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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Colossians 3:12 - 3:12
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
12. ἐνδύσασθε. Taking up ἐνδυσάμενοι (Col 3:10), but applying the figure to details. Here also is the aorist chosen because the present would imply an only gradual acceptance of the following virtues (cf. note on ἀπεκδυσάμενοι, Col 3:9).
οὖν. Including the argument from ἀπεκδυσάμενοι, Col 3:9, but with special reference (cf. Col 2:6; Col 2:16, Col 3:1; Col 3:5) to the immediately preceding words; i.e. because this active life of godliness is alone consistent with the ideal set before you.
ὡς. By mentioning their actual state (Eph 5:8; Phm 1:16) he shows the reasonableness of the act commanded.
ἐκλεκτοὶ τοῦ θεοῦ. Contrast ἐκλεκτῶν θεοῦ (Rom 8:33). Here τοῦ marks perhaps a slight pause in thought after ἐκλεκτοί, but less strong than our English “chosen and that of God.” St Paul leaves the thought of the new man and reminds his readers of their having been chosen by God.
On ἐκλεκτός in the N.T. see Lightfoot, and for its relation to the O.T. see especially Hort on 1Pe 1:1; 1Pe 2:9, who brings out the truth that “God’s choosing is not for the sake of His chosen alone; they are chosen because He has a special ministry for them to perform towards the surrounding multitude.… As is the election of ruler or priest within Israel for the sake of Israel, such is the election of Israel for the sake of the whole human race. Such also, still more clearly and emphatically, is the election of the new Israel. Nor is the principle of less validity in respect of the individual members of the new chosen race. Each stone in the spiritual house of God has its own place to fill, and was chosen by God for that place. Each member of Christ’s spiritual body has its own work to do, and was chosen by God for that work.” So here St Paul evidently employs this epithet to urge them to greater consistency in their relation to others.
This is not the place to discuss the technical sense of “elect” in theology. That St Paul used it as meaning more than admission into the visible Church, and saw in it the actual reception of spiritual blessings on the part of the “elect,” may be inferred from Rom 8:33, τίς ἐγκαλέσει κατὰ ἐκλεκτῶν θεοῦ; θεὸς ὁ δικαιῶν. But he nowhere seems to say that the ἐκλεκτοί cannot be lost, which is of the essence of the meaning of the word in Calvin’s system. Calvin appears to have used it in the sense attached to it in the Gospels, e.g. Mat 22:14. ἐκλεκτοί occurs only here in the third group of the Epistles. But Eph 1:4 is somewhat similar in argument, καθὼς ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου, εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους κ.τ.λ.
ἅγιοι, Col 1:2, note. This and ἠγαπημένοι can hardly be (1) vocatives, for there seems to be no parallel to such an address (ct. Heb 3:1, ἀδελφοὶ ἅγιοι); nor (2) substantival expressions to which ἐκλεκτοὶ τοῦ θεοῦ forms an attribute; i.e. “as holy and beloved ones elect of God,” for all the emphasis lies on ἐκλεκτοί; nor (3) certainly predicates after ἐκλεκτοὶ, i.e. “chosen of God to be ἅγ. κ. ἠγαπ.,” for there is no example of such a use of ἐκλεκτός. Ct. the infinitive after the verb, Eph 1:4. But (4) they are simply fresh epithets unfolding thoughts included in ἐκλεκτοί: and thus strictly speaking subordinate to it, not co-ordinate; i.e. “chosen, including of course being consecrated and being loved.” Thus ἅγιοι regards the Colossians as set aside for God’s use out of a sinful world, and ἠγαπημένοι as being the objects of special divine love. Bengel’s note is interesting: “ordo verborum exquisite respondet ordini rerum: electio aeterna praecedit sanctificationem in tempore: sanctificati, sentiunt amorem, et imitantur.” But he is surely wrong in his interpretation of ἠγαπημένοι, St Paul saying nothing about our realisation of God’s love.
καὶ. See notes on Textual Criticism.
ἠγαπημένοι. See note on ἅγιοι. Pass. partic. of believers, 1Th 1:4 (εἰδότες, ἀδελφοὶ ἠγαπημένοι ὑπὸ [τοῦ] θεοῦ, τὴν ἐκλογὴν ὑμῶν); 2Th 2:13; Jud 1:1†. It indicates “the settlement and fixity of the Divine love; on whom He has set His love” (Moule).
It is perhaps not too fanciful to remember that each of the three epithets is used of Christ (e.g. ἐκλεκτός, 1Pe 2:4; ἅγιος, Mar 1:24; ἠγαπημένος, Eph 1:6). If believers share His privileges, and if eventually He will be to them everything (Col 3:11), let them now put on His virtues.
σπλάγχνα. Literal, and perhaps in conscious contrast to τὰ μέλη of Col 3:5. The viscera were considered to be the seat of the emotions, as “heart” with us. Cf. 1Jn 3:17, Phm 1:7; Phm 1:20. In Phm 1:12, σπλάγχνα is purely metaphorical. See further Plummer on Luk 1:78. Strictly σπλάγχνα refers to the nobler viscera, “the heart, lungs, liver, etc., as distinguished from the ἔντερα, the lower viscera, the intestines, e.g. Aesch. Agam 1221, σὺν ἐντέροις τε σπλάγχνα” (Lightfoot on Php 1:8). But in the only two passages in the LXX. where it represents a Hebrew word, Pro 12:10; Pro 26:22, it has not this limitation, nor in Aquila and Symmachus, Gen 43:30; Amo 1:11, nor in Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, Isa 63:15.
οἰκτιρμοῦ, sing.†. Apparently a possessive genitive. Contrast Php 2:1, and cf. Luk 1:78.
χρηστότητα, “kindliness,” “sweetness” (Rheims in 2Co 6:6; cf. Mat 11:30). The subst. is used in the N.T. by St Paul only, e.g. 2Co 6:6; Gal 5:22. χρηστός occurs in the parallel passage in Eph 4:32.
See Trench, Synon. § lxiii., who says it is a grace “pervading and penetrating the whole nature, mellowing there all which would have been harsh and austere.” οἰκτιρμός may move us to do kind things but χρηστότης makes us do them in a kindly way.
ταπεινοφροσύνην, Col 2:18, note. Cf. the list in Eph 4:2. Neander, Plant. I. 483–5 (the reference is due to Ell.), has some remarks on this word all the more valuable from his Jewish experience. He says e.g. “ταπ. bears an immediate relation to God alone, and according to the Pauline views can be transferred to no other being; men and created beings in general are not its objects; for humility is the sense of dependence on the Creator as such, and places the whole assemblage of created beings on a level.… Yet he who is rightly penetrated with the feeling of dependence on God in reference to his whole existence and conduct, and with the nothingness of everything human while living only for oneself, will not pride himself in his abilities, but feel that they are bestowed upon him by God for a definite object, and must be used in dependence on Him; in his intercourse with others, he will bear in mind the defects, the limits, and imperfection of his own character and abilities, and his dependence, with that of all other men, on their common Lord.”
πραὗτητα. Humility leads to meekness, the receptive attitude of the soul towards another when that other is in a state of activity towards it. It is exercised primarily towards God, Mat 5:5; Mat 11:29, but, as receiving all things at His hands, issues necessarily in meekness towards men. Compare Trench, Synon. § xlii.
μακροθυμίαν. See Col 1:11, note. “Patience,” “forbearance,” the spirit of mind that excludes all irritation at the faults and failings of others; cf. 2Ti 4:2.