It's All About Jesus
If He Is Not First, He Is Last: The Preeminence of Jesus Christ
There is something deeply human about making lists. We rank restaurants, movies, golf courses, and vacation destinations. We sort and prioritize almost instinctively, because we understand intuitively that not everything deserves the same level of attention and devotion. Some things matter more than others, and we arrange our lives accordingly.
But here is the question that cuts to the heart of the Christian life: Where does Jesus rank on your list?
The church answer comes easily. Of course he is first. But if you trace the honest contours of your week — where your time went, what occupied your thoughts, what you protected and pursued — where does he actually land? That question is not meant to condemn. It is meant to clarify. Because the truth that the Apostle Paul lays out in Colossians 1:15-20 is both breathtaking and demanding: Jesus is first. He is first in a way that is absolute, cosmic, and without competition. And until he occupies that place in your life, he is in the wrong place.
The God You Cannot See, Made Visible
Paul opens this remarkable passage by declaring that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. In the ancient world, people understood that ultimate truth was inaccessible to ordinary human perception. You needed something to bridge the gap — a teacher, a symbol, an image. The Greek word for such an image was "icon." Paul takes that concept and applies it directly to Jesus. He is the icon of the invisible God. He is the one in whom the God who cannot be seen is fully present and fully known.
This is not a small claim. The Jewish faith from which Christianity grew was unwaveringly monotheistic. The first of the Ten Commandments declares that no other god should come before the Lord (Exodus 20:3). The great declaration of Deuteronomy 6:4-5 insists that God is one and commands total love in return. The prophet Jeremiah describes this God as the true God, the living God, the eternal king who made the earth by his power (Jeremiah 10:10-12). There is only one God, and he stands without rival.
And yet the earliest Christians, steeped in this tradition, encountered something they could not explain away. In Jesus of Nazareth, the one true and living God seemed to be present. John declares that the Word who was with God and was God became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1, 14). The author of Hebrews says the Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact imprint of his nature (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus himself told his disciples plainly that anyone who had seen him had seen the Father (John 14:9).
The conclusion is staggering but unavoidable. Jewish monotheism does not disappear in the New Testament. It is fulfilled and reinterpreted. There is still one God — and that one God has revealed himself fully and finally in his Son, Jesus Christ.
First in All of Creation
Paul goes further. Jesus is not only the image of the invisible God but the firstborn over all creation. In the ancient world, the firstborn son inherited everything and held the place of highest honor. Paul uses that language to describe Jesus's relationship to the entire created order. Everything that exists — visible and invisible, thrones and dominions, rulers and authorities — was created by him, through him, and for him (Colossians 1:16).
Let that settle for a moment. Every star hung in its place was hung by him. Every law of physics that keeps electrons in orbit and planets in their paths holds together because he holds it together (Colossians 1:17). The universe does not sustain itself. It is sustained by the one who made it. He was before all things, which means he is not contained by creation. He contains it. He precedes it. He will outlast it.
This includes the spiritual powers and authorities that so fascinated the people of Colossae. The false teachers of their day were encouraging believers to pay special attention to angelic beings, as though these powers held some key to a fuller spiritual life. Paul's answer is direct: those beings, whatever they are, were created by Jesus and for Jesus. They owe their existence to him. No created thing — no philosophy, no spiritual discipline, no angelic power — can offer what is already fully present in Christ.
First in the New Creation
The world as God made it was broken by human rebellion. Sin entered. Death followed. The creation that was meant to display God's glory became subject to futility. But God did not abandon what he made. He entered it.
Paul declares that Jesus is the head of the church, the beginning, the firstborn from the dead (Colossians 1:18). The resurrection of Jesus is not merely a historical event. It is the launch of a new creation. When Paul writes elsewhere that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation — that the old has gone and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17) — he means that the resurrection life of Jesus is already breaking into the world through his people. The church is the community of the new creation, and Jesus is its head, its source, its direction, and its life.
And the reason all of this is possible is stated plainly in Colossians 1:19. God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Jesus. Not some of it. All of it. There is no fuller version of God standing behind Jesus. There is no other path that leads to a richer experience of the divine. Jesus is not a doorway to God. He is God, in bodily form, making peace through his blood shed on the cross (Colossians 1:20).
The Only Right Place for Him
So the question returns. Where is Jesus on your list?
When dreams and ambitions come first, he is in the wrong place. When family, comfort, financial security, or reputation take the throne, he is in the wrong place. He himself said that anyone who seeks to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for his sake will find it (Matthew 16:25).
The good news is that the one who is first in all of creation and first in the new creation is also the one who gave everything to bring you into right relationship with God. He did not hold his place of preeminence as something to hoard. He poured himself out. He made peace through his blood.
