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Colossians 1:1-2: Phrase study "apostle ... by the will of God"
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To: bible@virginia.edu
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Subject: Colossians 1:1-2: Phrase study "apostle ... by the will of God"
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From: Norbert Bollow <bollow@math.ethz.ch>
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Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1993 10:15:07 +0200
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Greg Aist wrote:
> Of the eight opening verses that were quoted, four of them introduce
> Paul as apostle in _exactly_ the same way (in English at least;
> can anyone check the Greek?). I suggest, therefore, that the
> phrase "an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God" is not used
> to _establish_ Paul's authority, but to _remind_ the people who
> are receiving the letters of that authority. The other letters,
> with longer explanations, seem to be more directed toward
> establishing authority -- particularly Galatians
I have looked at those verses again and I would like to say that I
must agree with this - Paul wanted to _remind_ the Colossians of his
apostleship. So, even though it appears from Col 2:1 that most of the
believers in Colosse had never seen Paul personally, they were
already familiar with his God-given authority. This seems plausible
because Col 4:7-18 shows that Paul had already established a
relationship with the church in Colosse.
Norbert Bollow
bollow@math.ethz.ch