Colossians 1:17

Christ is the antecedent of creation ("before all things," Colossians 1:17 a). This revelation clearly separates Christ from every created entity. "He" has the force of "He and no other" in the Greek text. The word is an intensive pronoun. He is before all temporally (preexistent) and authoritatively (sovereign). [Note: C. F. D. Moule, An Idiom-Book of New Testament Greek, p. 74.] This assertion, combined with the earlier one that He is the first-born of all creation (Colossians 1:15 b), proves that Christ is no creature. If He were, He would have had to create Himself. To do that He would have had to exist before He existed, which is absurd and impossible.

"The phrase ’before all things’ sums up the essence of His designation as ’Firstborn before all creation’ and excludes any possibility of interpreting that designation to mean that He Himself is part of the created order (albeit the first and chief part)." [Note: Bruce, 562:104.]

Christ is the sustainer of creation ("hold together," Colossians 1:17 b). Christ is the Person who preserves and maintains the existence of what He has created.

"He is the principle of cohesion in the universe. He impresses upon creation that unity and solidarity which makes it a cosmos instead of a chaos." [Note: Lightfoot, p. 154.]

"Every law of science and of nature is, in fact, an expression of the thought of God. It is by these laws, and therefore by the mind of God, that the universe hangs together, and does not disintegrate in chaos." [Note: Barclay, p. 144.]

"So the thought passes from creation to preservation." [Note: Johnson, 473:16.]

Colossians 1:17 sums up the thought of Colossians 1:15-16 and completes the statement of Christ’s relation to creation.