St. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon A...

τὸν ἀνακαινούμενον] ‘which is ever being renewed’. The force of the present tense is explained by 2 Cor. iv. 16 ὁ ἔσω ἡμῶν [ἄνθρωπος] ἀνακαινοῦται ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ἡμέρᾳ . Compare also the use of the tenses in the parallel passage, Ephes. iv. 22 sq. ἀποθέσθαι, ἀνανεοῦσθαι , ἐνδύσασθαι. For the opposite see Ephes. iv. 22 τὸν παλαὶον ἄνθρωπον τὸν φθειρόμενον κ.τ.λ.

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

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

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

The allusion to Genesis therefore requires us to understand τοῦ κτίσαντος of God, and not of Christ, as it is taken by St Chrysostom and others; and this seems to be demanded also by the common use of ὁ κτίσας. But if Christ is not ὁ κτίσας, may He not be intended by the εἰκῶν τοῦ κτίσαντος? In favour of this interpretation it may be urged

(2) That the Alexandrian school interpreted the term in Gen. i. 26 as denoting the Logos; thus Philo de Mund. Op. 6 (I. p. 5 M) τὸ ἀρχέτυπον παράδειγμα, ἰδέα τῶν ἰδεῶν ὁ Θεοῦ λόγος (comp. ib. §§ 7, 23, 24, 48), Fragm. II. p. 625 M θνητὸν γὰρ οὐδὲν ἀπεικονισθῆναι πρὸς τὸν ἀνωτάτω καὶ πατέρα τῶν ὅλων ἐδύνατο, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸν δεύτερον Θὲον ὅς ἐστιν ἐκέινου λόγος κ.τ.λ. Leg. Alleg. i. 31, 32 (I. p. 106 sq.). Hence Philo speaks of the first man as εἰκὼν εἰκόνος (de Mund. Op. 6), and as παγκάλου παραδέιγματος πάγκαλον μίμημα (ib. § 48). A pregnant meaning is thus given to κατὰ, and κατ’ εἰκόνα is rendered ‘after the fashion (or pattern) of the Image’. But this interpretation seems very improbable in St Paul; for

(2) The Alexandrian explanation of Gen. i. 26 just quoted is very closely allied to the Platonic doctrine of ideas (for the εἰκών, so interpreted, is the archetype or ideal pattern of the sensible world), and thus it lies outside the range of those conceptions which specially recommended the Alexandrian terminology of the Logos to the Apostles, as a fit vehicle for communicating the truths of Christianity.

Ἕλλην κ.τ.λ.] Comparing the enumeration here with the parallel passage Gal. iii. 28, we mark this difference. In Galatians the abolition of all distinctions is stated in the broadest way by the selection of three typical instances; religious prerogative (Ἰουδαῖος, Ἕλλην), social caste (δοῦλος, ἐλεύθερος), natural sex (ἄρσεν, θῆλυ). Here on the other hand the examples are chosen with special reference to the immediate circumstances of the Colossian Church.

(2) Their Gnosticism again is met by βάρβαρος, Σκύθης. They laid special stress on intelligence, penetration, gnosis. The Apostle offers the full privileges of the Gospel to barbarians and even barbarians of the lowest type (see p. 99 sq.). In Rom. i. 14, the division Ἕλλησίν τε καὶ βαρβαροῖς is almost synonymous with σοφοῖς τε καὶ ἀνόητοις.

(3) Special circumstances, connected with an eminent member of the Church of Colossæ, had directed his attention at this moment to the relation of masters and slaves. Hence he cannot leave the subject without adding δοῦλος, ἐλεύθερος, though this has no special bearing on the Colossian heresy. See above p. 33, and the note on iii. 22, together with the introduction to the Epistle to Philemon.

περιτομὴ κ.τ.λ.] Enforcing and extending the lesson of the previous clause. This abolition of distinctions applies to religious privilege, not only as inherited by birth (Ἕλλην καὶ Ἰουδαῖος), but also as assumed by adoption (περιτομὴ καὶ ἀκροβυστία). If it is no advantage to be born a Jew, it is none to become as a Jew; comp. 1 Cor. vii. 19, Gal. v. 6, vi. 15.

βάρβαρος] To the Jew the whole world was divided into Ἰουδαῖοι and Ἕλληνες, the privileged and unprivileged portions of mankind, religious prerogative being taken as the line of demarcation (see notes Gal. ii. 3). To the Greek and Roman it was similarly divided into Ἕλληνες and βάρβαροι, again the privileged and unprivileged portion of the human race, civilization and culture being now the criterion of distinction. Thus from the one point of view the Ἕλλην is contrasted disadvantageously with the Ἰουδαῖος, while from the other he is contrasted advantageously with the βάρβαρος. Both distinctions are equally antagonistic to the Spirit of the Gospel. The Apostle declares both alike null and void in Christ. The twofold character of the Colossian heresy enables him to strike at these two opposite forms of error with one blow.

The word βάρβαρος properly denoted one who spoke an inarticulate, stammering, unintelligible language; see Max Müller Lectures on the Science of Language 1st ser. p. 81 sq., 114 sq., Farrar Families of Speech p. 21: comp. 1 Cor. xiv. 11. Hence it was adopted by Greek exclusiveness and pride to stigmatize the rest of mankind, a feeling embodied in the proverb πᾶς μὴ Ἕλλην βάρβαρος (Servius on Verg. Æn. ii. 504); comp. Plato Polit. 262 E τὸ μὲν Ἑλληνικὸν ὡς hὲν ἀπὸ πάντων ἀφαιροῦντες χωρίς, σύμπασι δὲ τοῖς ἄλλοις γένεσιν ... βάρβαρον μιᾷ κλήσει προσέιποντες αὐτὸ κ.τ.λ., Dionys. Hal. Rhet. xi. 5 διπλοῦν δὲ τὸ ἔθνος, Ἕλλην ἢ βάρβαρος κ.τ.λ. So Philo Vit. Moys. ii. 5 (II. p. 138) speaks of τὸ ἥμισυ τμῆμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπων γένους, τὸ βαρβαρικόν, as opposed to τὸ Ἑλληνικόν. It is not necessary to suppose that they adopted it from the Egyptians, who seem to have called non-Egyptian peoples berber (see Sir G. Wilkinson in Rawlinson’s Herod. ii. 158); for the onomatopœia will explain its origin independently, Strabo xiv. 2. 28 (p. 662) οἶμαι δὲ τὸ βάρβαρον κατ’ ἀρχὰς ἐκπεφωνῆσθαι οὕτως κατ’ ὀνοματοποιίαν ἐπὶ τῶν δυσεκφόρως καὶ σκληρῶς καὶ τραχέως λαλούντων, ὡς τὸ βατταρίζειν κ.τ.λ. The Latins, adopting the Greek culture, adopted the Greek distinction also, e.g. Cic. de Fin. ii. 15 ‘Non solum Græcia et Italia, sed etiam omnis barbaria’: and accordingly Dionysius, Ant. Rom. i. 69, classes the Romans with the Greeks as distinguished from the ‘barbarians’—this twofold division of the human race being taken for granted as absolute and final.

So too in v. 8, having mentioned the Romans, he goes on to speak of οἱ ἄλλοι Ἕλληνες. The older Roman poets however, writing from a Greek point of view, (more than half in irony) speak of themselves as barbari and of their country as barbaria; e.g. Plaut. Mil. Glor. ii. 2. 58 ‘poeta barbaro’ (of Nævius), Asin. Prol. II. ‘Maccus vortit barbare’, Pœn. iii. 2. 21 ‘in barbaria boves’.

In this classification the Jews necessarily ranked as ‘barbarians’. At times Philo seems tacitly to accept this designation (Vit. Moys. l.c.); but elsewhere he resents it, Leg. ad Cai. 31 (II. p. 578) ὑπὸ φρονήματος, ὡς μὲν ἕνιοι τῶν διαβαλλόντων ἔιποιεν ἂν, βαρβαρικοῦ, ὡς δ’ ἔχει τὸ ἀληθές, ἐλευθερίου καὶ εὐγενοῦς. On the other hand the Christian Apologists with a true instinct glory in the ‘barbarous’ origin of their religion: Justin Apol. i. 5 (p. 56 A) ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν βαρβάροις ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Λόγου μορφωθέντος καὶ ἀνθρώπου γενομένου, ib. § 46 (p. 83 D) ἐν βαρβάροις δὲ Ἀβράαμ κ.τ.λ., Tatian. ad Græc. 29 γραφαῖς τισὶν ἐντυχεῖν βαρβαρικαῖς, ib. 31 τὸν δὲ (Μωυσῆν) πάσης βαρβάρου σοφίας ἀρχηγόν, ib. 35 τῆς καθ’ ἡμᾶς βαρβάρου φιλοσοφίας. By glorying in the name they gave a practical comment on the Apostle’s declaration, that the distinction of Greek and barbarian was abolished in Christ. In a similar spirit Clem. Alex. Strom. i. 16 (p. 361) endeavours to prove that οὐ μόνον φιλοσοφίας ἀλλὰ καὶ πάσης σχεδὸν τέχνης εὑρετὰι βάρβαροι.

‘Not till that word barbarian’, writes Prof. Max Müller (l.c. p. 118), ‘was struck out of the dictionary of mankind and replaced by brother, not till the right of all nations of the world to be classed as members of one genus or kind was recognised, can we look even for the first beginnings of our science. This change was effected by Christianity.... Humanity is a word which you look for in vain in Plato or Aristotle; the idea of mankind as one family, as the children of one God, is an idea of Christian growth: and the science of mankind, and of the languages of mankind, is a science which, without Christianity, would never have sprung into life. When people had been taught to look upon all men as brethren, then and then only, did the variety of human speech present itself as a problem that called for a solution in the eyes of thoughtful observers: and I therefore date the real beginning of the science of language from the first day of Pentecost.... The common origin of mankind, the differences of race and language, the susceptibility of all nations of the highest mental culture, these become, in the new world in which we live, problems of scientific, because of more than scientific interest’. St Paul was the great exponent of the fundamental principle in the Christian Church which was symbolized on the day of Pentecost, when he declared, as here, that in Christ there is neither Ἕλλην nor βάρβαρος, or as in Rom. i. 14 that he himself was a debtor equally Ἕλλησίν τε καὶ βαρβάροις.

Σκύθης] the lowest type of barbarian. There is the same collocation of words in Dionys. Halic. Rhet. xi. 5, 6 πατήρ, βάρβαρος, Σκύθης, νέος, Æsch. c. Ctes. 172 Σκύθης, βάρβαρος, ἑλληνίζων τῇ φωνῇ (of Demosthenes). The savageness of the Scythians was proverbial. The earlier Greek writers indeed, to whom omne ignotum was pro magnifico, had frequently spoken of them otherwise (see Strabo vii. 3. 7 sq., p. 300 sq.). Æschylus for instance called them ἔυνομοι Σκύθαι, Fragm. 189 (comp. Eum. 703). Like the other Hyperboreans, they were a simple, righteous people, living beyond the vices and the miseries of civilisation. But the common estimate was far different, and probably far more true: e.g. 3 Macc. vii. 5 νόμου Σκυθῶν ἀγριωτέραν ... ὠμότητα (comp. 2 Macc. iv. 47), Joseph. c. Ap. ii. 37 Σκύθαι ... βραχὺ τῶν θηρίων διαφέροντες, Philo Leg. ad Cai. 2 (II p. 547) Σαρματῶν γένη καὶ Σκυθῶν, ἅπερ οὐχ ἧττον ἐξηγρίωται τῶν Γερμανικῶν, Tertull. adv. Marc. i. 1 ‘Scytha tetrior’. In Vit. Moys. ii. 4 (I. p. 137) Philo seems to place the Egyptians and the Scythians at the two extremes in the scale of barbarian nations. The passages given in Wetstein from classical writers are hardly less strong in the same direction. Anacharsis the Scythian is said to have retorted ἑμοὶ δὲ πάντες Ἕλληνες σκυθίζουσιν, Clem. Strom. i. 16 (p. 364).

The Jews had a special reason for their unfavourable estimate of the Scythians. In the reign of Josiah hordes of these northern barbarians had deluged Palestine and a great part of Western Asia (Herod. i. 103–106). The incident indeed is passed over in silence in the historical books; but the terror inspired by these invaders has found expression in the prophets (Ezek. xxxviii, xxxix, Jer. i. 13 sq., vi. 1 sq.), and they left behind them a memorial in the Greek name of Beth-shean, Σκυθῶν πόλις (Judith iii. 10, 2 Macc. xii. 29: comp. Judges i. 27 LXX) or Σκυθόπολις, which seems to have been derived from a settlement on this occasion (Plin. N.H. v. 16; see Ewald. Gesch. III. p. 689 sq., Grove s.v. Scythopolis in Smith’s Bibl. Dict.).

Hence Justin, Dial. § 28 (p. 246 A), describing the largeness of the new dispensation, says κἂν Σκύθης ᾖ τις ἢ Πέρσης, ἔχει δὲ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ γνῶσιν καὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ φυλάσσει τὰ αἴωνια δίκαια ... φίλος ἐστὶ τῷ Θεῷ, where he singles out two different but equally low types of barbarians, the Scythians being notorious for their ferocity, the Persians for their licentiousness (Clem. Alex. Pæd. i. 7, p. 131, Strom. iii. 2, p. 515, and the Apologists generally). So too the Pseudo-Lucian, Philopatris 17, satirising Christianity, ΚΡ. τόδε εἶπε, εἰ καὶ τὰ τῶν Σκυθῶν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἐγχαράτουσι. ΤΡ. πάντα, εἰ τύχοι γε χρηστὸς καὶ ἐν ἔθνεσι. From a misconception of this passage in the Colossians, heresiologers distinguished four main forms of heresy in the pre-Christian world, βαρβαρισμός, σκυθισμός, ἑλληνισμός, ἰουδαϊσμός; so Epiphan. Epist. ad. Acac. 2 σαφῶς γὰρ περὶ τούτων τῶν τεσσάρων αἱρέσεων ὁ ἀπόστολος ἐπιτεμὼν ἔφη, Ἐν γὰρ Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ οὐ βάρβαρος, οὐ Σκύθης, οὐχ Ἕλλην, οὐκ Ἰουδαῖος, ἀλλὰ καινὴ κτίσις: comp. Hær. i. 4, 7 sq., I. p. 5, 8 sq., Anaceph. II. pp. 127, 129 sq.

