Col 1:15, 18 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 15. Who is the image of the invisible God ] The counterpart of God Almighty, and if the image of the invisible God, consequently nothing that appeared in him could be that image ; for if it could be visible in the Son , it could also be visible in the Father ; but if the Father be invisible , consequently his image in the Son must be invisible also. This is that form of God of which he divested himself; the ineffable glory in which he not only did not appear, as to its splendour and accompaniments , but concealed also its essential nature; that inaccessible light which no man, no created being, can possibly see. This was that Divine nature, the fulness of the Godhead bodily , which dwelt in him. The first-born of every creature ] I suppose this phrase to mean the same as that, : God hath given him a name which is above every name ; he is as man at the head of all the creation of God; nor can he with any propriety be considered as a creature , having himself created all things, and existed before any thing was made. If it be said that God created him first, and that he, by a delegated power from God, created all things, this is most flatly contradicted by the apostle's reasoning in the 16th and 17th verses. As the Jews term Jehovah becoro shel olam , the first-born of all the world , or of all the creation , to signify his having created or produced all things; (see Wolfius in loc.) so Christ is here termed, and the words which follow in the 16th and 17th verses are the proof of this. The phraseology is Jewish; and as they apply it to the supreme Being merely to denote his eternal pre-existence , and to point him out as the cause of all things; it is most evident that St. Paul uses it in the same way, and illustrates his meaning in the following words, which would be absolutely absurd if we could suppose that by the former he intended to convey any idea of the inferiority of Jesus Christ.

‏ Colossians 1:15

Verse 15. Who is the image of the invisible God] The counterpart of God Almighty, and if the image of the invisible God, consequently nothing that appeared in him could be that image; for if it could be visible in the Son, it could also be visible in the Father; but if the Father be invisible, consequently his image in the Son must be invisible also. This is that form of God of which he divested himself; the ineffable glory in which he not only did not appear, as to its splendour and accompaniments, but concealed also its essential nature; that inaccessible light which no man, no created being, can possibly see. This was that Divine nature, the fulness of the Godhead bodily, which dwelt in him.

The first-born of every creature] I suppose this phrase to mean the same as that, Php 2:9: God hath given him a name which is above every name; he is as man at the head of all the creation of God; nor can he with any propriety be considered as a creature, having himself created all things, and existed before any thing was made. If it be said that God created him first, and that he, by a delegated power from God, created all things, this is most flatly contradicted by the apostle's reasoning in the 16th and 17th verses. Col 1:16, 17 As the Jews term Jehovah becoro shel olam, the first-born of all the world, or of all the creation, to signify his having created or produced all things; (see Wolfius in loc.) so Christ is here termed, and the words which follow in the 16th and 17th Col 1:16, 17 verses are the proof of this. The phraseology is Jewish; and as they apply it to the supreme Being merely to denote his eternal pre-existence, and to point him out as the cause of all things; it is most evident that St. Paul uses it in the same way, and illustrates his meaning in the following words, which would be absolutely absurd if we could suppose that by the former he intended to convey any idea of the inferiority of Jesus Christ.

‏ Colossians 1:18

Verse 18. He is the head of the body] What the apostle has said in the two preceding verses refers to the Divine nature of Jesus Christ; he now proceeds to speak of his human nature, and to show how highly that is exalted beyond all created things, and how, in that, he is head of the Church-the author and dispenser of light, life, and salvation, to the Christian world; or, in other words, that from him, as the man in whom the fulness of the Godhead bodily dwelt, all the mercy and salvation of the Gospel system is to be received.

The beginning, the first-born from the dead] In 1Co 15:20, Christ is called the first-fruits of them that slept; and here, the chief and first-born from the dead; he being the first that ever resumed the natural life, with the employment of all its functions, never more to enter the empire of death, after having died a natural death, and in such circumstances as precluded the possibility of deception. The αρχη, chief, head, or first, answers in this verse to the απαρχη, or first-fruits, 1Co 15:20. Jesus Christ is not only the first who rose from the dead to die no more, but he is the first-fruits of human beings; for as surely as the first-fruits were an indication and pledge of the harvest, so surely was the resurrection of Christ the proof that all mankind should have a resurrection from the dead.

That in all-he might have the pre-eminence] That he might be considered, in consequence of his mediatorial office, as possessing the first place in and being chief over all the creation of God; for is it to be wondered at that the human nature, with which the great Creator condescended to unite himself, should be set over all the works of his hands?