Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadHeinrich Meyer Commentary - Colossians 1:23 - 1:23
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Col_1:23. Requirement, with which is associated not, indeed, the being included in the work of reconciliation (Hofmann), but the attainment of its blessed final aim, which would otherwise be forfeited, namely the παραστῆσαι κ . τ . λ . above described: so far at any rate as ye, i. e. assuming, namely, that ye, etc. A confidence that the readers will fulfil this condition is not conveyed by the εἴγε in itself (see on 2Co_5:3; Gal_3:4; Eph_3:2), and is not implied here by the context; but Paul sets forth the relation purely as a condition certainly taking place, which they have to fulfil, in order to attain the παραστῆσαι κ . τ . λ .—that “fructus in posterum laetissimus” of their reconciliation (Bengel).
τῇ πίστει ] belonging to ἐπιμέν .: abide by the faith, do not cease from it.[59] See on Rom_6:1. The mode of this abiding is indicated by what follows positively ( τεθεμ . κ . ἐδραῖοι ), and negatively ( Κ . ΜῊ ΜΕΤΑΚΙΝ . Κ . Τ . Λ .), under the figurative conception of a building, in which, and that with reference to the Parousia pointed at by παραστῆσαι κ . τ . λ ., the hope of the gospel is conceived as the foundation, in so far as continuance in the faith is based on this, and is in fact not possible without it (Col_1:27). “Spe amissa perseverantia concidit,” Grotius. On τεθεμελ ., which is not interjected (Holtzmann), comp. Eph_3:17; 1Pe_5:10; and on ἙΔΡΑῖΟΙ , 1Co_15:58. The opposite of ΤΕΘΕΜΕΛ . is ΧΩΡῚς ΘΕΜΕΛΊΟΥ , Luk_6:49; but it would be a contrast to the ΤΕΘΕΜΕΛ . ΚΑῚ ἙΔΡΑῖΟΙ , if they were ΜΕΤΑΚΙΝΟΎΜΕΝΟΙ Κ . Τ . Λ .; concerning ΜΉ , see Winer, p. 443 [E. T. 596]; Baeumlein, Part. p. 295.
μετακινούμ .] passively, through the influence of false doctrines and other seductive forces.
ἀπό ] away … from, so as to stand no longer on hope as the foundation of perseverance in the faith. Comp. Gal_1:6.
The ἐλπὶς τοῦ εὐαγγ . (which is proclaimed through the gospel by means of its promises, comp. Col_1:5, and on Eph_1:18) is the hope of eternal life in the Messianic kingdom, which has been imparted to the believer in the gospel. Comp. Col_1:4-5; Col_1:27; Rom_5:2; Rom_8:24; Tit_1:2 f., Col_3:7.
ΟὟ ἨΚΟΎΣΑΤΕ Κ . Τ . Λ .] three definitions rendering the ΜῊ ΜΕΤΑΚΙΝΕῖΣΘΑΙ Κ . Τ . Λ . in its universal obligation palpably apparent to the readers; for such a μετακινεῖσθαι would, in the case of the Colossians, be inexcusable ( ΟὟ ἨΚΟΎΣΑΤΕ , comp. Rom_10:18), would set at naught the universal proclamation of the gospel ( ΤΟῦ ΚΗΡΥΧΘ . Κ . Τ . Λ .), and would stand in contrast to the personal weight of the apostle’s position as its servant ( ΟὟ ἘΓΕΝ . Κ . Τ . Λ .). If, with Hofmann, we join ΤΟῦ ΚΗΡΥΧΘΈΝΤΟς as an adjective to ΤΟῦ ΕὐΑΓΓΕΛΊΟΥ , ΟὟ ἨΚΟΎΣΑΤΕ , we withdraw from the ΟὟ ἨΚΟΎΣΑΤΕ that element of practical significance, which it must have, if it is not to be superfluous. Nor is justice done to the third point, ΟὟ ἘΓΕΝΌΜΗΝ Κ . Τ . Λ ., if the words (so Hofmann, comp. de Wette) are meant to help the apostle, by enforcing what he is thenceforth to write with the weight of his name, to come to his condition at that time. According to this, they would be merely destined as a transition. In accordance with the context, however, and without arbitrary tampering, they can only have the same aim with the two preceding attributives which are annexed to the gospel; and, with this aim, how appropriately and forcibly do they stand at the close![60] λοιπὸν γὰρ μέγα ἦν τὸ Παύλου ὄνομα , Oecumenius, comp. Chrysostom. Comp. on ἘΓῺ ΠΑῦΛΟς , with a view to urge his personal authority, 2Co_10:1; Gal_5:2; Eph_3:1; 1Th_2:18; Phm_1:19. It is to be observed, moreover, that if Paul himself had been the teacher of the Colossians, this relation would certainly not have been passed over here in silence.
