And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
All Commentaries on Colossians 1:18 Go To Colossians 1
Irenaeus of Lyons
AD 202
Then, at last, He came on to death itself, that He might be "the first-born from the dead, that in all things He might have the pre-eminence".
and that He might have the pre-eminence over those things which are under the earth, He Himself being made "the first-begotten of the dead; "