Colossians 1:17 He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.  (NASB: Lockman)

Greek: kai autos estin (3SPAI) pro panton kai ta panta en auto sunesteken. (3SRAI)
Amplified:  And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together) (Amplified Bible - Lockman)
KJV: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Phillips:  He is both the first principle and the upholding principle of the whole scheme of creation. (Phillips: Touchstone)
Wuest:  And He himself antedates all things, and all things in Him cohere.  (Erdmans) 

AND HE IS BEFORE ALL THINGS: kai autos estin (3SPAI) pro panton:  (Isa 43:11-13 44:6 Mic 5:2 John 1:1-3 8:58 17:5)  

"And He Himself existed before all things" (Amp), 

Literally "He is continually ("is" = present tense) before all things" emphasizing His absolute existence.

“Christ existed before anything else existed”, “...before anything was created.”

The personal pronoun "He" (autos) is used for emphasis ("He Himself" or "He and no other" is the idea).  Lightfoot says; “The autos (He) is as necessary for the completeness of the meaning, as the estin (is). The one emphasizes the personality, as the other declares the pre-existence.” The emphatic use therefore means “He himself, He and no other” so that among supernatural rulers Jesus has no rival for the lordship of the universe or of the church (next verse).

Vine adds that Paul  makes a clear

"declaration of His eternal preexistence as the Son; for the whole passage is a presentation of His Deity, His relationship, His creative and sustaining power as “the Son of His [the Father’s] love” (v13). The teaching that His Sonship had a beginning at His birth or at any other time is utterly erroneous, and derogatory to His glory. The apostle does not say “He was before all things,” but “He is.” Therefore his preexistence is absolute existence. " (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson or Logos)

He is (present tense  = continually = timeless present = the existence of the Son is apart from all time ~ expresses immutability of existence) describes Christ’s absolute existence as the eternal “I Am” (ego eimi - see Ex 3:14 for same phrase in Greek translation of Hebrew). Thus Paul does not say that Jesus “came to be before all things,” but that “He is continually (which gives the sense of “I exist, I am”) before all things”

Jesus claimed His eternal timeless existence before the Jews when they asked Him "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" to which Jesus replied "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I Am (ego eimi). Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple." (Jn 8:57-59)

Why did they seek to stone Him? Stoning was the normal punishment for blasphemy in the Old Testament. This attempt to stone Christ shows they believed He was committing blasphemy and understood He was claiming to be God. Jesus Christ is not some lesser created being who later created the universe or matter, but the eternal God Himself who existed as the I Am before anything was created.

Again in John 17:5 He said

"now, glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." In Revelation 22:13 (note) He said "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning (arche) and the end"  Paul writes that Jesus "existed in the form of God (yet) did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped" (see note Philippians 2:6)

Before (4253) is the Greek preposition "pro" which can be translated in front of, prior to, before and can refer to both of place and time. Figuratively pro speaks of precedence, preference, dignity. Pro thus states the precedence of Christ in time and in place (rank) for He always existed before creation and thus has the preeminence as Creator.

Ray Stedman points out that what Paul is saying is that Christ

"is outside His own creation; He was there first (which) describes His eternity as the Son of God. As C. S. Lewis has pointed out, He is over creation as a King and a Sovereign, not subject to it or part of it, but intimately related to it."

Dutch theologian, Abraham Kuyper adds that

"When Jesus looks at his universe from his exalted throne at the right hand of the Father, and he sees the great galaxies whirling in space, the planets and the people upon this planet, and all the minute details of life here including the details of our individual lives, there is nothing that he sees anywhere of which he cannot say, "Mine!"

In a verse that surely refers to Christ, Solomon records Him saying that

"The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old." (Pr 8:22)

Isaiah records

"I, even I, am the LORD; and there is no savior besides Me. It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, and there was no strange god among you; so you are My witnesses," declares the LORD, "And I am God. "Even from eternity I am (ego eimi) He and there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?" (Isa 43:11-13) "Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel And his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: 'I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me." (Isa 44:6)

In the prophet Micah we read

"But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity." (Mic 5:2)

John writes that

"In the beginning was (imperfect tense = conveys idea of no origin for the Logos, simply continuous existence) the Word, and the Word was (imperfect tense) with God, and the Word was (imperfect tense) God. He was (imperfect tense) in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."

The writer of Hebrews comments that

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever." (see note Hebrews 13:8)

The ancient heretic Arius, who denied that Jesus was truly God, said there was a time when Jesus didn't exist. Paul's words here do not allow for such a false teaching to be true, either in the days of Arius or our own day.

