ACC ~ Colossians 1 v15 - 23

OVERVIEW:

Paul must now discourse on the dignity of the Son, in order to demonstrate that confidence in angels is senseless (CHRYSOSTOM, SEVERIAN). In this discourse Paul is careful to show that in Christ the invisible and eternal God truly assumed human flesh for our salvation (THEODORE). Here Paul proceeds to discuss the revealed aspects of Christ, on the understanding that “he who sees me sees the Father” (THEODORET). What is at stake throughout this description of the dignity of the Son is the incorporeal nature of his generation from the Father (ORIGEN), and thus his invisibility (PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS). In the whole work of divine creation of the universe Christ as the eternal Son has the primacy (THEODORET, CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA). The whole creation derives its very being from its generation by and participation in the eternal Word of God, who is the Christ (ATHANASIUS). The thrust of the passage is to refute the Marcionite claim that the Father of Jesus was another God from that of the Old Testament, for we see here that Jesus was the pre-existent Son who was in all creation from the beginning (TERTULLIAN). Jesus was with the Father as his image at the beginning of all creation (AMBROSE, LEO THE GREAT). What is at stake throughout the following is the equality of the Son with the Father (AMBROSIASTER). We see here that the whole Trinity is involved from the beginning in the generating and ordering of the universe (AUGUSTINE).

1:15a | The Image of the Invisible God

“IMAGE” IMPLIES INVISIBILITY. ORIGEN: Let us now see what we ought to understand by the expression “image of the invisible God,” in order that we may learn from this expression how God can rightly be called the Father of his Son; and let us first of all consider what things are called images in ordinary human speech. Sometimes the term image is applied to an object painted or carved on some material, such as wood or stone. Sometimes a child is said to be an image of the parent, when the likeness of the parent’s features is in every respect faithfully reproduced in the child. … In regard to the Son of God, of whom we are now speaking, the image may be compared to our second illustration for this reason, that he is the invisible image of the invisible God, just as according to the Scripture narrative we say that the image of Adam was his son Seth. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 1.2.6.

ORIGEN: We may inquire whether there exists any substance in which we can discern neither color nor shape nor possibility of touch nor size, a substance perceptible to the mind alone, which anyone can call whatever he pleases. The Greeks speak of this substance as asōmaton, or incorporeal; but the divine Scriptures call it “invisible”; for the apostle declares that God is invisible, when he says that Christ is the “image of the invisible God.” ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 4.3.15.

CHRYSOSTOM: Whose image then will you have him be? God’s? Then he is exactly like the one to whom you assign him. If you compare him to a human image, say so, and I’ll be done with you as a madman. … “The image of the invisible” is itself also invisible, and invisible in the same way, for otherwise it would not be an image. For an image, so far as it is an image, even on a human level, ought to be exactly similar, as, for example, in respect of the features and the likeness. But here indeed among us, this is by no means possible; for human art fails in many respects, or rather fails in all, if you make a careful examination. But where God is, there is no error, no failure. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 3.

ATHANASIUS: But though he is Word, he is not, as we said, comparable to human words, composed of syllables; but he is the unchanging image of his own Father. For men, composed of parts and made out of nothing, speak in a composite and divisible fashion. But God possesses true existence and is not composite; hence his Word also has true existence and is not made of different parts or syllables. He is the one and only-begotten God, who proceeds in his goodness from the Father as from a good Fountain, and orders all things and holds them together. AGAINST THE PAGANS 41.

THEODORET OF CYR: The term image signifies that one living being shares the same substance with another being. However, and by contrast, inanimate images, precisely because they are inanimate and have no soul, do not possess the substance of that of which they are images [i.e., they are mere outward copies]. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: He is called “image” because he is of one substance with the Father; he stems from the Father and not the Father from him, it being the nature of an image to copy the original and to be named after it. But there is more to it than this. The ordinary image is a motionless copy of a moving being. Here we have a living image of a living being, indistinguishable from its original to a higher degree than Seth from Adam and any earthly offspring from its parents. Beings with no complexity to their nature have no points of likeness or unlikeness. They are exact replicas, identical rather than like. ORATIONS 30.20.

BASIL THE GREAT: Consider the following words also: “In our image.” What do you say to this? Surely, the image of God and of the angels is not the same. Now it is absolutely necessary for the form of the Son and of the Father to be the same, the form being understood, of course, as becomes the divine, not in a bodily shape, but in the special properties of the Godhead. … To whom does he say: “In our image”? To whom else, I say, than to the “brightness of his glory and the image of his substance,” who is “the image of the invisible God”? HOMILIES ON THE HEXAMERON 9.6.

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: For the Son remained the Word of God, although he became man, being the Father in form, according to his spiritual image, I mean, and being in every way unchangeable. LETTERS 55.27.

AUGUSTINE: In parents and children there would be found an image and an equality and a likeness if the age difference were lacking. For the child’s likeness has been derived from the parent, so that the likeness may rightly be called an image. … In God, however, the conditions of time do not obtain, for God cannot be thought of as having begotten in time the Son through whom he has created the times. Hence it follows that not only is [the Son] his image, because he is from [God], and the likeness, because the image, but also the equality is so great that there is not even a temporal distinction standing in the way between them. EIGHTYTHREE DIFFERENT QUESTIONS 74.

