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diff --git a/37345.txt b/37345.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3cde3b --- /dev/null +++ b/37345.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13664 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Expositor's Bible: Colossians and +Philemon, by Alexander Maclaren + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Expositor's Bible: Colossians and Philemon + +Author: Alexander Maclaren + +Editor: W. Robertson Nicoll + +Release Date: September 7, 2011 [EBook #37345] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE: COLOSSIANS, PHILEMON *** + + + + +Produced by Marcia Brooks, Colin Bell, Nigel Blower and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian +Libraries) + + + + + + [Transcriber's Note: + + A few minor typographical errors and inconsistencies have been + silently corrected. + + All advertising material has been placed at the end of the text.] + + + + + THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE + + + EDITED BY THE REV. + W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A., LL.D. + + _Editor of "The Expositor," etc._ + + + COLOSSIANS AND PHILEMON + + BY + ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D.D. + + + London + HODDER AND STOUGHTON + 27, PATERNOSTER ROW + + MCMII + + + + + THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL + TO + THE COLOSSIANS + AND + PHILEMON + + BY + ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D.D. + + + _TENTH EDITION_ + + + London: + HODDER AND STOUGHTON + 27, PATERNOSTER ROW + + MCMII + + + + + _Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury._ + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + _THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS._ + + PAGE + Chap. I. v. 1, 2. The Writer and the Readers 1 + v. 3-8. The Prelude 21 + v. 9-12. The Prayer 38 + v. 12-14. The Father's Gifts through the Son 54 + v. 15-18. The Glory of the Son in His Relation to + the Father, the Universe, and the Church 70 + v. 19-22. The Reconciling Son 85 + v. 22, 23. The Ultimate Purpose of Reconciliation + and its Human Conditions 100 + v. 24-27. Joy in Suffering, and Triumph in the + Manifested Mystery 116 + v. 28, 29. The Christian Ministry in its Theme, + Methods, and Aim 132 + + Chap. II. v. 1-3. Paul's Striving for the Colossians 151 + v. 4-7. Conciliatory and Hortatory Transition + to Polemics 168 + v. 8-10. The Bane and the Antidote 185 + v. 11-13. The True Circumcision 199 + v. 14, 15. The Cross the Death of Law and the + Triumph over Evil Powers 213 + v. 16-19. Warnings against Twin Chief Errors + based upon Previous Positive Teaching 226 + v. 20-23. Two Final Tests of the False Teaching 242 + + Chap. III. v. 1-4. The Present Christian Life a Risen Life 257 + v. 5-9. Slaying Self the Foundation Precept of + Practical Christianity 271 + v. 9-11. The New Nature wrought out in New Life 290 + v. 12-14. The Garments of the Renewed Soul 305 + v. 15-17. The Practical Effects of the Peace of + Christ, the Word of Christ, and the + Name of Christ 320 + v. 18, Ch. iv., 1. The Christian Family 335 + + Chap. IV. v. 2-6. Precepts for the Innermost and + Outermost Life 354 + v. 7-9. Tychicus and Onesimus, the Letter-Bearers 371 + v. 10-14. Salutations from the Prisoner's Friends 386 + v. 15-18. Closing Messages 402 + + + _THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON._ + + Chap. I. v. 1-3 417 + v. 4-7 432 + v. 8-11 447 + v. 12-14 459 + v. 15-19 470 + v. 20-25 483 + + + + +I. + +_THE WRITER AND THE READERS._ + + "Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and + Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ + which are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our + Father."--COL. i, 1, 2 (Rev. Ver.). + + +We may say that each of Paul's greater epistles has in it one salient +thought. In that to the Romans, it is Justification by faith; in +Ephesians, it is the mystical union of Christ and His Church; in +Philippians, it is the joy of Christian progress; in this epistle, it is +the dignity and sole sufficiency of Jesus Christ as the Mediator and +Head of all creation and of the Church. + +Such a thought is emphatically a lesson for the day. + +The Christ whom the world needs to have proclaimed in every deaf ear and +lifted up before blind and reluctant eyes, is not merely the perfect +man, nor only the meek sufferer, but the Source of creation and its +Lord, Who from the beginning has been the life of all that has lived, +and before the beginning was in the bosom of the Father. The shallow and +starved religion which contents itself with mere humanitarian +conceptions of Jesus of Nazareth needs to be deepened and filled out by +these lofty truths before it can acquire solidity and steadfastness +sufficient to be the unmoved foundation of sinful and mortal lives. The +evangelistic teaching which concentrates exclusive attention on the +cross as "the work of Christ," needs to be led to the contemplation of +them, in order to understand the cross, and to have its mystery as well +as its meaning declared. This letter itself dwells upon two applications +of its principles to two classes of error which, in somewhat changed +forms, exist now as then--the error of the ceremonialist, to whom +religion was mainly a matter of ritual, and the error of the speculative +thinker, to whom the universe was filled with forces which left no room +for the working of a personal Will. The vision of the living Christ Who +fills all things, is held up before each of these two, as the antidote +to his poison; and that same vision must be made clear to-day to the +modern representatives of these ancient errors. If we are able to grasp +with heart and mind the principles of this epistle for ourselves, we +shall stand at the centre of things, seeing order where from any other +position confusion only is apparent, and being at the point of rest +instead of being hurried along by the wild whirl of conflicting +opinions. + +I desire, therefore, to present the teachings of this great epistle in a +series of expositions. + +Before advancing to the consideration of these verses, we must deal with +one or two introductory matters, so as to get the frame and the +background for the picture. + +(1) First, as to the Church of Colossae to which the letter is addressed. + +Perhaps too much has been made of late years of geographical and +topographical elucidations of Paul's epistles. A knowledge of the place +to which a letter was sent cannot do much to help in understanding the +letter, for local circumstances leave very faint traces, if any, on the +Apostle's writings. Here and there an allusion may be detected, or a +metaphor may gain in point by such knowledge; but, for the most part, +local colouring is entirely absent. Some slight indication, however, of +the situation and circumstances of the Colossian Church may help to give +vividness to our conceptions of the little community to whom this rich +treasure of truth was first entrusted. + +Colossae was a town in the heart of the modern Asia Minor, much decayed +in Paul's time from its earlier importance. It lay in a valley of +Phrygia, on the banks of a small stream, the Lycus, down the course of +which, at a distance of some ten miles or so, two very much more +important cities fronted each other, Hierapolis on the north, and +Laodicea on the south bank of the river. In all three cities were +Christian Churches, as we know from this letter, one of which has +attained the bad eminence of having become the type of tepid religion +for all the world. How strange to think of the tiny community in a +remote valley of Asia Minor, eighteen centuries since, thus gibbeted for +ever! These stray beams of light which fall upon the people in the New +Testament, showing them fixed for ever in one attitude, like a lightning +flash in the darkness, are solemn precursors of the last Apocalypse, +when all men shall be revealed in "the brightness of His coming." + +Paul does not seem to have been the founder of these Churches, or ever +to have visited them at the date of this letter. That opinion is based +on several of its characteristics, such, for instance, as the absence +of any of those kindly greetings to individuals which in the Apostle's +other letters are so abundant, and reveal at once the warmth and the +delicacy of his affection: and the allusions which occur more than once +to his having only "_heard_" of their faith and love, and is strongly +supported by the expression in the second chapter where he speaks of the +conflict in spirit which he had for "you, and for them at Laodicea, and +for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh." Probably the teacher +who planted the gospel in Colossae was that Epaphras, whose visit to Rome +occasioned the letter, and who is referred to in verse 7 of this chapter +in terms which seem to suggest that he had first made known to them the +fruit-producing "word of the truth of the gospel." + +(2) Note the occasion and subject of the letter. Paul is a prisoner, in +a certain sense, in Rome; but the word prisoner conveys a false +impression of the amount of restriction of personal liberty to which he +was subjected. We know from the last words of the Acts of the Apostles, +and from the Epistle to the Philippians, that his "imprisonment" did not +in the least interfere with his liberty of preaching, nor with his +intercourse with friends. Rather, in the view of the facilities it gave +that by him "the preaching might be fully known," it may be regarded, as +indeed the writer of the Acts seems to regard it, as the very climax and +topstone of Paul's work, wherewith his history may fitly end, leaving +the champion of the gospel at the very heart of the world, with +unhindered liberty to proclaim his message by the very throne of Caesar. +He was sheltered rather than confined beneath the wing of the imperial +eagle. His imprisonment, as we call it, was, at all events at first, +detention in Rome under military supervision rather than incarceration. +So to his lodgings in Rome there comes a brother from this decaying +little town in the far-off valley of the Lycus, Epaphras by name. +Whether his errand was exclusively to consult Paul about the state of +the Colossian Church, or whether some other business also had brought +him to Rome, we do not know; at all events, he comes and brings with him +bad news, which burdens Paul's heart with solicitude for the little +community, which had no remembrances of his own authoritative teaching +to fall back upon. Many a night would he and Epaphras spend in deep +converse on the matter, with the stolid Roman legionary, to whom Paul +was chained, sitting wearily by, while they two eagerly talked. + +The tidings were that a strange disease, hatched in that hotbed of +religious fancies, the dreamy East, was threatening the faith of the +Colossian Christians. A peculiar form of heresy, singularly compounded +of Jewish ritualism and Oriental mysticism--two elements as hard to +blend in the foundation of a system as the heterogeneous iron and clay +on which the image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream stood unstably--had +appeared among them, and though at present confined to a few, was being +vigorously preached. The characteristic Eastern dogma, that matter is +evil and the source of evil, which underlies so much Oriental religion, +and crept in so early to corrupt Christianity, and crops up to-day in so +many strange places and unexpected ways, had begun to infect them. The +conclusion was quickly drawn: "Well, then, if matter be the source of +all evil, then, of course, God and matter must be antagonistic," and so +the creation and government of this material universe could not be +supposed to have come directly from Him. The endeavour to keep the pure +Divinity and the gross world as far apart as possible, while yet an +intellectual necessity forbad the entire breaking of the bond between +them, led to the busy working of the imagination, which spanned the void +gulf between God Who is good, and matter which is evil, with a bridge of +cobwebs--a chain of intermediate beings, emanations, abstractions, each +approaching more nearly to the material than his precursor, till at last +the intangible and infinite was confined and curdled into actual earthly +matter, and the pure was darkened thereby into evil. + +Such notions, fantastic and remote from daily life as they look, really +led by a very short cut to making wild work with the plainest moral +teachings both of the natural conscience and of Christianity. For if +matter be the source of all evil, then the fountain of each man's sin is +to be found, not in his own perverted will, but in his body, and the +cure of it is to be reached, not by faith which plants a new life in a +sinful spirit, but simply by ascetic mortification of the flesh. + +Strangely united with these mystical Eastern teachings, which might so +easily be perverted to the coarsest sensuality, and had their heads in +the clouds and their feet in the mud, were the narrowest doctrines of +Jewish ritualism, insisting on circumcision, laws regulating food, the +observance of feast days, and the whole cumbrous apparatus of a +ceremonial religion. It is a monstrous combination, a cross between a +Talmudical rabbi and a Buddhist priest, and yet it is not unnatural +that, after soaring in these lofty regions of speculation where the air +is too thin to support life, men should be glad to get hold of the +externals of an elaborate ritual. It is not the first nor the last time +that a misplaced philosophical religion has got close to a religion of +outward observances, to keep it from shivering itself to death. Extremes +meet. If you go far enough east, you are west. + +Such, generally speaking, was the error that was beginning to lift its +head in Colossae. Religious fanaticism was at home in that country, from +which, both in heathen and in Christian times, wild rites and notions +emanated, and the Apostle might well dread the effect of this new +teaching, as of a spark on hay, on the excitable natures of the +Colossian converts. + +Now we may say, "What does all this matter to us? We are in no danger of +being haunted by the ghosts of these dead heresies." But the truth which +Paul opposed to them is all important for every age. It was simply the +Person of Christ as the only manifestation of the Divine, the link +between God and the universe, its Creator and Preserver, the Light and +Life of men, the Lord and Inspirer of the Church, Christ has come, +laying His hand upon both God and man, therefore there is no need nor +place for a misty crowd of angelic beings or shadowy abstractions to +bridge the gulf across which His incarnation flings its single solid +arch. Christ has been bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, therefore +that cannot be the source of evil in which the fulness of the Godhead +has dwelt as in a shrine. Christ has come, the fountain of life and +holiness, therefore there is no more place for ascetic mortifications on +the one hand, nor for Jewish scrupulosities on the other. These things +might detract from the completeness of faith in the complete redemption +which Christ has wrought, and must becloud the truth that simple faith +in it is all which a man needs. + +To urge these and the like truths this letter is written. Its central +principle is the sovereign and exclusive mediation of Jesus Christ, the +God-man, the victorious antagonist of these dead speculations, and the +destined conqueror of all the doubts and confusions of this day. If we +grasp with mind and heart that truth, we can possess our souls in +patience, and in its light see light where else is darkness and +uncertainty. + + * * * * * + +So much then for introduction, and now a few words of comment on the +superscription of the letter contained in these verses. + +I. Notice the blending of lowliness and authority in Paul's designation +of himself. "An Apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God." + +He does not always bring his apostolic authority to mind at the +beginning of his letters. In his earliest epistles, those to the +Thessalonians, he has not yet adopted the practice. In the loving and +joyous letter to the Philippians, he has no need to urge his authority, +for no man among them ever gainsaid it. In that to Philemon, friendship +is uppermost, and though, as he says, he might be much bold to enjoin, +yet he prefers to beseech, and will not command as "Apostle," but pleads +as "the prisoner of Christ Jesus." In his other letters he put his +authority in the foreground as here, and it may be noticed that it and +its basis in the will of God are asserted with greatest emphasis in the +Epistle to the Galatians, where he has to deal with more defiant +opposition than elsewhere encountered him. + +Here he puts forth his claim to the apostolate, in the highest sense of +the word. He asserts his equality with the original Apostles, the chosen +witnesses for the reality of Christ's resurrection. He, too, had seen +the risen Lord, and heard the words of His mouth. He shared with them +the prerogative of certifying from personal experience that Jesus is +risen and lives to bless and rule. Paul's whole Christianity was built +on the belief that Jesus Christ had actually appeared to him. That +vision on the road to Damascus revolutionised his life. Because he had +seen his Lord and heard his duty from His lips, he had become what he +was. + +"Through the will of God" is at once an assertion of Divine authority, a +declaration of independence of all human teaching or appointment, and a +most lowly disclaimer of individual merit, or personal power. Few +religious teachers have had so strongly marked a character as Paul, or +have so constantly brought their own experience into prominence; but the +weight which he expected to be attached to his words was to be due +entirely to their being the words which God spoke through him. If this +opening clause were to be paraphrased it would be: I speak to you +because God has sent me. I am not an Apostle by my own will, nor by my +own merit. I am not worthy to be called an Apostle. I am a poor sinner +like yourselves, and it is a miracle of love and mercy that God should +put His words into such lips. But He does speak through me; my words are +neither mine nor learned from any other man, but His. Never mind the +cracked pipe through which the Divine breath makes music, but listen to +the music. + +So Paul thought of his message; so the uncompromising assertion of +authority was united with deep humility. Do we come to his words, +believing that we hear God speaking through Paul? Here is no formal +doctrine of inspiration, but here is the claim to be the organ of the +Divine will and mind, to which we ought to listen as indeed the voice of +God. + +The gracious humility of the man is further seen in his association with +himself, as joint senders of the letter, of his young brother Timothy, +who has no apostolic authority, but whose concurrence in its teaching +might give it some additional weight. For the first few verses he +remembers to speak in the plural, as in the name of both--"_we_ give +thanks," "Epaphras declared to _us_ your love," and so on; but in the +fiery sweep of his thoughts Timothy is soon left out of sight, and Paul +alone pours out the wealth of his Divine wisdom and the warmth of his +fervid heart. + +II. We may observe the noble ideal of the Christian character set forth +in the designations of the Colossian Church, as "saints and faithful +brethren in Christ." + +In his earlier letters Paul addresses himself to "the Church;" in his +later, beginning with the Epistle to the Romans, and including the three +great epistles from his captivity, namely, Ephesians, Philippians, and +Colossians, he drops the word Church, and uses expressions which regard +the individuals composing the community rather than the community which +they compose. The slight change thus indicated in the Apostle's point of +view is interesting, however it may be accounted for. There is no reason +to suppose it done of set purpose, and certainly it did not arise from +any lowered estimate of the sacredness of "the Church," which is nowhere +put on higher ground than in the letter to Ephesus, which belongs to the +later period; but it may be that advancing years and familiarity with +his work, with his position of authority, and with his auditors, all +tended to draw him closer to them, and insensibly led to the disuse of +the more formal and official address to "the Church" in favour of the +simpler and more affectionate superscription, to "the brethren." + +Be that as it may, the lessons to be drawn from the names here given to +the members of the Church are the more important matter for us. It would +be interesting and profitable to examine the meaning of all the New +Testament names for believers, and to learn the lessons which they +teach; but we must for the present confine ourselves to those which +occur here. + +"Saints"--a word that has been wofully misapplied both by the Church and +the world. The former has given it as a special honour to a few, and +"decorated" with it mainly the possessors of a false ideal of +sanctity--that of the ascetic and monastic sort. The latter uses it with +a sarcastic intonation, as if it implied much cry and little wool, loud +professions and small performance, not without a touch of hypocrisy and +crafty self-seeking. + +Saints are not people living in cloisters after a fantastic ideal, but +men and women immersed in the vulgar work of every-day life and worried +by the small prosaic anxieties which fret us all, who amidst the whirr +of the spindle in the mill, and the clink of the scales on the counter, +and the hubbub of the market-place and the jangle of the courts, are yet +living lives of conscious devotion to God. The root idea of the word, +which is an Old Testament word, is not moral purity, but separation to +God. The holy things of the old covenant were things set apart from +ordinary use for His service. So, on the high priest's mitre was written +Holiness to the Lord. So the Sabbath was kept "holy," because set apart +from the week in obedience to Divine command. + +_Sanctity_, and _saint_, are used now mainly with the idea of moral +purity, but that is a secondary meaning. The real primary signification +is separation to God. Consecration to Him is the root from which the +white flower of purity springs most surely. There is a deep lesson in +the word as to the true method of attaining cleanness of life and +spirit. We cannot make ourselves pure, but we can yield ourselves to God +and the purity will come. + +But we have not only here the fundamental idea of holiness, and the +connection of purity of character with self-consecration to God, but +also the solemn obligation on all so-called Christians thus to separate +and devote themselves to Him. We are Christians as far as we give +ourselves up to God, in the surrender of our wills and the practical +obedience of our lives--so far and not one inch further. We are not +merely bound to this consecration if we are Christians, but we are not +Christians unless we thus consecrate ourselves. Pleasing self, and +making my own will my law, and living for my own ends, is destructive of +all Christianity. Saints are not an eminent sort of Christians, but all +Christians are saints, and he who is not a saint is not a Christian. The +true consecration is the surrender of the will, which no man can do for +us, which needs no outward ceremonial, and the one motive which will +lead us selfish and stubborn men to bow our necks to that gentle yoke, +and to come out of the misery of pleasing self into the peace of serving +God, is drawn from the great love of Him Who devoted Himself to God and +man, and bought us for His own by giving Himself utterly to be ours. All +sanctity begins with consecration to God. All consecration rests upon +the faith of Christ's sacrifice. And if, drawn by the great love of +Christ to us unworthy, we give ourselves away to God in Him, then He +gives Himself in deep sacred communion to us. "I am thine" has ever for +its chord which completes the fulness of its music, "Thou art mine." And +so "saint" is a name of dignity and honour, as well as a stringent +requirement. There is implied in it, too, safety from all that would +threaten life or union with Him. He will not hold His possessions with a +slack hand that negligently lets them drop, or with a feeble hand that +cannot keep them from a foe. "Thou wilt not suffer him who is +consecrated to Thee to see corruption." If I belong to God, having given +myself to Him, then I am safe from the touch of evil and the taint of +decay. "The Lord's portion is His people," and He will not lose even so +worthless a part of that portion as I am. The great name "saints" +carries with it the prophecy of victory over all evil, and the +assurance that nothing can separate us from the love of God, or pluck us +from His hand. + +But these Colossian Christians are "faithful" as well as saints. That +may either mean _trustworthy_ and _true_ to their stewardship, or +_trusting_. In the parallel verses in the Epistle to the Ephesians +(which presents so many resemblances to this epistle) the latter meaning +seems to be required, and here it is certainly the more natural, as +pointing to the very foundation of all Christian consecration and +brotherhood in the act of believing. We are united to Christ by our +faith. The Church is a family of faithful, that is to say of believing, +men. Faith underlies consecration and is the parent of holiness, for he +only will yield himself to God who trustfully grasps the mercies of God +and rests on Christ's great gift of Himself. Faith weaves the bond that +unites men in the brotherhood of the Church, for it brings all who share +it into a common relation to the Father. He who is faithful, that is, +believing, will be faithful in the sense of being worthy of confidence +and true to his duty, his profession, and his Lord. + +They were _brethren_ too. That strong new bond of union among men the +most unlike, was a strange phenomenon in Paul's time, when the Roman +world was falling to pieces, and rent by deep clefts of hatreds and +jealousies such as modern society scarcely knows; and men might well +wonder as they saw the slave and his master sitting at the same table, +the Greek and the barbarian learning the same wisdom in the same tongue, +the Jew and the Gentile bowing the knee in the same worship, and the +hearts of all fused into one great glow of helpful sympathy and +unselfish love. + +But "brethren" means more than this. It points not merely to Christian +love, but to the common possession of a new life. If we are brethren, it +is because we have one Father, because in us all there is one life. The +name is often regarded as sentimental and metaphorical. The obligation +of mutual love is supposed to be the main idea in it, and there is a +melancholy hollowness and unreality in the very sound of it as applied +to the usual average Christians of to-day. But the name leads straight +to the doctrine of regeneration, and proclaims that all Christians are +born again through their faith in Jesus Christ, and thereby partake of a +common new life, which makes all its possessors children of the Highest, +and therefore brethren one of another. If regarded as an expression of +the affection of Christians for one another, "brethren" is an +exaggeration, ludicrous or tragic, as we view it; but if we regard it as +the expression of the real bond which gathers all believers into one +family, it declares the deepest mystery and mightiest privilege of the +gospel that "to as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become +the Sons of God." + +They are "in Christ." These two words may apply to all the designations +or to the last only. They are saints in Him, believers in Him, brethren +in Him. That mystical but most real union of Christians with their Lord +is never far away from the Apostle's thoughts, and in the twin Epistle +to the Ephesians is the very burden of the whole. A shallower +Christianity tries to weaken that great phrase to something more +intelligible to the unspiritual temper and the poverty-stricken +experience proper to it; but no justice can be done to Paul's teaching +unless it be taken in all its depth as expressive of that same mutual +indwelling and interlacing of spirit with spirit which is so prominent +in the writings of the Apostle John. _There_ is one point of contact +between the Pauline and the Johannean conceptions, on the differences +between which so much exaggeration has been expended: to both the inmost +essence of the Christian life is union to Christ, and abiding in Him. If +we are Christians, we are in Him, in yet profounder sense than creation +lives and moves and has its being in God. We are in Him as the earth +with all its living things is in the atmosphere, as the branch is in the +vine, as the members are in the body. We are in Him as inhabitants in a +house, as hearts that love in hearts that love, as parts in the whole. +If we are Christians, He is in us, as life in every vein, as the +fruit-producing sap and energy of the vine is in every branch, as the +air in every lung, as the sunlight in every planet. + +This is the deepest mystery of the Christian life. To be "in Him" is to +be complete. "In Him" we are "blessed with all spiritual blessings." "In +Him", we are "chosen," "In Him," God "freely bestows His grace upon us." +"In Him" we "have redemption through His blood." "In Him" "all things in +heaven and earth are gathered." "In Him we have obtained an +inheritance." In Him is the better life of all who live. In Him we have +peace though the world be seething with change and storm. In Him we +conquer though earth and our own evil be all in arms against us. If we +live in Him, we live in purity and joy. If we die in Him, we die in +tranquil trust. If our gravestones may truly carry the sweet old +inscription carved on so many a nameless slab in the catacombs, "In +Christo," they will also bear the other "In pace" (In peace). If we +sleep in Him, our glory is assured, for them also that sleep in Jesus, +will God bring with Him. + +III. A word or two only can be devoted to the last clause of salutation, +the apostolic wish, which sets forth the high ideal to be desired for +Churches and individuals: "Grace be unto and peace from God our Father." +The Authorized Version reads, "and the Lord Jesus Christ," but the +Revised Version follows the majority of recent text-critics and their +principal authorities in omitting these words, which are supposed to +have been imported into our passage from the parallel place in +Ephesians. The omission of these familiar words which occur so uniformly +in the similar introductory salutations of Paul's other epistles, is +especially singular here, where the main subject of the letter is the +office of Christ as channel of all blessings. Perhaps the previous word, +"brethren" was lingering in his mind, and so instinctively he stopped +with the kindred word "Father." + +"Grace and peace"--Paul's wishes for those whom he loves, and the +blessings which he expects every Christian to possess, blend the Western +and the Eastern forms of salutation, and surpass both. All that the +Greek meant by his "Grace," all that the Hebrew meant by his "Peace," +the ideally happy condition which differing nations have placed in +different blessings, and which all loving words have vainly wished for +dear ones, is secured and conveyed to every poor soul that trusts in +Christ. + +"Grace"--what is that? The word means first--love in exercise to those +who are below the lover, or who deserve something else; stooping love +that condescends, and patient love that forgives. Then it means the +gifts which such love bestows, and then it means the effects of these +gifts in the beauties of character and conduct developed in the +receivers. So there are here invoked, or we may call it, proffered and +promised, to every believing heart, the love and gentleness of that +Father whose love to us sinful atoms is a miracle of lowliness and +longsuffering; and, next, the outcome of that love which never visits +the soul emptyhanded, in all varied spiritual gifts, to strengthen +weakness, to enlighten ignorance, to fill the whole being; and as last +result of all, every beauty of mind, heart, and temper which can adorn +the character, and refine a man into the likeness of God. That great +gift will come in continuous bestowment if we are "saints in Christ." Of +His fulness we all receive and grace for grace, wave upon wave as the +ripples press shoreward and each in turn pours its tribute on the beach, +or as pulsation after pulsation makes one golden beam of unbroken light, +strong winged enough to come all the way from the sun, gentle enough to +fall on the sensitive eyeball without pain. That one beam will decompose +into all colours and brightnesses. That one "grace" will part into +sevenfold gifts and be the life in us of whatsoever things are lovely +and of good report. + +"Peace be unto you." That old greeting, the witness of a state of +society when every stranger seen across the desert was probably an +enemy, is also a witness to the deep unrest of the heart. It is well to +learn the lesson that peace comes after grace, that for tranquillity of +soul we must go to God, and that He gives it by giving us His love and +its gifts, of which, and of which only, peace is the result. If we have +that grace for ours, as we all may if we will, we shall be still, +because our desires are satisfied and all our needs met. To seek is +unnecessary when we are conscious of possessing. We may end our weary +quest, like the dove when it had found the green leaf, though little dry +land may be seen as yet, and fold our wings and rest by the cross. We +may be lapped in calm repose, even in the midst of toil and strife, like +John resting on the heart of his Lord. There must be first of all, peace +_with_ God, that there may be peace _from_ God. Then, when we have been +won from our alienation and enmity by the power of the cross, and have +learned to know that God is our Lover, Friend and Father, we shall +possess the peace of those whose hearts have found their home, the peace +of spirits no longer at war within--conscience and choice tearing them +asunder in their strife, the peace of obedience which banishes the +disturbance of self-will, the peace of security shaken by no fears, the +peace of a sure future across the brightness of which no shadows of +sorrow nor mists of uncertainty can fall, the peace of a heart in amity +with all mankind. So living in peace, we shall lay ourselves down and +die in peace, and enter into "that country, afar beyond the stars," +where "grows the flower of peace." + + "The Rose that cannot wither, + Thy fortress and thy ease." + +All this may be ours. Paul could only wish it for these Colossians. We +can only long for it for our dearest. No man can fulfil his wishes or +turn them into actual gifts. Many precious things we can give, but not +peace. But our brother, Jesus Christ, can do more than wish it. He can +bestow it, and when we need it most, He stands ever beside us, in our +weakness and unrest, with His strong arm stretched out to help, and on +His calm lips the old words--"My grace is sufficient for thee," "My +peace I give unto you." + +Let us keep ourselves in Him, believing in Him and yielding ourselves to +God for His dear sake, and we shall find His grace ever flowing into our +emptiness and His settled "peace keeping our hearts and minds in Christ +Jesus." + + + + +II. + +_THE PRELUDE._ + + "We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying + always for you, having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of + the love which ye have toward all the saints, because of the hope + which is laid up for you in the heavens, whereof ye heard before in + the word of the truth of the gospel, which is come unto you; even as + it is also in all the world bearing fruit and increasing, as it doth + in you also, since the day ye heard and knew the grace of God in + truth; even as ye learned of Epaphras our beloved fellow-servant, + who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, who also + declared to us your love in the Spirit."--COL. i. 3-8. (Rev. Ver.). + + +This long introductory section may at first sight give the impression of +confusion, from the variety of subjects introduced. But a little thought +about it shows it to be really a remarkable specimen of the Apostle's +delicate tact, born of his love and earnestness. Its purpose is to +prepare a favourable reception for his warnings and arguments against +errors which had crept in, and in his judgment were threatening to sweep +away the Colossian Christians from their allegiance to Christ, and their +faith in the gospel as it had been originally preached to them by +Epaphras. That design explains the selection of topics in these verses, +and their weaving together. + +Before he warns and rebukes, Paul begins by giving the Colossians credit +for all the good which he can find in them. As soon as he opens his +mouth, he asserts the claims and authority, the truth and power of the +gospel which he preaches, and from which all this good in them had come, +and which had proved that it came from God by its diffusiveness and +fruitfulness. He reminds them of their beginnings in the Christian life, +with which this new teaching was utterly inconsistent, and he flings his +shield over Epaphras, their first teacher, whose words were in danger of +being neglected now for newer voices with other messages. + +Thus skilfully and lovingly these verses touch a prelude which naturally +prepares for the theme of the epistle. Remonstrance and rebuke would +more often be effective if they oftener began with showing the rebuker's +love, and with frank acknowledgment of good in the rebuked. + +I. We have first a thankful recognition of Christian excellence as +introductory to warnings and remonstrances. + +Almost all Paul's letters begin with similar expressions of thankfulness +for the good that was in the Church he is addressing. Gentle rain +softens the ground and prepares it to receive the heavier downfall which +would else mostly run off the hard surface. The exceptions are, 2 +Corinthians; Ephesians, which was probably a circular letter; and +Galatians, which is too hot throughout for such praises. These +expressions are not compliments, or words of course. Still less are they +flattery used for personal ends. They are the uncalculated and +uncalculating expression of affection which delights to see white +patches in the blackest character, and of wisdom which knows that the +nauseous medicine of blame is most easily taken if administered wrapped +in a capsule of honest praise. + +All persons in authority over others, such as masters, parents, leaders +of any sort, may be the better for taking the lesson--"provoke not +your"--inferiors, dependents, scholars--"to wrath, lest they be +discouraged"--and deal out praise where you can, with a liberal hand. It +is nourishing food for many virtues, and a powerful antidote to many +vices. + +This praise is cast in the form of thanksgiving to God, as the true +fountain of all that is good in men. How all that might be harmful in +direct praise is strained out of it, when it becomes gratitude to God! +But we need not dwell on this, nor on the principle underlying these +thanks, namely that Christian men's excellences are God's gift, and that +therefore, admiration of the man should ever be subordinate to +thankfulness to God. The fountain, not the pitcher filled from it, +should have the credit of the crystal purity and sparkling coolness of +the water. Nor do we need to do more than point to the inference from +that phrase "having _heard_ of your faith," an inference confirmed by +other statements in the letter, namely, that the Apostle himself had +never _seen_ the Colossian Church. But we briefly emphasize the two +points which occasioned his thankfulness. They are the familiar two, +_faith_ and _love_. + +Faith is sometimes spoken of in the New Testament as "_towards_ Christ +Jesus," which describes that great act of the soul by its direction, as +if it were a going out or flight of the man's nature to the true goal of +all active being. It is sometimes spoken of as "_on_ Christ Jesus," +which describes it as reposing on Him as the end of all seeking, and +suggests such images as that of a hand that leans or of a burden borne, +or a weakness upheld by contact with Him. But more sweet and great is +the blessedness of faith considered as "_in_ Him," as its abiding place +and fortress-home, in union with, and indwelling in whom the seeking +spirit may fold its wings, and the weak heart may be strengthened to +lift its burden cheerily, heavy though it be, and the soul may be full +of tranquillity and soothed into a great calm. _Towards_, _on_, and +_in_--so manifold are the phases of the relation between Christ and our +faith. + +In all, faith is the same,--simple confidence, precisely like the trust +which we put in one another. But how unlike are the objects!--broken +reeds of human nature in the one case, and the firm pillar of that +Divine power and tenderness in the other, and how unlike, alas! is the +fervency and constancy of the trust we exercise in each other and in +Christ! "Faith" covers the whole ground of man's relation to God. All +religion, all devotion, everything which binds us to the unseen world is +included in or evolved from faith. And mark that this faith is, in +Paul's teaching, the foundation of love to men and of everything else +good and fair. We may agree or disagree with that thought, but we can +scarcely fail to see that it is the foundation of all his moral +teaching. From that fruitful source all good will come. From that deep +fountain sweet water will flow, and all drawn from other sources has a +tang of bitterness. Goodness of all kinds is most surely evolved from +faith--and that faith lacks its best warrant of reality which does not +lead to whatsoever things are lovely and of good report. Barnabas was a +"good man," because, as Luke goes on to tell us by way of analysis of +the sources of his goodness, he was "full of the Holy Ghost," the +author of all goodness, "and of faith" by which that Inspirer of all +beauty of purity dwells in men's hearts. Faith then is the germ of +goodness, not because of anything in itself, but because by it we come +under the influence of the Divine Spirit whose breath is life and +holiness. + +Therefore we say to every one who is seeking to train his character in +excellence, begin with trusting Christ, and out of that will come all +lustre and whiteness, all various beauties of mind and heart. It is hard +and hopeless work to cultivate our own thorns into grapes, but if we +will trust Christ, He will sow good seed in our field and "make it soft +with showers and bless the springing thereof." + +As faith is the foundation of all virtue, so it is the parent of love, +and as the former sums up every bond that knits men to God, so the +latter includes all relations of men to each other, and is the whole law +of human conduct packed into one word. But the warmest place in a +Christian's heart will belong to those who are in sympathy with his +deepest self, and a true faith in Christ, like a true loyalty to a +prince, will weave a special bond between all fellow-subjects. So the +sign, on the surface of earthly relations, of the deep-lying central +fire of faith to Christ, is the fruitful vintage of brotherly love, as +the vineyards bear the heaviest clusters on the slopes of Vesuvius. +Faith in Christ and love to Christians--that is the Apostle's notion of +a good man. That is the ideal of character which we have to set before +ourselves. Do we desire to be good? Let us trust Christ. Do we profess +to trust Christ? Let us show it by the true proof--our goodness and +especially our love. + +So we have here two members of the familiar triad, Faith and Love, and +their sister Hope is not far off. We read in the next clause, "because +of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens." The connection is +not altogether plain. Is the hope the reason for the Apostle's +thanksgiving, or the reason in some sense of the Colossians' love? As +far as the language goes, we may either read "We give thanks ... because +of the hope," or "the love which ye have ... because of the hope." But +the long distance which we have to go back for the connection, if we +adopt the former explanation, and other considerations which need not be +entered on here, seem to make the latter the preferable construction if +it yields a tolerable sense. Does it? Is it allowable to say that the +hope which is laid up in heaven is in any sense a reason or motive for +brotherly love? I think it is. + +Observe that "hope" here is best taken as meaning not the emotion, but +the object on which the emotion is fixed; not the faculty, but the thing +hoped for; or in other words, that it is objective not subjective; and +also that the ideas of futurity and security are conveyed by the thought +of this object of expectation being laid up. This future blessedness, +grasped by our expectant hearts as assured for us, does stimulate and +hearten to all well-doing. Certainly it does not supply the main reason; +we are not to be loving and good because we hope to win heaven thereby. +The deepest motive for all the graces of Christian character is the will +of God in Christ Jesus, apprehended by loving hearts. But it is quite +legitimate to draw subordinate motives for the strenuous pursuit of +holiness from the anticipation of future blessedness, and it is quite +legitimate to use that prospect to reinforce the higher motives. He who +seeks to be good only for the sake of the heaven which he thinks he will +get for his goodness--if there be any such a person existing anywhere +but in the imaginations of the caricaturists of Christian teaching--is +not good and will not get his heaven; but he who feeds his devotion to +Christ and his earnest cultivation of holiness with the animating hope +of an unfading crown will find in it a mighty power to intensify and +ennoble all life, to bear him up as on angel's hands that lift over all +stones of stumbling, to diminish sorrow and dull pain, to kindle love to +men into a brighter flame, and to purge holiness to a more radiant +whiteness. The hope laid up in heaven is not the deepest reason or +motive for faith and love--but both are made more vivid when it is +strong. It is not the light at which their lamps are lit, but it is the +odorous oil which feeds their flame. + +II. The course of thought passes on to a solemn reminder of the truth +and worth of that Gospel which was threatened by the budding heresies of +the Colossian Church. + +That is contained in the clauses from the middle of the fifth verse to +the end of the sixth, and is introduced with significant abruptness, +immediately after the commendation of the Colossians' faith. The +Apostle's mind and heart are so full of the dangers which he saw them to +be in, although they did not know it, that he cannot refrain from +setting forth an impressive array of considerations, each of which +should make them hold to the gospel with an iron grasp. They are put +with the utmost compression. Each word almost might be beaten out into a +long discourse, so that we can only indicate the lines of thought. This +somewhat tangled skein may, on the whole, be taken as the answer to the +question, Why should we cleave to Paul's gospel, and dread and war +against tendencies of opinion that would rob us of it? They are +preliminary considerations adapted to prepare the way for a patient and +thoughtful reception of the arguments which are to follow, by showing +how much is at stake, and how the readers would be poor indeed if they +were robbed of that great Word. + +He begins by reminding them that to that gospel they owed all _their +knowledge and hope of heaven_--the hope "whereof ye heard before in the +word of the truth of the gospel." That great word alone gives light on +the darkness. The sole certainty of a life beyond the grave is built on +the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the sole hope of a blessed life +beyond the grave for the poor soul that has learned its sinfulness is +built on the Death of Christ. Without this light, that land is a land of +darkness, lighted only by glimmering sparks of conjectures and +peradventures. So it is to-day, as it was then; the centuries have only +made more clear the entire dependence of the living conviction of +immortality on the acceptance of Paul's gospel, "how that Christ died +for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was raised again +the third day." All around us, we see those who reject the fact of +Christ's resurrection finding themselves forced to surrender their faith +in any life beyond. They cannot sustain themselves on that height of +conviction, unless they lean on Christ. The black mountain wall that +rings us poor mortals round about is cloven in one place only. Through +one narrow cleft there comes a gleam of light. There and there only is +the frowning barrier passable. Through that grim canyon, narrow and +black, where there is only room for the dark river to run, bright-eyed +Hope may travel, letting our her golden thread as she goes, to guide us. +Christ has cloven the rock, "the Breaker has gone up before" us, and by +His resurrection alone we have the knowledge which is certitude, and the +hope which is confidence, of an inheritance in light. If Paul's gospel +goes, that goes like morning mist. Before you throw away the "word of +the truth of the gospel," at all events understand that you fling away +all assurance of a future life along with it. + +Then, there is another motive touched in these words just quoted. The +gospel is a word of which the whole substance and content is truth. You +may say that is the whole question, whether the gospel is such a word? +Of course it is; but observe how here, at the very outset, the gospel is +represented as having a distinct dogmatic element in it. It is of value, +not because it feeds sentiment or regulates conduct only, but first and +foremost because it gives us true though incomplete knowledge concerning +all the deepest things of God and man about which, but for its light, we +know nothing. That truthful word is opposed to the argumentations and +speculations and errors of the heretics. The gospel is not speculation +but fact. It is truth, because it is the record of a Person who is the +Truth. The history of His life and death is the one source of all +certainty and knowledge with regard to man's relations to God, and God's +loving purposes to man. To leave it and Him of whom it speaks in order +to listen to men who spin theories out of their own brains is to prefer +will-o'-the-wisps to the sun. If we listen to Christ, we have the truth; +if we turn from Him, our ears are stunned by a Babel. "To whom shall we +go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." + +Further, this gospel had been already received by them. Ye _heard +before_, says he, and again he speaks of the gospel as "come unto" them, +and reminds them of the past days in which they "heard and knew the +grace of God." That appeal is, of course, no argument except to a man +who admits the truth of what he had already received, nor is it meant +for argument with others, but it is equivalent to the exhortation, "You +have heard that word and accepted it, see that your future be consistent +with your past." He would have the life a harmonious whole, all in +accordance with the first glad grasp which they had laid on the truth. +Sweet and calm and noble is the life which preserves to its close the +convictions of its beginning, only deepened and expanded. Blessed are +they whose creed at last can be spoken in the lessons they learned in +childhood, to which experience has but given new meaning! Blessed they +who have been able to store the treasure of a life's thought and +learning in the vessels of the early words, which have grown like the +magic coffers in a fairy tale, to hold all the increased wealth that can +be lodged in them! Beautiful is it when the little children and the +young men and the fathers possess the one faith, and when he who began +as a child, "knowing the Father," ends as an old man with the same +knowledge of the same God, only apprehended now in a form which has +gained majesty from the fleeting years, as "Him that is from the +beginning." There is no need to leave the Word long since heard in order +to get novelty. It will open out into all new depths, and blaze in new +radiance as men grow. It will give new answers as the years ask new +questions. Each epoch of individual experience, and each phase of +society, and all changing forms of opinion will find what meets them in +the gospel as it is in Jesus. It is good for Christian men often to +recall the beginnings of their faith, to live over again their early +emotions, and when they may be getting stunned with the din of +controversy, and confused as to the relative importance of different +parts of Christian truth, to remember _what_ it was that first filled +their heart with joy like that of the finder of a hidden treasure, and +with what a leap of gladness they first laid hold of Christ. + +That spiritual discipline is no less needful than is intellectual, in +facing the conflicts of this day. + +Again, this gospel was filling the world: "it is in all the world +bearing fruit, and increasing." There are two marks of life--it is +fruitful and it spreads. Of course such words are not to be construed as +if they occurred in a statistical table. "All the world" must be taken +with an allowance for rhetorical statement; but making such allowance, +the rapid spread of Christianity in Paul's time, and its power to +influence character and conduct among all sorts and conditions of men, +were facts that needed to be accounted for, if the gospel was not true. + +That is surely a noteworthy fact, and one which may well raise a +presumption in favour of the truth of the message, and make any proposal +to cast it aside for another gospel, a serious matter. Paul is not +suggesting the vulgar argument that a thing must be true because so +many people have so quickly believed it. But what he is pointing to is a +much deeper thought than that. All schisms and heresies are essentially +local, and partial. They suit coteries and classes. They are the product +of special circumstances acting on special casts of mind, and appeal to +such. Like parasitical plants they each require a certain species to +grow on, and cannot spread where these are not found. They are not for +all time, but for an age. They are not for all men, but for a select +few. They reflect the opinions or wants of a layer of society or of a +generation, and fade away. But the gospel goes through the world and +draws men to itself out of every land and age. Dainties and confections +are for the few, and many of them are like pickled olives to +unsophisticated palates, and the delicacies of one country are the +abominations of another; but everybody likes bread and lives on it, +after all. + +The gospel which tells of Christ belongs to all and can touch all, +because it brushes aside superficial differences of culture and +position, and goes straight to the depths of the one human heart, which +is alike in us all, addressing the universal sense of sin, and revealing +the Saviour of us all, and in Him the universal Father. Do not fling +away a gospel that belongs to all, and can bring forth fruit in all +kinds of people, for the sake of accepting what can never live in the +popular heart, nor influence more than a handful of very select and +"superior persons." Let who will have the dainties, do you stick to the +wholesome wheaten bread. + +Another plea for adherence to the gospel is based upon its continuous +and universal fruitfulness. It brings about results in conduct and +character which strongly attest its claim to be from God. That is a +rough and ready test, no doubt, but a sensible and satisfactory one. A +system which says that it will make men good and pure is reasonably +judged of by its fruits, and Christianity can stand the test. It did +change the face of the old world. It has been the principal agent in the +slow growth of "nobler manners, purer laws" which give the +characteristic stamp to modern as contrasted with pre-Christian nations. +The threefold abominations of the old world--slavery, war, and the +degradation of woman--have all been modified, one of them abolished, and +the others growingly felt to be utterly un-Christian. The main agent in +the change has been the gospel. It has wrought wonders, too, on single +souls; and though all Christians must be too conscious of their own +imperfections to venture on putting themselves forward as specimens of +its power, still the gospel of Jesus Christ has lifted men from the +dungheaps of sin and self to "set them with princes," to make them kings +and priests; has tamed passions, ennobled pursuits, revolutionised the +whole course of many a life, and mightily works to-day in the same +fashion, in the measure in which we submit to its influence. Our +imperfections are our own; our good is its. A medicine is not shown to +be powerless, though it does not do as much as is claimed for it, if the +sick man has taken it irregularly and sparingly. The failure of +Christianity to bring forth full fruit arises solely from the failure of +professing Christians to allow its quickening powers to fill their +hearts. After all deductions we may still say with Paul, "it bringeth +forth fruit in all the world." This rod has budded, at all events; have +any of its antagonists' rods done the same? Do not cast it away, says +Paul, till you are sure you have found a better. + +This tree not only fruits, but grows. It is not exhausted by +fruit-bearing, but it makes wood as well. It is "increasing" as well as +"bearing fruit," and that growth in the circuit of its branches that +spread through the world, is another of its claims on the faithful +adhesion of the Colossians. + +Again, they have heard a gospel which reveals the "true grace of God," +and that is another consideration urging to steadfastness. + +In opposition to it there were put then, as there are put to-day, man's +thoughts, and man's requirements, a human wisdom and a burdensome code. +Speculations and arguments on the one hand, and laws and rituals on the +other, look thin beside the large free gift of a loving God and the +message which tells of it. They are but poor bony things to try to live +on. The soul wants something more nourishing than such bread made out of +sawdust. We want a loving God to live upon, whom we can love because He +loves us. Will anything but the gospel give us that? Will anything be +our stay, in all weakness, weariness, sorrow and sin, in the fight of +life and the agony of death, except the confidence that in Christ we +"know the grace of God in truth"? + +So, if we gather together all these characteristics of the gospel, they +bring out the gravity of the issue when we are asked to tamper with it, +or to abandon the old lamp for the brand new ones which many eager +voices are proclaiming as the light of the future. May any of us who are +on the verge of the precipice lay to heart these serious thoughts! To +that gospel we owe our peace; by it alone can the fruit of lofty devout +lives be formed and ripened; it has filled the world with its sound, and +is revolutionising humanity; it and it only brings to men the good news +and the actual gift of the love and mercy of God. It is not a small +matter to fling away all this. + +We do not prejudge the question of the truth of Christianity; but, at +all events, let there be no mistake as to the fact that to give it up is +to give up the mightiest power that has ever wrought for the world's +good, and that if its light be quenched there will be darkness that may +be felt, not dispelled but made more sad and dreary by the ineffectual +flickers of some poor rushlights that men have lit, which waver and +shine dimly over a little space for a little while, and then die out. + +III. We have the Apostolic endorsement of Epaphras, the early teacher of +the Colossian Christians. + +Paul points his Colossian brethren, finally, to the lessons which they +had received from the teacher who had first led them to Christ. No doubt +his authority was imperiled by the new direction of thought in the +Church, and Paul was desirous of adding the weight of his attestation to +the complete correspondence between his own teaching and that of +Epaphras. + +We know nothing about this Epaphras except from this letter and that to +Philemon. He is "one of you," a member of the Colossian Church (iv. 12), +whether a Colossian born or not. He had come to the prisoner in Rome, +and had brought the tidings of their condition which filled the +Apostle's heart with strangely mingled feelings--of joy for their love +and Christian walk (verses 4, 8), and of anxiety lest they should be +swept from their steadfastness by the errors that he heard were +assailing them. Epaphras shared this anxiety, and during his stay in +Rome was much in thought, and care, and prayer for them (iv. 12). He +does not seem to have been the bearer of this letter to Colossae. He was +in some sense Paul's fellow-servant, and in Philemon he is called by the +yet more intimate, though somewhat obscure, name of his fellow-prisoner. +It is noticeable that he alone of all Paul's companions receives the +name of "fellow-servant," which may perhaps point to some very special +piece of service of his, or may possibly be only an instance of Paul's +courteous humility, which ever delighted to lift others to his own +level--as if he had said, Do not make differences between your own +Epaphras and me, we are both slaves of one Master. + +The further testimony which Paul bears to him is so emphatic and pointed +as to suggest that it was meant to uphold an authority that had been +attacked, and to eulogize a character that had been maligned. "He is a +faithful minister of Christ on our behalf." In these words the Apostle +endorses his teaching, as a true representation of his own. Probably +Epaphras founded the Colossian Church and did so in pursuance of a +commission given him by Paul. He "also declared to us your love in the +Spirit." As he had truly represented Paul and his message to them, so he +lovingly represented them and their kindly affection to him. Probably +the same people who questioned Epaphras' version of Paul's teaching +would suspect the favourableness of his report of the Colossian Church, +and hence the double witness borne from the Apostle's generous heart to +both parts of his brother's work. His unstinted praise is ever ready. +His shield is swiftly flung over any of his helpers who are maligned or +assailed. Never was a leader truer to his subordinates, more tender of +their reputation, more eager for their increased influence, and freer +from every trace of jealousy, than was that lofty and lowly soul. + +It is a beautiful though a faint image which shines out on us from these +fragmentary notices of this Colossian Epaphras--a true Christian bishop, +who had come all the long way from his quiet valley in the depths of +Asia Minor, to get guidance about his flock from the great Apostle, and +who bore them on his heart day and night, and prayed much for them, +while so far away from them. How strange the fortune which has made his +name and his solicitudes and prayers immortal! How little he dreamed +that such embalming was to be given to his little services, and that +they were to be crowned with such exuberant praise! + +The smallest work done for Jesus Christ lasts for ever, whether it abide +in men's memories or no. Let us ever live as those who, like painters in +fresco, have with swift hand to draw lines and lay on colours which will +never fade, and let us, by humble faith and holy life, earn such a +character from Paul's master. He is glad to praise, and praise from His +lips is praise indeed. If He approves of us as faithful servants on His +behalf, it matters not what others may say. The Master's "Well done" +will outweigh labours and toils, and the depreciating tongues of +fellow-servants, or of the Master's enemies. + + + + +III. + +_THE PRAYER._ + + "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to + pray and to make request for you, that ye may be filled with the + knowledge of His will, in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to + walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every + good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with + all power, according to the might of His glory, unto all patience + and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks unto the Father."--COL. i. + 9-12 (Rev. Ver.). + + +We have here to deal with one of Paul's prayers for his brethren. In +some respects these are the very topmost pinnacles of his letters. +Nowhere else does his spirit move so freely, in no other parts are the +fervour of his piety and the beautiful simplicity and depth of his love +more touchingly shown. The freedom and heartiness of our prayers for +others are a very sharp test of both our piety to God and our love to +men. Plenty of people can talk and vow who would find it hard to pray. +Paul's intercessory prayers are the high-water mark of the epistles in +which they occur. He must have been a good man and a true friend of whom +so much can be said. + +This prayer sets forth the ideal of Christian character. What Paul +desired for his friends in Colossae is what all true Christian hearts +should chiefly desire for those whom they love, and should strive after +and ask for themselves. If we look carefully at these words we shall see +a clear division into parts which stand related to each other as root, +stem, and fourfold branches, or as fountain, undivided stream, and "four +heads" into which this "river" of Christian life "is parted." To be +filled with the knowledge of God's will is the root or fountain-source +of all. From it comes a walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing--the +practical life being the outcome and expression of the inward possession +of the will of God. Then we have four clauses, evidently co-ordinate, +each beginning with a participle, and together presenting an analysis of +this worthy walk. It will be fruitful in all outward work. It will be +growing in all inward knowledge of God. Because life is not all doing +and knowing, but is suffering likewise, the worthy walk must be patient +and long-suffering, because strengthened by God Himself. And to crown +all, above work and knowledge and suffering it must be thankfulness to +the Father. The magnificent massing together of the grounds of gratitude +which follows, we must leave for future consideration, and pause, +however abruptly, yet not illogically, at the close of the enumeration +of these four branches of the tree, the four sides of the firm tower of +the true Christian life. + +I. Consider the Fountain or Root of all Christian character--"that ye +may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and +understanding." + +One or two remarks in the nature of verbal exposition may be desirable. +Generally speaking, the thing desired is the perfecting of the +Colossians in religious knowledge, and the perfection is forcibly +expressed in three different aspects. The idea of completeness up to the +height of their capacity is given in the prayer that they may be +"filled," like some jar charged with sparkling water to the brim. The +advanced degree of the knowledge desired for them is given in the word +here employed, which is a favourite in the Epistles of the Captivity, +and means additional or mature knowledge, that deeper apprehension of +God's truth which perhaps had become more obvious to Paul in the quiet +growth of his spirit during his life in Rome. And the rich variety of +forms which that advanced knowledge would assume is set forth by the +final words of the clause, which may either be connected with its first +words, so meaning "filled ... so that ye may abound in ... wisdom and +understanding;" or with "the knowledge of His will," so meaning a +"knowledge which is manifested in." That knowledge will blossom out into +_every kind_ of "wisdom" and "understanding," two words which it is hard +to distinguish, but of which the former is perhaps the more general and +the latter the more special, the former the more theoretical and the +latter the more practical: and both are the work of the Divine Spirit +whose sevenfold perfection of gifts illuminates with perfect light each +waiting heart. So perfect, whether in regard to its measure, its +maturity, or its manifoldness, is the knowledge of the will of God, +which the Apostle regards as the deepest good which his love can ask for +these Colossians. + +Passing by many thoughts suggested by the words, we may touch one or two +large principles which they involve. The first is, that the foundation +of all Christian character and conduct is laid in the knowledge of the +will of God. Every revelation of God is a law. What it concerns us to +know is not abstract truth, or a revelation for speculative thought, +but God's _will_. He does not show Himself to us in order merely that we +may know, but in order that, knowing, we may do, and, what is more than +either knowing or doing, in order that we may be. No revelation from God +has accomplished its purpose when a man has simply understood it, but +every fragmentary flash of light which comes from Him in nature and +providence, and still more the steady radiance that pours from Jesus, is +meant indeed to teach us how we should think of God, but to do that +mainly as a means to the end that we may live in conformity with His +will. The light is knowledge, but it is a light to guide our feet, +knowledge which is meant to shape practice. + +If that had been remembered, two opposite errors would have been +avoided. The error that was threatening the Colossian Church, and has +haunted the Church in general ever since, was that of fancying +Christianity to be merely a system of truth to be believed, a rattling +skeleton of abstract dogmas, very many and very dry. An unpractical +heterodoxy was their danger. An unpractical orthodoxy is as real a +peril. You may swallow all the creeds bodily, you may even find in God's +truth the food of very sweet and real feeling: but neither knowing nor +feeling is enough. The one all-important question for us is--does our +Christianity _work_? It is knowledge of His _will_, which becomes an +ever active force in our lives! Any other kind of religious knowledge is +windy food; as Paul says, it "puffeth up;" the knowledge which feeds the +soul with wholesome nourishment is the knowledge of His _will_. + +The converse error to that of unpractical knowledge, that of an +unintelligent practice, is quite as bad. There is always a class of +people, and they are unusually numerous to-day, who profess to attach no +importance to Christian doctrines, but to put all the stress on +Christian morals. They swear by the "Sermon on the Mount," and are blind +to the deep doctrinal basis laid in that "sermon" itself, on which its +lofty moral teaching is built. What God hath joined together, let no man +put asunder. Why pit the parent against the child? why wrench the +blossom from its stem? Knowledge is sound when it moulds conduct. Action +is good when it is based on knowledge. The knowledge of God is wholesome +when it shapes the life. Morality has a basis which makes it vigorous +and permanent when it rests upon the knowledge of His will. + +Again: Progress in knowledge is the law of the Christian life. There +should be a continual advancement in the apprehension of God's will, +from that first glimpse which saves, to the mature knowledge which Paul +here desires for his friends. The progress does not consist in leaving +behind old truths, but in a profounder conception of what is contained +in these truths. How differently a Fijian just saved, and a Paul on +earth, or a Paul in heaven, look at that verse, "God so loved the world +that He gave His only begotten Son"! The truths which are dim to the +one, like stars seen through a mist, blaze to the other like the same +stars to an eye that has travelled millions of leagues nearer them, and +sees them to be suns. The law of the Christian life is continuous +increase in the knowledge of the depths that lie in the old truths, and +of their far-reaching applications. We are to grow in knowledge of the +Christ by coming ever nearer to Him, and learning more of the infinite +meaning of our earliest lesson that He is the Son of God who has died +for us. The constellations that burn in our nightly sky looked down on +Chaldean astronomers, but though these are the same, how much more is +known about them at Greenwich than was dreamed at Babylon! + +II. Consider the River or Stem of Christian conduct. + +The purpose and outcome of this full knowledge of the will of God in +Christ is to "walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing." By "walk" is +of course meant the whole active life; so that the principle is brought +out here very distinctly, that the last result of knowledge of the +Divine will is an outward life regulated by that will. And the sort of +life which such knowledge leads to, is designated in most general terms +as "worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing," in which we have set forth +two aspects of the true Christian life. + +"Worthily of the Lord!" The "Lord" here, as generally, is Christ, and +"worthily" seems to mean, in a manner corresponding to what Christ is to +us, and has done for us. We find other forms of the same thought in such +expressions as "worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called" (Eph. +iv. 1), "worthily of saints" (Rom. xvi. 2), "worthy of the gospel" +(Phil. i. 27), "worthily of God" (1 Thess. ii. 12), in all of which +there is the idea of a standard to which the practical life is to be +conformed. Thus the Apostle condenses into one word all the manifold +relations in which we stand to Christ, and all the multifarious +arguments for a holy life which they yield. + +These are mainly two. The Christian should "walk" in a manner +corresponding to what Christ has done for him. "Do ye thus requite the +Lord, O foolish people, and unwise?" was the mournful wondering question +of the dying Moses to his people, as he summed up the history of +unbroken tenderness and love on the one side, and of disloyalty almost +as uninterrupted on the other. How much more pathetically and +emphatically might the question be asked of us! We say that we are not +our own, but bought with a price. Then how do we repay that costly +purchase? Do we not requite His blood and tears, His unquenchable, +unalterable love, with a little tepid love which grudges sacrifices and +has scarcely power enough to influence conduct at all, with a little +trembling faith which but poorly corresponds to His firm promises, with +a little reluctant obedience? The richest treasure of heaven has been +freely lavished for us, and we return a sparing expenditure of our +hearts and ourselves, repaying fine gold with tarnished copper, and the +flood of love from the heart of Christ with a few niggard drops +grudgingly squeezed from ours. Nothing short of complete self-surrender, +perfect obedience, and unwavering unfaltering love can characterize the +walk that corresponds with our profound obligations to Him. Surely there +can be no stronger cord with which to bind us as sacrifices to the horns +of the altar than the cords of love. This is the unique glory and power +of Christian ethics, that it brings in this tender personal element to +transmute the coldness of duty into the warmth of gratitude, so throwing +rosy light over the snowy summits of abstract virtue. Repugnant duties +become tokens of love, pleasant as every sacrifice made at its bidding +ever is. The true Christian spirit says: Thou hast given Thyself wholly +for me: help me to yield myself to Thee. Thou hast loved me perfectly: +help me to love Thee with all my heart. + +The other side of this conception of a worthy walk is, that the +Christian should act in a manner corresponding to Christ's character and +conduct. We profess to be His by sacredest ties: then we should set our +watches by that dial, being conformed to His likeness, and in all our +daily life trying to do as He has done, or as we believe He would do if +He were in our place. Nothing less than the effort to tread in His +footsteps is a walk worthy of the Lord. All unlikeness to His pattern is +a dishonour to Him and to ourselves. It is neither worthy of the Lord, +nor of the vocation wherewith we are called, nor of the name of saints. +Only when these two things are brought about in my experience--when the +glow of His love melts my heart and makes it flow down in answering +affection, and when the beauty of His perfect life stands ever before +me, and though it be high above me, is not a despair, but a stimulus and +a hope--only then do I "walk worthy of the Lord." + +Another thought as to the nature of the life in which the knowledge of +the Divine will should issue, is expressed in the other clause--"unto +all pleasing," which sets forth the great aim as being to please Christ +in everything. That is a strange purpose to propose to men, as the +supreme end to be ever kept in view, to satisfy Jesus Christ by their +conduct. To make the good opinion of men our aim is to be slaves; but to +please this Man ennobles us, and exalts life. Who or what is He, whose +judgment of us is thus all-important, whose approbation is praise +indeed, and to win whose smile is a worthy object for which to use life, +or even to lose it? We should ask ourselves, Do we make it our ever +present object to satisfy Jesus Christ? We are not to mind about other +people's approbation. We can do without that. We are not to hunt after +the good word of our fellows. Every life into which that craving for +man's praise and good opinion enters is tarnished by it. It is a canker, +a creeping leprosy, which eats sincerity and nobleness and strength out +of a man. Let us not care to trim our sails to catch the shifting winds +of this or that man's favour and eulogium, but look higher and say, +"With me it is a very small matter to be judged of man's judgment." "I +appeal unto Caesar." He, the true Commander and Emperor, holds our fate +in His hands; we have to please Him and Him only. There is no thought +which will so reduce the importance of the babble around us, and teach +us such brave and wholesome contempt for popular applause, and all the +strife of tongues, as the constant habit of trying to act as ever in our +great Taskmaster's eye. What does it matter who praise, if He frowns? or +who blame, if His face lights with a smile? No thought will so spur us +to diligence, and make all life solemn and grand as the thought that "we +labour, that whether present or absent, we may be well pleasing to Him." +Nothing will so string the muscles for the fight, and free us from being +entangled with the things of this life, as the ambition to "please Him +who has called us to be soldiers." + +Men have willingly flung away their lives for a couple of lines of +praise in a despatch, or for a smile from some great commander. Let us +try to live and die so as to get "honourable mention" from our captain. +Praise from His lips is praise indeed. We shall not know how much it is +worth, till the smile lights His face, and the love comes into His eyes, +as He looks at us, and says, "Well done! good and faithful servant." + +III. We have finally the fourfold streams or branches into which this +general conception of Christian character parts itself. + +There are four participial clauses here, which seem all to stand on one +level, and to present an analysis in more detail of the component parts +of this worthy walk. In general terms it is divided into fruitfulness in +work, increase in knowledge, strength for suffering, and, as the climax +of all, thankfulness. + +The first element is--"bearing fruit in every good work." These words +carry us back to what was said in ver. 6 about the fruitfulness of the +gospel. Here the man in whom that word is planted is regarded as the +producer of the fruit, by the same natural transition by which, in our +Lord's Parable of the Sower, the men in whose hearts the seed was sown +are spoken of as themselves on the one hand, bringing no fruit to +perfection, and on the other, bringing forth fruit with patience. The +worthy walk will be first manifested in the production of a rich variety +of forms of goodness. All profound knowledge of God, and all lofty +thoughts of imitating and pleasing Christ, are to be tested at last by +their power to make men good, and that not after any monotonous type, +nor on one side of their nature only. + +One plain principle implied here is that the only true fruit is +goodness. We may be busy, as many a man in our great commercial cities +is busy, from Monday morning till Saturday night for a long lifetime, +and may have had to build bigger barns for our "fruits and our goods," +and yet, in the high and solemn meaning of the word here, our life may +be utterly empty and fruitless. Much of our work and of its results is +no more fruit than the galls on the oak-leaves are. They are a swelling +from a puncture made by an insect, a sign of disease, not of life. The +only sort of work which can be called fruit, in the highest meaning of +the word, is that which corresponds to a man's whole nature and +relations; and the only work which does so correspond is a life of +loving service of God, which cultivates all things lovely and of good +report. Goodness, therefore, alone deserves to be called fruit--as for +all the rest of our busy lives, they and their toils are like the +rootless, lifeless chaff that is whirled out of the threshing-floor by +every gust. A life which has not in it holiness and loving obedience, +however richly productive it may be in lower respects, is in inmost +reality blighted and barren, and is "nigh unto burning." Goodness is +fruit; all else is nothing but leaves. + +Again: the Christian life is to be "fruitful in _every_ good work." This +tree is to be like that in the apocalyptic vision, which "bare twelve +manner of fruits," yielding every month a different sort. So we should +fill the whole circuit of the year with various holiness, and seek to +make widely different forms of goodness our own. We have all certain +kinds of excellence which are more natural and easier for us than +others are. We should seek to cultivate the kind which is hardest for +us. The thorn stock of our own character should bear not only grapes, +but figs too, and olives as well, being grafted upon the true +olive-tree, which is Christ. Let us aim at this all-round and multiform +virtue, and not be like a scene for a stage, all gay and bright on one +side, and dirty canvas and stretchers hung with cobwebs on the other. + +The second element in the analysis of the true Christian life +is--"increasing in the knowledge of God." The figure of the tree is +probably continued here. If it fruits, its girth will increase, its +branches will spread, its top will mount, and next year its shadow on +the grass will cover a larger circle. Some would take the "knowledge" +here as the instrument or means of growth, and would render "increasing +by the knowledge of God," supposing that the knowledge is represented as +the rain or the sunshine which minister to the growth of the plant. But +perhaps it is better to keep to the idea conveyed by the common +rendering, which regards the words "in knowledge" as the specification +of that region in which the growth enjoined is to be realized. So here +we have the converse of the relation between work and knowledge which we +met in the earlier part of the chapter. There, knowledge led to a worthy +walk; here, fruitfulness in good works leads to, or at all events is +accompanied with, an increased knowledge. And both are true. These two +work on each other a reciprocal increase. All true knowledge which is +not mere empty notions, naturally tends to influence action, and all +true action naturally tends to confirm the knowledge from which it +proceeds. Obedience gives insight: "If any man wills to do My will, he +shall know of the doctrine." If I am faithful up to the limits of my +present knowledge, and have brought it all to bear on character and +conduct, I shall find that in the effort to make my every thought a +deed, there have fallen from my eyes as it were scales, and I see some +things clearly which were faint and doubtful before. Moral truth becomes +dim to a bad man. Religious truth grows bright to a good one, and +whosoever strives to bring all his creed into practice, and all his +practice under the guidance of his creed, will find that the path of +obedience is the path of growing light. + +Then comes the third element in this resolution of the Christian +character into its component parts--"strengthened with all power, +according to the might of His glory, unto all patience and longsuffering +with joyfulness." Knowing and doing are not the whole of life: there are +sorrow and suffering too. + +Here again we have the Apostle's favourite "_all_," which occurs so +frequently in this connection. As he desired for the Colossians, _all_ +wisdom, unto _all_ pleasing, and fruitfulness in _every_ good work, so +he prays for _all_ power to strengthen them. Every kind of strength +which God can give and man can receive, is to be sought after by us, +that we may be "girded with strength," cast like a brazen wall all round +our human weakness. And that Divine power is to flow into us, having +this for its measure and limit--"the might of His glory." His "glory" is +the lustrous light of His self-revelation; and the far-flashing energy +revealed in that self-manifestation is the immeasurable measure of the +strength that may be ours. True, a finite nature can never contain the +infinite, but man's finite nature is capable of indefinite expansion. +Its elastic walls stretch to contain the increasing gift. The more we +desire, the more we receive, and the more we receive, the more we are +able to receive. The amount which filled our hearts to-day should not +fill them to-morrow. Our capacity is at each moment the working limit of +the measure of the strength given us. But it is always shifting, and may +be continually increasing. The only real limit is "the might of His +glory," the limitless omnipotence of the self-revealing God. To that we +may indefinitely approach, and till we have exhausted God we have not +reached the furthest point to which we should aspire. + +And what exalted mission is destined for this wonderful communicated +strength? Nothing that the world thinks great: only helping some lone +widow to stay her heart in patience, and flinging a gleam of brightness, +like sunrise on a stormy sea, over some tempest-tossed life. The +strength is worthily employed and absorbed in producing "all patience +and longsuffering with joy." Again the favourite "all" expresses the +universality of the patience and longsuffering. Patience here is not +merely passive endurance. It includes the idea of perseverance in the +right course, as well as that of uncomplaining bearing of evil. It is +the "steering right onward," without bating one jot of heart or hope; +the temper of the traveller who struggles forward, though the wind in +his face dashes the sleet in his eyes, and he has to wade through deep +snow. While "patience" regards the evil mainly as sent by God, and as +making the race set before us difficult, "longsuffering" describes the +temper under suffering when considered as a wrong or injury done by man. +And whether we think of our afflictions in the one or the other light, +God's strength will steal into our hearts, if we will, not merely to +help us to bear them with perseverance and with meekness as unruffled as +Christ's, but to crown both graces--as the clouds are sometimes rimmed +with flashing gold--with a great light of joy. That is the highest +attainment of all. "Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." Flowers beneath +the snow, songs in the night, fire burning beneath the water, "peace +subsisting at the heart of endless agitation," cool airs in the very +crater of Vesuvius--all these paradoxes may be surpassed in our hearts +if they are strengthened with all might by an indwelling Christ. + +The crown of all, the last of the elements of the Christian character, +is thankfulness--"giving thanks unto the Father." This is the summit of +all; and is to be diffused through all. All our progressive fruitfulness +and insight, as well as our perseverance and unruffled meekness in +suffering, should have a breath of thankfulness breathed through them. +We shall see the grand enumeration of the reasons for thankfulness in +the next verses. Here we pause for the present, with this final +constituent of the life which Paul desired for the Colossian Christians. +Thankfulness should mingle with all our thoughts and feelings, like the +fragrance of some perfume penetrating through the common scentless air. +It should embrace all events. It should be an operating motive in all +actions. We should be clear-sighted and believing enough to be thankful +for pain and disappointment and loss. That gratitude will add the +crowning consecration to service and knowledge and endurance. It will +touch our spirits to the finest of all issues, for it will lead to glad +self-surrender, and make of our whole life a sacrifice of praise. "I +beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your +bodies a living sacrifice." Our lives will then exhale in fragrance and +shoot up in flashing tongues of ruddy light and beauty, when kindled +into a flame of gratitude by the glow of Christ's great love. Let us lay +our poor selves on that altar, as sacrifices of thanksgiving; for with +such sacrifices God is well-pleased. + + + + +IV. + +_THE FATHER'S GIFTS THROUGH THE SON._ + + "The Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of + the saints in light; who delivered us out of the power of darkness, + and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love; in whom + we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins."--COL. i. 12-14 + (Rev. Ver.). + + +We have advanced thus far in this Epistle without having reached its +main subject. We now, however, are on its verge. The next verses to +those now to be considered lead us into the very heart of Paul's +teaching, by which he would oppose the errors rife in the Colossian +Church. The great passages describing the person and work of Jesus +Christ are at hand, and here we have the immediate transition to them. + +The skill with which the transition is made is remarkable. How gradually +and surely the sentences, like some hovering winged things, circle more +and more closely round the central light, till in the last words they +touch it, ... "the Son of His love!" It is like some long procession +heralding a king. They that go before, cry Hosanna, and point to him who +comes last and chief. The affectionate greetings which begin the letter, +pass into prayer; the prayer into thanksgiving. The thanksgiving, as in +these words, lingers over and recounts our blessings, as a rich man +counts his treasures, or a lover dwells on his joys. The enumeration of +the blessings leads, as by a golden thread, to the thought and name of +Christ, the fountain of them all, and then, with a burst and a rush, the +flood of the truths about Christ which he had to give them sweeps +through Paul's mind and heart, carrying everything before it. The name +of Christ always opens the floodgates in Paul's heart. + +We have here then the deepest grounds for Christian thanksgiving, which +are likewise the preparations for a true estimate of the worth of the +Christ who gives them. These grounds of thanksgiving are but various +aspects of the one great blessing of "Salvation." The diamond flashes +greens and purples, and yellows and reds, according to the angle at +which its facets catch the eye. + +It is also to be observed, that all these blessings are the present +possession of Christians. The language of the first three clauses in the +verses before us points distinctly to a definite past act by which the +Father, at some definite point of time, made us meet, delivered and +translated us, while the present tense in the last clause shows that +"our redemption" is not only begun by some definite act in the past, but +is continuously and progressively possessed in the present. + +We notice, too, the remarkable correspondence of language with that +which Paul heard when he lay prone on the ground, blinded by the +flashing light, and amazed by the pleading remonstrance from heaven +which rung in his ears. "I send thee to the Gentiles ... that they may +turn from _darkness_ to _light_, and from the power of Satan unto God, +that they may receive _remission of sins_, and an _inheritance_ among +them which are sanctified." All the principal phrases are there, and are +freely recombined by Paul, as if unconsciously his memory was haunted +still by the sound of the transforming words heard so long ago. + +I. The first ground of thankfulness which all Christians have is, that +they are fit for the inheritance. Of course the metaphor here is drawn +from the "inheritance" given to the people of Israel, namely, the land +of Canaan. Unfortunately, our use of "heir" and "inheritance" confines +the idea to possession by succession on death, and hence some perplexity +is popularly experienced as to the force of the word in Scripture. +There, it implies possession by lot, if anything more than the simple +notion of possession; and points to the fact that the people did not win +their land by their own swords, but because "God had a favour unto +them." So the Christian inheritance is not won by our own merit, but +given by God's goodness. The words may be literally rendered, "fitted us +for the portion of the lot," and taken to mean the share or portion +which consists in the lot; but perhaps it is clearer, and more accordant +with the analogy of the division of the land among the tribes, to take +them as meaning "for our (individual) share in the broad land which, as +a whole, is the allotted possession of the saints." This possession +belongs to them, and is situated in the world of "light." Such is the +general outline of the thoughts here. The first question that arises is, +whether this inheritance is present or future. The best answer is that +it is both; because, whatever additions of power and splendour as yet +unspeakable may wait to be revealed in the future, the essence of all +which heaven can bring is ours to-day, if we live in the faith and love +of Christ. The difference between a life of communion with God here and +yonder is one of degree and not of kind. True, there are differences of +which we cannot speak, in enlarged capacities, and a "spiritual body," +and sins cast out, and nearer approach to "the fountain itself of +heavenly radiance;" but he who can say, while he walks amongst the +shadows of earth, "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance," will +neither leave his treasures behind him when he dies, nor enter on the +possession of a wholly new inheritance, when he passes into the heavens. +But while this is true, it is also true that that future possession of +God will be so deepened and enlarged that its beginnings here are but +the "earnest," of the same nature indeed as the estate, but limited in +comparison as is the tuft of grass which used to be given to a new +possessor, when set against the broad lands from which it was plucked. +Here certainly the predominant idea is that of a present fitness for a +mainly future possession. + +We notice again--where the inheritance is situated--"in the light." +There are several possible ways of connecting that clause with the +preceding. But without discussing these, it may be enough to point out +that the most satisfactory seems to be to regard it as specifying the +region in which the inheritance lies. It lies in a realm where purity +and knowledge and gladness dwell undimmed and unbounded by an envious +ring of darkness. For these three are the triple rays into which, +according to the Biblical use of the figure, that white beam may be +resolved. + +From this there follows that it is capable of being possessed only by +_saints_. There is no merit or desert which makes men worthy of the +inheritance, but there is a congruity, or correspondence between +character and the inheritance. If we rightly understand what the +essential elements of "heaven" are, we shall have no difficulty in +seeing that the possession of it is utterly incompatible with anything +but holiness. The vulgar ideas of what heaven is, hinder people from +seeing how to get there. They dwell upon the mere outside of the thing, +they take symbols for realities and accidents for essentials, and so it +appears an arbitrary arrangement that a man must have faith in Christ to +enter heaven. If it be a kingdom of light, then only souls that love the +light can go thither, and until owls and bats rejoice in the sunshine, +there will be no way of being fit for the inheritance which is light, +but by ourselves being "light in the Lord." Light itself is a torture to +diseased eyes. Turn up any stone by the roadside and we see how +unwelcome light is to crawling creatures that have lived in the darkness +till they have come to love it. + +Heaven is God and God is heaven. How can a soul possess God, and find +its heaven in possessing Him? Certainly only by likeness to Him, and +loving Him. The old question, "Who shall stand in the Holy Place?" is +not answered in the gospel by reducing the conditions, or negativing the +old reply. The common sense of every conscience answers, and +Christianity answers, as the Psalmist does, "He that hath clean hands +and a pure heart." + +One more step has to be taken to reach the full meaning of these words, +namely, the assertion that men who are not yet perfectly pure are +already fit to be partakers of the inheritance. The tense of the verb in +the original points back to a definite act by which the Colossians were +made meet, namely, their conversion; and the plain emphatic teaching of +the New Testament is that incipient and feeble faith in Christ works a +change so great, that through it we are fitted for the inheritance by +the impartation of a new nature, which, though it be but as a grain of +mustard seed, shapes from henceforth the very inmost centre of our +personal being. In due time that spark will convert into its own fiery +brightness the whole mass, however green and smokily it begins to burn. +Not the absence of sin, but the presence of faith working by love, and +longing for the light, makes fitness. No doubt flesh and blood cannot +inherit the Kingdom of God, and we must put off the vesture of the body +which has wrapped us during the wild weather here, before we can be +fully fit to enter the banqueting hall; nor do we know how much evil +which has not its seat in the soul may drop away therewith--but the +spirit is fit for heaven as soon as a man turns to God in Christ. +Suppose a company of rebels, and one of them, melted by some reason or +other, is brought back to loyalty. He is fit by that inward change, +although he has not done a single act of loyalty, for the society of +loyal subjects, and unfit for that of traitors. Suppose a prodigal son +away in the far off land. Some remembrance comes over him of what home +used to be like, and of the bountiful house-keeping that is still there; +and though it may begin with nothing more exalted than an empty stomach, +if it ends in "I will arise and go to my Father," at that instant a gulf +opens between him and the riotous living of "the citizens of that +country," and he is no longer fitted for their company. He is meet for +the fellowship of his father's house, though he has a weary journey +before he gets there, and needs to have his rags changed, and his filth +washed off him, ere he can sit down at the feast. + +So whoever turns to the love of God in Christ, and yields in the inmost +part of his being to the power of His grace, is already "light in the +Lord." The true home and affinities of his real self are in the kingdom +of the light, and he is ready for his part in the inheritance, either +here or yonder. There is no breach of the great law, that character +makes fitness for heaven--might we not say that character makes +heaven?