“A Hymn to the Supremacy of Christ” (Part 1) Colossians 1:15-17
It is thought that these verses in Colossians 1 were perhaps sung as an early Christian Hymn. Paul ends with verses 13-14: “He (the Father) has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
From a shameful death on the cross 30 years before, Colossians 1:15-20 comprises a glorious tribute of exaltation to the Lord Jesus Christ: “He (the Lord Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”
18 “And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”
The Supremacy of Christ in Creation: The Image of the Invisible
This hymn is divided into two separate tributes to Jesus and both are explicit and implicit in declaring Jesus as God. Verses 15-17 glorify the Lord Jesus Christ in a Hymn to the Supremacy of Christ in Creation. Verses 18-20 glorify Jesus in a Hymn to His Supremacy in Redemption, which we will look at in our next study. The divine description unmistakably declares Jesus as Deity in that He is the IMAGE of the invisible God. Although man was made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27), Man is NOT God. As the image of the invisible God, The Son is Himself God. The Son is GOD REVEALED in the Flesh.
How can we say that? Well, look at Colossians 2:3: “in whom ( in Jesus) are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Again in Colossians 2:9: “For in Him (again, in Jesus) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Romans 9:5 proclaims this fact: “Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.” Philippians 2:6 also agrees: “(Jesus,) who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.” All of the treasures, wisdom, knowledge…all of the fullness of God is in Christ, bodily: Jesus is God made manifest bodily: God “tabernacled” (made His dwelling) with man in the Son. “It is in the Son that the invisible God has become visible, so that man sees him who is invisible” ). (p. 72 William Hendriksen, “Colossians Commentary)
Two powerful examples appear in the first letter to Timothy. First, in 1 Timothy 1:17: “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” Jesus is the King of Kings which is also stated in 1 Timothy 6:15-16: “He who is the blessed and only Potentate (He is the only sovereign ruler over all the created order), the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.” Here, Jesus shares all of the same qualities of God.
To believe otherwise is to deny the true God and the deity of Christ, as Paul made clear in 2 Corinthians 4:4: “whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” Hebrews 1:3 upholds this truth: “He (Jesus) is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” To deny Jesus’ deity is proof that the god of this age has blinded you and you remain in unbelief. This battle was prevalent in Colossae, in Corinth, and it certainly continues today.
1 John 5:20 states so clearly as well: “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” Believe that Jesus is God and eternal life is in Him. Keep yourselves from any deviation of this truth.
The Firstborn over all creation
Secondly, Jesus is the “firstborn” over all creation. Now, first of all, Jesus as the “firstborn” cannot mean that the Son is a creature because that interpretation would conflict with the rest of the Bible. Jesus could not possibly be created and also be the Creator of all things. John 1: 1-3 clearly states: “In the beginning was the Word (We find that “the Word” is Jesus.), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (The tense of the word, “was”, signifies eternal existence in the Greek. It means “Jesus was always and continually.”) 2 He was in the beginning with God. (He was NOT created, but had already been in the beginning along with God-coequally in existence.) 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” Jesus is the Eternal Creator over all creation, over all the living, not made into a creature, but eternal.
“The word "first-born" (Greek word "prototokos") signifies priority or rank. In the culture of the Ancient Near East, the first-born was not necessarily the oldest child. First-born referred not to birth order but to rank. The first-born possessed the inheritance and leadership. Therefore, the phrase expresses Christ's sovereignty over creation. After resurrecting Jesus from the dead, God gave Him authority over the Earth (Matthew 28:18). Jesus created the world, saved the world, and rules the world. He is the self-existent, acknowledged Head of creation. Six times the Lord Jesus is declared to be the first-born of God (see Romans 8:29; Colossians 1:15, 18; Hebrews 1:6; 12:23; Revelation 1:5). These passages declare the preexistence, the sovereignty, and the redemption that Christ offers. Thus, the phrase "first-born of all creation" proclaims Christ’s preeminence. As the eternal Son of God, He created the universe. He is the Ruler of creation!” (Gotquestions.org) Jesus’ rank and priority are above all else: He is sovereign and supreme over creation because He is Creator God.
By Him all things were created
Verse 16 again emphasizes Christ’s Preeminence over all that He has created: “For by Him all things were created (John 1:3 just said this, too- “without him was not anything made that was made.”) that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”
What did the Lord Jesus create? Everything that you can see, He made. Nothing is excluded. If Jesus had a beginning He could not have been Creator, and if He had no beginning, then He is God. Christ is the reference point. It was in relation to Christ that all things were originally created. No material things exist without Him being the first cause. He is the agent of Creation.
