I.

1 Description of Colosse and its scenery 2. Probable local and temporary allusions in the Epistle.

I.

647

AMONG the witnesses of the first great Pentecost of the Church, dwellers in Phrygia are mentioned (Acts ii. 10). Phrygia soon appears among the provinces of Asia Minor, to which the Gospel was carried. After the Council of Jerusalem Paul and his companions are said to have "gone throughout Phrygia, and the region of Galatia."2 After his departure from Corinth and Ephesus, he went over "all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples" (Acts xviii. 23).3

A glance at the map will show that, in a rich plain, watered by the Meander, were three towns, situated at the points of a triangle. A fourth, called Apamea, has also been mentioned. (Leusden, Philol.

1 It would be more accurate to write Colossæ; but, on the whole, it seemed preferable to retain the familiar Colosse.

* διελθόντες τὴν Φρυγίαν, Acts xvi. 6.

For argument that the journey did not in clude a personal visit to Colosse-which, as he maintains, is excluded by the whole tone of St. Paul in the Epistle to the Colossians-see Bp. Lightfoot, Pp. 23, seqq.

Hebræo-Græc.,' P. 177.) These towns,

once of importance, were so close to each other that a traveller could without much difficulty have visited them in the course of a single day, and all three are mentioned in this Epistle - viz. Laodicea, Colosse, and Hierapolis (iv. 13, 15, 16).

2. Phrygia was largely evangelized by intermediaries. St. Paul had made converts from these three cities of the Lycus, one of whom-himself a native of Colosse (ovuv, Coloss. iv. 12), Epaphras-had preached the Gospel to his fellow-citizens. He had an oversight of, or at least ministered laboriously for, the three cities of Colosse, Laodicea, and Hierapolis (iv. 13). He was a disciple of St. Paul, and must have felt to St. Paul,-like another Colossian, Philemon (ver. 2),—that he owed his very being to Christ's minister (Philemon v. 19). The passage in Coloss. ii. 1 (see note) seems to many critics almost decisive against St. Paul's personal connexion with the Colossian Church. This inference is,

1 The fact that St. Paul had never personally seen the Colossian Church-doubted by some

perhaps, strengthened by observing the different tone perceptible in his addresses to churches which he himself had seen and founded (e.g. Galat. iv. 13; Philipp. ii. 12). It is quite true that individuals are mentioned at the close of the Colossian letter. But, it will be observed that several of these are touched upon in the sort of tone in which we write to friends about individuals presumably unknown to them (Aristarchus, Marcus, Jesus Justus, Luke iv. 10, 11, 14). Onesimus and Epaphras, however, were well known to them (iv. 7, 12). It has been supposed that Timothy (simply spoken of as Tiμóleos å ådeλpos i. 1) may have had an active share in laying the foundations of their church.

3. The Church of the Colossians, then, if we adopt the conclusion of modern critics generally, was not directly and personally founded by St. Paul. But two circumstances at this time caused him to look, with spiritual gaze, wistfully and affectionately to a Church whose members he had not seen with the eye of the flesh (ii. 1, 5). (1.) A visit from Epaphras had filled him with distress. The Church of the Colossians was indeed free from disorder. It stood in a fair organization, which gave the Apostle pleasure. There was not wanting a solid core of objective belief (see on Tv Táέw Kai Tò σTEρéwμa, Coloss. ii. 5, inf.). Still, the very air which blew over the Lycus -the old traditions of the place-the intermixture of Jewish and Gentile elements, alarmed him. For he heard of the formidable growth of a peculiarly compounded Gnostic heresy-partly philosophical, partly Judaizing, partly angelolatrous or demonolatrous-which had arisen among them, and was terrifying some by its ardent proselytizers (ii. 8), and its demands for an austere asceticism (ii. 23); attracting others by its claims to depth and mystic insight (ii. 8, 18. See on this subject, Notes infra on ii. 8, seqq.).

commentators-was advocated by many ancient expositors. E.g. the author of the Synops. Script. S.' attributed to Athanasius writes of this Epistle, Tuútny átoσtéλλei and 'Pwμns, oùx ἑωρακώς μὲν αὐτοὺς, ἀκούσας δὲ περὶ αὐτῶν. (Athanas. Opp. iv. 420, edit. Migne. So Pelag. (apud S. Hieron.) "This he shews i. 4, and again ii. 1."-Theodore of Mopsuestia, Minor Epp. of St. Paul,' by H. B. Swete, i. 253.

