Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Colossians 1:29
Whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
29. also ] i.e. “ actually,” “as a matter of fact.”
labour ] The Greek verb denotes toil even to weariness. It (or its cognate noun) occurs e.g. 1Co 15:10 ; 1Co 15:58; Gal 4:11; Php 2:16 ; 1Th 1:3; 1Th 5:12 ; 1Ti 4:10; 2Ti 2:6; Rev 2:2-3.
striving ] The Greek verb (our word “ agony ” is the descendant of a cognate) occurs e.g. Luk 13:24; 1Co 9:25; below, Col 4:12 ; 1Ti 6:12; and a cognate, Php 1:30 (see note); below, Col 2:1 (see note); 1Th 2:2; Heb 12:1 (“ race ” A.V.). By usage, the word gives the thought of the strife and stress of the athletic arena; a thought conspicuous in e.g. 1Co 9:25; 1Ti 6:12. It thus conveys an impression of contest with obstacles in view of a definite goal.
See our note on a similar phrase, Php 1:27.
according to, &c.] Observe the intimation, at once restful and animating, that the presence and movement within him of the power (“ working,” energeia) of God were the force behind all his apostolic activity. “By Him he moves, in Him he lives;” while yet the man’s “moving” and “living” is none the less genuinely personal. Cp. 1Co 15:10; 2Co 3:5 ; 2Co 4:7; 2Co 12:9-10; Php 2:12-13; Php 4:13; and above, Col 1:11.
mightily ] Lit. and better, in power. Cp. above Col 1:11, and note.
“ Christ in him ” was for St Paul not only “the hope of glory” but also the mainspring of action; the secret of a “power” which was anything but violence, or disorder, but which brought with it a wonderful victory and an inexhaustible energy of life and love. For every “recipient of Christ” (Joh 1:12) the same secret is to do the same work, as it is reverently recognized and welcomed, according to each one’s path of duty and service.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Whereunto I also labour – See the notes at 1Co 15:10.
Striving – Greek agonizing. He taxed all his energies to accomplish this, as the wrestlers strove for the mastery in the Grecian games.
According to his working – Not by my own strength, but by the power which God alone can give; see the notes at 1Co 15:10.
Remarks On Colossians 1
Among the truths of practical importance taught by this chapter are the following:
1. We should rejoice in the piety of others; Col 1:2-8. It should be to us a subject of unfeigned gratitude to God; when others are faithful to their high calling, and when they so live as to adorn the blessed gospel. In all their faith, and love, and joy, we should find occasion for thankfulness to God. We should not envy it, or be disposed to charge it to wrong motives, or suspect it of insincerity or hypocrisy; but should welcome every account of the zeal and faithfulness of those who bear the Christian name – no matter who the persons are, or with what denomination of Christians they may be connected. Especially is this true in relation to our friends, or to those for whose salvation we have labored. The source of high, est gratitude to a Christian, in relation to his friends, should be, that they act as becomes the friends of God; the purest joy that can swell the bosom of a minister of Christ, is produced by the evidence that they to whom he has ministered are advancing in knowledge and love.
2. We should earnestly pray that they who have been much favored should be prospered more and more; Col 1:9-11.
3. It is a good time to pray for Christians when they are already prosperous, and are distinguished for zeal and love; Col 1:9-11. We have then encouragement to do it. We feel that our prayers will not be in vain. For a man that is doing well, we feel encouraged to pray that he may do still better. For a Christian who has true spiritual joy, we are encouraged to pray that he may have more joy. For one who is aiming to make advances in the knowledge of God, we are encouraged to pray that he may make still higher advances; and if, therefore; we wish others to pray for us, we should, show them by our efforts that there is some encouragement for them to do it.
4. Let us cherish with suitable gratitude the remembrance of the goodness of God, who has translated us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son; Col 1:12-13. By nature we, like others, were under the power of darkness. In that kingdom of sin, and error, and misery, we were born and reared, until God, in great compassion, brought us out from it, and made us heirs of light. Now, if we are true Christians, we belong to a kingdom of holiness, and knowledge, and happiness. No words can express appropriately the goodness of God in thus making us heirs of light; and not an hour of our lives should pass without a thoughtful remembrance of his mercy.
5. In the affections of our hearts let the Saviour in all things have the pre-eminence; Col 1:15-18. He is the image of God; and when we think of him, we see what God is – how holy, pure, benevolent. He is the first-born of all things; the Son of God; exalted to the highest seat in the universe. When we look on the sun, moon, and stars, let us remember that he created them all. When we think of the angels, let us remember that they are the workmanship of his hands. When we look on the earth – the floods, the rivers, the hills, let us remember that all these were made by his power. The vast universe is still sustained by him. Its beautiful order and harmony are preserved by him; and all its movements are under his control. So the church is under him. It is subject to his command; receives its laws from his lips, and is bound to do his will. Over all councils and synods; over all rule and authority in the church, Christ is the Head; and whatever may be ordained by man, his will is to be obeyed. So, when we think of the resurrection, Christ is chief. He first rose to return to death no more; he rose as the pledge that his people should also rise. As Christ is thus head over all things, so let him be first in the affections of our hearts; as it is designed that in every thing he shall have the pre-eminence, so let him have the pre-eminence in the affections of our souls. None should be loved by us as Christ is loved; and no friend, however dear, should be allowed to displace him from the supremacy in our affections.
6. In all our wants let us go to Christ; Col 1:19, It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell. We do not have a need which he cannot supply; there is not a sorrow of our lives in which he cannot comfort us; not a temptation from which he cannot deliver us; not a pain which he cannot relieve, or enable us to hear. Every necessity of body or mind he can supply; and we never can go to him, in any circumstance of life in which we can possibly be placed, where we shall fail of consolation and support because Christ is not able to help us. True piety learns day by day to live more by simple dependence on the Saviour. As we advance in holiness, we become more and more sensible of our weakness and insufficiency, and more and more disposed to live by the faith of the Son of God.
7. By religion we become united with the angels; Col 1:20. Harmony is produced between heaven and earth. Alienated worlds are reconciled again, and from jarring elements there is rearing one great and harmonious empire. The work of the atonement is designed to remove what separated earth from heaven; men from angels; man from God. The redeemed have substantially the same feelings now, which they have who are around the throne of God; and though we are far inferior to them in rank, yet we shall be united with them in affection and purpose, for ever and ever. What a glorious work is that of the gospel! It reconciles and harmonizes distant worlds, and produces concord and love in millions of hearts which but for that would have been alienated forever.
8. By religion we become fitted for heaven; Col 1:12, Col 1:22. We are made meet to enter there; we shall be presented there unblamable and unreprovable. No one will accuse us before the throne of God. Nor Satan, nor our own consciences nor our fellowmen will then urge that we ought not to be admitted to heaven. Redeemed and pardoned, renewed and sanctified, the universe will be satisfied that we ought to be saved, and will rejoice. Satan will no longer charge the friends of Jesus with insincerity and hypocrisy; our own minds will be no longer troubled with doubts and fears; and holy angels will welcome us to their presence. Not a voice will be lifted up in reproach or condemnation, and the Universal Father will stretch out his arms and press to his bosom the returning prodigals. Clothed in the white robes of salvation, we shall be welcome even in heaven, and the universe will rejoice that we are there.
9. It is a privilege to suffer for the welfare of the church; Col 1:24. Paul regarded it as such and rejoiced in the trials which came upon him in the cause of religion. The Saviour so, regarded it, and shrank not from the great sorrows involved in the work of saving his people. We may suffer much in promoting the same object. We may be exposed to persecution and death. We may be called to part with all we have – to leave country and friends and home, to go and preach the gospel to benighted people. On a foreign shore, far from all that we hold dear on earth, we may lie down and die, and our grave, unmarked by sculptured marble, may be soon forgotten. But to do good; to defend truth; to promote virtue; to save the souls of the perishing, is worth all which it costs, and he who accomplishes these things by exchanging for them earthly comforts, and even life, has made a wise exchange. The universe gains by it in happiness; and the benevolent heart should rejoice that there is such a gain, though attended with our individual and personal suffering.
