Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Colossians 1:23
If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and [be] not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, [and] which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
23. if ] With a certain emphasis in the Greek, pressing on the saints the need of watching and prayer; a need which leaves untouched in their proper sphere the sure promises of the “final perseverance” of the saints.
“If we look to stand in the faith of the sons of God, we must hourly, continually, be providing and setting ourselves to strive To our own safety our own sedulity is required. And then blessed for ever and ever be that mother’s child whose faith hath made him the child of God.” (Hooker, Sermon of Faith, at the end; see the whole Sermon.) See our notes on Php 3:11; Php 4:3. The emphatic caution here has manifest reference to special dangers at Coloss.
continue in ] Abide by, adhere to. So Lightfoot, having regard to the special construction of the Greek.
the faith ] So A.V. and R.V. Lightfoot says “perhaps ‘ your faith’ rather than ‘ the faith’.” And the contrast-parallel Rom 11:23 (“if they abide not still in unbelief ”) is distinctly in favour of this. The Colossians were to persist, for their very life, in the Divine simplicity of believing.
grounded ] Lit., founded, built on a foundation; a perfect participle. Cp. Eph 3:17, where the basis is “love;” and Mat 7:25, where it is “a rock,” the truth of Christ. Eph 3:17 offers an instructive parallel, connecting (as this passage does) “ faith ” with “ foundation.” It is as believing that the Christian enjoys the fixity of the word, and of the love, of God.
settled ] The Greek appears elsewhere only 1Co 7:37; 1Co 15:58. Usage suggests the special thought of settled purpose; resulting here from a settled rest on eternal truth. Cp. 1Pe 2:6-9.
be not moved away ] Omit ‘ be.” The Greek (“ moved away ”) is a present participle, and suggests a state of chronic or frequent unsettlement, as new allurements away from the truth beset them. Cp. Eph 4:14.
the hope ] “ That blissful hope, even the appearing of the glory, &c.” (Tit 2:13); “ the hope of glory ” (below, Col 1:27).
of the gospel, which ye have heard ] So connect. “The hope” revealed in the message of apostolic truth, brought them by Epaphras in the power of the Spirit, this, and no rival to it, was to be their anchorage. Better, which ye heard, when you were evangelized and converted.
and which was preached ] Omit “ and.” Which was proclaimed; lit., “ heralded.” Cp., for this verb with “ the gospel,” e.g. Mat 4:23; Gal 2:2 ; 1Th 2:9. The time-reference of “ was ” is, so to speak, ideal; it “was” done when the Saviour, in His accomplished victory, bade it be done (Mar 16:15).
to every creature which ] More lit., in all the creation which, &c. “The expression must not be limited to man,” says Lightfoot. But it is difficult to accept this. “All creation,” in the largest sense, shall indeed in its way share the blessings of our salvation (see e.g. Rom 8:19-22; and cp. Rev 5:13). But the thought here, and Mar 16:15, is of proclamation, and reception by faith; in view of which we cannot, in any intelligible sense, bring in “rocks and stones and trees.” Context surely limits the word to “our fellow-creatures,” in the human sense.
under heaven ] An hyperbole, in the technical sense; a verbal but not therefore real exaggeration, the excess of the phrase being meant only to leave a just impression of the surprise of the fact. See above on Col 1:6 (“ in all the world ”). After all, if our remark on “ was preached,” just above, is right, this phrase like that is ideal, and in that respect not hyperbolical.
For the exact phrase cp. e.g. Gen 1:9; Gen 6:17; Gen 7:19; Deu 2:25; Act 2:5; Act 4:12.
whereof I Paul am made, &c.] Became, when the Lord called me to it. The same phrase occurs Eph 3:7. He emphasizes his own part and lot in the ministry of the Gospel, as he has just emphasized that Gospel itself as the veritable message of God, alone authentic amidst all false Gospels. So he asserts his own commission, authentic amidst all false evangelists. Cp. for instances of a similar emphatic Ego, 2Co 10:1; Gal 5:2; Eph 3:1 (with note in this Series); Phm 1:19.
a minister ] Diconos. See above on Col 1:7.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
If ye continue in the faith – In the belief of the gospel, and in holy living. If this were done, they would be presented unblameable be fore God; if not, they would not be. The meaning is, that it will be impossible to be saved unless we continue to lead lives becoming the gospel.
Grounded – On a firm foundation; see the notes at Eph 3:17, where the same word occurs.
And settled – Greek, firm; as a building is that is founded on a rock; compare Mat 7:25.
And be not moved away from the hope of the gospel – By the arts of philosophy, and the allurements of sin.
Which was preached to every creature which is under heaven – It cannot be supposed that it was literally true that every creature under heaven had actually heard the gospel. But this may mean:
(1) That it was designed to be preached to every creature, or that the commission to make it known embraced everyone, and that, so far as the provisions of the gospel are concerned, it may be said that it was a system proclaimed to all mankind; see Mar 16:15. If a vast army, or the inhabitants of a distant province, were in rebellion against a government, and a proclamation of pardon were issued, it would not be improper to say that it was made to every one of them, though, as a matter of fact, it might not be true that everyone in the remote parts of the army or province had actually heard of it.
(2) The gospel in the time of Paul seems to have been so extensively preached, that it might be said that it was proclaimed to everybody. All known countries appear to have been visited; and so zealous and laborious had been the heralds of salvation, that it might be said that the message had been proclaimed to all the world; see Col 1:6; compare the notes at Mat 24:14.
Whereof I Paul am made a minister – See the notes at Eph 3:1-7. Paul here pursues the same train of thought which he does in the Epistle to the Ephesians, where, having shown the exalted nature of the Redeemer, and the design of the gospel, he adverts to his own labors and sufferings in making it known. The object seems to be to show that he regarded it as the highest honor to be thus intrusted with the message of mercy to mankind, and considered it as a privilege to suffer in that cause.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Col 1:23
If ye continue in the faith.
The condition of mans final blessedness
Mans final blessedness depends on–
I. His unswerving continuance in the faith. There is implied a continuance in–
1. The doctrines of the faith. What a man believes has a powerful influence in moulding his character. Unbelief lures the soul from its confidence, sets it adrift amidst the cross currents of doubt, and exposes it to moral shipwreck. The souls safety is ensured not by an in fatuated devotion to mere opinions, but by an intelligent and constant faith in Divine verities.
2. In the profession of the faith. The believer is a witness for the truth, and it is imperative that he should bear his testimony (Rom 10:9-10; Mat 10:32).
3. The practice of the faith. Faith supplies the motive and rule of all right conduct.
4. Continuance in the faith must be permanent. Grounded and settled. In order to permanency in the faith, the truth must be–
(1) Apprehended intelligently.
(2) Embraced cordially.
(3) Maintained courageously.
II. His unchanging adherence to the gospel hope.
1. The gospel reveals a bright future.
2. The gospel to be effectual must come in contact with individual mind. Which ye have heard. Epaphras had declared to them the Divine message.
3. The gospel is adapted to universal man. Which was preached to every creature which is under heaven.
4. The gospel invested the apostle with an office of high authority. Whereof I, Paul, am made a minister. There is an implied possibility of relinquishing our hold of gospel hope. The multiplicity and fulness of our blessings may prove a snare to us; prosperity tempts to relax watchfulness. Our retention of the gospel hope is rendered immovable–
(1) By constant prayer;
(2) Growing acquaintance with the Word of promise;
(3) Continual anticipation of future bliss. (G. Barlow.)
Our life-work
In the end of Col 1:22; Col 1:28 we learn the great object of salvation. We should be fellow-workers with God in this (Php 2:12). Like an artist student copying the work of a great master under his superintendence, we must work out the beauty of Christ in our lives, though the great Master Himself must give the finishing touch and make it perfect. Here we are told what the Christians course of conduct must be if this end is attained.
I. The foundation, the starting-point, the gospel.
1. From various expressions in the chapter we can learn what Paul means by Gospel.
(1) News of a personal Savior. (Col 1:20; Col 1:28, cf. 1Co 3:11).
(2) The blood of the Cross (Col 1:20; cf. Heb 9:22).
(3) An indwelling Saviour (Col 1:27). The searching medicine; the healing balm; the pledge and security of salvation.
2. The responsibility of the Colossians in connection with this gospel.
(1) Which ye have heard. The hearing has put them in a new position (Joh 15:24).
(2) It was preached universally. Every one now has the offer.
(3) Paul a minister of this gospel. The gospel you have heard from Epaphras your minister is mine. I got it by the revelation of Jesus Christ (Gal 1:12).
3. This gospel demands faith and hope. These, like light and heat, go together; the two poles on which Christian life turns. Faith fixes the lower end of the ladder on the Rock, and Hope rests the higher end in the promised glory.
II. Perseverance therein.
1. Faith must be kept in continual exercise. Religion is a life of faith.
(1) Continuance a necessary consequence of true faith. Three things are wanted for a good harvest–good seed, soil, sunshine, and shower. Having these the harvest is a necessity. So in spiritual things; the only thing We have to do with is the soil; the seed is good, and sunshine and shower are assured. If the soil receives and retains the Word, there must be first the blade, then the ear, etc.
(2) Here, then, is the test of faith. Is it the faith that continues and overcomes the world? That opens the soil, and draws down the roots into its bosom? That keeps the vessels filled with oil while the virgins wait? That draws the fruit-bearing sap from the True Vine?
(3) The connection of faith is not loose and wavering. Grounded like the foundation of Eddystone–a grip–an identification. Settled–seated, restful, satisfied, un-doubting.
2. Hope meanwhile is steadily maintained. We have the object of hope in two words–with Him, like Him. That consummation we are never to lose sight of. Faith helps here; it makes substantial the things hoped for, and makes evident the things not seen: the telescope which brings within the range of hopes vision the unseen. Conclusion:—
1. There is danger implied in this waning, and experience shows how real it is.
2. Steady progress inculcated. To move on the only way to keep from moving away. The unseen should act as a magnet drawing us to itself. Looking for and hasting unto. (J. J. Black, LL. D.)
Be not moved away from the hope of the gospel.
Standfast
It has cost many a soul a great struggle to obtain this hope, and when attained do not think that the conflict is over. It then becomes more fierce. Be not moved away, however–
I. From the subject of that hope. What is that? It is the hope–
1. Of full salvation, that we shall be presented holy, unblameable, etc. He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, etc.
2. Of final perseverance, that He who has begun a good work in us will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
3. Of the resurrection. Christ brought not one-half, but the whole trinity of our manhood.
4. Of the second advent.
5. Of being, not in purgatory, but for ever with the Lord.
II. From the ground of that hope.
1. The rich, free, sovereign grace of God. He who could save the dying thief can save all.
2. The merit of Christ, which is the only ground on which God saves men.
3. The Divine pledge that whosoever believeth in Christ shall not perish, etc.
4. The immutability of God.
5. The infallibility of the Scriptures.
III. How we may be moved away from that hope.
1. By a conceit of ourselves. Let him that thinketh he standeth, etc.
2. By despondency. Satan does not mind whether you jump up or jump down from the rock. The least sin ought to make you humble, the greatest ought not to make you despair.
3. By false teaching. If you have been persuaded that Christ is not Divine, or not the only Priest, or that you have merit of your own, you are removed.
4. By hoping to live by feelings instead of faith.
5. By a dazzle of intellect and modern thought.
6. By persecution, sneers, and ridicule.
IV. Why we will not be moved away from that hope.
1. Because there is nothing to take its place.
2. Because if we did we should soon be in bondage.
3. Because we should become mean, miserable wretches who have deserted their Saviour.
4. Because it would be something like a soldier entrenched in an impregnable fortress accepting an invitation to come out. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A good hope distinguished
I. Its distinguishing characteristics.
1. It is in harmony with Gods plan of salvation.
2. It springs from the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart.
3. It is grounded on the truth and power of God. Not upon impressions and feelings–no, but upon the declarations, promises, and Almighty power of Him who has laid up the hope for us in heaven.
II. Its invariable influence.
1. It produces holiness (1Jn 3:2-3).
2. It begets Christian resignation (Heb 6:18-19).
3. It enkindles pious zeal (1Th 1:3).
4. It lights up the valley of death.
Reflections:—
1. It is dismal to be without hope (Eph 2:12).
2. It is madness to deceive ourselves.
3. It is necessary to be watchful and persevering. (Congregational Pulpit.)
Changeful Christians
Oh, how many there are that are never settled. The tree which should be transplanted every week would soon die. Nay, if it were moved, no matter how skilfully, once every year, no gardener would expect fruit from it. How many Christians there be that are transplanting themselves constantly, even as to their doctrinal sentiments. There be some who believe according to the last speaker; and there be others who do not know what they do believe, but they believe almost anything that is told them. Men have come to believe that it does not matter what they do believe–who are like the weathercock upon the steeple, they will turn just as the wind blows. As good Mr. Whitfield said, You might as well measure the moon for a suit of clothes as tell their doctrinal sentiments, for they are ever changing. Now, I pray that this may be taken away from any of you, if this be your weakness, and that you may be settled. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Immovable Christians
Cyprian, when on his road to suffer martyrdom, was told by the emperor that he would give him time to consider whether he had not better cast a grain of incense into the fire, in honour of idols, than die so degraded a death. The martyr nobly answered, There needs no deliberation in the case. John Huss was offered a pardon when at the stake, about to suffer for his attachment to Christ, if he would recant; his reply was, I am here ready to suffer death. Anne Askew when asked under similar circumstances to avoid the flames, answered, I came not here to deny my God and Master. Mr. Thomas Hawkes, an Essex gentleman, said, on a like occasion, If I had a hundred bodies, I would suffer them all to be torn in pieces, rather than recant. When the cruel Bonner told John Ardly of the pain connected with burning, and how hard it must be to endure it, with a view to leading the martyr to recant, he replied, If I had as many lives as I have hairs on my head, I would lose them all in the fire, before I would lose Christ. Galeazius, a gentleman of great wealth, who suffered martyrdom at St. Angelo, in Italy, being much entreated by his friends to recant, replied, Death is much sweeter to me with the testimony of truth, than life with its least denial. (Arrine.)
