Colossians 1:1-14 SECTION I. . The Epistle commences, in St. Paul’s manner, with a salutation (Colossians 1:1, Colossians 1:2), followed by thanksgiving (Colossians 1:3-8) and prayer (Colossians 1:9-14). Only in 2 Thessalonians, however, outside of the Epistles of this group, do we find a formal opening prayer. The salutation agrees closely with that of Ephesians. Colossians 1:1 Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus through God’s will, and Timothy the brother (Ephesians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1). The apostle designates himself by his office, as always, except in the Macedonian Epistles and the letter of private friendship to Philemon. Timothy shares also in the greeting of the Epistle to Philemon, probably a leading member of the Colossian Church (comp. Colossians 4:9, Colossians 4:17 with Philemon 1:2, Philemon 1:10-12). During St. Paul’s long residence at Ephesus Timothy was with him (Acts 19:22), and there, probably, Philemon had come under his influence (see Introduction, § 2), and made Timothy’s acquaintance. There was, therefore, at least one link of acquaintance between "Timothy the brother" and "the saints in Colossae" (comp. Philippians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1-24 and 2 Thessalonians 1:1, where his name appears in the same way). The honourable prominence thus given to Timothy marked him out for future leadership in the Church (1 Timothy 1:3, 1 Timothy 1:18; 2 Timothy 2:2; 2 Timothy 4:2, 2 Timothy 4:5, 2 Timothy 4:6). Colossians 1:2 To those in Colossae£ (which are) saints and faithful brethren in Christ (Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1; Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1). "Saints" in respect of their Divine calling and character (Colossians 3:12; 1 Corinthians 1:1-31, 1 Corinthians 2:1-16, where this title is formally introduced); "faithful brethren in Christ" (Ephesians 1:1) in view of the errors and consequent divisions threatening them as a Church (Colossians 1:23; Colossians 2:5, Colossians 2:18, Colossians 2:19; Colossians 3:15; Ephesians 4:14-16; Ephesians 6:10-18; Philippians 1:27: 2 Timothy 2:19). Grace to yon, and peace: "as in all his Epistles." This Pauline formula of greeting combines the Greek and Hebrew, Western and Eastern, forms of salutation (comp. "Abba, Father," Romans 8:15). Χάρις is a modification of the everyday χαίρειν, hail! (Acts 15:23; James 1:1; 2 John 1:10); and εἰρήνη reproduces the Hebrew shalom (salam). Grace is the source of all blessing as bestowed by God (Colossians 1:6; Ephesians 1:3-6; Ephesians 2:5; Romans 5:2, Romans 5:17, Romans 5:21; Titus 2:11); and peace, in the large sense of its Hebrew original, of all blessing as experienced by man (Ephesians 2:16, Ephesians 2:17; Luke 2:14; Acts 10:36; Romans 5:1; Romans 8:6; 2 Thessalonians 3:16). From God our Father. Among the apostle’s salutations this alone fails to add "and from our Lord Jesus Christ"—a defect which copyists were tempted to remedy. The omission is well established (see Revised Text, and critical editors generally), and cannot surely be accidental. In this and the twin Ephesian letter, devoted as they are to the glory of Christ, the name of the Father stands out with a peculiar prominence and dignity, much as in St. John’s Gospel: "honouring the Son," they must needs "honour the Father" also (verses 12, 13; Colossians 3:17; Ephesians 1:17; Ephesians 2:18; Ephesians 3:14; Ephesians 4:6; Ephesians 5:20). Colossians 1:3-8 The opening thanksgiving is full and appropriate. Its content is determined by the state of this Church, and by the apostle’s relation to it through Epaphras, and his own present position. Colossians 1:3 We give thanks to God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We; Timothy and I. The Revised Text omits "and" between" God" and "Father," following Lachmann, Westcott and Heft, and Lightfoot (who hesitates), on evidence numerically slight, but sufficient; especially as in every other instance of this combination the conjunction is present. "Father" is also without definite article in the better attested (Revised) reading. The words, "Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," bear, therefore, an explanatory, quasi-predicative force. St. Paul wishes his readers to understand that he gives thanks to God on their account distinctly under this aspect, regarded as "Father of Christ." He has just spoken of "our Father," and now adds, "Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," suggesting that it is in this relation that we know God as "our Father," the Author of grace and peace, the Object of Christian thanksgiving. So the sovereign and exclusive mediation of Christ, the ruling idea of the whole Epistle, is thrown into bold relief at the outset; and, in this light, the unique omissions of Col 1:2 and Colossians 1:3 explain and justify each other. This fatherhood embraces the entire Person and offices of the Son as "our Lord Jesus Christ." Praying always for you (Colossians 1:9; Colossians 2:1-3; Philippians 1:4; Romans 1:9). The apostle had known from the first of the existence of this Church; and had already been in communication with it (see Introduction, § 2). He had, therefore, a general prayerful interest in the Colossians (2 Corinthians 11:28), that has been quickened to joyful thanksgiving by the arrival of Epaphras. "Always" and "for you"—either or both of the phrases—may be joined grammatically to "we give thanks" or to "praying:" the latter connection is preferable (see Alford or Ellicott); similarly in Philemon 1:4; in Ephesians 1:16 the turn of expression is different. Colossians 1:4 Having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have (ἤνἔχετε, Revised Text) toward all the saints (Ephesians 1:15, B.V.; Philemon 1:5, R.V.; 1 Thessalonians 4:9, 1 Thessalonians 4:10; 1 John 3:23; 2 John 1:4; 3 John 1:3, 3 John 1:4). "Having heard "more immediately from Epaphras (Colossians 1:8, Colossians 1:9). Note the characteristic recurrence of this word: he had heard of their faith and love, as they had heard before the word of truth (Colossians 1:5); from the day they had heard they had borne fruit (Colossians 1:6), and he, in return, from the day he heard of it, had not ceased to pray for them (Colossians 1:9); see note on Colossians 1:8; and comp. 1 Thessalonians 1:5 and 1 Thessalonians 2:2 with 1 Thessalonians 3:6 (Greek). "In Christ Jesus" is attached to "faith" (as to "brethren" in 1 Thessalonians 3:2) so closely as to form with it a single idea; to be "in Christ Jesus" is of the very essence of this faith and brotherhood. "Faith in Christ," "believe in Christ," in our English Bible, commonly represent a different Greek preposition, εἰς (literally, into or unto Christ); only in the pastoral Epistles and in Ephesians 1:15—not in Galatians 3:26 (see Lightfoot) or Romans 3:25 (see Meyer or Beet)—do we find, as here, πίστιςἐνΧριστῷ. In Christ faith rests, finding its abiding ground and element of life. In the Epistles of this period the Christian state appears chiefly as "life in Christ;" rather than, as in the earlier letters, as "salvation through Christ" (comp. e.g. Romans 5:1-21. and Colossians 2:9-15). The "love" of the Colossians evokes thanksgiving, as that which they have "toward all the saints;" for as the Church extended Christian love needed to be more catholic (verse 6; Colossians 3:11), and Colossian error in particular tended to exclusiveness and caste feeling (see note on verse 28). The iteration of "all" in this Epistle is remarkable. Colossians 1:5 (We give thanks) because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens (Colossians 3:4; Ephesians 1:12-14; Philippians 3:20, Philippians 3:21; Romans 8:18-25; 1 Corinthians 15:50-58; 2 Corinthians 5:1-5; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; 1 Peter 1:3-5; Matthew 6:20; Matthew 19:21; Luke 12:33; John 14:2, John 14:3). "Hope" is objective—matter of hope, as in Galatians 5:5; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 6:18. St. Paul speaks most of heaven and heavenly things in the letters of this period. Hebrews 6:4 gives the nearest grammatical connection for this clause; and many recent commentators, following Greek interpreters, accordingly find here that which "evokes and conditions" the Colossians’ "love" (Meyer, Ellicott) or "faith and love" (De Wette, Lightfoot). But this construction we reject. For it makes the heavenly reward the reason of the Colossians’ present (faith and) love, reversing the true and Pauline order of thought; while, on the other hand, the heavenly hope is the last and highest ground of the apostle’s thanksgivings and encouragements, and the forfeiture or impairing of it the chief matter of his fears and warnings throughout the Epistles of this group. It is better, therefore, with Bengel, Hofmann, Klopper, Conybeare, Eadie, and others, from Athanasius downwards, to refer verse 5 as well as verse 4 to the principal verb, "we give thanks" (verse 3). What the apostle hears of "the faith and love" of the Colossian brethren moves him to give thanks for "the hope which is in store for them in heaven." Of that hope this faith and love are to him a pledge and an earnest, even as the "seal of the Spirit" (Ephesians 1:14) and the "peace of Christ in their hearts" (Colossians 3:15; see note) are to themselves. Similarly, in Philippians 1:27, Philippians 1:28 and 2 Thessalonians 1:4, 2 Thessalonians 1:5, from the present faith and patience of the saints the certainty of their future blessedness is argued. By singling out this hope as chief matter of thanksgiving here, the apostle enhances its certainty and its value in his readers’ eyes. From the general occasion and ground of his thanksgiving in the Christian state and prospects of his readers, St. Paul proceeds to dwell on certain special circumstances which enhanced his gratitude to God (verses 56-8). Which (hope) ye heard of before, in the word of the truth of the gospel; or, good tidings (2 Thessalonians 1:7, 23; Colossians 2:7; Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 4:15, Ephesians 4:21; Galatians 1:6-9; Galatians 3:1-4; Galatians 4:9; Galatians 5:7; 1 Thessalonians 1:5; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-15; 1 Peter 5:12). There is a veiled polemic reference in "the word of the truth of the gospel". The word "before" (aforetime) "contrasts their earlier with their later lessons, the true gospel of Epaphras with the false gospel of recent teachers" (Lightfoot). Others interpret, less suitably: heard already (before my writing), or heard beforehand (before the fulfilment of the hope). It is in St. Paul’s manner to refer his readers at the outset to their conversion and first Christian experiences (see parallel passages). Their hope was directly at stake in the controversy with Colossian error. Here we meet the first of those cumulative combinations of nouns, so marked a feature of the style of Colossians and Ephesians, which are made a reproach against these Epistles by some critics; but each is appropriate in its place. Colossians 1:6 That is come unto you, even as also (it is) in all the world, bearing fruit and increasing, as in you also (Romans 1:8; 1 Thessalonians 1:8; 2 Corinthians 2:14; Acts if. 47; Acts 5:14; Acts 6:7; Acts 9:31; Acts 11:21; Acts 12:24; Acts 19:20). The words, "and increasing," are added to the text on the testimony, all but unanimous, of the older witnesses. Their propriety is manifest; for the success of the gospel at Colossae was a gratifying evidence, both of its inherent fruitfulness, and of its rapid progress in the Gentile world. Stationary at Rome (see Introduction, § 3), and with his messengers coming and going, and news reaching him from time to time of the advance of the Christian cause, the strong expression, "in all the world," is natural to St. Paul. From Rome "all the world" is surveyed, just as what takes place at Rome seems to resound "in all the world" (Romans 1:8). Bearing fruit (verb in middle voice, implying inherent energy) precedes growing—the first "describing the inner working," the second" the outward extension of the gospel" (Lightfoot). For "bearing fruit," comp. Ephesians 5:9; Galatians 5:22; Philippians 1:11; John 15:8,John 15:16: and for "growing," 2 Thessalonians 3:1; Matthew 13:31-33; and parallel passages; see also Matthew 13:11. In the last clause the expression "doubles back upon itself" in a fashion characteristic of St. Paul, whose sentences grow and change their form like living things while he indites them (comp. Colossians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:5-8; 1 Thessalonians 4:1, R.V.): the coming of the gospel to Colossae suggests the thought of its advent in the world, and this gives place to the fuller idea of its fruitfulness and expansion, which in turn is evidenced by its effect at Colossae. Since the day that ye heard (it), and knew well the grace of God in truth (Matthew 13:5; Colossians 2:6, Colossians 2:7; Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 4:21; 1 Thessalonians 2:1, 1 Thessalonians 2:2, 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; 2 Corinthians 1:19; Galatians 1:6, Galatians 1:11; Galatians 3:1-3; 2 Timothy 3:14). For their progress had been continuous (comp. Philippians 1:5). Meyer and Ellicott, with the A.V., better maintain the connection of thought in understanding "the gospel" as object of "heard." The verb ἐπέγνωτε, knew well, with ἐπίγνωσις (Matthew 13:9, etc.), belongs specially to the vocabulary of this group of Epistles. Knowledge, in 1 Corinthians, is denoted by the simple gnosis. But this word became at an early time the watchword of the heretical Gnostics; and the false teachers of Colossae pretended to an intellectual superiority, asserted, we may imagine, in much the same way (comp. Colossians 2:2-4, Colossians 2:8, Colossians 2:23). The apostle now prefers the more precise and distinctive epignosis (επίγινώσκω), meaning" accurate" or" advanced knowledge" (see Lightfoot here, and on verse 9). "To hear the gospel" is "to know well the grace of God" (Acts 20:24; Romans 3:21-26; 2 Corinthians 5:20—6:1; John 1:17); the full knowledge of which "in truth" (verse 5; Ephesians 4:14, Ephesians 4:15, Ephesians 4:20-24) would preserve the Colossians from knowledge falsely so called. Colossians 1:7 As ye learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant; literally, bondman (Ephesians 4:20; 2 Timothy 3:14). Only in Colossians 4:7 does the epithet "fellow-bondman" appear again in St. Paul. The dominant thought of Christ Jesus "the Lord" (Colossians 2:6; 3:22-4:1) possibly dictates this expression. That the Colossians had received the gospel in this way from Epaphras, a disciple of St. Paul, was a striking proof of its fruitfulness, and a further cause for thanksgiving on his own part. Who is a faithful minister of Christ on our (or, your) behalf (Colossians 4:12, Colossians 4:13; 2 Corinthians 8:22; Philippians 2:22). He puts his seal upon the ministry of Epaphras, and vindicates it against all questioning at home. Textual evidence for "on our" or "your behalf" is pretty evenly balanced: most older Greek copies read the first person, while the ancient versions generally adopted the second; and the critical editors are similarly divided. The Revisers, with Tregelles, Alford, Lightfoot, Westcott and Hort, prefer "our," which gives a finer and more fitting sense. It was as St. Paul’s representative that Epaphras had ministered in Colossae, and to him he now reported his success; and this justified the apostle in claiming the Colossians as his own charge, and in writing to them in the terms of this letter (Colossians 2:1, Colossians 2:2, Colossians 2:5-7: comp. Romans 15:20; 2 Corinthians 10:13-16). "Minister" (διάκονος, deacon, in its official sense found in St. Paul first in Philippians 1:1, then in 1 Timothy) is to be distinguished from the "servant" (δοῦλος, slave) of the last clause, and from "assistant" (ὑπηρέτης: 1 Corinthians 4:1; Acts 13:5; Acts 26:16), and "attendant" (θεράπων: Hebrews 3:5); see Trench’s ’Synonyms of the New Testament.’ It is a favourite word of St. Paul’s, and points to the service rendered, while other terms indicate the status of the servant. Colossians 1:8 Who also showed us your love in (the) Spirit (2 Corinthians 7:7; 2 Corinthians 8:7; 1 Thessalonians 3:6; Philippians 4:10); i.e. your love to us. Timothy and myself, especially if we read "in our behalf" in Colossians 1:7: so, many interprefers, from Chrysostom to Klopper. Epaphras had conveyed the blessings of the gospel from St. Paul to the Colossians, and they now send back the grateful assurance of their love by the same channel (comp, note on "having heard," verse 4, and parallel passages). This was a choice fruit of the gospel in them (comp. Philippians 4:10, Philippians 4:15-18), and such a reference to it gives a kindly conclusion to the thanksgiving. Ellicott and others understand here brotherly love in general—a somewhat pointless repetition of verse 4. Meyer, reading "on your behalf" in verse 7. more suitably suggests the Colossians’ love to Epaphras in return for his services to them. The Spirit is the ruling element of the Colossians’ love (Galatians 5:22) Love-in-the-Sprat forms a single compound phrase, like "faith-in-Christ-Jesus" (verse 4). The one Spirit dwells alike in all the members of Christ’s body, however sundered by place or circumstance (Ephesians 4:1-4), and makes them one in love to each other as to him (John 13:34, John 13:35; 1 John 3:23, 1 John 3:24). "Spirit" occurs besides in this Epistle only in Colossians 2:5 (but see "spiritual," Colossians 2:9), and some find in Colossians 2:1, Colossians 2:5 the explanation of this phrase (sc. "a love formed in absence, without personal intercourse:" but this is forced, and doubtful in point of grammar). Colossians 1:9-14 The opening prayer rises cut of the foregoing thanksgiving, and leads up to the chief doctrinal statement of the Epistle (Colossians 1:15-20: compare, for the connection, Ephesians 1:15-23; Romans 1:8-17). The burden of this prayer, as in other letters of this period, is the Church’s need of knowledge (comp. Ephesians 1:17, Ephesians 1:18; Philippians 1:9, Philippians 1:10). Here this desire has its fullest expression, as the necessity of the Colossians in this. respect was the more urgent and their situation, therefore, the more fully representative of the stage in the history of the Pauline Churches now commencing. He asks for his readers (1) a fuller knowledge of the Divine will (verse 9); to result in (2) greater pleasingness to God, due (3) to increased moral fruitfulness and spiritual growth, to (4) patience under suffering (verse 11), and to (5) thankfulness for the blessings of redemption (verses 12-14). Colossians 1:9 For this cause we also (Ephesians 1:15-17; 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13). Timothy and I, in return for your love to us (Colossians 1:8) and in response to this good news about you (Colossians 1:4-6). From the day that we heard (it); an echo of "from the day that ye heard it" (Colossians 1:6). Do not cease praying for you, and making request. The former is a general expression (Colossians 1:3), the latter points to some special matter of petition to follow. This second verb St. Paul only uses elsewhere of prayer to God in Ephesians 3:13, Ephesians 3:20 (see Trench’s ’Synonyms’ on αἱτέω, αἵτημα). That ye may be filled with (or, made complete in) the knowledge of his will (Colossians 2:10; Colossians 4:12; Ephesians 3:18, Ephesians 3:19; Romans 12:2; Hebrews 13:21). On "knowledge" (ἐπίγνωσις), see note. to Ephesians 3:6, and Lightfoot’s note here. "With the knowledge" represents the Greek accusative of specification (as in Philippians 1:11, where see Ellicott); and the verb πληρωθῆτε (comp. note on plēroma, Ephesians 3:19), as in Colossians 2:10 and Colossians 1:25, denotes "fulfilled" or "made complete," rather than "made full"—"made complete as to the full knowledge," etc. "His will" ("God’s will," Colossians 1:1; Colossians 4:12) need not be limited to the original purpose of salvation (Ephesians 1:9), or to his moral requirements respecting Christian believers (Colossians 1:10; so Meyer), but includes "the whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27) made known to us in Christ (Colossians 1:26, Colossians 1:27). In all spiritual wisdom and understanding (Colossians 2:2; Ephesians 5:17; Philippians 1:9; 1 Corinthians 14:20). Wisdom, in its highest sense, is the sum of personal excellence as belonging to the mind; it implies a vital knowledge of Divine truth, forming the sentiments and determining the will as it possesses the reason, Hence the word occurs in a great variety of connections: "Wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3), "and prudence" (Ephesians 1:8), etc. For this Church the apostle asks specially the gift of understanding or comprehension, (comp. Colossians 2:2; only in Ephesians 3:4 and 2 Timothy 2:7 besides, in St. Paul; 1 Corinthians 1:19 from LXX), the power of putting things together (σύν-εσις), of discerning the relations of different truths, the logical bearing and consequences of one’s principles. For the errors invading Colossae were of a Gnostic type, mystic at once and rationalistic; against which a clear and well-informed understanding was the best protection (comp. notes on "truth," in Colossians 1:5, Colossians 1:6; also Colossians 2:4, Colossians 2:8, Colossians 2:18, Colossians 2:23; Ephesians 4:13, Ephesians 4:14). This "wisdom and understanding" are "spiritual," as inspired by the Divine Spirit (comp. the use of "spirit," "spiritual," in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11; Galatians 6:1 and Galatians 5:16, Galatians 5:25; Ephesians 1:17; Ephesians 3:16-19), and opposed to all "wisdom of the flesh," the unrenewed nature of man (Colossians 2:18; 1 Corinthians 2:4-6, 1 Corinthians 2:13-15; James 3:15). Colossians 1:10 To walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing (Ephesians 4:1; Philippians 1:27; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; 1 Thessalonians 4:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:5, 2 Thessalonians 1:11; 1 John 2:6; Revelation 3:4; Hebrews 13:21); so as to please him in every way. "The end of all knowledge, the apostle would say, is conduct" (Lightfoot). Spiritual enlightenment (Colossians 1:9) enables the Christian to walk (a Hebraism adopted also into biblical English) in a way "worthy of the Lord" (Christ, Colossians 2:6; Colossians 3:24; Acts 20:19, etc.), becoming those who have such a Lord and who profess to be his servants. And to be "worthy of Christ" is to "please God" (Romans 8:29; Ephesians 1:4, Ephesians 1:5, Ephesians 1:11; 1 Corinthians 1:9). This is the ideal and the aim of the religious life throughout the Bible. The characteristics of this walk are set forth by three coordinate participial phrases (Colossians 1:10-12), standing in the half independent nominative case instead of the more regular accusative. In every good work bearing fruit (Ephesians 4:28; Galatians 6:9, Galatians 6:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:17; 1 Timothy 5:10; Titus 3:8; Hebrews 13:16; Acts 9:36). "Good work" is that which is beneficial, practically good (see parallel passages). "In every good work" might grammatically qualify the foregoing" pleasing ’, but appears to be parallel in position and sense with "in all power" (Colossians 1:11). On"bearing fruit" (active in voice where the subject is personal: comp. ἐνεργέω in Colossians 1:29 and in Philippians 2:13), see note to Colossians 1:6. While doing good to his fellow-men, the Christian is growing by (or, in) the knowledge of God (Colossians 2:19; Ephesians 4:13-16; 2 Peter 3:18; 1 Corinthians 3:1, 1 Corinthians 3:2; 1 Corinthians 14:20; 1 Corinthians 16:13; Hebrews 5:12-14). His own nature becomes larger, stronger, more complete. Here it is individual (internal) growth, in Colossians 1:6 collective (external) growth (of the gospel, the Church) that is implied; the two are combined in Ephesians 4:13-16. The dative τῇἐπιγνώσει (so best copies and Revised Text: the Received, unto the knowledge, is a repetition of Eph 4:9) is "dative of instrument" (Alford, Lightfoot) rather than "of respect" (in the knowledge; so R.V.). Colossians 1:11 In all power being empowered, according to the might of his glory, unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness (Colossians 1:24, Colossians 1:29; Ephesians 1:19; Ephesians 3:16; Ephesians 6:10; 1 Corinthians 16:13; 2 Timothy 1:7, 2 Timothy 1:8; 2 Timothy 2:1, 2 Timothy 2:3, 2 Timothy 2:9, 2 Timothy 2:10; 1 Peter 5:10). The same word is repeated as noun and verb (δύναμις, δυναμόω, power, empower) with a strong Hebraistic sort of emphasis (otherwise in Ephesians 3:16). In all (every kind of) power gives the mode, according to the might of his glory the measure, and unto all patience, etc., the end of this Divine strengthening. "Might" (κράτος), in distinction from power (δύναμις) and other synonyms (comp. Colossians 1:29; Ephesians 1:19; Ephesians 6:10), implies "mastery," "sovereign sway," and, except in Hebrews 2:14 ("might of death"), is used in the New Testament only of the power of God. "Glory," as in Philippians 3:21, bears a substantive meaning of its own, and is not a mere attributive of "might." It is the splendour of God’s revelations of himself, in which his might is So conspicuous. Gazing on this glory, especially as seen in Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6) and the gospel (1 Timothy 1:11, R.V.), the Christian discerns the might of him from whom it streams forth, and understands how that might is engaged in his behalf (Ephesians 1:19, Ephesians 1:20; comp. Isaiah 40:28, Isaiah 40:29; Isaiah 42:5, Isaiah 42:6); and this thought fills him with invincible courage and endurance. Patience is steadfastness and stout heartedness under ill fortune (not a mere resigned patience); long suffering is gentleness of temper and magnanimity under ill treatment (comp. Colossians 3:12; and see Lightfoot, in loc., and Trench’s ’Synonyms’). Christ, in his earthly life, was the supreme example of patience (2 Thessalonians 3:5, R.V.; 1 Peter 2:21-23; Hebrews 12:3, Hebrews 12:4), which is "wrought by tribulation" (Romans 5:4): long-suffering finds its pattern in God’s dealing with "the unthankful and evil" (Romans 2:4; 1 Timothy 1:16; 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 3:15). "With joyfulness" belongs to this clause (Theodoret, Calvin, Bengel, Alford, Lightfoot) rather than the next, and lends a more vivid force to the foregoing words, while comparatively needless if prefixed to those that follow (so, however, Chrysostom, Erasmus, Meyer, Ellicott—"with joy giving thanks," etc.). This paradox is genuinely Pauline, and arises from personal experience (comp. verse 24; Philippians 1:29; Romans 5:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; 2 Corinthians 1:4-8; 2 Corinthians 6:10; 2 Corinthians 12:9, 2 Corinthians 12:10). Colossians 1:12 Giving thanks to the Father, who made us (or, you) meet for our (or, your) share in the lot (or, portion) of the saints in the light (Colossians 1:3-5; Acts 20:32; Acts 26:18; Titus 3:7; Ephesians 1:5, Ephesians 1:11-14; Galatians 3:29; Romans 8:15-17). The reading "us" is very doubtful. Westcott and Hort, with Tischendorf, prefer "you," as in the two oldest manuscripts: for the transition from first to second person, comp. Colossians 2:13, Colossians 2:14 (Colossians 2:9-12). In the same strain the apostle gave thanks on their account (Colossians 2:5). Thanksgiving" is prominent in this letter (Colossians 2:7; Colossians 3:15, Colossians 3:17; Colossians 4:2), as "joy" in Philippians. The title "the Father" frequently stands alone in St. John’s Gospel, coming from the lips of the Son, but St. Paul employs it thus only here and in Ephesians 3:14, R.V.; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6; see note on Galatians 4:2. Those "give thanks to the Father" who gratefully acknowledge him in "the spirit of adoption" as their Father through Christ (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:1-7; Ephesians 1:5). And the Father makes us meet for the inheritance when he enables us to call him "Father"—"If children, then heirs." "To make meet" (ἱκανόω, the verb found besides only in 2 Corinthians 3:5, 2 Corinthians 3:6 in the New Testament, "to make sufficient," R.V.) is "to make competent," "to qualify" for sonic position or work. This meetness, already conferred on the Colossians, consists in their forgiveness (verse 14) and adoption (Ephesians 1:5-7), which qualify and entitle them to receive the blessings of Christ’s kingdom (verse 13; Romans 5:1, Romans 5:2; Galatians 3:26-29; Ephesians 2:5, Ephesians 2:6; Titus 3:7), and which anticipate and form the basis of that worthiness of character and fitness of condition in which they are finally to be presented "perfect in Christ" (verses 10, 22, 28; 1 Thessalonians 5:23, 1 Thessalonians 5:24); "not qui dignos fecit (Vulgate), but qui idoneos fecit" (Ellicott). "Called and (made us meet)" is one of the few characteristic readings of the great Vatican Manuscript, which Westcott and Herr reject. "The lot of the saints" is that entire wealth of blessedness laid up for the people of God (Ephesians 1:3; Ephesians 2:12; Ephesians 3:6; Ephesians 4:4-7), in which each has his due share or part (Meyer, Ellicott, Lightfoot, less suitably: "parcel of (consisting in) the lot"); comp. verse 28; Ephesians 4:7. Κλῆρος ("lot," Acts 8:21; Acts 26:18), scarcely distinguishable from the more usual κληρονομία ("inheritance," Colossians 3:24; Ephesians 1:14, etc.; Acts 20:32; Hebrews 9:15; 1 Peter 1:4), is used in the Old Testament (LXX) of the sacred land as "divided by lot," and as "the lot" assigned to Israel (Numbers 34:13; Deuteronomy 4:21, etc.), also of Jehovah himself as "the lot" of the landless Levites (Deuteronomy 10:9), and of Israel in turn as "the lot" of Jehovah (Deuteronomy 4:20). It is the divinely allocated possession of the people of God in his kingdom. It belongs to them as "saints" (Ephesians 4:2; Ephesians 2:19; Acts 20:32; Acts 26:18; Psalms 15:1-5.; Numbers 35:34; Jeremiah 2:7); and it lies "in the light," in "the kingdom of the Son of God’s love" (Ephesians 4:13) that is filled with the light of the knowledge of God proceeding from Christ (2 Corinthians 4:1-6; John 1:4; John 8:12), light here manifest "in part" and in conflict with Satanic darkness (Ephesians 4:13; Ephesians 5:8-14; Ephesians 6:11, Ephesians 6:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:4-8; Romans 13:11-13; John 1:5), hereafter the full possession of God’s saints (Colossians 3:4; 1 Corinthians 13:12; Romans 13:12; John 12:36; Revelation 21:23-25; Isaiah 60:19, Isaiah 60:20). Ephesians 4:13 and Ephesians 4:14 proceed to show how this qualification has been gained. Colossians 1:13 Who (sc. the Father) rescued us from the dominion of the darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love (Ephesians 5:8; Ephesians 6:12; Romans 7:14-8:4; 1 Corinthians 15:56, 1 Corinthians 15:57; 1 Thessalonians 1:9, 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Peter 2:9; 1 John 1:5-7; 1 John 2:7-11). To "rescue" (ῥύομαι: 1 Thessalonians 1:10; Romans 7:24; 2 Corinthians 1:10; 2 Timothy 4:17, 2 Timothy 4:18,—to be carefully distinguished from other Greek verbs rendered "deliver") implies the evil state of the rescued, the superior power of the rescuer, and a conflict issuing in deliverance. St. Paul repeatedly associates the figure of darkness with the language of warfare. "Dominion of darkness"—same as "dominion of Satan" (Acts 26:18). Εξουσία, as distinguished from δύναμις ("power," Colossians 1:11, Colossians 1:29), is "right," "authority": the power of Satan is not mere external force, but takes the form of established and (as it were) legalized dominion (1 Corinthians 15:56; Luke 4:6; John 12:31). "The darkness" is precisely opposed to "the light" (Colossians 1:12), being the region of falsehood and hatred, whether in this world or outside of it, where Satan rules (Ephesians 6:12; Ephesians 5:8, Ephesians 5:11; 2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 John 2:8-11; Matthew 8:12; Luke 22:53; John 3:19, John 3:20; John 12:35). To "translate" (μεθίστημι) is to remove from one place, office, etc., to another; Josephus (’Ant.,’ 9:11, 1) uses it of the deportation of the Israelites by the Assyrian king. The Father, rescuing his captive children, brings them "into the kingdom of the Son of his love." Here we touch the central and governing idea of this Epistle, that of the supreme lordship of Christ (Colossians 1:15-20; Colossians 2:6, Colossians 2:10,Colossians 2:19, etc.); and this passage affords a clue which will, we trust, guide us through some of the greatest difficulties which follow. (On "the kingdom of the Son," comp. Ephesians 1:20-23; Philippians 2:6-11; Romans 14:9; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 1 Corinthians 15:24 - 28; Hebrews 1:1-4; Hebrews 2:5-10; Revelation 1:5-7, Revelation 1:18; Revelation 5:1-14., etc.; John 5:22-27; John 17:2; John 18:36; Matthew 25:31-46; Matthew 28:18-20.) Only here and in Ephesians 5:5; 2 Timothy 4:1, 2 Timothy 4:18; 1 Corinthians 15:24, 1 Corinthians 15:25, does the apostle speak of the kingdom as Christ’s; otherwise as God’s (and future). The "Son of his love" is not simply the "beloved Son" (Ephesians 1:6; Matthew 3:17, etc.), but the representative and depositary of his love: "Who is his love made manifest", being at once our "Redeemer King "(1 Corinthians 15:13, 1 Corinthians 15:14) and the" Image of the invisible God" (1 Corinthians 15:15). Colossians 1:14 In whom we have (or, had) our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins (Ephesians 1:7; Galatians 3:10-13; Romans 3:19-26; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21; 1 Peter 3:18, 1 Peter 3:19). Ephesians 1:7 suggested to some later copyists the interpolation "through his blood," words highly suitable in the Ephesian doxology. This verse is the complement of the last: there salvation appears as a rescue by sovereign power, here as a release by legal ransom (ἀπολύτρωσις). The ransom price Christ had declared beforehand (Matthew 20:28; Matthew 26:28; comp. Romans 3:24-26; Galatians 2:20; 1 Timothy 2:6; Hebrews 9:12-14; 1 Peter 1:18; Revelation 1:5, R.V.; Revelation 5:9). "We have redemption" ("had it," according to a few ancient witnesses) in present experience in "the forgiveness of our sins "(Ephesians 1:21, Ephesians 1:22; Colossians 2:13, Colossians 2:14; Colossians 3:13; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 4:25; Romans 5:1; Romans 8:1; Titus 2:14; Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 10:1-18; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:7-2:2; 1 John 4:10). Romans 3:24 gives its objective ground. The "redemption of the body" (also bought by the same price, 1 Corinthians 6:20) will make the work complete (Ephesians 1:13, Ephesians 1:14; Romans 8:19-23; 1 Corinthians 1:30). Lightfoot suggests that the apostle intends to contradict the doctrine of redemption taught by the Gnostics, who made it consist in initiation into their "mysteries" (see note on Romans 3:27); and supposes that this notion may already have existed at Colossae in some incipient form. But such an abuse of the term seems to imply a well established and familiar Christian use. Philo, who speaks the language of the Jewish philosophic mysticism of the first century, has no such usage. In firm, clear lines the apostle has retraced, in Romans 3:12-14 (comp. Romans 3:20-23; Colossians 2:11-14), the teaching of his earlier Epistles on the doctrines of salvation. Here he assumes, in brief and comprehensive terms, what in writing to the Galatians and Romans he had formerly been at so much pains to prove. Colossians 1:15-23 SECTION II. THE SON AND HIS KINGDOM. We now approach the real subject of the apostle’s letter, and that which is its distinction and glory amongst the Epistles, in the great theological deliverance of Col 1:15-20 concerning the Person of Christ. This passage occupies a place in the Christology of St. Paul corresponding to that which belongs to Romans 3:19-26 in regard to his Soteriology. Here he treats directly and expressly of the sovereignty of Christ and the nature of his Person—subjects which elsewhere in his writings are for the most part matter of assumption or mere incidental reference. But the paragraph is no detached or interpolated piece of abstract theology. It depends grammatically and practically on the previous verses (12-14). It sets forth who he is and what place he fills in the universe that Son of God’s love in whom we have redemption, and in whose kingdom the Father has placed us; and what cause, therefore, there is for the Colossians to give thanks as having such a Person for their redeeming King. The passage fails into two parts, closely corresponding both in form and sense, and governed, like other of the apostle’s more fervid and elevated utterances, by a Hebraistic antithetical rhythm of expression, which should aid us in the difficulties of its interpretation. A twofold headship is ascribed to the Lord Christ—natural (verses 15-17) and redemptional (verses 18-20): the first the source and ground of the second; the second the issue and consequence of the first, its reassertion and consummation. This symmetrical structure we may attempt to exhibit in the following way:— I. Colossians 1:15 (a) Who is Image of God the invisible, Firstborn of all creation: Colossians 1:16 (b) For in Him were created all things, (c) In the heavens and on the earth, the things visible and the things invisible—whether thrones, whether lordships, whether principalities, whether dominions— Colossians 1:17 (d) All things through Him and unto Him have been created; (e) And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. II. Colossians 1:18. (e) And He is the Head of the body, the Church; (a) Who is (the) Beginning, Firstborn out of the dead, that in all things He might become pre-eminent: Colossians 1:19 (b) For in Him he was pleased that all the fulness should dwell; Colossians 1:20 (d) And through Him to reconcile all things unto Him, having made peace through the blood of his cross,—through Him, (c) Whether the things on the earth, or the things in the heavens. I. (a) In virtue of his relation to God, Christ is at once (b) ground of creation, (c) both in heaven and on earth, and at the same time (d) its means and its end; he is, therefore, (e) supreme over the universe, preconditioning its existence, constituting its unity. II. In a similar sense he is (e) Head of the Church, (a) in virtue of his new relation to man, which makes him (b) ground, (d) means, and end of reconciliation also, (c) whether on earth or in heaven. Colossians 1:15 Who is Image of God the invisible (Colossians 2:9; Philippians 2:6; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Hebrews 1:1-3; Hebrews 11:27; John 1:1-3, John 1:18; John 5:37, John 5:38; 1 Timothy 1:17; Exodus 33:20; Job 23:1-17. 8, 9). On "image" (Elsie), see Lightfoot’s full discussion; and Trench’s ’Synonyms.’ The word is well defined by Philo (’On Dreams,’ 1. § 40): "The image—no imitation, but the very archetypal representation itself (αὐτὸτὸἀρχέτυπονεἷδος)." This title the apostle had before conferred on Christ in 2 Corinthians 4:4. There it is in the moral and redemptional attributes of the Godhead, manifest in "the illumination of the gospel," that Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6), the incarnate Redeemer, appears as "the Image of God:" hero the title is put upon him as representing the invisible God in all that pertains to nature and creation. The Colossian error rested on a philosophical dualism. It assumed an absolute separation between the infinite God and the finite, material world, which was viewed as the work of lower and more or less evil powers. To counteract it, therefore, the apostle’s argument must go down to the foundation of things, and seeks for a true conception of the universe on which to ground itself. Accordingly, in this and the following verses, he bases the redeeming work of "the Word made flesh who dwelt among us," set forth in his previous Epistles, upon that of "the Word who was with God in the beginning, who was God, and through whom all things were made." He avoids, however, the term Loges, which must have been perfectly familiar to him in this connection—possibly to prevent misunderstanding (see Introduction, §§ 4, 7). Firstborn of all creation (Romans 8:29; Hebrews 1:2, Hebrews 1:6; John 1:18; Psalms 89:27). (On "firstborn," see again Lightfoot’s invaluable note.) Primogeniture in early ages carried with it the rights of full heirship, involving representation of the father both in his religious and civil capacity, and in his sovereignty within the house (Genesis 25:31; Genesis 27:29; Genesis 49:3; Deuteronomy 21:17; 1 Chronicles 5:1). But natural precedence, as in the ease of Esau and Jacob, may yield to Divine election, which gives a unique sacredness and separateness to the position and title of the firstborn. So Israel is Jehovah’s firstborn among the nations (Exodus 4:22, Exodus 4:23; Jeremiah 31:9). What belonged to the chosen people under this title is, in the language of Psa 89:27, concentrated on the person of the Messianic King, the elect Son of David; and firstborn became a standing designation of the Messiah. The apostle has already applied it to Christ in his relation to the Church (Romans 8:29; see below, Romans 8:18), as being not the eldest simply, but one intrinsically superior to and sovereign over those whom he claims for his brethren (comp. Romans 14:9). Here the historical birthright and actual sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ within the Church are affirmed to rest upon an original primacy over the universe itself. He is not the Church’s only, but "all creation’s Firstborn" (comp. Hebrews 3:3 - 6, "Son over his own house"—the house of him "who built all things’). The phrase is synonymous with the "Heir of all things" of Hebrews 1:2, and the "Only-begotten" of John 1:18. So far were the titles Firstborn and Only-begotten from excluding each other in Jewish thought that Israel is designated "God’s firstborn, only-begotten," in the apocryphal Psalms of Solomon (Psalms 18:4; also 4 Esdr. 6:58); and so entirely had the former become a title of sovereignty that God himself is called "Firstborn of the world" (Rabbi Bechai: see Lightfoot). Philo uses the equivalent πρωτόγονος of the Divine Word as the seat of the archetypal ideas after which creation was framed. This phrase has been a famous battle-ground of controversy. It was a chief stronghold of the Arians, who read "of (out of) all creation" as partitive genitive. This interpretation, while grammatically allowable, is exegetically and historically impossible. For verses 16 and 17 expressly and emphatically distinguish between "him" and "the all things" of creation. The idea of the Son of God being part of creation was foreign to St. Paul’s mind (Colossians 2:9; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Philippians 2:6-8), and to the thought of his day. Had such a misunderstanding occurred to him as possible, he would, perhaps, have expressed himself differently. Some of the early opponents of Arius gave to πρωτότοκος, against all usage, an active sense—"First-begetter of all creation." Athanasius, with ether Greek Fathers of the fourth century, in the stress of the same controversy, were led to propose whatsubsequently became the standard Socinian interpretation, understanding "creation" to mean "the new (moral) creation" (so also Schleiermacher)—against the whole scope of the context, and cutting the very nerve of the apostle’s argument. The Jewish theosophy of the day distributed the offices of representing God, and of mediating between him and the creatures, amongst a variable and nebulous crowd of agencies—angels, words, powers—neither human nor strictly Divine. The apostle gathers all these mediatorial and administrative functions into one, and places them in the hands of "the Son of his love." Looking up to God, he is his Image: looking down on creation, he is its primal Head and Lord. "Creation," standing collectively without the article in antithesis to "Firstborn," is used qualitatively, or (as the logicians would say) intensively. This is better than making κτίσις a quasi-proper noun (Winer, Lightfoot), or rendering distributively, "every creature" (Meyer, Ellicott). (On this occasional collective use of πᾶς without article, see Kruger’s ’Griech. Sprachlehre,’ 1:50. 11.9.) Colossians 1:16 For in him were created all things (Colossians 1:17; John 1:3, John 1:4). Ἐν is "in," never "by," in St. Paul. Τὰπάντα (collective plural with singular predicate, literally, was created) corresponds nearly to our "the universe." John 1:4 is the true parallel to this sentence. St. John sees in "the Word" the animating principle of creation; St. Paul in "the Son of God’s love" its ground and raison d’etre. "He is the Source of its life, the Centre of all its developments, the Mainspring of all its motions" (Lightfoot). As the spiritual life of believers was formed "in Christ" (Colossians 1:2, Colossians 1:4; Colossians 2:10-15), so, in its measure, the natural life of creation. The added in the heavens and on the earth (verse 20; Philippians 2:10; Matthew 6:10) reduces to the same subordination to the Lord Christ the two worlds so widely separated in common thought and in the religious philosophy of the time. The polemic bearing of this distinction comes out more clearly when to the distinction of sphere is added that of nature—the things visible and the things invisible (Colossians 2:18; 2 Corinthians 4:18; Romans 1:20; Hebrews 11:3); and when amongst the latter are specified those highest orders of invisible beings whose power might be most readily supposed to come into comparison with that of the Son,—whether thrones, or lordships, or principalities, or dominions (Colossians 2:10, Colossians 2:15, Colossians 2:18, Colossians 2:19; Ephesians 1:21; Ephesians 3:10; Ephesians 4:10; Ephesians 6:12; Romans 8:38; 1 Corinthians 15:24; Hebrews 2:5; Revelation 4:4). By their low and vague conceptions of the position of Christ, and by over-exalted notions of that of the angels, the Colossian errorists had all but, if not altogether, identified their powers with his. The apostle, therefore, declares that the invisible beings of the worlds above us, however lofty their names or mighty their powers, are his creatures as much as the lowliest objects within our sight (comp. Hebrews 1:2, where also false views are corrected of the importance of the angels, exaggerated at the expense of Christ). This list of angelic titles is not intended to be exhaustive, or authoritative. It is rather quoted as current at the time, and in a certain tone of "impatience with this elaborate angelology" (Lightfoot). All things through him and unto him have been created (1 Corinthians 8:6; Hebrews 1:2; John 1:3). "In him" carries us back to the beginning of creation (with verb ἐκτίσθη in aorist, indefinite past); "through him" leads us along its process; and "unto him" points us to its end (verb ἔκτισται in perfect tense, of abiding result). Comp. Philo (’On Monarchy,’ it. § 5): "Now the image of God is the Word, through which the whole world was framed." Already St. Paul had said, "Through Christ are all things" (1 Corinthians 8:6). Hitherto the "unto (for) him" has been reserved for "the Father" (1 Corinthians 8:6; Romans 11:36; comp. Hebrews 2:10). Baur finds in this change of expression a radical theological contradiction and a sign of unauthenticity, as also in the contrast of Col 3:11 with 1 Corinthians 15:28. But the apostle speaks from a standpoint different from that of the earlier Epistles. In the Roman and Corinthian passages he is concerned with the relations of God to man, and his dealings with mankind through Christ; here, with the relations of Christ himself to his own kingdom. The final "delivering up of the kingdom to the Father" lies outside the scope of this passage, which begins with the delivering up of us by the Father to "the kingdom of the Son" (1 Corinthians 15:13). Till "the end," which is "not yet," Christ must reign (1 Corinthians 15:25), and all things owe allegiance to him; they are created unto this end (Ephesians 3:9, Ephesians 3:10), and therefore unto him, to serve his kingdom (Philippians 2:10). The apostle asserts of creation what he has already said (2 Corinthians 5:15; Romans 14:9; Acts 20:28) and is about to say again (1 Corinthians 15:20) of the redeemed Church. That both exist for Christ (relatively and proximately) is a truth perfectly consistent with their existing for God (absolutely and ultimately); 1 Corinthians 3:23 gives the unity of the two ideas. Colossians 1:17 And he is before all things (Colossians 1:15; John 1:1; John 8:58; John 17:5; Revelation 3:14; Proverbs 8:22-31). This emphatic "he" (αὐτός) meets us in every clause and in every possible grammatical form, as though in the very grammar of the sentence Christ must be "all in all." "He" is kept ringing in the cars of those who were in danger of forgetting him in the charm of other sounds (Colossians 2:4, Colossians 2:19: comp. Colossians 2:9-15; Ephesians 2:14-18, for the same rhetorical feature; also Ephesians 4:11; 1 John 2:2; Romans 19:15, Greek). We now pass from the origination (Colossians 1:16 a), through the continuance (Colossians 1:16 b, present perfect ἔκτισται), to the present constitution (Colossians 1:17 b) of the universe as Jesting upon this antecedent and perpetual He Is, which affords the underlying basis uniting in one the redemptional and the creative offices of Christ (Colossians 1:17, Colossians 1:18). In the mouth of a Hebraist like St. Paul, the coincidence of the doubly emphatic "He Is" with the etymological sense of Jehovah (Yahweh; ὁὤν, LXX), as interpreted in Exodus 3:6., can scarcely be accidental (see Lightfoot). And Greek readers of the LXX might be reminded of such declarations as those of Isa 41:4; Isaiah 44:6; Isaiah 48:12 (comp. John 1:1, John 1:2; John 8:24, John 8:28, John 8:58; John 13:19; Romans 1:8, Romans 1:17; 21:6). In St. Paul’s Christ, as in Isaiah’s Jehovah, sovereignty of redeeming, rests upon sovereignty of creative power, and both alike upon that perpetuity of being which "the Son of God’s love" shares with the Father. Socinian exegetes give to "before" an ethical sense ("at the head of," "superior to"), in harmony with their reference of verses 15-18 to the relation of Christ to the Church. But πρὸ never has this sense in St. Paul: comp. also the "Firstborn" of verse 15, and again "Beginning," "Firstborn" (verse 18). If verse 15 left us in any doubt as to the writer’s intention to assert Christ’s pro-mundane existence, this expression ought to remove it. Language can hardly be more explicit. And all things in him consist; i.e. have their common standing, are constituted a whole. The apostle speaks here the language of philosophy. In Plato and Aristotle, the term consist (consistence) is found expressing the essentially philosophical conception of the inherent unity, in virtue of which the universe is such and forms a single, correlated whole. The Alexandrine Judaists had already found this unifying principle in the Loges: "He is the Image of God, to whom alone fulness belongs. For other things of themselves are loose; and if they happen to be consolidated anywhere, it is the Divine Word by which they are tied fast. For it is the cement and the bond of things, that has filled all things with its essence. And having chained and woven together everything, it is itself absolutely full of itself" (Philo, ’Who is Heir of Divine Things?’ § 38). St. Paul’s declaration meets the questionings indicated by language of this kind (see the more extended references of Meyer and Lightfoot). Colossians 1:18 The words, And he is the Head of the body, the Church (Colossians 2:10, Colossians 2:19; Ephesians 1:22, Ephesians 1:23; Ephesians 3:8-10; Ephesians 4:15, Ephesians 4:16; Hebrews 1:3; John 15:1-6), identify the mediatorial Lord of creation (Colossians 1:15-17) with the redeeming Head of the Church, and claim the prerogatives belonging to him in the former capacity as the basis of his position and offices in the latter (comp. Ephesians 1:22). The Pauline doctrine of the Church as the body of Christ is developed in Colossians and Ephesians, especially in the later Epistle, where it receives its fruitful application. Here the doctrine of the Person of Christ and the doctrine of the Church find their meeting-point as mutually implying each other, and together opposed to the double effect of early Gnosticism, which tended first to lower the dignity of Christ, and then to impair the unity of his Church (see Colossians 2:19, note). In 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 and Romans 12:4, Romans 12:5 the figure of the body and members is merely a passing illustration of the mutual relation of believers in the Church; now the body of Christ becomes the formal title of the Church, expressing the fundamental and fixed conception of its nature as related to him, who is the centre of its unity, the source of all vital energy and directing control within it (comp. the vine and branches, John 15:1-27.). In Romans 12:16, Romans 12:17 the writer passed from the thought of the origin to that of the constitution of the cosmos; now he proceeds in the reverse order. (He is the head) who is (the) Beginning (Revelation 3:14; Revelation 21:6; Revelation 22:13; Acts 3:15; Acts 5:31; Hebrews 2:10; Hebrews 12:2). Αρχή is without article, used as a proper noun. It is arbitrary to identify it with ἀπαρχὴ ("firstfruits") of 1 Corinthians 15:20, 1 Corinthians 15:23; Romans 11:16. As explained by the following words, it denotes, as in philosophical Greek, a first principle, originating cause, fens et origo (see Lightfoot’s note and references). To borrow "of the dead" from the following parallel clause weakens the force of both. His body, the Church, begins in him, dating and deriving from him its "all in all" (Colossians 3:11, Colossians 3:4; 1 John 5:12; Revelation 21:5; 2 Corinthians 5:17). This is quite consistent with the "all things are of God" of 2 Corinthians 5:18; for the apostle is thinking here of the relative, historical beginning of "the kingdom of the Son" (2 Corinthians 5:13), there of the absolute beginning of the Divine work of redemption. St. John, writing to the neighbouring Laodicea, echoes, apparently, this language of our apostle (Revelation 3:14) As Firstborn out of the dead (Colossians 2:12, Colossians 2:13; Colossians 3:1; Ephesians 1:19, Ephesians 1:20; Romans 1:4; Romans 6:1-14; 1 Corinthians 15:13-18; 2 Corinthians 13:4; Acts 13:30-39; 1 Peter 1:3, 1 Peter 1:21; Revelation 1:5, Revelation 1:18; Revelation 2:8; John 11:25), this Beginning actually begins; Christ becomes the source, of a new humanity, a new creation (2 Corinthians 4:14 and Romans 8:21). The apostle derives the whole life and power of Christianity, whether as seen in Christ or proved by his people, from his resurrection (see parallels). The name Firstborn brings over with it into this verse the glory which surrounds it in verse 15. The Divine Firstborn, who is before and over all things, wins his title a second time for his earthly brethren’s sake (Hebrews 2:10-15). As he appears "out of the dead," born anew from the dark womb of the grave, the nether abyss (Romans 10:7; Ephesians 4:9; Philippians 2:8), the Father declares to him, "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee" (Acts 13:33; Hebrews 1:5); the Church exclaims," My Lord and my God" (John 20:28); "all authority in heaven and on earth" becomes his (Matthew 28:18; John 17:2); he is made "Firstborn over many brethren," who call him Lord (Romans 8:29; Romans 14:9; Revelation 5:12); and proceeds to "subdue all things unto himself" (Philippians 2:9, Philippians 2:10; Philippians 3:21; 1 Corinthians 15:25; Hebrews 10:13; Revelation 19:11-16). "Firstborn out of the dead" in the source of his new birthright of lordship in the Church, he is" Firstborn of the dead" (Revelation 1:5, R.V.: comp. Revelation 1:15) in his abiding relation to dying humanity. And he won this title so as to carry out an antecedent purpose in his mind (comp. Romans 14:9; "In the mind of the father," say Meyer and others—a thought true in itself, but interpolated here), viz. that he might become in all things pre-eminent (verse 13; Colossians 2:6; Ephesians 5:5; 1 Corinthians 15:25; Luke 19:12-27; Luke 22:29, Luke 22:30; John 18:36; Revelation 1:5; Revelation 3:21; Revelation 19:16; Psalms 2:7, Psalms 2:8). The purpose of creation as "unto Christ" (verse 17) had been frustrated, so far as related to man, by the entrance of sin and death, and his rightful pre-eminence denied him (John 1:10). He must, therefore, recover it, must become pre-eminent; and this he does by his death and resurrection (John 12:31, John 12:32; Hebrews 2:14, Hebrews 2:15; Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 2:6-11; Isaiah 53:12). "To this end Jesus died and lived again". Colossians 1:19 For in him he was pleased that all the fulness should dwell (Colossians 2:9; Ephesians 1:10; John 1:14, John 1:16; Acts 2:36; Hebrews 7:25; Matthew 28:18). Colossians 1:19, Colossians 1:20 stand to Colossians 1:18 as Colossians 1:16, Colossians 1:17 to Colossians 1:15. The creative work of the Son explains and justifies his supremacy over the natural universe, and his reconciling work accounts for his lordship over the Church, as it establishes his "pre-eminence in all things." In him dwelt the forces and laws of the first creation; in him, likewise, all the fulness engaged in the new creation. It is hard to say what is the grammatical subject of "was pleased." (1) The great majority of interpreters, both ancient and modern, understand "the Father" as borrowed from Colossians 1:12, Colossians 1:13, and suggested by the apostle’s use of this verb elsewhere (see 1 Corinthians 1:21; Galatians 1:15; Philippians 2:13; Ephesians 1:5, Ephesians 1:9, Ephesians 1:11); so, recently, De Wette, Meyer, Lightfoot, Alford, Klopper, R.V. (2) Ellicott, Ewald, R. Schmidt, Weiss, R.V. margin, adopt the immediately following "all the fulness." (3) Conybeare, Hofmann, with a few others, prefer "the Son," the exclusive and all-absorbing subject of Col 1:15-18. The second interpretation personifies Plēroma in a manner unsupported by Pauline usage, and more suitable to the second century (see note on "fulness," below); but the considerations urged by its supporters against the common view are of great weight. In favour of the third interpretation given above, are the following reasons: that it supplies the nearest subject, that which the Colossian reader, without the usage of other Epistles in his mind, would naturally assume; that it prepares for the reference of the further predicates, "reconcile," "having made peace," "present you holy," etc. (Colossians 1:20-23), to Christ, in agreement with the closely parallel Ephesians 2:14-16; Ephesians 5:27; further and especially, that this view best harmonizes with the sustained and unique emphasis with which the writer has dwelt on the sovereignty of Christ in every clause from Ephesians 5:14 onwards; and, lastly, that his point of view is historical (note the aorists throughout Ephesians 5:18-20), as concerned not with the "eternal purpose" and absolute initiative of the Father, but with the establishment; of his own kingdom by the Son (Ephesians 5:13; see note on "unto him," Ephesians 5:16). There is nothing in the term "well pleased" ("good pleasure") to prevent the apostle applying it to the Son, if he finds occasion to do so. But "this view confuses the theology of the passage hopelessly" (Lightfoot). Just the same is said by Baur and Pfleiderer of the "unto him" of Ephesians 5:16, and the "all in all" of Colossians 3:11, as compared with the language of 1 Corinthians and Romans; and the same answer holds good in each ease, viz. that the apostle speaks concerning Christ add the Church, and his thoughts move within the circle of their mutual relations, grounded as these are in the Christian constitution of the universe itself. God’s good pleasure (Ephesians 1:5, Ephesians 1:9) lay within and behind Christ’s choice and action (John 8:29); but it was his own good pleasure too (John 10:30). So in John 10:18 (comp. also Ephesians 5:2 and Galatians 2:20 with Romans 5:8 and Romans 8:32) the initiative of Christ in the work of redemption is recognized along with that of the Father. "He emptied himself" (Philippians 2:7); and again "was pleased" that "all the fulness" should be his: comp. Ephesians 4:8-11 (quite consistent with 1 Corinthians 12:28), Hebrews 1:3 b, where Christ appears regally assuming his own glory. "All the fulness" is not precisely "the fulness of the Godhead" of Colossians 2:9. Had the more definite expression preceded, it would have been fair to interpret this more general one by its aid. Plēroma is a word so varied and elastic in Pauline usage (see Romans 11:12; Romans 13:10; Galatians 4:4; Ephesians 1:10, Ephesians 1:23; Ephesians 3:19; Ephesians 4:13) that it can scarcely have hardened suddenly into "a recognized term in theology, denoting the totality of the Divine Person and attributes" (Lightfoot. No earlier example of such a usage is furnished. To import it here is to make the Epistle speak the language of the second century. "All the fulness" ascribed to "the Son of God’s love" as "Head over all things to the Church," alike "Beginning of the creation of God" and "Firstborn out of the dead," embraces that entire plenitude of nature and of power residing in him since the time that he ascended to the right hand of power (Colossians 3:1; 1 Peter 1:21; Hebrews 1:3, Hebrews 1:4; Hebrews 5:9; Hebrews 7:28), and in virtue of which he "becomes in all things pre-eminent." Κατοικέω denotes a "fixed dwelling" (Colossians 2:9; Ephesians 3:17); but is aorist in tense here (present in Colossians 2:9) along with εὐδόκησε ("was pleased")—"should make its dwelling in him" (see Acts 7:2, Acts 7:4), pointing to a distinct event, viz. in this case the Ascension which consummated the Resurrection set forth in the last clause. Ephesians 1:20-23 and Ephesians 4:8-10 strongly confirm the correctness of this view; there "the fulness" with which Christ is charged, and wherewith he proceeds to "fill all things," dates from his ascension (John 12:32; Acts 2:32-34; Acts 5:30, Acts 5:31; Romans 8:34). "From henceforth" Christ is a complete Christ, and we are "made complete in him" (Colossians 2:9, Colossians 2:10; see notes). This plenitude qualifies him as plenipotentiary in his work of reconciliation. Colossians 1:20 And (was pleased) through him to reconcile all things unto him (Colossians 1:16; Ephesians 1:10; Hebrews 9:26; Hebrews 10:12, Hebrews 10:13; Psalms 2:7, Psalms 2:8). Not "through Christ—unto the Father," as Meyer, Alford, Ellicott, Lightfoot contend. This involves reading "the Father" as subject of Col 1:19 (see note). There is nothing in the grammar of this verse to suggest a reference of the same pronoun to two different persons. And the analogy of Col 1:16 appears decisive (see note): "Through him and unto him all things were created and reconciled" (De Wette, Conybeare, Hofmann). So Chrysostom: "Lest thou shouldest think that he undertook the office of a minister only, he saith ’unto himself.’ And yet he elsewhere says that he reconciled us ’to God.’" English idiom prefers the reflexive "himself" in such a sentence (so in Colossians 1:19); but it is not necessary in Greek. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Colossians 2:1-7 SECTION IV. THE APOSTLE’S CONCERN FOR THE COLOSSI. AN CHURCH. So far the contents of the letter have been of a general and preparatory character. New the writer begins to indicate the special purpose he has in view by declaring, in connection with his concern for the welfare of the Gentile Churches at large (Colossians 1:24-29), the deep anxiety which he at present feels respecting the Colossian and neighbouring Churches. Colossians 2:1 For I would have you know how great a strife I have on behalf of you and those in Laodicea (Colossians 4:12, Colossians 4:13; 2 Corinthians 11:28, 2 Corinthians 11:29; Romans 1:9-13; Philippians 1:8, Philippians 1:25-30; 1 Thessalonians 2:17,1 Thessalonians 2:18; Galatians 4:20). The apostle has dwelt at such length and so earnestly upon his own position and responsibilities (Colossians 1:24-29), that the Colossians may feel how real and strong is his interest in their welfare, though personally strangers to him (see next clause). His solicitude for them is in keeping with the toil and strife of his whole ministry. "I would have you know;" a familiar Pauline phrase (1 Corinthians 11:3; Philippians 1:12; Romans 1:13, etc.). Ηλίκον ("how great’) has, perhaps, a slightly exclamatory force, as in James 3:5 (only other instance of the word in the New Testament), and in classical Greek. For "strife," see note on "striving" (Colossians 1:29): the energy and abruptness of language characterizing this second chapter bear witness in the inward wrestling which the Colossian difficulty occasioned in the apostle’s mind. (On the close connection of Colossae with Laodicea, comp. Colossians 4:13-17, notes; also Introduction, § 1.) The danger which had come to a head in Colassae was doubtless threatening its neighbours. The words, and as many as have not seen my face in (the) flesh (James 3:5; Colossians 1:8; Romans 1:11; Galatians 1:22; Acts 20:25), raise the question whether St. Paul had ever visited Colossae. The language of Col 1:7 (see note) raises a strong presumption against his being the founder of this Church, and the narrative of the Acts scarcely admits of any visit to this region in former missionary journeys. Theodoret amongst the Greeks, followed by our own Lardner and a few recent critics, contended that the apostle distinguishes here between Colossians and Laodiceans (or at least the former), and those who had not seen His face. But the disjunction is grammatically harsh and improbable (see Ellicott). (On the general question, see Introduction, § 2.) The apostle is the more anxious for this endangered Church, as the gifts that his presence might have conveyed (Romans 1:11) were wanting to them. He says, "in flesh," for "in spirit" he is closely united with them. The object of his strife on their behalf is— Colossians 2:2 That their hearts may be encouraged (Colossians 4:8; Ephesians 6:22; 1 Thessalonians 3:2; 1 Thessalonians 4:18; 2 Thessalonians 2:17; 2 Corinthians 13:11). For the mischief at work at Colossae was at once unsettling (Colossians 2:6, Colossians 2:7; Colossians 1:23) and discouraging (Colossians 1:23; Colossians 2:18; Colossians 3:15) in its effects, Παρακαλῶ, a favourite word of St. Paul’s, means "to address," "exhort," then more specially "to encourage," "comfort," (2 Corinthians 1:4), "to beseech" (Ephesians 4:1; 2 Corinthians 6:1),or "to instruct" (Titus 1:9). The heart, in Biblical language, is not the seat of feeling only, but stands for the whole inner man, as the "vital centre" of his personality. While they are (literally, they having been) drawn together in love, and into all (the) riches of the full assurance of the understanding, unto (or, into) (full) knowledge of the mystery of God, (even) Christ (Colossians 2:19; Colossians 1:9; Colossians 3:10, Colossians 3:14; Colossians 4:12; Ephesians 1:17, Ephesians 1:18; Ephesians 3:17-19; Ephesians 4:2, Ephesians 4:3, Ephesians 4:15, Ephesians 4:16; Philippians 1:9; Philippians 2:2; 1 Corinthians 1:10; 2 Corinthians 13:11). In the best Greek copies "drawn together" is nominative masculine, agreeing with "they," the logical subject implied in "their hearts" (feminine). Συμβιβάζω has the same sense in Colossians 2:19 and Ephesians 4:16; in 1 Corinthians 2:16 it is quoted from the LXX in another sense; and it has a variety of meanings in the Acts. "Drawn together" expresses the double sense which accrues to the verb in combination with the two prepositions "in" and "into:" "united in love," Christians are prepared to be "led into all the wealth of Divine knowledge." This combination of "love and knowledge" appears in all St. Paul’s letters of this period (comp. Ephesians 4:12-16; Philippians 1:9; and contrast 1 Corinthians 8:1-3; 1 Corinthians 13:1, 1 Corinthians 13:2, 1 Corinthians 13:8-13). "The riches of the full assurance," etc., and "the knowledge of the mystery" are the counterpart of "the riches of the glory of the mystery," of Colossians 1:27; the fulness of conviction and completeness of knowledge attainable by the Christian correspond to the full and satisfying character of the revelation he receives in Christ (comp. Ephesians 1:17-19). (On "understanding," see note, Colossians 1:9.) "Full assurance," or "conviction" (πληροφορία), is a word belonging to St. Luke and St. Paul (with the Epistle to the Hebrews) in the New Testament (not found in classical Greek), and denotes radically "a bringing to fall measure or maturity." Combined with "understanding," it denotes the ripe, intelligent persuasion of one who enters into the whole wealth of the "truth as it is in Jesus" (comp. Colossians 4:12, R.V.; also Romans 4:21 and Romans 14:5, for corresponding verb). In this inward "assurance," as in a fortress, the Colossians were to entrench themselves against the attacks of error (Colossians 1:9; Colossians 3:15, and notes). Εἰςἐπίγνωσιν is either in explanatory apposition to the previous clause, or rather donors the further purpose for which this wealth of conviction is to be sought: "knowledge of the Divine mystery, knowledge of Christ"—this is the supreme end, ever leading on and upward, for the pursuit of which all strengthening of heart and understanding are given (Colossians 3:10; Ephesians 3:16-19; Philippians 3:10). The Revisers have corrected the erroneous "acknowledgment" by their paraphrastic rendering, "that they may know." (On ἐπίγνωσις (comp. γνῶσις, verse 3), see note, Colossians 1:6.) The object of this knowledge is the great manifested mystery of God, namely Christ (Colossians 1:27). We confidently accept here the Revised reading, that of nearly all recent textual critics, which omits the words found in the Received Text between "God" and "Christ." There are extant eleven distinct variations of this reading, and that of the Textus Receptus is, to all appearance, the latest and worst; "the passage is altogether an instructive lesson on textual criticism". The words thus read have been interpreted mystery of the God Christ" (the Latin Hilary, and a few moderns); of the God of Christ" (Meyer, quoting Ephesians 1:17; John 20:17; Matthew 27:46);—both interpretations grammatically correct, but unsuitable here, even if in harmony with Pauline usage elsewhere. Alford omits "of Christ" altogether, distrusting the textual evidence. Meyer objects to the rendering we have followed (that of Ellicott, Lightfoot, Revisers), that the apostle, if this be his meaning, has expressed himself ambiguously; but comp. Colossians 1:27 (see note); also 1 Timothy 3:16, "The mystery, who was manifested in flesh." Colossians 2:3 In whom (or, which) are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden(ly) (Ephesians 1:8, Ephesians 1:9; Ephesians 3:8; Romans 11:33; 1 Corinthians 1:5, 1 Corinthians 1:6, 1 Corinthians 1:30; 1 Corinthians 2:7; 2 Corinthians 4:3). Bengel, Meyer, Alford, and others make the relative pronoun neuter, referring to "mystery;" but "Christ," the nearer antecedent, is preferable (Colossians 2:9, Colossians 2:10; Colossians 1:16, Colossians 1:17, Colossians 1:19). In him the apostle finds what false teachers sought elsewhere, a satisfaction for the intellect as well as for the heart—treasures of wisdom and knowledge to enrich the understanding, and unsearchable mysteries to exercise the speculative reason. "Hidden" is, therefore, a secondary predicate: in whom are these treasures,—as hidden treasures" (Ellicott, Lightfoot). (For a similar emphasis of position, compare "made complete," Colossians 2:10, and "seated," Colossians 3:1.) Meyer and Alford, with the Vulgate, make "hidden" an attributive: "in whom are hidden treasures." Chrysostom and leading versions make it primary predicate: "in whom are hidden," etc., against the order of the words. This word also belongs to the dialect of the mystic theosophists. (On "wisdom," see note, Colossians 1:9.) Knowledge (γνῶσις, not ἐπίγνωσις, Colossians 2:2; Colossians 1:9; Colossians 3:10; for this phrase is more comprehensive) is the more objective and purely intellectual side of wisdom (comp. Romans 11:33). Colossians 2:4 In this verse the apostle first definitely indicates the cause of his anxiety, and the Epistle begins to assume a polemic tone. This verse is, therefore, the prelude of the impending attack on the false teachers (Colossians 2:8-23). This I say, that no one may be deluding you in persuasive speech (Colossians 2:8, Colossians 2:18, Colossians 2:23; Ephesians 4:14; 1 Corinthians 2:1, 1 Corinthians 2:4,1 Corinthians 2:13; 1 Timothy 6:20; Psalms 55:21). This was the danger which made a more adequate comprehension of Christianity so necessary to the Colossians (verses 2, 3). Πιθανολογία, one of the numerous hapax logo-menu of this Epistle (words only used here in the New Testament), compounds into one word the πειθοῖλόγοι ("persuasive words") of 1 Corinthians 2:4 (compare "word of wisdom," verse 23). In classical writers it denotes plausible, ad captandum reasoning. Παραλογίζομαι (only here and James 1:22 in the New Testament) is "to use bad logic," "to play off fallacies (paralogisms)." The new teachers were fluent, specious reasoners, and had a store of sophistical arguments at command. The tense of the verb indicates an apprehension as to what may be now going on (1 Corinthians 2:8, 1 Corinthians 2:16, 18, 20; Colossians 1:23). We shall see afterwards (1 Corinthians 2:8 -23) what was the doctrine underlying this "persuasive speech." Colossians 2:5 For if indeed I am absent in the flesh, yet in the spirit I am with you (1 Thessalonians 2:17; 1 Corinthians 5:3, 1 Corinthians 5:4). The connection of this verse with the last is not obvious. Ellicott, following Chrysostom, makes St. Paul’s spiritual presence the reason for his being able to give the Colossians this warning; Meyer, his bodily absence the reason for their needing it. It is better, with Lightfoot, to see here a general explanatory reference to the previous context, a renewed declaration (verse 1) of watchful interest in these distant brethren and a hearty acknowledgment of their Christian loyalty. The tone of authoritative warning just assumed (verse 4) is thus justified, and yet softened (compare the apologetic tone of Rom 15:14, Romans 15:15). The phrase, "if I am absent," does not imply a previous presence (see note, verse 1). Rejoicing and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ (Philippians 1:4-8, Philippians 1:27; 1 Corinthians 1:5-8; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:4). St. Paul dos not say, "rejoicing in beholding." The consciousness of union with brethren far away, whom he has never seen (verse 1), is itself a joy; and this joy is heightened by what he sees through the eyes of Epaphras of the condition of this Church. Τάξις and στερέωμα are military terms, denoting the "ordered array" and "solid front" of an army prepared for battle (Lightfoot, Hofmann): comp. Ephesians 6:11, etc.; Philippians 1:27. Others find the figure of a building underlying the second word—Vulgate, firmamentum ("solid basis")—and this is its more usual meaning, and agrees with Philippians 1:7 and Colossians 1:23. The precise expression, "faith in Christ" (literally, into—εἰς, not ἐν, as in Colossians 1:4, see note) occurs only here in the New Testament; in Acts 24:24 read "in Christ Jesus." In such passages as Romans 3:22, Romans 3:26 (where πίστις is followed by the genitive), Christ appears as object of faith; in such as Colossians 1:4 and Colossians 2:5 he is its ground or substratum, that in which it rests and dwells, into which it roots itself. Colossians 2:6 As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him (Philippians 1:27; Philippians 2:9-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-15; 1 Corinthians 15:1, 1 Corinthians 15:2; Galatians 3:2-4; Galatians 5:1; Hebrews 3:6; Hebrews 4:14; Hebrews 10:23; John 7:17; John 15:5-10; Romans 3:11). Such a walk will be consistent with their previous steadfastness, and will lead them to larger spiritual attainments (Colossians 1:10; see note). "Ye received" reminds the Colossians of what they had received (compare" ye were taught," verse 7 and Colossians 1:7) rather than of the way of their receiving it. "Christ Jesus the Lord," is literally, the Christ Jesus, the Lord—an expression found besides only in Ephesians 3:11 (Revised Text). The prefixed article points out Christ Jesus in his full style and title as the Person whom the Colossians had received, and received as the Lord. "The Lord" has a predicative force, as in 1 Corinthians 12:3 (R.V.); 2 Corinthians 4:5; Philippians 2:11. "Jesus is Lord" was the testing watchword applied in the discerning of spirits; "Jesus Christ is Lord" is to be the final confession of a reconciled universe; and "Christ Jesus is Lord" is the rule of faith that guides all conduct and tests all doctrine within the Church (comp. Philippians 2:19; Romans 16:18). It is "a summary of the whole Christian confession" (Meyer). To vindicate this lordship, on which the Colossian error trenched so seriously, is the main object of the Epistle (Colossians 1:13-20). We must not, therefore, with Alford, Lightfoot, Hofmann, analyze "the Christ Jesus:" "Ye received the Christ, (namely) Jesus, who is the Lord." The writer has already used "Christ Jesus" as a single proper name at the outset (Colossians 1:1, Colossians 1:4); and it was the lordship of Christ Jesus, not the Messiahship of Jesus, that was now in question. In Acts 18:5, Acts 18:28 the situation is entirely different. In the following clause, "in him" is emphatic, as in Acts 18:7 (compare the predominant αὐτός of Colossians 1:16-22; Colossians 2:9-15). Hence the contradiction of figure, "walk, rooted, and builded up," does not obtrude itself. (On "walk," see note, Colossians 1:10; and on "in Christ" in this connection, see notes, Colossians 1:4; Colossians 2:10; and comp. Romans 6:3-11; Romans 8:1; 2 Corinthians 5:17; John 15:1-7.) Colossians 2:7 Rooted and builded up in him (Colossians 1:23; Colossians 2:5; Ephesians 2:20, Ephesians 2:21; Ephesians 3:18; Ephesians 4:16; 1 Corinthians 3:9-12; Jude 1 Corinthians 1:20; Luke 6:47, Luke 6:48). "Rooted" is perfect participle, in, plying an abiding fact ("fast rooted"); while "builded up" (literally, upon or unto) is in the present tense of a continued process, the prefix ἐπὶ also implying growth and gain (Colossians 1:6, Colossians 1:10; Colossians 2:19). Meyer and Ellicott view ἐναὐτῷ as a mere complement of the latter participle: "being builded in him." This weakens the force of both prepositions (ἐπὶ and ἐν), and the emphasis of the repeated "in him." The ideas of planting and building are similarly combined in 1 Corinthians 3:9; Ephesians 3:18; and rooted is a figure applied to buildings in ether Greek writers (Lightfoot). "Christ is the ground for the roots below, and the foundation for the building above" (Meyer). And stablished in (or, by) your faith, according as ye were taught (Colossians 1:5-7, Colossians 1:23; 1 Corinthians 1:6-8; 1 Thessalonians 3:2; 1 Thessalonians 4:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-15; 1 Peter 5:9, 1 Peter 5:10). Ἑν before πίστει ("faith") is struck out in the Revised Text, and is probably a correct gloss. The instrumental dative, preferred by Meyer and Lightfoot, does not accord so well with Ephesians 3:5 and Colossians 1:23 (comp. Philippians 1:27; 1 Corinthians 16:13; 1 Timothy 5:8; 2 Timothy 4:7; 1 Peter 5:9). "Stablished" (βεβαιούμενοι, being kept firm) is present in tense, like "builded up" (Colossians 1:6, see note): comp. Romans 4:16; Philippians 1:7; Hebrews 3:6; Hebrews 6:19; Hebrews 13:9; and distinguish from στηρίζω, to make stable, fix firmly. In "as ye were taught" the apostle reminds his readers again of their first lessons in the gospel (Colossians 1:5-7, see notes; 2 Thessalonians 2:15). Abounding in it, with thanksgiving; or, abounding in thanksgiving (Colossians 1:3, Colossians 1:12; Colossians 3:15, Colossians 3:17; Colossians 4:2; Ephesians 5:4, Ephesians 5:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:18; Hebrews 13:15). The Revisers relegate "in it (your faith)" to the margin, following the judgment of Tischendorf and Tregelles; while Westcott and Hort, Alford, Ellicott, Lightfoot, retain the words in the text. The reading "in him," found in the Vulgate and leading Western documents, throws doubt on these words; but it is difficult to see why they should have been inserted if not authentic, and they might easily be confused by a copyist with the foregoing "in him." The second ἐν, if ἐναὐτῇ be retained, becomes ἐν of accompaniment, and may be rendered "with," as in Colossians 1:29; Ephesians 6:2. (On "thanksgiving," see note, Colossians 1:12.) Colossians 2:8-15 SECTION V. THE ’S IN CHRIST. The apostle has first defined his own doctrinal position in the theological deliverance of Col 1:15-20, and has then skilfully brought himself into suitable personal relations with his readers by the statements and appeals of Col 1:23-2:7. And now, after a general indication in Colossians 2:4 of the direction in which he is about to strike, he unmasks the battery he has been all the while preparing, and delivers his attack on the Colossian error, occupying the rest of this second chapter, he denounces (1) its false philosophy of religion (Colossians 2:8-15); (2) its arbitrary and obsolete ceremonialism (Colossians 2:16, Colossians 2:17); (3) its visionary angel worship (Colossians 2:18, Colossians 2:19); (4) its ascetic rules (Colossians 2:20-22; Colossians 2:23) reviewing the whole system in a brief characterization of its most prominent and dangerous features. It will be convenient to treat separately the first of these topics, under the heading already given, which indicates the positive truth developed by St. Paul in antagonism to the error against which he contends—a truth which is the practical application of the theological teaching of the first chapter. Colossians 2:8 Beware lest there shall be some one who maketh you his spoil through his philosophy and empty deceit (Colossians 2:4, Colossians 2:18, Colossians 2:23; Ephesians 4:14; 1 Timothy 6:20; 1 Corinthians 2:1, 1 Corinthians 2:4; Galatians 1:7; Acts 20:30). "Beware;" literally, see (to it), a common form of warning (Colossians 4:17). The future indicative" shall be," used instead of the more regular subjunctive "should be," implies that what is feared is too likely to prove the case (comp. Hebrews 3:12 and (with another tense) Galatians 4:11). "Some one who maketh (you) his spoil (ὁσυλαγωγῶν)" is an expression so distinct and individualizing that it appears to single out a definite, well known person. The denunciations of this Epistle are throughout in the singular number (Galatians 4:4, Galatians 4:16, Galatians 4:18), in marked contrast with the plural of Gal 1:17, and that prevails in the apostle’s earlier polemical references. It is in harmony with the philosophical, Gnosticizing character of the Colossian heresy that it should rest on the authority of some single teacher, rather than on Scripture or tradition, as did the conservative legalistic Judaism. Συλαγωγῶν, a very rare word, hapax legomenon in the New Testament, bears its meaning on its face. It indicates the selfish, partisan spirit, and the overbearing conduct of the false teacher. Against such men St. Paul had forewarned the Ephesian elders (Acts 20:29, Acts 20:30). "And empty deceit" stands in a qualifying apposition to "philosophy:" "His philosophy, indeed! "It is no better than a vain deceit." This kind of irony we shall find the writer using with still greater effect in Galatians 1:18. Deceit is empty (κενός: comp. Ephesians 5:6; 1 Thessalonians 2:1; 1 Corinthians 15:14; distinguish from μάταιος, fruitless, vain), which deceives by being a show of what it is not, a hollow pretence. From the prominence given to this aspect of the new teaching, we infer that it claimed to be a philosophy, and made this its special distinction and ground of superiority. And this consideration points (comp. Introduction, § 4), to some connection between the system of the Colossian errorists and the Alexandrine Judaism, of which Philo, an elder contemporary of St. Paul, is our chief exponent. The aim of this school, which had now existed for two centuries at least, and had diffused its ideas far and wide, was to transform and sublimate Judaism by interpreting it under philosophical principles. Its teachers endeavoured, in fact, to put the "new wine" of Plato into the old bottles" of Moses, persuading themselves that it was originally there (comp. note on "mystery," Colossians 1:27). In Philo, philosophy is the name for true religion, whose essence consists in the pursuit and contemplation of pure spiritual truth. Moses and the patriarchs are, with him, all "philosophers;" the writers of the Old Testament" philosophize;" it is" the philosophical man" who holds converse with God. This is the only place where philosophy is expressly mentioned in the New Testament; in 1 Corinthians 1:21 and context it is, however, only verbally wanting. According to the tradition of men, according to the rudiments of the world, and not according to Christ. This clause qualifies "making spoil" (Meyer, Ellicott) rather than "deceit;" human authority and natural reason furnish the principles and the method according to which the false teacher proceeds. "Tradition’’ does not necessarily imply antiquity; "of men" is the emphatic part of the phrase. These words are characteristic of St. Paul, who was so profoundly conscious of the supernatural origin of his own doctrine (see Galatians 1:11-17; 1 Corinthians 11:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:15: comp. John 3:31-35; John 8:23; 1 John 4:5). Similarly, "the rudiments of the world" are the crude beginnings of truth, the childishly faulty and imperfect religious conceptions and usages to which the world had attained apart from the revelation of Christ (comp. Galatians 4:3, Galatians 4:9; also Hebrews 5:12, for this use of στοιχεῖα). It is not either Jewish or non-Jewish elements specifically that are intended. Jew and Greek are one in so far as their religious ideas are "not according to Christ." Greek thought had also contributed its rudiments to the world’s education for Christ: hence, comprehensively, "the rudiments of the world ". The blending of Greek and Jewish elements in the Colossian theosophy would of itself suggest this generalization, already shadowed forth in Galatians 4:3. Neander, Hofmann, and Klopper (the latest German commentator), have returned to the view that prevailed amongst the Fathers, from Origen downwards, reading this phrase, both here and in Galatians, in a physical sense, as in 2 Peter 3:10, 2 Peter 3:12; the elementa mundi, "the powers of nature," "heavenly bodies," etc., worshipped by the Gentiles as gods, and which the Jews identified with the angels (2 Peter 3:18; Hebrews 1:7) as God’s agents in the direction of the world. This interproration has much to recommend it, but it scarcely harmonizes with the parallel "tradition of men," still less with the context of verse 20, and is absolutely at variance, as it seems to us, with the argument involved in Galatians 4:3. Not the doctrine of Christ, but Christ himself is the substitute for these discarded rudiments (Galatians 4:17, Galatians 4:20). His Person is the norm and test of truth (1 Corinthians 12:3; 1 John 4:1-3). The views combatted were "not according to Christ," for they made him something less and lower than that which he is. Colossians 2:9 Because in him dwelleth all the fulness (or, completeness) of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 1:19; Philippians 2:6-8; Romans 1:3, Romans 1:4; Romans 9:5; John 1:1, John 1:14). In Colossians 1:18-20 we viewed a series of events; here we have an abiding fact. The whole plenitude of our Lord’s Divine-human person and powers, as the complete Christ, was definitively constituted when, in the exercise of his kingly prerogative, "he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." "From henceforth" that fulness evermore resides in him (comp. note, Colossians 1:19). The undivided plēroma of Col 1:19 now reveals its twofold nature: it is "the fulness of the Godhead," and yet "dwells corporeally in him." "Godhead" (θεότης) is the abstract of "God" (θεός), not of the adjective "Divine" (θεῖος: the Vulgate therefore, wrongly, divinitatis: comp. Romans 1:20; Acts 17:29; Wis. 18:9), and denotes,"not Divine excellences, but the Divine nature" (Bengel); see Trench’s ’Synonyms.’ Schenkel and others, guided by a conjecture of Theodoret, have found here the Church, supporting their view by a very doubtful interpretation of Eph 1:23. Still more groundless is the identification of this plēroma with the created world. The apostle unmistakably affirms that the Divine nature, in its entirety, belongs to the Church’s Christ. The literal sense of "bodily" (maintained by Meyer, Alford, Ellicott, Lightfoot, Hofmann, after Chrysostom and Athanasius) has been avoided by those who render it "wholly" (Jerome); "essentially, substantially" (Cyril, Theophylact, Calvin, Klopper), as opposed to "relatively" or "partially;" "truly", as opposed to "figuretively" (Ephesians 1:17). The adverb σωματικῶς (always literal in classical usage, along with its adjective) occurs only here in the New Testament; the adjective "bodily" in 1 Timothy 4:8; Luke 3:22. "The body of his flesh" in Colossians 1:22 affords a truer parallel than the language of Col 1:17, where σῶμα, bears an exceptional sense (see note). Elsewhere St. Paul balances in similar fashion expressions relating to the twofold nature of Christ (see parallels). The assertion that "all the fulness of Deity" dwells in Christ negatives the Alexandrine "philosophy,’’ with its cloud of mediating angel powers and spiritual emanations; the assertion that it dwells in him bodily equally condemns that contempt for the body and the material world which was the chief practical tenet of the same school (comp. notes on Colossians 1:22 and Colossians 2:23). Colossians 2:10 And (because) ye are in him made complete; or fulfilled (Ephesians 1:3, Ephesians 1:7-11, Ephesians 1:23; Ephesians 3:18, Ephesians 3:19; Ephesians 4:13; Philippians 4:19; Galatians 3:14, Galatians 3:24; Galatians 5:1, Galatians 5:4; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 1 Corinthians 2:2). A complete Christ makes his people complete; his plēroma is our plērosis. Finding the whole fulness of God brought within our reach and engaged in our behalf (Philippians 2:7; Matthew 20:28) in him, we need not resort elsewhere to supply our spiritual needs (Philippians 4:19). "In him" is the primary predicate (see Alford, Ellicott, against Meyer: comp. Colossians 2:3): "Ye are in him" is the assumption (Romans 8:1; Romans 16:7); "(ye are) made complete" is the inference. (On the verb πληρόω (the basis of plēroma), used in perfect participle of abiding result, see notes, Colossians 1:9, Colossians 1:19.) This completeness includes the furnishing of men with all that is required for their present and final salvation as individuals (Colossians 1:11-15; Colossians 1:21, Colossians 1:22, Colossians 1:28), and for their collective perfection as forming the Church, the body of Christ (Colossians 1:2, Colossians 1:19; Colossians 1:19; Ephesians 1:23; Ephesians 5:26, Ephesians 5:27); for this twofold completeness, comp. Ephesians 4:12-16. Who is the Head of all principality and dominion (Ephesians 4:15, Ephesians 4:18; Colossians 1:16; Ephesians 1:21; Philippians 2:10, Philippians 2:11; 1 Corinthians 15:24; Hebrews 1:6, Hebrews 1:14; 1 Peter 3:22). (On "principality," etc., see note, Colossians 1:16.) The Colossians were being taught to replace or supplement Christ’s offices by those of angel powers (see notes, verses 15, 18). Philo (’Concerning Dreams,’ 1. §§ 22, 23) writes thus of the angels: "Free from all bodily encumbrance, endowed with larger and diviner intellect, they are lieutenants of the All ruler, eyes and ears of the great King. Philosophers in general call them demons (δαίμονες); the sacred Scripture angels, for they report (διαγγέλλουσι) the injunctions of the Father to his children, and the wants of the children to their Father.