17 and himself is before all, and the all things in him have consisted.
yet to us `is' one God, the Father, of whom `are' the all things, and we to Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom `are' the all things, and we through Him;
Jesus said to them, `Verily, verily, I say to you, Before Abraham's coming -- I am;'
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,
who is the image of the invisible God, first-born of all creation,
Jehovah possessed me -- the beginning of His way, Before His works since then. From the age I was anointed, from the first, From former states of the earth.
`And now, glorify me, Thou Father, with Thyself, with the glory that I had before the world was, with Thee;
for in Him we live, and move, and are; as also certain of your poets have said: For of Him also we are offspring.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; this one was in the beginning with God; all things through him did happen, and without him happened not even one thing that hath happened.
I -- I `am' Jehovah, And besides Me there is no saviour. I -- I declared, and saved, and proclaimed, And there is no stranger with you, And ye `are' My witnesses, an affirmation of Jehovah, And I `am' God. Even from the day I `am' He, And there is no deliverer from My hand, I work, and who doth turn it back?
Jesus Christ yesterday and to-day the same, and to the ages;
And thou, Beth-Lehem Ephratah, Little to be among the chiefs of Judah! From thee to Me he cometh forth -- to be ruler in Israel, And his comings forth `are' of old, From the days of antiquity.
He raiseth from the dust the poor, From a dunghill He lifteth up the needy, To cause `them' to sit with nobles, Yea, a throne of honour He doth cause them to inherit, For to Jehovah `are' the fixtures of earth, And He setteth on them the habitable world.
And Jesus answered them, `My Father till now doth work, and I work;' because of this, then, were the Jews seeking the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the sabbath, but he also called God his own Father, making himself equal to God.
`I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last;' and, `What thou dost see, write in a scroll, and send to the seven assemblies that `are' in Asia; to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.'
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:-