Bible verses and Commentary from The One God, the Father, One Man Messiah Translation on Colossians 1:15-20:
15The lord Jesus is the visible image[1254] of the invisible God, the firstborn[1255] of the whole creation
16because in him[1256] in intention everything was originally created[1257] by God in heaven and on earth — the visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities — all these things are now created[1258] by God through Jesus and for him.
17He is superior to all things and in him everything coheres.
18He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, because he is the firstborn from the dead,[1259] so that he might be promoted to have first place in everything.[1260]
19For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in him,[1261]
20and through him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of his cross — whether these be personalities on earth or in heaven.
[1254]Jesus as the image of God is of course the second Adam, not God (which would make two Gods, which is not monotheism) or a created angel. The subject of discourse here is the Messiah supernaturally begotten in Mary (Mt. 1:18, 20; Lk. 1:35). He is the fulfillment of the wisdom of God planned from the beginning. Jesus is here, as always, the man Messiah as in 1 Tim 2:5.
[1255]Israel was also God’s firstborn (Ex. 4:22). The sense is that of the preeminent one. Jesus is now, under God, the head of all creation and also the preeminent one from the dead, as being the first human to be raised from death to immortality. Only God has immortality inherently (1 Tim. 6:16). Jesus the Son of God was given immortality when he was resurrected on the Sunday following his crucifixion on Friday (Lk. 24:21, etc). All things will ultimately be subjected to the One God, the Father (1 Cor. 15:28).
[1256]“In him.” This is certainly not “by him.” “en auto. This does not mean ‘by him’” (Expositors Greek Testament, Vol. 3, p. 504). I take en here as causal, i.e., because of him, for his sake, with him in view, with him in intention. “We must render [en] ‘because of’ in Col. 1:16” (Turner, A Grammar of NT Greek, Vol. 3, p. 253). James Dunn translates “in him in intention” (Christology in the Making, p. 190). Christians were also “en” Christ before the world began (Eph. 1:4). This is existence in the divine plan, not actual existence (cp. 2 Tim 1:9; 1 Pet. 1:2, 20). F.F. Bruce was supportive of this understanding of Paul when he wrote to me in June, 1981: “But whether any New Testament writer believed in the Son’s separate conscious existence as a second Divine Person’ before his incarnation is not so clear. On balance, I think the Fourth Evangelist did so believe; I am not nearly so sure about Paul.”
[1257]Aorist of “create.” The passive is a divine passive. “Everything was created,” i.e., by God, as is stated some 50 times in Scripture. God was entirely unaccompanied at the original creation. Isa. 44:24 is the decisive and definitive verse on this point. Cp. Rev. 4:11. “The passive ‘were created’ indicates, in a typically Jewish fashion, the activity of God the Father, working in the Son. To say ‘by,’ here and at the end of verse 16, could imply, not that Christ is the Father’s agent, but that he was alone responsible for creation” (N.T. Wright, The Epistles of Paul to the Colossians and to Philemon, p. 71). To say that Jesus was involved in the original creation as active agent destroys the witness of Matthew and Luke in the birth narratives. It also destroys the unitarian creed of Jesus and the NT (Mk. 12:29; Jn. 17:3).
[1258]Perfect passive tense of “create” with continuing results. The change of verb tense is striking and deliberate (see Turner, Grammatical Insights into the NT, p. 125: “They have been and are being created.”). The new creation is through Jesus and the earlier creation of authorities was “because of” of Jesus, “in him in intention,” certainly not “by him.” God the Father created by Himself (Isa. 44:24) and God, not Jesus (who did not yet exist!) rested on the 7th day (Heb. 4:4). Jesus the Son of God is actively involved in the New Creation and Jesus is the one now sanctifying his brothers and sisters (Heb. 2:11).
Jesus knew that God, not he himself, “created them male and female at the beginning” (Mk. 10:6).
[1259]The first human being to gain immortality by being raised by the Father from death.
[1260]Jesus was promoted to this position of superiority, by resurrection. It is obvious, then, that he is not God, since God cannot be promoted! Jesus gained that supreme position when God exalted him to His right hand in accordance with Ps. 110:1 (equal to the celebration of man in Ps. 8:4-6), which is the key theological and Christological verse governing the NT. The second lord (adoni) is never a title of Deity. One cannot gain first position, if one always had it! The same confusion of thought is exposed by Bishop Wright’s “life after life after death.” You cannot become alive if you are already alive. It is likewise impossible to “begin to exist” (Mt. 1:18, 20; Lk. 1:35; 1 Jn. 5:18) if one already exists! The idea of a literally preexisting Son of God throws the entirety of Scripture into incoherence. There is no “God the Son” in the NT. This was an invention of the very confused philosophical theology of postbiblical “fathers.” The Son was “foreknown” by God (1 Pet. 1:20), and this is very different concept from “preexistence.” The Greek word for preexistence, prouparchein (found in the NT), is never used of Jesus. The whole point of the Bible is lost if Jesus is not fully a man. “Orthodoxy” declares him to be “man, but not a man.” Scripture is the story of the reconciliation of God and man, and how man can fulfill his destiny (Ps. 8; 110). God does not need to be reconciled to God! And Jesus, if his “ego” is God, is an inappropriate model for us as human beings.
[1261]Note that the same language about “the fullness of God” is applicable to believers also in Eph. 3:19. Having the fullness of God, via His spirit, thus does not mean that a person is God!
