Colossians 1.17-Jesus Christ Preexists Creation and Sustains Creation
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday May 3, 2015
Colossians: Colossians 1:17- Jesus Christ Preexists Creation and Sustains Creation
Lesson # 22
Colossians 1:17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. (NASB95)
“He is before all things” presents the result of the previous statement at the end of verse 16 which states that each and every thing is created through Jesus Christ and for Him.
Therefore, this indicates that each and every thing was created through Jesus Christ and for Him and thus “consequently” He is before each and every thing or in other words, He existed before creation.
In other words, if each and every thing was created through Jesus Christ and for Him, then we can conclude that He existed before creation.
“He is before all things” is emphasizing that Jesus Christ antecedes creation.
“All things” refers to the totality of inanimate and animate objects that are contained in the first, second and third heavens and the earth or in other words, that are contained in creation, which would include all marine life, bird life, terrestrial life, human beings and angels.
It refers to the totality of animate and inanimate objects that are contained in the first, second and third heavens and the earth: (1) Stars, satellites, and planets that compose the stellar universe. (2) Earth’s sun and moon. (3) Vegetation on the earth (4) Marine life (5) Bird life (6) Terrestrial life. (7) Human beings (8) Angels.
This would include the orderly arrangement of the heavens and the earth and all things in their complex order and composition as created by God, created in perfect order and subject to the laws God established to govern its operation (Matt. 13:35; John 21:25; Acts 17:24).
“And in Him all things hold together” presents the logical result of the previous statement that Jesus Christ preexists creation.
Therefore, it indicates that Jesus Christ preexists each and everything in creation “so that” each and every thing in creation is held together or continues to exist because of Him.
If Jesus Christ preexists creation and is thus God, we can logically infer that everything in creation continues to exist because of Him.
“Hold together” is the verb sunistēmi (συνίστημι), which pertains to bringing together or holding together something in its proper or appropriate place or relationship.
Therefore, the verb indicates that each and every thing “is held together” through Jesus Christ or in other words, this verb conveys the idea that creation continues to exist because of Jesus Christ.
The perfect tense of this verb is an intensive perfect which is used to emphasize the results or present state produced by a past action.
So the intensive perfect emphasizes the present sustaining or holding together of the totality of animate and inanimate objects that are contained in the first, second and third heavens and on the earth which is the result of the past action of the Lord Jesus Christ creating them.
“In Him” is composed of the following: (1) preposition en (ἐν), “in” (2) dative intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός), “Him.”
The preposition en is functioning as a marker of cause which indicates the cause or basis of the action of the verb.
Thus, this prepositional phrase is answering the question as to “why?” all things continue to exist in creation.
This again fits the context in that it corresponds to what Paul has asserted about Jesus Christ in Colossians 1:15-16 and his first statement here in Colossians 1:17.
In verse 15, Paul asserts Jesus Christ is God and existed before creation.
In verse 16, he asserts that Jesus Christ is the author of creation.
Creation exists through Him and for Him.
Then, in verse 17, the apostle asserts that Jesus Christ is before all things or in other words, He existed before creation.
Now, here in the second statement in verse 17 Paul affirms that Jesus Christ is the reason why creation continues to exist or is sustained.
Colossians 1:17 Consequently, He Himself, as an eternal spiritual truth preexists each and every thing (in creation) so that each and every thing (in creation) continues to exist because of Him. (My translation)
Colossians 1:17 contains two more assertions about Jesus Christ.
The first echoes his assertion about Jesus Christ in verse 15, namely that He existed before creation.
The second is that all creation is held together or continues to exist because of Jesus Christ.
These two assertions present the logical result of the assertions immediately preceding them.
The first assertion is the result of the previous statement at the end of verse 16 which states that each and every thing is created through Jesus Christ and for Him.
Therefore, if each and every thing was created through Jesus Christ and for Him, then we can logically conclude that He existed before creation.
This first assertion that Jesus Christ exists in the state of being before each and every thing indicates that Jesus Christ is the “antecedent” of creation.
Thus, Paul is again affirming the deity of Jesus Christ and that He is the Creator and Sustainer of everything and everyone in creation.
The second assertion in verse 17 presents the logical result of the first assertion in verse 17.
This second assertion about Jesus Christ presents the logical result of the previous statement that He preexists creation.
It asserts that everything in creation is held together or continues to exist because of Jesus Christ.
If Jesus Christ preexists creation and is thus God, we can logically infer that everything creation continues to exist because of Him.
This too affirms that Jesus Christ is God and the Creator.
This second assertion addresses Jesus Christ’s present activity in relation to creation.
Hebrews 1:3 echoes this second assertion about Jesus Christ in Colossians 1:17.
Hebrews 1:1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 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. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. (NASB95)
Colossians 1:17 summarizes Colossians 1:15-16 and completes the section of this hymn which addresses Jesus Christ’s relationship to creation.
Paul’s two assertions here in Colossians 1:17 echo the two he made in Colossians 1:15, namely that Jesus Christ is deity and that He preexisted creation which is another ascription of deity to Jesus Christ since it implies that He preexisted the time, matter, space continuum.
Consequently, both Colossians 1:15 and 17 teach that Jesus Christ is God and the Creator which implies that He is sovereign over creation and omnipotent.
Warren Wiersbe writes “A guide took a group of people through an atomic laboratory and explained how all matter was composed of rapidly moving electric particles. The tourists studied models of molecules and were amazed to learn that matter is made up primarily of space. During the question period, one visitor asked, ‘If this is the way matter works, what holds it all together?’ For that, the guide had no answer. But the Christian has an answer: Jesus Christ! Because ‘He is before all things,’ He can hold all things together. Again, this is another affirmation that Jesus Christ is God. Only God exists before all of Creation, and only God can make Creation cohere. To make Jesus Christ less than God is to dethrone Him.”
Douglas Moo writes “What holds the universe together is not an idea or a virtue, but a person: the resurrected Christ. Without him, electrons would not continue to circle nuclei, gravity would cease to work, the planets would not stay in their orbits.”
S. L. Johnson commenting on Colossians 1:17 has this excellent comment, he writes “So the thought passes from creation to preservation. The practical significance of this is almost beyond comprehension. Every twinkling of the eye, every beat of the heart is dependent upon His sovereign beneficence; His arm upholds the universe and, if His omnipotent power were withdrawn, all would fade into their original non-existence. What light this throws on the panic of the disciples in the storm! It is no wonder that He said to them, ‘Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?’ (Mark 4:40). In Daniel’s words He is ‘…the God in whose hand thy breath is’ (Dan 5:23). How remarkable and wonderful, then, is the incarnation! The God of Genesis one is the Babe of Matthew one. The One of whom Isaiah said, ‘Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance’ (Isa 40:12), is the same person of whom Paul said, ‘For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified’ (1 Cor 2:2). The same God of whom Jeremiah said, ‘But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation’ (Jer 10:10), is He of whom John wrote, ‘Jesus wept’ (John 11:35). ”