Colossians 1:15-20 LORD OF ALL Attacks on the Person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ are nothing new. To go on the defense and argue with people who challenge Christ’s eternal existence and deity, can deteriorate into a verbal battle that does not solve the dispute. To the believers of the Colossian assembly, Paul dealt with the heresy they were being challenged with by answering it before there was a question raised. The heresy affirmed that all matter is evil and that God could not create evil. This was almost an early form of evolutionary teaching. They also taught that Christ was one of the intermediaries, or go-betweens, like angels and other "principalities and powers." According to them, Christ was not the source and way of salvation. They taught that we need tradition, ceremony, miracles, and signs to achieve a connection with God. Many of those same false ideas exist in one form or another today, and people will accept that teaching because it places their future in their own independent hands. There seemed to be a certain fascination for angels coming at their beck and calling and acting on their behalf. Paul dealt with that by establishing the fact of the supremacy of Christ by exalting Him in His deity, in creation, in His providence by sustaining all things continually, in the church as the Head, in redemption as the Reconciler, and in the Gospel.
He began his teaching with the worship of the Sovereign Lord as to who He is, His eternal existence, and His power and glory. His knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ far exceeded the human intellect of the false teachers and their vain speculation. His message was "Jesus only," not a mere comparison with angels or men. In Christ, the Son of God, as to His relationship to the Godhead, He is the exact likeness in His manifestation of God, making visible that which was invisible. He was the "firstborn" in the sense of being before anything and every being. That which was eternal and pre-incarnation has been revealed to us in Christ. He was before all angels who are created beings made by Him. There are "thrones," so they must have areas of designated responsibility, but His throne is above all others. In the image of Christ, God became visible to men and made that which once was invisible now understandable.
Christ, the Son of God, is exalted as the Creator of "all things." There is nothing that exists that He did not create. He was before "all things." He was prior to all things because He is the Creator, the One who made it all happen. It was His word and His power that made all things according to His own design. In every created thing, there is evidence of the supreme power and unique imprint of His divine personhood. He is the reason for all things; all things exist and are maintained through Him. Christ holds everything together no matter what they are. From galaxies to atoms, there is a controlling power that is only His. Our Lord Jesus Christ bonds together physical things and spiritual things. Even the moral restraints that are common to man find their source in Him. But man, in his heretical mind, depreciates and puts the Lord of all down in an effort to put man up. That attitude is what is the prevalent view almost universally, except for those who have been redeemed and forgiven by His grace.
Christ, the Son of God, is also exalted in relation to the church. He is the Head of the church as the Prince of life, the Captain of our salvation. in that position, He was the firstborn, the One who starts so that others can follow. Our Lord is the Originator of the church in the same way as He is the Originator of creation. He who is eternal in His being acted to produce that which did not exist. So, He was the beginning of the church, not its first member. That place of preeminence and authority was established by His supremacy over death when as the first one to defeat death by His own authority, He came out from among all those who had no power over it. Not even angels can do that. Our Lord is the supreme authority over both the natural order of all things in creation and the spiritual order of all things in the church.
Christ, the Son of God, is exalted as the Reconciler of all things to God. It is in the purpose of God that there will be unlimited fellowship between man and God. To accomplish that purpose, the One to whom everything is subordinate, and "all fullness" is preeminent in Him, has become the Reconciler of things on earth to things in heaven. When it came to creation, it started in perfection from heaven to earth as "all things" were established by God. When it comes to the church, the problem that separated us was our sin here on earth. This reconciliation had to begin with peace being made with God here on earth. This is what the Lord did when "He made peace through the blood of His cross."
God's will, acted toward us through Christ coming to earth to settle the accounts that had to be made between sinful men and a holy God. The "blood of Christ," His sacrificial death for us, is the solution to the enmity between heaven and earth. The Lord Jesus Christ is the One who made it possible for us to be accepted by a Righteous God. The false teachers at Colossae were teaching other ways of coming to God. But in this discourse, Paul brings such an exalted view of salvation that one knows those who compared the work of Christ with anything else or any additions had no spiritual life. The Lord Jesus Christ, in His deity and humanity, is supreme in every way and aspect of anything others might teach. May we truly crown Him, Lord of all in our lives, as our Savior who has redeemed us and is the Designer, Creator, and Sustainer of all things. He alone is the Head of the church. No other person is the firstborn from the dead; the possessor of all fullness; the reconciler of all things. Angels and men all must bow before Him who is Lord of all.
Colossians.1:15. “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.”
WHO IS THIS? Who is this One who makes visible Him who is invisible? He is Emmanuel, God with us Who is this One who is before every other creature? He is the Father of Eternity. Who is this One who created all things? He is from everlasting to everlasting --God. Who is this One who created everything in heaven? He is the Alpha and Omega. Who is this One who created all things on earth? He is the One with the keys of life and death. Who is this One who keeps everything in order and in its place? He is the Sustainer. Who is this One who is the Head of the Church? He is the One who died for her and rose again. Who is this One who has the preeminence over all things? He is my Lord and my God.
“Dear Father in heaven: To attempt to describe in words One such as our Lord Jesus Christ would only be presumption and certainly would be an exercise in futility. To know Him who is eternal life is to be identified as one of His own, and is an earnest of the delights of the glory that awaits. It makes real the things that are unseen. To be linked with Him gives gladness to my heart, strength to my hands, purpose to my walk, a song to my tongue, and a freshness to the air I breathe. He the Creator, Sustainer, and Upholder is the Peace-maker as well. No wonder it is entirely appropriate that in “All things He might have the preeminence.” There is power and authority in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.” e