The Pulpit Commentary — Colossians — Section 20

1' alienated and enemies in wicked works " the vast generalizations of yars. 15-20 t~ (vor. 21), who were under the dominion of the cloeest pereonal applir,ation of his theme tho enomy of God and his Obrist (vers. -from "all things in earth and heaven " t0 18, 14). It bogi?s as th~. peace of /IYrgi~.~- "you "(comp.Eph. i.22-ii.1,2). With Lig-ht- neas (vor. 14; 1I. 18 ; m. 13; Rom. 111. foot, we place only a comma, or B colon ut 24-26; v. 1), and continues ll8 an abiding most, after ver. 20. fellowship with God through the Spirit, in Ver. 21.-Andyou,e.tonetime being (men) ohodienco to Obrist, the one Lord (var. 13; alienated, e.nd enemie& in your thought, ( en- eh. ii. 6; Rom. v. 1, 2; viii. 5-9, 28: Gal. gaged) in your wicked works, yet now did he v. 22: Phil. iv. 7; 2 Cor. x. 4, 5; Acts ii. reconoile; or, "UJere ye reconcil,ed [so Meyer, 32-34). There can be peace only when he Lightfoot, Westcott and Hort, and R.Y. is Lord (1 Cor. n. 25; Heh. x. 13; Rev. margin, following Codex BJ (eh. ii 11; iii. 7; xix. 11-16). In this 1111 the present Eph. ii.1-3, 11, 12; iv. 18; v. 5--8; I Cor. blessings of salvation are comprised (ver. 2). vi. 4; Rom. vi. 21; 1 Pet. i. 11; iv. 3). 'I'hc "The blood of the cross" is the one 1111- combino.tion of 6vrer (" being") with perfect sufficient atonement which brings men into passive participle(" having been alienated") peace with God, and so puLs them back implies a fixed condition, that has become as into the kingdom of Christ, who is "Prince a part of one's nature (so in Eph. iv. 18, and Saviour," "Priest e.nd King" (Rom. Revised Text). As the opposite of "recon- iii. 25, 26; xiv. 9; 2 Cor. v. 15; Titus ciled," " alienated " is strictly passive, and ii. 14). Faith, the subjective condition of denotes, not a subjective feeling on the part peace, appears in ver. 23 (Rom. v. 1 ; xv. 13). of the sinner, but an objective determina- "Having me.de peace," as a single compound tion on the part of God, a.n exclusion from verb, occurs only here in the New Testa- the Divine favour, from "the kingdom of ment (comp. M11tt. v. 10). The repeated the Son" and "the lot of the saints" (vers. through him is textually doubtful; copyists 12, 13; Eph. v. 9; ii. 3, 11-13; iv. 18; were more likely to omit than to insert Rom. i. 18: comp. nsage of LXX in Pa. it here. This emphatic repetition suitably Ix viii. 9; I Esdr. ix. 4; Sir. xi. 34). "Ene- introduces the bold e.nd startling words, mies in yonr thought" sets forth the dispo- whether the things 011 the earth, or the 8ition of the sinner towards God (Rom. viii. things in the heavens (ver. 16). The things 7; Phil. iii. IS: so Alford,Ellicott, Lightfoot). "in the heavens," e.s in ver. 16, include the Meyer maintains the ps..,;sive sense of "ene- whole creation, spiritual or me.teri11l, other mies," as found in Rom. v. 10; xi. 28; Gal. than "the things upon the earth." In iv. 16. On the latter view, .,,j lircwola is in- Rom. viii. 19-21 we learned that the e11rthly strumental dative, "by,'' "in 'virtue of your creation shares man's fe.11 and his redemp- state of mind ; " on the former, it is dative tion. But "sin entered" (Rom. v. 12) of reference or definition. A,avola (here only here from outside, and how far its influence and Eph. ii. 3 and iv. 18 in St. Paul) has extends beyond our plllnet we ce.unot tell. possibly a polemical reference. It denotes in St. Paul does not positively affirm that the Greek philosophy, the faculty of thought, reconcili11tion of the cross embraces other BB opposed to the bodily powers. In Pbilo's worlds thllu ours. He spe11ks hypothetically. teaching it signifies the higher part of Christ's dee.th is in his eyes an event human nature, akin to God, and opposed to parallel only to creation in its magnitude, evil which belongs to the senses: "Thought and he can set no limit to its potential (1i1avola) is the best thing in us" (' On Fugi- efficacy. Its virtue is sufficient to" reconcile tives,' § 26); "Every man in regard to bis all things," wherever such reconciliation intellect (li,avo/a) is united to tbe Divine is needed and is possible (yet see Hcb. Word, being on impression or fragment or ii. 16). The difficulty is not to be evaded ro.y of that blessed nature; but in respect by putting a milder sense on "reconcile" of his body he belongs to the entire world" ns o.pplied to "the things in _the heo.vens" (' On the Creation of the World,'§ 51 ). But (so Alford o.nd others, referring to Eph. here sin is associated "ith the intellect in iii. 10); "the blood of the cross" forbids man, nnd redemption with "the body of any thought but that of the propitiatory Christ's flesh" (ver. 22) : comp. notes on 11tonement (see Meyer). Nor does the text "reason," eh. ii. 18, and "body," eh. ii. 23; eay anything of a reconcil i11tion between nlso Eph. iv. 18, where the reason is vain, "earth ancl heaven" (Erasmus)," men and the intellect darkened. "Wicked [empha- angels" (Chrysostom, Bengel), "Jews e.nd sized by its position in the Greek, denoting Gentiles," "secular and spit-itunl o.ffuirs," active evil ; see Trench's ' Synonyms,' on etc.; such glosses are opposed to St. Paul's ,rov1Jp6s] works" is a phrase common in strict use of the word " reconcile," and to St. John, only used here by St. P11ul (comp. the po.ro.lle!ism of ver. 16. eh. iii. 7; Eph. ii. 1-3; Rom. vi. 19, 20; In vers. 21-23 the apostle descends, with Gal. v. 19; Heb. ix. H). 'rhese work~ are c)rn.ro.cteriatio boldness 1rnd sudnenness, from the prncticea of life in which t!ie sinner i•  14 THE EPISTLE 'l'O 'l'HE COLOSSIANS. [oa. L 1-29.