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Summary of Colossians 1:1-23 Paul, an Apostle of Christ through the will of God, and Timothy his brother, send greetings to the holy ones at Colossae, and wish them grace and peace from God the Father. Paul and Timothy give thanks to God and the Father of Jesus always in their prayers, for they have heard of the love the Colossians have for all the holy ones, because of their hope of heaven, the hope they learned by the truth of the Gospel that came to them, a Gospel which is bearing fruit and growing in all the world, as it also is at Colossae, since the day the Colossians heard of it, which they learned from Epaphras Paul's beloved fellow slave, who is a faithful minister of Christ for them, who has told Paul of their love. As a result, since hearing of this, Paul and Timothy do not cease praying for the Colossians, asking that they may be filled with the knowledge of God's will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that they may live in a way worthy of the Lord, so as to please Him completely and bear fruit in every good work, and grow in the knowledge of God, since they have been strengthened with all power according to the power of His glory so as to have all patience and long-suffering, with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who made them fit to share the lot of the holy ones in light. He delivered us from the power of darkness and established us in the kingdom of His Son, His beloved, in whom we have redemption and remission of sins. Christ is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation. In Him all things were created _ things in the heavens, upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, including thrones, dominations, principalities and powers _ all were created through Him and for Him. For Christ is before all, and all things continue in being through Him. He is the Head of the Church, which is His body. He is the beginning, the firstborn of the dead. As a result He holds first place among all, for the Father is pleased that all fullness should dwell permanently in Him, and to reconcile everything through Him to Himself. For He made peace through the blood of His cross, so as to reconcile through Him the things upon the earth, and the things in the heavens. They were once foreign to Him, enemies because of their evil deeds. But now Christ has reconciled them by the body of His flesh, through His death, so as to present them as Holy ones, blameless and without reproach before Him _ provided they remain grounded in the faith, and firm, and are not moved from the hope of the Gospel they heard, which was preached to every creature under the sky, of which Paul is a minister. Comments on 1:1-23 Paul himself was not the first to bring the faith to Colossae, it was brought by Epaphras. Paul rejoices to hear of their faith, and has been praying earnestly for them. He wants them to be filled with all wisdom and knowledge and spiritual understanding. This would fit with the theory that Paul is working against Gnostics, but the Jewish speculators and syncretists could speak also of wisdom and knowledge. Verses 15-20 definitely seem to be some sort of hymn. Did Paul compose it himself? or was it taken from a liturgy? or did Paul even adapt a pre-Christian gnostic hymn? If Paul took over an existing hymn did he modify it? We cannot be sure of any of these things, even though some commentators think they can even identify the changes Paul made in an existing hymn, by noting some words which he otherwise does or does not favor. But this is too flimsy and subjective. What is clear is that Paul is striving greatly to proclaim the complete sufficiency and exaltation of Christ since the opponents seem to have wanted some sort of honor to be given _ not sure if it was worship in the strict sense _ to other beings. In contrast, Paul says Christ is the image of the Father. Adam was made in the image and likeness of God. Christ is the New Adam. As the Logos, the Divine Word, He is the most perfect and complete image of the Father. Christ is also first born of all creation. The first born in the Hebrew family had a special dignity and special rights. The title also belonged to Israel (Exodus 4:22) and to the King. So it means that Christ as the Divine Word has a priority of existence, transcendence of nature, and especially of power and absolute inheritance over all creatures. All things were ``created in Him.'' The sense of the in is much discussed. Some have suggested He contains the mental images of things to come, which logically should be there before God can say: Let it be. (This would be exemplary cause, probably under Platonic influence). But it is not so likely. What is entirely clear is that Christ is the center, in some way, of all creation. And further, all things were created ``through Him.'' As God, He was the Creator, as the God-man, He could be spoken of as the One through Whom the Father works. Further, all things were created for Him, as the center of unity and reconciliation, the peak of creation. Paul mentions then thrones, dominations, principalities, powers _ elsewhere he adds still other titles. From this some have tried to gather nine choirs of angels. However, Paul does not systematize this thought, and after a bit, in 2:15 it will be clear that the principalities are evil spirits. Paul may be striking at the errors about aeons, whom the opponents said we should honor along with Christ. Paul insists Christ is the center, the one through whom all were made, for whom all were made. So He is all sufficient. We need not pay any attention to these spirit powers. In honoring Christ, we have done all that is needed. Christ is before all things. That could refer to time, or to rank. He is first in relation to all. All things have their continuation of existence in Him. He is the head of His body, which is the Church. This is the Mystical Body doctrine, more developed than it was in 1 Cor and Romans, as we noted in the introduction to this Epistle. Christ is the beginning, the first to be born from the dead. Before, He was called the first born of all creation, of the living. So he has first place in every respect over all. The Father wills that all fullness should dwell in Him permanently, not just for a time. So Christ is the fullness of God, and we need not attend to any spirit powers. The mention of fullness also brings to mind the gnostic term pleroma, the whole assembly of aeons. So Christ is greater than all aeons together, and we need not pay any attention to them. Further, the Father has willed that all things be reconciled to Himself though Christ, who made peace through the blood of His cross. This applies