What Does Colossians 1:17 Mean in the King James?
And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The world does not merely begin in him; it continues to stand together in him.
THE MEANING
He is before everything that is, and everything holds together in him now. What seems separate and self-sustaining exists within a deeper coherence that has its source in him.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that the world, or any part of it, is ultimately self-contained and holds itself together.
THE ROOT
συνίστημι
synistēmi
GROWS FROM
σύν + ἵστημι
Together + stand: to stand together, hold together, or establish.
The verb translated “consist” pictures all things standing together in him. Its other uses can mean “standing” or “commendeth,” revealing both coherence and something being set forth or established.
ALSO GROWS
standing: The earth standing out of the water and in the water.
The same verb describes the earth as having its place and coherence within creation.
commendeth: God sets forth or demonstrates his love.
The same root can describe something being established or made evident, giving “hold together” a sense of sustaining order.
THE PATTERN
What exists is made and sustained within the life and power of its source.
Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.THE THREAD
For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:“Standing” here is the same Greek verb as “consist” in Colossians 1:17. The earth’s place within creation and all things’ coherence in him are described with the same image: standing together.
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