Colossians 2:6

Col_2:6-7

As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in Him.

Christian activity the safeguard of the Church

This letter was written under opposite feelings--feelings that never seem absent from the apostle--the most intense faith in the gospel and the most intense fear for it. No shadow of doubt crossed his mind that it was Gods gospel, and that the whole power of God went with it; and yet he was filled with fear for it and its success in the world. This seems a strange contradiction, but it was no difficulty of St. Pauls day, it is the difficulty of all times. We believe in the gospel, and yet we are constantly seeking to preserve it. Why? We are afraid for the gospel not because it is not Divine, but because it is. The world may be trusted to provide for its own. Its products grow naturally, as weeds grow. But the Divine gift comes from another clime, and because it will not thrive without care and culture we fear. It is because it is the ark of God we carry that we tremble as we put our hands to it. The ark will never perish, but the hands that bear it may falter, and for a time let it fall into the hands of its enemies. The Church shall never perish, but there is no promise that the living branch shall not be scathed by unbelief or godlessness. Because of the preciousness of the treasure we hold in earthen vessels, we rejoice and tremble as we receive it in trust from God. As we send out new missionaries, and as the faith of Christ passes into new recepticles, we think of how the faith shall be preserved. We know of the Divine Word which is a light to our path, and the creeds and sacraments; but our text speaks of another safeguard. If the Colossians were to be rooted and built up and preserved from the corruptions of the world, philosophy, and vain deceits, it was not to be by the possession of the Word, creeds, and sacraments, but in addition by walking in Christ as they had received Him. Activity in Christian life and work serves to defend and preserve the faith.

I. Because it is perpetually proving it. Christianity is a science, the knowledge of God; but it is an applied science, and the application of the science of the knowledge of God is walking with God. Astronomy is a science; navigation is astronomy applied to practice. Every time the sailor unfolds his map at sea, and is enabled to mark the very spot where his ship is, he has a fresh proof that astronomy is true. There is many a captain who carries his vessel into port who is quite sure that his nautical tables are true, who cannot astronomically prove them; but he has practical proofs, and the oftener he avails himself of that, the surer he is.

1. So it is with our faith. The Trinity, Incarnation, Atonement, are mysterious things; but we prove them as we find this to be true, that the faith which makes us know Him makes us know ourselves, and brings us into a nearer, living, and deeper communion with Him.

2. Prayer is a mystery. Who can prove to us how and why it is answered? But who knows that prayer is answered? He who has gone down upon his knees and has risen with new light and strength. So walk in Christ, so carry and work the mysteries of faith into your life, and then you will have continued proofs of the truth of your faith.

II. Because use is a means of safety. That which we possess, however precious, we are more likely to lose if we lock it up than if we use it daily. It may be stolen long before we get to know it. But what we constantly use we miss directly it is gone. So with the Christian faith. It is those portions that we live by and in, that as we daily use them it becomes impossible to lose. But let there be any part of your creed that is not woven into daily life, and the adversary may be stealing it before you wist.

III. Because it tends to the sanctification of the soul, If the mystery of the faith is to be held in a pure conscience, then as the conscience grows purer will be the surer grasp of the mystery of faith. It is in the light of the single eye that Gods truth reveals itself. If the treasure be held in earthen vessels, then it depends upon the purity of the vessel whether its contents be preserved in sweetness. And among purifying methods activity is one of the most effective. An article in constant use often keeps itself clean. (Bishop Magee.)

The Christian life

I. The great blessing. Ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord.

1. Acceptance of Christ. A voluntary act.

2. Possession of Christ. Having received Him He is ours, and we share all His acts.

(1) Christ died: we die with Him (Gal_2:20), and so are free from the penalty of sin in the eyes of the law.

(2) Christ was buried (verse 12) and we with Him, and so became dead to our former life (Rom_6:4).

(3) Christ rose, and we rise with Him into newness of life (verse 13).

(4) Christ is at the right hand of God, and we ascend with Him into the honours and safety of the heavenly life (Col_3:1-3).

II. The urgent duty.

1. Walk, implying--

(1) Progress, not only motion. There may be motion in the sap of a plant, but the plant is fixed; and in a ball struck by a bat, but that is forced, not voluntary; but 8 walk implies personal activity. So in the Christian walk.

(a) We must not stay at the starting-point.

(b) We must not loiter, Forgetting the things behind.

(c) We must not walk as in a circle, laying again the foundation of repentance, etc.

(2) Change of scene, in a walk our eyes are ever dwelling on something fresh. So we must ever be finding something new in Christ.

(3) Our walk is to be in Him. He is to be seen in us. Others are to know our Master by our life.

2. Rooted in Him.

(1) The root gives stability to the tree. Those trees are most stable whose roots take the largest and deepest hold.

(2) The life of a tree depends upon its rootedness; uproot it and you destroy it. So we die if not rooted in Christ our Life.

3. Built up in Him.

(1) Constant additions.

(2) Growing solidity.

(3) Ultimate perfection.

(4) Exhibition of the Architects skill, patience, and power.

4. Stablished in the faith. We must have Christ in us or we shall be overthrown. We are not to be a vane turning at every breath of wind, nor a plant taking such slight hold that some stronger blast will overthrow; but like an oak or a house on a rock, so stablished that no power can move. This is necessary in view of the various influences to which Christian life is exposed.

III. The strong motive.

1. The obligation--As. Having received Christ we are bound to walk in Him.

2. The appeal--Ye. Think of what you were and what Christ has made you. Show your gratitude by walking in Him. (J. Gill.)

Suggestive features of the Christian life

I. The Christian life begins in a personal reception of Christ. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord. Religion is the receiving of a Divine gift. It is the growth and development of the supernatural in man. Christ is received--

1. As the Christ. The Colossian heresy aimed at subverting the true idea of the Anointed One, commissioned by the Father to effect the reconciliation of the world to Himself; it interposed a series of angelic mediators. To receive the Son of God effectually is to receive Him in all that He claimed to be, and to do, as the Divine, specially-anointed Son, who is the only mediator between man and God. It is of unspeakable importance to catch the true idea of the character and office of Christ at the beginning of the Christian life.

2. As Jesus the Lord. Our reception of Christ does not place us beyond the reach of law, but creates in us the capacity for rendering an intelligent and cheerful obedience.

3. By an act of faith. To receive Christ is to believe in Him.

II. The Christian life is governed by the law of Christ, To walk in Christ implies--

1. A recognition of Him in all things. In everything that constitutes our daily life--business, home, society, friendships, pleasures, cares, etc., we may trace the presence of Christ and recognize His rule.

2. A complete consecration to Him.

3. A continual approximation to the highest fife in Him.

III. The Christian life is supported and established by faith in fully declared truth,

IV. The Christian life has its most appropriate outflow in thanksgiving. This is the end of all human conduct. Thanksgiving should be expressed in every word and appear in every action. (G. Barlow.)

The threefold growth

I. The Christians downward growth. Rooted in Him. All of strength and fruitfulness there is in us depends on the depth with which we strike down into the life and love of God. Measuring and grasping the love of God, Paul begins downward. Rooted and grounded. We can only reach loftily upward, and broadly outward, as we strike deeply downward. For as the height of a tree is generally in proportion to its depth, the outreaching of its branches according to the down-striking of its roots, so a Christian cannot fail of attaining to a lofty lily, if only he can first attain to a lowly life. We can see at a glance how much depends on this being rooted in Christ.

1. Our fruitfulness. A fruitfulness that continues in spite of surrounding drought, and barrenness, and death--how shall it be maintained? I recently witnessed the effects of long continued drought. The growing corn stood parched and earless. The reason is not simply the long absence of rain in summer, but also the superabundance of rain in spring--that on this account the roots of the corn and wheat ran along on the surface without striking down into the bottom soil. The plants had such prosperous rains in spring that they made no provision for a dry time by going down into the rich depths.

2. Our strength. You have seen the oak smitten by the whirlwind, and how with its giant arms it has caught the tempest in its embrace, and hurled it back, defeated, while itself stood firm and unmoved in its rooted strength. It is pitiful to see a godless man trying to be steadfast in affliction. He has no hidden hold on God by faith and prayer; he has not been sinking his faith deeper and deeper into the heart of Christ as the years rolled on. And now, when the shock comes, he has nothing to hold him. His friends try to prop him up with prudential maxims. But props can never take the place of roots.

3. Purity. Consider the lily how it grows. It is in the stream, but not of it. Down deep into the rich and nourishing earth it strikes its roots, and so grows on the nutriment of the hidden soil. If you can reach down into God, and feed altogether on Him, you may present the beautiful spectacle.

II. The Christians upward growth. Rooted and built up in Him.

1. Not built up as the house is built, with materials gathered here and there, and wrought together from without. The tree builds itself from the heart, and so does the Christian. Morality seeks to overlay men with good works. Its office is to get them to take on goodness in successive layers, by contact with good men and good books. Here is organic growth as against mechanical, vital increase as against artificial.

2. The duty of habitual aspiration after the highest attainments in grace is here urged. It has been said that no man can gaze on the marble statue of the Apollo Belvidere without standing more erect, and dilating his form in unconscious imitation. If the perfect physical form produces such impression, how much more the man who is perfect in spiritual stature and in moral greatness--the man Christ Jesus?

III. The Christians outward growth. Abounding therein with thanksgiving. This is the branching out into all service, and fruitfulness, and praise.

1. The one significant fact concerning the gifts of God to us is their exceeding abundance. The grace of God which bringeth salvation was exceeding abundant. The mercy of God is abundant mercy. The Holy Ghost is shed forth abundantly. It is our God who will abundantly pardon. An entrance be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of God. And as though to sum up all, the apostle writes of Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.

2. What is the abundance bestowed for except that it may flow out in abounding blessings to others? (A. J. Gordon, D. D.)

Retrospection the basis of progress

I. Christian consciousness in its apprehension of Christ. Ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord.

1. There are two opposing theories as to the Person of Christ--the rationalistic, which rules out His Godhead; the revealed, which is the basis of the catholic faith. The one holds to Him as the perfection of humanity, the other as the incarnation of Deity.

2. Two systems of theology widely distinct are dependent on these theories. The one puts man at the centre, and is wholly human; the other enthrones God, and is essentially Divine. Two of the widest extremes of religious life flow from these systems. The first is a religion of self-development, and depends on personal culture. In the second, regeneration is a supernatural birth superinduced by a power coming directly from God. The one has its type in education, the other in faith.

3. There is only one Christ. He is not a variable or divisible quantity. His personality is definite, His claims absolute, His work specific.

4. It is within the one or the other of these systems that we must posit our decisions. We cannot accept of both. If the one is true the other is false. We must be for Christ or against Him.

II. Christian consciousness in its reception of Christ. Ye have received.

1. There is agreement with some shades of difference in the terms receiving, believing, trusting, Christ. He who intelligently believes the testimony, trusts in the promise and receives the gift. To as many as received Him, etc. Here are two things implied.

(1) Faith receives the whole Christ. All that we see of the incarnate Word in His acts, teaching, death, etc., Christian faith accepts. And then a supernatural person necessitates a supernatural mission; and also the system being given, we should expect to find what we do find, a supernatural person its central figure. Christ and His system are co-ordinate and identical. Accept of Christ, and you must receive His truth. Receive the record, and you must accept His person. Faith thus makes all the truth a welcome guest to the Christian heart.

(2) On the side of faith Christ asks and gets the whole of man. The full integrity of the mental and moral life goes over in this act of faith to Christ. Thus there is a virtual exchange of two individual persons, a mutual transfer of relations and interests, out of which comes the sublime unity of a new and indivisible life. I am crucified with Christ, etc.

2. The life of faith, as embodied in the moralities of Christian living, is thus provided for, and follows this consecrating act. Rooted and built up and stablished.

(1) Life has its genesis in a root--faith in Christ. All life is a feeding thing. From the flower in the wall up to the brain and soul all things live by what they feed upon. In all life there is that into which life strikes its root.

