Let him strive to learn what has happened before him, and in what connection he stands to brethren of other tongues and countries, and he is brought into acquaintanceship with History, Philology, and Political Economy. Meyer and Lightfoot take the dative as instrumental, but it seems best with most recent commentators to take it as a dative of reference (cf.Colossians 2:5).— : cf. It was of a present, and not a future danger-a real, and not an imaginary jeopardy that he so earnestly cautioned them. Four characteristics describe the healthy Christian in this verse. Four characteristics describe the healthy Christian in this verse. The apostle himself has employed philosophy to prove the existence of the Creator, and show the sin and folly of polytheism and idolatry. Oltramare notes that “thankfulness is a preservative against the new doctrines,” since they remove Christ from His true place. Its doctrine, that “the consciousness which man has of himself is the consciousness which God has of Himself,” finds its appropriate mythical representation in the mediatorial person of the God-man; while “eternal life” is but the symbol of an immortality without individual existence. Wherever he turns his eye, on himself or beyond himself-above, around, or beneath him, ten thousand things invite his examination. The last three are in the present tense revealing the ways in which new life should continually express itself. 7.And confirmed in the faith. Here, as everywhere, the Apostle emphasizes the privilege of thanksgiving (comp. So far from being the love of wisdom, it was the fondness of folly. They had already been rooted, but they were still to be making progress. Both metaphors convey the idea of, Three statements about how our faith strengthens us show the, The first statement as to how faith strengthens us is we are “rooted in him.” The word “root” means, “Rooted” is an idiom for strength with a focus upon the, We cannot stabilize our lives in Christ until, by, The tense of the word “rooted” means that we were rooted in the past with the result that we. дравом учении (Ср. Having again and again approached his subject by indirect allusions, the apostle now boldly and fully brings it out. It did not deal with nature around it, but with the supernatural beyond it. That the apostle means such philosophy is evident, for in no other way could his warning be appropriate. Ephesians 2:20 refers to the Church; the passage here to their individual edification (Acts 20:32). Three statements about how our faith strengthens us show the stability of life in Christ. Such was the visionary science which had special charms for the inhabitants of Phrygia, and which in after years produced unmistakeable results. A Christian must have deep roots in Christ if he is to produce fruit. The former gives the more appropriate sense; ‘faith’ being subjective, as the English possessive pronoun serves to indicate. Two other and opposing forms of construction have been proposed. The entire verse is at once a precept and a warning, and were the precept obeyed and the warning listened to, then “philosophy and vain deceit” would ply their machinations in vain. Abounding. by Grant Richison | Jul 14, 1996 | Colossians | 2 comments, “rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.”. Colossians 1:7). As you were taught. Christ is here set forth first as the soil, and then as the cornerstone; not strictly as the foundation, since ‘upon Him’ would be used to express that thought; comp Ephesians 2:20. Wrong belief may be against reason, but unbelief is against nature. It was wholly spectral and baseless. [Note: Wiersbe, 2:125. The Greek indicates that the Christian who is strong in faith is made to strike roots deep in the ground. "For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, … Let him know this ball to be one of many similar orbs in the sky, and Astronomy entrances him. 2:1). And, in fine, let his own conscious mind make itself the theme of reflection-in its powers and aspirations, its faculties and emotions, its obligations and destiny, and he is initiated into the subtleties and wonders of Metaphysics and Morals, Legislation and Theology.