--for the very roots of character lie in disposition and desire, +rather than in action. Nor is there in this principle anything +inconsistent with the need for continual growth in congruity of nature +with that land of light. The light within, if it be truly there, will, +however slowly, spread, as surely as the grey of twilight brightens to +the blaze of noonday. The heart will be more and more filled with it, +and the darkness driven back more and more to brood in remote corners, +and at last will vanish utterly. True fitness will become more and more +fit. We shall grow more and more capable of God. The measure of our +capacity is the measure of our possession, and the measure in which we +have become light, is the measure of our capacity for the light. The +land was parted among the tribes of Israel according to their strength; +some had a wider, some a narrower strip of territory. So, as there are +differences in Christian character here, there will be differences in +Christian participation in the inheritance hereafter. "Star differeth +from star." Some will blaze in brighter radiance and glow with more +fervent heat because they move in orbits closer to the sun. + +But, thank God, we are "fit for the inheritance," if we have ever so +humbly and poorly trusted ourselves to Jesus Christ and received His +renewing life into our spirits. Character alone fits for heaven. But +character may be in germ or in fruit. "If any man be in Christ, he _is_ +a new creature." Do we trust ourselves to Him? Are we trying, with His +help, to live as children of the light? Then we need not droop or +despair by reason of evil that may still haunt our lives. Let us give it +no quarter, for it diminishes our fitness for the full possession of +God; but let it not cause our tongue to falter in "giving thanks to the +Father who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints +in light." + +II. The second ground of thankfulness is, the change of king and +country. God "delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated +us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." These two clauses embrace +the negative and positive sides of the same act which is referred to in +the former ground of thankfulness, only stated now in reference to our +allegiance and citizenship in the present rather than in the future. In +the "deliverance" there maybe a reference to God's bringing Israel out +of Egypt, suggested by the previous mention of the inheritance, while +the "translation" into the other kingdom may be an illustration drawn +from the well known practice of ancient warfare, the deportation of +large bodies of natives from conquered kingdoms to some other part of +the conqueror's realm. + +We notice then the two kingdoms and their kings. "The power of +darkness," is an expression found in Luke's Gospel (xxii. 18), and it +may be used here as a reminiscence of our Lord's solemn words. "Power" +here seems to imply the conception of harsh, arbitrary dominion, in +contrast with the gracious rule of the other kingdom. It is a realm of +cruel and grinding sway. Its prince is personified in an image that +AEschylus or Dante might have spoken. Darkness sits sovereign there, a +vast and gloomy form on an ebon throne, wielding a heavy sceptre over +wide regions wrapped in night. The plain meaning of that tremendous +metaphor is just this--that the men who are not Christians live in a +state of subjection to darkness of ignorance, darkness of misery, +darkness of sin. If I am not a Christian man, that black three-headed +hound of hell sits baying on my doorstep. + +What a wonderful contrast the other kingdom and its King present! "The +kingdom of"--not "the light," as we are prepared to hear, in order to +complete the antithesis, but--"the Son of His love," who is the light. +The Son who is the object of His love, on whom it all and ever rests, as +on none besides. He has a kingdom in existence now, and not merely hoped +for, and to be set up at some future time. Wherever men lovingly obey +Christ, there is His kingdom. The subjects make the kingdom, and we may +to-day belong to it, and be free from all other dominion because we bow +to His. There then sit the two kings, like the two in the old story, +"either of them on his throne, clothed in his robes, at the entering in +of the gate of the city." Darkness and Light, the ebon throne and the +white throne, surrounded each by their ministers; there Sorrow and +Gloom, here Gladness and Hope; there Ignorance with blind eyes and idle +aimless hands, here Knowledge with the sunlight on her face, and +Diligence for her handmaid; here Sin, the pillar of the gloomy realm, +there Righteousness, in robes so as no fuller on earth could white them. +Under which king, my brother? + +We notice the transference of subjects. The sculptures on Assyrian +monuments explain this metaphor for us. A great conqueror has come, and +speaks to us as Sennacherib did to the Jews (2 Kings xviii. 31, 32), +"Come out to me ... and I will take you away to a land of corn and wine, +that ye may live and not die." + +If we listen to His voice, He will lead away a long string of willing +captives and plant them, not as pining exiles, but as happy naturalized +citizens, in the kingdom which the Father has appointed for "the Son of +His love." + +That transference is effected on the instant of our recognising the love +of God in Jesus Christ, and yielding up the heart to Him. We too often +speak as if the "entrance ministered at last to" a believing soul "into +the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour," were its first entrance therein, +and forget that we enter it as soon as we yield to the drawings of +Christ's love and take service under the king. The change then is +greater than at death. When we die, we shall change provinces, and go +from an outlying colony to the mother city and seat of empire, but we +shall not change kingdoms. We shall be under the same government, only +then we shall be nearer the King and more loyal to Him. That change of +king is the real fitness for heaven. We know little of what profound +changes death may make, but clearly a physical change cannot effect a +spiritual revolution. They who are not Christ's subjects will not become +so by dying. If here we are trying to serve a King who has delivered us +from the tyranny of darkness, we may be very sure that He will not lose +His subjects in the darkness of the grave. Let us choose our king. If we +take Christ for our heart's Lord, every thought of Him here, every piece +of partial obedience and stained service, as well as every sorrow and +every joy, our fading possessions and our undying treasures, the feeble +new life that wars against our sins, and even the very sins themselves +as contradictory of our deepest self, unite to seal to us the assurance, +"Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty. They shall behold the land +that is very far off." + +III. The heart and centre of all occasions for thankfulness is the +Redemption which we receive in Christ. + +"In whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins." The +Authorized Version reads "redemption _through His blood_," but these +words are not found in the best manuscripts, and are regarded by the +principal modern editors as having been inserted from the parallel place +in Ephesians (i. 7), where they are genuine. The very heart then of the +blessings which God has bestowed, is "redemption," which consists +primarily, though not wholly, in "forgiveness of sins," and is received +by us in "the Son of His love." + +"Redemption," in its simplest meaning, is the act of delivering a slave +from captivity by the payment of ransom. So that it contains in its +application to the effect of Christ's death, substantially the same +figure as in the previous clause which spoke of a deliverance from a +tyrant, only that what was there represented as an act of Power is here +set forth as the act of self-sacrificing Love which purchases our +freedom at a heavy cost. That ransom price is said by Christ Himself to +be "His life," and His Incarnation to have the paying of that price as +one of its two chief objects. So the words added here by quotation from +the companion Epistle are in full accordance with New Testament +teaching; but even omitting them, the meaning of the clause is +unmistakable. Christ's death breaks the chains which bind us, and sets +us free. By it He acquires us for Himself. That transcendent act of +sacrifice has such a relation to the Divine government on the one hand, +and to the "sin of the world," as a whole, on the other, that by it all +who trust in Him are delivered from the most real penal consequences of +sin and from the dominion of its darkness over their natures. We freely +admit that we cannot penetrate to the understanding of _how_ Christ's +death thus avails. But just because the _rationale_ of the doctrine is +avowedly beyond our limits, we are barred from asserting that it is +incompatible with God's character, or with common justice, or that it is +immoral, and the like. When we know God through and through, to all the +depths and heights and lengths and breadths of His nature, and when we +know man in like manner, and when, consequently, we know the relation +between God and man as perfectly, and not till then, we shall have a +right to reject the teaching of Scripture on this matter, on such +grounds. Till then, let our faith lay hold on the fact, though we do not +understand the "how" of the fact, and cling to that cross which is the +great power of God unto salvation, and the heart-changing exponent of +the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. + +The essential and first element in this redemption is "the forgiveness +of sins." Possibly some misconception of the nature of redemption may +have been associated with the other errors which threatened the +Colossian Church, and thus Paul may have been led to this emphatic +declaration of its contents. Forgiveness, and not some mystic +deliverance by initiation or otherwise from the captivity of flesh and +matter, is redemption. There is more than forgiveness in it, but +forgiveness lies on the threshold; and that not only the removal of +legal penalties inflicted by a specific act, but the forgiveness of a +father. A sovereign pardons when he remits the sentence which law has +pronounced. A father forgives when the free flow of his love is +unhindered by his child's fault, and he may forgive and punish at the +same moment. The truest "penalty" of sin is that death which consists in +separation from God; and the conceptions of judicial pardon and fatherly +forgiveness unite when we think of the "remission of sins" as being the +removal of that separation, and the deliverance of heart and conscience +from the burden of guilt and of a father's wrath. + +Such forgiveness leads to that full deliverance from the power of +darkness, which is the completion of redemption. There is deep meaning +in the fact that the word here used for "forgiveness," means literally, +"sending away." Pardon has a mighty power to banish sin, not only as +guilt, but as habit. The waters of the gulf stream bear the warmth of +the tropics to the icy north, and lave the foot of the glaciers on its +coast till they melt and mingle with the liberating waves. So the flow +of the forgiving love of God thaws the hearts frozen in the obstinacy of +sin, and blends our wills with itself in glad submission and grateful +service. + +But we must not overlook the significant words in which the condition of +possessing this redemption is stated: "in Whom." There must be a real +living union with Christ, by which we are truly "in Him" in order to our +possession of redemption. "Redemption through His blood" is not the +whole message of the Gospel; it has to be completed by "_In Whom_ we +have redemption through His blood." That real living union is effected +by our faith, and when we are thus "in Him," our wills, hearts, spirits +joined to Him, then, and only then are we borne away from "the kingdom +of the darkness" and partake of redemption. We cannot get His gifts +without Himself. + +We observe, in conclusion, how redemption appears here as a present and +growing possession. There is emphasis on "we _have_." The Colossian +Christians had by one definite act in the past been fitted for a share +in the inheritance, and by the same act had been transferred to the +kingdom of Christ. Already they possess the inheritance, and are in the +kingdom, although both are to be more gloriously manifested in the +future. Here, however, Paul contemplates rather the reception, moment by +moment, of redemption. We might almost read "we are having," for the +present tense seems used on purpose to convey the idea of a continual +communication from Him to Whom we are to be united by faith. Daily we +may draw what we daily need--daily forgiveness for daily sins, the +washing of the feet which even he who has been bathed requires after +each day's march through muddy roads, daily bread for daily hunger, and +daily strength for daily effort. So day unto day may, in our narrow +lives, as in the wide heavens with all their stars, utter speech, and +night unto night show knowledge of the redeeming love of our Father. +Like the rock that followed the Israelites in the wilderness, according +to Jewish legend, and poured out water for their thirst, His grace flows +ever by our sides and from its bright waters we may daily draw with joy. + +And so let us lay to heart humbly these two lessons; that all our +Christianity must begin with forgiveness, and that, however far advanced +we may be in the Divine life, we never get beyond the need for a +continual bestowal upon us of God's pardoning mercy. + +Many of us, like some of these Colossians, are ready to call ourselves +in some sense followers of Christ. The speculative side of Christian +truth may have attractions for some of us, its lofty morality for +others. Some of us may be mainly drawn to it by its comforts for the +weary; some may be looking to it chiefly in hope of a future heaven. But +whatever we are, and however we may be disposed to Christ and His +Gospel, here is a plain message for us; we must begin by going to Him +for pardon. It is not enough for any of us to find in Him "wisdom," or +even "righteousness," for we need "redemption" which is "forgiveness," +and unless He is to us forgiveness, He will not be either righteousness +or wisdom. + +We can climb a ladder that reaches to heaven, but its foot must be in +"the horrible pit and miry clay" of our sins. Little as we like to hear +it, the first need for us all is forgiveness. Everything begins with +that. "The inheritance of the saints," with all its wealth of glory, its +immortal life and unfading joys, its changeless security, and its +unending progress deeper and deeper into the light and likeness of God, +is the goal, but the _only_ entrance is through the strait gate of +penitence. Christ will forgive on our cry for pardon, and that is the +first link of a golden chain unwinding from His hand by which we may +ascend to the perfect possession of our inheritance in God. "Whom He +justified, them," and them only, He will glorify. + + + + +V. + +_THE GLORY OF THE SON IN HIS RELATION TO THE FATHER, THE UNIVERSE AND +THE CHURCH._ + + "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all + creation; for in Him were all things created, in the heavens and + upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones + or dominions or principalities or powers, all things have been + created through Him and unto Him; and He is before all things, and + in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the + church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in + all things He might have the pre-eminence."--COL. i. 15-18 (Rev. + Ver.). + + +As has already been remarked, the Colossian Church was troubled by +teachers who had grafted on Jewish belief many of the strange +speculations about matter and creation which have always had such a +fascination for the Eastern mind. To us, they are apt to seem empty +dreams, baseless and bewildering; but they had force enough to shake the +early Church to its foundation, and in some forms they still live. + +These teachers in Colossae seem to have held that all matter was evil and +the seat of sin; that therefore the material creation could not have +come directly from a good God, but was in a certain sense opposed to +Him, or, at all events, was separated from Him by a great gulf. The void +space was bridged by a chain of beings, half abstractions and half +persons, gradually becoming more and more material. The lowest of them +had created the material universe and now governed it, and all were to +be propitiated by worship. + +Some such opinions must be presupposed in order to give point and force +to these great verses in which Paul opposes the solid truth to these +dreams, and instead of a crowd of Powers and angelic Beings, in whom the +effulgence of Deity was gradually darkened, and the spirit became more +and more thickened into matter, lifts high and clear against that +background of fable, the solitary figure of the one Christ. He fills all +the space between God and man. There is no need for a crowd of shadowy +beings to link heaven with earth. Jesus Christ lays His hand upon both. +He is the head and source of creation; He is the head and fountain of +life to His Church. Therefore He is first in all things, to be listened +to, loved and worshipped by men. As when the full moon rises, so when +Christ appears, all the lesser stars with which Alexandrian and Eastern +speculation had peopled the abysses of the sky are lost in the mellow +radiance, and instead of a crowd of flickering ineffectual lights there +is one perfect orb, "and heaven is overflowed." "We see no _creature_ +any more save Jesus only." + +We have outgrown the special forms of error which afflicted the Church +at Colossae, but the truths which are here set over against them are +eternal, and are needed to-day in our conflicts of opinion as much as +then. There are here three grand conceptions of Christ's relations. We +have Christ and God, Christ and Creation, Christ and the Church, and, +built upon all these, the triumphant proclamation of His supremacy over +all creatures in all respects. + +I. We have the relation of Christ to God set forth in these grand +words, "the image of the invisible God." + +Apparently Paul is here using for his own purposes language which was +familiar on the lips of his antagonists. We know that Alexandrian +Judaism had much to say about the "Word," and spoke of it as the Image +of God: and probably some such teaching had found its way to Colossae. An +"image" is a likeness or representation, as of a king's head on a coin, +or of a face reflected in a mirror. Here it is that which makes the +invisible visible. The God who dwells in the thick darkness, remote from +sense and above thought, has come forth and made Himself known to man, +even in a very real way has come within the reach of man's senses, in +the manhood of Jesus Christ. Where then is there a place for the shadowy +abstractions and emanations with which some would bind together God and +man? + +The first thought involved in this statement is, that the Divine Being +in Himself is inconceivable and unapproachable. "No man hath seen God at +any time, nor can see Him." Not only is He beyond the reach of sense, +but above the apprehension of the understanding. Direct and immediate +knowledge of Him is impossible. There may be, there is, written on every +human spirit a dim consciousness of His presence, but that is not +knowledge. Creatural limitations prevent it, and man's sin prevents it. +He is "the King invisible," because He is the "Father of Lights" +dwelling in "a glorious privacy of light," which is to us darkness +because there is in it "no darkness at all." + +Then, the next truth included here is, that Christ is the perfect +manifestation and image of God. In Him we have the invisible becoming +visible. Through Him we know all that we know of God, as distinguished +from what we guess or imagine or suspect of Him. On this high theme, it +is not wise to deal much in the scholastic language of systems and +creeds. Few words, and these mainly His own, are best, and he is least +likely to speak wrongly who confines himself most to Scripture in his +presentation of the truth. All the great streams of teaching in the New +Testament concur in the truth which Paul here proclaims. The conception +in John's Gospel of the Word which is the utterance and making audible +of the Divine mind, the conceptions in the Epistle to the Hebrews of the +effulgence or forthshining of God's glory, and the very image, or +stamped impress of His substance, are but other modes of representing +the same facts of full likeness and complete manifestation, which Paul +here asserts by calling the man Christ Jesus, the image of the Invisible +God. The same thoughts are involved in the name by which our Lord called +Himself, the Son of God; and they cannot be separated from many words of +His, such as "he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." In Him the +Divine nature comes near to us in a form that once could be grasped in +part by men's senses, for it was "that of the Word of life" which they +saw with their eyes and their hands handled, and which is to-day and for +ever a form that can be grasped by mind and heart and will. In Christ we +have the revelation of a God who can be known, and loved, and trusted, +with a knowledge which, though it be not complete, is real and valid, +with a love which is solid enough to be the foundation of a life, with +a trust which is conscious that it has touched rock and builds secure. +Nor is that fact that He is the revealer of God, one that began with His +incarnation, or ends with His earthly life. From the beginning and +before the creatural beginning, as we shall see in considering another +part of these great verses, the Word was the agent of all Divine +activity, the "arm of the Lord," and the source of all Divine +illumination, "the face of the Lord," or, as we have the thought put in +the remarkable words of the Book of Proverbs, where the celestial and +pure Wisdom is more than a personification though not yet distinctly +conceived as a person, "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His +way. I was by Him as one brought up--or as a master worker--with Him, +and I was daily _His_ delight ... and _My_ delights were with the sons +of men." And after the veils of flesh and sense are done away, and we +see face to face, I believe that the face which we shall see, and +seeing, shall have beauty born of the vision passing into our faces, +will be the face of Jesus Christ, in which the light of the glory of God +shall shine for the redeemed and perfected sons of God, even as it did +for them when they groped amid the shows of earth. The law for time and +for eternity is, "I have declared Thy name unto My brethren and will +declare it." That great fathomless, shoreless ocean of the Divine nature +is like a "closed sea"--Christ is the broad river which brings its +waters to men, and "everything liveth whithersoever the river cometh." + +In these brief words on so mighty a matter, I must run the risk of +appearing to deal in unsupported statements. My business is not so much +to try to prove Paul's words as to explain them, and then to press them +home. Therefore I would urge that thought, that we depend on Christ for +all true knowledge of God. Guesses are not knowledge. Speculations are +not knowledge. Peradventures, whether of hope or fear, are not +knowledge. What we poor men need, is a certitude of a God who loves us +and cares for us, has an arm that can help us, and a heart that will. +The God of "pure theism" is little better than a phantom, so +unsubstantial that you can see the stars shining through the pale form, +and when a man tries to lean on him for support, it is like leaning on a +wreath of mist. There is nothing. There is no certitude firm enough for +us to find sustaining power against life's trials in resting upon it, +but in Christ. There is no warmth of love enough for us to thaw our +frozen limbs by, apart from Christ. In Him, and in Him alone, the far +off, awful, doubtful God becomes a God very near, of Whom we are sure, +and sure that He loves and is ready to help and cleanse and save. + +And that is what we each need. "My soul crieth out for God, for the +_living_ God." And never will that orphaned cry be answered, but in the +possession of Christ, in Whom we possess the Father also. No dead +abstractions--no reign of law--still less the dreary proclamation, +"Behold we know not anything," least of all, the pottage of material +good, will hush that bitter wail that goes up unconsciously from many an +Esau's heart--"My father, my father!" Men will find Him in Christ. They +will find Him nowhere else. It seems to me that the only refuge for this +generation from atheism--if it is still allowable to use that +unfashionable word--is the acceptance of Christ as the revealer of God. +On any other terms religion is rapidly becoming impossible for the +cultivated class. The great word which Paul opposed to the cobwebs of +Gnostic speculation is the word for our own time with all its +perplexities--Christ is the Image of the Invisible God. + +II. We have the relation of Christ to Creation set forth in that great +name, "the firstborn of all creation," and further elucidated by a +magnificent series of statements which proclaim Him to be agent or +medium, and aim or goal of creation, prior to it in time and dignity, +and its present upholder and bond of unity. + +"The firstborn of all creation." At first sight, this name seems to +include Him in the great family of creatures as the eldest, and clearly +to treat Him as one of them, just because He is declared to be in some +sense the first of them. That meaning has been attached to the words; +but it is shown not to be their intention by the language of the next +verse, which is added to prove and explain the title. It distinctly +alleges that Christ was "before" all creation, and that He is the agent +of all creation. To insist that the words must be explained so as to +include Him in "creation" would be to go right in the teeth of the +Apostle's own justification and explanation of them. So that the true +meaning is that He is the firstborn, in comparison with, or in reference +to, all creation. Such an understanding of the force of the expression +is perfectly allowable grammatically, and is necessary unless this verse +is to be put in violent contradiction to the next. The same construction +is found in Milton's + + "Adam, the goodliest man of men since born, + His sons, the fairest of her daughters, Eve." + +where "of" distinctly means "in comparison with," and not "belonging +to." + +The title implies priority in existence, and supremacy. It substantially +means the same thing as the other title of "the only begotten Son," only +that the latter brings into prominence the relation of the Son to the +Father, while the former lays stress on His relation to Creation. +Further it must be noted, that this name applies to the Eternal Word and +not to the incarnation of that Word, or to put it in another form, the +divinity and not the humanity of the Lord Jesus is in the Apostle's +view. Such is the briefest outline of the meaning of this great name. + +A series of clauses follow, stating more fully the relation of the +firstborn Son to Creation, and so confirming and explaining the title. + +The whole universe is, as it were, set in one class, and He alone over +against it. No language could be more emphatically all-comprehensive. +Four times in one sentence we have "all things"--the whole +universe--repeated, and traced to Him as Creator and Lord. "In the +heavens and the earth" is quoted from Genesis, and is intended here, as +there, to be an exhaustive enumeration of the creation according to +place. "Things visible or invisible" again includes the whole under a +new principle of division--there are visible things in heaven, as sun +and stars, there may be invisible on earth, but wherever and of whatever +sort they are, He made them. "Whether thrones or dominions, or +principalities or powers," an enumeration evidently alluding to the +dreamy speculations about an angelic hierarchy filling the space between +the far off God, and men immersed in matter. There is a tone of +contemptuous impatience in Paul's voice, as he quotes the pompous list +of sonorous titles which a busy fancy had coined. It is as if he had +said, You are being told a great deal about these angel hierarchies, and +know all about their ranks and gradations. I do not know anything about +them; but this I know, that if, amid the unseen things in the heavens or +the earth, there be any such, my Lord made them, and is their master. So +he groups together the whole universe of created beings, actual or +imaginary, and then high above it, separate from it, its Lord and +Creator, its upholder and end, he points to the majestic person of the +only begotten Son of God, His Firstborn, higher than all the rulers of +the earth, whether human or superhuman. + +The language employed brings into strong relief the manifold variety of +relations which the Son sustains to the universe, by the variety of the +prepositions used in the sentence. The whole sum of created things (for +the Greek means not only "all things," but "all things considered as a +unity") was in the original act, created _in_ Him, _through_ Him, and +_unto_ Him. The first of these words, "in Him," regards Him as the +creative centre, as it were, or element in which as in a storehouse or +reservoir all creative force resided, and was in a definite act put +forth. The thought may be parallel with that in the prologue to John's +Gospel, "In Him was life." The Word stands to the universe as the +incarnate Christ does to the Church; and as all spiritual life is in +Him, and union to Him is its condition, so all physical takes its origin +within the depths of His Divine nature. The error of the Gnostics was to +put the act of creation and the thing created, as far away as possible +from God, and it is met by this remarkable expression, which brings +creation and the creatures in a very real sense within the confines of +the Divine nature, as manifested in the Word, and asserts the truth of +which pantheism so called is the exaggeration, that all things are in +Him, like seeds in a seed vessel, while yet they are not identified with +Him. + +The possible dangers of that profound truth, which has always been more +in harmony with Eastern than with Western modes of thought, are averted +by the next preposition used, "all things have been created _through_ +Him." That presupposes the full, clear demarcation between creature and +creator, and so on the one hand extricates the person of the Firstborn +of all creation from all risk of being confounded with the universe, +while on the other it emphasizes the thought that He is the medium of +the Divine energy, and so brings into clear relief His relation to the +inconceivable Divine nature. He is the image of the invisible God, and +accordingly, _through_ Him have all things been created. The same +connection of ideas is found in the parallel passage in the Epistle to +the Hebrews, where the words, "_through_ Whom also He made the worlds," +stand in immediate connection with "being the effulgence of His glory." + +But there remains yet another relation between Him and the act of +creation. "_For_ Him" they have been made. All things come from and tend +towards Him. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the +ending. All things spring from His will, draw their being from that +fountain, and return thither again. These relations which are here +declared of the Son, are in more than one place declared of the Father. +Do we face the question fairly--what theory of the person of Jesus +Christ explains that fact? + +But further, His existence before the whole creation is repeated, with a +force in both the words, "He is," which can scarcely be given in +English. The former is emphatic--He Himself--and the latter emphasizes +not only pre-existence, but absolute existence. "He _was_ before all +things" would not have said so much as "He _is_ before all things." We +are reminded of His own words, "Before Abraham was, I am." + +"In Him all things consist" or hold together. He is the element in which +takes place and by which is caused that continued creation which is the +preservation of the universe, as He is the element in which the original +creative act took place of old. All things came into being and form an +ordered unity in Him. He links all creatures and forces into a +co-operant whole, reconciling their antagonisms, drawing all their +currents into one great tidal wave, melting all their notes into music +which God can hear, however discordant it may sometimes sound to us. He +is "the bond of perfectness," the key-stone of the arch, the centre of +the wheel. + +Such, then, in merest outline is the Apostle's teaching about the +Eternal Word and the Universe. What sweetness and what reverential awe +such thoughts should cast around the outer world and the providences of +life! How near they should bring Jesus Christ to us! What a wonderful +thought that is, that the whole course of human affairs and of natural +processes is directed by Him who died upon the cross! The helm of the +universe is held by the hands which were pierced for us. The Lord of +Nature and the Mover of all things is that Saviour on whose love we may +pillow our aching heads. + +We need these lessons to-day, when many teachers are trying hard to +drive all that is spiritual and Divine out of creation and history, and +to set up a merciless law as the only God. Nature is terrible and stern +sometimes, and the course of events can inflict crushing blows; but we +have not the added horror of thinking both to be controlled by no will. +Christ is King in either region, and with our elder brother for the +ruler of the land, we shall not lack corn in our sacks, nor a Goshen to +dwell in. We need not people the void, as these old heretics did, with +imaginary forms, nor with impersonal forces and laws--nor need we, as so +many are doing to-day, wander through its many mansions as through a +deserted house, finding nowhere a Person who welcomes us; for everywhere +we may behold our Saviour, and out of every storm and every solitude +hear His voice across the darkness saying, "It is I; be not afraid." + +III. The last of the relations set forth in this great section is that +between Christ and His Church. "He is the head of the body, the Church; +who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead." + +A parallel is plainly intended to be drawn between Christ's relation to +the material creation and to the Church, the spiritual creation. As the +Word of God before incarnation is to the universe, so is the incarnate +Christ to the Church. As in the former, He is prior in time and superior +in dignity, so is He in the latter. As in the universe He is source and +origin of all being, so in the Church He is the beginning, both as being +first and as being origin of all spiritual life. As the glowing words +which described His relation to creation began with the great title "the +Firstborn," so those which describe His relation to the Church close +with the same name in a different application. Thus the two halves of +His work are as it were moulded into a golden circle, and the end of the +description bends round towards the beginning. + +Briefly, then, we have here first, Christ the head, and the Church His +body. In the lower realm the Eternal Word was the power which held all +things together, and similar but higher in fashion is the relation +between Him and the whole multitude of believing souls. Popular +physiology regards the head as the seat of life. So the fundamental idea +in the familiar metaphor, when applied to our Lord is that of the source +of the mysterious spiritual life which flows from Him into all the +members, and is sight in the eye, strength in the arm, swiftness in the +foot, colour in the cheek, being richly various in its manifestations +but one in its nature, and all His. The same mysterious derivation of +life from Him is taught in His own metaphor of the Vine, in which every +branch, however far away from the root, lives by the common life +circulating through all, which clings in the tendrils, and reddens in +the clusters, and is not theirs though it be in them. + +That thought of the source of life leads necessarily to the other, that +He is the centre of unity, by Whom the "many members" become "one body," +and the maze of branches one vine. The "head," too, naturally comes to +be the symbol for authority--and these three ideas of seat of life, +centre of unity, and emblem of absolute power, appear to be those +principally meant here. + +Christ is further the _beginning_ to the Church. In the natural world He +was before all, and source of all. The same double idea is contained in +this name, "the Beginning." It does not merely mean the first member of +a series who begins it, as the first link in a chain does, but it means +the power which causes the series to begin. The root is the beginning of +the flowers which blow in succession through the plant's flowering time, +though we may also call the first flower of the number the beginning. +But Christ is root; not merely the first flower, though He is also that. + +He is head and beginning to His Church by means of His resurrection. He +is the firstborn from the dead, and His communication of spiritual life +to His Church requires the historical fact of His resurrection as its +basis, for a dead Christ could not be the source of life; and that +resurrection completes the manifestation of the incarnate Word, by our +faith in which, His spiritual life flows into our spirits. Unless He has +risen from the dead, all His claims to be anything else than a wise +teacher and fair character crumble into nothing, and to think of Him as +a source of life is impossible. + +He is the beginning through His resurrection, too, in regard of His +raising us from the dead. He is the first-fruits of them that slept, and +bears the promise of a mighty harvest. He has risen from the dead, and +therein we have not only the one demonstration for the world that there +is a life after death, but the irrefragable assurance to the Church that +because He lives it shall live also. A dead body and a living head +cannot be. We are knit to Him too closely for the Fury "with the +abhorred shears" to cut the thread. He has risen that He might be the +firstborn among many brethren. + +So the Apostle concludes that in all things He is first--and all things +are, that He _may_ be first. Whether in nature or in grace, that +pre-eminence is absolute and supreme. The end of all the majesty of +creation and of all the wonders of grace is that His solitary figure may +stand clearly out as centre and lord of the universe, and His name be +lifted high over all. + +So the question of questions for us all is, What think ye of Christ? Our +thoughts now have necessarily been turned to subjects which may have +seemed abstract and remote--but these truths which we have been trying +to make clear and to present in their connection, are not the mere terms +or propositions of a half mystical theology far away from our daily +life, but bear most gravely and directly on our deepest interests. I +would fain press on every conscience the sharp-pointed appeal--What is +this Christ to us? Is He _any_ thing to us but a name? Do our hearts +leap up with a joyful Amen when we read these great words of this text? +Are we ready to crown Him Lord of all? Is He our head, to fill us with +vitality, to inspire and to command? Is He the goal and the end of our +individual life? Can we each say--I live by Him, in Him, and for Him? + +Happy are we, if we give to Christ the pre-eminence, and if our hearts +set "Him first, Him last, Him midst and without end." + + + + +VI. + +_THE RECONCILING SON._ + + "For it was the good pleasure _of the Father_ that in Him should all + the fulness dwell; and through Him to reconcile all things unto + Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through + Him, _I say_, whether things upon the earth, or things in the + heavens. And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your + mind in your evil works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of + His flesh through death."--COL. i. 19-22 (Rev. Ver.). + + +These words correspond to those which immediately precede them, inasmuch +as they present the same sequence, and deal with Christ in His relation +to God, to the universe, and to the Church. The strata of thought are +continuous, and lie here in the same order as we found them there. There +we had set forth the work of the pre-incarnate Word as well as of the +incarnate Christ; here we have mainly the reconciling power of His cross +proclaimed as reaching to every corner of the universe, and as +culminating in its operations on the believing souls to whom Paul +speaks. There we had the fact that He was the image of God laid as basis +of His relation to men and creatures; here that fact itself apprehended +in somewhat different manner, namely, as the dwelling in Him of all +"fulness," is traced to its ground in the "good pleasure" of the Father, +and the same Divine purpose is regarded as underlying Christ's whole +reconciling work. We observe, also, that all this section with which we +have now to deal is given as the explanation and reason of Christ's +pre-eminence. These are the principal links of connection with the +previous words, and having noted them, we may proceed to attempt some +imperfect consideration of the overwhelming thoughts here contained. + +I. As before, we have Christ in relation to God. "It was the good +pleasure of the Father that in Him should all the fulness dwell." + +Now, we may well suppose from the use of the word "fulness" here, which +we know to have been a very important term in later full-blown Gnostic +speculations, that there is a reference to some of the heretical +teachers' expressions, but such a supposition is not needed either to +explain the meaning, or to account for the use of the word. + +"The fulness"--what fulness? I think, although it has been disputed, +that the language of the next chapter (ii. 9), where we read "In Him +dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," should settle that. + +It seems most improbable that with two out of three significant words +the same, the ellipse should be supplied by anything but the third. The +meaning then will be--the whole abundance, or totality of Divine powers +and attributes. That is, to put it in homelier words, that all that +Divine nature in all its sweet greatness, in all its infinite wealth of +tenderness and power and wisdom, is embodied in Jesus Christ. We have no +need to look to heavens above or to earth beneath for fragmentary +revelations of God's character. We have no need to draw doubtful +inferences as to what God is from the questionable teachings of nature, +or from the mysteries of human history with its miseries. No doubt these +do show something of Him to observant hearts, and most to those who have +the key to their meaning by their faith in a clearer revelation. At +sundry times and in divers manners, God has spoken to the world by these +partial voices, to each of which some syllables of His name have been +committed. But He has put His whole name in that messenger of a New +Covenant by whom He has finally declared His whole character to us, even +His Son, in whom "it was the good pleasure of the Father that all the +fulness should dwell." + +The word rendered "dwell" implies a permanent abode, and may have been +chosen in order to oppose a view which we know to have prevailed later, +and may suspect to have been beginning to appear thus early, namely, +that the union of the Divine and the human in the person of Christ was +but temporary. At all events, emphasis is placed here on the opposite +truth that that indwelling does not end with the earthly life of Jesus, +and is not like the shadowy and transient incarnations of Eastern +mythology or speculation--a mere assumption of a fleshly nature for a +moment, which is dropped from the re-ascending Deity, but that, for +evermore, manhood is wedded to divinity in the perpetual humanity of +Jesus Christ. + +And this indwelling is the result of the Father's good pleasure. +Adopting the supplement in the Authorized and Revised Versions, we might +read "the Father pleased"--but without making that change, the force of +the words remains the same. The Incarnation and whole work of Christ are +referred to their deepest ground in the will of the Father. The word +rendered "pleased" implies both counsel and complacency; it is both +pleasure and good pleasure. The Father determined the work of the Son, +and delighted in it. Caricatures intentional or unintentional of New +Testament teaching have often represented it as making Christ's work the +means of pacifying an unloving God and moving Him to mercy. That is no +part of the Pauline doctrine. But he, as all his brethren, taught that +the love of God is the cause of the mission of Christ, even as Christ +Himself had taught that "God so loved the world that He sent His Son." +On that Rock-foundation of the will--the loving will of the Father, is +built the whole work of His Incarnate Son. And as that work was the +issue of His eternal purpose, so it is the object of His eternal +delight. That is the wonderful meaning of the word which fell gently as +the dove descending on His head, and lay on His locks wet from His +baptism, like a consecrating oil--"This is My beloved Son, in whom _I am +well pleased_." God willed that so He should be; He delighted that so He +was. Through Christ, the Father purposed that His fulness should be +communicated to us, and through Christ the Father rejoices to pour His +abundance into our emptiness, that we may be filled with all the +fulness. + +II. Again, we have here, as before Christ and the Universe, of which He +is not only Maker, Sustainer, and Lord, but through "the blood of His +cross" reconciles "all things unto Himself." + +Probably these same false teachers had dreams of reconciling agents +among the crowd of shadowy phantoms with which they peopled the void. +Paul lifts up in opposition to all these the one Sovereign Mediator, +whose cross is the bond of peace for all the universe. + +It is important for the understanding of these great words to observe +their distinct reference to the former clauses which dealt with our +Lord's relation to the universe as Creator. The same words are used in +order to make the parallelism as close as may be, "Through Him" was +creation; "through Him" is reconciliation. "All things"--or as the Greek +would rather suggest, "the universe"--all things considered as an +aggregate--were made and sustained through Him and subordinated to Him; +the same "all things" are reconciled. A significant change in the order +of naming the elements of which these are composed is noticeable. When +creation is spoken of, the order is "in the heavens and upon the +earth"--the order of creation; but when reconciliation is the theme, the +order is reversed, and we read "things upon the earth and things in the +heavens"--those coming first which stand nearest to the reconciling +cross, and are first to feel the power which streams from it. + +This obvious intentional correspondence between these two paragraphs +shows us that whatever be the nature of the "reconciliation" spoken of +here, it is supposed to affect not only rational and responsible +creatures who alone in the full sense of the word can be reconciled, as +they only in the full sense of the word can be enemies, but to extend to +_things_, and to send its influence through the universe. The width of +the reconciliation is the same as that of the creation; they are +conterminous. That being the case, "reconciliation" here must have a +different shade of meaning when applied to the sum total of created +things from what it has when applied to persons. But not only are +inanimate creatures included in the expression; it may even be made a +question whether the whole of mankind is not excluded from it, not only +by the phrase "all _things_" but also from the consideration that the +effect of Christ's death on men is the subject of the following words, +which are not an explanation of this clause, but an addition to it, +introducing an entirely different department of Christ's reconciling +work. Nor should we lose sight of the very significant omission in this +section of the reference to the angelic beings who were named in the +creation section. We hear nothing now about thrones or dominions or +principalities or powers. The division into "visible and invisible" is +not reproduced. I suggest the possibility that the reason may be the +intention to represent this "reconciliation" as taking effect +exclusively on the regions of creation below the angelic and below the +human, while the "reconciliation," properly so called, which is brought +to pass on alienated men is dealt with first in the following words. + +If this be so, then these words refer mainly to the restitution of the +material universe to its primal obedience, and represent Christ the +Creator removing by His cross the shadow which has passed over nature by +reason of sin. It has been well said, "How far this restoration of +universal nature may be subjective, as involved in the changed +perceptions of man thus brought into harmony with God, and how far it +may have an objective and independent existence, it were vain to +speculate."[1] + +Scripture seems to teach that man's sin has made the physical world +"subject to vanity"; for, although much of what it says on this matter +is unquestionably metaphor only, portraying the Messianic blessings in +poetical language never meant for dogmatic truth, and although +unquestionably physical death reigned among animals, and storms and +catastrophes swept over the earth long before man or sin were here, +still--seeing that man by his sin has compelled dead matter to serve his +lusts and to be his instrument in acts of rebellion against God, making +"a league with the stones of the field" against his and their +Master--seeing that he has used earth to hide heaven and to shut himself +out from its glories, and so has made it an unwilling antagonist to God +and temptress to evil--seeing that he has actually polluted the beauty +of the world and has stained many a lovely scene with his sin, making +its rivers run red with blood--seeing that he has laid unnumbered woes +on the living creatures--we may feel that there is more than poetry in +the affirmation that "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain +together," and may hear a deep truth, the extent of which we cannot +measure, in Milton's majestic lines-- + + "Disproportioned Sin + Jarred against Nature's chime, and with harsh din + Brake the fair music that all creatures made + To their great Lord, whose love their motion swayed." + +Here we have held forth in words, the extent of which we can measure as +little, the counter-hope that wherever and however any such effect has +come to pass on the material universe, it shall be done away by the +reconciling power of the blood shed on the cross. That reconciling +power goes as far as His creative power. The universe is one, not only +because all created by the one personal Divine Word, nor because all +upheld by Him, but because in ways to us unknown, the power of the cross +pierces its heights and depths. As the impalpable influences of the sun +bind planets and comets into one great system, so from Him on His cross +may stream out attractive powers which knit together far off regions, +and diverse orders, and bring all in harmonious unity to God, who has +made peace by the blood shed on the cross, and has thereby been pleased +to reconcile all things to Himself. + + "And a Priest's hand through creation + Waveth calm and consecration." + +It may be that the reference to things in heaven is like the similar +reference in the previous verses, occasioned by some dreams of the +heretical teachers. He may merely mean to say: You speak much about +heavenly things, and have filled the whole space between God's throne +and man's earth with creatures thick as the motes in the sunbeam. I know +nothing about them; but this I know, that, if they are, Christ made +them, and that if among them there be antagonism to God, it can be +overcome by the cross. As to reconciliation proper,--in the heavens, +meaning by that, among spiritual beings who dwell in that realm, it is +clear there can be no question of it. There is no enmity among the +angels of heaven, and no place for return to union with God among their +untroubled bands, who "hearken to the voice of His word." But still if +the hypothetical form of the clause and the use of the neuter gender +permit any reference to intelligent beings in the heavens, we know that +to the principalities and powers in heavenly places the cross has been +the teacher of before unlearned depths in the Divine nature and +purposes, the knowledge of which has drawn them nearer the heart of God, +and made even their blessed union with Him more blessed and more close. + +On no subject is it more necessary to remember the limitations of our +knowledge than on this great theme. On none is confident assertion more +out of place. The general truth taught is clear, but the specific +applications of it to the various regions of the universe is very +doubtful. We have no source of knowledge on that subject but the words +of Scripture, and we have no means of verifying or checking the +conclusions we may draw from them. We are bound, therefore, if we go +beyond the general principle, to remember that _it_ is one thing, and +our reckoning up of what it includes is quite another. Our inferences +have not the certainty of God's word. _It_ comes to us with "Verily, +verily." _We_ have no right to venture on more than Perhaps. + +Especially is this the case when we have but one or two texts to build +on, and these most general in their language. And still more, when we +find other words of Scripture which seem hard to reconcile with them, if +pressed to their utmost meaning. In such a case our wisdom is to +recognise that God has not been pleased to give us the means of +constructing a dogma on the subject, and rather to seek to learn the +lessons taught by the obscurity that remains than rashly and confidently +to proclaim our inferences from half of our materials as if they were +the very heart of the gospel. + +Sublime and great beyond all our dreams, we may be sure, shall be the +issue. Certain as the throne of God is it that His purposes shall be +accomplished--and at last this shall be the fact for the universe, as it +has ever been the will of the Father--"Of Him, and through Him, and to +Him are all things, to whom be glory for ever." To that highest hope and +ultimate vision for the whole creation, who will not say, Amen? The +great sight which the seer beheld in Patmos is the best commentary on +our text. To him the eternal order of the universe was unveiled--the +great white throne, a snowy Alp in the centre; between the throne and +the creatures, the Lamb, through Whom blessing and life passed outwards +to them, and their incense and praise passed inwards to the throne; and +all around the "living creatures," types of the aggregate of creatural +life, the "elders," representatives of the Church redeemed from among +men, and myriads of the firstborn of heaven. The eyes of all alike wait +upon that slain Lamb. In Him they see God in clearest light of love and +gentlest might--and as they look and learn and are fed, each according +to his hunger, from the fulness of Christ, "every creature which is in +heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the +sea, and all that are in them," will be heard saying "Blessing, and +honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him, that sitteth upon the throne, +and unto the Lamb for ever." + +III. Christ, and His Reconciling Work in the Church. We have still the +parallel kept up between the reconciling and the creative work of +Christ. As in verse 18 He was represented as the giver of life to the +Church, in a higher fashion than to the universe, so, and probably with +a similar heightening of the meaning of "reconciliation," He is here +set forth as its giver to the Church. + +Now observe the solemn emphasis of the description of the condition of +men before that reconciling work has told upon their hearts. They are +"alienated"--not "aliens," as if that were their original condition, but +"alienated," as having become so. The same thought that man's sin and +separation from God is a fall, something abnormal and superinduced on +humanity, which is implied in "reconciliation" or restoration to an +original concord, is implied in this expression. "And enemies in your +mind"--the seat of the enmity is in that inner man which thinks, +reflects, and wills, and its sphere of manifestation is "in evil works" +which are religiously acts of hostility to God because morally they are +bad. We should not read "_by_ wicked works," as the Authorized Version +does, for the evil deeds have not made them enemies, but the enmity has +originated the evil deeds, and is witnessed to by them. + +That is a severe indictment, a plain, rough, and as it is thought +now-a-days, a far too harsh description of human nature. Our forefathers +no doubt were tempted to paint the "depravity of human nature" in very +black colours--but I am very sure that we are tempted just in the +opposite direction. It sounds too harsh and rude to press home the +old-fashioned truth on cultured, respectable ladies and gentlemen. The +charge is not that of conscious, active hostility, but of practical want +of affection, as manifested by habitual disobedience or inattention to +God's wishes, and by indifference and separation from Him in heart and +mind. + +And are these not the habitual temper of multitudes? The signs of love +are joy in the company of the beloved, sweet memories and longings if +parted, eager fulfilment of their lightest wish, a quick response to the +most slender association recalling them to our thoughts. Have we these +signs of love to God? If not, it is time to consider what temper of +heart and mind towards the most loving of Hearts and the most unwearied +of Givers, is indicated by the facts that we scarcely ever think of Him, +that we have no delight in His felt presence, that most of our actions +have no reference whatever to Him and would be done just the same if +there were no God at all. Surely such a condition is liker hostility +than love. + +Further, here, as uniformly, God Himself is the Reconciler. "He"--that +is, God, not Christ, "has reconciled us." Some, indeed, read "ye have +been reconciled," but the preponderance of authority is in favour of the +text as it stands, which yields a sense accordant with the usual mode of +representation. It is we who are reconciled. It is God who reconciles. +It is we who are enemies. The Divine patience loves on through all our +enmity, and though perfect love meeting human sin must become wrath, +which is consistent with love, it never becomes hatred, which is love's +opposite. + +Observe finally the great means of reconciliation: "In the body of His +flesh"--that is, of course, Christ's flesh--God has reconciled us. Why +does the Apostle use this apparently needless exuberance of +language--"the body of His flesh"? It may have been in order to correct +some erroneous tendencies towards a doctrine which we know was +afterwards eagerly embraced in the Eastern Churches, that our Lord's +body was not truly flesh, but only a phantasm or appearance. It may have +been to guard against risk of confounding it with His "body the Church," +spoken of in the 18th verse, though that supposes a scarcely credible +dulness in his readers. Or it may more naturally be accounted for as +showing how full his own mind was of the overwhelming wonder of the fact +that He, Whose majesty he has been setting forth in such deep words, +should veil His eternal glories and limit His far reaching energies +within a fleshly body. He would point the contrast between the Divine +dignity of the Eternal Word, the Creator and Lord of the universe, and +the lowliness of His incarnation. On these two pillars, as on two solid +piers, one on either continent, with a great gulf between, the Divinity +of Christ on one side, His Manhood on the other, is built the bridge by +which we pass over the river into the glory. + +But that is not all. The Incarnation is not the whole gospel. The body +of His flesh becomes the means of our reconciliation "through death." +Christ's death has so met the requirements of the Divine law that the +Divine love can come freely forth, and embrace and forgive sinful men. +That fact is the very centre of the revelation of God in Christ, the +very secret of His power. He has died. Voluntarily and of His own love, +as well as in obedience to the Father's loving will, He has borne the +consequences of the sin which He had never shared, in that life of +sorrow and sympathy, in that separation from God which is sin's deepest +penalty, and of which the solemn witness comes to us in the cry that +rent the darkness, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" and in +that physical death which is the parable in the material sphere of the +true death of the spirit. We do not know all the incidence of Christ's +death. The whole manner of its operation has not been told us, but the +fact has been. It does not affect the Divine heart. _That_ we know, for +"God so loved the world, that He sent His Son." But it does affect the +Divine government. Without it, forgiveness could not have been. Its +influence extends to all the years before, as to all after, Calvary, for +the fact that Man continued to be after Man had sinned, was because the +whole Divine government from the first had respect to the sacrifice that +was to be, as now it all is moulded by the merit of the sacrifice that +has been. And in this aspect of the case, the previous thoughts as to +the blood of the cross having power in the material universe derive a +new meaning, if we regard the whole history of the world as shaped by +Christ's sacrifice, and the very continuance of humanity from the first +moment of transgression as possible, because He was "the Lamb slain +before the foundation of the world," whose cross, as an eternal fact in +the Divine purpose, influenced the Divine government long before it was +realized in time. + +For us, that wondrous love--mightier than death, and not to be quenched +by many waters--is the one power that can change our alienation to glad +friendship, and melt the frost and hard-ribbed ice of indifference and +dread into love. That, and that alone, is the solvent for stubborn +wills, the magnet for distant hearts. The cross of Christ is the +key-stone of the universe and the conqueror of all enmity. + +If religion is to have sovereign power in our lives, it must be the +religion built upon faith in the Incarnate Son of God, who reconciles +the world to God upon His cross. That is the only faith which makes men +love God and binds them to Him with bands which cannot be broken. Other +types of Christianity are but tepid; and lukewarm water is an +abomination. The one thing that makes us ground our rebellious arms and +say, Lord, I surrender, Thou hast conquered, is to see in Christ's life +the perfect image of God, and in His death the all-sufficient sacrifice +for sin. + +What does it avail for us that the far-reaching power of Christ's cross +shoots out magnetic forces to the uttermost verge of the heavens, and +binds the whole universe by silken blood-red cords to God, if it does +not bind me to Him in love and longing? What does it avail that God is +in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, if I am unconscious of the +enmity, and careless of the friendship? Each man has to ask himself, Am +I reconciled to God? Has the sight of His great love on the cross won +_me_, body and soul, to His love and service? Have I flung away +self-will, pride and enmity, and yielded myself a glad captive to the +loving Christ who died? His cross draws us, His love beckons us. God +pleads with all hearts. He who has made peace by so costly means as the +sacrifice of His Son, condescends to implore the rebels to come into +amity with Him, and "prays us with much entreaty to receive the gift." +God beseeches us to be reconciled to Himself. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Bp. Lightfoot, _On Coloss._, p. 226. + + + + +VII. + +_THE ULTIMATE PURPOSE OF RECONCILIATION AND ITS HUMAN CONDITIONS._ + + "To present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before + Him: if so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded and stedfast, + and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye heard, which + was preached in all creation under heaven; whereof I Paul was made a + minister."--COL. i. 22, 23 (Rev. Ver.). + + +The Apostle has been sketching in magnificent outline a vast system, +which we may almost call the scheme of the universe. He has set forth +Christ as its Lord and centre, through Whom all things at first came +into being, and still continue to be. In parallel manner he has +presented Christ as Lord and Centre of the Church, its lifegiving Head. +And finally he has set forth Christ as the Reconciler of all discords in +heaven and earth, and especially of that which parts sinful men from +God. + +And now he shows us here, in the first words of our text, the purpose of +this whole manifestation of God in Christ to be the presenting of men +perfect in purity, before the perfect judgment of God. He then appends +the condition on which the accomplishment of this ultimate purpose in +each man depends--namely, the man's continuance in the faith and hope of +the Gospel. That leads him to gather up, in a series of clauses +characterizing the Gospel, certain aspects of it which constitute +subordinate motives and encouragements to such stedfastness. That is, I +think, the outline connection of the words before us, which at first +sight seem somewhat tangled and difficult to unravel. + +I. We have then, first, to consider the ultimate purpose of God in the +work of Christ. + +"To present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before Him." +It may be a question whether these words should be connected with "now +hath He reconciled," or whether we are to go farther back in the long +paragraph, and make them dependent on "it was the good pleasure of the +Father." The former seems the more natural--namely, to see here a +statement of the great end contemplated in our reconciliation to God; +which, indeed, whatever may be the grammatical construction preferred +here, is also, of course, the ultimate object of the Father's good +pleasure. In the word "present" there is possibly a sacrificial +allusion, as there is unquestionably in its use in Rom. xii., "Present +your bodies a living sacrifice"; or there may be another and even more +eloquent metaphor implied, that of the bringing of the bride to the +husband by the friend of the bridegroom. That lovely figure is found in +two instances of the use of the word in Paul's epistle (2 Cor. ii. 2, +"to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ," and Eph. v. 27, "that He +might present it to Himself a glorious Church"), and possibly in others. +It certainly gives an appropriate and beautiful emblem here if we think +of the presentation of the bride in virginal beauty and purity to her +Lord at that last great day which is the bridal day of the perfected +Church. + +There is, however, no need to suppose any metaphor at all, nor any +allusion beyond the general meaning of the word--_to set in the presence +of_. The sacrificial reference is incongruous here, and the bridal one +not indicated by anything in the context, as it is in the instances just +quoted. One thing is clear, that the reference is to a future +presentation in the day of judgment, as in another place, where Paul +says, "He ... shall raise up us also ... and shall present us" (2 Cor. +iv. 14). In the light of that revealing day, His purpose is that we +shall stand "holy," that is, devoted to God and therefore pure--"without +blemish," as the offerings had to be, and "unreproveable," against whom +no charge can be brought. These three express a regular sequence; first, +the inward principle of consecration and devotion to God, then its +visible issue in stainless conduct and character, and then its last +consequence, that in the judgment of God and of men we shall stand +acquitted of blame, and every accusation drop away from our dazzling +purity, like muddy water from the white wing of the sea-bird as it +soars. And all this moral perfectness and unblameableness is to be not +merely in the judgment of men, but "before Him," the light of whose +"pure eyes and perfect judgment" discovers all stains and evils. They +must be spotless indeed who are "without fault before the throne of +God." + +Such, then, is the grand conception of the ultimate purpose and issue of +Christ's reconciling work. All the lines of thought in the preceding +section lead up to and converge in this peak. The meaning of God in +creation and redemption cannot be fully fathomed without taking into +view the future perfecting of men. This Christian ideal of the +possibilities for men is the noblest vision that can animate our hopes. +Absolute moral purity which shall be recognised as perfect by the +perfect Judge, and a close approach to God, so as that we shall be +"before Him" in a manner unknown here--are hopes as much brighter than +those which any other systems of belief print on the dim canvass curtain +of the future, as the Christian estimate of man's condition apart from +Christ is sadder and darker than theirs. Christianity has a much more +extended scale of colours than they have. It goes further down into +blackness for the tints with which it paints man as he is, and further +up into flashing glories of splendour for the gleaming hues with which +it paints him as he may become. They move within narrow limits of +neutral tints. The Gospel alone does not try to minimise man's evil, +because it is triumphantly confident of its power to turn all that evil +into good. + +Nothing short of this complete purity and blamelessness satisfies God's +heart. We may travel back to the beginning of this section, and connect +its first words with these, "It pleased the Father, to present us holy +and spotless and blameless." It delights Him thus to effect the +purifying of sinful souls, and He is glad when He sees Himself +surrounded by spirits thus echoing His will and reflecting His light. +This is what he longs for. This is what He aims at in all His +working--to make good and pure men. The moral interest is uppermost in +His heart and in His doings. The physical universe is but the +scaffolding by which the true house of God may be built. The work of +Christ is the means to that end, and when God has got us, by such +lavish expenditure, to be white like Himself, and can find nothing in us +to condemn, then, and not till then, does He brood over us satisfied and +glad at heart, resting in His love, and rejoicing over us with singing. + +Nor will anything short of this complete purity exhaust the power of the +Reconciling Christ. His work is like an unfinished column, or Giotto's +Campanile, all shining with marbles and alabasters and set about with +fair figures, but waiting for centuries for the glittering apex to +gather its glories into a heaven-piercing point. His cross and passion +reach no adequate result, short of the perfecting of saints, nor was it +worth Christ's while to die for any less end. His cross and passion have +evidently power to effect this perfect purity, and cannot be supposed to +have done all that is in them to do, until they have done that with +every Christian. + +We ought then to keep very clear before us this as the crowning object +of Christianity: not to make men happy, except as a consequence of +holiness; not to deliver from penalty, except as a means to holiness; +but to make them holy, and being holy, to set them close by the throne +of God. No man understands the scope of Christianity, or judges it +fairly, who does not give full weight to that as its own statement of +its purpose. The more distinctly we, as Christians, keep that purpose +prominent in our thoughts, the more shall we have our efforts stimulated +and guided, and our hopes fed, even when we are saddened by a sense of +failure. We have a power working in us which can make us white as the +angels, pure as our Lord is pure. If it, being able to produce perfect +results, has produced only such imperfect ones, we may well ask, where +the reason for the partial failure lies. If we believed more vividly +that the real purpose and use of Christianity was to make us good men, +we should surely labour more earnestly to secure that end, should take +more to heart our own responsibility for the incompleteness with which +it has been attained in us, and should submit ourselves more completely +to the operation of the "might of the power" which worketh in us. + +Nothing less than our absolute purity will satisfy God about us. Nothing +less should satisfy ourselves. The only worthy end of Christ's work for +us is to present us holy, in complete consecration, and without blemish, +in perfect homogeneousness and uniformity of white purity and +unreproveable in manifest innocence in His sight. If we call ourselves +Christians let us make it our life's business to see that that end is +being accomplished in us in some tolerable and growing measure. + +II. We have next set forth the conditions on which the accomplishment of +that purpose depends: "If so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded +and stedfast, and not moved away from the hope of the Gospel." + +The condition is, generally speaking, a stedfast adherence to the Gospel +which the Colossians had received. "If ye continue in the faith," means, +I suppose, if ye continue to live in the _exercise_ of your faith. The +word here has its ordinary subjective sense, expressing the act of the +believing man, and there is no need to suppose that it has the later +ecclesiastical objective sense, expressing the believer's creed, a +meaning in which it may be questioned whether the word is ever employed +in the New Testament. Then this continuance in the faith is further +explained as to its manner, and that first positively, and then +negatively. They are to be grounded, or more picturesquely and +accurately, "founded," that is, built into a foundation, and therefore +"stedfast," as banded into the firm rock, and so partaking of its +fixedness. Then, negatively, they are not to be "moved away"; the word +by its form conveying the idea, that this is a process which may be +continually going on, and in which, by some force constantly acting from +without, they may be gradually and imperceptibly pushed off from the +foundation--that foundation is the hope evoked or held out by the +Gospel, a representation which is less familiar than that which makes +the Gospel itself the foundation, but is substantially equivalent to it, +though with a different colour. + +One or two plain lessons may be drawn from these words. There is an +"if," then. However great the powers of Christ and of His work, however +deep the desire and fixed the purpose of God, no fulfilment of these is +possible except on condition of our habitual exercise of faith. The +Gospel does not work on men by magic. Mind, heart and will must be +exercised on Christ, or all His power to purify and bless will be of no +avail to us. We shall be like Gideon's fleece, dry when the dew is +falling thick, unless we are continually putting forth living faith. +That attracts the blessing and fits the soul to receive it. There is +nothing mystical about the matter. Common sense tells us, that if a man +never thinks about any truth, that truth will do him no good in any way. +If it does not find its road into his heart through his mind, and thence +into his life, it is all one as if there were no such truth, or as if +he did not believe it. If our creed is made up of truths which we do not +think about, we may just as well have no creed. If we do not bring +ourselves into contact with the motives which the Gospel brings to bear +on character, the motives will not mould our character. If we do not, by +faith and meditation, realize the principles which flow from the truth +as it is in Jesus, and obtain the strength which is stored in Him, we +shall not grow by Him or like Him. No matter how mighty be the renewing +powers of the Gospel wielded by the Divine Spirit, they can only work on +the nature that is brought into contact with and continues in contact +with them by faith. The measure in which we trust Jesus Christ will be +the measure in which He helps us. "He could do no mighty works because +of their unbelief." He cannot do what He can do, if we thwart Him by our +want of faith. God will present us holy before Him _if_ we continue in +the faith. + +And it must be present faith which leads to present results. We cannot +make an arrangement by which we exercise faith wholesale once for all, +and secure a delivery of its blessings in small quantities for a while +after, as a buyer may do with goods. The moment's act of faith will +bring the moment's blessings; but to-morrow will have to get its own +grace by its own faith. We cannot lay up a stock for the future. There +must be present drinking for present thirst; we cannot lay in a reserve +of the water of life, as a camel can drink at a draught enough for a +long desert march. The Rock follows us all through the wilderness, but +we have to fill our pitchers day by day. Many Christians seem to think +that they can live on past acts of faith. No wonder that their Christian +character is stunted, and their growth stopped, and many a blemish +visible, and many a "blame" to be brought against them. Nothing but +continual exercise of faith, day by day, moment by moment, in every +duty, and every temptation, will secure the continual entrance into our +weakness of the strength which makes strong and the purity which makes +pure. + +Then again, if we and our lives are to be firm and stable, we must have +a foundation outside of ourselves on which to rest. That thought is +involved in the word "grounded" or "founded." It is possible that this +metaphor of the foundation is carried on into the next clause, in which +case "the hope of the Gospel" would be the foundation. Strange to make a +solid foundation out of so unsubstantial a thing as "hope!" That would +be indeed to build a castle on the air, a palace on a soap-bubble, would +it not? Yes, it would, if this hope were not "the hope produced by the +Gospel," and therefore as solid as the ever-enduring Word of the Lord on +which it is founded. But, more probably, the ordinary application of the +figure is preserved here, and Christ is the foundation, the Rock, on +which builded, our fleeting lives and our fickle selves may become +rock-like too, and every impulsive and changeable Simon Bar Jonas rise +to the mature stedfastness of a Peter, the pillar of the Church. + +Translate that image of taking Christ for our foundation into plain +English, and what does it come to? It means, let our minds find in Him, +in His Word, and whole revealing life, the basis of our beliefs, the +materials for thought; let our hearts find in Him their object, which +brings calmness and unchangeableness into their love; let our practical +energies take Him as their motive and pattern, their strength and their +aim, their stimulus and their reward; let all hopes and joys, emotions +and desires, fasten themselves on Him; let Him occupy and fill our whole +nature, and mould and preside over all our actions. So shall we be +"founded" on Christ. + +And so "founded," we shall, as Paul here beautifully puts it, be +"stedfast." Without that foundation to give stability and permanence, we +never get down to what abides, but pass our lives amidst fleeting +shadows, and are ourselves transient as they. The mind whose thoughts +about God and the unseen world are not built on the personal revelation +of God in Christ will have no solid certainties which cannot be shaken, +but, at the best, opinions which cannot have more fixedness than belongs +to human thoughts upon the great problem. If my love does not rest on +Christ, it will flicker and flutter, lighting now here and now there, +and even where it rests most secure in human love, sure to have to take +wing some day, when Death with his woodman's axe fells the tree where it +nestles. If my practical life is not built on Him, the blows of +circumstance will make it reel and stagger. If we are not well joined to +Jesus Christ, we shall be driven by gusts of passion and storms of +trouble, or borne along on the surface of the slow stream of +all-changing time like thistle-down on the water. If we are to be +stable, it must be because we are fastened to something outside of +ourselves that is stable, just as they have to lash a man to the mast +or other fixed things on deck, if he is not to be washed overboard in +the gale. If we are lashed to the unchangeable Christ by the "cords of +love" and faith, we too shall, in our degree, be stedfast. + +And, says Paul, that Christ-derived stedfastness will make us able to +resist influences that would move us away from the hope of the Gospel. +That process which their stedfastness would enable the Colossians +successfully to resist, is described by the language of the Apostle as +continuous, and as one which acted on them from without. Intellectual +dangers arose from false teachings. The ever acting tendencies of +worldliness pressed upon them, and they needed to make a distinct effort +to keep themselves from being overcome by these. + +If we do not take care that imperceptible, steady pressure of the +all-surrounding worldliness, which is continually acting on us, will +push us right off the foundation without our knowing that we have +shifted at all. If we do not look well after our moorings we shall drift +away down stream, and never know that we are moving, so smooth is the +motion, till we wake up to see that everything round about is changed. +Many a man is unaware how completely his Christian faith has gone till +some crisis comes when he needs it, and when he opens the jar there is +nothing. It has evaporated. When white ants eat away all the inside of a +piece of furniture, they leave the outside shell apparently solid, and +it stands till some weight is laid upon it, and then goes down with a +crash. Many people loose their Christianity in that fashion, by its +being nibbled away in tiny flakes by a multitude of secretly working +little jaws, and they never know that the pith is out of it till they +want to lean on it, and then it gives under them. + +The only way to keep firm hold of hope is to keep fast on the +foundation. If we do not wish to slide imperceptibly away from Him who +alone will make our lives stedfast and our hearts calm with the +peacefulness of having found our All, we must continuously make an +effort to tighten our grasp on Him, and to resist the subtle forces +which, by silent pressure or by sudden blows, seek to get us off the one +foundation. + +III. Then lastly, we have a threefold motive for adherence to the +Gospel. + +The three clauses which close these verses seem to be appended as +secondary and subordinate encouragements to stedfastness, which +encouragements are drawn from certain characteristics of the Gospel. Of +course, the main reason for a man's sticking to the Gospel, or to +anything else, is that it is true. And unless we are prepared to say +that we believe it true, we have nothing to do with such subordinate +motives for professing adherence to it, except to take care that they do +_not_ influence us. And that one sole reason is abundantly wrought out +in this letter. But then, its truth being established, we may fairly +bring in other subsidiary motives to reinforce this, seeing that there +may be a certain coldness of belief which needs the warmth of such +encouragements. + +The first of these lies in the words, "the Gospel, which ye heard." That +is to say, the Apostle would have the Colossians, in the face of these +heretical teachers, remember the beginning of their Christian life, and +be consistent with that. They had heard it at their conversion. He +would have them recall what they had heard then, and tamper with no +teaching inconsistent with it. He also appeals to their experience. "Do +you remember what the Gospel did for you? Do you remember the time when +it first dawned upon your astonished hearts, all radiant with heavenly +beauty, as the revelation of a Heart in heaven that cared for you, and +of a Christ Who, on earth, had died for you? Did it not deliver you from +your burden? Did it not set new hope before you? Did it not make earth +as the very portals of heaven? And have these truths become less +precious because familiar? Be not moved away from the Gospel 'which ye +have heard.'" + +To us the same appeal comes. This word has been sounding in our ears +ever since childhood. It has done everything for some of us, something +for all of us. Its truths have sometimes shone out for us like suns, in +the dark, and brought us strength when nothing else could sustain us. If +they are not truths, of course they will have to go. But they are not to +be abandoned easily. They are interwoven with our very lives. To part +with them is a resolution not to be lightly undertaken. + +The argument of experience is of no avail to convince others, but is +valid for ourselves. A man has a perfect right to say, "I have heard Him +myself, and I know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the +world." A Christian may wisely decline to enter on the consideration of +many moot questions which he may feel himself incompetent to handle, and +rest upon the fact that Christ has saved his soul. The blind man beat +the Pharisees in logic when he sturdily took his stand on experience, +and refused to be tempted to discuss subjects which he did not +understand, or to allow his ignorance to slacken his grasp of what he +did know. "Whether this man be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I +know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see." There was no answering +that, so by excommunicating him they confessed themselves beaten. + +A second encouragement to stedfast adherence to the Gospel lies in the +fact that it "was preached in all creation under heaven." We need not be +pedantic about literal accuracy, and may allow that the statement has a +rhetorical colouring. But what the Apostle means is, that the gospel had +spread so widely, through so many phases of civilisation, and had proved +its power by touching men so unlike each other in mental furniture and +habits, that it had showed itself to be a word for the whole race. It is +the same thought as we have already found in verse 6. His implied +exhortation is, "Be not moved away from what belongs to humanity by +teachings which can only belong to a class." All errors are transient in +duration and limited in area. One addresses itself to one class of men, +another to another. Each false, or exaggerated, or partial +representation of religious truth, is congenial to some group with +idiosyncrasies of temperament or mind. Different tastes like different +spiced meats, but the gospel, "human nature's daily food," is the bread +of God that everybody can relish, and which everybody must have for +healthy life. What only a certain class or the men of one generation or +of one stage of culture can find nourishment in, cannot be meant for all +men. But the great message of God's love in Jesus Christ commends +itself to us because it can go into any corner of the world, and there, +upon all sorts of people, work its wonders. So we will sit down with the +women and children upon the green grass, and eat of _it_, however +fastidious people whose appetites have been spoiled by high-spiced meat, +may find it coarse and insipid. It would feed them too, if they would +try--but whatever they may do, let us take it as more than our necessary +food. + +The last of these subsidiary encouragements to stedfastness lies in, +"whereof I Paul was made a minister." This is not merely an appeal to +their affection for him, though that is perfectly legitimate. Holy words +may be holier because dear lips have taught them to us, and even the +truth of God may allowably have a firmer hold upon our hearts because of +our love for some who have ministered it to us. It is a poor commentary +on a preacher's work if, after long service to a congregation, his words +do not come with power given to them by old affection and confidence. +The humblest teacher who has done his Master's errand will have some to +whom he can appeal as Paul did, and urge them to keep hold of the +message which he has preached. + +But there is more than that in the Apostle's mind. He was accustomed to +quote the fact that he, the persecutor, had been made the messenger of +Christ, as a living proof of the infinite mercy and power of that +ascended Lord, whom his eyes saw on the road to Damascus. So here, he +puts stress on the fact that he _became_ a minister of the gospel, as +being an "evidence of Christianity." The history of his conversion is +one of the strongest proofs of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus +Christ. You know, he seems to say, what turned me from being a +persecutor into an apostle. It was because I saw the living Christ, and +"heard the words of His mouth," and, I beseech you, listen to no words +which make His dominion less sovereign, and His sole and all sufficient +work on the cross less mighty as the only power that knits earth to +heaven. + +So the sum of this whole matter is--abide in Christ. Let us root and +ground our lives and characters in Him, and then God's inmost desire +will be gratified in regard to us, and He will bring even us stainless +and blameless into the blaze of His presence. There we shall all have to +stand, and let that all-penetrating light search us through and through. +How do we expect to be then "found of Him in peace, without spot and +blameless"? There is but one way--to live in constant exercise of faith +in Christ, and grip Him so close and sure that the world, the flesh and +the devil cannot make us loosen our fingers. Then He will hold us up, +and His great purpose, which brought Him to earth, and nailed Him to the +cross, will be fulfilled in us, and at last, we shall lift up voices of +wondering praise "to Him who is able to keep us from falling, and to +present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding +joy." + + + + +VIII. + +_JOY IN SUFFERING, AND TRIUMPH IN THE MANIFESTED MYSTERY._ + + "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my + part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh + for His body's sake, which is the Church; whereof I was made a + minister according to the dispensation of God which was given me to + you-ward to fulfil the word of God, even the mystery which hath been + hid from all ages and generations; but now hath it been manifested + to His Saints, to Whom God was pleased to make known what is the + riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is + Christ in you, the hope of glory."