+I. Christ is all and in all in the realm of creation.+--The vast
fabric of created things sprang into being at His word. Out of
nothing He created all that is. The distance between being and
no-being is so great that nothing short of infinite power can cause
that to be which never before existed. The heavens are "the firmament
of His power." He made the stars, kindled their brilliant fires,
fixed their rank, regulated their motions, and appointed their
mission. He formed the earth, robed it in vestments of ever-changing
beauty, and endowed it with unfailing productiveness. He fashioned
man after the model of His own illustrious image, freighted him with
faculties of wondrous compass, indicated the possibilities of his
career, and the character of his destiny. Christ is the grand centre
of the magnificent systems by which He is encircled, and which He has
grouped around Himself by the exercise of His creative hand. On Him
their continued existence every moment hangs.
+II. Christ is all and in all in the sphere of providence.+--He
sustains and governs all. Close as population follows on the heels of
production, food never fails for man and beast. Study the sublime
epic on the Divine preservation furnished by Psalm civ. and consider
how the history of human experience in all ages confirms the truth.
Christ controls all the forces of nature. The sweep of the heavenly
bodies, the surge and re-surge of the tide, the eccentric course and
velocity of the wind, the departure and return of the light, the roll
of the dreaded thunder, the recurrent phases of the seasons, all are
obedient to His nod. He is predominant among the spiritual agencies
of the universe. He restricts the power of the great enemy of man. He
restrains the power of evil. He governs the complicated passions of
human hearts and makes even the wrath of men to praise Him. He
guards, guides, and delivers His Church. The greatness of His
providential power is seen in His accomplishing the mightiest results
by insignificant instrumentalities. He is conducting all things to a
glorious consummation.
+III. Christ is all and in all in the work of redemption.+--He
suffered to the death on behalf of the sinning race. He was a
voluntary victim. He was unique in His person--comprising in Himself
the Divine and human natures. As man, He met all the necessities of
sinful and condemned humanity; as God, He answered all the
requirements of the Divine righteousness. While the greatest modern
philosophers are puzzling their minds with an endless variety of
methods for recovering man from his lapsed condition, we behold the
problem solved in the life, sufferings, and death of Christ. That was
a method of redemption that would never have occurred to a finite
mind; and it is now beyond the range of the greatest human intellect
to fathom. Christ, and Christ alone, could redeem. In that sphere He
is all in all, or He is nothing. His work of redemption is an
entrancing expression of the tenderest, deepest, most mysterious love.
+IV. Christ is all and in all in the kingdom of glory.+--He is the
Head of all principalities and powers in the heavenly places. They
depend on Him for life and purity, they obey His slightest word, they
adore His infinite majesty, they delight in His hallowed fellowship.
Christ is also Head over all things to the Church, which is His body;
the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. He is the central
attraction and source of bliss in the realm of glory. The redeemed
cast their crowns before Him and chant His praise in ceaseless
anthems. If Christ were absent, heaven would lose its greatest charm.
"I love to think of heaven; its cloudless light,
Its tearless joys, its recognitions and its fellowships
Of love and joy unending; but when my mind anticipates
The sight of God incarnate, wearing on His hands,
And feet, and side, marks of the wounds
Which He, for me, on Calvary endured,
All heaven beside is swallowed up in this;
And He who was my hope of heaven below,
Becomes the glory of my heaven above."
+V. Christ is all and in all to the believing soul.+--He appears as
the great Emancipator; He delivers from the power of darkness, and
translates the benighted but groping soul into the kingdom of light.
He gives rest to the weary and heavy laden. He comforts the mourner.
He defends and succours the tempted. He is the refuge in every time
of distress. All the wants of the soul are anticipated and abundantly
supplied. He will conduct safely through all the changeful scenes of
this life; and finally invest the soul with the imperishable
splendours of an endless future. Christ is the great necessity and
the all-satisfying portion of the soul.
+Lessons.+--1. _Christ is supreme in all spheres._ 2. _Christ is the
great need of the human soul._ 3. _Faith in Christ brings the soul
into a personal participation in the Divine fulness._
_Christ is All and in All._
+I. The essential glories of Christ.--He possesses all things.+
+II. Christ has purchased all blessings for us.+--All temporal and
all spiritual blessings.
+III. All blessings are treasured up in Christ for the eternal use of
His Church.+
+IV. He will keep His family in the possession of all good for
ever.+--_W. Howels._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 12, 13.
_Essentials of the Christian Character._
In the cultivation of a rare and valuable plant care must be taken to
rid it of everything that would retard its growth, and to supply it
with whatever aids it in reaching the highest possibility of
shapeliness and beauty. Not only must it be severely pruned and
divested of every noxious weed and destructive parasite, but it must
be diligently tended, and liberally provided with air, light, and
moisture. So is it in the training of the Christian character. It is
not enough that the old man--the sinful principle--is suppressed,
mortified, deadened; all the graces of the new man--the new spiritual
nature--must be assumed and sedulously cultivated. Religion is not a
dry, sapless, dead negation, but a grand positive reality--an active,
ever-growing life, pushing its way through every channel of man's
nature, and fashioning his character after the loftiest pattern of
moral loveliness and purity. The change the Colossians had
experienced furnished the most forcible reason why they should
advance in spiritual development. Having risen with Christ, and
having put off the old man, with his deeds, there is an unmistakable
emphasis in the exhortation--_Put on, therefore,_ the characteristics
of the new man.
+I. That the Christian character is distinguished by a special
designation.+--"The elect of God, holy and beloved" (ver. 12).
