Commentary on Colossians and Philemon

Robert H. Gundry

© 2010 by Robert H. Gundry

Published by Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakeracademic.com

Ebook edition created 2011

Previously appeared in Robert H. Gundry, Commentary on the New Testament (Baker Academic, 2010).

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data for Commentary on the New Testament is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

ISBN 978-1-4412-3769-9

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Colossians

INTRODUCTION

Colossians 1:1–12

THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST IN CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE

Colossians 1:13–2:23

CHRIST’S CREATIVE AND REDEMPTIVE WORK

Colossians 1:13–23

PAUL’S PROCLAMATION OF CHRIST

Colossians 1:24–2:5

CHRIST’S SUFFICIENCY OVER AGAINST FALSE TEACHINGS IN COLOSSAE

Colossians 2:6–23

THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST IN CHRISTIAN CONDUCT

Colossians 3:1–4:6

THE MENTAL APPLICATION OF UNION WITH CHRIST IN HIS DEATH, RESURRECTION, AND EXALTATION

Colossians 3:1–4

THE APPLICATION OF DEATH WITH CHRIST TO SINFUL ACTIONS

Colossians 3:5–11

THE APPLICATION OF HAVING BEEN RAISED WITH CHRIST TO RIGHTEOUS ACTIONS

Colossians 3:12–4:6

CONCLUSION

Colossians 4:7–18

Philemon

Back Cover

Acknowledgments

My sincere thanks to Shirley Decker-Lucke, Editorial Director at Hendrickson Publishers, for accepting this exposition of the New Testament for publication; to Mark House, Phil Frank, and others for their work there on the publication; and to the Baker Academic team for their work on this reprint. My brother Stan Gundry, whose contributions to Christian publishing are deservedly well-known, encouraged me to write the exposition. Connie Gundry Tappy copyedited the manuscript. Her copyediting included not only the correction of errors and the refinement of style, but also a host of interpretive improvements and scriptural cross-references arising out of her comprehensive knowledge of the Bible. To her, my daughter as well as my copyeditor, I affectionately dedicate this volume.

Robert H. Gundry

Westmont College

Santa Barbara, California

Introduction

Dear reader,

Here you have part of a commentary on the whole New Testament, published by Baker Academic both in hardback and as an ebook. The electronic version has been broken into segments for your convenience and affordability, though if you like what you find here you may want to consider the whole at a proportionately lower cost. Whether in whole or in part, the e-version puts my comments at your fingertips on your easily portable Kindle, iPad, smartphone, or similar device.

I’ve written this commentary especially for busy people like you—lay people with jobs and families that take up a lot of time, Bible study leaders, pastors, and all who take the New Testament seriously—that is, people who time-wise and perhaps money-wise can’t afford the luxury of numerous heavyweight, technical commentaries on the individual books making up the section of the Bible we call the New Testament. So technical questions are avoided almost entirely, and the commentary concentrates on what will prove useful for understanding the scriptural text as a basis for your personal life as a Christian, for discussion with others, and for teaching and preaching.

Group discussion, teaching, and preaching all involve speaking aloud, of course, and when the New Testament was written, even private reading was done aloud. Moreover, most authors dictated their material to a writing secretary, and books were ordinarily read aloud to an audience. In this commentary, then, I’ve avoided almost all abbreviations (which don’t come through as such in oral speech) and have freely used contractions that characterize speaking (“we’ll,” “you’re,” “they’ve,” and so on). To indicate emphasis in oral speech, italics also occur fairly often.

You’ll mostly have to make your own practical and devotional applications of the scriptural text. But such applications shouldn’t disregard or violate the meanings intended by the Scripture’s divinely inspired authors and should draw on the richness of those meanings. So I’ve interpreted them in detail. Bold print indicates the text being interpreted. Translations of the original Greek are my own. Because of the interpretations’ close attention to detail, my translations usually, though not always, gravitate to the literal and sometimes produce run-on sentences and other nonstandard, convoluted, and even highly unnatural English. Square brackets enclose intervening clarifications, however, plus words in English that don’t correspond to words in the Greek text but do need supplying to make good sense. (As a language, Greek has a much greater tendency than English does to omit words meant to be supplied mentally.) Seemingly odd word-choices in a translation get justified in the following comments. It needs to be said as well that the very awkwardness of a literal translation often highlights features of the scriptural text obscured, eclipsed, or even contradicted by loose translations and paraphrases.

Literal translation also produces some politically incorrect English. Though “brothers” often includes sisters, for example, “sisters” doesn’t include brothers. Similarly, masculine pronouns may include females as well as males, but not vice versa. These pronouns, “brothers,” and other masculine expressions that on occasion are gender-inclusive correspond to the original, however, and help give a linguistic feel for the male-dominated culture in which the New Testament originated and which its language reflects. Preachers, Bible study leaders, and others should make whatever adjustments they think necessary for contemporary audiences but should not garble the text’s intended meaning.

Out of respect for your abilities so far as English is concerned, I’ve not dumbed down the vocabulary used in translations and interpretations. Like the translations, interpretations are my own. Rather than reading straight through, many of you may consult the interpretation of an individual passage now and then. So I’ve had to engage in a certain amount of repetition. To offset the repetition and keep the material in bounds, I rarely discuss others’ interpretations. But I’ve not neglected to canvass them in my research.

On the theological front, the commentary is unabashedly evangelical, so that my prayers accompany this volume in support of all you who strive for faithfulness to the New Testament as the word of God.

Robert Gundry

Colossians

This letter, written while Paul was in prison, exalts the person and work of Christ over against false teaching that was devaluing him. Then Paul exhorts his addressees to behave in ways appropriate to Christ’s person and work.

INTRODUCTION

Colossians 1:1–12

The introduction to Colossians consists in a greeting (1:1–2), a thanksgiving (1:3–8), and a prayer (1:9–12). The prayer will shade almost imperceptibly into a doctrinal discussion (1:13–2:23).

1:1–2: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through God’s will, and Timothy, the brother, 2to the saints in Colossae, even believing brothers in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God, our Father. Paul’s self-designation matches his self-designation in 2 Corinthians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1; 2 Timothy 1:1 exactly, but see the comments on 1 Corinthians 1:1 for the meanings of the terms used. “The brother” describes Timothy as the Christian brother of Paul and the Colossians. The inclusion of Timothy alongside Paul adds weight to the letter in that what Paul says, Timothy says too, and also prepares for addressing the Colossians likewise as Christian “brothers.” But Paul’s “I,” “my,” and “me” (1:23–25, 29 and following) point to him as the letter’s author. For Timothy, who in addition to those listed in 4:10–14 is with Paul at the time of writing, see especially Acts 16:1–3; 2 Timothy 1:3–8. “To the saints in Colossae” addresses the letter to Christians living in the city of that name and describes them not as outstandingly virtuous but as consecrated to God. They’re his special possession as distinct from the non-Christians among whom they live. Colossae lay in the river valley of a mountainous region in southwest central Asia Minor. Many translations have “even faithful brothers” rather than “even believing brothers.” The difference shouldn’t be pressed, though, because faithfulness stems from belief; and belief engenders faithfulness. Here it seems that believing produces brotherhood; and “in Christ” doesn’t indicate Christ as the object of belief so much as it indicates the union with Christ that believing in him effects. This union effects, in turn, the union of fellow believers with one another as brothers (compare 1:4; Ephesians 1:1 and the emphasis in Ephesians 2:8 on salvation “through faith [= belief]”). For the rest of this greeting (“Grace and peace . . .”) see the comments on Romans 1:7; 1 Peter 1:2; 2 John 3.

1:3–8: We [Paul and Timothy] are always thanking God, the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, when praying for you, 4having heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and [about] the love that you have for all the saints 5because of the hope reserved for you in heaven, which [hope] you heard about earlier in the word of the truth of the gospel 6that has come to you just as also in all the world it is bearing fruit and growing, just as also among you [it has been bearing fruit and growing] since the day you heard [the gospel] and came to know God’s grace in truth, 7just as you learned [the gospel] from Epaphras, our beloved fellow slave, who is the Christ’s faithful servant on our behalf, 8the one who has also indicated to us your love in the Spirit. Paul’s and Timothy’s “thanking God” because of having heard about the Colossians’ faith and love compliments the Colossians at the same time that it gives credit to God for their faith and love. “Always” enhances the compliment as well as the crediting, and the compliment aims for a favorable reception of the letter. The description of God as “the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ” supplements the description of him in 1:2 as “our Father” but distinguishes Jesus Christ’s sonship to God as divine. He’s “our Lord,” though he and we have the same Father. “When praying for you” adds concern to thankfulness for the Colossians. The mention of this concern should likewise make for their favorable reception of the letter. “Having heard” implies that neither Paul nor Timothy founded the church in Colossae (compare Ephesians 1:15). No wonder, then, the efforts of Paul to gain a favorable reception for his letter.

“About your faith in Christ Jesus” supports the translation “believing brothers in Christ” back in 1:2, for “faith” and “belief” go back to the same Greek word (see the comments on 1:2 for “in Christ Jesus”). Since love includes deeds done for the benefit of those who are loved (1 John 3:16–18) and since faith works through love (Galatians 5:6), Paul adds to the Colossians’ faith in Christ Jesus “the love” that according to report they “have for all the saints.” Since love includes beneficial deeds, as just noted, “for all the saints” probably means for all fellow Christians in Colossae, though hospitality to fellow Christians passing through Colossae may be included. See further the initial comments on Ephesians 1:15–19. “Because of the hope reserved for you in heaven” identifies the basis of the Colossians’ faith and love. “Hope” completes the triad of cardinal Christian virtues (1 Thessalonians 1:3; 5:8 and, in a different order, 1 Corinthians 13:13; Galatians 5:5–6) and refers to the confidence of entering eternal life at Jesus’ second coming. Such confidence undergirds faith and love. “Reserved for you in heaven” doesn’t mean you’ll go to heaven to enjoy eternal life there. For your bodies will be resurrected to enjoy eternal life on a renewed earth (Romans 8:18–25). “Hope” stands for the eternal life that’s hoped for, and it’s reserved in heaven in the sense that eternal life is being kept safe till as believers in Christ you start enjoying it at the second coming, resurrection, and renewal of the earth (see also 1 Peter 1:3–5; Reve lation 21:1–4). The Colossians heard about this hope “earlier,” that is, when “the word [= the message]” characterized by “the truth” that’s contained in “the gospel” came to them, that is, into their hearing. “Just as also in all the world it is bearing fruit and growing” implies that the gospel is doing so in Colossae (“also”). But to keep the Colossians from falling prey to false doctrines which according to 2:4, 8, 16–23 are circulating among them, Paul emphasizes the gospel’s bearing fruit and growing “in all the world.” That is to say, “Don’t trade the universal gospel for a local aberration.”

In 1:10 Paul will explain fruit-bearing in terms of good deeds, and growing in terms of increase in the knowledge of God. “Just as also among you” makes explicit the implication of the earlier phrase, “just as also in all the world,” and uses the gospel’s fruit-bearing and growing among the Colossians up to this point as a deterrent against the possibility of falling prey to false doctrines that wouldn’t bear the fruit of good deeds or advance the knowledge of God. “Since the day you heard it [the gospel]” underscores the gospel’s effects as a deterrent by calling attention to their immediacy and continuance. “And came to know God’s grace” refers to conversion as both an understanding and an experiencing of God’s ill-deserved favor, the favor consisting in “the hope reserved . . . in heaven” and received by “faith in Christ Jesus.” This grace makes for good news (the meaning of “gospel”). “In truth” probably tells how the Colossians came to know God’s grace—that is, truly as opposed to falsely supposed knowledge in the acceptance of false doctrines—but knowing truly rests on believing “the word of the truth of the gospel.”

“Just as you learned [the gospel] from Epaphras” parallels “just as also among you [the gospel has been bearing fruit and growing since the day you heard it]” and thereby indicates that Epaphras evangelized Colossae. Because he did, Paul calls him “our [referring to Paul and Timothy] beloved fellow slave”—a “fellow slave” because he as well as they are slaving for the Lord, Jesus Christ, in the work of evangelism (4:12–13) and because he (Epaphras) has joined Paul in prison (Philemon 23). The brotherly love Paul and Timothy feel for Epaphras, one of the Colossians’ own number (4:12), establishes rapport with the Colossians through Epaphras. “The Christ” (Greek) means “the Messiah” (Hebrew) or, literally, “the Anointed One.” So “who is the Christ’s faithful servant” alludes to Jesus’ messianic office, which makes having a servant appropriate, and describes Epaphras as faithful in having served the gospel of the Christ to the Colossians. “On our behalf” indicates that Epaphras evangelized Colossae in place of Paul and Timothy, who had never gone to Colossae. The phrase may also imply that Paul and Timothy evangelized Colossae through the agency of Epaphras, who was very possibly their convert during the evangelization of Ephesus, 120 miles west of Colossae (Acts 19). “The one who has also [in addition to having evangelized you] indicated to us your love in the Spirit” (1) alludes to the Colossians’ earlier-mentioned “love” that they “have for all the saints”; (2) states that Epaphras has delivered to Paul and Timothy a report of this love, which therefore they’ve “heard about”; and (3) locates the Colossians’ love “in the Spirit” (for love is the first-mentioned “fruit of the Spirit” [Galatians 5:22], Paul has just talked about the gospel’s bearing fruit among the Colossians, and they’re in the Spirit, where the love is [Romans 8:9]).

