Excerpts from the CNT:

In Colossians 1:12 Paul says, “Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light.” This verse indicates that the portion of the saints is the all-inclusive Christ for our enjoyment. When Paul was writing the Epistle to the Colossians and was speaking of the portion of the saints, he had in mind the type of the good land. When the children of Israel entered the good land and took possession of the land, God commanded them to divide the land into lots and to allot them to the children of Israel so that they would receive a portion of the good land for their inheritance and enjoyment. Paul in Colossians presented the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land allotted to us by God. We, the believers in Christ, have received a portion of Christ as the good land, which Paul calls the portion of the saints.

God the Father has qualified us by the redemption of God the Son and through the sanctification of God the Spirit for a share of the all-inclusive Christ, the embodiment of the processed Triune God, as the allotted portion of the saints. The will of God is that the all-inclusive, extensive Christ is to be our portion. In verse 9 Paul speaks of God’s will. In this verse, God’s will refers to Christ. God’s will for us is that [3534] we know Christ, experience Christ, enjoy Christ, be saturated with Christ, and have Christ become our life and person. The will of God is profound in relation to our knowing, experiencing, and living the all-inclusive, extensive Christ.

The New Testament believers’ inheritance, their allotted portion, is not a physical land; it is the all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit (2:6-7; Gal. 3:14). He is the allotted portion of the saints as their divine inheritance for their enjoyment. The riches of the good land typify the unsearchable riches of Christ in the different aspects of His bountiful supply to His believers in His Spirit (Deut. 8:7-10; Eph. 3:8; Phil. 1:19). By enjoying the riches of the land, the believers in Christ are built up to be His Body as the house of God and the kingdom of God (Eph. 1:22-23; 2:21-22; 1 Tim. 3:15; Matt. 16:18-19; Rom. 14:17).

a. The Son of God’s Love, the One of Whom Is the Kingdom and in Whom We Have Redemption

In Colossians 1:13-14 Paul tells us that the Father delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. As the portion of the saints, Christ is the Son of God’s love, the kingdom of God is the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, and in Christ we have redemption. We were redeemed to inherit the kingdom of God, which is the kingdom of God’s beloved Son.

Just as the good land was the portion of the children of Israel, so Christ today is the portion of the saints. After revealing in verse 12 the all-inclusive Christ as the allotted portion of the saints, Paul in verse 13 tells us that the Father delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. Verse 13 reminds us of the way the children of Israel were delivered out of Egypt and transferred into the good land. Thus, Paul’s concept in verse 13 is the same as that revealed in the exodus from Egypt and in the entering into the good land. In ancient times, God delivered His people out of Egypt and brought them into the good land. God the Father has done the same [3535] thing with us. He has delivered us out of the authority of darkness, typified by Pharaoh and Egypt, and has transferred us into the all-inclusive Christ, typified by the good land. Just as the children of Israel were transferred out of Egypt into a land flowing with milk and honey, a land where there was no tyranny, so we also have been transferred into a marvelous realm, called the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love. Therefore, to be qualified for a share of the portion of the saints is actually to enter into the reality of the good land. Paul’s composition of verses 12 and 13 is thus according to the picture in the Old Testament.

(1) The Son of God’s Love, the One of Whom Is the Kingdom

Verse 13 is the explanation and definition of how the Father has qualified us for a share of the portion of the saints. This verse says that the Father “delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” For Christ to be the Head of the Body, and for us, His believers, to be the members of His Body, God needed to deliver us out of the authority of darkness, the kingdom of Satan (Matt. 12:26), and to transfer us into the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of God’s Beloved. This is to qualify us to partake of the all-inclusive Christ as our allotted portion.

If we were still under the authority of darkness, we would not be qualified to share in Christ. But the Father has delivered us out of the authority of darkness, and we are no longer in the satanic kingdom. Our being delivered from the authority of darkness was the first step to be qualified to have a share in Christ. The second step was our being transferred into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love. We have undergone both a deliverance and a transfer. Because Satan is darkness, and Christ, the Son of God, is light, Satan’s kingdom is the authority of darkness, whereas the kingdom of the Son of God is the kingdom of light. By being delivered out of Satan’s kingdom and transferred into Christ’s kingdom, we have been qualified for a share of the portion of the saints.

Through regeneration we have been not only delivered out [3536] of the authority of darkness but also transferred into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love (John 3:5). The kingdom of the Son is the authority of Christ (Rev. 11:15; 12:10). Moreover, the Son of the Father is the expression of the Father as the source of life (John 1:18, 4; 1 John 1:2). The Father as the source of life is expressed in the Son.

The Son of the Father’s love is the object of the Father’s love to be the embodiment of life to us in the divine love with the authority in resurrection. The Son, as the embodiment of the divine life, is the object of the Father’s love. The divine life embodied in the Son is given to us in the divine love. Therefore, the object of the divine love becomes to us the embodiment of life in the divine love with the authority in resurrection. This is the kingdom of the Son of His love.

It is easier to give an illustration of the kingdom of the Son of His love than it is to give an adequate definition of it. Let us consider our experience. Realizing that the Lord Jesus is so loving and lovable, we begin to love Him. As we love the Lord Jesus, we are conscious of a sweet sense of love. Not only does this sense of love include the Lord Jesus, but it also includes us. We realize that we also are the objects of the divine love. As objects of this divine love, we spontaneously come under a certain control or ruling. Before we loved the Lord Jesus, we were free to do whatever we wanted. But the more we say, “Lord Jesus, I love You,” the less freedom we have. Before we loved the Lord Jesus, we did not sense this ruling or restriction. We could mistreat people or engage in worldly entertainments without any sense of inward restriction. But as those who love the Lord Jesus, we have come under His rule. This rule is not harsh; on the contrary, it is sweet and pleasant. We are restricted and ruled in such a sweet way. Because of the pleasantness of the Lord’s rule in us, we do not care even to speak a vain word or to have a thought that is displeasing to Him. We are ruled and restricted to the uttermost in the sweetness of love. This is the kingdom of the Son of His love.

The more we are willing to be restricted and ruled by the Lord Jesus out of our love for Him, the more we will grow in life, even in the abundance of life. This indicates that the [3537] kingdom of the Son of His love is for our enjoyment of Christ as life. Here we are freed from everything other than Christ, not only from evil things but also from things such as philosophy, ordinances, observances, and asceticism. When we were holding to our philosophy, ethics, asceticism, and ordinances, we were under the authority of darkness. But God has delivered us out of this authority and has transferred us into a kingdom of love that is full of life and light. Here we have no observances, rituals, ordinances, practices, philosophies, mysticism, Gnosticism, or asceticism. We just have Christ, the Son of His love. Here we have love, light, and life. This is to live by Christ.

To live by Christ means that we do not live by anything other than Christ. If we see what it is to live by Christ, we will realize that many of us are still under some form of control established by the self, a control set up and carried out by the self. This kind of control is the authority of darkness. If we are under this authority, we receive no light in reading the Bible, and we have no utterance in prayer. Although the Father has delivered us out of the authority of darkness, out of our natural thought, emotion, preference, and behavior, we may still remain in some aspect of our natural being. This causes us to be held under the authority of darkness. Because in actuality we are under the authority and control of darkness and are not in the kingdom of the Son of His love in a practical way, we have little enjoyment of Christ as the portion of the saints.

To insist on a particular ordinance or practice is to be under the authority of darkness. Our Father has delivered us out of the authority of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. Here we are restricted by the divine love in the divine life. Instead of ordinances, observances, religion, or philosophy, we have Christ and Christ alone. If we see this, there will be no disputes or divisions in the church life.

To be transferred into the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love is to be transferred into the Son who is life to us (1 John 5:12). The Son in resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3; Rom. 6:4-5) is now the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). He rules us in [3538] His resurrection life with love. This is the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love. When we live by the Son as our life in resurrection, we are living in His kingdom, enjoying Him in the Father’s love.

We have been transferred into a realm where we are ruled in love with life. Here, under the heavenly ruling and restriction, we have genuine freedom, the proper freedom in love, with life, and under light. This is what it means to be delivered out of the authority of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of the Son of His love. Here in this kingdom we enjoy Christ and have the church life. Here there is no opinion or division. Here we have one thing: the church life with Christ as everything to us. This is the revelation of the book of Colossians.

In Colossians the authority of darkness refers to the good aspects of culture and of our character, disposition, and natural being. The authority of darkness includes our virtues, religion, philosophy, observances, ordinances, principles, and ethical standards. God has delivered us out of all this and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, where we live under a heavenly rule and restriction. In this kingdom we are not under a harsh rule but under the loving rule of the Son. Here we do not sense that we are under righteousness, power, or authority but under the loving and lovable Lord Jesus. The more we tell the Lord Jesus that we love Him, the more we are freed on the one hand, and the more we are restricted and ruled on the other hand. Because we love Him, we desire to take Him as our person and as our life. This is the proper Christian life for the church life.

