Colossians 1:15-20 –
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.
Introduction
The ongoing questions Paul’s letter to the Colossians forces careful readers to consider are: (1) What hardships are you facing in life, and (2) What help is there for them (or where are you turning to for help)? For the Colossian Christians, the ongoing answer to the first question was persecution and false teaching. And Paul’s ongoing answer for the second question is the preeminence of Jesus.
A proper understanding of and trust in who Jesus is and what He’s done (His preeminence in nature and practice) is always the main help we have and need, Paul wrote.
We saw at the end of the last section of the letter (1:12-14) what Jesus did: Suffered, died, and rose from the dead in order to redeem us, that the Father might qualify us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light, deliver us from the domain of darkness, transfer us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, and forgive us of our sins.
We’ll see what He did again at the end of this passage (1:20): He died on the cross to reconcile us (and all things) to Himself.
That’s what He did in His preeminence. The rest of the passage, once again, speaks to who Jesus is as preeminent.
Last week, we saw that He is preeminent in that He is the image of the invisible God. And because of that we have great help in every hardship. Specifically, (1) We can be sure that He is always with us for our good in our trials and (2) We can be sure that in the New Heavens and Earth we will see Him with eyes sanctified precisely to enable us to behold Him in His glory forever and ever.
For the next three weeks, we are going to continue to consider who Jesus is as a means of growing in worship and help in trials. Specifically, we’ll see from this passage that Jesus’ preeminence was at the center of God’s work in Creation (this morning), is at the center of God’s ongoing work in sustaining creation (next week), and will be at the center of the coming recreation (Easter Sunday).
The big idea of this sermon is that whatever form the hardships in your life take, you must know that Jesus is supreme over every aspect of every object of the difficulty. As the means and aim of all Creation, there is nothing causing you pain that Jesus is not over. There is great help in that knowledge for all who are hoping in Jesus. The main takeaway, then, is to learn to live out of that story—the greatest and truest story, with the greatest Hero, the greatest ending, and the greatest Author.
Jesus is Preeminent Over All Creation
In my experience, it is a common tendency for Christians to draw bold lines around the work of the persons of the godhead. For instance, it is normal to think exclusively of the Spirit when it comes to the ongoing power we have for ministry today, of the Son when it comes to securing our salvation, and of the Father when it comes to the Creation of the heavens and earth.
Of course, there’s some truth to this—God’s Word does speak primarily of the Father’s work in Creation, the Son alone died on the cross, and only the Spirit indwells believers—but the Bible consistently teaches that all three persons of the godhead are all involved in all that God does.
Our passage for this morning is an example of that in an important sense. If we miss it, we miss another awesome aspect of the preeminence of Jesus and help for our troubles; namely, in His involvement with and relationship to the Creation work of God. As we just noted, God the Father is the primary mover in Creation, but He did so, as we’re about to see, by, through, and for Jesus.
But what does that mean and how does it help in times of suffering?
The Firstborn of All Creation
The second phrase Paul uses to describe the preeminence of Jesus in v.15 (the first is that He is the “image of the invisible God”) is that: “He is…the first born of all creation.”
That might not sound at first like an expression of Jesus’ preeminence. In fact, the idea of Jesus being the “firstborn of all creation” ought to sound at least a little strange. It sounds a little like His involvement in Creation includes being created. And it sounds like His uniqueness is only that He was the first to be created and born. If that’s what Paul meant, it doesn’t seem all that impressive and, worse yet, it opens a giant can of worms.
That’s how certain groups like the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons read it. And that’s part of what they use to deny the Trinity.
Biblically, “firstborn” can certainly mean the first to be born in a family. That is a big deal and a real honor. It included an extra inheritance and the primary responsibility to keep the family unified in the next generation. There are many, many examples of that.
But is that the case? Is that what Paul had in mind?
Certainly not! He makes that crystal clear in the following verses when he says that Jesus is before Creation and that all Creation was by, through, and for Him.
If that’s not what Paul meant, then what did He mean?
Throughout the Bible, the term “firstborn” also refers to someone who is first in importance. Psalm 89 gives us a sense of this in a remarkable way.
Psalm 89:27-29 I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. 28 My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him. 29 I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens.