“IMAGE” MEANS VISIBLE. TERTULLIAN: It is fortunate that in another passage [the apostle] calls Christ “the image of the invisible God.” For does it not follow with equal force from that passage that Christ is not truly God, because the apostle describes him as the image of God? This is true, if (as Marcion contends) he is not truly man because he has taken on the form or image of a man. For in both cases the true substance will have to be excluded, if image (or “fashion”) and likeness and form are descriptions of a phantom. But since he is truly God as the Son of the Father, in his fashion and image, he has been already by the force of this conclusion determined to be truly man, as the Son of man, “found in the fashion” and image “of a man.” AGAINST MARCIONS 5.20.

NOVATIAN: Please note that the same Moses says in another passage that God appeared to Abraham. Yet the same Moses hears from God that no man can see God and live. If God cannot be seen, how did God appear? If he appeared, how is it that he cannot be seen? … This can only mean that it was not the Father, who never has been seen, that was seen, but the Son, who is apt both to descend and to be seen, for the simple reason that he has descended. In fact, he is “the image of the invisible God,” that our limited human nature and frailty might in time grow accustomed to see God the Father in him who is the Image of God, that is, in the Son of God. ON THE TRINITY 18.1-3.

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: He calls Christ the invisible image, not because God becomes visible in him but rather because the greatness of God is shown forth in him. In a way we do see the invisible nature of God in Christ as the image, in the sense that he was begotten by God the Word and will judge the whole earth when he appears in his proper nature at the time of his second coming. Thus, he holds for us the status of “image,” which is visible and belongs to Jesus’ earthly, human state, for the very reason that we are able to infer from this “image” [in its earthly appearance] to his divine nature. … I am astounded at those who attribute his status as the “image” to his divine nature univocally … since the term image would never have been applied to human beings (i.e., as some have done) if it had been a term exclusively proper to divine nature. COMMENTARY ON COLOSSIANS.

HILARY OF POITIERS: The Lord has declared: “If I do not perform the works of my Father do not believe me.” Hence, he teaches that the Father is seen in him because he performs his works so that the power of the nature that was perceived would reveal the nature of the power that was perceived, wherefore the apostle, indicating that this is the image of God, says: “Who is the image of the invisible God … that through him he should reconcile all things to himself.” Accordingly, he is the image of God by the power of these works. ON THE TRINITY 8.49.

AMBROSE: Be like the image on the coin, unchangeable, keeping the same habits every day. When you see the coin, see the image; when you see the law, see Christ, the image of God, in the law. And because he himself is the image of the invisible and incorruptible God, let him shine for you as in the mirror of the law. Confess him in the law that you may acknowledge him in the gospel. LETTERS 20.

1:15b | The Firstborn of All Creation

FIRST IN HONOR PRIMARILY. ORIGEN: Now it is clear that the principle of the life which is pure and unmixed with anything else is properly in the firstborn of all creation. The participants in Christ truly live because they receive their life from this life, while just as those who are thought to live without him do not have the true light, so neither do they live the true life. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 1.188.

ORIGEN: And perhaps for this reason the holy prophecies proclaim him here as servant, and there as son. He is called servant because of the “form of a servant,” and because he is “of the seed of David,” but son in accordance with his power as firstborn. So it is true to say that he is man and that he is not man. He is man insofar as he is capable of death; not man insofar as he is more divine than man. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 10.23.

ORIGEN: But when he said to the Pharisees, “Although I testify of myself, my testimony is true, because I know whence I came and where I go,” he was speaking about his divine nature and, as one might say, on the basis of which he was the firstborn of all creation. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 19.10.

ATHANASIUS: Not then because he was from the Father was he called “Firstborn,” but because in him the creation came to be; and as before the creation he was the Son, through whom was the creation, so also before he was called the Firstborn of the whole creation, the Word himself was with God and the Word was God. … If then the Word also were one of the creatures, Scripture would have said of him also that he was Firstborn of other creatures; but in fact, the saints’ saying that he is “Firstborn of the whole creation” demonstrates that the Son of God is other than the whole creation and not a creature. … He is called “Firstborn among many brothers” because of the relationship of the flesh, and “Firstborn from the dead” because the resurrection of the dead is from him and after him. DISCOURSES AGAINST THE ARIANS 2.63.

AMBROSE: The apostle says that Christ is the image of the Father—for he calls him the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. Firstborn, mark you, not first created, in order that he may be believed to be both begotten, in virtue of his nature, and the first in virtue of his eternity. OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 1.7.48.

AUGUSTINE: For according to the form of God he is “the beginning who also speaks to us,” in which beginning God “made the heavens and the earth,” but according to the form of a slave he is “the bridegroom coming out of his chamber.” According to the form of God he is “the firstborn of every creature, and he himself is before all creatures, and in him all things hold together,” and according to the form of a slave he is “the head of the body, the church.” ON THE TRINITY 1.12.24.

FIRST IN TIME PRIMARILY. CHRYSOSTOM: For the word firstborn is not expressive of dignity and honor, nor of anything else, but of time only. … Indeed, so that people will not suppose that he has a more recent origin in time—since in the past the approach to the Father was through angels, but is now through Christ—he shows first that these angels had no power (otherwise Christ could not have been born “out of darkness” [v. 13]), Paul shows next that Christ is also before them. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 3.

