Chapter V: AUTOGRAPH CONCLUSION.--1. The Judaisers' motive (ch. vi. 12, 13) (30)

These words amplify the truth unfolded in the preceding verse, and describe the great change that must take place in order to obtain a meetness for the saintly inheritance--_the translation of the soul from the powerful dominion of darkness into the glorious kingdom of the Son of God._

+I. This translation involves our enfranchisement from a state of dark captivity.+--"Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness" (ver. 13).

1. _The unrenewed are in a realm of moral darkness._--This was the condition of the Colossians and of the whole Gentile world before the times of the Gospel. "Darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people." Darkness denotes _ignorance,_ moral blindness. Man is in darkness about the great mysteries of being, the mystery of sin and suffering, the deep significance of life, the distressing question of human duty, the destiny of the universe, the character and operations of God, and His relation to the race. It is possible to know much _about_ religion, to hold religious ideas at second-hand as a group of poetic conceptions--fancy pictures from the book of Revelation, like the pictures of the poets from the book of Nature--and yet be totally in the dark as to the religious experience of those ideas. May be intellectually light, and spiritually dark. Darkness denotes _danger_ and _misery._ Like a traveller in a strange country overtaken by the night, stumbling along in uncertainty and fear, until one fatal step--and he lies helpless in the rocky abyss, into the bottom of which he falls.

2. _In this realm of moral darkness the unrenewed are held in captivity._--They are slaves in the land of darkness, tyrannised over by an arbitrary and capricious ruler. Slavery distorts and defaces the illustrious image in which man was originally created, darkens the understanding, paralyses the intellect, and stunts the growth of intelligence; it robs him of his self-respect, poisons nature, and brands him with unutterable infamy. The "power of darkness" is that tyranny which sin exercises over its captives, filling their minds with deadly errors or brutish ignorance, their consciences with terror of indifference, and dragging them onwards under its dismal yoke into all the horrors of eternal darkness. The tyrant of this gloomy realm is Satan; and his domination is founded and conducted on imposture, error, ignorance, and cruelty. He is the arch-deceiver.

3. _From this realm of moral darkness God graciously liberates._--"Who hath delivered us." For the slaves of sin there is no help but in God. It is the nature of sin to incapacitate its victim for making efforts after self-enfranchisement. He is unwilling to be free. To snap the fetters from a nation of slaves yearning for liberty is a great and noble act. Our deliverance is mightier than that. The word "deliver" in the text means to snatch or rescue from danger, even though the person seized may at first be unwilling to escape, as Lot from Sodom. God does not force the human will. The method of deliverance was devised and executed independent of our will; its personal benefits cannot be enjoyed without our will.

+II. This translation places us in a condition of highest moral freedom and privilege.+--1. _We are transferred to a kingdom._ "Hath translated us into the kingdom" (ver. 13). _Power_ detains captives; a kingdom fosters willing citizens. Tyranny has no law but the capricious will of a despot; a kingdom implies good government, based on universally recognised and authoritative law. "The image is presented of the wholesale transportation of a conquered people, of which the history of Oriental monarchies furnishes many examples" (Josephus, _Ant.,_ IX. xi.). They were translated from a bad to a better ruling power. So, the believer is moved from the realm and power of darkness and bondage to the kingdom of light and freedom. The laws of this kingdom are prescribed by Christ, its honours and privileges granted by Him, and its future history and triumphs will ever be identified with His own transcendent glory.

2. _We are placed under the rule of a beneficent and glorious King._--"The kingdom of God's dear Son," more accurately "the Son of His love." As love is the essence of the Father, so is it also of the Son. The manifestation of the Son to the world is manifestation by Him of Divine love (1 John iv. 9). The kingdom into which believers are translated is founded on love; its entire government is carried on under the same beneficent principle. The acts of suffering and death, by which Christ won His kingly dignity and power, were revelations of love in its most heroic and self-sacrificing forms. When we believe in Christ, we are translated from the tyranny and darkness of sin into the kingdom of which the Son of God--the Son infinitely beloved of the Father--is King. As willing subjects, we share with Him the Father's love, and are being prepared for more exalted service and sublimer experiences in the endless kingdom of the future.

+III. The Divine method by which translation is effected.+--It is effected by redemption.

