Paul tells us that Jesus Christ is “is the image of the invisible God” and “the firstborn of all creation” (Col. 1:15). [1] But it is a mistake to suppose Christ is something made or constructed in the form of something else. Rather, Christ is the invisible made visible — God revealed to us.
Words like “image” and “firstborn” often refer to a thing made but one can make a mess of things in presuming the terms are being used that way in reference to Jesus. For example, Jehovah’s Witnesses purport that “God created Jesus before creating Adam. In fact, God created Jesus and then used him to make everything else, including the angels. That is why the Bible calls Jesus ‘the firstborn of all creation’ by God.”[2] Elsewhere the Witnesses tell us: “Jehovah and his firstborn Son enjoyed close association for billions of years—long before the starry heavens and the earth were created. How they must have loved each other! (John 3:35; 14:31) This dear Son was just like his Father. That is why the Bible refers to the Son as “the image of the invisible God.” (Colossians 1:15) Yes, even as a human son may closely resemble his father in various ways, this heavenly Son reflected his Father’s qualities and personality.”[3] They take the terms “image” and “firstborn” are taken in a procreative sense; however, this will not do. To suppose Christ is a part of the creation is really straying far off course from what Paul sought to communicate.
Christ the Image of God: Paul wanted to tell us that Jesus Christ is the ultimately revelation of God to all of humanity. He is the “image of the invisible God” in the sense that “the very nature and character of God have been perfectly revealed in Jesus Christ; in him the invisible has become visible. No-one has ever seen God, but God the only Son has made him known (Jn. 1:18)”[4]Not an image in the sense of a close replica or imperfect representation of the genuine article, but the perfect unveiling of the divine.[5]
Whereas we are made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27; 9:6), Christ is the eternally existent image of the invisible God, the very creator and sustainer of all things (Col. 1:16-17). Whereas we are finite contingent beings, the effects of causation, Christ is the necessary being, the uncaused first cause of all causation. Whereas we reflect the glory of God, Christ radiates the glory of God.
The God who exists is decisively revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. Christ’s divinity is evidenced through His performance of the miraculous works of God, His own self-disclosures of divinity made in public in the hearing of both friends and foes, and His death and resurrection on the third day.[6] To know the Son of God is to know God the Father.
Christ the Firstborn of all Creation: Paul’s designation of Christ as the “firstborn” has nothing to do with birth order; rather, it concerns the primacy of the person. In this context, the term “firstborn” is being used as an honorific title of preeminence bestowed upon the recipient.[7]
The idea of the firstborn being an honorific title of preeminence bestowed upon a person is employed in Psalm 89:
I have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him,
so that my hand shall be established with him;
my arm also shall strengthen him…He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
And I will make him the firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth
(Psa. 89:20-21, 26-27).
David is “firstborn” on account of having preeminence as the anointed ruler of Israel, but obviously this had nothing to do with birth order (cf. 1 Sam. 16:1-13). Daniel Mann notes, “God making King David His “firstborn” had nothing to do with giving birth to him, but it had everything to do with exalting him as “the highest of the kings of the earth.”[8] David is then begotten of God in the sense of being enthroned as the ruler of a nation.
Paul thus identifies Jesus Christ as “firstborn” in the sense of having “a special place in the father’s love: so ‘Israel is my firstborn son’ (Ex. 4:22)” and “Jesus is not the first of all created beings for (‘because’) he is the one by whom the whole creation came into being (16).”[9] It is then a mistake to take “firstborn” in Colossians 1:15 in a procreative sense. The apostle wants readers to know that Christ is the Creator of all things visible and invisible as opposed to a member of the creation.
