Colossians 1:15-20: The Preeminence of Jesus

Colossians 1:15-20: The Preeminence of Jesus

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of Colossians, and today the next passage we come to is Colossians 1:15-20. Hear now the words of the Living and True God:

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 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. ¹⁷ And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 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.

May God bless the reading of his Word.

Several years ago, a farmer in Michigan discovered that a 22-pound rock he had been holding onto for decades was, in fact, a meteorite valued at $100,000. Apparently, the man had recognized it was very unique—unique enough to keep around, at least—but never really thought a whole lot of it. He used it to prop open his barn door and sent it to school with his kids several times for “show and tell.”

So, several decades passed before he finally got around to taking it in to be tested, first by a local university and later by the Smithsonian. It was then that he discovered that his 22-pound doorstop was actually an insanely valuable meteorite. For all those years, $100,000 had been sitting right under his nose, and he wasn’t even aware of it.

Similarly, I wonder how often that happens with Jesus in the midst of our everyday lives and even in the ministry activities of our church. Even though we think about Jesus and read about Jesus and speak about Jesus, could it be that we often fail to recognize just how glorious he truly is? So, sometimes, it’s necessary for us to simply push pause on everything else and focus our attention once again the breathtaking glory of Jesus.

And truth be told, this is the key to meaningful and lasting transformation in our lives. Paul states in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “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.” So, how is it that we’re transformed? Well, according to Paul, it’s by “beholding the glory of the Lord.” That’s the way we’re “transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” Nothing else has the power to transform us as much as gazing upon the glory of Jesus. Just as being exposed to the radiance of the sun has all kinds of positive effects on our bodies—such as Vitamin D and everything else—being exposed to the glory of Jesus does wonders for us spiritually.

This is why I’m so excited about looking together at today’s main passage of Colossians 1:15-20. In my humble opinion—and in the opinions in many of the biblical commentators I read—this passage is the most Christ-exalting passage in the entire Bible. The main idea of this passage is simple but profound: Jesus is preeminent in everything. Jesus is preeminent in everything. And by the way, as we’ll see, to say that Jesus is “preeminent” simply means that he’s supreme over everyone and everything.

But first, as a reminder of the historical context here, Paul wrote this letter to the Colossian church in order to address some false teachings that had found their way into the church and to warn the Christians of Colossae about the false teachers who were spreading those heretical teachings. Among other things, these false teachers were claiming that Jesus is less than who he truly is. They were denying that Jesus is fully God and were instead saying he was merely one of the lesser spirit beings that emanated from God. So, in Colossians 1:15-20, Paul focuses on setting the record straight and helping his readers understand how glorious and exalted and preeminent Jesus is. So, let’s walk through this passage together verse by verse.

First, in verse 15, Paul writes of Jesus, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” Now, of course, the Bible teaches that every human being bears God’s image. Yet, Paul’s saying here that Jesus doesn’t merely bear God’s image—he is God’s image. If you want to know what “the invisible God” looks like, just look at Jesus. The book of Hebrews also teaches this quite clearly. Hebrews 1:3 refers to Jesus as “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.” Jesus has all the qualities and all the characteristics of God and even the very nature of God. This can only mean that Jesus is God. He’s not merely the representation of God but is actually the manifestation of God. That’s what the author of Hebrews is saying and what Paul’s saying in our main passage.

Not only that, Paul also refers to Jesus as “the firstborn of all creation.” Now, typically, when people today hear the term “firstborn,” they usually assume it just means that a child was the first child to be born among the children of a family. It’s pretty simple: “firstborn” equals “the first to be born.” But in ancient Jewish society, being the firstborn meant a lot more than that. The firstborn son enjoyed significant blessings and privileges that the other children didn’t.

Most notably, he’d receive a double portion of the inheritance from his parents. So, for example, if a couple had three children, they’d divide their inheritance into four portions and give two of those portions to the firstborn son. He’d get twice as much as his siblings. So, here in verse 15, when Paul describes Jesus as “the firstborn of all creation,” he’s not at all saying that Jesus was the first to be created. That’s actually one of the key errors that the false teachers were propagating and that Paul’s writing this letter in order to refute. It would also contradict what Paul says in the very next sentence about Jesus being the one by whom all things were created.

So, for Jesus to be “the firstborn of all creation” means not that he’s the first to be created but rather—according to the practice of ancient Jewish society—that he’s first in rank. He’s supreme. There’s no one like him. Jesus isn’t just one among many but first among all.

By the way, this interpretation is confirmed by Psalm 89:27, which says of the Messiah, “And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.” So, notice that it defines “firstborn” there not as the first to be born but rather in terms of an exalted status—“the highest of the kings of the earth.” 

