That Christ is the word means more than just “word” by itself. It means that He is God’s communication, his mouth piece to man and the expression of himself to his people. In the beginning God created the world by speaking it into existence: there’s Christ. He is the creator, as it says in Colossians, “He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of creation, for all things were created by him, whether, thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things for in him all things hold together.” He is God’s creative power. That means that all physical things even on this earth are expressions of Christ (that is, in their perfect form before the fall).

The only way we know God is in his communication to us, and his communication, or word, is Jesus. So when God wanted to communicate salvation to us, it is his word that he sent to become flesh and communicate all of his love, and all of his will in redemption, ‘explaining’ through his own actions the gospel, as he himself was and is the gospel, the word of truth.

He is called the first-born of creation because he created all things, but also because he himself became a part of creation and as such was the only perfect created man; thus he is said to be the firstborn, meaning the best, but also meaning that he became apart of creation, while having existed long before creation. Because of his power as creator and the first born of creation, the new creation, it is he who has the power to create new life in us and make us a part of the new creation. He did so at the beginning of the world by creating all things through his word, and he does so now by creating in us new life by his word, the gospel, Jesus himself in his death and resurrection.