Colossians 1.15-20-The Christ Hymn
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday April 12, 2015
Colossians: Colossians 1:15-20-The Christ Hymn
Lesson # 19
Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 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. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. 19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. (NASB95)
This pericope is the greatest Christological passage in all of Paul’s writings.
In these verses, the apostle describes Jesus Christ in regards to three relationships: (1) deity (2) creation (3) the church.
In Colossians 1:15-20, Paul identifies a five-fold relationship of the Lord Jesus in relation to creation: (1) He preexisted creation (verse 15). (2) He created all things (verse 16). (3) All things in creation exists for Him (verse 16). (4) He holds all things together (verse 17). (5) He reconciled every creature in heaven and on earth to the Father through the blood of His cross (verse 19).
Paul lists fourteen descriptions of Jesus Christ which identified Him as different from and superior to the human and angelic races.
First of all, the Lord is described as the image of the invisible God (verse 15).
Then He is described as the first-born of creation (verse 15).
He is the originator of creation (verse 16).
He is also the agent and goal of creation (verse 16).
He is the antecedent and sustainer of creation (verse 17).
He is also identified as the head of the church (verse 18).
He is the beginning of the new creation (verse 18) and the first-born from the dead (verse 18).
The Lord is also identified by Paul as the preeminent one in all of creation (verse 18).
He is called the fullness of God (verse 19).
Jesus Christ is the reconciler of all things in creation (verse 20) and He is the one who established peace between a holy God and His creation (verse 20).
Geisler writes “In this paragraph (vv. 15–20) Paul mentioned seven unique characteristics of Christ, which fittingly qualify Him to have ‘the supremacy’ (v. 18). Christ is: (1) the image of God, (2) the Firstborn over Creation, (3) Creator of the universe, (4) Head of the church, (5) Firstborn from the dead, (6) the fullness of God, and (7) the Reconciler of all things. No comparable listing of so many characteristics of Christ and His deity are found in any other Scripture passage. Christ is the supreme Sovereign of the universe!”
Scholars have put forth various proposals regarding the origin of Colossians 1:15-20.
One view is that this passage originated as a “Christ hymn” first used in the worship setting of some church or Christian circle which the author of Colossians appropriated.
Others have argued that it may be a Christian adaptation of an original paean or song of praise about divine Wisdom whose origin was in pre-Christian Jewish circles.
Some have argued that Colossians 1:15-20 may represent a Christianization of a hymn to some heavenly redeemer from pre-Christian “gnostic” circles.
However this proposal has lost support in recent years.
Gnosticism was not a full blown threat to orthodox Christianity in the sixties of the first century as it did become in the middle of the second century.
Thus, this view must be considered as historically unlikely.
Larry Hurtado commenting on Colossians 1:15-20 writes, “It is likely that it originated within the context of early Christian praise and worship, as a hymn celebrating Jesus, or was composed by the author of Colossians himself as a hymnlike expression of Christ’s supremacy. In the latter case, of course, the author almost unavoidably would have been influenced by hymnic practices of the Christian circles(s) with which he was acquainted. So in either case the passage reflects, whether directly or indirectly, the hymnic praise of Christ that was a feature of the devotional life of at least some circles of first-century Christians.”
The NET Bible has the following excellent note on Colossians 1:15-20, they write “This passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188–89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.
I am of the conviction that the apostle Paul is the author of Colossians 1:15-20 for the simple reason that the Christology contained in the passage corresponds with his Christology in those letters in which his authorship is not questioned or not challenged.
In other words, the passage corresponds or is in agreement or compatible with the Christology contained in those letters in which Pauline authorship is uncontested.
So the hymn is the product of the genius of the apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore this author believes that the best hypothesis regarding the authorship of Colossians 1:15-20 is the one which is the simplest.
Paul is the author.
The apostle adapted his language in this epistle to meet the needs of the Colossians in light of the threat of the false teachers in Asia who did not adhere to the apostolic teaching regarding Jesus Christ.
For example the statement in Colossians 1:15 that Jesus Christ is the “image of the invisible God” corresponds with his other affirmations of our Lord’s deity such as in Philippians 2:6 and Romans 1:4 and 9:5.
Paul in Colossians 1:15 describes Jesus Christ as “the firstborn of all creation” which implies His preexisting creation which Paul affirms in 2 Corinthians 8:9 and Philippians 2:6.
The apostle in Colossians 1:16 describes Jesus Christ as the Creator and he affirms this in First Corinthians 8:6.
Then, in Colossians 1:17, Paul describes Jesus Christ as preexisting creation which he also affirms in Philippians 2:6 as well.
Paul in Colossians 1:18 describes Jesus Christ as the head of the church which he describes as Christ’s body which he also affirms in Ephesians 1:22 and 5:23.
The apostle describes the church as His body in Ephesians 1:23 and 4:12.
In Colossians 1:19, Paul affirms the deity of Jesus Christ which he also does in Philippians 2:6, Romans 1:5 and 9:5 as noted above.
Lastly, Paul describes Jesus Christ as reconciling all things through the blood of His cross.
Reconciliation is a theme which is found in other places in Paul’s writings and appears in First Corinthians 5:19 and Ephesians 2:14-16.
The blood of Christ is also a theme in Paul’s writings and appears in Romans 3:25 and Ephesians 2:13.
The purpose of Colossians 1:15-20 is to reaffirm the person and work of Jesus Christ on behalf of the faithful believers in Colossae as being sufficient in reconciling them to the Father.
Paul wanted to reassure the Colossian church of the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ and he also wanted to refute those false teachers in Asia who were diminishing or denying altogether the deity of Jesus Christ.
By denying or diminishing the deity of Jesus Christ, these false teachers were in effect saying that Jesus Christ’s death on the cross was not sufficient to reconcile every creature and all of creation to the Father.
The reason this is the case is that by denying or diminishing the deity of Jesus Christ, one denies or diminishes His work on the cross for sinners since His work on the cross is acceptable to the Father because He is sinless and perfect like Himself.
Therefore, by affirming the deity of Jesus Christ, Paul is affirming that the reconciliation that Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross through His death was acceptable to the Father as the payment for sin since the Father could only accept that which was perfect.
Since Jesus Christ is God, He is perfect and since He is perfect or holy, His death on the cross is acceptable to the Father for the payment of sin.
In fact, in this pericope, by affirming the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Paul was affirming the deity of Jesus Christ since Romans 1:4 teaches that the resurrection of Jesus Christ demonstrated His deity (cf. Romans 10:9).
So because Jesus Christ is God, His work is acceptable to the Father as the payment for sin resulting in the sinner being reconciled to the Father.