(2) Growth is a result of manifold processes. It is not a mechanical product. You can fabricate material structures: growth is an organic creation. To make an atom or a world or to destroy them may require no more than the instant volition of God. To grow a grain of wheat He employs the grandest forces in the universe; and these are yoked by a thousand subtle laws kept at work by His personal will. How much more grand are the agencies with which He originates, feeds, and glorifies life in the soul of man is seen in this, that in the one service He harnesses law, and in the other He incarnates Himself. He is our life.

(3) In the fervid enunciation of figures the apostle appears for a moment to get into a complication of incongruous similitudes--walking implying action, rooted demanding rest; and yet there is consistency. Progress upward in the corn, e.g., comes out of fixedness of root. Unroot it, and you kill its growth. So we grow up in all things into Christ only as we rest in the fixedness of faith.

III. Christian consciousness in its subjection to Christ,

1. The emphasis is on the word Lord. What is this sovereign headship of Christ?

(1) In the Church mediatorially, He is the head of the body; administratively, He is Lord of all; virtually, and in fact, He is our life.

(2) Higher up in the ranges of spiritual life in all things He has the pre-eminence. God has highly exalted Him. All the angels of God worship Him.

(3) In the material worlds He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. They are what He makes them and where He places them. They get their use and glory as He employs them. All agencies, influences, events, ages, are tributary to Christ.

(4) So in the future of the worlds history He must reign. Mans proud intellect, his enterprise, wealth, art, science, etc., are coming, and must finally come, to serve Him.

2. But there is a more close and vital relation in the faith that gives to Christ the lordship over His people. What, then, is the dominion under which we voluntarily place ourselves in our surrender to Christ?

(1) Its sphere is specific. The kingdom of God is within you--where the personality of the man is.

(2) Its claim is absolute. Ye are not your own. Christ claims to be monarch absolute over mind, body, etc., because all has been bought with a price.

(3) And the mind is free and unconstrained in its surrender. Mans will is free; and yet how man may exert that freedom, on what objects, for what ends, and with what results, is to be determined by the authority of the Lord Christ. One is your Master. (J. Burton.)

Faith is receiving Christ

Suppose that you should go to a bakers window, and stand there for an hour, and stare at the bread, I do not think that the sight would fill you much. No, you must eat, or else there might be tons of bread within reach, and yet you would die of famine. You might be buried in a grave of bread, and it would be of no use to you. Even manna would not nourish you unless you ate it. You must receive food into yourself, or it is not food to you. The Saviour Himself, if you do not receive Him by faith, will be no Saviour to you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

As and So

There is great safety in going back to first principles. To make sure of being in the right way, it is good to look back at the entrance. Well begun is half done. The Colossians have commenced well; let them go on as they have begun.

I. The fact stated. Sincere believers have received Christ. This is the old gospel word. Here is no evolution from within, but a gift from without heartily accepted by the soul. This is free grace language; received, not earned or purchased. Not received Christs words--though that is true, for we prize every precept and doctrine--but received Christ. Observe--

1. The personality of Him whom they received. Christ Jesus the Lord, His person, Godhead, humanity, Himself into their

(1) knowledge;

(2) understanding;

(3) affections;

(4) trust;

(5) as their life at their new birth, for when they received Him He gave them power to become the sons of God.

2. The threefold character in which they received Him..

(1) As Christ anointed and commissioned of God;

(2) as Jesus, the Saviour to redeem and sanctify them;

(3) as the Lord to reign and rule over them with undivided sway.

3. The looking away from self in this saving act of reception. It is not said, as ye have fought for Jesus and won Him; or, studied the truth and discovered Christ Jesus; but, as ye have received Him. This strips us of everything like boasting, for all we do is to receive.

4. The blessed certainty of the experience of those to whom Paul wrote: As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord. They had really received Jesus; they had found the blessing to be real: no doubt remained as to their possession of it.

II. THE COUNSEL GIVES: So walk ye in Him. There are four things suggested by walk.

1. Life.

2. Continuance.

3. Activity.

4. Progress.

III. The model which is presented to us. We are to walk in Christ Jesus the Lord as we received Him. And how was that? We received Him--

1. Gratefully.

2. Humbly.

3. Joyfully.

4. Effectually.

5. Unreservedly.

Thus we should continue to walk in Him, evermore in our daily life excelling in all these points. Alas, some have never received Jesus! Our closing words must be addressed to such. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Receiving Christ and walking in Him

It was quite in accordance with Pauls logical mind that he should often place what he is teaching in a proposition: As ye have received, so walk. All true religion lies in that analogy.

I. The reception.

1. As what?

(1) As Christ, the anointed of God;

(2) as Jesus, your Divine Saviour;

(3) as Lord, the King of your heart.

2. How? By an act of faith. Faith was the hand that took the inestimable gift.

3. Whither? Into your hearts.

4. With what consequence? He became united to your very being, and is now your own.

II. The walk.

1. As the reception was an act of faith, so the walk must be a walk of faith.

2. As we received pardon for sin, so we must walk in liberty, free from the bondage of sin and fear.

3. As we received Christ Jesus as Lord, so we must walk in the path of His commandments. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

The life and walk of faith

We shall deal with the text--

I. By way of exposition.

1. The life of faith is represented as

(1) receiving. This implies

(a) the opposite of anything like merit.

(b) A sense of realization making the matter a reality. One cannot receive a shadow or a phantom, but only something substantial. While we are without faith Christ is a name or a history merely. By the act of faith Christ becomes a real person in our consciousness.

(c) Grasping it. What I receive becomes my own, so by faith Christ becomes my Christ. Look at some of the senses in which the word is used in Scripture, such as--

(d) Taking--we take Christ into us as the empty vessel takes in water.

(e) Holding--what we take in. A seive does not receive water. The life of faith consists in holding Christ within us the hope of glory. Believing. He came to His own, and His own received Him not.

(f) Entertaining. Thus the barbarous people at Melita received Paul. After we have found Christ we entreat Him to come in and sup with us.

(g) Enjoying. We read of receiving the crown of life, which means enjoying heaven and being satisfied with its bliss; and so when we receive Christ we enjoy Him.

(2) Receiving Christ. Salvation may be described as the blind receiving sight, the dead life, etc.; but we have not only received these things, we have received Christ, both as Saviour and Lord, in His Divinity and humanity.

(3) This is a matter of certainty; and the apostle goes on to argue from it. It is not a supposition or a hope, or a trust, but a fact. Ye have.

2. The walk of faith.

(1) Walk implies

(a) action. The reception of Christ is not to be made a mere thing of thought for the chamber. We must not sit down in indolence, but carry into practical effect what we believe.

(b) Perseverance; not only being in Christ to-day, but all our life.

(c) Habit. A mans walk is the constant tenor of his life.

(d) Continuance. It is not to be suspended. How many people think that in the morning and evening they ought to come into the company of Christ, and then they may be in the world all day.

(2) Christ is to be the element in which we are to walk. If a man has to cross a river, he fords it quickly, but just as we walk in the air are we to walk in Christ.

(a) As Christ was when we received Him the only ground of our faith, so long as we live we are to stand to the same point.

(b) We received Christ as the substance of our faith, and just as you then no more doubted the reality of Christ than your own existence, so walk ye in Him.

(c) Then Christ was the joy of your souls; let Him always be so.

(d) He was then the object of your love, and must be for ever.

II. By way of advocacy. Suppose that having been so far saved by Christ we should begin to walk in some one else, what then?

1. What a dishonour to our Lord.

2. What reason is there for the change?

(1) Has Christ proved Himself insufficient?

(2) Can philosophy and vain deceit offer you a wisdom such as His?

(3) Do ceremonies tempt you? You have all that you can require in Christ.

3. What can your heart desire beyond God? Having Christ, you have God, and having God, you have everything.

III. By way of application.

1. To those who complain of a want of communion. If it were worth your while to come to Him at first, it is worth while for you always to keep to Him.

2. To those who complain of a want of comfort. No wonder, if you do not live near the source of consolation.

3. To the inconsistent. When a man walks in Christ, he acts as Christ would act. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Christly character

In this statement of fact Pauls argument culminates. He appeals to their experience. They had received the doctrine of Christ from Epaphras, and He Himself had entered their hearts.

I. The ORIGIN of the Christly character. Received Christ. which means to accept Him--

1. As the supreme object of the souls love.

2. As the imperial guide of the souls activities.

3. As the only Physician of the souls diseases. This is the reception--not merely the reception of His doctrines into the intellect, but Himself into the heart as its moral monarch.

II. Its progress. Walk in Him. This implies--

1. A most vital connection with Him. In Him. In His ideas, spirit, aims, character.

2. A possibility of walking out of Him. Peter did so. Mans liberty as a responsible being and the Word of God show this.

3. A real personal exertion. No one can walk for us. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Christ is the believers foundation

The lighthouse tower, that stands among the tumbling waves, seems to have nothing but them to rest on, yet there, stately and stable, it stands, beautiful in the calm, and calm in the wintry tempest, guiding the sailor on to his desired haven, past the rolling reef, through the gloom of the darkest night, and the waters of the gloomiest sea. Why is it stable? You see nothing but the waves, but beneath the waves, down below the rolling, tumbling billows, its foundation is the solid rock. And what that tower is to the house on yon sand-bank Christs righteousness is to mine, Christs works to my best ones. (T. Guthrie.)

Progress is gradual

Gradual ascent is as necessary to the mind in order to its reaching a great idea, as it is to the body in order to its reaching a great height. We cannot ascend to the pinnacle of a cathedral, which towers aloft in air, without either steps or an inclined plane. We cannot reach the summit of a mountain without first toiling up its base, then traversing its breast, and then successively crossing the limits where verdure passes into crag, and crag into a wilderness of snow. Even when we have gained the highest point, we are still, it is true, at an infinite distance from the blue vault of the firmament which stretches above our heads. Still we have a better and more exalted view of what that firmament is: we have at least risen above the fogs and mists which obscure its glory; and the air which encompasses us is transparent to the eye, and invigorating to the frame. Now, the law of mans bodily progress is also the law of his mental progress. Both must be gradual. No grand idea can be realized except by successive steps and stages, which the mind must use as landing-places in its ascent. (Dr. Goulburn.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Col 2:6-7. As, or since, ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord — Have acknowledged Jesus of Nazareth to be the true Messiah promised to the Jews, and consequently a divinely-commissioned Teacher, Mediator, Saviour, and Lawgiver; yea, the great Prophet, Priest, and King of his church, and therefore your sovereign Lord, and the final Judge of men and angels; so walk ye in him — Let your spirit and conduct, your dispositions, words, and actions, be in perfect consistency with this acknowledgment; walk in the same faith, love, and holiness, in which you received him, steadily believing his doctrines, obeying his precepts, relying on his promises, revering his threatenings, and imitating his example; rooted — In him, as trees in a good soil, or as the graft is rooted in the stock; and built — Upon him, the only sure foundation of your confidence and hope for time and eternity; and established in the faith — In your persuasion of the truth and importance of the gospel in all its parts; as ye have been taught — By those that have preached it to you; abounding therein — Making continual progress in your acquaintance with it and conformity to it; with thanksgiving — To God, for having made you partakers of so great a blessing.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES

Col_2:7. Rooted and built up.—St. Paul passes over rapidly from one conception to another of quite a different kind. We cannot call it mixed metaphor. We commonly speak of a new town planted or a house planted.

Col_2:8. Beware lest any man spoil you.—R.V. “maketh spoil of you.” The word for “spoil” means “to lead away as booty,” as the Sabeans swooped down on the oxen and asses of Job and carried them away as their own property. Through philosophy and vain deceit.—We are reminded of the saying, “It is the privilege of a philosopher to depreciate philosophy.” And then men say, “How well he’s read to reason against reading!” St. Paul speaks here of philosophy “falsely so called.” The love of wisdom can never be a dangerous thing to men whose Master said, “Be wise as serpents”; only it must be the “wisdom which cometh from above.” St. Paul’s alias for what they call philosophy is “empty fallacy,” a hollow pretence; or what George Herbert might name “nothing between two dishes.” After the tradition of men.—Something passed over from one to another, as the deep secrets of the esoteric religions were whispered into the ears of the perfect. That a matter has been believed always, everywhere, and by all is no guarantee of its truth, as Galileo knew.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Col_2:6-7

Suggestive Features of the Christian Life.

