Colossians: Visible and Invisable

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Talk intro:

We’re continuing our journey through the book of Colossians today. Last week we were looking at one of the prayers that the apostle Paul wrote to the Colossian church.

If we look at this prayer as an introduction to Jesus it reveals some amazing things about Him. Keep in mind that while the Colossians were believers they were very new at this and only had a shallow understanding about Jesus.

So it makes sense that Paul would spend the first few lines of this letter to introduce Jesus to them. Since most of them had come out of Greek and Roman mythology it was important to Paul they would have a clear picture of who Jesus is and how He is different than the mythological figures they were familiar with.

If you look at verses 9-14 it gives a summary of what Jesus has done and verses 15-18 tell us who He is.

Today we’re going to look at verses 15-16.

Let’s read Colossians 1:15-16

The first compelling thing is that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He has been seen with human eyes by people who at the time this letter was written had actually seen Jesus, including Paul. They had seen Jesus the man who had physically lived and walked on the earth with people and the resurrected Jesus who ascended into heaven.

That could not be said of the Greek and Roman gods. No one living had ever seen them or witnessed their mighty exploits or their actions.

What Paul means by ‘the image of the invisible God’ is that God has fully and completely revealed Himself to the world through Jesus. It echoes what Jesus had said of Himself in John 14:9 ‘He who has seen me has seen the Father.’

By using this phrase Paul is showing Jesus to be God rather than one of many gods. That means He is completely unique and unlike the gods of mythology.

The Greek and Roman gods were created by the men to explain the reasons for the way things were.

But Paul says that Jesus was the firstborn over all of creation. The literal Greek meaning of that word is ‘before-born’ which means that Jesus was before all things and even His human birth was different than others. He was the first one born the way He was born. He was born of a virgin and the divine work of the Holy Spirit.

The Greek and Roman gods were believed to be divine but they all acted very human, doing things that were wicked and in some cases horrific.

Jesus was very human but lived a sinless, divine life. He was God with skin on and instead of sinking into the sin of the people He lived in such a way to give an example of what a holy life looked like.

In verse 16 Paul drives home the point. He is crushing the false beliefs that these new believers used to rely on. The very gods they used to think were all-powerful are instead under the authority of the One who is above all things.

The gods they worshipped were false gods who were created by the corrupt imaginations of men influenced by the demonic power of darkness. While the gods themselves did not exist the power behind them was very real and Paul describes them as thrones, dominions, principalities and powers.

In this verse Paul is not suggesting that evil was created by Jesus. Everything that ‘is’ was created through Christ and those things that are evil came about because those created chose to rebel. That includes both men and angels.

He allowed them to rebel but even in their rebellion they are still under His authority and are used to fulfill His divine purposes. The OT story of Job is a good example of this truth in that God allowed evil to touch Job and still God’s purposes were fulfilled.

It’s also revealed in the crucifixion and death of Jesus. It was the corrupted hearts of evil men who dreamed up and carried out the plan to murder Him, yet God used it to fulfill His purpose to redeem people from their sin.

So Paul is correct in saying that all things were created through Him and for Him because nothing exists outside of Him. It all came though Him and is under His authority.

This really shows that Jesus is different and above the other gods. They acted in ways that were fickle and inconsistent yet Christ is sure and always responds in perfect agreement with God’s will.

Nothing is above Him or before Him. Jesus is the beginning and the end, the alpha and omega, the One who is, who was, and is to come. The almighty maker of heaven and earth.