Institute for Colossians Studies

Commentary on the Epistle to the Colossians

Ambrosiaster — Patrologia Latina, vol. 17, ed. J.-P. Migne (Paris, 1845)

Scripture lemmata are set in italics, as in the printed text. Bracketed figures such as [421B] mark Migne column and section breaks.

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Prologue

[421A]

The false apostles were trying to overthrow the Colossians. After the preaching of Epaphras or Archippus, they wanted to entangle the simplicity of their minds in philosophical arguments so that they would not reject theories about the elements, by which human life is supposedly governed. Paul therefore exhorts them by this letter and warns them not to think there is any hope in anyone except Christ, lest they be deceived.

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Chapter 1

(Col 1:1–2) “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ Jesus who are at Colossae. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

In his customary manner, he writes the opening of the letter to them. In it he goes on to address his letter to saints and faithful brothers, for whom he desires that God’s grace remain through Christ. [421B]

(Col 1:3–6) “We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, always praying for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love you have for all the saints, because of the hope stored up for you in heaven. You heard about this hope beforehand in the word of truth, the gospel, which has come to you just as it has to the whole world.”

Because God judged these people worthy to believe in his Son, Paul gives thanks to him in his prayers. He also gives thanks because of the love they had for the saints, confident that for this reason their hope is secure with God. Through Christ, its author, God is believed to reward those who believe and love one another. Christ’s name has reached [421C] every nation so that people may multiply in faith in him.

(Col 1:6–8) “And it is bearing fruit and growing, just as it is among you, from the day you heard and truly recognized the grace of God, just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and who also made known to us your love in the Spirit.”

With eager words he declares that we are growing and producing fruit that leads to life as an example to the other nations. Since they had received God’s grace, they were to advance both in number and in works, adding to their faith people who would become their brothers and sisters in Christ. Many were attracted by the example of their good works, as Epaphras testified. In the apostle’s place, Epaphras ministered Christ’s grace to them, and they immediately drank it in like a spiritual drink in the Lord’s love—a love that is not in the flesh but in the Spirit.

[421D] (Col 1:9–10) “For this reason, from the day we heard, we have not stopped praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of him, fully pleasing him in every good work.”

When the apostle heard about their devoted and ready willingness concerning [422A] faith in Christ, he prayed for them. He prayed that, by knowing God’s will more fully, they might fulfill through reasonable action the devotion they had learned when they heard the faith of Christ. Otherwise, so faithful a dedication of mind and such strength of faith might lose the fruit of its labor by doing something thoughtlessly and ignorantly. For what is done with a devoted heart and with wisdom is willingly accepted.

(Col 1:10–13) “Bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with every power according to the might of his glory for all endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to God the Father, who called you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light, who delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.”

He wants their works to increase together with knowledge, so that they will not be ignorant of the hope belonging to their [422B] faith. They are firm and stable when they recognize what has been promised for faith and how great the power of the glory of God’s majesty is in patience: God endures the human race with great patience even though, in its irreverence, it not only neglects its Creator but also persecutes those who love him. In the same way, they are to be patient themselves, enduring the insults and curses of unbelievers or even oppression if it is inflicted upon them. They should await God’s judgment without doubting it and, more than that, rejoice in the promised life while giving thanks to God. He has graciously called and brought the nations into the promise given to the Jews, which is eternal light—that is, eternal life and everlasting truth. For we have been delivered from the condition of darkness—that is, rescued from hell, where the devil held us because of both [422C] our own sin and the sin of Adam, the father of everyone who sins—and through faith we have been transferred into the heavenly kingdom of God’s Son. God did this to show us how deeply he loves us: he raised us from the depths of Tartarus and brought us into heaven with his true Son. Even now, when all believers who are devoted with steadfast minds depart from this world, they are led into heaven under the guidance of the Angel at the Father’s right hand. This was not granted before death had been defeated.

(Col 1:14) “In whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins.”

God transferred us into the kingdom of this Son of his, through whom he redeemed and set us free. The forgiveness of sins makes people free, so that once they have been released from their debts, they cannot be held liable. For without faith in Christ no one escapes from hell, because anyone bound by [422D] sins cannot pass through the gates of Tartarus.

(Col 1:15) “Who is the image of the invisible God.”

The image of the invisible God cannot be visible; otherwise it is not even an image. What is invisible cannot be painted, nor can a visible being see what is invisible. Whatever is seen is either a body, a shape, or some formed [423A] substance that the eye can perceive, yet all of it is bodily. But how can God, who is entirely distinct from all these things, have a visible image? Rather, the Son is described in this way so that he may be understood to be what the Father is. Because he comes from the Father and differs from him in no respect in the divinity of his nature, he is called the Father’s image and form, lest unbelievers believe him to be a different God. This is already contained in the title itself: he is called the true Son of God so that he may be believed to come from God himself. Yet because of false understanding, this additional description was given, and he is also called God’s image. Thus, when he appears—whether in human form or indeed in fire, as he did to Moses (Exod 3:2)—he is understood not to be the Father himself but the Son. At the same time, because he is called the Father’s image, he is believed to differ from him in no respect. This is why he says to Philip, “Philip, [423B] whoever sees me sees the Father also. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?” (John 14:9). This is the unity and shared substance of the Father and the Son: each is in the other, so that whoever sees the Son also sees the Father.

Let us now consider how the Son was seen, so that we may then understand how Philip, by seeing the Son, also saw the Father. They certainly saw the Son by understanding his divine works, not with physical eyes. The Son said that the works he performed belonged to the Father, thereby showing the unity of their power. Jacob also saw him in this same way, and for this reason he received the name Israel—that is, a man seeing God (Gen 32:28). Therefore, he is called the image of the invisible God so that he may be understood as the one who was seen and perceived to be God, while the Father has never appeared in any way. As the Gospel says, “No one has ever seen God” (John 1:18). [423C]

(Col 1:15) “The firstborn of all creation.”

He testifies that the Son was born before every creature and was not created. In this way he distinguishes the Son’s birth from the making of creation. To make this completely clear, he adds:

(Col 1:16) “Because in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, visible and invisible, whether Thrones or Dominions or Rulers or Powers. All things were created through him and in him.”

He presents Christ as magnificent and glorious not only because he was born before all things came to exist, but also because he says that all things were created in him. This means that the power of all things is believed to be in him and therefore to have proceeded from him, since everything was made through him. This is what it means for him to be the head of the whole creation: [423D] things began to exist because of him. The things made by him are also said to have been made through him because he was born for the purpose of making creation. This is what it means for creation to have been made in him and through him.

His birth did not benefit himself but us, because the one who already existed within these realities did not need to be born. How he becomes the only Son of God the Father, and how he himself knows the unbegotten realities of God the Father, he alone knows. He was in God and proceeded from God in such a way [424A] that there was one God. Thus, in his birth there is neither a diminishing of the Father nor an advancement of the Son. To explain more clearly the nature and greatness of the Son’s power, Paul identifies the things that exist through him—namely, Thrones, Dominions, Rulers, and Powers—so that the Son may be believed to possess absolutely nothing less than the Father.

(Col 1:17) “And he is before all things.”

He is before all things because he alone was born from God the Father, and therefore from the unbegotten substance of God. All these things came into existence by his power, which he possesses from the Father through generation. They do not share substance with him; rather, at the command of God the Father and through the Son’s action, they began from nothing.

(Col 1:17) “And all things hold together in him.”

They hold together in him because without him they are nothing. Unless they are subject to him, they stray through error and become liable, as it were, to destruction.

[424B] (Col 1:18) “And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself may hold first place in everything.”

Christ is the head of the church, provided that all things in heaven and on earth hold one conviction and so become the church—that is, one in faith. Otherwise, cut off from the head of the whole body and separated from their Creator, they run wild in a kind of madness and emptiness.

(Col 1:18) “He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself may hold first place in everything.”

Since all things exist through him, they had to be restored through him after becoming subject to decay through a certain negligence. Otherwise, it would have been an insult to him if his work had been restored through someone else. Just as he was born before everyone else, so once again he would be first before everyone else in the resurrection from the dead, when the former life was restored. Before all things [424C] he was born from God so that he might create everything that did not yet exist. Then he was born again, taking flesh from a virgin, so that he might abolish the sin that had entered the world through the virgin Eve. Having been born, then, and having died, he rose again so that the things he had first created, which had become almost dead through error, might afterward be created anew. Thus, in every kind of life he is always first and supreme.

(Col 1:19) “Because the Father was pleased for all fullness to dwell in him.”

Fullness is in him and remains in him because he always has power over everything. Nothing is excluded that cannot be accomplished through him: he made all things, restores them, raises up what has fallen, and gives life to the dead. This is why he says, “Just as the Father has life in himself, so he has also given the Son to have life in himself” (John 5:26), and, “Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so [424D] the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. For the Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son” (John 5:21–22). What could be more just than for the Father to give him judgment over the things he made through him? Thus, all the fullness of divinity dwells in him because, as we have said, he possesses all power in himself. This means that he is perfect God, for whoever does not possess all these things is not God.

[425A] (Col 1:20) “And through him to reconcile all things to himself, making peace through the blood of his cross, whether things in heaven or things on earth.”

This is what Paul mentioned above: God would restore through the Son all the things he had made through him, since through a certain error they had already begun to be divided both from one another and from their Maker—for there is still error among the fleshly beings in the heavens. God humbled him by causing him to become incarnate, so that by becoming human he might show and teach how the beings in the firmament and those on earth could be reconciled to their Creator. To bring this to completion, he allowed himself to be killed for human beings. He did this so that those whom he had instructed among the inhabitants of the world above could not, after departing this world, be held by the second death. In this way his teaching might produce the fruit of their original formation, and all things made through him might live in him as their author, [425B] just as Peter confesses in Acts (Acts 3:15).

(Col 1:21–22) “And you, who were once alienated and hostile in your thoughts through evil works, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so that you must present yourselves holy, spotless, and blameless in his sight.”

He recalls the nature of God’s gift to the nations in order to show how greatly indebted they are to give thanks to God. They had been hostile to his plans by which he determined to visit the human race through his servant Moses, whose teaching and authority they did not accept. They devoted themselves to their idols—or rather, to evil works—for they worshiped the works they themselves had made. Yet God’s mercy and providence sought them out so that they might receive [425C] God’s grace freely and return to him with a clean conscience. Then, on the day of judgment, when nothing from their former error was found in them, they might be incorporated into their Creator. To benefit the human race, he became incarnate and human so that in his flesh he might conquer death.

(Col 1:23–24) “If indeed you continue in the faith, founded, stable, and immovable from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven. I, Paul, became its minister, and now I rejoice in my sufferings for you and complete in my flesh what remains of Christ’s afflictions for his body, which is the church.”

Paul acknowledges that he rejoices in the troubles he was suffering because he sees his own advancement in the faith of believers. Suffering is not empty when it wins for life the person for whom one suffers. [425D] He says that these sufferings are inflicted upon Christ because it is certainly Christ’s teaching that they persecute. In this way Paul both burdens unbelievers with the guilt of their impiety and proclaims God’s love to the faithful, since God’s Son continues to suffer injuries for us even now.

Paul now wants them to understand why he writes to them when he says, “If indeed you continue, founded in the faith.” They were to know that Christ’s suffering benefits them only if they remain in the faith they received. From the beginning, therefore, Paul has declared how great and infinite the mighty omnipotence of Christ is, so that he might teach them to place their hope in him alone. All things belong to him, and nothing in heaven or on earth can live without him. For he exists [426A] before all things, and everything holds together in him because he holds first place in everything. Therefore, if anyone thinks he ought to devote himself to any of the elements, angels, or Powers, he should know that he is mistaken.

This one is the Son of God, the head of every ruler and ruling power. His gospel was preached throughout the whole world, beginning with Moses, who said to the Jews, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers like me. You will listen to him, for whoever does not listen to that prophet will be destroyed from among the people” (Deut 18:15–16). This is why the Lord says to the Jews, “Moses wrote about me” (John 5:46). This one alone, therefore, must be heard and worshiped, and no one is to be considered equal to him, because whoever possesses the head has the remaining parts subject to him. Whoever lowers himself before those subordinate parts [426B] is completely mistaken. Since he does not hold fast to the head, he is a headless trunk, though from the head the whole body is held together for life.

(Col 1:25–26) “I became its minister according to God’s stewardship, which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God in the mystery that was hidden from ages and generations.”

He speaks confidently of having been made a minister of the gospel among the nations by God through Christ, so that the mystery begun by the Lord, which had been unknown through the ages, might be brought to completion through a suitable and effective servant.

(Col 1:26–28) “But now it has been revealed to his saints, to whom God wished to show the riches of the majesty of God’s mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we proclaim.”

He declares that the mystery hidden through the ages has now been revealed—[426C] that is, disclosed in the time of the apostles. The nations were to be admitted to faith in Christ, who had been promised to the Jews, without circumcision of the flesh. Before the preaching of the faith, Gentiles had been commanded to be circumcised if they wished to enter the law. But now, by God’s mercy, they have been commanded to be received into the faith just as they are. The Jews regarded it as unworthy that Christ, in whom the hope of the Jews rested, should also make the nations sharers in his glory.

(Col 1:28–29) “Warning every person and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. In him I labor, striving according to his working, which works powerfully in me.”

Paul says that true wisdom is found in the Lord’s teaching when Christ is known. The apostle testifies that he himself [426D] pursues this with great care. By instructing every person in this wisdom, he may present that person mature before God in the understanding of Christ, so that he may comprehend the mystery of Christ’s birth from God, his birth from Mary, and his entire work in heaven and on earth. Paul says that he is engaged in this struggle against unbelievers with the aid of signs of power, so that unbelief, defeated by these signs, may be restrained. Anyone who has dared to contradict his words through a certain subtlety of diabolical cunning must yield to divine power when shame has corrected him.

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Chapter 2

(Col 2:1–3) “For I want you to know how great a concern [427A] I have for you, for those who are at Laodicea, and for all who have not seen my face in the flesh, so that their hearts may receive encouragement when they have been instructed in love, unto all the riches of the fullness of understanding, for the knowledge of God’s mystery in Christ, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.”

