The Pulpit Commentary — Colossians — Section 15

II. Ver. JS. (<!) And Ht1 is the Hood of the body, the Church: (a) 'Who i& (the) Beginning, Firstborn out of the dead th1<t in all things Ho might become pre-e;ninont: Yer. rn. (b) For in Him he WBB pleased thnt all the fulncss should dwell• Yer, 20. (d) And through Him to reconcile all things unto Him hnving made peace through the blood of his cross,-thro~gh Him • (c,) Whether the things on the oo.rth, or the thiugs in the h~vens. I. (a) In virtue of his relation to God, Christ religious and civil capacity nnd in hia is at onre (b) ground of creation, (c) both in eovereign_!Y within _the hou;e (Gen. xxv. lu,a..-cn and on earth, and at the same time 31 : x.xn1. 29; xhx. 3 ; Deut. xxi. 17 ; ( d) its meam and its end; he is, therefore, l Chron. v. 1). But natural. precedence ae (f) supreme over the universe, precondition- in tl1_c _case of ~sau a~d Ja?Ob, may yield ing it,; e.xisten<'e. constituting its unity. IL to D1vme election, which gives e. unique In a similar sense he is (e) Head of the sacredness and separ.\teneas to the position Church, (a) in nrtne of his new relation to nnd title of the firstbom. So Israel is mn.n, which makes him (b) ground., (d) Jehovah'sfirstborn among the nations (Exod. means, and end of reconciliation also, (e) i'I". 22, 23: Jer. xxxi. 9). What belonged whether on earth or in heaven. to the chosen people under this title is, in "Ver. 15.-Who is Image of God the in- the language of Ps. Ixxxix. 27, concentrated visible ( eh. ii. 9 : Phil. ii. 6; 2 Cor. iv. 4; on the person of the Messianic King, the Heh. i. 1-3; xL 27; John i. 1-3, 18; elect Son of David; and firstborn became v. 37, 38; l Tim. i 17: Exod. miii a standing designation of the Messiah. 20; Job n:iii. 8, 9). On" image" (,l,c~v), The apostle has already applied it to Christ see Lightfoot's full discnssion; and Trench's in bis relation to the Church (Rom. viii. 29 ; • Synonyms.' The word is well defined by see below, ver. 18), BB being not the eldest Philo (' On Dreams,' i. § 40) : " The image simply, bot one intrinsically superior to -no imitation, bnt the very archetypal and sovereign over those whom he claims representation itself (avTo Tb ii.pxiT111rov for his brethren (comp. Rom. xiv. 9). Here ,ilio,)." This title the apostle had before the historical birthright and actual sove- conferred on Christ in 2 Cor. iv. 4. reignty of the Lord Jesus Christ within the There it is in the moral and redemptional Church are nffirmed to rest upon an original attributes of the Godhead, manifest in primacy over the universe itself. He is not "the illumination of the gospel," that the Church's only, but "all creation's First- Jmu Christ (ver. 6), the incarnate Redeemer, born" (comp. Heh. iiL 3-6, "Son over his appears as " the Image of God : " here the own honse "-the house of him "who built title is put upon him as representing the all things"). The phrase is synonymous invisible God in all that pertains to nature with the " Heir of all things" of Heh. i. 2, and creation. The Colossia.n error rested o.nd the "Only-begotten" of John i. 18. on a philosophical dwi.lism. It 11SSUII1ed an So far were the titles Firstborn and Only- absolute separation between the infinite God begotten from excluding each other in and the finite, material world, which WBB Jewish thought that Israel is designated viewed as the work of lower and more or " God's firetborn, only-begotten," in the less evil powers. To counteract it, there- apocryphal Paa.I.me of Solomon (xviii. 4; fore, the apostle's argument mnst go down also 4 Eadr. vi 58) ; end so entirely had ro the foundation of things, and seeks for the former become a title of sovereignty that a true conception of the universe on which God himself is called " Firstborn of the to ground itself. Accordingly, in this and world" (Rabbi Bechai: see Lightfoot). tbe following verses, Le hBBes the redeeming Philo uses the equivalent "P"'To-yovos of the work of "the Word made fiesh who dwelt Divine Word as the seat of the archetypal amoog us," set forth in his previons Epistles, ideas after which creation was framed. upon that of "the Word who W&B with God Thie phrase hBB been a. famous battle-ground in the beginning, who wae God, and of controversy. It was a chief stronghold through whom all things were made." He of the Arians, wl.to read "of (out of) all avoids, however, the term Logoa, which creation" as partitive genitive. Thie in- IDlllil have been perfectly familiar to him in terpretation, while grammatically allowable, thiB coe11eetion-poasibly to prevent misnn- is exegetically and historically impossible. dentana.ing ( see Introduction,§§ i, 7). P'irst- Forvere.16 and 17 expressly and emphatically born of all creation (Rom. viii 29; Heh. i. distinguish between "him" and "the all 2, 6: John i. 18; Pc. l:u.xiL 27). (On things" of creation. The idea of the Son of "finltbom," see again Lightfoot's invaluable God .being pa.rt of creation wu foreign to St. ~l.t:.) Pnm<,geniture in early ages carried Paul's mind ( oh. ii. 9: 1 Cor. viii. 6: Phil. with it the rights of full heirship, involving ii. 6-8), and to the thought of his day. representation of the father both in his Had ench a misunderstanding occurred to OD, L 1-29,] THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 9