Paul’s Letter to the Colossians 9781474266604, 9781474231626, 9781474231633

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FOREWORD Melanchthon has always been for Protestantism an ambivalent figure. Melanchthon: Alien or Ally? was the title of a book written during the war years by Franz Hildebrandt. According to Hildebrandt, Melanchthon is an especially appealing figure fix English theology. Both approach 'theological problems from the philosophical anglein the pulpit no less than in the lecture room' (p. 10). In England, he wrote, we have preserved the Greek tradition in a way that the continental churches of the Reformation have not. The blend of humanist and reformer in Melanchthon has, as I try to show in the introduction, a rather different flavour from that implied by this view. But the point made is deeply perceptive in a way that the more commonly found point of contact between England and Melanchthon is not. This latter interpretation states that it was Melanchthon's view of adiaphora, things indifferent, that appealed to the English view of reformation. In fact, the common ground stressed by Cranmer in his letters to Melanchthon concern the discovery of agreement in essential points of doctrine. 'I am aware that you have often desired that wise and godly men should take counsel together, and having compared their opinions, send forth under the sanction of their authority some work, that should embrace the chief subjects of ecclesiastical doctrine. ..' (Miscellaneous Writings and Letters of Thomas Cranmer, edited for the l'arker Society by J.E. Cox, Cambridge, 1846, p. 426; see also pp. 433E). Writing these words in England's only ecumenical theological college, I cannot pass over Hildebrandt's comparisons between Melanchthon and the Wesleys. The stress on perfection ('Christian perfection is a work commanded by God' is a saying of Melanchthon's which would not be out of place in a sermon by John Wesley) may be an important point of contact with Methodism. This is only to touch on a few of the issues which a reading of Melanchthon may present to us. One object of this book is to set our

INTRODUCTION

1. Melanchthon in 1527 It was probably early in 1527 that Philip Melanchthon began for the second time to lecture on Paul's letter to the Colossians. He was thirty years old, a young man with a growing family. He was also a young man who had already been Professor of Greek at Wittenberg for eight and a half years; and although his post did not include theological teaching-he was certainly not paid any more for doing so at this time--this was his nineteenth course of lectures on a biblical text. Besides the earlier set on Colossians in the summer of 1521, he had expounded Titus, the four main letters of Paul (Romans three times), James, selected Psalms, Matthew, Genesis 1-6, John, Proverbs, Lamentations, and Daniel 9. At least nine of these courses had been published, and the set on Romans had developed into the first edition of the Loci Communes Theologici. He had also published Latin and Greek grammars, books on rhetoric and dialectic, as well as writings on other subjects. As if this were not enough, he had been involved as a controversialist in the events surrounding the Wittenberg Reformation-the debate with Eck, the Diet of Worms, the Peasants' Revolt. Although the Scholia on Colossians may be described as a work of the young Melanchthon, he was already wellestablished as an authority. But certainly be had given his twenties to the Reformation where others were giving their middle years. Luther and Spalatin were forty-three by now, Carlstadt forty-seven. Of leaders elsewhere, Zwingli, Oecolampadius, and the as yet unknown Cranmer were also in their forties. The first edition of Melanchthon's Loci is a jar d'esprit only to be overshadowed when Calvin wrote his Institutio at the age of twenty-six. It would be tempting to divide the variety of subjects which Melanchthon had been handling as a teacher and author between the

