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Col_1:25. That He suffers thus, as is stated in Col_1:24, for the good of the church, is implied in his special relation of service to the latter; hence the epexegetical relative clause ἧς ἐγενόμην κ . τ . λ . (comp. on Col_1:18): whose servant I have become in conformity with my divine appointment as preacher to the Gentiles ( κατὰ τ . οἰκον . κ . τ . λ .). In this way Paul now brings this his specific and distinctive calling into prominence after the general description of himself as servant of the gospel in Col_1:23, and here again he gives expression to the consciousness of his individual authority by the emphasized ἐγώ . The relation of the testimony regarding himself in Col_1:25 to that of Col_1:23 is climactic, not that of a clumsy duplicate (Holtzmann).
κατὰ τὴν οἰκονομ . κ . τ . λ .] in accordance with the stewardship of God, which is given to me with reference to you. The οἰκονομία τ . Θεοῦ is in itself nothing else than a characteristic designation of the apostolic office, in so far as its holder is appointed as administrator of the household of God (the οἰκοδεσπότης ), by which, in the theocratic figurative conception, is denoted the church (comp. 1Ti_3:15). Comp. 1Co_9:17; 1Co_4:1; Tit_1:7. Hence such an one is, in consequence of this office conferred upon him, in his relation to the church the servant of the latter (2Co_4:5), to which function God has appointed him, just because he is His steward. This sacred stewardship then receives its more precise distinguishing definition, so far as it is entrusted to Paul, by the addition of εἰς ὑμᾶς κ . τ . λ . It is purely arbitrary, and at variance with the context ( τὴν δοθ . μοι ), to depart from the proper signification, and to take it as institution, arrangement (see on Eph_1:10; Eph_3:2). So Chrysostom and his successors (with much wavering), Beza, Calvin, Estius, Rosenmüller, and others. It is well said by Cornelius a Lapide: “in domo Dei, quae est ecclesia, sum oeconomus, ut dispensem … bona et dona Dei domini mei.” Comp. on 1Co_4:1.
εἰς ὑμᾶς ] although the office concerned Gentile Christians generally; a concrete appropriation, as in Col_1:24. Comp. on Php_1:24. It is to be joined with τ . δοθεῖσάν μοι , as in Eph_3:2; not with πληρῶσαι κ . τ . λ . (Hofmann), with the comprehensive tenor of which the individualizing “for you” is not in harmony, when it is properly explained (see below).
πληρῶσαι κ . τ . λ .] telic infinitive, depending on τὴν δοθεῖσάν μοι εἰς ὑμᾶς , beside which it stands (Rom_15:15 f.); not on ἧς ἐγεν . διάκ . (Huther). Paul, namely, has received the office of Apostle to the Gentiles, in order through the discharge of it to bring to completion the gospel ( τὸν λόγον τ . Θεοῦ , 1Co_14:36; 2Co_2:17; 2Co_4:2; 1Th_2:13; Act_4:29; Act_4:31; Act_6:2, and frequently), obviously not as regards its contents, but as regards its universal destination, according to which the knowledge of salvation had not yet reached its fulness, so long as it was only communicated to the Jews and not to the Gentiles also. The latter was accomplished through Paul, who thereby made full the gospel—conceived, in respect of its proclamation in accordance with its destiny, as a measure to be filled—just because the divine stewardship for the Gentiles had been committed to him. The same conception of πλήρωσις occurs in Rom_15:19. Comp. Erasmus, Paraphr.; also Calovius.[68] Similarly Bengel: “ad omnes perducere; P. ubique ad summa tendit.” Partly from not attending to the contextual reference to the element, contained in τ . δοθ . μοι εἰς ὙΜᾶς , of the ΠΛΉΡΩΣΙς of the gospel which was implied in the Gentile-apostolic ministry, and partly from not doing justice to the verbal sense of the selected expression πληρῶσαι , or attributing an arbitrary meaning to it, commentators have taken very arbitrary views of the passage, such as, for example, Luther: to preach copiously; Olshausen, whom Dalmer follows: “to proclaim it completely as respects its whole tenor and compass;” Cornelius a Lapide: “ut compleam praedicationem ev., quam cocpit Christus;” Vitringa, Storr, Flatt, Bähr: πληροῦν has after âîø the signification of the simple docere; Huther: it means either to diffuse, or (as Steiger also takes it) to “realize,” to introduce into the life, inasmuch as a doctrine not preached is empty;[69] de Wette: to “execute,” the word of God being regarded either as a commission or (comp. Heinrichs) as a decree; Estius and others, following Theodoret: “ut omnia loca impleam verbo Dei” (quite at variance with the words here, comp. Act_5:28); Fritzsche, ad Rom. III. p. 275: to supplement, namely, by continuing the instruction of your teacher Epaphras. Others, inconsistently with what follows, have explained the λόγος τ . Θεοῦ to mean the divine promise (“partim de Christo in genere, partim de vocatione gentium,” Beza, comp. Vatablus), in accordance with which πληρ . would mean exsequi. Chrysostom has rightly understood τ . λόγ . τ . Θεοῦ of the gospel, but takes πληρῶσαι , to which he attaches ΕἸς ὙΜᾶς , as meaning: to bring to full, firm faith (similarly Calvin)—a view justified neither by the word in itself nor by the context.
[68] Who rightly says: “Nimirum impletur ita verbum non ratione sui ceu imperfectum, sed ratione hominum, cum ad plures sese diffundit.”
[69] In a similarly artificial fashion, emptying the purposely chosen expression of its meaning, Hofmann comes ultimately to the bare sense: “to proclaim God’s word,” asserting that the word is a fact, and so he who proclaims the fact fulfils it.