Chapter V: PERSONAL (iv. 7–18) (6)

εἰ ἀπεθάνετε] ‘_if ye died_, when ye were baptized into Christ.’ For this connexion between baptism and death see the notes on ii. 11, iii. 3. This death has many aspects in St Paul’s teaching. It is not only a dying _with_ Christ, 2 Tim. ii. 11 εἰ γὰρ συναπεθάνομεν; but it is also a dying to or from something. This is sometimes represented as _sin_, Rom. vi. 2 ὁίτινες ἀπεθάνομεν τῇ _ἁμαρτίᾳ_ (comp. vv. 7, 8); sometimes as _self_, 2 Cor. v. 14, 15 ἄρα οἱ πάντες ἀπέθανον ... ἵνα οἱ ζῶντες μήκετι _ἑαυτοῖς_ ζῶσιν; sometimes as the _law_, Rom. vii. 6 κατηργήθημεν ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου ἀποθανόντες, Gal. ii. 19 διὰ νόμου νόμῳ ἀπέθανον; sometimes still more widely as the _world_, regarded as the sphere of all material rules and all mundane interests, so here and iii. 3 ἀπεθάνετε γάρ. In all cases St Paul uses the aorist ἀπέθανον, never the perfect τέθνηκα; for he wishes to emphasize the one absolute _crisis_, which was marked by the change of changes. When the aorist is wanted, the compound verb ἀποθνήσκειν is used; when the perfect, the simple verb θήσκειν; see Buttmann _Ausf. Gramm._ § 114. This rule holds universally in the Greek Testament.

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II. 20]

ἀπὸ τῶν στοιχέιων τοῦ κόσμου, τί ὡς ζῶντες ἐν κόσμῳ

ἀπὸ τῶν στοιχείων κ.τ.λ.] i.e. ‘from the rudimentary, disciplinary, ordinances, whose sphere is the mundane and sensuous’: see the note on ver. 8. For the pregnant expression ἀποθανεῖν ἀπὸ comp. Gal. v. 4 κατηργήθητε ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ (so too Rom. vii. 2, 6), 2 Cor. xi. 3 φθαρῇ ... ἀπὸ τῆς ἁπλότητος, and see A. Buttmann p. 277 note.

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II. 21, 22]

δογματίζεσθε; ^{21}Μὴ ἅψῃ μηδὲ γεύσῃ μηδὲ θίγῃς ^{22}ἅ

δογματίζεσθε] ‘_are ye overridden with precepts, ordinances_.’ In the LXX the verb δογματίζειν is used several times, meaning ‘to issue a decree,’ Esth. iii. 9, 1 Esdr. vi. 33, 2 Macc. x. 8, xv. 36, 3 Macc. iv. 11. Elsewhere it is applied most commonly to the precepts of philosophers; e.g. Justin _Apol._ i. 7 οἱ ἐν Ἕλλησι τὰ αὐτοῖς ἀρεστὰ _δογματίσαντες_ ἐκ παντὸς τῷ ἑνὶ ὀνόματι _φιλοσοφίας_ προσαγορεύονται (comp. § 4), Epict. iii. 7. 17 sq. εἰ θέλεις εἶναι φιλόσοφος ... δογματίζων τὰ αἰσχρά. Here it would include alike the δόγματα of the Mosaic law (ver. 14) and the δόγματα of the ‘philosophy’ denounced above (ver. 8). Both are condemned; the one as superseded though once authoritative, the other as wholly vexatious and unwarrantable. Examples are given in the following verse, μὴ ἅψῃ κ.τ.λ. For the construction here, where the more remote object, which would stand in the dative with the active voice (2 Macc. x. 8 ἐδογμάτισαν ... τῷ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἔθνει), becomes the nominative of the passive, compare χρηματίζεσθαι Matt. ii. 12, 22, διακονεῖσθαι Mark x. 45, and see Winer § xxxix. p. 326, A. Buttmann p. 163, Kühner § 378, II. p. 109.

21. Μὴ ἅψῃ κ.τ.λ.] The Apostle disparagingly repeats the prohibitions of the false teachers in their own words, ‘Handle not, neither taste, neither touch.’ The rabbinical passages quoted in Schöttgen show how exactly St Paul’s language reproduces, not only the spirit, but even the form, of these injunctions. The Latin commentators, Hilary and Pelagius, suppose these prohibitions to be the Apostle’s own, thus making a complete shipwreck of the sense. So too St Ambrose _de Noe et Arca_ 25 (I. p. 267), _de Abr._ i. 6 (I. p. 300). We may infer from the language of St Augustine who argues against it, that this was the popular interpretation in his day: _Epist._ cxix. (II. p. 512) ‘tanquam præceptum putatur apostoli, nescio quid tangere, gustare, attaminare, prohibentis.’ The ascetic tendency of the age thus fastened upon a slight obscurity in the Greek and made the Apostle recommend the very practices which he disparaged. For a somewhat similar instance of a misinterpretation commonly received see the note on τοῖς δόγμασιν ver. 14. Jerome however (I. p. 878) had rightly interpreted the passage, illustrating it by the precepts of the Talmud. At a still earlier date Tertullian, _Adv. Marc._ v. 19, gives the correct interpretation.

These prohibitions relate to defilement contracted in divers ways by contact with impure objects. Some were doubtless reenactments of the Mosaic law; while others would be exaggerations or additions of a rigorous asceticism, such as we find among the Essene prototypes of these Colossian heretics, e.g. the avoidance of oil, of wine, or of flesh-meat, the shunning of contact with a stranger or a religious inferior, and the like; see pp. 85 sq. For the religious bearing of this asceticism, as springing from the _dualism_ of these heretical teachers, see above pp. 79, 104 sq.

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II. 22]

ἐστιν πάντα εἰς φθορὰν τῇ ἀποχρήσεἰ, κατὰ τὰ

ἅψῃ] The difference between ἅπτεσθαι and θιγγάνειν is not great, and in some passages where they occur together, it is hard to distinguish them: e.g. Exod. xix. 12 προσέχετε ἑαυτοῖς τοῦ ἀναβῆναι εἰς τὸ ὄρος καὶ _θιγεῖν_ τι αὐτοῦ· πᾶς ὁ _ἁψάμενος_ τοῦ ὄρους θανάτῳ τελευτήσει, Eur. _Bacch._ 617 οὔτ’ _ἔθιγεν_ οὔθ’ _ἣψαθ’_ ἡμῶν, Arist. _de Gen. et Corr._ i. 8 (p. 326) διὰ τί οὐ γίγνεται _ἁψάμενα_ ἕν, ὥσπερ ὕδωρ ὕδατος ὅταν _θίγη_|; Dion Chrys. _Or._ xxxiv. (II. p. 50) οἱ δ’ ἐκ παρέργου προσίασιν ἁπτόμενοι μόνον τοῦ πράγματος, ὥσπερ οἱ σπονδῆς θιγγάνοντες, Themist. _Paraphr. Arist._ 95 τὴν δὲ ἁφὴν αὐτῶν ἅπτεσθαι τῶν αἰσθητῶν _ἀναγκαῖον_· καὶ γὰρ τοὔνομα αὐτῆς ἐκ τοῦ _ἅπτεσθαι_ καὶ _θιγγάνειν_. But ἅπτεσθαι is the stronger word of the two. This arises from the fact that it frequently suggests, though it does not necessarily involve, the idea of a voluntary or conscious effort, ‘to take hold of’–a suggestion which is entirely wanting to the colourless word θιγγάνειν; comp. Themist. _Paraphr. Arist._ 94 ἡ τῶν ζώων _ἁφὴ_ κρίσις ἐστὶ καὶ ἀντίληψις τοῦ _θιγγάνοντος_. Hence in Xen. _Cyrop._ i. 3. 5 ὅτι σε, φάναι, ὁρῶ, ὅταν μὲν τοῦ ἄρτου ἅψῃ, εἰς οὐδὲν τὴν χεῖρα ἀποψώμενον, ὅταν δὲ τούτων τινὸς _θίγῃς_, εὐθὺς ἀποκαθαίρει τὴν χεῖρα εἰς τὰ χειρόμακτρα κ.τ.λ. Thus the words chosen in the Latin Versions, _tangere_ for ἅπτεσθαι and _attaminare_ or _contrectare_ for θιγεῖν, are unfortunate, and ought to be transposed. Our English Version, probably influenced by the Latin, has erred in the same direction, translating ἅπτεσθαι by ‘touch’ and θιγεῖν by ‘handle’. Here again they must be transposed. ‘Handle’ is too strong a word for either; though in default of a better it may stand for ἅπτεσθαι, which it more nearly represents. Thus the two words ἅψῃ and θίγῃς being separate in meaning, γεύσῃ may well interpose; and the three together will form a descending series, so that, as Beza (quoted in Trench _N. T. Syn._ § xvii. p. 57) well expresses it, ‘decrescente semper oratione, intelligatur crescere superstitio’.