1. _The means of redemption._--"Through His blood" (ver. 14). The image of a captive and enslaved people is still continued. But the metaphor is changed from the victor who rescues the captive by force of arms to the philanthropist who releases him by the payment of a ransom (_Lightfoot_). All men are under the condemnation of a violated law and sink in the bondage of sin. There is no release but by paying a ransom; this is involved in the idea of redemption. The ransom-price paid for the enfranchisement of enslaved humanity was "not corruptible things, as silver and gold, but the precious blood of Christ." The _mode_ of redemption is to us a deep mystery; the reasons influencing the Divine Mind in its adoption we cannot fathom. But the fact is plainly revealed (1 Pet. iii. 18, ii. 24; Gal. iii. 13). This was God's method of translating from bondage to liberty.

2. _The effect of redemption._--"Even the forgiveness of sins" (ver. 14). The ransom-price is paid, and the slave is free. The first blessing of redemption is pardon. It is this the penitent soul most urgently needs; it does not exclude all other redemptive blessings but opens and prepares the soul for their reception. Sin is the great obstacle between the soul and God; the monster sluice that shuts off the flow of Divine blessing. Redemption lifts the sluice, and the stream of Divine goodness pours its tide of benediction into the enraptured soul. An earthly king may forgive the felon, but he cannot give him a better disposition. God never forgives without at the same time giving a new heart. Pardon involves every other blessing--peace, purity, glory; it is the pledge and foundation for the bestowal of all we can need in time or in eternity.

3. _The Author of redemption._--"In whom we have redemption" (ver. 14). Christ, the Son of God's love, by the sacrifice of Himself, accomplished our redemption; and it is only as we are _in_ Him by faith that we actually partake of the freedom He purchased for us. His blood is not merely the ransom paid for our deliverance, but He is Himself the personal, living source of redemption. The deliverance of humanity is not simply in the work of Christ, through what He did and suffered, but in Himself--"the strong Son of God," the crucified, risen, and living Saviour. It is not only a rescue from condemnation and punishment, but a deliverance from the power and bondage of evil. The words "in whom we have redemption" teach much and imply more. They describe a continuous gift enjoyed, a continuous process realised by all who have been translated into the kingdom of the Saviour. In them the power of redemption is being carried on, so that they die unto sin, and live unto God, and experience a growing meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light (_Spence_). Christ only could be the Redeemer of men; He combined in one person the Divine and human natures: He could therefore meet the demands of God and the necessities of man.

+Lessons.+--1. _Sin is a dark, enslaving power._ 2. _The kingdom of the Redeemer is one of light and freedom._ 3. _Moral translation by redemption is a Divine work._ 4. _The forgiveness of sin can be obtained only by faith in the Son of God._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Ver. 13. _From Darkness to Light._

+I. Man is naturally in a state of darkness, held captive by sin
and Satan.+

+II. A kingdom of freedom and light is provided by the intervention
of the Son of God.+

+III. The translation from darkness to light is a Divine act.+

Ver. 14. _The Great Blessing of Redemption_--

+I. Is the forgiveness of sins.+

+II. The blessing of forgiveness is through the agency of Christ.+

+III. Redemption is purchased at a great cost and
sacrifice.+--"Through His blood."

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_15-17.

_The Relation of Christ to God and to all Created Things._

Having spoken of our redemption, the apostle, in terms of the highest significance and grandeur, dwells upon the dignity and absolute supremacy of the Redeemer.

+I. The relation of Christ to God.+--"Who is the image of the invisible God" (ver. 15). God is an infinite and eternal Spirit, incomprehensible and invisible. "No man hath seen God at any time;" yet humanity yearns for some visible embodiment of Deity. Christ reflects and reveals the Father. "He is the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person." It is believed that the idea of the _Logos_ underlies the whole of this passage, though the term is not mentioned. The heretical teachers at Colossæ had introduced a perverted view as to the nature of the _mediation_ between God and creation, and the apostle aims to rectify it. The word λόγος, denoting both reason and speech, was a philosophical term adopted by Alexandrian Judaism to express the manifestation of the unseen God--the absolute Being--in the creation and government of the world. It included all modes by which God makes himself known to man. As His _reason,_ it denoted His purpose or design; as His _speech,_ it implied His revelation. When Christian teachers adopted this term, they exalted and fixed its meaning by attaching it to two precise and definite ideas--that the Word is a Divine person, and that the Word became incarnate in Jesus Christ (_Lightfoot_). Christ as the eternal Word is the perfect image, the visible representation, of the unseen God. In addition to the idea of _similitude,_ which is capable of a wide and general use, the word "image" involves two others.

