CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Colossians 1:15. Who is the image of the invisible God.—In 2 Corinthians 4:4 St. Paul had so named Christ. “Beyond the very obvious notion of likeness, the word for image involves the idea of representation and manifestation” (Lightfoot). Man is said to be the image of God (1 Corinthians 11:7), and to have been created in the image of God, as an image on a coin may represent Cæsar, even though unrecognisable almost. Christ is “the very image” (Hebrews 1:3) of God, able to say, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” Firstborn of every creature.—“Not that He is included as part of the creation, but that the relation of the whole creation to Him is determined by the fact that He is the ‘firstborn of all creation’ (R.V.), so that without Him creation could not be” (Cremer). The main ideas involved in the word are
(1) priority to all creation;
(2) sovereignty over all creation (Lightfoot).
Colossians 1:16. Thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers.—That Paul believed in a heavenly hierarchy can scarcely be doubted; but this letter shows that in Colossæ it had become an elaborate superstition.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Colossians 1:15-17
The Relation of Christ to God and to all Greated Things.
Having spoken of our redemption, the apostle, in terms of the highest significance and grandeur, dwells upon the dignity and absolute supremacy of the Redeemer.
I. The relation of Christ to God.—“Who is the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). God is an infinite and eternal Spirit, incomprehensible and invisible. “No man hath seen God at any time;” yet humanity yearns for some visible embodiment of Deity. Christ reflects and reveals the Father. “He is the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person.” It is believed that the idea of the Logos underlies the whole of this passage, though the term is not mentioned. The heretical teachers at Colossæ had introduced a perverted view as to the nature of the mediation between God and creation, and the apostle aims to rectify it. The word λόγος, denoting both reason and speech, was a philosophical term adopted by Alexandrian Judaism to express the manifestation of the unseen God—the absolute Being—in the creation and government of the world. It included all modes by which God makes Himself known to man. As His reason, it denoted His purpose or design; as His speech, it implied His revelation. When Christian teachers adopted this term, they exalted and fixed its meaning by attaching to it two precise and definite ideas—that the Word is a divine person, and that the Word became incarnate in Jesus Christ (Lightfoot). Christ as the eternal Word is the perfect image, the visible representation, of the unseen God. In addition to the idea of similitude, which is capable of a wide and general use, the word “image” involves two others.
1. Representation.—It implies an archetype of which the image is a copy. Man is said to be in the image of God; but there is a difference between the image of God in man and the image of God in Christ. In Christ it is as Cæsar’s image in his son; in man it is as Cæsar’s image on his coin. In the God-man Christ Jesus we have a visible, living, perfect, and reliable representation of the invisible God.
2. Manifestation.—The general idea of the Logos is the manifestation of the hidden. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him” (John 1:18, compared with John 14:9-10, John 6:46). The incarnate Word, in His nature, attributes, and actions, is the true epiphany of the unseen Deity, setting forth, like distinct rays of one and the same glorious light, His infinite wisdom, mercy, righteousness, and power. Our obligations to Christ for His wondrous revelations are unspeakably great.
II. The relation of Christ to all created things.—
1. Christ existed prior to the creation. He is “the firstborn of every creature” (Colossians 1:15). It is not said He was the first formed or first created of every creature, but the firstborn—the first begotten. It is plainly intimated that Christ, the Son of God’s love, was begotten before any created thing existed. There is therefore no ground in this passage for the Arians and Socinians to build up their theory of the creatureship of Christ. In relation to all created things, intelligent or unintelligent, terrene or celestial, Christ was the firstborn. In an ineffably mysterious sense He was begotten; they were created. The two ideas involved in the phrase are:
(1) Priority to all creation—the absolute pre-existence of the Son. The term “first begotten” was frequently used among the Jews as a term of precedence and dignity. As applied to the Son of God, it implies priority in rank in relation to all created things. Time is an accident of the creature. Therefore the origin of the Son of God precedes all time.
(2) Sovereignty over all creation. God’s firstborn is the natural Ruler, the acknowledged Head of God’s household. He is “Heir of all things.” He is creation’s supreme and absolute Lord. He brought all creatures out of nothing, and by His own will graduated the degree of being each should possess; and it is fitting He should have unlimited empire over all. As if to prevent the possibility of any misconception regarding the relation of Christ to the universe, and to show that He could not be a part of creation however exalted in degree, but was essentially distinct from it, the apostle sets forth the Son of God as the first cause, the active agent, and the grand end of all created things.
2. Christ is Himself the Creator of all things.—
(1) The conception of creation originated in Christ. “For by Him [or in Him] were all things created” (Colossians 1:16). He was the great first cause; the being, forms, limitations, energies of all things to be were bound up in Him. It rested with Himself to create or not to create. It is thought by some the Platonic idea is here shadowed forth: that the archetypes, the original patterns of all things, were in Christ before they were created outwardly. This is simply a philosophic speculation, and is readily suggested by the universal method of the mind first forming a mental conception within itself of any object it desires to body-forth to the outward eye. It is in Christ we trace the great work of creation in its beginning, progress, and end.
