Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
First, he congratulates the Colossians on their faith, charity, and Christian life, and prays that they may grow and be strengthened in it, and that they may serve God in patience, joy, and thanksgiving — God who has transferred them into the kingdom (namely, the Church) of His Son.
Hence secondly, at verse 14, he teaches that not the angels, but Christ the Son of God, is both the Maker and Creator of all things, even of the angels, and the Redeemer of men and the Head of the Church, inasmuch as He has pacified all things which are in the heavens.
Then, at verse 21, he teaches that this redemption of Christ pertains also to the Gentiles, and that he himself is the legate and minister of this mystery and Gospel, and he glories in suffering many things for Christ and Christ's Church.
Vulgate Text: Colossians 1:1-29
1. Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Timothy a brother, 2. to those who are at Colossae, holy and faithful brethren in Christ Jesus. 3. Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you: 4. hearing of your faith in Christ Jesus, and the love which you have toward all the saints, 5. because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven: of which you have heard in the word of the truth of the Gospel: 6. which has come to you, as it is also in the whole world, and bears fruit, and grows, as in you, from the day on which you heard and knew the grace of God in truth. 7. As you learned from Epaphras, our most beloved fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ Jesus, 8. who also has manifested to us your love in the spirit. 9. Therefore we also, from the day on which we heard, do not cease to pray and ask for you that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will, in all spiritual wisdom and understanding: 10. that you may walk worthily of God, pleasing in all things: bearing fruit in every good work, and growing in the knowledge of God: 11. strengthened with all might according to the power of His brightness, in all patience and longsuffering with joy, 12. giving thanks to God the Father, who has made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light: 13. who has rescued us from the power of darkness, and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love: 14. in whom we have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins. 15. Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. 16. for in Him all things were created in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created through Him and in Him: 17. and He is before all, and all things consist in Him. 18. 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. 19. Because in Him it has well pleased, that all fullness should dwell: 20. and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, making peace through the blood of His cross, whether things on earth, or things in heaven. 21. And you, when at one time you were estranged, and enemies in mind, in evil works: 22. yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and unspotted, and blameless before Him: 23. if indeed you continue in the faith grounded, and steadfast, and unmoved from the hope of the Gospel, which you have heard, which has been preached in every creature that is under heaven, of which I Paul have been made a minister. 24. I who now rejoice in sufferings for you, and fill up those things which are lacking of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh for His body, which is the Church: 25. of which I have been made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which has been given to me toward you, that I may fulfill the word of God: 26. the mystery which has been hidden from the ages and generations, but now has been made manifest to His saints, 27. to whom God willed to make known the riches of the glory of this sacrament among the Gentiles, which is Christ, in you the hope of glory, 28. whom we proclaim, admonishing every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. 29. In whom also I labor, striving according to His working, which He works in me with power.
Verse 1: Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ Through the Will of God
1. Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, — not of the angels, says Theophylact from Chrysostom. By the very opening he strikes down the heresy of Simon, saying that the Apostles were sent not by angels, but by Christ, that through Christ, not through angels, they might reconcile men to God, and that not of themselves, but through the will of God.
Note finally: Throughout, the Apostle indicates that he is sent by God and Christ, in order to censure and exclude Simon Magus and other false teachers, who are not sent by God, but assume the office of teaching of their own accord.
Verse 2: To the Holy and Faithful Brethren in Christ
2. To the holy and faithful brethren in Christ. — Note here three epithets and as it were insignia of Christians. For first, they are called saints. For nowhere in the world is sanctity, both of doctrine and of life, to be found such as among Christians. And again, Christianity is nothing other than the profession of sanctity. For to this end Christ came and instituted Christianity, that, freed from the hand of our enemies without fear, we might serve Him in sanctity and justice all the days of our life, as Zechariah sings. This name "saint" admonishes Christians to study sanctity and perfection assiduously.
Secondly, they are called faithful, as if sons of Abraham, who is the father of the faithful and believers, and therefore heirs of the blessing promised to Abraham, that is, of the friendship of God, of justice, and of salvation.
Thirdly, they are called brethren, not in Adam, or any earthly parent, but in Christ, who has begotten us through His death and baptism; to signify that all Christians, putting aside all hatreds, dissensions, and variety both of nations and of complexions and offices, ought to love one another as brethren.
Grace to you and peace from God. — Supply, may it be granted and multiplied.
Verse 3: We Give Thanks to God, and the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ
3. We give thanks to God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. — "And" signifies "that is," as if to say: We give thanks to God, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ — to signify that God is not the cause of our salvation otherwise than by this very fact, that He is the Father of Christ, through whom we have been redeemed and adopted; and that under this title God is especially to be loved, venerated, and invoked by us, because He has given us Christ as Redeemer.
Always praying for you. — The "for you" can be referred to "we give thanks." Hence Erasmus translates: "we give thanks for you when we pray." Secondly and better, the Greeks refer it to "praying." Hence the Syriac translates: "we give thanks to God, and we pray for you." By a twofold title therefore Paul shows here his love for the Colossians: by the first, that he gives thanks to God for them; secondly, that he always prays for them; and that he always has those whom he had not seen in his mind and memory, says Chrysostom.
Note "always," that is, praying frequently and assiduously. See what was said at Ephesians VI, 18.
Verse 4: Hearing of Your Faith in Christ Jesus, and of Your Love Toward All the Saints
4. Hearing (ἀκούσαντες, that is, after we heard Epaphras narrating, says Chrysostom) of your faith, which is (not in angels, but) in Christ Jesus (as if to say: Your faith by which you believe in Christ), and the love which you have toward all the saints (Christians) — both inhabitants and pilgrims and strangers from other nations. He signifies that Christians ought to love all others with equal affection, whether they are of their own nation or of another, on this account that they are Christians. For in Christ Jesus there is neither Barbarian and Scythian, Jew and Greek, Spaniard and Frenchman; but all are one, Galatians III, 28.
Verse 5: Because of the Hope Which Is Laid Up for You in Heaven
5. Because of the hope (that is, the goods hoped for; it is a metonymy, according to Canon 30) which is laid up for you in heaven: which you have heard in the word (through the word) of the truth of the Gospel, — as if to say: Which you have heard through the preaching of the Gospel: which preaching is the word and discourse of truth, that is, most true, so that not even one point of error or falsehood is to be found in it. Hence there could be apposition in "the word of the truth of the Gospel," as if to say: In the word of the truth which is the Gospel itself, so that he calls the Gospel itself the very truth.
He marks the Simonians, Jews, Philosophers, and all the sects and schools of the Gentiles: all of which teach many heresies and errors, so that pure truth is nowhere to be found, except in the school and Gospel of Christ.
