Colossians 1:15-23
Text: Colossians 1:15-23
Verse 15 – Jesus is the Image of the Invisible God and the Firstborn of All Creation
Jesus is the invisible God made manifest in the flesh.
Curtis Vaughan on “Firstborn” — “Jesus is His Father’s representative and heir and has the management of the divine household (all creation) committed to Him.”
Verse 16-17 – Jesus is the Creator
Verses 16-23 are expounding on verse 15. The facts of Jesus creating all things, being before all things, holding all things together, being the head of the church, and so on are expressions of Jesus as the image of the invisible God and the firstborn of all creation.
When it says all things here, it certainly means all things save God. All means all and it is repeated twice, both the physical and spiritual realms are stated so that covers everything. Because he is talking about everything in heaven and on earth, thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities isn’t talking about merely the rulers and kingdoms of the earth, but it is talking about the whole heavenly hierarchy of angelic authority.
We know very little about that hierarchy except that Michael is called the archangel, which makes him the highest. Wherever Gabriel falls I don’t know. The names of all the other millions I don’t know. But Jesus does. And He made all the millions of these creatures.
He made the stars as well, and all of their satellites whether they are planets like Mars and Jupiter, or something smaller that got demoted to something else – poor Pluto. I think it is called a dwarf planet now. But it will always be a real planet in my heart.
Jesus has unfathomable power. The entire galaxy is entirely too big to successfully consider. Most of our thoughts are comparing things based on things we already know. People eat something new and say “ah, this tastes like chicken.” If I want to say something is big, I say it’s as big as a truck. The galaxy is so incredibly outside of our realm of experience that we can’t compare it to anything successfully. It’s bigger than a truck. It’s bigger than a whale. It’s bigger than 10,000 earths. It’s unfathomable. And that’s just the material part. Who knows how big the spiritual part is? Is big even an appropriate word for the spiritual realm? Is that limited? Is it infinite? I don’t know. What does it look like? I don’t know.
And Jesus made all of that. Jesus has unfathomable power. And so He is worthy of our thoughts, our attentions, our seeking after, and even our worship. Because Jesus made all things.
Having made all things, He predates all things. “Before” is speaking in reference to time, not position. He exists, present tense, before all things were created. Just like it says in John 1:1 – In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
Contrary to what some have said, God is not dead and He hasn’t disappeared. I know it can sometimes feel that way to people who don’t believe because it has been awhile since Jesus walked the earth. But I know that God is still here because Jesus holds all things together. That means He sustains everything. Without God, creation would cease to hold together. It would fall apart. Possibly even disappear altogether, I don’t know. But creation continues to depend upon the Creator for being sustained. We are still here; God must still be too.
Link: Naturally, since Jesus is the image of God, the firstborn of all creation, and He made everything, it follows that He is first place in everything and rules everything
Verse 18 – Jesus is Preeminent
The general meaning of this verse is that Jesus takes first place in everything, and that He is the highest authority in everything. The first point is easy enough to see, the second takes a bit of explaining.
So, how is this saying that Jesus takes first place in everything and He is the highest authority in everything?
First – what does the head do? The head is the control center for the body. It does the thinking. Your brain tells your heart to beat, your lunges to breath, fingers to move, etc. It is more than just being on the top of your body – though it is that too. It’s the ruler of your body.
Second, when it says that “He is the beginning” – this looks in English like it is only talking about first in time, but actually “beginning” is “arche” in Greek and that is the same word that is translated “rulers” in verse 16. It’s also part of archangel. You know the archangel kind of arch. It’s that word. It’s an interesting word because it can mean beginning and it can mean first place and it can mean ruler. Considering everything else that is being said here about Jesus, it’s a very cool word to use because all of those meanings apply equally. Jesus is the arche. He is the beginning. He has first place. He is the ruler.
And third – we talked a lot about firstborn last week. As you know if you were able to make it, the term firstborn referred to the one who would be the inheritor of His father’s things and management of those things would be given over to Him. Again, this is not saying that Jesus was the first person to be resurrected. Actually that was Lazarus, Jesus resurrected Him. Jesus was the second to be resurrected. What this verse is saying is that Jesus is the overseer of the dead.
The bible states that Jesus will judge the living and the dead. When Jesus comes back before the Tribulation, the dead in Christ will be raised to meet Him in the clouds as part of the rapture. The final judgment will be by Jesus. Jesus says in Revelation 1:18 “I have the keys of Death and Hades.” He is the firstborn of the dead. “Of” would be a better word there, by the way, and the Greek word can go either way.
So this verse teaches that Jesus is preeminent in everything. But more than having first place in everything, He also rules everything. This includes the destiny of the dead as well as the church.
And I think that is important for everyone to know. The ultimate authority in the church is Jesus. It is almost inevitable that there will be a time when you disagree with me or any of the other leaders within the church. I will be the first to say, I am not perfect and I think the deacons and elders would say the same about themselves. The person you ultimately have to answer to is Jesus. And He will make everything right in the end.
