Colossians 1:22

In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: IN THE BODY OF HIS FLESH - the element in which His reconciling sufferings had place. Compare Colossians 1:24, "afflictions of Christ in my flesh" (1 Peter 2:24). Angels, who have not a 'body of flesh,' are not in any way our reconciling mediators, as your false teachers assert, but He, the Lord of angels, who has taken our flesh, that in it He might atone for our fallen manhood. False spiritualism and ascetic contempt of the body led some to doubt as to even Christ's "flesh" (Colossians 2:23) being the sphere of His atoning work. Through...

22._In the body of his flesh. _The expression is in appearance absurd, but the _body of his flesh _means that human body, which the Son of God had in common with us. He meant, therefore, to intimate, that the Son of God had put on the same nature with us, that he took upon him this vile earthly body, subject to many infirmities, that he might be our Mediator. When he adds, _by death_, he again calls us back to sacrifice. For it was necessary that the Son of God should become man, and be a partaker of our flesh, that he might be our brother: it was necessary that he should by dying become a sacrifice, that he might make his Father propitious to us. _That he might present us holy. _Here we have the second and principal part of our salvation — newness of life. For the entire blessing of redemption consists mainly in these two things, remission of sins, and spiritual regeneration. ...

15-23 Christ in his human nature, is the visible discovery of the invisible God, and he that hath seen Him hath seen the Father. Let us adore these mysteries in humble faith, and behold the glory of the Lord in Christ Jesus. He was born or begotten before all the creation, before any creature was made; which is the Scripture way of representing eternity, and by which the eternity of God is represented to us. All things being created by Him, were created for him; being made by his power, they were made according to his pleasure, and for his praise and glory. He not only created them all at first, but it is by the word of his power that they are upheld. Christ as Mediator is the Head of the body, the church; all grace and strength are from him; and the church is his body. All fulness dwells in him; a fulness of merit and righteousness, of strength and grace for us. God showed his justice...

Verse 22. _IN THE BODY OF HIS FLESH_] By Christ's assumption of a human body, and dying for man, he has made an atonement for sin, through which men become reconciled to God and to each other. _TO PRESENT YOU HOLY_] Having saved you from your sins. _UNBLAMABLE_] Having filled you with his Spirit, and written his law in your _hearts_, so that his love, shed abroad in your hearts, becomes the principle and motive to every action. The _tree_ therefore being good, the _fruit_ is also good. _AND UNREPROVABLE_] For, being filled with love, joy, peace, meekness, gentleness, and goodness, against these there is no law; and as they were called to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and their neighbour as themselves, the whole _spirit_ and _design_ of the law was fulfilled in them, for _love is_ _the fulfilling of the law_....

IN THE BODY OF HIS FLESH THROUGH DEATH - The death of his body, or his death in making an atonement, has been the means of producing this reconciliation. It: (1) Removed the obstacles to reconciliation on the part of God - vindicating his truth and justice, and maintaining the principles of his government as much as if the sinner had himself suffered the penalty of the law - thus rendering it consistent for God to indulge the benevolence of his nature in pardoning sinners; and, (2) It was the means of bringing the sinner himself to a willingness to be reconciled - furnishing the strongest possible appeal to him; leading him to reflect on the love of his Creator, and showing him his own guilt and danger. No means ever used to produce reconciliation between two alienated parties has had so much tenderness and power as those which God has adopted in the plan of salvation; and

EXPOSITION COLOSSIANS 1:1 SECTION I. INTRODUCTION. The Epistle commences, in St. Paul's manner, with a _salutation _(Colossians 1:1, Colossians 1:2), followed by _thanksgiving _(Colossians 1:3) and _prayer _(Colossians 1:9). Only in 2 Thessalonians, however, outside of the Epistles of this group, do we find a formal opening prayer. The _salutation _agrees closely with that of Ephesians....

IN THE BODY OF HIS FLESH THROUGH DEATH,.... Or "through his death", as the Alexandrian copy and some others, and all the Oriental versions, read. These words express the means by which that reconciliation was made, which in the virtue and efficacy of it was applied particularly to these Colossians at their conversion whereby their minds were actually reconciled to God, as "in" or "by the body of his flesh"; that is, by the offering up of his body on the accursed tree, in which he bore the sins of his people, and made reconciliation for them: and it is so called either to distinguish it from his mystical and spiritual body the church, of which he is the head before spoken of; or from his glorious and immortal body, as now raised and exalted at God's right hand; and to denote the truth of his human body, that it was a real fleshly body, consisting of flesh and blood as ours does, and the s...

Colossians 1:1. _Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ._ Kindness is the very breath of Christianity, so the apostle will not begin the subject matter of his letter until first of all he has breathed out a benediction upon those to whom he writes. Colossians 1:3. _We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,_ Paul very graciously blends his giving of thanks and his constant prayer for these Christians at Colosse, and therein sets us an example that we may well imitate....

COLOSSIANS 1:22 avpokath,llaxen {C} The conflicting textual phenomena of this verse are difficult to resolve. On the one hand, the reading avpokath,llaxen is well supported (a A C Dc K nearly all minuscules itar, f, mon vg syrp, h copsa, bo _al_) and provides acceptable sense. On the other hand, however, if this were the original reading, it is exceedingly difficult to explain why the other readings should have arisen. Faced with this dilemma, and considering a passive verb to be totally unsuitable in the context, a majority of the Committee preferred to follow the preponderance of external testimony and therefore adopted avpokath,llaxen. [Despite the harsh anacoluthon that...

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. THE PERSON OF CHRIST, His GLORY AND His WORK CHAPTER 1 _ 1. The introduction (Colossians 1:1)_ 2. The prayer (Colossians 1:9) 3. The person and glory of Christ, Head of creation and Head of the Church (Colossians 1:15) 4. The work of reconciliation and the double ministry (Colossians 1:19) Colossians 1:1 This Epistle unfolds the doctrine of Christ and therefore Paul speaks of himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God; Timothe