Colossians 3:11Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Here is the third praise of this man. He makes no distinction by tribe, rank, or ancestors. He has nothing external and needs nothing external.

Circumcision and uncircumcision, slave and free, Greek, that is, stranger, and Jew, that is, native, are all external things.

If you have only this, you will attain the same thing as others who have it. "But Christ," he says, "is all and in all."

That is, let Christ be everything for you: rank and family. And in all of you let Him Himself be.

Or else he says something different, namely, that you have all become one Christ, being His body.

"Where there is neither Greek nor Jew," that is, neither proselyte nor Jew of noble birth. "Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all." Here is another praiseworthy distinction of the new man in Christ: in him nothing outward is taken into account, neither race, rank, nor ancestors. Christ is his distinguishing mark, his character. In all who have been formed in spirit by a truly virtuous life, Christ is everything, that is, both race and rank. Or one may say otherwise: you all are one Christ, being His body.

God will be all in all (1 Cor 15:28) at the time of restoration (Acts 3:21).

This does not mean that there will be the Father alone, who has wholly dissolved the Son into Himself, like a candle taken for a time from a great fire and then put back into it.

Rather, God will be entire. This will happen when we, who now by our movements and passions either have no God in ourselves or have little of Him, cease being many.

Then we shall become wholly Godlike, containing within ourselves the whole God and Him alone. This is the perfection toward which we hasten.

Paul himself especially bears witness to it.

Where there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, neither Greek nor barbarian, neither master nor slave. What is this place where none of these exists? Nothing other than Baptism and the kingdom of heaven. Yet in each of them Christ is all and in all generally.

The Apostle turned his discourse from the image to the prototype. For while speaking about all-holy Baptism, he depicts for us the life in the age to come. In it there is not the slightest such difference. When sin has ceased, the will of God is accomplished in all. This is what the Apostle said: "Christ is all and in all." So he also says in the Epistle to the Corinthians: "that God may be all in all" (1 Cor 15:28). Therefore in the life to come we shall put on the completely new man, because there we shall be freed from corruption and clothed in incorruption. In Baptism we enact the prefiguration of the life to come.

In Him, says the divine Apostle, there is neither male nor female, neither Jew nor Greek, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ Himself is all and in all (Gal 3:28; Col 3:11). By the single, simple, boundless, and wise power of His goodness, He contains all things in Himself, just as a center unites straight lines within itself by one simple and single cause and power. He does not permit the principles of beings to scatter along the circumference, but closes off their centrifugal tendencies, bringing to Himself the many and varied kinds of beings that received existence from Him.

With what intention does Paul here mention the Greek and the Jew, the circumcised and the uncircumcised, the barbarian and the Scythian, the slave and the free?

We hear that the Jews demanded miracles and the Greeks scholastic proofs: "Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek wisdom" (1 Cor 1:22).

They thought that the power of these things alone persuaded them to receive the gospel truth.

But Paul preached everywhere that neither the power of miracles nor the proofs of worldly wisdom persuade men to believe in Jesus Christ.

Rather, Jesus Christ Himself, being the power and Wisdom of God, draws and persuades the worthy to believe and be united with Him.

"But we," he said, "preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness.

"Where there is neither Greek nor Jew." In renewal, or for renewal, neither tribal nor religious distinctions, nor conditions of life, have significance. All receive renewal through Christ, and in Christ become members of one body (Gal 3:28). Herein lies the high and eternal dignity and significance of Christianity: it removes from all people the distinguishing, and therefore dividing, exterior, and compels one to see in a man first of all a man.

From this it follows that we must put to death our earthly members: fornication, uncleanness, and the rest. In general, we must put off the old man and put on the new, in order to form a new society. In it there is no enmity or division of nationalities, no Greek, Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, and the rest. In it all are clothed in love, which is the bond of perfection, and the peace of God rules in hearts (Col 3:5-15).

Persuading them to shun enmity and hatred, the Apostle sets before Christians the fact that they have renounced enmity. At the same time, they have bound themselves to live as brothers in Christ through love.

By this, every substantial basis for living in hostility is decisively removed. They have also been given power to overcome even the strongest natural feelings, such as national pride. This pride has completely lost its former meaning and force, since all men are called to God the Father through Christ, without distinction of nation or rank.

Anger is the first movement of irritation. Wrath is the outbreak of anger. Malice is remembrance of wrongs. All these are inward states that move a man toward blasphemy, foul speech, and falsehood, which then appear outwardly in many forms.

"Where" means where? "With Christ, with the faith" (Oecumenius), in the new orders, foundations, and rules of life established by faith in Christ, in the kingdom of His grace.

Here no distinctions are taken into account. There are none by nation, whether one is Greek or Jew.

There are none by religion, whether one is circumcised or uncircumcised. There are none by education, whether one is barbarian or Scythian.

There are none by civil status, whether one is slave or free. Whatever a man may be, if he has brought faith, he is accepted.

If he has cleaved to Christ the Lord, he is saved. The grace of God in Christ Jesus unites all and makes one body from all.

And here Christ is all and in all. Not this or that is Christ, but all. He is not in this one or that one, but in all.