1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together 1 in him.
1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn 2 from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. 3
1 tn BDAG 973 s.v. συνίστημι B.3 suggests “continue, endure, exist, hold together” here.
2 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.
3 tn Grk “in order that he may become in all things, himself, first.”