Colossians 1:15-16

The Preeminence of Christ

Though man has not seen God, he can clearly see the likeness of the Father in the Son (John 14:9; 2 Corinthians 4:4-6). Vine says the word "firstborn" is used in reference to Christ's "relationship to the Father, expressing His priority to, and preeminence over, creation, not in the sense of being the first to be born." He goes on to say Christ's "eternal relationship with the Father is in view, and the clause means both that He was the Firstborn before all creation and that He Himself produced creation" (John 1:1-3; Hebrews 1:1-2).

Genesis 1:1 tells us God created, while this verse tells us Christ was the particular member of the Godhead who did the creating. Weed says heaven and earth would be the Jewish concept, while visible and invisible is the Greek. Both of these expressions are just means of furthering the thought that Jesus created everything in the universe. Thrones, dominions, principalities and powers may have been special designations used by the false teachers at Colossae to describe the hierarchy of the universe. Christ is above all such because He created all (Colossians 1:15-16).