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16 Colossians 1:15-20

The topic is the inheritance of the holy ones -- which, as the verse goes on to say, is the king-
dom of his Son (the Messianic kingdom). The topic in Colossians 1:15-20 is still the kingdom of the
Son. Its purpose is to show the preeminence of the Son in his kingdom and how, through Yeshua’s
sacrifice, we become new creations in Yeshua.

This passage is neither about the creation of the universe nor the deity of the Messiah. To do
so would be to take it out of context. If we did, it would contradict the first chapter of Hebrews
which is very clear about which world Yeshua is responsible for creating, the world to come.

Hebrews 2:5: “ For it was not to angels that he subjected THE WORLD TO COME, OF
WHICH WE ARE SPEAKING.

We are going to go verse by verse, let us begin.

15a. “He is the image of the invisible God,”

First we must discard the traditional idea that this verse implies that Yeshua is God. It means
that he is the image of YEHOVAH. An image is not the original but a representation of the original.
A photograph shows the image of a person, but the photograph is not the actual person, it is a repre-
sentation. Saying that Yeshua is the image of YEHOVAH (2 Cor. 4:4), or that Yeshua is the image
of the invisible God, means the same thing. YEHOVAH is invisible, he is a spirit (John 4:4).

Let us first get a working definition of the word “image.” According to Strong’s Greek Dic-
tionary #1504, image – a likeness, i.e. statue, profile, or fig. representation, resemblance.

Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words has this to say on the word
“image,” and its relation to how man (Adam), was made in the image of YEHOVAH:

“Man even after the Fall still has Godlike qualities, such as love of goodness and beauty,
none of which are found in mere animal; In the Fall man ceased to be a perfect vehicle for
the representation of God.”

The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Volume 2 pps. 254-256, says the fol-
lowing on the phrase “image of God:”

“Linguistic studies bring out no sharp distinction between the two nouns, “image” and
“likeness.”

“Seems to be attempting a very difficult idea in which he wants to make clear that man is
in some way the concrete reflection of God.”

“Christ is the prototype of essential man perfectly reflecting God.”

“Adam was by nature endowed with original righteousness. He had a moral likeness to
God; he possessed holiness although he was in no sense equal to God. What he lost in the
Fall was original righteousness, and thenceforth the slant of his life was affected by sin. But

The Berean Voice November-December 2002