Colossians 1:28 - Exposition

Whom we proclaim, admonishing every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom ( Colossians 3:16 ; 1 Thessalonians 2:4-13 ; 1 Corinthians 1:23 , 1 Corinthians 1:24 ; 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 ; 1 Corinthians 15:11 ; 2 Corinthians 4:1-6 ; 5:18-6:1; Acts 20:18-35 ; Acts 26:22 , Acts 26:23 ). We (emphatic, like the "I" of Colossians 1:23 , Colossians 1:25 ) includes St. Paul's coadjutors, Epaphras in particular. καταγγέλλω , to publish, bears a wider sense than κηρύσσω , to herald ( Colossians 1:23 ), St. Paul's favourite word. "Admonishing and teaching" are the two essential parts of the apostle's ministry, related as repentance to faith (Lightfoot, who gives interesting classical parallels). νουθετέω (radically, "to put in mind"), peculiar to St. Paul in New Testament (including Acts 20:31 ), may denote reproof for the past, but more especially warning for the future (see 1 Corinthians 4:14 ; 2 Thessalonians 3:15 : comp. note on Colossians 3:16 ). Thrice in this verse "every man" is repeated, and "in all wisdom" follows "teaching" with a marked emphasis. The Colossian errorists, as we should presume from the general tenor and affinities of their system, sought to form an inner mystical school or circle of discipleship within the Church, initiated into a wisdom and holiness supposed to be higher than that attainable by ordinary Christian faith (see note on "mystery," Colossians 1:26 ; also Colossians 2:2 , Colossians 2:3 , Colossians 2:8 ). An intellectual caste-feeling (see note, Colossians 3:11 ) was springing up in the Church. In 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 the apostle denounces the pride of reason which claims "the things of God" as its own; here he denounces the pride of intellect which refuses the knowledge of them to those who stand on a lower level of mental culture. To every man the Divine wisdom in Christ is accessible ( Colossians 2:3 , Colossians 2:10 ; Colossians 3:10 , Colossians 3:16 ; Ephesians 2:17 ; Ephesians 3:18 , Ephesians 3:19 ): to none but "the spiritual man" ( 1 Corinthians 2:6 , 12-3:1). "Wisdom" here is not subjective, a quality of the apostle (so Meyer, quoting 1 Corinthians 3:10 ), but objective, the quality of the truth itself (comp. Colossians 2:2 , Colossians 2:23 ; Colossians 3:16 ; Ephesians 1:18 ; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 ; 1 Corinthians 2:6 , 1 Corinthians 2:7 ). That we may present every man perfect in Christ (verse 22; Ephesians 4:13 ; Ephesians 5:25-27 ; 2 Corinthians 13:7-9 ; 1 Thessalonians 2:19 , 1 Thessalonians 2:20 ; 2 Timothy 2:10 ): the aim alike of Christ's redemption (verse 22) and of the apostle's ministry. "Perfect" ( τέλειος ) is a word associated with the Greek mysteries, and in common use denoted "full-grown," "grown men," as opposed to" children "( Ephesians 4:13 , Ephesians 4:14 ; Philippians 3:12 , Philippians 3:15 ; Heb 5:11-6:1). The philosophic Judaists affected this term considerably. Philo frequently distinguishes between the "perfect" or "fully initiated" ( τέλειοι ), who are admitted to the sight of God, and the "advancing" ( προκόπτοντες : c omp. Galatians 1:14 ), who are candidates for admission to the Divine mysteries; and he makes Jacob a type of the latter, Israel of the former (see 'On Drunkenness,' § 20; 'On Change of Names,' § 3; 'On Agriculture,' §§ 36-38). The apostle makes "perfect" designedly parallel to the "holy and without blemish" of verse 22, holding out a spiritual ideal very different from that of Alexandrine mystics; and declares that it is to be realized "in Christ" ( 1 Corinthians 2:2 , 1 Corinthians 2:4 ), as in verse 22 it appeared to be wrought "through Christ" and "for Christ".