Colossians 3:24 - Exposition

Knowing that from (the) Lord you will receive the just recompense of the inheritance ( Ephesians 6:8 ; Romans 2:6-11 ; 2 Corinthians 5:10 ; Revelation 22:12 ; Psalms 62:12 ). "Knowing" ( εἰδότες )—that of which one is aware, not merely learning or "getting to know" ( γινώσκω ): see both words in Ephesians 5:5 and John 14:7 , Revised Text; also Romans 6:6 and Romans 6:9 ; 1 John 5:20 . "The absence of the definite article" before κυρίου "is the more remarkable, because it is studiously inserted in the context" (Lightfoot). St. Paul virtually says, "There is a Master who will recompense you, if your earthly masters never do" (comp. Colossians 4:1 ). "Just" renders the ἀντὶ in ἀνταπόδοσιν (a word common in LXX ), implying "equivalence" or "correspondence" (comp. ἀνταναπληρῶ in Colossians 1:24 ; also Romans 11:35 ; Romans 12:19 ; 1 Thessalonians 3:9 ; 2 Thessalonians 1:6 ; Luke 6:38 ; Luke 14:12 , Luke 14:14 )—a reward in the case of each individual, and in each particular, answering to the service rendered to "the Lord" (comp. Matthew 25:14-30 ). The opposite truth is asserted in verse 25; Ephesians 6:8 combines them both. The recompense of the faithful Christian slave is nothing less than "the inheritance" of God's children ( Colossians 1:12 ; Ephesians 1:5 , Ephesians 1:11 , Ephesians 1:14 ; Ephesians 3:6 ; Ephesians 5:5 ; Romans 8:17 ; Galatians 3:29 ; 1 Corinthians 6:9 , 1 Corinthians 6:10 ; 1 Corinthians 15:50 ; Titus 3:7 ; 1 Peter 1:4 ), which the apostle has so often under other terms assured to his readers ( Colossians 1:5 , Colossians 1:23 , Colossians 1:27 ; Colossians 2:18 ; Colossians 3:4 , Colossians 3:15 ). For a slave to be heir was "a paradox" (Lightfoot): see Galatians 4:1 , Galatians 4:7 ; Romans 8:15-17 . No form of praise could be more cheering and ennobling to the despised slave than this. "In Christ," Onesimus is "no longer as a slave, but a brother beloved" ( Philippians 1:16 ), and if a brother, then a joint heir with his master Philemon in the heavenly inheritance ( Colossians 3:11 ). Ye serve the Lord Christ ( Philemon 1:22 , Philemon 1:25 ; Colossians 2:6 ; Ephesians 6:6 ; Romans 14:8 , Romans 14:9 ; 1 Corinthians 6:19 , 1 Corinthians 6:20 ; 1 Corinthians 7:22 , 1 Corinthians 7:23 ; John 13:13 ); that is, Christ is the Lord whose bondmen ye are. "For" is probably a correct gloss, though a corrupt reading. Its insertion indicates that the sentence was read indicatively (Lightfoot, and R.V.); not imperatively ("serve the Lord Christ"), as Meyer, Alford, Ellicott, with the Vulgate, construe it. The verse amounts to this: "Work as for the Lord: he will repay you; you are his servants."