The kingdom of the Son of God’s love comprises three ages: the present age, in which the church is; the coming age, in which the millennial kingdom will be; and the eternal age with the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth. These three aspects are considered by Paul in Colossians 1:13 as the kingdom of the Son of God’s love.

The words the Son of God are a delight to the Father’s ears. When the Lord Jesus was baptized, the Father declared, “This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight” (Matt. 3:17). When the Lord was transfigured, the Father made [3539] the same declaration (17:5). Because the Father delights in His Son, the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love is a pleasant thing, a matter of delight.

The emphasis in Colossians 1:13 is the kingdom of the Son of God’s love in this age, which is the reality of the church. The church life today is the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, which is as delightful to God the Father as the Son of God is. We, the believers, all have been transferred into this delightful kingdom of the Son of God’s love. God the Father loves the delightful part of the kingdom, just as He loves His delightful Son as His own. Hence, the church, as the delightful part of the divine kingdom, is considered a great blessing to God’s redeemed people by the apostle Paul in the book of Colossians, a book which is on Christ as the all-inclusive portion of God’s people.

(2) The One in Whom We Have Redemption

In verse 14 Paul continues, “In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” The deliverance in verse 13 deals with Satan’s authority over us by destroying his evil power, whereas the redemption in this verse deals with our sins by fulfilling God’s righteous requirement. The forgiveness of sins is the redemption which we have in Christ. Christ’s death has accomplished redemption unto the forgiveness of our sins.

In Christ, the Son of God’s love, we have redemption and forgiveness. When we believed in Christ as our Redeemer, God immediately delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of light. Here in the light we are qualified for a share of the portion of the saints. This means that we are qualified to enjoy Christ. Because this qualification is an accomplished fact, there is no need for us to pray about it. On the contrary, like Paul we should simply thank the Father for this. However, there is the need for us to pray concerning knowing the will of God and walking worthily of the Lord to please Him in all things (vv. 9-10). Now that we are in the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, enjoying Him in the light, we must go on to know Him in full and to walk worthily of Him. [3540]

b. The Image of the Invisible God

As the portion of the saints, Christ is not only the Son of God’s love but also the image, the expression, of the invisible God. Colossians 1:15 says that Christ is the “image of the invisible God.” God is invisible, but the Son of His love, “the effulgence of His glory and the impress of His substance” (Heb. 1:3), is His image, expressing what He is. Christ as the Son of God’s love who has God’s life and nature can express God.

The image in Colossians 1:15 does not mean a physical form but an expression of God’s being in all His attributes and virtues. This interpretation is confirmed by 3:10 and 2 Corinthians 3:18. The image of God is the form of God’s attributes. God has many attributes, and God’s inward being is the totality of His attributes. An attribute is an element that belongs to God. God is love, light, holiness, righteousness, power, might, and strength (1 John 4:8; 1:5; Lev. 19:2; Heb. 12:10; Psa. 7:9b; Jer. 23:6). These and many other items are the elements that belong to God; hence, they are His attributes. When these attributes are expressed, they become virtues. First Peter 2:9 says that we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired for a possession, so that we may tell out the virtues of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Here Peter uses the word virtues instead of attributes. Virtues are expressed attributes, and attributes are hidden or concealed virtues. When Christ lived on earth, He expressed God’s attributes in His virtues. He expressed the divine attributes in His humanity as virtues. All the divine attributes have an image. This image is Christ the Son as the expression of the invisible God in the essence of His attributes (2 Cor. 4:4b).

How does Christ, the image of the invisible God, express God? As the Son of the Father’s love, He expresses the Triune God because He is the One through whom both the old creation and the new creation came into being (Col. 1:16-18). Furthermore, He expresses the Triune God because He is the Firstborn of both creations (vv. 15, 18). This makes Him the full expression of God. [3541]

To say that Christ, the all-inclusive One, is the image of God implies that He is God, the Creator. When we see Christ, we see the expression of the invisible God, for He Himself is God. Christ is the image of the invisible God, God Himself expressed. The Christ who is our good land, the allotted portion of the saints, is also the image of the Triune God, His expression.

c. The Firstborn of All Creation

As the allotted portion of the saints, Christ is the Firstborn of all creation (Col. 1:15). Since Christ is the Firstborn of all creation, He is the first of all creation. Christ as God is the Creator. However, as man, sharing the created blood and flesh (Heb. 2:14a), He is part of the creation. Firstborn of all creation refers to Christ’s preeminence in all creation, because from Colossians 1:15-18 the apostle stresses the first place that Christ has in all things. Verse 15 reveals that Christ is not only the Creator but also the first among all created things, the first among all creatures.

