Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Colossians
Chapter 1: In Him All the Fullness Dwells
Colossians was written to guard a church against teachings that would diminish Christ, and its first chapter answers with the highest possible view of Him. Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the One by whom and for whom all things were created, who holds the universe together, and in whom all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. There is no higher place to put Christ, because He is supreme over everything. Colossians 1 lifts our eyes to see how great our Savior truly is.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of Colossians chapter 1. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Greek words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. Colossians exalts the supremacy and all-sufficiency of Christ against every teaching that would diminish Him. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Setting the Stage
The Supremacy of Christ
Colossians was written to counter false teaching that mixed the gospel with philosophy, legalism, and angel-worship. Its answer is the greatness and complete sufficiency of Christ.
The Apostle Paul
Paul wrote to the church at Colossae from prison, likely around AD 60, though he had not personally founded it. The church had been planted by Epaphras.
A Church Under Pressure
A "Colossian heresy" was pressuring believers to add human traditions and spiritual intermediaries to Christ. Chapter 1 answers by exalting Christ as supreme over all creation.
Christ Is Enough
Because all the fullness of God dwells in Christ, He needs no supplement. To have Him is to have everything; nothing may be added to the all-sufficient Savior.
Into the Kingdom of the Son (Colossians 1:13-14)
Before exalting Christ's greatness, Paul reminds believers what Christ has done for them.
Conveyed into His Kingdom
"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother, To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth: As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:"
Greek Study
Two verbs describe our rescue. God "hath delivered us from the power of darkness" — rhyomai, to snatch or rescue from danger, a violent, dramatic word, like pulling someone bodily out of a fire — "and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son" — methistēmi, to transfer or relocate, the word used when a conqueror moved a whole population from one realm to another. We were carried, as it were, across a border out of darkness's dominion. And in the Son "we have redemption" (apolytrōsis, release by ransom), defined immediately as "the forgiveness of sins" (aphesis, a sending away, a debt cancelled rather than merely excused).
Explanation
Paul describes conversion as a change of kingdoms. Every person lives under one of two dominions — "the power of darkness" or "the kingdom of his dear Son" — and salvation is being transferred from one to the other by God's own hand. It is not self-improvement within the old realm but relocation into a new one. And the passport of the new kingdom is redemption, spelled out as forgiveness: the ransomed are the forgiven. To belong to the Son's kingdom is to have one's sins carried away.
Gospel Focus
Salvation is a rescue and a transfer. God "has delivered us from the power of darkness", the domain where we were held captive by sin, and "conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." We did not gradually improve our way out; we were carried across from one kingdom to another. And this deliverance came "through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." Every believer has been moved, by grace, out of darkness and into the reign of Christ. This is the wonder Peter proclaims: God "called you out of darkness into his marvellous light" (1 Peter 2:9). Before Paul shows us how great Christ is, he reminds us how much Christ has done for us. The One who is supreme over all creation stooped to redeem us.
By Him All Things Were Created (Colossians 1:15-17)
Paul rises to one of the highest declarations of Christ's greatness in all of Scripture.
All Things Consist in Him
"For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence."
Greek Study
"Image," eikon (εἰκών). Not a mere copy but the visible manifestation of the invisible. Christ is "the image of the invisible God" (verse 15), the One in whom the God no one can see is made visible and known.
"Consist," synistemi (συνίστημι). To hold together, to cohere. The universe does not merely run by impersonal laws; it is held together moment by moment in Christ. He is not only the Creator but the sustainer of all that is.
Explanation
Paul sets forth the absolute supremacy of Christ. He is "the image of the invisible God" — the invisible God made visible — and "the firstborn of every creature." "Firstborn" here marks not origin but rank: as God made David, the youngest son, His "firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth" (Psalm 89:27), so Christ holds the heir's supremacy over all creation. The proof follows: "by him were all things created," visible and invisible, thrones and dominions; "all things were created by him, and for him." He is before all, "and by him all things consist" — hold together. The Creator and Sustainer of the universe cannot be a mere creature within it.