… Angels, the Divine words, walk about [comp. 2 Corinthians 6:16] in the souls of those who have not yet completely washed off the (old) life, foul and stained through their cumbersome bodies, making them bright to the eyes of virtue." In such a strain the Colossian "philosopher" may have been talking. But if Christ is the Maker and Lord of these invisible powers—(Colossians 1:15, Colossians 1:16), and we are in him, then we must no longer look to them as our saviours. Colossians 2:11 In whom also ye were circumcised, with a circumcision not wrought by hands (Ephesians 2:11; Philippians 3:3; Galatians 5:2-6; Galatians 6:12-15; Romans 2:25-29; Romans 4:9-12; 1 Corinthians 7:18; Acts 15:1-41:l, 5; Deuteronomy 30:6). Circumcision was insisted on by the new "philosophical" teacher as necessary to spiritual completeness; but from a different standpoint, and in a manner different from that of the Pharisaic Judaizers of Galatia and of Act 15:1. By the latter it was preached as matter of Law and external requirement, and so became the critical point in the decision between the opposing principles of "faith" and "works." By the philosophical school it was enjoined as matter of symbolic moral efficiency. So Philo speaks of circumcision (’On the Migration of Abraham,’ § 16) as "setting forth the excision of all the pleasures and passions, and the destruction of impious vain opinion" (see also his treatise ’On Circumcision’). From this point of view, baptism is the Christian circumcision, the new symbolic expression of the moral change which St. Paul and his opponents alike deemed necessary, though they understood it in a different sense from him (see Acts 15:20-23). In this respect the Christian is already complete, for his circumcision took place in the stripping off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ (Colossians 3:5, Colossians 3:8, Colossians 3:9; Ephesians 4:22-25; Romans 6:6; Romans 7:18-25; Romans 13:12; 1 Peter 2:1; 1 Peter 4:1, 1 Peter 4:2). The inserted "of the sins" is an ancient Απέκδυσις, a double compound, gloss. Ἁπέκδυσις found only in this Epistle (see corresponding verb in Acts 15:15; ColCol 3:9), denotes both "stripping off" and "putting away." "The stripping off of the body" was the ideal of the philosophical ascetics (see note on "body," Acts 15:23, and quotations from Philo). The apostle adds "of the flesh;" i.e. of the body in so far as it was the body of the flesh (Acts 15:13, Acts 15:18, Acts 15:23; Colossians 3:5). "The flesh" (in Colossians 1:22 that which Christ had put on; here that which the Christian puts off: comp. Romans 8:3) is "the flesh of sin," of Romans 8:3; Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 2:3, etc. "The body," while identified with this "flesh," is "the body of sin" and "of death" (Romans 6:6; Romans 7:24; see Meyer, Godet, or Beet); sin inhabits it, clothes itself with it, and presents itself to us in its form; and this being the normal condition of unregenerate human nature, the sinful principle is naturally called the flesh. So "the (bodily) members" become "the members that are upon the earth," employed in the pursuit of lust and greed, till they become practically one with these vices (Colossians 3:5, see note; also Romans 7:5, Romans 7:23). Yet "the body" and "the (sinful) flesh," while in the natural man one in practice, are in principle distinguishable. The deliverance from the physical acts and habits of the old sinful life, experienced by him who is "in Christ" (Colossians 1:10; Romans 8:1-4; 2 Corinthians 5:17), is "the circumcision according to the Christ," or here more pointedly "of Christ"—a real and complete, instead of a partial and symbolic, putting away of the organic life and domination of sin which made the body its seat and its instrument. The genitive" of Christ "is neither objective ("undergone by Christ"), nor subjective ("wrought by Christ"), but stands in a mere general relation—"belonging to Christ," "the Christian circumcision." The occasion of this new birth in the Colossians was their baptism— Colossians 2:12 When ye were (literally, having been) buried with him in your baptism (Colossians 2:20; Colossians 3:3; Romans 6:1-11; Galatians 3:26, Galatians 3:27; Ephesians 4:5; Ephesians 5:26; Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 3:21). Βαπτισμός, the rarer form of the word, is preferred by Tregelles, Alford, Lightfoot (see his note), being found in Codex B, with other good authorities; it indicates the process ("in your baptizing"). Βάπτισμα, the usual form of the word, is retained by Revisers, after Tischendorf, Ellicott, Westcott and Herr. Baptism stands for the entire change of the man which it symbolizes and seals (Romans 6:3-5; Galatians 3:27). The double aspect of this change was indicated by the twofold movement taking place in immersion, the usual form of primitive baptism—first the κατάδυσις, the descent of the baptized person beneath the symbolic waters, figuring his death with Christ as a separation from sin and the evil past (Colossians 2:20),—there for a moment he is buried, and burial is death made complete and final (Romans 6:2-4); then the ἀνάδυσις, the emerging from the baptismal wave, which gave baptism the positive side of its significance. In which (or, whom) also ye were raised with (him), through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead (Colossians 3:1; Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 2:6, Ephesians 2:8; Romans 6:4; Romans 4:24, Romans 4:25; 1 Peter 1:21). We refer the relative pronoun to the immediately antecedent "baptism," although the previous ἐνᾧ refers to "Christ" (Colossians 2:11: comp. Ephesians 2:6) and some good interpreters follow the rendering "in whom." For the Christian’s being raised with Christ is not contrasted with his circumcision (Colossians 2:11)—that figure has been dismissed—but with his burial in baptism (Colossians 2:12 a); so Alford, Ellicott, Lightfoot, Revisers. "Having been buried" is replaced in the antithesis by the more assertive "ye were raised" (comp. Colossians 2:13, Colossians 2:14; Colossians 1:22, Colossians 1:26). "With" points to the "him" (Christ) of the previous clause (comp. Ephesians 2:6; Romans 6:6). Faith is the instrumental cause of that which baptism sets forth (comp. Galatians 3:26, Galatians 3:27), and has for its object (not its cause: so Bengel) "the working" (ἐνεργεία: see note, Colossians 1:29; also Ephesians 1:20; Ephesians 3:20) "of God." And the special Divine work on which it rests is "the resurrection of Christ" (Romans 4:24, Romans 4:25; Romans 10:9; 1 Corinthians 15:13-17): comp. note on "Firstborn out of the dead," Colossians 1:19. Rising from the baptismal waters, the Christian convert declares the faith of his heart in that supreme act of God, which attests and makes sure all that he has bestowed upon us in his Son (Colossians 1:12-14: comp. Romans 1:4; also 1 Peter 1:21; Acts 2:36; Acts 13:33, Acts 13:38, etc.). Baptism symbolizes all that circumcision did, and more. It expresses more fully than the older sacrament our parting with the life of sin; and also that of which circumcision knew nothing—the union of the man with the dying and risen Christ, which makes him "dead unto sin, and alive unto God." How needless, then, even if it were legitimate, for a Christian to return to this superseded rite! To heighten his readers’ sense of the reality and completeness of the change which as baptized (i.e. believing) Christians they bad undergone, he describes it now more directly as matter of personal experience. Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead by reason of (or, in) your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses (Ephesians 2:1-5; Ephesians 1:7; Romans 5:12-21; Romans 6:23; Romans 7:9-13, Romans 7:24; Romans 8:1, Romans 8:2, Romans 8:6, Romans 8:10; 1 Corinthians 15:56; John 5:24; John 6:51; 1 John 3:14; Genesis 2:17). (For the transition from "having raised" (Colossians 2:12) to this verse, comp. Ephesians 1:20—2:1; also Colossians 1:20, Colossians 1:21.) Again the participle gives place to the finite verb: a colon is a sufficient stop at the end of Col 1:12. Death, in St. Paul’s theology, is "a collective expression for the entire judicial consequences of sin" (see Cromer’s ’ Lexicon,’ on θάνατος and νεκρόζς), of which the primary spiritual element is the sundering of the soul’s fellowship with God, from which flew all other evils contained, in it. Life, therefore, begins with justification, (Romans 5:18). "Trespasses" are particular acts of sin (Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 2:1, Ephesians 2:5; Romans 5:15-20; Romans 11:11); "uncircumcision of the flesh" is general sinful impurity of nature. The false teachers probably stigmatized the uncircumcised state as unholy. The apostle adopts the expression, but refers it to the pro-Christian life of his readers (see Colossians 1:11, Colossians 1:12), when their Gentile uncircumcision was a true type of their moral condition (Romans 2:25; Ephesians 2:11). These sinful acts and this sinful condition were the cause of their former state of death (Romans 5:12). The Revisers rightly restore the second emphatic "you"—"you, uncircumcised Gentiles" (comp. Colossians 1:21, Colossians 1:22, Colossians 1:27; Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 2:11-18; Romans 15:9). It is God who "made you alive" as he "raised him (Christ)," (Colossians 1:12); the second act being the consequence and counterpart of the first, and faith the subjective link between them. Χαρίζομαι to show grace, used of Divine forgiveness only in this and the Ephesian Epistle (Colossians 3:13; Ephesians 4:32: comp. Luke 7:42, Luke 7:43; 2 Corinthians 2:7, 2 Corinthians 2:10; 2 Corinthians 12:13), points to the cause or principle of forgiveness in the Divine grace (Ephesians 2:4, Ephesians 2:5; Romans 3:26; Romans 5:17). In "having forgiven us" the writer significantly passes from the second to the first person: so in Ephesians 2:1-5 (comp. Romans 3:9, Romans 3:30; 1 Timothy 1:15). The thought of the new life bestowed on the Colossians with himself in their individual forgiveness calls to his mind the great act of Divine mercy from which it sprang (the connection corresponds, in reverse order, to that of Col 1:20, Colossians 1:21; 2 Corinthians 5:19, 2 Corinthians 5:20), and he continues— Colossians 2:14 Having blotted out the bond (that was) against us with (or, written in) decrees, which was opposed to us (Ephesians 2:14-16; Romans 3:9-26; Romans 7:7-14; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Galatians 3:10-22; 1 Corinthians 15:56; Acts 13:38, Acts 13:39). The ancients commonly used wax tablets in writing, and the flat end of the pointed stylus drawn over the writing smeared it out (expunged) and so cancelled it (comp. Acts 3:19; Psalms 51:9; Isaiah 43:25, LXX). "God," not "Christ," is the subject of this verb, which stands in immediate sequence to those of Col 2:12, Colossians 2:13. It is the receiver rather than the offerer of satisfaction who cancels the debt: in Ephesians 2:15 (comp. Colossians 1:22) a different verb is used. Χειρόγραφον ("handwritten;" a word of later Greek, only here in the New Testament) is used specially of an account of debt, a bond signed by the debtor’s hand (see Meyer and Lightfoot). This bond can be nothing other than "the law" (Ephesians 2:14-16; Acts 13:38, Acts 13:39; Romans 3:20; Romans 7:25; Galatians 3:21, Galatians 3:22, etc.); not, however, the ritual law, nor even the Mosaic Law as such (as Meyer contends), but law as law, the Divine rule of human life impressed even on Gentile hearts (Romans 2:14, Romans 2:15), to which man’s conscience gives its consent (Romans 7:16, Romans 7:22), and yet which becomes by his disobedience just a list of charges against him (so Neander and Lightfoot; see the latter on Galatians 2:19). Exodus 24:3 and Deuteronomy 27:14-26, indeed, illustrate this wider relation of Divine law to the human conscience generally. Τοῖςδόγμασιν is dative of reference either to καθἡμῶν or to the verbal idea contained in χειργόραφον. The former explanation (that of Winer and Ellicott) is preferable. The Greek Fathers made it instrumental dative to ἐξαλείψας, understanding by these δόγματα the doctrines (dogmas) of the gospel by which the charges of the Law against us are expunged. But this puts on δόγμα a later theological sense foreign to St. Paul, and universally rejected by modern interpreters. In the New Testament (comp. Luke 2:1; Acts 16:4; Hebrews 11:23), as in classical Greek, dogma is a decree, setting forth the will of some public authority (comp. note on δογματίζω, Deuteronomy 27:20). The added clause, "which was opposed to us," affirms the active opposition, as "against us" the essential hostility of the decrees of God’s law to our sinful nature (Romans 4:15; Galatians 3:10: comp. Romans 7:13, Romans 7:14). The emphasis with which St. Paul dwells on this point is characteristic of the author of Romans and Galatians. Ψπενάντιος occurs besides only in Hebrews 10:27; the prefix ὑπὸ implies close and persistent opposition (Lightfoot). And he hath taken it out of the midst, having nailed it to the cross (Colossians 1:20-22; Ephesians 2:18; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Romans 3:24-26; Romans 5:1, Romans 5:2; Galatians 3:13; Hebrews 1:3; John 1:29; 1 John 4:10). A third time in these three verses (12-14) we note the transition from participle to coordinate finite verb; and here, in addition, the aorist tense passes into the perfect ("hath taken"), marking the finality of the removal of the Law’s condemning power (Romans 8:1; Acts 13:39): comp. the opposite transition in Colossians 1:26, Colossians 1:27. The moral deliverance of Col 1:11 is traced up to this legal release, both contained in our completeness in Christ (Colossians 1:10). The subject is still "God." Cancelling the bond which he held against us in his Law, God has forver removed the barrier which stood between mankind and himself (2 Corinthians 5:19). Christ’s place in this work, already shown in Colossians 1:18-23 (in its relation to himself), is vividly recalled by the mention of the cross. And the abolition of the Law’s condemnation is finally set forth by a yet bolder metaphor—"having nailed it to the cross." The nails of the cross in piercing Christ pierced the legal instrument which held us debtors, and nullified it; see Galatians 3:13 (comp. Galatians 2:19, Galatians 2:20); Romans 7:4-6. Προσηλώσας may suggest the further idea of nailing up the cancelled document, by way of publication. At the cross all may read, "There is now no condemnation" (compare the "making a show" of Romans 7:15; also Romans 3:25; Galatians 3:1). (For Romans 7:11-14, compare concluding remark on Colossians 1:14.) Colossians 2:15 Having stripped off the principalities and the dominions (Co Colossians 1:16; Colossians 2:10; Acts 7:38, Acts 7:53; Galatians 3:19; Hebrews 1:5, Hebrews 1:7, Hebrews 1:14; Hebrews 2:2, Hebrews 2:5; Deuteronomy 33:2; Psalms 68:17). Απεκδυσάμενος has been rendered, from the time of the Latin Vulgate, "having spoiled" (exspolians), a rendering which is "not less a violation of St. Paul’s usage (Colossians 3:9) than of grammatical rule" (Lightfoot; so Alford, Ellicott, Wordsworth, Hofmann, Revisers). It is precisely the same participle that we find in Colossians 3:9, and the writer has just used the noun ἀπέκδυσις (Colossians 3:11) in a corresponding sense (see note in loc. on the force of the double compound). He employs compounds of δύω in the middle voice seventeen times elsewhere, and always in the sense of "putting off [or, ’on’] from one’s self;" and there is no sure instance in Greek of the middle verb bearing any other meaning. Yet such critics as Meyer, Eadie, Klopper, cling to the rendering of the Vulgate and our Authorized Version; and not without reason, as we shall see. The Revised margin follows the earlier Latin Fathers and some ancient versions, supplying "his body" as object of the participle, understanding "Christ" as subject. But the context does not, as in 2 Corinthians 5:3, suggest this ellipsis, and it is arbitrary to make the participle itself mean "having disembodied himself." Nor has the writer introduced any new subject since 2 Corinthians 5:12, where" God" appears as agent of each of the acts of salvation set forth in 2 Corinthians 5:12-15. Moreover, "the principalities and the dominions" of this verse must surely be those of 2 Corinthians 5:10 and of Col 1:16 (compare the "angels" of Colossians 1:18). We understand St. Patti, therefore, to say "that God [revealing himself in Christ; ’in him,’ 15 b] put off and put away those angelic powers through whom he had previously shown himself to men." The Old Testament associates the angels with the creation of the world and the action of the powers of nature (Job 38:7; Psalm cir. 4), and with its great theophanies generally (Psalms 68:7; Deuteronomy 33:2; 2 Kings 6:17, etc.); and its hints in this direction were emphasized and extended by the Greek translators of the LXX. Acts 7:38, Acts 7:53 (St. Stephen); Galatians 3:19; Hebrews 2:2, ascribe to them a special agency in the giving of the Law. Hebrews 1:1-14. and it. show how large a place the doctrine of the mediation of angels filled in Jewish thought at this time, and how it tended to limit the mediatorship of Christ. The mystic developments of Judaism among the Essenes and the Ebionites (Christian Essenes), and in the Cabbala, are full of this belief. And it is a cornerstone of the philosophic mysticism of Alexandria. In Philo the angels are the "Divine powers," "words," "images of God," forming the court and entourage of the invisible King, by whose means he created and maintains the material world, and holds converse with the souls of men (see quotation, Hebrews 1:10). This doctrine, we may suppose, was a chief article of the Colossian heresy. Theodoret’s note on verse 18 is apposite here: "They who defended the Law taught men to worship angels, saying that the Law was given by them. This mischief continued long in Phrygia and Pisidia." The apostle returns to the point from which he started in Hebrews 1:10. He has just declared that God has cancelled and removed the Law as an instrument of condemnation; and now adds that he has at the same time thrown off and laid aside the veil of angelic mediation under which, in the administration of that Law, he had withdrawn himself. Both these acts take place "in Christ." Both are necessary to that "access to the Father" which, in the apostle’s view, is the special prerogative of Christian faith (Ephesians 2:18; Ephesians 3:12; Romans 5:2), and which the Colossian error doubly barred, by its ascetic ceremonialism and by its angelic mediation. We are compelled, with all deference to its high authority, to reject the view of the Greek Fathers, to which Ellicott, Lightfoot, and Wordsworth have returned, according to which "Christ in his atoning death [in it; ’the cross,’ verse 15 b] stripped off from himself the Satanic powers." For it requires us to bring in, without grammatical warrant, "somewhere" (Lightfoot), "Christ" as subject; it puts upon" the principalities and the dominions" a sense foreign to the context, and that cannot be justified by Ephesians 6:12, where the connection is wholly different and the hostile sense of the terms is most explicitly defined; and it presents an idea harsh and unfitting in itself, the incongruity of which such illustrations as those of the Nessus robe and Joseph’s garment only make more apparent. It is one thing to say that the powers of evil surrounded Christ and quite another thing to say that he wore them as we have worn "the body of the flesh" (Ephesians 6:11; Colossians 3:9). He made a show (of them) openly, having led them in triumph in him; or, it (Ephesians 1:21, Ephesians 1:22; Philippians 2:10; 1 Peter 3:22; Hebrews 1:5, Hebrews 1:6; John 1:1-51:52; Matthew 25:31; Matthew 26:53; Revelation 19:10; Revelation 22:9). In this, as in the last verse, we have a finite verb between two participles, one introductory ("having stripped off"), the other explanatory, Δειγματίζω, to make a show or example, occurs in the New Testament besides only in Matthew 1:17, where it is compounded with παρα (Revised Text), giving it a sinister meaning of not belonging to the simple verb. With the angelic "principalities," etc., for object, the verb denotes, not a shameful exposure, but "an exhibition of them in their true character and position," such as forbids them to be regarded superstitiously (Matthew 1:18). God exhibited the angels as the subordinates and servants of his Son. "Openly" (ἐνπαρρησίᾳ: literally, in freedom of speech, a favourite word of St. Paul s) implies the absence of reserve or restraint, rather than mere publicity (comp. Ephesians 6:19; Philippians 1:20). Θριαμβεύσας ("having triumphed;" 2 Corinthians 2:14 only other instance of the verb in the New Testament; its use in classical Greek confined to Latinist writers, referring, historically, to the Roman triumph) presents a formidable difficulty in the way of the interpretation of the verse followed so far. For the common acceptation of the word "triumph" compels us to think of the "principalities," etc., as hostile (Satanic); and this, again, as Meyer strongly contends, dictates the rendering "having spoiled" for ἀπεκδυσάμενος. So we are brought into collision with two fixed points of our former exegesis. If we are bound lexically to abide by the reference to the Roman military triumph, then the angelic principalities must be supposed to have stood in a quasi-hostile position to "the kingdom of God and of Christ," in so far as men had exaggerated their powers and exalted them at Christ’s expense, and to have been now robbed of this false pre-eminence. The writer however, ventures to question whether, on philological grounds, a better, native Greek sense cannot be found for this verb. The noun thriambos ("triumph"), on which it is based, is used, indeed, in the Latin sense as early as Polybius, a writer on Roman history. But it is extant in a much earlier classical fragment as synonymous with dithyrambos, denoting "a festal song;" and again in Plutarch, contemporary with St. Paul, it is a name of the Greek god Dionysus, in whose honour such songs were sung, and whose worship was of a choral, processional character. This kinder triumph was, one may imagine, familiar to the eyes of St. Paul and of his readers, while the spectacle of the Roman triumph was distant and foreign (at least when he wrote 2 Corinthians). We suggest that the apostle’s image is taken, beth here and in 2 Corinthians 2:14, from the festal procession of the Greek divinity, who leads his worshippers along as witnesses of his power and celebrants of his glory. Such a figure fittingly describes the relation and the attitude of the angels to the Divine presence in Christ. Let this suggestion, however, be regarded as precarious or fanciful, the general exposition of the verse is not thereby invalidated. The Revisers omit the marginal "in himself" of the Authorized Version, which correctly, as we think, refers the final ἐναὐτῷ to Christ (2 Corinthians 2:10), though incorrectly implying "Christ" as subject of the verse. It was not only "in the cross" that God unveiled himself, dispensing with angelic theophanies, but in the entire person and work of his Son (Colossians 1:15; 2 Corinthians 4:4; John 1:14, John 1:18; John 14:9). "Which veil" "is done away in Christ." So the whole passage (2 Corinthians 2:10-15) ends, as it begins, "in him:" "We are complete in him"—in our conversion from sin to holiness set forth in baptism, and our resurrection from death to life experienced in forgiveness (2 Corinthians 2:11-13); and in the removal at once of the legal bar which forbade our access to God (2 Corinthians 2:14), and of the veil of inferior and partial mediation which obscured his manifestation to us (2 Corinthians 2:15). Colossians 2:16-23 SECTION VI. THE CLAIMS OF THE FALSE TEACHER. Colossians 2:16 Do not let any one, therefore, be judging you in eating or in drinking. The new teachers dictated to the Colossians in these matters from the philosophical, ascetic point of view (see notes on "philosophy,’’ "circumcision," verses 8, 11), condemning their previous liberty. (For the adverse sense of "judge," comp. Romans 14:4, Romans 14:10, Romans 14:13.) The scruples of the "weak brethren" at Rome (Romans 14:1-23) were partly of an ascetic character, but are not ascribed to any philosophic views. In 1 Corinthians 8:8 and 1 Corinthians 8:10 the question stands on a different footing, being connected with that of the recognition of idolatry (comp. Acts 15:29). In Hebrews 9:10 it is purely a point of Jewish law. In one form or other it was sure to be raised wherever Jewish and Gentile Christians were in social intercourse. Hebrews 9:17 shows that such restrictions are "not according to Christ" (Hebrews 9:8), belonging to the system which he has superseded. "Therefore" bases this warning upon the reasoning of the previous context. Tertullian supplies the link connecting this verse with Hebrews 9:10, Hebrews 9:15, Hebrews 9:18, when he says, "The apostle blames those who alleged visions of angels as their authority for saying that men must abstain from meats." The abolishing of angel mediation (Hebrews 9:15) robs these restrictions of their supposed authority. The Essenes found in the Nazarite life and the rules for the ministering Jewish priest (Numbers 6:3; Le Numbers 10:8-11; Ezekiel 44:21) their ideal of holiness. Philo also attached a high moral value to abstinence from flesh and wine, and regarded the Levitical distinctions of meats as profoundly symbolic. Or in respect of feast, or new moon, or sabbath (Romans 14:5, Romans 14:6; Galatians 4:9, Galatians 4:10). The yearly feast, the monthly new moon, and the weekly sabbath (1 Chronicles 23:1-32. 31; Isaiah 1:13, Isaiah 1:14) cover the whole round of Jewish sacred seasons. These the Colossian Gentile Christians, disciples of St. Paul through Epaphras, had not hitherto observed (Galatians 4:9, Galatians 4:10). Philosophic Judaists insisted on these institutions, giving them a symbolical and ethical interpretation (see Philo, ’On the Number Seven;’ also, ’On the Migration of Abraham,’ § 16, where he warns his readers lest, "because the feast is a symbol of the joy of the soul and of thanksgiving towards God," they should imagine they could dispense with it, or "break through any established customs which divine men have instituted"). Colossians 2:17 Which are a shadow of the things to come, but the body is of Christ (Galatians 3:23-25; Galatians 4:4; 2 Corinthians 3:11, 2 Corinthians 3:13; Hebrews 7:18, Hebrews 7:19; Hebrews 9:11-14; Hebrews 10:1-4). The apostle’s opponents, we imagine, taught in Platonic fashion that these things were shadows of ideal truth and of the invisible world (comp. Heb8:5), forms necessary to our apprehension of spiritual things. With St. Paul, they shadow forth prophetically the concrete facts of the Christian revelation, and therefore are displaced by its advent. The singular verb (literally, is) quite grammatically combines the particulars of Col 2:16 under their common idea of a foreshadowing of the things of Christ; and the present tense affirms here a general truth, not a mere historical fact. How this was true of the "sabbath," e.g., appears in Hebrews 4:1-11; comp. 1 Corinthians 5:6-8; John 19:36, for the Christian import of the Passover feast. The figurative antithesis of "shadow" and "body" is sufficiently obvious; it occurs in Philo and in Josephus: to refer to John 19:19 and Colossians 1:18 for the sense of body, is misleading. For "the things to come" (the things of Christ and of the new, Christian era, now commencing), comp. Romans 4:24; Romans 5:14; Galatians 3:23; Hebrews 2:5; Hebrews 10:1. This substance of the new, abiding revelation (2 Corinthians 3:11) is "Christ’s," inasmuch as it centres in and is pervaded and governed by Christ (Colossians 1:18; Colossians 3:11; Romans 10:4; 2 Corinthians 3:14). Nothing is said here to discountenance positive Christian institutions, or the observance of the Lord’s day in particular, unless enforced in a Judaistic spirit. The apostle is protecting Gentile Christians from the re-imposition of Jewish institutions as such, as impairing their faith in Christ (comp. Galatians 5:2-9), and as, in the case of the Colossians, involving a deference to the authority of angels which limited his sovereignty and sufficiency (verses 8-10, 18, 19). This verse contains in germ much of the thought of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Colossians 2:18 Let no one defraud you of your prize (Colossians 1:5, Colossians 1:23; Colossians 3:15; Philippians 3:14; Ga:7; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 2 Timothy 4:7, 2 Timothy 4:8; James 1:12; 1 Peter 5:4; Revelation 2:10; Revelation 3:11). These eight words represent but three in the Greek. (On καταβραβεύω, see Meyer’s elaborate note.) Βραβούω is used again in Colossians 3:15 (see note), meaning primarily" to act as βραβεύς," arbiter of the prize in the public games; βραβεῖον, the prize, is also figuratively used in Phip Colossians 3:14, and literally in 1 Corinthians 9:24, and is synonymous with the "crown" of other passages. Κατὰ gives the verb a hostile sense; and the present tense, as in 1 Corinthians 9:4, 1 Corinthians 9:8, 1 Corinthians 9:16, 1 Corinthians 9:20, implies a continued attempt. Let no one be acting the umpire against you, is the literal sense. The errorist condemns the Colossian Christian for his neglect of Jewish observances (1 Corinthians 9:16), and warns him that in his present state he will miss the heavenly prize, "the hope" he had supposed to be "in store for him in heaven" (1 Corinthians 9:5: comp. notes on Colossians 1:5 and Colossians 3:15; also Ephesians 1:13, Ephesians 1:14). Delighting in lowliness of mind and worship of the angels (1 Corinthians 9:23; Revelation 19:10; Revelation 22:8, Revelation 22:9; Judges 13:17, Judges 13:18). By these means the false teacher impressed his disciples. His angel worship commended itself as the mark of a devout and humble mind, reverent towards the unseen powers above us, and made purely Christian worship seem insufficient. "Delighting in" is the rendering of θέλωνἐν given by Bengel, Hofmann, Lightfoot, Klopper, and is preferable to that of Meyer and Ellicott, who, with several Greek interpreters, supply the sense of the previous verb "desiring (to do so) in lowliness etc.; and to that followed in the Revisers’ margin,which puts a sort of adverbial sense on θέλων—"of his mere will, by humility," etc. This latter rendering underlies the paraphrastic" voluntary humility" of the A.V., and agrees with the common interpretation of ἐθελοθρησκεία in 1 Corinthians 9:23 (see note). Θέλωνἐν is, no doubt, a marked Hebraism, and St. Paul’s language is "singularly free from Hebraisms" (compare, however, the use of εἰδέναι to know, in 1 Thessalonians 5:12; the similar εὐδοκέωἐν is well established, 1 Corinthians 10:5; 2 Corinthians 12:10; 2 Thessalonians 2:12). This very idiom is frequently used in the LXX, and occurs in the ’Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs,’ a Christian writing, of the second century. The apostle may surely be allowed occasionally to have used a Hebraistic phrase, especially when so convenient and expressive as this. Westcott and Hort, with scrupulous purism, mark the reading on this account as doubtful. Ταπεινοφροσύνη ("lowliness of mind"), a word, perhaps, compounded by St. Paul himself (see Trench’s ’Synonyms’), is almost confined to the Epistles of this group. This quality is ascribed ironically to the false teacher (compare the "puffed up" of the next clause, and for similar irony see 1 Corinthians 8:1, 1 Corinthians 8:2; Galatians 4:17). Θρησκεία is "outward worship" or "devotion:" comp. note on 1 Corinthians 9:23; elsewhere in New Testament only in Acts 26:5 and James 1:26, James 1:27 (see Trench’s ’Synonyms’). "Worship of the angels" is that paid to the angels; not "offered by them," as Luther and Hofmann interpret, supposing that the errorists pretended to imitate the worship of heaven. ’Investigating (or, dwelling on) the things which he hath seen’! vainly—being puffed up by ’the reason’ of his flesh (2 Corinthians 12:1-21:l, 7; 1 Corinthians 8:1; 1 Timothy 6:3-5; 2 Peter 2:18; Jude 2 Peter 1:16). For ἐμβατεύων, we adopt the sense which it bears in 2 Macc. 2:30; in Philo, ’On the Planting of Noah,’ § 19. and in patristic and later Greek generally, viz. "to search into," "examine," "discuss" (see Suicer’s ’Thesaurus’). The rendering "proceeding" or "dwelling on," though near the radical sense of the word ("to step on" or "in"), wants lexical support. The same may be said of the rendering "intruding into," which suits the Received reading, "which he hath not seen." The "not" of the relative clause is wanting in nearly all our eldest and best witnesses, and is cancelled by the Revisers, with Tregelles, Tischendorf, Lightfoot, Westcott and Hort, etc. Its appearance in two different forms (οὐχ and μὴ) in the documents that present it, makes it still more certain that it is a copyist’s insertion. The common reading gives, after all, an unsatisfactory sense; it is not likely the apostle would blame the errorist simply for entering into things beyond his sight. Meyer, after Steiger and Huther, gives the best explanation of "which he hath seen," supposing the writer to allude ironically to pretended visions of angels or of the spiritual world, by which the false teacher sought to impose on the Colossians. This view is suggested by Tertullian in the passage cited under verse 16. Such visions would be suitable for the purpose of the errorist, and congenial to the Phrygian temperament, with its tendency to mysticism and ecstasy. If the false teacher were accustomed to say with an imposing air, "I have seen, ah! I have seen!" in referring to his revelations, the apostle’s allusion would be obvious and telling. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Colossians 3:1-17 SECTION VII. THE TRUE LIFE. The apostle, having delivered his attack on the system of error inculcated at Colossae, now passes from the controversial to the more practical purport of his letter. There is no break, however, in the current of his thought; for throughout this chapter he urges the pursuit of a practical Christian life in a sense and in a manner silently opposed to the tendencies of Gnosticizing error. How much more congenial was the task to which he now addresses himself we may judge, perhaps, from the ease and simplicity which mark the language of this chapter, as compared with the abrupt and seemingly embarrassed style of the last section. We may analyze the hortatory section of the Epistle (Colossians 3:1-4:6) as follows: (a) Colossians 3:1-4, urging the Colossians to maintain a lofty spiritual life; (b) verses 5-8, to put off their old vices, impurity, malice, falsehood; (c) verses 9-14, to put on the new Christian virtues, especially gentleness, forgivingness, love; (d) verses 15-17, to let the sovereign influence of Christ sway their whole life—inward, social, secular; (e) verse 18—Colossians 4:1, enjoining the Christian discharge of their relative duties, as wives and husbands, children and fathers, servants and masters, under the sense of their allegiance to the Lord Christ; (f) Colossians 4:2-4, exhorting to constant prayer, and especially for the apostle himself at the present juncture; and (g) Colossians 4:5, Colossians 4:6, to wise conduct and edifying speech toward them that are without. It will be seen how much more comprehensive and systematic is the view thus presented of Christian duty than that furnished by earlier Epistles; and how the ideas of the supremacy of Christ, the unity of the Christian brotherhood, and the sacredness of the natural constitution of human life, which were threatened by the rise of Gnosticism in Colossae, underlie the apostle’s exposition of Christian ethics. Paragraphs (a) to (d) in the above analysis we have grouped together under the title given to this section; (e) demands a separate treatment; and (f) and (g) will finally be bracketed together. Colossians 3:1, Colossians 3:2 If, therefore, ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at God’s right hand; mind the things above, not the things upon the earth (Colossians 2:11-13, Colossians 2:20; Romans 6:1-11; Ephesians 1:20-22; Philippians 3:20; Matthew 6:19, Matthew 6:20; Luke 12:13-40). The apostle has already shown that when his readers, entering the gate of baptism, became Christians through faith in Christ, they died with him (Colossians 2:20), were buried, then raised and made alive together with him (Colossians 2:11-13): comp. Romans 6:1-11. So they were restored to peace and favour with God (Colossians 1:21-23; Colossians 2:13, Colossians 2:14), severed from their old life of sin (Colossians 2:11), and set in the path of holiness (Colossians 1:22). At the same time, they left behind all childish, tentative forms and notions ("rudiments") of religion, whether Jewish or non-Jewish (Colossians 2:8, Colossians 2:11, Colossians 2:18, Colossians 2:20-23). They became dead both from sin and from human modes of salvation. Both are included in "the things upon the earth," to which belong at once the grosser sensual forms of sin (Romans 6:5) with its "surfeiting of the flesh" (Colossians 2:23), and that vaunted philosophy, which is after all earth born and earthward tending (Colossians 2:8, Colossians 2:20), bringing the soul again into bondage to material things. The apostle lifts his readers into a new, heavenly sphere. He bids them make "the things above," i.e. "the things of Christ," the one object of their thought and endeavour. So they will master the flesh by rising above it, instead of fighting it on its own ground by ceremonial rite and ascetic regimen. "The things above" are no abstract, transcendental conception, as in the theology of St. Paul’s opponents, for they are "where Christ is." The things "in the heavens" as well as those "upon the earth" were created "in him, through him, unto him" (Colossians 1:16); there he is Lord, even as here (Colossians 1:17; Colossians 2:10; Matthew 28:18). His presence gives distinctness and positiveness to the Christian’s view of heaven, and concentrates his interests and affections there (comp. Philippians 1:23; Philippians 3:20; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; Ephesians 1:3; Ephesians 2:6; Matthew 6:19, Matthew 6:20; John 12:26; John 14:3; Acts 1:11; Acts 7:56). "Seated" is placed with emphasis at the end of its clause, indicating the completeness of the Saviour’s work and the dignity of his position (comp. Ephesians 1:20-22; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 10:12, Hebrews 10:13; Revelation 3:21; and see Pearson on the Creed, art. 6.). (For "the things above," see Romans 6:3, Romans 6:4; also Colossians 1:5 and Colossians 2:18 compared with Philippians 3:11-14, Philippians 3:20, Philippians 3:21; Romans 2:7; Romans 8:17-23; 1 Corinthians 15:42-49; 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:8; John 17:24.) To "seek" these things is to strive that they may be ours in the future; to "mind" them is to occupy our thoughts with them in the present. (For the word "mind" (φρονέω), comp. Philippians 3:19 and Romans 8:5-7 (φρόνημα, minding); in Romans 14:6 it is rendered by "regard.") Colossians 3:3 For ye died, and your life is hid, with Christ, in God (Colossians 2:11-13, Colossians 2:20; Ephesians 4:22; Philippians 3:20; Romans 6:1-14; Romans 7:1-6; 2 Corinthians 5:14, 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 2:20; 1 Corinthians 3:23; John 15:5; John 12:26; Revelation 3:21). In this hidden life of the Christian lies the ground and the spring of the more outward life of thought and endeavour of Col 3:1, Colossians 3:2. And this life comes through death, from that "dying with Christ" out of which we "rose with him" (Colossians 3:1; Colossians 2:11-13, Colossians 2:20; Romans 6:3, Romans 6:4, Romans 6:8). "The aorist ἀπεθάνετε (’ye died’) denotes the past act; the perfect κέκρυπται (’hath been and is hid’) the permanent effects" (Lightfoot). (On the nature of this death, see notes to Colossians 2:11-13.) "Died—and your life!" this paradox is explained in Romans 6:10, Romans 6:11, and repeated in Galatians 2:20; 2 Corinthians 5:14, 2 Corinthians 5:15. The Christian’s life is lodged in the sphere of "the unseen and eternal." It centres in Christ, and as he is hidden—withdrawn from the world of sense, yet with us always in his Spirit (John 14:16-20; John 16:16-22)—so our life with him. And if "with Christ," then "in God;" for "Christ is God’s" (1 Corinthians 3:23); "lives to God" (Romans 6:10), and "is at God’s right hand" (2 Corinthians 5:1), being "the Son of his love" (Colossians 1:13; John 1:18). The apostle says, "in God" ("in heaven," Philippians 3:19), to emphasize the fact of the union of Christ with God, or perhaps to deepen the reader’s sense of the sacredness of this life in Christ. "Is hid" (Colossians 1:26,Colossians 1:27; Colossians 2:2, Colossians 2:3), another allusion to the fondness of the Colossian errorists for mysteries. In Colossians 1:26 St. Paul spoke of the ancient mystery of a Christ for all the world; then of the new, perpetual mystery of a Christ dwelling within believing hearts. But this second mystery is equally that of our life in Christ as of Christ’s life in us, lifting us to heaven while it brings him down to earth. This mutual indwelling of the Head in heaven and the members upon earth is the most intimate and inscrutable of all secrets (John 14:20; John 15:1-7; John 17:22, John 17:23, John 17:26). "The world knows neither Christ nor Christians, and Christians do not even know themselves" (Bengel). But as the old historic secret had its manifestation at last (Colossians 1:26), so will the new secret that lies enfolded within every Christian life— Colossians 3:4 When Christ shall be manifested, our (or, your,) life, then shall ye also with him be manifested in glory (Romans 8:18-23; Philippians 3:21; 1 Corinthians 1:7; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Timothy 6:15; 2 Timothy 2:10-12; 2 Timothy 4:8; Titus 2:13; 1 John 3:2; 1 John 2:28). Our future destiny, with our present redemption (Colossians 1:14), is wrapped up in Christ. Our life is not only "with him" (Colossians 3:3); it is "himself" (Philippians 1:21; John 1:4; John 6:50-57; John 14:6; 1 John 5:12); he is its source and ground, way and rule, means and end—its all (Colossians 3:11: comp. Colossians 1:20; Colossians 2:6-10; Ephesians 1:3, Ephesians 1:23; Ephesians 3:17-19; Ephesians 4:13; Philippians 3:10; Philippians 4:19, etc.). From the hour of his ascension he has been hidden (Acts 1:9; Acts 3:21; 1 Peter 1:8); and his manifestation is as much a part of the Christian creed as his death and resurrection (Acts 17:31; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; 2 Thessalonians 1:10; 2 Thessalonians 2:8; 1 Corinthians 15:23; Philippians 3:20; 2 Timothy 4:1; John 14:3; 1 John 3:2, 1 John 3:3; Revelation 22:12, Revelation 22:20). Then the Christian will have his manifestation also with him, in the "revelation of the sons of God" (Romans 8:19); who will receive their second "adoption, to wit, the redemption of their body" (Romans 8:23). "Seeing him as he is" in his glory, "we shall be like him" (1 John 3:2) in glory. At last the spiritual life of the soul will have its due organic expression, in a body perfect and heavenly as itself (1 Corinthians 15:35-49; 2 Corinthians 5:1-5). This is already the case with our human nature in Christ (Philippians 3:21); and the change will proceed from the Head to the members (1 Corinthians 15:23), who will be conformed to his "body of glory," as now they are being conformed to his spiritual image (Romans 8:9-11, Romans 8:29, Romans 8:30; Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18; John 17:22-26; 1 John 4:17). The textual change from "your" to "our" is doubtful (see note on Colossians 2:13). Observe that "Christ" is repeated four times in the last four verses. Colossians 3:5 Make dead, therefore, the (or, your) members that are upon the earth (Colossians 2:11; Colossians 3:9; Ephesians 4:21, Ephesians 4:22; Philippians 3:19; Romans 6:6; Romans 8:13; Romans 13:14). "Your" is omitted by most textual critics, but English idiom requires it in translation. In its absence a stronger emphasis falls on the defining clause, "that are upon the earth." As these things may no longer be pursued or studied (Colossians 3:1, Colossians 3:2), the organs devoted to them must be put to death. These members are indeed those of the actual body (Romans 6:13, Romans 6:19; Romans 7:5, Romans 7:23; Romans 8:13); but these in so far as ruled hitherto by sinful impulse and habit, constituting the body of "the old man" (Colossians 3:9; Ephesians 4:22; Romans 6:6), "of the flesh" (Colossians 2:11), "of sin," and "of death" (Romans 6:6; Romans 7:24), with "sinful passions working in its members, bearing fruit unto death" (Romans 7:5): setup, note, Colossians 2:11. That body is "made dead" by destruction of the evil passions that animated it. The body of "the new man" is physically identical with it, but different in moral habit and diathesis—a difference that manifests itself even in bodily expression and manner (2 Corinthians 5:17). Νεκρόω occurs besides in the New Testament only in Romans 4:19 and Hebrews 11:12 (in Romans 8:13, a still stronger word is used of "the practices" of the body): as the aged Abraham had been made dead in respect of the natural possibility of fatherhood, so the body of the Christian is to be dead for purposes of sin. If there were any doubt as to the writer’s meaning, the next clause removes it. His language has approached that of the philosophical ascetics (see Colossians 2:23, note and quotations); hence the abrupt explanatory apposition that follows: fornication, uncleanness, (sensual) passion, evil desire, and covetousness, the which is idolatry (Ephesians 5:3-5; Philippians 3:19; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; 1 Corinthians 5:11; Romans 1:29; 1 Timothy 6:17; Matthew 6:24, Matthew 6:31, Matthew 6:32; Luke 12:21; Psalms 49:6; Psalms 52:7). To these vices the Colossian Gentiles (some of them at least) had been to such a degree devoted that their members had become virtually identified therewith. The first two sins are related as particular and general. The second pair, πάθος and ἐπιθυμία, are combined in 1 Thessalonians 4:4 in contrast to "(bodily) sanctification and honour" (comp. Colossians 2:23, and "passions of dishonour," Romans 1:26). The former denotes a morbid, inflamed condition of the sensual appetite; the latter, craving for some particular gratification of it (see Trench’s ’Synonyms’). Neither of these words is etymologically, or invariably, evil in sense. The degradation of such terms in all languages is a sad evidence of the corruption of our nature. Πλεονεξία is both wider and more intense in meaning than our "covetousness." It denotes radically the disposition to "have more," "grasping greed," "selfishness grown to a passion." Hence it applies to sins of impurity, greediness for sensual pleasure (1 Thessalonians 4:6; Ephesians 4:19); but by the emphatic use of the article ("the covetousness"), and by the words that follow, it is marked out as a distinct type of sin; so in Ephesians 5:3, Ephesians 5:5, where "uncleanness" and "greed" are stigmatized as vile forms of sin. This word, often used by St. Paul, is peculiar to him in the New Testament. "The which" (ἥτις: setup. ἃτινα, Colossians 2:23) gives a reason while it states a fact ("inasmuch as it is idolatry"). For the thought, setup. Ephesians 5:5 and 1 Timothy 6:17, also Matthew 6:24; it is a commonplace of religion, and appears in Philo and Jewish rabbis (see Lightfoot). Lightfoot places a colon after "upon the earth," and supposes "fornication," etc., to be "proleptic accusatives,’’ looking forward to some verb unexpressed, such as "put off" (Matthew 6:8). But this is needless, and the command, "make dead your members," requires this qualifying explanation. The grammatical awkwardness of the apposition is not without rhetorical effect. Colossians 3:6 Because of which (things) the anger of God cometh [upon the sons of disobedience] (Ephesians 2:2, Ephesians 2:3; Ephesians 5:6; Galatians 5:21; Romans 1:18; Romans 2:5-9; Romans 5:9; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:16; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10; John 3:36; Revelation 6:17; Ma Revelation 3:2). The latter phrase is cancelled by Tischendorf, Tregelles, Alford, Lightfoot, Westcott and Hort; but retained by Ellicott and, preferentially, by the Revisers. The witnesses against it, though numerically few, are varied and select, and the parallel (Ephesians 5:6) would suggest insertion of the words if originally absent. "The anger of God is coming" is a sentence complete in itself (setup. Romans 1:18). God’s "anger" (ὀργή) is his settled punitive indignation against sin, of which his "wrath" (θυμός) is the terrible outflaming (Revelation 16:1; Revelation 14:10); see Trench’s ’Synonyms.’ "Cometh" implies a continuing fact or fixed principle; or rather, perhaps, signifies that this "anger" is in course of manifestation, is "on the way:" comp. 1 Thessalonians 1:10, "the anger that is coming," not "to come," also the use of ἔρχομαι in John 14:3, John 14:18; Hebrews 10:37. The objects of this anger ("children of wrath," Ephesians 2:2, Ephesians 2:3) are "the sons of disobedience." The expressive Hebraism by which a man is said to be s child or son of the dominant quality or influence of his life is frequent in the New Testament. Colossians 3:7 In which also ye walked once, when you were living in these (things) (Ephesians 2:3; Ephesians 5:8; Romans 6:19-21; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 Corinthians 12:2; Titus 3:3; 1 Peter 4:3). Even retaining "sons of disobedience" in Colossians 3:6, it seems better, with Alford, Lightfoot, and the English Version, to read οἷς as neuter, "in which," referring to the same antecedent (Colossians 3:5)as "because of which" in Colossians 3:6; not "amongst whom" (Ellicott, Meyer). The latter interpretation is against the general usage of "walk in" with St. Paul (Colossians 4:5; Ephesians 2:2, Ephesians 2:10; Ephesians 4:17; Ephesians 5:2; Romans 6:4; 2 Corinthians 4:2), and seems to condemn the mere fact of living "amongst the sons of disobedience" (see, on the other hand, 1 Corinthians 5:9,1 Corinthians 5:10; Philippians 2:15; John 17:15; 1 Peter 2:12). The parallel "because of which" (Colossians 3:6) gives also its force: these sins are visited with the Divine anger, and moreover are the very sins in which the Colossians aforetime had lived; observe the same connection in Ephesians 5:6-8; 1 Corinthians 6:10, 1 Corinthians 6:11. "Were living" stands opposed to "make dead" of 1 Corinthians 6:5, and to "ye died" (1 Corinthians 6:3: comp. Colossians 2:20; Galatians 2:20); it marks the time when "the old man" (1 Corinthians 6:9), with his "earthly members’’ (1 Corinthians 6:5) was alive and active (comp. Romans 7:5, Romans 7:9, "sin came to life"). "In these things" (τούτοις, not αὐτοῖς: Revised Text) points to the things enumerated in 1 Corinthians 6:6, with a mental gesture of contempt. Colossians 3:8 But now do ye put away indeed all these (things) (Colossians 3:9; Colossians 2:11; Ephesians 4:22, Ephesians 4:25; Romans 13:12; 1 Peter 2:1). The thought of the death of the old life gives place to that of the divesting of the old habit; the new life wears a new dress, Mark the triumphant emphasis in "but now!" (opposed to the "once" of verse 8), characteristic of the writer (comp. Colossians 1:1-29, 21, 26; Romans 3:21; Romans 6:22, etc.). Τὰπάντα ("all these things," "the whole" of them) summarizes the vices specified in verse 5, and forms the starting point of another series, in which malice predominates, as impurity in the previous list; anger, wrath, malice, evil speaking, foul speech from your mouth (Ephesians 4:26-31; Ephesians 5:4; Romans 1:29-31; 1 Corinthians 6:10; Galatians 5:20, Galatians 5:21; Titus 3:3). There is a similar order and division between these two chief classes of sin in the parallel passages. In Ephesians 4:31, Ephesians 4:32 and Ephesians 5:3-5 the order is reversed. "Anger" (ὀργή) is ascribed to God in Ephesians 5:6 (comp. Ephesians 4:26; Hebrews 10:30). (On "anger" and "wrath" (or "rage"), see Ephesians 5:6.) The latter is once ascribed to God by St. Paul (Romans 2:8), more frequently in the Apocalypse. In man it is universally condemned. (For κακία, malignity, badness of disposition, comp. Romans 1:29; 1 Corinthians 14:20; Titus 3:3; see Trench’s ’Synonyms.’) Βλασφημία, in its original sense, includes injurious speech of any kind, either against man or God (see Romans 3:8; Romans 14:16; 1 Corinthians 10:30; Titus 3:2). Αἰσχρὸς in αἰσχρολογία (only here in the New Testament) denotes, like the English "foul," either "scurrilous" or "filthy." The former kind of speech is suggested by the foregoing blasphemia; but especially in such an atmosphere as that of Greek city life, scurrility commonly runs into filthiness. In Ephesians 5:4, where a slightly different word occurs, the latter idea is prominent. The two last vices, being sins of speech, must be put away "out of your mouth." "Your" bears the emphasis in the Greek; such utterance is quite unfit for a Christian mouth (comp. Ephesians 4:29; Ephesians 5:3, Ephesians 5:4; James 3:10; and the prohibition of lying in the next verse). Colossians 3:9 Lie not one to another, having stripped off the old man with his deeds (Ephesians 4:14, Ephesians 4:15; 20-25; 1 Timothy 1:6; Revelation 21:8; Colossians 2:11; Romans 6:6; Romans 8:12, Romans 8:13; Galatians 5:16, Galatians 5:24). The imperatives of Col 3:5 and Colossians 3:8 were aorists, enjoining a single, decisive act; this is present, as in Colossians 3:1, Colossians 3:2, Colossians 3:15, Colossians 3:18, etc., giving a rule of life. Only in Colossians and Ephesians do we find the apostle give a general warning against lying. What reason there was for this we cannot tell; unless it lay in the deceit of the heretical teachers (Colossians 2:8: comp. Ephesians 4:14, Ephesians 4:15; Acts 20:30; 2 Corinthians 11:13; 1 Timothy 4:2; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 4:1; Revelation 2:2; Revelation 3:9). The lying in question is uttered within the Church ("to one another"), and is fatal to its unity (verse 11; Ephesians 4:25; Acts 20:28-30). The following aorist participles, "having stripped off" and "having put on" (verse 10), may, grammatically, be part of the command—"strip off," etc., and "lie not"—as e.g. in 1 Thessalonians 5:8; Hebrews 12:1; or may state the fact on which that command is based. The latter view is preferable (Meyer, Alford, Ellicott, English Version; but see Lightfoot); for the participles describe a change already realized—a change of principle, which has, however, still to be more fully carried out in practice (Colossians 2:11-13, Colossians 2:20; Colossians 3:1, Colossians 3:3,Colossians 3:7,Colossians 3:11; Ephesians 4:20-24; Galatians 3:27, Galatians 3:28): in Hebrews 12:12 the imperative mood is resumed with an emphatic "therefore," implying a previous reference to fact. (On the double compound ἀπεκδυσάμενοι, "having stripped off (and put) away," see notes, Colossians 2:11, Colossians 2:15.) The "Old man"; is the former self, the "I no longer living" (Galatians 2:20) of the Colossian believer, to whom "the members that are upon the earth" (Colossians 2:5) belonged—the entire sinful personality of "him who is in the flesh" (Romans 8:8). His "deeds" ("practices," "habits of doing," Romans 8:13; see Trench’s ’Synonyms’ on πράσσω) are the pursuits of which Colossians 2:5, Colossians 2:8, Colossians 2:9 supply examples. Colossians 3:10 And having put on the new (man), which is being renewed unto (full) knowledge, after (the) image of him that created him (Ephesians 4:23, Ephesians 4:24; Ephesians 2:15; Romans 6:4; Romans 7:6; Romans 8:1-4; Romans 13:12-14; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15; Colossians 1:9; Colossians 2:2, Colossians 2:3; Genesis 1:26-28; Matthew 5:48; Hebrews 12:10; 1 Peter 1:16; Romans 8:29). New (νέος) is "young," "of recent date" (compare the "once," "but now" of Colossians 3:7, Colossians 3:8; also Colossians 1:5-8; 1 Peter 2:1, 1 Peter 2:2). whose birth was well remembered, and which presented so vivid a contrast to the "old man with his deeds." "Being renewed" (ἀνακαινούμενον, derived from the adjective καινός) sets forth the other side of this newness, its novelty of quality and condition (compare "newness of life," Romans 6:4). And this participle is in the present tense (continuous), while the former is in the aorist (historical). So the notions are combined of a new birth taking place once for all, and a new character in course of formation. In Ephesians 4:23, Ephesians 4:24 these ideas are in the same order (see Trench’s ’Synonyms’). "Full knowledge" was one purpose of this renewal, the purpose most necessary to be set before the Colossians. The nature and objects of this knowledge have been already specified (Colossians 1:6, Colossians 1:9, Colossians 1:27, Colossians 1:28; Colossians 2:2, Colossians 2:3, Colossians 2:9, Colossians 2:10: comp. Ephesians 1:18, Ephesians 1:19; Ephesians 3:18, Ephesians 3:19; Philippians 3:8-14; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; and on ἐπίγνωσις, see note, Colossians 1:6). "After (the) image" is clearly an allusion to Genesis 1:26-28; so in Ephesians 4:24 ("after God"). It is adverbial to "renewed," not to "knowledge." Man’s renewal in Christ makes him what the Creator at first designed him to be, namely, his own image (compare note on "reconcile," Colossians 1:20). Chrysostom and others take "Christ" as "him that created," in view of Col 1:15, Colossians 1:16; but then it is said that all things "were created in … through … for Christ," not absolutely that Christ created them. But "the image of God after which" man was created and is now recreated, is seen in Christ (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 2 Corinthians 4:4; John 1:18). Colossians 3:11 Where there is (or, can be) no Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman (Galatians 3:28; Galatians 6:15; Ephesians 2:14-18; Ephesians 4:25; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Romans 15:5-12; Philemon 1:15, Philemon 1:16; John 17:20-23; Luke 22:24-27; John 13:12-17). That ἔνι means "can be," "negativing, not merely the fact, but the possibility," is doubtful in view of 1 Corinthians 6:5 (Revised Text). "In Christ" these distinctions are non-existent. There is no place for them. These and the following words indicate the sphere, as "unto knowledge" the end, and "after the image" the ideal or norm, of the progressive renewal to be effected in the Colossian believer. It can be carried on only where and so far as these distinctions are set aside. The "new man" knows nothing of them. The enmity between Greek and Jew being removed, the malice and falsehood that grew out of it will disappear (1 Corinthians 6:8, 1 Corinthians 6:9: comp. Romans 15:7; Ephesians 4:25). In Galatians 3:28 "Jew" stands first, and the distinction of sex is added. The distinctions here enumerated appear as looked at from the Greek side. Only here in the New Testament does "Greek" precede "Jew" (comp. Romans 1:16; 1 Corinthians 12:13, etc.). "Barbarian" (Romans 1:14) and "Scythian" (only here in the New Testament) are together opposed to "Greek," and imply want of culture rather than alien nationality, the Scythian being the rudest of barbarians (see Lightfoot’s full note). Such terms of contempt would, in Asia Minor, be commonly applied by Greeks to the native population. The party who affected philosophic culture (Colossians 2:8, Colossians 2:23) may, perhaps, have applied them to simple, uneducated Christians (see note on Colossians 1:28). (On "circumcision," see Colossians 2:11; and for the connection with Colossians 2:9, comp. Galatians 6:15.) For "bond" and "free," a division then pervading society universally, comp. Galatian list. Onesimus and Philemon are doubtless in the apostle’s mind. On this relationship he enlarges in the next section (Colossians 3:22-4:1). The four pairs of opposed terms represent distinctions (1) of race, (2) of religious privilege, (3) of culture, (4) of social rank. But Christ is all things, and in all (Colossians 1:15-20; Colossians 2:9, Colossians 2:10; Colossians 3:4, Colossians 3:17; Ephesians 1:3, Ephesians 1:10, Ephesians 1:22, Ephesians 1:23; Ephesians 2:13-22; Ephesians 3:8, Ephesians 3:19; Philippians 1:21; Philippians 3:7-14; Philippians 4:19; Galatians 2:20; Galatians 5:2, Galatians 5:4; Romans 5:10; Romans 8:32, Romans 8:39). "Christ" stands at the end of the sentence, with accumulated emphasis. The Church regards and values each man in his relation to Christ, and bids every other consideration bow to this. He is "all things"—our common centre, our standard of reference, and fount of honour, the stun of all we acknowledge and desire; and he is "in all"—the common life and soul of his people, the substance of all we experience and possess as Christians. The second "all" is masculine (so most commentators, from Chrysostom downwards), referring more specially to the classes just enumerated. Similarly, in Ephesians 4:6: comp. Colossians 1:27; Ephesians 3:17; Galatians 1:15; Galatians 2:20; Galatians 4:19. (While he is "in all," it is equally true that all are "in him:" comp. John 15:4; John 17:23, John 17:26.) Just as in the spiritual sphere, and in the relations between God and man, Christ is shown to be all, so that "principalities and powers" are comparatively insignificant (Colossians 1:16; Colossians 2:9, Colossians 2:10, Colossians 2:15); so in the moral sphere, and in the relations between man and man. All human distinctions, like all angelic offices, must pay homage to his supremacy, and submit to the reconciling unity of his kingdom (Ephesians 1:10). Colossians 3:12 Put on, therefore, as elect of God, holy, [and] beloved (Colossians 3:9,Colossians 3:14; Ephesians 4:24; Ephesians 1:3-5; Galatians 3:27; Romans 13:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:8; 1 Thessalonians 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Titus 1:1; Romans 8:28-39; 1 Peter 1:1, 1 Peter 1:2; 1 John 3:1). The terms "elect," "holy" (same as "saints," Colossians 1:2; see note), "beloved," apply alike and separately to those addressed. Bengel, Meyer, Alford, Ellicott prefer to read "holy and beloved elect (ones);" but "holy" and "beloved" are used frequently by St. Paul as distinct substantive expressions, and indicate conditions ensuing on, rather than determining, election. Colossian believers are "elect" in virtue of an antecedent choice of them to salvation on the part of God, as those who would believe on his Son (1 Thessalonians 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Ephesians 1:4, Ephesians 1:5; Ephesians 2:8; Romans 8:28-30; 1 Peter 1:1, 1 Peter 1:2). Their whole Christian standing springs from and witnesses to God’s eternal (Ephesians 1:4) election of them—an election which, however, presumes faith on their part from beginning to end (Colossians 1:22, Colossians 1:23; Romans 9:30-33; Romans 11:5-10,Romans 11:17-24). "Elect" and "called," with St. Paul, are coextensive terms: comp. Romans 1:7 (R.V.) with this passage, also 1 Corinthians 1:26, 1 Corinthians 1:27. To address the Colossian Christians as elect is to remind them of all that they owe to God’s grace. "Elect" as chosen by God, they are "holy" as devoted to God. By the latter title they were first addressed (Colossians 1:2); holiness is the essence of Christian character. That they should gain this character and appear in it at the last judgment was the purpose of Christ’s atoning death (Colossians 1:21, Colossians 1:22), as it was the purpose of God’s eternal election of believers (Ephesians 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 2:9). "And" is marked as doubtful by Lightfoot, Westcott and Heft; "it is impossible not to feel how much the sentence gains in form by its omission" (Lightfoot). "Beloved" (ἠγαπημένοι) is the perfect participle passive; it describes the position of those who, carrying out by their present holiness the purpose of their past election, are the objects of God’s abiding love (1 Thessalonians 1:4). This love dictated their election and set at work the means by which it should be secured (Ephesians 1:3-14; Ephesians 2:4; Romans 8:28-30, Romans 8:39; 1 John 3:1; 1 John 4:9, 1 John 4:10). As its purposes are increasingly fulfilled in them, it rests on them with an abiding complacency and satisfaction (Ephesians 5:1; John 14:21-23). Christ is "the beloved One" (Ephesians 1:6; Matthew 3:17, etc.), and those who are "in him" in their measure share the same title (John 17:23-26). But their choice by God and devotion to God, who is all love to them (Romans 8:39; 1 John 4:16), must in turn beget a loving heart in them (1 John 4:11). A heart of pity, kindness, lowliness of mind, meekness, long suffering (Ephesians 4:1, Ephesians 4:2, 32-5:2; Philippians 2:1-4; Galatians 5:22; 1 Corinthians 13:4; Titus 3:2; 1 Peter 3:8, 1 Peter 3:9; Matthew 5:5, Matthew 5:7; Matthew 11:29; Luke 6:35, Luke 6:36). "The σπλάγχνα are properly the nobler viscera" rather than the bowels. The use of this figure, found three times in Philemon, is Hebraistic (comp. Luke 1:78; 2 Corinthians 6:12; Philippians 7, 12, 20; James 5:11; 1 John 3:17), though similar expressions occur in Greek poets. "Pity" (or, "compassion") is an