"All things were created" (Col 1:16) "by Him" (:16) and "through Hiim" (:16). "He is before all things" (:17). "In the beginning was the Word" (Jn 1:1). "Apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being" (:3). This preexistence gives Christ a supremacy or priority and a prominent position in creation. Creation is conditional upon and rests in him. The context of "all things" does not limit creation to only certain areas because it encompasses everything "both in the heavens and on the earth" (Col 1:16). Since they "have been created" (:16) they remain so. "In Him all things hold together" (:17). It was not just based upon a "first cause" and everything evolved afterwards but that Christ sustains creation and directs development on a permanent basis. Paul described creation "both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible" (:15). Here he uses a literary style called a chiasm which juxtaposes twofold categories to define a relationship. The outside members receive emphasis, so heaven/invisible is highest, followed by earth/visible. Heaven is defined as a place above the earth and where spirits reside (and Christians by way of appropriation). In the immediate context, heaven and earth are set apart but combined for purposes of affinity. Paul elaborates saying that "thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities" (:16) have been created. It seems that the reference is to classes of angelic beings since Colossians 2:8-3:4 discusses the subject. It could be that he is answering the hypothesis regarding eons by the Gnostics.
Many scriptures mention together the words rulers, authorities, and power. "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places" (Eph 6:12). "Against" is mentioned five times. However, God "raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion" (Eph 1:20-21). "He is the head over all rule and authority" (Col 2:10). "He had disarmed the rulers and authorities" (:15) and "is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him" (1Pe 3:22). "He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church" (Eph 1:22). Paul was "convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities . . . nor any created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God" (Ro 8:38-39). "The manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places" (Eph 3:10). Then the end comes "when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power" (1Co 15:24).