Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word

Colossians 1:15

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

KJV

ὅς ἐστιν εἰκὼν τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου, πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως,

Greek NT

qui est imago Dei invisibilis, primogenitus omnis creaturæ :

Vulgate

who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;

ASV

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

Douay-Rheims

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In the original Greek

9 distinct Greek words appear in this verse.

εἰκών
eikon
noun · 23×
εἰμί
eimi
verb · 2461×
θεός
theos
noun · 1311×
κτίσις
ktisis
noun · 19×
πρωτότοκος
prototokos
adjective · 8×
πᾶς
pas
adjective · 1226×
ἀόρατος
aoratos
adjective · 5×
ὁ
o
article · 19778×
ὅς
os
relative_pronoun · 1404×

Intertextual echoes

This verse quotes or alludes to 1 earlier text.

  • Gen 1:26 · echo
    "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon…"
    Genesis: image of God — Christ as the image of the invisible God

Themes

Doctrines that cite this verse

Historic Christian voices

30 passages from patristic writers, Reformers, and church catechisms citing this verse.

§142By his Revelation, "the invisible God, from the fullness of his love, addresses men as his friends, and moves among them, in order to invite and receive them into his own company."1 The adequate response to this invitation is faith.
§241For this reason the apostles confess Jesus to be the Word: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God"; as "the image of the invisible God"; as the "radiance of the glory of God and the very stamp of his nature".65
§299Because God creates through wisdom, his creation is ordered: "You have arranged all things by measure and number and weight."151 The universe, created in and by the eternal Word, the "image of the invisible God", is destined for and addressed to man, himself created in the "image of God" and called to a personal relationship with God.152 Our human understanding, which shares in…
…and 2 more from this source.
1. God will not have us listen to the words and sentences contained in the Scriptures carelessly, but with much attention. This is why the blessed David has prefixed in many places to his Psalms the title for understanding, and has said, Open Thou my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your Law. Psalm 32:42, etc.; Psalm 119:18 And after him his son again shows that w…
§36However for the good of all We wish to touch on this point briefly. And first of all it is clear that the Son of God and of the Blessed Virgin is to be called the head of the Church by reason of His singular pre-eminence. For the Head is in the highest place. But who is in a higher place than Christ God, who as the Word of the Eternal Father must be acknowledged to be the "firs…
§34This truth, which God reveals to us in Jesus Christ, is not opposed to the truths which philosophy perceives. On the contrary, the two modes of knowledge lead to truth in all its fullness. The unity of truth is a fundamental premise of human reasoning, as the principle of non-contradiction makes clear. Revelation renders this unity certain, showing that the God of creation is a…
The rock and the gate are the Son of God. I said, "Sir, how is it that the rock is old, but the gate is new?" "Listen," said he, "and understand, thou ignorant man. The Son of God is older than all His creation, so that He was a counsellor with the Father in creating all things. Therefore also the rock is old." "But the gate, why is it new, Sir?" I asked. "Because," said he, "H…
Preface. 1. All who believe and are assured that grace and truth were obtained through Jesus Christ, and who know Christ to be the truth, agreeably to His own declaration, I am the truth, derive the knowledge which incites men to a good and happy life from no other source than from the very words and teaching of Christ. And by the words of Christ we do not mean those only which…
Chapter 1. On God. 1. I know that some will attempt to say that, even according to the declarations of our own Scriptures, God is a body, because in the writings of Moses they find it said, that our God is a consuming fire; and in the Gospel according to John, that God is a Spirit, and they who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Fire and spirit, according to t…
Chapter 1 The first book of our answer to the treatise of Celsus, entitled A True Discourse, which concluded with the representation of the Jew addressing Jesus, having now extended to a sufficient length, we intend the present part as a reply to the charges brought by him against those who have been converted from Judaism to Christianity. And we call attention, in the first pl…
1. How Christians are the Spiritual Israel. That people which was called of old the people of God was divided into twelve tribes, and over and above the other tribes it had the levitical order, which itself again carried on the service of God in various priestly and levitical suborders. In the same manner, it appears to me that the whole people of Christ, when we regard it in t…
1 And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In the preceding section, my revered brother Ambrosius, brother formed according to the Gospel, we have discussed, as far as is at present in our power, what the Gospel is, and what is the beginning in which the Word was, and what the Word is which was in the beginning. We now come to consider the next point in the work before …
1. Jesus Comes to Capernaum. Statements of the Four Evangelists Regarding This. After this John 2:12-25 He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brothers and His disciples; and there they abode not many days. And the passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and He found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers…
1. Relation of the Baptist to Elijah. The Theory of Transmigration Considered. The disciples asked Him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elijah must first come? Matthew 17:10 The disciples indeed who went up with Jesus remembered the traditions of the scribes concerning Elijah, that before the advent of Christ, Elijah would come and prepare for Him the souls of those who w…
1. The Power of Harmony in Relation to Prayer. Again I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them. Matthew 18:19 The word symphony is strictly applied to the harmonies of sounds in music. And there are indeed among musical sounds some accordant and others discordant. But the Evangelic Scripture is fam…
63. Not then because He was from the Father was He called 'First-born,' but because in Him the creation came to be; and as before the creation He was the Son, through whom was the creation, so also before He was called the First-born of the whole creation, not the less was the Word Himself with God and the Word was God. But this also not understanding, these irreligious men go …
Is the image of God in man? Is the image of God in irrational creatures? Is the image of God in the angels more than in man? Is the image of God in every man? Is the image of God in man by comparison with the Essence, or with all the Divine Persons, or with one of them? Is the image of God in man, as to his mind only? Is the image of God in man's power or in his habits and acts…
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made both in heaven and on earth.
Heidelberg Catechism · 2 passages
Q. Why is he called God's only begotten Son when we also are children of God? A. Because Christ alone is the eternal, natural Son of God. We, however, are adopted children of God — adopted by grace through Christ.
Q. What does it mean that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary? A. That the eternal Son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God, took to himself, through the working of the Holy Spirit, from the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary, a truly human nature so that he might become David's true descendant, like his brothers in every way except for si…
We believe that Jesus Christ, according to his divine nature, is the only Son of God—eternally begotten, not made or created, for then he would be a creature. He is one in essence with the Father; coeternal; the exact image of the person of the Father, and the "reflection of his glory," being in all things like him. He is the Son of God not only from the time he assumed our nat…
We further believe and teach that the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, was predestinated or foreordained from eternity by the Father to be the Savior of the world. And we believe that he was born, not only when he assumed flesh of the Virgin Mary, and not only before the foundation of the world was laid, but by the Father before all eternity in an inexpressible manner. The So…
He who is first begotten is called first-born , whether he is only-begotten or the first of a number of brothers. If then the Son of God was called first-born, but was not called Only-begotten, we could imagine that He was the first-born of creatures, as being a creature. But since He is called both first-born and Only-begotten, both senses must be preserved in His case. We say…
Christ is not a man who was promoted to deity but the eternal Son who is true God of true God, Light of Light, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father. He is the exact image of the Father, through whom all things were made. Cyril traces the titles of Christ — Son, Lord, Jesus, Christ — showing that each reveals a different aspect of His divine person and saving work…
God transcends all human categories and cannot be captured by any name, concept, or definition. He is not a genus, not a species, not a quality, not a quantity — He is beyond all predication. And yet this unknowable God has made Himself known through His Son, who is the image of the invisible God. The negative theology of Clement anticipates the later apophatic tradition while …

