Colossians 1:15
Introduction:
Have you ever wished that you had a time machine? Boy what I wouldn’t give for a time machine. For innumerable reasons. There would be so much of history that I would love to see. And there would be a lot of things that I would like to go back and try to change, in my life and maybe other events too.
There’s a song by Mercy Me called “Dear Younger Me” and the whole premise of the song is the singer talking about what they would like to say to their younger self. There are lots of things I would like to say to my younger self! But of course, that is impossible to do. Time travel is not for us.
Well, for what we are talking about this morning I really wish that we had a time machine. We are going to be looking at Colossians 1:15 for the majority of our time. Yes, only one verse for the majority of the sermon. And that is because we don’t have a time machine so instead of getting to ask Paul what he meant, or being able to immerse ourselves in 1st century thought and speech, we’re going to have to hear about history and word use instead.
Yes, I know, I’d rather have the time machine too!
Colossians 1:15 is an important verse for understanding the real Jesus. This verse is intended to teach about Jesus’ divinity and authority over creation. And yet, in a tragic irony, this verse has been misunderstood and misinterpreted to teach almost the opposite of that. Some have said that it teaches that Jesus is like God but is not, or that He was the first thing created. Taken at face value with what the words mean today in 2019, it is easy enough to do. I would not be surprised if you have read these words and thought the same.
But people living around 60AD, when this was written, did not understand it to mean any such thing. To them it was a clear declaration of Jesus as being God in the flesh and the inheritor and manager of all of creation.
We can’t travel back to that time physically, so instead I will do my best to explain what people back then thought about the meaning of words like “image” and “firstborn” and how they interpreted this verse.
It’s an important verse and yet, not easy to understand, so it is worth spending a lot of time on.
Text: Colossians 1:15
Verse 15
Jesus is much more than just an interesting historical figure. He is someone absolutely worthy for you to grow to include more and more in your life. He is someone worth talking to, thinking about, depending upon, seeking, and following. This verse does a lot to help us see why.
This verse gives us two unique truths about Jesus that can help us to grow in our desire to live relationally with Him. One is that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. The second is that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation.
So, for the first point – Jesus is the image of the invisible God. What does that mean?
The Greek word for “image” is “eikon.” It can mean one of two things.
First, it can mean that the image is symbolic of another thing. Like coins with images on them, or statues of people. People living all over the empire in this time could see images of this sort. Each new emperor would have his picture imprinted on a coin. Artists would make statues of various people. Romans would have lots of paintings of different people and things; these were all images, eikons. And so whether someone was at a school, walking down the road, paying money, in a restaurant – they had restaurants back then by the way – whatever they were doing, they would see a lot of eikons.
Not so different from today really. You can see lots of images all around you all the time. This is typically how we think of the word “image” today.
But people at that time would also see a lot of a different kind of eikon. One that you and I don’t see much of today but you might if you were to go to somewhere like India.
This kind of eikon, or image, is a manifestation of another thing. When used this way, it means that something is more than a symbol – the presence of the object represented is actually with the image, eikon. This was how the term was used for idols. Eikons of Jupiter, Juno, Ra, Baal, all over the place. It might be hard for you to conceive of this as it is such a foreign thought to us today, but people really did believe that their gods were present in these idols. They were more than just statues.
Let me read to you something I read recently that illustrates this point. This is a story written by an ancient Roman historian named Livy from when Rome conquered a city named Veii long, long ago and it tells about how they looked upon an eikon and treated the eikon.
“When all human wealth had been carried away from Veii, they then began to remove the offerings to their gods and the gods themselves, but more after the manner of worshippers than of plunderers. For youths selected from the entire army, to whom the charge of conveying queen Juno (Juno is a goddess) to Rome was assigned, after having thoroughly washed their bodies and arrayed themselves in white garments, entered her temple with profound adoration, applying their hands at first with religious awe… Then when someone, moved either by divine inspiration, or in youthful jocularity, said, “Juno, art thou willing to go to Rome,” … her voice was heard, declaring that “she was willing.” Certain it is, we are informed that, having been raised from her place by machines of trifling power, she was light and easily removed, like as if she willingly followed; and that she was conveyed safe to the Aventine, her eternal seat.”
