Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Colossians 1:20
And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, [I say,] whether [they be] things in earth, or things in heaven.
20. having made peace ] Between Himself, the Holy Judge and King, and His subjects. He is thus now “the God of Peace” (Rom 15:33; 1Th 5:23; Heb 13:20); and “we, justified by faith, have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1).
The Subject of the statement is, as before, the Father. While the Crucified Son is the immediate Agent, the Father “who spared not His own Son” (Rom 8:32), because He “loved the world” (Joh 3:16), is the remoter Agent, Eternal Source of all salvation.
through the blood of his cross ] The Cross of the Son. Here first the sacred Atoning Death is explicitly mentioned; its fact and its mode.
“ The blood: ” i.e. the Death, viewed as the Ransom-price. Some expositors find in “ the blood of Christ” (in the N.T. generally) a reference different from that of “ the death of Christ,” connecting it rather with life than with death; with surrender to God, and impartation to man, of the Lord’s vivifying life rather than with the immolation of His life as (because of His undertaking for us) forfeited to the Law. But certainly in this passage, at least, the thought not of vivification but of propitiation is prominent. See the notes just below. On the subject of “the Blood of Christ” generally the Editor may refer to his Outlines of Christian Doctrine, pp. 85, &c., and to The Blood of the New Covenant, by W. S. Smith, D.D., Bishop of Sydney.
by him ] Christ. Lit., through Him.
to reconcile ] The Greek verb here rendered “ reconcile ” occurs elsewhere (in exactly the same form) only in the next verse and Eph 2:16. Its form emphasizes the thought of conciliating back again, after breach of loyalty or amity. Ideally, the whole Church and each individual was (in Adam unfallen) originally at peace with God; then came revolt, and now re -conciliation. On such an ideal view (very different from that of personal conscious experience) see our note on Eph 2:12 (“ being aliens.”)
A simpler form of the same verb occurs e.g. Rom 5:10; 1Co 7:11 ; 2Co 5:18-20. The main notion of both verbs is the propitiation of an alienated superior, so that he accepts offending inferiors, who are thus and then “reconciled” to him. And the superior “reconciles them” so far as he acts on the provided propitiation. Here the Father “reconciles” by constituting His Son the all-sufficient and all-acceptable Lord of Peace. See further our note on Eph 2:16.
all things ] For similar language cp. Mat 17:11 (“ Elias restoreth all things;”) Act 3:21, (“ the times of the restoration of all things which God spake by His holy prophets; ” i.e. the bringing back of Paradise, and of the Theocracy, in their heavenly and eternal reality). The word “ all ” is at once glorified and limited by the words, in apposition, just below, “ whether the things on the earth or the things in the heavens: ” see note there. The human and angelic “worlds” are the objects of the “reconciliation” in view here; not “all things” apart from those limits, but “all things” within them. See the closely parallel passage, Eph 1:10.
unto himself ] Lit., “ unto Him.” But the reflexive English pronoun rightly represents the Greek non-reflexive, in the light of N.T. usage. See Lightfoot’s note.
Here the “reconciliation” of the “all things” is seen to be not (as some expositors, ancient and modern, take it) a reconciliation to one another, so that e.g. angels, alienated by man’s sin, shall again be perfectly harmonized with man. It is a reconciliation of the “all things” to God, in the way of propitiation.
by him, I say] An emphatic resumed reference to the Reconciling Son, standing alone and “preeminent” in His wonderful work.
whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven ] Lit., “ whether the things,” &c. He refers back to the “ all things ” just above; see note there. It is significant that “ the things under the earth ” are not mentioned in this great phrase. It is surely revealed (1Co 15:28) that all created existence, in the amplest sense, shall in some supreme way be “ subdued unto” the Son and unto the Father in Him; there shall be order before the Throne in all the depths as well as heights of being. See Php 2:11, and our note there. But this is another thing from “reconciliation” and “peace.” The universalism of this passage is no negation of the awful warnings of Scripture about the final and irremediable exclusion from “peace” of the impenitent creature.
What then do the words here actually import? We answer with Alford (see the whole of his careful note here): “No reconciliation [of angelic beings] must be thought of which should resemble ours in its process for Christ paid no propitiatory penalty [for angels] in the root of their nature, as including it in Himself. But, forasmuch as He is their Head as well as ours it cannot be but that the great event in which He was glorified through suffering should also bring them nearer to God That such increase [of blessedness] might be described as a reconciliation is manifest: we know from Job 15:15, that ‘the heavens are not clean in His sight,’ and ib. Col 4:18, ‘His angels He charged with folly.’ In fact every such nearer approach to Him may without violence to words be so described, in comparison with that previous greater distance which now seems like alienation; and in this case even more properly, as one of the consequences of that great propitiation whose first effect was to reconcile to God, in the literal sense, the things upon earth, polluted and hostile in consequence of man’s sin. So that our interpretation may be thus summed up: all creation subsists in Christ: all creation therefore is affected by His act of propitiation: sinful creation is, in the strictest sense, reconciled, from being at enmity: sinless creation, ever at a distance from His unapproachable purity, is lifted into nearer participation of Him, and is thus reconciled, though not in the strictest, yet in a very intelligible and allowable sense.” The implied need, even in the angelic world, of the Son’s Work of peace, would have a special point for the Colossians.
Observe, in leaving Col 1:20, the order of the words in the Greek: And through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, making peace through the blood of His cross through Him, whether the things, &c.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And having made peace – Margin, making. The Greek will bear either. The meaning is, that by his atonement he produces reconciliation between those who were alienated from each other; see the notes at Eph 2:14. It does not mean here that he had actually effected peace by his death, but that he had laid the foundation for it; he had done that which would secure it.
By the blood of his cross – By his blood shed on the cross. That blood, making atonement for sin, was the means of making reconciliation between God and man. On the meaning of the word blood, as used in this connection, see the notes at Rom 3:25.
By him to reconcile all things to himself – On the meaning of the word reconcile, see the Mat 5:24, note; Rom 5:10, note, and 2Co 5:18, note. When it is said that it pleased the Father by Christ to reconcile all things to himself, the declaration must be understood with some limitation.
(1) It relates only to those things which are in heaven and earth – for those only are specified. Nothing is said of the inhabitants of hell, whether fallen angels, or the spirits of wicked men who are there.
(2) It cannot mean that all things are actually reconciled – for that never has been true. Multitudes on earth have remained alienated from God, and have lived and died his enemies.
(3) It can mean then, only, that he had executed a plan that was adapted to this; that if fairly and properly applied, the blood of the cross was fitted to secure entire reconciliation between heaven and earth. There was no enemy which it was not fitted to reconcile to God; there was no guilt, now producing alienation, which it could not wash away.
Whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven – That is, to produce harmony between the things in heaven and in earth; so that all things shall be reconciled to him, or so that there shalt be harmony between heaven and earth. The meaning is not, that the things in heaven were alienated from God, but that there was alienation in the universe which affected heaven, and the object was to produce again universal concord and love. Substantially the same sentiment is found in Eph 1:10; see the notes at that verse. Much has been written on the meaning of this expression, and a great variety of opinions have been entertained of it. It is best, always, unless necessity require a different interpretation, to take words in their usual signification. If that rule be adopted here, things in heaven will refer to God and the angels, and perhaps may include the principles of the divine government, Things on earth, will embrace men, and the various things on earth which are now at variance with God and with heaven. Between these, it is designed to produce harmony by the blood of the cross, or by the atonement. As in heaven nothing is wrong; as it is not desirable that anything should he changed there, all the change that is to take place in order to produce reconciliation, is to be on the part of men and the things of this world. The only effect of the blood of the atonement on the things of heaven in effecting the reconciliation is, to render it consistent for God to be at peace with sinners. The effect on earth is, to dispose the sinner to a willingness to be reconciled; to lead him to lay aside his enmity; to change his heart, and to effect a change in the views and principles prevailing on earth which are now at variance with God and his government. When this shall be done there will be harmony between heaven and earth, and an alienated world will be brought into conformity with the laws and government of the Creator.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 20. And, having made peace through the blood of his cross] Peace between God and man; for man being in a sinful state, and there being no peace to the wicked, it required a reconciliation to be made to restore peace between heaven and earth; but peace could not be made without an atonement for sin, and the consequence shows that the blood of Christ shed on the cross was necessary to make this atonement.
To reconcile all things unto himself] The enmity was on the part of the creature; though God is angry with the wicked every day, yet he is never unwilling to be reconciled. But man, whose carnal mind is enmity to God, is naturally averse from this reconciliation; it requires, therefore, the blood of the cross to atone for the sin, and the influence of the Spirit to reconcile the transgressor to him against whom he has offended! 2Co 5:19, c.
Things in earth, or things in heaven.] Much has been said on this very obscure clause but, as it is my object not to write dissertations but notes, I shall not introduce the opinions of learned men, which have as much ingenuity as variety to recommend them. If the phrase be not a kind of collective phrase to signify all the world, or all mankind, as Dr. Hammond supposed the things in heaven may refer, according to some, to those persons who died under the Old Testament dispensation, and who could not have a title to glory but through the sacrificial death of Christ: and the apostle may have intended these merely to show that without this sacrifice no human beings could be saved, not only those who were then on the earth, and to whom in their successive generations the Gospel should be preached, but even those who had died before the incarnation; and, as those of them that were faithful were now in a state of blessedness, they could not have arrived there but through the blood of the cross, for the blood of calves and goats could not take away sin. After all, the apostle probably means the Jews and the Gentiles; the state of the former being always considered a sort of Divine or celestial state, while that of the latter was reputed to be merely earthly, without any mixture of spiritual or heavenly good. It is certain that a grand part of our Lord’s design, in his incarnation and death, was to reconcile the Jews and the Gentiles, and make them one fold under himself, the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls. That the enmity of the Jews was great against the Gentiles is well known, and that the Gentiles held them in supreme contempt is not less so. It was therefore an object worthy of the mercy of God to form a scheme that might reconcile these two grand divisions of mankind; and, as it was his purpose to reconcile and make them one, we learn from this circumstance, as well as from many others, that his design was to save the whole human race.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Some, from the Greek, would (not have that clause we read in a parenthesis to come next the copulative and, but) have it: And by himself he should reconcile unto himself (in or to himself) all things, (having made or obtained peace through the blood of his cross), I say, &c. But the reading of that sentence in the parenthesis after, or before the reconciliation of all things, as we do, because of the next following distribution, is not very material as to the sense of the thing, redemption, Col 1:14, or rather, the manner or means of reconciliation unto God by Christ, in whom the fulness of all Divine and human perfections was sealed for the bringing of heaven and earth together.
Having made peace through the blood of his cross: God the Father, for bringing enemies nigh unto himself in the kingdom of his dear Son, Col 1:13,19,21, was in him, 2Co 5:18,19, who having took on him the seed of Abraham, Heb 2:16, and because without shedding of blood there could be no remission, or being brought nigh, Eph 2:13; Heb 9:12,22,23, according to his Fathers ordination and agreement with him for the expiation of sin, became obedient unto death, that cursed death of the cross, Isa 53:5; Gal 3:13; Phi 2:8; and by that bloody sacrifice of himself, there once perfected, Heb 9:14; 10:10,14, obtained peace: that by a figure being put to express his most perfect merit, as being the finishing of his obedience and passion, Col 2:14; Rom 3:25; 5:10; Eph 2:16; Heb 9:12.
By him; which alone could satisfy his offended Fathers demands: angels could not shed blood which was necessary to make peace and reconcile enemies; and though some false apostles might seduce to the worshipping of them, their obedience could not be meritorious.
