Charles Ellicott Commentary Colossians 1:18

"And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence." — Colossians 1:18 (ASV)

He is the head.—"He" is again emphatic. "He who is the image of God, He also is the Head." (On the title itself, see Ephesians 1:22.)

The beginning.—Chrysostom reads here a kindred word, the first-fruits. The reading is no doubt a gloss, but an instructive one. It shows that the reference is to Christ, as being in His humanity "the first principle" of the new life to us—the first-fruits from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20; 1 Corinthians 15:23), and "the bringer of life and immortality to light" (2 Timothy 1:10).

The firstborn from the dead.—The same title is given to Him in Revelation 1:5. In his sermon at Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13:33), St. Paul quotes the passage, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee, as fulfilled in that He raised up Jesus again. (Compare to Hebrews 5:5.) In Romans 1:3, he speaks of Christ as declared (or, defined) to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. The Resurrection is (so to speak) His second birth, the beginning of that exaltation, which is contrasted with His first birth on earth in great humility, and of His entrance on the glory of His mediatorial kingdom. (See Ephesians 1:20-23, where the starting-point of all His exaltation is again placed in the Resurrection.)

That in all things he might . . .—Literally, That in all things He might become pre-eminent. The words "He might become," are opposed to the "He is" above. They refer to the exaltation of His humanity, so gloriously described in Philippians 2:9-11. Thus absolutely in His divine nature, relatively to the mediatorial kingdom in His humanity, He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last (Revelation 1:8; Revelation 1:11; Revelation 1:17–18).

On verses 18-20:

In these verses St. Paul returns from dwelling on the eternal nature of the Son of God to describe Him in His mediatorial office as Son of Man, becoming the "Head" of all humanity, as called into "His Body, the Church." In this he touches on a doctrine more fully developed in the Epistle to the Ephesians. (Ephesians 1:20; Ephesians 1:22; Ephesians 2:19; Ephesians 2:21; Ephesians 4:15–16.) But still, as has been already noted, there is in this Epistle more stress on the supreme dignity of the Head, as in the other more on the unity, and blessing, and glory of the Body.

It should be observed that in this, His mediatorial office, there is throughout a mysterious analogy to His eternal sonship. In both He is "the Head," first, of universal creation, next, of the new creation in His Church; He is "the beginning," in the one case in eternity, in the other in time; He is "the firstborn," now in Eternal Sonship, now in the Resurrection making Him the new life of mankind.