No.19a. The title Head, and
its relation to the Fullness.
The next reference to the Headship of Christ, and its relation to the ‘Fullness’ is found in Col. i. In this passage two creations come into view, the old and the new, and in both, Christ has the pre-eminence. This twofold feature is not only true of Col. i., but of the epistle as a whole, as will be made manifest if the corresponding sections Col. i. 13-23 and iii. 5-15 are set out before the eye:
i. 13 - 23 and iii. 5 - 15.
G | i. 15, 16. The Creator. The Image.
H | i. 20. Reconciliation of heaven and earth.
I | i. 17, 18. Christ pre-eminent. All in Him.
J | i. 20. Peace and forgiveness of sins.
K | i. 22. Holy, blameless, unreproveable.
BEWARE—Col. ii. 4 - 23.
G | iii. 10. Created after the Image.
H | iii. 11. Reconciliation of Jew and Greek.
I | iii. 11. Christ is all and in all.
J | iii. 13-15. Peace. Forgive quarrel.
K | iii. 9, 12. Put off, put on, holy and beloved.
The reader will realize that a complete structure which would avoid transposing Col. i. 20 as we have done, would necessitate a much more elaborate framework, but would not be of any greater assistance to us in our present enquiry. The two sections obviously echo one another, and that is all we desire to demonstrate at the moment. When we come to build a doctrine upon a structure of any passage, then any such accommodation is ruled out there must never be the remotest suspicion that any verse or feature has been displaced for ulterior motives. Consequently before we go further we must present the actual literary structure of Col. i. 13-23 without reference to the evident parallels that exist in chapter iii.
Christ is set forth in verse 15 under two figures “Image” and “Firstborn”. He is the Image of the invisible God, which is a revelation of truth similar, even if more advanced, to that found in John i. 1-18, where as ‘The Word’ He declares Him Whom no man hath seen at any time. He is set forth as the ‘Firstborn of all creation’ because He is the Creator of all things even as in John i. 1-8, as ‘The Word’ He made all things.
We have already seen that ta panta ‘the all things’ indicates the universe as redeemed and reconciled, and may not necessarily include ‘all things’ panta, that indicate the universe without reservation of any kind. This recognition compels us to stop at Col. i. 16. The A.V. reads “For BY Him, were all things created”, but the R.V. reads “For IN Him were all things created”. Some have objected to the ‘pantheism’ that permitted this rendering to enter the R.V. but such an objection can hardly be laid to the charge of Alford or Bishop Lightfoot who follow the R.V. here.
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