to all, whether on the earth or in the heavens. When they were pagans, the Colossians were not part of Christ, were enemies in that they sinned. But Christ has brought about reconciliation to the Father by His death, so He wills to present them as holy ones, blameless, and without reproach before Him. But then Paul adds a qualification ``if indeed'' they remain with the faith, and do not go into the errors of the opponents. Summary of Colossians 1:24-29 Paul says he rejoices in his sufferings for them, and he is filling up the things that are lacking of the tribulations [thlipseon] of Christ, for His body, which is the Church. He became a minister of that Church by the arrangement of God, given to him, for them, to make the word of God fully known. There is a mystery that was once hidden from past times and generations. Now it is made known to His holy ones to whom God willed to make it known. The mystery concerns the riches of the glory of this mystery among the gentiles, the mystery of Christ among them, that is, the hope of glory that the gentiles now have. Paul announces Christ, admonishing every man, teaching every man in all wisdom so he can present every man perfect in Christ. Paul works hard for this, struggling in the divine power that is at work in him. Comments on 1:24-29 The very first verse of this section, verse 24, is of major importance. Commentators are very divided over it. The inclination today is to say that it merely means Paul has to suffer much in the course of going about to preach in many places. Of course he did have to suffer. But is that all? When Paul speaks of something lacking in the tribulations of Christ [thlipsis] he cannot mean that Jesus the individual did not suffer enough. Further, the word thlipsis is never used by Paul for the sufferings of Christ, always of the sufferings of Christians. So it is clear, Paul is speaking of his own sufferings. Jesus Himself infinitely did this work of atonement. His members, to be like Him, must join in. St. Paul makes this abundantly clear with his syn Christo theme that we are saved and made holy if and to the extent that we are members of Christ, and like Him.13 That likeness of course must include likeness in atonement. If one member fails to do his share, then, thanks to the solidarity of the Mystical Body, another member can make up for that one. Paul feels that is part of his work for the members of Christ, for the Church, especially because of his preeminent position as an Apostle. If only we put this verse 24 into the background of the thought world of the time, it is clear that it has a very rich content, one very important for general theology and for spirituality. First of all, the concept that one could make up for another _ vicarious atonement _ was surely around in Judaism. It was strong in Isaiah 53, where the Suffering Servant justifies many. It appears in Second Maccabees 7:37 where the sufferer hands over his life, calling on God to quickly be merciful to his people. In Fourth Maccabees Eleazar says (6:28-29): ``Make my blood their purification and take my life as a ransom for theirs.''14 In the Manual of Discipline for Qumran 5:6, the rule is that they must make atonement for all who voluntarily give themselves to holiness. In 8:3 there are to be twelve men and three priests ``to expiate iniquity by doing what is right.'' The same thought seems reflected in Mark 10:45 (same as Matthew 20:28): ``The Son of Man has come to give His life as a ransom for many.'' The same thought also appears in the many places where St. Paul speaks of Christ as buying us back, or of the ``price'' of redemption (in 1 Corinthians 6:20 and 7:23). Commentators commonly declare themselves at a loss to explain the price concept. The price should be paid to the captor, who would be Satan. But that idea is repugnant. And the Father was not the captor. Yet there must be truth in all these lines. If we put all this into the context of the widespread Scriptural concept that sin is a debt, we can solve the problem. The Our Father has us say: ``Forgive us our debts.'' Intertestamental literature of the Jews often uses Hebrew or Aramaic hobah, meaning debt, to stand for sin. The concept is abundant in Rabbinic literature. Especially important is Tosefta Kiddushin 1.14, where Rabbi Simeon ben Eleazar says:15 ``He [anyone] has committed a transgression. Woe to him! He has tipped the scale to the side of debt for himself and for the world.'' Finally, Pope Paul VI, in Indulgentiarum doctrina, of January 9, 1967, sanctioned the whole concept that the objective moral order is put out of balance by sin, and must be rebalanced. Mere humans begin to do this by accepting suffering or by giving up a pleasure they could have lawfully had. They only begin, for the imbalance for even one mortal sin is infinite. The infinite work is done by Christ. Yet, as we said, to receive what He earned for us, we must be not only members of Christ but must be like Him, especially in this work of rebalancing. So this is what Paul does: he makes up for those who do not do their part in atonement, which is rebalancing the objective order. He says God made him a minister of the Church, to make the word of God fully known. He says there was a mystery hidden in the past, now made known. Paul is not very clear about what it is here. He becomes clearer in Ephesians 3:6. It is the fact that the gentiles are now called to be members of the People of God. This was foretold in the Old Testament, but not clearly. The Jews thought it meant the gentiles would embrace Judaism. In a sense this is true, as we see from the comparison of the two olive trees in Romans 11:17-21. The tame olive tree is the original People of God, the wild olive tree stands for the gentiles. Many branches fell off the tame tree, by rejecting Christ. In their place gentiles were engrafted. So the New Covenant is new in a way, in its fulfillment in Christ and His redemption. But in a way it is a continuation of the Old Covenant, for Christ fulfilled all the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament. Thus Christians are made one in the same tame olive tree with the Jews who accepted Christ. Paul does not mean that no gentiles could be saved before the coming of Christ. He made clear in Romans 2:14-16 that they could. He also did the same in Romans 3:29. But then they were saved in a way that offered them less security, and in general, the gentiles did not know of the glory God has planned for them and for all who accept Christ. When Paul says in verse 26 that the mystery was hidden from the ages, he uses the Greek aion, which can mean time periods, but can also mean aeons, the heavenly powers of which the Gnostics spoke. |