Verse 6: As It Is Also in the Whole World
6. As it is also in the whole world. — That is, this word, or the preaching of the Gospel, is in the principal parts and provinces of the whole world.
You knew the grace of God in truth. — Vatablus: through truth. Secondly and better, "in truth," that is, you have truly or most truly known the grace of redemption, justice, and salvation, which God has shown us through Christ. For thus the Hebrews explain adverbs by a preposition "in" with a noun in the ablative case, as, "think of the Lord in goodness," Wisdom I, 1 — that is, think well, rightly, and truly of God and His providence, justice, clemency, and other attributes; not badly and impiously with the Epicureans and Atheists. Thus the Hebrews say באמת beemet, that is, "in truth," that is, truly.
Verse 7: As You Learned from Epaphras, Our Most Beloved Fellow Servant
7. As you learned from Epaphras, our fellow servant (he calls Epaphras his fellow servant, because he served Christ together with him in preaching and propagating the Gospel. Hence in explaining he adds), who is a faithful minister of Christ for you. — For thus the Apostle, at the beginning of the Epistles to the Philippians and to Titus, calls himself and Timothy servants of Jesus Christ. Secondly, Epaphras seems to have been sent by the Colossians to Paul, in order to serve him in his chains. Hence he calls him a servant of the Church of the Colossians: but his own not a servant, but a "fellow servant," out of zeal for modesty and humility, because both served Christ and the Church.
Who is a faithful minister of Christ Jesus for you, — as if to say: Epaphras is a minister of Christ for you, namely for teaching you, so that he may indeed promote you in the faith, doctrine, and morals of Christ. Secondly, for you Colossians, says Theophylact, Epaphras has ministered in things pertaining to Christ, when namely he went away to Paul and consoled him in his chains, and when he indicated to him the affairs of the Colossians and served him in prison.
Verse 8: Who Also Manifested to Us Your Love in the Spirit
8. Who also manifested to us your love (which you have toward me and all Christians, as he said in verse 4) in the spirit, — that is, spiritual, which alone is true, firm, and solid love, as Chrysostom shows at length here.
Secondly, "love in the spirit," that is, flowing from the Holy Spirit who is in you, not from the flesh. So Anselm. So that it is a Hebrew enallage, by which בְ beth, that is "in," is often put for מן min, that is "from, out of, of." Hence Vatablus explains it thus: love in the spirit, that is, to which not the flesh but the Spirit of God incites us.
Thirdly, "in the spirit," that is, proceeding from the innermost recesses of the soul, and from the very innermost spirit of the mind.
Verse 9: That You May Be Filled with the Knowledge of His Will
9. Therefore we also, from the day we heard (your faith and love, as he said in the preceding verse and verse 4), do not cease praying and asking for you (that is, "to pray and ask," is a Grecism) that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will, — by which God willed and decreed to reconcile, justify, and save us through Christ, not through angels. "He signifies by these words neither altogether imperfect (says Theophylact from Chrysostom), nor altogether perfect men. For he did not say: That you may receive, but, That you may be filled. For you have it, but not yet the whole. And that you have been reconciled, you have indeed acknowledged: but that it is through the Son of God, this is lacking to you, nor do you sufficiently know it; wherefore I pray that this may be filled up in you. For it is the will and good pleasure of God, that He has given His Son for us, not the angels. By 'knowledge,' therefore, understand an addition of knowledge."
In all spiritual wisdom and understanding. — The philosophers and Simonians, says Chrysostom, had deceived you with their human and carnal wisdom; I oppose to this and wish for you spiritual wisdom and prudence.
Verse 10: That You May Walk Worthily of God, Pleasing in All Things
10. That you may walk worthily of God, pleasing in all things. — In Greek εἰς πᾶσαν ἀρέσκειαν, as if to say: Unto every pleasingness, and, as Ambrose says, unto every good pleasure. Hence it is clear that the "of God," or, as the Greek has it, "of the Lord," pertains as much to "that you may walk worthily" as to "pleasing in all things." For in the Greek there is one sentence (not two), in which the latter words determine the former: περιπατῆσαι ὑμᾶς ἀξίως τοῦ Κυρίου εἰς πᾶσαν ἀρέσκειαν, that is, that you may walk worthily of God in every pleasingness. For Paul signifies that to walk worthily of God is nothing other than to please God in all things: so that those walk worthily of God who, as faithful and obedient servants of God, fulfill the good pleasure and will of their highest Lord in all things. But how we are to fulfill the good pleasure and will of God, and consequently how we are to walk worthily of God, the Apostle explains when he adds: "Bearing fruit in every good work," and the other things he subjoins, which God requires of us as pleasing to Himself.
Verse 11: Strengthened with All Might According to the Power of His Glory
11. Strengthened in every virtue. — For "virtue," the Greek is δυνάμει, that is, power, strength, fortitude. Hence Vatablus translates: strengthened with all might.
According to the power of His brightness (in Greek δόξης, that is, of glory), — that is, according to the bright and glorious power of God, by which you, O Colossians, need to be fortified, when heresies and persecutions arise.
Note: For "power," the Greek is κράτος, which signifies not only power of strength, but also of dominion, or a powerful, valid, and predominant rule. Secondly, the power of glory signifies the greatest and most robust power, which is celebrated and glorious among all, as if to say: Everywhere God's glory rules, everywhere God's power commands. Therefore fear nothing: that most powerful Lord, ruling over all, whom you serve, has strengthened you and will make you powerful. So Theophylact.
In all patience and longsuffering, with joy, giving thanks to God the Father. — Here he declares that the virtue and strength, by which he just wished them to be strengthened through God's power, is situated in patience and longsuffering: so that in all adversities they may be patient, may rejoice, and may give thanks to God. The Greek signifies this more clearly, εἰς πᾶσαν ὑπομονὴν καὶ μακροθυμίαν. Hence Vatablus translates this place clearly thus: strengthened with all might according to the power of His glory unto every endurance and patience, with joy giving thanks to the Father. Hence it is clear that the true fortitude and strength of Christians is principally situated in patience, and that in it especially the power of God and of divine grace shows itself. For it is by far more difficult to suffer hard and strong things than to do strong things. Hence in Proverbs XVI, 32, it is said: "The patient man is better than the strong, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes cities." And this is evident in the Martyrs, in whose patience by the confession of all there was the highest fortitude. Hence St. Ambrose, in Book I of On Duties, ch. 41, and Chrysostom, Homily 85 on Matthew, demonstrate at length that fortitude consists more in enduring than in conquering. "To do brave deeds is Roman," Scaevola used to say; but "to suffer bravely is Christian."
