Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 69:2 (NA 2018)
Article: ‘King Of Kings’ In Other Words Colossians 1:15a As A Designation Of Authority Rather Than Revelation
Author: Christopher S. Northcott

TynBull 69:2 (2018) p. 205

‘King Of Kings’ In Other Words
Colossians 1:15a As A Designation Of Authority Rather Than Revelation

Christopher S. Northcott

([email protected])

Summary

Colossians 1:15a is typically understood to designate Jesus as the way in which the otherwise unknowable God can be known by human beings. Support for this conclusion is drawn from Hellenistic Judaism, Greek philosophy, and theology merely inferred from the ‘image of God’ concept in Genesis 1:26–28. However, a more satisfactory reading of this verse sees in it a presentation of Jesus as Yahweh’s representative ruler of the earth. There are several supports for this reading: (1) the explicit development of the ‘image of God’ concept in Genesis; (2) parallel uses of the ‘image of God’ concept in ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman sources; (3) the modification made to the preposition in Colossians 1:15a; (4) an alternative reading of the word ‘invisible’; and (5) the subsequent phrase in Colossians 1:15b, ‘firstborn of all creation’. By describing Jesus in such a way, he is presented as the legitimate ruler of the world, potentially in deliberate contrast to the world rulers of that day: the emperors of Rome, who were thus viewed by the merit of their special relationship with their gods.

1. Introduction

In the fewest possible words, the purpose of the Colossian ‘hymn’ of Colossians 1:15–20 is to state that ‘Jesus is Lord’. The exalted picture painted therein presents him in a manner rarely seen elsewhere in the New Testament writings, using language and assertions that declare him to be the master of all things whether in the heavens or on the

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earth, whether they can be seen or cannot be seen, whether they belong to the old era or the new era. The opening ascription of 1:15a, however, is frequently understood in a different light. The claim that the Son is the ‘image of the invisible God’ has been taken to designate a revelatory function instead.1 Justification for this understanding is generally derived from Hellenistic sources surrounding the concept of ‘wisdom’, as shall be seen below.

This article argues that Colossians 1:15a is better understood when it remains grounded in Genesis 1. The original occurrenc...