READINGS IN COLOSSIANS (1)
READINGS IN COLOSSIANS (1)
JT In view of current exercises and services amongst us, which I believe indicate some progress, I thought this epistle would serve as calling attention to a certain danger and tendency ever with us to stop short of the will of God. What is said of Epaphras may be taken to represent desires that I believe fit at the present time, that the saints “may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God”, chapter 4:12. That was his burden for the Colossians, combating, as the apostle says, for them in prayers. I was connecting it in my mind with the early chapters of Joshua, and particularly with the use of the word ‘lodge’; this indicating that the territory near the Jordan, as first reached, was not to be a permanent encampment, but just a lodging place. Lodging in a place in a primary sense indicates that a short stay is necessary and that you are going on further.
HES Are you suggesting that the truth of Colossians is a lodging-place for something beyond?
JT That is it. You will remember that David was obliged to reign for seven years and six months at Hebron which is a similar position. I mean, Hebron stands in relation to Jerusalem, as the territory of the Jordan stood in relation to the whole land. David was obliged to reign there for seven years and six months; not on account of his own exercises and state of soul, but on account of the divided state of the nation. As the nation united on him and anointed him at Hebron, then he proceeded to Jerusalem. Jerusalem in that section of Scripture represents the fulness of the will of God and the position corresponding with it; the land stood in contrast to a small part of it at the Jordan. This epistle is aiming at a forward movement. A very important point had been reached, but the great danger of coming short of the whole purpose of [p. 156] God existed.
JRS Do you regard this epistle as having direct reference to a spiritual constitution, as a means by which power is gained for entering into the land?
JT It deals with a certain point reached a very important point; that is, in the types, the entering into the land; and the danger of contentment with having touched that, without going up and taking possession. The state at Colosse was evidently somewhat stunted for the exercise of Epaphras his prayers and his combat shewed that he felt there was a stopping short. Undoubtedly his exercises and communications to the apostle led to the letter being written; so that he does not proceed immediately after the salutation to open up the counsels of God as in Ephesians. He is free to do that in his letter to the Ephesians; but he does not in this case. He speaks about his prayer, that they should understand the will of God; and then he proceeds to bring in the Person of Christ, to act on the affections of the saints; that the idea of attraction should be accentuated; for this is one great feature in crossing the Jordan. The point is whether it can be accentuated by a special presentation of Christ, for it is very full here.
JJ Is that the reason why more prominence is given to the Person of Christ in Colossians than in Ephesians?
JT I think so. Evidently they were not wanting in affection for Christ; there was no urgent need of the truth of His Person being presented in Ephesians.
PL Would it be like the ark appearing before them in (Joshua 3)?
JT Yes; Colossians is the antitype of the opening chapters of Joshua.
JJ What would you say of Caleb and Joshua? Were they in a Colossian position in their souls, or were they further on?
JT They were further on, answering to the state of things at Ephesus. What comes out in Rahab helps, for she is the link of faith between Egypt and the inheritance.
[p. 157] There is nothing said about faith in the wilderness in Hebrews 11, but it is a remarkable fact that faith actually existed in the land before the children of Israel entered it. Rahab had an apprehension of the power of God in the passage of the Red Sea, and she had an apprehension of the power of the Spirit. She represents the work of God apart from what the wilderness represents; that is to say, the work of God is the work of God, and is true to itself; we can rely upon it, We may be disappointed in certain wilderness results that we may see, for the influence of such ministers as Moses and Aaron was bound to affect the people beyond their state. I think that is what we should notice: that ministry is likely to affect us beyond our state. So that Rahab does not represent the result of ministry, but the work of God; and that is really all we can rely upon. We may be sadly misled by the result of external influences, for if the influence or the occasion of the influence be removed, the true underlying state will become manifest, as was seen in the Judges. As each judge died, the people did worse than their fathers; shewing that the influence of the judge had held them. So it is a question of the work of God; nothing less is of any permanent value.
EuR Would it be right to say that unless we connect the action with the Lord (corresponding with the type of Moses and Aaron) the work of God is not liberated and available for the will of God?
