He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. (Colossians 1:17)
The Son of God existed before all things. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2). As Paul says in Colossians 1:16, all things were made by Him, through Him and for Him. “In the beginning God …” refers to the creative work of the Son. He was not created like the angelic hierarchies that were the focus of the false teachers who were trying to penetrate the Christian community at Colosse. He existed long before them. Indeed, He has always existed. He is eternal.
Paul says that in Him all things “consist.” The ESV has, “In Him all things hold together.” The Bible in Basic English says, “In Him all things have being.” By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are visible were made by things which cannot be seen (Hebrews 11:3). Everything is sustained in exactly the same way. The author of Hebrews speaks of the Son as being “the brightness of His [God’s] glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3). All things were created by the word of God; all things are upheld by the word of God.
It is no small thing, then, that Jesus is called the Word in John 1:1 or that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Everything comes from the invisible word of the invisible God, and everything continues to have being because of it. Jesus is the living and eternal Word who embodies and gives expression to the thoughts, desires and will of God. He is the source and sustainer of all creation.
The Focus of Our Faith
Paul’s Letters to the Jesus Believers at Colosse
Bite-Size Studies Through Colossians
by Jeff Doles
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