Christ Above All
Colossians 1:15-19
We are tonight going to look again at Colossians chapter 1, and a very vital portion of scripture; one that speaks to me of the most important Personality in the universe; that is the God of heaven, revealed as the Son. This is the very heartbeat of Christianity. This is the very essence of all that we believe; the very foundation of our faith. This is the battleground over which we fight with the cults, and the isms, and everything that wants to take out of Christianity its very lifeblood, and that is the issue of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is Paul's theme in Colossians 1:15‑19. Now this is a very vital passage to the argument of the book, and a much more vital passage to the argument for the whole of Christianity.
Somebody once called, and it's been repeated multiple of times, called the Bible the "Jesus Book," and in a sense that is true. If you understand the Bible, you understand that it is the Book about Christ, the Book about the Lord Jesus. In the Old Testament there is the preparation for Jesus coming. In the Gospels there is the presentation of Christ; lie is come. In the Acts there is the proclamation; the message of salvation in Christ is announced. In the Epistles we study the personification, that is, for to me to live is Christ, or how Christ, who has died and risen from the grave, returns to live in His people, and in Revelation there is the predomination, or the Christ on the Throne, the reign of the King, the Lamb on the throne.
So in every sense the Bible is Christ's story. It is the Book that tells us all about Him. In Acts, chapter 8, that is indicated to us in verse 35, when Philip, talking to the Ethiopian eunuch on the road to Gaza, the Holy Spirit says, "Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus." Of course, he was beginning in the Old Testament with the prophet Isaiah.
You can begin at any point in the scripture and teach Jesus. In Luke, a familiar passage, chapter 24 and verse 27, Christ, after His resurrection, meeting the disciples on the road to Emmaus, "And beginning at Moses," or the Pentateuch, "and all the prophets," or, the prophetic books "He expounded unto them in all the scriptures," or, the Hagiographa, the holy writings, "the things concerning Himself." The Old Testament was to the Jew, and still is, divided into three parts: Moses, the Pentateuch, the prophets, all the prophetic books, and the Hagiographa, or the scriptures of the sacred writings that make up the books of the poetry and history, and in all of those things, Jesus gave them the things concerning Himself.
So the Bible is the Book about Christ; it is the Book about the Revelation of God, and the coming of Christ into the world, and it is about God becoming a Man. In every aspect of the Bible, facets of this are made clear.
But of all the statements in the Bible, and the Word of God about God becoming man, none is more significant than the one in Colossians chapter 1, verse 15, for here we have the identification of the Son as God, very, very clearly. Let me read it to you: "The Son," in verse 13, is the antecedent of the word "who" in verse 15. "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: For by Him were all things created, that are in that heaven, and are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him:" And He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together." And He is the Head of the Body, the church: Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things, He might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell;" Now that is a tremendous statement, a vital statement to the understanding of the Christian faith, and the removal of any confusion over who our Lord Jesus Christ really is.
Now let me just put it in its setting, if I may, in terms of the book of Colossians. Paul understands that there is a certain false system of doctrine being propagated at Colosse and he understands that because Epaphras has visited him, Epaphras undoubtedly one of the pastors of the Colossian church, and perhaps it's founder, has come to visit the Apostle Paul, and the Apostle Paul hears from Epaphras that there are some terrible things going on in terms of propagation of heresy in Colossia.
One such heresy relates to the deity of Jesus Christ. The heretics are saying that Christ is not God; that He is not sufficient for salvation; that in addition to Christ, there must be the worship of other spirits, perhaps other angels, if you will. There must be special visions; there must be certain knowledge that is sort of super knowledge, beyond that which is attainable in Christ. In fact, the heretics had said that Jesus Christ is only one in a long line of emanating spirits descending from God, and Jesus was one of those good emanations; He is not God; He is not even an adequate Savior; knowledge beyond Him is the only way to salvation.
So the attack of this particular heresy, which apparently later developed into what we know as gnosticism, the attack was at the deity of Christ, and His total sufficiency as Savior.
