III. Polemical (ii. 4-iii. 4).
Warning against errors.
(1) [ii. 4]–8. The Colossians charged to abide in the truth of the Gospel as they received it at first, and not to be led astray by a strange philosophy which the new teachers offer.
(2) [ii. 9]–15. The truth stated first positively and then negatively.
[In the passage which follows (ii. 9–23) it will be observed how St Paul vibrates between the theological and practical bearings of the truth, marked α, β, respectively.]
(i) Positively.
(α) The pleroma dwells wholly in Christ and is communicated through Him (ii. 9, 10).
(β) The true circumcision is a spiritual circumcision (ii. 11, 12).
(ii) Negatively. Christ has
(β) annulled the law of ordinances (ii. 14);