The Pulpit Commentary — Colossians — Section 93

wl10~e essence consists in the pursuit o.ud doctrine of Christ, but Christ himself is conlempluiion of pure spiritual truth. tho substitute for these discarded rudimenl.- llfoses and the patriarchs e.r,:-, with him, (vers. 17, 20). His Persou is the norm and n ii "philosophers;" tho writers of the Old test of truth (l Cor. xii. 3; l John iv. 1-3). Testament "philosophize;" it is•• the pl1ilo• The views comhatted were " not according s0ph;cal man" who ho!Js con"crsc with to Christ," for tlloy made him something t~ocl. This is the only place where r,hilo- loss and lower tlle.n that which he is. •nvhy is ci.:prcssly mentioned in the Now Ver. 9.-Beoause in him dwslleth all the TL•slamcnt; in 1 Cor. i. 21 e.nd context it is, fulness (or, compfoteness) ot the Godhead however. only. verbally wanting. Aooording bodily (eh. i. l9; Phil. ii. 6~; Uom. to the tre.dilion of men, acoording to the L 8, 4; ix. 5; John i. 1, 14). In eh. i. rudiments of the world, and not aocorcling 18-20 wo vi~wed a sories of events; here to Christ (vers. 17, 20, 22; Gal. i. 11, 12; we have an abidiug fact. The whole iv. 3, 9; 1 Cor. i. 20, 21; iii. 19-21; Matt. plenitude of our Lord's Divine-human xv. 2; Mark vii. 8; 1 John iv. 5; 1 Pet. penion and powers, ns the complete O1.Jrist, i. 18). This clause qv.alifies "ma.king spoil" 'W&8 definitively con,tituted when, in the (1\Ieyer, Ellicott) rather than "deceit;" exeroise of his kingly prerogath•e, •• he sat human authority a.nd natuml re11.Son furnish down on the right hand of the Majesly on the principles and the method according to high." "From henceforth" that fulness which the false teacher proceeds. " Trn• evermore resides in him (comp. note, eh, ditioa" does not nccess11rily imply antiquity i. 19). The undivided pleroma of eh. i. 19 ( comp. l Car. xL 2; 2 Thess. ii. 15 ; iii. G); now raveald its t,vofold nature: it is "the " of men " is the emphatic part of the ful11ess of the Godhead," and yet "dwells phrase. These words are characteristic of corporenlly in him." "Godhead" (8•&'1'71s) St. Paul, who was so profoundly conscious is the abstract of "God" (8,&s ), not of the of the supernatnro.l origin of his own adjective "Divine" (8eios: the Vulgate doctrine (see Gal. i. 11-17; 1 Cor. xL 23; therefore, wrongly, divinitatia: comp. Rom. l Thess. iv. 15 : comp. John iii. 31-35 ; i. 20; Acts xvii. 29; Wied. xviii. 9), e.nd de- Yiii. 23; l John iv. 5). Siroifarly, "the notes, "not Divine excellences, but the Divine rnclimeuts cf the world" a.re the crude nature" (Bengel); see Trench's •Synonyms.' beginnings of truth, the childishly faulty Schenkel and others, guided by a con- and imperfect religious conceptions and jecture of Thcodoret, hnve found here the usages to which the world had attained Church, supporting theit- view by a very apart from the revelation of Christ (comp. doubtful interpretation of Eph. i. 28. Still Gal. i". 8, 9; o.lso Heb. v. 12, for this use more groun,lless is the identification of this of crro,x,ia). It is noteitl1erJewish or non- pleroma with the created ioorld. The J cw ish elements specifically that are intended. apostle unmistakably affirms that the Divine Jew and Greek o.re one in so far os their nature, in its entirety, belongs to the Church's religious ideas o.re "not according to Christ." Christ. The literal sense of "bodily" Greek thought had also contributed its (maintained by Meyer, Alford, Ellicott, rudiments to the world's education for Ligl1tfoot, Hofmann, after Chrysostom and Christ: hence, comprehensively, "the rudi- Atha.nasius) has been avoided by those ments of the world" (comp. 1 Cor. i 21). who renderit "wholly" (Jerome); ••essen• 'l'he blending of Greek and Jewish elements tially, substo.ntially" (Cyril, Theophylact, fo the Colossian theosophy would of itself Cr.lvia, Klopper), e.sopposed to" relatively" sug):!;est this generalization,alreadyshadowed or "partially;" "truly" (Augustine, Eros• fu1th in G1l.L iv. 3. Neander, Hofmann, mus, Bengel, Bleek), as opposed to " figura- o.ud Klopper (the latest Gcr1DJ1.u commen• ti vdy" (ver. 17). The adverb crr,,µ.a.T11cws tator), have returned to the view that pre• (always literal in classico.l usage, along vailed amongst the Fathers, from Origen with its adjective) occurs only here in the downwards, reading this phrase, both Lere New Testament; the adjective "bodily" n:id in Galatians, in a physical sense, as in 1 Tim. iv. 8; Luke iii. 22. "The body in 2 Pet. iii. 10, 12; the elementa mundi, of hie flesll" in eh. i. 22 e.ffords e. truer "the powers of nature," "heavenly bodies," parallel tho.u the language of ver. 17, where etc., worshlppe<l by the Gentiles as gods, uwµ." bears an exceptional sense (see note). uud which the Jews identified with the Elsewhere St. Paul bale.nc"!B in similar r,naels (ver. 18; Heh. i. 7) ns God's agents fashion expressions relating to the twofold iu the direction of the world. This inter- nJ1turo of Christ (see parallels). The asscr• pretation has much to recommend it, but tion that" all the fulness of Deity" dwells 1, scarcely ho.rmonizcs with the pflrallel in Christ negatives the Alexandrino "philo• •· tradition of men," sl ill less with the sopl.Jy," with its cloud of mediating angel- C<mtcxt of ver. 20, and is absolutely at powers and spiritual emano.tions; the , ,,,·iance, as it seems to us, witll the argu• assertion that it dwells in him bodily equally 111~11, iornlve,J in Gal. iv. 3. Not the C-Oll(lemns that contempt for the bmly a11<I 011. II, 1-23.] 'l'lrn EPISTLE 'l'O 'rHE COLOSSIANS. 87