Colossians 1:28

we Emphatic. He has the alien emissaries in mind.

preach Slightly better, as R.V., proclaim. The Greek word recurs with Christ as its living Object, Acts 17:3; Philippians 1:16; Philippians 1:18.

warning Better, as R.V., admonishing; a word which is rather more general in its scope. The kindred noun occurs Ephesians 6:4.

every man … every man … every man Perhaps this solemn emphasis has a double reference; (a) as Lightfoot, to the universality of the Gospel, whose "counsels of perfection" are not (as the false teachers would have it, in their"Gospel") for a privileged inner circle of votaries but for every one without exception who comes to Jesus Christ; and (b) to the fact that in this universality the individual is never lost or merged in the community; each soul, each life, as if there were no other, is to be "perfect in Christ."

in all wisdom In the whole field of that holy "wisdom" which is not a mere mass of knowledge but the principles and secrets of a life of faith and love. It is better to explain this phrase thus than as meaning that "we" teach with perfect wisdom. This would less fully bring out the emphasis (so strong in the Greek) of "every" "all," in this verse. The point is that everydisciple may and should learn everysecret of grace. There are no spiritual secrets behind the Gospel.

that we may present when the Lord returns, and the pastor "gives his account" (Hebrews 13:17). See for another side of the same prospect, Ephesians 5:27.

perfect Teleion. In this word Lightfoot sees a technical term of the pagan "mysteries," borrowed and adapted for the Gospel. In the mysteries, the teleios, or "perfect," was the man who had passed his novitiate and was fully instructed. The term was certainly used by the Gnostics of the sub-apostolic age to denote the man who had passed from mere "faith" (so called) into "knowledge" (so called). See Lightfoot's full and instructive note, in which he further remarks that the word "perfect" is early used in Christian literature to distinguish the baptized man from the catechumen. But we doubt whether the word here can with any certainty be viewed as quasi-technical, or however whether such can be its mainbearing. It appears in e.g. Matthew 5:48, with the apparent meaning of spiritual entirety, whole-heartedness, in the life of love; and cp. 1 Corinthians 14:20; Hebrews 5:14; where it is "full-grown," adult, as different from infantine. So Ephesians 4:13, and perhaps Jas 3:2; 1 John 4:18. Not initiation so much as developed maturity of conscience, faith, life, experience is the thought of this passage.

in Christ Jesus vital union with whom is the sine quâ nonof growth and maturity, because of spiritual life altogether. The word "Jesus" is to be omitted, by documentary evidence.