The Christian life is essentially progressive. The law that governs its existence involves perpetual, active increase; if it did not grow, it would cease to live. Unlike the principle of growth in the natural world, we cannot conceive a point in the religious life where it necessarily becomes stationary, and then begins to decline, on the other hand, every provision is made for its unceasing expansion in the highest moral excellencies.

I. The Christian life begins in a personal reception of Christ.—“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord” (Col_2:6). Religion is not a self-development of innate human goodness, as many in the present day believe and teach. The soul of man is infected with the virulent poison of sin; no part has escaped the destructive moral taint. The utmost exercise of the unsanctified powers of the soul can therefore tend only towards the development of its own inborn corruption. As the vinegar plant reproduces itself with great rapidity, and impregnates every branch and fibre with its own essential acid, so the evil reigning in man reproduces itself with marvellous rapidity, and permeates the whole soul with its debasing poison. Religion is a receiving—the receiving of a gift, and that a divine gift. It is the growth and development of the supernatural in man. “Christ in you the hope of glory.”

1. Christ is received as THE CHRIST.—The Colossian heresy aimed at subverting the true idea of the Christ, the Anointed One, commissioned by the Father to effect the reconciliation of the world to Himself; it interposed a graduated series of angelic mediators, and thus thought to discredit the sole and absolute mediatorship of Christ. To receive the Son of God effectually is to receive Him in all that He claimed to be, and all that He came to do, as the divine, specially anointed Son, who alone and fully manifested the Father, and who is the only mediator between sinful man and God. It is of unspeakable importance to catch the true idea of the character and office of Christ at the beginning of the Christian life.

2. Christ is received as Jesus the Lord.—Jesus is the name by which He was known among men, and points out how completely He has identified Himself with humanity as the Saviour. “It behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” He is also Lord, the supreme Governor in all spheres, in nature, providence, and grace. To receive Jesus aright, He must be trusted as the Saviour, able to save to the uttermost, acknowledged as the Sovereign and universal Ruler, and homage and obedience rendered to His rightful authority. Our reception of Christ does not place us beyond the reach of law, but creates in us the capacity for rendering an intelligent and cheerful obedience to its holy requirements.

3. Christ is received by an act of faith.—To receive Christ is to believe in Him; and faith in Christ is simply the reception of Christ: the only way of receiving Him into the soul is by faith. The soul accepts, not only the testimony concerning Christ, whether furnished by Himself or by His witnesses, but accepts Christ Himself. The great, final object of faith that saves is Christ, and all testimony is valuable only as it brings us to Him. The sin-tossed spirit finds rest and peace only as it reposes, not in an abstract truth, but in a person—not in love as the law of the moral universe, but in a person who is Himself love.

II. The Christian life is governed by the law of Christ.—“So walk ye in Him” (Col_2:6). The word “walk” expresses the general conduct of man and the process of progression in the formation of individual character. The will of Christ, as indicated in His character, words, spirit, and example, is the ruling principle in the life of the believer.

1. To walk in Christ implies a recognition of Him in all things.—In everything that constitutes our daily life—business, domestic relations, social engagements, friendships, pleasures, cares, and trials—we may trace the presence of Christ and recognise His rule. Everywhere, on road, or rail, or sea—in all seasons of distress or joy, of poverty or wealth, of disturbance or rest—we may be conscious of the encompassing and regulating presence of Christ Jesus the Lord.

2. To walk in Christ implies a complete consecration to Him.—He has the supreme claim upon our devotion and service: “We are not our own; we are bought with a price.” Our life consists in serving Him: “Whether we live, we live unto the Lord.” The best of everything we possess should be cheerfully offered to Him. Carpeaux, the celebrated French sculptor, was kept in comparative retirement for some time before his death by a long and painful illness. One Sunday, as he was being drawn to church, he was accosted by a certain prince, who exclaimed, “Carpeaux, I have good news for you! You have been advanced in the Legion of Honour. Here is the rosette d’officier.” The emaciated sculptor smiled and replied, “Thank you, my dear friend. It is the good God who shall first have the noble gift.” Saying which, he approached the altar, put the rosette in his button-hole, and reverentially knelt down to pray.

3. To walk in Christ implies a continual approximation to the highest life in Him.—The Christian can rise no higher than to be most like Christ. The highest ambition of the apostle was to be “found in Him.” Life in Him is a perpetual progress in personal purity and ever-deepening felicity. Our interest in the vast future is intensified by the Christ-inspired hope that we shall be for ever virtually united to Him, that we shall delight in ever-changing visions of His matchless glory, that we shall be like Him, and reflect and illustrate the splendour of His all-perfect character. Every triumph over sin is a substantial advance towards this glorious future destiny.

III. The Christian life is supported and established by faith in fully declared truth.—

1. There is the idea of stability. The believer is rooted in Christ, as a tree planted in firm, immovable soil; he is built up in Christ, as an edifice on a sure foundation; and in both senses, as a tree and as a building, he must be established in the truth which has been demonstrated to him as divine and all-authoritative. It is not enough to preserve the appearance of an external walk in Christ; but the roots of our faith must be worked into Him, and the superstructure of holiness rest on Him as the only foundation laid in Zion. The soul thus firmly established will survive the heaviest storms of adversity and the most furious assaults of error.

2. There is the idea of progress.—Walking implies a continual advance to a given destination; a tree is planted in order to grow; the building, after the foundation is laid, rises to completion. The word “built” is in the present tense, and describes a work in actual process. So the believer, having become attached to the only foundation that is laid, which is Christ Jesus, is ever rising in conformity with the foundation and with the outlines of that grand spiritual edifice of which Christ is the pattern and glory. Faith is the cement that fastens one part of the building to the other; but faith as a living, active principle also admits of increase. With respect to every individual effort after a higher spiritual life, according to our faith it is done unto us.

IV. The Christian life has its most appropriate outflow in thanksgiving.—“Abounding therein with thanksgiving” (Col_2:7). The end of all human conduct is thanksgiving. It should be expressed in every word, and appear in every action. Life should be a ceaseless, ever-abounding outflow of gratitude. We should never forget the magnitude of the blessings we have received, the wealth of morcies now offered to us, and the source whence they all issue. A thankful remembrance of past benefits cheers and strengthens the heart under difficulties, and disposes the bounteous Donor to confer further benefits. There is nothing in which Christians are more deficient than in a devout and heartily expressed gratitude. Gratitude expands our sympathies for the race. What a triumph of disinterested thankfulness was that of the invalid who, though confined to his room, “thanked God for the sunshine for others to enjoy”! The spirit of Christian progress is one of unceasing thanksgiving.

Lessons.—

1. The Christian life is divinely bestowed.

2. The Christian life is divinely sustained.

3. The reality of the Christian life is evidenced by effusive and practical gratitude.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES

Col_2:6-7. Retrospection the Basis of Progress.

I. The Christian consciousness in its apprehension of Christ.—

1. There are two opposing theories prevalent on the person of Christ—the rationalistic and the revealed. The one rules out His Godhead; the other is the basis of the Christian faith.

2. Two systems of theology, widely distinct from each other, are dependent on these theories. The one puts man at its centre, and is wholly human; the other enthrones God, and is essentially divine.

3. There is only one Christ, one faith, one salvation.

4. It is within the one or the other of these two systems that we must posit our decisions.

II. The Christian consciousness in its reception of Christ.—

1. Faith receives the whole Christ.

2. Christ asks and gets the whole man.

3. The life of faith, as embodied in the moralities of Christian living, is thus provided for and follows this consecrating act.

III. The Christian consciousness in its subjection to Christ.—

1. The sphere of the lordship of Christ is the human mind.

2. The claim of this lordship is absolute.

3. The mind is free and unconstrained in its surrender to the authority of Christ.—John Burton.

Col_2:6. Moral Imitation.

I. The text assumes that man possesses the faculty of imitation.

II. He requires an example to imitate, and that example is Christ.

III. A model must be seen to be imitated, so Christ has presented Himself to us for that purpose.—W. Frazer.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF Col_2:8

The Marks of a False Philosophy.

Philosophy plays an important part in the investigation and discovery of truth. The use of the word arose out of the humility of Pythagoras, who called himself a lover of wisdom. The noblest intellects of all ages have been devoted to the pursuit of the same coveted prize. Philosophy represents the highest effort of the human intellect in its search after knowledge. It explores and tests phenomena in the realm of physics and of morals, and discovers the subtle laws by which those phenomena are governed. It elevates man to his true rank in creation, and teaches that he must be estimated, not by his physical relation to the outward world, but by the sublime endowments of his mind, into which it is the special function of philosophy to inquire. The philosophic mood never reaches its highest development till it is Christianised. The apostle does not stigmatise all philosophy as in vain; he knew the value of a true philosophy, and in his estimation the Christian religion was the embodiment of the highest philosophy. But he warned the Colossians against a false philosophy that was deceptive in its pretentions and deadly in its influence.

I. A false philosophy is known by its profitless speculations.—The absence of both preposition and article in the second clause shows that “vain deceit” describes and qualifies philosophy. A celebrated Roman sophist summed up his deliberate judgment on the efforts of the learned in the painful search after wisdom in these words: “The human mind wanders in a diseased delirium, and it is therefore not surprising that there is no possible folly which philosophers, at one time or another, have propounded as a lesson of wisdom.” When the most highly cultured intellects have been gravely occupied with tricks of magic, the casting of nativities, the random guesses of soothsaying, and the pretended marvels of a mystic astrology; when the best of life has been spent in discussing transcendental questions as to the eternity of matter, fate, the mortality of the soul, the worship of angels and their mature endowments and habits, and in definitional hair-splitting as to what constitutes the chief good of man; when the truest and best discoveries of human reason are used to disparage divine revelation and discredit the absolute authority of saving truth—then philosophy falsifies its name, frustrates its lofty mission, and degenerates into vain, empty, profitless speculations. The student of the theories and contradictions of certain philosophic schools may begin with extravagant expectations, only to end in chagrin and despondency. The errors which assailed the Colossian Church were a mixture of the Oriental system of Zoroaster with Judaism, and with the crude, half-comprehended truths of Christianity. It was a mongrel system of philosophy, containing the germs of what afterwards developed into an advanced Gnosticism, and became the prolific source of many forms of heresy. Its abettors became “vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened; professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”

II. A false philosophy is known by its purely human origin.—“After the tradition of men.”

1. The human mind is limited.—The stream can never rise higher than its source; so the wisdom that comes from man is necessarily bounded by the range of his mental powers. The human mind cannot penetrate far into any subject without discovering there is a point beyond which all is darkness and uncertainty. It is impossible for the circumscribed and unaided mind of man to construct a philosophy that shall be universally true and beneficial. Tillotson has said: “Philosophy has given us several plausible rules for attaining peace and tranquillity of mind, but they fall very much short in bringing men to it.”

2. All human knowledge is imperfect.—“If any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.” The traditions of men are the accumulation of mere human theories transmitted from age to age until they have assumed the pretensions of a philosophy, imposing a number of uninspired and unauthorised observances and austerities. The imperfection of human knowledge is not obliterated but aggravated by its antiquity. A philosophy that builds solely on man is baseless and full of danger.

III. A false philosophy is known by its undue exaltation of elementary principles.—“After the rudiments of the world.” The source of the false teaching against which the apostle warned was found in human tradition, and its subject-matter was made up of “the rudiments of the world”—the most elementary instruction conveyed by external and material objects, suited only to man’s infancy in the world. The legal rights and ceremonies instituted by Moses are evidently referred to here; they were the first rough elements of an introductory religion fit only for children—shadows at best of great and deeper truths to which they were intended to lead, and yet, by the tendency of the soul to cling to the outward, gendering to bondage. “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements [rudiments] of the world. But now, after that ye have known God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements?” (Gal_4:3-10). The apostle shows the Colossians that, in Christ, they had been exalted into the sphere of the Spirit, and that it would be a sad retrogression to plunge again into the midst of the sensuous and ceremonial. A true philosophy, while starting necessarily with elementary principles, conducts its votaries into a pathway of increasing knowledge and of spiritual exaltation and liberty. A false philosophy fetters the mind by exaggerating the importance of first principles and insisting on their eternal obligation.