1:9–12: Because of this [Epaphras’s report] we also, since the day we heard [about your “love in the Spirit”], don’t stop praying for you and asking that you be filled with the knowledge of his [God’s] will in all Spiritual wisdom and insight 10so as to walk around [= behave] worthily of the Lord [= Jesus Christ] for the purpose and with the result of [giving him] all pleasure by [your] bearing fruit in all good work and by growing in the knowledge of God 11while being empowered with all power in accordance with the might of his glory for the purpose and with the result of [producing in you] all perseverance and patience as with joy 12you’re giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a portion of the allotment of the saints in the light . . . . “We also . . . don’t stop praying for you” picks up “when praying for you” in 1:3 and, yet again to ensure the letter’s favorable reception, enhances the praying by describing it as constant (“don’t stop”) and petitionary (“asking”) as well as thankful (so 1:3). “That you be filled with the knowledge of his will” refers to God’s will (as later clarified by the phrase, “in the knowledge of God,” but see already in 1:6 “you . . . came to know God’s grace in truth”). The will of God is that his saints behave well (for the details of which see 3:1–4:6 and Ephesians 4:1–6:9, especially 5:17). To be “filled” with the knowledge of God’s will is both to know about it fully and to carry it out fully, this in opposition to the intellectual and behavioral deficit of knowledge in false doctrines. “In all Spiritual wisdom and insight” escalates being filled to the nth degree and adds the practicality of wisdom and the discernment of insight to the informational and experiential components of knowledge. “Spiritual” describes the wisdom and insight as deriving, like the love in 1:8, from the Holy Spirit. No need, then, to listen to false teachers. “So as to walk around worthily of the Lord” identifies good behavior as the outcome, almost as the definition, of being filled with the knowledge of God’s will. “Worthily of the Lord” implies that the Lord, Jesus Christ, is worthy of good behavior on the part of Christians, his slaves (compare Ephesians 4:1). For “the Lord” connotes the owner and master of slaves.

In addition to having “all Spiritual wisdom and insight,” as the Lord’s slaves Christians should give him “all pleasure by bearing fruit in all good work and by growing in the knowledge of God while being empowered with all power in accordance with the might of his glory for the purpose and result of all perseverance and patience.” “All good work” means “every kind of good deed” and defines fruit-bearing. “Growing in the knowledge of God” counteracts decreasing in the knowledge of him through succumbing to false doctrines. The redundancy in “while being empowered with all power” accents the need of growth in the knowledge of God to enable resistance to those doctrines. “With the might of his glory” strengthens the accent, and the addition of “his glory” to “the might” (rather than a simple “his might”) anticipates “the hope of glory” (1:27) at the Lord’s second advent (3:4 [compare Ephesians 1:18–20]). This coming glory should make Christians mighty in their resistance to false doctrines. Paul puts this resistance in terms of perseverance and patience coupled with joyful thanksgiving for the coming glory, which Paul identifies as “a portion [your own individual share] of the allotment [compare the allotments in the land of Canaan to the tribes of Israel (Joshua 13–21)] of the saints [considered collectively as God’s new people] in the light [a figure of speech for the kingdom of God’s Son as opposed to ‘the authority of the darkness’ in 1:13–14, so that ‘in the light’ tells the whereabouts of ‘a portion of the allotment’ (compare ‘the hope reserved for you in heaven’ [1:5] and the comments on Ephesians 5:8–10 for ‘the light’)].” There’s a wordplay in Paul’s Greek between “joy” (charas) and “giving thanks” (eucharistountes). The wordplay underlines the God-given power to combine perseverance and patience with thanksgiving and joy. “To the Father, who has qualified you” implies that by qualifying you God has acted as a father to you, his children; and since “has qualified” connotes sufficiency, his qualifying you means that he has given you a sufficient amount of perseverance and patience to inherit “the allotment of the saints in the light,” the promise of which allotment gives reason for perseverance and patience along with joyful thanksgiving.

THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST IN CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE

Colossians 1:13–2:23

As does Ephesians, Colossians falls into two main sections, the first primarily doctrinal and the second primarily hortatory.

CHRIST’S CREATIVE AND REDEMPTIVE WORK

Colossians 1:13–23

That the start of the doctrinal section (“who . . .”) is grammatically tied to Paul’s and Timothy’s preceding prayer for the Colossians (1:9–12) attests to what was noted in the introduction to Colossians, namely, that the prayer shades almost imperceptibly into the doctrinal section.

1:13–14: who [referring back to “the Father” in 1:12] rescued us out from the authority of the darkness and transferred [us] into the kingdom of the Son of his love, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins . . . . “The darkness” represents immoral behavior, and its “authority” refers to the hold such behavior gets on people (see Ephesians 4:17–24). “Rescued us” implies deliverance from its authority, and also the authority’s leading us to no good end—indeed, to the eventual suffering of “God’s wrath” (3:6). So we’ve been rescued both from the present hold of darkness and from the future suffering of God’s wrath. The rescue is supplemented by transferral “into the kingdom of the Son of his [God the Father’s] love.” The personification of love as a father underlines God’s love for his Son and therefore underlines God’s love for us as well, for as believers we are in Christ the Son (“in whom we have redemption”). Paul will later speak of “God’s kingdom” (4:11), but here he speaks of the Son’s kingdom; for God and his Son, seated at God’s right hand (3:1), share rulership (Ephesians 5:5). And since the life of believers “has been hidden with the Christ in God” (3:3), transferral into the kingdom of God’s Son doesn’t imply subjection to his rule (however true that may be according to other passages)—rather, participation in his rule, which participation fits nicely with the immediately mentioned redemption. For “redemption” means liberation from slavery, and our having redemption in Christ means experiencing liberation from enslavement to the authority of the darkness so as to participate in the Son’s kingly rule over the evil to which we used to be enslaved. Our redemption equates with our rescue, in other words. But Paul adds another equation, that of “the forgiveness of sins” with “redemption.” By definition, “forgiveness” means “dismissal.” So it’s the dismissal of our sins from us, the severing of their connection with us, that constitutes the flip side of redemption. Their dismissal cancels our guilt for committing them as well as ending our enslavement in committing them.

1:15–16: who [referring to the Son] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, 16because in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible things and the invisible things, whether thrones or lordships or rulerships or authorities. All things exist as created through him and for him. By virtue of incarnation, the Son is the visible image of the otherwise invisible God. “The firstborn of all creation” doesn’t mean that the Son was the first to be created, because this passage goes on to say that he created all things as opposed to being created himself. “Firstborn” sometimes lost both its temporal and its biological meanings so as to be used as a figure of speech for the highest possible status, as in Psalm 89:27: “I will also make him firstborn, the highest of the earth’s kings” (see also Genesis 49:3). So some translations have “the firstborn over all creation.” But there may be more. Just as firstborn sons enjoyed higher status than their brothers, so too they got the largest share of family inheritance (a double portion according to Deuteronomy 21:15–17; compare the use of “firstborn” by Philo, a first-century Jewish philosopher, in his work, Who Is the Heir? 117–119). “The firstborn of all creation” may allude, then, to God the Father’s giving his Son “all creation” as an inheritance (compare the later statement, “All things exist as created . . . for him”). “All creation” would then mark an enlargement of the usual double portion—naturally, since Christ’s sonship to God is unique. Paul ascribes the Son’s status as firstborn to the creation of all things “in him.” It’s tempting to translate with “by him” instead of “in him,” but that would destroy the parallel with “all things cohere in him” in 1:17. So the creation of all things in him probably means that he’s the source of their existence just as in 1:17 he’ll be portrayed as the source of their sustenance.

The three occurrences in this paragraph of “all things,” to be followed in succeeding paragraphs by several more occurrences, emphasize that nothing was created apart from the Son. Reinforcing this emphasis are the additions to “all things” of “in heaven and on earth,” of “the visible things [on earth] and the invisible things [in heaven],” and of “whether thrones or lordships or rulerships or authorities [which in view of ‘the authority of the darkness’ in 1:13 as well as predominant usage elsewhere (see Romans 8:38; 1 Corinthians 15:24; and especially Ephesians 1:20–21; 3:10; 6:12) probably refer to angelic spirits, often deified and associated with the stars].” Could it be that false teachers in Colossae assigned parts of the universe to these spirits, so that Paul is counteracting such teachers by assigning the very existence of the spirits to the Son’s creation of them? “Through him” makes the Son his Father’s agent in creation, and “for him” makes him his Father’s point in creation, the why and wherefore of creation, perhaps in the sense of making him the heir of all things. So the one who rescued us and in whom we have redemption (1:13–14) has enemies but no rivals, a blessed assurance of those who by faith are in him.

This assurance continues in 1:17–18a: And he himself [the Son] is prior to all things, and all things cohere in him. 18aAnd he himself is the head of the body, the church . . . . The temporal priority of the Son to all things, which have already been ascribed to his creation of them, confirms that “the firstborn of all creation” (1:15) didn’t mean he was the first to be created. As explained earlier, the coherence of all things in him means he’s the source of their sustenance, indeed continuance, as an ordered universe. As “the head of the body” he exercises supervisory authority over the church, just as physiologically speaking the head determines the activities of the body (compare the topmost position of the head, a position representing authority). Two occurrences of “he himself is” imply “he and no created thing is” and therefore stress that no rivals to him arise out of the created order.

1:18b–20: who [referring to the Son] is the beginning, the firstborn [resurgent] from among the dead, so that in all things he might become the holder of first place, 19because in him all the fullness [of God] was pleased to dwell 20and through him to reconcile all things to him by making peace through the blood of his cross [= the blood shed by the Son on his cross], through him whether the things on earth or the things in heaven. After the interlude of 1:17–18b, “who is the beginning” makes a new start reminiscent of “who is the image of the invisible God” (1:15). But the followup, “the firstborn [resurgent] from among the dead,” differs from the first followup, “the firstborn of all creation,” to shift attention from the Son’s creatorship (as summarized in 1:17: “And he himself is prior to all things, and all things cohere in him”) to the Son’s headship (as introduced in 1:18a: “And he himself is the head of the body, the church”). Now “firstborn” returns to its original temporal meaning, though the biological meaning is still missing. The reference is to the Son’s resurrection from among the dead as “the beginning” of the resurrection (compare 1 Corinthians 15:20: “Christ was raised from among the dead as the firstfruits of those who’ve fallen asleep”). The purpose behind his resurrection was that “in all things,” which he’d created, “he might become the holder of first place.” The wordplay between “the firstborn from among the dead” and “the holder of first place” emphasizes this purpose. Since the Son holds first place, those who make up the church needn’t kowtow even to angels (see 2:18–19).

Providing the reason the Son’s resurrection had the purpose of his holding first place is that “in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell.” In other words, the entirety of God delighted to indwell him. Since by itself “fullness” indicates entirety, the addition of “all” to “the fullness” highlights God’s entirety. Apart from this fullness, the Son wouldn’t be “the head of the body, the church” (1:18a). All the fullness of God was also pleased to reconcile all things to the Son by making peace through the blood of his cross. Because “God’s wrath is coming” (3:6), this reconciliation can’t mean universal salvation. It must therefore mean, as Paul himself says, universal pacification (“making peace”), which includes salvation for believers, defeat for others (including hostile spirits according to 2:15), and the renewal of creation (if Romans 8:18–22 is brought into the picture). The Son’s sacrificial death, represented by “the blood of his cross,” made possible this pacification (compare 1:14; 2:14; Ephesians 1:7; 2:13, 16). For emphasis, “through him” reprises “through the blood of his cross”; and “whether the things on earth or the things in heaven” reemphasizes the pacificatory reconciliation of all things. The placement in 1:16 of the created things in heaven before the created things on earth corresponded to the order in Genesis 1:1. Because the Son shed his blood here on earth, though, the pacification of the things on earth is here placed before the pacification of the things in heaven.

1:21–23: And you, once upon a time [prior to your conversion] being alienated [from God (compare Ephesians 4:18)] and hostile [to him] so far as [your] intellect was concerned, [as evident] in [your] evil deeds [for what people do reflects what they think]—22but [despite your hostility] he has now reconciled [you] [to himself] in the body [consisting] of his [the Son’s] flesh through death to present you [to himself as] sacred and blameless and unaccusable in his sight, 23if indeed you stay founded and settled on the faith and not being shifted away from the hope [consisting] in the gospel that you heard, [the gospel] that has been proclaimed in all the creation under heaven, a server of which [gospel] I, Paul, have become. “In the body [consisting] of his [the Son’s] flesh” (1) distinguishes “the body” here from “the body, the church” in 1:18; (2) makes clear a literal rather than figurative meaning; (3) complements “through the blood of his [the Son’s] cross”; and (4) thus implies the violent separation of Christ’s blood and flesh (as represented in the Eucharist [see 1 Corinthians 11:23–27]). Consequently, “through death” means “through a sacrificial death.” (All sacrificial deaths are violent, though not all violent deaths are sacrificial.) “To present you [as] sacred” means “to present you as consecrated to God.” “Blameless” means not to be blamed by God, and “unaccusable” means not to be successfully accused by others or, in particular, by the Devil, whose very name means “accuser.” But such a presentation is conditioned by “stay[ing] founded . . . on the faith,” which in view of 1:4; 2:5, 7, 12 means “grounded in your belief,” not in the faith as a body of doctrine. To stress the need of such stable faith Paul adds “indeed” to “if,” adds “and settled” to “founded,” and adds “not being shifted away” to “founded and settled.” “From the hope” means “from your confidence.” “In the gospel” tells the proper location of confidence. “That you heard” specifies the gospel by which you were converted, as opposed to new-fangled doctrines being peddled among you by false teachers (2:6–23). Also in opposition to those doctrines, “that has been proclaimed in all the creation under heaven” celebrates this gospel as universal rather than local (compare 1:6). The meaning isn’t that every creature has heard the gospel. Paul has yet to proclaim it in Spain, for example (Romans 15:23–24). So he means that the proclamation of it knows no boundaries on earth. “A server of which [gospel] I, Paul, have become” puts on it the imprimatur of Paul as a church-wide apostle in contrast with false teachers local to Colossae. Both because of those teachers and because of Paul’s not having evangelized Colossae, the Colossians needed to hear his imprimatur on what they’d originally heard from Epaphras and believed (1:7).

