1:15
We now come to a great hymn of praise to Christ, declaring in the most clear terms the divinity and greatness of Christ. If anyone has any doubt about the divinity of Christ, nor that the early church was convinced that Christ is God, then just read 1:15-20 and ask yourself if this could be said about anyone who was just a man. It is possible that this hymn existed before Paul wrote this letter and that he has adopted this hymn, possibly modifying it to emphasise the points that were most applicable to the Colossian situation. Alternatively it may have been entirely written by Paul. it really doesn’t matter which of these two scenarios is true, it is the truth expressed in the hymn that matter the most. The primary purpose of the hymn is to put the focus entirely on Christ, to avoid the Colossians being distracted by any other ideas.
“He is the image of the invisible God”. The Greek word of image, eikon, indicates that Christ is not a mere copy of God, but shares in the very nature of God. The invisible God is made known to all. Sceptics may say “show me God and I will believe”, well if they look at Christ they will see God.
“The firstborn over all creation”. Firstborn should not be taken in a temporal sense, as is done by all the false religions that reduce Christ to the greatest of all the created beings. Instead it refers to primacy of function and position. If we want to understand life, the universe and everything we need to start with Christ as Lord over all.
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