To reconcile all things unto himself; God designing an atonement to himself. i.e. God the Father, (and, by consequence, to the whole Trinity), did it by Christ, in whom all fulness dwelling there was a proper fitness upon his Fathers call, Isa 42:1,4,6, with Heb 9:1-28, for so perfect a work as to take away the enmity of those alienated from God, and to bring them into favour again. The great inquiry is about the extent of this reconciliation, because the apostle mentions all things (rather than all persons); and then, having emphatically repeated by him, viz. Christ as God-man, and none other, Act 4:12, he adds a distribution of all things, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. To answer which, all things may be understood, either:
1. Restrictively to the subject, the universal church of which Christ is the Head; so he doth not mean all things whatsoever, unlimitedly, but with respect to the subject matter, as, Col 1:21, all things which being alienated from God are reconciled to him; i.e. whatsoever things are reconciled are by him reconciled, all relating to the subject matter of reconciliation, (as all made to creation, Col 1:16), all the real subjects of his kingdom, whether gathered and gone to heaven before in hope of the Messiah to come, or now and hereafter shall be gathered, Act 15:11; Rom 3:25; Eph 3:15; Heb 11:39,40; 12:23; yet this doth not altogether satisfy some, by reason of the sublimity of the apostles word in the distribution; and ordinarily in Scripture, by things in heaven are meant the angels, whose natural seat it is, spirits of just men made perfect being advanced thither only by Gods gracious vouchsafement. Or:
2. Largely, as comprehending the good angels, especially if upon the foundation of reconciliation considered strictly, we take reconciliation here more generally, (as the apostle doth in his Epistle to the Ephesians, expatiating more upon this matter there than he doth here, writing more concisely and contractedly), for recapitulation, (or analogical reconciliation), bringing all under one head, the recomposing or reuniting of creatures terrestrial or celestial, upon the atonement for sinners by Christ; so that all his subjects, those that divide the state of his kingdom, are at an agreement amongst themselves and with each other; God did so by Christ conjoin miserable men with himself, that now also the holy angels are conjoined, they come under the same Head, Christ, Col 2:10; Eph 1:22, whom they worship as at his first, so second coming, Luk 2:13,14; Heb 1:6.
As men cleave to him by faith, so the angels by vision {1Ti 3:16} look upon him their Head; yet is he not their Redeemer, Col 1:14; Eph 1:3; not partaking of their nature, they are not his members as believers are (as God is the Head of Christ, yet is not he a member of God, 1Co 11:3); Christ beareth a more special relation to them, than he doth unto these principalities and powers, Eph 5:23,30,31; however, they, being under a hypothetical possibility of falling, should seem to have need of a preventive kind of reconciliation, upon that account, if their standing is otherwise secured to them, they abiding in their purity could not be friends to impure creatures, Gen 3:24; but upon the satisfaction of their Lord, their distaste and dissatisfaction is removed, they being reduced into a corporation, under Christ, with those whom he hath reconciled, Eph 1:10. As they, to the glory of the supreme Majesty, rejoiced when Christ came to seek these lost ones, so they are ministers to them that he hath made willing, Heb 1:14; they delight in the ministry of reconciliation, Eph 3:10; 1Pe 1:12, attend the service with their brethren, (in doing their office), Rev 19:10; 22:9, further the work, Act 8:26, rejoice when it takes effect, Luk 15:10, and carry those that are perfected to the place of their own residence, Luk 16:22, to their own innumerable assembly in the heavenly Jerusalem, Heb 12:22; waiting on Christ, (according to the typical representatives, Exo 25:19; 26:1; 1Ki 6:23,29), with those that are with him, and made like to him at his throne, Mat 22:30; Mar 12:25, where he sits as the Son of man, and the holy angels (as he saith) are continually ascending and descending upon him, Joh 1:51; he fills them, as the rest of his subjects,
all in all, Eph 1:21,23; they have grace by way of participation, having it from him their Head, who hath it of himself, Joh 5:26. So that upon the matter, this reconciliation of things in heaven, seems most to accord with Eph 1:9,10, and is not much unlike that in Eph 2:13,16; that which is separately said there by his blood, Col 1:13, and by the cross, Col 1:16, is here conjoined by
the blood of his cross. There is making peace in one simple word; here, (in the Greek), in a compounded one. There, that he might reconcile both unto God; here, that he might
reconcile all things unto himself, i.e. God. There he speaks only of men on earth being reconciled amongst themselves, because they had also been reconciled to God; if we take in angles also under those all, we have an allowance from that forecited Eph 1:10; yea, and in favour of the larger acceptation of reconciliation here, it may be considered that the whole creation which was put into disorder and subjected unto vanity, is in earnest expectation of the fruits of this gracious reconciliation, in being brought to a perfect harmony, to the glory of him who is all in all, Rom 8:19-23, with 1Co 15:58.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. The Greek order is,”And through Him (Christ) to reconcile again completely (see onEph 2:16) all things (Greek,‘the whole universe of things’) unto Himself (unto God the Father,2Co 5:19), having made peace(God the Father having made peace) through the blood of His(Christ’s) cross,” that is, shed by Christ on the cross:the price and pledge of our reconciliation with God. The Scripturephrase, “God reconciles man to Himself,” implies that Hetakes away by the blood of Jesus the barrier which God’s justiceinterposes against man’s being in union with God (compare Note,see on Ro 5:10; 2Co5:18). So the Septuagint, 1Sa29:4, “Wherewith should he reconcile himself unto hismaster,” that is, reconcile his master unto him byappeasing his wrath. So Mat 5:23;Mat 5:24.
by him“throughHim” (the instrumental agent in the new creation, as in theoriginal creation): emphatically repeated, to bring the person ofChrist, as the Head of both creations alike, into prominence.
things in earth . . . inheavenGood angels, in one sense, do not need reconciliation toGod; fallen angels are excluded from it (Jude6). But probably redemption has effects on the world of spiritsunknown to us. Of course, His reconciling us, and Hisreconciling them, must be by a different process, as He tooknot on Him the nature of angels, so as to offer a propitiationfor them. But the effect of redemption on them, as He is theirHead as well as ours, is that they are thereby broughtnearer God, and so gain an increase of blessedness [ALFORD],and larger views of the love and wisdom of God (Eph3:10). All creation subsists in Christ, all creation is thereforeaffected by His propitiation: sinful creation is strictly”reconciled” from its enmity; sinless creation,comparatively distant from His unapproachable purity (Job 4:18;Job 15:15; Job 25:5),is lifted into nearer participation of Him, and in this wider senseis reconciled. Doubtless, too, man’s fall, following on Satan’s fall,is a segment of a larger circle of evil, so that the remedy of theformer affects the standing of angels, from among whom Satan and hishost fell. Angels thereby having seen the magnitude of sin, and theinfinite cost of redemption, and the exclusion of the fallen angelsfrom it, and the inability of any creature to stand morally in hisown strength, are now put beyond the reach of falling. ThusBACON’S definition ofChrist’s Headship holds good: “The Head of redemption toman; the Head of preservation to angels.” Some conjecturethat Satan, when unfallen, ruled this earth and the pre-Adamic animalkingdom: hence his malice against man who succeeded to the lordshipof this earth and its animals, and hence, too, his assumption of theform of a serpent, the subtlest of the animal tribes. Lu19:38 states expressly “peace in heaven” as the resultof finished redemption, as “peace on earth” was the resultof its beginning at Jesus’ birth (Lu2:14). BENGEL explainsthe reconciliation to be that of not only God, but also angels,estranged from men because of man’s enmity against God. Eph1:10 accords with this: This is true, but only part of the truth:so ALFORD’S view also isbut part of the truth. An actual reconciliation or restorationof peace in heaven, as well as on earth, is expressed by Paul. Aslong as that blood of reconciliation was not actually shed, which isopposed (Zec 3:8; Zec 3:9)to the accusations of Satan, but was only in promise, Satan couldplead his right against men before God day and night (Job 1:6;Rev 12:10); hence he was inheaven till the ban on man was broken (compare Lu10:18). So here; the world of earth and heaven owe to Christalone the restoration of harmony after the conflict and thesubjugation of all things under one Head (compare Heb11:23). Sin introduced discord not only on earth, but also inheaven, by the fall of demons; it brought into the abodes of holyangels, though not positive, yet privative loss, a retardation oftheir highest and most perfect development, harmonious gradation, andperfect consummation. Angels were no more able than men by themselvesto overcome the peace disturbers, and cast out the devils; it is only”by,” or “through HIM,”and “the blood of HIScross,” that peace was restored even in heaven; it isonly after Christ has obtained the victory fully and legally, thatMichael (Re 12:7-10)and his angels can cast out of heaven Satan and his demons (compareCol 2:15). Thus the point ofPaul’s argument against angel-worship is, that angels themselves,like men, wholly depend on Christ, the sole and true object ofworship [AUBERLEN].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And by him to reconcile all things to himself,…. This depends upon the preceding verse, and is to be connected with that phrase in it, it pleased the Father, Col 1:19; and the sense is, that it was the good will and pleasure of God from all eternity, as to lay up all fulness in Christ for his chosen people, so to reconcile them to himself by him; and which is another reason why Christ is, and ought to be considered as the head of the church, whose reconciliation he has procured, and why he ought to have the chief place in all things, and among all persons. Reconciliation supposes a former state of amity and friendship, and in such an one man was originally with God; and a breach of that friendship, which was made and issued in real enmity in the heart of man; and also a restoration to friendship again: and it is to be understood not of a reconciliation of God to men, which the Scriptures nowhere speak of, but of men to God; and is a reconciliation of them, not to the love of God, which his elect always shared in, but to the justice of God, offended by the transgression of a righteous law; and is indeed properly a reconciliation, atonement, and satisfaction for their sins, and so of their persons, and whereby all the perfections of God are reconciled to and agree with each other in the salvation of such sinners: now this takes its first rise from God the Father; it is owing to his sovereign good will and pleasure; he took the first step towards it; he knew what a state of enmity and rebellion his people would fall into; his thoughts ran upon their peace and reconciliation from everlasting; he called a council of peace about it, and in it drew the model of it; he entered into a covenant of peace with his Son, and, in consequence of it, sent him in the fulness of time to effect it, laying on him the chastisement of their peace; it was his pleasure that this affair of reconciliation should be brought about, not by the means of angels, in whom he could put no such trust and confidence, and who, though they rejoice at peace being made on earth, could never have effected it; nor that it should be done by men, who have no knowledge of the way of it, no inclination to it, nor power to make it; but “by him”, his Son Jesus Christ, whom he appointed and called to this work, and sent to do it; and who is therefore, in prophecy, before this reconciliation was actually made, styled “Shiloh”, the Prince of peace, and the peace: and this, when made, was made “to himself”; meaning either to Christ, in whom all the elect were gathered together, as in one head, and were reconciled in one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, through him; or rather to God the Father, to whom they were enemies, yea, enmity itself, and to whom the satisfaction and atonement were made; it being his law that was broken, and his justice that was injured, and to whom they are always in Scripture said to be reconciled; though not to the exclusion of the Son and Spirit, the one God with the Father: moreover, the sense of this phrase may be, that the reconciliation of the elect made by Christ, in a way of full satisfaction to law and justice, is to the glory of God, the glory of all his perfections; as of his grace and mercy, wisdom, power, and faithfulness, so of his righteousness and holiness: the means by which Christ has enacted it are, his sacrifice, sufferings, and death, expressed in the following clause;
having made peace through the blood of his cross. This was what man could not do, what Christ was appointed and sent to do, and what he was every way qualified for as God and man; as man he had blood to shed, and could make reconciliation for sin in the nature which had sinned, and, as God, could draw nigh to his Father, and treat with him about terms of peace, and perform them; and so a fit daysman and Mediator between, God and man: this peace he has made by his “blood”, that is, by the shedding of it, by his death as a sacrifice, which he underwent on the cross; partly to denote the shame, and chiefly to signify the curse he endured in the room of his people: all which shows the malignant nature of sin, the strictness of justice, and that peace is made in a way of full satisfaction, is upon honourable terms, will be lasting, as it is joyful, being attended with a train of blessings:
by him, [I say], whether [they be] things in earth, or things in heaven: by which are intended not the whole universe and fabric of the world, all creatures and things, animate and inanimate, rational and irrational, which have been cursed for the sin of man, and have proved unfriendly to him, but, in consequence of redemption and reconciliation by Christ, will, as some think, in the time of the restitution of all things, be restored to their former state, and to their friendly use to mankind; nor elect men and elect angels, and their reconciliation together, for the apostle is not speaking of the reconciling of these things together, but of the reconciling of them to God, which though it is true of elect men, is not of elect angels, who never fell, and though they have confirming grace, yet not reconciling grace from Christ, which they never needed; nor Jews and Gentiles, for though it is true that God was in Christ reconciling the world of the Gentiles, as well as of the Jews to himself, and the chosen of God among both are actually reconciled to God by the death of Christ, yet the one are never called things in heaven, or the other things on earth, in distinction from, and opposition to each other; but rather all the elect of God are here meant, the family of God in heaven and in earth; all the saints that were then in heaven, when actual reconciliation was made by the blood of Christ, and who went thither upon the foot of peace, reconciliation, and redemption, to be made by his sacrifice and death; and all the chosen ones that were or should be on the face of the earth, until the end of time; all these were reconciled to God by Christ: and then the apostle proceeds particularly to mention the Colossians, as also being instances of this grace, good will, and pleasure of God by Christ.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Through him (‘ ). As the sufficient and chosen agent in the work of reconciliation (, first aorist active infinitive of , further addition to , was pleased). This double compound (, with ) occurs only here, verse Col 1:22; Eph 2:16, and nowhere else so far as known. Paul’s usual word for “reconcile” is (2Cor 5:18-20; Rom 5:10), though (Mt 5:24) is more common in Attic. The addition of here is clearly for the idea of complete reconciliation. See on 2Co 5:18-20 for discussion of , Paul’s great word. The use of (the all things, the universe) as if the universe were somehow out of harmony reminds us of the mystical passage in Ro 8:19-23 which see for discussion. Sin somehow has put the universe out of joint. Christ will set it right.
