Pray to Begin
Ask: ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to see how big Jesus really is.
Give thanks: thank God that Jesus, who made everything, still chose to make peace with you.
Bring: bring anything today that feels bigger than Jesus in your mind. A fear. A problem. A doubt. Set it next to who He really is.
Today’s Passage: Colossians 1:15–20
Paul is writing from prison to a small church in Colossae. Some teachers there were saying Jesus was good, even great. But they said He was not fully God: just one spiritual being among many, a step on a ladder up to God. Paul answers with one of the highest praises of Jesus in the whole Bible. He does not argue point by point. He simply describes who Jesus is.
As you read, hold this: Jesus made everything and holds everything together, because He was never made. He is God.
Context The world of Colossae
The church at Colossae was small and young, and false teachers had crept in. They did not deny Jesus outright. They shrank Him. They called Him a helpful step between God and the world, just one link in a long chain of spiritual beings. Paul’s answer is not gentle correction. It is a wall-to-wall description of Jesus as fully God. He stands above every chain, every ladder, every power. He does not need defending. He only needs to be seen clearly.
Colossians 1:15–17 (BSB)
¹⁵ The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Look closely at what this says. Jesus is not like God. He is the exact image of God: the invisible God made visible in a Person we can see and know.
Word study "Firstborn": prōtotokos (Colossians 1:15)
Greek: πρωτότοκος (prōtotokos), pronounced pro-TOT-oh-kos. Strong’s G4416.
In our world, “firstborn” means born first in time. In the Bible, it usually means something else: first in rank, the heir, the one with all the honor. A king’s firstborn son ruled the kingdom, even if an older half-brother existed. That is the meaning here.
We know this for certain because of what the very next sentence says. Verse 16 says all things were created through Him and for Him. If Jesus were one of the created things, He could not also be their Creator. A created being cannot make itself. But the text says everything was made through Him and for Him. So “firstborn over all creation” does not mean Jesus was the first thing God made. It means Jesus is the Ruler and Heir over everything that was ever made. He made it all.
Read verse 16 again slowly. Thrones, powers, everything in heaven and on earth, everything you can see and everything you cannot: all of it came from Him, through Him, and for Him. He is not part of the list. He wrote the list.
And verse 17 adds one more thing. He is before all things (He already existed when nothing else did), and in Him all things hold together. Right now, this second, the universe is not running on its own. Jesus is holding it together, the way a hand holds together everything it carries.
Colossians 1:18–20 (BSB)
¹⁸ And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence. ¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, ²⁰ and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross.
Now Paul turns from creation to the church. Jesus is the head of His people, the way a head leads a body. And He is “firstborn from among the dead.” He was the first to rise to a life that never ends. Everyone who trusts Him will follow where He has already gone.
Preeminence means first place, the highest spot, above everything else. Paul’s whole point in this passage is that Jesus holds first place everywhere. Over creation. Over death. Over the church. Over your life today.
Then verse 19 says something stunning. All of God’s fullness, everything God is, chose to live fully inside this one Man. Not a piece of God. Not a messenger from God. God himself, at home in Jesus.
And verse 20 tells us why any of this matters to you. The same Jesus who made every star also made peace. He did it through His own blood on a cross. People who were far from God could be brought near. The Ruler of everything reached down to reconcile you. Reconcile means to end a broken relationship and make it right again.
Study notes The same Word John saw
John opens his Gospel with the very same truth, from a different angle.
- Before creation, the Word already was. John does not say Jesus began; he says Jesus was, already there, already God.
- Nothing was made without Him. This is the same claim Paul makes in Colossians 1:16, in almost the same words.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made." John 1:1–3 (BSB)
Personal Application
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Where have you shrunk Jesus down: a wise teacher instead of the God who made and holds everything, including you?
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What in your life right now feels too big, too broken, or too far gone for Jesus to hold?
Pray to Close
The central truth: Jesus is not part of creation. Jesus is its Maker, its Ruler, and the One who makes peace with sinners through His own blood.
Praise: praise Jesus for being before all things and holding all things together, right now, including you.
Confess: confess the times you have treated Jesus as small: a helper, a good example, a last resort instead of first place.
Ask: ask for eyes to see Jesus as He truly is today, and a heart that gives Him first place.
Decision of the day
Today’s decision: I will tell one person, or write one sentence, that Jesus is not just a good teacher. He is God, and He holds everything together, including me.
Worship for Today
Behold Our God · Sovereign Grace Music
This song looks straight at the size of God: the One who holds the ocean in His hands, who needs no one’s advice, who is worthy of every bow. After walking through a passage that says Jesus made and holds everything, sing this song as your own answer: Who is like our God?
Listen: