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

κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ] ‘before Him,’ i.e. ‘Himself,’ as in the parallel passage, Ephes. i. 4; if the construction here adopted be correct. For this use of the personal pronoun instead of the reflexive see the note on εἰς αὐτόν, ver. 20. But does κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ refer to God’s future judgment or His present approbation? The latter seems more probable, both because the expression certainly has this meaning in the parallel passage, Ephes. i. 4, and because κατενώπιαν, ἐνώπιον, κατέναντι, etc., are commonly so used; e.g. Rom. xiv. 22, 1 Cor. i. 29, 2 Cor. ii. 17, iv. 2, vii. 12, xii. 19, etc. On the other hand, where the future judgment is intended, a different expression is found, 2 Cor. v. 10 ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ βήματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Thus God is here regarded, not as the judge who tries the accused, but as the μωμοσκόπος who examines the victims (Polyc. Phil. 4, see the note on Ephes. i. 4). Compare Heb. iv. 12, 13 for a closely allied metaphor. The passage in Jude 24, στῆσαι κατενώπιον τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ ἀμώμους ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει, though perhaps referring to final approval, is too different in expression to influence the interpretation of Paul’s language here.

τεθεμελιωμένοι κ.τ.λ.] ‘built on a foundation and so firm’; not like the house of the foolish man in the parable who built χωρὶς θεμελίου, Luke vi. 49. For τεθεμελιωμένοι comp. Ephes. iii. 17. The consequence of τεθεμελιωμένοι is ἑδραῖοι: Clem. Rom. 33 ἥδρασεν ἐπὶ τὸν ἀσφαλῆ τοῦ ἰδίου βουλήματος θεμέλιον . The words ἑδραῖος, ἑδράζω, etc., are not uncommonly applied to buildings, e.g. ἑδραίωμα 1 Tim. iii. 15. Comp. Ign. Ephes. 10 ὑμεῖς ἑδραῖοι τῇ πίστει.

ἐν πάσῃ κτίσει] ‘among every creature,’ in fulfilment of the Lord’s last command, Mark xvi. 15 κηρύξατε τὸ ευαγγέλιον πάσῃ τῇ κτίσει. Here however the definitive article, though found in the received text, ἐν πάσῃ τῇ κτίσει, must be omitted in accordance with the best authorities. For the meanings of πᾶσα κτίσις, πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις, see the note on ver. 15. The expression πᾶσα κτίσις must not be limited to man. The statement is given in the broadest form, all creation animate and inanimate being included, as in Rev. v. 13 πᾶν κτίσμα ... καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς πάντα ἥκουσα λέγοντα κ.τ.λ. For the hyperbole ἐν πάσῃ κτίσει compare 1 Thess. i. 8 ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ. To demand statistical exactness in such a context would be to require what is never required in similar cases. The motive of the Apostle here is at once to emphasize the universality of the genuine Gospel, which has been offered without reserve to all alike, and to appeal to its publicity, as the credential and guarantee of its truth: see the notes on ver. 6 ἐν παντὶ τῷ κόσμῳ and on ver. 28 πάντα ἄνθρωπον.

οὖ ἐγενόμην κ.τ.λ.] Why does St Paul introduce this mention of himself so abruptly? His motive can hardly be the assertion of his Apostolic authority, for it does not appear that this was questioned; otherwise he would have declared his commission in stronger terms. We can only answer that impressed with the dignity of his office, as involving the offer of grace to the Gentiles, he cannot refrain from magnifying it. At the same time this mention enables him to link himself in bonds of closer sympathy with the Colossians, and he passes on at once to his relations with them: comp. Ephes. iii. 2–9, 1 Tim. i. 11 sq., in which latter passage the introduction of his own name is equally abrupt.

24–27. ‘Now when I see the full extent of God’s mercy, now when I ponder over His mighty work of reconciliation, I cannot choose but rejoice in my sufferings. Yes, I Paul the persecutor, I Paul the feeble and sinful, am permitted to supplement—I do not shrink from the word—to supplement the afflictions of Christ. Despite all that He underwent, He the Master has left something still for me the servant to undergo. And so my flesh is privileged to suffer for His body—His spiritual body, the Church. I was appointed a minister of the Church, a steward in God’s household, for this very purpose, that I might administer my office on your behalf, might dispense to you Gentiles the stores which His bountiful grace has provided. Thus I was charged to preach without reserve the whole Gospel of God, to proclaim the great mystery which had remained a secret through all the ages and all the generations from the beginning, but which now in these last times was revealed to His holy people. For such was His good pleasure. God willed to make known to them, in all its inexhaustible wealth thus displayed through the call of the Gentiles, the glorious revelation of this mystery—Christ not the Saviour of the Jews only, but Christ dwelling in you, Christ become to you the hope of glory.’

