Chapter V: PERSONAL (iv. 7–18) (4)

τοῦ μυστηρίου κ.τ.λ.] ‘_the mystery of God_, even _Christ in whom_, etc.,’ Χριστοῦ being in apposition with τοῦ μυστηρίου; comp. i. 27 τοῦ μυστηρίου τούτου ... ὅ ἐστιν Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν, 1 Tim. iii. 16 τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον, Ὅς ἐφανερώθη κ.τ.λ. The reasons for adopting the reading τοῦ Θεοῦ Χριστοῦ are given in the detached note on various readings. Other interpretations of this reading are; (1) ‘the God Christ,’ taking Χριστοῦ in apposition with Θεοῦ; or (2) ‘the God of Christ,’ making it the genitive after Θεοῦ: but both expressions are without a parallel in St Paul. The mystery here is not ‘Christ,’ but ‘Christ as containing in Himself all the treasures of wisdom’; see the note on i. 27 Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν. For the form of the sentence comp. Ephes. iv. 15, 16 ἡ κεφαλή, Χριστὸς ἐξ οὗ πᾶν τὸ σῶμα κ.τ.λ.

3. πάντες] So πᾶν πλοῦτος ver. 2, πάσῃ σοφίᾳ ii. 28. These repetitions serve to emphasize the character of the Gospel, which is as complete in itself, as it is universal in its application.

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II. 4]

τῆς σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως ἀπόκρυφοι. ^4τοῦτο

σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως] The two words occur together again Rom. xi. 33 ὦ βάθος πλούτου καὶ σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως Θεοῦ, 1 Cor. xii. 8. They are found in conjunction also several times in the LXX of Eccles. i. 7, 16, 18, ii. 21, 26, ix. 10, where חבכוה is represented by σοφία and דעת by γνῶσις. While γνῶσις is simply _intuitive_, σοφία is _ratiocinative_ also. While γνῶσις applies chiefly to the apprehension of truths, σοφία superadds the power of reasoning about them and tracing their relations. When Bengel on 1 Cor. xii. 8 sq. says, ‘Cognitio [γνῶσις] est quasi visus; sapientia [σοφία] visus cum sapore,’ he is so far right; but when he adds, ‘cognitio, rerum agendarum; sapientia, rerum aeternarum,’ he is quite wide of the mark. Substantially the same, and equally wrong, is St Augustine’s distinction _de Trin._ xii. 20, 25 (VIII. pp. 923, 926) ‘intelligendum est ad contemplationem sapientiam [σοφίαν], ad actionem scientiam [γνῶσιν] pertinere ... quod alia [σοφία] sit intellectualis cognitio aeternarum rerum, alia [γνῶσις] rationalis temporalium’ (comp. xiv. 3, p. 948), and again _de Div. Quæst. ad Simpl._> ii. 2 § 3 (VI. p. 114) ‘ita discerni probabiliter solent, ut sapientia pertineat ad intellectum æternorum, scientia vero ad ea quæ sensibus corporis experimur.’ This is directly opposed to usage. In Aristotle _Eth. Nic._ i. 1 γνῶσις is opposed to πρᾶξις. In St Paul it is connected with the apprehension of eternal mysteries, 1 Cor. xiii. 2 εἰδῶ τὰ μυστήρια πάντα καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γνῶσιν. On the relation of σοφία to σύνεσις see above, i. 9.

ἀπόκρυφοι] So 1 Cor. ii. 7 λαλοῦμεν Θεοῦ σοφίαν ἐν μυστηρίῳ, τὴν ἀποκεκρυμμένην. As before in τέλειος (i. 28), so here again in ἀπόκρυφοι the Apostle adopts a favourite term of the Gnostic teachers, only that he may refute a favourite doctrine. The word _apocrypha_ was especially applied to those esoteric writings, for which such sectarians claimed an _auctoritas secreta_ (Aug. _c. Faust._ xi. 2, VIII. p. 219) and which they carefully guarded from publication after the manner of their Jewish prototypes the Essenes (see above p. 89 sq.): comp. Iren. i. 20. 1 ἀμύθητον πλῆθος ἀποκρύφων καὶ νόθων γραφῶν, Clem. Alex. _Strom._ i. 15 (p. 357) βίβλους ἀποκρύφους τἀνδρὸς τοῦδε οἱ τὴν Προδίκου μετιόντες ἅιρεσιν _αὐχοῦσι_ κεκτῆσθαι, _ib._ iii. 4 (p. 524) ἐρρύη δὲ αὐτοῖς τὸ δόγμα ἔκ τινος ἀποκρύφου. See also the application of the text Prov. ix. 17 ἄρτων κρυφίων ἡδέως ἅψασθε to these heretics in _Strom._ i. 19 (p. 375). Thus the word _apocrypha_ in the first instance was an honourable appellation applied by the heretics themselves to their esoteric doctrine and their secret books; but owing to the general character of these works the term, as adopted by orthodox writers, got to signify ‘false,’ ‘spurious.’ The early fathers never apply it, as it is now applied, to _deutero-canonical_ writings, but confine it to _supposititious_ and _heretical_ works: see Smith’s _Dictionary of the Bible_ s.v. In the text St Paul uses it καταχρηστικῶς, as he uses μυστήριον. ‘All the richest treasures of that secret wisdom,’ he would say, ‘on which you lay so much stress, are buried in Christ, and being buried there are accessible to all alike who seek Him.’ But, while the term ἀπόκρυφος is adopted because it was used to designate the secret doctrine and writings of the heretics, it is also entirely in keeping with the metaphor of the ‘treasure’; e.g. Is. xlv. 3 δώσω σοι θησαυροὺς σκοτεινοὺς ἀποκρύφους, 1 Macc. i. 23 ἔλαβε τοὺς θησαυροὺς τοὺς ἀποκρύφους, Dan. xi. 43 ἐν τοῖς ἀποκρύφοις τοῦ χρυσοῦ καὶ τοῦ αργύρου: comp. Matt. xiii. 44.

The stress thus laid on ἀπόκρυφοι will explain its position. It is not connected with εἰσιν, but must be taken apart as a secondary predicate: comp. ver. 10 ἐστὲ ἐν αὐτῷ πεπληρωμένοι, iii. 1 οὗ ὁ Χριστός ἐστιν ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ Θεοῦ καθήμενος, James i. 17 πᾶν δώρημα τέλειον ἄνωθέν ἐστιν, καταβαῖνον κ.τ.λ.

4–7. ‘I do not say this without a purpose. I wish to warn you against any who would lead you astray by specious argument and persuasive rhetoric. For I am not an indifferent spectator of your doings. Although I am absent from you in my flesh, yet I am present with you in my spirit. I rejoice to behold the orderly array and the solid phalanx which your faith towards Christ presents against the assaults of the foe. I entreat you therefore not to abandon the Christ, as you learnt from Epaphras to know Him, even Jesus the Lord, but to walk still in Him as heretofore. I would have you firmly rooted once for all in Him. I desire to see you built up higher in Him day by day, to see you growing ever stronger and stronger through your faith, while you remain true to the lessons taught you of old, so that you may abound in it, and thus abounding may pour forth your hearts in gratitude to God the giver of all.’

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II. 5]

#λέγω, ἵνα μηδεὶς ὑμᾶς παραλογίζηται ἐν πιθανολογίᾳ· ^5εἰ γὰρ καὶ τῇ σαρκὶ ἄπειμι, ἀλλὰ τῷ πνεύματι σὺν

4. τοῦτο λέγω κ.τ.λ.] ‘I say all this to you, lest you should be led astray by those false teachers who speak of another knowledge, of other mysteries.’ In other connexions τοῦτο λέγω will frequently refer to the words following (e.g. Gal. iii. 17, 1 Cor. i. 12); but with ἵνα it points to what has gone before, as in Joh. v. 34 ταῦτα λέγω ἵνα ὑμεῖς σωθῆτε.