ἘΝ ΠΆΣῌ ΚΤΊΣΕΙ (without Τῇ , see the critical remarks) is to be taken as: in presence of (coram, see Ast, Lex. Plat. I. p. 701; Winer, p. 360 [E. T. 481]) every creature, before everything that is created ( κτίσις , as in Col_1:15). There is nothing created under the heaven, in whose sphere and environment (comp. Kühner, II. 1, p. 401) the gospel had not been proclaimed. The sense of the word must be left in this entire generality, and not limited to the heathen (Bähr). It is true that the popular expression of universality may just as little be pressed here as in Col_1:6. Comp. Herm. Past. sim. viii. 3; Ignatius, Romans 2. But as in Col_1:15, so also here πᾶσα κτίσις is not all creation, according to which the sense is assumed to be: “on a stage embracing the whole world” (Hofmann). This Paul would properly have expressed by ἐν πάσῃ τῇ κτίσει , or ἘΝ ΠΑΝΤῚ Τῷ ΚΌΣΜῼ , or ἘΝ ὍΛῼ Τῷ Κ .; comp. Col_1:6. The expression is more lofty and poetic than in Col_1:6, appropriate to the close of the section, not a fanciful reproduction betraying an imitator and a later age (Holtzmann). Omitting even ΟὟ ἨΚΟΎΣΑΤΕ (because it is not continued by ΟὟ ΚΑῚ ἘΓΏ ), Holtzmann arrives merely at the connection between Col_1:23 and Col_1:25 : ΜΗ ̀ ΜΕΤΑΚΙΝ . ἈΠΟ ̀ ΤΟῦ ΕὐΑΓΓ . ΟὟ ἘΓΕΝ . ἘΓῺ Π . ΔΙΆΚ . ΚΑΤᾺ ΤῊΝ ΟἸΚΟΝ . Τ . ΘΕΟῦ ΤῊΝ ΔΟΘΕῖΣΆΝ ΜΟΙ ΕἸς ὙΜᾶς , just as he then would read further thus: ΠΛΗΡῶΣΑΙ Τ . ΛΌΓ . Τ . ΘΕΟῦ , ΕἸς Ὃ ΚΑῚ ΚΟΠΙῶ ἈΓΩΝΙΖΌΜ . ΚΑΤᾺ Τ . ἘΝΈΡΓ . ΑὐΤΟῦ ΤῊΝ ἘΝΕΡΓΟΥΜ . ἘΝ ἘΜΟΊ .
ΔΙΆΚΟΝΟς ] See on Eph_3:7. Paul has become such through his calling, Gal_1:15 f.; Eph_3:7. Observe the aorist.
[59] In our Epistle faith is by no means postponed to knowing and perceiving (comp. Col_2:5; Col_2:7; Col_2:12), as Baur asserts in his Neut. Theol. p. 272. The frequent emphasis laid upon knowledge, insight, comprehension, and the like, is not to be put to the account of an intellectualism, which forms a fundamental peculiarity betokening the author and age of this Epistle (and especially of that to the Ephesians), as Holtzmann conceives, p. 216 ff.; on the contrary, it was owing to the attitude of the apostle towards the antagonistic philosophical speculations. Comp. also Grau, Entwickelungsgesch. d. N. T. II. p. 153 ff. It was owing to the necessary relations, in which the apostle, with his peculiarity of being all things to all men, found himself placed towards the interests of the time and place.
[60] According to Baur, indeed, such passages as the present are among those which betray the double personality of the author.