Colossians and Philemon (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament)

Beale, G. K., Yarbrough, Robert W., Jipp, Joshua

• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781493416653
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

In this addition to the award-winning BECNT series, leading New Testament scholar and bestselling author G.K. Beale offers a substantive evangelical commentary on Colossians and Philemon. With extensive research and thoughtful chapter-by-chapter exegesis, Beale leads readers through all aspects of Colossians and Philemon--sociological, historical, and theological--to help them better understand the meaning and relevance of these biblical books. As with all BECNT volumes, this commentary features the author's detailed interaction with the Greek text and an acclaimed, user-friendly design. It admirably achieves the dual aims of the series--academic sophistication with pastoral sensitivity and accessibility--making it a useful tool for pastors, church leaders, students, and teachers.

I. Letter Opening: Paul and Timothy Desire Grace and Peace for the Colossians (1:1–2)

➤ I.	Letter Opening: Paul and Timothy Desire Grace and Peace for the Colossians (1:1–2)
II.	Letter Thanksgiving: Paul Thanks God for the Readers’ Christian Lives (1:3–23)
III.	Letter Body: Christians Should Strive for Maturity (1:24–4:6)
IV.	Letter Closing: Paul Emphasizes His Pastoral Concern for the Colossians (4:7–18)

Just as most modern letters contain an opening address (“Dear . . .”), often an introductory wish (“I hope all is well with you”), a body that contains the main part of the letter, and a concluding farewell (“Sincerely,” “With best wishes” + the sender’s name), so Hellenistic letters had the similar basic structure. As we will see, Paul adapts this variant fourfold Hellenistic letter convention, especially by injecting Christian theology into it. For example, the opening address in Colossians of “Paul” is expanded to “an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,” a typical expression added in various ways in Paul’s other letters. This is an adaptation of the Hellenistic letter, in which the letter replaces the writer’s presence. Yet as we will see in the case of Paul, the letter represents not merely Paul’s presence but also his apostolic authority over the recipients. This apostolic authority actually entails that the letter carries with it the authority of God and Christ, whom Paul represents in each letter, including that of the one sent to the Colossians. The second part of the ancient letter was a generic greeting, which Paul replaces with the theologically charged “grace and peace,” typically followed by “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” which indicates further that behind Paul’s letter-writing stand God and Christ. Colossians follows this pattern, though it has only “from God our Father,” for some reason omitting “and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul never structures the parts of his epistles as merely formal, stylistic formulas, but as we have already begun to see, he packs his letters with theological substance and means every word he says. He cares deeply about the people to whom he writes his epistles, and there is much feeling expressed in his letters, including his introductory greetings. This is certainly true of his Letter to the Colossians. The main point of verses 1–2 is in verse 2, which states the goal of the letter: that God would give “grace and peace” to the recipients, which they will need to stand against the false teaching and to persevere and grow in their faith, which the remainder of the epistle will make clear.

Exegesis and Exposition

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus [through] the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2to the saints at Colossae and [the faithful brothers] in Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father ⌜ ⌝.

[1:1]

Paul’s greeting first focuses upon his office as an “apostle” (ἀπόστολος, apostolos). He is an “apostle of Christ Jesus,” which likely expresses that he belongs to Christ (a possessive genitive, though possibly also including the notion that he was sent out by Christ [a subjective genitive], as expressed explicitly in Gal. 1:1; on the two senses of the genitive here, see Wallace [1996: 82] as well as Harris [2010: 7]).1 Paul was called as an apostle through “the will of God.”2 This call happened to Paul when the resurrected Christ appeared to him on the Damascus road and commissioned him (Acts 9:3–19; 22:6–16; 26:12–20; 1 Cor. 9:1; 15:7–9). Thus Paul’s apostleship is grounded in the authoritative call of the resurrected Christ. He became an apostle through the working of God’s powerful will and not through his own independent decision making (Melick 1991: 188). The initial mention of Paul himself as an “apostle” in this verse suggests that the letter ultimately carries his own apostolic authority. As an apostle, he represents the authority of the Messiah. Thus Paul’s self-reference as an “apostle” refers to his unique office and is qualitatively different from other uses of “apostle” to designate mere human messengers (cf. NASB marginal readings at Phil. 2:25 and 2 Cor. 8:23) or approved missionaries (e.g., 1 Cor. 9:5–6; 15:7; cf. Gal. 2:9; on which see D. Moo 2008: 74).3 Paul’s mention of “Christ [Messiah] Jesus” is used so much by him (as is the word order of “Jesus Christ”) that one might think it has become a mere name carrying little theological freight. However, the name probably at least evokes the OT expectation of a Messiah, who is now identified with Christ (likewise D. Moo 2008: 75; Bird 2009: 34).4 This point is possibly enhanced by “Christ” being placed first, as in “Messiah Jesus.”