JT Well, that is a feature too; but the work of God is the work of God, you know. I mean. God presents His work apart from the instrumentalities through which it may be effected externally. Take for instance the man in (John 9). As far as we can see he had no ministry as we speak of it. The Lord had opened his eyes by a procedure that is very touching, but that was all; that was the work of God, and what came out in him shewed that there was a moral, effect, although he had no further external help until he was cast out. The Lord said, “that the works of God should be manifested in him”. It was the work of God, but there was no other help; his parents did not help him, but the work of God shewed itself in a full result. The Lord comes back after giving plenty of opportunity for the work of God to shew its strength in him, and says, “Thou, dost thou believe on the Son of God?” and he says, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him?” The Lord answers, “Thou hast both seen him, and he that speaks with thee is he”, and he worships Him. The full result is thus seen.
EuR In his case there was obedience, for he went and washed.
JT Quite, that is the effect of the work of God. That is the position at the Jordan; they had had a most powerful ministry, they had been under Moses and Aaron, and were led so far, but now the question is, Will they go the whole way? I believe a good deal of disillusionment takes place; for after all we have got to come down to bedrock, and it is a question of the work of God. All else will go, or fail us.
FHB Do you mean that our intelligence may often be beyond the work of God in us?
JT I think it is usually, so.
HES Is that why emphasis is laid so much on the work of God? The Lord will only trust that according to (John 2). “But Jesus himself did not trust himself to them, because he knew all men, and that he had not need that any should testify of man, for himself knew what was in man”, verses 24, 25.
JT Exactly; there had been a mighty ministry marked by miracles and many believed on account of that, but the Lord did not trust them.
Ques Would the work of God be illustrated in the challenge that comes to Ezekiel, “Shall these bones live?”
JT Yes; it was a question of the power of God.
WW Would this chapter call attention to the vast working of the kingdom into which we are introduced the “kingdom of the Son of his love”, so that there should be encouragement to move forward in the power of the work of God?
JT That is it; the work of God will shew itself as Christ is presented, as in the case of the blind man, who was equal to the great fact that the Son of God was there before him. He was ready for it; not because he had been under good ministry, as we speak, but because of the work of God which shewed itself in such a marvellous way in him. It never failed him in any crisis in the history given; he was always equal; and indeed he advanced in power in dealing with his opposers. Then the Lord takes him up; “Jesus heard that they had cast him out”, for complete rejection is the result from the side of opposition. “They cast him out”, it says, and when the Lord heard it. He finds him, and says to him, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” He is equal to that; he is quite ready for it. It is not a question of ministry from others, but of the work of God: “That the works of God should be manifested in him”.
HH Would that allow for the epistle to the Romans coming before this? Would the teaching and light and the work of the Spirit in the deliverance set forth in chapter 8 all come in under the heading of what you are saying?
JT Yes, so far as the actual work of God in the believer is concerned; of course ministry is seen in Romans.
FHB Do you understand that the work of God prepares us for the reception of light?
JT It does. It is remarkable how the man in (John 9) came into the knowledge of divine things, and how able he became in answering his opposers.
JJ Does he not illustrate in a sense the three positions you have often referred to Ziklag, Hebron and Jerusalem?
JT Quite. We do well to take notice of Rahab’s [p. 160] position because it puts us in our proper place externally, that is to say, we have might to anything on the line of nature. She had no right to anything; and moreover, she Had a bad reputation. I mean, it disposes of the flesh at once, if you take her up as a type of yourself as you are bound to do, if you want to go into Canaan, you are bound to admit that is the point. She is the next person mentioned by the Spirit of God as having faith; but what was her character and history? That puts us in our proper place as entering the land; you have no status of your own at all; it must be a question of God, “His great love wherewith he loved us”.
FSM Would that be the line in John’s gospel pretty well throughout?
JT Quite. Man in the flesh has no status at all; he must be born a new.
Ques Is your thought that the principle of new birth, with which we start, continues in the Christian course?
JT That is what I understand. It affects the whole person, and the effect remains.
JCS And the work of God does not allow for any carrying over from the old order.
JT Just so; and what happened at the Jordan is to shew how the thing that we may carry over has been dealt with by God; “the body of the flesh” is put off in the circumcision of Christ. It is left behind; it has no claim on us. Even in regard of the system of ordinances, “He has taken it also out of the way”, chapter 2:14. But Rahab, without any ministry or help from others, as far as the record goes, had faith, that is, she was a subject of the work of God. She had flax in her house, and had spread it out on the roof, meaning typically that she was beginning to judge her state; and she used that to cover the spies. It says, moreover, that she sent them forth “another way”; she had the idea of another way. Then another thing is, she continued in Israel, as the Spirit of [p. 161] God tells us (Matthew 1), and we know that she did from the fact recorded that she is in the royal line.
