Literature. — D. Russell Scott, art. 'Boldness (Christian)' in ERE ii. 785, with lit. there cited; also J. H. Jowett, The Transfigured Church, 1910, p. 181. T. NiCOL.
BOND (Col 2^*).— The point here lies in the word Xeip6ypa(pov. For ' bond ' in the sense of dov^os, see 1 Co 12^* etc., and in that of a-vvdea/xos (ligament in surgery [very often]), see Col 2'^, etc. Col 2''* is the only instance in the NT of the word x^'P"^- ypa(pov, though there are other compounds with xetp- (xeipayuy^cij, Ac 9^ ; xfV7'^<"'Sj Ac 13^^ ; x^'po"""'- Tjros, Eph 2'^, and dxn-poTrolrjTos, Col 2^^ ; x^'po^oi'ew, Ac 14-2). This synthetic compound means origin- ally 'handwriting' or ' autograph,' and occurs in this sense in Polybius (xxx. 8. 4), Dion. Hal. (v. 8), etc. Its technical use is for ' a note of hand, a bond or obligation, as having the "sign manual " of the debtor or contractor' (Lightfoot, Col.^, 1879, in loc.) ; so To 5"* idwKev avri^ rb x^'-P^yp°-'P°^- See also Plut. (Mor. p. 829 A) and Artem. (Oneir. iii. 40). Its position as a koivtj word is greatly strengthened by the papyri, where it is very common (Deissmann, Bible Studies, Eng. tr., 1901, p. 247). Some of these bonds in papyri texts are crossed out with the Greek cross-letter X, thus cancelling tlie note (cf. Deissmann, LigJit from the Ancient East^, 1911, p. 3.36 f.). A number of these ' crossed- out ' bonds are in the papyri lists at Berlin, Heidel- berg, and elsewhere. Tliis was tlie method of official as well as private cancellation (see the Florentine Papyrus [A.D. 85], where the Governor of Egypt ordered the bond to be 'crossed out' [xi-o-adrjvai]). There is no evidence for the notion that these bonds were cancelled by hanging on nails (perforation). There are examples of in- scribed leaden rolls being perforated and hung on nails, but not for cancellation by the nails (Deiss- mann, i:?iWe jS^wrfies, p. 273 f.). St. Paul piles up his metaphors, as he often does, by the use of €^a\ei\pas ('blotting out'; cf. X"^i''^> 'cross out'), ripKev iK Tov fi^crov ('take out of the midst'; note change to indicative and perfect for notion of per- manent removal). Dibelius (Handbuch zum NT, ' Kolosser,' 1912, p. 81) cites Epictetus' use of atpe e|w, alpe iK tov /xeaov as synonymous. As to Tvpoarj- Acicras rQ aravpif ('nailing to the cross'), E. Haupt (Meyer-Haupt, Kom. Kol., 1902, in loc.) points out tliat with St. Paul it is not the cancelling by nail- ing, but the nailing to the cross that is dominant. These three metaphors all accentuate the main idea of the cancellation of the debt.
What tlie bond is in Col 2^^ scholars are not agreed. Probably the general notion of law is correct, since Gentiles as well as Jews seem to be included, rather than the Mosaic Law or the
narrower notion of the purely ceremonial law. The addition of rots doy/xaaiv, difficult as to syntax, points to formulated commandment (Peake, EOT, ' Colossians,' 1903, in loc.) of some kind (cf. Eph 2^'), though 'the moral assent of the conscience' (Lightfoot, in loc.) is surely involved also. No stress is to be laid on the fact of the law being written or not written (the autograph idea in Xii-poypa.(pov) by the sinner, though, if the primary reference be to the Jews, they might be said to have signed the contract in giving assent to the law as represented in Dt 27""^. The central idea is that the bond of moral obligation which was against us (/ca^' ijfi.Cjv and 6 ^v virevavTiov ijfuv) has been removed by the death of Christ on the Cross. It has been cancelled (crossed out) and hung up for all to see (nailed to the cross) as an obligation from which we are now free. It is a bold picture of grace versus works as the method of salvation. Christ has paid the debt and destroyed the note against us. Cf. St. Paul's offer to pay Philemon for the debt of Onesimus (Philem ^^'O'
A. T. Robertson. BONDAGE.—' Bondage ' in the EV uniformly re- presents dovXeia, which can equally well be rendered 'slavery.' Note the Vulg. servitus and Wyclif's corresponding term, 'servage.'
1. So far as literal slavery is meant in the use of this and kindred expressions, see art. SLAVERY.
2. ' Bondage ' has an important figurative use in the Epistles in relation to spiritual experience. It denotes the state of sin. The place filled by slavery in the social structure of that age made such a figure natural and forceful. St. Paul conspicuously em- ploys this description of the sinful state in his dis- cussion of human sin in Ro 5-7. It is evident that he was far more deeply interested in man's spiritual bondage and his deliverance than in slavery as an institution open to challenge in the cause of- humanity. No slavery in his view was comparable with that of a man ' sold under sin,' whether lord or slave. This became a commonplace in the thought of the early Church. The writings of St. Augustine and St. Chrysostom notably furnish many instances of its vigorous enforcement. Similar sentiments, it should be added, were held by Plotinus (3rd cent.) and the Neo-Platonic School of Alexandria. (In the NT note the description of man as enslaved to sin, Ro 6^^; or to passions and pleasures, Tit 3*; cf. 23.)