καὶ οὐ κατὰ Χριστόν· ^9ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος
σωματικῶς, ^{10}καὶ ἐστὲ ἐν αὐτῷ
οὐ κατὰ Χριστόν] ‘_not after Christ_’. This expression is wide in
itself, and should be interpreted so as to supply the negative to both
the preceding clauses; ‘Christ is neither the author nor the substance
of their teaching: not the author, for they listen to human traditions
(κατὰ τὴν παράδοσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων); not the substance, for they replace
Him by formal ordinances (κατὰ τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου) and by angelic
mediators‘.
9 sq. In explaining the true doctrine which is ‘after Christ’, St Paul
condemns the two false principles, which lay at the root of this
heretical teaching; (1) The _theological_ error of substituting inferior
and created beings angelic mediators for the divine Head Himself (vv. 9,
10); and (2) The _practical_ error of insisting upon ritual and ascetic
observances, as the foundation of their moral teaching (vv. 11–14).
Their theological speculations and their ethical code alike were at
fault. On the intimate connexion between these two errors, as springing
out of a common root, the Gnostic dualism of these false teachers, see
the introduction, pp. 33 sq., 79, 87, 180 sq.
ὅτι κ.τ.λ.] The Apostle justifies the foregoing charge that this
doctrine was not κατὰ Χριστόν; ‘In Christ dwells the whole pleroma, the
entire fulness of the Godhead, whereas they represent it to you as
dispersed among several spiritual agencies. Christ is the one
fountain-head of all spiritual life, whereas they teach you to seek it
in communion with inferior creatures.’ The same truths have been stated
before (i. 14 sq.) more generally and they are now restated with direct
and immediate reference to the heretical teaching.
κατοικεῖ] ‘_has its fixed abode_’. On the force of this compound in
relation to the false teaching, see the note on i. 19.
πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα] ‘_all the plenitude_’, ‘the totality of the divine
powers and attributes’. On this theological term see i. 19, and the
detached note at the end of the epistle.
τῆς θεότητος] ‘_of the Godhead_’. ‘Non modo divinæ virtutes, sed ipsa
divina natura’, writes Bengel. For the difference between θέοτης
‘_deitas_’, the essence, and θειότης ‘_divinitas_’, the quality, see
Trench _N. T. Syn._ § ii. p. 6. The different force of the two words may
be seen by a comparison of two passages in Plutarch, _Mor._ p. 857 A
πᾶσιν Αἰγυπτίοις θειότητα πολλὴν καὶ δικαιοσύνην μαρτυρήσας (where it
means a divine inspiration or faculty, and where no one would have used
θεότητα), and _Mor._ 415 C ἐκ δὲ ἡρώων εἰς δαίμονας αἱ βελτίονες ψυχαὶ
τὴν μεταβολὴν λαμβάνουσιν, ἐκ δὲ δαιμόνων ὀλίγαι μὲν ἔτι χρόνῳ πολλῷ δι’
ἀρετῆς καθαρθεῖσαι παντάπασι θεότητος μετέσχον (where θειότητος would be
quite out of place, because all δαίμονες without exception were θεῖοι,
though they only became θεοί in rare instances and after long probation
and discipline). In the New Testament the one word occurs here alone,
the other in Rom. i. 20 alone. So also τὸ θεῖον, a very favourite
expression in Greek philosophy, is found once only, in Acts xvii. 29,
where it is used with singular propriety; for the Apostle is there
meeting the heathen philosophers on their own ground and arguing with
them in their own language. Elsewhere he instinctively avoids a term
which tends to obscure the idea of a personal God. In the Latin
versions, owing to the poverty of the language, both θέοτης and θείοτης
are translated by the same term _divinitas_; but this was felt to be
inadequate, and the word _deitas_ was coined at a later date to
represent θέοτης: August. _de Civ. Dei_ vii. § 1, VII. p. 162 (quoted in
Trench) ‘Hanc divinitatem vel, ut sic dixerim, _deitatem_: nam et hoc
verbo uti jam nostros non piget, ut de Græco expressius transferant id
quod illi θεότητα appellant etc.’
