ACC ~ Colossians 1 v20

DESCEND AND ASCEND. ORIGEN: Therefore, for that reason, it was necessary for my Lord and Savior not only to be born a man among men but also to descend to hell that as a “prepared man” he could lead away “the lot of the scapegoat into the wilderness” of hell. And returning from that place, his work completed, he could ascend to the Father and be more fully purified at the heavenly altar so that he could give a pledge of our flesh, which he had taken with him, in perpetual purity. This, therefore, is the real day of atonement when God is propitiated for men; just as the apostle also says, “Since God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.” And in another place, he says about Christ, “Making peace through the blood of his cross whether with things in heaven or things on earth.” HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 9.4.

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: Thus, as peace began to be [established], the angels proclaimed, “Glory in the highest and peace on earth.” When lower beings received [peace] from superior beings, “they cried, Glory on earth and peace in the heavens.” At that time when the divinity came down [and] was clothed in humanity, the angels cried, “Peace on earth.” And at the time when that humanity ascended in order to be absorbed into the divinity and sit on the right—“Peace in heaven”—the infants were crying forth before him, “Hosanna in the highest.” Hence, the apostle also learned that one should say, “He made peace by the blood of his cross [for] that which is in heaven and on earth.” COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 14.

ON EARTH AND IN HEAVEN, BETWEEN EARTH AND HEAVEN. ORIGEN: I believe that, when our Lord the Savior came, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were blessed with God’s mercy. Previously they had seen his day and rejoiced. It is not believable that they did not profit from it later, when he came and was born of a virgin. And why do I speak of the patriarchs? I shall boldly follow the authority of the Scriptures to higher planes, for the presence of the Lord Jesus and his work benefitted not only what is earthly but also what is heavenly. Hence the apostle too says, “Establishing peace through the blood of his cross, both on earth and in heaven.” HOMILIES ON LUKE 10.3.

CHRYSOSTOM: But what are “things in the heavens”? … The earth was divided from heaven, the angels had become enemies to men, through seeing the Lord insulted. … What Christ did on the cross was to translate up into heaven sinful humankind still in bondage to the evil one. Thus he, in effect, brought up to the angels the enemy, the hated one. Not only did he make the things on earth to be at peace, but he brought up to them the one who was their enemy and foe. Here was peace profound. Angels again appeared on the earth thereafter, because humankind from its side had appeared in heaven. HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS 3.

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: He reconciled all things (he says) in his death (that is, by his blood and his cross) and joined things on earth and in heaven for a common purpose, because he died and rose again. By rising he truly made available to all the common promise of resurrection and immortality. COMMENTARY ON COLOSSIANS.

BASIL THE GREAT: For the true peace is above. Yet, as long as we were bound to the flesh, we were yoked to many things which troubled us. Seek, then, after peace, a release from the troubles of this world. Possess a calm mind, a tranquil and unconfused state of soul, which is neither agitated by the passions nor drawn aside by false doctrines that challenge by their persuasiveness to an assent, in order that you may obtain “the peace of God which surpasses all understanding and guards your heart.” He who seeks after peace, seeks Christ, because “he himself is our peace,” who has made two men into one new man, making peace, and “making peace through the blood of his cross, whether on earth or in the heavens.” HOMILIES 16.10.

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: The Savior endured all this, “making peace through the blood of the cross, for all things whether in the heavens or on the earth.” For we were enemies of God through sin, and God had decreed the death of the sinner. One of two things, therefore, was necessary, either that God, in his truth, should destroy all men, or that in his loving-kindness, he should remit the sentence. But see the wisdom of God; he preserved the truth of his sentence and the exercise of his loving-kindness. Christ took our sins “in his body upon the tree; that we, having died to sin,” by his death “might live to justice.”He who died for us was of no small worth; he was no material sheep; he was no mere man. He was more than an angel, he was God made man. The iniquity of sinners was not as great as the justice of him who died for them. The sins we committed were not as great as the justice he wrought, who laid down his life for us. He laid it down when he willed, and he took it up again when he willed. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 13.33.

PELAGIUS: Beings on earth and beings in heaven were separated by antitheses in their way of life. Thus, we pray that God’s will may be done on earth as in heaven. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS.

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