He testifies that he is no less concerned for those whom he has not seen in the flesh than he was for those to whom he preached in person. They were to know that, although he had not seen them, he loved them with no less affection than he loved the others among whom he had been present. In this way he would nurture their hearts in love so that they might be made eager through the letter and receive knowledge of God’s sacred mystery in Christ, recognizing that the riches of wisdom and knowledge consist in knowing that Christ must be worshiped in the fullness of his divinity.

The whole mystery of God’s sacred plan, therefore, is in Christ. He is the one in [427B] whom every creature must hope or perish. The power of all things is in him, so that whoever knows him appears to possess knowledge of everything that exists. No one besides him needs to be worshiped, because the strength of all powers is in him; all of them receive it from him. Although he is one, he can do all things. For this reason he is also called the head of all, since all are seen to subsist through him. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are therefore rightly said to be hidden in him. The organizing principle of all knowledge concerning the whole creation above and below must reside in him who is the head of them all—whether angels, the sun, the moon, the stars, or anything else. Complete knowledge of every science is in their Maker. Thus, anyone who knows him should seek nothing further, whether wisdom [427C] or power, because he knows the one in whom perfect power and perfect wisdom reside. Whatever he thinks he might find elsewhere, he will find fully and abundantly in Christ.

Who, after all, was wiser than Solomon? Who was more discerning than Daniel? God gave them wisdom beyond others so that he might make known to unbelievers that he himself is the author of all wisdom. Indeed, marveling at Daniel’s wisdom, Nebuchadnezzar says to him, “Truly your God is himself the living God and the revealer of mysteries” (Dan 2:47). Every unbeliever fails to recognize that all wisdom and knowledge reside in Christ because they do not read astrology in the Gospels, geometry in the apostle, or arithmetic or music in the prophets. Our people have rejected these fields because they do not contribute [427D] to salvation. Instead, they lead people into error and draw them away from God, so that while they devote themselves to argumentative reasoning about these subjects, they do not care for their own souls. What wisdom could be truer than knowing what benefits you and rejecting what harms you? It does harm, because it prevents the soul from caring for itself. Therefore, the person who has known Christ has rightly found the treasure of wisdom and knowledge, for he has recognized what benefits him.

[428A] (Col 2:4–5) “I say this so that no one may deceive you through subtle speech. For although I am absent in body, I am nevertheless with you in spirit, rejoicing as I see your good order and supplying what is lacking for the benefit of your faith in Christ.”

He warns them so that their understanding may not be led astray by the conversations of evil people and the craftiness of wickedness. By means of a certain skill and the fine points of their arguments, the wise people of the world eagerly entangle simple minds, drawing them away from the hope that is in Christ through reasoning about worldly things. This is why the apostle says that he is present there in spirit: with reverence for him before their eyes, they would keep away from people of this kind.

If the spirit of the prophet Elisha saw Gehazi’s fraud when he went to Naaman the Syrian to receive in Elisha’s name things he had not been instructed to take—and also saw that Naaman willingly dismounted and gave him more [428B] than had been requested (2 Kgs 5:26)—how much more could the apostle see in spirit the things he described! For the grace given to the apostles was greater than that given to the prophets. To make them more eager for the gospel tradition, he says that he rejoices in the orderly arrangement of their conduct. By knowing what pleases God, they would become firmer in it, and, having been made worthy, they would learn the understanding needed to advance their faith in a beneficial way.

(Col 2:6–7) “Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, rooted and built up in him and confirmed in the faith, just as you were taught, walking in it with thanksgiving.”

He warns and exhorts them so that their devotion may not diminish, so that they may not withdraw from the faith they had obtained, and so that, after being overthrown by perverse fables, [428C] they may not receive a different Christ from the one they had learned. Many corrupters of the faith were going around seeking to seduce simple people by deceitfully and hypocritically proclaiming Christ. Paul warns them with great urgency to avoid such people. They were to remain stable and firm upon the foundation of the Trinity and, in hope of the things to come, give abundant thanks for God’s mercy.

(Col 2:8–9) “See that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elements of this world, and not according to Christ, because in him all the fullness of divinity dwells bodily.”

He is speaking of earthly philosophy, by which people who want to be considered wise in the world are commonly deceived. It is assembled from arguments and subtle discussions of certain minute details, as though it had investigated the principles of nature. Mixed into it are certain things that serve as exhortations or instruction for a good life. At times it is organized around measurements and numbers; at other times, around the qualities and quantities of the elements. [428D] Anyone who falls into its debates rarely escapes, and then only with difficulty. He is held fast by plausible causes and fabricated claims, considering nothing as true as what is seen and understood in the elements.

Because present things that are seen with the eyes [429A] appear pleasant and enjoyable, they seduce some people. Despairing of the future, these people think the spiritual account should be despised and ridiculed. Subject to fleshly reasoning, they assign all power to the stars. They refuse to believe that heavy things can be lifted into heaven, that light things can come down to earth, or that anything bodily can be produced without the mingling of physical substances. In this way they oppose God’s power and providence. They know that the ancient sacred books of the Hebrews record many deeds done through Moses that human reason cannot comprehend. In the same way, the new books tell of deeds performed by the Lord or through the apostles that fleshly reasoning prevents them from believing.

Paul therefore calls this tradition or philosophy deceptive and empty because it is ordered not by God’s power but by the weakness of human reasoning. [429B] This reasoning confines God’s power within the bounds of its own knowledge so that he is not believed to act in any way beyond what fleshly reason can contain. They assign different forms of divinity to each of the elements as objects of worship, ensnaring ignorant minds so that they cannot reach out toward the true God. Paul therefore warns them to beware of this tradition because it worships the world, not the one God. It does not draw people toward Christ but away from him, though the perfection of divinity is in Christ.

The Father gave everything he possesses to the Son when he begot him bodily in the fullness of divinity. Since Christ is the head and creation is his body, whatever heavenly creation is thought able to do must be believed to exist fully in Christ. No one, then, should suppose that anyone else is to be worshiped. Whatever greatness someone thinks he finds in another, he will find still more in Christ, because they all [429C] receive from him just as limbs receive from the head, while he himself is always full.

(Col 2:10) “And you have been filled in him, who is the head of every Ruler and Power.”

This means that more is given to believers than can be contained in the elements. Whoever is in Christ is filled with the abundance of divinity, which the elements do not possess. Indeed, the Holy Spirit dwells in believers, something that could not be granted to the elements, because it would be unworthy and unfitting for the invisible one to dwell in a visible substance and for the incorporeal one to dwell in sensible things. Let those who worship the elements hear, then, and come and believe in Christ so that they may become greater than those whom they now worship.

(Col 2:11–12) “In whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made by hands, in the stripping off of the body of flesh, [429D] in the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism. In him you also rose together through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.”

Those who cut away the worship involved in every human tradition, join themselves to Christ, and are circumcised in heart rather than flesh are circumcised in Christ. That is, they serve in spirit and not in flesh, so that they may turn from earthly things to heavenly things, from human things to divine things, and from error to truth, joined through love to their head and author.

They were buried with him in baptism, but they rose through faith [430A] in God, whom they believe will raise them from the dead after the pattern of Christ. In baptism the old person is laid aside and the new is taken up. A person dies to sins so that he may live for righteousness; he renounces the elements so that he may be united to Christ, holding the Savior’s resurrection from the dead as a pledge and pattern of the future resurrection. Paul therefore warns them to persevere in their renunciation of Satan’s pomp and deceits. Satan recommends the worship of the elements in order to draw people away from God, for he wants to make them participants in his apostasy. Since he cannot recommend worship under his own name—his very name inspires horror—he tries to accomplish his will under another name.

(Col 2:13–15) “And when you were dead in offenses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together [430B] with him, forgiving us all offenses, erasing the written record in decrees that stood against us and was hostile to us. He took it out of the way and fastened it to the cross. Stripping the Rulers and Powers, he displayed them openly under his authority, triumphing over them in him.”

He says that the Gentiles were dead, first because they refused to receive the law, which was given as a testimony to the Creator and to condemn vices, and then because the impiety of their sins made them unworthy of life. He therefore distinguishes them from the Jews as though they had been enemies of the one God. The Jews, by contrast, lived in confession of the one God. When Christ arrived, they learned the mystery of God that they had awaited for their justification, so that they might receive forgiveness for what had crept upon them, since it is impossible to be without sin.

This is why, after discussing the Gentiles, [430C] Paul also brings in the Jews, saying, “forgiving us all offenses.” Following the particular statement, he adds the general one, because God forgave every offense to everyone. Yet, as the Lord says, the one who has been forgiven more ought to love more (Luke 7:43). Paul therefore warns the nations to consider both the causes of their evils and the nature of the grace they received from God in Christ. With complete devotion they should apply themselves to serving the one by whom they have been delivered from the various penalties of death.

How, then, did he forgive us all our offenses? Paul says, “By erasing the written record that stood against us.” He then explains what erasing means: “He took it out of the way.” He erased it, then, when he took it out of the way. And he took it out of the way when, as Paul says, “he fastened it to the cross.” Paul says that fastening it to the cross means publicly stripping the Rulers and Powers [430D] and triumphing over them in Christ.

These words appear obscure and must therefore be clarified with care. Paul explains God’s saving provision by describing the significance of different events. He recalls the many things that took place so that the human race might receive pardon: God not only forgave our own offenses but also removed the sin arising from Adam’s transgression—which Paul called “the written record in decrees”—that prevented us from rising from the dead. If he had not also [431A] taken this out of the way, those who departed this life after receiving forgiveness here would still have been held there in the lower regions. All offenses were forgiven precisely so that people might rise from the dead. Since death comes from sin, when sin is removed the resurrection of the dead takes place. Yet this could never have happened unless Christ had fastened sin to the cross.

The Savior conquered the sin that held humanity liable by not sinning, and, beyond this, he was killed by sin though innocent. In this way he crucified sin. Conquered sin is said to be put to death, for the cross is not the Savior’s death but sin’s. When an innocent man is killed in this way, he makes those who kill him guilty. We should understand sin here to mean the Rulers and Powers through whose effort the first Adam sinned. The name must be referred to these authors of sin, whose death [431B] Paul signified by their stripping. This is their death: defeated by the Savior, they are put to death when they are stripped of the souls they had held captive. They were made guilty because, although they possessed authority to hold souls on account of the souls’ sins, they themselves were found to be greater sinners when they killed the one who had conquered them by not sinning.

Therefore, they were justly stripped, and, as Paul said, this happened “publicly”—that is, on the cross. This is to be openly triumphed over by God in Christ. Whoever is openly conquered and whose spoils are publicly displayed is triumphed over, for the one who used to taunt others is shown to everyone lying defeated. The decree Paul mentions is not what pagans call fate. They do not claim that fate is hostile to everyone, since they say it makes some people fortunate and others unfortunate. But Paul says that this decree [431C] was hostile to everyone, for it was a sentence directed against all humanity.

(Col 2:16–17) “Therefore, let no one judge you in food or drink, concerning part of a feast day, a new moon, or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of things to come, but the body belongs to Christ.”

Since all hope and confidence for life are in Christ, Paul commands that we should be subject to no superstition or law. Therefore, people who make a clamor or whisper anything that does not belong to faith in Christ should be disregarded. Christ alone should be followed, for through him death was defeated and the resurrection of the dead restored.

Some Jews customarily judge believers because they eat foods that were forbidden through Moses, even though God has made everything clean. The Jews were judged unworthy to eat these foods and were therefore prohibited [431D] from the better things. They also commonly criticize us because we reject their feast days or do not observe the beginnings of their months, which they call new moons. Above all, they criticize us because we do not keep the Sabbath days by spending them in idleness, feasting, and luxury—which contributes more to offense than to grace.

All these things, however, are the body of Christ, because they are names for the elements according to their effects. This is why he says in the Gospel, “For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Matt 12:8), since all things exist through him. These observances were given through Moses in such a way that they were [432A] a shadow or figure of things to come, so that when the reality appeared, the figure would cease. When the emperor is absent, his image possesses authority; when he is present, it does not. In the same way, these things had to be observed in their own time before the Lord’s coming, but with him present they possess no authority. Does someone acting in a master’s place exercise authority when the master himself is present? If the deputies of governors lose their authority when the governors are present, how much more must servants themselves be seen serving when their master is present!

(Col 2:18–19) “Let no one deceive you, delighting in humility of mind and the superstition of angels, exalting himself on the basis of what he sees, vainly puffed up by the mind of his flesh, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, supplied and joined together through its ligaments and connections, [432B] grows with the growth that comes from God.”

What Paul warned above to avoid under the name of philosophy, he now teaches more openly must be guarded against. Those who devote themselves to earthly wisdom claim that the things lying before their eyes or appearing to them should be worshiped. Souls detained by the worship of these things are held bound beneath the firmament so that they may not reach beyond the firmament into the higher heavens to worship the God of all.

The enemy accomplishes this work so that he may always keep souls humbled upon the earth, where he knows he will remain after being cast from heaven by God’s just judgment. He pretends that this is religion, although it is the greatest sacrilege. They are puffed up because they observe the movement of the stars, which Paul calls angels, not by divine authority but through human superstition. This produces nothing but harm. They refuse to hold fast [432C] to faith in Christ, who is the Creator and Lord of all. Everyone has his origin from him, and so they are also called his body, provided that they acknowledge him. When they turn back to him, they are rebuilt and joined together in faith in him as the gospel supplies all of them like members of a body in Christ’s love, so that they may increase God’s possession. They increase God’s possession when they return to the one whom they had deserted through error, diminishing the stores of his riches by denying that they belonged to him; for they are recovered from among the lost. Paul says these things about the pagans. He then says concerning the Jews that they too serve under the elements, though they do not serve the elements themselves.

(Col 2:20) “If, then, you have died with Christ to the elements of this world, why do you still make decrees as though you were living in this world?”

Everyone baptized in Christ [432D] dies to the world. He renounces all the errors of superstition so that he may worship through faith in Christ alone. When the additions made to natural justice are removed, there remains the discipline given by God, through which one lives for God by the hope that is in Christ. A person dies to the things to which he had been subject through error when he denies those whom he had presumed to be gods. Thus, through the hostility created by renunciation, the person and the worship of the elements are said to be dead to one another.

