Bible Commentaries
Colossians 3

Verses 1-4

SECTION 10. — WARNING AGAINST VARIOUS DOGMAS, JEWISH OR GENTILE, CONTRARY TO CHRIST. CH. 2:16-3:4.

Let not any one then judge you in eating or in drinking, or in a matter of a feast or of a new moon or of a sabbath, which things are a shadow of those to come, but the body is Christ’s. Let no one rob you of your prize, desiring to do it in lowliness of mind and worshipping of angels, investigating things which he has seen, vainly puffed up by the mind of his flesh, and not holding fast the Head, from whom all the body, through the joints and hands receiving support and being knit together, increases with the increase of God.

If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why as though living in the world are ye placed under dogmas? Handle not, nor taste, nor touch, (all which things are to perish in the using up of them,) according to the commandments and teachings of men: things which have indeed a repute of wisdom in will worship and lowliness of mind and unsparing treatment of the body, not in any value against indulgence of the flesh.

If then ye have been raised together with Christ seek the things above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God: mind the things above, not those upon the earth. For ye are dead, and your life lies hidden with Christ in God. When Christ shall be manifested, your life, then also ye with Him will be manifested in glory.

This section falls into three clearly marked divisions, each comprising four verses. Colossians 2:16-19 specifies the errors referred to in the more general warning of § 9 distinguishing their Jewish (Colossians 2:16-17) and theosophic (Colossians 2:18-19) elements: Colossians 2:20-23 brings to bear against them one factor of the positive teaching in § 9, viz. our death with Christ: and Colossians 3:14 brings to bear upon them another factor, viz. our resurrection with Christ.

Colossians 2:16. Practical application of the foregoing, especially of Colossians 2:14. Since God has nailed to the cross of Christ, and thus made invalid, the written obligation of the Old Covenant with its decrees, do not submit to any one’s award of praise or blame on the ground of its prohibitions or prescriptions: for these have passed away.

Eating… drinking: same words in Romans 14:17, and similar thought; cp. Romans 14:13, let us no longer judge one another. They might refer, as they do associated together in Romans 14:21, to meat and wine offered in sacrifice to idols. But, that this is not Paul’s main reference here, is proved by Colossians 2:16 b, which mentions distinctively Levitical ordinances, by the mention in Colossians 2:11 of circumcision, which involves obedience to the whole Law of Moses, and the mention in Colossians 2:14 of a written obligation. The word eating refers therefore chiefly to the Levitical prohibition of unclean animals as food. The word drinking suggests that the would-be judges extended to themselves the Mosaic prohibition of wine to Nazarites (Numbers 6:3) and (Leviticus 10:9) to priests while officiating at the altar. In other words, they not only maintained the abiding obligation of the Law but also claimed to belong to the narrower circle of Nazarites, and possibly wished to force into it the entire Church of Christ. Paul’s protest against this judgment is in close accord with Romans 14:13-14. And it is a complete abrogation of the Law of Moses, of which a conspicuous feature was distinction of meats.

Feast… new-moon… sabbath: same words in same order in Ezekiel 45:17; Hosea 2:11; in the inverse order in 1 Chronicles 23:31; 2 Chronicles 2:4; 2 Chronicles 31:3.

Feast: a yearly festival, as in Acts 18:21; Matthew 26:5; Matthew 27:15; Leviticus 23:4, etc.

New-moon: same word in Numbers 28:11-15 : it refers to the special sacrifices at the beginning of each month.

Sabbath: the weekly day of rest. This is the ordinary meaning of the word; and is determined here by the ascending scale of frequency, annual, monthly, weekly. These three terms include all the sacred seasons of the Jewish year.

Colossians 2:17. A shadow: an intangible outline caused by, and revealing the approach of, a solid reality. Important coincidence of language and thought in Hebrews 8:5; Hebrews 10:1. Indeed this verse contains the germ of very much in that Epistle.

The things to come; or about to be: either the New Covenant or the eternal glory. There is no grammatical objection to the former: for the future must be measured, as in Romans 5:14, from the point of view of the shadow or type. And the Jewish restrictions and sacred seasons suggest at once by contrast our present service of Christ. On the other hand, since the shadow was still existing, though fading, when Paul wrote, the words things to come seem to point forward to the far future. So Hebrews 8:5: shadow of the heavenly things. Indeed the distinction is unimportant. For Christian life on earth receives its real worth from the glory awaiting the children of God. Just so the daydawn is of worth chiefly as herald of the day. The prescriptions of the Old Covenant were outlines both of the Gospel and the spiritual life which it at once imparts and of the eternal temple and service and sabbath. Even the old restrictions of food have their counterpart in a loyalty to Christ which controls our food and all the little details of life: e.g. 1 Corinthians 8:13.

The body, i.e. the solid and tangible reality, (of the things to come,) is Christ’s, i.e. belongs to Him, so that he who has Christ has the reality whose approach was dimly foreshadowed by the Old Covenant. Cp. Josephus, Jewish Wars bk. ii. 2. 5, ‘asking a shadow of royalty when he had seized the substance (or body) of it.’ In Hebrews 10:1, the contrast is between a mere outline cast by a shadow and a complete picture or image. Possibly here the choice of the word body was prompted by the use Paul had made of it in Colossians 2:17.

Colossians 2:17 supports Colossians 2:16. Since Christ is ours, with all He has and is, we have the reality dimly outlined in the ancient ordinances. Consequently, the ancient ritual, once of value as an outline of things to come, is now worthless. Thus, as throughout this Epistle, Christ is Himself a sufficient safeguard against all error.

The warning in Colossians 2:16 proves how far Paul was from placing the Lord’s Day in the same category as the Jewish Sabbath. And this warning is not altogether needless now. For it is possible to degrade into a mere prescribed rite this precious and abiding gift of Christ to His Church. That this warning does not in any way contradict the divine authority and abiding validity and infinite value of the Lord’s Day, I have in my note under Galatians 4:11 endeavoured to show.

Colossians 2:18. Another warning. Whether it refers to another class of false teachers or to another element in the teaching combated in Colossians 2:16-17, Paul’s words do not indicate.

Rob-of-the-prize: by giving as an umpire an unfavourable judgment. This one word is a compound of that rendered prize in 1 Corinthians 9:24; Philippians 3:14. And the prize is in each case the same, viz. eternal life, the reward of victory in the good fight of faith: 1 Timothy 6:12. In Colossians 2:16 some one is supposed to be pronouncing sentence on the ground of eating and drinking. Here some one is supposed to be setting up himself as umpire in the Christian race and judging the prize in a spirit hostile to Paul’s readers. [Notice the present imperative in Colossians 2:16 and Colossians 2:18. It suggests that what the false teachers are already saying practically amounts to a hostile judgment.] Paul warns his readers not to submit to the judgment of the one or the other. And his words imply that such submission will rob them of the hope which is to them the light of life.

Lowliness-of-mind: same word in Philippians 2:3. Whether it was real or only professed, Paul does not say. In either case his warning remains the same.

Worship: the outward form of religious adoration: same word in Acts 26:5; James 1:26-27. This outward adoration, these men paid to the angels.

Wishing to do so in (or with) lowliness of mind etc.: description of the profession and outward action of the would-be umpire. (For the lowliness of mind must in some way have made itself known.) We may conceive him pretending to be unworthy immediately to approach God or the Son of God, and therefore in his humility directing his worship towards the created spirits who from heaven minister to the needs of men on earth. Paul says that what such men actually wish is to deprive his readers of the prize for which they are running the Christian race.

[The object-matter of this wish must be inferred from the long word foregoing. Evidently the would-be umpire wished to give a hostile decision. So 2 Peter 3:5, this lies hidden from them, they wishing it to be hidden. The Greek phrase here, θελων εν, is found in the LXX. as a rendering of a Hebrew phrase denoting to take delight in. But in this sense it never took root in the Greek language; and therefore is not likely to be so used here. Moreover, a man’s own delight in these things would do no harm to Paul’s readers unless he tried to force his own religious tastes upon them. But, however we understand the grammatical structure, practically the sense is the same. Paul feared that by this professed humility and this worshipping of angels his readers might be beguiled, and thus robbed of their prize.]

Investigating etc.: another detail collateral with in lowliness etc. Probably it refers specially to worshipping of angels, and traces this worship to its professed origin and foundation, viz. visions of angels. The word rendered investigate denotes originally to step into something, especially with a view to take possession of it. It is also used of mental entrance into a subject with a view to examine and thus take mental possession of it. So 2 Maccabees 2:30, ‘to investigate and to make discourse about all things and to be much occupied with the details, is fitting for the author of the story.’

Things which he has seen: professed visions of the unseen world. Like so many teachers of strange doctrines in all ages, these men professed to have seen something unseen by others. These supposed visions then became matters of investigation, i.e. of comparison and inference; and thus became the foundation of a system of teaching and of religious rites.

Vainly: either without reason or without result: senses closely allied. Same word in Romans 13:4; 1 Corinthians 15:2; Galatians 3:4; Galatians 4:11, Grammatically it may be joined to the words foregoing or to those following. For the order of the original is, things which he has seen, investigating vainly puffed up by etc. The word in-vain is best understood as Paul’s verdict about the uselessness of this investigation of these fancied visions. For it is needless to say that self-inflation is vain. ‘He talks about things which he has seen and makes his own visions a matter of laborious inquiry: a useless inquiry.’ Paul declares that this useless inquiry is the only foundation of his worship of angels and of his pretended humility.

