Chapter XIV – The Purpose of Christ: Substitution or Inclusion?
[Christ] is the Image of the invisible God, Firstborn of every creature, for in Him is all created, that in the heavens and that on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, or lordships, or sovereignties, or authorities, all is created through Him and for Him, and He is before all, and all has its cohesion in Him. And He is the Head of the body, the ecclesia, Who is Sovereign; Firstborn from among the dead, that in all He may be becoming first, for in Him the entire complement delights to dwell, and through Him to reconcile all to Him (making peace through the blood of His cross,) through Him, whether those on earth or those in the heavens. The reconciliation of all depends upon the creation of all. Therefore, any doctrine that denies Christ’s antecedent relation to creation cannot sustain the evangel’s universal scope, and cannot grasp the secret of Christ as revealed in Colossians 1. Colossians 1:15-20 does not explicitly refer to sin, evil, or the like. This ...