Then, moving forward in our main passage, Paul writes of Jesus in verse 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.”  One reason Paul’s so emphatic here is that the false teachers were claiming that all physical matter is inherently evil and that Jesus therefore would never be responsible for the creation of the material universe. Yet Paul’s adamant that it was by Jesus that “all things were created.”

Just think about that for a moment. Jesus is responsible for the creation of everything in this universe. And as we consider the sheer immensity of the universe, it becomes apparent that Jesus is far greater than we can even fathom.

John MacArthur summarizes it nicely when he writes that, “The sun, for example, has a diameter of 864,000 miles (one hundred times that of earth’s) and could hold 1.3 million planets the size of earth inside it. The star Betelgeuse, however, has a diameter of 100 million miles, which is larger than the earth’s orbit around the sun. It takes sunlight, traveling at 186,000 miles per second, about 8.5 minutes to reach earth. Yet that same light would take more than four years to reach the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, some 24 trillion miles from earth. The galaxy to which our sun belongs, the Milky Way, contains hundreds of billions of stars. And astronomers estimate there are millions, or even billions of galaxies. What they can see leads them to estimate the number of stars in the universe at 10²⁵. That is roughly the number of all the grains of sand on all the world’s beaches.” So, think about that and then consider what the immensity and vastness of this universe must mean about the one who created the universe. Consider what it must mean about his power, his majesty, and his greatness.

Paul then goes on the clarify what he means by “all things” at the beginning of verse 16 and speaks of things “in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.” These latter terms—“dominions,” “rulers,” and “authorities”—are references to the angelic realm and to the different ranks of angels throughout the universe. Jesus wasn’t merely one of the angels or similar to the angels but was rather the one responsible for creating the angels.

And just in case Paul hasn’t already made his point forcefully enough, he drives it home one more time at the end of the verse by declaring, with reference to Jesus, that “all things were created through him and for him.” This means Jesus was both the agent of creation and the beneficiary of creation. Not only is he the one through whom everything was created, he’s also the one for whose glory and pleasure everything was created. Every particle in the universe exists to magnify and glorify the name of Jesus Christ.

Paul then continues on in verse 17, “And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” To say that Jesus is “before all things” means both that he outranks all things and also that he was chronologically before everything else in this universe. Before anything in the universe was created, Jesus existed from all eternity. As Jesus declared of himself in John 8:58, “Before Abraham was born, I am!” The reason he says “I am” rather than “I was” is because he transcends time itself and is eternally existent. Jesus also says of himself in Revelation 22:13, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

Then, back in verse 17 of our main passage, we also read of Jesus that “in him all things hold together.” Not only did Jesus create everything, he also sustains everything. The only reason everything in this universe doesn’t immediately fall apart and devolve into utter chaos is because Jesus is holding it together.

By the way, this also means that nothing you’ll ever face in life is beyond the scope of what Jesus controls. No matter how chaotic or uncertain things might seem from our limited perspective, the fact is that Jesus is sovereign over them all and is even working through the things we face to accomplish his perfect purposes.

We then read in the first part of verse 18, “And he is the head of the body, the church.” In the New Testament, the “church” simply refers to the people of God and is frequently compared to a physical body. As Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 12, just as a physical body has various parts that all play an important role in enabling the body to function, the church has various members with various gifts and abilities that all work together to enable the church to accomplish its disciple-making mission. And as we see here in verse 18, Jesus is “the head of the body.”

This means that he’s responsible for leading the church and giving it both direction and instruction. He is, we might say, the Lord of the church. This implies that the most important question we can ask about our church isn’t how well it fits our preferences but rather how faithfully it accords with what Jesus wants our church to be and do—because what we colloquially call “our church” actually belongs to Jesus.

Paul then continues telling us about Jesus in the second part of verse 18: “He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” So, again, we see that Jesus is “the beginning.” He both predates and is the source of everything else in this universe. He’s also, Paul says, “the firstborn from the dead.” As we’ve already discussed, “firstborn” means first in rank. Out of all those whom God has raised from the dead—or whom he will raise in the future—Jesus is the highest and greatest.

Paul then draws a conclusion in the final part of the verse—signaled by the word “that”: “that in everything he might be preeminent.” And that’s the point really of this entire passage. Jesus is preeminent—or supreme—over everyone and everything. I once heard someone explain it this way. Let’s say you have a scale—and not a new modern scale but one of the old scales that would balance out. Take everything in this universe—take the trees, the plants, the animals, take the people, the business tycoons, the Hollywood celebrities, the powerful politicians, take all of the nations with all of their armies and all of their infrastructure, take the mountains, take the oceans, take the stars, take the planets, take everything—and put it on one side of the scale. Then take Jesus and put him on the other side, and he outweighs it all. He outweighs it all. He’s preeminent.

