account the exalted Christ is called, Col. i. 15, the image of the invisible God (comp. 2 Cor. iv. 4), because in the heavenly radiance of His glorified body, as it appeared to the apostle, the Being of God essentially invisible became manifest.1 In virtue of this divine fulness dwelling in Him, the exalted Christ (comp. Eph. iv. 10), who yet bears in His glorified body, so to say, the mark of His historical mediatorship, can, in His absolutely universal Lordship, fill the whole universe (i. 23: ὁ τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν πληρούμενος) with His omnipresent and everywhere active Lordship; and if He is thus all in all (comp. Col. iii. 11), as, according to 1 Cor. xv. 28, God alone is, at the end of the world, then is the whole also in Him (comp. for the correlation of these two ideas, § 101,

Redeemer, and, not in the quality of His earthly life, which he had not seen, but in the glorified body of the exalted One, there was given to him the security for the historical reality of the Redeemer (comp. Gess, p. 268). The context in both passages decides in favour of our interpretation; and Pfleiderer, p. 375 [E. T. ii. 104], can get quit of the clear testimony to the contrary of i. 18 only by means of a hypothesis of a "superfluous clause inserted" into the original text, according to which Christ, by His resurrection, is to become the first, simply because the whole apaμa, i.e. God, in so far as He is contained in the λnpwua (comp. Schmidt, p. 208, and the completely meaningless reasons to the contrary of Immer, p. 373), determined to dwell in the exalted One; and ver. 20 says nothing to the contrary, as Gess supposes, inasmuch as there the sipnvoœossīv διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ σταυροῦ αὐτοῦ is only the supposition of the final ἀποκαταλλάξαι rà závra sis aúrós, which the exalted One will bring about (comp. note a, footnote 2), and this is by no means identical with the atonement effected on the cross. But for the peculiar reference of xarons, ii. 9, conformable to His nature, to the present condition of the exalted One, the context along with ver. 10 ff. decides, as Gess has already shown. According to Schenkel (pp. 283-5), under wμa is to be understood, i. 19, the fulness of the created world, ii. 9, the Church filled by God.

T

10 From this it certainly follows that the Alexandrian doctrine of the Logos in no way lies at the foundation of this view of Christ, as Usteri, p. 308; Reuss, ii. pp. 73, 74 [E. T. ii. 63, 64]; Baur, p. 256; Beyschlag, p. 229; and Pfleiderer, p. 373 [E. T. ii. 101], assume, because these expressions do not refer to the preexistent Christ, as Gess, pp. 273, 279, also notices, but to Him in whom we have redemption (ver. 14), and who rules over Christians (ver. 13), i.e. to the exalted Christ (comp. also, on the other hand, Schenkel, p. 299). If, therefore, any predicate is directly applied to Him which refers back to His original existence (ver. 15: xpwrócoxos xáons xricsws), and if, vv. 16, 17, things are said of Him which refer to His relation to creation before His incarnation, it only follows from this, that just as from Phil. ii. 6-9, when Jesus Christ (ver. 5) is the identical subject for the original Being iv opp to, as for the earthly life and exaltation to divine Lordship, so here also, as § 79, c, we are not to think of an ideal or impersonal pre-existence, but rather that the pre-existent and the exalted Christ are one and the same person.

a, b). According to Eph. i. 10 (comp. note b), the end of the world is reached therewith, for all things were created in Him. Thereby also is His abiding central position guaranteed in the perfected world, in contradistinction from the older Epistles (comp. Schmidt, p. 207).11

§ 104. The Work of Salvation in its Cosmical Relation.

The angels also, all whose ranks belong to the creatures created in Christ, and have been subjected to the exalted Christ, are included in the world's goal that is to be realized in Christ (a). On the other hand, the might of the kingdom of darkness appears to be broken by the atoning death of Christ, and its complete subjection certain in the end (b). In our Epistles the work of redemption brings to men the restoration of their original relation to God, and their original kinship with God (c). Thereby also the opposition between the heavenly and the earthly worlds is here removed for the Christian, his life has already become a heavenly one (d).

(a) If angels are much more frequently spoken of in our Epistles than in the earlier ones, the reason is evidently this, that the theosophic speculation of that time had much more to do with angels, and, while they were apparently connected with the divine λńρwμa (§ 103, a), and had a sort of

11 It seems to stand in peculiar contradiction to the high Christology of our Epistles, when God, Eph. i. 17 and Col. ii. 2 (read: To μvornpíov voũ Osoũ Xporo), is called the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, therefore of the exalted One. But this cannot indicate that God is honoured by Christ as God, for that would stand in the sharpest contradiction to the passages in note d, but only that the God who has become manifest in Christ is spoken of.