(2.) Another circumstance which directed St. Paul's thoughts towards Colosse was of a different character. A slave, Onesimus, had fied as a runaway to Rome, either to hide himself in the solitude of the great city, or to see St. Paul. Three Epistles were written and despatched, one to Colosse, one to Laodicea, one to an individual Colossian, the master of Onesimus-Philemon. The churches of the two cities were to exchange their Epistles for the purpose of public reading in the assembly (iv. 16). It seems in the highest degree probable that the letter of which a copy was sent to Laodicea was a sort of circular to the Asiatic Churches, and the same which, from the metropolitan Church, passed into the Canon as the Epistle to the Ephesians. The Colossians enjoyed the blessing and privilege of an Epistle of their own. They might well be content with the Laodicean copy of the Apostle's circular.1

4. It has often appeared somewhat perplexing that the Apostle, while in captivity, should have been in a position to send messages and letters to distant Churches. But several passages from the Epistles of the Captivity confirm the emphatic closing words of the Acts of the Apostles, and show that for a considerable part of it at least, St. Paul could teach the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence and without hindrance (μετὰ παῤῥησίας, ἀκωλύτως, Acts xxviii. 31). While waiting for the definite judgment of the Emperor's tribunal, to which he had appealed, he enjoyed a measure of indulgence, which approached to liberty in some respects. A knot of friends gathered round him. New acquaintances and disciples were found. Delegates came to consult or to sympathize from distant churches. was a circle, whose members were continually changing and in motion. It was renewed by the coming and going of

It

1 See note infra on iv. 16. It may be added that the form of the Apostle's expression about this letter-not Thy pòs Aaodikéas, but thy dr Aaodikelas-led Chrysost., Theodore of Mopsuestia, the Peshito version, and others, to suppose that the Epistle in question was written by the Laodiceans to St. Paul. The first mention of the forged letter is probably in Theodore of Mopsuestia (edit. Swete, pp. 310-311). See also Jacobi (Prooem. ad Col. ii. iv.),

inquirers and messengers.

It was a

society at once for propagating the Gospel in foreign parts, and for deepening the spiritual life of its membersa school of Christian theology and Christian missions, whose greatest missionary was also its master theologian. The lodging," (§evía, Acts xxviii. 23), the place where he was in "free custody," became a church. In Philippians it is a source of joy to St. Paul that his imprisonment, all his present circumstances (Tà κal èué), must tend rather than otherwise (uâov) to the progress of the Gospel. When a man so pure, tender, and noble, gives up everything for a cause, attention must be called to it. The impression of that high enthusiasm passed from heart to heart. The chains which he bore "became manifest in Christ." The soldiers of the Emperor's body-guard, who had to keep watch over him, saw them in their relation to Christ. Each relief, day by day told off, added to the number. Not only was this witness given to the Prætorian Guard-it was given in a sense, "to all the rest of the city" (kaì Toîs doimoîs πâσw, ver. 13), so that the great majority of believers (τοὺς πλείονας τῶν ἀδελφῶν, ver. 14) actually acquired a stronger confidence from his very bonds. Nor was this all. Gifts and messages began to

1 The language popularly used about the "Philippians, the Epistle of joy, being written from a dungeon," and a misapprehension of St. Paul's meaning when he speaks of his "chains" or of his being a prisoner, have given rise to a confusion, which has caused the difficulty referred to in this section. The dungeon came later in the Apostle's career. The "Tullianum," the lowest depth of the Mamertine prison, excavated from the tufa under the Capitol, has been visited by every one who enters the little Church of S. Pietro in Carcere. There the memories of the Catilinarian conspirators, of Jugurtha, of Sejanus, of Simon Bar-Gioras, are strangely blended with the obstinate tradition that St.