10. Ministers ave a noble office Col 1:24-29. It is their privilege to make known to men the most glorious truths that can come before the human mind; truths which were hidden from ages and generations, but which are now revealed by the gospel. These great truths are intrusted to the ministry to explain and defend, and are by them to be carried around the world. The ministers of religion strive not for gold and honor and worldly pleasures; they strive in the noble effort to show to every man that he has a Saviour; that there is a heaven to which he may come; and to present everyone perfect before God. With all its sacrifices and self-denials, therefore, it is an inestimable privilege to he a minister of the gospel – for there is no man who diffuses through a community so much solid happiness; there is no one, the result of whose labors reaches so far into future ages. To a benevolent heart there is no higher privilege than to be permitted to go to every man – to the poor, the tempted, the oppressed, the slave, the penitent, and the dying sinner, and to say to him that he has a Saviour, that Christ died for him, and that, if he will have it so, he may have a home in heaven.
No matter whom he meets; no matter how debased and degraded he may be to whom he ministers, no matter though it be the poor slave, or the lonely wanderer on pathless sands, or the orphan, or the outcast, the herald of salvation may tell him that there is a heaven for him – a Saviour who died for him – a God who is ready to pardon and save his soul. In such a work it is a privilege to exhaust our strength; in the performance of the duties of such an office, it is an honor to be permitted to wear out life itself. Doing this, a man when he comes to die will feel that he has not lived in vain; and whatever self-denial he may practice in it; however much comfort, or however many friends he may forsake, all these things will give him no pang of regret when from a bed of death he looks out on the eternal world.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Col 1:29
Whereunto I also labour, striving according to His working.
Work in us and work by us
The work of Christ in us and for us does not exempt us from work. Nor does the Holy Spirits operation supersede human effort, but rather excites it. This truth is illustrated in–
I. The believers salvation. If any man be saved, the work within is entirely wrought by the Holy Ghost, but that does not exempt from, but necessitates, energetic labour. To enforce this we remark–
1. That the Christian life is always described as a thing of energy: as a journey, a race, a boxing match.
2. That there is no illustration in Scripture which allows the supposition that heaven is won by sloth. That is everywhere condemned.
3. That it is natural it should be so. When the Holy Spirit comes the sinner sees his danger, and exclaims, What must I do to be saved? He sees the excellence of salvation, and is desirous of finding the pearl of great price at all costs. Having found Christ, the believer is moved at once to glorify Him with all his powers.
4. That it is most certain that all saving acts must be performed by the man himself. Faith is the gift of God, but the Holy Ghost never believed for anybody. Repentance is His work, but the sinner must repent. He helps our infirmities in prayer, but we have to pray.
5. That if He were not made active, but one simply called upon, there is a reduction of manhood to materialism. There is no moral good or evil to me in a work which is not my own. In the Square of St. Mark, at Venice, at certain hours the bell of the clock is struck by two bronze figures as large as life, wielding hammers. Now, nobody ever thought of presenting thanks to those bronze men for the diligence with which they have struck the hours; of course, they cannot help it, they are wrought upon by machinery, and they strike the hours from necessity. Some years ago a stranger was upon the top of the tower, and incautiously went too near one of these bronze men; his time was come to strike the hour; he knocked the stranger from the battlement of the tower and killed him; nobody said the bronze man ought to be hanged; nobody ever laid it to his charge at all. There was no moral good or moral evil, because there was no will in the concern. It was not a moral act, because no mind and heart gave consent to it. Am I to believe that grace reduces men to this?
6. I warn any who imagine a man is a merely passive being in salvation against putting their theory into practice.
II. The ministry of the saints in the conversion of others. The Holy Spirit alone can convert a soul, but wherever He works, as a general rule, it is in connection with the earnest efforts of Christian men.
This is clear–
1. From the example of the text. Paul certifies that the salvation of souls is the sole work of Christ, but he declares that He laboured agonizing. Labouring means–
(1) Abundant work. No man can be said to labour who only does half a days work; and a soul labourer will not make his work a by-play, but put in long hours, and be ever at it.
(2) Hard work. He is no labourer who takes a spade to play with it as a little child upon the sand.
(3) Personal work. No man is a labourer who works through his servants; and the power of the Church lies in the personal influence of her members.
(4) All this must have combined with it inward soul conflict. If your heart never breaks for another, you will never be the means of breaking his heart.
2. This is plain from the work itself.
(1) Souls are not converted, as a rule, without previous prayer. So we must be stirred up to prayer, and the petitions God hears are not those of people half asleep.
(2) Souls are saved instrumentally through teaching, but not cold, dead teaching. Some warn souls in such a careless tone as to create unbelief.
(3) Teaching is not all; we must use earnest, persevering persuasion.
3. Earnest zeal is a natural result of the Spirits working on the soul.
(1) He sanctifies in each the natural instinct which leads them to wish others to be like themselves. Having experienced salvation, we desire others to have the same happiness.
(2) He bestirs in us the impulse of gratitude to Christ, and so consecration to Him.
(3) He sanctifies the desire for the prosperity of the community to which we belong, and so we ardently labour for the success of the Church.
4. The whole history of the Church confirms what has been stated, our Lords ministry, Pentecost, Chrysostom and Augustine, Luther, etc. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 29. Whereunto I also labour] In order to accomplish this end, I labour with the utmost zeal and earnestness; and with all that strength with which God has most powerfully furnished me. Whoever considers the original words, – , will find that no verbal translation can convey their sense. God worked energetically in St. Paul, and he wrought energetically with God; and all this was in reference to the salvation of mankind.
1. THE preceding chapter contains the highest truths in the Christian religion, conveyed in language peculiar to this apostle; a language never taught by man, clothing ideas as vast as the human mind can grasp, and both coming immediately from that inspiration of the Almighty which giveth understanding.
2. What the apostle says on the Godhead of Christ has already been distinctly noted; and from this we must conclude that, unless there be some secret way of understanding the 16th and 17th verses, Col 1:16; Col 1:17 which God has nowhere revealed, taken in their sober and rational sense and meaning they must for ever settle this very important point. Let any man of common sense and reason hear these words, whose mind had not been previously warped by any sentiment on the subject, and who only knew, in religious matters, this one great truth, that there is a God, and that he made and governs all things; and then let him be asked, Of whom doth the apostle speak this? Would he not immediately answer, He speaketh of God? As to the difficulties on this subject, we must consider them difficulties rather to our limited intellect, than as belonging to the subject. We can know but little of an infinite and eternal Being; nothing, properly speaking, but what himself is pleased to reveal. Let us receive, this with gratitude and reverence. See my discourse on the sum and substance of apostolic preaching.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
To perform which, saith he, I earnestly endeavour and take pains to weariness, as a husbandman, 2Ti 2:6, contending as one in an agony, 1Th 5:12, by his grace which was with me {1Co 15:10} in power; not by my own strength or wisdom to do or suffer, but by his effectual aids, enabling me for his service which might, Col 1:11; Rom 15:15-21; 1Co 9:25-27; Eph 1:19,20; 3:7; Phi 4:13.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
29. Whereuntonamely, “topresent every man perfect in Christ.”
I also labourrather,”I labor also.” I not only “proclaim” (EnglishVersion, “preach”) Christ, but I labor also.
strivingin “conflict”(Col 2:1) of spirit (compare Ro8:26). The same Greek word is used of Epaphras (Col4:12), “laboring fervently for you in prayers”:literally, “agonizing,” “striving as in the agony of acontest.” So Jesus in Gethsemane when praying (Lu22:44): so “strive” (the same Greek word,”agonize”), Lu 13:24.So Jacob “wrestled” in prayer (Ge32:24-29). Compare “contention,” Greek, “agony,”or “striving earnestness,” 1Th2:2.
according to his workingPaulavows that he has power to “strive” in spirit for hisconverts, so far only as Christ works in him and by him(Eph 3:20; Phi 4:13).
mightilyliterally, “inpower.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Whereunto I also labour,…. In the word and doctrine, by preaching Christ, warning sinners of their danger, teaching them the way of salvation, and their duty; with this view, that, in thee great day of account, he might bring a large number of them, and set them before Christ as the seals of his ministry, as instances of the grace of Christ, and as perfect in him:
striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily; meaning either in his prayers, earnestly entreating of God that he would succeed his labours, and bless them to the conversion of many; which sense is favoured by the Syriac version, which renders it,
, “and make supplication”; that is, with that effectual fervent prayer, which was powerfully wrought in him: or in his ministry, combating with many enemies, fighting the good fight of faith; not in his own strength, but through the power of Christ; which enabled him to preach the Gospel far and near, in season and out of season; which supported his outward man, and strengthened his inward man for that service, and made it effectual to the good of the souls of many: some refer this to the signs, wonders, and miracles, which Christ wrought by him, for the confirmation of the Gospel; but the other sense, which takes in both the power by which he was assisted in preaching, both in body and soul, and that which went along with his ministry to make it useful to others, is to be preferred.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Whereunto ( ). That is “to present every man perfect in Christ.”