Apart from the Epistles to the Thessalonians, where we meet with angels as the attendants and servants of the returning Christ (§ 64, a), they are mentioned only, 1 Cor. iv. 9, in order to describe, along with men, the xórμos, and, Rom. viii. 38, in order, along with apxaí (which in this place are to be understood as the opposite of earthly rulers), to amplify the idea of xãσa ncicis (ver. 39); finally, 1 Cor. xiii. 1, Gal. iv. 14, when mention is made hypothetically of a higher nature than the human. According to Gal. i. 8, the heavenly beings are connected with the higher world of light (2 Cor. xi. 14: äyysãos pwrós), and they have, as in the teaching of Jesus (§ 19, d, footnote 6), glorified bodies as the exalted Christ has (1 Cor. xv. 48), which shine in the supermundane splendour of the divine glory (ver. 40; comp. § 76, d). According to Gal. iii. 19, the law was given by their mediation, and, 1 Cor. xi. 10, it seems to be supposed that they are present as invisible spectators in the assemblies of the Church.

mediatorship ascribed to them, it proceeded to give them divine honours (Col. ii. 18, 23). The more that the peculiar dignity of Christ was thereby lowered, all the more important did it come to be to the apostle to bring into prominence how even they too belonged to the creatures created in Christ, inasmuch as these comprehend all beings, heavenly and earthly, visible and invisible (i. 16). If their different orders are in this connection mentioned, of which in the earlier Epistles there is scarcely any mention,2 this happens only for this reason, to bring into prominence the fact, in opposition to the false teachers, who busied themselves with the different classes of angels, that not any of them was excluded from this attribute of creaturehood. But if the angels are included among the creatures created in Christ Jesus, i.e. through Him and for Him, then they too must be included in the goal of the world intended in creation. According to Eph. i. 10, in the goal of the divine institution of salvation everything, both in heaven and in earth, will be again gathered together in Christ as its central point (§ 103, b). The previous split, hinted at in the composite word, may easily be thought of as brought about by the sin of the human world, which separated men from the holy world of angels, and so broke up the harmony of the divine spiritual creation. But yet more definitely the bringing back to Christ, termed, Col. i. 20, a reconciliation (ie. removing entirely the split produced by sin),

2 The ¿pxai and duváμus mentioned separately from one another, Rom. viii. 38, can scarcely, that is to say, be connected with this; in particular, the apxaí as opposed to yysão cannot be angel-powers (comp. footnote 1). Only 1 Thess. iv. 16 is mention made of an apxáyysλes; and as the demoniac powers seem (1 Cor. xv. 24) to be separated into such orders, so, according to this analogy, the angels also are regarded as an organized kingdom. It may be, moreover, that the apostle has borrowed the names of these orders which occur in our Epistles from the Rabbinic schools (comp. even in Peter, § 50, a, footnote 2), or from the theosophic systems of his opponents; but in any case he does not attach the slightest importance to them, as in both the principal passages (Col. i. 16; Eph. i. 21) neither the order nor the names themselves agree. Besides the paí and ižoveías, which occur also Col. ii. 10, Eph. iii. 10, they have only the xvpiórnres in common, while in the passage in Colossians póva, and in that in the Ephesians duvus, appear as the fourth class. It is noteworthy that, Eph. iii. 15, mention is made of rarpıaí (tribes, families) in heaven and earth, by which, therefore, the orders of angels are put under the idea of families. There can be no allusion, naturally, to bodily descent; in particular, the name Tarpiai is borrowed from the fatherhood of God.

and which is there made expressly the world's goal, is referred to all that is upon the earth as well as in heaven. The angels are also first brought back to their true position to His person (which was appointed to be the central point, and therewith the head of the spiritual creation), when He is raised above all orders of angels (Eph. i. 21), has become their head (Col. ii. 10), so that they now, the inhabitants of heaven, bend the knee to Him even as the inhabitants of earth and Hades (Phil. ii. 10). But while this relation of Christ to the angels serves only this purpose, to express the absoluteness of His universal rule (comp. § 19, d; § 50, a), the angels appear thereby to be included in the final goal of the redeeming work, because this last is nothing else than the goal of the world itself.

