In the preface to a previous volume I expressed an intention of appending to my commentary on the Colossian Epistle an essay on ‘Christianity and Gnosis.’ This intention has not been fulfilled in the letter; but the subject enters largely into the investigation of the Colossian heresy, where it receives as much attention as, at all events for the present, it seems to require. It will necessarily come under discussion again, when the Pastoral Epistles are taken in hand.
The question of the genuineness of the two epistles contained in this volume has been deliberately deferred. It could not be discussed with any advantage apart from the Epistle to the Ephesians, for the three letters are inseparably bound together. Meanwhile however the doctrinal and historical discussions will, if I mistake not, have furnished answers to the main objections which have been urged; while the commentary will have shown how thoroughly natural the language and thoughts are, if conceived as arising out of an immediate emergency. More especially it will have been made apparent that the Epistle to the Colossians hangs together as a whole, and that the phenomena are altogether adverse to any theory of interpolation such as that recently put forward by Professor Holtzmann.
In the commentary, as well as in the introduction, it has been a chief aim to illustrate and develope the theological conception of the Person of Christ, which underlies the Epistle to the Colossians. The Colossian heresy for instance owes its importance mainly to the fact that it throws out this conception into bolder relief. To this portion of the subject therefore I venture to direct special attention.
I cannot conclude without offering my thanks to Mr A. A. VanSittart who, as on former occasions, has given his aid in correcting the proof sheets of this volume; and to the Rev. J. J. Scott, of Trinity College, who has prepared the index. I wish also to express my obligations to Dr Schiller-Szinessy, of whose Talmudical learning I have freely availed myself in verifying Frankel’s quotations and in other ways. I should add however that he is not in any degree responsible for my conclusions and has not even seen what I have written.
Trinity College,
April 30, 1875.
CONTENTS.
| EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. | |||
| INTRODUCTION. | |||
| PAGE | |||
| I. | The Churches of the Lycus | [1–72] | |
| II. | The Colossian Heresy | [73–113] | |
| On some points connected with the Essenes. | |||
| 1. The name Essene | [114–119] | ||
| 2. Origin and Affinities of the Essenes | [119–157] | ||
| 3. Essenism and Christianity | [158–179] | ||
| III. | Character and Contents of the Epistle | [180–194] | |
| TEXT AND NOTES | [197–311] | ||
| On some Various Readings in the Epistle | [312–322] | ||
| On the meaning of πλήρωμα | [323–339] | ||
| The Epistle from Laodicea | [340–366] | ||
| EPISTLE TO PHILEMON. | |||
| INTRODUCTION | [369–395] | ||
| TEXT AND NOTES | [399–412] | ||
| INDEX | [415–424] | ||