Colossians 1:15\u201323 (ESV)
\n15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities\u2014all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.<\/p>\n
I remind you that the main reason for Paul to write this letter was to combat heresy that was about to come into the church, which would cast a cloud over the glory of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
Paul wrote to say that Christ is supreme.<\/p>\n
I. THE SCOPE OF CHRIST’S SUPREMACY
\n(Colossians 1:15-18)
\n15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities\u2014all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.<\/p>\n
First, Paul wanted the Colossians to see\u2026
\nA. CHRIST’S RELATIONSHIP TO DEITY (15)
\n\u201cHe is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Christ to be the image of the invisible God, we are not referring to image in a physical sense. It is not like when one says, \u201cthat boy looks just like his dad.\u201d<\/p>\n
The invisible God becomes visible to men in “the Son of His love.\u201d
\nThe Message translation puts it this way: \u201cWe look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Gnostic philosophy taught that all matter was evil. Jesus therefore could not have literally lived upon the earth. He was merely a mirage. They even taught that when He walked, He left no footprints.<\/p>\n
There are two words that will help us help unpack the truth.
\nThe first is the word\u2026 LIKENESS – meaning He is like God. Hebrews 1:3 says, \u201cHe is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.\u201d<\/p>\n
What Paul had in mind must be something like this: Christ is the image of God in the sense that He is the perfect likeness of God. Jesus said to His disciples, “…Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.\u201d (John 14:9)<\/p>\n
The second word is\u2026
\nMANIFESTATION – meaning a visible expression. Jesus said in John 1:18, \u201cNo one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father\u2019s side, he has made him known. \u201c<\/p>\n
Christ, then, is the image of God in the sense that the nature and being of God are perfectly revealed in Him. When you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus.
\nWe know by looking at Jesus that:
\nGod hates Satan and his evil ways.
\nGod cares if we are sick.
\nGod wants the very best for us.
\nGod is compassionate.
\nGod loves sinners.
\nGod hates sin.<\/p>\n
Man WAS MADE in the image of God; But Jesus Christ IS the image of God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Colossians 1:15\u201323 (ESV) 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities\u2014all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[140],"tags":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4430"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4430"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4434,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4430\/revisions\/4434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}