The Pulpit Commentary — Colossians — Section 91

comm1md. The tenso of the verb indion.tes will lead them to lnrgcr spiritu!l.l o.tto.in- nn npprehension 118 to what may be now ments (eh. i. 10; see note). "Ye received" (!Ding <>n (vers. 8, 16, 18, 20; eh. i. 23). We (1rapll."-liµ.8d.v.,, not Uxoµcu, ns in eh. iv. 10: shnll see afterwords (n•rs. 8-23) what WM comp. l Thess. ii. 13) reminds the Uolossians Orn doctrine underlying this " persue.si ve of what they had received (compo.re" ye were speech." tn.ught," ver. 7 and eh. i. 7) ro.thcr than of tho Yer. 5.-For if indeed I am absent in the way of their receiving it. "Christ Jesus flesh, yet in the spirit I am with you the Lord," is liter1tlly, the Ch1·ist Jesus, the (1 These. ii. 17; 1 Cor. v. 3, 4). The con- Lo1'1i-an expression found besides only in nect ion of t.his ,·erse with the ln.st is not Eph. iii. 11 (Revised Text). The prefixed ob,·ious. Ellicott, following Chryeostom, article points out Christ Jesus in hid full makes St. Paul's spiritual presence the style nnd title n.s the Person whom the reason for his being able to give the Colos- Colossi,\ns had recei vcd, o.ml rccci\·cd as ,i,llla tliis warning; },I eyer, his boclily the Lord. "The Lord" has a predicative :,hscncc t.he reMon for their needing it. It is force, as in 1 Cor. xii. 3 (ll.. V.); 2 Cor. iv. 5; bc1trr, with Lighl foot, to see here a general Phil. ii. 11. "Jesus is Lord" was the explanatory reference to the previous context, testing watchword applied in the discerning a renewed decfaration (ver. 1) of watchful of spirits; "Jesus Christ is Lord" is to be interest in these distant brethren and a the fino.1 confession of u reconciled uni verse : hearty acl,,-nowledgment of their Christian o.nd " Christ Jesus is Lord" is the rule of loyalty. The tone of authoritative warning faith that guides all conduct and tests all just assumed (ver. 4) is thus justified, and doctrine within the Church (comp. ver. 19; yet softened ( compare the apologetic tone of Rom. xvi. 18). It is " n. summary of the Rom. xv. 14, 15). The phrase, "if I am whole Christian confession" (Meyer). To &baent," does not imply a previous presence vindicate this lordship, on which the (see note, ver. 1). Rejoicing and beholding Colossian error trenched so seriously, is the your order, and the steadfastness of your main object of the Epistle (eh. i. 13-20). faith in Christ (Phil. i. 4-8, 27 ; 1 Cor. i. We must not, therefore, with Alford, Light- 5-8; 1 These. ii. 13; 2 Thess. i. -1). St. Paul foot, Hofmann, ano.lyze" the Christ Jesus:" does not say, "rejoicing in beholding." The "Ye received the Christ, (namely) Jesus, who consciousness of union with brethren far is the Lord." The writer has all'eo.dy used away, whom he has never seen (ver. 1), is " Christ Jesus" as a single proper name at itself a joy; and this joy is heightened by the outset (eh. i. I, 4); and it was the lord- wh.a.t he sees throngh the eyes of Epaphras ship of Christ Jesus, not the Mess-iahsl!ip of (eh. i. 4, 6-S: comp. 2 Cor. vii. 7) of the Jesm, that was now in question. In Acts condition of this Church. Ta{,s a.nd rrT•pewµ.a, xviii 5, 28 the situation is entirely differ- are military terms, denoting the "ordered ent. In the following clause, "in him " is nrray" and " solid front" of a.n army pre- emphatic, as in ver. 7 ( compare the predomi- paretl for battle (Lightfoot, Hofmann) : nanti.0Tos of eh. i 16-22; ii. 0-15). Hence comp. Eph. Yi. 11, etc. ; PhiL i. 27. Others the contradiction of figul'e, "walk, rooted, find the figure of a building underlying the and buildetl up," does not obtrude itself. (On second word-Vulgate,firmamentvm (" solid " walk," see uote, eh. i. 10; and on "in basis ")-and this is its more usual meaning, Christ " in this connection, see notes, eh. i. and agrees with Yer. 7 and eh. i. 23 (comp. 4; ii. 10; and <'Omp. Rom. vi. 3-11; viii. 1 ; 2 Tim. ii. 19; 1 Pet. v. 9; Acts xvi. 5; also 2 Cor. v. 17; John xv. 1-7.) Pa. XYiii, 2, LXX, for the noun, not found, Ver. 7.-Rooted and builded up in him elsewhere in the New Testament). The ( eh. i. 23 ; ii. 5 ; Eph, ii 20, 21 ; iii. 18 ; precise expression, " faith in Christ " (liter- iv. 16; 1 Oor. iii. 9-12; Jucle 20; Luke nll y, into-eis, not iv, as in eh. i 4, see note) vi. 47, 48). "Rooted•· is perfect pnrticiple, occurs only here in the New Testament; implying an o.bicling fact (" fast-rootecl "): in Acts :x.xiv. 24 read "in Christ Jesus." while "bnilded up" (literally, upon or In such passages as Rom. iii 22, 26 (where unto) is in the present tenw of a continued 1rlrrns is followed by the genitive), Christ process, the prefix brl also implying growth appears as object of faith; in such as eh. i. 4 and gain (eh. i. 6, 10; ii. 19). Meyer and and ii. 5 he is its ground or substratum, that Ellicott view,,, a/mj as a mere complement in which it rests and dwellB, into which it of the latter participle : " being builded in roots itself. him." This weakens the force of both Ver. 6.-A.s therefore ye received Christ prepositions (<'1rl and Ev), and the emphasis Jea111 the Lord, walk in him (Phil. i 27; of the repeated "in him." The ideas of ii. 9-11; 1 Thee,. iv. I; 2 These. ii.13-15; pwnting and building are similarly combined l Cor. xv. 1, 2; Gal. iii. 2-4; v. I; Heb. iii. in I Cor. iii. 9 ; Eph. iii. 18; and routed is 6; iv. 14; x. 23; John vii 17; xv. 5-10; a figure applied tu buildings in other Greek Bev. iii. 11). Such a walk will be con- writ<:rs (Lightfoot). "Christ is the grountl ~istent with their previous etea.dfutness, a~d for the roots below, and the foundation for OIi, IT, 1-23.] THE EPtSTLE TO THE COLOSSlANS. 85