The Pulpit Commentary — Colossians — Section 16

him BS possible, he would, porhe.pe, he.ve most readily supposed to come into com- expressed himself differently. Some of the parison with that of the Son,-whether ee.rly oppononts of Arius ge.ve to 1rp"1'TOT01<os, thrones, or lordshipe, or principalities, or e.go.inst o.ll uso.ge, e.n e.cti vo sense-" First- dominions (eh. ii. 10, 15, 18, Hi; Eph. i. 21; begeUer of o.11 creo.tion." A the.no.aius, with iii. 10; iv. 10; vi. 12; Rom. viii. :18; 1 Cor. other Greek Fathers of the fourth century, xv. 24; Heb. ii. 5; Rev. iv. 4). By their in the stress of the so.me controversy, were low and vague conceptions or the position led to propose whe.t eubeequently became of Christ, and by over-exalted notions of the sto.ndard Socinie.n interprete.tion, un- that of the angels, the Colossian errorish del'ste.nding "creation" to mean "the new had all but, if not altogether, identif.ed (more.I) creation" (so e.lso Schleiermacher) their powers with his. The apostle, there- -sge.inst the whole scope of the context, fore, declares that the invisible beings of and cutting the very nerve of the apostle's the worlds above us, however lofty their argument. The Jewish theosophy of the names or mighty their powers, are his crea- day distributed the offices of representing tures as much as the lowliest objeets within God, and of mediating between him and the our sight (comp. Heb. i., ii., where e.leo cree.tul'es, amongst e. ve.rie.ble e.ud nebulous false views are corrected of the importance crowd of agencies-angels, words, powers- of the ange!s, exaggerated at the expense or neither human nor strictly Divine. The Christ). This list of angelic titles is not apostle go.there all these mediatorial and intended to be exhaustive, or authoritative. administrative functions into one, and places It is rather quoted as current at the time, them in the hands of" the Son of his love." and in a certain tone of "impatience with Looking up to God, he is his Image: look- this elaborate angelology" (Lightfoot). ing down on creation, he is its primal Head All things through him and unto him hava and Lord. "Creation," standing collectively been created (1 Cor. viii. 6; Heb. i. 2; John without the article in antithesis to "First- i. 3). "In him" (ver. 16 a) carries us back bom," is used qualitatively, or (as the logi- to the beginning of creation (with verb cians would say) intensively (see Alford; and lwrlo-9-q in aorist, indefinite past); "through comp. ver. 23 and Eph. ii. 21, Revised Text). him" leads us along its process; and '' unto This is better than making 1<-rlo-is a quasi- him" points us to its end (Yerb f1<-r10--ra, proper noun (Winer, Lightfoot), or render- in perfect tense, of abiding result). Comp. ing distributively, "every creature" (Meyer, Philo(' On Monarchy,' ii. § 5): "Now the Ellicott). (On this occasional collective use image of God is the Word, through which of 1rcir without article, see Kriiger's 'Griech. the whole world was framed." Already St. Sprachlehre,' i. 50. 11. 9.) Paul had said, " Through Christ are all Ver. 16.-For in him were created all things" (1 Cor. viii. 6). Hitherto the "unto things (ver. 17; John i. 3, 4). 'Ev is" in," (for) him" has been reserved for ·• the never" by," in St. Paul. Ta ,,,c1.,,,,-,. (collec- Father" (1 Cor. viii. 6 ; Rom. xi. 36; comp. tive plural with singular predicate, literally, Heb. ii. 10). Baur finds in this change of was created) corresponds ne11.rly to our "the expression a radical theological contradiction universe." John i. 4 (R.V. mo.rgin; prefer- and a sign of unauthenticity, as also in able, as we think) is the true parallel to the contrast of eh. iii. 11 with l Cor. xv. 28. thia sentence. St. John sees in" the Word" But the apostle speaks from 6 standpoint the animating principle of creation; St. Paul different from that of the earlier Epistles. in "the Son of God's love" its ground and In the Roman and Corinthian passages lie raison d'etre. " He is the Source of its is concerned with the relations of God to life, the Centre of o.11 its developments, the man, and his dealings with mankind through Mainspring of all its motions" (Lightfoot). Christ; here, with the relatfons of Christ As the spiritual life of believers was formed himself to his own kingdom. The final "in Christ" (eh. i. 2, 4; ii. 10-15), so, in its " doli vering up of the kingdom to th., measure, the naturo.l life of creation, The Father" lies outside the scope of this pas- added in the heavens and on the earth (ver. sage, which begins with the delivering up 20; Phil. ii. 10; Matt. vi. 10) reduces to the of us by the Father to "the kingdom of the same subordination to the Lord Christ the Son" (ver. 13). Till "the end,'' which is two worlds so widely separated in common "not yet,'' Christ must reign ( I Cor. xv. 25 ), thought and in the religious philosophy of and all things owe allegiance to him; tliey the time. 'l'he polemic bee.ring of this dis- are created unto this end (Eph. iii. 9, 10), tinction comes out more clearly when to and therefore unto him, to serve his king- the distinction of sphere is added thot of dom (Phil. ii. 10). The apostle asserts of nature-the things visible and the things creation what he has nlrct\dy said (2 Cor. invisible (oh. ii. 18; 2 Cor. iv. 18; Rom. i. v. 15; Rom. xiv. 9; Acts :n. 28) a.nd is 20; Heb. xi. 3); and when amongst the about to say U~\iu (ver. 20) of the redeemed latter are specified those highest orders of Church. That both exist for Christ (rela- invisible being~ whose power might be tively und proximately) is a truth perfectiy  10 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [OH, r, 1-29,