ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν, ἵνα γένηται ἐν πᾶσιν αὐτὸς πρωτεύων· ^{19} ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ
εὐδόκησεν πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα κατοικῆσαι,
ἵνα γένηται κ.τ.λ.] As He _is_ first with respect to the Universe, so it
was ordained that He should _become_ first with respect to the Church as
well. The _γένηται_ here answers in a manner to the _ἔστιν_ of
ver. 17. Thus ἔστιν and γένηται are contrasted as the absolute being and
the historical manifestation. The relation between Christ’s headship of
the Universe by virtue of His Eternal Godhead and His headship of the
Church by virtue of His Incarnation and Passion and Resurrection is
somewhat similarly represented in Phil. ii. 6 sq. ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὕαρχων
... μορφὴν δούλου λαβών ... γενόμενος ὑπήκοος μέχρι θανάτου ...
_διὸ_ καὶ ὁ Θεὸς αὐτὸν ὑπερύψωσεν κ.τ.λ.
ἐν πᾶσιν] ‘_in all things_’ not in the Universe only but in the Church
also. Καὶ γάρ, writes Theodoret, ὡς Θεὸς, πρὸ πάντων ἐστὶ καὶ σὺν τῷ
πατρί ἐστι, καὶ ὡς ἄνθρωπος, πρωτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν καὶ τοῦ σώματος
κεφαλή. Thus ἐν πᾶσιν is neuter and not masculine, as it is sometimes
taken. Either construction is grammatically correct, but the context
points to the former interpretation here; and this is the common use of
ἐν πᾶσιν, e.g. iii. 11, Eph. i. 23, Phil. iv. 12. For the neuter compare
Plut. _Mor._ p. 9 σπεύδοντες τοὺς παῖδας ἐν πᾶσι τάχιον πρωτεῦσαι. On
the other hand in [Demosth.] _Amat._ p. 1416 κράτιστον εἶναι τὸ
πρωτεύειν ἐν ἅπασι the context shows that ἅπασι is masculine.
αὐτὸς] ‘_He Himself_’; see the note on καὶ αὐτὸς above.
19, 20. ‘And this absolute supremacy is His, because it was the Father’s
good pleasure that in Him all the plenitude of Deity should have its
home; because He willed through Him to reconcile the Universe once more
to Himself. It was God’s purpose to effect peace and harmony through the
blood of Christ’s cross, and so to restore all things, whatsoever and
wheresoever they be, whether on the earth or in the heavens.’
19. ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ κ.τ.λ.] The eternal indwelling of the Godhead explains
the headship of the Church, not less than the headship of the Universe.
The resurrection of Christ, whereby He became the ἀρχὴ of the Church,
was the result of and the testimony to His deity; Rom. i. 4 τοῦ
ὁρισθέντος υἱοῦ Θεοῦ ... ἐξ ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν.
εὐδόκησεν] sc. ὁ Θεός, the nominative being understood; see Winer §
lviii. p. 655 sq., § lxiv. p. 735 sq.; comp. James i. 12 (the right
reading), iv. 6. Here the omission is the more easy, because εὐδοκία,
εὐδοκεῖν etc. (like θέλημα) are used absolutely of God’s good purpose,
e.g. Luke ii. 14 ἐν ἀνθρῶποις εὐδοκίας (or εὐδοκία), Phil. ii. 13 ὑπὲρ
τῆς εὐδοκίας, Clem. Rom. § 40 πάντα τὰ γινόμενα ἐν εὐδοκήσει; see the
note in Clem. Rom. § 2. For the expression generally comp. 2 Macc. xiv.
35 σύ, Κύριε, εὐδόκησας ναὸν τῆς σῆς κατασκηνώσεως ἐν ἡμῖν γενέσθαι. The
alternative is to consider πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα personified as the nominative;
but it is difficult to conceive St Paul so speaking, more especially as
with εὐδόκησεν personification would suggest personality. The πλήρωμα
indeed is personified in Clem. Alex. _Exc. Theod._ 43 (p. 979)
συναινέσαντος καὶ τοῦ πληρώματος, and in Iren. i. 2. 6 βουλῇ μιᾷ καὶ
γνώμῃ τὸ πᾶν πλήρωμα τῶν αἰώνων κ.τ.λ., i. 12. 4 πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα
ηὐδόκησεν [δι’ αὐτοῦ δοξάσαι τὸν πάτερα]; but the phraseology of the
Valentinians, to which these passages refer, cannot be taken as an
indication of St Paul’s usage, since their view of the πλήρωμα was
wholly different. A third interpretation is found in Tertullian _adv.
Marc._ v. 19, who translates ἐν αὐτῷ _in semetipso_, taking ὁ Χριστὸς as
the nominative to εὐδόκησεν: and this construction is followed by some
modern critics. But, though grammatically possible, it confuses the
theology of the passage hopelessly.
τὸ πλήρωμα] ‘_the plenitude_,’ a recognised technical term in theology,
denoting the totality of the Divine powers and attributes; comp. ii. 9.
See the detached note on πλήρωμα. On the relation of this statement to
the speculations of the false teachers at Colossæ see the introduction,
pp. 102, 112. Another interpretation, which explains τὸ πλήρωμα as
referring to the Church (comp. Ephes. i. 22), though adopted by several
fathers, is unsuited to the context and has nothing to recommend it.
κατοικῆσαι] ‘_should have its permanent abode_.’ The word occurs again
in the same connexion, ii. 9. The false teachers probably, like their
later counterparts, maintained only a partial and transient connexion of
the πλήρωμα with the Lord. Hence St Paul declares in these two passages
that it is not a παροικία but a κατοικία. The two words κατοικεῖν,
παροικεῖν, occur in the LXX as the common renderings of ישב and נור
respectively, and are distinguished as the _permanent_ and the
_transitory_; e.g. Gen. xxxvi. 44 (xxxvii. 1) κατῷκει δὲ Ἰακὼβ ἐν τῇ γῇ
οὗ παρῴκησεν ὁ πατήρ αὐτοῦ ἐν γῇ Χαναάν (comp. Hos. x. 5), Philo _Sacr.
Ab. et Ca._ 10 (I. p. 170 M) ὁ τοῖς ἐγκυκλίοις μόνοις ἐπανέχων παροικεῖ
σοφίᾳ, οὐ κατοικεῖ, Greg. Naz. _Orat._ xiv. (I. p. 271 ed. Caillau) τίς
τὴν κάτω σκηνὴν καὶ τὴν ἄνω πόλιν; τίς παροικίαν καὶ κατοικίαν; comp.
_Orat._ vii. (I. p. 200). See also the notes on Ephes. ii. 19, and on
Clem. Rom. § 1.
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