On the other hand ἅψῃ has been interpreted here as referring to the relation of husband and wife, as e.g. in 1 Cor. vii. 1 γυναικὸς μὴ ἅπτεσθαι; and the prohibition would then be illustrated by the teaching of the heretics in 1 Tim. iv. 3 κωλύοντων γαμεῖν. But, whatever likelihood there may be that the Colossian false teachers also held this doctrine (see above p. 85 sq.), it nowhere appears in the context, and we should not expect so important a topic to be dismissed thus cursorily. Moreover θιγγάνειν is used as commonly in this meaning as ἅπτεσθαι (see Gataker _Op. Crit._ p. 79, and examples might be multiplied); so that all ground for assigning it to ἅπτεσθαι especially is removed. Both ἅπτεσθαι and θιγγάνειν refer to defilement incurred through the sense of touch, though in different degrees; ‘Handle not, nor yet taste, nor even touch.’

22. ‘Only consider what is the real import of this scrupulous avoidance. Why, you are attributing an inherent value to things which are fleeting; you yourselves are citizens of eternity, and yet your thoughts are absorbed in the perishable’.

ἅ] ‘_which things_’, i.e. the meats and drinks and other material objects, regarded as impure to the touch. The antecedent to ἅ is implicitly involved in the prohibitions μὴ ἅψῃ κ.τ.λ.

ἐστιν εἰς φθορὰν] ‘_are destined for corruption_’. For similar expressions see Acts viii. 20 ἔιη εἰς ἀπωλείαν (comp. ver. 23 εἰς χολὴν πικρίας καὶ σύνδεσμον ἀδικίας ... ὄντἀ, 2 Πετ. ιι. 12 [Γρεεκ: γεγεννημένα ... εἰς ἅλωσιν καὶ φθοράν. For the word φθορά, involving the idea of ‘decomposition’, see the note on Gal. vi. 8. The expression here corresponds to εἰς ἀφεδρῶνα ἐκβάλλεται (ἐκπορεύεταἰ, Matt. xv. 17, Mark vii. 19.

τῇ ἀποχρήσει] ‘_in the consuming_’. While the verb ἀποχρῶμαι is common, the substantive ἀπόχρησις is extremely rare: Plut. _Mor._ p. 267 F χαίρειν ταῖς τοιάυταις ἀποχρήσεσι καὶ συστολαῖς τῶν περιττῶν (i.e. ‘by such modes of consuming and abridging superfluities’), Dion. Hal. _A. R._ i. 58 ἐν ἀποχρήσει γῆς μοίρας. The unusual word was chosen for its expressiveness: the χρῆσις here was an ἀπόχρησις; the things could not be used without rendering them unfit for further use. The subtlety of the expression in the original cannot be reproduced in any translation.

On the other hand the clause is sometimes interpreted as a continuation of the language of the ascetic teachers; ‘Touch not things which all lead to ruin by their abuse’. This interpretation however has nothing to recommend it. It loses the point of the Apostle’s argument; while it puts upon εἶναι εἰς φθοράν a meaning which is at least not natural.

κατὰ κ.τ.λ.] connected directly with vv. 20, 21, so that the words ἅ ἐστιν ... τῇ ἀποχρήσει are a parenthetical comment.

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II. 22]

ἐντάλματα καὶ διδασκαλίας τῶν ἀνθρώπων·

τὰ ἐντάλματα κ.τ.λ.] The absence of both preposition and article before διδασκαλίας shows that the two words are closely connected. They are placed here in their proper order; for ἐντάλματα describes the source of authority and διδασκαλίας the medium of communication. The expression is taken ultimately from Isaiah xxix. 13, where the words run in the LXX, μάτην δὲ σέβονταί με, διδάσκοντες ἐντάλματα ἀνθρώπων καὶ διδασκαλίας. The Evangelists (Matt. xv. 9, Mark vii. 7), quoting the passage, substitute in the latter clause διδάσκοντες διδασκαλίας ἐντάλματα ἀνθρώπων.

The coincidences in St Paul’s language here with our Lord’s words as related in the Gospels (Matt. xv. 1–20, Mark vii. 1–23) are striking, and suggest that the Apostle had this discourse in his mind. (1) Both alike argue against these vexatious ordinances from the _perishableness_ of meats. (2) Both insist upon the indifference of such things in themselves. In Mark vii. 19 the Evangelist emphasizes the importance of our Lord’s words on this occasion, as practically abolishing the Mosaic distinction of meats by declaring all alike to be clean (καθαρίζων; see the note on ver. 16). (3) Both alike connect such ordinances with the practices condemned in the prophetic denunciation of Isaiah.

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II. 23]

^{23}ἅτινά ἐστιν λόγον μὲν ἔχοντα σοφίας ἐν ἐθελοθρησκείᾳ

23. ‘All such teaching is worthless. It may bear the semblance of wisdom; but it wants the reality. It may make an officious parade of religious service; it may vaunt its humility; it may treat the body with merciless rigour; but it entirely fails in its chief aim. It is powerless to check indulgence of the flesh.’

ἅτινα] ‘_which sort of things_’. Not only these particular precepts, μὴ ἅψῃ κ.τ.λ., but all precepts falling under the same category are condemned. For this force of ἅτινα as distinguished from ἅ, see the notes on Gal. iv. 24, v. 19, Phil. iv. 3. The antecedent here is not ἐντάλματα καὶ διδασκαλίας κ.τ.λ., but the prohibitions given in ver. 21.

λόγον μὲν κ.τ.λ.] ‘_having a reputation for wisdom_’, but not the reality. The corresponding member, which should be introduced by δέ, is suppressed; the oppositive clause being postponed and appearing later in a new form, οὐκ ἐν τιμῇ τινι κ.τ.λ. Such suppressions are common in classical writers, more especially in Plato; see Kühner § 531, II. p. 813 sq., Jelf § 766, and comp. Winer § lxiii. p. 719 sq. St Jerome therefore is not warranted in attributing St Paul’s language here to ‘imperitia artis grammaticæ’ (_Epist._ cxxi, _Op._ II. p. 884). On the contrary it is just the license which an adept in a language would be more likely to take than a novice.

In this sentence λόγον ἔχοντα σοφίας is best taken as a single predicate, so that ἐστιν is disconnected from ἔχοντα. Otherwise the construction ἐστιν ἔχοντα (for ἔχει) would be supported by many parallels in the Greek Testament; see Winer § xlv. p. 437.

