Chapter Five
Colossians 1:15-20 It’s All About Jesus
We saw in verse 13 the subject for this section, namely Jesus. Since the entire content of the Word of God either points to or directly relates to Jesus, we can understand why the enemy wants to confuse so many as to who He really is. However, before we continue we should look at some of the headers modern English Bibles use to describe the next few verses. The ESV Bible uses the phrase, “The Preeminence of Christ,” the NIV uses, “The Supremacy of the Son of God.” Why such strong wording? We need to understand that the purpose of this next section is to explain that Jesus is superior in every way. Earlier, we discussed how the people at Colossae were blending Christian, Judaic, pagan and Greek philosophies together resulting in questioning the adequacy of Jesus for salvation. In response, after his greeting and subsequent expansion on how he prays, Paul begins the content section of this epistle with a bold proclamation.
1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
Paul says that Jesus is the image (Greek word ‘eikōn’, the same word we get the English word ‘icon’ from) of the invisible God. Jesus in every sense resembles, represents and manifests God the Father. In other words, Jesus is the visible of the otherwise invisible (see 2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 Timothy 1:17). Paul then continues to say that Jesus is the ‘Firstborn’ of all creation. There are two primary applications of the term ‘firstborn’ in the Bible, the first use is just as the word sounds, referring to the first one born chronologically. The second and more important Biblical application is to understand that the term refers to a person’s title. The first born male child was considered the family spokesman and leader (prior to the Aaronic Priesthood, they were also responsible for handling the priestly duties for their family), plus they were given a double-portion of their inheritance. While this may be considered as a birthright, God does not always recognize the first male born in a family as the firstborn (Examples include Jacob and Esau, Ephraim and Manasseh, etc.) Old Testament prophecy connects the title of ‘firstborn’ to the Messiah (see Psalm 89:26-27) and it is used by the Apostle John as a title for Jesus in the book of Revelation (see Revelation 1:4-5) and Paul in his epistle to the church in Rome links the title to Jesus offering salvation to believers (see Romans 8:29). Some people, including some that may represent a certain religious group (that most of you may have encountered at your front door), will try to use this verse as evidence that Jesus was just a man since He was born like everyone else. That would be erroneous thinking as that would require reading this verse out of context, especially as Paul just said that Jesus was the image of God, followed by several verses that present a strong case that Jesus is indeed God. We will discuss another definition for this word ‘firstborn’ shortly as Paul adds clarification when he uses this title again in verse 18.
1:16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
How important is Jesus? Paul now states He is responsible for our creation, well that should open some eyes! Paul says that for by (the Greek word ‘en’ can be translated ‘by’, ‘in’ or ‘with’) Him all things were created. To help us understand that when he says, all things he means all things, Paul adds (just in case you missed what ‘all’ means), in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Then Paul shifts from ‘things’ to people, saying that regardless of who you are (king, queen, president, prime minister, angel, demon, human being, etc.), Jesus is, “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” (Ephesians 1:21, ESV) What better way to explain the preeminence of Jesus than by pointing out that He is the creator! Paul says that Jesus created all things through Him and for Him (see Romans 11:36; 1 Corinthians 8:6). Can one argue or challenge the Creator? While some Christian statements and beliefs consider God the Father as the Creator, the Bible clearly shows all that all three of the Godhead were involved in creation.
1:17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Next, Paul says Jesus existed before creation (before time began, read John 1:1-5) and in Him all things are being held together. We know that there are four basic forces of nature known to us today: 1) gravity; 2) electromagnetic forces, which include radio and light; 3) ‘strong’ nuclear forces and 4) ‘weak’ nuclear forces (source of nuclear radiation, heat from the Sun, etc.) To keep the nucleus of every atom from flying apart each nucleus is held together by both the ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ nuclear forces. Scientists have been puzzled over where the energy to hold an atom together comes from. The author of the book, The Atom Speaks and Echoes the Word of God, D. Lee Chesnut explains the nature of this mystery:
Consider now, the dilemma of the nuclear physicist when he finally looks in utter amazement at the pattern he had now drawn of the oxygen nucleus. For here are eight positively charged protons closely associated together within the confines of this tiny nucleus. With them are eight neutrons—a total of sixteen particles—eight positively charged, eight with no charge. Each of these particles was known to have its own individual identity.
