+I. We cannot but lament the divisions and scandals of the professed
disciples of Jesus, which have more than anything else prevented
the universal diffusion of the Gospel.+
+II. We should make it manifest, by acknowledging the truth in
whomsoever found, that we are not bigoted sectarians.+
+III. As regards those with whom we are united in fellowship, let us
prove by our humble, modest, and kind disposition that we are
lovers of peace and concord.+
+IV. Christian unity is promoted by mutual efforts to edify one
another in faith and love.+--_W. France._
Ver. 3. _Christ the Treasury of Wisdom and Knowledge._--The
revelation of Christ not merely teaches us a series of truths of
inexpressible importance, and without it wholly unattainable, but it
also, as a great central discovery, harmonises all our beliefs,
sacred and secular, binds them together as its own servants, gives
them a new interest, position, and colouring, and dignifies the
pursuit of them as a labour in the very cause of God Himself, begun
and prosecuted with a view to His glory--for to know the beauty of
the temple is to know the glory of the Architect.--_Archer Butler._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 5.
_Apostolic Praise of Order and Stability._
It is an impressive spectacle to see a well-armed body of troops
drawn up in compact military order, resisting with calm, unflinching
courage the terrible charge of the enemy. Every point of attack is
strongly guarded, every vacancy occurring in the exposed front line
is instantly supplied, and the broad, deep phalanx remains
impenetrable and invincible. The enforced companionship of the
apostle with the soldiers of the prætorian guard, in his imprisonment
in Rome, where he would be a daily witness of their exercises, might
suggest some such metaphor as this to the mind. And as he foresaw the
confusion and ruin that would be introduced into the Colossian Church
if the fatal errors of the false teachers were triumphant, in this
verse he _expresses his joyous satisfaction in being assured of the
orderly array and firmly set stability which their faith in Christ
presented against the assaults of the foe._ Note:--
+I. The apostle commended the external order of the members of the
Church.+--"Beholding your order." This is mentioned first, because it
first meets the eye, though all external discipline and order must
necessarily spring out of and accompany a genuine faith. There is no
form of ecclesiastical government that can claim an exclusively
Divine sanction. The New Testament lays down broad, general
principles; and the Christian Church has been left to shape itself
according to circumstances and in harmony with the indications of
Divine Providence. True order depends, not upon the form of Church
polity we adopt--whether prelacy, presbytery, or
congregationalism--as upon the consistency, fidelity, and union of
the individual members of the Church. Order that is not based on a
vigorous Church-life, and regulated by it, is empty and powerless; it
is like the ice of the Polar regions, which sometimes assumes forms
of exquisite and wondrous beauty, but is cold, heartless, dead. The
Scriptural directions on this subject are brief but pregnant with
meaning: "Let all things be done decently and in order"; "God is not
the Author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the Churches of the
saints"; "Let all things be done with charity"; "The rest will I set
in order when I come" (1 Cor. xiv. 40, xiv. 33, xvi. 14, xi. 34).
While organisation that is not instinct with a moving, pervasive and
aggressive life is cumbersome, vapid, and useless; on the other hand,
Christian steadfastness is imperilled where order is disregarded.
+II. The apostle commended their stability in the faith.+--"And the
steadfastness of your faith in Christ." These words describe the
internal condition of the Church; and the picture of a firm,
confident reliance on Christ which he beheld delighted the soul of
the anxious apostle. Order is the fence and guard, steadfastness the
end in view, order is the garb and ornament, steadfastness the
substance of the Christian character. Faith girds and strengthens the
soul with its unchanging and invincible verities; the shafts of error
and profanity assail it in vain. When the Roman proconsul, from his
judgment-seat, urged the holy Polycarp to save his life by cursing
the name of Jesus Christ, the venerable martyr calmly answered: "For
eighty-six years I have served Him; He has never yet done me harm.
How can I blaspheme my King, who has saved me?" Man is great and
noble, not by what he possesses, not by what he says, not by what he
gives, not by what he does, but by what he _believes._ The most
magnanimous outward conduct may be, after all, a very imperfect
representation of the soul's deepest faith. What a man believes is
not therefore a matter of comparative indifference, but a question of
supreme importance; he must have a clear, definite creed. True a
creed is but the visible, expressive mould of the inward conception
of the truth believed; but as the tendency of all life is to assume
form and can be understood by us only as it does so, so faith, as a
vital and irresistibly active principle, must inevitably shape itself
into some outward expression. Where there is no creed, there is no
faith; a creedless man believes in nothing, and he is himself that
nothing. He has no more cohesion in him than the separate particles
of sand in the hour-glass. All true faith takes its rise "in Christ,"
and gathers its stability by continuing in Him.
