The Pulpit Commentary — Colossians — Section 92

the building o.bove" (Meyer). And atab- truth which is the practical application of liahed in ( or, by) your faith, aooording as ye the theological teaching of the first chapter. were taught (eh. i. 6-7, 23: 1 Cor. i. 6-8; Ver. 8.-Beware lest there shall be some 1 These. iii. 2: iv. 1: 2 These. ii. 18-15; one who maketh you his spoil through his 1 Pet. v. 9, 10). 'Ev before ,r(0"1'<1 ("faith") philosophy and empty deceit (vers. 4, 18, 23; is struck out in the Revised Text, and is Eph. iv. 14; 1 Tim. vi. 20; l Cor. ii. 1, 4; probably o. correot gloss. The instrumental Oal. i. 7; Acts xx. 30). "Beware;" literally, dativc-, preferred by Meyer o.nd Lightfoot, see (ta it), a common form of warning (eh. does not accord so well with ver. 5 and eh. iv. 17). The future indicative" shall be," i. 23 ( comp. Phil. i. 27; 1 Cor. xvi. 13; used instead of the more regular subjunctive 1 'rim. v. 8: 2 Tim. iv. 7: 1 Pet. v. 9). "should be," implies thP.t what is feared "Sto.blished" (/3•/3aiooµ,vo,, being kept firm) is too likely to prove the c,-ase ( comp. Heh. is present iu tense, like" builded up" (ver. iii. 12 and (with another tense) Gal. iv. 11). 6, see note) : comp. Rom. iv. 16; Phil. i. 7; "Some one who maketh (you) his spoil Heh. iii. 6; vi. 19; xiii. 9; and distinguish (6 O"uAa-yw-ywv)" is an expression so distinct from 0"1'71p((.,, to make stable, fiz firmly. and individualizing that it appears to In "as ye were taught" the apostle reminds single out a definite, well-known person. his readers ago.in of their first lessons in The denunciations of this Epistle are the gospel ( eh. i. 5-7, see notes ; 2 These. throughout in the singular number (vers. ii. 15). Abounding in it, with thanks- 4, 16, 18), in marked contrast with the giving ; or, abounding in thanksgi'Ding plural of Gal. i. 17, and that prevails in (eh. i. 3, 12; iii. 15, 17: iv. 2; Eph. v. the apostle's earlier polemical references. 4, 20; 1 These. v. 18; Heh. xiii. 15). The It is in harmony with the philosophical, Revisers relegate "in it (your faith)" to Gnosticizing character of the Colossian the margin, following the judgment of heresy that it should rest on the authority Tischendorf and Tregelles ; while Westcott of some single teacher, rather than on Scrip- and Hort, Alford, Ellicott, Lightfoot, relo.in ture or tradition, as did the conservative the wo1·ds in the text. The reading " in legalistic Judaism. ::SuAa-yorywv, a very him," found in the Vulgate and leading rare word, hapaz legomenon in the New Tes- Western documents, throws doubt on tliese tament, bears its meaning on its face. It words; but it is difficult to see why they indicates the selfish, partisan spirit, and should have been inserted if not authentic, the overbearing conduct of the false teacher. and they might easily ha confused by a Against such men St. Paul had forewarned copyist with the foregoing "in him." The the Ephesian elders (Acts xx. 29, 30). "And second lv, if lv a,,;,,.fi be retained, becomes empty deceit" stands in a qualifying iv of accompaniment; and may be rendered apposition to " philosophy : " "His philo- "with," as in eh. i. 29; Eph. vi. 2. (On sophy, indeed I 'It is no better than a vain "tho.nksgiving," see note, eh. i. 12.) deceit." This kind of irony we shall find Vera. 8-15.-SECTION V. THE Cnms- the writer using with still greater effect in TIAN's COMPLETENESS IN CHRIST. The ver. 18. Deceit is empty (1Cev6s: comp. Eph. apostle has first defined his own doctrinal v. 6; 1 These. ii. 1 ; l Cor. xv. H; dis- position in the theological deliverance ef tingui,h from µd.n,os,fruitless, vain), which eh. i. 15-20, and has then skilfully brought deceives by being a show of what it is not, himself into suitable personal relations with a holloio pretence. From the prominence his readers by the statements and appeals given to this aspect of the new teaching, of eh. i. 23 - ii. 7. And now, after I\ we infer that it claimed to be a. philosophy, general indication in ver. 4 of the direction and ma.de this its special distinction and in which he is about to strike, he unmasks ground of superiority. And this considera- the battery he has been all the wbile pre- tion points (comp. Introduction, § 4), to paring, and delivers his attack on the some connection between the system of Col.ossian error, occupying the rest of this the Colossian errorists a.n<l the Alexan- second clmpter. He denounces (1) its false drine Juda.ism, of which Philo, an elder philosophy of religion (vers. 8-15); (2) its contemporary of St. Paul, is our chief arbitrary and obsolete ceremonialiB,n ( vers. exponent. The aim of thi~ school, which 16, 17) ; (3) its 'Visionary angel-worship had now existed for two centuries at least, (vers. 18, 19); (4) its ascetic ,·u.les (vers. and had diffused its ideas fo.r and wide, 20- 22; ver. 23 reviewing the whole wa.s to transform o.nd sublimate Judaism by system in a brief charaoterization of its interpreting it under philosophical prin- most prominent and dangerous features. It ciples. Its teachers endeavoured, in fact. will be convenient to treat separately the to put the "new wine" of Plllto into tho first of these topios, under the heading "old bottles" of Moses, persuading them- already given, which indicates the positive selves that it was originally there (comp. truth developed by St. Paul in antagonism note on "mystery," eh. i. 27). In Philo, 1.o the error against which he conten~ phil.osOfhll i1 the name for true religion,  SG Tlrn EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. (cH, II, 1--23,