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Those who argue that the phrase “image of the invisible God” refers to Christ’s divine nature also take the position that “firstborn” cannot apply to his human nature. They should take note of the fact that this latter term cannot, however, be applied to the divine nature. If, indeed, he were the firstborn as a creature, he would be described as the first-created … but since he is called “firstborn,” he is so of those who must be saved in his likeness. The apostle shows this, when he says to the Romans, “Since those whom he foreknew, he also foreordained, to be conformed to the image of his Son, who is the firstborn among many brothers,” and thus he calls him the firstborn brother. … How then, they ask, can the term firstborn as describing the assumed human nature be applied to the whole creation, since he did not exist in this way before every creature but has come only in recent times? They do not understand that “firstborn” is not spoken in a temporal sense only but in the sense of preeminence as well, for it refers to Christ’s status with regard to those who were born after him. COMMENTARY ON COLOSSIANS.

SEVERIAN OF GABALA: Paul wishes to say and show that Christ is before all. For if he is not before all, how could all things be created in him? In him, Paul says, all things were created, so that denying that our hope is in angels, we may put our hope in Christ. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

FIRSTBORN AND ONLY-BEGOTTEN. THEODORET OF CYR: If he is the only-begotten, how is he the firstborn? If firstborn, how is he the only-begotten? For he is called in the holy Gospels “only-begotten.” Thus, he is the firstborn of creation: not because he has a created sibling but because he was begotten before every creature. How could that be done, so that he was both brother of a creature and its maker? … The apostle does not call him first-created, but first-begotten, that is, prior to all others. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

GREGORY OF NYSSA: The meaning of the “creation,” of which he is firstborn, is not unknown to us. For we recognize a twofold creation of our nature, the first that of our conception and birth, the second that of our new creation. But there would have been no need for the second creation had we not crippled the first by our disobedience. Accordingly, when the first creation had grown old and vanished away, it was necessary that there should be a new creation in Christ … for the maker of human nature at the first and afterwards is one and the same. Then he took dust from the earth and formed man: again he took dust from the Virgin and did not merely form man, but formed man about himself: then he created; afterwards, he was created: then the Word made flesh; afterwards, the Word became flesh, that he might change our flesh to spirit, through becoming a partaker with us in flesh and blood. Of this new creation therefore in Christ, which he himself began, he was called the firstborn. AGAINST EUNOMIUS 4.3.

LEO THE GREAT: Let those then “who were born not from blood, nor from the will of the flesh, but from God” offer concord to God as peace-loving children. Let all the adopted members join together into that “firstborn” of new “creation” who came “not to do his own will, but that of the one who sent him.” SERMONS 26.5.1.

JOHN OF DAMASCUS: He who has been born first is firstborn, whether he is the only child or has preceded other brothers. So, if the Son of God were called “firstborn” without being called “only-begotten,” then we should understand him to be firstborn of creatures as being a creature. Since, however, he is called both firstborn and only-begotten, we must maintain both of these as applying to him. Thus, we say that he is “the first-born of every creature,” since he is from God, and creation is also from God. … For this very reason, that he shared flesh and blood along with us and then, also, that we were made sons of God through him by being adopted through baptism. He who is by nature Son of God has become firstborn among us who have by adoption and grace become sons of God and are accounted as his brothers. THE ORTHODOX FAITH 4.8.

1:16 | All Things Created Through Him and for Him

“ALL THINGS” REFERS PRIMARILY TO THE ENTIRE COSMOS. IRENAEUS: “All things were made through him and without him was made not a thing.” From this “all” nothing is exempt. Now, it is the Father who made all things through him, whether visible or invisible, whether sensible or intelligible, whether temporal for the sake of some dispensation or eternal. These he did not make through angels or some powers that were separated from his thought. AGAINST THE HERESIES 1.22.1.

ORIGEN: Now that we have briefly repeated our account of the Trinity, we must go on in the same way to remind the reader that through the Son “all things” are said to be “created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers—all things were created through him and in him he is before all things; in him who is the head all things hold together.” The “all things” includes the various supernatural powers that are specified in the remainder of the verse. Paul insists these are subordinate to Christ’s power and authority. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 4.4.3.

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: Therefore Christ is the Only-begotten Son of God and Maker of the World, for “he was in the world, and the world was made through him,” and “he came unto his own,” as the Gospel teaches us. But Christ is the Maker, at the bidding of the Father, not only of things visible but also things invisible. For, according to the apostle: “In him were created all things in the heavens or on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers. All things have been created through him and unto him, and he is before all creatures, and in him all things hold together.” Though you mention the worlds, Jesus Christ, at the bidding of the Father, is Maker of these too. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 12.24.

ATHANASIUS: For the Word of God was not made for us but rather we for him, and “in him all things were created.” For even if it had seemed good to God not to make things of determinate origin, still the Word would have been no less with God, and the Father in him. At the same time, things of determinate origin could not without the Word be brought to be; hence they were made through him—and with meaning and purpose. For since the Word is the Son of God by nature proper to his essence and is from him, as he said himself, the creatures could not have come to be, except through him. DISCOURSES AGAINST THE ARIANS 2.18.31.