PAUL’S PROCLAMATION OF CHRIST

Colossians 1:24–2:5

1:24–26a: I’m now rejoicing in [my] sufferings for you, and in [Christ’s] stead I’m filling up in my flesh the insufficiencies of the afflictions of the Christ—[I’m filling them up] on behalf of his body, which is the church, 25a servant of which I became in accordance with God’s administration, given to me for you, to fulfill God’s word, 26athe secret that was hidden from the ages [past] and from the generations [past]. The sufferings of Paul stem from his proclamation of the gospel. Since this proclamation has effected the conversion of many, he rejoices in his evangelistic sufferings; and since he’s writing from prison, “now” accents the joy he feels in such sufferings. But in view of his not having evangelized Colossae, what should we make of “for you.” Half the answer lies in 1:27, where Paul will speak of God’s will that Gentiles be converted, and the other half in 1:7, where Paul spoke of the Colossians’ having learned the gospel from Epaphras. Paul had an apostolic commission to evangelize Gentiles (see Ephesians 3:1–9; Galatians 1:15–16a among other passages), and the description in 3:5–11 of the Colossians’ pre-Christian behavior points to a Gentile pedigree for at least most of them (compare Ephesians 2). So “for you” describes Paul’s evangelistic sufferings as for the conversion of Gentiles such as the Colossians and in particular for the Colossian Gentiles because he grandfathered their church through Epaphras (compare the comments on 1:7). “I’m filling up in my flesh the insufficiencies of the afflictions of the Christ” draws a parallel with God’s having reconciled the Colossians to himself “in the body [consisting] of his [Christ’s] flesh” (1:22). “In [his] stead” reinforces the parallel, and “filling up . . . the insufficiencies” means making up for them.

But what are the Christ’s “afflictions,” and in what respect are they insufficient? They’re the afflictions he feels in the persecution of Christians (Acts 9:1–5; 22:4–8; 26:9–15), and especially in the persecution of Paul and company (2 Corinthians 1:5–6; 4:10–12). The insufficiencies of these afflictions consist in the necessity of suffering further afflictions in the cause of Christian evangelism. For there’s more evangelism to be done. “On behalf of his [the Christ’s] body, which is the church” is explained by Paul’s having become “a servant” of the church, which parallels his having become “a server” of the gospel (1:23). He serves the church by serving the gospel on the church’s behalf. That is, he represents the church in his evangelistic labors. “In accordance with God’s administration” alludes to a divine commission (see Galatians 1:15–16a again). “Given to me for you” portrays the commission as for the benefit of Gentiles, such as the Colossians. “To fulfill God’s word” defines the administration given to Paul and means to proclaim the gospel. Apart from its proclamation it doesn’t reach its potential. God’s word isn’t the Bible or any part thereof. It’s “the secret” which Paul will identify in 1:26b–29 and whose past hiddenness he emphasizes with two phrases, “from the ages and from the generations.” The emphasis plays up what he’s about to call “the wealth of the glory of this secret.”

1:26b–29: But now it [the secret] has been disclosed to his saints, 27to whom God willed to make known among the Gentiles what [is] the wealth of the glory of this secret, which [secret] is Christ in you, [Christ] the hope of glory, 28whom we are proclaiming by admonishing every human being and teaching every human being in all wisdom in order that we may present every human being [as] mature in Christ, 29to which [end] I’m also laboring, struggling in accordance with his working that is at work in me in power. “But now” draws a contrast with the just-mentioned “ages” and “generations” past. The secret that has now been disclosed to God’s saints—that is, to Christians as consecrated to him—is “Christ in you.” God’s willing to make known this secret “among the Gentiles” parallels the disclosure of it “to his saints.” Combined with the secret’s definition as “Christ in you,” the parallel puts the primary focus on the location of Christ in Gentile saints such as those in Colossae, who make up at least the bulk of the church there. “The wealth” describes “the glory” of this secret as of great volume in that the secret includes Gentile as well as Jewish believers. “The glory” describes “the secret” as consisting in “the hope of glory,” that is, in the confidence of what Paul in 3:4 will call the Colossians’ being “manifested with [Christ] in glory” at the second coming (compare the glory of Christians’ resurrected bodies on that occasion according to 1 Corinthians 15:43; 2 Corinthians 4:17; Philippians 3:21). As Christians are in Christ through the agency of his Spirit, so Christ is in them through his Spirit’s agency. His Spirit indwells them both, so that they indwell each other (see especially Romans 8:1–11, but also 2 Corinthians 13:5; Galatians 2:20; 4:19; Ephesians 3:17).

Paul and Timothy’s proclaiming “Christ in you” as “the hope of glory” specifies the way “God willed to make known [this secret] among the Gentiles.” The proclamation consists in admonishment (putting it into the hearers’ minds to believe in the now-disclosed secret) and teaching (explaining the secret so as to enable belief in it). The twofold use of “every human being” as the object of “admonishing” and “teaching” includes Jews as well as Gentiles, so that “every human being” may mean “every kind of human being.” “In all wisdom” implies the entire foolishness of the false doctrines circulating in Colossae and describes Paul’s and Timothy’s admonition and teaching as leading along the right path. The purpose of such admonition and teaching is to present to God at the Last Judgment “every [kind of] human being [as] mature in Christ”—that is, as in Christ by faith and as mature in him by having stayed “founded and settled on [their] faith” rather than “being shifted away from the hope [consisting] in the gospel” (1:23). To impress on the Colossians the high level of his concern that they not succumb to false doctrines and fail to attain such maturity in Christ, Paul underlines his “laboring,” which itself connotes hard toil, with the addition of “struggling,” which escalates the labor to a fight against false doctrines and their perpetrators. “In accordance with his working” enlists Christ as Paul’s commander in the fight. “That is at work in me in power” then assures the Colossians that Paul will win this fight, so that they should stick with him on the winning side (compare 1 Timothy 4:1–10).

2:1–3: For I want you to know how great a struggle I’m having in your behalf and [in behalf of] the [saints] in Laodicea and as many [saints] as haven’t seen my face in the flesh, 2in order that their hearts may be encouraged, [they and you] being compacted together in love [compare 3:14], and for all the wealth of the full assurance of insight, [that is,] for the knowledge of God’s secret, [namely] Christ, 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge [compare 1:9–10, 26–27; Proverbs 2:1–8]. This sentence elaborates Paul’s struggling (1:29). “I want you to know” impresses on the Colossians the concern he has for them. Knowing his concern for them will make them take his letter seriously. “How great a struggle” accents Paul’s high degree of concern to elevate the degree of their seriousness. “In your behalf” pinpoints the Colossians as objects of his concern (contrast the generalizing “every human being” in 1:28). An addition of “the [saints] in Laodicea” brings Christians in a nearby city (about 12 miles away) under the umbrella of Paul’s beneficial “struggle” and anticipates the instruction in 4:16 that this letter to the Colossians be read also to the Laodiceans. The present statement will then inform the Laodiceans that Paul’s great struggle is for them as well as for the Colossians. “And as many [saints] who haven’t seen my face in the flesh [that is, who haven’t seen me face to face]” includes at least the saints in Hieropolis (another city near Colossae), whom Paul will mention in 4:13, and perhaps also saints in yet other cities among which the letter called “Ephesians” was being circulated (see the introduction to Ephesians). He wants all of them to know how great is his struggle for them “in order that their hearts may be encouraged,” the heart being considered a center of thought, will, and emotions. If Paul is struggling greatly for their benefit, they should take courage to maintain their faith in the gospel and not be diverted to false teachings. “Being compacted together in love” puts forward loving one another for a united front in resisting such teachings. “For all the wealth of the full assurance of insight” tells the purpose of being encouraged, which purpose is then rephrased: “for the knowledge of God’s secret, [namely] Christ.” In combination these phrases mean that Paul is struggling in this very letter to assure the saints who’ll hear it read to them that in the gospel concerning Christ they already know everything needed for salvation and Christian life. Emphasizing the plenitude of this knowledge is the mention first of “all the wealth” consisting of “the full assurance” that comes from “insight”; and as if that emphasis weren’t enough, Paul adds that in Christ as God’s secret “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and [again] knowledge.” So pay no attention to false teaching concerning “thrones or lordships or rulerships or authorities” (1:16 [compare 2:8, 15, 18]). No treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in them!

2:4–5: I’m saying this [that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge] in order that no one may be duping you with a specious argument [to the opposite effect, namely, that there’s further salvific wisdom and knowledge to be found outside the person and word of Christ]. 5For even though I’m away [from you] so far as the flesh is concerned, I’m nevertheless with you so far as the Spirit is concerned, rejoicing and seeing [as I do] your orderliness and the stability of your faith in Christ. Paul’s fleshly absence from the Colossians explains why he’s saying what he says in a letter rather than in person. A contrast with the body would favor a reference to Paul’s human spirit (as in 1 Corinthians 5:3). But the contrast with flesh favors a reference to God’s Spirit (as in Galatians 5:16–25). It is through the eyes of the Spirit that Paul rejoices to see the Colossians’ orderliness and stability (for the Spirit portrayed as eyes, see Zechariah 4:1–10). “Orderliness” means alignment with “God’s secret, [namely] Christ” (2:2). “Stability” describes the Colossians’ “faith in Christ” in a way just opposite of “being wave-tossed and carried about by every wind of doctrine in the wiliness of human beings in trickery resulting in an artifice of error” (Ephesians 4:4). Paul’s rejoicing to see this orderliness and stability pays the Colossians a compliment that like other compliments in the letter is designed to gain for it a favorable reception (compare 1:3–8).

CHRIST’S SUFFICIENCY OVER AGAINST FALSE TEACHINGS IN COLOSSAE

Colossians 2:6–23

2:6–7: Therefore [given the possibility of someone’s duping you and my presence with you so far as the Spirit is concerned], as you received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, keep walking around in him, 7rooted and being built up in him and being established [in him] as to [your] faith (just as you were taught), flourishing in thanksgiving [compare 1:10–12]. Here Paul tells the Colossians to add behavior in Christ to faith in Christ, and to make this addition as a natural followup to their original reception of Christ, whom Paul calls “the Christ” and identifies as “Jesus the Lord” to stress Jesus’ messianic and divine authority to govern the behavior of believers in him. For the Colossians’ original reception of Christ, Paul uses a verb that connotes the reception of a tradition that’s being passed on—here, the Christ, Jesus the Lord, as an item of tradition contrasting with an upcoming tradition of human beings (2:8–10). As often, “walking around” stands for behavior, and “in him” makes Christ the setting that determines behavior as well as faith. “Rooted . . . in him” harks back to reception of Christ by faith in him as the basis of behavior in him. “Being built up in him” switches from a horticultural metaphor to one of construction, and from a past event that has a continuing result (rootedness) to an ongoing action. To keep from being duped, Christians need to be built up constantly. Likewise in regard to “being established,” which means to be constantly confirmed as to faith in and conformity with original teaching as opposed to newfangled doctrines. So Paul has returned to orthodoxy (right doctrine) as the basis of orthopraxy (right behavior). “Thanksgiving” for all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that you have in Christ will keep you from any dissatisfaction that would open your heart to false doctrines. “Flourishing” heightens the thanksgiving to a point where it excludes such dissatisfaction entirely.