--COL. i. 24-27 (Rev. Ver.). + + +There are scarcely any personal references in this Epistle, until we +reach the last chapter. In this respect it contrasts strikingly with +another of Paul's epistles of the captivity, that to the Philippians, +which is running over with affection and with allusions to himself. This +sparseness of personal details strongly confirms the opinion that he had +not been to Colossae. Here, however, we come to one of the very few +sections which may be called personal, though even here it is rather +Paul's office than himself which is in question. He is led to speak of +himself by his desire to enforce his exhortations to faithful +continuance in the gospel, and, as is so often the case with him in +touching on his apostleship, he as it were, catches fire, and blazes up +in a grand flame, which sheds a bright light on his lofty enthusiasm and +evangelistic fervour The words to be considered now are plain enough in +themselves, but they are run together, and thought follows thought in a +fashion which makes them somewhat obscure; and there are also one or two +difficulties in single words which require to be cleared up. We shall +perhaps best bring out the course of thought by dealing with these +verses in three groups, of which the three words, Suffering, Service, +and Mystery, are respectively the centres. First, we have a remarkable +view taken by the prisoner of the meaning of his sufferings, as being +endured for the Church. That leads him to speak of his relation to the +Church generally as being that of a servant or steward appointed by God, +to bring to its completion the work of God; and then, as I said, he +takes fire, and, forgetting himself, flames up in rapturous magnifying +of the grand message hid so long, and now entrusted to him to preach. So +we have his Sufferings for the Church, his service of Stewardship to the +Church, and the great Mystery which in that stewardship he had to +unveil. It may help us to understand both Paul and his message, as well +as our own tasks and trials, if we try to grasp his thoughts here about +his work and his sorrows. + +I. We have the Apostle's triumphant contemplation of his sufferings. "I +rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that +which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body's +sake, which is the Church." + +The Revised Version, following the best authorities, omits the "who" +with which the Authorized Version begins this verse, and marks a new +sentence and paragraph, as is obviously right. + +The very first word is significant: "_Now_ I rejoice." Ay; it is easy +to say fine things about patience in sufferings and triumph in sorrow +when we are prosperous and comfortable; but it is different when we are +in the furnace. This man, with the chain on his wrist, and the iron +entering into his soul, with his life in danger, and all the future +uncertain, can say, "_Now_ I rejoice." This bird sings in a darkened +cage. + +Then come startling words, "I on my part fill up that which is lacking +(a better rendering than 'behind') of the afflictions of Christ." It is +not surprising that many explanations of these words have tried to +soften down their boldness; as, for instance, "afflictions borne for +Christ," or "imposed by Him," or "like His." But it seems very clear +that the startling meaning is the plain meaning, and that "the +sufferings of Christ" here, as everywhere else, are "the sufferings +borne by Christ." + +Then at once the questions start up, Does Paul mean to say that in any +sense whatever the sufferings which Christ endured have anything +"lacking" in them? or does he mean to say that a Christian man's +sufferings, however they may benefit the Church, can be put alongside of +the Lord's, and taken to eke out the incompleteness of His? Surely that +cannot be! Did He not say on the cross, "It is finished"? Surely that +sacrifice needs no supplement, and can receive none, but stands "the one +sacrifice for sins for ever"! Surely, His sufferings are absolutely +singular in nature and effect, unique and all-sufficient and eternal. +And does this Apostle, the very heart of whose gospel was that these +were the life of the world, mean to say that anything which he endures +can be tacked on to them, a bit of the old rags to the new garment? + +Distinctly not! To say so would be contradictory of the whole spirit and +letter of the Apostle's teaching. But there is no need to suppose that +he means anything of the sort. There is an idea frequently presented in +Scripture, which gives full meaning to the words, and is in full +accordance with Pauline teaching; namely, that Christ truly participates +in the sufferings of His people borne for Him. He suffers with them. The +head feels the pangs of all the members; and every ache may be thought +of as belonging, not only to the limb where it is located, but to the +brain which is conscious of it. The pains and sorrows and troubles of +His friends and followers to the end of time are one great whole. Each +sorrow of each Christian heart is one drop more added to the contents of +the measure which has to be filled to the brim, ere the purposes of the +Father who leads through suffering to rest are accomplished; and all +belong to Him. Whatsoever pain or trial is borne in fellowship with Him +is felt and borne by Him. Community of sensation is established between +Him and us. Our sorrows are transferred to Him. "In all our afflictions +He is afflicted," both by His mystical but most real oneness with us, +and by His brother's sympathy. + +So for us all, and not for the Apostle only, the whole aspect of our +sorrows may be changed, and all poor struggling souls in this valley of +weeping may take comfort and courage from the wonderful thought of +Christ's union with us, which makes our griefs His, and our pain touch +Him. Bruise your finger, and the pain pricks and stabs in your brain. +Strike the man that is joined to Christ here, and Christ up yonder +feels it. "He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye." Where +did Paul learn this deep lesson, that the sufferings of Christ's +servants were Christ's sufferings? I wonder whether, as he wrote these +words of confident yet humble identification of himself the persecuted +with Christ the Lord, there came back to his memory what he heard on +that fateful day as he rode to Damascus, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest +thou Me?" The thought so crushing to the persecutor had become balm and +glory to the prisoner,--that every blow aimed at the servant falls on +the Master, who stoops from amid the glory of the throne to declare that +whatsoever is done, whether it be kindness or cruelty, to the least of +His brethren, is done to Him. So every one of us may take the comfort +and strength of that wonderful assurance, and roll all our burdens and +sorrows on Him. + +Again, there is prominent here the thought that the good of sorrow does +not end with the sufferer. His sufferings are borne in his _flesh_ for +the _body's_ sake, which is the Church,--a remarkable antithesis between +the Apostle's flesh in which, and Christ's body for which, the +sufferings are endured. Every sorrow rightly borne, as it will be when +Christ is felt to be bearing it with us, is fruitful of blessing. Paul's +trials were in a special sense "for His body's sake," for of course, if +he had not preached the gospel, he would have escaped them all; and on +the other hand, they have been especially fruitful of good, for if he +had not been persecuted, he would never have written these precious +letters from Rome. The Church owes much to the violence which has shut +up confessors in dungeons. Its prison literature, beginning with this +letter, and ending with "Pilgrim's Progress," has been among its most +cherished treasures. + +But the same thing is true about us all, though it may be in a narrower +sphere. No man gets good for himself alone out of his sorrows. Whatever +purifies and makes gentler and more Christlike, whatever teaches or +builds up--and sorrows rightly borne do all these--is for the common +good. Be our trials great or small, be they minute and every-day--like +gnats that hum about us in clouds, and may be swept away by the hand, +and irritate rather than hurt where they sting--or be they huge and +formidable, like the viper that clings to the wrist and poisons the life +blood, they are meant to give us good gifts, which we may transmit to +the narrow circle of our homes, and in ever widening rings of influence +to all around us. Have we never known a household, where some chronic +invalid, lying helpless perhaps on a sofa, was a source of the highest +blessing and the centre of holy influence, that made every member of the +family gentler, more self-denying and loving? We shall never understand +our sorrows, unless we try to answer the question, What good to others +is meant to come through me by this? Alas, that grief should so often be +self-absorbed, even more than joy is! The heart sometimes opens to +unselfish sharing of its gladness with others; but it too often shuts +tight over its sorrow, and seeks solitary indulgence in the luxury of +woe. Let us learn that our brethren claim benefit from our trials, as +well as from our good things, and seek to ennoble our griefs by bearing +them for "His body's sake, which is the Church." + +Christ's sufferings on His cross are the satisfaction for a world's +sins, and in that view can have no supplement, and stand alone in kind. +But His "afflictions"--a word which would not naturally be applied to +His death--do operate also to set the pattern of holy endurance, and to +teach many a lesson; and in that view every suffering borne for Him and +with Him may be regarded as associated with His, and helping to bless +the Church and the world. God makes the rough iron of our natures into +shining, flexible, sharp steel, by heavy hammers and hot furnaces, that +He may shape us as His instruments to help and heal. + +It is of great moment that we should have such thoughts of our sorrows +whilst their pressure is upon us, and not only when they are past. "I +_now_ rejoice." Most of us have had to let years stretch between us and +the blow before we could attain to that clear insight. We can look back +and see how our past sorrows tended to bless us, and how Christ was with +us in them: but as for this one, that burdens us to-day, we cannot make +_it_ out. We can even have a solemn thankfulness not altogether unlike +joy as we look on those wounds that we remember; but how hard it is to +feel it about those that pain us now! There is but one way to secure +that calm wisdom, which feels their meaning even while they sting and +burn, and can smile through tears, as sorrowful and yet always +rejoicing; and that is to keep in very close communion with our Lord. +Then, even when we are in the whitest heat of the furnace, we may have +the Son of man with us; and if we have, the fiercest flames will burn up +nothing but the chains that bind us, and we shall "walk at liberty" in +that terrible heat, because we walk with Him. It is a high attainment +of Christian fortitude and faith to feel the blessed meaning, not only +of the six tribulations which are past, but of the present seventh, and +to say, even while the iron is entering the quivering flesh, "I _now_ +rejoice in my sufferings," and try to turn them to others' good. + +II. These thoughts naturally lead on to the statement of the Apostle's +lowly and yet lofty conception of his office--"whereof (that is, of +which _Church_) I was made a minister, according to the dispensation of +God, which was given me to you-ward, to fulfil the word of God." + +The first words of this clause are used at the close of the preceding +section in verse 23, but the "whereof" there refers to the gospel, not +as here to the Church. He is the servant of both, and because he is the +servant of the Church he suffers, as he has been saying. The +representation of himself as servant gives the reason for the conduct +described in the previous clause. Then the next words explain what makes +him the Church's servant. He is so in accordance with, or in pursuance +of, the stewardship, or office of administrator, of His household, to +which God has called him, "to you-ward," that is to say, with especial +reference to the Gentiles. And the final purpose of his being made a +steward is "to fulfil the word of God"; by which is not meant "to +accomplish or bring to pass its predictions," but "to bring it to +completion," or "to give full development to it," and that possibly in +the sense of preaching it fully, without reserve, and far and wide +throughout the whole world. + +So lofty and yet so lowly was Paul's thought of his office. He was the +Church's servant, and therefore bound to suffer cheerfully for its +sake. He was so, because a high honour had been conferred on him by God, +nothing less than the stewardship of His great household the Church, in +which he had to give to every man his portion, and to exercise +authority. He is the Church's servant indeed, but it is because he is +the Lord's steward. And the purpose of his appointment goes far beyond +the interests of any single Church; for while his office sends him +especially to the Colossians, its scope is as wide as the world. + +One great lesson to be learned from these words is that Stewardship +means service; and we may add that, in nine cases out of ten, service +means suffering. What Paul says, if we put it into more familiar +language, is just this: "Because God has given me something that I can +impart to others, I am their servant, and bound, not only by my duty to +Him, but by my duty to them, to labour that they may receive the +treasure." That is true for us all. Every gift from the great +Householder involves the obligation to impart it. It makes us His +stewards and our brethren's servants. We have that we may give. The +possessions are the Householder's, not ours, even after He has given +them to us. He gives us truths of various kinds in our minds, the gospel +in our hearts, influence from our position, money in our pockets, not to +lavish on self, nor to hide and gloat over in secret, but that we may +transmit His gifts, and "God's grace fructify through us to all." "It is +required of stewards that a man be found faithful"; and the heaviest +charge, "that he had wasted his Lord's goods," lies against every one of +us who does not use all that he possesses, whether of material or +intellectual or spiritual wealth, for the common advantage. + +But that common obligation of stewardship presses with special force on +those who say that they are Christ's servants. If we are, we know +something of His love and have felt something of His power; and there +are hundreds of people around us, many of whom we can influence, who +know nothing of either. That fact makes us their servants, not in the +sense of being under their control, or of taking orders from them, but +in the sense of gladly working for them, and recognising our obligation +to help them. Our resources may be small. The Master of the house may +have entrusted us with little. Perhaps we are like the boy with the five +barley loaves and two small fishes; but even if we had only a bit of the +bread and a tail of one of the fishes, we must not eat our morsel alone. +Give it those who have none, and it will multiply as it is distributed, +like the barrel of meal, which did not fail because its poor owner +shared it with the still poorer prophet. Give, and not only give, but +"pray them with much entreaty to receive the gift"; for men need to have +the true Bread pressed on them, and they will often throw it back, or +drop it over a wall, as soon as your back is turned, as beggars do in +our streets. We have to win them by showing that we are their servants, +before they will take what we have to give. Besides this, if stewardship +is service, service is often suffering; and he will not clear himself of +his obligations to his fellows, or of his responsibility to his Master, +who shrinks from seeking to make known the love of Christ to his +brethren, because he has often to "go forth weeping" whilst he bears +the precious seed. + +III. So we come to the last thought here, which is of the grand Mystery +of which Paul is the Apostle and Servant. Paul always catches fire when +he comes to think of the universal destination of the gospel, and of the +honour put upon him as the man to whom the task was entrusted of +transforming the Church from a Jewish sect to a world-wide society. That +great thought now sweeps him away from his more immediate object, and +enriches us with a burst which we could ill spare from the letter. + +His task, he says, is to give its full development to the word of God, +to proclaim a certain mystery long hid, but now revealed to those who +are consecrated to God. To these it has been God's good pleasure to show +the wealth of glory which is contained in this mystery, as exhibited +among the Gentile Christians, which mystery is nothing else than the +fact that Christ dwells in or among these Gentiles, of whom the +Colossians are part, and by His dwelling in them gives them the +confident expectation of future glory. + +The mystery then of which the Apostle speaks so rapturously is the fact +that the Gentiles were fellow-heirs and partakers of Christ. "Mystery" +is a word borrowed from the ancient systems, in which certain rites and +doctrines were communicated to the initiated. There are several +allusions to them in Paul's writings, as for instance in the passage in +Philippians iv. 12, which the Revised Version gives as "I have learned +the secret both to be filled and to be hungry," and probably in the +immediate context here, where the characteristic word "perfect" means +"initiated." Portentous theories which have no warrant have been spun +out of this word. The Greek mysteries implied secrecy; the rites were +done in deep obscurity; the esoteric doctrines were muttered in the ear. +The Christian mysteries are spoken on the housetop, nor does the word +imply anything as to the comprehensibility of the doctrines or facts +which are so called. + +We talk about "mysteries," meaning thereby truths that transcend human +faculties; but the New Testament "mystery" may be, and most frequently +is, a fact perfectly comprehensible when once spoken. "Behold I show you +a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." There +is nothing incomprehensible in that. We should never have known it if we +had not been told; but when told it is quite level with our faculties. +And as a matter of fact, the word is most frequently used in connection +with the notion, not of concealment, but of declaring. We find too that +it occurs frequently in this Epistle, and in the parallel letter to the +Ephesians, and in every instance but one refers as it does here, to a +fact which was perfectly plain and comprehensible when once made known; +namely, the entrance of the Gentiles into the Church. + +If that be the true meaning of the word, then "a steward of the +mysteries" will simply mean a man who has truths, formerly unknown but +now revealed, in charge to make known to all who will hearken, and +neither the claims of a priesthood nor the demand for the unquestioning +submission of the intellect have any foundation in this much abused +term. + +But turning from this, we may briefly consider what was the substance of +this grand mystery which thrilled Paul's soul. It is the wonderful fact +that all barriers were broken down, and that Christ dwelt in the hearts +of these Colossians. He saw in that the proof and the prophecy of the +world-wide destination of the gospel. No wonder that his heart burned as +he thought of the marvellous work which God had wrought by him. For +there is no greater revolution in the history of the world than that +accomplished through him, the cutting loose of Christianity from Judaism +and widening the Church to the width of the race. No wonder that he was +misunderstood and hated by Jewish Christians all his days! + +He thinks of these once heathens and now Christians at Colossae, far away +in their lonely valley, and of many another little community--in Judaea, +Asia, Greece, and Italy; and as he thinks of how a real solid bond of +brotherhood bound them together in spite of their differences of race +and culture, the vision of the oneness of mankind in the Cross of Christ +shines out before him, as no man had ever seen it till then, and he +triumphs in the sorrows that had helped to bring about the great result. + +That dwelling of Christ among the Gentiles reveals the exuberant +abundance of glory. To him the "mystery" was all running over with +riches, and blazing with fresh radiance. To us it is familiar and +somewhat worn. The "vision splendid," which was manifestly a revelation +of hitherto unknown Divine treasures of mercy and lustrous light when it +first dawned on the Apostle's sight, has "faded" somewhat "into the +light of common day" for us, to whom the centuries since have shown so +slow a progress. But let us not lose more than we can help, either by +our familiarity with the thought, or by the discouragements arising from +the chequered history of its partial realization. Christianity is still +the only religion which has been able to make permanent conquests. It is +the only one that has been able to disregard latitude and longitude, and +to address and guide condition of civilization and modes of life quite +unlike those of its origin. It is the only one that sets itself the task +of conquering the world without the sword, and has kept true to the +design for centuries. It is the only one whose claims to be world-wide +in its adaptation and destiny would not be laughed out of court by its +history. It is the only one which is to-day a missionary religion. And +so, notwithstanding the long centuries of arrested growth and the wide +tracts of remaining darkness, the mystery which fired Paul's enthusiasm +is still able to kindle ours, and the wealth of glory that lies in it +has not been impoverished nor stricken with eclipse. + +One last thought is here,--that the possession of Christ is the pledge +of future blessedness. "Hope" here seems to be equivalent to "the +source" or "ground" of the hope. If we have the experience of His +dwelling in our hearts, we shall have, in that very experience of His +sweetness and of the intimacy of His love, a marvellous quickener of our +hope that such sweetness and intimacy will continue for ever. The closer +we keep to Him, the clearer will be our vision of future blessedness. If +He is throned in our hearts, we shall be able to look forward with a +hope, which is not less than certainty, to the perpetual continuance of +His hold of us and of our blessedness in Him. Anything seems more +credible to a man who habitually has Christ abiding in him, than that +such a trifle as death should have power to end such a union. To have +Him is to have life. To have Him will be heaven. To have Him is to have +a hope certain as memory and careless of death or change. + +That hope is offered to us all. If by our faith in His great sacrifice +we grasp the great truth of "Christ for us," our fears will be +scattered, sin and guilt taken away, death abolished, condemnation +ended, the future a hope and not a dread. If by communion with Him +through faith, love, and obedience, we have "Christ in us," our purity +will grow, and our experience will be such as plainly to demand eternity +to complete its incompleteness and to bring its folded buds to flower +and fruit. If Christ be in us, His life guarantees ours, and we cannot +die whilst He lives. The world has come, in the persons of its leading +thinkers, to the position of proclaiming that all is dark beyond and +above. "Behold! we know not anything," is the dreary "end of the whole +matter"--infinitely sadder than the old Ecclesiastes, which from "vanity +of vanities" climbed to "fear God and keep His commandments," as the sum +of human thought and life. "I find no God; I know no future." Yes! Paul +long ago told us that if we were "without Christ" we should "have no +hope, and be without God in the world." And cultivated Europe is finding +out that to fling away Christ and to keep a faith in God or in a future +life is impossible. + +But if we will take Him for our Saviour by simple trust, He will give us +His own presence in our hearts, and infuse there a hope full of +immortality. If we live in close communion with Him, we shall need no +other assurance of an eternal life beyond than that deep, calm +blessedness springing from the imperfect fellowship of earth which must +needs lead to and be lost in the everlasting and completed union of +heaven. + + + + +IX. + +_THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY IN ITS THEME, METHODS AND AIM._ + + "Whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in + all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ; + whereunto I labour also, striving according to His working, which + worketh in me mightily,"--COL. i. 28, 29 (Rev. Ver.). + + +The false teachers at Colossae had a great deal to say about a higher +wisdom reserved for the initiated. They apparently treated the Apostolic +teaching as trivial rudiments, which might be good for the vulgar crowd, +but were known by the possessors of this higher truth to be only a veil +for it. They had their initiated class, to whom their mysteries were +entrusted in whispers. + +Such absurdities excited Paul's special abhorrence. His whole soul +rejoiced in a gospel for all men. He had broken with Judaism on the very +ground that it sought to enforce a ceremonial exclusiveness, and +demanded circumcision and ritual observances along with faith. That was, +in Paul's estimate, to destroy the gospel. These Eastern dreamers at +Colossae were trying to enforce an intellectual exclusiveness quite as +much opposed to the gospel. Paul fights with all his might against that +error. Its presence in the Church colours this context, where he uses +the very phrases of the false teachers in order to assert the great +principles which he opposes to their teaching. "Mystery," "perfect" or +initiated, "wisdom,"--these are the key-words of the system which he is +combating; and here he presses them into the service of the principle +that the gospel is for all men, and the most recondite secrets of its +deepest truth the property of every single soul that wills to receive +them. Yes, he says in effect, we have mysteries. We have our initiated. +We have wisdom. But we have no whispered teachings, confined to a little +coterie; we have no inner chamber closed to the many. We are not +muttering hierophants, cautiously revealing a little to a few, and +fooling the rest with ceremonies and words. Our whole business is to +tell out as fully and loudly as we can what we know of Christ, to tell +to _every_ man _all_ the wisdom that we have learned. We fling open the +inmost sanctuary, and invite all the crowd to enter. + +This is the general scope of the words before us which state the object +and methods of the Apostle's work; partly in order to point the contrast +with those other teachers, and partly in order to prepare the way, by +this personal reference, for his subsequent exhortations. + +I. We have here the Apostle's own statement of what he conceived his +life work to be. + +"Whom we proclaim." All three words are emphatic. "Whom," not what--a +person, not a system; we "proclaim," not we argue or dissertate about. +"We" preach--the Apostle associates himself with all his brethren, puts +himself in line with them, points to the unanimity of their +testimony--"whether it were they or I, so we preach." We have all one +message, a common type of doctrine. + +So then--the Christian teacher's theme is not to be a theory or a +system, but a living Person. One peculiarity of Christianity is that you +cannot take its message, and put aside Christ, the speaker of the +message, as you may do with all men's teachings. Some people say: "We +take the great moral and religious truths which Jesus declared. They are +the all-important parts of His work. We can disentangle them from any +further connection with Him. It matters comparatively little who first +spoke them." But that will not do. His person is inextricably +intertwined with His teaching, for a very large part of His teaching is +exclusively concerned with, and all of it centres in, Himself. He is not +only true, but He is the truth. His message is, not only what He said +with His lips about God and man, but also what He said about Himself, +and what He did in His life, death, and resurrection. You may take +Buddha's sayings, if you can make sure that they are his, and find much +that is beautiful and true in them, whatever you may think of him; you +may appreciate the teaching of Confucius, though you know nothing about +him but that he said so and so; but you cannot do thus with Jesus. Our +Christianity takes its whole colour from what we think of Him. If we +think of Him as less than this chapter has been setting Him forth as +being, we shall scarcely feel that _He_ should be the preacher's theme; +but if He is to us what He was to this Apostle, the sole Revealer of +God, the Centre and Lord of creation, the Fountain of life to all which +lives, the Reconciler of men with God by the blood of His cross, then +the one message which a man may be thankful to spend his life in +proclaiming will be, Behold the Lamb! Let who will preach abstractions, +the true Christian minister has to preach the person and the +office--Jesus the Christ. + +To preach Christ is to set forth the person, the facts of His life and +death, and to accompany these with that explanation which turns them +from being merely a biography into a gospel. So much of "theory" must go +with the "facts," or they will be no more a gospel than the story of +another life would be. The Apostle's own statement of "the gospel which +he preached" distinctly lays down what is needed--"how that Jesus Christ +died." That is biography, and to say that and stop there is not to +preach Christ; but add, "For our sins, according to the Scriptures, and +that He was raised again the third day,"--preach _that_, the fact and +its meaning and power, and you will preach Christ. + +Of course there is a narrower and a wider sense of this expression. +There is the initial teaching, which brings to a soul, who has never +seen it before, the knowledge of a Saviour, whose Cross is the +propitiation for sin; and there is the fuller teaching, which opens out +the manifold bearings of that message in every region of moral and +religious thought. I do not plead for any narrow construction of the +words. They have been sorely abused, by being made the battle-cry for +bitter bigotry and a hard system of abstract theology, as unlike what +Paul means by "Christ" as any cobwebs of Gnostic heresy could be. +Legitimate outgrowths of the Christian ministry have been checked in +their name. They have been used as a cramping iron, as a shibboleth, as +a stone to fling at honest and especially at young preachers. They have +been made a pillow for laziness. So that the very sound of the words +suggests to some ears, because of their use in some mouths, ignorant +narrowness. + +But for all that, they are a standard of duty for all workers for God, +which it is not difficult to apply, if the will to do so be present, and +they are a touch-stone to try the spirits, whether they be of God. A +ministry of which the Christ who lived and died for us is manifestly the +centre to which all converges and from which all is viewed, may sweep a +wide circumference, and include many themes. The requirement bars out no +province of thought or experience, nor does it condemn the preacher to a +parrot-like repetition of elementary truths, or a narrow round of +commonplace. It does demand that all themes shall lead up to Christ, and +all teaching point to Him; that He shall be ever present in all the +preacher's words, a diffused even when not a directly perceptible +presence; and that His name, like some deep tone on an organ, shall be +heard sounding on through all the ripple and change of the higher notes. +Preaching Christ does not exclude any theme, but prescribes the bearing +and purpose of all; and the widest compass and richest variety are not +only possible but obligatory for him who would in any worthy sense take +this for the motto of his ministry, "I determined not to know anything +among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." + +But these words give us not only the theme but something of the manner +of the Apostle's activity. "We _proclaim_." The word is emphatic in its +form, meaning _to tell out_, and representing the proclamation as full, +clear, earnest. "We are no muttering mystery-mongers. From full lungs +and in a voice to make people hear, we shout aloud our message. We do +not take a man into a corner, and whisper secrets into his ear; we cry +in the streets, and our message is for 'every man.'" + +And the word not only implies the plain, loud earnestness of the +speaker, but also that what he speaks is a _message_, that he is not a +speaker of his own words or thoughts, but of what has been told him to +tell. His gospel is a good message, and a messenger's virtue is to say +exactly what he has been told, and to say it in such a way that the +people to whom he has to carry it cannot but hear and understand it. + +This connection of the Christian minister's office contrasts on the one +hand with the priestly theory. Paul had known in Judaism a religion of +which the altar was the centre, and the official function of the +"minister" was to sacrifice. But now he has come to see that "the one +sacrifice for sins for ever" leaves no room for a sacrificing priest in +that Church of which the centre is the Cross. We sorely need that lesson +to be drilled into the minds of men to-day, when such a strange +resurrection of priestism has taken place, and good, earnest men, whose +devotion cannot be questioned, are looking on preaching as a very +subordinate part of their work. For three centuries there has not been +so much need as now to fight against the notion of a priesthood in the +Church, and to urge this as the true definition of the minister's +office: "we preach," not "we sacrifice," not "we _do_" anything; "we +preach," not "we work miracles at any altar, or impart grace by any +rites," but by manifestation of the truth discharge our office and +spread the blessings of Christ. + +This conception contrasts on the other hand, with the false teachers' +style of speech, which finds its parallel in much modern talk. Their +business was to argue and refine and speculate, to spin inferences and +cobwebby conclusions. They sat in a lecturer's chair; we stand in a +preacher's pulpit. The Christian minister has not to deal in such wares; +he has a message to proclaim, and if he allows the "philosopher" in him +to overpower the "herald," and substitutes his thoughts about the +message, or his arguments in favour of the message, for the message +itself, he abdicates his highest office and neglects his most important +function. + +We hear many demands to-day for a "higher type of preaching," which I +would heartily echo, if only it be _preaching_; that is, the +proclamation in loud and plain utterance of the great facts of Christ's +work. But many who ask for this really want, not preaching, but +something quite different; and many, as I think, mistaken Christian +teachers are trying to play up to the requirements of the age by turning +their sermons into dissertations, philosophical or moral or aesthetic. We +need to fall back on this "we preach," and to urge that the Christian +minister is neither priest nor lecturer, but a herald, whose business is +to tell out his message, and to take good care that he tells it +faithfully. If, instead of blowing his trumpet and calling aloud his +commission, he were to deliver a discourse on acoustics and the laws of +the vibration of sonorous metal, or to prove that he had a message, and +to dilate on its evident truth or on the beauty of its phrases, he +would scarcely be doing his work. No more is the Christian minister, +unless he keeps clear before himself as the guiding star of his work +this conception of his theme and his task--_Whom we preach_--and opposes +that to the demands of an age, one half of which "require a sign," and +would again degrade him into a priest, and the other calls for "wisdom," +and would turn him into a professor. + +II. We have here the varying methods by which this one great end is +pursued. "Admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom." + +There are then two main methods--"admonishing" and "teaching." The +former means "admonishing with blame," and points, as many commentators +remark, to that side of the Christian ministry which corresponds to +repentance, while the latter points to that side which corresponds to +faith. In other words, the former rebukes and warns, has to do with +conduct and the moral side of Christian truth; the latter has chiefly to +do with doctrine, and the intellectual side. In the one Christ is +proclaimed as the pattern of conduct, the "new commandment"; in the +other, as the creed of creeds, the new and perfect knowledge. + +The preaching of Christ then is to be unfolded into all "warning," or +admonishing. The teaching of morality and the admonishing of the evil +and the end of sin are essential parts of preaching Christ. We claim for +the pulpit the right and the duty of applying the principles and pattern +of Christ's life to all human conduct. It is difficult to do, and is +made more so by some of the necessary conditions of our modern ministry, +for the pulpit is not the place for details; and yet moral teaching +which is confined to general principles is woefully like repeating +platitudes and firing blank cartridges. Everybody admits the general +principles, and thinks they do not apply to his specific wrong action; +and if the preacher goes beyond these toothless generalities, he is met +with the cry of "personalities." If a man preaches a sermon in which he +speaks plainly about tricks of trade or follies of fashion, somebody is +sure to say, going down the chapel steps, "Oh! ministers know nothing of +business," and somebody else to add, "It is a pity he was so personal," +and the chorus is completed by many other voices, "He should preach +Christ, and leave secular things alone." + +Well! whether a sermon of that sort be preaching Christ or not depends +on the way in which it is done. But sure I am that there is no +"preaching Christ" completely, which does not include plain speaking +about plain duties. Everything that a man can either do rightly or +wrongly belongs to the sphere of morals, and everything within the +sphere of morals belongs to Christianity and to "preaching Christ." + +Nor is such preaching complete without plain warning of the end of sin, +as death here and hereafter. This is difficult, for many people like to +have the smooth side of truth always put uppermost. But the gospel has a +rough side, and is by no means a "soothing syrup" merely. There are no +rougher words about what wrongdoers come to than some of Christ's words; +and he has only given half his Master's message who hides or softens +down the grim saying, "The wages of sin is death." + +But all this moral teaching must be closely connected with and built +upon Christ. Christian morality has Jesus for its perfect exemplar, His +love for its motive, and His grace for its power. Nothing is more +impotent than mere moral teaching. What is the use of perpetually saying +to people, Be good, be good? You may keep on at that for ever, and not a +soul will listen, any more than the crowds on our streets are drawn to +church by the bell's monotonous call. But if, instead of a cold ideal of +duty, as beautiful and as dead as a marble statue, we preach the Son of +man, whose life is our law incarnate; and instead of urging to purity by +motives which our own evil makes feeble, we re-echo His heart-touching +appeal, "If ye love Me, keep My commandments;" and if, instead of +mocking lame men with exhortations to walk, we point those who +despairingly cry, "Who shall deliver us from the body of this death?" to +Him who breathes His living spirit into us to set us free from sin and +death, then our preaching of morality will be "preaching the gospel" and +be "preaching Christ." + +This gospel is also to be unfolded into "teaching." In the facts of +Christ's life and death, as we ponder them and grow up to understand +them, we get to see more and more the key to all things. For thought, as +for life, He is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the ending. All +that we can or need know about God or man, about present duty or future +destiny, about life, death, and the beyond,--all is in Jesus Christ, and +to be drawn from Him by patient thought and by abiding in Him. The +Christian minister's business is to be ever learning and ever teaching +more and more of the "manifold wisdom" of God. He has to draw for +himself from the deep, inexhaustible fountains; he has to bear the +water, which must be fresh drawn to be pleasant or refreshing, to +thirsty lips. He must seek to present all sides of the truth, teaching +_all_ wisdom, and so escaping from his own limited mannerisms. How many +ministers' Bibles are all dog-eared and thumbed at certain texts, at +which they almost open of themselves, and are as clean in most of their +pages as on the day when they were bought! + +The Christian ministry, then, in the Apostle's view, is distinctly +educational in its design. Preachers and hearers equally need to be +reminded of this. We preachers are poor scholars ourselves, and in our +work are tempted, like other people, to do most frequently what we can +do with least trouble. Besides which, we many of us know, and all +suspect, that our congregations prefer to hear what they have heard +often before, and what gives them the least trouble. We often hear the +cry for "simple preaching," by which one school intends "simple +instruction in plain, practical matters, avoiding mere dogma," and +another intends "the simple gospel," by which is meant the repetition +over and over again of the great truth, "Believe on the Lord Jesus +Christ, and thou shalt be saved." God forbid that I should say a word +which might even seem to under-estimate the need for that proclamation +being made in its simple form, as the staple of the Christian ministry, +to all who have not welcomed it into their hearts, or to forget that, +however dimly understood, it will bring light and hope and new loves and +strengths into a soul! But the New Testament draws a distinction between +evangelists and teachers, and common sense insists that Christian people +need more than the reiteration of that message from him whom they call +their "teacher." If he is a teacher, he should teach; and he cannot do +that, if the people who listen to him suspect everything that they do +not know already, and are impatient of anything that gives them the +trouble of attending and thinking in order to learn. I fear there is +much unreality in the name, and that nothing would be more distasteful +to many of our congregations than the preacher's attempt to make it +truly descriptive of his work. Sermons should not be "quiet resting +places." Nor is it quite the ideal of Christian teaching that busy men +should come to church or chapel on a Sunday, and not be fatigued by +being made to think, but perhaps to be able to sleep for a minute or two +and pick up the thread when they wake, quite sure that they have missed +nothing of any consequence. We are meant to be teachers, as well as +evangelists, though we fulfil the function so poorly; but our hearers +often make that task more difficult by ill-concealed impatience with +sermons which try to discharge it. + +Observe too the emphatic repetition of "every man" both in these two +clauses and in the following. It is Paul's protest against the +exclusiveness of the heretics, who shut out the mob from their +mysteries. An intellectual aristocracy is the proudest and most +exclusive of all. A Church built upon intellectual qualifications would +be as hard and cruel a _coterie_ as could be imagined. So there is +almost vehemence and scorn in the persistent repetition in each clause +of the obnoxious word, as if he would thrust down his antagonists' +throats the truth that his gospel has nothing to do with cliques and +sections, but belongs to the world. To it philosopher and fool are +equally welcome. Its message is to all. Brushing aside surface +diversities, it goes straight to deep-lying wants, which are the same in +all men. Below king's robe and professor's gown, and workman's jacket +and prodigal's rags, beats the same heart with the same wants, wild +longings, and weariness. Christianity knows no hopeless classes. But its +highest wisdom can be spoken to the little child and the barbarian, and +it is ready to deal with the most forlorn and foolish, knowing its own +power to "warn every man and to teach every man in all wisdom." + +III. We have here the ultimate aim of these diverse methods. "That we +may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." + +We found this same word "present" in verse 22. The remarks made there +will apply here. There the Divine purpose of Christ's great work, and +here Paul's purpose in his, are expressed alike. God's aim is Paul's aim +too. The Apostle's thoughts travel on to the great coming day, when we +shall all be manifested at the judgment seat of Christ, and preacher and +hearer, Apostle and convert, shall be gathered there. That solemn period +will test the teacher's work, and should ever be in his view as he +works. There is a real and indissoluble connection between the teacher +and his hearers, so that in some sense he is to blame if they do not +stand perfect then, and he in some sense has to present them as in his +work--the gold, silver, and precious stones which he has built on the +foundation. So each preacher should work with that end clear in view, as +Paul did. He is always toiling in the light of that great vision. One +sees him, in all his letters, looking away yonder to the horizon, where +he expects the breaking of its morning low down in the eastern sky. Ah! +how many formal pulpit and how many a languid pew would be galvanised +into intense action if only their occupants once saw burning in on them, +in their decorous deadness, the light of that great white throne! How +differently we should preach if we always felt "the terror of the Lord," +and under its solemn influence sought to "persuade men!" How differently +we should hear if we felt we must appear before the Judge, and give +account to Him of our profitings by His word! + +And the purpose which the true minister of Christ has in view is to +"present every man _perfect in Christ Jesus_." "Perfect" may be used +here with the technical signification of "initiated," but it means +absolute moral completeness. Negatively, it implies the entire removal +of all defects; positively, the complete possession of all that belongs +to human nature as God meant it to be. The Christian aim, for which the +preaching of Christ supplies ample power, is to make the whole race +possess, in fullest development, the whole circle of possible human +excellences. There is to be no one-sided growth but men are to grow like +a tree in the open, which has no barrier to hinder its symmetry, but +rises and spreads equally on all sides, with no branch broken or +twisted, no leaf worm-eaten or wind-torn, no fruit blighted or fallen, +no gap in the clouds of foliage, no bend in the straight stem,--a green +and growing completeness. This absolute completeness is attainable "in +Christ," by union with Him of that vital sort brought about by faith, +which will pour His Spirit into our spirits. The preaching of Christ is +therefore plainly the direct way to bring about this perfecting. That is +the Christian theory of the way to make perfect men. + +And this absolute perfection of character is, in Paul's belief, possible +for every man, no matter what his training or natural disposition may +have been. The gospel is confident that it can change the Ethiopian's +skin, because it can change his heart, and the leopard's spots will be +altered when it "eats straw like the ox." There are no hopeless classes, +in the glad, confident view of the man who has learned Christ's power. + +What a vision of the future to animate work! What an aim! What dignity, +what consecration, what enthusiasm it would give, making the trivial +great and the monotonous interesting, stirring up those who share it to +intense effort, overcoming low temptations, and giving precision to the +selection of means and use of instruments! The pressure of a great, +steady purpose consolidates and strengthens powers, which, without it, +become flaccid and feeble. We can make a piece of calico as stiff as a +board by putting it under an hydraulic press. Men with a fixed purpose +are terrible men. They crash through conventionalities like a cannon +ball. They, and they only, can persuade and arouse and impress their own +enthusiasm on the inert mass. "Behold, how great a matter a little fire +kindleth!" No Christian minister will work up to the limits of his +power, nor do much for Christ or man, unless his whole soul is mastered +by this high conception of the possibilities of his office, and unless +he is possessed with the ambition to present every man "perfect in +Christ Jesus." + +IV. Note the struggle and the strength with which the Apostle reaches +toward this aim. "Whereunto I labour also, striving according to His +working, which worketh in me mightily." + +As to the object, theme, and method of the Christian ministry, Paul can +speak, as he does in the previous verses, in the name of all his fellow +workers: "_We_ preach, admonishing and teaching, that we may present." +There was substantial unity among them. But he adds a sentence about his +own toil and conflict in doing his work. He will only speak for himself +now. The others may say what their experience has been. He has found +that he cannot do his work easily. Some people may be able to get +through it with little toil of body or agony of mind, but for himself it +has been laborious work. He has not learned to "take it easy." That +great purpose has been ever before him, and made a slave of him. "I +labour _also_"; I do not only preach, but I _toil_--as the word +literally implies--like a man tugging at an oar, and putting all his +weight into each stroke. No great work for God will be done without +physical and mental strain and effort. Perhaps there were people in +Colossae who thought that a man who had nothing to do but to preach had a +very easy life, and so the Apostle had to insist that most exhausting +work is brain work and heart work. Perhaps there were preachers and +teachers there who worked in a leisurely, dignified fashion, and took +great care always to stop a long way on the safe side of weariness; and +so he had to insist that God's work cannot be done at all in that +fashion, but has to be done "with both hands, earnestly." The "immortal +garland" is to be run for, "not without dust and heat." The racer who +takes care to slack his speed whenever he is in danger of breaking into +a perspiration will not win the prize. The Christian minister who is +afraid of putting all his strength into his work, up to the point of +weariness, will never do much good. + +There must be not only toil, but conflict. He labours, +"_striving_"--that is to say, contending--with hindrances, both without +and within, which sought to mar his work. There is the struggle with +one's self, with the temptations to do high work from low motives, or to +neglect it, and to substitute routine for inspiration and mechanism for +fervour. One's own evil, one's weaknesses and fears and falsities, and +laziness and torpor and faithlessness, have all to be fought, besides +the difficulties and enemies without. In short, all good work is a +battle. + +The hard strain and stress of this life of effort and conflict made this +man "Paul the aged" while he was not old in years. Such soul's agony and +travail is indispensable for all high service of Christ. How can any +true, noble Christian life be lived without continuous effort and +continual strife? Up to the last particle of our power, it is our duty +to work. As for the sleepy, languid, self-indulgent service of modern +Christians, who seem to be chiefly anxious not to overstrain themselves, +and to manage to win the race set before them without turning a hair, I +am afraid that a large deduction will have to be made from it in the day +that shall "try every man's work, of what sort it is." + +So much for the struggle; now for the strength. The toil and the +conflict are to be carried on "according to His working, which worketh +in me mightily." The measure of our power then is Christ's power in us. +He whose presence makes the struggle necessary, by His presence +strengthens us for it. He will dwell in us and work in us, and even our +weakness will be lifted into joyful strength by Him. We shall be mighty +because that mighty Worker is in our spirits. We have not only His +presence beside us as an ally, but His grace within us. We may not only +have the vision of our Captain standing at our side as we front the +foe--an unseen presence to them, but inspiration and victory to us--but +we may have the consciousness of His power welling up in our spirits and +flowing, as immortal strength, into our arms. It is much to know that +Christ fights for us; it is more to know that He fights in us. + +Let us take courage then for all work and conflict; and remember that if +we have not "striven according to the power"--that is, if we have not +utilised _all_ our Christ-given strength in His service--we have not +striven enough. There may be a double defect in us. We may not have +taken all the power that he Has given, and we may not have used all the +power that we have taken. Alas, for us! we have to confess both faults. +How weak we have been when Omnipotence waited to give Itself to us! How +little we have made our own of the grace that flows so abundantly past +us, catching such a small part of the broad river in our hands, and +spilling so much even of that before it reached our lips! And how little +of the power given, whether natural or spiritual, we have used for our +Lord! How many weapons have hung rusty and unused in the fight! He has +sowed much in our hearts, and reaped little. Like some unkindly soils, +we have "drunk in the rain which cometh oft upon it," and have "_not_ +brought forth herbs fit for Him by whom it is dressed." Talents hid, the +Master's goods squandered, power allowed to run to waste, languid +service and half-hearted conflict, we have all to acknowledge. Let us go +to Him and confess that, "we have most unthankful been," and are +unprofitable servants indeed, coming far short of duty. Let us yield our +spirits to His influence, that He may work in us that which is pleasing +in His sight, and may encircle us with ever-growing completeness of +beauty and strength, until He "present us faultless before the presence +of His glory with exceeding joy." + + + + +X. + +_PAUL'S STRIVING FOR THE COLOSSIANS._ + + "For I would have you know how greatly I strive for you, and for + them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the + flesh; that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together + in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, + that they may know the mystery of God, even Christ, in Whom are all + the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden."--COL. ii. 1-3 (Rev. + Ver.). + + +We have seen that the closing portion of the previous chapter is almost +exclusively personal. In this context the same strain is continued, and +two things are dwelt on: the Apostle's agony of anxiety for the +Colossian Church, and the joy with which, from his prison, he travelled +in spirit across mountain and sea, and saw them in their quiet valley, +cleaving to the Lord. The former of these feelings is expressed in the +words now before us; the latter, in the following verses. + +All this long outpouring of self-revelation is so natural and +characteristic of Paul that we need scarcely look for any purpose in it, +and yet we may note with what consummate art he thereby prepares the way +for the warnings which follow. The unveiling of his own throbbing heart +was sure to work on the affections of his readers and to incline them to +listen. His profound emotion in thinking of the preciousness of his +message would help to make them feel how much was at stake, and his +unfaltering faith would give firmness to their less tenacious grasp of +the truth which, as they saw, he gripped with such force. Many truths +may be taught coolly, and some must be. But in religious matters, +arguments wrought in frost are powerless, and earnestness approaching to +passion is the all-conquering force. A teacher who is afraid to show his +feelings, or who has no feelings to show, will never gather many +disciples. + +So this revelation of the Apostle's heart is relevant to the great +purposes of the whole letter--the warning against error, and the +exhortation to stedfastness. In the verses which we are now considering, +we have the conflict which Paul was waging set forth in three aspects: +first, in itself; second, in regard to the persons for whom it was +waged; and, finally and principally, in regard to the object or purpose +in view therein. The first and second of these points may be dealt with +briefly. The third will require further consideration. + +I. There is first the conflict, which he earnestly desired that the +Colossian Christians might know to be "great." The word rendered in the +Authorised Version "conflict," belongs to the same root as that which +occurs in the last verse of the previous chapter, and is there rendered +"striving." The Revised Version rightly indicates this connection by its +translation, but fails to give the construction as accurately as the +older translation does. "What great strife I have" would be nearer the +Greek, and more forcible than the somewhat feeble "how greatly I +strive," which the Revisers have adopted. The conflict referred to is, +of course, that of the arena, as so often in Paul's writings. + +But how could he, in Rome, wage conflict on behalf of the Church at +Colossae? No external conflict can be meant. He could strike no blows on +their behalf. What he could do in that way, he did, and he was now +taking part in their battle by this letter. If he could not fight by +their side, he could send them ammunition, as he does in this great +Epistle, which was, no doubt, to the eager combatants for the truth at +Colossae, what it has been ever since, a magazine and arsenal in all +their warfare. But the real struggle was in his own heart. It meant +anxiety, sympathy, an agony of solicitude, a passion of intercession. +What he says of Epaphras in this very Epistle was true of himself. He +was "always striving in prayer for them." And by these wrestlings of +spirit he took his place among the combatants, though they were far +away, and though in outward seeming, his life was untouched by any of +the difficulties and dangers which hemmed them in. In that lonely +prison-cell, remote from their conflict, and with burdens enough of his +own to carry, with his life in peril, his heart yet turned to them and, +like some soldier left behind to guard the base while his comrades had +gone forward to the fight, his ears listened for the sound of battle, +and his thoughts were in the field. His prison cell was like the focus +of some reverberating gallery in which every whisper spoken all round +the circumference was heard, and the heart that was held captive there +was set vibrating in all its chords by every sound from any of the +Churches. + +Let us learn the lesson, that, for all Christian people, sympathy in the +battle for God, which is being waged all over the world, is plain duty. +For all Christian teachers of every sort, an eager sympathy in the +difficulties and struggles of those whom they would try to teach is +indispensable. We can never deal wisely with any mind until we have +entered into its peculiarities. We can never help a soul fighting with +errors and questionings until we have ourselves felt the pinch of the +problems, and have shown that soul that we know what it is to grope and +stumble. No man is ever able to lift a burden from another's shoulders +except on condition of bearing the burden himself. If I stretch out my +hand to some poor brother struggling in "the miry clay," he will not +grasp it, and my well-meant efforts will be vain, unless he can see that +I too have felt with him the horror of great darkness, and desire him to +share with me the benedictions of the light. + +Wheresoever our prison or our workshop may be, howsoever Providence or +circumstances--which is but a heathenish word for the same thing--may +separate us from active participation in any battle for God, we are +bound to take an eager share in it by sympathy, by interest, by such +help as we can render, and by that intercession which may sway the +fortunes of the field, though the uplifted hands grasp no weapons, and +the spot where we pray be far from the fight. It is not only the men who +bear the brunt of the battle in the high places of the field who are the +combatants. In many a quiet home, where their wives and mothers sit, +with wistful faces waiting for the news from the front, are an agony of +anxiety, and as true a share in the struggle as amidst the battery smoke +and the gleaming bayonets. It was a law in Israel, "As his part is that +goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that abideth by the +stuff. They shall part alike." They were alike in recompense, because +they were rightly regarded as alike in service. So all Christians who +have in heart and sympathy taken part in the great battle shall be +counted as combatants and crowned as victors, though they themselves +have struck no blows. "He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a +prophet shall receive a prophet's reward." + +II. We notice the persons for whom this conflict was endured. They are +the Christians of Colossae, and their neighbours of Laodicea, and "as +many as have not seen my face in the flesh." It may be a question +whether the Colossians and Laodiceans belong to those who have not seen +his face in the flesh, but the most natural view of the words is that +the last clause "introduces the whole class to which the persons +previously enumerated belong,"[2] and this conclusion is confirmed by +the silence of the Acts of the Apostles as to any visit of Paul's to +these Churches, and by the language of the Epistle itself, which, in +several places, refers to his knowledge of the Colossian Church as +derived from hearing of them, and never alludes to personal intercourse. +That being so, one can understand that its members might easily think +that he cared less for them than he did for the more fortunate +communities which he had himself planted or watered, and might have +suspected that the difficulties of the Church at Ephesus, for instance, +lay nearer his heart than theirs in their remote upland valley. No +doubt, too, their feelings to him were less warm than to Epaphras and to +other teachers whom they had heard. They had never felt the magnetism of +his personal presence, and were at a disadvantage in their struggle +with the errors which were beginning to lift their snaky heads among +them, from not having had the inspiration and direction of his teaching. + +It is beautiful to see how, here, Paul lays hold of that very fact which +seemed to put some film of separation between them, in order to make it +the foundation of his especial keenness of interest in them. Precisely +because he had never looked them in the eyes, they had a warmer place in +his heart, and his solicitude for them was more tender. He was not so +enslaved by sense that his love could not travel beyond the limits of +his eyesight. He was the more anxious about them because they had not +the recollections of his teaching and of his presence to fall back upon. + +III. But the most important part of this section is the Apostle's +statement of the great subject of his solicitude, that which he +anxiously longed that the Colossians might attain. It is a prophecy, as +well as a desire. It is a statement of the deepest purpose of his letter +to them, and being so, it is likewise a statement of the Divine desire +concerning each of us, and of the Divine design of the gospel. Here is +set forth what God would have all Christians to be, and, in Jesus +Christ, has given them ample means of being. + +(1) The first element in the Apostle's desire for them is "that their +hearts may be comforted." Of course the Biblical use of the word "heart" +is much wider than the modern popular use of it. We mean by it, when we +use it in ordinary talk, the hypothetical seat of the emotions, and +chiefly, the organ and throne of love; but Scripture means by the word, +the whole inward personality, including thought and will as well as +emotion. So we read of the "thoughts and intents of the heart," and the +whole inward nature is called "the hidden man of the heart." + +And what does he desire for this inward man? That it may be "comforted." +That word again has a wider signification in Biblical, than in +nineteenth century English. It is much more than consolation in trouble. +The cloud that hung over the Colossian Church was not about to break in +sorrows which they would need consolation to bear, but in doctrinal and +practical errors which they would need strength to resist. They were +called to fight rather than to endure, and what they needed most was +courageous confidence. So Paul desires for them that their hearts should +be _encouraged_ or strengthened, that they might not quail before the +enemy, but go into the fight with buoyancy, and be of good cheer. + +Is there any greater blessing in view both of the conflict which +Christianity has to wage to-day, and of the difficulties and warfare of +our own lives, than that brave spirit, which plunges into the struggle +with the serene assurance that victory sits on our helms and waits upon +our swords, and knows that anything is possible rather than defeat? That +is the condition of overcoming--even our faith. "The sad heart tires in +a mile," but the strong hopeful heart carries in its very strength the +prophecy of triumph. + +Such a disposition is not altogether a matter of temperament, but may be +cultivated, and though it may come easier to some of us than to others, +it certainly ought to belong to all who have God to trust to, and +believe that the gospel is His truth. They may well be strong who have +Divine power ready to flood their hearts, who know that everything works +for their good, who can see, above the whirl of time and change, one +strong loving Hand which moves the wheels. What have we to do with fear +for ourselves, or wherefore should our "hearts tremble for the ark of +God," seeing that One fights by our sides who will teach our hands to +war and cover our heads in the day of battle? "Be of good courage, and +He shall strengthen thine heart." + +(2) The way to secure such joyous confidence and strength is taught us +here, for we have next, _Union in love_, as part of the means for +obtaining it--"They being knit together in love." The persons, not the +hearts, are to be thus united. Love is the true bond which unites +men--the bond of perfectness, as it is elsewhere called. That unity in +love would, of course, add to the strength of each. The old fable +teaches us that little fagots bound together are strong, and the tighter +the rope is pulled, the stronger they are. A solitary heart is timid and +weak, but many weaknesses brought together make a strength, as slimly +built houses in a row hold each other up, or dying embers raked closer +burst into flame. Loose grains of sand are light and moved by a breath; +compacted they are rock against which the Atlantic beats in vain. So, a +Church, of which the members are bound together by that love which is +the only real bond of Church life, presents a front to threatening evils +through which they cannot break. A real moral defence against even +intellectual error will be found in such a close compaction in mutual +Christian love. A community so interlocked will throw off many evils, as +a Roman legion with linked shields roofed itself over against missiles +from the wall of a besieged city, or the imbricated scales on a fish +keep it dry in the heart of the sea. + +But we must go deeper than this in interpreting these words. The love +which is to knit Christian men together is not merely love to one +another, but is common love to Jesus Christ. Such common love to Him is +the true bond of union, and the true strengthener of men's hearts. + +(3) This compaction in love will lead to a wealth of certitude in the +possession of the truth. + +Paul is so eagerly desirous for the Colossians' union in love to each +other and all to God, because He knows that such union will materially +contribute to their assured and joyful possession of the truth. It +tends, he thinks, unto "all riches of the full assurance of +understanding," by which he means the wealth which consists in the +entire, unwavering certitude which takes possession of the +understanding, the confidence that it has the truth and the life in +Jesus Christ. Such a joyful stedfastness of conviction that I have +grasped the truth is opposed to hesitating half belief. It is +attainable, as this context shows, by paths of moral discipline, and +amongst them, by seeking to realize our unity with our brethren, and not +proudly rejecting the "common faith" because it is common. Possessing +that assurance, we shall be rich and heart-whole. Walking amid +certainties we shall walk in paths of peace, and re-echo the triumphant +assurance of the Apostle, to whom love had given the key of +knowledge:--"we know that we are of God, and we know that the Son of God +is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that +is true." + +In all times of religious unsettlement, when an active propaganda of +denial is going on, Christian men are tempted to lower their own tone, +and to say, "It is so," with somewhat less of certainty, because so many +are saying, "It is not so." Little Rhoda needs some courage to affirm +constantly that "it was even so," when apostles and her masters keep +assuring her that she has only seen a vision. In this day, many +professing Christians falter in the clear assured profession of their +faith, and it does not need a keen ear to catch an undertone of doubt +making their voices tremulous. Some even are so afraid of being thought +"narrow," that they seek for the reputation of liberality by talking as +if there were a film of doubt over even the truths which used to be +"most surely believed." Much of the so-called faith of this day is all +honeycombed with secret misgivings, which have in many instances no +other intellectual basis than the consciousness of prevalent unbelief +and a second-hand acquaintance with its teachings. Few things are more +needed among us now than this full assurance and satisfaction of the +understanding with the truth as it is in Jesus. Nothing is more wretched +than the slow paralysis creeping over faith, the fading of what had been +stars into darkness. A tragedy is being wrought in many minds which have +had to exchange Christ's "Verily, verily," for a miserable "perhaps," +and can no longer say "I know," but only, "I would fain believe," or at +the best, "I incline to think still." On the other hand, the "full +assurance of the understanding" brings wealth. It breathes peace over +the soul, and gives endless riches in the truths which through it are +made living and real. + +This wealth of conviction is attained by living in the love of God. Of +course, there is an intellectual discipline which is also needed. But no +intellectual process will lead to an assured grasp of spiritual truth, +unless it be accompanied by love. As soon may we lay hold of truth with +our hands, as of God in Christ with our understandings alone. This is +the constant teaching of Scripture--that, if we would know God and have +assurance of Him, we must love Him. "In order to love human things, it +is necessary to know them. In order to know Divine things, it is +necessary to love them." When we are rooted and grounded in love, we +shall be able to know--for what we have most need to know and what the +gospel has mainly to teach us is the love, and "unless the eye with +which we look is love, how shall we know love?" If we love, we shall +possess an experience which verifies the truth for us, will give us an +irrefragable demonstration which will bring certitude to ourselves, +however little it may avail to convince others. Rich in the possession +of this confirmation of the gospel by the blessings which have come to +us from it, and which witness of their source, as the stream that dots +some barren plain with a line of green along its course is revealed +thereby, we shall have the right to oppose to many a doubt the full +assurance born of love, and while others are disputing whether there be +any God, or any living Christ, or any forgiveness of sins, or any +guiding providence, we shall know that they are, and are ours, because +we have felt the power and wealth which they have brought into our +lives. + +(4) This unity of love will lead to full knowledge of the mystery of +God. Such seems to be the connection of the next words, which may be +literally read "unto the full knowledge of the mystery of God," and may +be best regarded as a co-ordinate clause with the preceding, depending +like it on "being knit together in love." So taken, there is set forth a +double issue of that compaction in love to God and one another, namely, +the calm assurance in the grasp of truth already possessed, and the more +mature and deeper insight into the deep things of God. The word for +knowledge here is the same as in i. 9, and here as there means a full +knowledge. The Colossians had known Christ at first, but the Apostle's +desire is that they may come to a fuller knowledge, for the object to be +known is infinite, and endless degrees in the perception and possession +of His power and grace are possible. In that fuller knowledge they will +not leave behind what they knew at first, but will find in it deeper +meaning, a larger wisdom and a fuller truth. + +Among the large number of readings of the following words, that adopted +by the Revised Version is to be preferred, and the translation which it +gives is the most natural and is in accordance with the previous thought +in chapter i. 27, where also "the mystery" is explained to be "Christ in +you." A slight variation in the conception is presented here. The +"mystery" is Christ, not "in you," but "in Whom are hid all the +treasures of wisdom and knowledge." The great truth long hidden, now +revealed, is that the whole wealth of spiritual insight (knowledge), and +of reasoning on the truths thus apprehended so as to gain an ordered +system of belief and a coherent law of conduct (wisdom), is stored for +us in Christ. + +Such being in brief the connection and outline meaning of these great +words, we may touch upon the various principles embodied in them. We +have seen, in commenting upon a former part of the Epistle, the force of +the great thought that Christ in His relations to us is the mystery of +God, and need not repeat what was then said. But we may pause for a +moment on the fact that the knowledge of that mystery has its stages. +The revelation of the mystery is complete. No further stages are +possible in that. But while the revelation is, in Paul's estimate, +finished, and the long concealed truth now stands in full sunshine, our +apprehension of it may grow, and there is a mature knowledge possible. +Some poor ignorant soul catches through the gloom a glimpse of God +manifested in the flesh, and bearing his sins. That soul will never +outgrow that knowledge, but as the years pass, life and reflection and +experience will help to explain and deepen it. God so loved the world +that He gave His only begotten Son--there is nothing beyond that truth. +Grasped however imperfectly, it brings light and peace. But as it is +loved and lived by, it unfolds undreamed-of depths, and flashes with +growing brightness. Suppose that a man could set out from the great +planet that moves on the outermost rim of our system, and could travel +slowly inwards towards the central sun, how the disc would grow, and the +light and warmth increase with each million of miles that he crossed, +till what had seemed a point filled the whole sky! Christian growth is +into, not away from Christ, a penetrating deeper into the centre, and a +drawing out into distinct consciousness as a coherent system, all that +was wrapped, as the leaves in their brown sheath, in that first glimpse +of Him which saves the soul. + +These stages are infinite, because in Him are all the treasures of +wisdom and knowledge. These four words, _treasures_, _wisdom_, +_knowledge_, _hidden_, are all familiar on the lips of the latter +Gnostics, and were so, no doubt, in the mouths of the false teachers at +Colossae. The Apostle would assert for his gospel all which they falsely +claimed for their dreams. As in several other places of this Epistle, he +avails himself of his antagonists' special vocabulary, transferring its +terms, from the illusory phantoms which a false knowledge adorned with +them, to the truth which he had to preach. He puts special emphasis on +the predicate "hidden" by throwing it to the end of the sentence--a +peculiarity which is reproduced with advantage in the Revised Version. + +All wisdom and knowledge are in Christ. He is the Light of men, and all +thought and truth of every sort come from Him Who is the Eternal Word, +the Incarnate Wisdom. That Incarnate Word is the perfect Revelation of +God, and by His one completed life and death has declared the whole name +of God to His brethren, of which all other media of revelation have but +uttered broken syllables. That ascended Christ breathes wisdom and +knowledge into all who love Him, and still pursues, by giving us the +Spirit of wisdom, His great work of revealing God to men, according to +His own word, which at once asserted the completeness of the revelation +made by His earthly life and promised the perpetual continuance of the +revelation from His heavenly seat: "I have declared Thy name unto My +brethren, and will declare it." + +In Christ, as in a great storehouse, lie all the riches of spiritual +wisdom, the massive ingots of solid gold which when coined into creeds +and doctrines are the wealth of the Church. All which we can know +concerning God and man, concerning sin and righteousness and duty, +concerning another life, is in Him Who is the home and deep mine where +truth is stored. + +In Christ these treasures are "hidden," but not, as the heretics' +mysteries were hidden, in order that they might be out of reach of the +vulgar crowd. This mystery is hidden indeed, but it is revealed. It is +hidden only from the eyes that will not see it. It is hidden that +seeking souls may have the joy of seeking and the rest of finding. The +very act of revealing is a hiding, as our Lord has said in His great +thanksgiving because these things are (by one and the same act) "hid +from the wise and prudent, and revealed to babes." They are hid, as men +store provisions in the Arctic regions, in order that the bears may not +find them and the shipwrecked sailors may. + +Such thoughts have a special message for times of agitation such as the +Colossian Church was passing through, and such as we have to face. We +too are surrounded by eager confident voices, proclaiming profounder +truths and a deeper wisdom than the gospel gives us. In joyful +antagonism to these, Christian men have to hold fast by the confidence +that all Divine wisdom is laid up in their Lord. We need not go to +others to learn new truth. The new problems of each generation to the +end of time will find their answers in Christ, and new issues of that +old message which we have heard from the beginning will continually be +discerned. Let us not wonder if the lessons which the earlier ages of +the Church drew from that infinite storehouse fail at many points to +meet the eager questionings of to-day. Nor let us suppose that the stars +are quenched because the old books of astronomy are in some respects out +of date. We need not cast aside the truths that we learned at our +mother's knees. The central fact of the universe and the perfect +encyclopaedia of all moral and spiritual truth is Christ, the Incarnate +Word, the Lamb slain, the ascended King. If we keep true to Him and +strive to widen our minds to the breadth of that great message, it will +grow as we gaze, even as the nightly heavens expand to the eye which +stedfastly looks into them, and reveal violet abysses sown with +sparkling points, each of which is a sun. "Lord, to whom shall we go? +Thou hast the words of eternal life." + +The ordinary type of Christian life is contented with a superficial +acquaintance with Christ. Many understand no more of Him and of His +gospel than they did when first they learned to love Him. So completely +has the very idea of a progressive knowledge of Jesus Christ faded from +the horizon of the average Christian that "edification," which ought to +mean the progressive building up of the character course by course, in +new knowledge and grace, has come to mean little more than the sense of +comfort derived from the reiteration of old and familiar words which +fall on the ear with a pleasant murmur. There is sadly too little +first-hand and growing knowledge of their Lord, among Christian people, +too little belief that fresh treasures may be found hidden in that field +which, to each soul and each new generation struggling with its own +special forms of the burdens and problems that press upon humanity, +would be cheaply bought by selling all, but may be won at the easier +rate of earnest desire to possess them, and faithful adherence to Him in +whom they are stored for the world. The condition of growth for the +branch is abiding in the vine. If our hearts are knit together with +Christ's heart in that love which is the parent of communion, both as +delighted contemplation and as glad obedience, then we shall daily dig +deeper into the mine of wealth which is hid in Him that it may be found, +and draw forth an unfailing supply of things new and old. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] Bishop Lightfoot, _in loc._ + + + + +XI. + +_CONCILIATORY AND HORTATORY TRANSITION TO POLEMICS._ + + "This I say, that no one may delude you with persuasiveness of + speech. For though I am absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in + the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of + your faith in Christ. + + "As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, + rooted and builded up in Him, and stablished in your faith, even as + ye were taught, abounding in thanksgiving."--COL. ii. 4-7 (Rev. + Ver.). + + +Nothing needs more delicacy of hand and gentleness of heart than the +administration of warning or reproof, especially when directed against +errors of religious opinion. It is sure to do harm unless the person +reproved is made to feel that it comes from true kindly interest in him, +and does full justice to his honesty. Warning so easily passes into +scolding, and sounds to the warned so like it even when the speaker does +not mean it so, that there is special need to modulate the voice very +carefully. + +So in this context, the Apostle has said much about his deep interest in +the Colossian Church, and has dwelt on the passionate earnestness of his +solicitude for them, his conflict of intercession and sympathy, and the +large sweep of his desires for their good. But he does not feel that he +can venture to begin his warnings till he has said something more, so +as to conciliate them still further, and to remove from their minds +other thoughts unfavourable to the sympathetic reception of his words. +One can fancy some Colossians saying, "What need is there for all this +anxiety? Why should Paul be in such a taking about us? He is +exaggerating our danger, and doing scant justice to our Christian +character." Nothing stops the ear to the voice of warning more surely +than a feeling that it is pitched in too solemn a key, and fails to +recognise the good. + +So before he goes further, he gathers up his motives in giving the +following admonitions, and gives his estimate of the condition of the +Colossians, in the two first of the verses now under consideration. All +that he has been saying has been said not so much because he thinks that +they have gone wrong, but because he knows that there are heretical +teachers at work, who may lead them astray with plausible lessons. He is +not combating errors which have already swept away the faith of the +Colossian Christians, but putting them on their guard against such as +threaten them. He is not trying to pump the water out of a water-logged +vessel, but to stop a little leak which is in danger of gaping wider. +And, in his solicitude, he has much confidence and is encouraged to +speak because, absent from them as he is, he has a vivid assurance, +which gladdens him, of the solidity and firmness of their faith. + +So with this distinct definition of the precise danger which he feared, +and this soothing assurance of his glad confidence in their stedfast +order, the Apostle at last opens his batteries. The 6th and 7th verses +are the first shot fired, the beginning of the monitions so long and +carefully prepared for They contain a general exhortation, which may be +taken as the keynote for the polemical portion of the Epistle, which +occupies the rest of the chapter. + +I. We have then first, the purpose of the Apostle's previous +self-revelation. "This I say"--this namely which is contained in the +preceding verses, the expression of his solicitude, and perhaps even +more emphatically, the declaration of Christ as the revealed secret of +God, the inexhaustible storehouse of all wisdom and knowledge. The +purpose of the Apostle, then, in his foregoing words has been to guard +the Colossians against the danger to which they were exposed, of being +deceived and led astray by "persuasiveness of speech." That expression +is not necessarily used in a bad sense, but here it evidently has a +tinge of censure, and implies some doubt both of the honesty of the +speakers and of the truthfulness of their words. Here we have an +important piece of evidence as to the then condition of the Colossian +Church. There were false teachers busy amongst them who belonged in some +sense to the Christian community. But probably these were not +Colossians, but wandering emissaries of a Judaizing Gnosticism, while +certainly the great mass of the Church was untouched by their +speculations. They were in danger of getting bewildered, and being +_deceived_, that is to say, of being induced to accept certain teaching +because of its speciousness, without seeing all its bearings, or even +knowing its real meaning. So error ever creeps into the Church. Men are +caught by something fascinating in some popular teaching, and follow it +without knowing where it will lead them. By slow degrees its tendencies +are disclosed, and at last the followers of the heresiarch wake to find +that everything which they once believed and prized has dropped from +their creed. + +We may learn here, too, the true safeguard against specious errors. Paul +thinks that he can best fortify these simple-minded disciples against +all harmful teaching by exalting his Master and urging the inexhaustible +significance of His person and message. To learn the full meaning and +preciousness of Christ is to be armed against error. The positive truth +concerning Him, by preoccupying mind and heart, guards beforehand +against the most specious teachings. If you fill the coffer with gold, +nobody will want, and there will be no room for, pinchbeck. A living +grasp of Christ will keep us from being swept away by the current of +prevailing popular opinion, which is always much more likely to be wrong +than right, and is sure to be exaggerated and one-sided at the best. A +personal consciousness of His power and sweetness will give an +instinctive repugnance to teaching that would lower His dignity and +debase His work. If He be the centre and anchorage of all our thoughts, +we shall not be tempted to go elsewhere in search of the "treasures of +wisdom and knowledge" which "are hid in Him." He who has found the one +pearl of great price, needs no more to go seeking goodly pearls, but +only day by day more completely to lose self, and give up all else, that +he may win more and more of Christ his All. If we keep our hearts and +minds in communion with our Lord, and have experience of His +preciousness, that will preserve us from many a snare, will give us a +wisdom beyond much logic, will solve for us many of the questions most +hotly debated to-day, and will show us that many more are unimportant +and uninteresting to us. And even if we should be led to wrong +conclusions on some matters, "if we drink any deadly thing, it shall not +hurt us." + +II. We see here the joy which blended with the anxiety of the solitary +prisoner, and encouraged him to warn the Colossians against impending +dangers to their faith. + +We need not follow the grammatical commentators in their discussion of +how Paul comes to invert the natural order here, and to say "joying and +beholding," instead of "beholding and rejoicing" as we should expect. No +one doubts that what he saw in spirit was the cause of his joy. The old +man in his prison, loaded with many cares, compelled to be inactive in +the cause which was more to him than life, is yet full of spirit and +buoyancy. His prison-letters all partake of that "rejoicing in the +Lord," which is the keynote of one of them. Old age and apparent +failure, and the exhaustion of long labours, and the disappointments and +sorrows which almost always gather like evening clouds round a life as +it sinks in the west had not power to quench his fiery energy or to +blunt his keen interest in all the Churches. His cell was like the +centre of a telephonic system. Voices spoke from all sides. Every Church +was connected with it, and messages were perpetually being brought. +Think of him sitting there, eagerly listening, and thrilling with +sympathy at each word, so self-oblivious was he, so swallowed up were +all personal ends in the care for the Churches, and in the swift, deep +fellow-feeling with them? Love and interest quickened his insight, and +though he was far away, he had them so vividly before him that he was as +if a spectator. The joy which he had in the thought of them made him +dwell on the thought--so the apparently inverted order of the words may +be the natural one and he may have looked all the more fixedly because +it gladdened him to look. + +What did he see? "Your order." That is unquestionably a military +metaphor, drawn probably from his experiences of the Praetorians, while +in captivity. He had plenty of opportunities of studying both the +equipment of the single legionary, who, in the 6th chapter of Ephesians, +sat for his portrait to the prisoner to whom he was chained, and also +the perfection of discipline in the whole which made the legion so +formidable. It was not a multitude but a unit, "moving altogether if it +move at all," as if animated by one will. Paul rejoices to know that the +Colossian Church was thus welded into a solid unity. + +Further, he beholds "the stedfastness of your faith in Christ." This may +be a continuation of the military metaphor, and may mean "the solid +front, the close phalanx" which your faith presents. But whether we +suppose the figure to be carried on or dropped, we must, I think, +recognise that this second point refers rather to the inward condition +than to the outward discipline of the Colossians. + +Here then is set forth a lofty ideal of the Church, in two respects. +First there is outwardly, an ordered disciplined array; and secondly, +there is a stedfast faith. + +As to the first, Paul was no martinet, anxious about the pedantry of the +parade ground, but he knew the need of organization and drill. Any body +of men united in order to carry out a specific purpose have to be +organized. That means a place for every man, and every man in his place. +It means co-operation to one common end, and therefore division of +function and subordination. Order does not merely mean obedience to +authority. There may be equal "order" under widely different forms of +polity. The legionaries were drawn up in close ranks, the light-armed +skirmishers more loosely. In the one case the phalanx was more and the +individual less; in the other there was more play given to the single +man, and less importance to corporate action; but the difference between +them was not that of order and disorder, but that of two systems, each +organized but on somewhat different principles and for different +purposes. A loosely linked chain is as truly a chain as a rigid one. The +main requirement for such "order" as gladdened the Apostle is conjoint +action to one end, with variety of office, and unity of spirit. + +Some Churches give more weight to the principle of authority; others to +that of individuality. They may criticise each other's polity, but the +former has no right to reproach the latter as being necessarily +defective in "order." Some Churches are all drill and their favourite +idea of discipline is, Obey them that have the rule over you. The +Churches of looser organization, on the other hand, are no doubt in +danger of making too little of organization. But both need that all +their members should be more penetrated by the sense of unity, and +should fill each his place in the work of the body. It was far easier to +secure the true order--a place and a task for every man and every man in +his place and at his task--in the small homogeneous communities of +apostolic times than it is now, when men of such different social +position, education, and ways of thinking are found in the same +Christian community. The proportion of idlers in all Churches is a +scandal and a weakness. However highly organized and officered a Church +may be, no joy would fill an apostle's heart in beholding it, if the +mass of its members had no share in its activities. Every society of +professing Christians should be like a man of war's crew, each of whom +knows the exact inch where he has to stand when the whistle sounds, and +the precise thing he has to do in the gun drill. + +But the perfection of discipline is not enough. That may stiffen into +routine if there be not something deeper. We want life even more than +order. The description of the soldiers who set David on the throne +should describe Christ's army--"men that could keep rank, they were not +of double heart." They had discipline and had learned to accommodate +their stride to the length of their comrades' step; but they had +whole-hearted enthusiasm, which was better. Both are needed. If there be +not courage and devotion there is nothing worth disciplining. The Church +that has the most complete order and not also stedfastness of faith will +be like the German armies, all pipeclay and drill, which ran like hares +before the ragged shoeless levies whom the first French Revolution flung +across the border with a fierce enthusiasm blazing in their hearts. So +the Apostle beholds with joy the stedfastness of the Colossians' faith +toward Christ. + +If the rendering "stedfastness" be adopted as in the Rev. Ver., the +phrase will be equivalent to the "firmness which characterizes or +belongs to your faith." But some of the best commentators deny that this +meaning of the word is ever found, and propose "foundation" (that which +is made stedfast). The meaning then will either be "the firm foundation +(for your lives) which consists of your faith," or, more probably, "the +firm foundation which your faith has." He rejoices, seeing that their +faith towards Jesus Christ has a basis unshaken by assaults. + +Such a rock foundation, and consequent stedfastness, must faith have, if +it is to be worthy of the name and to manifest its true power. A +tremulous faith may, thank God! be a true faith, but the very idea of +faith implies solid assurance and fixed confidence. Our faith should be +able to resist pressure and to keep its ground against assaults and +gainsaying. It should not be like a child's card castle, that the light +breath of a scornful laugh will throw down, but + + "a tower of strength + That stands foursquare to all the winds that blow." + +We should seek to make it so, nor let the fluctuations of our own hearts +cause it to fluctuate. We should try so to control the ebb and flow of +religious emotion that it may always be near high water with our faith, +a tideless but not stagnant sea. We should oppose a settled conviction +and unalterable confidence to the noisy voices which would draw us away. + +And that we may do so we must keep up a true and close communion with +Jesus Christ. The faith which is ever going out "towards" Him, as the +sunflower turns sunwards, will ever draw from Him such blessed gifts +that doubt or distrust will be impossible. If we keep near our Lord and +wait expectant on Him, He will increase our faith and make our "hearts +fixed, trusting in the Lord." So a greater than Paul may speak even to +us, as He walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks, words which +from _His_ lips will be praise indeed: "Though I am absent in the flesh, +yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order and the +stedfastness of your faith in Me." + +III. We have here, the exhortation which comprehends all duty, and +covers the whole ground of Christian belief and practice. + +"Therefore"--the following exhortation is based upon the warning and +commendation of the preceding verses. There is first a wide general +injunction. "As ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him," +_i.e._ let your active life be in accord with what you learned and +obtained when you first became Christians. Then this exhortation is +defined or broken up into four particulars in the following clauses, +which explain in detail how it is to be kept. + +The general exhortation is to a true Christian walk. The main force lies +upon the "as." The command is to order all life in accordance with the +early lessons and acquisitions. The phrase "ye received Christ Jesus the +Lord" presents several points requiring notice. It is obviously parallel +with "as ye were taught" in the next verse; so that it was from their +first teachers, and probably from Epaphras (i. 7) that they had +"received Christ." So then what we receive, when, from human lips, we +hear the gospel and accept it, is not merely the word about the Saviour, +but the Saviour Himself. This expression of our text is no mere loose or +rhetorical mode of speech, but a literal and blessed truth. Christ is +the sum of all Christian teaching and, where the message of His love is +welcomed, He Himself comes in spiritual and real presence, and dwells in +the spirit. + +The solemnity of the full name of our Saviour in this connection is most +significant. Paul reminds the Colossians, in view of the teaching which +degraded the person and curtailed the work of Christ, that they had +received the man Jesus, the promised Christ, the universal Lord. As if +he had said, Remember whom you received in your conversion--_Christ_, +the Messiah, anointed, that is, fitted by the unmeasured possession of +the Divine Spirit to fulfil all prophecy and to be the world's +deliverer. Remember _Jesus_, the man, our brother;--therefore listen to +no misty speculations nor look to whispered mysteries nor to angel +hierarchies for knowledge of God or for help in conflict. Our gospel is +not theory spun out of men's brains, but is, first and foremost, the +history of a brother's life and death. You received _Jesus_, so you are +delivered from the tyranny of these unsubstantial and portentous +systems, and relegated to the facts of a human life for your knowledge +of God. You received Jesus Christ as _Lord_. He was proclaimed as Lord +of men, angels, and the universe, Lord and Creator of the spiritual and +material worlds, Lord of history and providence. Therefore you need not +give heed to those teachers who would fill the gulf between men and God +with a crowd of powers and rulers. You have all that your mind or heart +or will can need in the human Divine Jesus, who is the Christ and the +Lord for you and all men. You have received Him in the all-sufficiency +of His revealed nature and offices. You have Him for your very own. +Hold fast that which you have, and let no man take this your crown and +treasure. The same exhortation has emphatic application to the conflicts +of to-day. The Church has had Jesus set forth as Christ and Lord. His +manhood, the historical reality of His Incarnation with all its blessed +issues, His Messiahship as the fulfiller of prophecy and symbol, +designated and fitted by the fulness of the Spirit, to be man's +deliverer, His rule and authority over all creatures and events have +been taught, and the tumults of present unsettlement make it hard and +needful to keep true to that threefold belief, and to let nothing rob us +of any of the elements of the full gospel which lies in the august name, +Christ Jesus the Lord. + +To that gospel, to that Lord, the walk, the active life, is to be +conformed, and the manner thereof is more fully explained in the +following clauses. + +"Rooted and built up in Him." Here again we have the profound "in Him," +which appears so frequently in this and in the companion Epistle to the +Ephesians, and which must be allowed its proper force, as expressing a +most real indwelling of the believer in Christ, if the depth of the +meaning is to be sounded. + +Paul drives his fiery chariot through rhetorical proprieties, and never +shrinks from "mixed metaphors" if they more vigorously express his +thought. Here we have three incongruous ones close on each other's +heels. The Christian is to _walk_, to be _rooted_ like a tree, to be +_built up_ like a house. What does the incongruity matter to Paul as the +stream of thought and feeling hurries him along? + +The tenses of the verbs, too, are studiously and significantly varied. +Fully rendered they would be "having been rooted and being builded up." +The one is a past act done once for all, the effects of which are +permanent; the other is a continuous resulting process which is going on +now. The Christian has been rooted in Jesus Christ at the beginning of +his Christian course. His faith has brought him into living contact with +the Saviour, who has become as the fruitful soil into which the believer +sends his roots, and both feeds and anchors there. The familiar image of +the first Psalm may have been in the writer's mind, and naturally recurs +to ours. If we draw nourishment and stability from Christ, round whom +the roots of our being twine and cling, we shall flourish and grow and +bear fruit. No man can do without some person beyond himself on whom to +repose, nor can any of us find in ourselves or on earth the sufficient +soil for our growth. We are like seedlings dropped on some great rock, +which send their rootlets down the hard stone and are stunted till they +reach the rich leaf-mould at its base. We blindly feel through all the +barrenness of the world for something into which our roots may plunge +that we may be nourished and firm. In Christ we may be "like a tree +planted by the river of water;" out of Him we are "as the chaff," +rootless, lifeless, profitless, and swept at last by the wind from the +threshing floor. The choice is before every man--either to be rooted in +Christ by faith, or to be rootless. + +"Being built up in Him." The gradual continuous building up of the +structure of a Christian character is doubly expressed in this word by +the present tense which points to a process, and by the prefixed +preposition represented by "up," which points to the successive laying +of course of masonry upon course. We are the architects of our own +characters. If our lives are based on Jesus Christ as their foundation, +and every deed is in vital connection with Him, as at once its motive, +its pattern, its power, its aim, and its reward, then we shall build +holy and fair lives, which will be temples. Men do not merely grow as a +leaf which "grows green and broad, and takes no care." The other +metaphor of a building needs to be taken into account, to complete the +former. Effort, patient continuous labour must be put forth. More than +"forty and six years is this temple in building." A stone at a time is +fitted into its place, and so after much toil and many years, as in the +case of some mediaeval cathedral unfinished for centuries, the topstone +is brought forth at last. This choice, too, is before all men--to build +on Christ and so to build for eternity, or on sand and so to be crushed +below the ruins of their fallen houses. + +"Stablished in your faith, even as ye were taught." This is apparently +simply a more definite way of putting substantially the same thoughts as +in the former clauses. Possibly the meaning is "stablished by faith," +the Colossians' faith being the instrument of their establishment. But +the Revised Version is probably right in its rendering, "stablished in," +or as to, "your faith." Their faith, as Paul had just been saying, was +stedfast, but it needed yet increased firmness. And this exhortation, as +it were, translates the previous ones into more homely language, that if +any man stumbled at the mysticism of the thoughts there, he might grasp +the plain practicalness here. If we are established and confirmed in our +faith, we shall be rooted and built up in Jesus, for it is faith which +joins us to Him, and its increase measures our growth in and into Him. + +There then is a very plain practical issue of these deep thoughts of +union with Jesus. A progressive increase of our faith is the condition +of all Christian progress. The faith which is already the firmest, and +by its firmness may gladden an Apostle, is still capable of and needs +strengthening. Its range can be enlarged, its tenacity increased, its +power over heart and life reinforced. The eye of faith is never so keen +but that it may become more longsighted; its grasp never so close but +that it may be tightened; its realisation never so solid but that it may +be more substantial; its authority never so great but that it may be +made more absolute. This continual strengthening of faith is the most +essential form of a Christian's effort at self-improvement. Strengthen +faith and you strengthen all graces; for it measures our reception of +Divine help. + +And the furthest development which faith can attain should ever be +sedulously kept in harmony with the initial teaching--"even as ye were +taught." Progress does not consist in dropping the early truths of Jesus +Christ the Lord for newer wisdom and more speculative religion, but in +discovering ever deeper lessons and larger powers in these rudiments +which are likewise the last and highest lessons which men can learn. + +Further, as the daily effort of the believing soul ought to be to +strengthen the quality of his faith, so it should be to increase its +amount--"abounding in it with thanksgiving." Or if we adopt the reading +of the Revised Version, we shall omit the "in it," and find here only an +exhortation to thanksgiving. That is, in any case, the main idea of the +clause, which adds to the former the thought that thanksgiving is an +inseparable accompaniment of vigorous Christian life. It is to be called +forth, of course, mainly by the great gift of Christ, in whom we are +rooted and builded, and, in Paul's judgment it is the very spring of +Christian progress. + +That constant temper of gratitude implies a habitual presence to the +mind, of God's great mercy in His unspeakable gift, a continual glow of +heart as we gaze, a continual appropriation of that gift for our very +own, and a continual outflow of our heart's love to the Incarnate and +Immortal Love. Such thankfulness will bind us to glad obedience, and +will give swiftness to the foot and eagerness to the will, to run in the +way of God's commandments. It is like genial sunshine, all flowers +breathe perfume and fruits ripen under its influence. It is the fire +which kindles the sacrifice of life and makes it go up in fragrant +incense-clouds, acceptable to God. The highest nobleness of which man is +capable is reached when, moved by the mercies of God, we yield ourselves +living sacrifices, thank-offerings to Him Who yielded Himself the +sin-offering for us. The life which is all influenced by thanksgiving +will be pure, strong, happy, in its continual counting of its gifts, and +in its thoughts of the Giver, and not least happy and beautiful in its +glad surrender of itself to Him who has given Himself for and to it. The +noblest offering that we can bring, the only recompense which Christ +asks, is that our hearts and our lives should say, We thank thee, O +Lord. "By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God +continually," and the continual thanksgiving will ensure continuous +growth in our Christian character, and a constant increase in the +strength and depth of our faith. + + + + +XII. + +_THE BANE AND THE ANTIDOTE._ + + "Take heed lest there shall be any one that maketh spoil of you + through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, + after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ: for in Him + dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and in Him ye are + made full, Who is the head of all principality and power."