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*H Which is come unto you, as also it is in the whole world and bringeth forth fruit and groweth, even as it doth in you, since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth.
Ver. 6. In the whole world; i.e. a great part of it. Wi. — This epistle was written in the year 62, at which time the gospel had spread itself through the whole world by the preaching not only of the apostles, but of their disciples, and by the noise which this new religion made. Calmet. — S. Austin sheweth with S. Paul, that the Church and Christ's gospel was to grow daily, and to spread all over the world; which cannot stand with what heretics allude of the failure of the Church, nor with their own obscure conventicles. ep. lxxx. ad finem.
*H As you learned of Epaphras, our most beloved fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ Jesus;
Ver. 7. Of Epaphras, who seems to have been their first apostle, and their bishop. Wi.
*H Who also hath manifested your love in the spirit.
Ver. 8. Your love. Your charity for all men, founded on the love of God. Others understand it of the affection which they had for S. Paul. S. Chrys.
*H Therefore we also, from the day that we heard it, cease not to pray for you and to beg that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding:
Ver. 9. In all wisdom. He begins by an admonition against false teachers, who it is likely, says S. Chrys. with their philosophical notions mixed errors and fables. Wi.
*H That you may walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing; being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God:
Ver. 10. Worthy of God: αξιως του κυριου . So S. Ambrose and the Greek doctors; or thus, worthily, pleasing God, and this not by faith only, but fruitful in every good work. Ibid. — God, in [1] all things pleasing him. This is the construction of the Latin by the Greek. Wi.
*H In whom we have redemption through his blood, the remission of sins:
Ver. 14. It is through the blood of Christ, and not by the law of Moses, that we are freed from the power of death. If the law could have saved us, the coming of Christ would have been useless. See then, he says, if it be proper to engage under a law which is so inefficacious. Calmet. — From this verse and from v. 12, et alibi passim, we are taught that we are not only by imputation made partakers of Christ's benefits, but are by his grace made worthy thereof, and deserve our salvation condignly, ex condigno. B.
*H Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Ver. 15. The first [2] born of every creature. S. Chrys. takes notice against the Arians, that the apostle calls Christ the first-begotten, or first-born, not the first created, because he was not created at all. And the sense is, that he was before all creatures, proceeding from all eternity from the Father; though some expound the words of Christ as man, and that he was greater in dignity. See Rom. viii. 29. Wi.
* Footnote * John 1 : 3
All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made.*H For in him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers. All things were created by him and in him.
Ver. 16. Thrones, &c. are commonly understood to refer to the celestial hierarchy of Angels, though as to their particular rank, &c. nothing certain is known. We may here observe, that the Holy Spirit proportions itself and speaks according to our ideas of a temporal kingdom, in which one authority is subject to another. In the same manner the Angels seem subordinate to one another. S. Dionysius in Calmet. — All things were created by him, and in him, and [3] consist in him. If all things that are were made by him, he himself was not made. And his divine power is also signified, when it is said all things consist or are preserved by him. Wi.
* Footnote * 1_Corinthians 15 : 20
But now Christ is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of them that sleep:* Footnote * Apocalypse 1 : 5
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth, who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood*H And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may hold the primacy:
Ver. 18. He is the head of the body, the church. He now speaks of what applies to Christ as man. — The first-born from the dead; i.e. the first that rose to an immortal life. Wi.
*H Because in him, it hath well pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell:
Ver. 19. In him it was pleasing, that all fulness should dwell. [4] The greatest plenitude of graces was conferred on him as man, and from him, as he was our head, derived to all the members of his Church. The Prot. translation, followed by Mr. N. by way of explanation adds, it hath pleased the Father; but, as Dr. Wells observes in his paraphrase, there is no reason to restrain it to the Father, seeing the work of the incarnation, and the blessings by it conferred on all mankind, are equally the work of the blessed Trinity, though the Second Person only was joined to our nature. Wi.
*H And through him to reconcile all things unto himself, making peace through the blood of his cross, both as to the things that are on earth and the things that are in heaven.
Ver. 20. To reconcile all things unto himself, . . . through the blood of his cross, (i.e. which Christ shed on the cross) both as to the things on earth, and . . . in heaven: not that Christ died for the Angels, but, says S. Chrys. the Angels were in a manner at war with men, with sinners, as they stood for the cause and glory of God; but Christ put an end to this enmity, by restoring men to his favour. Wi. — In heaven. Not by pardoning the wicked angels did Christ reconcile the things in heaven, but by reconciling good Angels to man, who were enemies to him before the birth of Christ. S. Austin.
*H Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church:
Ver. 24. And fill up those things . . . in my flesh for his body, which is the church. [5] Nothing was wanting in the sufferings or merits of Christ, for a sufficient and superabundant redemption of mankind, and therefore he adds, for his body, which is the church, that his sufferings were wanting, and are to be endured by the example of Christ by the faithful, who are members of a crucified head. See S. Chrys. and S. Aug. Wi. — Wanting. There is no want in the sufferings of Christ himself as head; but many sufferings are still wanting, or are still to come in his body, the Church, and his members, the faithful. Ch. — S. Chrysostom here observes that Jesus Christ loves us so much, that he is not content merely to suffer in his own person, but he wishes also to suffer in his members; and thus we fill up what is wanting of the sufferings of Christ. S. Chrys. — The wisdom, the will, the justice of Jesus Christ, requireth and ordaineth that his body and members should be companions of his sufferings, as they expect to be companions of his glory; that so suffering with him, and after his example, they may apply to their own wants and to the necessities of others the merits and satisfaction of Jesus Christ, which application is what is wanting, and what we are permitted to supply by the sacraments and sacrifice of the new law.
*H Whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given me towards you, that I may fulfil the word of God:
Ver. 25. According to the dispensation of God; i.e. to the appointment of his divine providence. Wi.
*H The mystery which hath been hidden from ages and generations, but now is manifested to his saints,
Ver. 26. The mystery of Christ's incarnation, which hath been hidden, &c. See Ephes. i. 12. and v. 4, &c. Wi.