Lecture 3 — Prayer for the Colossians

^1:9^ Therefore we also, from the day that we heard it, cease not to pray for you and to beg that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding: [n. 17]

^1:10^ That you may walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing; being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God: [n. 21]

^1:11^ Strengthened with all might according to the power of his glory, in all patience and longsuffering with joy, [n. 22]

^1:12^ Giving thanks to God the Father, who has made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light: [n. 23]

^1:13^ Who has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, [n. 26]

^1:14^ In whom we have redemption through his blood, the remission of sins: [n. 28]

17. Above, the Apostle gave the reason for his thanksgiving by mentioning the things for which he gave thanks; here he states his prayer, showing what he is asking for them.

First, he gives the characteristics of prayer;

second, he mentions the goods he is asking for, at that you may be filled.

18. Prayer has three characteristics. First, it is timely, thus he says, **from the day that we heard it **we began to pray: since I spoke of him, I will still remember him (Jer 31:20).

Second, it is continuous: we cease not: far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you (1 Sam 12:23); without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers (Rom 1:9).

Third, prayer has several elements and is complete: to pray for you and to beg. Praying is lifting our minds up to God; and asking is requesting things. Praying should come first, so that the one devoutly requesting is heard, just as those who are requesting something begin by trying to persuade their listener and bend him to their wishes. But we should begin with devotion and meditation on God and divine things, not in order to bend him, but to lift ourselves up to him.

19. He asks for three things. First, for a knowledge of the truth, at that you may be filled; second, that they act in a virtuous way, at that you may walk worthy; and third, that they have the endurance to stand up under evil, at in all patience.

20. He requests three kinds of knowledge for them. First, a knowledge of what they are to do; and so he says, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will, that is, that you may fully know the will of God: this is the will of God, your sanctification (1 Thess 4:3). Thus, one who lives in a holy way knows God’s will; but one who sins does not know the will of God, because every sinner is ignorant: that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Rom 12:2).

Second, he wants them to have a knowledge of divine things, in all wisdom, which consists in the knowledge of divine things, as Augustine says. Think of the Lord with uprightness (Wis 1:1).

Third, of spiritual gifts, at and spiritual understanding, i.e., not of these earthly material things: now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is from God (1 Cor 2:12).

He appropriately associates wisdom and understanding, because wisdom is weak when there is no understanding, as Gregory says, and understanding is useless without wisdom: for wisdom judges and understanding apprehends, and one cannot apprehend without judging, and vice versa.

The Gloss says that the first kind of knowledge is taken in general, the second pertains to the active life, and the third to the contemplative life.

21. Further, knowledge by itself is not enough, because whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin (Jas 4:17). And therefore, it is necessary to act according to virtue. He touches on this when he says, that you may walk worthy of God, for one lives unworthily if he does not live as is fitting for a son of God to live: as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships (2 Cor 6:4); as we solemnly forewarned you (1 Thess 4:6). Second, he touches on a correct intention: in all things pleasing: there was one who pleased God and was loved by him (Wis 4:10). Third, he brings in the desire to make progress: being fruitful in every good work, for one should always try for a further good: my blossoms became glorious and abundant fruit (Sir 24:17); the return you get is sanctification and its end eternal life (Rom 6:22).

And after one has borne fruit, an increase in knowledge follows, and increasing in the knowledge of God; for as a result of eagerly accomplishing the commands of God, a person is disposed for knowledge: I understand more than the aged, because I keep your precepts (Ps 119:100); wisdom will not dwell in a body enslaved to sin (Wis 1:4). He says, increasing in the knowledge of God, and not of the world: she gave him a knowledge of holy things (Wis 10:10).

22. Then he mentions their standing up under evils, for to live a virtuous life it is not enough just to know and to will; one must also act in spite of opposition: and this cannot be done without a patient endurance of evils. And so he says, may you be strengthened with all might: rich in power (Sir 44:6). Such power, or virtue, comes from God; and so he says, according to the power of his glory: be strong in the Lord (Eph 6:10). He says, the power of his glory, that is, Christ’s, who is the glory of the Father, because to fall into sin is to fall into darkness: she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty (Wis 7:25).