Gospel Focus
This is as high as language can reach. The Jesus who was born in Bethlehem is the One "by whom all things were created," who is "before all things," and in whom "all things consist." He is the image of the invisible God, the visible expression of the God no eye can see, the same truth John declares: the Word who was God became flesh and "declared Him" (John 1:18). Every created thing, seen and unseen, came into being through Him and exists for Him, and He holds it all together this very moment. The Savior who redeemed us is the Sustainer of the universe. No teaching that reduces Christ to a mere angel, prophet, or created being can stand before this passage. He is supreme, and He is enough.
All the Fullness in Him (Colossians 1:19-20)
Paul states the reason Christ is supreme: the fullness of God Himself dwells in Him.
It Pleased the Father
"For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily."
Greek Study
"It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell" — plērōma, the sum-total of the divine nature, which Paul will soon say dwells in Christ "bodily" (2:9). And that indwelling fulness has a purpose: "having made peace through the blood of his cross, to reconcile all things" — apokatallassō, to change from enmity to friendship. The whole fulness of God dwells in Christ, and out of that fulness flows a peace bought with blood.
Explanation
The remedy for a fractured universe is the cross. All the divine fulness resides in Christ, and God was pleased, through that fulness, to "reconcile all things unto himself... whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." The peace was not spoken into being by decree but purchased — "made peace through the blood of his cross." The costliest thing in the universe, the blood of God incarnate, was the price of cosmic reconciliation. What sin shattered, the cross heals.
Gospel Focus
Here is the summit of the chapter and the heart of the Apostolic faith: "in Him all the fullness should dwell." Paul says it even more plainly two chapters later: "in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9). All that God is, His fullness, dwells in Jesus Christ. He is not a portion of God or a lesser emanation; the fullness of God dwells in Him. This is why He is supreme and sufficient, and why nothing may be added to Him. And this same fullness of God, dwelling in Christ, reconciled us to Himself "through the blood of His cross." The God in whom all fullness dwells is the God who bled to make peace with us. To have Christ is to have all the fullness of God; to add anything to Him is to imagine that God is not enough. He is more than enough.
Chapter 1 in Review
Colossians 1 answers every teaching that would diminish Christ by exalting Him to the highest place. Paul first reminds believers that God has delivered them from the power of darkness and redeemed them through Christ's blood. Then he rises to the heights: Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the One by whom, through whom, and for whom all things were created, who is before all things and holds the universe together. And the reason for His supremacy is stated plainly: it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and through His blood He reconciled us to God.
For the Apostolic reader, this chapter is a mountain peak of truth about Christ. The Savior who redeemed us is the Creator and Sustainer of all things, the visible image of the invisible God, in whom all the fullness of God dwells. No teaching that reduces Him can survive this passage. Because all fullness is in Christ, He is supreme over everything and sufficient for everyone. To have Him is to have all of God, for in Him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.
- Salvation is a rescue: delivered from darkness and conveyed into the kingdom of Christ.
- Christ is the image of the invisible God, Creator and Sustainer of all things (John 1:18).
- All the fullness of God dwells in Christ; He is supreme and sufficient (Colossians 2:9).
- The God in whom all fullness dwells made peace with us through the blood of His cross.
Questions for Reflection
- How does seeing Christ as the Creator and Sustainer of all things enlarge your worship of Him?
- "In Him all the fullness should dwell." What does it mean for your faith that all of God dwells in Jesus?
- Are you ever tempted to add something to Christ, as if He were not enough? How does this chapter answer that?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). The Greek terms are standard and can be checked in any lexicon. Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- Delivered from darkness, redeemed through His blood: Colossians 1:13-14; 1 Peter 2:9.
- Christ the image of God, Creator and Sustainer of all: Colossians 1:15-17; John 1:1-3; Hebrews 1:2-3.
- All the fullness dwelling in Christ: Colossians 1:19; 2:9.
- Reconciliation through the blood of the cross: Colossians 1:20-22; 2 Corinthians 5:19.
- The invisible God made known in the Son: John 1:18.