attribute of God in Romans 12:1; 2 Corinthians 1:3: comp. Luke 6:36 ("pitiful") (On kindness, or kindliness, see Galatians 5:22; 1 Corinthians 13:4; 2 Corinthians 6:6—in each case following "long suffering;" Romans 11:22, where it is opposed to "severity" in God (comp. Romans 2:4); Ephesians 2:7; Titus 3:4, where it is ascribed to God in his dealing with men in Christ; also Matthew 11:30.) It is synonymous with "goodness" (Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 5:9; Matthew 7:11; Matthew 12:35, etc.); but "goodness" looks chiefly to benefit intended or conferred, "kindness" to the spirit and manner of bestowal (see Trench’s ’Synonym’). The objects of "pity" are the suffering and miserable; of "kindness," the needy and dependent. The "lowliness of mind" of Colossians 2:18, Colossians 2:23 was something specious and to be guarded against; here it is the central and essential element of the true Christian temper (Acts 20:19; Philippians 2:3; 1 Peter 5:5; Luke 14:11; Luke 18:14), its self-regarding element (Romans 12:3). It is linked with meekness, as in Ephesians 4:2 and Matthew 11:29. "Pity" and "kindness," preceding "humility," relate to the claims of others upon us; "meekness" and "long suffering," to our bearing towards them. "Meekness," the opposite of rudeness and self assertion (1 Corinthians 13:5), is a delicate consideration for the rights and feelings of others, especially necessary in administering rebuke or discipline (Galatians 6:1; 2 Timothy 2:25; 1 Corinthians 4:21; Titus 3:2), and conspicuous in Christ (Matthew 11:29; Matthew 21:5; 2 Corinthians 10:1). St. Peter marks it as a womanly virtue (1 Peter 3:4). "Long suffering" is called forth by the conduct of "the evil and unthankful" (see Colossians 1:11, and note). St. Paul claims this quality for himself (2 Corinthians 6:6; 2 Timothy 3:10). Throughout Scripture it is ascribed to God (Exodus 34:6; Romans 2:4; Romans 9:22; 1 Timothy 1:16; 2 Peter 3:9, 2 Peter 3:15, etc.). Colossians 3:13 Bearing with one another, and forgiving each other (literally, yourselves), if any one have a complaint against any. (On "bearing with" or "forbearing," see 1 Corinthians 4:12; 2 Corinthians 11:19, 2 Corinthians 11:20; Matthew 17:17.) It is ascribed to God, with "long-suffering," especially as shown in his dealing with the sins of men before the coming of Christ (Romans 2:4; Romans 3:26: comp. Acts 17:30). Long suffering may be shown towards all who do us injury; forbearance especially towards those from whom regard or obedience is due. It falls short of forgiveness, which can only ensue on repentance (Luke 17:3, Luke 17:4: comp. Romans 3:25, Romans 3:26; Acts 17:30). The change of pronoun in the two participial clauses appears also in Ephesians 4:2 and Ephesians 4:32: the first is reciprocal, but the second is reflexive, implying the oneness of the forgiving and the forgiven party. Forgiving a Christian brother, it is as though a man were forgiving himself (comp. Ephesians 4:14, Ephesians 4:15; Galatians 6:1; Romans 12:5; Romans 15:5-7; and the same variation in 1 Peter 4:8-10). "Forgive" is literally "to grant grace," used of Divine forgiveness m Colossians 2:13 (see note). The words, "if any have any complaint," etc., would certainly apply to Philemon as against Onesimus. Even as the Lord (or, Christ) forgave you, so also ye (Colossians 2:13; Ephesians 4:32; Ephesians 1:7; Romans 3:24-26; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Acts 13:38; Acts 5:31; 1 John 1:9; Matthew 9:1-8; Matthew 18:27; Exodus 34:6, Exodus 34:7; Psalms 103:3). This argument is latent in the appeal to the "elect" and "beloved" of Philemon 1:12. The evidence for the alternative readings, "Lord" and "Christ," is nearly equal in weight. In any case, the "Lord" is "Christ" in this passage (Colossians 2:6; Colossians 3:17, Colossians 3:24): and that he forgave (comp. Colossians 1:20, note) is quite consistent with the assertion that God forgave (Colossians 2:13), for God forgave "in Christ" (Ephesians 4:32). So "God in Christ reconciled" (2 Corinthians 5:19); and yet "Christ reconciled us" (Colossians 1:20, Colossians 1:21; Ephesians 2:16). "Forgiving," supplied in thought from previous context, completes the sense of "so also ye" (Meyer, Alford, Ellicott). To suppose an ellipsis of the imperative, with Light foot and the English Version ("do ye"), is needlessly to break the structure of the sentence. Philemon 1:14 shows that the leading imperative, "put on," of Philemon 1:12 is still in the writer’s mind. For the reciprocal double καί ("even.., also"), comp. Colossians 1:6 or Romans 1:13; it is characteristic of the writer. Colossians 3:14 And over all these things (put on) love, which (thing) is the bond of perfectness (Colossians 2:2; Ephesians 4:2, Ephesians 4:3; Ephesians 5:1; Philippians 2:2; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.; Galatians 5:13-15, Galatians 5:22; Romans 13:8-10; 2 Peter 1:7; 1 John 4:7-21; John 13:34, John 13:35). In 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. "love" is the substance or substratum of the Christian virtues; in Galatians 5:22 it is their head and beginning; here it is that which embraces and completes them. They imply love, but it is more than them all together. They lie within its circumference; wanting it, they fall to pieces and are nothing. (For συνδεσμός ("bond" or "band"), comp. Colossians 2:19.) In Ephesians 4:3 we have the "bond of peace" (see next verse). Love is the bond in the active sense, as that wherewith the constituents of a Christian character or the members of a Church are bound together: peace, in a passive sense, as that wherein the union consists. "Love" (compare "covetousness," Ephesians 4:5) is made conspicuous by the Greek definite article—being that eminent, essential grace of Christian love (Colossians 1:4, Colossians 1:8; Colossians 2:2; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.; 1 John 4:16, etc.). "Perfectness" is genitive of object, not of quality: love unifies the elements of Christian goodness and gives them in itself their "perfectness" (Romans 13:10). (For "perfectness," see note on "perfect," Colossians 1:28; and comp. Colossians 4:12.) Against Galatian teachers of circumcision, and Corinthian exalters of knowledge, the apostle had magnified the supremacy of love (Galatians 5:6; 1 Corinthians 8:1-3); and so against the Colossian mysticism and asceticism he sets it forth as the crown of spiritual perfection, the goal of human excellence (comp. Ephesians 4:15, Ephesians 4:16). Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of Christ be umpire in your hearts (Colossians 1:14, Colossians 1:20-22; Colossians 2:18; Ephesians 2:13-18; Romans 5:1, Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21; Acts 10:36; Hebrews 13:20; Philippians 3:14). "Of God," the reading of the Received Text, is borrowed from Philippians 4:7, where, however, "in Christ Jesus" follows (comp. Philippians 4:13 b, and Ephesians 4:32). "The peace of Christ" is that which he effects in reconciling men to God, and to himself as their Lord (Philippians 4:13 b; Colossians 1:20, see note; Romans 5:1). Here is the source of inner tranquillity and health of soul (see note on "peace," Colossians 1:2; Romans 8:6-9; John 16:33); and of the outward union and harmony of the Church, the body of Christ (Ephesians 2:16; Ephesians 4:2, Ephesians 4:3; Romans 14:15-19; Romans 15:7). In John 14:27, on the other hand, Christ’s peace, his "legacy," is that which he possessed and exemplified—an idea foreign to this context. This "peace" is to "act as umpire" in the Christian’s heart. The compound καταβρα-βεύω ("act as umpire against you") has already been used in Colossians 2:18 (see note; also Philippians 3:14, cognate βραβεῖον) of the false teacher who, in condemning the faith of the Colossian Christians as insufficient for the attaining of "perfectness" (Colossians 2:14) without angel worship, etc., virtually took away their prize and judged them "unworthy of eternal life." The Greek commentators seem, therefore, to be right, as against most moderns (but see Klopper on the other side), in retaining the primary sense of the verb instead of generalizing it into "rule" or the like. It stands in precise antithesis, both of sense and sound, to Colossians 2:18: "Let not the deceivers decide against you, but let the peace of Christ decide in your hearts" (Cramer’s ’Catena’). "The peace of Christ" dwelling within the heart is to be the security of the Colossian believer against the threats of false teachers: "They sock to rob you of your prize; let this assure you of it." Present, conscious peace with God is a warrant of the Christian’s hope of everlasting life (Romans 5:1-11; Romans 8:31-39; Romans 15:13; Ephesians 1:13, Ephesians 1:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Titus 3:7). This assurance is identical with "the witness of the Spirit" (Romans 8:15, Romans 8:16; Galatians 4:6, Galatians 4:7; Ephesians 1:13, Ephesians 1:14). The apostle argued in Colossians 1:4, Colossians 1:5 from the present faith and love of his readers to "the hope laid up for them in heaven;" here he bids them find in the peace which Christ has brought to their souls the earnest of their future bliss. It is but a generalizing of the same idea when he speaks in Philippians 4:7 of "the peace of God" as "garrisoning the heart and thoughts" against fear and doubt. Unto which also ye were called, in one body (Colossians 1:12, Colossians 1:18; Colossians 2:2; Ephesians 4:14-18, Ephesians 4:1-6; Philippians 1:27, Philippians 1:28; 1 Corinthians 10:17; 1 Corinthians 12:12, 1 Corinthians 12:13; Romans 12:5). So this "peace" is to be at once their inward safeguard, and the ground of their outward union. They are to stand together in its defence (Philippians 1:27, Philippians 1:28). Error, which blights the Church’s hope, destroys her unity. So the maintenance of that "one hope of our calling," assured by a Divine peace within the soul, unites all Christian hearts in a common cause (compare the connection of Php 4:18 and Philippians 4:19 in Colossians 2:1-23.). With St. Paul, the peace of God’s children with him and with each other is so essentially one that he speaks almost indistinguishably of both (Ephesians 2:15, Ephesians 2:16; 2 Corinthians 13:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:16). He adds, and be ye thankful (Colossians 1:3-5, Colossians 1:12; Colossians 2:7; Colossians 3:17; Colossians 4:2; Ephesians 5:20); viz. "for this assurance of your future blessedness afforded by the peace of Christ within your hearts, with its outward evidence in your Christian unity." The apostle gave thanks for them on like grounds (Colossians 1:3-5: comp. Colossians 1:12-14). The command to give thanks prevails in this Epistle, as that to rejoice in Philippians. "Be" is the Greek γίνομαι ("become"); so in Ephesians 4:32; Ephesians 5:1, Ephesians 5:17. It implies "striving after an aim as not yet realized" (Meyer: comp. John 15:8)—rather, therefore, "to be in act," "to prove" or "show one’s self thankful" (see Grimm’s ’Lexicon;’ and comp. Romans 3:4; Luke 10:36). Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom (Colossians 1:5, Colossians 1:9, Colossians 1:27, Colossians 1:28; Colossians 2:2, Colossians 2:3; Colossians 4:5, Colossians 4:6; Ephesians 1:17, Ephesians 1:18; Ephesians 3:8, Ephesians 3:9; 1 Corinthians 1:5, 1 Corinthians 1:6; 2 Timothy 3:15). The "word of Christ" is the Christian doctrine, the gospel in the widest sense of the term (Colossians 1:5), as proceeding from Christ (Galatians 1:11, Galatians 1:12; Hebrews 2:3; Matthew 28:20; 2 Corinthians 13:3). This precise phrase occurs only here, where the name of Christ is emphasized in so many ways. The apostle, it may be, alludes primarily to the personal teaching of Christ himself (comp. Acts 20:35; 1 Corinthians 7:10). "You" is understood collectively by Meyer and others ("amongst you"); but the verb "dwell in" (Romans 8:11; 2 Timothy 1:5, 2 Timothy 1:14) requires the stronger sense, suggested also by the "in your hearts" of Colossians 3:15 (comp. note on "in you," Colossians 1:27). As "the word" is rich in the Divine wealth stored in it (Colossians 1:27; Ephesians 1:7, Ephesians 1:18; Ephesians 2:4,Ephesians 2:7; Ephesians 3:8; Titus 3:6), so it is to dwell "richly" in those who possess it. "In all wisdom" God’s grace abounded (Ephesians 1:8), and St. Paul himself taught (Colossians 1:28); so with the richly indwelling word in the minds of the Colossians, especially as they were beset by intellectual forms of error (Colossians 1:9; Colossians 2:2-4, Colossians 2:8, Colossians 2:23: comp. Colossians 4:5; Ephesians 5:15). In this connection of thought, the phrase appears to belong to the previous sentence; so English Version and Lightfoot. Bengel, Meyer, Alford, and Ellicott, however, attach it to the words which follow. Teaching and admonishing each other [or, yourselves: comp. verse 13, note] (Colossians 1:28; Romans 15:14; Hebrews 5:12; Hebrews 10:24, Hebrews 10:25; Ephesians 4:15, Ephesians 4:16). What he is doing in his own ministry and by writing this letter, he bids the Colossians do for each other. "Teaching" precedes, being suggested by "wisdom." With psalms, hymns, spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19; 1 Corinthians 14:26). These are to be a chief means of mutual edification. The repeated "and," also the singular "heart," and "Lord" in place of "God" in the sequel of the verse, are borrowed by the Received Text from Ephesians 5:19. The Greeks, the Asiatic Greeks in particular, were devoted to the arts of music. Song and jest, stimulated by the wine cup, were the entertainment of their social hours (Ephesians 5:4, Ephesians 5:18, Ephesians 5:19). Their Christian intercourse is still to be enlivened by the varied use of song, and by the play of wholesome wit (Colossians 4:6; Ephesians 4:29); but both song and speech are to be "in grace," stamped with a spiritual character and governed by a serious Christian purpose. A "psalm" (from ψάλλω, to play an instrument) is "a song set to music;" but this name was already in the LXX appropriated to its present use. Whether its application here is restricted to the psalms of the Old Testament is doubtful. "Hymn" (ὕμνος) denotes a solemn, religions composition, or song of Divine praise. The word "song" (ode, ᾠδή) is wider in sense; hence is qualified by "spiritual," equivalent to "with [or, ’in’] the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18)—"songs of a spiritual nature, inspired by the Holy Ghost" (comp. "spiritual wisdom," Colossians 1:9). Such songs would echo the varied sentiments and experiences of the Christian life. In Ephesians 5:14 and 2 Timothy 2:11-13, very possibly, we have fragments of early Christian song. St. Paul’s own language, in more exalted moods, tends to assume a rhythmic and lyrical strain (see introductory note on Colossians 1:15-20). In grace singing, in your hearts, to God (Colossians 4:5; Ephesians 5:19; 1 Corinthians 14:2, 1 Corinthians 14:15, 1 Corinthians 14:28; Romans 8:27; 1 John 3:19; Revelation 2:23; 1 Samuel 16:7; 1 Chronicles 28:9). "The correct reading is ἐντῇχάριτι (in the grace);" so Lightfoot, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Westcott and Herr in margin, rejected by the Revisers. The tendency to omit the article in prepositional phrases should be taken into account in its favour here. And the article helps the sense by giving "grace" a definite Christian meaning (so "the love," 2 Timothy 2:14). Otherwise, ἐνχάριτι may mean no more than "gracefully," "pleasantly;" comp. Colossians 4:6. "The (Divine) grace" is the pervasive element and subject matter of Christian song. Its constant refrain will be, "to the praise of the glory of his grace!" (Ephesians 1:6, Ephesians 1:12, Ephesians 1:14: comp. Romans 1:5, Romans 1:6). "In your hearts" (Colossians 4:15)—the inner region of the soul—there is the counterpart, audible "to God," of the song that vibrates on the lips. In Ephesians 5:19 we read, "with your hearts"—the instrument (here the region) of the song. (For the connection of "in your hearts" and "to God," comp. Ephesians 5:22, Ephesians 5:23; Luke 16:15; Acts 1:24; Acts 15:8; Romans 8:27; 1 Thessalonians 2:4; 1 John 3:19.) Colossians 3:17 And everything, whatever ye he doing in word or deed, (do) all in the name of (the) Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 10:31; 1 Corinthians 5:4; Ephesians 5:20; 2 Thessalonians 2:17). Colossians 3:16 speaks of "word" only; to it is added the "deed," which stands for all the practical activities of life. Both meet in the following "all." "The name of the Lord Jesus" is the expression of his authority as "Lord" (Colossians 1:13, Colossians 1:15, Colossians 1:18; Colossians 2:6; Philippians 2:9-11; Ephesians 1:21-23; 1 Corinthians 12:3; Romans 14:9; Acts 10:36), and of his personal character and relation to us as "Jesus" (Matthew 1:21; Acts 4:12; Acts 16:31, Revised Text). (On the prominence of the title "Lord" in this Epistle, see note on Colossians 2:6.) (For the emphatic, absolute nominative πᾶν at the head of the sentence, comp. John 6:39; John 15:2; John 17:2; Matthew 10:32; Luke 12:10.) Giving thanks to God (the) Father through him (Colossians 3:15; Colossians 1:12-14; Colossians 2:7; Colossians 4:2). Again thanksgiving is urged on the Colossians. It is to be the accompaniment of daily talk and work—to be offered to God in his character as "Father" (see notes on Colossians 1:2, Colossians 1:3, Colossians 1:12), and "through the Lord Jesus" (Romans 1:8; Romans 7:25), by whom we have access to the Father (Ephesians 2:18; Ephesians 3:12; Romans 5:1, Romans 5:2; Hebrews 10:19-22) and receive from him all the benefits of redemption (Colossians 1:14; Ephesians 2:5-10; Romans 3:24-26; Titus 3:4-7). Colossians 3:18 Colossians 4:1.—SECTION VIII. THE VIEW OF FAMILY DUTIES. We note that in each of the three family relations here dealt with, the subordinate party is first addressed, and the duty of submission is primarily insisted upon. So in Ephesians 5:21-24; Ephesians 6:1-3, Ephesians 6:5-8. There may have been some special reason for this in the state of the Asiatic Churches or of Greek society in that region. But other indications show (1 Corinthians 7:24; 1 Corinthians 11:3-16; 1 Corinthians 14:34, 1 Corinthians 14:35; Galatians 5:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:11, 2 Thessalonians 3:12; 1 Timothy 2:11, 1 Timothy 2:12; 1 Timothy 6:1, 1 Timothy 6:2; Titus 2:5, Titus 2:9; 10; Titus 3:1) that the apostle perceived and sought to check the danger of unsettlement in the natural order of family and social life which often attends great spiritual revolutions, especially when they are in the direction of religious liberty. As in the case of Luther, the apostle’s later teaching is largely directed against the antinomianism which resulted, by way of perversion and abuse, from the preaching of salvation by grace and of the sanctity of the individual believer (comp. introductory note to this chapter). Observe how the Lord and his authority are made to furnish a higher sanction for each of these natural duties. Colossians 3:18 Ye wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fit in the Lord (Ephesians 5:22-24; 1 Timothy 2:11-15; Titus 2:5; 1 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Corinthians 14:34, 1 Corinthians 14:35; 1 Peter 3:1-6; Genesis 3:16). On this duty the apostle dilates in the Ephesian letter, in illustration of its teaching respecting "Christ and the Church" (comp. the very different treatment of it in 1 Peter 3:1-7), The use of the article (αἱγύναικες) in the nominative of address is frequent in New Testament, though not in classical Greek. Lightfoot thinks it Hebraistic. Ανηκεν stands in the imperfect tense (literally, it was fit), denoting a normal propriety (comp. Ephesians 5:4, Westcott and Hort; and for the general expression, 1 Corinthians 11:13, 1 Corinthians 11:14; Philippians 1:8; Ephesians 5:3; 1 Timothy 2:10; Philippians 4:8; Romans 1:29). Like all men of a sound moral nature, St Paul has a strong sense of natural propriety. The adjunct "in the Lord" belongs to "was fit," not "be subject" (comp. Colossians 3:20). The constitution of nature, as we have learnt in Colossians 1:15-18, is grounded "in the Lord." In Ephesians 5:22-33 St. Paul shows that this inherent propriety has a deep spiritual significance; and he makes the subjection of the Church to her heavenly Lord a new reason for wifely submission. Colossians 3:19 Ye husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them (Ephesians 5:25-31; 1 Peter 3:7). "Love" is ἀγαπάω, the word which expresses the highest spiritual affection—"even as Christ loved the Church" (Ephesians 5:25). Here, first and most of all, the "new commandment" of John 13:34 applies. St. Paul only uses the verb πικραίνω ("to make bitter") here, but he has the noun πικρία ("bitterness") in a wider application in Ephesians 4:31. It denotes "exasperation," prompting to hasty severity. Bengel defines it as "odium amori mixtum"—hatred infused into love. Colossians 3:20 To children, be obedient to your parents in all things; for this is well pleasing in the Lord (Ephesians 6:1, Ephesians 6:2; Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16; Le Deuteronomy 19:3; Proverbs 23:1-35. 22; Luke 2:51, Luke 2:52). In Ephesians 6:1, Ephesians 6:2 "in all things" (κατὰπάντα, "in regard to all things") is wanting; and not the extent, but the intrinsic rightness of the command as it is found in the Decalogue is insisted on. But here, where "Christ is all and in all" (Ephesians 6:11), it is "in the Lord" (Revised Text) that the child’s obedience is declared to be "well pleasing." There is something especially pleasing in the behaviour of a lovingly obedient child, that wins "favour" both "with God and man" (Luke 2:52). The law of filial obedience has its creative ground "in him" (Colossians 1:16), and is an essential part of the Christian order of life, which is the natural order restored and perfected. "Well pleasing" is a favourite word of St. Paul’s (comp. Colossians 1:10; Ephesians 5:10; Philippians 4:8; Romans 14:18; Titus 2:9, etc.; used also in Hebrews). Colossians 3:21 Ye fathers, do not irritate your children, lest they be disheartened (Ephesians 6:4). Ερεθίζω ("irritate" or "provoke") St. Paul uses once besides (2 Corinthians 9:2), in a good sense. It implies a use of parental authority which, by continual exactions and complaints, teaches the child to look on the father as his enemy rather than his friend. The synonymous παροργίζω of Ephesians 6:4, found here in many copies, is, more definitely "to rouse to anger." Αθυμέω (only here in the New Testament) means "to lose heart," to have the confidence and high spirit of youth broken; "fractus animus pestis juventutis" (Bengel). In place of this treatment, "the discipline and admonition of the Lord" are recommended in Ephesians 6:4. Colossians 3:22 Ye servants (literally, bondmen), be obedient in all things to your lords according to the flesh (Ephesians 6:5-9; 1 Timothy 6:1,1 Timothy 6:2; Titus 2:9, Titus 2:10; 1 Corinthians 7:21-24; Romans 13:1, Romans 13:5; 1 Peter 2:18-25). The duties of servants and masters are prominent here (Colossians 3:22 - Colossians 4:1), in view of the emphasis thrown upon the lordship of Christ; and partly, no doubt, with reference to the case of the runaway slave Onesimus (Colossians 4:9; Epistle to Philemon) "Servant" is δοῦλος, bondman, as in Colossians 1:1 and commonly in St. Paul. In 1 Peter 2:18 we have the milder οἰκετής, domestic. The vast majority of servants of all kinds at this time in the Greek and Roman world were slaves. In most districts the slaves were much more numerous than the free population. And they were undoubtedly numerous in the early Church. The gospel has always been welcome to the poor and oppressed. The attitude of St. Paul and of Christianity towards slavery claims consideration under the Epistle to Philemon; on this point see Lightfoot’s ’Introduction.’ Here and in Ephesians 6:5 (comp. Ephesians 6:7, Ephesians 6:8) the apostle calls the master κύριος ("lord") in reference to "the Lord Christ" (Ephesians 6:22 b, 24); elsewhere in the New Testament, as in common Greek, the opposite of δοῦλος is δεσποτής (1 Timothy 6:1, 1 Timothy 6:2; 2 Timothy 2:21, etc.), "According to flesh," that is, "in outward, earthly relationship" (comp. Romans 4:1): Christ is the Lord in the absolute and abiding sense of the word (similarly, "in the flesh" and "in the Lord," Philemon 1:16). Not with acts of eye service (literally, not in eye services), as man pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing the Lord (Ephesians 6:6; Ephesians 5:21; 1 Thessalonians 2:4; Galatians 1:10; Matthew 6:22; Luke 11:34; James 1:5-8; Psalms 123:2; Isaiah 8:13; Revelation 2:23). "Eye service" is plural here, according to Revised Text; singular in Ephesians 6:6. Here the word ὀφθαλμοδουλεία first oocurs in Greek, like ἐθελοθρησκεία (Colossians 2:23). It strikes at the besetting sin of servants of all kinds. Ανθρωπάρεσκος ("man pleaser") occurs in the LXX, Psalms 52:6. The servant whose aim it is to please his earthly master in what will catch his eye, plays a double part, acting in one way when observed, in another when left to himself; with this duplicity is contrasted "singleness of heart" (comp. Romans 12:8; 2 Corinthians 11:3; ἀπλότης in 2 Corinthians 8:2 and 2 Corinthians 9:11, 2 Corinthians 9:13 has a different application). "Fearing the Lord" more than the eye of his earthly lord, the Christian servant will always act in "singleness of heart;" for "the eyes of the Lord are in every place." In the same manner the apostle ("bondman of Christ Jesus," Colossians 1:1) speaks of his own relations to men and to the Lord Christ respectively (1 Corinthians 4:3-5; 2 Corinthians 5:11; Galatians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:4-6, etc.: comp. John 5:37-44). The reading "God" of Received Text is a copyist’s emendation, a sample of a large class of corruptions of the text, where a word more familiar in any given connection is, more or less unconsciously, substituted for the original word. Colossians 3:23 Whatever ye be doing, work (therein) from (the) soul, as to the Lord, and not to men (Colossians 3:17; Ephesians 6:6, Ephesians 6:7; 1 Corinthians 7:21-23). (On the first clause, see Colossians 3:17.) In the Revised Text, however, the turn of expression differs from that of Col 3:17, πᾶν being cancelled. The writer is thinking, not so much of the variety of service possible, as of the spirit which should pervade it. "Do" is replaced in the second clause by the more energetic "work," opposed to indolent or useless doing (comp. Ephesians 4:28; 2 Thessalonians 3:10; John 5:17; John 9:4). "From [ἐκ, out of] the soul "indicates the spring of their exertions—inward principle, not outward compulsion; the servant must put his soul into his work. "Soul" implies, even more than "heart," the engagement of the man’s best individual powers (comp. Philippians 1:27, as well as Ephesians 6:6). The slaves’ daily taskwork is to be done, not only in sight and in fear of the Lord (Colossians 3:22 b; Ephesians 5:21), but as actually "to the Lord." Him they are serving (Colossians 3:24 b), who alone is "the Lord" (Colossians 2:6); every mean and hard task is dignified and sweetened by the thought of being done for him, and the commonest work must be done with the zeal and thoroughness that his service demands (comp. Ephesians 6:7, "with good will doing bond service"). The word "not" (ου) instead of μὴ) implies that their service is actually rendered to One other and higher than "men" (1 Corinthians 7:22; Galatians 1:10). Colossians 3:24 Knowing that from (the) Lord you will receive the just recompense of the inheritance (Ephesians 6:8; Romans 2:6-11; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Revelation 22:12; Psalms 62:12). "Knowing" (εἰδότες)—that of which one is aware, not merely learning or "getting to know" (γινώσκω): see both words in Ephesians 5:5 and John 14:7, Revised Text; also Romans 6:6 and Romans 6:9; 1 John 5:20. "The absence of the definite article" before Κυρίου "is the more remarkable, because it is studiously inserted in the context" (Lightfoot). St. Paul virtually says, "There is a Master who will recompense you, if your earthly masters never do" (comp. Colossians 4:1). "Just" renders the ἀντὶ in ἀνταπόδοσιν (a word common in LXX), implying "equivalence" or "correspondence" (comp. ἀνταναπληρῶ in Colossians 1:24; also Romans 11:35; Romans 12:19; 1 Thessalonians 3:9; 2 Thessalonians 1:6; Luke 6:38; Luke 14:12, Luke 14:14)—a reward in the case of each individual, and in each particular, answering to the service rendered to "the Lord" (comp. Matthew 25:14-30). The opposite truth is asserted in verse 25; Ephesians 6:8 combines them both. The recompense of the faithful Christian slave is nothing less than "the inheritance" of God’s children (Colossians 1:12; Ephesians 1:5,Ephesians 1:11, Ephesians 1:14; Ephesians 3:6; Ephesians 5:5; Romans 8:17; Galatians 3:29; 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Corinthians 6:10; 1 Corinthians 15:50; Titus 3:7; 1 Peter 1:4), which the apostle has so often under other terms assured to his readers (Colossians 1:5, Colossians 1:23, Colossians 1:27; Colossians 2:18; Colossians 3:4, Colossians 3:15). For a slave to be heir was "a paradox" (Lightfoot): see Galatians 4:1,Galatians 4:7; Romans 8:15-17. No form of praise could be more cheering and ennobling to the despised slave than this. "In Christ," Onesimus is "no longer as a slave, but a brother beloved" (Philippians 1:16), and if a brother, then a joint heir with his master Philemon in the heavenly inheritance (Colossians 3:11). Ye serve the Lord Christ (Philemon 1:22, Philemon 1:25; Colossians 2:6; Ephesians 6:6; Romans 14:8, Romans 14:9; 1 Corinthians 6:19, 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Corinthians 7:22, 1 Corinthians 7:23; John 13:13); that is, Christ is the Lord whose bondmen ye are. "For" is probably a correct gloss, though a corrupt reading. Its insertion indicates that the sentence was read indicatively (Lightfoot, and R.V.); not imperatively ("serve the Lord Christ"), as Meyer, Alford, Ellicott, with the Vulgate, construe it. The verse amounts to this: "Work as for the Lord: he will repay you; you are his servants." Colossians 3:25 For he that doeth wrong shall receive again that he did wrong; and there is no respect of persons (Ephesians 6:8, Ephesians 6:9; Philippians 1:28; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-7; 1 Peter 1:17; Romans 2:11; Galatians 2:6). "For" is replaced by "but" in the same inferior copies which insert it in the last sentence. Here we have the ether side of the recompense promised in Colossians 3:24 a, to which the explanatory "for" points back. The impartial justice which avenges every wrong guarantees the reward of the faithful servant of Christ. So the Old Testament saints rightly argued (Psalms 37:9-11; Psalms 58:10, Psalms 58:11; Psalms 64:7-10) that the punishment of the evil doer affords hope to the righteous man. This warning is quite general in its terms, and applies alike to the unfaithful servant and to the unjust master (comp. Ephesians 6:8). At the judgment seat of Christ there will be no favouritism: all ranks and orders of men will stand on precisely the same footing (Colossians 3:11). The word ἀδικέω, twice employed here, denotes a legal wrong or injury (1 Corinthians 6:7, 1 Corinthians 6:8); e.g. the conduct of Onesimus towards Philemon (Philemon 1:18). The verb "receive" (κομίζομαι, carry off, gain; Ephesians 6:8; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Peter 5:4; Matthew 25:27) looks more to the