So in the first three chapters of Colossians Paul takes this issue on. For example, in 1:27 of Colossians, "To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:" and what Paul is saying there is that there does not need to be anything in addition to Christ to bring a man to perfection. And he is arguing against the theology of these heretics who are saying it is Christ, plus knowledge, plus special visions, plus worshipping angels, etc. A man can be perfect in Christ Jesus.
Chapter 2, verse 2, further develops Paul's argument, "That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hidden," not some, not many, but "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
Again, the sufficiency of Christ; there is no knowledge added to Christ necessary for salvation. Look at verse 9, "For in Him," and the "Him" modifies Christ in verse 8, "dwells all," not some, not a lot, but "all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Verse 19, "The Head," that's Christ," the Body," verse 17," is Christ," that is, in the fulfillment sense of the Old Testament, being a shadow of the fulfillment of Christ, but here the Head, in verse 19, is Christ, "from Whom all the Body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increases with the increase of God. In other words, the Head of everything is Christ, and all the growth and all the nourishment, and all of the knitting together and increasing is related to Christ. There is no other necessary.
Chapter 3, verse 1, "If ye then be risen with Christ," that is , if your Christian, "seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth, For ye are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, Who is our life," or better, when Christ our life, "shall appear," everything is Christ. Our life is Christ; our hope is Christ; all wisdom is in Christ; all knowledge is in Christ; all growth is in Christ; all perfection is in Christ. That is his whole argument in the first three chapters of Colossians. He is saying to the Colossian people, "please don't let anybody make you think that you need Christ plus some other super‑knowledge, plus some other visions. All you need is Christ. That's all you need." Verse 19, 1 think, says it so beautifully. "It pleased the Father," implied that in Him, that is in Christ, should how much fullness dwell? "All fullness." It's all in Him.
And so the Apostle Paul is counteracting the heresy that had arrived at Colosse. And heresy was pretty well based upon a philosophical dualism, as we saw in our introduction, to Colossians. Philosophical dualism says that matter is evil and spirit is good, and since God is Spirit, He is good. But since all of creation is matter, it is evil. So a good God can't create an evil creation.
So what happened was God started sending out emanations, or spirits started coming out of God like ripples in a pond; and they kept coming, and coming, and coming, and the first ones were good, and good, and then they got neutral, and then they got bad, and a zillion emanations down the line you got some bad emanations, one of whom was bad enough to create the world.
Now Jesus was just one of these process of emanations, a good one to be sure, but nonetheless, one of them. He is equal to an angel, and that is why they worshipped these emanations, or spirits, or angels, and Paul's point here is to tell the Colossians Jesus is not an emanation from God, He is not something down the ladder from the character of God, He is God in human flesh.
Paul has pretty well dispensed with the opening thoughts; he has greeted them initially; he has thanked God for them in verses 3, and following; he has prayed for them that they would be filled with all the knowledge of His will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, and they would walk worthy unto all pleasing, etc., etc. He's gotten all the amenities out of the way, and now he drives right in on the main issue. He thanks God for the salvation that they enjoy in verses 12 to 14; the redemption, the forgiveness, and then he moves right in from there to make his point; that this one, who has redeemed us, who has forgiven us, who has delivered us from the power of darkness, this one who is the dear Son, who possesses the Kingdom, this one is the image of the invisible God; that's vital to his message.
Now, as we look at these verses 15 to 19, we want to see Jesus Christ in relation to five things: we see Him in relation to God, in relation to the universe, in relation to the unseen world, in relation to the church, and in relation to anything else that might be left, just a sort of a catch all, First of all, Jesus in His relation to God, in verse 15, and here's a great definition of Jesus in terms of His relationship with God, "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation."
Now the heretics had tried to show that Jesus was simply an emanation; He was just some ripple from the character of God; one of an infinite series of lesser being that finally reached to evil, and were able to create the world. But Paul says Christ is God, and in fact in verse 16, he says, "He created everything." He's the One that did it. The heretics went so far even as to teach that God could never enter a body. Because if God entered a body, then good God would be in evil matter. A good emanation could never have a body, because a good emanation couldn't take on a bad matter body.