2:8–10: Be watching out lest anyone be your captor through philosophy and empty deceit in accordance with the tradition of human beings, [that is,] in accordance with the elements of the world and not in accordance with Christ, 9because in him dwells all the fullness of the Deity bodily; 10and you’re filled in him, who is the head of every rulership and authority . . . . The threat of a false teacher, whom Paul compares to a captor (somebody who takes you as a prisoner of war with his false teaching), requires constant vigilance. Paul calls the false teaching “philosophy” because this term means “love of wisdom” and he has recently said by contrast that in Christ are hidden “all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge” (2:3). True philosophy should love the wisdom that’s in Christ, then. But the philosophy of the teachers Paul warns against carries “deceit,” not wisdom. This deceit is “empty” of the wisdom that’s in Christ, because the would-be captor is peddling “the tradition of human beings” rather than “the Christ, Jesus the Lord,” whom you received as an item of divinely originated tradition (2:6–7). This tradition of human beings is their teaching that “the elements of the world”—earth, air, fire, and water—are divine, so that human beings are bound to live under the regulations of these deified elements (associated with but probably to be distinguished from the apparently heavenly though likewise deified “thrones,” “lordships,” “rulerships,” and “authorities” of 1:16). “And not in accordance with Christ” indicates that there can be no blending of homage to the deified elements with adherence to Christ, “because in him dwells all the fullness of the Deity bodily.” It’s his body, not the elements of the world, where the Deity dwells, as in a temple—“all the fullness of the Deity,” so that no supplement of deity is needed from earth, air, fire, or water (compare the comments on Galatians 4:3, 9). As in 1:19, the redundancy of “all the fullness” stresses that there’s no lack of the Deity in Christ. He’s no inferior deity to be compared with the world’s elements. “And you’re filled in him” means that since you’re in Christ and the fullness of the Deity dwells in him, you too were filled with the Deity at your conversion and continue to live in a state of such fullness. Not that you have become divine yourself, of course—rather, in the person of the divine Christ you’re filled with the Deity. And because all the fullness of the Deity indwells Christ bodily, he’s “the head of every rulership and authority.” Just as “he himself is the head of the body” means that he has authority over the church (1:18), so he has authority over every rulership and authority (see the comments on 1:16 for their identity as angelic spirits). All rule and authority belong to him. The so-called rulerships and authorities are no deities, not even of a subaltern sort. They’re only creatures.

2:11–12: in whom [referring to Christ] also [in addition to being “filled in him” (2:10)] you were circumcised with a circumcision not handmade in the divesting of the body of flesh in the circumcision of the Christ, 12when buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised together with [him] through [your] faith in the working of God, who raised him from among the dead. “A circumcision not handmade” means a circumcision not manmade—therefore Godmade. Manmade circumcision consists in the divesting of foreskin, a small piece of flesh. The circumcision Paul is speaking about consists in “the divesting of the body of flesh.” But whose body of flesh? Paul answers, “in the circumcision of the Christ,” which corresponds to Christ’s “body of flesh” (1:22) and to the dwelling in him of all the fullness of the Deity “bodily” (2:9). Since earlier on, “through death” immediately followed “in the body of his flesh” and since burial immediately follows divestiture in the present passage, it’s easy to understand that here the divesting of Christ’s body of flesh refers to his death on a cross, already mentioned in 1:20 and about to be mentioned again in 2:14. In other words, Paul compares the death of Christ to a circumcision of his whole body and, furthermore, includes Christians in such a circumcision of Christ because they’re in Christ, so that God looks on them as having been crucified, “circumcised” whole-bodily, with Christ, as symbolically implied by burial in the waters of baptism (compare 2:20; Romans 6:3–11; Galatians 2:20). But since Christ didn’t stay dead and since Christians don’t stay under the waters of baptism but are raised up out of them, Paul adds that in baptism “you were also raised together with him [Christ],” so that despite the futurity of your body’s resurrection, God looks on you and treats you not only as already dead and buried but also as already resurrected. “Through [your] faith” identifies the means by which you gained this status in Christ (compare Ephesians 2:8). Baptism portrayed the gaining of this status but didn’t effect it. Faith did. “The working of God” identifies the object of your faith, and the description of him as the one “who raised him [Christ] from among the dead” identifies God’s particular work that became the object of your faith (compare Romans 10:9: “and believe in your heart that God raised him from among the dead”).

2:13–15: And you, being dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh—he [God] made you alive together with him [Christ], when graciously forgiving all [our] trespasses for us, 14[that is,] when blotting out the certificate of indebtedness that was against us in respect to [God’s] decrees [as to how we should behave], which [certificate] was opposed to us; and he has taken it out of the midst by nailing it to the cross. 15By divesting the rulerships and the authorities he [God] disgraced [them] in public by triumphing over them in it [the cross]. In portraying our dying together with Christ as being “circumcised” in the circumcision of Christ (2:11–12), Paul was apparently saving the vocabulary of death for “being dead in trespasses.” See the comments on Ephesians 2:1 for being dead in trespasses as a state of moral death prior to Christian conversion. Here Paul adds “and [in] the uncircumcision of your flesh” for an allusion to previous immorality as typical of Gentiles, such as at least a majority of the Colossians were (compare 1:27). See the initial comments on Ephesians 2:4–7 for God’s having “made you alive together with him [Christ].” Here Paul adds “when graciously forgiving all [our] trespasses for us,” which defines what it means in Ephesians 2:5, 8 to be saved “by grace.” The switch from “you” and “your” to “us” reflects the thankfulness of Paul for his own salvation by grace.

As in 1:14, “forgiveness” means “dismissal.” So the dismissal of our trespasses from us, the severing of their connection with us, accompanied being made alive together with Christ. Paul portrays their dismissal as a “blotting out” of “the certificate of indebtedness,” our IOU to God in which our trespasses counted as moral debts owed to him (compare Matthew 6:12, “And forgive our debts for us,” with Luke 11:4, “And forgive our sins for us”). The certificate “was against us” in that our moral indebtedness was heading us toward the debtors’ prison of God’s coming wrath (3:6). “In respect to [God’s] decrees” interprets the indebtedness in terms of trespassing against what God has decreed should characterize our behavior. “Which was opposed to us” repeats for emphasis that the moral indebtedness recorded on the certificate was heading us toward the debtors’ prison of God’s coming wrath. To the figure of blotting out that record Paul adds the figure of “tak[ing] it out of the midst [where it stood between God and us] by nailing it to the cross [so that it interpreted the crucifixion of Christ as his paying for us our debt of trespasses].” Then Paul turns attention back to the rulerships and authorities whose deification by pagans was adopted by the false teachers. Whereas crucifixion divested Christ of his body of flesh (2:11), God used that divestiture to divest the rulerships and authorities of their rule and authority. That is to say, Christ’s crucifixion, which he suffered in the nude, was supposed to disgrace him in public; but God transformed it into a triumphal procession in which the rulerships and authorities were led, so to speak, as naked prisoners of war, their lack of deity exposed in the public proclamation of Christ as the only Lord and Savior.

2:16–17: Therefore no one is to be passing judgment on you in regard to food and in regard to drink or in the matter of a festival or of a new moon or of a Sabbath [day], 17which [matters] are a shadow of the things that were going to come; but the body [is] the Christ’s. ”Therefore” uses God’s having divested the rulerships and authorities as the basis of the command, “no one is to be passing judgment on you.” Hence, the false teachers, whom Paul called the Colossians’ would-be “captor[s]” (2:8), must have combined with their teaching concerning those pagan rulerships and authorities various Jewish practices concerning food, drink, festivals, new moons, and Sabbaths. Such practices were related to the Mosaic law, if not by way of wholesale prohibition (as regards food and drink) at least by way of implication (as regards ritual defilement [compare Daniel 1:8–16; Romans 14:1–13]). The false teachers’ passing judgment on the Colossians probably means they’re telling them that they’ll go to hell if they don’t follow these practices. Since Paul doesn’t address the false teachers directly, his indirect command (“no one is to be passing judgment on you”) aims at keeping the Colossians from taking seriously the false teachers’ judgments. His description of the Jewish practices as “a shadow of the things that were going to come” means that those practices symbolized such things as abstinence from immorality and as the festivity and relief that have now come in the new era of Christ’s gospel. “But the body [is] the Christ’s” contrasts substance with shadow, reality with symbol, even fulfillment with promise. Because Paul has just mentioned food and drink and will shortly mention “unsparing [= ascetical] treatment of the body” (2:23), however, one wonders whether he means that since a Christian’s body belongs to the Christ, it shouldn’t be mistreated with asceticism (compare 1 Timothy 4:1–5).

2:18–19: No one is to be regulating you by indulging in humility and the homage of angels, spouting off about things that he has seen, being unwarrantedly puffed up by the mind of his flesh, 19and not holding fast the head [Christ], by whom all the body, being supported and compacted together through [its] connections and ligaments, grows the growth of God. A second indirect command (“No one is to be regulating you”) aims at keeping the Colossians from taking seriously the false teachers’ regulations. These teachers try to regulate the Colossians’ practices by the influence of example. The mention of “humility” just before and in coordination with “homage of angels” probably interprets the homage as directed by the false teachers to angels rather than as directed by angels to God. For it would seem to go without saying that participation with angels in doing homage to God would entail humility. Since in Romans 8:38 Paul coordinates “angels” with “rulerships,” says in 1 Corinthians 6:3 that Christians will judge angels, and in 2 Corinthians 11:14 calls Satan “an angel of light,” in the present text “homage of angels” appears to mean homage to angelic rulerships and authorities; and the false teachers appear to be doing them homage in addition to obeying the supposed dictates of the world’s elements. “Indulging in humility and the homage of angels” means going in for and getting religious pleasure out of such humility and homage.

“Spouting off about things that he has seen” refers to the contents of visions seen, or at least claimed to have been seen, during the course of doing homage to angels. “Spouting off” about those contents came from “being unwarrantedly puffed up [a figure of speech for getting stuck on oneself] by the mind of his flesh [his thoughts being weakly submissive to angels, since ‘flesh’ connotes weakness].” So visions became the source of pride. Pride became the source of spouting off. And, ironically, the spouting off exposed feeblemindedness. “Unwarrantedly” describes the visions as worthless. “Not holding fast” implies both an initial or apparent holding and a letting go. “The head” refers to Christ as the authority in opposition to the false teachers’ being puffed up by the mind of the flesh, and “all the body” stands for the church (1:18, 24; 3:15). A body grows as a result of ingesting food and drink through the mouth, located in the head. It’s therefore by Christ as the church’s head that his body, the church, “grows the growth of God,” which means producing for God the fruit of good deeds (1:6, 10; Ephesians 2:21; 4:15–16). “All the body” leaves no body part unsupported and uncompacted in the unity effected by Christ through the body’s connections and ligaments. No help is needed from another source.

2:20–23: If you’ve died together with Christ [as you have, with the result of being freed] from the world’s elements [whose regulations you used to obey], why while living in the world are you submitting yourselves to decrees [designed to placate those elements]—21“You shouldn’t handle [this]; you shouldn’t taste [that]; you shouldn’t touch [such-and-such],” 22which things are all [meant] for dissolution by way of consumption [because God provided them to be eaten, drunk, and otherwise used by human beings rather than avoided]—in accordance with the [ascetical] commandments and teachings of human beings [= not even of the world’s supposedly authoritative elements, much less of God, and therefore certainly unauthoritative (compare Mark 7:7; Matthew 15:9)], 23which [commandments], to be sure, have the reputation of wisdom [as implied in “philosophy,” meaning “the love of wisdom” (2:8), and as illustrated in “being unwarrantedly puffed up” (2:18)], in indulgent homage [to angels] and humility [before them] having to do with unsparing [ascetical] treatment of the body [by not handling, tasting, or touching what God has provided for food, drink, and other uses], not with any value in relation to satedness of the flesh [because God wants your body’s flesh to be satisfied with food, drink, clothing, and other physical necessities (see 1 Timothy 4:3–5)]. “Died together with Christ” confirms that being circumcised “in the circumcision of the Christ” (2:11) had to do with his death as the cutting off of his whole body of flesh. The Colossians are living in the world, but they’re to be living in it as dead in Christ to it, that is, as unresponsive to the decrees of its falsely deified elements. “Why . . . are you submitting yourselves to decrees [that require asceticism]?” implies that the false teachers have made inroads among the Colossians, so that Paul’s earlier compliments of the Colossians represent their fundamental condition, whereas their submission to the decrees represents, thus far, an aberration. The commandments contained in the decrees “have the reputation of wisdom” in that many people think asceticism is a religiously wise lifestyle to practice whether or not they themselves practice it. “To be sure” underscores the wide extent of this reputation, but it’s only a reputation. “Which things are all [meant] for dissolution by way of consumption” does away with the entirety of ascetical prohibitions.

THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST IN CHRISTIAN CONDUCT

Colossians 3:1–4:6

Here begins the primarily hortatory main section of Colossians. Its exhortations are based on the doctrine spelled out in 1:13–2:23.

THE MENTAL APPLICATION OF UNION WITH CHRIST IN HIS DEATH, RESURRECTION, AND EXALTATION

Colossians 3:1–4

3:1–4: Therefore [given your having died together with Christ from the world’s elements (2:20)] if you’ve been raised together with the Christ, be seeking the things above, where the Christ is, sitting at God’s right [hand] [compare 2:12–13, 20; Ephesians 2:5–6; Romans 6:1–11; Galatians 2:20; Psalm 110:1]. 2Be thinking the things above, not the things on earth. 3For you’ve died, and your life is hidden together with the Christ in God. 4When the Christ, your life, is manifested, then you too will be manifested together with him in glory. As in the case of having died together with Christ, “raised together with the Christ” has to do with the way God looks at you because of your being in Christ, who has already died and been raised. “If you’ve been raised” doesn’t call in question your having been raised. It implies you should do something as a result of the fact you’ve been raised. Paul will list “the things above” in 3:12–4:6. They’re “above” because they relate to Christ—and he’s above, “sitting at God’s right [hand].” So be seeking them because you’ve been raised together with the Christ. They’re within reach. In Christ you are where they are, because “raised together with the Christ” includes exaltation to heaven as well as resurrection from among the dead. But finding the things above takes effort—hence the command to be seeking them. Seeking starts with thinking; for “as [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7 King James Version), and Paul’s verb for thinking connotes an attitude favorable toward the objects of thought and therefore an attitude convertible into action. But you shouldn’t be thinking favorably “the things on earth,” which Paul will list in 3:5–9. Your death with Christ has put those things in your past. So they shouldn’t even enter your thinking.