24. Νῦν χαίρω] A sudden outburst of thanksgiving, that he, who was less than the least, who was not worthy to be called an Apostle, should be allowed to share and even to supplement the sufferings of Christ. The relative ὅς, which is found in some authorities, is doubtless the repetition of the final syllable of δίακονος; but its insertion would be assisted by the anxiety of scribes to supply a connecting link between the sentences. The genuine reading is more characteristic of St Paul. The abruptness, which dispenses with a connecting particle, has a parallel in Tim. i. 12 χάριν ἔχω τῷ ἐνδυναμώσαντί με Χριστῷ κ.τ.λ., where also the common text inserts a link of connexion, καὶ χάριν ἔχω κ.τ.λ. Compare also 2 Cor. vii. 9 νῦν χαίρω, οὐχ ὅτι κ.τ.λ., where again there is no connecting particle.

The thought underlying νῦν seems to be this: ‘If ever I have been disposed to repine at my lot, if ever I have felt my cross almost too heavy to bear, yet now–now, when I contemplate the lavish wealth of God’s mercy—now when I see all the glory of bearing a part in this magnificent work—my sorrow is turned to joy.’

ἀνταναπληρῶ] ‘I fill up on my part’, ‘I supplement.’ The single compound ἀναπληροῦν occurs several times (e.g. 1 Cor. xiv. 16, xvi. 17, Gal. vi. 2); another double compound προσαναπληροῦν twice (2 Cor. ix. 12, xi. 9; comp. Wisd. xix. 4, v.l.); but ἀνταναπληροῦν only here in the LXX or New Testament. For this verb compare Demosth. de Symm. p. 182 τούτων τῶν συμμοριῶν ἑκάστην διελεῖν κελεύω πέντε μέρη κατὰ δώδεκα ἄνδρας, ἀνταναπληροῦντας πρὸς τὸν εὐπορώτατον ἀεὶ τοὺς ἀπορωτάτους (where τοὺς ἀπορωτάτους should be taken as the subject to ἀνταναπληροῦντας), Dion Cass. xliv. 48 ἵν’ ὅσον ... ἐνέδει, τοῦτο ἐκ τῆς παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων συντελείας ἀνταναπληρωθῇ, Clem. Alex. Strom. vii. 12 p. 878 οὗτος ... τὴν ἀποστολικὴν ἀπουσίαν ἀνταναπληροῖ, Apollon. Constr. Or. i. 3 (p. 13 sq.) ἡ ἀντωνυμία ἀνταναπληροῦσα καὶ τὴν θέσιν τοῦ ὀνόματος καὶ τὴν τάξιν τοῦ ῥήματος, Ptol. Math. Comp. vi. 9 (I. p. 435 ed. Halma) ἐπεὶ δ’ ἡ μὲν ἐλλείπειν ἐποίει τὴν ἀποκατάστασιν ἡ δὲ πλεονάζειν κατά τινα συντυχίαν ἣν ἴσως καὶ ὁ Ἵππαρχος ἀνταναπληρουμένην πως κατανενοήκει κ.τ.λ. The substantive ἀνταναπλήρωσις occurs in Diog. Laert. x. 48. So too ἀνταναπλήθειν Xen. Hell. ii. 4. 11, 12 ξυνετάξαντο, ὥστε ἑμπλῆσαι τὴν ὁδόν ... οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς φυλῆς ἀντανέπλησαν ... τὴν ὁδόν. Compare also ἀντανισοῦν Themist. Paraphr. Arist. 43 B οὐδὲν κωλύει κατὰ ταὐτὸν ἄλλοθί που μεταβάλλειν ἀέρα εἰς ὕδωρ καὶ ἀντανισοῦσθαι τὸν σύμπαντα ὄγκον, and ἀντανίσωμα Joseph. Ant. xviii. 9. 7. The meaning of ἀντὶ in this compound will be plain from the passages quoted. It signifies that the supply comes from an opposite quarter to the deficiency.