The reference in τοῦτο λέγω extends over vv. 1–3, and involves two statements; (1) The declaration that all knowledge is comprehended in Christ, vv. 2, 3; (2) The expression of his own personal anxiety that they should remain stedfast in this conviction, vv. 1, 2. This last point explains the language which follows, εἰ γὰρ καὶ τῇ σαρκὶ κ.τ.λ.

παραλογίζηται] ‘_lead you astray by false reasoning_’, as in Daniel xiv. 7 μηδέις σε παραλογιζέσθω (LXX): comp. James i. 22, Ign. _Magn._ 3. It is not an uncommon word either in the LXX or in classical writers. The system against which St Paul here contends professed to be a φιλοσοφία (ver. 8) and had a λόγον σοφίας (ver. 23).

ἐν πιθανολογίᾳ] The words πιθανολογεῖν (Arist. _Eth. Nic._ i. 1), πιθανολογία (Plat. _Theæt._ 162 E), πιθανολογικός (Epictet. i. 8. 7), occur occasionally in classical writers, but do not bear a bad sense, being most frequently opposed to ἀπόδειξις, as probable argument to strict mathematical demonstration. This contrast probably suggested St Paul’s language in 1 Cor. ii. 4 οὐκ ἐν _πειθοῖς_ σοφίας _λόγοις_ ἀλλ’ ἐν _ἀποδείξει_ πνεύματος κ.τ.λ., and may possibly have been present to his mind here.

5. ἀλλὰ] frequently introduces the apodosis after εἰ or εἰ καὶ in St Paul; e.g. Rom. vi. 5, 1 Cor. ix. 2, 2 Cor. iv. 16, v. 16, xi. 6, xiii. 4 (v. l.).

τῷ πνεύματι] ‘_in my spirit_’, not ‘_by the Spirit_’. We have here the common antithesis of flesh and spirit, or body and spirit: comp. 1 Cor. v. 3 ἀπὼν τῷ σώματι, παρὼν δὲ τῷ πνεύματι. St Paul elsewhere uses another antithesis, προσώπῳ and καρδίᾳ, to express this same thing; 1 Thess. ii. 17.

χαίρων καὶ βλέπων] ‘_rejoicing and beholding_’. This must not be regarded as a logical inversion. The contemplation of their orderly array, though it might have been first the cause, was afterwards the consequence, of the Apostle’s rejoicing. He looked, because it gave him satisfaction to look.

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II. 6]

ὑμῖν εἰμί, χαίρων καὶ βλέπων ὑμῶν τὴν τάξιν καὶ τὸ στερέωμα τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως ὑμῶν. ^6ὡς οὖν παρελάβετε τὸν Χριστόν, Ἰησοῦν τὸν Κύριον, ἐν αὐτῷ περιπατεῖτε,

τὴν τάξιν] ‘_your orderly array_’, a military metaphor: comp. e.g. Xen. _Anab._ i. 2. 18 ἰδοῦσα τὴν λαμπρότητα καὶ τὴν τάξιν τοῦ στρατεύματος ἐθαύμασε, Plut. _Vit. Pyrrh._ 16 κατιδὼν τάξιν τε καὶ φυλακὰς καὶ κόσμον αὐτῶν καὶ τὸ σχῆμα τῆς στρατοπεδείας ἐθαύμασε. The enforced companionship of St Paul with the soldiers of the prætorian guard at this time (Phil. i. 13) might have suggested this image. At all events in the contemporary epistle (Ephes. vi. 14 sq.) we have an elaborate metaphor from the armour of a soldier.

τὸ στερέωμα] ‘_solid front_, _close phalanx_’, a continuation of the metaphor: comp. 1 Macc. ix. 14 εἶδεν Ἰούδας ὅτι Βακχίδης καὶ τὸ στερέωμα τῆς παρεμβολῆς ἐν τοῖς δεξιοῖς. Somewhat similar are the expressions στερεοῦν τὸν πόλεμον 1 Macc. x. 50, κατὰ τὴν στερέωσιν τῆς μάχης Ecclus. xxviii. 10. For the connexion here compare 1 Pet. v. 9 ἀντίστητε στερεοὶ τῇ πίστει, Acts xvi. 5 ἐστερεοῦντο τῇ πίστει.

6. ὡς οὖν παρελάβετε κ.τ.λ.] i.e. ‘Let your conviction and conduct be in perfect accordance with the doctrines and precepts of the Gospel as it was taught to you’. For this use of παρελάβετε ‘ye received from your teachers, were instructed in’, comp. 1 Cor. xv. 1, 3, Gal. i. 9, Phil. iv. 9, 1 Thess. ii. 13, iv. 1, 2 Thess. iii. 6. The word παραλαμβάνειν implies either ‘to receive as transmitted’, or ‘to receive for transmission’: see the note on Gal. i. 12. The ὡς of the protasis suggests a οὕτως in the apodosis, which in this case is unexpressed but must be understood. The meaning of ὡς παρελάβετε here is explained by the καθὼς ἐμάθετε ἀπὸ Ἐπαφρᾶ in i. 7; see the note there, and comp. below ver. 7 καθὼς ἐδιδάχθητε.

τὸν Χριστόν] ‘_the Christ_’, rather than ‘the Gospel’, because the central point in the Colossian heresy was the subversion of the true idea of the Christ.

Ἰησοῦν τὸν Κύριον] ‘even _Jesus the Lord_’, in whom the true conception of the Christ is realised: comp. Ephes. iv. 20, 21, ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐχ οὕτως ἐμάθετε _τὸν Χριστόν_, εἴγε αὐτὸν ἠκούσατε καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ ἐδιδάχθητε, _καθώς ἐστιν ἀλήθεια ἐν τῷ Ἰησοῦ_, where the same idea is more directly expressed. The genuine doctrine of the Christ consists in (1) the recognition of the historical person _Jesus_, and (2) the acceptance of Him as _the Lord_. This doctrine was seriously endangered by the mystic theosophy of the false teachers. The same order which we have here occurs also in Ephes. iii. 11 ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν (the correct reading).

7. ἐρριζωμένοι] Two points may be noticed here; (1) The expressive change of tenses; ἐρριζωμένοι ‘firmly rooted’ _once for all_, ἐποικοδομούμενοι, βεβαιούμενοι, ‘built up and strengthened’ _from hour to hour_. (2) The rapid transition of metaphor, περιπατεῖτε, ἐρῥιζωμένοι, ἐποικοδομούμενοι, the path, the tree, the building: comp. Ephes. iii. 17 ἐρριζωμένοι καὶ τεθεμελιωμένοι. The metaphors of the plant and the building occur together in 1 Cor. iii. 9 Θεοῦ γεώργιον, Θεοῦ οἰκοδομή. The transition in this passage is made easier by the fact that ῥιζοῦν (Plut. _Mor._ 321 D), ἐκριζοῦν (Jer. i. 10, 1 Macc. v. 51), πρόρριζος (Jos. _B.J._ vii. 8. 7), etc., are not uncommonly used of cities and buildings.

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II. 7]

^7ἐρριζωμένοι καὶ ἐποικοδομούμενοι ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ βεβαιούμενοι τῇ πίστει, καθὼς ἐδιδάχθητε, περισσεύοντες ἐν αὐτῇ ἐν εὐχαριστίᾳ.