An earlier physicist had discovered a law which had said that "like charges of electricity or magnetism repel each other, and unlike charges attract each other." And the entire history of electrical phenomena and electrical equipment had been built up on this solid fact, known as Coulomb’s law of repulsion between like charges. What was wrong? What holds the nucleus together? Why doesn’t it fly apart? And therefore, why don't all atoms fly apart?[1]
Even though some of the terminology have been updated since that was written, the description is still valid. Scientists have recently discovered that there is an active force imposed on the universe, which appears to actively hold every atom of material together and it is often referred to as, “zero-point energy” or “vacuum energy” (this does not mean zero energy, it is quite the opposite!).
This energy has been estimated to be 1.071 X 10117 kilowatts per square meter per second. Physicists John Wheeler and Richard Feynman calculated that the zero-point radiation of the vacuum of the size of teacup could boil all the world’s oceans. The author of Hebrews said, “God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command.” (Hebrews 1:2b-3a, NLT) What is Paul and the author of Hebrews saying? That Jesus is the source of that power! He literally is holding everything together, all the way down to the sub-atomic level!
1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Paul now brings up the fact that Jesus is the head of the church (read Ephesians 1:22-23). Returning to the title ‘Firstborn’, Paul identifies Jesus as the firstborn from the dead (see also Acts 26:23; 1 Corinthians 15:20 and Revelation 1:4-5). Note the word ‘from’, Jesus is no longer dead and because of this fact He is the firstborn, the first to rise (and stay alive) so that others, like us, can follow. Paul says that Jesus is the ‘firstborn’ so that He might be preeminent (the Greek word used here is ‘prōteuō’, meaning to be first) allowing many to follow, for in Him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell (see Colossians 2:9; John 1:16) and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself (see Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21). Since man could never salvage himself, God reconciled Himself to us through the blood shed on the cross by Jesus (see Ephesians 2:13-14), making peace between God and man possible, and then offers that peace to all those willing to believe. What should our response be to Jesus? He did all the work for our salvation, He restored our fallen nature, what can we do? Paul summarizes in his second letter to the church at Corinth, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-21, ESV, emphasis added) As ambassadors of Jesus we are to represent Him in a fallen world that would otherwise have no hope. Hope is available to all through Jesus.
So who is Jesus? Let’s review, in verse 15, Paul said that Jesus is the image of the invisible God (remember that God the Father is a spirit, see John 4:24 and 10:30). In verse 16, Paul says that Jesus is the Firstborn of creation and is above all. Then in verse 17 he says that Jesus was before all things and that He holds all things together. In verse 18, Paul calls Him the Head of the church. Verse 19 tells us that the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in Jesus (100% man and 100% God). Verse 20 reminds us that by living a sinless life, suffering and dying on a cross, Jesus restored our fallen nature (our otherwise certain condemnation) and reconciled us to Him. His love for us knows no measure!
That’s a bit odd or perhaps a little weird
It is difficult for us to relate to the issues these early churches faced, especially in some of the Roman provinces in Asia Minor. I am not saying that these issues were more challenging than those we face today, the issues are nonetheless peculiar to our ‘modern’ way of thinking. Imagine a worldview that embraces and worships hundreds of gods and goddesses, some with temples while others were depicted in every shape and form of man-made idols (see Acts 19:21-41; Revelation 9:20). Also note that most communities and cities had at least one false god or godess as their ‘primary’ deity, which became part of their local identity. Pagan worship was literally all around, it would have been difficult to avoid (see Acts 17:22-34).
Then there was the Greek thinker who sought, what might be best described as, “hidden knowledge,” information critical to eternal life. Guided by “human reasoning” these Greeks often created elaborate philosophies that contained segments of various religions and even some elements of Christianity, although they most often would not accept Jesus as God (see Acts 9:26-31;). Many scholars believe this movement later evolved into what we now call ‘Gnosticism’.
However, probably the biggest source of opposition for the church were the Jews. Protocol and ritualism was vital to their way of thinking. They did not accept Jesus during His ministry and later they did a great job of persecuting the apostles and other believers (For one example see Acts 7:1-60).
Now imagine a Christian armed with the gospel story. History shows us that the church at Colossae had all three of these people groups to contend with, the true believers truly had their hands full! Many of the New Testament epistles address the question of what do we do with Jesus, this was the primary subject of Peter’s first epistle. We would be accurate in saying that the struggle over who Jesus is has never ended, let’s now fast forward to our time. Many like to call Jesus a good teacher or a great philosopher, but nothing else. That is not the Jesus of the Bible. Let me introduce you to one of my favorite authors, Clive Staples Lewis, or better known as C.S. Lewis.
