Colossians 1:1-23 ASV

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Colossians 1:15-23

1:15-23 He is the image of the invisible God, begotten before all creation, because by him all things were created, in heaven and upon earth, the things which are visible and the things which are invisible, whether thrones or lordships or powers or authorities. All things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things cohere. He is the head of the body, that is, of the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that he might be supreme in... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Colossians 1:15-23

It is one of the facts of the human mind that a man thinks only as much as he has to. It is not until a man finds his faith opposed and attacked that he really begins to think out its implications. It is not until the Church is confronted with some dangerous heresy that she begins to realize the riches of orthodoxy. It is characteristic of Christianity that it can always produce new riches to meet a new situation. When Paul wrote Colossians, he was not writing in a vacuum. He was writing, as... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Colossians 1:15-23

In this passage Paul says two great things about Jesus, both of which are in answer to the Gnostics. The Gnostics had said that Jesus was merely one among many intermediaries and that, however great he might be, he was only a partial revelation of God. (i) Paul says that Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God ( Colossians 1:15 ). Here he uses a word and a picture which would waken all kinds of memories in the minds of those who heard it. The word is eikon ( Greek #1504 ), and... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Colossians 1:15-23

We will remember that according to the Gnostics the work of creation was carried out by an inferior god, ignorant of and hostile to the true God. It is Paul's teaching that God's agent in creation is the Son and in this passage he has four things to say of the Son in regard to creation. (i) He is the firstborn of all creation ( Colossians 1:15 ). We must be very careful to attach the right meaning to this phrase. As it stands in English it might well mean the Son was the first person to be... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Colossians 1:15-23

Paul sets out in verse 18 what Jesus Christ is to the Church; and he distinguishes four great facts in that relationship. (i) He is the head of the body, that is, of the Church. The Church is the body of Christ, that is, the organism through which he acts and which shares all his experiences. But, humanly speaking, the body is the servant of the head and is powerless without it. So Jesus Christ is the guiding spirit of the Church; it is at his bidding that the Church must live and move.... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Colossians 1:15-23

In Colossians 1:19-20 Paul sets down certain great truths about the work of Christ for the whole universe. (i) The object of his coming was reconciliation. He came to heal the breach and bridge the chasm between God and man. We must note one thing quite clearly and always retain it in our memories. The initiative in reconciliation was with God. The New Testament never talks of God being reconciled to men, but always of men being reconciled to God. God's attitude to men was love, and it was... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Colossians 1:15-23

In Colossians 1:21-23 are set out the aim and the obligation of reconciliation. (i) The aim of reconciliation is holiness. Christ carried out his sacrificial work of reconciliation in order to present us to God consecrated and irreproachable. It is easy to twist the idea of the love of God and to say, "Well, if God loves me like this and wishes nothing but reconciliation, sin does not matter. I can do what I like and God will still love me." The reverse is true. The fact that a man is... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Colossians 1:1

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ ,.... The apostle puts his name to this epistle, by which he was known in the Gentile world, as he usually does in all his epistles; and styles himself "an apostle", as he was, having seen Christ in person, and received his commission, doctrine, and qualifications immediately from him, with a power of doing miracles to confirm the truth of his mission. This he chose to make mention of, partly because the false teachers everywhere insinuated that he was not an... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Colossians 1:2

To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ ,.... This is the inscription of the epistle, in which the persons wrote unto are described as "saints", or holy men; not by birth, for all are unholy and unclean by nature; nor by baptism, for that neither takes away sin, nor gives grace; nor merely externally, by an outward reformation; but by separation, being by an act of eternal election set apart for God, for holiness, and happiness; and by imputation, Christ being made sanctification to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Colossians 1:3

We give thanks to God ,.... Meaning himself and Timothy. This is the beginning of the epistle, which is introduced with a thanksgiving to God; to whom praise and thankfulness are always due as a Creator and preserver, as the author of all good things, as the Father of mercies, temporal and spiritual, and as the covenant God and Father of his people through Christ: wherefore it follows, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ; the sense of which either is, that God the Father, who is the... read more

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Colossians 1:15-23

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Colossians 1:15-23

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Colossians 1:15-23

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Colossians 1:15-23

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Colossians 1:15-23

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Colossians 1:15-23

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Colossians 1:15-23

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Colossians 1:1

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Colossians 1:2

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Colossians 1:3

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