Colossians 2
Commentary from 31 fathers
That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
ἵνα παρακληθῶσιν αἱ καρδίαι αὐτῶν, συμβιβασθέντων ἐν ἀγάπῃ καὶ εἰς πάντα πλοῦτον τῆς πληροφορίας τῆς συνέσεως, εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ μυστηρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ,
да ᲂу҆тѣ́шатсѧ сердца̀ и҆́хъ, сне́мшихсѧ въ любвѝ и҆ во всѧ́цѣмъ бога́тствѣ и҆звѣще́нїѧ ра́зꙋма, въ позна́нїе та́йны бг҃а и҆ ѻ҆ц҃а̀ и҆ хрⷭ҇та̀,
And again, as if in eagerness to divulge this knowledge, he thus writes: "Warning every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man (the whole man) perfect in Christ;" not every man simply, since no one would be unbelieving. Nor does he call every man who believes in Christ perfect; but he says all the man, as if he said the whole man, as if purified in body and soul. For that the knowledge does not appertain to all, he expressly adds: "Being knit together in love, and unto all the riches of the full assurance of knowledge, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God in Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge." "Continue in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving." And thanksgiving has place not for the soul and spiritual blessings alone, but also for the body, and for the good things of the body. And he still more clearly reveals that knowledge belongs not to all, by adding: "Praying at the same time for you, that God would open to us a door to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am bound; that I may make it known as I ought to speak."
The Stromata Book 5
2–3Now henceforward he is hastening and in pangs to enter upon the doctrine, neither accusing them, nor clearing them of accusation. "I strive," he saith. To what end? That they may be knit together. What he means is something like this; that they may stand firm in the faith. He doth not however so express himself; but extenuates the matter of accusation. That is, that they may be united with love, not with necessity nor with force. For as I have said, he always avoids offending, by leaving it to themselves; and therefore "striving," because I wish it to be with love, and willingly. For I do not wish it to be with the lips merely, nor merely that they shall be brought together, but "that their hearts may be comforted."
"Being knit together in love unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding." That is, that they may doubt about nothing, that they may be fully assured in all things. But I meant full assurance which is by faith, for there is a full assurance which cometh by arguments, but that is worthy of no consideration. I know, he saith, that ye believe, but I would have you fully assured: not "unto riches" only, but "unto all riches"; that your full assurance may be intense, as well as in all things. And observe the wisdom of this blessed one. He said not, "Ye do ill that ye are not fully assured," nor accused them; but, ye know not how desirous I am that ye may be fully assured, and not merely so, but with understanding. For seeing he spoke of faith; suppose not, he saith, that I meant barely and unprofitably, but with understanding and love. "That they may know the mystery of God the Father and of Christ." So that this is the mystery of God, the being brought unto Him by the Son. "And of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." But if they are in Him, then wisely also no doubt He came at this time. Wherefore then do some foolish persons object to Him, "See how He discourseth with the simpler sort." "In whom are all the treasures." He himself knows all things. "Hid," for think not in truth that ye already have all; they are hidden also even from Angels, not, from you only; so that you ought to ask all things from Him. He himself giveth wisdom and knowledge. Now by saying, "treasures," he shows their largeness, by "All," that He is ignorant of nothing, by "hid," that He alone knoweth.
Homily on Colossians 5
Finally, he now proceeds to the teaching; but he neither condemns them nor entirely frees them from accusation. In these same words is also contained the answer. I have a struggle, he says. For what purpose? So that they would not think differently, but would be in agreement and united in one faith. In what way? Not by compulsion and force, but "in love." He said this because disagreement is what gives rise to schism.
That is, so that they would doubt nothing, so that their understanding, that is, the knowledge of the mystery, would be strengthened in every way. And he did not simply say "for riches," but "for all riches." I know, he says, that you have knowledge of the mystery, but I desire that the assurance in this knowledge would also be strong in you. Or: I desire that you would be convinced rationally, and not unreflectively.
The mystery of God — how is it so? It is that through the Son our drawing near to God is accomplished, and not through angels.
Commentary on Colossians
Then when he says, that their hearts might be consoled, having been instructed in love, and in all the riches of a full understanding, so as to know the mystery of God, the Father, and of Jesus Christ, he shows what he is concerned about, that is, their consolation. First, he mentions this; and secondly, he states how it can be brought about, instructed in love.
Paul says, that their hearts might be consoled, that is, that by means of me they might have spiritual consolation. Such consolation is produced by what is good, for when one is sad over something, it is a source of joy to be consoled by something equally good. Now there are two things that console us: meditation on wisdom: "She, that is, wisdom, would give me encouragement in cares and grief" (Wis 8:9), and prayer: "Is any one of you sad? Let him pray" (Jas. 5:13).
Then when he says, having been instructed in love, he mentions their instruction in wisdom. There are two versions of this passage. First, the one we have here. Secondly, the one found in the Gloss: "that the hearts of those instructed in love might be consoled..." so that they might know "the mystery of God, the Father, and of Jesus Christ." But the meaning is the same. When one is instructed in wisdom, he is consoled against temporal evils. But here a person should be instructed about the way; and so Paul says, in love, which is the way to God: "I will show you a still more excellent way. If I should speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal" (1 Cor. 13:1). Having been instructed in love, that is, in the love with which God loves us, and in the love with which we love him; for we are consoled by each of these loves. We are consoled because God loves us: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me... who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal 2:20); "Rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ" (Eph 2:4). And we are also consoled because we love God, for it is consoling to a friend of God to endure evils for his sake: "If any evil happen to me because of him, I will bear it" (Sir 22:31).
And Paul continues, and in all the riches, that is, to the extent of their capacity. Our intellect is in potency to know things, while the intellect of the angel was filled at its creation with a knowledge of understandable things. And so our human intellect must acquire its knowledge; and it does this either by study (and this is insufficient, because a thing can never be known so well so that it fulfills the capacity of our intellect); or it acquires its knowledge by a divine revelation and as a gift from God: and this is sufficient. "She will feed him with the bread of understanding, and give him the water of wisdom to drink" (Sir 15:3). And so he says, of a full understanding, that is, of an understanding in abundance: "What is richer than wisdom?" (Wis 8:5); "The riches of salvation are wisdom and knowledge" (Is 33:6). In short, they are to be instructed with such an abundance of divine wisdom that it fulfills the capacity of their intellect. We will have this abundance of divine wisdom by knowing God; and so Paul says, so as to know the mystery of God the Father and of Jesus Christ, that is, to know the truth of this mystery which had been hidden, which is that God is the Father of Jesus Christ. Or, we could say, to know the mystery of God the Father, which mystery is Christ. And so Matthew says about the apostles: "Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes" (Mt 11:25). Or, we will have this abundance of the divine wisdom by our knowledge of the eternal generation and of the incarnation of Christ: "To fix one's thought on her is perfect understanding" (Wis 6:15). As Augustine says, "Happy are those who know you, and unhappy those who do not." It is by knowing God that man has all fullness: "This is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent," as we read in John (17:3).
Commentary on Colossians
In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
ἐν ᾧ εἰσι πάντες οἱ θησαυροὶ τῆς σοφίας καὶ τῆς γνώσεως ἀπόκρυφοι.
въ не́мже сꙋ́ть всѧ̑ сокрѡ́вища премⷣрости и҆ ра́зꙋма сокровє́нна.
On consideration, your Majesty, of the reason wherefore men have so far gone astray, or that many-alas!-should follow diverse ways of belief concerning the Son of God, the marvel seems to be, not at all that human knowledge has been baffled in dealing with superhuman things, but that it has not submitted to the authority of the Scriptures. What reason, indeed, is there to wonder, if by their worldly wisdom men failed to comprehend the mystery of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, in Whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden, that mystery of which not even angels have been able to take knowledge, save by revelation?
Exposition of the Christian Faith, Book 4
Can the workman be ignorant of his work? We read of Christ in St. Paul: “In whom are hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Note: “all treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Not that some are and some are not in him but that they are hidden. That which is in him, therefore, is not lacking to him, even though it be hidden to us. If, moreover, the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ, we must find out why they are hidden. If we men were to know the day of judgment, that, for example, it would not be for two thousand years, and if we knew it so long ahead of time, we would be more careless on that account. We would say, for instance, What is it to me if the day of judgment will not be here for two thousand years? Scripture says, therefore, for our benefit, that “the Son does not know the day of judgment,” because we do not know when the day of judgment will be upon us; and further: “Take heed, watch and pray, for you do not know when the time is.” Not “we do not know” but “you do not know.” Homilies on Mark (x).
Herein is all the worth of grace, by which he saves those who believe, containing in itself deep treasures of wisdom and knowledge and steeping in faith the minds which it draws to the eternal contemplation of unchangeable truth. Suppose the omnipotent had created his humanity by forming it otherwise than in a mother’s womb and had presented himself suddenly to our sight. Suppose he had not passed through the stages from childhood to youth, had taken no food, no sleep: would he not have given ground for the erroneous opinion which believed that he had not really become a human being? And by doing everything miraculously, would he not have obscured the effect of his mercy? But now he has appeared as Mediator between God and men, in such a way as to join both natures in the unity of one Person. He has both raised the commonplace to the heights of the uncommon and brought down the uncommon to the commonplace. .
Pay attention, dearly beloved, and see how sound the apostle’s advice is, when he says, “As therefore you received Christ Jesus our Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and confirmed in the faith.” What we have to do, after all, is to abide firmly in him through the simplicity and assurance of this faith, so that he may open up to us, as faithful believers, the treasure that is hidden in him. The same apostle says, “In him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.” He didn’t hide them in order to deny them to us but to rouse our desire for what is hidden. That is the value of secrets.
For, although he was impassible, he became subject to the experience of human passions and was made minister of our salvation. Now, they who say that he is a servant divide the one Christ into two, just as Nestorius did. But we say that he is Lord and Master of all creation, the one Christ, the same being at once God and man, and that he knows all things, “for in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
He alone knows all things. And if He alone is wise, then wisely, of course, He came in the last days and not long ago, and certain foolish people attack this in vain. By saying "treasures," he points to their multitude, and by the word "all," he shows that nothing is unknown to God, and by the expression "hidden" – that He alone knows, and from Him one must ask for wisdom and knowledge. But note, even if it seems that he said something especially great, even this – "in Whom are hidden the treasures" – he said in a manner suited to the understanding of very simple people. For God is wisdom itself and knowledge itself.
Commentary on Colossians
But is our intellect filled by knowing Christ? I say that it is because in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. God has a knowledge of all things, and this knowledge is called a treasure: "It is an unfailing treasure for men; those who get it obtain friendship with God" (Wis 7:14). Now a treasure is a collection of riches; they are not called a treasure when scattered about, but only when collected in one place. "God has poured out his wisdom upon all his works" (Sir 1:10); from this point of view his wisdom does not have the nature of a treasure. But his wisdom is a treasure when the ideas behind all his works are considered collected together, that is, in the divine wisdom. And all such treasures are in Christ. Wisdom is the knowledge of divine things, and science is the knowledge of created things. Now whatever can be known about God, which pertains to wisdom, God knows in himself, and exhaustively. And likewise, whatever can be known about created things, God knows in himself, and in a super-eminent way. Now whatever is in the wisdom of God is in his single Word, because he knows all things by one simple act of his intellect, for in God knowledge is neither in potency nor in a habitual state. And thus in this Word are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
He adds that these treasures are hid, because there are two reasons why something might be hidden from me: either because my intellect is weak, or because the thing is somehow covered. Thus, a person may not see a candle either because he is blind, or because the candle has been covered. And so, in the Word of God there are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, but they are hid from us because our eyes are not clear but bleary: "A little light is in you" (Jn 12:35); and they are hid because they are covered with two veils: the veil of creatures, because at this time our intellect cannot come to this knowledge except through the likeness of creatures: "Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made" (Rom 1:20); and the veil of the flesh: "The Word became flesh" (Jn 1:14). And even if we do know something about God, yet we do not see all: "Truly, you are a God who hides yourself" (Is 45:15); "Open your treasure for him" (Num. 20:6). Let us suppose that a person has a candle that is covered; he would not look then for another light, but wait for the light he has to become uncovered. And in the same way we do not have to look for wisdom anywhere but in Christ: "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2). And we read in 1 John (3:2): "When he appears," that is, is revealed, "we shall be like him," that is, knowing all things. In other words, if I had a book in which all knowledge was contained, I would seek to know only that book; similarly, it is not necessary for us to seek any further than Christ.
Commentary on Colossians
And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.
Τοῦτο δὲ λέγω ἵνα μή τις ὑμᾶς παραλογίζηται ἐν πιθανολογίᾳ·
Сїе́ же глаго́лю, да никто́же ва́съ прельсти́тъ въ словопрѣ́нїи:
I hear also those words of his, "And these things I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words, or one should enter in to spoil you." And again, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ;" branding not all philosophy, but the Epicurean, which Paul mentions in the Acts of the Apostles, which abolishes providence and deifies pleasure, and whatever other philosophy honours the elements, but places not over them the efficient cause, nor apprehends the Creator. ... And, in truth, the Word does not wish him who has believed to be idle. For He says, "Seek, and ye shall find." But seeking ends in finding, driving out the empty trifling, and approving of the contemplation which confirms our faith. "And this I say, lest any man beguile you with enticing words," says the apostle, evidently as having learned to distinguish what was said by him, and as being taught to meet objections.
The Stromata Book 1
"This I say, that no one may delude you with persuasiveness of speech."
Seest thou that he saith, I have therefore said this, that ye may not seek it from men. "Delude you," he saith, "with persuasiveness of speech." For what if any doth speak, and speak persuasively?
Homily on Colossians 5
"This," that is, that in Christ is all knowledge, I said so that no one would deceive you. What does it matter if someone speaks eloquently? Know in advance that if such a person does not speak of Christ, then he speaks nothing but paralogisms and sophisms.
Commentary on Colossians
Then (v. 4), he teaches and warns them about destructive doctrines. For they were being misled by certain philosophers in matters against the faith, and by heretics who taught that the ceremonies of the law had to be observed. First, he teaches them in opposition to the philosophers; and secondly, in opposition to the Judaizers (v. 11). In worldly knowledge there are two things: a knowledge of the spoken language, and a knowledge of things themselves. And so they could be deceived in two ways. Thus he first warns them against those philosophers who were deceiving them by their ability to speak well; and secondly, against those who were misleading them about the knowledge of things, when he says, "See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit" (2:8). First, he mentions this deception; and secondly, the reason for it (v. 5).
Thus he says: I say that in Christ there is all knowledge. And I say this so that you will not be deceived in seeking for knowledge from anywhere else. And he says, I say this in order that no one, that is, neither Demosthenes or Cicero, may delude you with beguiling speech. "You will see no more the insolent people, the people of an obscure speech which you cannot comprehend, stammering in a tongue which you cannot understand" (Is 33:19).
But is it a sin to use beautiful language? I answer that it is not, because even saintly men, like Ambrose, Jerome, and Pope Leo, speak with more eloquence than the orators of this world. For if one can use fine language to persuade those who are evil, then it can be used much more to convince those who are good.
Commentary on Colossians
For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.
εἰ γὰρ καὶ τῇ σαρκὶ ἄπειμι, ἀλλὰ τῷ πνεύματι σὺν ὑμῖν εἰμι, χαίρων καὶ βλέπων ὑμῶν τὴν τάξιν καὶ τὸ στερέωμα τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως ὑμῶν.
а҆́ще бо и҆ пло́тїю ѿстою̀, но дꙋ́хомъ съ ва́ми є҆́смь, ра́дꙋѧсѧ и҆ ви́дѧ ва́шъ чи́нъ и҆ ᲂу҆твержде́нїе ва́шеѧ вѣ́ры, ꙗ҆́же во хрⷭ҇та̀.
If we also, in our diverse provinces, (but) present mutually in spirit, observe those very solemnities, whose then celebration our present discourse has been defending, that is the sacramental law.
On Fasting
"For though I am absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit."
The direct thing to have said here was, "even though I be absent in the flesh, yet, nevertheless, I know the deceivers"; but instead he has ended with praise, "Joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ." "Your order," he means, your good order. "And the steadfastness of your faith in Christ." This is still more in the way of encomium. And he said not "faith," but steadfastness, as to soldiers standing in good order and firmly. Now that which is steadfast, neither deceit nor trial can shake asunder. Not only, he saith, have ye not fallen, but no one hath so much as thrown you into disorder. He hath set himself over them, that they may fear him as though present; for thus is order preserved. From solidity follows compactedness, for you will then produce solidity, when having brought many things together, you shall cement them compactedly and inseparably; thus a solidity is produced, as in the case of a wall. But this is the peculiar work of love; for those who were by themselves, when it hath closely cemented and knit them together, it renders solid. And faith, again, doeth the same thing; when it allows not reasonings to intrude themselves. For as reasonings divide, and shake loose, so faith causes solidity and compactness.
Homily on Colossians 5
This love, which is from God and is God, cannot be separated from the being of God, because God and love are one. For since love, itself inseparable from its source, not only possesses human beings who can be separated from one another, but from many hearts and souls makes one heart and one soul, what madness is it to say that love which is accustomed to join separated minds in an inseparable love can be separated from the human beings who express it? Hence it is that Paul said, “For even if I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing as I observe your good order.” And in the Acts of the Apostles, it is written that the “community of believers was of one heart and mind” … something that was not brought about except by the Spirit of faith and love.
Though by the connection of the speech he ought to have said: although I am absent in the flesh, yet spiritually I see the deceivers. But he turned this word into a commendation. Listen.
For not only, he says, have you not fallen, but among you no one has disturbed the order and firm faith that is yours. Just as in a battle formation good order makes the phalanx strong, so too the Church is firm when there is good order in it, love unites all, and there are no divisions. But faith already in itself constitutes a firm foundation, because it does not allow other thoughts to creep in which, by introducing division, shake the inner order.
Commentary on Colossians
Above, he warned them against falling away from the faith as a result of some deceptive language; here he gives the reason for this advice, which is based on the good things they have and should not destroy, but allow to grow. First, he calls to mind the goods which they have; and secondly, he shows how these should grow within them (v. 6). In regard to the first, he does two things. First, he shows how he happens to know about the good things they have; secondly, he mentions what these goods are (v. 5b).
Paul says, For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing. He is here saying, in effect, that although I have not preached to you, nor do I see with my own eyes what you have accomplished, yet I am with you in spirit through my love, rejoicing in your blessings: "For though absent in body I am present in spirit" (1 Cor. 5:3); "A wise son makes a glad father" (Pr 10:1). And this because it was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit; and so he says, yet I am with you in spirit. "Did I not go with you in spirit when the man turned from his chariot to meet you?" (2 Kg. 5:26).
