THE HEAD OF ALL PRINCIPALITY AND POWER (2)
[p. 40] THE HEAD OF ALL PRINCIPALITY AND POWER (2)
FER The apostle desired that they might rejoice in his sufferings for them. He rejoiced in them, filling up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ. Then he would have them know what great conflict he had for them, and not only them, but for all down to Laodicea, and not only there, but as many as had not seen his face in the flesh; which brings in us. The epistle to the Laodiceans was to be read by the Colossians, and vice versa. It is remarkable the scope and bearing of the apostle’s ministry — to “as many as have not seen my face in the flesh” — his conflict was to the end given in verse 2 — hearts comforted, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding. That is the great preservative. What comes out in Colossians is just what marks the present time. You get philosophy and science and human wisdom, and the name of Christianity retained, and yet throwing the law and testimony of God overboard. There could be nothing for God if there was no testimony — when things are turned upside down all is confusion. There are those who say, there is no testimony, and others do not go so far, but they throw the Scriptures overboard; but if there are no Scriptures, I do not see what we have. Influences are at work to oppose the testimony of God; if there be no testimony, there can be nothing for God. “Thy testimonies are very sure”, Psalm 93: 5. The testimony will have its place in those in whom God has wrought, yet even true Christians come under the evil influences at work which tend to oppose the testimony. If man has departed from God, then, as a result, all is out of gear, and then we are absolutely dependent upon a [p. 41] testimony from God. The position in Christendom is illogical; for in a world of confusion, to discredit testimony, and yet retain the name of Christianity, is illogical. I often feel indignant at the enormous assumption of people who throw testimony overboard, and yet are quite ignorant of all that Scripture says. The great antidote is “the full assurance of understanding”. The leaders who oppose the testimony have no idea of the “testimony of Jesus” being the “spirit of prophecy”. The mystery of God is His purpose to head up all things in Christ. The full assurance of understanding of the mystery of God, in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Wisdom is the resource of God, by which He can displace evil, and bring in what is according to Himself; God’s ability to do that is wisdom. The form it takes now is, “Christ in you, the hope of glory”. The mystery is manifest in that way to us, and in that way we are in the good of God’s purpose, because in virtue of Christ in you, you get the power of sin and evil broken, and what is of God prevailing.
The new man is created after God in righteousness and holiness. It is only in Christianity you can have any real idea of righteousness and holiness; the terms may be used, but there is no real idea of them. We get a foreshadowing of the new man in Old Testament saints. What distinguished them before God was really some trait of Christ. Like Abraham, who was called out from his kindred, and from his father’s house. It was a foreshadowing of Christ. It was He who was alien to His mother’s children. Then again, Abraham went out, and left his country. It was really pointing on to Christ. It was He who had not where to lay His head. Every trait and feature in Old Testament saints which refreshes you, is all a foreshadowing of Christ, and is but some trait of Christ. The word of God is that which has been light all along the history of the world. Whatever bit of [p. 42] light there was, was always by the word of God. The word of God is the testimony. People greatly need encouragement. Some suffer under pressure of circumstances; others on account of the loss of natural links, because of the path they have taken. People are often liable to depression, and so saints need encouragement. People, however, live in a border land. They do not enter with full heart into the new links which the apostle John speaks of. We are to love one another; there is no neutral ground. The two-and-a-half tribes did not go over, and they were extremely liable to the influences of the world. Some people think they would be giving themselves away to answer to the claims of Christian love. We cannot afford to despise lowly people. We have to accept them because God has accepted them. We often cannot get past people’s peculiarities, but the likelihood is they are more acceptable in God’s sight than perhaps you are, and by you, I mean myself. I am not the best Christian! We want to get round to what Christ is for God. A babe knows the same Christ that a father does; but a babe only apprehends what Christ is for him; but a father apprehends Him as on God’s side; that is the One in whom all God’s purpose centres. If we apprehend Him as the Ark of the covenant, we must enter the holiest. A babe cannot go on to the riches of the secret of God; that is the knowledge of the mystery. It is all the work of the Spirit which brings us to the point to be arrived at, that is the knowledge of the mystery. It must be very great that all the treasures of resource are found in it. Christ is the Head. All things are headed up in Him. In chapter 1 Christ is spoken of as Head first in connection with creation, and then in connection with reconciliation. The mystery is the whole extent of God’s purpose in Christ. The assembly has the greatest place in that purpose. God will displace sin and death in the same place where sin and death were,
[p. 43] you get the introduction of all that is according to God. In the Head of all things you get all the fulness of God, all will be accomplished and brought to pass in the light of God. All will be established morally according to God, and all will be held together in perfect unity. It is all one in the Head. One Head holding all must bring in unity. There are circles in heaven, and there will be circles on earth, and each and all will take character from Christ, and in that way be according to God, and all held together by one Head — “The Sun of righteousness with healing in his wings”. It is a beautiful expression.
