He is the image of the invisible God… (Colossians 1:15)
He is. Essentially and permanently (John 1:1-3; 1 John 1:1). He was so before creation, He was so in His incarnation, and He will be so for eternity. He eternally “is” the image of the invisible God.
the image of the invisible God. He is the visible manifestation of that in God which is invisible and incommunicable (Phil. 2:6; Heb. 1:3; John 1:18; 14:9; 2 Cor. 4:4; 1 Tim. 3:16). “Image” here means more than “likeness,” which can be incidental and superficial. Jesus is the exact and perfect representation and revelation of God (He is the “Logos” of God). He does not merely look like God; He embodies God, He is God. He is the very substance of God. He is the perfect and total expression of God, possessing all the elements and attributes of His nature. He is the complete and absolute manifestation of God. Only God Himself can fully reveal God. Jesus reveals more than the will of God or the character of God; He reveals the fullness of God (2:9). He is the visible image of the invisible God.
The universe, in contrast, only declares the power and glory of God (Rom. 1:20; Ps. 19:1); it does not embody it. Created man reflects the image and likeness of God (1 Cor. 11:7; Gen. 1:26-27; 9:6; Jam. 3:9), but is not one with Him. Man was only a faint and fractional representation of God even when he was first created, and now he is corrupted and defaced by sin.
the invisible God. That God is “invisible” does not merely mean that He cannot be seen with the bodily eye, but that He is unknowable. Cf. 1 Tim. 1:17; Rom. 1:20; Heb. 11:27; Ex. 33:20; 1 Tim. 6:16. In the Lord Jesus, the unknowable God becomes known (1 John 1:1).
(From The Preeminence and All-Sufficiency of Jesus Christ: A Brief Exposition of Colossians.)
