ACC ~ Colossians 1 v15b

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.

Col