Which was preached to every creature.–There may be seven observations gathered out of this speech of the apostle.
1. That doctrine only is true which is agreeable to the doctrine of the apostles, by which the world was converted to God.
2. That no power is like the power of the Word of God. Here it converts a world in a short time. And our eyes have beheld that it hath almost in as short time restored a world of men from the power of antichrist.
3. That the words all and every one are not always in Scripture to be understood universally of all the singular persons in the world, as the universalists conceive.
4. They were but a few fishermen that did this great work, and they were much opposed and persecuted, and in some less matters they jarred sometime among themselves. Whence we may observe that doctrine may be exceeding effectual, though
(1) but few teach it;
(2) though they be but of mean estate and condition;
(3) though it be opposed by cross and contrary teaching;
(4) though it be persecuted;
(5) though the people be indisposed and nozzled in sin and superstition, as the Gentiles were;
(6) though the preacher be often restrained;
(7) though there be some dissension in less matters.
5. That in the conversion of sinners God is no respecter of persons; men of any age, nation, sex, condition, life or quality, may be converted by the gospel.
6. It is that preaching is the ordinary means to convert every creature, so as ordinarily there is none converted but by preaching.
7. If any one ask what shall become of those nations, or particular persons, that never yet heard of the gospel, I answer, the way of God in divers things is not revealed, and His judgments are a great deep. It belongs to us to look to ourselves to whom the gospel is come. (N. Byfield.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 23. If ye continue in the faith] This will be the case if you, who have already believed in Christ Jesus, continue in that faith, grounded in the knowledge and love of God, and settled-made firm and perseveringly steadfast, in that state of salvation.
And be not moved away] Not permitting yourselves to be seduced by false teachers.
The hope of the Gospel] The resurrection of the body, and the glorification of it and the soul together, in the realms of blessedness. This is properly the Gospel HOPE.
To every creature which is under heaven] A Hebraism for the whole human race, and particularly referring to the two grand divisions of mankind, the Jews and Gentiles; to both of these the Gospel had been preached, and to each, salvation by Christ had been equally offered. And as none had been excluded from the offers of mercy, and Jesus Christ had tasted death for every man, and the Jews and Gentiles, in their great corporate capacity, had all been invited to believe the Gospel; therefore, the apostle concludes that the Gospel was preached to every creature under heaven, as being offered without restrictions or limitations to these two grand divisions of mankind, including the whole human race.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled: this if doth not import the believers continuance in faith to depend merely upon their own free-will, or a carnal doubting of being kept to salvation, 1Pe 1:5, but infers that they are then reconciled to God when they do indeed persevere in the faith; implying that by reason of the seducers amongst them all and every one might not really have that sound faith they would be thought to have. Wherefore the apostle engageth them to prove their faith, whereby only they can have peace with God, Rom 5:1, to be real, by taking care it be well founded and firm, Mat 13:23, as a house built on a sure foundation, a tree well rooted, Eph 3:17,18; Heb 13:9.
And be not moved away from the hope of the gospel; and be not as temporary believers which have no root, Luk 8:13, or as those who want anchorhold are tossed to and fro, Eph 4:14, and put off from that hope of eternal life, set before us in the gospel, which is sure and certain, Heb 6:18,19, built upon the foundation of the prophets and apostles, Eph 2:20, the sweet promises of eternal life.
Which ye have heard; not the works of vain philosophy which leave the minds of men unsettled, but the plain and solid doctrines of Christ, wherein the believers at Colosse had been instructed, Col 1:7.
And which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; and which the faithful apostles, according to the commission of Christ, had promulgated to every creature beneath the heavens, i.e. every rational creature here below, i.e. to all men, collectively, or nations in the world, as Col 1:6; Mat 28:19; Mar 16:15. Creature with the Hebrews doth eminently signify man, by an antonomasia, or a synecdeche, putting the general for a particular. In the original it is, in all the creature; and so it may be, in all the world, (creature being sometimes used for the system of the world, Rom 8:19-21), in opposition to Judea, i.e. in those other parts of the earth which the Greeks and Romans knew to be then inhabited: under heaven, which is a pleonasm, but of the greatest emphasis, as Act 4:12.
Whereof I Paul am made a minister; and the more to confirm them in what he had said, he adds of this gospel of reconciliation so spread, he was immediately called, Gal 1:1, and constituted to be a minister for the promulgation of it amongst the Gentiles, it being, with others, most notably committed to him, 2Co 5:19; 1Ti 1:11.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23. If“Assuming that,”c.: not otherwise shall ye be so presented at His appearing (Col1:22).
groundedGreek,“founded,” “fixed on the foundation“(compare Note, see on Eph 3:17Luk 6:48; Luk 6:49).
settled“steadfast.””Grounded” respects the foundation on whichbelievers rest; “settled,” their own steadfastness(1Pe 5:10). 1Co15:58 has the same Greek.
not moved awayby thefalse teachers.
the hope of the gospel(Eph 1:18).
which ye have heard . . .which was preached to every creature . . . whereof I . . . am . . . aministerThree arguments against their being “moved awayfrom the Gospel”: (1) Their having heard it; (2) Theuniversality of the preaching of it; (3) Paul’s ministry in it. For”to (Greek, ‘in’) every creature,” the oldestmanuscripts read, “in all creation.” Compare “inall the world,” Col 1:6;”all things . . . in earth,” Col1:20 (Mr 16:15): thus heimplies that the Gospel from which he urges them not to be moved,has this mark of truth, namely, the universality of its announcement,which accords with the command and prophecy of Christ Himself (Mt24:14). By “was preached,” he means not merely”is being preached,” but has been actually, as anaccomplished fact, preached. PLINY,not many years subsequently, in his famous letter to the EmperorTrajan [Epistles, Book X., Epistle 97], writes, “Many ofevery age, rank, and sex, are being brought to trial. For thecontagion of that superstition [Christianity] has spread over notonly cities, but villages and the country.”
whereof I Paul amratheras Greek, “was made a minister.” Respect forme, the minister of this world-wide Gospel, should lead you not to bemoved from it. Moreover (he implies), the Gospel which ye heard fromEpaphras, your “minister” (Col1:7), is the same of which “I was made a minister”(Col 1:25; Eph 3:7):if you be moved from it, ye will desert the teaching of therecognized ministers of the Gospel for unauthorized false teachers.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
If ye continue in the faith,…. In the doctrine of faith which they had received and embraced; and in the grace of faith, and the exercise of it which was implanted in them; and in the profession of faith which they had made: not that the virtue and efficacy of Christ’s blood, sufferings, and death, and reconciliation of their persons to God thereby, depended upon their faith, and abiding in it; but that faith and continuance in it were necessary means of their presentation in unblemished holiness and righteousness; for if they had not faith, or did not abide in it or if the good work of grace was not wrought upon their souls, and that performed until the day of Christ, they could not be presented holy and blameless: this shows the necessity of the saints’ final perseverance in faith and holiness, and is mentioned with this view, to put them upon a concern about it, and to make use of all means, under divine grace, to enjoy it; and nothing could more strongly incline and move unto it, than the blessed effect of Christ’s death, reconciliation and the end of it, to present the reconciled ones blameless; in order to which it is necessary they should hold on and out to the end: hence the Ethiopic version reads the words, not as a condition, but as an exhortation enforced by what goes before; “therefore be ye established in the faith”: it follows,
grounded and settled; not on the sandy foundation of man’s own righteousness, and peace made by his own performances; but upon the foundation and rock, Christ, against which the gates of hell cannot prevail; and so shall never finally and totally fall away, being rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith of him, in the doctrines of faith, respecting peace by his blood, justification by his righteousness, and life by his death; and so continue steadfast and immovable, always abounding in his work:
and [be] not moved away from the hope of the Gospel; the hope of eternal life and happiness, which as set before us in the Gospel; which that gives a good and solid ground and foundation of, in the person, blood, and righteousness of Christ; and is the instrumental means, in the hand of the Spirit, of begetting to it, and of encouraging and increasing it: the law gives no hopes of eternal life to a poor sinner; it works wrath, and ministers death; there is nothing but a fearful looking for of judgment by it; but the Gospel encourages to hope in the Lord, from the consideration of rich mercy and plenteous redemption in him; and this hope of the Gospel is an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast, and not to be let go; this confidence and rejoicing of the hope is to be kept firm unto the end:
which ye have heard; that is, which Gospel they had heard from Epaphras their faithful minister, and that not only externally, but internally; they had heard it and believed it, and it had brought forth fruit in them; for it came to them not in word only, but in power; which is said in commendation of it, and to engage them to continue in it, and abide by it; as is also what follows:
[and] which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; and therefore since it was the same which was everywhere preached, they might depend upon the truth of it, should have the greater value for it, and by no means relinquish it. This must be understood not of every individual creature, even human and rational, that was then, or had been in, the world; but that it had been, and was preached far and near, in all places all over the world, to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews; who are sometimes styled “every creature”, “the creature”, “the whole creation”, “all men”, c. see Mr 16:15 Tit 2:11 and of this, the first preaching of the Gospel by Peter after our Lord’s resurrection, was an emblem and pledge, Ac 2:14; and some time after that, the sound of all the apostles went into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world:
whereof I Paul am made a minister; by Jesus Christ, who appeared unto him, and called, qualified, and sent him forth as such; and this is mentioned to encourage the Colossians to abide by the truths of the Gospel, since what they had heard and received were what were everywhere preached by the faithful ministers of the word; and particularly by the apostle, who was ordained to be a teacher and preacher of it to the Gentiles. The Alexandrian copy reads, “a preacher and an apostle, and a minister”; see 1Ti 2:7.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
If so be that ye continue in the faith ( ). Condition of the first class (determined as fulfilled), with a touch of eagerness in the use of (at least). adds to the force of the linear action of the present tense (continue and then some).
Pistei is in the locative case (in faith).
Grounded (). Perfect passive participle of , old verb from (adjective, from from , laid down as a foundation, substantive, 1Co 3:11f.). Picture of the saint as a building like Eph 2:20.
Steadfast (). Old adjective from (seat). In N.T. only here, 1Cor 7:37; 1Cor 15:58. Metaphor of seated in a chair.
Not moved away ( ). Present passive participle (with negative ) of , old verb, to move away, to change location, only here in N.T. Negative statement covering the same ground.
From the hope of the gospel ( ). Ablative case with . The hope given by or in the gospel and there alone.
Which ye heard ( ). Genitive case of relative either by attraction or after . The Colossians had in reality heard the gospel from Epaphras.
Preached (). First aorist passive participle of , to herald, to proclaim.
In all creation ( ). is the act of founding (Ro 1:20) from (verse 16), then a created thing (Ro 1:25), then the sum of created things as here and Re 3:14. It is hyperbole, to be sure, but Paul does not say that all men are converted, but only that the message has been heralded abroad over the Roman Empire in a wider fashion than most people imagine.
A minister (). General term for service (, , raising a dust by speed) and used often as here of preachers like our “minister” today, one who serves. Jesus used the verb of himself (Mr 10:45). Our “deacon” is this word transliterated and given a technical meaning as in Php 1:1.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Continue in the faith [ . ] . The verb means to stay at or with [] . So Phi 1:24, to abide by the flesh. See on Rom 6:1. The faith is not the gospel system (see on Act 6:7), but the Colossians’ faith in Christ. Your faith would be better.
Grounded and settled [ ] . For grounded, see on settle, 1Pe 5:10; compare Luk 6:48, 49; Eph 3:17. Settled, from edra a seat. Rev., steadfast. See 1Co 7:37; 1Co 14:58, the only other passages where it occurs. Compare eJdraiwma ground, 1Ti 3:15. Bengel says : “The former is metaphorical, the latter more literal. The one implies greater respect to the foundation by which believers are supported; but settled suggests inward strength which believers themselves possess.”
Moved away [] . The present participle signifying continual shifting. Compare 1Co 14:58.
To every creature [ ] . Rev, correctly, in all creation. See on 2Co 5:17, and compare ver. 15.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) If ye continue in the faith” (ei ge epimenete te pistei “if indeed ye go on, continue or abide in the system of the faith,” to abide by or adhere to -reconciliation is restoration from disfavor to favor with God for service and worship in the new body of worship and service (the church) Eph 1:22.
2) “Grounded and settled” (tethemliomenoi kai hedraioi) “Having been founded and steadfast” This faith in Christ for salvation needs no supplement of deeds of the law or ceremonies. But it calls to a life-walk of service to Christ and His Church, Heb 3:14.
3) “And be not moved away from the hope of the gospel (kai me metakinoumenoi apo tes elpidos tou euangeliou) “And not being moved away from the hope of the gospel,” to forms, ceremonies, or traditions of men, but pursuit of ‘ the faith in holiness of a fruitbearing life, 2Pe 1:5-12.
4) “Which ye heard” (hou ekousate) “which ye heard;” -These Colossian brethren had heard the faith (system or body of Christian and Church truth from Christ); men should examine themselves, take inventory, that they contend earnestly for and in them. 2Co 13:5; Jud 1:1-3.
5) “And which was preached to every creature which is under heaven” (tou keruchthentos en pase ktisei te hupo ton ouranon) “proclaimed in all creation under the heaven;” as it appeared to all men, was preached to all, whosoever will” by Christ Joh 3:14-16; Tit 2:11-12; Mar 16:15.
