θρησκείᾳ τῶν ἀγγέλων, ἃ ἑόρακεν ἐμβατεύων, εἰκῇ φυσιούμενος
θρησκείᾳ] This word is closely connected with the preceding by the
vinculum of the same preposition. There was an officious parade of
humility in selecting these lower beings as intercessors, rather than
appealing directly to the throne of grace. The word refers properly to
the external rites of religion, and so gets to signify an
over-scrupulous devotion to external forms; as in Philo _Quod det. pot.
ins._ 7 (i. p. 195) θρησκείαν ἀντὶ ὁσίοτητος ἡγούμενος, Plut. _Vit.
Alex._ 2 δοκεῖ καὶ τὸ θρησκεύειν ὄνομα ταῖς _κατακόροις_ γενέσθαι
καὶ _περιέργοις_ ἱερουργίαις: comp. Acts xxvi. 5, and see the
well-known remarks of Coleridge on James i. 26, 27, in _Aids to
Reflection_ p. 14. In the LXX θρησκεύειν, θρησκεία, together occur four
times (Wisd. xi. 16, xiv. 16, 18, 27), and in all these examples the
reference is to idolatrous or false worship. Indeed generally the usage
of the word exhibits a tendency to a bad sense.
τῶν ἀγγέλων] For the angelology and angelolatry of these Colossian false
teachers, more especially in its connexion with Essene teaching, see the
introduction, pp. 89 sq., 101 sq., 110, 181 sq. For the prominence which
was given to angelology in the speculations of the Jews generally, see
the _Preaching of Peter_ quoted in Clem. Alex. _Strom._ vi. 5 (p. 760)
μηδὲ κατὰ Ἰουδαίους σέβεσθε, καὶ γὰρ εκεῖνοι ... οὐκ ἐπίστανται
λατρεύοντες ἀγγέλοις καὶ ἀρχαγγέλοις, Celsus in Orig. _c. Cels._ v. 6
(i. p. 580) πρῶτον οὖν τῶν Ἰουδαίων θαυμάζειν ἄξιον, εἰ τὸν μὲν οὐρανὸν
καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῷδε ἀγγέλους σέβουσι κ.τ.λ., comp. _ib._ i. 26 (p. 344).
From Jews it naturally spread to Judaizing Christians; e.g. _Clem. Hom._
iii. 36 ἀγγέλων ὀνόματα γνωρίζειν, viii. 12 sq., _Test. xii. Patr._ Levi
3 (quoted above on i. 16). The interest however extended to more
orthodox circles, as appears from the strange passage in Ignat. _Trall._
5 μὴ οὐ δύναμαι τὰ ἐπουράνια γράψαι; ... δύναμαι νοεῖν τὰ ἐπουράνια καὶ
τὰς τοποθεσίας τὰς ἀγγελικὰς καὶ τὰς συστάσεις τὰς ἀρχοντικάς κ.τ.λ. Of
angelology among Gnostic sects see Iren. ii. 30. 6, ii. 32. 5, Orig. _c.
Cels._ vi. 30 sq. (I. p. 653), Clem. Alex. _Exc. Theod._ p. 970 sq.,
_Pistis Sophia_ pp. 2, 19, 23, etc.
ἃ ἑόρακεν κ.τ.λ.] literally ‘_invading what he has seen,_’ which is
generally explained to mean ‘parading’ or ‘poring over his visions’. For
this sense of ἐμβατεύειν, which takes either a genitive or a dative or
an accusative, comp. Philo _de Plant. Noe_ ii. 19 (i. p. 341) οἱ
προσωτέρω χωροῦντες τῶν ἐπιστημῶν καὶ ἐπὶ πλέον ἐμβατεύοντες αὐταῖς, 2
Macc. ii. 30 τὸ μὲν ἐμβατεύειν καί περὶ πάντων ποιεῖσθαι λόγον καὶ
πολυπραγμονεῖν ἐν τοῖς κατὰ μέρος. At a later date this sense becomes
common, e.g. Nemesius _de Nat. Hom._ p. 64 (ed. Matthæi) οὐρανὸν
ἐμβατεύει τῇ θεωρίᾳ. In Xen. _Symp._ iv. 27 ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ βιβλίῷ ἀμφότεροι
ἐμβατεύετέ τι, the reading may be doubtful. But though ἃ ἑόρακεν singly
might mean ‘his visions’, and ἐμβατεύων ‘busying himself with’, the
combination ‘invading what he has seen’, thus interpreted, is so harsh
and incongruous as to be hardly possible; and there was perhaps some
corruption in the text prior to all existing authorities (see the note
on Phil. ii. 1 for a parallel case). Did the Apostle write )έωρᾳ (or
αἴωρᾳ) κενεμβατεύων? In this case the existing text ==αεωρακενεμ
βατευων== might be explained partly by an attempt to correct the form
)εώρᾳ into αἰώρᾳ or conversely, and partly by the perplexity of
transcribers when confronted with such unusual words. This reading had
suggested itself to me independently without the knowledge that, so far
as regards the latter word, it had been anticipated by others in the
conjecture ἃ ἑώρα (or ἃ ἑώρακεν) κενεμβατεύων. The word κενεμβατεῖν ‘to
walk on emptiness’, ‘to tread the air’, and so metaphorically (like
αἐροβατεῖν, αἰθεροβατεῖν, αἰθερεμβατεῖν, etc.) ‘to indulge in vain
speculations’, is not an uncommon word. For its metaphorical sense
especially see Plut. _Mor._ p. 336 F οὕτως ἐρέμβετο κενεμβατοῦν καὶ
σφαλλόμενον ὑπ’ ἀναρχίας τὸ μέγεθος αὐτῆς, Basil. _Op._ I. p. 135 τὸν
νοῦν ... μυρία πλανηθέντα καὶ πολλὰ κενεμβατήσαντα κ.τ.λ., _ib._ I. p.
596 σοῦ δὲ μὴ κενεμβατέιτω ὁ νοῦς, Synes. _de Insomn._ p. 156 οὔτε γὰρ
κενεμβατοῦντας τοὺς λόγους ἐξήνεγκαν. Though the precise form
κενεμβατεύειν does not occur, yet it is unobjectionable in itself. For
the other word which I have ventured to suggest, ἐώρᾳ or αἰώρᾳ, see
Philo _de Somn._ ii. 6 (I. p. 665) _ὑποτυφούμενος_ ὑπ’ αἰώρας
φρενῶν καὶ _κενοῦ_ φυσήματος, _ib._ § 9 (p. 667) τὴν ἐπ’
_αἰώρας_ φορουμένην _κενὴν_ δόξαν, _Quod Deus immut._ § 36 (I.
p. 298) ὡσπερ ἐπ’ αἰώρας τινὸς ψευδοῦς καὶ ἀβεβαίου δόξης φορεῖσθαι
_κατὰ κενοῦ βαίνοντα_. The first and last passages more especially
present striking parallels, and show how germane to St Paul’s subject
these ideas of ‘suspension or balancing in the air’ (ἐώρα or αἰώρα) and
‘treading the void’ (κενεμβατεύειν) would be, as expressing at once the
spiritual pride and the emptiness of these speculative mystics; see also
_de Somn._ ii. 2 (p. 661) ἐμφαίνεται καὶ τὸ τῆς _κενῆς_ δόξης, ἐφ’
ἣν, ὡς ἐφ’ ἅρμα, διὰ τὸ κοῦφον _ἀναβαίνει, φυσώμενος_ καὶ μετέωρον
_ᾐωρηκὼς_ ἑαυτόν. The substantive, ἐώρα or αἰώρα, is used sometimes
of the instrument for suspending, sometimes of the position of
suspension. In this last sense it describes the poising of a bird, the
floating of a boat on the waters, the balancing on a rope, and the like.
Hence its expressiveness when used as a metaphor.
In the received text a negative is inserted, ἃ μὴ ἑώρακεν ἐμβατεύων.
This gives a very adequate sense ‘_intruding into those things which he
has not seen_’; οὐ γὰρ εἶδεν ἀγγέλους, says Chrysostom, καὶ οὕτω
διάκειται ὡς ἰδών: comp. Ezek. xiii. 3 οὐὰι τοῖς προφητεύουσιν ἀπὸ
καρδίας αὐτῶν καὶ τὸ καθόλου μὴ βλέπουσιν. But, though the difficulty is
thus overcome, this cannot be regarded as the original reading of the
text, the authorities showing that the negative was an after insertion.
See the detached note on various readings.
For the form ἑόρακεν, which is better supported here than ἑώρακεν, see
the note on ii. 1.
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