Rejoicing, I say, because I see your good order, that is, your well-ordered way of life: "All things should be done decently and in order" (1 Cor. 14:40); "The stars remaining in their order and courses fought against Sisera" (Jg 5:20). And rejoicing in the firmness of your faith in Christ: "God's firm foundation stands" (2 Tim 2:19). And this in Christ: "That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, rooted and founded in love" (Eph 3:17); "In whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord" (Eph 2:21). The goodness of this temple consists in its firm foundation, which is faith, and in a proper superstructure; and that is why he mentioned these two.
Commentary on Colossians
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
ὡς οὖν παρελάβετε τὸν Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν τὸν Κύριον, ἐν αὐτῷ περιπατεῖτε,
Ꙗ҆́коже ᲂу҆̀бо прїѧ́сте хрⷭ҇та̀ і҆и҃са гдⷭ҇а, (та́кожде) въ не́мъ ходи́те,
"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith." Now persuasion is [the means of] being established in the faith. "Beware lest any man spoil you of faith in Christ by philosophy and vain deceit," which does away with providence, "after the tradition of men;" for the philosophy which is in accordance with divine tradition establishes and confirms providence, which, being done away with, the economy of the Saviour appears a myth, while we are influenced "after the elements of the world, and not after Christ." For the teaching which is agreeable to Christ deifies the Creator, and traces providence in particular events, and knows the nature of the elements to be capable of change and production, and teaches that we ought to aim at rising up to the power which assimilates to God, and to prefer the dispensation as holding the first rank and superior to all training.
The Stromata Book 1
6–7Again, he takes hold on them beforehand with their own testimony, saying, "As therefore ye received." We introduce no strange addition, he saith, neither do ye. "Walk ye in Him," for He is the Way that leadeth to the Father: not in the Angels; this way leadeth not thither. "Rooted," that is, fixed; not one while going this way, another that, but "rooted": now that which is rooted, never can remove. Observe how appropriate are the expressions he employs. "And built up," that is, in thought attaining unto Him. "And stablished" in Him, that is, holding Him, built as on a foundation. He shows that they had fallen down, for the word "built" has this force. For the faith is in truth a building; and needs both a strong foundation, and secure construction. For both if any one build not upon a secure foundation it will shake; and even though he do, if it be not firm, it will not stand. "As ye were taught." Again, the word "As." "Abounding," he saith, "in thanksgiving"; for this is the part of well-disposed persons, I say not simply to give thanks, but with great abundance, more than ye learned, if possible, with much ambition.
Homily on Colossians 6
We introduce nothing new, but what you have received, that we desire again. The Lord Jesus Christ, and not angels.
For He is the way that leads to the Father. Such a way is not in angels; for that way does not lead there.
Commentary on Colossians
Then (v. 6), he urges them to protect these goods: first, by advancing in them; secondly, by their perseverance; and thirdly, by giving thanks. So he says, As therefore you received Christ Jesus, not in a distorted way, so live in him. "Hold fast to what is good," as we read in Romans (12:9).
Commentary on Colossians
Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
ἐρριζωμένοι καὶ ἐποικοδομούμενοι ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ βεβαιούμενοι ἐν τῇ πίστει καθὼς ἐδιδάχθητε, περισσεύοντες ἐν αὐτῇ ἐν εὐχαριστίᾳ.
ᲂу҆корене́ни и҆ назда́ни въ не́мъ и҆ и҆звѣ́ствовани вѣ́рою, ꙗ҆́коже наꙋчи́стесѧ, и҆збы́точествꙋюще въ не́й благодаре́нїемъ.
That is, standing immovable and not inclining now toward Christ, now toward angels. For those who are rooted are never moved.
Shows that they had fallen, so that they needed restoration, that is, a second building upon Christ, as upon a foundation.
That is, holding firmly to Christ through faith, and not through reasoning and disputes. For the building is unstable if, even though it is on the foundation, it does not stand firmly upon it.
Again he puts the word "as," so that they, if not ashamed of anything else, would at least be ashamed of themselves. And so, in the words "as you have been taught" the apostle laid, as it were, a foundation, while in the words "abounding" he points to the building. One must not change the teaching previously received, but rather advance in it, counting it an honor to show something superabundant in one's faith, thanking God for having deemed us worthy of such grace, and not attributing this advancement to ourselves.
Commentary on Colossians
Sometimes the Church is compared to a spiritual building: "God's temple is holy, and that temple you are" (1 Cor. 3:17). At other times it is compared to a tree, because it produces fruit. Now the foundation of a building is related to the building as the roots of a tree are related to the tree, because the foundation and roots are the source of strength; and this source is Christ. "In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples" (Is. 11:10); "For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 3:11). So Paul uses the expression, rooted, like good branches, and built up in him and established, like good stones. And they will be like this if they persevere in the faith. "Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour" (1 Pet. 5:8); and the text continues: "Resist him, firm in your faith." They are to live in Christ just as you were taught, that is, in the true faith: "If any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed" (Gal 1:9). Abounding in thanksgiving, giving many thanks: as we read in 1 Thessalonians (5:18), "Giving thanks in all circumstances"; "Having been saved by God out of grave dangers, we give him great thanks" (2 Macc 1:11).
Commentary on Colossians
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Βλέπετε μή τις ὑμᾶς ἔσται ὁ συλαγωγῶν διὰ τῆς φιλοσοφίας καὶ κενῆς ἀπάτης, κατὰ τὴν παράδοσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, κατὰ τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου καὶ οὐ κατὰ Χριστόν·
[Заⷱ҇ 254] (Бра́тїе,) блюди́тесѧ, да никто́же ва́съ бꙋ́детъ прельща́ѧ фїлосо́фїею и҆ тще́тною ле́стїю, по преда́нїю человѣ́ческомꙋ, по стїхі́амъ мі́ра, а҆ не по хрⷭ҇тѣ̀:
I hear also those words of his, "And these things I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words, or one should enter in to spoil you." And again, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ;" branding not all philosophy, but the Epicurean, which Paul mentions in the Acts of the Apostles, which abolishes providence and deifies pleasure, and whatever other philosophy honours the elements, but places not over them the efficient cause, nor apprehends the Creator.
The Stromata Book 1
For Paul too, in the Epistles, plainly does not disparage philosophy; but deems it unworthy of the man who has attained to the elevation of the Gnostic, any more to go back to the Hellenic "philosophy," figuratively calling it the rudiments of this world, as being most rudimentary, and a preparatory training for the truth. Wherefore also, writing to the Hebrews, who were declining again from faith to the law, he says, "Have ye not need again of one to teach you which are the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat?" So also to the Colossians, who were Greek converts, "Beware lest any man spoil you by philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of this world, and not after Christ," -enticing them again to return to philosophy, the elementary doctrine.
The Stromata Book 6
It is the prerogative of the Gnostic, then, to know how to make use of speech, and when, and how, and to whom. And already the apostle, by saying, "After the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ," makes the asseveration that the Hellenic teaching is elementary, and that of Christ perfect, as we have already intimated before.
The Stromata Book 6
The apostle, so far back as his own time, foresaw, indeed, that philosophy would do violent injury to the truth. This admonition about false philosophy he was induced to offer after he had been at Athens, had become acquainted with that loquacious city, and had there had a taste of its huckstering wiseacres and talkers.
A Treatise on the Soul
Writing to the Colossians, he says, "See that no one beguile you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, and contrary to the wisdom of the Holy Ghost." He had been at Athens, and had in his interviews (with its philosophers) become acquainted with that human wisdom which pretends to know the truth, whilst it only corrupts it, and is itself divided into its own manifold heresies, by the variety of its mutually repugnant sects.
The Prescription Against Heretics
When, again, he warns them to "beware of subtle words and philosophy," as being "a vain deceit," such as is "after the rudiments of the world" (not understanding thereby the mundane fabric of sky and earth, but worldly learning, and "the tradition of men," subtle in their speech and their philosophy), it would be tedious, and the proper subject of a separate work, to show how in this sentence (of the apostle's) all heresies are condemned, on the ground of their consisting of the resources of subtle speech and the rules of philosophy.
Against Marcion Book 5
For it seems expedient that we, making an onslaught upon the opinion which constitutes the prime source of (contemporaneous) evils, should prove what are the originating principles. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit.
Refutation of All Heresies Book 9
The principle of the philosophers and stoics is different, dearest brother, who say that all sins are equal, and that a grave man ought not easily to be moved. But there is a wide difference between Christians and philosophers. And when the apostle says, "Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit," we are to avoid those things which do not come from God's clemency, but are begotten of the presumption of a too rigid philosophy. Concerning Moses, moreover, we find it said in the Scriptures, "Now the man Moses was very meek; " and the Lord in His Gospel says, "Be ye merciful, as your Father also had mercy upon you; " and again, "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." What medical skill can he exercise who says, "I cure the sound only, who have no need of a physician? "We ought to give our assistance, our healing art, to those who are wounded; neither let us think them dead, but rather let us regard them as lying half alive, whom we see to have been wounded in the fatal persecution, and who, if they had been altogether dead, would never from the same men become afterwards both confessors and martyrs.
Epistle LI
Philosophers also profess that they pursue this virtue; but in their case the patience is as false as their wisdom also is. For whence can he be either wise or patient, who has neither known the wisdom nor the patience of God? since He Himself warns us, and says of those who seem to themselves to be wise in this world, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reprove the understanding of the prudent." Moreover, the blessed Apostle Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, and sent forth for the calling and training of the heathen, bears witness and instructs us, saying, "See that no man despoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elements of the world, and not after Christ, because in Him dwelleth all the fulness of divinity." And in another place he says: "Let no man deceive himself; if any man among you thinketh himself to be wise, let him become a fool to this world, that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, I will rebuke the wise in their own craftiness." And again: "The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are foolish." Wherefore if the wisdom among them be not true, the patience also cannot be true. For if he is wise who is lowly and meek-but we do not see that philosophers are either lowly or meek, but greatly pleasing themselves, and, for the very reason that they please themselves, displeasing God-it is evident that the patience is not real among them where there is the insolent audacity of an affected liberty, and the immodest boastfulness of an exposed and half-naked bosom.
Treatise IX. On the Advantage of Patience.
It is not therefore utility, but enjoyment, which they seek from philosophy. And this Cicero indeed testified. "Truly," he says, "all their disputation, although it contains most abundant fountains of virtue and knowledge, yet, when compared with their actions and accomplishments, I fear lest it should seem not to have brought so much advantage to the business of men as enjoyment to their times of relaxation." He ought not to have feared, since he spoke the truth; but as if he were afraid lest he should be arraigned by the philosophers on a charge of betraying a mystery, he did not venture confidently to pronounce that which was true, that they do not dispute for the purpose of teaching, but for their own enjoyment in their leisure; and since they are the advisers of actions, and do not themselves act at all, they are to be regarded as mere talkers. But assuredly, because they contributed no advantage to life, they neither obeyed their own decrees, nor has any one been found, through so many ages, who lived in accordance with their laws. Therefore philosophy must altogether be laid aside, because we are not to devote ourselves to the pursuit of wisdom, for this has no limit or moderation; but we must be wise, and that indeed quickly.
The Divine Institutes, Book 3, Chapter XVI
He calls that philosophy worldly by which men who desire to be wise in earthly terms are seduced. .
True religion consists of these two elements: pious doctrines and virtuous actions. Neither does God accept doctrines apart from works, nor are works, when divorced from godly doctrine, accepted by God…. The knowledge of doctrines is a precious possession. There is need of a vigilant soul, since there are many who would deceive you by philosophy and vain deceit.
hese, moreover, are like "the blind man who leads the blind man, and they both fall into the ditch." [Matthew 15:14] And they will receive judgment, because in their talkativeness and their frivolous teaching they teach natural wisdom and the "frivolous error of the plausible words of the wisdom of men," "according to the will of the prince of the dominion of the air, and of the spirit which works in those men who will not obey, according to the training of this world, and not according to the doctrine of Christ." But if you have received "the word of knowledge, or the word of instruction, or of prophecy," [1 Corinthians 12:8-10] blessed be God, "who helps every man without grudging — that God who gives to every man and does not upbraid him." [James 1:5]
Two Epistles on Virginity
Seest thou how he shows him to be a thief, and an alien, and one that enters in softly? For he has already represented him to be entering in. "Beware." And he well said "maketh spoil." As one digging away a mound from underneath, may give no perceptible sign, yet it gradually settles, so do you also beware; for this is his main point, not even to let himself be perceived. As if some one were robbing every day, and he (the owner of the house) were told, "Beware lest there be some one"; and he shows the way-through this way-as if we were to say, through this chamber; so, "through philosophy," says he.
Then because the term "philosophy" has an appearance of dignity, he added, "and vain deceit." For there is also a good deceit; such as many have been deceived by, which one ought not even to call a deceit at all. Whereof Jeremiah speaks; "O Lord, Thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived" (Jer. xx. 7); for such as this one ought not to call a deceit at all; for Jacob also deceived his father, but that was not a deceit, but an economy. "Through his philosophy," he saith, "and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." Now he sets about to reprove their observance of particular days, meaning by elements of the world the sun and moon; as he also said in the Epistle to the Galatians, "How turn ye back again to the weak and beggarly elements?" (Gal. iv. 9.) And he said not observances of days, but in general of the present world, to show its worthlessness: for if the present world be nothing, much more then its elements. Having first shown how great benefits and kindnesses they had received, he afterwards brings on his accusation, thereby to show its greater seriousness, and to convict his hearers. Thus too the Prophets do. They always first point out the benefits, and then they magnify their accusation; as Esaias saith, "I have begotten children, and exalted them, but they have rejected me" (Isa. i. 2, Sept.); and again, "O my people, what have I done unto thee, or wherein have I grieved thee, or wherein have I wearied thee"? (Mic. vi. 3) and David; as when he says, "I heard thee in the secret place of the tempest" (Ps. lxxxi. 7, Sept.); and again, "Open thy mouth, and I will fill it." (Ps. lxxxi. 10.) And everywhere you will find it the same.
That indeed were most one's duty, not to be persuaded by them, even did they say aught to the purpose; as it is, however, obligations apart even, it would be our duty to shun those things. "And not after Christ," he saith. For were it in such sort a matter done by halves, that ye were able to serve both the one and the other, not even so ought ye to do it; as it is, however, he suffers you not to be "after Christ." Those things withdraw you from Him. Having first shaken to pieces the Grecian observances, he next overthrows the Jewish ones also. For both Greeks and Jews practiced many observances, but the former from philosophy, the latter from the Law. First then, he makes at those against whom lay the heavier accusation. How, "not after Christ"?
Homily on Colossians 6
There is a thief; he creeps up secretly, he digs under the walls from below unnoticed, intending to rob your mind. Therefore, beware.
He also shows the way by which the thief comes: it is philosophy. But since the name of philosophy is considered honorable, he added: "and empty deceit." For there is also a good deceit, of which Jeremiah says: "You deceived me, O Lord, and I was deceived" (Jer. 20:7). And Jacob, it would seem, deceived Esau, but this should not be called deceit, but divine economy (Gen. 27:27).
You see where the deception comes from? From the fact that human opinions are introduced. But the Christian faith is not a human teaching, and therefore it will not receive such a designation.
Finally, he begins to rebuke them for the observance of days, calling the elements of the world the sun and the moon, from which the days would seem to receive one property or another. And he did not say: the observance of days, but: of all the present world, in order to show its insignificance. For if the whole world is nothing, then all the more so the elements.
If it were even possible, he says, to serve half and half both Christ and the elements, even then one ought not to obey the latter; but now they remove you from Christ entirely. And the observances of days were not only Hellenic, but also Jewish: the former proceeded from philosophy, and the latter from the law.
Commentary on Colossians
Then (v. 8), he warns them not to be deceived by an empty wisdom. First, we see his warning; and secondly, the reason for it (v. 9). In regard to the first, he first teaches them to avoid whatever can deceive them; and secondly, the source of this deception (v. 8b).
A person can be deceived by worldly wisdom in two ways, that is, sometimes by the real principles of philosophy, and sometimes by fallacious arguments. And Paul teaches them to beware of both: See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy, that is, by philosophical teachings: "Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray" (Is 47:10). For there are many who have turned from the faith after having been deceived by philosophy: "Man has become foolish in his knowledge" (Jer. 10:14). As regards to the second way to be deceived he says, and empty deceit, which is based on the way words are used: "Let no one deceive you with empty words," as is said in Ephesians (5:6).
But how are they being deceived? One who deceives another must have something which seems reasonable, and something which is not really so. So first Paul shows the basis of this seeming reasonableness. It is based on two things, the first being the authority of the philosophers. And about this he says, according to human tradition, that is, according to what is handed down by some, basing themselves on their own judgment: "The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath" (Ps 94:11). The second source of an apparent reasonableness are the contrivances of reason, that is, when a person wishes to measure or judge about the things of faith according to the principles of things, and not by divine wisdom. And many are deceived in this way. And so Paul says, they should not be deceived by those judging according to the elements of the universe, and not according to Christ: "They were unable from the good things that are seen to know him who exists" (Wis 13:1). Now the higher a cause is, the more superior is its effect. And so those who wish to investigate certain effects in terms of causes that are inferior are deceived. For example, if one were to consider the movement of water in terms of the power of water, he would not be able to know the cause of the tides of the sea; to do this he would have to consider water in terms of the power of the moon. Thus, those people are even more deceived who consider the proper effects of God in terms of the elements of the world. And this is the reason for the seeming plausibility of what they say.
Or, we could say that according to the elements of the universe means, by measuring the truth of faith according to the truth of creatures. Or perhaps Paul said this referring to the idolaters who were worshiping idols and saying that Jupiter was the heavens. Or, Paul was referring to the Jewish people, and then the text is understood this way: by philosophy, by the reasoning of those who were trying to convince them to observe the ceremonies of the law, and these, according to the elements of the universe or world, that is, according to the bodily observances: "We were slaves to the elements of the world" (Gal 4:3). But our first explanation is better.
Commentary on Colossians
The advanced person writes that because geologists know nothing about the Fall, therefore any doctrine of depravity is untrue. Because science has not found something which obviously it could not find, therefore something entirely different—the psychological sense of evil—is untrue. You might sum up this writer's argument abruptly, but accurately, in some way like this—"We have not dug up the bones of the Archangel Gabriel, who presumably had none, therefore little boys, left to themselves, will not be selfish."
