Colossians 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead… Names and titles among men are generally insignificant, and not characteristic of the persons who wear them; but Christ's are both descriptive and recommendatory. He is the beginning. I. AS TO HIS DIVINE NATURE. It implies His eternity and self-existence. He is not God by derivation and commission. He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. He is therefore the beginning and fountain of created existence. He who received life from none communicates life to all. Not only our being but our intellectual and moral excellencies are from Him. By His power we are what we are as men; by His grace we are what we are as Christians. II. AS MEDIATOR. 1. He is the origin of the Church of God. It is He that has raised it out of the ruins of the fall. Is it a temple? He builds it. Is it a garden? He plants it. 2. He is the beginning to individual saints. Our life is from His death, and all the streams of blessedness flow from His fulness. More particularly(1) He is the source of reconciliation and the beginning of our peace with God. Our prayers and tears have no influence; neither our own work nor that of the Holy Spirit. There is no admission to Divine favour without satisfaction to Divine justice; and Christ alone has made that by the Cross. (2) He is the beginning in reference to the change wrought in us by regeneration. This change is wrought by the Holy Spirit, but as the Spirit of Christ "He shall receive of Mine." Christ within us is the hope of glory. He is our Life. 3. With respect to the resurrection. His own was the pattern and pledge of that of His saints. The same Spirit who quickened Him shall also quicken us.Learn — 1. The honour that is due to Christ. 2. As Christ is the beginning of all spiritual blessings, so those blessings can belong to none but those who are in Him. 3. He who is the beginning is also the end; and this secures the happiness of all the saints. He who has begun will also finish (Hebrews 12:2). Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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