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Colossians 1:17
Christ the Sustainer
Colossians 1:17
He is before all things, and in him all things are held together.
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Why it is worth knowing
- “Before all things”: Christ’s pre-existence is asserted absolutely
- “In him all things are held together”: creation is upheld by Christ’s active power
- This is not a past act but a present reality: Christ is currently sustaining all things
- The universe’s coherence is a theological fact, not merely a physical one
Where it sits: Colossians 1:15-18
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible things and invisible things, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things are held together. He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Hear the passage it sits in, sung word for word, on BibleDo's Colossians page.
Background
Colossians 1:15-20 is one of the most exalted Christological passages in the New Testament. Paul is addressing a community facing the “Colossian heresy”: a syncretistic philosophy that diminished Christ’s supremacy by inserting angelic intermediaries and human regulations. Paul’s response is to declare Christ’s absolute supremacy over all creation. The phrase “all things are held together” (sunesteken) is a present perfect: describing an ongoing state that began and continues. Without Christ’s active sustaining power, the universe would dissolve into chaos. This is not metaphor but metaphysics.