Theophylact notes from Chrysostom that patience regards tyrants and enemies of the Church, while longsuffering regards brethren or Christians. "For," he says, "one is longsuffering toward those whom he could avenge himself upon: he endures and bears with those whom he cannot avenge himself upon; therefore, of the Lord ὑπομονή or patience is not said, but longsuffering, as one who can indeed cut off whom He will, yet bears with them."
Verse 12: Who Has Made Us Worthy to Be Partakers of the Lot of the Saints in Light
12. With joy giving thanks to God the Father. — This is the perfection, this the summit of patience and longsuffering, if you bear all hard and adverse things not only patiently but with joy; nay, that you give thanks to God. The matter and cause by which every Christian may rouse himself to joy and thanksgiving he subjoins, saying:
Who has made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light. — "Who," namely God, has by His grace alone, without our merit, indeed though we were unworthy and ill-deserving toward Himself, in preference to many whom He has passed by, brought us as if by His might "to a share," that is, to participation "of the lot," that is, the inheritance, "of the saints," which is set "in the light" of the Gospel, which Christ has brought us from heaven.
Note: "Sors" (lot) signifies the state and condition that befalls each by lot or by chance; thus it is commonly said: This is my lot, this my condition, this my fortune. So says the Psalmist, Psalm xxx, 16: "In Thy hands are my lots," as if to say, the chances, events, vicissitudes and state of my affairs — riches and poverty, servitude and princely station, peace and war, says Theodoret — which befall me alternately and by chance, are not ruled by fortune, but by Thy sure providence and governance, O Lord, and they come to me as Thou willest. Hence in Hebrew it is, in Thy hands עתתי ittotai, that is, my times, that is, the vicissitude of times — namely, times and days now of prosperity, soon of adversity, now of life, now of death, are in God's power and providence. Thus in Wisdom ii, 9 the impious say: "This is our lot," and on the contrary it is said of the pious in chapter v, 6: "Their lot is among the saints." So here "sors" can be taken, as if to say: "Who has made us worthy of a share of the lot of the saints," that is, who has counted us worthy of the lot, condition and state of the saints, so as to enroll us on the list of the saints.
Secondly and more significantly, "sors" is the same as inheritance. For of old, as still often now, inheritances were divided among heirs by lot. Hence "sors" is called the hereditary portion which falls to each by lot. Thus it is said in Psalm lxxvii, 54: "He divided to them the land by lot, with the cord of distribution," that is, by the cord with which the land was measured out, and each tribe was apportioned its share. So in Micah ii, 5 it is said: "Casting the cord of the lot." Much more is the inheritance of the saints called "lot," because no human had any right to it, whereas among men those who are heirs have a right to the inheritance of which they are heirs. Hence in Ephesians 1:11 the Apostle said that we were called by lot to the faith and grace of Christ. This inheritance of the saints, therefore, is called "sors," because it falls to men without merit, freely and as it were by lot. "I see no merit (says St. Augustine on that Psalm xxx: In Thy hands are my lots) by which from all the impiety of the human race Thou hast chiefly chosen me to salvation: I came to the Lord's tunic by lot." Therefore as God the Father freely adopted us through Christ as His sons, so also as His heirs, and joint-heirs with Christ.
Note secondly: This lot and inheritance of the Saints is set, as follows, "in light." For although some think that by "in light" is signified the manner and means by which we come to this inheritance, namely through the light of faith, yet more plainly and more genuinely "in light" signifies the situation and condition of this inheritance, namely that it is set in the light of the Gospel, which Christ has brought us from heaven. For he opposes this lot of evangelical light to the lot and power of darkness, from which Christ has rescued us, as he says in the next verse. And this light of the Gospel is God's greatest gift and good. Whence a little above, in verse 9, he said: "We do not cease praying for you and asking, that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding." And in verse 10: "That you may walk worthy of God, etc., increasing in the knowledge of God." Hence also St. John in chapter 1 inculcates this light, and adorns Christ with it as with a most distinguished emblem: "In Him," he says, "was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness," and: "He was the true light, which enlighteneth every man coming into this world." Therefore what Paul here says — Who has made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light — is the same as what Peter says in 1 Peter 2:9: "Who has called you out of darkness into His marvellous light."
By "light," then, he understands the knowledge of God, of Christ, of righteousness, of grace, of the virtues and of salvation, which we have received through Christ's Gospel and faith: which knowledge, as it were a root and mother, embraces grace, righteousness, and all other gifts and spiritual goods which Christ has brought, and which we share in the Church of Christ.
Note thirdly: This light and this knowledge we receive in inchoate form in this life, but its perfection we shall receive in the heavenly beatitude, of which we are enrolled as heirs, and that heavenly inheritance, in this life through hope and grace, we taste and begin as if by a certain foretaste. Therefore the full sense of this passage is this: God has made us worthy, through baptism and Christianity, that already, living here in the Church, we may have a share and participation in the lot and inheritance of the Saints, which is rooted in the light of faith and the knowledge of God, and that through faith and grace we here begin and partake of the lot and inheritance of the Saints, that is, of the Blessed, which is set in light, that is, in the vision of God and heavenly glory, which we shall actually partake of after this life, when we are actually enrolled in the lot and list of the Saints and the Blessed. So Chrysostom, Theophylact, Anselm. Finally St. Dionysius takes "light" as baptism, as if to say, In the light, that is, in baptism: for this is called in Greek φῶς and φωτισμός, that is, light and illumination, because in it the baptized are enlightened through faith. So he himself in De Ecclesiastica Hierarchia, ch. On Baptism.
Verse 13: Who Has Rescued Us from the Power of Darkness, and Translated Us into the Kingdom of the Son of His Love
13. Who has rescued us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. — Note: He calls "darkness" both ignorance, infidelity and other sins; the hell which results from them; and the devil who presides over all these. So Chrysostom and Theophylact. For he opposes the kingdom of Christ, as a kingdom of light, to the kingdom and power of darkness, that is, of the devil. Thus the devil is called "prince of darkness," Ephesians vi, 12; Luke xxii, 53, as if to say: Under paganism darkness ruled over you, namely ignorance, idolatry and every sort of crime, and the very prince of darkness, the devil. But God has rescued you from this dominion and tyranny of darkness, and transferred you into the most luminous kingdom of Christ, so that no longer rules in you the demon, sin, or darkness; but Christ the only-begotten Son of God, who is the true light of the world, and who through His most joyful Gospel has brought the kingdom of light into the world, and makes us partners of His kingdom, indeed kings.