C.S. Lewis was a British author, theologian and Christian apologist. I have heard it said many times that C.S. Lewis had the ability to make complex philosophy understandable to non-philosophers. In what is often referred to as, “Lewis’s Trilemma,” (we all know what a dilemma is, a difficult choice between two or more alternatives, a trilemma would be limited to only three potential choices), C.S. Lewis created this argument to help people recognize that when considering Jesus, He should only be categorized in only one of three options.
He points out that the three categories are mutually exclusive, in other words, there is no way to overlap or combine them, nor could two or more be true at the same time. The categories are often reduced to simply Lord, Lunatic or Liar. While that doesn’t give us much to go by, the “three L’s” give each of us an easy way to remember the argument! Let’s take a look at each one.
A Summary of Lewis’s Trilemma
Lord
It did not take long after the resurrection of Jesus for naysayers to begin to deny the deity of Jesus, questioning the total sufficiency of His work on the cross for salvation or in some other way distort the truth about Jesus. Even some who claim to be Christian get enamored in presenting Jesus differently than what the Bible teaches. Today, there are so many viewpoints being expressed, it can be difficult to find the real Jesus, but the truth is, there is only one true Jesus Christ and the Bible clearly identifies Him as God and the work He did for us, out of love, is all that we need for salvation. We need to remember that His Father gave Jesus all authority (see Matthew 28:18) and that He is the Lord of all lords (see Revelation 17:14). As our Lord, He cannot lie (see Numbers 23:19; 1 Kings 8:56; Psalms 119:160; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18), He also delights in keeping His promises (see Psalm 19:1-4, 7; John 17:17 and 1 Corinthians 2:10-14) plus He is faithful and capable to change our eternal destiny, from hell to heaven (John 10:28; 11:25-26; Philippians 1:6; 1 Peter 1:4; 1 John 1:9).
Lunatic
If Jesus is not the Lord and Savior, the second option Lewis gives us is the possibility that He was a lunatic! We can define a lunatic as someone who may suffer from some form of mental instability as the result of an illness or injury. A lunatic could be summarized as someone whose testimony regarding essentially anything, could not be trusted. Be it delusions of grandeur or just inability to understand or relate to reality, this person should not be followed as they have no clue what they are talking about. Since a lunatic has little in common with reality, they could not reliably state the facts, comprehend complex subjects or even be called a “good teacher.”
Liar
Just as you would not want to fall for the fanciful talk of a lunatic, you would also not want to follow a liar. This is a person who intentionally lies, they know they are lying with deception as their goal, what more is there to say?
C.S. Lewis states that Jesus was either the Lord as Him regularly claimed, or He was a lunatic or a liar. If He was a lunatic we would not expect His words to be life-changing or have any long-lasting effect on humanity. If He were a liar, one big question comes to mind, would someone be willing to die for a lie? Either Jesus is our Lord and Savior or He is either a lunatic or liar, humanity can’t call Him a good man, a good teacher or even a good philosopher as these things are not part of what He claimed to be. Of course, there are some non-believers that want to add another ‘L’ to the list, namely, ‘Legend’, implying that the stories about Jesus are nothing more than a fictional tale. The Bible and the gospel portrayals of Jesus are true, even secular writings provide accounts of a real Jesus, He is not a myth.
While C.S. Lewis’ argument does not provide absolute evidence of the divinity of Jesus, it does help us put His claims into proper perspective. Lewis, in his book Mere Christianity wrote:
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic-on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.[2]
This paragraph is a good summary of his trilemma, mankind cannot simply add too or subtract from Jesus in order to fit their understanding. Please excuse my use of a well-used phrase, the bottom line is this, Jesus is. It’s all about Him, and it will always be.
⇐Previous Chapter (Introduction/Index) Next Chapter⇒
[1] Chesnut, D. Lee (1953). The Atom Speaks and Echoes the Word of God (pp 55-56). Grand Rapids: Wm. B Eerdmans Publishing Company.
[2] Lewis, C. S., Mere Christianity, New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1943, 1945, 1952, pp. 55–56. (Last paragraph of Book II, Chapter 3, "The Shocking Alternative.")