ἐποικοδομούμενοι] ‘_being built up_,’ as in 1 Cor. iii. 10–14. After this verb we might have expected ἐπ’ αὐτῷ or ἐπ’ αὐτόν (1 Cor. iii. 12) rather than ἐν αὐτῷ; but in this and the companion epistle Christ is represented rather as the binding element than as the foundation of the building: e.g. Ephes. ii. 20 ἐποικοδομηθέντες ἐπὶ τῷ θεμελίῳ τῶν ἀποστόλων καὶ προφητῶν, ὄντος _ἀκρογωνιαίου_ αὐτοῦ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ, _ἐν_ ᾧ πᾶσα [ἡ] οἰκοδομὴ αὔξει εἰς ναὸν ἅγιον _ἐν_ Κυρίῳ, _ἐν_ ᾧ καὶ ὑμεῖς συνοικοδομεῖσθε. The ἐπὶ in ἐποικοδομεῖν does not necessarily refer to the original foundation, but may point to the continued progress of the building by successive layers, as e.g. [Aristot.] _Rhet. ad Alex._ 4 (p. 1426) ἐποικοδομοῦντα τὸ ἕτερον ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ ἕτερον αὔξειν. Hence ἐποικοδομεῖν is frequently used absolutely, ‘_to build up_’ (e.g. Jude 20, Polyb. iii. 27, 4), as here. The repetition of ἐν αὐτῷ emphasizes the main idea of the passage, and indeed of the whole epistle.

τῇ πίστει] ‘_by your faith_’, the dative of the instrument; comp. Heb. xiii. 9 καλὸν γὰρ χάριτι βεβαιοῦσθαι τὴν καρδίαν. Faith is, as it were, the cement of the building: comp. Clem. Rom. 22 ταῦτα πάντα βεβαιοῖ ἡ ἐν Χριστῷ πίστις.

καθὼς ἐδιδάχθητε] i.e. ‘remaining true to the lessons which you received from Epaphras, and not led astray by any later pretenders’: comp. i. 6, 7 ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, καθὼς ἐμάθετε ἀπὸ Ἐπαφρᾶ.

ἐν αὐτῇ κ.τ.λ.] The same ending occurs in iv. 2. Thanksgiving is the end of all human conduct, whether exhibited in words or in works. For the stress laid on thanksgiving in St Paul’s epistles generally, see the note on Phil. iv. 6. The words εὐχάριστος, εὐχαριστεῖν, εὐχαριστία, occur in St Paul’s writings alone of the Apostolic epistles. In this epistle especially the duty of thanksgiving assumes a peculiar prominence by being made a refrain, as here and in iii. 15, 17, iv. 2: see also i. 12.

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II. 8]

^8 Βλέπετε μή τις ὑμᾶς ἔσται ὁ συλαγωγῶν διὰ

8. μή τις _ἔσται ὑμᾶς_.

8–15. ‘Be on your guard; do not suffer yourselves to fall a prey to certain persons who would lead you captive by a hollow and deceitful system, which they call philosophy. They substitute the traditions of men for the truth of God. They enforce an elementary discipline of mundane ordinances fit only for children. Theirs is not the Gospel of Christ. In Christ the entire fulness of the Godhead abides for ever, having united itself with man by taking a human body. And so in Him—not in any inferior mediators—ye have your life, your being, for ye are filled from His fulness. He, I say, is the Head over all spiritual beings—call them principalities or powers or what you will. In Him too ye have the true circumcision—the circumcision which is not made with hands but wrought by the Spirit—the circumcision which divests not of a part only but of the whole carnal body—the circumcision which is not of Moses but of Christ. This circumcision ye have, because ye were buried with Christ to your old selves beneath the baptismal waters, and were raised with Him from those same waters to a new and regenerate life, through your faith in the powerful working of God who raised Him from the dead. Yes, you—you Gentiles who before were dead, when ye walked in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your unchastened carnal heathen heart—even you did

God quicken into life together with Christ; then and there freely forgiving all of us—Jews and Gentiles alike—all our transgressions; then and there cancelling the bond which stood valid against us (for it bore our own signature), the bond which engaged us to fulfil all the law of ordinances, which was our stern pitiless tyrant. Ay, this very bond hath Christ put out of sight for ever, nailing it to His cross and rending it with His body and killing it in His death. Taking upon Him our human nature, He stripped off and cast aside all the powers of evil which clung to it like a poisonous garment. As a mighty conqueror He displayed these His fallen enemies to an astonished world, leading them in triumph on His cross.’

8. Βλέπετε κ.τ.λ.] The form of the sentence is a measure of the imminence of the peril. The usual construction with βλέπειν μὴ is a conjunctive; e.g. in Luke xxi. 8 βλέπετε μὴ πλανηθῆτε. Here the substitution of an indicative shows that the danger is real; comp. Heb. iii. 12 βλέπετε μήποτε ἔσται ἕν τινι ὑμῶν καρδία πονηρὰ ἀπιστίας. For other instances of μὴ with a future indicative comp. Mark xiv. 2 μήποτε ἔσται θόρυβος, Rom. xi. 21 μήπως οὐδὲ σοῦ φείσεται; and see Winer § lvi. p. 631 sq.

τις] This indefinite τις is frequently used by St Paul, when speaking of opponents whom he knows well enough but does not care to name: see the note on Gal. i. 7. Comp. Ign. _Smyrn._ 5 ὅν _τινες_ ἀγνοοῦντες ἀρνοῦνται ... τὰ δὲ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν, ὄντα ἄπιστα, οὐκ ἔδοξέ μοι ἐγγράψαι.

συλαγωγῶν] ‘_makes you his prey_, carries you off body and soul’. The word appears not to occur before St Paul, nor after him, independently of this passage, till a late date: e.g. Heliod. _Aeth._ x. 35 οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ τὴν ἐμὴν θυγάτερα συλαγωγήσας. In Tatian _ad Græc._ 22 ὑμεῖς δὲ ὑπὸ τούτων συλαγωγεῖσθε it seems to be a reminiscence of St Paul. Its full and proper meaning, as appears from the passages quoted, is not ‘to despoil,’ but ‘to carry off as spoil’, in accordance with the analogous compounds, δουλαγωγεῖν, σκευαγωγεῖν. So too the closely allied word λαφυραγωγεῖν in Plut. _Mor._ p. 5 πόλεμος γὰρ οὐ λαφυραγωγεῖ ἀρετήν, _Vit. Galb._ 5 τὰ μὲν Γαλατῶν, ὅταν ὑποχείριοι γένωνται, λαφυραγωγήσεσθαι. The Colossians had been rescued from the bondage of darkness; they had been transferred to the kingdom of light; they had been settled there as free citizens (i. 12, 13); and now there was danger that they should fall into a state worse than their former slavery, that they should be carried off as so much booty. Comp. 2 Tim. iii. 6 αἰχμαλωτίζοντες γυναικάρια.

For the construction ἔσται ὁ συλαγωγῶν see the notes on Gal. i. 7, iii. 21. The former passage is a close parallel to the words here, εἰ μή τινές εἰσιν οἱ ταράσσοντες ὑμᾶς κ.τ.λ. The expression ὁ συλαγωγῶν gives a directness and individuality to the reference, which would have been wanting to the more natural construction ὃς συλαγωγήσει.