Unto himself ( ). Unto God, though is not reflexive unless written .
Having made peace (). Late and rare compound (Pr 10:10 and here only in N.T.) from , peacemaker (Mt 5:9; here only in N.T.). In Eph 2:15 we have (separate words)
making peace . Not the masculine gender, though agreeing with the idea of Christ involved even if be taken as the subject of , a participial anacoluthon (construction according to sense as in 2:19). If be taken as the subject of the participle refers to Christ, not to (God).
Through the blood of his cross ( ). This for the benefit of the Docetic Gnostics who denied the real humanity of Jesus and as clearly stating the causa medians (Ellicott) of the work of reconciliation to be the Cross of Christ, a doctrine needed today.
Or things in the heavens ( ). Much needless trouble has been made over this phrase as if things in heaven were not exactly right. It is rather a hypothetical statement like verse 16 not put in categorical form (Abbott), universitas rerum (Ellicott).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Having made peace [] . Only here in the New Testament. Having concluded peace; see on Joh 3:21. The participle is parallel with to reconcile, and marks peace – making and reconciliation as contemporaneous. The kindred eijrhnopoiov peacemaker, only in Mt 5:9. The phrase making peace, in which the two factors of this verb appear separately, occurs only Eph 2:15.
To reconcile [] . Only here, ver. 21, and Eph 2:16. The connection is : it was the good pleasure of the Father (ver. 19) to reconcile. The compounded preposition ajpo gives the force of back, hinting at restoration to a primal unity. So, in Eph 2:12 – 16, it occurs as in ver. 21, in connection with ajphllotriwmenoi alienated, as if they had not always been strangers. See on Eph 2:12. Others explain to reconcile wholly. For the verb katallassw to reconcile, see on Rom 5:10.
All things [ ] . Must be taken in the same sense as in vers. 16, 17, 18, the whole universe, material and spiritual. 191 The arrangement of clauses adopted by Rev. is simpler.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And having made peace through the blood of his cross (kai erenopoiesas dia tou haimatos tou staurou auton) “And making peace through the blood of the cross.” This He did when He offered Himself on the cross, one for all, Heb 7:27; 2Co 5:18.
2) “By him to reconcile all things unto himself” (di autou apokatallaksai ta panta eis auton) “Through him to reconcile all things to the Godhead,” himself. 1Co 15:23-28; Rom 11:15; 2Co 5:19.
3) “By him, I say” (di autou) “Through him, (I say)” or affirm reconciliation of all from enmity to peace with God was effected, Rom 5:10.
4) “Whether they be things in earth or things in heaven” (eite ta epi tes ges eite ta en tois ouranois) whether the things (to be reconciled) be on the earth or the things in the heavens” This indicates that things exist in the heavens that require reconciliation to God, as well as things on earth — Inclusive of the planet earth and her orbital luminaries, Rom 8:19-23.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
20. And by him to reconcile all things to himself. This, also, is a magnificent commendation of Christ, that we cannot be joined to God otherwise than through him. In the first place, let us consider that our happiness consists in our cleaving to God, and that, on the other hand, there is nothing more miserable than to be alienated from him. He declares, accordingly, that we are blessed through Christ alone, inasmuch as he is the bond of our connection with God, and, on the other hand, that, apart from him, we are most miserable, because we are shut out from God. (311) Let us, however, bear in mind, that what he ascribes to Christ belongs peculiarly to him, that no portion of this praise may be transferred to any other. (312) Hence we must consider the contrasts to these things to be understood — that if this is Christ’s prerogative, it does not belong to others. For of set purpose he disputes against those who imagined that the angels were pacificators, through whom access to God might be opened up.
Making peace through the blood of his cross. He speaks of the Father, — that he has been made propitious to his creatures by the blood of Christ. Now he calls it the blood of the cross, inasmuch as it was the pledge and price of the making up of our peace with God, because it was poured out upon the cross. For it was necessary that the Son of God should be an expiatory victim, and endure the punishment of sin, that we might be the righteousness of God in him. (2Co 5:21.) The blood of the cross, therefore, means the blood of the sacrifice which was offered upon the cross for appeasing the anger of God.
In adding by him, he did not mean to express anything new, but to express more distinctly what he had previously stated, and to impress it still more deeply on their minds — that Christ alone is the author of reconciliation, as to exclude all other means. For there is no other that has been crucified for us. Hence it is he alone, by whom and for whose sake we have God propitious to us.
Both upon earth and in heaven. If you are inclined to understand this as referring merely to rational creatures, it will mean, men and angels. There were, it is true, no absurdity in extending it to all without exception; but that I may not be under the necessity of philosophizing with too much subtlety, I prefer to understand it as referring to angels and men; and as to the latter, there is no difficulty as to their having need of a peace maker in the sight of God. As to angels, however, there is a question not easy of solution. For what occasion is there for reconciliation, where there is no discord or hatred? Many, influenced by this consideration, have explained the passage before us in this manner — that angels have been brought into agreement with men, and that by this means heavenly creatures have been restored to favor with earthly creatures. Another meaning, however, is conveyed by Paul’s words, that God hath reconciled to himself. That explanation, therefore, is forced.
It remains, that we see what is the reconciliation of angels and men. I say that men have been reconciled to God, because they were previously alienated from him by sin, and because they would have had him as a Judge to their ruin, (313) had not the grace of the Mediator interposed for appeasing his anger. Hence the nature of the peace making between God and men was this, that enmities have been abolished through Christ, and thus God becomes a Father instead of a Judge.
Between God and angels the state of matters is very different, for there was there (314) no revolt, no sin, and consequently no separation. It was, however, necessary that angels, also, should be made to be at peace with God, for, being creatures, they were not beyond the risk of falling, had they not been confirmed by the grace of Christ. This, however, is of no small importance for the perpetuity of peace with God, to have a fixed standing in righteousness, so as to have no longer any fear of fall or revolt. Farther, in that very obedience which they render to God, there is not such absolute perfection as to give satisfaction to God in every respect, and without the need of pardon. And this beyond all doubt is what is meant by that statement in Job 4:18, He will find iniquity in his angels. For if it is explained as referring to the devil, what mighty thing were it? But the Spirit declares there, that the greatest purity is vile, (315) if it is brought into comparison with the righteousness of God. We must, therefore, conclude, that there is not on the part of angels so much of righteousness as would suffice for their being fully joined with God. They have, therefore, need of a peace maker, through whose grace they may wholly cleave to God. Hence it is with propriety that Paul declares, that the grace of Christ does not reside among mankind alone, and on the other hand makes it common also to angels. Nor is there any injustice done to angels, in sending them to a Mediator, that they may, through his kindness, have a well grounded peace with God.
Should any one, on the pretext of the universality of the expression, (316) move a question in reference to devils, whether Christ be their peace maker also? I answer, No, not even of wicked men: though I confess that there is a difference, inasmuch as the benefit of redemption is offered to the latter, but not to the former. (317) This, however, has nothing to do with Paul’s words, which include nothing else than this, that it is through Christ alone, that, all creatures, who have any connection at all with God, cleave to him.
(311) “ Bannis de la compagnie de Dieu;” — “Banished from the society of God.”
(312) “ Tant excellent soit-il;” — “However excellent he may be.”
(313) “ A leur confusion et ruine;” — “To their confusion and ruin.”
(314) “ En eux;” — “Among them.”
(315) “ Que la plus grande purete qu’on pourroit trouuer, ne sera que vilenie et ordure;” — “That the greatest purity that could be found will be nothing but filth and pollution.”
(316) “ Sous ombre de ce mot, Toutes choses;” — “Under the pretext of this word, All things.”
(317) “ Est offert aux meschans et reprouuez, et non pas aix diables;” — “Is offered to the wicked and reprobate, but not to devils.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
20. and through him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say, whether things upon the earth, or things in the heavens. 21. And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works, 22. yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreprovable before him:
Translation and Paraphrase
20. And (it was also well-pleasing) to reconcile all (the alienated things in our universe) to (God) himself through him (that is, through Christ; and Christ does this work of reconciliation as a result of his) having made peace (between God and man) through the blood of (his sacrifice upon) his cross; (Yea, this reconciliation is made) through him (between God and all beings,) whether (they be) the things upon the earth or the things in the heavens.
21. And you (yourselves), though you were formerly alienated (and estranged) and enemies (toward God) in (your) mind by the evil works (which you did),
22. (Yet) he has now reconciled (you) by (offering) his fleshly body through death (upon the cross), to present you holy and without blemish and blameless before him.
Notes
1.
Gods good pleasure decided that the alienated things in our universe should be reconciled to God through Christ. No other means is provided for this reconciliation.
2.
Sin has ruined and alienated our universe. Rom. 8:21. The natural world is full of suffering and disorder. Men on earth and the things in the heavens are alike out of harmony with God because of sin. We do not know what (or who) those things are that are in the heavens which need to be reconciled to God, but Col. 1:20 indicates that there are such alienated celestial things. Compare Php. 2:10.
3.
The teaching of Col. 1:20 that God desires to reconcile all things unto himself could be used as an argument that God will ultimately take everybody and everything to heaven. This notion is called universalism. Some theologians have even argued that Satan himself will ultimately be reconciled. But this teaching so utterly contradicts many other Scriptures concerning eternal punishment that it simply cannot be true. Mar. 9:43-48; Mat. 25:46; Rev. 14:11; Rev. 20:10; Rev. 20:15.
Apparently, while it is Gods good pleasure that all things be reconciled, many people simply will not cooperate with God that it be so. God has never forced anyone to accept His blessings, although we cannot escape the consequences of refusing to accept the blessings.
4.
Our evil works alienated us from God in times past and made us enemies in our minds toward God. But this enmity was one-sided, and existed only in our minds. God loved the world. The world because of its sins hated Him. Any time someone wrongs someone else (a child its parent, a pupil his teacher, a workman his employer, a criminal society, a husband his wife, etc.) hostility and estrangement grow up within the one who has done the wrong. This seems so backward; it seems that the one who has been wronged should be offended. But human nature works the other way. The one doing the wrong is alienated, even if the one wronged has forgiven him.
