He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 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. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Colossians 1:15-17
Many people read this passage and believe that it is saying that the prehuman Jesus created everything that was created back in Genesis creation. “How can anyone say that Jesus did not have a prehuman existence if he created all things?” Some others will read this passage and see that Jesus is the “image of God,” and assume this is an argument that he must be God. Some will read the phrase “he is the firstborn over all creation” and take this to mean that Jesus is over all creation, and therefore, not of creation. Many others will see that “in him all things hold together,” and take this to mean something along the lines of Jesus holding creation together by continual power, some sort of divine power God only has to stop the universe from falling apart.
Context alone demonstrates the many errors in this reading, which is why you almost never hear verses 13, 14, 18, or 20-23 read along with these verses. We also need to ask why Paul would need to tell the church of Colossae that Jesus was the original creator and how this serves the overall purpose of his letter. It is also a good rule of thumb to compare any passages in Colossians to that of the letter to the Ephesians because these are almost copies of each other. In a time when someone could not scan a letter through a copy machine and produce another copy, Paul seemed to be addressing a similar problem between these two churches. Thus, his letters are generally very paralleled. They are called “sister letters” because they are so much alike. Beyond this, Paul has a pretty typical style, which makes many of his letters easy to recognize him in. By comparing similar statements between his letters to the Corinthians, Galatians, the Philippians, and even the Romans, we can also gain insight into what Paul means in his language.
The common assumption people have is that when they see “creation” in the Bible, they take this to always mean “the Genesis creation.” For most people, they are only aware of one time in which God created. A period of 6 creative days, and after this, God rested and never created anything else again. Creation was good, so why would he need to create more than what is good? Because of this thinking, they can never even begin to understand that there might be another reading to this passage that does not involve Genesis creation.
There is a new creation. We will not get into details on the new creation here, but we will express that the new creation is a “renewal” of the old (Matthew 19:28). Old creation was good, but it needs to be reconciled back to God from its fall. New creation is both a new and yet a recreation of all things. It is not just a restoration to a previous state, but an improvement. There will be a new kind of humanity in a new kind of union with God that man did not have after the Genesis act of creation. Paul speaks of this new creation both implicitly and explicitly. Looking at the explicit: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation” (Galatians 6:15). The idea of a new creation is a common theme among the NT writers, Matthew, Paul, John, the Hebrews writer, Peter, all speak of a “new heavens and a new earth” a “new birth” or being “born again,” a “new Jerusalem,” etc. Should it surprise us to see Paul speak of new creation in his letter to the Colossians?
When we look at context, we see clearly what Paul has on his mind.
Colossians 1:13:
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.
After a typical Pauline and apostolic introduction and greeting from “God our Father,” and, “the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ,” (Colossians 1:3-4), Paul addresses the church, making references to their hope stored in heaven, the gospel message, the Spirit poured out to them, the grace they have, and encouraging them and praying for them in their struggles, the gospel message and their work as Christians in the kingdom is clearly a topic on Paul’s mind. In verse 13, he makes explicit reference to “the kingdom of his son.” This is what Jesus gained upon ascending into heaven as a reward for his death on the cross as a man (see Matthew 28:18, Acts 2:33 ff, Philippians 2:8-11, Hebrews 1:3-4). Jesus did not have a kingdom in Genesis creation. Notice also that Paul is speaking about the kingdom that they (plural) have been delivered from. He is speaking about this present kingdom.
Colossians 1:14:
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The redemption from sins necessarily comes after the suffering on the cross. Notice this language of “in whom.” This is a very common Pauline expression, and it will be noted several times in this passage. Most ignore this phrase as if it does not have much meaning. However, this would be very naive.