“Your life” alludes to your having been raised from death to life together with the Christ. “Is hidden” describes your life as yet to be manifested. “Together with the Christ” describes him too as yet to be manifested. “Hidden . . . in God” locates your life and the Christ for the time being—that is, till its and his manifestation—in “the invisible God” (1:15). Since it’s together with the Christ that you’ve been raised from death to life, Paul designates “the Christ” as “your life”; and since this life is yours, Paul makes concurrent your manifestation and the Christ’s manifestation. “In glory” identifies the circumstance of your and his manifestation in a way that dates the manifestation at the second coming and describes it as so resplendent as to provide plenty of motivation for seeking the things above, not the things below. For the association of glory with the second coming and attendant events, see 1:27 (where “hope” means confidence in the second coming); Romans 5:2; 8:18, 21; 1 Corinthians 15:43; 2 Corinthians 4:17; Titus 2:13.

THE APPLICATION OF DEATH WITH CHRIST TO SINFUL ACTIONS

Colossians 3:5–11

3:5–7: Therefore put to death [your body] parts that are on earth: fornication, impurity, passion, bad lust, and prurience, which as such is idolatry, 6because of which things the wrath of God is coming, 7in which things even you walked around once upon a time, [that is,] when you were living in these things. Your having died in God’s point of view (3:3) means that in your conduct you should “put to death [your body] parts that are on the earth,” which equate with “the things on the earth” that according to 3:2 you’re not to “think.” Paul is using “[your body] parts” as a figure of speech for the vices that he proceeds to list, because you use your body parts as instruments for the practice of those vices. “On earth” puts these figurative body parts in a location different from that of you yourself, for you’ve been raised together with the Christ to God’s right hand in heaven above. Since your body parts stand for vices, the distance you should put between yourself and the vices is equivalent to the distance that separates heaven and earth.

More vices will be listed later, but those listed here all have to do with sexual immorality. They head the list and appear under no fewer than five designations because the strength of human libido makes illicit sex a matter of common occurrence. “Fornication” means sexual immorality in general, but refers especially to sexual intercourse in which one party is a prostitute. “Impurity” describes sexual immorality as moral defilement. “Passion” refers to out-of-control libido (compare Romans 1:26; 1 Thessalonians 4:5), and “lust” similarly to desire so strong that it leads to the trespassing of moral boundaries. Even by itself “lust” usually has this meaning, but here Paul adds “bad” to “lust” for emphasis on the harmful effects of sexual immorality. “Prurience” means greediness for more and more sexual gratification, a greediness that catapults a person into promiscuity. “Which as such is idolatry” compares such greediness to the worship of an idol, the idol of limitless sexual gratification. The comparison came easily to Paul, because lots of sexual immorality took place in and around pagan temples, which housed idols (compare the comments on Ephesians 4:19 [including the footnote]; 5:3–5; also 1 Corinthians 10:14, where in a discussion of sexual immorality Paul says to flee idolatry, and Galatians 5:20, where he lists idolatry right after three designations of sexual immorality). For the coming of God’s wrath, see the comments on Ephesians 5:6; 1 Thessalonians 1:10. “In which things even you walked around once upon a time” parallels “when you were living in these things” and pictures the vices as the very habitat of the Colossians before their conversion—like living in a brothel, one might say. “Even you” underscores this reminder. “Living in these things” once upon a time makes it necessary to “put [them] to death” at the present time, and the earthly locale of living in them (compare 2:20) contrasts with the heavenly locale of “your life” that’s “hidden together with the Christ in God” (3:3).

3:8–11: But now [as opposed to when you were living in these vices] you, even you—put off all the [following] things: wrath, rage, malice, slander, shameful talk out of your mouth. 9Don’t be lying to one another, since you’ve divested yourselves of the old human being together with his practices 10and have put on the new [human being] that’s being renewed for the purpose and with the result of knowledge in accordance with the image of the one who created him, 11where there’s no Greek and [no] Jew, [no] circumcision and [no] uncircumcision, [no] barbarian, [no] Scythian, [no] slave, [no] free [person]—rather, [where] Christ [is] all things and in all. “You, even you” pinpoints the Colossians as targets of Paul’s subsequent exhortation. The figure of “put[ting] to death” (3:5–7) shifts to a figure of “put[ting] off,” as when taking off dirty clothes, the following vices being compared to items of such clothing. “All” emphasizes that none of these vices should characterize Christian behavior. Their number as five implies that the five virtues to be listed in 3:12 (“affections of pity, magnanimity, humility, meekness, patience”) should replace them. “Rage” arises out of “wrath,” and “slander” out of “malice.” For “shameful talk” see the comments on Ephesians 5:3–5. “Out of your mouth” seems almost to portray the tongue as clothed with slander and shameful talk. Paul turns from slander and shameful talk to untruthful talk in the command, “Don’t be lying to one another” (compare Ephesians 4:25). As a rationale for the command, he says that “you’ve divested yourselves of the old human being together with his practices [such as lying] and have put on the new [human being].” Some commentators interpret “the old human being” as an allusion to Adam, because according to 1 Corinthians 15:22 “in the Adam all die,” and “the new [human being]” as an allusion to Christ, because according to 1 Corinthians 15:22 “all will be made alive in the Christ” (compare Ephesians 2:15). But it’s hard to think that as the new human being, Christ “is being renewed for the purpose and with the result of knowledge in accordance with the image of the one who created him.” For in him “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge” (2:3), no renewal being necessary; and Christ, “in whom all things were created” (1:16), wasn’t “created” as the new human being is said to have been created. So it’s better to understand “the old human being” as the Colossians’ preconversion self, together with its vices, and “the new [human being]” as their converted self, together with its virtues.

The Colossians stripped off their old self and put on their new self by faith, but it remains for them to work out in their behavior the effects of this metaphorical change of clothing. (A failure to work out those effects would invalidate their faith.) “That’s being renewed” indicates progressive conformity in behavior to “the image of the one [Christ] who created him [the new human being]” by way of putting off old vices and putting on new virtues (see 1:15 for Christ as “the image of the invisible God,” and compare Romans 8:29; 12:2; 2 Corinthians 4:16; Titus 3:5 and especially Ephesians 4:20–24 for renewal). This renewal has the purpose and result of “knowledge,” about which see the comments on 1:9–10. “Where there’s no Greek and [no] Jew . . .” refers to Christ, who created the new human being/the new self, as the location in whom ethnic, cultural, physical, and social differences make no difference. See the comments on Galatians 3:28 for the use of “Greek” instead of “Gentile,” and on 1 Corinthians 14:11 for the meaning of “barbarian.” “Circumcision” stands for Jews because they practiced circumcision, and “uncircumcision” for Gentiles because they didn’t practice it. Scythians lived on the steppes north of the Black Sea. Paul mentions them probably as an example of barbarians. Christ is not only the one in whom these differences disappear so far as God is concerned, and so far as Christians should be concerned. Christ is also “all things” to them in the sense of supplying them with all they need for salvation now and hereafter, so that they shouldn’t stray into false doctrines. Moreover, he’s “in all” who are in him by faith, so that he and they indwell each other.

THE APPLICATION OF HAVING BEEN RAISED WITH CHRIST TO RIGHTEOUS ACTIONS

Colossians 3:12–4:6

3:12–13: Therefore [because Christ is all things to you and is in all you (3:11)] as God’s selected ones, sacred [to him] and loved [by him], put on affections of pity, magnanimity, humility, meekness, patience, 13putting up with one another and graciously forgiving each other if someone has a grievance against someone [else]. Just as also the Lord has graciously forgiven you, in this way you too [be graciously forgiving each other]. For obedience to the following commands, “as God’s selected ones” appeals to the Colossians’ sense of ill-deserved privilege. Selection by God (for which see, above all, Romans 9) results in being consecrated to him and loved by him just as in the case of the Jewish nation according to the Old Testament (see, for example, Deuteronomy 4:37; 10:15; 14:2), though Paul doesn’t draw out the parallel here. The listed virtues are to be put on like items of clean clothing. “Magnanimity,” which means kindness uncorrupted by pettiness and mean-spiritedness, arises out of “affections of pity.” “Meekness,” which means nonretaliatory gentleness, arises out of “humility,” a lowly attitude in relations with fellow Christians. “Putting up with one another,” with which compare Ephesians 4:2, arises out of “patience.” And “graciously forgiving each other” arises out of all the immediately preceding virtues. The “grievance” that someone might have against someone else consists in something genuinely blameworthy, not in a mere annoyance. For failure to forgive graciously as you’ve been graciously forgiven, see Matthew 18:21–35; and with Christ the Lord’s exercising gracious forgiveness, compare Mark 2:1–12; Matthew 9:1–8; Luke 5:17–26 (also Ephesians 4:32 for God’s forgiveness “in Christ”).

3:14–15: And over all these [virtues], [put on] love, which is the bond of maturity. 15And the Christ’s peace is to be arbitrating in your hearts, to which [peace] you were also called in one body. And be thankful [compare 2:7]. The putting of love over all the just-mentioned virtues suggests an overgarment. On the other hand, the description of love as a “bond,” something that binds together other items of clothing, suggests a waistband, a belt, a sash. In any case, love binds together the other virtues so as to produce maturity, full growth in virtue (compare 1:28; 4:12; 1 Corinthians 12:31b–13:13 [especially 13:9–11]). The bonding force of love leads naturally to thoughts of peace and arbitration. According to Ephesians 2:14–17 the Christ “is himself our peace” and “proclaimed peace as good news,” thus “making peace” so as to “create in himself one new human being . . . in one body . . . by having killed . . . the hostility.” Hence in Colossians, closely related as it is to Ephesians, “the Christ’s peace” means the peace that he himself is, that he proclaimed as good news, and that he made so as to kill hostility between Christians as members of his body, the church, and to substitute arbitration for hostility. “In your hearts” makes the arbitration an outgrowth of love rather than an imposition forced from outside (like Pax Romana, the Roman peace dictated to subjugated peoples). “To which [peace] you were also called” (as well as its being commanded) might seem to contradict “in your hearts,” for the calling is effective (as elsewhere in Paul). But it’s still an invitation accepted with thankful hearts. “In one body” celebrates church unity resulting from arbitration by Christ’s peace; and given peaceful unity of the church as the object of thanksgiving, the command to be thankful should be easy to obey. See further the comments on Ephesians 4:1–3, and for “one body” see Romans 12:4–5; 1 Corinthians 12:12–14; Ephesians 2:16; 4:4.

3:16–17: The word of the Christ is to be dwelling among you richly as you’re teaching and admonishing each other in all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, Spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And in regard to everything whatever that you’re doing in word [= speaking] or in deed [= working], [be doing] all things in the name of the Lord, Jesus, while giving thanks through him to God, the Father. “The word of the Christ” is the message about Jesus as the Messiah, which message is to eclipse any words about “thrones or lordships or rulerships or authorities” (1:16) or about “angels” (2:18). “Is to be dwelling among you” personifies this message as a fellow member of the churchly household, a message always being spoken at meetings of the church. “Richly” describes the dwelling of this message as valuable because it conveys “the wealth [= riches] of the glory of this secret, which [secret] is Christ in you, [Christ] the hope of glory” (1:27). It’s this word, this message, that’s to be used in “teaching [= instructing] and admonishing [= exhorting] each other [tasks that to one degree or another, depending on Spiritual gifts, all Christians are to engage in].” “In all wisdom” describes the teaching and admonishing in that their subject matter features the Christ, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (2:3), over against the false doctrines being peddled in Colossae. For “singing . . . with gratitude . . .” see the comments on Ephesians 5:18–20. Doing things “in the name of the Lord, Jesus” means doing them in acknowledgment that Jesus is what his designation “the Lord” indicates—in other words, doing them as his obedient slaves. “In regard to everything whatever that you’re doing in word or in deed . . . all things” leaves absolutely no activity of Christians outside Jesus’ domain (compare 1 Corinthians 10:31). “While giving thanks through him to God, the Father” makes Jesus the gateway to God, makes God fatherly in rescuing you “out from the authority of the darkness” and transferring you “into the kingdom” where Jesus exercises lordship with love (compare 1:13), and makes wholesale servitude to Jesus as Lord something for which to thank God (compare Ephesians 5:20).

