συνέστηκεν. ^{18} καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν ἡ κεφαλὴ τοῦ σώματος,
συνέστηκεν] ‘_hold together, cohere_.’ He is the principle of cohesion
in the universe. He impresses upon creation that unity and solidarity
which makes it a cosmos instead of a chaos. Thus (to take one instance)
the action of gravitation, which keeps in their places things fixed and
regulates the motions of things moving, is an expression of His mind.
Similarly in Heb. i. 3 Christ the Logos is described as φέρων τὰ πάντα
(_sustaining_ the universe) τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ. Here again the
Christian Apostles accept the language of Alexandrian Judaism, which
describes the Logos as the δεσμὸς of the Universe; e.g. Philo _de
Profug._ 20 (I. p. 562) ὅ τε γὰρ τοῦ ὄντος λόγος _δεσμὸς ὢν τῶν
ἁπάντων_ ... καὶ _σύνεχει_ τὰ μέρη πάντα καὶ σφίγγει καὶ κωλύει
αὐτὰ διαλύεσθαι καὶ διαρτᾶσθαι, _de Plant._ 2 (I. p. 331) _συνάγων_
τὰ μέρη πάντα καὶ σφίγγων· _δεσμὸν_ γὰρ αὐτὸν ἄρρηκτον τοῦ παντὸς ὁ
γεννήσας ἐποίει πατήρ, _Quis rer. div. her._ 38 (I. p. 507) λόγῳ
σφίγγεται θείῳ· κόλλα γάρ ἐστι καὶ _δεσμὸς_ οὗτος τὰ πάντα τῆς
οὐσίας ἐκπεπληρωκώς: and for the word itself see _Quis rer. div. her._
12 (I. p. 481) _συνέστηκε_ καὶ ζωπυρεῖται προνοίᾳ Θεοῦ, Clem. Rom.
27 ἐν λόγῳ τῆς μεγαλωσύνης αὐτοῦ συνεστήσατο τὰ πάντα. In the same
connexion σύγκειται is used, Ecclus. xliii. 26. The indices to Plato and
Aristotle amply illustrate this use of συνέστηκεν. This mode of
expression was common also with the Stoics.
18. ‘And not only does He hold this position of absolute priority and
sovereignty over the Universe—the natural creation. He stands also in
the same relation to the Church—the new spiritual creation. He is its
head, and it is His body. This is His prerogative, because He is the
source and the beginning of its life, being the First-born from the
dead. Thus in all things—in the spiritual order as in the natural—in the
Church as in the World—He is found to have the pre-eminence.’
The elevating influence of this teaching on the choicest spirits of the
subapostolic age will be seen from a noble passage in the noblest of
early Christian writings, _Epist. ad Diogn._ § 7 τὸν λόγον τὸν ἅγιον ...
ἀνθρώποις ἐνίδρυσε ... οὐ, καθάπερ ἄν τις εἰκάσειεν, ἀνθρώποις ὑπηρέτην
τινὰ πέμψας ἢ ἄγγελον ἢ ἄρχοντα ἤ τινα τῶν διεπόντων τὰ ἐπίγεια ἤ τινα
τῶν πεπιστευμένων τὰς ἐν οὐρανοῖς διοκήσεις, ἀλλ’ αὐτὸν τὸν τεχνίτην καὶ
δημιουργὸν τῶν ὅλων ... ᾧ πάντα διατέτακται καὶ διώρισται καὶ
ὑποτέτακται, οὐρανοὶ καὶ τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, γῆ καὶ τὰ ἐν τῇ γῇ κ.τ.λ.
See the whole context.
καὶ αὐτὸς] ‘_and He_,’ repeated from the preceding verse, to emphasize
the identity of the Person who unites in Himself these prerogatives: see
on ver. 17, and comp. ver. 18 αὐτός, ver. 19 δι’ αὐτοῦ. The Creator of
the World is also the Head of the Church. There is no blind ignorance,
no imperfect sympathy, no latent conflict, in the relation of the
demiurgic power to the Gospel dispensation, as the heretical teachers
were disposed consciously or unconsciously to assume (see above, p. 101
sq., p. 110 sq.), but an absolute unity of origin.
ἡ κεφαλή] ‘_the head_,’ the inspiring, ruling, guiding, combining,
sustaining power, the mainspring of its activity, the centre of its
unity, and the seat of its life. In his earlier epistles the relations
of the Church to Christ are described under the same image (1 Cor. xii.
12–27; comp. vi. 15, x. 17, Rom. xii. 4 sq.); but the Apostle there
takes as his starting-point the various functions of the members, and
not, as in these later epistles, the originating and controlling power
of the Head. Comp. i. 24, ii. 19, Eph. i. 22 sq., ii. 16, iv. 4, 12, 15
sq., v. 23, 30.
------------------------------------------------------------------------