So they taught that Jesus didn't have a body, but He was a good emanation, who was phantom. And you remember that I told you that wherever this emanation Jesus went, He left no footprints, because it was only an ethereal phantom like, ghost‑like body.
And so Paul wants to make it clear that Jesus is God; that He is God in flesh, and that He is the Creator of the universe, and that alone will take one great swoop, and wipe out their whole position.
Now, let's look at it. He says in 15 that "He is the image of the invisible God." He is the image of the invisible God. To begin with, God is invisible. In I Timothy it tells us that God is invisible; it tells us in the Old Testament that God is invisible, God cannot be seen. God is not visible to the human eye. God is a Spirit, and "a Spirit," said Jesus, "hath not, "what? "flesh and bones." God is invisible, but God became visible. God became a man; and Christ was God made visible; He is the image of the invisible God.
Now, back in Genesis 1:27 we have the use of the term "image." It says, "God made man in His own image and likeness." But that is not really what Paul means here. It's a different concept. I Corinthians chapter 11, we need to at least brush by it, says this in verse 7, says, "A man is the image and glory of God."
Now God created man in His image, I Corinthians 11:7 says, "man is the image of God," again repeating the same truth. But man is not a perfect image of God. You say, "In what way is man the image of God? In what way am I, are you, human beings made in God's image? And what is the significance of that?" Well, I think basically, we are made in God's image in terms of the ability to think, and to feel, and to decide. We are certainly not made in the moral image of God, right? He's holy; we're not. Even Adam was not created holy; he was created innocent; he failed the first test. lie are not created in God's image morally; we are not created in God's image essentially, that is in essence, because we are not floating spirits, we are not able to move freely through the universe; we are not all omnipotent, omnipresent, or omniscient, or immutable, unchanging that means.
So we're not created in God's image essentially; we're not created in God's image morally, but we are created in God's image in the sense of personality; and that is, we can think, we can feel, we can make decisions; and in that sense we are in the image of God.
Now to be sure it is a very marred image, and it marred at the fall, the vision of God in Adam was much more clear. In a sense Adam was close enough to God to represent Him in a sense morally, Adam was close enough to God in a sense to represent Him essentially, because he could not die, therefore, he had an eternal quality about him; there was a certain immutability about Adam.
And so that whole thing was in a part, the image of God in other ways, but it was all lost in the fall, and the only way it can be restored is when a person comes to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
You see, when you get saved, then the image of God in you is restored. There's a sense in which, now mark it, you, you come into the moral image of God when you're saved, right? Because God morally makes you to be like, whom? Like Christ, and in a sense, you come into the quality of God's character essentially, because God makes you a possessor of, what kind of life? Eternal life and that is the quality of God's existence, and someday you will know as you are known, and some day you will lose all spatial limitations, so there is a sense in which the thing restores in you the image of God, and I think maybe Ephesians 4 will help us.
And I can't be too definite on these things. I'm just giving you general things, because I really can't get any more definite. I don't like to pin things down to a fine tooth comb and say, "this is precisely where it is." But in Ephesians 4:24 it says this, and I think that this helps me, "And that you put on the new man, which after God is created," did you get that? The restoring of a man into the image of God is when he puts on the new man. And then God, in a sense, is restored in him, in righteousness, and true, what? Holiness. "In the image of God" then, comes when you put on the new man.
You say, "Does that mean salvation?" Well, in part, but it also means when you behave yourself like a new man, it becomes visible; it becomes manifest. In Colossians new, "that is renewed in knowledge again, after the image 3:10 we find this, "And have put on the new man," or the image of Him that created him."
Now there is the same truth again, that the image of God is restored in man when he becomes a believer, and allows God to be manifest through him, when he puts on that new man. When he not only is that new man, but when he wears that new man, when he manifests that new life, then God is made visible.
So there is a sense in which man reflects the image of God. All men, I think, reflect the image of God in terms of being able to think, and feel, and make decisions. And I think all men, I mean decisions, that are based on fact and logic, not just what you would call animal instinct, but also, when you become a Christian there is a sense in which the moral image, and the essential image of God is restored to you, But all of that added together beloved is imperfect. The best that we can do is going to fall short.
