Εν has the force of what, by that which operates in the word governed by it. διὰ is used, in a similar connection of the instrumental cause. Thus Col. 1:1616For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (Colossians 1:16) ἐν αὐτῷ ἐχτἰσθη. This past act of creation was wrought in the power which was personally in Him. For this cause He is πρωτότοχος when He personally takes His place in it. So continuously all things consist ἑν αὐτῷ. It is the same power which continuously holds all together in the unity of the χόσμς. When the instrumental action by which all have been, and are created is spoken of, it is διὰ and εἰς αὐτόν (ver. 19). 'Ev is the ordinary sense of in a place, πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα being the nominative (comp. 2: 9), and this will recreate all things δἰ αὐτοῦ; so 22, ἐν τῷ σώματι and διὰ τοῦ θάνατου. So ἐν in a lesser case (ver. 29) ἐν δυνάμει, ὲν αγάπῃ 2: 3 (comp. 2: 23) so often. So in the well-known contrasts, ἐν οάρχι, ἐν πνύματι. Ye are (Rom. 8) ἐν πνεὐματι. So that the creation of all things was characterized and wrought by the inherent power which was in the Lord Jesus Christ the Son, and all things subsist together as an ordered and law-governed whole, by the same constant and inherent power.
When the πλήρωμα is spoken of, then His person is distinguished as the one by whom, and for whom, it was created, He being to take it personally as the πρωτότοχος. All the fullness was pleased to dwell in Him and by Him to reconcile. πρωτότοχος is what He is in creation; the reason, ὃτι ἐν αὐτῷ ἐχτισθη, not His divine nor His human nature (comp. 2: 9, 10), where we have the πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος in Him on one side, and we πεπληρωμένοι in Him on the other- this consequent on, and in connection with, the place He has taken before God, head of all principality and power. The πλήρωμα of Godhead dwells in Him, but there He takes a place as man before God, a man, but personally, and above all principalities as man. The way in which the Godhead and person of Christ are connected, or both, before the mind of the Spirit is striking in what follows. Ver. 13 is clearly God; 14 passes on to Christ. " He has taken it out of the way," begins really a new sentence, grammatically distinct.