Colossians 1:12-23

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Colossians 1:13

Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness ,.... That is, from the power of Satan; see Acts 26:18 , who, though once an angel of light, is now darkness itself, and is reserved in chains of darkness; he is a ruler of the darkness of this world; his kingdom is a kingdom of darkness; and he blinds the minds of them that believe not, keeps them in darkness, and increases the natural darkness of their minds; he delights in works of darkness, and tempts men to them; and his everlasting... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Colossians 1:14

In whom we have redemption ,.... Which is an excellent and wonderful blessing of grace saints have in and by Christ; and lies in a deliverance from sin, all sin, original and actual, under which they are held captive, in a state of nature, and by which they are made subject to the punishment of death; but through the sacrifice of Christ it is taken, and put away, finished, and made an end of; and they are freed from the damning power of it, or any obligation to punishment for it; and in... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Colossians 1:15

Who is the image of the invisible God ,.... Not of deity, though the fulness of it dwells in him; nor of himself, though he is the true God, and eternal life; nor of the Spirit, who also is God, and the Spirit of the Son; but the Father, called "God", not to the exclusion of the Son or Spirit, who are with him the one God: "and he is invisible"; not to the Son who lay in his bosom, and had perfect and infinite knowledge of him; nor, in some sense, to angels, who always behold his face, but... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Colossians 1:16

For by him were all things created ,.... This is a reason proving Christ to be before all creatures, to be the common Parent of them, and to have the government over them, since he is the Creator of them. The creation of all things, by him, is not to be understood of the new creation, for whenever that is spoken of, the word "new" is generally used, or what is equivalent to it, or some clause or phrase added, which determines the sense, and is not the case here: besides, all things that are... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Colossians 1:17

And he is before all things ,.... Not only in dignity, being preferable to angels and men in his nature, names, offices, and works, and worthy of more honour than all creatures; but he is before them in existence, as he must needs be, since they are all made by him; he was not only before John the Baptist, his forerunner, before Abraham who saw his day and was glad, before the first man was made, but before the angels were in being, or the heavens and the earth, or any creature were formed;... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Colossians 1:18

And he is the head of the body, the church ,.... By "the church" is meant, not any particular congregated church, as the church at Colosse, or Corinth, or any other; but the whole election of grace, the general assembly and church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven in the Lamb's book of life; the church which Christ has given himself for, and has purchased with his blood, and builds on himself the rock, and will, at last, present to himself a glorious church without spot or... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Colossians 1:19

For it pleased the Father ,.... The phrase, "the Father", is not in the original text, but is rightly supplied; since he is expressly mentioned in the context, as he who makes the saints meet to be partakers of the heavenly glory; who deliver, them from the power and dominion of sin, and translates them into the kingdom of his dear Son; and who, by Christ, reconciles all things to himself, Colossians 1:12 , and whose sovereign will and pleasure it is, that in him should all fulness... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Colossians 1:20

And by him to reconcile all things to himself ,.... This depends upon the preceding verse, and is to be connected with that phrase in it, it pleased the Father, Colossians 1:19 ; and the sense is, that it was the good will and pleasure of God from all eternity, as to lay up all fulness in Christ for his chosen people, so to reconcile them to himself by him; and which is another reason why Christ is, and ought to be considered as the head of the church, whose reconciliation he has procured,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Colossians 1:21

And you that were sometime alienated ,.... The general blessing of grace and reconciliation, which belongs to the whole body of Christ, the church universal, all the elect of God, whether in heaven or in earth, is here particularly applied to the saints at Colosse, who were eminent instances of it; and that the free grace of God towards them in it might more illustriously appear, the apostle takes notice of what they were before the coming of Christ in the flesh, before the Gospel came among... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Colossians 1:22

In the body of his flesh through death ,.... Or "through his death", as the Alexandrian copy and some others, and all the Oriental versions, read. These words express the means by which that reconciliation was made, which in the virtue and efficacy of it was applied particularly to these Colossians at their conversion whereby their minds were actually reconciled to God, as "in" or "by the body of his flesh"; that is, by the offering up of his body on the accursed tree, in which he bore the... read more

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