The Psalmist, Ethan the Ezrahite, wrote in God’s voice of King David, in what is considered a Messianic psalm. In other words, these few verses in Psalm 89 are ultimately about Jesus being the firstborn in the same sense as Paul means it in our passage.
I read a similar use of “firstborn” in John’s Gospel in my quite time this week. John the Baptist was questioned by the Jews concerning his ministry. In response, of Jesus, he declared, “After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me” (John 1:30). John was the firstborn of the cousins (physically born before Jesus), but Jesus was the firstborn over the cousins (greater in significance, importance, worth, power).
That’s the same connection that Paul made in our passage. Jesus is the “firstborn of all creation” in the same way that He is “before all things” in Creation (v.17); namely in that He is preeminent, in first place over Creation.
The next verse in Colossians, v.16, unpacks that idea further—it explains some of what Paul meant by Jesus’ firstborn-Creation-preeminence. But before we get there, Grace, let’s pause to marvel at this and check our suffering-story and that of the Colossian Christians against it.
That Jesus is over all Creation (again, that’s what it means that He is firstborn of all Creation), means, at the very least, that those persecuting and spreading false teaching among the Colossians, as well as whatever aspect of Creation is troubling you—be it renegade cells in your body or people in your life or even demons from hell—are under Jesus. He is over them all!
There’s more to the story than that, but there isn’t less. And if your story doesn’t include that reality, if the way you are processing your hardship doesn’t have that as the center and backdrop, then you’ll never navigate your suffering as you ought, you are missing out on great help, and God is not glorified as He deserves in your response.
That Jesus is the firstborn of all Creation must dominate every aspect of how you think about and respond to your suffering. And the more it does, the more help it will be, and the more God will be honored. That’s what Paul first commended to the Colossians and it’s what I first commend to you.
Creation By and Through Him
That’s quite a bit of help already. But Paul was not done. He further unpacked Jesus’ preeminence in Creation. Look with me at v.16 to see more of what that means, and therein find even more help for your trials.
15 He is … the firstborn of all creation. 16 For [Why is He preeminent over all Creation? What does it mean that He is preeminent over all Creation? What is His relationship to Creation? Jesus is firstborn of all creation, He is supreme, sovereign, preeminent, because…] 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.
In v.16, we see that everything that was made, was made by and through Jesus (and also for Jesus, which we’ll consider next). That’s remarkable. That gives greater clarity and color to the meaning of Jesus as firstborn and preeminent over Creation. It’s remarkable, but it’s not unique to Paul (see also 1 Corinthians 8:6).
In John 1:3 we’re told that “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Likewise, Hebrews 1:2 says that it was “through [Jesus that the Father] created the world.”
Grace it’s nearly impossible to overstate the significance of this. Look around. Everything you see was made by Jesus. Everything that exists outside of the godhead was made through Jesus. God spoke all things into existence and Jesus is the Word of God!
But how do you communicate something so significant when ordinary words and conventions just aren’t enough?
I doubt I’ll ever forget Paul Tripp’s attempt at doing so in describing the problem with the human heart. The fact is that we are desperately and terminally selfish. But how do you say that in a way that conveys the gravity of the situation? He attempted to do so by asking, “Do you know what your problem is?” And answering, “I want. I want. I want. I want. I want. I want…..” and he went on for what felt like minutes.
Paul, the author of our letter, did that often as well. How do you describe the incalculable love of God? Consider his description of God’s love for us and what it takes to grasp it in Ephesians 3(:16-19).
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Paul could have simply written to the Ephesian Christians and said, “It’s important for you to know that God loves you.” That’s the heart of what he did write. But he knew that they needed to know and experience and live in light of God’s love above everything else. And he also knew that God’s love is so great that they’d never grasp it without God’s help.
And so, instead of simply saying “God loves you” and leaving it at that, Paul revealed that he fell to his knees in prayer, pleading with God to provide for them all they needed to understand and experience His love for them. He went on to describe the nature of the God to whom he prayed—the Father of every man. He explained the only reason God would answer his prayer—because of the unlimited wealth of His glory. He revealed the only way the Ephesians could handle what he was seeking on their behalf—if God first granted them, by His Spirit, strength and power beyond anything they’d experienced. He named the critical prerequisite for knowing and experiencing the depths of God’s love in them—Christ dwelling in them through their faith. In that, he made it a triune prayer, invoking each person of the godhead on their behalf. He wrote of their need not only to know and experience God’s love, but to be rooted and grounded in it. Then he revealed that God’s love occupies an extra dimension and asked God to grant them access to it—breadth, length, height, and depth. He acknowledged that God’s love is so vast that it surpasses knowledge. And, finally, he asked God to fill them with the fullness—to make them full, full—of His love.