Puffed-up: same word in 1 Corinthians 4:6; 1 Corinthians 4:18-19; 1 Corinthians 5:2; 1 Corinthians 8:1; 1 Corinthians 13:4; and not elsewhere in N.T. Notice that here only the false teachers are said to be puffed up, and of these Paul speaks in the third person: but at Corinth the same charge is brought against the whole Church.

The mind of his flesh: not exactly the same as, but similar to, the mind of the flesh in Romans 8:6.

His flesh: that portion of flesh and blood, with all its belongings physical and psychological, which is owned by one person. It is the bodily side of his nature.

Mind: the inward eye which looks through phenomena to the reality underlying them: same word in Philippians 4:7; Romans 1:28; Romans 7:23; Romans 7:25, etc. Here the bodily nature is said to have a mind. And rightly.

For the bodily appetites ever tend to dominate the intelligence, and to make it their slave. And since each mind thus dominated has a development of its own, both mind and flesh are here individualized: the mind of his flesh. Now the animating principle of the flesh is selfishness: for our bodies care for nothing except their own protection and maintenance and indulgence. Consequently, the mind of our flesh always begets an inflated self-estimate, which is a form of selfishness. This accounts for the supposed visions: for the selfish man is ever ready to believe anything which flatters his own vanity; and few things do this more than belief that he has personal and unusual intercourse with the unseen world. This man pretends to investigate his wonderful revelations; and on the ground of them pays outward adoration to angels. And, blinded by his own vanity, he attributes his desire to worship angels to a humility which dares not approach God Himself. Paul warns his readers that these empty products of self-esteem will, if accepted, rob the Christian of the prize he has in view; and that this is their real aim.

Such is perhaps the easiest explanation of this very obscure verse. Doubtless the obscurity is caused by our ignorance of details well known to the readers. Paul says plainly that worship of angels was part of the teaching of these false guides. And we can easily believe that they claimed to have seen visions of angels, and made these visions a matter of serious though empty examination. If so, the word in-vain would reveal in a moment the unreality of these boasted researches. And Paul’s explanation of them as a product of a self-estimate inflated by a sensual mind was probably verified by personal knowledge of the men who put forward these lordly claims.

The sense of this verse is completely changed by the corrected reading which he has seen. See Introd. iii. Lightfoot, moved by the difficulty of the passage, suggests that error may have crept into all our copies, and proposes a reading of which no trace whatever is found in any ancient MS., version, or quotation. A better suggestion in the same direction is made by Westcott and Hort; and may be rendered treading empty air. But that the true reading should have utterly vanished from the almost innumerable witnesses to the original text of the Epistle, is in the last degree unlikely. Even the erroneous insertion of the negative shows that the suggested reading was unthought of in the early Church. Its complete obliteration is much more difficult to accept than is the exposition given above. See a very good paper by Findlay in The Expositor 1st series, vol. xi. p. 385.

The express mention of angels here sheds light upon the mention of them in Colossians 2:15 where they are said to be led by God in triumphal procession, in Colossians 2:10 where Christ is said to be their Head, and in Colossians 1:16, where He is said to be their Creator.

Worship of angels was a conspicuous feature of the Gnostic sects so prevalent in so many strange varieties throughout the second century and traceable in their early origin almost or quite to the days of the apostles. So Irenæus (On Heresies bk . i. 31. 2) speaks of the Cainites as appealing to angels, “O angel, I use thy work O authority,” (same word as in Colossians 2:10; Colossians 2:15,) “I perform thy operation.” And Theodoret in his note on this passage says that a synod at Laodicea (in A.D. 364) forbade prayer to angels. This prohibition reveals how deeply the practice here condemned had taken root in the immediate neighbourhood of Colossæ. And this worship of angels implies as its basis supposed visions of the unseen world. See further in the note at the close of the Epistle.

Colossians 2:19. Further description of the false teachers, tracing their error, negatively, to their failure to grasp, or to retain hold of, Him from whom as the Head flows to the various members of the body nourishment and stability and growth.

The Head: as in Colossians 2:10 and Colossians 1:18 : the one highest member, itself a part of the body yet directing all the other members, which live only so long as they are united to each other and to the Head. The would-be seducer does not hold fast the Head, i.e. he has no firm union with Christ, the one great reality, and therefore investigates unreal visions and betakes himself to angel worship.

From whom etc.: reason for holding fast the Head, a reason which explains the aberrations of those who fail to do so.

The joints: Ephesians 4:16 : the various points of contact of the various parts of the body.

Ligaments: the bands which hold together the bones which form the joint. In this technical sense of ligaments the word is used by the Greek medical writers. The joints and ligaments comprise the whole mechanism by which the various parts of the body become one whole.

Receiving supply: see under 2 Corinthians 9:10. The supply in this case must be nourishment. We need not assume that Paul means that nourishment flows through the joints and ligatures. Probably his one thought was that without the bodily union of which these were the means the various members of the body would receive no nourishment.

And knit-together: same word as in Colossians 2:2.

The increase of God: i.e. wrought by God, 1 Corinthians 3:7 : cp. peace of God in Philippians 4:7. Paul here asserts that the entire body of Christ, consisting of various members, all receiving from Him nourishment and compactness, so long as they are closely fitted and joined each to the others, grows with a growth which God works and gives. Hence the need for holding fast the Head: for, separate from Him, there is neither nourishment nor compactness nor growth. Through want of this union with Christ, the false teacher is given up to his own vagaries. Close coincidence of words and thought in Ephesians 4:16.

Colossians 2:16-19 contain the specific warning of the Epistle. We note in it two distinct elements. Paul warns first against those who would maintain as still binding, and even extend, the prescriptions of the ancient law: and then against those who, relying upon fancied intercourse with the unseen, would set up a worship of their own invention. To this second error Paul gives great attention, unveiling its source in blind conceit fostered by sensuality. But against each error his real safeguard is a knowledge of Christ in His relation to His Church. They who know Christ have the reality dimly foreshadowed in the Old Covenant, and therefore will not wish to re-establish it. And He is the Head of the Church, His body, consisting of various members each receiving from Christ, in virtue of its close union with Him and with the other members, nourishment and compactness and growth. They who know this will not be led astray by empty fancies even about the bright ones of heaven.

Colossians 2:20-23. These verses bring to bear against the errors mentioned or alluded to in Colossians 2:16-19 the teaching in § 9 that through the death of Christ His servants have been placed beyond the domain of the ordinances of the written Law.

If ye died: not doubt, but logical sequence. For death is plainly asserted in Colossians 3:3. It brings to bear against all restrictions of food the teaching of Colossians 2:11-12 : for baptism and resurrection imply death, and death is essentially a separation from the life previously lived.

Died with Christ: same words in Romans 6:8; and practically the same in 2 Timothy 2:11; Galatians 2:20.

The rudiments of the world: as in Colossians 2:8, which it recalls and in some measure explains. These rudiments of religious education belong to the bondage of spiritual childhood: Galatians 4:3. Under them Christ was Himself in bondage when for our sakes He took (Philippians 2:7) the form of a slave and was made (Hebrews 2:17) in all things like us, and became (Galatians 4:5) under law and (Galatians 3:13) under the burden and curse of our sins. From this subjection Christ was set free by His own death. That death we have shared: for through His death our old life of bondage has come to an end. In this sense we are (Colossians 3:3) dead with Christ, and thus removed from the elements of the world. Same thought, but not so fully expressed, in Galatians 6:14 : crucified to the world. Paul asks why, if all this be so, his readers are submitting-to-dogmas as though they were still living their old life in the world.

Allow-yourselves-to-be-dogmatized: the passive form of a verb derived from the word dogma. The active form is found in Esther 3:9; 2 Maccabees 10:8, and means, to issue an authoritative command. The passive form here used does not, however, imply that the Christians at Colossæ were actually submitting to this spiritual tyranny; and therefore does not necessarily imply blame. But it implies that efforts were being made to place them under the bondage of dogmas. Paul’s question reveals how inconsistent with their relation to Christ and His death is such bondage. To try to maintain it, is to try to keep in prison one whom death has set free. By showing this, Paul practically exhorts his readers not to bare the neck to the yoke which others would impose. Notice the contrast died… from the… world and living in the world: cp. Romans 6:2. This verse is a practical application of Colossians 2:14. For the decrees which the false teachers would reimpose have been nailed to the cross of Christ and thus made invalid.

Colossians 2:21. Various prohibitory dogmas which the false teachers sought to impose. This correct meaning of these words was observed so early as Tertullian: Against Marcion bk. v. 19. But it was overlooked by some of the Latin Fathers. What the prohibited things were, Paul did not find it needful to say. His readers knew well. The word taste evidently refers to the eating and drinking of Colossians 2:16. And to the same refer most probably the words handle and touch. This inference is strongly confirmed by Colossians 2:22 : for food and drink are, and most things are not, destroyed in their use. Of the three words, the first seems to be somewhat stronger than the third, which seems to denote always a mere touch, whereas the first is sometimes used in the sense of take hold of. Hence the R.V. reverses the order of the A.V. The words are in an ascending scale of stringency. Of this, that, and the other, these teachers say, Do not take it, do not even taste it, do not so much as touch it.

Colossians 2:22 a. All which things: those forbidden by the dogmatizers.

Are for destruction by the using: they exist in order to be used up and thus destroyed. This proves that the forbidden things were articles of food. For all such are by their nature perishing; and attain the aim of their existence by being consumed. Cp. 1 Timothy 4:3, to abstain from articles of food, which God created to be partaken of. Also 1 Corinthians 6:13, food for the belly, and the belly for the food: i.e. each is designed for the other, and both will pass away. And 2 Peter 2:12, born to be caught and destroyed. The argument here is that, since these articles of food were created in order to be eaten, to forbid them is to bring back the state of childhood (cp. Galatians 4:3) in which for a time certain things were not allowed to be put to their natural use.