God himself was confronted with this situation. In order to convince mans alienated heart that God truly loved him, God made the supreme sacrifice. He gave up his own son. If the sacrifice of Gods own son cannot bring our hearts to love God, nothing can. See 2Co. 5:19; Eph. 2:13-17. God has made peace between man and himself through the blood of Christs cross. Eph. 3:16; Eph. 3:14.
5.
When once we have been reconciled to God by the message of Christs death, then it is Gods further goal to present us holy, and without blemish, and blameless before Him. There should be a constant process of growth, and self-purification, and service following our conversion until our death (or the Lords return).
On the day of judgment Christ will deliver those on his right hand unto the father. (Mat. 25:34; 1Co. 15:24). Let us labor to be ready for that day, so that we may be presented holy, without blemish, and unreprovable. (The word unreprovable is Gr. anegkletos, a word which is often translated as blameless, and means that cannot be called to account. 1Ti. 3:10.)
Study and Review
25
Does Col. 1:20 teach that ultimately everybody and everything will be reconciled to God and saved? Give a reason for your answer.
26.
Through what has Christ made peace.
27.
Where do those who are to be reconciled live? (2 answers)
28.
What was our mental attitude in the times before we received Christ? (Col. 1:21)
29.
What had caused us to be in this frame of mind? (Col. 1:21)
30.
Where was this alienation and enmity that formerly existed? Was it in Gods heart?
31.
To what event does the phrase in the body of his flesh through death refer? (Col. 1:22)
32.
What does Christ intend (or hope) to do with us, now that we are reconciled?
33.
What is our condition to be when we are presented unto God?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(20) Having made peace through the blood of his cross.On this verse, where St. Paul returns to the subject of the Atonement, with which he began, comp. Eph. 2:13-18, and Notes there. In the Ephesian Epistle the treatment of the subject is fuller, and in one point more comprehensive, viz., in bringing out emphatically the unity of all, Jews and Gentiles alike, with one another, as well as their unity with Christ. But, on the other hand, this passage involves deeper and more mysterious teaching in thisthat it includes in the reconciliation by the blood of Christ, not merely all humanity, but all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven. This is, indeed, only a fuller exposition of the truth that God was in Christ reconciling the world (the kosmos) to Himself (2Co. 5:19); and that the whole creation waiteth, in constant expectation, for the manifestation of the sons of God, and shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom. 8:19-21). But it is couched in more distinct and striking terms, opening to us a glimpse of the infinite scope, not merely of our Lords Mediatorship, but of His Atonement, which, while it almost bewilders, yet satisfies the thoughtful understanding, and more than satisfies an adoring faith. As there seems to be a physical unity in the universe, if we may believe the guesses of science, so, says Holy Scripture, there is a moral and spiritual unity also in Jesus Christ.
Col. 1:21-23 apply this truth of the Mediatorial work of the Lord Jesus Christ to the especial case of the Colossians. The subject here touched is more fully worked out in Eph. 2:1-2; Eph. 2:11-18; the alienation is there described as not only from God, but from His covenanted people; the reconciliation is with God and man in one great unity.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. And It also pleased God to make him, thus qualified, infinitely transcending in dignity and excellence all possible qualification of any creature, the medium of the reconciliation. This is the second fact in the great plan. “This indwelling,” says Bengel, “is the foundation of the reconciliation.” The Greek order is: And through him (Christ) to reconcile all things unto himself (God), having made peace through the blood of his cross. The emphatic point is, that it is through Christ that God planned and has undertaken the reconciliation of the universe to himself. The reconcile of this verse is parallel with the gather together of Eph 1:10, yet with a broader scope, by as much as Christ’s headship in the universe is broader than his headship in the Church. Yet here, as there, we must distinguish between the divine idea, as framed before the foundation of the world, and its actual realization at the final consummation. The sin which began with the angels has extended to men, and so affected the entire creation that the harmony of the universe is disturbed. Now it is God’s plan that the incarnate Son shall mediatorially restore this harmony of the universe with himself, laying the ground of it in the shedding of his blood on the cross. He is the Lamb of sacrifice foreordained from eternity, 1Pe 1:20. And lest there should be doubts as to how far-reaching the plan is, we are told that the all things embraces the things in earth, and the things in heaven, which terms are identical with those employed in Col 1:16 to designate the entire totality of created things, and can here mean no less. The glorious divine intention, then, was a reconciliation co-extensive with the same universe which the Son mediatorially created. Thus far the plan itself: in its execution the whole tendency is toward a glorious ultimate result. The Reconciler is exalted to the throne of the universe. Myriads upon myriads of men, saints rejoicing on high, and saints serving below, have found his peace. The sinless angels, who never saw God except through the Son, see him now in the glorified Christ, and are brought nearer to him. Of what the final realization will be, the passage does not speak. The resurrection will destroy death; redeemed men and blissful angels will people heaven; and the physical creation be freed from its subjection to vanity. But, reversely, it is in the power of wicked men, freely acting, to trample on the atonement and reject the proffers of peace, thus defeating in themselves the divine plan. Fallen angels, who would seem to have been included in the intended mercy, possibly in their refusal of honour to God’s Son, and their mad, persistent rebellion against him in their day of probation, have thrown themselves out from its benefits, so that they and their dark abode are not included in the reconciliation. Yet lost angels and men will finally be compelled to bow in unwilling subjection to the sceptre of Christ, so that the whole universe will confess him Lord. See note, Eph 1:10.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, through him, I say, whether things on the earth or things in the heavens.’
This verse concludes what Col 1:16 began. In Col 1:16 Paul began with ‘all things’ created in the heavens and on the earth, here he finishes with ‘all things’ reconciled to Him, whether things on the earth or things in the heavens. The reversal of heavens and earth (Col 1:16) to earth and heavens (Col 1:20) deliberately draws attention to the unity of the whole passage. We begin with the heavens and end with the heavens.
This reconciliation of ‘all things’, a description which includes the powers in heavenly places, as Col 1:16 makes clear, must be seen in the light of Paul’s teaching elsewhere. Peace has been made through the blood of the cross, and all that finally is will be reconciled to Him. All will be at one with Him. But although this will include all who are, it will not include all who have been, for some will no longer be. Not all will find peace with God, because they refuse His offer of mercy. Some will therefore have been defeated and made to submit (Col 2:15; Php 2:10) resulting in final punishment. And their end will be destruction not final reconciliation. And the same will be true of sinful man. He too will have to bow the knee preparatory to receiving judgment (Php 2:10) and will also experience final destruction.
The total reconciliation through His cross, of all things that remain, is necessary so that all things might be summed up in Him (Eph 1:10) and so that the whole creation might be delivered from the bondage of corruption (Rom 8:21). But note that the latter also will partly be achieved by the corrupted heaven and earth being in the end burned up with fire (2Pe 3:10).
With the fall of angels and of man disharmony had been brought into creation. This disharmony will now be removed as a result of His ‘making peace through the blood of His cross’. For those who respond to Him in faith His death acts on their behalf, they are seen as dying with Him (Gal 2:20; Rom 6:6), and thus the penalty of sin is paid (Col 2:14) and they have peace with God (Rom 5:1-2) and go free. They are made members of His body. They will be transformed and share His everlasting glory. But for those who do not respond His cross is a sentence of death (2Co 2:16). It is the evidence of their final guilt and of their being deserving of punishment and destruction. As a result they will have to bow the knee and submit to His judgment (Php 2:10; Act 16:31), and then all rule, authority and power opposed to Him will be abolished (1Co 15:24). They will face eternal destruction from the presence of the Lord (2Th 1:9), and everlasting peace will be established (Eze 37:26) and God will be all in all (1Co 15:28).
‘Through Him to reconcile all things to Himself.’ The first ‘Him’ is Jesus Christ, the ‘Himself’ is either ‘the Father’ as representing the Godhead, or ‘God’ as representing the same. Peace had to be finally established and all that was antagonistic and in rebellion done away. And this is accomplished ‘through Him’. The world must be finally be back at one with Him, with all that is unfit or unworthy done away, for those who are His will be fully reconciled and those who refused to be reconciled would be subjugated and would face the final sentence of eternal death.
‘Having made peace through the blood of His cross.’ What the blood signifies is a human death died, and died voluntarily. The death of the representative Man Who sums up all redeemed mankind within Himself. Through Adam, the first man, death came into the world, the result and consequence of sin (Rom 5:12; Rom 5:15; Rom 5:17), through the last Adam (1Co 15:45), the ‘second man’ (1Co 15:47), came the death that was due, not to His own sins but to the sins of others (Rom 3:24-25; 2Co 5:21), the death that made salvation possible, that averted the wrath of God for those who respond to Him ( Rom 3:25 ; 1Jn 4:10; Joh 3:36), the sacrifice for the sins of the world (1Jn 2:2). As the sinless One suffered He bore the sins of many (Isa 53:5; Isa 53:12; 1Pe 2:24), giving His life as a ransom (Mar 10:45; 1Ti 2:6; Gal 3:13), breaking the power of sin and evil and death, and triumphing over them in the cross (Col 2:15; Heb 2:14).
No words can fully cover or define the depth and significance of what He accomplished that day. Each description is but the small part of the whole, a feeble representation of what He achieved. There ‘God made man’, through His human death in the body of His flesh (Col 1:22) did all that was necessary to accomplish peace between God and His creation. And now peace was not only available, it was certain of achievement. God would make peace with all who would respond, and those who would not respond would be removed from the equation.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Col 1:20. And having made peace, &c. And by him to reconcile all things unto the same (having made peace by the blood of his cross) by him, I say, &c. Dr. Whitby would render it, by him to make all things friendly in him, making peace between them by the blood of his cross. But if we take the words in their literal sense, they mean that by him God hath reconciled all things to each other, whether things on earth, i.e. Jews and Gentiles, or things in heaven, i.e. celestial spirits, who are now reconciled to all the glorified saints and to all that believe upon earth, and incorporated with them into one holy and happy society: for when a breach commenced between God and man, the angels, as faithful subjects, must join with God against rebellious man, and be ready to act as enemies to him, as long as he continued an enemy to God. See Eph 1:10.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Col 1:20 . [48] “Haec inhabitatio est fundamentum reconciliationis,” Bengel. Hence Paul continues: , and through Him to reconcile the whole . As to the double compound ., prorsus reconciliare , [49] see on Eph 2:16 . The considerations which regulate the correct understanding of the passage are: (1) that may not in any way be restricted (this has been appropriately urged by Usteri, and especially by Huther); that it consequently cannot be referred either merely to intelligent beings generally (the usual view), or to men (Cornelius a Lapide, Heinrichs, Baumgarten-Crusius, and others), especially the Gentiles (Olshausen), or to the “universam ecclesiam ” (Beza), but is, according to the context (see Col 1:16 ff.), simply to be taken as quite general: the whole of that which exists (has been created); (2) that the reconciling subject is here not Christ (Hofmann, in accordance with his incorrect reference of in Col 1:19 ), but God , who through Christ ( ) reconciled all things; (3) that consequently cannot be meant of the transforming of the misrelation between the world and Christ into a good relation (Hofmann), and just as little of the reconciliation of all things with one another , of the removal of mutual hostility among the constituent elements composing , but only of the universal reconciliation with the God who is hostile to sin, [50] as is clearly evident from the application to the readers in Col 1:21 . The only correct sense therefore is, that the entire universe has been reconciled with God through Christ . But how far? In answering this question, which cannot be disposed of by speculation beyond the range of Scripture as to the having entered into the finite and having returned again to the infinite (Usteri), nor by the idea imported into . of gathering up into the unity of absolute final aim (Baur, neut. Theol . p. 257), the following considerations are of service: ( a ) The original harmony, which in the state of innocence subsisted between God and the whole creation, was annulled by sin, which first obtained mastery over a portion of the angels, and in consequence of this (2Co 11:3 ), by means of the transgression of Adam, over all mankind (Rom 5:12 ). Comp. on Eph 1:10 . ( b ) Not only had sinful mankind now become alienated from God by sin and brought upon themselves His hostility (comp. Col 1:21 ), but also the whole of the non-rational creation (Rom 8:19 ff.) was affected by this relation, and given up by God to and (see on Rom. l.c .). ( c ) Indeed, even the world of heavenly spirits had lost its harmony with God as it originally existed, since a portion of the angels those that had fallen formed the kingdom of the devil, in antagonism to God, and became forfeited to the wrath of God for the everlasting punishment which is prepared for the devil and his angels. ( d ) But in Christ, by means of His , through which God made peace ( . . .), the reconciliation of the whole has taken place, in virtue of the blotting out, thereby effected, of the curse of sin. Thus not merely has the fact effecting the reconciliation as its causa meritoria taken place, but the realization of the universal reconciliation itself is also entered upon , although it is not yet completed , but down to the time of the Parousia is only in course of development , inasmuch, namely, as in the present the believing portion of mankind is indeed in possession of the reconciliation, but the unreconciled unbelievers (the tares among the wheat) are not yet separated; inasmuch, further, as the non-intelligent creation still remains in its state of corruption occasioned by sin (Rom 8 ); and lastly, inasmuch as until the Parousia even the angelic world sees the kingdom of the devil which has issued from it still although the demoniac powers have been already vanquished by the atoning death, and have become the object of divine triumph (Col 2:15 ) not annulled, and still in dangerous operation (Eph 6:12 ) against the Christian church. But through the Parousia the reconciliation of the whole which has been effected in Christ will reach its consummation, when the unbelieving portion of mankind will be separated and consigned to Gehenna, the whole creation in virtue of the Palingenesia (Mat 19:28 ) will be transformed into its original perfection, and the new heaven and the new earth will be constituted as the dwelling of (2Pe 3:13 ) and of the of the children of God (Rom 8:21 ); while the demoniac portion of the angelic world will be removed from the sphere of the new world, and cast into hell. Accordingly, in the whole creation there will no longer be anything alienated from God and object of His hostility, but will be in harmony and reconciled with Him; and God Himself, to whom Christ gives back the regency which He has hitherto exercised, will become the only Ruler and All in All (1Co 15:24 ; 1Co 15:28 ). This collective reconciliation, although its consummation will not occur until the Parousia, is yet justly designated by the aorist infinitive , because to the telic conception of God in the it was present as one moment in conception.
