The Jewish Annotated New Testament (279 page)

5
:
Gospel
(Gk “euangelion,” “good news”), the standard expression for the narrative about the messiahship of Jesus.

6
:
Bearing fruit
, growth of knowledge and right action (vv. 9–10), probably in imitation of Gal 5.22.

7
:
Epaphras
, first apostle to Colossae, so far as this letter is concerned, who is with the author as he writes (4.12–13; see Philem 23).
Fellow servant
(Gk “syndoulos,” “fellow-slave”), a term appearing in NT letters here and 4.7.
Minister
, Gk “diakonos,” “server”; these were the first officers in the church. The term in Acts 6 still carries with it its original connotation of “waiter” or “server,” inasmuch as the seven men who were appointed as “diakonoi” were to obviate the apostles from having to wait on tables (Acts 6.2). Whether the term carries that connotation for Phoebe, “a deacon of the church at Cenchreae” (Rom 16.1), or Apollos (1 Cor 3.5), the church officials named as deacons in the earliest NT texts, or for Epaphras here, arguably the last person named as a deacon in the NT, remains uncertain.

1.8
: Apostolic visitation.
As the author cannot pretend that Paul was in Colossae, he merges the thanksgiving (Epaphras brought back news of the church’s virtues) with the apostolic “parousia,” Gk “coming,” a typical section in Paul’s letters where he remembers, usually fondly, his experiences while visiting the church.

1.9
–14: Prayer for spiritual wisdom. 9–11
: The prayer concludes the thanksgiving (v. 12). The author prays his audience excel in “sophia kai sunesei pneumatikē,”
spiritual wisdom and understanding
. In 1 Cor, chs 1–4, Paul contrasts the negative attributes of wisdom and understanding—which he associates not with virtue but with cleverness in argumentation—with “pneumatika,” “spiritual things,” which he considers the goal of life. The author of Colossians takes Paul’s moral vocabulary but reverses it: Wisdom, here positive, involves
knowledge
(v. 9), right living (v. 10), and
patience
(v. 11).

9
:
God’s will
, this phrase is common in both Paul’s authentic letters (nineteen examples) and in the Deutero-Pauline letters (four examples), but extremely rare in Jewish Scriptures, appearing in the LXX only in 1 Esd 8.16. In the DSS, however, the phrase “retzon ’el,” “will of God,” conventionally contrasts divine with human will.
Spiritual wisdom
(Gk “sophia,” LXX for Heb “hokhmah,” “wisdom,” e.g., Prov 1.2)
and understanding
(Gk “synesis,” LXX for Heb “binah,” “understanding, discernment,” e.g., Prov 1.2, where it is also used with “hokhmah”), a major theme of the letter (1.25–28; 2.2–4,9–15). Paul uses the noun “sophia” or the adjective thirty-four times in his authentic letters, but only twice as a positive attribute (in Rom 11.33 and 16.27, both as descriptions of God). The author of Colossians follows in the tradition of the wisdom literature of the Tanakh, using the term five times, only positively.

10
:
Pleasing
(Gk “ariskeia,” “desire to please”), only here in the NT.

11
:
Endure
(Gk “hypomonē,” “endurance”), a common theme of the Pauline letters (e.g., 1 Cor 4.12; 9.12; 2 Cor 1.6) and NT letters generally (e.g., Heb 12.7; 1 Pet 2.19–20). The paired virtues “endurance” and “patience” occur together in 2 Tim 3.10.

12
–13
:
Light … darkness
, a common image for moral dualism. The second-century
Teaching of the Twelve Apostles
(
Did
.) calls it “the Two Ways.” It appears in Deut 30.19; Jer 21.8 and throughout the NT (1 Thess 5.5; John [many occurrences, e.g., 3.19]; 1 Pet 2.9; Eph 5.8), and less definitively, here. The trope is found in Greek texts (
Prodicus Judgment of Heracles
[
Mem
. 2.1.21]). It is fully developed in the DSS (see 1QM and 1QS 3.13–4.26), the
Did
., and the
Ep. Barn
. (also possibly second century).

12
:
Giving thanks
, the thanksgiving section continues, probably to the end of the hymn (vv. 15–20).

13
:
Power of darkness
, continuing the theme of v. 12.

14
:
Redemption … forgiveness
, the extent to which these familiar Christian theological terms reflect Jewish ideas of redemption is questionable. Although Jewish texts in the intertestamental period begin to talk of redemption from sin, the more common biblical expression involves redemption from exile; Judaism rarely allied itself with the idea of inborn or original sin, from which a person needed to be rescued (though some may see a hint of this in Ps 51.1–5 [Heb vv. 3–7]). Gk “apolutrosis,” “ransoming,” translated in the NRSV as
redemption
, appears in the LXX only in Dan 4.34; but see, e.g., “lutrōtēs,” “redeemer,” Ps 19.14 [Heb v. 15, “go’el”; LXX Ps 18.15]); the term is relatively rare in Paul (Rom 3.24; 8.23; 1 Cor 1.30) but relatively common in the Deutero-Pauline letters (Eph 1.7,14; 4.30, and here). “Aphesis,”
forgiveness
, never appears in Paul but is found in both Colossians and Ephesians. The notion is relatively popular in the DSS (e.g., 1QS 2.8).