Colossians 2:22 b. These words have evidently no connection with those immediately foregoing. Consequently, Colossians 2:22 a must be a parenthetic comment on the prohibitions of Colossians 2:21; and Colossians 2:22 b must be joined to dogmatized in Colossians 2:20, as a further description of the ordinances which the false teachers sought to impose.

Commandments: verbal prohibitions, resting on doctrinal grounds or teachings. All were of human origin. This clause recalls a similar rebuke of empty forms of religion in Isaiah 29:13, which in the LXX. reads, ‘teaching commands of men and teachings.’ It was quoted by Christ in Matthew 15:9 as a warning to some who transgress the commandments of God because of their traditions. This similar use of O.T. words suggests whether Paul had heard of the discourse of Christ there recorded.

We saw under Colossians 2:16 that the mention of drink proves that the false teachers not only maintained but exaggerated the Mosaic prohibitions. Such exaggerations were evidently commandments and teachings of men. And the divine commands of the Law of Moses became mere human precepts when they were asserted to be still binding after they had been revoked by Christ. The perpetual obligation of the Law was therefore a demand resting only on human authority. Consequently, all the prohibitions suggested in Colossians 2:16 come under this description, and under the warning in Colossians 2:8.

Colossians 2:23. Paul’s final and solemn judgment about the mere human and traditional teaching which forms the basis of the dogmas which some would impose on the Christians at Colossæ. They are things (or better a class of things) having indeed a repute of wisdom. In other words, these commands and doctrines belong to a larger category to which as a whole the following words apply.

Repute (literally word) of wisdom: a verbal utterance of wisdom, i.e. either called wise or claiming to be wise; senses closely allied. This recalls philosophy, i.e. love of wisdom in Colossians 2:8, by which Paul feared that his readers might be despoiled.

Self-imposed worship: evidently the worship of angels in Colossians 2:18, this looked upon as a fiction of man’s invention. It keeps before us, as in Colossians 2:8; Colossians 2:22, the human origin of that which Paul here condemns.

Lowliness-of-mind: again recalling Colossians 2:18 where, as here, a professed inward state of mind is joined with outward forms of religion.

Unsparing treatment of one’s body: harsh refusal to it of that which rightly or wrongly it desires. It seems to be a description of the prohibitions in Colossians 2:21. And these three things, self-imposed worship, apparent humility, ascetic self-denial, are represented as an encompassing element, perhaps as an auriole of glory, of the false teaching Paul here combats: in self-imposed-worship etc. This composite surrounding gained for it the repute of wisdom. [Paul’s language suggests that it was an empty repute: μεν solitary.]

This apparent glory was no mark of real worth: not in any honour. The precise meaning of these words is very obscure. Perhaps Paul wishes to say that this unsparing treatment, this refusal of all pleasant things, was no honour to the body, i.e. no recognition of its true dignity. For all asceticism is contempt of the body. From the body, the organized unity belonging to each one, Paul now turns to the flesh, the material constitution which human bodies have in common, which creates common needs, likes, and dislikes, and thus exerts a common influence on the spirit within.

Indulgence (or satiety) of the flesh: a supply to the full of these needs and desires, good or bad. The word rendered against is in itself neutral; and may refer, as the context determines, to something gratifying, or checking gratification of, the flesh. Perhaps the latter here. And, if so, we may join these words closely to the word honour. Thus understood, the verse means that these human prescriptions, though possessing a repute of wisdom, as being apparently fitted to show men a way to the attainment of their highest good, are not associated with any real honour to the body in the way of guarding it from the self-indulgence which so often covers it with shame.

Colossians 2:20-23 prove that our relation to Christ renders, or ought to render, impossible submission to the empty dogmatism of Colossians 2:16-19. And from it we may glean something about the nature of this dogmatism. We have what seem to be some of the very words of these spiritual autocrats words forbidding by mere human authority the eating of food destined by the Creator to be eaten. We are reminded that their worship of angels was a fiction of their own fancy; and that their hard treatment of their own bodies was not accompanied by any real honour to the body as the temple of God, and was not of any use to enable men to resist the temptations to self-indulgence prompted by the constitution of the body. Yet, as so often in the history of the world, this homage to citizens of the unseen world, this refusal of the luxuries and comforts of life, and the apparent humility of which these seem to be an outward expression, gained for these teachers credit for rare wisdom, i.e. for acquaintance with things unknown to the multitude. All this surrounded with an illusive auriole of glory the spiritual tyranny with which these apparently wise ones sought to dictate, by their own arbitrary will, restrictions to those foolish enough to submit to them. But to those who are Christ’s, such submission is impossible. For by His death they have themselves died, and have thus escaped from all spiritual bondage.

Colossians 3:1-4. The new life into which, by their union with Christ in His resurrection and ascension, Christians have already entered, a life utterly inconsistent with bondage to human dogmas. Thus, after bringing to bear upon the errors of Colossians 2:16-19, in Colossians 2:20-23, the believer’s union with Christ in His death, Paul now brings to bear on the same the believer’s union with Christ in His resurrection and ascension.

If then ye have been raised together with Christ: more glorious counterpart of Colossians 2:20, which it recalls. It takes up a statement in Colossians 2:12 and makes it a basis of exhortation. Through the resurrection of Christ we have been made citizens of the world to which He has gone and sharers of its wealth and glory. That this resurrection with Christ includes not only new spiritual life but also a place with Christ in glory, is made clear by the exhortation which follows.

The things above: the blessings of heaven. These are the reward of faithful service on earth, and are within reach of present human effort and are its noblest aim. Indeed every effort to please Christ and to advance His kingdom may be looked upon as an effort to gain the things at His right hand: for these are an inevitable and known result of such effort. Cp. Romans 2:7, seek glory and honour and incorruption.

Where Christ is: cp. Revelation 22:12, My reward is with Me. Christ and the reward are together. Paul’s assertion is then further developed. Among the things above Christ is; more accurately defined, He is at the right hand of God: and He is there, not worshipping or standing, but sitting in majesty. Same teaching in Romans 8:34; Ephesians 1:20; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 1:13; Hebrews 8:1; Hebrews 10:12; Hebrews 12:2; 1 Peter 3:22; Matthew 26:64 etc. These passages reveal a thought familiar in the early Church.

Colossians 3:2. Mind the things above: literally the things above, make these the objects of your thought. The repetition of the things above keeps conspicuously before us the new and lofty element just introduced.

Not the things on the earth: cp. Philippians 3:19, who mind the earthly things. This antithesis to the things above recalls the low aims of the false teachers. For their whole thought was, in spite of their religiousness, after the passing things of earth.

Colossians 3:3. Reason for the foregoing exhortation, viz. that the life which-Paul’s readers once lived on earth has ceased: consequently they can no longer mind the things on the earth.

Ye-are-dead or ye-have-died: in the death implied in the burial of Colossians 2:12 and hypothetically stated in Colossians 2:20. Christians are not merely dead to the world, i.e. separated by the death of Christ from its control, but dead absolutely; i.e. their former life which was entirely earthly has come absolutely to an end. So complete is the change that Paul can describe it only by saying that they are dead. And the dead care nothing for things pertaining only to the world they have left. So, if Christians are true to their profession, will they no longer care for things merely belonging to earth.

And your life: like Christ they still live, though dead: so Revelation 1:18; living and was dead; 2 Corinthians 5:15, all died… they who live. For they share already the immortal life of the Risen One. And this is their only life. For all they have and are and do is an outflow of it. On earth they are living a life which in its essence belongs to heaven and which will develop into eternal life.

Lies-hidden: beyond human sight and beyond reach of accident and death.

With Christ; for they are dead, buried, and risen with Him. Whatever Christ has and is, they share.

In God: the surrounding and life-giving element of the new life, and its impenetrable bulwark. As Christ is (John 17:21) in the Father, so are Christians with Christ in God. And, in the arms of omnipotence, their life, though apparently exposed to deadly peril, is absolutely and for ever safe.

This Christian life, hidden as to its root and essence beyond reach of human intelligence and human attack, is also incomprehensible in its manifestations. For these are an outflow of its hidden essence. Thus are men on earth living a life hidden from the children of earth, a life absolutely safe, a participation of Christ’s life in heaven. For by union with Christ in His death on the cross their old life has ceased; and by union with the Risen One they have entered a life altogether new.

Colossians 3:4. This life cannot be for ever hidden. Like all hidden things, it must be manifested: Mark 4:22.

When Christ etc.: or whenever Christ be manifested: suggesting uncertainty about the time of an event which itself is absolutely certain.

Manifested: set publicly before the eyes of all men in the great day. So will all men themselves be manifested: 2 Corinthians 5:10. The same word is used of Christ’s self-presentation to men in His earthly life: John 21:1; John 21:14. To describe His appearance in judgment, the word revelation is also used: 1 Corinthians 1:7; 2 Thessalonians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:7; 1 Peter 1:13. For in that day manifestation and revelation (see under Romans 1:19) will coincide i.e. Christ will be set before the eyes of all; and all will actually see Him.

Christ is our life: for we shall live (John 14:19) because He lives and because (Galatians 2:20; John 17:23) He lives in us and we in Him. Consequently, where Christ is, there is our hidden life: and when Christ is manifested to the eyes of all men, then shall we also be manifested, sharing the splendour of His manifestation.

With Him: a frequent phrase, making conspicuous the truth that we shall be all that Christ has and is.