And so, if you encounter a situation in your life where God is speaking to you from the Bible to do one thing, but church leadership is telling you to do another. Well, you do what the Bible says – because Jesus is the Word of God, the New Testament is written by His apostles and the Old Testament by His prophets. And He is the head of the church. He is the one who is the firstborn of the dead; He will judge all the dead – including you and anyone else in the church – so listen to Him.
One small request though – if we do disagree, let’s just try to sit down and work through it rather than argue. I hate arguing. Leads to all kinds of stress in my life and yours that we don’t need. I would like to think that with an open Bible and humble hearts that we can both learn and grow.
Link: So in all things, but especially and most obviously within the church – Jesus should have the preeminence. Naturally, He should have preeminence in your relationships as well!
Verse 19 – Jesus is Better than Everything
Verse 19 we mostly covered last week, so I won’t say much about it. Except to say – since there is no aspect of God or characteristic of God that is lacking in Jesus, all the fullness of God dwells in Jesus, then there is no insufficiency in Jesus. For someone that transcends space, time, and all of creation – sufficient isn’t even the right word. He is simply better than everything. Holier than any angel. More intelligent than any genius. More creative than any artist. More pleasurable than any experience. More beautiful than anything you’ve ever seen. Not just a little bit, but by magnitudes unknown.
Link: All that makes up the Creator of the universe dwells in Jesus. And through Jesus, God brings reconciliation to things in heaven and on earth by the blood of His cross.
Verses 20-23 – Jesus is the Reconciler
Remember that I said all things means all things? It does here too. However, this does not mean that everyone and everything is going to be saved. Am I contradicting myself? No. Let me explain.
The Bible says in Philippians 2:10-11 “at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue [will] confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Reconciliation is the cessation of hostilities. It is the establishment of peace. It’s the end of warfare. When you are reconciled with someone, that means you have made peace – the fighting is over. This is going to happen for everything on earth and heaven. Everything will be reconciled to God. Every knee, all humans and angels, will bow to Jesus Christ the Lord
Some – such as you and me – will be reconciled voluntarily. We have already been reconciled voluntarily. Our reconciliation to God comes through faith in Jesus Christ and the saving grace that He has given to us. But the fallen angels reconciliation to God, and those who have rejected the Gospel, their reconciliation comes by overwhelming force and by conquest. Their reconciliation is involuntary. The peace is enforced by the overwhelming might of God.
All will bow, whether they want to or not.
When you get to the end of the Bible, the war is over. There is only peace. Everything in heaven and on earth has been brought into submission to the kingdom of God. For some, that means eternal salvation and reward. For others that means eternal punishment and being lost.
This all comes about because of His shed blood on the cross. Jesus’ shed blood on the cross is what led to Him being declared worthy to open the scrolls in the book of Revelation – which begins the reconciliation by force.
And Jesus’ shed blood on the cross is what makes our voluntary reconciliation with God possible, because through faith in Jesus and what He did for us, we receive the free gift of eternal life.
This is what the Colossians had done, as Paul reminds them. Though they were once hostile to God and evil, because of their reconciliation to God they will be presented to God blameless and above reproach, holy and pure. Not as ones to be forced into submission, but as dear children to be loved and welcomed forever into the peace of God. Seen with the spotless perfection of God’s own Son, Jesus.
There are three ways that verse 23 can be taken, two of which are possible. One way to take it is that it is saying that if the believers do not continue in the faith, then their reconciliation will be canceled and they will not be presented to God blameless and above reproach. This is not a good way to take this verse because the Bible makes clear in many other places that salvation is eternal. Another problem is that it doesn’t say that reconciliation will be undone. You don’t see those words. You have to insert some of your own ideas and words into the text to say the reconciliation ceases to be.
The two other ways to take it are more natural to what’s written. The one I like best is that it is saying that those who are truly reconciled do continue in the faith. In other words, if believers continue in the faith, then it is true they have been reconciled to God and made blameless and above reproach before God.
The difference between this option and the first is that in the first option someone is saved and then loses their salvation because they departed from the faith. In the second option their departing from the faith proves they weren’t saved to begin with. This works better with what the Bible teaches about salvation being eternal, and it sounds a lot like what 1 John had to say in several places.
There is one more option that is a lot like the second. This option teaches that what is in danger is whether or not their presentation to God is holy, blameless, and above reproach. The believer who trusts in Christ is reconciled to God. But if they don’t continue in the faith, stable and steadfast – then when they are finally presented to God it will be in a way somewhat short of being holy, blameless, and above reproach. They won’t hear “well done, my good and faithful servant.” This interpretation works well too. But 1 John seems to have stronger things to say about those who depart from the faith.
But whichever way you go, your ongoing relationship with Jesus is important. Our Savior is not to be neglected.
Conclusion:
Jesus is the Image of the Invisible God Jesus is the Firstborn of All Creation
Jesus is the Creator Jesus is Preeminent and Rules All
Jesus is Better than Everything Jesus is the Reconciler