receiver, whereas ἀπολήμψεσθεἀπό (Philemon 1:24) points to the giver. Προσωπολημψία (literally, accepting of the face) is a pure Hebraism, found in St. James twice, and four times in St. Paul. The apostle turns from the slave to address his master. Colossians 4:1 This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ Colossians 4:1 (See Colossians 3:1-25.) Colossians 4:2-6 SECTION IX. PRAYER AND SOCIAL . There are added some brief exhortations of a more general tenor, the contents of which are summed up in the heading given to this section. Colossians 4:2 Continue steadfast in prayer, being watchful (or, wakeful) therein, with thanksgiving. "Steadfast continuance" in prayer is specially illustrated in our Lord’s sayings on the subject in St. Luke (comp. Acts 1:14, where the same peculiar verb is used). In Philippians 4:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:17, 1 Thessalonians 5:18; 1 Timothy 2:1-15:l, again "thanksgiving" is associated with "prayer." Wakefulness in prayer is enjoined by Christ in Matthew 26:41 and Mark 14:38: compare the synonymous ἀγρυπνέω, to be sleepless, used in Ephesians 6:1,Ephesians 6:2; Mark 13:33; Luke 21:36; Hebrews 13:17. "To be awake" is to be alive in the fullest sense, to have all the powers of perception and action in readiness. The activity of the soul in prayer is to be both energetic and incessant. "With [literally in, ἐν, not μετὰ, as in Ephesians 6:18] thanksgiving gives the pervading element or influence, in or under which the prayers of the Colossians were to be offered (comp. Colossians 1:12; Colossians 2:7; Colossians 3:15, Colossians 3:17). Colossians 4:3 Praying at the same time also for us (Ephesians 6:19; Romans 15:30-32; 1 Thessalonians 5:25; 2 Thessalonians 3:1, 2 Thessalonians 3:2; Hebrews 13:18). In Ephesians and Romans the apostle implores prayer for himself alone, and dwells on his personal circumstances. Here and in the Thessalonian letters he unites his fellow labourers with him in the request. That God may open to us a door for the word (1 Corinthians 16:9; 2 Corinthians 2:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 2:1). "The word" is the Word of God which the apostle preaches (Colossians 1:5, Colossians 1:25; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; Galatians 6:6; 2 Timothy 4:2; Acts 16:6); and "a debt" is wanted, in his present difficulties, through which that Word may freely pass, such as he speaks of in 1 Corinthians 16:9; 2 Corinthians 2:12 (comp. Acts 14:27; Revelation 3:8). It is fanciful to give "door" here the sense of "mouth." The "opening of my mouth," in Ephesians 6:19, expresses the subjective freedom (corresponding to "as I ought to speak," Ephesians 6:4); "the door for the word," the objective liberty desired by St. Paul in his imprisonment. To speak the mystery of Christ, because of which also I am bound (Colossians 1:23-29; Ephesians 6:19; Ephesians 3:1-13; Ephesians 4:1; Philippians 1:12-14; Philemon 1:9; 2 Timothy 2:8-10; Acts 20:22-24). Were his prison door once opened, the apostle would be able freely to preach the gospel to the Gentiles—for this "the mystery of Christ" chiefly signifies (Colossians 1:25-29; Ephesians 3:1-8; 1 Timothy 2:3-7.) (On "mystery," see note, Colossians 1:26.) It is this very mission which makes him long for freedom, that keeps him a prisoner (Colossians 1:23; Ephesians 3:13). He is in the strange position of an "ambassador in chains". This "I am bound" (singular) shows that the "for us" of the former clause designedly includes others with himself. Colossians 4:4 That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak (Ephesians 6:20; 2 Corinthians 2:17; 2 Corinthians 4:1-6; 2 Corinthians 5:11, 20-6:10; Romans 12:6; 2 Timothy 2:24-26; 2 Timothy 3:10; Acts 20:18-21, Acts 20:27, Acts 20:33-35). This clause qualifies the last; the "open door" is to be asked for the apostle, that he may make effective use of it. The mystery has been made manifest by God in the mission of Christ (Colossians 1:27; Colossians 2:15, note; 2 Corinthians 5:19, etc.); but that manifestation has to be made known to the Gentile world (Ephesians 3:9; 2 Corinthians 2:14; Romans 10:14). To this end he had received a special manifestation of "the mystery of Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Galatians 1:15, Galatians 1:16; Acts 9:15, Acts 9:16; Acts 22:14, Acts 22:15, Acts 22:21; Acts 26:16-18). How the apostle conceives that he "ought to speak" appears from the parallel passages (see especially 2 Corinthians 5:1-21.; 6.; and Acts 20:1-38.). Colossians 4:5 Walk in wisdom towards those without (Ephesians 5:15-17; 1 Thessalonians 4:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:15; 1 Corinthians 10:32; 2 Corinthians 4:2; Titus 2:8; 1 Peter 2:12, 1 Peter 2:15; 1 Peter 3:16; Matthew 10:16). (On "wisdom," see Colossians 1:9, note; Colossians 1:28; Colossians 2:3; Colossians 3:16; this was a chief need of the Colossian Church.) "Those without," as opposed to Christians—"those within the pale;" a Jewish mode of expression (Lightfoot): comp. 1 Thessalonians 4:12; 1 Corinthians 5:12, 1 Corinthians 5:13; 1 Timothy 3:7. From a different point of view, they are designated" the rest" in Ephesians 2:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:6. This injunction appears in a different form and position in Ephesians. Standing at the close of the writer’s exhortations, and followed up by the direction of the next verse, it is more pointed and emphatic here. Buying up each (literally, the) opportunity (Ephesians 5:16; 1 Corinthians 7:29; Galatians 6:10; John 11:9, John 11:10; Luke 13:32; Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). In Ephesians 5:16 the reason is added, "because the days are evil." In Daniel 2:8 (LXX) the verb ἐξαγοράζω has precisely this sense and connection, and the idiom occurs in classical writers. The verb is middle in voice: "buying up for yourselves," "for your own advantage." In Galatians 3:13 the compound verb is somewhat differently used. The opportunity is the fit time for each step of a well-conducted walk, the precise juncture of circumstances which must be seized at once or it is gone. This wary promptitude is always needful in dealing with men of the world, both to avoid harm from them and in seeking to do them good. The latter thought, it may be, connects this verse and the next. Colossians 4:6 (Let) your speech (literally, word) (be) always with grace, seasoned with salt (Ephesians 4:29, Ephesians 4:31; Ephesians 5:3, Ephesians 5:4; Titus 2:8; Matthew 12:34-37; Luke 4:22; Psalms 45:2). "Word" (λόγος) has its common acceptation, as in Colossians 3:17; Colossians 2:23; Titus 2:8; 2 Timothy 2:17; James 3:2. "With grace" (ἐνχάριτι) gives the pervading element of Christian speech; as "in wisdom," of Christian behaviour (James 3:5). "Grace," here without the article, is not, as in Colossians 3:16, where the article should probably be read, "the (Divine) grace," but a property of speech itself, "gracefulness" the kindly, winning pleasantness which makes the talk of a good and thoughtful man attractive: comp. Psalms 45:2 (Psalms 44:3, LXX); Ecclesiastes 10:12 (LXX); Sir. 21:16. "Salt" is the "wholesome point and pertinency" (Ellicott) seasoning conversation, while grace sweetens it. The clause which follows indicates that "salt" denotes here, as commonly in Greek (instance the phrase, "Attic salt"), an intellectual rather than a moral quality of speech. In Ephesians 4:29 the connection is different, and the application more general. That you may know how you ought to answer each one (Ephesians 4:4; 1 Peter 3:15; Philippians 1:27, Philippians 1:28; 2 Thessalonians 2:17). The Colossians were to pray for the apostle that he might "speak the mystery of Christ... as he ought to speak;" and he bids them seek for themselves the same gift of παρρησία, liberty of speech and readiness to "every good word." For their faith was assailed by persuasive sophistry (Colossians 2:4, Colossians 2:8, Colossians 2:23) and by brew-beating dogmatism (Colossians 2:16, Colossians 2:18, Colossians 2:20, Colossians 2:21). They were, like St. Paul, "set for the defence of the gospel," placed in the van of the conflict against heresy. They needed, therefore, "to have all their wits about them," so as to be able, as occasion required, to make answer to each of their opponents and questioners, that they might "contend" wisely as well as "earnestly for the faith." 1 Peter 3:15 is a commentary on this verse: the parallelism is the closer because that Epistle was addressed to Churches in Asia Minor, where the debates out of which Gnosticism arose were beginning to be rife; and because, likewise, "the hope that was in them" was a chief object of the attack made on the Colossian believers (Colossians 1:5, Colossians 1:23, Colossians 1:27; Colossians 2:18; Colossians 3:15). With this exhortation the Christian teaching of the Epistle is concluded. In its third and practical part (Colossians 3:1-4:6) the apostle has built up, on the foundation of the doctrine laid down in the first chapter, and in place of the attractive but false and pernicious system denounced in the second, a lofty and complete ideal of the Christian life. He has led us from the contemplation of its "life of life" in the innermost mystery of union with Christ and of its glorious destiny in him (Colossians 3:1-4), through the soul’s interior death-struggle with its old corruptions (1 Peter 3:5-11) and its investment with the graces of its new life (1 Peter 3:12-15), to the expression and outward acting of that life in the mutual edification of the Church (1 Peter 3:16, 1 Peter 3:17), in the obedience and devotion of the family circle (1 Peter 3:18), in constant prayerfulness and sympathy with the ministers and suffering witnesses of Christ (1 Peter 3:2-4), and, lastly, in such converse with men of the world, and in the midst of the distracting debate by which faith is assailed, as shall fittingly commend the Christian cause. Colossians 4:7-18 SECTION X. AND . St. Paul concludes his letter, first, by introducing to the Colossians its bearer, Tychicus, along with whom he commends to them their own Onesimus, returning to his master (verses 7-9); then, according to his custom, he conveys greetings from his various friends and helpers present with him at the time, in particular from Mark, who was likely to visit them, and from Epaphras their own devoted minister (verses 10-14); thirdly, he sends greeting to the neighbouring and important Church of Laodicea, specially mentioning Nympha, with directions to exchange letters with the Laodiceans, and with a pointed warning to Archippus, probably a Colossian, having some charge over that Church (verses 15-17). Finally, he appends, with his own hand, his apostolic greeting and benediction (verse 18). The personal references of this section, though slight and cursory, are of peculiar value, bearing themselves the strongest marks of genuineness, and decisively attesting the Pauline authorship of the Epistle. At the same time, we gather from them several independent facts throwing light on St. Paul’s position during his imprisonment, and on his relations to other leading personages of the Church. Colossians 4:7 All that relates to me (literally, the things concerning me) Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant (bondman), will make known to you (Ephesians 6:21, Ephesians 6:22; Titus 3:12; 2 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 1:8; 1 Thessalonians 3:2; Philippians 2:25). Tychicus appears first in Acts 20:4, where he is called an "Asian" (of the Roman province of Asia, of which Ephesus was capital), along with Trophimus, who, in Acts 21:29, is styled "the Ephesian." He accompanied the apostle on his voyage to Jerusalem (A.D. 58), with a number of others representing different Churches, and deputed, as Lightfoot thinks, in conformity with the directions of 1 Corinthians 16:3, 1 Corinthians 16:4, to convey the contributions raised for "the poor saints at Jerusalem." Trophimus was with St. Paul in Jerusalem (Acts 21:29), and so, probably, his colleague (the words, "as far as Asia," in Acts 20:4, are of very doubtful authority), he is now with the apostle in his imprisonment at Rome, about to be sent home with these two letters (comp. Ephesians 6:21, Ephesians 6:22), and in charge of Onesimus, on whose account the apostle sends a private letter to Philemon. In the interval between the first (present) and second imprisonment (2 Timothy), the apostle revisited the Asiatic Churches (so we infer from 1 Timothy 1:3), and Tychicus rejoined him; for we find St. Paul proposing to send him to Titus in Crete (Titus 3:12), and finally sending him from Rome once more to Ephesus (2 Timothy 6:12). These facts sustain the high terms in which he is here spoken of. "In the Lord" belongs both to "minister" and "fellow servant." This language is almost identical with that used of Epaphras in Colossians 1:7 (see notes). Tychicus is "minister" (διάκονος), not to Paul himself (Acts 19:22; Acts 13:5, ὑπηρέτης), nor in the official sense of Php 1:1, but "of Christ," "of the gospel," or "the Church" (1 Thessalonians 3:2), as St. Paul himself (Colossians 1:23, Colossians 1:25). He is "a beloved brother" to his fellow.believers, "a faithful minister" of the Lord Christ, and "a fellow servant" with the apostle (Colossians 1:7; Colossians 4:10; Philippians 2:25). Colossians 4:8 Whom I have sent unto you for this very purpose, that ye may know how it is with us (literally, the things about us), and that he may comfort your hearts (Ephesians 6:22). The Received Text reads, by a slight confusion of similar Greek letters, that he may know the things about you (see Lightfoot’s ’Notes on some Various Readings’). This is the only clause exactly identical in Colossians and Ephesians. There would be great anxiety on St. Paul’s account amongst the Gentile Christians everywhere, and especially in the Asiatic Churches, after the ominous words of his address to the Ephesian elders (Acts 20:22-25: comp. Acts 20:37, Acts 20:38). The Colossians had sent through Epaphras messages of love to him (Colossians 1:8). To know that he was of good courage, and even in hope of a speedy release (Philemon 1:22), would "comfort their hearts." Colossians 4:9 With Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is (one) of you (Colossians 4:7; Philemon 1:10, Philemon 1:16; Colossians 1:2; 1 Peter 5:12). "In Christ there is no slave" (Colossians 3:11). Onesimus, like Epaphras and Tychicus, is a brother, to be trusted and loved (comp. Philemon 1:10-17). This language strongly supports the appeal of Col 4:1, and would further the purpose of the apostle’s intercession to Onesimus’ master. And Onesimus even shares with the honoured Tychicus in the privilege of being the apostle’s messenger! All things that are happening here they will make known to you (Colossians 4:7; Ephesians 6:21). There is, therefore, no need for any detailed account of the writer’s circumstances. The solicitude which he assumes that these stranger Colossians (Colossians 1:8; Colossians 2:1) feel on his behalf shows how commanding his ascendancy over the Gentile Churches had become. Colossians 4:10 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, saluteth you (Philemon 1:2, Philemon 1:23; Philippians 2:25; Romans 16:7). Aristarchus, as a Thessalonian, accompanied the apostle to Jerusalem, along with Tychicus the Asian (Acts 20:4), and was his companion at least during the first part of his voyage to Rome (Acts 27:2). In Philemon 1:23, Philemon 1:24 his name follows that of Mark as a "fellow worker" (comp. verse 11) and of Epaphras "my fellow prisoner" (comp. Romans 16:7). "Fellow prisoner" (αἰχμαλωτός, captive, prisoner of war) differs from the "prisoner" (δέσμιος, one in bonds) of Ephesians 3:1; Ephesians 4:1; Philemon 1:9; 2 Timothy 1:8. The supposition that these men were permitted as friends to share St. Paul’s captivity in turn, is conjectural (see Meyer). Possibly the incident recorded in Acts 19:29 was attended by some temporary joint imprisonment of St. Paul and Aristarchus. As "a soldier of Christ Jesus," the apostle was himself now "a prisoner of war" (2 Timothy 2:3, 2 Timothy 2:4; 2 Corinthians 10:3-6); and therefore those who shared his sufferings were his "fellow prisoners," as they were his" fellow soldiers" (Philemon 1:2; Philippians 1:30) and his "fellow servants" (Colossians 1:7; Colossians 4:7). And Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, about whom you received commandments—if he should come to you, welcome him (Philemon 1:24; 2 Timothy 4:11; 1 Peter 5:13). It is pleasant to find John Mark, who deserted the apostle in his first missionary journey (Acts 13:13), and on whose account he separated from Barnabas (Acts 15:37-40) ten years before, now taken again into his confidence and friendship. And indeed it is evident that there was no permanent estrangement between the two great Gentile missionaries; for Mark is called "cousin of Barnabas" by way of recommendation. Mary, the mother of John Mark, was a person of some consideration in the Church at Jerusalem (Acts 12:12), and through her he may have been related to Barnabas, who, though a Cypriot Jew, had property near Jerusalem (Acts 4:36, Acts 4:37), and was also highly honoured by the mother Church (Acts 9:27; Acts 11:22-24; Acts 15:25, Acts 15:26). Mark is, moreover, a link between the Apostles Paul and Peter. It is to the house of his mother that the latter betakes himself on his escape from Herod’s prison (Acts 12:12). In 1 Peter 5:13 he appears, along with Silvanus (Silos), St. Paul’s old comrade, in St. Peter’s company, who calls him "my son." St. Peter was then at Babylon, where Mark may have arrived at the end of the journey eastwards which St. Paul here contemplates his undertaking. The striking correspondence of language and thought between St. Peter’s First Epistle (addressed, moreover, to Churches of Asia Minor) and those of St. Paul to the Ephesians and Colossians (and, in an equal degree, that to the Romans) suggests the existence of some special connection at this time between the two writers, such as may well have been afforded by Mark, if, leaving Rome soon after the despatch of these letters, he travelled in their track by way of Asia Minor to join St. Peter at Babylon. At the time of St. Paul’s second imprisonment, about four years later, Mark is again in Asia Minor in the neighbourhood of Timothy, and the apostle desires his services at Rome (2 Timothy 4:11). When or how the Colossians had received already directions concerning Mark, we have no means of knowing. His journey appears to have been postponed. The apostle must before this have communicated with the Colossians. The visit of Epaphras to Rome may have been due to some communication from him. "If he should come to you, give him a welcome," is the request the apostle now makes. Colossians 4:11 And Jesus, called Justus—the only name of this list wanting in Philemon. Nor is this person mentioned elsewhere. "Jesus" ("Joshua," Acts 7:45; Hebrews 4:8) was a common Jewish name. "Justus" ("just," "righteous") was frequently adopted by individual Jews, or conferred on them, as a Gentile (Latin) surname (comp. Acts 1:23; Acts 18:7); it implied devotion to the Law, and was the equivalent of the Hebrew Zadok (see Lightfoot). Its Greek equivalent, δίκαιος, is the standing epithet of James, the brother of the Lord, and the head of the Church at Jerusalem; and is emphatically applied to Christ himself (Acts 3:14; Acts 7:52; Acts 22:14; 1 Peter 3:18; 1 John 2:1). Who are of the circumcision,—these only (my) fellow workers unto the kingdom of God, (men) who have been a comfort to me (Philemon 1:1, Philemon 1:24; 1 Thessalonians 3:2; Romans 16:3, Romans 16:9, Romans 16:21; 2 Corinthians 8:23; Philippians 2:25; Philippians 4:3). Aristarchus, therefore, was a Jew, as well as Mark and Jesus Justus. "These only," etc., must be read as in close apposition to the previous clause. This statement accords with the apostle’s complaint in Philippians 1:15-17; Philippians 2:19-24; but the still stronger language of the latter passages seems to point to a later time when he was yet more solitary, having lost Tychicus and Mark, and perhaps Aristarchus also, and when he had a more definite prospect of release. The title "fellow worker" he frequently confers on his associates (see references). In Philemon 1:24 it is applied, to Luke and Demas also. "The kingdom of God" was, in Colossians 1:13, "the kingdom of his Son;" as in Ephesians 5:5 it is "the kingdom of Christ and God." On his arrival at Rome, St. Paul is described as "testifying, and preaching the kingdom of God" (Acts 28:23, Acts 28:31: comp. Acts 8:12; Acts 14:22; Acts 19:8; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; 2 Thessalonians 1:5). On the force of οἵτινες ("men who," "such as"), see Colossians 2:23; and for ἐγενήθησαν ("proved," "became in point of fact"), comp. Colossians 3:15. Παρηγορία comfort, a word found only here in the Greek Testament, is a medical term (compare "paregoric"), implying "soothing relief." Colossians 4:12 Epaphras, who is (one) of you, saluteth you, a servant (bondman) of Christ Jesus (Romans 1:1; Philippians 1:1; Titus 1:1; Galatians 1:10; 2Corinthians Galatians 4:5; 1 Corinthians 7:22; 1 Thessalonians 1:9; 2 Timothy 2:24; Acts 4:29; James 1:1; 2 Peter 1:1; Jude 1:1; Revelation 1:1; Revelation 22:3, Revelation 22:6). "Of you," like Onesimus (Colossians 4:9). He was a native of Colossae, as well as evangelist and minister of the Church there (Colossians 1:7, Colossians 1:8). "Bondman of Christ Jesus" is the title the apostle so often claims for himself (see references), only here put by him on any one else. Is there an implied reference to Onesimus (Colossians 4:9), who was "a bondman after the flesh," but "the Lord’s freedman" (Philemon 1:16), while Epaphras, "the freeman," is "Christ’s bondman"? We are reminded again of Col 2:6 (see note). Always striving on your behalf in his prayers, that ye may stand fast, (being) perfect and fully assured in all the will of God (Colossians 1:9, Colossians 1:23, Colossians 1:29; Colossians 2:1, Colossians 2:2, Colossians 2:5; Romans 15:30; Ephesians 6:11-14; Philippians 1:27; Philippians 4:1; 1 Corinthians 16:13; 1 Thessalonians 3:8; 2 Thessalonians 2:15). Epaphras "strives" ("wrestles") for his spiritual charge, like the apostle himself (Colossians 1:29, see note on ἀγωνίζομαι; Colossians 2:1; Romans 15:30; Luke 22:44). Προσκαρτερέω in Colossians 2:2 denotes the patient persistence, this word the intense energy, of prevailing prayer. For "stand" (where Lightfoot, Westcott and Hort, and other critical editors read the stronger σταθῆτε for στῆτε), comp. Colossians 1:23; Colossians 2:7; it is four times repeated in the stirring appeal of Eph 6:11-14. For Churches threatened by the attacks of heresy it was above all things needful "that they should stand fast." On "perfect," see Colossians 1:28; also Colossians 3:14; the word bears a primary reference to "knowledge," and implies a fully instructed and enlightened condition (Philippians 3:15; 1 Corinthians 14:20; Hebrews 5:14; Hebrews 6:1), attended with corresponding spiritual advancement (Ephesians 4:13). "Fully assured" (πεπληροφορημένοι, Revised Text) carries us back to Colossians 2:2 (see notes; on this verb, compare Lightfoot’s exhaustive note). It bears the same sense in Romans 4:21 and Romans 14:5; a slightly different one in Luke 1:1. From the tenor of the letter it appears that the Colossians needed a deeper Christian insight and more intelligent and well-grounded convictions respecting the truth "as in Jesus." "All (the) will" is strictly distributive (every will); θέλημα (Colossians 1:9) differs from our will in having a concrete rather than abstract sense, denoting an act or expression of will. Colossians 4:13 For I hear witness to him that he hath much labour (πὸνον for ζῆλον, Revised Text) for you (Colossians 1:29; Colossians 2:1; Philippians 2:19-23; 1 Thessalonians 5:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:13; 1 Timothy 5:17; 1 Corinthians 16:15, 1 Corinthians 16:16). Πόνος occurs in the New Testament besides only in Revelation 16:10, Revelation 16:11 and Revelation 21:4, where it means "pain;" in classical Greek it implies "painful, distressful exertion" (comp. κοπιῶ, Colossians 1:29). It indicates the deep anxiety of Epaphras for this beloved and endangered Church. There is nothing here to point to "outward toil" (Lightfoot), any more than in Colossians 2:1. The apostle loves to commend his fellow labourers (Colossians 1:7; Philippians 2:20-22, Philippians 2:25, Philippians 2:26; 2 Corinthians 8:16-23). And for those in Laodicea and those in Hierapolis (Colossians 2:15-17; Colossians 2:1). The Church in Hierapolis is added to that of Laodicea, singled out in Colossians 2:1 as a special object of the apostle’s concern (on these cities, see Introduction, § 1). Whether Epaphras were the official head of these Churches or not, he could not but be deeply concerned in their welfare. Colossians 2:17 indicates the existence of a personal link between the Churches of Colossus and of Laodicea. Colossians 4:14 Luke the physician, the beloved, saluteth you (Philemon 1:24; 2 Timothy 4:11). This reference to Luke’s profession is extremely interesting. We gather from the use of the first person plural in Acts 16:10-17, and again from Acts 20:5 to the end of the narrative, that he joined St. Paul on his first voyage to Europe and was left behind at Philippi; and rejoined him six years after on the journey to Jerusalem which completed his third missionary circuit, continuing with him during his voyage to Rome and his imprisonment. This faithful friend attended him in his second captivity, and solaced his last hours; "Only Luke is with me" (2 Timothy 4:11). His being called "the physician" suggests that he ministered to the apostle in this capacity, especially as "his first appearance in St. Paul’s company synchronizes with an attack of St. Paul’s constitutional malady". St Luke’s writings testify both to his medical knowledge and to his Pauline sympathies. His companionship probably gave a special colouring to the phraseology and cast of thought of St. Paul’s later Epistles. "The beloved" is a distinct appellation, due partly to Luke’s services to the apostle, but chiefly, one would suppose, to the amiable and gentle disposition of the writer of the third Gospel. It is not unlikely that he is "the brother" referred to in 2 Corinthians 8:18, 2 Corinthians 8:19. Lucas is a contraction for Lucanus; so that he was not the "Lucius" of Acts 13:1, nor, certainly, the "Lucius my kinsman" of Romans 16:21, who was a Jew. He was probably, like many physicians of that period, a freedman; and, since freedmen took the name of the house to which they had belonged, may have been, as Plumptre conjectures, connected with the family of the Roman philosopher Seneca and the poet Lucan. And Demas (Philemon 1:24; 2 Timothy 4:10), who alone receives no word of commendation—a fact significant in view of the melancholy sentence pronounced upon him in 2 Timothy 4:10. His name is probably short for Demetrius. Colossians 4:15 Salute the brethren that are in Laodicea (Colossians 4:13; Colossians 2:1; Revelation 1:11; Revelation 3:14-22). Perhaps the brethren in Hierapolis (Colossians 4:13) were not formed into a distinct Church as yet (comp. Colossians 2:1). The Church in Laodicea early became a flourishing and wealthy community (Revelation 3:17). And Nympha (or, Nymphas), and the Church (literally, assembly) at her (or, their) house. Νύμφαν may be either masculine or feminine accusative. The reading "her" (αὐτῆς) is adopted by Westcott and Hort without alternative, and seems on the whole the most probable. The Revised Text follows Tischendorf, Tregelles, Meyer, Alford, Lightfoot, who read "their" (αὐτῶν). "His" (αὐτοῦ) is evidently a later correction. Lightfoot says, indeed, that "a Doric form of the Greek name (sc. Νύμφαν for Νύμφην) seems in the highest degree improbable;" but he allows, on the other hand, that Νυμφᾶς as a contracted masculine form (for Νυμφόδωρος) "is very rare." This person was apparently a leading member of the Laodicean Church, at whose house Church meetings were held (comp. Acts 12:12; Philemon 1:2; Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:19). "The Church at her house" can scarcely have been an assembly distinct "from the brethren that are in Laodicea." Both expressions may relate to the same body of persons, referred first individually, then collectively as a meeting gathered at this place. Others suppose a more private gathering to be meant, as e.g. of Colossians living at Laodicea (Meyer). Many older interpreters identified this Church with the household of Nymphas. If "their" be the true reading, the expression must include Nympha and her family. Nympha (or Nymphas), like Philemon and his family, St. Paul had doubtless met in Ephesus. Colossians 4:16 And when this letter has been read among you, see to it (literally, cause) that it be read also in the Church of (the) Laodiceans (1 Thessalonians 5:27). For these two Churches were closely allied in origin and condition, as well as by situation and acquaintanceship (Colossians 2:1-5; Colossians 4:13). The leaven of the Colossian error was doubtless beginning to work in Laodicea also. The words addressed to Laodicea in the Apocalypse (Revelation 3:14-22) bear reference apparently to the language of this Epistle (Colossians 1:15-18); see Lightfoot, pp. 41, etc. The phrase, "Church of Laodiceans," corresponds to that used in the salutation of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, but is not found elsewhere in St. Paul. And that ye also read the letter from Laodicea. What was this letter? Clearly a letter from St. Paul which would be received at Laodicea, and which the Colossians were to obtain from there. The connection of this sentence with the foregoing, and the absence of any other definition of the words, "the letter (from Laodicea)," make this evident. Nothing further can be affirmed with certainty. But several considerations point to the probability that this missing Epistle is none other than our (so-called) Epistle to the Ephesians. For: (1) Both letters were sent at the same time, and by the same messenger (Ephesians 6:21; Colossians 4:7). (2) The relation between the two is more intimate than exists between any other of St. Paul’s writings; they are twins, the birth of the same crisis in the condition of the Church and in the apostle’s own mind. Each serves as a commentary on the other. And there are several important topics, lightly touched upon in this letter, on which the writer dilates at length in the other, Colossians 2:12 b and Ephesians 1:19-23; Colossians 3:12 ("God’s elect") and Ephesians 1:3-14; Colossians 3:18, Colossians 3:19 and Ephesians 5:22-33). On the other hand, the main arguments of the Colossian letter are, as it seems, assumed and presupposed in the Ephesian (comp. Ephesians 1:10, Ephesians 1:20 b-23, Ephesians 2:20 b, Ephesians 3:8-11, Ephesians 3:19 b, Ephesians 4:13 b with Colossians 1:15-20, Colossians 2:9, Colossians 2:10; Ephesians 4:14 with Colossians 2:4, Colossians 2:8, Colossians 2:16-23). (3) The words ἐνΕφέδῳ in Ephesians 1:1 are of doubtful authenticity; and there is much in the internal character of that Epistle to favour the hypothesis, proposed by Archbishop Usher, that it was a circular letter, destined for a number of Churches in Asia Minor, of which Ephesus may have been the first and Laodicea the last (compare the order of Rev 2:3.). In that case a copy of the Ephesian Epistle would be left at Laodicea by Tychicus on his way to Colossae. (See Introduction, § 6; compare that to Ephesians.) (4) Marcion, in the middle of tile second century, entitled the Epistle to the Ephesians, "To the Laodiceans." It does not appear that his heretical views could have been furthered by this change. Probably his statement contains a fragment of ancient tradition, identifying the Epistle in question with that referred to by St. Paul in this passage. (5) The expression, "the letter from Laodicea," would scarcely be used of a letter addressed simply to the Laodiceans and belonging properly to them; but would be quite appropriate to a more general Epistle transmitted from one place to another. There is extant in Latin a spurious epistle ’Ad Laodicenses,’ which is traced back to the fourth century, and was widely accepted in the Middle Ages; but it is "a mere cento of Pauline phrases, strung together without any definite connection or any clear object" (Lightfoot). Meyer, on the other hand, in his ’Introduction to Ephesians,’ pronounces strongly against "the circular hypothesis." Colossians 4:17 And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou receivedst in (the) Lord, that thou fulfil it (Acts 20:28; 1 Timothy 1:18, 1 Timothy 1:19; 1 Timothy 4:6, 1 Timothy 4:11-16; 1 Timothy 6:13, 1 Timothy 6:14, 1 Timothy 6:20,1 Timothy 6:21; 2 Timothy 2:15; 2 Timothy 4:5). From the connection of this verse with the two preceding, it seems likely that "the ministry" of Archippus related to the Laodicean Church. Hence he is not addressed directly. If he was, as we gather from Philemon 1:1, Philemon 1:2, the son of Philemon, whose house formed a centre for the Colossian Church (Philemon 1:2), the warning would be suitably conveyed through this channel. In the letter to Philemon, the apostle calls him his" fellow soldier" (comp. Colossians 4:10; Philippians 1:29, Philippians 1:30). Both from this fact, and from the emphasis of the words before us, it would appear that his office was an important one, probably that of chief pastor. This warning addressed so early to the minister of the Laodicean Church is premonitory of the lapsed condition in which it is afterwards found (Revelation 3:14-22); see Lightfoot, pp. 42, 43. (For "ministry" (διακονία), comp. Colossians 1:7, Colossians 1:23; 1 Corinthians 4:1, etc. For "received," comp. note, Colossians 2:6.) "In the Lord; "for every office in the Church is grounded in him as Head and Lord (Colossians 1:18; Colossians 2:6; Colossians 3:17, Colossians 3:24; Colossians 4:7; Ephesians 1:22; Ephesians 4:5; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 1 Corinthians 12:5, etc.), and must be administered according to his direction and as subject to his judgment (see 1 Corinthians 3:5; 1 Corinthians 4:1-5; 2 Corinthians 10:17, 2 Corinthians 10:18; 2 Corinthians 13:10; Galatians 1:1; 1 Timothy 1:12; 2 Timothy 4:1, 2 Timothy 4:2). "Fulfil" (comp. Colossians 1:26; 2 Timothy 4:5; Acts 12:25). This admonition resembles those addressed to Timothy in the Pastoral Epistles. Colossians 4:18 The salutation with mine own hand—of Paul (2 Thessalonians 3:17, 2 Thessalonians 3:18; 1 Corinthians 16:21-24; Galatians 6:11-18). So the apostle appends his authenticating signature to the letter, written, as usual, by his amanuensis, himself inscribing these last words (see parallel passages). The Epistle to Philemon he appears to have penned himself throughout (Philemon 1:19). Remember my bonds (Colossians 1:24; Philemon 1:9, Philemon 1:13; Ephesians 3:1-21:l, 13; 4.l; Ephesians 6:20; 2 Timothy 2:9). This pathetic postscript is thoroughly characteristic (comp. Galatians 6:17). Grace be with you; literally, the grace (comp. Colossians 3:16). The apostle’s final benediction in all his Epistles; here in its briefest form, as in 1 and 2 Timothy. In the Ephesian benediction "grace" is also used absolutely. 