1. _Representation._--It implies an archetype of which the image is a copy. Man is said to be in the image of God; but there is a difference between the image of God in man and the image of God in Christ. In Christ it is as Cæsar's image in his son; in man it is as Cæsar's image on his coin. In the God-man Christ Jesus we have a visible, living, perfect, and reliable representation of the invisible God.

2. _Manifestation._--The general idea of the _Logos_ is the manifestation of the hidden. "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him" (John i. 18, compared with xiv. 9, 10, vi. 46). The incarnate Word, in His nature, attributes, and actions, is the true _epiphany_ of the unseen Deity, setting forth, like distinct rays of one and the same glorious light, His infinite wisdom, mercy, righteousness, and power. Our obligations to Christ for His wondrous revelations are unspeakably great.

+II. The relation of Christ to all created things.+--1. _Christ existed prior to the creation._ He is "the firstborn of every creature" (ver. 15). It is not said He was the first formed or first created of every creature, but the firstborn--the first begotten. It is plainly intimated that Christ, the Son of God's love, was begotten before any created thing existed. There is therefore no ground in this passage for the Arians and Socinians to build up their theory of the creatureship of Christ. In relation to all created things, intelligent or unintelligent, terrene or celestial, Christ was the firstborn. In an ineffably mysterious sense _He_ was begotten; _they_ were created. The two ideas involved in the phrase are: (1) _Priority to all creation_--the absolute pre-existence of the Son. The term "first begotten" was frequently used among the Jews as a term of precedence and dignity. As applied to the Son of God, it implies priority in rank in relation to all created things. Time is an accident of the _creature._ Therefore, the origin of the Son of God precedes all time. (2) _Sovereignty over all creation._ God's firstborn is the natural Ruler, the acknowledged Head of God's household. He is "Heir of all things." He is creation's supreme and absolute Lord. He brought all creatures out of nothing, and by His own will graduated the degree of being each should possess; and it is fitting He should have unlimited empire over all. As if to prevent the possibility of any misconception regarding the relation of Christ to the universe, and to show that He could not be a part of creation however exalted in degree, but was essentially distinct from it, the apostle _sets forth the Son of God as the First Cause, the Active Agent, and the Grand End of all created things._

2. _Christ is Himself the Creator of all things._--(1) _The conception of creation originated in Christ._ "For by Him [or _in_ Him] were all things created" (ver. 16). He was the great First Cause; the being, forms, limitations, energies of all things to be were bound up in Him. It rested with Himself to create or not to create. It is thought by some the Platonic idea is here shadowed forth; that the archetypes, the original patterns of all things, were in Christ before they were created outwardly. This is simply a philosophic speculation and is readily suggested by the universal method of the mind first forming a mental conception within itself of any object it desires to body-forth to the outward eye. It is in Christ we trace the great work of creation in its beginning, progress, and end. (2) _The powers of creation were distributed by Christ._ "All things that are in heaven, and that are in earth" (ver. 16). He created the heavens also; but those things which are in the heavens are rather named because the inhabitants are more noble than their dwellings. "Visible," things that are evident to the outward senses; and "invisible," things that may be conceived by the understanding. "With a view to meet some peculiar doctrine of the false teachers at Colossæ, who seem to have alleged that Christ was but one of the heavenly powers, St. Paul breaks up the things _invisible,_ and distributes them by the words 'thrones,' 'dominions,' 'principalities,' or 'powers.' It may be difficult, and indeed impossible, for us now fully to know what the terms severally convey in connection with the several hierarchies of official glory. Yet all these invisible beings, so illustrious as to be seated on _thrones,_ so great as to be styled _dominions,_ so elevated as to be considered _principalities,_ so mighty as to merit the designation of _powers,_ were created by the Son of God; and they all acknowledge His supremacy and glory. The highest position in creation is infinitely below Him, and there is neither majesty nor renown that equals His. All created beings occupying the loftiest thrones throughout the vastness of immensity and amidst the mystery of life do homage and service to Christ Jesus as the firstborn, the only begotten Son of God" (_Spence_). (3) _Christ is Himself the Great End of creation._ "All things were created _for_ Him" (ver. 16). As all creation emanated from Him, so does it all converge again towards Him. "The eternal Word is the goal of the universe, as He was the starting-point. It must end in unity, as it proceeded from unity; and the centre of this unity is Christ." The most elaborate and majestic machinery of the universe and the most highly gifted intelligence alike exist only to serve the ultimate purpose of creation's Lord. All created things gather their significance, dignity, and glory by their connection with Him. Christ must be more than a creature, as the loftiest creature could not be the end of all created things. It is a narrow philosophy that teaches that all things were made for man. The grand end of all our endeavours should ever be the glory of Christ.

