col 1:15 greek help/Adam Clarke
thomas j logan
caltom at gate.net
Sun Nov 8 23:07:48 EST 1998
To All, I would like to thank all who have responded to my inquiry publicly or
privately. You have greatly helped my understanding of col 1:15,16
I also wish to include a comment by Adam Clark in his note on col 1:15
Colossians 1:15 PP1
[The first-born of every creature] I suppose this phrase to mean the same as that,
<Phil 2:9>: God hath given him a name which is above every name; he is as man at the
head of all the creation of God; nor can he with any propriety be considered as a
creature, having himself created all things, and existed before anything was made. If
it be said that God created him first, and that he, by a delegated power from God,
created all things, this is most flatly contradicted by the apostle's reasoning in
the 16th and 17th verses.
***************************************************************************
Since the Jews call Yahweh: bªkowrow (heb 1060) shel (heb 7945) `owlaam (heb
5769), the first-born of all the world, or of all the creation, to signify his having
created or produced all things; (see Wolfius in loc.) so Christ is here termed, and
the words which follow in the 16th and 17th verses are the proof of this.
***************************************************************************
The phraseology is Jewish; and as they apply it to the supreme Being merely to denote
his eternal pre-existence, and to point him out as the cause of all things; it is
most evident that Paul uses it in the same way
(from Adam Clarke Commentary)
as before public or private comments welcome
in Christ
Tom
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list