Possibly apostles may have written epistles that were not intended for the permanent instruction of the church; but that what was so intended is lost we may resolutely deny from all we know of our God. But He is the Christ that God raised from the dead and seated in heavenly glory. Christianity is community. And that is not enough. Sorrowful circumstances may, alas! One of the great effects of Christianity is that it destroys the barriers. Everything in our epistle is traced up to Christ as the head of all possible blessing. As Rev., set your mind. In the ancient world sexual relationships before marriage and outside marriage were the normal and accepted practice. Am I to forget His glory in the presence of God? C. F. D. Moule well describes it as "the opposite of the desire to give.". They had done with Him, and, as far as will was concerned, they had done with Him for ever. No right-minded man, as such, could take for granted that others would care to know about his affairs any more than be theirs, unless indeed in case of a relation, or a friend, or a public and extraordinary personage. 1. It was not the Father, but the Godhead. Although there were difficulties and hindrances, how much, he feels, there is for which to praise our God and Father: "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet" (and observe well, it is not merely for the certainty that He will, but in the peaceful assurance that He has made us meet) "to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." We know well that God is making a good use of them, and that, in point of fact, if we meddle, it can only be to loss and confusion. This is the kind of peak of devotion which we can only dimly understand and only haltingly and imperfectly express. Seek marks the practical striving; set your mind, the inward impulse and disposition. For the Christian the burst of temper and the long-lasting anger are alike forbidden. As to the Jewish rites and feasts that some were endeavouring to re-impose, take for an instance the Sabbath, which is the stronger, because it was from the beginning of the first man, yet unfallen, and of course long before the Jewish people. Make sure that we're not making unreasonable demands upon them, taking away their humanness, causing discouragement. So the husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. Set your affection on things above . He is the principle and end of the Christian's life. "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing," urges he, "being fruitful in every good work." Undoubtedly the one word would suggest the other. Compare Philippians 3:19, Philippians 3:20. A father's stroke that chastises the erring is a mercy. Christian life and growth come from God through a direct relationship between the believer and Christ. Half sobbing, he heaved himself up and began to march off dazedly in the wrong direction. Not that others did not supplement this or that. Is it necessary? ], "The Christian has to keep his feet upon the earth, but his head in the heavens. "Let the peace of God be the decider of all things within your heart." Christianity never in this world offers escape from hard work; it makes a man able to work still harder. Utterly impossible that man should see Him who is invisible: he needed one to bring God down to him, and display His word and ways, and Christ is that one image of the invisible God. It comes from two Greek words; the first half of the word is from pleon ( G4119) which means "more" and the second half is from echein ( G2192) which means to have. They do it heartily; they do it with joyfulness. The Spirit, having secured His glory, is more at liberty as to every other topic. 1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. These are alas! Paul begins with a vivid demand. We must make heaven our scope and aim, seek the favour of God above, keep up our communion with the upper world by faith, and hope, and holy love, and make it our constant care and business to secure our title to and qualifications for the heavenly bliss. Can anything be sweeter than this genuine simplicity of affection and mutual interest? Thus the most perfect harmony reigns between all the apostles; but Paul was emphatically minister of the gospel, and minister of the church. Do not lie to one another. Leave off therefore earthly things. I shall not contend against others who are of a different mind; but certainly the Apostle appears to me to go on step by step, so that, in the first instance, he places traditions as to trivial matters in contrast with meditation on the heavenly life, and afterwards, as we shall see, goes a step farther. Paul says things which must have amazed both sides. Thumos ( G2372) is a blaze of sudden anger which is quickly kindled and just as quickly dies. Lesson 1: In Christ, In Flagstaff (Colossians 1:1-2) Lesson 2: Authentic Christianity (Colossians 1:3-8) Lesson 3: What Spiritual Growth Looks Like (Colossians 1:9-12) Lesson 4: Forgiven by God! They had really themselves slipped away in heart: no such hope had found favour otherwise. But so it is. When he was writing to the Philippians, he said, "For me to live is Christ" ( Php_1:21 ). There were evils to be corrected, dancers to be warned against; but if he thinks of that which the Father has in view for them, and of them in view of His glory, less he could not say, neither could he say more. But there is a crowning quality: "And above all these things put on charity," because this is, as nothing else can be, the fullest sign of that which God is Himself, the energy of His nature. ", Space was left: a revelation was yet lacking. The sufferings of animals were nothing to it. We have now traversed the varied contents of the epistle, and it is evident that the Holy Ghost forms an integral part of the divine truth unfolded in it from beginning to end. Secondly, Christ, meanwhile, is in or among the Gentiles here below. This is unfortunate, since his works contain priceless gems of information that are found nowhere except in the ancient writings of the Jews. They are not indeed to reign with Him: this was by no man and at no time promised to them. The thing which settles any master and servant relationship is that both are servants of the one Master, Jesus Christ. The master must treat the slave not like a thing, but like a person, with justice and with the equity which goes beyond justice. He could not say in this epistle "worthy of your vocation," as in writing to the Ephesians. ", All the blessedness that Christ has procured is for those that believe; but this of course supposes that they hold Him fast. But he adds: "If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled;" and we must not