3. _The unchanging eternity of Christ._--"He is before all things" (ver. 17). Not only is He before Moses and before Abraham, as He declared to the Jews (John viii.), but He is before all things. The words refer not so much to His eminence in rank as to duration. The terms HE IS, in the Greek, are most emphatic, the one declaring His _personality,_ the other that His _pre-existence is absolute existence._ Christ existed before any created thing--even before time itself; therefore, from eternity. Knowing the tendency of men to entertain inferior notions of the person of Christ, and of the redemption He has provided, the apostle multiplies conceptions to represent His Divine worth and excellency. He should be preferred before all.

4. _The continued existence of creation depends on Christ._--"And by [rather _in_] Him all things consist" (ver. 17)--_hold together, cohere._ He is the principle of cohesion in the universe. He impresses upon creation that unity and solidarity which makes it a cosmos instead of a chaos. Thus, to take one instance, the action of gravitation, which keeps in their places things fixed and regulates the motion of things moving, is an expression of His mind (_Lightfoot_). The universe found its completion in Him and is sustained and preserved every moment by the continuous exercise of His almighty power. All things hang on Christ; in Him they live and move and have their being. If He withdrew His upholding hand, everything would run into confusion and ruin. "Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled: Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust." In Him all things consist. He is the centre of life, force, motion, and rest; round Him all things revolve. He imposes their limits, gives to them their law, strikes the keynote of their harmonies, blends and controls their diverse operations. He is the All-perfect in the midst of imperfection, the Unchanged in the midst of change. He is the Author of human redemption; became incarnate, suffered, died, and rose again, and now reigns with the Father in glory everlasting. He is worthy of our loftiest adoration, our humblest submission, our strongest confidence, our most ardent love.

+Lessons.+--1. _The supremacy of the Creator and Preserver of all things is absolute and universal_ 2. _Human redemption is grounded on the divinity of the Son of God._ 3. _Personal trust in the Redeemer brings the soul into direct personal relation to the Father._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Ver. 15. _Christ a Revelation because He is the Equal of the Father_--

+I. In His nature.+--The incarnation.

+II. In His attributes.+

+III. In His will.+--The character of Christ and His moral system.

+IV. In His works.+--His miracles, His death as a sacrifice for sin, His resurrection. 1. How ungrateful and unbelieving have we been! 2. How zealous and devoted should we be!--_G. Brooks._

Ver. 16. _Christ the Author and the End of Creation._

+I. The Author.+--1. _The extent._ "All things." The universe, natural and moral.

2. _The variety._--"Visible and invisible." The near and the distant, the vast and the minute, the material and the spiritual.

3. _The orders._--"Whether they be." Scale of being. Gradations in all classes.

+II. The end.+--1. _Heaven was created for Him._ As the place of His special residence and as the home of His people.

2. _Angels were created for Him._--Messengers of His mercy, executioners of His vengeance.

3. _Hell was created for Him._--The prison of His justice.

4. _The earth was created for Him._--The scene of His incarnation and atoning death. His mediatorial kingdom.

5. _The human race was created for Him._--Man created, preserved, redeemed. (1) How exalted should be our ideas of Christ! (2) How carefully should we learn to view everything in connection with Christ! 3. What ground for confidence, gratitude, and fear.--_Ibid._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 18.

_The Relation of Christ to the Moral Creation._

After showing that Christ holds the position of absolute priority and sovereignty over the whole universe, the apostle now proceeds to point out His relation to the principal part of that whole--the Church, as the symbol and embodiment of the new, moral creation. From this verse we learn that _Christ is the supreme Head, and primal life-giving Source of the Church, and as such is invested with universal pre-eminence._

+I. Christ is the supreme Head of the Church--the new moral creation.+--1. _The Church is the body of Christ._ "The body, the Church." Much controversy has prevailed as to what constitutes the Church; and the more worldly the Church became, the more confused the definition, the more bitter the controversy. The New Testament idea of the Church is easily comprehended. It is the whole body of the faithful in Christ Jesus, who are redeemed and regenerated by His grace--the aggregate multitude of those in heaven and on earth who love, adore, and serve the Son of God as their Redeemer and Lord. The word ἐκκλησία constitutes two leading ideas: the ordained _unity,_ and the _calling_ or separating out from the world. Three grand features ever distinguish the true Church--unbroken unity, essential purity, and genuine catholicity. (Cf. Eph. i. 22, 23, iv. 15, 16; 1 Cor. xii. 12-27).