Whence morally St. Chrysostom says: "What sayest thou, O man? Called to a kingdom, to the kingdom of the Son of God, and art thou all yawning, and like a slothful one dost scratch and grow torpid? For if on every single day, or unto a thousand deaths, thou hadst to leap, oughtest thou not to bear all things? Yet for the sake of a principality thou wouldst do anything; but seeing thou art to be a partner in the kingdom of the Only-Begotten of God, wilt thou not throw thyself even on a thousand swords? wilt thou not leap into fire? But thou even mournest that thou must depart hence, and gladly tarriest in the present, taking more than due care of the body. What sort of thing is this? Thou even thinkest death a thing horrible. The true cause of these things is pleasures and laxity of life. Otherwise, he who leads a bitter life, would even wish to fly away and be freed from this life." Then by an apposite likeness of nestlings he declares the same thing, saying: "But now we suffer the same thing as happens to the chicks of birds when they grow sluggish, and always desire to remain in the nest. The longer they stick there, the more weakly they become. For this present life is a kind of nest, compacted of straws and clay. And if you should show me magnificent houses, even royal palaces splendid with much gold and precious stones, I will think them not different from swallows' nests. For when winter sets in, all will fall of their own accord."
Of the Son of His love. — Not as though the Son proceeded from the Father by will, love and affection equally with intellect and intellection, and were the same with the Holy Spirit, as Sabellius would have it: but by a Hebraism "Son of love" means His beloved Son: so the Syriac, Chrysostom, Theophylact; that is, His true, proper and only Son, and uniquely beloved, says Theodoret. Thus in Proverbs v, 19, the Wise One speaking of the wife whom one has taken in his youth: "Let her be dear to you," he says, "as" אילת אהבים ויעלת חן aielet ahabim veyaalat chen, that is, a hind of loves and a fawn of grace. Which our Vulgate clearly translates, "most dear hind, and most gracious or most pleasing fawn." Note: He says these almost in the same words at Ephesians 1:6, where he says: "In which He has graced us (in place of which here he has 'translated us into the kingdom,' namely that Christ may reign in us by grace) in His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins."
Verse 14: In Whom We Have Redemption Through His Blood, the Remission of Sins
14. Redemption and remission of sins. — "And" here signifies "that is"; for our redemption from the servitude of sin is in fact nothing other than the remission of sins, as I have said on Ephesians 1:7.
Verse 15: Who Is the Image of the Invisible God, the Firstborn of Every Creature
15. Who (the Son) is the image of the invisible God (the Father). — For the Son is the Word of the Father, wholly like and equal to the Father, and indeed plainly of the same essence with the Father. See what is said of the image at 2 Corinthians iv, 4.
Firstborn of every creature. — Therefore, the Arians say, Christ is a creature, and every creature is Christ's sister. For he is called firstborn among brothers and sisters who is begotten before all brothers and sisters; or who is the first brother. But Theodoret and Ambrose reply that Christ here is not called πρωτόκτιστον, that is, first-created, but πρωτότοκον, that is, firstborn: therefore generation belongs to the Son, but creation to creatures: as much, then, as divine generation excels creation, so much does the Son excel creatures. Secondly, in the next verse Christ is called the maker of every creature; therefore He is not a brother of creatures. First then St. Anselm, the Commentary ascribed to Jerome, and the Council of Sardica take these words of Christ as He is man: namely, that Christ as He is man is firstborn of every creature, not in time, but in honor; because Christ as man is the end which God first intended and for whose sake He created all things. This explanation is proved first, because Christ as God is not firstborn, but only-begotten: therefore He cannot be firstborn except as He is man. Secondly, because Christ as man is the head of the Church; but Paul here treats of Christ as He is head of the Church, as is plain from verse 18: therefore he calls Christ firstborn not as God, but as man.
But you will take these better and more genuinely of Christ as He is God. For in this verse he describes Christ's dignity from His divinity. Whence he says: "He is before us, and in Him," that is, through Him, "all things (therefore even the angels) consist," that is, hold together and are preserved, just as they were created by the same. Therefore "firstborn" here, as also at Matthew i, 25, is the same as only-begotten. Christ is called firstborn because He is begotten first, namely before every creature. So Paul means to say that Christ's generation is prior to the creation of all creatures, and that Christ is not younger than the angels, as the Simonians taught, as if to say: Christ excels in time, dignity, causality and the production of all things all the ennoeas, powers, βάθος (depths), aeons, and angels of the Simonians, of Valentinus and other Novelists; and consequently not the angels, but Christ alone is our redeemer and mediator. So Theophylact, Ambrose, Theodoret. And this is plain from what follows; for he subjoins: "Because in Him were all things created, in heaven and in earth." See Epiphanius in the heresy of Basilides, Simon and Menander.
Verse 16: For in Him Were All Things Created in Heaven and on Earth, Visible and Invisible
16. In Him were all things created. — "In Him," that is, through Him. Hence by repetition explaining and confirming the same point he adds: "All things were created through Him and in Him."
Visible and invisible. — The Platonists taught, and from them Simon Magus, Menander, Saturninus and other followers of Simon, that God created men and the world (only by intermediaries). Against these the Apostle teaches that both invisible things and visible things, that is, both angels and men, were created by the Son.
Dominions. — That is, those who rule. Principalities. — That is, princes, or those exercising principality. Powers. — That is, the mighty, and those endowed with power. Abstracts are put for concretes. For these are names of angels. See what is said at Ephesians 1:21.
