“Jesus did not come into the world for us; we came into the world for Jesus.”[1]
Pause. Read that again.
We are so used to a faint, if unconscious, view that the world revolves around us, that we’re blinded to the Scriptural truth that the universe really and truly exists because of, through, holds together in, and revolves around the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit testifies to this throughout Scriptures, and in Colossians 1:15–23 Paul tells us plainly that Jesus Christ is the Sovereign Creator and Ruler of the cosmos, and therefore he is the sufficient Savior of his church.
Paul included this hymn of praise to the Lord to drive the glory and majesty of the exalted Christ deeper into believers’ heads and hearts. That in the blinding light of his unparalleled glory, every other false savior would crumble into dust. As with all good hymns, when set to music these true propositions penetrate deeper into our minds and make it easier to “marinate in the Scripture text.”[2] Personally, when my eyes fall on Colossians chapter one, verse 15, the tune to Andrew Peterson’s “All Things Together”[3] begins playing in my head and the entire passage unfolds to the melody to which he set the holy words of Christ’s preeminence. When I read Colossians 1:15–20, I can’t help but sing.
The Firstborn of All Creation
The first stanza of the hymn addresses Christ’s sovereignty and power over creation.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 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. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. —Col. 1:15–17
When Paul writes that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, he doesn’t mean that God the Father is about yea-high, has brown eyes and hair, and dimples when he smiles. The author of Hebrews called Jesus “the exact imprint of [God’s] nature” (Heb. 1:3), and when Jesus told his disciples that whoever had seen him had seen the Father he meant his words and his works revealed the Father who dwelt in, spoke, and worked through him (John 14: 8–10). Seeing Jesus in the gospels shows us the tenderness of the Father who touches the untouchable, the persistence of the Father who seeks out his lost children to save, the zeal of the Father for the holiness of his house, the compassion of the Father who weeps with the grieving, the loving mercy of the Father who forgives the unforgiveable, and the power of the Father who stills storms and raises the dead.
That Jesus is the firstborn of creation does not indicate that he is the first of God’s creation, but that he is “the heir of all things” (Heb. 1:2) just as a firstborn son is the heir of his father’s title, honor, and estate. Paul’s point is that Jesus is the eternal Son of God to whom belongs all that ever was, is, and ever will be, and his thought flows to the creation of this grand inheritance. In Genesis chapter one we repeatedly see “God said,” followed by “and it was so.” God spoke, and what he spoke came to be. In the prologue to his gospel, John calls Jesus “the Word of God,” through whom “All things were made,” and “without [whom] was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). And here Paul writes that Jesus is the agent by and through whom God created all things “in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible” (1:16).[4]
And all things, whether they be as tiny as the bees zipping from flower to flower in my garden, or as mighty as the billions of stars that warm their billions of solar systems across the vast reaches of space, all things were created for God’s beloved Son and are held together in him. From the very principles of physics that keep our cosmos from flying apart—the gravity that keeps our planets in motion around our sun—to the connective tissues in our bodies that keep our organs together, these are merely the ‘tangible’ expressions of the sovereign hold the Son has over the operations of his creation.
And I’ll let Daniel’s vision give us a glimpse of the authority the Son holds over “thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities,” “visible or invisible”:
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed. —Daniel 7:13–14[5]
The Firstborn From the Dead
The next stanza in this high Christological hymn addresses Christ’s sovereignty and power over the church. Paul’s transition here from the Son’s relationship to creation to his relationship to the church may imply that Paul regards the church as the new creation.[6]
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. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. —Colossians 1:18–20
Paul explores Christ’s relationship to the church through the relationship of a head to a body more fully elsewhere, and Jesus described the same implications with his vine and branches metaphor.[7] Briefly, it is only through this vital connection to our Lord by faith that the church and individual believers have spiritual life and the power of the indwelling Spirit to live in obedience to him. By abiding in the vine that is Christ our head, we bear much good fruit, persevere in faith, enjoy free communication with the Father, keep his commandments, are sanctified unto holiness, and know fullness of joy in his love.
