TRV
Augustine of Hippo
Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 7,530 passages across 62 books
Commentary
Colossians 1:12
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
See, then, how it can come to pass that a man may have the baptism of Christ and still not have the faith or the love of Christ; how it is that he may have the sacrament of holiness and still not be reckoned in the lot of the holy. With regard to the mere sacrament itself, it makes no difference whether someone receives the baptism of Christ where the unity of Christ is not.
Colossians 1:13
· 3 passages
Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
“And he threw him,” says John, “into the abyss,” meaning, clearly, that he cast the devil into the abyss, and the “abyss” symbolizes the innumerable multitude of the impious, in whose hearts there is a great depth of malignity against the church of God…. Now because he is bound and shut up by this ban, the devil is prohibited and inhibited from leading astray the nations which belonged to Christ but were in time past led astray by him or held in his grip. For God chose those nations before the foundation of the world, to “rescue them from the power of darkness and transfer them to the kingdom of his beloved Son,” as the apostle says. .
Because in Greek “to suffer” is paschein, for this reason Pascha has been thought of as a passion, as though this name has been derived from “suffering.” But in its own language, that is, in Hebrew, Pascha means a “passing over.” For this reason the people of God celebrated the Pascha for the first time when, fleeing from Egypt, they passed over the Red Sea…. And we effect a most salutary passing over when we pass over from the devil to Christ, and from this tottering world to his most solidly established kingdom. And therefore we pass over to God who endures so that we may not pass over with the passing world. Concerning this grace conferred upon us, the apostle, praising God, says, “Who has rescued us from the power of darkness and has brought us over into the kingdom of the Son of his love.”
From this power of evil angels nothing delivers man but the grace of God, of which the apostle speaks, “Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.” Israel’s own story illustrates this figure, when they were delivered from the power of the Egyptians and translated into the kingdom of the land of promise flowing with milk and honey, which signifies the sweetness of grace.
Colossians 1:15
· 2 passages
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
For according to the form of God he is “the beginning who also speaks to us,” in which beginning God “made the heavens and the earth,” but according to the form of a slave he is “the bridegroom coming out of his chamber.” According to the form of God he is “the firstborn of every creature, and he himself is before all creatures, and in him all things hold together,” and according to the form of a slave he is “the head of the body, the church.” .
In parents and children there would be found an image and an equality and a likeness if the age difference were lacking. For the child’s likeness has been derived from the parent, so that the likeness may rightly be called an image…. In God, however, the conditions of time do not obtain, for God cannot be thought of as having begotten in time the Son through whom he has created the times. Hence it follows that not only is [the Son] his image, because he is from [God], and the likeness, because the image, but also the equality is so great that there is not even a temporal distinction standing in the way between them.
Colossians 1:16
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
“Before Abraham I am”; that’s what he said himself, the Gospel speaks. Listen to it, or read it. But that’s little enough, being the creator before Abraham; he’s the creator before Adam, creator before heaven and earth, before all the angels, and the whole spiritual creation, “thrones, dominions, principalities and powers,” creator before all things whatsoever.
Colossians 1:18
· 3 passages
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
For the resurrection we Christians know already has come to pass in our head, and in the members it is yet to be. The head of the church is Christ, the members of Christ are the church. That which has preceded in the head will follow in the body. This is our hope; for this we believe, for this we endure and persevere amid so great perverseness of this world, hope comforting us, before that hope becomes reality.
“If the spirit of him,” he says, “that raised up Christ from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken your mortal bodies, because of the spirit that dwells in you.” Therefore, the universal church, which is now in the pilgrimage of mortal life, awaits at the end of time what was first shown in the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is “the firstborn from the dead,” because the church is his body, of which he is the head. .
This is also what is meant when it said, “he emptied himself,” because he did not appear to men in that dignity which he had with the Father, but took into account the weakness of those who did not yet have a clean heart whereby they might see the Word in the beginning with the Father. What then do the words “he left the Father” mean? He left [the Father] to appear to men as he is with the Father. He likewise left his mother, that is, the old and carnal observance of the synagogue, which was a mother to him from the seed of David according to the flesh. And he clung to his wife, that is, the church, so that they might be two in one flesh. For the apostle says that he is the head of the church and the church is his body. .