3:18–21: Wives, be subordinating yourselves to [your] husbands, as it’s appropriate [for you to do] in the Lord. 19Husbands, be loving [your] wives, and don’t be getting embittered against them. 20Children, be obeying [your] parents in all respects, for this is pleasing in the Lord. 21Fathers, don’t be nagging your children, lest they get demoralized. This passage presents a reduced version of Ephesians 5:22–6:4. So see the comments on that passage for the present parallels. Concerning the few distinctive features here in Colossians, “as it’s appropriate [for you to do] in the Lord” tells Christian wives that their position in Christ, designated “the Lord” to highlight his authority, calls for self-subordination to their husbands. “In the Lord” describes the wives’ self-subordination rather than limiting it to Christian husbands. That husbands aren’t to be “getting embittered against” their wives doesn’t mean they’re to avoid letting their wives embitter them—rather, to avoid treating their wives harshly out of anger and wrath (see Ephesians 4:31 for the association of “bitterness” with “anger and wrath”). Such treatment would run contrary to loving their wives. “In all respects” strengthens the command that children be obeying their parents; and the rationale, “for this [obedience] is pleasing in the Lord,” replaces the rationale in Ephesians 6:1, “for this is right.” But what’s right always pleases him. As in the instruction to wives, “in the Lord” tells children that their position in Christ, again designated “the Lord” to highlight his authority, calls for obedience to their parents. “In the Lord” also describes the children’s obedience rather than limiting it to Christian parents and presumes Christian faith on the part of the children being addressed. The command that fathers not be nagging their children substitutes for the similar command in Ephesians 6:4 that they not be provoking their children to anger, and here Paul adds a reason not to nag them: “lest they get demoralized.” Demoralization by a Christian father would thwart his Christian influence on his and his wife’s children.

3:22–25: Slaves, be obeying [your] fleshly lords [= human master/owners] in all respects, not with eye-slavery as pleasers of human beings—rather, with integrity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23Whatever you’re doing, be working [at it] from [your] soul, as [working] for the Lord and not for human beings, 24knowing that from the Lord you’ll get back a restitution [consisting] of [your] inheritance. Be slaving for the Lord, [namely] Christ; 25for the [lord/master] who injures [you] will be requited what he injured [in other words, your injurious master will suffer the Lord’s injurious judgment on the Last Day], and there’s no favoritism [with the Lord]. See the comments on Ephesians 6:5–8 for parallels in the present passage. As in the instruction to children, “in all respects” strengthens the command that slaves be obeying their “fleshly lords.” “Fearing the Lord” shows that “with fear and trembling” in Ephesians 6:5 has to do with fearing to disobey the Lord, not with fearing the fleshly lords. “A restitution [consisting] of [your] inheritance” contrasts with slaves’ having little or no hope of getting an inheritance in their present lifetimes and means participation “in the kingdom of the Christ and of God” (Ephesians 5:5), that is, in what Paul called in 1:12 “a portion of the allotment of the saints in the light” (compare Ephesians 1:14). “Fleshly lords,” as Paul calls them, often punished their slaves with physical injuries. So to support his command to be slaving for the Lord who is Christ by obeying fleshly lords, Paul assures Christian slaves that injurious lords will in the end get their comeuppance from the Lord Christ.

4:1: You lords [= masters/owners of slaves], be granting [your] slaves what [is] just and fair, knowing that you too have a Lord in heaven. As in Ephesians 6:9, the foregoing translation uses “lords” for masters/owners of slaves to bring out the wordplay between those lords and the Lord, who is Christ Jesus. Another wordplay is harder to bring out in English. It’s that the Greek for “what [is] just” (to dikaion) is related to the Greek in 3:25 for “injures/injured” (adikōn/ēdikēsen). Paul’s point: granting slaves what is just contrasts with injuring them, which would instance what is unjust. In simpler English, “treat your slaves justly and fairly.” “Knowing that you too have a Lord in heaven” should motivate slaveowners to obey Paul’s command. As Christians they’re slaves to a master who ranks much higher than they do: “a Lord in heaven.”

4:2–4: Be engrossed in prayer, staying awake in it with thanksgiving, 3praying at the same time also for us that God may open to us [Timothy and Paul according to 1:1] a door for the word so that [we] may tell the secret of the Christ (because of which [secret] I’m even bound [in chains as a prisoner]), 4in order that I may disclose it as it’s necessary for me to tell [it]. To be engrossed in prayer requires “staying awake,” that is, losing sleep so as to devote more time to praying (compare Mark 14:38). For “with thanksgiving,” see the final comments on 1:9–12 and 3:16–17. “Praying at the same time also for us” stresses that the Colossians should always pray for Paul and Timothy as well as for themselves—in particular, that God may open to Paul and Timothy “a door for the word,” a figure of speech for an opportunity to tell “the secret of the Christ.” Especially because of Paul’s imprisonment, God will have to open the door. “The secret of the Christ” is “Christ in you [who believe in him],” the Christ who is “the hope of glory” and thus himself “God’s secret” (see 1:26b–27 with 2:2). “Because of which [secret] I’m also bound” is Paul’s compressed way of saying that at the time of writing he’s chained as a prisoner because of having told the secret to Gentiles (see Acts 21:27–29; 22:21–23; 26:19–23 for the evangelizing of Gentiles as what led to his imprisonment). “I’m even bound” implies the incongruity of being chained as a prisoner for telling the Gentiles such good news. “That I may disclose it as it’s necessary for me to tell [it]” shows that Paul wants to use even his imprisonment to continue telling the secret (see further the final comments on Ephesians 6:18–20).

4:5–6: Be walking around in wisdom [= behaving wisely] toward outsiders, redeeming the time. 6Your word [is to be] always with grace, [your word] having been seasoned with salt, so that [you] may know how it’s necessary for you to answer each individual [outsider]. “Walking in wisdom” means behaving according to “[God’s] will in all Spiritual wisdom and insight so as to walk around worthily of the Lord . . . bearing fruit in all good work” (1:9–10). “Toward outsiders” designs such behavior for conversion of the non-Christians with whom Christians interact. For “redeeming the time,” see the comments on Ephesians 5:16, especially given the possibility that Ephesians will make its way as a circular letter to the church in Colossae (see the comments here on 4:16). Redeeming the time combines with wise behavior for the purpose of converting non-Christians. That is to say, be setting free (= redeeming) your time for the sake of evangelism. Since “the word” in 4:3 has just now referred to “the secret of the Christ” and has earlier meant both “the word of the truth of the gospel” (1:5), “God’s word” (1:25), and “the word of the Christ” (3:16), “your word” probably means the message of the gospel that you speak to outsiders. In that case, “always with grace” requires this word always to contain the good news of salvation by “God’s grace” (1:6 [compare Ephesians 2:5, 7–8]). “Having been seasoned with salt” has gotten a variety of interpretations. But in view of Jesus’ comparing salt with the fire of divine judgment (Mark 9:49: “For everyone will be salted with fire”), the seasoning of your word with salt refers likely to warning outsiders that a refusal of God’s grace will lead to the suffering of God’s judgmental wrath (3:6). “So that [you] may know how it’s necessary for you to answer each individual [outsider]” makes two points: (1) the combination of God’s grace and God’s judgment in answer to questions about your behavior as a Christian—this combination is what’s “necessary” in your answer; (2) “to answer each individual [outsider]” calls for person-to-person evangelism (personal work, as it used to be called) in addition to public proclamation (1:28). In sum, Christian behavior (“walking around”) and verbal witness (“your word”) go together.

CONCLUSION

Colossians 4:7–18

The conclusion divides into the coming of Tychicus and Onesimus (4:7–9), greetings and final instructions (4:10–17), and a farewell and benediction (4:18).

4:7–9: Tychicus, [my] beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow slave in the Lord, will make known to you all my circumstances, 8whom I’ve sent to you for this very purpose, that you may know the circumstances concerning us [Timothy and me] and [that] he may encourage your hearts, 9along with Onesimus, [my] faithful and beloved brother, who is [one] of you. They’ll make known to you all the circumstances here. The many close parallels with Ephesians 6:21–22, and also with Philemon as a whole, imply that Paul wrote Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon during the same period and sent them together at the same time. His recommendation of Tychicus aims at ensuring that the Colossians welcome Tychicus hospitably and listen believingly to Tychicus’s report of Paul’s circumstances. “Whom I’ve sent to you” is spoken from the standpoint of the Colossians after Tychicus’s arrival. See the comments on Ephesians 6:21–22 for Tychicus as a “beloved brother” and “faithful servant” and for other details. Here Paul adds both a description of Tychicus as a “fellow slave” (of the Lord, Jesus Christ) and a mention of Onesimus as a “faithful and beloved brother” (though according to Philemon 16 Onesimus was also Philemon’s slave). The added description of Tychicus and the addition of Onesimus with a replacement of his status as a slave by his status as a faithful and beloved brother are designed to level out the statuses in Christ of Paul, Tychicus, and Onesimus, and to do so in order that the Colossian Christians, not just Philemon, may welcome Onesimus into their midst (see 3:11). “Who is one of you” describes Onesimus further as from Colossae and may also carry the overtone of his being the Colossians’ fellow Christian now that he has been converted (Philemon 10–11, 15–16). Onesimus was converted only recently (during Paul’s present imprisonment according to Philemon 10), so that he has had little chance to prove his faithfulness. “Faithful . . . brother” may therefore need to be understood as “believing . . . brother” (compare 1:2 with comments). In either case, “They’ll make known to you all the circumstances here” coordinates Onesimus with Tychicus as a fellow reporter. “Here” probably alludes to Rome in accordance with Acts 28. Knowing all Paul’s circumstances will enable the Colossians to pray for Paul and Timothy intelligently (4:3).

4:10–11: Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you. Also [greeting you are] Mark, [who is] Barnabas’s cousin (about whom you’ve received commands: if he comes to you, welcome him), 11and Jesus, the one called Justus. As for those who are of the circumcision [that is, Jews], these [three] alone [are my] fellow workers for God’s kingdom, who as such have become a comfort to me. To greet in a letter means to send greetings through it. We don’t know how Aristarchus, who appears also in Philemon 24; Acts 19:29; 20:4; 27:2, came to be Paul’s fellow prisoner. Perhaps he volunteered to join Paul in prison for the purpose of protecting him from abuse (compare Romans 16:7). Mark, also named John, appears often in Acts and Paul’s letters. According to very early church tradition, Mark wrote the Gospel according to Mark. His presence with Paul, so that he sends greetings to the Colossians, indicates the healing of a rift between the two men, for which rift see Acts 15:36–40. If the commands that the Colossians received concerning Mark date from prior to Paul’s writing this letter, we know nothing more about them. It’s possible, though, that “you’ve received commands” is spoken from the standpoint of the Colossians after the letter’s arrival (as in “whom I’ve sent” [4:8]) and therefore refers to the following words: “if he comes to you, welcome him.” Then the plural of “commands” implies the multiple aspects of welcoming, such as a cordial reception and the provision of room and board. “Barnabas’s cousin” distinguishes this Mark from many others having the same name. “The one called Justus” likewise distinguishes “Jesus” from many others called Jesus as well as from Jesus the Lord. (Jesus, a Greek spelling of the Hebrew name Joshua, was still a popular boy’s name among Jews living in the first century; for the heroic successor of Moses was named Joshua.)

Of the Jews where Paul is imprisoned, only Aristarchus, Mark, and Jesus Justus are Paul’s “fellow workers for God’s kingdom,” that is, fellow evangelists. Their being an exception to the rule gives Paul, himself a Jew and one who is suffering imprisonment because of opposition from unbelieving Jews, special comfort. Working for God’s kingdom hints at a contrast with the kingdom of the Caesar before whom Paul is going to stand trial. Since Paul identifies Aristarchus as his fellow prisoner, Mark as Barnabas’s cousin, and Jesus as also called Justus and then identifies all three as Jews and fellow workers with him, they were probably otherwise unknown to the Colossians (who are likely to have known Barnabas at least by reputation because of his prominence in the early church). Despite their unacquaintance with Aristarchus, Mark, and Jesus Justus, then, Paul includes greetings from his three Jewish fellow workers to impress on the Colossians that the contents of his letter have considerable backing. His not having founded the church in Colossae combined with the threat of false teachings there to make the mention of such backing helpful to a favorable reception of the letter.

Paul continues to relay greetings, this time from Gentile Christians, in 4:12–14: Epaphras, who [is one] of you, a slave of Christ Jesus, [greets you], always struggling for you in [his] prayers that you may stand mature and fully assured in all God’s will. 13For I bear him witness that he has pain for you [= emotional distress for you because of the threat posed by false teachers in Colossae] and the [saints] in Laodicea and the [saints] in Hierapolis. 14Luke, the beloved physician, greets you; and Demas [greets you]. Though as a Colossian himself and therefore well-known to the Colossians, Epaphras gets the distinction of being called “a slave of Christ Jesus” to remind them that he founded their church in obedience to Christ Jesus (1:7) and that they should therefore stick to the gospel he taught them. “Always struggling for you in [his] prayers that you may stand mature and fully assured in all God’s will” highlights the intensity of Epaphras’s concern that the Colossians not veer into newfangled false teachings (compare 1:28). God’s will is opposed to those teachings and expressed in “the word of the truth of the gospel” that the Colossians “learned from Epaphras” (1:5–9). Further intensifying the intensity of this concern is the observability (“I bear him witness”) of the emotional distress (“pain”) evident in Epaphras’s constant struggling in prayer for the saints in Colossae, and for the saints in nearby Laodicea and Hierapolis as well. They too might be threatened, or were threatened, by the false teachings. Paul describes Luke as “the beloved physician.” But “the” often functions as a possessive pronoun, such as “my,” so that Luke may have acted as Paul’s personal physician. Demas gets no identification apart from his name (but see 2 Timothy 4:10).

