In January of 2003, I had a class at Southern Seminary on the doctrine of the church with Mark Dever. The class was memorable for a number of reasons, but one of those reasons was a lecture Dever gave at the beginning of the class that had nothing to do with the doctrine of the church. He began his lecturing that day by warning us against presuming too much of our achievement based on the grade we got for the course. He noted that some of us may be able to apply ourselves very little, still get an “A” and feel like this meant we’d done well. The reality, however, was that in that case, we would have fallen far below the expected standard of laboring as unto the Lord. On the other hand, we could face unforeseen trials during the course (deal with struggles in our family, etc.), yet apply ourselves as best as we can and get a “C.” Again, here a surface look might lead someone to think that you did not apply yourself, when the reality could be that getting a “C” took more labor and effort than any student who got an “A.” I thought it was a really helpful way to begin the course and helped me to see that I needed to apply myself diligently to the study of the church in order to be pleasing to the Lord – not just to get a grade.
Now, could you imagine, right after Dever finished saying all that, some student raising his hand and saying, “Is what you just said going to be on the test?” On the one hand, we might say that this is a valid question. After all, if students in that class wanted to pursue a degree beyond the master’s degree, then it would be helpful to get a good grade in order to make sure they get into a doctoral program somewhere. And, if you’re going to get good grades, you probably need to do well on the tests in the class. And, if you’re going to do well on the tests, you probably should know what you’re going to be tested over. So, in one sense, that’d be a fair question to ask and one that any student could feel is incredibly important.
On the other hand, it would be fair to turn to that student and ask, “Did you really listen to anything that the professor just said? I mean, I know that what you’re saying seems in your own mind as if it makes sense, but if you understood the point of what he was saying, you’d see the answer clearly, and you’d see how off-base this question is.”
Well, one question that is being asked a lot by individuals in our day (even in the church) is, “Can someone be saved (that is, be with Christ when they die) without believing in Jesus?” On the one hand, it seems like a legitimate question to ask, doesn’t it? After all, hell is a terrifying reality. God is a God who delights in forgiving, and there are millions of people in the world right now who do not have faith in Jesus Christ. So, in one sense, that’s a fair question to ask, and one that is important to answer.
On the other hand, if we follow the storyline of the Bible, it should become pretty clear to us how off-based such a question is. To think that one might be saved without believing in Jesus should make us want to ask, “Have you actually read the Bible and understood what it is about?” And the reason this is the case is because the centerpiece of Scripture is none other than Jesus Christ, God the Son. Everything is about him, for him, and for his exaltation. And realizing this helps us guard against a number of false teachings or heresies that would challenge the gospel today.
This is why, though we do not know what the Colossians were facing, whatever false teachers might have been telling them is true, Paul knows that they need to see clearly who Jesus is, what his nature is like, and what is his role in world history. Therefore, this morning, I want us to see the same thing as we look at these verses that tell us who Jesus is and what he is like in order that we might understand why the question, “Can someone be saved who does not believe in Christ?” shows how we have missed what is at the center of the Bible.
Now, let me also add that there is a lot of repetition and parallelism throughout these verses so that an idea is addressed in verse 15 and then again in verse 19, for example. Therefore, I’m not going to make a point, show you verse 15, make a second point, show you verse 16, etc. Rather, I’m going to highlight some points and show you throughout these verses where the point is shown. So, with that said, the first thing I want to highlight from Paul’s writings here is that . . .
That is to say, when we talk about Jesus, we’re talking about the one through whom God has revealed himself. Note how Paul begins this section talking about the Son of God. He writes, “He [that is, the Son] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (v. 15).
In this statement, one thing Paul reminds us of is that God the Father is invisible. The one who is the only true God, who reigns over the universe, and who created all that is, is invisible. No one has ever seen God at any time, John reminds us in John 1:18. But John also goes on to remind us that the Son (who is himself God – God, the Son) has made him known. This is what Paul reminds us of when he says that Christ is the “image of the invisible God.”
To be the image of something is to resemble and represent something. So, the king in an area might put up a statue that looks like him and call it his “image.” It is meant to resemble him and represent him. Though the people might not see the king (if by chance, they lived in a distant part of his empire), but they could look upon the statue and be reminded of what the king is like and that he reigns over them.
