OUR CREATOR, OUR REDEEMER – Colossians 1:15-20
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on February 6, 2013 under AM Bible Study |
AM Bible Study Group; February 6, 2013
Colossians 1:15-20
Theme: Jesus is an all-sufficient Savior, because He—the very One who created us—is also the One who redeems us.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
The six short verses of our passage this morning are among the most breathtaking of all the affirmations in Paul’s letters. There is a wonderful majesty to their glorious theme—which is Jesus Christ. There’s majesty in the story they tell about Him—that is, of His existence in eternity past, of His coming to us in history to be born into the humanity to shed His blood for our sins on the cross, and of His glorification as the only one through whom any of God’s creatures will ever experience God’s favor. There’s also majesty in the greatness of their scope—revealing to us the significance of Jesus Christ with respect to everything that exists.
Eight times in these few verses, we find the word “all”: He is the firstborn of “all creation” (v. 15), by whom “all things” were created (v. 16), through whom and for whom “all things” were made (v. 17), who existed before “all things” (v. 17), by whom “all things” consist (v. 17), who is preeminent over “all things” (v. 18), in whom dwells “all the fullness” (v. 19), and by whom “all things” are reconciled to God (v. 20). These verses really recognize only two categories of things: Jesus, and everything else that exists. And they present Jesus as having the preeminent relationship toward all things—things “that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers” (v. 16). What’s more, these verses present Him to us as the one through whom all things are reconciled—“whether things on earth or things in heaven” (v. 20).
This passage show us, then, the supreme relevance of Jesus Christ to everything—without exception. There is literally nothing of all God’s creation that is left untouched by the grand affirmations of this passage. What a glorious theme these verses present to us! But why did the Holy Spirit lead Paul to seemingly interrupt the flow of his letter, and suddenly burst forth with this marvelous exaltation of the supreme majesty of Jesus? In the face of the false teaching that his brothers and sisters in Colossae were facing—a teaching that suggested that they needed something more than what they already had in Christ alone—Paul affirmed the absolute sufficiency of our glorious Savior. He wanted to convince his readers that, because all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus, and because He is the head of all principality and power, each woman or man united to Jesus by faith is “complete” in the eyes of God and now stands “holy, and blameless, and above reproach” in God’s sight (1:22).
Notice that in these six verses . . .
I. JESUS IS AFFIRMED AS THE CREATOR OF ALL (vv. 15-17).
A. Paul begins by affirming that He is the image of the invisible God (v. 15). The Greek word he uses to describe Jesus is eikõn—the same word from which we get the English word “icon”. It refers to an image that bears a substantive relationship with the original—that is, it communicates the essence and nature of a thing (see Matthew 22:20-21). Jesus is the representative to us of the real essence and nature of His Father. As it says in the Nicene Creed, Jesus is “of one substance with the Father”; that is, He shares the same essence and nature with the Father (John 14:9; John 10:30, Hebrews 1:1-4). He is not the same “Person” as the Father; but we perceive the Person of the Father with complete accuracy through the Person of the Son. The Son is the “image” of someone who could not otherwise be seen—that is, “the invisible God” (1 Timothy 1:17; 6:16). As the apostle John tells us that, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:18). As Jesus Himself said, “no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Matthew 11:27). We cannot know God apart from Jesus Christ; and anything we think we know apart from Him, or in contradiction to Him, is nothing but an idol of our own imagination.
B. Paul also affirms that Jesus is the firstborn over all creation (v. 15). This does not mean that He was the first of a series of created beings. When applied to Jesus, this phrase refers to His position with respect to all of creation—that is, with respect to His preeminence above all that is made (see Psalm 89:27; Hebrews 1:6). This emphasizes that Jesus holds the position of highest honor and privilege over all that is; and that this position belongs to Jesus alone. This can clearly be seen because of how Paul describes Jesus’ unique relationship to the created order. As Paul goes on to say, “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. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist” (vv. 16-17).
1. Jesus is affirmed as Creator because by Him all things were created “that are in heaven and on earth” (v. 16). The phrase “in heaven and on earth” is one that express things in universal terms. We’re to take it that Jesus really has made all things in all realms—all things in the material realm, and all thing in the spiritual realm. This includes things “visible” (see 2 Corinthians 4:17-18)—that is, things that are material and therefore temporal; “and invisible”—that is, things that are spiritual and therefore eternal. This even includes all “thrones, dominions, principalities or powers”; that is, the totality of all authority—of whatever rank (John 19:11; Romans 8:38-39; 13:1; Ephesians 6:12).