6) “Whereof I Paul am made a minister” (hou egenomen ego Paulos diakonos) “Of which I Paul became a common Minister,” 1Co 1:17; Gal 2:2; Rom 1:14-16.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
23. If ye continue. Here we have an exhortation to perseverance, by which he admonishes them that all the grace that had been conferred upon them hitherto would be vain, unless they persevered in the purity of the gospel. And thus he intimates, that they are still only making progress, and have not yet reached the goal. For the stability of their faith was at that time exposed to danger through the stratagems of the false apostles. Now he paints in lively colors assurance of faith when he bids the Colossians be grounded and settled in it. For faith is not like mere opinion, which is shaken by various movements, but has a firm steadfastness, which can withstand all the machinations of hell. Hence the whole system of Popish theology will never afford even the slightest taste of true faith, which holds it as a settled point, that we must always be in doubt respecting the present state of grace, as well as respecting final perseverance. He afterwards takes notice also of a relationship (321) which subsists between faith and the gospel, when he says that the Colossians will be settled in the faith only in the event of their not falling back from the hope of the gospel; that is, the hope which shines forth upon us through means of the gospel, for where the gospel is, there is the hope of everlasting salvation. Let us, however, bear in mind, that the sum of all is contained in Christ. Hence he enjoins it upon them here to shun all doctrines which lead away from Christ, so that the minds of men are otherwise occupied.
Which ye have heard. As the false apostles themselves, who tear and rend Christ in pieces, are accustomed proudly to glory in the name of the gospel, and as it is a common artifice of Satan to trouble men’s consciences under a false pretext of the gospel, that the truth of the gospel may be brought into confusion, (322) Paul, on this account, expressly declares, that that was the genuine, (323) that the undoubted gospel, which the Colossians had heard, namely, from Epaphras, that they might not lend an ear to doctrines at variance with it. He adds, besides, a confirmation of it, that it is the very same as was preached over the whole world. It is, I say, no ordinary confirmation when they hear that they have the whole Church agreeing with them, and that they follow no other doctrine than what the Apostles had alike taught and was everywhere received.
It is, however, a ridiculous boasting of Papists, in respect of their impugning our doctrine by this argument, that it is not preached everywhere with approbation and applause, inasmuch as we have few that assent to it. For though they should burst, they will never deprive us of this — that we at this day teach nothing but what was preached of old by Prophets and Apostles, and is obediently received by the whole band of saints. For Paul did not mean that the gospel should be approved of by the consent of all ages (324) in such a way that, if it were rejected, its authority would be shaken. He had, on the contrary, an eye to that commandment of Christ,
Go, preach the gospel to every creature; (Mar 16:15😉
which commandment depends on so many predictions of the Prophets, foretelling that the kingdom of Christ would be spread over the whole world. What else then does Paul mean by these words than that the Colossians had also been watered by those living streams, which, springing forth from Jerusalem, were to flow out through the whole world? (Zec 14:8.)
We also do not glory in vain, or without remarkable fruit and consolation, (325) that we have the same gospel, which is preached among all nations by the commandment of the Lord, which is received by all the Churches, and in the profession of which all pious persons have lived and died. It is also no common help for fortifying us against so many assaults, that we have the consent of the whole Church — such, I mean, as is worthy of so distinguished a title. We also cordially subscribe to the views of Augustine, who refutes the Donatists (326) by this argument particularly, that they bring forward a gospel that is in all the Churches unheard of and unknown. This truly is said on good grounds, for if it is a true gospel that is brought forward, while not ratified by any approbation on the part of the Church, it follows, that vain and false are the many promises in which it is predicted that the preaching of the gospel will be carried through the whole world, and which declare that the sons of God shall be gathered from all nations and countries, etc. (Hos 1:10.) But what do Papists do? Having bid farewell to Prophets and Apostles, and passing by the ancient Church, they would have their revolt from the gospel be looked upon as the consent of the universal Church. Where is the resemblance? Hence, when there is a dispute as to the consent of the Church, let us return to the Apostles and their preaching, as Paul does here. Farther, lest any one should explain too rigidly the term denoting universality, (327) Paul means simply, that it had been preached everywhere far and wide.
Of which I am made. He speaks also of himself personally, and this was very necessary, for we must always take care, that we do not rashly intrude ourselves into the office of teaching. (328) He accordingly declares, that this office was appointed him, that he may secure for himself right and authority. And, indeed, he so connects his apostleship with their faith, that they may not have it in their power to reject his doctrine otherwise than by abandoning the gospel which they had embraced.
(321) “ Vne relation et correspondence mutuelle;” — “A mutual relationship and correspondence.”
(322) “ Demeure en confus, et qu’on ne scache que c’est;” — “May remain in confusion, and it may not be known what it is.”
(323) “ Vray et naturel;” — “True and genuine.”
(324) “ Car Sainct Paul n’ a pas voulu dire que l’approbation de l’Euangile dependist du consentement de tous siecles;” — “For St. Paul did not mean to say, that the approbation of the Gospel depended on the consent of all ages.”
(325) “ Ne sans vn fruit singulier et consolation merueilleuse;” — “Not without remarkable fruit, and wonderful consolation.”
(326) The Donatists were a sect that sprung up in Africa during the fourth century, and were, vigorously opposed by Augustine. — Ed.
(327) “ Ce mot, Toute ;” — “This word, All. ”
(328) “ De prescher et enseigner;” — “Of preaching and teaching.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Col. 1:23. Grounded and settled, and not moved away.In that land of volcanic agency the readers would perceive only too readily the graphic force of this metaphor. Where stone buildings tumbled over like a house of cards, the figure of a faith, proof against all shocks, was effective (see Heb. 12:28). Every creature under heaven.The same rhetorical form of expression as in Col. 1:6, affirming the universal fitness of the gospel as well as its wide dissemination. Whereof I Paul am made a minister.Wonder that increases and unceasing gratitude are in these wordsthat the persecutor should serve the faith he once destroyed.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Col. 1:23
The Condition of Mans Final Blessedness.
The ripest fruits can only be produced and gathered by careful and unremitting culture; so the enjoyment of the final blessings of reconciliation is conditioned upon continued allegiance to the gospel and the diligent practice of its precepts. We are taught in this verse that the ultimate presentation to God of a perfectly holy and blameless character depends upon the believers firm and persevering attachment to the gospel. Observe:
I. Mans final blessedness depends upon his unswerving continuance in the faith.The faith is a comprehensive term; it is inclusive of all the great saving truths of the gospel, and of mans many-sided relation to them. There is implied:
1. A continuance in the doctrines of the faith.What a man believes has a powerful influence in moulding his character. The truths submitted to our faith shed light upon matters of transcendent import and worth. The baffled and inquiring mind, straining with painful eagerness after light, finds its satisfaction and rest amid the soothing radiance of revealed truth. In returning and rest shall ye be saved (Isa. 30:15). Unbelief lures the soul from its restful confidence, sets it adrift amidst the cross currents of bewilderment and doubt, and exposes it to moral shipwreck and irrevocable loss. The souls eternal safety is ensured, not by an infatuated devotion to mere opinions about certain dogmas, but by an intelligent, firm, and constant faith in divine verities.
2. A continuance in the profession of the faith.The believer is a witness for the truth; and it is an imperative duty to bear testimony for Christ before the world (Rom. 10:9-10). This is done when we unite in fellowship and service with the external Church of Christ on earth. The Church, as the representative of Christ, witnesses for Him in the life and conduct of its individual members. There is nothing binding as to the special form this witness-bearing should take in each particular case; nor is any man compelled, for the sake of profession, to wed himself to any particular branch of the Church catholic. There may be reasons that render it justifiable, and even necessary, for a man to sever himself from any given religious community and join another; but on no conceivable ground can he be liberated from the duty of an open profession of his faith in Christ; his future acceptability to God hinges on his fidelity in this duty (Mat. 10:32).
3. A continuance in the practice of the faith.Faith supplies the motive and rule of all right conduct. The test of all preceptive enactment and profession is in the life. The Christian character is developed and perfected, not by believing or professing, but by doing the will of God. The rewards of the future will be distributed according to our deeds (Rom. 2:6-10).
4. Continuance in the faith must be permanent.Grounded and settled. The edifice, to be durable, must be well founded, that it may settle into a state of firmness and solidity; so faith, in order to survive the storms and temptations of this world, and participate in the promised good of the future, must be securely grounded and settled in the truth. In order to permanency in the faith, the truth must be
(1) Apprehended intelligently.
(2) Embraced cordially.
(3) Maintained courageously.
II. Mans final blessedness depends upon his unchanging adherence to the gospel hope.
1. The gospel reveals a bright future. It inspires the hope of the resurrection of the body, and of the glorification of it and the soul together in the eternal life of the future. Faith and hope are inseparably linked together; they mutually succour and sustain each other; they rise or fall together. Hope is the unquestioning expectation of the fruition of those things which we steadily believe. It is compared to an anchor, which, cast within the veil, fastened and grounded in heaven, holds our vessel firm and steady amid the agitations and storms of lifes tempestuous sea. The gospel is the only source of genuine, deathless hope; all hopes grounded elsewhere wither and perish.
2. The gospel to be effectual must come in contact with the individual mind.Which ye have heard. Epaphras had declared to them the divine message. It had been brought to them; they had not sought it. Having heard and received the gospel, to relinquish its blessings would be inexcusable and ungrateful. In some way, either by direct preaching or otherwise, the gospel must come to man. There is no power of moral reformation in the human heart itself; the germinant principle of a better life must come from without; it is conveyed in the gospel word.
3. The gospel is adapted to universal man.Which was preached to every creature which is under heaven. Already it had spread into every part of the then known world, and its power was felt in every province of the Roman empire. The fine prophetic instinct of the apostle saw the universal tendency of the gospel, and, in spirit, anticipated the fulfilment of its generous mission. His motive is to emphasise the universality of the unchangeable gospel which is offered without reserve to all alike, and to appeal to its publicity and progress as the credential and guarantee of its truth. It is adapted to all men; it proclaims its message in all lands, and is destined to win the world to Christ. The faith and hope of the believer are based, not upon the uncertain declarations of false teachers, but upon that gospel, which is unchangeable in its character and universal in its appeal and adaptability to humanity; a strong reason is thus furnished for personal steadfastness.
4. The gospel invested the apostle with an office of high authority.Whereof I Paul am made a minister. Paul participated in the blessings of the gospel; he had felt its transforming power, and from his personal experience of its preciousness could, with the greater assurance and force, exhort the Colossians to continue in the faith. But in addition to this the gospel was committed to the apostle as a sacred trust and for faithful ministration; and while dwelling on the broad charity of the gospel as involving the offer of grace to the Gentiles, he is impressed with the dignity and responsibility of his office as he interjects, somewhat abruptly, but with exquisite modesty, the words, Whereof I Paul am made a minister. It has been said of man that he is the priest and interpreter of nature; that it is his function to observe and test phenomena, and interpret the laws that govern the material world. Another writer has said that man is the organ of revelation for the Godhead. God can find no adequate form of revelation for Himself in the impersonal forces of nature; only through a being in His own image can He unfold to the universe His adorable character. But the highest office to which man can be elevated is to be a ministrant of gospel light and grace to his fellow-men.
5. There is an implied possibility of relinquishing our hold of the gospel hope.Be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. The words do not necessarily imply doubt, but suggest the necessity for constant circumspection, vigilance, and care. The multiplicity and fulness of our blessings may prove a snare to us; prosperity tempts us to relax watchfulness, and we are in danger of becoming a prey to the wiles of the wicked one. Our retention of the gospel hope is rendered immovable by constant waiting upon God in fervent prayer, by a growing acquaintance with the word of promise, by continually anticipating in thought the bliss of the future.
Lessons.
1. The gospel provides the surest basis for faith and hope.
2. Mans ultimate blessedness depends on his continued fidelity.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
23. if so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven; whereof I Paul was made a minister.
Translation and Paraphrase
23. (While Christ has reconciled you and designs to present you faultless before God, this will happen only) if you preserve in the faith, builded upon the foundation, and firm, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you heard about (and which has been) preached in all (the) creation under heaven, (and) of which I Paul was made a minister, (that is, a minister of the gospel).
Notes
1.
If we desire to be in that number when the saints go marching in and to be presented before God holy and without blemish, there is a condition that we must meet: we must continue in the faith. Compare Heb. 4:14.
2.
The necessity of continuing in the faith is the theme of the whole book of Hebrews. It is stated briefly here in Col. 1:23. If we shrink back from the faith, we shrink back unto perdition (destruction). Heb. 10:39.
3.
The aim and obligation of reconciliation:
(1)
Aimholiness.
(2)
Obligationsteadfastness.
4.
Paul describes the condition of those who continue in the faith as grounded (which literally means builded upon a foundation), and steadfast (immoveable), and not moved away from the hope of the gospel (the hope presented in gospel). 1Co. 15:58. Concerning the hope in the gospel, see notes on Col. 1:5.
5.
Pauls allusion to the hope of the gospel caused him to make two observations about the gospel:
(1) It was preached in all creation under heaven.
(2) Paul himself had been made a minister of the gospel. (Pauls reference here to his ministry led into the following section, Col. 1:24-29; Col. 2:1-5.)
6.
The fact that the gospel was preached in all creation under heaven in the first century alone, shows that the gospel can be spread over the world in one generation. We seem to lack the faith or the courage to attempt to do this. Compare notes on Col. 1:6.
In Mat. 24:14 Jesus said, This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come. In view of the fact that Paul said that in his generation alone the gospel had been preached in all creation, we cannot say that the end cannot come yet because the gospel has not been preached in all nations.
Study and Review
34.
What condition must we meet if we are to be presented as holy unto God? (Col. 1:23)
35.