2. _Christ is the Head of the Church._--"And He is the Head of the body, the Church." That the world might not be considered this body, the word "Church" is added; and the materialistic conception of a Church organism thus refuted. As the Head of the Church--(1) Christ inspires it with spiritual life and activity. (2) He impresses and moulds its character. (3) He prescribes and enforces its laws. (4) He governs and controls its destinies. (5) He is the centre of its unity.

+II. Christ is the originating, fontal Source of the organic life of the Church.+--In respect to the state of grace, _He is the beginning_; in respect to the state of glory, He is _the firstborn from the dead._ He gives to the Church its entity, form, history, and glory; except in and through Him, the Church could have no existence.

1. _He is the Author of the moral creation._--"The beginning." Christ has been before described as the Author of the old material creation. Here He is announced as the beginning of the new spiritual creation. The moral creation supplies the basis and constituent elements of the Church. In the production, progress, and final triumph of the new creation, He will redress all the wreck and ruin occasioned by the wrong-doing of the old creation. Of this new moral creation Christ is the source, the principle, the beginning; the fountain of life, purity, goodness, and joy to the souls of men.

2. _He is the Author of the moral creation as the Conqueror of Death._--"The firstborn from the dead." Sin introduced death into the old creation, and the insatiable monster still revels and riots amid the corruptions he perpetually generates. The Son of God, in fulfilment of the Divine plan of redemption, became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He descended into Hades and placed Himself among the dead. On the third day He rose again, "the firstfruits of them that slept." He was "the firstborn from the dead"; the first who had risen by His own power; the first who had risen to die no more. By dying He conquered death for Himself and all His followers. He can therefore give life to all that constitute that Church of which He is fittingly the Head, assure them of a resurrection from the dead, of which His own was a pattern and pledge, and of transcendent and unfading glory with Himself in the endless future.

+III. The relation of Christ to the Church invests Him with absolute pre-eminence.+--"That in all things He might have the pre-eminence."

1. _He is pre-eminent in His relation to the Father._--He is "the image of the invisible God"; the Son of His love, joined by a bond to us mysterious and ineffable, and related in a sense in which no other can be. He is the first and the last; the only Divine Son.

2. _He is pre-eminent in the universe of created things._--He existed _before_ any being was created, and was Himself the omnipotent Author of all created things. The whole hierarchy of heaven obey and adore Him. He is alone in His complex nature as our Emmanuel. Mystery of mysteries; in Him Deity and humanity unite!

3. _He is pre-eminent in His rule over the realm of the dead._--He entered the gloomy territory of the grave, wrestled with and vanquished the King of Terrors, rose triumphantly from the dismal battle-field, and is now Lord both of the dead and of the living. "I am He that liveth and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore; and have the keys of Hades and of death" (Rev. i. 18).

4. _He is pre-eminent in His relation to the Church._--The Church from beginning to end is purely His own creation. He sketched its first rough outline, projected its design, constructed its organism, informed it with life, dowered it with spiritual riches; and He will continue to watch over and direct its future until He shall "present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing"!

5. _He is pre-eminent in the estimation and homage of a ransomed world._--He is the central figure of all history; around Him all events group themselves, and by Him are stamped with their true character, significance, and worth. The dream of the ages, the teaching of figures and symbols, the shadows and forecastings of coming events, are all dismissed in the effulgent presence of Him to whom they all point, like so many quivering index-fingers. Christ has to-day the strongest hold upon the heart of humanity. His perplexed enemies admire while they reject Him; the ever-increasing multitude of His friends reverence and adore Him; and the era is rapidly advancing when to Him a universe of worshippers shall bow the knee and acknowledge that "in all things He has the pre-eminence."

+Lessons.+--1. _The pre-eminence of Christ entitles Him to universal obedience._ 2. _The highest blessedness is found in union with the Church of Christ._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSE._

Ver. 18. _The Church the Body of Christ._

+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._

Ver. 19. _The Fulness of Christ_--

+I. Endowed with all Divine and human excellencies.+

+II. Necessary to accomplish His reconciling work.+

+III. Was required and approved by God the Father.+

Ver. 20. _Christ the Reconciler_--

+I. Restored the friendship between God and man broken by sin.+

+II. Accomplished His work by the voluntary sacrifice of His life.+

+III. Introduces harmony into a disrupted universe.+

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 21, 22.