(2) The powers of creation were distributed by Christ. “All things that are in heaven, and that are in earth” (Colossians 1:16). He created the heavens also; but those things which are in the heavens are rather named because the inhabitants are more noble than their dwellings. “Visible,” things that are evident to the outward senses; and “invisible,” things that may be conceived by the understanding. “With a view to meet some peculiar doctrine of the false teachers at Colossæ, who seem to have alleged that Christ was but one of the heavenly powers, St. Paul breaks up the things invisible, and distributes them by the words “thrones,” “dominions,” “principalities,” or “powers.” It may be difficult, and indeed impossible, for us now fully to know what the terms severally convey in connection with the several hierarchies of heaven; they seem to point to gradations of being and to distinctions of official glory. Yet all these invisible beings, so illustrious as to be seated on thrones, so great as to be styled dominions, so elevated as to be considered principalities, so mighty as to merit the designation of powers, were created by the Son of God; and they all acknowledge His supremacy and glory. The highest position in creation is infinitely below Him, and there is neither majesty nor renown that equals His. All created beings occupying the loftiest thrones throughout the vastness of immensity and amidst the mystery of life do homage and service to Christ Jesus as the firstborn, the only begotten Son of God” (Spence).
(3) Christ is Himself the great end of creation. “All things were created for Him” (Colossians 1:16). As all creation emanated from Him, so does it all converge again towards Him. “The eternal Word is the goal of the universe, as He was the starting-point. It must end in unity, as it proceeded from unity; and the centre of this unity is Christ.” The most elaborate and majestic machinery of the universe and the most highly gifted intelligence alike exist only to serve the ultimate purpose of creation’s Lord. All created things gather their significance, dignity, and glory by their connection with Him. Christ must be more than a creature, as the loftiest creature could not be the end of all created things. It is a narrow philosophy that teaches that all things were made for man. The grand end of all our endeavours should ever be the glory of Christ.
3. The unchanging eternity of Christ.—“He is before all things” (Colossians 1:17). Not only is He before Moses and before Abraham, as He declared to the Jews (John 8), but He is before all things. The words refer not so much to His eminence in rank as to duration. The terms HE IS, in the Greek, are most emphatic, the one declaring His personality, the other that His pre-existence is absolute existence. Christ existed before any created thing—even before time itself; therefore, from eternity. Knowing the tendency of men to entertain inferior notions of the person of Christ, and of the redemption He has provided, the apostle multiplies conceptions to represent His divine worth and excellency. He should be preferred before all.
4. The continued existence of creation depends on Christ.—“And by [rather in] Him all things consist” (Colossians 1:17)—hold together, cohere. He is the principle of cohesion in the universe. He impresses upon creation that unity and solidarity which makes it a cosmos instead of a chaos. Thus, to take one instance, the action of gravitation, which keeps in their places things fixed and regulates the motion of things moving, is an expression of His mind (Lightfoot). The universe found its completion in Him, and is sustained and preserved every moment by the continuous exercise of His almighty power. All things hang on Christ; in Him they live and move and have their being. If He withdrew His upholding hand, everything would run into confusion and ruin. “Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled: Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.” In Him all things consist. He is the centre of life, force, motion, and rest; round Him all things revolve. He imposes their limits, gives to them their law, strikes the keynote of their harmonies, blends and controls their diverse operations. He is the All-perfect in the midst of imperfection, the Unchanged in the midst of change. He is the Author of human redemption; became incarnate, suffered, died, and rose again, and now reigns with the Father in glory everlasting. He is worthy of our loftiest adoration, our humblest submission, our strongest confidence, our most ardent love.
Lessons.—
1. The supremacy of the Creator and Preserver of all things is absolute and universal.—
2. Human redemption is grounded on the divinity of the Son of God.
3. Personal trust in the Redeemer brings the soul into direct personal relation to the Father.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Colossians 1:15. Christ a Revelation because He is the Equal of the Father—
I.
In His nature.—The incarnation.
II.
In His attributes.
III.
In His will.—The character of Christ and His moral system.
IV.
In His works.—His miracles, His death as a sacrifice for sin, His resurrection.
1. How ungrateful and unbelieving have we been!
2. How zealous and devoted should we be!—G. Brooks.
Colossians 1:16. Christ the Author and the End of Creation.
I. The Author.—
1. The extent. “All things.” The universe, natural and moral.
2. The variety.—“Visible and invisible.” The near and the distant, the vast and the minute, the material and the spiritual.
3. The orders.—“Whether they be.” Scale of being. Gradations in all classes.
II. The end.—
1. Heaven was created for Him. As the place of His special residence and as the home of His people.
2. Angels were created for Him.—Messengers of His mercy, executioners of His vengeance.
3. Hell was created for Him.—The prison of His justice.
4. The earth was created for Him.—The scene of His incarnation and atoning death. His mediatorial kingdom.
5. The human race was created for Him.—Man created, preserved, redeemed.
(1) How exalted should be our ideas of Christ!
(2) How carefully should we learn to view everything in connection with Christ!
3. What ground for confidence, gratitude, and fear!—Ibid.