Some insist that Christ is only the Creator, not a creature. But the Bible reveals that Christ is both the Creator and a creature, for He is both God and man. As God, Christ is the Creator, but as man, He is a creature. Because He was a creature, He took on a body with flesh, blood, and bones. Our Christ is God, has always been God, and always will be God. But through incarnation He became a man. Otherwise, He could not have been arrested, tried, and crucified, and He could not have shed His blood on the cross for our sins. We should praise the Lord for the truth that our Christ is both God and man.

As God, Christ is eternal and did not need to be born, but in verse 15 He is called the Firstborn of all creation. Anything [3544] that requires birth must be a creature, part of creation. If Christ were only God and not man, He could not have been born, for God is infinite and eternal, without beginning or ending. But as a man, Christ had to be born. Christ was born as a man. In keeping with this, Isaiah 9:6 says, “A child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; /...And His name will be called...Mighty God, / Eternal Father.” As a child born to us, Christ is called Mighty God; as a Son given to us, His name is called Eternal Father. As the Mighty God and the Eternal Father, Christ is eternal, but as a child and a Son, He had to be born. Some argue that Christ was born but not created. According to the Bible, birth is the carrying out of creation. Therefore, to be born is to be created.

Some may wonder how Christ could be the Firstborn of all creation since He was born less than two thousand years ago, not at the beginning of creation. If we would understand this properly, we need to realize that with God there is no time element. For example, according to our estimate of time, Christ was crucified about two thousand years ago, but Revelation 13:8 says that Christ was slain from the foundation of the world. Both are right. However, God’s reckoning is much more important than ours. In the eyes of God, Christ was crucified from the foundation of the world. In eternity God foresaw the fall of man. Therefore, also in eternity He made preparation for the accomplishment of redemption.

The difference between God’s estimate of time and ours also helps us to understand why Christ is called the second man (1 Cor. 15:47). From our point of view, the second man was Cain, the son of the first Adam, but from God’s point of view, the second man is Christ.

We may apply this matter of the different ways of reckoning time to Christ as the Firstborn of all creation. According to our sense of time, Christ was born in Bethlehem approximately two thousand years ago, but in the eyes of God, the Lord Jesus was born before the foundation of the world. If He was slain from the foundation of the world, certainly He must have been born before then. Therefore, according to God’s perspective in eternity, Christ was born in eternity past. This is the reason that, according to God’s viewpoint, Christ has [3545] always been the first of all creatures. God foresaw the day that Christ would be born in a manger in Bethlehem. Because Christ is the first among the creatures, we can say that as the all-inclusive One He is both the Creator and part of creation.

(1) Being Before All Things

Colossians 1:17 says, “He is before all things.” This indicates His eternal preexistence.

(2) All Things Being Created in Him, through Him, and unto Him

In verse 16 Paul says, “Because in Him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or lordships or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and unto Him.” In Him means in the power of Christ’s person. All things were created in the power of what Christ is. All creation bears the characteristics of Christ’s intrinsic power. Through Him indicates that Christ is the active instrument through which the creation of all things was accomplished in sequence. In keeping with this, John 1:3 says, “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not one thing came into being which has come into being.” In this verse the emphasis is not that Christ is the Creator but that He is the means through which creation was processed and came into existence. Unto Him indicates that Christ is the end of all creation. All things were created unto Him for His possession. In, through, and unto indicate that creation is subjectively related to Christ. The creation was created in Him as the sphere, through Him as the means, and unto Him as the goal.