So, foreign as that kind of thinking might be to you and me, it’s evident that the Romans really did believe that Juno was literally in that statue. These were not just statues; they are called by Livy “the gods themselves.” They approach the statue with great religious caution. They speak to the statue. They believe the statue has spoken to them. They say the statue has a will to decide whether the statue will go to Rome or not.
And so that was a common way that the word “image” or “eikon” was used: to describe something that was an actual manifestation of another thing.
Which meaning of “image” is intended here? It is that God is actually manifested in Jesus. Jesus is a manifestation of God. We know this from verse 19, which makes clear that all the fullness of God, God completely, dwelled in Jesus. When you look at verse 15 and then what verse 19 has to say, the intention is clear. Jesus is God in the flesh. And so, when Jesus speaks, God is speaking. When Jesus moves, God is moving. All of God dwells in Him. He is the image, or eikon, of God.
Now, a couple thoughts that might come to you after hearing that: “does that mean that Jesus is some kind of husk for the divine like that stone was, supposedly, for Juno or that Jesus is some kind of fleshly religious idol?”
Or asked another way, does this mean that Jesus is God but not really human? Just wearing the guise of humanity? A flesh statue if you will?
Jesus is both 100% God and 100% man. That He is a real living breathing person is clear when you read through the Gospels. He needed food, drink, rest. He breathed. He cried. He felt pain. He bled and He died. He never demonstrated multiple personalities. He is one person and that person is both God and man.
Another thought that could maybe come to you as you hear that is “well what about before and after Jesus walked the earth? Was there a time when He was not God or when He ceased to be God?”
That question is cleared up in John 1:1-3. “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 was not any thing made that was made.”
From the beginning, Jesus has existed and has been with God and has been God. Here is where the concept of the Trinity comes from – One God, existing in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Son is with God, so He is His own person, and yet He is God, they are One. Understand it I can’t and lots of preachers have tried to use all kinds of illustrations involving various things. None of them fit. It’s different from anything we can see or experience in this physical realm.
Well, since God the Son has always existed, what changed on Christmas was not that a human momentarily became a special vessel of God, but that God the Son put on human flesh and became 100% God and 100% man. The physical embodiment of the invisible God.
And so that is what Jesus being the image of the invisible God means. Jesus is the invisible God made manifest in the flesh.
This is all deep stuff and though I think it’s good to understand it as best we can, it’s not easy. But I think what is clear enough from these and other verses is that Jesus is fully God and fully man. And God exists in three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – some day we will have to have a series on the Holy Spirit, He isn’t talked about nearly as much as the other two and time doesn’t allow us to today either.
So, first reason to grow in relationship with Jesus – Jesus is the image of the invisible God, all the fullness of God dwells in Him. He is God the Son.
And so what does that mean for you? It means that Jesus is Your Creator. He knows you. He made you. He knows your strengths and your weaknesses. To him you owe thanks for every gift or breath that you take. And it means that He is the Lord and author of history. He is the One who made the stars and all of the angels. This is someone that you want to get to know.
You know, there are a lot of people out there that I think it would be interesting to meet. And one of the first things I would do with my time machine would be to go meet those people. I’d like to meet the apostles. I’d like to meet my grandparents on my mother’s side – never got to meet them. There’s probably a lot of people you’d like to meet too. Well, you get the opportunity to get to know someone much better than any of them and that is Jesus. And you don’t need a time machine to do it. Since Jesus is God, He is eternal and He exists outside of time and is able to be and see all moments at once.
So Jesus is worth growing in our relationship with because Jesus is God.
Second reason, He is the firstborn of all creation. And what does that mean?
Well, in common English usage, when you or I hear “firstborn” we take that pretty literally. In our usage it means the first one to be born. I’m the firstborn of my family. Jenni is of hers. Maybe you are of yours. Because of that, several people have thought that this means that Jesus was created first.