--COL. ii. + 8-10 (Rev. Ver.). + + +We come now to the first plain reference to the errors which were +threatening the peace of the Colossian community. Here Paul crosses +swords with the foe. This is the point to which all his previous words +have been steadily converging. The immediately preceding context +contained the positive exhortation to continue in the Christ Whom they +had received, having been rooted in Him as the tree in a fertile place +"by the rivers of water," and being continually builded up in Him, with +ever-growing completeness of holy character. The same exhortation in +substance is contained in the verses which we have now to consider, with +the difference that it is here presented negatively, as warning and +dehortation, with distinct statement of the danger which would uproot +the tree and throw down the building, and drag the Colossians away from +union with Christ. + +In these words the Bane and Antidote are both before us. Let us consider +each. + +I. The Poison against which Paul warns the Colossians is plainly +described in our first verse, the terms of which may require a brief +comment. + +"Take heed lest there shall be." The construction implies that it is a +real and not a hypothetical danger which he sees threatening. He is not +crying "wolf" before there is need. + +"Any one"--perhaps the tone of the warning would be better conveyed if +we read the more familiar "somebody"; as if he had said--"I name no +names--it is not the persons but the principles that I fight +against--but you know whom I mean well enough. Let him be anonymous, you +understand who it is." Perhaps there was even a single "somebody" who +was the centre of the mischief. + +"That maketh spoil of you." Such is the full meaning of the word--and +not "injure" or "rob," which the translation in the Authorized Version +suggests to an English reader. Paul sees the converts in Colossae taken +prisoners and led away with a cord round their necks, like the long +strings of captives on the Assyrian monuments. He had spoken in the +previous chapter (ver. 13) of the merciful conqueror who had +"translated" them from the realm of darkness into a kingdom of light, +and now he fears lest a robber horde, making a raid upon the peaceful +colonists in their happy new homes, may sweep them away again into +bondage. + +The instrument which the man-stealer uses, or perhaps we may say, the +cord, whose fatal noose will be tightened round them, if they do not +take care, is "philosophy and vain deceit." If Paul had been writing in +English, he would have put "philosophy" in inverted commas, to show that +he was quoting the heretical teachers' own name for their system, if +system it may be called, which was really a chaos. For the true love of +wisdom, for any honest, humble attempt to seek after her as hid +treasure, neither Paul nor Paul's Master have anything but praise and +sympathy and help. Where he met real, however imperfect, searchers after +truth, he strove to find points of contact between them and his message, +and to present the gospel as the answer to their questionings, the +declaration of that which they were groping to find. The thing spoken of +here has no resemblance but in name to what the Greeks in their better +days first called philosophy, and nothing but that mere verbal +coincidence warrants the representation--often made both by +narrow-minded Christians, and by unbelieving thinkers--that Christianity +takes up a position of antagonism or suspicion to it. + +The form of the expression in the original shows clearly that "vain +deceit," or more literally "empty deceit," describes the "philosophy" +which Paul is bidding them beware of. They are not two things, but one. +It is like a blown bladder, full of wind, and nothing else. In its lofty +pretensions, and if we take its own account of itself, it is a love of +and search after wisdom; but if we look at it more closely, it is a +swollen nothing, empty and a fraud. This is what he is condemning. The +genuine thing he has nothing to say about here. + +He goes on to describe more closely this impostor, masquerading in the +philosopher's cloak. It is "after the traditions of men." We have seen +in a former chapter what a strange heterogeneous conglomerate of Jewish +ceremonial and Oriental dreams the false teachers in Colossae were +preaching. Probably both these elements are included here. It is +significant that the very expression, "the traditions of men," is a word +of Christ's, applied to the Pharisees, whom He charges with "leaving the +commandment of God, and holding fast the tradition of men" (Mark vii. +8). The portentous undergrowth of such "traditions" which, like the +riotous fertility of creepers in a tropical forest, smother and kill the +trees round which they twine, is preserved for our wonder and warning in +the Talmud, where for thousands and thousands of pages, we get nothing +but Rabbi So and So said this, but Rabbi So and So said that; until we +feel stifled, and long for one Divine Word to still all the babble. + +The Oriental element in the heresy, on the other hand, prided itself on +a hidden teaching which was too sacred to be entrusted to books, and was +passed from lip to lip in some close conclave of muttering teachers and +listening adepts. The fact that all this, be it Jewish, be it Oriental +teaching, had no higher source than men's imaginings and refinings, +seems to Paul the condemnation of the whole system. His theory is that +in Jesus Christ, every Christian man has the full truth concerning God +and man, in their mutual relations,--the authoritative Divine +declaration of all that can be known, the perfect exemplar of all that +ought to be done, the sun-clear illumination and proof of all that dare +be hoped. What an absurd descent, then, from the highest of our +prerogatives, to "turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven," in +order to listen to poor human voices, speaking men's thoughts! + +The lesson is as needful to-day as ever. The special forms of men's +traditions in question here have long since fallen silent, and trouble +no man any more. But the tendency to give heed to human teachers and to +suffer them to come between us and Christ is deep in us all. There is at +one extreme the man who believes in no revelation from God, and, smiling +at us Christians who accept Christ's words as final and Himself as the +Incarnate truth, often pays to his chosen human teacher a deference as +absolute as that which he regards as superstition, when we render it to +our Lord. At the other extremity are the Christians who will not let +Christ and the Scripture speak to the soul, unless the Church be present +at the interview, like a jailer, with a bunch of man-made creeds +jingling at its belt. But it is not only at the two ends of the line, +but all along its length, that men are listening to "traditions" of men +and neglecting "the commandment of God." We have all the same tendency +in us. Every man carries a rationalist and a traditionalist under his +skin. Every Church in Christendom, whether it has a formal creed or no, +is ruled as to its belief and practice, to a sad extent, by the +"traditions of the elders." The "freest" of the Nonconformist Churches, +untrammelled by any formal confession, may be bound with as tight +fetters, and be as much dominated by men's opinions, as if it had the +straitest of creeds. The mass of our religious beliefs and practices has +ever to be verified, corrected and remodelled, by harking back from +creeds, written or unwritten, to the one Teacher, the endless +significance of Whose person and work is but expressed in fragments by +the purest and widest thoughts even of those who have lived nearest to +Him, and seen most of His beauty. Let us get away from men, from the +Babel of opinions and the strife of tongues, that we may "hear the words +of His mouth!" Let us take heed of the empty fraud which lays the absurd +snare for our feet, that we can learn to know God by any means but by +listening to His own speech in His Eternal Word, lest it lead us away +captive out of the Kingdom of the Light! Let us go up to the pure spring +on the mountain top, and not try to slake our thirst at the muddy pools +at its base! "Ye are Christ's, be not the slave of men." "This is My +beloved Son, hear ye Him." + +Another mark of this empty pretence of wisdom which threatens to +captivate the Colossians is, that it is "after the rudiments of the +world." The word rendered "rudiments" means the letters of the alphabet, +and hence comes naturally to acquire the meaning of "elements," or +"first principles," just as we speak of the A B C of a science. The +application of such a designation to the false teaching, is, like the +appropriation of the term "mystery" to the gospel, an instance of +turning the tables and giving back the teachers their own words. They +boasted of mysterious doctrines reserved for the initiated, of which the +plain truths that Paul preached were but the elements, and they looked +down contemptuously on his message as "milk for babes." Paul retorts on +them, asserting that the true mystery, the profound truth long hidden +and revealed, is the word which he preached, and that the +poverty-stricken elements, fit only for infants, are in that swelling +inanity which called itself wisdom and was not. Not only does he brand +it as "rudiments," but as "rudiments of the _world_," which is +worse--that is to say, as belonging to the sphere of the outward and +material, and not to the higher region of the spiritual, where Christian +thought ought to dwell. So two weaknesses are charged against the +system: it is the mere alphabet of truth, and therefore unfit for grown +men. It moves, for all its lofty pretensions, in the region of the +visible and mundane things and is therefore unfit for spiritual men. +What features of the system are referred to in this phrase? Its use in +the Epistle to the Galatians (iv. 3), as a synonyme for the whole system +of ritual observances and ceremonial precepts of Judaism, and the +present context, which passes on immediately to speak of circumcision, +point to a similar meaning here, though we may include also the +ceremonial and ritual of the Gentile religions, in so far as they +contributed to the outward forms which the Colossian heresy sought to +impose on the Church. This then is Paul's opinion about a system which +laid stress on ceremonial and busied itself with forms. He regards it as +a deliberate retrogression to an earlier stage. A religion of rites had +come first, and was needed for the spiritual infancy of the race--but in +Christ we ought to have outgrown the alphabet of revelation, and, being +men, to have put away childish things. He regards it further as a +pitiable descent into a lower sphere, a fall from the spiritual realm to +the material, and therefore unbecoming for those who have been +enfranchised from dependence upon outward helps and symbols, and taught +the spirituality and inwardness of Christian worship. + +We need the lesson in this day no less than did these Christians in the +little community in that remote valley of Phrygia. The forms which were +urged on them are long since antiquated, but the tendency to turn +Christianity into a religion of ceremonial is running with an unusually +powerful current to-day. We are all more interested in art, and think we +know more about it than our fathers did. The eye and the ear are more +educated than they used to be, and a society as "aesthetic" and "musical" +as much cultured English society is becoming, will like an ornate +ritual. So, apart altogether from doctrinal grounds, much in the +conditions of to-day works towards ritual religion. Nonconformist +services are less plain; some go from their ranks because they dislike +the "bald" worship in the chapel, and prefer the more elaborate forms of +the Anglican Church, which in its turn is for the same reason left by +others who find their tastes gratified by the complete thing, as it is +to be enjoyed full blown in the Roman Catholic communion. We may freely +admit that the Puritan reaction was possibly too severe, and that a +little more colour and form might with advantage have been retained. But +enlisting the senses as the allies of the spirit in worship is risky +work. They are very apt to fight for their own hand when they once +begin, and the history of all symbolic and ceremonial worship shows that +the experiment is much more likely to end in sensualising religion than +in spiritualising sense. The theory that such aids make a ladder by +which the soul may ascend to God is perilously apt to be confuted by +experience, which finds that the soul is quite as likely to go down the +ladder as up it. The gratification of taste, and the excitation of +aesthetic sensibility, which are the results of such aids to worship, are +not worship, however they may be mistaken as such. All ceremonial is in +danger of becoming opaque instead of transparent as it was meant to be, +and of detaining mind and eye instead of letting them pass on and up to +God. Stained glass is lovely, and white windows are "barnlike," and +"starved," and "bare"; but perhaps, if the object is to get light and to +see the sun, these solemn purples and glowing yellows are rather in the +way. I for my part believe that of the two extremes, a Quaker's meeting +is nearer the ideal of Christian worship than High Mass, and so far as +my feeble voice can reach, I would urge, as eminently a lesson for the +day, Paul's great principle here, that a Christianity making much of +forms and ceremonies is a distinct retrogression and descent. You are +men in Christ, do not go back to the picture book A B C of symbol and +ceremony, which was fit for babes. You have been brought in to the inner +sanctuary of worship in spirit; do not decline to the beggarly elements +of outward form. + +Paul sums up his indictment in one damning clause, the result of the two +preceding. If the heresy have no higher source than men's traditions, +and no more solid contents than ceremonial observances, it cannot be +"after Christ." He is neither its origin, nor its substance, nor its +rule and standard. There is a fundamental discord between every such +system, however it may call itself Christian, and Christ. The opposition +may be concealed by its teachers. They and their victims may not be +aware of it. They may not themselves be conscious that by adopting it +they have slipped off the foundation; but they have done so, and though +in their own hearts they be loyal to Him, they have brought an +incurable discord into their creeds which will weaken their lives, if it +do not do worse. Paul cared very little for the dreams of these +teachers, except in so far as they carried them and others away from his +Master. The Colossians might have as many ceremonies as they liked, and +welcome; but when these interfered with the sole reliance to be placed +on Christ's work, then they must have no quarter. It is not merely +because the teaching was "after the traditions of men, after the +rudiments of the world," but because being so, it was "not after +Christ," that Paul will have none of it. He that touches his Master +touches the apple of his eye, and shades of opinion, and things +indifferent in practice, and otherwise unimportant forms of worship, +have to be fought to the death if they obscure one corner of the perfect +and solitary work of the One Lord, who is at once the source, the +substance, and the standard of all Christian teaching. + +II. The Antidote.--"For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead +bodily, and in Him ye are made full, who is the head of all principality +and power." + +These words may be a reason for the warning--"Take heed, _for_"; or they +may be a reason for the implied exclusion of any teaching which is not +after Christ. The statement of its characteristics carries in itself its +condemnation. Anything "not after Christ" is _ipso facto_ wrong, and to +be avoided--"for," etc. "In Him" is placed with emphasis at the +beginning, and implies "and nowhere else." "Dwelleth," that is, has its +permanent abode; where the tense is to be noticed also, as pointing to +the ascended Christ. "All the fulness of the Godhead," that is, the +whole unbounded powers and attributes of Deity, where is to be noted the +use of the abstract term _Godhead_, instead of the more usual _God_, in +order to express with the utmost force the thought of the indwelling in +Christ of the whole essence and nature of God. "Bodily," that points to +the Incarnation, and so is an advance upon the passage in the former +chapter (ver. 19), which speaks of "the fulness" dwelling in the Eternal +Word, whereas this speaks of the Eternal Word in whom the fulness dwelt +becoming flesh. So we are pointed to the glorified corporeal humanity of +Jesus Christ in His exaltation as the abode, now and for ever, of all +the fulness of the Divine nature, which is thereby brought very near to +us. This grand truth seems to Paul to shiver to pieces all the dreams of +these teachers about angel mediators, and to brand as folly every +attempt to learn truth and God anywhere else but in Him. + +If He be the one sole temple of Deity in whom all Divine glories are +stored, why go anywhere else in order to _see_ or to _possess_ God? It +is folly; for not only are all these glories stored in Him, but they are +so stored on purpose to be reached by us. Therefore the Apostle goes on, +"and in Him ye are made full;" which sets forth two things as true in +the inward life of all Christians, namely, their living incorporation in +and union with Christ, and their consequent participation in His +fulness. Every one of us may enter into that most real and close union +with Jesus Christ by the power of continuous faith in Him. So may we be +grafted into the Vine, and builded into the Rock. If thus we keep our +hearts in contact with His heart and let Him lay His lip on our lips, +He will breathe into us the breath of His own life, and we shall live +because He lives, and in our measure, as He lives. All the fulness of +God is in Him, that from Him it may pass into us. We might start back +from such bold words if we did not remember that the same apostle who +here tells us that that fulness dwells in Jesus, crowns his wonderful +prayer for the Ephesian Christians with that daring petition, "that ye +may be filled with all the fulness of God." The treasure was lodged in +the earthen vessel of Christ's manhood that it might be within our +reach. He brings the fiery blessing of a Divine life from Heaven to +earth enclosed in the feeble reed of His manhood, that it may kindle +kindred fire in many a heart. Freely the water of life flows into all +cisterns from the ever fresh stream, into which the infinite depth of +that unfathomable sea of good pours itself. Every kind of spiritual +blessing is given therein. That stream, like a river of molten lava, +holds many precious things in its flaming current, and will cool into +many shapes and deposit many rare and rich gifts. According to our need +it will vary itself, being to each what the moment most +requires,--wisdom, or strength, or beauty, or courage, or patience. Out +of it will come whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of +good report, as Rabbinical legends tell us that the manna tasted to each +man like the food for which he wished most. + +This process of receiving of all the Divine fulness is a continuous one. +We can but be approximating to the possession of the infinite treasure +which is ours in Christ; and since the treasure is infinite, and we can +indefinitely grow in capacity of receiving God, there must be an +eternal continuance of the filling and an eternal increase of the +measure of what fills us. Our natures are elastic, and in love and +knowledge, as well as in purity and capacity for blessedness, there are +no bounds to be set to their possible expansion. They will be widened by +bliss into a greater capacity for bliss. The indwelling Christ will +"enlarge the place of His habitation," and as the walls stretch and the +roofs soar, He will fill the greater house with the light of His +presence and the fragrance of His name. The condition of this continuous +reception of the abundant gift of a Divine life is abiding in Jesus. It +is "in Him" that we are "being filled full"--and it is only so long as +we continue in Him that we continue full. We cannot bear away our +supplies, as one might a full bucket from a well, and keep it full. All +the grace will trickle out and disappear unless we live in constant +union with our Lord, whose Spirit passes into our deadness only so long +as we are joined to Him. + +From all such thoughts Paul would have us draw the conclusion--how +foolish, then, it must be to go to any other source for the supply of +our needs! Christ is "the head of all principality and power," he adds, +with a reference to the doctrine of angel mediators, which evidently +played a great part in the heretical teaching. If He is sovereign head +of all dignity and power on earth and heaven, why go to the ministers, +when we have access to the King; or have recourse to erring human +teachers, when we have the Eternal Word to enlighten us; or flee to +creatures to replenish our emptiness, when we may draw from the depths +of God in Christ? Why should we go on a weary search after goodly +pearls when the richest of all is by us, if we will have it? Do we seek +to know God? Let us behold Christ, and let men talk as they list. Do we +crave a stay for our spirit, guidance and impulse for our lives? Let us +cleave to Christ, and we shall be no more lonely and bewildered. Do we +need a quieting balm to be laid on conscience, and the sense of guilt to +be lifted from our hearts? Let us lay our hands on Christ, the one +sacrifice, and leave all other altars and priests and ceremonies. Do we +look longingly for some light on the future? Let us stedfastly gaze on +Christ as He rises to heaven bearing a human body into the glory of God. + +Though all the earth were covered with helpers and lovers of my soul, +"as the sand by the sea shore innumerable," and all the heavens were +sown with faces of angels who cared for me and succoured me, thick as +the stars in the milky way--all could not do for me what I need. Yea, +though all these were gathered into one mighty and loving creature, even +he were no sufficient stay for one soul of man. We want more than +creature help. We need the whole fulness of the Godhead to draw from. It +is all there in Christ, for each of us. Whosoever will, let him draw +freely. Why should we leave the fountain of living waters to hew out for +ourselves, with infinite pains, broken cisterns that can hold no water? +All we need is in Christ. Let us lift our eyes from the low earth and +all creatures, and behold "no man any more," as Lord and Helper, "save +Jesus only," "that we may be filled with all the fulness of God." + + + + +XIII. + +_THE TRUE CIRCUMCISION._ + + "In whom ye were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with + hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the + circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, + wherein ye were also raised with Him through faith in the working of + God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead through your + trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you, _I say_, did + he quicken together with Him, having forgiven us all our + trespasses."--COL. ii. 11-13 (Rev. Ver.). + + +There are two opposite tendencies ever at work in human nature to +corrupt religion. One is of the intellect; the other of the senses. The +one is the temptation of the cultured few; the other, that of the vulgar +many. The one turns religion into theological speculation; the other, +into a theatrical spectacle. But, opposite as these tendencies usually +are, they were united in that strange chaos of erroneous opinion and +practice which Paul had to front at Colossae. From right and from left he +was assailed, and his batteries had to face both ways. Here he is mainly +engaged with the error which insisted on imposing circumcision on these +Gentile converts. + +I. To this teaching of the necessity of circumcision, he first opposes +the position that all Christian men, by virtue of their union with +Christ, have received the true circumcision, of which the outward rite +was a shadow and a prophecy, and that therefore the rite is antiquated +and obsolete. + +His language is emphatic and remarkable. It points to a definite past +time--no doubt the time when they became Christians--when, because they +were in Christ, a change passed on them which is fitly paralleled with +circumcision. This Christian circumcision is described in three +particulars: as "not made with hands;" as consisting in "putting off the +body of the flesh;" and as being "of Christ." + +It is "not made with hands," that is, it is not a rite but a reality, +not transacted in flesh but in spirit. It is not the removal of +ceremonial impurity, but the cleansing of the heart. This idea of +ethical circumcision, of which the bodily rite is the type, is common in +the Old Testament, as, for instance, "The Lord thy God will circumcise +thine heart ... to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart" (Deut. +xxx. 6). This is the true Christian circumcision. + +It consists in the "putting off the body of the flesh"--for "the sins +of" is an interpolation. Of course a man does not shuffle off this +mortal coil when he becomes a Christian, so that we have to look for +some other meaning of the strong words. They are very strong, for the +word "putting off" is intensified so as to express a complete stripping +off from oneself, as of clothes which are laid aside, and is evidently +intended to contrast the partial outward circumcision as the removal of +a small part of the body, with the entire removal effected by union with +Christ. If that removal of "the body of the flesh" is "not made with +hands," then it can only be in the sphere of the spiritual life, that is +to say, it must consist in a change in the relation of the two +constituents of a man's being, and that of such a kind that, for the +future, the Christian shall not live after the flesh, though he live in +the flesh. "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit," says Paul, and +again he uses an expression as strong as, if not stronger than that of +our text, when he speaks of "the body" as "being destroyed," and +explains himself by adding "that henceforth we should not serve sin." It +is not the body considered simply as material and fleshly that we put +off, but the body considered as the seat of corrupt and sinful +affections and passions. A new principle of life comes into men's hearts +which delivers them from the dominion of these, and makes it possible +that they should live in the flesh, not "according to the lusts of the +flesh, but according to the will of God." True, the text regards this +divesting as complete, whereas, as all Christian men know only too +sadly, it is very partial, and realised only by slow degrees. The ideal +is represented here,--what we receive "in Him," rather than what we +actually possess and incorporate into our experience. On the Divine side +the change is complete. Christ gives complete emancipation from the +dominion of sense, and if we are not in reality completely emancipated, +it is because we have not taken the things that are freely given to us, +and are not completely "_in_ Him." So far as we are, we have put off +"the flesh." The change has passed on us if we are Christians. We have +to work it out day by day. The foe may keep up a guerilla warfare after +he is substantially defeated, but his entire subjugation is certain if +we keep hold of the strength of Christ. + +Finally, this circumcision is described as "of Christ," by which is not +meant that He submitted to it, but that He instituted it. + +Such being the force of this statement, what is its bearing on the +Apostle's purpose? He desires to destroy the teaching that the rite of +circumcision was binding on the Christian converts, and he does so by +asserting that the gospel has brought the reality, of which the rite was +but a picture and a prophecy. The underlying principle is that when we +have the thing signified by any Jewish rites, which were all prophetic +as well as symbolic, the rite may--must go. Its retention is an +anachronism, "as if a flower should shut, and be a bud again." That is a +wise and pregnant principle, but as it comes to the surface again +immediately hereafter, and is applied to a whole series of subjects, we +may defer the consideration of it, and rather dwell briefly on other +matters suggested by this verse. + +We notice, then, the intense moral earnestness which leads the Apostle +here to put the true centre of gravity of Christianity in moral +transformation, and to set all outward rites and ceremonies in a very +subordinate place. What had Jesus Christ come from heaven for, and for +what had He borne His bitter passion? To what end were the Colossians +knit to Him by a tie so strong, tender and strange? Had they been +carried into that inmost depth of union with Him, and were they still to +be laying stress on ceremonies? Had Christ's work, then, no higher issue +than to leave religion bound in the cords of outward observances? Surely +Jesus Christ, who gives men a new life by union with Himself, which +union is brought about through faith alone, has delivered men from that +"yoke of bondage," if He has done anything at all. Surely they who are +joined to Him should have a profounder apprehension of the means and the +end of their relation to their Lord than to suppose that it is either +brought about by any outward rite, or has any reality unless it makes +them pure and good. From that height all questions of external +observances dwindle into insignificance, and all question of sacramental +efficacy drops away of itself. The vital centre lies in our being joined +to Jesus Christ--the condition of which is faith in Him, and the outcome +of it a new life which delivers us from the dominion of the flesh. How +far away from such conceptions of Christianity are those which busy +themselves on either side with matters of detail, with punctilios of +observance, and pedantries of form? The hatred of forms may be as +completely a form as the most elaborate ritual--and we all need to have +our eyes turned away from these to the far higher thing, the worship and +service offered by a transformed nature. + +We notice again, that the conquest of the animal nature and the material +body is the certain outcome of true union with Christ, and of that +alone. + +Paul did not regard matter as necessarily evil, as these teachers at +Colossae did, nor did he think of the body as the source of all sin. But +he knew that the fiercest and most fiery temptations came from it, and +that the foulest and most indelible stains on conscience were splashed +from the mud which it threw. We all know that too. It is a matter of +life and death for each of us to find some means of taming and holding +in the animal that is in us all. We all know of wrecked lives, which +have been driven on the rocks by the wild passions belonging to the +flesh. Fortune, reputation, health, everything are sacrificed by +hundreds of men, especially young men, at the sting of this imperious +lust. The budding promise of youth, innocence, hope, and all which makes +life desirable and a nature fair, are trodden down by the hoofs of the +brute. There is no need to speak of that. And when we come to add to +this the weaknesses of the flesh, and the needs of the flesh, and the +limitations of the flesh, and to remember how often high purposes are +frustrated by its shrinking from toil, and how often mists born from its +undrained swamps darken the vision that else might gaze on truth and +God, we cannot but feel that we do not need to be Eastern Gnostics, to +believe that goodness requires the flesh to be subdued. Every one who +has sought for self-improvement recognises the necessity. But no +asceticisms and no resolves will do what we want. Much repression may be +effected by sheer force of will, but it is like a man holding a wolf by +the jaws. The arms begin to ache and the grip to grow slack, and he +feels his strength ebbing, and knows that, as soon as he lets go, the +brute will fly at his throat. Repression is not taming. Nothing tames +the wild beast in us but the power of Christ. He binds it in a silken +lash, and that gentle constraint is strong, because the fierceness is +gone. "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and a little child shall +lead them." The power of union with Christ, and that alone, will enable +us to put off the body of the flesh. And such union will certainly lead +to such crucifying of the animal nature. Christianity would be easy if +it were a round of observances; it would be comparatively easy if it +were a series of outward asceticisms. Anybody can fast or wear a hair +shirt, if he have motive sufficient; but the "putting off the body of +the flesh" which is "not made with hands," is a different and harder +thing. Nothing else avails. High-flown religious emotion, or clear +theological definitions, or elaborate ceremonial worship, may all have +their value; but a religion which includes them all, and leaves out the +plain moralities of subduing the flesh, and keeping our heel well +pressed down on the serpent's head, is worthless. If we are in Christ, +we shall not live in the flesh. + +II. The Apostle meets the false teaching of the need for circumcision, +by a second consideration; namely, a reference to Christian Baptism, as +being the Christian sign of that inward change. + +Ye were circumcised, says he--being buried with Him in baptism. The form +of expression in the Greek implies that the two things are +cotemporaneous. As if he had said--Do you want any further rite to +express that mighty change which passed on you when you came to be "in +Christ"? You have been baptised, does not that express all the meaning +that circumcision ever had, and much more? What can you want with the +less significant rite when you have the more significant? This reference +to baptism is quite consistent with what has been said as to the +subordinate importance of ritual. Some forms we must have, if there is +to be any outward visible Church, and Christ has yielded to the +necessity, and given us two, of which the one symbolises the initial +spiritual act of the Christian life, and the other the constantly +repeated process of Christian nourishment. They are symbols and outward +representations, nothing more. They convey grace, in so far as they +help us to realise more clearly and to feel more deeply the facts on +which our spiritual life is fed, but they are not channels of grace in +any other way than any other outward acts of worship may be. + +We see that the form of baptism here presupposed is by immersion, and +that the form is regarded as significant. All but entire unanimity +prevails among commentators on this point. The burial and the +resurrection spoken of point unmistakably to the primitive mode of +baptism, as Bishop Lightfoot, the latest and best English expositor of +this book, puts it in his paraphrase: "Ye were buried with Christ to +your old selves beneath the baptismal waters, and were raised with Him +from these same waters, to a new and better life." + +If so, two questions deserve consideration--first, is it right to alter +a form which has a meaning that is lost by the change? second, can we +alter a significant form without destroying it? Is the new thing rightly +called by the old name? If baptism be immersion, and immersion express a +substantial part of its meaning, can sprinkling or pouring be baptism? + +Again, baptism is associated in time with the inward change, which is +the true circumcision. There are but two theories on which these two +things are cotemporaneous. The one is the theory that baptism effects +the change, the other is the theory that baptism goes with the change as +its sign. The association is justified if men are "circumcised," that +is, changed when they are baptised, or if men are baptised when they +have been "circumcised." No other theory gives full weight to these +words. + +The former theory elevates baptism into more than the importance of +which Paul sought to deprive circumcision, it confuses the distinction +between the Church and the world, it lulls men into a false security, it +obscures the very central truth of Christianity--namely that faith in +Christ, working by love, makes a Christian--it gives the basis for a +portentous reproduction of sacerdotalism, and it is shivered to pieces +against the plain facts of daily life. But it may be worth while to +notice in a sentence, that it is conclusively disposed of by the +language before us--it is "through faith in the operation of God" that +we are raised again in baptism. Not the rite, then, but faith is the +means of this participation with Christ in burial and resurrection. What +remains but that baptism is associated with that spiritual change by +which we are delivered from the body of the flesh, because in the Divine +order it is meant to be the outward symbol of that change which is +effected by no rite or sacrament, but by faith alone, uniting us to the +transforming Christ? + +We observe the solemnity and the thoroughness of the change thus +symbolised. It is more than a circumcision. It is burial and a +resurrection, an entire dying of the old self by union with Christ, a +real and present rising again by participation in His risen life. This +and nothing less makes a Christian. We partake of His death, inasmuch as +we ally ourselves to it by our faith, as the sacrifice for our sins, and +make it the ground of all our hope. But that is not all. We partake of +His death, inasmuch as, by the power of His cross, we are drawn to sever +ourselves from the selfish life, and to slay our own old nature; dying +for His dear sake to the habits, tastes, desires and purposes in which +we lived. Self-crucifixion for the love of Christ is the law for us all. +His cross is the pattern for our conduct, as well as the pledge and +means of our acceptance. We must die to sin that we may live to +righteousness. We must die to self, that we may live to God and our +brethren. We have no right to trust in Christ _for_ us, except as we +have Christ _in_ us. His cross is not saving us from our guilt, unless +it is moulding our lives to some faint likeness of Him who died that we +might live, and might live a real life by dying daily to the world, sin, +and self. + +If we are thus made conformable to His death, we shall know the power of +His resurrection, in all its aspects. It will be to us the guarantee of +our own, and we shall know its power as a prophecy for our future. It +will be to us the seal of His perfect work on the cross, and we shall +know its power as God's token of acceptance of His sacrifice in the +past. It will be to us the type of our spiritual resurrection now, and +we shall know its power as the pattern and source of our supernatural +life in the present. Thus we must die in and with Christ that we may +live in and with Him, and that twofold process is the very heart of +personal religion. No lofty participation in the immortal hopes which +spring from the empty grave of Jesus is warranted, unless we have His +quickening power raising us to-day by a better resurrection; and no +participation in the present power of His heavenly life is possible, +unless we have such a share in His death, as that by it the world is +crucified to us, and we unto the world. + +III. The Apostle adds another phase of this great contrast of life and +death, which brings home still more closely to his hearers, the deep +and radical change which passes upon all Christians. He has been +speaking of a death and burial followed by a resurrection. But there is +another death from which Christ raises us, by that same risen life +imparted to us through faith--a darker and grimmer thing than the +self-abnegation before described. + +"And you, being dead through your trespasses, and the uncircumcision of +your flesh." The separate acts of transgression of which they had been +guilty, and the unchastened, unpurified, carnal nature from which these +had flowed, were the reasons of a very real and awful death; or, as the +parallel passage in Ephesians (ii. 2) puts it with a slight variation, +they made the condition or sphere in which that death inhered. That +solemn thought, so pregnant in its dread emphasis in Scripture, is not +to be put aside as a mere metaphor. All life stands in union with God. +The physical universe exists by reason of its perpetual contact with His +sustaining hand, in the hollow of which all Being lies, and it is, +because He touches it. "In Him we live." So also the life of mind is +sustained by His perpetual inbreathing, and in the deepest sense "we see +light" in His light. So, lastly, the highest life of the spirit stands +in union in still higher manner with Him, and to be separated from Him +is death to it. Sin breaks that union, and therefore sin is death, in +the very inmost centre of man's being. The awful warning, "In the day +thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die," was fulfilled. That +separation by sin, in which the soul is wrenched from God, is the real +death, and the thing that men call by the name is only an outward symbol +of a far sadder fact--the shadow of that which is the awful substance, +and as much less terrible than it as painted fires are less than the +burning reality. + +So men may live in the body, and toil and think and feel, and be dead. +The world is full of "sheeted dead," that "squeak and gibber" in "our +streets," for every soul that lives to self and has rent itself away +from God, so far as a creature can, is "dead while he liveth." The other +death, of which the previous verse spoke, is therefore but the putting +off of a death. We lose nothing of real life in putting off self, but +only that which keeps us in a separation from God, and slays our true +and highest being. To die to self is but "the death of death." + +The same life of which the previous verse spoke as coming from the risen +Lord is here set forth as able to raise us from that death of sin. "He +hath quickened you together with Him." Union with Christ floods our dead +souls with His own vitality, as water will pour from a reservoir through +a tube inserted in it. There is the actual communication of a new life +when we touch Christ by faith. The prophet of old laid himself upon the +dead child, the warm lip on the pallid mouth, the throbbing heart on the +still one, and the contact rekindled the extinguished spark. So Christ +lays His full life on our deadness, and does more than recall a departed +glow of vitality. He communicates a new life kindred with His own. That +life makes us free here and now from the law of sin and death, and it +shall be perfected hereafter when the working of His mighty power shall +change the body of our humiliation into the likeness of the body of His +glory, and the leaven of His new life shall leaven the three measures in +which it is hidden, body, soul, and spirit, with its own transforming +energy. Then, in yet higher sense, death shall die, and life shall be +victor by His victory. + +But to all this one preliminary is needful--"having forgiven us all +trespasses." Paul's eagerness to associate himself with his brethren, +and to claim his share in the forgiveness, as well as to unite in the +acknowledgment of sin, makes him change his word from "you" to "us." So +the best manuscripts give the text, and the reading is obviously full of +interest and suggestiveness. There must be a removal of the cause of +deadness before there can be a quickening to new life. That cause was +sin, which cannot be cancelled as guilt by any self-denial however +great, nor even by the impartation of a new life from God for the +future. A gospel which only enjoined dying to self would be as +inadequate as a gospel which only provided for a higher life in the +future. The stained and faultful past must be cared for. Christ must +bring pardon for it, as well as a new spirit for the future. So the +condition prior to our being quickened together with Him is God's +forgiveness, free and universal, covering all our sins, and given to us +without anything on our part. That condition is satisfied. Christ's +death brings to us God's pardon, and when the great barrier of +unforgiven sin is cleared away, Christ's life pours into our hearts, and +"everything lives whithersoever the river cometh." + +Here then we have the deepest ground of Paul's intense hatred of every +attempt to make anything but faith in Christ and moral purity essential +to the perfect Christian life. Circumcision and baptism and all other +rites or sacraments of Judaism or Christianity are equally powerless to +quicken dead souls. For that, the first thing needed is the forgiveness +of sins, and that is ours through simple faith in Christ's death. We are +quickened by Christ's own life in us, and He "dwells in our hearts by +faith." All ordinances may be administered to us a hundred times, and +without faith they leave us as they found us--dead. If we have hold of +Christ by faith we live, whether we have received the ordinances or not. +So all full blown or budding sacramentarianism is to be fought against +to the uttermost, because it tends to block the road to the City of +Refuge for a poor sinful soul, and the most pressing of all necessities +is that that way of life should be kept clear and unimpeded. + +We need the profound truth which lies in the threefold form which Paul +gives to one of his great watchwords: "Circumcision is nothing, and +uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God." +And how, says my despairing conscience, shall I keep the commandments? +The answer lies in the second form of the saying--"In Christ Jesus +neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new +creature." And how, replies my saddened heart, can I become a new +creature? The answer lies in the final form of the saying--"In Jesus +Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but +faith which worketh." Faith brings the life which makes us new men, and +then we can keep the commandments. If we have faith, and are new men and +do God's will, we need no rites but as helps. If we have not faith, all +rites are nothing. + + + + +XIV. + +_THE CROSS THE DEATH OF LAW AND THE TRIUMPH OVER EVIL POWERS._ + + "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, + which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to + His cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a + show of them openly, triumphing over them in it."--COL. ii. 14, 15 + (Rev. Ver.). + + +The same double reference to the two characteristic errors of the +Colossians which we have already met so frequently, presents itself +here. This whole section vibrates continually between warnings against +the Judaising enforcement of the Mosaic law on Gentile Christians, and +against the Oriental figments about a crowd of angelic beings filling +the space betwixt man and God, betwixt pure spirit and gross matter. One +great fact is here opposed to these strangely associated errors. The +cross of Christ is the abrogation of the Law; the cross of Christ is the +victory over principalities and powers. If we hold fast by it, we are +under no subjection to the former, and have neither to fear nor +reverence the latter. + +I. The Cross of Christ is the death of Law. + +The law is a written document. It has an antagonistic aspect to us all, +Gentiles as well as Jews. Christ has blotted it out. More than that, He +has taken it out of the way, as if it were an obstacle lying right in +the middle of our path. More than that, it is "nailed to the cross." +That phrase has been explained by an alleged custom of repealing laws +and cancelling bonds by driving a nail into them, and fixing them up in +public, but proof of the practice is said to be wanting. The thought +seems to be deeper than that. This antagonistic "law" is conceived of as +being, like "the world," crucified in the crucifixion of our Lord. The +nails which fastened Him to the cross fastened it, and in His death it +was done to death. We are free from it, "that being dead in which we +were held." + +We have first, then, to consider the "handwriting," or, as some would +render the word, "the bond." Of course, by _law_ here is primarily meant +the Mosaic ceremonial law, which was being pressed upon the Colossians. +It is so completely antiquated for us, that we have difficulty in +realising what a fight for life and death raged round the question of +its observance by the primitive Church. It is always harder to change +customs than creeds, and religious observances live on, as every maypole +on a village green tells us, long after the beliefs which animated them +are forgotten. So there was a strong body among the early believers to +whom it was flat blasphemy to speak of allowing the Gentile Christian to +come into the Church, except through the old doorway of circumcision, +and to whom the outward ceremonial of Judaism was the only visible +religion. That is the point directly at issue between Paul and these +teachers. + +But the modern distinction between moral and ceremonial law had no +existence in Paul's mind, any more than it has in the Old Testament, +where precepts of the highest morality and regulations of the merest +ceremonial are interstratified in a way most surprising to us moderns. +To him the law was a homogeneous whole, however diverse its commands, +because it was all the revelation of the will of God for the guidance of +man. It is the law as a whole, in all its aspects and parts, that is +here spoken of, whether as enjoining morality, or external observances, +or as an accuser fastening guilt on the conscience, or as a stern +prophet of retribution and punishment. + +Further, we must give a still wider extension to the thought. The +principles laid down are true not only in regard to "_the_ law," but +about all law, whether it be written on the tables of stone, or on "the +fleshy tables of the heart" or conscience, or in the systems of ethics, +or in the customs of society. Law, as such, howsoever enacted and +whatever the bases of its rule, is dealt with by Christianity in +precisely the same way as the venerable and God-given code of the Old +Testament. When we recognise that fact, these discussions in Paul's +Epistles flash up into startling vitality and interest. It has long +since been settled that Jewish ritual is nothing to us. But it ever +remains a burning question for each of us, What Christianity does for us +in relation to the solemn law of duty under which we are all placed, and +which we have all broken? + +The antagonism of law is the next point presented by these words. Twice, +to add to the emphasis, Paul tells us that the law is against us. It +stands opposite us fronting us and frowning at us, and barring our +road. Is "law" then become our "enemy because it tells us the truth?" +Surely this conception of law is a strange contrast to and descent from +the rapturous delight of psalmists and prophets in the "law of the +Lord." Surely God's greatest gift to man is the knowledge of His will, +and law is beneficent, a light and a guide to men, and even its strokes +are merciful. Paul believed all that too. But nevertheless the +antagonism is very real. As with God, so with law, if we be against Him, +He cannot but be against us. We may make Him our dearest friend or our +foe. "They rebelled ... therefore He was turned to be their enemy and +fought against them." The revelation of duty to which we are not +inclined is ever unwelcome. Law is against us, because it comes like a +taskmaster, bidding us do, but neither putting the inclination into our +hearts, nor the power into our hands. And law is against us, because the +revelation of unfulfilled duty is the accusation of the defaulter and a +revelation to him of his guilt. And law is against us, because it comes +with threatenings and foretastes of penalty and pain. Thus as standard, +accuser and avenger, it is--sad perversion of its nature and function +though such an attitude be--against us. + +We all know that. Strange and tragic it is, but alas! it is true, that +God's law presents itself before us as an enemy. Each of us has seen +that apparition, severe in beauty, like the sword-bearing angel that +Balaam saw "standing in the way" between the vineyards, blocking our +path when we wanted to "go frowardly in the way of our heart." Each of +us knows what it is to see our sentence in the stern face. The law of +the Lord should be to us "sweeter than honey and the honeycomb," but the +corruption of the best is the worst, and we can make it poison. Obeyed, +it is as the chariot of fire to bear us heavenward. Disobeyed, it is an +iron car that goes crashing on its way, crushing all who set themselves +against it. To know what we ought to be and to love and try to be it, is +blessedness, but to know it and to refuse to be it, is misery. In +herself she "wears the Godhead's most benignant grace," but if we turn +against her, Law, the "daughter of the voice of God," gathers frowns +upon her face and her beauty becomes stern and threatening. + +But the great principle here asserted is--the destruction of law in the +cross of Christ. The cross ends the law's power of _punishment_. Paul +believed that the burden and penalty of sin had been laid on Jesus +Christ and borne by Him on His cross. In deep, mysterious, but most real +identification of Himself with the whole race of man, He not only +Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses, by the might of +His sympathy and the reality of His manhood, but "the Lord made to meet +upon Him the iniquity of us all"; and He, the Lamb of God, willingly +accepted the load, and bare away our sins by bearing their penalty. + +To philosophise on that teaching of Scripture is not my business here. +It is my business to assert it. We can never penetrate to a full +understanding of the rationale of Christ's bearing the world's sins, but +that has nothing to do with the earnestness of our belief in the fact. +Enough for us that in His person He willingly made experience of all the +bitterness of sin: that when He agonised in the dark on the cross, and +when from out of the darkness came that awful cry, so strangely compact +of wistful confidence and utter isolation, "My God, My God, why hast +Thou forsaken Me?" it was something deeper than physical pain or +shrinking from physical death that found utterance--even the sin-laden +consciousness of Him who in that awful hour gathered into His own breast +the spear-points of a world's punishment. The cross of Christ is the +endurance of the penalty of sin, and therefore is the unloosing of the +grip of the law upon us, in so far as threatening and punishment are +concerned. It is not enough that we should only intellectually recognise +that as a principle--it is the very heart of the gospel, the very life +of our souls. Trusting ourselves to that great sacrifice, the dread of +punishment will fade from our hearts, and the thunder-clouds melt out of +the sky, and the sense of guilt will not be a sting, but an occasion for +lowly thankfulness, and the law will have to draw the bolts of her +prison-house and let our captive souls go free. + +Christ's cross is the end of law as _ceremonial_. The whole elaborate +ritual of the Jew had sacrifice for its vital centre, and the prediction +of the Great Sacrifice for its highest purpose. Without the admission of +these principles, Paul's position is unintelligible, for he holds, as in +this context, that Christ's coming puts the whole system out of date, +because it fulfils it all. When the fruit has set, there is no more need +for petals; or, as the Apostle himself puts it, "when that which is +perfect is come, that which is in part is done away." We have the +reality, and do not need the shadow. There is but one temple for the +Christian soul--the "temple of His body." Local sanctity is at an end, +for it was never more than an external picture of that spiritual fact +which is realised in the Incarnation. Christ is the dwelling-place of +Deity, the meeting-place of God and man, the place of sacrifice; and, +builded on Him, we in Him become a spiritual house. There are none other +temples than these. Christ is the great priest, and in His presence all +human priesthood loses its consecration, for it could offer only +external sacrifice, and secure a local approach to a "worldly +sanctuary." He is the real Aaron, and we in Him become a royal +priesthood. There are none other priests than these. Christ is the true +sacrifice. His death is the real propitiation for sin, and we in Him +become thank-offerings, moved by His mercies to present ourselves living +sacrifices. There are none other offerings than these. So the law as a +code of ceremonial worship is done to death in the cross, and, like the +temple veil, is torn in two from the top to the bottom. + +Christ's cross is the end of law as _moral_ rule. Nothing in Paul's +writings warrants the restriction to the ceremonial law of the strong +assertion in the text, and its many parallels. Of course, such words do +not mean that Christian men are freed from the obligations of morality, +but they do mean that we are not bound to do the "things contained in +the law" because they are there. Duty is duty now because we see the +pattern of conduct and character in Christ. Conscience is not our +standard, nor is the Old Testament conception of the perfect ideal of +manhood. We have neither to read law in the fleshy tables of the heart, +nor in the tables graven by God's own finger, nor in men's parchments +and prescriptions. Our law is the perfect life and death of Christ, who +is at once the ideal of humanity and the reality of Deity. + +The weakness of all law is that it merely commands, but has no power to +get its commandments obeyed. Like a discrowned king, it posts its +proclamations, but has no army at its back to execute them. But Christ +puts His own power within us, and His love in our hearts; and so we pass +from under the dominion of an external commandment into the liberty of +an inward spirit. He is to His followers both "law and impulse." He +gives not the "law of a carnal commandment, but the power of an endless +life." The long schism between inclination and duty is at an end, in so +far as we are under the influence of Christ's cross. The great promise +is fulfilled, "I will put My law into their minds and write it in their +hearts"; and so, glad obedience with the whole power of the new life, +for the sake of the love of the dear Lord who has bought us by His +death, supersedes the constrained submission to outward precept. A +higher morality ought to characterise the partakers of the life of +Christ, who have His example for their code, and His love for their +motive. The tender voice that says, "If ye love Me, keep My +commandments," wins us to purer and more self-sacrificing goodness than +the stern accents that can only say, "Thou shalt--or else!" can ever +enforce. He came "not to destroy, but to fulfil." The fulfilment was +destruction in order to reconstruction in higher form. Law died with +Christ on the cross in order that it might rise and reign with Him in +our inmost hearts. + +II. The Cross is the triumph over all the powers of evil. + +There are considerable difficulties in the interpretation of verse 15; +the main question being the meaning of the word rendered in the +Authorized Version "spoiled," and in the R. V. "having put off from +Himself." It is the same word as is used in iii. 9, and is there +rendered "have put off"; while a cognate noun is found in verse 11 of +this chapter, and is there translated "the putting off." The form here +must either mean "having put off from oneself," or "having stripped +(others) _for_ oneself." The former meaning is adopted by many +commentators, as well as by the R. V., and is explained to mean that +Christ having assumed our humanity, was, as it were, wrapped about and +invested with Satanic temptations, which He finally flung from Him for +ever in His death, which was His triumph over the powers of evil. The +figure seems far-fetched and obscure, and the rendering necessitates the +supposition of a change in the person spoken of, which must be God in +the earlier part of the period, and Christ in the latter. + +But if we adopt the other meaning, which has equal warrant in the Greek +form, "having stripped for Himself," we get the thought that in the +cross, God has, for His greater glory, stripped principalities and +powers. Taking this meaning, we avoid the necessity of supposing with +Bishop Lightfoot that there is a change of subject from God to Christ at +some point in the period including verses 13 to 15--an expedient which +is made necessary by the impossibility of supposing that God "divested +Himself of principalities or powers"--and also avoid the other necessity +of referring the whole period to Christ, which is another way out of +that impossibility. We thereby obtain a more satisfactory meaning than +that Christ in assuming humanity was assailed by temptations from the +powers of evil which were, as it were, a poisoned garment clinging to +Him, and which He stripped off from Himself in His death. Further, such +a meaning as that which we adopt makes the whole verse a consistent +metaphor in three stages, whereas the other introduces an utterly +incongruous and irrelevant figure. What connection has the figure of +stripping off a garment with that of a conqueror in his triumphal +procession? But if we read "spoiled for Himself principalities and +powers," we see the whole process before our eyes--the victor stripping +his foes of arms and ornaments and dress, then parading them as his +captives, and then dragging them at the wheels of his triumphal car. + +The words point us into dim regions of which we know nothing more than +Scripture tells us. These dreamers at Colossae had much to say about a +crowd of beings, bad and good, which linked men and matter with spirit +and God. We have heard already the emphasis with which Paul has claimed +for his Master the sovereign authority of Creator over all orders of +being, the headship over all principality and power. He has declared, +too, that from Christ's cross a magnetic influence streams out upwards +as well as earthwards, binding all things together in the great +reconciliation--and now he tells us that from that same cross shoot +downwards darts of conquering power which subdue and despoil reluctant +foes of other realms and regions than ours, in so far as they work among +men. + +That there are such seems plainly enough asserted in Christ's own +words. However much discredit has been brought on the thought by +monastic and Puritan exaggerations, it is clearly the teaching of +Scripture; and however it may be ridiculed or set aside, it can never be +disproved. + +But the position which Christianity takes in reference to the whole +matter is to maintain that Christ has conquered the banded kingdom of +evil, and that no man owes it fear or obedience, if he will only hold +fast by his Lord. In the cross is the judgment of this world, and by it +is the prince of this world cast out. He has taken away the power of +these Powers who were so mighty amongst men. They held men captive by +temptations too strong to be overcome, but He has conquered the lesser +temptations of the wilderness and the sorer of the cross, and therein +has made us more than conquerors. They held men captive by ignorance of +God, and the cross reveals Him; by the lie that sin was a trifle, but +the cross teaches us its gravity and power; by the opposite lie that sin +was unforgivable, but the cross brings pardon for every transgression +and cleansing for every stain. By the cross the world is a redeemed +world, and, as our Lord said in words which may have suggested the +figure of our text, the strong man is bound, and his house _spoiled_ of +all his armour wherein he trusted. The prey is taken from the mighty and +men are delivered from the dominion of evil. So that dark kingdom is +robbed of its subjects and its rulers impoverished and restrained. The +devout imagination of the monk-painter drew on the wall of the cell in +his convent the conquering Christ with white banner bearing a blood-red +cross, before whose glad coming the heavy doors of the prison-house +fell from their hinges, crushing beneath their weight the demon jailer, +while the long file of eager captives, from Adam onwards through ages of +patriarchs and psalmists and prophets, hurried forward with outstretched +hands to meet the Deliverer, who came bearing His own atmosphere of +radiance and joy. Christ has conquered. His cross is His victory; and in +that victory God has conquered. As the long files of the triumphal +procession swept upwards to the temple with incense and music, before +the gazing eyes of a gathered glad nation, while the conquered trooped +chained behind the chariot, that all men might see their fierce eyes +gleaming beneath their matted hair, and breathe more freely for the +chains on their hostile wrists, so in the world-wide issues of the work +of Christ, God triumphs before the universe, and enhances His glory in +that He has rent the prey from the mighty and won men back to Himself. + +So we learn to think of evil as conquered, and for ourselves in our own +conflicts with the world, the flesh, and the devil, as well as for the +whole race of man, to be of good cheer. True, the victory is but slowly +being realised in all its consequences, and often it seems as if no +territory had been won. But the main position has been carried, and +though the struggle is still obstinate, it can end only in one way. The +brute dies hard, but the naked heel of our Christ has bruised his head, +and though still the dragon + + "Swinges the scaly horror of his folded tail," + +his death will come sooner or later. The regenerating power is lodged in +the heart of humanity, and the centre from which it flows is the cross. +The history of the world thenceforward is but the history of its more or +less rapid assimilation of that power, and of its consequent deliverance +from the bondage in which it has been held. The end can only be the +entire and universal manifestation of the victory which was won when He +bowed His head and died. Christ's cross is God's throne of triumph. + +Let us see that we have our own personal part in that victory. Holding +to Christ, and drawing from Him by faith a share in His new life, we +shall no longer be under the yoke of law, but enfranchised into the +obedience of love, which is liberty. We shall no longer be slaves of +evil, but sons and servants of our conquering God, who woos and wins us +by showing us all His love in Christ, and by giving us His own Son on +the Cross, our peace-offering. If we let Him overcome, His victory will +be life, not death. He will strip us of nothing but rags, and clothe us +in garments of purity; He will so breathe beauty into us that He will +show us openly to the universe as examples of His transforming power, +and He will bind us glad captives to His chariot wheels, partakers of +His victory as well as trophies of His all-conquering love. "Now thanks +be unto God, which always triumphs over us in Jesus Christ." + + + + +XV. + +_WARNINGS AGAINST TWIN CHIEF ERRORS, BASED UPON PREVIOUS POSITIVE +TEACHING._ + + "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect + of a feast day or a new moon or a sabbath day: which are a shadow of + things to come; but the body is Christ's. Let no man rob you of your + prize by a voluntary humility and worshipping of the angels, + dwelling in the things which he hath seen, vainly puffed up by his + fleshly mind, and not holding fast the Head, from whom all the body, + being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, + increaseth with the increase of God."--COL. ii. 16-19 (Rev. Ver.). + + +"Let no man _therefore_ judge you." That "therefore" sends us back to +what the Apostle has been saying in the previous verses, in order to +find there the ground of these earnest warnings. That ground is the +whole of the foregoing exposition of the Christian relation to Christ as +far back as verse 9, but especially the great truths contained in the +immediately preceding verses, that the cross of Christ is the death of +law, and God's triumph over all the powers of evil. Because it is so, +the Colossian Christians are exhorted to claim and use their +emancipation from both. Thus we have here the very heart and centre of +the practical counsels of the Epistle--the double blasts of the trumpet +warning against the two most pressing dangers besetting the Church. They +are the same two which we have often met already--on the one hand, a +narrow Judaising enforcement of ceremonial and punctilios of outward +observance; on the other hand, a dreamy Oriental absorption in +imaginations of a crowd of angelic mediators obscuring the one gracious +presence of Christ our Intercessor. + +I. Here then we have first, the claim for Christian liberty, with the +great truth on which it is built. + +The points in regard to which that liberty is to be exercised are +specified. They are no doubt those, in addition to circumcision, which +were principally in question then and there. "Meat and drink" refers to +restrictions in diet, such as the prohibition of "unclean" things in the +Mosaic law, and the question of the lawfulness of eating meat offered to +idols; perhaps also, such as the Nazarite vow. There were few +regulations as to "drink" in the Old Testament, so that probably other +ascetic practices besides the Mosaic regulations were in question, but +these must have been unimportant, else Paul could not have spoken of the +whole as being a "shadow of things to come." The second point in regard +to which liberty is here claimed is that of the sacred seasons of +Judaism: the annual festivals, the monthly feast of the new moon, the +weekly Sabbath. + +The relation of the Gentile converts to these Jewish practices was an +all-important question for the early Church. It was really the question +whether Christianity was to be more than a Jewish sect--and the main +force which, under God, settled the contest, was the vehemence and logic +of the Apostle Paul. + +Here he lays down the ground on which that whole question about diet and +days, and all such matters, is to be settled. They "are a shadow of +things to come" but the body is of Christ. "Coming events cast their +shadows _before_." That great work of Divine love, the mission of +Christ, Whose "goings forth have been from everlasting," may be thought +of as having set out from the Throne as soon as time was, travelling in +the greatness of its strength, like the beams of some far-off star that +have not yet reached a dark world. The light from the Throne is behind +Him as He advances across the centuries, and the shadow is thrown far in +front. + +Now that involves two thoughts about the Mosaic law and whole system. +First, the purely prophetic and symbolic character of the Old Testament +order, and especially of the Old Testament ritual. The absurd +extravagance of many attempts to "spiritualize" the latter should not +blind us to the truth which they caricature. Nor, on the other hand, +should we be so taken with new attempts to reconstruct our notions of +Jewish history and the dates of Old Testament books, as to forget that, +though the New Testament is committed to no theory on these points, it +is committed to the Divine origin and prophetic purpose of the Mosaic +law and Levitical worship. We should thankfully accept all teaching +which free criticism and scholarship can give us as to the process by +which, and the time when, that great symbolic system of acted prophecy +was built up; but we shall be further away than ever from understanding +the Old Testament if we have gained critical knowledge of its genesis, +and have lost the belief that its symbols were given by God to prophesy +of His Son. That is the key to both Testaments; and I cannot but believe +that the uncritical reader who reads his book of the law and the +prophets with that conviction, has got nearer the very marrow of the +book, than the critic, if he have parted with it, can ever come. + +Sacrifice, altar, priest, temple spake of Him. The distinctions of meats +were meant, among other purposes, to familiarize men with the +conceptions of purity and impurity, and so, by stimulating conscience, +to wake the sense of need of a Purifier. The yearly feasts set forth +various aspects of the great work of Christ, and the sabbath showed in +outward form the rest into which He leads those who cease from their own +works and wear His yoke. All these observances, and the whole system to +which they belong, are like out-riders who precede a prince on his +progress, and as they gallop through sleeping villages, rouse them with +the cry, "The king is coming!" + +And when the king _has_ come, where are the heralds? and when the +reality has come, who wants symbols? and if that which threw the shadow +forward through the ages has arrived, how shall the shadow be visible +too? Therefore the second principle here laid down, namely the cessation +of all these observances, and their like, is really involved in the +first, namely their prophetic character. + +The practical conclusion drawn is very noteworthy, because it seems much +narrower than the premises warrant. Paul does not say--therefore let no +man observe any of these any more; but takes up the much more modest +ground--let no man _judge_ you about them. He claims a wide liberty of +variation, and all that he repels is the right of anybody to dragoon +Christian men into ceremonial observances on the ground that they are +necessary. He does not quarrel with the rites, but with men insisting +on the necessity of the rites. + +In his own practice he gave the best commentary on his meaning. When +they said to him, "You _must_ circumcise Titus," he said, "Then I will +_not_." When nobody tried to compel him, he took Timothy, and of his own +accord circumcised him to avoid scandals. When it was needful as a +protest, he rode right over all the prescriptions of the law, and "did +eat with Gentiles." When it was advisable as a demonstration that he +himself "walked orderly and kept the law," he performed the rites of +purification and united in the temple worship. + +In times of transition wise supporters of the new will not be in a hurry +to break with the old. "I will lead on softly, according as the flock +and the children be able to endure," said Jacob, and so says every good +shepherd. + +The brown sheaths remain on the twig after the tender green leaf has +burst from within them, but there is no need to pull them off, for they +will drop presently. "I will wear three surplices if they like," said +Luther once. "Neither if we eat are we the better, neither if we eat not +are we the worse," said Paul. Such is the spirit of the words here. It +is a plea for Christian liberty. If not insisted on as necessary, the +outward observances may be allowed. If they are regarded as helps, or as +seemly adjuncts or the like, there is plenty of room for difference of +opinion and for variety of practice, according to temperament and taste +and usage. There are principles which should regulate even these +diversities of practice, and Paul has set these forth, in the great +chapter about meats in the Epistle to the Romans. But it is a different +thing altogether when any external observances are insisted on as +essential, either from the old Jewish or from the modern sacramentarian +point of view. If a man comes saying, "Except ye be circumcised, ye +cannot be saved," the only right answer is, Then I will not be +circumcised, and if _you_ are, because you believe that you cannot be +saved without it, "Christ is become of none effect to you." Nothing is +necessary but union to Him, and that comes through no outward +observance, but through the faith which worketh by love. Therefore, let +no man judge you, but repel all such attempts at thrusting any +ceremonial ritual observances on you, on the plea of necessity, with the +emancipating truth that the cross of Christ is the death of law. + +A few words may be said here on the bearing of the principles laid down +in these verses on the religious observance of Sunday. The obligation of +the Jewish sabbath has passed away as much as sacrifices and +circumcision. That seems unmistakably the teaching here. But the +institution of a weekly day of rest is distinctly put in Scripture as +independent of, and prior to, the special form and meaning given to the +institution in the Mosaic law. That is the natural conclusion from the +narrative of the creative rest in Genesis, and from our Lord's emphatic +declaration that the sabbath was made for "man"--that is to say, for the +race. Many traces of the pre-Mosaic sabbath have been adduced, and among +others we may recall the fact that recent researches show it to have +been observed by the Accadians, the early inhabitants of Assyria. It is +a physical and moral necessity, and that is a sadly mistaken +benevolence which on the plea of culture or amusement for the many, +compels the labour of the few, and breaks down the distinction between +the Sunday and the rest of the week. + +The religious observance of the first day of the week rests on no +recorded command, but has a higher origin, inasmuch as it is the outcome +of a felt want. The early disciples naturally gathered together for +worship on the day which had become so sacred to them. At first, no +doubt, they observed the Jewish sabbath, and only gradually came to the +practice which we almost see growing before our eyes in the Acts of the +Apostles, in the mention of the disciples at Troas coming together on +the first day of the week to break bread, and which we gather, from the +Apostle's instructions as to weekly setting apart money for charitable +purposes, to have existed in the Church at Corinth; as we know, that +even in his lonely island prison far away from the company of his +brethren, the Apostle John was in a condition of high religious +contemplation on the Lord's day, ere yet he heard the solemn voice and +saw "the things which are." + +This gradual growing up of the practice is in accordance with the whole +spirit of the New Covenant, which has next to nothing to say about the +externals of worship, and leaves the new life to shape itself. Judaism +gave prescriptions and minute regulations; Christianity, the religion of +the spirit, gives principles. The necessity, for the nourishment of the +Divine life, of the religious observance of the day of rest is certainly +not less now than at first. In the hurry and drive of our modern life +with the world forcing itself on us at every moment, we cannot keep up +the warmth of devotion unless we use this day, not merely for physical +rest, and family enjoyment, but for worship. They who know their own +slothfulness of spirit, and are in earnest in seeking after a deeper, +fuller Christian life, will thankfully own, "the week were dark but for +its light." I distrust the spirituality which professes that all life is +a sabbath, and therefore holds itself absolved from special seasons of +worship. If the stream of devout communion is to flow through all our +days, there must be frequent reservoirs along the road, or it will be +lost in the sand, like the rivers of higher Asia. It is a poor thing to +say, keep the day as a day of worship because it is a commandment. +Better to think of it as a great gift for the highest purposes; and not +let it be merely a day of rest for jaded bodies, but make it one of +refreshment for cumbered spirits, and rekindle the smouldering flame of +devotion, by drawing near to Christ in public and in private. So shall +we gather stores that may help us to go in the strength of that meat for +some more marches on the dusty road of life. + +II. The Apostle passes on to his second peal of warning,--that against +the teaching about angel mediators, which would rob the Colossian +Christians of their prize,--and draws a rapid portrait of the teachers +of whom they are to beware. + +"Let no man rob you of your prize." The metaphor is the familiar one of +the race or the wrestling ground; the umpire or judge is Christ; the +reward is that incorruptible crown of glory, of righteousness, woven not +of fading bay leaves, but of sprays from the "tree of life," which dower +with undying blessedness the brows round which they are wreathed. +Certain people are trying to rob them of their prize--not consciously, +for that would be inconceivable, but such is the tendency of their +teaching. No names will be mentioned, but he draws a portrait of the +robber with swift firm hand, as if he had said, If you want to know whom +I mean, here he is. Four clauses, like four rapid strokes of the pencil, +do it, and are marked in the Greek by four participles, the first of +which is obscured in the Authorised Version. "Delighting in humility and +the worshipping of angels." So probably the first clause should be +rendered. The first words are almost contradictory, and are meant to +suggest that the humility has not the genuine ring about it. +Self-conscious humility in which a man takes delight is not the real +thing. A man who knows that he is humble, and is self-complacent about +it, glancing out of the corners of his downcast eyes at any mirror where +he can see himself, is not humble at all. "The devil's darling vice is +the pride which apes humility." + +So _very_ humble were these people that they would not venture to pray +to God! _There_ was humility indeed. So far beneath did they feel +themselves, that the utmost they could do was to lay hold of the lowest +link of a long chain of angel mediators, in hope that the vibration +might run upwards through all the links, and perhaps reach the throne at +last. Such fantastic abasement which would not take God at His word, nor +draw near to Him in His Son, was really the very height of pride. + +Then follows a second descriptive clause, of which no altogether +satisfactory interpretation has yet been given. Possibly, as has been +suggested, we have here an early error in the text, which has affected +all the manuscripts, and cannot now be corrected. Perhaps, on the whole, +the translation adopted by the Revised Version presents the least +difficulty--"dwelling in the things which he hath seen." In that case +the seeing would be not by the senses, but by visions and pretended +revelations, and the charge against the false teachers would be that +they "walked in a vain show" of unreal imaginations and visionary +hallucinations, whose many-coloured misleading lights they followed +rather than the plain sunshine of revealed facts in Jesus Christ. + +"Vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind" is the next feature in the +portrait. The self-conscious humility was only skin deep, and covered +the utmost intellectual arrogance. The heretic teacher, like a blown +bladder, was swollen with what after all was only wind; he was dropsical +from conceit of "mind," or, as we should say, "intellectual ability," +which after all was only the instrument and organ of the "flesh," the +sinful self. And, of course, being all these things, he would have no +firm grip of Christ, from whom such tempers and views were sure to +detach him. Therefore the damning last clause of the indictment is "not +holding the Head." How could he do so? And the slackness of his grasp of +the Lord Jesus would make all these errors and faults ten times worse. + +Now the special forms of these errors which are here dealt with are all +gone past recall. But the tendencies which underlay these special forms +are as rampant as ever, and work unceasingly to loosen our hold of our +dear Lord. The worship of angels is dead, but we are still often +tempted to think that we are too lowly and sinful to claim our portion +of the faithful promises of God. The spurious humility is by no means +out of date, which knows better than God does, whether He can forgive us +our sins, and bend over us in love. We do not slip in angel mediators +between ourselves and Him, but the tendency to put the sole work of +Jesus Christ "into commission," is not dead. We are all tempted to grasp +at others as well as at Him, for our love, and trust, and obedience, and +we all need the reminder that to lay hold of any other props is to lose +hold of Him, and that he who does not cleave to Christ alone, does not +cleave to Christ at all. + +We do not see visions and dream dreams any more, except here and there +some one led astray by a so-called "spiritualism," but plenty of us +attach more importance to our own subjective fancies or speculations +about the obscurer parts of Christianity than to the clear revelation of +God in Christ. The "unseen world" has for many minds an unwholesome +attraction. The Gnostic spirit is still in full force among us, which +despises the foundation facts and truths of the gospel as "milk for +babes," and values its own baseless artificial speculations about +subordinate matters, which are unrevealed because they are subordinate, +and fascinating to some minds because unrevealed, far above the truths +which are clear because they are vital, and insipid to such minds +because they are clear. We need to be reminded that Christianity is not +for speculation, but to make us good, and that "He who has fashioned +their hearts alike," has made us all to live by the same air, to be +nourished by the same bread from heaven, to be saved and purified by +the same truth. That is the gospel which the little child can +understand, of which the outcast and the barbarian can get some kind of +hold, which the failing spirit groping in the darkness of death can +dimly see as its light in the valley--that is the all-important part of +the gospel. What needs special training and capacity to understand is no +essential portion of the truth that is meant for the world. + +And a swollen self-conceit is of all things the most certain to keep a +man away from Christ. We must feel our utter helplessness and need, +before we shall lay hold on Him, and if ever that wholesome lowly sense +of our own emptiness is clouded over, that moment will our fingers relax +their tension, and that moment will the flow of life into our deadness +run slow and pause. Whatever slackens our hold of Christ tends to rob us +of the final prize, that crown of life which He gives. + +Hence the solemn earnestness of these warnings. It was not only a +doctrine more or less that was at stake, but it was their eternal life. +Certain truths believed would increase the firmness of their hold on +their Lord, and thereby would secure the prize. Disbelieved, the +disbelief would slacken their grasp of Him, and thereby would deprive +them of it. We are often told that the gospel gives heaven for right +belief, and that that is unjust. But if a man does not believe a thing, +he cannot have in his character or feelings the influence which the +belief of it would produce. If he does not believe that Christ died for +his sins, and that all his hopes are built on that great Saviour, he +will not cleave to Him in love and dependence. If he does not so cleave +to Him he will not draw from Him the life which would mould his +character and stir him to run the race. If he do not run the race he +will never win nor wear the crown. That crown is the reward and issue of +character and conduct, made possible by the communication of strength +and new nature from Jesus, which again is made possible through our +faith laying hold of Him as revealed in certain truths, and of these +truths as revealing Him. Therefore, intellectual error may loose our +hold on Christ, and if we slacken that, we shall forfeit the prize. Mere +speculative interest about the less plainly revealed corners of +Christian truth may, and often do, act in paralysing the limbs of the +Christian athlete. "Ye did run well, what hath hindered you?" has to be +asked of many whom a spirit akin to this described in our text has made +languid in the race. To us all, knowing in some measure how the whole +sum of influences around us work to detach us from our Lord, and so to +rob us of the prize which is inseparable from His presence, the solemn +exhortation which He speaks from heaven may well come, "Hold fast that +thou hast; let no man take thy crown." + +III. The source and manner of all true growth is next set forth, in +order to enforce the warning, and to emphasize the need of holding the +Head. + +Christ is not merely represented supreme and sovereign, when He is +called "the head." The metaphor goes much deeper, and points to Him as +the source of a real spiritual life, from Him communicated to all the +members of the true Church, and constituting it an organic whole. We +have found the same expression twice already in the Epistle; once as +applied to His relation to "the body, the Church" (i. 18), and once in +reference to the "principalities and powers." The errors in the +Colossian Church derogated from Christ's sole sovereign place as +fountain of all life natural and spiritual for all orders of beings, and +hence the emphasis of the Apostle's proclamation of the counter truth. +That life which flows from the head is diffused through the whole body +by the various and harmonious action of all the parts. The body is +"supplied and knit together," or in other words, the functions of +nutrition and compaction into a whole are performed by the "joints and +bands," in which last word are included muscles, nerves, tendons, and +any of the "connecting bands which strap the body together." Their +action is the condition of growth; but the Head is the source of all +which the action of the members transmits to the body. Christ is the +source of all nourishment. From Him flows the life-blood which feeds the +whole, and by which every form of supply is ministered whereby the body +grows. Christ is the source of all unity. Churches have been bound +together by other bonds, such as creeds, polity, or even nationality; +but that external bond is only like a rope round a bundle of fagots, +while the true, inward unity springing from common possession of the +life of Christ, is as the unity of some great tree, through which the +same sap circulates from massive bole to the tiniest leaf that dances at +the tip of the farthest branch. + +These blessed results of supply and unity are effected through the +action of the various parts. If each organ is in healthy action, the +body grows. There is diversity in offices; the same life is light in +the eyes, beauty in the cheek, strength in the hand, thought in the +brain. The more you rise in the scale of life the more the body is +differentiated, from the simple sac that can be turned inside out and +has no division of parts or offices, up to man. So in the Church. The +effect of Christianity is to heighten individuality, and to give each +man his own proper "gift from God," and therefore each man his office, +"one after this manner and another after that." Therefore is there need +for the freest possible unfolding of each man's idiosyncrasy, heightened +and hallowed by an indwelling Christ, lest the body should be the poorer +if any member's activity be suppressed, or any one man be warped from +his own work wherein he is strong, to become a feeble copy of another's. +The perfect light is the blending of all colours. + +A community where each member thus holds firmly by the Head, and each +ministers in his degree to the nourishment and compaction of the +members, will, says Paul, increase with the increase of God. The +increase will come from Him, will be pleasing to Him, will be +essentially the growth of His own life in the body. There is an increase +not of God. These heretical teachers were swollen with dropsical +self-conceit; but this is wholesome, solid growth. For individuals and +communities of professing Christians the lesson is always seasonable, +that it is very easy to get an increase of the other kind. The +individual may increase in apparent knowledge, in volubility, in visions +and speculations, in so-called Christian work; the Church may increase +in members, in wealth, in culture, in influence in the world, in +apparent activities, in subscription lists, and the like--and it may +all be not sound growth, but proud flesh, which needs the knife. One way +only there is by which we may increase with the increase of God, and +that is that we keep fast hold of Jesus Christ, and "let Him not go, for +He is our life." The one exhortation which includes all that is needful, +and which being obeyed, all ceremonies and all speculations will drop +into their right place, and become helps, not snares, is the exhortation +which Barnabas gave to the new Gentile converts at Antioch--that "with +purpose of heart they should cleave unto the Lord." + + + + +XVI. + +_TWO FINAL TESTS OF THE FALSE TEACHING._ + + "If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as + though living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to ordinances. + Handle not, nor taste, nor touch (all which things are to perish + with the using), after the precepts and doctrines of men? Which + things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humility, + and severity to the body; _but are_ not of any value against the + indulgence of the flesh."