+I. Is the forgiveness of sins.+
+II. The blessing of forgiveness is through the agency of Christ.+
+III. Redemption is purchased at a great cost and
sacrifice.+--"Through His blood."
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_15-17.
_The Relation of Christ to God and to all Created Things._
Having spoken of our redemption, the apostle, in terms of the highest
significance and grandeur, dwells upon the dignity and absolute
supremacy of the Redeemer.
+I. The relation of Christ to God.+--"Who is the image of the
invisible God" (ver. 15). God is an infinite and eternal Spirit,
incomprehensible and invisible. "No man hath seen God at any time;"
yet humanity yearns for some visible embodiment of Deity. Christ
reflects and reveals the Father. "He is the brightness of His glory,
and the express image of His person." It is believed that the idea of
the _Logos_ underlies the whole of this passage, though the term is
not mentioned. The heretical teachers at Colossæ had introduced a
perverted view as to the nature of the _mediation_ between God and
creation, and the apostle aims to rectify it. The word λόγος,
denoting both reason and speech, was a philosophical term adopted by
Alexandrian Judaism to express the manifestation of the unseen
God--the absolute Being--in the creation and government of the world.
It included all modes by which God makes himself known to man. As His
_reason,_ it denoted His purpose or design; as His _speech,_ it
implied His revelation. When Christian teachers adopted this term,
they exalted and fixed its meaning by attaching it to two precise and
definite ideas--that the Word is a Divine person, and that the Word
became incarnate in Jesus Christ (_Lightfoot_). Christ as the eternal
Word is the perfect image, the visible representation, of the unseen
God. In addition to the idea of _similitude,_ which is capable of a
wide and general use, the word "image" involves two others.
1. _Representation._--It implies an archetype of which the image is a
copy. Man is said to be in the image of God; but there is a
difference between the image of God in man and the image of God in
Christ. In Christ it is as Cæsar's image in his son; in man it is as
Cæsar's image on his coin. In the God-man Christ Jesus we have a
visible, living, perfect, and reliable representation of the
invisible God.
2. _Manifestation._--The general idea of the _Logos_ is the
manifestation of the hidden. "No man hath seen God at any time; the
only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath
declared Him" (John i. 18, compared with xiv. 9, 10, vi. 46). The
incarnate Word, in His nature, attributes, and actions, is the true
_epiphany_ of the unseen Deity, setting forth, like distinct rays of
one and the same glorious light, His infinite wisdom, mercy,
righteousness, and power. Our obligations to Christ for His wondrous
revelations are unspeakably great.
+II. The relation of Christ to all created things.+--1. _Christ
existed prior to the creation._ He is "the firstborn of every
creature" (ver. 15). It is not said He was the first formed or first
created of every creature, but the firstborn--the first begotten. It
is plainly intimated that Christ, the Son of God's love, was begotten
before any created thing existed. There is therefore no ground in
this passage for the Arians and Socinians to build up their theory of
the creatureship of Christ. In relation to all created things,
intelligent or unintelligent, terrene or celestial, Christ was the
firstborn. In an ineffably mysterious sense _He_ was begotten; _they_
were created. The two ideas involved in the phrase are: (1) _Priority
to all creation_--the absolute pre-existence of the Son. The term
"first begotten" was frequently used among the Jews as a term of
precedence and dignity. As applied to the Son of God, it implies
priority in rank in relation to all created things. Time is an
accident of the _creature._ Therefore, the origin of the Son of God
precedes all time. (2) _Sovereignty over all creation._ God's
firstborn is the natural Ruler, the acknowledged Head of God's
household. He is "Heir of all things." He is creation's supreme and
absolute Lord. He brought all creatures out of nothing, and by His
own will graduated the degree of being each should possess; and it is
fitting He should have unlimited empire over all. As if to prevent
the possibility of any misconception regarding the relation of Christ
to the universe, and to show that He could not be a part of creation
however exalted in degree, but was essentially distinct from it, the
apostle _sets forth the Son of God as the First Cause, the Active
Agent, and the Grand End of all created things._
2. _Christ is Himself the Creator of all things._--(1) _The
conception of creation originated in Christ._ "For by Him [or _in_
Him] were all things created" (ver. 16). He was the great First
Cause; the being, forms, limitations, energies of all things to be
were bound up in Him. It rested with Himself to create or not to
create. It is thought by some the Platonic idea is here shadowed
forth; that the archetypes, the original patterns of all things, were
in Christ before they were created outwardly. This is simply a
philosophic speculation and is readily suggested by the universal
method of the mind first forming a mental conception within itself of
any object it desires to body-forth to the outward eye. It is in
Christ we trace the great work of creation in its beginning,
progress, and end. (2) _The powers of creation were distributed by
Christ._ "All things that are in heaven, and that are in earth" (ver.