(3) All Things Subsisting Together in Him

In verse 17 Paul says, “All things cohere in Him.” This means that all things now subsist together in Christ, just as all the spokes of a wheel subsist together in the hub. Christ is the hub of all things that exist in the universe; they all subsist together in Christ as the hub. Scientists recognize the fact that there is some kind of power in the universe that [3546] holds everything together. This scientific fact fits Paul’s concept of all things subsisting in Christ. The holding power, which is the hub, the center, of the universe, is Christ. Because Christ is this holding power, all things subsist in Christ; He is the center that holds everything together, the hub that holds all the spokes. Everything in the universe, living and non-living, subsists in Christ as this hub. Without Christ, the universe and everything in it would collapse. We are upheld not by the earth but by Christ. Apparently we exist on the earth, but actually we are existing in Christ. Our existence is maintained by Christ in whom all things are held together.

Christ is the Firstborn of all creation in order to express God. We have pointed out in the previous message that Christ is the image of God (Col. 1:15). God is invisible, but if we look at God’s creation, we will see that creation is the expression of the invisible God. In creation we see the expression of God’s power and nature. In the words of Romans 1:20, “The invisible things of Him, both His eternal power and divine characteristics, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being perceived by the things made, so that they would be without excuse.” Christ is the image of God expressed in creation. If we see this, we will realize that all material things were created in Christ, through Christ, and unto Christ and that they all subsist in Christ for the purpose that God may be expressed.

We need to see that Christ is the Firstborn among all created things; the various aspects of God’s creation are the expression of God in Christ. When we look at the heavens, we should be reminded of Christ. When we consider the earth, we should think of Christ. We should be mindful of Christ even when we look at ourselves. Every aspect of God’s creation was created in Christ, through Christ, and unto Christ. All these things continue to subsist in Christ for the expression of God. This expression of God in creation is Christ as God’s image.

The universe is the expression of God by Christ. Throughout the universe we see Christ, the image of the invisible God. We see Christ everywhere and in everything. Therefore, we should live Christ, not anything else. The Christ whom we [3547] live is all-inclusive. He is the image, the expression, of God in the original creation. Thus, our concept of the universe should be altogether related to Christ. We should only know Christ and live according to Christ.

d. The Head of the Body, the Church

Colossians 1:18 says, “He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things.” This verse shows that Christ is the first in resurrection as the Head of the Body. As such, He has the first place in the church, God’s new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15).

e. The Beginning, the Firstborn from the Dead, That He Might Have the First Place in All Things

According to Colossians 1:18, Christ is the beginning of the new creation, the Firstborn from the dead. As the Firstborn of all creation, He was the first item of the old creation. Now in resurrection Christ as the Firstborn from the dead is the first item of the new creation. Hence, He is the beginning of the new creation that He might have the first place, the preeminence, in all things.

As the Son of God, Christ passed through two births. The first birth took place at His incarnation, and the second, in His resurrection. All Christians realize that Christ was born through incarnation, but not many regard His resurrection also as a birth. Acts 13:33 indicates that Christ was begotten, or born, in resurrection. Through resurrection He was begotten as the Son of God.

Before His incarnation, Christ was not a man; He was simply the infinite, eternal God. But in the fullness of time, Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, and nine months later He was born in a manger in Bethlehem (Matt. 1:18, 20; 2:1; Luke 2:7). According to John 1:14, the Word who is Christ became flesh. This means that He took the step of becoming a man. How marvelous that through incarnation the infinite, eternal God became a man! However, in becoming man, He did not cease to be God.

After living on earth for thirty-three and a half years, [3548] Christ was crucified. Then in resurrection He took a second step to be born the second time and become the firstborn Son of God. Before His resurrection, Christ was the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16), but through resurrection the only begotten Son became the Firstborn among many brothers (Rom. 8:29). According to Hebrews 2:10, God is leading many sons into glory. These many sons are the many brothers of Christ as the firstborn Son.

Through the two births of Christ, divinity has been brought into humanity, and humanity has been brought into divinity. By the incarnation of Christ, God was brought into man. Prior to Christ’s incarnation, God was outside of man. However, through Christ’s incarnation, God was brought into humanity. We may say that with the birth of Christ in incarnation God was born into man. Therefore, by Christ’s first birth God was brought into man and became one with man. Then through Christ’s resurrection man was brought into God. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, God was living in a man, for God was in Him. Now, through Christ’s resurrection, man has been brought into God. As a man, Christ is in the heavens. God has been brought into man, and man has been brought into God. In this two-way traffic God came into man through incarnation, and man was brought into God through resurrection. In eternity Christ was God. Through His incarnation He became a man, and through resurrection He became the firstborn Son of God.