The phrase λόγον ἔχειν τινος, so far as I have observed, has four meanings. (A) Two as applied to the _thinking subject_. (i) ‘To take account of, to hold in account, to pay respect to’: e.g. Æsch. _Prom._ 231 βροτῶν δὲ τῶν ταλαιπώρων λόγον οὐκ ἔσχεν οὐδένα, Demosth. _de Coron._ § 199 )έιπερ ἢ δόξης ἢ προγόνων ἢ τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος εἶχε λόγον, Plut. _Vit. Philop._ 18 πῶς ἄξιον ἐκέινου λόγον ἔχειν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς κ.τ.λ. (ii) ‘To possess the reason or account or definition of’, ‘to have a scientific knowledge of’; Plato _Gorg._ p. 465 A τέχνην δὲ αὐτὴν οὔ φημι εἶναι ἀλλ’ ἐμπειρίαν, ὅτι οὐκ ἔχει λόγον οὐδένα hῶν προσφέρει, ὁποῖα ἄττα τὴν φύσιν ἐστίν, and so frequently. These two senses are recognised by Aristotle, _Eth. Nic._ i. 13 (p. 1102), where he distinguishes the meaning of the expressions ἔχειν λόγον τοῦ πατρὸς ἢ τῶν φίλων and ἔχειν λόγον τῶν μαθητικῶν. (B) Two as applied to the _object of thought_. (iii) ‘To have the credit or reputation of’, as here. This sense of ἔχειν λόγον, ‘to be reputed’, is more commonly found with an infinitive: e.g. Plato _Epin._ 987 B αὑτὸς Ἀφροδίτης εἶναι σχέδον ἔχει λόγον. (iv) ‘To fulfil the definition of, to possess the characteristics, to have the nature of’; e.g. Philo _Vit. Cont._ 4 (II. p. 477) ἑκάτερον δὲ πηγῆς λόγον ἔχον, Plut. _Mor._ p. 637 D τὸ δὲ ὢον οὔτε ἀρχῆς ἔχει λόγον, οὐ γὰρ ὑφίσταται πρῶτον, οὔτε ὅλου φύσιν, ἀτελὲς γάρ ἐστιν, ib. 640 F δεῖ πρὸς τὸ ἐμφυτεύομενον χώρας λόγον ἔχειν τὸ δεξόμενον. The senses of λόγον ἔχειν with other constructions, or as used absolutely, are very various, e.g. ‘to be reasonable’, ‘to hold discourse’, ‘to bear a ratio’, etc., but do not come under consideration here. Nor again does such an expression as Plut. _Mor._ p. 550 C μήτε τὸν λόγον ἔχων τοῦ νομοθέτου, ‘not being in possession of, not knowing, the intention of the legislator’; for the definite article removes it from the category of the cases considered.

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καὶ ταπεινοφροσύνῃ [καὶ] ἀφειδείᾳ σώματος, οὐκ

ἐν ἐθελοθρησκείᾳ] ‘_in volunteered_, self-imposed, officious, supererogatory _service_’. One or both of these two ideas, (i) ‘excessive readiness, officious zeal,’ (ii) ‘affectation, unreality,’ are involved in this and similar compounds; e.g. ἐθελοδουλεία, ἐθελοκάκησις, ἐθελοκίνδυνος, ἐθελοκωφέιν, ἐθελορήτωρ, ἐθελοπρόξενος: these compounds being used most frequently, though not always (as this last word shows), in a bad sense. This mode of expression was naturalised in Latin, as appears from Augustine _Epist._ cxlix. 27 (II. p. 514) ‘Sic enim et vulgo dicitur qui divitem affectat thelodives, et qui sapientem thelosapiens, et cetera hujusmodi’. Epiphanius, when writing of the Pharisees, not content with the word here supplied by St Paul, coins a double compound ἐθελοπερισσοθρησκεία, _Hær._ i. 16 (p. 34).

ταπεινοφροσύνῃ] The word is here disparaged by its connexion, as in ver. 18 (see the note there). The force of ἐθελο- may be regarded as carried on to it. Real genuine ταπεινοφροσύνη is commended below; iii. 12.

ἀφειδείᾳ σώματος] ‘_hard treatment of the body_’. The expression ἀφειδεῖν τοῦ σώματος is not uncommon, being used most frequently, not as here of ascetic discipline, but rather of courageous exposure to hardship and danger in war, e.g. Lysias _Or. Fun._ 25, Joseph. _B.J._ iii. 7. 18, Lucian _Anach._ 24, Plut. _Vit. Pericl._ 10; in Plut. _Mor._ p. 137 C however of a student’s toil, and _ib._ p. 135 E, more generally of the rigorous demands made by the soul on the body. The substantive ἀφέιδεια or ἀφειδία does not often occur. On the forms in -εια and -ία derived from adjectives in -ης see Buttmann _Ausf. Gramm._ § 119, II. p. 416 sq. The great preponderance of manuscript authority favours the form ἀφειδείᾳ here: but in such questions of orthography the fact carries less weight than in other matters. The καὶ before ἀφειδείᾳ should probably be omitted; in which case ἀφειδείᾳ becomes an instrumental dative, explaining λόγον ἔχοντα σοφίας. While the insertion would naturally occur to scribes, the omission gives more point to the sentence. The ἐθελοθρησκεία καὶ ταπεινοφροσύνη as the religious elements are thus separated from the ἀφείδεια σώματος as the practical rule.

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ἐν τιμῇ τινὶ πρὸς πλησμονὴν τῆς σαρκός.

οὐκ ἐν τιμῇ κ.τ.λ.] ‘yet _not_ really _of any value to remedy indulgence of the flesh_.’ So interpreted the words supply the oppositive clause to λόγον μὲν ἔχοντα σοφίας, as the presence of the negative οὐκ naturally suggests. If the sentence had been undisturbed, this oppositive clause would naturally have been introduced by δέ, but the interposition of ἐν ἐθελοθρησκείᾳ κ.τ.λ. has changed its form by a sort of attraction. For this sense of ἐν τιμῇ comp. Lucian _Merc. cond._ 17 τὰ καινὰ τῶν ὑποδημάτων ἐν τιμῇ τινι καὶ ἐπιμελείᾳ ἐστίν: similarly Hom. _Il._ ix. 319 ἐν δὲ ἰῇ τιμῇ κ.τ.λ. The preposition πρός, like our English ‘_for_’, when used after words denoting utility, value, sufficiency, etc., not uncommonly introduces the object to _check_ or _prevent_ or _cure_ which the thing is to be employed. And even though utility may not be directly expressed in words, yet if the idea of a something to be _remedied_ is present, this preposition is freely used notwithstanding. See Isocr. _Phil._ 16 (p. 85) πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους χρήσιμον, Arist. _H. A._ iii. 21 (p. 522) συμφέρει πρὸς τὰς διαρῥοίας ἡ τοιάυτη μάλιστα, _de Respir._ 8 (p. 474) ἀνάγκη γίνεσθαι κατάψυξιν, εἰ μέλλει τεύξεσθαι σωτηρίας· τοῦτο γὰρ βοηθεῖ πρὸς τάυτην τὴν φθοράν, Lucian _Pisc._ 27 χρήσιμον γοῦν καὶ πρὸς ἐκέινους τὸ τοιοῦτον, Galen _Op._ XII. p. 399 χρωμένῳ γε τίνι πρὸς τὸ πάθος ἀρκτέιῳ στέατι, π. 420 [Γρεεκ: τοῦ δόντος αὐτὰ πρὸς ἀλωπεκίας φαλακρώσεις κ.τ.λ., p. 430 συνέθηκαν ... φάρμακα πρὸς ῥεούσας τρίχας, p. 476 βραχυτάτην ἔχοντι δύναμιν ὡς πρὸς τὸ προκέιμενον σύμπτωμα, p. 482 τοῦτο δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὰ ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ σώματι ἐξανθήματα σφόδρα χρήσιμόν ἐστιν, p. 514 χρηστέον δὲ πᾶσι τοῖς ἀναγεγραμμένοις βοηθήμασι πρὸς τὰς γινομένας δι’ ἕγκαυσιν κεφαλαλγίας, p. 601 κάλλιστον πρὸς αὐτὴν φάρμακον ἐγχέομενον νάρδινον μύρον. These examples from Galen are only a few out of probably some hundreds, which might be collected from the treatise in which they occur, the _de Compositione Medicamentorum_.

The language, which the Colossian false teachers would use, may be inferred from the account given by Philo of a Judaic sect of mystic ascetics, who may be regarded, not indeed as their direct, but as their collateral ancestors (see p. 86, note 246, p. 94), the Therapeutes of Egypt; _de Vit. Cont._ § 4 (II. p. 476 sq.) τρυφῶσιν ὑπὸ _σοφίας_ ἑστίωμενοι πλουσίως καὶ ἀφθόνως _τὰ δόγματα_ χορηγούσης, ὡς καὶ ... _μόλις_ δι’ ἓξ ἡμερῶν _ἀπογεύεσθαι_ τροφῆς ἀναγκαίας ... σιτοῦνται δὲ ... ἄρτον εὐτελῆ, καὶ ὄψον ἅλες ... πότον ὕδωρ ναματιαῖον αὐτοῖς ἐστίν ... _πλησμονὴν_ ὡς ἐχθρόν τε καὶ ἐπίβουλον ἐκτρεπόμενοι ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος. St Paul apparently has before him some similar exposition of the views of the Colossian heretics, either in writing or (more probably) by report from Epaphras. In reply he altogether denies the claims of this system to the title of σοφία; he disputes the value of these δόγματα; he allows that this πλησμονή is the great evil to be checked, the fatal disease to be cured; but he will not admit that the remedies prescribed have any substantial and lasting efficacy.

