258 WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY I. not seen my face in the flesh" (Col. ii. i. 5) : and again, "Though I am absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit." So great a thing did he know his presence everywhere to be. And always, even though he be absent, he makes himself present. So, when he punishes the fornicator, look how he places himself on the tribunal ; " for," he saith, " I verily being absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already as though I were present" (i Cor. v. 3) : and again, "I will come to you, and will know not the word of them which are puffed up, but the power" (i Cor. iv. 19) : and again, " Not only when I am present with you, but much more when I am absent." (Phil. ii. 12; Gal. iv. 18.) " Paul an Apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God." It were well also to say, what from consider ing this Epistle we have found co be its occasion and subject. What then is it? They used to approach J God through angels ; they held many Jewish and Grecian observances. These things then he is correcting. Wherefore in the very outset he says, "Through the will of God." So here again he hath used the expression "through."- "And Timothy the brother," he saith ; of course then he too was an Apostle,3 and probably also known to them. " To the saints which are at Colossse." This was a city of Phrygia, as is plain from Laodicea s being near to it. "And faithful brethren in Christ." (Col. iv. 1 6.) Whence, saith he, art thou made a saint? Tell me. Whence art thou called faith ful? Is it not because thou wert sanctified through death? Is it not because thou hast faith in Christ? Whence art thou made a brother? for neither in deed, nor in word, nor in achievement didst thou show thyself faithful. Tell me, whence is it that thou hast been en trusted with so great mysteries? Is it not be cause of Christ ? " Grace to you and peace from God our Father." Whence cometh grace to you? Whence peace? "From God," saith he, "our Father." Although he useth not in this place the name of Christ. I will ask those who speak disparagingly of the Spirit, Whence is God the Father of ser vants? Who wrought these mighty achieve ments? Who made thee a saint? Who faith ful ? Who a son ofGod ? He who made thee worthy to be trusted, the same is also the cause of thy being entrusted with all. 1 npoo-ij-yofTo, v. Horn. ii. i. 2 TO &ia, here used with the genitive. He mentions it as applied to the will of the Father, and consequently not, as some supposed, proving an inferiority in the Son. 3 [Even in the New Test, the term " apostle " is sometimes ap plied to others than the twelve and Paul: as in Acts xiv. 14, proba bly in Gal. i. 19, and as implied in the phrase " false apostle." Compare Lightfoot on Gal., ed. 2, pp. 95 ff. J. A. B.] For we are called faithful, not only because we have faith, but also because we are entrusted of God with mysteries which not even angels knew before us. However, to Paul it was indif ferent whether or not to put it thus. Ver. 3. "We give thanks to God,4 the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." He seems to me to refer everything to the Father, that what he has to say may not at once offend them. 5 " Praying always for you." He shows his love, not by giving thanks only, but also by continual prayer, in that those whom he did not see, he had continually within him self. Ver. 4. ["Having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus." A little above he said, " our Lord." " He," saith he, " is Lord, not the servants." " Of Jesus Christ." These names also are symbols of His benefit to us, for " He," it means, " shall save His people from their sins." 6 (Matt. i. 21.)] Ver. 4. " Having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have toward all the saints." Already he conciliates them. It was Epaph- roditus 7 who brought him this account. But he sends the Epistle by Tychicus, retaining Epaphroditus with himself. " And of the love," he saith, " which ye have toward all the saints," not toward this one and that : of course then toward us also. Ver. 5. "Because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens." He speaks of the good things to come. This is with a view to their temptations, that they should not seek their rest here. For lest any should say, " And where is the good of their love toward the saints, if they themselves are in affliction?" he says, "We rejoice that ye are securing for yourselves a noble reception in heaven." " Be cause of the hope," he saith, " which is laid up." He shows its secureness. " Whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth." Here the ex pression is as if he would chide them, as having changed from it when they had long held it. "Whereof," saith he, "ye heard before in the word of the truth of the Gospel." And he bears witness to its truth. With good reason, for in it there is nothing false. " Of the Gospel." He doth not say, " of the preaching," but he calleth it the " Gospel," con- 4 Rec. text inserts " and" (icai for TO>), but with the same sense. 5 [The reading Trpotro-Trjfai (Field, after one MSS.) accounts for the others, n-pocmji tn. and jrpoTifleVai, the latter followed here by the Oxford ed. ; but see its Addenda. J. A. B.]Savile includes this paragraph in brackets, and so Ed. Par., as it is not in some MSS. and Versions, and is thought not to fit in well; but they have missed the sense.~ Called Epnphras in the text, c. i. 7, and c. iv. 12. [A familiar contraction of such names. J A. B.]