That is who he is. And he deserves to be first.
There is something deeply human about making lists. We rank restaurants, movies, golf courses, and vacation destinations. We sort and prioritize almost instinctively, because we understand intuitively that not everything deserves the same level of attention and devotion. Some things matter more than others, and we arrange our lives accordingly.
But here is the question that cuts to the heart of the Christian life: Where does Jesus rank on your list?
The church answer comes easily. Of course he is first. But if you trace the honest contours of your week — where your time went, what occupied your thoughts, what you protected and pursued — where does he actually land? That question is not meant to condemn. It is meant to clarify. Because the truth that the Apostle Paul lays out in Colossians 1:15-20 is both breathtaking and demanding: Jesus is first. He is first in a way that is absolute, cosmic, and without competition. And until he occupies that place in your life, he is in the wrong place.
The God You Cannot See, Made Visible
Paul opens this remarkable passage by declaring that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. In the ancient world, people understood that ultimate truth was inaccessible to ordinary human perception. You needed something to bridge the gap — a teacher, a symbol, an image. The Greek word for such an image was "icon." Paul takes that concept and applies it directly to Jesus. He is the icon of the invisible God. He is the one in whom the God who cannot be seen is fully present and fully known.
This is not a small claim. The Jewish faith from which Christianity grew was unwaveringly monotheistic. The first of the Ten Commandments declares that no other god should come before the Lord (Exodus 20:3). The great declaration of Deuteronomy 6:4-5 insists that God is one and commands total love in return. The prophet Jeremiah describes this God as the true God, the living God, the eternal king who made the earth by his power (Jeremiah 10:10-12). There is only one God, and he stands without rival.
And yet the earliest Christians, steeped in this tradition, encountered something they could not explain away. In Jesus of Nazareth, the one true and living God seemed to be present. John declares that the Word who was with God and was God became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1, 14). The author of Hebrews says the Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact imprint of his nature (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus himself told his disciples plainly that anyone who had seen him had seen the Father (John 14:9).
The conclusion is staggering but unavoidable. Jewish monotheism does not disappear in the New Testament. It is fulfilled and reinterpreted. There is still one God — and that one God has revealed himself fully and finally in his Son, Jesus Christ.
First in All of Creation
Paul goes further. Jesus is not only the image of the invisible God but the firstborn over all creation. In the ancient world, the firstborn son inherited everything and held the place of highest honor. Paul uses that language to describe Jesus's relationship to the entire created order. Everything that exists — visible and invisible, thrones and dominions, rulers and authorities — was created by him, through him, and for him (Colossians 1:16).
Let that settle for a moment. Every star hung in its place was hung by him. Every law of physics that keeps electrons in orbit and planets in their paths holds together because he holds it together (Colossians 1:17). The universe does not sustain itself. It is sustained by the one who made it. He was before all things, which means he is not contained by creation. He contains it. He precedes it. He will outlast it.
This includes the spiritual powers and authorities that so fascinated the people of Colossae. The false teachers of their day were encouraging believers to pay special attention to angelic beings, as though these powers held some key to a fuller spiritual life. Paul's answer is direct: those beings, whatever they are, were created by Jesus and for Jesus. They owe their existence to him. No created thing — no philosophy, no spiritual discipline, no angelic power — can offer what is already fully present in Christ.
First in the New Creation
The world as God made it was broken by human rebellion. Sin entered. Death followed. The creation that was meant to display God's glory became subject to futility. But God did not abandon what he made. He entered it.
Paul declares that Jesus is the head of the church, the beginning, the firstborn from the dead (Colossians 1:18). The resurrection of Jesus is not merely a historical event. It is the launch of a new creation. When Paul writes elsewhere that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation — that the old has gone and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17) — he means that the resurrection life of Jesus is already breaking into the world through his people. The church is the community of the new creation, and Jesus is its head, its source, its direction, and its life.
And the reason all of this is possible is stated plainly in Colossians 1:19. God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Jesus. Not some of it. All of it. There is no fuller version of God standing behind Jesus. There is no other path that leads to a richer experience of the divine. Jesus is not a doorway to God. He is God, in bodily form, making peace through his blood shed on the cross (Colossians 1:20).
The Only Right Place for Him
So the question returns. Where is Jesus on your list?
When dreams and ambitions come first, he is in the wrong place. When family, comfort, financial security, or reputation take the throne, he is in the wrong place. He himself said that anyone who seeks to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for his sake will find it (Matthew 16:25).
The good news is that the one who is first in all of creation and first in the new creation is also the one who gave everything to bring you into right relationship with God. He did not hold his place of preeminence as something to hoard. He poured himself out. He made peace through his blood.
That is who he is. And he deserves to be first.
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