CHRYSOSTOM: “All things,” he says, “have been created through him, and to him.” Indeed, “in him” is “through him,” for having said “in him,” Paul added, “through him.” But what does “to him” mean? It is this: the subsistence of all things depends on him. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 3.

AMBROSE: So then, he himself who calls the Son of God the maker even of heavenly things has also plainly said that all things were made in the Son, that in the renewal of his works he might by no means separate the Son from the Father but unite him to the Father. Paul, too, says: “For in him were all things created in the heavens and in the earth, visible and invisible.” OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 3.11.83-84.

AMBROSE: If the Son, then, is not begotten within limits of time, we are free to judge that nothing can have existed before the Son, whose being is not confined by time. If, indeed, there was anything in existence before the Son, then it instantly follows that all things in heaven and earth were not created in him, and the apostle is shown to have erred in so setting it down in his epistle. However, if nothing existed before he was begotten, I fail to see how he—who was begotten before all things—should be said to be after any other thing. OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 4.9.99.

HILARY OF POITIERS: There is no doubt that all things are through the Son, since, according to the apostle, “All things are through him and in him.” If all things are through him, and all things are from nothing, and nothing is except through him, I ask in what way does he lack the true nature of God, since he is not lacking either in the nature or the power of God? For he used the power of his nature that these things should exist which had no existence, and that these things should exist which pleased him. ON THE TRINITY 5.4.

AUGUSTINE: “Before Abraham I am”; that’s what he said himself, the Gospel speaks. Listen to it, or read it. But that’s little enough, being the creator before Abraham; he’s the creator before Adam, creator before heaven and earth, before all the angels, and the whole spiritual creation, “thrones, dominions, principalities and powers,” creator before all things whatsoever. SERMONS 290.2.

THE NEW CREATION IN CHRIST. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: He did not say, “through him,” but “in him.” Thus Paul is not speaking of the first creation but rather of the repair of the creation in him, according to which what was once dissolved is now brought back into a harmonious whole. COMMENTARY ON COLOSSIANS.

THEODORET OF CYR: “Created through him” refers to the first creation, while “created in him” refers to what has been accomplished through his incarnation. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

AMBROSIASTER: Before all things came to be, he was born. But Paul also says that all things were created “in him.” He is saying that the potency of all things may be believed to be in him, and since in fact all things came into existence through him. This last means that he is the head of every creature, since they began to exist only by virtue of existing with respect to him. COMMENTARY ON THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

1:17 | He Is Before All Things

THE AGENT OF THE FATHER’S PROVIDENCE. THEODORET OF CYR: Paul did not say, “he was made before all things,” but “he is before all things.” He is not only the maker of all, but also he manages the care of what he has made and governs the creature, which exists by his wisdom and power. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

ATHANASIUS: For after making mention of the creation, he naturally speaks of the Framer’s power as seen in it, which power, I say, is the Word of God, by whom all things have been made. If indeed the creation is sufficient of itself alone, without the Son, to make God known, see that you don’t err in thinking that without the Son it has come to be. For if through the Son it has come to be, and “in him all things consist,” it must follow that he who contemplates the creation rightly is contemplating also the Word who framed it, and through him begins to apprehend the Father. DISCOURSES AGAINST THE ARIANS 1.4.12.

AMBROSE: Now we come to that laughable method, attempted by some, of showing a difference of power to subsist between Father and Son. … It is urged that no small difference in degree of divine majesty is signified in the affirmation that all things are “of” the Father and “through” the Son. Whereas nothing is clearer than that here a plain reason is given of the omnipotence of the Son, inasmuch as while all things are “of” the Father, nonetheless are they all “through” the Son. The Father is not “among” all things, for to him it is confessed that “all things serve Thee.” Nor is the Son reckoned “among” all things, for “all things were made by him,” and “all things exist together in him, and he is above all the heavens.” The Son, therefore, exists not “among” but above all things. Indeed, after the flesh, he is of the people, the Jews. Yet at the same time he is God over all, blessed forever, having a name which is above every name, it being said of him, “You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 4.11.138-39.

PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS: Hence, with regard to the supra-essential being of God—transcendent goodness transcendently there—no lover of the truth which is above all truth will seek to praise it as word or power or mind or life or being. No. It is at a total remove from every condition, movement, life, imagination, conjecture, name, discourse, thought, conception, being rest, dwelling, unity, limit, infinity, the totality of existence. And yet, since it is the underpinning of goodness and by merely being there is the cause of everything, to praise this divinely beneficent Providence you must turn to all of creation. It is there at the center of everything, and everything has it for a destiny. It is there “before all things, and in it all things hold together.” THE DIVINE NAMES 1.5.

1:18a | Head of the Body, the Church

THE WORK OF HIS HUMANITY. CHRYSOSTOM: Then having spoken of his dignity, [Paul] also proceeds to speak of his love for humanity. “He is,” he says, “the head of the body, the church.” He did not say “of the fullness” of the universe, (although this too is signified) out of a wish to show his great friendliness to us, in that he who is thus above, and above all, connected himself with those below. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 3.

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: As the one in whom all things were created, he is described here as the head of the church, which is made into his body through spiritual rebirth and which has the form of the future resurrection, which we hope to share with him as partakers of immortality when we are baptized. COMMENTARY ON COLOSSIANS.