Peter and St. Paul were bound to the pillar which is pointed out. The external features of the "Robur" are eloquently described by Sallust (camera lapideis fornicibus vincta; sed incultu, tenebris, odore fœda, atque terribilis ejus facies -Catilin. IV.); the general impression has been powerfully caught by Dickens in his notes of his tour in Italy. With such a spot the Epistles of the first Roman captivity can have no connexion, however strongly it may present itself, as we read, 2 Tim. i. 8, 12; ii. 9; iv. 6, 8. Cf. 2 St. Peter i. 12-16.

come to and fro. In one passage of Philippians he is full of a joy which he knows is above nature (èxápηv ev Kvpiw, Philipp. iv. 10) on account of presents sent to him from Philippi. To some it has seemed, from one beautiful word,1 as if the Philippian deputation had arrived with their gifts when the breath of the Italian spring was on the old man's cheek-as if he thought of them as having had a spring-like burst of loving care after a winter of unwilling unfruitfulness. Not that they were without loving care. It was felt, (kai ippoveîte, assuredly you did so think and feel, iv. 10) but the season of exuberance was not come. The "winter" of inaction from the chill of circumstances is made "glorious spring" to him. It would seem from this passage that, after a time, certain restrictions were removed. None of those who came from Asia Minor, or elsewhere, to visit the master, were implicated with him, or submitted to any minute police inspection, or obliged to appear with him. There may have been some caution observed about writing certain facts; but, on the whole, there was no restriction against sending letters. This free admission of friends—this circle of which we know several names

2

this sending of gifts and messages to and fro-would seem to show that the captivity, for a considerable period at least, was not very rigorous.3

II.

1. Outward scenery leaves little impresThe sion upon the letters of St. Paul. most vivid and accurate description of it hardly makes us understand him better.♦

1 ἀνεθάλετε : ἀναθάλλω in LXX. is used transitively with accusative of thing produced, cf. Eccles. xi. 18; Ezek. xi. 24, K.T.λ.—In the construct. ἀνεθάλετε τὸ ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ φρονεῖν, the infinitive may be made grammatically equivalent to a substantive by means of the article (Winer, Pt. iii. §§ xliv. 4, p. 340). For a different, and, probably, truer explanation, see Notes Philipp. iv. 10.

2

on

Timothy, Mark, Luke, Aristarchus, Tychichus, Jesus Justus, Demetrius (or Demas), (Philem. v. 24; Ephes. vi. 21; Coloss. i. I; iv. 7, 10, 11, 14.)

Onesimus.

See Aubé, Hist. des Persécutions de Église, Tom. i. pp. 64, 65.

4 Contrast Goethe's saying: "He who wishes to understand the poet must go to the poet's country."

More especially is this the case with an Epistle which has so little that is purely local and personal as that to the Colossians. It seems, in some degree, to stand among the other writings of St. Paul, like the shape of the Apostle St. John in the vision of the great Italian poet, without distinguishable human features, from the blaze of the glory of Christ in which it is immersed. "The portion of the lot of the saints" of which he speaks is not described from any memory of the glorious landscape of the valley of the Meander and Lycus; it "lieth in the light" which is uncreated (i. 12). But the representation of the outward surroundings of those who are addressed in Scripture is a craving of the modern spirit. Such representations enable us to understand better, if not the writer directly, yet the writer through those whom he addresses, with their minds necessarily moulded and coloured by the context of their climate and history. And we may here, at least, borrow largely from a traveller and critic, who, if he seems to be influenced by an almost personal malignity against St. Paul, is, at least, a vivid interpreter of scenes which he has visited, and brings to his work large stores of reading, as well as much brilliancy of colouring.

