The Centrality of Christ
15 He is the image of the invisible God, 1:15 Php 2:6
the firstborn over all creation. 1:15 Jn 1:3; Rv 3:14
16 For everything was created by him, 1:16 Gn 1:1; Mk 13:19
in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities —
all things have been created through him and for him. 1:16 Jn 1:3; Rm 11:36; 1Co 8:6; Eph 1:10,21
17 He is before all things, 1:17 Jn 1:1–2; 8:58; Heb 1:2–3
and by him all things 1:17 Ps 104:24 hold together.
18 He is also the head of the body, the church;
he is the beginning, 1:18 Gn 1:1; Mk 1:1; Jn 1:1; Ac 26:4
the firstborn from the dead, 1:18 Ac 26:23; 1Co 15:20,23; Rv 1:5
so that he might come to have
first place in everything.
19 For God was pleased to have
all his fullness 1:19 Ps 72:19; Is 6:3; Jr 23:24; Ezk 43:5; 44:4; Jn 1:14,16; Eph 3:19; Php 2:6; Col 2:9 dwell in him, 1:19 Dt 12:5
20 and through him to reconcile
everything to himself,
whether things on earth or things in heaven,
by making peace 1:20 Ac 7:26; Eph 2:14
through his blood, 1:20 Heb 9:12 shed on the cross. 1:20 Other mss add through him, 1:20 Lk 9:23; 23:26