m Isa. 52. 7.

Rom. 10. 15.

n Isa. 59. 17.

1 Thess. 5. 8,

Heb. 4. 12.
Rev. 1. 16.

o Matt. 26. 41.
Col. 4 2.
Luke 18. 1.

1 Thess. 5. 17.

p Acts 4. 29. Col. 4. 3.

q Acts 28. 20.

2 Cor. 5. 20.

r Acts 20. 4.

Col. 4. 7, 9.

2 Tim. 4. 12.

Tit. 3. 12.

s 2 Tim. 4. 12.

t 1 Cor. 16. 23.

2 Cor. 13. 14.

Col. 4. 18.

2 Tim. 4. 22.

Tit. 3. 15.
Heb. 13. 25.

Π

περιζωσάμενοι τὴν ὀσφῦν ὑμῶν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, καὶ ἐνδυσάμενοι τὸν θώρακα τῆς δικαιοσύνης, 15 m καὶ ὑποδησάμενοι τοὺς πόδας ἐν ἑτοιμασίᾳ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τῆς εἰρήνης· 16 ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ἀναλαβόντες τὸν θυρεὸν τῆς πίστεως, ἐν ᾧ δυνήσεσθε πάντα τὰ βέλη τοῦ πονηροῦ τὰ πεπυρωμένα σβέσαι· 17 " καὶ τὴν περικεφαλαίαν τοῦ σωτηρίου δέξασθε, καὶ τὴν μάχαιραν τοῦ Πνεύματος, ὅ ἐστι ῥῆμα Θεοῦ· 18 ° διὰ πάσης προσευχῆς καὶ δεήσεως προσευχόμενοι ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ ἐν πνεύματι, καὶ εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἀγρυπνοῦντες ἐν πάσῃ προσκαρτερήσει καὶ δεήσει περὶ πάντων τῶν ἁγίων, 19 ° καὶ ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ, ἵνα μοι δοθῇ λόγος ἐν ἀνοίξει τοῦ στόματός μου ἐν παῤῥησίᾳ γνωρίσαι τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, 20 πρεσβεύω ἐν ἁλύσει, ἵνα ἐν αὐτῷ παῤῥησιάσωμαι, ὡς δεῖ με λαλῆσαι.

ὑπὲρ οὗ

21·Ινα δὲ εἰδῆτε καὶ ὑμεῖς τὰ κατ ̓ ἐμὲ τί πράσσω, πάντα ὑμῖν γνωρίσει Τύχικος ὁ ἀγαπητὸς ἀδελφὸς καὶ πιστὸς διάκονος ἐν Κυρίῳ, 2· ὃν ἔπεμψα πρὸς ὑμᾶς εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο, ἵνα γνῶτε τὰ περὶ ἡμῶν, καὶ παρακαλέσῃ τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν.

23 Εἰρήνη τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς καὶ ἀγάπη μετὰ πίστεως ἀπὸ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.

t

24 Η χάρις μετὰ πάντων τῶν ἀγαπώντων τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ· ἀμήν.

14. περιζωσάμενοι τὴν ὀσφῦν] See 1 Pet. i. 13. Polycarp ad Philipp. 2.

15. ὑποδησάμενοι-ἐν ἑτοιμασία κ.τ.λ.] An allusion to the attitude and attire of the Israelites eating the Passover in a state of preparation, or rather preparedness to quit Egypt, and to march “ harnessed” (Exod. xiii. 18) to Canaan. See Exod. xii. 11: “ Thus shall ye eat it, with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, ye shall eat it in haste."

It was a sign of haste to eat standing, with their feet shod, in preparation for the journey, that, being strengthened with the Paschal food, they might pass through the vast and terrible wilderness in their way to the promised land.

So the Christian, when he sets forth from the Egypt of spiritual darkness, is fortified with the "true Passover" sacrificed for him (1 Cor. v. 7), and he goes forth "harnessed," and has his feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace, and so is equipped for the march through the wilderness of this world to his heavenly rest.

Let no one therefore of the true Israelites look back and yearn for Egypt, but let all press onward toward the heavenly Jerusalem. See Origen, Chrys., and Jerome here.

16. θυρεόν] the large oblong or oval shield,properly like a θύρα, or door; ' scutum (Vulg.); differing from the lighter ἀσπὶς or clypeus. Ellicott.

τὰ πεπυρωμένα] Tipt with some combustible material which was ignited in the projection (Ps. vii. 14; cxx. 4), where the Psalmist speaks of arrows sharpened with coals of "Rethen." Veget. de Re Mil. iv. 18. Winer, R. W. B. p. 190, Art. Bogen.

