万有也靠他而立

万有也靠他而立        25 Nov 2012

歌罗西书1:17

他在万有之先，万有也靠他而立

他在万有之先，万有也靠他而立。保罗说：“他在（现在时态）万有之先”，而不是“他曾在（过去时态）万有之先”。圣经常用现在时态来形容神不受时间限制。例如：主耶稣说：“还没有（过去时态）亚伯拉罕，就有了（现在时态）我。”（约八58）

　　主耶稣不单在一切受造物以先就存在，而且万有也靠他而立。意思是他维持宇宙的运行，他也是永恒运转的源头。他控制星宿、太阳和月亮；即使他在地上的时候，他仍然掌管使宇宙井然运作的定律。

神不单创造世界，也维持世界，他联络、保护及引导一切事物，以免分裂和陷入混乱之中。基督维持我们的生命，谁也不能离开他，我们全都是他的仆人，必须每天仰赖他的保护、眷顾和供应。

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

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

He - Emphatic in the Greek sentence. The personal pronoun He (autos) is used for emphasis ("He Himself" or "He and no other" is the idea).  

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. 

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” . 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 . Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple." (Jn 8:57, 58, 59)