The angels also
] is indeed to be written with the spiritus lenis , as narrating the matter from the standpoint of the author , and because a reflexive emphasis would be without a motive; but it is to be referred, not to Christ , who, as mediate agent of the reconciliation, is at the same time its aim (Bhr, Huther, Olshausen, de Wette, Reiche, Hofmann, Holtzmann, and others; comp. Estius, also Grotius: “ut ipsi pareant”), but to God , constituting an instance of the abbreviated form of expression very usual among Greek writers (Khner, II. 1, p. 471) and in the N. T. (Winer, p. 577 [E. T. 776]), the constructio praegnans : to reconcile to Godward , so that they are now no longer separated from God (comp. ., Col 1:21 ), but are to be united with Him in peace . Thus ., although identical in reality, is not in the mode of conception equivalent to the mere dative (Eph 2:16 ; Rom 5:10 ; 1Co 7:11 ; 2Co 5:18-20 ), as Beza, Calvin, and many others take it. The reference to Christ must be rejected, because the definition of the aim would have been a special element to be added to , which, as in Col 1:16 , would have been expressed by , and also because the explanation which follows ( . . .) concerns and presupposes simply the mediate agency of Christ ( ).
, down to , is a modal definition of (not a parenthesis): so that He concluded peace , etc., inasmuch, namely, as the blood of Christ, as the expiatory offering, is meant to satisfy the holiness of God, and now His grace is to have free course, Rom 5:1 ; Eph 6:15 . The aorist participle is, as Col 1:21 shows, to be understood as contemporary with . (see on Eph 1:9 , and Khner, II. 1, p. 161 f.; Mller in the Luther. Zeitschr . 1872, p. 631 ff.), and not antecedent to it (Bhr), as has been incorrectly held by Ernesti in consistency with his explanation of Col 1:19 (see on Col 1:19 ), who, moreover, without any warrant from the context, in accordance with Eph 2:14-16 , thinks of the conclusion of peace between Jews and Gentiles . The nominative refers to the subject; and this is, as in the whole sentence since the , not Christ (Chrysostom, Theodoret, Oecumenius, Luther, Storr, Heinrichs, Flatt, Steiger, Hofmann, and many others), but God . The verb , occurring only here in the N. T., which has elsewhere (Eph 2:15 ; Jas 3:18 ), and also foreign to the ancient Greek, which has , is nevertheless found in Hermes, ap. Stob. Ecl. ph . i. 52, and in the LXX. Pro 10:10 .
. . ] that is, by means of the blood to be shed on His cross , which, namely, as the sacrificial blood reconciling with God (comp. 2Co 5:21 ), became the causa medians which procured the conclusion of peace between God and the world. Rom 3:25 ; Rom 5:9 f.; Eph 1:7 . The reason, which historically induced Paul to designate the blood of Christ with such specific definiteness as the blood of His cross , is to be sought in the spiritualism of the false teachers, who ascribed to the angels a mediating efficacy with God. Hence comes also the designation so intentionally material of the reconciling sacrificial death, Col 1:22 , which Hofmann seeks to avoid as such, namely, as respects its definite character of a satisfaction. [54]
] not with the spiritus asper , equivalent to , as those take it who refer to Christ as subject ( , Theophylact), since this reference is erroneous. But neither can be in apposition to . . (Castalio, “per ejus sanguinem, h. e. per eum ”), for the latter , and not the former, would be the explanatory statement. It is a resumption of the above given , after the intervening definition . . ., in order to complete the discourse thereby interrupted, and that by once more emphatically bringing forward the which stood at the commencement; “ through Him ,” I say, to reconcile, whether they be things on earth or whether they be things in heaven. Comp. on Eph 1:11 ; Rom 8:23 .
. ., . .] divides, without “affected tautology” (Holtzmann), but with a certain solemnity befitting the close of this part of the epistle, the into its two component parts. As to the quite universal description, see above on ; comp. on Col 1:16 . We have, besides, to notice: (1) that Paul here (it is otherwise in Col 1:16 , where the creation was in question, comp. Gen 1:1 ) names the earthly things first , because the atonement took place on earth, and primarily affected things earthly; (2) that the disjunctive expression renders impossible the view of a reconciliation of the two sections one with another (Erasmus, Wetstein, Dalmer, and others). To the category of exegetical aberrations belongs the interpretation of Schleiermacher, who understands earthly and heavenly things , and includes among the latter all the relations of divine worship and the mental tendencies of Jews and Gentiles relative thereto: “Jews and Gentiles were at variance as to both, as to the heavenly and earthly things, and were now to be brought together in relation to God, after He had founded peace through the cross of His Son.” The view of Baumgarten-Crusius is also an utter misexplanation: that the reconciliation of men (Jews and Gentiles) among themselves, and with the spirit-world, is the thing meant; and that the reconciliation with the latter consists in the consciousness given back to men of being worthy of connection with the higher spirits.
Lastly, against the reference to universal restoration , to which, according to Olshausen, at least the tendency of Christ’s atonement is assumed to have pointed, see on Eph 1:10 , remark 2. Comp. also Schmid in the Jahrb. f. D. Theol . 1870, p. 133.
[48] According to Holtzmann, p. 92, the author is assumed to have worked primarily with the elements of the fundamental passage 2Co 5:18 f., which he has taken to apply to the cosmical . But, instead of apprehending this as the function of the risen Christ, he has by . . . occasioned the coincidence of two dissimilar spheres of conception, of which, moreover, the one is introduced as form for the other. The interpolator reproduces and concentrates the thought of Eph 1:7 ; Eph 1:10 ; Eph 2:13-17 , bringing the idea of a cosmical reconciliation (Eph 1:10 ) into expression in such a way “that he, led by the sound of the terminology, takes up at the same time and includes the thought of the reconciliation of the Jews and Gentiles.” In opposition to this view, the exegesis of the details in their joint bearing on the whole will avail to show that the passage with all its difficulty is no such confused medley of misunderstanding and of heterogeneous ideas, and contains nothing un-Pauline. The extension of the reconciliation to the celestial spheres, in particular, has been regarded as un-Pauline (see, especially, Holtzmann, p. 231 ff.). But even in the epistles whose genuineness is undisputed it is not difficult to recognise the presuppositions, from which the sublime extension of the conception to an universality of cosmic effect in our passage might ensue. We may add, that Eph 1:10 is not “the leading thought of the interpolation” at ver. 16 ff. (Holtzmann, p. 151); in ver. 16 ff. much more is said, and of other import.
[49] As if we might say in German, abvershnen, that is: to finish quite the reconciliation. Comp. , Plat. Legg. ix. p. 873 A.
[50] God is the subject, whose hostility is removed, by the reconciliation (comp. on Rom 5:10 ); is the object, which was affected by this hostility grounded of necessity on the holiness and righteousness of God. If the hostile disposition of men towards God, which had become removed by the reconciliation, were meant (Ritschl in the Jahrb. f. Deutsche Theol. 1863, p. 515), the universal would not be suitable; because the whole universe might, indeed, be affected by the hostility of God against sin, but could not itself be hostilely disposed towards Him. See, moreover, on ver. 21.
[51] According to Ignatius, Smyrn. 6, the angels also, , incur judgment. But this conception of angels needing reconciliation, and possibly even unbelieving, is doubtless merely an abstraction, just as is the idea of an angel teaching falsely (Gal 1:8 ). It is true that, according to 1Co 6:3 , angels also are judged; but this presupposes not believing and unbelieving angels, but various stages of moral perfection and purity in the angelic world, when confronted with the absolute ethical standard, which in Christianity must present itself even to the angels (Eph 3:10 ). Comp. on 1Co 6:3 .
[52] The idea of is not in this view to be altered, but has as its necessary presupposition the idea of hostility, as is clear from and from , ver. 21, compared with Eph 2:16 ! Compare Fritzsche, ad Rom. I. p. 276 ff.; Eur. Med. 870: , Soph. Aj. 731 (744): , Plat. Rep. p. 566 E: , . This applies also against Hofmann’s enervating weakening of the idea into that of transposition from the misrelation into a good one, or of “an action, which makes one, who stands ill to another, stand well to him.” In such a misrelation (namely, to Christ, according to the erroneous view of ) stand, in Hofmann’s view, even the “spirits collectively,” in so far as they bear sway in the world-life deteriorated by human sin, instead of in the realization of salvation. Richard Schmidt, l.c. p. 195, also proceeds to dilute the notion of reconciliation into that of the bringing to Christ, inasmuch as he explains the as effected by the fact that Christ has become the head of all, and all has been put in dependence on Him. Hilgenfeld, l.c. p. 251 f., justly rejects this alteration of the sense, which is at variance with the following context, but adheres, for his own part, to the statement that here the author in a Gnostic fashion has in view disturbances of peace in the heavenly spheres (in the ).
[53] Comp. Philippi, Glaubensl. IV. 2, p. 269 f., Exo 2 .
