Colossians 1:13-18 → The Preeminence of Christ
- Steve Schott
- 3 days ago
- 12 min read
Theme
► The main theme of Colossians, in my opinion, is the deity of Jesus Christ - His fullness as God, and His complete sufficiency as having done all that is necessary to save us from our sins.
► Colossians 2:9-10a → "9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete,..."
→ Who Jesus is, is complete.
→ What Jesus has done, is complete.
• There is nothing that we can add to this to effect, improve, or add value to our salvation.
► Paul will spend the rest of this letter, both carefully elaborating on the divine character of Jesus, and also being very specific about the completeness of what Jesus did on the cross to obtain our salvation.
► Attacks, if you will, from outside the church (and perhaps some from inside the church), that suggest that more is needed, specifically within the framework of our human efforts, to fully obtain salvation, will be shot down like enemy missiles, the intent of which is to destroy our faith.
Review
► Colossae was a city in Phrygia, in what is modern day Turkey
• Sorry about the “skewed” map. Must have been done by some artistic guy, because everyone else in the world knows that maps should always be presented with north at the top!
► Colossae is about 11 miles away from Laodicea and 100 miles away from Ephesus
• You can think of the distances this way… If Colossae was Tulsa, Laodicea would be Sapulpa, and Ephesus would be Oklahoma City.
► The church began during Paul’s 3 year ministry in Ephesus (3rd Missionary Journey)
• This would have occurred about AD 52-57 and is documented in Acts chapter 19.
► Epaphras, a convert of Paul’s, was the person who started the church
• It’s assumed that Epaphras was led to Christ by Paul in Ephesus.
► One of the “prison epistles”, written from Rome about 60-62 AD
• Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon.
• At the same time that Paul is writing, Luke is finishing up Acts.
► Highlights in the Book of Colossians
• (This information was presented in my Sunday School class during the 1st lesson, by Scott Susong, one of my co-teachers)
1 → The Priority of Prayer – 1:9-12; 4:2-4
2 → What it Means to be Saved – 1:13-14; 2:13-15
3 → The Person and Work of Jesus Christ – 1:15-23 ☆☆☆
4 → The Christian Life and Our Position in Christ – 2:6-12
5 → Dealing with False Teachings – 2:16-23
6 → Living the Christian Life – 3:1 – 4:6
7 → Greetings and Farewells; Paul’s “Guys” – 4:7-18
☆☆☆ “No passage in the New Testament more fully sets forth the eternal glory of the pre-existent, omnipotent, exalted and eternal Son of God than 1:15-23”
(Dr. C.I. Scofield - The New Scofield Reference Bible, p. 1285)
• (This information was presented in my Sunday School class during the 2nd lesson, by Brad McCoy, one of my co-teachers)
► Introduction 1:1-2
► Prayer Section 1:3-12
► 1st Teaching Section 1:15 – 2:5
► Central Idea Statement 2:6-10
► 2nd Teaching Section 2:11-23
► Exhortation/Application 3:1 – 4:6
► Farewell 4:7-18
Setting the stage for today's passage (and the next one)
► Central Idea Statement → 2:6-10
→ Colossians 2:9-10a → ”9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete,…”
• I believe this portion of the “Central Idea Statement” helps us to define the central ideas of what we will be looking at in Colossians 1:15-23
• I also believe that this also gives us the 2 most important things to dwell on as we study the Scriptures and try to communicate it to others.
→ ”9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
• 1st KEY POINT ► the deity of Jesus Christ - His fullness as God
→ 10 and in Him you have been made complete,…”
• 2nd KEY POINT ► His complete sufficiency as having done all that is necessary to save us from our sins
☆ Who Jesus is, is complete
• Everything about Jesus, in regards to who He is, is complete.
• He doesn’t need another degree from Dallas Theological Seminary.
• He doesn’t need to study the Scripture.
• He doesn’t need any more power.
• Jesus has and is everything at full capacity.
• He is God!
☆ What Jesus has done, is complete
• There is nothing that we can do to obtain our salvation apart from what Jesus has already done.
• There is nothing that we can do to lose our salvation because Jesus has already fixed it for us.
► The Person and Work of Jesus Christ → 1:15-23
→ Colossians 2:9 → 9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
• 1st KEY POINT ► the deity of Jesus Christ - His fullness as God
• Col 1:15-18 will focus on who and what Jesus IS, as the first of a two-part emphasis that will be the foundation for all the rest of the letter.
• We are going to deal with this today.