THEODORET OF CYR: Christ is head of the church and firstborn from the dead through his humanity, Paul having passed here from discourse about divinity to reflection on the economy of salvation. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

AMBROSIASTER: Christ is the head of the church, if things heavenly and earthly live together in him, such that if the whole body is ever deprived of its head, that is, separated from its Creator, there would be an insane and empty chaos. COMMENTARY ON THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

FOR THE UNIFYING OF HUMANKIND WITH GOD. AUGUSTINE: For the resurrection we Christians know already has come to pass in our head, and in the members it is yet to be. The head of the church is Christ, the members of Christ are the church. That which has preceded in the head will follow in the body. This is our hope; for this we believe, for this we endure and persevere amid so great perverseness of this world, hope comforting us, before that hope becomes reality. COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 66.1.

AUGUSTINE: This is also what is meant when it said, “he emptied himself,” because he did not appear to men in that dignity which he had with the Father, but took into account the weakness of those who did not yet have a clean heart whereby they might see the Word in the beginning with the Father. What then do the words “he left the Father” mean? He left [the Father] to appear to men as he is with the Father. He likewise left his mother, that is, the old and carnal observance of the synagogue, which was a mother to him from the seed of David according to the flesh. And he clung to his wife, that is, the church, so that they might be two in one flesh. For the apostle says that he is the head of the church and the church is his body. ON GENESIS AGAINST THE MANICHAEANS 2.24.57.

AUGUSTINE: “If the spirit of him,” he says, “that raised up Christ from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken your mortal bodies, because of the spirit that dwells in you.” Therefore, the universal church, which is now in the pilgrimage of mortal life, awaits at the end of time what was first shown in the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is “the firstborn from the dead,” because the church is his body, of which he is the head. LETTERS 55.2.3.

1:18b | The Beginning, the Firstborn from the Dead

FIRST IN THE BEGINNING, FIRST IN THE NEW BEGINNING. ORIGEN: And if we should carefully consider all the concepts applied to him, he is the beginning only insofar as he is wisdom. He is not even the beginning insofar as he is the Word, since “the Word” was “in the beginning,” so that someone might say boldly that wisdom is older than all the concepts in the names of the firstborn of all creation. God, therefore, is altogether one and simple. Our Savior, however, is many things. … And for this reason he becomes the light of men when men, darkened by evil, need the light which shines in the darkness and is not grasped by darkness. He would not have become the light of men if men had not been in darkness. And it is possible to perceive a similar thing also in the case of him being the firstborn [from] the dead. For if, by way of supposition, the woman had not been deceived and Adam had not fallen into sin, but the man created for incorruption had grasped incorruption, he would have neither descended “into the dust of death” nor died since there would have been no sin for which he had to die because of his love for men. And if he had not done these things, he would not have become the “firstborn from the dead.” COMMENTARY ON JOHN 1.118-21.

CHRYSOSTOM: So that also in generation he is first. And this is what Paul is chiefly endeavoring to show. For if in fact he is the firstborn, that he was before all the angels, then there is brought in along with it this also as a consequence, that the work done by angels was really commanded by him. And what is indeed wonderful, Paul makes a point of showing that Christ is first, though he was actually born in human form at a relatively later time. Although elsewhere Paul calls Adam first, as in truth he is, he here takes the church for the whole race of mankind. For he is first of the church, and first of men after the flesh, like as of the creation. And therefore Paul here uses the word firstborn. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 3.

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: When Paul says “firstborn from the dead,” it is clear that he is referring to the assumed humanity of Christ. COMMENTARY ON COLOSSIANS.

SEVERIAN OF GABALA: “Firstborn of all creation” applied to his status before the emergence of the created order, whereas “firstborn from the dead” refers to the fact that he was raised first of all the brothers who will share in salvation. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

THEODORET OF CYR: The blessed Paul called the Christ “the firstborn of the dead.” I suppose the firstborn has the same nature as they of whom he is called firstborn. As man then he is firstborn of the dead, for he first destroyed the pangs of death and gave to all the sweet hope of another life. As he rose, so he suffered. As man then he suffered, but as awful God he remained impassible. DEMONSTRATIONS BY SYLLOGISMS, “PROOF THAT THE DIVINITY OF THE SAVIOR IS IMPASSIBLE.”

GREGORY OF NYSSA: And he is also a “beginning.” … But what benefits do we derive from believing that he is the beginning? We become ourselves what we believe our beginning to be. ON PERFECTION.

RUFINUS OF AQUILEIA: This also confirms the truth of this confession of ours that, while it is the actual natural flesh and no other which will rise, yet it will rise purged from its faults and having laid aside its corruption, so that the saying of the apostle is true: “It is sown in corruption; it will be raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor, it will be raised in glory; it is sown a natural body, it will be raised a spiritual body.” Inasmuch then as it is a spiritual body, and glorious, and incorruptible, it will be furnished and adorned with its own proper members, not with members taken from elsewhere, according to that glorious image of which Christ is set forth as the perpetual type. … [indeed] in reference to our hope of the resurrection, Christ is set forth all through as the archetype, since he is the firstborn of those who rise, and since he is the head of every creature. APOLOGY FOR ORIGEN 1.6-7.