The interpretation here offered is not new, but it has been strangely overlooked or despised. The passages adduced will I trust show the groundlessness of objections which have been brought against it owing to the use of the preposition; and in all other respects it seems to be far preferable to any rival explanation which has been suggested. The favourite interpretations in ancient or modern times divide themselves into two classes, according to the meaning assigned to πρὸς πλησμονὴν τῆς σαρκός. (1) It is explained in a good sense: ‘to satisfy the reasonable wants of the body’. In this case οὐκ ἐν τιμῇ τινί is generally interpreted, ‘_not_ holding it (the body) _in any honour_’. So the majority of the fathers, Greek and Latin. This has the advantage of preserving the continuity of the words οὐκ ἐν τιμῇ τινι πρὸς πλησμονὴν κ.τ.λ.: but it assigns an impossible sense to πλησμονὴ τῆς σαρκός. For πλησμονή always denotes ‘repletion’, ‘surfeiting’, ‘excessive indulgence’, and cannot be used of a reasonable attention to the physical cravings of nature; as Galen says, _Op._ XV. p. 113 πάντων εἰωθότων οὐ μόνον ἰατρῶν ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων τὸ τῆς πλησμονῆς ὄνομα μᾶλλόν πως ἐπιφέρειν _ταῖς ὑπερβολαῖς τῆς συμμέτρου ποσότητος_: and certainly neither the Apostle nor the Colossian ascetics were likely to depart from this universal rule. To the long list of passages quoted in Wetstein may be added such references as Philo _Leg. ad. Cai._ § 1 (II. p. 546), _Clem. Hom._ viii. 15, Justin _Dial._ 126, Dion. Alex. in Euseb. _H.E._ vii. 25; but they might be increased to any extent. (2) A bad sense is attached to πλησμονή, as usage demands. And here two divergent interpretations have been put forward. (i) The proper continuity of the sentence is preserved, and the words οὐκ ἐν τιμῇ τινὶ πρὸς πλησμονὴν τῆς σαρκός are regarded as an exposition of the doctrine of the false teachers from _their own point of view_. So Theodore of Mopsuestia, οὐ τίμιον νομίζοντας τὸ διὰ πάντων πληροῦν τὴν σάρκα, ἀλλὰ γὰρ μᾶλλον αἱρουμένους ἀπέχεσθαι τῶν πολλῶν διὰ τὴν τοῦ νόμου παράδοσιν. This able expositor however is evidently dissatisfied, for he introduces his explanation with the words ἀσαφὲς μέν ἐστι, βούλεται δὲ εἰπεῖν κ.τ.λ.; and his explanation has not been adopted by others. Either the sentence, so interpreted, becomes flat and unmeaning, though it is obviously intended to clinch the whole matter; or the Apostle is made to confirm the value of the very doctrines which he is combating. (ii) The sentence is regarded as discontinuous; and it is interpreted, ‘_not of any real value_’ (or ‘_not_ consisting _in anything commendable_’, or ‘_not_ holding the body _in any honour_’) but ‘_tending to gratify the carnal_ desires’ (or ‘mind’). This in some form or other is almost universally adopted by modern interpreters, and among the ancients is found in the commentator Hilary. The objections to it are serious. (α) The dislocation of the sentence is inexplicable. There is no indication either in the grammar or in the vocabulary that a separate and oppositive clause begins with πρὸς πλησμονὴν κ.τ.λ., but on the contrary everything points to an unbroken continuity. (β) The sense which it attaches to πλησμονὴ τῆς σαρκός is either forced and unnatural, or it makes the Apostle say what he could not have said. If πλησμονὴ τῆς σαρκός could have the sense which Hilary assigns to it, ‘sagina carnalis sensus traditio humana est’, or indeed if it could mean ‘the _mind_ of the flesh’ in any sense (as it is generally taken by modern commentators), this is what St Paul might well have said. But obviously πλησμονὴ τῆς σαρκός conveys a very different idea from such expressions as τὸ φυσιοῦσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ νοὸς τῆς σαρκός (ver. 18) or τὸ φρόνημα τῆς σαρκός (Rom. viii. 6, 7), which include pride, self-sufficiency, strife, hatred, bigotry, and generally everything that is earth-bound and selfish. On the other hand, if πλησμονὴ τῆς σαρκός be taken in its natural meaning, as applying to coarse sensual indulgences, then St Paul could not have said without qualification, that this rigorous asceticism conduced πρὸς πλησμονὴν τῆς σαρκός. Such language would defeat its own object by its extravagance.

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III. 1]

III. ^1Εἰ οὖν συνηγέρθητε τῷ Χριστῷ, τὰ ἄνω ζητεῖτε, οὗ ὁ Χριστός ἐστιν ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ Θεοῦ καθήμενος·

III. 1–4. ‘If this be so; if ye were raised with Christ, if ye were translated into heaven, what follows? Why you must realise the change. All your aims must centre in heaven, where reigns the Christ who has thus exalted you, enthroned on God’s right hand. All your thoughts must abide in heaven, not on the earth. For, I say it once again, you have nothing to do with mundane things: you _died_, died once for all to the world: you are living another life. This life indeed is hidden now: it has no outward splendour as men count splendour; for it is a life with Christ, a life in God. But the veil will not always shroud it. Christ, our life, shall be manifested hereafter; then ye also shall be manifested with Him and the world shall see your glory’.

1. εἰ οὖν συνηγέρθητε κ.τ.λ.] ‘_If then ye were raised_’, not ‘_have been raised_’. The aorist συνηγέρθητε, like ἀπεθάνετε (ii. 20), refers to their baptism; and the εἰ οὖν here is a resumption of the εἰ in ii. 20. The sacrament of baptism, as administered in the Apostolic age, involved a twofold symbolism, a death or burial and a resurrection: see the note on ii. 12. In the rite itself these were represented by two distinct acts, the disappearance beneath the water and the emergence from the water: but in the change typified by the rite they are two aspects of the same thing, ‘like the concave and convex in a circle’, to use an old simile. The negative side—the death and burial—implies the positive side—the resurrection. Hence the form of the Apostle’s resumption, εἰ ἀπεθάνετε, εἰ _οὖν_ συνηγέρθητε.

The change involved in baptism, if truly realised, must pervade a man’s whole nature. It affects not only his practical conduct, but his intellectual conceptions also. It is nothing less than a removal into a new sphere of being. He is translated from earth to heaven; and with this translation his point of view is altered, his standard of judgment is wholly changed. Matter is to him no longer the great enemy; his position towards it is one of absolute neutrality. Ascetic rules, ritual ordinances, have ceased to have any absolute value, irrespective of their effects. All these things are of the earth, earthy. The material, the transitory, the mundane, has given place to the moral, the eternal, the heavenly.

τὰ ἄνω ζητεῖτε κ.τ.λ.] ‘Cease to concentrate your energies, your thoughts, on mundane ordinances, and realise your new and heavenly life, of which Christ is the pole-star’.

ἐν δεξιᾷ κ.τ.λ.] ‘_being seated on the right hand of God_’, where καθήμενος must not be connected with ἐστιν; see the note on ἀπόκρυφοι, ii. 3. This participial clause is pertinent and emphatic, for the session of Christ implies the session of the believer also; Ephes. ii. 4–6 ὁ δὲ Θεός ... ἡμᾶς ... συνεζωοποίησεν ... καὶ συνήγειρεν καὶ _συνεκάθισεν_ ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ κ.τ.λ.; comp. Rev. iii. 21 ὁ νικῶν, δώσω αὐτῷ καθίσαι μετ’ ἐμοῦ ἐν τῷ θρόνῳ μου, ὡς κἀγὼ ἐνίκησα καὶ ἐκάθισα μετὰ τοῦ πατρός μου ἐν τῷ θρόνῳ αὐτοῦ, in the message addressed to the principal church of this district: see above p. 42. Βαβαί, says Chrysostom, ποῦ τὸν νοῦν ἀπήγαγε τὸν ἡμέτερον; πῶς φρονήματος αὐτοὺς ἐπλήρωσε μεγάλου; οὐκ ἤρκει Τὰ ἄνω εἰπεῖν, οὐδὲ, Οὗ ὁ Χριστός ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ τί; Ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ Θεοῦ καθήμενος. ἐκεῖθεν λοιπὸν τὴν γῆν ὁρᾶν παρεσκεύαζε.

