rocks, 85% of sea water, 42% of all the vegetation, and 50% of the crust of the earth by weight. Odorless, tasteless, and colorless, oxygen is one of the most important substances without which life would not be able to exist. For example, we can go without food for a number of weeks and survive, we can even go without water for 3-7 days, but we cannot survive without oxygen beyond 5 minutes.
· Not only do we breath oxygen, but without oxygen, we would not have water, protein and carbohydrates that we live on daily.
· 70% of the free oxygen in the world is made through photosynthesis of plants.
One of the many ways Jesus holds the universe together is by keeping trees and plants living on the earth that produce most of the oxygen that we breath. If they died, we would die. But he continues that process because he “holds all things together.”
Conclusion
It is important for us to believe these truths about Jesus. If we do not accept that Jesus was God and involved in creation, then we cannot believe that he was the perfect, adequate sacrifice we need to have our sins paid for and washed away. Do you believe in this Christ?
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[1]MacArthur, John: Colossians. Chicago : Moody Press, 1996, c1992, S. 44