<p>1:18 <i>And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead</i>- See on :11,15. A phrase which is parallel to &ldquo;the firstborn of every creature&rdquo; or creation (Col. 1:15 R.V.). He therefore speaks of himself as &ldquo;the first begotten of the dead... the beginning of the creation of God&rdquo; (Rev. 1:5; 3:14). Jesus was the first of a new creation of immortal men and women, whose resurrection and full birth as the immortal sons of God has been made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus (Eph. 2:10; 4:23,24; 2 Cor. 5:17). &ldquo;In Christ shall all (true believers) be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ&rsquo;s at his coming&rdquo; (1 Cor. 15:22,23). This is just the same idea as in Col. 1. Jesus was the first person to rise from the dead and be given immortality, he was the first of the new creation, and the true believers will follow his pattern at his return.</p><p><i>So that in all things he might have the pre-eminence</i>- The concept of being &quot;in&quot; Christ is so frequent here in Colossians 1 that we must surely interpret the &quot;all things&quot; as a reference to the believers; because of His work, we are to give Him the pre-eminence in our thinking and hearts. And a real person, the Lord Jesus, can more meaningfully have such pre-eminence far more than abstract ideas or even theology as theology.</p>