Cross-references

  • 1Tim 1:17 — Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
  • 1Tim 1:17 — Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
  • 1Tim 6:16 — Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
  • 1Tim 6:16 — Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
  • 2Cor 4:4 — In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
  • 2Cor 4:4 — In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
  • 2Cor 4:6 — For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
  • 2Cor 4:6 — For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
  • Col 1:13 — Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
  • Col 1:16 — 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 hi
  • Col 1:16 — 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 hi
  • Col 1:17 — And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
  • Col 2:2 — That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of C
  • Deut 4:12 — And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.
  • Eph 1:21 — Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
  • Exod 24:10 — And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.
  • Ezek 1:26 — And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man a
  • Gen 1:26 — And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over
  • Gen 1:27 — So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
  • Heb 1:3 — Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the
  • Heb 1:3 — Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the
  • Heb 1:6 — And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
  • Heb 1:6 — And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
  • Heb 11:27 — By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.
  • Isa 40:18 — To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
  • Isa 46:5 — To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?
  • Jer 32:17 — Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:
  • John 1:1 — In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
  • John 1:14 — And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
  • John 1:18 — No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
  • John 1:18 — No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
  • John 3:16 — For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
  • John 6:46 — Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.
  • John 8:19 — Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.
  • John 12:45 — And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.
  • John 14:7 — If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
  • John 14:9 — Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
  • John 14:9 — Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
  • John 15:24 — If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
  • John 17:5 — And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.