What do you say when you come to a passage like this? There is so much going on (as we talked about yesterday, for example) that we could spend days unpacking all that’s here. For now, lets read this wonderful and worshipful hymn:
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for all things in heaven and on earth were created in him—all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers—all things were created through him and for him.
He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him.
He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things.
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son
and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross—through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.”
A professor of mine called this passage the answer to the question of ‘Who is Jesus?’. There is so much to be learnt about Him here. He is;
…the image of the invisible God…
…the firstborn over all creation…(v.15)
Creator…all things…were created in him…and for him…(v.16)
…before all things…and holds all things together (v.17)
…the head of the body, the church…
…the beginning, the firstborn from the dead…(v.18)
…the fullness of God (v.19)
…reconciling all things to himself by shedding His blood at the cross…(v.20)
There is so much to be learnt about Jesus in this passage and so much that informs our faith and practice. Christology, Theology, creation, ecclesiology, soteriology, and eschatology all appear here. It is, simply, a somewhat overwhelming passage.
Rather than turn today’s devotional into a doctoral paper on the truths of Jesus in this passage, take these thoughts into the day and meditate on the greatness of their main subject;
According to Greek scholar A.T. Robertson, all things…were created in him has the idea of “stand created” or “remain created.” Robertson adds: “The permanence of the universe rests, then, on Christ far more than on gravity. It is a Christ-centric universe.”
(Guzik)
“As all creation necessarily exists in time, and had a commencement, and there was an infinite duration in which it did not exist, whatever was before or prior to that must be no part of creation; and the Being who existed prior to creation, and before all things-all existence of every kind, must be the unoriginated and eternal God: but Paul says, Jesus Christ was before all things; ergo, the apostle conceived Jesus Christ to be truly, and essentially God.”
(Clarke)
“Christ may have been ranked with these inferior images of the divine by the Colossian teachers. Hence the significance of the assertion that the totality of the divine dwells in Him.”
(Vincent)
“The Gnostics distributed the divine powers among various aeons. Paul gathers them all up in Christ, a full and flat statement of the deity of Christ.”
(Robertson)
James Travis 