The Image of the Invisible God

The book of Colossians was written while the apostle Paul was in a Roman prison. Epaphras was the pastor of the church at Colosse and had made a long, dangerous journey of over 1,000 miles to speak to Paul. Overall, the church at Colosse was spiritually sound. However, there were some false teachings coming into the church – some thoughts and ideas and doctrines that put “secrecy wisdom” ahead of God’s Word. It would develop into what is called Gnosticism.

The book of Colossians deals with that heresy by giving the antidote to it – The Lord Jesus Christ.   Their problem was a mixture of a type of Judaism, mysticism and philosophy that corrupted the truth about who Jesus Christ is. Much like many of the cults today (Mormonism, J.W.) they were using the words of Christianity, but applying different doctrines and philosophies and meanings to the words.

There were many errors, many serious problems in the church, but there was one answer that was the antidote to all the problems—Christ is enough. Christ is all and in all. He is sufficient. He is the creator, He is the Savior, He is the Head of the church, He is our Lord  that in all things he might have the preeminence (Col. 1:18). The first chapter tells us who the Lord Jesus Christ is instead of telling why all the other heresies were wrong. Jesus is the Godman. Edwin Dargin said “We have in these verses on of the most profound and important passages in all the writings of Paul.” 


Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

John MacArthur:

"Unlike man, Jesus Christ is the perfect, absolutely accurate image of God. He did not become the image of God at the incarnation, but has been that from all eternity. Hebrews 1:3 describes Jesus as the radiance of God's glory." Christ reflects God's attributes, as the sun's light reflects the sun. Further, He is said to be the exact  representation  of God's nature. Charakter ("exact representation") refers to an engraving tool, or stamp. Jesus is the exact likeness of God. He is in the very form of God (Philippians 2:6). That is why He could say He who has seen me has seen the Father". In Christ, the invisible God became visible "and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father" John 1:14."

The verses go on to describe that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. Far from this verse showing that Jesus was a created being, these verses show He is God. The irony in the J.W. using these verses in Colossians is that the book was written to combat a heresy very similar to their own. The book was written to show that Jesus was not an angel, a gnostic emanations, an eon, but God himself.

Our family was studying this passage when we were interrupted by a knock on the door. I was handed some literature and was provided with an illustration of why it is important for Christians to know what the Bible says about the Lord Jesus Christ.