COLOSSIANS 3-4

In an earlier post on the book of Micah, I showed how one could almost construct a commentary on a book of the Bible without even consulting any actual commentaries. Now I would like to give an example to demonstrate that one can also gain some good information using Bible commentaries that are not even specifically written on the particular book in question.

This is a piece of advice that I wish I had heard when I first began slowly accumulating a library of Bible reference books and reading them. Later on, when I would be preparing for a lesson on a particular chapter of the Bible, I would dimly remember that I had read some interesting fact relating to that passage in one of the books in my library, but I couldn't for the life of me remember where I had read it. So from that point on, when I was reading a new commentary and happened to come across some information of worth relating to a completely different passage in the Bible, I would put a mark in the margin of the book. Then when I had finished reading, I would go back and cross-reference that page with the new Bible reference in a spreadsheet. From then on, whatever subject I was asked to speak on, I could simply consult that spreadsheet and see where I could turn to in my library to get more material for my lesson.

These two chapters in Colossians were chosen as a random example to see what I was able to find without looking at any commentaries specifically on Colossians at all.

Colossians 1:15-18 Commenting on the letter to the church at Laodicia in Revelation 3:14, R.H. Mounce says that “the final designation, 'the beginning of the creation of God,' is undoubtedly linked to Paul's great christological passage in Colossians 1:15ff, where Christ is designated 'the beginning' (vs. 18) and 'the firstborn of all creation' (vs. 15). The close geographical proximity of the two cities and Paul's instructions to Colossae that they exchange letters make it all but certain that the writer of Revelation knew the Colossian epistle.” Other parallels include Colossians 1:27 with Revelation 3:17 and Colossians 3:1 with Revelation 3:21. (The Book of Revelation)

Colossians 3:1 In John 8:23, Jesus says to the Jews, “You belong to what is below; I belong to what is above.” In John 17:16, the disciples are included along with Jesus when he states, “They do not belong to the world, any more that I belong to the world.” “Col iii 1 offers an interesting parallel to this terminology: 'If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above!'” Thus, believers today are included along with Jesus and the apostles in that regard. (R.E. Brown, The Gospel According to John I-XII)

Colossians 3:5 “While pathos [passions] includes all ungovernable affections, 'epithumia kaka (evil desire)...reaches to all evil longings.” (Lightfoot, quoted in L. Morris, The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians)

“The proud, unbridled self wishes to make the universe center on itself, to draw all things inward to itself, confident that if it can amass enough of the power, security, and pleasure that money and possessions signify it will be secure. Idolatry exists to satisfy these desires, so it is not surprising that Paul should identify covetousness as idolatry (Col. 3:5). This may also explain why the prohibition of covetousness is the last of the Ten Commandments: to break this command is to break the first, in effect.” (J.N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah: Chapters 40-66)

Colossians 3:9-11 Martyn notes the close parallels between Galatians 3:26-28; I Corinthians 12:13; and Colossians 3:9-11. He feels that all three stem from an ancient baptismal formula, “in form an address directed to a group of baptizands, announcing to them – and to the attending witnesses – the facts of their new existence.” (J. Louis Martyn, Galatians)

Colossians 3:11 Barth and Blanke also find parallels in Galatians 3:28a and I Corinthians 12:13b. “The formulas presuppose the existence of anthropological social differences and distinctions and their formerly divisive consequences. But they flatly deny their relevance in the present and future, after Christ has come.” (Barth and Blanke, The Letter to Philemon)

Colossians 3:18 “The term toankon expresses what is 'proper, fitting, suitable' in a given set of circumstances...the verb occurs only a few times in the NT.” These include Colossians 3:8; Ephesians 5:4; and Philemon 8. (J.A. Fitzmyer, The Letter to Philemon)

Colossians 3:18-19 “These admonitions did not apply to the feelings wives and husbands should have toward one another, but rather to the treatment that should be expected of them.” (G.W. Buchanan, To the Hebrews)

Colossians 3:18-4:1 “Parallels exist between the Haustafel [the proper domestic or household order in a Christian home] of Colossians, especially between its uniquely intensive and extensive section treating the master-slave relation in 3:22-4:1, and Philemon as a case study. It is hardly fortuitous that the verb adikeo (doing wrong) is used by Paul in the treatment of the same subject only in Col 3:25 and Philem 19.” (Barth and Blanke)

Colossians 3:22 The term translated “eye service” only appears in the Bible here [Ephesians 6:6] and and in Colossians 3:22. “It is found nowhere else except in ecclesiastical writings. Literally, it means 'eye service' connoting 'to serve with a view to impressing others'...it refers to the outward activity of work without the corresponding inward dedication.” (H.W. Hoehner, Ephesians)

Colossians 4:1 The term isotes only appears in the New Testament here and II Corinthians 8:13-14. “It means 'what is fair' (in relation to one's slaves).” (V.P. Furnish, II Corinthians)

Colossians 4:7-8 There is a very close correspondence between these verses and Ephesians 6:21-22, with 32 words in exact agreement. “It certainly suggests that the author of [Colossians] copied from [Ephesians.] It is very possible that both epistles were written at the same time or that the author still had the first letter while he was penning the other. It may well be that if Paul were the author of both epistles, as is argued in this commentary, Tychicus took both letters with him when he went to Asia Minor.” (Hoehner) You may be surprised that there is even the slightest doubt concerning Pauline authorship; but if so, you are probably not well acquainted with liberal biblical scholarship.

Colossians 4:10-14 “Some have inferred from the listing of Luke's name separately from 'those of the circumcision' that Luke was a Gentile.” Allen spends several pages discussing the various reasons against that common supposition. (D.L. Allen, Lukan Authorship of Hebrews)

Colossians 4:14 “In Col 4:14, Demas...is probably the same as the one named here [Philemon 24], and in Tim 4:10, where he is said to have deserted Paul.” It is reported by two early church leaders, Epiphanius and Photius of Constantinople, that he became a pagan priest. (Fitzmyer)

Colossians 4:16 “Knox...argues strongly for the identification of [the Letter to] Philemon with 'the letter from Laodicea.'” (Orr and Walther, I Corinthians)

In stark contrast, “C.P. Anderson, followed by Jewett, believes that Hebrews is the letter to the Laodiceans referred to in Col. 4:16, and that it was written from prison (Phm. 23)...The argument leans rather heavily on points of contact between Hebrews and Colossians.” These include parallels between Colossians 4:12 and Hebrews 2:10; 6:11; and 10:22. (P. Ellingsworth, Commentary on Hebrews)

Colossians 4:17 Archippus is only mentioned here and in Philemon 2. Concerning this person, “two things are evident, and the third may be implied: (1) This man had assumed a ministry in the church. (2) He did not yet fulfill it completely. (3) He may have been absent from Colossae when Colossians was written or publicly read ('Tell him...').” (Barth and Blanke)

Note that these various statements above come from commentaries on Isaiah, John, I Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, I and II Thessalonians, Philemon, Hebrews, and Revelation.