IV. A false philosophy is known by its Christlessness.—“And not after Christ.” Christ is neither the author nor the substance of its teaching; not the author, for its advocates rely on human traditions; not the substance, for they ignore Christ by the substitution of external ceremonies and angelic mediators. Such a method of philosophising may be after the Jewish fanatics, after the Pythagoreans or Platonists, after Moses and his abrogated legalism; but it is not after Christ. There is no affinity between Christ and their inventions; the substances cannot amalgamate. As it is impossible, by any process, to convert a baser metal into gold, so is it impossible to elevate a vain philosophy into Christianity. All true saving knowledge must be after—i.e. according to—Christ. It is in Him alone the deepest wants of man’s nature can be met and satisfied. Any philosophy, though championed by the most brilliant intellects, that tends to lure the soul from Christ, that puts anything in the place of Him, or depreciates in any way our estimate of His glorious character, is false and full of peril.

V. A false philosophy is known by its destructive influence.—“Lest any man spoil you.” The meaning of the word “spoil” is very full and significant: it is not simply to despoil—to strip off—but to carry away as spoil, just as the four kings, after the battle in the vale of Siddim, plundered the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and bore away as spoil the people and all their property and victuals (Gen_14:12-16). The Colossians had been rescued from the bondage of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of light; they were settled there as free and happy citizens; and now there was danger lest they should be tampered with by some crafty marauder, seized and carried away as booty, and fall into a worse state than their former slavery. There are worse losses than loss of property, or even of children: man is never so grievously spoiled as when his soul is debased and robbed by the errors of wicked seducers. Men who have contemptuously given up the Bible as a book of fables, lost their peace of mind, wrecked their moral character, and blasted their prospects for ever, began their downward career by embracing the apparently harmless ideas of a false philosophy. “The thief cometh not,” saith Jesus, “but to steal, to kill, and to destroy; I”—the infallible Teacher, the incorruptible Guardian, the inexhaustible Life-giver—“am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

VI. Against a false philosophy the Church must be faithfully warned.—“Beware.”

1. Because it is seductive in its pretensions.—It seeks to refine and elevate the plain gospel by a show of lofty intellectualism; it dignifies some particular religious rite into an unjustifiable importance; it elaborates a ritual marvellous for spectacular display and musical effect; it flatters the pride and ministers to the corruption of the human heart; and, stealing through the avenue of the charmed senses, gains an imperious mastery over the whole man.

2. Because it is baneful in its effect.—It not only misrepresents and distorts the truth, but injures the faculties of the soul by which truth is obtained and kept. It darkens the understanding, pollutes the conscience, and weakens the will. It robs man of his dearest treasure, and offers in exchange a beggarly system of crude, unsatisfying speculations. The soul is goaded into a restless search after rest, and cursed with its non-attainment.

Lessons.—

1. Human philosophy is essentially defective.

2. The true philosophy is the highest knowledge of Christ.

3. All philosophy that weans the soul from Christ is false, and should be shunned.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Colossians

CHRISTIAN PROGRESS

Col 2:6-7 {R.V.}.

It is characteristic of Paul that he should here use three figures incongruous with each other to express the same idea, the figures of walking, being rooted, and built up. They, however, have in common that they all suggest an initial act by which we are brought into connection with Christ, and a subsequent process flowing from and following on it. Receiving Christ, being rooted in Him, being founded on Him, stand for the first; walking in Him, growing up from the root in Him, being built up on Him as foundation, stand for the second. Fully expressed then, the text would run, ‘As ye have received Christ, so walk in Him; as ye have been rooted in Him, so grow up in Him; as ye have been founded on Him, so be builded up.’ These three clauses present the one idea in slightly different forms. The first expresses Christian progress as the manifestation before the world of an inward possession, the exhibition in the outward life of a treasure hid in the heart. The second expresses the same progress as the development by its own vital energy of the life of Christ in the soul. The third expresses the progress as the addition, by conscious efforts, of portion after portion to the character, which is manifestly incomplete until the headstone crowns the structure. We may then take the passage before us as exhibiting the principles of Christian progress.

I. The origin of all, or how Christian progress begins.

These three figures, receiving, rooted, founded, all express a great deal more than merely accepting certain truths about Him. The acceptance of truths is the means by which we come to what is more than any belief of truths. We possess Christ when we believe with a true faith in Him. We are rooted in Him. His life flows into us. We draw nourishment from that soil. We are built on Him, and in our compact union find a real support to a life which is otherwise baseless and blown about like thistledown by every breath. The union which all these metaphors presupposes is a vital connection; the possession which is the first step in the Christian life is a real possession.

There is no progress without that initial step. Our own experience tells us but too plainly and loudly that we need the impartation of a new life, and to be set on a new foundation, if we are ever to be anything else than failures and blots.

There is sure to be progress if the initial step has been taken. If Christ has been received, the life possessed will certainly manifest itself. It will go on to perfection. The union effected will work on through the whole character and nature. It is the beginning of all; it is only the beginning.

II. The manner of Christian progress or in what it consists.

It consists in a more complete possession of Him, in a more constant approximation to Him, and a more entire appropriation of Him. Christian progress is not a growing up from Christ as starting-point, but into Christ as goal. All is contained in the first act by which He is first received; the remainder is but the working out of that. All our growth in knowledge and wisdom consists in our knowing what we have when we receive Christ. We grow in proportion as we learn to see in Him the centre of all truth, as the Revealer of God, as the Teacher of man, as the Interpreter of nature, as the meaning and end of history, as the Lord of life and death. Morals, politics, and philosophy flow from Him. His lips and His life and death proclaim all truth, human and divine.

As in wisdom so in character, all progress consists in coming closer to Jesus and receiving more and more of His many-sided grace. He is the pattern of all excellence, the living ideal of whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, virtue incarnate, praise embodied. He is the power by which we become gradually and growingly moulded into His likeness. Every part of our nature finds its best stimulus in Jesus for individuals and for societies. Christ and growth into Him is progress, and the only way by which men can be presented perfect, is that they shall be presented ‘perfect in Christ,’ whereunto every man must labour who would that his labour should not be in vain. That progress must follow the threefold direction in the text. There must first be the progressive manifestation in act and life of the Christ already possessed, ‘As ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.’ There must also be the completer growth in the soul of the new life already received. As the leaf grows green and broad, so a Christlike character must grow not altogether by effort. And there must be a continual being builded up in Him by constant additions to the fabric of graces set on that foundation.

III. The means, or how it is accomplished.

The first words of our text tell us that ‘Ye have received Christ Jesus as Lord,’ and all depends on keeping the channels of communication open so that the reception may be continuous and progressive. We must live near and ever nearer to the Lord, and seek that our communion with Him may be strengthened. On the other hand, it is not only by the spontaneous development of the implanted life, but by conscious and continuous efforts which sometimes involve vigorous repression of the old self that progress is realised. The two metaphors of our text have to be united in our experience. Neither the effortless growth of the tree nor the toilsome work of the builder suffice to represent the whole truth. The two sides of deep and still communion, and of strenuous effort based on that communion, must be found in the experience of every Christian who has received Christ, and is advancing through the imperfect manifestations of earth to the perfect union with, and perfect assimilation to, the Lord.

To all men who are ready to despair of themselves, here is the way to realise the grandest hopes. Nothing is too great to be attained by one who, having received Christ Jesus as Lord, walks in Him, rooted and builded up in Him, ‘a holy temple to the Lord.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2:6-15 In the face of the false teachers’ enticing arguments, Paul exhorts the Colossians to stand firm in their faith in Christ, for in Christ lives all the fullness of God, and their spiritual experience is complete in him.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Col 2:6. Τὸν Κυρίον, the Lord) The article shows that they had received Christ as the Lord.—ἐν αὐτῷ περιπατεῖτε, walk ye in Him) This is the scope of the epistle. We give the following summary:—

I. The Inscription, Col 1:1-2.

II. The Doctrine, by which the apostle pathetically explains the mystery of Christ, in the way of thanksgiving for the Colossians, ver. 3 seq., and prayer for the same, Col 1:9-10; Col 1:12-13; Col 1:15-16; Col 1:21-22:

Along with a declaration of his affection for them, Col 1:24-25; Col 2:1-2.

III. The Exhortation.

1) General, by which he stirs them up to perseverance in Christ, Col 2:6-7:

And admonishes them not to be deceived, Col 2:8.

Here again he describes the mystery of Christ, in order, Col 2:9-10:

And in the same order derives his admonitions from Christ, the Head, Col 2:16:

And from His death, Col 2:20, et seqq.:

And from His exaltation, Col 3:1-4.

2) Special.

1. That vices should be avoided, Col 3:5-9:

And virtues practised, Col 3:10-11:

Especially love, Col 3:12-13:

And the study of the word of Christ, Col 3:16-17.

2. That they should do their duty.

1. Wives and husbands, Col 3:18-19.

2. Children and parents, Col 3:20-21.

3. Servants and masters, Col 3:22-23; Col 4:1.

3) Final, To prayer, Col 4:2-3.

To spiritual wisdom, Col 4:5-6.

IV. Conclusion, Col 4:7-8; Col 4:10-11; Col 4:15-16; Col 4:18.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Col_2:6 f. From the warning given in Col_2:4 and having its ground assigned in Col_2:5, follows (οὖν) the positive obligation to make Christ, as He had been communicated to them through the instruction which they had received, the element in which (ἐν αὐτῷ) their conduct of the inner and outer life moves (περιπατεῖτε), whereupon the more precise modal definitions are subjoined by ἐῤῥιζωμένοι κ.τ.λ.

ὡς] according as. Observe that in the protasis παρελάβετε and in the apodosis περιπατεῖτε (not ἐν αὐτῷ, as Hofmann thinks) have the emphasis, in which case the addition of an οὕτως was not necessary. Their walk in Christ is to be in harmony with the instruction, by means of which they have through Epaphras received Christ.

παρελάβετε] have received (Col_1:7; Eph_4:20), comp. Gal_1:9; Gal_1:12; 1Th_2:13; 1Th_4:1; 2Th_3:6; 1Co_11:23. Christ was communicated to them as the element of life.[84] The rendering: have accepted (Luther, Bähr, Böhmer, Huther, Hofmann), is not contrary to Pauline usage (de Wette; but see on Php_4:9; 1Co_15:1); but it is opposed to the context, in which after Col_2:4 (see especially Col_2:7 : καθὼς ἐδιδάχθητε, and Col_2:8 : ΚΑΤᾺ ΤῊΝ ΠΑΡΆΔΟΣΙΝ ΤῶΝ ἈΝΘΡ.) the contrast between true and false Christian instruction as regulative of the walk, and not the contrast between entrance into the fellowship of Christ and the walk therewith given (Hofmann), predominates.[85]

ΤῸΝ Χ. Ἰ. ΤῸΝ ΚΎΡΙΟΝ] A solemnly complete designation, a summary of the whole confession (1Co_12:3; Php_2:11), in which τὸν κύριον, conformably with its position and the entire connection, is to be taken in the sense: as the Lord, consequently attributively, not as a mere apposition (de Wette, Bleek, Ellicott, and others), in which Hofmann includes also Ἰησοῦν, a view which is not warranted by Eph_3:1.

Col_2:7. ἘῤῬΙΖΩΜ. Κ. ἘΠΟΙΚΟΔ. ἘΝ ΑὐΤῷ] introduces the ethical habitus in the case of the required περιπατεῖν ἐν Χ. But the vivid conception, in the urgency of properly exhausting the important point, combines very dissimilar elements; for the two figures, of a plant and of a building, are inconsistent as such both with ΠΕΡΙΠΑΤΕῖΤΕ and with one another. Comp. Eph_3:17 f. By beginning a new sentence with ἘῤῬΙΖΩΜΈΝΟΙ Κ.Τ.Λ., and thus construing it in connection with Col_2:8 (Schenkel, Hofmann), we should gain nothing in symmetry, and should only lose without sufficient reason in simplicity of construction; while we should leave the ἘΝ ΑὐΤῷ ΠΕΡΙΠΑΤΕῖΤΕ in Col_2:6 in a disproportionately bald and isolated position. This conjunction, moreover, of heterogeneous figures might quite as legitimately have been made by the apostle himself as by an interpolator, whose hand Holtzmann thinks that he here discovers.

