10. The Epistle to the Colossians. In the epistle to the Colossians the Pauline Christology reaches its highest forms of statement. Here, too, as in other epistles, the apostle speaks of "the mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from the generations, but has now been manifested to his saints" (i, 26), and he affirms that "the riches of the glory of this mystery" consists essentially in the profound thought of "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Great indeed must be "the mystery of God, of Christ, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden" (ii, 2, 3). That Christ, who embodies all the treasures of heavenly wisdom, should dwell among and within the converted Gentiles, so as to be to them the hope of eternal glory, is an idea adapted to elevate the Christian heart to heights of spiritual rapture. To lodge this thought in every mind (vovverεiv, i, 28) is Paul's high aim and holy ambition, for by admonishing every man and teaching every man he is ever striving to "present every man perfect in Christ." The thrice repeated every man, in verse 28, is worthy of special note, as indicating the world-wide aim of Paul's gospel. All perfection in spiritual life, in this world and in the world to come, is to be attained "in Christ." His saving personality is conceived as an all-pervasive element of wisdom, love, and power, apart from which there is no hope of glory.

(1) Fullness of the Deity. Not only are "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden in Christ," but according to ii, 9, 10, "in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Deity (TS DEÓTηTOS Godhead; nature of God) bodily, and ye are filled full in him, who is the head of all principality and power." We should notice the distinction in signification between dɛórns here and dɛórns in Rom. i, 20. In Romans the apostle speaks of "the eternal power and divinity" of God perceptible in the works of creation, referring to the divine qualities or Godlike attributes of the Creator which may be inferred from the things which he has made. But deórns means the divine nature, or essence, and is properly translated only by the word Deity, or Godhead. It appears, therefore, beyond question that this scripture affirms the essential deity of Christ. But it is Deity dwelling in bodily form (owμarikws), and must therefore be understood as dwelling in Christ after he became manifest "in the body of his flesh" (i, 22), not before his incarnation, when as yet he did not exist owparik@s. The thought is accordingly turned to "the body of his glory" (Phil. iii, 21), in which he is "seated on the right hand of God" (iii, 1). By this heavenly exaltation he has become "the head of all principality and power" (comp. Eph. i, 20-23; Phil. ii, 9), and participates not only in the glory of the Father, but also in attributes and prerogatives of Deity.

The fullness (Tò nλńρwμa) of Christ and his making full those who "were circumcised in the circumcision of Christ," "buried with him in baptism," and "raised with him through faith in the working of God" (vers. 11, 12), are to be understood in the same manner in which we have explained "the fulness of him that filleth all in all," and "filled unto all the fulness of God" in Eph. i, 23, and iii, 19 (see above, pp. 305, 306).*

(2) Significance of i, 13-18. But the most important Christological text in Colossians is the passage (i, 13-18), where it is declared that "the Son of his love," who effects our redemption, "is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things have been created through him and unto him; and he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence." In this classic passage the person of Christ is presented (1) in his relation to God and the whole creation (vers. 13-17), and (2) in his relation to the church (18). In calling him "the image (ɛlkúv) of the invisible God," the apostle affirms only what is written in 2 Cor. iv, 4; for the addition of the epithet invisible merely expresses the uniform teaching of the New Testament that God is not seen by mortal man (John i, 18; 1 Tim. vi, 16). There is nothing in either of these texts to show that the image of God in which Christ exists is essentially different from the image and likeness of God in which the first man was created (Gen. i, 26), and "the image and glory of God" which 1 Cor. xi, 7, makes the distinguishing feature of man in general considered as the highest creation of God. But when it is said that Christ is "the firstborn of all creation," and that all things in the universe, whether visible or invisible, were created in him, through him, and unto him, we are at once lifted in thought to the concept of Deity. The additional statement that "he is before all things, and in him all things hold together," not only affirms the preëxistence of Christ, but implies his essential lordship over the universe of God. The personification of Wisdom, in Prov. viii, 22-30, contains some ideals which may have floated before the apostle's mind when he wrote this passage; but though wisdom was a possession of Jehovah "before his works of old," and "was brought forth before the hills; while

What is stated in Col. ii, 14, 15, might be very appropriately affirmed of Christ; but as the subject of all the verbs and participles in verses 13-15 seems so obviously to be God (rov rov of ver. 12), I make no further mention of it here.

as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world," and was with God "as a master workman," there is nothing in the highly embellished portraiture of the Old Testament writer which goes so far as to say that all things were created in and through and unto wisdom. Moreover, no reader of Prov. viii, 22-31, fails to see that the description of Wisdom there given is ideal, as is also the somewhat similar passage in the apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon, vii, 24-30; but what is written in Col. i, 13-18, is affirmed of "the Son of his love, in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins." Here is a real personality, not an abstract ideal personified; and it is difficult to believe that either Paul or his first readers could have understood the language here employed in any other way than as descriptive of the real person of Christ.

(3) Firstborn of All Creation. The exact import of the phrase firstborn of all creation is not altogether clear. The Arian interpretation, which makes Christ himself a part of the creation, that is, the first created being in the universe, is not incompatible with the phrase when taken by itself; for the expression firstborn of all creation (or of every creature) no more forbids our inferring that the firstborn is himself a creature than the phrase first born from the dead, in verse 18, or first born of the dead, in Rev. i, 5, forbids our inferring that this firstborn was himself once truly dead and buried. Nor need we deny that the title of firstborn carries with it here, as in Rom. viii, 29, and Psa. lxxxix, 27, the idea of superior excellence. But the immediate context requires that the word πρшτÓTOKOS be here understood of the Son as born before all creation, existing before all things, as verse 17 declares. It is not said that he existed eternally before all things, nor does the word require us to believe that Paul reckoned Christ among created beings. The word denotes rather a divine generation from the Father, and, like μovoyɛvýs in John i, 18, designates his exceptional and unique origin as begotten, not created. He was begotten of the Father before there was any created thing or being, and so far is he exalted in his nature above every creature that all created

'Ritschl insists that the preposition pó in verse 17 points to priority of place rather than of time. "The temporal priority of Christ before the world cannot be the point at issue; that would be a barren thought. Superiority over the world is ascribed to Christ in view of the world which belongs to him in his position as the image of God and the head of the community. It is as the image and revelation of the invisible God (2 Cor. iv, 4) that the exalted Christ is firstborn of all creation. In this connection firstborn can be understood only in the metaphorical sense in which the corresponding Hebrew word is used, namely, he who is preferred-the same sense in which it is used in Rom. viii, 29, and probably also in Rev. i, 5. Christ is he who is preferred, who belongs to God in contrast with creation as a whole, which is not the image and direct revelation of God." Justification and Reconciliation, p. 402.

things in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, were brought into being by him, or through his agency, and he is the final cause (els avτóv), the end and aim of the whole creation of God. He is truly "the first and the last, the beginning and the end."

(4) His Preeminence. The remaining statements in this passage only enhance the significance of what has been already affirmed of Christ. Not only have all things been created by him, but in him as a uniting and conserving bond "all things hold together," and are preserved in their orderly arrangements. His headship of the church, which is his body, is a familiar and peculiar thought of Paul, and has been already noticed in Eph. i, 22, 23. He is, moreover, "the beginning" (¿pxý), not only "the beginning of the creation of God," as we read in Rev. iii, 14, being "before all things," but more specifically the beginning of the new order of things which is introduced by his manifestation among men and by his resurrection from the dead. Hence it is immediately added, as if in part defining this beginning, he is "the firstborn from the dead" (comp. Rev. i, 5), and so preeminently "the Prince of life" (Acts iii, 15), being thus "powerfully declared to be the Son of God" (Rom. i, 4). For, as this apostle elsewhere argues, "Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death no more hath dominion over him" (Rom. vi, 9). The purpose of all this is "that in all things he might become himself preeminent." The yévηrai in this last clause contrasts with the oTiv in the preceding statement, and indicates that his preeminence is the outcome of a divine purpose and order in the manifestation of Christ.' The result is that this transcendent Son of the Father's love (comp. vers. 12, 13) holds the first place and highest rank in all points (ἐν πᾶσιν) that he may bring about the reconciliation of all things unto himself. Accordingly, and in confirmation of this truth, we are told in the next verse that God was pleased that "all the fulness" should dwell in Christ.