διὰ τῆς φιλοσοφίας κ.τ.λ.] ‘_through his philosophy which is an empty deceit_’. The absence of both preposition and article in the second clause shows that κενῆς ἀπάτης describes and qualifies φιλοσοφίας. Clement therefore (_Strom._ vi. 8, p. 771) had a right to contend that St Paul does not here condemn ‘philosophy’ absolutely. The φιλοσοφία καὶ κενὴ ἀπάτη of this passage corresponds to the ψευδώνυμος γνῶσις of 1 Tim. vi. 20.

But though ‘philosophy’ is not condemned, it is disparaged by the connexion in which it is placed. St Chrysostom’s comment is not altogether wrong, ἐπειδὴ δοκεῖ σεμνὸν εἶναι τὸ τῆς φιλοσοφίας, προσέθηκε καὶ κενῆς ἀπάτης. The term was doubtless used by the false teachers themselves to describe their system. Though essentially Greek as a name and as an idea, it had found its way into Jewish circles. Philo speaks of the Hebrew religion and Mosaic law as ἡ πάτριος φιλοσοφία (_Leg. ad Cai._ 23, II. p. 568, _de Somn._ ii. 18, I. p. 675) or ἡ Ἰουδαϊκὴ φιλοσοφία (_Leg. ad Cai._ 33, II. p. 582) or ἡ κατὰ Μω"υσῆν φιλοσοφία (_de Mut. Nom._ 39, I. p. 612). The system of the Essenes, the probable progenitors of the false teachers at Colossæ, he describes as ἡ δίχα περιεργείας Ἑλληνικῶν ὀνομάτων φιλοσοφία (_Omn. prob. lib._ 13, II. p. 459). So too Josephus speaks of the three Jewish sects as τρεῖς φιλοσοφίαι (_Ant._ xviii. 1. 2, comp. _B.J._ ii. 8. 2). It should be remembered also, that in this later age, owing to Roman influence, the term was used to describe practical not less than speculative systems, so that it would cover the ascetic life as well as the mystic theosophy of these Colossian heretics. Hence the Apostle is here flinging back at these false teachers a favourite term of their own, ‘their vaunted _philosophy_, which is hollow and misleading’.

The word indeed could claim a truly noble origin; for it is said to have arisen out of the humility of Pythagoras, who called himself ‘a lover of wisdom’, μηδένα γὰρ εἶναι σοφὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀλλ’ ἢ Θεόν (Diog. Laert. Proœm. § 12; comp. Cic. _Tusc._ v. 3). In such a sense the term would entirely accord with the spirit and teaching of St Paul; for it bore testimony to the insufficiency of the human intellect and the need of a revelation. But in his age it had come to be associated generally with the idea of subtle dialectics and profitless speculation; while in this particular instance it was combined with a mystic cosmogony and angelology which contributed a fresh element of danger. As contrasted with the power and fulness and certainty of revelation, all such philosophy was ‘foolishness’ (1 Cor. i. 20). It is worth observing that this word, which to the Greeks denoted the highest effort of the intellect, occurs here alone in St Paul, just as he uses ἀρετή, which was their term to express the highest moral excellence, in a single passage only (Phil. iv. 8; see the note there). The reason is much the same in both cases. The Gospel had deposed the terms as inadequate to the higher standard, whether of knowledge or of practice, which it had introduced.

On the attitude of the fathers towards philosophy, while philosophy was a living thing, see Smith’s _Dictionary of the Bible_ s.v. Clement, who was followed in the main by the earlier Alexandrian fathers, regards Greek philosophy not only as a preliminary training (προπαιδεία) for the Gospel, but even as in some sense a covenant (διαθήκη) given by God to the Greeks (_Strom._ i. 5, p. 331, vi. 5, p. 761, _ib._ § 8, p. 771 sq.). Others, who were the great majority and of whom Tertullian may be taken as an extreme type, set their faces directly against it, seeing in it only the parent of all heretical teaching: e.g. _de Anim._ 2, 3, _Apol._ 46, 47. In the first passage, referring to this text, he says, ‘Ab apostolo jam tunc philosophia concussio veritatis providebatur’; in the second he asks, ‘Quid simile philosophus et Christianus?’ St Paul’s speech at Athens, on the only occasion when he is known to have been brought into direct personal contact with Greek philosophers (Acts xvii. 18), shows that his sympathies would have been at least as strong with Clement’s representations as with Tertullian’s.

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II. 8]

τῆς φιλοσοφίας καὶ κενῆς ἀπάτης, κατὰ τὴν παράδοσιν

κατὰ κ.τ.λ.] The false teaching is described (1) As regards its source–‘the traditions of _men_’; (2) As regards its subject matter–‘the rudiments of _the world_’.

τὴν παράδοσιν κ.τ.λ.] Other systems, as for instance the ceremonial mishna of the Pharisees, might fitly be described in this way (Matt. xv. 2 sq., Mark vii. 3 sq.): but such a description was peculiarly appropriate to a mystic theosophy like this of the Colossian false teachers. The teaching might be oral or written, but it was essentially esoteric, essentially traditional. It could not appeal to sacred books which had been before all the world for centuries. The Essenes, the immediate spiritual progenitors of these Colossian heretics, distinctly claimed to possess such a source of knowledge, which they carefully guarded from divulgence; _B.J._ ii. 8. 7 συντηρήσειν ὁμοίως τά τε τῆς αἱρέσεως αυτῶν βιβλία καὶ τὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων ὀνόματα (see above pp. 89, 90 sq., 95). The various Gnostic sects, their direct or collateral spiritual descendants, almost without exception traced their doctrines to a similar source: e.g. Hippol. _Hær._ v. 7 ἃ φησὶ _παραδεδωκέναι_ Μαριάμνῃ τὸν Ἰάκωβον τοῦ Κυρίου τὸν ἀδελφόν, vii. 20 φασὶν εἰρηκέναι Ματθίαν αὐτοῖς λόγους ἀποκρύφους οὓς ἤκουσε παρὰ τοῦ σωτῆρος, Clem. Alex. _Strom._ vii. 17 (p. 898) καθάπερ ὁ Βασιλείδης, κἂν Γλαυκίαν ἐπιγράφηται διδάσκαλον, ὡς αὐχοῦσιν αὐτοί, τὸν Πέτρου ἑρμηνέα· ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ Οὐαλεντῖνον Θεοδᾶ διακηκοέναι φέρουσιν, γνώριμος δὲ οὗτος ἐγεγόνει Παύλου. So too a later mystic theology of the Jews, which had many affinities with the teaching of the Christianized Essenes at Colossæ, was self-designated _Kabbala_ or ‘tradition’, professing to have been handed down orally from the patriarchs. See the note on ἀπόκρυφοι, ii. 3.

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II. 8]

τῶν ἀνθρώπων, κατὰ τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου,

τὰ στοιχεῖα] ‘_the rudiments_, _the elementary teaching_’; comp. ver. 20. The same phrase occurs again Gal. iv. 3 (comp. ver. 9). As στοιχεῖα signifies primarily ‘the letters of the alphabet’, so as a secondary meaning it denotes ‘rudimentary instruction’. Accordingly it is correctly interpreted by Clement _Strom._ vi. 8 (p. 771) Παῦλος ... οὐκ ἔτι παλινδρομεῖν ἀξιοῖ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλληνικὴν φιλοσοφίαν, στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου τάυτην ἀλληγορῶν, στοιχειωτικήν τινα οὖσαν (i.e. elementary) καὶ προπαιδείαν τῆς ἀληθείας (comp. _ib._ vi. 15, p. 799), and by Tertullian _adv. Marc._ v. 19 ‘_secundum elementa mundi_, non secundum cælum et terram dicens, sed secundum literas seculares’. A large number of the fathers however explained the expression to refer to the heavenly bodies (called στοιχεῖα), as marking the seasons, so that the observance of ‘festivals and new-moons and sabbaths’ was a sort of bondage to them. It would appear from Tertullian’s language that Marcion also had so interpreted the words. On this false interpretation see the note on Gal. iv. 3. It is quite out of place here: for (1) The context suggests some _mode of instruction_, e.g. τὴν παράδοσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων here, and δογματίζεσθε in ver. 20; (2) The keeping of days and seasons is quite subordinate to other external observances. The rite of circumcision (ver. 11), and the distinction of meats (ver. 21) respectively, are placed in close and immediate connexion with τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου in the two places where it occurs, whereas the observance of days and seasons (ver. 16) stands apart from either.

