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Col_4:5 f. Another exhortation, for which Paul must still have had occasion, although we need not seek its link of connection with the preceding one. Comp. Eph_5:15 f., where the injunction here given in reference to the non-Christians is couched in a general form.
ἐν σοφίᾳ ] Practical Christian wisdom (not mere prudence; Chrysostom aptly quotes Mat_10:16) is to be the element, in which their walk amidst their intercourse with the non-Christians moves, πρός of the social direction, Bernhardy, p. 205. As to οἱ ἔξω , see on 1Co_5:12. Comp. 1Th_4:12.
τὸν καιρὸν ἐξαγορ .] definition of the mode in which that injunction is to be carried out: so that ye make the right point of time your own (see on Eph_5:16), allow it not to pass unemployed. For what? is to be inferred solely from the context; namely, for all the activities in which that same wise demeanour in intercourse with the non-Christians finds expression—which, consequently, may be according to the circumstances very diversified. Individual limitations of the reference are gratuitously introduced, such as “ad ejusmodi homines meliora docendos,” Heinrichs, comp. Erasmus, Beza, Calovius, and others, including Flatt and Böhmer; or: “in reference to the furtherance of the kingdom of God,” Huther, Hofmann. There is likewise gratuitously imported the idea of the shortness of time, on account of which it is to be well applied (Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Castalio, and others, including Bähr), as also the view that the καιρός , which signifies the αἰὼν οὗτος , is not the property of the Christian, but belongs τοῖς ἔξω , and is to be made by Christians their own through good deeds (Theodoret, comp. Oecumenius), or by peaceful demeanour towards the non-Christians (Theophylact). Lastly, there is also imported the idea of an evil time from Eph_5:16, in connection with which expositors have in turn lighted on very different definitions of the meaning; e.g. Calvin: “in tanta saeculi corruptela eripiendam esse benefaciendi occasionem et cum obstaculis luctandum;” Grotius: “effugientes pericula.”
Col_4:6. ὁ λόγ . ὑμ .] what ye speak, namely, πρὸς τοὺς ἔξω ; the more groundless, therefore, is the position of Holtzmann, that Col_4:6 is a supplement inserted at a later place, when it should have properly come in at chap. 3 between Col_4:8-9. ἔστω is to be supplied, as is evident from the preceding imperative περιπατεῖτε .
ἐν χάριτι ] denotes that with which their speech is to be furnished, with grace, pleasantness. Comp. on Luk_4:22; Sir_26:16; Sir_37:21; Hom. Od. viii. 175; Dem. 51. 9. This χαριέντως εἶναι of speaking (comp. Plato, Prot. p. 344 B, Rep. p. 331 A) is very different from the χαριτογλωσσεῖν of Aesch. Prom. 294.
ἅλατι ἠρτυμ .] seasoned with salt, a figurative representation of speech as an article of food, which is communicated. The salt is emblem of wisdom, as is placed beyond doubt by the context in Col_4:5, and is in keeping with the sense of the following εἰδέναι κ . τ . λ . (comp. Mat_5:13; Mar_9:49-50). As an article of food seasoned with salt[170] is thereby rendered palatable, so what is spoken receives through wisdom (in contents and form) its morally attracting, exciting, and stimulating quality. Its opposite is the stale, ethically insipid (not the morally rotten and corrupt, as Beza, Böhmer, and others hold) quality of speech, the μῶρον , μωρολογεῖν , in which the moral stimulus is wanting. The designation of wit by ἅλς ( ἍΛΕς ) among the later Greeks (Plut. Moral. p. 685 A; Athen. ix. p. 366 C) is derived from the pungent power of salt, and is not relevant here. Moreover, the relation between the two requirements, ἐν χάριτι and ἍΛΑΤΙ ἨΡΤΥΜΈΝΟς , is not to be distinguished in such a way that the former shall mean the good and the latter the correct impression (so, arbitrarily, Hofmann); but the former depicts the character of the speech more generally, and the latter more specially. The good and correct impression is yielded by both.
εἰδέναι κ . τ . λ .] taken groundlessly by Hofmann in an imperative sense (see on Rom_12:15; Php_3:16), is, as if ὥστε stood alongside of it, the epexegetical infinitive for more precise definition: so that ye know; see Matthiae, § 532 f, p. 1235 f.; Winer, p. 296 [E. T. 398]. This εἰδέναι (to understand how, see on Php_4:12) is, in fact, just an ability, which would not be found in the absence of the previously-described quality of speech, but is actually existent through the same.
πῶς ] which may be in very different ways, according to the varieties of individuality in the questioners. Hence: ἙΝῚ ἙΚΆΣΤῼ , “nam haec pars est non ultima prudentiae, singulorum habere respectum,” Calvin.
ἀποκρίνεσθαι ] We may conceive reference to be made to questions as to points of faith and doctrine, as to moral principles, topics of constitution and organization, historical matters, and so forth, which, in the intercourse of Christians with non-Christians, might be put, sometimes innocently, sometimes maliciously (comp. 1Pe_3:1), to the former, and required answer. Paul does not use the word elsewhere. Comp. as to the thing itself, his own example at Athens, Acts 17; before Felix and Festus; before the Jews in Rome, Act_28:20, and so forth; and also his testimony to his own procedure, 1Co_9:20-22. Chrysostom, Theodoret, Calovius, and others, inappropriately mix up believers as included in ἐνὶ ἑκάστῳ , in opposition to Col_4:5.
[170] The poets use ἀρτύειν often of articles of food or wines, which are prepared in such a way as to provoke the palate. Soph. Fragm. 601, Dind.; Athen. ii. p. 68 A; Theoph. de odor. 51; Symm. Cant. viii. 2. Hence ἄρτυμα , spice.