Explain the term grounded, (Col. 1:23)
36.
From what must we not be moved away?
37.
Where did we learn of our hope?
38.
Where had the gospel been preached within Pauls lifetime?
39.
To what does the whereof in Col. 1:23 refer? (Or, to put it in another way, Of what had Paul been made a minister?)
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(23) If.The word, as in Eph. 3:2; Eph. 4:21 (where see Notes), conveys a supposition hardly hypotheticalIf, as I presume; If, as I trust. St. Paul cannot refrain from needful warning, but he refuses to anticipate failure.
Grounded.Built on the foundation. Comp. Eph. 2:20, built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone.
Settled.The result of being so grounded. The word is used in the same sense, but without metaphorical association, in 1Co. 15:58, stedfast, unmoveable, as here settled and not being moved.
The hope.See Note on Col. 1:5. Here, as there, great emphasis is laid on hope. But here there may possibly be reference to some ideas (like those spoken of in 2Ti. 2:18) that the resurrection was past already, and that the hope of a true resurrection and a real heaven was either a delusion or a metaphor.
Every creature which is under heaven.Comp. our Lords command, Preach the gospel to every creature (Mar. 16:15). In idea and capacity the gospel is literally universal; although in actual reality such universality can only be claimed by a natural hyperbole.
[3.
The Mission of St. Paul.
As APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES, a minister of the newly revealed mystery of their salvation, testifying to all alike by suffering and by preaching, in order to present all perfect in Christ Jesus (Col. 1:24-29).]
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
23. If ye continue That is, assuming your persistence in the life of faith. A turning from the gospel to some substitute would work a forfeiture of its promised result.
Every creature Not that all men had then actually heard it, but it is provided for all and proclaimed for all without limitation.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘If so be that you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which you heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven, whereof I Paul was made a minister.’
Final perseverance is the test of the genuineness of faith and the resultant salvation. If Christ is at work in them then He will enable them to the end. Thus their assurance rests on two things. It rests on their faith in the reliability of the Saviour, and on the evidence of their continuation in ‘the faith’, the truth as revealed in Jesus, firmly grounded, and faithful and steadfast. Those who move away from ‘the hope’ of the Gospel, the expectation of their final presentation in unreproachable perfection, and cease to live lives approved unto God, only prove thereby that they had never truly believed. ‘They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us they would have continued with us’ (1Jn 2:19).
‘The faith.’ As revealed in ‘the word of God’ (Mar 7:13), the Old Testament, and in ‘the testimony of Jesus’, which became the Gospels, and as found in the proclamation of the word by the Spirit guided Apostles, which became the rest of the New Testament.
‘Moved away.’ There are always those who would seek to move us away from the true Gospel. And their teaching is often subtly like the Gospel, possibly just with an overemphasis on one particular aspect. But if that aspect takes our eyes off Christ, or out of fellowship with His people, we must beware, for Christ is the Gospel, and love for all His people is mandatory.
‘Grounded.’ Based and built on a firm foundation (see 1Co 3:10-11). ‘Steadfast.’ Because firmly grounded, continuing firm, and immovable. Such people are like the man who built his house on a rock, and when storm, tempest, hurricane and flood came it stood firm because it was firmly grounded (Mat 7:24-25).
‘The hope of the Gospel.’ The ‘hope of the Gospel’ is faith looking into the future. Looking to that final day when Christ Himself will come and transform the righteous, presenting them without fault or blemish before His Father.
‘Which was preached in all creation under heaven.’ Jesus Christ had Himself promised that the Gospel would be preached to all nations (Mar 13:10). Paul saw this as well under way. But as always in Scripture such all embracing statements refer to their known world, not to the vague world far beyond of which they knew little or nothing (compare 1Ki 10:24).
‘Whereof I Paul was made a minister (diakonos).’ A reminder to them of his special calling which was the basis of his authoritative teaching.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Col 1:23. If ye continue in the faith, &c. “You will certainly be so presented, if ye continue established and grounded in the faith in which you have been instructed, and be not by any floods of affliction or tempers of temptation, removed and carried away from the important hope of a happy immortality brought to us by the glorious gospel; which we have heard, and which hath not only been published among the Jews, but, by a special commission from God, been preached to the whole creation under heaven, as a message which extends to all the species of mankind; by which he commandeth all men every where to repent, and promises salvation to all who believe and obey. Of which gospel I Paul am appointed a minister, and esteem it my peculiar honour and happiness that I am so.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Col 1:23 . Requirement, with which is associated not, indeed, the being included in the work of reconciliation (Hofmann), but the attainment of its blessed final aim, which would otherwise be forfeited, namely the . . . above described: so far at any rate as ye , i. e. assuming, namely, that ye, etc. A confidence that the readers will fulfil this condition is not conveyed by the in itself (see on 2Co 5:3 ; Gal 3:4 ; Eph 3:2 ), and is not implied here by the context; but Paul sets forth the relation purely as a condition certainly taking place , which they have to fulfil , in order to attain the . . . that “fructus in posterum laetissimus” of their reconciliation (Bengel).
] belonging to .: abide by the faith , do not cease from it. [59] See on Rom 6:1 . The mode of this abiding is indicated by what follows positively ( . . ), and negatively ( . . . . . ), under the figurative conception of a building , in which, and that with reference to the Parousia pointed at by . . ., the hope of the gospel is conceived as the foundation , in so far as continuance in the faith is based on this, and is in fact not possible without it (Col 1:27 ). “Spe amissa perseverantia concidit,” Grotius. On ., which is not interjected (Holtzmann), comp. Eph 3:17 ; 1Pe 5:10 ; and on , 1Co 15:58 . The opposite of . is , Luk 6:49 ; but it would be a contrast to the . , if they were . . . ; concerning , see Winer, p. 443 [E. T. 596]; Baeumlein, Part . p. 295.
.] passively , through the influence of false doctrines and other seductive forces.
] away from , so as to stand no longer on hope as the foundation of perseverance in the faith. Comp. Gal 1:6 .
The . (which is proclaimed through the gospel by means of its promises, comp. Col 1:5 , and on Eph 1:18 ) is the hope of eternal life in the Messianic kingdom, which has been imparted to the believer in the gospel. Comp. Col 1:4-5 ; Col 1:27 ; Rom 5:2 ; Rom 8:24 ; Tit 1:2 f., Col 3:7 .
. . . ] three definitions rendering the . . . in its universal obligation palpably apparent to the readers; for such a would, in the case of the Colossians, be inexcusable ( , comp. Rom 10:18 ), would set at naught the universal proclamation of the gospel ( . . . . ), and would stand in contrast to the personal weight of the apostle’s position as its servant ( . . . . ). If, with Hofmann, we join as an adjective to , , we withdraw from the that element of practical significance, which it must have, if it is not to be superfluous. Nor is justice done to the third point, . . . , if the words (so Hofmann, comp. de Wette) are meant to help the apostle, by enforcing what he is thenceforth to write with the weight of his name, to come to his condition at that time . According to this, they would be merely destined as a transition. In accordance with the context, however, and without arbitrary tampering, they can only have the same aim with the two preceding attributives which are annexed to the gospel; and, with this aim, how appropriately and forcibly do they stand at the close! [60] , Oecumenius, comp. Chrysostom. Comp. on , with a view to urge his personal authority, 2Co 10:1 ; Gal 5:2 ; Eph 3:1 ; 1Th 2:18 ; Phm 1:19 . It is to be observed, moreover, that if Paul himself had been the teacher of the Colossians, this relation would certainly not have been passed over here in silence.
(without , see the critical remarks) is to be taken as: in presence of (coram , see Ast, Lex. Plat . I. p. 701; Winer, p. 360 [E. T. 481]) every creature , before everything that is created ( , as in Col 1:15 ). There is nothing created under the heaven, in whose sphere and environment (comp. Khner, II. 1, p. 401) the gospel had not been proclaimed. The sense of the word must be left in this entire generality, and not limited to the heathen (Bhr). It is true that the popular expression of universality may just as little be pressed here as in Col 1:6 . Comp. Herm. Past . sim. viii. 3; Ignatius, Rom 2 . But as in Col 1:15 , so also here is not all creation , according to which the sense is assumed to be: “ on a stage embracing the whole world ” (Hofmann). This Paul would properly have expressed by , or , or . ; comp. Col 1:6 . The expression is more lofty and poetic than in Col 1:6 , appropriate to the close of the section, not a fanciful reproduction betraying an imitator and a later age (Holtzmann). Omitting even (because it is not continued by ), Holtzmann arrives merely at the connection between Col 1:23 and Col 1:25 : . . . . . . . , just as he then would read further thus: . . . , . . . . .
] See on Eph 3:7 . Paul has become such through his calling, Gal 1:15 f.; Eph 3:7 . Observe the aorist .
[59] In our Epistle faith is by no means postponed to knowing and perceiving (comp. Col 2:5 ; Col 2:7 ; Col 2:12 ), as Baur asserts in his Neut. Theol. p. 272. The frequent emphasis laid upon knowledge, insight, comprehension, and the like, is not to be put to the account of an intellectualism, which forms a fundamental peculiarity betokening the author and age of this Epistle (and especially of that to the Ephesians), as Holtzmann conceives, p. 216 ff.; on the contrary, it was owing to the attitude of the apostle towards the antagonistic philosophical speculations. Comp. also Grau, Entwickelungsgesch. d. N. T. II. p. 153 ff. It was owing to the necessary relations, in which the apostle, with his peculiarity of being all things to all men, found himself placed towards the interests of the time and place.
[60] According to Baur, indeed, such passages as the present are among those which betray the double personality of the author.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
IV
CHRIST’S RELATION TO THE FATHER AND THE UNIVERSE
Col 1:23-2:7
This chapter commences with a question based on the King James Version of Col 1:23 : “Which was preached to every creature which is under heaven.” In my younger days the Hard Shell Baptists used this passage to prove that the commission in Mar 16:15-18 , commanding to “preach the gospel to every creature” was literally and finally fulfilled by the apostles to whom alone it was given. They supported their contention by citing the fact that the “signs” in Mar 16:17-18 , which were to accompany and confirm missionary work had long since failed, and therefore missions were ended; that the “signs” were a part of the commission, and whoever now claimed authority to do mission work under that commission must show the signs or stand convicted of imposture. I used to press this point on Missionary Baptist preachers to see how they would answer it. Finally one of them passed the question back to me, “You are a Missionary Baptist yourself how do you answer it?” My reply was this:
1.Mar 16:15-18 must be construed with Mat 28:18-20 . The perpetuity of the Matthew commission appears from “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world,” and from the fact that the “make disciples of all nations” is co-extensive with “teaching them to observe all things, etc.,” which Hard Shells themselves admit to be binding now.
2. Even after Paul had written, “which was preached to every creature which is under heaven,” he himself went right on in the mission work and commanded others to do the same, which examples prove the continuity and perpetuity of the commission. So also does Peter, as appears from his letters written after Paul wrote Colossians. And so, also, does John. See particularly the letter to Gaius long after Colossians, in which John commends Gaius for helping the missionaries and condemns the Hard Shell Diotrephes, (vv. 6-10).
3. We must look to the apostle in subsequent teaching to learn if the “signs” are always to accompany the mission work, or are to cease when their accrediting purpose is accomplished (1Co 13:8 ; 1Co 13:13 ).
4. The accuracy of the King James Version of Col 1:23 is questionable. The revision thus renders Mar 16:15 , “Preach the gospel to the whole creation,” and renders Col 1:23 , “which was preached in all creation under heaven.” Compare Rom 10:18 .
5. Whatever the rendering, the Hard Shell interpretation is manifestly erroneous. The gospel must be preached to all the world, generation by generation, and not merely to one generation. The church, as the pillar and ground of the truth, must continue to instruct the angels in the manifold wisdom of God until Jesus comes (Eph 3:10 ) and must, by its mission work, exhibit the glory of God throughout all generations (Eph 3:21 ). Ephesians was written after Colossians.
6. Paul was operating under a direct commission given subsequently to the one in Mat 28 and Mar 16 , (see Act 9:15 ; Act 22:14-21 ; Act 26:16-18 ), and transmitted to others the carrying on of the same mission work (2Ti 2:2 ).
The next item in the analysis is the parenthetical explanation of the apostle’s mission to the Gentiles, and his consequent concern for these Colossians. That item of the analysis extends from Col 1:24-2:7 . He is expounding here the object of his mission to the Gentiles.
We recall that when Paul was so long a time at Ephesus, the capital of the Roman province of Asia, in which were these Lycus valley cities, that representatives from this Lycus valley attended these meetings, among whom were Philemon and Epaphras, of Colosse, who were both converted. And while he himself at the time of this great meeting, did not personally visit these Lycus valley cities, those who were converted by him did visit them and plant the gospel there; so the establishment of the churches there was indirectly attributable to him, and so he would have an interest in them.
But apart from that fact, he was the Christ-appointed missionary to the Gentiles, and they were mostly Gentiles. In this valley there were some Jews. The population was blended. While ethnologically most of them were Phrygians, they were a mixed people; some were Jews, some Greeks, and some Romans. But he was concerned because the whole Gentile mission had been turned over to him, as to Peter and the other apostles was given the mission to the Jews. So we note when Peter writes a letter to these very people later, he confines himself to the Jewish inhabitants, thus: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect who are sojourners of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.” While Peter writes to the elect of the sojourners of the dispersion to the dispersed Jews Paul writes as an apostle to the Gentiles. What is the difference between the “to whom” that Paul wrote and the “to whom” that Peter wrote? Paul wrote as an apostle to the Gentiles, and the whole cast of his letter is Gentilic. Peter wrote to the Jews of the dispersion, and the whole cast of his letter is Jewish. So then, because Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, it is a matter of concern to him that they should take on false doctrine.