Again, his only point was that God loved them. But he knew enough about God’s love and the Ephesians need for it, that simply stating it was not enough.
Well, he did something very similar in our passage. Paul knew the depth of the trials the Colossians were experiencing. And he knew that what they needed most was to know and experience the preeminence of Jesus over their trials. But he also knew that simply saying, “Don’t worry, Jesus is in control,” while certainly true, did not capture the scope or glory of what that meant.
Therefore, he explained some of the nature of Jesus’ “control” and where it came from. As we just saw, it starts with the fact that Jesus is the firstborn (sovereign over) everything causing them problems. But Paul didn’t stop there. There is more glory to Jesus’ “control” over the things plaguing the Colossians, and therefore, more help for them in it. He went on then to explain that He is firstborn because all Creation is by and through Jesus. But he didn’t stop there either. So that his readers wouldn’t miss it and the help that comes with it, he also rattled off eight dimensions of Creation that were made by and through Jesus!
In the beginning there was only God—Father, Son, and Spirit. And then, at the appointed time, God determined to Create a universe outside of Himself. The Father spoke by and through His Son and all that has been made was made. Everything…
On earth. Every man, woman, and child, every ray of the sun, every cell, every ant, tree, and flower, every bug, every large rainbow trout, every person, every physical thing.
In heaven. Angels, demons, seraphim, cherubim, Satan himself, every spiritual thing.
Visible. Everything you can see.
Invisible. Everything you can’t see.
Thrones. Every position of power on earth.
Dominions. Every position of power in heaven.
Rulers. Every person of power on earth.
Authorities. Every being of power in heaven.
It’s not certain, but Paul seems to be oscillating back and forth between the physical and spiritual in order to highlight the all-encompassing nature of Jesus’ involvement in the Creation of all created things.
Either way, although Paul’s point was not to exhaustively name every distinct aspect of Creation, it was meant to poetically express the totality of Jesus sovereignty over the totality of all that has been made.
Think about what that means for your trials, Grace Church. That’s what Paul wanted the Colossians to do.
Are the things troubling you in heaven or earth? Are they visible or invisible? Are they physical or spiritual? Are they powerful people or nations or forces? If so (and of course they are for there’s nothing outside of those things), then they were made by and through Jesus. He is sovereign over them.
What, then, do you need to fear? What, then, can they do to you outside of Jesus’ authority (which He always and only uses for the good of those whose faith is in Him)?
This knowledge does not, of course, take away your trials, it doesn’t cancel out the hardships in your life, but it does allow you to endure them with a much bigger story than “this hard. no like. must avoid. at all cost.”
For the Colossians and us, the pain of others’ sin against us, our sickness or that of someone we love, the teasing of other kids, the disobedience of our own kids or the inability to have them, the troubled marriage or the divorce or the singleness, even the temptation of demons are bad; sometimes really bad. But the knowledge that working an incomprehensible good in every one of those is the Firstborn over all creation, the One by and through whom all of those things were made, the One who created everything on earth and in heaven, visible and invisible, thrones and dominions, rulers and authorities, is infinitely better.
We all live out of a story. The question this passage puts in front of us is: Inside what story are you experiencing and interpreting your suffering? Even more significant is the question: Is the Firstborn of all creation the center of your story? If He isn’t, hard things will just be hard; perhaps even to the point of despair. But if He is, they will still be hard, but dimmed to near invisibility by the unmatched light of the glory of Jesus, the firstborn.
For the Colossians, with this understanding, they could endure their persecution in the knowledge that no one was persecuting them who was not made by and through Jesus. Their persecutors belonged to Jesus and were under His sovereign rule. And with this understanding, they would reject the false teaching, for no matter its appeal or promise, it was as the foulest pile of rot compared to the glory of the Maker of heaven and earth.
It is a gift to us that the Colossians had both some kind of physical or emotional struggle (in their persecution) as well as a theological one (in the false doctrine that was being presented to them).
