Colossians 1:15

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Image of the invisible God ... The first impression of reading this verse is that the terms "image" and "firstborn" accord Jesus Christ a status below that of absolute deity; but the very next verse emphatically forbids any such inadequate interpretation of this verse.

Image of the invisible God ... John B. Nielson is absolutely correct in the declaration that in these words, "Paul is saying that Jesus Christ is none other than God Himself."[27] He even went further and said that "'firstborn' is equivalent to `only begotten,' and is a Jewish technical term meaning `uncreated'[28] Why, then did Paul use these particular words here?

Image ... God created Adam in his own image (Genesis 1:27); but Adam promptly sinned and fell from that image; but, by these words here, Paul compels us to see in Jesus a second Adam who was indeed God's image. Christ was man as God created him to be in the person of Adam. Christ was (and IS) also God, but the emphasis here is upon his perfect manhood. Again, there is in this passage a strong suggestion linking Paul with the authorship of Hebrews where Hebrews 1:3 corresponds exactly to what is said here. Paul applied the same title to Christ in 2 Corinthians 4:4. Barclay also stressed the connection this passage has with the creation narrative. By using the word "image," which is the same as that in Genesis, Paul in effect says,

Look at Jesus. He shows you not only what God is; he also shows you what man was meant to be. Here is manhood as God designed it. Jesus is the perfect manifestation of God and the perfect manifestation of man.[29]

Firstborn of all creation ... Of course, this verse was the major platform of Arianism, the great heresy that denied the deity of Christ. From this they alleged that Jesus Christ was only a creature, understanding "firstborn" in the sense of being first in a temporal sequence; but there is overwhelming evidence that Paul did not so use that word in this passage. As Guthrie said, "Firstborn must be understood in the sense of supreme rather than in the temporal sense of born before."[30] Barclay affirmed that the time sense in this world is hardly in the Greek word at all, and that here, "It is not used in a time sense at all, but in the sense of special honor. Firstborn is a title of the Messiah."[31] Dummelow pointed out that, just as so frequently in the English, words have different meanings, firstborn has two, that of time sequence and that of supremacy over.[32] Obviously it is the latter meaning which Paul meant here. As a matter of fact, the other meaning was by far the most unusual. David Lipscomb interpreted the word to mean in this place "Over all creation, Christ occupies the relation of supremacy such as is accorded the firstborn; and such is preeminently due to the `firstborn of all creation'."[33] Thus, the two words, image and firstborn, stand for Christ's perfect manhood and perfect deity.

This verse (Colossians 1:15) is the beginning of one of the most important paragraphs in the New Testament; and, as Hendriksen said, "Before attempting a study of the separate parts, the passage should be seen in its entirety."[34] We are further indebted to Hendriksen for the following parallel arrangement which enables the reader, at a glance to see the correspondence between the two major sections:

THE SUPREMACY OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

Now, admittedly, this is a very carefully thought-out paragraph, or sentence of 137 words, and the organization of it is obvious; but for another Pauline paragraph manifesting these same qualities see Paul's long salutation in Romans and the analysis and discussion of it in my Commentary on Romans, Romans 1:8ff. We reject out of hand the allegation that this marvelous paragraph is some kind of hymn or liturgical chant used in worship services of the early church. Such a view is not supported by any evidence whatever except in the imagination of scholars; and it is based upon several very tenuous and unsure premises: (1) that Paul would need to reach into the current hymnology of his day for accurate expression of the nature and essence of the being of Christ Jesus; (2) that the great Christology of this passage had "developed" in the early church. On the contrary, far from having developed any such exalted conception of Christ, those early churches were in danger of being carried away into the worship of angels, etc. If the brethren at Colossae were singing these words already when Paul wrote, there would have been no temptation to gnosticism, and no need for Paul to have written them. Of course, what some have in mind, through making a hymn out of this passage, is to make it easier for them to deny that Paul wrote it, or that it is indeed authoritative Scripture.

This remarkable paragraph has every mark of Pauline authorship, being a similar careful work, comparable to Romans 1:1-7. As G. Campbell Morgan expressed it:

It is here that Paul set forth the glories of the person of the Redeemer in a passage that is unique for its revealing beauty. He summarized the whole truth concerning the glories of the person of Christ in his declaration that "It was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fullness dwell."[35]

Before leaving Colossians 1:15, one other expression should be noted:

Who is ... not "who was" etc. Three times in these verses (Colossians 1:15,17,18), this imperative IS used with reference to Christ, strongly suggesting the great "I AM's" of the Gospels and of Exodus 3:6,14. See the comment in my Commentary on Mark 6:50.

[27] G. Campbell Morgan, An Exposition of the Holy Bible (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1959), p. 379.

[28] Ibid.

[29] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 118.

[30] Donald Guthrie, op. cit., p. 1144.

[31] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 118.

[32] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 981.

[33] David Lipscomb, op. cit., p. 259.

[34] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 70.

[35] G. Campbell Morgan, An Exposition of the Holy Bible (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1959), p. 496.