ACC ~ Colossians 1 v1 - 8

OVERVIEW:

From the outset it is clear that Paul is emphasizing the sovereign and trustworthy will of God in all that happens for our salvation (CHRYSOSTOM). That will unfolds through the saving activity in Jesus Christ and not from any other means (SEVERIAN). This activity produces in us a steadfast assurance of final salvation and thus a real sharing in the eternal life of the kingdom (THEODORE). For pastoral reasons, these remarks are couched in the form of praise so that the Colossians will be strengthened in the midst of affliction for the exhortation to follow (THEODORET). Most remarkable is the central focus placed by Paul on Christ himself as the sole means of salvation, such that we must look only to him in giving thanks (AMBROSIASTER). Our focus must be on eternal life as a gift from God and not as the fruit of human praise (PELAGIUS).

1:1 | By the Will of God

NOT THROUGH ANGELS. CHRYSOSTOM: It would be wise to explain how we have discovered the occasion and subject of this epistle as we have considered it. What, then, are they? The Colossians used to approach God through angels; they followed many Jewish and Grecian observances. Paul is correcting these practices. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 1.

1:2 | Grace to You and Peace from God Our Father

ONLY FROM GOD. CHRYSOSTOM: What is the source of grace for you? And peace? “From God our Father,” Paul writes. In this place Paul does not mention the name of Christ. I will ask those who speak disparagingly of the Spirit, in what way is God the Father of servants? Who wrought these mighty achievements? Who made you a saint? Who faithful? Who a son of God? He who made you worthy to be trusted is the same who caused you to be entrusted with all. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 1.

1:5 | The Hope Laid Up for You in Heaven

A SECURE HOPE. CHRYSOSTOM: [Paul] speaks of the good things to come. He has in view their temptations. They should not seek their rest here. … “Because of the hope,” he says, “which is laid up.” He shows how secure this hope is. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 1.

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: So that you may pursue the good things of heaven, a firm hope for these very things is maintained, provided that all that comes from you is consistent with them. COMMENTARY ON COLOSSIANS.

SEVERIAN OF GABALA: Paul shows them that the governance of angels does not fulfill the hope laid before us of the resurrection and the kingdom. These happen by the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

THEODORET OF CYR: We already see heaven with the eyes of faith, even as we prepare for it in the present with an eager spirit. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

THE GROUNDING OF HOPE. ISAAC OF NINEVEH: Bodily discipline performed in stillness purifies the body of the matter within it. But the discipline of the mind humbles the soul, filters out her crass notions of things that perish and draws her from the state where the thoughts are passionately engrossed and toward the state where they are moved by her divine vision. … This divine, contemplative vision of heavenly things comes to us precisely when, engaged in bodily and mental discipline, we are the recipients of an unutterably pristine glory that separates [us] from this world and our thoughts of it. By this we are thoroughly convinced of our hope which is laid up for us and we stand in full assurance of its state. HOMILIES 43.

1:6a | The Gospel That Has Come to You

COME TO STAY. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul speaks metaphorically when he writes, “is come.” He means, it did not come and go away, but that it remained and was there. Many doctrines are most strongly confirmed if they are held in common with many. Therefore Paul added, “As also it is in all the world.” The gospel is present everywhere, everywhere victorious, everywhere established. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 1.

1:6b | In the Whole World It Is Bearing Fruit and Growing

AS A PLANT GROWS. CHRYSOSTOM: “Bearing fruit.” In works. “Increasing.” By the coming to faith of many, by becoming firmer; for plants then begin to thicken when they have become firm. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 1.

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Not only is the faith known throughout the world, but it grows daily … and just as it grows daily in extent, it also grows in depth among you. COMMENTARY ON COLOSSIANS.

SEVERIAN OF GABALA: The gospel has come not only to the Colossians, but to the whole world, where it is powerful and grows by means of the preached word. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

THEODORET OF CYR: The “fruit of the gospel” refers to those who hear the gospel and respond with a praiseworthy life. The “growth” is the increase in the number of believers. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

ESCHATOLOGICAL GROWTH. AUGUSTINE: It is much less surprising that he [Paul] used his verbs in the present tense in that passage which, as you remarked, he repeated again and again: “For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, which you have heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which is come to you as also it is in the whole world, and brings forth fruit and grows.” Although the gospel did not yet embrace the whole world, he said that it brings forth fruit and grows in the whole world, in order to show how far it would extend in bearing fruit and growing. If, then, it is hidden from us when the whole world will be filled by the church bringing forth fruit and growing, undoubtedly it is hidden from us when the end will be, but it certainly will not be before that. LETTERS 199.12-51.

THE TRUE CHURCH IS UNIVERSAL. TERTULLIAN: I am accustomed in my prescription against all heresies to fix my concise and comprehensive criterion [of truth] in the testimony of time, claiming priority therein as our rule and alleging lateness to be the characteristic of every heresy. This shall be proved even by the apostle, when he says: “For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, which you have heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; which has come to you, as it has to the whole world.” For if, even at that time, the tradition of the gospel had spread everywhere, how much more now! Now, if it is our gospel which has spread everywhere, rather than any heretical gospel, much less Marcion’s, which only dates from the reign of Antoninus, then ours will be the gospel of the apostles. AGAINST MARCION 5.19.

AUGUSTINE: “The gospel has come to you, as it is in all the world, and brings forth fruit.” The Son of God said with his own mouth, “You shall be witnesses to me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth.” Caecilianus, the bishop of the church of Carthage, is accused with human contentiousness; the church of Christ, established among all nations, is recommended by the voice of God. LETTERS 185.1-5.

AUGUSTINE: There are both good and bad in the Catholic church, which has spread not in Africa alone, as the Donatist sect has done, but through all nations, as it was promised, and which extends throughout the whole world, as the apostle says, bringing forth fruit and increasing. LETTERS 208.1-6.

AUGUSTINE: Honor, love and praise the holy church, your mother, the heavenly Jerusalem, the holy City of God. It is she who, in this faith which you have received, bears fruit and spreads throughout the world. She is the “church of the living God, the pillar and mainstay of truth,” who, in dispensing the sacraments, tolerates the wicked who are eventually to be separated and whom, meanwhile, disparity of customs keeps at a distance. For the sake of the grain now growing amid the chaff, at the final sifting of which the harvest destined for the granary will be revealed, the church has received the keys of the kingdom of heaven. SERMONS 214.11.

1:7-8 | Love in the Spirit

AUTHENTIC CHRISTIAN LOVE. CHRYSOSTOM: Don’t doubt, Paul says, the hope which is to come: you see that the world is being converted. And why do we need to refer to the cases of others? What happened in your own case is independently a sufficient ground for belief, for “you knew the grace of God in truth”: that is, in works. So that these two things, viz. The belief of all, and your own too, confirm the things that are to come. Nor was the fact one thing, and what Epaphras said, another. … If this man be the minister of Christ, how do you say that you approach God by angels? “He has made known to us your love in the Spirit.” For this love is wonderful and steadfast. All other love has but the name. … For nothing, nothing is so strong as the bond of the Spirit. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 1.