And that raises the question of whether we’re recognizing his preeminence in our lives. We can see quite clearly in this passage that Jesus is preeminent in this universe. But is he preeminent in your life? Are you actively giving him first place in the way you approach everything? And what would it even look like anyway to give him first place in everything? What would it look like to give Jesus first place in your marriage, your parenting practices, your friendships, your conversations, your career, your finances, your academic pursuits, your daily schedule, your monthly calendar, your hobbies and recreation, and your entertainment choices? I believe we’d do well to consider how we can make Jesus preeminent in each of these aspects of our lives.

We then read regarding Jesus in verse 19, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” Contrary to what the false teachers in Colossae were claiming, Jesus isn’t less than God or inferior to God in any way. Rather, he is God. Jesus is God in human flesh—fully God and fully human. God actually became a man in the person of Jesus.

It’s also interesting to note that the term “fullness” would later be used by proponents of a heresy called “Gnosticism” to refer to the full measure of divine powers and divine attributes that they believed were distributed among various emanations of God. And since the false teachers of Colossae were likely teaching an early form of Gnosticism, it’s likely they were using the term “fullness” in this sense as well. Yet, according to Paul, God’s “fullness” isn’t distributed among a group of spiritual emanations of God. Instead, it’s in Christ that “all the fullness of God” can be found. The totality of God’s power and attributes resides in Jesus.

After that, Paul continues his lofty contemplation of Jesus in verse 20: “…and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” So, it’s “through” Jesus—and through Jesus alone—that God’s “reconcile[d] to himself all things.” There aren’t multiple ways to be reconciled to God but rather one way—and that is through Jesus.

You know, there are many people today who claim that there are multiple pathways to God and who regard those of us who believe that there’s only one way to God as being narrow-minded at best. Yet, when you think about it, those who believe there are many pathways to God are actually being just as narrow-minded in their own way. Because they’re essentially saying that there’s only one correct way to view various world religious—namely that all religions are equally valid and offer a legitimate pathway to God. And by viewing world religions in this way, proponents of this religious pluralism are implying that all religious adherents throughout the world who believe that their religion is the correct one are wrong.

So, in essence, these religious pluralists believe that their own view of religions is correct and that all other views are wrong—which sounds kind of narrow to me. It seems, then, that we really can’t escape being “narrow” in our religious viewpoints. So, when we read here in verse 20 that it’s through Jesus and him alone that God’s pleased “to reconcile to himself all things,” I personally don’t find that to be problematic in the least—because everyone is in some way narrow in the way they view religious things.

Not only that, we read in the second part of verse 20 that the way God’s accomplished this reconciliation is through “the blood of his cross”—that is, through the blood Jesus shed on the cross to pay for our sins. Even though our sins demanded God’s punishment, Jesus endured that punishment on the cross so we wouldn’t have to face it. He died to atone for our sins. Yet that’s not the end of the story, because, three days after Jesus died, he was raised from the dead and therefore now stands ready to rescue everyone who puts their trust in him. This means putting our full confidence not in ourselves but rather in Jesus alone as our only way of being forgiven of our sins and reconciled with God. And if you haven’t yet done that, I invite you to do that even today.

The fact is that you and I and everyone else in this world were all created to worship the glorious Savior who’s revealed in passages like the one we’ve looked at this morning in Colossians 1. That’s the grand purpose of our entire existence. And that’s what this passage was designed to lead us to do. Understand that the things we’ve read in Colossians 1 were written not merely to increase our knowledge but ultimately to inspire our worship. So, as we read this passage and contemplate what it reveals about Jesus, hopefully we find ourselves becoming increasingly captivated by the wonders and glories of our risen Savior.

Not only that, this is also what we as a church should be looking to and relying on as we seek to reach out to others. You know, unfortunately, there are many other things that churches often use to try to attract people. Many churches try to use entertainment to attract people and turn what should be a worship gathering into an entertainment gathering. The pastor preaches sermons that help people feel good, the band plays songs that are upbeat and fun to sing, and the entire Sunday morning atmosphere is designed to help people have an enjoyable “worship experience.” Unfortunately, though, that “worship experience” often bears more resemblance to a concert than it does to anything the Christians of the New Testament would have recognized.

Other churches use prosperity in an attempt to attract people, promising people that God will shower them with health, wealth, and earthly prosperity if they’ll simply claim these things in faith and, of course, give enough money to the church. And other churches try to attract people through cultural accommodation, watering down the difficult teachings of the Bible so that they don’t offend anyone or step on any toes.