I call attention to some expressions in Col 1:24 . He says, “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church.” Did Dr. Gordon in his book on the Spirit rightly interpret that passage, “I fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ”? Or does Paul’s suffering have anything to do with Christ’s sacrificial suffering, in order to the salvation of man? Or does he mean that his sufferings supplement the nonsacrificial sufferings of Christ? Some of Christ’s sufferings were for our example and others were not. As proof I cite 1Pe 2:20 : “For what glory is it, if, when ye sin, and are buffeted for it, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye shall take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow in his steps.” So we may now follow the example of Christ’s sufferings, except that expiatory part, and our sufferings may supplement his sufferings except that expiatory part. There we cannot come in. Those who deny the substitutionary or vicarious expiation of Christ are accustomed to quote this passage from Peter and this passage from Paul to show that the sufferings of Christ were merely martyr sufferings, not unlike Paul’s martyr sufferings and Peter’s, and serve merely as an example of patience, and that they had no expiatory nature. It is necessary to emphasize this point as to the distinction between what he did as a vicarious sacrifice for sinners and the ordinary sufferings of Christ, such as we and all of his people participate in. He himself refers to this when he says, “If the world hateth you, ye know that it hath hated me before it hated you. If ye were of this world, the world would love its own; but because ye are not of this world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, A servant is not greater than his lord. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.”
In Col 1:26 we have a word that needs explanation. What does Paul mean by “mystery”? He says, “I was made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which was given me to you-ward, to fulfil the word of God, even the mystery which hath been hid for ages and generations, but now hath been manifested to his saints.” What is this mystery? He explains it in the next verse: “To whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles.” In the letter to the Ephesians he elaborates on that mystery this way: “Wherefore remember that once ye, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision, in the flesh, made by hands; that ye were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus ye that once were afar off are made nigh in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who made both one, and brake down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; that he might create in himself of the two one new man, so making peace; and might reconcile them both in one body unto God through the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: and he came and preached peace to you that were far off, and peace to them that were nigh: for through him we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father. So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God” (Eph 2:11-19 ).
The mystery then was this that in the beginning of the human race God had purposed not to make any discrimination between people, and salvation was to be as free to one nation as to another and that in electing the Jews and isolating them from all other people, it was not done because they were better than other people, nor was it done to confer special grace upon them, but simply to make them the depository of his truth for the time being, which in the fulness of time would include all the human race. This is the mystery. But the Jews supposed that God was partial to them that they were not merely the custodians of revelation for all mankind, but that between them and the Gentiles there was a wall that could not be broken down. They would stand up on that wall, glorying in their sanctity, and saying to outsiders, “You dogs! Don’t touch me! I am holier than you!” They carried that so far that they would go home from the crowded streets, immerse themselves, and wash their clothes to remove possible defilement by contact with a Gentile. Paul does not use the word “mystery” in the sense that what he now reveals is mysterious, but that his revelation makes clear what was once a mystery that the purpose of grace for the whole human race was veiled in the Old Testament times but unveiled in New Testament times.
So John, in Revelation, talking about the scarlet woman, says that she is “mystery,” meaning that for the time being the truth was veiled under a symbol. The symbol was a woman dressed in scarlet, sitting upon a beast. All Bible critics confront the question, What is the meaning of “mystery” in the New Testament? It has several meanings. The context determines in each case. Paul in a letter to Timothy says, “Confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness,” and then gives all the elements of that mystery of godliness, commencing, “God made manifest in the flesh.”
In Col 2:2 he says, “That their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, even Christ.” The idea is that God, out of Christ, is a mystery, unknowable, but in Christ he is declared and the mystery solved.
Consider also that word “assurance.” We have three samples of its use: We have faith and the assurance of faith. We have hope and the assurance of hope. We have understanding and the assurance of understanding. There is a distinction between a man’s simple faith in Christ and the assurance of that faith. Faith, hope, and understanding are all objective, in that they go out of us and take hold of an external object. But assurance is subjective. It does not raise a question concerning the merits of the object of faith, but rather the question, Do I really believe? So with hope and understanding. Hope looks to certain things reserved in heaven; assurance of hope is a kind of certificate to a person that thoroughly satisfies him that his hopes are well grounded.
These Gentiles did not understand that the gate of salvation was to be just as wide open to them as to the Jews. When they took hold of it they took hold of it timidly. So Paul says, “I want you to get full assurance of understanding that you are entitled to this that God meant you just as much as he meant a Jew.” We see that if the Gentiles could reach full assurance of understanding that they were entitled to salvation under the same law and the same terms as the Jew, then Judaizing teachers could not subvert them, could not shake them by saying, “You must be circumcised in order to be saved.” The reply would be, “I have an understanding of that matter, and I have full assurance of the understanding, and I know that I do not have to become a Jew in order to be saved.”
So Paul continues in Col 2:4 : “This I say that no one may delude you with persuasive speech.” That is exactly what was taking place there. There was a false teacher in Colosse who was endeavoring to make proselytes to his philosophy, and one part of that philosophy was that they must observe all sabbatic rituals, whether the seventh-day sabbath, monthly sabbath, or annual sabbath. That is precisely the point that this false teacher was trying to make. Paul says to these Gentiles, “I have a deep concern for you, and I want to lead you into a clear practical understanding of this gospel, lest somebody come and delude you with persuasive speech.”
In Col 2:6 we have another variation of the same thought: “As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.” In other words, “You received him by simple faith, without conformity to Jewish ritual; continue as you commenced.” Compare Gal 3:1-3 , “O foolish Galatians, who did bewitch you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified? This only would I learn from you: Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in the flesh?”
He continues the assurance thought: “Rooted and builded up in him and established in your faith, even as ye were taught.” Those three words, “rooted,” “builded up” and “established” contain the thought he was trying to impress: “I want you to be so well indoctrinated that you cannot be turned aside by specious error.”
The same thought prevails in his letter to the Ephesians in his prayer, Col 3:4-19 : “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God.” That is one denomination and another between justification and longer emphasize doctrine. We would be amazed if we were to call up our entire church membership, and as each one comes up begin to catechize to see if every member was thoroughly indoctrinated in the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Many of them cannot discriminate between one denomination and another between justification and sanctification. Herein the Presbyterians excel the Baptists in the use of the catechism.
Where a church has been faithfully ministered unto by a pastor who selects, not high sounding texts whose mere sound led him to the selection, but who has from his deliberate conviction preached from the themes that they needed for their rooting and grounding and establishment in faith, that man will have an indoctrinated church. But there is a class of wishy-washy, “milk and cider” preachers who would rather say it does not make any difference what one believes if the heart is all right; it does not make any difference how he is baptized; they do not care whether he is a member of the church or not. That class of preachers raise up congregations to become the prey of any evangelical tramp or crank. Such an ill-trained congregation does not make even good militia, much less veteran soldiers.
To illustrate: Recently a Boston Baptist preacher, moderator of an association, published in The Baptist Watchman a full four-page article that would degenerate a vertebrate into a jelly fish. He denies that baptism is a prerequisite to church membership, denies that a church has anything whatever to do with receiving members or judging of their qualifications, affirms that when a man believes it automatically makes him a member of the church, prefers to make baptism essential to salvation rather than essential to church membership. In a word, the whole article is made up of “airy nothings” without a stalwart thought in it. The wonder is how that man ever got into a Baptist church. It must have been automatically, for no true Baptist church, if it had been consulted, would have received him.
To illustrate again: One day a man called at my house who denied that a church was either an assembly or an organization at all, saying that it was merely a living community. God help us when such jellyfish views about the church are taught by those in authority!
Two parts of this letter are of transcendently great importance. One is the doctrine and the other is this part the fourth item of the analysis. Let us look at what the analysis says:
Polemics against the false teacher and teachings at Colosse (Col 2:8-3:17 ).
(1) As limiting by a false philosophy the sufficiency of Christ and their completeness in him.
(2) Polemics against the folly of this philosophy in accounting for creation, and in defining sin, and in the insufficiency of its means for conquest of sin, such as (a) a Pharisaic observance of an obsolete sabbatic ritual, (b) a self-imposed humility, (c) the worship of angels, supposed to be emanations from God, himself unknowable, (d) a bondage to impracticable ascetic precepts based on the idea that sin resides in matter, which precepts were but expressions of will worship and powerless to hedge against temptation or to subdue the passions, or to supply objects high enough to incite to love motives.
(3) Against its substitution of a mystic knowledge (“gnosis”) as a standard instead of the gospel (Col 2:16-23 ).
(4) But the gospel on the other hand raises us with Christ and makes us sharers of his life and exaltation, supplies us with heavenly objects of thought and desire, and pledges our manifestation in glory with Christ (Col 3:1-4 ).
(5) It shows sin to be an awful nature called the “old man,” resident in mind, not matter, and expresses itself in fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, railing, shameful speaking (Col 3:5-9 ).
(6) It provides for the real conquest of sin by regeneration puts off the old man and puts on the new man, a recreation after the image of God, expressing itself in a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, forbearance, forgiveness, love, and by the sanctifying instrumentality of God’s word, and by spiritual worship, in teaching, prayer, and song, and by supplying the dominant motives in all word, deed or thought, the glory of God (Col 3:10-17 ).
(7) It glorifies in Christ all races, nations, social castes (Col 3:11 ).
There was a false teacher, not teachers it was one person. We do not know who, but there was one prominent man there in the Lycus valley who possessed and held this false philosophy. This philosophy was partly Pharisaic in its adherence to the sabbatic ritual, and partly of the Essenes in its ascetic teaching. This philosophy held that the world was not created by God, because God is unknowable and cannot touch man and things, but that it was created by emanations from God eons and therefore, instead of worshiping God, they worshiped eons, or angels. They said that they should not worship God because they could not know him. They worshiped intermediate beings that came in touch with them.
Then this philosophy taught that as sin resided in matter, the way to conquer it was by conformity to ascetic precepts that one should retire from the world, live like the Essenes in a cave on the border of the Dead Sea, not marry, have just as few clothes as possible, all the time working on the destruction of the body, because there is where sin resides, since the soul is all right. That was one phase of the philosophy. Paul was combating that, as shown in his doctrines: Christ in his relation to the Father, the universe and its intelligences, and that by him, in him, and unto him was creation, and that he was before all things, and in his relation to the church.
With reference to sin, notice what things he enumerates as expressions of sin, and see whether it be of the body: “Evil desire, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, railing, lying, shameful speaking out of your mouth.” Some of these are overt acts, but sin, according to that teaching, resides in the soul and not in the body. The body is merely used as an instrument in a great many sins, but sin does not reside in the body. To show further how Paul was controverting this philosophy as to the nature of sin, he calls it the old man, the old Adam. How then is sin to be conquered? It is to be conquered by something that will change the nature that will put off the old man and put on the new man. That is regeneration, and then follows a sanctifying power that will carry on the regenerating work, so that instead of the deeds of the old man like anger, wrath, malice, etc., we put on the deeds of the new man, like love, kindness, a heart of compassion, forbearance and forgiveness. Then he goes on to show what instrumentalities are necessary to bring this about: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” So we see the difference between the two philosophies in question.
QUESTIONS
1. State the Hard Shell contention based on the King James Version of Col 1:23 , and reply to it.
2. What is the difference between the “to whom” Paul is writing and the “to whom” Peter later writes?
3. Expound Col 1:24 , “I fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ,” and show Dr. Gordon’s interpretation.
4. What the meaning of “mystery” in Col 1:25 and elsewhere by Paul, does it mean the same thing when used by the Synoptic Gospels and by John in Revelation, and does it mean the same thing when used in the classics and by modern secret societies?
5. Expound the word “assurance,” in Col 2:2 , distinguish between “knowledge” and the “assurance of knowledge,” between “faith” and the “assurance of faith,” between ‘hope” and the “assurance of hope,” and apply the context showing the value of the “assurance of knowledge.”
6. Show the variation of the same thought in Col 2:6-7 .
7. What similar expressions in Eph 3 , and what the application there?
8. What defect in many Baptist churches, what the kind of preachers that promote it, and wherein do Presbyterians excel us at this point?
9. Illustrate by the article in The Baptist Watchman and by a modern definition of the word “church.”
10. What the two very important parts of this letter, and what a brief summary of the second as indicated in the analysis and the brief discussion which follows?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
Ver. 23. If ye continue in the faith ] All the promises are made to perseverance in grace. He that continueth to the end shall be saved. Be faithful to the death, and thou shalt have a crown of life. Mat 24:13 ; Rev 2:10 . But fugitivo nulla corona; by fleeing this is no crown, if any withdraw he falleth into hell’s mouth, Heb 10:39 .
Grounded and settled ] When faith bears fruit upward, it will take root downward, and make a man as a tree by the river’s side, and not as the chaff in the fan, Psa 1:3-4 , or as the boat without ballast.