2. Jesus is also affirmed as Creator because He is the cause of all things existing. It is “through” Him; that is, He is the means of the creation of all things. As John 1:1-2 puts it, “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 nothing was made that was made” (see John 1:1-3).
3. Jesus is additionally affirmed as Creator because it is for Him that all exists (v. 16). The universe has great purpose. It was given by God the Father that He would be the Maker of all that is; and all things were made “for” Him. They were made by the Father to be given to Him, and they all find their ultimate meaning and purpose in Him. The “chief end” of all things—including you and me—is to glorify Jesus Christ and to declare His preeminence.
4. Jesus is further affirmed as Creator because He is before all things (v. 17). Nothing can come from “nothing”; and since the universe “is”, then something always “was”. That “something” is a Someone named Jesus—by whom, through whom, and for whom, all things were created, “whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting” [or “from the days of eternity”] (Micah 5:2). He’s the one who, before going to the cross, prayed that He would be restored to the glory that He enjoyed with the Father, “which I had with You before the world was” (John 17:5).
5. Finally, Jesus is affirmed as Creator because in Him all things consist (v. 17) or “hold together”; that is, He is not only the Maker of all things, but also the continual Sustainer of all things. The Bible tells us that there will come a time when “the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10). But until then, something unseen to human eyes holds it all together. And here, we’re again told that this “something” is a Someone—the Son of God; by whom all things “consist”. He “upholds all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3). We worship “one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live” (1 Corinthians 8:6).
II. THEREFORE, JESUS CAN BE TRUSTED AS OUR ALL-SUFFICIENT REDEEMER (vv. 18-20).
A. Note that Paul calls Jesus the head of the body, the church (v. 18). A “head” directs the “body”. It gives life, leadership and instruction to it. And here, we’re told that Jesus, the Creator God, is related to the church—His body—as its divine “head” (see Ephesians1:21-23). Because He is the head, Paul wrote that we are made complete before God as a result of our union with Him. In Ephesians 4:15-16, Paul wrote that we’re to grow up together “into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which very part does its share, causes the growth of the body for the edifying of itself.” If the church has, as its head, the majestic, preeminent Creator of all things, then it can find life, leadership and direction in nothing or no one else. In fact, nothing could be more self-destructive than to sever one’s self from one’s head. The great need for us as believers is not to try and find a better and more sufficient “head”—because there isn’t one. Rather, our great need is to remain vitally connected to Jesus Christ alone as the singular, all-sufficient “head” of His church (see Colossians 2:18-19).
B. Note that he also calls Him the beginning or “the first” (v. 18). And given the context, we can take this to mean that Jesus is the “beginning” of His church. He is its founder and originator. It finds its starting point in Him. He is “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2). If Jesus, our Creator, is the founder of the church; then how can we as believers ever hope to be complete if we seek to stand before God on the basis of something less than Him? “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11).
C. Paul also calls Him the firstborn from the dead (v. 18). Here, the title “firstborn” should be taken in a different way than it is taken in verse 15. There, it emphasized His preeminence over creation, not as first in a series. But here in verse 18, Paul’s use of the word here speaks of Jesus as “firstborn” in the sense that He is ‘first in a series’—another name for what, in 1 Corinthians 15:20, he calls “firstfruits”. The “firstfruits” of a harvest refers to the earliest produce gathered from that harvest. It’s a symbolic representation of more of the same that is yet to come. And he calls Jesus “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep”—that is, the firstfruits of those who will be resurrected from their graves; the prototype of many more to follow (see 1 Corinthians 15:20-23). As Jesus Himself declared, “Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19).
D. Finally, Paul emphasizes the importance of this to how sufficient Jesus alone is for us—that in Him all the fullness should dwell. He is presented as our glorious Creator, and as our Redeemer—having preeminence in all things; “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 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” (vv. 19-20).
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The reason God can make peace through the blood of Jesus’ cross is because of who Jesus is. He is our Creator; and therefore, He alone is sufficient to be our Redeemer.
