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corpus-paul - Re: Colossians Pauline?

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  • From: "Peter M. Head" <pmh15 AT hermes.cam.ac.uk>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Colossians Pauline?
  • Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 10:55:18 +0100


Col 3.4 may well be 'the only passage in Colossians which has a coming Parousia of Christ in view' (Frank Hughes quoting Gnilka). But we would then need to know what sort of function the parousia has in the eschatological thought of the epistle before twe could efectively compare it with consensus Paul. Granted that 3.4 does have the parousia in view we might also note:
a) that along with 2.20-3.4 it serves as an important appropriation of the dying and rising with Christ language of 2.11-13, with the additional qualification of eschatological transformation at the parousia;
b) 3.5ff looks back (OUN) to exactly this eschatological element in the dying/rising idea as motivating ethical transformation in the present (note also the threat of the coming wrath, 3.6).

This suggests that an important eschatological dimension is characteristic of the theology and ethics of Colossians, even though this is not where the author places a great deal of emphasis (it seems likely that 3.24f is about eschatological judgement and reward and that 4.1 implies threat of judgement).



Cheers

Peter


Peter M. Head, PhD
Research Fellow
Tyndale House
36 Selwyn Gardens Phone: (UK) 01223 566607
Cambridge, CB3 9BA Fax: (UK) 01223 566608





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