In glory: surrounded with a splendour which will excite the admiration of all: so 2 Corinthians 3:7-9; 2 Corinthians 3:11; Philippians 4:19; 1 Timothy 3:16. At present the real dignity of the sons of God is hidden from the eyes of men and indeed from their own eyes, as Christ is hidden from mortal sight. In that day Christ in His essential grandeur will appear and with Him will appear also the grandeur with which He will adorn His servants. Cp. Philippians 3:21, conformed to the body of His glory, and Romans 8:19; Romans 8:21, revelation of the sons of God… glory of the children of God.

The believer’s death and his pursuit only of things in heaven will in nowise unfit him for life on earth, or lessen his interest in things around. For the things of earth reach forward in their influence into the world to come. For instance, the movements of political life and the course of war have again and again helped or hindered the progress of the Gospel. Consequently, the Christian man whose eyes are open to the many spiritual issues at stake will watch these movements with deepest interest. Even the details and drudgery of common life receive thus importance and dignity. On the other hand, the new light in which he views all things will save him from the degrading tyranny which the uncertainties of earth exercise over those whom Christ has not made free.

Notice that in the phrases dead and ‘risen with Christ’ we have an ideal Christian life which is ours objectively in Christ; and which it is our privilege to make subjectively our own by faith. Hence Paul sometimes speaks as though his readers were already actually dead with Christ: at other times he urges them to appropriate the inward experience thus described. Contrast Colossians 3:5 with Colossians 3:3 and Galatians 5:24. This apparent contradiction is easily understood, and is spiritually helpful. To speak of believers as already dead with Christ, helps our faith: to urge them to put to death their members on the earth, warns us that the ideal needs to be made actual.

DIVISION III. reveals the specific occasion of the Epistle, viz. errors, or possibly one composite error, which some unknown persons were actively pressing on the Christians at Colossæ. Before mentioning this great danger, Paul armed his readers in DIV. II. with a complete protection against it, viz. a full exposition of the nature and work of Christ. He begins DIV. III. by saying in § 8 that he has written this exposition in order to guard them from seductive and perverse reasoning; and then goes on to recognise the solid front which faith enables them to present to all opponents, and to beg them, as already they have laid hold of Christ, to make Him the surrounding element, the nutritious soil, and the firm foundation, of their life and movement.

In § 9 Paul’s warning becomes more definite. The false teaching professes to be philosophy; but is really empty deception. It is such as we might expect from its outward source, viz. mere human tradition, and from its inward principle, viz. the rudiments of religion common to all mankind. And it does not take for its directive principle the one true norm, viz. the Person and Work of Christ. This norm, Paul further expounds, keeping in view the errors at Colossæ and thus to some extent indicating their nature.

From § 10 we shall learn that the seducers worship angels. And in § 9 Paul says that Christ, in whom the whole nature of God finds perfect embodiment in human form and in whom His people find their full development, is Himself Lord of the successive ranks of angels. From § 10 we shall also learn that the false teachers sought to enforce the restrictions and ordinances of the Jewish Law. And Paul teaches in § 9 that in Christ His people have received the fulness of which circumcision was but an outline, and that, just as it is needless to circumcise a corpse, so they who have been spiritually laid in the grave of Christ need no circumcision. Moreover, if dead with Christ, they are also by faith sharers of His resurrection. By forgiving their sins, God raised them from the dead. He did this by nailing to the cross of Christ and thus making invalid the Law which condemned them. Thus, what the ministrations of angels could not do, God did without their aid. So conspicuously subordinate is their position in this culmination of the work of salvation, as contrasted with their more prominent place in the Old Covenant, that God may be said, by placing them in this subordinate position, to have used them simply to swell the triumphant train of the real Conqueror. Thus without exact mention of the errors he is combating, Paul has virtually overturned them by expounding more fully the relation of Christ to the work of salvation.

In § 10, the errors indicated in general language in § 9 are stated without reserve. The false teachers not only maintain the abiding validity of the Law, which God had made invalid by nailing it to the cross of Christ, but add to its stringency. And other teachers, or more probably the same, amid professions of humility as unworthy directly to approach God, pretending to receive instruction from visions of the inhabitants of the unseen world, bow in worship to angels. From this it is evident that the errors which Paul combats comprise two elements, Jewish and theosophic. The former he rebuts by asserting that the Law is only an unsubstantial outline, of which the solid reality belongs to Christ. The latter element he condemns as worthless by pointing to its real source, viz. an inflated self-estimate, offspring of a mind dominated by the needs and pleasures of the bodily life, a delusion possible only to those who have no hold of Christ and who do not know that from Him is derived, by the mutual contact and close cohesion of the members of His Body, spiritual nourishment, firmness, and growth. The entire mass of restriction and ritual, resting as it does simply upon mere human assertion and pertaining only at best to the rudiments of religion common to the whole world, is for us completely set aside by the cross of Christ, which has for ever separated us from the things in which once we lived. It is far below the feet of those who are already sharers of the immortal life of the Risen Saviour and already citizens of the world in which He reigns. Our one aim now is to seek, even while we tread the soil of earth, the infinite and abiding wealth of heaven. Our thoughts and hearts go forward to that day when the inner life, hidden now not only from the world, but in great part even from us who live it, will by the appearance of Christ be manifested in the splendour of the eternal glory.

Notice how in DIV. III. Paul has led us down into, and completely out of, the mist and gloom of error. Before we entered the dark valley, he had already fixed our gaze upon the Son of God, Creator of the world, crucified that He might reconcile us to God, and risen from the dead. In § 8 he warned us that danger was near. In § 9 the outlines of the enemy became discernible. In § 10 he came fully into view: and we seemed in Paul’s argument to enter into deadly conflict with him. In that conflict, death came to our rescue, even the death of Christ upon the cross. We lay dead with Him. Then burst upon us like the light of Easter morn the bright vision of Colossians 3:1 ff: We saw Christ not only risen from the grave, but seated at the right hand of God. In the brightness of that vision we forgot that our bodies are still doomed to corruption and worms. These had vanished from our view. And we felt ourselves to be already where Christ is; and that henceforth the only matters worthy of our thought and effort are the realities which abide with Christ in God.

Notice how throughout DIV. III. Paul points to Christ. With Him we go down into the grave. In death we are with Him. And His presence guides us up to the light of day. As throughout this Epistle, so especially in this Division, the Son of God is All and in all.

Verses 5-11

DIVISION IV PRACTICAL APPLICATION.

CH. 3:5-4:6.

SECTION 11. — GENERAL MORAL TEACHING: NEGATIVE.

CH. 3:5-11.

Put to death then the bodily members which are upon the earth fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and the covetousness, which is idolatry; because of which things comes the anger of God upon the sons of disobedience. Among whom ye also walked once, when ye lived in these things. But now, also ye, put away all things, anger, fury, badness, railing, shameful talking, out of your mouth: lie not one to another; having put off the old man with his actions, and having put on the new man which is being renewed for knowledge according to the image of Him that created him. Where there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond, free, but Christ is all things and in all.

In the light of the glory of the Risen Lord, which shone upon us in Colossians 3:1-4, the errors prevalent at Colossæ have utterly vanished. In the rest of the Epistle, no trace of them remains. But Paul remembers that his readers are still men on earth, exposed to the temptations incident to human life. Therefore, as he comes down from this Mount of Transfiguration, he uses the brightness of the vision as a moral influence deterring from sin, and prompting every kind of excellence. In other words, the vision of Christ in Colossians 3:1-4 is a transition from the specific errors treated in DIV. III. to the principles of general morality taught in DIV. IV. In § 11 we have negative moral teaching, i.e. a warning against various forms of sin; in § 12, positive moral teaching, i.e. incentives to various kinds of excellence; in § 13, precepts for various classes of persons; and in § 14 sundry general exhortations.

Colossians 3:5. Practical application of the foregoing: put-to-death then. Cp. Romans 8:13, putting to death the actions of the body. [In contrast to Romans 8:13, the Greek aorist here bids that the putting to death be at once completed so that henceforth the bodily members be not dying but dead. Similarly 2 Corinthians 7:7, let us cleanse ourselves, so that henceforth we be clean.]

The members which are upon the earth: hands, feet, lips, eyes, etc., according to Paul’s constant use of the word and his frequent reference to the immoral influence of the body. This implies that the word death is metaphorical. And it recalls the very strong metaphor of Matthew 5:29-30, especially ‘one of thy members perish.’ The body exerts on the unsaved, through its various parts and their various functions, an active and immoral influence. Its members may therefore be represented as a living and hostile power. Not that matter or the body is essentially bad: for they are good creatures of God. But man’s body has fallen under the dominion of sin, and has thus become a fetter with which sin binds the spirit within. This hostile power, Paul bids us kill, so that the bodily senses shall no longer, clamouring for indulgence, shape our actions or even our desires. He means that we surrender ourselves to the saving influence which comes to us through the cross of Christ and appropriate by faith the deliverance from the rule of the bodily life which Christ has gained for us by His death. Thus are the members of our body, which once enslaved us, nailed to His cross and thus rendered powerless for evil. And, since this deliverance comes by our own self-surrender and faith, we may be said, as here, ourselves to put to death the members of our bodies. Thus (2 Corinthians 7:1) we cleanse ourselves from all pollution of flesh and spirit.

Upon the earth: recalls the same words in Colossians 3:2, thus bringing them to bear on this exhortation. Our bodies and all that pertains to them belong to the earth. Therefore, to allow them to rule us, whom God has raised to heaven, is to bow to the dominion of a world which God has placed far beneath our feet.

Fornication, uncleanness: as in Galatians 5:19.

