18—20.
10. ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ εὐδόκησεν πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα κατοικῆσαι, 20. καὶ δι αὐτοῦ " ἀποκαταλλάξαι τὰ πάντα εἰς αὐτόν, ' εἰρηνοποιήσας διὰ τοῦ
or Bib. Gk. Elsewhere in Paul καταλ., but Rom. v. 10 (bis); i Prov. x. 10; Hermes in Stob.; only here in N.T.
only.
as parallels, all of which, however, are not clear). ἐκκλ. is here the universal Church.—é 5 ἐστιν: inasmuch as He is. Paul is giving a reason for the position of the Son as ἣ κεφ. τ. σώματος.--- ἀρχή is not to be taken in the sense of ἀπαρχή; nor is it certain that it has, as Lightfoot and others think, the sense of originating power. It is defined by πρωτότ. ἐκ τ. νεκρῶν, and this seems to throw the stress rather on the idea of supremacy than that of priority. There is perhaps a tacit reference to ἀρχαὶ (ver. τ6)ὴ.--πρωτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν: ‘firstborn from among the dead”. In Rev. i. 5 we have ὁ πρωτότοκος τῶν νεκρῶν, which expresses a different idea, If the temporal reference in mp. is the more prominent, the meaning will be that He is the first to pass out of the dominion of death. But if sovereignty is the lead- ing idea, the meaning is that from among the dead He has passed to His throne, where He reigns as the living Lord, who has overcome death, and who, before He surrenders the kingdom to the Father, will abolish it—tva... πρωτεύων: the purpose for which He is ἀρχή, πρωτότ. ἐκ τ. νεκρῶν. He is supreme in the universe. He has to become supreme in relation to the Church. αὐτὸς is emphatic ; ἐν πᾶσιν neuter not masculine, on account of the context.
Ver. 19. This verse with ver. 20 shows how the Son was able to hold the position assigned to Him in ver. 18. Further, this verse leads up to ver. 20. The thought is then: All the fulness dwelt in the Son, therefore reconciliation could be accomplished through the blood of His cross, and so He became the Head ofthe body.—ev8énnoev. Three views are taken as to the subject of the verb. (1) Meyer, Alford, Lightfoot, Oltramare, Haupt and the great majority of commentators supply 6 Θεός as the subject. (2) Ewald, Ellicott, Weiss, Soden and Abbott make πλήρωμα the subject. (3) Conybeare, Hofmann and Findlay supply ὁ υἱός or 6 Χριστός. In favour of (3) the unique emphasis on the sovereignty of Christ in this passage is urged, also that it prepares the way for the reference of ἀποκαταλλάξαι and εἰρηνοποιήσας to Christ, in accordance with Eph. 11, 14-16, ν. 27. It is also