RSV ~ Colossians 1 Notes
Col 1:1 | ISB Notes
Paul: Ancient epistles opened with the senderâs name,unlike modern letters, which identify the sender at the end. Paul presents himself as an apostle or ambassador of the Lord Jesus (2 Cor 5:20) whose mission is to preach to the âGentilesâ and to the âsons of Israelâ living among them (Acts 9:15). The focus of his teaching is Christ, the Messiah, whom Paul addresses by this title 25 times in Colossians.
Timothy: One of Paulâs closest associates now present with him, probably in Rome. Like the apostle, he was a man of great pastoral abilities (Phil 2:19-23).
Col 1:2 | ISB Notes
Grace ⌠peace: A standard Pauline greeting.
Col 1:3-8 | ISB Notes
Nearly every Pauline epistle opens with a prayer of thanksgiving. Here Paul is grateful that the Colossians received the gospel (1:6) and that God is producing in their lives a full measure of faith, hope, and love (Rom 5:1-5; Gal 5:5-6). Although unacquainted with his readers personally (Col 1:4), Paul intercedes for them on a regular basis (1:3, 9) and encourages them to return the favor (4:3) (CCC 2632). See note on 1 Cor 13:13.
Col 1:5 | ISB Notes
word of the truth: The gospel liberates us from both ignorance and error (Jn 8:31-32). To disregard or repudiate the revealed truth of God is to prefer darkness to light and blindness to spiritual sight (2 Cor 4:3-4; Eph 4:17-20).
Col 1:6 | ISB Notes
the whole world: The whole Roman world, at least (Rom 1:8). With stunning success, the Christian message was finding believers everywhere it went and blessing their lives in remarkable ways. Colossae likewise embraced the truth and became part of the worldwide harvest of the gospel.
Col 1:7 | ISB Notes
Epaphras: The founder of the Colossian Church and Paulâs informant on their situation. He was a native of the region who also ministered in the nearby cities of Laodicea and Hierapolis (4:12-13). Paul considers Epaphrasâ missionary work among Gentiles an extension of his own (1:7-8).
Col 1:10 | ISB Notes
bearing fruit: Paul prays often that God will bless the Colossians with spiritual wisdom and a deeper desire to grow in faith. He wants them to honor the Father with their lives and allow the Spirit to work unhindered within them (Gal 5:16-24; Phil 2:13).
Col 1:12 | ISB Notes
qualified us: i.e., by the grace of divine adoption. For Paul, it is our sonship in Christ that makes us heirs of all that the Father desires and intends to give us (Rom 8:16-17; Gal 4:4-7).
inheritance of the saints: Salvation in the heavenly kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:9-10). Even now believers possess a first installment of this inheritance through the indwelling of the Spirit (Eph 1:13-14). An equivalent expression occurs in the Dead Sea Scrolls (âthe lot of the saintsâ, 1QS 11, 7-8).
Col 1:13 | ISB Notes
transferred us: Christ removes us from the darkness of evil into the light of faith and friendship with God. Scripture often portrays the effects of salvation in these terms (Jn 12:35-36; Eph 5:11-14; 1 Pet 2:9).
⢠The Council of Trent declared in 1547 that our justification in Christ, which takes place in Baptism, transfers us from the fallen family of Adam to the glorious family of God (Sess. 6, chap. 4) (CCC 1250).
Col 1:14 | ISB Notes
we have redemption: Believers have been rescued from the slavery of sin and the debt of guilt by the ransom price of Christâs blood (CCC 517, 2839). See note on Eph 1:7.
Col 1:15-20 | ISB Notes
An ancient hymn that extols Christâs deity and supremacy over creation. Emphasis is placed on his role as Creator, through whom all things were made (1:15-17), and as Redeemer, who renews all things with his grace (1:1820). As the preeminent Lord, Christ is enthroned far above every power on earth and every order of angels in heaven. He has neither rival nor peer, and his redeeming work transforms the old creation into a new creation through his body, the universal Church (1:18; 2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15).
⢠The preexistence of Christ from eternity and his active role as Creator together recall biblical poetry that personifies Godâs âWisdomâ as the divine architect of heaven and earth (Prov 8:22-31; Wis 7:2228). Paul associates Christ with âwisdomâ also in Col 2:3 and 1 Cor 1:24, 30 (CCC 299).
Col 1:15 | ISB Notes
He is the image: Christ makes visible the life and love of the invisible God (Jn 1:18; Rom 5:8). His humanity is thus the sacrament that brings the Father into view (Jn 14:9). Although man was created in Godâs image, something more is said of Christ, who is that image in the most perfect sense (2 Cor 4:4; Heb 1:3).
⢠The hymn may allude to the creation of Adam, the first man to bear the image of God (Gen 1:26) and pass it along to his progeny (Gen 5:3). Because the image Adam bequeathed to the human family was damaged and disfigured by sin, Christ comes to reverse what Adam did by reshaping our image in the likeness of his own (Col 3:10; Rom 8:29; 1 Cor 15:49).