GWW Would the flax being there point on to the fine linen? Flax is the beginning of this.
JT Quite; she is on the way to it. Without the raw material we cannot have the fabric. The Lamb’s wife is to “be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure”.
GWW What relation has ministry to the work of God?
JT I suppose we shall see here what it was in the apostle; the ministry of the gospel and the ministry of the church. I think it introduces divine authority; that is, one of the first elements in ministry is that it raises the question of the authority of God to take us up and form us; to put His impress upon us. That is to say, the work of God is like the earth coming out of the waters in (Genesis 1); there was latent power in it: “Let the earth bring forth”. But then you want to control what is brought forth; and I think that is the idea, that ministry represents the authority of God; in fact, it involves here the image of God. At any rate, the first thing mentioned here of the Lord after redemption is that He is “image of the invisible God”, verse 15. All the effects of life in the universe must come under His impress; otherwise it does not correspond with God. Things must correspond with God. The earth in a moral sense has got away from God, and there is no correspondence at all; but the divine thought is that the fruit or result of life should bear the divine impress; and I believe ministry effects that; the sense that God has to say to me; that He has a will and thoughts about me; thus I am gradually led on to and correspond with the idea of what God is in Christ: “Who is the image of the invisible God”. I think ministry should have that in mind, that you are representing God. You are not producing the life; nobody can produce life but God.
GWW So the will should come under [p. 162] the influence of God, that is, the knowledge of God would go with the formation of image.
JT That is what I thought; no one can produce life but God. The Lord says that the Father quickens and the Son quickens. That is God’s prerogative; but ministry is to bring in the impress of God on the fruit of life. God develops what He pleases; He “giveth it a body as it hath pleased him”. That shews the importance of being under God and representative of Him in ministry; because the persons who listen to me are sure to be affected by me not only by what I say, but by what I am, and I do not want to put a false impression on them.
Ques “The Lord working with them”; would that be the way?
JT He works with us; but then you see, according to Mark, which is the gospel for ministers. He selected certain ones that they might be with Him, that is, that they should take on His impress.
HES Is it in keeping with the ministry that the apostle said in Ephesians, “Be ye therefore imitators of God”? Is that the thought?
JT Quite; they would get the thought of God from those who ministered the truth to them primarily the apostle himself.
QMS Do we see Paul with a due sense of the end of the work of God in (Acts 20) when he said, “I commit you to God, and to the word of his grace”, after having declared the whole counsel of God to them?
JT Quite; there is the further thought there, of course, of their need of God.
AJHB In the beginning of Genesis it is said that Adam was placed in the garden to till it, and I wondered whether that was rather the thought of ministry. Before sin came in you find him occupied to bring about the divine impress in connection with what God had effected, which was life.
JT That is good. “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”. In keeping the garden he is occupied with life, and he would be concerned that it should be in accord with God. Moreover, he could name the animals; for I suppose before sin came in, each animal represented some thought of God. The idea of life suggests that God is the living God; He is the Author of life and every feature of life must represent Him in some way. Adam was able to name those living creatures that came before him, and God did not alter any name he gave; shewing that God recognised the intelligence He had placed in Adam in regard of the result of life.
Ques Is your thought that one may receive ministry and yet there may be a lack of the work of God in the soul?
JT Of course, and almost from the very outset. The epistle to the Hebrews with other scriptures shews that certain were even made partakers of the Holy Spirit, but there was no work of God in them. Powerful ministry may carry you along, even if unconverted; and may carry converted people far beyond their state.
HFN In Romans it says, “Destroy not the work of God”. If the work of God is indestructible, I would like a little help as to why that should be said.
JT I believe what is alluded to there is the bearing of the person’s action. I do not see that the work of God, as we are speaking of it, is destructible; what God does in this sense is done forever.
ASL But as far as the person referred to was concerned, in what he was doing he was working in that direction.
