J. L. Terveen Colossians 2
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source behind the gospel Paul had been commissioned to preach. That which was
hidden, the very "mystery" of "Christ in you the hope of glory" (1:26-27), was disclosed
by God himself. It was that gospel tradition focused on Christ Jesus as Lord that the
Colossian believers had "received," the very gospel faith which they had "been taught"
(2:6-7). Here then humanly generated tradition imbued with an aura of wisdom stands
starkly opposed to the divinely witnessed gospel tradition full of wisdom and
understanding in Christ himself.
At another level Paul draws the antithesis out yet further, now focusing on
authority and power groundings. With
Paul stresses
the alignment of the false teaching with the "elemental forces of the universe." Once
again, the emphatically contrastive
calls the reader to remember that
Christ had been received as
(2:6) and possessed a universal supremacy as creator,
sustainer, and teleological purpose of all things including the
as poignantly depicted in the soaring hymnic panegyric of Col.1:15-20. Paul reiterates
the theme of Christs supremacy over all powers and authorities in the following context,
drawing on the leitmotif of Christ being their
(2:10) and also the vivid imagery
of his public triumph over all hostile powers opposed to him (2:15).
The climactic end-positioning of
in 2:8, therefore, clearly
stresses the christological heart of Pauls paraenetic response to the theological challenge
his fellow believers in Colossae were encountering. Essentially the Colossian antagonists
had cast a slur upon the sufficiency and supremacy of Christ, a slur Paul would by no
means let stand.
pointedly announces in theological shorthand the
christological criterion for true gospel tradition teaching,
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a criterion whose dimensions