→ Colossians 2:10a → 10 and in Him you have been made complete,…”
• 2nd KEY POINT ► His complete sufficiency as having done all that is necessary to save us from our sins
• Col 1:19-23 will focus on what Jesus has done for us, as the second part of that foundational work.
• We will address this section on our next blog post in Colossians.
► Who Jesus is, is complete
• Jesus is all we need.
► What Jesus has done, is complete
• What Jesus has done is all we need.
► It’s all about Jesus… who He is, and what He has done.
Passage
"13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
→ These first two verses are included today as an opening statement, if you will, of the overall concept Paul is going to visit today.
→ Who is the “He” that is first referenced in verse 13? → The Father
• If you look back at verses 9-12, which in our English translations is one sentence, you’ll see in verse 12 it references “the Father”.
• So in the beginning of verse 13, Paul is still talking about the Father, which the balance of verse 13 will justify.
→ Now, in these verses, there are 3 aspects of what God has done for us mentioned…
1st → God “rescued” in the NASB and the NIV, translated “delivered” in the KJV, NKJV, and ESV in Greek carries the idea of “drawing to one’s self”.
• It’s like He not only threw us a life preserver to keep us from sinking, but pulled us onto the boat, and then gave us a warm embrace, all in the same movement.
• I recently saw a video of a rescue of a base jumper whose parachute got snagged on a rock protruding from a cliff, leaving the jumper hanging 100's of feet in the air. He was rescued by a helicopter crew, one of which was hanging from a rope suspended below the helicopter. When the jumper was harnessed to the rescuer, he was then clutched tightly in the arms of the rescuer.
2nd → God “transferred” us from the “domain of darkness” to the “kingdom of His beloved Son,…”.
• When God rescued us, the sea we were drowning in is the realm of Satan. There was no hope at all. Nothing we could do to fix the situation.
• But when God pulled us out of the quagmire, He pulled us into an entirely different realm, that of “His beloved Son”, whom we understand to be Jesus.
• From hopelessness to hope; from darkness to light; from death to life.
3rd → God “redeemed” us, the act of moving us from being doomed by the consequences of our sin, to being freed of the punishment for our sin, and being now considered sinless.
• The word “redemption” literally means “a releasing effected by the payment of ransom”.
• God didn’t “steal” you back from Satan – He paid a ransom for us.
• Jesus paid that ransom for us on the cross.
→ Now that Paul has prefaced this passage, mentioning that our salvation has placed us into the “kingdom of His beloved Son”, he is now going to mention several aspects of who, or what, the Son actually is.
• Obviously, there is something unusual about this Jesus person.
• What is it that sets this man apart from the rest of humanity?
→ Verse 15 tells us two unique aspects of Jesus’ deity…
→ 1st → Jesus is the “image of the invisible God,…”
• The Trinity, all of which members have been mentioned in Paul’s letters thus far, is an extremely hard thing to understand, let alone explain.
• Some try to use the analogy of water – how it can be water, ice, and vapor, all at the same time, but still be the same chemical compound.
• I like to think of it this way, and I’m sure I’m probably making it way too simple, but it works for me.
► The Father is the One who is everywhere present at all times. You can’t get away from Him.
► The Son is the One you can see. And possibly the One you can hear. I believe that anywhere in the Scripture where God was visible, it was the 2nd Person of the Trinity. Localized, physical, visible, touchable.
► The Spirit is the One who leads and convicts us. He is also the One who indwells us when we come to faith. But even with those unsaved, He is the One urging us to consider Jesus for who He is.
• So in this verse, it is explaining that what we can see of God, is only visible in the Person of Jesus Christ.
• And I think this applies all throughout the Bible, not just in the New Testament…
► God walking in the garden of Eden
► The Lord coming to Abraham, in Genesis 18 when He both promised the birth of Isaac and then warned him about the destruction of Sodom
► The burning bush
► The pilar of fire and cloud
► The 4th person in the fiery furnace
→ 2nd → Jesus is the “firstborn of all creation.”
• Some people try to say that this means that the very first thing God created was Jesus, then He did everything else – but that is not correct. Jesus is NOT a created thing.
• You have to stop thinking of this term with the idea of sequence.
• It has nothing to do with the order with which children are born.
• It has to do with the significance as to who has the full rights and privileges of His Father.
► Abraham’s sons Ishmael and Isaac – Ishmael was 13 years older than Isaac, but Isaac had the rights as “firstborn”.