+III. The apostle cherished a deep, personal interest in their
welfare.+--1. _In spirit he was present with them._ "For though I be
absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit." We have no
satisfactory evidence that the apostle had as yet personally visited
Colossæ. Epaphras, the faithful and anxious evangelist, sought him
out in Rome, perhaps for the purpose of laying before him the state
of Colossæ and of the neighbouring Churches on the banks of the
Lycus. The apostle's interest in Colossæ was further excited at this
time by meeting with Onesimus, a runaway slave, belonging to the
household of Philemon, a Colossian. The apostle was the means of
bringing the runaway to repentance and to the enjoyment of the
liberty of the spiritually free. These circumstances deepened St.
Paul's concern in the affairs of the Colossian Christians; he grasped
all the points of the situation, was keenly alive to the gravity of
the dangers with which they were threatened, and, as though he were
personally present in their midst, expressed his sincere sympathy
with them in their trials, and his profound satisfaction on hearing
of their steady adherence to the truth. It is not necessary to be
locally near in order to hold spiritual intercourse; oceans may roll
between individuals whose souls participate in the highest communion.
The soul is where it loves: thither it directs its affections,
wishes, and hopes.
2. _He rejoiced in their fidelity._--"Joying and beholding." As
though an actual spectator of their order and steadfastness, his soul
is filled with joy. The expression of his hearty interest in their
state, and his praise of their fidelity, prepared them to give heed
to his cautions against the seductions of false teachers, and to his
exhortations to perseverance. No disappointment is so poignant as
that arising from the failure of Christian toil, and no joy so
exquisite as the joy of success. The spectacle of a Christian Church
poised in beauteous order and strengthened with the might of an
unfalteringly aggressive faith, is a subject of unspeakable joy to
God, to His angels, and to all true ministers.
+Lessons.+--1. _Attention must be paid to the outward as well as the
inward state of the Church._ 2. _While the Church preserves its order
and stability it is invulnerable._ 3. _It is cause of rejoicing when
the Church faithfully maintains the conquests already won._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 6, 7.
_Suggestive Features of the Christian Life._
The Christian life is essentially progressive. The law that governs
its existence involves perpetual, active increase; if it did not
grow, it would cease to live. Unlike the principle of growth in the
natural world, we cannot conceive a point in the religious life where
it necessarily becomes stationary, and then begins to decline, on the
other hand, every provision is made for its unceasing expansion in
the highest moral excellencies.
+I. The Christian life begins in a personal reception of
Christ.+--"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord" (ver.
6). Religion is not a self-development of innate human goodness, as
many in the present day believe and teach. The soul of man is
infected with the virulent poison of sin; no part has escaped the
destructive moral taint. The utmost exercise of the unsanctified
powers of the soul can therefore tend only towards the development of
its own inborn corruption. As the vinegar plant reproduces itself
with great rapidity and impregnates every branch and fibre with its
own essential acid, so the evil reigning in man reproduces itself
with marvellous rapidity and permeates the whole soul with its
debasing poison. Religion is a receiving--the receiving of a gift,
and that a Divine gift. It is the growth and development of the
supernatural in man. "Christ in you the hope of glory."
1. _Christ is received as_ THE CHRIST.--The Colossian heresy aimed at
subverting the true idea of the Christ, the _Anointed One,_
commissioned by the Father to effect the reconciliation of the world
to Himself; it interposed a graduated series of angelic mediators,
and thus thought to discredit the sole and absolute mediatorship of
Christ. To receive the Son of God effectually is to receive Him in
all that He claimed to be, and all that He came to do, as the Divine,
specially anointed Son, who alone and fully manifested the Father,
and who is the only mediator between sinful man and God. It is of
unspeakable importance to catch the true idea of the character and
office of Christ at the beginning of the Christian life.
2. _Christ is received as Jesus the Lord._--Jesus is the name by
which He was known among men, and points out how completely He has
identified Himself with humanity as the Saviour. "It behoved Him to
be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and
faithful High Priest, to make reconciliation for the sins of the
people." He is also Lord, the supreme Governor in all spheres, in
nature, providence, and grace. To receive Jesus aright, He must be
trusted as the Saviour, able to save to the uttermost, acknowledged
as the Sovereign and universal Ruler, and homage and obedience
rendered to His rightful authority. Our reception of Christ does not
place us beyond the reach of law but creates in us the capacity for
rendering an intelligent and cheerful obedience to its holy
requirements.
3. _Christ is received by an act of faith._--To receive Christ is to
believe in Him; and faith in Christ is simply the reception of
Christ: the only way of receiving Him into the soul is by faith. The
soul accepts, not only the testimony concerning Christ, whether
furnished by Himself or by His witnesses, but accepts Christ Himself.