All things were created through Him and in Him. — For "in Him," the Greek has εἰς αὐτόν, that is, unto Him, namely all things were created for His glory. So Vatablus. But often εἰς is taken for ἐν, that is, "in Him" for "unto Him," and so the Greeks here take it. Hence secondly, Anselm says, "through Him," as it were as efficient cause with the Father, all things were created. For to the Son, because He proceeds from the Father, is attributed an operation as if mediating, which the preposition "through" signifies. "In Him," namely as in the Word, idea and wisdom, all things were created. But in this sense it would be better said, through Him, namely as Word and Wisdom, all things were created. Hence thirdly and best, "in Him" signifies the immensity of the Son, namely that the Son is everywhere by essence, presence and power, so that He cannot create or act anything outside Himself, but all things that He creates and does, He creates and does in Himself. For this is the perfection of the divine immensity, that being everywhere, He occupies and fills all things, and does nothing without or at a distance, but all things within Himself and within the compass of His own essence. God therefore is intimately present to all things created by Him; and all created things depend on this intimate presence of God, are preserved and governed, as the body and the life of the body depends on the presence of the soul. Whence Plato said God is the soul of the world. And the Wise One, Wisdom 1:7: "The Spirit of the Lord," he says, "has filled the world, and this (this Spirit, as Augustine reads; for the 'this' refers to the Greek πνεῦμα, which is neuter) which contains all things has knowledge of the voice," as if to say: Beware of murmuring and detraction, because the Holy Spirit, who contains all things — that is, by His essence, presence and power surrounds, holds and preserves all creatures — hears all things. For all utterances, both of mouth and of mind, take place within the compass and embrace of the Holy Spirit, not outside. Wherefore nothing can lie hidden from Him, not even the slightest murmur, but He has knowledge and cognition of all voices and discourses. Hence all things are said to be and to consist in the Holy Spirit, just as all things are said to be and to consist in the Father and the Son. And this is what the Poet sang:
"The Spirit within nourishes, and Mind, infused through all the limbs, / sets the whole mass in motion and mingles with the mighty body." (Virgil, Aeneid VI)
For just as the soul is in the body, so in turn the body is in the soul, and much more so. For the soul does not depend intimately on the body, but the body on the soul, and is held together, preserved and vivified by it. In like manner God is in the world, and in turn much more is the world itself in God, because it depends intimately on God and on God's presence, and is preserved and held together in its being. So therefore in the Son, that is, within the compass and embrace of the Son, within the sphere of the Son's essence and presence, all things were created, and therefore, as follows, in Him all things hold together, that is, are preserved and consist: so much so that if the Son and God should withdraw His essence and presence from the universe, the whole universe would vanish, as rays vanish when the sun withdraws itself; and the life of the body vanishes when the soul withdraws itself from the body. So Chrysostom and Theophylact.
St. Augustine declares the same in Book VII of the Confessions, chapter 5, by a beautiful comparison, in which he compares God to the sea, inasmuch as He contains the whole world in Himself, just as the sea contains a sponge: "I behold You, O Lord, on every side of the world surrounding and penetrating this mass, but everywhere infinite: as if the sea were everywhere and on every side, an infinite sole sea through immense spaces, and had within it some sponge however large, yet finite — that sponge would on every side be wholly filled out of the immense sea: thus I considered Thy finite creature filled with Thee, the infinite." In a like way God has been called by others a kind of greatest and most beautiful adamant, containing and embracing the whole world in Himself.
Note: Lest, when he said "through Him," any one with Arius should understand "through Christ as a kind of minister" — namely, that all things were created (as if through a minister) — the Apostle added, "in Him," so that he might signify that the Son is partner in the Father's empire, immensity, power and essence.
Verse 17: And He Is Before All, and All Things Consist in Him
17. And He is before all — Thrones, Dominions, Powers, etc. Secondly, the Greek πρὸ πάντων could be translated, "He is before all things." For it refers to τὰ πάντα, that is, all things, which in the preceding verse he said were created and founded in Christ; but chiefly the Apostle intends to oppose and prefer Christ to the angels, whom the Simonians used to prefer above Christ.
Verse 18: And He Is the Head of the Body, the Church; Who Is the Beginning, the Firstborn from the Dead
18. And He is the head of the body, the Church. — Hitherto he treated of Christ as God, and showed His divinity: now he treats of Christ as He is man, and shows the dignity of Christ as man. For Christ as He is man, not as He is God, is properly the head of the Church. See what is said at Ephesians 1:22.
Who is the beginning. — First, Christ, as God, is the beginning of all things, says Anselm. But in this verse the Apostle does not treat of Christ as God, but as He is man and the head of the Church, as I have said.
Secondly therefore, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Ambrose and Vatablus interpret better: Christ is "the beginning," that is, the source, leader and author of the resurrection and of those who rise from the dead; so that "beginning" equally with "firstborn" pertains to "from the dead." Indeed, Vatablus and Erasmus translate thus: "who is the beginning of those firstborn from the dead" — as if to say, Christ is the first beginning, source and author of the resurrection from the dead.
Thirdly and best, Christ, as He is man and head of the Church, is "the beginning": first, by position; because, raised above all the heavens, He stands as it were first and supreme; second, by dignity. Hence Cyril: "Beginning," he says, that is, prince and chief. For the Greek ἀρχή signifies both principality and beginning, and so "beginning" is taken for principality in Psalm cix, 3: "With Thee (O Christ) is the principality (Hebrew נדבות nedabot, that is, principalities) in the day of Thy power." Third, Christ is "beginning" in time and causality. For He Himself made and formed for Himself a body, that is, the Church, and in it and in us, who are members of the Church, He is the beginning and cause of all virtues and good works. So Anselm.
You will ask whether Christ in the same sense calls Himself "the beginning" in John viii, 25, when the Jews asked Him: "Who art Thou?" He answered: "The Beginning, who (or as some read with the Greeks, that) also speak unto you." St. Augustine on that passage of John, Bede, Rupert and Ambrose in Book III On the Faith, chap. 4, reply that Christ calls Himself the beginning, as if to say: I am the first and the last; or I am the beginning of all things, through whom all things were made. But thus "principium" would be in the nominative case, and the Greek would have to read ἀρχή. Now it is clear that "principium" in John is in the accusative case: for so the Greek text and the Greeks consistently have, namely τὴν ἀρχήν, in the way the Septuagint usually translates the Hebrew בראשית berescit, that is, "in the beginning"; for the preposition is understood, as if to say: according to the beginning, from the beginning. Secondly therefore, more truly and plainly, "principium" in St. John is the same as "from the beginning," and the verb "I am" is understood, as if to say: I am from the beginning, I am from eternity before Abraham, as He says in the same place, verse 58; I am eternal, true God of true God, "who also speak unto you," as if to say: who also announce this very thing to you. Our translator reads ὅς, that is "who"; but the Greeks read ὅ, that is "which," as if to say: I am from the beginning, which I myself speak and assert to you. Thirdly, Nonnus and Maldonatus, by transposing these words, interpret thus: I am he, or that which, who or which from the beginning speak to you, and have long preached, namely that I am the Messiah, whom if you would listen, you could long since have known Me to be that very One from My words and deeds. But this is an unusual transposition. Add that this sense and this response have nothing exceptional, but are humble and lowly. Wherefore the second sense is more sublime, more worthy of Christ, and truer. Therefore Christ calls Himself "the beginning" in one sense, Paul calls Christ "the beginning" here in another.