Colossians 1:22
In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
He, however, is not unreasonably said to walk blamelessly, not who has already reached the end of his journey but who is passing on towards the end in a blameless manner, free from damnable sins, and at the same time not neglecting to cleanse by almsgiving such sins as are venial. For the way in which we walk, that is, the road by which we reach perfection, is cleansed by clean prayer. That, however, is a clean prayer in which we say in truth, “Forgive us, as we ourselves forgive.” So that, as there is nothing censured when blame is not imputed, we may hold on our course to perfection without censure, in a word, blamelessly. On Man’s Perfection in Righteousness
Colossians 1:24
· 2 passages
Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:
And when as a preacher of Christ he was now suffering from others what he had done himself as a persecutor, “that I may fill up,” he said, “in my flesh what is lacking from the afflictions of Christ”; thus showing that what he was suffering was part and parcel of the afflictions of Christ. That can’t be understood of the head, which now in heaven is not suffering any such thing; but of the body, that is, the church; the body, which with its head is the one Christ.
In regard to this is that which in another place the very same apostle says: “I now rejoice in sufferings for you, and I fill up those things which are wanting of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh.” He did not say “of the afflictions of me” but “of Christ,” because he was a member of Christ and in his persecutions, such as it was necessary for Christ to suffer in his whole body, even Paul was filling up Christ’s afflictions in Paul’s own portion. .
Colossians 2:3
· 2 passages
In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Pay attention, dearly beloved, and see how sound the apostle’s advice is, when he says, “As therefore you received Christ Jesus our Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and confirmed in the faith.” What we have to do, after all, is to abide firmly in him through the simplicity and assurance of this faith, so that he may open up to us, as faithful believers, the treasure that is hidden in him. The same apostle says, “In him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.” He didn’t hide them in order to deny them to us but to rouse our desire for what is hidden. That is the value of secrets.
Herein is all the worth of grace, by which he saves those who believe, containing in itself deep treasures of wisdom and knowledge and steeping in faith the minds which it draws to the eternal contemplation of unchangeable truth. Suppose the omnipotent had created his humanity by forming it otherwise than in a mother’s womb and had presented himself suddenly to our sight. Suppose he had not passed through the stages from childhood to youth, had taken no food, no sleep: would he not have given ground for the erroneous opinion which believed that he had not really become a human being? And by doing everything miraculously, would he not have obscured the effect of his mercy? But now he has appeared as Mediator between God and men, in such a way as to join both natures in the unity of one Person. He has both raised the commonplace to the heights of the uncommon and brought down the uncommon to the commonplace. .
Colossians 2:9
For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Speaking of him as our Head, the apostle says: “For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead corporally.” He does not say “corporally” because God is corporeal, but he either uses the word in a derived sense as if he dwells in a temple made by hands, not corporally but symbolically, that is, under prefiguring signs … or else the word corporally is certainly used because God dwells, as in his temple, in the body of Christ which he took from the Virgin.
Colossians 2:11
In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
After all, if we find these passing days, in which we recall Christ’s passion and resurrection with special devotion and solemnity, so exhilarating, how blessed and blissful will that eternal day make us, when we shall actually see him and stay with him, the one we now rejoice in merely by desiring and hoping for him! What exultant joy God will give to his church, from which as it is born again through Christ he has after a fashion removed the foreskin of its fleshly nature, that is, the reproach of its natural birth! That is why it says, “And you, while you were dead in transgressions and the foreskin of your flesh, he made alive in him, forgiving us all our debts.” ..
Colossians 2:14
· 3 passages
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
With good reason do we celebrate the Passover wherein the blood of the Lord was poured out, by which we are cleansed of every offense. Let us be assured; the devil was holding the bond of slavery against us, but it was blotted out by the blood of Christ. .
She [i.e., his mother, Monica] did not ask for such things but simply requested that remembrance be made for her at Thy altar, which she had attended without missing a single day. She knew that on it the Holy Victim is offered; by means of which “the decree against us, which was hostile to us” is canceled; by means of which the Enemy, adding up our offenses and seeking something to charge against us, and finding nothing in him in whom we conquer, was overcome. .
This is the whole scheme of our salvation, by which the one who as God had made man himself became man, for the sake of finding lost man. This is the whole matter of Christ shedding for the forgiveness of our sins true, not false, blood, and with his blood, “obliterating the bond of our sins.” All this these damnable heretics strive to drain of all meaning. All this, so the Manichaeans believe, as it appeared to human eyes, was spirit and not flesh.