I labour also ( ). Late verb , from (toil), to grow weary from toil (Mt 11:28), to toil on (Php 2:16), sometimes for athletic training. In papyri.
Striving (). Present middle participle of common verb (from , contest, as in 2:1), to contend in athletic games, to agonize, a favourite metaphor with Paul who is now a prisoner.
Working (). Our word “energy.” Late word from (, ), efficiency (at work). Play on the word here with the present passive participle of , (energy energized) as in Eph 1:19f. Paul was conscious of God’s “energy” at work in him “mightily” ( ), “in power” like dynamite.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Whereunto I also labor” (eis ho kai kopio) “For which I also labor.” Though in chains, in bonds, in prison, Paul witnessed and labored on for his Master. Col 2:1.
2) “Striving according to his working” (agonizomenos kata ten energeian autou) “Struggling or striving continually (progressively) according to his inner working (in me)” both for verbal and writing inspiration, to get out and write down the message, his portion of the Scriptures; Php_2:12-13.
3) “Which worketh in me mightily” (ten energoumenen en emoi en dunamei) “Which (is) working in me in a dynamic power,” like a generator, a dynamo, 2Co 12:9-10. With what explicit power the Holy Spirit did call to and sustain Paul in these prison-epistle writings to Saints, Pastors, and Churches of the Lord! He kept on fighting the good fight, running and the good race, and standing sentry guard, and sending the Divine messages to the Lord’s churches, even from prison cells, shackles, cold, hunger, and pain; even to the triumphant end, 2Ti 4:7-8. This was so much like both his Lord and Stephens, by whose lingering message Paul likely was brought to his knees on the Damascus Road, Act 7:54-60; Act 8:1-4; Act 9:1-6. Let us therefore, never be weary in well doing. Gal 6:9; 1Co 15:58.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
29. For which thing. He enhances, by two circumstances, the glory of his apostleship and of his doctrine. In the first place, he makes mention of his aim, (344) which is a token of the difficulty that he felt; for those things are for the most part the most excellent that are the most difficult. The second has more strength, inasmuch as he mentions that the power of God shines forth in his ministry. He does not speak, however, merely of the success of his preaching, (though in that too the blessing of God appears,) but also of the efficacy of the Spirit, in which God manifestly shewed himself; for on good grounds he ascribes his endeavors, inasmuch as they exceeded human limits, to the power of God, which, he declares, is seen working powerfully in this matter.
(344) “ Son travaille et peine;” — “His labor and trouble.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(29) Whereunto I also labour.In this verse St. Paul passes from the plural to the singular, evidently in preparation for the strong personal remonstrance of Col. 2:1-7.
His working . . .See Eph. 1:12, and Note there. Perhaps, as in Gal. 2:8 (He that wrought effectually in Peter to the Apostleship of the Circumcision, the same was mighty in me towards the Gentiles), there is special allusion to the grace given to him for his Apostleship of the Gentiles.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
29. Labour, striving Warning, teaching, toiling, agonizing, with all the strength God gave him, to land every convert safe in heaven. Such is the picture of this model minister of Christ before the Church of all ages.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working which works in me mightily (in power).’
Paul plays his full part in this work of ministry. ‘Labour’ (kopio) means toiling almost to the point of exhaustion. ‘Striving’ (’agonizomai), means ‘agonising, putting in great effort’ as in an athletics contest (see 1Co 9:24-27). So the fact that he is empowered does not mean that no effort is required of him. But while the effort is his, the power is not. That is given to him by Another. It results from the working of God which works in him ‘in power’ (dunamis), dynamic power (compare Eph 3:20; Php 2:13). And without that effective power all activity would be in vain.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Col 1:29. Striving according to his working, &c. This may import the many signs and wonders which God enabled him to perform for the confirmation of the doctrine that he preached; (comp. Gal 2:8. 2Co 13:3.) or else the divine influence upon himself, whereby he was excited and enabled with such vast diligence, industry, and success, to preach the gospel. Comp. Rom 15:19. 1Co 15:10. The next verse, which, with the two following, should not have been separated from this chapter, leads us rather to prefer the latter of these senses.
Inferences.What a divine authority does the apostolic character give to St. Paul’s epistles! And with what affection should we, after his example, wish all aboundings of grace and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, to all the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus! And how should we bless God on their behalf, and recommend them in our prayers to him, on account of what we see or hear of their faith and love! What a mercy is it that this gospel is now preached, by divine commission, to Gentiles as well as Jews, in all its unsearchably glorious riches; which was a mystery concealed in a great measure from former ages, but is now manifested to the saints! But how much greater is the mercy still, to know this gospel of the grace of God in truth; to experience its efficacy in delivering us from the power of Satan, and translating us into the kingdom of God’s best beloved Son; and to have Christ dwelling in our hearts as our hope of glory! This encourages further prayers for all increase in light and grace and strengthenings, by the glorious operations of divine power, unto all patience, long-suffering and joy, under all the trials of life; and unto all becoming, fruitful, and holy walking with God, who in this way makes all his faithful people meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.
How great and glorious is the person of Christ! He is the essential and representative image of God the Father, who in his own nature is invisible; he had an eternal existence before all worlds, and is the Creator and Upholder, the first cause and last end of all things, from the highest to the lowest of them, in heaven and on earth: He also, as Mediator, is the Head of his mystical body the church; has all office and dispensatory fulness constantly residing in him; and is the first and chief that rose from the dead to immortal life, and every way super-eminent to all saints and angels. And how important are the benefits which the faithful receive from him! They who were some time enemies, through the iniquity of their hearts and lives, are now reconciled to God by his atoning death, have remission of sins through his redeeming blood, and are sanctified by his Spirit. And what an honour is it to be made wise and faithful preachers of Christ, and instruments of presenting multitudes perfect in him! Who would not willingly lay themselves out to the utmost, according to the powerful workings of his grace in and with them, to subserve this blessed design; and rather rejoice than repine at any sufferings, to what degree soever they may be called to undergo them in the cause of Christ, for his sake, and for the conversion, edification, and eternal salvation of immortal souls!
REFLECTIONS.1st, The Apostle opens his epistle with his usual introduction. Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, appointed to that eminent honour and office by an immediate commission from heaven, and Timotheus our brother, who joins with me in this epistle, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse, who are living members of Christ’s mystical body, and in practice correspond with their holy profession; Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ; may every blessing of pardon, adoption, comfort, strength, sanctification, and glory, be your happy portion!
