Colossians 1:15-18 - The Supremacy of Christ

Posted by Brance on May 24th, 2008 filed in Colossians

This post is part of a teaching series on the book of Colossians. All of the lessons in this series can be found here. In the first lesson we outlined the book. In each subsequent lesson we look at one small section of the outline and seek to answer five questions concerning the text.

Last week we looked at the final part of Paul’s introduction in his letter to the Colossians. This week we get to Roman numeral II in our outline. Beginning in verse 15 and continuing through verse 23 Paul gives us an argument for the Supremacy of Christ.

This passage could serve as a sort of summary of the theme of the entire letter. Remember, this letter is written in response to a report brought to Paul by Epaphras concerning doctrinal errors and false teaching that were taking root at Colossae. The errors at Colossae seem to have been of a syncretistic nature, combining Christianity with Jewish legalism and pagan philosophy. This philosophy was the prototype of what later became known as Gnosticism in the second century.

The basic belief was that matter itself was evil in nature, and therefore God could not have directly created the world and that he had no contact with it. Rather, it was speculated that God had created lesser gods, who in turn created lesser gods, etc. Until finally was reached a lesser being who still contained some spark of the divine, but was far enough removed from God that his actions of creating matter would not compromise God’s purity and holiness.

Some gnostics believed Christ to be one of these lesser beings, all of whom were worthy of human worship. So they worshiped any number of lesser gods thought to inhabit the stars. Some believed Christ to have been of a slightly higher order than some of the other deities, and therefore denied his humanness, claiming he had only pretended to have a physical body. Others believed that Jesus was not divine at all, but had merely been a conduit for the lesser god-like being known as Christ, thus denying the incarnation of God in human form.

It is these errors that Paul is putting to rest in the passage we are studying today.

While gnosticism has fallen out of favor today, the effort to dethrone Jesus has not. We are surrounded by people who would have you believe that Jesus was ‘a good moral teacher’ but not God, or that he was a man like you and I but somehow attained godhood.

In verses 13 and 14 Paul identifies Christ as the

…beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Now Paul elaborates on who that Son is.

V15: He is the image of the invisible God,

What Paul is saying here is that God, in his majesty, is beyond our comprehension, but has graciously chosen to reveal himself to us in Christ alone (John 1:18). We are created ‘in his image’ but Jesus ‘is the image’ of God Almighty.

It is in and through Jesus that we encounter the everlasting, holy God of the universe.

V15: …the firstborn of all creation.

Here we have to be careful. The Jehovah’s Witnesses would have us believe that Jesus is part of creation, based on this verse. Is that what Paul means here?

Take a look at Psalm 89:27.

And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.

This verse is about Kinng David. David was not the firstborn in his family. He was the youngest son, but God made him the firstborn by making him “the highest of the Kings of the earth.” In other words, he exalted him above the others. So Paul could be speaking only of Christ’s exalted status as the heir of all things, the firstborn, the one with the birthright.

The NIV paraphrases “of” as “over” in an effort to help you understand this verse. If we read in context though, this paraphrase is unneeded. The word “of” is not left by itself so that we cannot understand it, it is coupled with the word “for” beginning the next verse.

V16: For by him all things were created

If Paul intended to say that Christ was part of creation, he messed up by asserting that Christ made all things. Paul puts to rest the gnostic idea that Christ was a lesser god who was far removed from the Almighty by insisting that Christ created “all” things

V16: …in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities…

Jesus created it all, even the heavens (spiritual realm) and the angles (thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities).

V16: …all things were created through him and for him.

The Apostle John tells us in the opening lines of his Gospel that

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and 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. ~ John 1:1-3

Paul is saying the same thing here in Colossians 1. He is telling us that Jesus is God. He is the creator. He created ALL things. All things were created for him. This means all things were created for his glory (Romans 11:36). Nothing exists in all of creation for any other reason that this, to bring glory to Christ. Nothing! It’s easy to see how the stars, or mountains, or flowers, or something beautiful in our eyes exists for Christ’s glory, but this also means that homework exists for Christ’s glory. Spiders and snakes exist for Christ’s glory. Mud exists for Christ’s glory. Music exists for Christ’s glory. Even the person at school you like the least exists for Christ’s glory.

This even extends to evil supernatural powers. Remember the Colossian error of worshiping angles, of believing that Jesus was just one of a pantheon of lesser emanations from God? In Ephesians 6 Paul talks about our battle against evil spiritual powers and refers to them as rulers, authorities, “cosmic powers over this present darkness” and “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Here Paul says that Jesus created all things for his own glory, including these evil spiritual forces.

V16: …whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities…

He didn’t create them evil, they were created as angles of light and became evil because of their rebellion and sin. Jesus knew about that before he created them though. How can these evil things bring glory to Christ? Take a look in the next chapter at Colossians 2:15

He [God] disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over thin in him [Christ].

Glory is given to Christ in the cross. His supremacy is magnified in his triumph over evil. So even the forces of evil were created by Christ for his ultimate glory. This should be an extremely comforting thought for Christians who have been, as Paul said in verse 13 of chapter 1,

…delivered…from the domain of darkness and transferred…to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Yes! Our creator and savior, Christ Jesus, has redeemed us from our sin and we have been given an inheritance in his kingdom as a result of his atoning death on the cross, which death secured his triumph over the forces of evil. In all this Jesus is supremely magnified!

V17: And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

What does Paul mean when he says that Jesus is ‘before’ all things? He means that he existed prior to creation. To exist ‘before’ creation insists that Jesus is eternal. And not only that, ‘he is before’ creation. Paul didn’t say ‘he was before’ creation, he said ‘he is before’ creation. Not only did Jesus exist before creation, but he exists outside of creation, including time itself.

Paul goes on to tell us that not only did Jesus create all things, but he sustains all things. Without him there would be no existence. Jesus is outside creation as the creator, but creation is not outside him. In a very real sense, creation exists inside Jesus. There is no part of creation that exists outside his presence, for he is the glue that holds it all together.

Are you getting the picture of just how big our God is?

V18: And he is the head of the body, the church.

By this Paul means that Christ is the ultimate authority in the church. The church, believers, should look to Christ as their king, not angles or lesser beings. For us today the application might be a little different. We don’t tend to worship angles, we worship men. We lift up preachers, speakers and authors to positions of high reverence and sometimes it becomes idolatry. Jesus is the head of the church, not anyone else!

V18: He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,

Jesus wasn’t simply ‘in the beginning’, he IS the beginning. Here Paul is speaking about the restoration of life. Two great truths are here for us to grasp.

First, Jesus rose from the dead. He redeemed us by his death on the cross and triumphed over evil. The real victory was won in the resurrection though. To die was not enough. In rising from the dead, Jesus showed his true power and glory.

The second truth is that he is ‘the firstborn from the dead’ meaning that there will be others. Not only did Jesus purchase our forgiveness by his death, he also made possible our future glorification by his resurrection. This is our hope that Paul spoke of back in verse 5. We have already been reborn spiritually to new life in Christ, and in the future we will be resurrected bodily to share in his glorification!

V18: that in everything he might be preeminent.

The reason for all this is to make known to all creation the surpassing glory of Jesus Christ. The Greek word translated here ‘preeminent’ literally means ‘to have first place.’ That means that Jesus is to have ‘first place’ in every aspect of you life. He is come before everything: sports, television, movies, music, games, boyfriends, girlfriends, school, church, family, everything!

You want a purpose in life? Here it is. This is what the Bible says your purpose is in life: to magnify the greatness of Jesus Christ, and make him known to others. Or, as Sabrina put it the other night, “showcase his awesomeness.” This is worship. This is missions. This is life!