11. The Pauline Doctrine of Preëxistence. In our study of the Christology of Paul we should here examine the several passages in his writings which have been supposed to teach the preexistence of Christ. The witness of the Colossian epistle to this doctrine seems unmistakable. In some sense Christ was before all things, and by him all things, visible and invisible, were created and are

1 The final clause indicates that the apostle has a progress of development in his mind-a progress from a beginning to a consummation-and in this the rising from the dead and being head of the body is an essential step. He moves forward in his thought from the preëxistent state, before the creation of all things, to the final result, when the reconciliation of all things shall have taken place. This clause thus points to the eternal divine purpose, which is in process of accomplishment.-T. Dwight, in American ed. of Meyer's Exegetical Handbook of New Testament, in loco.

held together.' But the other Pauline texts bearing on this subject are open to some question. We have already seen that the famous kenotic text in Phil. ii, 5-11, is capable of another interpretation than that which it has generally received. But certain other texts demand attention.

(1) The phrase "sent forth from God." There are those passages which speak of Jesus as one sent forth from God. One of these is Gal. iv, 4: "When the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under law." Another text is Rom. viii, 3: "God, having sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, . . . condemned sin in the flesh." These statements, however, are not in themselves sufficient to establish the doctrine of a real preëxistence; for any prophet or apostle sent forth into the world by a divine commission may be thus spoken of. John the Baptist was a man thus sent from God (John i, 6). But at the same time it should be admitted that these forms of expression are in harmony with the idea of personal preëxistence.

(2) Christ the Spiritual Rock. The real preëxistence of Christ is argued from the statement of 1 Cor. x, 4, that the fathers "drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ." In the verses preceding mention is made of the pillar of cloud which accompanied Israel in their march out of Egypt, and of their passage through the sea and of their eating the manna and drinking water from the rock, which food and drink, being miraculously supplied, are called spiritual (πvεvμaтikóv). There is nothing said in the Old Testament narrative about a rock that followed the Israelites in their journey,' but in the early part of the journey Moses smote a rock in Horeb (Exod. xvii, 6), and later, at Kadesh (Num. xx, 1-11), and in each case there came forth water from the rock. In all these miraculous events of cloud, and sea, and manna, and water gushing from the smitten

In the Pauline statements touching the preexistence of Christ Beyschlag observes the striking fact "that the apostle nowhere really establishes or teaches the preexistence of Christ, but, especially in his earlier epistles, presupposes it as familiar to his readers, and disputed by no one."-New Testament Theology, vol. ii, p. 78.

2 The Targum of Onkelos has a curious mistranslation of Num. xxi, 18-20, which the critical reader will perceive to be a singular reading of the Hebrew text, mistaking the proper names for verbs and for common nouns of similar letters. The Targum reads: And from the wilderness it (the well) was given to them. And from the time it was given to them it went down with them to the rivers, and from the rivers it went up with them to the height (or to Ramath), and from the height to the valleys which are in the fields of Moab, at the head of the height (or of Ramath) which looks over the face of Beth-jeshimon." From this mistranslation, perhaps, arose the various Jewish legends of the fountain and rock which followed the Israelites in all their journeys through the desert. The various forms of the tradition may be read in Schöttgen's Hora Hebraicæ, pp. 623, 624. It is prob able that this tradition was familiar to Paul, and that it was in his thought when he wrote this letter to the Corinthians. See my article on "The Song of the Well" in the Bibliotheca Sacra of July, 1901.