JT Quite. I think you can see how important it is to view the work of God by itself. God is certainly entitled to do that. Then you see that ministry as from God conveys what He is authoritatively; and it implies His designs; the idea of architecture, design, and general [p. 164] beautification as to things in the divine realm. Therefore, in ministry it is a question of the formation of things, the work of God taking proper form, taking on the divine impressions. Apparently the saints at Colosse needed full knowledge. The bearing of the epistle would shew that what they needed was to the end that they might be “filled with the full knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so as to walk worthily of the Lord unto all well pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and growing by the true knowledge of God”. That is what they needed; and that would bring in the idea of Godlikeness. The new man was to be “according to the image of him that has created him”, chapter 3:10.
ESH What part has prayer in regard of the work of God?
JT Well, you see how the apostle here is praying for the Colossians, that they might “be filled with the full knowledge of his will”. The work of God goes on all the time with us, unless our wills begin to act. Then, of course, it stops, but normally it goes on in relation to what is presented to us objectively; in relation to whatever pattern God is working on. If He is working in relation to the heavenly, the work proceeds on those lines, and it is for the ministers to understand that; that as Paul insists they are working with God.
A S .L. What would you say is the evidence of a work of God in any soul? People may have a good deal of intelligence and be able to speak of things and explain them, but what is the evidence of the work of God in a person?
JT The initial evidence is submission to the will of God, and a readiness to take in divine thoughts. Mary of Bethany was subject, and sat at the Lord’s feet; she was ready to take in His thoughts.
ASL Rahab, whom you started with, would be a very good illustration. You mentioned her as illustrative [p. 165] of the work of God. I mean, she had faith in God, and was sure that the people would be triumphant.
JT Exactly. Of course a great deal could be said as to the accompanying things, in the initial effect of the work of God; but the apostle is concerned about workmanship, to “present every man perfect in Christ”. Mary of Bethany sat at the Lord’s feet, and I believe that is a principle. Unless He is definitely before the believers, gifts in the exercise of the service are sure to be unduly distinctive in their minds; and that is where the Colossian danger lay. The Corinthians were grossly occupied with the persons that ministered, or professed to minister; they had their own preferences; they were comparing this one with that one, and so forth. The Colossians were not so gross as that, but there was this danger; the apostle is anxious that no man should deceive or mislead them. It is a danger, that lurks always where we are disposed to take certain ones as references in the ministry.
Now Mary of Bethany would never view persons in that way; she would value all, and I believe the meaning of her sitting at the Lord’s feet is, that whoever the gift it is a question of what the Lord is saying. That is a sure evidence of the work of God that you want to hear what the Lord is saying through whomsoever it may come. It is a question of what the Lord is saying, and we know from the way the Holy Spirit came in at Pentecost, that there would be diversity: “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all”, 1 Corinthians 12:4 - 6. The idea is to bring divine Persons into their proper place in our vision. That is, Christianity is a question of Persons; we are baptised to the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Any, intermediaries are simply for our good, and not to become objects, except that we regard [p. 166] them in love, and respect them for their work’s sake. It is a question, therefore, of what God will do; and that, I am sure, is the best way. It is the work of God, that one is concerned as to what God is saying or doing.
PG And the work of God would develop the instincts by which one would distinguish the voice of the Lord in the ministry.
JT Quite, the apostle says to the Corinthians that they were the evidence themselves of Christ speaking in him; that is the point he makes.
WW It says that Rahab sent back the spies “another way”; would that indicate that she received them in faith’s way and sent them back in love’s way?
JT Quite; it was not the ordinary way. If a Greek philosopher were to come in among the saints at Colosse he would direct them the ordinary way; that is not another way; the other way is the divine way. Going up to the mountain and hiding there agrees with Colossians.
Ques Is it possible to receive ministry apart from the work of God?
JT Yes; the unregenerate human mind is capable of going a long way in the things of God. (Compare Hebrews 6).
GWW Would you say the real object of ministry is to bring the soul, the subject of the work of God, under the influence of headship, and so there is a presentation of Christ that would bring about that result?
JT That is what I understand; you are led on to headship. Paul said of the Thessalonians, “Ye became our imitators”, and immediately adds, “and of the Lord”, because he would not appropriate his followers. There was a presentation of God in him amongst them, and they followed on, but he did not hold them, they “were added to the Lord”, and that made way for headship. The end of this epistle is to get us on to the full thought of headship, that as holding the Head, we might “stand perfect and complete in all the will of God”.
