II. [4. Special Enforcement of Doctrinal Teaching (Colossians 2:1 to Colossians 3:4). (1) EXHORTATION TO STAND FAST IN THE FAITH, dictated by special anxiety for them and the sister churches, urging them to seek all wisdom in Christ alone, and to keep to the old simplicity of the gospel (Colossia... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT GREAT CONFLICT. — The word is here repeated from the “striving” of the previous verse, which is, in the original, the cognate verb. It is the same word which is used in Philippians 1:30 (“conflict”), in 1 Thessalonians 2:2 (“contention”), in 1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7 (“the good fight of fai... [ Continue Reading ]
(1-7) In these verses St. Paul declares his deep anxiety for the Colossians and Laodiceans and others who had not seen his face, that they might seek, not the false, but the true knowledge, finding “the mystery of God” in Christ alone. The reason of that anxiety is found in the “beguiling and entici... [ Continue Reading ]
COMFORTED — _i.e., encouraged,_ or _strengthened,_ both to stand fast and to advance in the faith. KNIT TOGETHER. — The word here used has two senses; first, “to bring, or knit, together” (as in Colossians 2:19, and Ephesians 4:16); next,” to carry with us” in argument — _i.e.,_ to “instruct,” or “... [ Continue Reading ]
IN WHOM ARE HID ALL THE TREASURES. — The order of the original is curious: “in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, as hidden treasures.” The word “hidden” (_apocryphi_) is an almost technical word for secret teaching given only to the initiated; used originally as a term of honour (a... [ Continue Reading ]
BEGUILE YOU. — “To beguile” here is _to reason into error;_ and “enticing words” are words of _persuasion_ rather than of reason or revelation. Both words are used by St. Paul only in this passage. It would be difficult to describe more accurately the marvellous fabrics of Gnostic speculation, each... [ Continue Reading ]
ABSENT IN THE FLESH. — Comp. 1 Corinthians 5:3, “I as absent in body and present in spirit.” YOUR ORDER, AND THE STEDFASTNESS. — The word “order” is used in 1 Corinthians 14:40; the word “stedfastness,” or _solidity,_ is not found elsewhere in the New Testament, though the verb from which it is deri... [ Continue Reading ]
AS YE HAVE THEREFORE RECEIVED. — Comp. the more emphatic language of Colossians 1:5; Colossians 1:23. As in the case of the Corinthians and Galatians (2 Corinthians 11:4 and Galatians 1:6), he entreats them not to be turned aside to “another Jesus,” or “another gospel, which is not another.”... [ Continue Reading ]
ROOTED AND BUILT UP IN HIM. — There is a significant change of tense in the original, _having been rooted_ — _i.e._ (as in Ephesians 3:17), “rooted and grounded” in Him once for all, and _being built up_ continually on that Foundation. (Comp. 1 Corinthians 3:9.) St. Paul bids them seek not only the... [ Continue Reading ]
SPOIL YOU. — Properly, _lead you away as a spoil,_ triumph over you as a captive, and make you a slave. Comp. St. Paul’s language as to the older Judaism at Corinth (2 Corinthians 11:20), “Ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on... [ Continue Reading ]
(8-15) The general exhortation of the previous verses is now emphasised by a solemn warning against deadly speculative error. Now, (1) _the character of that error in itself_ is described with apparently intentional vagueness, as “a philosophy of vain deceit,” “after tradition of men,” after “the ru... [ Continue Reading ]
IN HIM DWELLETH ALL THE FULNESS OF THE GODHEAD BODILY. — Here almost every word is emphatic. First, “All the fulness of the Godhead” — not a mere emanation from the Supreme Being. Next, “dwells” and remains for ever — not descending on Him for a time and leaving Him again. Lastly, “bodily,” _i.e.,_... [ Continue Reading ]
YE ARE COMPLETE. — Literally, _ye have been filled up_ in His fulness, as in John 1:16. So St. Paul had prayed for the Ephesians that they might be “filled with (or rather, _up to_) all the fulness of God,” and “grow into the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 3:19; Ephesian... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CIRCUMCISION MADE WITHOUT HANDS. — This abrupt introduction of the idea of circumcision would be difficult to understand, were it not for the knowledge of the enforcement of Jewish observance so strangely mixed with this “philosophy” at Colossæ. (Comp. Ephesians 2:11, “Ye who are called Uncircum... [ Continue Reading ]