However, in ancient times very few people in the church understood it that way. In fact, the first prominent person to come teaching that this meant Jesus was the first created thing was a fellow named Arius. Arius was born 326AD. That’s almost 250 years after these words were written. He taught that Jesus was the created creator. The majority of the Church rejected this teaching and the leaders of the Church overwhelmingly rejected it and still do today.
So why then did the early church not think this meant that Jesus was created first, why did it take 250 years for that interpretation of this verse to begin popping up, and why is that something that you don’t hear taught in the majority of churches, especially since that is what firstborn certainly sounds like?
It’s because the word “firstborn” had implications then that it doesn’t have now, and this book was written then, not now. Then, the firstborn was the primary heir and management of the household was eventually committed to him. In kingly transitions, the firstborn was the one that authority was transferred to one day.
Because of those implications, firstborn very often had a metaphorical meaning instead of a literal meaning. Look at Psalm 89:20-36 as an example (Scan other verses, Emphasize Verse 27)
“And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.” This is written about the ancient king David. In what sense was he literally the firstborn of anything? He wasn’t the firstborn son of his family, he was the youngest son. He wasn’t the first to be king on the earth – there were many before him. He wasn’t even the first to be king in Israel, that was Saul.
Think about it. If this literally means born first, then what David is saying is that all the kings are going to have to go back into the womb and be born again, only this time David will be born first. That’s strange! Obviously firstborn means something a little different from what it appears to.
It means that he will be the heir and manager over the kingdoms of earth. He will be first among the kings. This will be fulfilled when Jesus, born of Mary who descended from David, sits on the throne of David in the millennial kingdom.
So firstborn has the figurative meaning of being the heir and manager over their inheritance. In fact, in the New Testament there is only one time that this word is used to literally mean the person who was born first. Hebrews 11:28 if you are curious. All of the other times it is used in a figurative way.
It’s a little like the English word “cool.” We all know what that literally means. But at least in my generation, that word is more often used in the figurative sense. I gave a devo to the FCS at Triton two weeks ago. I think I said “cool” maybe 4 times, none of those times was I talking about temperature, and they all got it.
Fast forward 2 thousand years, and maybe someday people will read about us calling things cool and get confused by it.
In Colossians 1:15 “firstborn” has the figurative meaning of Jesus being the heir and manager of all creation.
Here’s how a fellow named Curtis Vaughan put it that I find helpful. “Jesus is His Father’s representative and heir and has the management of the divine household (all creation) committed to Him.” That’s what it means to say that Jesus is the firsborn.
And so why is that important to you and your relationship with Jesus?
Well just think about it – If Jesus is the heir and manager over all of creation, that means that He has authority over you. And not just you only – but of all of creation. All the kings of the earth of all time must one day answer to Him. All of the resources that are on the earth belong to Him. All of the money is His money. The management of the divine household is His, which includes even the angels.
You and I are going to have to give an account to Jesus about things and so is everyone else. Therefore, I think it can only be beneficial to you and I to seek to grow in our relationship with Jesus. Do you really want to ignore or trivialize the heir and manager of all of creation? No, I don’t think so.
Is this someone that you only want to talk to before eating a meal, before bed, and on Sunday? Not if you can talk to Him more often than that! And indeed we can talk with Him more often than that because He is always with us. We just have to work at developing the discipline and habit of doing so.
Furthermore, the heir and manager of all of creation is certainly able to do a lot for you. Do you need food? Do you need shelter? Are you being oppressed or slandered? Turn to Jesus, He can help you with that. The answer might be to wait, things might not work out precisely how you want them to, He’s not a genie that you will get everything that you want – but He is the heir and manager of all of creation. It just makes sense to talk to Him and with Him much more often than you probably do.
Conclusions:
Jesus is God made manifest in the flesh.
Jesus is the heir and manager of the divine household.
Let’s grow in our relationship with Him!