Rem “Enticing words” was to make them dissatisfied and to want something else.
FER The apostle seemed to be alive to the danger that beset them. I suspect there was an effort in earlier days to bring in a mixture of philosophy, Eastern ideas and Judaism. There was an effort to allegorise scriptures, and in that way to destroy the moral application. The impudent way in which men try to get over facts stated in Scripture, and treating them as fables! Facts which have a great moral bearing, and yet these men do not openly deny the Scriptures, but are such traitors. In looking at Scripture, it is important to look at it from a moral point of view. Nothing is related as history, but entirely with a moral bearing, and with the intention to convey some moral thought; but we must have the foundation of facts, not fables. People try to accommodate themselves to philosophy and science; but it is no good, for those to whom they try to accommodate themselves have no intention of accepting any testimony of God at all. If people do not apprehend Christ spiritually, they cannot understand Scripture. The Scriptures were given for believers, they were written for our learning. If a man has not a spiritual apprehension of Christ, he cannot understand any part of Scripture, either Old Testament or New.
[p. 44] In our day the most important things in Scripture, new birth and eternal life, are misunderstood. They have connected new birth with baptism, and eternal life has been taken up in a material way, and the result is these things have been made a laughing-stock. These things can only be understood by the Spirit of God. The apostle preached Christ crucified, that was intensely moral; it set forth the end of man, and set forth, too, what was God’s demonstration of what flesh is in His sight.
Are there not some parts of Scripture more difficult than others?
FER Yes, there are; the most difficult parts of scripture to me are the writings of John. All depends on ability of apprehension. We are not men enough to apprehend them. “In understanding be men”, 1 Corinthians 14: 20. If so, these things would not be obscure to us. The apostle prays for this here. In John’s gospel Christ is presented entirely as on God’s side. It is essentially on the divine side: “We have contemplated his glory”, John 1: 14. He is the Father’s sent One, come to do the Father’s will. His words were the Father’s words, His works the Father’s works. In the other gospels the miracles were all as setting forth the virtue in Christ for man. The key to John’s gospel is the “glory as of an only begotten with a father”. Even the miracles related in John’s gospel, which are sparingly given, are counted as signs, and they manifested forth His glory. John speaks of eternal life morally, and presents it in the Father and the Son, and so we can get it now. In the other gospels it is spoken of in connection with the coming age. The great struggle we have gone through has been to get the truth of eternal life out of the rut of materialism.
Verses 6 and 7. We have received the Spirit, and the great point is to walk in the Spirit, not as natural men. I do not think Christ is very much presented in [p. 45] preaching; certain things are pressed on people, and anecdotes are told; His work is put in afterwards, and forgiveness is pressed on them, but there is very little preaching of Christ, which is the setting forth of the present relation of Christ who is at the right hand of God, but yet stands in a special relation to all men. He is the One Mediator, the present living Mediator. The redemption is in Christ Jesus, and it is available for men as they are affected God-wards. Man has revolted from God, and therefore man has to turn to God. The responsibility of returning lies upon the one who revolted, and the truth of the Mediator is that the way is open the moment he apprehends the grace of God in the Mediator, and then he turns to God. The Mediator had taken up man’s liabilities. The point in preaching is, to present to men the present position of Christ at this moment as having taken up a relation to all men. Christ is to be presented as Head: “Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins”, Acts 13: 38. Philip went down to Samaria and preached Christ unto them. If Christ stands by divine appointment in relation to men, which He is adequate and entitled to fill, then man has responsibilities in regard to Him. It is a great thing to press this upon men. Walking in Christ is the acceptance of Christ as wisdom instead of being such a fool as to trust one’s self. It is a great thing to walk in Him, to find Christ as wisdom. I am a far better man than I should have been had I walked by my own head. It gives superiority; there is a moral dignity that is above everything — that is in Christ. It is all morally great.
It is important to see the line on which things are presented and seen. There are many things in the world which are not “after Christ”, and there are things “after Christ”. The rudiments of the world, philosophy and vain deceit, are not after Christ; they are not on that line. Things are either on one [p. 46] line or the other. The literature of the day is on the line of philosophy and vain deceit, except when it is pure imagination. We have to test things, to try them, and the test is, Are they after Christ? The test is, Do they bring the light of God? The rudiments of the world, and the traditions of men, never brought the light of God. What is “after Christ” brings in revelation.
Rem People speak about the light of reason.
