ἀγάπης αὐτοῦ, ^14ἐν ᾧ ἔχομεν τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν, τὴν ἄφεσιν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν·
14 ἐν ᾧ _ἔσχομεν_.
14. ἔχομεν] For the reading ἔσχομεν, which is possibly correct here, and
which carries out the idea enforced in the last note, see the detached
note on the various readings. In the parallel passage, Ephes. i. 7,
there is the same variation of reading.
τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν] ‘_ransom, redemption_.’ The image of a captive and
enslaved people is still continued: Philo _Omn. prob. lib._ 17 (II. p.
463) αἰχμάλωτος ἀπήχθη ... ἀπογνοὺς ἀπολύτρωσιν, Plut. _Vit. Pomp._ 24
πόλεων αἰχμαλώτων ἀπολυτρώσεις. The metaphor however has changed from
the victor who rescues the captive by force of arms (ver. 13 ἐρύσατο) to
the philanthropist who releases him by the payment of a ransom. The
clause which follows in the received text, διὰ τοῦ ἁίματος αὐτοῦ, is
interpolated from the parallel passage, Ephes. i. 7.
τὴν ἄφεσιν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν] So in the parallel passage Ephes. i. 7 the
Apostle defines τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν as τὴν ἄφεσιν τῶν παραπτωμάτων. May not
this studied precision point to some false conception of ἀπολύτρωσις put
forward by the heretical teachers? Later Gnostics certainly perverted
the meaning of the term, applying it to their own formularies of
initiation. This is related of the Marcosians by Irenæus i. 13. 6 διὰ
τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν ἀκρατήτους καὶ ἀοράτους γίνεσθαι τῷ κριτῇ κ.τ.λ., i. 21.
1 ὅσοι γάρ εἰσι ταύτης τῆς γνώμης μυσταγωγοί, τοσαῦται καὶ ἀπολυτρώσεις,
_ib._ § 4 εἶναι δὲ τελείαν ἀπολύτρωσιν αὐτὴν τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ ἀρρήτου
μεγέθους (with the whole context), and Hippolytus _Hær._ vi. 41 λέγουσί
τι φωνῇ ἀρρήτῳ, ἐπιτιθέντες χεῖρα τῷ τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν λαβόντι κ.τ.λ.
(comp. ix. 13). In support of their nomenclature they perverted such
passages as the text, Iren. i. 21. 2 τὸν Παῦλον ῥητῶς φάσκουσι τὴν ἐν
Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ ἀπολύτρωσιν _πολλάκις_ μεμηνυκέναι. It seems not
improbable that the communication of similar mystical secrets, perhaps
connected with their angelology (ii. 18), was put forward by these
Colossian false teachers as an ἀπολύτρωσις. Compare the words in the
baptismal formula of the Marcosians as given in Iren. i. 21. 3 (comp.
Theodt. _Hær. Fab._ i. 9) εἰς ἕνωσιν καὶ ἀπολύτρωσιν καὶ κοινωνίαν τῶν
δυνάμεων, where the last words (which have been differently interpreted)
must surely mean ‘communion with the (spiritual) powers.’ Thus it is a
parallel to εἰς λύτρωσιν ἀγγελικήν, which appears in an alternative
formula of these heretics given likewise by Irenæus in the context; for
this latter is explained in Clem. Alex. _Exc. Theod._ p. 974, εἰς
λύτρωσιν ἀγγελικήν, τουτέστιν, ἣν καὶ ἄγγελοι ἔχουσιν. Any direct
historical connexion between the Colossian heretics and these later
Gnostics of the Valentinian school is very improbable; but the passages
quoted will serve to show how a false idea of ἀπολύτρωσις would
naturally be associated with an esoteric doctrine of angelic powers. See
the note on i. 28 ἵνα παραστήσωμεν πάντα ἄνθρωπον τέλειον.
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