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III. 2, 3]

^2τὰ ἄνω φρονεῖτε, μὴ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. ^3ἀπεθάνετε γάρ, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ὑμῶν κέκρυπται σὺν τῷ Χριστῷ ἐν τῷ Θεῷ·

2. τὰ ἄνω] The same expression repeated for emphasis; ‘You must not only _seek_ heaven; you must also _think_ heaven.’ For the opposition of τὰ ἄνω and τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς in connexion with φρονεῖν, comp. Phil. iii. 19, 20 οἱ τὰ _ἐπίγεια φρονοῦντες_, ἡμῶν γὰρ τὸ πολίτευμα _ἐν οὐρανοῖς ὑπάρχει_; see also Theoph. _ad Autol._ ii. 17. Extremes meet. Here the Apostle points the antithesis to controvert a Gnostic asceticism: in the Philippian letter he uses the same contrast to denounce an Epicurean sensualism. Both alike are guilty of the same fundamental error; both alike concentrate their thoughts on material, mundane things.

3. ἀπεθάνετε] ‘_ye died_’ in baptism. The aorist ἀπεθάνετε denotes the past act; the perfect κέκρυπται the permanent effects. For ἀπεθάνετε see the notes on ii. 12, 20.

κέκρυπται] ‘_is hidden_, is buried out of sight, to the world’. The Apostle’s argument is this: ‘When you sank under the baptismal water, you disappeared for ever to the world. You rose again, it is true, but you rose only to God. The world henceforth knows nothing of your new life, and (as a consequence) your new life must know nothing of the world.’ ‘Neque Christum’, says Bengel, ‘neque Christianos novit mundus; ac ne Christiani quidem plane seipsos’; comp. Joh. xiv. 17–19 τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας ὃ ὁ κόσμος οὐ δύναται λαβεῖν, ὅτι _οὐ θεωρεῖ αὐτὸ οὐδὲ γινώσκει_ αὐτὸ, ὑμεῖς [δὲ] γινώσκετε αὐτό ... ὁ κόσμος με οὐκ ἔτι θεωρεῖ ὑμεῖς δὲ θεωρεῖτέ με· _ὅτι ἐγὼ ζῶ, καὶ ὑμεῖς ζήσετε_.

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III. 4]

^4ὅταν ὁ Χριστὸς φανερωθῇ, ἡ ζειωὴ ἡμῶν, τότε καὶ ὑμεῖς σὺν αὐτῷ φανερωθήσεσθε ἐν δόξῃ.

4 ἡ ζωὴ _ὑμῶν_.

4. ὁ Χριστὸς] A fourth occurrence of the name of Christ in this context; comp. ver. 2 τῷ Χριστῷ, ὁ Χριστός, ver. 3 σὺν τῷ Χριστῷ. A pronoun would have been more natural, but less emphatic.

ἡ ζωὴ ἡμῶν] This is an advance on the previous statement, ἡ ζωὴ ὑμῶν κέκρυπται σὺν τῷ Χριστῷ, in two respects: (1) It is not enough to have said that the life is shared _with_ Christ. The Apostle declares that the life _is_ Christ. Comp. 1 Joh. v. 12 ὁ ἔχων τὸν ὑὶον ἔχει τὴν ζώην, Ign. _Ephes._ 7 ἐν θανάτῳ ζωὴ ἀληθινή (of Christ), _Smyrn._ 4 Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς τὸ ἀληθινὸν ἡμῶν ζῆν, _Ephes._ 3 Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς τὸ ἀδιάκριτον ἡμῶν ζῆν, _Magn._ 1 Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ διαπαντὸς ἡμῶν ζῆν. (2) For ὑμῶν is substituted ἡμῶν. The Apostle hastens to include himself among the recipients of the bounty. For this characteristic transition from the second person to the first see the note on ii. 13. The reading ὑμῶν here has very high support, and on this account I have given it as an alternative; but it is most probably a transcriber’s correction, for the sake of uniformity with the preceding.

τότε καὶ ὑμεῖς κ.τ.λ.] ‘The veil which now shrouds your higher life from others, and even partly from yourselves, will then be withdrawn. The world which persecutes, despises, ignores now, will then be blinded, with the dazzling glory of the revelation’. Comp. 1 Joh. iii. 1, 2 ὁ κόσμος οὐ γινώσκει ἡμᾶς, ὅτι οὐκ ἔγνω αὐτόν. ἀγαπητοί, νῦν τέκνα Θεοῦ ἐσμέν, καὶ οὔπω ἐφανερώθη τί ἐσομεθα· οἵδαμεν ὅτι ἐὰν φανερωθῇ, ὅμοιοι αὐτῷ ἐσόμεθα κ.τ.λ., Clem. Rom. 50 οἳ φανερωθήσονται (or φανεροὶ ἔσονται) ἐν τῇ ἐπισκοπῇ τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ Χριστοῦ.

ἐν δόξῃ] Joh. xvii. 22 τὴν δόξαν ἣν δέδωκάς μοι, δέδωκα αὐτοῖς, Rom. viii. 17 ἵνα καὶ συνδοξασθῶμεν.

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III. 5]

^5Νεκρώσατε οὖν τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· πορνείαν, ἀκαθαρσίαν, πάθος, ἐπιθυμίαν κακήν, καὶ τὴν πλεονεξίαν,

5–11. ‘So then realise this death to the world; kill all your earthly members. Is it fornication, impurity of whatever kind, passion, evil desire? Or again, is it that covetousness which makes a religion, an idolatry, of greed? Do not deceive yourselves. For all these things God’s wrath will surely come. In these sins ye, like other Gentiles, indulged in times past, when your life was spent amidst them. But now everything is changed. Now you also must put away not this or that desire, but all sins whatsoever. Anger, wrath, malice, slander, filthy abuse; banish it from your lips. Be not false one to another in word or deed; but cast off for ever the old man with his actions, and put on the new, who is renewed from day to day, growing unto perfect knowledge and refashioned after the image of his Creator. In this new life, in this regenerate man, there is not, there cannot be, any distinction of Greek or Jew, of circumcision or uncircumcision; there is no room for barbarian, for Scythian, for bond or free. Christ has displaced, has annihilated, all these; Christ is Himself all things and in all things’.

5. The false doctrine of the Gnostics had failed to check sensual indulgence (ii. 23). The true doctrine of the Apostle has power to kill the whole carnal man. The substitution of a comprehensive principle for special precepts—of the heavenly life in Christ for a code of minute ordinances—at length attains the end after which the Gnostic teachers have striven, and striven in vain.

νεκρώσατε οὖν] i.e. ‘Carry out this principle of _death_ to the world (ii. 20 ἀπεθάνετε, iii. 3 ἀπεθάνετε), and kill everything that is mundane and carnal in your being’.

τὰ μέλη κ.τ.λ.] Each person has a twofold moral personality. There is in him the ‘old man’, and there is in him also ‘the new’ (vv. 9, 10). The old man with all his members must be pitilessly slain. It is plain that τὰ μέλη here is used, like ἄνθρωπος in ver. 9, not physically, but morally. Our actual limbs may be either τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς or τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐράνοις, according as they are made instruments for the world or for Christ: just as we—our whole being—may identify ourselves with the παλαιὸς ἄνθρωπος or with the νέος ἄνθρωπος of our twofold potentiality. For this use of the physical, as a symbol of the moral of which it is the potential instrument, compare Matt. v. 29 sq. εἰ δὲ ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου ὁ δεξιὸς σκανδαλίζει σε, ἔξελε αὐτὸν κ.τ.λ.