Through Christ, God has been brought into us, and we have been brought into God. When we were born again, simultaneously Christ was born into us, and we were brought into God. Therefore, in our Christian life we have an inward and personal experience of both of the births of Christ. With Christ, His birth in resurrection came thirty-three and a half years after His birth through incarnation. However, in our experience of Christ, God was brought into us and we were brought into God at the same time. We should praise the Lord for the marvelous traffic between God and us.

God has accomplished two creations, the old creation and the new creation. The old creation includes heaven, earth, mankind, and millions of different items. The new creation is [3549] the church, the Body of Christ. Colossians 1:15-17 unveils Christ as the first in the original creation, as the One who has the preeminence among all creatures. Verse 18 shows that Christ is the first in resurrection as the Head of the Body. He is the One who has the first place in the church.

The first creation came into being through the speaking of God. In the words of Romans 4:17, God called the things not being as being. The new creation, on the contrary, came into being through resurrection, through the death and resurrection of the old creation. In this new creation, the church, Christ is the Firstborn from the dead.

Both in the old creation and in the new creation, Christ is the first. If the old creation is in Christ, through Christ, unto Christ and subsists together in Christ, so the new creation is all the more. As the new creation, we, the church, are in Christ, through Christ, and unto Christ. Moreover, we are moment by moment subsisting together in Christ. Outwardly we are the old creation, but inwardly we are the new creation. In the church we are in Christ, through Christ, and unto Christ, and we subsist in Christ to be God’s expression in Christ.

In both the old creation and the new creation Christ is the first and occupies the first place, the place of preeminence. Both in the universe and in the church, Christ is the preeminent One. If we see this as a vision—not as a mere doctrine—our living and our church life will be revolutionized. We will realize that in all things Christ must be the first.

In Colossians 1:18 Paul says, “That He Himself might have the first place in all things.” In the Bible to be the first is to be all. Since Christ is the first both in the universe and in the church, He must be all things in the universe and in the church. As the first, He is all.

God’s way of reckoning in this matter is different from ours. According to our estimation, if Christ is the first, then something else should be the second, third, and others in sequence. However, from God’s point of view, for Christ to be the first means that He is all. He is the Alpha, the Omega, and all the letters between (Rev. 22:13).

The first Adam included not only Adam as an individual but all of mankind. In the same principle, in the eyes of God, [3550] the firstborn of the Egyptians included all the Egyptians (Exo. 12:12). The firstborn includes all. Therefore, for Christ to be the Firstborn in the universe means that He is everything in the universe. In like manner, for Christ to be the Firstborn in resurrection means that He is everything in resurrection. For Christ to be the Firstborn both of the old creation and of the new creation means that He is everything both in the old creation and in the new creation. This corresponds to Paul’s word in Colossians 3:11, where he says that in the new man, in the new creation, “there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all.” In the new man Christ is everyone and is in everyone. In the new creation there is room only for Christ.

The revelation concerning Christ in Colossians is both all-inclusive and extensive. Colossians reveals that Christ is everything. Christ is the Firstborn both of the old creation, the universe, and of the new creation, the church (1:15, 18). The universe is the environment in which the church, the new creation, exists as the Body of Christ to express Christ in full. The new creation is not as extensive as the old creation, the universe. The church is all-inclusive, but it is not extensive. For Christ to be the Firstborn of both the original creation and the new creation means that He is both extensive and all-inclusive. In the new man there is room only for Christ; Christ is all and in all (3:11). This shows His all-inclusiveness. However, the fact that He is the Firstborn of all creation indicates His extensiveness. In the words of Ephesians 3:18, Christ is the breadth, length, height, and depth.

It makes a tremendous difference when the vision of the all-inclusiveness of Christ pervades our being. When we see this vision, we will hate everything that issues from the self. We will despise not only our hatred but even our love, kindness, and patience. As this vision causes us to hate the self, it will constrain us to love the Lord. We will say, “Lord Jesus, I love You because You are everything. Lord, there is no need for me to struggle or strive to do anything. O Lord, You are so much to me. You are God, You are the Firstborn of all creation, and You are the Firstborn from the dead.” We need [3551] to pray until all the aspects of Christ revealed in Colossians saturate our being. We need to be infused and saturated with Christ as the all-inclusive One. If Christ is infused into us, we will drop everything that is not Christ, and we will be constituted with Christ in our being.

f. In Him All the Fullness of God Being Pleased to Dwell

In Colossians 1:19, Paul tells us that in Christ “all the fullness was pleased to dwell.” Here the word fullness is personified. If the fullness were not a person, how could the fullness be pleased to dwell in Christ? The expression was pleased to dwell indicates that the fullness is the divine person. This divine person, the fullness, was pleased to dwell in Christ. This fullness—God Himself expressed—was pleased to dwell in Christ, to reconcile us with Himself, and to present us to Himself.