The great, final object of faith that saves is Christ, and all
testimony is valuable only as it brings us to Him. The sin-tossed
spirit finds rest and peace only as it reposes, not in an abstract
truth, but in a person--not in love as the law of the moral universe,
but in a person who is Himself love.
+II. The Christian life is governed by the law of Christ.+--"So walk
ye in Him" (ver. 6). The word "walk" expresses the general conduct of
man and the process of progression in the formation of individual
character. The will of Christ, as indicated in His character, words,
spirit, and example, is the ruling principle in the life of the
believer.
1. _To walk in Christ implies a recognition of Him in all
things._--In everything that constitutes our daily life--business,
domestic relations, social engagements, friendships, pleasures,
cares, and trials--we may trace the presence of Christ and recognise
His rule. Everywhere, on road, or rail, or sea--in all seasons of
distress or joy, of poverty or wealth, of disturbance or rest--we may
be conscious of the encompassing and regulating presence of Christ
Jesus the Lord.
2. _To walk in Christ implies a complete consecration to Him._--He
has the supreme claim upon our devotion and service: "We are not our
own; we are bought with a price." Our life consists in serving Him:
"Whether we live, we live unto the Lord." The best of everything we
possess should be cheerfully offered to Him. Carpeaux, the celebrated
French sculptor, was kept in comparative retirement for some time
before his death by a long and painful illness. One Sunday, as he was
being drawn to church, he was accosted by a certain prince, who
exclaimed, "Carpeaux, I have good news for you! You have been
advanced in the Legion of Honour. Here is the _rosette d'officier._"
The emaciated sculptor smiled and replied, "Thank you, my dear
friend. It is the good God who shall first have the noble gift."
Saying which, he approached the altar, put the _rosette_ in his
button-hole, and reverentially knelt down to pray.
3. _To walk in Christ implies a continual approximation to the
highest life in Him._--The Christian can rise no higher than to be
most like Christ. The highest ambition of the apostle was to be
"found in Him." Life in Him is a perpetual progress in personal
purity and ever-deepening felicity. Our interest in the vast future
is intensified by the Christ-inspired hope that we shall be for ever
virtually united to Him, that we shall delight in ever-changing
visions of His matchless glory, that we shall be like Him, and
reflect and illustrate the splendour of His all-perfect character.
Every triumph over sin is a substantial advance towards this glorious
future destiny.
+III. The Christian life is supported and established by faith in
fully declared truth.+--1. _There is the idea of stability._ The
believer is rooted in Christ, as a tree planted in firm, immovable
soil; he is built up in Christ, as an edifice on a sure foundation;
and in both senses, as a tree and as a building, he must be
established in the truth which has been demonstrated to him as Divine
and all-authoritative. It is not enough to preserve the appearance of
an external walk in Christ; but the roots of our faith must be worked
into Him, and the superstructure of holiness rest on Him as the only
foundation laid in Zion. The soul thus firmly established will
survive the heaviest storms of adversity and the most furious
assaults of error.
2. _There is the idea of progress._--Walking implies a continual
advance to a given destination; a tree is planted in order to grow;
the building, after the foundation is laid, rises to completion. The
word "built" is in the present tense and describes a work in actual
process. So the believer, having become attached to the only
foundation that is laid, which is Christ Jesus, is ever rising in
conformity with the foundation and with the outlines of that grand
spiritual edifice of which Christ is the pattern and glory. Faith is
the cement that fastens one part of the building to the other; but
faith as a living, active principle, also admits of increase. With
respect to every individual effort after a higher spiritual life,
according to our faith it is done unto us.
+IV. The Christian life has its most appropriate outflow in
thanksgiving.+--"Abounding therein with thanksgiving" (ver. 7). The
end of all human conduct is thanksgiving. It should be expressed in
every word and appear in every action. Life should be a ceaseless,
ever-abounding outflow of gratitude. We should never forget the
magnitude of the blessings we have received, the wealth of mercies
now offered to us, and the source whence they all issue. A thankful
remembrance of past benefits cheers and strengthens the heart under
difficulties and disposes the bounteous Donor to confer further
benefits. There is nothing in which Christians are more deficient
than in a devout and heartily expressed gratitude. Gratitude expands
our sympathies for the race. What a triumph of disinterested
thankfulness was that of the invalid who, though confined to his
room, "thanked God for the sunshine for others to enjoy"! The spirit
of Christian progress is one of unceasing thanksgiving.
+Lessons.+--1. _The Christian life is Divinely bestowed._ 2. _The
Christian life is Divinely sustained._ 3. _The reality of the
Christian life is evidenced by effusive and practical gratitude._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._