1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn 1 from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. 2
1 tn See the note on the term “firstborn” in 1:15. Here the reference to Jesus as the “firstborn from among the dead” seems to be arguing for a chronological priority, i.e., Jesus was the first to rise from the dead.
2 tn Grk “in order that he may become in all things, himself, first.”
3 tn On this word here and in 4:1, see the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.
4 tn The prepositional phrase κατὰ σάρκα (kata sarka) does not necessarily qualify the masters as earthly or human (as opposed to the Master in heaven, the Lord), but could also refer to the sphere in which “the service-relation holds true.” See BDAG 577 s.v. κύριος 1.b.