Colossians 1:15
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
He is. A present tense verb is used. If this were referring to what the prehuman Jesus was when he created in Genesis, a past tense verb should have been used. People often read the past tense verbs in John 1:1 as if that’s how they are meant to be understood. Paul uses a present tense verb to discuss something with the present tense post resurrection Jesus. The same Jesus “in whom we have redemption from sins.” What does this “image of God” language mean? Thomas Aquinas writes extensively regarding the imago dei, and even after chapters of discussion, he never comes to the very simple and straightforward answer that Paul himself lays out. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit… In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:17-18, 4:4-5). Paul makes it abundantly clear that Jesus is Lord, the Lord is the Spirit, the Spirit is the image of God, and we are being transformed to the same image. There can be no question whether the Spirit here refers to the Holy Spirit or not. Chapter 3 compares the “ministry of death” to “the ministry of the Spirit” (compare Romans 8). Also, the definite article is used, referring not to just “a spirit,” but “*the, Spirit.” Further, he called this “the Spirit of the Lord,” and we know that the Spirit of Christ is the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9 ff). Jesus Christ was raised by the Spirit and clothed bodily with that very same Spirit. This is why Jesus speaks of the Spirit as the “paraklétos” in John 14-16, and in 1 John 2:1, that paraklétos is identified as the risen Jesus himself. Being clothed with the Spirit of life grants immortality, and Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:45 in the context of the resurrection body, that, “the first Adam came to be a living soul, the last Adam life-giving Spirit.” Jesus was raised from the dead with this Holy Spirit. That is what the “image of God” simply means. By partaking in the Holy Spirit (Hebrew 6:4), we partake in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). Certainly, the Spirit of God is his image.
When Paul says that Jesus “is” the image of God, he uses a present tense verb because this was not true of the pre-resurrection Jesus. He was a living soul. By being raised as Life-giving Spirit, he is now in the image of God. “And we are being transformed into the same image.” This has nothing to do with being God. This is why Paul says, “the image of the invisible God.” Because God is Spirit and spirit is not seen. Jesus is now that same image, the Spirit of God (John 4:24). Paul is making a very similar and consistent argument in Colossians 2:8-15 (see my long post on Colossians 2:9 for details on this). The ministry of death, that is, the ministry of the law, compared to the Spirit that is Christ and the Spirit of his ministry. This is why Paul brings this up in this passage, but we will speak more on this later.
“The firstborn over all creation?” Or, “the firstborn of all creation?” The Greek literally says “firstborn of all creation” πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως. The words “all” and “creation” are both in the genitive case. This refers to being “of” or “from.” We literally have “firstborn [of all] [of creation].” So why do some translations use “over all creation?” The true answer is because the statement “firstborn of all creation” does not fit well with their theological assumptions that Jesus was not of or from creation, but eternally begotten, not made. So they try to find a way around this. Their reasoning that they often give is due to the term “firstborn.” This word refers to a firstborn that is first in time, or first in rank (proto-tokos, first-born). Because they take this “firstness” to be in priority, they translate this as “firstborn over” to clarify this. However, this completely ignores and leaves untranslated genitives. While “firstborn” can and sometimes does mean a first in priority, that is not how this should be translated. If anything, the “over” should be in a footnote or italics to indicate that it is not original to the text, if not a parenthetical or bracketed. Even then, the genitive should still be translated. “The firstborn (over and) of all creation.” This would make the translation very interpretive here, but more clear, at least. I personally would have no problem with this translation because, in this case, “firstborn” does mean both first in time and first in rank in the priority of God’s children.
Many Trinitarian translations will honestly translate this as “firstborn of all creation.” This is proper, and a Trinitarian may say, “well yes, of course the human nature of Jesus is of creation.” That would be true and consistent with their position. However, Jesus did not have a human nature in Genesis creation, and it would make little sense to speak of what Jesus does in his divine nature (namely, creating) after having pointed directly to his human nature. If a Trinitarian takes this approach, it poses no threats to their doctrine to say that this passage is strictly about the human Jesus, but it does mean that this can’t be used to argue for their case that Jesus is God. This must be about new creation.
Still, what of those Arians and JWs who think that this means “the first thing God ever created?” They believe that the divine nature of Jesus was of creation as God’s first creation. This gives them the freedom to say both that Jesus was the creator in Genesis and the first “of” the creation. Does this work? As we will see in more detail later, no. Not only does the present tense verb tell us something about the present tense Jesus, and not only has Paul just told us in the preceding verses that the “kingdom of his Son” is on his mind, but verse 18 clarifies what Paul means even more explicitly. “He is the firstborn from the dead.” Paul is talking about Jesus’ birth from the dead, in which Jesus was begotten again by God (Acts 13:30-33). This would make sense if “the image of the invisible God” refers to the Spirit in which Jesus was raised from the dead in. Paul, in this verse, is saying: After his death, Jesus was raised in Spirit. He is the image of God because he is God’s Spirit, and this happened as his birth from the dead, of which he is the firstborn of that creation.
Colossians 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.
First, we must deal with this translation. “For by him,” or, “for in him?” It is “in him” ἐν. This is a very common expression in Paul, and it is also used by John. Look at how often this phrase is used just in this chapter, either, “in him, in whom,” or “in Christ” (Colossians 1:2, 4, 14, 16, 17, 19, 28, and also “in his body,” verse 22). This is consistently translated as “in” in all these other verses. Why would they change it here? In the BLB (the version quoted above), there is a footnote on this word. It reads: “That is, by means of, or in.”