2 Corinthians 13:14 gives the formula in its full liturgical amplitude. Colossians 4:2-6 Sect. 9.Prayer and social converse. I. PRAYER. (Colossians 4:2-4.) 1. Prayer must be habitual and persistent. "Continue steadfast in prayer—keeping awake therein" (Colossians 4:2); "Ask ... seek … knock" (Matthew 7:7). It is not an occasional exercise of the soul, called forth by special emergencies, but the necessity of its daily life. For that life is a fellowship with God in Christ (Colossians 3:1-3; 1 John 1:3; John 14:23), maintained on his part by the continual communication of his Spirit (Luke 11:13; Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 2:22; Romans 8:14-17, Romans 8:23, Romans 8:26, Romans 8:27; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 2 Corinthians 13:14), and on ours by the constant responsive utterances of praise and prayer. (1) Wherever two persons are associated in a mutual life, there must be converse—interchange of thought and feeling and service; so (reverently be it said) it must needs be where the soul is "alive unto God." God and the soul, the all-wise, almighty Father and the human child, all want and ignorance, having speech with each other—that is the life of religion. "The soul is a stupendous want, having its supplies in God" (comp. Philippians 4:19). Prayer is the expression and the index of the soul’s vital appetite. The necessity of prayer, therefore, must be daily and regular in its recurrence. It will have its "set times" and stated seasons, its chronic demands for satisfaction. "Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and thou shalt hear my voice" (Psalms 55:17; Daniel 6:10; Acts 10:30); "Seven times a day do I praise thee" (Psalms 119:164). It will have its appointed place of privacy. "Enter into thy closet and shut thy door, and pray to thy Father which is in secret". (2) Prayer being a social as much as a private necessity, concerned with the common as truly as with the individual wants and interests of men, the prayerful Christian will observe, as far as possible, all public occasions for its exercise, whether found in the family, the social circle, the community, the church (the "house of prayer"), or in the events of national life (Isaiah 56:7; Acts 3:1; Acts 6:6; Acts 12:12; Acts 16:13; Acts 20:36; Acts 21:5; Acts 22:17; 1 Timothy 2:8; John 17:1). (3) But prayer, while it fills, should overflow these limits, and may not be confined within the framework of mechanical habit and fixed order. It should find its way into all the interstices of life, seizing upon its vacant moments and leisure thoughts. Under pressing need, and in the hurry and tumult of business, the soul may send up a short, swift cry for help, as a winged arrow that finds its way to the heart of God. This is ejaculatory prayer. And in the quiet ongoing of ordinary work the mind may the more easily maintain its secret converse with him in whom it "lives and moves and is," making the common incidents of life and the familiar sights and sounds of nature reminders of his presence, and the experience of every hour occasion for some brief act of adoration, or confession, or supplication, or intercession. This is to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17); "to let our requests be made known unto God in all things" (Philippians 4:6). The soul’s hidden life in God is maintained by this activity, even as the life blood of the body is vivified and cleansed from moment to moment by the ceaseless play of the breathing lungs. 2. Prayer must be attended with thanksgiving. The one must be habitual and constant as the other. They are two elements of the same state, two parts of the same act (Ephesians 5:29; 1 Thessalonians 5:17, 1 Thessalonians 5:18). (See homiletics, sect. 1, III. 2 (3).) How unseemly it is to come to God with urgent petitions for new blessings, when we have made no due acknowledgment of those already bestowed! We dare not act thus towards any earthly benefactor. And this thoughtless ingratitude deprives us of those strong arguments and cheering encouragements which are afforded by the remembrance of past mercies. "The Lord hath been mindful of us;" then surely "he will bless us (Psalms 115:12), he "began a good work in you," and you may be "confident," therefore, that it is his will to "perfect it" (Philippians 1:6). God requires and expects that by "offering praise" we should "glorify him" (Psalms 50:23), "abundantly uttering the memory of his great goodness" (Psalms 145:7). To this end every Christian is ordained a "priest unto God," that he may "offer up a sacrifice of praise continually, the fruit of lips which make confession to his name" (1 Peter 2:9; Hebrews 13:15). And to do this is in itself "pleasant and comely" (Psalms 147:1); "Yea, a joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful." 3. And intercession must be joined to supplication and thanksgiving. (1 Timothy 2:1.) "Withal praying for us also," says the apostle. And in so saying he embodies the appeal which our Christian brethren everywhere make to us, especially the ministers of Christ "set for the defence of the gospel" (Philippians 1:17); and yet more especially our fathers and teachers in Christ, through whom we have received the word of our salvation, and on whose fidelity and efficiency our spiritual life so largely depends. The interests of our own Church in its special circumstances as known to us; the larger necessities of associated Churches, of the Church in our own land, in its colonies and dependencies abroad, in other Christian nations; the necessities of missionary Churches amongst the heathen, and of the sheep of Christ that are "scattered abroad" unshepherded; the great cause of the kingdom of Christ in the earth, connected as it is with everything that concerns the progress and welfare of mankind; the claims of "kings, and all that are in authority;" of those in "sorrow, trouble, need, sickness, or any other adversity;" the wants of "all sorts and conditions of men," and especially of our kinsfolk, friends, and neighbours;—all these demand our intercession and seem to say unitedly, "Withal praying for us also!" In particular, and on behalf of the gospel, the apostle desires the Colossians to pray (1) that he may have "an open door to speak the mystery of Christ" (verse 3). The world will not willingly open its door to Christ. It will leave him to "stand at the door and knock" (Revelation 3:20). It has "no room for him" (Luke 2:7) when he comes to be its guest. Much has yet to be done to "prepare the way of the Lord." But "the prayer of faith" can "remove mountains," and open doors that are fast shut. Obstructions and prejudices are to be broken down; hindrances political and material, intellectual and sentimental, to the progress of Christian truth, are to be overcome. "Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God" (Luke 3:4-6). And this is to be effected, in great measure, by the prayers of "God’s elect" (Luke 18:7), even as the walls of Jericho fell at the shout of Israel (Joshua 6:1-20). (2) But the open door is of little use unless the Church is prepared to enter it. Never, perhaps, were there in the world so many "open doors set before" the Church as there are now, with so few comparatively who are able and willing to enter them. Favouring circumstances—liberty to preach and teach, a waiting people, a willing audience,—all is vain without some one to "speak the word," and to speak it fitly. "How shall they hear without a preacher?" (Romans 10:14). And how shall they hear unto salvation if the preacher speaks feebly, or coldly, or confusedly, without "the demonstration of the Spirit and of power"? (3) The apostle had laboured long and with extraordinary success, "more abundantly than they all" (1 Corinthians 15:10); and yet felt his need of the constant renewal of the Divine anointing. Again and again he acknowledges his dependence on the prayers of the Church (Romans 15:30-32; 2 Thessalonians 3:1, 2 Thessalonians 3:2, etc.). Nay, even Christ himself sustained his human strength of soul by the constant refreshment of prayer, and sought, in the crisis of his anguish, the watchful sympathy of his disciples (Luke 5:16; John 11:41; Matthew 26:38). How much more is this needful for us! That ministry alone can be spiritually pure and strong which is drawn from secret fountains of prayer, and which commands the sympathetic intercession of all prayerful hearers. II. THE ’S TOWARDS MEN OF THE WORLD. (verses 5, 6.) 1. "Walk in wisdom," says the apostle, "towards those without" (verse 5). Nowhere is Christian wisdom more needed, and nowhere is it seen to greater advantage, than in dealing with worldly men. "Be ye therefore wise as serpents," says the Saviour, in sending his disciples on their mission to the world (Matthew 10:16). It is not necessary that "the sons of this world should be wiser for their own generation than the sons of light" (Luke 16:8). This wisdom, while resting on a knowledge of God and of Christian truth (Colossians 1:9; Colossians 2:2, Colossians 2:3), and furnished out of his Word (Colossians 3:16; Matthew 13:52), requires a practical knowledge of men and things. It "cometh down from above," being "asked of God" (James 1:5, James 1:17; James 3:13-18), and is "pure, peaceable, and gentle;" but it has to be practised in a human world and in the service of men as they are; and therefore it must be discerning, well-informed, and practical. The Christian should not be inferior to any man in his own walk of life in the knowledge of his business and of the duties of his secular position. Indeed, his earnestness and diligence, his calmness of temper, and fairness of judgment, and soundness of conscience, and finer sympathies, will usually give him an advantage amongst his fellows: "Godliness is profitable unto all things" (1 Timothy 4:8). How often earnest attempts to do good miscarry for want of judgment, and the Christian cause is damaged in the eyes of the world by those most anxious to promote it through their unwisdom and narrow mindedness! "I am become all things to all men," said St. Paul, "that I might by all means save some" (1 Corinthians 9:20-22). And his bearing towards men of so many different ranks and classes in the strangely mixed society in which he moved, shows that this was no vain boast. (1) The first condition of success in seeking to influence others for their highest good, next to an earnest desire to do so, is that one should understated them. And this is impossible without pains and study and a large-hearted Christian sympathy. So with the missionary amongst the heathen; so with the minister at home; so with the private Christian seeking to win to Christ his worldly friends or business associates; if he is to persuade men (2 Corinthians 5:11), he must understand the truth in its persuasive power, and he must understand men and how they are to be persuaded. (2) Bat the Christian must be wise for himself as well as for others. His wisdom must be circumspect. It is his first business to "keep himself unspotted from the world" (James 1:27); to take care that, being "in the world," he be not "of the world" (John 17:14-18). He should have "good testimony from them that are without," especially if he hold any office in the Church (1 Timothy 3:7)—such a repute as will "adorn his Saviour’s doctrine;" and yet he must rejoice if "men say all manner of evil against him falsely for Christ’s sake" (Matthew 5:11). The wisest and most careful behaviour cannot always avoid suspicion, where malice and slander are busy. 2. To wisdom must be added promptness and alert activity. There must be a quick eye for each opportunity as it arises, and an instant, vigorous effort to take advantage of it. The right occasion makes the right action. A thing well done or well said at one time may be malapropos if timed a little sooner or later. (1) We must cherish a keen sense of the value and the shortness of time itself—of our own personal lifetime, the single opportunity granted us for doing God’s work on earth, the seed time for an eternal harvest, "the day" with its "twelve hours" when the day’s work must be done, or left undone for ever (John 9:4; Psalms 39:4; Psalms 90:12; 1 Corinthians 7:29; Hebrews 3:7, Hebrews 3:13). (2) At the same time, we must have a proper understanding of the work assigned us, a sense of our individual calling in life, a recognition of the particular "will of God" respecting ourselves as from time to time it may be indicated. We must acquaint ourselves with the conditions of our time and of our work, so that each may be fitted to the other, and that we may not waste our strength by misdirection or "fight as one that beateth the air," but may be able to "serve the counsel of God for our own generation" (Acts 13:36). (3) And, finally, we must be animated by a vigorous, earnest spirit—unhasting, unresting—neither dulled by sloth nor fretted by impatience. So, "as good stewards of the manifold grace of God" (1 Peter 4:10), we shall turn every moment and every opportunity and every endowment of our nature to the best account, and shall be able "at his coming" to render back to our heavenly Master "his own with usury" (Matthew 25:27). And this is "redeeming the time" (verse 5). 3. Where a wise, and wisely energetic, Christian man has the gift of apt and winning speech (verse 6), his Christian usefulness is largely multiplied. Indeed, the ordinary talk of an ordinary Christian, who cannot shine in the brilliant gifts of eloquence or wit, will at least be free from everything foolish and inept, from everything gross and ill-mannered. Though he be but a plain and unlettered man, his conversation will manifest a thoughtful, observant mind, and a pure and chastened disposition. Living a life of prayerful communion with God and with eternal things, "meditating in his Law day and night" (Psalms 1:2), he will be "taught of God;" and when he speaks, "the opening of his lips will be right words." It is astonishing how much shrewdness and kindly good sense and helpfulness, how much of the highest and homeliest moral wisdom, drawn from the everyday experience of life and the lessons of nature, is found sometimes in men who know scarcely any book but their English Bible, and have had little culture but that which is given by prayer (James 1:5). A simple Christian man of this kind will often know better than the practised scholar "how to answer" concerning his hope, and will baffle the questionings of a clever scepticism. And when fine culture has been employed upon good abilities under the teaching of the Spirit of truth, and large knowledge has been gathered from books and men, the outcome in the man’s conversation ought to be something rich and valuable in a high degree. (1) Attractive speech is one of God’s "greater gifts" (1 Corinthians 12:31), to be humbly sought and diligently improved and wisely and seriously used. There is none more commonly and lamentably abused. How much that is said in Christian circles would be left unsaid if only that which is "good unto edifying" (Ephesians 4:29) were allowed to pass the lips! (2) But this rule by no means forbids kindly humour and the play of wit. The "salt" that "seasons" conversation (verse 6) contains these wholesome ingredients. A dull, uniform gravity is not the most edifying style of discourse. But the purpose and the effect of a Christian man’s speech should always be serious, however light and graceful the form which on proper occasions it may assume. The conversation of the social circle is one of the greatest "opportunities" to be "redeemed" for Christ; and is afforded to us all. And especially when we meet those who are not Christians, the prejudiced, the sceptical, the wavering, much may depend on our being "ready" with "the meekness of wisdom" to "give an answer to every man that asketh a reason of the hope that is in us" (1 Peter 3:15). The private conversation of the Church in its daily intercourse with the world should be a powerful ally to the public ministry of the Word (verses 4, 6). Colossians 4:7-18 Sect. 10. Personal messages and greetings. The last section of this letter is of a more purely epistolary character, and is not, therefore, so directly available as the foregoing sections for public instruction, belonging to its framework or setting as a piece of Christian teaching. Nevertheless, these closing verses have their own peculiar interest and value—great value for historical and critical purposes, connecting the Epistle as they do by the most authentic notes of circumstantial association with the narrative of the Acts of the Apostles, and bracing it firmly into the whole coherent structure of the history of the apostolic Church. Moreover, in the brief but pointed and striking notices here given us, aided by what we know from other sources of the persons mentioned, we may find not a little of indirect and incidental profit "for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for discipline in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). I. ST. PAUL’S . 1. Tychicus, the faithful messenger. (Verses 7, 8: comp. Ephesians 6:21; Acts 20:4; Titus 3:12; 2 Timothy 4:12.) His association with the apostle in his last journey to Jerusalem, attended with so many affecting circumstances and terminating in his long imprisonment, seems to have led to a devoted attachment on the part of Tychicus to St. Paul. After returning home, as we may suppose, from Jerusalem, he had journeyed again to Rome, very possibly at the request of the Ephesian Church, to assist and comfort the imprisoned apostle and to bring back news of him. And he returns with these three priceless letters in his charge (Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon), with Onesimus whom he is to accompany as far as Colossae, and as the bearer of reassuring tidings from St. Paul. Again, some years later, when the apostle’s friends were fewer and devotion to his cause still more hazardous, we find Tychicus employed on similar commissions. (1) The apostle has found him to be, what every Christian should be to his fellow Christians, "a brother beloved;" what every officer of the Church, whether in higher or lower capacity, must strive to be—"a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord," faithful to the Lord and faithful in all brotherly love and "good fidelity" to his fellow servants. So Tychicus is a blessing both to the apostle and to the distant Asiatic Churches. (2) While the Christian depends for strength and consolation in the first place on the fellowship of Christ in the Spirit (2 Corinthians 1:3-7; 2 Thessalonians 2:16, 2 Thessalonians 2:17; John 16:33), yet how precious and helpful is such communion as this with Christian friends at a distance (1 Thessalonians 3:6-10; Philippians 4:10; 2 Corinthians 7:6), with faithful sufferers in Christ’s cause, with those who bring tidings and words of cheer from brethren far off in other lands! (3) They are, indeed, "brethren beloved" who, like Tychicus, pass from land to land, from Church to sister Church, in honourable ambassage, as "the messengers of the Churches and the glory of Christ" (2 Corinthians 8:23). 2. Onesimus, the converted slave. (Verse 9.) His position and character will be more fully discussed under the Epistle to Philemon. (1) He is commended to the Christian circle at Colossae on account of his character—"a faithful and beloved brother." The apostle had learned to love and trust him, as "the child of his bonds," as "his very heart," for his goodness and proved fidelity and helpful service to himself (Philemon 1:10-13). Greatly had he wished to retain him, but it was the servant’s duty to return to his master. The qualities the apostle marks in him deserve equal respect from us in whatever grade of life they appear. The master who fails to recognize in his loyal and humble Christian servant "a brother beloved in the Lord," is wanting in the simplicity and elevation of the Christian character, and has yet to learn that "in Christ Jesus there is neither bond nor free" (Colossians 3:11; Galatians 3:28). It was, however, for Philemon and his Colossian friends a severe test of Christian conviction and of their confidence in St. Paul to be required to take back this runaway slave as "a faithful and beloved brother." (2) He is commended to them by his Colossian origin. "Who is one of you." It is a natural and kindly feeling that prompts this reference. Ties of neighbourhood and early association, as well as those of kindred, are providentially formed, and belong to the divinely constituted framework of human life (Acts 17:26). This claim of Onesimus is not destroyed by his being a slave, at the very bottom of the social scale; nor was it forfeited by his misconduct. Now that he repents and returns, he is to be received by his Christian fellow townsmen as one of themselves. 3. Aristarchus, the devoted comrade. (Philemon 1:10.) He was a representative of the Macedonian Churches (Acts 20:4), who were dearest to the apostle of his children in the faith (1 Thessalonians 2:19; Philippians 1:5), in writing to whom he laid aside his official title and was simply Paul, whom alone he allowed to minister to his personal needs (Philippians 4:10-18; 2 Corinthians 11:8-10). And he, along with Luke, shared the hardships of the apostle’s perilous winter voyage to Rome (Acts 27:2). Indeed, he had been with him before he set out from Ephesus, and was seized by the Ephesian mob at the time of the riot there, being evidently a person of some note and distinction. We know nothing more of his services to the cause of Christ, beyond this record of his assiduous and self-sacrificing attendance on St. Paul. How much the apostle, with his physical infirmities and his sensitive nature, owed to such friendship, and how much the Church owes on his account, we cannot tell. Those who may not have great gifts for public usefulness may serve Christ most effectually oftentimes by serving his servants, by their private friendship and aid cheering the hearts and strengthening the hands of those on whom fall the heavier responsibilities of the Church’s care and strife, and who but for such timely help might haply sink beneath their burdens. Little as we know of this man, with what a bright distinction his name is marked, and what a place of honour will be his in the book of life, whom the apostle designates, "Aristarchus, my fellow captive, who has been a comfort to me"! 4. Mark, the recovered friend. (Verse 10.) He, like Onesimus to his master, had been "aforetime unprofitable" to St. Paul (Acts 13:13; Acts 15:36-41); and his unprofitableness had caused a serious breach between the two great Gentile missionaries. But now, and again at a later time, he is marked out as "useful for ministry" (2 Timothy 4:11). St. Paul’s firmness and fidelity in refusing, at whatever cost, to take with him an untrustworthy man, had, we may presume, helped to rouse in Mark a better spirit. (1) At any rate, the position in which he now appears and the honour which belong to his name in the Church of Christ, shows that one false step or unworthy act in a Christian life need not be absolutely fatal (Galatians 6:1). The immediate result of any lapse must be evil; and it may be followed throughout life by painful consequences. Yet Mark, like Peter, rashly generous and apt to overestimate his strength at first, when chastened and corrected by experience, becomes the trusted and honoured friend of the two chief apostles, as well as of his only less illustrious kinsman Barnabas. And to him it was given to write the priceless second Gospel, which, in its freshness and simplicity of tone, and in its vivacity and dramatic energy of style, indicates those qualities in John Mark which, in spite of his early failure, made him so much valued and beloved. (2) And St. Paul’s treatment of Mark throws an interesting light on his own character. With all his uncompromising sternness and the intensity of his passionate nature, there was no bitterness or suspiciousness, no cherishing of personal resentment in his heart. Some men will never trust again a friend or servant who once, under any circumstances, has failed them. But the apostle shows a more Christian and a wiser disposition. As he bids others, so he acts himself, "forbearing and forgiving if he have blame against any" (Colossians 3:13): compare the crucial instance of 2 Corinthians 2:5-11. As "the Lord forgave" Peter who denied him, so the apostle forgives Mark who had deserted him. And by the way in which he commends him to the regard of this distant Church, he shows how entirely Mark has his approval and confidence. We note also how once more he takes the opportunity of a kindly reference to Barnabas. 5. Jesus Justus, a Catholic-minded Jew. (Verse 11.) He is known to us here only; but as one of the three who alone "of the circumcision" were the apostle’s "fellow workers unto the kingdom of God," and "a comfort unto him." Aristarchus and Mark were old friends and associates of St. Paul, attached to him by many ties. Jesus Justus, we are inclined to think, was a Christian Jew of Rome, and in that case was, it appears, the only member of that community—a tolerably large one, as we should gather from the Epistle to the Romans—who heartily supported the apostle in this hour of his need and danger. Many of the Jewish brethren at Rome openly opposed him (Philippians 1:16); others regarded him with a cold and suspicious indifference. At a later period he has sorrowfully to say of his friends at Rome, "All forsook me" (2 Timothy 4:16). But, whether Jesus Justus belonged to Rome or not, the fact that he was found at this time by St. Paul’s tide says a great deal for his courage, as well as for his largeness of heart and enlightened views. The three pillar apostles at Jerusalem rather acquiesced in St. Paul’s principles and the policy he had pursued than actively supported them (Galatians 5:1-26.); and their professed followers in the Jewish Churches denounced them and set up a counter agitation. If for no other reason, then, it was fitting that the name of this Jesus should be honourably recorded. To the apostle who had been in so many "perils from his own countrymen" and "from false brethren" (2 Corinthians 11:26), every "fellow labourer of the circumcision" was an especial "comfort." His cognomen Justus attests his reputation amongst his compatriots for legal strictness and uprightness; and this high character would make his attachment to St. Paul the more valuable. 6. Epaphras, the earnest minister. (Verses 12, 13.) With the name of Epaphras we are familiar already (see homiletics, sect. 1, II. 2). Though absent from his people, he is none the less concerned for their welfare. When he can do nothing less, he can pray for them all the more. We note: (1) The intensity of his ministerial solicitude; "always striving [wrestling] for you in his prayers" (verse 12); "he hath much [painful] labour for you" (verse 13). The critical state in which he had left his charge at Colossae, the insidious and ominous character of the errors introduced amongst them and with which he had found it so difficult to cope, were constantly weighing upon his mind, and kept him unceasingly active in earnest wrestlings of prayer for his people’s souls. (2) The extent of his care. "For you, and for them in Laodicea, and for them in Hierapolis." The neighbouring cities with their little Christian flocks, exposed, or likely to be exposed, to the same perils that threatened Colossus, share his solicitude. And the responsibility of the Christian minister cannot at any time be strictly confined to his own immediate charge. Each member shares in the joys and griefs, the dangers and trials, which belong to the whole body of Christ. And Churches bordering on his own and connected with his people by ties of acquaintanceship and frequent intercourse must especially attract his pastoral sympathies and intercession. 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