⢠Christ is the image because he is of one substance with the Father. He comes from the Father, and not the Father from him, since the nature of an image is to copy the original and to be named after it (St. Gregory Nazianzen, Orations 30). the first-born: The term for an eldest child, with emphasis on his legal right of inheritance (Deut 21:1519). Since Christ is the first and only (natural) Son begotten of the Father, he is the designated heir of the Fatherâs estate, which is the entire cosmos (Heb 1:2). Paulâs point is not that Jesus is the noblest part of creation, but that Jesus has the filial right to possess all of creation as his inheritance.
See word study: First-born at Heb 1:6.
⢠The apostle calls him the first-born of all creation. Notice he says first-born, not first created, that we may believe he is begotten in virtue of his nature and first in virtue of his eternity (St. Ambrose, On the Faith 1, 7).
Col 1:16 | ISB Notes
thrones ⌠dominions ⌠principalities ⌠authorities: Names for various classes of angels. No distinction is made here between blessed angels and demonic spirits, since Paulâs point is that Christ reigns supreme over the entire host of benevolent and malevolent spirits (CCC 331). For the order of the angelic choirs in Catholic tradition, .
Col 1:18 | ISB Notes
He is the head: Points to Christâs union with the Church, who as head directs and oversees the activities of his members. Paulâs analogy can likewise stress that the head and
body share the same life (Rom 12:5) and that each member of the body is assigned a particular task for the good of the whole (1 Cor 12:12-26) (CCC 753, 792). See word study: Unite at Eph 1:10. first-born from the dead: Christ was the first to be raised immortal from the grave (Rev 1:5). This mystery of faith is reproduced in the lives of believers as their souls are resurrected in grace through the sacraments (Col 3:1; Rom 6:4) and their bodies are raised in glory on the last day (Col 3:4; Rom 8:11) (CCC 658).
Col 1:19 | ISB Notes
the fulness of God: Christ is fully divine because the plenitude of divine life, power, and holiness resides within him (2:9; Jn 1:16). This is one of the clearest assertions of Christâs deity in the NT (Jn 1:1; Tit 2:13).
Col 1:20 | ISB Notes
to reconcile: The death of Jesus restores peace between the Father and the human family (2 Cor 5:18-19; Eph 2:1318). This friendship was interrupted by the rebellion of Adam, who stripped the family of man of its inheritance and caused disorder and corruption to prevail throughout the world (Gen 3:1-24; Rom 5:12). Harmony is now being restored as the grace of the New Covenant permeates and renews the cosmos (Rom 8:19-23) (CCC 2305).
Col 1:22 | ISB Notes
holy and blameless: Once pagans and enemies of God, the baptized Colossians have been separated from sin and consecrated to the Lord. See note on Eph 1:4.
Col 1:23 | ISB Notes
preached to every creature: Rhetorical exaggeration for the first century, but nevertheless the goal of Christâs missionary mandate (Mk 16:15). Paul is describing the future as though it has already happened, perhaps as a way of emphasizing its certainty in the plan of God. See note on 1:6.
Col 1:24 | ISB Notes
my sufferings: The many afflictio
ns that Paul endured throughout his missionary career (2 Cor 11:2329). Joy in the midst of suffering is a common NT theme (Mt 5:11-12; Acts 5:41; 1 Pet 4:13). what is lacking: i.e., the suffering that remains for believers in the trials of life. Suffering is a mission for all the faithful as a means of conforming ourselves to Christ (Rom 8:17; Phil 3:10), but suffering is a special calling for ministers of the gospel like Paul, who endure many afflictions in the effort to bring salvation to others (2 Cor 1:6; 4:11-15) (CCC 307, 618, 1508).
⢠These words could be misunderstood to mean that the suffering of Christ was not sufficient for redemption and that the suffering of the saints must be added to complete it. This, however, would be heretical. Christ and the Church are one mystical person, and while the merits of Christ, the head, are infinite, the saints acquire merit in a limited degree. What is âlackingâ, then, pertains to the afflictions of the entire Church, to which Paul adds his own amount (St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Colossians 1, 6).
Col 1:26 | ISB Notes
the mystery: The plan of salvation, long concealed in the Scriptures but now revealed in the gospel (Rom 16:25-26). It is the deliverance of man from sin and the spread of Christâs worldwide kingdom through the Church. Paul here stresses that believing Gent
iles possess the indwelling presence of Christ, which is a pledge or down payment toward their future resurrection in glory (Col 1:27; Rom 8:10-11) (CCC 772). See word study: Mystery at Eph 3:3.
Col 1:28 | ISB Notes
mature: Or âperfectâ. Paul aims to bring believers to a deeper understanding of the gospel and to a deeper commitment to apply it to their daily lives (4:12). Perfection is a goal that requires both effort and endurance (1:29; Phil 3:12-15).