As the firstborn of the dead, “Christ is the Trailblazer and Conqueror whose victory is enjoyed by all who follow. His resurrection not only began the life of the new creation but ensures that all who are joined to him will also enter eternal life. . . . Because he is now exalted in heaven and we are joined to him by the secure cable of saving faith, as believers in Jesus we are anchored to the resurrection and the eternal harbor of heaven.” [8] I’m reminded of another Andrew Peterson song, this one about the resurrection, which proclaims:
“He rises, glorified in flesh
Clothed in immortality, the firstborn from the dead
He rises, and His work’s already done
So He’s resting as He rises to reclaim the Bride He won
And His heart beats
So crown Him the Lord of Life
Crown Him the Lord of Love
Crown Him the Lord of All
His heart beats, He will never die again
I know that death no longer has dominion over Him
So my heart beats with the rhythm of the saints
As I look for the seeds the King has sown
To burst up from their graves”[9]
Because Christ lives, the resurrection of each and every one of his followers is guaranteed, and our bodies which will have been “sown” into the earth will burst forth in new life when our Lord returns to reclaim the Bride he’s won![10]
Our salvation is this secure because it is held by the Son who is preeminent over everything, the One in whom “all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (1:19) What could that phrase mean? Richard Phillips explains that “All that God is is found in Jesus Christ. . . The fullness of every grace, that is needed for our salvation—everything that sinners require to be saved is found in Christ alone. . . . offered in unending supply.”[11]
And the purpose for this fullness of grace is the reconciliation through Christ of all things, “whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (1:20). Through Jesus, the bondage of cosmic corruption to which his entire creation has been subjected since the fall of Adam will be undone, and everything will be made new.[12] This promised peace between God and man, man and man, and man and creation is made possible only by the shed blood of Christ at the cross.[13]
And We, the Reconciled
How then, are we to respond?
And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
I’m running long here, and your attention span is probably running out, so let’s notice that this exalted, sovereign God—rather than justly striking down the hostile rebels who inhabited his beautiful creation and took for granted every gift he gave— reconciled sinners to himself by his death on the cross for the purpose of presenting us “holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (1:22).[14] Paul then throws down a condition: we will be thusly presented only “if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard” (1:23). This “if” doesn’t introduce uncertainty into our gracious salvation, but an urgency to examine our faith to be certain that it’s based only on the unshakable ground of the gospel, “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). For, “The only proof of past conversion is present convertedness.”[15]
I feel like we’ve attempted Everest wearing only t-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops. If you have time, do explore the themes we covered more fully by following the prompts through the Scriptures that I’ve added in the footnotes.
There’s one more response to our passage that I’d like to tack on here. This exalted and expansive view of our Savior will help us to not lose heart when (not if) we experience suffering and trials here and now. Weighed in the balance against the eternal weight of glory for which our trials are shaping us—enormous as they may truly be right now—they will prove to be light and momentary compared to the glorious eternal life that awaits us, when we will forever be with our great and glorious Lord.[16]
May the Lord continue to shape you and encourage you through his Word.
[1] Mark Jones, Knowing Christ (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2015) p. 9
[2] Lydia Brownback, Colossians; Fullness of Life in Christ, Flourish Bible Study Series (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2024), p. xv
[3] Andrew Peterson, All Things Together, Resurrection Letters, Vol. 1, ℗© 2018 Andrew Peterson, under exclusive license to Centricity Music
[4] Take a few minutes to read Genesis 1, Hebrews 1:1–4, and John 1:1–18 alongside Colossians 1:15–20 and note the parallels.
[5] See also Psalm 2, Phil 2:9–11, Eph 1:20–22
[6] Alistair Wilson, Colossians, “Colossians,” in Ephesians –Philemon, ESV Expository Commentary, vol. 11, ed. Iain Duguid, James M. Hamilton Jr., and Jay Sklar (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), 221
[7] See 1 Corinthians 12:12–27, Ephesians 5:29–30, and John 15:1–11
[8] Richard Phillips, Colossians & Philemon, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2024), p. 79–80. See also Hebrews 6:17–20
[9] Andrew Peterson, His Heart Beats, Resurrection Letters, Vol. 1, ℗© 2018 Andrew Peterson, under exclusive license to Centricity Music
[10] 1 Corinthians 15:42–49
[11] Phillips, p. 86–87
[12] See also Isaiah 66:22, Romans 8:19–22 and 2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:5
[13] See also Ephesians 2:12–19
[14] See also Ephesians 2:1–9 & 5:25–27
[15] J. I. Packer, cited in Alistair I. Wilson, “Colossians,” 227
[16] See 2 Corinthians 4:16–18
*Photo by Marlys Stahl
Grateful 