BURIED WITH HIM IN BAPTISM... — It is very interesting to compare this passage with Romans 6:4, “Therefore we are buried with Him in baptism unto death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” In the former clause both... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YOU... — Here, exactly as in Ephesians 2:1, there is a remarkable intermixture of the word “we” and the word “you,” the former conveying the universal statement of the gospel message of mercy, the other applying it emphatically to the Gentiles, as Gentiles. The two passages should be read side b... [ Continue Reading ]
BLOTTING OUT THE HANDWRITING — _i.e., cancelling the bond which stood against us in its ordinances._ The “handwriting” is the bond, exacting payment or penalty in default. (Comp. Philemon 1:19, “I Paul have _written it with mine own hand;_ I will repay it.”) What this bond is we see by Ephesians 2:1... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVING SPOILED PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS... — This verse is one of great difficulty. Not, indeed, in the main idea. The cross, as usual, is identified with the triumph over the powers of evil which it won. The very phrase “made a show,” is cognate to the words “put Him to open shame” applied to the... [ Continue Reading ]
LET NO MAN THEREFORE JUDGE YOU. — That is, _impose his own laws upon you._ See Colossians 2:8. (Comp. Romans 14:3; Romans 14:10, “Why dost thou judge thy brother?” in this same connection.) IN MEAT, OR IN DRINK. — Or rather, _in eating and drinking._ We see by the context that the immediate referenc... [ Continue Reading ]
(16-19) To the warning against speculative error succeeds a warning against two practical superstitions. The first is simply the trust in obsolete Jewish ordinances (the mere shadow of Christ) with which we are familiar in the earlier forms of Judaism. But the second presents much strangeness and no... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH ARE A SHADOW... BUT THE BODY (_the substance_) IS OF CHRIST. — The spirit of the passage is precisely that of the argument which runs through the Epistle to the Hebrews. “The Law had a shadow of good things to come, not the very image (or, _substance_) of the things” (Hebrews 10:1). When St. P... [ Continue Reading ]
BEGUILE YOU OF YOUR REWARD. — The original is a word used, almost technically, for an unfair judgment in the stadium, robbing the victor of his prize. The prize here (as in 1 Corinthians 9:24; Philippians 3:14) is the heavenly reward of the Christian course. In St. Paul’s exhortation there seems to... [ Continue Reading ]
NOT HOLDING THE HEAD. — In this lay the fatal error. All these speculations and superstitions interfered with the direct hold of the soul on the mediation of Christ, as the Head, from whom alone, as being “the image of the invisible God,” come all spiritual life and growth. Therefore they had a prac... [ Continue Reading ]
IF YE BE DEAD WITH CHRIST. — The whole idea of the death with Christ and resurrection with Him is summed up by St. Paul in Romans 6:3, in direct connection (as also here, see Colossians 2:12) with the entrance upon Christian life in baptism, “We are buried with Him by baptism unto death... we are de... [ Continue Reading ]
(20-23) In this and the succeeding section, St. Paul, starting from the idea of union with the Head, draws out the practical consequences of partaking of the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ. In virtue of the former participation, he exhorts them to be dead to the law of outward ordina... [ Continue Reading ]
TOUCH NOT; TASTE NOT; HANDLE NOT. — The first and last of these renderings should be inverted. There is in the commands a climax of strictness. “Handle not” (the unclean thing), “taste it not,” “touch it not” with one of your fingers. It will be noted that all these commands are negative, not positi... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH ALL ARE TO PERISH WITH THE USING. — It has been doubted whether these words (which are literally, _all which things go to corruption,_ or _destruction, in the using_) are the continuation of the ascetic ordinance, or the comment of the Apostle. But the last word — which signifies, not only “us... [ Continue Reading ]
WILL WORSHIP, AND HUMILITY... — It seems difficult to connect these words with the merely ceremonial observances immediately above; and, in fact, they are almost an exact repetition of the description of the superstitious worship of the angels given in Colossians 2:18. “Will worship” is, indeed, nea... [ Continue Reading ]