I have ventured to punctuate after τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Thus πορνείαν κ.τ.λ. are prospective accusatives, which should be governed directly by some such word as ἀπόθεσθε. But several dependent clauses interpose; the last of these incidentally suggests a contrast between the past and the present; and this contrast, predominating in the Apostle’s mind, leads to an abrupt recasting of the sentence, _νυνὶ δὲ_ ἀπόθεσθε καὶ ὑμεῖς _τὰ πάντα_ in disregard of the original construction. This opposition of ποτέ and νῦν has a tendency to dislocate the construction in St Paul, as in i. 22 νυνὶ δὲ ἀποκατηλλάγητε (or ἀποκατήλλαξεν), i. 26 νῦν δὲ ἐφανέρωθη: see the note on this latter passage. For the whole run of the sentence (the parenthetic relative clauses, the contrast of past and present, and the broken construction) compare Ephes. ii. 1–5 καὶ ὑμᾶς ... ἐν αἷς ποτέ ... ἐν οἷς καὶ ... ποτε ... ὁ δὲ Θεός ... καὶ ὄντας ἡμᾶς συνεζωοποίησεν.

With the common punctuation the interpretation is equally awkward, whether we treat τὰ μέλη and πορνείαν κ.τ.λ. as in direct apposition, or as double accusatives, or in any other way. The case is best put by Severianus, σάρκα καλεῖ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ἧς καὶ τὰ μέλη καταριθμεῖ ... ὁ παλαιὸς ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν τὸ φρόνημα τὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, μέλη δὲ αὐτοῦ αἱ πράξεις τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων; but this is an evasion of the difficulty, which consists in the direct apposition of the instruments and the activities, from whatever point they are viewed.

πορνείαν κ.τ.λ.] The general order is from the less comprehensive to the more comprehensive. Thus πορνεία is a special kind of uncleanness, while ἀκαθαρσία is uncleanness in any form, Ephes. v. 3 πορνεία δὲ καὶ ἀκαθαρσία πᾶσα; comp. Gal. v. 19 πορνεία, ἀκαθαρσία, ἀσέλγεια, with the note there. Thus again πάθος, though frequently referring to this class of sins (Rom. i. 26, 1 Thess. iv. 5), would include other base passions which do not fall under the category of ἀκαθαρσία, as for instance gluttony and intemperance.

πάθος, ἐπιθυμίαν] The two words occur together in 1 Thess. iv. 5 μὴ ἐν πάθει ἐπιθυμίας. So in a passage closely resembling the text, Gal. v. 24 οἱ δὲ τοῦ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ τὴν σάρκα ἐστάυρωσαν σὺν τοῖς παθήμασιν καὶ ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις. The same vice may be viewed as a πάθος from its passive and an ἐπιθυμία from its active side. The word ἐπιθυμία is not used here in the restricted sense which it has e.g. in Arist. _Eth. Nic._ ii. 4, where it ranges with anger, fear, etc., being related to πάθος as the species to the genus (see Gal. l.c. note). In the Greek Testament ἐπιθυμία has a much more comprehensive sense; e.g. Joh. viii. 44 τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν θέλετε ποιεῖν. Here, if anything, ἐπιθυμία is wider than πάθος. While πάθος includes all ungovernable affections, ἐπιθυμία κακή reaches to all evil longings. Ἰδού, says Chrysostom, γενικῶς τὸ πᾶν εἶπε· πάντα γὰρ ἐπιθυμία κακή, βασκανία, ὀργή, λύπη. The epithet is added because ἐπιθυμία is capable of a good sense: comp. 1 Cor. x. 6 ἐπιθυμητὰς κακῶν.

καὶ τὴν πλεονεξίαν] ‘_and_ especially _covetousness_’. Impurity and covetousness may be said to divide between them nearly the whole domain of human selfishness and vice; ‘Si avaritia prostrata est, exsurgit libido’ (Cypr. _de Mort._ 3). The one has been already dealt with; the other needs now to be specially denounced; comp. Ephes. v. 3 πορνεία δὲ καὶ ἀκαθαρσία πᾶσα ἢ πλεονεξία. ‘Homo extra Deum’, says Bengel (on Rom. i. 29), ‘quærit pabulum in creatura materiali vel per voluptatem vel per avaritiam.’ Comp. _Test. xii Patr._ Jud. 18 φυλάξασθε οὖν, τέκνα μου, ἀπὸ τῆς πορνείας καὶ τῆς φιλαργυρίας ... ὅτι ταῦτα ἀφιστᾷ νόμου Θεοῦ. Similarly Lysis Pythag. 4 (_Epistol. Græc._ p. 602, ed. Hercher) ὀνομάξαιμι δ’ ἂν αὐτῶν [i.e. the vices] πρᾶτον ἐπελθὼν τὰς ματέρας, ἀκρασίαν τε καὶ πλεονεξίαν· ἄμφω δὲ πολύγονοι πεφύκαντι. It must be remembered that πλεονεξία is much wider than φιλαργυρία (see Trench _N. T. Syn._ § xxiv, p. 77 sq.), which itself is called ῥίζα πάντων τῶν κακῶν (1 Tim. vi. 10).

The attempt to give πλεονεξία here and in other passages the sense of ‘impurity’ (see e.g. Hammond on Rom. i. 29) is founded on a misconception. The words πλεονεκτεῖν, πλεονεξία, will sometimes be used in relation to sins of uncleanness, because such may be acts of injustice also. Thus adultery is not only impurity, but it is robbery also: hence 1 Thess. iv. 6 τὸ μὴ ὑπερβαίνειν καὶ πλεονεκτεῖν ἐν τῷ πράγματι τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ (see the note there). In other passages again there will be an accidental connexion; e.g. Ephes. iv. 19 εἰς ἐργασίαν ἀκαθαρσίας πάσης ἐν πλεονεξίᾳ, i.e. ‘with greediness’, ‘with entire disregard for the rights of others’. But no where do the words in themselves suggest this meaning. Here the particles καὶ τὴν show that a new type of sin is introduced with πλεονεξίαν: and in the parallel passage Ephes. v. 3 (quoted above) the same distinction is indicated by the change from the conjunctive particle καί to the disjunctive ἤ. It is an error to suppose that this sense of πλεονεξία is supported by Clem. Alex. _Strom._ iii. 12 (p. 551 sq.) ὡς γὰρ ἡ πλεονεξία πορνεία λέγεται, τῇ αὐταρκείᾳ ἐναντιουμένη. On the converse error of explaining ἀκαθαρσία to mean ‘greediness’, ‘covetousness’, see the note on 1 Thess. ii. 3.

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III. 6]

ἥτις ἐστὶν εἰδωλολατρεία, ^6δι’ ἃ ἐρχεται ἡ ὀργὴ

ἥτις κ.τ.λ.] ‘_for it is idolatry_’: comp. Ephes. v. 5 πλεονέκτης, ὅ (or ὅς) ἐστιν εἰδωλολάτρης, Polyc. _Phil._ 11 ‘Si quis non abstinuerit se ab avaritia, ab idololatria coinquinabitur’ (see _Philippians_ p. 63 on the misunderstanding of this passage). The covetous man sets up another object of worship besides God. There is a sort of religious purpose, a devotion of the soul, to greed, which makes the sin of the miser so hateful. The idea of avarice as a _religion_ may have been suggested to St Paul by our Lord’s words, Matt. vi. 24 οὐ δύνασθε Θεῷ δουλεύειν καὶ μαμωνᾷ, though it is a mistake to suppose that Mammon was the name of a Syrian deity. It appears however elsewhere in Jewish writers of this and later ages: e.g. Philo _de Mon._ i. 2 (II. p. 214 sq.) πανταχόθεν μὲν ἀργύριον καὶ χρυσίον ἐκπορίζουσι, τὸ δὲ πορισθὲν ὡς ἄγαλμα θεῖον ἐν ἀδύτοις θησαυροφυλακοῦσιν (with the whole context), and _Shemoth Rabba_ fol. 121. 3 ‘Qui opes suas multiplicat per fœnus, ille est idololatra’ (with other passages quoted by Wetstein and Schöttgen on Ephes. v. 5). St Chrysostom, _Hom. in Johann. lxv_ (VIII. p. 392 sq.), enlarges on the cult of wealth—the consecration of it, the worship paid to it, the sacrifices demanded by it: ἡ δὲ φιλαργυρία λέγει, Θῦσόν μοι τὴν σαυτοῦ ψυχήν, καὶ πείθει· ὁρᾷς ὅιους ἔχει βωμούς, οἷα δέχεται θύματα (p. 393). The passage in _Test. xii Patr._ Jud. 18 ἡ φιλαργυρία πρὸς ἔιδωλα ὁδηγεῖ is no real parallel to St Paul’s language, though at first sight it seems to resemble it. For ἥτις, ‘seeing that it’, see the note on Phil. iv. 3.