Passion: an inward emotion aroused by some external object; in this case by an impure object prompting inchastity. Same word in Romans 1:26.

Desire: good or bad; see under Galatians 5:17. It therefore needs to be further specified as evil desire. It is a wider term than passion, and describes a mind going out after some external object. These four terms descend from the specific to the general: intercourse with harlots, any form of outward inchastity, the inward emotion from which inchastity springs, any bad desire.

Covetousness, literally having more: desire for more than our share. The definite article raises this sin into special prominence: and this is increased by the comment which follows.

Which (or better which sort of thing) is idolatry: it belongs to a class of things all which are idolatry. Covetousness is worship of material good. And it presupposes that our well-being depends upon having the good things of earth, and that therefore created objects around are arbiters of our happiness. To suppose this, is to put the creature in the place of the Creator, and to put man under the dominion of the accidents of life. Thus (1 Timothy 6:10) love of money is a root of all the evils. That this apparently casual assertion is repeated in Ephesians 5:5, reveals its firm hold of the thought of Paul. This double warning is the more needful because the great evil of covetousness is not at once apparent. Both covetousness and sensuality are exact contraries, in different directions, to seeking the things at God’s right hand.

Notice here, as in Romans 1:29; Romans 1:31; 1 Corinthians 6:9, Galatians 5:20, a catalogue of sins. This marked feature of Paul’s writings reveals a familiar student of fallen human nature. Also that, after bidding us put to death the members of our body, Paul mentions first sins directly connected with the body.

This list of sins is placed in grammatical apposition to the members which are upon the earth as something which we must put to death. Practically it is an explanation of the foregoing metaphor. Paul really wishes us to kill the various sins which once used our bodily powers as instruments of evil. This simple explanation accounts fully for the arrangement of the verse. Paul does not say that these sins are members of our bodies, nor does he ever use such a metaphor. But, looking upon the bodies of the unsaved as organs of sin, as animated by a power hostile to us, he bids us put them to death and then explains his meaning by saying that what he wishes us to kill is sin in its various forms. Thus this verse is a natural development of the teaching of Romans 6:12-19.

Colossians 3:6. Solemn assertion of the inseparable connection of sin and punishment. A frequent conclusion to Paul’s lists of sins: Ephesians 5:6; Galatians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 6:10. He was accustomed thus to guard from abuse the doctrine of Justification through Faith. This solemn assertion greatly strengthens the foregoing exhortation.

Anger of God: Romans 1:18; Romans 5:9 : His determination to punish. It comes in the day of anger and of revelation of the righteous judgment of God, Romans 2:5. The certainty of future punishment makes it to Paul’s thought a present reality, as though retribution were already on the way: cp. 1 Thessalonians 1:10. It comes down from heaven upon the wicked.

Disobedience: same word in Romans 11:30; Romans 11:32; Ephesians 2:2; Ephesians 5:6; Hebrews 4:6; Hebrews 4:11. It is practical unbelief.

Sons of disobedience: Ephesians 2:2; Ephesians 5:6 : as though the abstract principle were the source of their immoral nature. In each sinner the abstract principle of unbelief has given birth to a child. Similarly John 17:12, son of destruction; 1 John 3:10, children of the devil; Ephesians 5:8, children of light; Luke 20:36, sons of the resurrection. It is a Hebrew phrase: 1 Samuel 2:12, sons of Belial; 1 Samuel 20:31, a son of death is he. The phrase suggests how completely disobedience is a part of the nature of sinners. On the correct reading of this verse see Introd. iii. 2.

Colossians 3:7. If in Colossians 3:6 we omit upon the sons of disobedience, we must render here in which things ye walked: cp. Ephesians 2:2; 2 Corinthians 4:2; Romans 6:4. This would imply that when the Colossians lived in these things they walked in them. Now, when used of sinners, the word live can mean only the outward manner of life. Touching the inner reality, their state is not life, but death. In this sense none but believers can be said to live and to have vital surroundings: e.g. Galatians 2:20, live in faith. And, if the word live means here only the outward manner of life, it is practically the same as the word walk. Consequently, if we omit the doubtful words in Colossians 3:6, the latter part of Colossians 3:7 becomes an empty tautology. This confirms the testimony of almost all the ancient documents that these words are genuine; and suggests that this is one more of the many cases in which the Vatican MS. omits genuine words.

If we accept these words as genuine, we must render among whom also ye walked. Cp. Ephesians 2:3, among whom also we had our manner of life formerly in the desires of our flesh. They travelled in company with other sons of disobedience. All walked along the same broad way.

Lived in these things: close parallel in Romans 6:2, live in it, i.e. in sin. Somewhat different is Colossians 2:20, living in the world. Formerly Paul’s readers lived in the sins mentioned above: they then went along a path trodden by those whose character is derived from, and determined by, the principle of rebellion against God. This justifies the exhortation of Colossians 3:5, and prepares a way for that of Colossians 3:8.

Colossians 3:8-9. But now: Paul’s frequent contrast of past and present: so Colossians 1:22; Colossians 1:26; Ephesians 2:13; Romans 6:22; Romans 7:6. It introduces here, in contrast to the readers’ past life just described, a repetition in plain language of the metaphorical exhortation of Colossians 3:5.

Put-away: as in Ephesians 4:22; Ephesians 4:25; Romans 13:12.

Also ye; joins the Colossian Christians in present duty with all believers, just as the same words in Colossians 3:7 joined them with the sons of disobedience.

All things: including the list in Colossians 3:5, the further list now added, and every kind of sin. It gives to Paul’s prohibition the widest universality.

Anger: a disposition which prompts to inflict pain or injury: see under Romans 1:18.

Fury: a bursting forth of this disposition. Same words in same order in Romans 2:8, describing God’s determination to punish sin. Converse order in Ephesians 4:31. That they are here classed among sins, reminds us how easily anger oversteps the line and becomes evil.

Badness: general worthlessness, in contrast to excellence: same word in Romans 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:8; 1 Corinthians 14:20; Ephesians 4:31.

Railing: the Greek original of our own word blasphemy. It denotes any hurtful or evil speaking against God or against man. See under Romans 2:24; Romans 3:8.

Shameful speaking: foul-mouthed language of any kind. These two forms of improper speech are closely associated. For language hurtful to our neighbour easily becomes coarse abuse. And both are a frequent expression of anger and fury.

Out of your mouth; adds to the prohibition graphic definiteness. Put out of your mouth, as unworthy to be in it, every form of bad speech. To take these words merely as describing the bodily organ of speech, (cp. Ephesians 4:29,) would make them almost meaningless.

Lie not: another kind of prohibited language.

One to another; recalls their close mutual relation, as (Ephesians 4:25) members one of another. This separate prohibition of falsehood reminds us of its unique wickedness: cp. Revelation 21:8.

Colossians 3:9-10. Reasons, negative and positive, supporting the prohibitions of Colossians 3:8-9 a.

Put-off: as one takes off and lays aside clothing. Same word in Colossians 2:15, where see note.

The old man: same words in Romans 6:6. So complete is the change that the man himself as he formerly was is spoken of as an old garment laid aside, as though personality itself were changed. So 2 Corinthians 5:17, the old things have gone by.

Actions: same word as in Romans 8:13; Romans 12:4. The various activities of the old life are supposed to have been laid aside together with their one personal source: the old man with his actions.

Put-on: as one puts on clothes or weapons, the exact counterpart of put-off. Same word in Matthew 6:25; 2 Corinthians 5:3; and in Romans 13:12; Romans 13:14; Galatians 3:27, where we have close parallels.

The new man: in marked contrast to the old man. So complete is the change, and so distinct from ourselves is the new life, that Paul speaks of it as a new personality put on as we put on clothing. This implies an inner and neutral and unchangeable personality which puts off and on, and another personality with moral qualities which is put off and on.

New: recent in time: same word in 1 Corinthians 5:7; Matthew 9:17, etc.; a cognate word in Ephesians 4:23. It recalls the shortness of time since the change. The word rendered renewed comes from another root found in Ephesians 2:15; Ephesians 4:24; 2 Corinthians 3:6; 2 Corinthians 5:17, and denoting that which is new in quality.

Which-is-being-renewed: a gradual renovation day by day of the new character which has once for all been put on. The old character, now put off, was day by day undergoing corruption: Ephesians 4:22. Thus the new life is represented as one definite assumption of a character which henceforth is gradually progressing. The word renewed does not necessarily mean restoration to a former state. For the New Covenant is by no means a restoration of the Old Covenant to its original form: and the New Earth and Heaven will differ greatly from the present ones. But it involves the removal of all defects. The renewal will not be complete until every trace of the damage done by sin is erased.

Knowledge, or full-knowledge: same word as in Colossians 1:9-10; Colossians 2:2. It notes the direction and aim of this renewal, as designed to bring us into full-knowledge. As the Christian life progresses we know more and more of that which is best worth knowing.

Image: an outward manifestation of the inward reality of God. It is the nature of God as set before the eyes of men.

Him that created: the Father, as always; Romans 1:25; Ephesians 3:9. This is confirmed by Colossians 1:16, where Christ is not the Author, but the Agent, of creation.