"A rich canton of southern Phrygia, a," writes M. Renan,-" in particular, the small basin of the Lycus,2 a tributary of the Meander, saw some active Christian centres formed within it. Three towns very close to each otherColossæ or Colassæ, Laodicea upon the Lycus, and Hierapolis-filled it with life. Colosse, which in old days was the most important, appeared to decline; it was a town which remained faithful to ancient ways, and which did not renew itself. Laodicea and Hierapolis, on the contrary, became, in consequence of the Roman empire, very considerable cities.3

66

1 Strabo, xii. 8. 16; xiii. 4. 14.

2 The Tchoruk-Sou of the Turks.

3 For the ancient importance of Colosse, see Xenophon, Anabas. i. 2. 6 (eis Koλooσás, róλw οἰκουμένην εὐδαίμονα καὶ μεγάλην)-πόλιν μεγάλην Herod. vii. 20; also Plin. Hist. Nat. v. 3. 41. A misapprehension of the last passage is obviated by Bp. Lightfoot, p. 16, note '. Strabo also speaks of it as róλioua (xii. 17). The ruins ul Colosse are those of a very secondary place.

The very soul of all this beautiful country is Mount Cadmus (Baba-Dagh and Chonas-Dagh), the patriarch of all the mountains of Western Asia-a gigantic mass, full of dark precipices, and keeping its snows all the year round. The waters which flow down from it freshen, upon one of the slopes of the valley, orchards filled with fruit-trees, traversed by rivers full of fish, and enlivened by storks which are quite tame. The other side is quite given up to the strangest freaks of nature. The encrusting properties of the calcareous waters of one of the affluents of the Lycus, and the enormous mass of hot water which falls in a cascade from the mountains of Hierapolis, have struck the plain with sterility, and formed crevasses, quaint caverns, beds of subterranean streams, fantastic piles and layers like petrified snow, serving as a reservoir for waters which reflect all the colours of the rainbow; deep hollows, whence farresounding waters rush on in a succession of cataracts. On this side the heat is extreme, the soil being nothing but one vast plain, paved with calcareous blocks. But, upon the heights of Hierapolis, the purity of the air, the splendid light, the view of Mount Cadmus, swimming like another Olympus in a lustrous atmosphere, the burnt-up summits of Phrygia fading into the blue of heaven in a rosy tint, the opening of the valley of the Meander, the oblique outlines of Messogis, the far white summits of Tmolus, produce a truly dazzling effect. There lived St. Philip and Papias: there Epictetus was born. All the valley of the Lycus presents the same character of dreamy mysticism. The population was not Greek by origin; it was partly Phrygian. There was also, it would seem, round Mount Cadmus, an old Semitic settlement.

"This peaceable valley, separated from the rest of the world, became a sort of asylum for Christianity. Christian thought was subjected there to serious trials. The evangelist of these regions was Epaphroditus, or Epaphras, of Co

The theatre is poor. Probably the town was never fully restored after the earthquake of A.D. 60 (Tacit. Annal. xiv. 27). The site of Chone must have seemed much more agreeable. The ruins of Laodicea and Hierapolis are of the first order, truly grand and beautiful.

losse, a very zealous Christian, the friend and fellow-labourer of St. Paul (Coloss. i. 6, 7; iv. 12, 13). The Apostle had done nothing more than merely pass by the valley of the Lycus; he never returned to it (ii. 1). But these Churches, mainly composed of converted Pagans, were, notwithstanding, completely dependent upon him (i. 9; ii. 1, 13). Epaphras exercised a sort of episcopate over the three cities (iv. 13). We read of Nymphodorus, or Nymphas, who at Laodicea had a church meeting in his house; the rich and liberal Philemon, who presided at Colosse over an assemblage of the same kind; Apphia,1 a deaconess of that town, possibly Philemon's wife;2 Archippus, who also filled an important function, recognising Paul as his chief (Coloss. iv. 15; Philemon vv. 1, 2, 5, 7). The last-named seems to have worked directly with St. Paul; the Apostle speaks of him as his companion in arms.' 3