Preached to every creature ] That is, to every reasonable creature, Mar 16:15 . Though to many we preach to no more purpose than Bede did when he preached to a heap of stones: these are unreasonable creatures, 2Th 3:2 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
23 .] (condition of this presentation being realized: put in the form of an assumption of their firmness in the hope and faith of the Gospel) if, that is (i.e. ‘assuming that,’ see note on 2Co 5:3 ), ye persist (more locally pointed than ; usually implying some terminus ad quem, or if not, perseverance to and rest in the end) in the faith (ref.: also Xen. Hell. iii. 4. 6, (al. .) : more frequently with , see Rost u. Palm sub voce) grounded (see Eph 3:18 , note: and on the sense, Luk 6:48-49 ) and stedfast (1Co 15:58 , where the thought also of . occurs), and not (the second of two correlative clauses, if setting forth and conditioned by the first, assumes a kind of subjective character, and therefore if expressed by a negative particle, regularly takes , not . So Soph. Electr. 380, , . See more examples in Hartung, ii. 113 f.) being moved away (better passive, than middle: cf. Xen. rep. Lac. xv. 1, . : it is rather their being stirred (objective) by the false teachers, than their suffering themselves (subjective) to be stirred, that is here in question) from the hope (subjective, but grounded on the objective, see note on Eph 1:18 ) of (belonging to, see Eph. as above: the sense ‘ wrought by ’ (Mey., De W., Ellic.) is true in fact, but hardly expresses the construction) the Gospel, which ye heard (“three considerations enforcing the : the would be for the Colossians themselves inexcusable ( .), inconsistent with the universality of the Gospel ( . &c.), and contrary to the personal relation of the Apostle to the Gospel.” Mey. This view is questioned by De W., but it certainly seems best to suit the context: and cf. Chrys. , , and see below), which was preached ( , . , Chr.) in the whole creation (see Mar 16:15 . On the omission of the article before see above, Col 1:15 , note) which is under the heaven, of which I Paul became a minister ( . . , . , Chrys.).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Col 1:23 . with the indicative expresses the Apostle’s confidence that the condition will be fulfilled. . This abiding in faith is the only, as it is the sure way, to this presentation of themselves . . This is directed against the false teachers’ assurance that the gospel they had heard needed to be supplemented if they wished to attain salvation. It needs no supplementing, and it is at the peril of salvation that they lose hold of it. refers to the firm foundation, to the stability of the building. . The perfect participle here gives way to the present, expressing a continuous process. It may be passive or middle, probably the former. . : to be taken with . alone, not, assuming a zeugma, with the three co-ordinate expressions (Sod.), for it is not at all clear that the last of these keeps up the metaphor of a building. The hope of the Gospel is the hope given by or proclaimed in the Gospel. . Paul again sets his seal on the form of the Gospel which they had received, and again insists on the universality of its proclamation, its catholicity as guaranteeing its truth (see on Col 1:5-7 ). : “in presence of every creature”; . ., as in Col 1:15 , with the limitation . . . . : cf. Eph 3:7 . This phrase contains a certain stately self-assertion; the Apostle urges the fact that he is a minister of this Gospel as a reason why they should remain faithful to it. His apostolic authority, so far from being impugned by the false teachers, was more probably invoked; so Paul throws it in the balance against them. It is also true that the Gentile mission was so bound up in his own mind with his apostleship that a reference to the one naturally suggested a reference to the other. By this clause Paul effects the transition to Col 1:24 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
If = If (App-118. a) at least.
continue. See Act 10:48.
grounded. See Eph 3:17.
settled. Greek hedraios. Seo 1Co 7:37.
not. App-105.
moved away. Greek. metaktoneo. Only here.
hope of the gospel. i.e. the return of the Lord. Compare Tit 2:13,
gospel. App-140.
have Omit.
preached. App-121.
to. App-104.
under. App-104.
heaven = the heaven See Mat 6:9, Mat 6:15.
am made. Literally became. Compare “ordained “(same Greek. word) Act 1:22.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
23.] (condition of this presentation being realized: put in the form of an assumption of their firmness in the hope and faith of the Gospel)-if, that is (i.e. assuming that, see note on 2Co 5:3), ye persist (more locally pointed than ;-usually implying some terminus ad quem, or if not, perseverance to and rest in the end) in the faith (ref.: also Xen. Hell. iii. 4. 6, (al. .) : more frequently with , see Rost u. Palm sub voce) grounded (see Eph 3:18, note: and on the sense, Luk 6:48-49) and stedfast (1Co 15:58, where the thought also of . occurs), and not (the second of two correlative clauses, if setting forth and conditioned by the first, assumes a kind of subjective character, and therefore if expressed by a negative particle, regularly takes , not . So Soph. Electr. 380, , . See more examples in Hartung, ii. 113 f.) being moved away (better passive, than middle: cf. Xen. rep. Lac. xv. 1, . : it is rather their being stirred (objective) by the false teachers, than their suffering themselves (subjective) to be stirred, that is here in question) from the hope (subjective, but grounded on the objective, see note on Eph 1:18) of (belonging to, see Eph. as above: the sense wrought by (Mey., De W., Ellic.) is true in fact, but hardly expresses the construction) the Gospel, which ye heard (three considerations enforcing the : the would be for the Colossians themselves inexcusable ( .), inconsistent with the universality of the Gospel ( . &c.), and contrary to the personal relation of the Apostle to the Gospel. Mey. This view is questioned by De W., but it certainly seems best to suit the context: and cf. Chrys. , , and see below),-which was preached ( , . , Chr.) in the whole creation (see Mar 16:15. On the omission of the article before see above, Col 1:15, note) which is under the heaven,-of which I Paul became a minister (. . , . , Chrys.).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Col 1:23. , if indeed) This word depends on the finite verb, He hath reconciled, Col 1:21, rather than on the infinitive [Col 1:22]; and this , being the ultimate [final] object, is itself the most delightful fruit of reconciliation; whence it is not the truth of the reconciliation which has been accomplished, that is suspended [is made to depend] on the perseverance of the Colossians, but the most delightful fruit for the time to come, which is not to be obtained, unless the Colossians shall have persevered; comp. , Eph 4:21; , Heb 3:6.- ) in faith, viz. in confidence; to which hope is usually joined.-) secured to the foundation [grounded]: , stable [settled], firm within. The former is metaphorical, the latter less figurative; the one implies greater respect to the foundation, by which believers are supported; but , stable (settled), suggests the idea of internal strength, which believers themselves possess; just as a building ought to lean (rest) uprightly and solidly on the foundation first of all, but afterwards to cohere securely, and firmly to stand together, even by its own mass [compact solidity of structure].- , and stable and) 1Co 15:58, note; Eph 3:18.- , of the Gospel) by which reconciliation is declared.-, to every) Col 1:20; Mar 16:15, note.-, minister) Col 1:25; Eph 3:7.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Col 1:23
Col 1:23
if so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded and stedfast,-Paul wished them to take no chance with plausible false teachers who were pleading with them that the gospel which they had heard from Epaphras needed additions.
and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye heard,-[They had heard the gospel, hence there was no excuse for their being moved away from the hope it presented. The expression points to a possible danger threatening them, thus preparing for the warning to follow.]
which was preached in all creation under heaven;-It seems strange that at that time the gospel had been preached among all the nations, but if we consider the earnest character of the Christians, who gloried in persecution and death for Christs sake, it will not seem so strange. The greatest hindrance to the gospel in our day is the lukewarm and indifferent character of professed Christians. Personal consecration and devotion are the great needs to spread the gospel abroad. [The motive of Paul here is at once to emphasize the universality of the gospel, which had been offered without reserve to all alike, hence he warns the Colossians not to be led by false teachers into a course contrary to the gospel. The great message of Gods love in Jesus Christ commends itself to us because it can go into any part of the world, and there upon all kinds of people work its wonders, as is shown by the mission work in all parts of the world today.]
whereof I Paul was made a minister.-He did not hesitate to magnify his office as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He proclaimed unhesitatingly the universal supremacy of Christ and the subordination to him of all principalities and powers, and that all life and all powers are mediated through him and are subject to his supreme will. He claimed for him the control of life in all its manifold departments and in every sphere, visible and invisible, and places in his hand the government of the world and the direction of every power that makes for the progress of humanity. Pauls message is as modem and pertinent as when he sent it to the Colossians. [There are those today who challenge the competency of Paul as an interpreter of Christ. We should listen to no words which make Christs dominion and sovereignty, and his sole and all sufficient work on the cross, less mighty as the only power that knits heaven and earth together,]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Chapter 5 Paul’s Twofold Ministry
Col 1:23-29
If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his bodys sake, which is the church: whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God. (vv. 23-25)
The if with which verse 23 begins has been the occasion of much perplexity to timid souls who hardly dare to accept the truth of the believers eternal security, so conscious are they of their own weakness and insufficiency. But, rightly understood, there is nothing here to disturb any sincere believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. There are a number of similar ifs in the New Testament, and all with precisely the same object in view-the testing of profession. In 1Co 15:1-2 we read, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. Here the if is inserted in order to exercise the consciences of any who, having professed to believe the gospel, are in danger of forgetting the message, so proving that they have never really received the truth into their hearts. He would have them carefully examine their foundations. Many there are who readily profess to adopt Christianity and unite themselves outwardly with the people of God, who have never truly turned to the Lord in repentance and rested their souls upon His finished work. Such endure for a time but soon forget the claims of the gospel when satanic allurements would draw them away.
In Heb 3:6 we have another such if. But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. The meaning is plain. It is not enough to profess to have the Christian hope. Those who are real will hold fast unto the end, as we also read in 10:38-39 of the same epistle. Endurance is the proof of reality. What God implants in the soul is lasting, and we may be assured that He who hath begun a good work in any one will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, the time when He shall come for His ransomed people to complete in glory what His grace began on earth.
Paul did not pretend to say who of the Colossians were really born of God. While he had confidence that most of them were, he wrote in such a way as to stir up the consciences of any who were becoming slack. A readiness to adopt new and fanciful systems was a cause for grave concern. Those who are really children of God, grounded and strengthened in the truth, are not of the number who will be moved away from the hope of the gospel. They know too well what it has already done for them to lightly turn away from it to some new and untried theory.
This gospel they had heard, as in the providence of God it had been preached in all the creation under heaven. This is probably a better translation than that of the King James Version. It is hardly thinkable that the apostle meant that every creature in the habitable earth had heard the gospel. But it is a wonderful testimony to the devotion of the early believers that even within one generation after our Lords ascension the evangel had been carried throughout the known world. Of this gospel Paul was made minister. The indefinite article does not really help. It only lends color to the idea which came in later, that the ministry is a special class to which all believers do not belong. The apostle is not claiming that he is a minister in the sense in which that term has been used in later years. He was one addicted to the work of the ministry. That is, the gospel had been committed to him by God whom he served, as he says elsewhere, with his spirit in the gospel of Gods Son. This gospel ministry has been committed to all believers, and Paul is a sharer with others in making the testimony known. But in a preeminent way it was given to him to reveal it. As preached by Paul, it bears the distinctive character of the gospel of the glory,
Another ministry had also been given to him, even that of the assembly, the body of Christ. So he goes on to say that he rejoices in whatsoever he might be called upon to suffer on behalf of the people of God, as in doing this he was filling up what was lacking of the afflictions of Christ in his own flesh. That is true of every real servant of God. To such a one the people of the Lord will ever be precious. And he will realize that in serving them and enduring trial on their behalf he is ministering in place of his absent Lord. Christ suffered once for all on the cross to put away sin. His faithful servants suffer in fellowship with Him for the perfecting of the saints, for His bodys sake, which is the church. The more devoted one is to Christs interests down here, during His absence in heaven, the more one will enter into this phase of suffering. It is godly shepherd care that he has in mind, enduring affliction for the blessing of Christs beautiful flock.
Of the church Paul was made minister according to the dispensation of God given to him on our behalf to complete the divine testimony or to fill up the Word of God. The whole counsel of God was not made known until Paul received this revelation of the mystery. This dispensation, or stewardship (for the two words are exactly the same in Greek), he unfolds more fully elsewhere, noticeably in the epistle to the Ephesians, which, as previously intimated, is the correlative to that to the Colossians. It was a special revelation given not to the Twelve, but to him as the apostle of the new dispensation. He goes on with this theme in the verses that follow.
Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily, (vv. 26-29)
It is important to remember that the mysteries of the New Testament are not necessarily things mysterious or abstruse. They are rather sacred secrets made known to the initiated.1
These divine secrets could never have been discovered by human reason, nor even by the child of God unless a special revelation had been given. The Gnostics made much of the mysteries of their systems. The Christian mysteries are in vivid contrast to these dreams of insubject men.
The mystery of the church as the body of Christ was never made known in Old Testament times, nor yet in the days when our Lord was on the earth. We are told distinctly it had been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to the saints. The divine method of making it known was by a special revelation to the apostle Paul, as he tells us in Ephesians 3. But this revelation was not for him only. It was a ministry committed to him to pass on to the saints, To whom God did make known the wealth of the splendor of this sacred secret among the nations, which is Christ among the Gentiles, the hope of glory (authors translation). The Old Testament Scripture clearly predicted the calling of the Gentiles, but always in subjection to Israel. During the present dispensation Israel, as we read in Romans 11, is set aside because of unbelief, and Christ is working among the nations, attracting weary hearts to Himself altogether apart from any thought of Jewish priority. Believing Jews and Gentiles are united by the Holy Spirits baptism into the one body, and thus all fleshly distinctions are done away. The middle wall of partition is broken down. This is the mystery.
Christ Himself, the Head of this body, is the apostles theme. Note his words, whom we preach. To substitute what for whom we preach is a serious mistake. Christianity is centered in a Person, and no one preaches the gospel who does not preach Christ. When there is faith in Him the Spirit unites the believer to Him.
How earnest was the apostle in seeking to lead Christians into the knowledge of this precious truth, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom. His was the true pastors heart, and he combined in a marvelous way the teachers gift with this. The subject of his ministry was the perfecting of the saints, as he says elsewhere. He would present every man complete or full grown in Christ Jesus. To this end he earnestly labored according to that divine energy which wrought so powerfully in him for the salvation of souls and the upbuilding of the people of God.
False teachers would turn the eyes of the saints away from Christ, the glorified Head of the body, in order that they might occupy them with specious systems of satanic origin, and thus draw away disciples after themselves, as Paul had warned the Ephesian elders. But all true Spirit-given ministry is Christo-centric. Every faithful minister of the new dispensation would lift up the Lord Jesus before the admiring gaze of His people so that, occupied with Him, they might be transfigured into His likeness. Like John the Baptist he will say, He must increase, but I must decrease.
