The use of
“strangers” and “enemies” seems to be directed towards Gentiles, as they were
looked upon as being strangers to the covenant. “Strangers” could easily
be heard as “foreigners” or “aliens.” Here it is quite useful to call
upon the letter to the Ephesians, as it can provide a helpful expansion (not a
proof-texting), verbalizing what may have been already (likely) understood by
the Jesus-as-God-and-Lord-worshiping Colossian congregation that was probably
composed of Jews, Judaizing Gentiles, and Gentiles.
In the second chapter
of Ephesians, following a few verses that could easily fit alongside and even
substitute for the creedal expression of verses fifteen through twenty of
Colossians one, Paul writes “Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles
in the flesh---who are called ‘uncircumcision’ by the so-called ‘circumcision’
that is performed on the body by human hands---that you were at that time
without the Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to
the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Colossians
2:11-12). One would be hard-pressed to hear talk of “strangers and
enemies” in Colossians in a way any different from the more explicit
presentation here in the Ephesian letter. The situation of Gentiles and
their inclusion is very much at hand.
Continuing in
Ephesians then, which provides a more well-rounded understanding of the movement
in Colossians (and if one considers the extreme likelihood that Ephesians was
originally a circular letter, designed to be heard by a number of churches,
possibly even those of Colossae, then understanding is even more greatly
enhanced), Paul writes “But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away
have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (2:13). It is possible to
transport the “far away” and “brought near” into a Colossian context, with
knowledge of the Gentile association of those words, so as to increase
sensitivity to the subject matter at issue.
Employing the same
type of inclusive language in Ephesians, Paul continues, writing “For He is our
peace, the one who made both groups into one and who destroyed the middle wall
of partition, the hostility, when He nullified in His flesh the law of
commandments in decrees. He did this to create in Himself one new man out
of two, thus making peace, and to reconcile both in one body to God through the
cross, by which the hostility has been killed” (2:14-16). Paul insists
that there is no longer any division between Jew and Gentile. They are
not to be held apart. There is to be nothing that divides them.
More than anything,
this allows for glimpsing the mindset of Paul, even if such things that are
explicitly mentioned in Ephesians go unsaid to the church at Colossae. It
should be impossible to separate this type of thinking from an assessment of
Colossians, as the Jew/Gentile, appropriate covenant marker conflict (the law
of commandments in decrees), colors in the landscape in which the church of
Christ in Colossae and the letter directed to them is set.
Visiting again the
“strangers and enemies” reference in Colossians, and understanding that it is
said in Ephesians in the context of bridging the divide between Jews and
Gentiles, one could easily find Paul employing words such as “And He came and
preached peace to you who were far off,” Gentiles, “and peace to those who were
near,” Jews, “so that through Him we both,” that being Jews and Gentiles
equally, “have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2:17-18).
Rounding out his
words to those that were considered to be strangers and enemies in need of
reconciliation and redemptive inclusion into the assembly of God’s covenant
people that sprang into existence with Abraham, Paul writes “So then you are no
longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints
and members of God’s household, because you have been built on the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the
cornerstone. In Him the whole building, being joined together, grows into
a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are also being built together into a
dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (2:19-22). This fits quite nicely with
the Temple language that is subtly employed in verse twenty-two of Colossians
one.
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