Introduction to Colossians: Authorship, Date, Audience - Crain Home

Interpretation 1
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in
heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether
they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all
things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things
consist.
The Colossians are reminded that "Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature." As such, Christ is the Creator of both
the visible and invisible, and all things belong to him. As Christ is the
firstborn of all things created in heaven and earth, the church is the firstborn
from the dead for the purpose that Christ might have preeminence. The
language is poetic as the writer strains to link the lordship of Christ to the
cosmos. As the Intervarsity Commentary says, Jesus "is the cosmic Christ,"
Lord of the material and spiritual, and as Lord over all, Christ has
reconciled the two into a new world.
In this passage Paul employs various images of creation to
clarify "the word of truth, the gospel" (1:5-6). By linking the
lordship of Christ to God's creation of the entire cosmos,
Paul's tacit claim is that Christians have been remade into a
new humanity, characterized by their holistic spirituality.
Against his ascetic opponents at Colosse, who have rejected
the material for the spiritual, Paul confesses Christ as Lord
over both worlds; he is the "cosmic Christ." Therefore,
believers are to resist any teaching that divides their life into
separate spheres, material and spiritual, which would also
divide their loyalty to Christ. If Christ is Lord over all of
God's creation, then those in Christ have been re-formed into
a new creation and embody God's reconciliation of all things
(v. 20).
http://bible.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/webcommentary
Furthermore, since nothing in the structure of Colossians seems to be
without purpose, the parallelism in fifteen and eighteen declares the lordship
of Christ. In seventeen, he is the "image" while in eighteen, he is the
"beginning and the firstborn among the dead":
http://crain.english.mwsc.edu/colossians/interpretation_1.htm (12 of 20)6/17/2003 8:17:40 AM
Thus, in verses 15 and 18 Christ is introduced by a relative
pronoun (hos, "he") combined with the linking verb (estin,