ous body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself, (iii. 21.)
Colossians i. 15-20, is expressly designed to set forth the true Godhead of Christ in opposition to the errors springing from the emanation theory, which liad already begun to prevail in the churches of Asia Minor. This passage sets forth the relation of Christ, first to God, and secondly to the universe, and thirdly to the Church. Here, as in so many other places of Scripture, the predicates of the Adyo? acrap/cos and of the Adyos evo-apKos, are min- gled together. As in Heb. i. 2, 3, the Son is said to have created all things, and to be the brightness of the Father's glory, and also to have made purification for sin ; so here part of what is said belongs to the Logos as existing from eternity, and part belongs to Him as clothed in our nature. It was the Adyos ao-apKos who is declared to be the image of the invisible God and creator of all things ; and it is the Adyos evcrapKos who is declared to be the head of the Church. The relation of Chi'ist to God, in this passage is expressed, (1.) By the words just quoted, " He is the image of the invisible God." He is so related to God that He reveals what God is, so that those who see Him, see God, those who know Him, know God, and those who hear Him, hear God. He is the brightness of God's glory, and his express image. (2.) His relation to God is also expressed by saying that He is begotten from eternity, or the only begotten Son. The words TrpwrdroKos TrdoTys KTicrews are indeed variously ex- plained. By Socinians they are made to mean that He was the head of the new dispensation ; by Arians that He was the first created of all rational creatures ; by many orthodox interpreters TrpcoTOTOKos is takcu in its secondary sense, of head or chief. They therefore understand the Apostle to say that Christ is the ruler or head over the whole creation. All these interpretations, however, are inconsistent with the proper meaning of the words, with the context, and with the analogy of Scripture. npwrdroKos means born before. What Christ is said to have been born before, is ex- pressed by TTtto-Tjs KTto-cws. Hc was born (or begotten) before any or every creature, i. g., before creation, or from eternity. All the arguments adduced in a preceding chapter in proof of the eternal generation of the Son, are arguments in favour of this interpreta- tion. Besides, the Arian interpretation is inconsistent with the meaning of the words. That interpretation assumes that the gen- itive irda-T^s KTto-ecus is to be taken partitively, so that Christ is said to
516 PART I. — THEOLOGY. [Ch. VH.— Divinity of Chrmt
be a part of the creation, the first of creatures, as He is said to be the first of those who rose from the dead, when He is called Trporo- TOKos Twv veKpQiv. But TTaaa ktictls does not mean the whole creation, as indicating the class or category to which Christ belongs, but everi/ creature, as indicating a relation or comparison ; Christ is the first begotten as to every creature, {. e., begotten before any crea- ture (i. e., eternally, according to the constant usage of Scripture, for what is before creation is eternal.) Besides, the connection re- quires this interpretation. The Apostle proves that Christ is the image of the invisible God, and the TrpordroKos Trdcrrjs KTiaews by an argument which proves that He cannot be a creature ; and therefore the birth of which he speaks must be before time. Secondly, the re- lation of Christ to the univei'se is expressed in this passage by say- ing, (1.) That He is the Creator of all things. This is amplified, as the all things are declared to include all that are in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, rational and irrational, however exalted, even thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers ; that is, the ■whole hierarchy of the spiritual world. (2.) He is not only the author but the end of the creation, for all things Avere not only created by Him, but for Him. (3.) He upholds all things ; by Him all things consist, i. e., are preserved in being, life, and order. Thirdly, Christ is the head of the Church, the source of life and grace to all its members. For in Him " all fulness," the plenitude of divine blessings dwells. In chapter ii. 3, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (^. e., all knowledge or omniscience) are said to dwell in Christ ; and in ii. 9, that He is filled with " the fulness of the Godhead." This is very different from the TrXrjpwixa mentioned in i. 19, where the Apostle is speaking of what Beza calls " cumulatissima omnium divinarum rerum copia, ex qua, tan- quam inexhausto fonte, oranes gratias in corpus pro cujusque mem- bri modulo deriventur; " ^ but here the reference is to the divine being, nature, or essence itself, to irXrjpwjxa t-^s OeoTrjros. The word 6e6Tr}<; is abstract of ^eo's as Oeiorrj? is of ^eios ; the former means God- head, that which makes God, God ; the latter means divinity, that which renders divine. The entire plenitude of the divine essence (not a mere emanation of that essence as the rising sect of the Gnostics taught), dwells (KarotKet permanently abides, it is no tran- sient manifestation) in Him bodily, o-w/AartKws, invested with a body. The Godhead in its fulness is incarnate in Christ. He is, therefore, not merely t/eo's but 6 ^co's in the highest sense. More than Paul says cannot be said.
1 In he. edit. Geneva, 1565, p. 423.