16). He created the heavens also; but those things which are in the
heavens are rather named because the inhabitants are more noble than
their dwellings. "Visible," things that are evident to the outward
senses; and "invisible," things that may be conceived by the
understanding. "With a view to meet some peculiar doctrine of the
false teachers at Colossæ, who seem to have alleged that Christ was
but one of the heavenly powers, St. Paul breaks up the things
_invisible,_ and distributes them by the words 'thrones,'
'dominions,' 'principalities,' or 'powers.' It may be difficult, and
indeed impossible, for us now fully to know what the terms severally
convey in connection with the several hierarchies of official glory.
Yet all these invisible beings, so illustrious as to be seated on
_thrones,_ so great as to be styled _dominions,_ so elevated as to be
considered _principalities,_ so mighty as to merit the designation of
_powers,_ were created by the Son of God; and they all acknowledge
His supremacy and glory. The highest position in creation is
infinitely below Him, and there is neither majesty nor renown that
equals His. All created beings occupying the loftiest thrones
throughout the vastness of immensity and amidst the mystery of life
do homage and service to Christ Jesus as the firstborn, the only
begotten Son of God" (_Spence_). (3) _Christ is Himself the Great End
of creation._ "All things were created _for_ Him" (ver. 16). As all
creation emanated from Him, so does it all converge again towards
Him. "The eternal Word is the goal of the universe, as He was the
starting-point. It must end in unity, as it proceeded from unity; and
the centre of this unity is Christ." The most elaborate and majestic
machinery of the universe and the most highly gifted intelligence
alike exist only to serve the ultimate purpose of creation's Lord.
All created things gather their significance, dignity, and glory by
their connection with Him. Christ must be more than a creature, as
the loftiest creature could not be the end of all created things. It
is a narrow philosophy that teaches that all things were made for
man. The grand end of all our endeavours should ever be the glory of
Christ.
3. _The unchanging eternity of Christ._--"He is before all things"
(ver. 17). Not only is He before Moses and before Abraham, as He
declared to the Jews (John viii.), but He is before all things. The
words refer not so much to His eminence in rank as to duration. The
terms HE IS, in the Greek, are most emphatic, the one declaring His
_personality,_ the other that His _pre-existence is absolute
existence._ Christ existed before any created thing--even before time
itself; therefore, from eternity. Knowing the tendency of men to
entertain inferior notions of the person of Christ, and of the
redemption He has provided, the apostle multiplies conceptions to
represent His Divine worth and excellency. He should be preferred
before all.
4. _The continued existence of creation depends on Christ._--"And by
[rather _in_] Him all things consist" (ver. 17)--_hold together,
cohere._ He is the principle of cohesion in the universe. He
impresses upon creation that unity and solidarity which makes it a
cosmos instead of a chaos. Thus, to take one instance, the action of
gravitation, which keeps in their places things fixed and regulates
the motion of things moving, is an expression of His mind
(_Lightfoot_). The universe found its completion in Him and is
sustained and preserved every moment by the continuous exercise of
His almighty power. All things hang on Christ; in Him they live and
move and have their being. If He withdrew His upholding hand,
everything would run into confusion and ruin. "Thou hidest Thy face,
they are troubled: Thou takest away their breath, they die, and
return to their dust." In Him all things consist. He is the centre of
life, force, motion, and rest; round Him all things revolve. He
imposes their limits, gives to them their law, strikes the keynote of
their harmonies, blends and controls their diverse operations. He is
the All-perfect in the midst of imperfection, the Unchanged in the
midst of change. He is the Author of human redemption; became
incarnate, suffered, died, and rose again, and now reigns with the
Father in glory everlasting. He is worthy of our loftiest adoration,
our humblest submission, our strongest confidence, our most ardent
love.
+Lessons.+--1. _The supremacy of the Creator and Preserver of all
things is absolute and universal_ 2. _Human redemption is grounded on
the divinity of the Son of God._ 3. _Personal trust in the Redeemer
brings the soul into direct personal relation to the Father._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._