Colossians 2:22

22. ἅ ἐστιν πάντα εἰς φθορὰν τῇ�. A parenthesis giving St Paul’s judgment on the things that they are bid avoid. The false teachers say these must not be even touched and yet in their very use they perish!

ἅ. The antecedent is readily supplied in the objects of the preceding prohibitions.

ἐστιν … εἰς, of destination, Acts 8:20; cf. Romans 11:9.

εἰς φθορὰν. Physical dissolution, the present mark on all created things; Romans 8:21.

τῇ�, “by their using up.”

Here only in the Greek Bible. “The unusual word was chosen for its expressiveness: the χρῆσις here was an ἀπόχρησις; the things could not be used without rendering them unfit for further use” (Lightfoot). The dative is of the cause or occasion.

κατὰ τὰ ἐντάλματα καὶ διδασκαλίας τῶν�. To be joined with Colossians 2:21, and its preceding question. In this way τῶν� (article probably generic, merely human beings) becomes the most emphatic part of the clause. Ye died with Christ and receive orders from men! Observe that ἐντάλματα κ. διδασκαλίας are under the one article, καὶ διδασκαλίας being, apparently, an enlargement and explanation of ἐντάλματα. Of the two words, ἐντάλματα (a) lays more stress on the authority commanding, and (b) refers more to positive rules; while διδασκαλίας suggests instruction and reasons.

It is of even greater interest to notice that the relation of this verse to our Lord’s words in Matthew 15:9-20 (|| Mark 7:7-23) can hardly be accidental, but suggests knowledge on the part of St Paul of the incident and sayings recorded in the Gospel narrative. For (1) both there and here it is a question of insistence on dietary laws (perhaps the washings in Mark 7:3-5 also include the thought of μηδὲ θίγῃς); (2) The destruction of foods by the natural processes of their consumption furnishes the same argument as to their unimportance; (3) This is connected with the same blame for being led by the precepts of men based on Isaiah 29:13.

Observe that in both the Gospel narrative and St Paul use is made of the LXX. rather than the Hebrew form of the words, but that in St Paul the LXX. is less modified than in the Gospel narrative (see Swete on Mark, l.c.).