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Document Details : Title: The Neglected Parallellism in Collosians 1,24-25 Author(s): CAHILL, M. Journal: Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses Volume: 68 Issue: 1 Date: April 1992 Pages: 142-147 DOI: 10.2143/ETL.68.1.542168 Abstract : I wish to draw attention to a neglected parallelism in Colossians 1,24-25, and to demonstrate that its recognition has a definite contribution to make to an understanding of the total statement of these verses. I am proposing that the phrase ἀνταναπληρῶ τὰ ὑστερήματα in v. 24 is to be read in conjunction with the parallel πληρῶσαι τόν λόγον in v. 25. The common form of the simple verb in v.25 is the basis of the compound form in v. 24, which is a hapax legomenon in the NT. It seems to me that there has been so much concentration on the rare compound that the verbal parallel and play on words by the author of Colossians have been overlooked. In my survey of the literature on these verses I have not noted any explicit attention to the parallel as a key to the interpretation of the difficult phrase in v. 24, long a "crux interpretum". It was with interest that I noticed that Joachim Gnilka had also observed that there is a play on words, a "paronomasie", operating here, although he mentions the fact merely as a confirmation of his interpretation of Col 1,25. Another commentator to mention that the same basic verb is used in both verses is Peter T. O'Brien in his highly regarded work on Colossians in the Word Biblical Commentary series, but he does not develop the point. |
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