+I. The transient shadow which has passed away.+--The Sabbath as a
sign between God and the Israelites, marking them off from all other
nations by its observance--as a mere Jewish institution.
+II. The permanent substance which cannot pass.+--"The body is of
Christ"--the Spirit of Christ is the fulfilment of the law. To have
the Spirit of Christ is to have fulfilled the law. Apply this to
Sabbath observance.--_F. W. Robertson._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 18, 19.
_The Seductive Peril of a False Philosophy._
The apostle had warned the Colossians against the dangerous
consequences of attaching too much importance to the ceremonial in
religion, inasmuch as it was the substitution of the shadow for the
substance. He now reveals the peril of being seduced by the
theological error that insisted on interposition of angel mediators,
which was the preference of an inferior member to the Head. In this
verse the writer distinctly warns the Colossian Christians against
the peril that threatened them and exposes the presumptuous
speculations of a false philosophy.
+I. That the teachings of a false philosophy threaten to rob the
believer of his most coveted reward.+--"Let no man beguile you of
your reward" (ver. 18). The Christian's career is a race; the present
world is the stadium, or racecourse; Christ is the umpire--the
dispenser of rewards; eternal life is the victor's prize. The
Colossians were in a fair way for winning the prize; they had duly
entered the lists; they were contending bravely; but the false
teachers unhappily crossed their path, sought to impede their
progress, and to rob them of their reward. Error is subtle in its
influence and pernicious in its effects. Many erroneous opinions may
possibly be held without invalidating the salvation of the soul; but
any error that in any degree depreciates our estimate of Christ and
interrupts the advance of our Christian life is a robbery. It may be
said that the dangerous speculations of a false philosophy are
confined only to a few--the higher circle of thinkers. That is bad
enough. But what is damaging the higher order of intellects will
by-and-by reach the lower and work its mischief there. There is need
for uninterrupted vigilance.
+II. That a false philosophy advocates the most presumptuous and
perilous speculations.+--1. _It affects a spurious humility._ God is
unknowable to the limited and uncertain powers of man; He is too high
to be accessible, and too much absorbed in loftier matters to concern
Himself about individual man. He can be approached only through
inferior beings, and their assistance should be humbly sought. So it
reasons. But this humility was voluntary, self-induced, and was in
reality another form of high spiritual pride. Humility, when it
becomes self-conscious, ceases to have any value.
2. _It invents a dangerous system of angelolatry._--"Worshipping of
angels" (ver. 18). The Jews were fond of philosophising about the
dignity, offices, and ranks of the angelic powers; and many held the
opinion that they were messengers who presented our prayers to God.
The false teachers made the most of the authority they could derive
from Jewish sources. They would tell how the law was given by the
disposition of angels--that angels conducted the Israelites through
the wilderness, and on various occasions appeared to patriarchs,
prophets, and apostles. They would dwell on the weakness of man and
his distance from God and insist that homage should be paid to these
angelic messengers as necessary mediators. Alas, how fatal has been
the influence through the centuries of this delusive angelolatry! The
apostle here condemns it, and thus sweeps away all ground for the
Christ-dishonouring practices of invocation of saints and the worship
of the Virgin.
3. _It pretends to a knowledge of the mysterious._--"Intruding into
those things which he hath not seen" (ver. 18). Man is everywhere
circled with mystery. It is one of the saddest moments of life when
he first becomes conscious of the limitation of his own powers, and
of his utter inability to fathom the mysteries which seem to invite
his inquiry while they baffle his attempt. Locke somewhere says, a
worm in the drawer of a cabinet, shut up in its tiny enclosure, might
as well pretend to guess at the construction of the vast universe, as
mortal man ventures to speculate about the unseen world, except so
far as revealed for purposes of salvation. But fools will rush in
where angels fear to tread. The boast of possessing a profound
knowledge of the mysterious is one of the marks of a false philosophy.
4. _It is inflated with an excessive pride._--"Vainly puffed up by
its fleshly mind" (ver. 18). The carnal mind, which is enmity against
God, rises to a pitch of reckless daring in its inventions, and
revelling in its own creative genius, is vainly puffed up with a
conceit of novelty and with a fancied superiority over the humbler
disciple. There is no state more dangerous than this or more
difficult to change. It is proof against every ordinary method of
recovery. The proud man lives "half-way down the slope to hell." God
only can break the delusive snare, humble the soul, and revoke its
threatened doom.
+III. That a false philosophy ignores the Divine source of all
spiritual increase.+--1. _Christ is the great Head of the Church._ He
is the centre of its unity, the primal source of its life, authority,
and influence. He founded the Church, and gave it shape, symmetry,
and durableness. He alone is supreme--the Alpha and Omega--the living
and only Head. To ignore Him is to forfeit the substantial for the
shadowy--the rock for the precarious footing of the crumbling shale.
2. _The Church is vitally and essentially united to Christ._--"From
which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered
and knit together" (ver. 19). As the members of the human frame are
joined to the head, and derive life, motion, and sensation from it by
means of arteries, veins, nerves, and other attachments, so the
spiritual members of Christ are knit to Him by invisible joints and
bands, and depend on Him for sustenance, character, and influence.
3. _The vital union of the Church with Christ is the condition of
spiritual increase._--"Increaseth with the increase of God" (ver.
19). Christ is the Divine source of increase, and the Church can grow
only as it receives nourishment from Him. The growth corresponds with
its nature--it is Divine; it increaseth with the increase of God.
There may be a morbid increase, as there may be an unnatural
enlargement of some part of the human body; but it is only the
excessive inflation of a worldly splendour and ecclesiastical
pretension. Like Jonah's gourd, such a growth may disappear as
rapidly as it came. The true increase is that which comes from God,
of which He is the source, and active, sustaining influence, and
which advances in harmony with His will and purpose. Such an increase
can be secured only by vital union with Christ.
+Lessons.+--1. _A false philosophy distorts the grandest truths._
2. _A false philosophy substitutes for truth the most perilous
speculations._ 3. _Against the teachings of a false philosophy be
ever on your guard._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._