--COL. ii. 20-23 (Rev. Ver.). + + +The polemical part of the Epistle is now coming to an end. We pass in +the next chapter, after a transitional paragraph, to simple moral +precepts which, with personal details, fill up the remainder of the +letter. The antagonist errors appear for the last time in the words +which we have now to consider. In these the Apostle seems to gather up +all his strength to strike two straight, crashing, final blows, which +pulverize and annihilate the theoretical positions and practical +precepts of the heretical teachers. First, he puts in the form of an +unanswerable demand for the reason for their teachings, their radical +inconsistency with the Christian's death with Christ, which is the very +secret of his life. Then, by a contemptuous concession of their apparent +value to people who will not look an inch below the surface, he makes +more emphatic their final condemnation as worthless--less than nothing +and vanity--for the suppression of "the flesh"--the only aim of all +moral and religious discipline. So we have here two great tests by their +conformity to which we may try all teachings which assume to regulate +life, and all Christian teaching about the place and necessity for +ritual and outward prescriptions of conduct. "Ye are dead with Christ." +All must fit in with that great fact. The restraint and conquest of "the +flesh" is the purpose of all religion and of all moral teaching--our +systems must do that or they are naught, however fascinating they may +be. + +I. We have then to consider the great fact of the Christian's death with +Christ, and to apply it as a touch-stone. + +The language of the Apostle points to a definite time when the Colossian +Christians "died" with Christ. That carries us back to former words in +the chapter, where, as we found, the period of their baptism considered +as the symbol and profession of their conversion, was regarded as the +time of their burial. They died with Christ when they clave with +penitent trust to the truth that Christ died for them. When a man unites +himself by faith to the dying Christ as his Peace, Pardon, and Saviour, +then he too in a very real sense dies with Jesus. + +That thought that every Christian is dead with Christ, runs through the +whole of Paul's teaching. It is no mere piece of mysticism on his lips, +though it has often become so, when divorced from morality, as it has +been by some Christian teachers. It is no mere piece of rhetoric, though +it has often become so, when men have lost the true thought of what +Christ's death is for the world. But to Paul the cross of Christ was, +first and foremost, the altar of sacrifice on which the oblation had +been offered that took away all his guilt and sin; and then, because it +was that, it became the law of his own life, and the power that +assimilated him to his Lord. + +The plain English of it all is, that when a man becomes a Christian by +putting his trust in Christ Who died, as the ground of his acceptance +and salvation, such a change takes place upon his whole nature and +relationship to externals as is fairly comparable to a death. + +The same illustration is frequent in ordinary speech. What do we mean +when we talk of an old man being dead to youthful passions or follies or +ambitions? We mean that they have ceased to interest him, that he is +_separated_ from them and _insensible_ to them. Death is the separator. +What an awful gulf there is between that fixed white face beneath the +sheet, and all the things about which the man was so eager an hour ago! +How impossible for any cries of love to pass the chasm! "His sons come +to honour, and he knoweth it not." The "business" which filled his +thoughts, crumbles to pieces, and he cares not. Nothing reaches him or +interests him any more. So, if we have got hold of Christ as our +Saviour, and have found in His cross the anchor of souls, that +experience will deaden us to all which was our life, and the measure in +which we are joined to Jesus by our faith in His great sacrifice, will +be the measure in which we are detached from our former selves, and from +old objects of interest and pursuit. The change may either be called +dying with Christ, or rising with Him. The one phrase takes hold of it +at an earlier stage than the other; the one puts stress on our ceasing +to be what we were, the other on our beginning to be what we were not. +So our text is followed by a paragraph corresponding in form and +substance, and beginning, "If ye then be risen with Christ," as this +begins, "If ye died with Christ!" + +Such detachment from externals and separation from a former self is not +unknown in ordinary life. Strong emotion of any kind makes us insensible +to things around, and even to physical pain. Many a man with the +excitement of the battle-field boiling in his brain, "receives but recks +not of a wound." Absorption of thought and interest leads to what is +called "absence of mind," where the surroundings are entirely unfelt, as +in the case of the saint who rode all day on the banks of the Swiss +lake, plunged in theological converse, and at evening asked where the +lake was, though its waves had been rippling for twenty miles at his +mule's feet. Higher tastes drive out lower ones, as some great stream +turned into a new channel will sweep it clear of mud and rubbish. So, if +we are joined to Christ, He will fill our souls with strong emotions and +interests which will deaden our sensitiveness to things around us, and +will inspire new loves, tastes and desires, which will make us +indifferent to much that we used to be eager about and hostile to much +that we once cherished. + +To what shall we die if we are Christians? The Apostle answers that +question in various ways, which we may profitably group together. +"Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto _sin_" (Rom. vi. 11). +"He died for all, that they which live should no longer live unto +_themselves_" (2 Cor. v. 14, 15). "Ye are become dead to the _law_" +(Rom. vii. 6). By the cross of Christ, "the world hath been crucified +unto me, and I unto _the world_." So then, to the whole mass of outward +material things, all this present order which surrounds us, to the +unrenounced self which has ruled us so long, and to the sin which +results from the appeals of outward things to that evil self--to these, +and to the mere outward letter of a commandment which is impotent to +enforce its own behests or deliver self from the snares of the world and +the burden of sin, we cease to belong in the measure in which we are +Christ's. The separation is not complete; but, if we are Christians at +all, it is begun, and henceforward our life is to be a "dying daily." It +must either be a dying life or a living death. We shall still belong in +our outward being--and, alas! far too much in heart also--to the world +and self and sin--but, if we are Christians at all, there will be a real +separation from these in the inmost heart of our hearts, and the germ of +entire deliverance from them all will be in us. + +This day needs that truth to be strongly urged. The whole meaning of the +death of Christ is not reached when it is regarded as the great +propitiation for our sins. Is it the pattern for our lives? has it drawn +us away from our love of the world, from our sinful self, from the +temptations to sin, from cowering before duties which we hate but dare +not neglect? has it changed the current of our lives, and lifted us into +a new region where we find new interests, loves and aims, before which +the twinkling lights, which once were stars to us, pale their +ineffectual fires? If so, then, just in as much as it is so, and not one +hair's breadth the more, may we call ourselves Christians. If not, it is +of no use for us to talk about looking to the cross as the source of +our salvation. Such a look, if it be true and genuine, will certainly +change all a man's tastes, habits, aspirations, and relationships. If we +know nothing of dying with Christ, it is to be feared we know as little +of Christ's dying for us. + +This great fact of the Christian's death with Christ comes into view +here mainly as pointing the contradiction between the Christian's +position, and his subjection to the prescriptions and prohibitions of a +religion which consists chiefly in petty rules about conduct. We are +"dead" says Paul, "to the rudiments of the world,"--a phrase which we +have already heard in verse 8 of this chapter, where we found its +meaning to be "precepts of an elementary character, fit for babes, not +for men in Christ, and moving principally in the region of the +material." It implies a condemnation of all such regulation religion on +the two grounds, that it is an anachronism, seeking to perpetuate an +earlier stage which has been left behind, and that it has to do with the +outsides of things, with the material and visible only. To such +rudiments we are dead with Christ. Then, queries Paul, with irresistible +triumphant question--why, in the name of consistency, "do you subject +yourself to ordinances" (of which we have already heard in verse 14 of +the chapter) such as "handle not, nor taste, nor touch?" These three +prohibitions are not Paul's, but are quoted by him as specimens of the +kind of rules and regulations which he is protesting against. The +ascetic teachers kept on vehemently reiterating their prohibitions, and +as the correct rendering of the words shows, with a constantly +increasing intolerance. "Handle not" is a less rigid prohibition than +"touch not." The first says, Do not lay hold of; the last Do not even +touch with the tip of your finger. So asceticism, like many another +tendency and habit, grows by indulgence, and demands abstinence ever +more rigid and separation ever more complete. And the whole thing is out +of date, and a misapprehension of the genius of Christianity. Man's work +in religion is ever to confine it to the surface, to throw it outward +and make it a mere round of things done and things abstained from. +Christ's work in religion is to drive it inwards, and to focus all its +energy on "the hidden man of the heart," knowing that if that be right, +the visible will come right. It is waste labour to try to stick figs on +the prickles of a thorn bush--as is the tree, so will be the fruit. +There are plenty of pedants and martinets in religion as well as on the +parade ground. There must be so many buttons on the uniform, and the +shoulder belts must be pipe-clayed, and the rifles on the shoulders +sloped at just such an angle--and then all will be right. Perhaps so. +Disciplined courage is better than courage undisciplined. But there is +much danger of all the attention being given to drill, and then, when +the parade ground is exchanged for the battle-field, disaster comes +because there is plenty of etiquette and no dash. Men's lives are +pestered out of them by a religion which tries to tie them down with as +many tiny threads as those with which the Liliputians fastened down +Gulliver. But Christianity in its true and highest forms is not a +religion of prescriptions but of principles. It does not keep +perpetually dinning a set of petty commandments and prohibitions into +our ears. Its language is not a continual "Do this, forbear from +that,"--but "Love, and thou fulfillest the law." It works from the +centre outwards to the circumference; first making clean the inside of +the platter, and so ensuring that the outside shall be clean also. The +error with which Paul fought, and which perpetually crops up anew, +having its roots deep in human nature, begins with the circumference and +wastes effort in burnishing the outside. + +The parenthesis which follows in the text, "all which things are to +perish with the using," contains an incidental remark intended to show +the mistake of attaching such importance to regulations about diet and +the like, from the consideration of the perishableness of these meats +and drinks about which so much was said by the false teachers. "They are +all destined for corruption, for physical decomposition--in the very act +of consumption." You cannot use them without using them up. They are +destroyed in the very moment of being used. Is it fitting for men who +have died with Christ to this fleeting world, to make so much of its +perishable things? + +May we not widen this thought beyond its specific application here, and +say that death with Christ to the world should deliver us from the +temptation of making much of the things which perish with the using, +whether that temptation is presented in the form of attaching +exaggerated religious importance to ascetic abstinence from them or in +that of exaggerated regard and unbridled use of them? Asceticism and +Sybaritic luxury have in common an over-estimate of the importance of +the material things. The one is the other turned inside out. Dives in +his purple and fine linen, and the ascetic in his hair shirt, both make +too much of "what they shall put on." The one with his feasts and the +other with his fasts both think too much of what they shall eat and +drink. A man who lives on high with his Lord puts all these things in +their right place. There are things which do _not_ perish with the +using, but grow with use, like the five loaves in Christ's hands. Truth, +love, holiness, all Christlike graces and virtues increase with +exercise, and the more we feed on the bread which comes down from +heaven, the more shall we have for our own nourishment and for our +brother's need. There is a treasure which faileth not, bags which wax +not old, the durable riches and undecaying possessions of the soul that +lives on Christ and grows like Him. These let us seek after; for if our +religion be worth anything at all, it should carry us past all the +fleeting wealth of earth straight into the heart of things, and give us +for our portion that God whom we can never exhaust, nor outgrow, but +possess the more as we use His sweetness for the solace, and His +all-sufficient Being for the good, of our souls. + +The final inconsistency between the Christian position and the practical +errors in question is glanced at in the words "after the commandments +and doctrines of men," which refer, of course, to the ordinances of +which Paul is speaking. The expression is a quotation from Isaiah's +(xxix. 13) denunciation of the Pharisees of his day, and as used here +seems to suggest that our Lord's great discourse on the worthlessness of +the Jewish punctilios about meats and drinks was in the Apostle's mind, +since the same words of Isaiah occur there in a similar connection. It +is not fitting that we, who are withdrawn from dependence on the outward +visible order of things by our union with Christ in His death, should be +under the authority of men. Here is the true democracy of the Christian +society. "Ye were redeemed with a price. Be not the servants of men." +Our union to Jesus Christ is a union of absolute authority and utter +submission. We all have access to the one source of illumination, and we +are bound to take our orders from the one Master. The protest against +the imposition of human authority on the Christian soul is made not in +the interests of self-will, but from reverence to the only voice that +has the right to give autocratic commands and to receive unquestioning +obedience. We are free in proportion as we are dead to the world with +Christ. We are free from men not that we may please ourselves, but that +we may please Him. "Hold your peace, I want to hear what my Master has +to command me," is the language of the Christian freedman, who is free +that he may serve, and because he serves. + +II. We have to consider one great purpose of all teaching and external +worship, by its power in attaining which any system is to be tried. + +"Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, and +humility, and severity to the body, _but are_ not of any value against +the indulgence of the flesh." Here is the conclusion of the whole +matter, the parting summary of the indictment against the whole +irritating tangle of restrictions and prescriptions. From a moral point +of view it is worthless, as having no coercive power over "the flesh." +Therein lies its conclusive condemnation, for if religious observances +do not help a man to subdue his sinful self, what, in the name of common +sense, is the use of them? + +The Apostle knows very well that the system which he was opposing had +much which commended it to people, especially to those who did not look +very deep. It had a "show of wisdom" very fascinating on a superficial +glance, and that in three points, all of which caught the vulgar eye, +and all of which turned into the opposite on closer examination. + +It has the look of being exceeding devotion and zealous worship. These +teachers with their abundant forms impose upon the popular imagination, +as if they were altogether given up to devout contemplation and prayer. +But if one looks a little more closely at them, one sees that their +devotion is the indulgence of their own will and not surrender to God's. +They are not worshipping Him as He has appointed, but as they have +themselves chosen, and as they are rendering services which He has not +required, they are in a very true sense worshipping their own wills, and +not God at all. By "will-worship" seems to be meant self-imposed forms +of religious service which are the outcome not of obedience, nor of the +instincts of a devout heart, but of a man's own will. And the Apostle +implies that such supererogatory and volunteered worship is no worship. +Whether offered in a cathedral or a barn, whether the worshipper wear a +cope or a fustian jacket, such service is not accepted. A prayer which +is but the expression of the worshipper's own will, instead of being +"not my will but Thine be done," reaches no higher than the lips that +utter it. If we are subtly and half unconsciously obeying self even +while we seem to be bowing before God; if we are seeming to pray, and +are all the while burning incense to ourselves, instead of being drawn +out of ourselves by the beauty and the glory of the God towards whom our +spirits yearn, then our devotion is a mask, and our prayers will be +dispersed in empty air. + +The deceptive appearance of wisdom in these teachers and their doctrines +is further manifest in the humility which felt so profoundly the gulf +between man and God that it was fain to fill the void with its fantastic +creations of angel mediators. Humility is a good thing, and it looked +very humble to say, We cannot suppose that such insignificant +flesh-encompassed creatures as we can come into contact and fellowship +with God; but it was a great deal more humble to take God at His word, +and to let Him lay down the possibilities and conditions of intercourse, +and to tread the way of approach to Him which He has appointed. If a +great king were to say to all the beggars and ragged losels of his +capital, Come to the palace to-morrow; which would be the humbler, he +who went, rags and leprosy and all, or he who hung back because he was +so keenly conscious of his squalor? God says to men, "Come to My arms +through My Son. Never mind the dirt, come." Which is the humbler: he who +takes God at His word, and runs to hide his face on his Father's breast, +having access to Him through Christ the Way, or he who will not venture +near till he has found some other mediators besides Christ? A humility +so profound that it cannot think God's promise and Christ's mediation +enough for it, has gone so far West that it has reached the East, and +from humility has become pride. + +Further, this system has a show of wisdom in "severity to the body." Any +asceticism is a great deal more to men's taste than abandoning self. +They will rather stick hooks in their backs and do the "swinging +poojah," than give up their sins or yield up their wills. It is easier +to travel the whole distance from Cape Comorin to the shrine of +Juggernaut, measuring every foot of it by the body laid prostrate in the +dust, than to surrender the heart to the love of God. In the same manner +the milder forms of putting oneself to pain, hair shirts, scourgings, +abstinence from pleasant things with the notion that thereby merit is +acquired, or sin atoned for, have a deep root in human nature, and hence +"a show of wisdom." It is strange, and yet not strange, that people +should think that, somehow or other, they recommend themselves to God by +making themselves uncomfortable, but so it is that religion presents +itself to many minds mainly as a system of restrictions and injunctions +which forbids the agreeable and commands the unpleasant. So does our +poor human nature vulgarise and travesty Christ's solemn command to deny +ourselves and take up our cross after Him. + +The conclusive condemnation of all the crowd of punctilious restrictions +of which the Apostle has been speaking lies in the fact that, however +they may correspond to men's mistaken notions, and so seem to be the +dictate of wisdom, they "are not of any value against the indulgence of +the flesh." This is one great end of all moral and spiritual discipline, +and if practical regulations do not tend to secure it, they are +worthless. + +Of course by "flesh" here we are to understand, as usually in the +Pauline Epistles, not merely the body but the whole unregenerate +personality, the entire unrenewed self that thinks and feels and wills +and desires apart from God. To indulge and satisfy it is to die, to slay +and suppress it is to live. All these "ordinances" with which the +heretical teachers were pestering the Colossians, have no power, Paul +thinks, to keep that self down, and therefore they seem to him so much +rubbish. He thus lifts the whole question up to a higher level and +implies a standard for judging much formal outward Christianity which +would make very short work of it. + +A man may be keeping the whole round of them and seven devils may be in +his heart. They distinctly tend to foster some of the "works of the +flesh," such as self-righteousness, uncharitableness, censoriousness, +and they as distinctly altogether fail to subdue any of them. A man may +stand on a pillar like Simeon Stylites for years, and be none the +better. Historically, the ascetic tendency has not been associated with +the highest types of real saintliness except by accident, and has never +been their productive cause. The bones rot as surely inside the +sepulchre though the whitewash on its dome be ever so thick. + +So the world and the flesh are very willing that Christianity should +shrivel into a religion of prohibitions and ceremonials, because all +manner of vices and meannesses may thrive and breed under these, like +scorpions under stones. There is only one thing that will put the collar +on the neck of the animal within us, and that is the power of the +indwelling Christ. The evil that is in us all is too strong for every +other fetter. Its cry to all these "commandments and ordinances of men" +is, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?" Not in obedience to +such, but in the reception into our spirits of His own life, is our +power of victory over self. "This I say, Walk in the Spirit, and ye +shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh." + + + + +XVII. + +_THE PRESENT CHRISTIAN LIFE, A RISEN LIFE._ + + "If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that + are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. Set + your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are + upon the earth. For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in + God. When Christ, _Who is_ our life, shall be manifested, then shall + ye also with Him be manifested in glory."--COL. iii. 1-4 (Rev. + Ver.). + + +We have now done with controversy. We hear no more about heretical +teachers. The Apostle has cut his way through the tangled thickets of +error, and has said his say as to the positive truths with which he +would hew them down. For the remainder of the letter, we have +principally plain practical exhortations, and a number of interesting +personal details. + +The paragraph which we have now to consider is the transition from the +controversial to the ethical portion of the Epistle. It touches the +former by its first words, "If ye then were raised together with +Christ," which correspond in form and refer in meaning to the beginning +of the previous paragraph, "If ye died with Christ." It touches the +latter because it embodies the broad general precept, "Seek the things +that are above," of which the following practical directions are but +varying applications in different spheres of duty. + +In considering these words we must begin by endeavouring to put clearly +their connection and substance. As they flew from Paul's eager lips, +motive and precept, symbol and fact, the present and future are blended +together. It may conduce to clearness if we try to part these elements. + +There are here two similar exhortations, side by side. "Seek the things +that are above," and "Set your mind on the things that are above." The +first is _preceded_, and the second is _followed_ by its reason. So the +two laws of conduct are, as it were, enclosed like a kernel in its +shell, or a jewel in a gold setting, by encompassing motives. These +considerations, in which the commandment are imbedded, are the double +thought of union with Christ in His resurrection, and in His death, and +as consequent thereon, participation in His present hidden life, and in +His future glorious manifestation. So we have here the present budding +life of the Christian in union with the risen, hidden Christ; the future +consummate flower of the Christian life in union with the glorious +manifested Christ; and the practical aim and direction which alone is +consistent with either bud or flower. + +I. The present budding life of the Christian in union with the risen, +hidden Christ. + +Two aspects of this life are set forth in verses 1 and 3--"raised with +Christ," and "ye died, and your life is hid with Christ." A still +profounder thought lies in the words of verse 4, "Christ _is_ our life." + +We have seen in former parts of this Epistle that Paul believed that, +when a man puts His faith in Jesus Christ, he is joined to Him in such a +way that he is separated from his former self and dead to the world. +That great change may be considered either with reference to what the +man has ceased to be, or with reference to what he becomes. In the one +aspect, it is a death; in the other, it is a resurrection. It depends on +the point of view whether a semicircle seems convex or concave. The two +thoughts express substantially the same fact. That great change was +brought about in these Colossian Christians, at a definite time, as the +language shows; and by a definite means--namely, by union with Christ +through faith, which grasps His death and resurrection as at once the +ground of salvation, the pattern for life, and the prophecy of glory. So +then, the great truths here are these; the impartation of life by union +with Christ, which life is truly a resurrection life, and is, moreover, +hidden with Christ in God. + +Union with Christ by faith is the condition of a real communication of +life. "In Him was life," says John's Gospel, meaning thereby to assert, +in the language of our Epistle, that "in Him were all things created, +and in Him all things consist." Life in all its forms is dependent on +union in varying manner with the Divine, and upheld only by His +continual energy. The creature must touch God or perish. Of that energy +the Uncreated Word of God is the channel--"with Thee is the fountain of +life." As the life of the body, so the higher self-conscious life of the +thinking, feeling, striving soul, is also fed and kept alight by the +perpetual operation of a higher Divine energy, imparted in like manner +by the Divine Word. Therefore, with deep truth, the psalm just quoted, +goes on to say, "In Thy light shall we see light"--and therefore, too, +John's Gospel continues: "And the life was the light of men." + +But there is a still higher plane on which life may be manifested, and +nobler energies which may accompany it. The body may live, and mind and +heart be dead. Therefore Scripture speaks of a threefold life: that of +the animal nature, that of the intellectual and emotional nature, and +that of the spirit, which lives when it is conscious of God, and touches +Him by aspiration, hope, and love. This is the loftiest life. Without +it, a man is dead while he lives. With it, he lives though he dies. And +like the others, it depends on union with the Divine life as it is +stored in Jesus Christ--but in this case, the union is a conscious union +by faith. If I trust to Him, and am thereby holding firmly by Him, my +union with Him is so real, that, in the measure of my faith, His fulness +passes over into my emptiness, His righteousness into my sinfulness, His +life into my death, as surely as the electric shock thrills my nerves +when I grasp the poles of the battery. + +No man can breathe into another's nostrils the breath of life. But +Christ can and does breathe His life into us; and this true miracle of a +communication of spiritual life takes place in every man who humbly +trusts himself to Him. So the question comes home to each of us--am I +living by my union with Christ? do I draw from Him that better being +which He is longing to pour into my withered, dead spirit? It is not +enough to live the animal life; the more it is fed, the more are the +higher lives starved and dwindled. It is not enough to live the life of +intellect and feeling. That may be in brightest, keenest exercise, and +yet we--our best selves--may be dead--separated from God in Christ, and +therefore dead--and all our activity may be but as a galvanic twitching +of the muscles in a corpse. Is Christ our life, its source, its +strength, its aim, its motive? Do we live in Him, by Him, with Him, for +Him? If not, we are dead while we live. + +This life from Christ is a resurrection life. "The power of Christ's +resurrection" is threefold--as a seal of His mission and Messiahship, +"declared to be the Son of God, by His resurrection from the dead;" as a +prophecy and pledge of ours, "now is Christ risen from the dead, and +become the first-fruits of them that slept;" and as a symbol and pattern +of our new life of Christian consecration, "likewise reckon ye also +yourselves to be indeed dead unto sin." This last use of the +resurrection of Christ is a plain witness of the firm, universal and +uncontested belief in the historical fact, throughout the Churches which +Paul addressed. The fact must have been long familiar and known as +undoubted, before it could have been thus moulded into a symbol. But, +passing from that, consider that our union to Christ produces a moral +and spiritual change analogous to His resurrection. After all, it is the +moral and not the mystical side which is the main thing in Paul's use of +this thought. He would insist, that all true Christianity operates a +death to the old self, to sin and to the whole present order of things, +and endows a man with new tastes, desires and capacities, like a +resurrection to a new being. These heathen converts--picked from the +filthy cesspools in which many of them had been living, and set on a +pure path, with the astounding light of a Divine love flooding it, and a +bright hope painted on the infinite blackness ahead--had surely passed +into a new life. Many a man in this day, long familiar with Christian +teaching, has found himself made over again in mature life, when his +heart has grasped Christ. Drunkards, profligates, outcasts, have found +it life from the dead; and even where there has not been such complete +visible revolution as in them, there has been such deep-seated central +alteration that it is no exaggeration to call it resurrection. The plain +fact is that real Christianity in a man will produce in him a radical +moral change. If our religion does not do that in us, it is nothing. +Ceremonial and doctrine are but means to an end--making us better men. +The highest purpose of Christ's work, for which He both "died and rose +and revived," is to change us into the likeness of His own beauty of +perfect purity. That risen life is no mere exaggeration of mystical +rhetoric, but an imperative demand of the highest morality, and the +plain issue of it is: "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body." +Do I say that I am a Christian? The test by which my claim must be tried +is the likeness of my life here to Him who has died unto sin, and liveth +unto God. + +But the believing soul is risen with Christ also, inasmuch as our union +with Him makes us partakers of His resurrection as our victory over +death. The water in the reservoir and in the fountain is the same; the +sunbeam in the chamber and in the sky are one. The life which flows into +our spirits from Christ is a life that has conquered death, and makes us +victors in that last conflict, even though we have to go down into the +darkness. If Christ live in us, we can never die. "It is not possible +that _we_ should be holden of _it_." The bands which He broke can never +be fastened on our limbs. The gates of death were so warped and the +locks so spoiled when He burst them asunder, that they can never be +closed again. There are many arguments for a future life beyond the +grave, but there is only one proof of it--the Resurrection of Jesus +Christ. So, trusting in Him, and with our souls bound in the bundle of +life with our Lord the King, we can cherish quiet thankfulness of heart, +and bless the God and Father of our Lord who hath begotten us again into +a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. + +This risen life is a hidden life. Its roots are in Him. He has passed in +His ascension into the light which is inaccessible, and is hidden in its +blaze, bearing with Him our life, concealed there with Him in God. Faith +stands gazing into heaven, as the cloud, the visible manifestation from +of old of the Divine presence, hides Him from sight, and turns away +feeling that the best part of its true self is gone with Him. So here +Paul points his finger upwards to where "Christ is, sitting at the right +hand of God," and says--We are here in outward seeming, but our true +life is there, if we are His. And what majestic, pregnant words these +are! How full, and yet how empty for a prurient curiosity, and how +reverently reticent even while they are triumphantly confident! How +gently they suggest repose--deep and unbroken, and yet full of active +energy! For if the attitude imply rest, the locality--"at the right hand +of God"--expresses not only the most intimate approach to, but also the +wielding of the Divine omnipotence. What is the right hand of God but +the activity of His power? and what less can be ascribed to Christ +here, than His being enthroned in closest union with the Father, +exercising Divine dominion, and putting forth Divine power. No doubt the +ascended and glorified bodily manhood of Jesus Christ has a local +habitation, but the old psalm might teach us that wherever space is, +even there "Thy right hand upholds," and there is our ascended Lord, +sitting as in deepest rest, but working all the work of God. And it is +just because He is at the right hand of God that He is hid. The light +hides. He has been lost to sight in the glory. + +He has gone in thither, bearing with Him the true source and root of our +lives into the secret place of the Most High. Therefore we no longer +belong to this visible order of things in the midst of which we tarry +for a while. The true spring that feeds our lives lies deep beneath all +the surface waters. These may dry up, but it will flow. These may be +muddied with rain, but it will be limpid as ever. The things seen do not +go deep enough to touch our real life. They are but as the winds that +fret, and the currents that sway the surface and shallower levels of the +ocean, while the great depths are still. The circumference is all a +whirl; the centre is at rest. + +Nor need we leave out of sight, though it be not the main thought here, +that the Christian life is hidden, inasmuch as here on earth action ever +falls short of thought, and the love and faith by which a good man lives +can never be fully revealed in his conduct and character. You cannot +carry electricity from the generator to the point where it is to work +without losing two-thirds of it by the way. Neither word nor deed can +adequately set forth a soul; and the profounder and nobler the emotion, +the more inadequate are the narrow gates of tongue and hand to give it +passage. The deepest love can often only "love and be silent." So, while +every man is truly a mystery to his neighbour, a life which is rooted in +Christ is more mysterious to the ordinary eye than any other. It is fed +by hidden manna. It is replenished from a hidden source. It is guided by +other than the world's motives, and follows unseen aims. "Therefore the +world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not." + +II. We have the future consummate flower of the Christian life in union +with the manifested, glorious Christ. + +The future personal manifestation of Jesus Christ in visible glory is, +in the teaching of all the New Testament writers, the last stage in the +series of His Divine human conditions. As surely as the Incarnation led +to the cross, and the cross to the empty grave, and the empty grave to +the throne, so surely does the throne lead to the coming again in glory. +And as with Christ, so with His servants, the manifestation in glory is +the certain end of all the preceding, as surely as the flower is of the +tiny green leaves that peep above the frost-bound earth in bleak March +days. Nothing in that future, however glorious and wonderful, but has +its germ and vital beginning in our union with Christ here by humble +faith. The great hopes which we may cherish are gathered up here into +these words--"shall be manifested with Him." That is far more than was +conveyed by the old translation--"shall appear." The roots of our being +shall be disclosed, for He shall come, "and every eye shall see Him." We +shall be seen for what we are. The outward life shall correspond to the +inward. The faith and love which often struggled in vain for expression +and were thwarted by the obstinate flesh, as a sculptor trying to embody +his dream might be by a block of marble with many a flaw and speck, +shall then be able to reveal themselves completely. Whatever is in the +heart shall be fully visible in the life. Stammering words and imperfect +deeds shall vex us no more. "His name shall be in their foreheads"--no +longer only written in fleshly tables of the heart and partially visible +in the character, but stamped legibly and completely on life and nature. +They shall walk in the light, and so shall be seen of all. Here the +truest followers of Christ shine like an intermittent star, seen through +mist and driving cloud: "Then shall the righteous _blaze forth_ like the +sun in the kingdom of My Father." + +But this is not all. The manifestation is to be "with Him." The union +which was here effected by faith, and marred by many an interposing +obstacle of sin and selfishness, of flesh and sense, is to be perfected +then. No film of separation is any more to break its completeness. Here +we often lose our hold of Him amidst the distractions of work, even when +done for His sake; and our life is at best but an imperfect compromise +between contemplation and action; but then, according to that great +saying, "His servants shall serve Him, and see His face," the utmost +activity of consecrated service, though it be far more intense and on a +nobler scale than anything here, will not interfere with the fixed gaze +on His countenance. We shall serve like Martha, and yet never remove +from sitting with Mary, rapt and blessed at His feet. + +This is the one thought of that solemn future worth cherishing. Other +hopes may feed sentiment, and be precious sometimes to aching hearts. A +reverent longing or an irreverent curiosity, may seek to discern +something more in the far-off light. But it is enough for the heart to +know that "we shall ever be with the Lord;" and the more we have that +one hope in its solitary grandeur, the better. We shall be with Him in +"in glory." That is the climax of all that Paul would have us hope. +"Glory" is the splendour and light of the self-revealing God. In the +heart of the blaze stands Christ; the bright cloud enwraps Him, as it +did on the mountain of transfiguration, and into the dazzling radiance +His disciples will pass as His companions did then, nor "fear as they +enter into the cloud." They walk unshrinking in that beneficent fire, +because with them is one like unto a Son of man, through whom they +dwell, as in their own calm home, amidst "the everlasting burning," +which shall not destroy them, but kindle them into the likeness of its +own flashing glory. + +Then shall the life which here was but in bud, often unkindly nipt and +struggling, burst into the consummate beauty of the perfect flower +"which fadeth not away." + +III. We have the practical aim and direction which alone is consistent +with either stage of the Christian life. + +Two injunctions are based upon these considerations--"seek," and "set +your mind upon," the things that are above. The one points to the +outward life of effort and aim; the other to the inward life of thought +and longing. Let the things above then, be the constant mark at which +you aim. There is a vast realm of real existence of which your risen +Lord is the centre and the life. Make it the point to which you strive. +That will not lead to despising earth and nearer objects. These, so far +as they are really good and worthy, stand right in the line of direction +which our efforts will take if we are seeking the things that are above, +and may all be stages on our journey Christwards. The lower objects are +best secured by those who live for the higher. No man is so well able to +do the smallest duties here, or to bear the passing troubles of this +world of illusion and change, or to wring the last drop of sweetness out +of swiftly fleeting joys, as he to whom everything on earth is dwarfed +by the eternity beyond, as some hut beside a palace, and is great +because it is like a little window a foot square through which infinite +depths of sky with all their stars shine in upon him. The true meaning +and greatness of the present is that it is the vestibule of the august +future. The staircase leading to the presence chamber of the king may be +of poor deal, narrow, crooked, and stowed away in a dark turret, but it +has dignity by reason of that to which it gives access. So let our aims +pass through the earthly and find in them helps to the things that are +above. We should not fire all our bullets at the short range. Seek ye +first the kingdom of God--the things which are above. + +"Set your mind on" these things, says the Apostle further. Let them +occupy mind and heart--and this in order that we may seek them. The +direction of the aims will follow the set and current of the thoughts. +"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." How can we be shaping our +efforts to reach a good which we have not clearly before our +imaginations as desirable? How should the life of so many professing +Christians be other than a lame creeping along the low levels of earth, +seeing that so seldom do they look up to "see the King in His beauty and +the land that is very far off"? John Bunyan's "man with the muckrake" +grubbed away so eagerly among the rubbish, because he never lifted his +eyes to the crown that hung above his head. In many a silent, solitary +hour of contemplation, with the world shut out and Christ brought very +near, we must find the counterpoise to the pressure of earthly aims, or +our efforts after the things that are above will be feeble and broken. +Life goes at such a pace to-day, and the present is so exacting with +most of us, that quiet meditation is, I fear me, almost out of fashion +with Christian people. We must become more familiar with the secret +place of the most High, and more often enter into our chambers and shut +our doors about us, if in the bustle of our busy days we are to aim +truly and strongly at the only object which saves life from being a +waste and a sin, a madness and a misery--"the things which are above, +where Christ is." + +"Where Christ is." Yes, that is the only thought which gives +definiteness and solidity to that else vague and nebulous unseen +universe; the only thought which draws our affections thither. Without +Him, there is no footing for us there. Rolling mists of doubt and dim +hopes warring with fears, strangeness and terrors wrap it all. But if He +be there, it becomes a home for our hearts. "I go to prepare a place for +you"--a place where desire and thought may walk unterrified and +undoubting even now, and where we ourselves may abide when our time +comes, nor shrink from the light nor be oppressed by the glory. + + "My knowledge of that life is small, + The eye of faith is dim, + But 'tis enough that Christ knows all, + And I shall be with Him." + +Into that solemn world we shall all pass. We can choose whether we shall +go to it as to our long-sought home, to find in it Him who is our life; +or whether we shall go reluctant and afraid, leaving all for which we +have cared, and going to Him whom we have neglected and that which we +have feared. Christ will be manifested, and we shall see Him. We can +choose whether it will be to us the joy of beholding the soul of our +soul, the friend long-loved when dimly seen from afar; or whether it +shall be the vision of a face that will stiffen us to stone and stab us +with its light. We must make our choice. If we give our hearts to Him, +and by faith unite ourselves with Him, then, "when He shall appear, we +shall have boldness, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming." + + + + +XVIII. + +_SLAYING SELF THE FOUNDATION PRECEPT OF PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY._ + + "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; + fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, + the which is idolatry; for which things' sake cometh the wrath of + God upon the sons of disobedience; in the which ye also walked + aforetime, when ye lived in these things. But now put ye also away + all these; anger, wrath, malice, railing, shameful speaking out of + your mouth: lie not one to another."--COL. iii. 5-9 (Rev. Ver.). + + +"Mortify _therefore_"--wherefore? The previous words give the reason. +Because "ye died" with Christ, and because ye "were raised together with +Him." In other words, the plainest, homeliest moral teaching of this +Epistle, such as that which immediately follows, is built upon its +"mystical" theology. Paul thinks that the deep things which he has been +saying about union with Christ in His death and resurrection have the +most intimate connection with common life. These profound truths have +the keenest edge, and are as a sacrificial knife, to slay the life of +self. Creed is meant to tell on conduct. Character is the last outcome +and test of doctrine. But too many people deal with their theological +beliefs as they do with their hassocks and prayer books and hymn books +in their pews--use them for formal worship once a week, and leave them +for the dust to settle on them till Sunday comes round again. So it is +very necessary to put the practical inferences very plainly, to +reiterate the most commonplace and threadbare precepts as the issue of +the most recondite teaching, and to bind the burden of duty on men's +backs with the cords of principles and doctrines. + +Accordingly the section of the Epistle which deals with Christian +character now begins, and this "therefore" knits the two halves +together. That word protests against opposite errors. On the one hand, +some good people are to be found impatient of exhortations to duties, +and ready to say, Preach the gospel, and the duties will spring up +spontaneously where it is received; on the other hand, some people are +to be found who see no connection between the practice of common +morality and the belief of Christian truths, and are ready to say, Put +away your theology; it is useless lumber, the machine will work as well +without it. But Paul believed that the firmest basis for moral teaching +and the most powerful motive for moral conduct is "the truth as it is in +Jesus." + +I. We have here put very plainly the paradox of continual self-slaying +as the all-embracing duty of a Christian. + +It is a pity that the R. V. has retained "mortify" here, as that +Latinized word says to an ordinary reader much less than is meant, and +hides the allusion to the preceding contest. The marginal alternative +"make dead" is, to say the least, not idiomatic English. The suggestion +of the American revisers, which is printed at the end of the R. V., "put +to death," is much better, and perhaps a single word, such as "slay" or +"kill" might have been better still. + +"Slay your members which are upon the earth." It is a vehement and +paradoxical injunction, though it be but the echo of still more solemn +and stringent words--"pluck it out, cut it off, and cast it from thee." +The possibility of misunderstanding it and bringing it down to the level +of that spurious asceticism and "severity to the body" against which he +has just been thundering, seems to occur to the Apostle, and therefore +he hastens to explain that he does not mean the maiming of selves, or +hacking away limbs, but the slaying of the passions and desires which +root themselves in our bodily constitution. The eager haste of the +explanation destroys the congruity of the sentence, but he does not mind +that. And then follows a grim catalogue of the evil-doers on whom +sentence of death is passed. + +Before dealing with that list, two points of some importance may be +observed. The first is that the practical exhortations of this letter +begin with this command to put off certain characteristics which are +assumed to belong to the Colossian Christians in their natural state, +and that only afterwards comes the precept to put on (ver. 12) the +fairer robes of Christlike purity, clasped about by the girdle of +perfectness. That is to say, Paul's anthropology regards men as wrong +and having to get right. A great deal of the moral teaching which is +outside of Christianity, and which does not sufficiently recognise that +the first thing to be done is to cure and alter, but talks as if men +were, on the whole, rather inclined to be good, is for that very reason +perfectly useless. Its fine precepts and lofty sentiments go clean over +people's heads, and are ludicrously inappropriate to the facts of the +case. The serpent has twined itself round my limbs, and unless you can +give me a knife, sharp and strong enough to cut its loathsome coils +asunder, it is cruel to bid me walk. All men on the face of the earth +need, for moral progress, to be shown and helped first how _not_ to be +what they have been, and only after that is it of the slightest use to +tell them what they ought to be. The only thing that reaches the +universal need is a power that will make us different from what we are. +If we are to grow into goodness and beauty, we must begin by a complete +reversal of tastes and tendencies. The thing we want first is not +progress, the going on in the direction in which our faces are turned, +but a power which can lay a mastering hand upon our shoulders, turn us +right round, and make us go in the way opposite to that. Culture, the +development of what is in us in germ, is not the beginning of good +husbandry on human nature as it is. The thorns have to be stubbed up +first, and the poisonous seeds sifted out, and new soil laid down, and +then culture will bring forth something better than wild grapes. +First--"mortify;" then--"put on." + +Another point to be carefully noted is that, according to the Apostle's +teaching, the root and beginning of all such slaying of the evil which +is in us all, lies in our being dead with Christ to the world. In the +former chapter we found that the Apostle's final condemnation of the +false asceticism which was beginning to infect the Colossian Church, was +that it was of no value as a counteractive of fleshly indulgence. But +here he proclaims that what asceticism could not do, in that it was +weak through the flesh, union with Jesus Christ in His death and risen +life will do; it will subdue sin in the flesh. That slaying here +enjoined as fundamental to all Christian holiness, is but the working +out in life and character of the revolution in the inmost self which has +been effected, if by faith we are joined to the living Lord, who was +dead and is alive for evermore. + +There must, however, be a very vigorous act of personal determination if +the power of that union is to be manifested in us. The act of "slaying" +can never be pleasant or easy. The vehemence of the command and the form +of the metaphor express the strenuousness of the effort and the +painfulness of the process, in the same way as Paul's other saying, +"crucify the flesh," does. Suppose a man working at some machine. His +fingers get drawn between the rollers or caught in some belting. Another +minute and he will be flattened to a shapeless bloody mass. He catches +up an axe lying by and with his own arm hacks off his own hand at the +wrist. It takes some nerve to do that. It is not easy nor pleasant, but +it is the only alternative to a horrible death. I know of no stimulus +that will string a man up to the analogous spiritual act here enjoined, +and enjoined by conscience also, except participation in the death of +Christ and in the resulting life. + +"Slay your members which are upon the earth" means tears and blood and +more than blood. It is easier far to cut off the hand, which after all +is not me, than to sacrifice passions and desires which, though they be +my worst self, are myself. It is useless to blink the fact that the only +road to holiness is through self-suppression, self-annihilation; and +nothing can make that easy and pleasant. True, the paths of religion are +ways of pleasantness and paths of peace, but they are steep, and +climbing is never easy. The upper air is bracing and exhilarating +indeed, but trying to lungs accustomed to the low levels. Religion is +delightsome, but self-denial is always against the grain of the self +which is denied, and there is no religion without it. Holiness is not to +be won in a moment. It is not a matter of consciousness, possessed when +we know that we possess it. But it has to be attained by effort. The way +to heaven is not by "the primrose path." That leads to "the everlasting +bonfire." For ever it remains true that men _obtain_ forgiveness and +eternal life as a gift for which the only requisite is faith, but they +_achieve_ holiness, which is the permeating of their characters with +that eternal life, by patient, believing, continuous effort. An +essential part of that effort is directed towards the conquest and +casting out of the old self in its earthward-looking lusts and passions. +The love of Jesus Christ and the indwelling of His renewing spirit make +that conquest possible, by supplying an all-constraining motive and an +all-conquering power. But even they do not make it easy, nor deaden the +flesh to the cut of the sacrificial knife. + +II. We have here a grim catalogue of the condemned to death. + +The Apostle stands like a jailer at the prison door, with the fatal roll +in his hand, and reads out the names of the evil doers for whom the +tumbril waits to carry them to the guillotine. It is an ugly list but we +need plain speaking that there may be no mistake as to the identity of +the culprits. He enumerates evils which honeycombed society with +rottenness then, and are rampant now. The series recounts various forms +of evil love, and is so arranged as that it starts with the coarse, +gross act, and goes on to more subtle and inward forms. It goes up the +stream as it were, to the fountain head, passing inward from deed to +desire. First stands "fornication," which covers the whole ground of +immoral sexual relations, then "all uncleanness," which embraces every +manifestation in word or look or deed of the impure spirit, and so is at +once wider and subtler than the gross physical act. Then follow +"passion" and "evil desire"; the sources of the evil deeds. These again +are at once more inward and more general than the preceding. They +include not only the lusts and longings which give rise to the special +sins just denounced, but all forms of hungry appetite and desire after +"the things that are upon the earth." If we are to try to draw a +distinction between the two, probably "passion" is somewhat less wide +than "desire," and the former represents the evil emotion as an +affection which the mind suffers, while the latter represents it as a +longing which it actively puts forth. The "lusts of the flesh" are in +the one aspect kindled by outward temptations which come with terrible +force and carry men captive, acting almost irresistibly on the animal +nature. In the other aspect they are excited by the voluntary action of +the man himself. In the one the evil comes into the heart; in the other +the heart goes out to the evil. + +Then follows covetousness. The juxtaposition of that vice with the +grosser forms of sensuality is profoundly significant. It is closely +allied with these. It has the same root, and is but another form of evil +desire going out to the "things which are on the earth." The ordinary +worldly nature flies for solace either to the pleasures of appetite or +to the passion of acquiring. And not only are they closely connected in +root, but covetousness often follows lust in the history of a life just +as it does in this catalogue. When the former evil spirit loses its +hold, the latter often takes its place. How many respectable middle-aged +gentlemen are now mainly devoted to making money, whose youth was foul +with sensual indulgence? When that palled, this came to titillate the +jaded desires with a new form of gratification. Covetousness is +"promoted _vice_, lust superannuated." + +A reason for this warning against covetousness is appended, "inasmuch as +(for such is the force of the word rendered 'the which') it is +idolatry." If we say of anything, no matter what, "If I have only enough +of this, I shall be satisfied; it is my real aim, my sufficient good," +that thing is a god to me, and my real worship is paid to it, whatever +may be my nominal religion. The lowest form of idolatry is the giving of +supreme trust to a material thing, and making that a god. There is no +lower form of fetish-worship than this, which is the real working +religion to-day of thousands of Englishmen who go masquerading as +Christians. + +III. The exhortation is enforced by a solemn note of warning: "For which +things' sake the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience." +Some authorities omit the words "upon the children of disobedience," +which are supposed to have crept in here from the parallel passage, +Eph. v. 6. But even the advocates of the omission allow that the clause +has "preponderating support," and the sentence is painfully incomplete +and abrupt without it. The R. V. has exercised a wise discretion in +retaining it. + +In the previous chapter the Apostle included "warning" in his statement +of the various branches into which his Apostolic activity was divided. +His duty seemed to him to embrace the plain stern setting forth of that +terrible reality, the wrath of God. Here we have it urged as a reason +for shaking off these evil habits. + +That thought of wrath as an element in the Divine nature has become very +unwelcome to this generation. The great revelation of God in Jesus +Christ has taught the world His love, as it never knew it before, and +knows it now by no other means. So profoundly has that truth that God is +love penetrated the consciousness of the European world, that many +people will not hear of the wrath of God because they think it +inconsistent with His love--and sometimes reject the very gospel to +which they owe their lofty conceptions of the Divine heart, because it +speaks solemn words about His anger and its issues. + +But surely these two thoughts of God's love and God's wrath are not +inconsistent, for His wrath is His love, pained, wounded, thrown back +upon itself, rejected and compelled to assume the form of aversion and +to do its "strange work"--that which is not its natural operation--of +punishment. When we ascribe wrath to God, we must take care of lowering +the conception of it to the level of human wrath, which is shaken with +passion and often tinged with malice, whereas in that affection of the +Divine nature which corresponds to anger in us, there is neither passion +nor wish to harm. Nor does it exclude the co-existence of love, as Paul +witnesses in his Epistle to the Ephesians, in one verse declaring that +"we were the children of wrath," and in the next that God "loved us with +a great love even when we were dead in sins." + +God would not be a holy God if it were all the same to Him whether a man +were good or bad. As a matter of fact, the modern revulsion against the +representation of the wrath of God is usually accompanied with weakened +conceptions of His holiness, and of His moral government of the world. +Instead of exalting, it degrades His love to free it from the admixture +of wrath, which is like alloy with gold, giving firmness to what were +else too soft for use. Such a God is not love, but impotent good nature. +If there be no wrath, there is no love; if there were no love, there +would be no wrath. It is more blessed and hopeful for sinful men to +believe in a God who is angry with the wicked, whom yet He loves, every +day, and who cannot look upon sin, than in one who does not love +righteousness enough to hate iniquity, and from whose too indulgent hand +the rod has dropped, to the spoiling of His children. "With the froward +Thou wilt show Thyself froward." The mists of our sins intercept the +gracious beams and turn the blessed sun into a ball of fire. + +The wrath "_cometh_." That majestic present tense may express either the +continuous present incidence of the wrath as exemplified in the moral +government of the world, in which, notwithstanding anomalies, such sins +as have been enumerated drag after themselves their own punishment and +are "avenged in kind," or it may be the present tense expressive of +prophetic certainty, which is so sure of what shall come, that it speaks +of it as already on its road. It is eminently true of those sins of lust +and passion, that the men who do them reap as they have sown. How many +young men come up into our great cities, innocent and strong, with a +mother's kiss upon their lips, and a father's blessing hovering over +their heads! They fall among bad companions in college or warehouse, and +after a little while they disappear. Broken in health, tainted in body +and soul, they crawl home to break their mothers' hearts--and to die. +"His bones are full of the sins of his youth, which shall lie down with +him in the dust." Whether in such extreme forms or no, that wrath comes +even now, in plain and bitter consequences on men, and still more on +women who sin in such ways. + +And the present retribution may well be taken as the herald and prophet +of a still more solemn manifestation of the Divine displeasure, which is +already as it were on the road, has set out from the throne of God, and +will certainly arrive here one day. These consequences of sin already +realised serve to show the set and drift of things, and to suggest what +will happen when retribution and the harvest of our present life of +sowing come. The first fiery drops that fell on Lot's path as he fled +from Sodom were not more surely precursors of an overwhelming rain, nor +bade him flee for his life more urgently, than the present punishment of +sin proclaims its sorer future punishment, and exhorts us all to come +out of the storm into the refuge, even Jesus, who is ever even now +"delivering us from the wrath which is" ever even now "coming" on the +sons of disobedience. + +IV. A further motive enforcing the main precept of self-slaying is the +remembrance of a sinful past, which remembrance is at once penitent and +grateful. "In the which ye also walked aforetime, when ye lived in +them." + +What is the difference between "walking" and "living" in these things? +The two phrases seem synonymous, and might often be used indifferently; +but here there is evidently a well marked diversity of meaning. The +former is an expression frequent in the Pauline Epistles as well as in +John's; as for instance, "to walk in love" or "in truth." That in which +men walk is conceived of as an atmosphere encompassing them; or, without +a metaphor, to walk in anything is to have the active life or conduct +guided or occupied by it. These Colossian Christians, then, had in the +past trodden that evil path, or their active life had been spent in that +poisonous atmosphere--which is equivalent to saying that they had +committed these sins. At what time? "When you lived in them." That does +not mean merely "when your natural life was passed among them." That +would be a trivial thing to say, and it would imply that their outward +life now was not so passed, which would not be true. In that sense they +still lived in the poisonous atmosphere. In such an age of unnameable +moral corruption no man could live out of the foul stench which filled +his nostrils whenever he walked abroad or opened his window. But the +Apostle has just said that they were now "living in Christ," and their +lives "hid with Him in God." So this phrase describes the condition +which is the opposite of their present, and may be paraphrased, "When +the roots of your life, tastes, affections, thoughts, desires were +immersed, as in some feculent bog, in these and kindred evils." And the +meaning of the whole is substantially--Your active life was occupied and +guided by these sins in that past time when your inward being was knit +to and nourished by them. Or to put it plainly, conduct followed and was +shaped by inclinations and desires. + +This retrospect enforces the main exhortation. It is meant to awaken +penitence, and the thought that time enough has been wasted and incense +enough offered on these foul altars. It is also meant to kindle +thankfulness for the strong, loving hand which has drawn them from that +pit of filth, and by both emotions to stimulate the resolute casting +aside of that evil in which they once, like others, wallowed. Their joy +on the one hand and their contrition on the other should lead them to +discern the inconsistency of professing to be Christians and yet keeping +terms with these old sins. They could not have the roots of half their +lives above and of the other half down here. The gulf between the +present and past of a regenerate man is too wide and deep to be bridged +by flimsy compromises. "A man who is perverse in his two ways," that is, +in double ways, "shall fall in one of them," as the Book of Proverbs has +it. The attempt to combine incompatibles is sure to fail. It is +impossible to walk firmly if one foot be down in the gutter and the +other up on the curb-stone. We have to settle which level we shall +choose, and then to plant both feet there. + +V. We have, as conclusion, a still wider exhortation to an entire +stripping off of the sins of the old state. + +The whole force of the contrast and contrariety between the Colossian +Christians' past and present lies in that emphatic "now." They as well +as other heathen had been walking, because they had been living, in +these muddy ways. But now that their life was hid with Christ in God; +now that they had been made partakers of His death and resurrection, and +of all the new loves and affinities which therein became theirs; now +they must take heed that they bring not that dead and foul past into +this bright and pure present, nor prolong winter and its frosts into the +summer of the soul. + +"Ye also." There is another "ye also" in the previous verse--"ye also +walked," that is, you in company with other Gentiles followed a certain +course of life. Here, by contrast, the expression means "you, in common +with other Christians." A motive enforcing the subsequent exhortation is +in it hinted rather than fully spoken. The Christians at Colossae had +belonged to a community which they have now left in order to join +another. Let them behave as their company behaves. Let them keep step +with their new comrades. Let them strip themselves, as their new +associates do, of the uniform which they wore in that other regiment. + +The metaphor of putting clothing on or off is very frequent in this +Epistle. The precept here is substantially equivalent to the previous +command to "slay," with the difference that the conception of vices as +the garments of the soul is somewhat less vehement than that which +regards them as members of the very self. "All these" are to be put off. +That phrase points back to the things previously spoken of. It includes +the whole of the unnamed members of the class, of which a few have been +already named, and a handful more are about to be plucked like poison +flowers, and suggests that there are many more as baleful growing by the +side of this devil's bouquet which is next presented. + +As to this second catalogue of vices, they may be summarised as, on the +whole, being various forms of wicked hatred, in contrast with the former +list, which consisted of various forms of wicked love. They have less to +do with bodily appetites. But perhaps it is not without profound meaning +that the fierce rush of unhallowed passion over the soul is put first, +and the contrary flow of chill malignity comes second; for in the +spiritual world, as in the physical, a storm blowing from one quarter is +usually followed by violent gales from the opposite. Lust ever passes +into cruelty, and dwells "hard by hate." A licentious epoch or man is +generally a cruel epoch or man. Nero made torches of the Christians. +Malice is evil desire iced. + +This second list goes in the opposite direction to the former. That +began with actions and went up the stream to desire; this begins with +the sources, which are emotions, and comes down stream to their +manifestations in action. + +First we have anger. There is a just and righteous anger, which is part +of the new man, and essential to his completeness, even as it is part of +the image after which he is created. But here of course the anger which +is to be put off is the inverted reflection of the earthly and +passionate lust after the flesh; it is, then, of an earthly, passionate +and selfish kind. "Wrath" differs from "anger" in so far as it may be +called anger boiling over. If anger rises keep the lid on, do not let it +get the length of wrath, nor effervesce into the brief madness of +passion. But on the other hand, do not think that you have done enough +when you have suppressed the wrath which is the expression of your +anger, nor be content with saying, "Well, at all events I did not show +it," but take the cure a step further back, and strip off anger as well +as wrath, the emotion as well as the manifestation. + +Christian people do not sufficiently bring the greatest forces of their +religion and of God's Spirit to bear upon the homely task of curing +small hastinesses of temper, and sometimes seem to think it a sufficient +excuse to say, "I have naturally a hot disposition." But Christianity +was sent to subdue and change natural dispositions. An angry man cannot +have communion with God, any more than the sky can be reflected in the +storm-swept tide; and a man in communion with God cannot be angry with a +passionate and evil anger any more than a dove can croak like a raven or +strike like a hawk. Such anger disturbs our insight into everything; +eyes suffused with it cannot see; and it weakens all good in the soul, +and degrades it before its own conscience. + +"Malice" designates another step in the process. The anger boils over in +wrath, and then cools down into malignity--the disposition which means +mischief, and plans or rejoices in evil falling on the hated head. That +malice, as cold, as clear, as colourless as sulphuric acid, and burning +like it, is worse than the boiling rage already spoken of. There are +many degrees of this cold drawn, double distilled rejoicing in evil, and +the beginnings of it in a certain faint satisfaction in the misfortunes +of those whom we dislike is by no means unusual. + +An advance is now made in the direction of outward manifestation. It is +significant that while the expressions of wicked love were deeds, those +of wicked hate are words. The "blasphemy" of the Authorised Version is +better taken, with the Revised, as "railing." The word means "speech +that injures," and such speech may be directed either against God, which +is blasphemy in the usual sense of the word, or against man. The hate +blossoms into hurtful speech. The heated metal of anger is forged into +poisoned arrows of the tongue. Then follows "shameful speaking out of +your mouth," which is probably to be understood not so much of +obscenities, which would more properly belong to the former catalogue, +as of foul-mouthed abuse of the hated persons, that copiousness of +vituperation and those volcanic explosions of mud, which are so natural +to the angry Eastern. + +Finally, we have a dehortation from lying, especially to those within +the circle of the Church, as if that sin too were the child of hatred +and anger. It comes from a deficiency of love, or a predominance of +selfishness, which is the same thing. A lie ignores my brother's claims +on me, and my union with him. "Ye are members one of another," is the +great obligation to love which is denied and sinned against by hatred in +all its forms and manifestations, and not least by giving my brother the +poisoned bread of lies instead of the heavenly manna of pure truth, so +far as it has been given to me. + +On the whole, this catalogue brings out the importance to be attached to +sins of speech, which are ranked here as in parallel lines with the +grossest forms of animal passion. Men's words ought to be fountains of +consolation and sources of illumination, encouragement, revelations of +love and pity. And what are they? What floods of idle words, foul words, +words that wound like knives and sting and bite like serpents, deluge +the world! If all the talk that has its sources in these evils rebuked +here, were to be suddenly made inaudible, what a dead silence would fall +on many brilliant circles, and how many of us would stand making mouths +but saying nothing. + +All the practical exhortations of this section concern common homely +duties which everybody knows to be such. It may be asked--does +Christianity then only lay down such plain precepts? What need was there +of all that prelude of mysterious doctrines, if we are only to be landed +at last in such elementary and obvious moralities? No doubt they are +elementary and obvious, but the main matter is--how to get them kept. +And in respect to that, Christianity does two things which nothing else +does. It breaks the entail of evil habits by the great gift of pardon +for the past, and by the greater gift of a new spirit and life principle +within, which is foreign to all evil, being the effluence of the spirit +of life in Christ Jesus. + +Therefore the gospel of Jesus Christ makes it possible that men should +slay themselves, and put on the new life, which will expel the old as +the new shoots on some trees push the last year's lingering leaves, +brown and sere, from their places. All moral teachers from the beginning +have agreed, on the whole, in their reading of the commandments which +are printed on conscience in the largest capitals. Everybody who is not +blind can read them. But reading is easy, keeping is hard. How to fulfil +has been wanting. It is given us in the gospel, which is not merely a +republication of old precepts, but the communication of new power. If we +yield ourselves to Christ He will nerve our arms to wield the knife that +will slay our dearest tastes, though beloved as Isaac by Abraham. If a +man knows and feels that Christ has died for him, and that he lives in +and by Christ, then, and not else, will he be able to crucify self. If +he knows and feels that by His pardoning mercy and atoning death, Christ +has taken off his foul raiment and clothed him in clean garments, then, +and not else, will he be able, by daily effort after repression of self +and appropriation of Christ, to put off the old man and to put on the +new, which is daily being renewed into closer resemblance to the image +of Him who created him. + + + + +XIX. + +_THE NEW NATURE WROUGHT OUT IN NEW LIFE._ + + "Seeing that ye have put off the old man with his doings, and have + put on the new man, which is being renewed unto knowledge after the + image of Him that created him: where there cannot be Greek and Jew, + circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, + freeman; but Christ is all, and in all."--COL. iii. 9-11 (Rev. + Ver.). + + +In previous section we were obliged to break the close connection +between these words and the preceding. They adduce a reason for the +moral exhortation going before, which at first sight may appear very +illogical. "Put off these vices of the old nature because you have put +off the old nature with its vices," sounds like, Do a thing because you +have done it. But the apparent looseness of reasoning covers very +accurate thought which a little consideration brings to light, and +introduces a really cogent argument for the conduct it recommends. Nor +do the principles contained in the verses now under examination look +backward only to enforce the exhortation to put aside these evils. They +also look forward, and are taken as the basis of the following +exhortation, to put on the white robes of Christlikeness--which is +coupled with this section by "therefore." + +I. The first thing to be observed is the change of the spirit's dress, +which is taken for granted as having occurred in the experience of all +Christians. + +We have already found the same idea presented under the forms of death +and resurrection. The "death" is equivalent to the "putting off of the +old," and the "resurrection" to "the putting on of the new man." That +figure of a change of dress to express a change of moral character is +very obvious, and is frequent in Scripture. Many a psalm breathes such +prayers as, "Let Thy priests be clothed with righteousness." Zechariah +in vision saw the high-priestly representative of the nation standing +before the Lord "in filthy garments," and heard the command to strip +them off him, and clothe him in festival robes, in token that God had +"caused his iniquity to pass from him." Christ spoke His parable of the +man at the wedding feast without the wedding garment, and of the +prodigal, who was stripped of his rags stained with the filth of the +swine troughs, and clothed with the best robe. Paul in many places +touches the same image, as in his ringing exhortation--clear and rousing +in its notes like the morning bugle--to Christ's soldiers, to put off +their night gear, "the works of darkness," and to brace on the armour of +light, which sparkles in the morning sunrise. Every reformatory and +orphanage yields an illustration of the image, where the first thing +done is to strip off and burn the rags of the new comers, then to give +them a bath and dress them in clean, sweet, new clothes. Most naturally +dress is taken as the emblem of character, which is indeed the garb of +the soul. Most naturally _habit_ means both _costume_ and _custom_. + +But here we have a strange paradox introduced, to the ruining of the +rhetorical propriety of the figure. It is a "new man" that is put on. +The Apostle does not mind hazarding a mixed metaphor, if it adds to the +force of his speech, and he introduces this thought of the new _man_, +though it somewhat jars, in order to impress on his readers that what +they have to put off and on is much more truly part of themselves than +an article of dress is. The "old man" is the unregenerate self; the new +man is, of course, the regenerate self, the new Christian moral nature +personified. There is a deeper self which remains the same throughout +the change, the true man, the centre of personality; which is, as it +were, draped in the moral nature, and can put it off and on. I myself +change myself. The figure is vehement, and, if you will, paradoxical, +but it expresses accurately and forcibly at once the depth of the change +which passes on him who becomes a Christian, and the identity of the +person through all change. If I am a Christian, there has passed on me a +change so thorough that it is in one aspect a death, and in another a +resurrection; in one aspect it is a putting off not merely of some garb +of action, but of the old _man_, and in another a putting on not merely +of some surface renovation, but of a new _man_--which is yet the same +old self. + +This entire change is taken for granted by Paul as having been realised +in every Christian. It is here treated as having taken place at a +certain point of time, namely when these Colossians began to put their +trust in Jesus Christ, and in profession of that trust, and as a symbol +of that change, were baptized. + +Of course the contrast between the character before and after faith in +Christ is strongest when, like the Christians at Colossae, converts have +been brought out of heathenism. With us, where some knowledge of +Christianity is widely diffused, and its indirect influence has shaped +the characters even of those who reject it, there is less room for a +marked revolution in character and conduct. There will be many true +saints who can point to no sudden change as their conversion; but have +grown up, sometimes from childhood, under Christian influences, or who, +if they have distinctly been conscious of a change, have passed through +it as gradually as night passes into day. Be it so. In many respects +that will be the highest form of experience. Yet even such souls will be +aware of a "new man" formed in them which is at variance with their own +old selves, and will not escape the necessity of the conflict with their +lower nature, the immolation and casting off of the unregenerate self. +But there are also many people who have grown up without God or Christ, +who must become Christians by the way of sudden conversion, if they are +ever to become Christians at all. + +Why should such sudden change be regarded as impossible? Is it not a +matter of every-day experience that some long ignored principle may +suddenly come, like a meteor into the atmosphere, into a man's mind and +will, may catch fire as it travels, and may explode and blow to pieces +the solid habits of a lifetime? And why should not the truth concerning +God's great love in Christ, which in too sad certainty is ignored by +many, flame in upon blind eyes, and change the look of everything? The +New Testament doctrine of conversion asserts that it may and does. It +does not insist that everybody must become a Christian in the same +fashion. Sometimes there will be a dividing line between the two states, +as sharp as the boundary of adjoining kingdoms; sometimes the one will +melt imperceptibly into the other. Sometimes the revolution will be as +swift as that of the wheel of a locomotive, sometimes slow and silent as +the movement of a planet in the sky. The main thing is that whether +suddenly or slowly the face shall be turned to God. + +But however brought about, this putting off of the old sinful self, is a +certain mark of a Christian man. It can be assumed as true universally, +and appealed to as the basis of exhortations such as those of the +context. Believing certain truths does not make a Christian. If there +have been any reality in the act by which we have laid hold of Christ as +our Saviour, our whole being will be revolutionized; old things will +have passed away--tastes, desires, ways of looking at the world, +memories, habits, pricks of conscience and all cords that bound us to +our God-forgetting past--and all things will have become new, because we +ourselves move in the midst of the old things as new creatures with new +love burning in our hearts and new motives changing all our lives, and a +new aim shining before us, and a new hope illuminating the blackness +beyond, and a new song on our lips, and a new power in our hands, and a +new Friend by our sides. + +This is a wholesome and most needful test for all who call themselves +Christians, and who are often tempted to put too much stress on +believing and feeling, and to forget the supreme importance of the moral +change which true Christianity effects. Nor is it less needful to +remember that this resolute casting off of the garment spotted by the +flesh, and putting on of the new man, is a consequence of faith in +Christ and is only possible as a consequence. Nothing else will strip +the foul robes from a man. The moral change comes second, the union with +Jesus Christ by faith must come first. To try to begin with the second +stage, is like trying to begin to build a house at the second story. + +But there is a practical conclusion drawn from this taken-for-granted +change. Our text is introduced by "seeing that;" and though some doubts +may be raised as to that translation and the logical connection of the +paragraph, it appears on the whole most congruous with both the +preceding and the following context, to retain it and to see here the +reason for the exhortation which goes before--"Put off all these," and +for that which follows--"Put on, therefore," the beautiful garment of +love and compassion. + +That great change, though taking place in the inmost nature whensoever a +heart turns to Christ, needs to be wrought into character, and to be +wrought out in conduct. The leaven is in the dough, but to knead it +thoroughly into the mass is a lifelong task, which is only accomplished +by our own continually repeated efforts. The old garment clings to the +limbs like the wet clothes of a half-drowned man, and it takes the work +of a lifetime to get quite rid of it. The "old man" dies hard, and we +have to repeat the sacrifice hour by hour. The new man has to be put on +afresh day by day. + +So the apparently illogical exhortation, Put off what you have put off, +and put on what you have put on, is fully vindicated. It means, Be +consistent with your deepest selves. Carry out in detail what you have +already done in bulk. Cast out the enemy, already ejected from the +central fortress, from the isolated positions which he still occupies. +You _may_ put off the old man, for he is put off already; and the +confidence that he is will give you strength for the struggle that still +remains. You _must_ put off the old man, for there is still danger of +his again wrapping his poisonous rags about your limbs. + +II. We have here, the continuous growth of the new man, its aim and +pattern. + +The thought of the garment passes for the moment out of sight, and the +Apostle enlarges on the greatness and glory of this "new man," partly as +a stimulus to obeying the exhortation, partly, with allusion to some of +the errors which he had been combating, and partly because his fervid +spirit kindles at the mention of the mighty transformation. + +The new man, says he, is "being renewed." This is one of the instances +where minute accuracy in translation is not pedantic, but clear gain. +When we say, with the Authorised Version, "is renewed," we speak of a +completed act; when we say with the Revised Version, "is being renewed," +we speak of a continuous process; and there can be no question that the +latter is the true idea intended here. The growth of the new man is +constant, perhaps slow and difficult to discern, if the intervals of +comparison be short. But like all habits and powers it steadily +increases. On the other hand, a similar process works to opposite +results in the "old man," which, as Paul says in the instructive +parallel passage in the Epistle to the Ephesians (iv. 22), "waxeth +corrupt, after the lusts of deceit." Both grow according to their inmost +nature, the one steadily upwards; the other with accelerating speed +downwards, till they are parted by the whole distance between the +highest heaven and the lowest abyss. So mystic and awful is that solemn +law of the persistent increase of the true ruling tendency of a man's +nature, and its certain subjugation of the whole man to itself! + +It is to be observed that this renewing is represented in this clause, +as done _on_ the new man, not by him. We have heard the exhortation to a +continuous appropriation and increase of the new life by our own +efforts. But there is a Divine side too, and the renewing is not merely +effected by us, nor due only to the vital power of the new man, though +growth is the sign of life there as everywhere, but is "the renewing by +the Holy Ghost," whose touch quickens and whose indwelling renovates the +inward man day by day. So there is hope for us in our striving, for He +helps us; and the thought of that Divine renewal is not a pillow for +indolence, but a spur to intenser energy, as Paul well knew when he wove +the apparent paradox, "work out your own salvation, for it is God that +worketh in you." + +The new man is being renewed "_unto_ knowledge." An advanced knowledge +of God and Divine realities is the result of the progressive renewal. +Possibly there may be a passing reference to the pretensions of the +false teachers, who had so much to say about a higher wisdom open to the +initiated, and to be won by ceremonial and asceticism. Their claims, +hints Paul, are baseless; their pretended secrets a delusion; their +method of attaining them a snare. There is but one way to press into the +depths of the knowledge of God--namely growth into His likeness. We +understand one another best by sympathy. We know God only on condition +of resemblance. "If the eye were not sunlike how could it see the sun?" +says Goethe. "If thou beest this, thou seest this," said Plotinus. Ever, +as we grow in resemblance, shall we grow in knowledge, and ever as we +grow in knowledge, shall we grow in resemblance. So in perpetual action +and reaction of being and knowing, shall we draw nearer and nearer the +unapproachable light, and receiving it full on our faces, shall be +changed into the same image, as the moonbeams that touch the dark ocean +transfigure its waves into silver radiance like their own. For all +simple souls, bewildered by the strife of tongues and unapt for +speculation, this is a message of gladness, that the way to know God is +to be like Him, and the way to be like Him is to be renewed in the +inward man, and the way to be renewed in the inward man is to put on +Christ. They may wrangle and philosophize who will, but the path to God +leads far away from all that. It may be trodden by a child's foot, and +the wayfaring man though a fool shall not err therein, for all that is +needed is a heart that desires to know Him, and is made like Him by +love. Half the secret lies in the great word which tells us that "we +shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is," and knowledge will +work likeness. The other half lies in the great word which tells us that +"blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," and likeness +will work a more perfect knowledge. + +This new man is being renewed _after the image of Him that created him_. +As in the first creation man was made in the image of God, so in the new +creation. From the first moment in which the supernatural life is +derived from Christ into the regenerated spirit, that new life is like +its source. It is kindred, therefore it is like, as all derived life is. +The child's life is like the father's. But the image of God which the +new man bears is more than that which was stamped on man in his +creation. That consisted mainly, if not wholly, in the reasonable soul, +and the self-conscious personality, the broad distinctions which +separate man from other animals. The image of God is often said to have +been lost by sin, but Scripture seems rather to consider it as +inseparable from humanity, even when stained by transgression. Men are +still images of God, though darkened and "carved in ebony." The coin +bears His image and superscription, though rusty and defaced. But the +image of God, which the new man bears from the beginning in a +rudimentary form, and which is continually imprinting itself more deeply +upon him, has for its principal feature holiness. Though the majestic +infinitudes of God can have no likeness in man, however exalted, and our +feebleness cannot copy His strength, nor our poor blind knowledge, with +its vast circumference of ignorance, be like His ungrowing and unerring +knowledge, we may be "holy _as_ He is holy"; we may be "imitators of God +as beloved children, and walk in love as He hath loved us"; we may +"_walk_ in the light as He _is_ in the light," with only the difference +between His calm, eternal being, and our changeful and progressive +motion therein; we may even "be perfect as our Father is perfect." This +is the end of all our putting off the old and putting on the new. This +is the ultimate purpose of God, in all His self-revelation. For this +Christ has come and died and lives. For this the Spirit of God dwells in +us. This is the immortal hope with which we may re-create and encourage +our souls in our often weary struggles. Even our poor sinful natures may +be transformed into that wondrous likeness. Coal and diamond are but +varying forms of carbon, and the blackest lump dug from the deepest +mine, may be transmuted by the alchemy of that wondrous transforming +union with Christ, into a brightness that shall flash back all the glory +of the sunlight, and gleam for ever, set in one of His many crowns. + +III. We have here finally the grand unity of this new creation. + +We may reverse the order of the words as they stand here, and consider +the last clause first, inasmuch as it is the reason for the doing away +of all distinctions of race, or ceremony, or culture, or social +condition. + +"Christ is all." Wherever that new nature is found, it lives by the life +of Christ. He dwells in all who possess it. The Spirit of life in Christ +is in them. His blood passes into their veins. The holy desires, the new +tastes, the kindling love, the clearer vision, the gentleness and the +strength, and whatsoever things beside are lovely and of good report, +are all His--nay, we may say, are all Himself. + +And, of course, all who are His are partakers of that common gift, and +He is _in_ all. There is no privileged class in Christ's Church, as +these false teachers in Colossae had taught. Against every attempt to +limit the universality of the gospel, whether it came from Jewish +Pharisees or Eastern philosophers, Paul protested with his whole soul. +He has done so already in this Epistle, and does so here in his emphatic +assertion that Christ was not the possession of an aristocracy of +"intelligence," but belonged to every soul that trusted Him. + +Necessarily, therefore, surface distinctions disappear. There is triumph +in the roll of his rapid enumeration of these clefts that have so long +kept brothers apart, and are now being filled up. He looks round on a +world, the antagonisms of which we can but faintly imagine, and his eye +kindles and his voice rises into vibrating emotion, as he thinks of the +mighty magnetism that is drawing enemies towards the one centre in +Christ. His catalogue here may profitably be compared with his other in +the Epistle to the Galatians (iii. 28). There he enumerates the three +great distinctions which parted the old world: race (Jew and Greek), +social condition (bond and free), and sex (male and female.) These, he +says, as separating powers, are done away in Christ. Here the list is +modified, probably with reference to the errors in the Colossian Church. + +"There cannot be Greek and Jew." The cleft of national distinctions, +which certainly never yawned more widely than between the Jew and every +other people, ceases to separate, and the teachers who had been trying +to perpetuate that distinction in the Church were blind to the very +meaning of the gospel. "Circumcision and uncircumcision" separated. +Nothing makes deeper and bitterer antagonisms than differences in +religious forms, and people who have not been born into them are +usually the most passionate in adherence to them, so that cleft did not +entirely coincide with the former. "Barbarian, Scythian," is not an +antithesis, but a climax--the Scythians were looked upon as the most +savage of barbarians. The Greek contempt for the outside races, which is +reflected in this clause, was largely the contempt for a supposed lower +stage of culture. As we have seen, Colossae especially needed the lesson +that differences in culture disappeared in the unity of Christ, for the +heretical teachers attached great importance to the wisdom which they +professed to impart. A cultivated class is always tempted to +superciliousness, and a half cultivated class is even more so. There is +abundance of that arrogance born of education among us to-day, and +sorely needing and quite disbelieving the teaching that there are things +which can make up for the want of what it possesses. It is in the +interest of the humble virtues of the uneducated godly as well as of the +nations called uncivilized, that Christianity wars against that most +heartless and ruinous of all prides, the pride of culture, by its +proclamation that in Christ, barbarian, Scythian and the most polished +thinker or scholar are one. + +"Bondman, freeman" is again an antithesis. That gulf between master and +slave was indeed wide and deep; too wide for compassion to cross, though +not for hatred to stride over. The untold miseries of slavery in the old +world are but dimly known; but it and war and the degradation of women +made an infernal trio which crushed more than half the race into a hell +of horrors. Perhaps Paul may have been the more ready to add this clause +to his catalogue because his thoughts had been occupied with the +relation of master and slave on the occasion of the letter to Philemon +which was sent along with this to Colossae. + +Christianity waged no direct war against these social evils of +antiquity, but it killed them much more effectually by breathing into +the conscience of the world truths which made their continuance +impossible. It girdled the tree, and left it to die--a much better and +more thorough plan than dragging it out of the ground by main force. +Revolution cures nothing. The only way to get rid of evils engrained in +the constitution of society is to elevate and change the tone of thought +and feeling, and then they die of atrophy. Change the climate, and you +change the vegetation. Until you do, neither mowing nor uprooting will +get rid of the foul growths. + +So the gospel does with all these lines of demarcation between men. What +becomes of them? What becomes of the ridges of sand that separate pool +from pool at low water? The tide comes up over them and makes them all +one, gathered into the oneness of the great sea. They may remain, but +they are seen no more, and the roll of the wave is not interrupted by +them. The powers and blessings of the Christ pass freely from heart to +heart, hindered by no barriers. Christ founds a deeper unity independent +of all these superficial distinctions, for the very conception of +humanity is the product of Christianity, and the true foundation for the +brotherhood of mankind is the revelation in Christ of the fatherhood of +God. Christ is the brother of us all; His death is for every man; the +blessing of His gospel is offered to each; He will dwell in the heart +of any. Therefore all distinctions, national, ceremonial, intellectual +or social, fade into nothingness. Love is of no nation, and Christ is +the property of no aristocracy in the Church. That great truth was a +miraculous new thing in that old world, all torn apart by deep clefts +like the grim canyons of American rivers. Strange it must have seemed to +find slaves and their masters, Jew and Greek, sitting at one table and +bound in fraternal ties. The world has not yet fully grasped that truth, +and the Church has woefully failed in showing it to be a reality. But it +arches above all our wars, and schisms, and wretched class distinctions, +like a rainbow of promise, beneath whose open portal the world shall one +day pass into that bright land where the wandering peoples shall gather +together in peace round the feet of Jesus, and there shall be one fold +because there is one Shepherd. + + + + +XX. + +_THE GARMENTS OF THE RENEWED SOUL._ + + "Put on therefore, as God's elect, holy and beloved, a heart of + compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing + one another, and forgiving each other, if any man have a complaint + against any; even as the Lord forgave you, so also do ye: and above + all these things put on love, which is the bond of + perfectness."