τοῦ κόσμου] ‘_of the world_’, that is, ‘belonging to the sphere of material and external things’. See the notes on Gal. iv. 3, vi. 14.

‘In Christ’, so the Apostle seems to say, ‘you have attained the liberty and the intelligence of manhood; do not submit yourselves again to a rudimentary discipline fit only for children (τὰ στοιχεῖα). In Christ you have been exalted into the sphere of the Spirit: do not plunge yourselves again into the atmosphere of material and sensuous things (τοῦ κόσμου).’

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II. 9, 10]

καὶ οὐ κατὰ Χριστόν· ^9ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς, ^{10}καὶ ἐστὲ ἐν αὐτῷ

οὐ κατὰ Χριστόν] ‘_not after Christ_’. This expression is wide in itself, and should be interpreted so as to supply the negative to both the preceding clauses; ‘Christ is neither the author nor the substance of their teaching: not the author, for they listen to human traditions (κατὰ τὴν παράδοσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων); not the substance, for they replace Him by formal ordinances (κατὰ τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου) and by angelic mediators‘.

9 sq. In explaining the true doctrine which is ‘after Christ’, St Paul condemns the two false principles, which lay at the root of this heretical teaching; (1) The _theological_ error of substituting inferior and created beings angelic mediators for the divine Head Himself (vv. 9, 10); and (2) The _practical_ error of insisting upon ritual and ascetic observances, as the foundation of their moral teaching (vv. 11–14). Their theological speculations and their ethical code alike were at fault. On the intimate connexion between these two errors, as springing out of a common root, the Gnostic dualism of these false teachers, see the introduction, pp. 33 sq., 79, 87, 180 sq.

ὅτι κ.τ.λ.] The Apostle justifies the foregoing charge that this doctrine was not κατὰ Χριστόν; ‘In Christ dwells the whole pleroma, the entire fulness of the Godhead, whereas they represent it to you as dispersed among several spiritual agencies. Christ is the one fountain-head of all spiritual life, whereas they teach you to seek it in communion with inferior creatures.’ The same truths have been stated before (i. 14 sq.) more generally and they are now restated with direct and immediate reference to the heretical teaching.

κατοικεῖ] ‘_has its fixed abode_’. On the force of this compound in relation to the false teaching, see the note on i. 19.

πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα] ‘_all the plenitude_’, ‘the totality of the divine powers and attributes’. On this theological term see i. 19, and the detached note at the end of the epistle.

τῆς θεότητος] ‘_of the Godhead_’. ‘Non modo divinæ virtutes, sed ipsa divina natura’, writes Bengel. For the difference between θέοτης ‘_deitas_’, the essence, and θειότης ‘_divinitas_’, the quality, see Trench _N. T. Syn._ § ii. p. 6. The different force of the two words may be seen by a comparison of two passages in Plutarch, _Mor._ p. 857 A πᾶσιν Αἰγυπτίοις θειότητα πολλὴν καὶ δικαιοσύνην μαρτυρήσας (where it means a divine inspiration or faculty, and where no one would have used θεότητα), and _Mor._ 415 C ἐκ δὲ ἡρώων εἰς δαίμονας αἱ βελτίονες ψυχαὶ τὴν μεταβολὴν λαμβάνουσιν, ἐκ δὲ δαιμόνων ὀλίγαι μὲν ἔτι χρόνῳ πολλῷ δι’ ἀρετῆς καθαρθεῖσαι παντάπασι θεότητος μετέσχον (where θειότητος would be quite out of place, because all δαίμονες without exception were θεῖοι, though they only became θεοί in rare instances and after long probation and discipline). In the New Testament the one word occurs here alone, the other in Rom. i. 20 alone. So also τὸ θεῖον, a very favourite expression in Greek philosophy, is found once only, in Acts xvii. 29, where it is used with singular propriety; for the Apostle is there meeting the heathen philosophers on their own ground and arguing with them in their own language. Elsewhere he instinctively avoids a term which tends to obscure the idea of a personal God. In the Latin versions, owing to the poverty of the language, both θέοτης and θείοτης are translated by the same term _divinitas_; but this was felt to be inadequate, and the word _deitas_ was coined at a later date to represent θέοτης: August. _de Civ. Dei_ vii. § 1, VII. p. 162 (quoted in Trench) ‘Hanc divinitatem vel, ut sic dixerim, _deitatem_: nam et hoc verbo uti jam nostros non piget, ut de Græco expressius transferant id quod illi θεότητα appellant etc.’

σωματικῶς] ‘_bodily-wise_’, ‘_corporeally_’, i.e. ‘assuming a bodily form, becoming incarnate’. This is an addition to the previous statement in i. 19 ἐν αυτῷ εὐδόκησεν πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα κατοικῆσαι. The indwelling of the pleroma refers to the Eternal Word, and not to the Incarnate Christ; but σωματικῶς is added to show that the Word, in whom the pleroma thus had its abode from all eternity, crowned His work by the Incarnation. Thus while the main statement κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος of St Paul corresponds to the opening sentence ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θὲον καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος of St John, the subsidiary adverb σωματικῶς of St Paul has its counterpart in the additional statement καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο of St John. All other meanings which have been assigned to σωματικῶς here, as ‘wholly’ (Hieron. _in Is._ xi. 1 sq., IV. p. 156, ‘nequaquam per partes, ut in ceteris sanctis’), or ‘really’ (Aug. _Epist._ cxlix, II. p. 513 ‘Ideo corporaliter dixit, quia illi umbratiliter seducebant’), or ‘essentially’ (Hilar. _de Trin._ viii. 54, II. p. 252 ‘Dei ex Deo significat veritatem etc.’, Cyril. Alex. in Theodoret. _Op._ V. p. 34 τουτέστιν, οὐ σχετικῶς, Isid. Pelus. _Ep._ iv. 166 ἀντὶ τοῦ οὐσιωδῶς), are unsupported by usage. Nor again can the body be understood of anything else but Christ’s human body; as for instance of the created World (Theod. Mops. in Rab. _Op._ VI. p. 522) or of the Church (Anon. in Chrysost. _ad loc._). According to these two last interpretations τὸ πλήρομα τῆς θεότητος is taken to mean the Universe (‘universam naturam repletam ab eo’) and the Church (τὴν ἐκκλησίαν πεπληρωμένην ὑπὸ τῆς θεότητος αὐτοῦ, see Ephes. i. 23) respectively, because either of these may be said to reside in Him, as the source of its life, and to stand to Him in the relation of the body to the head (σωματικῶς). But these forced interpretations have nothing to recommend them.