1. _Distinguished as the object of the Divine choice._--"The elect of
God"--chosen by Him, as an act of undeserved, unmerited mercy, to the
knowledge of Himself and His glorious salvation; called out of
darkness and translated into the kingdom of His dear Son. This
election is a condition of exalted privilege to which all rise who
accept the message of God's mercy through Jesus Christ.
2. _Distinguished by personal purity._--"Holy." Here is the evidence
and practical result of the Divine election. "Chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world, that they should be holy and without
blame before Him in love" (Eph. i. 4). The people of God are called
to be holy--consecrated to His service; set apart from a common and
wholly devoted to a sacred purpose. Holiness is the habitual
condition, aim, delight, and employment of the Christian's life.
3. _Distinguished by the Divine affection._--"Beloved." The believer
is the object of God's special love, of the favour which He beareth
unto His people. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed on us that we should be called the sons of God." The
epithets here used have each the force of a motive. Since the
believer is _elect, holy, beloved,_ let him act in harmony with his
exalted character and calling. Lavater has said, "The more honesty a
man has, the less he affects the air of a saint."
+II. That the Christian character is distinguished by a heartfelt
sympathy.+--1. _This sympathy arises from a spirit of tender mercy._
"Bowels of mercies" (ver. 12)--a phrase which expresses the effect on
the body of strong emotions of pity. It was said of Joseph that "his
bowels did yearn over his brethren, and he sought where to weep." The
miseries of our fellow-creatures, especially of those who are in a
worse condition than ourselves, call for our compassion and help; and
a genuine pity is not only visible in the countenance and uttered by
the lips, but felt in the inmost heart, and prompts to generous
actions.
2. _This sympathy arises from a spirit of kindness._--"Kindness"
refers to the temper we should show towards those we meet in the
daily intercourse of life who are on an equality with ourselves. The
Christian should be amiable, courteous, kind in speech and action,
eager to relieve others according to his means--the farthest remove
from a crabbed, sullen, churlish disposition. A hard, cold, selfish,
unfeeling heart is a characteristic of fallen, unrenewed man; _bowels
of mercies_ and _kindness_ of the renewed one.
+III. That the Christian character is distinguished by a genuine
humility.+--"Humbleness of mind" (ver. 12). These words describe the
estimate that is to be formed of self. The believer is taught not to
overrate nor unduly to depreciate himself. He is governed by the
apostolic rule, "Let each esteem other better than themselves." The
more exalted his views of God, and the more he remembers his own
unworthiness, weakness, ignorance, and sin, the more softly and lowly
does he seek to walk. As in the garden that branch hangs down the
lowest which is most heavily laden with fruit, so in the Church the
ripest saints are those who walk humbly with God. The humble man is
the most susceptible to compassion and genuine in its practical
manifestation. The proud man is too full of himself to feel for
others; he is always dissatisfied, always embroiling in quarrels the
family, the Church, the social circle where he resides. The humblest
man is the bravest man. He endures with composure the contempt and
arrogance of others.
+IV. That the Christian character is distinguished by a gentle and
patient spirit.+--"Meekness, longsuffering" (ver. 12).
1. _The Christian spirit is gentle._--"Meekness." This grace
indicates what should be our conduct towards others in their
treatment of us. Meekness is evidenced in modesty of countenance,
gentleness of manner, softness of voice, and mildness of language; it
is opposed to rudeness or harshness. We see it exemplified in the way
in which Gideon pacified the irascible men of Ephraim (Judg.
viii. 2). It is slow to take, and scorns to give, offence.
2. _The Christian spirit is patient._--"Longsuffering," which is
meekness continued, though subjected to the fiercest provocations. It
is opposed to resentment, revenge, wrath. Meekness exercises itself
in matters of chagrin, impertinence, folly; longsuffering in those of
violent outrage, affront, injury. Meekness may be required by the
mere _manner_ of others towards us; longsuffering is often necessary
by their _conduct._ There is a difference between enduring long and
longsuffering. The genuine grace is accompanied, not only with
patience, but with joyous activity and watchfulness. It is not like
the senseless rock which endures the full force of the storm unmoved
and unresponsive, but like the nimble vessel that, while it bends to
the tempest, is at the same time diligently speeding on its mission.
+V. That the Christian character is distinguished by a practical
manifestation of a spirit of mutual forbearance and
forgiveness.+--1. _Mutual forbearance and forgiveness are to be
exercised universally._ "Forbearing one another and forgiving one
another, if any man have a quarrel against any" (ver. 13). The word
"quarrel" is better rendered _complaint._ It takes two to make a
quarrel, and of these the Christian should never be one. Whatever
occasion of offence may arise, whatever cause of complaint, in any
man, under any circumstances, and however just the complaint may
appear, forbearance is to be exercised; and even if the forbearance
is abused and injury be added, we must forgive. It is never on one
side only that the fault exists. It is one another, each in his turn,
that gives and receives forbearance. If this were more frequently
observed, how many unseemly discords and mischievous separations
would be prevented!
2. _The exercise of forgiveness is enforced by the highest
example._--"Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye" (ver. 13).
These words come as an impressive climax, enforcing the duty of
forgiveness by the strongest motive. The more difficult the duty, the
more powerful should be the arguments urging its performance. The
example of Christ is supreme in its authority. What are the injuries
committed by others against us compared with the number and enormity
of our sins against God? Yet Christ forgave us all, freely, fully,
unreservedly, and for ever. The heart that is not moved to
forgiveness by such an example is hopelessly incorrigible.
+Lessons.+--1. _The unity of Christian character is made up of many
separate essential graces._ 2. _The condition of things in this world
affords ample scope for the exercise of every Christian grace._
3. _To forgive is at once the most difficult and most Christ-like._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._