According to the image etc.; recalls at once the same words in Genesis 1:26-27. Cp. James 3:9. The story of creation teaches that the Creator is Himself the Archetype of His intelligent creatures. Now the Creator knows perfectly whatever He has made. And Paul says that this divine knowledge is a pattern of the knowledge which this renewal aims to impart to men: for knowledge according to the image of Him that created him: viz. the new man, the chief matter of this verse. Consequently, the word created must refer to the moral re-creation. This use of a word originally used of the old creation implies that the old and new are analogous. So are all God’s works in harmony one with another, and in proportion to the similarity of their occasion. Whether the words according to the image etc. be joined to knowledge or to being-renewed, is unimportant and was perhaps not definite to the writer’s mind. For knowledge is an aim of the renewal, and the Creator is its pattern: therefore the knowledge aimed at must be a human counterpart of the Creator’s infinite knowledge. As the renewal makes progress, we shall in greater measure share God’s knowledge of all that He has made and done. In other words, spiritual growth is growth in intelligence.

This mention of knowledge as an aim of renewal is in close harmony with Colossians 1:9; Colossians 1:28; Colossians 2:2, and with the general scope of this Epistle.

[Grammatically, the aorist participles having-put-off and having-put-on denote only actions preceding, in act or thought, the laying aside of sin to which in Colossians 3:8 Paul exhorts; and do not say whether the putting off be something still to be done and therefore a part of the exhortation, or something already done and therefore a reason for it. Each of these expositions is in harmony with Paul’s thought elsewhere: cp. Galatians 3:27 for the latter, and Romans 13:14 for the former. The practical difference is very slight. Perhaps it is best to understand Paul to mean that by joining the company of the followers of Christ the Christians at Colossæ had already formally stripped off from themselves and laid aside their former life and character and had put on a new life; and that he appeals to this profession as a reason for now laying aside all sin. Similar appeal in Romans 6:2. This latter exposition may be embodied in translation by rendering, inasmuch as ye have put off etc.

Colossians 3:11. A comment on the new life just described as a new man undergoing further renewal.

Where there is etc.: the new life looked upon as a locality in which the old distinctions are no longer found. Paul cannot repress a thought very familiar to him, the great distinctions of Greek and Jew, of bond and free; and these distinctions overshadowed and set aside by Christ. Close parallels in Galatians 3:28; 1 Corinthians 12:13. The similarities and differences of these unexpected allusions to the same human distinctions as set aside in Christ reveal the hand not of a copyist but of one original author.

Greek and Jew: in this order only here; contrast even 1 Corinthians 1:22. These words embrace all mankind from the point of view of Jewish nationality: the words circumcision and uncircumcision do so from the point of view of Jewish ritual. The preposition and puts, in each pair, the two counterparts in conspicuous contrast and combination.

Barbarian, Scythian: no longer an inclusive description. The word Greek, which to a Jew included usually all nations other than his own, seemed to Paul not sufficiently inclusive. He therefore adds the word Barbarian, a frequent and all-inclusive contrast to Greek: and to make his description still more specific he mentions by name one of the most barbarous of the barbarian nations. Cp. Josephus, Against Apion bk. ii. 38, “The Scythians differ little from wild beasts.” As not containing an inclusive description of mankind, these two last words are added without a connecting conjunction. And in the same loose way the words bond, free, are added, the reader being left to observe that they include the whole race. As in 1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 3:27, Paul declares that in the new life these wide distinctions do not exist.

But Christ etc.: a positive truth, of which Colossians 3:11 a is but a negative counterpart.

All things in all persons: see under 1 Corinthians 15:28, where God is all things in all. To have Christ, is to have all things: for He is Himself all that His servants need. And in all His servants, as Himself all things to them, Christ is. In the slave Christ is, as his liberty; in the Scythian, as his civilisation and culture. And since Christ includes in Himself the whole world of man’s need, and dwells in all His servants, all human distinctions which are but embodiments of human defects, have in the new life passed utterly away. National and social barriers there cannot be where Christ is.

In DIV. III. Paul dealt with the specific matter of this Epistle, viz. certain errors prevalent at Colossæ, errors derogatory to the dignity of Christ. For his refutation of these errors, he prepared a way in DIV. II. by expounding the nature and work of the Eternal Son. In DIV. IV. this refutation of specific doctrinal error is followed by the general principles of Christian morality. And this moral teaching is directly based upon the specific and exalted Christian doctrine with which DIV. III. concludes. For with Paul morality is always based upon doctrine: and doctrine is always brought to bear upon morality.

First comes, in § 11, negative moral teaching. And every line reveals the peculiar thought of Paul. The various members of the body, taken as a whole, are in his thought almost identical with various sins, of which he gives a list beginning with sins specially related to the body. All these, the members of the body metaphorically, the specific sins actually, Paul bids his readers kill. He calls special attention to the worship of material good implied in the everywhere prevalent greed for wealth; and then points to the anger of God which will fall upon those whose character is moulded by rejection of His word. After a direct exhortation to cast away everything of this sort, Paul continues his list by mentioning sins of inward passion and of its outward expression in word, noting specially among sins of the tongue the unique sin of falsehood. He strengthens his exhortation by an ideal picture of conversion which he describes as a laying aside of the old personality and its various activities as one lays aside an old garment, and as a putting on of a new personality marked by progressive renovation tending towards perfect knowledge-like that by which the Creator knows all that He has made. This ideal Christian life, Paul cannot mention without remembering the national, theocratic, and social barriers which separate men, but which are completely broken down by Christ, who dwells in all His people as the full supply of all their need.

Verses 12-17

SECTION 12. — GENERAL MORAL TEACHING: POSITIVE. CH. 3:12-17.

Put on then, as chosen ones of God, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving each other if any one against any have complaint. According as the Lord forgave you, so also do ye. And upon all this put on love, which is the bond of maturity. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, for which also ye were called in one body: and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and instructing yourselves with psalms, hymns, spiritual songs; with grace singing to God in your hearts. And whatever ye do in word or deed, do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God, the Father, through Him.

Colossians 3:12. Practical consequence of Colossians 3:10. Just as the negative participial clause, having put off etc., is introduced as a reason for the foregoing exhortation to put away all sins, of which a list is given, so now the positive participial clause, having put on the new man etc., is made the ground of an exhortation to put on all Christian virtues. In each case the ideal Christian life already accepted is made the foundation of an appeal to realize that ideal in the practical details of Christian character. If so, Colossians 3:11 is a mental parenthesis. Paul interrupts for a moment his line of thought to give expression to other thoughts deeply interwoven into the tissue of his mind and ever ready, when occasion is given, to come to the surface.

Chosen ones of God: same words in Romans 8:33; see my Romans, p. 277. These were men whom, in the sense there expounded, God had selected from the rest of mankind to be specially His own.

Holy: men whom, through the death of Christ and the preached Gospel, God has claimed to stand in peculiar relation to Himself. See under Romans 1:8. The words holy and beloved take up and develop ideas already suggested by chosen ones of God. Because chosen by Him before the foundation of the world, they are now sacred persons devoted to His service: and they cannot forget that the divine choice sprang from the love of God which now embraces them. These titles are inserted as a motive for putting on all Christian virtues.

Heart: same word as in 2 Corinthians 6:12, where see note.

Heart of compassion; suggests that compassion, i.e. kindness towards the needy and helpless, is fitting to man, having its seat in his natural constitution.

Kindness: as in 1 Corinthians 13:4. It is that which makes intercourse with others pleasant.

Lowliness-of-mind: Philippians 2:3 : a mind which does not form lofty plans for its own aggrandisement. Cp. Matthew 11:29.

Meekness: see under 1 Corinthians 4:21 : absence of self-assertion.

Long-suffering: see under 1 Corinthians 13:4. It is a mind which does not quickly yield to unfavourable influences. Notice here a list of virtues following a list of sins; a close coincidence with Galatians 5:22. Paul reminds his readers that they are God’s chosen ones, separated from others to be specially His, and objects of His special love; and bids them, in view of this their relation to God, to clothe themselves with compassion for the helpless and kindness toward all, with a lowly estimate of themselves, avoiding self-assertion, and refraining from anger.

Colossians 3:13. A participial clause expounding the last word of Colossians 3:12 by showing what long-suffering sometimes involves, and supporting it by the example of Christ.

Forbearing: to refrain from laying our hands on others in order either to free ourselves from annoyance or to vindicate our rights. Compare a cognate word in Romans 3:25. It gives definiteness to the word long-suffering by suggesting a probable occasion for it, viz. the unpleasant action of others.

Forgiving each other; adds still further definiteness by suggesting a special kind of forbearance, viz. towards those who have done us wrong.

Each other: literally yourselves: as though the whole Church were one person, as it is actually the one Body of Christ, so that forbearance towards a fellow-Christian is forbearance towards ourselves. Same word and idea in Colossians 3:16. Since the whole Church has one interest, each member gains by every good act to another. Indeed, only when forbearance is a benefit to the whole, is it really good. And only to such forgiveness do Paul’s words refer.

Forgiving: same word as Colossians 2:13; 2 Corinthians 12:13; 2 Corinthians 2:7; 2 Corinthians 2:10; 1 Corinthians 2:12; Romans 8:32 : it is forgiveness looked upon as an act of grace or favour.

According as etc.: Christ’s forgiveness to us the model, and therefore the motive, of our forgiveness of others. Notice that Paul assumes, as in Colossians 2:13, that his readers know that they are forgiven. This forgiveness is here attributed probably to the Lord, i.e. to Christ: in Ephesians 4:32, a close parallel to God in Christ. The distinction is unimportant; for the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son: John 5:22. Consequently, the Father’s forgiveness is through the Son: or, leaving out of sight the ultimate source of forgiveness in the Father, we may think only, as here, of its immediate source in the Son.

So also do ye: i.e. forgiving each other. The whole verse is a participial clause expounding long-suffering in Colossians 3:12.

Colossians 3:14. Grand completion of the list of Christian virtues.

Upon all these: as an outer garment over all the underclothing.

