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PROLOGUE

“He protected the camp with his sword” (1 Macc. 3:3)

1. – This passage is appropriate to the subject matter of this letter to the Colossians, because this present life is a battle waged by soldiers who live in a camp: “The life of man on earth is a war” (Job 7:1). And so the place where the faithful live is called a camp. And the Church is like a camp: “This is the camp of God” (Gen 32:2). This camp is attacked in three ways. First, by those aggressors who openly rise against the Church: “They marched up over the broad earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city” (Rev. 20:9). Secondly, this camp is deceitfully undermined by heretics: “By fair and flattering words they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded” (Rom 16:18); “Evil men and imposters; will go from bad to worse, deceivers and deceived” (2 Tim 3:13). Thirdly, it is attacked by some of its own members who have become depraved from sins that spring from the corruption of the flesh: “The desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh” as we read in Galatians (5:17); “For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness” (Eph 6:12). In this war the prelates of the Church are our leaders: according to the Psalm “The princes of Judah are their leaders” (Ps 68:27). It is their duty to protect the camp of the Church against all these attacks. First, against sins, by encouraging the people: “Declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins” (Is 58:1). Secondly, against heretics, by their sound teaching: “He must hold firm to the sure word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to confute those who contradict it” (Tit 1:9). Thirdly, they should protect the Church against those who persecute it by giving an example of patient suffering. This is the way Paul protected the Church with his spiritual sword, because in his letters he combated sin, refuted heresies, and encouraged patience. As to the first: “But immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is fitting among saints” (Eph 5:3). As to the second: “As for a man that is factious, after admonishing him once or twice, have nothing more to do with him” (Tit 3:10). As to the third, the entire eleventh chapter of his second letter to the Corinthians shows how he encouraged them to be patient.

2. – The passage quoted at the beginning mentions two of these matters: the condition of the Church, when it says, camp, and the zeal of the Apostle, when it says, protected. Now a camp has to be alert in order to avoid evil: “Your camp must be holy” (Dt. 23:14); and it should have a good relationship with its leader and in itself: “This is the camp of God” (Gen. 32:21). It should also be a threat to the enemy: “Terrible as an army with banners” (Sg. 6:10). Now the Apostle was alert in protecting them, like a shepherd, whose duty is to carefully lead his sheep so they are not lost. “He goes before them, and the sheep follow him” (Jn. 10:4). The Apostle did act this way: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 4:16). A shepherd should also feed his flock generously, so they do not become ill: “Tend the flock of God that is your charge” (1 Pet. 5:2). And the Apostle did this also: “I fed you with milk” (1 Cor. 3:2). A shepherd should also bravely defend his flock, so they will not be destroyed: “Do not seek to become a judge, lest you be unable to remove iniquity” (Sir. 7:6); “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and when there came a lion or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and delivered it out of his mouth” (1 Sam. 17:34). And so our beginning text says that the Apostle protected the camp, that is, God’s Church, with a sword, which is the word of God: “The word of God is living and active, sharper then any two-edged sword” (Heb. 4:12). Here, then, is the subject matter of this letter. In his letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle described the nature of the Church’s unity; and in the letter to the Philippians, he showed its growth and preservation. But in this letter he is dealing with its protection from those heretics who were corrupting and misleading the Colossians.