αὐτῶν, συμβιβασθέντες ἐν ἀγάπῃ καὶ εἰς πᾶν πλοῦτος τῆς πληροφορίας τῆς
συνέσεως, εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ μυστηρίον τοῦ Θεοῦ, Χριστοῦ ^3ἐν ᾧ εἰσὶν
πάντες οἱ θησαυροὶ
αἱ καρδίαι] They met the Apostle heart to heart, though not face to
face. We have here the same opposition of καρδία and πρόσωπον as in 1
Thess. ii. 17, though less directly expressed; see ver. 5.
αὐτῶν] where we should expect ὑμῶν, but the substitution of the third
person for the second is suggested by the immediately preceding καὶ
ὅσοι. This substitution confirms the interpretation of καὶ ὅσοι already
given. Unless the Colossians are included in ὅσοι, they must be excluded
by αὐτῶν. Yet this exclusion is hardly conceivable in such a context.
συμβιβασθέντες] ‘_they being united_, _compacted_,’ for συμβιβάζειν must
here have its common meaning, as it has elsewhere in this and the
companion epistle: ver. 19 διὰ τῶν ἁφῶν καὶ συνδέσμων ...
συμβιβαζόμενον, Ephes. iv. 16 πᾶν τὸ σῶμα συναρμολογούμενον καὶ
συμβιβαζόμενον. Otherwise we might be disposed to assign to this verb
here the sense which it always bears in the LXX (e.g. in Is. xl. 13, 14,
quoted in 1 Cor. ii. 16), ‘instructed, taught,’ as it is rendered in the
Vulgate. Its usage in the Acts is connected with this latter sense; e.g.
ix. 22 συμβιβάζων ‘proving,’ xvi. 10 συμβιβάζοντες ‘concluding’; and so
in xix. 33 συνεβίβασαν Ἀλέξανδρον (the best supported reading) can only
mean ‘instructed Alexander.’ For the different sense of the nominative
absolute see the note on iii. 16. The received text substitutes
συμβιβασθέντων here. ` ἐν ἀγάπῃ] for love is the σύνδεσμος (iii. 14) of
perfection.
καὶ εἰς] ‘_and brought unto_,’ the thought being supplied from the
preceding συμβιβασθέντες, which involves an idea of motion, comp. Joh.
xx. 7 ἐντετυλιγμένον εἰς ἕνα τόπον.
πᾶν πλοῦτος] This reading is better supported than either πᾶν τὸ πλοῦτος
or πάντα πλοῦτον, while, as the intermediate reading, it also explains
the other two.
τῆς πληροφορίας] ‘_the full assurance_,’ for such seems to be the
meaning of the substantive wherever it occurs in the New Testament; 1
Thess. i. 5 ἐν πληροφορίᾳ πολλῇ, Heb. vi. 11 πρὸς τὴν πληροφορίαν τῆς
ἐλπίδος, x. 22 ἐν πληροφορίᾳ πίστεως, comp. Clem. Rom. 42 μετὰ
πληροφορίας πνεύματος ἁγίου. With the exception of 1 Thess. i. 5
however, all the Biblical passages might bear the other sense ‘fulness’:
see Bleek on Heb. vi. 11. For the verb see the note on πεπληροφορημένοι
below, iv. 12.
ἐπίγνωσιν] See the note on i. 9.
τοῦ μυστηρίου κ.τ.λ.] ‘_the mystery of God_, even _Christ in whom_,
etc.,’ Χριστοῦ being in apposition with τοῦ μυστηρίου; comp. i. 27 τοῦ
μυστηρίου τούτου ... ὅ ἐστιν Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν, 1 Tim. iii. 16 τὸ τῆς
εὐσεβείας μυστήριον, Ὅς ἐφανερώθη κ.τ.λ. The reasons for adopting the
reading τοῦ Θεοῦ Χριστοῦ are given in the detached note on various
readings. Other interpretations of this reading are; (1) ‘the God
Christ,’ taking Χριστοῦ in apposition with Θεοῦ; or (2) ‘the God of
Christ,’ making it the genitive after Θεοῦ: but both expressions are
without a parallel in St Paul. The mystery here is not ‘Christ,’ but
‘Christ as containing in Himself all the treasures of wisdom’; see the
note on i. 27 Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν. For the form of the sentence comp. Ephes.
iv. 15, 16 ἡ κεφαλή, Χριστὸς ἐξ οὗ πᾶν τὸ σῶμα κ.τ.λ.
3. πάντες] So πᾶν πλοῦτος ver. 2, πάσῃ σοφίᾳ ii. 28. These repetitions
serve to emphasize the character of the Gospel, which is as complete in
itself, as it is universal in its application.
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