σωματικῶς] ‘_bodily-wise_’, ‘_corporeally_’, i.e. ‘assuming a bodily
form, becoming incarnate’. This is an addition to the previous statement
in i. 19 ἐν αυτῷ εὐδόκησεν πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα κατοικῆσαι. The indwelling of
the pleroma refers to the Eternal Word, and not to the Incarnate Christ;
but σωματικῶς is added to show that the Word, in whom the pleroma thus
had its abode from all eternity, crowned His work by the Incarnation.
Thus while the main statement κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος of St
Paul corresponds to the opening sentence ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θὲον καὶ
Θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος of St John, the subsidiary adverb σωματικῶς of St Paul
has its counterpart in the additional statement καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο
of St John. All other meanings which have been assigned to σωματικῶς
here, as ‘wholly’ (Hieron. _in Is._ xi. 1 sq., IV. p. 156, ‘nequaquam
per partes, ut in ceteris sanctis’), or ‘really’ (Aug. _Epist._ cxlix,
II. p. 513 ‘Ideo corporaliter dixit, quia illi umbratiliter
seducebant’), or ‘essentially’ (Hilar. _de Trin._ viii. 54, II. p. 252
‘Dei ex Deo significat veritatem etc.’, Cyril. Alex. in Theodoret. _Op._
V. p. 34 τουτέστιν, οὐ σχετικῶς, Isid. Pelus. _Ep._ iv. 166 ἀντὶ τοῦ
οὐσιωδῶς), are unsupported by usage. Nor again can the body be
understood of anything else but Christ’s human body; as for instance of
the created World (Theod. Mops. in Rab. _Op._ VI. p. 522) or of the
Church (Anon. in Chrysost. _ad loc._). According to these two last
interpretations τὸ πλήρομα τῆς θεότητος is taken to mean the Universe
(‘universam naturam repletam ab eo’) and the Church (τὴν ἐκκλησίαν
πεπληρωμένην ὑπὸ τῆς θεότητος αὐτοῦ, see Ephes. i. 23) respectively,
because either of these may be said to reside in Him, as the source of
its life, and to stand to Him in the relation of the body to the head
(σωματικῶς). But these forced interpretations have nothing to recommend
them.
St Paul’s language is carefully guarded. He does not say ἐν σώματι, for
the Godhead cannot be confined to any limits of space; nor σωματοειδῶς,
for this might suggest the unreality of Christ’s human body; but
σωματικῶς, ‘in bodily wise’, ‘with a bodily manifestation’. The relation
of σωματικῶς to the clause which it qualifies will depend on the
circumstances of the case: comp. e.g. Plut. _Mor._ p. 424 E λέιπεται
τοίνυν τὸ μέσον οὐ τοπικῶς ἀλλὰ σωματικῶς λέγεσθαι, i.e. ‘ratione
corporis habita’, Athan. _Exp. Fid._ 4 (I. p. 81) ἑκάτερα τοίνυν τὰ περὶ
τὸ κτίσμα ῥητὰ σωματικῶς εἰς τὸν Ἰησοῦν γέγραπται, i.e. ‘secundum
corpus’, Ptolem. in Epiphan. _Hær._ xxxiii. 5 κατὰ μὲν τὸ φαινόμενον καὶ
σωματικῶς ἐκτελεῖσθαι ἀνῃρέθη.
10. καὶ ἐστὲ ἐν αὐτῷ] ‘_and ye are in Him_’, where ἐστὲ should be
separated from the following πεπληρωμένοι; comp. John xvii. 21, Acts
xvii. 28. True life consists in union with Him, and not in dependence on
any inferior being; comp. ver. 19 οὐ κρατῶν τὴν κεφαλήν, ἐξ ὁῦ κ.τ.λ.
------------------------------------------------------------------------