All Things Considered, Science and Religion (1908)
This is the most enormous and at the same time the most secret of the modern tyrannies of materialism. ... But here, as I have said, comes in the quiet and crushing power of modern materialism. It prevents him rising in rebellion, as he would otherwise do. By perpetually talking about environment and visible things, by perpetually talking about economics and physical necessity, painting and keeping repainted a perpetual picture of iron machinery and merciless engines, of rails of steel, and of towers of stone, modern materialism at last produces this tremendous impression in which the truth is stated upside down.
In Topsy-Turvy Land (Tremendous Trifles)
Barbarism means the worship of Nature; and in recent poetry, science, and philosophy there has been too much of the worship of Nature. Wherever men begin to talk much and with great solemnity about the forces outside man, the note of it is barbaric. When men talk much about heredity and environment they are almost barbarians. The modern men of science are many of them almost barbarians. ... For barbarians (especially the truly squalid and unhappy barbarians) are always talking about these scientific subjects from morning till night. That is why they remain squalid and unhappy; that is why they remain barbarians. Hottentots are always talking about heredity... Savages—those that are truly stunted or depraved—dedicate nearly all their tales and sayings to the subject of physical kinship, of a curse on this or that tribe, of a taint in this or that family, of the invincible law of blood, of the unavoidable evil of places. ... Scientific determinism is simply the primal twilight of all mankind; and some men seem to be returning to it.
All Things Considered, Humanitarianism and Strength (1908)
You will find that a good many Christian-political writers think that Christianity began going wrong, and departing from the doctrine of its Founder, at a very early stage. Now this idea must be used by us to encourage once again the conception of a "historical Jesus" to be found by clearing away later "accretions and perversions" and then to be contrasted with the whole Christian tradition. In the last generation we promoted the construction of such a "historical Jesus" on liberal and humanitarian lines; we are now putting forward a new "historical Jesus" on Marxian, catastrophic, and revolutionary lines. The advantages of these constructions, which we intend to change every thirty years or so, are manifold. In the first place they all tend to direct men's devotion to something which does not exist, for each "historical Jesus" is unhistorical. The documents say what they say and cannot be added to; each new "historical Jesus" therefore has to be got out of them by suppression at one point and exaggeration at another, and by that sort of guessing (brilliant is the adjective we teach humans to apply to it) on which no one would risk ten shillings in ordinary life, but which is enough to produce a crop of new Napoleons, new Shakespeares, and new Swifts, in every publisher's autumn list. In the second place, all such constructions place the importance of their Historical Jesus in some peculiar theory He is supposed to have promulgated. He has to be a "great man" in the modern sense of the word--one standing at the terminus of some centrifugal and imbalanced line of thought--a crank vending a panacea. We thus distract men's minds from Who He is, and what He did. We first make Him solely a teacher, and then conceal the very substantial agreement between His teachings and those of all other great moral teachers. For humans must not be allowed to notice that all great moralists are sent by the Enemy not to inform men but to remind them, to restate the primeval moral platitudes against our continual concealment of them. We make the Sophists: He raises up a Socrates to answer them. Our third aim is, by these constructions, to destroy the devotional life. For the real presence of the Enemy, otherwise experienced by men in prayer and sacrament, we substitute a merely probable, remote, shadowy, and uncouth figure, one who spoke a strange language and died a long time ago. Such an object cannot in fact be worshipped. Instead of the Creator adored by its creature, you soon have merely a leader acclaimed by a partisan, and finally a distinguished character approved by a judicious historian.
The Screwtape Letters, Ch. XXIII
For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς,
ꙗ҆́кѡ въ то́мъ живе́тъ всѧ́ко и҆сполне́нїе бжⷭ҇тва̀ тѣле́снѣ:
They moreover affirm that the Saviour is shown to be derived from all the Aeons, and to be in Himself everything by the following passage: "Every male that openeth the womb." For He, being everything, opened the womb of the enthymesis of the suffering Aeon, when it had been expelled from the Pleroma. This they also style the second Ogdoad, of which we shall speak presently. And they state that it was clearly on this account that Paul said, "And He Himself is all things;" and again, "All things are to Him, and of Him are all things;" and further, "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead;" and yet again, "All things are gathered together by God in Christ." Thus do they interpret these and any like passages to be found in Scripture.
Against Heresies Book 1
For when you do not deny that the Creator's Son and Spirit and Substance is also His Christ, you must needs allow that those who have not acknowledged the Father have failed likewise to acknowledge the Son through the identity of their natural substance; for if in Its fulness It has baffled man's understanding, much more has a portion of It, especially when partaking of the fulness Now, when these things are carefully considered, it becomes evident how the Jews both rejected Christ and slew Him; not because they regarded Him as a strange Christ, but because they did not acknowledge Him, although their own.
Against Marcion Book 3
There is also unquestionably a certain other (head of the hydra, namely, the heresy) of the Peratae, whose blasphemy against Christ has for many years escaped notice. And the present is a fitting opportunity for bringing to light the secret mysteries of such (heretics). These allege that the world is one, triply divided. And of the triple division with them, one portion is a certain single originating principle, just as it were a huge fountain, which can be divided mentally into infinite segments. Now the first segment, and that which, according to them, is (a segment) in preference (to others), is a triad, and it is called a Perfect Good, (and) a Paternal Magnitude. And the second portion of the triad of these is, as it were, a certain infinite crowd of potentialities that are generated from themselves, (while) the third is formal. And the first, which is good, is unbegotten, and the second is a self-producing good, and the third is created; and hence it is that they expressly declare that there are three Gods, three Logoi, three Minds, three Men. For to each portion of the world, after the division has been made, they assign both Gods, and Logoi, and Minds, and Men, and the rest; but that from unorigination and the first segment of the world, when afterwards the world had attained unto its completion, there came down from above, for causes that we shall afterwards declare, in the time of Herod a certain man called Christ, with a threefold nature, and a threefold body, and a threefold power, (and) having in himself all (species of) concretions and potentialities (derivable) from the three divisions of the world; and that this, says (the Peratic), is what is spoken: "It pleased him that in him should dwell all fulness bodily," and in Him the entire Divinity resides of the triad as thus divided. For, he says, that from the two superjacent worlds-namely, from that (portion of the triad) which is unbegotten, and from that which is self-producing-there have been conveyed down into this world in which we are, seeds of all sorts of potentialities. What, however, the mode of the descent is, we shall afterwards declare.
The Refutation of All Heresies - Book 5
The Peratae, however, viz., Ademes the Carystian, and Euphrates the Peratic, say that there is some one world,-this is the denomination they use,-and affirming that it is divided into three parts. But of the threefold division, according to them, there is one principle, just like an immense fountain, capable of being by reason divided into infinite segments. And the first segment, and the one of more proximity, according to them, is the triad, and is called a perfect good, and a paternal magnitude. But the second portion of the triad is a certain multitude of, as it were, infinite powers. The third part, however, is formal. And the first is unbegotten; whence they expressly affirm that there are three Gods, three Logoi, three minds, (and) three men. For when the division has been accomplished, to each part of the world they assign both Gods, and Logoi, and men, and the rest. But from above, from uncreatedness and the first segment of the world, when afterwards the world had attained to its consummation, the Peratic affirms that there came down, in the times of Herod, a certain man with a threefold nature, and a threefold body, and a threefold power, named Christ, and that He possesses from the three parts of the world in Himself all the concretions and capacities of the world. And they are disposed to think that this is what has been declared, "in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." And they assert that from the two worlds situated above-namely, both the unbegotten one and self-begotten one-there were borne down into this world in which we are, germs of all sorts of powers. And (they say) that Christ came down from above from uncreatedness, in order that, by His descent, all things that have been divided into three parts may be saved. For, says the Peratic, the things that have been borne down from above will ascend through Him; and the things that have plotted against those that have been borne down are heedlessly rejected, and sent away to be punished. And the Peratic states that there are two parts which are saved-that is, those that are situated above-by having been separated from corruption, and that the third is destroyed, which he calls a formal world. These also are the tenets of the Peratae.
The Refutation of All Heresies - Book 10
In the past Christ the Word was accustomed to come to the saints individually and to sanctify those who rightly received him. But neither, when these individuals were first born did people assert that he had become man in any of them, nor when they suffered, did anyone say that God himself suffered in them. But then he came among us from Mary once at the end of the ages for the abolition of sin (for so it was pleasing to the Father to send his own Son “made of a woman, made under the law”). And then it was said, that he took flesh and became man. It was in that flesh he suffered for us. His intention was to show, so that all might believe, that whereas he was ever God, and sanctified those to whom he came, and ordered all things according to the Father’s will, afterwards for our sakes he became man, and “bodily,” as the apostle says, the Godhead dwelt in the flesh. This was as much as to say, “Being God, he had his own body, and using this as an instrument, he became man for our sakes.” .
All that the Father has, he has given to the Son when he begot him bodily in the fullness of divinity, so that as he is the head, the creation is his body. Therefore, whatever can be supposed to be a heavenly creature must be seen as fully subordinate to Christ, so that no lesser being may be thought worthy of worship. .
Since then it was impossible that our life, which had been estranged from God, should of itself return to the high and heavenly place, for this reason, as the apostle says, he who knew no sin is made sin for us and frees us from the curse by taking on him our curse as his own. Having taken up and, in the language of the apostle, “slain” in himself “the enmity” which by means of sin had come between us and God (in fact sin was the “enmity”) and having become what we were, he through himself again united humanity to God. For having by purity brought into closest relationship with the Father of our nature that new man which is created after God, in whom dwelled all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, he drew with him into the same grace all the nature that partakes of his body and is akin to him.
Oneness in Godhead the Law hath proved, which speaks of one God, as also the Apostle, by saying of Christ; "In Whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." For if, as the Apostle saith, all the fulness of the Godhead, bodily, is in Christ, then must the Father and the Son be confessed to be of one Godhead; or if it is desired to sunder the Godhead of the Son from the Godhead of the Father, whilst the Son possesses all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, what is supposed to be further reserved, seeing that nothing remains over and above the fulness of perfection? Therefore the Godhead is one.
Exposition of the Christian Faith, Book 3
9–10Observe how in his accusing of the one he thrusts through the other, by first giving the solution, and then the objection. For such a solution is not suspected, and the hearer accepts it the rather, that the speaker is not making it his aim. For in that case indeed he would make a point of not coming off worsted, but in this, not so. "For in Him dwelleth," that is, for God dwelleth in Him. But that thou mayest not think Him enclosed, as in a body, he saith, "All the fullness of the Godhead bodily: and ye are made full in Him." Others say that he intends the Church filled by His Godhead, as he elsewhere saith, "of Him that filleth all in all" (Eph. i. 23), and that the term "bodily" is here, as the body in the head. How is it then that he did not add, "which is the Church"? Some again say it is with reference to The Father, that he says that the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him, but wrongly. First, because "to dwell," cannot strictly be said of God: next, because the "fullness" is not that which receives, for "the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof" (Ps. xxiv. 1); and again the Apostle, "until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in." (Rom. xi. 25.) By "fullness" is meant "the whole." Then the word "bodily," what did it intend? "As in a head." But why does he say the same thing over again? "And ye are made full in Him." What then does it mean? That ye have nothing less than He. As it dwelt in Him, so also in you. For Paul is ever straining to bring us near to Christ; as when he says, "Hath raised us up with Him, and made us to sit with Him" (Eph. ii. 6): and, "If we endure, we shall also reign with Him" (2 Tim. ii. 12): and, "How shall He not also with Him freely give us all things" (Rom. viii. 32): and calling us "fellow-heirs." Then as for His dignity. And He "is the head of all principality and power." (Eph. iii. 6.) He that is above all, The Cause, is He not Consubstantial? Then he has added the benefit in a marvelous way; and far more marvelous than in the Epistle to the Romans. For there indeed he saith, "circumcision of the heart in the spirit, not in the letter" (Rom. ii. 29), but here, in Christ.
Homily on Colossians 6
He calls the church that which is filled with the Father’s divinity. The church is full by dwelling bodily in Christ, that is, as the body is completed in the head, he says that Christ is everywhere the head of the church. And you are fulfilled in him, fulfilled for his sake and through him. .
Speaking of him as our Head, the apostle says: “For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead corporally.” He does not say “corporally” because God is corporeal, but he either uses the word in a derived sense as if he dwells in a temple made by hands, not corporally but symbolically, that is, under prefiguring signs … or else the word corporally is certainly used because God dwells, as in his temple, in the body of Christ which he took from the Virgin.
Embracing then, dearly beloved, the sole pledge of the Christian hope, let us not be torn from our faithful bonding to the body of Christ, in whom, as the apostle says, “dwells the fullness of divinity in bodily manner, and you have been filled out in him.” Since the substance of God is incorporeal, how does it dwell in bodily manner in Christ unless the flesh of our race has been made the flesh of the divinity? We filled out in that God in whom we have been crucified, in whom we have been buried, in whom we have been even raised up.
That is, that which God the Word is, dwells in Him. But lest, hearing the word "dwells," you should think that He was under the action of a power, as the prophets were—for God dwelt in them, according to the word: "I will dwell in them and walk in them" (2 Cor. 6:16)—he added: "bodily," that is, that He is not some energy (power), but essence, as having become incarnate and constituting one hypostasis with that which was assumed. Or, in the words of Saint Cyril, He so lives as a soul in a body; and it dwells in the body essentially, inseparably, and without confusion. But the soul is separated from the body at the time of death. God the Word, however, was never separated from the risen flesh: He was with it in the tomb, preserving it from corruption, and He was with the soul in Hades, proclaiming and granting freedom to the captives, and in general the union of soul and body existed even then, when they were separated at the time of His voluntary death.
Commentary on Colossians
Then when he says, for in him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily, he gives the reason for what he has just stated, saying that whatever is not according to Christ should be rejected. But is Christ so good that all things should be rejected for him? He answers that he is, and shows it in three ways: first, by considering his divinity; secondly, by his relationship to those who believe (v. 10a); and thirdly, by his relationship to the angels (v. 10b).
So he says: Whatever is contrary to Christ must be rejected, because he is God. Thus we must prefer him to everything else, for in him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily. Now God is in all things. He is in some things because they participate in a likeness to his goodness, as a stone and things like that. Such things are not God, but they have in themselves something of God; not his substance, but a likeness of his goodness. Consequently, the fulness of divinity does not dwell in them, because he is not there according to his substance. Again, he is in holy minds by an activity, minds which attain God by love and knowledge; and thus God is in them by grace, not bodily, but according to the effect of grace. And he is not there in his fulness, but only by some limited effects. But God is present in Christ bodily; and this is explained in three ways.
A body is distinguished from its shadow: "These are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ" (Heb 2:17). And so God can indwell in two ways, either as a shadow or bodily, that is, really. The first way is the way he dwelt in the Old Law, but in Christ he dwells bodily, that is, really and truly. This passage is explained in a second way by saying that God dwells in the other saints only with respect to their souls, and not in their bodies: "For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh" (Rom 7:18). But the divinity dwells in Christ bodily, because the indwelling of God in the saints is by an activity, that is, by love and knowledge, which are actions of a rational mind alone, but God dwells in Christ by assuming a man into the unity of his person. And thus whatever relates to this man is indwelt by God; and thus his flesh and mind are indwelt because both are united to the Word: "And the Word became flesh" (Jn 1:14). The third explanation of this passage is as follows: God is in things in three ways. One way is common, that is, by his power, presence and essence. He is present in another way in the saints, that is, by grace. The third way is found only in Christ, and he is present here by union. Now a body has three dimensions, and the fulness of the divinity superabounds in Christ in these ways. And so the deity is said to be in him bodily. The fulness of the divinity is in Christ, as it were, by length, because it extends to all things; it is in him by breadth, that is, in its charity, and it is in him in its depth, that is, in its incomprehensibility.
Nestorius was mistaken on this point: he said that this union was brought about entirely by an indwelling, the Word dwelling in the flesh. But the Apostle does not agree with this, for he says in Philippians (2:7): "He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant." Now when one dwells in a man he does not empty himself; one empties oneself by becoming man. And so Paul continues, "being born in the likeness of man." And so Christ is indwelt, but not in the sense that the one indwelling and the one dwelt in are distinct, but in the sense that Christ is both man and God, in whom dwells the fulness of the deity.
Commentary on Colossians
And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
καὶ ἐστὲ ἐν αὐτῷ πεπληρωμένοι, ὅς ἐστιν ἡ κεφαλὴ πάσης ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐξουσίας,
и҆ да бꙋ́дете въ не́мъ и҆спо́лнени, и҆́же є҆́сть глава̀ всѧ́комꙋ нача́лꙋ и҆ вла́сти:
Here is what he said! You are in no way inferior to Him, since you too are filled with Divinity, but only "in Him," that is, through the flesh assumed by Christ (δια του προσλήμματος). For when our nature was united with God, we too in Him partook of the divine nature. And everywhere Paul desires to bring us closer to Christ. For example, when he says: "raised us up with Him and seated us in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:6), and: "if we endure, we shall also reign with Him" (2 Tim. 2:12), and when he calls us "fellow heirs" (Rom. 8:17).
Not as consubstantial with us does he set Him as head, but higher, as the source. So then, how is it that you, having abandoned Him, resort to angels, of whom He is the head? And with all this he completely demolishes the false teaching about angels.
Commentary on Colossians
Then when he says, and you have come to fulness in him, he shows the same thing by relating Christ to others. He is saying, in effect: You have received all things: "From his fulness have we all received" (Jn 1:16). We should note that the Platonists teach that all divine gifts come to men by the mediation of the separated substances; and this is true even according to Dionysius. But this is something special, that we receive divine gifts immediately from him who is the fulness of the angels: "The only Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known" (Jn 1:18); "It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him" (Heb 2:3).
And so Paul continues, who is the head of all rule and authority, insofar as he is their King and Lord, not by a likeness of nature, because that is the way he is the head of man. And Paul mentions those orders which seem to have a certain preeminence.