Firstborn from the dead. — That is, first rising from the dead to immortal life. Note here first: Resurrection is and is called both here and elsewhere "regeneration," because God restores the dead man to life, as if He were begetting him again. So Chrysostom and Theodoret. Secondly, although some raised by Elijah and Elisha had risen before Christ, yet Christ is called the first of those rising, because He rose to an immortal life, never again to die: but they rose to a mortal life, again to die, as in fact they have again died. See what is said at 1 Corinthians xv, 20.
That in all things He Himself may hold the primacy. — As if to say: That both in the genesis of things, and in the παλιγγενεσίᾳ (regeneration), that is, both in the first creation of things and in the resurrection, Christ may hold the first place (for this is what the Greek πρωτεύων signifies); because just as Christ, as God, is before all and all things, and all things were created and consist in Christ, as he said in verse 16, so Christ, as man, is firstborn from the dead, leader and prince of the resurrection.
Secondly, Anselm interprets this differently: Christ, he says, is the first of those rising, so that in all Saints both former and following He may hold the primacy of dignity, power and holiness. But the former sense, as it is more genuine, so is more illustrious and ample.
Verse 19: Because in Him It Has Pleased That All Fullness Should Dwell
19. Because in Him (Christ) it has pleased (the Father) that all fullness should dwell. — So the Latin, Greek, Syriac and all the interpreters everywhere read. Therefore the word "of the divinity," which some here add, is to be removed. The sense is, as if to say: The will and good pleasure of God the Father was, that in Christ the Son should dwell all fullness, that is, all perfection both of wisdom, of grace, of power, and finally of divinity itself: should dwell, I say, not only by power and operation, but also by itself and its own essence. So Theophylact and Anselm.
Secondly, Theodoret interprets otherwise: "Fullness," he says, is the Church, which is filled with God's gifts, and which fills and perfects the body of Christ as her head, as he said at Ephesians 1:23. She dwells in Christ, that is, is joined to Christ, is covered under Christ's covering and protection as in a tabernacle, and follows Christ's leadership and laws, just as when a house or ship is moved, all who dwell or are in it follow its motion.
But because the Apostle does not say "fullness" simply, in the way he called the Church at Ephesians 1:23, but "all fullness," nor does he explain that this fullness is the Church, as he explained at Ephesians 1, hence we shall more simply and plainly take "fullness" in the former sense already given. For this is the reason why Christ holds the primacy in all things, as preceded.
Verse 20: And Through Him to Reconcile All Things Unto Himself, Making Peace by the Blood of His Cross
20. And through Him to reconcile all things unto Himself. — "All things," that is, all men of all times, nations and places, who pass through this life as wayfarers. Wrongly, therefore, did Origen gather from this that one day the damned men and demons would be reconciled to God and saved.
Note: For "in ipsum" (unto Himself) the Greek is εἰς αὐτόν, which Vatablus translates "toward Himself": more plainly others, εἰς αὐτόν, that is, they say, ἑαυτῷ, that is, "to Himself," so that it is a Hebraism: for the Hebrews use the absolute pronoun for the reflexive. So Theophylact.
Making peace through the blood of His cross, whether the things that are on earth, or the things that are in heaven. — In Latin syntax it would be better to say "by making peace": for "pacificans" (making peace) does not cohere properly in Latin with "complacuit" (it pleased), with which nevertheless it ought to cohere and in the Greek does cohere, as if to say: It pleased God the Father to reconcile all to Himself by making peace through the blood which Christ shed on the cross, both those that are on earth and those that are in heaven, that is, both men and angels, which by another phrase he said at Ephesians 1:10, writing thus: "He purposed to restore all things in Christ, both those that are in the heavens and those that are on earth."
Verse 21: And You, When You Were at One Time Alienated and Enemies in Mind by Evil Works
21. And you, when you were at one time alienated and enemies in mind by evil works. — For "sensu" (in mind), the Greek is διάνοια, that is, mind and will, that is, through mind and will: although Ambrose and Jerome (in his epistle to John, Bishop of Jerusalem) translate διανοίᾳ in the dative, "to the mind or thought, counsels and sense"; and they refer this not to the man sinning, but to God against whom one sins; for Ambrose has it thus: "And you, formerly alienated and enemies of His counsels in iniquitous works," etc. Jerome thus: "When you were alienated and enemies of His mind." But better and more plainly our Vulgate, the Syriac and the Greeks render in the ablative, "in mind, or in thought and sense," as if to say: When you were alienated from God, not by fate, says Theophylact, not by necessity, not by original sin alone, but were also turned away from God by your own will and malice, and were of a hostile mind against God, which you testified by evil outward works, blaspheming, becoming drunk, fornicating, etc. The Syriac otherwise: εἰς τοῖς ἔργοις, that is, "in works," he translates "on account of works"; for thus he has, מטל עבדיכון metul abadachun, that is, "you were enemies in your minds, on account of your evil works." But the former sense is plainer and more orderly.
Verse 22: But Now He Has Reconciled You in the Body of His Flesh by Death
22. But now He has reconciled you in the body of His flesh by death. — "His," that is, His own. It is a Hebraism, of which I have spoken at verse 20. Note: "In the body of His flesh" has an emphasis, as if to say: Lest anyone with Simon say that Christ suffered in a phantasmal body; or with Basilides that Simon of Cyrene suffered in Christ's place, I say and affirm that Christ "in the body of His flesh," that is, in His own fleshly body, that is, true and proper, suffered and died for us.
To present (so that He might present) you holy and immaculate, — ἀμώμους, that is, in whom not even Momus himself might find anything to carp at and reprove, as I said at Ephesians 1:4. Tertullian often translates "unblameable."
And irreprovable (ἀνεγκλήτους, that is, as Erasmus translates, "inarraignable" or "unblameable") in His sight, — namely, of God the Father. Vatablus and the Syriac translate "in His own sight, before Himself." For the Hebrews have the same reflexive pronoun as the absolute.
Verse 23: If Indeed You Continue in the Faith, Grounded and Stable and Immovable from the Hope of the Gospel
23. If indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and stable and immovable from the hope of the Gospel. — He requires constancy both in faith and in Christian hope. Secondly, he calls "the hope of the Gospel" the hope which Christ brings and teaches through His Gospel: namely, that we may hope through Christ to attain not earthly but spiritual and heavenly goods. Here too "hope" could be taken metonymically for the goods hoped for, which the Gospel promises.
Which has been preached in every creature that is under heaven, — that is, in all the nations that are under heaven: it is a synecdoche; for the genus, that is, "creature," is applied to the noblest species, namely man. It is, however, more magnificent and ardent to say, "in every creature," than "among all men."