15The lord Jesus is the visible image[1254] of the invisible God, the firstborn[1255] of the whole creation
16because in him[1256] in intention everything was originally created[1257] by God in heaven and on earth — the visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities — all these things are now created[1258] by God through Jesus and for him.
17He is superior to all things and in him everything coheres.
18He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, because he is the firstborn from the dead,[1259] so that he might be promoted to have first place in everything.[1260]
19For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in him,[1261]
20and through him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of his cross — whether these be personalities on earth or in heaven.
[1254]Jesus as the image of God is of course the second Adam, not God (which would make two Gods, which is not monotheism) or a created angel. The subject of discourse here is the Messiah supernaturally begotten in Mary (Mt. 1:18, 20; Lk. 1:35). He is the fulfillment of the wisdom of God planned from the beginning. Jesus is here, as always, the man Messiah as in 1 Tim 2:5.
[1255]Israel was also God’s firstborn (Ex. 4:22). The sense is that of the preeminent one. Jesus is now, under God, the head of all creation and also the preeminent one from the dead, as being the first human to be raised from death to immortality. Only God has immortality inherently (1 Tim. 6:16). Jesus the Son of God was given immortality when he was resurrected on the Sunday following his crucifixion on Friday (Lk. 24:21, etc). All things will ultimately be subjected to the One God, the Father (1 Cor. 15:28).
[1256]“In him.” This is certainly not “by him.” “en auto. This does not mean ‘by him’” (Expositors Greek Testament, Vol. 3, p. 504). I take en here as causal, i.e., because of him, for his sake, with him in view, with him in intention. “We must render [en] ‘because of’ in Col. 1:16” (Turner, A Grammar of NT Greek, Vol. 3, p. 253). James Dunn translates “in him in intention” (Christology in the Making, p. 190). Christians were also “en” Christ before the world began (Eph. 1:4). This is existence in the divine plan, not actual existence (cp. 2 Tim 1:9; 1 Pet. 1:2, 20). F.F. Bruce was supportive of this understanding of Paul when he wrote to me in June, 1981: “But whether any New Testament writer believed in the Son’s separate conscious existence as a second Divine Person’ before his incarnation is not so clear. On balance, I think the Fourth Evangelist did so believe; I am not nearly so sure about Paul.”
[1257]Aorist of “create.” The passive is a divine passive. “Everything was created,” i.e., by God, as is stated some 50 times in Scripture. God was entirely unaccompanied at the original creation. Isa. 44:24 is the decisive and definitive verse on this point. Cp. Rev. 4:11. “The passive ‘were created’ indicates, in a typically Jewish fashion, the activity of God the Father, working in the Son. To say ‘by,’ here and at the end of verse 16, could imply, not that Christ is the Father’s agent, but that he was alone responsible for creation” (N.T. Wright, The Epistles of Paul to the Colossians and to Philemon, p. 71). To say that Jesus was involved in the original creation as active agent destroys the witness of Matthew and Luke in the birth narratives. It also destroys the unitarian creed of Jesus and the NT (Mk. 12:29; Jn. 17:3).
[1258]Perfect passive tense of “create” with continuing results. The change of verb tense is striking and deliberate (see Turner, Grammatical Insights into the NT, p. 125: “They have been and are being created.”). The new creation is through Jesus and the earlier creation of authorities was “because of” of Jesus, “in him in intention,” certainly not “by him.” God the Father created by Himself (Isa. 44:24) and God, not Jesus (who did not yet exist!) rested on the 7th day (Heb. 4:4). Jesus the Son of God is actively involved in the New Creation and Jesus is the one now sanctifying his brothers and sisters (Heb. 2:11).
Jesus knew that God, not he himself, “created them male and female at the beginning” (Mk. 10:6).
[1259]The first human being to gain immortality by being raised by the Father from death.
[1260]Jesus was promoted to this position of superiority, by resurrection. It is obvious, then, that he is not God, since God cannot be promoted! Jesus gained that supreme position when God exalted him to His right hand in accordance with Ps. 110:1 (equal to the celebration of man in Ps. 8:4-6), which is the key theological and Christological verse governing the NT. The second lord (adoni) is never a title of Deity. One cannot gain first position, if one always had it! The same confusion of thought is exposed by Bishop Wright’s “life after life after death.” You cannot become alive if you are already alive. It is likewise impossible to “begin to exist” (Mt. 1:18, 20; Lk. 1:35; 1 Jn. 5:18) if one already exists! The idea of a literally preexisting Son of God throws the entirety of Scripture into incoherence. There is no “God the Son” in the NT. This was an invention of the very confused philosophical theology of postbiblical “fathers.” The Son was “foreknown” by God (1 Pet. 1:20), and this is very different concept from “preexistence.” The Greek word for preexistence, prouparchein (found in the NT), is never used of Jesus. The whole point of the Bible is lost if Jesus is not fully a man. “Orthodoxy” declares him to be “man, but not a man.” Scripture is the story of the reconciliation of God and man, and how man can fulfill his destiny (Ps. 8; 110). God does not need to be reconciled to God! And Jesus, if his “ego” is God, is an inappropriate model for us as human beings.
[1261]Note that the same language about “the fullness of God” is applicable to believers also in Eph. 3:19. Having the fullness of God, via His spirit, thus does not mean that a person is God!