[54] According to Hofmann, Schriftbew. II. 1, p. 362 ff., by the blood of the cross, ver. 20, the death of Christ is meant to be presented as a judicial act of violence, and “what befell Him” as an ignominy, which He allowed to be inflicted on Him with the view of establishing a peace, which brought everything out of alienation from Him into fellowship of peace with Him. ver. 22 does not affirm the expiation of sin, but the transition of mankind, which had once for all been effected in Christ, from the condition involved in their sin into that which came into existence with His death. Christ has, in a body like ours, and by means of the death to which we are subject, done that which we have need of in order that we may come to stand holy before Him. Not different in substance are Hofmann’s utterances in his Heil. Schr. N. T. But when we find it there stated: “how far Christ has hereby (namely, by His having allowed Himself to be put to death as a transgressor by men) converted the variance, which subsisted between Him and the world created for Him, into its opposite, is not here specified in detail,” that is an unwarranted evasion; for the strict idea of reconciliation had so definite, clear, firm, and vivid (comp. ver. 14, Col 2:13 f.) a place in the consciousness of the apostle and of the church, which was a Pauline one, that it did not need, especially in express connection with the blood of the cross, any more precise mention in detail. Comp. Gal 3:13 ; Rom 3:25 . Calvin well says: “Ideo pignus et pretium nostrae cum Deo pacificationis sanguis Christi, quia in cruce fusus.”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say , whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
Ver. 20. To reconcile all things ] That is, all the saints, who are worth all, better than all, more worth than a world of wicked men, Heb 11:38 . The Jews have a saying, that those seventy souls that went with Jacob into Egypt, were as much as all the seventy nations in the world. What account God maketh of them in comparison to others, see Isa 43:3-4 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Col 1:20 . To this verse Eph 1:10 ; Eph 2:16 , are partially parallel. It supplies the basis for the Son’s pre-eminence (Col 1:18 ) in His reconciling death. : through the Son. . The choice of . instead of the more usual . is for the sake of strengthening the idea, and by insisting on the completeness of the reconciliation accomplished to exclude all thought that reconciliation by angels is needed to supplement that made by Christ. The reconciliation implies previous estrangement. It is the universal sweep of this passage that makes it at once fascinating and mysterious. Numerous expedients have been devised by exegetes to avoid the plain meaning of the words. The natural sense is that this reconciliation embraces the whole universe, and affects both things in heaven and things on the earth, and that peace is made between them and God (or Christ). The point which creates difficulty is the assertion that angels were thus reconciled. Some have evaded this by interpreting of the things in heaven below the angels and those on earth below man. It might be possible to parallel the latter reconciliation with Paul’s prophecy of the deliverance of animate and inanimate nature (excluding man) from the bondage of corruption (Rom 8:19-23 ). But the two are not identical, for one is and the other is not eschatological, and reconciliation is not deliverance from the bondage of corruption. And this helps us little to explain what the reconciliation of all things in heaven is. Nor is any such limitation legitimate; on the contrary, it is precisely in the opposite direction that any limitation would have to be made; for in its full sense reconciliation can only be of beings endowed with moral and spiritual nature. In Col 1:16-17 angelic powers are explicitly included in . It is plain that excludes the view that a reconciliation of angels and men is intended. This is so even if with Chrysostom and others (including apparently Abbott) we make . and . . depend on . For this still leaves unexplained . . , which makes the reference to angels undeniable. Bengel’s note, “Certum est angelos, Dei amicos, fuisse inimicos hominum Deo infensorum,” may be perfectly true. But it is irrelevant here, for only by forcing the words can . be regarded as other than epexegetical of the preceding clause, and in particular . . and . . as a resolution of . . Abbott’s suggestion that . . . may be inhabitants of other worlds may be true, though for Paul the thought is far-fetched, but does nothing towards excluding the angels. He urges that is not necessarily equivalent to “in heaven”. But not only did Jewish angelology place the angels in the heavens, but Paul did so too, and has done so only just before in this passage, defining . as the various orders of angels (Col 1:16 ). Further, not only is this exclusion of the angels from the scope of reconciliation inconsistent with the terms of the passage, it omits a very important point in Paul’s polemic. To the angels the false teachers probably ascribed the function of procuring the reconciliation of men with God. ( Cf. Enoch xv. 2, “And go, say to the watchers of heaven, who have sent thee to intercede for them: you should intercede for men, and not men for you”.) How effective is Paul’s reply that these angels needed reconciliation themselves! Assuming, then, that angels are included among those reconciled, and that this is also referred to in the words “having made peace through the blood of His cross,” the question arises, What did Paul mean by this? Meyer says that in consequence of the fall of the evil angels the angelic order as a whole was affected by the hostile relation of God to them, and the original relation will be fully restored when the evil angels are finally cast into hell. But apart from the speculative nature of this explanation, and the injustice it imputes to God, the reference is certainly not eschatological. Godet lays stress on , and suggests that the reconciliation is not to God but with reference to God. He thinks that the passing over of sins by God (Rom 3:25 ) might cause the angels, who had been mediators in the giving of the law, difficulties as to the Divine righteousness. This was met and removed by the cross, which revealed God’s attitude to sin and reconciled them to His government. We do not know that the angels needed this vindication, which, of course, it was a function of Christ’s death to give, though it is possible (Eph 3:10 , 1Pe 1:12 ). But this interpretation seems to be excluded by the explanation of reconciliation as making peace. And was probably chosen instead of on account of (Col 1:16 ), and because it was stronger and expressed the thought of God or Christ as the goal. The explanation that the angels were confirmed, and thus made unable to fall, is altogether inadequate. Harless, Oltramare and others admit a reconciliation of men and angels to God, but without asserting that . . needed reconciliation. Wherever it was needed Christ effected it. But Paul’s division of . into two categories marked by shows that the statement has reference not simply to these classes taken together as a whole, but to each taken singly. Alford, in his suggestive note, after saying that such a reconciliation as that between man and God is not to be thought of, since Christ did not take on Him the seed of angels or pay any propitiatory penalty in the root of their nature, gives as his interpretation “all creation subsists in Christ: all creation therefore is affected by His act of propitiation: sinful creation is, in the strictest sense, reconciled from being at enmity: sinless creation, ever at a distance from His unapproachable purity, is lifted into nearer participation and higher glorification of Him, and is thus reconciled , though not in the strictest, yet in a very intelligible and allowable sense”. Unfortunately this cannot be accepted, for the strict is the only allowable sense. But it is on the right lines, and indicates the direction in which a solution must be sought. This, as several recent scholars have urged (Kl [9] , Gess, Everling and others), is through taking account of the Biblical and Jewish doctrine of angels. That the angels are divided into the sharply separated classes of sinless and demoniacal is a view on which this passage remains inexplicable. Nor is it the Old Testament or the Jewish doctrine, or, it may be added, the doctrine of Paul. Perhaps we need not, with Gess, think of an intermediate class, or, with Ritschl, of the angels of the Law. To Jewish thought angels stood in the closest relations with men, and were regarded as sharing a moral responsibility for their acts. The angelic princes of earthly kingdoms in Daniel, and the angels of the Churches in the Apocalypse, are Biblical examples of this. A large number of Pauline passages harmonise with the view that the angelic world needed a reconciliation. The detailed proof of this cannot be given here; it belongs to the discussion of the angelology of the Epistle. (See Introd. , section ii.) But if the angels needed it, how could it be effected through the blood of the cross? It is not enough to answer with Haupt that the reconciliation of men affected the angels who were closely united with them. A direct effect seems to be intended, and the difficulty is that stated by Holtzmann, that with the flesh all capacity is absent from the angels of Paul, to share in the saving effects of the death of God’s Son, which was made possible through the assumption of the flesh, and in which sin in the flesh is condemned. In answer to it these considerations may be urged. The Son is Head of the angels, as He is Head of humanity; therefore His acts had an effect on them independently of their effect on men. His death must not be narrowly conceived as physical only, as the destruction of the material flesh. It was the destruction of the sinful principle; and therefore is independent in its effects of the possession of material bodies by those whom it saves. And this cannot be set aside by the fact that Paul uses such a physical term as blood of the cross, for the death of Christ was surely more to him than a mere physical incident. So far, then, as the angel world was affected by sin, it needed reconciliation, and received it in the atoning and sin-destroying death of Christ its Head. That in this reconciliation evil angels are not included is clear from the fact that Paul does not regard it as having had effect on them corresponding to that on men. Lueken points out that Paul adds “through Him” to the words “through the blood of His cross,” and refers the latter to the reconciliation of men and the former to that of angels, so that they are simply said to be reconciled through Christ. But the is an emphatic resumption of at the beginning of the verse. . It is uncertain whether this should be referred to God or Christ. The former is possible, for may be reflexive, and reconciliation is usually to God (so Eph 2:16 , also 2Co 5:18-20 , Rom 5:10 ). We should also have expected if Christ had been meant. On the other hand, the reference to Christ is favoured by the fact that elsewhere in this passage always refers to Christ, and by the parallel with Col 1:16 , . Decision is difficult; it is perhaps safest to let the Pauline usage determine the reference, and interpret “unto Himself”. . In Ephesians great emphasis is laid on the peace between Jew and Gentile, established by the cross, an emphasis quite to be expected where the unity of the Church is the leading thought; but not to be found here, for the peace is obviously between God on the one side and men and angels on the other; besides which the thought would have no relevance in this connexion. . . . The combination of the two terms is perhaps for the sake of insisting on the historical fact of the reconciling death against the tendency to seek peace with God through angelic mediators. . , probably governed by ., rather than ., since it and the companion phrase seem to be epexegetical of .
[9] Klpper.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
having made peace. Greek. eireeopoieo. Only here. The noun Mat 5:9.
through. App-104. Col 1:1.
reconcile. See Eph 2:16, and App-196.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Col 1:20. , to reconcile) Eph 2:16.- , all things) Eph 1:10.- , unto Himself) i.e. unto God, Col 1:22; 2Co 5:19.-, having made peace) Eph 2:14; Eph 2:17. The nominative depends on He has been well-pleased.- ) by the blood shed on the cross, and therefore by His death on the cross; or there is an apposition with a Metonymy [see Append.]: by the blood, that is, His cross. The effect of the crucifixion (although not of the crucifixion alone) is the shedding of blood.- , by Him) This repetition both adds to the emphasis, and shows that the all things are straightway explained by it, whether the things which, etc. This phrase, all things, includes also the dead.- , on the earth) It was on the earth that there had arisen the beginning of the enmities; therefore the earth is put first.- , the things which are in the heavens) Luk 19:38. It is certain that the angels, the friends of God, were the enemies of men, when they were in a state of hostility against God.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Col 1:20
Col 1:20
and through him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross;-Jesus shed his blood that God might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus. (Rom 3:26). His blood was shed for the remission of sins, as the following shows: If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1Jn 1:7). [It is not God who needs to be reconciled, but the universe that is alienated from God. Gods attitude and plan are set forth by Jesus, who said: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. (Joh 3:16). God gave his Son for the world of sinners while they were hostile to him. (Rom 5:8). Here Paul glories in the grand scope of Christs work of reconciliation of a universe out of harmony with God. It was God who planned the reconciliation (2Co 5:18-19) that is carried out by the Son (Eph 2:16).]
through him, I say, whether things upon the earth, or things in the heavens.-By or through Jesus who reconciled everything to him by the blood shed on the cross. But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (2Co 5:18-19). God invites man to enter into Christ. There they meet and are reconciled in Christ. He said this was done by Christ, even of things on the earth and in the heavens.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
having made peace: or making peace, Col 1:21, Col 1:22, Lev 6:30, Psa 85:10, Psa 85:11, Isa 9:6, Isa 9:7, Eze 45:17-20, Dan 9:24-26, Mic 5:2, Mic 5:5, Zec 9:9, Zec 9:10, Luk 2:14, Act 10:30, Rom 5:1, 2Co 5:19-21, Eph 2:13-17, Heb 13:20, Heb 13:21, 1Jo 4:9, 1Jo 4:10
reconcile: 2Co 5:18, Heb 2:17
things in earth: Eph 1:10, Phi 2:10
Reciprocal: Exo 24:6 – the blood he Lev 3:1 – a sacrifice Lev 7:29 – General Lev 9:18 – a sacrifice Lev 16:20 – reconciling Lev 17:11 – I have Deu 27:7 – peace offerings 2Ch 29:24 – reconciliation Job 25:2 – he maketh Isa 27:5 – and he Eze 43:27 – I will accept Zec 3:9 – remove Zec 13:7 – smite Mat 1:21 – for Mat 26:28 – shed Luk 19:38 – peace Joh 11:52 – gather Joh 14:27 – Peace I leave Joh 16:33 – in me Act 10:36 – preaching Rom 3:25 – through Rom 5:10 – when Rom 11:15 – the reconciling Eph 2:14 – our Eph 3:15 – the whole Col 1:16 – in heaven Jam 1:18 – his own
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
(Col 1:20.) -And by Him to reconcile all things to Himself. This sentence still hangs upon the verb . agrees with , the understood nominative to . God having made peace by the blood of His cross (Christ’s), was pleased to reconcile by Him (Christ) all things to Himself. If the participle . referred to Jesus, we should have expected it to be in the accusative before the infinitive. The instances adduced by Steiger, who holds this view, to prove the occurrence here of a species of anacoluthon, are not in point. On the meaning of . we have spoken under Eph 2:16, and need not repeat our remarks. The phrase , in this verse, must be identical in meaning with in the 16th verse-created by Jesus and for Him; and in the 17th verse-preserved by Him. The meaning is further developed and specified in the last clause- , , -all things, whether they be things on earth, or things in heaven. The apostle seems thus to refer to the universe-specially the intelligent universe. The reconciliation is effected through Christ, an idea repeated by the apostle in the 22nd and 23rd verses.
