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.