Thread by @gpackiam

The “Christ-hymn” in Colossians 1 deals with two great themes of Jewish theology: Creation and Redemption. The God who created would redeem what He made, and has the power to do so because He made it.

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Because God is the Creator, all that is created is worth redeeming. Because God is the Redeemer, all that is created can be redeemed. One speaks of the value of creation; the other to the power of redemption.

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Paul, without displacing YHWH, gives Christ primacy in and supremacy over both creation and redemption. In fact, he says God was acting in and through Christ in both creation and redemption.

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This is possible because Christ is the true Human (“image of God”), the true Israel (“firstborn”)...and because Christ is the true God (“in Him the fullness of God take up residence”).

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The Church— of whom Christ is the Head— appears near the middle of the “Christ-hymn”. The Church exists in the space between creation & redemption. We are part of the created order, yet as the redeemed we participate in new creation...but await resurrection.

(And as always, I owe these insights to the work of @profntwright in his @TyndaleHouse commentary on Colossians.)