More subtly, from St. Gregory, Anselm: Every creature, he says, is called man, because man shares in something with every creature; for with stones he shares being or existence, with trees he shares life and vegetation, with animals sense and motion, with angels reason and intellect. But the former sense is more full and genuine. For so Christ, in Mark xvi, 15, commands the Gospel to be preached to every creature, that is, to every nation that is created under heaven.
Note: There is a hyperbole here; for not yet in Paul's time had the Gospel been preached to absolutely all nations, such as the Danes, Norwegians, Japanese, Chinese, Muscovites, Tartars. To "all," therefore, means to most, very many, almost all, or all not specifically but generically; because indeed it has been preached to nations both Eastern and Western, both Northern and Southern: for all nations are either Eastern, or Western, or Northern, or Southern, as if Paul were saying: The Gospel has not enclosed itself in Judea alone, but like a flash of lightning has spread to most nations from East to West, from South to North. See therefore, O Colossians, that you do not change the faith, which has now been received by the whole world, and consequently do not listen to Simon and the Novelists, who introduce another faith, indeed a perfidy.
Verse 24: Who Now Rejoice in My Sufferings for You, and Fill Up Those Things That Are Wanting of the Sufferings of Christ
24. Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, — as if to say: So sure is the hope of the Gospel of which I just spoke, that I rejoice for it, and for the Gospel being spread among you (so that I may make you partakers of this hope), to suffer anything whatever.
And I fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for His body, which is the Church. — "And" here is causal: for such is the Hebrew vau, and is equivalent to "because," as if to say: I rejoice in my sufferings, because by them I fill up those things that are lacking in the sufferings of Christ. Again, Vatablus interprets "sufferings of Christ" as the sufferings which Paul underwent for Christ's sake, as if to say: I have already suffered many things for Christ, many still are wanting and remain to be borne. I am ready to suffer the remaining afflictions for Christ in my flesh on behalf of the Church. He says "I fill up," as the Commentary ascribed to Jerome notes, to signify that he is prepared to suffer these things even unto blood and death, as Christ suffered unto death, for the Gospel.
But these "sufferings" are not the sufferings of Christ, but of Paul on Christ's account; and if Paul had meant this, he would clearly have said: I fill up those things that are wanting in my sufferings, which I suffer for Christ's sake.
Properly, then, he calls "the sufferings of Christ" those things which Christ suffered. So Ambrose, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Oecumenius, Anselm and others everywhere, and consequently "in my flesh" is not to be referred to "those things which are wanting," but to "I fill up," as if to say: By suffering in my flesh, I fill up those things which are wanting to the sufferings which Christ suffered in His flesh.
You will say: If something is wanting to Christ's passion, then Christ's passion and redemption were not full, but diminished and insufficient. I answer by denying the consequence: For Christ's passion was in itself full and sufficient, and nothing was lacking to it as to value and the sufficiency of its price. For Christ by His passion has obtained a sufficient price for the redemption of the whole world, indeed of a thousand worlds; yet to the same passion something was lacking and is lacking in us — namely the communication and participation of the passion and merits of Christ; that is, that Christ should suffer like things not only in Himself, but also in His members, that is, in the Apostles and other faithful, and that by this passion His body, which is the Church, should be propagated and perfected. For by His eternal decree God has determined that Christ should suffer not only in Himself, but also in His body and members, namely in the Church and the faithful, and should be consummated and perfected by their passion, namely while each of the faithful by suffering becomes a participant and like Christ suffering and crucified.
Hence note first, with Ambrose, Chrysostom, Theophylact and others: Just as mystically there is one body, one soul and life, so also there is one passion of Christ and of the Church, or of Christ and the Apostles, the Martyrs and all the faithful, just as the passion of the head and of the body is the same, or of the head and of the members. For Christ is the head; the members are the Apostles and other faithful. Whence Christ to Paul persecuting the Church did not say: "Why dost thou persecute the Church?", but: "Why dost thou persecute Me?"; see what is said at 1 Corinthians xii, 27. For Christ communicates to the Apostles and other faithful, just as His grace and patience, so also His passions; and again, just as when one member suffers, the other members and especially the head suffer and suffer-with it, so when the faithful suffer, Christ suffers in them and suffers-with them.
Hence secondly, for "those things that are wanting" the Greek is ὑστερήματα. Which Beza, in bad faith and wrongly, with the Commentary falsely inscribed to St. Ambrose, translates as "remainders": for properly ὑστέρημα to Paul and the Greeks is the same as "defect, want, lack"; especially when joined with the verb ἀνταναπληρόω, that is, "I fill up, I supply": for no one supplies what is left over and abundant, but only what is lacking, as is plain from 2 Corinthians 8:14: "Let your abundance," he says, "supply their want (in Greek ὑστέρημα)." And Philippians 2:30: "That he might fulfill," he says, "that which on your part was wanting (in Greek τὸ ὑστέρημα) toward my service." And 1 Thessalonians 3:10: "That we may complete," he says, "those things that are wanting (in Greek ὑστερήματα) of your faith." Whence Chrysostom translates ὑστερήματα as λείποντα, that is, those things that are wanting; and the Syriac translates חסירותא chasiruta, that is, defect; so others everywhere. This is also signified by the word "adimpleo" (I fill up), and more clearly by the Greek ἀνταναπληρόω, which, as the Apostle says: "I fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ in my flesh." For, as the same author says in his commentary on Psalm LXI, near the beginning, all the sufferings of Christ and of Christians belong to one common commonwealth of Christ and the Church.
Here note: Just as many things are lacking in the sufferings of Christ, so that the Gentiles may be converted to the faith of Christ and become partakers of Christ's suffering — which the Apostles fill up, while they suffer many things in preaching the Gospel for the propagation of Christ's Church, which is what the Apostle here primarily and properly intends; so likewise many things are lacking in the sufferings of Christ, so that to the faithful already converted those sufferings and satisfactions of Christ may be applied more fully day by day. Therefore, just as each of the faithful, by the satisfactory works he undertakes, applies to himself the satisfaction of Christ, that he may make satisfaction for the temporal punishment owed for his sins, so likewise he can apply to others this passion and satisfaction of his own — leaning upon and mingled with Christ's satisfaction — when he himself no longer needs it, all guilt and punishment having already been remitted to him; for this is what the communion of Saints and of good works requires, which exists in the Church. And in this sense Paul also was filling up those things that were lacking of the sufferings of Christ for the Church; for Paul applied to the Church the sufferings and satisfactions that overflowed in him, that through them the satisfaction of Christ might be applied to the faithful who were in the Church, and so they might make satisfaction for their sins, that is, for the temporal punishment which, the guilt being remitted, still remained for them to discharge.
