ancient church, as rationalism has done in modern times. It differed from the Judaizing heresy
which he opposed in Galatians and Corinthians, as Essenism differed from Phariseeism, or as
legalism differs from mysticism. The Colossian heresy was an Essenic and ascetic type of
Gnosticism; it derived its ritualistic and practical elements from Judaism, its speculative elements
from heathenism; it retained circumcision, the observance of Sabbaths and new moons, and the
distinction of meats and drinks; but it mixed with it elements of oriental mysticism and theosophy,
the heathen notion of an evil principle, the worship of subordinate spirits, and an ascetic struggle
for emancipation from the dominion of matter. It taught an antagonism between God and matter
and interposed between them a series of angelic mediators as objects of worship. It thus contained
the essential features of Gnosticism, but in its incipient and rudimental form, or a Christian Essenism
in its transition to Gnosticism. In its ascetic tendency it resembles that of the weak brethren in the
Roman congregation (Rom. 14:5, 6, 21). Cerinthus, in the age of John, represents a more developed
stage and forms the link between the Colossian heresy and the post-apostolic Gnosticism.^1154
The Refutation.
Paul refutes this false philosophy calmly and respectfully by the true doctrine of the Person
of Christ, as the one Mediator between God and men, in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead
bodily. And he meets the false asceticism based upon the dualistic principle with the doctrine of
the purification of the heart by faith and love as the effectual cure of all moral evil.
The Gnostic and the Pauline Pleroma.
"Pleroma" or "fulness" is an important term in Colossians and Ephesians.^1155 Paul uses it in
common with the Gnostics, and this has been made an argument for the post-apostolic origin of
the two Epistles. He did, of course, not borrow it from the Gnostics; for he employs it repeatedly
in his other Epistles with slight variations. It must have had a fixed theological meaning, as it is
not explained. It cannot be traced to Philo, who, however, uses "Logos" in a somewhat similar
sense for the plenitude of Divine powers.
Paul speaks of "the pleroma of the earth," i.e., all that fills the earth or is contained in it ( 1
Cor. 10:26, 28, in a quotation fromPs. 24:1); "the pleroma," i.e., the fulfilment or accomplishment,
"of the law," which is love (Rom. 13:10^1156 ); "the pleroma," i.e., the fulness or abundance, "of the
blessing of Christ" (Rom. 15:29) "the pleroma," or full measure, "of the time" (Gal. 4:4; comp.
Eph. 1:10;Mark 1:15;Luke 21:24); "the pleroma of the Gentiles," meaning their full number, or(^1154) On the Colossian heresy I refer chiefly to Neander (I. 319 sqq.), the lectures of Bleek (pp. 11-19), and the valuable Excursus
of Lightfoot, Com., pp. 73-113, who agrees with Neander and Bleek, but is more full. Lightfoot refutes the view of Hilgenfeld
(Der Gnosticismus u. das N. Test., in the "Zeitschrift für wissensch. Theol.," vol. XIII. 233 sqq.), who maintains that the Ep.
opposes two different heresies, pure Gnosticism (Col. 2:8-10) and pure Judaism (2:16-23). Comp. his Einleitung, pp. 665 sqq.
The two passages are connected by τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου(2:8 and 2:20), and the later history of Gnosticism shows, in a more
developed form, the same strange mixture of Judaizing and paganizing elements. See the chapter on Gnosticism in the second
volume.
(^1155) The word πλήρωμα, from πληροῦν, to fill, to complete, occurs eighteen times in the New Test., thirteen times in the Epistles
of Paul (see Bruder). It designates the result of the action implied in the verb, i.e., complement, completeness, plenitude, perfection;
and, in a wider sense (as in John 1:16; Col. 1:19; 2:9), fulness, abundance. Like other substantives ending in—μα, it has an active
sense: the filling substance, that which fills (id quod implet, or id quo res impletur). So it is often used by the classics, e.g.,.
πλήρωμα πόλεως,the population of a city; in the Septuagint, for the Hebrew אלמְ, abundance, e g.,τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς γῆς. or τὸ
πλήρωμα τῆς θαλάσσης, that which fills the earth, or the sea; and in the New Test., e.g.,Mark 6:43 (κοφίνων πληρώματα); 8:20
(σπυρίδων πλ.). The passive sense is rare: that which is filled (id quod impletur or impletum est), the filled receptacle. Comp.
Grimm and Robinson, sub verbo, and especially Fritzsche, Ad Rom. II. 469 sqq., and Lightfoot. Coloss. 323 sqq.
(^1156) In this passage it in equivalent to πλήρωσις,legis observatio.
A.D. 1-100.