1:19 | In Him the Fullness of God Dwells

WHAT IS THE FULLNESS? ORIGEN: The Word of God, by condescending to us and being humbled, as it were, in regard to his own worth, when he is present with men, is said to change places when he goes from this world to the Father. The result is that we then see him in his perfection, returning from the emptying with which he emptied himself alongside us to his own [proper and divine] fullness. And we, too, using him as a guide, are fulfilled and delivered from all emptiness. … If we understand the ascent of the Son to the Father with holy insight and in a way suitable to God, we shall realize that it is the ascent of mind rather than of body. ON PRAYER 23.2.

CHRYSOSTOM: By the term fullness some speak of the Godhead, like as John said, “Of his fullness have we all received.” That is, whatever was the Son, the whole Son dwelt there, not a sort of energy, but a Substance. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 3.

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: He calls the church the “fullness of God.” COMMENTARY ON COLOSSIANS.

THEODORET OF CYR: In the epistle to the Ephesians Paul calls the church the “fullness,” because it is filled with divine gifts. By God’s care it dwells in Christ, is joined to him, is under his rule, follows his laws. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

AMBROSE: With regard to his Godhead, therefore, the Son of God so possesses his own glory that the glory of Father and Son is one: he is not, therefore, inferior in splendor, for the glory is one, nor lower in Godhead, for the fullness of the Godhead is in Christ. OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 2.9.82.

AMBROSIASTER: The fullness is in him and remains in him. This means that he surpasses all things and cannot be surpassed, that he may fashion, refashion, restore the fallen, raise the dead. Thus he says, “Just as the Father has life in himself; so he gives it to the Son to have life in himself.” COMMENTARY ON THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

1:20 | To Reconcile to Himself All Things

DESCEND AND ASCEND. ORIGEN: Therefore, for that reason, it was necessary for my Lord and Savior not only to be born a man among men but also to descend to hell that as a “prepared man” he could lead away “the lot of the scapegoat into the wilderness” of hell. And returning from that place, his work completed, he could ascend to the Father and be more fully purified at the heavenly altar so that he could give a pledge of our flesh, which he had taken with him, in perpetual purity. This, therefore, is the real day of atonement when God is propitiated for men; just as the apostle also says, “Since God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.” And in another place, he says about Christ, “Making peace through the blood of his cross whether with things in heaven or things on earth.” HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 9.4.

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: Thus, as peace began to be [established], the angels proclaimed, “Glory in the highest and peace on earth.” When lower beings received [peace] from superior beings, “they cried, Glory on earth and peace in the heavens.” At that time when the divinity came down [and] was clothed in humanity, the angels cried, “Peace on earth.” And at the time when that humanity ascended in order to be absorbed into the divinity and sit on the right—“Peace in heaven”—the infants were crying forth before him, “Hosanna in the highest.” Hence, the apostle also learned that one should say, “He made peace by the blood of his cross [for] that which is in heaven and on earth.” COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 14.

ON EARTH AND IN HEAVEN, BETWEEN EARTH AND HEAVEN. ORIGEN: I believe that, when our Lord the Savior came, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were blessed with God’s mercy. Previously they had seen his day and rejoiced. It is not believable that they did not profit from it later, when he came and was born of a virgin. And why do I speak of the patriarchs? I shall boldly follow the authority of the Scriptures to higher planes, for the presence of the Lord Jesus and his work benefitted not only what is earthly but also what is heavenly. Hence the apostle too says, “Establishing peace through the blood of his cross, both on earth and in heaven.” HOMILIES ON LUKE 10.3.

CHRYSOSTOM: But what are “things in the heavens”? … The earth was divided from heaven, the angels had become enemies to men, through seeing the Lord insulted. … What Christ did on the cross was to translate up into heaven sinful humankind still in bondage to the evil one. Thus he, in effect, brought up to the angels the enemy, the hated one. Not only did he make the things on earth to be at peace, but he brought up to them the one who was their enemy and foe. Here was peace profound. Angels again appeared on the earth thereafter, because humankind from its side had appeared in heaven. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 3.

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: He reconciled all things (he says) in his death (that is, by his blood and his cross) and joined things on earth and in heaven for a common purpose, because he died and rose again. By rising he truly made available to all the common promise of resurrection and immortality. COMMENTARY ON COLOSSIANS.

BASIL THE GREAT: For the true peace is above. Yet, as long as we were bound to the flesh, we were yoked to many things which troubled us. Seek, then, after peace, a release from the troubles of this world. Possess a calm mind, a tranquil and unconfused state of soul, which is neither agitated by the passions nor drawn aside by false doctrines that challenge by their persuasiveness to an assent, in order that you may obtain “the peace of God which surpasses all understanding and guards your heart.” He who seeks after peace, seeks Christ, because “he himself is our peace,” who has made two men into one new man, making peace, and “making peace through the blood of his cross, whether on earth or in the heavens.” HOMILIES 16.10.

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: The Savior endured all this, “making peace through the blood of the cross, for all things whether in the heavens or on the earth.” For we were enemies of God through sin, and God had decreed the death of the sinner. One of two things, therefore, was necessary, either that God, in his truth, should destroy all men, or that in his loving-kindness, he should remit the sentence. But see the wisdom of God; he preserved the truth of his sentence and the exercise of his loving-kindness. Christ took our sins “in his body upon the tree; that we, having died to sin,” by his death “might live to justice.” He who died for us was of no small worth; he was no material sheep; he was no mere man. He was more than an angel, he was God made man. The iniquity of sinners was not as great as the justice of him who died for them. The sins we committed were not as great as the justice he wrought, who laid down his life for us. He laid it down when he willed, and he took it up again when he willed. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 13.33.