Commentary on Colossians
In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
ἐν ᾧ καὶ περιετμήθητε περιτομῇ ἀχειροποιήτῳ ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει τοῦ σώματος τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν τῆς σαρκός, ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ,
ѡ҆ не́мже и҆ ѡ҆брѣ́зани бы́сте ѡ҆брѣ́занїемъ нерꙋкотворе́ннымъ, въ совлече́нїи тѣ́ла грѣхо́внагѡ пло́ти, во ѡ҆брѣ́занїи хрⷭ҇то́вѣ,
Moreover, we learn from the Scripture itself, that God gave circumcision, not as the completer of righteousness, but as a sign, that the race of Abraham might continue recognisable. For it declares: "God said unto Abraham, Every male among you shall be circumcised; and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, as a token of the covenant between Me and you." This same does Ezekiel the prophet say with regard to the Sabbaths: "Also I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord, that sanctify them." And in Exodus, God says to Moses: "And ye shall observe My Sabbaths; for it shall be a sign between Me and you for your generations." These things, then, were given for a sign; but the signs were not unsymbolical, that is, neither unmeaning nor to no purpose, inasmuch as they were given by a wise Artist; but the circumcision after the flesh typified that after the Spirit. For "we," says the apostle, "have been circumcised with the circumcision made without hands." And the prophet declares, "Circumcise the hardness of your heart."
Against Heresies Book 4
To attain the knowledge of God is impossible for those who are still under the control of their passions. Therefore they cannot attain the salvation they hope for as they have not obtained any knowledge of God. He who fails to attain this end is clearly subject to the charge of being ignorant of God, and ignorance of God is shown by a man's manner of life. It is absolutely impossible at the same time to be a man of understanding and not to be ashamed to gratify the body. Nor can the view that pleasure is the supreme Good be reconciled with the view that only the beautiful is good, or that only the Lord is beautiful, and God alone is good and is alone to be loved. "You are circumcised in Christ with a circumcision not done with hands, which consists rather in the putting away of the carnal body, in the circumcision of Christ." "If you then are risen with Christ, seek those things which are above; have in mind higher things, not earthly things. For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God" -- but not the fornication which they practice. "Mortify therefore your earthly members, fornication, uncleanness, passion, lust; for on account of these wrath is coming." Let them also therefore "put away anger, wrath, wickedness, blasphemy, filthy talk from their mouth, putting off the old man with its lusts, and putting on the new man which is renewed to possess full knowledge according to the image of him who created it."
The Stromata Book 3
Thus, that which becomes a spoil when stripped off, was a vestment as long as it remained laid over. Hence the apostle, when he call circumcision "a putting off (or spoliation) of the flesh," affirmed the skin to be a coat or tunic.
On the Resurrection of the Flesh
And so to the Law presently had to succeed the Word of God introducing the spiritual circumcision. Therefore, by means of the wide licence of those days, materials for subsequent emendations were furnished beforehand, of which materials the Lord by His Gospel, and then the apostle in the last days of the (Jewish) age, either cut off the redundancies or regulated the disorders.
To His Wife Book 1
(And the object of this was,) when the Archon condemned his own peculiar figment (of flesh) to death, (that is,) to the cross, that that soul which had been nourished in the body (born of the Virgin) might strip off that body and nail it to the (accursed) tree. (In this way the soul) would triumph by means of this (body) over principalities and powers,
Refutation of All Heresies Book 8
That the first circumcision of the flesh is made void, and the second circumcision of the spirit is promised instead. In Jeremiah: "Thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah, and to them who inhabit Jerusalem, Renew newness among you, and do not sow among thorns: circumcise yourselves to your God, and circumcise the foreskin of your heart; lest my anger go forth like fire, and burn you up, and there be none to extinguish it." Also Moses says: "In the last days God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God." Also in Jesus the son of Nave: "And the Lord said unto Jesus, Make thee small knives of stone, very sharp, and set about to circumcise the children of Israel for the second time." Paul also, to the Colossians: "Ye are circumcised with the circumcision not made with hands in the putting off of the flesh, but with the circumcision of Christ." Also, because Adam was first made by God uncircumcised, and righteous Abel, and Enoch, who pleased God and was translated; and Noah, who, when the world and men were perishing on account of transgressions, was chosen alone, that in him the human race might be preserved; and Melchizedek, the priest according to whose order Christ was promised. Then, because that sign did not avail women, but all are sealed by the sign of the Lord.
Treatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews
[Paul] says that the Gentiles were dead, because they refused to receive the law, which had been given as a witness to the Creator, and then as a means of condemning vice. With Christ has come the forgiveness of sin, since freedom from sin is impossible without this gift, which saves us from the “penalty of death.” .
Therefore, the Lord permitted mortality to steal in [as an atonement], that guilt might cease. But so that the end set by nature might not also be in death, there was granted a resurrection from the dead, that the guilt might fail through death but the nature be continued through resurrection. And so death is a passage for all men, but you must pass with virtuous steadfastness—a passage from corruption to incorruption, from mortality to immortality, from disquiet to tranquillity…. What indeed is this death but the burial of vices and the awakening of virtues? For this reason “may my soul depart among the souls of the righteous,” that is, “may it be buried together with them,” that it may lay down its sins and take up the grace of the just, who “bear about the dying of Christ in their body” and soul.
This, too, is plain, that in him who is baptized the Son of God is crucified, for our flesh could not do away sin unless it were crucified in Jesus Christ. And then it is written that: "All we who were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death." And farther on: "If we have been planted in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing that our old man was fastened with Him to His cross." And to the Colossians he says: "Buried with Him by baptism, wherein ye also rose again with Him." Which was written to the intent that we should believe that He is crucified in us, that our sins may be purged through Him, that He, Who alone can forgive sins, may nail to His cross the handwriting which was against us.
Concerning Repentance, Book 2
See how near he is come to the thing. He saith, "In the putting" quite away, not putting off merely. "The body of sins." He means, "the old life." He is continually adverting to this in different ways, as he said above, "Who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and reconciled us who were alienated," that we should be "holy and without blemish." (Col. i. 13, 21.) No longer, he saith, is the circumcision with the knife, but in Christ Himself; for no hand imparts this circumcision, as is the case there, but the Spirit. It circumciseth not a part, but the whole man. It is the body both in the one and the other case, but in the one it is carnally, in the other it is spiritually circumcised; but not as the Jews, for ye have not put off flesh, but sins. When and where? In Baptism. And what he calls circumcision, he again calls burial. Observe how he again passes on to the subject of righteous doings; "of the sins," he saith, "of the flesh," the things they had done in the flesh. He speaks of a greater thing than circumcision, for they did not merely cast away that of which they were circumcised, but they destroyed it, they annihilated it.
Homily on Colossians 6
Through baptism comes the stripping away and circumcision of sins…. Those being baptized in the blood of Christ confess that they share in his death through baptism and that following this they enjoy the resurrection. Resurrection is used here in a twofold sense, the one spiritual and the other physical. All persons will rise through the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Those, however, who have not been baptized in Christ but have died without faith will share in the general resurrection. However, they will not enjoy the promise of redemption…. As many as were baptized into Christ, these have freely benefitted before the general resurrection from the spiritual resurrection, for they have already risen from the death of sins. Thus, Paul also says: “in whom you were raised,” not “in whom you will be raised.” .
After all, if we find these passing days, in which we recall Christ’s passion and resurrection with special devotion and solemnity, so exhilarating, how blessed and blissful will that eternal day make us, when we shall actually see him and stay with him, the one we now rejoice in merely by desiring and hoping for him! What exultant joy God will give to his church, from which as it is born again through Christ he has after a fashion removed the foreskin of its fleshly nature, that is, the reproach of its natural birth! That is why it says, “And you, while you were dead in transgressions and the foreskin of your flesh, he made alive in him, forgiving us all our debts.” ..
A wondrous benefaction, that you received circumcision in Christ. For it was not a human hand that performed this circumcision of the flesh, but the Holy Spirit: not a part is circumcised, but the whole man.
There, through circumcision, through the removal of the covering of flesh, a part of the body was laid bare; but here our body is delivered from sin, which we commit through the flesh. And such circumcision is performed not by the law, but by Christ in baptism, stripping from us the old life — the sinful and altogether carnal life.
Commentary on Colossians
Above, Paul warned the faithful against the deceptions of the worldly philosophers; here he instructs and warns them against those heretics who wanted to drag them into the observances of the law. First, he instructs them to avoid such persons; secondly, he rejects the false enticements they used (v. 18). In regard to the first, he does two things: first, he shows that the observances of the law were completed in Christ; and secondly, he rejects these observances, showing that they are not bound to follow them (v. 16).
Among the observances of the law, the first was circumcision. By this, the Jews professed their observance of the Old Law, just as we profess our observance of the New Law by baptism: "I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is bound to keep the whole law" (Gal 5:3). So Paul says that the faithful have been circumcised with a certain spiritual circumcision, from which it follows that the other has ceased. First, he shows what kind of circumcision they have received; and secondly, how it was received. Finally, he tells why they were circumcised in this way (v. 13).
In regard to the first, we should note that there are two kinds of circumcision, bodily and spiritual. We have been circumcised by Christ with a spiritual circumcision, and not by the bodily kind. So first Paul eliminates such a bodily circumcision, and then explains about this spiritual circumcision. Paul continues: In him, that is, in Christ, you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands: "For he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal" (Rom 2:28).
By putting off the body of flesh. This can be understood in two ways. In the first way Paul says that you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh, that is, by putting off the corruption of the flesh, as mentioned in 1 Corinthians (15:50): "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable." He is saying in effect: You have been circumcised because you no longer have the vices of the flesh: "You have put off the old nature with its practices" (Col 3:9). Another explanation would be: You have been circumcised with a circumcision made not with hands, which circumcision made with hands consists in a putting off the body of flesh which is cut from it. And so in another version of this passage we find "skin of the flesh," instead of "body of flesh," that is, putting off a small part of the body which is flesh. (The meaning is not that the body is one thing and the flesh another). Paul uses the word "flesh" to refer us back to the law, where it speaks of flesh: "You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins" (Gen 17:11). He uses this word also to show that it is a carnal observance.
But we are not circumcised in that physical way, but with the circumcision of Christ. For just as Christ accepted a likeness to sinful flesh, that is, flesh that could suffer, in order to free us from sin, so he also accepted the remedies contained in the law, so that he could free us from the observances of the law. Or, we could interpret the circumcision of Christ to mean the circumcision which Christ accomplishes in us, which is a spiritual circumcision, as Romans (2:29) says: "spiritual and not literal."
Commentary on Colossians
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
συνταφέντες αὐτῷ ἐν τῷ βαπτίσματι, ἐν ᾧ καὶ συνηγέρθητε διὰ τῆς πίστεως τῆς ἐνεργείας τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ἐγείραντος αὐτὸν ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν.
спогре́бшесѧ є҆мꙋ̀ кр҃ще́нїемъ: ѡ҆ не́мже и҆ совоста́сте вѣ́рою дѣ́йствїѧ бг҃а, воскреси́вшагѡ є҆го̀ и҆з̾ ме́ртвыхъ:
The apostle indeed teaches, in his Epistle to the Colossians, that we were once dead, alienated, and enemies to the Lord in our minds, whilst we were living in wicked works; that we were then buried with Christ in baptism, and also raised again with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead. "And you, (adds he), when ye were dead in sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses.
On the Resurrection of the Flesh
" But some think as if God were under a necessity of bestowing even on the unworthy, what He has engaged (to give); and they turn His liberality into slavery. But if it is of necessity that God grants us the symbol of death, then He does so unwilling.
On Repentance
But it is not burial only: for behold what he says, "Wherein ye were also raised with Him, through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead." He hath well said, "of faith," for it is all of faith. Ye believed that God is able to raise, and so ye were raised. Then note also His worthiness of belief, "Who raised Him," he saith, "from the dead."
He now shows the Resurrection. "And you who sometime were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you, I say, did He quicken together with Him." For ye lay under judgment of death. But even though ye died, it was a profitable death. Observe how again he shows what they deserved in the words he subjoins.
Homily on Colossians 6
What he called circumcision, he now calls a grave, presenting in comparison something greater than circumcision. For what was circumcised was not simply cast off, but perished and decayed. Thus, the one who is baptized is buried together with Christ, by the threefold immersion depicting the three-day burial of the Lord, and dying as the old and sinful man.
Not only does baptism serve as a burial, but also as a resurrection. In what way? Through faith. For having believed that God can raise the dead, and having the example of this in the resurrection of Christ from the dead, we have thus been doubly raised in the Lord: both by the hope of the resurrection, so certain as if we had already received it, though it is yet to come; and spiritually, having cast off the deadness of sin and having received the quickening of the spirit.
Commentary on Colossians
Secondly, he shows that we have received this circumcision in baptism, and so baptism is a spiritual circumcision. And first, he shows that in baptism we have a symbol of Christ's death, secondly, that in baptism we receive a likeness to his resurrection (v. 12b).
So Paul says: and you were buried with him in baptism, because in our baptism we find a likeness to Christ's death, and it is this: just as Christ was put into the tomb, after having been put on the cross, so a person who is baptized is put under the water, and this is done three times, just as Christ was three days in the tomb. Again, you were buried with him in baptism, that is, your baptism was like the death of Christ, for as his death destroyed sin, so also does your baptism.
And just as Christ rose from the tomb, so we rise from our sins in the present, and from the corruption of the flesh in hope. This is accomplished through faith in the working of God, because it was by the power of God that Christ was raised: "Raise me up, that I may requite them" (Ps 41:10). And by believing in this resurrection we come to share in it: "He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies" (Rom 8:11). But Christ also raised himself, because the action of the Father and of the Son is the same: "I will awake the dawn" (Ps 108:2).
Commentary on Colossians
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
καὶ ὑμᾶς, νεκροὺς ὄντας ἐν τοῖς παραπτώμασι καὶ τῇ ἀκροβυστίᾳ τῆς σαρκὸς ὑμῶν, συνεζωοποίησεν ὑμᾶς σὺν αὐτῷ, χαρισάμενος ἡμῖν πάντα τὰ παραπτώματα,
[Заⷱ҇ 255.] и҆ ва́съ, ме́ртвыхъ сꙋ́щихъ въ прегрѣше́нїихъ и҆ въ неѡбрѣ́занїи пло́ти ва́шеѧ, соѡживи́лъ є҆́сть съ ни́мъ, дарова́въ на́мъ всѧ̑ прегрѣшє́нїѧ,
Thanks to this simplicity of truth, so opposed to the subtlety and vain deceit of philosophy, we cannot possibly have any relish for such perverse opinions. Then, if God "quickens us together with Christ, forgiving us our trespasses," we cannot suppose that sins are forgiven by Him against whom, as having been all along unknown, they could not have been committed.
Against Marcion Book 5
For unto this end was manifested the Son of God, to undo the works of the devil: "for He has "undone" them withal, by setting man free through baptism, the "handwriting of death" having been "made a gift of" to him: and accordingly, "he who is being born of God doeth not sin, because the seed of God abideth in him; and he cannot sin, because he hath been born of God.
On Modesty
Let us all earnestly pray for our brethren in the state of penitence, that God, the lover of compassion, will show them the way of repentance, and accept their return and their confession, and bruise Satan under their feet suddenly, and redeem them from the snare of the devil, and the ill-usage of the demons, and free them from every unlawful word, and every absurd practice and wicked thought; forgive them all their offences, both voluntary and involuntary, and blot out that handwriting which is against them, and write them in the book of life; cleanse them from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and restore and unite them to His holy flock.
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles Book 8
"Having forgiven us," he saith, "all our trespasses," those which produced that deadness. What then? Did He allow them to remain? No, He even wiped them out; He did not scratch them out merely; so that they could not be seen.
Homily on Colossians 6
Christ, he says, having received bodily death, was made alive by the Father, and he says this not because Christ the Lord was Himself too weak to make Himself alive, but in order to refer everything to the One source. And that the resurrection of the Lord is also His own action, He Himself says about this: "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days" (John 2:19), and again it is said: "He showed Himself alive after His suffering" (Acts 1:3). But you, having undergone the death of sin and being uncircumcised, that is, having in abundance and excess fleshly thoughts which were putting you to death, were made alive together with Christ. For as He rose bodily, so you rose spiritually; but we shall rise, without doubt, bodily as well. But the great John gives us to understand that the putting to death can also be understood in another way. For, he says, on account of the fall we were under the condemnation of death.
But see what He deemed us worthy of and in what manner He set us free.
Commentary on Colossians
Then (v. 13), he shows the nature of this likeness. First, he states the likeness; and secondly, how we are freed from our sins (v. 14).
The text is not difficult. I said that you have been circumcised, because you have been buried, in baptism, with Christ. And he compared baptism to the burial and death of Christ. Yet one could say that it would be more to the point to say that Paul first shows that baptism is a circumcision. And secondly, he shows why it is a circumcision, that is, because sin is superfluous and the foreskin is superfluous. And so to remove sin and to remove the foreskin are the same. Now sin is removed in baptism. Therefore, baptism is the same as a circumcision. And so Paul says, and you, who were dead in trespasses, that is, because of your sins: "The death of sinners is the worst" (Ps 34:21), and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, that is, in your carnal concupiscence, which is related to original sin, as though they were chained with a debt of evil actions and of mortal sin.
God made you alive: "God, when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ" (Eph 2:5). He made you alive by removing every sin from you, forgiving and remitting all your faults. Thus, to be circumcised is the same as to be made alive, for the same baptism removes the death of sin and circumcises us by cutting off original sin.
But how has God forgiven us? I answer that a person incurs two things by sinning, that is, a debt of guilt, and slavery to the devil. And so he explains how sins are forgiven: first, our being freed from slavery to the devil; and secondly, he mentions the removing of the debt of guilt.
Commentary on Colossians
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
ἐξαλείψας τὸ καθ’ ἡμῶν χειρόγραφον τοῖς δόγμασιν ὃ ἦν ὑπεναντίον ἡμῖν, καὶ αὐτὸ ἦρεν ἐκ τοῦ μέσου προσηλώσας αὐτὸ τῷ σταυρῷ·
и҆стреби́въ є҆́же на на́съ рꙋкописа́нїе ᲂу҆че́ньми, є҆́же бѣ̀ сопроти́вно на́мъ, и҆ то̀ взѧ́тъ ѿ среды̀, пригвозди́въ є҆̀ на крⷭ҇тѣ̀:
And therefore David said beforehand, "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord has not imputed sin;" pointing out thus that remission of sins which follows upon His advent, by which "He has destroyed the handwriting" of our debt, and "fastened it to the cross;" so that as by means of a tree we were made debtors to God, [so also] by means of a tree we may obtain the remission of our debt.
Against Heresies Book 5.17.3
Now those oblations are not according to the law, the handwriting of which the Lord took away from the midst by cancelling it; but they are according to the Spirit, for we must worship God "in spirit and in truth." And therefore the oblation of the Eucharist is not a carnal one, but a spiritual; and in this respect it is pure.
Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenaeus, Fragment XXXVII
But, to come now to Moses, why, I wonder, did he merely at the time when Joshua was battling against Amalek, pray sitting with hands expanded, when, in circumstances so critical, he ought rather, surely, to have commended his prayer by knees bended, and hands beating his breast, and a face prostrate on the ground; except it was that there, where the name of the Lord Jesus was the theme of speech-destined as He was to enter the lists one day singly against the devil-the figure of the cross was also necessary, (that figure) through which Jesus was to win the victory? Why, again, did the same Moses, after the prohibition of any "likeness of anything," set forth a brazen serpent, placed on a "tree," in a hanging posture, for a spectacle of healing to Israel, at the time when, after their idolatry, they were suffering extermination by serpents, except that in this case he was exhibiting the Lord's cross on which the "serpent" the devil was "made a show of," and, for every one hurt by such snakes-that is, his angels -on turning intently from the peccancy of sins to the sacraments of Christ's cross, salvation was outwrought? For he who then gazed upon that (cross) was freed from the bite of the serpents.
An Answer to the Jews
But, to come now to Moses, why, I wonder, did he merely at the time when Joshua was battling against Amalek, pray sitting with hands expanded, when, in circumstances so critical, he ought rather, surely, to have commended his prayer by knees bended, and hands beating his breast, and a face prostrate on the ground; except it was that there, where the name of the Lord Jesus was the theme of speech-destined as He was to enter the lists one day singly against the devil-the figure of the cross was also necessary, (that figure) through which Jesus was to win the victory? Why, again, did the same Moses, after the prohibition of any "likeness of anything," set forth a brazen serpent, placed on a "tree," in a hanging posture, for a spectacle of healing to Israel, at the time when, after their idolatry, they were suffering extermination by serpents, except that in this case he was exhibiting the Lord's cross on which the "serpent" the devil was "made a show of," and, for every one hurt by such snakes-that is, his angels -on turning intently from the peccancy of sins to the sacraments of Christ's cross, salvation was outwrought? For he who then gazed upon that (cross) was freed from the bite of the serpents.
An Answer to the Jews
In order, then, to show the time when He is to come whom the blessed Daniel desired to see, he says, "And after seven weeks there are other threescore and two weeks," which period embraces the space of 434 years. For after the return of the people from Babylon under the leadership of Jesus the son of Josedech, and Ezra the scribe, and Zerubbabel the son of Salathiel, of the tribe of David, there were 434 years unto the coming of Christ, in order that the Priest of priests might be manifested in the world, and that He who taketh away the sins of the world might be evidently set forth, as John speaks concerning Him: "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!" And in like manner Gabriel says: "To blot out transgressions, and make reconciliation for sins." But who has blotted out our transgressions? Paul the apostle teaches us, saying, "He is our peace who made both one; " and then, "Blotting out the handwriting of sins that was against us."
Exegetical Fragments
At the birth of the Son the King was enrolling all men for the tribute money, that they might be debtors to him: the King came forth to us who blotted out our bills and wrote another bill in his own name that he might be our debtor.
Paul expounds here the nature of God’s gracious care through its various sources. He recalls the many deeds by which God has brought rescue to the human race, so that he has not only remitted our transgressions but also lifted that sin, which from Adam’s disobedience (which he calls the signed bond) did not allow us to rise from the dead…. Because death came from sin, when sin in fact was overcome, the resurrection of the dead became a reality. Indeed this could not have been done, if he had not nailed it to the cross. While the Savior conquers sin by not sinning, he holds man to be culpable and, being innocent, is killed by him: thus he crucifies sin. Sin being overcome is said to be put to death; the cross is not the death of the Savior, but of sin. .
But Christ, who was sold, is held by the assumption of the condition, not by the price of guilt, because He Himself did not commit sin. Therefore, He contracted our debt, not His own money; He took away the handwriting, removed the lender, stripped off the debtor: He alone paid what was owed by all. It was not lawful for us to escape from servitude. He undertook this for us, to repel the servitude of the world, restore the freedom of paradise, and bestow a new grace of His fellowship in honor. This is by way of mystery.
On Joseph the Patriarch
Seest thou how great His earnestness that the bond should be done away? To wit, we all were under sin and punishment. He Himself, through suffering punishment, did away with both the sin and the punishment, and He was punished on the Cross. To the Cross then He affixed it; as having power, He tore it asunder. What bond? He means either that which they said to Moses, namely, "All that God hath said will we do, and be obedient" (Ex. xxiv. 3), or, if not that, this, that we owe to God obedience; or if not this, he means that the devil held possession of it, the bond which God made for Adam, saying, "In the day thou eatest of the tree, thou shalt die." (Gen. ii. 17.) This bond then the devil held in his possession. And Christ did not give it to us, but Himself tore it in two, the action of one who remits joyfully.
Homily on Colossians 6
"In doctrines" [ordinances], he saith. What doctrines? The Faith. It is enough to believe. He hath not set works against works, but works against faith. And what next? Blotting out is an advance upon remission; again he saith, "And hath taken it out of the way." Nor yet even so did He preserve it, but rent it even in sunder, "by nailing it to His Cross."
Homily on Colossians 6
When the law was given as a curse on transgressors, all the people of Israel stood crying aloud. For there was deposited with what was said a bond that bound them, as they received these things. This “bond” was the binding character of the law, which Christ transcended in his teachings, when he decreed against the observances of the law…. Retroactively he abolished the punishments of the law against sinners through the forgiveness of sins and repentance for salvation. .
This is the whole scheme of our salvation, by which the one who as God had made man himself became man, for the sake of finding lost man. This is the whole matter of Christ shedding for the forgiveness of our sins true, not false, blood, and with his blood, “obliterating the bond of our sins.” All this these damnable heretics strive to drain of all meaning. All this, so the Manichaeans believe, as it appeared to human eyes, was spirit and not flesh.
She [i.e., his mother, Monica] did not ask for such things but simply requested that remembrance be made for her at Thy altar, which she had attended without missing a single day. She knew that on it the Holy Victim is offered; by means of which “the decree against us, which was hostile to us” is canceled; by means of which the Enemy, adding up our offenses and seeking something to charge against us, and finding nothing in him in whom we conquer, was overcome. .
With good reason do we celebrate the Passover wherein the blood of the Lord was poured out, by which we are cleansed of every offense. Let us be assured; the devil was holding the bond of slavery against us, but it was blotted out by the blood of Christ. .
Since he said that He forgave us, lest you think that He nevertheless left them to exist somewhere and be visible, he says: no, not so; He completely blotted them out, wiped them clean. By "handwriting" we shall understand either the covenant which the people, as it were, personally concluded with Moses, saying: all that God has said we will do and we will obey (cf. Ex. 19:8) — or the condition which God set for Adam, saying: on the day you eat of it, you shall die (Gen. 2:17). This was in the hands of the devil like a handwriting; this stood against us, not allowing us to rise, for it had the right on its side. Christ destroyed this "by teaching," that is, by faith, for not by works but by the teaching of faith did He abolish it.
He not only wiped this out, but also "took it out of the way," that is, made it so that it could not be seen; and He neither gave it back to us, nor kept it with Himself, but, nailing it to the cross, tore it up, as is fitting for one who forgives with joy. For we were all subject to sin and punishment, but He, being Himself sinless, punished for our sake, destroyed sin and punishment on the cross: therefore on it He also tore up the handwriting.
Commentary on Colossians
He says, having canceled the bond which stood against us. This bond or written decree can be understood in two ways. In one way it is the Old Law: "By abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two" (Eph 2:15). This is its meaning when he is here speaking in reference to the Jews, as if to say: and you... God made alive. Again, a written bond is a warranty usually employed in contracts. And whoever violates God's bond is subject to a debt of punishment. This violation is retained in the person's memory, which it disturbs and stains; it is retained in God's memory, who is to judge such matters; and in the memory of the devils, who will torment them. Now the memory of this violation is called a bond. And it is Christ who has forgiven all by having canceled the bond, that is, the memory of the transgression, which stood against us. The bond, in both its meanings, was against us: the Law, because it gave mankind a knowledge of sin, but did not help in overcoming sin, and the memory of our transgressions, for which we deserved to be punished. The term bond is used because its violation is not forgiven in such a way as to bring it about that there was never any sin. Rather, such sin is not remembered by God as something to be punished; it is not remembered by the devils as something to accuse us of; and we do not remember our sins as reasons for sorrow: "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered" (Ps 32:1).
Another interpretation of this passage would be that Paul is here speaking in general, to all, not just about the Jews. And then we can say that a command was given to the first man: "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die" (Gen 2:16). But man violated this law, and the memory of this violation became a bond which stood against us. And Christ canceled this.
How did Christ cancel this bond? On the cross, for this he set aside, nailing it to the cross. It was the custom for a bond to be torn up once a person had fulfilled all his obligations. Now man was in sin and Christ paid for this by his suffering: "What I did not steal must I now restore?" (Ps 69:4). And therefore, at the moment of Christ's death this bond was canceled and destroyed. And so he says, this he set aside, nailing it to the cross, by which he took away our sin by making satisfaction to God.
Commentary on Colossians
And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
ἀπεκδυσάμενος τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰς ἐξουσίας ἐδειγμάτισεν ἐν παρρησίᾳ, θριαμβεύσας αὐτοὺς ἐν αὐτῷ.
совле́къ нача́ла и҆ вла̑сти, и҆зведѐ въ позо́ръ дерзнове́нїемъ, и҆з̾ѡбличи́въ и҆́хъ въ себѣ̀ {побѣди́въ и҆̀хъ на не́мъ}.
But if a man is gone down even to Hades and stands in awe of the heroes who have descended there, regarding them as gods, yet he may see the fact of Christ’s resurrection and victory over death. He may infer that among them also Christ alone is true God and Lord. For the Lord touched all parts of creation and freed and undeceived all of them from every illusion. As Paul says, “Having put off from himself the principalities and the powers, he triumphed on the cross”; that no one might by any possibility be any longer deceived but everywhere might find the true Word of God.
Let us not be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Let the cross, as our seal, be boldly made with our fingers upon our brow, and on all occasions; over the bread we eat, over the cups we drink; in our comings and in our goings; before sleep; on lying down and rising up; when we are on the way and when we are still. It is a powerful safeguard; it is without price, for the sake of the poor; without toil, because of the sick; for it is a grace from God, a badge of the faithful, and a terror to devils; for “he displayed them openly, leading them away in triumph by force of it.” For when they see the cross, they are reminded of the Crucified.
"Having put off from himself the principalities and the powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." Nowhere has he spoken in so lofty a strain.
Homily on Colossians 6
"Having put off from himself the principalities and the powers." He means the diabolical powers; because human nature had arrayed itself in these, or because they had, as it were, a hold, when He became Man He put away from Himself that hold. What is the meaning of "He made a show of them"? And well said he so; never yet was the devil in so shameful a plight. For whilst expecting to have Him, he lost even those he had; and when That Body was nailed to the Cross, the dead arose. There death received his wound, having met his death-stroke from a dead body. And as an athlete, when he thinks he has hit his adversary, himself is caught in a fatal grasp; so truly doth Christ also show, that to die with confidence is the devil's shame.
For he would have done everything to persuade men that He did not die, had he had the power. For seeing that of His Resurrection indeed all succeeding time was proof demonstrative; whilst of His death, no other time save that whereat it happened could ever furnish proof; therefore it was, that He died publicly in the sight of all men, but He arose not publicly, knowing that the aftertime would bear witness to the truth. For, that whilst the world was looking on, the serpent should be slain on high upon the Cross, herein is the marvel. For what did not the devil do, that He might die in secret? Hear Pilate saying, "Take ye Him away, and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him" (John xix. 6), and withstanding them in a thousand ways. And again the Jews said unto Him, "If Thou art the Son of God, come down from the Cross." (Matt. xxvii. 40.) Then further, when He had received a mortal wound, and He came not down, for this reason He was also committed to burial; for it was in His power to have risen immediately: but He did not, that the fact might be believed. And yet in cases of private death indeed, it is possible to impute them to a swoon, but here, it is not possible to do this either. For even the soldiers brake not His legs, like those of the others, that it might be made manifest that He was dead. And those who buried The Body are known; and therefore too the Jews themselves seal the stone along with the soldiers. For, what was most of all attended to, was this very thing, that it should not be in obscurity. And the witnesses to it are from enemies, from the Jews. Hear them saying to Pilate, "That deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre" (Matt. xxvi. 63, 64) be guarded by the soldiers. This was accordingly done, themselves also sealing it. Hear them further saying even afterwards to the Apostles, "Ye intend to bring this Man's blood upon us." (Acts v. 28.) He suffered not the very fashion of His Cross to be put to shame. For since the Angels have suffered nothing like it, He therefore doth everything for this, showing that His death achieved a mighty work. There was, as it were, a single combat. Death wounded Christ: but Christ, being wounded, did afterwards kill death. He that seemed to be immortal, was destroyed by a mortal body; and this the whole world saw. And what is truly wonderful is, that He committed not this thing to another. But there was made again a second bond of another kind than the former.
Homily on Colossians 6
Through the exposing and putting off of the flesh Christ subdued the opposing powers…. For until his cross and death it was not clearly known that Christ was their Lord, that he was both God and Son of God. This was because he exercised his wonderworking powers in a way that was hidden in his body. This is why Satan made an attempt on him, wishing to learn if he was truly the one proclaimed by the prophets. This was with the intention that if it was so, Satan might hinder the outworking of salvation [i.e., the “economy”]. But the evil one accomplished nothing, nor was he able to learn anything; for a while the Christ escaped his notice. But when Christ was beaten and died and was buried and rose, God’s plan of salvation was completed, his being unnoticed was over, his divinity became visible and was seen in his head and body. .
And where the devil could do something, there he met with defeat on every side. While from the cross he received the power to slay the Lord’s body outwardly, it was also from the cross that the inward power, by which he held us fast, was put to death. For it came to pass that the chains of many sins in many deaths were broken by the one death of the One who himself had no previous sin that would merit death. And, therefore, for our sake the Lord paid the tribute to death which was not his due, in order that the death which was due might not injure us. For he was not stripped of the flesh by any obligation to any power whatsoever, but he willed his own death, for he who could not die unless he willed doubtless died because he willed; and therefore he openly exposed the principalities and the powers, confidently triumphing over them in himself. .
As renowned victor over the devil and most powerful conqueror of hostile spirits, in an admirable spectacle, he carried the trophy of his “victory.” On the shoulders of his unconquered endurance, he bore the sign of salvation to be worshiped in every kingdom. Even then he encouraged all his imitators by the sight of his labor, saying, “Any who do not take up their cross and follow me do not deserve me.”
The Apostle says this about the powers of the devil either because they were clothed in human nature, or because the Son of God Himself, having become man, knew their nakedness and exposed it, that is, proved unconquerable by the principalities and powers. For even though He took upon Himself sinful nature, it was without sin. You may understand what is said as follows: the devil ruled over human nature in two ways: through passions and through diseases. Therefore the Lord also clothed Himself in a body in order to fight on our behalf against the principalities and powers of the devil. I will not speak of how He crushed them at the very beginning, upon the assumption of His holy flesh, having been conceived without lust and born without pains. But even after He was born and came of age, He was tempted first of all on the mountain by the enticements of pleasure — tempted directly by the enemy with the enticement of gluttony, covetousness, and vainglory — and He conquered on our behalf. Then, through afflictions, the tempter tried to incline Him to hate His neighbors, inciting the Pharisees, scribes, and those whom He had benefited against Him. But he was unable to accomplish this. Finally, he employed the most powerful means, nailing Him to the cross. But the Lord not only did not weaken from all that the enemy desired, but even prayed for those who were crucifying Him. In this way, on the cross He most perfectly stripped the principalities and powers of their strength, and as one who had partaken of our nature, He granted also to us who had been subject to them this stripping of strength from the principalities and powers.
That is, He made them put themselves to shame. For the devil never shamed himself so. He hoped to seize Christ, but lost even those whom he had. The word "openly" (ἐν παρρησίᾳ) found in the Greek text is used in the sense of: publicly, in the sight of all. If he could, the devil would have done everything to convince people that He did not die. For in this lies his great defeat and destruction — to subject a sinless Man to death. This is why he produced countless heresies that claimed the death was merely apparent. Therefore the Lord died openly, but did not rise openly. Because the proof of His resurrection was served by all the time that followed, whereas for the proof of His death, if the very time of death had not served as proof, there would have been no other time.
That is, on the cross He showed that the demons were defeated. A triumph is when someone, returning from victory over the enemy, makes a solemn procession, showing to all those bound and taken captive. Therefore the Lord also, having set up His trophy on the cross, as if at a public spectacle of Greeks, Romans, and Jews, triumphed over the demons. If, then, it was not angels who died for us, but Christ Himself, how can you say that through them you were brought to God?
Commentary on Colossians
Then (v. 15), he shows how Christ freed us from the slavery of sin. For if a creditor holds a man captive on account of a debt that he owes, it is not enough merely to pay the debt; the person himself must also be freed. This is what Christ did. So Paul says, he despoiled the principalities and powers. This despoiling can refer to those saints who had died before Christ's passion; in this sense, Christ freed them from the lower world by despoiling the devil: "As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your captives free from the waterless pit" (Zech 9:11); "Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued" (Is 49:25). But if we understand this as referring to the living, then he despoiled them from the devils: "But when one stronger than he assails him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoil" (Lk 11:22); "Now shall the ruler of this world be cast out" (Jn 12:31). Thus he says, he despoiled the principalities and powers, that is, the devils themselves: "Against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places" (Eph 6:12). And made a public example of them, that is, the saints, as one who had authority in heaven, over the dead and the living, in the kingdom of his glory or of his grace. Or we could say he made a public example of them, that is, he drove out the principalities from mankind, "Awake, and put on strength, O arm of the Lord" (Is 51:9), and with a public judgment, so it could be known that they were expelled. For at one time the world did serve idols, but not now. Or we could say there was a public example, that is, before the multitude of angels, because Christ descended into the lower world of the saints and ascended into heaven. Triumphing over them in him, that is, in himself, in his own power. "By the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself" (Phil 3:21).
Another version of this passage reads: "He put off his flesh, and exemplified the principalities and powers, triumphing confidently." "He put off his flesh," that is, his mortality. "Flesh and blood," that is, the mortality of bodily corruption, "cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 15:50); "Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him" (Rom 6:9), "Even though we once regarded Christ from a human point of view, we regard him thus no longer" (2 Cor. 5:16). "He exemplified," he gave us an example of how the principalities and powers are to be overcome. The meaning of the rest stays the same.
