3. _Special Precepts as to Household Relations._ This section agrees, not only in outline, but in detail, with the corresponding passage in Ephesians. The arrangement is identical, the precepts and motives in the main the same. Here, however, the relation of wife and husband is not enlarged upon, a... [ Continue Reading ]
III. HORTATORY PART: LIVE AS THOSE SHOULD LIVE WHO WERE RAISED WITH CHRIST THE HEAD. (1.) Fellowship with the Exalted Christ the motive for the new life; Colossians 3:1-4. (Transitive paragraph.) (2.) General exhortations; Colossians 3:5-17. (Negative, Colossians 3:5-11; and positive, Colossians 3... [ Continue Reading ]
Colossians 4:1. MASTERS. See Ephesians 6:9. GIVE (supply on your part) UNTO YOUR SERVANTS THAT WHICH IS JUST AND EQUAL; lit, ‘the equality.' The latter word may suggest the thought of equality as brethren in Christ, since Christian motives are advanced throughout. But associated with ‘just,' the r... [ Continue Reading ]
Colossians 4:2. PERSEVERE. The word is a strong one (see references), describing an earnest persistence. BEING WATCHFUL THEREIN WITH (lit, ‘in') THANKSGIVING, Comp. Ephesians 6:18, as well as the injunction: ‘watch and pray' (Matthew 26:41, etc.). ‘In,' repeated in the Greek, points in the first i... [ Continue Reading ]
4. _Concluding Exhortations_. This brief section contains special exhortations, but not addressed to special classes. The thoughts are familiar; Colossians 4:6 alone is without a parallel in the Epistle to the Ephesians. The connection, however, is not obvious. The precepts may have been suggested b... [ Continue Reading ]
Colossians 4:3. WITHAL PRAYING FOR US ALSO, for himself, but also for Timothy, Epaphras, and his other companions, since the singular is used immediately after. ‘Withal,' at the same time, while thus persevering in prayer (Colossians 4:2). That (indicating the purport and purpose of the petition) G... [ Continue Reading ]
Colossians 4:4. THAT I MAY MAKE IT MANIFEST. This is the end of the speaking, or of the entire petition. They should pray that he might preach; but he should preach in order to make manifest the mystery of Christ. AS I OUGHT TO SPEAK. Comp. Ephesians 6:20; but there the reference is to his labors,... [ Continue Reading ]
Colossians 4:5. WALK IN wisdom TOWARD THEM THAT ARE WITHOUT, _i.e._, unbelievers (see marg. references). The emphasis rests on the phrase ‘in wisdom,' the element in which the Christian should move in his conduct toward ‘those without' BUYING UP THE OPPORTUNITY. See on Ephesians 5:16, against the... [ Continue Reading ]
Colossians 4:6. LET YOUR SPEECH (lit, ‘word') BE ALWAYS WITH GRACE. The first characteristic of Christian discourse, especially ‘toward them that are without,' is here indicated: it should be ‘with (lit., ‘in') grace,' attractiveness, the result not of studying to please, but of Divine grace. SEAS... [ Continue Reading ]
Colossians 4:7. THE THINGS CONCERNING ME, etc. See Ephesians 6:21, with which this verse closely agrees (notice the emendations). TYCHICUS; see Introduction to Ephesians, §§ 1,2, 5. FELLOW-SERVANT. This is peculiar to this passage; it gives prominence to the fact that Tychicus had shared with th... [ Continue Reading ]
This division of the Epistle is brief. It may be divided into three paragraphs: (1.) Personal intelligence (Colossians 4:7-9). (2.) Greetings _from_ Paul's companions (Colossians 4:10-14), and _to_ the brethren at Laodicea, with other messages (Colossians 4:15-17). (3.) Farewell greeting and bene... [ Continue Reading ]
Colossians 4:8. WHOM I SENT, etc. See Ephesians 6:22, which is verbally identical, if we accept here the reading of the earliest authorities: THAT YE MAY KNOW THE THINGS RESPECTING US. The received reading (in the Greek) differs from this in but three letters; moreover the variations are such as wou... [ Continue Reading ]
Colossians 4:9. WITH ONESIMUS, THE FAITHFUL AND BELOVED BROTHER. The runaway slave, converted by the Apostle, and sent back to his master, Philemon, with the touching letter included in the New Testament. He is now recognized as ‘the brother' in an Epistle to be publicly read at Colossae and elsewhe... [ Continue Reading ]
Colossians 4:10. ARISTARCHUS MY FELLOW-PRISONER SALUTETH YOU. A Macedonian from Thessalonica (Acts 19:29; Acts 20:4; Acts 27:2), who was with Paul in Asia Minor, and probably not unknown at Colossæ. He afterwards accompanied the Apostle to Jerusalem, and sailed with him to Rome, where, according to... [ Continue Reading ]
Colossians 4:11. AND JESUS, WHO IS CALLED JUSTUS. Otherwise unknown; not the person mentioned in Acts 18:7, since the latter was a proselyte, not a born Jew, and moreover was called ‘Titus Justus.' WHO ARE OF THE CIRCUMCISION. These three companions of Paul were Jews. Many disconnect this clause f... [ Continue Reading ]
Colossians 4:12. EPAPHRAS (see chap. Colossians 1:7), WHO IS ONE OF YOU (see Colossians 4:9), etc. His salutations could not be omitted. Evidently he was a Gentile by birth. A SERVANT OF CHRIST JESUS. ‘This title, which the Apostle uses several times of himself, is not elsewhere conferred on any o... [ Continue Reading ]
Colossians 4:13. FOR I BEAR HIM WITNESS. The Apostle confirms the message, as an attesting witness. HATH MUCH LABOR FOR YOU. ‘Zeal' is poorly supported, but was substituted for ‘labor, since the latter is an unusual word in the New Testament. It is in keeping with the previous figure (‘striving')... [ Continue Reading ]
Colossians 4:14. LUKE, THE BELOVED PHYSICIAN; undoubtedly the Evangelist, not to be confounded with Lucius (Acts 13:1), this being a shorter form of Lucanus. He was a Gentile, being distinguished from those ‘of the circumcision' (Colossians 4:11). As he accompanied Paul from Cæsarea to Rome (Acts 27... [ Continue Reading ]
Colossians 4:15. SALUTE THE BRETHREN THAT ARE AT LAODICEA. A natural message, owing to the proximity of the two places; see Introduction, § 1. AND NYMPHAS; evidently an inhabitant of Laodicea, thus singled out. It is most natural to regard the name as masculine, but it may be that of a woman. The... [ Continue Reading ]
Colossians 4:16. AND WHEN THIS (lit. ‘the') EPISTLE HATH BEEN READ AMONG YOU. The tense used must be thus rendered in English; there is no necessary reference to public reading. CAUSE, etc. This was a natural injunction, in view of the nearness of Laodicea, and the common danger threatening both c... [ Continue Reading ]
Colossians 4:17. AND SAY TO ARCHIPPNS; ‘our fellow-soldier' (Philemon 1:2); possibly a son of Philemon. Bishop Lightfoot thinks it probable that he was a resident of Laodicea, and hence singled out here. But Philemon 1:2 indicates a residence with Philemon, whatever relationship existed between the... [ Continue Reading ]
Colossians 4:18. THE SALUTATION OF ME PAUL WITH MINE OWN HAND; comp. 1Co 16:21; 2 Thessalonians 3:17, which are in the same words, and Galatians 6:11, which resembles this. The rendering here given agrees with that of the E. V. in the first passage. These autograph salutations were to attest the gen... [ Continue Reading ]