The Son, Paul reminds us then, is the one who resembles and represents God the Father. Only there is more. The Son does not only resemble and represent God the Father as an inanimate statue does the living king, the Son is actually himself God. We’ll come back to the end of verse 15 in a second, but note what Paul declares in verse 19: “For in him [that is, in the Son] the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.”
The analogy of the statue imaging the king breaks down a bit because though the statue might try to copy the king in appearance and a few other things, it is a dim reminder of the real king, a pale comparison of the glory that accompanies a living human being. The Son, on the other hand, is not only one who is like God, he is God. He is God the Son. This why the author of Hebrews says that the Son is “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Heb 1:3). There is one God existing in three persons – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if you want to see the one true God, you can look at God the Son, Jesus Christ, who is himself God, who is the fullness of deity, and who perfectly resembles God.
Could Jesus then be simply one avenue by which to know God? No, he is the one in whom the invisible God has revealed himself to humanity. And, he is himself God – God the Son. Therefore, to deny Christ and think you can be okay with God is akin to denying marriage and hoping you might be considered a spouse. The essence of each is identical and the only true God of the universe who demands our worship is the God who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ.
Second, Paul shows us that . . .
Let’s come back to the latter half of verse 15 again. Paul writes, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” Now, at first glance, we might think this is telling us that the Son was created, and though he is the first thing or being created, he is still created. But that would misunderstand what Paul means by firstborn.
To be the firstborn in ancient near eastern culture carried the idea of supremacy. So, for example, in Psalm 89:27, when God is talking about the Davidic king, he says, “I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth,” he isn’t saying, “I’ll make sure that he’s the oldest of the kings all over the face of the earth.” God isn’t intent on making sure that he was the first one born or the first one who came into existence. What he’s saying is actually made clear by the second half of the verse where the psalmist provides a parallel statement. He says, “Ill make him the firstborn . . . [meaning] . . . the highest of the kings of the earth.” Firstborn means the supreme one, the highest one.
Therefore, when Paul says that the Son is the firstborn of all creation, he means that the Son is superior to everything that has been created. But why can he say that? Paul explains in verses 16-17, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
Do you see, the reason the Son is superior to every created thing in because everything that has been created has been created by, through, and for him. He is the one who holds the universe together. The only reason right now that the earth continues to orbit the sun and spin on its axis is because God the Son is holding the universe together. The only reason we’re not flying off the earth as it spins is because the Son is holding the universe together. He not only is the agent of creation but is the one who preserves and upholds it by his divine power even right now.
But Paul is not just telling us that he is the all-powerful one through whom the world was created and who sustains all that is. He also tells us the purpose for why God created everything that is in the first place: Paul writes at the end of verse 17, “All things were created through him and for him.” You want to know the end for which God created the world – it is so that it might be for his Son. Everything that was created was created for Jesus Christ. It is his.
This is why Paul notes in Galatians 3 that the promise was made to Abraham and his offspring (not offsprings) who is Christ. He wants us to understand that the promised blessings of salvation all come to one – Christ. And we benefit as we are united with him by faith so that what is true of him is true of us as well. This is why Paul can tell us in Romans 8:17 that if we have faith in Christ, then we are “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” The inheritance is first his – and secondarily ours as we are united by faith with Christ.
But the world was not only created through Christ, in him, and for him. Paul goes on to tell us that he was raised from the dead – as the head of a new creation – so that he might be supreme over the new creation as well. Paul writes in verse 18b, “He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.”
Therefore, do you see that the goal of history is to exalt Christ? The world was created for him? He was raised from the dead as the beginning of the new creation so that he might be preeminent and exalted. All of history has been and is moving toward exalting Jesus Christ as Lord. Therefore, we should not look at Jesus as a hoop that we jump through so that we might be saved but, rather, should see salvation as the blessing of having faith in, bowing the knee to, and exalting Jesus Christ as Lord of all. Asking if people might be saved outside of Christ reverses this order and misses that the aim of history is to exalt God’s Son, God the Son, Jesus Christ.
Third, Paul reminds us at the beginning of verse 18 that . . .
