Colossians 1:18Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

And what is wondrous is that the Apostle sought to present Him as first among the last beings, although elsewhere he called Adam first, as indeed he was. But he takes the Church in place of the whole human race. In the Church He is first, and among men, as creation, He is first according to the flesh. Therefore the Apostle here presents Him as firstborn.

What does "firstborn" mean here? Does it mean created before all, or risen before all, just as there it means existing "before all things"? Here he presents Him as the firstfruits, saying: "He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence." He expresses the thought that the others also are such as He is. But there He is not the firstfruits of creation. There He is "the image of the invisible God," and in this sense it is said there.

As beginning, He also has followers after Himself among the rest of mankind. For a beginning is the beginning of something.

As in one sheaf offered as firstfruits the whole harvest is blessed, so through Him we all have been sanctified and brought to God. In the resurrection of one body, the whole nature was deemed worthy of resurrection.

"That in all things He might have the first place."

"In all things" means in all that we contemplate around Him. For He was born of the Father before all, is first among all as head of the Church, and rose before all as the beginning, granting them incorruption.

There had been those raised before, but they died again. He rose and dies no more.

Notice that "firstborn" here means the beginning of the resurrection, because this is the same as a new birth. There, however, he did not say "beginning of creation," although he said "firstborn."

For the mode of being is not the same: He is begotten, but creation is made.

Thus the universal Church, while in mortal pilgrimage, awaits at the end of the age what was shown beforehand in the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the firstborn from the dead, because His Body, whose head He is, is nothing other than the Church.

Therefore, if someone has no kinship of nature with what stands at the beginning, and does not bind himself to the Beginning by dispassion and virtue, then the Beginning of beings is not a beginning for him. The beginning of a dark life is "the ruler of the darkness" (Eph 6:12). The beginning of death-bearing sin is he who "has the power of death" (Heb 2:14).

The one who, by a vicious life, has subjected himself to the principle of darkness cannot call the Principle of every good his own beginning.

Blessed Paul called the Master Christ "the firstborn from the dead." A firstborn has the same nature as those from whom he is called firstborn. Therefore, as man, He is the firstborn from the dead, for He first loosed the bonds of death and gave to all the sweet hope of regeneration.

The One who rose is the same One who endured sufferings. As man He truly endured sufferings, and as God He wonderfully remained impassible.

He is the head because, as life and motion flow from the head into every member and the whole body, so from Him are given to each believer in particular, and to the whole Church in general, the gifts of the All-Holy Spirit and the divine Mysteries. These bestow eternal life, and the capacity and power to accomplish good works.

For this reason He said: "Without Me you can do nothing" (Jn 15:5).

He is the beginning and firstborn from the dead because He is the beginning and firstborn of those who came forth from the womb of Hades, rose from the dead, and became incorruptible. Therefore he called Him the beginning and firstborn.

He became the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that in this also He might have preeminence over all. According to His Godhead He is first as God. He is first as the One born timelessly from the Father before all ages. He is first as the Creator of all things visible and invisible.

According to His humanity, He is first as the cause of the new and spiritual creation, that is, of the fullness of the Church. He is first as firstborn among many brethren. He is first from the risen dead, as the first to destroy the dominion of death and rise from the dead.

This is what it means: "that in all things He might have the preeminence."

"That He might have the preeminence in all things." If it has been proved that Christ is before everyone and everything, and that He is first among angels and among creatures, then it will be clear that what is done by angels is done from Him (Chrysostom).

The body of the Church is the harmoniously joined whole of those who believe in Christ the Savior, who have put Him on, and who are made alive and regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

They stand in living union with the Lord. It is the whole of restored humanity. Humanity was first restored in Him, in His Person.

Then, according to Him and through Him, all believers also are restored by the Holy Spirit. As they are restored, they cleave to Him essentially, become one with Him, and are sustained by Him.

Thus He is their Head, both as the progenitor and as the one who sustains them. There, according to the order of nature, He created all things, and all things consist in Him.

Here, according to the divine economy of grace, all things are transformed by Him and again consist in Him, remaining and standing. Thus the whole Church is one with Him, and through Him with God the Father.

Everything is raised to the one first principle. The Church here stands in place of the whole human race, says Saint Chrysostom. This is according to the power and purpose of the incarnate divine economy.

If not all enter her body for union with the saving Head, she is not at fault. Those who do not enter are themselves at fault.

Having said Head, the Apostle wants to show the Lord's closeness to us, and at the same time the greatness of God's love for mankind. The One who is so high and above all was pleased to unite Himself so closely with our lowliness, says Saint Chrysostom.

Every believer must continually reflect on this with grateful feeling.

Who is the beginning, αρχη, the beginning of restored humanity. It was first restored in Him, and then according to Him and by the power of His divine economy all who are restored are restored, cleaving to Him by faith.

He is the beginning as the source from which restorative power flows, and as the progenitor of those restored, and as the norm of restoration. The Apostle presents Him as the beginning, expressing the thought that the others also are such as He is, says Saint Chrysostom.

Firstborn from the dead. He was the first to rise from the dead. He was the first to loose the pangs of death and come forth from its womb, as one newly born, say blessed Theodoret and blessed Theophylact.

There had been those who rose before Him, but they died again, showing that they did not have the power of resurrection in themselves.

But He, having risen, dies no more, since He contains within Himself the power of resurrection, says blessed Theophylact.

This power is such that it serves as the foundation and source of the general resurrection of all. See blessed Theodoret. He began, and after Him all, like Him, will come forth from the depths of death as newborn.

See blessed Theophylact. Therefore He is named firstborn from the dead.

Firstborn from the dead means that He rose before all, and all the others will follow after Him, say Saint Chrysostom and blessed Theophylact.

Ambrosiaster writes: Since all things were made by Him, everything, after it fell and was injured by sin, also had to be restored through Him.

This was so that, if it were restored through someone else, no shadow might fall upon Him. Therefore, as He was begotten from eternity before all, so again He appears first before all in the resurrection from the dead.

Through this He restored to it the original life. Born before all from God, He created all things from nonbeing.

Again, being born of the Virgin with the flesh He assumed, He destroyed sin, which entered the world through the virgin Eve, and with sin, death also.

Thus, being born and dying, He rose, in order again to recreate what was created in the beginning and had fallen under death through sin.

Restored humanity, as it ought to be in this condition, appeared in the risen Lord. Therefore He properly became its firstfruits, as restored humanity, through the resurrection, or as firstborn from the dead.

That in all things He might have preeminence. For as God, He is before all and always with the Father. As man, He is firstborn from the dead and Head of the body, says blessed Theodoret.

He is first everywhere: first in the things above, first in the Church as its Head, and first in the resurrection, says Saint Chrysostom.

For He was begotten of the Father before all ages, and before all men He rose from the dead. His resurrection no longer saw death, and gives incorruption to all, say Oecumenius and blessed Theophylact.

In all things means in every respect. In whatever respect one begins to contemplate Him, one will find Him holding preeminence everywhere.

But according to the flow of the Apostle's discourse, only two things are considered. On the one side, the natural order of things. On the other, the order of grace.

There He is first as Creator and Provider. Here He is first as Redeemer and Restorer. That He might be. Thus it was appointed in the pre-eternal counsel of God.

The one and same One would be Creator, Provider, Redeemer, and finally also Judge. The Apostle sets this before them so that the mind and heart of believers may be fixed on the One and cleave to the One.

This stands against the false teachers, who introduced many powers, or aeons, and thereby a multiplicity of authorities. Those who listen to them scatter in different directions with their attention and hopes, and these give them nothing.

In truth, One is our hope, and in Him is everything.