By “the world,” Paul means the error of the flesh, for everything visible is assigned to the flesh. This is why the apostle John says, [433A] “Do not love the world or the things in the world” (1 John 2:15). That is, let us love neither the elements from which the world is constructed nor the errors that human tradition has invented, but Christ alone, who died for us so that he might unite us, though we had been lost, to his body. Those who have been buried with Christ have therefore died to the elements and care nothing about them. They have learned that heavenly things must be held fast, for those things can give eternal life. The elements cannot give even this present life, and they prevent people from laying hold of the life to come.

But anyone who, after baptism, is uncertain about any of these matters, thinking that some things from the old ways ought to be revered, shows that he is alive to the elements. He determines that they should be worshiped, or at least doubts whether they should be despised. Such a person will remain within the circles of the world, alienated from God, because, clothed with the old person, [433B] he will not be able to pass beyond fleshly things.

(Col 2:21–22) “Do not touch; do not handle; do not taste; do not take hold of things that all lead to destruction and corruption through misuse, according to human commands and teachings.”

In every way Paul prohibits them from placing hope in worldly things, since that hope is empty. They must not worship them, agree with them, or think about them, because the things they promise are subject to corruption. The use and worship of them produce destruction because their commands and teachings come not from God but from human beings, in whom hope is empty. Human error invented these things against the Creator so that, by preventing faith in the one God, it might introduce the superstition of many gods.

(Col 2:23) “These things indeed possess an appearance of wisdom in a pretense of religion and humility of mind, [433C] through harsh treatment of the body, but not in any honor that satisfies and cares for the flesh.”

They think they possess the principle of wisdom because they apply the name “religion” to human tradition, so that what is actually sacrilege may be called religion. Anything contrary to the Creator was invented by a sacrilegious mind. Human tradition therefore fabricates a name so that it can declare false things to be true. It humbles human minds upon the earth so that they do not rise to heavenly things. By worshiping earthly things, they fall away from the heavenly realities above and harm the body whose head is Christ according to its original created design.

Weighed down by these things, they could not be joined above to their head so that they might be restored and honored in him. Instead, as though severed from the first part of the body, they give themselves entirely to the world in order to satisfy the sense of the flesh. The fattening of the fleshly sense is human [433D] tradition, which says that what the foresight of the flesh has handed down is sufficient. It appears to possess a principle of wisdom according to the flesh because every bodily birth comes from the elements. They therefore claim that it is not unfitting to bow before the things by whose guidance the human race is governed and to subject oneself to the objects one sees as the brightest in the world. They also say there is no need to seek spiritual things because human beings have been permitted to use these visible things alone as guides. Through this reasoning, they neglect the Creator.

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Chapter 3

[434A]

(Col 3:1) “If, then, you have risen with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is seated at God’s right hand.”

He declares that those who think about the things above heaven—where Christ’s seat is, and where God the Father granted his Son the right-hand position so that he might reign and judge—have risen with Christ in baptism. A judge does not sit on the left. Resurrection, however, has two forms: first the soul rises from earth to heaven; then, after receiving the body, it rises and is caught up to meet Christ.

(Col 3:2) “Set your minds on the things above, not the things upon the earth.”

He exhorts us to seek the highest heavens, which are the dwellings of the eternal ones. But we must disregard all the things that are in and beneath the firmament. [434B] Whoever occupies himself with these superstitions will be hindered, for he will not be able to pass beyond those things before which he has bowed as masters.

(Col 3:3) “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

According to the thinking of the world, Christ and his disciples appear to be dead, although it is certain that he lives with all his people. Therefore, the life of Christ and his own is hidden from fleshly and worldly people. It is hidden with God, outside the world, in his heavenly kingdom, where they live.

(Col 3:4) “When Christ, your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

Christ is our life, for in Acts we read that he is the author of life—the one whom unbelievers do not believe will be the future judge (Acts 3:15). But when he comes in [434C] heavenly power and is seen to be what people refused to believe, then those who believed in him will also appear with him. It will become clear to every form of unbelief that he lives with his own in glory. This consolation produces confidence in our hope so that, secure about the life to come, we may set everything else aside and follow Christ.

(Col 3:5) “Put to death your members that are upon the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is the worship of idols.”

Since in the letter to the Romans Paul indicates that all sins together form a body (Rom 6:6), he now describes individual offenses and calls them members. After receiving and preserving the gospel teaching about the Savior’s fullness, they were to devote themselves to a good life, keeping away from every shameful act [434D] and evil desire so that they would not lose the fruit of divine knowledge. It does great harm to know the truth yet fail to confirm it through deeds that follow it. This is why the Lord says, among other things, “The one who knows his master’s will but does not obey it will receive many blows” (Luke 12:47).

Yet Paul compared greed to idolatry in order to show that nothing is more wicked than greed. Under one name he designated two utterly evil and impious kinds of sin, which he warns must be avoided in every way. The first and most grievous crime is idolatry. [435A] What could be so destructive and deadly as to injure God the Creator by bestowing upon wood, stones, or other metals the name of honor that belongs to him? Yet these very people would not allow a slave to be called by the name of the master, even though the slave is subjected to servitude not by nature but by a particular condition.

The other crime, by contrast, is greed. Its name is different, but its evil is no less. This is why Paul says to Timothy, “For greed is the root of all evils” (1 Tim 6:10). Greed is capable of every offense as it attempts the impossible task of satisfying its own craving, always drinking and always thirsty. Paul therefore rightly presents both evils under a single name, for they are carried out by almost the same work. Idolatry tries to take glory away from the one God so that he will not be the only one [435B] to possess the name of divinity, which is uniquely fitting for him. In the same way, greed reaches out for God’s possessions so that, if it were possible, one person alone might seize for himself God’s creation, which God made common to everyone. This is why God says through the prophet, “The gold is mine, and the silver is mine” (Hag 2:8). Both vices, therefore, are hostile to God, for both deny God the things that belong to him.

(Col 3:6) “Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming.”

He says that God’s judgment will come because of the evils just mentioned, so that vengeance may be taken upon those who despised God and his law and preferred to pursue what had been forbidden.

(Col 3:7) “You also once walked in these things when you lived in them.”

He does not remain silent about the greatness of the benefit God’s grace gave them through Jesus Christ. They should rejoice that they have escaped the wrath that will suddenly come [435C] upon the unbelievers of the whole earth, and they should conduct themselves in such a way that they can obey the commands of the one by whom they have been delivered from the second death.

(Col 3:8–11) “But now you too must put all these away: anger, indignation of mind, malice, and blasphemy. Let no filthy speech come from your mouth. Do not lie to one another. Strip off the old person with his actions and put on the new person, who is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created him. Here there is no Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian and Scythian, slave and free, but Christ is all and in all.”

Paul now forbids the things that appear to be lesser sins. Since he commanded above that the more serious sins must be put to death, they must not suppose that these lesser sins are permissible or need not be avoided because they are supposedly not dangerous. [435D] At the same time, they have stripped off the old person—that is, they see themselves to be undefiled in both word and action—and have been made new in Christ through knowledge of the truth. This truth was formerly hidden but has now been revealed to believers through the new law, so that they may be made like the image of the one who created them.

This image must be understood in terms of the conduct of a good life, as Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians: “Just as we have borne the image of the one who is from the earth, so let us also bear the image of the one who is from heaven” (1 Cor 15:49). He, therefore, is humanity’s Creator, [436A] whose image Paul commands us to bear through holiness and good works flowing from the knowledge of God’s Son. No one can have a good and pure life unless he has someone before whom to display it and from whom he may expect, if not a reward, then at least praise. But with God both praise and reward are hoped for, because God’s justice does not permit the person who has conquered the vices of the flesh to go uncrowned.

In this knowledge, then, no one is excluded as unworthy, as though he did not deserve to approach faith in Christ. All who approach become one: what they were is erased, and what they have begun to be is written down. Since they possess one faith, by this very fact they also possess one merit. Those whom faith joins cannot be distinguished because they differ in nature, nation, or condition. For Christ is all and in all these people. [436B] Since everyone is one of his members, Christ is all. Because they share one confession concerning hope in him, Christ is in them all. Thus all of them are his body, so that their confession and nature agree.

Yet this image, which Paul says is created through knowledge of the Savior, is one thing, and the image according to which the first man was made is another. This image is present in a woman as well when she knows the one who created her and, by obeying his will, abstains from a shameful life and perverse behavior. But the other image is in the man alone, just as Paul says in the first letter to the Corinthians: “Indeed, a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God” (1 Cor 11:7). If the woman also did not cover her head, she too would be the image of God. But it was unfitting for her, having been made subject to the man, to be called the image of God. For in [436C] Genesis God also says, “And God made the man; in the image of God he made him” (Gen 1:27). Just as God is one, so one man was made by him, so that, just as all things come from the one God, the whole human race might come from one man over the face of the whole earth. The one God, then, made one man who would possess the image of his unity. This likeness in man and woman is also a mystery of the Father and the Son.

Paul nevertheless distinguished the barbarian from the Scythian, just as he distinguished the slave from the free. He certainly did not do this in Christ, in whom all are one, but in terms of their savage customs and the fierceness of the nation. He wanted the Scythians to be understood as worse than the barbarians before they believed, even though the books of the Greeks proclaim the justice that the Scythians followed under nature’s guidance. Theft was regarded among them as such a grave sin that the Greeks praise them for having grasped by nature the paths of justice that the Greeks themselves, they say, investigated with great diligence and learning. [436D] But just as all things degenerate, the Scythians later began to deserve more blame than they had previously deserved praise.

After their women began to live under the law of men—those women who, they claim, were originally called Amazons and unnaturally subjected all Asia—it happened that the men too became as rabid as dogs: savage, wild, uncultivated, and worse than barbarians. They changed so greatly that they became accustomed to feeding on human flesh. Why should this be surprising [437A] when the Romans themselves were once very different from what they are now? For the sake of chastity, their women were once as unfamiliar with drinking wine as they now are with drinking water. The authority of discipline was so strong that the vessel placed under authority did not do what it wished.

(Col 3:12–13) “Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, put on hearts of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness of disposition, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against someone. Just as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”

Paul exhorts them to do the things that establish merit before God so that they may have a profit. Fear causes a person to abstain from sins, for he fears that by doing evil he will be subjected to punishment. But the things Paul now urges them to do belong to an increase [437B] of merit, because they proceed from willingness rather than necessity. Therefore, the person who abstains from unlawful things receives praise, but the person who restrains himself from lawful things receives both praise and reward.

(Col 3:14–15) “Above all these things, however, have love, which is the bond of unity, and let the peace of God rejoice in your hearts, into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful.”

Since love is greater than all things, Paul exhorts them to devote themselves especially to it. Everything he commanded above to be observed can lead to the attainment of rewards only if they walk the path of the law with love as their guide. Anyone who does something from love acts with his whole mind. There is no hypocrisy or pretense in love. This is why the apostle John says, “There is no fear in love.” The one who fears is not [437C] perfect, for “perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18). The Lord therefore prefers to be loved rather than feared. This is the love that embraces unity, that makes everyone one body, and that possesses true peace and keeps it with a pure heart. A person can speak of peace without possessing love, but love always possesses peace along with itself.

(Col 3:16) “Let the word of Christ dwell abundantly among you in all wisdom, teaching and warning one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

He warns that the things that proclaim Christ must always be meditated upon. Things that always give thanks to God the Father must be kept in the heart, so that the singing voice may serve him, the psalm may praise him, and the hymn [437D] may exalt him. Let this be known to him alone, who sees the mind’s hidden places and from whom the reward is hoped for. Paul commanded that they sing to him in their hearts so that it would not be done for human approval and lose its fruit.

(Col 3:17) “And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Above, Paul commanded that God be praised in the heart and that thanks be given to him. Now he exhorts that the name of the Lord Jesus be praised and exalted in both the words and deeds of our entire way of life. When our words are beyond criticism and our works are good, [438A] the Lord Jesus is magnified, for through his instruction his disciples are blameless. We give true thanks to God through him only if we keep the standard of his commands.

(Col 3:18) “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.”

He commanded women to be subject to their husbands just as God commanded when, among other things, he said to the woman, “Your turning will be toward your husband, and he will rule over you” (Gen 3:16). Thus, by this order and discipline, a woman is to fear her husband as the master from whom she began to exist.

(Col 3:19) “Husbands, love your wives, and do not be bitter toward them.”

Paul softens the severity of the law governing men so that no man will exercise excessive dominion over his wife by means of the authority in which he is stronger. Instead, he must consider affection, because the woman [438B] is his flesh. He must not humiliate her so much that he provokes her and she begins to think in opposition to him.

(Col 3:20) “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases God.”

Nothing can please God except what is just and godly. Children can have God favorable toward them if they repay their parents with the honor they owe, readily serving them and being slow to despise them. Children must know that they should never act against their parents.

(Col 3:21) “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, lest they become discouraged.”

He commands fathers to be moderate toward their children so that, when restricted by them, the children may not sin against them and offend God, which the fathers do not want. Anger is unthinking—so much so that sometimes the person who is angry does not even spare himself. Fathers should remember [438C] that they too were once children, while children should consider that they will one day be fathers. With the judgment of each side held in equal balance, the children may be submissive and the fathers moderate.

(Col 3:22) “Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not serving only under their eyes as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.”

Since God cannot be served in any way except with a pure heart—for he sees the hidden places of our minds—Paul commands that human beings also be served in this way. The person who serves only under the master’s eye acts differently in secret, but the person who serves from the heart is the same outside as he is within. If, then, he is faithful in this service, he will earn the Lord’s favor, for the Lord himself said, “The one who is faithful in the least is also faithful in much” (Luke 16:10).

If a person is not faithful to the one who exercises authority over him [438D] in the present, how will he be able to show faithfulness to the one whom he hears will judge him after death? Paul therefore wants the slave to be just and obedient in the affairs of his earthly master so that he may also be faithful and obedient in the things of God. If he is diligent in the present, where he knows that the only rewards are corruptible ones, how much more eager will he be in devotion to God, whom he knows will give immortal rewards to the faithful!

