¹⁵ He is the exact image of the invisible God, the firstborn of creation, the eternal. ¹⁶ It was by Him that everything was created: the heavens, the earth, all things within and upon them, all things seen and unseen, thrones and dominions, spiritual powers and authorities. Every detail was crafted through His design, by His own hands, and for His purposes. ¹⁷ He has always been! It is His hand that holds everything together. ¹⁸ He is the head of this body, the church. He is the beginning, the first of those to be reborn from the dead, so that in every aspect, at every view, in everything—He is first. ¹⁹ God was pleased that all His fullness should forever dwell in the Son ²⁰ who, as predetermined by God, bled peace into the world by His death on the cross as God’s means of reconciling to Himself the whole creation—all things in heaven and all things on earth.