Ques Would the effect of the epistle be seen in the last chapter, to “present every man perfect in Christ”?
JT That leads to the full thought; it is “every man”; the full end is collective, as in Ephesians. In Colossians it is presented as the burden of the prayer of Epaphras standing “perfect and complete in all the will of God”. The prayer of the apostle, chapter 1:9 - 11, is in full keeping with this. I think the two pillars in the front of the temple would perhaps help. In those two pillars there was a presentation of what God would effect. They were beautifully ornamented. In 1 Kings you have the separate heights of the pillars; but in 2 Chronicles their total height, and I suppose the latter would mean the fulness of the divine thought. You may reach the height of one, so to speak, but to get to the height of the two, you reach completeness. Obviously the idea is to represent what God can effect; so in Peter and John at the gate of the temple you have what God can effect in men like ourselves, so that attention is called to them there: “Look on us”. There was something there representative of God; it was not Christ personally; but it was enough to call the man’s attention to, and he was healed, brought into power in that action, and “held Peter and John”. That was an immense start, but he would go on; he continued with them. God shews what He can do; not only what is effected in Christ personally, but what He can effect in men like ourselves. That is the idea of ministry. Being myself the thing I present, I affect accordingly those who listen to me; and it leads them on to the full thought; for the great objective is the “full grown man”. Alongside of those pillars there was spiritually the means of bringing others into what they set forth, in the altar, the sea, and the laver.
HWS “Growing by the true knowledge of God”; would that be the way the thing is effected in the soul?
JT Yes, that goes with it, only there is the fulness of [p. 168] divine thoughts set out in Christ, specially in view of Ephesians.
GWW Can there be any progressive work in the soul apart from development in headship?
JT Well, God works in us in relation to the headship of Christ. You would be concerned to so present Him to your hearers that their minds are led in the direction of Christ as Head.
GWW That is what I am trying to get at.
JT You are on that line, and that is the end in this epistle; that we are led on to an apprehension of Christ in relation to the land, the whole purpose of God.
EuR It speaks in the early part of the chapter of the glad tidings “bearing fruit and growing”; would that involve the work of God?
JT It would. Now after that he goes on to the Father: “Giving thanks to the Father, who has made us fit for sharing the portion of the saints in light, who has delivered us from the authority of darkness, and translated us into [p. 159] the kingdom of the Son of his love”. It is a question of authority, but authority of a peculiar form; not exactly the kingdom, as in Romans, but the “kingdom of the Son of his love”; he has carried us along to that; you are brought on. It is still authority. As far as I see, the kingdom will never end at all; it goes on. It will become more and more attenuated, so to speak, but it will go on. Even in eternity the Lord is said to be subject; He delivers up the kingdom to Him who is God and Father, “that God may be all in all”, (1 Corinthians 15:28). It says, “The Son also himself shall be placed in subjection” a marvellous statement! Obviously the idea of the kingdom goes on, for God is to be God, and man is to be man. It is not necessarily asserted, but ever there. So here we are being led on from the kingdom, as seen typically at the Red Sea, the authority of Moses as in the wilderness. At the end of Deuteronomy Moses as king corresponds somewhat with what we have here; he was “king in Jeshurun”, that is, a king in the midst of an ‘upright people’; the point, however, was not so much what he was to God. But here it is what Jesus is to God the ‘Son of the Father’s love’. It is a most precious experience to be under that rule!
HH Would you say the kingdom according to this thought goes over Jordan?
FHB Is that the carrying on of the thought that God is the Head of Christ?
JT Quite; that is another side of it. It is a remarkable statement that “the Son also himself shall be placed in subjection”; mark, it is the Son.
EuR Does this fit in with what you were saying as to David being crowned king at Hebron?
JT I think it would be more like Solomon’s reign the Son of the Father’s love. It introduces us really to the book of Proverbs. Then I was thinking of the peculiar setting in which the Person of Christ is before us, and how He is Head in the creation and in redemption, and then, how a dual sort of ministry runs right through the ministry of the reconciliation of all things and persons: the ministry of the gospel, and the ministry of the church. As the Lord helps us we may see how the mediatorial position of Christ is retroactive. It is seen in Him as Man here, and we begin with this. It is the Son of the Father’s love in redemption, and the mediatorial idea must centre in the Person of Christ as Man. That is what was in the mind of God. He puts Himself in touch with the creation and with men in redemption through Christ, not only that it goes forward, but it is retroactive in its bearing. The thought reacts and goes back to the very beginning of things; that all must be through mediatorial service.
