CHAPTER 2 PAUL'S STRIVING FOR THE COLOSSIANS Colossians 2:1 (R.V.) We have seen that the closing portion of the previous chapter is almost exclusively personal. In this context the same strain is continued, and two things are dwelt on: the Apostle's agony of anxiety for the Colossian Church, and... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 2 CONCILIATORY AND HORTATORY TRANSITION TO POLEMICS Colossians 2:4 (R.V.) NOTHING needs more delicacy of hand and gentleness of heart than the administration of warning or reproof, especially when directed against errors of religious opinion. It is sure to do harm unless the person reprov... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 2 THE BANE AND THE ANTIDOTE Colossians 2:8 (R.V.) WE come now to the first plain reference to the errors which were threatening the peace of the Colossian community. Here Paul crosses swords with the foe. This is the point to which all his previous words have been steadily converging. The... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 2 THE TRUE CIRCUMCISION Colossians 2:11 (R.V.) THERE are two opposite tendencies ever at work in human nature to corrupt religion. One is of the intellect; the other of the senses. The one is the temptation of the cultured few; the other, that of the vulgar many. The one turns religion in... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 2 THE CROSS THE DEATH OF LAW AND THE TRIUMPH OVER EVIL POWERS Colossians 2:14 (R.V.) The same double reference to the two characteristic errors of the Colossians which we have already met so frequently, presents itself here. This whole section vibrates continually between warnings against... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 2 WARNINGS AGAINST TWIN CHIEF ERRORS, BASED UPON PREVIOUS POSITIVE TEACHING Colossians 2:16 (R.V.) "Let no man therefore judge you." That "therefore" sends us back to what the Apostle has been saying in the previous verses, in order to find there the ground of these earnest warnings. That... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 2 TWO FINAL TESTS OF THE FALSE TEACHING Colossians 2:20 (R.V.) The polemical part of the Epistle is now coming to an end. We pass in the next chapter, after a transitional paragraph, to simple moral precepts which, with personal details, fill up the remainder of the letter. The antagonist... [ Continue Reading ]