This idea is more or less definitely expressed in the context of all the passages, in the words which are spaced. The force of ἀνταναπληροῦν in St Paul is often explained as denoting simply that the supply corresponds in extent to the deficiency. This interpretation practically deprives ἀντί of any meaning, for ἀναπληροῦν alone would denote as much. If indeed the supply had been the subject of the verb, and the sentence had run τὰ παθήματά μου ἀνταναπληροῖ τὰ ὑστηρήματα κ.τ.λ., this idea might perhaps be reached without sacrificing the sense of ἀντί; but in such a passage as this, where one personal agent is mentioned in connexion with the supply and another in connexion with the deficiency, the one forming the subject and the other being involved in the object of the verb, the ἀντὶ can only describe the correspondence of these personal agents. So interpreted, it is eminently expressive here. The point of the Apostle’s boast is that Christ the sinless Master should have left something for Paul the unworthy servant to suffer. The right idea has been seized and is well expressed by Photius Amphil. 121 (I. p. 709 Migne) οὐ γὰρ ἁπλῶς φησιν Ἀναπληρῶ, ἀλλ’ Ἀνταναπληρῶ, τουτέστιν, Ἀντὶ δεσπότου καὶ διδασκάλου ὁ δοῦλος ἐγὼ καὶ μαθητὴς κ.τ.λ. Similar in meaning, though not identical, is the expression in 2 Cor. i. 5, where the sufferings of Christ are said to ‘overflow’ (περισσεύειν) upon the Apostle. The theological difficulty which this plain and natural interpretation of ἀνταναπληροῦν is supposed to involve will be considered in the note on τῶν θλίψεων.

τὰ ὑστερήματα] ‘the things lacking.’ This same word ὑστέρημα ‘deficiency’ occurs with ἀναπληροῦν 1 Cor. xvi. 17, Phil. ii. 30, and with προσαναπληροῦν 2 Cor. ix. 12, xi. 9. Its direct opposite is περίσσευμα ‘abundance, superfluity,’ 2 Cor. viii. 13, 14; comp. Luke xxi. 4. Another interpretation, which makes ὑστέρημα an antithesis to προτέρημα, explaining it as ‘the later’ as opposed to the earlier ‘sufferings of Christ,’ is neither supported by the usage of the word nor consistent with ἀνταναπληρῶ.

τῶν θλίψεων τοῦ Χριστοῦ] ‘of the afflictions of Christ,’ i.e. which Christ endured. This seems to be the only natural interpretation of the words. Others have explained them as meaning ‘the afflictions imposed by Christ,’ or ‘the afflictions endured for Christ’s sake,’ or ‘the afflictions which resemble those of Christ.’ All such interpretations put a more or less forced meaning on the genitive. All alike ignore the meaning of ἀντὶ in ἀνταναπληρῶ which points to a distinction of persons suffering. Others again suppose the words to describe St Paul’s own afflictions regarded as Christ’s, because Christ suffers in His suffering Church; e.g. Augustine in Psalm. cxlii. § 3 (IV. p. 1590) ‘Patitur, inquit, adhuc Christus pressuram, non in carne sua in qua ascendit in cælum, sed in carne mea quæ adhuc laborat in terra,’ quoting Gal. ii. 20. This last is a very favourite explanation, and has much to recommend it. It cannot be charged with wresting the meaning of αἱ θλίψεις τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Moreover it harmonizes with St Paul’s mode of speaking elsewhere. But, like the others, it is open to the fatal objection that it empties the first preposition in ἀνταναπληρῶ of any force. The central idea in this interpretation is the identification of the suffering Apostle with the suffering Christ, whereas ἀνταναπληρῶ emphasizes the distinction between the two. It is therefore inconsistent with this context, however important may be the truth which it expresses.

The theological difficulty, which these and similar explanations are intended to remove, is imaginary and not real. There is a sense in which it is quite legitimate to speak of Christ’s afflictions as incomplete, a sense in which they may be, and indeed must be, supplemented. For the sufferings of Christ may be considered from two different points of view. They are either satisfactoriæ or ædificatoriæ. They have their sacrificial efficacy, and they have their ministerial utility.

