In the body of his flesh (Colossians 1:20; Colossians 2:11; Romans 8:3; Romans 7:4; 1 Timothy 3:10; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18; 1 Peter 4:1; Hebrews 2:14, Hebrews 2:15; Hebrews 10:20; 1 John 4:2; 2 John 1:7; Luke 24:39).
With a significant emphasis, the material body of Christ is made the instrument of that reconciliation in the carrying out of which "his whole fulness" is engaged (Colossians 1:19, Colossians 1:20); see note on "thought," Colossians 1:21, and on "body," Colossians 2:23.
The necessity of the double expression was shown by the fact that the Gnostic Marcion erased "of his flesh" from the text of this Epistle, and interpreted "the body" as "the Church;" Bengel and others suppose "of his flesh "to be added to prevent this mistake.
This phrase was the crux of Docetism, whose principles were indeed implicitly contained in the Alexandrine-Jewish philosophy with its contempt for matter and the physical life, which was now first beginning to leaven the Church.
Body is antithetical to soul: flesh to spirit. The former is individual and concrete, the actual physical organism; the latter denotes the material of which it consists, the bodily nature in its essence and characteristics (comp.
note on Colossians 2:11; and see Cremer's 'Lexicon' on these words). "In the body" is not "by the body," nor "during his earthly life" (as though opposed to "out of the body," 2 Corinthians 5:1-21:0-8; 2 Corinthians 12:3), but "as incarnate."
The Epistle to the Hebrews expands the thought of our Epistle in its own way in Heb, Colossians 2:14-18; 10:5-10. That reconciliation is through the (or, his) death (Romans 3:25; Romans 4:25; Romans 5:10; 1 Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians 5:14, 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 3:13; Hebrews 2:9; Hebrews 9:15, Hebrews 9:16; John 11:51, John 11:52; John 10:11; Revelation 1:18; Revelation 2:8) is the fundamental axiom of the gospel (Colossians 2:5), already implied in Colossians 2:14 and Colossians 2:20.
And the atoning death presupposes the Incarnation (Hebrews 2:14). The two foregoing phrases belong grammatically to Colossians 2:21. To present you holy and without blemish and unreprovable before him (verse 28; Ephesians 1:4; Ephesians 5:25-27; 1 Thessalonians 2:19; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Romans 2:16; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 2 Corinthians 4:14; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Acts 17:31); before "Christ" (Colossians 2:19), who is "Judge" (John 5:22, John 5:23) as well as "King" and "Redeemer" (Colossians 2:13, Colossians 2:14): this also belongs to his fulness.
He will "himself present the Church to himself" (Ephesians 5:27, Revised Text; also 2 Corinthians 4:14). In this presentation his redeeming work culminates (comp. Philippians 1:6, Philippians 1:10; Philippians 2:16; and, in view of the connection of Philippians 2:22 and Philippians 2:23, 1 Corinthians 1:6-9).
So, in general, Meyer and Alford. Ellicott and Lightfoot refer to God's present approbations, quoting Ephesians 1:4, a parallel much less close than verse 27, and supposing "God" the subject of the verb (see note on Ephesians 1:19).
"Holy erga Deum; without blemish respectu vestri; unreprovable respectu proximi" (Bengel). (On "holy," see note, Ephesians 1:2; also Colossians 3:12.) "Apropos is not "without blame," but "without blemish," "immaculate" (Lightfoot, R.
V.; Ephesians 1:4; Ephesians 5:27; Philippians 2:15: comp. Hebrews 9:14; 1 Peter 1:19). In the LXX it is the equivalent of the Hebrew tamim ("integer"), "faultless" in bodily condition or in moral character.
"Unreprovable," as a judicial term ("without charge that can be preferred"), points to the judgment day, and hence is wanting in Ephesians 1:4.