And so it is Christ, and here we come back to Colossians 1 "who is the only really, true, graphic, perfect, flawless, absolutely accurate image of the invisible God." And beloved, were it not for Him being in the image of God, none of us would ever be able to approximate it.
Look at Hebrews chapter 1, verse 3. And here again, you have a statement about Christ, "who", and "who" refers to the word, "Son," in verse 2, "the Son" or His Son, "who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person."
Now here we find first of all, that the Son, that is Christ, is the brightness of His glory. Now what that means is the setting forth of God. Now the best way to illustrate it, and the thing I always think of is the sun. The sun is the sun, and the sun has brightness that is not the sun but is the brightness of the sun. I mean, the sun is just a ball, but the sun emanates brightness, and that is like God, who is God emanating the Son; the Son of righteousness. Christ is the glorious light of God's, spiritually, as the rays of the sun are the glorious light that comes from the sun. The brightness of the sun is the same nature as the sun, ‑it is as old as the sun, never was the sun without it's brightness, and the brightness can't be separated from the sun, yet it is not the sun and so is Christ God.
And so we see that He is the brightness of His glory. He is that which comes from God to reveal the essence of God.
Secondly, notice that in Hebrews 1:3, "He is the express image of his Person," the exact image, the perfect image, the substance is the same. The word there, incidentally, "image" is used in classical Greek for 4 stamp, or an engraving tool made in the exact stamp, the exact reproduction. Jesus is the exact reproduction of God; nothing missing, altered, nothing changed. In John 1:18 it says, "No man has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." "And when we saw the Son,'' John says, "we beheld His glory, and it was the glory of the only begotten of the Father." It was obvious, that He was manifesting God. In Philippians chapter 2, verse 6, "Who being in the form of God, Christ having all of the character and form of God, became a man, made Himself of no reputation, took upon Him the form of a servant,'' etc.
The Hebrews always thought of the revelation of God's personality in terms of what God said. They couldn't see God, but invariably, they could hear God, couldn't they? How many times in the Old Testament do you hear that "The Word of the Lord came to so and so, and the Word of the Lord said..." They always thought of God being express in terms of speaking. God's manifestation was verbal.
No wonder when Jesus Christ came into the world John wrote "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was," what? "God." Because the Jew always thought of God as revealed in His Word.
God is revealed verbally. And no wonder it says in Hebrews, chapter 1 that "God, at sundry times and in diverse manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Has at these last days," what? "spoken unto us by His Son." The revelation of God was always His Word, and the Word is Christ, and Christ is the identical thought and expression of God. That's why Jesus said in John 14:9, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." In Matthew 17 Jesus even let them have a little glimpse of the fact that He was God.
This should end for all time any speculation, or argument about it where we find the Lord Jesus Christ revealing Himself; Matthew 17 a transfiguration, verse 2, "He was transfigured before them: His face did shine like the sun, and His raiment was as white as the light..." And a voice out of the cloud, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;" said God, "hear Him." He revealed, He rolled back His flesh, and said, "you see God now in His shekinah glory."
The Son then is the only perfect representation of God. Men are not; they are a marred image. Even when restored in Christ they are less than adequate. Only in Christ is God seen in absolute perfection.
In II Corinthians 4:6 this is beautiful, "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God..." Now how did fie do it? How did God give to man the light of the knowledge of the glory of God? Here it comes, "in the face of," whom? "Jesus Christ." God has declared His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. That is where God is manifest.
Now going back to Colossians 1 and looking at that word "image" means a precise copy; a replica. Christ is the perfect, unblemished replica of God. And you know He's not just a sketch; He's all filled in. Colossians 2:9, "In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Colossians 1:19, "It pleased the Father that in Him should all pleroma dwell, all fullness." Jesus then, beloved, is the full, final, only revelation of God with nothing missing, and to think anything less than that of Jesus Christ is blasphemous toward God; idolatry, as we saw this morning.