No man really preaches the whole truth today who does not enter into the twofold ministry of this section of Colossians-the gospel and the church. The former is proclaimed to sinners and is the power of God unto salvation to every one who believes. The latter is taught to saints and builds them up in the faith as to their present privileges, and corresponding responsibilities. I am called upon, not only to win sinners to Christ that they may be saved from impending wrath, but I am to seek to make good churchmen out of those already saved. This is not to insist on what is called denominational loyalty, nor to endeavor to sectionalize the saints and bring them into bondage to legal principles and practices for which there is no biblical warrant. But it is to show them their position as in the new creation, linked with their risen, glorified Head, and to lead them into the recognition of the unity of the body, in which all believers have a part. Thus they may endeavor to keep the unity formed by the Holy Spirit, as they walk together in the uniting bond of peace.
Sad indeed is it when this very truth becomes a means of dividing those of like precious faith when perverted by men of sectarian spirit and narrow, cramped sympathies who are more concerned about building up local causes than edifying the body of Christ!
That saints are not to neglect local responsibilities, out of which grows the relationship of church to church, is perfectly true. But it is not a unity or confederacy of assemblies that is denominated the unity of the Spirit. It is rather that abiding unity which the Holy Spirit has formed by baptizing believers into one body. If I set at nought any fellow believer I am to that extent failing to keep this unity. As members one of another, having the same care one for the other, we show in a practical way the truth that we are one in Christ.
1 For fuller discussion of this interesting subject the inquiring or studious reader is referred to the authors handbook titled The Mysteries of God.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
ye continue: Psa 92:13, Psa 92:14, Psa 125:5, Eze 18:26, Hos 6:3, Hos 6:4, Zep 1:6, Mat 24:13, Luk 8:13-15, Luk 22:32, Joh 8:30-32, Joh 15:9, Joh 15:10, Act 11:23, Act 14:22, Rom 2:7, Gal 4:11, Gal 5:7, Gal 6:9, 1Th 3:5, Heb 3:6, Heb 3:14, Heb 4:14, Heb 10:38, 1Pe 1:5, 2Pe 2:18-22, 1Jo 2:27, Rev 2:10
grounded: Col 2:7, Mat 7:24, Mat 7:25, Luk 6:48, Eph 2:21, Eph 3:17, Eph 4:16
moved: Joh 15:6, Act 20:24, 1Co 15:58, 1Th 3:3
the hope: Col 1:5, Rom 5:5, Gal 5:5, Eph 1:18, 1Th 5:8, 2Th 2:16, Tit 3:7, Heb 6:19, 1Pe 1:3, 1Jo 3:1-3
to: Col 1:6, Mat 24:14, Mar 16:15, Rom 10:18
under: Deu 2:25, Deu 4:19, Lam 3:66, Act 2:5, Act 4:12
whereof: Col 1:25, Act 1:17, Act 1:25, Act 26:16, Rom 15:16, 1Co 4:1-3, 2Co 3:6, 2Co 4:1, 2Co 5:18-20, 2Co 6:1, 2Co 11:23, Eph 3:7, Eph 3:8, 1Ti 1:12, 1Ti 2:7, 2Ti 1:11, 2Ti 1:12, 2Ti 4:5, 2Ti 4:6
Reciprocal: 1Ki 6:12 – if thou wilt Psa 19:6 – His going Pro 8:4 – General Isa 54:3 – thou shalt Isa 62:2 – the Gentiles Mat 13:6 – because Mat 26:13 – Wheresoever Mat 28:19 – ye therefore Mar 13:10 – General Luk 1:2 – and Luk 2:10 – to Luk 13:29 – General Luk 14:23 – Go Joh 8:31 – If Joh 15:4 – Abide Joh 15:16 – ordained Act 2:42 – they Act 10:35 – in Act 13:43 – persuaded Act 16:13 – spake Rom 8:22 – the Rom 8:24 – saved 1Co 15:2 – keep in memory 1Co 16:13 – stand 2Co 2:14 – the savour 2Co 13:5 – in the faith Eph 1:13 – after that ye heard Eph 3:9 – to 1Th 3:8 – if 1Ti 3:16 – believed Tit 1:3 – manifested Tit 2:11 – hath appeared Tit 2:13 – blessed Heb 6:11 – of hope Heb 6:18 – the hope Jam 1:25 – and 1Pe 3:15 – the hope 1Pe 5:10 – strengthen Rev 5:9 – out Rev 5:13 – every Rev 14:6 – preach
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
CONTINUANCE
Continue in the faith.
Col 1:23
Will he stand? That is almost the first question asked about young converts. Asked sometimes by friends anxiously, sometimes by foes sneeringly; and no wonder.
I. Continuance is the test of reality.Time will show, says the proverb, and the proverb is right. It is not enough to begin well; there must be a patient continuance in well-doing.
II. Continuance is necessary to success.No good or great work has ever been accomplished without perseverance. The man who is discouraged by the first rebuff will never make much progress.
III. Continuance is necessary even for safety.A man may be wrecked within a ships length of the lighthouse. The ill-starred Eurydice was in sight of harbour when she went down. Travellers have been found dead before to-day in the snows of the great St. Bernard within a few yards of the refuge.
IV. Continuance is specially needed in the higher levels of Christian experience.It needs much grace to claim the faith-position in a risen Christto take a full salvation.
Rev. E. W. Moore.
Illustration
Near the summit of Mount Washington, says an American writer, is a rude cairn of stones that marks the spot where a young lady, who was overtaken by the darkness without a guide, died of exposure and nervous fright! The poor girl was within pistol-shot of the cabin of the tip-top, its cheering light was just behind the rocks; yet that short distance cost her her life. Even so it is in the Christian life. The soul that seems to start, but does not continue, may be at last picked up dead just outside the gateway of the Fathers house.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
(Col 1:23.) , -If ye continue in the faith, grounded and fast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye have heard. The clause depends, not, as Bengel intimates, on , but on the nearer verb . The attainment of spiritual perfection, and the honour of presentation to God, are dependent on the fact specified in this verse. does not imply doubt [Eph 3:2], and so far differs from , but there is no reason to render it, with Pierce, because. If, as is the case, ye continue in the faith; for is connected with , as in Rom 6:1; Rom 11:23, 1Ti 4:16; whereas . would require , as in Mat 7:25, or , as in Eph 3:18. Continuance in the faith is essential to salvation: loss of faith would be forfeiture of life. The blessings of Christianity are given without interruption only to continuous belief. And that perpetuity of faith was not to be a vibratory and superficial state. They were to remain in the faith, or saving belief of the truth, -grounded and settled. [Eph 3:18.] 1Pe 5:10; 1Co 7:37; 1Co 15:58. The first epithet alludes to the cause, and the second to its effect, for what is founded becomes fixed: while the third clause depicts a general result- , and therefore not shaken away, as the use of seems to indicate. The a dverb has such a connection of dependence, Khner, 708; Hartung, ii. pp. 113, 114; Winer, 55, 1, a. If they were founded, they were fixed, and if both they could not be moved- . [Eph 1:18.] See also verse fifth of this chapter. The hope is that blessed life revealed by the gospel as its distinctive prospect. That gospel is further characterized as having been preached to every creature which is under heaven-
. The article before is probably to be expunged, on the authority of A, B, C, D1, F, G. The general meaning of this hyperbole will be found under Col 1:6. Thomas Aquinas was so hard pressed as to propose a future rendering-praedicabitur. Perhaps, as Meyer proposes, these words are a species of confirmation. Apostasy was all the more blameable, for they had heard the gospel-a gospel of no narrow diffusion and value-a gospel, also, which numbered among its adherents and preachers, the great name of Paul. There is thus a warning in these words of coming danger and seductive influence. It is an extraordinary reason which Anselm, after Gregory, proposes-that every creature must mean man, because man has something in common with every creature; existence with stones, living growth with trees, sense and motion with the lower animals, and reason and intellect with the angels.
Thus a life of faith is one of hope, and leads to glory. This belief has a conservative power; for it keeps in a justified state, and it secures augmenting holiness. While, therefore, the perseverance of the saints is a prominent doctrine of Scripture, and a perennial source of consolation, it is inconsistent with exhortations to permanence of faith, and not warnings of the sad results of deviation and apostasy. He who stops short in the race, and does not reach the goal, cannot obtain the prize. He who abandons the refuge into which he fled for a season, is swept away when the hurricane breaks upon him. The loss of faith is the knell of hope. There is a way to hell even from the gate of heaven. As Tertullian says: While the straws of light faith fly away, the mass of corn is laid up the purer in the garden of God. For man is not acted on mechanically by the grace of God, but his whole spiritual nature is excited to earnest prayer and anxious effort. Its continuance in the faith is not the unconscious impress of an irresistible law, but the result of a diligent use of every means by which belief may be fostered and deepened. The fact that God keeps believers makes them, therefore, distrustful of themselves and dependent upon Him. And the confidence of success inspirits them. Many a man, from having been persuaded that he is destined to attain some great object, instead of being lulled into carelessness by this belief, has been excited to the most laborious and unwearied efforts, such as perhaps, otherwise, he would not have thought of making for the attainment of his object. Thus, as rational beings are wrought upon by motives, so warnings and appeals are addressed to them, and these appliances form a special feature of God’s plan of preserving them. The apostle thus shows them how much is suspended on their perseverance.
-Of which I Paul was constituted a minister. [Eph 3:7.] The apostle reverts to his solemn inauguration, his past course of active service, and the authority under which he had acted. This brief and distinct intimation forms a special introduction to the second section of the epistle, and the warning against seduction by false teachers.
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Col 1:23. The blessings promised in the preceding verses are based upon an important if, which Is that they must continue in the faith. This requires that they be grounded and settled, which means to be fired in their determination to serve Christ, and hence are steadfast in their service to Him. Such a life will prevent them from being moved away from the hope of the Gospel which they had heard. The Colossians were not the only ones who had heard the Gcod News, for it ‘was preached to every creature which is under heaven. This fact fulfilled the commission that Christ gave his apostles in Mat 28:19-20 and Mar 16:15-16, and it is also declared to have been accom-plished in Rom 10:18. This teaching refutes those who quote the “great commission” and apply it to preachers of the Gospel in our day. No uninspired man can “preach the Gospel to every creature,” for there are too many languages in the world.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Col 1:23. If indeed; the same particle as in Eph 3:2; Eph 4:21; it does not express doubt, but calls attention to the necessity of faith, in order to be presented thus before God (Col 1:22).
Ye continue in the faith. The faith does not mean Christian doctrine, but Christian believing. What they believed is indicated below. This verse, which is virtually an exhortation, indicates that Gods act for and upon them (Col 1:21-22) is not carried out to a blessed consummation without subjective advance and personal activity (Braune).
Grounded and steadfast (so 1Co 7:37; 1Co 15:58). These two terms describe their remaining in the faith on its positive side: grounded suggests having a foundation on which they still stand (comp. Eph 3:18); steadfast points to internal stability, as of a building firmly united,
without being moved away, etc. The E. V., by inserting be, suggests that this clause is parallel with continue; it is parallel to the words immediately preceding, describing the negative side. The form used points to a possible danger threatening them, thus preparing for the warning of the second chapter.
From the hope (the subjective hope, not the thing hoped for) of the gospel (called forth by the gospel). Others explain: the hope belonging to the gospel, but the other seems more appropriate; comp. Eph 1:18. From indicates that this hope is the foundation of the continuance in the faith. Others regard it as the aim held up before them; but this confuses the hope with the thing hoped for.
Which ye heard, etc. The remainder of the verse in effect enforces the implied exhortation that precedes: (1.) The Colossians had heard the gospel, hence had no excuse for being moved away from the hope it presented; (2.) the gospel had been universally proclaimed and hence had universal validity; (3.) the writer, who was closely related to Epaphras (Col 1:7), was a preacher of this gospel (so Meyer, followed by Ellicott and Alford). Heard points to the time when it was first preached (Col 1:7).
And which was preached to (lit, in) every creature, In the whole creation seems an ungrammatical rendering, since the article is wanting in the Greek. In is here equivalent to with, in the presence of.
Which is under heaven limits the previous phrase to earthly creatures. The wide extension of the gospel made this a natural hyperbole; comp. Col 1:6; Rom 1:8. The Apostle prophetically sees as accomplished what has as yet only begun, and thus marks the universality of Christianity (Braune).
Whereof I Paul became a minister. Comp. Eph 3:7, where similar language is used. The tense points to the historical fact of his call to the Apostleship. Notice here, as in Ephesians, the humility with which he speaks. Even he, the inspired Apostle, is a minister (servant) of the gospel. The section means nothing, if it does not mean that to cease believing in the gospel Paul preached is to let go of Christ, the Head, and to lose a share in all that is glorious in His Person and blessed in His work. (A period should be placed at the close of this section; since the correct reading in Col 1:24 disconnects it grammatically from this verse.)
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Here our apostle declares to the Colossians, how they may know whether they were indeed of the number of those who were actually reconciled to God by the blood of his Son, namely, if they persevered in the faith, and continued grounded fast in their holy religion; If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled; implying, that it is the great duty of Christians, who have sat under the preaching of the gospel, to be well settled in the doctrine of faith, which they have heard and received, and that the best way to be settled, is to be well grounded; if we are not settled in religion, we can never grow in religion; an ungrounded Christian can never be a growing Christian; and if we are not well grounded in the faith, we can never suffer for the faith; for such as are sceptics in religion, will never prove martyrs for the sake of religion.
