For in him were created all things (Colossians 1:17; John 1:3, John 1:4). ἐν is "in," never "by," in St. Paul. τὰ πάντα (collective plural with singular predicate, literally, was created) corresponds nearly to our "the universe."
John 1:4 is the true parallel to this sentence. St. John sees in "the Word" the animating principle of creation; St. Paul in "the Son of God's love" its ground and raison d'etre. "He is the Source of its life, the Centre of all its developments, the Mainspring of all its motions" (Lightfoot).
As the spiritual life of believers was formed "in Christ" (Colossians 1:2, Colossians 1:4; Colossians 2:10-15), so, in its measure, the natural life of creation. The added in the heavens and on the earth (verse 20; Philippians 2:10; Matthew 6:10) reduces to the same subordination to the Lord Christ the two worlds so widely separated in common thought and in the religious philosophy of the time.
The polemic bearing of this distinction comes out more clearly when to the distinction of sphere is added that of nature—the things visible and the things invisible (Colossians 2:18; 2 Corinthians 4:18; Romans 1:20; Hebrews 11:3); and when amongst the latter are specified those highest orders of invisible beings whose power might be most readily supposed to come into comparison with that of the Son,—whether thrones, or lordships, or principalities, or dominions (Colossians 2:10, Colossians 2:15, Colossians 2:18, Colossians 2:19; Ephesians 1:21; Ephesians 3:10; Ephesians 4:10; Ephesians 6:12; Romans 8:38; 1 Corinthians 15:24; Hebrews 2:5; Revelation 4:4).
By their low and vague conceptions of the position of Christ, and by over-exalted notions of that of the angels, the Colossian errorists had all but, if not altogether, identified their powers with his.
The apostle, therefore, declares that the invisible beings of the worlds above us, however lofty their names or mighty their powers, are his creatures as much as the lowliest objects within our sight (comp.
Hebrews 1:2, where also false views are corrected of the importance of the angels, exaggerated at the expense of Christ). This list of angelic titles is not intended to be exhaustive, or authoritative.
It is rather quoted as current at the time, and in a certain tone of "impatience with this elaborate angelology" (Lightfoot). All things through him and unto him have been created (1 Corinthians 8:6; Hebrews 1:2; John 1:3).
"In him" carries us back to the beginning of creation (with verb ἐκτίσθη in aorist, indefinite past); "through him" leads us along its process; and "unto him" points us to its end (verb ἔκτισται in perfect tense, of abiding result).
Comp. Philo ('On Monarchy,' it. § 5): "Now the image of God is the Word, through which the whole world was framed." Already St. Paul had said, "Through Christ are all things" (1 Corinthians 8:6). Hitherto the "unto (for) him" has been reserved for "the Father" (1 Corinthians 8:6; Romans 11:36; comp.
Hebrews 2:10). Baur finds in this change of expression a radical theological contradiction and a sign of unauthenticity, as also in the contrast of Colossians 3:11 with 1 Corinthians 15:28. But the apostle speaks from a standpoint different from that of the earlier Epistles.
In the Roman and Corinthian passages he is concerned with the relations of God to man, and his dealings with mankind through Christ; here, with the relations of Christ himself to his own kingdom. The final "delivering up of the kingdom to the Father" lies outside the scope of this passage, which begins with the delivering up of us by the Father to "the kingdom of the Son" (1 Corinthians 15:13).
Till "the end," which is "not yet," Christ must reign (1 Corinthians 15:25), and all things owe allegiance to him; they are created unto this end (Ephesians 3:9, Ephesians 3:10), and therefore unto him, to serve his kingdom (Philippians 2:10).
The apostle asserts of creation what he has already said (2 Corinthians 5:15; Romans 14:9; Acts 20:28) and is about to say again (1 Corinthians 15:20) of the redeemed Church. That both exist for Christ (relatively and proximately) is a truth perfectly consistent with their existing for God (absolutely and ultimately); 1 Corinthians 3:23 gives the unity of the two ideas.