This completely misses the point, to translate this as “by him.” We are not talking about what was created by Christ, we are talking about what was created “in Christ.” We are talking about the reconciliation and the kingdom. The things reconciled and recreated in him are these things. This is why the very next verse uses this “in him” language again.
What does it mean to be “in Christ?” It is very clear that even many translators of the Bible do not know. John makes it very clear for us. “And the one keeping His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us: by the Spirit whom He has given to us” (1 John 3:24). We are in him, and he in us when we have his Spirit. We keep noticing this Spirit language coming up in our exposition of this passage in Colossians. When we are “in Christ,” it means that we are following his commandments and have his Spirit in us (compare Colossians 1:19 and 2:10).
Paul makes it very clear that “anyone in Christ is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). If anything in him is a new creation, and all things were “created in him,” we must necessarily be talking about a new creation. It is a creation that is “in him,” after all.
The first objection usually raised against this: “But why does it say that all things were created in him if it isn’t about past Genesis creation? Isn’t the new creation future or present?”
The new creation was already past tense for Paul when he wrote this letter, as was it for his audience, made clear by his opening greetings in this letter. They had already become new creations in Christ (compare also Ephesians 2:8-10). The new creation began in the ministry of Jesus, truly. However in this case, the new creation began when Jesus was lifted up into heaven to sit at God’s right hand, and he began to create a new heavenly arrangement in his kingdom, and reign as king over his church here on the earth. This is what Paul is talking about. What Christ did at his inauguration and after having been given authority over heaven and earth. Yes, these things “were” created in 33 AD when Jesus ascended. The kingdom. Just because there is more to new creation to come does not mean he would not use the past tense to refer to what Christ has already done.
The second objection: “But it says all things. If that just means everything that was created, this can’t be about new creation.”
All things “in him.” Not everything imaginable. All things that were created in him. Further, it goes on to list and describe those things. “Whether things in heaven or on earth.” Notice that it does not describe the creation of heaven and earth. “All things” comes in a context. A few verses later, Paul says that the gospel has been preached “in all creation.” Has the gospel, even in this day, been preached to every single created thing in the universe? No. If it is in Christ, it is a new creation. If it is in Christ, it has been recreated. If it is in Christ, it has been reconciled to God. Because he is the one “in whom we have redemption from sins.”
The third objection: “But it doesn’t say ‘new creation.’ It just says creation.”
This is an argument from absence. Just because Paul didn’t use an exact term does not mean that it wasn’t what he meant. He gives us several ways to see why and how he means the new creation. Paul has spoken at length already in his letters about this new creation. Did he need to specify it every time? And also, he did. When he said “in him.” If being “in Christ” means that it is redeemed from the old, then nothing created in Genesis could be reconciled and redeemed “in him.” The creation had not yet fallen to be “in him.”
These objections are very weak. As we will see, Paul gives us much fuel for fighting the fire of “this must be Genesis creation.” The very word “create” is a word that is used to refer to a kingdom being instituted. Take 1 Peter 2:13, for example: “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution (κτίσει), whether it be to the emperor as supreme.” A human “creation,” necessarily referring to a human kingdom or government. If Colossians 1:13 is talking about the kingdom of Christ, why should it surprise us if Colossians 1:15-18 is going to speak about the creation of that kingdom? Notice the parallel between Peter and Paul. “A human institution whether it be to the emperor as supreme.” “For in him all things were created, whether they be rulers…”
In Genesis creation, what things did we read that God created? Light, sky, water, trees, animals. Did we see any “thrones or rulers or dominions or authorities” being created? No. The visible and invisible authorities being created are heavenly offices, necessary for building a heavenly kingdom and the visible earthly offices, that is, the church. This is why verse 18 says, “He is the head of the body, the church.”
This verse is talking about that which Jesus set up in heaven and on earth, those things visible and invisible, when he ascended to heaven and gained “all authority in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18, compare Daniel 7:13-14). He created these authority structures, which operate under him as their king. The head of all things.
Colossians 1:17:
And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
When people read “before all things,” generally, they are reading “all things” still under the false assumption dealt with above that this is everything created in Genesis creation. They also read “before” these things as a reference to time. “Jesus/the Son existed before everything was created.” It is amazing that they will take “firstborn” to mean the firstborn in rank, and yet it never occurs to them to take “before” as a reference to anything other than “before in time.” Read Acts 12:14. Peter was standing before the gate. Does that mean Peter stood in the same place until the gate was built, and Peter existed before the gate was made? No. Jesus is before all things in rank because he is the head of all things. He’s the king of this kingdom.
