+I. As the body of Christ the Church is one with Him.+--1. _One in
covenant dealing with God._ 2. _One in respect of the principle of
life._ 3. _One in history._ 4. _How Christ may be served or
persecuted._
+II. As the body of Christ the Church is one in
itself.+--1. _Identity of principle._ 2. _Substantial agreement in
faith._ 3. _A visible association through sympathy._
+III. As the body of Christ the Church has many co-operating and
mutually dependent members.+--1. _The members are as numerous as are
believers or as are offices._ 2. _Their mutual dependence and
co-operation illustrated in the work of spreading the Gospel._
3. _Let each one know his own place and duties._
+IV. As the body of Christ the Church must grow up to completeness
and maturity.+--1. _Each believer is first a babe in Christ and
advances to the measure of the stature of a man in Christ._ 2. _As a
whole the Church is gradually augmented and increased_--from Abel
onwards. 3. _To gather in and perfect the elect is the peculiar work
of time._
+V. As the body of Christ the Church must be restored to perfect
soundness and health.+--1. _Christ receives the Church--dead._
2. _The first step towards perfect soundness is a resurrection._
3. _Hence each believer is quickened with Christ in order to be
healed._ 4. _The bodies of the saints shall likewise be
perfect._--The Physician. 5. _In heaven no one shall say, "I am
sick."_
+VI. As the body of Christ the Church is the object of His
unremitting care.+--1. _To provide for the wants of his body is man's
unceasing care._ 2. _Christ has made ample provision._ 3. _He now
ministers to His Church's wants_--clothing, food, defence, habitation.
+VII. As the body of Christ the Church is the instrument through
which He accomplishes His purposes.+--1. _The body the instrument of
the heart or soul._ 2. _The Church the instrument of Christ._ 3. _The
Church but the instrument.--Stewart._
_Christ the Firstborn from the Dead_--
+I. In the dignity of His person.+
+II. Because He rose by His own power.+
+III. Because He is the only one who rose never to die again.+
+IV Because He has taken precedence of His people who all shall rise
from their graves to glory.+
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 19, 20.
_The Reconciling Work of the Great Mediator._
After showing the grand pre-eminency of Christ in both the natural
and moral creation, and thus declaring the inferior and subordinate
position of those angelic powers whose nature and office the false
teachers in Colossæ unduly extolled, the apostle here proceeds to
point out _the special fitness of the great Mediator for that lofty
relationship._ It is grounded on the fact that in Him all fulness
dwells. Observe--
+I. The unique qualification of the great Mediator.+--1. _In Him all
fulness dwells._ The heretical teachers would reduce Christ to the
level of an angelic mediator, a simple evolution from the Divine
nature, and one of the links that bind the finite to the infinite.
They admitted there was the manifestation of Divine power and glory,
but that this was only occasional, and not inherent. The apostle, in
refuting this, asserts that the plenitude--the grand totality of
Deity--resided in Christ, not as a transient guest, but as a
permanent and abiding presence. "All fulness." Well might the
profound and devout Bengel exclaim, "Who can fathom the depth of this
subject?" In the marvellous person of Jesus there is combined all the
fulness of humanity as well as the fulness of Divinity--all the
beauty, dignity, and excellency that replenish heaven and earth, and
adorn the nature of God and of men. It is a fulness that stands
related to all the interests of the universe and can supply the moral
necessities of all. There is a fulness of wisdom to keep us from
error, fulness of grace to preserve from apostasy, fulness of joy to
keep us from despair, and fulness of power to protect from all evil.
It penetrates and fills the vast universe of intelligent beings and
girds it with a radiant circle of glory and felicity.
2. _It is the good pleasure of the Father that this fulness should
reside in the Son._--"For it pleased the Father" (ver. 19). It was
the will and purpose of God the Father that Christ, as the Mediator,
should, in order to accomplish the great work of reconciliation, be
filled with the plenitude of all Divine and human excellencies; that
He should be the grand, living, unfailing reservoir of blessing to
the whole intelligent universe. The Father is not only in harmony
with the reconciling work of the Son, but the whole merciful
arrangement was from the first suggested, planned, and appointed by
Him. The moving cause and foundation of all saving grace through the
Son is the good pleasure of the Father. It is not His good pleasure
that any other than Christ should be the Mediator of the universe. We
should never seek or acknowledge any other.