weaken this. What a humbling consideration that those so blessed (dead, as we have said, and risen with Christ) are here told to mortify what is most shameful and shameless! "You must not only seek heaven; you must also think heaven." The Christian will see things, not as they appear to men, but as they appear to God." Montgomery was famous as a disciplinarian--but there was another side to him. How was it then to be filled up? We must not dote upon them, nor expect too much from them, that we may set our affections on heaven; for heaven and earth are contrary one to the other, and a supreme regard to both is inconsistent; and the prevalence of our affection to one will proportionably weaken and abate our affection to the other. Colossians Colossians 2 Colossians 2 He preached in the same church as C. H. Spurgeon over one hundred years earlier. In it there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free man, but Christ is all in all. And so it is. It was not so in the Ephesian epistle, where one of the richest developments of divine truth precedes any particular allusion to the saints in that city. Of God He is the image, not exactly in an exclusive, but assuredly in the only adequate sense. The apostle would have them to feel the slightest touch of another's misery; and, as their clothes are put over their body, so their tenderest feeling should be always within the reach of the miserable. It is as if Paul said, "For you the treasures of wisdom are hidden in your secret books; for us Christ is the treasury of wisdom and we are hidden in him.". Why be found running from the substance after the shadow? There is a present witness of the victory of Jesus. "Watch in the same with thanksgiving; withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak." But the apostle was singular in this; for even those who did know that Christ was the Son of the living God, in the highest and eternal sense, seemed but little to have preached it, at any rate in their earlier testimony. "Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. The one and same Christ it is who has settled everything. This is the meaning of "perfect." Under Roman law a slave could not possess any property whatsoever and here he is being promised nothing less than the inheritance of God. She had no legal rights whatever. He is the first-born from among the dead, as well as the Head and firstborn Heir of all subsisting creation. Simple, isn't it? Atheism and Pantheism are the ultimate results of philosophy, and both in reality set. And if I am still living after my flesh, the ritual of baptism is not only negated, but all that I might say is also negated. We may be content to be hidden while He is hidden; but He is not always to be out of sight. Then Paul uses a vivid picture. The slave was a thing in the eyes of the law. (ii) There may well be a word play here which a Greek would recognize at once. Brethren, the Christ that God has made known to us is the Christ that man scorned, cast out and crucified. They do it with a great spirit. Who ever appealed in distress, and did not find in Him bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering? It is, however, evident from what has been remarked, that the two letters do in the most remarkable manner correspond to each other; the one presenting the Head, the other the body. The Christian owns his death in his very baptism; and what is wanted is not effort to attain, but the Spirit's power in acting on the truth by faith. II. ( Matthew 11:30). And the husband, he feels so macho, "Hey, she's my little gal; she's trusting me to do the right thing." Falsehood, too, is judged as it never was before, "Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." The thoughts should be occupied about the things where Christ now dwells, where our final home is to be, where our great interests are. The answer is important, for in it there is the whole Christian doctrine of work. Bible study tool. "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." The cross of Christ is the death-knell of the world in all its pretensions before God. An *apostle is a person whom God sends to lead Christians. It is true. When men's eyes are turned away from Christ, the doctrine of the Spirit might add to the danger and delusion, as it has wrought in all ages to puff up men not established in Christ. In baptism the Christian dies and rises again. Nevertheless, he lets the Colossians know what he went through for their sakes and other saints who were before his heart, even though unknown in the flesh. There is not only the contemplative side but the active, and this makes the saint truly passive; for if we are strengthened, it is mainly not to do, but to endure in a world which knows not Christ. Paul turns to the working out of Christianity in the everyday relationships of life and living. You have seen the clouds gather in the sky and settle on the hills. In any home the tone of personal relationships must be dictated by the awareness that Jesus Christ is an unseen but ever-present guest. The Christian ethic is one of mutual obligation, in which the rights and the obligations rest with every man. Second, we should continually "set" our minds on the things of heaven (our spiritual blessings and hope, our Saviors desires, etc.) Next we enter on the apostle's thanksgiving. But the first characteristic result of Christ's work on the cross was the veil that shut up the holiest rent from top to bottom. He died this is the point here and therefore I am dead too. We are not Jews; we have our place in Christ dead and risen, or are nothing. Nowadays to mortify the flesh means rather to practise ascetic discipline and self-denial. As believing in Him, this is our place. We must note carefully what Paul means by that. Am I then false or true to the constant sign of my Master's death? The slave and the free man came together in the Church. Yes, Christ is in all, and Christ is all. He puts off his old self and puts on a new self, just as the candidate for baptism puts off his old clothes and puts on the new white robe. The ancient world was full of barriers. He now brings Him in openly, and to ourselves. You notice it's in italics. Most of all this was the case in slavery. He can no longer be concerned with the trivial passing things of earth; he must be totally concerned with the eternal verities of heaven. But they are to be the people in whose midst the glory of Jehovah will take up its abode. Such is the only sure root of all blessing, and in this above all is real faith and spirituality shown. Yes, Christ, meanwhile, is more at liberty as to every other topic Jesus... 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