Colossians first reveals that Christ is the portion of the saints (1:12). As believers in Christ, we gain Christ as our portion. Most Christians speak of our portion as being only redemption, salvation, and heaven. It is easy to understand that these items are our portion. However, it is more difficult to understand what it means for Christ to be our portion and how to enjoy Him as our portion. When we drink a cup of coffee, the coffee is our portion. When we eat breakfast, all the items included in our breakfast are our portion. We need to see the many items that are included in Christ as our portion.
Colossians 1:15 says that Christ, who is our portion, is the image of the invisible God. God is invisible, yet He has an image that is visible. In Christ we know God and see God (John 1:18; 14:7-11). God is revealed and made visible in Christ. God is visible to us because Christ our portion is the image of the invisible God.
Verse 15 of Colossians 1 also says that Christ is the Firstborn of all creation. Although Christ is the Creator, this verse says that He is the Firstborn of all creation. Some Christian theologians think that it is heresy to say that Christ, who as God is the Creator, is also part of creation. No one can explain this mysterious fact, but it is clearly stated in the Bible.
Verse 16 says, “In Him all things were created...all things have been created through Him and unto Him.” All things were created in Christ, through Christ, and unto, or for, Christ.
Verse 17 says, “He is before all things, and all things cohere in Him.” The word cohere means to subsist together. This matter may be illustrated by the way the spokes of a wheel subsist in the hub. If the hub is removed, the spokes and the wheel will fall apart. The hub is the center that keeps all the other parts of the wheel together. Scientists have discovered that there is a hub, a center, that holds everything in the universe together. Christ is this hub. Everything in the universe coheres in Christ. To cohere is to exist in a particular way. We exist in a particular way, because apparently we are standing on the earth, but intrinsically the earth is holding us. Without the holding power of the earth, we would fly off into space. There is a cohering power in the universe. Everything in the universe, including each of us, coheres in Christ. He is the hub of the universe that holds all things. Without Christ as the holding power, everything in the universe would fall apart.
Verses 18 through 19 say, “He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things; for in Him all the fullness was pleased to dwell.” Christ is the Firstborn in creation and the Firstborn in resurrection. God has two creations: the old creation and the new creation. The new creation was produced in Christ’s resurrection. Christ is the Firstborn in both creations, in the old creation and the new creation. Christ is the first in everything. In Him all the fullness, the full expression of the rich being of God in both the creation and the church, was pleased to dwell.
Colossians 2:2 says that Christ is the mystery of God. God is altogether a mystery, and this mystery is Christ. In other words, Christ is the definition of God. Then verse 9 says, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” The fullness of the Godhead, the expression of the riches of what God is, dwells in Christ as one who has a human body. We could never fully explain or define all that Christ is. I do not have the adequate knowledge to expound all the profound items of Christ revealed in Colossians. We could never even exhaust the significance of the two terms the mystery of God and the embodiment of the fullness of the Godhead.