Colossians 1:16

This verse expands on what was said in the previous verse: that Jesus is the image of the invisible God.

This puts all the makers of statues (images) of gods, which are to be bowed to and given regard, in the dustbin of shame. They have been fooled; they have been deceived.

You cannot make an image of God since He is invisible. However, He has granted an image of Himself in the incarnate Christ. Just as Adam was made in the image of God (son of God [Luke 3:38]) and became a controlling factor for everyone who emerged from him through natural birth, Christ, as the image of God, becomes a controlling factor for all who are in Him spiritually.

Just as all died in Adam, all live in Christ (Romans 5:12-21), etc. Christ partakes of the first Adam (seed of the woman, Mary) to experience death on behalf of everyone (Hebrews 2:9). Now, we do not face the ultimate death, which is the fate of all men otherwise (Revelation 20:6). We are spared the second death (Revelation 2:11).

The previous verse also states that Jesus is the firstborn over all creation. This denotes a position of authority; it does not mean that Jesus began to exist only when he was born. Otherwise, why would it say He is the firstborn OVER all creation? It should have said he is the firstborn OF a certain being. Therefore, the term "firstborn" does not imply that He started existing at birth. The Bible, in another passage, describes him as the firstborn from the dead (Colossians 1:18). He is the first to rise from the dead.

To rise from the dead means he conquered what overcomes everyone else. "Firstborn" signifies authority and preeminence. He holds the primary position in terms of placement, rights, and influence. He defeats the ultimate enemy, death, to be the ultimate one in all realms. By rising from the dead he becomes supreme in all realms. Death could not hold Him.

Because he became human and achieved this, he has the right to be over all creation, considering that God placed humanity over all creation (Genesis 1:26-28) as a prototype of Christ’s authority. The true man over all creation, in the real sense, is Jesus (Hebrews 2:5-9).

But his power and authority did not start with his becoming man. It started way back with him creating all things.

All things were made in him, through him, and for him.

What constitutes all things? Everything in heaven and on earth, visible or invisible. That truly covers everything. Nothing exists that he did not directly bring into existence. Everything was created by him, through him, and for him.

So why did He have to die then? Why not just take over whatever was His without having to become man and die? It was made by Him, through Him, and for Him, but what remains is for everything to be submitted to Him. That is why conquering death was a necessity. Through His death, He destroyed the one who has the power of death, which is the devil (Hebrews 2:14-15). Every knee has not bowed and every tongue has not confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:10-11). But it will happen.

This is the plan of God. Everything is about the Son. It may take eternity to fully unpack that, but the part of the plan playing out now is that people are being called into a relationship with God, sinners like you and me. Things He laid out before the foundation of the world are being worked out, including the fact that we have been created in Christ Jesus for good works (Ephesians 2:10).

Time is but a layer-by-layer unfolding of who God is to the creation, with the crowning stone of that being the Church, the body of Christ (Ephesians 3:10). He has to clearly communicate who He is, and it has been a layered process since the creation of man with God is in charge of how history unfolds. Nothing catches Him by surprise.

What about thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers?

Paul was expanding on the word "invincible."

They mirror the words of Paul to the Ephesians when he said our struggle is against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavens (Ephesians 6:12).

Christ is not unaware of those authorities or dominions; he created them. We are not supposed to be preoccupied with them, which is why the scriptures only reference them in passing. We should not be preoccupied with trying to defeat the angelic beings over a territory when Jesus said all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him (Matthew 28:18-20).

He created all the powers, some of which went rogue (Jude 1:6). But following his death and resurrection, God gave him all power. Now they have to respond to his will, but he is yet to fully pull that card, still wanting us to mature into Him through many persecutions (Acts 14:22) so that we can share God’s holiness (Hebrews 12:10).

He created them, and now he has all the power, in the rightful position of command, which he earned through resurrection from the dead which displays him as the ultimate one (Romans 1:4).

We should avoid engaging in convoluted spiritual warfare where we are merely using our imagination, likely assisted along the deceptive path by a deceiving spirit (1 Timothy 4:1), and trying to take down dominions, rulers, and authorities that Christ is over by default. And in his sovereign power, he allows things to be as they are.

These are exercises in futility, going beyond what is written (1 Corinthians 4:6). We do not see any examples like that in the Bible. Just because you feel as if you have accomplished something when you speak into the air, as if you are attacking some imagined spiritual power over a region, does not mean anything is actually happening.

The focus verse provides a list: thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, and the Bible is mostly silent about them. But that's where some people decide to pitch their tents. Their deception is apparent as they spend every waking moment elevating the devil and his minions in their minds. The Bible did not mention thrones and dominions for us to panic, but to show how high above all of them Jesus is. It encourages us to rest in Him and His finished works. Do you understand?

This information is not provided so that we can add another line to our spiritual warfare formation and sweat more. Rather, it is to add glory to Jesus—so that we would look at Him and say, "Wow, what magnificence, what greatness, what glory," to give praise to Him, to sing of His greatness, and for Him to be magnified more and more in our eyes, so that we do not have eyes for any other (2Corinthians 11:3). How great is He! He clearly did not start existing when He was conceived in the womb of Mary. He is God.

Paul would later warn in this book about the dangers of people promoting angel worship (Colossians 2:18). Angels are related to dominions, rulers, etc. When an angel showed things to John in the book of Revelation, John wanted to worship the angel, who stopped him and said, "I am your fellow servant" (Revelation 19:10). Being preoccupied with angels is wrong. Be preoccupied with Christ.

Paul did not elaborate on those positions (thrones, dominions, etc.); anyone who tries to make that their specialty is in error. They don't matter as such—what matters is Jesus, who is all and in all, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end (Revelation 22:13), the one who made all things and for whom all things exist. You have been filled from the fullness of Christ Himself (Colossians 2:10), who is the head of every ruler and authority (see the focus verse). There is no need to be sold a bill of goods in the name of esoteric knowledge and dealings with angels.