► Jacob’s sons… Who was the first one born in the time frame? (Reuben). But who was the one who would end up running the family? At least having power over the family? (Joseph - #11)
• So we also see that Jesus has priority over all who would be called “children of God”
16 For aby Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
→ Verse 16 solidifies Jesus position as God…
→ 1st → The text clearly states that by Jesus “all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth…”
• In Genesis 1:1, where it says “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”, the name of God is Elohim, which is plural.
• If that’s not enough, then in Genesis 1:26, on the last day of creation, the text says “Then God said, “Let US make man in OUR image…”" indicating plurality in the Godhead.
• The Gospel of John sings a similar song when it says in John 1:1-3 →
“1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.“
• We understand that this passage is clearly speaking of Jesus.
→ 2nd → Next we’ll see that not only the “visible” things were created by Jesus, but also the “invisible” things.
• What are these “invisible” things?
• When the text says “thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities”, amongst all the commentators that I read, the common thread is that these are classes of angels.
• Most of them suggest that the reason Paul mentions them at all is to stress Jesus’ rulership over them since some of the false teaching that he will deal with later in the letter talks about the worship of angels (2:18).
• Again, stressing that whether the more obvious “visible” stuff, or the only thought of occasionally “invisible” stuff, it’s all created by Jesus.
→ 3rd → And then Paul sums it up and reiterates “all things have been created through Him”, and then he adds the caveat, “and FOR Him” (emphasis mine).
• The desired end result of all of creation is that Jesus would be honored and glorified by and because of His creative work.
→ Verse 17 gives us two additional features that we need to know…
→ 1st → “He is before all things,…”
• All the commentators I read agree that this phrase is dealing with His existence BEFORE time. He didn’t begin to exist at creation – He was already there.
• I think it could also be said that this could refer to His PRIORITY amongst all of creation. While not being created Himself, He did though take on human flesh, and in that regard there is no one within all of creation that is over or above Him in significance.
→ 2nd → “in Him all things hold together.”
• I think we have a tendency to think of His creative responsibilities to have been completed on the 6th day of creation.
• But this reminds us that He is still active managing the creation by holding it all together.
• Those who think that God created everything, then walked away from it to let it do it’s own thing misunderstand that His hand is still holding everything in place.
18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything."
→ Paul finishes this section by giving us a few more things to consider…
→ 1st → “He is also head of the body, the church;…”
• Jesus, in His glorified state, is the head of the church.
• He calls the church “the body”, and by calling Jesus the “head”, we realize that the source of all understanding and control comes from Jesus.
• Just like a human body, that sometimes works against us, through aging, accident, or disease, what we’d prefer to happen sometimes falls apart.
• But even if there are some conflicts in the church, it doesn’t lessen the fact that Jesus is still the Head.
→ 2nd → “He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,…”
• Jesus, from His human perspective, was the first to be raised from the dead to a glorified body. Lazarus was raised, but was destined to die again to await his final resurrection.
• And we all will anticipate that final resurrection, where we all return to a body fit for heaven.
→ 3rd → “He Himself will come to have first place in everything.”
• And while the clock is still running, the church is still being built, and Jesus is still in charge of everything.
• And at some point, when time is over, His fullness as the Head will be complete.
• The NASB translates the section as “first place”. The NIV calls it “supremacy”. The KJV, NKJV, and ESV all translate it as “preeminence”, hence the title of today’s section.
• What does the word “preeminence” mean?
► The NT Greek word carries the meaning of being first, or holding the first place.
► The Merriam-Webster dictionary gives the word the concept of “having paramount rank, dignity, or importance: outstanding, supreme”
► We need to understand that Jesus is not just the first in line. He’s significantly above everyone else. We are not even close.
So What?
► This passage clearly communicates that there is a big gap between Jesus and ourselves.
• He is GOD, and we are NOT.
Today we looked at the 1st of the 2 components of Jesus that we discussed earlier.
• 1st → WHO Jesus is
• 2nd → WHAT Jesus has done
We determined that Paul is confident in His understanding of Jesus divinity.
• Jesus Himself is eternal
• Jesus is the Creator
• Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God
• Jesus is over all members of the invisible world – the angels
• Jesus is holding the entire universe together
• Jesus is the head of the church – the world-wide church, not just our local body
• Jesus is of the 1st priority and significance of all of, not only mankind, but of the entire universe
Photo • 11/14/2025 - Sunrise @ Cowskin Bay North Boat Ramp, Keystone Lake, OK
“Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995
by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org”
All linked verses are from the YouVersion at www.Bible.com
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