Then when he says, in all patience and longsuffering, he prays that they may stand up under adversity. Some people fail because of the difficulties of their adversities; and they need patience: by your patience you will gain your lives (Luke 21:19). Other people fail because their reward is a long time coming; and so he says, and longsuffering, which enables a person to wait for what was promised: it does not come soon, wait for it; because it will come and not delay (Hab 2:3); and thus, with his longsuffering, he obtained what was promised (Heb 6:15). Yet, although some people do avoid these two vices, they do it with sadness; and since this should not be so he says, with joy: count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials (Jas 1:2).

23. Then when he says, giving thanks to God the Father, he gives thanks for the favors granted to all of the faithful: first for the gift of grace,

and then second for the fruit of grace, at who has delivered us.

24. And so he says: we pray for you, giving thanks to God, as our Creator, and the Father, namely by adoption, who has made us worthy to be partakers. Some people have said that the gifts of grace are given because of a person’s merit, and that God gives grace to those who are worthy, and does not give grace to those who are unworthy. But this view is rejected by the Apostle, because whatever worth and grace we have was given to us by God, and so also were the effects of grace. And so Paul says, who has made us worthy: not that we are sufficient of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our sufficiency is from God (2 Cor 3:5). To be partakers of the lot of the saints. All men are good in their very nature; consequently, they somehow partake of God. But those who are wicked take pleasure in temporal things as their portion: this is our portion and this our lot (Wis 2:9), while those who are holy have God himself as their portion: the Lord is my portion (Lam 3:24); the Lord is my chosen portion (Ps 16:5). And so he says, who has made us worthy.

25. He says, of the lot of the saints, because there are two ways of apportioning things: sometimes it is done by choosing, as when a person selects this portion, and another one that portion; and sometimes apportionment is by lot: the lot puts an end to disputes (Prov 18:18). The saints have their portion not because they chose it: you did not choose me, but I chose you (John 15:16), but because God chose them.

A lot consists in entrusting something to God’s judgment. And there are three types of lot: consultative, divining, and apportioning. The first is not evil when dealing in temporal matters; the second is useless and evil, and the third is sometimes allowed in cases of necessity. The portion of the saints is the possession of the light: he dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim 6:16); in his hands he hides the light and commands it to come again (Job 36:32).

26. And from it there follows the effect of grace, i.e., our transference from darkness to light. First, he mentions this transference; and second, the way in which men are the slaves of sin before they receive grace.

For since sin is a darkness, men are in the power of darkness, i.e., either of the evil spirits or of sins: against the world rulers of this present darkness (Eph 6:12), even the captives of the mighty shall be taken (Isa 49:25). And has translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, i.e., that we might be the kingdom of God: my kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). This happens when we are freed from our sins: you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God (Rev 5:10). Or literally, we are transferred to this kingdom so that we may obtain eternal life: the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matt 3:2). And this is what he says: the kingdom of the Son of his love.

27. As Augustine says in a Gloss, ‘love’ is sometimes taken to mean the Holy Spirit, who is the love of the Father and the Son. But if ‘love’ were always to mean this person, then the Son would be the Son of the Holy Spirit. So at other times ‘love’ is understood essentially, to indicate the divine essence. Thus the phrase, of the Son of his love, can be taken to mean either of his beloved Son, or it could mean, of the Son of his essence.

But is it true to say that the Son is the Son of the essence of the Father?

I answer that if the possessive case ‘of the essence’ is taken to indicate the relationship of an efficient cause, it is false; because the essence does not generate nor is it generated. Sometimes the possessive case indicates the possession of a form, as when we say a thing is ‘of an excellent form,’ that is, it has an excellent form. And if we understand ‘of the essence’ in this way, then the statement is true, that is, the Son has the essence of the Father: the Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand (John 3:35).

28. Then when he says, in whom we have redemption through his blood, he shows the way we have been transferred. For humanity in sin was held down in two ways: first, as a slave: every one who commits sin is a slave to sin (John 8:34), and second, as deserving punishment and as turned away from God: your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you so that he does not hear (Isa 59:2).

But these two things are taken away by Christ, because, as man, he became a sacrifice for us and redeemed us in his blood; and so Paul says, in whom we have redemption: you were bought with a price (1 Cor 6:20); and from Christ, as God, we have the remission of sins, because he took away our debt of punishment.