His work on Colossians 1:15 (“first-born of every creature”) is especially helpful on a problem text. ст. all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made! The ‘stamped out image’ refers to that which is an exact representation of what is stamped out by a seal. But: 2. clearly indicate His priority and superiority over Creation. As he is the Second Person in the blessed Trinity, from an intrinsical relation to the Father, in regard of the same essence with him by eternal generation before the world was made. The only begotten Son alone represents the invisible God, and is Himself His image, invisible, according to the Divine nature; visible, according to the human nature [John 14:9], visible even before the incarnation, inasmuch as the invisible things of God [Romans 1:20] began to be seen from the creation, which was accomplished through Him [by Him as the instrument]. The image of the invisible God. also πρωτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν in Colossians 1:18) brings prominently forward the relation of time. Such representations could only be images of a visible God, and would thus misrepresent God. God who is spirit (John 4:24) is not visible to the human eye (1 Tim. Пс. Today this area is part of the country that is called Turkey. But the term, with such a meaning, has only a feminine application, and it cannot bear such a sense in the eighteenth verse. Image is more than likeness which may be superficial and incidental. (Vincent p. 468), -"It includes the three ideas of "resemblance, representation, revelation". So His sphere of authority comes as Creator, the One Who was in existence before all things. Hebrews puts it this way, ‘Who being the outshining (effulgence) of His glory and the stamped out image of His substance’ (Hebrews 1:3). Be­cause Jesus has done that, Paul can appeal to us to “bear with one an­other and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive” (Col. 3:13). As Bengel admits, it makes the genitive πάσης κτίσεως depend on πρῶτος in composition. Christ was before all creation in time, and He is over all creation in authority. "Image" [eicon] always supposes a prototype, from which it is drawn: the exact counterpart, as the reflection of the sun in the water: the child the living image of the parent. de Wette), which is assumed also by many who understand it of the physical creation. (1:15-20) Одной из ересей, угрожавших церкви в Колоссах, было отрицание Божьей природы Христа. 31, p. 172: ὅποτε δὲ ἠθέλησεν ὁ θεὸς ποιῆσαι ὅσα ἐβουλεύσατο, τοῦτον τὸν λόγον ἐγέννησε προφορικόν, πρωτότοκον πάσης κτίσεως. It is used of the Messiah as an almost technical name (derived from Psalms 2:7; Psalms 89:28), as is shown in Hebrews 1:6, “when He bringeth the first begotten into the world.” In tracing the Messianic line of promise we notice that; while the Messiah is always true man, “the seed of Abraham,” “the son of David,” yet on him are accumulated attributes too high for any created being (as in Isaiah 9:6). i. And it is highly probable that he is called the image of the invisible God, as appearing to the patriarchs, and representing to them the Father, who dwells in light inaccessible; (1 Timothy 6:16;) according to what is frequently observed by the ante-Nicene fathers, that God the Father being invisible, and one whom no man hath seen or can see, appeared to the patriarchs by his Son. Colossians 1:15 and 2:9 are two of the strongest statements in the entire Bible about the divine nature of Jesus Christ. ‘The first born with respect to every creature; He was born before every creature. He who, by the works both of the old and new creation, hath given such clear demonstrations of the divine power, wisdom, and goodness, is, upon this account, as much the image of God as it is possible any person or thing should be; and to this sense the expression seems here necessarily restrained by the connective particle οτι, for. Meyer, however, says: ‘The only correct reference is to His whole Person, which in the theanthropic status of His present heavenly Being is continuously what His Divine Nature (considered in itself) was before the Incarnation, so that by virtue of the identity of His Divine Nature, we can attribute the same predicates to the Exalted One as to the Logos.’ But this virtually concedes all that is claimed above. In the first we have the declaration of His eternal unity with God—all that was completely embodied in the declaration of the “Word who is God,” up to which all the higher Jewish speculations had led; in the second we trace the distinctness of His Person, as the “begotten of the Father,” the true Messiah of Jewish hopes, and the subordination of the co-eternal Son to the Father. 1:6; ср. Compare in the form of God, Philippians 2:6 (note), and the effulgence of the Father's glory, Hebrews 1:3. is more than resemblance or likeness: it is the exact counterpart of the being imaged, perfectly representing his attributes and essential nature, with, therefore, in the present case, the same substance, power, and eternity. Image—An image of what is invisible must itself be invisible. The expression does not mean that he was "begotten before all creatures," as it is often explained, but refers to the simple fact that he sustains the highest rank over the creation. John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament, Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary, Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament, Heinrich Meyer's Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament, Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible, Alexander MacLaren's Expositions of Holy Scripture, Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament, John Eadie's Commentary on Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Philippians, Schaff's Popular Commentary on the New Testament, Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments, George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, Stanley Derickson - Notes on Selected Books. For first-born, see on Revelation 1:5; for creation, see on 2 Corinthians 5:17. Jesus is unique in seven distinct ways. (Erdman p. 51). Colossians 1:15: The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. The firstborn Son. If, indeed, God is the eternal Father, then Christ must be the eternal Son. 50. (4) As to the union of the two clauses. 