INTRODUCTION TO COLOSSIANS 4 This chapter begins with an exhortation to masters to behave towards their servants in a just and equitable manner, from the consideration of their having a master in heaven, which should have concluded the preceding one; and in it the apostle gives some general exhorta... [ Continue Reading ]
MASTERS, GIVE UNTO YOUR SERVANTS,.... This verse properly belongs to the preceding chapter, with which it should have been concluded. It is indeed strange, that those who made the division of Chapter s and verses should separate this from the former chapter, to which it so manifestly belongs, and be... [ Continue Reading ]
CONTINUE IN PRAYER,.... This is not said particularly to masters, as in the foregoing verse, but to all the members of the church in general; for the apostle having taken notice of some special duties relating to persons in different stations of life, returns to such as were common to them all; as t... [ Continue Reading ]
WITHAL, PRAYING ALSO FOR US,.... The persons to be prayed for are next directed to; and these are not only themselves, though their concern is very near and great, but others also, all the saints and people of God, yea, all men, and in particular the ministers of the Gospel. The apostle desires they... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT I MAY MAKE IT MANIFEST,.... It being a mystery, a secret, which was hid in God from everlasting, and, during the legal dispensation, was wrapped up in types, and shadows, and sacrifices, and is still hidden unto the natural man. Wherefore the apostle was desirous of making it manifest in a mini... [ Continue Reading ]
WALK IN WISDOM,.... Or wisely, circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise men; Ephesians 5:15. TOWARDS THEM THAT ARE WITHOUT; so the Jews used to call the Gentiles, all that were out of their own land, that were not of their nation or religion, who were aliens from them, and strangers to their privil... [ Continue Reading ]
LET YOUR SPEECH BE ALWAYS WITH GRACE,.... "In grace, or concerning grace": let grace be the subject matter of your speech and conversation. When saints meet together they should converse with each other about the work of grace upon their souls, how it was begun, and how it has been carried on, and i... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL MY STATE SHALL TYCHICUS DECLARE UNTO YOU,.... This Tychicus was an Asian by birth; see Acts 20:4. His name signifies "fortunate", and is the same with "Fortunatus" in Latin, which name is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 16:17 whether he is the same person may be inquired. It is said that this Tychicu... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOM I HAVE SENT UNTO YOU FOR THE SAME PURPOSE,.... That is, to relate to them his affairs both temporal and spiritual; and also, THAT HE MIGHT KNOW YOUR ESTATE. The Arabic version renders it, "that I may know your estate" by him when he returned again; as whether they continued steadfast in the Go... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH ONESIMUS,.... Who had been Philemon's servant, ran away from him, and was met with and converted by the Apostle Paul, of whom he says many things in his epistle to his master. According to the Apostolic Constitutions, he was afterwards bishop of Beyrhoea; and some say he suffered martyrdom unde... [ Continue Reading ]
ARISTARCHUS MY FELLOW PRISONER SALUTETH YOU,.... This man was a man of Macedonia, and a Thessalonian; Acts 19:29 which hinders not but that he might be of the circumcision, or a Jew, as is suggested in the following verse; for he might be born at Thessalonica, and yet be of Jewish parents; nor is hi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JESUS, WHICH IS CALLED JUSTUS,.... The former of these names is the same with Joshua, and was very frequent with the Jews, and the later a surname that was sometimes given to men remarkable for holiness and righteousness: so Joseph, called Barsabas, is surnamed Justus, Acts 1:23 and James, the b... [ Continue Reading ]
EPAPHRAS, WHO IS ONE OF YOU,.... A native of Colosse, and one of their faithful ministers; see 1 Thessalonians 1:7. A SERVANT OF CHRIST; not merely in the same sense as every believer is, but as he was a preacher of the Gospel, in which he faithfully served his Lord and master, Christ: SALUTETH YO... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I BEAR HIM RECORD,.... The apostle was an eye and ear witness of his fervent prayers, his labour of love, and zealous affection for these saints and others; and therefore, as he judged he ought, he bears a testimony for him, THAT HE HATH A GREAT ZEAL FOR YOU; for their spiritual welfare, that t... [ Continue Reading ]
LUKE, THE BELOVED PHYSICIAN,.... Luke the Evangelist, though some doubt it, is here intended, who was a constant companion of the apostle in his troubles, and went with him to Rome, as the Acts of the Apostles wrote by him show, and as from 2 Timothy 4:11 it appears; so Jerom n calls the Evangelist... [ Continue Reading ]
SALUTE THE BRETHREN WHICH ARE IN LAODICEA,.... Where there was a church mentioned in the following verse, of which SEE ON GILL "RE 2:10". AND NYMPHAS; which some, unskilful in the Greek language, have took for a woman; whereas it is the name of a man, as the following words show; and is a contract... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THIS EPISTLE IS READ AMONGST YOU, c,] Which the apostle was now writing, and sent unto them and which was to be read publicly, before the whole church; being sent not to any particular person, or persons, but to the whole body, and for their general good and instruction: CAUSE THAT IT BE R... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAY TO ARCHIPPUS,.... A name common among the Grecians. This person the apostle calls his fellow soldier, in Philemon 1:2 and who was now the minister of the Gospel at Colosse, his fellow minister, or co-pastor Epaphras, being at Rome, and a prisoner there; though by some he is said to be the fi... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SALUTATION BY THE HAND OF ME PAUL,.... After his amanuensis had finished the epistle, he added his usual salutation to it with his own hand, to prevent all counterfeits and impositions, and that the churches to whom he wrote might be sure of the genuineness of his epistles; but before he added i... [ Continue Reading ]