COLOSSIANS 1
CAC We had before us in the epistle to the Hebrews how the Spirit of God was leading Jewish saints out of everything connected in a religious way with earth, building up their souls in the knowledge of Christ in heaven, and thus disentangling them from the system of things which they had been connected with, even by the ordinance of God. He was bringing them to find such completeness and satisfaction in Christ that they might be prepared to leave even the best things on earth and “go forth to him without the camp”.
The object of the Spirit of God in the epistle to the Colossians is very similar, only that gentiles are in view. Paul is seeking in this epistle to disentangle a gentile company from every subtle snare which would connect them in mind and affection with earth. He is seeking to set them free by the ministry of Christ and to lead them in to the blessedness of being risen with Christ, so that they might be “filled full” in Christ.
Ques Were the gentiles in advance of the Jews?
CAC The Hebrews addressed in their epistle had received Jesus as the Messiah, and what they needed was to be enlarged and confirmed in the knowledge of Christ. They had received Him, but they needed to be rooted and built up in Him. These gentile Colossians had also received the Christ. It is one thing to receive the Christ, and another so to know the Person we have received that we are independent of every other man and free from every influence that does not emanate from Christ. We should be wonderful people if we really got the good of this epistle in our souls.
Rem Paul writes here as an apostle and connects with himself Timothy as a brother.
CAC I think the apostle had peculiar pleasure in linking others with himself. In writing to the Galatians He brings in “all the brethren”. He seemed to take the opportunity when ever he could of linking brethren with himself. This suggests that we get not only what is apostolic, which is in a sense official, but also the thought of brethren brought in. Paul says of Timothy, “my true child”: it means he was a true descendant of Paul morally; he took character from him. He was not converted by Paul’s ministry. It is our privilege to be children of Paul — to be conscious of a direct link with the apostle. We are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets; it is our privilege to be directly linked with the men who were the vessels of ministry in christianity. We have their teaching; we are put into contact with Paul as we read this epistle; and as we come under the moral impress of it we take character from him and the light God gave to him. Paul committed things to Timothy the brother, and Timothy was told to commit them to faithful men who were able to teach others. That is not connected with gift but with fidelity. There is an originality about gift, but you are not to be original on this line. You are to cherish what is passed on to you, and to pass it on faithfully. It is not gift but fidelity; and that is the true apostolic succession. It is a question of faithful men now, and it is a wonderful thing to have been connected with them. We have to hold things not only as doctrine but as vital things and to be able to pass them on to others. Epaphras was a faithful man, I suppose; the Colossians had been converted through his labours; he was a man of prayer.
Ques Why is the epistle addressed to “the saints and faithful brethren”?
CAC Paul recognises their state: they were not only believers but holy and faithful brethren. This whole epistle supposes a certain state in saints. When Paul was writing to the Romans he did not know much about them, except that it was notorious in the world that there was a company of believers in Rome. In writing to them he took the ground that they had the Spirit; there is much about the Spirit in the epistle. We can normally take that ground with saints; if they have received the Spirit they have spiritual capabilities in having the Spirit. But in writing to the Colossians he could take the ground of what the saints had become by the Spirit’s work — that is greater than having the Spirit. The Spirit is mentioned only once in this epistle. In verse 8 where “love in the Spirit” is spoken of, it means they had never seen Paul; it is in contrast to having known him by seeing his face in the flesh.
Rem It is remarkable that “Christ in you” should be said of a gentile company.
CAC Christ was in their affections; that was the Spirit’s [p. 253] work; it was through His work that Christ had a place in their affections. It is a pleasure to God when He can see the effect of the Spirit’s presence; we see it here, so Paul does not need to dwell on the Spirit being there; the evidence of it was in the effect produced. Glory was in hope; the fact that Christ was in their affections was the hope of glory.
Rem They had faith in Christ and love to the saints.
CAC Yes. They were right at the centre and right at the circumference. They had God’s anointed Man as the Object of faith and they took in all the saints in their affections. It is a great thing to join the brethren in your affections; people who love all the saints have joined the brethren. It is evidence that we have passed from death unto life if we have the brethren in our affections. “By this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine if ye have love amongst yourselves”. There is a brotherhood here. In the world a brotherhood signifies those who have a common bond and affinity, but the christian brotherhood is the only true one.