Observe further the difference in time of the two participles, whereby the stedfastness of the ἐν Χριστῷ εἶναι (figuratively represented by ἘῤῬΙΖΩΜ.) is denoted as a subsistent state, which must be present in the case of the περιπατεῖν ἐν αὐτῷ, while the further development of the Christian condition (figuratively represented by ἐποικοδ.) is set forth as a continuing process of training; comp. Act_20:32.

ἘΠΟΙΚΟΔ.] becoming built up, in which ἐπί exhibits the building rising on the foundation. Comp. 1Co_3:10; 1Co_3:12; Eph_2:20; Xen. Anab. iii. 4. 11; Plat. Legg. v. p. 736 E. The building up may in itself be also regarded as an act accomplished (through conversion), as in Eph_2:20 : ἐποικοδομηθέντες, which, however, as modal definition of ΠΕΡΙΠΑΤ., would not have suited here. The progress and finishing of the building (de Wette, following Act_20:32, where, however, the simple form οἰκοδ. should be read) are conveyed by the present, not by ἘΠΟΙΚΟΔ. in itself (comp. Eph_2:22). Nor does the latter represent the readers as stones, which are built up on the top of those already laid (Hofmann); on the contrary, they are in their aggregate as a church (comp. on Eph. l.c.) represented as an οἰκοδομή in the course of being built (i.e. of a more and more full development of their Christian common life), in regard to which the ἐπί in ἘΠΟΙΚΟΔ. presupposes the foundation laid by Epaphras, namely, Christ (1Co_3:11); and the building materials, including the stones, are not the persons, but the doctrines, by means of which the builders accomplish their work (see on 1Co_3:12).

ἐν αὐτῷ] belongs to both participles, so that Christ is to be conceived doubtless as the soil for the roots striking downwards (Eph_3:17), and as the foundation (1Co_3:11) for the building extending upwards; but the expression is determined by the conception of the thing signified, namely, the ἐν Χριστῷ εἶναι, as in ἘΝ ΑὐΤῷ ΠΕΡΙΠΑΤ., and not by the figures; hence Paul has not written ἐπʼ αὐτόν (1Co_3:12), or ἘΠʼ ΑὐΤῷ (Eph_2:20), which would have been in harmony with the latter participle, but he exhibits Christ as the Person, in whom that which is meant by the being rooted and becoming built up has its specific being and nature, and consequently the condition of endurance and growth.[86] Comp. on Eph_2:21.

καὶ βεβαιούμ. τῇ πίστ.] And to this being rooted and becoming built up there is to be added the being stablished by the faith, as the development of quality in the case, in order that no loose rooting may take place, nor any slack building be formed. The dative τῇ πίστει (see the critical remarks) is to be taken as instrumental, not: with respect to (in opposition to de Wette), since the following modal definition περισσ. ἐν αὐτῇ specifies, not how they are to be stablished in respect of the faith, but how they are to be stablished by it, by the fact, namely, that they are rich in faith; poverty in faith would not be sufficient to bring about that establishment. In like manner we should have to take the reading ἐν τ. πίστει, which Hofmann defends. He, however, joins this ἘΝ Τ. ΠΊΣΤΕΙ not with ΒΕΒΑΙΟΎΜ., but with the following ΠΕΡΙΣΣΕΎΟΝΤΕς,a connection which is excluded by the genuineness of ἘΝ ΑὐΤῇ, but which is, even apart from this, to be rejected, because Paul would, in order to be fairly intelligible, have inserted the ἘΝ ΑὐΤῷ only after ΒΕΒΑΙΟΎΜΕΝΟΙ, to which it would also refer.

ΚΑΘῺς ἘΔΙΔΆΧΘ.] namely, to become stablished by the faith. For this they have received (from Epaphras, Col_1:7) the instructions which are to guide them.

περισσεύοντες κ.τ.λ.] is subordinate to the ΒΕΒΑΙΟΎΜ., and that as specifying the measure of the faith, which must be found in them in order that they may be stablished through faith; while at the same time the requisite vital expression, consecrated to God, of the piety of the believing heart is brought out by ἐν εὐχαρ.: while ye are abounding in the same amidst thanksgiving, i.e. while ye are truly rich in faith, and at the same time giving thanks to God for this blessing of fulness of faith. The emphasis is upon περισσ., in which lies the more precisely defining element; περισσεύειν ἐν is nothing else than the usual abundare aliqua re, to have abundance of something (Rom_15:13; 1Co_8:7; Php_1:9, et al.), and ἐν εὐχαρ. indicates an accompanying circumstance in the case, the ethical consecration of grateful piety, with which the richness in faith must be combined; comp. Col_3:17, Col_1:12. It is well explained, in substance, by Theophylact: περισσόν τι ἐνδείκνυσθαι ἐν τῇ πίστει, εὐχαριστοῦντες τῷ θεῷ, ὅτι ἠξίωσεν ἡμᾶς τοιαύτης χάριτος, καὶ μὴ ἑαυτοῖς τὴν προκοπὴν ἐπιγράφοντας. Rightly also by Oecumenius, who takes ἘΝ ΕὐΧΑΡ. as equivalent to ΣῪΝ ΕὐΧΑΡ. Comp. Castalio, Erasmus, Beza, Calvin, Estius, Cornelius a Lapide, Bähr, Steiger, Olshausen, Baumgarten-Crusius, Dalmer, Hofmann, and others. Others, however, regard ἘΝ ΕὐΧΑΡ. as belonging to ΠΕΡΙΣΣ. Such is the view not only of the majority who reject ἘΝ ΑὐΤῇ on critical grounds (as Ewald), but also of Luther, Michaelis, Storr, Flatt, Huther (that the Colossians in their faith towards God … are to show themselves abundantly grateful). De Wette favours this rendering on the ground that the clause is not attached by καί, which, however, is quite in keeping with the circumstance that ΠΕΡΙΣΣ Κ.Τ.Λ. is subordinate to the ΒΕΒΑΙΟΎΜ. Κ.Τ.Λ. In opposition to the combination ΠΕΡΙΣΣ. ἘΝ ΕὐΧΑΡ. there may be urged, first, the arrangement of the words in itself; secondly, the fact that ἘΝ ΑὐΤῇ would be superfluous; and thirdly, that all the other elements of the verse refer to the nature of faith, and hence the latter, in harmony with the context, is to be regarded also in the last participial clause as the object of the discourse, whereas ἐν εὐχαρ. is to be treated as a relation associated with the faith.

[84] To this conception ἐν αὐτῷ refers subsequently. Chrysostom and his followers take this ἐν so, that Christ is regarded as the way. But this Johannine conception nowhere occurs in Pauls writings; nor does it accord with παρελάβετε, with which, however, the extremely common Pauline idea of the ἐν Χρεστῷ εἶναι is in harmony.

[85] Eph_3:17 f., by comparing which Holtzmann discovers in our passage the hand of the interpolator, is both as regards contents and form too diverse for that purpose.

[86] Hofmann inappropriately, since in the case of ἐποικοδ. at any rate we have to think of the foundation, takes ἐν αὐτῷ in the sense that Christ surrounds the building.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Col 2:6 . ὧς οὖν παρελάβετε . Oltramare translates “since,” and interprets, “since ye have received Christ … it is in Him you must walk”. But probably the usual interpretation “as” is right, meaning the form in which they had received (= καθὼς ἐμάθετε , Col 1:7 ). The sense is, in that case, live in accordance with what you received, and the emphasis is on περιπ ., not on ἐν αὐτῷ . παρελάβετε is practically equivalent to ἐμάθετε , received by instruction, rather than received into the heart. τὸν Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν τὸν Κύριον . This is frequently translated “the Christ, even Jesus the Lord” (Hofm., Lightf., Sod., Haupt, Abb.). In favour of this is the fact that ὁ Χ . Ἰ . is not a Pauline expression, but neither is Ἰ . ὁ Κύριος . A further argument in its favour is that ὁ Χριστός is very frequent in this Epistle, and especially prominent in this section of it. If this is so we must suppose that Paul has chosen the form of words to meet some false view at Colossæ. A reference to a Judaistic conception of the Messiah, held by the false teachers, which failed to rise to the Christian conception of His Person as Lord, is supposed by Haupt to be intended. This is possible, but the other possible view “ye received Christ Jesus as Lord” is no more inconsistent with Pauline usage, and emphasises still more the Lordship of Christ, which it was the chief aim of the Apostle to assert. There seems to be no hint that the Messiahship of Jesus was challenged; at most there was the question what Messiahship involved. More probably there is no reference to the Messiahship at all.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6, 7. Transition to direct warning against the false teachers. Right reception of truth is well as far as it goes, but truth must be put into life

(Col 2:6) Your faith is sound, therefore live: as you received from Epaphras the message about this Christ, nay as ye received Christ Himself, Jesus who is Lord of all, spend your daily life in Him; (Col 2:7) maintaining your condition as of a tree that has been firmly rooted in Him, and also continually being built up in Him as in a temple, and being ever made more firm as to your faith, even as you were at first taught the need of these things, your lives marked by no narrow scrupulosity as the false teachers would urge, but abounding in thanksgiving.

6. ὡς. Cf. 2Co 7:14, where however οὕτως follows.

οὖν. The immediate reference is to the latter part of Col 2:5, but the next verse shows that St Paul is going back in thought as far as events mentioned in Col 1:4; Col 1:7.

παρελάβετε. (1) Does this compound here mean (a) “ye took to yourselves” or (b) “ye took as delivered to you by others”?

In favour of (a) is the fact that it is the ordinary meaning of παραλαμβάνω when followed by an accusative of the person, e.g. Act 15:39, and even Mat 27:26-27; Joh 19:16; Joh 1:11. So here it may only mean as ye received Christ, etc. into your heart, walk, etc.

(b) But everywhere else in St Paul’s writings it means “receive as delivered by others,” correlative of παραδοῦναι, e.g. Col 4:17 and especially 1Co 15:3, and although he uses it always elsewhere of things we are hardly justified in attributing to it a different meaning here unless this is absolutely necessary. But, so far from that, the context on the whole suggests the same meaning. For in the next verse he says καθὼς ἐδιδάχθητε, and in Col 2:8 contrasts τὴν παράδοσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Hence (b) is to be preferred. Compare 1Th 4:1; 2Th 3:6.

(2) Observe that St Paul does not merely say that they accepted the teaching about Christ which had been taught them. His thought includes that but passes beyond it. For the Christian scholar does not receive the teaching fully unless he receives Christ Himself. This the Colossians had done. Christ had been delivered to them by their teachers, and they had received Him at their hands. Joh 1:11 is doubtless similar in this respect.

τὸν χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν τὸν κύριον. The exact phrase (i.e. with the article, with the order “Christ Jesus,” and without any addition after κύριον) is unique. The only passage approaching it is Eph 3:11, ἐν τῷ χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν.

It raises many questions, viz. (1) the force of the article; (2) the connexion of Ἰησοῦν, whether it is to be taken with χριστὸν or τὸν κύριον; (3) the meaning of τὸν κύριον.

τὸν χριστὸν. In Col 2:5 the article was absent, why is it inserted here? Probably because it takes up the reference. Compare Act 8:1; Act 8:3, Σαῦλος δέ, but Act 9:1, ὁ δὲ Σαῦλος, and Act 9:2, ἐπιστολὰς εἰς Δαμασκόν, but Col 2:3, ἐγγίζειν τῇ Δαμασκῷ (see Blass, Gram. § 46. 10). It thus approaches in meaning to “this Christ.”

Ἰησοῦν. Is this to be taken (1) closely with τὸν χριστόν, or rather (2) with τὸν κύριον? In favour of (1) is the fact that ὁ χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς occurs not only in Act 5:42; Act 18:5; Act 18:28 (cf. var. lect. in Mat 1:18), but also at least three times in St Paul’s writings, Gal 5:24, οἱ δὲ τοῦ χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ, Gal 6:12, τῷ σταυρῷ τοῦ χριστοῦ [Ἰησοῦ]; Eph 3:1, ὁ δέσμιος τοῦ χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ, besides 11, ἐν τῷ χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν. On the other hand Ἰησοῦς ὁ κύριος seems to occur here only, for in 1Co 9:1; Rom 4:24; 2Pe 1:2 we have the addition of ἡμῶν.

