Homilies on Colossians — Homily 5

St. John Chrysostom

1. 0. Greeting

[[Colossians 1.26]]-28

Even the mystery which has been hid from all ages and generations: but now has it been manifested to His saints, to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: whom we proclaim, admonishing every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ.

Having said what we have come to, and showed the lovingkindness of God and the honor, by the greatness of the things given, he introduces yet another consideration that heightens them, namely, that neither before us did any one know Him. As he does also in the Epistle to the Ephesians, saying, neither Angels, nor principalities, nor any other created power, but only the Son of God knew. [[Ephesians 3.5]]-10 And he said, not simply hid, but quite hid, and that even if it has but now come to pass, yet it is of old, and from the beginning God willed these things, and they were so planned out; but why, he says not yet. From the ages, from the beginning, as one might say. And with reason he calls that a mystery, which none knew, save God. And where hid? In Christ; as he says in the Epistle to the Ephesians [[Ephesians 3.9]], or as when the Prophet says, From everlasting even to everlasting You are. Psalm 90:2 But now has been manifested, he says, to His saints. So that it is altogether of the dispensation of God. But now has been manifested, he says. He says not, has come to pass, but, has been manifested to His saints. So that it is even now still hid, since it has been manifested to His saints alone.

Let not others therefore deceive you, for they know not. Why to them alone? To whom He was pleased, he says. See how everywhere He stops the mouth of their questions. To whom God was pleased to make known, he says. Yet His will is not without reason. By way of making them accountable for grace, rather than allowing them to have high thoughts, as though it were of their own achieving, he said, To whom he was pleased to make known. What is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles. He has spoken loftily, and accumulated emphasis, seeking, out of his great earnestness, for amplification upon amplification. For this also is an amplification, the saying indefinitely, The riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles. For it is most of all apparent among the Gentiles, as he also says elsewhere, And that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy. [[Romans 15.9]] For the great glory of this mystery is apparent among others also, but much more among these. For, on a sudden, to have brought men more senseless than stones to the dignity of Angels, simply through bare words, and faith alone, without any laboriousness, is indeed glory and riches of mystery: just as if one were to take a dog, quite consumed with hunger and the mange, foul, and loathsome to see, and not so much as able to move, but lying cast out, and make him all