17. ῥῆμα Θεοῦ] The Word of God, wherewith the Captain of your salvation defeated the Evil One at the Temptation. See on Matt. iv. 4. 7. 10.

20. πρεσβεύω ἐν ἁλύσει] See Acts xxvi. 29. Ambassadors of kings are inviolable. I, the ambassador of the King of Kings, deliver my message in bonds! But the Gospel which I preach is not bound (2 Tim. ii. 9), nor can be : but will bind Satan and liberate the world.

21. καὶ ὑμεῖς] ye also as well as others, perhaps the Colossians. See Col. iv. 16.

τί πράσσω] how I fare.

Τύχικος] Tychicus of Asia. See on Acts xx. 4, where Trophimus is mentioned with him as an 'Ασιανός. Trophimus was of Ephesus. (Acts xxi. 29.)

Tychicus was the bearer of this Epistle, probably to various Churches of Asia (see Introduction to this Epistle), and of that to the Colossians. (Col. iv. 7.) He seems to have been with St. Paul when he wrote the Epistle to Titus (iii. 12), and was sent again to Ephesus by St. Paul a little before his death. (2 Tim. iv. 12.)

22. ἔπεμψα] I send now with this Epistle. The Epistolary aorist. See Acts xxiii. 30. Phil. ii. 28. Philem. 11. 2 Cor. viii. 18. Winer, p. 249.

It was a blessed consolation for them to hear, that Paul at Rome, the metropolis of the Roman empire, was triumphing over his prison and his chains. And this was the consolatory intelligence which they would receive by Tychicus. Jerome.

23. τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς] the brethren generally. As to the question why he sends no special greetings to any individuals in this Epistle, although he had spent three years at Ephesus (Acts xix. 10; xx. 31), see above, Introduction.

On this text see Augustine, Serm. 168, Vol. v. p. 1163; and Retract. lib. i. c. 23.

24. Ἡ χάρις μετὰ πάντων τῶν ἀγαπώντων τ. Κ. ἡ. I. Χ.] The converse of the Anathema, Maranatha in 1 Cor. xvi. 22.

ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ] in incorruptibility; that is, who love Him with a love that is not corrupted by any evil admixtures and deleterious influences, or impaired by change of circumstances or lapse of time, but is pure and immarcescible, ἀμίαντος καὶ ἀμάραντος.

The Apostle had been speaking of conjugal union and love, and he had represented it as a figure of the spiritual marriage and love between Christ and His Church (ν. 22. 32).

He now says, "Grace be with all that love the Lord Jesus Christ ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ :” that is, Grace be with every Christian soul that has been espoused to Christ in spiritual wedlock in baptism, and who loves her Lord Jesus Christ with a pure love, unadulterated with any admixtures of carnal affection for any worldly object (as the old man was corrupted, see iv. 22), and untainted by heretical pravity of unsound doctrine, or by schismatical pride of sectarian strife. Grace be to them who love Him alone with their whole heart fervently.

This meaning of the Apostle may be illustrated by his words to the philosophical, carnally-minded, and schismatical members of the Corinthian Church, who did not love Christ ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ : "I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste Virgin to Christ. But I fear lest by any means, as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted (φθαρῇ) from the simplicity (or singleness, oneness, and pureness) of love in Christ."

The word φθαρῇ, as there used, explains the sense of its opposite ἀφθαρσία here; and this sense is approved by ancient Expositors (Chrys., Jerome, Theophyl.) and Versions, especially the Vulg., Syriac, Gothic, and Arabic, which thus paraphrases the word, “ with a love free from blemish or corruption.” Hence this word may well be supposed here to signify the incorruptibility of a spiritual and eternal love,-a love which flows forth from the pure well-spring of the inner man of the heart, in the incorruptible (ἀφθάρτῳ) element of the meek and quiet spirit described by St. Peter (1 Pet. iii. 4),—a love which knows no decay, and is not affected by time,-a love which is never blighted or withered, but is as undying and unfading as the crowns of glory which it will one day wear.

This is the sense in which the words of St. Paul seem to have been understood by an Apostolic Father and Martyr, who says in

INTRODUCTION

TO THE

EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS.

THE Epistle to the Colossians, like the other Epistles of St. Paul, holds its own peculiar place, and performs its own special work, in the system of Christian Teaching, which has been vouchsafed by the Holy Spirit, operating by the ministry of the Apostle.