Yet I think our church would do well to remember that whatever we win people through is what we’ll win them to. In other words, if we win people through worldly amusements and other worldly methods, that’s what we’ll be winning them to. They’ll be a part of our church not because they’ve become captivated by Jesus but simply because they’re drawn to whatever gimmicks we’ve used to get them in the doors. Instead, our desire to shine the spotlight on Jesus—on his glory, his majesty, his tenderness, his love—and in that way let Jesus himself be the main attraction here at Redeeming Grace Church.

Listen to these words from the famed nineteenth century preacher Charles Spurgeon in a devotional entry he wrote titled “The Mighty Magnet.” Although Spurgeon addresses this to Christian leaders, I believe it’s something we all need to hear. Spurgeon says, “Come, ye workers, be encouraged. You fear that you cannot draw a congregation. Try the preaching of a crucified, risen, and ascended Savior; for this is the greatest ‘draw’ that was ever yet manifested among men. What drew you to Christ but Christ? What draws you to Him now but His own blessed self? If you have been drawn to religion by anything else, you will soon be drawn away from it; but Jesus has held you and will hold you even to the end. Why, then, doubt His power to draw others?”

“Go with the name of Jesus to those who have hitherto been stubborn and see if it does not draw them. No sort of man is beyond this drawing power. Old and young, rich and poor, ignorant and learned, depraved or amiable—all men shall feel the attractive force. Jesus is the one magnet. Let us not think of any other. Music will not draw to Jesus, neither will eloquence, logic, ceremonial, or noise. Jesus Himself must draw men to Himself; and Jesus is quite equal to the work in every case. Be not tempted by the quackeries of the day; but as workers for the Lord work in His own way, and draw with the Lord’s own cords. Draw to Christ, and draw by Christ, for then Christ will draw by you.” Brothers and sisters, Jesus is the “Mighty Magnet” who has the power to overcome even the hardest of hearts and draw people to himself.

And that’s important for us to remember not only in our church as a whole but also as each one of us seeks to be a faithful witness for Jesus in our daily lives. So often, I think we’re so concerned about offending people that we end up being way too hesitant to talk with them about Jesus in any meaningful way. Yet as we remember what Spurgeon reminds us of—how beholding the glory of Jesus was so captivating for us—that should give us the boldness we need to freely speak about Jesus to others so that they too can behold his glory and be drawn to him.

However, before we seek to do that, we have to make sure that we ourselves are indeed captivated by Jesus. People can usually tell whether or not we’re genuinely passionate about something. So, if we want to talk with them about Jesus in such a way that they find him irresistibly attractive, the first step is to examine our own hearts and allow what the Bible teaches about Jesus in passages like our main passage this morning to stir our hearts once again.

In fact, let me just read this passage once more for you. And as I read what these verses say, let these truths stir your heart and inspire you to adore Jesus afresh and anew. ¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 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. ¹⁷ And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 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.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus is more glorious and more wonderful than we can even comprehend. Listen to these words from a preacher named James Smith, who was actually the predecessor to Charles Spurgeon in New Park Street Chapel in London. He writes, “What a wonderful person is my glorious Lord Jesus! All the divine attributes are found in Him. As there are no limits to His fullness, there can be no limit to my supplies, or the least prospect of need. Jesus is my divine Savior! His bounty will supply me, His omnipotence will deliver me, His omnipresence will protect me, His omniscience will guard me, His love will animate me, His mercy will heal me, His grace will support me, His compassion will comfort me, His pity will relieve me, His goodness will provide for me, His tenderness will soothe me, His kindness will encourage me, His patience will bear with me, His justice will avenge me, His faithfulness will embolden me, His holiness will beautify me, His anger will awe me, His life will quicken me, His light will illumine me, His Word will regulate me, His joy 

will delight me, His blessedness will elevate me, His long-suffering will lead me to repentance, His immutability will secure the fulfillment of all the promises to me, His truth will be my shield and buckler, His sovereignty will raise my admiration, His condescension will inspire me with gratitude and love, and His all-sufficiency will satisfy me both in time and eternity!”

Yet the clearest window we have to the glory of Jesus isn’t a list of his attributes but an understanding of what he’s done to redeem us from our sins. This is why our main passage crescendos into a description of the redeeming work of Jesus on the cross. It says[verse 20] that “through him” the Father was pleased “to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

Whereas we typically associate someone’s greatest glory with their exaltation, Jesus’s greatest glory is found in his humiliation. The glory of Jesus is seen most vividly in the way he voluntarily endured the shame and the agony of the cross to pay for our sins.