Commentary on Colossians
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
Μὴ οὖν τις ὑμᾶς κρινέτω ἐν βρώσει ἢ ἐν πόσει ἢ ἐν μέρει ἑορτῆς ἢ νουμηνίας ἢ σαββάτων,
Да никто́же ᲂу҆̀бо ва́съ ѡ҆сꙋжда́етъ ѡ҆ ꙗ҆де́нїи, и҆лѝ ѡ҆ питїѝ, и҆лѝ ѡ҆ ча́сти пра́здника, и҆лѝ ѡ҆ новомⷭ҇чїихъ, и҆лѝ ѡ҆ сꙋббѡ́тахъ:
The apostles ordained, that "we should not judge any one in respect to meat or drink, or in regard to a feast day, or the new moons, or the sabbaths." Whence then these contentions? whence these schisms? We keep the feast, but in the leaven of malice and wickedness, cutting in pieces the Church of God; and we preserve what belongs to its exterior, that we may cast away these better things, faith and love. We have heard from the prophetic words that these feasts and fasts are displeasing to the Lord.
Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenaeus
Now tell me, Marcion, what is your opinion of the apostle's language, when he says, "Let no man judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath, which is a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ? " We do not now treat of the law, further than (to remark) that the apostle here teaches clearly how it has been abolished, even by passing from shadow to substance-that is, from figurative types to the reality, which is Christ.
Against Marcion Book 5
“Let no man, therefore, judge you regarding food or drink, or with respect to a holy day, or the new moon, or sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come.” For if the laws relating to the difference of foods, and the holy days and the sabbath, like shadowy things, preserved a copy of other things that were mystically true, you will not say without reason that the high priest also represented the symbol of another High Priest, and that he was called Christ, as the pattern of that other, the only real Christ.
There is, however, a certain other life, to which these words call us; and, although at present our days are evil, yet some others are good, which night does not interrupt; for God will be their everlasting light, shining upon them with the light of his glory. Consequently, when you hear of the good days, do not think that it is your life here that is set forth in the promises. In fact, these present days are the destructible days, which the sensible sun produces; but nothing destructible could suitably be a gift for the indestructible. “This world as we see it is passing away.” Therefore, since the law has some shadow of the good things to come, consider I pray, present sabbaths to be pleasant and holy, as they have been brought from the eternal days, and new moons, and festivals. But look upon them, I pray you, in a manner proper to the spiritual law.
What then? shall we esteem festival days by eating and drinking? But let no man judge us in respect of eating; "for we know that the Law is spiritual." "Let no man therefore judge us in any meats or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or new moons, or a sabbath day, which are a shadow of the things to come, but the body is of Christ." Let us, then, seek the body of Christ which the voice of the Father, from heaven, as it were the last trumpet, has shown to you at the time when the Jews said that it thundered; the body of Christ, which again the last trump shall reveal; for "the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven at the voice of the Archangel, and at the trump of God, and they that are dead in Christ shall rise again;" for "where the body is, there too are the eagles," where the body of Christ is, there is the truth.
On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus, Book 2
"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day, or a new moon, or a sabbath day." Seest thou how he depreciates them? If ye have obtained such things, he saith, why make yourselves accountable for these petty matters? And he makes light of them, saying, "or in the part of a feast day," for in truth they did not retain the whole of the former rule, "or a new moon, or a sabbath day." He said not, "Do not then observe them," but, "let no man judge you." He showed that they were transgressing, and undoing, but he brought his charge against others. Endure not those that judge you, he saith, nay, not so much as this either, but he argues with those persons, almost stopping their mouths, and saying, Ye ought not to judge. But he would not have reflected on these. He said not "in clean and unclean," nor yet "in feasts of Tabernacles, and unleavened bread, and Pentecost," but "in part of a feast": for they ventured not to keep the whole; and if they did observe it, yet not so as to celebrate the feast. "In part," he saith, showing that the greater part is done away. For even if they did keep sabbath, they did not do so with precision.
Homily on Colossians 7
Paul teaches that the law is abolished, Christ having passed over the “bond” against us. He teaches that the evil one has fallen, Christ having exposed and made a parade of the evil powers. Thus, we are no longer to obey what has been abolished, and we are to reject Jews who would urge us to keep the law…. This law was the mere shadow of Christ, lacking the substance. Further, we are not to obey Greeks who would encourage us to worship angels or worldly elements. .
Whoever seeks to be a stranger to that carnal … Judaism which is justly repudiated and condemned must first consider as alien to himself those ancient observances which have clearly ceased to be necessary. This is so because the New Testament has been revealed, and the things which were prefigured by those others have come to pass. A person is not to be judged “in meat or drink or in respect of a festival day, or of the new moon or of the sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come.” On the other hand, he must receive, embrace and observe, without any reserve, those commandments in the law which help to form the character of the faithful … [and] whatever progress he makes in them he must not attribute to himself but to “the grace of God by Jesus Christ our Lord.” .
Until now he spoke enigmatically: "lest anyone lead you astray by deception"; but now more clearly, when he mentioned the benefactions of God. For if, he says, you have attained such greatness, why do you subject yourselves to what is insignificant? Therefore, do not submit to those who condemn you for not observing Jewish ceremonies in food and drink. By this he seems to praise them, as those who are estranged from Judaism. He said "some festival" because they did not dare to keep all of them. For even if they kept the sabbath, it was not so strictly, since they professed the Christian faith. Thus he shows that such observance is futile when not everything is observed; it only leads to the violation of the whole. For if it were good, it would be observed in its entirety.
Commentary on Colossians
Above, Paul showed that the law was fulfilled in Christ because of the circumcision he received, for this is an acknowledgment of the law. Here, he concludes that they are not obliged to observe the ceremonial commands of the law. There were four kinds of ceremonial matters: sacrifices, sacred things, sacraments, and observances. The sacrifices were those things which were immolated to God, such as sheep, oxen and the like. The sacred things included utensils and religious festivals. There were three sacraments: circumcision, the paschal lamb, and the consecration of priests. The observances were those matters that were related to the unique customs in the life of the people of Israel, things such as food, clothing and the like. Some of the above matters, such as the sacrifices, the utensils and so on, pertained only to some of the people; other matters were connected to all the people. Paul does not mention those things which pertained just to some, but only those which affected all, just as baptism now affects us all.
He does mention the observances, because they abstained from certain foods, such as four-legged animals that do not have a divided hoof (Lev 11:26). In regard to drink, a vessel without a cover was unclean, as was anything in it. And so with respect to these matters he says, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, that is, let no one condemn you for taking food and drink forbidden in the law: "Let not him who abstains pass judgment on him who eats; for God has welcomed him" (Rom 14:3).
He also mentions sacred matters related to the religious festivals and ceremonies. Under the Old Law there were continuous religious ceremonies, like the morning and evening sacrifices. There were other ceremonies held at certain definite times. Some of these were held several times during the year, as the sabbath every week, and the new moon every month. Others came only once a year, as the Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles and Pentecost. The reason for all this is that all religious ceremonies are held for the honor of God. Now we give honor to God either because of something which is eternal, and thus we have continuous religious ceremonies; or we honor him because of certain temporal benefits which affect all people. There are two such benefits. First, the gift of creation; and thus we have the religious ceremony of the sabbath: "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Ex 20:8). The reason for keeping the sabbath is that God rested on the seventh day. The allegorical reason for the sabbath is that it signifies Christ's rest in the tomb, and the anagogical reason would be that it signifies the soul's rest in God. The other gift is that of procreation and preservation, which are also for a time. And since the Jewish people calculated the time by the moon, he says, a new moon. There are also other reasons for honoring God, as a special rescue or deliverance; and so other festivals were added to the above. And so he says, or with regard to a festival or a new moon, every month, or sabbaths, every seventh period. He says sabbaths because a sabbath is a rest, and they had several sabbaths: the seventh day; and seven weeks, that is Pentecost, which is the end of the seventh week following the Passover, which is the beginning of the year; and the seventh month; and the seventh year, when sins are forgiven; and after seven periods of seven years there was a Jubilee. With this in mind Paul says, or sabbaths, meaning: Let no one condemn you for not observing these feasts.
Commentary on Colossians
Of course, all this secrecy about Christmas is merely sentimental and ceremonial; if you do not like what is sentimental and ceremonial, do not celebrate Christmas at all. You will not be punished if you don't; also, since we are no longer ruled by those sturdy Puritans who won for us civil and religious liberty, you will not even be punished if you do. But I cannot understand why any one should bother about a ceremonial except ceremonially. If a thing only exists in order to be graceful, do it gracefully or do not do it. If a thing only exists as something professing to be solemn, do it solemnly or do not do it.
Christmas (All Things Considered)
It is not Puritanism; it is simply anarchy. I should have some sympathy with the Jewish Sabbath, if it were a Jewish Sabbath, and that for three reasons; first, that religion is an intrinsically sympathetic thing; second, that I cannot conceive any religion worth calling a religion without a fixed and material observance; and third, that the particular observance of sitting still and doing no work is one that suits my temperament down to the ground. But the absurdity of the modern English convention is that it does not let a man sit still; it only perpetually trips him up when it has forced him to walk about... I can understand that a deity might be worshipped with joys, with flowers, and fireworks in the old European style. I can understand that a deity might be worshipped with sorrows. But I cannot imagine any deity being worshipped with inconveniences.
Tremendous Trifles, A Cab Ride Across Country (1909)
16–17As to the fabulous element in the Old Testament, I very much doubt if you would be wise to chuck it out. What you get is something coming gradually into focus. First you get, scattered through the heathen religions all over the world— but still quite vague and mythical—the idea of a god who is killed and broken and then comes to life again. No one knows where he is supposed to have lived and died; he's not historical. Then you get the Old Testament. Religious ideas get a bit more focused. Everything is now connected with a particular nation. And it comes still more into focus as it goes on. Jonah and the Whale, Noah and his Ark, are fabulous; but the court history of King David is probably as reliable as the court history of Louis XIV. Then, in the New Testament the thing really happens. The dying god really appears—as an historical person, living in a definite place and time. It we could sort out all the fabulous elements in the earlier stages and separate them from the historical ones, I think we might lose an essential part of the whole process.
Answers to Questions on Christianity, from God in the Dock
Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
ἅ ἐστι σκιὰ τῶν μελλόντων, τὸ δὲ σῶμα Χριστοῦ.
ꙗ҆̀же сꙋ́ть стѣ́нь грѧдꙋ́щихъ, тѣ́ло же хрⷭ҇то́во.
"Which are a shadow of the things to come"; he means, of the New Covenant; "but the body" is "Christ's." Some persons here punctuate thus "but the body" is "of Christ," i.e. the truth is come in with Christ: others thus; "The Body of Christ let no man adjudge away from you," that is, thwart you of it. The term katabrabeuthenai, is employed when the victory is with one party, and the prize with another, when though a victor thou art thwarted. Thou standest above the devil and sin; why dost thou again subject thyself to sin?
Homily on Colossians 7
He calls the blessings of the New Testament "things to come," for they were "things to come" in relation to the Old Testament, which existed as long as its time lasted.
Commentary on Colossians
For these are only a shadow of what is to come, that is, of Christ. And when the truth comes, the shadow should cease, but the substance belongs to Christ. When someone sees a shadow, he expects the body or substantial reality to follow. Now the legal observances of the law were the shadow going before Christ, and they signified his coming; and so Paul says, the substance, that is, the truth of the thing, belongs to Christ, but the shadow belongs to the law.
Commentary on Colossians
We may truly call these foreshadowings; so long as we remember that foreshadowings are shadows. And the metaphor of a shadow happens to hit very exactly the truth that is very vital here. For a shadow is a shape; a thing which reproduces shape but not texture. These things were something like the real thing; and to say that they were like is to say that they were different. Saying something is like a dog is another way of saying it is not a dog; and it is in this sense of identity that a myth is not a man.
The Everlasting Man, Chapter V: Man and Mythologies (1925)
Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
μηδεὶς ὑμᾶς καταβραβευέτω θέλων ἐν ταπεινοφροσύνῃ καὶ θρησκείᾳ τῶν ἀγγέλων, ἃ μὴ ἑώρακεν ἐμβατεύων, εἰκῆ φυσιούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ νοὸς τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ,
Никто́же ва́съ да прельща́етъ и҆зволе́ннымъ є҆мꙋ̀ смиреномꙋ́дрїемъ и҆ слꙋ́жбою а҆́гг҃лѡвъ, ꙗ҆́же не ᲂу҆вѣ́дѣ ᲂу҆чѧ̀ {(въ тѣ́хъ) ходѧ̀}, без̾ ᲂу҆ма̀ {всꙋ́е} дмѧ́сѧ ѿ ᲂу҆ма̀ пло́ти своеѧ̀,
True knowledge, then, consists in the understanding of Christ, which Paul terms the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery, which "the natural man receiveth not," the doctrine of the cross; of which if any man "taste," he will not accede to the disputations and quibbles of proud and puffed-up men, who go into matters of which they have no perception. For the truth is unsophisticated; and "the word is nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart," as the same apostle declares, being easy of comprehension to those who are obedient. For it renders us like to Christ, if we experience "the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings." For this is the affinity of the apostolical teaching and the most holy "faith delivered unto us," which the unlearned receive, and those of slender knowledge have taught, not "giving heed to endless genealogies," but studying rather [to observe] a straightforward course of life; lest, having been deprived of the Divine Spirit, they fail to attain to the kingdom of heaven. For truly the first thing is to deny one's self and to follow Christ; and those who do this are borne onward to perfection, having fulfilled all their Teacher's will, becoming sons of God by spiritual regeneration, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven; those who seek which first shall not be forsaken.
Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenaeus
Therefore there is nothing meritorious about abstinence from marriage unless it arises from love to God. At any rate the blessed Paul says of those who revile marriage: "In the last times some shall depart from the faith, turning to spirits of error and doctrines inspired by daemons, forbidding to marry and commanding abstinence from food." And again he says: "Let no one disqualify you by demanding self-imposed ascetic practices and severe treatment of the body."
The Stromata Book 3
The doctrine, however, of Simon's sorcery, which inculcated the worship of angels, was itself actually reckoned amongst idolatries and condemned by the Apostle Peter in Simon's own person.
The Prescription Against Heretics
But when he blames those who alleged visions of angels as their authority for saying that men must abstain from meats-"you must not touch, you must not taste"-in a voluntary humility, (at the same time) "vainly puffed up in the fleshly mind, and not holding the Head," (the apostle) does not in these terms attack the law or Moses, as if it was at the suggestion of superstitious angels that he had enacted his prohibition of sundry aliments.
Against Marcion Book 5
It happens that persons become bound up with the worship of earthly things under the form of philosophy, so that, held by these, they do not rise…. They end up simulating true religion. They become inflated by watching the movements of the stars, which Paul calls angels, not by divine authority but by human superstition, which brings nothing but damnation. .
Let us, therefore, fear the judgment which awaits teachers. For a severe judgment will those teachers receive "who teach, but do not," [Matthew 23:3] and those who take upon them the name of Christ falsely, and say: We teach the truth, and yet go wandering about idly, and exalt themselves, and make their boast in the mind of the flesh. [Colossians 2:18] These, moreover, are like "the blind man who leads the blind man, and they both fall into the ditch." [Matthew 15:14]
Two Epistles on Virginity
"Let no man rob you of your prize by a voluntary humility and worshiping of the Angels, dwelling in the things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind." When he had filled them with anger through saying, "adjudge away from you," then he begins; "being a voluntary," he saith, "in humility and worshiping of Angels, intruding into things he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind." How "in humility," or how "puffed up"? He shows that the whole arose out of vainglory. But what is on the whole the drift of what is said? There are some who maintain that we must be brought near by Angels, not by Christ, that were too great a thing for us. Therefore it is that he turns over and over again what has been done by Christ, "through the Blood of His Cross"; on this account he says that "He suffered for us"; that "He loved us." And besides in this very same thing, moreover, they were elevated afresh. And he said not "introduction by," but "worshiping of" Angels. "Intruding into things he hath not seen." For he hath not seen Angels, and yet is affected as though he had. Therefore he saith, "Puffed up by his fleshly mind vainly," not about any true fact. About this doctrine, he is puffed up, and puts forward a show of humility. By his carnal mind, not spiritual; his reasoning is of man.