TRANSLATION

Dedicatory Epistle Philip Melanchthon to Alexander Drachstadt, S.D.' That there are in existence fine commentaries on the epistle to the Colossians, was a very good reason against my publishing these Scholia. For who would not prefer reading a balanced and more substantial exposition, to these sketchy and meagre annotations? But I saw that what usually happens today would come about: that somewhere or other they would be published without my permis~ion.~ So I revised and clarified what I had said in my lectures. There are at present many controversies being conducted, which it was necessary to discuss here. In explaining these I wish to show the readers, not merely my diligence, but also that epieikeia ['sweet reasonableness'] which ought to be especially prominent in ecclesiastical dissensions. For there is no other means by which the concord of the churches can be maintained or restored. Homer says that man tires of everything, except of war.' We are learning by experience that this is only too true in the church. Repeatedly, and without good cause, new battles, new tumults are aroused by ambitious men. Nor is there any hope of peace, unless Christ restore it for us. Hence we should all in our prayers beseech him to cure the manifold evils of our times. Now I fear that to dedicate this little book to you will, as the Greeks say, be akairos eunoia [unseasonablegoodwill]. For, although you are well-read in publications of all kinds, yet you will be likely to recoil from the reading of such a writing in this field, since hardly anybody could read scholia without distaste. Yet I have published them under your name, because I promised you that I would. And I beg you to accept with thanks, whatever in it deserves hrther study. My desire is to be of use to godly and studious young men; both to kindle in them an enthusiasm for the study of religion and to invite

The Theme of the Epistle Just as it is usual for other works to begin with the establishment of their theme, so it is with Paul's letters: the reader is first to be shown, what subject is under discussion, what the status' of the letter is, what-as the Greeks say-is hypokeimenon [what is presented]. The purpose of this is so that he should know what to look for in the book as a whole, and what to expect from it. You will not be reading profitably, if you simply abstract isolated statements from it. It should be read as a single continuous address, so that there may be drawn from it one established statement that is capable of strengthening and teaching the conscience. Those who are for ever departing from the general scope and purpose of the book as a whole fail to do this. Suppose a careless man were to abstract from this letter the brief statement 'Let no one pass judgement on you with regard to a festival' [2.16]. He might imagine Paul to be teaching that only the ceremonies of the Mosaic law were obsolete.' This is actually tearing the Scriptures to pieces, not explaining them. The proper way is to investigate the letter as a whole, comparing all its sections with each other, and determining their relationship. Here therefore is the argument and status of this letter-the nature of the Gospel. The apostles offered to the world what one might call a new teaching, which he here defines. His definition is not brief. On the contrary, he hlly distinguishes between Christian righteousness and the human righteousness that is gathered by our industry and by our strength, whether from the commands of men or from the Mosaic law (that is, the Decalogue). Lastly, he passes on some moral precepts. For it was the apostles' custom to begin by teaching the Gospel and justification, and then to set out moral precepts. I'he world prescribes moral precepts, and decides that that man is righteous who performs and keeps them outwardly. Paul, on the other hand, teaches that justification does not become ours because of our good deeds. It comes through faith, if we believe that our sins are freely forgiven for Christ's sake. As

Chapter 1 1.1-2.Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints who are at Colossae, and faithful brethren in Christ: Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. In the epigraph1 or inscription, Paul usually proclaims his office or function, for us to know that what he teaches is the Word of God. It is like Moses and the other prophets prefacing their statements with 'The Lord has spoken', 'Thus says the Lord', 'The mouth of the Lord has spoken', and so on. So Paul explains that he did not become an apostle by the choice of men, but because he was called to this function by God's voice. Consequently, just as God wanted the Israelites to believe Moses, so he wants us to believe Paul as lie spreads this new doctrine in the world-a doctrine that is so unlike the Mosaic law. For this reason, just as Moses shewed by miracles that God had sent him, so it was with Paul. The miracles that he did showed him to be sent by God. One should apply to Paul the rule in the Gospel 'He that heareth you heareth me' [Lk. 10.161. It is safe to believe that Paul's teaching is none other than the voice of Gcd, revealed &om heaven. Strabo2 lists Colossae among the towns of Phrygia-not the part which Ilium lay, but the part called Great.3 Strabo describes tbiat part of it where he says the biggest cities lie (Apamea and Laodicea) aspar6reion Phrygi~n.~ Around these stand the towns of Aphrodisias, Colossae, and Themisonium. The locations of these towns can be seen in Ptolemy's table^.^ Paul mentions Laodicea in this letter [2.1; 4.13-161. It is ridiculous for some people to suppose that by 'Colossians' he means the inhabitants of Rhodes, just because there was a Colossus on the great mole there.6

1.2. Grace and peace Grace means simply the forgiveness of sins, or God's favour. But the