Colossians 2:2

comforted Ut consolentur, Latin Versions. But the Greek verb means more than to console; it is rather to hearten, to encourage. Confortatio, the (late) Latin original of our "comfort," is "to make fortis, strong;" and "comfort" long retained this meaning in English. Wyclif here has "counfortid;" and in his version of Isaiah 41:7 he actually writes "he coumfortide hym with nailes, that it shulde not be moued" (Bible Word-Book, p. 117).

being Better, they being; the Greek participle agrees not with "hearts" but with the owners of the hearts.

knit together Cp. below Colossians 2:19, and Ephesians 4:16 (a suggestive parallel). The Greek verb always in the LXX. means "to instruct"; and the Latin Versions here have instructi(hence Wyclif, "taughte"); which however maymean "drawn up," "marshalled," and so may be nearly the same as A. V. The parallels just quoted are decisive for A.V.

in love "which is the bondof perfectness," Colossians 3:14. Cp. Ephesians 4:2-3; Philippians 2:1-4.

and unto all riches The saints, drawn together inlove, would by the loving communication of experience and by other spiritual aid, all advance toa fuller knowledge of the Lord and His grace. On "riches" see note on Colossians 1:27.

the full assurance "Fulness" R.V. margin; Latin Versions, plenitudo, adimpletio. The Greek word recurs 1 Thessalonians 1:5; Hebrews 6:11; Hebrews 10:22; and nowhere else in Biblical or classical Greek. In all these passages the word "fulness" would give an adequate meaning. But the cognate verb, which is more frequent, appears by usage to convey the idea of, so to speak, an activefulness, a fulness having to do with consciousness. This is an argument for retaining (with Ellicott, Alford, Lightfoot, R.V. text) the A.V. rendering. He prays that they may more and more enter into the "wealth" of a deep and conscious insightinto "the mystery of God."

understanding See on Colossians 1:9 above.

to the acknowledgement This clause is the echo and explanation of the last; "untoall the riches &c., untothe acknowledgement &c."

" Acknowledgement" :epignôsis;see on Colossians 1:9 above.

the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ "The ancient authorities vary much in the text of this passage" (margin, R.V.). The chief variants are as follows: (a) "the mystery of God" ;adopted by Tischendorf in his 7th (last but one) edition of the N.T., and by Alford: (b) "the mystery of God, even Christ," or, as the same Greek may be rendered, "the mystery of the(or, our) God Christ" ;adopted, with the first alternative translation, by Tischendorf in his 8th (last) edition, Tregelles, Wordsworth, Lightfoot, Westcott and Hort, and R.V.: (c) "the mystery of God, which is Christ" :(d) "the mystery of God the Father of Christ" :(e) the reading represented by A.V., which is that of most later mss. Lightfoot in a long and careful note (pp. 318, 319) reasons for the high probability of reading (b), and for regarding all others as formed from it either by explanatory addition or by cutting a knot of supposed difficulty by omission. Dr Scrivener (Introd. to N.T. Criticism, pp. 634 6) also discusses the case, with Lightfoot's reasoning among other things before him, and inclines to the same reading, though apparently preferring the other renderinggiven above. His only difficulty lies in the small documentary support given to a reading in itself otherwise so likely. And he says, "The more we think over this reading, the more it grows upon us, as the source from which all the rest are derived. At present, perhaps, [- of God the Father of Christ"] may be looked upon as the most strongly attested, … but a very small weight might suffice to turn the critical scale."

Adopting the reading thus accepted by Lightfoot and favoured by Scrivener, how shall we render it? Shall we say, "the mystery of the God Christ"? The phrase would convey eternal truth; but as a phraseit has no precise parallel in St Paul. To him Christ is indeed absolutely Divine, Coequal in Nature with the Father; but this truth is always seen, so to speak, through His Sonship, so that He is designated rather "the Son of God" than simply "God." (See however Acts 20:28; Titus 2:13.) Shall we say "the mystery of the God of Christ"? Here a near parallel appears Ephesians 1:17. But the preceding context here (esp. Colossians 1:27) distinctly inclines to our connecting "the mystery" with "Christ," so that He shall be the Father's "Secret" of "all spiritual blessing" (Ephesians 1:3) for His people; their all-blessed Resource, hidden yet open, for "pardon, and holiness, and heaven." Cp. 1 Corinthians 1:30, where "wisdom" is in a certain sense equivalent to "mystery" here.

So we render, the mystery of God, even Christ.