Homily on Colossians 7
18–19What is meant is the same as the Apostle writes to the Colossians: Let no man seduce you, willing in humility, and religion of angels, walking in the things which he hath not seen, in vain puffed up by the sense of his flesh, And not holding the head, from which the whole body, by joints and bands being supplied with nourishment and compacted, groweth unto the increase of God (Colossians 2:18-19). We approve that which we frequently say: And if I should be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge (2 Corinthians 11:6), this, we now declare, is what Paul said, not concerning humility, but of the truth of conscience. For language does not explain profound and hidden feelings. And although he feels himself what he says, he cannot express in words, pure enough for the ears of others, what those feelings are. When he tries to interpret himself, who had been very eloquent in his native language (for he was a Hebrew, born from Hebrews and educated at the feet of Gamaliel, the most learned of men in the law), he becomes entangled. However, if this happens to him in the Greek language, which he had imbibed from his childhood while being raised in Tarsus of Cilicia, what should be said of the Latins who, attempting to express word for word, make his thoughts more obscure, and like weeds growing, stifle the abundance of fruits? Therefore, we will try to unfold the meaning in a paraphrased way, and bring back the tricks of the involved language to their order and connection, so that the threads of words run on a simple warp: and under a plain cover, the texture of the Apostolic speech may grow. Let no one surpass you, that is, let no one take the prize from you: this is said in Greek, καταβραβευέτω when someone who is in the contest, due to the unfairness of the judge or the tricks of the masters, loses the prize and the palm that is due to him. There are many words that the Apostle uses in a more familiar manner according to the custom of his city and province. From these (for example) a few should be mentioned. But to me it is a small thing to be judged by (1 Cor. 1), that is, ἀπὸ ἀνθρωπίνης ἡμέρας: And, I speak in a human sense (Rom. 6), that is, ἀνθρώπινον λέγω: And, I did not burden you (2 Cor. 12): and what is now said, μηδεὶς ὑμᾶς καταβραβευέτω that is, no one take the prize from you. They use these and many other words up until today, the Cilicians. We should not be amazed by this in regard to the Apostle if he uses the customs of his language, in which he was born and raised, since Virgil, the other Homer among us, following the customs of his homeland, called the wicked chill (Georgics 2). So let no one surpass and conquer you, willing to follow the humility of the letter, and the religion and culture of the angels; so that you do not serve spiritual intelligence, but rather the examples of the future, which he, who wants to surpass you, has neither seen nor perceives (for both are held in Greek), especially when he walks arrogantly, and walks puffed up, and exhibits the pride of his own spirit in the gesture of his body, for this is what ἐμβατεύων signifies. But in vain, he is inflated and swells with the sense of his own flesh, understanding everything carnally, and seeking the delirium of Jewish traditions, and not holding the head of all the Scriptures, that which is written: The head of the man is Christ (1 Cor. 2, 3; Eph. 1, and 4 and 5; Coloss. 1). But the head and beginning of the whole body, and of those who believe, and of all spiritual understanding. From which head the body of the Church takes the vital juice of heavenly doctrine through its connections and joints, so that all its parts may gradually be enlivened, and through the secret channels of its veins, the exhausted blood of foods is founded, ministered, and increased; indeed, so that temperance of the body may be maintained, so that the members, watered from the source of the head, may grow into the perfection of God, and the prayer of the Savior may be fulfilled: "Father, I will that they may be one as we also are one" (John 17:21), so that when Christ has delivered us to the Father, God may be all things to all men (1 Cor. 15:28). He writes such things, both in words and in meanings, and in the style of speech most obscurely to the Ephesians. But speaking truth in love, let us grow in all things into him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body is joined together, and connected by every joint of supply, according to the working in its measure of each individual part. It makes increase of the body for the edifying of itself in love (Ephesians 4:25, 16). And we have said more fully about this subject even in his Commentaries on the same Epistle. But he speaks throughout against those who, believing in Christ the Savior, desired to observe Jewish ceremonies. About this matter, a not insignificant controversy was raised, not even in the Acts of the Apostles (chapter 15). Whence Paul also says above, concerning those who boast that they are teachers of the Law: Let no one judge you in food and drink (Colossians 2:16), as if some were clean and some unclean; or with respect to a part of a festival day, as if some days were festivals and others not. For us who believe in the risen Christ, there is a judgment and an eternal festival. Or in the part of the new moon, that is, of the calendar, and of the new month, when the waning moon ends, and is covered by the shadows of the night. For the light of Christians is eternal, and is always illuminated by the rays of the Sun of righteousness. Or on a part of the sabbaths, so that they do not do servile work and do not bear burdens, because we have been given the liberty of Christ, and we have ceased to bear the burdens of sins. All these things," he said, "are shadows of things to come, and images of future happiness, in which the Jews hold fast to the letter and are bound to the earth; but we, according to the spirit, shall pass over to Christ who is now called the body in contrast to the shadows. For just as in the body truth is and in the body's shadow there is falsehood, so in spiritual understanding all food and drink and all festivities and perpetual calendars and eternal rest are to be expected. We seek to know what he meant by this, either in the humility and religion of the angels or in what sense. "From where the Lord spoke to the disciples: Rise, let us go hence (John 14:31): And, Your house shall be left desolate to you (Matthew 23:38): And, The place where the Lord was crucified, is spiritually called Egypt and Sodom (Apocalypse 11:8), all the customs of the Jews are destroyed and whatever they offer in sacrifices, they offer not to God, but to fleeing angels and unclean spirits. Nor is it surprising if they do this after the passion of the Lord, since it is also said to them by the Prophet Amos: Have you offered me victims and sacrifices, O house of Israel, forty years in the desert, and have you taken up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Rempham, figures which you have made to adore them (Amos 5:25-26)?” Moreover, Stephen the martyr expounding more fully in the Jewish congregation and reviewing the old history, spoke thus: And in those days they made a calf, and offered sacrifices to the idol, and were rejoicing in their works. But God turned, and delivered them up, to serve the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets. (Acts 7:41-42) But the host of heaven is not only called the sun, and the moon, and the stars that glow; but also includes all the angelic multitude and their armies who are called in Hebrew Sabaoth, meaning powers or armies. As we also read in the Gospel according to Luke: And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will. (Luke 2:13-14) For God makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flaming fire. (Psalm 103:4) And in order that we may know that they who worshiped idols, although they seemed to offer sacrifices to God in the temple, did not offer them to God, but to angels, more fully we learn by Ezekiel: I gave them bad precepts and judgments (Ezek. 20. 25). For God does not seek the blood of goats or of bulls; but a contrite spirit, a contrite and humble heart O God you will not despise (Psalm 50). And therefore, they who made the calf in Horeb, and worshiped the idol of Rempham, of which we shall speak more fully in the prophet Amos, worshiped the images which they had made; and God delivered them up to the service of the host of heaven, which is now called the religion of angels by the Apostle. For humility is read in Greek as ταπεινοφροσύνη, that is, humility of mind or sense. For truly humble sense, and pitiable superstition it is, to believe that God delights in the blood of goats and bulls and the smell of incense, which we often shun. But what follows: If you have died with Christ from the elements of the world, why do you still decree as if living in the world? Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle: all which things are unto destruction by the very use, according to the precepts and doctrines of men, having indeed a show of wisdom in superstition, and humility, and not sparing the body; not in any honor for the satisfying of the flesh (Colossians 2:20 and following). It seems to us that this is the meaning. Let us run through all things and, with Christ disclosing, reveal the darkness of perceptions and words. If you have been baptized in Christ and buried with Christ in baptism, dead to the elements of this world, why do you not say to me, but far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world (Galatians 6:14)? And have you not heard the Lord saying to the Father: They are not of the world: just as I am not of the world, and the world hates them because they are not of the world; just as I am not of the world (John 17:16 and 15:19). But on the contrary, as if living in the world, you decide [to] not touch [the] body of a dead man, nor [their] clothing, nor bench on which [a] menstruating woman has sat, nor taste pork, hare, cuttlefish, squid, moray, eel, and all fish which do not have scales and fins. All these, by their use, are corrupted and pass into decay and waste material. For food is for the belly, and the belly for foods; and God will destroy both it and them. But the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. And, "Every one," says He, "shall give account of himself before God" (Rom. 14. 12) . "But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. And the Lord rebukes the Pharisees, saying: You have made void the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition. For Moses said: Honor thy father and thy mother; and He that shall curse father or mother, let him die the death. But you say, if a man shall say to his father or mother, Corban, (which is a gift,) whatsoever is from me, shall profit thee. And further you suffer him not to do anything for his father or mother, Making the word of God of no effect through your tradition." (Matthew 15:8-9, Mark 7:4-6) I cannot unroll how many traditions of the Pharisees there are, which today they call 'δευτερὼσεις,' and how many old wives' tales; for the bulkiness of the books does not allow it, and most of them are so disgraceful that I am ashamed to say. However, I will say one thing to the dishonor of the hostile nation. They put in charge of the synagogues whichever wise men they select and delegate unsavory work to them, like proving (or tasting beforehand) whether the blood of a virgin, whether menstruating or not, is clean, or unclean, if they cannot tell by sight. Furthermore, because it has been ordered that on the Sabbath each person should sit in his own house and not go out (Exod. 16. 29), or walk from where he lives; if we ever find it necessary to restrain them according to the letter, so that they do not lie down, do not walk, do not stand, but only sit, if they want to observe the precepts, they are accustomed to reply and say: Barachibas, Simeon, and Hellel our masters taught us that we should walk two thousand feet on the Sabbath, and other such doctrines, preferring the teachings of men to the doctrine of God. Not that we say that we must always sit on the Sabbath and not leave the place where one was occupied; but that that which is impossible in the Law, in which it is weakened by the flesh, must be fulfilled by spiritual observation.
It follows: Which things indeed have the reasoning of wisdom. In this place, indeed, the conjunction is superfluous: which we find the apostle to have done in most places because of his lack of skill in the art of grammar. For it does not follow but, or another conjunction, which is accustomed to respond to the preposition wherever it may be placed. Therefore, Jewish observations seem to have an image of reason and human wisdom among the unskilled and vulgar population. Hence, their teachers are called σοφοὶ, that is, wise. And if at certain times they expose their traditions, they are accustomed to say to their disciples "οἱ σοφοὶ δευτερῶσιν", that is, wise men teach the traditions. "Superstition" is derived from the Greek "ἐθελοθρησκεία" and means false religion, and for "humility" or "ταπεινοφροσύνε", which usually sounds like virtue rather than vice, it must be understood as feeling lowly and earthly. On the other hand, "Ἀφειδία" regarding the body, whose Latin name the language does not explain, is called in our language not sparing one's body. The Jews do not spare their bodies in taking food, sometimes despising what they have and seeking what they do not have, from which sometimes they become weak and contract diseases. And they do not honor themselves, when all things are clean for the clean (Tit. 1.15), and nothing can be polluted, which is received with thanksgiving, and therefore created by the Lord, to nourish and sustain human limbs with satiety and fullness of flesh. But the elements of the world, by which, or rather by which we are dead, the Law of Moses and every old Instrument must be understood: with which, as if with elements, and beginnings of religion, we learn about God. For just as the elements are called letters by which we combine syllables and words, and proceed with long meditation to weave a speech: so music also has its elements, and Geometry begins with the elements of lines, and Dialectic and Medicine have their introductions: thus with the elements of the Old Testament, that it might come to the fullness of the Gospel, the holy infant is educated by learned men. Whence the one hundred eighteenth Psalm, and all the others that are marked with letters, lead us from Ethics to Theory, and cause us to pass from the elements of the western letters, which are destroyed, to the vivifying spirit. Therefore, those of us who are dead to the world and its elements, should not observe those things which are of the world, because in one there is a beginning, in the other there is perfection.
Letter 121, Chapter 10
What is selfabasement? Saying that we are selfabased [can only mean] that God is great and far above any service we can render to him. Since, then, we cannot get near him, it is through his angels that propitiation comes and we may draw near him. For this reason he spoke earlier of one “who is the head of every power and principality.” And now he says, “Why do you come to elements and angels, having renounced their head, who is Christ?” Pauline Commentary from the Greek Church.
There is another even more obscure passage about which I ask you to pull me up out of deep water and set me in the shallows. In the epistle to the Colossians, I simply cannot see the connection where he says: “Let no man seduce you into taking pleasure in the humility and religion of angels, walking in the things which he has not seen; in vain puffed up by the sense of his flesh and not holding the head.” What angels does he mean? If he means the rebel and wicked angels, what is their religion or their humility, or who is the master of this seduction, who under cover of some angelic religion or other would teach what he does not see as something seen or experienced? Doubtless, the heretics, who follow the teachings of demons, who think up false systems under the impulse of their spirit, who give out that they have seen visions which they have not seen and by their deadly arguments sow their seed in foolish and credulous hearts—doubtless, these are the ones who do not hold the head, namely, Christ, the source of truth. .
Some place the punctuation at the words "in Christ," so that the meaning would be: the Old Testament things were a shadow, but the body, that is, the truth, is Christ's. What need is there to grasp at the shadow when the body is present? But others connect these words with what follows, so that it could be understood thus: "but the body of Christ," that is, you, "let no one defraud" – (καταβραβεύετω, that is, deprive), for καταβραβεύειν means when one wins the victory but another receives the prize. You defeated the devil and rose above: why then submit again to sin through the observance of the law, which cannot justify? In another sense: the one who ruled over us was defeated by Christ, not by the law; to Him should belong the prize, and likewise to you who constitute the body of Christ. How then do you yield this gift to the law? It is perfectly clear that if we still live in the Jewish manner, then the law rules over us and through it we hope to be saved. But if the law is a shadow, and Christ's works are the body, then first we needed to become accustomed to the shadow. Therefore He rightly became incarnate in the last days, in order to bring us to the Father.
After he fulfilled their indignation, having shown that others want to deal wickedly with them, to deprive them of their reward, the apostle sets forth the very heretical dogma itself, saying: they want to deprive you of your reward, having deceived you with a seeming humility. For it is unworthy, they said, of the greatness of the Only-Begotten to teach that the Only-Begotten brought you to the Father, since this is more than is fitting for human smallness. Therefore it is more reasonable to suppose that angels served in your bringing to the Father. Proceeding from this thought, they introduced a special worship of angels as well, and persuaded the simple-hearted to turn to them, as if to our saviors. And they, who have never seen angels, assert this and that about them, as though they had seen them.
In vain, he says, they are puffed up by their teaching, which is a matter of fleshly reasoning, not spiritual. Does not the dullness of their mind stand exposed by the fact that they deny what Christ said: "God so loved the world that He gave His Only-begotten Son" (Jn. 3:16) for mankind; and again: "and for their sakes I sanctify Myself" (Jn. 17:19); furthermore: "I lay down My life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold, and those too I must bring" (Jn. 10:15–16). There are many other similar passages as well. So then, how did he say above "in humility"? Their humility was apparent, not real. Alternatively: they were puffed up as obstinate dogmatists who would not even allow the true teaching to be set before them. Although they insist on their teaching out of humility, they did not actually possess it, but merely spoke humbly: that the Only-begotten should be slain for us—this is more than what is needed for mankind (not proportionate to them, not befitting them).
Commentary on Colossians
Then (v. 18), he speaks against those who were trying to seduce and deceive them. First, he warns them not to be misled; secondly, he argues against those already misled (v. 20). As to the first, he cautions them about being misled; secondly, he shows how they might be deceived, insisting on self-abasement; and thirdly, the shortcomings of those who would mislead them (18b).
He says, let no one seduce you away from the truth that I have told you: "Let no one deceive you with empty words" (Eph 5:6).
For these pseudo-apostles were seducing them by their "humility," bringing in observances taken from the law, for they pretended to be holy. But holiness consists of two things: a humble manner of life, and the worship of God. Now these people appeared to lead a humble life since they seemed to have no care for the things of the world; and so Paul says they were insisting on self-abasement. "There is one who is humble in an evil way, and within he is full of deceit" (Sir. 19:23). Again, they claimed to be preaching out of reverence for God; and so Paul says, and religion of angels: for religion, according to Cicero, consists in ceremonies and worship for a divine nature: "Holding the form of religion but denying the power of it" (2 Tim 3:5).
The Gloss has this passage as reading, "in the religion of angels," for in this way these seducers wanted to seem like angels, that is, as messengers, of God: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing yet inwardly are ravenous wolves" (Mt 7:15). Or, "in the religion of angels," can be understood in a literal sense, because the Old Law was made known by angels, as we see from Galatians (3:19); "For if the message declared by angels was valid and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?" (Heb 2:2). These people maintained that the worship mandated in the law had to be kept, because it had been given through angels.
The shortcomings of such people were threefold; they were defective in their knowledge, in their justice, and in their faith. As to their knowledge, Paul says that such a person was taking his stand on things that were not seen, that is, things that were not understood. Such a one did not know why the law was given: "Desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make assertions" (1 Tim 1:7).
As to the justice of such persons he says they were puffed up without reason, in vain, although they pretended to be humble. And he mentions two things. First, that their religion was useless, because they went about without reason, in vain, that is, doing things that were of no value for eternal life: "Their labors are unprofitable" (Wis 3:11); "Though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear restraining her" (Job 39:16). They also showed a false humility, and so he says that such a one was puffed up by his sensuous mind. There is a difference between one who is puffed up and one who is robust. A person who is robust is full with truth, while one who is puffed up is empty, and just extended with wind. Therefore, those who are truly humble are full, but those who are only puffed up are empty. "He will burst those who are puffed up" (Wis 4:19). This is the meaning of 1 Corinthians (8:1): "Knowledge puffs up."
Commentary on Colossians
And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.
καὶ οὐ κρατῶν τὴν κεφαλήν, ἐξ οὗ πᾶν τὸ σῶμα διὰ τῶν ἁφῶν καὶ συνδέσμων ἐπιχορηγούμενον καὶ συμβιβαζόμενον αὔξει τὴν αὔξησιν τοῦ Θεοῦ.
а҆ не держѧ̀ главы̀, и҆з̾ неѧ́же всѐ тѣ́ло, соста̑вы и҆ соꙋ̑зы пода́емо и҆ сне́млемо, расти́тъ возраще́нїе бж҃їе.
But if any one believes in [only] one God, who also made all things by the Word, as Moses likewise says, "God said, Let there be light: and there was light;" and as we read in the Gospel, "All things were made by Him; and without Him was nothing made;" and the Apostle Paul [says] in like manner, "There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father, who is above all, and through all, and in us all" -this man will first of all "hold the head, from which the whole body is compacted and bound together, and, through means of every joint according to the measure of the ministration of each several part, maketh increase of the body to the edification of itself in love." And then shall every word also seem consistent to him, if he for his part diligently read the Scriptures in company with those who are presbyters in the Church, among whom is the apostolic doctrine, as I have pointed out.
Against Heresies Book 4
Remember, therefore, my beloved friend, that thou hast been redeemed by the flesh of our Lord, re-established by His blood; and "holding the Head, from which the whole body of the Church, having been fitted together, takes increase" -that is, acknowledging the advent in the flesh of the Son of God, and [His] divinity, and looking forward with constancy to His human nature, availing thyself also of these proofs drawn from Scripture-thou dost easily overthrow, as I have pointed out, all those notions of the heretics which were concocted afterwards.
Against Heresies Book 5
"And not holding fast the Head," he saith, "from whom all the body." All the body thence hath its being, and its well-being. Why, letting go the Head, dost thou cling to the members? If thou art fallen off from it, thou art lost. "From whom all the body." Every one, be he who he may, thence has not life only, but also even connection. All the Church, so long as she holds The Head, increaseth; because here is no more passion of pride and vainglory, nor invention of human fancy.
Mark that "from whom," meaning the Son. "Through the joints and bands," he says, "being supplied, and knit together, increases with the increase of God"; he means, that which is according to God, that of the best life.
Homily on Colossians 7
The purpose and view of the epistle is here, as Paul mentions, to respond to the emphasis on angels urged by some. Christ is the head of all, just as the soul is the head of the body. Christ is head of all the cosmic elements. It makes no sense to be in submission to anything else. .
He who teaches this, he says, does not hold fast to the Head, that is, the Son of God. For He is the Head of the angels, as Creator and Ruler of the world, and equally the Head of the entire Church, both for this reason and because we are members of His body, for He Himself is a partaker with us in this very thing. From Him, therefore, the entire body of the Church has both simple existence and well-being. Whoever falls away from Him is lost. Just as from the brain the sensitive spirit is transmitted through the nerves to the entire body — and from the head comes every sensation and every movement — so too the entire body of the Church is supplied, that is, receives that by which it lives and grows spiritually. And when does it have this? When it is joined together (when it is well composed) with Him and within itself. For only in such a case does the Holy Spirit supply the body with that by which it grows, so that if the body has no communion with the Head and with itself, then there is neither the supply of the Spirit nor the growth of God, that is, the best life according to God.