PELAGIUS: Beings on earth and beings in heaven were separated by antitheses in their way of life. Thus, we pray that God’s will may be done on earth as in heaven. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

1:21 | You Who Once Were Estranged and Hostile

BY FREE WILL. CHRYSOSTOM: But nevertheless, he says, you that do not act against your wills, nor from compulsion, but with your wills and wishes sprang away from him, you he has reconciled, though you were unworthy of it. And seeing that he had made mention of the “things in the heavens,” he shows that all the enmity had its origin from our side, not from the inhabitants of heaven. For they indeed were long ago desirous, and God also, but you were not willing. And throughout he is showing that the angels had no power during the course of human history, to the extent that human beings chose to continue as enemies. The angels could neither persuade them, nor, even if they had persuaded, could they deliver humankind from the devil. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 4.

AMBROSIASTER: As he recalls God’s gift to the Gentiles, Paul shows by how much more they are debtors with respect to God’s grace. For they were enemies of his counsel, by which he had decided to visit the human race through his servant Moses. They did not receive his teaching and power but worshiped their own idols, even the evil works. They adored the works which they themselves had fabricated. COMMENTARY ON THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

1:22a | He Has Reconciled in His Body of Flesh

REAL FLESH, REAL BODY. JEROME: The apostle, in his epistle to the Colossians, wishing to show that the body of Christ was made of flesh and was not spiritual and made of some gossamer, ethereal substance, said significantly, “And you, when you were sometime alienated from Christ and enemies of his spirit in evil works, he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death.” And again in the same epistle: “In whom you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands in the putting off of the body of the flesh.” If by body is meant flesh only, and the word is not ambiguous nor capable of diverse significations, it was quite superfluous to use both expressions—bodily and of flesh—as though body did not imply flesh. LETTER TO PAMMACHIUS AGAINST JOHN OF JERUSALEM 27.

ONE FLESH, ONE SON. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Note how he says that it was “his own body” and “his own flesh” which was given up for us. We must not say, then, that the flesh and blood was that of another son apart from him, understood as separate and honored as a mere conjunction, having an alien glory, someone who did not have preeminence substantially, but only as if the name of sonship and that of Godhead which is above every name were thrown over him like a mask or a cloak. ON THE UNITY OF CHRIST 128-29.

1:22b | To Present You Holy and Blameless

PERFECTION POSSIBLE? THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: In a similar fashion to his treatment of the subject in the letter to the Ephesians, Paul speaks here of the primacy in Christ, such that there is a joining of the church to that which has already been accomplished in him. … The effect is that there is in Christ a bearing away of our mortality in the gift of immortality … so that every uprighting act which is worked by him is contained in the promises, which foresaw the future renewal in a future time. COMMENTARY ON COLOSSIANS.

PELAGIUS: [With regard to 1:22-23] you should observe that Paul does not know or teach anything that he believes to be impossible for human beings to do. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

AUGUSTINE: He, however, is not unreasonably said to walk blamelessly, not who has already reached the end of his journey but who is passing on towards the end in a blameless manner, free from damnable sins, and at the same time not neglecting to cleanse by almsgiving such sins as are venial. For the way in which we walk, that is, the road by which we reach perfection, is cleansed by clean prayer. That, however, is a clean prayer in which we say in truth, “Forgive us, as we ourselves forgive.” So that, as there is nothing censured when blame is not imputed, we may hold on our course to perfection without censure, in a word, blamelessly. ON MAN’S PERFECTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS 9.20.

WORK COLOSSIANS 1:24-2:5

OVERVIEW: The apostle Paul in his suffering and preaching continues the reconciling work of Christ (CHRYSOSTOM, THEODORE, SEVERIAN, THEODORET, AMBROSIASTER). Paul represents all Christians, and ultimately the church itself, as a corporate continuation of the reconciling work of Christ (AUGUSTINE). The special responsibility of Paul is to make known the mysterious unfolding of God’s plan in salvation history (CHRYSOSTOM, AMBROSIASTER), a mystery hidden in Scripture (ORIGEN), in the divine nature of Christ (AMBROSE) and in the working of grace (AUGUSTINE). Indeed, the gospel is a treasure that God employs on many levels for our benefit, even if some aspects remain hidden by divine design (JEROME) or remain ineffable (JOHN OF DAMASCUS).

1:24 | In My Flesh I Complete What Is Lacking in Christ’s Afflictions

WHAT IS LACKING? ORIGEN: And the contest must be waged not only to escape denial of our faith but also to escape feeling the first inclination to shame when we are thought by those alien to God to be suffering what deserves shame. This is especially true of you, holy Ambrose, who have been honored and welcomed by a great many cities, if now, as it were, you go in procession bearing the cross of Jesus and following him. … His purpose is to go with you and to give you speech and wisdom—and to you, Protoctetus, his fellow contestant, and to you others who suffer martyrdom with them and complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM 36.