2 Corinthians 4:4. The Socinians contend that Christ is here styled the image of the invisible God, merely because he made known to men the will of God; and that in this sense only Christ said to Philip, (John 14:9,) He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. For in Christ he shews us his righteousness, goodness, wisdom, power, in short, his entire self. 31. But He is the Firstborn ‘of all creation’ not just of the Jews. That is why Jesus Himself could say, ‘How do you say “show us the Father”? Christ came and took a body of flesh – the Eternal Logos in human form (, That is, he existed before creation began. It was on this basis that Paul could ask Philemon, the slave master, to forgive and recei… Colossians 1:15 who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; In the following section Paul expands upon the Son mentioned in . But a perfect man isn"t the "image of the invisible God". But this perceiving was not, be it noted, through small parts of that creation, which were strictly forbidden as representations of Him, but through creation seen as a whole. Paul does this by pointing out the unique position our redeemer has in His relationship to God, creation and the church. We reckon it very wrong on the part of Usteri to translate the Pauline term by Erst-geschaffene, “first-created,” and it is easy to see what must be the theological conclusions drawn from such a rendering. The Greek does not strictly admit Alford's translation, "the first-born of all creation.". When the crested waves were hushed into quiet, as He looked out upon the storm and spoke to it, His fellow-voyagers felt that they had heard the voice of Divinity. He is the ‘monogenes (only begotten), the only One of like nature with the Father, as opposed to being a creation of God. II. He mounts up higher in discoursing as to the glory of Christ. But he is the first-born of all creation, as being before all things, verse Colossians 1:17, and above them as their supreme head, verse Colossians 1:20. For it is a strange notion of Chrysostom, and some of his followers, such as Clarius, that as invisibility is a property of God, it must also be a property of His image, if that image be an undeviating similitude. THE FIRSTBORN OF ALL CREATION- Interpretations The expression “firstborn of all creation” in Colossians 1:15 has been interpreted in three different ways. Thus His essential character as always "the image of God," (1) before the incarnation, (2) in the days of His flesh, and (3) now in His glorified state, is, I think, contemplated here by the verb "is. Hence those who adopt this view of ‘first born’ consistently refer that clause also to the revelation of the Father in Christ rather than to the relation of the Son to the Father. He has shown what God is really like. Not (as the Lutherans strangely imagine) that Christ is omnipotent with the omnipotency of the Divine nature, or omniscient with that omnisciency, as if the manhood did instrumentally use the attributes of the Godhead; but such perfections are really inherent in and appertaining to the manhood, by virtue of its union with the Divine nature in the Second Person of the Trinity, that though they are vastly short of the attributes which are essential to the Godhead, yet they are the completest image of them, and such as no mere creature is capable of. the Father; because the Father cannot be known to us but in his Son, as in an image, in which he would represent or manifest himself to be seen or known, John 1:14,18 Joh 14:8,9 2 Corinthians 4:4. So that the image of God must be Divine as well as visible-must be ὁμοούσιος-of the same essence with the original. The lunar reflection is but a feeble resemblance of the solar glory. And in this latter respect (which imports the manifestative, not essential image) is Christ the image of his invisible Father unto us; unto whom, in all his offices and works of mediation, the attributes, affections, and excellencies of God clearly shine forth, they being otherwise incomprehensible and invisible by a creature: but Christ is the complete image of them, in a transcendent way; for as they are in him, they are incommunicable to any mere creature, and therefore he is the image of the invisible God, in that he makes him visible unto us. Haupt thinks its sense is limited to spiritual beings, since (1) Paul is proving the superiority of Christ to the angels, (2) he defines by not including heaven and earth themselves, (3) shows that animate creatures must be referred to. Hence the idea contained in the word “firstborn” is not only sovereignty “above all the kings of the earth” (Psalm 89:28; comp. I am well aware in what manner the ancients were accustomed to explain this; for having a contest to maintain with Arians, they insist upon the equality of the Son with the Father, and his ( ὁμοουσίαν) identity of essence, (303) while in the mean time they make no mention of what is the chief point — in what manner the Father makes himself known to us in Christ. But it is the aspect of His work of which Paul is here speaking. This expression is used by Origen (so far is the Greek from favouring Arian views) to mark Christ's Godhead, in contrast with His manhood, (B. A little logic. Urbin. If, however, in order to obviate this ground of objection, πρωτότοκος is combined as an adjective with εἰκών, we not only get a complicated construction, since both words have their genitival definition, but πρωτότοκος (instead of πρωτότυπος) would be an inappropriate predicate for εἰκών. Held the same source tells against his limitation было отрицание Божьей природы Христа 89:27 ; Romans )... 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