(Col 3:23–25) “Whatever you do, work from the heart, as for the Lord and not for human beings, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance of the Lord [439A] Christ, whom you serve. For the person who acts unjustly will bear the consequences of the injustice he committed, and with God there is no partiality.”

To make them eager in obedience and faithfulness, Paul promises that they will receive from God the reward for their good works in Christ’s kingdom. For this work to be approved and accepted, he wants them to obey as though obeying the Lord, from whom they expect the reward. But if a slave acts unjustly, he will offend not only a human being but also God, whom he despised in committing fraud against his earthly master. If, however, he does well, God will not regard him merely as the slave of a human master, as though he were of less account. He will be rewarded as free among human beings but a slave of Christ—which is a title of dignity.

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Chapter 4

(Col 4:1) “Masters, provide your slaves [439B] what is just and fair, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.”

Paul moderates and restrains the attitudes of earthly masters so that they will not be lifted up with pride and become presumptuous about their authority. By considering the human race, they should recognize that God the Creator made people neither slaves nor free but all freeborn. The world’s injustice brought slavery about: when one person invaded another’s territory, he led freeborn people away as captives. Because they were captured by hand (manu capti), the ancients called them slaves (mancipia). This misfortune and condition still appears today: some are ransomed, while others remain slaves.

With God, however, the person who sins is regarded as a slave (John 8:34). Indeed, because of sin Ham heard that he was a slave: “Cursed is the boy Canaan; he will be a slave of slaves to his brothers” (Gen 9:25). The ancients agreed with this judgment, [439C] defining every wise person as free and every fool as a slave. The wise person abstains from sins, so that the one who follows what is right is freeborn, while the slave is the person who subjects himself to sin through the foolishness of stupidity. Thus Ham too was called a slave because of the stupidity with which he foolishly laughed at his father’s nakedness.

Paul therefore shows masters that they are not truly masters but only resemble masters. They are masters of bodies, not of souls. The invisible God alone, the Lord and Maker of all things, rules both bodies and souls. Considering these things, earthly masters should require just service from their slaves—the kind of service, of course, that they want the common Lord to require from them. They themselves do not serve God as he deserves, although they do not deny that he holds power over all things and that his daily gifts are supplied for human use through the service [439D] of creation. Yet they demand from their equals—not to say their brothers—services so burdensome that they cannot be endured. They do not consider that they themselves, whether they wish it or not, are slaves, and they will discover what merit they possess.

(Col 4:2–4) “Persevere in prayer, keeping watch in it with thanksgiving, praying at the same time for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, so that we may speak the mystery of Christ—because of which I am also in chains—and that I may make it clear, as I ought to speak.”

Having now made them wise in the mystery of the Lord Christ and cautious in avoiding the vices of sin, Paul shows that they must persevere in prayer [440A] so that they may increase in merit while the adversary’s temptations diminish. He regards them as so worthy that he judges they can even help him with their prayers to proclaim boldly the gospel whose revelation he had received as his commission.

(Col 4:5–6) “Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”

Since we must walk among unbelievers and converse with them because of our life in the world, Paul warns that our conduct itself must be marked by wisdom on account of possible scandal among the Gentiles. They must not receive through us an occasion to blaspheme and be incited to persecution. What need is there to speak with someone whom you know to be unmanageable, [440B] stubborn-minded, and ready to hurl an insult?

Paul therefore warns that religious words should be spoken at a fitting place and time, with moderation as the teacher. But if a disruptive person is present, one should remain silent. One must deal in one way with the powerful of the world, in another with those of moderate position, and in another with the lowly. Again, one must deal differently with the gentle and with the angry; one ought to yield to the angry, and this is what it means to redeem the time. When you yield to someone lying in wait for the Lord’s words and to the raging boldness of the present time, you gain an advantage from the injuries of a hostile time. For if the head—that is, the king—is in agreement with the body, then there is freedom to speak God’s words with gentleness so that people may be stirred toward what is good. One must always yield, however, to noisy people eager to hurl insults, for you conquer by yielding.

[440C] (Col 4:7–9) “Tychicus, the beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord, will make known to you everything concerning me. I sent him to you for this very purpose, so that he may learn what concerns you and may comfort your hearts, together with Onesimus, the dearly beloved and faithful brother who is one of you. He will make known to you everything that is happening here.”

Paul says that he sent the brothers for this purpose: so that what was happening among each group might be made known to the other. Although he said above that he was present with them in spirit and saw what they were doing, there is nevertheless a need for messengers. A person becomes more attentive when he sees someone coming to examine his conduct, for he is more cautious if he thinks he is being watched while he acts. God sees everything, and we know everything is known to him. Yet because we do not see ourselves being watched by him, [440D] we do what is contrary to his will.

(Col 4:10–11) “Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas—concerning whom you received instructions that if he comes to you, you are to receive him—and Jesus, who is called Justus. They are from the circumcision. These alone are my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.”

This Aristarchus appears to be a man of good conduct and merit, designated by devotion to the Lord as a participant and companion in the apostle’s labors. To commend Mark, Paul does not remain silent about who he is. When the Colossians learn that he is a relative of the praiseworthy man Barnabas, they will regard him as honorable. He also adds Jesus, whom he says is called by the name Justus. [441A]

Paul testifies concerning these men alone that, though they were from the circumcision, they assisted him, agreeing with and sharing his judgment. They preached that people should no longer be circumcised, and for this reason Paul calls them his fellow participants in the kingdom of God. To preach that people must be circumcised and must observe Sabbaths and new moons is not spiritual but earthly.

(Col 4:12) “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, greets you.”

Paul makes the letter dearer to them when he gives this testimony to someone from among them.

(Col 4:12) “Always deeply concerned for you in his prayers, so that you may stand mature and abundantly fulfilled in all the will of God.”

Paul testifies that he desires such beneficial things for them. In this way he shows that their fellow citizen, who was especially dear because of their shared affection, participates in Paul’s own devotion to their advancement.

[441B] (Col 4:13) “For I testify concerning him that he has labored greatly for you and for those who are at Laodicea and Hierapolis.”

To make them attentive to their own salvation, Paul shows how great the vigilance of others is on their behalf. A person becomes more diligent out of shame when he sees someone else laboring for his cause.

(Col 4:14) “Luke, the dearly beloved physician, and Demas greet you.”

Luke was truly dear to the apostle because, setting everything else aside, he always followed him. He is also said to have written the Gospel and Acts of the Apostles.

(Col 4:15) “Greet the brothers who are at Laodicea, Nympha, and the church in her house.”

Because Paul was likewise concerned for those at Laodicea, [442A] he tells the Colossians in their letter to greet them. He regards Nympha as especially dear and also greets her household. She appears to have been so devoted that her whole house was marked with the sign of the cross.

(Col 4:16) “And when this letter has been read among you, make sure it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans, and that you also read the one from the Laodiceans.”

Because the apostle’s instructions are universal and his letters are written for the advancement of all the churches, he commands that this letter also be read to the Laodiceans so that through it they may learn what they ought to do. Likewise, the Colossians are to read their letter, in keeping with the sense stated above.

(Col 4:17) “And say to Archippus, ‘See to the ministry you received in the Lord, so that you may fulfill it.’”

Through the congregation itself, Paul warns [442B] their overseer to be concerned for their salvation. Because the letter is written for the sake of the congregation alone, it was addressed not to their leader but to the church. After Epaphras, who had instructed them, Archippus received responsibility for governing their church.

(Col 4:18) “The greeting is in my own hand—Paul’s. Remember my chains. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

To authenticate the letter, he says that it has been signed in his own hand. He reminds them to keep in mind the sufferings he endured for the salvation of the nations and to conduct themselves in such a way that he would not find it grievous to suffer injuries for them.

Commentaria in Epistolam ad Colossenses

Ambrosiaster — Patrologia Latina, vol. 17, ed. J.-P. Migne (Paris, 1845)

Scripture lemmata are set in italics, as in the printed text. Braced figures such as {421B} mark Migne column and section breaks.

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PROLOGUS.

{421A}

Colossenses pseudoapostoli evertere nitebantur, ut post praedicationem Epaphrae sive Archippi philosophicis disputationibus irretirent simplicitatem mentis eorum: ne spernerent rationes elementorum, quibus quasi gubernatur vita humana. Idcirco hos Apostolus hortatur per epistolam, et admonet ne alicui praeter Christum aliquam esse spem putarent, et deciperentur.

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CAPUT PRIMUM.

(Col 1:1–2) Paulus apostolus Christi Jesu per voluntatem Dei, et Timotheus frater, his qui sunt Colossis, sanctis et fidelibus fratribus in Christo Jesu. Gratia vobis et pax a Deo Patre nostro, et Domino Jesu Christo. Caput epistolae solito more scribit ad {421B} eos, in quo et sanctis et fidelibus fratribus litteras se ordinare prosequitur, quibus exoptat Dei gratiam manere per Christum.

(Col 1:3–6) Gratias agimus Deo et Patri Domini nostri Jesu Christi, semper pro vobis orantes, audita fide vestra in Christo Jesu, et dilectione, quam habetis in omnes sanctos propter spem, quae reposita est vobis in coelis, quam ante audistis in verbo veritatis Evangelii, quod pervenit ad vos, sicut et in universum mundum. Quoniam dignum habuit Deus credere istis Filium suum, gratias ei refert in orationibus suis. Deinde propter charitatem, quam habebant in sanctos, fidi quia pro hac spes firma est apud Deum, qua remuneraturus creditur credentes et diligentes se invicem, auctore Christo, cujus nomen pervenit {421C} ad omnes gentes, ut multiplicentur in fide ejus.

(Col 1:6–8) Et est fructificans et crescens, sicut et in vobis, ex qua die audistis et cognovistis gratiam Dei in veritate, prout didicistis ab Epaphra dilecto conservo nostro, qui est fidelis pro vobis minister Christi, qui etiam notam fecit nobis vestram dilectionem in spiritu. In exemplum caeterarum gentium nos crescere et fructum vitalem facere alacri sermone prosequitur; ut ex eo quod Dei gratiam perceperunt, proficerent et numero et opere, adjungentes fidei suae qui fierent fratres eorum in Christo. Exemplo enim bonorum operum illorum attracti sunt multi, teste illis Epaphra, qui eis ministravit gratiam Christi vice Apostoli, quam statim imbiberunt ut potum spiritalem in Domini charitate, quae non in carne est, sed in spiritu.

{421D} (Col 1:9–10) Idcirco et nos ex qua die audivimus, non cessamus pro vobis orantes et postulantes; ut impleamini agnitione voluntatis ejus in omni sapientia et intellectu spiritali in hoc, ut ambuletis digne eo ad omne placitum in omni opere bono. Audiens Apostolus devotam ac promptam voluntatem illorum circa {422A} fidem Christi, orat pro eis; ut propensius agnita voluntate Dei, rationabili opere explerent devotionem, quam audita fide Christi didicerant, ne tam fida mentis dicatio, et robur fidei, dum inconsulte aliquid et imperite conficeret, laboris sui fructum amitteret. Hoc enim libenter accepto fertur, quod devoto fit animo, et prudenter.

(Col 1:10–13) Fructificantes et crescentes in agnitionem Dei, in omni virtute robur capientes secundum potentiam gloriae ejus in omnem patientiam et longanimitatem, cum gaudio gratias agentes Deo et Patri, qui vocavit vos in partem sortis sanctorum in lumine, qui liberavit nos a potestate tenebrarum, et transtulit in regnum Filii charitatis suae. Incrementum operum eorum cum scientia vult fieri, ut non ignorent fidei {422B} suae spem; tunc enim firmi et stabiles sunt, si advertant quae pro fide promissa sunt, et quanta sit potentia gloriae majestatis Dei in patientia; ut longa exspectatione sustineat humanum genus, quod irreverentia sua non solum negligit Creatorem, verum persequitur amantes eum: ut et ipsi similiter patientes sint, ut supportent probra et maledicta infidelium, vel si illata fuerit pressura, exspectantes judicium Dei, nec dubitantes de eo, magis autem gaudentes in promissa vita cum gratiarum actionibus Deo, qui dignatus est advocare et inducere gentes in promissionem Judaeorum, quae est lumen aeternum, id est, vita aeterna, veritas perpetua. Liberati enim de conditione tenebrarum, hoc est, eruti de inferno, in quo tenebamur a diabolo tam {422C} ex proprio quam ex delicto Adae, qui est pater omnium peccantium, translati sumus per fidem in regnum coeleste Filii Dei; ut ostenderet nobis Deus quo amore diligit nos, quando attollens nos de imo tartari, induxit in coelos cum vero Filio suo. Jam enim omnes credentes, qui fixa mente devoti sunt, exeuntes de saeculo, duce dextrae Patris Angelo, inducuntur in coelos, quod ante devictam mortem concessum non erat.

(Col 1:14) In quo habemus redemptionem, et remissionem peccatorum. In hujus Filii sui regnum transtulit nos Deus, per quem nos redemit, et manumisit; remissio enim peccatorum liberos facit, ut liberati debitis, teneri obnoxii non possint. Nam sine fide Christi nullus egressus de inferno est; quia obligatus {422D} peccatis exire januas tartari non potest. (Col 1:15) Qui est imago invisibilis Dei. Invisibilis Dei imago visibilis esse non potest, alioquin nec imago est; quod enim invisibile est, pingi non potest, nec enim visibilis potest invisibilem videre; aut enim corpus est, quod videtur, aut figura, aut aliqua informata {423A} substantia, quam fert acies oculorum, totum tamen corpus est: Deus autem, qui ab iis omnibus alienus est, quomodo potest imaginem habere visibilem? Sed ideo sic dicitur, ut talis Filius intelligatur, qualis est Pater; ut quia de ipso est, et nihil distat ab eo in divinitate naturae, imago ejus dicatur et forma; ne alius Deus a perfidis crederetur, quamvis nomine ipso hoc contineatur; ideo enim verus Dei Filius dicitur, ut de ipso esse credatur. Sed propter malam intelligentiam etiam hoc additum est, ut et imago ejus dicatur; ut cum apparet, licet in figura humana, aut certe in igne, ut ad Moysen (Exod 3:2), non ipse Pater intelligatur esse, sed Filius: et per id quod imago ejus dicitur, nihil ab eo distare credatur. Unde dicit ad Philippum: Philippe, {423B} qui me videt, videt et Patrem. Quomodo tu dicis: Ostende nobis Patrem? Non credis quia ego in Patre, et Pater in me est (John 14:9)? Haec est unitas et substantialitas Patris et filii, ut invicem sint; ut qui videt Filium, videat et Patrem. Nunc videamus quomodo visus est Filius; ut proinde intelligamus qua ratione Philippus videndo Filium, videat et Patrem. Intellectu certe operum divinorum viderunt Filium, non carnalibus oculis. Quae operatus est Filius, dixit esse Patris; ut unitatem virtutis ostenderet. Eodem genere visus est et a Jacob; unde nomen accepit Israel, id est, homo videns Deum (Gen 32:28). Propter hoc ergo imago est dictus invisibilis Dei; ut ipse esse intelligeretur, qui per intellectum visus est Deus: Patrem autem numquam ullo modo {423C} apparuisse, sicut dictum est in Evangelio: Deum nemo vidit umquam (John 1:18).

