The glory of the Son.
The blessings which flow to us from the love of the Father (Colossians 1:12-14) are only enjoyed by union with "the Son of his love," "in whom" we are (1 Corinthians 1:30), and "in whom we have our redemption" and all its allied blessings. Who is this Son of God? In answering this question the apostle unfolds the true doctrine of the Christ, and meets one of the errors that was seeking a home in the Colossian Church. The error of the heretical teachers was twofold—"They had a false conception in theology and a false basis of morals. These two were closely connected together and had their root in the same fundamental error—the idea of matter as the abode of evil and thus antagonistic to God. As the two elements of the heretical doctrine were derived from the same source, so the reply to both was sought by the apostle in the same idea—the conception of the person of Christ as the one absolute Mediator between God and man, the true and only Reconciler of heaven and earth." The practical error is dealt with in the second chapter; the doctrinal heresy is refuted here. The false teachers seem to have believed in a variety of angelic or superhuman mediators who had some place in the works of creation and redemption. Paul teaches that both in the universe and in the Church, in creation and redemption, Christ is the one and all-sufficient Mediator. He alone could fill the void between God and man; he alone could be the great Reconciler; and to him alone was due the homage which these false teachers were diverting to angels or other beings standing in the place which God claims for "the Son of his love." The apostle's teaching is "that in all things he might have the pre-eminence"—in relation to God; to the universe, the natural creation; and to the Church, the moral creation (Colossians 1:15-18).
I. THE GLORY OF THE SON IN RELATION TO GOD. "Who is the Image of the. invisible God." The two chief ideas seem to be representation and revelation. Elsewhere the Son is called "the Effulgence of his glory [revelation], and the very Image of his substance [representation]" (Hebrews 1:3). We may find an important application of this truth in the life and character of the Incarnate Word. Christ's words, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father," seem to require this. The Father's perfections were represented and reflected in the sinless character of the Man Christ Jesus, as the brightness of the midday sun, on which we cannot gaze, may be reflected in a lake or mirror, and under certain limitations its rays may be examined and analyzed. Through the words and conduct of Jesus we may learn much concerning the truthfulness, the unselfishness, the indignation, and the love of God. But while this truth may have been a thought in Paul's mind, the truth he teaches here is part of the revelation which Scripture gives respecting the nature of the Triune Jehovah. That the term "Image" refers to the pro-incarnate Christ, we infer from
1. There is that in the Divine nature which is both invisible and incomprehensible. (Exodus 33:20; John 1:18; 1 Timothy 6:15,1 Timothy 6:16.) As we cannot see "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" with mortal eyes, neither can we fully comprehend a Divine Being who is absolute, infinite, without beginning and without end.
2. Yet God hath been seen by mortal eyes. (Genesis 18:22-33; Genesis 32:28-30; Exodus 24:10,Exodus 24:11; Exodus 33:23; Joshua 5:13-15; Joshua 6:2, etc.) And men have learned to see God by the eye of faith, to know him as their own God. The doctrine of the Word of God, who is "the Image of God" (2 Corinthians 4:4), "the Life" and" the Light of men" (John 1:4; 1 John 1:2), is the reconciling truth. There is a glory in God which no creature can behold; but the Divine Word is a ray of that glory. There is a Divine personality which is invisible; but the Word is the express image of that Person. There is a Divine silence respecting mysteries we cannot comprehend; but there is also a Divine" Word" which breaks the silence and reveals to us something of the infinite and incomprehensible (John 1:1, John 1:14, John 1:18). Every manifestation in time has been through him who is "the Image of the invisible God." But "who by searching can find out God" etc. (Job 11:7-9)?
"Thought, repress thy weak endeavour!
Here must reason prostrate fall;
Oh, the ineffable for ever,
And the eternal all in all!"
II. THE GLORY OF THE SON IN RELATION TO THE CREATION. This is unfolded by four truths respecting him.
1. He is "the Firstborn of all creation." In the New Testament the term "Firstborn" is applied five times to Christ (Colossians 1:15 and Colossians 1:18; Romans 8:29; Hebrews 1:6; Revelation 1:5). Its use here figuratively reminds us of the place which the firstborn occupied in a Hebrew family. Having priority, he had also a certain supremacy over the other members and a double portion of the inheritance. Our Lord Christ has priority; "before Abraham," before all creation (John 1:1, John 1:2); absolute pre-existence, "before all things" (Colossians 1:17). He has supremacy. If Paul here alludes to Psalms 89:27, we are reminded that the Messiah is "higher than the kings of the earth, King of kings," "Lord of all," etc. And he enjoys more than the firstborn's double portion (John 3:34, John 3:35; John 5:22, John 5:23, John 5:26, John 5:27).
2. He is the means of all creation. The sixteenth verse confutes the notion of the Son of God being himself a creature, though the highest. He is the Creator, not of "the rest" of the universe, but of "all things." Who can adequately interpret that mysterious term "in him," etc.? We can only venture to suggest such truths as these: Apart from Christ there would have been no creation at all. He was the reason for it. He was the First Cause and the Final Cause, the Alpha and the Omega of creation. The term "in him" includes both the following truths "by him" and "for him," "through him and unto him." The same preposition ( ἐν), which the apostle so often uses to describe the relations between the Saviour and his people, he here employs to teach us the relations between Christ the Creator and the universe. But these are but guesses towards an interpretation (Luke 10:21). We are at any rate expressly taught that all things were created "through him" or "by him" (John 1:3); "in the heavens" (revelations of the telescope, Isaiah 40:26) "and upon the earth" (revelations of the microscope, making "things invisible" become visible),—all were created by Christ. From the world of matter we turn to the world of spirits, to things strictly "invisible." The false teachers may have indulged speculations as to the ranks and power and authority of angels. Without discussing the subject, Paul teaches that, whoever they may be and whatsoever their authority, they are all created by and subordinated to Christ, the "Firstborn of all creation."
3. He is the object of all creation. We need not dissociate the human nature of our Lord in his present glory from the Divine nature when we reflect on the truth that all things were created "for him," "unto him." It is a sublime thought that everything in creation and in history was planned for the glory of our blessed Redeemer. This world with its mountains and lakes and cataracts, its flowers and fruits and birds, was made so beautiful because it was Christ's world. Other worlds, peopled by the heavenly hosts, were created that his glory might be revealed to them and through them. Man was created and the ages of history were all arranged for him. Sin was permitted for him (like a dark cloud showing more clearly the glory of the rainbow). The eternal purposes of redemption and their fulfilment in time were all for him. What a proof of the Deity of Christ is supplied by comparing Psalms 89:16 with Romans 11:36!
4. He is the upholder of all creation. (Romans 11:17.) Being "before all things" from the moment of creation down to the present time, he had upheld all things by the word of his power, and "in him all things consist," i.e. hold together. He is the Corner-stone of the universe no less than of the Church. Behind the laws of nature we see the mind of Christ. If he were to cease to uphold things they could not "hold together;" their harmony, nay more, their very existence, would cease; for in him all things live and move and have their being. But "My Father worketh even until now, and I work" (John 5:17, John 5:19; John 10:30). All these truths respecting the glory of Christ remind us of the supreme claims over each one of us of that Divine Son who created us for his own glory and redeemed us by his own precious blood, that he might reign over us for our salvation (Acts 5:31; Romans 14:7-9).—E.S.P.