Observe, 2. The universality of that tender, which by the preaching of the gospel is made unto all sorts of sinners, of reconciliation with God, and acceptance through Christ; which gospel was preached to every creature under heaven; that is to lost mankind, to some of all sorts; not in Judea only, but amongst the Gentiles also; to every human creature, no person, no nation being refused or passed by; plainly intimating, that an indefinite and universal tender of reconciliation with God, and salvation by Jesus Christ, is made unto all person, by the preaching of the gospel.
Happy they, whose hearts are inclined and disposed to accept of, and comply with them, who in the day of the gospel’s visitation, do know the things of their peace.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
“If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and [be] not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, [and] which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;”
Whoooooops. What is that all talking about. Seems we have to “continue” or keep this salvation that we have gained. Can we fall away? No, but we need to see what this verse is saying.
You need the rest of the sentence. If we continue to the end we will be presented as faultless and holy, but if we step away from holy living we will not be holy and faultless, we will be in sin when we are presented to the Lord. That will be a nasty situation to find yourself in!
In the Greek there is what is called a first class condition – if and assumed to be true rather than if as we use it, maybe it will and maybe it won’t. This is the thought – Paul assumes they will follow through with their living.
Gospel is the good news of salvation. Paul is the minister of that news. The term minister is the term for servant, or attendant. It is the same thought of the deacons that ministered to the Helenistic widows in the book of Acts. Does that fit the definition of minister today? Not in my mind.
The thought of being made known to the world is a problem to some. Some state that this is hyperbole – an exaggeration to gain effect, however I think the text is quite straightforward – somewhere along the line the good news was spread to the world.
I suspect this relates to the day of Pentecost (Act 2:5-11) and the time following. There were people from all over the world present and they all knew what was going on in Jerusalem – thus when they went home, they would have been telling everyone about what they had seen. Many believe that Paul went to Spain and tradition tells us that one of the apostles went over into the far east. The known world was covered in Paul’s day.
There is also the possibility that it relates to Rom 1:19, “Because that which may be known of god is manifest in them; for god hath shown it unto them.”
Personally I think it probably relates to the good news getting out to the known world after Pentecost.
Just some closing thoughts.
Who was Christ according to Paul in these passages?
Image of the living God vs. 15
First born of all creation vs. 16
Creator vs. 16
Preexisted creation vs. 17
Sustains all things vs. 17
Head of the Body vs. 18
Beginning and first born of the dead vs. 18
Fullness of God dwells in Him vs. 19
Reconciled all to Himself vs. 20
Through His blood vs. 20
Does that sound like a spook that doesn’t leave footprints in the dust? No. Can you kind of envision the Gnostics scattering as they hear these words from Paul?
One might wonder where Paul received all his information about Christ. Several possibilities.
1. He was a student of the Old Testament (Act 26:4-5)
2. He was with Christ for three years in the wilderness (Gal 1:17-18)
3. He may have received further info by revelation or illumination.
4. Possibly from Christ Himself after the wilderness. (Act 26:16; Gal 1:12)
Paul’s belief in the deity of Christ is in line with Christ’s own comments. (Joh 10:30; Joh 14:9; Lu. 2:49; Mat 28:19-20; Mar 14:61-62; Joh 14:6-11)
APPLICATION
Let us take some time and just list the items of Christian living that are found in verses 1-14. This is what God wants. It is His desire for our life. (This is not meant to be a complete list.)
Let’s consider our place in God’s desire.
FAITH: 1:4, 7
Faithful: Do you always do everything you can to get along with the neighbor you don’t care for? God wants us faithful to his command to “love thy neighbor.”
What is faith? Can we have faith in anything? Yes.
Are there limits on our faith?
1. Our faith itself may be small as was that of the disciples – “oh ye of little faith”
2. Our faith should be limited by Scripture.
a. I should not, for example, have faith that God is going to give me a new Lincoln Continental. I don’t think it is God’s will thus I shouldn’t look for it nor place my faith in it. To look for Him to provide transportation? Yes. Maybe He will supply a car, or the bus system or the foot – we should explore the possibilities.
b. I should not rely on faith for provision of my familys needs because I quit my job and decided to loaf for a few years.
Our faith must be in line with Scriptural principles.
3. Some times I decide something is right but really have no faith to trust with. God may limit our faith at times so that we don’t do something He doesn’t want us to do.
4. Doubt limits faith. Ask Peter the fellow with the wet feet about that.
LOVE: 1:4, 8
How do we really get this down practically? Make it a way of life – be a loving person.
There are two types of love. Agape which is self-sacrificing love and Philio which is brotherly love.
Can you illustrate these two types of love?
Philio: Mowing a sick Christian’s lawn. Helping a widow with minor house repairs. Calling when you know a brother/sister is hurting.
Agape: There is an account of three men caught in the wilderness in a blizzard. One needed medical attention desperately. The other two men were friends – one a believer had witnessed to his friend many times. One needed to go for a doctor. The believer volunteered to go. As he prepared to go out into the night his friend asked him why he had offered when he might well die that night.
The believer told his friend that he knew if he died that night he would go to heaven, but that he knew that his friend would not go to heaven and he wanted to give him added time to accept Christ.
The difference usually is a calculated decision to do – even at the cost of one’s life.
Hopeful: 1:5
We have a hope laid up – do we really look forward to living in eternity or are we laying up materials here to enjoy till we go?
Someone once said “My hope is built on nothing less than Gospel Light and Scripture press.” NO! Build it on Jesus Christ – hope in HIM!
Knowledgeable: 1:5
What’s the reference for the streets of Gold? Rev 21:21 mentions “street” of gold – singular, but I don’t know that “streets” is Biblical. Know what you believe!
Is there any way you can really be knowledgeable about God unless you are learning? No. You learn by reading the Word, by interacting with other believers, and by attending teaching sessions of the church.
That has truth in two areas. First the Christians ought to attend to receive that which is prepared. Secondly the pastor and teachers ought to prepare for those that attend to receive.
Open to His will: 1:1, 9
Have you ever taken time to say “God what do you want me to do with my life?” Many today work and labor for their homes and material things. That is not God’s will. We are pilgrims – just passing through.
Worthy: 1:10
If Gabriel the angel had a video tape recorder strapped to his back and he followed you around filming your every move would you want Christ to attend the opening of the film?
Are we really walking worthy of His good pleasure? Are we really doing those things that honor Him? What do we watch on television, what do we talk about when we are with the boys or with the girls, what goes on in our minds when we are with ourselves – would you invite Christ into those situations?
Fruitful: 1:6
What are you doing for Christ? Joh 15:1-27 indicates fruitless Christians are taken home – fruit is not just soul winning – other works are involved as well. Take your total time in a week – that is 168 hours a week if my calculator is working – how many hours did you spend in items relating to Christ last week? You tell yourself how you are doing.
Learning: 1:7
How many new spiritual books have you read this year? One of our children was complaining about how much they had been reading in high school. I asked the child how many books they had read relating to spiritual things. None, was the reply.
Strong: 1:11
Are you strong when confronted by temptation? Are you strong when talking to the unsaved? Are you strong on your stand for your convictions?
Patient: 1:11
Remember now – absolute truth – we can be patient, but are we?
Joyful: 1:11
Thankful: 1:12
Have you thanked God lately for your spouse – your family – your health? Bad health is better than no health at all from a physical point of view.
We have seen way too much in this study to have covered it well in this short a time. You could spend many hours looking through this passage and learning.
Remember! We have a list of absolute truth. We have the ability to do these things. We dare not set these things aside. PUT THEM TO WORK.
You’ve heard them today. It is your responsibility to get busy on that list.
FAITHFUL 1:4, 7
LOVING 1:4, 8
HOPEFUL 1:5
KNOWLEDGEABLE 1:5
OPEN TO HIS WILL 1:1, 9
WORTHY 1:10
FRUITFUL 1:6
LEARNING 1:7
STRONG 1:11
PATIENT 1:11
JOYFUL 1:11
THANKFUL 1:12
And we have only covered twenty-three verses!
He created us.
He is perfecting us.
He is preparing us.
We are works in progress. He is preparing us for What? What is His purpose in preparing us?
Service is all I can think of. He wouldn’t go to all that trouble so we can sit on our beds of ease – He ain’t no dumb God.
God didn’t send His Son to die on the cross so we could be couch potatoes – He has a plan for our lives – for our service!
Find His will and get busy!
Misc.
Beet on Col 1:24 :
In what sense are these strange words true? In this sense. When Christ breathed His last upon the cross, all the sufferings needful for the complete establishment of the Kingdom of God had not yet been endured. For the full realization of the purposes of God it was needful, not only that Christ should die for the sins of the world, but that the Gospel should be preached to all nations. This involved, owing to the wickedness of men, hardship to the preachers.
This hardship Paul willingly endured in order to save men. Consequently, just as the life on earth of the servants of Christ is in some sense an extension of His incarnation, (for in them He lives, Gal 2:20) so the sufferings of Paul where in a similar sense a continuation and completion of the sufferings of Christ. This is in close harmony with, and further emphasizes, Paul’s constant teaching that Christ’s servants share all that Christ has and is and does: 1Co 1:9; Php 3:10; Rom 8:17. But it by no means suggests that Paul’s sufferings were in any sense propitiatory or that Christ’s sufferings were not so. For the one point in common here mentioned and made conspicuous by repetition is suffering ‘on behalf of’ another. Propitiation for sin is here entirely out of view.
Notice the infinite dignity here given to sufferings endured for the spread of the Gospel. These, Christ condescends to join with His own mysterious agony on the cross as endured for the benefit of the Church which He recognizes as His own body. ‘In’ such sacred ‘sufferings’ well might Paul ‘rejoice.’ Notice again, as in Col 1:18 in conjunction with the same metaphor, ‘the Church’ Universal. EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS; Beet, Joseph Agar; The Complete Christian Collection CDROM.
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Paul’s Letter to the Colossians: An Exegetical and Devotional Commentary; Keathley, J. Hampton III; Biblical Studies Press 2002; http://bible.org/docs/nt/books/col/jhk3/index.htm#TopOfPage
The simplest and most logical explanation stems from the mystical union that exists between Christ and that of His people in the body of Christ, the church. When believers suffer, Christ suffers with them. Christ’s substitutionary sufferings are finished, complete, but His sufferings in and through His people continue. This concept is expressed in several other passages of the New Testament (cf. Mat 25:34-40; 2Co 1:5; Php 3:10; Act 9:4-5). Paul never directly persecuted the Lord Jesus, nevertheless, when on the Damascus road, Paul heard these words from Christ, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” So he said, “Who are you, Lord?” He replied, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting” (Act 9:4-5).
… Soon afterwards he heard of further words spoken by Him, “For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake” (9:16). Paul had come to understand that everything done in and for the body of Christ was done in and for Christ Himself. He and the body were one. Thus, the sufferings of Paul were the afflictions of Christ, because He suffered in and with Paul (cf. 2Co 1:5-7; 2Co 4:10-12). Lightfoot’s idea of continuity between His afflictions and the church’s is valid, too. In fact, the sufferings of Paul, which arose out of persecution, were simply the continuation of the world’s quarrel with Jesus Christ (cf. Joh 15:18-21). It is a very immature theology, then, which claims that all suffering is alien to the will of God, and it reaches its ultimate expression in the blind and foolish request, “If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross” (Mat 27:40), and its shattering repudiation in the shout of suffering dereliction, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (27:46).
It is no wonder, then, that Paul rejoiced in his sufferings. Seen in the light of his union with Christ, they were transfigured and made an occasion for fellowship with Him, as well as a benefit to the body, the church.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
1:23 {11} If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and [be] not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, [and] which was preached to {q} every creature which is under heaven; {12} whereof I Paul am made a minister;
(11) The second treatise of this part of the epistle, in which he exhorts the Colossians not to allow themselves by any means to be moved from this doctrine, showing and declaring that there is nowhere else any other true Gospel.
(q) To all men: by which we learn that the Gospel was not confined to Judea alone.
(12) He gains authority for this doctrine by his apostleship, and takes a most sure proof of it, that is, his afflictions, which he suffers for Christ’s name, to instruct the Churches with these examples of patience.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
"If" introduces a condition the writer assumed was true to reality for the sake of his argument (a first class condition in Greek). We could translate it, "Since." Paul assumed his readers would do what he described because perseverance is normal for genuine believers (cf. 2Co 5:17; Php 1:6; 1Jn 2:19). [Note: Herbert M. Carson, The Epistles of Paul to the Colossians and Philemon, p. 48.] However perseverance in the faith is not inevitable. Apostasy is a real possibility to which he alluded here (cf. 1Ti 4:1-2; et al.). It is necessary to abide in the faith to obtain a good report from the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ. This was Paul’s concern for his readers here. [Note: See Bob Wilkin, "Is Continuing in the Faith a Condition of Eternal Life?" Grace Evangelical Society News 6:3 (March 1991):2; and Charles C. Bing, "The Warning in Colossians 1:21-23," Bibliotheca Sacra 164:653 (January-March 2007):74-88.]
Paul was thinking of his readers as a building "firmly established" on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Eph 2:20). He saw them steadfastly rigid, not blown off their base by the winds of false doctrine (cf. Eph 4:14). Since earthquakes were not uncommon in the Lycus Valley, Paul’s statement may have reminded the Colossians of their security in another sense. [Note: Wiersbe, 2:120-21.]
". . . the addressees are to remain as firmly seated on the gospel as a god in his temple or a skillful rider on a spirited horse." [Note: Dunn, p. 111.]
The gospel had had wide circulation. "In all creation under heaven" must be hyperbole meaning it had gone everywhere in a general sense. Paul was contrasting the wide appeal and proclamation of the gospel with the exclusive appeal and comparatively limited circulation of the false teachers’ message. "Minister" is servant (Gr. diakonos).