The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians

Colossians was the first Pauline epistle on which F. F. Bruce ever wrote a commentary. Now, nearly thirty years later, and after having written commentaries on all the Pauline epistles except the Pastorals, Bruce has completely rewritten his original commentary, and presents it here with his entirely new commentaries on the epistles to Philemon and to the Ephesians. The study of Ephesians and Colossians together, says Bruce, confirms his belief that Ephesians continues the line of thought followed in Colossians -- in particular because it draws out the implications of Christ's cosmic role (set forth in Colossians) for the church, which is his body. At the same time Ephesians constitutes the crown of Paulinism, gathering up the main themes of the apostle's teaching into a unified presentation sub specie aeternitatis. The letter to Philemon, with its close association to Colossians, is appropriately included in this volume as well. In carrying out the policy of keeping the New International Commentary on the New Testament up to date, the publishers and editor realize that, without such a policy, the adjective "new" as a description of the series would soon become absurdly irrelevant. This second replacement volume in the series takes the place of the original NICNT volume on Ephesians and Colossians, written by E. K. Simpson and F. F. Bruce (1957) and Jacobus J. Müller's commentary on Philemon found in Müller's volume on Philippians and Philemon (1955). - Jacket flap.