6, 7. δι’ ἅ κ.τ.λ.] The received text requires correction in two points. (1) It inserts the words ἐπὶ τοὺς ὑιοὺς τῆς ἀπειθείας after τοῦ Θεοῦ. Though this insertion has preponderating support, yet the words are evidently interpolated from the parallel passage, Ephes. v. 6 διὰ ταῦτα γὰρ ἐρχεται ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπὶ τοὺς ὑιοὺς τῆς ἀπειθείας. We are therefore justified in rejecting them with other authorities, few in number but excellent in character. See the detached note on various readings. When the sentence is thus corrected, the parallelism of δι’ ἅ ... εν οἷς καί ... may be compared with Ephes. i. 11 ἐν hῷ καὶ ἐκληρώθημεν ... ἐν hῷ καὶ ὑμεῖς ... ἐν hῷ καὶ πιστεύσαντες ἐσφραγίσθητε, and ii. 21, 22 ἐν hῷ πᾶσα [ἡ] οἰκοδομὴ ... ἐν ᾧ καὶ ὑμεῖς συνοικοδομεῖσθε. (2) The vast preponderance of authority obliges us to substitute τούτοις for αὐτοῖς.

6. ἐρχεται] This may refer either to the present and continuous dispensation, or to the future and final judgment. The present ἐρχεσθαι is frequently used to denote the _certainty_ of a future event, e.g. Matt. xvii. 11, Joh. iv. 21, xiv. 3, whence ὁ ἐρχόμενος is a designation of the Messiah: see Winer § xl. p. 332.

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III. 7, 8]

τοῦ Θεοῦ· ^7ἐν οἷς καὶ ὑμεῖς περιεπατήσατέ ποτε, ὅτε ἐζῆτε ἐν τούτοις· ^8νυνὶ δὲ ἀπόθεσθε καὶ ὑμεῖς τὰ πάντα,

ἐν οἷς κ.τ.λ.] The clause ἐπὶ τοὺς ὑιοὺς τῆς ἀπειθείας having been struck out, ἐν οἷς must necessarily be neuter and refer to the same as δι’ ἅ. Independently of the rejection of the clause, this neuter seems more probable in itself than the masculine: for (1) The expression περιπατεῖν ἐν is most commonly used of things, not of persons, especially in this and the companion epistle; iv. 5, Ephes. ii. 2, 10, iv. 17, v. 2; (2) The Apostle would hardly denounce it as a sin in his Colossian converts that they ‘walked _among_ the sons of disobedience’; for the Christian, though not of the world, is necessarily in the world: comp. 1 Cor. v. 10. The apparent parallel, Ephes. ii. 3 ἐν οἷς καὶ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἀνεστράφημέν ποτε ἐν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις τῆς σαρκὸς ἡμῶν (where οἷς seems to be masculine), does not hold, because the addition ἐν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις κ.τ.λ. makes all the difference. Thus the rejection of the clause, which was decided by textual considerations, is confirmed by exegetical reasons.

7. καὶ ὑμεῖς] ‘_ye_, like the other heathen’ (i. 6 καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν), but in the next verse καὶ ὑμεῖς is rather ‘ye yourselves’, ‘ye notwithstanding your former lives’.

ὅτε ἐζῆτε κ.τ.λ.] ‘When _ye_ lived in this atmosphere of sin, when ye had not yet died to the world’.

ἐν τούτοις] ‘_in these things_.’ We should have expected αὐτοῖς, but τούτοις is substituted as more emphatic and condemnatory: comp. Ephes. v. 6 διὰ ταῦτα γὰρ ἐρχεται κ.τ.λ. The two expressions ζῆν ἐν and περιπατεῖν ἐν involve two distinct ideas, denoting the condition of their life and the character of their practice respectively. Their conduct was conformable to their circumstances. Comp. Gal. v. 25 εἰ ζῶμεν πνεύματι, πνεύματι καὶ στοιχῶμεν.

8. The errors of the past suggest the obligations of the present. Thus the Apostle returns to the topic with which the sentence commenced. But the violence of the contrast has broken up the grammar of the sentence: see the note on ver. 5.

τὰ πάντα] ‘not only those vices which have been specially named before (ver. 5), but _all_ of whatever kind.’ The Apostle accordingly goes on to specify sins of a wholly different type from those already mentioned, sins of uncharitableness, such as anger, detraction, malice, and the like.

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III. 9]

ὀργήν, θυμόν, κακίαν, βλασφημίαν, αἰσχρολογίαν ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ὑμῶν· ^9μὴ ψεύδεσθε εἰς ἀλλήλους· ἀπεκδυσάμενοι

ὀργήν, θυμόν] ‘_anger_, _wrath_’. The one denotes a more or less settled feeling of hatred, the other a tumultuous outburst of passion. This distinction of the two words was fixed chiefly by the definitions of the Stoics: Diog. Laert. vii. 114 ὁ δὲ θυμός ἐστιν ὀργὴ ἀρχομένη. So Ammianus θὺμος μέν ἐστι πρόσκαιρος, ὀργὴ δὲ πολυχρόνιος μνησικακία, Greg. Naz. _Carm._ 34 (II. p. 612) θυμὸς μέν ἐστιν ἀθρόος ζέσις φρενός, ὀργὴ δὲ θυμὸς ἐμμένων. They may be represented in Latin by _ira_ and _furor_; Senec. _de Ira_ ii. 36 ‘Ajacem in mortem egit furor, in furorem ira’, and Jerome in Ephes. iv. 31 ‘Furor incipiens ira est’: see Trench _N. T. Syn._ § xxxvii, p. 123 sq. On other synonymes connected with θυμός and ὀργή see the note on Ephes. iv. 31.

κακίαν] ‘_malice_’, or ‘_malignity_’, as it may be translated in default of a better word. It is not (at least in the New Testament) vice generally, but the vicious nature which is bent on _doing harm to others_, and is well defined by Calvin (on Ephes. iv. 31) ‘animi pravitas, quæ _humanitati et æquitati_ est opposita’. This will be evident from the connexion in which it appears, e.g. Rom. i. 29, Eph. iv. 31, Tit. iii. 3. Thus κακία and πονηρία (which frequently occur together, e.g. 1 Cor. v. 8) only differ in so far as the one denotes rather the vicious disposition, the other the active exercise of it. The word is carefully investigated in Trench _N. T. Syn._ § xi. p. 35 sq.

βλασφημίαν] ‘_evil speaking_, _railing_, _slandering_’, as frequently, e.g. Rom. iii. 8, xiv. 16, 1 Cor. iv. 13 (v.l.), x. 30, Ephes. iv. 31, Tit. iii. 2. The word has the same twofold sense, ‘evil speaking’ and ‘blasphemy’, in classical writers, which it has in the New Testament.

αἰσχρολογίαν] ‘_foul-mouthed abuse_’. The word, as used elsewhere, has two meanings: (1) ‘_Filthy-talking_’, as defined in Clem. Alex. _Pæd._ ii. 6 (p. 189 sq.), where it is denounced at length: comp. Arist. _Pol._ vii. 17, Epict. _Man._ 33, Plut. _Mor._ 9, and so commonly; (2) ‘_Abusive language_’, as e.g. Polyb. viii. 13. 8, xii. 13. 3, xxxi. 10. 4. If the two senses of the word had been quite distinct, we might have had some difficulty in choosing between them here. The former sense is suggested by the parallel passage Ephes. v. 4 αἰσχρότης καὶ μωρολογία ἤ εὐτραπελία; the second by the connexion with βλασφημία here. But the second sense is derived from the first. The word can only mean ‘abuse’, when the abuse is ‘foul-mouthed’. And thus we may suppose that both ideas, ‘filthiness’ and ‘evil-speaking’, are included here.

