Colossians 4:12Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Always, he says, laboring fervently for you in prayers. He did not simply say, one who prays, but one who labors fervently, with trembling and fear. That you may stand, he says, perfect. Here he at once exposes them, gently persuades them, and gives them counsel. It is possible to be perfect and not to stand, when someone knows everything but is still wavering. It is also possible not to be perfect and yet to stand, when someone knows only part, yet stands, though not firmly. But he desires both things: that you may stand, ἵνα στητέ, he says, perfect. See how he again reminded them of the word about angels, and about life.

And fully assured, he says, in all the will of God. It is not enough merely to fulfill the will of God. One who has fully known the will of God will not allow another will to exist in him. Otherwise he has not fully known it.

It is great praise, even greater than every other praise, that he speaks of Epaphras in this way: A servant of Jesus Christ greets you. He also calls him their minister, just as he calls himself a minister of the Church when he says, Of which I became a minister (Col 1:25). He raises this man to the same dignity. Above he called him a fellow servant; here, a servant.

He greets you, he says, as though speaking to a mother and saying, For he is from your womb. Yet this praise could have produced envy. Therefore he commends him not only from this side, but also by what concerned them personally. There he removes envy, and here as well. Always, he says, laboring fervently for you. Not only now among us, in order to show himself, and not only among you, in order to show himself to you. By saying laboring fervently, he expressed Epaphras's special zeal. Likewise the words, that you may stand perfect, contain no flattery, but are entirely natural on the lips of a worthy instructor.

Complete, he says, and perfect. The first he gave them, that is, he filled them with the knowledge of the faith. The latter, perfection, he says they still lack. He did not say, that you may not waver, but that you may stand. Meanwhile, the greetings they received from many reassured them that they were remembered not only by their own people, from among themselves, but also by others.

That you may stand perfect. He gently reproves them for imperfection. They are still not firm, and they waver in the teaching about angels. For it is possible to be perfect and yet not to stand, as when someone knows everything but has not become firmly established in anything. Therefore he says, that you may stand perfect, that is, in doctrine and life.

And fully assured in all the will of God. That is, that you should fulfill no other will except the will of God. For this means being complete and perfect. By this he also shows that they have partly preserved some of what was preached, and partly have already lost something.

Then follow commissions and instructions. The Epistle to the Colossians is to be read also in the Laodicean church. The one from Laodicea is also to be read by the Colossians. Archippus, the head of the Colossian church after Epaphras, is to be given an apostolic reminder about zealous fulfillment of his pastoral duties (Col 4:16-17). Finally comes the concluding note in the Apostle Paul's own hand: Remember my bonds. Grace be with you all. Amen.

He prayed for the strengthening in faith, and for progress in holy life, of the Colossians and also the Christians in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

According to Bishop Theophan's explanation, Paul speaks as though saying this: Epaphras, who showed me the danger in which you stand and moved me to write you this Epistle, is now laboring in prayer. He prays that you may stand, remaining firm in the doctrine you have received and in the rules of life you have learned, without yielding to the suggestions of false teachers.

It is worth noting that the Slavonic word infirmity and the Russian word care may have arisen from ancient variant readings of the word zeal. Both gradually entered the text, since in essence they express the same thing. Great zeal is expressed in a state like painful suffering. The same may be said of constant care. Epaphras is discussed in detail in the preface and in the explanation of verse 8 of chapter 1.

Again, by the words "who is one of you," he suggests that they should count it an honor to have such a man. They should be consoled that such men come forth from among them. Blessed Theophylact says, "It is also great praise for him that he is a servant of Christ."

"Always struggling for you in prayers." He did not simply say, "praying," but "struggling in prayers," praying with fear and trembling. Oecumenius says, "with labor and pain of heart." Blessed Theophylact says, "not merely on some one day, but always."

What is the prayer for? "That you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God." Saint Chrysostom says, "Here he at the same time rebukes them, gently exhorts them, and gives counsel."

"That you may stand," ινα στητε. Remembering the reason for writing the Epistle and its aim, we must suppose that "that you may stand" is the chief object of the prayer.

The danger came from false teachers, and the Apostle desired to prevent them from being turned aside after them. Epaphras, he says, showed me the danger in which you are, and moved me to write this Epistle to avert it.

Now he struggles in prayers that you may stand, and remain firm in the teaching you received and in the rules of life you adopted. He prays that you not yield to the suggestions of false teachers.

"That you may stand" is the same as in other places: "Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong" (1 Cor 16:13). "Stand fast and hold the traditions" (2 Thess 2:15). "Be steadfast, immovable" (1 Cor 15:58).

It is also the same as: "Do not be children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting" (Eph 4:14).

The words "perfect and complete in all the will of God" show the way to stand without wavering. How so? By remaining perfect and complete in all the will of God.

This too is an object of prayer, but as the means of standing. May God grant you both to keep full conviction in the truth of every will of God revealed to you, and unfailingly to fulfill it.

That is, may He grant you to live according to it, ordering your thoughts, desires, and feelings by it. The word "perfect" indicates active walking in the will of God. "Complete" indicates conviction that the teaching received is undoubtedly the true expression of God's will.

Some now read πεπληροφορημενοι, "fully convinced," instead of πεπληρωμενοι, "complete." Saint Chrysostom joins both meanings in this word "complete": both fulfillment and conviction.

He says: "It is not enough simply to do God's will, some part of it, or only a certain portion. The one filled with God's will does not allow any other will to be in him besides this one. Otherwise he would show that he is not convinced of its truth."

If "perfect" and "complete" are not distinguished as indications of the active and contemplative sides of Christianity, then these sides can be seen in the phrase "in all the will of God." For God's will embraces both dogma and commandment.

On man's side, conviction and life correspond to these. In one way or another, the Apostle's words must be seen as indicating both sides.

His words point more to the active side, while the needs of the Colossians were chiefly contemplative. Therefore we should suppose that he had this side in mind when he spoke in this way.

Yet he expressed himself as though he meant the first, because the active side surpasses knowledge in its influence on standing. It even conditions the full conviction that must form the soul of knowledge.

Whoever passes in deed along the path indicated by the incarnate divine economy will, in that very course, receive living assurance of the truth of that economy itself. He can no longer be shaken in his conviction.

He is like one who has recovered through a certain medicine and is convinced of that medicine's healing power. Those who waver concerning the truth of Christianity, and then abandon it, are only those who never began to walk its path.

They look at it as some theory, while it is life. By bestowing life, it convinces that it is truth. Whoever tastes life from it is unshaken in faith. For him no other proofs are needed beyond this tasted life. All other proofs are beneath it.