This Epistle may best be considered in connexion with that to the neighbouring Church, and great City, of Ephesus.

Both these Epistles were written by St. Paul, at the same place, Rome, and about the same time; that is, in his first imprisonment in that City (A.D. 61-63), and appear to have been conveyed by the same person, Tychicus'.

The Epistle to the Colossians, in its plan and substance, may be regarded as following, by a natural sequence, the Epistle to the Ephesians.

If the comparison may be allowed, the divine Apostle, bearing in his hand these two Epistles— that to the Ephesians, and that to the Colossians-may be likened to the builders of the literal Temple of God, of whom we read in the book of Nehemiah, "Every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other held a weapon. The builders every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded "."

So the Apostle here. He is both a builder and a soldier. He has his sword girded by his side, and so builds. He builds up the Truth in one Epistle; and he wars against Error in the other. He builds in the Epistle to the Ephesians, He has his sword girded at his side in the Epistle to the Church of Colossæ.

He has thus left a practical lesson to the Church, and to every Christian. The Church on earth is ever militant; and she has also ever her work of edification. She must build as well as fight; and she must fight as well as build. And every Christian is a soldier; but he must also be a builder. The soldiers of Nehemiah, with a trowel in their hand, and a sword girded at their side, and so building the fabric of God's Temple, and the Apostle St. Paul building up the Church with one Epistle, and at the same fighting against her enemies with another, are examples for every Christian in every age.

3

The similarity of thought and language between these two Epistles proclaim the connexion of the Subject and the identity of the Author.

1 Eph. vi. 24. Col. iv. 7. Compare Davidson's Introduction, ii. p. 346–350, and Alford's Prolegomena, iii. p. 18–23. Guerike, Einleitung, p. 368–383. Kirchofer, Quellensammlung, p. 208. 211.

2 Neh. iv. 17, 18.

27.

27.

The Epistle to the Ephesians, with its constructive character, and the Epistle to the Colossians, with its polemical protests, and denunciatory refutations, have each their respective office and

use.

Both are grounded on the foundation of the same doctrines, especially that of the Divine Love in the Mystery of the Incarnation. Both were written at the same time by the same Apostolic hand, that of Paul the prisoner of Christ; they were both sent into Asia by the same messenger, the beloved Tychicus. The Ephesian Epistle was to be communicated to the Colossians, and the Colossian Epistle was to be communicated to the Ephesians; the Apostle himself (it would seem) gave a special direction to that effect'. Each of the two Epistles would afford salutary instruction to the readers of the other, in that age, and in every succeeding generation; and in these two Epistles, written and sent simultaneously, the Church Universal would recognize a beautiful example of her own duty, to drive away dangerous errors, especially those which assail Christ's Incarnation and Atonement, while at the same time she builds up her people on the only solid foundation and immoveable Rock of Truth, Christ Jesus, confessed to be Very Man, and to be the Son of the Living God 3.

Let us consider, a little more at large, the evidence of these propositions.

In the Epistle to the Ephesians, as we have already seen, the holy Apostle, as a wise masterbuilder*, had laid deep and strong the groundwork of the Christian Church upon Christ, acknowledged to be GOD, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father, the King and Lord of Angels, Creator and Ruler of the world; and upon the same Christ, condescending to become Man, and by His Incarnation uniting Human Nature in His own Person to the Divine Nature, and offering Himself on the Cross as a propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, and reconciling God to man in Himself, and purchasing to Himself an Universal Church by His own Blood, and vanquishing the Principalities and Powers of this world by His Death, and abolishing the enmity between Angels and Men, and between Men and Men, knitting together both Jews and Gentiles as fellowmembers in His own Mystical Body, the Church, by the profession of One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism; and thus harmonizing and restoring, consecrating and summing-up all in one; and proclaiming and establishing an Universal and Everlasting Peace, and blending every thing, and bringing all persons to dwell together in Unity, in Himself, God and Man, and through Himself, in the Father, the Sovereign Author of all, and the Fountain and Well-Spring of Love; and having ascended up on High, and given gifts to men, as a divine boon and royal largess to the World, on the glorious occasion of His Coronation and Inauguration, as Man, in Heaven, and of His Session as our King and Head at the Right Hand of God; and by these Gifts of the Holy Ghost the Comforter, providing for the organization and consolidation, as also for the continual growth and enlargement of the living fabric of His Church, till it expands to its full stature, to the perfectness of its growth in Christ.

