Expositor's Bible Commentary 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)

Paul’s third affirmation concerning Christ’s supremacy relates to the new creation: “And he is the head of the body, the church” (v.18a; cf. 2:19; Ephesians 1:22–23; Ephesians 4:15). To be the “head” (GK 3051) of the church is to be its sovereign ruler. In the figure there may also be the suggestion that Christ is the source of the church’s life, but this is not its primary significance. Christ, and no other person, is the chief and leader of the church. It is he who guides and governs it.

“Church” (GK 1711), which means “assembly” or “congregation,” is best interpreted here as a term embracing all the redeemed people of God. The mention of the church as “the body” of Christ suggests at least three things: (1) that the church is a living organism, composed of members joined vitally to one another, (2) that the church is the means by which Christ carries out his purposes and performs his work, and (3) that the union that exists between Christ and his people is most intimate and real. Together they constitute one living unit, each, in a sense, being incomplete without the other.

Verse 18b gives one ground or basis of Christ’s headship over the church: “He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead.” “Beginning” (GK 794) may be interpreted in any one of three ways: (1) supremacy in rank, (2) precedence in time, or (3) creative initiative. There is, of course, truth in each of these, but it seems best to see in Paul’s word the idea of creative initiative. In other words, Christ is the origin and source of the life of the church, the fount of its being.

“Firstborn” (GK 4758; cf. v.15) defines more precisely what Paul means by Christ as beginning. In v.15, this term pointed to Christ’s relation to creation, and we concluded that it suggested both precedence in time and supremacy in rank. In the present passage the idea of precedence is the more prominent. Thus, Christ was the first to come from the dead in true resurrection life (i.e., never to die again, cf. 1 Corinthians 15:20). And because he was the first to be born from the dead, he possesses in himself the new and higher life that his people, by virtue of their union with him, now share. Thus he establishes his place as the beginning, the origin of the church’s life.

“So that in everything he might have the supremacy” in one sense is a summary of all that Paul has affirmed from v.15 to this point, but syntactically it must be seen as expressing the purpose of the immediately preceding statement about Christ’s being the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. He rose from the dead in order that his preeminence might become universal, extending both to the old creation and to the new. He had always been first, but by his resurrection he entered upon an even wider and more significant sovereignty (cf. Acts 2:26; Romans 1:4).