A Look Back
After going through an Epistle like this and ponder- /-% ing every word and every phrase in its order, it is spiritually helpful to review it as a whole and to think of the great themes that occupied the Apostle’s thought. The circumstances of the Colossian Church are of course somewhat different from those of today, and yet the Epistle has so much of permanent truth that even its definite and direct appeals to Colosse may be used by us.
The main theme of the Epistle from beginning to end is the Person and Work of our Lord. Arising out of this it is possible to see what he thinks (a) of the Christian life, whether of the individual or of the community,
(b) the Christian service which has to be rendered, and
(c) the dangers that beset God’s people. It would be helpful to go through this brief Epistle along these four lines. (1) What does it say of Christ? (2) What does it say of the Christian life? (3) What does it say of Christian work? (4) What does it say of Christian perils? Under these main topics, practically all the teaching of the Epistle can be included. Or we may analyse it afresh in this way: (1) The Prayer, 1:9-14; (2) The Person of Christ, 1:15-29; (3) The Power of Christ, 2:1-23; (4) The Practice of the Christian life, 3:1-17; (5) The Proof of the Christian life, 3:18-4:6. Let us see by way of summing up, what the teaching means for us at the present time.
1. Christianity Means Holiness
All through the Epistle this theme is presented in various ways. The Apostle’s thanks and prayer (1:3-13)
A Look Back are concerned with this important truth, while the practical part of the Epistle (3:5-4:6) emphasises the need and duty of holiness in heart and life, individual, home, and society. Nothing is more important or prominent in this Epistle, as indeed all through St. Paul’s writings, than the emphasis placed on Christian holiness.
II. Holiness is Based on Redemption
It is impossible to be holy without having our sins for¬ given, and this means that only as we are redeemed by grace can we be what God intends us to be. This is another theme of the Epistle which, while emphasised in certain parts (1 :20-2:3), is implied or stated from beginning to end. Redemption alone is the fount of holiness.
III. Redemption is Founded on the Deity of Christ
The work of Christ must of necessity spring out of His Person, and only a Divine Person (1: 1 5-19) can do a redemptive work. The thought of Christ being any¬ thing less than God would make redemption absolutely impossible. It is here that all modern systems fail which do not emphasise the Godhead of Christ, for without His Deity there can be no salvation.
IV. Christ is Available for All
The Colossian Christians were in serious danger of interposing between themselves and God mediators which could not possibly meet the need, and would in reality tend to shut out God from their lives. The Apostle flings the door wide open and says that “every man” without exception (1:28) can approach God without any human mediation (2:18, 19). This is the glory of Christianity, that it is a religion of direct access to God, for through Christ we have our introduction by one Spirit to the Father (Eph. 2:18).
V. The Characteristic of the Christian Life is
Union with Christ
The way in which the Apostle emphasises the Head¬ ship of Christ shows what this means (2:10, 19), and the thought of believers being “in Christ” or “in the Lord” that runs from beginning to end is noteworthy because of its clear implication of our spiritual union with Christ. The saints and faithful brethren are “in Christ” (1:2); our faith is in Christ Jesus (1 :4); redemption is ours in Christ (1:14); all things hold together in Him (1:17); in Him all fulness dwells (1:19); every man is to be presented mature in Christ (1:28); all Christians are made full in Him (2:10); wives, husbands, children, servants, and masters are all in one way or another appealed to because of their relationship to Christ, because they are “in the Lord” (3 :18 — 4 :1 ); and St. Paul’s friends have the same blessed spiritual position (4:7, 12, 17). Thus we see how the believer is united with Christ in His death (2:20) and resurrection (3:1), and is now living above with a life hid with Christ in God (3:1-3).
VI. This is the Adequate Protection Against
All Error
The Colossian Church was faced with two great dangers (2:4-23), one doctrinal and the other practical, and the Apostle points out that both perils can be met and more than met by the reality and power of their union with Christ. So is it today, for whatsoever may be the danger of the Christian man or the Christian Church, union and communion with Christ, who is at once Divine and human, redemptive and sanctifying, is the complete protection in the face of every conceivable peril.
A Look Back
VII. Thus Everything Culminates in the
Grace of God
The closing prayer “grace be with you” (4:18) is only an echo of what is found all through the Epistle. The Colossian Christians had heard and had known “the grace of God in truth” (1 :6) from the very first of their Christian life and this grace had continued with them every step of the way, reminding them of what God was able to be and do as they realised their union with Him. It is our privilege similarly to realise the adequacy, sufficiency, abundance and power of the grace of God in all things in our life, until that day comes when grace will be manifested in glory and we live forever “to the praise of the glory of His grace” (Eph. 1:6).
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THOMAS
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