toil (as an effort or occupation) · noun — dative plural neuter
yet
δέdé
G1161
but
now
νυνίnyní
G3570
just now
reconciled
ἀποκαταλλάσσωapokatallássō
G604
to reconcile fully
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ephesians 2:12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having…
Titus 3:3-7 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful,…
Ephesians 2:1-3 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Romans 5:9-10 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Ephesians 4:18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of t…
Ephesians 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
Romans 8:7-8 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Colossians 1:12–end
Here is a summary of the doctrine of the gospel concerning the great work of our redemption by Christ. It comes in here not as the matter of a sermon, but as the matter of a thanksgiving; for our salvation by Christ furnishes us with abundant matter of thanksgiving in every view of it: Giving thanks unto the Father, Col 1:12. He does not discourse of the work of redemption in the natural order of it; for then he would speak of the purchase of it first, and afterwards of the application of it. But here he inverts the order, because, in our sense and feeling of it, the application goes before the purchase. We first find the benefits of redemption in our hearts, and then are led by those stream…
The Colossians are included in this general reconciliation (compare Eph 2:1, Eph 2:12).
sometime--"once."
alienated--from God and salvation: objectively banished from God, through the barrier which God's justice interposed against your sin: subjectively estranged through the alienation of your own wills from God. The former is the prominent thought (compare Rom 5:10), as the second follows, "enemies in your mind." "Actual alienation makes habitual 'enemies'" [BENGEL].
in your mind--Greek, "in your understanding" or "thought" (Eph 2:3; Eph 4:18).
by wicked works--rather as Greek, "in your wicked works" (wicked works were the element in which your enmity subsisted).
yet now--Notwiths…
And you, that were sometime alienated - All men are alienated from God, and all are enemies in their minds to him, and show it by their wicked works; but this is spoken particularly of the Gentiles. The word απαλλοτριοω, which we render to alienate, to give to another, to estrange, expresses the state of the Gentiles: while the Jews were, at least by profession, dedicated to God, the Gentiles were alienated, that is, given up to others; they worshipped not the true God, but had gods many and lords many, to whom they dedicated themselves, their religious service, and their property. The verb αλλοτριοω, to alienate, being compounded here with the preposition απο, from, signifies to abalienate,…
The Church Fathers
The apostle indeed teaches, in his Epistle to the Colossians, that we were once dead, alienated, and enemies to the Lord in our minds, whilst we were living in wicked works; that we were then buried with Christ in baptism, and also raised again with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead.
Here he goes to show that He reconciled those even who were unworthy of reconciliation. For by the saying that they were under the power of darkness, he shows the calamity in which they were. But lest, on hearing of "the power of darkness," thou shouldest consider it Necessity, he adds, "And you that were alienated," so that though it appear to be the same thing that he says, yet it is not so; for it is not the same thing to deliver out of the evils him that through necessity came to suffer, and him that of his own will endures. For the former indeed is worthy to be pitied, but the latter hated. But nevertheless, he saith, you that are not against your wills, nor from compulsion, but with your wills, and wishes, sprang away from Him, and are unworthy of it, He hath reconciled. And seeing he had made mention of the "things in the heavens," he shows, that all the enmity had its origin from hence, not thence. For they indeed were long ago desirous, and God also, but ye were not willing.
And you, who were once alienated and enemies in your mind because of your evil behavior, but now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death, to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in his sight. This is the message of the gift of God's grace to the Gentiles, that he may show them how indebted they are, and indeed greatly, through their actions of gratitude toward God; for they were once enemies of his plans, which he had determined to carry out through his servant Moses, whose teachings and authority they did not accept, devoted instead to their idols and their wicked deeds; for they worshipped the works of their own hands. But the mercy and providence of God sought them out, so that they might obtain the free grace of God and return to him with a clean conscience; that on the day of judgment, when no trace of their old errors would be found in them, they may join themselves to their Creator, who, in order to benefit the human race, became incarnate as a man to conquer death with his own body.
Dictionary and topics
Reconcilation — A change from enmity to friendship. It is mutual, i.e., it is a change wrought in both parties who have been at enmity. (1.) In Col. 1:21, 22, the word there used refers to a change wrought in the…
Access To God · Follows upon reconciliation to God — Follows upon reconciliation to God
Atonement, The · Reconciliation to God effected by — Reconciliation to God effected by
Backsliding · Blessedness of those who keep from — Blessedness of those who keep from
Character Of The Wicked · Alienated from God — Alienated from God
Depravity Of Man · 7:17;12:34,35;15:19; — 7:17;12:34,35;15:19;
Fall Of Man, The · Man in consequence of: Depraved in mind — Man in consequence of: Depraved in mind
Godlessness · 2:32; — 2:32;
Perfection · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Perseverance · An evidence of reconciliation with God — An evidence of reconciliation with God
Propitiation · 5:18,19; — 5:18,19;
Reconciliation · BETWEEN GOD AND MAN — BETWEEN GOD AND MAN
And you that were sometime alienated,.... The general blessing of grace and reconciliation, which belongs to the whole body of Christ, the church universal, all the elect of God, whether in heaven or in earth, is here particularly applied to the saints at Colosse, who were eminent instances of it; and that the free grace of God towards them in it might more illustriously appear, the apostle takes notice of what they were before the coming of Christ in the flesh, before the Gospel came among them, and while in a state of unregeneracy, as that they were "alienated": that is from God, not from his general presence, power, and providence, which reach to all his creatures, but from the life of Go…
Colossians 1:21-23
21. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
21. Et vos quum aliquando essetis alienati, et inimici cogitatione in operibus malis,
22. In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
22. Nunc reconciliavit in corpore carnis suae per mortem; ut sisteret vos sanctos et irreprehensibiles in conspectu suo:
23. If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
23. Si quidem perman…
Paul applies the truth of 1:15-20 to the Colossian Christians. As people who have been reconciled to God, they enjoy a new spiritual status and need to stand firm in the truth they have been taught.
1:21 The phrase once far away from God probably refers to their condition as Gentiles (see Eph 2:12).
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Reconciliation With God
· Effected for men: By the death of Christ
— Effected for men: By the death of Christ
Redemption · 2:38; — 2:38;
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