--COL. iii.12-14 (Rev. Ver.). + + +We need not repeat what has been already said as to the logic of the +inference, You have put off the "old man," therefore put off the vices +which belong to him. Here we have the same argument in reference to the +"new man" who is to be "put on" because he has been put on. This +"therefore" rests the exhortation both on that thought, and on the +nearer words, "Christ is all and in all." Because the new nature has +been assumed in the very act of conversion, therefore array your souls +in vesture corresponding. Because Christ is all and in all, therefore +clothe yourselves with all brotherly graces, corresponding to the great +unity into which all Christians are brought by their common possession +of Christ. The whole field of Christian morality is not traversed here, +but only so much of it as concerns the social duties which result from +that unity. + +But besides the foundation for the exhortations which is laid in the +possession of the "New Man," consequent on participation in Christ, +another ground for them is added in the words, "as God's elect, holy and +beloved." Those who are in Christ and are thus regenerated in Him, are +of the chosen race, are consecrated as belonging especially to God, and +receive the warm beams of the special paternal love with which He +regards the men who are in some measure conformed to His likeness and +moulded after His will. That relation to God should draw after it a life +congruous with itself--a life of active goodness and brotherly +gentleness. The outcome of it should be not mere glad emotion, nor a +hugging of one's self in one's happiness, but practical efforts to turn +to men a face lit by the same dispositions with which God has looked on +us, or as the parallel passage in Ephesians has it, "Be imitators of +God, as beloved children." That is a wide and fruitful principle--the +relation to men will follow the relation to God. As we think God has +been to us, so let us try to be to others. The poorest little fishing +cobble is best guided by celestial observations, and dead reckoning +without sun or stars is but second best. Independent morality cut loose +from religion will be feeble morality. On the other hand, religion which +does not issue in morality is a ghost without substance. Religion is the +soul of morality. Morality is the body of religion, more than ceremonial +worship is. The virtues which all men know, are the fitting garments of +the elect of God. + +I. We have here then an enumeration of the fair garments of the new man. + +Let us go over the items of this list of the wardrobe of the consecrated +soul. + +"A heart of compassion." So the Revised Version renders the words given +literally in the Authorised as "bowels of mercies," an expression which +that very strange thing called conventional propriety regards as coarse, +simply because Jews chose one part of the body and we another as the +supposed seat of the emotions. Either phrase expresses substantially the +Apostle's meaning. + +Is it not beautiful that the series should begin with _pity_? It is the +most often needed, for the sea of sorrow stretches so widely that +nothing less than a universal compassion can arch it over as with the +blue of heaven. Every man would seem in some respect deserving of and +needing sympathy, if his whole heart and history could be laid bare. +Such compassion is difficult to achieve, for its healing streams are +dammed back by many obstructions of inattention and occupation, and +dried up by the fierce heat of selfishness. Custom, with its deadening +influence, comes in to make us feel least the sorrows which are most +common in the society around us. As a man might live so long in an +asylum that lunacy would seem to him almost the normal condition, so the +most widely diffused griefs are those least observed and least +compassionated; and good, tender-hearted men and women walk the streets +of our great cities and see sights--children growing up for the gallows +and the devil, gin-shops at every corner--which might make angels weep, +and suppose them to be as inseparable from our "civilization" as the +noise of wheels from a carriage or bilge water from a ship. Therefore we +have to make conscious efforts to "put on" that sympathetic disposition, +and to fight against the faults which hinder its free play. Without it, +no help will be of much use to the receiver, nor of any to the giver. +Benefits bestowed on the needy and sorrowful, if bestowed without +sympathy, will hurt like a blow. Much is said about ingratitude, but +very often it is but the instinctive recoil of the heart from the unkind +doer of a kindness. Aid flung to a man as a bone is to a dog usually +gets as much gratitude as the sympathy which it expresses deserves. But +if we really make another's sorrows ours, that teaches us tact and +gentleness, and makes our clumsy hands light and deft to bind up sore +hearts. + +Above all things, the practical discipline which cultivates pity will +beware of letting it be excited and then not allowing the emotion to +act. To stimulate feeling and do nothing in consequence is a short road +to destroy the feeling. Pity is meant to be the impulse toward help, and +if it is checked and suffered to pass away idly, it is weakened, as +certainly as a plant is weakened by being kept close nipped and hindered +from bringing its buds to flower and fruit. + +"Kindness" comes next--a wider benignity, not only exercised where there +is manifest room for pity, but turning a face of goodwill to all. Some +souls are so dowered that they have this grace without effort, and come +like the sunshine with welcome and cheer for all the world. But even +less happily endowed natures can cultivate the disposition, and the best +way to cultivate it is to be much in communion with God. When Moses came +down from the mount, his face shone. When we come out from the secret +place of the Most High we shall bear some reflection of His great +kindness whose "tender mercies are over all His works." This "kindness" +is the opposite of that worldly wisdom, on which many men pride +themselves as the ripe fruit of their knowledge of men and things, and +which keeps up vigilant suspicion of everybody, as in the savage state, +where "stranger" and "enemy" had only one word between them. It does not +require us to be blind to facts or to live in fancies, but it does +require us to cherish a habit of goodwill, ready to become pity if +sorrow appears, and slow to turn away even if hostility appears. Meet +your brother with kindness, and you will generally find it returned. The +prudent hypocrites who get on in the world, as ships are launched, by +"greasing the ways" with flattery, and smiles, teach us the value of the +true thing, since even a coarse caricature of it wins hearts and disarms +foes. This "kindness" is the most powerful solvent of illwill and +indifference. + +Then follows "humility." That seems to break the current of thought by +bringing a virtue entirely occupied with self into the middle of a +series referring exclusively to others. But it does not really do so. +From this point onwards all the graces named have reference to our +demeanour under slights and injuries--and humility comes into view here +only as constituting the foundation for the right bearing of these. +Meekness and longsuffering must stand on a basis of humility. The proud +man, who thinks highly of himself and of his own claims, will be the +touchy man, if any one derogates from these. + +"Humility," or lowly-mindedness, a lowly estimate of ourselves, is not +necessarily blindness to our strong points. If a man can do certain +things better than his neighbours, he can hardly help knowing it, and +Christian humility does not require him to be ignorant of it. I suppose +Milton would be none the less humble, though he was quite sure that his +work was better than that of Sternhold and Hopkins. The consciousness of +power usually accompanies power. But though it may be quite right to +"know myself" in the strong points, as well as in the weak, there are +two considerations which should act as dampers to any unchristian fire +of pride which the devil's breath may blow up from that fuel. The one +is, "What hast thou that thou hast not received?" the other is, "Who is +pure before God's judgment-seat?" Your strong points are nothing so very +wonderful, after all. If you have better brains than some of your +neighbours, well, that is not a thing to give yourself such airs about. +Besides, where did you get the faculties you plume yourself on? However +cultivated by yourself, how came they yours at first? And, furthermore, +whatever superiorities may lift you above any men, and however high you +may be elevated, it is a long way from the top of the highest molehill +to the sun, and not much longer to the top of the lowest. And, besides +all that, you may be very clever and brilliant, may have made books or +pictures, may have stamped your name on some invention, may have won a +place in public life, or made a fortune--and yet you and the beggar who +cannot write his name are both guilty before God. Pride seems out of +place in creatures like us, who have all to bow our heads in the +presence of His perfect judgment, and cry, "God be merciful to me a +sinner!" + +Then follow "meekness, long-suffering." The distinction between these +two is slight. According to the most thorough investigators, the former +is the temper which accepts God's dealings, or evil inflicted by men as +His instruments, without resistance, while the latter is the long +holding out of the mind before it gives way to a temptation to action, +or passion, especially the latter. The opposite of meekness is rudeness +or harshness; the opposite of long-suffering, swift resentment or +revenge. Perhaps there may be something in the distinction, that while +long-suffering does not get angry soon, meekness does not get angry at +all. Possibly, too, meekness implies a lowlier position than +long-suffering does. The meek man puts himself below the offender; the +long-suffering man does not. God is long-suffering, but the incarnate +God alone can be "meek and lowly." + +The general meaning is plain enough. The "hate of hate," the "scorn of +scorn," is not the Christian ideal. I am not to allow my enemy always to +settle the terms on which we are to be. Why should I scowl back at him, +though he frowns at me? It is hard work, as we all know, to repress the +retort that would wound and be so neat. It is hard not to repay slights +and offences in kind. But, if the basis of our dispositions to others be +laid in a wise and lowly estimate of ourselves, such graces of conduct +will be possible, and they will give beauty to our characters. + +"Forbearing and forgiving" are not new virtues. They are meekness and +long-suffering in exercise, and if we were right in saying that +"long-suffering" was not _soon_ angry, and "meekness" was not angry at +all, then "forbearance" would correspond to the former and "forgiveness" +to the latter; for a man may exercise forbearance, and bite his lips +till the blood come rather than speak, and violently constrain himself +to keep calm and do nothing unkind, and yet all the while seven devils +may be in his spirit; while forgiveness, on the other hand, is an entire +wiping of all enmity and irritation clean out of the heart. + +Such is the Apostle's outline sketch of the Christian character in its +social aspect, all rooted in pity, and full of soft compassion; quick to +apprehend, to feel, and to succour sorrow; a kindliness, equable and +widespread, illuminating all who come within its reach; a patient +acceptance of wrongs without resentment or revenge, because a lowly +judgment of self and its claims, a spirit schooled to calmness under all +provocations, disdaining to requite wrong by wrong, and quick to +forgive. + +The question may well be asked--is that a type of character which the +world generally admires? Is it not uncommonly like what most people +would call "a poor spiritless creature." It was "a new man," most +emphatically, when Paul drew that sketch, for the heathen world had +never seen anything like it. It is a "new man" still; for although the +modern world has had some kind of Christianity--at least has had a +Church--for all these centuries, that is not the kind of character which +is its ideal. Look at the heroes of history and of literature. Look at +the tone of so much contemporary biography and criticism of public +actions. Think of the ridicule which is poured on the attempt to +regulate politics by Christian principles, or, as a distinguished +soldier called them in public recently, "puling principles." It may be +true that Christianity has not added any new virtues to those which are +prescribed by natural conscience, but it has most certainly altered the +perspective of the whole, and created a type of excellence, in which the +gentler virtues predominate, and the novelty of which is proved by the +reluctance of the so-called Christian world to recognise it even yet. + +By the side of its serene and lofty beauty, the "heroic virtues" +embodied in the world's type of excellence show vulgar and glaring, like +some daub representing a soldier, the sign-post of a public-house, by +the side of Angelico's white-robed visions on the still convent walls. +The highest exercise of these more gaudy and conspicuous qualities is to +produce the pity and meekness of the Christian ideal. More self-command, +more heroic firmness, more contempt for the popular estimate, more of +everything strong and manly, will find a nobler field in subduing +passion and cherishing forgiveness, which the world thinks folly and +spiritless, than anywhere else. Better is he that ruleth his spirit than +he that taketh a city. + +_The great pattern and motive of forgiveness_ is next set forth. We are +to forgive as Christ has forgiven us; and that "as" may be applied +either as meaning "in like manner," or as meaning "because." The Revised +Version, with many others, adopts the various reading of "the Lord," +instead of "Christ," which has the advantage of recalling the parable +that was no doubt in Paul's mind, about the servant who, having been +forgiven by his "_Lord_" all his great debt, took his fellow-servant by +the throat and squeezed the last farthing out of him. + +The great transcendent act of God's mercy brought to us by Christ's +cross is sometimes, as in the parallel passage in Ephesians, spoken of +as "God for Christ's sake forgiving us," and sometimes as here, Christ +is represented as forgiving. We need not pause to do more than point to +that interchange of Divine office and attributes, and ask what notion of +Christ's person underlies it. + +We have already had the death of Christ set forth as in a very profound +sense our pattern. Here we have one special case of the general law that +the life and death of our Lord are the embodied ideal of human character +and conduct. His forgiveness is not merely revealed to us that trembling +hearts may be calm, and that a fearful looking for of judgment may no +more trouble a foreboding conscience. For whilst we must ever begin with +cleaving to it as our hope, we must never stop there. A heart touched +and softened by pardon will be a heart apt to pardon, and the miracle of +forgiveness which has been wrought for it will constitute the law of its +life as well as the ground of its joyful security. + +This new pattern and new motive, both in one, make the true novelty and +specific difference of Christian morality. "As I have loved you," makes +the commandment "love one another" a new commandment. And all that is +difficult in obedience becomes easier by the power of that motive. +Imitation of one whom we love is instinctive. Obedience to one whom we +love is delightful. The far off ideal becomes near and real in the +person of our best friend. Bound to him by obligations so immense, and a +forgiveness so costly and complete, we shall joyfully yield to "the +cords of love" which draw us after Him. We have each to choose what +shall be the pattern for us. The world takes Caesar, the hero; the +Christian takes Christ, in whose meekness is power, and whose gentle +long-suffering has been victor in a sterner conflict than any battle of +the warrior with garments rolled in blood. + +Paul says, "Even as the Lord forgave you, so also do ye." The Lord's +prayer teaches us to ask, Forgive us our trespasses, as we also forgive. +In the one case Christ's forgiveness is the example and the motive for +ours. In the other, our forgiveness is the condition of God's. Both are +true. We shall find the strongest impulse to pardon others in the +consciousness that we have been pardoned by Him. And if we have +grudgings against our offending brother in our hearts, we shall not be +conscious of the tender forgiveness of our Father in heaven. That is no +arbitrary limitation, but inherent in the very nature of the case. + +II. We have here the girdle which keeps all the garments in their +places. + +"Above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfectness." + +"Above all these" does not mean "besides," or "more important than," but +is clearly used in its simplest local sense, as equivalent to "over," +and thus carries on the metaphor of the dress. Over the other garments +is to be put the silken sash or girdle of love, which will brace and +confine all the rest into a unity. It is "the girdle of perfectness," by +which is not meant, as is often supposed, the perfect principle of union +among men. Perfectness is not the quality of the girdle, but the thing +which it girds, and is a collective expression for "the various graces +and virtues, which together make up perfection." So the metaphor +expresses the thought that love knits into a harmonious whole, the +graces which without it would be fragmentary and incomplete. + +We can conceive of all the dispositions already named as existing in +some fashion without love. There might be pity which was not love, +though we know it is akin to it. The feeling with which one looks upon +some poor outcast, or on some stranger in sorrow, or even on an enemy in +misery, may be very genuine compassion, and yet clearly separate from +love. So with all the others. There may be kindness most real without +any of the diviner emotion, and there may even be forbearance reaching +up to forgiveness, and yet leaving the heart untouched in its deepest +recesses. But if these virtues were thus exercised, in the absence of +love they would be fragmentary, shallow, and would have no guarantee for +their own continuance. Let love come into the heart and knit a man to +the poor creature whom he had only pitied before, or to the enemy whom +he had at the most been able with an effort to forgive; and it lifts +these other emotions into a nobler life. He who pities may not love, but +he who loves cannot but pity; and that compassion will flow with a +deeper current and be of a purer quality than the shrunken stream which +does not rise from that higher source. + +Nor is it only the virtues enumerated here for which love performs this +office; but all the else isolated graces of character, it binds or welds +into a harmonious whole. As the broad Eastern girdle holds the flowing +robes in position, and gives needed firmness to the figure as well as +composed order to the attire; so this broad band, woven of softest +fabric, keeps all emotions in their due place and makes the attire of +the Christian soul beautiful in harmonious completeness. + +Perhaps it is a yet deeper truth that love produces all these graces. +Whatsoever things men call virtues, are best cultivated by cultivating +it. So with a somewhat similar meaning to that of our text, but if +anything, going deeper down, Paul in another place calls love the +fulfilling of the law, even as his Master had taught him that all the +complex of duties incumbent upon us were summed up in love to God, and +love to men. Whatever I owe to my brother will be discharged if I love +God, and live my love. Nothing of it, not even the smallest mite of the +debt will be discharged, however vast my sacrifices and services, if I +do not. + +So end the frequent references in this letter to putting off the old and +putting on the new. The sum of them all is, that we must first put on +Christ by faith, and then by daily effort clothe our spirits in the +graces of character which He gives us, and by which we shall be like +Him. + +We have said that this dress of the Christian soul which we have been +now considering does not include the whole of Christian duty. We may +recall the other application of the same figure which occurs in the +parallel Epistle to the Ephesians, where Paul sketches for us in a few +rapid touches the armed Christian soldier. The two pictures may +profitably be set side by side. Here he dresses the Christian soul in +the robes of peace, bidding him put on pity and meekness, and above all, +the silken girdle of love. + + "In peace, there's nothing so becomes a man + As modest stillness and humility; + But when the blast of war blows in our ears," + +then "put on the whole armour of God," the leathern girdle of truth, the +shining breastplate of righteousness, and above all, the shield of +faith--and so stand a flashing pillar of steel. Are the two pictures +inconsistent? must we doff the robes of peace to don the armour, or put +off the armour to resume the robes of peace? Not so; both must be worn +together, for neither is found in its completeness without the other. +Beneath the armour must be the fine linen, clean and white--and at one +and the same time, our souls may be clad in all pity, mercifulness and +love, and in all the sparkling panoply of courage and strength for +battle. + +But both the armour and the dress of peace presuppose that we have +listened to Christ's pleading counsel to buy of Him "white raiment that +we may be clothed, and that the shame of our nakedness do not appear." +The garment for the soul, which is to hide its deformities and to +replace our own filthy rags, is woven in no earthly looms, and no +efforts of ours will bring us into possession of it. We must be content +to owe it wholly to Christ's gift, or else we shall have to go without +it altogether. The first step in the Christian life is by simple faith +to receive from Him the forgiveness of all our sins, and that new nature +which He alone can impart, and which we can neither create nor win, but +must simply accept. Then, after that, come the field and the time for +efforts put forth in His strength, to array our souls in His likeness, +and day by day to put on the beautiful garments which He bestows. It is +a lifelong work thus to strip ourselves of the rags of our old vices, +and to gird on the robe of righteousness. Lofty encouragements, tender +motives, solemn warnings, all point to this as our continual task. We +should set ourselves to it in His strength, if so be that being clothed, +we may not be found naked--and then, when we lay aside the garment of +flesh and the armour needed for the battle, we shall hear His voice +welcoming us to the land of peace, and shall walk with Him in victor's +robes, glistening "so as no fuller on earth could white them." + + + + +XXI. + +_THE PRACTICAL EFFECTS OF THE PEACE OF CHRIST, THE WORD OF CHRIST, AND +THE NAME OF CHRIST._ + + "And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to the which also + ye were called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of + Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing + one another with psalms _and_ hymns _and_ spiritual songs, singing + with grace in your hearts unto God. And whatsoever ye do in word or + in deed, _do_ all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to + God the Father through Him."--COL. iii. 15-17 (Rev. Vers.). + + +There are here three precepts somewhat loosely connected, of which the +first belongs properly to the series considered in our last section, +from which it is only separated as not sharing in the metaphor under +which the virtues contained in the former verses were set forth. In +substance it is closely connected with them, though in form it is +different, and in sweep is more comprehensive. The second refers mainly +to Christian intercourse, especially to social worship; and the third +covers the whole field of conduct, and fitly closes the series, which in +it reaches the utmost possible generality, and from it drops to the +inculcation of very special domestic duties. The three verses have each +a dominant phrase round which we may group their teaching. These three +are, the peace of Christ, the word of Christ, the name of the Lord +Jesus. + +I. The Ruling Peace of Christ. + +The various reading "peace of Christ," for "peace of God," is not only +recommended by manuscript authority, but has the advantage of bringing +the expression into connection with the great words of the Lord, "Peace +I leave with you, My peace I give unto you." A strange legacy to leave, +and a strange moment at which to speak of His peace! It was but an hour +or so since He had been "troubled in spirit," as He thought of the +betrayer--and in an hour more He would be beneath the olives of +Gethsemane; and yet, even at such a time, He bestows on His friends some +share in His own deep repose of spirit. Surely "the peace of Christ" +must mean what "My peace" meant; not only the peace which He gives, but +the peace which lay, like a great calm on the sea, on His own deep +heart; and surely we cannot restrict so solemn an expression to the +meaning of mutual concord among brethren. That, no doubt, is included in +it, but there is much more than that. Whatever made the strange calm +which leaves such unmistakable traces in the picture of Christ drawn in +the Gospels, may be ours. When He gave us His peace, He gave us some +share in that meek submission of will to His Father's will, and in that +stainless purity, which were its chief elements. The hearts and lives of +men are made troubled, not by circumstances, but by themselves. Whoever +can keep his own will in harmony with God's enters into rest, though +many trials and sorrows may be his. Even if within and without are +fightings, there may be a central "peace subsisting at the heart of +endless agitation." We are our own disturbers. The eager swift motions +of our own wills keep us restless. Forsake these, and quiet comes. +Christ's peace was the result of the perfect harmony of all His nature. +All was co-operant to one great purpose; desires and passions did not +war with conscience and reason, nor did the flesh lust against the +Spirit. Though that complete uniting of all our inner selves in the +sweet concord of perfect obedience is not attained on earth, yet its +beginnings are given to us by Christ, and in Him we may be at peace with +ourselves, and have one great ruling power binding all our conflicting +desires in one, as the moon draws after her the heaped waters of the +sea. + +We are summoned to improve that gift--to "_let_ the peace of Christ" +have its way in our hearts. The surest way to increase our possession of +it is to decrease our separation from Him. The fulness of our possession +of His gift of peace depends altogether on our proximity to the Giver. +It evaporates in carrying. It "diminishes as the square of the distance" +from the source. So the exhortation to let it rule in us will be best +fulfilled by keeping thought and affection in close union with our Lord. + +This peace is to "rule" in our hearts. The figure contained in the word +here translated _rule_ is that of the umpire or arbitrator at the games, +who, looking down on the arena, watches that the combatants strive +lawfully, and adjudges the prize. Possibly the force of the figure may +have been washed out of the word by use, and the "rule" of our rendering +may be all that it means. But there seems no reason against keeping the +full force of the expression, which adds picturesqueness and point to +the precept. The peace of Christ, then, is to sit enthroned as umpire +in the heart; or, if we might give a mediaeval instead of a classical +shape to the figure, that fair sovereign, Peace, is to be Queen of the +Tournament, and her "eyes rain influence and adjudge the prize." When +contending impulses and reasons distract and seem to pull us in opposite +directions, let her settle which is to prevail. How can the peace of +Christ do that for us? We may make a rude test of good and evil by their +effects on our inward repose. Whatever mars our tranquillity, ruffling +the surface so that Christ's image is no longer visible, is to be +avoided. That stillness of spirit is very sensitive and shrinks away at +the presence of an evil thing. Let it be for us what the barometer is to +a sailor, and if it sinks, let us be sure a storm is at hand. If we find +that a given course of action tends to break our peace, we may be +certain that there is poison in the draught which as in the old stories, +has been detected by the shivered cup, and we should not drink any more. +There is nothing so precious that it is worth while to lose the peace of +Christ for the sake of it. Whenever we find it in peril, we must retrace +our steps. + +Then follows appended a reason for cultivating the peace of Christ "to +which also ye were called in one body." The very purpose of God's +merciful summons and invitation to them in the gospel was that they +might share in this peace. There are many ways of putting God's design +in His call by the gospel--it may be represented under many angles and +from many points of view, and is glorious from all and each. No one word +can state all the fulness to which we are called by His wonderful love, +but none can be tenderer and more blessed than this thought, that God's +great voice has summoned us to a share in Christ's peace. Being so +called, all who share in it of course find themselves knit to each other +by possession of a common gift. What a contradiction then, to be +summoned in order to so blessed a possession, and not to allow it +sovereign sway in moulding heart and life! What a contradiction, +further, to have been gathered into one body by the common possession of +the peace of Christ, and yet not to allow it to bind all the members in +its sweet fetters with cords of love! The sway of the "peace of Christ" +in our hearts will ensure the perfect exercise of all the other graces +of which we have been hearing, and therefore this precept fitly closes +the series of exhortations to brotherly affections, and seals all with +the thought of the "one body" of which all these "new men" are members. + +The very abruptness of the introduction of the next precept gives it +force, "and be ye thankful," or, as we might translate with an accuracy +which perhaps is not too minute, "become thankful," striving towards +deeper gratitude than you have yet attained. Paul is ever apt to catch +fire as often as his thought brings him in sight of God's great love in +drawing men to Himself, and in giving them such rich gifts. It is quite +a feature of his style to break into sudden bursts of praise as often as +his path leads him to a summit from which he catches a glimpse of that +great miracle of love. This interjected precept is precisely like these +sudden jets of praise. It is as if he had broken off for a moment from +the line of his thought, and had said to his hearers--Think of that +wonderful love of your Father God. He has called you from the midst of +your heathenism, He has called you from a world of tumult and a life of +troubled unrest to possess the peace which brooded ever, like the mystic +dove, over Christ's head; He has called you in one body, having knit in +a grand unity us, Jews and Gentiles, so widely parted before. Let us +pause and lift up our voices in praise to Him. True thankfulness will +well up at all moments, and will underlie and blend with all duties. +There are frequent injunctions to thankfulness in this letter, and we +have it again enjoined in the closing words of the verses which we are +now considering, so that we may defer any further remarks till we come +to deal with these. + +II. The Indwelling Word of Christ. + +The main reference of this verse seems to be to the worship of the +Church--the highest expression of its oneness. There are three points +enforced in its three clauses, of which the first is the dwelling in the +hearts of the Colossian Christians of the "word of Christ," by which is +meant, as I conceive, not simply "the presence of Christ in the heart, +as an inward monitor,"[3] but the indwelling of the definite body of +truths contained in the gospel which had been preached to them. That +gospel is the word of Christ, inasmuch as He is its subject. These early +Christians received that body of truth by oral teaching. To us it comes +in the history of Christ's life and death, and in the exposition of the +significance and far-reaching depth and power of these, which are +contained in the rest of the New Testament--a very definite body of +teaching. How can it abide in the heart? or what is the dwelling of +that word within us but the occupation of mind and heart and will with +the truth concerning Jesus revealed to us in Scripture? This indwelling +is in our own power, for it is matter of precept and not of promise--and +if we want to have it we must do with religious truth just what we do +with other truths that we want to keep in our minds--ponder them, use +our faculties on them, be perpetually recurring to them, fix them in our +memories, like nails fastened in a sure place, and, that we may remember +them, "get them by heart," as the children say. Few things are more +wanting to-day than this. The popular Christianity of the day is strong +in philanthropic service, and some phases of it are full of +"evangelistic" activity, but it is wofully lacking in intelligent grasp +of the great principles involved and revealed in the gospel. Some +Christians have yielded to the popular prejudice against "dogma," and +have come to dislike and neglect the doctrinal side of religion, and +others are so busy in good works of various kinds that they have no time +nor inclination to reflect nor to learn, and for others "the cares of +this world and the lusts of other things, entering in, choke the word." +A merely intellectual Christianity is a very poor thing, no doubt; but +that has been dinned into our ears so long and loudly for a generation +now, that there is much need for a clear preaching of the other +side--namely, that a merely emotional Christianity is a still poorer, +and that if feeling on the one hand and conduct on the other are to be +worthy of men with heads on their shoulders and brains in their heads, +both feeling and conduct must be built on a foundation of truth believed +and pondered. In the ordered monarchy of human nature, reason is meant +to govern, but she is also meant to submit, and for her the law holds +good, she must learn to obey that she may be able to rule. She must bow +to the word of Christ, and then she will sway aright the kingdom of the +soul. It becomes us to make conscience of seeking to get a firm and +intelligent grasp of Christian truth as a whole, and not to be always +living on milk meant for babes, nor to expect that teachers and +preachers should only repeat for ever the things which we know already. + +That word is to dwell in Christian men _richly_. It is their own fault +if they possess it, as so many do, in scant measure. It might be a full +tide. Why in so many is it a mere trickle, like an Australian river in +the heat, a line of shallow ponds with no life or motion, scarcely +connected by a thread of moisture, and surrounded by great stretches of +blinding shingle, when it might be a broad water--"waters to swim in"? +Why, but because they do not do with this word, what all students do +with the studies which they love? + +The word should manifest the rich abundance of its dwelling in men by +opening out in their minds into "every kind of wisdom." Where the gospel +in its power dwells in a man's spirit, and is intelligently meditated on +and studied, it will effloresce into principles of thought and action +applicable to all subjects, and touching the whole round horizon of +human life. All, and more than all, the wisdom which these false +teachers promised in their mysteries, is given to the babes and the +simple ones who treasure the word of Christ in their hearts, and the +least among them may say, "I have more understanding than all my +teachers, for Thy testimonies are my meditation." That gospel which the +child may receive, has "infinite riches in a narrow room," and, like +some tiny black seed, for all its humble form, has hidden in it the +promise and potency of wondrous beauty of flower, and nourishment of +fruit. Cultured and cared for in the heart where it is sown, it will +unfold into all truth which a man can receive or God can give, +concerning God and man, our nature, duties, hopes and destinies, the +tasks of the moment, and the glories of eternity. He who has it and lets +it dwell richly in his heart is wise; he who has it not, "at his latter +end shall be a fool." + +The second clause of this verse deals with the manifestations of the +indwelling word in the worship of the Church. The individual possession +of the word in one's own heart does not make us independent of brotherly +help. Rather, it is the very foundation of the duty of sharing our +riches with our fellows, and of increasing ours by contributions from +their stores. And so--"teaching and admonishing one another" is the +outcome of it. The universal possession of Christ's word involves the +equally universal right and duty of mutual instruction. + +We have already heard the Apostle declaring it to be his work to +"admonish every man and to teach every man," and found that the former +office pointed to practical ethical instruction, not without rebuke and +warning, while the latter referred rather to doctrinal teaching. What he +there claimed for himself, he here enjoins on the whole Christian +community. We have here a glimpse of the perfectly simple, informal +public services of the early Church, which seem to have partaken much +more of the nature of a free conference than of any of the forms of +worship at present in use in any Church. The evidence both of this +passage and of the other Pauline Epistles, especially of the first +Epistle to the Corinthians (xiv.) unmistakably shows this. The forms of +worship in the apostolic Church are not meant for models, and we do not +prove a usage as intended to be permanent because we prove it to be +primitive; but the principles which underlie the usages are valid always +and everywhere, and one of these principles is the universal though not +equal inspiration of Christian men, which results in their universal +calling to teach and admonish. In what forms that principle shall be +expressed, how safeguarded and controlled, is of secondary importance. +Different stages of culture and a hundred other circumstances will +modify these, and nobody but a pedant or religious martinet will care +about uniformity. But I cannot but believe that the present practice of +confining the public teaching of the Church to an official class has +done harm. Why should one man be for ever speaking, and hundreds of +people who are able to teach, sitting dumb to listen or pretend to +listen to him? Surely there is a wasteful expenditure there. I hate +forcible revolution, and do not believe that any institutions, either +political or ecclesiastical, which need violence to sweep them away, are +ready to be removed; but I believe that if the level of spiritual life +were raised among us, new forms would naturally be evolved, in which +there should be a more adequate recognition of the great principle on +which the democracy of Christianity is founded, namely, "I will pour +out My Spirit on all flesh--and on My servants and on My handmaidens I +will pour out in these days of My Spirit, and they shall prophesy." +There are not wanting signs that many different classes of Christian +worshippers have ceased to find edification in the present manner of +teaching. The more cultured write books on "the decay of preaching;" the +more earnest take to mission halls and a "freer service," and "lay +preaching;" the more indifferent stay at home. When the tide rises, all +the idle craft stranded on the mud are set in motion; such a time is +surely coming for the Church, when the aspiration that has waited +millenniums for its fulfilment, and received but a partial +accomplishment at Pentecost, shall at last be a fact: "would God that +all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His +Spirit upon them!" + +The teaching and admonishing is here regarded as being effected by means +of song. That strikes one as singular, and tempts to another punctuation +of the verse, by which "In all wisdom teaching and admonishing one +another" should make a separate clause, and "in psalms and hymns and +spiritual songs" should be attached to the following words. But probably +the ordinary arrangement of clauses is best on the whole. The +distinction between "psalms" and "hymns" appears to be that the former +is a song with a musical accompaniment, and that the latter is vocal +praise to God. No doubt the "psalms" meant were chiefly those of the +Psalter, the Old Testament element in the early Christian worship, while +the "hymns" were the new product of the spirit of devotion which had +naturally broken into song, the first beginnings of the great treasure +of Christian hymnody. "Spiritual songs" is a more general expression, +including all varieties of Christian poesy, provided that they come from +the Spirit moving in the heart. We know from many sources that song had +a large part in the worship of the early Church. Indeed, whenever a +great quickening of religious life comes, a great burst of Christian +song comes with it. The onward march of the Church has ever been +attended by music of praise; "as well the singers as the players on +instruments" have been there. The mediaeval Latin hymns cluster round the +early pure days of the monastic orders; Luther's rough stormy hymns were +as powerful as his treatises; the mystic tenderness and rapture of +Charles Wesley's have become the possession of the whole Church. We hear +from outside observers, that one of the practices of the early +Christians which most attracted heathen notice was, that they assembled +daily before it was light and "sang hymns of praise to one Christus as +to a god." + +These early hymns were of a dogmatic character. No doubt, just as in +many a missionary Church a hymn is found to be the best vehicle for +conveying the truth, so it was in these early Churches, which were made +up largely of slaves and women--both uneducated. "Singing the gospel" is +a very old invention, though the name be new. The picture which we get +here of the meetings of the early Christians is very remarkable. +Evidently their gatherings were free and social, with the minimum of +form, and that most elastic. If a man had any word of exhortation for +the people, he might say on. "Every one of you hath a psalm, a +doctrine." If a man had some fragment of an old psalm, or some strain +that had come fresh from the Christian heart, he might sing it, and his +brethren would listen. We do not have that sort of psalmody now. But +what a long way we have travelled from it to a modern congregation, +standing with books that they scarcely look at, and "worshipping" in a +hymn which half of them do not open their mouths to sing at all, and the +other half do in a voice inaudible three pews off. + +The best praise, however, is a heart song. So the Apostle adds "singing +in your hearts unto God." And it is to be in "grace," that is to say, +_in_ it as the atmosphere and element in which the song moves, which is +nearly equivalent to "by means of the Divine grace" which works in the +heart, and impels to that perpetual music of silent praise. If we have +the peace of Christ in our hearts, and the word of Christ dwelling in us +richly in all wisdom, then an unspoken and perpetual music will dwell +there too, "a noise like of a hidden brook" singing for ever its "quiet +tune." + +III. The all-hallowing Name of Jesus. + +From worship the Apostle passes to life, and crowns the entire series of +injunctions with an all-comprehensive precept, covering the whole ground +of action. "_Whatsoever_ ye do, in word or deed"--then, not merely +worship, specially so called, but everything is to come under the +influence of the same motive. That expresses emphatically the sanctity +of common life, and extends the idea of worship to all deeds. +"Whatsoever ye _do_ in _word_"--then words are _doings_, and in many +respects the most important of our doings. Some words, though they fade +off the ear so quickly, outlast all contemporary deeds, and are more +lasting than brass. Not only "the word of the Lord," but, in a very +solemn sense, the word of man "endureth for ever." + +Do all "in the name of the Lord Jesus." That means at least two +things--in obedience to His authority, and in dependence on His help. +These two are the twin talismans which change the whole character of our +actions, and preserve us, in doing them, from every harm. That name +hallows and ennobles all work. Nothing can be so small but this will +make it great, nor so monotonous and tame but this will make it +beautiful and fresh. The name now, as of old, casts out devils and +stills storms. "For the name of the Lord Jesus" is the silken padding +which makes our yokes easy. It brings the sudden strength which makes +our burdens light. We may write it over all our actions. If there be any +on which we dare not inscribe it, they are not for us. + +Thus done in the name of Christ, all deeds will become thanksgiving, and +so reach their highest consecration and their truest blessedness. +"Giving thanks to God the Father through Him" is ever to accompany the +work in the name of Jesus. The exhortation to thanksgiving, which is in +a sense the Alpha and the Omega of the Christian life, is perpetually on +the Apostle's lips, because thankfulness should be in perpetual +operation in our hearts. It is so important because it presupposes +all-important things, and because it certainly leads to every Christian +grace. For continual thankfulness there must be a continual direction of +mind towards God and towards the great gifts of our salvation in Jesus +Christ. There must be a continual going forth of our love and our desire +to these, that is to say--thankfulness rests on the reception and the +joyful appropriation of the mercies of God, brought to us by our Lord. +And it underlies all acceptable service and all happy obedience. The +servant who thinks of God as a harsh exactor is slothful; the servant +who thinks of Him as the "giving God" rejoices in toil. He who brings +his work in order to be paid for it, will get no wages, and turn out no +work worth any. He who brings it because he feels that he has been paid +plentiful wages beforehand, of which he will never earn the least mite, +will present service well pleasing to the Master. + +So we should keep thoughts of Jesus Christ, and of all we owe to Him, +ever before us in our common work, in shop and mill and counting-house, +in study and street and home. We should try to bring all our actions +more under their influence, and, moved by the mercies of God, should +yield ourselves living thank-offerings to Him, who is the sin-offering +for us. If, as every fresh duty arises, we hear Christ saying, "This do +in remembrance of Me," all life will become a true communion with Him, +and every common vessel will be as a sacramental chalice, and the bells +of the horses will bear the same inscription as the high priest's +mitre--"Holiness to the Lord." To lay work on that altar sanctifies both +the giver and the gift. Presented through Him, by whom all blessings +come to man and all thanks go to God, and kindled by the flame of +gratitude, our poor deeds, for all their grossness and earthliness, +shall go up in curling wreaths of incense, an odour of a sweet smell +acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] Lightfoot. + + + + +XXII. + +_THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY._ + + "Wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fitting in the + Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. + + "Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is + well-pleasing in the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children, that + they be not discouraged. + + "Servants, obey in all things them that are your masters according + to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers; but in + singleness of heart, fearing the Lord: whatsoever ye do, work + heartily, as unto the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that from the + Lord ye shall receive the recompense of the inheritance: ye serve + the Lord Christ. For he that doeth wrong shall receive again for the + wrong that he hath done: and there is no respect of persons. + + "Masters, render unto your servants that which is just and equal; + knowing that ye also have a Master in Heaven."--COL. iii. 18-iv. 1 + (Rev. Ver.). + + +This section deals with the Christian family, as made up of husband and +wife, children, and servants. In the family, Christianity has most +signally displayed its power of refining, ennobling, and sanctifying +earthly relationships. Indeed, one may say that domestic life, as seen +in thousands of Christian homes, is purely a Christian creation, and +would have been a new revelation to the heathenism of Colossae, as it is +to-day in many a mission field. + +We do not know what may have led Paul to dwell with special emphasis on +the domestic duties, in this letter, and in the contemporaneous Epistle +of the Ephesians. He does so, and the parallel section there should be +carefully compared throughout with this paragraph. The former is +considerably more expanded, and may have been written after the verses +before us; but, however that may be, the verbal coincidences and +variations in the two sections are very interesting as illustrations of +the way in which a mind fully charged with a theme will freely repeat +itself, and use the same words in different combinations and with +infinite shades of modification. + +The precepts given are extremely simple and obvious. Domestic happiness +and family Christianity are made up of very homely elements. One duty is +prescribed for the one member of each of the three family groups, and +varying forms of another for the other. The wife, the child, the servant +are bid to obey; the husband to love, the father to show his love in +gentle considerateness; the master to yield his servants their dues. +Like some perfume distilled from common flowers that grow on every bank, +the domestic piety which makes home a house of God, and a gate of +heaven, is prepared from these two simples--obedience and love. These +are all. + +We have here then the ideal Christian household in the three ordinary +relationships which make up the family; wife and husband, children and +father, servant and master. + +I. The Reciprocal Duties of wife and husband--subjection and love. + +The duty of the wife is "subjection," and it is enforced on the ground +that it is "fitting in the Lord"--that is, "it is," or perhaps "it +became" at the time of conversion, "the conduct corresponding to or +befitting the condition of being in the Lord." In more modern +language--the Christian ideal of the wife's duty has for its very +centre--subjection. + +Some of us will smile at that; some of us will think it an old-fashioned +notion, a survival of a more barbarous theory of marriage than this +century recognises. But, before we decide upon the correctness of the +apostolic precept, let us make quite sure of its meaning. Now, if we +turn to the corresponding passage in Ephesians, we find that marriage is +regarded from a high and sacred point of view, as being an earthly +shadow and faint adumbration of the union between Christ and the Church. + +To Paul, all human and earthly relationships were moulded after the +patterns of things in the heavens, and the whole fleeting visible life +of man was a parable of the "things which are" in the spiritual realm. +Most chiefly, the holy and mysterious union of man and woman in marriage +is fashioned in the likeness of the only union which is closer and more +mysterious than itself, namely that between Christ and His Church. + +Such then as are the nature and the spring of the Church's "subjection" +to Christ, such will be the nature and the spring of the wife's +"subjection" to the husband. That is to say, it is a subjection of which +love is the very soul and animating principle. In a true marriage, as in +the loving obedience of a believing soul to Christ, the wife submits not +because she has found a master, but because her heart has found its +rest. Everything harsh or degrading melts away from the requirement when +thus looked at. It is a joy to serve where the heart is engaged, and +that is eminently true of the feminine nature. For its full +satisfaction, a woman's heart needs to look up where it loves. She has +certainly the fullest wedded life who can "reverence" her husband. For +its full satisfaction, a woman's heart needs to serve where it loves. +That is the same as saying that a woman's love is, in the general, +nobler, purer, more unselfish than a man's, and therein, quite as much +as in physical constitution, is laid the foundation of that Divine ideal +of marriage, which places the wife's delight and dignity in sweet loving +subjection. + +Of course the subjection has its limitations. "We must obey God rather +than man" bounds the field of all human authority and control. Then +there are cases in which, on the principle of "the tools to the hands +that can use them," the rule falls naturally to the wife as the stronger +character. Popular sarcasm, however, shows that such instances are felt +to be contrary to the true ideal, and such a wife lacks something of +repose for her heart. + +No doubt, too, since Paul wrote, and very largely by Christian +influences, women have been educated and elevated, so as to make mere +subjection impossible now, if ever it were so. Woman's quick instinct as +to persons, her finer wisdom, her purer discernment as to moral +questions, make it in a thousand cases the wisest thing a man can do to +listen to the "subtle flow of silver-paced counsel" which his wife gives +him. All such considerations are fully consistent with this apostolic +teaching, and it remains true that the wife who does not reverence and +lovingly obey is to be pitied if she cannot, and to be condemned if she +will not. + +And what of the husband's duty? He is to love, and because he loves, not +to be harsh or bitter, in word, look or act. The parallel in Ephesians +adds the solemn elevating thought, that a man's love to the woman, whom +he has made his own, is to be like Christ's to the Church. Patient and +generous, utterly self-forgetting and self-sacrificing, demanding +nothing, grudging nothing, giving all, not shrinking from the extreme of +suffering and pain and death itself--that he may bless and help--such +was the Lord's love to His bride, such is to be a Christian husband's +love to his wife. That solemn example, which lifts the whole emotion +high above mere passion or selfish affection, carries a great lesson too +as to the connection between man's love and woman's "subjection." The +former is to evoke the latter, just as in the heavenly pattern, Christ's +love melts and moves human wills to glad obedience, which is liberty. We +do not say that a wife is utterly absolved from obedience where a +husband fails in self-forgetting love, though certainly it does not lie +in _his_ mouth to accuse, whose fault is graver than and the origin of +hers. But, without going so far as that, we may recognise the true order +to be that the husband's love, self-sacrificing and all-bestowing, is +meant to evoke the wife's love, delighting in service, and proud to +crown him her king. + +Where there is such love, there will be no question of mere command and +obedience, no tenacious adherence to rights, or jealous defence of +independence. Law will be transformed into choice. To obey will be joy; +to serve, the natural expression of the heart. Love uttering a wish +speaks music to love listening; and love obeying the wish is free and a +queen. Such sacred beauty may light up wedded life, if it catches a +gleam from the fountain of all light, and shines by reflection from the +love that binds Christ to His Church as the links of the golden beams +bind the sun to the planet. Husbands and wives are to see to it that +this supreme consecration purifies and raises their love. Young men and +maidens are to remember that the nobleness and heart-repose of their +whole life may be made or marred by marriage, and to take heed where +they fix their affections. If there be not unity in the deepest thing of +all, love to Christ, the sacredness and completeness will fade away from +any love. But if a man and woman love and marry "in the Lord," He will +be "in the midst," walking between them, a third who will make them one, +and that threefold cord will not be quickly broken. + +II. The Reciprocal Duties of children and parents--obedience and gentle +loving authority. + +The injunction to children is laconic, decisive, universal. "Obey your +parents in all things." Of course, there is one limitation to that. If +God's command looks one way, and a parent's the opposite, disobedience +is duty--but such extreme case is probably the only one which Christian +ethics admit as an exception to the rule. The Spartan brevity of the +command is enforced by one consideration, "for this is well-pleasing +_in_ the Lord," as the Revised Version rightly reads, instead of "to the +Lord," as in the Authorised, thus making an exact parallel to the former +"fitting in the Lord." Not only to Christ, but to all who can appreciate +the beauty of goodness, is filial obedience beautiful. The parallel in +Ephesians substitutes "for this is right," appealing to the natural +conscience. Right and fair in itself, it is accordant with the law +stamped on the very relationship, and it is witnessed as such by the +instinctive approbation which it evokes. + +No doubt, the moral sentiment of Paul's age stretched parental authority +to an extreme, and we need not hesitate to admit that the Christian idea +of a father's power and a child's obedience has been much softened by +Christianity; but the softening has come from the greater prominence +given to love, rather than from the limitation given to obedience. + +Our present domestic life seems to me to stand sorely in need of Paul's +injunction. One cannot but see that there is great laxity in this matter +in many Christian households, in reaction perhaps from the too great +severity of past times. Many causes lead to this unwholesome relaxation +of parental authority. In our great cities, especially among the +commercial classes, children are generally better educated than their +fathers and mothers, they know less of early struggles, and one often +sees a sense of inferiority making a parent hesitate to command, as well +as a misplaced tenderness making him hesitate to forbid. A very +misplaced and cruel tenderness it is to say "would you like?" when he +ought to say "I wish." It is unkind to lay on young shoulders "the +weight of too much liberty," and to introduce young hearts too soon to +the sad responsibility of choosing between good and evil. It were better +and more loving by far to put off that day, and to let the children feel +that in the safe nest of home, their feeble and ignorant goodness is +sheltered behind a strong barrier of command, and their lives simplified +by having the one duty of obedience. By many parents the advice is +needed--consult your children less, command them more. + +And as for children, here is the one thing which God would have them do: +"Obey your parents in all things." As fathers used to say when I was a +boy--"not only obedience, but prompt obedience." It is right. That +should be enough. But children may also remember that it is +"pleasing"--fair and good to see, making them agreeable in the eyes of +all whose approbation is worth having, and pleasing to themselves, +saving them from many a bitter thought in after days, when the grave has +closed over father and mother. One remembers the story of how Dr. +Johnson, when a man, stood in the market place at Lichfield, bareheaded, +with the rain pouring on him, in remorseful remembrance of boyish +disobedience to his dead father. There is nothing bitterer than the too +late tears for wrongs done to those who are gone beyond the reach of our +penitence. "Children obey your parents in all things," that you may be +spared the sting of conscience for childish faults, which may be set +tingling and smarting again even in old age. + +The law for parents is addressed to "fathers," partly because a mother's +tenderness has less need of the warning "provoke not your children," +than a father's more rigorous rule usually has, and partly because the +father is regarded as the head of the household. The advice is full of +practical sagacity. How do parents provoke their children? By +unreasonable commands, by perpetual restrictions, by capricious jerks at +the bridle, alternating with as capricious dropping of the reins +altogether, by not governing their own tempers, by shrill or stern tones +where quiet, soft ones would do, by frequent checks and rebukes, and +sparing praise. And what is sure to follow such mistreatment by father +or mother? First, as the parallel passage in Ephesians has it; +"wrath"--bursts of temper, for which probably the child is punished and +the parent is guilty--and then spiritless listlessness and apathy. "I +cannot please him whatever I do," leads to a rankling sense of +injustice, and then to recklessness--"it is useless to try any more." +And when a child or a man loses heart, there will be no more obedience. +Paul's theory of the training of children is closely connected with his +central doctrine, that love is the life of service, and faith the parent +of righteousness. To him hope and gladness and confident love underlie +all obedience. When a child loves and trusts, he will obey. When he +fears and has to think of his father as capricious, exacting or stern, +he will do like the man in the parable, who was afraid because he +thought of his master as austere, reaping where he did not sow, and +therefore went and hid his talent. Children's obedience must be fed on +love and praise. Fear paralyses activity, and kills service, whether it +cowers in the heart of a boy to his father, or of a man to his Father in +heaven. + +So parents are to let the sunshine of their smile ripen their children's +love to fruit of obedience, and remember that frost in spring scatters +the blossoms on the grass. Many a parent, especially many a father, +drives his child into evil by keeping him at a distance. He should make +his boy a companion and playmate, teach him to think of his father as +his confidant, try to keep his child nearer to himself than to anybody +beside, and then his authority will be absolute, his opinions an oracle, +and his lightest wish a law. Is not the kingdom of Jesus Christ based +on His becoming a brother and one of ourselves, and is it not wielded in +gentleness and enforced by love? Is it not the most absolute of rules? +and should not the parental authority be like it--having a reed for a +sceptre, lowliness and gentleness being stronger to rule and to sway +than the "rods of iron" or of gold which earthly monarchs wield? + +There is added to this precept, in Ephesians, an injunction on the +positive side of parental duty: "Bring them up in the nurture and +admonition of the Lord." I fear that is a duty fallen wofully into +disuse in many Christian households. Many parents think it wise to send +their children away from home for their education, and so hand over +their moral and religious training to teachers. That may be right, but +it makes the fulfilment of this precept all but impossible. Others, who +have their children beside them, are too busy all the week, and too fond +of "rest" on Sunday. Many send their children to a Sunday school chiefly +that they themselves may have a quiet house and a sound sleep in the +afternoon. Every Christian minister, if he keeps his eyes open, must see +that there is no religious instruction worth calling by the name in a +very large number of professedly Christian households; and he is bound +to press very earnestly on his hearers the question, whether the +Christian fathers and mothers among them do their duty in this matter. +Many of them, I fear, have never opened their lips to their children on +religious subjects. Is it not a grief and a shame that men and women +with some religion in them, and loving their little ones dearly, should +be tongue-tied before them on the most important of all things? What +can come of it but what does come of it so often that it saddens one to +see how frequently it occurs--that the children drift away from a faith +which their parents did not care enough about to teach it to them? A +silent father makes prodigal sons, and many a grey head has been brought +down with sorrow to the grave, and many a mother's heart broken, because +he and she neglected their plain duty, which can be handed over to no +schools or masters--the duty of religious instruction. "These words +which I command thee, shall be in thine heart; and thou shalt teach them +diligently to thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in +thine house." + +III. The Reciprocal Duties of servants and masters--obedience and +justice. + +The first thing to observe here is, that these "servants" are slaves, +not persons who have voluntarily given their work for wages. The +relation of Christianity to slavery is too wide a subject to be touched +here. It must be enough to point out that Paul recognises that "sum of +all villanies," gives instructions to both parties in it, never says one +word in condemnation of it. More remarkable still; the messenger who +carried this letter to Colossae carried in the same bag the Epistle to +Philemon, and was accompanied by the fugitive slave Onesimus, on whose +neck Paul bound again the chain, so to speak, with his own hands. And +yet the gospel which Paul preached has in it principles which cut up +slavery by the roots; as we read in this very letter, "In Christ Jesus +there is neither bond nor free." Why then did not Christ and His +apostles make war against slavery? For the same reason for which they +did not make war against _any_ political or social institutions. "First +make the tree good and his fruit good." The only way to reform +institutions is to elevate and quicken the general conscience, and then +the evil will be outgrown, left behind, or thrown aside. Mould men and +the men will mould institutions. So Christianity did not set itself to +fell this upas tree, which would have been a long and dangerous task; +but girdled it, as we may say, stripped the bark off it, and left it to +die--and it _has_ died in all Christian lands now. + +But the principles laid down here are quite as applicable to our form of +domestic and other service as to the slaves and masters of Colossae. + +Note then the extent of the servant's obedience--"in all things." Here, +of course, as in former cases, is there presupposed the limit of supreme +obedience to God's commands; that being safe, all else is to give way to +the duty of submission. It is a stern command, that seems all on the +side of the masters. It might strike a chill into many a slave, who had +been drawn to the gospel by the hope of finding some little lightening +of the yoke that pressed so heavily on his poor galled neck, and of +hearing some voice speaking in tenderer tones than those of harsh +command. Still more emphatically, and, as it might seem, still more +harshly, the Apostle goes on to insist on the inward completeness of the +obedience--"not with eyeservice (a word of Paul's own coining) as +men-pleasers." We have a proverb about the worth of the master's eye, +which bears witness that the same fault still clings to hired service. +One has only to look at the next set of bricklayers one sees on a +scaffold, or of haymakers one comes across in a field, to see it. The +vice was venial in slaves; it is inexcusable, because it darkens into +theft, in paid servants--and it spreads far and wide. All scamped work, +all productions of man's hand or brain which are got up to look better +than they are, all fussy parade of diligence when under inspection and +slackness afterwards--and all their like which infect and infest every +trade and profession, are transfixed by the sharp point of this precept. + +"But in singleness of heart," that is, with undivided motive, which is +the antithesis and the cure for "eyeservice"--and "fearing God," which +is opposed to "pleasing men." Then follows the positive injunction, +covering the whole ground of action and lifting the constrained +obedience to the earthly master up into the sacred and serene loftiness +of religious duty, "whatsoever ye do, work heartily," or from the soul. +The word for _work_ is stronger than that for _do_, and implies effort +and toil. They are to put all their power into their work, and not be +afraid of hard toil. And they are not only to bend their backs but their +wills, and to labour "from the soul," that is, cheerfully and with +interest--a hard lesson for a slave and asking more than could be +expected from human nature, as many of them would, no doubt, think. Paul +goes on to transfigure the squalor and misery of the slave's lot by a +sudden beam of light--"as to the Lord"--your true "Master," for it is +the same word as in the previous verse--"and not unto men." Do not think +of your tasks as only enjoined by harsh, capricious, selfish men, but +lift your thoughts to Christ, who is your Lord, and glorify all these +sordid duties by seeing _His_ will in them. He only who works as "to +the Lord," will work "heartily." The thought of Christ's command, and of +my poor toil as done for His sake, will change constraint into +cheerfulness, and make unwelcome tasks pleasant, and monotonous ones +fresh, and trivial ones great. It will evoke new powers, and renewed +consecration. In that atmosphere, the dim flame of servile obedience +will burn more brightly, as a lamp plunged into a jar of pure oxygen. + +The stimulus of a great hope for the ill-used, unpaid slave, is added. +Whatever their earthly masters might fail to give them, the true Master +whom they really served would accept no work for which He did not return +more than sufficient wages. "From the Lord ye shall receive the +recompense of the inheritance." Blows and scanty food and poor lodging +may be all that they get from their owners for all their sweat and toil, +but if they are Christ's slaves, they will be treated no more as slaves, +but as sons, and receive a son's portion, the exact recompense which +consists of the "inheritance." The juxtaposition of the two ideas of the +slave and the inheritance evidently hints at the unspoken thought, that +they are heirs because they are sons--a thought which might well lift up +bowed backs and brighten dull faces. The hope of that reward came like +an angel into the smoky huts and hopeless lives of these poor slaves. It +shone athwart all the gloom and squalor, and taught patience beneath +"the oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely." Through long, weary +generations it has lived in the hearts of men driven to God by man's +tyranny, and forced to clutch at heaven's brightness to keep them from +being made mad by earth's blackness. It may irradiate our poor lives, +especially when we fail, as we all do sometimes, to get recognition of +our work, or fruit from it. If we labour for man's appreciation or +gratitude, we shall certainly be disappointed; but if for Christ, we +have abundant wages beforehand, and we shall have an overabundant +requital, the munificence of which will make us more ashamed of our +unworthy service than anything else could do. Christ remains in no man's +debt. "Who hath first given, and it shall be recompensed to him again?" + +The last word to the slave is a warning against neglect of duty. There +is to be a double recompense--to the slave of Christ the portion of a +son; to the wrong doer retribution "for the wrong that he has done." +Then, though slavery was itself a wrong, though the master who held a +man in bondage was himself inflicting the greatest of all wrongs, yet +Paul will have the slave think that he still has duties to his master. +That is part of Paul's general position as to slavery. He will not wage +war against it, but for the present accept it. Whether he saw the full +bearing of the gospel on that and other infamous institutions may be +questioned. He has given us the principles which will destroy them, but +he is no revolutionist, and so his present counsel is to remember the +master's rights, even though they be founded on wrong, and he has no +hesitation in condemning and predicting retribution for evil things done +by a slave to his master. A superior's injustice does not warrant an +inferior's breach of moral law, though it may excuse it. Two blacks do +not make a white. Herein lies the condemnation of all the crimes which +enslaved nations and classes have done, of many a deed which has been +honoured and sung, of the sanguinary cruelties of servile revolts, as +well as of the questionable means to which labour often resorts in +modern industrial warfare. The homely, plain principle, that a man does +not receive the right to break God's laws because he is ill-treated, +would clear away much fog from some people's notions of how to advance +the cause of the oppressed. + +But, on the other hand, this warning may look towards the masters also; +and probably the same double reference is also to be discerned in the +closing words to the slaves, "and there is no respect of persons." The +servants were naturally tempted to think that God was on their side, as +indeed He was, but also to think that the great coming day of judgment +was mostly meant to be terrible to tyrants and oppressors, and so to +look forward to it with a fierce un-Christian joy, as well as with a +false confidence built only on their present misery. They would be apt +to think that God did "respect persons," in the opposite fashion from +that of a partial judge--namely, that He would incline the scale in +favour of the ill-used, the poor, the down-trodden; that they would have +an easy test and a light sentence, while His frowns and His severity +would be kept for the powerful and the rich who had ground the faces of +the poor and kept back the hire of the labourer. It was therefore a +needful reminder for them, and for us all, that that judgment has +nothing to do with earthly conditions, but only with conduct and +character; that sorrow and calamity here do not open heaven's gates +hereafter, and that the slave and master are tried by the same law. + +The series of precepts closes with a brief but most pregnant word to +masters. They are bid to give to their slaves "that which is just and +equal," that is to say, "equitable." A startling criterion for a +master's duty to the slave who was denied to have any rights at all. +They were chattels, not persons. A master might, in regard to them, do +what he liked with his own; he might crucify or torture, or commit any +crime against manhood either in body or soul, and no voice would +question or forbid. How astonished Roman lawgivers would have been if +they could have heard Paul talking about justice and equity as applied +to a slave! What a strange new dialect it must have sounded to the +slave-owners in the Colossian Church! They would not see how far the +principle, thus quietly introduced, was to carry succeeding ages; they +could not dream of the great tree that was to spring from this tiny +seed-precept; but no doubt the instinct which seldom fails an unjustly +privileged class, would make them blindly dislike the exhortation, and +feel as if they were getting out of their depth when they were bid to +consider what was "right" and "equitable" in their dealings with their +slaves. + +The Apostle does not define what _is_ "right and equal." That will come. +The main thing is to drive home the conviction that there are duties +owing to slaves, inferiors, employes. We are far enough from a +satisfactory discharge of these yet; but, at any rate, everybody now +admits the principle--and we have mainly to thank Christianity for that. +Slowly the general conscience is coming to recognise that simple truth +more and more clearly, and its application is becoming more decisive +with each generation. There is much to be done before society is +organized on that principle, but the time is coming--and till it is +come, there will be no peace. All masters and employers of labour, in +their mills and warehouses, are bid to base their relations to "hands" +and servants on the one firm foundation of "justice." Paul does not say, +Give your servants what is kind and patronising. He wants a great deal +more than that. Charity likes to come in and supply the wants which +would never have been felt had there been equity. An ounce of justice is +sometimes worth a ton of charity. + +This duty of the masters is enforced by the same thought which was to +stimulate the servants to their tasks: "ye also have a Master in +heaven." That is not only stimulus, but it is pattern. I said that Paul +did not specify what was just and right, and that his precept might +therefore be objected to as vague. Does the introduction of this thought +of the master's Master in heaven, take away any of the vagueness? If +Christ is our Master, then we are to look to Him to see what a master +ought to be, and to try to be masters like that. That is precise enough, +is it not? That grips tight enough, does it not? Give your servants what +you expect and need to get from Christ. If we try to live that +commandment for twenty-four hours, it will probably not be its vagueness +of which we complain. + +"Ye have a Master in heaven" is the great principle on which all +Christian duty reposes. Christ's command is my law, His will is supreme, +His authority absolute, His example all-sufficient. My soul, my life, my +all are His. My will is not my own. My possessions are not my own. My +being is not my own. All duty is elevated into obedience to Him, and +obedience to Him, utter and absolute, is dignity and freedom. We are +Christ's slaves, for He has bought us for Himself, by giving Himself for +us. Let that great sacrifice win our heart's love and our perfect +submission. "O Lord, truly I am Thy servant, Thou hast loosed my bonds." +Then all earthly relationships will be fulfilled by us; and we shall +move among men, breathing blessing and raying out brightness, when in +all, we remember that we have a Master in heaven, and do all our work +from the soul as to Him and not to men. + + + + +XXIII. + +_PRECEPTS FOR THE INNERMOST AND OUTERMOST LIFE._ + + "Continue stedfastly in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving; + withal praying for us also, that God may open unto us a door for the + word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds; + that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom + toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be + always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought + to answer each one."--COL. iv. 2-6 (Rev. Ver.). + + +So ends the ethical portion of the Epistle. A glance over the series of +practical exhortations, from the beginning of the preceding chapter +onwards, will show that, in general terms we may say that they deal +successively with a Christian's duties to himself, the Church, and the +family. And now, these last advices touch the two extremes of life, the +first of them having reference to the hidden life of prayer, and the +second and third to the outward, busy life of the market-place and the +street. That bringing together of the extremes seems to be the link of +connection here. The Christian life is first regarded as gathered into +itself--coiled as it were on its centre, like some strong spring. Next, +it is regarded as it operates in the world, and, like the uncoiling +spring, gives motion to wheels and pinions. These two sides of +experience and duty are often hard to blend harmoniously. The conflict +between busy Martha, who serves, and quiet Mary, who only sits and +gazes, goes on in every age and in every heart. Here we may find, in +some measure, the principle of reconciliation between their antagonistic +claims. Here is, at all events, the protest against allowing either to +oust the other. Continual prayer is to blend with unwearied action. We +are so to walk the dusty ways of life as to be ever in the secret place +of the Most High. "Continue stedfastly in prayer," and withal let there +be no unwholesome withdrawal from the duties and relationships of the +outer world, but let the prayer pass into, first, a wise walk, and +second, an ever-gracious speech. + +I. So we have here, first, an exhortation to a hidden life of constant +prayer. + +The word rendered "continue" in the Authorised Version, and more fully +in the Revised Version by "continue stedfastly," is frequently found in +reference to prayer, as well as in other connections. A mere enumeration +of some of these instances may help to illustrate its full meaning. "We +_will give ourselves_ to prayer," said the apostles in proposing the +creation of the office of deacon. "_Continuing instant_ in prayer" says +Paul to the Roman Church. "They _continuing_ daily with one accord in +the Temple" is the description of the early believers after Pentecost. +Simon Magus is said to have "continued with Philip," where there is +evidently the idea of close adherence as well as of uninterrupted +companionship. These examples seem to show that the word implies both +earnestness and continuity; so that this injunction not only covers the +ground of Paul's other exhortation, "Pray without ceasing," but includes +fervour also. + +The Christian life, then, ought to be one of unbroken prayer. + +What manner of prayer can that be which is to be continuous through a +life that must needs be full of toil on outward things? How can such a +precept be obeyed? Surely there is no need for paring down its +comprehensiveness, and saying that it merely means--a very frequent +recurrence to devout exercises, as often as the pressure of daily duties +will permit. That is not the direction in which the harmonising of such +a precept with the obvious necessities of our position is to be sought. +We must seek it in a more inward and spiritual notion of prayer. We must +separate between the form and the substance, the treasure and the +earthen vessel which carries it. What is prayer? Not the utterance of +words--they are but the vehicle; but the attitude of the spirit. +Communion, aspiration, and submission, these three are the elements of +prayer--and these three may be diffused through a life. It is possible, +though difficult. There may be unbroken communion, a constant +consciousness of God's presence, and of our contact with Him, thrilling +through our souls and freshening them, like some breath of spring +reaching the toilers in choky factories and busy streets; or even if the +communion do not run like an absolutely unbroken line of light through +our lives, the points may be so near together as all but to touch. In +such communion words are needless. When spirits draw closest together +there is no need for speech. Silently the heart may be kept fragrant +with God's felt presence, and sunny with the light of His face. There +are towns nestling beneath the Alps, every narrow filthy alley of which +looks to the great solemn snow-peaks, and the inhabitants, amid all the +squalor of their surroundings, have that apocalypse of wonder ever +before them, if they would only lift their eyes. So we, if we will, may +live with the majesties and beauties of the great white throne and of +Him that sat on it closing every vista and filling the end of every +commonplace passage in our lives. + +In like manner, there may be a continual, unspoken and unbroken presence +of the second element of prayer, which is aspiration, or desire after +God. All circumstances, whether duty, sorrow or joy, should and may be +used to stamp more deeply on my consciousness the sense of my weakness +and need; and every moment, with its experience of God's swift and +punctual grace, and all my communion with Him which unveils to me His +beauty--should combine to move longings for Him, for more of Him. The +very deepest cry of the heart which understands its own yearnings, is +for the living God; and perpetual as the hunger of the spirit for the +food which will stay its profound desires, will be the prayer, though it +may often be voiceless, of the soul which knows where alone that food +is. + +Continual too may be our submission to His will, which is an essential +of all prayer. Many people's notion is that our prayer is urging our +wishes on God, and that His answer is giving us what we desire. But true +prayer is the meeting in harmony of God's will and man's, and its +deepest expression is not, Do this, because I desire it, O Lord; but, I +do this because Thou desirest it, O Lord. That submission may be the +very spring of all life, and whatsoever work is done in such spirit, +however "secular" and however small it be, were it making buttons, is +truly prayer. + +So there should run all through our lives the music of that continual +prayer, heard beneath all our varying occupations like some prolonged +deep bass note, that bears up and gives dignity to the lighter melody +that rises and falls and changes above it, like the spray on the crest +of a great wave. Our lives will then be noble and grave, and woven into +a harmonious unity, when they are based upon continual communion with, +continual desire after, and continual submission to, God. If they are +not, they will be worth nothing and will come to nothing. + +But such continuity of prayer is not to be attained without effort; +therefore Paul goes on to say, "Watching therein." We are apt to do +drowsily whatever we do constantly. Men fall asleep at any continuous +work. There is also the constant influence of externals, drawing our +thoughts away from their true home in God, so that if we are to keep up +continuous devotion, we shall have to rouse ourselves often when in the +very act of dropping off to sleep. "Awake up, my glory!" we shall often +have to say to our souls. Do we not all know that subtly approaching +languor? and have we not often caught ourselves in the very act of +falling asleep at our prayers? We must make distinct and resolute +efforts to rouse ourselves--we must concentrate our attention and apply +the needed stimulants, and bring the interest and activity of our whole +nature to bear on this work of continual prayer, else it will become +drowsy mumbling as of a man but half awake. The world has strong +opiates for the soul, and we must stedfastly resist their influence, if +we are to "continue in prayer." + +One way of so watching is to have and to observe definite times of +spoken prayer. We hear much now-a-days about the small value of times +and forms of prayer, and how, as I have been saying, true prayer is +independent of these, and needs no words. All that, of course, is true; +but when the practical conclusion is drawn that therefore we can do +without the outward form, a grave mistake, full of mischief, is +committed. I do not, for my part, believe in a devotion diffused through +a life and never concentrated and coming to the surface in visible +outward acts or audible words; and, as far as I have seen, the men whose +religion is spread all through their lives most really are the men who +keep the central reservoir full, if I may so say, by regular and +frequent hours and words of prayer. The Christ, whose whole life was +devotion and communion with the Father, had His nights on the mountains, +and rising up a great while before day, He watched unto prayer. We must +do the like. + +One more word has still to be said. This continual prayer is to be "with +thanksgiving"--again the injunction so frequent in this letter, in such +various connections. Every prayer should be blended with gratitude, +without the perfume of which, the incense of devotion lacks one element +of fragrance. The sense of need, or the consciousness of sin, may evoke +"strong crying and tears," but the completest prayer rises confident +from a grateful heart, which weaves memory into hope, and asks much +because it has received much. A true recognition of the lovingkindness +of the past has much to do with making our communion sweet, our desires +believing, our submission cheerful. Thankfulness is the feather that +wings the arrow of prayer--the height from which our souls rise most +easily to the sky. + +And now the Apostle's tone softens from exhortation to entreaty, and +with very sweet and touching humility he begs a supplemental corner in +their prayers. "Withal praying also for us." The "withal" and "also" +have a tone of lowliness in them, while the "us," including as it does +Timothy, who is associated with him in the superscription of the letter, +and possibly others also, increases the impression of modesty. The +subject of their prayers for Paul and the others is to be that "God may +open unto us a door for the word." That phrase apparently means an +unhindered opportunity of preaching the gospel, for the consequence of +the door's being opened is added--"to speak (so that I may speak) the +mystery of Christ." The special reason for this prayer is, "for which I +am also (in addition to my other sufferings) in bonds." + +He was a prisoner. He cared little about that or about the fetters on +his wrists, so far as his own comfort was concerned; but his spirit +chafed at the restraint laid upon him in spreading the good news of +Christ, though he had been able to do much in his prison, both among the +Praetorian guard, and throughout the whole population of Rome. Therefore +he would engage his friends to ask God to open the prison doors, as He +had done for Peter, not that Paul might come out, but that the gospel +might. The personal was swallowed up; all that he cared for was to do +his work. + +But he wants their prayers for more than that--"that I may make it +manifest as I ought to speak." This is probably explained most naturally +as meaning his endowment with power to set forth the message in a manner +adequate to its greatness. When he thought of what it was that he, +unworthy, had to preach, its majesty and wonderfulness brought a kind of +awe over his spirit; and endowed, as he was, with apostolic functions +and apostolic grace; conscious, as he was, of being anointed and +inspired by God, he yet felt that the richness of the treasure made the +earthen vessel seem terribly unworthy to bear it. His utterances seemed +to himself poor and unmelodious beside the majestic harmonies of the +gospel. He could not soften his voice to breathe tenderly enough a +message of such love, nor give it strength enough to peal forth a +message of such tremendous import and world-wide destination. + +If Paul felt his conception of the greatness of the gospel dwarfing into +nothing _his_ words when he tried to preach it, what must every other +true minister of Christ feel? If he, in the fulness of his inspiration, +besought a place in his brethren's prayers, how much more must they need +it, who try with stammering tongues to preach the truth that made his +fiery words seem ice? Every such man must turn to those who love him and +listen to his poor presentment of the riches of Christ, with Paul's +entreaty. His friends cannot do a kinder thing to him than to bear him +on their hearts in their prayers to God. + +II. We have here next, a couple of precepts, which spring at a bound +from the inmost secret of the Christian life to its circumference, and +refer to the outward life in regard to the non-Christian world, +enjoining, in view of it, a wise walk and gracious speech. + +"Walk in wisdom towards them that are without." Those that are within +are those who have "fled for refuge" to Christ, and are within the fold, +the fortress, the ark. Men who sit safe within while the storm howls, +may simply think with selfish complacency of the poor wretches exposed +to its fierceness. The phrase may express spiritual pride and even +contempt. All close corporations tend to generate dislike and scorn of +outsiders, and the Church has had its own share of such feeling; but +there is no trace of anything of the sort here. Rather is there pathos +and pity in the word, and a recognition that their sad condition gives +these outsiders a claim on Christian men, who are bound to go out to +their help and bring them in. Precisely because they are "without" do +those within owe them a wise walk, that "if any will not hear the word, +they may without the word be won." The thought is in some measure +parallel to our Lord's words, of which perhaps it is a reminiscence. +"Behold I send you forth"--a strange thing for a careful shepherd to +do--"as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents." +Think of that picture--the handful of cowering frightened creatures +huddled against each other, and ringed round by that yelping, +white-toothed crowd, ready to tear them to pieces! So are Christ's +followers in the world. Of course, things have changed in many respects +since those days; partly because persecution has gone out of fashion, +and partly because "the world" has been largely influenced by Christian +morality, and partly because the Church has been largely secularized. +The temperature of the two has become nearly equalized over a large +tract of professing Christendom. So a tolerably good understanding and a +brisk trade has sprung up between the sheep and the wolves. But for all +that, there is fundamental discord, however changed may be its +exhibition, and if we are true to our Master and insist on shaping our +lives by His rules, we shall find out that there is. + +We need, therefore, to "walk in wisdom" towards the non-Christian world; +that is, to let practical prudence shape all our conduct. If we are +Christians, we have to live under the eyes of vigilant and not +altogether friendly observers, who derive satisfaction and harm from any +inconsistency of ours. A plainly Christian life that needs no commentary +to exhibit its harmony with Christ's commandments is the first duty we +owe to them. + +And the wisdom which is to mould our lives in view of these outsiders +will "discern both time and judgment," will try to take the measure of +men and act accordingly. Common sense and practical sagacity are +important accompaniments of Christian zeal. What a singularly complex +character, in this respect, was Paul's--enthusiastic and yet capable of +such diplomatic adaptation; and withal never dropping to cunning, nor +sacrificing truth! Enthusiasts who despise worldly wisdom, and therefore +often dash themselves against stone walls, are not rare; cool +calculators who abhor all generous glow of feeling and have ever a +pailful of cold water for any project which shows it, are only too +common--but fire and ice together, like a volcano with glaciers +streaming down its cone, are rare. Fervour married to tact, common +sense which keeps close to earth and enthusiasm which flames heaven +high, are a rare combination. It is not often that the same voice can +say, "I count not my life dear to myself," and "I became all things to +all men." + +A dangerous principle that last, a very slippery piece of ground to get +upon!--say people, and quite truly. It _is_ dangerous, and one thing +only will keep a man's feet when on it, and that is, that his wise +adaptation shall be perfectly unselfish, and that he shall ever keep +clear before him the great object to be gained, which is nothing +personal, but "that I might by all means save some." If that end is held +in view, we shall be saved from the temptation of hiding or maiming the +very truth which we desire should be received, and our wise adaptation +of ourselves and of our message to the needs and weaknesses and +peculiarities of those "who are without," will not degenerate into +handling the word of God deceitfully. Paul advised "walking in wisdom;" +he abhorred "walking in craftiness." + +We owe them that are without such a walk as may tend to bring them in. +Our life is to a large extent their Bible. They know a great deal more +about Christianity, as they see it in us, than as it is revealed in +Christ, or recorded in Scripture--and if, as seen in us, it does not +strike them as very attractive, small wonder if they still prefer to +remain where they are. Let us take care lest instead of being +doorkeepers to the house of the Lord, to beckon passers-by and draw them +in, we block the doorway, and keep them from seeing the wonders within. + +The Apostle adds a special way in which this wisdom shows +itself--namely, "redeeming the time." The last word here does not denote +time in general, but a definite season, or _opportunity_. The lesson, +then, is not that of making the best use of all the moments as they fly, +precious as that lesson is, but that of discerning and eagerly using +appropriate opportunities for Christian service. The figure is simple +enough; to "buy up" means to make one's own. "Make much of time, let not +advantage slip," is an advice in exactly the same spirit. Two things are +included in it; the watchful study of characters, so as to know the +right times to bring influences to bear on them, and an earnest +diligence in utilizing these for the highest purposes. We have not acted +wisely towards those who are without unless we have used every +opportunity to draw them in. + +But besides a wise walk, there is to be "gracious speech." "Let your +speech be always with grace." A similar juxtaposition of "wisdom" and +"grace" occurred in chapter iii. 16. "Let the word of Christ dwell in +you richly in all wisdom ... singing with grace in your hearts"; and +there as here, "grace" may be taken either in its lower aesthetic sense, +or in its higher spiritual. It may mean either favour, agreeableness, or +the Divine gift, bestowed by the indwelling Spirit. The former is +supposed by many good expositors to be the meaning here. But is it a +Christian's duty to make his speech always agreeable? Sometimes it is +his plain duty to make it very disagreeable indeed. If our speech is to +be true, and wholesome, it must sometimes rasp and go against the grain. +Its pleasantness depends on the inclinations of the hearers rather than +on the will of the honest speaker. If he is to "redeem the time" and +"walk wisely to them that are without," his speech cannot be always with +such grace. The advice to make our words always pleasing may be a very +good maxim for worldly success, but it smacks of Chesterfield's Letters +rather than of Paul's Epistles. + +We must go much deeper for the true import of this exhortation. It is +substantially this--whether you can speak smooth things or no, and +whether your talk is always directly religious or no--and it need not +and cannot always be that--let there ever be in it the manifest +influence of God's Spirit, Who dwells in the Christian heart, and will +mould and sanctify your speech. Of you, as of your Master, let it be +true, "Grace is poured into thy lips." He in whose spirit the Divine +Spirit abides will be truly "Golden-mouthed"; his speech shall distil as +the dew, and whether his grave and lofty words please frivolous and +prurient ears or no, they will be beautiful in the truest sense, and +show the Divine life pulsing through them, as some transparent skin +shows the throbbing of the blue veins. Men who feed their souls on great +authors catch their style, as some of our great living orators, who are +eager students of English poetry. So if we converse much with God, +listening to His voice in our hearts, our speech will have in it a tone +that will echo that deep music. Our accent will betray our country. Then +our speech will be with grace in the lower sense of pleasingness. The +truest gracefulness, both of words and conduct, comes from heavenly +grace. The beauty caught from God, the fountain of all things lovely, is +the highest. + +The speech is to be "seasoned with salt." That does not mean the "Attic +salt" of wit. There is nothing more wearisome than the talk of men who +are always trying to be piquant and brilliant. Such speech is like a +"pillar of salt"--it sparkles, but is cold, and has points that wound, +and it tastes bitter. That is not what Paul recommends. Salt was used in +sacrifice--let the sacrificial salt be applied to all our words; that +is, let all we say be offered up to God, "a sacrifice of praise to God +continually." Salt preserves. Put into your speech what will keep it +from rotting, or, as the parallel passage in Ephesians has it, "let no +_corrupt_ communication proceed out of your mouth." Frivolous talk, +dreary gossip, ill-natured talk, idle talk, to say nothing of foul and +wicked words, will be silenced when your speech is seasoned with salt. + +The following words make it probable that salt here is used also with +some allusion to its power of giving savour to food. Do not deal in +insipid generalities, but suit your words to your hearers, "that ye may +know how ye ought to answer each one." Speech that fits close to the +characteristics and wants of the people to whom it is spoken is sure to +be interesting, and that which does not will for them be insipid. +Commonplaces that hit full against the hearer will be no commonplaces to +him, and the most brilliant words that do not meet his mind or needs +will to him be tasteless "as the white of an egg." + +Individual peculiarities, then, must determine the wise way of approach +to each man, and there will be wide variety in the methods. Paul's +language to the wild hill tribes of Lycaonia was not the same as to the +cultivated, curious crowd on Mars' Hill, and his sermons in the +synagogues have a different tone from his reasonings of judgment to come +before Felix. + +All that is too plain to need illustration. But one word may be added. +The Apostle here regards it as the task of every Christian man to speak +for Christ. Further, he recommends dealing with individuals rather than +masses, as being within the scope of each Christian, and as being much +more efficacious. Salt has to be rubbed in, if it is to do any good. It +is better for most of us to fish with the rod than with the net, to +angle for single souls, rather than to try and enclose a multitude at +once. Preaching to a congregation has its own place and value; but +private and personal talk, honestly and wisely done, will effect more +than the most eloquent preaching. Better to drill in the seeds, dropping +them one by one into the little pits made for their reception, than to +sow them broadcast. + +And what shall we say of Christian men and women, who can talk +animatedly and interestingly of anything but of their Saviour and His +kingdom? Timidity, misplaced reverence, a dread of seeming to be +self-righteous, a regard for conventional proprieties, and the national +reserve account for much of the lamentable fact that there are so many +such. But all these barriers would be floated away like straws, if a +great stream of Christian feeling were pouring from the heart. What +fills the heart will overflow by the floodgates of speech. So that the +real reason for the unbroken silence in which many Christian people +conceal their faith is mainly the small quantity of it which there is to +conceal. + +A solemn ideal is set before us in these parting injunctions--a higher +righteousness than was thundered from Sinai. When we think of our +hurried, formal devotion, our prayers forced from us sometimes by the +pressure of calamity, and so often suspended when the weight is lifted; +of the occasional glimpses that we get of God--as sailors may catch +sight of a guiding star for a moment through driving fog, and of the +long tracts of life which would be precisely the same, as far as our +thoughts are concerned, if there were no God at all, or He had nothing +to do with us--what an awful command that seems, "Continue stedfastly in +prayer"! + +When we think of our selfish disregard of the woes and dangers of the +poor wanderers without, exposed to the storm, while we think ourselves +safe in the fold, and of how little we have meditated on and still less +discharged our obligations to them, and of how we have let precious +opportunities slip through our slack hands, we may well bow rebuked +before the exhortation, "Walk in wisdom toward them that are without." + +When we think of the stream of words ever flowing from our lips, and how +few grains of gold that stream has brought down amid all its sand, and +how seldom Christ's name has been spoken by us to hearts that heed Him +not nor know Him, the exhortation, "Let your speech be always with +grace," becomes an indictment as truly as a command. + +There is but one place for us, the foot of the cross, that there we may +obtain forgiveness for all the faulty past and thence may draw +consecration and strength for the future, to enable us to keep that +lofty law of Christian morality, which is high and hard if we think only +of its precepts, but becomes light and easy when we open our hearts to +receive the power for obedience, "which," as this great Epistle +manifoldly teaches, "is Christ in you, the hope of glory." + + + + +XXIV. + +_TYCHICUS AND ONESIMUS, THE LETTER-BEARERS._ + + "All my affairs shall Tychicus make known unto you, the beloved + brother and faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord: whom I + have sent unto you for this very purpose, that ye may know our + estate, and that he may comfort your hearts; together with Onesimus, + the faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make + known unto you all things that _are done_ here."