τὰ πάντὰ κ.τ.λ.] ‘Christ is all things and in all things.’ Christ has dispossessed and obliterated all distinctions of religious prerogative and intellectual preeminence and social caste; Christ has substituted Himself for all these; Christ occupies the whole sphere of human life and permeates all its developments; comp. Ephes. i. 23 τοῦ τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν πληρουμένου. For τὰ πάντα, which is stronger than οἱ πάντες, see Gal. iii. 22 συνέκλεισεν ἡ γραφὴ τὰ πάντα ὑπὸ ἁμαρτίαν with the note. In this passage ἐν πᾶσιν is probably neuter, as in 2 Cor. xi. 6, Phil. iv. 12, 1 Tim. iii. II, 2 Tim. ii. 7, iv. 5, Ephes. iv. 6, vi. 16.

In the parallel passage Gal. iii. 28 the corresponding clause is πάντες ὑμεῖς ἑῖς ἐστὲ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. The inversion here accords with a chief motive of the epistle, which is to assert the absolute and universal supremacy of Christ; comp. i. 17 sq., ii. 10 sq., 19. The two parts of the antithesis are combined in our Lord’s saying, Joh. xiv. 20 ὑμεῖς ἐν ἐμοί, κἀγὼ ἐν ὑμῖν.

12–15. ‘Therefore, as the elect of God, as a people consecrated to His service and specially endowed with His love, array yourselves in hearts of compassion, in kindliness and humility, in a gentle and yielding spirit. Bear with one another: forgive freely among yourselves. As your Master forgave you His servants, so ought ye to forgive your fellow-servants. And over all these robe yourselves in love; for this is the garment which binds together all the graces of perfection. And let the one supreme umpire in your hearts, the one referee amidst all your difficulties, be the peace of Christ, which is the destined goal of your Christian calling, in which is realised the unity belonging to members of one body. Lastly of all; show your gratitude by your thanksgiving.’

1. In the Gospels κλητοί and ἐκλεκτοί are distinguished as an outer and an inner circle (Matt. xxii. 14 πολλοὶ γάρ εἰσιν κλητοί, ὀλίγοι δὲ ἐκλεκτοί), κλητοί being those summoned to the privileges of the Gospel and ἐκλεκτοί those appointed to final salvation (Matt. xxiv. 22, 24, 31, Mark xiii. 20, 22, 27, Luke xviii. 7). But in St Paul no such distinction can be traced. With him the two terms seem to be coextensive, as two aspects of the same process, κλητοί having special reference to the goal and ἐκλεκτοί to the starting-point. The same persons are ‘called’ to Christ, and ‘chosen out’ from the world. Thus in 1 Thess. i. 4 εἰδότες τὴν ἐκλογὴν ὑμῶν κ.τ.λ. the word clearly denotes election to Church-membership. Thus also in 2 Tim. ii. 10, where St Paul says that he endures all things διὰ τοὺς ἐκλεκτούς, adding ἵνα καὶ αὐτὸι σωτηρίας τύχωσιν κ.τ.λ., the uncertainty implied in these last words clearly shows that election to final salvation is not meant. In the same sense he speaks of an individual Christian as ‘elect’, Rom. xvi. 13. And again in 1 Cor. i. 26, 27 βλέπετε τὴν κλῆσιν ὑμῶν ... τὰ μῶρα τοῦ κόσμου ἐξελέξατο, the words appear as synonymes. The same is also the usage of St Peter. Thus in an opening salutation he addresses whole Christian communities as ἐκλεκτοί (1 Pet. i. 1; comp. v. 13 ἡ συνεκλεκτὴ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι, i.e. probably ἐκκλησία), as St Paul under similar circumstances (Rom. i. 6, 7, 1 Cor. i. 2) designates them κλητοί; and in another passage (2 Pet. i. 10) he appeals to his readers to make their κλῆσις and ἐκλογή sure.

The use of ἐκλεκτός in 2 Joh. 1. 13 is apparently the same; and in Apoc. xvii. 14 οἱ μετ’ αὐτοῦ κλητοὶ καὶ ἐκλεκτοὶ καὶ πιστοί this is also the case, as we may infer from the addition of πιστοί, which points to those who have been true to their ‘calling and election’. Thus the Gospels stand alone in this respect. In fact ἐκλογή denotes election by God not only to final salvation, but to any special privilege or work, whether it be