(28) Warning every man, and teaching.--In "warning" is implied the idea of reproof of folly or sin. (See 1Thessalonians 5:14; 2Thessalonians 3:5.) "Teaching" is simply instruction--including, of course, practical exhortation--of those already warned.

Perfect.--See Ephesians 4:13; Philippians 3:15, and Notes there. Here, however, as in 1Corinthians 2:6-7, the reference may be to the sense of "perfect "as "initiated in mystery." St. Paul, in opposition to the exclusive claim of "perfection" by the speculators in mystic knowledge ("falsely so called") would present "every man," learned or ignorant, "perfect before God." In this universality of privilege lies the glorious distinction between the gospel and all schools of philosophy, whether they reject or assume its name.

Verse 28. - Whom we proclaim, admonishing every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom (Colossians 3:16; 1 Thessalonians 2:4-13; 1 Corinthians 1:23, 24; 1 Corinthians 4:1-5; 1 Corinthians 15:11; 2 Corinthians 4:1-6; 2 Corinthians 5:18-6:1; Acts 20:18-35; Acts 26:22, 23). We (emphatic, like the "I" of vers. 23, 25) includes St. Paul's coadjutors, Epaphras in particular (ver. 9; Colossians 4:7, 11, 12: comp. 2 Corinthians 1:19). Καταγγέλλω, to publish, bears a wider sense than κηρύσσω, to herald (ver. 23), St. Paul's favourite word. "Admonishing and teaching" are the two essential parts of the apostle's ministry, related as repentance to faith (Lightfoot, who gives interesting classical parallels). Νουθετέω (radically, "to put in mind"), peculiar to St. Paul in New Testament (including Acts 20:31), may denote reproof for the past, but more especially warning for the future (see 1 Corinthians 4:14; 2 Thessalonians 3:15: comp. note on Colossians 3:16). Thrice in this verse "every man" is repeated, and "in all wisdom" follows "teaching" with a marked emphasis. The Colossian errorists, as we should presume from the general tenor and affinities of their system, sought to form an inner mystical school or circle of discipleship within the Church, initiated into a wisdom and holiness supposed to be higher than that attainable by ordinary Christian faith (see note on "mystery," ver. 26; also Colossians 2:2, 3, 8). An intellectual caste-feeling (see note, Colossians 3:11) was springing up in the Church. In 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 the apostle denounces the pride of reason which claims "the things of God" as its own; here he denounces the pride of intellect which refuses the knowledge of them to those who stand on a lower level of mental culture. To every man the Divine wisdom in Christ is accessible (Colossians 2:3, 10; Colossians 3:10, 16; Ephesians 2:17; Ephesians 3:18, 19): to none but "the spiritual man" (1 Corinthians 2:6, 12-3:1). "Wisdom" here is not subjective, a quality of the apostle (so Meyer, quoting 1 Corinthians 3:10), but objective, the quality of the truth itself (comp. Colossians 2:2, 23; Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 1:18; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25; 1 Corinthians 2:6, 7). That we may present every man perfect in Christ (ver. 22; Ephesians 4:13; Ephesians 5:25-27; 2 Corinthians 13:7-9; 1 Thessalonians 2:19, 20; 2 Timothy 2:10): the aim alike of Christ's redemption (ver. 22) and of the apostle's ministry. "Perfect" (τέλειος) is a word associated with the Greek mysteries (comp. 1 Corinthians 2:6, 7; and quotations in Lightfoot), and in common use denoted "full-grown," "grown men," as opposed to" children "(Ephesians 4:13, 14; Philippians 3:12, 15; Hebrews 5:11-6:1). The philosophic Judaists affected this term considerably. Philo frequently distinguishes between the "perfect" or "fully initiated" (τέλειοι), who are admitted to the sight of God, and the "advancing" (προκόπτοντες: comp. Galatians 1:14), who are candidates for admission to the Divine mysteries; and he makes Jacob a type of the latter, Israel of the former (see 'On Drunkenness,' § 20; 'On Change of Names,' § 3; 'On Agriculture,' §§ 36-38). The apostle makes "perfect" designedly parallel to the "holy and without blemish" of ver. 22, holding out a spiritual ideal very different from that of Alexandrine mystics; and declares that it is to be realized "in Christ" (vers. 2, 4), as in ver. 22 it appeared to be wrought "through Christ" and "for Christ" (comp. ver. 16).

1:24-29 Both the sufferings of the Head and of the members are called the sufferings of Christ, and make up, as it were, one body of sufferings. But He suffered for the redemption of the church; we suffer on other accounts; for we do but slightly taste that cup of afflictions of which Christ first drank deeply. A Christian may be said to fill up that which remains of the sufferings of Christ, when he takes up his cross, and after the pattern of Christ, bears patiently the afflictions God allots to him. Let us be thankful that God has made known to us mysteries hidden from ages and generations, and has showed the riches of his glory among us. As Christ is preached among us, let us seriously inquire, whether he dwells and reigns in us; for this alone can warrant our assured hope of his glory. We must be faithful to death, through all trials, that we may receive the crown of life, and obtain the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls.Whom we preach,.... Under the above considerations; as the riches, the glory, and the mystery of the Gospel; as the hope set before lost sinners to lay hold upon; as the only Saviour and Redeemer, by whose righteousness believers are justified, through whose blood their sins are pardoned, by whose sacrifice and satisfaction atonement is made, and in whose person alone is acceptance with God: Christ and him crucified, and salvation by him, were the subjects of the ministry of the apostles; on this they dwelt, and it was this which was blessed for the conversion of sinners, the edification of saints, the planting of churches, and the setting up and establishing the kingdom and interest of Christ:

warning every man; of his lost state and condition by nature; of the wrath to come, and the danger he is in of it; of the terrors of the Lord, and of an awful judgment; showing sinners that they are unrighteous and unholy, that their nature is corrupt and impure, their best righteousness imperfect, and cannot justify them before God; that they stand guilty before him, and that destruction and misery are in all their ways; and therefore advise them to flee from the wrath to come, to the hope set before them in the Gospel:

and teaching every man in all wisdom; not natural, but spiritual and evangelical; the whole Gospel of Christ, the counsel of God, the wisdom of God in a mystery, and all the branches of it; teaching them to believe in Christ for salvation, to lay hold on his righteousness for justification, to deal with his blood for pardon, and with his sacrifice for the atonement of their sins; and to observe all things commanded by Christ, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly: by these two words, "warning" and "teaching", the several parts of the Gospel ministry are expressed; and which extend to all sorts of men, rich and poor, bond and free, greater and lesser sinners, Gentiles as well as Jews; and who are chiefly designed here, and elsewhere, by every man and every creature:

that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus; not in themselves, in which sense no man is perfect in this life; but in the grace, holiness, and righteousness of Christ, in whom all the saints are complete: or it may regard that ripeness of understanding, and perfection of knowledge, which, when arrived unto, saints become perfect men in Christ; and is the end of the Gospel ministry, and to which men are brought by it; see Ephesians 4:13; and to be understood of the presentation of the saints, not by Christ to himself, and to his Father, but by the ministers of the Gospel, as their glory and crown of rejoicing in the day of Christ.