Creation and New Creation

The Christ-hymn (Col 1:15–20) has strong overtones of creational imagery (Wright, “Poetry and Theology in Colossians 1:15–20”; Lincoln and Wedderburn, The Theology of the Later Pauline Letters, 25–34) and echoes descriptions of “Wisdom” as an agent of creation within Jewish literature (Prov 8:22–31; Sirach 24:9; Wisdom of Solomon 6:12–25; 7:21–10:21). Christ as “the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15; 2 Cor 4:4) recalls Gen 1:27, in which Adam is first described as “the image of God.” A Jewish text, not much later than Colossians, makes the similar connection with Adam who is described as “the image … of our unseen Father and God” (L.A.E. [Apocalypse] 35; compare Philo, Planting 18–19; Mos. 2.65; first century ad). The language of “firstborn,” further clarified by the expression “before all things” (Col 1:15, 17), recalls the same designation as a description of Israel (Sirach 36:17; Philo, Flight 208; 4 Ezra 6:58; Psalms of Solomon 18:4)—a corporate figure of Adam. Christ is described as both the cause and reason for creation: “all things have been created through him and for him” (Col 1:16). Moreover, He sovereignly maintains His creation (Col 1:17).

Whereas Col 1:15–17 celebrates Christ’s role within the first creation, 1:17–20 celebrates His role with respect to the new creation inaugurated by His resurrection. Christ is again described as “firstborn” (1:18; compare 1:15), only this time with the clarification “from the dead.” He brings about peace “by his blood,” which will ultimately “reconcile to himself all things” (1:20). The reconciliation of “all things” is cosmological. However, this certainly includes believers, who are reminded that God has “made you alive together with him” (2:13) and that they are to put on “the new self … renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator” (3:10; Kim, The Significance of Clothing Imagery).