There is friendly debate between my wife and I: whom our son resembles the most. I believe our son resembles me, and she believes he resembles her. In Colossians 1:15, the apostle Paul comments on the relationship between God the Father and God the Son: “The Son is the image of the invisible God.” We might wonder how Jesus who is visible can be the image of the invisible God?

Paul is not saying that Jesus merely resembles God. Rather, Jesus is the perfect representation or manifestation of God because He is God. Verse 19 says, “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in [Jesus].” The Bible clearly describes this relationship between God the Father and God the Son. Hebrews 1:3 says, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.” In John 14:9, Jesus says, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”

Paul says that Jesus is sovereign as “firstborn,” and His power far exceeds any other power in all creation and beyond (vv. 15, 18). Jesus holds the highest rank. In Him dwells all the fullness of God (v. 19). Paul leaves no stone unturned as he clearly details Christ’s deity and supremacy.

The reason Paul is making very clear who Christ is to the church in Colossae is that heresy was spreading among the believers. Due to false teachers who had infiltrated the church, Paul was reminding believers of the foundational truths of our faith. Epaphras understood the severity of this problem. That’s why Paul mentions Epaphras’s prayers on their behalf at the close of the letter: “He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured” (4:12).

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