2nd, Though unknown to them in person, yet in heart and affection warmly attached to them, the blessed Paul,
1. Thanks God for the pleasing account which he had heard of them. We give thanks to God, and the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, our reconciled and covenant God in him; praying always for you, that you may abide and abound in every thing that is excellent; and blessing God for what he has already done on your behalf; since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and how cordially you embraced his glorious gospel, and rested firm on him alone for acceptance and salvation: and of the love which ye have to all the saints, the genuine fruit of your faith, and the proof of your unfeigned love to him whose image they bear; for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, even the eternal blessedness which God hath prepared and promised for all his faithful saints; whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel which is come unto you; through the Divine Providence it has been preached among you, as it is in all the world, throughout the Roman empire, and bringeth forth fruit, made effectual by the Divine Power to the conversion of men’s souls; as it doth also in you produce the most blessed effects, since the day ye heard of it and knew the grace of God in truth, experimentally made acquainted therewith, receiving the gospel both in the light and in the love of it. As ye also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellow-servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; for to his labours you are singularly indebted; who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit, testifying his warm affection toward you, in the report that he made of your unfeigned love to Christ and his people, the evidence of the genuine work of God’s Spirit in your souls. Note; (1.) The mercies of which others, who are near and dear to us, partake, call for our thankfulness, as well as those which we receive from God ourselves. (2.) It is an inestimable favour, through Divine Providence, to hear the word of the truth of the gospel preached; but the grand matter is to receive it into our hearts, and to know the grace of God in truth. (3.) Wherever Divine Grace operates effectually, it will be seen in the blessed fruits which are produced thereby. (4.) A faithful minister is an invaluable blessing to any people; and highly are they bound to love and honour him.
2. To his thanksgivings he adds his hearty prayers. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you. [1.] That ye may be made wise unto salvation: and to desire, proceeds the Apostle, that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will, your minds more clearly discerning the riches of the grace of God, your privileges, and the practice of holiness which thence results, advancing in all wisdom and spiritual understanding: and [2.] Disposed to follow in simplicity the light which God bestows, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, adorning your holy profession by a suitable conversation, and desiring to approve yourselves to the great Master: being fruitful, as trees of righteousness, in every good work, that is for the glory of God, and the benefit of your brethren; and thus increasing in the knowledge of God. Note; As knowledge is essential to all acceptable service, so the more faithfully we improve the grace given us, the more fully shall we be let into the secrets of wisdom. For if any man doth his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God, Joh 7:17. [3.] We pray that ye may be strengthened with all might in the inner man, for the discharge of every duty, and to resist every enemy of your souls, according to his glorious power, which can support you abundantly unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness, bearing up your minds with cheerfulness under all persecutions or afflictions which may befal you, neither weary nor desponding, but with holy triumph exulting in the grace that you have experienced, and the promises of continual help in every time of need. Note; (1.) All our strength must come from above, and is to be obtained in the way of prayer. (2.) Every true believer, conflicting with and conquering sin and Satan, is a living monument of God’s glorious power, and like the burning bush, though compassed with temptations, is not consumed. (3.) However multiplied, prolonged, or afflictive our trials may be, we are called to exercise all patience, and neither to murmur nor faint under them: and, hard as the work is, God will enable the believer for that which he does command, yea, not only to be resigned, but to rejoice in the midst of tribulations.
3rdly, The Apostle returns again to thanksgiving,
1. In view of the inestimable blessings to which they had been admitted. Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, by his Spirit renewing our hearts, raising up our affections to high and heavenly things, and preparing us, if faithful, for that glory which he hath prepared for us. Note; It would be folly and delusion to expect our lot among the saints in light, if we have not our conversation among them here below.
2. He gives thanks to God, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, plucking us as brands from the burning, rescuing us from the slavery of sin and Satan, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, admitting us to the inestimable privileges and blessings of that kingdom of light and grace which Jesus came to erect, that we might be brought under his happy government. Note; (1.) We are by nature slaves of sin and Satan, walking in darkness, and liable each moment to rush into eternal ruin. (2.) It is an act of amazing grace, when God is pleased to pluck the sinner from this miserable state; but this he is willing to do for every real penitent.
3. He blesses God for the salvation obtained through Christ, in whom we have redemption through his blood, deliverance from guilt, and, as the earnest of our adoption, the forgiveness of sins, freely bestowed upon us.
4. He describes the glorious personage, to whom we are indebted for pardon, grace, and every blessing; who is the image of the invisible God; one with the Father in essence and perfections, and, as incarnate, appears his visible representative, the first-born, or first-begotten of every creature, begotten before the worlds were, and the Lord and Heir of all creation. For by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, from the lowest rank of beings to the highest archangel, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities or powers, by whatever names or titles distinguished, whether in heaven, or in earth: all things were created by him and for him, by his power and for his glory. And he is before all things, in eternal pre-existence; and by him all things consist, preserved and upheld by his providence and care, as they were spoken into being at his word. And he is the head of the body, in his peculiar character as Mediator, not only as having the dominion over all things, but also as communicating vital influence to the several members, of which the church universal is composed: who is the beginning, the principle of spiritual life to his believing people; the first-born from the dead, who rose by his own power, and is the pledge, and first-fruits of our resurrection; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence, exalted far above all creatures, the object of adoration to saints and angels, and possessing the first place in their affection and regard. For it pleased the Father, in consequence of the complete atonement which he has made, that in him should all fulness dwell for the use of his church, all fulness of merit, righteousness, graces, gifts, according to their wants, to be freely dispensed to every real member of his body mystical. And (having made peace through the blood of his cross, receiving full satisfaction to his justice, by the oblation of the body of Jesus once for all, and now, consistently with his own glory, being able to extend mercy to the guilty sinner) it pleased the Father by him to reconcile all things unto himself, restoring them from their state of enmity to his forfeited regard, in a way as honourable to him, as happy to them; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, the members of the church militant here below, or those already entered into rest above. How glorious is the sacrifice of Christ, beheld in this delightful view! How justly worthy to be the grand object ever before us, since to it we are indebted for all that we possess here, and all that we hope for hereafter!
5. He mentions with delight the interest which they, to whom he wrote, possessed in all the blessings of this glorious redemption. And you that were some time utterly alienated from God, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, by nature and by practice rebels against the divine government, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, receiving you into the arms of his mercy, when drawing near to him by faith, through that new and living way which he hath consecrated through the vail of his crucified body; to present you holy and unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight: and this will be your happy case, both now and for ever, if ye continue in the faith, if ye cleave to Christ perseveringly till death, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, even that substantial hope which springs from the perfect atonement and all-sufficient grace of the great Redeemer: which blessed gospel ye have, through mercy heard; and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, as a common salvation, alike free for Gentiles as for Jews, and extending to all sinners of every rank and condition. Note; The gospel is grace abounding; none perish because of the greatness of their guilt, but because they reject the only remedy through pride and unbelief, and will not come to Christ, that they might have life.
6. Having mentioned the gospel which was preached unto them, among others who were honoured with the dispensation of it, he humbly inserts his own name, whereof I Paul am made a minister, by special commission, on behalf of the Gentiles: who now rejoice in my sufferings for the glorious truths which I have preached unto them, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church; not that the sufferings of Christ were incomplete, and needed any addition to them in order to perfect the ransom, and make satisfaction to Divine Justice; but as the members of his body are all to go through tribulation to glory, I, who was the instrument of their sufferings formerly, now in turn receive my measure of afflictions, and with holy joy triumph under them, when I have cause to hope that his church and people shall be profited thereby: whereof (of which church) I am made a minister, by a call immediately from heaven, according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you Gentiles, to fulfil the word of God, which was commanded me, or in correspondence with the prophecies which had foretold your conversion by the gospel, even the mystery which had been hid from ages, and from generations, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs; but now is made manifest to his saints, his prophets and apostles, and by them to all the faithful: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, who should be admitted to the participation of all the invaluable privileges of the gospel, the author, purchaser, and dispenser of which is Christ in you, formed in your hearts by faith, the hope of glory; whom we preach as the only Saviour of the miserable and desperate; warning every man of the mortal danger of sin, and his inevitable ruin out of Christ; and teaching every man in all wisdom concerning the only method of safety, even faith in a crucified Saviour; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, complete in him as their head, and grown up to the perfection of knowledge, grace, and holiness, in the day of his appearing and glory: whereunto I also labour, striving with every nerve, in the midst of opposing enemies, according to his working which worketh in me mightily, who enables me for the conflict, and crowns my labours with success.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Col 1:29 . On the point of now urging upon the readers their obligation to fidelity in the faith (Col 2:4 ), and that from the platform of the personal relation in which he stood towards them as one unknown to them by face (Col 2:1 ), Paul now turns from the form of expression embracing others in common with himself , into which he had glided at Col 1:28 in harmony with its contents, back to the individual form (the first person singular ), and asserts, first of all, in connection with Col 1:28 , that for the purpose of the . . . ( , comp. 1Ti 4:10 ) he also gives himself even toil ( , comp. Rom 16:6 ; Rom 16:12 ; 1Co 4:12 ), striving, etc.
