Scripture Reading: Col. 1:15-17; Rev. 3:14
In this message we shall consider what it means for Christ to be the firstborn of all creation (1:15-17). The main purpose of the book of Colossians is to show that Christ is everything, that He is all. In the universe everything that exists is included under one of two basic headings: the Creator and the creation. In order to show us that Christ is all, the Bible tells us that Christ is both the Creator and the firstborn of all creation. If He were only the Creator but not the firstborn of creation, then He would not be all.
In Colossians Paul deals with such things as Jewish observances, Gentile ordinances, mysticism, Gnosticism, and asceticism. Of all the negative things that he deals with, one stands out as especially serious — the worship of angels, which is a form of idolatry. To worship anything other than God, including such creatures as angels, is idolatry. Nevertheless, because they regarded themselves and others as being unworthy to contact God directly, certain heretical teachers in Colosse advocated angel worship. They taught that God is very high and that we are very low, that God is glorious and that man is corrupt. Therefore, according to their heretical teaching, we could not be worthy to contact God directly. According to them, we must have some kind of intermediary. These teachers said that the angels are the intermediaries between us and God. This was the concept behind the angel worship that had invaded the church in Colosse.
The angel worship Paul dealt with in this Epistle was related to a sense of humility. Some thought it was a sign of humility to believe that they were not worthy to worship God directly. Apparently they had some ground in the Bible for their position. The Bible records that the law was not given to Moses by God directly; it was given through the mediation of angels (Gal. 3:19). Hence, in the giving of the law the angels functioned as intermediaries. The heretical teachers went on to say that the angels should be the intermediaries between God and fallen man. They encouraged the saints to show humility by following this way of worship. It seems as if these teachers were telling those in Colosse, “You shouldn’t be so proud as to think that you can go directly to God. You must humble yourselves and recognize your need of angels to serve as intermediaries between you and God.” Paul was fighting against such a concept when he said, “Let no one purposely defraud you of your prize, in humility and worship of the angels” (2:18). We should not be carried away by someone’s humility or by a teaching regarding angel worship.
In 2:9 and 10 Paul says, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you in Him are made full, Who is the Head of all rule and authority.” The words rule and authority refer to the angels. Christ is the Head of all the angels, not only of subordinate angels, but of those angels that have rule, power, and authority.
We need to see why Paul inserts the phrase in 2:10, “Who is the Head of all rule and authority.” It is rather easy for us to understand that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily, that is, in bodily form (2:9). When Christ was on earth, He had a physical body, and in that body all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt. Because the fullness dwells in Him and because we are in Him, it follows that in Him we are made full (2:10). But then Paul suddenly speaks of Christ being the Head of all rule and authority. The One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells and the One in whom we are made full is the very Head of all rule and authority. It is crucial that we see the significance of this.
In order to understand the insertion of this clause, we need to consider it in the context of the whole book. Colossians reveals that Christ is all. Paul emphasized this to the Colossians because they had accepted the heresy of angel worship. Apparently the saints in Colosse did not think that Christ could be the intermediary between them and God. To their concept, Christ was too exalted to help them in this way. Hence, they felt they needed angels as intermediaries. This was the reason Paul told them that Christ is the Head of all angels. As long as we have Christ, who is everything, there is no need for us to rely on angels. If we need an intermediary, Christ is our intermediary. This is not the function of angels. Yes, God is high, and we are very low. But this does not mean that we need angels as intermediaries. In Christ we have been made full; we are short of nothing. Because the Colossians were regarding angels as intermediaries, they needed to see that Christ is the Head of all the angels. Christ is everything. As long as they had Him, they had been made full. Both doctrinally and experientially, we should be able to testify that in Christ we have been made full and are short of nothing. In Christ we have God, righteousness, life, and all the positive things in the whole universe. By having Christ we have the One who is the Head of all angels. How mistaken the Colossians were in accepting the heresy of angel worship! Because Christ is all, we should go to Him for everything we need. Now we see that Paul added a clause in 2:10 in order to impress the Colossians with the fact that we do not need angels as intermediaries because our Christ is the Head of all rule and authority. He is the Head of all angels.
Colossians reveals that Christ is everything, both the Creator and the firstborn of all creation. If Christ were only the Creator but not anything of the creation, He would not be all. Thus, the fullness, the expression of the Triune God, would not be complete. Paul’s concept in Colossians is profound. The fullness, the full expression of the Triune God, dwells in Christ. As the One who is all, He is both the Creator and the firstborn of all creation. This is a basic principle.
Colossians 1:15 says that Christ is the “image of the invisible God.” Then, in the very same verse, Paul says that Christ is the “firstborn of all creation.” Why does he put these two matters together, the image of the invisible God and the firstborn of all creation? God is invisible. But the Son of His love, “the effulgence of His glory and the express image of His substance” (Heb. 1:3), is His image, expressing what He is. The image here does not mean a physical form, but an expression of God’s being in all His attributes and virtues. This interpretation is confirmed by Colossians 3:10 and 2 Corinthians 3:18.
To say that Christ, the all-inclusive One, is the image of God implies that He is the very God, the Creator. When we see Christ, we see the expression of the invisible God, for He Himself is God. If I had written the Epistle to the Colossians, I would have said simply that Christ is God the Creator. Paul, however, did not write in such a simple way. He said that Christ is the image of the invisible God, God Himself expressed.