1. It is surely a low and pointless interpretation of the words to refer them, with Junker, Heinrichs, Schleusner, and others, to Jew and Gentile, for the passage is widely different from the paragraph in the 2nd chapter of Ephesians; or with Beza, Crocius, and Wolf, to understand things in heaven of the happy souls of the departed; or with Schleiermacher, to suppose the apostle to refer to earthly and ecclesiastical relationships. The previous context plainly condemns such a narrow and groundless interpretation.
2. On the other hand, it is going beyond the record to base upon the words the dogma of universal restoration. Evil spirits, and finally impenitent men, are left in unrelieved gloom. Those who reject this reconciliation, and depart from the world in unbelief, fall into the hands of a God who is clear when He judges.
On this passage, Davenant says truly-torquet interpretes et vicissim ab illis torquetur. De Wette, indeed, referring to Job 4:18; Job 15:15, imagines that angels need some process of peacemaking, or rather of perfecting – a notion akin to Calvin’s, that they were in want of confirmation.
But supposing that by things in heaven we understand angels and all other holy intelligences, in what sense can it be said that they need or receive reconciliation? Some elude the difficulty, and argue that the reconciliation is not between God and perfect spirits, but between them and redeemed humanity. Thus Theodoret- : and such is the view of Chrysostom, Augustine, and Pelagius, of Cameron, Dickson, and perhaps the majority. This is a truth, but perhaps not the whole truth intended. The language implies more than this exegesis contains, for all things in heaven are not merely reconciled to all things on earth, but both are at the same time reconciled to God. And we cannot espouse the opinion of Huther, Bhr, and Olshausen, who make the reference in to Christ, regarding Him as both means and end. The idea is not in unison with Pauline phraseology, for God is usually regarded as the ultimate end. But the idea in this case would be, that all beings are brought by the death of Christ to obey Him, and to find in Him their common centre. The dative, indeed, is commonly employed, as in Eph 2:16, Rom 5:10; but the employment here of the accusative with may indicate something unusual in the verb-may denote to reconcile for, or in reference to Himself, that is, God, He being regarded generally as the end of this reconciliation. Reconciliation to God is thus predicated of the things in heaven, though they had never revolted. Nor can we simply declare, with Melancthon, Cameron, and Bhr, that the sentiment of this verse is identical with that found in Eph 1:10, and that is of the same meaning as . Indeed, as Meyer well suggests, the bringing together under one head is the result of the reconciliation which is here described. The verb . is defined by Suidas as meaning – to make friends; and Fritzsche renders it prorsus reconciliare. The , in composition, does not signify again, as Passow erroneously gives it. [Eph 2:16.] This reconciliation we understand in its result–and as denoting unalterable union,-that he might reconcile all things and unite them so reconciled to Himself. Such a pregnant meaning of verbs is no uncommon occurrence. 2Ti 4:18 – , will save and translate us to His kingdom. Mar 8:19 – , when I broke and distributed the five loaves to the five thousand. Act 23:24, etc.; Winer, 66, 2, d; Xenophon, Anab. 11, 3, 11; Polyb. 8, 11; Odyss. 2.14. There needed no atonement for innocent creatures, but they must have felt the disruption of sin, and seen the terrible anger of God against it. May they not have trembled at the bare idea of apostasy, and may not the very suspicion of it have made them stand before God with more of awe than love? When the angels beheld their fellows sin so grievously, when they mourned over the tarnished brightness of their lost and exiled natures, might not the memory of the melancholy spectacle fill them with terror, and as they felt themselves placed in a jeopardous crisis, might they not shrink as they gazed upon the unsullied justice and inexorable vengeance of Jehovah-king? Might not holiness unrelieved by an act of grace, be ever impressing the conviction that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God? For sin was possible to them, and what had happened might again take place, while the penalty of sin was as swift in its descent as it was unspeakable in its burden, and irremediable in its effects. The flashing majesty of the throne might still the pulse of the universe, or cause it to throb in subdued and solemn alarm. The radiance of grace had not been seen to play upon the sceptre of righteousness. Acquiescence in the Divine rectitude might not conquer trepidation, and the love which encircled them might not cast out all fear of lapse and punishment. But when they found out the ineffable stores of the Divine benignity towards man-in the mission and death of Jesus, in the untold abundance and fulness of blessings conferred upon him, in a vast salvation secured at a vast expense, and in a happy alliance concluded between them and the ransomed church-did they not share in the same reconciliation and feel themselves drawn nearer a God of grace, whom they can now love with a higher thrill and praise with a more rapturous hallelujah? In being re-united with man they feel themselves brought closer to God, and though they sing of a salvation which they did not require, still they experience the Saviour’s tenderness, and are charmed with the reign of His crowned humanity. The gloom that sin had thrown over them is dispelled; and creation as one united whole rejoices in the presence of God. The one Reconciler is the head of these vast dominions, and in Him meet and merge the discordant elements which sin had introduced. The breach is healed. Gabriel embraces Adam, and both enjoy a vicinity to God, which but for the reconciliation of the cross would never have been vouchsafed to either. The humanity of Jesus bringing all creatures around it, unites them to God in a bond which never before existed-a bond which has its origin in the mystery of redemption. Thus all things in heaven and earth feel the effect of man’s renovation; unnumbered worlds, so thickly strewn as to appear but dim and nebulous masses, are pervaded by its harmonizing influence; a new attraction binds them to the throne. Blessings which naked Deity might not be able to bestow are poured out upon them by the incarnate Lord who filleth all in all; and the exhibition of love in the agonies of Christ may have secured what unalloyed equity could not, may have placed the universe for ever beyond the reach of apostasy and revolt. Then at length starts into view the blessed kingdom-the new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Nor need we wonder at the infinite results of the death of Christ, when we reflect that, as the apostle has described Him, He is Creator, Preserver, and End of all things. Creation, to its farthest verge, could not but be affected by the grace and the death of Him who gave to it its original being and still supplies the means of its continued existence. When He laid aside the splendours of the Godhead, and walked a man upon the footstool, and died on a world and for a world which He had made, to satisfy Divine justice, and glorify the principles of the Divine administration, it might be anticipated that the effect of that stupendous enterprise should be felt everywhere, diffusing the attractive power of a new spiritual gravitation among all things, whether they be things on earth or things in heaven.
-Having made peace by the blood of His cross. We understand the participle to be in agreement with , as the nominative to , and not with , as the Greek Fathers, and even Storr and Steiger, construe the clause. The aorist participle here is of the same tense with the aorist infinitive in the preceding clause, and it points out the method by which reconciliation has been secured. The blood of His, that is, Christ’s cross, was the source of peace-the reference being to the atoning sacrifice presented on Calvary. Blood shed on earth creates feuds to be extinguished only by other blood; it calls up the avenging kinsman to wait, watch, pursue, and retaliate; but the blood of Christ’s violent and vicarious death brings peace, restores alliance between heaven and earth. While we look on the paternal aspect of God’s character, we must not overlook His position as moral governor-bound to inflict the penalty annexed to the violation of His statutes. [Eph 2:16.] He must visit the sinner with His judicial displeasure; or as the scholastic theology of Bede phrased it, in every one of us He hated what we had done, He loved what He Himself had done. The justice of God, as Nitzsch says, is a necessary and inseparable idea of His love. The antithesis of mercy and justice is no longer unresolved, nor do they neutralize one another. Sin at the same time creates enmity in the human heart towards God, an enmity removed also by faith in the great propitiation. Thus the cross is the symbol of peace. He who died on it possessed God’s nature, the offended party, and man’s nature, the offending party; and thus being qualified to mediate between them, His blood was poured out as a peace-offering. The law is satisfied, and guilty sinners are freed from the curse: an amnesty is proclaimed; God reconciles the world unto Himself, and justified man has peace with God.
The apostle repeats to give prominence to the efficacious agency of His Son. By Him, that is, by His blood, and by all the work which His mediatorial person is so well fitted to carry on and consummate. The last clause explains the preceding . As if there might be doubt in some minds; or as if some ascribed a limited influence to a Jewish death upon Jewish soil, the apostle exclaims all-whether they be things in earth, which is first and specially interested; or whether they be things in heaven. Chrysostom, to support his view, erroneously and ungrammatically connects this clause with the one immediately before it, as if the peace made by the blood of the cross was simply and solely peace between things in heaven and things on earth. In fine, the entire process, as the connection of this verse with the preceding one shows, springs from the Divine pleasure-it so pleased Him.
Now, if there was a tendency among the false teachers in Colosse to depreciate Jesus, lower the value and restrict the extent of His saving work; if they derogated either from His personal dignity or official prerogative, the apostle applies a mighty and sufficient counteractive. That Saviour whom the apostles preached was no creature, but Himself the Creator; was invested with no provincial government, but ruled and preserved the wide realms of space; was no subordinate spirit in the celestial crowd, but one who is the end as well as author of all things; is supreme Lord of His Church, as is most due; and as He possesses all fulness within Himself, and has by the shedding of His blood restored harmony to the universe, therefore, now, in every point He has an unchallenged pre-eminence. On the dark background of an old theosophic heresy there shines out this starry halo of mediatorial merit and renown.
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Col 1:20. Made peace pertains to the satisfaction which Christ gave his Father by shedding His blood on the cross. In other words, such a supreme sacrifice was enough to answer the demands of God, and that opened up the way so that the Son could bring about reconciliation between God and the forces arrayed against Him. Or things in heaven would necessarily be the good angels, since an angel who sins is cast out (2Pe 2:4). Good angels, however, have never offended God, and hence they do not need reconciliation in the strict sense of the word. But they are called upon to recognize Christ as King and spiritual Ruler through the centuries of the final dispensation. In this way they are a part of the body of Christ, and thus participate in the grand plan of reconciliation through Christ. (See Mat 28:18; Heb 1:6; Php 2:9; Rev 5:13.)
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Col 1:20. Through him (as the instrument in Redemption as in Creation) to reconcile all things unto himself; lit, unto Him, but the reference to God seems necessary; comp. Eph 2:16, where moreover the word reconcile occurs in the same form. Here, as there, it seems best to take the term as a strengthened form, rather than as meaning reconcile again. The latter sense might be deemed appropriate here, especially in view of the similarity to Eph 1:10, where that thought is more fully expressed. But the statements are not identical, and all things must be needlessly limited if the idea of restoration is accepted. The thought is: Through Christ the entire universe is reconciled with God (Meyer). How this takes place in many cases we do not know; but that there is obviously a difference in the application to different parts of the universe. Wild speculations have been made on this topic, but this should not lead us to limit the great thought of the Apostle, either to the Church, or to men, or even to intelligent beings. The absolute totality of created things shall be restored into its primal harmony with its Creator (Ellicott). Neither here nor in the more specific parallel passage (Eph 1:10) is there any implication of the restoration of fallen angels and of the finally impenitent
Making peace through the blood of his cross. Comp. Eph 2:14-16. This is the means of the reconciliation; by making peace, rather than having made peace. The E. V. has transposed the clauses, probably to indicate that the father is the subject, which the original unmistakably indicates. Through the blood of His cross, i.e., by means of the blood shed upon the cross; comp. Rom 3:25.