] also , subjoins the to the . . ., in which he subjects himself also to the former; it is therefore augmentative , in harmony with the climactic progress of the discourse; not a mere equalization of the aim and the striving (de Wette). Neither this , nor even the transition to the singular of the verb, especially since the latter is not emphasized by the addition of an , can justify the interpretation of Hofmann, according to which is, contrary to its position, to be attached to , and is to mean: “ I become weary and faint ” (comp. Joh 4:6 ; Rev 2:3 , and Dsterdieck in loc .). Paul, who has often impressed upon others the , and for himself is certain of being more than conqueror in all things (Rom 8:37 ; 2Co 4:8 , et al. ), can hardly have borne testimony about himself in this sense, with which, moreover, the in the strength of Christ is not consistent. In his case, as much as in that of any one, the of Rev 2:3 holds good.
] Compare 1Ti 4:10 . Here, however, according to the context, Col 2:1 ff., the inward striving (comp. Luk 13:24 ) against difficulties and hostile forces, the striving of solicitude, of watching, of mental and emotional exertion, of prayer, etc., is meant; as respects which Paul, like every regenerate person (Gal 5:17 ), could not be raised above the resistance of the to the ruling in him. Comp. Chrysostom: , , , , . It is not: “tot me periculis ac malis objicere” (Erasmus, comp. Grotius, Estius, Heinrichs, Bhr, and others), which outward struggling, according to Flatt, de Wette, Baumgarten-Crusius, and others, should be understood along with that inward striving; Col 2:1 only points to the latter; comp. Col 4:12 .
. . .] for Paul does not contend, amid the labours of his office, according to the measure of his own strength, but according to the effectual working of Christ ( is not to be referred to God , as is done by Chrysostom, Grotius, Flatt, Baumgarten-Crusius, and others), which worketh in him . Comp. Phi 4:13 . How must this consciousness, at once so humble and confident of victory, have operated upon the readers to stir them up and strengthen them for stedfastness in the faith!
.] is middle; see on 2Co 1:6 ; Gal 5:6 ; Eph 3:20 . The modal definition to it, , mightily (comp. on Rom 1:4 ), is placed at the end significantly, as in 2Th 1:11 ; it is groundlessly regarded by Holtzmann as probably due to the interpolator.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
REFLECTIONS
Everlasting praise to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for the gracious discoveries made to the Church in this blessed chapter of divine love, and for all the manifestations of Covenant grace and mercy, in the Person, work, and offices of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Head and Husband of his Church from one eternity to another. Oh! what a glorious view is here given of Christ in this Chapter! Lord! be it my study, night and day, under divine teaching, to learn and know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent!
And, oh! thou blessed Emmanuel, God and Man in One Person! Oh! may I unceasingly meditate on the glories of thy nature and essence, One with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, God over all, blessed forever. Amen. May I behold thee in thy Mediator glory, the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature! And, oh! what glories do I here behold and contemplate in thy person, before that a single act of redemption-work was Wrought out by my LORD for his Church, in the time-state of her fallen nature; when as I here read, by thee all things are created that are in heaven and earth; all things were created not only by thee, but for thee, and thou art before all things, and by thee all things consist! Oh! the glories of my Lord, in creation, providence, grace, and glory! And when I call to mind thy wonders of love to the Church in time, thine incarnation, baptisms, temptations, sorrows, miracles, life, death, resurrection, ascension, return to glory, and the wonders of thine unchanging priesthood! When I behold thee now still carrying on the same design, wearing our nature, appearing in our stead, taking up the Persons and causes of all thy people, feeling with them, and feeling for them, and wilt never cease, until thou hast brought thy blood-bought sons and daughters, with all thy royal family round thy throne, to be with thee forever? Oh! for grace, until this great day of my God shall come, to love thee, and to live to thee, and to hail thy wonderous name! Lord! be thou my portion day by day, that by faith in this blessed hope, I may now live, and at length, in the full assurance of glory, die, and be one with thee forever!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
Ver. 29. I also labour, striving ] Labour to lassitude, strive even to an agony. Good ministers are great painstakers; and God that helped the Levites to bear the ark, 1Ch 15:26 , will help his servants by his Spirit, working in them with power.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
29 .] His own personal part in this general work for which end (viz. the , &c.) I also ( implies the addition of a new particular over and above the , carrying it onwards even to this) toil in conflict (of spirit; in the earnestness with which he strove for this end, see ch. Col 2:1-3 ; not, with adversaries: this was so, but is not relevant here. See Phi 1:30 . 1Th 2:2 ), according to (after the proportion of, as is to be expected from) His (Christ’s see Phi 4:13 ; not God’s, as Chrys., Grot., Calv., al.) working which worketh (not passive, as Est. See on Gal 5:6 , Eph 3:20 , and Fritzsche on Rom 7:5 ) in me in power (reff.: there is no allusion to miraculous gifts, as Ambrst., Mich., al.).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Col 1:29 . : to achieve which end. expresses toil carried to the point of weariness. : a metaphor from the arena. Meyer takes the reference to be to inward striving against difficulties and hostile forces. Perhaps both inward and outward struggle are referred to (De W.). . The struggle is carried on in proportion not to his natural powers, but to the mightily working energy of Christ within him. : a dynamic middle ( cf. Col 1:6 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Colossians
CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOUR
Col 1:29 .
I have chosen this text principally because it brings together the two subjects which are naturally before us to-day. All ‘Western Christendom,’ as it is called, is to-day commemorating the Pentecostal gift. My text speaks about that power that ‘worketh in us mightily.’ True, the Apostle is speaking in reference to the fiery energy and persistent toil which characterised him in proclaiming Christ, that he might present men perfect before Him. But the same energy which he expended on his apostolic office he expended on his individual personality. And he would not have discharged the one unless he had first laboured on the other. And although in a letter contemporary with this one from which my text is taken he speaks of himself as no longer young, but ‘such an one as Paul the aged, and likewise, also a prisoner of Jesus Christ,’ the young spirit was in him, and the continual pressing forward to unattained heights. And that is the spirit, not only of a section of the Church divided from the rest by youth and by special effort, but of the whole Church if it is worth calling a Church, and unless it is thus instinct, it is a mere dead organisation.
So I hope that what few things I have to say may apply to, and be felt to be suitable by all of us, whether we are nominally Christian Endeavourers or not. If we are Christian people, we are such. If we are not endeavouring, shall I venture to say we are not Christians? At any rate, we are very poor ones.
Now here, then, are two plain things, a great universal Christian duty and a sufficient universal Christian endowment. ‘I work striving’; that is the description of every true Christian. ‘I work striving, according to His working, who worketh in me mightily’: there is the great gift which makes the work and the striving possible. Let me briefly deal, then, with these two.
I. The solemn universal Christian obligation.
Now the two words which the Apostle employs here are both of them very emphatic. ‘His words were half battles,’ was said about Luther. It may be as truly said about Paul. And that word ‘work’ which he employs, means, not work with one hand, or with a delicate forefinger, but it means toil up to the verge of weariness. The notion of fatigue is almost, I might say, uppermost in the word as it is used in the New Testament. Some people like to ‘labour’ so as never to turn a hair, or bring a sweat-drop on to their foreheads. That is not Christian Endeavour. Work that does not ‘take it out of you’ is not worth doing. The other word ‘striving’ brings up the picture of the arena with the combatants’ strain of muscle, their set teeth, their quick, short breathing, their deadly struggle. That is Paul’s notion of Endeavour. Now ‘Endeavour,’ like a great many other words, has a baser and a nobler side to it. Some people, when they say, ‘I will endeavour,’ mean that they are going to try in a half-hearted way, with no prospect of succeeding. That is not Christian Endeavour. The meaning of the word–for the expression in my text might just as well be rendered ‘endeavouring’ as ‘striving’–is that of a buoyant confident effort of all the concentrated powers, with the certainty of success. That is the endeavour that we have to cultivate as Christian men. And there is only one field of human effort in which that absolute confidence that it shall not be in vain is anything but presumptuous arrogance; namely, in the effort after making ourselves what God means us to be, what Jesus Christ longs for us to be, what the Spirit of God is given to us in order that we should be. ‘We shall not fail,’ ought to be the word of every man and woman when they set themselves to the great task of working out, in their own characters and personalities, the Divine intention which is made a Divine possibility by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the gift of the Divine Spirit.