In 1:15 Paul goes on to say that Christ is the firstborn of all creation. This means that in creation Christ is the first. Christ as God is the Creator. However, as man, sharing the created blood and flesh (Heb. 2:14), He is part of the creation. “Firstborn of all creation” refers to Christ’s preeminence in all creation, since from this verse through verse 18 the apostle stresses the first place of Christ in all things. This verse reveals that Christ is not only the Creator, but also the first among all created things, the first among all creatures.
Some insist that Christ is only the Creator, not a creature. But the Bible reveals that Christ is both the Creator and a creature, for He is both God and man. As God, Christ is the Creator, but as man, He is a creature. How could He have flesh, blood, and bones if He were not a creature? Did not Christ become a man? Did He not take on a body with flesh, blood, and bones? Certainly He did. Those who oppose this teaching are short of knowledge. Actually, they are heretical, because they do not believe that Christ truly became a man. Rather, they believe only that He is God, and such a belief is heresy. Our Christ is God, has always been God, and always will be God. But through incarnation He became a man. Otherwise He could not have been arrested, tried, and crucified; and He could not have shed His blood on the cross for our sins. Praise the Lord for the truth that our Christ is both God and man!
As God, Christ is eternal and did not need to be born. But in 1:15 He is called the firstborn of all creation. Anything that requires birth must be a creature, part of creation. If Christ were only God and not man, He could not have been born, for God is infinite and eternal, without beginning or ending. But as a man, Christ had to be born. Hallelujah, Christ was born as a man! Isaiah 9:6 says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given...and his name shall be called The mighty God, The everlasting Father....” As the child born to us, Christ is called the mighty God. As the Son given to us, His name is called the eternal Father. As the mighty God and the eternal Father, Christ is eternal. But as the child and a son, He had to be born. Some argue that Christ was born, but not created. According to the Bible, birth is the carrying out of creation. Therefore, to be born is to be created.
Some may wonder how Christ could be the firstborn of all creation since He was born less than two thousand years ago, not at the very beginning of creation. If we would understand this properly, we need to realize that with God there is no time element. For example, according to our estimate of time, Christ was crucified about two thousand years ago. But Revelation 13:8 says that Christ was slain from the foundation of the world. Both are right. However, God’s reckoning is much more important than ours. In the eyes of God, Christ was crucified from the foundation of the world. In eternity, God foresaw the fall of man. Therefore, also in eternity, He made preparation for the accomplishment of redemption.
The difference between God’s estimate of time and ours also helps us understand why Christ is called the second man (1 Cor. 15:47). From our point of view, the second man was Cain, the son of the first Adam. But from God’s point of view, the second man is Christ.
We may apply this matter of the different ways of reckoning time to Christ as the firstborn of all creation. According to our sense of time, Christ was born in Bethlehem approximately two thousand years ago. But in the eyes of God, the Lord Jesus was born before the foundation of the world. If He was slain from the foundation of the world, certainly He must have been born before then. Therefore, according to God’s perspective in eternity, Christ was born in eternity past. This is the reason that, according to God’s viewpoint, Christ has always been the first of all creatures. God foresaw the day that Christ would be born in a manger in Bethlehem. Because Christ is the first among the creatures, we can say that as the all-inclusive One He is both the Creator and part of creation.
In a previous message I pointed out that in 1934 Brother Nee gave a series of messages in Shanghai on the centrality and universality of Christ. At Brother Nee’s request, I polished my notes of these messages and prepared them to be printed in Brother Nee’s paper called The Present Testimony. When this material was translated into English, the translator took the liberty of interpreting Brother Nee’s concept regarding Christ as the first of the creatures in a way to which Brother Nee would never have agreed. Instead of saying, as Brother Nee did, that “the Son is the number one of the creatures,” the translator says that “the Son is the head of all creation.” Surely this is not a faithful translation, but an interpretation according to the concept of the translator.
Brother Nee had the boldness to say just what the Bible says. During that conference in 1934 we read from Brother Nee’s Chinese translation of Colossians 1. In this translation he made it very definite that Christ is the first of all creatures. This is an example of Brother Nee’s boldness for the truth. He did not care for what men say; he cared only for what the Bible says. Nevertheless, the translator of these messages changed Brother Nee’s words in order to avoid trouble with certain theological concepts. This is not faithful to Brother Nee’s ministry.
If we care for the truth, we shall testify that Christ, the image of the invisible God, the very Creator, as the firstborn of all creation, is the first among all creatures. In this sense, Christ is not only the Creator, but also part of creation.
Colossians 1:16 says, “Because in Him were all things created in the heavens and on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or lordships or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and unto Him.” “In Him” means in the power of Christ’s Person. All things were created in the power of what Christ is. All creation bears the characteristics of Christ’s intrinsic power. (See note on this verse in Darby’s New Translation.) “Through Him” indicates that Christ is the active instrument through which the creation of all things was processed. Finally, “unto Him” indicates that Christ is the end of all creation. All things were created for His possession.
In verse 17 Paul goes on to say, “And He is before all things.” This indicates His eternal preexistence.
Moreover, verse 17 says that “all things subsist together in Him.” For all things to subsist together in Christ means that they exist together by Christ as the holding center, just as the spokes of a wheel are held together by the hub at their center.