St Paul’s language is carefully guarded. He does not say ἐν σώματι, for the Godhead cannot be confined to any limits of space; nor σωματοειδῶς, for this might suggest the unreality of Christ’s human body; but σωματικῶς, ‘in bodily wise’, ‘with a bodily manifestation’. The relation of σωματικῶς to the clause which it qualifies will depend on the circumstances of the case: comp. e.g. Plut. _Mor._ p. 424 E λέιπεται τοίνυν τὸ μέσον οὐ τοπικῶς ἀλλὰ σωματικῶς λέγεσθαι, i.e. ‘ratione corporis habita’, Athan. _Exp. Fid._ 4 (I. p. 81) ἑκάτερα τοίνυν τὰ περὶ τὸ κτίσμα ῥητὰ σωματικῶς εἰς τὸν Ἰησοῦν γέγραπται, i.e. ‘secundum corpus’, Ptolem. in Epiphan. _Hær._ xxxiii. 5 κατὰ μὲν τὸ φαινόμενον καὶ σωματικῶς ἐκτελεῖσθαι ἀνῃρέθη.

10. καὶ ἐστὲ ἐν αὐτῷ] ‘_and ye are in Him_’, where ἐστὲ should be separated from the following πεπληρωμένοι; comp. John xvii. 21, Acts xvii. 28. True life consists in union with Him, and not in dependence on any inferior being; comp. ver. 19 οὐ κρατῶν τὴν κεφαλήν, ἐξ ὁῦ κ.τ.λ.

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II. 10]

πεπληρωμένοι, ὅς ἐστιν ἡ κεφαλὴ πάσης ἀρχῆς καὶ

πεπληρωμένοι] ‘_being fulfilled_’, with a direct reference to the preceding πλήρωμα; ‘Your fulness comes from His fulness; His πλήρωμα is transfused into you by virtue of your incorporation in Him’. So too John i. 16 ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἐλάβομεν, Ephes. iii. 19 ἵνα πληρωθῆτε εἰς πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ Θεοῦ, iv. 13 εἰς μέτρον ἡλικίας τοῦ πληρώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, comp. Ign. _Ephes._ init. τῇ εὐλογημένῃ ἐν μεγέθει Θεοῦ πατρὸς πληρώματι. Hence also the Church, as ideally regarded, is called the πλήρωμα of Christ, because all His graces and energies are communicated to her; Ephes. i. 23 ἥτις ἐστὶν τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ, τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν πληρουμένου.

ὅς] For the various reading ὅ see the detached note. It was perhaps a correction made on the false supposition that ἐν αὐτῷ referred to the πλήρωμα. At all events it must be regarded as an impossible reading; for the image would be altogether confused and lost, if the πλήρωμα were represented as the head. And again ἡ κεφαλὴ is persistently said elsewhere of Christ; i. 18, ii. 19, Ephes. i. 22, iv. 15, v. 23. Hilary _de Trin._ ix. 8 (II. p. 264) explains the ὅ as referring to the whole sentence τὸ εἶναι ἐν αὐτῷ πεπληρωμένους, but this also is an inconceivable sense. Again it has been suggested that ὅ ἐστιν (like τουτέστιν) may be taken as equivalent to _scilicet_ (comp. Clem. _Hom._ viii. 22); but this would require τῇ κεφαλῇ, even if it were otherwise admissible here.

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II. 11]

ἐξουσίας· ^{11}ἐν ᾧ καὶ περιετμήθητε περιτομῇ ἀχειροποιήτῳ,

ἡ κεφαλὴ] The image expresses much more than the idea of sovereignty: the head is also the centre of vital force, the source of all energy and life: see the note on ver. 19.

πάσης ἀρχῆς κ.τ.λ.] ‘_of every principality and power_’, and therefore of those angelic beings whom the false teachers adopted as mediators, thus transferring to the inferior members the allegiance due to the Head: comp. ver. 18 sq. For ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐξουσίας, see the note on i. 16.

11. The previous verses have dealt with the theological tenets of the false teachers. The Apostle now turns to their practical errors; ‘You do not need the circumcision of the flesh; for you have received the circumcision of the heart. The distinguishing features of this higher circumcision are threefold. (1) It is not external but inward, not made with hands but wrought by the Spirit. (2) It divests not of a part only of the flesh, but of the whole body of carnal affections. (3) It is the circumcision not of Moses or of the patriarchs, but of Christ’. Thus it is distinguished, as regards _first_ its character, _secondly_ its extent, and _thirdly_ its author.

περιετμήθητε] The moment at which this is conceived as taking place is defined by the other aorists, συνταφέντες, συνηγέρθητε, etc., as the time of their baptism, when they ‘put on Christ’.

ἀχειροποιήτῳ] i.e. ‘immaterial’, ‘spiritual’, as Mark xiv. 58, 2 Cor. v. 1. So χειροποίητος, which is used in the N. T. of material temples and their furniture (Acts vii. 48, xvii. 24, Heb. ix. 11, 24, comp. Mark _l.c._), and of the material circumcision (Ephes. ii. 11 τῆς λεγομένης περιτομῆς ἐν σαρκὶ χειροποιήτου). In the LXX χειροποίητα occurs exclusively as a rendering of idols (אלילם, e.g. Lev. xxvi. 1, Is. ii. 18, etc.), false gods (אלהים Is. xxi. 9, where perhaps they read אלילים), or images (חמנים Lev. xxvi. 30), except in one passage, Is. xvi. 12, where it is applied to an idol’s sanctuary. Owing to this association of the word the application which we find in the New Testament would sound much more depreciatory to Jewish ears than it does to our own; e.g. ἐν χειροποιήτοις κατοικεῖ in St Stephen’s speech, where the force of the passage is broken in the received text by the interpolation of ναοῖς.

For illustrations of the typical significance of circumcision, as a symbol of purity, see the note on Phil. iii. 3.

ἐν τῇ κ.τ.λ.] The words are chosen to express the _completeness_ of the spiritual change. (1) It is not an ἔκδυσις nor an ἀπόδυσις, but an ἀπέκδυσις. The word ἀπέκδυσις is extremely rare, and no earlier instances of it are produced; see the note on ver. 15 ἀπεκδυσάμενος. (2) It is not a single member but the whole body, which is thus cast aside; see the next note. Thus the idea of completeness is brought out both in the energy of the action and in the extent of its operation, as in iii. 9 ἀπεκδυσάμενοι τὸν παλαιὸν _ἄνθρωπον_.

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II. 12]

ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει τοῦ σώματος τῆς σαρκός, ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ^{12}συνταφέντες αὐτῷ ἐν

τοῦ σώματος κ.τ.λ.] ‘_the whole body_ which consists _of the flesh_’, i.e. ‘the body with all its corrupt and carnal affections’; as iii. 5 νεκρώσατε οὖν _τὰ μέλη_. For illustrations of the expression see Rom. vi. 6 ἵνα καταργηθῇ τὸ σῶμα τῆς ἁμαρτίας, vii. 24 τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου, Phil. iii. 21 τὸ σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν. Thus τὸ σῶμα τῆς σαρκός here means ‘the fleshly body’ and not ‘the entire mass of the flesh’; but the contrast between the whole and the part still remains. In i. 22 the same expression τὸ σῶμα τῆς σαρκός occurs, but with a different emphasis and meaning: see the note there.

The words τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν, inserted between τοῦ σώματος and τῆς σαρκός in the received text, are clearly a gloss, and must be omitted with the vast majority of ancient authorities.

