Colossians 1:9

καὶ αἰτούμενοι omitted by BK, perhaps by error of sight, cf. Colossians 1:6.

9. διὰ τοῦτο. Probably this refers primarily to the immediately preceding words τὴν ὑμῶν�, which however in themselves sum up an important part of the whole preceding paragraph. For a similar case compare 1 Thessalonians 3:5, where διὰ τοῦτο primarily refers to the troubles of the Thessalonians mentioned in Colossians 1:4, which again underlie all Colossians 1:1-4. Even in Ephesians 1:15 the immediate reference may well be to the thought of the praise of God’s glory (Colossians 1:14) which is underlying all Colossians 1:3-14, and in 1 Thessalonians 2:13 the thought of the Thessalonians being called into God’s kingdom and glory, i.e. the possibilities of the Divine call (a thought present in Colossians 1:3; Colossians 1:10), supplied a reason for all St Paul’s work among them.

καὶ ἡμεῖς. We, Paul and Timothy, on our side show our love.

ἀφʼ ἦς ἡμέρας ἠκούσαμεν, cf. Colossians 1:6.

ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν. Contrast Colossians 1:3. The apparent absence of any parallel in the N. T. for ὑπέρ, or even περί, being joined with αἰτέω makes it probable that ὑπέρ is governed by προσευχόμενοι only (Matthew 5:44; James 5:16†). Hence the A.V. “do not cease to pray for you, and to desire,” etc. is preferable in this particular to the R.V. “do not cease to pray and make request for you.”

αἰτούμενοι. The middle may be used merely to conform to προσευχ., though its greater strength than the active (see Moulton, Gram. Proleg. 1906, p. 160) was hardly forgotten, or may perhaps hint to them delicately that he reckoned blessings given to them as given to himself (cf. Mark 6:24 with 22, 23; James 4:2-3; 1 John 5:14-15).

ἵνα. For similar instances of the weakened ἵνα after verbs of asking see Colossians 2:1-2; Colossians 4:3; Colossians 4:12. Cf. also especially 2 Thessalonians 1:11.

τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν. See note on ἐπέγνωτε, Colossians 1:6. The usage of the word ἐπίγνωσις in the N.T. is remarkable. It does not occur in the first group of St Paul’s Epistles; and only three times in the second, and that not in its highest connotation (Romans 1:28; Romans 3:20; Romans 10:2); but it is used eight times in the third, always (save in Phm. and perhaps Phil.) of our knowledge of God (Philippians 1:9; Ephesians 1:17; Ephesians 4:13; Colossians 1:9-10; Colossians 2:2; Colossians 3:10; Philemon 1:6); and four times in the fourth, in the phrase εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν� (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Timothy 2:25; 2 Timothy 3:7; Titus 1:1; cf. also Hebrews 10:26). It also occurs four times in 2 Pet., of our knowledge of God, apparently with some reminiscence of St Paul’s third group.

Its greater frequency in the later groups of St Paul’s Epistles is doubtless due to the greater need experienced by the Church of a right intellectual and spiritual knowledge of God, especially in view of the false teaching that claimed to supply this. No doubt also St Paul’s enforced leisure at Caesarea and Rome was a providential means of his meditation on the subject and his subsequent ability to point out the truth. On the accusative see Blass, Gram. § 34. 6.

τοῦ θελήματος, Colossians 1:1, note. Here not God’s will that embraces the whole scope of His plan and purpose concerning the world, for believers cannot be expected to have ἐπίγνωσις of this, although they may legitimately pray for its accomplishment (Matthew 6:10), and they even know, in a sense, the “mystery” of it (Ephesians 1:9), but the will of God so far as it affects us individually. Compare Matthew 7:21 (ὁ ποιῶν τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πατρός μου), Ephesians 5:17; Ephesians 6:6.

αὐτοῦ, i.e. God the Father, τὸ θέλημα Ἰησοῦ or Χριστοῦ never occurs. In τὸ θέλημα τοῦ κυρίου (Acts 21:14; Ephesians 5:17) the genitive doubtless also refers to God the Father.

