Discovery BoxColossians 1:18 
Context1:18 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
Colossians 2:19
Context2:19 He has not held fast 3 to the head from whom the whole body, supported 4 and knit together through its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God. 5
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 The Greek participle κρατῶν (kratwn) was translated as a finite verb to avoid an unusually long and pedantic sentence structure in English.
4 tn See BDAG 387 s.v. ἐπιχορηγέω 3.
5 tn The genitive τοῦ θεοῦ (tou qeou) has been translated as a genitive of source, “from God.”