Love: to our fellows, as always when not otherwise defined: see under 1 Corinthians 13:1; 1 Corinthians 13:3. Literally the love, the article making this virtue conspicuous, like the covetousness in Colossians 3:5.

Bond: same word in Colossians 2:19; Colossians 4:3; Acts 8:23. Love is a virtue which binds into one harmonious whole the various virtues mentioned above.

Maturity or perfection: cognate to the word in 1 Corinthians 2:6, where see note. Perhaps it is best to understand this uniting bond as being an essential element of Christian maturity. Already from 1 Corinthians 13:1 ff we have learnt that where love is there are all the virtues mentioned in Colossians 3:12. Love may therefore be called an overgarment enclosing all others, as a bond uniting them into one whole. And, since love is an infallible measure of Christian manhood, it may be called a bond of maturity.

The practical and positive exhortation of § 12 retains the metaphor of clothing assumed in Colossians 3:9-10. Paul prefaces the exhortation by referring to God’s eternal choice of the objects of salvation, to the sacredness of their position, and to the love with which God regards them. The new man, which like a garment his readers are bidden to put on, is one of many colours, comprising many virtues, especially that of mutual forbearance and forgiveness, the latter being represented as kindness to ourselves, made binding upon us by the forgiveness we have received from Christ. These various virtues must be bound into one harmonious whole by the all-encompassing virtue of love, a uniting bond never absent from Christian manhood.

Colossians 3:15. The peace of Christ: cp. John 14:27. Practically the same as the peace of God in Philippians 4:7 : a close parallel. This profound rest of spirit, like all else in the Kingdom of God, is from the Father through the Son; and is therefore the peace of God and of Christ.

Rule: literally award-the-prize: same word in Wisdom of Solomon 10:12, and cognate to the word prize in 1 Corinthians 9:24; Philippians 3:14. In later Greek it is frequently used in the sense of rule: for a conspicuous part of a ruler’s work is to pronounce decision in matters open to question. This general sense of rule or arbitrate is all that we can attach to the word here: for nothing in the context suggests a definite prize to be awarded. In all details of life the inward rest which Christ gives is to be the principle determining what we are to be and to do.

In your hearts: the home and throne and ward of the peace of God: Philippians 4:7.

To which ye were also called: the peace of Christ enjoyed by all who believe is an integral part of the purpose for which the Gospel call is proclaimed to men.

In one body: the Church, as in Colossians 1:18; Colossians 1:24. This is the locality in which is to be enjoyed the peace to which God has summoned us. This reminds us that the profound inward rest which Christ gives is a sure source of harmony with our fellow-Christians, and is impossible without such harmony.

Be thankful: cp. Philippians 4:7. Gratitude to God is a fertile source of peace. Acknowledgment of what He has done for us removes all fear that He will forsake us in the future.

Notice two sides of the Christian life. Paul bids us put on all Christian virtues in our dealings with others; and desires that divinely-given peace be the ruling principle within us, nourishing, and itself nourished by, gratitude to God.

Colossians 3:16. The word of Christ: the Gospel proclaimed by Christ. So 2 Thessalonians 3:1, the word of the Lord; and John 5:24, My word.

Dwell: same word in Romans 8:11; 2 Corinthians 6:16; 2 Timothy 1:5; 2 Timothy 1:14.

In you: i.e. either within or among. Which of these was in the writer’s thought, must be determined by the context. Probably the latter chiefly: for the word teaching shows that Paul thinks of the word of Christ as spoken by one to others. But, as the spoken word must come from the speaker’s heart, the former sense, which is also suggested by the Greek word rendered dwell, is not altogether absent.

Richly; suggests abundance and enrichment. Paul desires the spoken word of Christ to have a permanent and abundant place in the Church at Colossæ, and in the lips and thoughts of its members, thus making them truly rich.

In all wisdom: to be joined probably to the words following as specifying the manner of teaching, rather than to those foregoing which have already a modal adverb, richly.

Teaching, admonishing: as in Colossians 1:28. Teaching is here put first, because the phrase word of Christ suggests first the actual impartation of knowledge.

Yourselves: same word in Colossians 3:13. It describes a reflex action of the Church upon itself, building up itself by teaching the word of Christ. That this self-edification may he effective, the teaching must be in all wisdom. So Colossians 1:28; Cp. Colossians 4:5 : contrast 2 Corinthians 1:12. It must be accompanied, as its surrounding element, by knowledge of that which is best worth knowing, and by all sorts of such knowledge.

Psalms: as in 1 Corinthians 14:15, sacred poems like those of the Book of Psalms.

Hymns: an English form of the not uncommon Greek word here used, which denotes apparently a short poetical composition in praise to God.

Songs: literally odes: apparently a wider term denoting any kind of poetry to be sung. Hence it was needful to add the word spiritual: i.e. prompted and permeated by the Spirit of God. The three Greek words are fairly represented by their English equivalents; the psalms recalling the sacred songs of the Old Testament, the hymns any song of praise to God, and the spiritual songs including any song prompted by the Holy Spirit.

With grace singing: a second participial clause, expounding the cognate word song in the foregoing clause.

With grace: literally in grace: cp. 2 Corinthians 1:12, in the grace of God. We are to sing in the sunshine of the smile and favour of God, our songs prompted by His smile.

In your hearts: the melody of the lips coming from, and filling, the heart.

To God: the Object and Auditor of these songs. And whatever goes up to God must first fill the heart.

In all ages, songs of praise to God have been an important element of worship. So Philo, vol. ii. 484: “Then some one rising up sings a hymn made in honour of God, either himself having made it new or an old hymn of the poets of former days,… all others listening except when it is needful to sing the responses: then all, both men and women, sing.” Cp. p. 485, where we have a long account of Jewish sacred singing. Of Christian song, even Pliny, in his letter to the Emperor Trajan, bears witness: “They were wont on a certain day to sing a hymn to Christ as God.” Paul speaks here of sacred song as a means of Christian instruction. And in all ages popular songs, sacred and secular, have been the most effective teachers.

Colossians 3:17. An all-embracing exhortation concluding the general moral teaching.

Whatever, or literally everything whatever; looks upon the entirety of man’s conduct as one whole. This is then distinguished into word and deed, the two great factors of human life. And these are summed up, and the idea of entirety is again expressed, the repetition giving it great emphasis, in the word all-things.

The name of the Lord Jesus: the outward expression of the sovereignty of Christ. Paul bids us do all things as His professed servants. It is practically the same as 2 Thessalonians 1:12, that the name of the Lord Jesus may be glorified in you.

Giving thanks to God: as an accompaniment of their entire activity. A close coincidence in thought and expression with Colossians 2:7; Colossians 4:2, Ephesians 5:4; Ephesians 5:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:18. Abiding gratitude is a constant mark of the thought of Paul.

To God, the Father: of Christ as of us. So closely related are these two aspects of the fatherhood of God, that we can not determine which of them held the first place in Paul’s thought here. Gratitude reminds us that God is our Father. And the foregoing mention of Christ reminds us that He is also the Father of Christ.

After, in § 11, bidding his readers lay aside every form of sin as unworthy of those who have stripped off as an old garment their former self and have put on a new self which is daily growing in likeness to God, Paul now proceeds to urge them in detail to put on the virtues belonging to this new life. Thus a negative warning is followed by a description of positive Christian excellence. And rightly: for mere negations never satisfy. He prepares a way for this positive exhortation by pointing to the choice of God which has consecrated all Christians to His service and selected them as objects of His special love. They must therefore act to each other with kindness and forbearance, even where injury has been received. As the crown of all virtues, giving to them unity and ripeness, there must be Christian love. And Paul prays that in their hearts may reign as an arbiter, pronouncing judgment in every doubtful point, the peace which Christ gives. He also desires that in the Church at Colossæ the good word spoken by Christ may ever be abundantly re-echoed in words of instruction and in sacred song. This outline of Christian excellence, necessarily scanty, yet rich, is concluded by an exhortation touching everything in life, viz. that it be done by them as bearers of the one Name which is above every name; with thanks to God, presented through the Master whose name they bear.

The prominence here given to gentleness and forbearance prompted by the love of God and by the example of Christ is worthy of special attention.

Mere uprightness, although absolutely essential, can never reveal the full beauty of the Christian character.

Verses 18-25

SECTION 13. DIRECTIONS TO SPECIFIC CLASSES OF PERSONS. CH. 3:18-4:1.

Wives, be in subjection to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter towards them.

Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well-pleasing in the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children, that they be not discouraged.

Servants, obey in all things your lords according to flesh, not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever ye do, work from the heart as for the Lord and not for men; knowing that from the Lord ye shall receive the recompense of the inheritance. The Lord Christ, ye serve. For he that acts unjustly will receive the injustice he has done: and there is no respect of persons. Masters, the just thing and equality render to your servants, knowing that ye have a Master in heaven.

After putting before his readers in § 12 virtues appropriate to, and binding upon, all Christians alike, Paul remembers that many of his readers bear one to another special relations, involving special and mutual obligations. Of these mutual relations of certain classes of his readers, he now speaks: viz. of wives and husbands in Colossians 3:18-19; of children and fathers, in Colossians 3:20-21; of servants and masters, in Colossians 3:22 to Colossians 4:1. In each pair of relations, the subordinate member is put first as being under a more conspicuous obligation.

Colossians 3:18-19. Literally, Women, be in subjection to the men: for the Greek language has no distinctive terms corresponding to our words wife, husband. But the reference to married persons is unmistakable.