Jesus created all that is Heaven as well as on the Earth. Many dispute the creation story in Genesis, but you see how important it is to accept the Genesis account: If you reject the beginning of God’s Story, then you will inevitably reject the Deity of Christ and the True God of the Bible as unveiled in the New Testament. Jesus created the “visible and invisible”. The visible pertains primarily to all of that which is on the earth while the invisible pertains to all that is in the heavens or heavenly and any place in between. He created all that you can see in the universe; He created all visible living beings and He also created all that is invisible in the heavenly realms.
The invisible is defined in our text as “thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.” The church in Colossae was confronting a false belief concerning an angelic hierarchy which included the worship of angels and so the thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers which most likely had to do with angels.
“Thrones” in the Greek pertained to kingly power or rule; the New Testament concept of “thrones” primarily refers to the Sovereign reign of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. The word, “dominions” means power or lordship; the Old Testament pointed to the eternal Kingship of the Messiah and the New Testament explains that Jesus is Lord. The word “principalities” carries with it the idea of being “the first”, the “beginning”, the origin or active cause”; Our text proclaims Jesus as the originator and the active causal agent of all things visible or invisible.
The word, “powers” means the right, the privilege and authority to rule. The Greek word is “Exousia”; you can hear the word, “exercise”, so you might think of “powers” as those who have the right to EXERCIZE their authority: The Bible teaches that Jesus is the ONE and ONLY who has the innate and inherent “right to exercise authority” because He has created and sustains all things, and is Himself Sovereign over all things.
Are you seeing the greatness of these words in conjunction with the Lord Jesus? All created beings, every human being, all angels, kings and all governments and authorities, whether or not they recognize Jesus for who He is, ALL are subject to Him. Anything and everything that we enjoy comes first of all from God in Christ. Angels have their function, but we don’t look to them for help. We don’t worship them (good or evil) but God alone.
Jesus is the Goal and Sustainer of all Creation
Verses16 b and 17 continue: “All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things (Jesus is from everlasting to everlasting, the first and the last, the beginning or creator of all things, and the end of all things; He is eternal.), and in Him all things consist (or “in Him all things are held together”). Since all things were created through Him, He alone is deserving of worship and glory; all things were created FOR HIM. In other words Jesus is the Goal of Creation’s Worship. Man is not the center of the universe or center of the creation, God is. The creation was brought into existence, not because God was lonely or had to feel fulfilled; God created in order to bring glory to Himself. Scripture teaches that the Triune God was active in creation, the Father, Son and Spirit, but Paul focuses on the role and Sovereignty of the Son in Colossians, being equal with God in essence.
In Him, in Christ, all things hold together. Again I bring Hebrews 1:1-3 into view: 1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
In Christ all things hold together. In Him they consist, continue and cohere. He is the Almighty Sustainer of Creation. Even though our world seems to be in chaos, it is an orderly systematic universe. With the entrance of sin, many things are not as God created them to be, yet there is coherence. Animals were created in a way that they continue to exist, being made by God to adapt to their environments. Plants in the desert live because God made them in a way to survive without water for long periods of time. The Sun is still in its place, the earth continues to rotate and stays on its orbit because it is held by the word of God’s power. The stars continue to hold their places, and the moon continues as it has always done; none of these things are by fate or by chance but by the very actions and divine will of God.
It is the Son of God’s love for what He has created which causes Him to hold in His almighty hands the workings of the universe, and He never even for one moment lets anything out of His grasp. And so Jesus is the Firstborn (the highest rank or priority, the Reference and Agent of all Creation, the Goal of worship and Sustainer of all that has been created by the Word of His Mouth. Praise His Magnificent Holy Name.
I. Jesus is the image of the invisible God. (Col 2:3,9, Rom. 9:5, 2 Cor 4:4, Phil 2: 6, Heb.1:3, 1 Timothy 1:17, 6:15-16, 1John 5:20)
A. The Son is GOD REVEALED in the Flesh.
B. Jesus shares all of the same qualities of God: To believe otherwise is to deny the One True God and the deity of Christ.
II. Jesus is the “firstborn” over all creation. (John 1:1-4, Rom 8:29; Col 1:15, 18; Heb 1:6; 12:23; Rev 1:5)
A. He is the Eternal Creator over all creation, not made into a creature.
B. Jesus’ rank/priority (preeminence) is higher than all.
C. He is supreme over creation (and redemption).
III. By Him ALL things were created…(vs. 16)
A. Christ is Preeminent over all that He has created.
B. Christ is the reference point of all that has been created:
He is the Agent of Creation.
C. Jesus created all that is visible and invisible: thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
D. Every human being, all Angels, Kings and Governments are subject to Jesus.
IV. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” Heb 1:1-3
A. Since all things were created through Him, He alone is deserving of worship and glory: Jesus is the Goal of Creation’s Worship.
B. In Christ, all things hold together: He is the Almighty Sustainer of Creation.