"It is to be observed that Judaism preceded Christianity in these regions. Jewish colonies had been transplanted from Babylon two centuries and a half before, and had first brought with them some of those industries (carpet-weaving, for instance) which, under the Roman emperors, produced in the country such opulence, and such powerful guilds or companies. -Phrygia became from henceforth, and remained for three hundred years, a country which was essentially Christian. A great number of the Christians of Ephesus and of Rome came from Phrygia. The names most frequently

it.

ii.

1 Philemon 2.

2 St. Chrysost. and Theodoret so understand 3 συνστρατιώτης. Philemon 2. Cf. 2 Tim. 3. The country round Laodicea was covered with sheep, with a peculiar rich black fleece (kopatós, raven-black). The water at Hierapolis was much valued by dyers for some chemical qualities. Colosse gave its name to a purple dye ("a vepribus nascitur cyclaminum -flos ejus Colossinus in coronas adnectitur,' Plin. N. H. xxi. 9. § 27). "Is there," asks Bp. Lightfoot, "any allusion to this branch of trade in the message to the Church of Laodicea, Rev. iii. 17, 18?" (yvμvós. ¡μária λevká). He also suggests a possible allusion to the βάμμα Σαρδιανικόν and the φοινικίδες Σαρδιανικαί in the message to the Church of Sardis, Apoc. iii. 5 (Bp. Lightfoot, Ep. to Coloss. p. 22, note ').

found upon the Phrygian monuments are the old Christian names, the names of the Apostolic age, those which fill the martyrologies.1- -The country differs

a good deal from the rest of Asia. It is sombre and melancholy, bearing a deep impress of old geological catastrophes, burnt up, or rather incinerated, and agitated by frequent earthquakes."2

2. Allusions of a local and temporary character are not frequent in the Epistle to the Colossians, as we have already observed. Yet a few may be noted. (a) The μeréorησev (“translated") of chapter i. 13, may well be allusive to a fact of importance in the history of Phrygia. The gentle "translation" by God of redeemed souls into His kingdom may be a reference which would be peculiarly recognised by those who had so often heard of the rough and barbarous "translation" by Antiochus into Lydia and Phrygia. (See Additional Note on i. 13.) (b) The "not being moved away" (un μeтakivoúμevol, i. 23) is probably in allusion to an innovating spirit, to change and turbulence in social or political life.3 Now Colosse, as distinguished from its neighbours of Laodicea and Hierapolis, evidently retained and suffered from its conservatism. Its remains lead modern travellers to observe that it did not throw itself into the new life offered to Phrygia by the Roman empire, and zealously accepted by Laodicea and Hierapolis. The very sepulture of the dead bore witness to the spell exercised over the Colossian mind by the ideas of antiquity, and to

1

Trophimus, Tychicus, Tryphena, Telesphorus, Papias, Onesimus. These names are common to all Western Asia. Cf. Inscrip. G. 2788, 3664, 3749, &c.; Wagener, Inscrip. d'Asie Min. p. 19; Waddington, Voy. Num. pp. 55-134. [See other authorities in Renan, Saint Paul, p. 364, note '.]

2 Renan, Saint Paul, pp. 356-365. [Cf. throughout Reithmayer, Introd. Can. S. de N. T. (Fr. translat.), p. 281; Bülmer, Isagog. in Ep. ad Coloss. pp. I seqq.; Strabo, Geograph. cap. xii. 8–13.]

For the political reference of the word, cf. Xenoph. de Rep. Laced. xv. 1; Esd. ix. II, LXX. Bretschneider (who says that the word is used “de perturbatione reipublica,”) adds another instance from Josephus- — μετα κινηθέντος τοῦ κόσμου τῆς πολιτείας, Antig. v. 3, 2.