_The Personal Blessings of Reconciliation._

Having shown the relation of Christ to God, to the whole creation, and to the Church, and His connection with all moral beings, the writer now proceeds to point out the relation of Christ to individual man in delivering him from the fetters of sin and opening up the way of reconciliation with an outraged but loving Deity. In this passage we have a description of _the attitude of sinful man towards God and the method of his restoration._ We learn that:--

+I. Sin has placed man in antagonism to God.+--1. _Man is estranged from God._ "And you that were sometime alienated" (ver. 21). Sin severs the soul from God. The principle of cohesion--the consciousness of rectitude which God implanted in man in his sinless state--is weakened, and the sinner, breaking away from the centre of all goodness, drifts into an ever-widening and ever-darkening wilderness of alienation and evil. Sin places man at an infinite distance from God, leads him to shun the Divine presence and disregard the Divine overtures. A state of alienation is a state of danger; it is a state of spiritual death; and yet it is painful to observe how few in this state are conscious of their awful peril.

2. _Man is hostile to God._--"Enemies in your mind" (ver. 21). The enmity follows from the estrangement, and both have their seat in the mind--"in the original and inmost _force of the mind_ which draws after it the other faculties." The mind of man opposes the mind of God, sets up a rival kingdom, and organises an active rebellion against the Divine Ruler. "The carnal mind is enmity against God" (Rom. viii. 7). If the hostility is not always flagrantly open, it is in the mind; the fountain of all sin is there. To be a stranger to God is to be an enemy of God: "He that is not with Me is against Me." The sinner is his own greatest enemy. It is a vain thing to fight against God; terrible will be the vengeance He will ere long wreak upon His enemies.

3. _Man's estrangement and hostility are evident in his actions._--"By wicked works" (ver. 21). Man is stimulated by his sinful mind to perpetrate the most outrageous acts of rebellion against God, and to indulge in the most fiendish cruelty towards his fellow-man. But there are "wicked works" that may not figure in the criminal columns of the newspapers, nor be detected by the most vigilant watcher. To cherish envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness is equally heinous in the sight of God, and an unmistakable evidence of hostility towards Him. Sin conceived in the mind will, sooner or later, manifest itself in action.

+II. Man is reconciled to God in Christ.+--1. _The distinguished blessing._ "Yet now hath He reconciled" (ver. 21). To effect this all that is necessary is to persuade the sinner to cease his rebellion and submit to God. In Christ God is reconciled to the sinner; there is no need to persuade Him. He is love; the sinner is enmity. He is light; the sinner is darkness. He is nigh unto the sinner, but the sinner is afar off. The great object is to destroy the sinner's enmity, that he may have Divine love; bring him from darkness into Divine light; bring him from his evil works nigh unto God, and reconciliation is the result (_Biblical Museum_). The amity existing between the soul and God, and which sin had interrupted, is now restored. Dear as are the friendships of earth, none can equal friendship with God.

"The calls a worm His friend,
He calls Himself my God;
And He shall save me to the end
Through Jesu's blood."

The loftiest communion of the soul with God is renewed. In this the soul finds its strength, consolation, life, rapture. How much does that man lose whose heart is not reconciled to God?

2. _The gracious medium of the blessing._--"In the body of His flesh through death" (ver. 22). The apostle here refers in the most explicit terms to the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ and shows that the great work of reconciliation was effected in His body, and through death, for that body was crucified and actually died. The apostle perhaps aimed at correcting certain pseudo-spiritualistic notions regarding the person of Christ, busily propagated by the false teachers; some of whom held that Christ was an angelic emanation which animated the man Jesus for a time and withdrew from Him before He suffered. While maintaining the proper deity and glory of Christ's nature, the apostle plainly indicates that the Divine method of reconciliation was by the incarnation and sacrificial death of Christ. He thus exalts the significance and value of the death of Christ. Reconciliation was not accomplished by the faultless example of Christ's life or the supernal wisdom of His teaching, but by His crucifixion and death. The cross, with its unfathomable mystery, is to them that perish foolishness; but to them that believe it is still the power and wisdom of God.