HH Your suggestion of what is retroactive accounts for a great deal of Scripture not hitherto understood. Does it not carry you back to such a scripture as ([p. 170] Proverbs 8) and all that which anticipated the coming in of Christ as the Son?
JT It does; it explains much. What is stated even there began with wisdom acting here in relation to men; you are carried back from that point.
FSM Would the ministry of wisdom in Proverbs lead to the inquiry of “What is his name, and what is his son’s name, if thou knowest?” Is that the objective?
JT Yes, it is God in relation to the creation. The results in the book of Proverbs are most interesting, and that inquiry is by a man who speaks of his abject ignorance; he takes a low place in that chapter, chapter 30. That is a fine inquiry: “What is his name, and what is his son’s name, if thou knowest?” The woman of worth in the last chapter is the subjective result.
GWW Perhaps you would explain what you mean by ‘retroactive’; it may not be very plain to all of us.
JT Well, take Peter’s remark as to the Lord: “Being put to death in flesh, but made alive in the Spirit, in which also going he preached to the spirits which are in prison, heretofore disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah”, (1 Peter 3:18 - 20). That is retroactive; He was not there personally; it was His Spirit, but it was the Spirit of the One that was becoming Man; it was the Spirit of Christ in man, that preached in Noah.
GWW You mean that we find the workings of the Spirit of Christ before Christ was personally present as Man?
JT Quite; it is the Spirit of Christ not the Spirit of God; “the Spirit of Christ which was in them”.
GWW “Searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them pointed out, testifying before of the sufferings which belonged to Christ, and the glories after these”. (1 Peter 1:11).
JT Peter helps in that particularly, shewing that the operations before, whatever the instrumentality, had [p. 171] in view the incarnation. That was the one thing divine thoughts centred in, and whether things were done mediatorially before or after, Christ is the Mediator.
JRS And you are regarding that as being in this chapter?
JT That is how the truth is presented.
PL “By whom also he made the worlds”. (Hebrews 1:2).
JT That implies His deity, but it is woven into the principle of His mediatorial position. Then it says here in verse 15, “Who is image of the invisible God”. That is stated of Christ here as the One in whom we have redemption; and then. He is “Firstborn of all creation; because by him were created all things”, and so forth. That is to say, the very existence of all those created things gives Him the first place, because it is not simply that He was the instrument, but it was by His power; the first preposition ‘by’, verse 16, means that it was by His power the things were done; but all on the mediatorial principle, as remarked. The second ‘by’ in verse 16 is instrumental. (See note. New Translation).
JJ So I suppose the appearings of the Lord in various forms in the Old Testament are prospective in view of His incarnation.
JT Yes. Referring again to verse 16 if you employ a man to do a thing, he is the instrument by which it is done; but in the creation there was more than that in regard of Christ. He does the thing in His own power, and that fact gives Him the first place firstborn; He must have that place; but it is wrought into the principle of His mediatorial position. Thus the truth of His Person is worked into our souls as we apprehend this mediatorial service.
ASL And He has done it too for Himself: “All things have been created by him and for him”.
JT That is the end in view.
GWW It is remarkable that J.N.D. in the verse in Ephesians leaves out “by Jesus Christ”. He says, “God, who has created all things”, (Ephesians 3:9). Although it was the One whom we know that did it, yet it was God that did it; and that establishes the divinity of His own Person.
P G. It says that all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell there.
JT You have, “By him were created all things, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, or lordships, or principalities, or authorities: all things have been created by him and for him. And he is before all, and all things subsist together by him”. The first ‘by’ there indicates that the power used in creation was resident in Him, so that He is; it is not what He has become in these early statements about Him; it is what He is, as indicated in the things that He has done. He becomes Head too in redemption; but all is in the right of His own Person. But in verse 18, “that he might have” indicates that through death He has acquired something. The fulness dwelt in Him and by Him effected reconciliation. Here He is instrumental, but the fulness of the Godhead resided in Him.
GWW Is the thought to lift the soul up to the greatness there is in Christ?
