Colossians 4:5 - Exposition

Walk in wisdom towards those without ( Ephesians 5:15-17 ; 1 Thessalonians 4:12 ; 1 Thessalonians 5:15 ; 1 Corinthians 10:32 ; 2 Corinthians 4:2 ; Titus 2:8 ; 1 Peter 2:12 , 1 Peter 2:15 ; 1 Peter 3:16 ; Matthew 10:16 ). (On "wisdom," see Colossians 1:9 , note; Colossians 1:28 ; Colossians 2:3 ; Colossians 3:16 ; this was a chief need of the Colossian Church.) "Those without," as opposed to Christians—"those within the pale;" a Jewish mode of expression (Lightfoot): comp. 1 Thessalonians 4:12 ; 1 Corinthians 5:12 , 1 Corinthians 5:13 ; 1 Timothy 3:7 . From a different point of view, they are designated" the rest" in Ephesians 2:3 ; 1 Thessalonians 4:13 ; 1 Thessalonians 5:6 . This injunction appears in a different form and position in Ephesians. Standing at the close of the writer's exhortations, and followed up by the direction of the next verse, it is more pointed and emphatic here. Buying up each (literally, the ) opportunity ( Ephesians 5:16 ; 1 Corinthians 7:29 ; Galatians 6:10 ; John 11:9 , John 11:10 ; Luke 13:32 ; Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ). In Ephesians 5:16 the reason is added, "because the days are evil." In Daniel 2:8 ( LXX ) the verb ἐξαγοράζω has precisely this sense and connection, and the idiom occurs in classical writers. The verb is middle in voice: "buying up for yourselves," "for your own advantage." In Galatians 3:13 the compound verb is somewhat differently used. The opportunity is the fit time for each step of a well-conducted walk, the precise juncture of circumstances which must be seized at once or it is gone. This wary promptitude is always needful in dealing with men of the world, both to avoid harm from them and in seeking to do them good. The latter thought, it may be, connects this verse and the next.