Yet (2) is almost certainly right. Compare Eph 4:20, ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐχ οὕτως ἐμάθετε τὸν χριστόν. For not only is Χριστόν of Col 2:5 taken up more directly if the pause is made at τὸν χριστόν, but thus Ἰησοῦν τὸν κύριον serves to expand and explain it, and this in precisely such a way as to deepen in the mind of the Colossians the true character of the faith. They received the teaching about Christ, yes and Christ Himself, who is the historical person Jesus (cf. Eph 4:21, καθὼς ἔστιν ἀλήθεια ἐν τῷ Ἰησοῦ) and that the Lord.

τὸν κύριον. Not precisely as predicate, “Christ Jesus as Lord” (contrast 2Co 4:5, οὐ γὰρ ἑαυτοὺς κηρύσσομεν ἀλλὰ Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν κύριον), but further defining the position of Him whom they had received. He was not only Jesus, but the Lord, who is supreme over all, and claims practical obedience (cf. Col 1:10 note).

ἐν αὐτῷ. Repeated in Col 2:7; cf. Col 2:3. The force of ἐν is not to be weakened. Christ is the element in which they must live and act, not the detailed precepts. Only here is περιπατεῖν found with ἐν referring to Christ. Compare 1Co 4:17, τὰς ὁδούς μου τὰς ἐν Χριστῷ [Ἰησοῦ].

περιπατεῖτε, Col 1:10, note. For περιπατεῖν in correlation to παραλαμβάνω, life the result of teaching received, compare 1Th 4:1; 2Th 3:6.

Observe that it is probably right to see in this charge not only a desire for their continuance in well-doing as in Col 1:23 (where a thought follows which resembles Col 2:7), but also an admonition against being satisfied with theory. “He warns them of the danger, amidst heretical surroundings, of an unapplied orthodoxy. If they would be both firm and vigorous they must put truth into life” (Moule).

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So then Christ hangeth not upon men’s traditions.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

"As therefore ye received (once for all; the aorist tense; from Epaphras) Jesus the Christ as your Lord (compare Co1 12:3; Co2 4:5; Phi 3:8), so walk in Him." He says not merely, "Ye received" the doctrine of Christ, but "Jesus" Himself; this is the essence of faith (Joh 14:21, Joh 14:23; Gal 1:16). Ye have received once for all the Spirit of life in Christ; carry into practice that life in your walk (Gal 5:25). This is the main scope of the Epistle.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 6. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus] Many persons lay a certain stress on the words as and so, and make various fine heads of discourses from them; viz. As ye received Christ in a spirit of humility, so walk in him; as ye received him in a spirit of faith, so walk in him, c., &c. This may be all proper in itself but nothing of the kind was intended by the apostle. His meaning is simply this: Seeing ye have embraced the doctrine of Christ, continue to hold it fast, and not permit yourselves to be turned aside by sophistical or Judaizing teachers.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. As ye have received. To commendation he adds exhortation, in which he teaches them that their having once received Christ will be of no advantage to them, unless they remain in him. Farther, as the false apostles held forth Christ’s name with a view to deceive, he obviates this danger twice, by exhorting them to go on as they had been taught, and as they had received Christ. For in these words he admonishes them, that they must adhere to the doctrine which they had embraced, as delivered to them by Epaphras, with so much constancy, as to be on their guard against every other doctrine and faith, in accordance with what Isaiah said,

This is the way, walk ye in it. (Isaiah 30 21.)

And, unquestionbly, we must act in such a manner, that the truth of the gospel, after it has been manifested to us, may be to us as a brazen wall for keeping back all impostures.

Now he intimates by three metaphors what steadfastness of faith he requires from them. The first is in the word walk. For he compares the pure doctrine of the gospel, as they had learned it, to a way that is sure, so that if any one will but keep it he will be beyond all danger of mistake. He exhorts them, accordingly, if they would not go astray, not to turn aside from the course on which they have entered.

The second is taken from trees. For as a tree that has struck its roots deep has a sufficiency of support for withstanding all the assaults of winds and storms, so, if any one is deeply and thoroughly fixed in Christ, as in a firm root, it will not be possible for him to be thrown down from his proper position by any machinations of Satan. On the other hand, if any one has not fixed his roots in Christ, he will easily be

carried about with every wind of doctrine, (Ephesians 4:14,)

just as a tree that is not supported by any root.

The third metaphor is that of a foundation, for a house that is not supported by a foundation quickly falls to ruins. The case is the same with those who lean on any other foundation than Christ, or at least are not securely founded on him, but have the building of their faith suspended, as it were, in the air, in consequence of their weakness and levity.

These two things are to be observed in the Apostle’s words — that the stability of those who rely upon Christ is immovable, and their course is not at all wavering, or liable to error, (and this is an admirable commendation of faith from its effect;) and, secondly, that we must make progress in Christ aye and until we have taken deep root in him. From this we may readily gather, that those who do not know Christ only wander into bypaths, and are tossed about in disquietude.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(6) As ye have therefore received.—Comp. the more emphatic language of Col_1:5-7; Col_1:23. As in the case of the Corinthians and Galatians (2Co_11:4 and Gal_1:6), he entreats them not to be turned aside to “another Jesus,” or “another gospel, which is not another.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. As ye have therefore &c.] As if to say, “I see with joy your present stedfast faith and consequent holy union; therefore I entreat you at once to stay there and to grow there, for you will be tempted towards a very different region otherwise.”

“Have received”:—somewhat better, did receive, at their conversion.—The Greek word rendered “receive” is frequently used of the reception of teaching,—learning; and no doubt the reference is mainly to their “reception” from their missionary (Col_1:7) of the revealed truth. See further just below. But Ellicott well says that “the object [Christ] is so emphatically specified” as to imply that “they received … Christ Himself, in Himself the sum and substance of all teaching.” Cp. Joh_1:12; 1Jn_5:11-12.

Christ Jesus the Lord] Lightfoot punctuates and renders, the Christ, even Jesus the Lord; taking the reference to be to their having learned and welcomed as the true Christ (Messiah) not the speculative “Christ” of the heretics but the historic Jesus of the Incarnation and the Cross. This rendering (in view of the Greek) strongly commends itself to us, though R.V. retains A.V. In any case, however, the solemn emphasis of the whole phrase points in the direction of thought indicated by Lightfoot.

“The Lord”:—doubtless in the highest sense of the word. Cp. Php_2:11.

walk ye in him] “Let your actual life as believers be guarded and guided by this Lord thus received.” He warns them of the danger, amidst heretical surroundings, of an unapplied orthodoxy. If they would be both firm and vigorous they must put truth into life.—On the word “walk” see above on Col_1:10. It occurs often in these Epistles of the Captivity; eight times in Eph., four times in Col., twice in Phil.

“In Him”:—see on Col_1:2 above.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord,.... Receiving Christ is believing in him: faith is the eye of the soul, that sees the beauty, glory, fulness, and suitableness of Christ; the foot that goes to him, and the hand that takes hold on him, and the arm that receives and embraces him; so that this is not a receiving him into the head by notion, but into the heart by faith; and not in part only, but in whole: faith receives a whole Christ, his person as God and man; him in all his offices, as prophet, priest, and King; particularly as a Saviour and Redeemer, he being under that character so exceeding suitable to the case of a sensible sinner; and it receives all blessings of grace along with him, from him, and through him; as a justifying righteousness, remission of sins, adoption of children, grace for grace, and an inheritance among all them that are sanctified; and both Christ and them, as the free grace gifts of God; which men are altogether undeserving of, and cannot possibly give any valuable consideration for: so these Colossians had received Christ gladly, joyfully, willingly, and with all readiness; and especially as "the Lord", on which there is a peculiar emphasis in the text; they had received him and believed in him, as the one and only Lord and head of the church; as the one and only Mediator between God and man, to the exclusion of angels, the worship of which the false teachers were introducing; they had received the doctrines of Christ, and not the laws of Moses, which judaizing preachers were desirous of joining with them; they had heard and obeyed the Son, and not the servant; they had submitted to the authority of Christ as King of saints, and had been subject to his ordinances; wherefore the apostle exhorts them to continue and go on, believing in him, and holding to him the head:

so walk ye in him; not only in imitation of him as he walked, in the exercise of grace, as love, patience, humility, and meekness, and in the discharge of duty; but by faith in him, going on in a way of believing in him, always looking to him, leaning on him, and deriving grace and strength from him: to walk in Christ, is to walk in and after the Spirit of Christ, under his influence, by his direction, and through his assistance; and to walk in the doctrine of Christ, abiding by it, and increasing in the knowledge of it; and to walk in the ordinances of Christ, which with ills presence and spirit, are ways of pleasantness and paths of peace: particularly here it may signify, to make use of Christ, and walk on in him, as the way, truth, and the life; as the only way of access to God, and acceptance with him; as the way of salvation, as the only true way to eternal life and happiness, in opposition to every creature, angels, or men; the worshipping of the one, or works done by the other.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

Ver. 6. So walk ye in him] Continue well affected, as ye were at your first conversion; fall not from your own stedfastness, 2Pe 3:17. Happy is he that can say in a spiritual sense (as it was said of Moses), that after long profession of religion his sight is not waxed dim nor his natural strength abated.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord - Have received him by faith as your Saviour, or as you were instructed respecting his rank, character, and work. The object here is to induce them not to swerve from the views which they had of Christ when he was made known to them. They had at first probably received their ideas of the Saviour from the apostle himself (see the Introduction); and, at any rate, the apostle designs to assure them that the views which they had when they “received him,” were founded in truth.

So walk in him - Continue in those views of Christ; live in the maintenance of them; let them regulate your whole conduct. The word walk, in the Scriptures, is used to denote the manner of life; and the sense here is, that they should live and act wholly under the influence of the conceptions which they had of the Saviour when they first embraced him. The particle “so” is supplied by our translators, and rather weakens the sense. No stress should be laid on it, as is often done. The meaning is, simply, “Since you have received Christ as your Lord, as he was preached to you, hold fast the doctrine which you have received, and do not permit yourselves to be turned aside by any Jewish teachers, or teachers of philosophy.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Having cautioned them against sophistical seducers, and commended them for that order and sound faith he understood to be amongst them, he here infers an exhortation to continuance in both, especially in the latter, with respect to the person of Christ, according as he had before described him: for he doth not say: As ye have received the doctrine of Christ, or concerning Christ, but:

As ye have received Christ himself, as Joh 1:11,12; 1Jo 5:11,12, in whom is all treasured up for salvation. He adds not only Jesus, ( who came to save his people from their sins), but the Lord, intimating they should not therefore suffer any rules of faith or life to be imposed upon them by any other whatsoever, but should be persuaded to abide

in him, whom they had embraced, and order their conversation according to his mind, 1Th 4:1, knowing that he is the way, the truth, and the life, Joh 14:6; being led by his Spirit, and deriving virtue to go on in this orderly walk and persevere in the faith.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

a. Conclusion based upon their experience of salvation.