1.15
–20: Hymn to the Christ.
The thanksgiving section concludes with a developed Christology, borrowing themes from both Paul and the Septuagint, perhaps from the Fourth Gospel, offered in terms accessible to the letter’s Gentile readers. The Christ more than rules the world: he is both the first thing created and the principle of creation (vv. 15–17), the head of the world and head of the church (vv. 18–20). This Christology is perhaps the “highest” (i.e., the farthest along a spectrum from “the Christ is fully human” to “the Christ is fully divine”) of any NT source. It resembles the description of personified Wisdom in Prov 8.22–31, present with God at creation; here the Christ has a much greater role than does Wisdom in Proverbs (see also Wis 7.22b–8.1).

15
–20
:
Image of the invisible God
, Gk “aoratos,” “invisible,” echoes Rom 1.20, but there Paul alludes to LXX Gen 1.2, “aoratos kai akataskeuastos,” “invisible and disorganized,” reflecting Heb “tohu va-vohu,” “formless void” (NRSV). For Col 1.15–16, an invisible God creates invisible things. Cf. 1 Tim 1.17; Heb 11.27. The Christ is both the
firstborn of all creation
(v. 15) and the
firstborn from the dead
(v. 18), that is, the first person raised from the dead. “Firstborn,” used only once in Paul (Rom 8.29), occurs in the LXX 132 times. In Hebrews, it refers once to the Christ (1.6), once to the firstborn sons of Egypt, killed by the angel of death (11.28), once to the Israelites in Egypt who were not slain (also 11.28), and once to the believers in the author’s own generation (12.23). See also Acts 26.2; Rev 1.5. Biblical law (e.g., Deut 21.15–17) affirms the superior inheritance right of firstborn sons, though some rabbinic legislators argued for a more equal distribution of estates (cf.
b. Shabb
. 10b)

16
:
Thrones … powers
, to Paul’s apocalyptic image of the “archai” (
rulers
) and “exousiai” (“authorities”), the spiritual forces that rule the world, the author adds the non-Pauline “thronoi” (
thrones
), indicating any concentration of power, secular, demonic, or divine (cf. Eph 1.21; 3.10).

17
–20
: The Christ is the organizing principle of creation as in Jn 1.1ff.

18
:
Head
, the Christ is the head of the body, the church, echoing 1 Cor 12.18–31. For Paul, the members of the church are limbs (or organs) of the Christ’s body, and therefore should function in harmony, each with different roles.
The body, the church
, here and in 1.24, “ekklēsia,” “church” means something larger than the believers gathered in a particular location, the meaning in Paul’s letters.

19
:
Fullness of God
, probably an echo of Ps 24 (LXX Ps 23), “the earth is the Lord’s and its fullness” (NRSV “and all that is in it”).

20
:
Reconcile … making peace
, “apokatallasso,” “reconcile,” appears only in the Deutero-Pauline letters (Eph 2.16; Col 1.20,22). Paul uses “katallagē/katallasso,” “reconciliation/reconcile” (cf. Rom 5.10); the vocabulary is different, but the notion is similar: God’s power is manifested in the reconciliation of former enemies.

1.21
–23: Assurance and exhortation. 21
:
Estranged
, Gentiles separated from Israel’s God before they heard the good news about the Christ. The Gk word occurs in the NT only in the Deutero-Pauline letters (Eph 2.12; 4.18, and here).

22
:
Fleshly body
, see Jn 1.14; 1 Cor. 15.35ff.
To present you … before him
, reconciliation here exists in a juridical context; it entails judgment (v. 28).

23
:
The faith
, for the Deutero-Pauline letters, “pistis” shifts from “trust” or “trustworthiness” to “belief.”
Proclaimed to every creature
, hyperbole indicating that the author, a generation or more after Paul, knows about the spread of the gospel.
Servants
, v. 25; cf. v. 7n.

1.24
–29: Witness and mission.
Only once in his authentic letters, outside of opening and closing greetings, does Paul use his name in first-person discourse, and there (Gal 5.2) he is emphatic. The authors of Colossians and Ephesians, borrowing Paul’s identity, insert an extra mention of his name, thus attempting to establish Pauline authorship (cf. Eph 3.1).

24
:
Sufferings
, the author follows Paul in calling for imitating the Christ in his suffering (e.g., 2 Cor 4.7–12; 11.23–28).
Body
, see 1.18n.

26
–27
:
Mystery
, lit., “secret revealed to initiates.” The term is more than twice as frequent in the Deutero-Pauline letters as in other NT books. The secret here is God’s election of the Gentiles (2.2; 4.3).
Saints
, see 1.2n.
Gentiles
, Colossians, like Paul’s authentic letters, addresses a Gentile audience.

28
:
Mature in Christ
, in 1 Cor 3.1–2, Paul complains that congregants are too immature to receive the full measure of the gospel; in Colossians he frequently expresses hopes that the congregants might be presented as mature (cf. 4.12). The Gk can also mean “perfect” (Mt 5.48).

2.1
–5: Pastoral concerns
.
Laodicea
, a neighboring city; see 4.13n.; Rev 3.14–22. Josephus records several letters regarding a petition from the Jewish high-priest Hyrcanus (ca. 76–40 BCE) to the proconsul that the Jews of Laodicea be allowed to observe their ancestral laws and to manage their lands according to the Torah (
Ant
. 14.241ff.)