(1) From the former point of view the Passion of Christ was the one full perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. In this sense there could be no ὑστέρημα of Christ’s sufferings; for, Christ’s sufferings being different in kind from those of His servants, the two are incommensurable. But in this sense the Apostle would surely have used some other expression such as τοῦ σταυροῦ (i. 20, Eph. ii. 16 etc.), or τοῦ θανάτου (i. 22, Rom. v. 10, Heb. ii. 14, etc.), but hardly τῶν θλίψεων. Indeed θλίψις, ‘affliction,’ is not elsewhere applied in the New Testament in any sense to Christ’s sufferings, and certainly would not suggest a sacrificial act.

(2) From the latter point of view it is a simple matter of fact that the afflictions of every saint and martyr do supplement the afflictions of Christ. The Church is built up by repeated acts of self-denial in successive individuals and successive generations. They continue the work which Christ began. They bear their part in the sufferings of Christ (2 Cor. i. 7 κοινωνοὶ τῶν παθημάτων, Phil. iii. 10 κοινωνίαν τῶν παθημάτων); but St Paul would have been the last to say that they bear their part in the atoning sacrifice of Christ. This being so, St Paul does not mean to say that his own sufferings filled up all the ὑστερήματα, but only that they went towards filling them up. The present tense ἀνταναπληρῶ denotes an inchoate, and not a complete act. These ὑστερήματα will never be fully supplemented, until the struggle of the Church with sin and unbelief is brought to a close.

(1) On the one hand Protestant commentators, rightly feeling that any interpretation which infringed the completeness of the work wrought by Christ’s death must be wrong, because it would make St Paul contradict himself on a cardinal point of his teaching, have been tempted to wrest the sense of the words. They have emptied ἀνταναπληρῶ of its proper force; or they have assigned a false meaning to ὑστερήματα; or they have attached a non-natural sense to the genitive τοῦ Χριστοῦ.

(2) On the other hand Romanist commentators, while protesting (as they had a right to do) against these methods of interpretation, have fallen into the opposite error. They have found in this passage an assertion of the merits of the saints, and (as a necessary consequence) of the doctrine of indulgences. They have not observed that, if the idea of vicarious satisfaction comes into the passage at all, the satisfaction of St Paul is represented here as the same in kind with the satisfaction of Christ, however different it may be in degree; and thus they have truly exposed themselves to the reproach which Estius indignantly repudiates on their behalf, ‘quasi Christus non satis passus sit ad redemptionem nostram, ideoque supplemento martyrum opus habeat; quod impium est sentire, quodque Catholicos dicere non minus impie calumniantur hæretici.’ It is no part of a commentator here to enquire generally whether the Roman doctrine of the satisfaction of the saints can in any way be reconciled with St Paul’s doctrine of the satisfaction of Christ. It is sufficient to say that, so far as regards this particular passage, the Roman doctrine can only be imported into it at the cost of a contradiction to the Pauline doctrine. It is only fair to add however that Estius himself says, ‘quæ quidem doctrina, etsi Catholica et Apostolica sit, atque aliunde satis probetur, ex hoc tamen Apostoli loco nobis non videtur admodum solide statui posse.’ But Roman Catholic commentators generally find this meaning in the text, as may be seen from the notes of à Lapide.

τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ An antithesis of the Apostle’s own flesh and Christ’s body. This antithetical form of expression obliges St Paul to explain what he means by the body of Christ, ὅ ἐστιν ἡ ἐκκλησία; comp. ver. 18. Contrast the explanation in ver. 22 ἐν τῷ σώματι τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ, and see the note there.

25. τὴν οἰκονομίαν κ.τ.λ.] ‘stewardship in the house of God.’ The word οἰκονομία seems to have two senses: (1) ‘The actual administration of a household’; (2) ‘The office of the administrator.’ For the former meaning see the note on Ephes. i. 10; for the latter sense, which it has here, compare 1 Cor. ix. 17 οἰκονομίαν πεπίστευμαι, Luke xvi. 2–4, Isaiah xxii. 19, 21. So the Apostles and ministers of the Church are called οἰκονόμοι, 1 Cor. iv. 1, 2, Tit. i. 7: comp. 1 Pet. iv. 10.