Paul writes in 18a, “And he is the head of the body, the church.” Those who are God’s special people on the earth, the ones he has redeemed, and the ones for whom he is one day coming are those people who make up his church. They are so identified with Christ that the church is even called the body of Christ by Paul (as we see here). And no doubt Paul saw the unity of Christ and the church when he was converted on the way to Damascus when the resurrected Christ appeared to him in the sky and asked Paul not why he was persecuting the church (though that’s what Paul was doing) but asked him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
So, there is obviously a connection between the people of God and Christ so that they can be called his body. But here Paul draws a connection for us to see in this image. He tells us that Christ is the head of the body, the church. The point being, you cannot be a part of the body unless you are connected to the head – or, as Paul wants us to see, you cannot be a part of the church (the people of God) unless you are connected to Christ. And we are connected to Christ by faith.
The new creation will be filled with a new humanity. At the end of time, when Jesus returns, the who earth will be made new. No longer will the earth show the effects of the curse, but it will be perfect, just as God intended it to be. But who will fill this new creation? A new humanity? And who will these people be? It will be those who are connected to the head of the church, Jesus Christ, the righteous one.
He reveals God as he is God the Son. All of history is aimed at exalting Jesus Christ. And those who will counted among God’s people will only be those who have been united to the head of the church – Christ – by faith.
And finally, Paul reminds us that . . .
To say that the world was created for Christ is a reminder to us that someone has gone drastically wrong, doesn’t it? This world that was created for him bears the marks of rebellion against him all over it. The resources of the earth are employed for sin and rebellion against its maker. The things that were created for the purpose of exalting Christ are themselves worshiped by mankind in the place of Christ. How perverted is our sin!
But did God then say, “Well, this was created for my Son, but it’s obviously been ruined. I’ll let it go”? No. Rather, Christ came to reconcile to the Father and himself that which was his. And he did it through his death and resurrection. We read in verses 19-20, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”
Now, a couple of things about this final verse. First, I say “through his death and resurrection” because when Paul writes of the cross he means the resurrection as well. For example, when Paul says that he purposed to know nothing among the Corinthians but “Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2), he obviously meant “crucified and raised from the dead.” And, when he wrote to the Romans, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:9), he obviously meant that you must believe in your heart that he died for our sins and was raised from the dead. So, when Paul says that Jesus made peace by the blood of his cross, he means his resurrection as well.
Second, when Paul says that he reconciled all things to himself by the blood of his cross, he doesn’t mean that all people are therefore going to be saved in the end. There is a sense of being reconciled to someone when they’ve triumphed over you. So, for example, we read of Solomon in 1 Kings 4:24 that Solomon had dominion over all the area around him so that he had peace on all sides. That doesn’t mean that the Philistines loved him. It means that the Philistines knew he was superior to them and dared not challenge him at that point. So, when Christ made peace by the blood of his cross, it involved not saving every one of his enemies – for we know that many will be thrown into the lake of fire on that final day – but triumphing over everyone so that they might know he reigns. And one day we will see every enemy made his footstool.
And that really hits at the meaning of verse 20. Jesus came to atone for the sins of his people so that they might have peace with God, came to recapture the creation that was his by paying the penalty for our sins and so destroying death, and came to triumph over his enemies so that everything is now set for that final day when he’ll return, his people will be with him forever, his enemies will know their defeat as they are cast into hell, and the whole world will be made new and will be Christ’s. And all of that was made certain through Jesus’ death on the cross, which is the only means which God has provided for being reconciled to him.
Therefore, I think Colossians 1:15-20 helps us see how absurd it is to think that someone might be saved outside of faith in Christ. Christ is the one who reveals the Father and is himself God the Son. All of history has been and is aimed at exalting the Son. Christ is the head of the church so that you can only be part of the people of God by being connected to him. And the means which God provides for reconciliation was the death of his Son. Therefore, I plead with you this morning if you don’t know Christ as your Lord, bow the knee to him and be united with him by faith. And for believers, let us meditate on the supremacy of Christ, teach our children that all of history is leading toward his exaltation so that they might bow the knee to him and not be found on that day to be his enemy, and let us go forth and take the gospel to men, pleading with them to be reconciled to God as they bow the knee and confess Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Let us confess that again now as we come to the table. Amen.