Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
And he is the head of the body, the church - Notes Ephesians 1:22; Ephesians 5:23, note.
Who is the beginning - In all things - alike in the work of creation and in the church. He is the fountain of authority and power, and commences everything that is designed to uphold the order of the universe, and to save the world.
The first-born from the dead - At the head of those who rise from their graves. This does not mean literally that he was the first who rose from the dead for he himself raised up Lazarus and others, and the bodies of saints arose at his crucifixion; but it means that he had the pre-eminence among them all; he was the most illustrious of those who will be raised from the dead, and is the head over them all. Especially, he had this pre-eminence in the resurrection in this respect, that he was the first who rose from death to immortality. Others who were raised undoubtedly died again. Christ rose to die no more; see the notes at I Corinthians 15:20.
That in all things - Margin, "among all." The Greek will bear either construction, and either will accord with the scope of the apostle' s remarks. If the former, it means that he is at the head of all things - the universe; if the latter, that he is chief among those who rose from the dead. Each of these is true, but the scope of the passage seems rather to require us to understand this of everything, and to mean that all the arrangements respecting him were such as to give him supremacy over the universe.
He might have the pre-eminence - Greek, "might be first" - ́ prōteuōn . That is, might be first in rank, dignity, honor, power. He has the pre-eminence:
(1)As over the universe which he has formed - as its Creator and Proprietor;
(2)As chief among those who shall rise from the dead - since he first rose to die no more, and their resurrection depends on him;
(3)As head of the church - all synods, councils, and governments being subject to him, and he alone having a right to give law to his people; and,
(4)In the affections of his friends - being in their affections and confidence superior to all others.
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Colossians 1:18:
Psalms 89:27
Luke 11:47-51
John 3:31
John 12:31
Acts 2:22
Acts 13:33
Acts 13:33
Acts 26:23
1 Corinthians 12:27
Colossians 1:15
Colossians 1:15
Colossians 1:15
Colossians 1:29
Hebrews 1:6
Revelation 1:5
Revelation 1:5
Revelation 3:14
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