Commentary on Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians Thessalonians Timothy Titus and Philemon John Calvin
John Calvin of place does not prevent me from beholding you with the eyes of the mind.''
Order and steadfastness. He mentions two things, in which the perfection of the Church consists --- order among themselves, and faith in Christ. By the term order, he means --- agreement, no less than duly regulated morals, and entire discipline. He commends their faith, in respect of its constancy and steadfastness, meaning that it is an empty shadow of faith, when the mind wavers and vacillates between different opinions. 523
Colossians 2:6-7
Colossians 2:6-7
6. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 6. Quemadmodum igitur suscepistis Christum Iesum Dominum, in ipso ambulate:
7. Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
7. Radicati in ipso, et aedificati, et confirmati in fide, quemadmodum edocti estis, abundantes in ea cum gratiarum actione.
6. As ye have received. To commendation he adds exhortation, in which he teaches them that their having once received Christ will be of no advantage to them, unless they remain in him. Farther, as the false apostles held forth Christ's name with a view to deceive, he obviates this danger twice, by exhorting them to go on as they had been taught, and as they had received Christ. For in these words he admonishes them, that they must adhere to the doctrine which they had embraced, as delivered to them by Epaphras, with so much constancy, as to be on their guard against every other doctrine and faith, in accordance with what Isaiah said, This is the way, walk ye in it. (Isaiah 30 21.) And, unquestionbly, we must act in such a manner, that the truth of the gospel, after it has been manifested to us, may be to us as a brazen wall 524 for keeping back all impostures. 525
Now he intimates by three metaphors what steadfastness of faith he requires from them. The first is in the word walk. For he compares the pure doctrine of the gospel, as they had learned it, to a way that is sure, so that if any one will but keep it he will be beyond all danger of mistake. He exhorts them, accordingly, if they would not go astray, not to turn aside from the course on which they have entered.
The second is taken from trees. For as a tree that has struck its roots deep has a sufficiency of support for withstanding all the assaults of winds
523"Quand l'esprit est en branle, maintenant d'vne opinion, maintenant d'autre;" — "When the mind is in suspense, now of one opinion, then of another."
524Murus aheneus. Our author has probably in his eye the celebrated sentiment of Horace — "Hic murus aheneus esto — nil conscire sibi;" — "Let this be the brazen wall — to be conscious to one's self of no crime." — (Hor. Ep. I. 1:60, 61.) See also Hor. Od. III. 3, 65. — Ed.
525"Toutes fallaces et astutes;" — "All fallacies and wiles."