All this is beyond theologizing. Paul instructs the Colossians on the centerpiece of their faith. They came to faith through the proclamation of the gospel through Epaphras (Col. 1:3-9) and they were learning to live as Christians. Christ is the enduring reference point from which the whole Christian life sets its course. He is the visible manifestation of the divine. He is the Maker. He is Lord. He gives us everlasting life. He cleanses us from our sin. He brings us into fellowship with the Heavenly Father. He leads us in the way we should go. He strengthens us for the journey. He carries us when we are weak. He is our shelter in the storm. He is preeminent. Whatever needs to be understood about living as a Christian in this world, it begins and ends with Christ.
— WGN
[1] All Scripture cited from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), unless noted.
[2] Jehovah’s Witnesses, “Bible Questions Answered,” https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines/wp20130301/when-jesus-created-why-son/
[3] Jehovah’s Witnesses, “What Does the Bible Really Teach?” https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/bible-teach/who-is-jesus-christ/
[4] Peter T. O’Brien, “Colossians,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 1266.
[5] The word “image” is use to translate the Greek word eikōn [εἰκὼν] in v. 15; hence, Christ is the eikōn the invisible God. A couple of ideas are expressed through the word eikon: “Christ is the image of God in the sense that he is the exact likeness of God, like the image on a coin or the reflection in a mirror (cf. Heb 1:3). The other idea in the word is manifestation. That is, Christ is the image of God in the sense that the nature and being of God are perfectly revealed in him (cf. John 1:18)” (Curtis Vaughan, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Ephesians through Philemon, vol. 11, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, [Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981], 181–182.)
[6] The New Testament writers made it clear that Christ performed the works of God. For example, Christ healed the sick and pronounced forgiveness of sin, as in the case of the paralytic lowered by his four compadres through a hole on the roof (Mk. 2:1-11). Just as God fed the Israelites on manna through the wilderness, Christ fed multitudes in the wilderness on different occasions with fish and bread (Matt. 14:13-21; 15:32-39; cf. Mk. 6:30-44; Lk. 9:10-17; Jn. Jn. 6:1-14). Moreover, Christ proclaimed Himself to the Bread of Life, from which all who partake will never die (Jn. 6:22-59). Christ even resurrected the dead: the daughter of Jairus (Mk. 5:21-24; 35-43; Lk. 8:40-42, 49-56); the son of the widow from Nain (7:11-16) Lazarus (Jn. 11). Christ also made self-disclosures to His own divine identity during debates with the scribes and Pharisees (Jn. 8:48-58; 10:22-31) and during the trial before the Sanhedrin (Matt. 26:63-67; cf. Mk. 14:61-65; Lk. 22:66-71). Christ predicted His own death and resurrection. He continually reminded the disciples that He would die and rise again after “three days and three nights” (Matt. 12:40; Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:34; John 2:19). He also made statements about dying and resurrecting on the “third day” (Matt. 16:21; 17:23; Luke 9:22; 18:33; 24:7, 21, and 46). The Scriptures also indicate that Christ burial took place prior to the start of the Sabbath (Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:31-42), and that the empty tomb was discovered after the Sabbath ended (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1) on the first day of the week (Matt. 28:1; Mark. 16:2, 9; Luke 24:1) Christ’s resurrection from the dead thus vindicated His claim to divinity (Jn. 20:19-30; Acts 2:22-32; Phil. 2:5-11; Heb. 1:1-4). Who but God could both predict His own death and then raise Himself up from the dead?
[7] The Greek word prōtotokos [πρωτότοκος] is translated “firstborn.” Prōtotokoscan refer “to birth order” but also “to having special status associated with a firstborn” (William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000], 894). Words rarely ever have a singular meaning; rather, words possess a range of meanings but context specifies the meaning connoted in the word.
[8] Daniel Mann, “Jesus: The ‘Begotten’ of the Father,” Christian Research Journal, 34, 2 [2011]: https://www.equip.org/article/jesus-the-begotten-of-the-father/ cf. also Thomas A. Howe, “Firstborn: How to Do a Word Study,” Christian Research Journal, 27, 6 [2004]: https://www.equip.org/articles/firstborn-how-to-do-a-word-study/
[9] Peter T. O’Brien, “Colossians,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 1266.
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