So then what we come to is just this, dear brethren, if we are Christians at all, we have to make a business of our religion; to go about it as if we meant work. Ah! what a contrast there is between the languid way in which Christian men pursue what the Bible designates their ‘calling’ and that in which men with far paltrier aims pursue theirs! And what a still sadder contrast there is between the way in which we Christians go about our daily business, and the way in which we go about our Christian life! Why, a man will take more pains to learn some ornamental art, or some game, than he will ever take to make himself a better Christian. The one is work. What is the other? To a very large extent dawdling and make-believe.
You remember the old story,–it may raise a smile, but there should be a deep thought below the smile,–of the little child that said as to his father that ‘he was a Christian, but he had not been working much at it lately.’ Do not laugh. It is a great deal too true of–I will not venture to say what percentage of–the professing Christians of this day. Work at your religion. That is the great lesson of my text. Endeavour with confidence of success. The Book of Proverbs says: ‘He that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster,’ and that is true. A man that does ‘the work of the Lord negligently’ is scarcely to be credited with doing it at all. Dear friends, young or old, if you name the name of Christ, be in earnest, and make earnest work of your Christian character.
And now may I venture two or three very plain exhortations? First, I would say–if you mean to make your Christian life a piece of genuine work and striving, the first thing that you have to do is to endeavour in the direction of keeping its aim very clear before you. There are many ways in which we may state the goal of the Christian life, but let us put it now into the all-comprehensive form of likeness to Jesus Christ, by entire conformity to His Example and full interpretation of His life. I do not say ‘Heaven’; I say ‘Christ.’
That is our aim, the loftiest idea of development that any human spirit can grasp, and rising high above a great many others which are noble but incomplete. The Christian ideal is the greatest in the universe. There is no other system of thought that paints man as he is, so darkly; there is none that paints man as he is meant to be, in such radiant colours. The blacks upon the palette of Christianity are blacker, and the whites are whiter, and the golden is more radiant, than any other painter has ever mixed. And so just because the aim which lies before the least and lowest of us, possessing the most imperfect and rudimentary Christianity, is so transcendent and lofty, it is hard to keep it clear before our eyes, especially when all the shabby little necessities of daily life come in to clutter up the foreground, and hide the great distance. Men may live up at Darjeeling there on the heights for weeks, and never see the Himalayas towering opposite. The lower hills are clear; the peaks are wreathed in cloud. So the little aims, the nearer purposes, stand out distinct and obtrusive, and force themselves, as it were, upon our eyeballs, and the solemn white Throne of the Eternal away across the marshy levels, is often hid, and it needs an effort for us to keep it clear before us. One of the main reasons for much that is unsatisfactory in the spiritual condition of the average Christian of this day is precisely that he has not burning ever before him there, the great aim to which he ought to be tending. So he gets loose and diffused, and vague and uncertain. That is what Paul tells you when he proposes himself as an example: ‘So run I, not as uncertainly,’ The man who knows where he is running makes a bee-line for the goal. If he is not sure of his destination, of course he zigzags. ‘So fight I, not as one that beateth the air’–if I see my antagonist I can hit him. If I do not see him clearly I strike like a swordsman in the dark, at random, and my sword comes back unstained. If you want to make the harbour, keep the harbour lights always clear before you, or you will go yawing about, and washing here and there, in the trough of the wave, and the tempest will be your master. If you do not know where you are going you will have to say, like the men in the old story in the Old Book, ‘Thy servant went no whither.’ If you are going to endeavour, endeavour first to keep the goal clear before you.
And endeavour next to keep up communion with Jesus Christ, which is the secret of all peaceful and of all noble living. And endeavour next after concentration. And what does that mean? It means that you have to detach yourself from hindrances. It means that you have to prosecute the Christian aim all through the common things of Christian life. If it were not possible to be pursuing the great aim of likeness to Jesus Christ, in the veriest secularities of the most insignificant and trivial occupations, then it would be no use talking about that being our aim. If we are not making ourselves more like Jesus Christ by the way in which we handle our books, or our pen, or our loom, or our scalpel, or our kitchen utensils, then there is little chance of our ever making ourselves like Jesus Christ. For it is these trifles that make life, and to concentrate ourselves on the pursuit of the Christian aim is, in other words, to carry that Christian aim into every triviality of our daily lives.
There are three Scripture passages which set forth various aspects of the aim that we have before us, and from each of these aspects deduce the one same lesson. The Apostle says ‘giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue,’ etc., ‘for if ye do these things ye shall never fail.’ He also exhorts: ‘Give diligence to make your calling and election sure.’ And finally he says: ‘Be diligent, that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, blameless.’ There are three aspects of the Christian course, and the Christian aim, the addition to our faith of all the clustering graces and virtues and powers that can be hung upon it, like jewels on the neck of a queen; the making our calling and election sure, and the being found at last tranquil, spotless, stainless, and being found so by Him. These great aims are incumbent on all Christians, they require diligence, and ennoble the diligence which they require.
So, brethren, we have all to be Endeavourers if we are Christians, and that to the very end of our lives. For our path is the only path on which men tread that has for its goal an object so far off that it never can be attained, so near that it can ever be approached. This infinite goal of the Christian Endeavour means inspiration for youth, and freshness for old age, and that man is happy who can say: ‘Not as though I had already attained’ at the end of a long life, and can say it, not because he has failed, but because in a measure he has succeeded. Other courses of life are like the voyages of the old mariners which were confined within the narrow limits of the Mediterranean, and steered from headland to headland. But the Christian passes through the jaws of the straits, and comes out on a boundless sunlit ocean where, though he sees no land ahead, he knows there is a peaceful shore, beyond the western waves. ‘I work striving.’
Now one word as to the other thought that is here, and that is
II. The all-sufficient Christian gift.
‘According to His working, which worketh in me mightily.’ I need not discuss whether ‘His’ in my text refers to God or to Christ. The thing meant is the operation upon the Christian spirit, of that Divine Spirit whose descent the Church to-day commemorates. At this stage of my sermon I can only remind you in a word, first of all, that the Apostle here is arrogating to himself no special or peculiar gift, is not egotistically setting forth something which he possessed and other Christian people did not–that power which, ‘working in him mightily,’ worked in all his brethren as well. It was his conviction and his teaching–would that it were more operatively and vitally the conviction of all professing Christians to-day, and would that it were more conspicuously, and in due proportion to the rest of Christian truth, the teaching of all Christian teachers to-day!–that that Divine power is in the very act of faith received and implanted in every believing soul. ‘Know ye not,’ the Apostle could say to his hearers, ‘that ye have the Spirit of God, except ye be reprobates.’ I doubt whether the affirmative response would spring to the lips of all professing or real Christians to-day as swiftly as it would have done then. And I cannot help feeling, and feeling with increasing gravity of pressure as the days go on, that the thing that our churches, and we as individuals, perhaps need most to-day, is the replacing of that great truth–I do not call it a ‘doctrine,’ that is cold, it is experience–in its proper place. They who believe on Him do receive a new life, a supernatural communication of the new Spirit, to be the very power that rules in their lives.
It is an inward gift. It is not like the help that men can render us, given from without and apprehended and incorporated with ourselves through the medium of the understanding or of the heart. There is an old story in the history of Israel about a young king that was bid by the prophet to bend his bow against the enemies of Israel, as a symbol; and the old prophet put his withered, skinny brown hand on the young man’s fleshy one, and then said to him, ‘Shoot.’ But this Divine Spirit comes to strengthen us in a more intimate and blessed fashion than that, for it glides into our hearts and dwells in our spirits, and our work, as my text says, is His working. This ‘working within’ is stated in the original of my text most emphatically, for it is literally ‘the inworking which inworketh in me mightily.’