(Col 1:15) Primogenitus universae creaturae. Ante omnem creaturam, genitum Filium non creatum, testatur; ut secerneret nativitatem ejus a creaturae factura: et ut hoc penitus clarescat, subjecit:

(Col 1:16) Quia in ipso condita sunt omnia in coelis et in terra. visibilia et invisibilia, sive Throni, sive Dominationes, sive Principatus, sive Potestates, omnia per ipsum et in ipso condita sunt. Non solum in eo magnificum et gloriosum significat Christum; quia antequam fierent omnia, natus est: sed et in ipso dicit omnia condita, hoc est, ut omnium potentia in eo esse credatur, et ideo profecta, dum omnia fiunt per ipsum: hoc est autem caput esse totius creaturae; {423D} quia ipso ut sint, esse coeperunt. Ideo autem quae ab ipso facta sunt, per ipsum facta dicuntur; quia ad hoc natus est, ut faceret creaturam: hoc est, fecisse in eo, et per eum. Nec enim sibi nativitas sua proficit, sed nobis; quia non eguit nasci, qui in his erat. Quomodo fit unicus Dei Patris Filius, quomodo ipse novit quae ingenita sunt Dei Patris? Erat enim in Deo, qui processit de Deo, ita {424A} ut unus esset Deus: ac sic fit, ut neque diminutio sit Patris, neque profectus Filii, dum nascitur. Et ut apertius tradat quae et quanta sit potentia Filii, ostendit quae per ipsum sint, nempe Throni, Dominationes et Principatus, ac Potestates; ut proinde omnino minus nihil in eo esse credatur, quam in Patre.

(Col 1:17) Et ipse est ante omnes. Ante omnes hic est; quia hic solus de Deo Patre natus est, de ingenita utique substantia Dei. Haec autem virtute ejus, quam per generationem habet a Patre, substiterunt; non ut communio eis substantiae sit cum eo, sed ex nihilo nutu Dei Patris Filio agente coeperunt. (Col 1:17) Et cuncta in ipso constant. In ipso constant, quia sine eo nihil sunt; nisi enim huic fuerint subdita, errore devia, quasi perditioni fient obnoxia.

{424B} (Col 1:18) Et ipse est caput corporis Ecclesiae, qui est principium, primogenitus ex mortuis; ut fiat in omnibus ipse primatum tenens. Ecclesiae caput est Christus, si tamen omnes unum sentiant coelestes et terreni; ut sint Ecclesia, hoc est, unius fidei: si quominus truncati capite totius corporis, id est, a Creatore suo sejuncti, amentia quadam et vanitate bacchantur. Qui est principium, primogenitus ex mortuis; ut fiat in omnibus ipse primatum tenens. Quoniam omnia per ipsum sunt, per ipsum denuo negligentia quadam facto caduca, reformanda fuerunt; ne ad injuriam ejus pertineret, si opus ejus per alterum restauratum fuisset; ut quomodo ante omnes natus est, sic iterum ante omnes primus esset ex resurrectione mortuorum, reddita pristina vita; ante omnia enim {424C} natus est de Deo, ut cuncta crearet, quae non erant. Iterum autem accepta carne de virgine natus est, ut peccatum quod ex virgine Eva intraverat in mundum, aboleret. Natus ergo, et mortuus resurrexit, ut quae primum fecerat, postea iterum recrearet; quia per errorem fuerant velut mortua, ut semper in omni vita sit primus et princeps.

(Col 1:19) Quia in ipso complacuit Patri omnem plenitudinem inhabitare. Plenitudo in ipso est et manet; quia omnia potest semper, ut nihil exceptum sit, quod non per eum possit praestari; ut et faceret, et reformaret, et lapsa erigeret, et mortua vivificaret. Unde ait: Sicut habet Pater vitam in semetipso; ita dedit et Filio vitam habere in semetipso (John 5:26); et: Sicut Pater suscitat mortuos et vivificat, sic {424D} et Filius quos vult, vivificat. Nec enim Pater judicat quemquam, sed omne judicium dedit Filio (John 5:21–22). Quid tam justum, nisi ut horum quae fecit per illum, ipsi daret judicium, ut omnis plenitudo divinitatis habitaret in ipso per id, quod diximus omnem illum potestatem in se habere: hoc est, Deum esse perfectum; qui enim haec omnia non habet, non est Deus.

{425A} (Col 1:20) Et per eum reconciliare omnia in ipsum, pacificans per sanguinem crucis ejus, sive quae in coelis sunt, sive quae in terris. Hoc est quod supra memoravit, quia ut ea omnia, quae fecit, per illum restauraret, cum errore quodam discrepare jam coepissent ab invicem, nec non et ab auctore (est enim adhuc error in carnalibus coelis) humiliavit eum, incarnando illum, ut homo factus ostenderet ac doceret quomodo possent ea, quae in firmamento sunt, et super terram reconciliari Creatori. Quod ut ad perfectum perduceret, occidi se passus est propter homines; ut quos apud superos docuerat, exeuntes hinc a morte secunda teneri non possint; ut doctrina ejus fructum haberet primae institutionis, et omnia facta per ipsum viverent in ipso quasi in auctore, {425B} sicut Petrus fatetur in Actibus apostolorum (Acts 3:15).

(Col 1:21–22) Et vos quondam alienatos et inimicos consiliorum ejus in operibus iniquis, nunc autem reconciliatos in corpore carnis ejus per mortem, exhibere oportet vos sanctos et immaculatos et irreprehensos in conspectu suo. Quale donum Dei sit erga gentes memorat, ut ostendat eos debitores, et quidem multum, in gratiarum actionibus Dei; qui cum inimici essent consiliorum ejus, quibus decrevit visitare genus humanum per famulum suum Moysen, cujus doctrinam et potestatem non receperunt, devoti idolis suis, immo operibus iniquis; adoraverunt enim opera sua, quae fecerunt: misericordia autem et providentia Dei requisivit eos; ut gratuito {425C} Dei gratiam consequerentur, redeuntes ad eum in conscientia munda; ut in die judicii dum nihil erroris veteris inveniretur in his, adcorporarentur Creatori suo, qui ut prodesset humano generi, incarnatus homo factus est, ut in carne sua vinceret mortem.

(Col 1:23–24) Si quidem perseveratis in fide fundati, stabiles et immobiles a spe Evangelii, quod audistis, quod praedicatum est in universa creatura, quae sub coelo est. Cujus factus sum ego Paulus minister, qui nunc gaudeo in passionibus pro vobis, et suppleo reliquias pressurarum Christi in carne mea pro corpore ejus, quod est Ecclesia. In tribulationibus, quas patiebatur, exsultare se fatetur; quia profectum suum videt in fide credentium. Non est enim inanis tribulatio, quando eum pro quo patitur, acquirit ad vitam. Quas {425D} passiones Christo dicit inferri, cujus utique doctrinam persequuntur; ut et perfidos gravet impietatis suae credulitate, et fidelibus Dei praedicet charitatem, cujus Filius nunc usque injurias patitur pro nobis. Nunc igitur intelligi vult qua causa scribit ad eos, cum dicit: Si tamen perseveratis in fide fundati; ut scirent tunc prodesse sibi passionem Christi, si in accepta fide manerent. Idcirco enim omnipotentia magnitudinis quanta sit Christi, et quam infinita, ab initio declaravit, ut doceret in ipso solo spem ponendam; quia ipsius sunt omnia, et quia nihil sine ipso potest vivere, neque in coelis, neque in terris. Ante {426A} omnes enim est, et cuncta in ipso constant, quia in omnibus ipse primatum tenet; ut si quis alicui elementorum aut angelorum, vel Potestatum devotum se debere esse putet, errare se sciat. Hic enim unus est Filius Dei, caput omnis principatus et principii, cujus Evangelium praedicatum est in toto mundo, incipiens a Moyse, qui dixit Judaeis: Quia Prophetam vobis suscitabit Dominus Deus vester ex fratribus vestris, tamquam me. Ipsum audietis; erit enim, quicumque non audierit prophetam illum, exterminabitur de plebe (Deut 18:15–16). Unde Dominus ait Judaeis: Quia Moyses de me scripsit (John 5:46). Itaque hic unus audiendus est et colendus, nec ad hunc aestimandus est quisquam; quia qui caput tenet, reliquam partem subjectam habet. Nam qui se subjectis humiliat, {426B} totus errat; quia non tenens caput truncus est, ex quo totum corpus continetur ad vitam.

(Col 1:25–26) Cujus factus sum ego minister secundum dispensationem Dei, quae data est mihi in vos, ad implendum verbum Dei in mysterio, quod absconditum fuit a saeculis saeculorum, et a generationibus. Ministrum factum se esse Evangelii inter gentes a Deo per Christum cum fiducia loquitur, ut mysterium coeptum a Domino per idoneum et efficacem servum possit impleri, quod ignotum fuit a saeculis.

(Col 1:26–28) Nunc vero declaratum est sanctis ejus, quibus voluit Deus demonstrare quae sint divitiae majestatis mysterii Dei in nationibus, quod est Christus in vobis spes gloriae, quem nos annuntiamus. Mysterium quod latuit a saeculis, modo revelatum asserit, {426C} id est, tempore apostolorum ostensum; quia et gentes admittendae essent sine circumcisione carnis ad fidem Christi, qui promissus erat Judaeis. Prius enim ante praedicationem fidei circumcidi mandatum est gentiles, si voluissent ad Legem accedere: nunc autem misericordia Dei, ita ut sunt, suscipi jussi sunt ad fidem. Quod indignum putabatur Judaeis, ut Christus in quo spes erat Judaeorum, etiam gentes participes faceret gloriae suae.

(Col 1:28–29) Monentes omnem hominem, et docentes in omni sapientia, ut exhibeamus omnem hominem perfectum in Christo: in quo laboro, certans secundum operationem ipsius, quae operatur in me in virtute. Hanc dicit veram esse sapientiam, quae est in disciplina Dominica, cum agnoscitur Christus. Quod se {426D} ipsum Apostolus magna cum cura agere testatur; ut erudiens omnem hominem in hac sapientia, consummatum eum exhibeat Deo in intellectum Christi, ut mysterium nativitatis ex Deo, et nativitatis ex Maria et totius operis ejus coelestium et terrestrium assequatur. Cujus rei certamen contra perfidos habere se loquitur, adjuvantibus signis virtutum: ut per haec victa infidelitas comprimatur. Qui enim verbis subtilitate quadam diabolicae versutiae ausus est contradicere, pudore correctus, necesse est cedat virtuti.

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CAPUT II.

(Col 2:1–3) Volo enim vos scire, quantam sollicitudinem {427A} habeam pro vobis, et pro his qui Laodiceae sunt, et quotquot non viderunt faciem meam in carne; ut consolationem accipiant corda eorum, cum fuerint instructi in charitate in omnes divitias plenitudinis intellectus, ad agnitionem mysterii Dei in Christo, in quo sunt omnes thesauri sapientiae et scientiae absconditi. Non se minus sollicitum pro his, quos in carne minime vidit, quam pro illis erat, quibus praesens praedicabat, testatur; ut scirent non minore affectu diligi se ab eo, quia eos non viderat, quam caeteros apud quos erat, diligebat; ut foveret animos eorum in charitate, et prompti fierent per epistolam, et agnitionem acciperent sacramenti Dei in Christo, advertentes has esse sapientiae et scientiae divitias, si agnoscatur Christus in deitatis suae plenitudine adorandus. Omne igitur mysterium sacramenti Dei in Christo est. Hic est enim unus, in {427B} quo omnis creatura nisi speraverit, peribit; ut omnium potentia in eo sit, ut qui cognoscit istum, cunctorum quaecumque sunt, cognitionem videatur habere, nec colendus alius praeter hunc requiratur; quia omnium potentiarum virtus in eo est; ex ipso enim habent omnes. Unus enim cum sit, omnia potest: quare et caput omnium dicitur, ut per ipsum omnes subsistere videantur. Digne ergo omnes thesauri sapientiae et scientiae in eo dicuntur absconditi. Omnis enim scientiae ratio totius creaturae supernae et terrenae in eo sit oportet, qui omnium eorum caput est, sive Angelorum, sive solis, sive lunae, sive stellarum, aut caeterarum rerum, omnis scientiae peritia in auctore illorum est; ut qui hunc agnoscit, nihil ultra {427C} requirat, nec sapientiam, nec virtutem; quia agnovit eum, in quo perfecta virtus, perfectaque sapientia est. Quidquid enim alibi se putaverit invenire, plene in hoc et abunde inveniet. Nam quid sapientius Salomone? quid prudentius Daniele? quibus idcirco Deus prae caeteris sapientiam dedit, ut notum faceret infidelibus totius se sapientiae esse auctorem. Denique Nabuchodonosor dicit Danieli, admirans super sapientiam ejus: Vere Deus vester ipse est Deus vivus, et aperiens mysteria (Dan 2:47). Quod quidem omnem incredulum latet in Christo esse omnem sapientiam et scientiam; quia non legunt in Evangeliis astrologiam, non in Apostolo geometriam, non in prophetis arithmeticam nec musicam: quae idcirco despecta sunt a nostris, quia ad {427D} salutem non pertinent, sed magis mittunt in errorem, et avocant a Deo; ut dum his student ratiocinationum disputationibus, animae suae curam non agant. Quae enim tam vera sapientia est, quam cognovisse quod prosit, et despexisse quod obsit? Obest enim; quia impedit animam, ne curam sui agat. Non immerito ergo qui Christum agnovit, invenit thesaurum sapientiae et scientiae; agnovit enim quod ei sit utile.