+III. The Divine purpose in reconciliation is to promote man's highest blessedness.+--The magnificence of the believer's future career will be in marked contrast with the obscurity and imperfection of the present; but even in this life he is lifted by the reconciling grace of God to a high standard of moral excellence. The terms here employed, while referring to the same spiritual state, delineate its different aspects.

1. _The highest blessedness of man consists in his moral purity._--"To present you holy" (ver. 22). This shows the condition of the soul in relation to God; it is freely offered to Him as a living sacrifice; the inward consciousness is wholly consecrated to the permanent indwelling of the Holy One; every thought, affection, and aspiration of the soul is hallowed; the whole man is enriched, ennobled, and radiant with a holy character.

2. _The highest blessedness of man consists in his personal blamelessness._--"Unblameable" (ver. 22). This aspect of character has reference to one's self; it is the development in the outward life of the purity and consecration of the heart; it is a sacrificial term and means without blemish. The soul is inspired with a sense of integrity, and of always acting for the best. When Socrates was asked, just before his trial, why he did not prepare himself for his defence, he calmly answered, "I have been doing nothing else all my life." A noble, blameless life is its own defence.

3. _The highest blessedness of man consists in his freedom from censure._--"Unreproveable in His sight" (ver. 22). This feature of a holy character has reference to others. If man thus purified and blessed can bear the piercing glance of Him whose scrutiny no defect can escape, his character is unchallengeable. To be accepted and approved of God places him beyond the accusations of man or demon; the subtle insinuations of the Great Accuser are powerless to hurt. "It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth?" To be holy, unblameable, and unreproveable in the sight of God is to enjoy the highest honour and completest bliss. This is the ultimate result of reconciliation in Christ.

+Lessons.+--1. _Sin is the great foe of God and man._ 2. _The death of Christ is the means of reconciling sinful man to God._ 3. _The aim of reconciliation is to produce an irreproachable character._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Ver. 21. _Reconciliation by Christ._

+I. Estrangement.+--1. _The cause_--by wicked works. 2. _The result_--not merely that God is angry, but we have become enemies to God.

+II. Reconciliation.+--1. _Christ has reconciled man to God._ 2. _He hath reconciled man to man._ 3. _He hath reconciled man to Himself._ 4. _He hath reconciled man to duty.--Robertson._

Ver. 22. _Holiness the Supreme End of Reconciliation._

+I. Holiness an inward state and an outward result.+--"Holy,
unblameable and unreproveable."

+II. Holiness alone can satisfy God.+--"In His sight."

+III. Holiness is the final completion of the soul.+--"To present you."

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 23.

_The Condition of Man's Final Blessedness._

The ripest fruits can only be produced and gathered by careful and unremitting culture; so, the enjoyment of the final blessings of reconciliation is conditioned upon continued allegiance to the Gospel and the diligent practice of its precepts. We are taught in this verse that _the ultimate presentation to God of a perfectly holy and blameless character depends upon the believer's firm and persevering attachment to the Gospel._ Observe--

+I. Man's final blessedness depends upon his unswerving continuance in the faith.+--The _faith_ is a comprehensive term; it is inclusive of all the great saving truths of the Gospel, and of man's many-sided relation to them. There is implied:

1. _A continuance in the doctrines of the faith._--What a man believes has a powerful influence in moulding his character. The truths submitted to our faith shed light upon matters of transcendent import and worth. The baffled and inquiring mind, straining with painful eagerness after light, finds its satisfaction and rest amid the soothing radiance of revealed truth. "In returning and rest shall ye be saved" (Isa. xxx. 15). Unbelief lures the soul from its restful confidence, sets it adrift amidst the cross currents of bewilderment and doubt, and exposes it to moral shipwreck and irrevocable loss. The soul's eternal safety is ensured, not by an infatuated devotion to mere _opinions_ about certain dogmas, but by an intelligent, firm, and constant faith in Divine verities.

2. _A continuance in the profession of the faith._--The believer is a witness for the truth; and it is an imperative duty to bear testimony for Christ before the world (Rom. x. 9, 10). This is done when we unite in fellowship and service with the external Church of Christ on earth. The Church, as the representative of Christ, witnesses for Him in the life and conduct of its individual members. There is nothing binding as to the special form this witness-bearing should take in each particular case; nor is any man compelled, for the sake of profession, to wed himself to any particular branch of the Church catholic. There may be reasons that render it justifiable, and even necessary, for a man to sever himself from any given religious community and join another; but on no conceivable ground can he be liberated from the duty of an open profession of his faith in Christ; his future acceptability to God hinges on his fidelity in this duty (Matt. x. 32).