If it were only theological, someone who’s pain is primarily physical (some disease or sickness or the physical abuse of someone) might think, “False teaching? Strange doctrine? Some philosophy? That’s your suffering?! It must be nice. That’s nothing compared to the excruciating pain I’m in day after day.
Or, if the Colossians’ pain were only physical, someone with emotional scars from past sin (theirs or others’) might say, “I’ll take a beating any day of the week. At least that’s done when it’s done. I’m haunted 24 hours a day with an emotional pain that is nearly suffocating.”
Or if the Colossians’ pain were only emotional, someone with a theological trial might think, “I’m sure it’s rough to suffer in your mind and heart regarding the things of this earth. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. But if that’s all you have, you can’t imagine how much greater it is to be tormented day after day with the fear that I am not truly saved and that I will suffer forever in hell when I die.”
That the Colossians suffered all three and Paul’s first and main answer was the same for all three simultaneously acknowledges the unique challenges of the theological, emotional, and physical pain we experience and the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus, the Firstborn, over them all.
And so the question is: Is the Jesus you believe in that big? Is He that glorious? Is He that preeminent? Is He that supreme? Is He truly that much greater than anything you might suffer? Is He the maker of all things? He is! The only question is whether or not we realize it enough to find the help that’s in it.
Creation For Him
There’s one more point Paul makes that we simply can’t miss. We want all the help we can get, right? The harder your situation, the more each drop of help means to you. But this is no mere drop of help. It’s a gushing canyon of help. It’s just two words, but it’s the Niagara Falls of help. Look with me at the last two words of v.16.
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.
Before the act of Creation, before God made all things by and through Jesus, it was determined that all Creation would be for Jesus. He is the point and the aim.
“Some translate the word ‘for’ as toward, which makes the sense even more dramatic: ‘All things were created by him and toward him.’ Everything began with him and will end with him. All things sprang forth at his command, and all things will return to him at his command. He is the beginning and he is the end—the Alpha and Omega. One day everything will give him glory!” (Hughes, PTW, 232).
The main thing for us to see is that everyone is living for something. It’s in our nature to be aimed at something. We can’t not. As some of you know, there are countless things we might live for that falsely promise satisfaction—relationships, career, sports, accomplishments, money, quiet, pleasure, etc. And as the rest of you know, one of the most discouraging places to be in life is not having a sense of purpose—of not even having a place that might provide satisfaction. But Paul tells us that Jesus is our purpose. All created things exist for Him.
We are part of Jesus’ Creation. Therefore, we will only find true significance inside the One aim that makes us significant: Jesus.
In that way, when we are faced with trials, there is great help in knowing that for everyone whose hope is in Jesus, they are not pointless. They are not meaningless. They are never in vain. They are a means of God’s sanctifying grace (), or an opportunity to glorify God in our navigation of them (), or the loving discipline of the Lord (), or a powerful witness to the lost (), or some other great good. We know that for certain because of the two words at the end of v.16. All things were created “for Him.”
Just as every bug and snake and flower peddle and mountain and valley and river and ocean and all the things no one has ever heard of that Mr. Dave brings up in The Fact are for Jesus, so too are all of us and all our trials and all the people and things who cause them. The more the Colossians could appropriate and appreciate that, the more help they would receive in their sufferings; even as that is still the case for us.
Conclusion
In conclusion, as I mentioned in the beginning, this sermon is part 1 of 3 concerning Jesus’ supremacy over Creation. This morning, we saw that He is supreme over the original work of Creation. Next week, in part 2, we’ll see that He is supreme over the ongoing work of sustaining and governing creation. And then, on Easter Sunday, we’ll see that because of His resurrection from the dead, He is supreme over the recreation to come.
The big idea of this passage is that whatever form the hardships in your life take, you must know that whoever or whatever it is that is causing your trouble (whether on earth or in heaven, visible or invisible, thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities) it was created by, through, and for Jesus. There is nothing causing you pain that Jesus is not sovereign over. There is great help in that knowledge for all who are hoping in Jesus. Let us learn, then, Grace Church, to learn to live entirely out of that story—the greatest and truest story, with the greatest Hero, the greatest ending, and the greatest Author.
And so, let us end with the great doxology of Romans 11.
Romans 11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.