Ques How would you show your love for all saints?
CAC The apostle showed his love by praying for them. That is open to us; we are not straitened in prayer though we are straitened in almost every other way. There are many saints even in this town that we do not know and never have shaken hands with. It is a sad witness to the failure of the church. Epaphras rendered a beautiful service. I suppose he felt he could not help the saints further; he knew the point they had reached and he realised their danger, and, feeling his inability to help them, he went off and told Paul about them, and Paul wrote this epistle. While Paul wrote, Epaphras prayed; he agonised in prayer as Paul did also. Paul says in chapter 2, “I would have you know what combat I have for you ... and as many as have not seen my face in flesh” — that takes us in, too. Faith, hope and love have a great place with the saints; Christ the object of faith; the saints the object of love; and heaven in hope.
Ques What is the hope laid up?
CAC All that is connected with the heavenly calling, sonship, what they had heard of in the gospel; that they had a place in heaven and were going to be there in sonship for the pleasure of God. The gospel confers everything: it had brought to them the light of the heavenly relationship and position. “The glad tidings, which are come to you ... and are bearing fruit and growing”. That is the proper order. The glad tidings come, and when they are received in faith they begin to produce fruit. The Philippian jailor is an illustration when converted he “took them that same hour ... and washed them from their stripes”; that was the gospel producing fruit. If it does not produce fruit it has not come in faith; we should not accept that a person was converted if we did not see fruit. The gospel makes a brutal man a kind man; the man who had been beating the apostles now washes their stripes. But that is not the end; the gospel goes on expanding in the soul; it grows. We do not at first receive a big gospel; it is big on the divine side but not on the side of our apprehension — it grows and expands in the soul.
JC Is that like the light that came to Saul? Each time he speaks of it, it is greater.
CAC Yes, the sense of what he got at the beginning was continually expanding in his soul. Every year we live the gospel should be bigger with us; there should be a larger apprehension of God’s grace, and of what He has given to us in Christ. If the saints would allow the gospel to give them character, to put its own blessed impress on them, wisdom would be justified of her children. The gospel is the greatest thing. The remark was made many years ago: the ministry of the assembly unfolds what the ministry of the gospel confers. The ministry of the gospel shows all that God is for man, all that Christ is for man, and, in a sense, all that the Spirit is for man; all that is included in the glad tidings. The ministry of the assembly unfolds what is effected in man for the pleasure of divine Persons; that is the other side. But then after all, what there is in divine Persons is the greatest, so there is nothing like the gospel!
Ques Are we defective in the gospel?
CAC We have not taken it all in. Sometimes when a brother preaches on Lord’s day evening, he gets discouraged if he does not see a lot of unconverted people. I wish we did see them; but the preacher may always have the comfort that there is not a person sitting there who knows the gospel in its fulness. He may think they do, but they do not! Even the preacher does not, but if he has the desire to know it better, he may be helped to get a fresh sense of the grace of God, and an expansion in his own soul as he speaks. Many a man has actually been converted while preaching; the truth he was [p. 255] telling out has been brought home to his soul. One would like to get a more adequate sense of the greatness of the gospel; what it presents is infinite — divine Persons, love, wisdom, power — everything that is infinitely great and will fill eternity with its blessedness. The one amongst us who has the greatest apprehension of the gospel falls far short of the fulness of Christ: we can never say the time has come when the glad tidings cannot grow any more in our souls.
Generally speaking people are indebted to others; the Colossians had heard the gospel from Epaphras. But Paul’s was a special case; the Lord dealt with him directly; he tells the Galatians that his gospel was not of man and he did not receive it through man.
Ques What is loving in the Spirit?
CAC It is in contrast to knowing a person in the flesh. The Colossians had great affection for Paul because they had benefited by his ministry; a brother whose ministry has helped you, but whom you have never seen, you love in the Spirit. If you have known him personally it is not quite the same. It means that they were greatly attached to Paul as the vessel of divine ministry. Epaphras had enjoyed Paul’s ministry himself, and he gave his converts a sense of the preciousness of Paul’s ministry, so they all loved him, though they had never seen him. It is a great thing to love the vessels of ministry. The Lord puts the ministry into certain vessels, and it is a great proof of spiritual health if we love the vessels of spiritual ministry; it is not what the men are in themselves.