Paul also intimates this second sense by these words, or at any rate, once the prior genuine sense has been given, it is easy to deduce and conclude that very point by argument from parity: for these second sufferings, as much as the first, are lacking to the sufferings of Christ; and these second sufferings, as much as the first, are filled up through the sufferings and satisfactions of the Apostles and other Saints; and through these second, as much as through the first, the sufferings of Christ are applied to us. Finally, both these second and these first sufferings are undertaken for the Church of Christ — indeed the second more than the first, for the second are undertaken for the faithful, the first for the conversion of unbelievers.
Hence it follows, thirdly, that Bellarmine, Salmeron, Francisco Suárez and other Catholic Doctors are not wrong, when treating of indulgences (whatever Beza may cry out here), in extending these general words of the Apostle to the treasury of the Church, from which the Church is wont to grant Indulgences. For God willed that this treasury should consist of the merits and satisfactions not only of Christ, but also of the Apostles and all the Saints of Christ, as Clement VI defined in the Extravagant Unigenitus. And God did this for two reasons. First, that in this way He might honor Christ and the Saints of Christ, by associating them in the partnership of Christ's satisfaction, by which Christ made satisfaction for others: just as a king honors his commanders by setting them over provinces and admitting them into a partnership in governing the kingdom; and God also, who is the first cause of all things, honors His creatures and secondary causes by joining them to Himself as partners in acting.
The second reason is that there might be a perfect communication of goods among the members of the Church, that is, between us and the Saints, just as it exists among citizens of the same commonwealth and among brothers of the same family. For thus the Saints properly fill up for the Church those things that are wanting — namely, to this aforementioned treasury — and consequently they fill up those things that are wanting to the sufferings of Christ; because without these the sufferings of Christ would not complete this treasury as it was instituted by God, namely that it should be composed not only of Christ's sufferings and satisfactions, but also of those of the other Saints.
And the Greek ἀνταναπληρῶ favors this, which signifies "I fill up in turn," or "I fill up on the other hand from the opposite side" — as if to say: This treasury, on one part, namely that of Christ's merit, is complete; but on the other part, namely the merits of the Saints, it is incomplete and is daily filled up through my sufferings — that is, of Paul and the other Saints.
St. Augustine elegantly handles this passage of Paul in his commentary on Psalm LXXXVI: "'That I may fill up,' he says, 'those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ in my flesh.' What shall I fill up? Those things which are wanting. To whom are they wanting? To the sufferings of Christ. And where are they wanting? In my flesh. Was anything of the sufferings lacking in that Man, who was made the Word of God, born of the Virgin Mary? For He suffered whatever needed to be suffered: and it seems that all was suffered; for placed on the cross He received vinegar at the last, and said: 'It is finished'; and bowing His head, He gave up the spirit. What does 'It is finished' mean? Now nothing is wanting from the measure of His sufferings, because all things that were written of Me are accomplished. Therefore all the sufferings were fulfilled, but in the Head: there still remained the sufferings of Christ in the Body: now you are the body of Christ and His members. While He was in those members, then, the Apostle said: 'I fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ in my flesh.'"
Verse 25: Whereof I Am Made a Minister According to the Dispensation of God
25. Whereof (namely, of the Church, for in Greek it is ἧς, feminine) I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God which is given me toward you. — For "dispensation," the Greek is οἰκονομία, as if to say: In the house of God, which is the Church, I am the steward, so that I may dispense to the whole family, that is, to each of the faithful, the goods and gifts of God my Lord.
That I may fulfill the word of God. — Vatablus: "that I may declare the word, that is, God's promise concerning the calling of the Gentiles, to have been fulfilled." For so the Hebrews often take a real active verb for a mental or verbal one, according to Canon 36.
Secondly, more plainly, "that I may fulfill" means: that I may fully preach the word of God and complete the preaching of the Gospel which Christ began. So in Romans chapter xv, verse 19, Paul says that he had "filled up" (that is, fully preached) the Gospel of Christ from Jerusalem as far as Illyricum.
Note here the dignity of the heralds and teachers of the Gospel, inasmuch as Christ calls them to share in His office and ministry, that they may complete the preaching of the Gospel which He Himself began, and may finish and perfect the work of human redemption, for which Christ was sent into the world by the Father.
Verse 26: The Mystery Which Has Been Hidden from Ages and Generations
26. The mystery. — It is in apposition, as is clear from the Greek: for he calls the word of God "the mystery, which hath been hidden from ages, but now is manifested to His saints," namely the Apostles and Christians.
Verse 27: To Whom God Would Make Known the Riches of the Glory of This Mystery Among the Gentiles, Which Is Christ in You the Hope of Glory
27. To whom God would make known the riches of the glory (that is, the rich, opulent, and spiritually abounding glory) of this sacrament (mystery, as he said a little before) among the Gentiles (for the Gentiles have been made partakers of this mystery of the word of God, or the Gospel, more than the Jews); which (namely, sacrament or mystery) is Christ (objectively, that is, as if to say: that which is concerned with Christ, whose object is Christ; for the whole mystery of the Gospel is concerning Christ and the redemption of Christ, who) in you is the hope of glory. — Again Christ is here called "the hope of glory" objectively, as if to say: Christ is that one, or He, through whom you hope for and expect the future glory of eternal life. So Ambrose, Anselm, Theodoret.
Others expound it thus: Christ is the hope of glory, that is, a glorious hope, because, namely, through Christ you hope to obtain magnificent and glorious goods.
Verse 28: Whom We Preach, Correcting Every Man and Teaching Every Man
28. Whom we preach, correcting every man. — The Greek νουθετοῦντες signifies as much "admonishing" as "rebuking," or "correcting and chastising." So Theophylact.
Verse 29: Wherein Also I Labor, Striving According to His Working
29. Wherein (in regard to which) also I labor, striving. — In Greek, ἀγωνιζόμενος, that is, contending as it were in a contest, with much vigilance, fortitude, exertion, difficulty, and danger, as an athlete of Christ. So Theophylact.
According to the operation (Greek ἐνέργειαν, that is, force and efficacy) of Him, which He (Christ) worketh in me in might, — that is, powerfully, strongly, and efficaciously; for this is the Hebrew בכוח baccoach, as if to say: I contend in this contest of the Gospel strenuously and manfully, not relying on human strength, but on the power and efficacy of the Spirit of Christ, who works most powerfully in me, namely by performing so many and such great miracles; by giving such efficacy to my words that they penetrate and convert the hearts of all; by suggesting courage, strength, and zeal, so that I may preach with fiery charity and a fiery tongue, and may breathe and inspire this fire of divine love into all.