15 who is the image of the invisible God, first-born of all creation,
who being the brightness of the glory, and the impress of His subsistence, bearing up also the all things by the saying of his might -- through himself having made a cleansing of our sins, sat down at the right hand of the greatness in the highest,
Jesus saith to him, `So long time am I with you, and thou hast not known me, Philip? he who hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how dost thou say, Shew to us the Father?
And the Word became flesh, and did tabernacle among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of an only begotten of a father, full of grace and truth.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God;
`And to the messenger of the assembly of the Laodiceans write: These things saith the Amen, the witness -- the faithful and true -- the chief of the creation of God;
because whom He did foreknow, He also did fore-appoint, conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be first-born among many brethren;
who, being in the form of God, thought `it' not robbery to be equal to God,
and to the King of the ages, the incorruptible, invisible, only wise God, `is' honour and glory -- to the ages of the ages! Amen.
And above the expanse that `is' over their head, as an appearance of a sapphire stone, `is' the likeness of a throne, and on the likeness of the throne a likeness, as the appearance of man upon it from above. And I see as the colour of copper, as the appearance of fire within it round about, from the appearance of his loins and upward, and from the appearance of his loins and downward, I have seen as the appearance of fire, and brightness `is' to it round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in a cloud in a day of rain, so `is' the appearance of the brightness round about.
I also first-born do appoint him, Highest of the kings of the earth.
In His setting for the sea its limit, And the waters transgress not His command, In His decreeing the foundations of earth, Then I am near Him, a workman, And I am a delight -- day by day. Rejoicing before Him at all times, Rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth, And my delights `are' with the sons of men.
because in him were the all things created, those in the heavens, and those upon the earth, those visible, and those invisible, whether thrones, whether lordships, whether principalities, whether authorities; all things through him, and for him, have been created, and himself is before all, and the all things in him have consisted.
who only is having immortality, dwelling in light unapproachable, whom no one of men did see, nor is able to see, to whom `is' honour and might age-during! Amen.
if I did not do among them the works that no other hath done, they were not having sin, and now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father;
by faith he left Egypt behind, not having been afraid of the wrath of the king, for, as seeing the Invisible One -- he endured;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Colossians 1
Commentary on Colossians 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 1
We have here,
Col 1:1-2
Col 1:3-8
Here he proceeds to the body of the epistle, and begins with thanksgiving to God for what he had heard concerning them, though he had no personal acquaintance with them, and knew their state and character only by the reports of others.
Col 1:9-11
The apostle proceeds in these verses to pray for them. He heard that they were good, and he prayed that they might be better. He was constant in this prayer: We do not cease to pray for you. It may be he could hear of them but seldom, but he constantly prayed for them.-And desire that you may be filled with the knowledge, etc. Observe what it is that he begs of God for them,
Col 1:12-29
Here is a summary of the doctrine of the gospel concerning the great work of our redemption by Christ. It comes in here not as the matter of a sermon, but as the matter of a thanksgiving; for our salvation by Christ furnishes us with abundant matter of thanksgiving in every view of it: Giving thanks unto the Father, v. 12. He does not discourse of the work of redemption in the natural order of it; for then he would speak of the purchase of it first, and afterwards of the application of it. But here he inverts the order, because, in our sense and feeling of it, the application goes before the purchase. We first find the benefits of redemption in our hearts, and then are led by those streams to the original and fountain-head. The order and connection of the apostle's discourse may be considered in the following manner:-