JT I am sure that is so. The thought of the Person of Christ so grips the affections of the saints that they go forward. It is peculiarly needed as we come over Jordan, hence the prominence given to the ark there.
GWW Would you be prepared to say where you think the Colossians were, in view of what is set forth in the crossing of the Jordan?
JT I think they are regarded as over.
GWW That is, they have reached the position you spoke of as the lodging place. It is not to incite them to pass over, but a presentation of Christ to them in the lodging place.
JT [p. 173] That is right. The principle of Colossians is entering.
GWW So that the end in view is that they might advance from the lodging place into the full thought of God for them; is that the objective?
JT Exactly. They are risen with Christ by faith, chapter 2: 12; that is another thing to notice. It is a question of faith. Colossians does not mean that I am risen literally, but by faith; it is a certainty because of the known power of God; it is “through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead”. And what goes with that is the quickening In virtue of this there is power in the believer; for it was stipulated that a man out of each tribe was to take a stone out of the bed of the Jordan and put it on his shoulder and take it up. That required power; it is a symbol of the power of each tribe. The whole are regarded as over Jordan “by faith”, but in addition there is the work of God, so that a man is able to take up a stone. That is not a matter of faith, but actuality. It is in keeping with what God has done, but only in a very small way. It is the power working in my soul. The power of God was seen in the ark the power and glory of God. Those men could not force the Jordan back. It was forced back God did that but they take up the stones. And in these stones, taken and placed where they lodged, there is the witness of the power of God in us; that we are risen (by faith) and quickened. Quickening enables us to enter into association with Christ where He is; it is with Him.
EuR Is that involved in verse 2? “Strengthened with all power according to the might of his glory”.
JT Exactly; that is what the apostle desired for them. I think the thing was there already; so to speak they had carried over the stones: “In the which also ye have been raised with him”. But the Colossians had not yet taken possession of the land and were in danger, as we were remarking.
[p. 174] JJ So although the Spirit is not directly spoken of, it is implied all through?
JT It is the work of the Spirit that is implied. It is beyond Romans; because taking the stone up out of the bed of Jordan implies power the power of life.
JJ Does the mediatorial power of the Spirit come in in Colossians?
JT It does come in. “Love in the Spirit”, chapter 1:8, is a mediatorial principle; that is, it was life of that kind.
PL The man puts the stone on his shoulder; does that suggest constitutional strength?
JT I think it does. It is the result in us of the quickening power of God. They were to prepare themselves “victuals”, (Joshua 1:11), and this would have in view the needed constitution for the great undertaking ahead.
GWW And is all that an apprehension of what is set forth in the ark? There is power to take up such a movement.
JT Yes. Colossians in that respect is a question of being brought into correspondence with Christ. In Him is all that is needed, but we are brought into it by the work of the Spirit.
JCS Is the thought that it was the same power morally that drove the Jordan back?
JT That is it. He does “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us”, (Ephesians 3:20). That is it; there is no other power.
Ques Would fighting ability come in here?
JT That does not come in yet, but there is the preparation for it. What I think should impress us here is the Person of Christ. He is so presented to our hearts as to enter into our constitution, because it is interwoven with the truth of creation and the truth of redemption.
JRS [p. 175] What is the order in this way in which His glory is presented, starting with “image of the invisible God” and ending with being Head of the assembly?
JT It goes further than that. It ends with, “In him all the fulness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell”. You can see how forcefully the truth of His Person is presented, for it is interwoven with the truth as we should receive it in our souls; that is, the truth of the Person of Christ should be in our souls, as we have the truth of our salvation, and the knowledge of the creation. The thing is to have the truth of the Person of Christ in our souls; so that it begins with “the image of the invisible God”. Everything is to receive the divine impress. Besides the literal creation, as in (Genesis 1), there were ‘thrones, principalities and authorities’ all were created by Him and for Him. His headship of the church was through death. Then, “All the fullness … was pleased to dwell”. There is a moral thought in that it was pleased to dwell in Christ. Nothing at all was lacking in the fulness. All that God — the Deity — is was there in Him, and was pleased to dwell there. Reconciliation is to bring us into accord with that. This leads on to the church being God’s dwelling, by the Spirit, (Ephesians 2).
GWW You are consciously in accord with that.
ER And the church is equal to it.