AND IN HIM ALL THINGS HOLD TOGETHER: kai ta panta en auto sunesteken (3SRAI): (1Sa 2:8; Ps 75:3)

"and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together)" (Amp),

"in union with Him all things have their proper place" (GNB),

"He holds all creation together" (NLT), "through Him the universe is a harmonious whole" (Weymouth),

"in union with Him all things have their proper place" (UBS),

"through Him everything has stability" (German Common Language),

"He holds all things in unity" (NJB)

Vine adds that

"in" (en) "here is instrumental, and has not the same significance as at the beginning of 1:16. He is not only the center of divine counsels, He is the acting agent in upholding the universe." (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson or Logos)

Hold together (4921) (sunistao from sun = together with + hístemi = set, place, stand) means literally to place, stand, hold or set together and is used in this verse in the sense of cohere or hold together firmly so that the parts form a united mass.

Sunistao conveys the idea of consistence, harmony, congruence. It represents the unifying power, the integrating principle. Every atom in the universe holds together because it is in Christ. There is order and harmony in all creation. It is a universe, not a chaos, and Christ is the unifying force. Do you feel like your life is in chaos, falling apart? Christ has the power to "hold your life together". Will you trust Him to do so? The writer of Hebrews says that Jesus "upholds all things by the word of His power" or as the Amplified version says -  Jesus is "upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power"! (see note Hebrews 1:3) He alone is able!

The perfect tense of the verb "hold together" emphasizes the permanence of the cohesion in Christ. He created all things at a point in time, making them cohere and this cohesion continues to the present or as the Message says He "holds it all together right up to this moment."

Vine adds that

"Christ is the personal means by which all the parts of the universe are maintained in cohesion. This solidarity and coherence are not due merely to natural forces and principles: everything depends upon His continuous sustaining power. Even the force of gravitation, which regulates the condition of things, is not only due to His creative act, but is the effect of His upholding power. When the present universe is dissolved (see note 2 Peter 3:10), it will be His act." (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson or Logos)

The UBS Handbook adds that

"one may say “everything fits together because of Christ” or “Christ is the one who causes everything to fit together.” In some languages, the concept of “fitting together” is related to the construction of furniture, so that a phrase such as “everything remains in its place” may be appropriate or “everything is dovetailed together,” in which the strongest and most effective joint in carpentry is identified by “dovetailing.” (The United Bible Societies' New Testament Handbook Series. Logos.com

Wiersbe tells the story about the a guide who

"took a group of people through an atomic laboratory and explained how all matter was composed of rapidly moving electric particles. The tourists studied models of molecules and were amazed to learn that matter is made up primarily of space. During the question period, one visitor asked, “If this is the way matter works, what holds it all together?” For that, the guide had no answer.  But the Christian has an answer: Jesus Christ! Because “He is before all things,” He can hold all things together. Again, this is another affirmation that Jesus Christ is God. Only God exists before all of Creation, and only God can make Creation cohere. To make Jesus Christ less than God is to dethrone Him." (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor or Logos)

In Christ all things are set or placed together, caused to stand together, cohere and to hold together. By Him all things were created in the past, by Him all things consist in the present. By Him all things are to be reconciled in the future. Therefore, in Christ all fullness dwells. "Of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things"

Paul wrote to the Romans (see note Romans 11:36). He is the Alpha and the Omega (see note Revelation 22:13), the all and in all. Christ is the controlling and unifying Force in all of nature. The Gnostic philosophy that matter is evil and was created by a remote aeon is swept away by these truths about Christ. The Son of God's love is the Creator and the Sustainer of the universe.

Barclay sums it up this way

"This means that not only is the Son the agent of creation in the beginning, and the goal of creation in the end, but between the beginning and the end, during time as we know it, it is he who holds the world together. That is to say, all the laws by which this world is order and not chaos are an expression of the mind of the Son. The law of gravity and the rest, the laws by which the universe hangs together, are not only scientific laws but also divine." (Barclay, W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press or Logos)

Ray Stedman commenting on this verse adds that one of

"The most astonishing phenomenon today is to see men who work with this physical universe, who intimately observe the beauty, order, and power inherent in the natural world as well as in the world of humanity, yet who fail to see the Power behind it all; the ordered Intelligence that possesses and originates all these things. I do not understand how a man like Carl Sagan can work in the field of astronomy, knowing of the great secrets that are now coming to light in the universe, and yet go on breathing air which God has supplied, eating the food with which God has stocked this earth, and relying moment by moment on a heartbeat whose continuation rests in the will of Someone other than himself, yet can busy himself telling us that only man matters! It is a phenomenon beyond my understanding." Stedman in conclusion adds that "as I think of the world in which we live today surely this is the reason for the terrible sense of lostness among people. We are a generation adrift. We have thrown out all the absolutes, and found ourselves adrift on the tossing ocean of life. No one has an anchor any more. What men desperately need is a King, a God, an Authority, an Anchor to cling to. I am convinced we will never solve the terrible drug traffic until we teach people that there is an answer to the hunger and anguish of their empty lives. We cannot stop the drug traffic by simply confiscating all the drugs that come into this country. Drugs are merely a symptom of the terrible anguish of people; of their empty lives, their lack of a sense of worth. They have no King to worship, no authority to serve, no cause greater than themselves. Thus the central truth of our faith, and one that makes for strength in the Christian life, is this truth. In Jesus is found the center of life. "He is the image of the invisible God...the Creator of all things, who is before all things and holds all things in his hand and power." Is he your Lord?"
 

