Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and brings forth fruit, as it does also in you, since the day you heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:
All Commentaries on Colossians 1:6 Go To Colossians 1
Tertullian of Carthage
AD 220
I am accustomed in my prescription against all heresies to fix my concise and comprehensive criterion [of truth] in the testimony of time, claiming priority therein as our rule and alleging lateness to be the characteristic of every heresy. This shall be proved even by the apostle, when he says: “For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, which you have heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; which has come to you, as it has to the whole world.” For if, even at that time, the tradition of the gospel had spread everywhere, how much more now! Now, if it is our gospel which has spread everywhere, rather than any heretical gospel, much less Marcion’s, which only dates from the reign of Antoninus, then ours will be the gospel of the apostles.