4:15–17: Greet [for me] the brothers in Laodicea, plus Nympha and the church [that meets] in her house. 16And when the [present] letter has been read to you, make [sure] that it’s read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and [make sure] that you too read the [letter that’s coming] from Laodicea. 17And tell Archippus, “See to the service which you’ve received in the Lord, that you be fulfilling it.” Because this letter is addressed to the Colossians, Paul asks them to relay his greetings to the Laodicean Christians, whom he calls “brothers” to underline his and their familial relation despite never having become acquainted face to face. But his mentioning Nympha by name suggests that he may have met her elsewhere—say, in Ephesus—as he had Epaphras (see the comments on 1:7). “The church [that meets] in her house” appears to differ from “the brothers in Laodicea” and from “the church of the Laodiceans.” Perhaps, then, the church that met in Nympha’s house was none other than the church in Hierapolis (compare 4:13: “the [saints] in Hierapolis”).

Paul’s command that his letter to the Colossians be read “also in the church of the Laodiceans” suggest that that church too was being threatened by false teachings. Would the Laodiceans then pass the letter on to the saints in Hierapolis? But what letter is it that the Colossians are to read (that is, have read to them) when it comes from Laodicea? A letter that hasn’t survived to our own day? Perhaps so, since we know of other Pauline letters that haven’t survived (see the introduction to 2 Corinthians). On the other hand, Ephesians appears to have been a letter circulated in the region (see the comments on Ephesians 1:1–2). So Tychicus and Onesimus may have dropped off so-called Ephesians in Laodicea before traveling from the west a bit farther to Colossae to deliver Colossians there. In that case, Ephesians would arrive in Colossae somewhat later as “the letter [that’s coming] from Laodicea.”

Paul doesn’t address Archippus, probably because he doesn’t know him. Presumably Epaphras has told Paul about Archippus, though; and for Archippus to have the whole church address to him Paul’s command puts very great pressure on Archippus to obey. “The service” which Archippus has “received” seems to imply that in Epaphras’s absence, Archippus has been given the reins of leadership (compare Philemon 2). The reception of this service “in the Lord” makes the service one of service to the Lord, who is Jesus. The command that Archippus “be fulfilling it” is due to Epaphras’s staying imprisoned with Paul (Philemon 23) rather than returning to Colossae with Tychicus and Onesimus. In view of Epaphras’s continuing absence from Colossae, Archippus has more service to do, and therefore to fulfill. That it’s the Colossians who are to tell him so has the purpose of making them the willing beneficiaries of his service and of giving him encouragement because of their willingness.

4:18: The greeting with my hand, Paul’s [hand]. Be remembering my bonds. Grace [be] with you. The appearance of the final greeting in Paul’s own handwriting implies that up to this point he has dictated the letter to a writing secretary. His handwriting, emphasized by the addition of “Paul’s” to “my hand,” had the purpose of guaranteeing the letter’s authenticity. Because of the threat of false teachings and their actual presence in Colossae at this time, such a guarantee was needed. And because of the association of memory (Greek: mnēmoneuete) with the mention (Greek: mneian) of people in prayer (Romans 1:9–10; Ephesians 1:16; Philippians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:2; Philemon 4), the command, “Be remembering my bonds,” implies remembering to pray for Paul in view of his imprisonment. The grace that he wishes to be with the Colossians is the ill-deserved favor of God by which we’re saved.

Philemon

In this letter Paul asks Philemon, a slaveowner, to receive kindly, perhaps even to release, his recently converted slave named Onesimus, who is now returning. The letter divides into an introductory greeting (verses 1–3); a thanksgiving for Philemon, the letter’s main addressee (verses 4–7); a plea for Onesimus, Philemon’s slave (verses 8–22); and concluding greetings, plus a benediction (verses 23–25).

1–3: Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, the brother, to Philemon, our beloved [brother] and fellow worker, 2and to Apphia, the sister, and to Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the church in your [singular for Philemon’s] house: 3Grace and peace to you [plural for all the addressees] from God, our Father, and the Lord, Jesus Christ. Paul fills his greeting with numerous features designed to make Philemon amenable to granting some upcoming requests: (1) Paul designates himself “a prisoner of Christ Jesus” in the sense that his proclamation of Christ Jesus has led to imprisonment (see Acts 21–28 for the full story). This self-designation calls attention to the high price Paul has paid for the proclamation, so that when he presents his requests, Philemon should consider the granting of them a comparatively small price to pay. (2) To his own name Paul adds that of Timothy and designates him “the brother,” that is, a fellow member of Paul’s, Philemon’s, and the other addressees’ family of faith. This addition and designation add weight to the upcoming requests in that what Paul says, Timothy says too. For further information about Timothy, see the comments on 1 Timothy 1:1–2. (3) Paul designates Philemon as “our beloved [brother].” “Our” establishes a brotherly bond between Paul, Timothy, and Philemon; and “beloved” adds affection to the bond. Such a bond should make it easy for Philemon to grant the coming requests. (4) Paul also designates Philemon as his and Timothy’s “fellow worker,” which has to do with working for the cause of the gospel just as Paul and Timothy do. Hosting a church in his house examples such work on the part of Philemon. So he should consider the granting of Paul’s requests an extension of this work. (Grammatically, “the church in your house” could refer to the church in Archippus’s house. But pointing to Philemon’s house are Paul’s directing the following requests to Philemon and Philemon’s owning a slave, which seems to indicate that he’s a man of some means and therefore a man whose house would be large enough for church meetings.) (5) Paul names Apphia as an addressee alongside Philemon and designates her “the sister” for another reference to the family of faith, in which family Paul’s requests for the sake of the gospel are to be honored. Apphia might well be Philemon’s wife, included here because a church meets in her and his house (though the “your” that modifies “house” is singular, referring to Philemon as the owner). Whether the wife of Philemon or an otherwise prominent Christian woman, Apphia is addressed by name and called a sister to garner her influence on him for the granting of Paul’s requests. (6) To the same end Paul also names Archippus as an addressee and designates him as Paul’s and Timothy’s “fellow soldier.” See the comment on Colossians 4:17 for the likelihood that Archippus took leadership of the Colossian church once Epaphras, its founder, left town. “Fellow soldier” then describes Archippus militarily as fighting for the gospel, perhaps against the false teachings in Colossae that Paul himself attacks in his letter to the Colossians—hence, “our fellow soldier,” that letter having started, “Paul . . . and Timothy . . . to the saints in Colossae.” In any case, since Colossians locates Archippus in Colossae, a city in central Asia Minor, his appearance here in Philemon 1–3 locates the man Philemon also in Colossae and favors that this letter and Colossians were sent together. (7) Paul addresses the church that meets in Philemon’s house to put Christian communal pressure on Philemon to accede to Paul’s upcoming requests. For the whole church, along with Apphia and Archippus, will join Philemon in hearing the letter read in their assembly. Concerning the rest of the greeting, see the comments on Romans 1:7; 1 Peter 1:2; 2 John 3. (Note: the church isn’t a building; it’s the Christians meeting in Philemon’s house.)

4–5: I’m always thanking my God when mentioning you [singular for Philemon] on [the occasion of] my prayers, 5because of hearing about your love for all the saints and [about] the faith that you have toward the Lord, Jesus. It’s a compliment to Philemon that he loves the saints who make up the church that meets in his house, and especially that he loves all of them. That he hosts their meetings expresses his love concretely. (As usual, “the saints” designates Christians as consecrated to God in distinction from other human beings, whom he hasn’t consecrated to himself.) It’s also a compliment to Philemon that he has directed his faith “toward the Lord,” who is “Jesus,” rather than toward the “thrones,” “lordships,” “rulerships,” and “authorities” to whom false teachers in Colossae were trying to divert the faith of Christians there (Colossians 1:16, 23; 2:4–10, 15–23). And it enhances these compliments that Paul thanks God because of hearing about Philemon’s love and faith. This thanksgiving accompanies Paul’s prayers for him “always” and thus heightens the enhancement of the compliments. The prayers also show Paul’s concern for Philemon. “My God” indicates that even in Paul’s most intimate moments with God, thanksgiving and concern for Philemon always play a part. As do various elements in the greeting, these compliments have the purpose of making Philemon amenable to granting the upcoming requests.

6–7: [I pray] that your faith’s participation may become effective in the knowledge of every [kind of] good [deed which is] among you [plural for all those mentioned in verses 1–2] with a view to Christ. 7For by reason of your [singular for Philemon’s] love [for all the saints, as previously indicated], I’ve had much joy and encouragement, because the vitals of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother. “Your faith’s participation” alludes to what Paul prays will be the participation of Philemon’s faith in the granting of Paul’s upcoming requests, for “faith takes effect through love” (Galatians 5:6). “May become effective” alludes to the granting itself. “In the knowledge of every [kind of] good [deed]” puts the granting in the category of good deeds, “knowledge” carrying the connotation of putting something into practice. “[Which is] among you” describes “every [kind of] good [deed]” as already characteristic of the addressees, so that the good deed of Philemon’s granting Paul’s requests should follow as a matter of course. “With a view to Christ” describes “every [kind of] good [deed]” that characterizes the addressees as directed toward the advancement of Christ in church life. As the basis of this prayer, Paul cites the joy and encouragement he has already gotten from reports of Philemon’s love and faith, which he now describes as the refreshment of the saints’ (his fellow Christians’) “vitals,” that is, their inner organs, standing for the emotions necessary to perseverance in Christian faith and life. Like the earlier compliments, this one too has the purpose of making Philemon amenable to granting Paul’s upcoming requests. Enhancing the compliment are the twofoldness of “joy and encouragement,” the addition to them of “much,” and the addressing of Philemon with “brother.” If Philemon has brought much joy and encouragement to Paul thus far, surely he might do so again, Paul implies.

8–12: Therefore [because of the joy and encouragement your actions have brought me], though having much boldness in Christ to command you in regard to what’s proper, 9because of love I’m exhorting you instead. Being such a one as this—[that is,] as Paul, an old [man] but now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus—10I’m exhorting you concerning my child, whom I’ve fathered in [my] bonds, [namely] Onesimus, 11who once [was] useless to you but now [is] useful to you and to me, 12whom I’ve sent back to you—himself, that is, my vitals . . . . Paul has “much boldness in Christ to command” Philemon because Christ made Paul an apostle, someone with the authority to speak and act on Christ’s behalf (see 1 Corinthians 15:8–10, for example). “In regard to what’s proper” alludes forward to what Paul will advise Philemon is proper for him to do in relation to Onesimus, a slave of Philemon. Because of Paul’s love for Philemon (see also verse 1), Paul forgoes a bold command in favor of an exhortation. But his exhortations often include commands (see, for example, Romans 12:1–2; 1 Corinthians 4:16; 16:15), and he will shortly speak of Philemon’s “obedience” (verse 21). So the present contrast between a command and an exhortation has to do with the boldness with which Paul could issue a command and the love with which he’s going to issue an exhortation that needs to be obeyed. In agreement with the loving exhortation Paul appeals not to his apostolic authority, but to his old age and (for the second time) to his being “a prisoner of Christ Jesus” (for which see the comments on verse 1). Paul underscores these appeals by introducing them with the self-reference, “such a one as this,” by repeating his name (compare verse 1), and by calling attention to his being a prisoner of Christ Jesus as an addition to his old age (“but now also”) and as a hardship for an old man (“but now also”).

A second “I’m exhorting you” introduces Onesimus as the subject of Paul’s exhortation. Paul calls him “my child, whom I’ve fathered in [my] bonds,” which means that Paul converted Onesimus during Paul’s imprisonment. (Imprisonment should probably be understood as being chained to a Roman soldier in quarters rented by Paul [see Acts 28:16, 20, 30].) In view of verse 18 (“And if he [Onesimus] has wronged you [Philemon] somehow or owes [you money]”), Onesimus appears to have been detrimental to Philemon. But here Paul describes Onesimus only as “once useless” to Philemon to prepare Philemon for an exhortation to accept Onesimus back as more than his slave, that is, as a beloved brother just as Philemon is to Paul and Timothy (verse 1) and even as Philemon would accept Paul himself (verses 15–17). “Onesimus” means “useful.” Masters often gave this name to boys born as slaves into their households, and did so in the hope that the boys would prove useful as slaves. So Paul is engaging in wordplay by saying that now as a Christian slave, Onesimus will live up to the meaning of his name whereas before conversion he didn’t. Useful to Philemon, yes; but in preparation for Paul’s mentioning that he (Paul) was planning to keep Onesimus to serve him on Philemon’s behalf (verse 13) and hinting that Philemon free Onesimus to serve Paul (verse 21), Paul adds here, “[Onesimus] now [is] useful . . . to me.” As an old man in prison he needs the use of Onesimus, as Philemon should agree. Then to stress his consideration of Philemon’s ownership of Onesimus, Paul says he has sent Onesimus back to Philemon—but escalates Onesimus’ usefulness to Paul by comparing Onesimus to his own “vitals”—that is, to Paul’s inner organs, the seat of his affections (compare the comments on verse 7)—and accents the comparison with “himself,” referring to Onesimus.

