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The Apostle Paul highlights, in Col. 1:18, Jesus’ supremacy in the Church by using 4 distinguishing facts:

“He is the head of the body, the church”. The Church is the Body of Christ, the organism through which He acts and which shares all His experiences. The Body is the servant of the Head and so Jesus is the guiding spirit of the Church. At His bidding the Church must live and move. Without Him, the Church cannot think/ believe the truth, cannot act correctly and cannot decide its direction. The Church has her origin in Jesus, and today has her operation in Him.
“He is the beginning of the Church”. The Greek word for “beginning” has two meanings. One is being first in the sense of time; the other is being first in the sense of the source from which something came, the moving power which set something in operation. We see this more clearly if we remember that the world is the creation of Jesus and the Church is the creation of Jesus. He is the source of the Church’s life and being and the director of her continued activity. In the words of Samuel J Stone’s Hymn “The Church’s One Foundation” – “She is His new creation, by water and the word.”
“He is the firstborn from among the dead”. Paul comes back to the event which was at the centre of thinking and belief and the experience of the early Church – the resurrection of Jesus. He is not merely someone who lived and died and of whom we read and learn. He is someone who is alive for evermore and whom we meet and experience. Jesus is not a dead hero or a founder of a worldwide religion – He is a living presence, our Supreme God eternal!
The result of all this is that “He has the supremacy in all things”. The resurrection of Jesus is His title to supreme lordship. By His resurrection, He has shown that He has conquered every opposing power. There is nothing in life or in death which can bind Him or separate the Church from His love (Rom. 8:38-39). The word translated “Supremacy or pre-eminence” is related to “firstborn” in fact 3 above and it magnifies the unique position of Jesus to us. It is wonderful that for the Church, our Supreme Jesus is “Christ is all, and in all” (Col. 3:11).