The Pulpit Commentary — Colossians — Section 100

2; Phil. ii. 9; olso Acts xx. I !l; I Pet. v. soncr" first of all (vers. 4, 8). Accorrlin:;ly 5). This quolity is asm·ibed ironically to the he in,;eetigntes ichr,l he hn., s~en; in'}uircs false teocher (compare the '"pulfed np ' of into the import, of his ,·isir,ns, rationally the next clouse, ond for similar irony see 1 develop, their principles, and deduces their Cor. viii. I, 2; Ga.I. iv. 17), 0p~1nc.Ca is" out- consequences. So far, the apostle continues wo.rd worship" or" devotion: " comp. note on in the ironical vein in which the first words vcr. 23; elsewhore in New Testament only in of the verse nrc written, setting forth thE> Acts xxvi. 5 a.nd Ja.s. i. 2G, 27 (see Treneh's pretensions of his oppouen t in his own terms, 'Synouyms '), "Worship of the angels" his irony "restraining itself till, nfter the is th~t paid to the angels ; not " offered by worcl iµ.fJa-r,foiv, the indignation of truth them,' 118 Luther and Hofmann interpret, breaks forth from it" (Steiger) in the caustic supposing tho.t the errorists preteude<l to and decisive "vninly." Ei,cii qualifies the imitate tile worship of heaven. 'Investigat- foregoing participle (so Origen, apparently, ing (or, dwelling on) the things which he iu Crnmcr's ' Catena,' vol. iv. p. 60 ; Steiger, ha.th seen• I vainly-being puffed up by 'the De Wctte, Hofmann, Conybeare) more snit- reason• of his flesh (2 Cor. xii. l, 7; 1 Cor. viii. a.bly than the following. Thus it signifies I; 1 Tim. vi 3-5; 2 Pet. ii. 18; J urle 16). "idly,•·" to no purpose," as everywhere elso 1:'or lµ.{3a.-re~wv, we adopt the sense which it in St. Paul (Rom. xiii. 4; I Cor. xv. 2; Gal. ucn rs in 2 l\facc. ii. 30 ; in Phllo, 'On the iii. 4; iv. 11); not "without cause,'' ns l'lnuting of Noah,' § 19. and in patristic joined to cpu(]'<OOµ.evos (" puffed up"), whose and later Greek generally, 'l"iz. "to search force it could only weaken. " Vainly " into," "examine," "<liscuss" (see Suieer'a stigmatizes the futility, "puffed up" the •Thesaurus'). Tile rendering" proceeding" conceit, and "by the reason of his flesh " the or "dwelling on," though near the radical lo,v and sensuous origin of these va,rnt,,d sense of the word (" to step on " or "in"), revelations a.ud of the high-flown theosophy wants lexico.l support. 'l'ho same may be wllich they were used to support. (For the said of the rendering "intruding iuto," sarcastic force of" puffed up," comp. I Cor. whicil suits the Received reading, "wllich iv. 6, 19; v. 2; viii 1 ; xiii. 4). The'' reaso:1 n he bath not seen." The "not" of the rela- (voiis) is, in Greek philosophy, the philo~o- tive clause is wanting in nearly all our phicnl faculty, the power or supersensib:e oldest and best witnesses, and is cancellecl intuition; and in Plato a.nd Philo, the organ by tho Revisers, with Tregellcs, Tischen- of the lligher, mystical knowle,lge of Divine <lorf, Lightfoot, Westcott nnd Hort, eto. Its things (see Philo, 'Who is Heir of Divine appearance in two cliITcreut forms (ovx nnd Things?'§§ 13, 20, and passfoi). The Colos- µ.¾) in tile documents that present it, makes sian "philosopher" (ver. 8) would, we may it still more certo.in lha.t it is II copyist's imagine, speak of himself ns " borne aloft" insertion. The common reading gives, o.fter in his visions "by henvenly reason," "lifted all, a.n unsatisfactory sense; it is not likely high in angelical communion," or the like. the apostle would blame the errorist simply Hence the n.postle's sarcasm, " Exnltcil are for entering into things beyond his sight they? any rather, inflated: lijled high by (comp. 2 Cor. iv. 18; v. 7). Meyer, nfter Divine reason? nay, but swollen high by the Steiger nud Huther, gives the best explann- reason of their flesh." Some such allusion tion of "which he hath seen," supposing to the language of the errorists best accounts tho writer to nllude ironically to pretended for the paradoxical voiis -rii, ua.pK6s (sec visions or nugels or of the spiritunl world, by Lightfoot); contrast with Rom. vii. 25, and which the false teacher sought to impose on compare the dispRraging reference to o,o;vo!,, the Colossiaus. This view is suggested by eh. i. 21 (note). Difficult as this passage i,;, 'I'crtullian in the passage cited under ver. we hesitate to follow Lightfoot, and Westcott 16. Such visions would be suitable for the n.nd Hort, who have given their weighty sanc- purpose of the errorist, n.nd congeuinl to the tion to the perilous remedy of conjectural Phrygian temperament, with its tendency emendation'; the latter editors for tho second to mysticism n.nd ecstasy (eee Thcodoret, time in this verse, and again in ver. 23. The quoted under ver. 15, who n.lso says that line of interpretation here adopted is n.dvo- angel-worship was speoio.lly forbidJen by cated in the ExpositOT, first series, vol. xi. pp. the Council of Lo.odiooa, A.D. 36¾). If the 385-3!)8, false teacher wore o.ccuslomed to soy with Ver. 19.-An.d not holding fast the Head o.n imposing o.ir, "I have seen, nh I I have (vers. 6, 8; eh. i. 15-20 ; Eph. i. 20-23; seen!" in referring to his revelntious, the Phil. ii. 9-11: Rom. ix. 5; xiv. 9; 1 Cor. npostle's n.llusion would be obvious and viii. 6: Uev. xix. 16). In the last verse the telling. 'fhe language of 2 Uor. xii. 1 errorist was judged "out of his own lllOuth," (R.V.) suggests o. similar reliance ou super- ond the intrinsic hollowness of his preten- no.turo.l visions on the parL of the npostle'8 sions wns exposed. Now" he appears beforo earlier opponents. This proteutious visionary tile juclgmont-seat of Christ," ch,nge,1 with is, however, o. "phiksopher" o.nd o. "reu- high treason ogainst hi111, the Lor,l a'.ike of  THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [en. n. 1-23,