12. Baptism is the grave of the old man, and the birth of the new. As he sinks beneath the baptismal waters, the believer buries there all his corrupt affections and past sins; as he emerges thence, he rises regenerate, quickened to new hopes and a new life. This it is, because it is not only the crowning act of his own faith but also the seal of God’s adoption and the earnest of God’s Spirit. Thus baptism is an image of his participation both in the death and in the resurrection of Christ. See _Apost. Const._ iii. 17 ἡ κατάδυσις τὸ συναποθανεῖν, ἡ ἀνάδυσις τὸ συναναστῆναι. For this twofold image, as it presents itself to St Paul, see especially Rom. vi. 3 sq.

ἐν τῷ βαπτισμῷ] ‘_in the act of baptism_’. A distinction seems to be observed elsewhere in the New Testament between βάπτισμα ‘baptism’ properly so called, and βαπτισμός ‘lustration’ or ‘washing’ of divers kinds, e.g. of vessels (Mark vii. 4, [8,] Heb. ix. 10). Even Heb. vi. 2 βαπτισμῶν διδαχῆς, which at first sight might seem to be an exception to this rule, is perhaps not really so (Bleek _ad loc._). Here however, where the various readings βαπτισμῷ and βαπτίσματι appear in competition, the preference ought probably to be given to βαπτισμῷ as being highly supported in itself (see the detached note on various readings) and as the less usual word in this sense. There is no _a priori_ reason why St Paul should not have used βαπτισμός with this meaning, for it is so found in Josephus _Ant._ xviii. 5. 2 βαπτισμῷ συνιέναι (of John the Baptist). Doubtless the form βάπτισμα was more appropriate to describe the one final and complete act of Christian baptism, and it very soon obtained exclusive possession of the ground in Greek; but in St Paul’s age the other form βαπτισμός may not yet have been banished. In the Latin Version _baptisma_ and _baptismus_ are used indiscriminately: and this is the case also with the Latin fathers. The substantive ‘baptism’ occurs so rarely in any sense in St Paul (only Rom. vi. 4, Eph. iv. 5, besides this passage), or indeed elsewhere in the N. T. of Christian baptism (only in 1 Pet. iii. 21), that we have not sufficient data for a sound induction. So far as the two words have any inherent difference of meaning, βαπτισμός denotes rather the act in process and βάπτισμα the result.

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II. 12]

τῷ βαπτισμῷ, ἐν ᾧ καὶ συνηγέρθητε διὰ τῆς πίστεως τῆς ἐνεργείας τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ἐγείραντος αὐτὸν ἐκ [τῶν]

12. τῷ βαπτίσματι.

ἐν ᾧ] i.e. βαπτισμῷ. Others would understand Χριστῷ for the sake of the parallelism with ver. 11 ἐν hῷ καὶ ... εν ᾧ καί. But this parallelism is not suggested by the sense: while on the other hand there is obviously a very close connexion between συνταφέντες and συνηγέρθητε as the two complementary aspects of baptism; comp. Rom. vi. 4 sq. _συνετάφημεν_ αὐτῷ διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἵνα ὥσπερ _ἐγέρθη_ Χριστὸς ... ὅυτως καὶ ἡμεῖς ... εἰ γὰρ σύμφυτοι γεγόναμεν τῷ ὁμοίωματι _τοῦ θανάτου_ αὐτοῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ _τῆς ἀναστάσεως_ ἐσόμεθα, 2 Tim. ii. 11 εἰ γὰρ _συναπεθάνομεν_, καὶ _συνζήσομεν_. In fact the idea of Χριστῷ must be reserved for συνηγέρθητε where it is wanted, ‘_ye were raised together with Him_’.

διὰ τῆς πίστεως κ.τ.λ.] ‘_through your faith in the operation_,’ ἐνεργείας being the objective genitive. So St Chrysostom, πίστεως ὅλον ἐστίν· ἐπιστεύσατε ὅτι δύναται ὁ Θεὸς ἐγεῖραι, καὶ οὕτως ἠγέρθητε. Only by a belief in the resurrection are the benefits of the resurrection obtained, because only so are its moral effects produced. Hence St Paul prays that he may ‘know the _power_ of Christ’s resurrection’ (Phil. iii. 10). Hence too he makes this the cardinal article in the Christian’s creed, ‘If thou ... believest in thy heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved’ (Rom. x. 9). For the influence of Christ’s resurrection on the moral and spiritual being, see the note on Phil. _l.c._ Others take τῆς ἐνεργείας as the subjective genitive, ‘faith which comes from the operation etc.’, arguing from a mistaken interpretation of the parallel passage Ephes. i. 19 (where κατὰ τῆν ἐνέργειαν should be connected, not with τοὺς πιστεύοντας, but with τί τὸ ὑπερβάλλον μέγεθος κ.τ.λ.). The former explanation however yields a better sense, and the genitive after πίστις far more commonly describes the object than the source of the faith, e.g. Rom. iii. 22, 26, Gal. iii. 22, Ephes. iii. 12, Phil. i. 27, iii. 9, 2 Thess. ii. 13.

13. In the sentence which follows it seems necessary to assume a change of subject. There can be little doubt that ὁ Θεὸς is the nominative to συνεζωοποίησεν: for (1) The parallel passage Ephes. ii. 4, 5 directly suggests this. (2) This is uniformly St Paul’s mode of speaking elsewhere. It is always God who ἐγέιρει, συνεγέιρει, ζωοποιεῖ, συνζωοποιεῖ, etc., with or in or through Christ. (3) Though it might be possible to assign σὺν αὐτῷ to the subject of συνεζωοποίησεν (see the note on i. 20), yet a reference to some other person is more natural. These reasons seem to decide the subject of συνεζωοποίησεν. But at the same time it appears quite impossible to continue the same subject, ὁ Θεός, to the end of the sentence. No grammatical meaning can be assigned to ἀπεκδυσάμενος, by which it could be understood of God the Father. We must suppose therefore that a new subject, ὁ Χριστός, is introduced meanwhile, either with ἦρκεν or with ἀπεκδυσάμενος itself; and of the two the former seems the easier point of transition. For a similar instance of abrupt transition, which is the more natural owing to the intimate connexion of the work of the Son with the work of the Father, see e.g. i. 17 sq.

καὶ ὑμᾶς] i.e. ‘you Gentiles’. This will appear from a study of the parallel passages iii. 7, 8, Ephes. i. 13, ii. 1 sq., 11, 13, 17, 22, iii. 2, iv. 17; see the notes on Ephes. i. 13, and on τῇ ἀκροβυστίᾳ just below.

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II. 13]

νεκρῶν· ^{13}καὶ ὑμᾶς νεκροὺς ὄντας τοῖς παραπτώμασιν καὶ τῇ ἀκροβυστίᾳ τῆς σαρκὸς ὑμῶν, συνεζωοποίησεν

τοῖς παραπτώμασιν κ.τ.λ.] ‘_by reason of your transgressions etc._’ The παραπτώματα are the actual definite transgressions, while the ἀκροβυστία τῆς σαρκός is the impure carnal disposition which prompts to them. For the dative comp. Ephes. ii. 1, 5, where the same expression occurs; see Winer _Gramm._ § xxxi. p. 270. On the other hand in Rom. vi. 11 νεκροὺς μὲν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, ζῶντας δὲ τῷ Θεῷ, the dative has a wholly different meaning, as the context shows. The ἐν of the received text, though highly supported, is doubtless an interpolation for the sake of grammatical clearness.

τῇ ἀκροβυστίᾳ κ.τ.λ.] The external fact is here mentioned, not for its own sake but for its symbolical meaning. The outward uncircumcision of the Gentiles is a type of their unchastened carnal mind. In other words, though the literal meaning is not excluded, the spiritual reference is most prominent, as appears from ver. 11 ἐν τῆι ἀπεκδύσει τοῦ σώματος. Hence Theodore’s comment, ἀκροβυστίαν (ἐκάλεσεν) τὸ περικεῖσθαι ἔτι τὴν θνητότητα. At the same time the choice of the expression shows that the Colossian converts addressed by St Paul were mainly Gentiles.