6. Ye… received Christ Jesus the Lord—In this statement of fact the argument culminates. It appeals to their experience. They received the doctrine of Christ from Epaphras, they received Christ himself into their hearts by faith, and it was that Christ the Lord, Creator, and Saviour, who is so fully described in the preceding chapter. They had therein found their soul’s salvation. Their experience verified the doctrine, and furnished a firm basis for the exhortation to walk in him. Continue the life you have begun.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him (Php_1:27 2:9-11; 1Th_4:1; 2Th_2:13-15; 1Co_15:1, 1Co_15:2; Gal_3:2-4; Heb_3:6 Heb_4:14 Heb_10:23; Joh_7:17 Joh_15:5-10; Rom_3:11) Such a walk will be consistent with their previous steadfastness, and will lead them to larger spiritual attainments. (Col_1:10; see note) "Ye received" (paralambanw, not decomai, as in Col_4:10: (comp. 1Th_2:13) reminds the Colossians of what they had received (compare" ye were taught," ver. 7 and (Col_1:7) rather than of the way of their receiving it. "Christ Jesus the Lord," is literally, the Christ Jesus, the Lord an expression found besides only in Eph_3:11 (Revised Text). The prefixed article points out Christ Jesus in his full style and title as the Person whom the Colossians had received, and received as the Lord. "The Lord" has a predicative force, as 1Co_12:3 (R.V) 2Co_4:5; Php_2:11. "Jesus is Lord" was the testing watchword applied in the discerningof spirits; "Jesus Christ is Lord" is to be the final confession of a reconciled universe; and "Christ Jesus is Lord" is the rule of faith that guides all conduct and tests all doctrine within the Church. (comp. ver. 19; Rom_16:18) It is "a summary of the whole Christian confession" (Meyer). To vindicate this lordship, on which the Colossian error trenched so seriously, is the main object of the Epistle. (Col_1:13-20) We must not, therefore, with Alford, Lightfoot, Hofmann, analyze "the Christ Jesus:" "Ye received the Christ, (namely) Jesus, who is the Lord." The writer has already used "Christ Jesus" as a single proper name at the outset; (Col_1:1, Col_1:4) and it was the lordship of Christ Jesus, not the Messiahship of Jesus, that was now in question. In Act_18:5, 28 the situation is entirely different. In the following clause, "in him" is emphatic, as in ver. 7 (compare the predominant aujtov of. (Col_1:16-22 Col_2:9-15) Hence the contradiction of figure, "walk, rooted, and builded up," does not obtrude itself. (On "walk," see note, Col_1:10; and on "in Christ" in this connection, see notes, Col_1:4 Col_2:10; and Rom_6:3-11 Rom_8:1; 2Co_5:17; Joh_15:1-7)

Vers. 6, 7.

The principle of a consistent Christian walk.

"As ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.

I THE RECEPTION OF CHRIST IS THE SUBSTANCE OF CHRISTIANITY.

1. This includes the reception of him doctrinally, as the historical Person Jesus, and the acceptance of him as Lord. The false teachers misrepresented his true character in these respects.

2. But it expressly points to a believing reception of himself as at once thesum and substance of all teaching and the foundation of all hope for man.

Those who thus receive him

(1) become sons of God; (Joh_1:11, Joh_1:12)

(2) receive the promise of an eternal inheritance, (Heb_9:15) are co-heirs with himself; (Rom_8:17)

(3) receive the very Spirit of Christ; (Rom_8:9)

(4) receive rest for the soul; (Mat_11:28)

(5) possess security that he will save to the uttermost. (Heb_7:25)

II THE WALK MUST CORRESPOND TO THE SPIRITUAL RECEPTION. "So walk ye in him." This implies:

1. That we are carefully to guard the true doctrine of Christ"s person. One apostle rejoiced to hear that his children" walked in truth". (2Jn_1:4) There were men who "walked not after the traditions which they

2. received of the apostle". (2Th_3:6) Let us give earnest heed to what has been "received of the Lord" and. is delivered "to his apostles". (1Co_11:23) Let us not "lose what we have wrought". (2Jn_1:9)

3. That we are to walk in all holy obedience to Christ"s commands. "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you". (Joh_15:14)

4. But the passage essentially means that we are to walk in Christ as thesphere or element in which our life is to find development. We are to walk in him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and our life is to be the life of faith in the Son of God. (Gal_2:20) All our strength, guidance, motives, are to be found in him. "His grace will be sufficient for us," as he "dwells in our hearts by faith.

III THE CONDITIONS OF A HOLY WALK IN CHRIST. "Having been rooted and being built up in him, and being established in your faith, even as ye were taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." There is here an expressive variety of metaphor.

1. The believer must be firmly rooted in Christ. This is done once for all in regeneration. It is a past act. The tree may shake in its topmost branches, but its roots are firm because they grasp the solid earth. So the firmness of believers is due to Christ, (Joh_10:28, Joh_10:29) and his sap makes them fruitful. (Joh_15:5) The believer is to "cast forth his roots as Lebanon," and thus he will "grow up unto him in all things.

2. He must be built upon Christ as the Foundation.

(1) There is no other foundation. (1Co_3:11) As the foundation upholds the house, so is the believer upheld by Christ. (Mat_16:18)

(2) The building is progressive built up in him". (1Co_3:9-15) The believer is to receive "the strengthening of his faith" in Christ. Thus the body of Christ "maketh increase of itself in love.

3. He must be established in faith. "Established in your faith, even as ye were taught.

(1) Faith is the great means of giving stability to life. "It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace". (Heb_13:9)

(2) Faith itself needs stability. The Gnostics exalted knowledge above faith, but faith holds the key of the soul"s position. "Therefore be not faithless, but believing;" "Lord, increase our faith." The strong faith of Abraham gave him the stability that marked his singularly consistent and holy career.

(3) Faith must have constant reference to its grounds in the Word as ye were taught." The Colossians were not to follow the false teachers, but Epaphras, their teacher.

4. There must be an abounding faith mingled with thanksgiving. "Abounding therein with thanksgiving.

(1) We cannot trust God too much. We ought, therefore, to pray continually, "Lord, increase our faith." We ought also to add to our faith every other Christian grace. (2Pe_1:5)

(2) Our faith must overflow with thanksgiving. We must be sensible of our mercies and privileges, and thus we shall get the comfort and benefit of them by "giving of thanks. T.C.

Vers. 6, 7.

Growth in Christ.

St. Paul is anxious lest the invasion of a new philosophy should lead the Colossians away from their earlier life in Christ. Recognizing how rightly they had at first received the gospel, he desires them to continue in the faith as they had been taught. But while he is most earnest in deprecating any departure from the primite foundation, he is equally earnest in wishing for progress in a continued building on that foundation. The true Christian life is neither a so called progress that carries us away from Christ to newer masters, nor a dogged and stupid obstinacy that will not budge from the past and stagnates in its immobility, but a growth in Christ.

I GROWTH IN CHRIST IMPLIES CONTINUANCE IN CHRIST. Any other change, even though it may seem to involve an advance, is a retrogression from Christ. The Colossians are exhorted to walk in Christ as they had received him. They had received him as Christ Jesus the Lord.

1. As Jesus. They had begun by recognizing the true human nature of Christ. The Gnostics were persuading them to give this faith up for the idea of a phantom Christ. We are not troubled with these Docetic notions. But practically we are tempted to lose our hold upon the human brotherliness of Christ in our doctrinal systems of divinity and our elaborate solemnities of devotion.

2. As the Lord. He was not only a Teacher, a mystic Mediator such as the Gnostics regarded him, but a Master. To regard Christ as Lord is not merely to have an abstract conviction of his divinity, not simply to offer him worship; it is to submit to his kingly rule. To grow in Christ, then, we must, first of all, continue in brotherly sympathy with him, and also in dutiful submission to him.

II GROWTH IN CHRIST CONSISTS IN A CONTINUOUS ADVANCE IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.

1. We must be rooted. As the root derives nourishment from the soil for the increase of the tree, so are we to send out the deepest efforts of our soul to Christ and to draw from him ever more and more of spiritual vigour.

2. We must be built up. This is a gradual progress. It does not abolish the past in making the future, but, on the contrary, it erects the latter on the former. It produces a compact and harmonious structure. So the temple of the Christian life should be rising in solid strength and grace and beauty, based on Christ as the Foundation, to be finished with Christ as the chief Cornerstone, and consecrated for the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ.

III GROWTH IN CHRIST RESULTS IN ENLARGED FAITH AND GRATITUDE.

1. Enlarged faith. "Stablished in your faith." Faith, which is the means of growing in the Christian life, is itself enlarged and strengthened by the process.

2. Great gratitude. "Abounding in thanksgiving." An advanced Christian will always be a thankful one, for he will know more of the goodness of God in Christ, and his own heart will be more full of love. Therefore also

the joy of Christianity will increase with the growth of the Christian life. W.F.A.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So walk in him - In the same faith, love, holiness.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The apostle now builds up his admonition on this tactful premise:

v. 6. As ye have, therefore, received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him;

v. 7. rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding there in with thanksgiving.

v. 8. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

This admonition tended to be all the more effective, since the apostle had so cheerfully acknowledged the attitude taken by the Colossians. The fact of his appreciation could not fail to arouse in them the most eager determination to prove themselves worthy of the apostle’s trust. Paul, moreover, always places the most important fact first: As, then, you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, it is in Him that you must walk. The Phrygian Christians had through faith accepted the Lord Jesus Christ, Him who had been promised of old and had been revealed in His incarnation in the fullness of time. They stood in the most intimate fellowship of faith with this Savior. In Him, therefore, they should lead their lives, in His fellowship they should continue, Joh 15:1-6; 1Jn 2:4-6; 1Jn 3:24. in the daily realization of our sinfulness and unworthiness, in the daily acceptance of the grace which His atonement has brought to us, in the daily endeavor to walk before Him to all His good pleasure, the Christian life consists according to His will.

This blessed condition of the Christians is further characterized by the apostle: Rooted and built up in Him and being firmly established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. As the tree sends down its roots into the richest soil, in order to draw the purest and strongest nourishment from the bosom of the earth; as every wind and every storm causes the tree to cling with greater tenacity to its hold in the earth, so shall we be rooted in Christ, drawing all our spiritual power from Him and clinging all the more tenaciously to Him as the storms of tribulation sweep over us. As the stability if any building depends upon the firmness of its foundation, so our faith, having Christ Jesus as its basis and His Word as its stay, is safe against all the storms of adversity, because it rests in the heart, in the mounds of Jesus. The true Christians are not looking for some new doctrine that may tickle their fancy, for some new leader to show them a new way to heaven; they abide by the old doctrine of sin and grace, as they have been taught. The revelation of the gracious will of God as we have it in the Bible is sufficient for all our needs. "New revelations," "new light," "keys to the Scriptures," all these have no right to exist; our faith rests upon Jesus, and that is sufficient for us. In Him we can and shall abound in the faith with thanksgiving, Php 1:9; Rom 15:13. We should excel in gratitude and thankfulness; these should fill our whole hearts. Lost and condemned sinners as we are in ourselves, the pure and boundless mercy of God in Christ Jesus has brought us salvation, has made us partakers of salvation through faith. So a Christian has reasons always to be happy, always to be thankful.

But this thankfulness demands also a continual watchfulness: Take heed lest there be any one that makes you his spoil through the philosophy and vain fraud according to the tradition of men, according to the precepts of the world and not according to Christ. Christians must be vigilant always, they must always have their eyes open, they must always be on their guard. For there are men that are determined to seduce them, to lead them away as a prey, as a spoil. This they attempt to do through philosophy, through a system of doctrine that wants to explain the reason and object of being on the basis of reason only. Other deceivers attempt to gain their end through empty fraud after the traditions of men, by offering explanations of divine things according to the ideas generally held by men and almost invariably opposed to the divine revelation. Or, in other words, they attempt to deceive according to the precepts and rules as laid down by the children of this world in general. See Gal 4:3. Every person by nature expects to find some ways and means of becoming righteous before God by his own wisdom and ability, and thousands of false teachers make use of this tendency by proclaiming a way of salvation through works, by following certain precepts of behavior which are supposed to set a standard for the whole world. But these precepts and rules, this doctrine concerning man’s own ability to be justified before God, is a vain deceit and not according to Christ and His doctrine of salvation. In these last days of the world no other error is working such fierce havoc in the Church as this precept after the tradition of men.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This is, "As you have received the doctrine of Christ Jesus, the Lord, by the preaching of Epaphras, and therein have embraced Christ by faith, so do you constantly adhere to that doctrine, conforming you lives thereunto; and seeing you are thus implanted into Christ, be like trees, well and deeply rooted in him, or like a house, firmly built upon him, as the only sure and abiding foundation."

