04_Biblica_Collins_Layout 1 01/04/14 11:47 Pagina 77 77 COLOSSIANS 1,17 “HOLD TOGETHER”: A CO-OPTED TERM God whose fullness dwells in Christ (Col 1,19; 2,9) that ensures the harmonious working of the potentially disparate forces of the world, and thus provides the true security for his people 34. The final theologian I mention is John of Damascus, whose Expo- sition of the Orthodox Faith was composed in the eighth century C.E., drawing on the classic Christian Greek-speaking theologians of earlier centuries. This text uses the terms suni,sthmi and sune,cw in ways that are consistent with these other authors. In 1:3 he professes: a Deity, who holds together [susthsa,menoj] and maintains [sunecwn] and preserves [sunthrw/n] and ever provides for this uni- , verse [to,de to. pa/n]. In general, these writers tend to represent more the philosophical usage than that of folk religion; but this is no surprise, given the kinds of discussions these writers were having in the works that survive. II. Lexicography The texts given above imply that the three verbs, suni,sthmi (Col 1,17), sune,cw (Wis 1,7), and sugkei/mai (Sir 43,26), have se- mantic connections; they are all rendered in the ESV-RSV tradition as a variation of “hold together”. Commentaries on these passages typically offer the others as cross references, without discussing exactly how these verbs relate to one another, though some assert (without demonstration) that the words overlap in meaning 35. 34 This line of thought works better than the one that R. MARTIN, Colos- sians and Philemon (NCB; London 1974) 59, favors, drawing on an essay by R.B.Y. SCOTT, “Wisdom in creation: The ’amon of Proverbs viii 30”, VT 10 (1960) 213-223. SCOTT revises the Hebrew (from ’amôn to ’omen), yield- ing the idea that “Wisdom was a link or bond between the Creator and his creation” (222). It is also more pointed than the idea that A. J. M. Wedderburn finds, that it “gives expression to Christ’s continuing role in the sustaining of creation as opposed to merely helping to bring it into being” (see WEDDER- BURN, “The Theology of Colossians”, The Theology of the Later Pauline Let- ters (eds. A.T. LINCOLN – A.J.M. WEDDERBURN) (New Testament Theology; Cambridge 1993) 3-71, at 28), although this is in fact a common way in which the passage has been used in Christian theologizing about Providence. 35 E.g., A. FEUILLET, Le Christ sagesse de Dieu: d’après les Épîtres