--COL. iv. 7-9 (Rev. + Ver.). + + +In Paul's days it was perhaps more difficult to get letters delivered +than to write them. It was a long, weary journey from Rome to +Colossae,--across Italy, then by sea to Greece, across Greece, then by +sea to the port of Ephesus, and thence by rough ways to the upland +valley where lay Colossae, with its neighbouring towns of Laodicea and +Hierapolis. So one thing which the Apostle has to think about is to find +messengers to carry his letter. He pitches upon these two, Tychicus and +Onesimus. The former is one of his personal attendants, told off for +this duty; the other, who has been in Rome under very peculiar +circumstances, is going home to Colossae, on a strange errand, in which +he may be helped by having a message from Paul to carry. + +We shall not now deal with the words before us, so much as with these +two figures, whom we may regard as representing certain principles, and +embodying some useful lessons. + +I. Tychicus may stand as representing the greatness and sacredness of +small and secular service done for Christ. + +We must first try, in as few words as may be, to change the name into a +man. There is something very solemn and pathetic in these shadowy names +which appear for a moment on the page of Scripture, and are swallowed up +of black night, like stars that suddenly blaze out for a week or two, +and then dwindle and at last disappear altogether. They too lived, and +loved, and strove, and suffered, and enjoyed: and now--all is gone, +gone; the hot fire burned down to such a little handful of white ashes. +Tychicus and Onesimus! two shadows that once were men! and as they are, +so we shall be. + +As to Tychicus, there are several fragmentary notices about him in the +Acts of the Apostles and in Paul's letters, and although they do not +amount to much, still by piecing them together, and looking at them with +some sympathy, we can get a notion of the man. + +He does not appear till near the end of Paul's missionary work, and was +probably one of the fruits of the Apostle's long residence in Ephesus on +his last missionary tour, as we do not hear of him till after that +period. That stay in Ephesus was cut short by the silversmiths' +riot--the earliest example of trades' unions--when they wanted to +silence the preaching of the gospel because it damaged the market for +"shrines," and "_also_" was an insult to the great goddess! Thereupon +Paul retired to Europe, and after some months there, decided on his last +fateful journey to Jerusalem. On the way he was joined by a remarkable +group of friends seven in number, and apparently carefully selected so +as to represent the principal fields of the Apostle's labours. There +were three Europeans, two from "Asia"--meaning by that name, of course, +only the Roman province, which included mainly the western seaboard--and +two from the wilder inland country of Lycaonia. Tychicus was one of the +two from Asia; the other was Trophimus, whom we know to have been an +Ephesian (Acts xxi. 29), as Tychicus may not improbably have also been. + +We do not know that all the seven accompanied Paul to Jerusalem. +Trophimus we know did, and another of them, Aristarchus, is mentioned as +having sailed with him on the return voyage from Palestine (Acts xxvii. +2). But if they were not intended to go to Jerusalem, why did they meet +him at all? The sacredness of the number seven, the apparent care to +secure a representation of the whole field of apostolic activity, and +the long distances that some of them must have travelled, make it +extremely unlikely that these men should have met him at a little port +in Asia Minor for the mere sake of being with him for a few days. It +certainly seems much more probable that they joined his company and went +on to Jerusalem. What for? Probably as bearers of money contributions +from the whole area of the Gentile Churches, to the "poor saints" +there--a purpose which would explain the composition of the delegation. +Paul was too sensitive and too sagacious to have more to do with money +matters than he could help. We learn from his letter to the Church at +Corinth that he insisted on another brother being associated with him in +the administration of their alms, so that no man could raise suspicions +against him. Paul's principle was that which ought to guide every man +entrusted with other people's money to spend for religious or charitable +purposes--"I shall not be your almoner unless some one appointed by you +stands by me to see that I spend your money rightly"--a good example +which, it is much to be desired, were followed by all workers, and +required to be followed as a condition of all giving. + +These seven, at all events, began the long journey with Paul. Among them +is our friend Tychicus, who may have learned to know the Apostle more +intimately during it, and perhaps developed qualities in travel which +marked him out as fit for the errand on which we here find him. + +This voyage was about the year 58 A.D. Then comes an interval of some +three or four years, in which occur Paul's arrest and imprisonment at +Caesarea, his appearance before governors and kings, his voyage to Italy +and shipwreck, with his residence in Rome. Whether Tychicus was with him +during all this period, as Luke seems to have been, we do not know, nor +at what point he joined the Apostle, if he was not his companion +throughout. But the verses before us show that he was with Paul during +part of his first Roman captivity, probably about A.D. 62 or 63; and +their commendation of him as "a faithful minister," or helper of Paul, +implies that for a considerable period before this he had been rendering +services to the Apostle. + +He is now despatched all the long way to Colossae to carry this letter, +and to tell the Church by word of mouth all that had happened in Rome. +No information of that kind is in the letter itself. That silence forms +a remarkable contrast to the affectionate abundance of personal details +in another prison letter, that to the Philippians, and probably marks +this Epistle as addressed to a Church never visited by Paul. Tychicus is +sent, according to the most probable reading, that "ye may know our +estate, and that he may comfort your hearts"--encouraging the brethren +to Christian stedfastness, not only by his news of Paul, but by his own +company and exhortations. + +The very same words are employed about him in the contemporaneous letter +to the Ephesians. Evidently, then, he carried both epistles on the same +journey; and one reason for selecting him as messenger is plainly that +he was a native of the province, and probably of Ephesus. When Paul +looked round his little circle of attendant friends, his eye fell on +Tychicus, as the very man for such an errand. "You go, Tychicus. It is +your home; they all know you." + +The most careful students now think that the Epistle to the Ephesians +was meant to go the round of the Churches of Asia Minor, beginning, no +doubt, with that in the great city of Ephesus. If that be so, and +Tychicus had to carry it to these Churches in turn, he would necessarily +come, in the course of his duty, to Laodicea, which was only a few miles +from Colossae, and so could most conveniently deliver this Epistle. The +wider and the narrower mission fitted into each other. + +No doubt he went, and did his work. We can fancy the eager groups, +perhaps in some upper room, perhaps in some quiet place of prayer by the +river side; in their midst the two messengers, with a little knot of +listeners and questioners round each. How they would have to tell the +story a dozen times over! how every detail would be precious! how tears +would come and hearts would glow! how deep into the night they would +talk! and how many a heart that had begun to waver would be confirmed in +cleaving to Christ by the exhortations of Tychicus, by the very sight of +Onesimus, and by Paul's words of fire! + +What became of Tychicus after that journey we do not know. Perhaps he +settled down at Ephesus for a time, perhaps he returned to Paul. At any +rate, we get two more glimpses of him at a later period--one in the +Epistle to Titus, in which we hear of the Apostle's intention to +despatch him on another journey to Crete, and the last in the close of +the second Epistle to Timothy, written from Rome probably about A.D. 67. +The Apostle believes that his death is near, and seems to have sent away +most of his staff. Among the notices of their various appointments we +read, "Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus." He is not said to have been +sent on any mission connected with the Churches. It may be that he was +simply sent away because, by reason of his impending martyrdom, Paul had +no more need of him. True, he still has Luke by him, and he wishes +Timothy to come and bring his first "minister," Mark, with him. But he +has sent away Tychicus, as if he had said, Now, go back to your home, my +friend! You have been a faithful servant for ten years. I need you no +more. Go to your own people, and take my blessing. God be with you! So +they parted, he that was for death, to die! and he that was for life, to +live and to treasure the memory of Paul in his heart for the rest of +his days. These are the facts; ten years of faithful service to the +Apostle, partly during his detention in Rome, and much of it spent in +wearisome and dangerous travelling undertaken to carry a couple of +letters. + +As for his character, Paul has given us something of it in these few +words, which have commended him to a wider circle than the handful of +Christians at Colossae. As for his personal godliness and goodness, he is +"a beloved brother," as are all who love Christ; but he is also a +"faithful minister," or personal attendant upon the Apostle. Paul always +seems to have had one or two such about him, from the time of his first +journey, when John Mark filled the post, to the end of his career. +Probably he was no great hand at managing affairs, and needed some plain +common-sense nature beside him, who would be secretary or amanuensis +sometimes, and general helper and factotum. Men of genius and men +devoted to some great cause which tyrannously absorbs attention, want +some person to fill such a homely office. The person who filled it would +be likely to be a plain man, not gifted in any special degree for higher +service. Common sense, willingness to be troubled with small details of +purely secular arrangements, and a hearty love for the chief, and desire +to spare him annoyance and work, were the qualifications. Such probably +was Tychicus--no orator, no organiser, no thinker, but simply an honest, +loving soul, who did not shrink from rough outward work, if only it +might help the cause. We do not read that he was a teacher or preacher, +or miracle worker. His gift was--ministry, and he gave himself to his +ministry. His business was to run Paul's errands, and, like a true man, +he ran them "faithfully." + +So then, he is fairly taken as representing the greatness and sacredness +of small and secular service for Christ. For the Apostle goes on to add +something to his eulogium as a "faithful minister"--when he calls him "a +fellow-servant," or slave, "in the Lord." As if he had said, Do not +suppose that because I write this letter, and Tychicus carries it, there +is much difference between us. We are both slaves of the same Lord who +has set each of us his tasks; and though the tasks be different, the +obedience is the same, and the doers stand on one level. I am not +Tychicus' master, though he be my minister. We have both, as I have been +reminding you that you all have, an owner in heaven. The delicacy of the +turn thus given to the commendation is a beautiful indication of Paul's +generous, chivalrous nature. No wonder that such a soul bound men like +Tychicus to him! + +But there is more than merely a revelation of a beautiful character in +the words; there are great truths in them. We may draw them out in two +or three thoughts. + +Small things done for Christ are great. Trifles that contribute and are +indispensable to a great result are great; or perhaps, more properly, +both words are out of place. In some powerful engine there is a little +screw, and if it drop out, the great piston cannot rise nor the huge +crank turn. What have big and little to do with things which are equally +indispensable? There is a great rudder that steers an ironclad. It moves +on a "pintle" a few inches long. If that bit of iron were gone, what +would become of the rudder, and what would be the use of the ship with +all her guns? There is an old jingling rhyme about losing a shoe for +want of a nail, and a horse for want of a shoe, and a man for want of a +horse, and a battle for want of a man, and a kingdom for loss of a +battle. The intervening links may be left out--and the nail and the +kingdom brought together. In a similar spirit, we may say that the +trifles done for Christ which help the great things are as important as +these. What is the use of writing letters, if you cannot get them +delivered? It takes both Paul and Tychicus to get the letter into the +hands of the people at Colossae. + +Another thought suggested by the figure of Paul's minister, who was also +his fellow-slave, is the sacredness of secular work done for Christ. +When Tychicus is caring for Paul's comfort, and looking after common +things for him, he is serving Christ, and his work is "in the Lord." +That is equivalent to saying that the distinction between sacred and +secular, religious and non-religious, like that of great and small, +disappears from work done for and in Jesus. Whenever there is +organization, there must be much work concerned with purely material +things: and the most spiritual forces must have some organization. There +must be men for "the outward business of the house of God" as well as +white-robed priests at the altar, and the rapt gazer in the secret place +of the Most High. There are a hundred matters of detail and of purely +outward and mechanical sort which must be seen to by somebody. The +alternative is to do them in a purely mechanical and secular manner and +so to make the work utterly dreary and contemptible, or in a devout and +earnest manner and so to hallow them all, and make worship of them all. +The difference between two lives is not in the material on which, but in +the motive from which, and in the end for which, they are respectively +lived. All work done in obedience to the same Lord is the same in +essence; for it is all obedience; and all work done for the same God is +the same in essence, for it is all worship. The distinction between +secular and sacred ought never to have found its way into Christian +morals, and ought for evermore to be expelled from Christian life. + +Another thought may be suggested--fleeting things done for Christ are +eternal. How astonished Tychicus would have been if anybody had told him +on that day when he got away from Rome, with the two precious letters in +his scrip, that these bits of parchment would outlast all the +ostentatious pomp of the city, and that his name, because written in +them, would be known to the end of time all over the world! The eternal +things are the things done for Christ. They are eternal in His memory +who has said, "I will never forget any of their works," however they may +fall from man's remembrance. They are perpetual in their consequences. +True, no man's contribution to the mighty sum of things "that make for +righteousness" can very long be traced as separate from the others, any +more than the raindrop that refreshed the harebell on the moor can be +traced in burn, and river, and sea. But for all that, it is there. So +our influence for good blends with a thousand others, and may not be +traceable beyond a short distance, still it is there: and no true work +for Christ, abortive as it may seem, but goes to swell the great +aggregate of forces which are working on through the ages to bring the +perfect Order. + +That Colossian Church seems a failure. Where is it now? Gone. Where are +its sister Churches of Asia? Gone. Paul's work and Tychicus' seem to +have vanished from the earth, and Mohammedanism to have taken its place. +Yes! and here are we to-day in England, and Christian men all over the +world in lands that were mere slaughterhouses of savagery then, learning +our best lessons from Paul's words, and owing something for our +knowledge of them to Tychicus' humble care. Paul meant to teach a +handful of obscure believers--he has edified the world. Tychicus thought +to carry the precious letter safely over the sea--he was helping to send +it across the centuries, and to put it into our hands. So little do we +know where our work will terminate. Our only concern is where it begins. +Let us look after this end, the motive; and leave God to take care of +the other, the consequences. + +Such work will be perpetual in its consequences on ourselves. "Though +Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious." Whether our service +for Christ does others any good or no, it will bless ourselves, by +strengthening the motives from which it springs, by enlarging our own +knowledge and enriching our own characters, and by a hundred other +gracious influences which His work exerts upon the devout worker, and +which become indissoluble parts of himself, and abide with him for ever, +over and above the crown of glory that fadeth not away. + +And, as the reward is given not to the outward deed, but to the motive +which settles its value, all work done from the same motive is alike in +reward, howsoever different in form. Paul in the front, and Tychicus +obscure in the rear, the great teachers and path-openers whom Christ +through the ages raises up for large spiritual work, and the little +people whom Christ through the ages raises up to help and +sympathize--shall share alike at last, if the Spirit that moved them has +been the same, and if in different administrations they have served the +same Lord. "He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a +prophet"--though no prophecy come from his lips--"shall receive a +prophet's reward." + +II. We must now turn to a much briefer consideration of the second +figure here, Onesimus, as representing the transforming and uniting +power of Christian faith. + +No doubt this is the same Onesimus as we read of in the Epistle to +Philemon. His story is familiar and need not be dwelt on. He had been an +"unprofitable servant," good-for-nothing, and apparently had robbed his +master, and then fled. He had found his way to Rome, to which all the +scum of the empire seemed to drift. There he had burrowed in some hole, +and found obscurity and security. Somehow or other he had come across +Paul--surely not, as has been supposed, having sought the Apostle as a +friend of his master's, which would rather have been a reason for +avoiding him. However that may be, he had found Paul, and Paul's Master +had found _him_ by the gospel which Paul spoke. His heart had been +touched. And now he is to go back to his owner. With beautiful +considerateness the Apostle unites him with Tychicus in his mission, and +refers the Church to him as an authority. That is most delicate and +thoughtful. The same sensitive regard for his feelings marks the +language in which he is commended to them. There is now no word about "a +fellow-slave"--that might have been misunderstood and might have hurt. +Paul will only say about him half of what he said about Tychicus. He +cannot leave out the "faithful," because Onesimus had been eminently +unfaithful, and so he attaches it to that half of his former +commendation which he retains, and testifies to him as "a faithful and +beloved brother." There are no references to his flight or to his +peculations. Philemon is the person to be spoken to about these. The +Church has nothing to do with them. The man's past was blotted +out--enough that he is "faithful," exercising trust in Christ, and +therefore to be trusted. His condition was of no moment--enough that he +is "a brother," therefore to be beloved. + +Does not then that figure stand forth a living illustration of the +_transforming_ power of Christianity? Slaves had well-known vices, +largely the result of their position--idleness, heartlessness, lying, +dishonesty. And this man had had his full share of the sins of his +class. Think of him as he left Colossae, slinking from his master, with +stolen property in his bosom, madness and mutiny in his heart, an +ignorant heathen, with vices and sensualities holding carnival in his +soul. Think of him as he came back, Paul's trusted representative, with +desires after holiness in his deepest nature, the light of the knowledge +of a loving and pure God in his soul, a great hope before him, ready for +all service and even to put on again the abhorred yoke! What had +happened? Nothing but this--the message had come to him, "Onesimus! +fugitive, rebel, thief as thou art, Jesus Christ has died for thee, and +lives to cleanse and bless thee. Believest thou this?" And he believed, +and leant his whole sinful self on that Saviour, and the corruption +faded away from his heart, and out of the thief was made a trustworthy +man, and out of the slave a beloved brother. The cross had touched his +heart and will. That was all. It had changed his whole being. He is a +living illustration of Paul's teaching in this very letter. He is dead +with Christ to his old self; he lives with Christ a new life. + +The gospel can do that. It can and does do so to-day and to us, if we +will. Nothing else can; nothing else ever has done it; nothing else ever +will. Culture may do much; social reformation may do much; but the +radical transformation of the nature is only effected by the "love of +God shed abroad in the heart," and by the new life which we receive +through our faith in Christ. + +That change can be produced on all sorts and conditions of men. The +gospel despairs of none. It knows of no hopelessly irreclaimable +classes. It can kindle a soul under the ribs of death. The filthiest +rags can be cleaned and made into spotlessly white paper, which may have +the name of God written upon it. None are beyond its power; neither the +savages in other lands, nor the more hopeless heathens festering and +rotting in our back slums, the opprobrium of our civilization and the +indictment of our Christianity. Take the gospel that transformed this +poor slave, to them, and some hearts will own it, and we shall pick out +of the kennel souls blacker than his, and make them like him, brethren, +faithful and beloved. + +Further, here is a living illustration of the power which the gospel has +of binding men into a true brotherhood. We can scarcely picture to +ourselves the gulf which separated the master from his slave. "So many +slaves, so many enemies," said Seneca. That great crack running through +society was a chief weakness and peril of the ancient world. +Christianity gathered master and slave into one family, and set them +down at one table to commemorate the death of the Saviour who held them +all in the embrace of His great love. + +All true union among men must be based upon their oneness in Jesus +Christ. The brotherhood of man is a consequence of the fatherhood of +God, and Christ shows us the Father. If the dreams of men's being knit +together in harmony are ever to be more than dreams, the power that +makes them facts must flow from the cross. The world must recognise that +"One is your master," before it comes to believe as anything more than +the merest sentimentality that "all ye are brethren." + +Much has to be done before the dawn of that day reddens in the east, +"when, man to man, the wide world o'er, shall brothers be," and much in +political and social life has to be swept away before society is +organized on the basis of Christian fraternity. The vision tarries. But +we may remember how certainly, though slowly, the curse of slavery has +disappeared, and take courage to believe that all other evils will fade +away in like manner, until the cords of love shall bind all hearts in +fraternal unity, because they bind each to the cross of the Elder +Brother, through whom we are no more slaves but sons, and if sons of +God, then brethren of one another. + + + + +XXV. + +_SALUTATIONS FROM THE PRISONER'S FRIENDS._ + + "Aristarchus my fellow-prisoner saluteth you, and Mark, the cousin + of Barnabas (touching whom ye received commandments; if he come unto + you, receive him), and Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the + circumcision: these only _are my_ fellow-workers unto the kingdom of + God, men that have been a comfort unto me. Epaphras, who is one of + you, a servant of Christ Jesus, saluteth you, always striving for + you in his prayers, that ye may stand perfect and fully assured in + all the will of God. For I bear him witness, that he hath much + labour for you, and for them in Laodicea, and for them in + Hierapolis. Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas salute + you."--COL. iv. 10-14 (Rev. Ver.). + + +Here are men of different races, unknown to each other by face, clasping +hands across the seas, and feeling that the repulsions of nationality, +language, conflicting interests, have disappeared in the unity of faith. +These greetings are a most striking, because unconscious, testimony to +the reality and strength of the new bond that knit Christian souls +together. + +There are three sets of salutations here, sent from Rome to the little +far-off Phrygian town in its secluded valley. The first is from three +large-hearted Jewish Christians, whose greeting has a special meaning as +coming from that wing of the Church which had least sympathy with Paul's +work or converts. The second is from the Colossians' towns-man Epaphras; +and the third is from two Gentiles like themselves, one well known as +Paul's most faithful friend, one almost unknown, of whom Paul has +nothing to say, and of whom nothing good can be said. All these may +yield us matter for consideration. It is interesting to piece together +what we know of the bearers of these shadowy names. It is profitable to +regard them as exponents of certain tendencies and principles. + +1. These three sympathetic Jewish Christians may stand as types of a +progressive and non-ceremonial Christianity. + +We need spend little time in outlining the figures of these three, for +he in the centre is well known to every one, and his two supporters are +little known to any one. Aristarchus was a Thessalonian (Acts xx. 4), +and so perhaps one of Paul's early converts on his first journey to +Europe. His purely Gentile name would not have led us to expect him to +be a Jew. But we have many similar instances in the New Testament, such +for instance, as the names of six of the seven deacons (Acts vii. 5), +which show that the Jews of "the dispersion," who resided in foreign +countries, often bore no trace of their nationality in their names. He +was with Paul in Ephesus at the time of the riot, and was one of the two +whom the excited mob, in their zeal for trade and religion, dragged into +the theatre, to the peril of their lives. We next find him like +Tychicus, a member of the deputation which joined Paul on his voyage to +Jerusalem. Whatever was the case with the other, Aristarchus was in +Palestine with Paul, for we learn that he sailed with him thence (Acts +xxvii. 2). Whether he kept company with Paul during all the journey we +do not know. But more probably he went home to Thessalonica, and +afterwards rejoined Paul at some point in his Roman captivity. At any +rate here he is, standing by Paul, having drunk in his spirit, and +enthusiastically devoted to him and his work. + +He receives here a remarkable and honourable title, "my +fellow-prisoner." I suppose that it is to be taken literally, and that +Aristarchus was, in some way, at the moment of writing, sharing Paul's +imprisonment. Now it has been often noticed that, in the Epistle to +Philemon, where almost all these names re-appear, it is not Aristarchus, +but Epaphras, who is honoured with this epithet; and that interchange +has been explained by an ingenious supposition that Paul's friends took +it in turn to keep him company, and were allowed to live with him, on +condition of submitting to the same restrictions, military guardianship, +and so on. There is no positive evidence in favour of this, but it is +not improbable, and, if accepted, helps to give an interesting glimpse +of Paul's prison life, and of the loyal devotion which surrounded him. + +Mark comes next. His story is well known--how twelve years before, he +had joined the first missionary band from Antioch, of which his cousin +Barnabas was the leader, and had done well enough as long as they were +on known ground, in Barnabas' (and perhaps his own) native island of +Cyprus, but had lost heart and run home to his mother as soon as they +crossed into Asia Minor. He had long ago effaced the distrust of him +which Paul naturally conceived on account of this collapse. How he came +to be with Paul at Rome is unknown. It has been conjectured that +Barnabas was dead, and that so, Mark was free to join the Apostle; but +that is unsupported supposition. Apparently he is now purposing a +journey to Asia Minor, in the course of which, if he should come to +Colossae (which was doubtful, perhaps on account of its insignificance), +Paul repeats his previous injunction, that the church should give him a +cordial welcome. Probably this commendation was given because the evil +odour of his old fault might still hang about his name. The calculated +emphasis of the exhortation, "receive him," seems to show that there was +some reluctance to give him a hearty reception and take him to their +hearts. So we have an "undesigned coincidence." The tone of the +injunction here is naturally explained by the story in the Acts. + +So faithful a friend did he prove, that the lonely old man, fronting +death, longed to have his affectionate tending once more; and his last +word about him, "Take Mark, and bring him with thee, for he is +profitable to me for _the ministry_," condones the early fault, and +restores him to the office which, in a moment of selfish weakness, he +had abandoned. So it is possible to efface a faultful past, and to +acquire strength and fitness for work, to which we are by nature most +inapt and indisposed. Mark is an instance of early faults nobly atoned +for, and a witness of the power of repentance and faith to overcome +natural weakness. Many a ragged colt makes a noble horse. + +The third man is utterly unknown--"Jesus, which is called Justus." How +startling to come across that name, borne by this obscure Christian! How +it helps us to feel the humble manhood of Christ, by showing us that +many another Jewish boy bore the same name; common and undistinguished +then, though too holy to be given to any since. His surname Justus may, +perhaps, like the same name given to James, the first bishop of the +Church in Jerusalem, hint his rigorous adherence to Judaism, and so may +indicate that, like Paul himself, he came from the straitest sect of +their religion into the large liberty in which he now rejoiced. + +He seems to have been of no importance in the Church, for his name is +the only one in this context which does not re-appear in Philemon, and +we never hear of him again. A strange fate his! to be made immortal by +three words--and because he wanted to send a loving message to the +Church at Colossae! Why, men have striven and schemed, and broken their +hearts, and flung away their lives, to grasp the bubble of posthumous +fame; and how easily this good "Jesus which is called Justus" has got +it! He has his name written for ever on the world's memory, and he very +likely never knew it, and does not know it, and was never a bit the +better for it! What a satire on "the last infirmity of noble minds!" + +These three men are united in this salutation, because they are all +three, "of the circumcision;" that is to say, are Jews, and being so, +have separated themselves from all the other Jewish Christians in Rome, +and have flung themselves with ardour into Paul's missionary work among +the Gentiles, and have been his fellow-workers for the advancement of +the kingdom--aiding him, that is, in seeking to win willing subjects to +the loving, kingly will of God. By this co-operation in the aim of his +life, they have been a "comfort" to him. He uses a half medical term, +which perhaps he had caught from the physician at his elbow, which we +might perhaps parallel by saying they had been a "cordial" to him--like +a refreshing draught to a weary man, or some whiff of pure air stealing +into a close chamber and lifting the damp curls on some hot brow. + +Now these three men, the only three Jewish Christians in Rome who had +the least sympathy with Paul and his work, give us, in their isolation, +a vivid illustration of the antagonism which he had to face from that +portion of the early Church. The great question for the first generation +of Christians was, not whether Gentiles might enter the Christian +community, but whether they must do so by circumcision, and pass through +Judaism on their road to Christianity. The bulk of the Palestinian +Jewish Christians naturally held that they must; while the bulk of +Jewish Christians who had been born in other countries as naturally held +that they need not. As the champion of this latter decision, Paul was +worried and counter-worked and hindered all his life by the other party. +They had no missionary zeal, or next to none, but they followed in his +wake and made mischief wherever they could. If we can fancy some modern +sect that sends out no missionaries of its own, but delights to come in +where better men have forced a passage, and to upset their work by +preaching its own crotchets, we get precisely the kind of thing which +dogged Paul all his life. + +There was evidently a considerable body of these men in Rome; good men +no doubt in a fashion, believing in Jesus as the Messiah, but unable to +comprehend that he had antiquated Moses, as the dawning day makes +useless the light in a dark place. Even when he was a prisoner, their +unrelenting antagonism pursued the Apostle. They preached Christ of +"envy and strife." Not one of them lifted a finger to help him, or spoke +a word to cheer him. With none of them to say, God bless him! he toiled +on. Only these three were large-hearted enough to take their stand by +his side, and by this greeting to clasp the hands of their Gentile +brethren in Colossae and thereby to endorse the teaching of this letter +as to the abrogation of Jewish rites. + +It was a brave thing to do, and the exuberance of the eulogium shows how +keenly Paul felt his countrymen's coldness, and how grateful he was to +"the dauntless three." Only those who have lived in an atmosphere of +misconstruction, surrounded by scowls and sneers, can understand what a +cordial the clasp of a hand, or the word of sympathy is. These men were +like the old soldier that stood on the street of Worms, as Luther passed +in to the Diet, and clapped him on the shoulder, with "Little monk! +little monk! you are about to make a nobler stand to-day than we in all +our battles have ever done. If your cause is just, and you are sure of +it, go forward in God's name, and fear nothing." If we can do no more, +we can give some one who is doing more a cup of cold water, by our +sympathy and taking our place at his side, and _so_ can be +fellow-workers to the kingdom of God. + +We note, too, that the best comfort Paul could have was help in his +work. He did not go about the world whimpering for sympathy. He was much +too strong a man for that. He wanted men to come down into the trench +with him, and to shovel and wheel there till they had made in the +wilderness some kind of a highway for the King. The true cordial for a +true worker is that others get into the traces and pull by his side. + +But we may further look at these men as representing for us progressive +as opposed to reactionary, and spiritual as opposed to ceremonial +Christianity. Jewish Christians looked backwards; Paul and his three +sympathisers looked forward. There was much excuse for the former. No +wonder that they shrank from the idea that things divinely appointed +could be laid aside. Now there is a broad distinction between the divine +in Christianity and the divine in Judaism. For Jesus Christ is God's +last word, and abides for ever. His divinity, His perfect sacrifice, His +present life in glory for us, His life within us, these and their +related truths are the perennial possession of the Church. To Him we +must look back, and every generation till the end of time will have to +look back, as the full and final expression of the wisdom and will and +mercy of God. "Last of all He sent unto them His Son." + +That being distinctly understood, we need not hesitate to recognise the +transitory nature of much of the embodiment of the eternal truth +concerning the eternal Christ. To draw the line accurately between the +permanent and the transient would be to anticipate history and read the +future. But the clear recognition of the distinction between the Divine +revelation and the vessels in which it is contained, between Christ and +creed, between Churches, forms of worship, formularies of faith on the +one hand, and the everlasting word of God spoken to us once for all in +His Son, and recorded in Scripture, on the other, is needful at all +times, and especially at such times of sifting and unsettlement as the +present. It will save some of us from an obstinate conservatism which +might read its fate in the decline and disappearance of Jewish +Christianity. It will save us equally from needless fears, as if the +stars were going out, when it is only men-made lamps that are paling. +Men's hearts often tremble for the ark of God, when the only things in +peril are the cart that carries it, or the oxen that draw it. "We have +received a kingdom that cannot be moved," because we have received a +King eternal, and therefore may calmly see the removal of things that +can be shaken, assured that the things which cannot be shaken will but +the more conspicuously assert their permanence. The existing embodiments +of God's truth are not the highest, and if Churches and forms crumble +and disintegrate, their disappearance will not be the abolition of +Christianity, but its progress. These Jewish Christians would have found +all that they strove to keep, in higher form and more real reality, in +Christ; and what seemed to them the destruction of Judaism was really +its coronation with undying life. + +II. Epaphras is for us the type of the highest service which love can +render. + +All our knowledge of Epaphras is contained in these brief notices in +this Epistle. We learn from the first chapter that he had introduced the +gospel to Colossae, and perhaps also to Laodicea and Hierapolis. He was +"one of you," a member of the Colossian community, and a resident in, +possibly a native of, Colossae. He had come to Rome, apparently to +consult the Apostle about the views which threatened to disturb the +Church. He had told him, too, of their love, not painting the picture +too black, and gladly giving full prominence to any bits of brightness. +It was his report which led to the writing of this letter. + +Perhaps some of the Colossians were not over pleased with his having +gone to speak with Paul, and having brought down this thunderbolt on +their heads; and such a feeling may account for the warmth of Paul's +praises of him as his "fellow-slave," and for the emphasis of his +testimony on his behalf. However they might doubt it, Epaphras' love for +them was warm. It showed itself by continual fervent prayers that they +might stand "perfect and fully persuaded in all the will of God," and by +toil of body and mind for them. We can see the anxious Epaphras, far +away from the Church of his solicitude, always burdened with the thought +of their danger, and ever wrestling in prayer on their behalf. + +So we may learn the noblest service which Christian love can do--prayer. +There is a real power in Christian intercession. There are many +difficulties and mysteries round that thought. The manner of the +blessing is not revealed, but the fact that we help one another by +prayer is plainly taught, and confirmed by many examples, from the day +when God heard Abraham and delivered Lot, to the hour when the loving +authoritative words were spoken, "Simon, Simon, I have prayed for thee +that thy faith fail not." A spoonful of water sets a hydraulic press in +motion, and brings into operation a force of tons' weight; so a drop of +prayer at the one end may move an influence at the other which is +omnipotent. It is a service which all can render. Epaphras could not +have written this letter, but he could pray. Love has no higher way of +utterance than prayer. A prayerless love may be very tender, and may +speak murmured words of sweetest sound, but it lacks the deepest +expression, and the noblest music of speech. We never help our dear ones +so well as when we pray for them. Do we thus show and consecrate our +family loves and our friendships? + +We notice too the kind of prayer which love naturally presents. It is +constant and earnest--"always striving," or as the word might be +rendered, "agonizing." That word suggests first the familiar metaphor of +the wrestling-ground. True prayer is the intensest energy of the spirit +pleading for blessing with a great striving of faithful desire. But a +more solemn memory gathers round the word, for it can scarcely fail to +recall the hour beneath the olives of Gethsemane, when the clear paschal +moon shone down on the suppliant who, "being in an agony, prayed the +more earnestly." And both Paul's word here, and the evangelist's there, +carry us back to that mysterious scene by the brook Jabbok, where Jacob +"wrestled" with "a man" until the breaking of the day, and prevailed. +Such is prayer; the wrestle in the arena, the agony in Gethsemane, the +solitary grapple with the "traveller unknown"; and such is the highest +expression of Christian love. + +Here, too, we learn what love asks for its beloved. Not perishable +blessings, not the prizes of earth--fame, fortune, friends; but that "ye +may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God." The first +petition is for stedfastness. To stand has for opposites--to fall, or +totter, or give ground; so the prayer is that they may not yield to +temptation, or opposition, nor waver in their fixed faith, nor go down +in the struggle; but keep erect, their feet planted on the rock, and +holding their own against every foe. The prayer is also for their +maturity of Christian character, that they may stand firm, because +perfect, having attained that condition which Paul in this Epistle tell +us is the aim of all preaching and warning. As for ourselves, so for our +dear ones, we are to be content with nothing short of entire conformity +to the will of God. His merciful purpose for us all is to be the goal of +our efforts for ourselves, and of our prayers for others. We are to +widen our desires to coincide with His gift, and our prayers are to +cover no narrower space than His promises enclose. + +Epaphras' last desire for his friends, according to the true reading, is +that they may be "fully assured" in all the will of God. There can be no +higher blessing than that--to be quite sure of what God desires me to +know and do and be--if the assurance comes from the clear light of His +illumination, and not from hasty self-confidence in my own penetration. +To be free from the misery of intellectual doubts and practical +uncertainties, to walk in the sunshine--is the purest joy. And it is +granted in needful measure to all who have silenced their own wills, +that they may hear what God says,--"If any man wills to do His will, he +shall know." + +Does our love speak in prayer? and do our prayers for our dear ones +plead chiefly for such gifts? Both our love and our desires need +purifying if this is to be their natural language. How can we offer such +prayers for them if, at the bottom of our hearts, we had rather see +them well off in the world than stedfast, matured and assured +Christians? How can we expect an answer to such prayers if the whole +current of our lives shows that neither for them nor for ourselves do we +"seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness"? + +III. The last salutation comes from a singularly contrasted couple--Luke +and Demas, the types respectively of faithfulness and apostasy. These +two unequally yoked together stand before us like the light and the dark +figures that Ary Scheffer delights to paint, each bringing out the +colouring of the other more vividly by contrast. They bear the same +relation to Paul which John, the beloved disciple, and Judas did to +Paul's master. + +As for Luke, his long and faithful companionship of the Apostle is too +well known to need repetition here. His first appearance in the Acts +nearly coincides with an attack of Paul's constitutional malady, which +gives probability to the suggestion that one reason for Luke's close +attendance on the Apostle was the state of his health. Thus the form and +warmth of the reference here would be explained--"Luke the physician, +the beloved." We trace Luke as sharing the perils of the winter voyage +to Italy, making his presence known only by the modest "we" of the +narrative. We find him here sharing the Roman captivity, and, in the +second imprisonment, he was Paul's only companion. All others had been +sent away, or had fled; but Luke could not be spared, and would not +desert him, and no doubt was by his side till the end, which soon came. + +As for Demas, we know no more about him except the melancholy record, +"Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world; and is +departed unto Thessalonica." Perhaps he was a Thessalonian, and so went +home. His love of the world, then, was his reason for abandoning Paul. +Probably it was on the side of danger that the world tempted him. He was +a coward, and preferred a whole skin to a clear conscience. In immediate +connection with the record of his desertion we read, "At my first +answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me." As the same word +is used, probably Demas may have been one of those timid friends, whose +courage was not equal to standing by Paul when, to use his own metaphor, +he thrust his head into the lion's mouth. Let us not be too hard on the +constancy that warped in so fierce a heat. All that Paul charges him +with is, that he was a faithless friend, and too fond of the present +world. Perhaps his crime did not reach the darker hue. He may not have +been an apostate Christian, though he was a faithless friend. Perhaps, +if there were departure from Christ as well as from Paul, he came back +again, like Peter, whose sins against love and friendship were greater +than his--and, like Peter, found pardon and a welcome. Perhaps, away in +Thessalonica, he repented him of his evil, and perhaps Paul and Demas +met again before the throne, and there clasped inseparable hands. Let us +not judge a man of whom we know so little, but take to ourselves the +lesson of humility and self-distrust! + +How strikingly these two contrasted characters bring out the possibility +of men being exposed to the same influences and yet ending far away from +each other! These two set out from the same point, and travelled side by +side, subject to the same training, in contact with the magnetic +attraction of Paul's strong personality, and at the end they are wide as +the poles asunder. Starting from the same level, one line inclines ever +so little upwards, the other imperceptibly downwards. Pursue them far +enough, and there is room for the whole solar system with all its orbits +in the space between them. So two children trained at one mother's knee, +subjects of the same prayers, with the same sunshine of love and rain of +good influences upon them both, may grow up, one to break a mother's +heart and disgrace a father's home, and the other to walk in the ways of +godliness and serve the God of his fathers. Circumstances are mighty; +but the use we make of circumstances lies with ourselves. As we trim our +sails and set our rudder, the same breeze will take us in opposite +directions. We are the architects and builders of our own characters, +and may so use the most unfavourable influences as to strengthen and +wholesomely harden our natures thereby, and may so misuse the most +favourable as only thereby to increase our blameworthiness for wasted +opportunities. + +We are reminded, also, from these two men who stand before us like a +double star--one bright and one dark--that no loftiness of Christian +position, nor length of Christian profession is a guarantee against +falling and apostasy. As we read in another book, for which also the +Church has to thank a prison cell--the place where so many of its +precious possessions have been written--there is a backway to the pit +from the gate of the Celestial City. Demas had stood high in the Church, +had been admitted to the close intimacy of the Apostle, was evidently +no raw novice, and yet the world could drag him back from so eminent a +place in which he had long stood. "Let him that thinketh he standeth +take heed lest he fall." + +The world that was too strong for Demas will be too strong for us if we +front it in our own strength. It is ubiquitous, working on us everywhere +and always, like the pressure of the atmosphere on our bodies. Its +weight will crush us unless we can climb to and dwell on the heights of +communion with God, where pressure is diminished. It acted on Demas +through his fears. It acts on us through our ambitions, affections and +desires. So, seeing that miserable wreck of Christian constancy, and +considering ourselves lest we also be tempted, let us not judge another, +but look at home. There is more than enough there to make profound +self-distrust our truest wisdom, and to teach us to pray, "Hold Thou me +up, and I shall be safe." + + + + +XXVI. + +_CLOSING MESSAGES._ + + "Salute the brethren that are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the + Church that is in their house. And when this epistle hath been read + among you, cause that it be read also in the Church of the + Laodiceans; and that ye also read the epistle from Laodicea. And say + to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in + the Lord, that thou fulfil it. The salutation of me Paul with mine + own hand. Remember my bonds. Grace be with you."--COL. iv. 15-end + (Rev. Ver.). + + +There is a marked love of triplets in these closing messages. There were +three of the circumcision who desired to salute the Colossians; and +there were three Gentiles whose greetings followed these. Now we have a +triple message from the Apostle himself--his greeting to Laodicea, his +message as to the interchange of letters with that Church, and his +grave, stringent charge to Archippus. Finally, the letter closes with a +few hurried words in his own handwriting, which also are threefold, and +seem to have been added in extreme haste, and to be compressed to the +utmost possible brevity. + +I. We shall first look at the threefold greeting and warnings to +Laodicea. + +In the first part of this triple message we have a glimpse of the +Christian life of that city, "Salute the brethren that are in +Laodicea." These are, of course, the whole body of Christians in the +neighbouring town, which was a much more important place than Colossae. +They are the same persons as "the Church of the Laodiceans." Then comes +a special greeting to "Nymphas," who was obviously a brother of some +importance and influence in the Laodicean Church, though to us he has +sunk to be an empty name. With him Paul salutes "the Church that is in +_their_ house" (Rev. Ver.). Whose house? Probably that belonging to +Nymphas and his family. Perhaps that belonging to Nymphas and the Church +that met in it, if these were other than his family. The more difficult +expression is adopted by preponderating textual authorities, and "_his_ +house" is regarded as a correction to make the sense easier. If so, then +the expression is one of which in our ignorance we have lost the key, +and which must be content to leave unexplained. + +But what was this "Church in the house"? We read that Prisca and Aquila +had such both in their house in Rome (Rom. xvi. 5) and in Ephesus (1 +Cor. xvi. 19), and that Philemon had such in his house at Colossae. It +may be that only the household of Nymphas is meant, and that the words +import no more than that it was a Christian household; or it may be, and +more probably is, that in all these cases there was some gathering of a +few of the Christians resident in each city, who were closely connected +with the heads of the household, and met in their houses more or less +regularly to worship and to help one another in the Christian life. We +have no facts that decide which of these two suppositions is correct. +The early Christians had, of course no buildings especially used for +their meetings, and there may often have been difficulty in finding +suitable places, particularly in cities where the Church was numerous. +It may have been customary, therefore, for brethren who had large and +convenient houses, to gather together portions of the whole community in +these. In any case, the expression gives us a glimpse of the primitive +elasticity of Church order, and of the early fluidity, so to speak, of +ecclesiastical language. The word "Church" has not yet been hardened and +fixed to its present technical sense. There was but one Church in +Laodicea, and yet within it there was this little Church--an _imperium +in imperio_--as if the word had not yet come to mean more than an +assembly, and as if all arrangements of order and worship, and all the +terminology of later days, were undreamed of yet. The life was there, +but the forms which were to grow out of the life, and to protect it +sometimes, and to stifle it often, were only beginning to show +themselves, and were certainly not yet felt to be forms. + +We may note, too, the beautiful glimpse we get here of domestic and +social religion. + +If the Church in the house of Nymphas consisted of his own family and +dependants, it stands for us as a lesson of what every family, which has +a Christian man or woman at its head, ought to be. Little knowledge of +the ordering of so-called Christian households is needed to be sure that +domestic religion is wofully neglected to-day. Family worship and family +instruction are disused, one fears, in many homes, the heads of which +can remember both in their father's houses; and the unspoken aroma and +atmosphere of religion does not fill the house with its odour, as it +ought to do. If a Christian householder have not "a Church in his +house," the family union is tending to become "a synagogue of Satan." +One or other it is sure to be. It is a solemn question for all parents +and heads of households, What am I doing to make my house a Church, my +family a family united by faith in Jesus Christ? + +A like suggestion may be made if, as is possible, the Church in the +house of Nymphas included more than relatives and dependants. It is a +miserable thing when social intercourse plays freely round every other +subject, and taboos all mention of religion. It is a miserable thing +when Christian people choose and cultivate society for worldly +advantages, business connections, family advancement, and for every +reason under heaven--sometimes a long way under--except those of a +common faith, and of the desire to increase it. + +It is not needful to lay down extravagant, impracticable restrictions, +by insisting either that we should limit our society to religious men, +or our conversation to religious subjects. But it is a bad sign when our +chosen associates are chosen for every other reason but their religion, +and when our talk flows copiously on all other subjects, and becomes a +constrained driblet when religion comes to be spoken of. Let us try to +carry about with us an influence which shall permeate all our social +intercourse, and make it, if not directly religious, yet never +antagonistic to religion, and always capable of passing easily and +naturally into the highest regions. Our godly forefathers used to carve +texts over their house doors. Let us do the same in another fashion, so +that all who cross the threshold may feel that they have come into a +Christian household, where cheerful godliness sweetens and brightens the +sanctities of home. + +We have next a remarkable direction as to the interchange of Paul's +letters to Colossae and Laodicea. The present Epistle is to be sent over +to the neighbouring Church of Laodicea--that is quite clear. But what is +"the Epistle from Laodicea" which the Colossians are to be sure to get +and to read? The connection forbids us to suppose that a letter written +by the Laodicean Church is meant. Both letters are plainly Pauline +epistles, and the latter is said to be "from Laodicea," simply because +the Colossians were to procure it from that place. The "from" does not +imply authorship, but transmission. What then has become of this letter? +Is it lost? So say some commentators; but a more probable opinion is +that it is no other than the Epistle which we know as that to the +Ephesians. This is not the occasion to enter on a discussion of that +view. It will be enough to notice that very weighty textual authorities +omit the words "In Ephesus," in the first verse of that Epistle. The +conjecture is a very reasonable one, that the letter was intended for a +circle of Churches, and had originally no place named in the +superscription, just as we might issue circulars "To the Church in----," +leaving a blank to be filled in with different names. This conjecture is +strengthened by the marked absence of personal references in the letter, +which in that respect forms a striking contrast to the Epistle to the +Colossians, which it so strongly resembles in other particulars. +Probably, therefore, Tychicus had both letters put into his hands for +delivery. The circular would go first to Ephesus as the most important +Church in Asia, and thence would be carried by him to one community +after another, till he reached Laodicea, from which he would come +further up the valley to Colossae, bringing both letters with him. The +Colossians are not told to _get_ the letter from Laodicea, but to be +sure that they _read_ it. Tychicus would see that it came to them; their +business was to see that they marked, learned, and inwardly digested it. + +The urgency of these instructions that Paul's letters should be read, +reminds us of a similar but still more stringent injunction in his +earliest epistle (1 Thess. v. 27), "I charge you by the Lord that this +epistle be read unto all the holy brethren." Is it possible that these +Churches did not much care for Paul's words, and were more willing to +admit that they were weighty and powerful, than to study them and lay +them to heart? It looks almost like it. Perhaps they got the same +treatment then as they often do now, and were more praised than read, +even by those who professed to look upon him as their teacher in Christ! + +But passing by that, we come to the last part of this threefold message, +the solemn warning to a slothful servant. + +"Say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in +the Lord, that thou fulfil it." A sharp message that--and especially +sharp, as being sent through others, and not spoken directly to the man +himself. If this Archippus were a member of the Church at Colossae, it is +remarkable that Paul should not have spoken to him directly, as he did +to Euodia and Syntyche, the two good women at Philippi, who had fallen +out. But it is by no means certain that he was. We find him named again, +indeed, at the beginning of the Epistle to Philemon, in such immediate +connection with the latter, and with his wife Apphia, that he has been +supposed to be their son. At all events, he was intimately associated +with the Church in the house of Philemon, who, as we know, was a +Colossian. The conclusion, therefore, seems at first sight most natural +that Archippus too belonged to the Colossian Church. But on the other +hand the difficulty already referred to seems to point in another +direction; and if it be further remembered that this whole section is +concerned with the Church at Laodicea, it will be seen to be a likely +conclusion from all the facts that Archippus, though perhaps a native of +Colossae, or even a resident there, had his "ministry" in connection with +that other neighbouring Church. + +It may be worth notice, in passing, that all these messages to Laodicea +occurring here, strongly favour the supposition that the epistle from +that place cannot have been a letter especially meant for the Laodicean +church, as, if it had been, these would have naturally been inserted in +it. So far, therefore, they confirm the hypothesis that it was a +circular. + +Some may say, Well, what in the world does it matter where Archippus +worked? Not very much perhaps; and yet one cannot but read this grave +exhortation to a man who was evidently getting languid and negligent, +without remembering what we hear about Laodicea and the angel of the +Church there, when next we meet it in the page of Scripture. It is not +impossible that Archippus was that very "angel," to whom the Lord +Himself sent the message through His servant John, more awful than that +which Paul had sent through his brethren at Colossae, "Because thou art +neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth." + +Be that as it may, the message is for us all. Each of us has a +"ministry," a sphere of service. We may either fill it full, with +earnest devotion and patient heroism, as some expanding gas fills out +the silken round of its containing vessel, or we may breathe into it +only enough to occupy a little portion, while all the rest hangs empty +and flaccid. We have to "fulfil our ministry." + +A sacred motive enhances the obligation--we have received it "_in_ the +Lord." In union with Him it has been laid on us. No human hand has +imposed it, nor does it arise merely from earthly relationships, but our +fellowship with Jesus Christ, and incorporation into the true Vine, has +laid on us responsibilities, and exalted us by service. + +There must be diligent watchfulness, in order to fulfil our ministry. We +must take heed to our service, and we must take heed to ourselves. We +have to reflect upon it, its extent, nature, imperativeness, upon the +manner of discharging it, and the means of fitness for it. We have to +keep our work ever before us. Unless we are absorbed in it, we shall not +fulfil it. And we have to take heed to ourselves, ever feeling our +weakness and the strong antagonisms in our own natures which hinder our +discharge of the plainest, most imperative duties. + +And let us remember, too, that if once we begin, like Archippus, to be a +little languid and perfunctory in our work, we may end where the Church +of Laodicea ended, whether he were its angel or no, with that nauseous +lukewarmness which sickens even Christ's longsuffering love, and forces +Him to reject it with loathing. + +II. And now we come to the end of our task, and have to consider the +hasty last words in Paul's own hand. + +We can see him taking the reed from the amanuensis and adding the three +brief sentences which close the letter. He first writes that which is +equivalent to our modern usage of signing the letter--"the salutation of +me Paul with mine own hand." This appears to have been his usual +practice, or, as he says in 2 Thess. (iii. 17), it was "his token in +every epistle"--the evidence that each was the genuine expression of his +mind. Probably his weak eyesight, which appears certain, may have had +something to do with his employing a secretary, as we may assume him to +have done, even when there is no express mention of his autograph in the +closing salutations. We find for example in the Epistle to the Romans no +words corresponding to these, but the modest amanuensis steps for a +moment into the light near the end: "I Tertius, who write the epistle, +salute you in the Lord." + +The endorsement with his name is followed by a request singularly +pathetic in its abrupt brevity, "Remember my bonds." This is the one +personal reference in the letter, unless we add as a second, his request +for their prayers that he may speak the mystery of Christ, for which he +is in bonds. There is a striking contrast in this respect with the +abundant allusions to his circumstances in the Epistle to the +Philippians, which also belongs to the period of his captivity. He had +been swept far away from thoughts of self by the enthusiasm of his +subject. The vision that opened before him of his Lord in His glory, the +Lord of Creation, the Head of the Church, the throned helper of every +trusting soul, had flooded his chamber with light, and swept guards and +chains and restrictions out of his consciousness. But now the spell is +broken, and common things re-assert their power. He stretches out his +hand for the reed to write his last words, and as he does so, the chain +which fastens him to the Praetorian guard at his side pulls and hinders +him. He wakes to the consciousness of his prison. The seer, swept along +by the storm wind of a Divine inspiration, is gone. The weak man +remains. The exhaustion after such an hour of high communion makes him +more than usually dependent; and all his subtle profound teachings, all +his thunderings and lightnings, end in the simple cry, which goes +straight to the heart: "Remember my bonds." + +He wished their remembrance because he needed their sympathy. Like the +old rags put round the ropes by which the prophet was hauled out of his +dungeon, the poorest bit of sympathy twisted round a fetter makes it +chafe less. The petition helps us to conceive how heavy a trial Paul +felt his imprisonment, to be little as he said about it, and bravely as +he bore it. He wished their remembrance too, because his bonds added +weight to his words. His sufferings gave him a right to speak. In times +of persecution confessors are the highest teachers, and the marks of the +Lord Jesus borne in a man's body give more authority than diplomas and +learning. He wished their remembrance because his bonds might encourage +them to steadfast endurance if need for it should arise. He points to +his own sufferings, and would have them take heart to bear their lighter +crosses and to fight their easier battle. + +One cannot but recall the words of Paul's Master, so like these in +sound, so unlike them in deepest meaning. Can there be a greater +contrast than between "Remember my bonds," the plaintive appeal of a +weak man seeking sympathy, coming as an appendix, quite apart from the +subject of the letter, and "Do this in remembrance of Me," the royal +words of the Master? Why is the memory of Christ's death so unlike the +memory of Paul's chains? Why is the one merely for the play of sympathy, +and the enforcement of his teaching, and the other the very centre of +our religion? For one reason alone. Because Christ's death is the life +of the world, and Paul's sufferings, whatever their worth, had nothing +in them that bore, except indirectly, on man's redemption. "Was Paul +crucified for you?" We remember his chains, and they give him sacredness +in our eyes. But we remember the broken body and shed blood of our Lord, +and cleave to it in faith as the one sacrifice for the world's sin. + +And then comes the last word: "Grace be with you." The apostolic +benediction, with which he closes all his letters, occurs in many +different stages of expression. Here it is pared down to the very quick. +No shorter form is possible--and yet even in this condition of extreme +compression, all good is in it. + +All possible blessing is wrapped up in that one word, Grace. Like the +sunshine, it carries life and fruitfulness in itself. If the favour and +kindness of God, flowing out to men so far beneath Him, who deserve such +different treatment, be ours, then in our hearts will be rest and a +great peacefulness, whatever may be about us, and in our characters will +be all beauties and capacities, in the measure of our possession of that +grace. + +That all-productive germ of joy and excellence is here parted among the +whole body of Colossian Christians. The dew of this benediction falls +upon them all--the teachers of error if they still held by Christ, the +Judaisers, the slothful Archippus, even as the grace which it invokes +will pour itself into imperfect natures and adorn very sinful +characters, if beneath the imperfection and the evil there be the true +affiance of the soul on Christ. + +That communication of grace to a sinful world is the end of all God's +deeds, as it is the end of this letter. That great revelation which +began when man began, which has spoken its complete message in the Son, +the heir of all things, as this Epistle tells us, has this for the +purpose of all its words--whether they are terrible or gentle, deep or +simple--that God's grace may dwell among men. The mystery of Christ's +being, the agony of Christ's cross, the hidden glories of Christ's +dominion are all for this end, that of His fulness we may all receive, +and grace for grace. The Old Testament, true to its genius, ends with +stern onward-looking words which point to a future coming of the Lord +and to the possible terrible aspect of that coming--"Lest I come and +smite the earth with a curse." It is the last echo of the long drawn +blast of the trumpets of Sinai. The New Testament ends, as our Epistle +ends, and as we believe the weary history of the world will end, with +the benediction: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all." + +That grace, the love which pardons and quickens and makes good and fair +and wise and strong, is offered to all in Christ. Unless we have +accepted it, God's revelation and Christ's work have failed as far as we +are concerned. "We therefore, as fellow-workers with Him, beseech you +that ye receive not the grace of God in vain." + + * * * * * + + + + +THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON. + + + + +I. + + "Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to + Philemon our beloved and fellow-worker, and to Apphia our sister, + and to Archippus our fellow-soldier, and to the Church in thy house: + Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus + Christ."--PHILEM. 1-3 (Rev. Ver.). + + +This Epistle stands alone among Paul's letters in being addressed to a +private Christian, and in being entirely occupied with a small though +very singular private matter; its aim being merely to bespeak a kindly +welcome for a runaway slave who had been induced to perform the +unheard-of act of voluntarily returning to servitude. If the New +Testament were simply a book of doctrinal teaching, this Epistle would +certainly be out of place in it; and if the great purpose of revelation +were to supply material for creeds, it would be hard to see what value +could be attached to a simple, short letter, from which no contribution +to theological doctrine or ecclesiastical order can be extracted. But if +we do not turn to it for discoveries of truth, we can find in it very +beautiful illustrations of Christianity at work. It shows us the +operation of the new forces which Christ has lodged in humanity--and +that on two planes of action. It exhibits a perfect model of Christian +friendship, refined and ennobled by a half-conscious reflection of the +love which has called us "no longer slaves but friends," and adorned by +delicate courtesies and quick consideration, which divines with subtlest +instinct what it will be sweetest to the friend to hear, while it never +approaches by a hair-breadth to flattery, nor forgets to counsel high +duties. But still more important is the light which the letter casts on +the relation of Christianity to slavery, which may be taken as a +specimen of its relation to social and political evils generally, and +yields fruitful results for the guidance of all who would deal with +such. + +It may be observed, too, that most of the considerations which Paul +urges on Philemon as reasons for his kindly reception of Onesimus do not +even need the alteration of a word, but simply a change in their +application, to become worthy statements of the highest Christian +truths. As Luther puts it, "We are all God's Onesimuses"; and the +welcome which Paul seeks to secure for the returning fugitive, as well +as the motives to which he appeals in order to secure it, do shadow +forth in no uncertain outline our welcome from God, and the treasures of +His heart towards us, because they are at bottom the same. The Epistle +then is valuable, as showing in a concrete instance how the Christian +life, in its attitude to others, and especially to those who have +injured us, is all modelled upon God's forgiving love to us. Our Lord's +parable of the forgiven servant who took his brother by the throat finds +here a commentary, and the Apostle's own precept, "Be imitators of God, +and walk in love," a practical exemplification. + +Nor is the light which the letter throws on the character of the Apostle +to be regarded as unimportant. The warmth, the delicacy, and what, if it +were not so spontaneous, we might call tact, the graceful ingenuity with +which he pleads for the fugitive, the perfect courtesy of every word, +the gleam of playfulness--all fused together and harmonized to one end, +and that in so brief a compass and with such unstudied ease and complete +self-oblivion, make this Epistle a pure gem. Without thought of effect, +and with complete unconsciousness, this man beats all the famous +letter-writers on their own ground. That must have been a great +intellect, and closely conversant with the Fountain of all light and +beauty, which could shape the profound and far-reaching teachings of the +Epistle to the Colossians, and pass from them to the graceful simplicity +and sweet kindliness of this exquisite letter; as if Michael Angelo had +gone straight from smiting his magnificent Moses from the marble mass to +incise some delicate and tiny figure of Love or Friendship on a cameo. + +The structure of the letter is of the utmost simplicity. It is not so +much a structure as a flow. There is the usual superscription and +salutation, followed, according to Paul's custom, by the expression of +his thankful recognition of the love and faith of Philemon and his +prayer for the perfecting of these. Then he goes straight to the +business in hand, and with incomparable persuasiveness pleads for a +welcome to Onesimus, bringing all possible reasons to converge on that +one request, with an ingenious eloquence born of earnestness. Having +poured out his heart in this pleasure adds no more but affectionate +greetings from his companions and himself. + +In the present section we shall confine our attention to the +superscription and opening salutation. + +I. We may observe the Apostle's designation of himself, as marked by +consummate and instinctive appreciation of the claims of friendship, and +of his own position in this letter as a suppliant. He does not come to +his friend clothed with apostolic authority. In his letters to the +Churches he always puts that in the forefront, and when he expected to +be met by opponents, as in Galatia, there is a certain ring of defiance +in his claim to receive his commission through no human intervention, +but straight from heaven. Sometimes, as in the Epistle to the +Colossians, he unites another strangely contrasted title, and calls +himself also "the slave" of Christ; the one name asserting authority, +the other bowing in humility before his Owner and Master. But here he is +writing as a friend to a friend, and his object is to win his friend to +a piece of Christian conduct which may be somewhat against the grain. +Apostolic authority will not go half so far as personal influence in +this case. So he drops all reference to it, and, instead, lets Philemon +hear the fetters jangling on his limbs--a more powerful plea. "Paul, a +prisoner," surely that would go straight to Philemon's heart, and give +all but irresistible force to the request which follows. Surely if he +could do anything to show his love and gratify even momentarily his +friend in prison, he would not refuse it. If this designation had been +calculated to produce effect, it would have lost all its grace; but no +one with any ear for the accents of inartificial spontaneousness, can +fail to hear them in the unconscious pathos of these opening words, +which say the right thing, all unaware of how right it is. + +There is great dignity also, as well as profound faith, in the next +words, in which the Apostle calls himself a prisoner "of Christ Jesus." +With what calm ignoring of all subordinate agencies he looks to the true +author of his captivity! Neither Jewish hatred nor Roman policy had shut +him up in Rome. Christ Himself had riveted his manacles on his wrists, +therefore he bore them as lightly and proudly as a bride might wear the +bracelet that her husband had clasped on her arm. The expression reveals +both the author of and the reason for his imprisonment, and discloses +the conviction which held him up in it. He thinks of his Lord as the +Lord of providence, whose hand moves the pieces on the board--Pharisees, +and Roman governors, and guards, and Caesar; and he knows that he is an +ambassador in bonds, for no crime, but for the testimony of Jesus. We +need only notice that his younger companion Timothy is associated with +the Apostle in the superscription, but disappears at once. The reason +for the introduction of his name may either have been the slight +additional weight thereby given to the request of the letter, or more +probably, the additional authority thereby given to the junior, who +would, in all likelihood, have much of Paul's work devolved on him when +Paul was gone. + +The names of the receivers of the letter bring before us a picture seen, +as by one glimmering light across the centuries, of a Christian +household in that Phrygian valley. The head of it, Philemon, appears to +have been a native of, or at all events a resident in, Colossae; for +Onesimus, his slave, is spoken of in the Epistle to the Church there as +"one of _you_." He was a person of some standing and wealth, for he had +a house large enough to admit of a "Church" assembling in it, and to +accommodate the Apostle and his travelling companions if he should visit +Colossae. He had apparently the means for large pecuniary help to poor +brethren, and willingness to use them, for we read of the refreshment +which his kindly deeds had imparted. He had been one of Paul's converts, +and owed his own self to him; so that he must have met the Apostle,--who +had probably not been in Colossae,--on some of his journeys, perhaps +during his three years' residence in Ephesus. He was of mature years, +if, as is probable, Archippus, who was old enough to have service to do +in the Church (Col. iv. 17), was his son. + +He is called "our fellow-labourer." The designation may imply some +actual co-operation at a former time. But more probably, the phrase, +like the similar one in the next verse, "our fellow-soldier," is but +Paul's gracefully affectionate way of lifting these good people's +humbler work out of its narrowness, by associating it with his own. They +in their little sphere, and he in his wider, were workers at the same +task. All who toil for furtherance of Christ's kingdom, however widely +they may be parted by time or distance, are fellow-workers. Division of +labour does not impair unity of service. The field is wide, and the +months between seedtime and harvest are long; but all the husbandmen +have been engaged in the same great work, and though they have toiled +alone shall "rejoice together." The first man who dug a shovelful of +earth for the foundations of Cologne Cathedral, and he who fixed the +last stone on the topmost spire a thousand years after, are +fellow-workers. So Paul and Philemon, though their tasks were widely +different in kind, in range, and in importance, and were carried on +apart and independent of each other, were fellow-workers. The one lived +a Christian life and helped some humble saints in an insignificant, +remote corner; the other flamed through the whole then civilized western +world, and sheds light to-day: but the obscure, twinkling taper and the +blazing torch were kindled at the same source, shone with the same +light, and were parts of one great whole. Our narrowness is rebuked, our +despondency cheered, our vulgar tendency to think little of modest, +obscure service rendered by commonplace people, and to exaggerate the +worth of the more conspicuous, is corrected by such a thought. However +small may be our capacity or sphere, and however solitary we may feel, +we may summon up before the eyes of our faith a mighty multitude of +apostles, martyrs, toilers in every land and age as _our_--even +our--work-fellows. The field stretches far beyond our vision, and many +are toiling in it for Him, whose work never comes near ours. There are +differences of service, but the same Lord, and all who have the same +master are companions in labour. Therefore Paul, the greatest of the +servants of Christ, reaches down his hand to the obscure Philemon, and +says, "He works the work of the Lord, as I also do." + +In the house at Colossae there was a Christian wife by the side of a +Christian husband; at least, the mention of Apphia here in so prominent +a position is most naturally accounted for by supposing her to be the +wife of Philemon. Her friendly reception of the runaway would be quite +as important as his, and it is therefore most natural that the letter +bespeaking it should be addressed to both. The probable reading "our +sister" (R.V.), instead of "our beloved" (A.V.), gives the distinct +assurance that she too was a Christian, and like-minded with her +husband. + +The prominent mention of this Phrygian matron is an illustration of the +way in which Christianity, without meddling with social usages, +introduced a new tone of feeling about the position of woman, which +gradually changed the face of the world, is still working, and has +further revolutions to affect. The degraded classes of the Greek world +were slaves and women. This Epistle touches both, and shows us +Christianity in the very act of elevating both. The same process strikes +the fetters from the slave and sets the wife by the side of the husband, +"yoked in all exercise of noble end,"--namely, the proclamation of +Christ as the Saviour of all mankind, and of all human creatures as +equally capable of receiving an equal salvation. That annihilates all +distinctions. The old world was parted by deep gulfs. There were three +of special depth and width, across which it was hard for sympathy to +fly. These were the distinctions of race, sex, and condition. But the +good news that Christ has died for all men, and is ready to live in all +men, has thrown a bridge across, or rather has filled up, the ravine; so +the Apostle bursts into his triumphant proclamation, "There is neither +Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor +female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." + +A third name is united with those of husband and wife, that of +Archippus. The close relation in which the names stand, and the purely +domestic character of the letter, make it probable that he was a son of +the wedded pair. At all events, he was in some way part of their +household, possibly some kind of teacher and guide. We meet his name +also in the Epistle to the Colossians, and, from the nature of the +reference to him there, we draw the inference that he filled some +"ministry" in the Church of Laodicea. The nearness of the two cities +made it quite possible that he should live in Philemon's house in +Colossae and yet go over to Laodicea for his work. + +The Apostle calls him "his fellow-soldier," a phrase which is best +explained in the same fashion as is the previous "fellow-worker," +namely, that by it Paul graciously associates Archippus with himself, +different as their tasks were. The variation of _soldier_ for _worker_ +probably is due to the fact of Archippus' being the bishop of the +Laodicean Church. In any case, it is very beautiful that the grizzled +veteran officer should thus, as it were, clasp the hand of this young +recruit, and call him his comrade. How it would go to the heart of +Archippus! + +A somewhat stern message is sent to Archippus in the Colossian letter. +Why did not Paul send it quietly in this Epistle instead of letting a +whole Church know of it? It seems at first sight as if he had chosen the +harshest way; but perhaps further consideration may suggest that the +reason was an instinctive unwillingness to introduce a jarring note into +the joyous friendship and confidence which sounds through this Epistle, +and to bring public matters into this private communication. The +warning would come with more effect from the Church, and this cordial +message of goodwill and confidence would prepare Archippus to receive +the other, as rain showers make the ground soft for the good seed. The +private affection would mitigate the public exhortation with whatever +rebuke may have been in it. + +A greeting is sent, too, to "the Church in thy house." As in the case of +the similar community in the house of Nymphas (Col. iv. 15), we cannot +decide whether by this expression is meant simply a Christian family, or +some little company of believers who were wont to meet beneath +Philemon's roof for Christian converse and worship. The latter seems the +more probable supposition. It is natural that they should be addressed; +for Onesimus, if received by Philemon, would naturally become a member +of the group, and therefore it was important to secure their good will. + +So we have here shown to us, by one stray beam of twinkling light, for a +moment, a very sweet picture of the domestic life of that Christian +household in their remote valley. It shines still to us across the +centuries, which have swallowed up so much that seemed more permanent, +and silenced so much that made far more noise in its day. The picture +may well set us asking ourselves the question whether we, with all our +boasted advancement, have been able to realize the true ideal of +Christian family life as these three did. The husband and wife dwelling +as heirs together of the grace of life, their child beside them sharing +their faith and service, their household ordered in the ways of the +Lord, their friends Christ's friends, and their social joys hallowed +and serene--what nobler form of family life can be conceived than that? +What a rebuke to, and satire on, many a so-called Christian household! + +II. We may deal briefly with the apostolic salutation, "Grace to you and +peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ," as we have already +had to speak of it in considering the greeting to the Colossians. The +two main points to be observed in these words are the comprehensiveness +of the Apostle's loving wish, and the source to which he looks for its +fulfilment. Just as the regal title of the King, whose Throne was the +Cross, was written in the languages of culture, of law, and of religion, +as an unconscious prophecy of His universal reign; so, with like +unintentional felicity, we have blended here the ideals of good which +the East and the West have framed for those to whom they wish good, in +token that Christ is able to slake all the thirsts of the soul, and that +whatsoever things any races of men have dreamed as the chiefest +blessings, these are all to be reached through Him and Him only. + +But the deeper lesson here is to be found by observing that "grace" +refers to the action of the Divine heart, and "peace" to the result +thereof in man's experience. As we have noted in commenting on Col. i. +2, "grace" is free, undeserved, unmotived, self-springing love. Hence it +comes to mean, not only the deep fountain in the Divine nature, that His +love, which, like some strong spring, leaps up and gushes forth by an +inward impulse, in neglect of all motives drawn from the lovableness of +its objects, such as determine our poor human loves, but also the +results of that bestowing love in men's characters, or, as we say, the +"graces" of the Christian soul. They are "grace," not only because in +the aesthetic sense of the word they are beautiful, but because, in the +theological meaning of it, they are the products of the giving love and +power of God. "Whatsoever things are lovely and of good report," all +nobilities, tendernesses, exquisite beauties, and steadfast strengths of +mind and heart, of will and disposition--all are the gifts of God's +undeserved and open-handed love. + +The fruit of such grace received is peace. In other places the Apostle +twice gives a fuller form of this salutation, inserting "mercy" between +the two here named; as also does St. John in his second Epistle. That +fuller form gives us the source in the Divine heart, the manifestation +of grace in the Divine act, and the outcome in human experience; or as +we may say, carrying on the metaphor, the broad, calm lake which the +grace, flowing to us in the stream of mercy, makes, when it opens out in +our hearts. Here, however, we have but the ultimate source, and the +effect in us. + +All the discords of our nature and circumstances can be harmonized by +that grace which is ready to flow into our hearts. Peace with God, with +ourselves, with our fellows, repose in the midst of change, calm in +conflict, may be ours. All these various applications of the one idea +should be included in our interpretation, for they are all included in +fact in the peace which God's grace brings where it lights. The first +and deepest need of the soul is conscious amity and harmony with God, +and nothing but the consciousness of His love as forgiving and healing +brings that. We are torn asunder by conflicting passions, and our hearts +are the battleground for conscience and inclination, sin and goodness, +hopes and fears, and a hundred other contending emotions. Nothing but a +heavenly power can make the lion within lie down with the lamb. Our +natures are "like the troubled sea, which cannot rest," whose churning +waters cast up the foul things that lie in their slimy beds; but where +God's grace comes, a great calm hushes the tempests, "and birds of peace +sit brooding on the charmed wave." + +We are compassed about by foes with whom we have to wage undying +warfare, and by hostile circumstances and difficult tasks which need +continual conflict; but a man with God's grace in his heart may have the +rest of submission, the repose of trust, the tranquillity of him who +"has ceased from his own works": and so, while the daily struggle goes +on and the battle rages round, there may be quiet, deep and sacred, in +his heart. + +The life of nature, which is a selfish life, flings us into unfriendly +rivalries with others, and sets us battling for our own hands, and it is +hard to pass out of ourselves sufficiently to live peaceably with all +men. But the grace of God in our hearts drives out self, and changes the +man who truly has it into its own likeness. He who knows that he owes +everything to a Divine love which stooped to his lowliness, and pardoned +his sins, and enriched him with all which he has that is worthy and +noble, cannot but move among men, doing with them, in his poor fashion, +what God has done with him. + +Thus, in all the manifold forms in which restless hearts need peace, +the grace of God brings it to them. The great river of mercy which has +its source deep in the heart of God, and in His free, undeserved love, +pours into poor, unquiet spirits, and there spreads itself into a placid +lake, on whose still surface all heaven is mirrored. + +The elliptical form of this salutation leaves it doubtful whether we are +to see in it a prayer or a prophecy, a wish or an assurance. According +to the probable reading of the parallel greeting in the second Epistle +of John, the latter would be the construction; but probably it is best +to combine both ideas, and to see here, as Bengel does in the passage +referred to in John's Epistle, "votum cum affirmatione"--a desire which +is so certain of its own fulfilment, that it is a prophecy, just because +it is a prayer. + +The ground of the certainty lies in the source from which the grace and +peace come. They flow "from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." +The placing of both names under the government of one preposition +implies the mysterious unity of the Father with the Son; while +conversely St. John, in the parallel passage just mentioned, by +employing two prepositions, brings out the distinction between the +Father, who is the fontal source, and the Son, who is the flowing +stream. But both forms of the expression demand for their honest +explanation the recognition of the divinity of Jesus Christ. How dare a +man, who thought of Him as other than Divine, put His name thus by the +side of God's, as associated with the Father in the bestowal of grace? +Surely such words, spoken without any thought of a doctrine of the +Trinity, and which are the spontaneous utterance of Christian devotion, +are demonstration, not to be gainsaid, that to Paul, at all events, +Jesus Christ was, in the fullest sense, Divine. The double source is one +source, for in the Son is the whole fulness of the Godhead; and the +grace of God, bringing with it the peace of God, is poured into that +spirit which bows humbly before Jesus Christ, and trusts Him when He +says, with love in His eyes and comfort in His tones, "My grace is +sufficient for thee"; "My peace give I unto you." + + + + +II. + + "I thank my God always, making mention of thee in my prayers, + hearing of thy love, and of the faith which thou hast toward the + Lord Jesus, and toward all the saints; that the fellowship of thy + faith may become effectual, in the knowledge of every good thing + which is in you, unto Christ. For I had much joy and comfort in thy + love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through + thee, brother."--PHILEM. 