The greeting is not only from Paul but also from Timothy (so also in the greeting sections of 2 Cor. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; 1 Thess. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:1; Philem. 1). The mention of Timothy here and in the other introductions indicates, at least, that he is one of Paul’s “fellow workers” in the ministry (Rom. 16:21; 1 Thess. 3:2; cf. 1 Cor. 16:10), but it may also imply that he is Paul’s secretary (it is less likely that this implies multiple authorship). Paul and other NT writers used secretaries in other letters (he dictated Romans to Tertius: Rom. 16:22; Peter used Silvanus as a secretary: 1 Pet. 5:12). Besides being a “fellow worker,” Timothy accompanied Paul in his travels (Acts 16:1–20:4; Phil. 2:19; 1 Thess. 3:6), preached alongside him (2 Cor. 1:19), and represented Paul’s teachings to others (1 Cor. 4:17). Therefore it is natural that Paul calls him a “brother” at the end of verse 1,5 and accordingly it is natural that Timothy would be one of Paul’s secretaries.

Use of secretaries is also implied by the way Paul brings attention to his own unique signature at the conclusion of some of his epistles (with statements like “I, Paul write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write”: 2 Thess. 3:17 NIV; likewise 1 Cor. 16:21; Gal. 6:11). This is highlighted in Col. 4:18: “the greeting [is] by my hand, Paul.”* This also indicates that Paul is the true author, even if writing through a secretary.

Furthermore, that Paul’s secretaries did not have an independent hand in composing the letters is apparent from the way dictation took place in the ancient world. Cicero mentions two kinds of dictation: a looser dictation method, in which secretaries listened and wrote down “whole sections”; and a more strict method, in which secretaries wrote down “syllable by syllable” (Cicero, Att. 333, 13.25).6 Even the looser manner of dictation would not have meant that Paul’s secretaries had an autonomous role in writing, since it is highly probable that Paul would have read the letter himself before sending it off, or he would have had the letter read back to him, to ensure that what the letter finally said represented precisely what he wanted to convey.

In addition, the initial mention of Paul himself as an apostle before the comment about Timothy, who is not called an “apostle,” suggests that the letter ultimately represents Paul’s own apostolic authority (so also Lincoln 2000: 587). Moreover, Paul’s authority behind the letter is also reflected by passages where the first-person pronoun (I/my), referring to Paul, is found (such as Col. 1:23–25, 29; 2:1, 4–5; 4:3–4, 7–8, 10, 13, 16, 18), which finds close and numerous parallels in the epistles unanimously accepted by all to be Pauline (e.g., Phil. 2:19–28; 1 Thess. 2:18; 3:5; 5:27; see Barth and Blanke 1994: 143). The same evidence points away from a disciple of Paul first composing a letter independently but in the name of Paul and with Paul’s ultimate approval (as argued by Schweizer 1982: 15–24; Dunn 1996: 44, 47).7

Hence, with these qualifications in mind, it is appropriate that Timothy may have had some part in writing this letter as a secretary. It is possible, however, that mention of Timothy is merely Paul’s way of commending him as a faithful “fellow worker” in the ministry, or the mention may merely indicate that he was formally commissioned by Paul to deliver his letter (so Doty 1973: 30). All of the above ideas are not mutually exclusive of one another and may be in mind. It is interesting that Timothy is likely referred to as among the “apostles” in 1 Thess. 2:6–7 (cf. 1 Thess. 1:1), but that was more likely a temporary designation by which he shared in Paul’s representative authority, just as his time of serving as Paul’s secretary and writing down Paul’s authoritative words would have happened only on special occasions (see further additional notes).