{428A} (Col 2:4–5) Hoc dico, ut nemo vos circumveniat in subtilitate sermonis. Nam etsi corpore absens sum, spiritu tamen vobiscum sum, gaudens, et videns ordinationem vestram, et supplens id, quod deest utilitati fidei vestrae in Christum. Commonet ne in malorum colloquiis et astutia iniquitatis sensus eorum transduceretur; quia sapientes mundi arte quadam et minutiis disputationum irretire gestiunt simplicium animos; ut ratione mundanarum rerum abstrahant eos a spe, quae est in Christo. Unde Apostolus spiritu se illic adesse dicit, ut reverentiam ejus ante oculos habentes, abstinerent se ab hujusmodi hominibus. Si enim spiritus Elisaei prophetae vidit fraudem Giezi euntis ad Naaman Syrum, ut acciperet sub nomine ejus, quae illi mandata non fuerant, et descendentem prompto animo Naaman ei plus dedisse, {428B} quam fuerat postulatus (2 Kgs 5:26); quanto magis Apostolus ea, quae dixit, poterat in spiritu videre! Major enim gratia fuit in apostolis, quam in prophetis. Et ut promptiores illos faceret circa traditionem evangelicam, gaudere se dicit in dispositione conversationis illorum; ut scientes unde Deo placeatur, in eo fierent firmiores, per quod digni effecti ad utilitatis profectum fidei suae addiscerent sensum.

(Col 2:6–7) Quemadmodum igitur accepistis Christum Jesum Dominum, in ipso ambulate, radicati et aedificati in ipso, et confirmati fide, sicut et docti estis, ambulantes in illa cum gratiarum actione. Hoc monet et hortatur ne devotio eorum minueretur, et recederent a fide, quam fuerant assecuti, et pravis fabulis eversi, {428C} aliter Christum acciperent, quam didicerant. Multi enim corruptores fidei circumibant ad seducendos simplices, dolose et cum simulatione annuntiantes Christum, quos evitari monet magna cautela; ut stabiles et firmi supra fundamentum Trinitatis, spe futurorum gratias uberes agerent super misericordia Dei.

(Col 2:8–9) Videte ne quis vos depraedetur per philosophiam, et inanem fallaciam secundum traditionem hominum, secundum elementa hujus mundi, et non secundum Christum; quia in ipso inhabitat omnis plenitudo divinitatis corporaliter. Philosophiam dicit terrenam, per quam solent seduci, qui cupiunt prudentes judicari in mundo. Haec argumentis et subtilitate minutiarum quarumdam componitur, quasi physicas investigaverit rationes, quaedam habens admixta, {428D} quae hortamenta sint bonae vitae vel documenta, aliquando de mensuris, nec non et de numeris, aliquando de elementorum qualitatibus et quantitatibus ordinata. In cujus disputationibus qui inciderit, vix et raro evadet; detinetur enim verisimilibus causis, et commentitiis rebus, nihil tam verum aestimans, quam quod conspicitur et intelligitur in elementis. Et quia quae ad praesens sunt, et cernuntur oculis, {429A} suavia et oblectabilia videntur; aliquantos seducunt, qui spiritalem rationem despiciendam et ridendam putant desperatione futuri, omnem vim astris assignantes carnali rationi obnoxii; ne gravia credenda sint sustolli in coelum posse, vel levia venire ad terras, aut aliquid corporeum sine rerum admixtione generari, repugnantes potentiae ac providentiae Dei. Sciunt enim legi in divinis veteribus Hebraeorum voluminibus multa gesta per Moysen, quae humana ratio non capit: simili modo et in novis libris facta a Domino, aut per apostolos, quae tractatus carnalis prohibet credi. Hanc ergo traditionem vel philosophiam fallacem et inanem appellat; quia non a potentia Dei ordinata est, sed ab imbecillitate ratiocinationis humanae, quae {429B} potentiam Dei intra scientiam suam coarctat, ne aliter credatur facere, quam carnalis se continet ratio; quia singulis elementis divinitatis diversitatem deputant ad culturam, ut obligent animos imperitorum; ne se ad Deum verum extendant. Quamobrem cavendam monet traditionem istam; quia mundi cultrix est, non Dei, qui unus est: nec ad Christum, sed a Christo abstrahit, in quo perfectio divinitatis est. Omnia enim quae habet Pater, dedit Filio, cum illum in plenitudinis genuit divinitate corporaliter; ut quia ipse caput est, creatura autem ejus corpus est, quidquid putatur posse coelestis creatura, hoc totum plene in Christo esse credatur; ut nullus arbitretur quemquam alium colendum. Quidquid enim in aliquo magnum putaverit, plus in illo inveniet; quia omnes {429C} ex ipso habent, sicut ex capite membra: ipse autem plenus est semper.

(Col 2:10) Et estis in illo repleti, qui est caput omnis Principatus et Potestatis. Plus significat credentibus dari, quam potest in elementis comprehendi; quia qui in Christo est, repletus est divinitatis abundantia, quam elementa non habent. Denique in credentibus Spiritus sanctus inhabitat, quod elementis concedi non potuit; quia indignum erat et incongruum, ut invisibilis habitaret in substantia visibili, et incorporeus in iis quae sensibilia sunt. Audiant ergo et veniant cultores eorum, et credant in Christum; ut fiant majores eorum, quos nunc colunt.

(Col 2:11–12) In quo et circumcisi estis circumcisione non manufacta, in exspoliationem corporis carnis, {429D} in circumcisione Christi, una cum illo sepulti in baptismo: in quo et simul surrexistis per fidem operationis Dei, qui suscitavit illum ex mortuis. Hi circumciduntur in Christo, qui amputata totius traditionis humanae cultura, Christo junguntur, corde non carne circumcisi, id est, in spiritu, non in carne servientes; ut a terrenis ad coelestia, ab humanis ad divina, ab errore convertantur ad veritatem, capiti et auctori suo copulati per charitatem. Cum quo sepulti sunt in baptismate: resurrexerunt autem per fidem {430A} Dei, de quo credunt quod exemplo Christi resuscitabit illos ex mortuis. Illic enim homo vetus deponitur, et novus assumitur: peccatis moritur, ut vivat justitiae: elementis abrenuntiat, ut Christo societur, resurrectionis futurae tenens pignus exemplum Salvatoris, qui resurrexit ex mortuis. Haec igitur commonet, ut perseverent in abrenuntiatione pompae et praestigiis satanae. Qui idcirco elementorum suadet culturam, ut a Deo avocet, participes apostasiae suae volens efficere homines. Quia enim sub nomine suo culturam suadere non potest, horretur enim ipso nomine; sub alterius nomine suam conatur implere voluntatem.

(Col 2:13–15) Et vos cum mortui essetis in delictis, et praeputio carnis vestrae, convivificavit simul {430B} cum illo, donans nobis omnia delicta, deleto chirographo, quod adversum nos erat, decretum, quod contrarium erat nobis: et illud tulit de medio, et affixit cruci, et exuens principatus et potestates, ostentavit in auctoritate, triumphans illos in ipso. Mortuos dicit gentiles fuisse: primum quidem, quia legem, quae ad testimonium data est Creatoris, et ad vitia condemnanda, recipere noluerunt: deinde impietatis peccatorum suorum causa indigni erant vita; ideoque discrevit hos a Judaeis: quasi qui fuerint inimici Dei unius. Judaei vero in unius Dei confessione degentes, adveniente Christo, addiscunt mysterium Dei, quod exspectabant ad justificationem suam: ut in eo quod subreptum illis fuerat, quia impossibile est esse sine peccato, acciperent remissionem. Unde post causam gentilium {430C} inducit et Judaeos, dicens: Donans nobis omnia delicta; ut post specialem subjiceret et generalem; quia cunctis donavit omnia delicta. Sed quia sicut dicit Dominus: Cui plus donatum fuerit, amplius debet diligere (Luke 7:43): idcirco commonet gentes, ut considerantes causas malorum suorum, et qualem gratiam acceperunt a Deo in Christo, tota devotione solliciti sint circa obsequium ejus, a quo a diversa mortis poena sunt liberati. Quomodo ergo donavit nobis omnia delicta? Deleto, inquit, chirographo, quod erat adversarium nobis. Et quid est delere, subjecit dicens: Et illud tulit de medio. Sic ergo delevit, cum tulit de medio. Sic autem tulit de medio, cum affixit, ait, cruci. Affigere autem cruci, hoc dixit esse spoliare principatus et potestates publice, {430D} et detriumphare illos in Christo. Haec, sicut videntur, obscura sunt, ac per hoc adhibita cura dilucidanda sunt. Hoc est praesidium Dei, quod per significantiam diversarum causarum exponit Apostolus. Multa enim acta memorat, quo genus hominum ad indulgentiam perveniret; ut non solum propria remitteret nobis delicta, sed et illud tolleret peccatum, quod ex Adae erat praevaricatione (quod appellavit chirographum in decretis) quod nos a mortuis resurgere non sinebat; quia si et hoc non {431A} tulisset de medio, exeuntes hinc, qui acceperant remissam, illic tenerentur apud inferos. Porro autem ideo omnia delicta concessa sunt, ut resurgerent a mortuis. Quia enim ex peccato mors, sublato peccato fit resurrectio mortuorum: quod quidem fieri minime potuisset, nisi peccatum affixisset cruci. Dum enim non peccando Salvator vincit peccatum, quod hominem tenebat obnoxium, insuper et occiditur ab eo innocens: sic crucifixit peccatum. Devictum enim peccatum, mortificatum dicitur, crux enim non Salvatoris mors est, sed peccati. Innocens enim sic qui occiditur, reos illos facit, a quibus occiditur. Peccatum autem principes et potestates intelligamus, quorum studio peccavit primus Adam. Ad auctores enim referendum est nomen hoc, quorum mortem {431B} in exspoliatione significavit; mors enim ipsorum haec est, quia victi a Salvatore, dum exspoliantur animabus, quas tenebant in captivitate, mortificantur. Rei enim facti sunt: quia cum hac auctoritate animas tenerent, quia peccaverant, ipsi inventi sunt amplius peccatores, dum illum qui illos non peccando vicerat, occiderunt. Et sic juste exspoliati sunt, sicut dixit, publice, id est, in cruce; quod est palam detriumphari a Deo in Christo. Ille enim detriumphatur qui palam vincitur, et spolia ejus publicantur; ostenditur enim omnibus prostratus, qui caeteris insultabat. Decretum autem quod dicit, non est hoc quod pagani fatum appellant; quia illud non omnibus contrarium asserunt; quia quosdam dicunt ex hoc felices, alios infelices. Hoc enim decretum omnibus dicit {431C} fuisse contrarium; sententia enim erat cunctis adversa hominibus.

(Col 2:16–17) Nemo igitur judicet vos in cibo, vel in potu, aut in parte diei festi, aut in neomeniis, aut in sabbato: quae sunt umbra futurorum, corpus autem Christi. Quoniam omnis spes vitae in Christo est, ac fiducia, nulli superstitioni aut legi subjacere nos debere praecepit. Quamobrem perstrepentes, aut aliquid quod ad fidem Christi non pertinet susurrantes, contemnendos: istum autem solum sequendum, per quem devicta mors est, et reddita resurrectio mortuorum. Quidam enim Judaeorum solent judicare fideles, quod ea quae interdicta per Moysen sunt, edant de cibis, cum omnia Deus munda fecerit: indigni autem judicati Judaei de his edere, prohibiti {431D} sunt a melioribus. Solent iterum reprehendere nos, quia dies festos eorum spernimus, aut quia initia mensium non observamus, quae neomenias vocant: maxime autem quod dies sabbatorum non custodimus, ut otio et epulis cum luxuria transigantur: quod magis ad offensam pertinet, quam ad gratiam. Haec autem omnia sunt corpus Christi, quia elementorum per effectus sunt vocabula. Hinc est unde in Evangelio dicit: Dominus est enim Filius hominis etiam sabbati (Matt 12:8); per ipsum enim omnia, quae quidem sic data sunt per Moysen, ut {432A} umbra essent, vel figura futurorum, ut apparente veritate, figura cessaret. Sicut enim absente imperatore, imago ejus habet auctoritatem, praesente non habet; ita et haec ante adventum Domini tempore suo observanda fuerunt, praesente autem, carent auctoritate. Numquid aliquis vicem domini agens, ipso praesente, dominatur? Si praefectorum vicarii, praesentibus eis privati sunt; quanto magis servi, praesente domino, etiam ipsi in obsequio debent videri!

(Col 2:18–19) Nemo vos decipiat, volens in humilitate animi, et superstitione angelorum ea quae videt, extollens se frustra, inflatus mente carnis suae, et non tenens caput illud, ex quo omne corpus per compagines et conjunctiones subministratum et compaginatum {432B} crescit in augmentum Dei. Quod superius sub nomine philosophiae cavendum monuit, nunc apertius docet observandum ab iis, qui terrenae sapientiae studentes, haec colenda asserunt, quae obtutibus adjacent, vel apparent; ut horum detentae culturis animae sub firmamento obligatae teneantur, ne se supra firmamentum tendant ad superiores coelos ad Deum omnium adorandum. Quod opera efficitur inimici, ut semper animas super terras humiliatas detineat, ubi se scit de coelis dejectum semper futurum justo judicio Dei, religionem simulans, cum sit maximum sacrilegium. Inflantur enim motum pervidentes stellarum, quas angelos vocat, non auctoritate divina, sed superstitione humana, quae ad nihilum proficit, nisi ad damnum: nolentes tenere {432C} fidem Christi, qui omnium creator et Dominus est. Ex ipso enim omnes originem habent; quare et corpus ejus dicuntur, si tamen agnoscunt eum. Ad ipsum enim conversi reaedificantur, compaginati fidei ejus subministrante Evangelio cunctis quasi membra corporis in charitate Christi, ut augmentum faciant Deo. Cum enim redeunt ad illum, qui per errorem deseruerant illum, minuentes copias divitiarum ejus, dum denegant ejus se esse, crementum faciunt Deo. quia ex perditis acquiruntur. Haec de paganis: rursum de Judaeis dicit quia et ipsi sub elementis serviunt, non elementis.