συνεζωοποίησεν] It has been questioned whether the life here spoken of should be understood in a spiritual sense of the regeneration of the moral being, or in a literal sense of the future life of immortality regarded as conferred on the Christian potentially now, though only to be realised hereafter. But is not such an issue altogether superfluous? Is there any reason to think that St Paul would have separated these two ideas of life? To him the future glorified life is only the continuation of the present moral and spiritual life. The two are the same in essence, however the accidents may differ. Moral and spiritual regeneration is salvation, is life.

ὑμᾶς] The pronoun is repeated for the sake of emphasis. The omission in some good copies is doubly explained; (1) By the desire to simplify the grammar; (2) By the wish to relieve the awkwardness of the close proximity between ὑμᾶς and ἡμῖν. This latter consideration has led a few good authorities to substitute ἡμᾶς for ὑμᾶς, and others to substitute ὑμῖν for ἡμῖν. For instances of those emphatic repetitions in St Paul see the note on i. 20 δι’ αὐτοῦ.

σὺν αὐτῳ] ‘with Christ’, as in Ephes. ii. 5 συνεζωοποίησεν τῷ Χριστῷ. On the inadmissibility of the reading ἁυτῷ see the note on εἰς αὐτὸν i. 20.

χαρισάμενος] ‘_having forgiven_’, as in Luke vii. 42 sq., 2 Cor. ii. 7, 10, xii. 13, Ephes. iv. 32; see also the note on iii. 13 below. The idea of sin as a debt incurred to God (Matt. vi. 12 τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν, comp. Luke xi. 4) underlies this expression, as it does also the commoner term for pardon, ἄφεσις ‘remission’. The image is carried out in the cancelled bond, ver. 14.

ἡμῖν] The person is changed; ‘not to you Gentiles only, but to us all alike’. St Paul is eager to claim his share in the transgression, that he may claim it also in the forgiveness. For other examples of the change from the second to the first person, see i. 10–13, iii. 3, 4, Ephes. ii. 2, 3, 13, 14, iv. 31, 32, v. 2 (the correct reading), 1 Thess. v. 5, where the motive of the change is similar. See also Gal. iii. 25, 26, iv. 5, 6, where there is the converse transition.

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II. 14]

ὑμᾶς σὺν αὐτῷ, χαρισάμενος ἡμῖν πάντα τὰ παραπτώματα, ^{14}ἐξαλείψας τὸ καθ’ ἡμῶν χειρόγραφον τοῖς

14. ἐξαλέιψας] ‘_having cancelled_’. The word ἐξαλέιφειν, like διαγράφειν, signifying ‘to blot out, to erase’, is commonly opposed to ἐγγράφειν ‘to enter a name, etc.’; e.g. Arist. _Pax_ 1181, Lysias _c. Nicom._ p. 183, Plato _Resp._ vi. p. 501 B. More especially is it so used in reference to an _item_ in an account, e.g. Demosth. _c. Aristog._ i. p. 791 ἐγγράφονται πάντες οἱ ὀφλισκάνοντες ... ἐξαλήλιπται τὸ ὄφλημα.

τὸ καθ’ ἡμῶν κ.τ.λ.] ‘_the bond standing against us_’. The word χειρόγραφον, which means properly an autograph of any kind, is used almost exclusively for a note of hand, a bond or obligation, as having the ‘sign-manual’ of the debtor or contractor: e.g. Tobit v. 3 (comp. ix. 5) ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ τὸ χειρόγραφον, Plut. _Mor._ p. 829 A τῶν χειρογράφων καὶ συμβολαίων. It is more common in Latin than in Greek, e.g. Cic. _Fam._ vii. 18 ‘Misi cautionem chirographi mei’, Juv. _Sat._ xvi. 41 ‘Debitor aut sumptos pergit non reddere nummos, vana supervacui dicens chirographa ligni’ (comp. xiii. 137). Hence chirographum, chirographarius, are frequent terms in the Roman law-books; see Hesse _Handlexicon zu den Quellen des römischen Rechts_ s.v. p. 74.

In the case before us the Jewish people might be said to have signed the contract when they bound themselves by a curse to observe all the enactments of the law (Deut. xxvii. 14–26; comp. Exod. xxiv. 3); and the primary reference would be to them. But ἡμῖν, ἡμῶν, seem to include Gentiles as well as Jews, so that a wider reference must be given to the expression. The δόγματα therefore, though referring primarily to the Mosaic ordinances, will include all forms of positive decrees in which moral or social principles are embodied or religious duties defined; and the ‘bond’ is the moral assent of the conscience, which (as it were) signs and seals the obligation. The Gentiles, though ‘not having a law, are a law to themselves’, ὅιτινες ἐνδείκνυνται τὸ ἔργον τοῦ νόμου _γραπτὸν_ ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις αὐτῶν, _συμμαρτυρούσης_ αὐτων τῆς συνειδήσεως, Rom. ii. 14, 15. See the notes on Gal. ii. 19, iv. 11. Comp. Orig. _Hom. in Gen._ xiii. 4 (II. p. 96).

τοῖς δόγμασιν] ‘_consisting in ordinances_’: comp. Ephes. ii. 15 τὸν νόμον τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐν δόγμασιν. The word δόγμα is here used in its proper sense of a ‘decree’, ‘ordinance’, corresponding to δογματίζεσθε below, ver. 20. This is its only sense in the N. T.; e.g. Luke ii. 1, Acts xvii. 7, of the Emperor’s decrees; Acts xvi. 4 of the Apostolic ordinances. Here it refers especially to the Mosaic law, as in Joseph. _Ant._ xv. 5. 3 τὰ κάλλιστα τῶν δογμάτων καὶ τὰ ὁσιώτατα τῶν ἐν τοῖς νόμοις, Philo _Leg. All._ i. 16 (I. p. 54) διατήρησις τῶν ἁγίων δογμάτων, 3 Macc. i. 3 τῶν πατρίων δογμάτων. Comp. Iren. _Fragm._ 38 (p. 855 Stieren) where, immediately after a reference to our text, τοῖς τῶν Ἰουδαίων δόγμασι προσέρχεσθαι is opposed to πνευματικῶς λειτουργεῖν. In the parallel passage, Ephes. ii. 15, this is the exclusive reference; but here (for reasons explained in the last note) it seems best to give the term a secondary and more extensive application.

The dative is perhaps best explained as governed by the idea of γεγραμμένον involved in χειρόγραφον (comp. Plat. _Ep._ vii. p. 243 A τὰ γεγραμμένα τύποις); as in 1 Tim. ii. 6 τὸ μαρτύριον καιροῖς ἰδίοις, where καιροῖς depends on an implied μεμαρτυρημένον. Otherwise it is taken as closely connected with καθ’ ἡμῶν, ‘the bond which was in force against us by reason of the ordinances’: see Winer § xxxi. p. 273, A. Buttmann p. 80. Possibly an ἐν has dropped out of the text before τοῖς δόγμασιν, owing to the similar ending ==χειρογραφονεν== (comp. Ephes. ii. 15); but, if so, the omission must date from the earliest age, since no existing authorities exhibit any traces of such a reading; see the note on ver. 18 ἃ ἑόρακεν, and comp. Phil. ii. 1 εἴ τις σπλάγχνα.