Commentary on Colossians
With regard to their faith he says that they were not holding fast to the Head, that is, Christ, by faith. Such people are deceived, because without Christ they are in the dark: "If any one does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching which accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit, he knows nothing" (1 Tim 6:3).
Why is Christ the Head? Paul answers: because the entire good of the body, which is the Church, depends on him. For there are two goods in a natural body: the union or joining together of its members and its growth. And the Church obtains these from Christ, for the entire body depends on him: "We, though many, are one body in Christ" (Rom 12:5). In a body the members are joined in two ways. One way is by contact, as the hand is joined to the wrist, and the wrist to the forearm, and so on. The other way is by a connection, as being joined by nerves. And so Paul refers to joints and ligaments. So also in the Church, its members are joined by faith and understanding: "One Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Eph 4:5). But this is incomplete without the ligaments of charity and the sacraments. Thus Paul says, nourished through ligaments, because it is through charity that one person supplies another. This body is developed by Christ, because it grows with a growth that is from God, that is, with a growth that God produces in us: "Blessed are the men whose strength is in thee,... they go from strength to strength" (Ps 84:5). Or, from God, that is, from Christ, who, as God, increases the body, the Church being enlarged: "For the equipment of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ" (Eph 4:12).
Commentary on Colossians
Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
Εἰ οὖν ἀπεθάνετε σὺν τῷ Χριστῷ ἀπὸ τῶν στοιχείων τοῦ κόσμου, τί ὡς ζῶντες ἐν κόσμῳ δογματίζεσθε,
[Заⷱ҇ 256] А҆́ще ᲂу҆̀бо ᲂу҆мро́сте со хрⷭ҇то́мъ ѿ стїхі́й мі́ра, почто̀ а҆́ки живꙋ́ще въ мі́рѣ стѧза́етесѧ;
Therefore there is nothing meritorious about abstinence from marriage unless it arises from love to God. At any rate the blessed Paul says of those who revile marriage: "In the last times some shall depart from the faith, turning to spirits of error and doctrines inspired by daemons, forbidding to marry and commanding abstinence from food." And again he says: "Let no one disqualify you by demanding self-imposed ascetic practices and severe treatment of the body."
The Stromata Book 3
For he says in another passage also "How is it that you conduct yourselves as if you were even now living in the world?" where he is not writing to dead persons, but to those who ought to have ceased to live after the ways of the world
On the Resurrection of the Flesh
That he who has attained to trust, having put off the former man, ought to regard only celestial and spiritual things, and to give no heed to the world which he has already renounced. In Isaiah: "Seek ye the Lord; and when ye have found Him, call upon Him. But when He hath come near unto you, let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him be turned unto the Lord, and he shall obtain mercy, because He will plentifully pardon your sins." Of this same thing in Solomon: "I have seen all the works which are done under the sun; and, lo, all are vanity." Of this same thing in Exodus: "But thus shall ye eat it; your loins girt, and your shoes on your feet, and your staves in your hands: and ye shall eat it in haste, for it is the Lord's passover." Of this same thing in the Gospel according to Matthew: "Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewith shall we be clothed? for these things the nations seek after. But your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Likewise in the same place: "Think not for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for itself. Sufficient unto the day is its own evil." Likewise in the same place: "No one looking back, and putting his hands to the plough, is fit for the kingdom of God." Also in the same place: "Behold the fowls of the heaven: for they sow not, nor reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of more value than they? " Concerning this same thing, according to Luke: "Let your loins be girded, and your lamps burning; and ye like unto men that wait for their lord, when he cometh from the wedding; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him. Blessed are those servants, whom their lord, when he cometh, shall find watching." Of this same thing in Matthew: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where He may lay His head." Also in the same place: "Whoso forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be my disciple." Of this same thing in the first to the Corinthians: "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body." Also in the same place: "The time is limited. It remaineth, therefore, that both they who have wives be as though they have them not, and they who lament as they that lament not, and they that rejoice as they that rejoice not, and they who buy as they that buy not, and they who possess as they who possess not, and they who use this world as they that use it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away." Also in the same place: "The first man is of the clay of the earth, the second man from heaven. As he is of the clay, such also are they who are of the clay; and as is the heavenly, such also are the heavenly. Even as we have borne the image of him who is of the clay, let us bear His image also who is from heaven." Of this same matter to the Philippians: "All seek their own, and not those things which are Christ's; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and their glory is to their confusion, who mind earthly things. For our conversation is in heaven, whence also we expect the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall transform the body of our humiliation conformed to the body of His glory." Of this very matter to Galatians: "But be it far from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Concerning this same thing to Timothy: "No man that warreth for God bindeth himself with worldly annoyances, that he may please Him to whom he hath approved himself. But and if a man should contend, he will not be crowned unless he fight lawfully." Of this same thing to the Colossians: "If ye be dead with Christ froth I the elements of the world, why still, as if living in the world, do ye follow vain things? " Also concerning this same thing: "If ye have risen together with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting on the right hand of God. Give heed to the things that are above, not to those things which are on the earth; for ye are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ your life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." Of this same thing to the Ephesians: Put off the old man of the former conversation, who is corrupted, according to the lusts of deceit. But be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, him who according to God is ordained in righteousness, and holiness, and truth." Of this same thing in the Epistle of Peter: "As strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; but having a good conversation among the Gentiles, that while they detract from you as if from evildoers, yet, beholding your good works, they may magnify God." Of this same thing in the Epistle of John: "He who saith he abideth in Christ, ought himself also to walk even as He walked." Also in the same place: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loveth the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Because everything which is in the world is lust of the flesh, and lust of the eyes, and the ambition of this world, which is not of the Father, but of the lust of this world. And the world shall pass away with its lust. But he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever, even as God abideth for ever." Also in the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: "Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new dough, as ye are unleavened. For also Christ our passover is sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not in the old leaven, nor in the leaven of malice and wickedness, but in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
Treatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews
And to return to the praise of martyrdom, there is a word of the blessed Paul, who says; "Know ye not that they who run in a race strive many, but one receiveth the prize? But do ye so run, that all of you may obtain." Moreover also elsewhere, that be may exhort us to martyrdom, he has called us fellow-heirs with Christ; nay, that he might omit nothing, he says, "If ye are dead with Christ, why, as if living in the world, do ye make distinctions? " Because, dearest brethren, we who bear the rewards of resurrection, who seek for the day of judgment, who, in fine, are trusting that we shall reign with Christ, ought to be dead to the world. For you can neither desire martyrdom till you have first hated the world, nor attain to God's reward unless you have loved Christ. And he who loves Christ does not love the world. For Christ was given up by the world, even as the world also was given up by Christ; as it is written, "The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." The world has been an object of affection to none whom the Lord has not previously condemned; nor could he enjoy eternal salvation who has gloried in the life of the world. That is the very voice of Christ, who says: "He that loveth his life in this world, shall lose it in the world to come; but he that hateth his life in this world, shall find it in the world to come." Moreover, also, the Apostle Paul says: "Be ye imitators of me, as I also am of Christ." And the same elsewhere says: "I wish that all of you, if it were possible, should be imitators of me."
Pseudo-Cyprian On the Glory of Martyrdom
The problem is that the Colossians worship worldly things, put their hope in them, and not in Christ alone … so that these rules have been cut off from the head, who is Christ, and thus have become the basis of a pseudoreligion and a sacrilege. .
Indeed, we are often deceived by sight, and we see things for the most part other than they really are. We are deceived by hearing too. And so, if we do not wish to be deceived, let us contemplate not what is seen but what is unseen…. On this account the apostle also cries out: “Do not touch, nor taste, nor handle, things which must all perish”; for things which are for the body’s indulgence are also for its corruption.
With the knowledge of what Paul had seen and heard in paradise, he cried out saying: “Why, as if still viewing the world do you lay down rules: ‘Do not touch; nor handle; nor taste!’—things which must all perish in their very use!” He wished us to be in the world in figure, not in actual possession and use of it. We are to use the world as if we did not use it, as if we were but passing through, not residing in it, walking through as in a dream, not with desire, so that with the speed of thought we might pass through the shadow of this world.
[Some] say that Paul was a teacher of wantonness. Pray, who will be a teacher of sobriety if he taught wantonness, for he chastised his body and brought it to subjection and by many fasts said that he had rendered the worship which is due to Christ. He did so not to praise himself and his deeds but to teach us what example we must follow. Did he give us instruction in wantonness when he said: “ ‘Do not touch; nor handle; nor taste!’ things that must all perish in their use”? And he also said that we must live “Not in indulgence of the body, not in any honor to the satisfying and love of the flesh, not in the lusts of error; but in the Spirit by whom we are renewed.”
"If ye died with Christ." He puts that in the middle, and on either side, expressions of greater vehemence. "If ye died with Christ from the elements of the world," he saith, "why as though living in the world do ye subject yourselves to ordinances?" This is not the consequence, for what ought to have been said is, "how as though living are ye subject to those elements?" But letting this pass, what saith he?
Homily on Colossians 7
These prohibitions about eating and drinking that you hear from the Greeks are based on their mistaken conviction that you should not partake of anything living. But all this has been given for consumption and nourishment. So, don’t pay attention to what has been given in accordance with their teaching. .
As to the words “Touch not, taste not, handle not,” they are not to be considered as a commandment of the apostle forbidding us to touch, taste or handle something or other. It is just the opposite, if I am not deluded by the obscurity of the passage. Surely he used these words in mockery of those by whom he did not want his followers to be deceived and led astray. They were the ones who made a distinction of foods according to the worship of angels and issued decrees for this life, saying: “Touch not, taste not, handle not,” although “all things are clean to the clean.” “For every creature of God is good,” as he assures us in another place. .
What is so praiseworthy as a show of wisdom, and what so detestable as the superstition of error? Humility, also, both pleasing to God and eminently praiseworthy in true religion, is given with a show of wisdom to those of whose teachings and actions we are told: “Touch not, taste not, handle not, which are unto destruction,” because they are not of God, and “all that is not of faith, is sin.” … I wish to know what this humility is and this show of wisdom which he says is in their superstition, which comes from the doctrines of men…. I think he is speaking of a pretended and useless abstinence such as heretics usually strive after … because they put on the appearance of a holy work, but, as they do not practice it in the fold of truth, they gain neither honor nor the reward of glory. .
This is what the apostle said: “You make observations of the months and of the times and of the years.” Or again: “Do not touch, do not taste, do not pick up.” And there is no doubt that this is said about the superstitions of the law. To plunge into them is to be an adulterer from Christ.
Through baptism, he says, having died with Christ, you died to your entire former life, so that you would no longer serve the elements to which you were previously subject. Therefore, why do you submit to them again, as if living your former life? You consider one day fortunate and another unfortunate, but these are Hellenic observances. See how imperceptibly he mocks them, saying: "you submit to ordinances" – δογματίζεσθε. You, he says, like children who have just begun to learn, sit receiving teachings and instructions about what must be done.
Commentary on Colossians
20–21Then (v. 20), he rebukes those who have already been deceived. First, he bases the reason for his rebuke on the condition of those who have been deceived; and secondly, on the matters about which they were misled (v. 22).
Their condition was one of freedom, because just as they were dead to sin, so also they were dead to the law. Thus they were not obliged to keep it. Paul says, therefore, If with Christ you died, being dead to the law, to the elements, that is, to the observances of the law (for the Jewish people served the true God, but under the elements; while the Gentiles served the elements themselves), why, since you know the truth, do you live as if you still belonged to the world, like the Jews live? Why do you submit to regulations about what is to be handled and eaten; regulations such as do not handle, because it is a sin; do not taste pork or eels (Lev 11:7, 11)?
Commentary on Colossians
(Touch not; taste not; handle not;
Не косни́сѧ, нижѐ вкꙋсѝ, нижѐ ѡ҆сѧжѝ:
21–22"Handle not, nor taste, nor touch; all which things are to perish with the using; after the precepts and doctrines of men." Ye are not in the world, he saith, how is it ye are subject to its elements? how to its observances? And mark how he makes sport of them, "touch not, handle not, taste not," as though they were cowards and keeping themselves clear of some great matters, "all which things are to perish with the using." He has taken down the swollenness of the many, and added, "after the precepts and doctrines of men." What sayest thou? Dost thou speak even of the Law? Henceforth it is but a doctrine of men, after the time is come. Or, because they adulterated it, or else, he alludes to the Gentile institutions. The doctrine, he says, is altogether of man.
Homily on Colossians 7
Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
ἅ ἐστι πάντα εἰς φθορὰν τῇ ἀποχρήσει, κατὰ τὰ ἐντάλματα καὶ διδασκαλίας τῶν ἀνθρώπων;
ꙗ҆̀же сꙋ́ть всѧ̑ во и҆стлѣ́нїе ᲂу҆потребле́нїемъ, по за́повѣдемъ и҆ ᲂу҆че́нїємъ человѣ́чєскимъ:
For Moses had evidently received the law from God. When, therefore, he speaks of their "following the commandments and doctrines of men," he refers to the conduct of those persons who "held not the Head," even Him in whom all things are gathered together; for they are all recalled to Christ, and concentrated in Him as their initiating principle -even the meats and drinks which were indifferent in their nature.
Against Marcion Book 5
He also brings up another observation of theirs regarding food, one that is predominantly Jewish, just as the one regarding days was brought up as Hellenic. Shaming the arrogance of the local dogmatists (false teachers), the apostle says that all of this is unimportant, but ends in decay in those who consume it; having decayed in the stomach, it is then expelled through the bowels, so that for the soul there is in this, as it is in itself, neither benefit nor harm.
These are not divine instructions, but human ordinances. So then, what? Is the law not the teaching of God? – It existed when there was a time for it, but now it no longer exists, because its time has been fulfilled. Or he says this because the Jewish elders distorted it, establishing traditions apart from the law, as Christ also speaks of this in the Gospel. Or he is alluding to the teachings of the Greeks.
Commentary on Colossians
Then (v. 22), he describes these legal observances, saying that they are harmful, vain, and burdensome; thus Paul says, which all perish as they are used, because after the passion of Christ they were deadly to all those who placed their hope in them; but after grace had been spread among the people, such things were deadly to all, absolutely. (I am saying this because it is the opinion of Jerome and Augustine which I mentioned in commenting on the second chapter of Galatians). And so they lead to destruction and death. Why, then, do we still read the Old Testament? I answer that we read it as a witness, but not as something to be observed. Thus Paul says, which all perish as they are used, that is, if they are not regarded merely as a witness, but are observed.
Commentary on Colossians
Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.
ἅτινά ἐστι λόγον μὲν ἔχοντα σοφίας ἐν ἐθελοθρησκείᾳ καὶ ταπεινοφροσύνῃ καὶ ἀφειδίᾳ σώματος, οὐκ ἐν τιμῇ τινι πρὸς πλησμονὴν τῆς σαρκός.
ꙗ҆̀же сꙋ́ть сло́во ᲂу҆́бѡ и҆мꙋ̑ща премꙋ́дрости въ самово́льнѣй слꙋ́жбѣ и҆ смиреномꙋ́дрїи и҆ непощадѣ́нїи тѣ́ла, не въ че́сти ко́ей къ сы́тости пло́ти.
That which springs from a virtue of the mind is perfected in the flesh; and, finally, by the patience of the flesh, does battle under persecution. If flight press hard, the flesh wars with the inconvenience of flight; if imprisonment overtake us, the flesh (still was) in bonds, the flesh in the gyve, the flesh in solitude, and in that want of light, and in that patience of the world's misusage.
Of Patience
"Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and severity to the body; but are not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh." "Show," he saith; not power, not truth. So that even though they have a show of wisdom, let us turn away from them. For he may seem to be a religious person, and modest, and to have a contempt for the body.
"Not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh." For God hath given it honor, but they use it not with honor. Thus, when it is a doctrine, he knows how to call it honor. They dishonor the flesh, he says, depriving it, and stripping it of its liberty, not giving leave to rule it with its will. God hath honored the flesh.
Homily on Colossians 7
They have an appearance of wisdom, but not the power and truth. For the one who teaches this seems pious, modest, and contemptuous of the body for the sake of abstaining from food. However, God honored the body and gave foods so that, being nourished by them, the flesh could exist and voluntarily master the passions. But they do not hold the body in honor, but deprive it of what is due, taking away its authority and not allowing it to act without compulsion.
Commentary on Colossians
Further, things that are not founded on reason or authority are vain. But these things are not founded on divine authority, but on human authority. Thus Paul says, according to human precepts. But these precepts were from God, were they not? I say that they were, but were to be only for a time, until the truth should come: "For the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God" (Mt 15:6). Furthermore, they are not founded on reason, because they have indeed an appearance of wisdom in superstition, meaning, they are based on reasons that lead to superstition, that is, to a religion that is extreme and past its time. And their reasons lead to self-abasement, which is not genuine, because a person who has been freed from the slavery of the law by Christ, should not submit himself to this slavery again: "Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery" (Gal 5:1). Sometimes precepts that do not rest on divine authority are observed because they are useful for some human purpose.
But this is not the case here, for these precepts considered in themselves are a burden. We desire three things: rest, honor and a fulness; and these are not produced by these legal observances. For the ban on foods is opposed to fulness, and becomes a burden because so many rules are involved. Further, these observances do not produce honor, but bring much confusion, as when ashes are sprinkled about, and the like: "A yoke upon the disciples which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear" (Ac 15:10). Such practices lead to a severity to the body, that is, the Church, and not to the honor of God; rather they serve only to indulge the flesh, i.e., to satisfy carnal desire.
Commentary on Colossians
FOR I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;
Θέλω γὰρ ὑμᾶς εἰδέναι ἡλίκον ἀγῶνα ἔχω περὶ ὑμῶν καὶ τῶν ἐν Λαοδικείᾳ καὶ ὅσοι οὐχ ἑωράκασι τὸ πρόσωπόν μου ἐν σαρκί,
[Заⷱ҇ 253] Хощꙋ̀ ᲂу҆́бѡ ва́съ вѣ́дѣти, коли́къ по́двигъ и҆́мамъ ѡ҆ ва́съ и҆ ѡ҆ сꙋ́щихъ въ лаодїкі́и и҆ во і҆ерапо́ли, и҆ є҆ли́цы не ви́дѣша лица̀ моегѡ̀ во пло́ти,