The Chosen Key Word in this Chapter is “Image” it comes from the Greek Word “eikon” which means “image, likeness.”
Paul opens with one of the most exalted descriptions of Christ found anywhere in the Bible. Welcome to Bible Life Basics Chapter Reviews, I am Chris and this is Colossians 1.
Paul thanks God continually for the Colossians, having heard of their faith in Christ and love for the saints, a hope laid up for them in heaven, and the gospel that is bringing forth fruit throughout the world just as it has among them since the day they heard it from Epaphras. He prays that they would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, walking worthy of the Lord, fruitful in every good work, and strengthened with all might according to His glorious power.
Paul then describes Christ in soaring, exalted terms, “the image,” “eikon” in Greek, “of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature,” explaining that by Him all things were created, in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, and that He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. He describes Christ as the head of the body, the church, the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that in everything He might have the preeminence, since it pleased the Father that in Him all fulness should dwell.
Paul explains that through Christ, God reconciled all things to Himself, making peace through the blood of His cross, and that the Colossians, once alienated and enemies in their minds through wicked works, have now been reconciled through Christ’s death, presented holy, unblameable, and unreprovable, if they continue grounded and settled in the faith. Paul describes his own suffering for the church as filling up what remains of Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, and describes his ministry as making known “the mystery” of Christ in believers, the hope of glory, warning and teaching everyone in all wisdom, that he might present every person perfect in Christ Jesus.
Paul’s description of Christ as the exact image of the invisible God, through whom and for whom everything was created, establishes the towering foundation for everything else this letter will argue. If Christ truly holds this supreme position over all creation, then no other philosophy, tradition, or spiritual practice could possibly compete with or supplement Him.
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