So, dear brethren, the first direct aim of all our endeavour ought to be to receive and to keep and to increase our gift of that Divine Spirit. The work and the striving of which my text speaks would be sheer slavery unless we had that help. It would be impossible of accomplishment unless we had it.
‘ If any power we have, it is to ill, And all the power is Thine, to do and eke to will.’
Let us, then, begin our endeavour, not by working, but by receiving. Is not that the very meaning of the doctrine that we are always talking about, that men are saved, not by works but by faith? Does not that mean that the first step is reception, and the first requisite is receptiveness, and that then, and after that, second and not first, come working and striving? To keep our hearts open by desire, to keep them open by purity, are the essentials. The dove will not come into a fouled nest. It is said that they forsake polluted places. But also we have to use the power which is inwrought. Use is the way to increase all gifts, from the muscle in your arm to the Christian life in your spirit. Use it, and it grows. Neglect it, and it vanishes, and like the old Jewish heroes, a man may go forth to exercise himself as of old time, and know not that the Spirit of God hath departed from him. Dear friends, do not bind yourselves to the slavery of Endeavour, until you come into the liberty and wealth of receiving. He gives first, and then says to you, ‘Now go to work, and keep that good thing which is committed unto thee.’
There is but one thought more in this last part of my text, which I must not leave untouched, and that is that this sufficient and universal gift is not only the means by which the great universal duty can be discharged, but it ought to be the measure in which it is discharged. ‘I work according to the working in me.’ That is, all the force that came into Paul by that Divine Spirit, came out of Paul in his Christian conduct, and the gift was not only the source, but also the measure, of this man’s Christian Endeavour. Is that true about us? They say that the steam-engine is a most wasteful application of power, that a great deal of the energy which is generated goes without ever doing any work. They tell us that one of the great difficulties in the way of economic application of electricity is the loss which comes through using accumulators. Is not that like a great many of us? So much power poured into us; so little coming out from us and translated into actual work! Such a ‘rushing mighty wind,’ and the air about us so heavy and stagnant and corrupt! Such a blaze of fire, and we so cold! Such a cataract of the river of the water of life, and our lips parched and our crops seared and worthless! Ah, brethren! when we look at ourselves, and when we think of the condition of so many of the churches to which we belong, the old rebuke of the prophet comes back to us in this generation, ‘Thou that art named the House of Israel, is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? Are these His doings?’ We have an all-sufficient power. May our working and striving be according to it, and may we work mightily, being ‘strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might!’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Whereunto = Unto (App-104.) which.
I also labour = I labour also. striving, See Luk 13:24.
working. See Eph 1:19,
worketh, See Eph 1:11.
mightily = by (Greek. en) might (App-172.)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
29.] His own personal part in this general work-for which end (viz. the , &c.) I also ( implies the addition of a new particular over and above the , carrying it onwards even to this) toil in conflict (of spirit; in the earnestness with which he strove for this end, see ch. Col 2:1-3; not, with adversaries: this was so, but is not relevant here. See Php 1:30. 1Th 2:2), according to (after the proportion of, as is to be expected from) His (Christs-see Php 4:13; not Gods, as Chrys., Grot., Calv., al.) working which worketh (not passive, as Est. See on Gal 5:6, Eph 3:20, and Fritzsche on Rom 7:5) in me in power (reff.: there is no allusion to miraculous gifts, as Ambrst., Mich., al.).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Col 1:29. , striving) In ch. Col 2:1, the conflict (comp. Col 4:12) refers to this word.-, according to) Paul would not be able to strive in himself: he is only mighty, according as Christ works in him.-, of Him) of Christ.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Co 1:29
1Co 1:29
that no flesh should glory before God.-God requires man to work through means unfitted to the end to be accomplished, to show him that the power is of God, that God does the work, that man might not glory as though he did it himself; but his glorying was in God the giver of all good. The great end of Gods dealings with man is to cause him to trust God, and lead him to walk in accordance with his will. God imposes on man conditions which in themselves are inadequate to the accomplishment of the end sought, that man may show his faith in God and his willingness to obey him, and in this obedience show his fitness to receive the blessings of God, and that no man should glory in himself in the presence of God. Man had so sinned, so fallen from Gods favor, that God would receive him only as he distrusted self and trusted God who redeemed him.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
labour: Col 4:12, 1Co 15:10, 2Co 5:9, 2Co 6:5, 2Co 11:23, Phi 2:16, 1Th 2:9, 2Th 3:8, 2Ti 2:10, Rev 2:3
striving: Col 2:1, Luk 13:24, Rom 15:20, Rom 15:30, 1Co 9:25-27, Phi 1:27, Phi 1:30, Heb 12:4
his: 1Co 12:6, 1Co 12:11, Eph 1:19, Eph 3:7, Eph 3:20, Phi 2:13, Heb 13:21
mightily: 2Co 12:9, 2Co 12:10, 2Co 13:3
Reciprocal: Neh 4:21 – So we Neh 7:5 – put into mine Job 33:29 – all Psa 63:8 – thy Eze 33:7 – thou shalt Dan 5:12 – an excellent Mat 25:20 – behold Luk 10:2 – the labourers Luk 19:16 – Lord Joh 3:21 – that his Joh 6:27 – Labour not Act 7:25 – God Act 18:25 – fervent Act 21:19 – he declared Rom 1:9 – whom Rom 12:3 – I say Rom 12:7 – or he Rom 16:12 – labour 1Co 3:10 – to the 1Co 9:26 – so 2Co 5:11 – we persuade 2Co 8:1 – the grace Gal 2:8 – the same Gal 2:9 – the grace 1Th 5:12 – labour 2Ti 2:5 – strive 2Ti 4:2 – reprove
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
(Col 1:29.) -For which I also labour. To attain this blessed end, I also toil – – intensely struggling, or as Wycliffe renders-I traueile in stryuynge. It was no light work, no pastime; it made a demand upon every faculty and every moment. 1Ti 4:10. Since the apostle had many adversaries to contend with, as is evident from numerous allusions in his epistles, Php 1:29-30, 1Ti 6:5, 2Th 3:2, many suppose that such struggles are either prominently alluded to here, or at least are distinctly implied in the use of the participle. But the context does not favour such a hypothesis. It would seem from the following verses, that it is to an agony of spiritual earnestness that the apostle refers-to that profound yearning which occasioned so many wrestlings in prayer, and drew from him so many tears; , as Chrysostom paraphrases it. When we reflect upon the motive-the presentation of perfect men to God, and upon the instrument-the preaching of the cross, we cease to wonder at the apostle’s zeal and toils. For there is no function so momentous,-not that which studies the constitution of man, in order to ascertain his diseases and remove them; nor that which labours for social improvement, and the promotion of science and civilization; nor that which unfolds the resources of a nation, and secures it a free and patriotic government-far more important than all, is the function of the Christian ministry. What in other spheres is enthusiasm, is in it but sobriety. Barnes well says-In such a work it is a privilege to exhaust our strength; in the performance of the duties of such an office, it is an honour to be permitted to wear out life itself.
It was, indeed, no sluggish heart that beat in the apostle’s bosom. His was no torpid temperament. There was such a keenness in all its emotions and anxieties, that its resolve and action were simultaneous movements. But though he laboured so industriously, and suffered so bravely in the aim of winning souls to Christ and glory, still he owned that all was owing to Divine power lodged within him-
The work to be perform’d is ours,
The strength is all His own;
‘Tis He that works to will,
‘Tis He that works to do;
His is the power by which we act,
His be the glory too.