Notice the “in him” language once again. All things hold together “in him.” Again, we are talking about reconciled creation. Creation in Christ. This is not about Genesis creation spiraling out of control if not for the power of Jesus holding the universe together. Where did anyone get the idea that on God’s day of rest, he was working to keep the universe held in order? The universe is in motion, it much like a top that once it begins to spin, it spins until it needs to be readjusted. It is not like a ball with a string swinging until someone lets go and stops controlling it. This statement is often compared to that of Hebrews 1:3, “sustaining all things by his powerful word.” However, even in this verse you’ll notice, it goes on to say, “After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” After he made purification for sins. That is, after his death on the cross. This reflects what Paul goes on to say in Colossians 1:20, “to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” Jesus sustains all things after having died for our sins.
Colossians 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.
The head holds the body together. The head is the controlling force of the body. Similarly, as head of the body, all things in the body of Christ hold together because of their head. Paul tells us what he means in verse 17 in the next phrase. The church is the body of Christ. Christ is raised in the Spirit, with a body of Spirit, clothed in Spirit, so when we have the indwelling of the same Spirit, we are the spiritual body of a Spiritual Christ.
“He is the beginning.” Think about this and read Mark 1:1. There is a new beginning in Jesus Christ. A new creation that parallels the first. This is why John portrays Jesus as resurrecting on the 8th day, the first day of a new week, a new creative week (John 20:1).
“The firstborn from the dead.” This is the beginning of that new creation. The gospel message points us to this. When we receive and accept the gospel, we receive a down-payment of what is to come in resurrection. We become a new creation, a new kind of humanity along with Christ. “The firstborn of creation” is to be the firstborn of the dead because the dead become a new creation if they are in God as Jesus was, or in Christ as we are to be.
“That in everything, he might be preeminent.” Self-evident.
Colossians 1:19-23
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
Ask yourself why this is here. Why did Paul choose to complete his statement about Jesus and creation with this? God was in Christ reconciliating all things to himself, “whether in heaven or on earth.” It is in the body of Jesus that was nailed to the cross that we are reconciled. This whole creation passage is explicitly about reconciliation to God. We are being reconciled to God in Christ. This passage has nothing at all to do with Genesis creation.
“How can you say this is not about Genesis creation?”
1 – This passage of scripture is speaking of the glory of Christ and our relationship in him after his resurrection, because the next chapter is leading up to a discussion on the empty philosophy of the old covenant judaizers who are trying to persuade people to come under a law which was nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:8-15). Speaking about Jesus and Genesis creation would not prove the point.
2 – Context makes it clear that Paul is speaking of and talking about the kingdom, which Jesus received after his resurrection. Verse 13, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.”
3 – Verse 14 makes this clear by speaking about our reconciliation in him, which necessarily refers to Jesus post resurrection.
4 – Verse 15 uses the present tense verb, indicating this is about the present risen Christ, who is different from the Jesus who died in Pauline theology (see 2 Corinthians 5:16-17).
5 – Verse 16 says that creation is “in him.” Genesis creation was not “in Christ.”
6 – Verse 16 also tells us what exactly was created, along with the context. “Things in heaven and things on earth… thrones, rulers, dominions, authorities, the church. These are not in the Genesis creation account.
7 – Verse 17 again uses a present tense verb to speak of what Christ is doing, not what he was doing in Genesis creation.
8 – Verse 18 makes it clear that Christ, being the head of the body, the church, is relevant to this passage. Christ and the Church were not present points of comparison in the Genesis creation act.
9 – Verse 18 tells us that this “firstborn” language refers to his being the “firstborn from the dead,” an explicit reference to his resurrection.
10 – The scripture has no need to say that he “might become” preeminent if he is the creator of Genesis creation. He doesn’t need to become, he would already be.
11 – Verse 20 restates verse 16 in part, making it clear that Paul is talking about his reconciliation of “all things,” Genesis creation did not need to be reconciled.
12 – The parallel passages in Ephesians do not make any references to Genesis creation, and even though it is a parallel to what’s talked about in Colossians, people never cite it to make these arguments. Why? Because it makes it undeniably clear (as Colossians should) that Paul was not talking about Genesis creation, but a reconciliation of all creation.