(Col 2:20) Si ergo mortui estis cum Christo ab elementis hujus mundi, quid adhuc, velut viventes in hoc mundo decernitis? Omnis qui baptizatur in Christo, {432D} moritur mundo; cunctis enim superstitionum erroribus abrenuntiat, ut solam colat fidem Christi. Amotis enim quae naturali justitiae accedunt, relinquitur disciplina data a Deo, per quam vivitur Deo per spem, quae est in Christo: moritur autem his quibus subjectus fuerat per errorem, dum negat illos, quos deos praesumpserat esse. Et ita fit ut per inimicitiam abrenuntiationis invicem sibi mortui dicantur homo et elementorum cultura. Mundum enim dicens, errorem carnis significat; omne enim quod videtur, carni deputatur. Hinc est unde et Joannes apostolus: {433A} Nolite, inquit, diligere mundum, neque ea quae in mundo sunt (1 John 2:15); id est, neque elementa, quibus compactus est mundus, neque errores quos humana adinvenit traditio, diligamus: sed solum Christum, qui mortuus est pro nobis; ut corpori suo nos sociaret ex perditis. Qui ergo consepulti sunt Christo, mortui sunt elementis, ut nihil curent ex his; superna enim didicerunt tenenda, quae possunt vitam donare perpetuam. Haec enim nec praesentem dant, et impediunt, ne apprehendantur futura. Qui autem post baptismum ambigit de aliquibus, putans quaedam de veteribus veneranda, vivere se ostendit elementis, quae decernit colenda, aut dubitat contemnenda; hic remanebit intra circulos mundi, alienus a Deo; quia veteri indutus homine, {433B} carnalia transire non poterit.

(Col 2:21–22) Ne tetigeritis, ne attaminaveritis, ne gustaveritis, ne contrectaveritis, quae sunt omnia in interitum, et corruptionem per abusionem secundum praecepta et doctrinas hominum. Prohibet omni genere ab spe mundanorum; quia inanis est, ne colant, ne assentiant, ne cogitent quia quae promittunt, corruptionis sunt. Usus enim et cultura ipsorum interitum generant; quia praecepta et doctrinae non Dei, sed hominum sunt, in quibus vana spes est: quippe cum adversus Creatorem invenerit haec error humanus; ut prohibens ab unius Dei fide, multorum deorum superstitionem inducat.

(Col 2:23) Quae sunt rationem quidem habentia sapientiae simulatione religionis, et humilitate animi {433C} ad vexationem corporis, non in honore aliquo ad saturitatem et diligentiam carnis. Hinc se sapientiae rationem habere putant, quia traditioni humanae nomen religionis applicant, ut religio appelletur, cum sit sacrilegium; quia quod contra auctorem est, sacrilega mente inventum est. Nomen ergo fingit, ut falsa quae sunt, posset vera asserere; et humanas mentes in terra humiliat, ne se erigant ad superna: aut terrena colentes excidant a supernis coelestibus, et obsint corpori, cujus caput Christus est secundum primaevae rationis facturam. Hinc enim aggravati non poterant sursum jungi capiti suo, ut restaurentur in illo honorati effecti: sed quasi prima parte corporis truncati, totos se dantes mundo ad sensum carnis explendum. Sagina enim carnalis sensus traditio {433D} humana est, quae hoc dicit sufficere, quod carnis tradidit providentia; rationem enim videtur habere sapientiae, juxta carnem, quia ex elementis est omnis corporalis nativitas: ac per hoc non esse incongruum inquiunt his inclinari, quorum gubernaculis humanum regitur genus, ut his se subjiciat, quae videt mundi clarissima: nec requiri debere spiritualia; quia his solis, inquiunt, ducibus uti concessum est, et per hanc rationem negligunt auctorem.

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CAPUT III.

{434A}

(Col 3:1) Si enim consurrexistis cum Christo, quae sursum sunt quaerite, ubi Christus est ad dexteram Dei sedens. Hos cum Christo resurrexisse asserit in baptismo, qui supercoelestia cogitant, ubi sedes est Christi, ubi Deus Pater Filio suo tradidit dexteram, ut regnet et judicet; judicis enim in sinistra sedere non est. Resurrectio tamen duas habet formas, ut primo anima de terris resurgat ad coelos, deinde recepto corpore, resurgat raptus obviam Christo.

(Col 3:2) Quae sunt sursum, sapite, non ea quae super terram. Supernorum coelorum, qui Aeterni sunt habitacula, nos petere exhortatur: ab his autem omnibus, quae in firmamento et sub firmamento sunt, {434B} dissimulandum. Quisquis enim his se superstitionibus occupaverit, impedimentum patietur; non enim poterit haec transcendere, quibus se inclinavit, ut dominis.

(Col 3:3) Mortui enim estis, et vita vestra abscondita est cum Christo in Deo. Apud mundi sensum mortuus Christus videtur, et discipuli ejus, cum constet vivere illum cum his omnibus. Idcirco carnalibus ac mundanis abscondita est vita Christi et suorum in Deo extra mundum, in regno ejus coelesti, in quo vivunt.

(Col 3:4) Cum Christus apparuerit vita vestra, tunc et vos apparebitis cum illo in gloria. Vita nostra Christus est; quia legimus in Actis apostolorum hunc esse vitae auctorem, qui a perfidis non creditur futurus judex (Acts 3:15). Cum autem advenerit in {434C} virtute coelesti, et visus fuerit esse, quod minime credebatur, tunc apparebunt cum illo etiam qui crediderunt in illum; et manifestabitur omni perfidiae, quia vivit cum suis in gloria. Haec consolatio fiduciam spei parit; ut securi de futura vita, omnia postponentes, Christum sequamur.

(Col 3:5) Mortificate membra vestra, quae sunt super terram, fornicationem, immunditiam, libidinem, concupiscentiam malam, et avaritiam, quae est idolorum servitus. Quoniam omnia simul peccata corpus esse in epistola ad Romanos significat (Rom 6:6), idcirco nunc singula delicta describens, membra ea appellat; ut post acceptam et servatam evangelicam de Salvatoris plenitudine rationem, bonae vitae operam darent, abstinentes se ab omni turpitudine {434D} et desiderio malo, quo possint peritiae divinae fructum non amittere. Multum enim obest scire veri rationem, et minime factis illam prosequentibus affirmare. Hinc est unde et Dominus inter caetera ait: Qui autem scit voluntatem domini sui, et non paruerit ei, vapulabit multis (Luke 12:47). Avaritiam tamen idololatriae comparavit, ut nihil illa scelestius demonstraret. Sub uno nomine duo pessima et impia genera designavit, quae omni ratione monet fugienda; primum enim et pergrave crimen est idololatria. {435A} Quid enim tam perniciosum, tamque funestum, quam ad injuriam creatoris Dei lignis et lapidibus vel aliis metallis honorificentiae ejus nomen tribuere; cum ipsi non patiantur, ut servus nomine domini nuncupetur, quem non natura utique, sed quaedam conditio subjicit servituti? Aliud e contra crimen est avaritiae, non dispar malitia, sed diversum in nomine. Unde ad Timotheum ait: Radix enim omnium malorum est avaritia (1 Tim 6:10); omnium enim capax est delictorum, ut aviditatis suae, quod impossibile est, impleat desiderium, semper bibens, et semper sitiens. Non immerito ergo sub uno nomine utrumque malum ostendit; pene enim uno explentur opere: quia sicut idololatria uni Deo auferre nititur gloriam, ne quod ejus peculiare est, solus {435B} habeat nomen divinitatis sibi soli condignum; ita et avaritia in Dei se res extendit, ut si potest fieri, unus et solus creaturam ejus sibi usurpet, quam Deus communem omnibus fecit. Unde dicit Deus per prophetam; Meum est aurum, et meum est argentum (Hag 2:8). Utraque igitur Deo est inimica; ambae enim Deo abnegant, quae ejus sunt.

(Col 3:6) Propter quae venit ira Dei. Malorum memoratorum causa venturum dicit judicium Dei; ut vindicetur in hos, qui contempto Deo et Lege ejus, interdicta sequi maluerunt.

(Col 3:7) In quibus et vos ambulastis aliquando, cum viveretis in illis. Quantum beneficium illis praestiterit gratia Dei per Jesum Christum, non tacet; ut gratulentur evasisse se iram, quae ventura est {435C} repente super infideles totius terrae, et tales semetipsos praebeant, ut parere possint praeceptis ejus, a quo a morte secunda sunt liberati.

(Col 3:8–11) Nunc vero deponite et vos omnia, iram et indignationem animi, malitiam, blasphemiam. Turpiloquium de ore vestro non procedat. Nolite mentiri invicem. Exuite vos veterem hominem cum actibus ejus, et induite novum, qui renovatur in agnitionem secundum imaginem ejus, qui condidit illum; ubi non est Graecus et Judaeus, circumcisio et praeputium, Barbarus et Scytha, servus et liber: sed omnia et in omnibus Christus. Nunc ab his prohibet, quae minora peccata videntur; ne forte, quia superius quae graviora sunt, mortificanda mandavit, haec admittenda, aut quasi non periculosa, non fugienda putarentur: {435D} simul etiam ut exuti veterem hominem, id est, tam verbo quam actu incontaminatos se videntes, et novi facti in Christo per agnitionem veritatis, quae olim latuit, modo autem manifestata per novam legem credentibus; ut similes fiant imaginis ejus, qui creavit illos. Imago haec in conversatione bonae vitae intelligenda est, sicut dicit ad Corinthios in epistola prima: Quemadmodum portavimus imaginem ejus, qui de terra est; ita portemus et imaginem ejus qui de coelo est (1 Cor 15:49). Ipse est ergo creator hominis, {436A} cujus imaginem portare nos jubet in sanctitate et bonis operibus, quae de Filii Dei agnitione descendunt. Nemo enim potest bonam et mundam habere vitam, nisi habeat cui hanc exhibeat, a quo si non praemium, certe vel laudem exspectet. Sed apud Deum et laus et praemium sperantur; quia non patitur Dei justitia eum, qui carnis vitia vicerit, minime coronari. In hac itaque agnitione nullus ut indignus excipitur, quasi non mereatur accedere ad fidem Christi; omnes enim accedentes unum fiunt, deleti quid fuerint, et scripti quid esse coeperunt; ut quia unius fidei sunt, in eo ipso unius sint et meriti, ut quos fides jungit, non possint discerni, propter quod diversi natura et gente sive conditione sunt. Omnia enim et in omnibus his Christus est; {436B} quia enim cuncti ejus membra sunt, omnia Christus est; ut dum una confessio eorum est de spe ejus in omnibus Christus: et sic omnia corpus ejus sunt, ut professio eorum et natura concordet. Alia est tamen imago haec, quam de agnitione Salvatoris dicit creari, et alia imago, ad quam factus est primus homo. Ista enim imago est et in femina, cum agnoscit eum, qui se creavit, et obtemperans voluntati ejus abstinet a vita turpi et actu perverso; illa autem imago in solo viro est, sicut idem dicit in epistola ad Corinthios prima: Vir quidem non debet velare caput, cum sit imago et gloria Dei (1 Cor 11:7). Si autem et mulier non velaret caput, esset et ipsa imago Dei. Sed incongruum erat, ut facta viro subjecta, diceretur esse imago Dei; nam et in {436C} Genesi ita ait: Et fecit Deus hominem, ad imaginem Dei fecit eum (Gen 1:27); ut sicut Deus unus est, unus ab eo fieret homo: ut quomodo ex Deo uno omnia, ita ex uno homine omne genus esset super faciem totius terrae. Unus igitur unum fecit, qui unitatis ejus haberet imaginem. Et ipsa in viro et muliere similitudo mysterii Patris et Filii; Barbarum tamen ab Scytha segregavit, sicut servum a libero non utique in Christo, in quo omnes unum sunt; sed in morum feritate et in gentis immanitate. Pejores enim hos Barbaris intelligi voluit, antequam credant, cum Graecorum libri justitiam eorum praedicent, quam, duce natura, sequebantur; in tantum ut magnum apud eos peccatum furti habeatur, quod Graeci magna, inquit, cum industria et doctrina justitiae {436D} semitas investigarunt, hosce naturaliter comprehendisse collaudant. Sed quomodo degenerant omnia, postea plus vituperabiles esse coeperunt, quam fuerant antea laudabiles. Postquam enim mulieres eorum lege viri uti coeperunt, quas Amazonas primitus asserunt appellatas, totam Asiam contra naturam subjicientes; sic contigit ut et viri canum more rabidi efficerentur, immanes, silvestres, inculti, plus quam barbari, in tantum immutati, ut carne humana vescenda imbuerentur. Quid mirum, {437A} cum et ipsi Romani longe alii fuerint, quam nunc sunt? Nam et mulieribus eorum castitatis causa vini usus incognitus fuit, sicut nunc aquae; in tantum enim vigebat disciplinae auctoritas, ut subjectum vas non faceret, quod volebat.

(Col 3:12–13) Induimini ergo ut electi Dei, sancti et dilecti, viscera misericordiae, benignitatem, humilitatem, sensus mansuetudinem, longanimitatem, praebentes vobis invicem patientiam, et donantes alius alii, si quis adversus aliquem habet querelam; sicut et Christus donavit vobis, ita et vos facite. Ut lucrum possint habere, ad haec eos facienda hortatur, quae meritum collocant apud Deum. A peccatis autem abstinere timor facit; veretur enim ne mala faciens, poenis subdatur. Haec autem quae nunc facienda monet, ad profectum {437B} pertinent meritorum; ex voluntate enim sunt, non ex necessitate. Qui ergo ab illicitis se abstinet, habet laudem: qui vero a licitis temperat, et laudem habet et praemium.

