THE FIRST-BORN OVER ALL CREATION: Lesson 2 of 2 (series: Lessons on Colossians)

by John Lowe
(Woodruff, S.C.)

16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.

The third thing he has to say about Jesus Christ in regard to creation is, “IT WAS BY THE SON THAT ALL THINGS WERE CREATED.” This verse makes that very clear: “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities.”

If Christ created all things, He Himself is uncreated. The word “for” that introduces this verse could be translated “because.” Jesus Christ is the Firstborn of all because He created all things. It is no wonder that the winds and waves obeyed Him, and diseases and death fled from Him, for He is Master over all. “All things were made by Him” (John 1:3). This includes all things in heaven and earth, visible and invisible. All things are under His command.

“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1). All things were created by Jesus, He arranged all things, He supervises all things, and all things belong to Him. All creation was created by Him and for Him. He is creations firstborn. He is the Chief and the Governor, the Ruler and Controller of all creation. This is true of things in heaven and things in earth, of things seen and unseen. Paul taught that the agent of God in creation is no inferior, ignorant and hostile secondary god, but the Son Himself.

When Jesus was baptized, God the Father said in an audible voice, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17). Again on the Mount of Transfiguration, when Peter, James, and John witnessed the transfigured Christ, a bright cloud overshadowed them and God’s voice out of the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 17:5).

Just before Jesus went to the cross, He cried out in agony of soul and spirit, “What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”

Verse 16 closes with the words, ⸺“all things have been created through him and for him.” That is the fourth thing he has to say about Jesus Christ in regard to creation or we might put it this way: “IT WAS FOR THE SON THAT ALL THINGS WERE CREATED. The Son is not only the agent of creation, He is also the goal of creation. That is to say, creation was created to be His and in His worship and love, man might find his honor and his joy.

Without Him, there could have been no creation. The very impulse to create came upon Him from within—by His own power . . . Power of which He was the originator. All things were created IN Him and BY Him. Source, motive, desire, energy. . . ALL were in Jesus. He was not a contractor working out the plans drawn up by an architect. He designed His own creation and executed His own endeavor. Regardless of what has happened to this earth and to all creation in the past, regardless of what will happen in the future, the fact remains that all things were created “BY Him and FOR Him.” Those words make known His FINAL PURPOSE in all creation.

Certainly, creation is here in this verse, and in the fullest and most definite sense, ascribed to the Lord Jesus Christ. No matter in what sphere life or atoms may be found, nor in what quantities or qualities, in heaven16.2 or in earth, all was created, all had its origin, in Christ. The creative action of the Lord Jesus Christ had no limited bounds. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). For by Him were all things created—and when God says “all things,” He means ALL THINGS . . . All things in heaven, all things in earth, all things visible or invisible16.1. ALL CREATION owes its origin to the Son of God!

Jesus was the Architect when the mansions were built in the Father’s house: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-3).

Since the Scriptures teach us that all things were created “for Him,” we know that what has been created is still being preserved. All things were brought together by Him and are being held together in him. (I am speaking of the God in the first chapter of Genesis—and the God who spoke, and the world was . . . the same God whom we find as a baby in a manger in the first chapter of Matthew.) I am speaking of the God whom Isaiah calls the Lord God—Creator of the ends of the earth, “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?” (Isaiah 14:12a).

16.1 “Invisible” as used here by Paul refers to the unseen rulers, call them what you will—thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers; and whom our heretical friends in Colossae are so keen to include along with Christ in their hierarchy of mediators. Yet all these invisible beings, so illustrious as to be seated on thrones, so great as to be styled dominions, so elevated as to be considered principalities, so mighty as to merit the designation of powers, were created by the Son of God; and they all acknowledge His supremacy and glory. The highest position in creation is infinitely below Him, and there is neither majesty nor renown that equals His.

This should sum-up what we have learned so far: When it comes to creation, Jesus Christ is the cause (He planned it), the instrumental cause (He produced it), and the final cause (He did it for his own pleasure).


16.2 “Heaven” was created for Him to be the place of His special residence and the home of His people.

17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

“He is before all things” is the fifth statement by the apostle.“He is” is probably a declaration of Christ’s absolute pre-existence, like the “I am’s” of the Fourth Gospel (John 8:58). Christ exists, as God exists, prior in time and honor to all things. He was before all things. He is the pre-incarnate Christ. Because He is before all things, He can hold all things together. Again, this is another affirmation that Jesus Christ is God. Only God exists before all creation, and only God can make creation cohere (stick together). To make Christ less than God is to dethrone Him.

Paul uses a strange phrase: “and in him all things hold together17.1.” This is Paul’s sixth statement and it means that not only is the Son the agent of creation in the beginning and the goal of creation in the end, but between the beginning and the end, during time as we know it, it is He who holds the world together. That is to say, all the laws by which this world is order and not chaos are an expression of the mind of the Son. The law of gravity and the rest, the laws by which the universe hangs together, are not only scientific laws but also divine. So, then, the Son is the beginning of creation, and the end of creation, and the power who hold creation together, the Creator, the Sustainer, and the Final goal of the world.

“In the beginning, God . . .”—God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Had God remained alone, His glory would have remained unseen and his praises would have been unsung. God longed to impart His happiness and His glory to creatures made fit to enjoy and possess that happiness and glory. Therefore, Christ created all things for Himself in order that He, according to His eternal blueprint, might exhibit His Glory in creatures fashioned by the grace of God—creatures spotless, without blame, holy and presentable to God. It is in this Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ, that “we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Certainly, redemption is the noblest and most sublime of all HIS works.


17.1 “Hold together” (cohere) means to become united in principles, relationships, or interests

In the next lesson, Paul will make three additional assertions (#7, #8, #9):
#7― “He is the head of the body; the church.”
#8― “That in all things He might have the preeminence.”
#9― “It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.