{N}1,{/}15 {N}CHRIST, THE BEGINNING AND THE END OF THE UNIVERSE{/}
It is not difficult to see that the passage 1,15-20 is a hymn. It is something like a parenthesis in the text, because without it, one could go normally from verse 14 to verse 21. Yet is not possible to say that it was inserted later in Paul's letter since it serves likewise as the conclusion to the prayer that precedes it and it connects very naturally to what follows.
This exceptional presentation of the place that Christ occupies in God's plan deserves to be dwelled upon. The whole plan of God the Creator is centered upon the Son. He was already present in God as the image of the Father; after his resurrection he becomes the head of that special people of God that is the Church, but at the same time he is the center around which our history revolves. Through him the universe will reach its unity. 
It is known that ever since the resurrection the first christian community believed in Christ as the Messiah and savior of Israel. Besides, from this same moment, it was also believed that he was of divine origin. It is always difficult to exactly state thoughts when words do not exist for this, so for this reason the first Christians and especially the apostles, who were the official witnesses of Jesus, wanted to state exactly in what sense they called him and believed in him as the Son of God.
This word remained imprecise and did not say openly what was in the heart of the christian community: the presence of Jesus through his spirit, the mystery that was half seen in his resurrection and glorification, the central place he now held in the faith to the Unique God. It was clear to all that there is but one God and that Jesus was a human: how could be expressed what was believed and lived?
The spirit, without any doubt, suggested the words. 
During the days preceding Pentecost, besides praying, the community argued and reflected on their faith (Act 1,14). The testimony of Mary about the conception of Jesus must have had more value: that's why Luke mentions it extensively in his first two chapters that proceed from an old document from the churches of Palestine. The testimony of the three witnesses to the Transfiguration was also very important. But it was during the whole generation that saw the preparation of the gospels when the prophets of the primitive Church (among whom Paul should be recognized) made progress in the christian vocabulary; they defined the meaning that the divine rank attributed to Jesus had.
The first step was when Jesus was given the title of {C}Lord{/} (see the comment on John 20,11); the apostles simply applied to him many of the texts throughout the Scriptures where the Lord is none other than Yahweh-God (Mt 21,16; 2Cor 3,16). In this way they proclaimed without any doubt his divine rank. The greetings from Paul in his letters always mention side by side the Father and Jesus as the authors of one grace: the Father is God and Jesus is the Lord (1Cor 1,3; 2Cor 1,2): "Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ". However the situation and the personality of the Son facing the Father was still not defined exactly.
In this respect we have here a very rich text. The whole background of Paul is biblical. In the book of Proverbs, in the most recent part, which should go back to the second or third century before Christ, there is a poem about Wisdom (8,22) where it is presented as a person. Wisdom designates God's active plan about his creation, before the universe, origin of all that exists of order, beauty, and harmony in the world. She comes down to humans, because this is where she fells at her right place, and settles in Israel to inspire their wise men. In the book of Sirach (24,1-29) once again a poem about Wisdom is found in which it is once again personified. But the meaning is slightly changed: Wisdom designates the spirit of the Law this time. It came down from heaven where it celebrated divine worship in its heavenly temple and laid its roots in Jerusalem: it is found as if incarnate in the Book of the Law.
These texts could be compared. Yet if it is true that the hymn in this passage to the Colossians owes its structure to them, it is a fact that this text frees itself of them and is much more audacious: Christ has a rank, a reality, a lordship over the world that was missing in the texts about Wisdom.
{N}15{/} {C}He is the image of the unseen God{/} - Where did Paul find the word {C}image{/} that is not used in the texts on Wisdom? Probably he thought of Gen 1,27 and applied to the Son of Man what is said in this place referring to man. In the same way Heb 2,6 does, interpreting Psalm 8. Hardly in any places in the Bible is the word {C}image{/} associated with God, because the images of God were totally excluded. However there is Num 12,8 where Moses contemplates "the image of God", Psalm 17,15 and Ez 1,28. Even Dt 4,12 which affirms: "You saw no form, only heard his voice", may have spurred him to state, by contrast, that Son made human is the image of the invisible Father.
{C}For all creation he is the firstborn{/}. Here we say {K}for{/} all ... instead of putting{C}: he is the{/} {C}firstborn {N}of{/} all{/} creatures, because in the Bible the firstborn occupies a special place, it is not only the first child. Christ is not created, and Paul refuse to say such a thing although Pro 8,22 says that Wisdom is "created". And the same was said in Sir 24,8 and 9 even when this Wisdom came from God's mouth. Christ is the image from which everything has been created. One cannot make him a super creature prior to all creation (as the Jehovah Witnesses claim) because before the creation there is nothing but God, and what can there be in God that is not eternal and one with him? If he was then the Son (Heb 1,2 and 4) it is because he was not a creature.
{N}16{/} A{C}ll was made for him. {/}Another new element. The one who served Wisdom obtained the favors from Yahweh (Prov 8,35), but here everything is returned to Christ. As it is said already in 1Cor 15,24, he will only hand over the Kingdom once the whole Universe has been made subject to him.
{N}17{/} {C}All things hold together in him{/}. Here we have the principle of the unity of the universe; let us remember that for the Greeks, {C}the all{/}, is also the universe.
{N}19-20{/} {C}Through him God willed to reconcile all things to himself{/} after the blood of his cross has reestablished peace. The redemption is not only reparation for the sins we have committed but is an event of cosmic order. Here we find a point that escapes our notice, because the idea that we have of the universe is what science gives us from what we see, and what we see and measure is a material and physical order: speeds, distances, light years ... But we do not know how a spirit sees this whole, because for him distances do not exist: and what is the reality of the universe in the eyes of God? All the interpretations are then possible and Paul tells us that the deeds performed by the Son, who died in Palestine two thousand years ago, restore the order of the universe.