ἐν marks that in which the ἐπίγνωσις manifests itself. It is very improbable that a comma should be put at αὐτοῦ and the following words joined with Colossians 1:10 as far as ἀρεσκίαν, though of course περιπατεῖν easily takes ἐν (e.g. Colossians 3:7; Colossians 4:5). But a very clumsy sentence would be the result. See further on ἐν παντὶ ἔργῳ� (Colossians 1:10).

πάσῃ, Colossians 1:10-11; Colossians 1:15; Colossians 1:28; Colossians 3:16; Colossians 4:12. Distributive; wisdom in every case as needed (Colossians 1:28). Compare πᾶσαν δικαιοσύνην, Matthew 3:15. For the contrast between πᾶσα and πᾶσα ἡ compare 2 Corinthians 1:4 ὁ παρακαλῶν ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ πάσῃ τῇ θλίψει ἡμῶν (totality), εἰς τὸ δύνασθαι ἡμᾶς παρακαλεῖν τοὺς ἐν πάσῃ θλίψει (i.e. any which may arise).

On its connexion with σοφίᾳ and συνέσει see below s.v. πνευματικῇ.

σοφίᾳ. Five more times in this Epistle, Colossians 1:28; Colossians 2:3; Colossians 2:23; Colossians 3:16; Colossians 4:5, and three times in Ephesians 1:8; Ephesians 1:17; Ephesians 3:10; elsewhere in the Pauline Epistles, only once in Romans (Romans 11:33) and 2 Cor. (2 Corinthians 1:12), but frequently in 1 Cor. It is “mental excellence in its highest and fullest sense; Arist. Eth. Nic. VI. 7 ἡ� … ὤσπερ κεφαλὴν ἔχουσα ἐπιστήμη τῶν τιμιωτάτων.… Cicero de Off. I. 43 ‘princeps omnium virtutum.’ … The Stoic definition of σοφία, as ἐπιστήμη θείων καὶ�, is repeated by various writers” (Lightfoot).

Yet we must be careful not to understand it here of wisdom in the abstract. From the usage of ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ in Colossians 1:28; Colossians 3:16 (cf. especially the parallel Ephesians 5:15-19) and even Ephesians 1:8, St Paul is evidently thinking of mental excellence in its application.

καὶ συνέσει, Colossians 2:2. σύνεσις is not found elsewhere with σοφία in the N.T. (though in 1 Corinthians 1:19 the two words are in parallel clauses of a quotation from Isaiah 29:14), but see Deuteronomy 4:6; 2 Chronicles 1:10-12; Isaiah 11:2. See also Exodus 31:3; 1 Chronicles 22:12; Daniel 2:20 (Theod.); Bar 3:23.

It stands in relation to σοφία as the part to the whole, and expresses the intellectual grasp, the discernment, of the condition of affairs in any given instance. Compare 2 Timothy 2:7 νόει ὅ λέγω· δώσει γάρ σοι ὁ κύριος σύνεσιν ἐν πᾶσιν. It is “the faculty of putting together, and reading the significance of, facts and phenomena around” (Beet). “  ‘Wisdom’ is the noble faculty of judging and acting aright, ‘intelligence’ that faculty in application to the living problems of the hour” (Moule, Colossian Studies), particularly (one may suppose in the present case) such as those suggested by the false teaching to which the Colossians were exposed.

πνευματικῇ, Colossians 3:16. With the exception of 1 Peter 2:5 bis, πνευματικός occurs only in the Pauline Epistles, especially of course in 1 Cor.

A remarkable example of such a combination of σοφία and σύνεσις as St Paul means here was seen in Bishop Westcott, who, though (or rather because) he possessed Christian σοφὶα in perhaps a higher degree than any teacher of recent years, was enabled by his σύνεσις to bring the great coal strike in the North to a satisfactory termination, and that without any use of merely worldly means.