Jesus, wondrous Savior! Christ, of kings the King!
Angels fall before Thee, prostrate worshipping;
Fairest they confess Thee in the heav’n above.
We would sing Thee Fairest here in hymns of love
-- Daniel MacGregor (Play Hymn)

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Found: The Missing Piece (Our Daily Bread)

The caption in USA Today read, "Physicists find the missing piece in a universal puzzle." The "tau neutrino," an incredibly tiny particle, was the last-theorized member of the family of particles that make up the universe. It has now been proven to exist. Phillip Schewe of the American Institute of Physics said, "It's like finding the Z in the alphabet of fundamental particles . . . . [This study] doesn't save lives or fill stomachs, but it does investigate the most fundamental structures . . . out of which everything, including ourselves, is made."

Imagine finding the smallest known piece of the universe! It's even more amazing to know the Designer of the universe—the Creator of those tiny bits of matter—and the reason they hold together. In Colossians 1:17 we read that Jesus "is before all things, and in Him all things consist." One Bible scholar defines the word consist as the "principle of cohesion," adding that Jesus makes the universe "a cosmos instead of a chaos."  Jesus Christ is more vital to our existence than the "tau neutrino." He feeds us spiritually, as well as physically. He saves us from our sins, as well as protects us from evil. He brings order to our inner chaos. May we ever worship the One who holds everything together. —D J De Haan (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Colossians 1:18 He is also head of the body the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead  so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything  (NASB: Lockman)

He is is present tense indicating that He is continually Head.

Vine adds that

"again, as in verse 17, the subject “He” is made especially emphatic by the presence of the pronoun autos, which serves to stress the identity of the Person concerning Whom the preceding statements have been made. That is to say, He who is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe is likewise the Head of the church. As in physical nature the head is seat of the controlling, directing power of the body, guiding, inspiring and sustaining its life and activities, so in the spiritual relationship between Christ and the church. In its complete state it will be “the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.” He will forever fill all things in all the members, all their activities being under His authority and direction. They will be His fullness, manifesting His glory, and glorifying Him in a perfect unity of life and action. This complete development is defined as “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”

"Head" (kephale) can mean source or origin (as well as head or ruler) even as we refer to the head of a river. Jesus is the Source of and the Leader of His body, the Church. The metaphor “head of the body” represents the supremacy of Christ and the unity of all Christians as a living organism which belongs to Christ. Christ controls every part of His body the church and is its

"inspiring, ruling, guiding, combining, sustaining power, the mainspring of its activity, the center of its unity, and the seat of its life." (Lightfoot)

APPLICATION: Is He the Head of your local church body? Remember that as a human body is powerless without its head, so too the church (even one with pews and coffers overflowing) is powerless without its Living Head, Christ Jesus. Do you see His power in your local body? What is happening in your church that can only be explained as something that Christ is doing?

William Barclay has an interesting comment that

"There are two things combined here. There is the idea of privilege. It is the privilege of the Church to be the instrument through which Christ works. There is the idea of warning. If a man neglects or abuses his body, he can make it unfit to be the servant of the great purposes of his mind; so by undisciplined and careless living the Church can unfit herself to be the instrument of Christ, who is her head."

Later Paul emphasizes that Christ also "is the Head over all rule and authority" (see note Colossians 2:10) and he reminds the Ephesians that God

"put all things in subjection under His (Jesus') feet, and gave Him as Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all."  (see notes Ephesians 1:22; 1:23)

The Amplified expands Eph 1:23 stating that the church

"is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all [for in that body lives the full measure of Him Who makes everything complete, and Who fills everything everywhere with Himself]."

The problem with most churches is that they try to organize a thing and then try to make it work. The proper order is to first center the people on Jesus, their Head, and once they get centered on Him, He works in and through His body, and what He does is always organized, but not for the sake of the organization.