εἰς ὑμᾶς] ‘to youward,’ i.e. ‘for the benefit of you, the Gentiles’; εἰς ὑμᾶς being connected with τὴν δοθεῖσάν μοι, as in Ephes. iii. 2 τὴν οἰκονομίαν τῆς χάριτος τοῦ Θεοῦ τῆς δοθείσης μοι εἰς ὑμᾶς; comp. Rom. xv. 16 διὰ τὴν χάριν τὴν δοθεῖσάν μοι ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰς τὸ εἶναί με λειτουργὸν Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ εἰς τὰ ἔθνη .

πληρῶσαι] ‘to fulfil,’ i.e. ‘to preach fully,’ ‘to give its complete development to’; as Rom. xv. 19 ὥστε με ἀπὸ Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ κύκλῳ μέχρι τοῦ Ἰλλυρικοῦ πεπληρωκέναι τὸ εὐαγγελίον τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Thus ‘the word of God’ here is ‘the Gospel,’ as in most places (1 Cor. xiv. 36, 2 Cor. ii. 17, iv. 2, etc.), though not always (e.g. Rom. ix. 6), in St Paul, as also in the Acts. The other interpretation, ‘to accomplish the promise of God,’ though suggested by such passages as 1 Kings ii. 27 πληρωθῆναι τὸ ῥῆμα Κυρίου, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 21 πληρωθῆναι λόγον Κυρίου, etc., is alien to the context here.

26. τὸ μυστήριον] This is not the only term borrowed from the ancient mysteries, which St Paul employs to describe the teaching of the Gospel. The word τέλειον just below, ver. 28, seems to be an extension of the same metaphor. In Phil. iv. 12 again we have the verb μεμύημαι: and in Ephes. i. 14 σφραγίζεσθαι is perhaps an image derived from the same source. So too the Ephesians are addressed as Παύλου συμμύσται in Ign. Ephes. 12. The Christian teacher is thus regarded as a ἱεροφάντης (see Epict. iii. 21. 13 sq.) who initiates his disciples into the rites. There is this difference however; that, whereas the heathen mysteries were strictly confined to a narrow circle, the Christian mysteries are freely communicated to all. There is therefore an intentional paradox in the employment of the image by St Paul. See the notes on πάντα ἄνθρωπον τέλειον below.

Thus the idea of secresy or reserve disappears when μυστήριον is adopted into the Christian vocabulary by St Paul: and the word signifies simply ‘a truth which was once hidden but now is revealed,’ ‘a truth which without special revelation would have been unknown.’ Of the nature of the truth itself the word says nothing. It may be transcendental, incomprehensible, mystical, mysterious, in the modern sense of the term (1 Cor. xv. 51, Eph. v. 32): but this idea is quite accidental, and must be gathered from the special circumstances of the case, for it cannot be inferred from the word itself. Hence μυστήριον is almost universally found in connexion with words denoting revelation or publication; e.g. ἀποκαλύπτειν, ἀποκάλυψις, Rom. xvi. 25, Ephes. iii. 3, 5, 2 Thess. ii. 7; γνωρίζειν Rom. xvi. 26, Ephes. i. 9, iii. 3, 10, vi. 19; φανεροῦν Col. iv. 3, Rom. xvi. 26, 1 Tim. iii. 16; λαλεῖν iv. 3, 1 Cor. ii. 7, xiv. 2; λέγειν, 1 Cor. xv. 51.

But the one special ‘mystery’ which absorbs St Paul’s thoughts in the Epistles to the Colossians and Ephesians is the free admission of the Gentiles on equal terms to the privileges of the covenant. For this he is a prisoner; this he is bound to proclaim fearlessly (iv. 3, Ephes. vi. 19); this, though hidden from all time, was communicated to him by a special revelation (Ephes. iii. 3 sq.); in this had God most signally displayed the lavish wealth of His goodness (ver. 27, ii. 2 sq., Ephes. i. 6 sq., iii. 8 sq.). In one passage only throughout these two epistles is μυστήριον applied to anything else, Ephes. v. 32. The same idea of the μυστήριον appears very prominently also in the thanksgiving (added apparently later than the rest of the letter) at the end of the Epistle to the Romans, xvi. 25 sq. μυστηρίου ... εἰς ὑπακοὴν πίστεως εἰς πάντα τὰ ἔθνη γνωρισθέντος.