Glory be to Jesus Christ!
🌞
Continuation of the reading, which I wrote about here:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/24102023.html
The continuation of this reading is the one I wrote about here:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/25102023.html
Colossians I, 13 — 'ἡμᾶς' - 'emas' - 'us'.
It is also similar in meaning to yesterday's reading from the Apostle, as described here:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/16122023.html
In general, the solemn confession of faith in salvation and the Saviour Himself as the Son of God, the image of the Father, begotten before all creation and the First Risen.
The light
refers primarily to God's grace, but also to the results of its action in creation.
For more information on redemption in verse 14, see this link:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/15072023.html
The word image
('εἰκὼν'), from which the word icon
is derived, also means likeness. The likeness here does NOT mean that the Son of God is different from the Father in essence, but is similar to Him — no, it means something else. Paul means that the invisible Father has become visible in the Son, the Son reveals, shows, represents the Father to people, to creation, and in His likeness as Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son of God, corresponds to the Father in everything. There is nothing in Him that is not in harmony, and moreover, there is nothing that is inconsistent
with the Father, but everything in both natures harmoniously reflects and represents the Father. Because of the human nature of the Incarnate Son of God, Paul does not use the word that implies equality with the Father (which the Son has as the consubstantial to the Father and the Spirit in the Godhead), but rather speaks of both natures in Christ simultaneously.
Verse 16 is also referred to in other places in the New Testament, particularly in the Gospel of John. The angelic ranks are listed (some of them).
And Christ is the Beginning of all that is good in creation. First-begotten
in relation to the Resurrection also means that just as the Son of God receives his essence from the Father in the Godhead (called begotten of the Father
), so His Resurrection is the evidence that He is God. In the New Testament, the forms the Father raised the Son
and Christ Himself is risen
are used in parallel regarding the Resurrection of Christ, which do not negate each other but reveal the meaning of the event in a deeper way in view of what has just been written here.
For a parallel passage in Matthew (Matthew XXII, 1-10), please refer to the following link:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/10092023.html
To the Saint Forefathers, the prophet Daniel and the three young men: Ananias, Azariah and Mishael:
For the readings from the Apostle, where these saints are mentioned directly, see the link:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/05032023.html
For the Gospel readings, see the link:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/21032023.html
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!