13–14: whom I was planning to hold tightly to myself in order that on your behalf he might be serving me in [my] gospel-bonds. 14But apart from your determination I didn’t want to do anything, lest your good [deed] be as in accordance with compulsion—rather, [that your good deed might be] in accordance with willingness. Paul was planning to hold Onesimus tightly to himself. This planning makes more impressive the shift to Paul’s allowing Philemon to make his own determination concerning Onesimus. “In order that on your behalf he might be serving me” appeals to Philemon’s sense of opportunity to serve Paul’s personal needs through the agency of Onesimus. (Prisoners needed family or friends to bring them adequate food, drink, and other necessities.) “In [my] gospel-bonds” is supposed to revive Philemon’s sympathy for Paul, remind him that proclaiming the gospel landed Paul in prison, and foreclose any thought on Philemon’s part that Paul had been planning to keep Onesimus for selfish reasons. That is to say, Onesimus would have been serving Paul in a way that would contribute to Paul’s proclaiming the gospel even when chained up, as exemplified in the conversion of Onesimus himself. Then Paul submits his plan to Philemon’s “determination,” which submission suits a loving exhortation as opposed to a bold command (compare verses 8–9). “I didn’t want to do anything [by way of holding Onesimus ‘tightly to myself’]” portrays Paul’s wanting to defer to Philemon’s determination as stronger than Paul’s planning to hold tightly to Onesimus—and as stronger for Philemon’s benefit, because a good deed performed by Philemon under “compulsion” from Paul wouldn’t be so much of a credit to Philemon at the Last Judgment as a good deed done in accordance with Philemon’s own “willingness.” “As in accordance with compulsion” doesn’t mean “as if in accordance with compulsion.” It means “as a matter of fact in accordance with compulsion.” But for Philemon’s benefit Paul has steered clear of that matter of fact.

15–17: For maybe he [Onesimus] was parted [from you] for an hour because of this, that you might have him back eternally, 16no longer actually as a slave—rather, more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you both in the flesh and in the Lord. 17If therefore you hold me [to be] a partner, accept him as [you’d accept] me. “For” introduces a reason why Paul has deferred to Philemon’s determination. “Maybe” gives the reason some delicacy, a possibility for Philemon to think about. If Onesimus was a runaway slave, as he seems to have been (see verse 18), “he was parted [from you]” not only softens his running away but also interprets it as very possibly divinely providential (compare Genesis 50:20). “For an hour” softens the running away further by calling attention to the shortness of Onesimus’ absence (for which shortness “an hour” is a figure of speech, an hour being the shortest unit of time then in use). Those softenings should make Philemon sympathetic to Onesimus and to Paul’s following requests concerning him. “That you might have him back eternally” points forward to an eternal life to be shared with Onesimus, as opposed to “an hour” of Onesimus’ absence and as opposed to having him as a slave only for as long as mortal life lasts. “No longer actually as a slave” implies that in Christ, Onesimus isn’t Philemon’s slave any more, even now. Paul doesn’t follow up by saying Onesimus is now “more than as a slave”—rather, “more than a slave.” Paul has gone beyond a comparison and is dealing in an actuality.

“A beloved brother” defines the meaning of “more than a slave” and gives Onesimus a status in relation to Philemon which is on par with that of Philemon to Paul and Timothy (see verse 1)! “Especially to me” gives Onesimus a status also in relation to Paul which is on par with that of Philemon to Paul and Timothy. “Especially to me” alludes to Paul’s having converted Onesimus and raises to the nth degree Onesimus’ being incomparably more a beloved brother to Philemon (“how much more to you” than even “especially to me”). “[Beloved] in the Lord” is unsurprising, given Paul’s emphasis elsewhere on equality in Christ (see for example, Galatians 3:28). But “[beloved] in the flesh”? And more so to Philemon than to Paul? In Ephesians 6:5; Colossians 3:22 Paul describes the masters of slaves as “fleshly” or, literally, “in accordance with flesh.” That description concerns a hierarchical relation in human society at large, a relation in which masters wield authority over their slaves. Here Paul describes the relation between a master and his slave in the church. It’s nonhierarchical—rather, lovingly brotherly. “If therefore” means “If in view of Philemon’s and Onesimus’ loving relation as brothers.” Paul doesn’t say, “If therefore you hold yourself [to be] a partner [with me].” He says, “If therefore you hold me [to be] a partner [with you]” and thus accents Philemon’s attitude toward Paul rather than Paul’s already delineated attitude toward Philemon. This accent makes Philemon’s response to Paul’s requests a test of his partnership with Paul for the gospel. Thus “accept him [Onesimus] as [you’d accept] me” means “accept him as your partner in the gospel.”

18–20: And if he has wronged you somehow or owes [you money], be charging this to my account. 19I, Paul, have written [this] with my hand [= in my own handwriting]. I’ll repay [you]—lest I tell you that you owe me even yourself in addition [to Onesimus’ debt to you that I’ve just now assumed]. 20Yes, brother, let me get a benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my vitals in Christ. “Has wronged you” is vague. “Or owes [you money]” is specific and narrows down the wrongdoing to a theft—but only by implication; for to lighten Onesimus’ load of guilt and make Philemon agreeable, Paul studiously avoids using the vocabulary of theft. “And if . . .” leaves it up to Philemon to judge whether Onesimus has wronged him or owes him money. “Somehow” highlights this contingency to impress on Philemon that the judgment is up to him, so that Paul’s telling him to charge Paul’s account stands out as an example of magnanimity that Philemon might well imitate. To accent his willingness to repay Philemon for any wrongdoing or unpaid debt on Onesimus’ part, Paul identifies himself by name for the third time (see also verses 1, 9), promises to repay Philemon, and writes at least the self-identification and promise (if not the whole letter) with his own hand rather than dictating it to a secretary. (“I have written” is written from the later standpoint of those, like Philemon, hearing the self-identification and promise read to them.) Then Paul mentions—as if it were an afterthought, though it isn’t—that Philemon owes him even Philemon’s own self. In other words, Philemon owes his salvation to Paul’s evangelism. (We don’t know any other details of Philemon’s conversion.)

“In addition” invites a comparison of Onesimus’ possible monetary debt to Philemon with Philemon’s certain salvific debt to Paul (see also Romans 15:27). The comparison makes Philemon’s debt to Paul far bigger than Onesimus’ to Philemon. The unexpectedness, indeed offhandedness, of this comparison (“lest I tell you” means “not to mention,” though the mention is nevertheless made)—this offhandedness and “even yourself” spotlight the disparity between the debts, a disparity that works to Paul’s advantage in saying, “Yes, brother, let me get a benefit from you in the Lord.” “Yes” affirms this disparity. The address, “brother,” appeals to Philemon’s familial relation to Paul “in the Lord.” “A benefit from you” would consist not just in Philemon’s accepting Onesimus as he would accept Paul (verse 17), but also in carrying out Paul’s plan to have Onesimus serving him on Philemon’s behalf (verse 13), and “even more” (verse 21). The verb for getting a benefit (onaimēn) and Onesimus’ name (Onēsimon) look and sound similar to each other. The resultant wordplay highlights how beneficial to Paul would be his having a useful Onesimus. Paul then escalates getting a benefit in the Lord to refreshment of his vitals “in Christ.” There’s a parallel with “in the Lord,” but the switch from getting a benefit to the refreshing of Paul’s vitals—that is, his internal organs—comes close to comparing the benefit to the saving of his emotional life. In verse 7 he addressed Philemon with “brother,” as here, and complimented him on having refreshed the vitals of the saints. Now Paul wants him to refresh his (Paul’s) vitals too. After all, Paul is a saint no less than are the saints who make up the church that meets in Philemon’s house. In verse 12 Paul called Onesimus “my vitals.” So the refreshing of Paul’s vitals would have to do with Onesimus as Paul’s vitals. “Let me get” expresses a wish, not even a loving exhortation, much less a bold command. Such delicacy should be hard for Philemon to resist. But the delicate wish modulates into an outright command, “Refresh my vitals in Christ,” which prepares for a reference to Philemon’s “obedience.” The command should jerk Philemon out of whatever complacency Paul’s delicacy may have lulled him into.

21–22: Persuaded of your [singular for Philemon’s] obedience, I’ve written to you knowing that you’ll do even more than the things I’m telling [you to do]. 22But at the same time [as you do even more than I’m telling you to do], also be preparing a guest room for me. For I’m hoping that through your [plural] prayers I’ll be graciously given to you [plural]. “Your obedience” relates back to the command, “Refresh my vitals in Christ” (verse 20). Paul’s persuasion of Philemon’s obedience adds yet another compliment to him, and “knowing that you’ll do even more than the things I’m telling [you to do]” heightens the compliment. Like the earlier compliments, this one has the purpose of motivating Philemon to justify the compliment in his response. Again, “I’ve written” is written from the later standpoint of those, like Philemon, hearing the letter read to them (compare verse 19). Paul has told Philemon to accept Onesimus as a beloved Christian brother and to refresh Paul’s vitals by letting Paul get a benefit from Philemon, that is, the benefit of keeping Onesimus for himself (verse 20). But Onesimus is Philemon’s slave. So “more than the things I’m telling [you to do]” alludes to Philemon’s liberating, not just loaning, Onesimus to serve Paul in the cause of the gospel. “Even more” strengthens the allusion; and “knowing that you’ll do even more” puts pressure on Philemon beyond that of Paul’s being “persuaded” of his obedience, especially since Apphia, Archippus, and the whole church that meets in Philemon’s house will be listening to the letter along with him. If he’s to be preparing a guest room for Paul, Paul must expect to be released from prison soon (compare Philippians 1:7, 12–26; 2:24). So the followup of this letter with a visit by Paul to Philemon’s house and a stay there puts extra pressure on Philemon to do even more than Paul is telling him to do in relation to Onesimus. “For I’m hoping . . .” explains why Philemon should prepare a guest room for Paul to stay in. As usual in Paul’s letters, hoping connotes confidence, not uncertainty. He rests his confidence on the prayers of Philemon and the other addressees. “Through your prayers” assumes they’re praying for Paul’s release and a visit from him. “That . . . I’ll be graciously given to you” interprets the expected release and visit as God’s answering their prayers in accordance with his unmerited favor.

23–24: Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you [singular]. 24Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke—my fellow workers—[greet you]. To greet in a letter is to send greetings through it. The singular of “you” pinpoints Philemon as the object of greetings from Epaphras and the others (contrast the plural of “you” in the greeting from Epaphras at Colossians 4:12–13). The pinpointing of Philemon despite an addressing of the letter to others as well (verse 2) ratchets up yet again the pressure on him to do what Paul wishes, exhorts, commands, expects, and even knows he’ll do. Epaphras’s having founded the church in Colossae (Colossians 1:7)—that is, the church which meets in Philemon’s house—can’t help but weigh on Philemon’s mind as he contemplates what Paul has said. We don’t know how Epaphras came to be Paul’s “fellow prisoner,” but this description explains why Epaphras isn’t returning to Colossae and also adds weight to his greeting. Surely Philemon wouldn’t want to disappoint Epaphras, who founded the church that meets in Philemon’s house, any more than he’d want to disappoint Paul, to whose evangelism he owes his salvation. Though the physical location of Paul and Epaphras in a (house-)prison is due to the evangelistic outworking of their Spiritual location in Christ Jesus, the Spiritual location is more worth mentioning than is the physical location. The shift of “my fellow prisoner” from Aristarchus (Colossians 4:10) to Epaphras may indicate that these two took turns joining Paul in prison voluntarily so as to help him and defend him from abuse. The shift probably occurred between the writing of Colossians and Philemon (though not necessarily in that order). For Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, and the designation “my fellow workers,” see the comments on Colossians 4:10–14. Adding greetings from these further fellow workers with Paul heightens for the last time the pressure on Philemon to respond favorably, obediently, lavishly. Jesus Justus, mentioned in Colossians 4:11, has apparently left Paul or joined him between the writing of Colossians and Philemon.

25: The grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ, [be] with your [plural] spirit. Notably, Paul attributes grace to Jesus Christ and designates him as “the Lord” to put him on the level of deity with God his Father. “Your spirit” distinguishes Philemon and company’s spirit from the Holy Spirit, and the plural of “your” makes the singular of “spirit” collective. Usually Paul wishes grace to be “with you (all).” Here, though, he singles out “your spirit” because Philemon and company’s praying for his release and a visit to them indicates a concern for him deep within them.

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Colossians

INTRODUCTION Colossians 1:1–12

THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST IN CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE Colossians 1:13–2:23

CHRIST’S CREATIVE AND REDEMPTIVE WORK Colossians 1:13–23

PAUL’S PROCLAMATION OF CHRIST Colossians 1:24–2:5

CHRIST’S SUFFICIENCY OVER AGAINST FALSE TEACHINGS IN COLOSSAE Colossians 2:6–23

THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST IN CHRISTIAN CONDUCT Colossians 3:1–4:6

THE MENTAL APPLICATION OF UNION WITH CHRIST IN HIS DEATH, RESURRECTION, AND EXALTATION Colossians 3:1–4

THE APPLICATION OF DEATH WITH CHRIST TO SINFUL ACTIONS Colossians 3:5–11

THE APPLICATION OF HAVING BEEN RAISED WITH CHRIST TO RIGHTEOUS ACTIONS Colossians 3:12–4:6

CONCLUSION Colossians 4:7–18

Philemon

Back Cover