He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. Colossians 1:15
The Colossians were fed the line that Jesus fell short of being God, but that was hardly the case. From his rented quarters in Rome, Paul proceeded to set the record straight, with a magnificent piece of writing on the attributes of Jesus, the Son of God. (Colossians 1:15-29)
To start, the word for image is eikon (from which we get our word “icon”) which means the representation and manifestation of something. It must have context to be fully understood, and that is clear here, we’re talking about Jesus. Hebrews 1:3 proceeds to color within these lines, “He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature.”
But what about the statement, “the firstborn of all creation?” This is less about birth order and more about the Lord’s supremacy. The focus is on “before” rather than “first.” For example, John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In terms of “birth order,” it does allude to the rights, privileges, and position of the first born in the ancient world.
We mustn’t miss the logic of John 1:1, by the way, that if Jesus was with God at the creation of the world, how could he be one of his creations, and therefore inferior? Of course, it goes on to say, “and the Word was God.”
A final point. Philip complained to Jesus about not being able to see God, and got this answer.
“Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? John 14:9
We must understand and believe all this without the benefit afforded to Philip. The recorded words of the Apostle John, Paul, the writer of Hebrews, and Jesus himself will have to do. In fact, all of God’s words point to Jesus.
To sum up, our lives change inalterably when we finally grasp and believe that Jesus is God incarnate, that he’s the only truly iconic person to ever tread this earth, that “He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:13–14
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