+II. The reconciling work of the great Mediator.+--1. _The nature of
the reconciliation._ "To reconcile unto Himself" (ver. 20). The word
"reconcile" imports to restore one to a state of amity and
friendship, to change the relations of two parties separated either
by one-sided or mutual enmity. Sin places man at enmity with God, and
exposes him to the Divine opposition and anger. The cross of Christ,
by removing the cause of estrangement, opens the way of
reconciliation; and the penitent, believing soul is thus restored to
the Divine favour and friendship. But the word "reconcile" does not
always presuppose the existence of open enmity; and, from the general
drift of the verse, the term should be interpreted in the most
liberal sense, yet with the utmost caution and reverence.
2. _The extent of the reconciliation._--"To reconcile all things unto
Himself, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven" (ver.
20). It was on the earth where the enmities first arose; therefore,
it is put first. The humanity of Christ bringing all creatures around
it unites them to God in a bond which never before existed--a bond
which has its origin in the mystery of redemption. Thus all things in
heaven and earth feel the effect of man's renovation. In Christ, the
great Reconciler, meet and merge the discordant elements which sin
had introduced (see _Bengel_ and _Eadie_). The false teachers aimed
at effecting a partial reconciliation between God and man, through
the interposition of angelic mediators. The apostle speaks of an
absolute and complete reconciliation of universal nature to God,
effected through the mediation of the incarnate Word. Their mediators
were ineffective because they were neither human nor Divine. The true
Mediator must be both human and Divine. The whole universe of things
material, as well as spiritual, shall be restored to harmony with
God. 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 (_Lightfoot_). With
regard to this reconciliation, we may safely say it includes, with
much more that is too high for us to understand, the following
truths: (1) Sinful creatures on earth are reconciled to God in
Christ. For the degenerate and guilty children of men there is a
Reconciler and a way of reconciliation, so that wrath is turned
aside, and friendship restored. (2) Sinful and sinless or unfallen
creatures are reconciled to each other and brought together again in
Christ. Bengel says: "It is certain that the angels, the friends of
God, were the enemies of men when they were in a state of hostility
against God." The discord and disunion introduced into the moral
universe by sin are overcome by the Lord Jesus. (3) Sinless and
unfallen creatures are brought nearer to God in Christ, and, through
His reconciling work and His infinite fulness of grace, are confirmed
for ever in their loyalty and love. In Christ, the Redeemer and
Reconciler, they have views of the Divine nature, character, and
glory they never had before, and which they can nowhere else obtain
(_Spence_). It needed such a Mediator as Jesus, gifted with the
highest Divine and human powers, to restore the tone and harmony of a
discordant universe, and tune every created spirit to the keynote of
sweetest celestial music. The true melody of acceptable praise is
learned only in the ardent, loving adoration of the Son of God.
+III. The means by which the reconciliation is effected.+--"And
having made peace through the blood of His cross" (ver. 20). To make
peace is the same thing as to reconcile; and the death of Christ--the
shedding of His blood on the cross--was the method by which, in the
infinite wisdom of God, the peace-producing reconciliation is
secured. It was the voluntary self-sacrifice of Himself on the cross
that constituted Jesus the grand reconciling Mediator of the
universe. "All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself
by Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. v. 18). Only by suffering could suffering be
assuaged; only by dying could death itself be conquered. The cross is
therefore the symbol of peace, of power, of triumph. There the law
was fulfilled and magnified, the integrity of the Divine perfections
vindicated, justice was satisfied, mercy found its most bounteous
outlet, and love its crowning joy. The cross is the source of every
blessing to the fallen; the centre round which a disordered universe
again revolves in beauteous order and rejoicing harmony; the
loadstone that draws the trembling sinner to the needed and
unutterable repose.
+Lessons.+--1. _The great Mediator has every qualification for His
stupendous work._ 2. _The reconciliation of a disorganised universe
is beyond the power of any subordinate agent._ 3. _Rebellious man can
be restored to peace with God only as he yields himself up to the
great Mediator._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._