3. _A continuance in the practice of the faith._--Faith supplies the motive and rule of all right conduct. The test of all preceptive enactment and profession is in the life. The Christian character is developed and perfected, not by believing or professing, but by _doing_ the will of God. The rewards of the future will be distributed according to our deeds (Rom. ii. 6-10).

4. _Continuance in the faith must be permanent._--"Grounded and settled." The edifice, to be durable, must be well founded, that it may settle into a state of firmness and solidity; so faith, in order to survive the storms and temptations of this world, and participate in the promised good of the future, must be securely grounded and settled in the truth. In order to permanency in the faith, the truth must be--(1) _Apprehended intelligently._ (2) _Embraced cordially._ (3) _Maintained courageously._

+II. Man's final blessedness depends upon his unchanging adherence to the Gospel hope.+--1. _The Gospel reveals a bright future._ It inspires the hope of the resurrection of the body, and of the glorification of it and the soul together in the eternal life of the future. Faith and hope are inseparably linked together; they mutually succour and sustain each other; they rise or fall together. Hope is the unquestioning expectation of the fruition of those things which we steadily believe. It is compared to an anchor, which, cast within the veil, fastened and grounded in heaven, holds our vessel firm and steady amid the agitations and storms of life's tempestuous sea. The Gospel is the only source of genuine, deathless hope; all hopes grounded elsewhere wither and perish.

2. _The Gospel to be effectual must come in contact with the individual mind._--"Which ye have heard." Epaphras had declared to them the Divine message. It had been brought to them; they had not sought it. Having heard and received the Gospel, to relinquish its blessings would be inexcusable and ungrateful. In some way, either by direct preaching or otherwise, the Gospel must come to man. There is no power of moral reformation in the human heart itself; the germinant principle of a better life must come from without; it is conveyed in the Gospel word.

3. _The Gospel is adapted to universal man._--"Which was preached to every creature which is under heaven." Already it had spread into every part of the then known world, and its power was felt in every province of the Roman empire. The fine prophetic instinct of the apostle saw the universal tendency of the Gospel, and, in spirit, anticipated the fulfilment of its generous mission. His motive is to emphasise the universality of the unchangeable Gospel which is offered without reserve to all alike, and to appeal to its publicity and progress as the credential and guarantee of its truth. It is adapted to all men; it proclaims its message in all lands and is destined to win the world to Christ. The faith and hope of the believer are based, not upon the uncertain declarations of false teachers, but upon that Gospel, which is unchangeable in its character and universal in its appeal and adaptability to humanity; a strong reason is thus furnished for personal steadfastness.

4. _The Gospel invested the apostle with an office of high authority._--"Whereof I Paul am made a minister." Paul participated in the blessings of the Gospel; he had felt its transforming power, and from his personal experience of its preciousness could, with the greater assurance and force, exhort the Colossians to continue in the faith. But in addition to this the Gospel was committed to the apostle as a sacred trust and for faithful ministration; and while dwelling on the broad charity of the Gospel as involving the offer of grace to the Gentiles, he is impressed with the dignity and responsibility of his office as he interjects, somewhat abruptly, but with exquisite modesty, the words, "Whereof I Paul am made a minister." It has been said of man that he is the priest and interpreter of nature; that it is his function to observe and test phenomena and interpret the laws that govern the material world. Another writer has said that "man is the organ of revelation for the Godhead." God can find no adequate form of revelation for Himself in the impersonal forces of nature; only through a being in His own image can He unfold to the universe His adorable character. But the highest office to which man can be elevated is to be a ministrant of Gospel light and grace to his fellow-man.

5. _There is an implied possibility of relinquishing our hold of the Gospel hope._--"Be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel." The words do not necessarily imply doubt, but suggest the necessity for constant circumspection, vigilance, and care. The multiplicity and fulness of our blessing may prove a snare to us; prosperity tempts us to relax watchfulness, and we are in danger of becoming a prey to the wiles of the wicked one. Our retention of the Gospel hope is rendered immovable by constant waiting upon God in fervent prayer, by a growing acquaintance with the Word of promise, by continually anticipating in thought the bliss of the future.

+Lessons.+--1. _The Gospel provides the surest basis for faith and hope._ 2. _Man's ultimate blessedness depends on his continued fidelity._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 24.

_The Joy of Suffering for the Church._