Through him, I say. The phrase in Italics is needed even more when the clauses are placed in the correct order. The repetition of through Him gives emphasis to the Person of the Mediator, who by His death on the cross effected the work of reconciliation. Apart from His Person there is no efficacy in the shedding of blood.
Whether things on the earth, etc. The words are the same as in Col 1:16, but in reversed order with the article (hence the rendering, things), and probably because the death of Christ took place on the earth. All things which are reconciled unto God are thus distinguished. The reconciliation is evidently not between these two parts, nor are the terms to be narrowed or spiritualized in sense. The one Reconciler is the Head of these vast dominions, and in Him meet and merge the discordant elements which sin had introduced. The humanity of Jesus bringing all creatures around it, unites them to God in a bond which never before existeda bond which has its origin in the mystery of redemption. Thus all things in heaven and earth feel the effect of mans renovation (Eadie). The reconciliation will not be complete until the coming of Christ.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Here one special reason is assigned why all fulness dwelt in our Lord the Redeemer, namely, to fit him for the great work and office of a Mediator or Reconciler, that so he might happily make up that breach which sin had made between God and the world, having removed the enmity which was betwixt them by his death and sufferings, called here the blood of his cross, that is the blood which he freely and voluntarily shed upon the cross.
Note here, 1. That God and man were once friends, though soon by sin made enemies; reconciliation doth suppose an antecedent friendship.
Note, 2. That though man was first in the breach yet God was first in the offer of reconciliation; It pleased the Father by him to reconcile all things to himself.
Note, 3. That as there was no possibility of ever making up this breach, but by a Mediator; so no person in heaven or earth was or could be found, in all things fitted or furnished for the work of a Mediator, but only Christ; By him to reconcile all things to himself.
Note, 4. The universality of the subject reconciled, all things both in heaven and in earth: By things in heaven,
1. Some understand the blessed angels; but there being no breach between God and them, Christ was not the author of reconciliation, though he was an head of confirmation to them. Others understand it of a reconciliation between the angels and man, thus: Whilst man continued in his obedience to God, angels and men were in a state of perfect friendship one with another; but when man rebelled against God, the angels became averse to man for that rebellion; but God being reconciled to man by the death of his son, the angels are become friends and ministering spirits to us, and both they and we constitute one church under Christ the head thereof; thus Christ reconciled all things in heaven and earth, that is, the angels in heaven he has reconciled to man on earth.
2. Other, by things in heaven, do not understand the angels, but the saints departed; the patriarchs, prophets, and all the faithful now in heaven, or here on earth, they were all reconciled, in order to their being saved; intimating, that the blood of Christ did expiate the guilt of those persons who lived before him, as well as of those that died after him: He reonciled all things in heaven and earth, capable of reconciliation, appointed to it, and that stood in need of it.
Note, lastly, The instrumental means by which all this was effected, namely, by the blood of the cross; to make up the breach betwixt God and the fallen creature, cost the Mediator no less than his precious blood.
Lord! Who can look upon sin as any other than an infinite and immense evil, which cost the Son of God his life to expiate the guilt of it? How can a little sin be committed against a great God?
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Col 1:20. And having made peace through the blood of the cross The blood shed thereon, by which the design of the ceremonial law having been answered, the obligations of it were abolished, and the wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles broken down, in order to their being united in one church; by which blood of the cross also, the sins of men being expiated, peace is made between God and man; by him to reconcile all things unto himself, whether things in earth Here the enmity began, therefore this is mentioned first; or things in heaven Those who are now in paradise; the saints who died before Christ came. See notes on Eph 2:15-16. Some commentators, under the expression things in heaven, suppose that the angels are included; therefore, instead of to reconcile all things to himself, Dr. Whitby reads, By him to make all things friendly in him, making peace between them by the blood of the cross; an interpretation which Doddridge thinks expresses the true sense, and the only sense in which angels could be said to be reconciled; for if it were granted, according to what some have maintained, that the angels received confirming grace in Christ, they could not be said, upon that account, to be reconciled: but when a breach commenced between man and the blessed God, the angels, as faithful subjects, must join with him against the rebellious creature, and be ready to act as enemies to him, while he continued the enemy of God. Macknight, who also thinks that the expression, things in heaven, includes angels, reads and paraphrases the clause, By him to unite all things to him, whether they be men upon earth, or angels in heaven; that, being joined together in one body for the worship of God, they may be happy through all eternity by that union.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 20
The blood of his cross; the blood shed upon the cross; that is, the sufferings endured in that death.–To reconcile all things; to open the door of reconciliation for all.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
“And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, [I say], whether [they be] things in earth, or things in heaven.”
We saw redemption in verse fourteen (see Act 20:28; 1Co 6:20; 1Co 7:23 for more) and now we see reconciliation. Reconciliation is the bringing together of two that had previously been alienated. It takes a changing of both minds to bring them back together.
Christ’s work on the cross did that which was required for God to turn back to man after sin, however each individual must make their own decision – the decision to turn back to God.
It should be of note that it was God’s idea to reconcile, not man’s.
2Co 5:18-19 mentions “And all things [are] of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation”
Sin is terrible, yet God made the decision to wipe the slates clean. No more – washed away. Not just covered as in the Old Testament, but GONE. That is our message to the world.
Paul has laid out some heavy doctrine in this portion – as he usually does. For those that get disgusted with theology I say they have to throw away their Bibles if they don’t want to mess with it.
What is meant by “things in heaven” – is there something in heaven that needs reconciling to God? It seems if it is where God is, there is no way that it is not reconciled to Him already, indeed, there is nothing there that ever needed reconciling.
One must assume that the text speaks of the atmosphere/universe, rather than heaven, God’s dwelling place. The term used here is used of all three areas, the atmosphere, the universe, and God’s dwelling place. (2Co 12:4; Mat 24:29; Mat 6:26) Let it suffice that Christ has reconciled everything and everyone that needed reconciling.
Christ has set in motion with his shed blood all that is needed for all of mankind and all of creation to be reconciled to God in one final moment of His completed work.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
1:20 {9} And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile {n} all things unto himself; by him, [I say], whether [they be] things in earth, or things in heaven.
(9) Now he teaches how Christ executed that office which his Father gave and commanded to him, that is, by suffering the death of the cross (which was joined with the curse of God) according to his decree, that by this sacrifice he might reconcile to his Father all men, both those who believed in the Christ to come, and were already under this hope gathered into heaven, as well as those who should upon the earth believe in him afterwards. And in this way justification is described by the apostle, which is one and the chiefest part of the benefit of Christ.
(n) The whole Church.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
God’s ultimate purpose in all of this was to reconcile all things to Himself. The Cross made reconciliation possible. Now it is up to people to accept God’s provision and "be reconciled" to God by faith in Christ (2Co 5:20).
"The implication is that the purpose, means, and manner of (final) reconciliation have already been expressed by God, not that the reconciliation is already complete." [Note: Ibid., p. 103.]
". . . Paul never looks at reconciliation as mutual concession after mutual hostility. Reconciliation is manward, not Godward, in its direction. It is God’s reconciling of man ’unto himself’ (Col 1:20). God never has had need to be reconciled to man; He has always loved man. It is easy to see the importance of holding right views here, since our attitude to Christ’s work and our very idea of God are affected." [Note: Johnson, 474:143. See also James S. Stewart, A Man in Christ, pp. 204-72; and Barclay, p. 147.]
"All things" would include the angelic world and the rest of creation besides humanity. Christ’s death has dealt with the defilement sin caused as well as with its guilt.
In what sense did Christ reconcile all things in heaven to Himself, including Satan and his angels? He did not do so in the ordinary sense of bringing them into salvation but in the wider sense of bringing them into subjection to His will. [Note: See Gary L. Shultz Jr., "The Reconciliation of All Things in Christ," Bibliotheca Sacra 167:668 (October-December 2010):442-59.] Christ’s death has pacified Satan and his angels. They now have to submit to Him (cf. Col 2:15) even as He created them. [Note: For a critique of the universalist position, based on this verse, that, because God’s great purpose is reconciliation, no one will ultimately be lost, see P. T. O’Brien, "Colossians 1:20 and the Reconciliation of all Things," Reformed Theological Review 33:2 (May-August 1974):45-53.]
This passage (Col 1:15-20) contains one of the greatest Christologies in the Bible. [Note: For a review and evaluation of recent views on this passage, see Larry L. Helyer, "Cosmic Christology and Colossians 1:15-20," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 37:2 (June 1994):235-46; idem, "Colossians 1:15-20: Pre-Pauline or Pauline?" Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 26:2 (June 1983):167-79; idem, "Arius Revisited: The Firstborn Over All Creation (Colossians 1:15)," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 31:1 (March 1988):59-67; idem, "Recent Research on Colossians 1:15-20 (1980-1990)," Grace Theological Journal 12:1 (1992):51-67; and Jeffrey S. Lamp, "Wisdom in Colossians 1:15-20: Contribution and Significance," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 41:1 (March 1998):45-53.] Scholars have often referred to Col 1:15-18 as "The Great Christology." [Note: E.g., Johnson, 473:12] They have also called Col 1:15-20 "The Christ Hymn." [Note: E.g., Bruce, 562:99.] The form of these verses is probably Hebrew rather than Greek poetry. [Note: Steven M. Baugh, "The Poetic Form of Colossians 1:15-20," Westminster Theological Journal 47:2 (Fall 1985):227-44.] One writer argued that Paul took the Christological statements in Col 1:9-23 and Col 2:6-15 from Jewish sources rather than from his own store of theological ideas or from early Christian hymns. [Note: J. C. O’Neill, "The Source of the Christology in Colossians," New Testament Studies 26:1 (October 1979):87-100.] Probably he did. Another scholar suggested that Christ’s supremacy in this passage should be understood as over the Torah, Adam, and Israel. [Note: T. E. Pollard, "Colossians 1:12-20: a Reconsideration," New Testament Studies 27:4 (July 1981):572-75.] This seems unnecessarily limited to me.
"The Christ-hymn of Col 1:15-20 is a powerful statement about the Person and work of Jesus Christ. Christ’s supremacy is seen at every turn. The first portion focuses on His preeminent role in creation, while the second emphasizes His work as Redeemer. To any Christian, in Colosse then or elsewhere today, who may have been or is confused about Christ’s role in the world, these six verses testify to Christ’s absolute authority, which is not to be shared with any person, angel, or demon." [Note: H. Wayne House, "The Doctrine of Christ in Colossians," Bibliotheca Sacra 149:594 (April-June 1992):187.]
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Thirteen Assertions about Christ in Col 1:15-20 |
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1. He is the image of the invisible God (Col 1:15). |
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2. He is the first-born of creation (Col 1:15) |
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3. He is the originator of creation (Col 1:16). |
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4. He is the agent of creation (Col 1:16). |
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5. He is the goal of creation (Col 1:16). |
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6. He is the antecedent of creation (Col 1:17). |
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7. He is the sustainer of creation (Col 1:17). |
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8. He is the head of the church (Col 1:18). |
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9. He is the first-born from the dead (Col 1:18). |
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10. He is the preeminent one (Col 1:18). |
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11. He is the fullness of God (Col 1:19). |
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12. He is the reconciler of all things to Himself (Col 1:20). |
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13. He is the maker of peace (Col 1:20). |