Section 122
158Gk. ἃ ἐστɩν πάντα εἰς φθοϱὰν τῄ ἀποχϱήεɩ. The noun ἀπóξϱησɩς is used in this sense by Plutarch and Dionysius of Halicarnassus. The sense “abuse” which it sometimes bears is inappropriate in the present context. The transitory character of the things in question is emphasized by the consideration that they disappear simply by being used in the proper and ordinary manner. Therefore it shows a gross lack of any sense of proportion to make such transient and perishable matters so central in religious teaching. Lightfoot compares Seneca (On the Blessed Life 7), “in ipso usu sui periturum” (“doomed to perish by the very use that is made of it”), which is exactly Paul’s point here. Cf. BAG (s.v.ἀπóξϱησɩς) for a similar instance of the verb ἀποχξϱάομαɩ in Polybius.
159The first of the three prohibitions (μὴ ἃψη μηδὲ γεύση μηδὲ θίγης) has been thought to point to sexual relations because of the use of the same verb in 1 Cor. 7:1 (ϰαλὸν ἀνθϱώπω γυναɩϰὸς μὴ ἃπτεσθαɩ); cf. A. R. C. Leaney, “Colossians ii.21-23 (The Use of Πϱός),” ExT 64 (1952-53), 92 (he suggests that μηδὲ θίγης “refers to such taboos as Lev. 11:24 ff.”). In the uenerabilis continentia prescribed for Lucius before his Isis initiation, which Dibelius (“The Isis Initiation in Apuleius,” p. 89) adduces as an analogy to the Colossian asceticism, abstention from animal flesh and wine are specifically enjoined (Apuleius, Metamorphoses 11.23).
160Mark 7:6-7 (see on v. 6 above). The LXX version of Isa. 29:13, quoted by Mark, δɩδάσϰοντες ἐνɩάλματα ἀνθϱώπων ϰαὶ δɩδασϰαλίας, is plainly the source of Paul’s ϰαɩὰ τὰ ἐντάλματα ϰαὶ δɩδασϰαλίας τѽν ἀνθϱώπων.