These mysterious truths, to the height of which no human Intelligence can climb, the depth of which no human Reason can fathom, and the length and breadth of which no human Capacity can comprehend, and which, even the Angels of heaven themselves did not know, and had been dimly seen by the Prophets, and prefigured by the types and shadows of the Levitical Law, are now revealed by the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, and are displayed to the eyes of Angels and of Men, by the Church, as in a clear mirror, where all may contemplate the beauty and glory of the Love of God in Christ.

From these transcendent truths, fully developed, the Apostle had proceeded to enforce the practical duties of Unity in the Faith, of Truth', of Charity, of Holiness. He had shown in the Epistle to the Ephesians, how the daily duties of domestic and social life, the duties of Wives to Husbands, and Husbands to Wives; the duties of Children to Parents, and of Parents to Children; the duties of Slaves to Masters, and of Masters to Slaves, all grow out of this one Root, and flourish

on the one stem of Unity in Christ, confessed to be God and Man, and of Communion with His Body the Church'.

The divine Apostle, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, had thus prepared the way for a subsequent theological application of these fundamental principles, in the Epistle to the Colossians; not only for the purpose of establishing and confirming Evangelical Truth, but also of refuting and exploding Heretical errors. The Epistle to the Colossians discloses various forms of religious error, which are not displayed in any other Epistle of St. Paul, but which, having been disseminated by the Evil One in the field of the Church, and having taken root in primitive times in Phrygia, have brought forth a large harvest of evil, and are still prevalent in our own age.

6

These errors, like all others which have been most disastrous to the Church, presented themselves originally in the specious garb of Good. They came forward in the name of Philosophy and superior Intelligence, and yet were vain and illusory 2. Their Teachers dressed themselves up in the guise of Humility, and yet were inflated with Pride. They affected sanctity, and meekness, and a religious reverence for the ritual and ordinances of God according to the Levitical Law*; and yet, in a spirit of proud and arbitrary lawlessness, they usurped a tyrannical dominion over the wills and consciences of men; and not holding the Head' required them to receive their own human commands and traditions as terms of communion, and as necessary to salvation, and imposed upon them a system of Will-Worship'. They professed to promote superior spirituality by rigorous rules of asceticism, and self-mortification, and neglect of the body, and yet were vainly puffed up by a fleshly mind; they ministered to the gratification of the carnal appetites and sensual indulgences by denying due honour to the body, particularly by derogating from the dignity of Christ, God manifest in the flesh; and thus they were depriving the Human Body of its most glorious prerogative,—that of being sanctified, consecrated, and glorified by the Incarnation of the Son of God, and by union in Him to God.

They professed to be deeply sensible of their own unworthiness, and of the corruption of fallen man, and therefore to be afraid to approach an offended and all-holy God; and in a spirit of affected humility and awe for His tremendous Majesty, and for the holiness of His Nature, and for Him Who had revealed Himself of old by the ministry of Angels, and of honour for His righteous Law which He had given amid thunders and lightnings from Mount Sinai by the agency of Angels, and of respect for His Word, which represented Angels as Princes of Kingdoms ", they invoked Angels as Mediators, and thus did dishonour to the only Mediator between God and Man, the Man Christ Jesus ", Whom, on account of His being man, they treated as inferior to the Angels. And while they professed extraordinary sanctity and exemplary devotion to God, they suborned God's Servants, the Elect Angels, to be accomplices of rebellion against Him, and they perverted the blessed Mystery of the Incarnation,-that stupendous marvel and crowning consummation of God's Love toward man in Christ, for man's everlasting glory and bliss,-into an occasion for working man's ruin, and for dishonouring and degrading Him Who is God Incarnate, God manifest in the flesh, and for frustrating the mercy of God the Father in the person of His dear Son.

Such were the machinations of the Evil One in the Churches of Phrygia. Such were the spiritual perils which beset the Church of Colossæ.

Almighty God, in His wisdom and love, controlled and overruled these evils for endless good to the Colossian Church, and to the Church Universal of every age and country, by the ministry of St. Paul in the present Epistle.

13

1. The Apostle here asserts in the clearest terms the Godhead of Christ ", and has thus furnished a divine refutation of all Arian and Socinian Heresies which contravene that Doctrine.

2. He here proclaims in unequivocal language the great Mystery of the Incarnation, and of the Atonement made by Christ fulfilling all righteousness in our Nature by a sinless obedience, and offering Himself as a perfect, expiatory, propitiatory, satisfactory, and meritorious sacrifice to God; taking away the sins of the world, and redeeming Mankind from the bondage of Satan, and from the Curse of the Law, and purchasing them to Himself, and incorporating them in Himself as