4-7 (Rev. Ver.). + + +Paul's was one of those regal natures to which things are possible that +other men dare not do. No suspicion of weakness attaches to him when he +pours out his heart in love, nor any of insincerity when he speaks of +his continual prayers for his friends, or when he runs over in praise of +his converts. Few men have been able to talk so much of their love +without betraying its shallowness and self-consciousness, or of their +prayers without exciting a doubt of their manly sincerity. But the +Apostle could venture to do these things without being thought either +feeble or false, and could unveil his deepest affections and his most +secret devotions without provoking either a smile or a shrug. + +He has the habit of beginning all his letters with thankful +commendations and assurances of a place in his prayers. The exceptions +are 2 Corinthians, where he writes under strong and painful emotion, and +Galatians, where a vehement accusation of fickleness takes the place of +the usual greeting. But these exceptions make the habit more +conspicuous. Though this is a habit, it is not a form, but the perfectly +simple and natural expression of the moment's feelings. He begins his +letters so, not in order to please and to say smooth things, but because +he feels lovingly, and his heart fills with a pure joy which speaks most +fitly in prayer. To recognise good is the way to make good better. +Teachers must love if their teaching is to help. The best way to secure +the doing of any signal act of Christian generosity, such as Paul wished +of Philemon, is to show absolute confidence that it will be done, +because it is in accordance with what we know of the doer's character. +"It's a shame to tell Arnold a lie: he always trusts us," the Rugby boys +used to say. Nothing could so powerfully have swayed Philemon to grant +Paul's request, as Paul's graceful mention of his beneficence, which +mention is yet by no means conscious diplomacy, but instinctive +kindliness. + +The words of this section are simple enough, but their order is not +altogether clear. They are a good example of the hurry and rush of the +Apostle's style, arising from his impetuosity of nature. His thoughts +and feelings come knocking at "the door of his lips" in a crowd, and do +not always make their way out in logical order. For instance, he begins +here with thankfulness, and that suggests the mention of his prayers, +_v._ 4. Then he gives the occasion of his thankfulness in _v._ 5, +"Hearing of thy love and of the faith which thou hast," etc. He next +tells Philemon the subject matter of his prayers in _v._ 6, "That the +fellowship of thy faith may become effectual," etc. These two verses +thus correspond to the two clauses of _v._ 4, and finally in _v._ 7 he +harks back once more to his reasons for thankfulness in Philemon's love +and faith, adding, in a very lovely and pathetic way, that the good +deeds done in far off Colossae had wafted a refreshing air to the Roman +prison house, and, little as the doer knew it, had been a joy and +comfort to the solitary prisoner there. + +I. We have,--then, here the character of Philemon, which made Paul glad +and thankful. The order of the language is noteworthy. Love is put +before faith. The significance of this sequence comes out by contrast +with similar expressions in Ephesians i. 15: "Your faith in the Lord +Jesus, and love unto all the saints" (A.V.) and Colossians i. 4: "Your +faith in Christ Jesus, and the love which ye have toward all the +saints," where the same elements are arranged in the more natural order, +corresponding to their logical relation; viz., faith first, and love as +its consequence. The reason for the change here is probably that +Onesimus and Epaphras, from whom Paul would be likely to hear of +Philemon, would enlarge upon his practical benevolence, and would +naturally say less about the root than about the sweet and visible +fruit. The arrangement then is an echo of the talks which had gladdened +the Apostle. Possibly, too, love is put first, because the object of the +whole letter is to secure its exercise towards the fugitive slave; and +seeing that the Apostle would listen with that purpose in view, each +story which was told of Philemon's kindness to others made the deeper +impression on Paul. The order here is the order of analysis, digging +down from manifestation to cause: the order in the parallel passages +quoted is the order of production ascending from root to flower. + +Another peculiarity in the arrangement of the words is that the objects +of love and faith are named in the reverse order to that in which these +graces are mentioned, "the Lord Jesus" being first, and "all the saints" +last. Thus we have, as it were, "faith towards the Lord Jesus" imbedded +in the centre of the verse, while "thy love ... toward all the saints," +which flows from it, wraps it round. The arrangement is like some forms +of Hebrew poetical parallelism, in which the first and fourth members +correspond, and the second and third, or like the pathetic measure of +_In Memoriam_, and has the same sweet lingering cadence; while it also +implies important truths as to the central place in regard to the +virtues which knit hearts in soft bonds of love and help, of the faith +which finds its sole object in Jesus Christ. + +The source and foundation of goodness and nobility of character is faith +in Jesus the Lord. That must be buried deep in the soul if tender love +toward men is to flow from it. It is "the very pulse of the machine." +All the pearls of goodness are held in solution in faith. Or, to speak +more accurately, faith in Christ gives possession of His life and +Spirit, from which all good is unfolded; and it further sets in action +strong motives by which to lead to every form of purity and beauty of +soul; and, still further, it brings the heart into glad contact with a +Divine love which forgives its Onesimuses, and so it cannot but touch +the heart into some glad imitation of that love which is its own dearest +treasure. So that, for all these and many more reasons, love to men is +the truest visible expression, as it is the direct and necessary result, +of faith in Christ. What is exhaled from the heart and drawn upwards by +the fervours of Christ's self-sacrificing love is faith; when it falls +on earth again, as a sweet rain of pity and tenderness, it is love. + +Further, the true object of faith and one phase of its attitude towards +that object are brought out in this central clause. We have the two +names which express, the one the divinity, the other the humanity of +Christ. So the proper object of faith is the whole Christ, in both His +natures, the Divine-human Saviour. Christian faith sees the divinity in +the humanity, and the humanity around the divinity. A faith which grasps +only the manhood is maimed, and indeed has no right to the name. +Humanity is not a fit object of trust. It may change; it has limits; it +must die. "Cursed be the man that maketh flesh his arm," is as true +about faith in a merely human Christ as about faith in any other man. +There may be reverence, there may be in some sense love, obedience, +imitation; but there should not be, and I see not how there can be, the +absolute reliance, the utter dependence, the unconditional submission, +which are of the very essence of faith, in the emotions which men +cherish towards a human Christ. The Lord Jesus only can evoke these. On +the other hand, the far off splendour and stupendous glory of the Divine +nature becomes the object of untrembling trust, and draws near enough to +be known and loved, when we have it mellowed to our weak eyes by shining +through the tempering medium of His humanity. + +The preposition here used to define the relation of faith to its object +is noteworthy. Faith is "toward" Him. The idea is that of a movement of +yearning after an unattained good. And that is one part of the true +office of faith. There is in it an element of aspiration, as of the +soaring eagle to the sun, or the climbing tendrils to the summit of the +supporting stem. In Christ there is always something beyond, which +discloses itself the more clearly, the fuller is our present possession +of Him. Faith builds upon and rests in the Christ possessed and +experienced, and just therefore will it, if it be true, yearn towards +the Christ unpossessed. A great reach of flashing glory beyond opens on +us, as we round each new headland in that unending voyage. Our faith +should and will be an ever-increasing fruition of Christ, accompanied +with increasing perception of unreached depths in Him, and increasing +longing after enlarged possession of His infinite fulness. + +Where the centre is such a faith, its circumference and outward +expression will be a widely diffused love. That deep and most private +emotion of the soul, which is the flight of the lonely spirit to the +single Christ, as if these two were alone in the world, does not bar a +man off from his kind, but effloresces into the largest and most +practical love. When one point of the compasses is struck deeply and +firmly into that centre of all things, the other can steadily sweep a +wide circle. The widest is not here drawn, but a somewhat narrower, +concentric one. The love is "toward all saints." Clearly their relation +to Jesus Christ puts all Christians into relation with one another. That +was an astounding thought in Philemon's days, when such high walls +separated race from race, the slave from the free, woman from man; but +the new faith leaped all barriers, and put a sense of brotherhood into +every heart that learned God's fatherhood in Jesus. The nave of the +wheel holds all the spokes in place. The sun makes the system called by +its name a unity, though some planets be of giant bulk and swing through +a mighty orbit, waited on by obedient satellites, and some be but specks +and move through a narrow circle, and some have scarce been seen by +human eye. All are one, because all revolve round one sun, though solemn +abysses part them, and though no message has ever crossed the gulfs from +one to another. + +The recognition of the common relation which all who bear the same +relation to Christ bear to one another has more formidable difficulties +to encounter to-day than it had in these times when the Church had no +stereotyped creeds and no stiffened organizations, and when to the +flexibility of its youth were added the warmth of new conviction and the +joy of a new field for expanding emotions of brotherly kindness. But +nothing can absolve from the duty. Creeds separate, Christ unites. The +road to "the reunion of Christendom" is through closer union to Jesus +Christ. When that is secured, barriers which now keep brethren apart +will be leaped, or pulled down, or got rid of somehow. It is of no use +to say, "Go to, let us love one another." That will be unreal, mawkish, +histrionic. "The faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus" will be +the productive cause, as it is the measure, of "thy love toward all the +saints." + +But the love which is here commended is not a mere feeling, nor does it +go off in gushes, however fervid, of eloquent emotion. Clearly Philemon +was a benefactor of the brotherhood, and his love did not spend only the +paper money of words and promises to pay, but the solid coin of kindly +deeds. Practical charity is plainly included in that love of which it +had cheered Paul in his imprisonment to hear. Its mention, then, is one +step nearer to the object of the letter. Paul conducts his siege of +Philemon's heart skilfully, and opens here a fresh parallel, and creeps +a yard or two closer up. "Surely you are not going to shut out one of +your own household from that wide-reaching kindness." So much is most +delicately hinted, or rather, left to Philemon to infer, by the +recognition of his brotherly love. A hint lies in it that there may be a +danger of cherishing a cheap and easy charity that reverses the law of +gravity, and _in_creases as the square of the distance, having +tenderness and smiles for people and Churches which are well out of our +road, and frowns for some nearer home. "He that loveth not his brother +whom he hath seen, how shall he love" his brother "whom he hath not +seen?" + +II. In _v._ 6 we have the apostolic prayer for Philemon, grounded on the +tidings of his love and faith. It is immediately connected with "the +prayers" of _v._ 4 by the introductory "that," which is best understood +as introducing the subject matter of the prayer. Whatever then may be +the meaning of this supplication, it is a prayer for Philemon, and not +for others. That remark disposes of the explanations which widen its +scope, contrary, as it seems to me, to the natural understanding of the +context. + +"The fellowship of thy faith" is capable of more than one meaning. The +signification of the principal word and the relation expressed by the +preposition may be variously determined. "Fellowship" is more than once +used in the sense of sharing material wealth with Christ's poor, or more +harshly and plainly, charitable contribution. So we find it in Romans +xv. 26 and 2 Corinthians ix. 13. Adopting that meaning here, the "of" +must express, as it often does, the origin of Philemon's kindly gifts, +namely, his faith; and the whole phrase accords with the preceding verse +in its view of the genesis of beneficence to the brethren as the result +of faith in the Lord. + +The Apostle prays that this faith-begotten practical liberality may +become efficacious, or may acquire still more power; _i.e._ may increase +in activity, and so may lead to "the knowledge of every good thing that +is in us." The interpretation has found extensive support, which takes +this as equivalent to a desire that Philemon's good deeds might lead +others, whether enemies or friends, to recognise the beauties of +sympathetic goodness in the true Christian character. Such an +explanation hopelessly confuses the whole, and does violence to the +plain requirements of the context, which limit the prayer to Philemon. +It is _his_ "knowledge" of which Paul is thinking. The same profound and +pregnant word is used here which occurs so frequently in the other +epistles of the captivity, and which always means that deep and vital +knowledge which knows because it possesses. Usually its object is God as +revealed in the great work and person of Christ. Here its object is the +sum total of spiritual blessings, the whole fulness of the gifts given +us by, and, at bottom, consisting of, that same Christ dwelling in the +heart, who is revealer, because He is communicator, of God. The full, +deep knowledge of this manifold and yet one good is no mere theoretical +work of the understanding, but is an experience which is only possible +to him who enjoys it. + +The meaning of the whole prayer, then, put into feebler and more modern +dress is simply that Philemon's liberality and Christian love may grow +more and more, and may help him to a fuller appropriation and experience +of the large treasures "which are in us," though in germ and +potentiality only, until brought into consciousness by our own Christian +growth. The various readings "in us," or "in you" only widen the circle +of possessors of these gifts to the whole Church, or narrow it to the +believers of Colossae. + +There still remain for consideration the last words of the clause, "unto +Christ" They must be referred back to the main subject of the sentence, +"may become effectual." They seem to express the condition on which +Christian "fellowship," like all Christian acts, can be quickened with +energy, and tend to spiritual progress; namely, that it shall be done as +to the Lord. There is perhaps in this appended clause a kind of +lingering echo of our Lord's own words, in which He accepts as done unto +Him the kindly deeds done to the least of His brethren. + +So then this great prayer brings out very strongly the goal to which the +highest perfection of Christian character has still to aspire. Philemon +was no weakling or laggard in the Christian conflict and race. His +attainments sent a thrill of thankfulness through the Apostle's spirit. +But there remained "very much land to be possessed"; and precisely +because he had climbed so far, does his friend pray that he may mount +still higher, where the sweep of view is wider, and the air clearer +still. It is an endless task to bring into conscious possession and +exercise all the fulness with which Christ endows His feeblest servant. +Not till all that God can give, or rather has given, has been +incorporated in the nature and wrought out in the life, is the term +reached. This is the true sublime of the Christian life, that it begins +with the reception of a strictly infinite gift, and demands immortality +as the field for unfolding its worth. Continual progress in all that +ennobles the nature, satisfies the heart, and floods the mind with light +is the destiny of the Christian soul, and of it alone. Therefore +unwearied effort, buoyancy, and hope which no dark memories can dash nor +any fears darken should mark _their_ temper, to whom the future offers +an absolutely endless and limitless increase in the possession of the +infinite God. + +There is also brought out in this prayer the value of Christian +beneficence as a means of spiritual growth. Philemon's "communication of +faith" will help him to the knowledge of the fulness of Christ. The +reaction of conduct on character and growth in godliness is a familiar +idea with Paul, especially in the prison epistles. Thus we read in his +prayer for the Colossians, "fruitful in every good work, and increasing +in the knowledge of God." The faithful carrying out in life of what we +already know is not the least important condition of increasing +knowledge. If a man does not live up to his religion, his religion +shrinks to the level of his life. Unoccupied territory lapses. We hold +our spiritual gifts on the terms of using them. The practice of +convictions deepens convictions; not that the exercise of Christian +graces will make theologians, but it will give larger possession of the +knowledge which is life. + +While this general principle is abundantly enforced in Scripture and +confirmed by experience, the specific form of it here is that the right +administration of wealth is a direct means of increasing a Christian's +possession of the large store treasured in Christ. Every loving thought +towards the sorrowful and the needy, every touch of sympathy yielded to, +and every kindly, Christlike deed flowing from these, thins away some +film of the barriers between the believing soul and a full possession of +God, and thus makes it more capable of beholding Him and of rising to +communion with Him. The possibilities of wealth lie, not only in the +direction of earthly advantages, but in the fact that men may so use it +as to secure their being "received into everlasting habitations." Modern +evangelical teachers have been afraid to say what Paul ventured to say +on this matter, for fear of obscuring the truth which Paul gave his life +to preach. Surely they need not be more jealous for the doctrine of +"justification by faith" than he was; and if he had no scruples in +telling rich men to "lay up in store for themselves a good foundation +for the time to come," by being "ready to communicate," they may safely +follow. There is probably no more powerful cause of the comparative +feebleness of average English Christianity than the selfish use of +money, and no surer means of securing a great increase in the depth and +richness of the individual Christian life than the fuller application of +Christian principle, that is, of the law of sacrifice, to the +administration of property. + +The final clause of the verse seems to state the condition on which +Philemon's good deeds will avail for his own growth in grace, and +implies that in him that condition is fulfilled. If a man does deeds of +kindness and help to one of these little ones, as "unto Christ," then +his beneficence will come back in spiritual blessing on his own head. If +they are the result of simple natural compassion, beautiful as it is, +they will reinforce _it_, but have no tendency to strengthen that from +which they do _not_ flow. If they are tainted by any self-regard, then +they are not charitable deeds at all. What is done for Christ will bring +to the doer more of Christ as its consequence and reward. All life, with +all its varied forms of endurance and service, comes under this same +law, and tends to make more assured and more blessed and more profound +the knowledge and grasp of the fulness of Christ, in the measure in +which it is directed to Him, and done or suffered for His sake. + +III. The present section closes with a very sweet and pathetic +representation of the Apostle's joy in the character of his friend. + +The "for" of _v._ 7 connects not with the words of petition immediately +before, but with "I thank my God" (_v._ 4), and gives a graceful +turn--graceful only because so unforced and true--to the sentence. "My +thanks are due to you for your kindness to others, for, though you did +not think of it, you have done me as much good as you did them." The +"love" which gives Paul such "great joy and consolation" is not love +directed to himself, but to others; and the reason why it gladdened the +Apostle was because it had "refreshed the hearts" of sorrowful and needy +saints in Colossae. This tender expression of affectionate joy in +Philemon's good deeds is made wonderfully emotional by that emphatic +"brother" which ends the verse, and by its unusual position in the +sentence assumes the character of a sudden, irrepressible shoot of love +from Paul's heart towards Philemon, like the quick impulse with which a +mother will catch up her child, and cover it with caresses. Paul was +never ashamed of showing his tenderness, and it never repels us. + +These final words suggest the unexpected good which good deeds may do. +No man can ever tell how far the blessing of his trivial acts of +kindness, or other pieces of Christian conduct, may travel. They may +benefit one in material fashion, but the fragrance may reach many +others. Philemon little dreamed that his small charity to some suffering +brother in Colossae would find its way across the sea, and bring a waft +of coolness and refreshing into the hot prison house. Neither Paul nor +Philemon dreamed that, made immortal by the word of the former, the same +transient act would find its way across the centuries, and would "smell +sweet and blossom in the dust" to-day. Men know not who are their +audiences, or who may be spectators of their works; for they are all +bound so mystically and closely together, that none can tell how far the +vibrations which he sets in motion will thrill. This is true about all +deeds, good and bad, and invests them all with solemn importance. The +arrow shot travels beyond the archer's eye, and may wound where he +knows not. The only thing certain about the deed once done is, that its +irrevocable consequences will reach much farther than the doer dreamed, +and that no limits can be set to the subtle influence which, for +blessing or harm, it exerts. + +Since the diameter of the circle which our acts may fill is unknown and +unknowable, the doer who stands at the centre is all the more solemnly +bound to make sure of the only thing of which he can make sure, the +quality of the influence sent forth; and since his deed may blight or +bless so widely, to clarify his motives and guard his doings, that they +may bring only good wherever they light. + +May we not venture to see shining through the Apostle's words the +Master's face? "Even as Christ did for us with God the Father," says +Luther, "thus also doth St. Paul for Onesimus with Philemon"; and that +thought may permissibly be applied to many parts of this letter, to +which it gives much beauty. It may not be all fanciful to say that, as +Paul's heart was gladdened when he heard of the good deeds done in +far-off Colossae by a man who "owed to him his own self" so we may +believe that Christ is glad and has "great joy in our love" to His +servants and in our kindliness, when He beholds the poor work done by +the humblest for His sake. He sees and rejoices, and approves when there +are none but Himself to know or praise; and at last many, who did lowly +service to His friends, will be surprised to hear from His lips the +acknowledgment that it was Himself whom they had visited and succoured, +and that they had been ministering to the Master's joy when they had +only known themselves to be succouring His servants' need. + + + + +III. + + "Wherefore, though I have all boldness in Christ to enjoin thee that + which is befitting, yet for love's sake I rather beseech, being such + a one as Paul the aged, and now a prisoner also of Jesus Christ; I + beseech thee for my child, whom I have begotten in my bonds, + Onesimus; who was aforetime unprofitable to thee, but now is + profitable to thee, and to me."--PHILEM. 8-11 (Rev. Ver.). + + +After honest and affectionate praise of Philemon, the Apostle now +approaches the main purpose of his letter. But even now he does not +blurt it out at once. He probably anticipated that his friend was justly +angry with his runaway slave, and therefore, in these verses, he touches +a kind of prelude to his request with what we should call the finest +tact, if it were not so manifestly the unconscious product of simple +good feeling. Even by the end of them he has not ventured to say what he +wishes done, though he has ventured to introduce the obnoxious name. So +much persuading and sanctified ingenuity does it sometimes take to +induce good men to do plain duties which may be unwelcome. + +These verses not only present a model for efforts to lead men in right +paths, but they unveil the very spirit of Christianity in their +pleadings. Paul's persuasives to Philemon are echoes of Christ's +persuasives to Paul. He had learned his method from his Master, and had +himself experienced that gentle love was more than commandments. +Therefore he softens his voice to speak to Philemon, as Christ had +softened His to speak to Paul. We do not arbitrarily "spiritualize" the +words, but simply recognise that the Apostle moulded his conduct after +Christ's pattern, when we see here a mirror reflecting some of the +highest truths of Christian ethics. + +I. Here is seen love which beseeches where it might command. The first +word, "wherefore," leads back to the preceding sentence, and makes +Philemon's past kindness to the saints the reason for his being asked to +be kind now. The Apostle's confidence in his friend's character, and in +his being amenable to the appeal of love, made Paul waive his apostolic +authority, and sue instead of commanding. There are people, like the +horse and the mule, who understand only rough imperatives, backed by +force; but they are fewer than we are apt to think, and perhaps +gentleness is never wholly thrown away. No doubt, there must be +adaptation of method to different characters, but we should try +gentleness before we make up our minds that to try it is to throw pearls +before swine. + +The careful limits put to apostolic authority here deserve notice. "I +might be much bold in Christ to command." He has no authority in +himself, but he has "in Christ." His own personality gives him none, but +his relation to his Master does. It is a distinct assertion of right to +command, and an equally distinct repudiation of any such right, except +as derived from his union with Jesus. + +He still further limits his authority by that noteworthy clause, "that +which is befitting." His authority does not stretch so far as to create +new obligations, or to repeal plain laws of duty. There was a standard +by which his commands were to be tried. He appeals to Philemon's own +sense of moral fitness, to his natural conscience, enlightened by +communion with Christ. + +Then comes the great motive which he will urge, "for love's sake,"--not +merely his to Philemon, nor Philemon's to him, but the bond which unites +all Christian souls together, and binds them all to Christ. "That grand, +sacred principle," says Paul, "bids me put away authority, and speak in +entreaty." Love naturally beseeches, and does not order. The harsh voice +of command is simply the imposition of another's will, and it belongs to +relationships in which the heart has no share. But wherever love is the +bond, grace is poured into the lips, and "I enjoin" becomes "I pray." So +that even where the outward form of authority is still kept, as in a +parent to young children, there will ever be some endearing word to +swathe the harsh imperative in tenderness, like a sword blade wrapped +about with wool, lest it should wound. Love tends to obliterate the hard +distinction of superior and inferior, which finds its expression in +laconic imperatives and silent obedience. It seeks not for mere +compliance with commands, but for oneness of will. The lightest wish +breathed by loved lips is stronger than all stern injunctions, often, +alas! than all laws of duty. The heart is so tuned as only to vibrate to +that one tone. The rocking stones, which all the storms of winter may +howl round and not move, can be set swinging by a light touch. Una leads +the lion in a silken leash. Love controls the wildest nature. The +demoniac, whom no chains can bind, is found sitting at the feet of +incarnate gentleness. So the wish of love is all-powerful with loving +hearts, and its faintest whisper louder and more constraining than all +the trumpets of Sinai. + +There is a large lesson here for all human relationships. Fathers and +mothers, husbands and wives, friends and companions, teachers and guides +of all sorts, should set their conduct by this pattern, and let the law +of love sit ever upon their lips. Authority is the weapon of a weak man, +who is doubtful of his own power to get himself obeyed, or of a selfish +one, who seeks for mechanical submission rather than for the fealty of +willing hearts. Love is the weapon of a strong man who can cast aside +the trappings of superiority, and is never loftier than when he +descends, nor more absolute than when he abjures authority, and appeals +with love to love. Men are not to be dragooned into goodness. If mere +outward acts are sought, it may be enough to impose another's will in +orders as curt as a soldier's word of command; but if the joyful +inclination of the heart to the good deed is to be secured, that can +only be done when law melts into love, and is thereby transformed to a +more imperative obligation, written not on tables of stone, but on +fleshy tables of the heart. + +There is a glimpse here into the very heart of Christ's rule over men. +He too does not merely impose commands, but stoops to entreat, where He +indeed might command. "Henceforth I call you not servants, but friends"; +and though He does go on to say, "Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever +I command you," yet His commandment has in it so much tenderness, +condescension, and pleading love, that it sounds far liker beseeching +than enjoining. His yoke is easy, for this among other reasons, that it +is, if one may so say, padded with love. His burden is light, because it +is laid on His servant's shoulders by a loving hand; and so, as St. +Bernard says, it is _onus quod portantem portat_, a burden which carries +him who carries it. + +II. There is in these verses the appeal which gives weight to the +entreaties of love. The Apostle brings personal considerations to bear +on the enforcement of impersonal duty, and therein follows the example +of his Lord. He presents his own circumstances as adding power to his +request, and as it were puts himself into the scale. He touches with +singular pathos on two things which should sway his friend. "Such a one +as Paul the aged." The alternative rendering "ambassador," while quite +possible, has not congruity in its favour, and would be a recurrence to +that very motive of official authority which he has just disclaimed. The +other rendering is every way preferable. How old was he? Probably +somewhere about sixty--not a very great age, but life was somewhat +shorter then than now, and Paul was, no doubt, aged by work, by worry, +and by the unresting spirit that "o'er-informed his tenement of clay." +Such temperaments as his soon grow old. Perhaps Philemon was not much +younger; but the prosperous Colossian gentleman had had a smoother life, +and, no doubt, carried his years more lightly. + +The requests of old age should have weight. In our days, what with the +improvements in education, and the general loosening of the bonds of +reverence, the old maxim that "the utmost respect is due to children," +receives a strange interpretation, and in many a household the Divine +order is turned upside down, and the juniors regulate all things. Other +still more sacred things will be likely to lose their due reverence when +silver hairs no longer receive theirs. + +But usually the aged who are "such" aged "as Paul" was, will not fail of +obtaining honour and deference. No more beautiful picture of the bright +energy and freshness still possible to the old was ever painted than may +be gathered from the Apostle's unconscious sketch of himself. He +delighted in having young life about him--Timothy, Titus, Mark, and +others, boys in comparison with himself, whom yet he admitted to close +intimacy as some old general might the youths of his staff, warming his +age at the genial flame of their growing energies and unworn hopes. His +was a joyful old age too, notwithstanding many burdens of anxiety and +sorrow. We hear the clear song of his gladness ringing through the +epistle of joy, that to the Philippians, which, like this, dates from +his Roman captivity. A Christian old age should be joyful, and only it +will be; for the joys of the natural life burn low, when the fuel that +fed them is nearly exhausted, and withered hands are held in vain over +the dying embers. But Christ's joy "remains," and a Christian old age +may be like the polar midsummer days, when the sun shines till midnight, +and dips but for an imperceptible interval ere it rises for the unending +day of heaven. + +Paul the aged was full of interest in the things of the day; no mere +"praiser of time gone by," but a strenuous worker, cherishing a quick +sympathy and an eager interest which kept him young to the end. Witness +that last chapter of the second Epistle to Timothy, where he is seen, in +the immediate expectation of death, entering heartily into passing +trifles, and thinking it worth while to give little pieces of +information about the movements of his friends, and wishful to get his +books and parchments, that he might do some more work while waiting for +the headsman's sword. And over his cheery, sympathetic, busy old age +there is thrown the light of a great hope, which kindles desire and +onward looks in his dim eyes, and parts "such a one as Paul the aged" by +a whole universe from the old whose future is dark and their past +dreary, whose hope is a phantom and their memory a pang. + +The Apostle adds yet another personal characteristic as a motive with +Philemon to grant his request: "Now a prisoner also of Christ Jesus." He +has already spoken of himself in these terms in _v._ 1. His sufferings +were imposed by and endured for Christ. He holds up his fettered wrist, +and in effect says, "Surely you will not refuse anything that you can do +to wrap a silken softness round the cold, hard iron, especially when you +remember for Whose sake and by Whose will I am bound with this chain." +He thus brings personal motives to reinforce duty which is binding from +other and higher considerations. He does not merely tell Philemon that +he ought to take back Onesimus as a piece of self-sacrificing Christian +duty. He does imply that highest motive throughout his pleadings, and +urges that such action is "fitting" or in consonance with the position +and obligations of a Christian man. But he backs up this highest reason +with these others: "If you hesitate to take him back because you ought, +will you do it because I ask you? and, before you answer that question, +will you remember my age, and what I am bearing for the Master?" If he +can get his friend to do the right thing by the help of these subsidiary +motives, still, it is the right thing; and the appeal to these motives +will do Philemon no harm, and, if successful, will do both him and +Onesimus a great deal of good. + +Does not this action of Paul remind us of the highest example of a +similar use of motives of personal attachment as aids to duty? Christ +does thus with His servants. He does not simply hold up before us a cold +law of duty, but warms it by introducing our personal relation to Him as +the main motive for keeping it. Apart from Him, Morality can only point +to the tables of stone and say: "There! that is what you ought to do. Do +it, or face the consequences." But Christ says: "I have given Myself for +you. My will is your law. Will you do it for My sake?" Instead of the +chilling, statuesque ideal, as pure as marble and as cold, a Brother +stands before us with a heart that beats, a smile on His face, a hand +outstretched to help; and His word is, "If ye love Me, keep My +commandments." The specific difference of Christian morality lies not in +its precepts, but in its motive, and in its gift of power to obey. Paul +could only urge regard to him as a subsidiary inducement. Christ puts it +as the chief, nay, as the sole motive for obedience. + +III. The last point suggested by these verses is the gradual opening up +of the main subject matter of the Apostle's request. Very noteworthy is +the tenderness of the description of the fugitive as "my child, whom I +have begotten in my bonds." Paul does not venture to name him at once, +but prepares the way by the warmth of this affectionate reference. The +position of the name in the sentence is most unusual, and suggests a +kind of hesitation to take the plunge, while the hurried passing on to +meet the objection which he knew would spring immediately to Philemon's +mind is almost as if Paul laid his hand on his friend's lips to stop his +words,--"Onesimus then is it? that good-for-nothing!" Paul admits the +indictment, will say no word to mitigate the condemnation due to his +past worthlessness, but, with a playful allusion to the slave's name, +which conceals his deep earnestness, assures Philemon that he will find +the formerly inappropriate name, Onesimus--_i.e._ profitable--true yet, +for all that is past. He is sure of this, because he, Paul, has proved +his value. Surely never were the natural feelings of indignation and +suspicion more skilfully soothed, and never did repentant +good-for-nothing get sent back to regain the confidence which he had +forfeited, with such a certificate of character in his hand! + +But there is something of more importance than Paul's inborn delicacy +and tact to notice here. Onesimus had been a bad specimen of a bad +class. Slavery must needs corrupt both the owner and the chattel; and, +as a matter of fact, we have classical allusions enough to show that the +slaves of Paul's period were deeply tainted with the characteristic +vices of their condition. Liars, thieves, idle, treacherous, nourishing +a hatred of their masters all the more deadly that it was smothered, but +ready to flame out, if opportunity served, in blood-curdling +cruelties--they constituted an ever-present danger, and needed an +ever-wakeful watchfulness. Onesimus had been known to Philemon only as +one of the idlers who were more of a nuisance than a benefit, and cost +more than they earned; and he apparently ended his career by theft. And +this degraded creature, with scars on his soul deeper and worse than the +marks of fetters on his limbs, had somehow found his way to the great +jungle of a city, where all foul vermin could crawl and hiss and sting +with comparative safety. There he had somehow come across the Apostle, +and had received into his heart, filled with ugly desires and lusts, the +message of Christ's love, which had swept it clean, and made him over +again. The Apostle has had but short experience of his convert, but he +is quite sure that he is a Christian; and, that being the case, he is as +sure that all the bad black past is buried, and that the new leaf now +turned over will be covered with fair writing, not in the least like the +blots that were on the former page, and have now been dissolved from off +it, by the touch of Christ's blood. + +It is a typical instance of the miracles which the gospel wrought as +every-day events in its transforming career. Christianity knows nothing +of hopeless cases. It professes its ability to take the most crooked +stick and bring it straight, to flash a new power into the blackest +carbon, which will turn it into a diamond. Every duty will be done +better by a man if he have the love and grace of Jesus Christ in his +heart. New motives are brought into play, new powers are given, new +standards of duty are set up. The small tasks become great, and the +unwelcome sweet, and the difficult easy, when done for and through +Christ. Old vices are crushed in their deepest source; old habits driven +out by the force of a new affection, as the young leaf-buds push the +withered foliage from the tree. Christ can make any man over again, and +does so re-create every heart that trusts to him. Such miracles of +transformation are wrought to-day as truly as of old. Many professing +Christians experience little of that quickening and revolutionising +energy; many observers see little of it, and some begin to croak, as if +the old power had ebbed away. But wherever men give the gospel fair play +in their lives, and open their spirits, in truth and not merely in +profession, to its influence, it vindicates its undiminished possession +of all its former energy; and if ever it seems to fail, it is not that +the medicine is ineffectual, but that the sick man has not really taken +it. The low tone of much modern Christianity and its dim exhibition of +the transforming power of the gospel is easily and sadly accounted for +without charging decrepitude on that which was once so mighty, by the +patent fact that much modern Christianity is little better than lip +acknowledgment, and that much more of it is wofully unfamiliar with the +truth which it in some fashion believes, and is sinfully negligent of +the spiritual gifts which it professes to treasure. If a Christian man +does not show that his religion is changing him into the fair likeness +of his Master, and fitting him for all relations of life, the reason is +simply that he has so little of it, and that little so mechanical and +tepid. + +Paul pleads with Philemon to take back his worthless servant, and +assures him that he will find Onesimus helpful now. Christ does not +need to be besought to welcome His runaway good-for-nothings, however +unprofitable they have been. That Divine charity of His forgives all +things, and "hopes all things" of the worst, and can fulfil its own hope +in the most degraded. With bright, unfaltering confidence in His own +power He fronts the most evil, sure that He can cleanse; and that, no +matter what the past has been, His power can overcome all defects of +character, education, or surroundings, can set free from all moral +disadvantages adhering to men's station, class, or calling, can break +the entail of sin. The worst needs no intercessor to sway that tender +heart of our great Master whom we may dimly see shadowed in the very +name of "Philemon," which means one who is loving or kindly. Whoever +confesses to him that he has "been an unprofitable servant," will be +welcomed to His heart, made pure and good by the Divine Spirit breathing +new life into him, will be trained by Christ for all joyful toil as His +slave, and yet His freedman and friend; and at last each once fugitive +and unprofitable Onesimus will hear the "Well done, good and faithful +servant!" + + + + +IV. + + "Whom I have sent back to thee in his own person, that is, my very + heart: whom I would fain have kept with me, that in my behalf he + might minister unto me in the bonds of the gospel: but without thy + mind I would do nothing; that thy goodness should not be as of + necessity, but of free will."--PHILEM. 12-14 (Rev. Ver.). + + +The characteristic features of the Epistle are all embodied in these +verses. They set forth, in the most striking manner, the relation of +Christianity to slavery and to other social evils. They afford an +exquisite example of the courteous delicacy and tact of the Apostle's +intervention on behalf of Onesimus; and there shine through them, as +through a semi-transparent medium, adumbrations and shimmering hints of +the greatest truths of Christianity. + +I. The first point to notice is that decisive step of sending back the +fugitive slave. Not many years ago the conscience of England was stirred +because the Government of the day sent out a circular instructing +captains of men-of-war, on the decks of which fugitive slaves sought +asylum, to restore them to their "owners." Here an Apostle does the same +thing--seems to side with the oppressor, and to drive the oppressed from +the sole refuge left him, the horns of the very altar. More +extraordinary still, here is the fugitive voluntarily going back, +travelling all the weary way from Rome to Colossae in order to put his +neck once more beneath the yoke. Both men were acting from Christian +motives, and thought that they were doing a piece of plain Christian +duty. Then does Christianity sanction slavery? Certainly not; its +principles cut it up by the roots. A gospel, of which the starting-point +is that all men stand on the same level, as loved by the one Lord, and +redeemed by the one cross, can have no place for such an institution. A +religion which attaches the highest importance to man's awful +prerogative of freedom, because it insists on every man's individual +responsibility to God, can keep no terms with a system which turns men +into chattels. Therefore Christianity cannot but regard slavery as sin +against God, and as treason towards man. The principles of the gospel +worked into the conscience of a nation destroy slavery. Historically it +is true that as Christianity has grown slavery has withered. But the New +Testament never directly condemns it, and by regulating the conduct of +Christian masters, and recognising the obligations of Christian slaves, +seems to contemplate its continuance, and to be deaf to the sighing of +the captives. + +This attitude was probably not a piece of policy or a matter of +calculated wisdom on the part of the Apostle. He no doubt saw that the +Gospel brought a great unity in which all distinctions were merged, and +rejoiced in thinking that "in Christ Jesus there is neither bond or +free"; but whether he expected the distinction ever to disappear from +actual life is less certain. He may have thought of slavery as he did of +sex, that the fact would remain, while yet "we are all one in Christ +Jesus." It is by no means necessary to suppose that the Apostles saw +the full bearing of the truths they had to preach, in their relation to +social conditions. They were inspired to give the Church the principles. +It remained for future ages, under Divine guidance, to apprehend the +destructive and formative range of these principles. + +However this may be, the attitude of the New Testament to slavery is the +same as to other unchristian institutions. It brings the leaven, and +lets it work. That attitude is determined by three great principles. +First, the message of Christianity is primarily to individuals, and only +secondarily to society. It leaves the units whom it has influenced to +influence the mass. Second, it acts on spiritual and moral sentiment, +and only afterwards and consequently on deeds or institutions. Third, it +hates violence, and trusts wholly to enlightened conscience. So it +meddles directly with no political or social arrangements, but lays down +principles which will profoundly affect these, and leaves them to soak +into the general mind. If an evil needs force for its removal, it is not +ready for removal. If it has to be pulled up by violence, a bit of the +root will certainly be left and will grow again. When a dandelion head +is ripe, a child's breath can detach the winged seeds; but until it is, +no tempest can move them. The method of violence is noisy and wasteful, +like the winter torrents that cover acres of good ground with mud and +rocks, and are past in a day. The only true way is, by slow degrees to +create a state of feeling which shall instinctively abhor and cast off +the evil. Then there will be no hubbub and no waste, and the thing once +done will be done for ever. + +So has it been with slavery; so will it be with war, and intemperance, +and impurity, and the miserable anomalies of our present civilization. +It has taken eighteen hundred years for the whole Church to learn the +inconsistency of Christianity with slavery. We are no quicker learners +than the past generations were. God is patient, and does not seek to +hurry the march of His purposes. We have to be imitators of God, and +shun the "raw haste" which is "half-sister to delay." + +But patience is not passivity. It is a Christian's duty to "hasten the +day of the Lord," and to take part in the educational process which +Christ is carrying on through the ages, by submitting himself to it in +the first place, and then by endeavouring to bring others under its +influence. His place should be in the van of all social progress. It +does not become Christ's servants to be content with the attainments of +any past or present, in the matter of the organization of society on +Christian principles. "God has more light to break forth from His word." +Coming centuries will look back on the obtuseness of the moral +perceptions of nineteenth century Christians in regard to matters of +Christian duty which, hidden from us, are sun-clear to them, with the +same half-amused, half-tragic wonder with which we look back to Jamaica +planters or South Carolina rice growers, who defended slavery as a +missionary institution, and saw no contradiction between their religion +and their practice. We have to stretch our charity to believe in these +men's sincere religion. Succeeding ages will have to make the same +allowance for us, and will need it for themselves from their successors. +The main thing is, for us to try to keep our spirits open to all the +incidence of the gospel on social and civic life, and to see that we are +on the right side, and trying to help on the approach of that kingdom +which does "not cry, nor lift up, nor cause its voice to be heard in the +streets," but has its coming "prepared as the morning," that swims up, +silent and slow, and flushes the heaven with an unsetting light. + +II. The next point in these verses is Paul's loving identification of +himself with Onesimus. + +The A.V. here follows another reading from the R.V.; the former has +"thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels." The additional +words are unquestionably inserted without authority in order to patch a +broken construction. The R.V. cuts the knot in a different fashion by +putting the abrupt words, "himself that is, my very own heart," under +the government of the preceding verb. But it seems more probable that +the Apostle began a new sentence with them, which he meant to have +finished as the A.V. does for him, but which, in fact, got hopelessly +upset in the swift rush of his thoughts, and does not right itself +grammatically till the "receive him" of _v._ 17. + +In any case the main thing to observe is the affectionate plea which he +puts in for the cordial reception of Onesimus. Of course "mine own +bowels" is simply the Hebrew way of saying "mine own heart." We think +the one phrase graceful and sentimental, and the other coarse. A Jew did +not think so, and it might be difficult to say why he should. It is a +mere question of difference in localizing certain emotions. Onesimus was +a piece of Paul's very heart, part of himself; the unprofitable slave +had wound himself round his affections, and become so dear that to part +with him was like cutting his heart out of his bosom. Perhaps some of +the virtues, which the servile condition helps to develop in undue +proportion, such as docility, lightheartedness, serviceableness, had +made him a soothing and helpful companion. What a plea that would be +with one who loved Paul as well as Philemon did! He could not receive +harshly one whom the Apostle had so honoured with his love. "Take care +of him, be kind to him as if it were to me." + +Such language from an Apostle about a slave would do more to destroy +slavery than any violence would do. Love leaps the barrier, and it +ceases to separate. So these simple, heart-felt words are an instance of +one method by which Christianity wars against all social wrongs, by +casting its caressing arm around the outcast, and showing that the +abject and oppressed are objects of its special love. + +They teach too how interceding love makes its object part of its very +self; the same thought recurs still more distinctly in _v._ 17, "Receive +him as myself." It is the natural language of love; some of the deepest +and most blessed Christian truths are but the carrying out of that +identification to its fullest extent. We are all Christ's Onesimuses, +and He, out of His pure love, makes Himself one with us, and us one with +Him. The union of Christ with all who trust in Him, no doubt, +presupposes His Divine nature, but still there is a human side to it, +and it is the result of His perfect love. All love delights to fuse +itself with its object, and as far as may be to abolish the distinction +of "I" and "thou." But human love can travel but a little way on that +road; Christ's goes much farther. He that pleads for some poor creature +feels that the kindness is done to himself when the former is helped or +pardoned. Imperfectly but really these words shadow forth the great fact +of Christ's intercession for us sinners, and our acceptance in Him. We +need no better symbol of the stooping love of Christ, Who identifies +Himself with His brethren, and of our wondrous identification with Him, +our High Priest and Intercessor, than this picture of the Apostle +pleading for the runaway and bespeaking a welcome for him as part of +himself. When Paul says, "Receive him, that is, my very heart," his +words remind us of the yet more blessed ones, which reveal a deeper love +and more marvellous condescension, "He that receiveth you receiveth Me," +and may reverently be taken as a faint shadow of that prevailing +intercession, through which he that is joined to the Lord and is one +spirit with Him, is received of God as part of Christ's mystical body, +bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh. + +III. Next comes the expression of a half-formed purpose which was put +aside for a reason to be immediately stated. "Whom I would fain have +kept with me"; the tense of the verb indicating the incompleteness of +the desire. The very statement of it is turned into a graceful +expression of Paul's confidence in Philemon's goodwill to him, by the +addition of that "on thy behalf." He is sure that, if his friend had +been beside him, he would have been glad to lend him his servant, and so +he would have liked to have had Onesimus as a kind of representative of +the service which he knows would have been so willingly rendered. The +purpose for which he would have liked to keep him is defined as being, +"that he might minister to me in the bonds of the Gospel." If the last +words be connected with "me," they suggest a tender reason why Paul +should be ministered to, as suffering for Christ, their common Master, +and for the truth, their common possession. If, as is perhaps less +probable, they be connected with "minister," they describe the sphere in +which the service is to be rendered. Either the master or the slave +would be bound by the obligations which the Gospel laid on them to serve +Paul. Both were his converts, and therefore knit to him by a welcome +chain, which made service a delight. + +There is no need to enlarge on the winning courtesy of these words, so +full of happy confidence in the friend's disposition, that they could +not but evoke the love to which they trusted so completely. Nor need I +do more than point their force for the purpose of the whole letter, the +procuring a cordial reception for the returning fugitive. So dear had he +become, that Paul would like to have kept him. He goes back with a kind +of halo round him, now that he is not only a good-for-nothing runaway, +but Paul's friend, and so much prized by him. It would be impossible to +do anything but welcome him, bringing such credentials; and yet all this +is done with scarcely a word of direct praise, which might have provoked +contradiction. One does not know whether the confidence in Onesimus or +in Philemon is the dominant note in the harmony. In the preceding +clause, he was spoken of as, in some sense, part of the Apostle's very +self. In this, he is regarded as, in some sense, part of Philemon. So he +is a link between them. Paul would have taken his service as if it had +been his master's. Can the master fail to take him as if he were Paul? + +IV. The last topic in these verses is the decision which arrested the +half-formed wish. "I was _wishing_ indeed, but I _willed_ otherwise." +The language is exact. There is a universe between "I wished" and "I +willed." Many a good wish remains fruitless, because it never passes +into the stage of firm resolve. Many who wish to be better will to be +bad. One strong "I will" can paralyse a million wishes. + +The Apostle's final determination was, to do nothing without Philemon's +cognisance and consent. The reason for the decision is at once a very +triumph of persuasiveness, which would be ingenious if it were not so +spontaneous, and an adumbration of the very spirit of Christ's appeal +for service to us. "That thy benefit"--the good done to me by him, which +would in my eyes be done by you--"should not be as of necessity, but +willingly." That "as" is a delicate addition. He will not think that the +benefit would really have been by constraint, but it might have looked +as if it were. + +Do not these words go much deeper than this small matter? And did not +Paul learn the spirit that suggested them from his own experience of how +Christ treated him? The principle underlying them is, that where the +bond is love, compulsion takes the sweetness and goodness out of even +sweet and good things. Freedom is essential to virtue. If a man "could +not help it" there is neither praise nor blame due. That freedom +Christianity honours and respects. So in reference to the offer of the +gospel blessings, men are not forced to accept them but appealed to, +and can turn deaf ears to the pleading voice, "Why will ye die?" Sorrows +and sins and miseries without end continue, and the gospel is rejected, +and lives of wretched godlessness are lived, and a dark future pulled +down on the rejecters' heads--and all because God knows that these +things are better than that men should be forced into goodness, which +indeed would cease to be goodness if they were. For nothing is good but +the free turning of the will to goodness, and nothing bad but its +aversion therefrom. + +The same solemn regard for the freedom of the individual and low +estimate of the worth of constrained service influence the whole aspect +of Christian ethics. Christ wants no pressed men in His army. The +victorious host of priestly warriors, which the Psalmist saw following +the priest-king in the day of his power, numerous as the dewdrops, and +radiant with reflected beauty as these, were all "willing"--volunteers. +There are no conscripts in the ranks. These words might be said to be +graven over the gates of the kingdom of heaven, "Not as of necessity, +but willingly." In Christian morals, law becomes love, and love, law. +"Must" is not in the Christian vocabulary, except as expressing the +sweet constraint which bows the will of him who loves to harmony, which +is joy, with the will of Him who is loved. Christ takes no offerings +which the giver is not glad to render. Money, influence, service, which +are not offered by a will moved by love, which love, in its turn, is set +in motion by the recognition of the infinite love of Christ in His +sacrifice, are, in His eyes, nought. An earthenware cup with a drop of +cold water in it, freely given out of a glad heart, is richer and more +precious in His sight than golden chalices swimming with wine and melted +pearls, which are laid by constraint on His table. "I delight to do Thy +will" is the foundation of all Christian obedience; and the servant had +caught the very tone of the Lord's voice when he said, "Without thy mind +I will do nothing, that thy benefit should not be, as it were, of +necessity, but willingly." + + + + +V. + + "For perhaps he was therefore parted from thee for a season, that + thou shouldest have him for ever; no longer as a servant, but more + than a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much + rather to thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord. If then thou + countest me a partner, receive him as myself. But if he hath wronged + thee at all, or oweth thee aught, put that to mine account; I Paul + write it with mine own hand, I will repay it: that I say not unto + thee how that thou owest to me even thine own self + besides."--PHILEM. 15-19 (Rev. Ver.). + + +The first words of these verses are connected with the preceding by the +"for" at the beginning; that is to say, the thought that possibly the +Divine purpose in permitting the flight of Onesimus was his restoration, +in eternal and holy relationship, to Philemon, was Paul's reason for not +carrying out his wish to keep Onesimus as his own attendant and helper. +"I did not decide, though I very much wished, to retain him without your +consent, because it is possible that he was allowed to flee from you, +though his flight was his own blamable act, in order that he might be +given back to you, a richer possession, a brother instead of a slave." + +I. There is here a Divine purpose discerned as shining through a +questionable human act. + +The first point to note is, with what charitable delicacy of feeling the +Apostle uses a mild word to express the fugitive's flight. He will not +employ the harsh naked word "ran away." It might irritate Philemon. +Besides, Onesimus has repented of his faults, as is plain from the fact +of his voluntary return, and therefore there is no need for dwelling on +them. The harshest, sharpest words are best when callous consciences are +to be made to wince; but words that are balm and healing are to be used +when men are heartily ashamed of their sins. So the deed for which +Philemon's forgiveness is asked is half veiled in the phrase "he was +parted." + +Not only so, but the word suggests that behind the slave's mutiny and +flight there was another Will working, of which, in some sense, Onesimus +was but the instrument. He "_was_ parted"--not that he was not +responsible for his flight, but that, through his act, which in the eyes +of all concerned was wrong, Paul discerns as dimly visible a great +Divine purpose. + +But he puts that as only a possibility: "_Perhaps_ he departed from +thee."----He will not be too sure of what God means by such and such a +thing, as some of us are wont to be, as if we had been sworn of God's +privy council. "Perhaps" is one of the hardest words for minds of a +certain class to say; but in regard to all such subjects, and to many +more, it is the motto of the wise man, and the shibboleth which sifts +out the patient, modest lovers of truth from rash theorists and +precipitate dogmatisers. Impatience of uncertainty is a moral fault +which mars many an intellectual process; and its evil effects are +nowhere mote visible than in the field of theology. A humble "perhaps" +often grows into a "verily, verily"--and a hasty, over-confident +"verily, verily," often dwindles to a hesitating "perhaps." Let us not +be in too great a hurry to make sure that we have the key of the +cabinet where God keeps His purposes, but content ourselves with +"perhaps" when we are interpreting the often questionable ways of His +providences, each of which has many meanings and many ends. + +But however modestly he may hesitate as to the application of the +principle, Paul has no doubt as to the principle itself: namely, that +God, in the sweep of His wise providence, utilizes even men's evil, and +works it in, to the accomplishment of great purposes far beyond their +ken, as nature, in her patient chemistry, takes the rubbish and filth of +the dunghill and turns them into beauty and food. Onesimus had no high +motives in his flight; he had run away under discreditable +circumstances, and perhaps to escape deserved punishment. Laziness and +theft had been the hopeful companions of his flight, which, so far as he +was concerned, had been the outcome of low and probably criminal +impulses; and yet God had known how to use it so as to lead to his +becoming a Christian. "With the wrath of man Thou girdest Thyself," +twisting and bending it so as to be flexible in Thy hands, and "the +remainder Thou dost restrain," How unlike were the seed and the +fruit--the flight of a good-for-nothing thief and the return of a +Christian brother! He meant it not so; but in running away from his +master, he was running straight into the arms of his Saviour. How little +Onesimus knew what was to be the end of that day's work, when he slunk +out of Philemon's house with his stolen booty hid away in his bosom! And +how little any of us know where we are going, and what strange results +may evolve themselves from our actions! Blessed they who can rest in +the confidence that, however modest we should be in our interpretation +of the events of our own or of other men's lives, the infinitely complex +web of circumstance is woven by a loving, wise Hand, and takes shape, +with all its interlacing threads, according to a pattern in His hand, +which will vindicate itself when it is finished! + +The contrast is emphatic between the short absence and the eternity of +the new relationship: "for a season"--literally an hour--and "for ever." +There is but one point of view which gives importance to this material +world, with all its fleeting joys and fallacious possessions. Life is +not worth living, unless it be the vestibule to a life beyond. Why all +its discipline, whether of sorrow or joy, unless there be another, +ampler life, where we can use to nobler ends the powers acquired and +greatened by use here? What an inconsequent piece of work is man, if the +few years of earth are his all! Surely, if nothing is to come of all +this life here, men are made in vain, and had better not have been at +all. Here is a narrow sound, with a mere ribbon of sea in it, shut in +between grim, echoing rocks. How small and meaningless it looks as long +as the fog hides the great ocean beyond! But when the mist lifts, and we +see that the narrow strait leads out into a boundless sea that lies +flashing in the sunshine to the horizon, then we find out the worth of +that little driblet of water at our feet. It connects with the open sea, +and that swathes the world. So is it with "the hour" of life; it opens +out and debouches into the "for ever," and therefore it is great and +solemn. This moment is one of the moments of that hour. We are the sport +of our own generalisations, and ready to admit all these fine and +solemn things about life, but we are less willing to apply them to the +single moments as they fly. We should not rest content with recognising +the general truth, but ever make conscious effort to feel that _this_ +passing instant has something to do with our eternal character and with +our eternal destiny. + +That is an exquisitely beautiful and tender thought which the Apostle +puts here, and one which is susceptible of many applications. The +temporary loss may be eternal gain. The dropping away of the earthly +form of a relationship may, in God's great mercy, be a step towards its +renewal in higher fashion and for evermore. All our blessings need to be +past before reflection can be brought to bear upon them, to make us +conscious how blessed we were. The blossoms have to perish before the +rich perfume, which can be kept in undiminished fragrance for years, can +be distilled from them. When death takes away dear ones, we first learn +that we were entertaining angels unawares; and as they float away from +us into the light, they look back with faces already beginning to +brighten into the likeness of Christ, and take leave of us with His +valediction, "It is expedient for you that I go away." Memory teaches us +the true character of life. We can best estimate the height of the +mountain peaks when we have left them behind. The softening and +hallowing influence of death reveals the nobleness and sweetness of +those who are gone. Fair country never looks so fair as when it has a +curving river for a foreground; and fair lives look fairer than before, +when seen across the Jordan of death. + +To us who believe that life and love are not killed by death, the end of +their earthly form is but the beginning of a higher heavenly. Love which +is "in Christ" is eternal. Because Philemon and Onesimus were two +Christians, therefore their relationship was eternal. Is it not yet more +true, if that were possible, that the sweet bonds which unite Christian +souls here on earth are in their essence indestructible, and are +affected by death only as the body is? Sown in weakness, will they not +be raised in power? Nothing of them shall die but the encompassing +death. Their mortal part shall put on immortality. As the farmer gathers +the green flax with its blue bells blooming on it, and throws it into a +tank to rot, in order to get the firm fibre which cannot rot, and spin +it into a strong cable, so God does with our earthly loves. He causes +all about them that is perishable to perish, that the central fibre, +which is eternal, may stand clear and disengaged from all that was less +Divine than itself. Wherefore mourning hearts may stay themselves on +this assurance, that they will never lose the dear ones whom they have +loved in Christ, and that death itself but changes the manner of the +communion, and refines the tie. They were as for a moment dead, but they +are alive again. To our bewildered sight they departed and were lost for +a season, but they are found, and we can fold them in our heart of +hearts for ever. + +But there is also set forth here a change, not only in the duration but +in the quality of the relation between the Christian master and his +former slave, who continues a slave indeed, but is also a brother. "No +longer as a servant, but more than a servant, a brother beloved, +specially to me, but how much rather to thee, both in the flesh and in +the Lord." It is clear from these words that Paul did not anticipate the +manumission of Onesimus. What he asks is, that he should not be received +_as_ a slave. Evidently then he is to be still a slave in so far as the +outward fact goes--but a new spirit is to be breathed into the +relationship. "Specially to me"; he is more than a slave to me. I have +not looked on him as such, but have taken him to my heart as a brother, +as a son indeed, for he is especially dear to me as my convert. But +however dear he is to me, he should be more so to thee, to whom his +relation is permanent, while to me it is temporary. And this Brotherhood +of the slave is to be felt and made visible "both in the flesh"--that +is, in the earthly and personal relations of common life, "and in the +Lord"--that is, in the spiritual and religious relationships of worship +and the Church. + +As has been well said, "In the flesh, Philemon has the brother for his +slave; in the Lord, Philemon has the slave for his brother." He is to +treat him as his brother therefore both in the common relationships of +every-day life and in the acts of religious worship. + +That is a pregnant word. True, there is no gulf between Christian people +now-a-days like that which in the old times parted owner and slave; but, +as society becomes more and more differentiated, as the diversities of +wealth become more extreme in our commercial communities, as education +comes to make the educated man's whole way of looking at life differ +more and more from that of the less cultured classes, the injunction +implied in our text encounters enemies quite as formidable as slavery +ever was. The highly educated man is apt to be very oblivious of the +brotherhood of the ignorant Christian, and he, on his part, finds the +recognition just as hard. The rich mill-owner has not much sympathy with +the poor brother who works at his spinning-jennies. It is often +difficult for the Christian mistress to remember that her cook is her +sister in Christ. There is quite as much sin against fraternity on the +side of the poor Christians who are servants and illiterate, as on the +side of the rich who are masters or cultured. But the principle that +Christian brotherhood is to reach across the wall of class distinctions +is as binding to-day as it was on these two good people, Philemon the +master and Onesimus the slave. + +That brotherhood is not to be confined to acts and times of Christian +communion, but is to be shown and to shape conduct in common life. "Both +in the flesh and in the Lord" may be put into plain English thus: A rich +man and a poor one belong to the same church; they unite in the same +worship, they are "partakers of the one bread," and therefore, Paul +thinks, "are one bread." They go outside the church door. Do they ever +dream of speaking to one another outside? "A brother beloved in the +Lord"--on Sundays, and during worship and in Church matters--is often a +stranger "in the flesh" on Mondays, in the street and in common life. +Some good people seem to keep their brotherly love in the same wardrobe +with their Sunday clothes. Philemon was bid, and all are bid, to wear it +all the week, at market as well as church. + +II. In the next verse, the essential purpose for which the whole letter +was written is put at last in an articulate request, based upon a very +tender motive. "If then thou countest me as a partner, receive him as +myself," Paul now at last completes the sentence which he began in _v_. +12, and from which he was hurried away by the other thoughts that came +crowding in upon him. This plea for the kindly welcome to be accorded to +Onesimus has been knocking at the door of his lips for utterance from +the beginning of the letter; but only now, so near the end, after so +much conciliation, he ventures to put it into plain words; and even now +he does not dwell on it, but goes quickly on to another point. He puts +his requests on a modest and yet a strong ground, appealing to +Philemon's sense of comradeship--"if thou countest me a partner"--a +comrade or a sharer in Christian blessings. He sinks all reference to +apostolic authority, and only points to their common possession of +faith, hope, and joy in Christ. "Receive him as myself." That request +was sufficiently illustrated in the preceding chapter, so that I need +only refer to what was then said on this instance of interceding love +identifying itself with its object, and on the enunciation in it of +great Christian truth. + +III. The course of thought next shows--Love taking the slave's debts on +itself. + +"If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee aught." Paul makes an "if" of +what he knew well enough to be the fact; for no doubt Onesimus had told +him all his faults, and the whole context shows that there was no +uncertainty in Paul's mind, but that he puts the wrong hypothetically +for the same reason for which he chooses to say, "was parted" instead +of "ran away," namely, to keep some thin veil over the crimes of a +penitent, and not to rasp him with rough words. For the same reason, +too, he falls back upon the gentler expressions, "wronged" and "oweth," +instead of blurting out the ugly word "stolen." And then, with a +half-playful assumption of lawyer-like phraseology, he bids Philemon put +that to his account. Here is my autograph--"I Paul write it with mine +own hand"--I make this letter into a bond. Witness my hand; "I will +repay it." The formal tone of the promise, rendered more formal by the +insertion of the name--and perhaps by that sentence only being in his +own handwriting--seems to warrant the explanation that it is half +playful; for he could never have supposed that Philemon would exact the +fulfilment of the bond, and we have no reason to suppose that, if he +had, Paul could really have paid the amount. But beneath the playfulness +there lies the implied exhortation to forgive the money wrong as well as +the others which Onesimus had done him. + +The verb used here for _put to the account of_ is, according to the +commentators, a very rare word; and perhaps the singular phrase may be +chosen to let another great Christian truth shine through. Was Paul's +love the only one that we know of which took the slave's debts on +itself? Did anybody else ever say, "Put that on mine account"? We have +been taught to ask for the forgiveness of our sins as "debts," and we +have been taught that there is One on whom God has made to meet the +iniquities of us all. Christ takes on Himself all Paul's debt, all +Philemon's, all ours. He has paid the ransom for all, and He so +identifies Himself with men that He takes all their sins upon Him, and +so identifies men with Himself that they are "received as Himself." It +is His great example that Paul is trying to copy here. Forgiven all that +great debt, he dare not rise from his knees to take his brother by the +throat, but goes forth to show to his fellow the mercy which he has +found, and to model his life after the pattern of that miracle of love +in which is his trust. It is Christ's own voice which echoes in "put +that on mine account." + +IV. Finally, these verses pass to a gentle reminder of a greater debt: +"That I say not unto thee how that thou owest to me even thine own self +besides." + +As his child in the Gospel, Philemon owed to Paul much more than the +trifle of money of which Onesimus had robbed him; namely his spiritual +life, which he had received through the Apostle's ministry. But he will +not insist on that. True love never presses its claims, nor recounts its +services. Claims which need to be urged are not worth urging. A true, +generous heart will never say, "You ought to do so much for me, because +I have done so much for you." To come down to that low level of +chaffering and barter is a dreadful descent from the heights where the +love which delights in giving should ever dwell. + +Does not Christ speak to us in the same language? We owe ourselves to +Him, as Lazarus did, for He raises us from the death of sin to a share +in His own new, undying life. As a sick man owes his life to the doctor +who has cured him, as a drowning man owes his to his rescuer, who +dragged him from the water and breathed into his lungs till they began +to work of themselves, as a child owes its life to its parent--so we owe +ourselves to Christ. But He does not insist upon the debt; He gently +reminds us of it, as making His commandment sweeter and easier to obey. +Every heart that is really touched with gratitude will feel, that the +less the giver insists upon his gifts, the more do they impel to +affectionate service. To be perpetually reminded of them weakens their +force as motives to obedience, for it then appears as if they had not +been gifts of love at all, but bribes given by self-interest; and the +frequent reference to them sounds like complaint. But Christ does not +insist on His claims, and therefore the remembrance of them ought to +underlie all our lives and to lead to constant glad devotion. + +One more thought may be drawn from the words. The great debt which can +never be discharged does not prevent the debtor from receiving reward +for the obedience of love. "I will repay it," even though thou owest me +thyself. Christ has bought us for His servants by giving Himself and +ourselves to us. No work, no devotion, no love can ever repay our debt +to Him. From His love alone comes the desire to serve Him; from His +grace comes the power. The best works are stained and incomplete, and +could only be acceptable to a Love that was glad to welcome even +unworthy offerings, and to forgive their imperfections. Nevertheless He +treats them as worthy of reward, and crowns His own grace in men with an +exuberance of recompense far beyond their deserts. He will suffer no man +to work for Him for nothing; but to each He gives even here great +reward _in_ keeping His commandments, and hereafter "an exceeding great +reward," of which the inward joys and outward blessings that now flow +from obedience are but the earnest His merciful allowance of +imperfections treats even our poor deeds as rewardable; and though +eternal life must ever be the _gift_ of God, and no claim of merit can +be sustained before His judgment seat, yet the measure of that life +which is possessed here or hereafter is accurately proportioned to and +is, in a very real sense, the consequence of obedience and service, "If +any man's work abide, he shall receive a reward," and Christ's own +tender voice speaks the promise, "I will repay, albeit I say not unto +thee how thou owest to Me even thine own self besides." Men do not +really possess themselves unless they yield themselves to Jesus Christ. +He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth himself, in +glad surrender of himself to his Saviour, he and only he is truly lord +and owner of his own soul. And to such an one shall be given rewards +beyond hope and beyond measure--and, as the crown of all, the blessed +possession of Christ, and in it the full, true, eternal possession of +himself, glorified and changed into the image of the Lord who loved him +and gave Himself for him. + + + + +VI. + + "Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord refresh my heart + in Christ. Having confidence in thine obedience I write unto thee, + knowing that thou wilt do even beyond what I say. But withal prepare + me a lodging: for I hope that through your prayers I shall be + granted unto you. + + "Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, saluteth thee; and so + do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers. + + "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. + Amen."--PHILEM. 20-25 (Rev. Ver.). + + +We have already had occasion to point out that Paul's pleading with +Philemon, and the motives which he adduces, are expressions, on a lower +level, of the greatest principles of Christian ethics. If the closing +salutations be left out of sight for the moment, there are here three +verses, each containing a thought which needs only to be cast into its +most general form to show itself as a large Christian truth. + +I. Verse 20 gives the final moving form of the Apostle's request. +Onesimus disappears, and the final plea is based altogether on the fact +that compliance will pleasure and help Paul. There is but the faintest +gleam of a possible allusion to the former in the use of the verb from +which the name Onesimus is derived--"Let me have _help_ of thee"; as if +he had said, "Be you an Onesimus, a helpful one to me, as I trust he is +going to be to you." "Refresh my heart" points back to _v._ 7, "The +hearts of the saints have been refreshed by thee," and lightly suggests +that Philemon should do for Paul what he had done for many others. But +the Apostle does not merely ask help and refreshing; he desires that +they should be of a right Christian sort. "In Christ" is very +significant. If Philemon receives his slave for Christ's sake and in the +strength of that communion with Christ which fits for all virtue, and so +for this good deed--a deed which is of too high and rare a strain of +goodness for his unaided nature,--then "in Christ" he will be helpful to +the Apostle. In that case the phrase expresses the element or sphere in +which the act is done. But it may apply rather, or even also, to Paul, +and then it expresses the element or sphere in which he is helped and +refreshed. In communion with Jesus, taught and inspired by Him, the +Apostle is brought to such true and tender sympathy with the runaway +that his heart is refreshed, as by a cup of cold water, by kindness +shown to him. Such keen sympathy is as much beyond the reach of nature +as Philemon's kindness would be. Both are "in Christ." Union with Him +refines selfishness, and makes men quick to feel another's sorrows and +joys as theirs, after the pattern of Him who makes the case of God's +fugitives His own. It makes them easy to be entreated and ready to +forgive. So to be in Him is to be sympathetic like Paul, and placable as +He would have Onesimus. "In Christ" carries in it the secret of all +sweet humanities and beneficence, is the spell which calls out fairest +charity, and is the only victorious antagonist of harshness and +selfishness. + +The request for the sake of which the whole letter is written is here +put as a kindness to Paul himself, and thus an entirely different motive +is appealed to. "Surely you would be glad to give me pleasure. Then do +this thing which I ask you." It is permissible to seek to draw to +virtuous acts by such a motive, and to reinforce higher reasons by the +desire to please dear ones, or to win the approbation of the wise and +good. It must be rigidly kept as a subsidiary motive, and distinguished +from the mere love of applause. Most men have some one whose opinion of +their acts is a kind of embodied conscience, and whose satisfaction is +reward. But pleasing the dearest and purest among men can never be more +than at most a crutch to help lameness or a spur to stimulate. + +If however this motive be lifted to the higher level, and these words +thought of as Paul's echo of Christ's appeal to those who love Him, they +beautifully express the peculiar blessedness of Christian ethics. The +strongest motive, the very mainspring and pulsing heart of Christian +duty, is to please Christ. His language to His followers is not, "Do +this because it is right," but, "Do this because it pleaseth Me." They +have a living Person to gratify, not a mere law of duty to obey. The +help which is given to weakness by the hope of winning golden opinions +from, or giving pleasure to, those whom men love is transferred in the +Christian relation to Jesus. So the cold thought of duty is warmed, and +the weight of obedience to a stony, impersonal law is lightened, and a +new power is enlisted on the side of goodness, which sways more mightily +than all the abstractions of duty. The Christ Himself makes His appeal +to men in the same tender fashion as Paul to Philemon. He will move to +holy obedience by the thought--wonderful as it is--that it gladdens Him. +Many a weak heart has been braced and made capable of heroisms of +endurance and effort, and of angel deeds of mercy, all beyond its own +strength, by that great thought, "We labour that, whether present or +absent, we may be well-pleasing to Him." + +II. Verse 21 exhibits love commanding, in the confidence of love +obeying. "Having confidence in thine obedience I write unto thee, +knowing that thou wilt do even beyond what I say." In _v_. 8 the Apostle +had waived his right to enjoin, because he had rather speak the speech +of love, and request. But here, with the slightest possible touch, he +just lets the note of authority sound for a single moment, and then +passes into the old music of affection and trust. He but names the word +"obedience," and that in such a way as to present it as the child of +love, and the privilege of his friend. He trusts Philemon's obedience, +because he knows his love, and is sure that it is love of such a sort as +will not stand on the exact measure, but will delight in giving it +"pressed down and running over." + +What could he mean by "do more than I say"? Was he hinting at +emancipation, which he would rather have to come from Philemon's own +sense of what was due to the slave who was now a brother, than be +granted, perhaps hesitatingly, in deference to his request? Possibly, +but more probably he had no definite thing in his mind, but only desired +to express his loving confidence in his friend's willingness to please +him. Commands given in such a tone, where authority audibly trusts the +subordinate, are far more likely to be obeyed than if they were shouted +with the hoarse voice of a drill-sergeant. Men will do much to fulfil +generous expectations. Even debased natures will respond to such appeal; +and if they see that good is expected from them, that will go far to +evoke it. Some masters have always good servants, and part of the secret +is that they trust them to obey. "England expects" fulfilled itself. +When love enjoins there should be trust in its tones. It will act like a +magnet to draw reluctant feet into the path of duty. A will which mere +authority could not bend, like iron when cold, may be made flexible when +warmed by this gentle heat. If parents oftener let their children feel +that they had confidence in their obedience, they would seldomer have to +complain of their disobedience. + +Christ's commands follow, or rather set, this pattern. He trusts His +servants, and speaks to them in a voice softened and confiding. He tells +them His wish, and commits Himself and His cause to His disciples' love. + +Obedience beyond the strict limits of command will always be given by +love. It is a poor, grudging service which weighs obedience as a chemist +does some precious medicine, and is careful that not the hundredth part +of a grain more than the prescribed amount shall be doled out. A hired +workman will fling down his lifted trowel full of mortar at the first +stroke of the clock, though it would be easier to lay it on the bricks; +but where affection moves the hand, it is delight to add something over +and above to bare duty. The artist who loves his work will put many a +touch on it beyond the minimum which will fulfil his contract. Those +who adequately feel the power of Christian motives will not be anxious +to find the least that they durst, but the most that they can do. If +obvious duty requires them to go a mile, they will rather go two, than +be scrupulous to stop as soon as they see the milestone. A child who is +always trying to find out how little would satisfy his father cannot +have much love. Obedience to Christ is joy, peace, love. The grudging +servants are limiting their possession of these, by limiting their +active surrender of themselves. They seem to be afraid of having too +much of these blessings. A heart truly touched by the love of Jesus +Christ will not seek to know the lowest limit of duty, but the highest +possibility of service. + + "Give all thou canst; high heaven rejects the lore + Of nicely calculated less or more." + +III. Verse 22 may be summed up as the language of love, hoping for +reunion. "Withal prepare me a lodging: for I hope that through your +prayers I shall be granted unto you." We do not know whether the +Apostle's expectation was fulfilled. Believing that he was set free from +his first imprisonment, and that his second was separated from it by a +considerable interval, during which he visited Macedonia and Asia Minor, +we have yet nothing to show whether or not he reached Colossae; but +whether fulfilled or not, the expectation of meeting would tend to +secure compliance with his request, and would be all the more likely to +do so, for the very delicacy with which it is stated, so as not to seem +to be mentioned for the sake of adding force to his intercession. + +The limits of Paul's expectation as to the power of his brethren's +prayers for temporal blessings are worth noting. He does believe that +these good people in Colossae could help him by prayer for his +liberation, but he does not believe that their prayer will certainly be +heard. In some circles much is said now about "the prayer of faith"--a +phrase which, singularly enough, is in such cases almost confined to +prayers for external blessings,--and about its power to bring money for +work which the person praying believes to be desirable, or to send away +diseases. But surely there can be no "faith" without a definite Divine +_word_ to lay hold of. Faith and God's promise are correlative; and +unless a man has God's plain promise that A. B. will be cured by his +prayer, the belief that he will is not faith, but something deserving a +much less noble name. The prayer of faith is not forcing our wills on +God, but bending our wills to God's. The prayer which Christ has taught +in regard to all outward things is, "Not my will but Thine be done," +and, "May Thy will become mine." That is the prayer of faith, which is +always answered. The Church prayed for Peter, and he was delivered; the +Church, no doubt, prayed for Stephen, and he was stoned. Was then the +prayer for him refused? Not so, but if it were prayer at all, the inmost +meaning of it was "be it as Thou wilt"; and that was accepted and +answered. Petitions for outward blessings, whether for the petitioner or +for others, are to be presented with submission; and the highest +confidence which can be entertained concerning them is that which Paul +here expresses: "I _hope_ that through your prayers I shall be set +free." + +The prospect of meeting enhances the force of the Apostle's wish; nor +are Christians without an analogous motive to give weight to their +obligations to their Lord. Just as Paul quickened Philemon's loving wish +to serve him by the thought that he might have the gladness of seeing +him before long, so Christ quickens His servant's diligence by the +thought that before very many days He will come, or they will go--at any +rate, they will be with Him,--and He will see what they have been doing +in His absence. Such a prospect should increase diligence, and should +not inspire terror. It is a mark of true Christians that they "love His +appearing." Their hearts should glow at the hope of meeting. That hope +should make work happier and lighter. When a husband has been away at +sea, the prospect of his return makes the wife sing at her work, and +take more pains or rather pleasure with it, because his eye is to see +it. So should it be with the bride in the prospect of her bridegroom's +return. The Church should not be driven to unwelcome duties by the fear +of a strict judgment, but drawn to large, cheerful service, by the hope +of spreading her work before her returning Lord. + +Thus, on the whole, in this letter, the central springs of Christian +service are touched, and the motives used to sway Philemon are the echo +of the motives which Christ uses to sway men. The keynote of all is +love. Love beseeches when it might command. To love we owe our own +selves beside. Love will do nothing without the glad consent of him to +whom it speaks, and cares for no service which is of necessity. Its +finest wine is not made from juice which is pressed out of the grapes, +but from that which flows from them for very ripeness. Love identifies +itself with those who need its help, and treats kindnesses to them as +done to itself. Love finds joy and heart solace in willing, though it be +imperfect, service. Love expects more than it asks. Love hopes for +reunion, and by the hope makes its wish more weighty. These are the +points of Paul's pleading with Philemon. Are they not the elements of +Christ's pleading with His friends? + +He too prefers the tone of friendship to that of authority. To Him His +servants owe themselves, and remain for ever in His debt, after all +payment of reverence and thankful self-surrender. He does not count +constrained service as service at all, and has only volunteers in His +army. He makes Himself one with the needy, and counts kindness to the +least as done to Him. He binds Himself to repay and overpay all +sacrifice in His service. He finds delight in His people's work. He asks +them to prepare an abode for Him in their own hearts, and in souls +opened by their agency for His entrance. He has gone to prepare a +mansion for them, and He comes to receive account of their obedience and +to crown their poor deeds. It is impossible to suppose that Paul's +pleading for Philemon failed. How much less powerful is Christ's, even +with those who love Him best? + +IV. The parting greetings may be very briefly considered, for much that +would have naturally been said about them has already presented itself +in dealing with the similar salutations in the epistle to Colossae. The +same people send messages here as there; only Jesus called Justus being +omitted, probably for no other reason than because he was not at hand +at the moment. Epaphras is naturally mentioned singly, as being a +Colossian, and therefore more closely connected with Philemon than were +the others. After him come the two Jews and the two Gentiles, as in +Colossians. + +The parting benediction ends the letter. At the beginning of the epistle +Paul invoked grace upon the household "from God our Father and the Lord +Jesus Christ." Now he conceives of it as Christ's gift. In him all the +stooping, bestowing love of God is gathered, that from Him it may be +poured on the world. That grace is not diffused like stellar light, +through some nebulous heaven, but concentrated in the Sun of +Righteousness, who is the light of men. That fire is piled on a hearth +that, from it, warmth may ray out to all that are in the house. + +That grace has man's spirit for the field of its highest operation. +Thither it can enter, and there it can abide, in union more close and +communion more real and blessed than aught else can attain. The spirit +which has the grace of Christ with it can never be utterly solitary or +desolate. + +The grace of Christ is the best bond of family life. Here it is prayed +for on behalf of all the group, the husband, wife, child, and the +friends in their home Church. Like grains of sweet incense cast on an +altar flame, and making fragrant what was already holy, that grace +sprinkled on the household fire will give it an odour of a sweet smell, +grateful to men and acceptable to God. + +That wish is the purest expression of Christian friendship, of which the +whole letter is so exquisite an example. Written as it is about a +common, every-day matter, which could have been settled without a +single religious reference, it is saturated with Christian thought and +feeling. So it becomes an example of how to blend Christian sentiment +with ordinary affairs, and to carry a Christian atmosphere everywhere. +Friendship and social intercourse will be all the nobler and happier, if +pervaded by such a tone. Such words as these closing ones would be a sad +contrast to much of the intercourse of professedly Christian men. But +every Christian ought by his life to be, as it were, floating the grace +of God to others sinking for want of it to lay hold of, and all his +speech should be of a piece with this benediction. + +A Christian's life should be "an epistle of Christ" written with His own +hand, wherein dim eyes might read the transcript of His own gracious +love, and through all his words and deeds should shine the image of his +Master, even as it does through the delicate tendernesses and gracious +pleadings of this pure pearl of a letter, which the slave, become a +brother, bore to the responsive hearts in quiet Colossae. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE. + +_Crown 8vo, cloth, price 7s. 6d. each vol._ + +FIRST SERIES, 1887-8. + + Colossians. + By the Rev. A. MACLAREN, D.D. + + St. Mark. + By the Right Rev. the Bishop of Derry. + + Genesis. + By Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D. + + 1 Samuel. + By Prof. W. G. BLAIKIE, D.D. + + 2 Samuel. + By the same Author. + + Hebrews. + By Principal T. C. EDWARDS, D.D. + +SECOND SERIES, 1888-9. + + Galatians. + By Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A., D.D. + + The Pastoral Epistles. + By the Rev. A. PLUMMER, D.D. + + Isaiah I.--XXXIX. + By Prof. G. A. SMITH, D.D. Vol. I. + + The Book of Revelation. + By Prof. W. MILLIGAN, D.D. + + 1 Corinthians. + By Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D. + + The Epistles of St. John. + By the Most Rev. the Archbishop of Armagh. + +THIRD SERIES, 1889-90. + + Judges and Ruth. + By the Rev. R. A. WATSON, M.A., D.D. + + Jeremiah. + By the Rev. C. J. BALL, M.A. + + Isaiah XL.--LXVI. + By Prof. G. A. SMITH, D.D. Vol. II. + + St. Matthew. + By the Rev. J. MONRO GIBSON, D.D. + + Exodus. + By the Right Rev. the Bishop of Derry. + + St. Luke. + By the Rev. H. BURTON, M.A. + +FOURTH SERIES, 1890-91. + + Ecclesiastes. + By the Rev. SAMUEL COX, D.D. + + St. James and St. Jude. + By the Rev. A. PLUMMER, D.D. + + Proverbs. + By the Rev. R. F. HORTON, D.D. + + Leviticus. + By the Rev. S. H. KELLOGG, D.D. + + The Gospel of St. John. + By Prof. M. DODS, D.D. Vol. I. + + The Acts of the Apostles. + By Prof. STOKES, D.D. Vol. I. + +FIFTH SERIES, 1891-2. + + The Psalms. + By the Rev. A. MACLAREN, D.D. Vol. I. + + 1 and 2 Thessalonians. + By Prof. JAMES DENNEY, D.D. + + The Book of Job. + By the Rev. R. A. WATSON, M.A., D.D. + + Ephesians. + By Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A., D.D. + + The Gospel of St. John. + By Prof. M. DODS, D.D. Vol II. + + The Acts of the Apostles. + By Prof. STOKES, D.D. Vol. II. + +SIXTH SERIES, 1892-3. + + 1 Kings. + By the Very Rev. the Dean of Canterbury. + + Philippians. + By Principal RAINY, D.D. + + Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. + By Prof. W. F. ADENEY, M.A. + + Joshua. + By Prof. W. G. BLAIKIE, D.D. + + The Psalms. + By the Rev. A. MACLAREN, D.D. Vol. II. + + The Epistles of St. Peter. + By Prof. RAWSON LUMBY, D.D. + +SEVENTH SERIES, 1893-4. + + 2 Kings. + By the Very Rev. the Dean of Canterbury. + + Romans. + By the Right Rev. H. C. G. MOULE, D.D. + + The Books of Chronicles. + By Prof. W. H. BENNETT, M.A. + + 2 Corinthians. + By Prof. JAMES DENNEY, D.D. + + Numbers. + By the Rev. R. A. WATSON, M.A., D.D. + + The Psalms. + By the Rev. A. MACLAREN, D.D. Vol. III. + +EIGHTH SERIES, 1895-6. + + Daniel. + By the Very Rev. the Dean of Canterbury. + + The Book of Jeremiah. + By Prof. W. H. BENNETT, M.A. + + Deuteronomy. + By Prof. ANDREW HARPER, B.D. + + The Song of Solomon and Lamentations. + By Prof. W. F. ADENEY, M.A. + + Ezekiel. + By Prof. JOHN SKINNER, M.A. + + The Book of the Twelve Prophets. + By Prof. G. A. SMITH, D.D. Two Vols. + + + + +The Expositor's Bible. + +Edited by Rev. W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A., LL.D. + +_Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. each._ + + +OLD TESTAMENT VOLUMES. + +_GENESIS._ By Rev. Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D. + +_EXODUS._ By the Right Rev. G. A. CHADWICK, D.D., Bishop of Derry. + +_LEVITICUS._ By the Rev. S. H. KELLOGG, D.D. + +_Numbers._ By Rev. R. A. WATSON, D.D. + +_DEUTERONOMY._ By Rev. Prof. ANDREW HARPER, M.A., B.D. + +_JOSHUA._ By Rev. Prof. W. G. BLAIKIE, D.D., LL.D. + +_JUDGES AND RUTH._ By Rev. R. A. WATSON, D.D. + +_1 SAMUEL._ By Rev. Prof. W. G. BLAIKIE, D.D., LL.D. + +_2 SAMUEL._ By Rev. Prof. W. G. BLAIKIE, D.D., LL.D. + +_1 KINGS._ By the Very Rev. DEAN FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S. + +_2 KINGS._ By the Very Rev, DEAN FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S. + +_THE BOOKS OF CHRONICLES._ By Rev. Prof. W. H. BENNETT, M.A. + +_EZRA, NEHEMIAH, AND ESTHER._ By Rev. Prof. W. F. ADENEY, M.A. + +_JOB._ By Rev. R. A. WATSON, D.D. + +_PSALMS._ By Rev. ALEX. MACLAREN, D.D. Three Volumes. + +_PROVERBS._ By Rev. R. F. HORTON, M.A. + +_ECCLESIASTES._ By Rev. SAMUEL COX, D.D. + +_THE SONG OF SOLOMON AND THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH._ By the Rev. W. +F. ADENEY, M.A. + +_ISAIAH._ By Rev. Prof. G. ADAM SMITH, D.D. Two Volumes. + +_JEREMIAH._ By Rev. C. J. BALL, M.A. + +_JEREMIAH._ Chaps. xxi.-lii. By Rev. Prof. W. H. BENNETT, M.A. + +_EZEKIEL._ By Rev. Prof. SKINNER, M.A. + +_DANIEL._ By the Very Rev. DEAN FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S. + +_THE BOOK OF THE TWELVE PROPHETS._ By Rev. Prof. G. ADAM SMITH, D.D. Two +Volumes. + + + + +The Expositor's Bible. + +Edited by Rev. W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A., LL.D. + +_Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. each._ + + +NEW TESTAMENT VOLUMES. + +_ST. MATTHEW._ By Rev. J. MONRO GIBSON, D.D. + +_ST. MARK._ By the Right Rev. G. A. CHADWICK, D.D., Bishop of Derry. + +_ST. LUKE._ By Rev. HENRY BURTON, M.A. + +_ST. JOHN._ By Rev. Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D. Two Volumes. + +_THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES._ By Rev. Prof. G. T. STOKES, D.D. Two +Volumes. + +_ROMANS._ By Rev. H. C. G. MOULE, M.A. + +_1 CORINTHIANS._ By Rev. Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D. + +_2 CORINTHIANS._ By Rev. JAMES DENNEY, D.D. + +_GALATIANS._ By Rev, Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A. + +_EPHESIANS._ By Rev. Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A. + +_PHILIPPIANS._ By Rev. Principal RAINY, D.D. + +_COLOSSIANS AND PHILEMON._ By Rev. ALEX. MACLAREN, D.D. + +_THESSALONIANS._ By Rev. JAMES DENNEY, D.D. + +_THE PASTORAL EPISTLES._ By Rev. A. PLUMMER, D.D. + +_HEBREWS._ By Rev. Principal T. C. EDWARDS, D.D. + +_THE EPISTLES OF ST. JAMES AND ST. JUDE._ By Rev. A. PLUMMER, D.D. + +_THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER._ By Rev. Prof. LUMBY, D.D. + +_THE EPISTLES OF ST. JOHN._ By the Most Rev. W. ALEXANDER, D.D., Lord +Archbishop of Armagh. + +_THE BOOK OF THE REVELATION._ By Rev. Prof. W. MILLIGAN, D.D. + + +LONDON: HODDER & STOUGHTON, 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Expositor's Bible: Colossians and +Philemon, by Alexander Maclaren + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE: COLOSSIANS, PHILEMON *** + +***** This file should be named 37345.txt or 37345.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/3/4/37345/ + +Produced by Marcia Brooks, Colin Bell, Nigel Blower and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian +Libraries) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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