“Christ” is Not Jesus’ Last Name

A Bible Study on Colossians 1:15-17 - All is One

“[Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

St. Paul writes the Letter to the Colossians to the Christians in the city of Colossae while he is in prison in another city. He encourages the people in their faith and in this section of the letter gives them a larger vision of who Jesus Christ is, and what his role is as the Christ, the Messiah.

One thing to note about this letter is that Paul does not refer to “Jesus.” He refers to “Christ Jesus,” or just “Christ” or “Lord,” but never just “Jesus” alone. This is because Paul, and many theologians, make a distinction between “Jesus,” the human man of history who walked the earth 2,000 years ago, and “Christ,” the anointed one, the Messiah, who is transcendent. In other words, “Christ” is not Jesus’ last name!

During his earthly lifetime, the human Jesus models for us what the perfect balance is between a human and divine nature. He puts his robes on one leg at a time like the rest of us, eats when he is hungry, sleeps when he is tired, yet he is also able to simultaneously connect with God and the transcendent realm in such a profound way that he can heal the sick, walk on water, and turn water into wine. But at the end of the day, he is as human as we are.

The Christ, however, the one who exists beyond space and time, the Son of God, is eternally transcendent. The Christ is God who becomes incarnate in a human form and who, while on earth, is named Jesus. Sure, human Jesus tells parables and drinks at weddings, but Christ, is the one in whom “all things have been created through him and for him” (Col 1:16). The human “Jesus expression of God” is experienced differently by us than the “Christ expression of God.” One is physical and lived in history; the other is transcendent and exists beyond time. “Jesus” and “Christ” are two expressions of the same Being.

Now, all this back and forth about the differences between “Jesus” and “Christ” may seem rather like splitting hairs, but there is a point here. Remember, Paul never meets the human Jesus. Jesus dies long before Paul comes on the scene. But one day, on the road to Damascus, the eternal transcendent Christ speaks to Paul. Therefore, in all of Paul’s writings he speaks about Christ, the transcendent, the one he’s met. There are a few times he refers to the person Jesus, but Paul is less concerned with Jesus’ earthly teachings, than he is about the transcendent effects of the work of Christ. In this portion of the letter to the Colossians Paul trying to describe this transcendent Christ.

For Paul, the transcendent Christ is the first creation out of God (“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” – Col 1:15). He is saying there was a point when God was all that existed, and then God began creating things, and the first thing God created was Christ. And this newly created Christ was created “in the image of God,” was a perfect replica of God, but at the same time WAS God, not a separate God [John 1:1]. And it was through Christ, the image of God, that the rest of creation came to be. All dimensions of reality that we can see, or not, things on earth, as well as the entire cosmos, everything came into being from God, through Christ (see the above icon). This point establishes how tremendously primary Christ is within the universe, and that through him everything is connected and hangs together.

This is sometimes referred to as the Universal Christ or the Cosmic Christ. “Christ is a cosmic life principle in which all beings participate.”[1] One does not need to be a follower of Jesus to be created, loved, and part of the Christ. (As an aside, this is another affirmation that YOU are loved by God beyond measure. There is nothing you can do or be which will alter God’s love for you. Your mere existence is precious to the Divine. You wouldn’t exist otherwise).

The importance of all the above is that connecting the human Jesus with the Cosmic Christ helps underscore the unity of all things.

This Colossians passage says the Christ is primary and of God and holds together all things. God and Jesus are one. This matches Jesus’ observation that,

“The Father and I are one” [John 10:29].

Compare these statements to Jesus’ comment regarding his relationship to humanity,

“I am the vine and you are the branches,” [John 15:5]

and

“Just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.” [Matt 25:40],

where he seems to say that humanity and Jesus are one. Then there are passages which indicate humanity’s relationship with God, that we are eternal beings made as a reflection of God, which sounds, frankly, a lot like how Christ was made.

“God created us for incorruption, and made us in the image of his own eternity,” [Wisdom of Solomon 2:23].

In addition, there are also passages articulating humanity’s relationship to each other and the Divine,

“love God and love neighbor,” [Matt 22:37-39], and even “love your enemy” [Matt 5:44].

and

“So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another” [Romans 12:5].

Christ is God, Jesus is God, Christ is Jesus, we are one with Jesus, we are in the image of God, and we are connected to all other humans through Jesus the Christ and God. From all these passages and more, we get the sense that somehow God, Jesus the Christ, and humanity are all connected. All is One.

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[1] Richard Rohr, https://cac.org/another-name-for-every-thing-the-universal-christ/

All Scripture quotes are from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition