The Christ revealed in Colossians is all-inclusive. He is not only God, but also the firstborn of creation. All things came into being in Him and through Him. Furthermore, all things are unto Him and subsist in Him. Therefore, through Him is expressed all that God is. We have seen that all the fullness in verse 19 does not denote the riches of what God is, but the expression of those riches. The full expression of God in all His rich being, both in creation and in the church, dwells in Christ. The rich being of God is expressed both in the old creation and in the new creation through Christ as the One in whom, through whom, and unto whom all things came into being and as the One in whom all things subsist. It is in such a way that the invisible God is expressed.
When we consider the universe and the church, the old creation and the new creation, we see all the fullness of the Triune God. We behold the expression of the Triune God. This fullness was pleased to dwell in the Son and to reconcile all things to Himself for His expression. Furthermore, this fullness will present us holy, blameless, and without reproach to Himself so that He may have His expression in the new creation.
Colossians 1:15 says, “Who is the image of the invisible God, firstborn of all creation.” The relative pronoun who refers to the Son of God’s love (v. 13). This means that the Son of the Father’s love is the image of the invisible God. In verse 15 Paul puts the phrase “firstborn of all creation” in apposition to the phrase “the image of the invisible God.” Grammatically this indicates that these expressions are synonymous. The image of the invisible God is the firstborn of all creation. The fact that verse 16 begins with the word because indicates that it gives the reason Paul said that the image of God is the firstborn of all creation. The reason is that “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.” Why is the image of the invisible God the firstborn of all creation? He is the firstborn because all things were created in Him, through Him, and unto Him.
We have seen that as the image of God Christ is the expression of God. If a person had no physical form or image, he could not be expressed. A person is expressed through his physical image. Although God is invisible, He is expressed through His image, which is His Son. The Son of the Father’s love is the expression of the invisible God. This expression is firstly the firstborn of all creation, because all things were created in Him, through Him, and unto Him. The creation that came into existence through Him expresses God’s eternal power and divine nature. Both the divine nature and the eternal power are the expression of the invisible God. If you study the universe in a thoughtful way, you will confess that it testifies of the eternal power and of the divine nature. Even many scientists realize that in creation some kind of extraordinary power exists. This power is Christ as the image of the invisible God.
The three prepositions used in verse 16—in, through, and unto—indicate that creation is subjectively related to Christ. There is a subjective relationship between creation and Christ because of the process of creation and because of the goal, the consummation, of creation. In Christ and through Christ creation came into being. This indicates that creation is subjectively related to Christ because of the process by which it came into existence. Moreover, all of creation is unto Christ. This indicates that creation is subjectively related to Christ as the consummation, the goal, of its existence. Both in the process of creation and in the goal of creation Christ is expressed. Therefore, creation cannot be separated from Christ as the image of the invisible God.