CHRYSOSTOM: It seems indeed to be a great thing Paul has said, but it is not based on arrogance, far be it. Rather, Paul’s words come from his deep love towards Christ. For he will not have the sufferings to be his own, but his, through the desire to reconcile these persons to him. And what things I suffer, I suffer, he says, on his account. Therefore, don’t thank me, but express your gratitude to Christ, for it is he himself who suffers. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 4.

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: As you learn those things that are right for you, you have received the promise that goes with them. None of this can happen without labor and tribulation. For these reasons I, Paul, suffer in my traveling and in my preaching to all about what must be corrected … for these things I have functioned as a servant of the gospel. COMMENTARY ON COLOSSIANS.

SEVERIAN OF GABALA: I fulfill what is lacking in the tribulations of Christ through my suffering, which is on your behalf. How so? Because in order to preach to you, I have had to suffer. Since Christ is the head of the body, tribulation will be generated through the word of truth for those who are in the church. These are naturally called the sufferings of Christ. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

THEODORET OF CYR: Paul fills up the sufferings of Christ in the sense that he endures sufferings in order to preach salvation to the nations. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

AMBROSIASTER: Paul confesses that he rejoices in the tribulations which he suffers, because he sees growth in the faith of believers. Thus his suffering is not empty, when by what he suffers he adds to his life. He claims that these sufferings are joined to those of Christ, whose teaching they follow. COMMENTARY ON THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

AUGUSTINE: In regard to this is that which in another place the very same apostle says: “I now rejoice in sufferings for you, and I fill up those things which are wanting of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh.” He did not say “of the afflictions of me” but “of Christ,” because he was a member of Christ and in his persecutions, such as it was necessary for Christ to suffer in his whole body, even Paul was filling up Christ’s afflictions in Paul’s own portion. TRACTATES ON JOHN 108.5.1.

AUGUSTINE: And when as a preacher of Christ he was now suffering from others what he had done himself as a persecutor, “that I may fill up,” he said, “in my flesh what is lacking from the afflictions of Christ”; thus showing that what he was suffering was part and parcel of the afflictions of Christ. That can’t be understood of the head, which now in heaven is not suffering any such thing; but of the body, that is, the church; the body, which with its head is the one Christ. SERMONS 341.10.

1:25 | According to the Divine Office Given to Me

THE OFFICE AND ECONOMY GIVEN TO PAUL. CHRYSOSTOM: Either he means that Christ’s will was that after his departure we should step up to our special place in the dispensation, in order that we might not feel so deserted (since it is Christ himself who plays the necessary part of the one who suffers and is the ambassador from heaven). Or he means this, namely, for this end that he permitted me to be persecuted, that in my preaching I might gain belief. Or by “dispensation” he means that he required not deeds, nor actions, nor good works but faith and baptism. For you would not otherwise have received the word. “For you,” he says, “to fulfill the word of God.” He speaks of the Gentiles … for that the castaway Gentiles should have been able to receive such lofty doctrines was not ultimately Paul’s personal doing but proceeded from the dispensation of God. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 4.

1:26 | The Mystery Hidden for Ages

HIDDEN, BUT REVEALED. CHRYSOSTOM: And with reason he calls that a mystery, which none knew except God. And where hid? In Christ; as he says in the Epistle to the Ephesians. … But now it has been manifested, he says, “to his saints.” So we know that it is altogether of the dispensation of God. “But now has been manifested,” he says. He does not say “is come to pass” but “has been manifested to his saints.” So that it is even now still hid, since it has been manifested to his saints alone. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 5.

THEODORET OF CYR: He calls the mystery the preaching of the dispensation, so that what was once completely unknown may be learned only from God. … Through this Paul shows the antiquity of the gospel, and that before the law, before the very constituting of the world, God had formed this economy for the whole universe. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

1:27 | The Riches of the Glory of This Mystery

TO THE DIGNITY OF ANGELS. CHRYSOSTOM: For the great glory of this mystery is apparent among others also, but much more among these [i.e., among the Gentiles]. For, all of a sudden, to have brought men more senseless than stones to the dignity of angels, simply through bare words and faith alone, without any great labor or effort, shows indeed the glory and riches of mystery. It is as though one were to take a dog, quite consumed with hunger and the mange, foul and loathsome to see, and not so much as able to move but lying deserted, and were to make him all at once into a man, and to display him upon the royal throne. They were accustomed to worship stones and the earth; but they learned that they themselves are better both than the heaven and the sun and that the whole world serves them. They were captives and prisoners of the devil. Suddenly they are placed above his head and lay commands on him and punish him. From being captives and slaves to demons, they have become the body of the Master of the angels and archangels. From not knowing even what God is, they have suddenly become sharers even in God’s throne. … The mystery entails all these things; all come from the presence of Christ in the Colossian believers. “If Christ is in you,” Paul asks, “why do you seek angels?” COMMENTARY ON COLOSSIANS 5.

AMBROSIASTER: The mystery which has been hidden from the ages, he asserts, has now been revealed, that is, shown forth in the time of the apostles: that the Gentiles have been admitted without circumcision to the faith of Christ, which was promised to the Jews. COMMENTARY ON THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

PELAGIUS: The mystery is Christ himself, that God gives this wealth to all who call upon him. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.