Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Colossians 1:6

This word of the truth has been defined as the Gospel, but Paul now proceeds to indicate more precisely what he means by this term. It is that Gospel which they have already received, not the local perversion of it that has recently been urged on their notice, but that which is spreading in the whole world, its truth authenticated by its ever-widening area and deepening influence on its adherents, and which manifests the same inherent energy among the Colossians themselves, in the form in which they learnt it from their teacher Epaphras. καθὼς καὶ ἐν παντὶ … ἐν ὑμῖν. According to the TR. καὶ ἔστι, two statements are made that the Gospel is present with the Colossians as it is present in all the world, and that it is bearing fruit and increasing as it is among the Colossians. The omission of καὶ before ἐστὶν καρ. creates a little awkwardness, since καθὼς καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν seems then superfluous. Lightfoot takes ἐστ. καρ. together as a periphrasis for καρποφορεῖται, but this construction is very rare in Paul. The symmetry of clauses is much better preserved if, with Soden and Haupt, we write ἔστιν, καρ. We thus get the same double comparison as with the TR., Paul passing from the special to the general, and from the general back to the special. For the hyperbole ἐν π. τ. κόσμῳ, Cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:8; Romans 1:8; Romans 10:18. As Gess points out (Christi Person und Werk, ii., 1, p. 228), Paul wishes here and in Colossians 1:23 to widen the outlook of the Colossians, since the more isolated the community the greater the danger from seducers. For the similar feeling that local idiosyncrasies are to be controlled by the general custom of the Church, Cf. 1 Corinthians 11:16; 1 Corinthians 14:36 (Cf. 33). καρποφορούμενον καὶ αὐξανόμενον. The former of these participles expresses the inward energy of the Gospel (dynamic middle) in its adherents, the latter its extension in the world by gathering in new converts. ἀφʼ ἧς ἡμέρας. This expresses the further fact that the progress of the Gospel has been continuous from the first in the Colossian Church. ἠκούσατε … Θεοῦ. It is uncertain whether χάριν is governed by both verbs (so Lightf., Kl [3], Ol., Sod., Abb.) or by the latter only (so Mey., Ell., Haupt). In the former case ἠκούς. will mean “were instructed in”. But it is simpler to translate “ye heard it [i.e., the Gospel] and knew the grace of God”, ἐπέγνωτε should strictly imply full knowledge, but as the reference is to the time of their conversion it seems doubtful whether this shade of meaning should be pressed. ἐπίγνωσις is in his mind. The word occurs twice in the context. The grace of God is probably mentioned in opposition to the false teachers doctrine of ordinances and rigorous asceticism. ἐν ἀληθείᾳ : not to be taken as if an adjective with χάριν, “the true grace of God,” for there is no false grace of God, but with ἐπεγ. in the sense that they knew the Gospel as it truly is, in its genuine reality, in opposition to the travesty of it recently introduced.

[3] Klöpper.

Continues after advertising

BibliaPlus

Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Colossians 1:6

Old Testament

New Testament