Be-in-subjection: not worse in quality but lower in position. Same word in Luke 2:51; 1 Corinthians 15:28, the divine pattern of subordination; and in Titus 2:5; Titus 2:9; 1 Corinthians 14:34; Romans 13:1; Romans 13:5, etc. It suggests arrangement and order.

Fitting in the Lord: such subordination being an appropriate acceptance on their part of the position given by Christ to women. A fuller account of this suitability is given in Ephesians 5:22-24.

Literally, as above, Men, love the women.

Bitter: contrasted in James 3:11 with sweet. Cognate word in Revelation 8:11; Revelation 10:9-10. Similar words in all languages denote acute unpleasantness of word, demeanour, or thought. The stronger party, having nothing to fear from the weaker, is frequently in danger of acting or speaking harshly. To refrain from such harshness, even towards those we love, is sometimes, amid the irritations of life, no easy task. But it is binding upon the Christian.

Colossians 3:20-21. Obey: literally, listen from below, i.e. listen to, and obey, their commands. The wife must place herself in a lower position as compared with her husband: children must pay attention to their parents’ bidding.

In all things; cannot include sinful commands: for even a parent’s command cannot excuse sin, although it may mitigate the blame attaching to the child. Sometimes, but very seldom, a command evidently unwise is not binding on a child. But such cases are abnormal and do not come within the horizon of Paul’s thought. The universality here asserted embraces the entire activity of the child in all ordinary cases. A sinful command lays no obligation upon wife, child, or servant. This exception reveals the imperfection of all verbal precepts. They must be interpreted, not always according to the letter, but in the light of the inborn moral sense. This is specially true of positive commands.

Well-pleasing: without any limitation as to the person pleased. (So Titus 2:9.) Obedience is beautiful in itself and therefore pleasant to God and man.

In the Lord: as in Colossians 3:18. The child’s obedience to his parents must have Christ for its encompassing and permeating element. See further under Ephesians 6:1.

Then follows the corresponding obligation to the fathers. These only are mentioned, as being the chief depositaries of parental authority.

Provoke: conduct calculated to arouse either action or emotion. In the former and in a good sense, in 2 Corinthians 9:2 : here in the latter and in a bad sense. Paul forbids irritating commands or action. Close parallel with the injunction in Colossians 3:19. It notes in each case a frequent fault of the stronger party.

That they be not discouraged: motive for the foregoing. Irritating commands cause little ones to lose heart: and than this nothing is more fatal to their moral development.

Such are the duties involved in the tender relations of life. Wives must take a lower place, and children must listen to their parents’ commands. And in each case this must be in the Lord, i.e. as part of their service of Christ. Such conduct befits the wife’s actual position, and is beautiful in the child. It is, to both wives and children, the real place of honour. But they to whom this submission is due are themselves bound by corresponding obligations. They must pay the debt of love; and must refrain from making their superior strength a means of gratifying a vexatious spirit, and thus causing pain.

Colossians 3:22. From relations implying social equality, Paul now passes to a most important social relation implying inferiority; a relation already treated casually but forcibly in 1 Corinthians 7:21 f.

Servants, or slaves: see under Romans 1:1.

Obey: a duty binding alike on children and slaves.

In all things: same words and compass and limitation as in Colossians 3:20.

Lords: ordinary Greek term for masters. Cp. Galatians 4:1; 1 Peter 3:6. It is the exact correlative to servants. The one works at the bidding and for the profit of the other. See under Romans 1:1. This common use of the word lord gives definiteness to it when applied to Christ. He is the Master whose word we obey and whose work we are doing. See especially Colossians 4:1.

Lords according to flesh: their domain being determined and limited by the outward bodily life. Same phrase in Romans 9:3; Romans 9:5; 1 Corinthians 10:18. This limitation suggests that there is another department of the slave’s life not controlled by an earthly master.

Not with etc.: description, negative and positive, of the kind of service to be rendered.

Eye-service: found only here and Ephesians 6:6. It is work done only to please the master’s eye. All such servants look upon themselves as men-pleasers. To please men, is their aim: and therefore naturally their work is only such as falls within the range of human observation. Such merely external service is utterly unworthy of the Christian. For it brings him down to the level of those whose well-being depends on the smile of their fellows. A close parallel from the pen of Paul in Galatians 1:10.

Singleness of heart: exact opposite of eye-service, which is a hollow deception and does not come from the heart.

Fearing the Lord: i.e. Christ, the One Master. Where true reverence of the Master is, there is singleness of heart: for His eye searches the heart. Where the all-seeing Master is forgotten, we seek as our highest good the favour of men: and our service sinks down to the external forms which alone lie open to the eye of man. Thus fear of the Supreme Lord saves even the slave from degrading bondage to man.

Colossians 3:23. Another exhortation, without connecting particle, expounding and supporting the exhortation of Colossians 3:22.

Whatever ye do, or be doing: emphatic assertion of a universal obligation.

From the heart: literally from the soul, i.e. the seat of life. Same phrase in Ephesians 6:6; Mark 12:30; Deuteronomy 6:5. That which we work with our hands must not be mechanical but must flow from the animating principle within.

As for the Lord: the worker’s view of his own work, in contrast to a lower view of the same, as men-pleasers. Our work must be done to please the One Master, and not men, each of whom is but one among many. [The negative ουκ, where we might expect μη, embeds in an exhortation a virtual assertion. The work ye do is not for men.]

Colossians 3:24. Knowing that etc.: a favourite phrase of Paul, e.g. Romans 5:3; 1 Corinthians 15:58. It introduces a reason for the foregoing, based on known reality.

From the Lord ye shall receive: counterpart to for the Lord.

The inheritance: eternal life, looked upon as awaiting the slave in virtue of his filial relation to God. So Romans 8:17. And inasmuch as the blessings of eternal life are in proportion (2 Corinthians 5:10) to the faithfulness of his service of Christ, they are spoken of as the recompense of the inheritance. This will come from the one Master. Knowing this, and doing all our work for Him, we do it from the heart.

Ye-serve or serve-ye the Lord Christ: either an emphatic reassertion of an objective truth underlying Colossians 3:22-24, or an exhortation to make this truth subjectively the principle of our own life. The former exposition tells the slave his privilege: the latter bids him claim it; cp. 1 Corinthians 7:23. As Colossians 3:24 a is a statement of known fact, perhaps the former exposition is better: but the practical difference is slight.

Colossians 3:25. He that acts-unjustly; seems to refer specially to unjust masters, although it would include slaves. The same word in Philemon 1:18 refers to a slave’s dishonesty. But that Paul refers here to the master’s injustice, is made likely by the fact that this assertion of just recompense is given to support the foregoing assertion that Christian slaves are servants of Christ: for he that etc. That they are such, is more easily understood if they remember that even their master, at whose caprice they sometimes seem to be, will himself receive exact retribution for whatever injustice he has done. A very close coincidence of thought and phrase in 2 Corinthians 5:10. This chief reference to the master is also supported by the word respect-of persons: same word in same connection in Romans 2:11. For the master has very much more of the outward aspect which might seem to claim exemption from just retribution than has the slave. Moreover, a reference to masters is a convenient stepping stone to Colossians 4:1, where we learn that even slaves have claims upon their masters’ justice.

Colossians 4:1. The corresponding duties of masters, already suggested in Colossians 3:25.

The just-thing; recognises rights between master and slave. Similarly, in Matthew 18:23-34 we have commercial transactions between a master and his slaves. The specific application to the slave of the essential principles of justice, Paul leaves to the master’s own sense of right.

The equality: a word frequent in Greek for even-handed justice, almost in the sense of our word equity. And this is probably its meaning here. Not only the just thing, viz. that which law demands, but also equity, that even-handed dealing which can never be absolutely prescribed by law. It has been suggested that Paul here bids masters treat their slaves as equally with themselves members of the family of God: so Philemon 1:16. But this would need a more definite indication than we have here, whereas the exposition adopted above is suggested naturally; by the foregoing word just. We may therefore accept it as the. more likely.

Knowing that etc.: cp. Colossians 3:24. The action of the master, as of the slave, must rest upon the same basis of intelligent apprehension of objective reality. As in Colossians 3:22, so here, we have a contrast between the many lords and the One Lord. This must influence both slaves and masters.

The longer space given to slaves than to masters is easily accounted for by their greater number in the Church. The fuller treatment of the case of slaves as compared with that of the relations mentioned in Colossians 3:18-21 is explained by the greater difficulty of the subject. Possibly it was suggested to Paul by the conversion and return of Onesimus, a runaway slave. But, apart from this, the immense importance of the bearing of Christianity upon the position and duty of slaves justifies abundantly this careful treatment of the subject.

It is easy to apply to the relation of employers and hired servants, domestic and commercial, Paul’s teaching about a relation which has now happily in this country passed away. For morality rests, not upon exact prescription, but upon broad principles. The worth of specific prescriptions is in the principles they involve. This gives to moral teaching a practical application far wider than the actual words used. Modern masters and workpeople who think only of the money each can make from the other sin against both spirit and letter of the teaching of this section.

Paul has now dealt specifically with the more conspicuous and important social relations, and has shown how the Gospel bears upon each. Those in subordinate relations must accept their position as a part of their relation to Christ; as must those who occupy superior positions. Even slaves must remember that their hard lot is in a real sense sacred. In that lot they are serving, not men, but Christ. Moreover, their service is not vain. As recompense, they will receive in the kingdom of God the inheritance which belongs to His sons. Paul bids them live up to this glorious position, to look upon themselves as servants of Christ, and to render to Him with joyful hearts such service as His piercing eye will approve. On the other hand, masters must remember that they owe to their slaves not merely what the law demands but even-handed fairness.