Preeminence of Christ

Dear brethren

Today's readings
Numbers 8-11; Colossians 1

Colossians 1:15-18
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 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 him, and for him:
And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

Aha! There you have it! Christ is the image and hence a created being. Really? And yet immediately, Paul goes on to state the fact that Christ is the Creator! How can a creator in this sense be also a creature?
Image here is used in contrast to invisible. Here is a assurance that Christ, as a human was the very manifestation of God. Wherefore as the prophet Isaiah spoke of and later confirmed by Matthew, Christ was "Emmanuel" or God with us. As is the use of "firstborn of every creature" which in no way saying Christ was a creature but the very begotten of God and that he had the preeminence over ALL creation, as we read in the last part of v. 18
What about first born from the dead? The word "from" should really be better rendered "out of" or "from among". And "dead" is quite obviously not talking about physical death but since there is the previous reference to the church, which consists of those saved from spiritual death, the "dead" refers to the spiritual dead, those separated from God, and Christ being the first to die AND be resurrected set the pattern for salvation in Him, hence in that sense the "firstborn".
All in all, the unmistakable message sent to the saints is the preeminence of Christ both from the creation and salvation standpoint. Why was Paul being so thorough and even to the point of bordering on redundancy (which really is not. Any repetition in the scripture means emphasis)? It was partly because of the so-called "Colossians heresy" that had arose which was largely due to the influence of the gnostics (which was a movement promoting mysticism and what we often term now the "conspiracy theories"), that had thumbed down the role and status of Christ.
Rest assured, there is no "conspiracy"! Everything is crystal clear to whom would hear and take heed (v. 26-28). Christ is the only answer. It is through Him that we have peace and reconciliation  with God (v. 20). Let us continue to take comfort and be diligent to keep ourselves and teach others so, that we may finally attain the hope of eternal glory.