Learn, That such as have received the grace of God in truth, ought, to labour after stability in grace and establishment in the true religion, that they may stand like a rock, immoveable in assaults, and unshaken amidst all the batteries that may be made upon their faith by heretics and seducers.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ARGUMENT 9

SANCTIFIED AS CONVERTED

6. “Therefore as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him.” You received him by faith and by faith alone when a poor sinner, and he converted your soul. Now do not plunge into the heresy of the popular pulpits, and conclude that you are to be sanctified by growth or by—i.e., works—but remember that you are sanctified precisely as you are converted; i.e. by faith, and by faith alone.

7. “Having been rooted and grounded in Him, and confirmed in the faith as you have been taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” The Bible contains but a few primal truths, which are enforced by a vast diversity of imagery deduced by the Holy Ghost from every ramification of human life and employment and every department of the material world. The great truth revealed in the Bible is the compound problem of sin and its remedy. Here Paul gives us a grand double metaphor, illustrating entire sanctification by a tree and a house. The lateral roots of the tree represent the justified experience, while the long, powerful, trunky tap-root penetrating far down into the deep interior of the earth, coiling around the eternal strata and holding the tree steadfast amid the storms of centuries, beautifully symbolizes entire sanctification. The tree without a tap-root flourishes amid calm and sunshine, but is ruthlessly torn out by the roots when caught in the Briarean arms of the cyclone. So the unsanctified Christian is all right when skies are clear and seas are calm, but hopelessly wrecked in the raging storm. The other metaphor is that of the house whose foundation is laid deep down on the everlasting foundation of the earth, and solidly built up into a magnificent superstructure. The winds blow and the floods come down, but it stands unshaken like a rock in midocean, defiant of every storm. Conversion is a real experience, but it is superficial, neither descending down to the bottom rock nor ascending up to Pisgah’s delectable summit.

8. “See that no one shall be leading you through philosophy and empty delusion, according to the—commandment of men, according to learning of the world, and not according to Christ.” Paul’s prophetic eye is wide open in all of this epistle, contemplating in vivid panorama the delusive humanisms of the present day. The Bible is the only authority in this world, and the only guide to heaven. How few people are free! Spiritual and mental chains and slavery everywhere abound. Science and philosophy out of harmony with the Bible are all false.

9. “Because in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” In the body of Christ on earth and in heaven actually dwelleth the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Hence, we have in our Jesus all of the divinity and humanity, all salvation, authority, and power in the whole universe, temporal and spiritual. O what a wonderful Savior we have! We need nothing else. In him we have everything pertaining to this life and that which is to come. Away with all humanisms! When they come, the devil always avails himself of the door ajar.

10. “Ye are complete in him who is the head of all government and authority.” Give up all of your human delusions, and take Jesus only for everything you need in time and eternity.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. Walk ye in him. Continue to live in, obey and believe upon Christ as he was first preached to you.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

walk in him

Walking on a path is a metaphor for how a person lives his life. The words "in him" refer to being in close relationship with Christ and so doing what pleases him. AT: "live your lives the way he wants you to" or "live so that people can see that you belong to him"

Be rooted ... be built ... be established ... abound

These words explain what it means to "walk in him." (See: Idiom)

Be rooted in him

Paul speaks of a person with true faith in Christ as if that person were a tree growing in solid ground with deep roots. (See: Metaphor)

be built on him

Paul speaks of a person with true faith in Christ as if that person were a building that has a strong foundation. (See: Metaphor)

be established in faith

"trust in Jesus for everything"

just as you were taught

This is best stated without naming or otherwise calling attention to the teacher, who was Epaphras (Colossians 1:7). AT: "just as you learned" or "just as they taught you" or "just as he taught you"

abound in thanksgiving

Paul speaks of thanksgiving as if it were objects that a person could obtain more of. AT: "be very thankful to God" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

walk

in Christ

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

6.] As then (he has described his conflict and his joy on their behalf—he now exhorts them to justify such anxiety and approval by consistency with their first faith) ye received (from Epaphras and your first teachers) Jesus the Christ the Lord (it is necessary, in order to express the full sense of τὸν χρ. Ἰησ. τὸν κύρ., to give something of a predicative force both to τὸν χρ. and to τὸν κύρ.: see 1Co 12:3 (but hardly so strong as “for your Lord,” as rendered in my earlier editions: see Ellicott here).

The expression ὁ χρ. Ἰησ. ὁ κύρ. occurs only here: the nearest approach to it is in 2Co 4:5, … κηρύσσομεν … χριστὸν Ἰησ. κύριον: where also κύρ. is a predicate: but this is even more emphatic and solemn. Cf. also Php 3:8, τὸ ὑπερέχον τῆς γνώσεως χρ. Ἰησοῦ τοῦ κυρ. μου. On the sense, Bisping says well: “Notice that Paul here says, παρελάβετε τὸν χριστόν, and not παρελ. τὸν λόγον τοῦ χρ. True faith is a spiritual communion: for in faith we receive not only the doctrine of Christ, but Himself, into us: in faith He Himself dwells in us: we cannot separate Christ, as Eternal Truth, and His doctrine”), in Him walk (carry on your life of faith and practice), rooted (see Eph 3:18) and being continually built up in Him (as both the soil and the foundation—in both cases the conditional element. It is to be noticed 1) how the fervid style of St. Paul, disdaining the nice proprieties of rhetoric, sets forth the point in hand by inconsistent similitudes: the walking implying motion, the rooting and building, rest; 2) that the rooting, answering to the first elementary grounding in Him, is in the past: the being built up, answering to the continual increase in Him, is present. See Eph 2:20, where this latter is set forth as a fact in the past) and confirmed in the (or, your) faith (dat. of reference: it seems hardly natural with Mey. to take it instrumental, as there is no question of instrumental means in this passage), as ye were taught, abounding in it (reff.) in thanksgiving (the field of operation, or element, in which that abundance is manifested. “Non solum volo vos esse confirmatos in fide, verum etiam in ea proficere et proficiendo abundare per pleniorem mysteriorum Christi cognitionem: idque cum gratiarum actione erga Deum, ut auctorem hujus totius boni.” Est.).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. ὡς οὖν παρελάβετε. “As, then, ye received, i.e. from your teachers” = καθὼς ἐμάθετε ἀπὸ Ἐπαφρᾶ, 1:7; καθὼς ἐδιδάχθητε, ver. 7. Compare 1Th 4:1, καθὼς παρελάβετε παρʼ ἡμῶν τὸ πῶς δεῖ, κ.τ.λ.; 1Co 15:1, 1Co 15:2, 1Co 15:11:23; Gal 1:9, Gal 1:12; Php 4:9 (ἐμάθετε καὶ παρελάβετε).

Ellicott, however, and Moule understand it as meaning that they received “Christ Himself, the sum and substance of all teaching.” The sense is good, but does not agree so well with the usage of παραλαμβάνειν or with the context, in which we have the contrast between true and false teaching in relation to the Christian walk (καθὼς ἐδιδάχθητε, κατὰ τὴν παράδοσιν τῶν ἀνθρ.).

τὸν Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν τὸν Κύριον. As St. Paul does not use the phrase ὁ Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς, this is naturally divided into τὸν Χριστόν and Ἰησοῦν τὸν Κύριον, so that τὸν Χρ. is the immediate object of παραλ. This is confirmed by the frequency of ὁ Χριστός in this Epistle, and by the designation of the object of the Christian preaching as ὁ Χριστός in Php 1:15, Php 1:17. Further, it will be observed that in what follows up to 3:4 it is not the notion of Ἰησοῦς or of Κύριος that is prominent, but that of Χριστός. The Christ, rather than the gospel, is specified as the object of the instruction, because “the central point of the Colossian heresy was the subversion of the true idea of the Christ,” Lightfoot. Ἰησοῦν τὸν Κύριον adds to the official designation the name of Him to whom it belongs, “even Jesus the Lord.” Compare Eph 4:20, Eph 4:21. The position of τὸν Κύριον after Ἰησοῦν (instead of the usual τὸν Κύριον Ἰησοῦν) points to the two elements of which the true doctrine of the Christ consists, viz. first, the recognition of the historical person, Jesus; and, secondly, the acceptance of Him as the Lord.

ἐν αὐτῷ περιπατεῖτε. This phrase does not occur elsewhere, but it corresponds to the idea of τὰς ὁδούς μου ἐν Χριστῷ, 1Co 4:17; ζῶντας ἐν Χριστῷ, Rom 4:11, etc.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ye received [παρελαβετε] . By transmission from [παρα] your teachers.

Christ Jesus the Lord [τον χριστον ιησουν τον κυριον] . The Christ, specially defined by the following words, thus emphasizing the personal Christ rather than the Gospel, because the true doctrine of Christ 's person was perverted by the Colossian teachers. The Christ, even Jesus, the Lord.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

τὴν τάξιν] ‘your orderly array’, a military metaphor: comp. e.g. Xen. Anab. i. 2. 18 ἰδοῦσα τὴν λαμπρότητα καὶ τὴν τάξιν τοῦ στρατεύματος ἐθαύμασε, Plut. Vit. Pyrrh. 16 κατιδὼν τάξιν τε καὶ φυλακὰς καὶ κόσμον αὐτῶν καὶ τὸ σχῆμα τῆς στρατοπεδείας ἐθαύμασε. The enforced companionship of St Paul with the soldiers of the prætorian guard at this time (Phil. i. 13) might have suggested this image. At all events in the contemporary epistle (Ephes. vi. 14 sq.) we have an elaborate metaphor from the armour of a soldier.

τὸ στερέωμα] ‘solid front, close phalanx’, a continuation of the metaphor: comp. 1 Macc. ix. 14 εἶδεν Ἰούδας ὅτι Βακχίδης καὶ τὸ στερέωμα τῆς παρεμβολῆς ἐν τοῖς δεξιοῖς. Somewhat similar are the expressions στερεοῦν τὸν πόλεμον 1 Macc. x. 50, κατὰ τὴν στερέωσιν τῆς μάχης Ecclus. xxviii. 10. For the connexion here compare 1 Pet. v. 9 ἀντίστητε στερεοὶ τῇ πίστει, Acts xvi. 5 ἐστερεοῦντο τῇ πίστει.

6. ὡς οὖν παρελάβετε κ.τ.λ.] i.e. ‘Let your conviction and conduct be in perfect accordance with the doctrines and precepts of the Gospel as it was taught to you’. For this use of παρελάβετε ‘ye received from your teachers, were instructed in’, comp. 1 Cor. xv. 1, 3, Gal. i. 9, Phil. iv. 9, 1 Thess. ii. 13, iv. 1, 2 Thess. iii. 6. The word παραλαμβάνειν implies either ‘to receive as transmitted’, or ‘to receive for transmission’: see the note on Gal. i. 12. The ὡς of the protasis suggests a οὕτως in the apodosis, which in this case is unexpressed but must be understood. The meaning of ὡς παρελάβετε here is explained by the καθὼς ἐμάθετε ἀπὸ Ἐπαφρᾶ in i. 7; see the note there, and comp. below ver. 7 καθὼς ἐδιδάχθητε.

τὸν Χριστόν] ‘the Christ’, rather than ‘the Gospel’, because the central point in the Colossian heresy was the subversion of the true idea of the Christ.

Ἰησοῦν τὸν Κύριον] ‘even Jesus the Lord’, in whom the true conception of the Christ is realised: comp. Ephes. iv. 20, 21, ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐχ οὕτως ἐμάθετε τὸν Χριστόν , εἴγε αὐτὸν ἠκούσατε καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ ἐδιδάχθητε, καθώς ἐστιν ἀλήθεια ἐν τῷ Ἰησοῦ , where the same idea is more directly expressed. The genuine doctrine of the Christ consists in (1) the recognition of the historical person Jesus, and (2) the acceptance of Him as the Lord. This doctrine was seriously endangered by the mystic theosophy of the false teachers. The same order which we have here occurs also in Ephes. iii. 11 ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν (the correct reading).

J. B. Lightfoot, St Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon: a revised text with introductions, notes and dissertations (London: Macmillan, 1875) — public domain. Electronic text from Project Gutenberg (ebook #50857). Covers Colossians and Philemon only (the verse-by-verse notes; introductions and dissertations are omitted); Lightfoot's companion Galatians and Philippians volumes are not included, as the available public-domain scans carry garbled Greek that cannot be faithfully reproduced.