9. ἀπεκδυσάμενοι κ.τ.λ.] ‘_putting off_’. Do these aorist participles describe an action coincident with or prior to the ψεύδεσθε? In other words are they part of the command, or do they assign the reason for the command? Must they be rendered ‘putting off’, or ‘seeing that ye did (at your baptism) put off’? The former seems the more probable interpretation: for (1) Though both ideas are found in St Paul, the imperative is the more usual; e.g. Rom. xiii. 12 sq. ἀποθώμεθα οὖν τὰ ἐργα τοῦ σκότους, ἐνδυσώμεθα δὲ τὰ ὅπλα τοῦ φωτός ... ἐνδύσασθε τὸν Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, Ephes. vi. 11 ἐνδύσασθε τὴν πανοπλίαν with ver. 14 στῆτε οὖν ... ἐνδυσάμενοι κ.τ.λ., 1 Thess. V. 8 νήφωμεν ἐνδυσάμενοι κ.τ.λ. The one exception is Gal. iii. 27 ὅσοι γὰρ εἰς Χριστὸν ἐβαπτίσθητε, Χριστὸν ἐνεδύσασθε. (2) The ‘putting on’ in the parallel passage, Ephes. iv. 24, is imperative, not affirmative, whether we read ἐνδύσασθαι or ἐνδύσασθε. (3) The participles here are followed immediately by an imperative in the context, ver. 12 ἐνδύσασθε οὖν, where the idea seems to be the same. For the synchronous aorist participle see Winer § xlv. p. 430. St Paul uses ἀπεκδυσάμενοι, ἐνδυσάμενοι (not ἀπεκδύομενοι, ἐνδύομενοι), for the same reason for which he uses ἐνδύσασθε (not ἐνδύεσθε), because it is a thing to be done _once for all_. For the double compound ἀπεκδύεσθαι see the notes on ii. 11, 15.

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III. 10, 11]

τὸν παλαὶον ἄνθρωπον σὺν ταῖς πράξεσιν αὐτοῦ, ^{10}καὶ ἐνδυσάμενοι τὸν νέον, τὸν ἀνακαινούμενον εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν κατ’ εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος αὐτόν· ^{11}ὅπου

παλαὶον ἄνθρωπον] as Rom. vi. 6, Ephes. iv. 22. With this expression compare ὁ ἔξω, ὁ ἔσω ἄνθρωπος, Rom. vii. 22, 2 Cor. iv. 16, Ephes. iii. 16; ὁ κρυπτὸς τῆς καρδίας ἄνθρωπος, 1 Pet. iii. 4; ὁ μικρός μου ἄνθρωπος, ‘my insignificance’, Polycr. in Euseb. _H.E._ v. 24.

10. τὸν νέον κ.τ.λ.] In Ephes. iv. 24 it is ἐνδύσασθαι _τὸν καινὸν_ ἄνθρωπον. Of the two words νέος and καινός, the former refers solely to time, the other denotes quality also; the one is new as being _young_, the other new as being _fresh_: the one is opposed to long duration, the other to effeteness; see Trench _N. T. Syn._ § lx. p. 206. Here the idea which is wanting to νέος, and which καινὸς gives in the parallel passage, is more than supplied by the addition τὸν ἀνακαινούμενον κ.τ.λ.

The νέος or καινὸς ἄνθρωπος in these passages is not Christ Himself, as the parallel expression Χριστὸν ἐνδύσασθαι might suggest, and as it is actually used in Ign. _Ephes._ 20 εἰς τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, but the regenerate man formed after Christ. The idea here is the same as in καινὴ κτίσις, 2 Cor. v. 17, Gal. vi. 15: comp. Rom. vi. 4 καινότης ζωῆς, Barnab. 16 ἐγενόμεθα καινοί, πάλιν ἐξ ἀρχῆς κτιζόμενοι.

τὸν ἀνακαινούμενον] ‘_which is_ ever _being renewed_’. The force of the present tense is explained by 2 Cor. iv. 16 ὁ ἔσω ἡμῶν [ἄνθρωπος] ἀνακαινοῦται _ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ἡμέρᾳ_. Compare also the use of the tenses in the parallel passage, Ephes. iv. 22 sq. ἀποθέσθαι, _ἀνανεοῦσθαι_, ἐνδύσασθαι. For the opposite see Ephes. iv. 22 τὸν παλαὶον ἄνθρωπον τὸν _φθειρόμενον_ κ.τ.λ.

εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν] ‘_unto perfect knowledge_’, the true knowledge in Christ, as opposed to the false knowledge of the heretical teachers. For the implied contrast see above pp. 44, 99 sq. (see the notes on i. 9, ii. 3), and for the word ἐπίγνωσις the note on i. 9. The words here are to be connected closely with ἀνακαινούμενον: comp. Heb. vi. 6 πάλιν _ἀνακαινίζειν_ εἰς μετάνοιαν.

κατ’ εἰκόνα κ.τ.λ.] The reference is to Gen. i. 26 καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός Ποίησωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ’ εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν κ.τ.λ.; comp. ver. 28 κατ’ εἰκόνα Θεοῦ ἐποίησεν αὐτόν. See also Ephes. iv. 24 τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν κατὰ Θὲον κτισθέντα. This reference however does not imply an identity of the creation here mentioned with the creation of Genesis, but only an analogy between

the two. The spiritual man in each believer’s heart, like the primal man in the beginning of the world, was created after God’s image. The καινὴ κτίσις in this respect resembles the ἀρχαία κτίσις. The pronoun αὐτὸν cannot be referred to anything else but the νέος ἄνθρωπος, the regenerate man; and the aorist κτίσαντος (compare κτισθέντα in the parallel passage Ephes. iv. 24) refers to the time of this ἀναγέννησις in Christ. See Barnab. 6 _ἀνακαινίσας_ ἡμᾶς ἐν τῇ ἀφέσει τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἐποίησεν ἡμᾶς ἄλλον τύπον ... ὡσὰν δὴ _ἀναπλάσσοντος_ αὐτοῦ ἡμᾶς, after which Gen. i. 26 is quoted. The new birth was a recreation in God’s image; the subsequent life must be a deepening of this image thus stamped upon the man.

The allusion to Genesis therefore requires us to understand τοῦ κτίσαντος of God, and not of Christ, as it is taken by St Chrysostom and others; and this seems to be demanded also by the common use of ὁ κτίσας. But if Christ is not ὁ κτίσας, may He not be intended by the εἰκῶν τοῦ κτίσαντος? In favour of this interpretation it may be urged (1) That Christ elsewhere is called the εἰκὼν of God, i. 15, 2 Cor. iv. 4; (2) That the Alexandrian school interpreted the term in Gen. i. 26 as denoting the Logos; thus Philo _de Mund._ Op. 6 (I. p. 5 M) τὸ ἀρχέτυπον παράδειγμα, ἰδέα τῶν ἰδεῶν ὁ Θεοῦ λόγος (comp. ib. §§ 7, 23, 24, 48), _Fragm._ II. p. 625 M θνητὸν γὰρ οὐδὲν ἀπεικονισθῆναι πρὸς τὸν ἀνωτάτω καὶ πατέρα τῶν ὅλων ἐδύνατο, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸν δεύτερον Θὲον ὅς ἐστιν ἐκέινου λόγος κ.τ.λ. _Leg. Alleg._ i. 31, 32 (I. p. 106 sq.). Hence Philo speaks of the first man as εἰκὼν εἰκόνος (_de Mund. Op._ 6), and as παγκάλου παραδέιγματος πάγκαλον μίμημα (ib. § 48). A pregnant meaning is thus given to κατὰ, and κατ’ εἰκόνα is rendered ‘after the fashion (or pattern) of the Image’. But this interpretation seems very improbable in St Paul; for (1) In the parallel passage Ephes. iv. 24 the expression is simply κατὰ Θεόν, which may be regarded as equivalent to κατ’ εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος here; (2) The Alexandrian explanation of Gen. i. 26 just quoted is very closely allied to the Platonic doctrine of ideas (for the εἰκών, so interpreted, is the archetype or ideal pattern of the sensible world), and thus it lies outside the range of those conceptions which specially recommended the Alexandrian terminology of the Logos to the Apostles, as a fit vehicle for communicating the truths of Christianity.

11. ὅπου] i.e. ‘in this regenerate life, in this spiritual region into which the believer is transferred in Christ.’

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III. 11]

οὐκ ἕνι Ἕλλην καὶ Ἰουδαῖος, περιτομὴ καὶ ἀκροβυστία,