Colossians 1:27

ὅ ἐστιν ABGP, quod est Old Lat. vulg. ὅ ἐστιν Text. Rec. אCDKL. Cf. Colossians 1:24 note, and the difficult passage Colossians 2:10.

27. οἷς, almost explanatory, “for it was to them that,” see on Colossians 1:18, ὅς. His saints alone are the recipients of this act of God’s good will.

ἠθέλησεν ὁ θεός, “liberrime,” Beng. The thought is of the spontaneous or, rather, unconditioned character of God’s love in making the following known to them. Compare θέλημα Colossians 1:1, and θέλων Colossians 2:18; also 1 Corinthians 15:38, ὁ δὲ θεὸς δίδωσιν αὐτῷ σῶμα καθὼς ἠθέλησεν.

γνωρίσαι, compare Colossians 1:8, δηλώσας, note. For this word and the whole verse compare Romans 9:22-24.

τί. Probably not including its nature, but only its quantity and value; cf. Alford, “how full, how inexhaustible; this meaning of τί necessarily follows from its being joined with a noun of quantity like πλοῦτος.”

The answer is not ὅ ἐστιν χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν (Meyer-Haupt), but indeterminate; compare St Paul’s epithets ὑπερβάλλον (Ephesians 2:7) and ἀνεξιχνίαστον (Ephesians 3:8).

τὸ πλοῦτος, “what is the wealth.” The neuter is sometimes found, but in the nom. and acc. sing, only (Blass, Gram. p. 28); cf. Colossians 2:2, and contrast Ephesians 1:18; Hebrews 11:26. See also Moulton, Gram. Proleg. 1906, p. 60.

In Ephesians 3:16 πλοῦτος has the connotation of the supply from which to draw; here, apparently, solely of the abundance displayed, and so in Romans 9:23, and perhaps Ephesians 1:18.

τῆς δόξης, “of the glory.” On δόξα see Colossians 1:11 note. (1) Not to be identified with the “glory” of the end of the verse, i.e. “the splendour with which in the great day those initiated on earth into the Gospel secret will be enriched” (Beet); but (2) the manifestation of moral glory exhibited by this μυστήριον, which is another way of saying the manifestation of God’s moral glory (Colossians 1:11) seen in it[100].

[100] For a very thoughtful exposition of some meanings of “glory” in the N.T. see A. B. Davidson’s sermon on the Transfiguration in Waiting upon God, 1904. Cf. his sermon on Moses in Called of God, 1902, p. 136.

Thus of the three words πλοῦτος, δόξης, μυστήριον, the weight falls on δόξης.

τοῦ μυστηρίου τούτου. Colossians 1:26 note. What the secret is, in its essence, he states almost immediately.

ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν. To be joined not directly with τοῦ μυστηρίου τούτου, “this secret among the Gentiles,” but rather with the ἔστι understood in the preceding clause, “what the wealth of the glory of this mystery is among the Gentiles.” St Paul, that is to say, wishes to bring out the surpassing character of the fact that the Gentiles receive the Gospel. In that is the moral glory of the secret to be perceived. “Christus in gentibus, summum illis temporibus paradoxon” (Beng.).

ὅ. See notes on Textual Criticism.

ὅ ἐστιν Χριστός. The antecedent is hardly τὸ πλοῦτος, for this would leave μυστήριον almost without force, but μυστήριον, and Song of Solomon 2:2. Compare the adaptation of the hymn in 1 Timothy 3:16, τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον Ὃς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί κ.τ.λ.

ἐν. See Colossians 3:16 note. Compare 2 Corinthians 13:5; Ephesians 3:17.

ὑμῖν, i.e. the Colossians, mentioned partly as the concrete example of Gentiles, and partly to bring home to them the greatness of their privileges.

ἡ ἐλπὶς τῆς δόξης. In apposition; cf. Colossians 3:4 for construction and thought.

On ἐλπὶς cf. Colossians 1:5; Colossians 1:23 notes. Here it designates Christ as the object of hope, 1 Timothy 1:1; cf. Ignat. Magn. § 11, Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τῆς ἐλπίδος ἡμῶν. Observe that before receiving the Gospel Gentiles were οἱ μὴ ἔχοντες ἐλπίδα (1 Thessalonians 4:13), ἐλπίδα μὴ ἔχοντες (Ephesians 2:12).

τῆς δόξης, explaining the nature of the hope referred to.

Christ is not only in us, but we hope to possess Him far more fully, and bound up with that possession is “glory,” primarily (as it seems) the external glory of the heavenly state as seen and enjoyed by individuals. For the twofold use of the word in one verse compare Romans 9:23. The article with δόξης is generic. “Christus in nobis, per se laetissimum: sed multo laetius, respectu eorum, quae revelabuntur” (Beng.).