Colossians 2:23

whichthings] More precisely, if the word may be tolerated, which-like things; the prohibitions given above, Colossians 2:21, and all others which depend on the same principle.

have indeed More precisely, do indeed have, with a slight emphasis on the admission. There was a specious and seductive "reasonableness" in the theory.

a shew Greek, logos; "word, speech," and so "repute;" with an implied contrast here between such repute and reality(ergon).

of wisdom It was a characteristic of Jewish thought at the time to attempt to throw a glamour of philosophic fitness over Pharisaic doctrine and practice. See Introd., p. 32.

will worship The Greek compound noun denotes a self-chosen, self-imposed, service (in the religious sense); a round of supererogatoryobservance; a parody on the genuine reverence and obedience of the Gospel. The element in the compound represented by "worship" is the noun used James 1:27 (and see 26), and rendered "religion" in our Versions.

humility See above, on Colossians 2:18. The special direction of this false humility here would be, perhaps, that of abject submission to Pharisaic "directors," mistaken for a true surrender to the will of God. "Who can submit our will to the will of God, save the Spirit of God?" (Quesnel).

neglecting of the body Lit., unsparing (treatment) of the body; a severe and active physical asceticism. Something of Oriental dualismmay well have influenced this ascetic practice. Scarcely anywhere outside Scripture itself is the true honour of the bodyrecognized in religious systems; the tendency to regard it as merely the burthen, or prison, of the soul appears almost everywhere. And this is a fruitful source of the asceticism which rather attacks than disciplines the body. Cp. Wis 9:15 : "The corruptible body presseth down the soul." The Pharisee Josephus (contra Apion., 2.24) says that "the soul, by its union with the body, is subject to miseries." The Alexandrian Philo, a coeval, like Josephus, of the Apostles (as perhaps the author of Wisdom also was) calls the body, "a loathsome prison." Twelve centuries later Francis of Assisi called his body, "my brother, the ass." See Dr F. W. Farrar's note on Wisdom 9, in the Speaker's Commentary. Contrast 1 Corinthians 6:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:23, etc.

not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh Better, as R.V., not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh. This explanation, fully sustained by the Greek grammar, was long ago advocated by Mr Conybeare (C. and Howson, Life etc. of St Paul, ch. 25, in a note to the translation of the Epistle), and had been suggested still earlier (as he says) by Abp Sumner. It satisfies the context as no other does, supplying just such a counterpart as might be expected (from the use of the word "indeed," μὲν) to the admission that the system had "a shew of wisdom." See Lightfoot's note for full proof that the Greek preposition (πρὸς) is rightly rendered (perhaps we may better say explained) "against" in such a context.

Other interpretations are as follows; (a) "to satisfy the(reasonable) wants of the body." But this gives a goodmeaning to the Greek word rendered by A.V. "satisfy," whereas it has by usage a meaning of excess and indulgence. In this explanation, the words "not in any honour" are taken as a clause apart, parallel with the words just previous; "not (holding the body) in any honour." (b) An explanation which supposes St Paul to put the case from his opponent's view-point: "it being no worthy thing to regard the satisfaction of the flesh." This is the hesitating exposition of Theodore of Mopsuestia (cent. 4 5). (c) An explanation which, like (a), breaks the last clause into two: "not of any(real) value, (but) tending only to gratify the flesh," i.e., to inflate the pride of unregenerate man. So, on the whole, many modern expositors. But the sentence is thus unnaturally dislocated, and a meaning given to the word "flesh" improbable in this context.

As explained above, the words are a pregnant warning against the delusive but specious hope that the human spirit is to be transfigured into moral harmony with the Divine purity through inflictions on the body. The sublime true secret of that transfiguration is given us in e.g. Romans 8:13; "If ye by the Spiritmortify the practices of the body, etc." And see below on ch. Colossians 3:4-5.