The fullness in verse 19 refers to the image of God in verse 15, who is Christ, a living person. The image of the invisible God is the full expression of the unseen God. For the fullness to dwell in Christ means that all the expression of God, all of His image, was pleased to dwell in Him.

From verses 15 through 19 Christ is revealed as the first both in the old creation and in the new creation. As the One who is first in both of God’s creations, Christ is the expression of God. God is expressed in Him because all things have come into being in Him, through Him, and unto Him, and they subsist in Him. This is true not only of the old creation but even the more of the new creation. The new creation, the church, is Christ’s Body, of which He is the Head. Through His subjective relationship to creation, Christ is the fullness of the unseen God, the image of the invisible God. The fullness in verse 19 is not a thing; it is a person who is the expression, the image, of the Triune God.

All the fullness refers to the fullness in both the old creation and the new creation. The word fullness has no modifier, indicating that this fullness is the unique fullness. It denotes not the riches of what God is but the expression of those riches. The full expression of the rich being of God, in [3552] both creation and the church, dwells in Christ. All creation and the whole church are filled with Christ as the expression of God’s riches. Such a fullness is pleased with this. This is pleasant to Christ.

The rich being of God is expressed both in the old creation and in the new creation through Christ as the One in whom, through whom, and unto whom all things came into being and as the One in whom all things subsist. It is in such a way that the invisible God is expressed. When we consider the universe and the church, the old creation and the new creation, we see all the fullness of the Triune God. We behold the expression of the Triune God. This fullness was pleased to dwell in the Son and to reconcile all things to Himself for His expression. Furthermore, this fullness will present us holy, blameless, and without reproach to Himself so that He may have His expression in the new creation.

g. Through Him God Having Reconciled All Things to Himself, Having Made Peace through the Blood of His Cross

In verse 20 Paul goes on to say, “Through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross—through Him, whether the things on the earth or the things in the heavens.” The expression through Him means through Christ as the active instrument through which the reconciliation was accomplished. Verse 20 speaks not of “all people” but of “all things,” referring not only to human beings but also to all creatures, which were created in Christ and now subsist, cohere, in Him (vv. 16-17) and are reconciled to God through Him. To reconcile all things to Himself is to make peace with Himself for all things. This was accomplished through the blood of the cross of Christ. This indicates that Christ is the Redeemer not only of mankind but of all things. Consider the picture of the ark built by Noah. The ark saved not only the eight members of Noah’s family but also saved animals of every kind (Gen. 7:1-9; 8:1). What an extensive Redeemer Christ is, and what an extensive reconciliation He has accomplished!

Both the things in the heavens and things on the earth [3553] needed to be reconciled to God because of Satan’s rebellion and man’s fall. God created the universe and committed the universe to His archangel. Yet he with other angels rebelled against God and became God’s enemy, thus polluting the entire universe and particularly contaminating the heavens. God then restored the polluted universe, created man, and gave man dominion over the universe, making man the head of the creation. However, man followed Satan and fell, thus polluting the earth. For this reason, both the things in the heavens and the things on the earth need to be reconciled to God. The blood of the cross of Christ was for not only man but also all the creatures in the heavens and the earth. Through the blood of Christ’s cross, that is, through His death on the cross, God has reconciled to Himself all things both on the earth and in the heavens.

h. Through Him God Having Reconciled the Saints to Present Them Holy and without Blemish and without Reproach before Him

According to Colossians 1:21-22, among all His creation, Christ also reconciled us, the saints, to God in order to present us holy, without blemish, and without reproach before God. This reconciliation of the saints mentioned in verse 22 is from the reconciliation of all things mentioned in verse 20.

We need to enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the portion of the saints. As the image of the invisible God, He is the center of God; as the Firstborn of all creation, He is the center of the old creation; and as the Head of the Body, He is the center of the church. In resurrection He is the Firstborn from the dead. In Him all the fullness of God as the divine person was pleased to dwell. Through Him all things in the universe were reconciled to God, and through Him we, the saints, have been reconciled to God so that He may have a group of people who are holy, without blemish, and without reproach before Him.