Colossians 1:15 kjv

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

Colossians 1:15 nkjv

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Colossians 1:15 niv

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Colossians 1:15 esv

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Colossians 1:15 nlt

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,

Colossians 1 verses

Colossians 1 15 Meaning

Colossians 1:15 declares Jesus Christ as the absolute, perfect representation and visible manifestation of the invisible God. He is identified as the preeminent, sovereign ruler over all creation, existing prior to and distinct from everything that has been brought into being. This verse profoundly asserts His divine nature and ultimate authority.

Colossians 1 15 Context

The Epistle to the Colossians was penned by the Apostle Paul, likely from prison, around A.D. 60-62. It was addressed to the church in Colossae, a city influenced by various syncretistic philosophical and religious ideas. These "false teachings" often downplayed Christ's supremacy, integrating elements of Jewish mysticism (like angel worship or rigid asceticism) and burgeoning Gnostic thought (which saw matter as inherently evil and often proposed intermediate spiritual beings between God and creation).

Colossians 1:15 is the opening statement of a profound Christological hymn (verses 15-20), a core theological affirmation designed to directly combat these heresies. Paul deliberately exalts Christ as preeminent over all creation and all spiritual powers, asserting His sole sufficiency for salvation and all truth. Verse 15 specifically addresses Christ's unique relationship to God (as His image) and to creation (as its sovereign Lord and origin), laying the groundwork for understanding His headship over the Church and His comprehensive cosmic reconciliation work.

Colossians 1 15 Word analysis

• He (ὃς - hos): A relative pronoun referring to the Son mentioned in verse 13 ("the Son of His love"). It makes Him the direct subject of this profound Christological statement, emphasizing that the one through whom believers receive redemption is God's visible image and creation's sovereign.
• is (ἐστιν - estin): A present tense verb emphasizing Christ's continuous, ongoing, and inherent nature. It speaks of His essential being, not something He became or will become, but what He eternally is.
• the image (εἰκὼν - eikōn): More than a mere likeness or copy, "eikōn" implies a perfect, accurate, and substantial representation. It signifies that Christ perfectly manifests the divine essence, attributes, and character of God. He is not simply like God; He truly embodies and reveals Him. This directly challenges pagan idol worship and any Gnostic notions of unseen or unknowable divine essence.
• of the invisible (ἀοράτου - aoratou): Describes God's transcendence and unapproachable nature, whom no one has ever seen. This highlights the radical truth that the utterly unseeable God becomes visibly known through Jesus Christ, underscoring Christ's unique mediation.
• God (Θεοῦ - Theou): Refers to the supreme, eternal, uncreated God, affirming Christ's intimate, consubstantial relationship with the Father.
• the firstborn (πρωτότοκος - prōtotokos): This term does not mean "first created" (which would be κτίσμα - ktisma), but signifies preeminence, supremacy, and sovereign rank. In ancient Jewish culture, the "firstborn" held rights to inheritance, authority, and special honor. Here, it establishes Christ's absolute sovereignty and priority over all creation, akin to a royal title indicating headship and unique status, rather than a temporal sequence in being.
• over (πάσης - pasēs, implies 'over' in context of relation to creation): The genitive "pasēs" means "all," making it universally inclusive. When combined with "firstborn," it denotes not origin within creation but lordship over it.
• all (πάσης - pasēs): Emphasizes universality. Every single part, every single element, of existence that has been created.
• creation (κτίσεως - ktiseōs): Refers to everything that has been brought into existence. This encompasses the entire cosmos, spiritual and physical, seen and unseen. It explicitly distinguishes Christ from creation, placing Him as superior to and separate from it, contrary to philosophies that would embed Him within the created order.

Words-group analysis

• He is the image of the invisible God: This phrase directly confronts ideas that God is unknowable or that only lesser emanations bridge the gap to humanity. Christ bridges this gap perfectly. He doesn't merely represent God from a distance; He is the perfect embodiment and revelation. He is the ultimate antidote to any worship of angels or intermediary spirits, declaring that God is fully and completely revealed in Jesus.
• the firstborn over all creation: This climactic phrase distinguishes Christ as sovereign from within creation. It is a robust polemic against any notion that Christ was merely the first, highest, or a particularly special creature. Instead, He holds a position of absolute authority, power, and proprietorship over all created things, meaning He existed before all things, created all things, and sustains all things. It denotes His rank and unique position as Creator and Lord, not as part of the created order.

Colossians 1 15 Bonus section

The profound theological assertions of Colossians 1:15 (and the entire hymn, vv.15-20) were likely rooted in pre-Pauline Christian confessions or hymns, indicating that the early church had a high Christology from its inception. The careful distinction between "firstborn" (πρωτότοκος) and "created" (κτίσμα) is crucial and was later central in combating the Arian heresy in the 4th century, which falsely taught that Christ was a created being. This verse also strongly implies the hypostatic union – the union of fully divine and fully human natures in the one person of Jesus Christ – in that the "invisible God" finds perfect visible expression in "Him." The concept of "eikōn" (image) here is dynamic and active; Christ doesn't just reflect God passively but actively mediates and brings God's presence into being in the world.

Colossians 1 15 Commentary

Colossians 1:15 is a foundational statement of New Testament Christology, eloquently summarizing the deity and absolute supremacy of Jesus Christ. As "the image of the invisible God," Christ provides a complete and exact manifestation of God's essence and nature. God, in His infinite being, remains beyond human comprehension, yet through Christ, He is fully revealed, becoming visible and knowable. This affirms Christ's co-essentiality with the Father and presents Him as the singular means by which humanity can truly apprehend God.

Furthermore, His designation as "the firstborn over all creation" establishes His authoritative sovereignty and unique relationship to everything that exists. This is not a temporal claim suggesting He was the first entity created; rather, it's a statement of rank, authority, and proprietary right, identifying Him as the eternal pre-existent Creator and ultimate ruler of the cosmos. He is not a creature, but the Head and origin of all creation, predating and transcending it. This truth served to powerfully dismantle the Gnostic and Jewish-syncretistic heresies prevalent in Colossae, which either relegated Christ to a lesser angelic being or introduced other mediators. By declaring Christ as the full revelation of God and the preeminent Lord over all things, Paul unequivocally asserts His exclusive authority, divine nature, and sole sufficiency for salvation and truth.