Paul's hymn in Colossians 1:15-20 has two parts. The first pertains to who Christ is saying, "He is the image of the invisible God" (:15). The second deals with his purpose saying, "He is also head of the body, the church" (:18). The two halves are tied together with his being "the firstborn of all creation" (:15) and "the firstborn from the dead" (:18). We have seen that "firstborn" doesn't have a time connotation per se but rather means that Christ has prominent position and primacy in authority "so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything" (:18). He is "the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth" (Rev 1:5). He is "the Son of God with power . . . by the resurrection from the dead" (Ro 1:4). However, there is a time orientation because "He is before all things" (:17) and "He is the beginning" (:18). At a point in time he "made peace through the blood of His cross" (:20). The Greek text places the thoughts "He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead" (:18) side by side in an appositional relationship so that the second restates or interprets the first. Paul stated that "we have testified of God that He raised up Christ" (1Co 15:15) and that "Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits" (:20). In Israel's grain harvest some grains ripened first before the main harvest and they could be gathered representing the firstfruits. The Father "brings the firstborn into the world" (Heb 1:6) so that there would be those "predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He could be the firstborn among many brethren" (Ro 8:29). They would become the "church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven . . . [who are] the spirits of the righteous made perfect" (Heb 12:23). He has "raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph 2:6).
Jesus initiated an age of redemption by his sacrifice at the cross and, as such, "He is the beginning" (Col 1:18). It required a new direction "from the dead" (:18) because the status quo was that through Adam "came death" (1Co 15:21) and "in Adam all die" (:22). But fortunately we are "buried with Him through baptism into death" (Ro 6:4) and by Christ "came the resurrection of the dead" (1Co 15:21). "When we were dead in trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ" (Eph 2:5). Because the Holy Spirit "dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies" (Ro 8:11). Everyone who "believes in Him may have everlasting life" (Jn 6:40) and we "should walk in newness of life" (Ro 6:4). There is "neither Greek nor Jew" (Col 3:11), "slave nor free . . . [or] male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3:28) and "Christ is all and in all" (Col 3:11). "Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits" (1Co 15:20) and "by Man also came the resurrection of the dead" (:21) so that "all shall be made alive" (:22). But is anything postponed? It says it happens "afterward [to] those who are Christ's at His coming" (:23). Jesus said, "'I will raise him up at the last day'" (Jn 6:40) and "in a moment . . . at the last trumpet . . . the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (1Co 15:52). Some of these dead are those who had been killed (Rev 20:4) and "the rest of the dead did not live again" (:4) for a while. It is the "first resurrection" (:5). There are also those "who are alive until the coming of the Lord" (1Th 4:15) who "shall be caught up together with them in the clouds" (:17). In this context Christ's resurrection is a promise of a new life and a sign of things to come.