[1:2]

Paul is writing to “the saints and faithful brothers.” There is a question about whether “saints” (dative pl., ἁγίοις, hagiois) is to be taken as an adjective (which it is by form) or whether the adjectival form is being used as a noun (which is often also the case). Some think it is better to take it adjectively since the plural article “the” (τοῖς, tois) preceding ἁγίοις is missing before “faithful,” so that the article is doing double duty. This would mean that the plural of ἅγιος (hagios) is to be taken together with “faithful,” and since the latter is clearly adjectival, so must be ἁγίοις, with the meaning of “holy.” The resultant translation would be “to the holy and faithful brothers,” which is viable.8 Since, however, ἅγιος in the plural always functions as a noun in the opening of Paul’s Epistles (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 1:1; Eph. 1:1; Phil. 1:1), it is perhaps more likely that the word functions that way here: “to the saints [or holy ones] and faithful brothers” (following O’Brien 1982: 3). Outside of Paul’s introductory greetings, the adjective “saints,” or “holy ones” (the pl. of ἅγιος), is also found to function as a noun (“saints”) throughout the NT with reference to believers in Christ. What further points to the adjective “holy ones” being used as a noun is the observation that the phrase “in Colossae” is syntactically closer to and goes viably with the plural “saints” (ἁγίοις), “faithful brothers” is closer to and goes with “in Christ,” and the two clauses are separated by the conjunction “and” (καί, kai). This syntactical pattern is especially found in Eph. 1:1, which is the closest parallel of all to Col. 1:2 and supports the position taken here (see further below). Thus the plural article can still be considered to be doing double duty without necessitating that ἅγιος functions as an adjective. The significance of the double duty is that the “saints” and “faithful brothers” are regarded to be a unified whole (see MHT 3:181).

There likely is continuity with the OT use of the word to describe the “saints” of Israel (Pss. 16:3 [15:3 LXX]; 34:9 [33:10]), especially those who will live in the dawning of the end-time age of the kingdom (Dan. 7:18, 21–22, 25, 27; 7:27 LXX reads “holy people”), a kingdom that Paul in this letter regards as having begun to appear (1:13; 4:11). Perhaps the Dan. 7 background is not out of mind, since “saints” (pl. of ἅγιος) together with close mention of “kingdom” (βασιλεία, basileia) occurs only in Dan. 7 in all of the OT (see the preceding r...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Series Preface
• Author’s Preface
• Abbreviations
• Transliteration
• The Roman Empire in the First Century AD
• Introduction to Colossians
• I. Letter Opening: Paul and Timothy Desire Grace and Peace for the Colossians (1:1–2)
• II. Letter Thanksgiving: Paul Thanks God for the Readers’ Christian Lives (1:3–23)
• III. Letter Body: Christians Should Strive for Maturity (1:24–4:6)
• IV. Letter Closing: Paul Emphasizes His Pastoral Concern for the Colossians (4:7–18)
• Introduction to Philemon
• I. Letter Opening: Paul and Timothy Desire Grace and Peace for Philemon and the Colossian Church (1–3)
• II. Introductory Thanksgiving and Prayer: Paul Thanks God for Philemon and Prays for Him (4–7)
• III. Letter Body: Paul’s Appeal (8–21)
• IV. Letter Closing: Paul Asks Philemon to Show Him Pastoral Concern, and Paul Shows His Pastoral Concern for the Church in Philemon’s House (22–25)
• Excursus 1 The Problem of Using the Criteria of Vocabulary and Writing Style to Discern Purportedly Non-Pauline Letters
• Excursus 2 Criteria for Discerning Old Testament Allusions and Their Use
• Excursus 3 “Christ among the Gentiles” as Part of: the Mystery
• Excursus 4 The Old Testament Background of “the Uncircumcision of Your Flesh” in Colossians 2:13
• Excursus 5 The Master-Slave Relationship
• Works Cited
• Index of Subjects
• Index of Authors
• Index of Greek Words
• Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Writings
• Back Cover