Paul uses the Old Testament word "body". The church is not an organization but is an organism that is organized! (See the excellent audio  messages below by Dr Wayne Barber on the 7 Pillars of the NT Church)

Wiersbe comments that

"No denomination or local assembly can claim to be “the body of Christ,” for that body is composed of all true believers. When a person trusts Christ, he is immediately baptized by the Holy Spirit into this body (1Cor 12:12–13). The baptism of the Spirit is not a post conversion experience—for it occurs the instant a person believes in Jesus Christ." (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor or Logos

Church (1577) (ekklesia from ek = out + kaleo = call) is literally the "called out ones".  Greeks used ekklesia  to describe the assembly of citizens "called out" to transact city business. The church as alluded to above is a supernatural living organism, composed of living members joined together under the headship of Christ and through which He works and carries out His purposes for the glory of the Father.

Paul gives an excellent description of the church in Romans 12:4-5  writing that "just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another." (see also 1Cor 12:12–27)

Vine in an excellent note clarifying the meaning of the church writes that

"The word “church,” as used in this and similar passages, contemplates the entire company as it will be seen when the Lord comes to receive it to Himself. It is nowhere in Scripture viewed as an earthly organization established in the world, it is heavenly in its design, establishment and destiny. Its individual members are incorporated into it as each one is born of God through faith in Christ. At no period can all the believers living in the world have constituted the church. They could not at that particular time be spoken of as the body of Christ. Most of the church had not come into existence in the early part of the present era. At the present time most of those who form part of it are in Heaven (they have not ceased to be members because they are there). By some the term “the church” is applied to all the believers living in the world at any time, but such a view is not borne out by the teaching of the New Testament. Believers are formed into local churches, each of which is called a “body” (1Cor 12:27). But nowhere are the churches in any district or country or in the world organized into an entity or body. Local churches, Scripturally formed, are visible communities, professing the same faith, governed by the same Lord, but this has never afforded any ground for their external amalgamation or for their being considered as a church. There is no such phrase in Scripture as “The Church on earth,” nor is the whole number of believers on earth viewed as, or spoken of, as the church of God. The idea is a pure inference and conveys a false impression, being a contravention of the teaching of Christ and the apostles." (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson or Logos)

I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES
by Samuel Medley
Click to play

I know that my Redeemer lives;
What comfort this sweet sentence gives!
He lives, He lives, Who once was dead;
He lives, my ever living Head.

He lives to bless me with His love,
He lives to plead for me above.
He lives my hungry soul to feed,
He lives to help in time of need.

He lives to grant me rich supply,
He lives to guide me with His eye,
He lives to comfort me when faint,
He lives to hear my soul’s complaint

He lives to silence all my fears,
He lives to wipe away my tears
He lives to calm my troubled heart,
He lives all blessings to impart.

He lives and grants me daily breath;
He lives, and I shall conquer death:
He lives my mansion to prepare;
He lives to bring me safely there.

He lives, all glory to His Name!
He lives, my Jesus, still the same.
Oh, the sweet joy this sentence gives,
I know that my Redeemer lives!

MacArthur summarizes this section noting that

"There are many metaphors used in Scripture to describe the church. It is called a family, a kingdom, a vineyard, a flock, a building, and a bride. But the most profound metaphor, one having no Old Testament equivalent, is that of a Body. The church is a Body, and Christ is the head of the Body. This concept is not used in the sense of the head of a company, but rather looks at the church as a living organism, inseparably tied together by the living Christ. He controls every part of it and gives it life and direction. His life lived out through all the members provides the unity of the Body (cf. 1Cor 12:12–20). He energizes and coordinates the diversity within the Body, a diversity of spiritual gifts and ministries (1Cor 12:4-13). He also directs the Body’s mutuality, as the individual members serve and support each other (1Cor 12:15–27).Christ is not an angel who serves the church (see note Hebrews 1:14). He is the head of His church." (MacArthur, J. Colossians. Chicago: Moody Press or Logos

AND HE IS THE BEGINNING: hos estin (3SPAI) arche: "the starting point of all things" (BBE)

He is (present tense = continually)" the "beginning" (arche = here denotes the source, the originating power, and the active cause; it also involves the ideas of priority in time and of dignity of position) which Barclay writes

"means beginning in a double sense. It means not only first in the sense of time, as, for instance, A is the beginning of the alphabet and 1 is the beginning of the series of numbers. It means first in the sense of the source from which something came, the moving power which set something in operation. We will see more clearly what Paul is getting at, if we remember what he has just said. The world is the creation of Christ; and the Church is the new creation of Christ."

The Church’s one foundation

The Church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord,
She is His new creation
By water and the Word.
From heaven He came and sought her
To be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her
And for her life He died
--Samuel Stone (Play hymn)

THE FIRST-BORN FROM THE DEAD: prototokos ek ton nekron: (