Therefore the apostle thus concludes-
-According to His working, that worketh in me with might. The preposition expresses the measure of Paul’s apostolical labour. He laboured not only under the prompting of the Divine energy, but he laboured just so far as that imparted energy enabled him. 1Co 15:10. By the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. The pronoun refers not to God, as many imagine, but to Christ. The participle is not in the passive, but the middle voice, as in Gal 5:6. [Eph 3:20.] Winer, 38, 6. The phrase does not, as Vatablus and Michaelis suggest, refer to miracles, but has an adverbial sense, specifying the mode of operation. Rom 1:4; 2Th 1:11. The occurrence of the noun and a correlate verb intensifies the meaning. Winer, 32, 2. [Eph 1:5-6.] It was no feeble manifestation of Divine power that showed itself in the great apostle of the Gentiles. Its ample energies clothed him with a species of moral omnipotence. Php 4:13. The sublime motive to present every man perfect in Christ, through the preaching of Christ, could only be realized by the conferment of Divine qualification and assistance. Mere human influence cannot reach it, though the faculties be kept in full tension, and the mind be disciplined into symmetrical operation. Learning, industry, and genius, are of little avail, without piety and spiritual support. Our sufficiency is of God. 2Co 3:5-6.
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Col 1:29. Whereunto denotes the purpose to whch Paul was laboring, as described in the preceding verse. Striving is from AGONIZOMAI, and the lexicon of Thayer defines it, “To enter a contest; contend in the gymnastic games; to contend with adversaries, fight; to contend, struggle with difficulties and dangers; to endeavor with strenuous zeal, strive.” Paul uses the athletic contests of his day to illustrate the struggles connected with his labors for Christ and his disciples. His working refers to the use that Christ was making cf the apostle in the great conflict against sin. Mightily is frcm DUNAMIS, which is one of the strongest words in the Greek New Testament for power or ability. Paul uses it to indicate the help his Trainer is giving him in the contest going on in the arena of life.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Col 1:29. Whereunto (i.e., for the end just named) I labor also. Besides preaching, he labors in every way. I, not, we, since Pauls individual toils and struggles were doubtless before his mind.
Striving. The earlier commentators referred this to external contests (1Ti 4:10; 1Th 2:2; Php 1:30), but chaps. Col 2:1; Col 4:12, point to internal struggles. Possibly both are included.
According to his (i.e., Christs) working which worketh in me mightily; lit, in power. The reference to Christ is upheld by most modern commentators (comp. Php 4:13). In his struggles Christs strength was his. The working of miracles is not indicated by the phrase in power, though it need not be excluded. Mightily is a good rendering. The ample energies of such a working clothed him with a species of moral omnipotence (Eadie). The minister of the Word labors with the Eternal on the Eternalfor eternity, more than the artist; but only when He who has contrived eternal Redemption works upon him and he does not resist Him (Braune). When laboring for this end and with this power, we must succeed, as God accounts success, though men regard our lives as failures. Often the truest success springs from the severest conflicts and from apparent defeat.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
“Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.” Christ works within us, but we must be a willing participant.
We see in Paul’s comments a purpose, suffering, ministering, benefiting revealing and proclaiming. I would like to look into this passage a little further.
What was Paul’s purpose in life? Perfecting of the saints would seem to fit the question. He did it even though he suffered many things as he ministered to the church (2Co 11:23-29).
He was looking to reconcile all he could to His Lord. He always went to the Jews first, and then to the Gentiles. (Act 13:44-47) He did this with the full authority of Christ. (Act 26:16; Col 1:25)
He benefited the church in many ways. He was quite prolific in leading people to the Lord. He assisted by preaching and setting up leadership in the churches he planted. Perfecting of the saints was a key part of his ministry. He sent Timothy, Titus and most likely others to churches to assist with problems and to encourage the believers toward maturity.
What one word might we use to describe the motivating force behind Paul’s ministry to the church?
SELFLESS
He gave of himself totally. Whom did he give himself to? Christ and no other, not even himself.
The term translated self in Scripture is where we get our English word “automatic” from. It relates to me or oneself. What is an automatic machine? Once started it does everything for itself. Likewise, the self-centered person, once started does everything for themselves.
Let’s look at self for a moment or two.
Self wants its own way.
Self wants nothing for anyone else.
Self wants to posses everything.
Self gives nothing.
Self wants.
Self wants everything to revolve around them.
Self wants everything they think/believe to be implemented.
Actually sounds like a lot of politicians in our day.
Let’s describe selfless.
Selflessness wants to go along with the other persons desire.
Selflessness wants others to gain.
Selflessness wants to share with others.
Selflessness wants to assist others.
Selflessness wants to make others feel important.
Selflessness wants to benefit others.
Christ is the perfect example of selflessness, but Paul is a close second it would seem.
Christ never acquired earthly possessions save a robe which was taken from him in the end.
Christ showed mercy to all that came to Him. He helped them physically as well as spiritually.
Christ ministered to near exhaustion.
Christ maintained a proper spiritual atmosphere for the disciples to learn in.
Christ gave Himself to his ministry.
Christ gave Himself to be crucified.
All He did was aimed away from Himself.
Just a few thoughts to assist you in finding selflessness.
Give of your material wealth – money to the church, to missionaries, or maybe to other believers in need.
Give of your food – groceries to the needy – meals for visiting speakers/missionaries.
Give of your transportation – to and from church – to and from grocery store etc.
Give of your time – time to talk with them – time to listen to them – time to help them do things.
Give of your talents – use them for others – fix things for them – assist them to do things.
Use your occupation as you can. When speaking in Nevada at a missions conference I was approached by a man from the church that stated that he had a pair of cowboy boots just like mine (a different pair than those mentioned earlier in the study :-). I replied that I hoped his weren’t exactly like mine – holding one boot up to reveal a large hole in the sole.
Later that day I found I was staying in the man’s home for the night. The next morning after breakfast he told me we were going for a ride. We ended up at a shoe store – his shoe store. We went in and he presented me with a new pair of boots.
The next morning another missionary ate breakfast with us and mentioned he needed to go shopping briefly to pick up some new shoes – his had come apart the previous evening. As the missionary finished his meal the business man leaned over to the missionary and said something. They left quietly and returned in awhile. The missionary was wearing a new pair of shoes. What a blessing that man was to a couple of missionaries!
Mechanics can assist missionaries/pastors with car troubles, doctors might give some needed medical advice – the possibilities are wide open.
In short give of yourself in any way that you can. Paul gave his all for the church. It might be of note that he did not give his all for the lost, though I doubt he ever ignored their needs as he shared the Lord with them.
Some might ask, but what about those that will take advantage of you. Be sure someone will, then it won’t surprise you. Your responsibility is to give, it is their responsibility to take only what is needed – both of you will stand before Someone one day to answer for what YOU did.
The text mentions Paul was laboring. This term labor relates to some real toil. Now if we are speaking of the pioneers we know of the toil they went through just to survive from day to day. On the other hand our toil often isn’t quite so hard. Indeed, most of us have a lot of spare time in which we can fill in with tasks relating to ministry.
Strive in verse twenty-nine is the Greek word that we gain “agonize” from. I think we know what that term means – not that many of us get ourselves into that position in or lives.
Paul is not just mouthing words – he is totally given to the edification of others. Why? To present believers to the Lord mature.
To present people perfect – for this Paul labored and strived according to Christ’s working in him. Because Christ was working in Paul’s life, Paul worked in the harvest field – in other peoples lives.
Apply that to yourself today. If Christ is working in your life, you WILL BE WORKING IN THE HARVEST FIELD. The more Christ works in your life the more you will be working in the lives of others.
You are the only limitation upon how God uses your life.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
Paul’s power 1:29
Paul had to expend physical, mental, and spiritual energy toiling to this end. Sometimes he had to strive and contend with adversaries in the world as well as with his own flesh and the devil. Nevertheless the supernatural power of the indwelling Christ energized him.
"The root [of the Greek word translated "works," energoumenen] generally refers to supernatural power, whether God’s or Satan’s." [Note: Johnson, 475:234.]
"The entire statement shows that through faith in Christ we can link our life with a source of strength that enables us to rise above our natural limitations." [Note: Vaughan, p. 193.]
Paul’s view of his ministry was certainly a high one. He would have despaired had he not learned the sufficiency of God’s grace in his life (2Co 12:9).