(b) In quite another sense the work of redemption has its bearing on the superhuman kingdom of evil, which similarly comes into greater prominence in our Epistles than in the earlier ones. The devil is, according to Eph. ii. 2, the ruler,

3 The sis aúróv, according to the whole context, can apply only to Christ, by which any reference to reconciliation with God is excluded. But then there is no difficulty in thinking of the heavenly beings, the good angels as such, who are only to be brought back to their normal position to Him. For while Christ was obliged, on account of man's sin, for the purpose of sipnvoæassiv dià tou aluaros, to descend to their level in the rank of God's creatures (Phil. ii. 7, 8; comp. § 103, c), He had come into a relation to the angels thoroughly inadequate to His destination, and that could cease only after that He had finished the former, a matter which Gess, p. 245, overlooks. The subjugation of evil spirits (Schmidt, p. 193), or of the presumed angel of the law, Ritschl, ii. p. 251, cannot possibly be termed a bringing back to Him as the head; and the supposition of a class of angels, between the good and evil, needing redemption (Gess, p. 246; comp. also Schenkel, p. 283, footnote 3), is contrary to the Scriptures. A bringing back of the world of spirits hostile to God—which, moreover, is considered as definitely bad-is as far away from the biblical view as is also a need of redemption on the part of the angel world, and therefore the author felt no need to guard his expressions against both these thoughts. In the work of redemption the angels have no share, because they do not need it, and hence they appear, as with Peter (comp. § 50, a, footnote 2), and in a certain sense 1 Cor. xi. 10 (comp. footnote 1), only as spectators of it, when, according to Eph. iii. 10, the manifold wisdom of God is made known by means of the mystery of salvation realized in the Church (ver. 9), the wisdom which has brought about this goal.

4 In the earlier Epistles the devil (Eph. iv. 27, vi. 11: ¿ diúßodos; ver. 16: i wongis; comp. § 23, a, footnote 1; § 46, d, footnote 6; § 55, b), Satan, he who as the god of this world (2 Cor. iv. 4) rules the human world in bondage to sin, and inspires them with his spirit (1 Cor. ii. 12), as apparently he formerly misled Eve by means of the serpent (2 Cor. xi. 3), and with his daemons

according to whose law the heathen once walked, and whose spirit even now works in the children of disobedience, as it works also in the unconverted world by means of the spirits ruled by him (ovoia in a collective sense). If, therefore, God has stripped (аπекdνσáμevos, Col. ii. 15) these powers of their weapons, and publicly exposed them (edelyμátiσev év Tappnoia), while He leads them out as vanquished in triumph. on His cross (θριαμβεύσας αὐτοὺς ἐν αὐτῷ, scil. σταυρῷ), if He has therefore by the atoning death of Christ won a victory over them, then this, from its connection with ver. 14, where the removal of the relation of guilt is regarded (§ 100, c), can only be so understood, that man separated from God by guilt has thereby fallen under the dominion of the God-opposing power. But this victory does not in principle prevent the devil with his powers of darkness continuing again to oppose the kingdom of Christ. All Christian life is a conflict

has his kingdom in heathenism (comp. § 70, c). The idea according to which bodily sufferings are traced back, as in Luke xiii. 16 (§ 23, a), to his activity is peculiar, yet so that he thus acts only with the express permission of Christ (2 Cor. xii. 7), or by the command of His apostles (1 Cor. v. 5). But the iλopsuris (1 Cor. x. 10) is an angel of God, who executes His judgments, not Satan or one of his angels. If, 2 Cor. xii. 7, mention is made of an ❝yyshos caray, it is clear that he is regarded as head of a kingdom of evil spirits, and he only with his angels can be meant as being, according to 1 Cor. vi. 3. subject to the judgment of believers. There is in this also, as in the heavenly world of spirits, various orders (1 Cor. xv. 24: πᾶσα ἀρχὴ καὶ πᾶσα ἐξουσία καὶ δύναμις) which have their power in the as yet unconverted world. With the conversion of heathenism and the deliverance of Israel comes accordingly the end of the history of salvation upon the earth, when all the powers hostile to God come to nought, and are subjected to Christ as their conqueror (ver. 25); comp. § 98, a.

In Col. i. 13 they are called a power of darkness (in opposition to the ❝yysas Tou parés: 2 Cor. xi. 14), which keeps all men in bondage, according to Col. ii. 15. They are, Eph. vi. 12, regarded in their different orders (apxaí, ižovoías), and in the latter passage they are designated according to their sphere of dominion as κοσμοκράτορες τοῦ σκότους τούτου, according to their nature as a fellowship of spirits full of evil (τὰ πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας). If they are referred to as being i rois ixoupavíos, that can be understood only in a popular sense, according to which all that is supermundane belongs to heaven, for their special dwelling-place is, according to Eph. ii. 2 (ižovcía ro dspós), the atmosphere between heaven and earth.

6 Therewith the idea of Pfleiderer, p. 381 ff. [E. T. ii. 110], falls to the ground of itself, that here the role, which the wrath and the judgment of God play in the earlier system of Paul, is transferred to the devil and his angels, and hence reconciliation is subjectively applied from the other side. It is only the dominion of the God-opposing powers that is spoken of, as man can only then begin a new life in the service of God when freed from the consciousness of