(Col 3:14–15) Super haec autem omnia charitatem habete, quod est vinculum unitatis: et pax Dei exsultet in cordibus vestris, in qua et vocati estis in uno corpore: et grati estote. Quia vero omnium major est charitas, huic magis studendum hortatur. Tunc enim omnia quae supra mandavit servanda, ad effectum praemiorum poterunt deduci, si duce charitate, iter ambulent legis; tota enim mente operatur, qui ex amore aliquid facit. Hypocrisis et simulatio non est in charitate; quare et Joannes apostolus: Timor, inquit, non est in dilectione. Qui enim timet, perfectus {437C} non est: Perfecta enim dilectio foras mittit timorem (1 John 4:18); unde et Dominus amari se mavult, quam timeri. Haec est enim dilectio quae complectitur unitatem, haec est quae omnes unum corpus facit, haec est quae veram habet pacem, quam corde puro custodit. Potest enim pax dici, et non habere charitatem; charitas enim semper secum habet pacem.

(Col 3:16) Verbum Christi habitet in vobis abunde in omni sapientia, docentes et monentes vosmetipsos in psalmis et hymnis, et canticis spiritalibus, in gratia cantantes in cordibus vestris Domino. Haec meditanda monet semper, quae sonent Christum: haec in corde habenda, quae Deo Patri semper gratias referant; ut vox canora illi serviat, illum laudet psalmus, hymnus {437D} extollat. Et huic soli notum sit, qui occulta pervidet mentis, a quo speratur et praemium. In cordibus illi cantari mandavit; ne favore hominum fieret, et fructum amitteret.

(Col 3:17) Et omne quodcumque facitis in verbo aut in opere, omnia in nomine Domini Jesu facite, gratias agentes Deo et Patri per ipsum. Quoniam supra in corde Deum laudari, et illi gratias referri praecepit; nunc tam in verbo, quam in opere totius conversationis nostrae nomen Domini Jesu laudari et exaltari hortatur; ut cum verba nostra carent reprehensione, et opera nostra bona sunt, magnificetur {438A} Dominus Jesus, cujus magisterio invituperabiles sunt discipuli. Tunc enim veras gratias agimus Deo per ipsum, si modum praeceptorum ejus custodiamus.

(Col 3:18) Mulieres, subditae estote viris, sicut oportet, in Domino. Ita praecepit mulieres subditas esse debere viris, sicut mandavit Deus, inter caetera dicens ad mulierem: Et ad virum tuum conversio tua et ipse tui dominabitur (Gen 3:16); ut ipso ritu et disciplina timeat virum suum, quasi dominum, ex quo coepit esse.

(Col 3:19) Viri, diligite uxores vestras, et nolite amari esse ad illas. Rigorem virilis legis emollit, ne potestate qua praevalet, nimius quis sit in dominatu uxoris: sed debet respicere ad affectum, quia mulier {438B} caro ejus est; ne plus illam humilians exacerbet et contraria cogitet.

(Col 3:20) Filii, obedite parentibus vestris per omnia; hoc enim placet Deo. Non potest aliud placere Deo, quam quod justum et pium est. Tunc enim possunt filii habere propitium Deum, si debitam honorificentiam rependant parentibus, circa obsequium illorum faciles, in contemptu difficiles, scientes filii numquam adversus parentes providere debere.

(Col 3:21) Patres, nolite ad iram provocare filios vestros, ne pusillo animo fiant. Modestos praecipit patres debere esse filiis, ne coarctati ab eis, delinquant in illos, et Deum offendant, quod nolunt. Ira enim inconsiderata res est, in tantum ut aliquando nec sibi parcat, qui irascitur. Debent enim recordari patres {438C} quia fuerunt et ipsi filii: considerare autem filii, quia futuri sunt patres; ut aeque librato consilio utriusque partis, et filii subjecti sint, et patres modesti.

(Col 3:22) Servi, obaudite per omnia dominis carnalibus, non ad oculum servientes, quasi hominibus placentes, sed in simplicitate cordis timentes Dominum. Quoniam Deo aliter serviri non potest quam puro corde; occulta enim pervidet animorum: sic et hominibus praecipit serviri debere. Qui enim ad oculum servit, in occulto aliud facit: qui autem ex animo, talis est foris, qualis et intus. Si ergo in hoc obsequio fuerit fidelis, promerebitur Dominum; quia ipse dixit: Qui in minimo fidelis est, et in magno fidelis est (Luke 16:10). Si enim ei, qui ad praesens {438D} vindicat, fidelis non fuerit, qui fieri poterit ut illi fidem exhibeat, quem post mortem audit judicaturum? Idcirco in domini carnalis causa justum vult esse servum et obsequentem; ut possit et in Dei rebus et fidelis esse et obsequens. Si enim in praesenti idoneus fuerit, ubi scit nulla esse nisi corruptibilia praemia; quanto magis propensior erit in Dei devotione, quem scit fidelibus immortalia daturum praemia!

(Col 3:23–25) Quidquid facitis, ex animo operamini, ut Domino et non hominibus: certi quod a Domino recipietis retributionem haereditatis Domini {439A} Christi, cui servitis. Qui enim inique gerit, fert id quod gessit inique: et non est personarum acceptio apud Deum. Ut promptos illos in obsequio et fide faciat, mercedem illos bonorum operum accepturos promittit a Deo in regno Christi. Quod ut probatum sit et acceptum, sic illos vult obsequi sicut Domino, a quo mercedem exspectant. At si servus inique egerit, non solum hominem offendet, sed et Deum, quem in admissa fraude carnalis domini contempsit. Si autem bene egerit, non erit apud Deum servus hominis, quasi despectior: sed remunerabitur, quasi liber inter homines, servus autem Christi, quod dignitatis est nomen.

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CAPUT IV.

(Col 4:1) Domini, quod justum est et aequum servis {439B} praebete, scientes quod et vos Dominum habetis in coelis. Ne domini temporales superbia extollantur, praesumentes de dominatu, mitigat et cohibet animos illorum, ut adhibita consideratione humani generis, animadvertant auctorem Deum non servos et liberos, sed omnes ingenuos condidisse. Sed hoc mundi iniquitate factum est, ut dum alter alterius fines invadit, tunc captivos ducit ingenuos; unde et manu capti dicti sunt a veteribus inde mancipia. Hic casus et conditio etiam nunc apparet, alii redimuntur, alii remanent servi. Apud Deum autem hic servus habetur, qui peccaverit (John 8:34). Denique peccati causa Cham servus audivit: Maledictus puer Chanaam, servus servorum erit fratribus suis (Gen 9:25). Cui sententiae veteres assensere, {439C} ita ut definirent omnes prudentes esse liberos, stultos autem omnes esse servos; quia prudens abstinet a peccatis, ut hic ingenuus sit, qui recta sequitur; servus autem qui per stultitiae imprudentiam subjicit se peccato. Unde et Cham propter stultitiam, qui arisit nuditatem patris stulte, servus est appellatus. Ostendit ergo dominis, quia non vere sunt domini, sed quasi per imaginem; corporum enim, non animorum sunt domini. Solus enim dominus, et auctor rerum invisibilis Deus tam corporibus, quam animis dominatur; ut haec considerantes, justa ab eis exigant servitia: talia utique qualia et a se exigi volunt a Domino communi. Nam cum ipsi non ut dignum est, Deo serviant, quem non negant omnium potestatem habere, cujusque quotidiana dona per ministeria {439D} creaturae humanis usibus exhiberi, a paribus suis (ut non dicam fratribus) tam gravia exigunt servitia, ut ferri non possint: non ponentes in animo, quia et ipsi velint nolint, servi sunt; et viderint cujus meriti.

(Col 4:2–4) Orationi instate, vigilantes in illa cum gratiarum actione: orantes simul et pro nobis, ut Deus aperiat nobis ostium verbi ad eloquendum mysterium Christi (propter quod etiam vinctus sum) ut manifestem illud, prout oportet me loqui. Jam prudentibus mysterium Domini Christi, et cautis in evitandis vitiis peccatorum orationi instandum ostendit; {440A} ut meritis crescant, deficientibus tentationibus adversarii. Quos in tantum dignos habet, ut judicet eos etiam se posse precibus adjuvare ad asserendum audacter Evangelium, ad quod manifestandum legationem acceperat.

(Col 4:5–6) In sapientia ambulate ad eos, qui foris sunt, tempus redimentes. Sermo vester semper in gratia sale sit conditus; ut sciatis quomodo oporteat vos singulis respondere. Quoniam necesse est ambulare nos inter infideles, et colloquia miscere causa conversationis mundanae: hoc est quod commonet, ut cum sapientia sit ipsa conversatio propter scandalum gentilium; ne occasionem per nos accipiant blasphemandi, et incitentur ad persequendum. Quid enim opus est loqui cum eo, quem scias intractabilem, {440B} et obstinate mentis, paratum ad contumeliam faciendam? Ideo haec monet, ut opportuno et loco et tempore, magistra modestia, religionis verba promantur: aut si persona talis in medio est, quae perstrepat, reticendum. Aliter enim cum potentibus mundi, aliter cum mediocribus, et aliter cum humilibus agendum est. Aliter iterum cum mansuetis, aliter cum iracundis, quibus cedi oportet, hoc est redimere tempus. Cum enim insidianti Dominicis verbis et furenti temporis audaciae cedis, injurias infesti temporis lucrifacis. Nam si caput, id est, rex assentit corpori, tunc est libertas loquendi verba Dei cum mansuetudine, ut provocentur ad bonum. Perstrepentibus tamen et animosis ad convicia semper cedendum; vincis enim, dum cedis.

{440C} (Col 4:7–9) Quae circa me sunt, omnia nota faciet vobis Tychicus dilectus frater, et fidelis minister, et conservus in Domino: quem misi ad vos in hoc ipsum, ut cognoscat quae circa vos sunt, et consoletur corda vestra, cum Onesimo charissimo et fideli fratre, qui est ex vobis, omnia quae hic sunt, nota faciet vobis. Ad hoc se dicit fratres misisse, ut invicem sibi nota fierent, quae agerentur ab invicem. Quamvis superius dicat spiritu se praesentem apud eos, et videre quae agerent, internuntiis tamen opus est. Sollicitior enim fiet quis, quando videt ad se venire ad considerandam conversationem suam; plus enim veretur, si speculetur se videri quae agat. Nam cum Deus omnia videat, et sciamus omnia illi nota esse; quia tamen non videmus nos videri ab eo, {440D} contraria facimus.

(Col 4:10–11) Salutat vos Aristarchus comes captivitatis meae, et Marcus consobrinus Barnabae (de quo accepistis mandatum, ut si venerit ad vos, excipiatis illum) et Jesus, qui dicitur Justus: qui sunt ex circumcisione. Hi soli sunt adjutores mei in regno Dei, qui mihi solatio fuerunt. Hic Aristarchus bonae conversationis ac meriti videtur, qui devotione Dominica particeps et socius laborum Apostoli designatur. Marcum autem ut commendet, quid sit, non tacet; ut cum laudabilis viri Barnabae affinis addiscitur, honorabilis habeatur. Addit et Jesum, quem Justum {441A} nomine vocari appellat. Quibus solis testimonium perhibet, quia hi ex circumcisione adjutorio fuerunt ei, assentientes et participes sententiae ejus; ut jam circumcidi ulterius non debere praedicarent, ideo participes illos dicit suos in regno Dei. Circumcidendum autem esse, et sabbata et neomenias servandas praedicare non spiritale est, sed terrenum.

(Col 4:12) Salutat vos Epaphras, qui est ex vobis, servus Christi. Chariorem illis facit epistolam, quando ei qui ex ipsis est, testimonium reddit. (Col 4:12) Semper sollicitus pro vobis in orationibus, ut stetis perfecti, et abunde expleti in omni voluntate Dei. Tam salutaria se illis exoptare testatur; ut illum qui civis illorum est, et affectu unanimitatis charissimus, participem suae devotionis in profectum eorum ostendat.

{441B} (Col 4:13) Testimonium enim adhibeo illi quia habet multum laborem pro vobis, et pro iis qui Laodiceae sunt et Hierapoli. Ut sollicitos eos salutis suae faciat, aliorum vigilantia quanta sit pro his, ostendit; sollicitior enim quis fit pudore, quando in causa sua alterum viderit laborare.

(Col 4:14) Salutat vos Lucas medicus charissimus, et Demas. Vere charissimus Apostolo fuit Lucas; quia omnia postponens, Apostolum semper secutus est: qui et Evangelium, et Actus apostolorum scripsisse perhibetur.

(Col 4:15) Salutate eos qui sunt Laodiceae fratres, et Nympham, et domesticam ejus Ecclesiam. Quoniam simili modo et pro iis qui Laodiceae sunt, sollicitus {442A} erat, in eorum epistola hos salutandos commonet, Nympham chariorem existimans, cujus et domum salutat; tam enim devota videtur fuisse, ut omnis domus ejus signo titulata esset crucis.

(Col 4:16) Et cum lecta fuerit apud vos haec epistola, facite ut et in Laodicensium Ecclesia legatur, et vos ut eam quae est Laodicensium, legatis. Quia generales sunt instructiones Apostoli, et ad omnium profectum Ecclesiarum scriptae epistolae; idcirco etiam Laodicensibus epistolam hanc legi praecipit, ut per hanc quid agendum sibi esset, addiscerent: et Colossenses ut eorum legerent, juxta sensum supradictum.

(Col 4:17) Et dicite Archippo: Vide ministerium, quod suscepisti in Domino, ut illud impleas. Praepositum {442B} illorum per eos ipsos commonet, ut sit sollicitus de salute ipsorum; et quia plebis solius causa epistola scribitur, ideo non ad rectorem ipsorum destinata est, sed ad Ecclesiam. Post enim Epaphram, qui illos imbuit, hic accepit regendam eorum Ecclesiam.

(Col 4:18) Ipsa salutatio mea manu Pauli. Memores estote vinculorum meorum. Gratia Domini nostri Jesu Christi vobiscum. Ut confirmet epistolam manu sua subscriptam dicit, memorans ut in mente habeant exitus ejus, quos patiebatur pro salute gentium: et tales se praeberent ut non ferret aegre pati pro his injurias.