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COLOSSIANS 
II. THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST
His Person and Work
15* He is the image* of the invisible God,
the rstborn of all creation.
16For in him* were created all things in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him.i
17He is before all things,
and in him all things hold together.
18He is the head of the body, the church.*
He is the beginning, the rstborn from the dead,
that in all things he himself might be preeminent.j 19For in him all the fullness* was pleased to dwell,
20and through him to reconcile all things for him,
making peace by the blood of his cross*
[through him], whether those on earth or those in heaven.k
21* And you who once were alienated and hostile in mind because of evil deedsl 22he has now reconciled in his eshly body through his death, to present you holy, without blemish, and irreproachable before him, 23provided that you persevere in the faith, rmly grounded, stable, and not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, am a minister.
Christ in Us.* 24Now I rejoice in my su erings for your sake, and in my esh I am lling up what is lacking* in the a ictions of Christ on
h
1:15
This section of the letter quotes an early Christian hymn about Christ, a beautiful poem which speaks of the cosmic Christ, the Christ who existed before time began, who was present at creation. In many medieval images of creation, artists show Christ as the creative hand of God, expressing what is stated here and professed in the Nicene Creed: “through him all things were made.”
1:24
Paul makes an extraordinary statement here. How can anything be “lacking” in the ultimate sacri ce of Christ? What this means is that our su erings have meaning. United with the cross, our su erings can be o ered, like Christ’s, on behalf of the Church. We participate in the work of redemption. In the shadow of the cross, all human su ering is lled with meaning.
* [1:15–20] As the poetic arrangement indicates, these lines are probably an early Christian hymn, known to the Colossians and taken up into the letter from liturgical use (cf. Phil 2:6–11; 1 Tm 3:16). They present Christ as the mediator of creation (Col 1:15– 18a) and of redemption (Col 1:18b–20). There is a parallelism between rstborn of all creation (Col 1:15) and rstborn from the dead (Col 1:18). While many of the phrases were at home in Greek philosophical use and even in gnosticism, the basic ideas also re ect Old Testament themes about Wisdom found in Prv 8:22–31; Wis 7:22–8:1; and Sir 1:4. See also notes on what is possibly a hymn in Jn 1:1–18.
* [1:15] Image: cf. Gn 1:27. Whereas the man and the woman were originally created in the image and likeness of God (see also Gn 1:26), Christ as image (2 Cor 4:4) of the invisible God (Jn 1:18) now shares this new nature in baptism with those redeemed (cf. Col 3:10–11).
* [1:16–17] Christ (though not mentioned by name) is preeminent and supreme as God’s agent in the creation of all things (cf. Jn 1:3), as prior to all things (Col 1:17; cf. Heb 1:3).
* [1:18] Church: such a reference seemingly belongs under “redemption” in the following lines, not under the “creation” section of the hymn. Stoic thought sometimes referred to the world as “the body of Zeus.” Pauline usage is to speak of the church as the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:12–27; Rom 12:4–5). Some think that the author of Colossians has inserted the reference to the church here so as to de ne “head of the body” in Paul’s customary way. See Col 1:24. Preeminent: when Christ was raised by God as rstborn from the dead (cf. Acts 26:23; Rev 1:5), he was placed over the community, the church, that he had brought into being, but he is also indicated as crown of the whole new creation, over all things. His further role is to reconcile all things (Col 1:20) for God or possibly “to himself.”
* [1:19] Fullness: in gnostic usage this term referred to a spiritual world of beings above, between God and the world; many later interpreters take it to refer to the fullness of the deity (Col 2:9);
the reference could also be to the fullness of grace (cf. Jn 1:16).
* [1:20] The blood of his cross: the most speci c reference in the hymn to redemption through Christ’s death, a central theme in Paul; cf. Col 2:14–15; 1 Cor 1:17, 18, 23. [Through him]: the phrase, lacking in some manuscripts, seems super uous but parallels the
reference to reconciliation through Christ earlier in the verse.
* [1:21–23] Paul, in applying this hymn to the Colossians, reminds them that they have experienced the reconciling e ect of Christ’s death. He sees the e ects of the cross in the redemption of human beings, not of cosmic powers such as those referred to in Col 1:16, 20 (all things). Paul also urges adherence to Christ in faith and begins to point to his own role as minister (Col 1:23),
su erer (Col 1:24), and proclaimer (Col 1:27–28) of this gospel.
* [1:24–2:3] As the community at Colossae was not personally known to Paul (see Introduction), he here invests his teaching with greater authority by presenting a brief sketch of his apostolic ministry and su erings as they re ect those of Christ on behalf of the church (24). The preaching of God’s word (Col 1:25) carries out the divine plan (the mystery, Col 1:26) to make Christ known to the Gentiles (Col 1:27). It teaches the God-given wisdom about Christ (Col 1:28), whose power works mightily in the apostle (Col 1:29). Even in those communities that do not know him personally (Col 2:1), he can increase the perception of God in Christ, unite the faithful more rmly in love, and so bring encouragement to them (Col 2:2). He hopes that his apostolic authority will make the Colossians perceive more readily the defects in the teaching of others who have sought to delude them, the next concern in
the letter.
* [1:24] What is lacking: although variously interpreted, this phrase
does not imply that Christ’s atoning death on the cross was defective. It may refer to the apocalyptic concept of a quota of “messianic woes” to be endured before the end comes; cf. Mk 13:8, 19–20, 24 and the note on Mt 23:29–32. Others suggest that Paul’s mystical unity with Christ allowed him to call his own su erings the a ictions of Christ.
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