FER But that does not bring in the light of God. The world did not begin with philosophy; philosophy began when certain social conditions existed, and deductions were then made as to what existed. Mathematics never originated anything. Reason originates nothing. All right reason must begin from the top; but what people speak of as reason is in the sense of from man to God; they begin at the wrong end. If there is no revelation, no real light of God, there are no premises to reason on. The traditions of men are very doubtful premises. They say, supposing certain conditions, then reason would be superior to passion. I do not believe it, because I do not think passion could be controlled by reason.
What does verse 6 refer to?
FER It is a remarkable expression, because it takes in three titles. Christ Jesus, the Lord, not the Lord Jesus Christ. Ye have received the Christ. The point of the epistle (the mystery) is really Christ in you, the hope of glory; in you Gentiles. It would not have been so wonderful to say this of Jews; but Christ is Jesus the Lord. “The Lord”, brings in exaltation. “Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living”, Romans 14: 9. Then he goes on to warn them against being deflected: he brings in the Lord, because He is Head of all principality and power. The Lord is supreme for administration “to us there is ... one Lord Jesus Christ”, 1 Corinthians 8: 6. Everything for God [p. 47] is effectuated by the Lord. There is no one you can look at above Him. He is the Head: there are many below Him. No one ever gets free of Satan till he gets to the Lord. It is only as you get to the Lord, that you realise Satan’s power. Israel had to be on completely new ground (resurrection) before they were free of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. If a person is under the power of superstition, liable to be carried away by imagination, when they get to the Lord, they get free of it. No one who has got to the Lord would occupy themselves with superstition. Those who can influence you are above you. If I have fallen under the influence of spirits, I have not got to the Lord. We are not going to affect the Lord. He will affect us; He is too great to be affected. The Lord will not bend to our point. He may bend us to Him. We like to persuade the Lord to our way of thinking sometimes, but we are not going to do it. We forget sometimes that He is the Lord. He is not only Jesus, but the Lord. It is a wicked invention that any human mediator could have influence with the Lord, to affect Him. The wonderful thing has come to pass, that Christ is in the Gentiles. The Jew could not understand Christ being among the Gentiles. Only one thing explains it, and that is that His body is here. In the gospels we get Christ presented to man, and in the epistles He is exalted and made Lord and Christ at the right hand of God. The Christ is the One whom Scripture has always had in view; therefore Christ come in the flesh was what was insisted on. The idea of Christ the Anointed, is that the one is come who is going to give effect to all God’s will.
Is it for earth that He is the Anointed?
FER No. The one on whom the Spirit descended was the same who baptised with the Holy Spirit, and He did not do this until He was exalted. The great thought, however, in Scripture is a connection between [p. 48] heaven and earth. We get the kingdom of heaven now; we have to look to the heavens for light and direction. In Genesis God made the heaven and the earth, and so also in Revelation 21: 3, “the tabernacle of God is with men”. It is a great thing for saints to get to the Lord, to be ordered by Him. There is no greater favour could be conferred upon you than to give you His mind as to what is taking place down here. The great effect of it is, that you are not overwhelmed nor overcome by evil. There is no phase of evil but what the Lord has foreseen, and He lays it all down in Scripture. It may cause a sense of confusion in me, but He is above it. He is not confused by it. He saw it all from the outset. Verse 8 is a warning. The folly of philosophy is that it comes short of telling me about God. It can speculate and argue. The philosopher’s premises are only from what he knows, but what can philosophy tell me? No one from what we see around us can know God. There are 10,000 witnesses of God here — parental affection, filial obedience, etc. — and yet these things are out of course; man’s passions get the better of him, and all the evils resulting from that, and who is going to know what God is from that?
Does receiving Him go beyond faith?
FER Yes, I think so; they had received the Spirit. If we walk in the Spirit, there is the recognition of Jesus the Lord. If we walk in the Spirit, we walk in the truth of the Christ.
Is it the same as “abiding in Christ”?
FER Well, here it is walk which carries the idea of conversation. Walk is the result of abiding, I should say.
Is it Christ dwelling in your heart by faith?
FER In Ephesians 3 it is prayer that it might be so, and it is the result of state; it is by being strengthened with might by His Spirit, in the inner man. Received the Christ, is having received the testimony;
[p. 49] but that could be said of any Christian; but being strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in the heart by faith is, I think, a good deal further on. The epistle is essentially a “guarding epistle”. It is with a view to their not moving away. The great effort has been to identify Christ and Christianity with the course of this world. It was the effort of Judaising teachers and philosophers. In this country it is what has been done; but it is all false. If Christ, the Son of God, came in as man, He cannot be a ‘crown’; He must be a beginning, a Head; so it says, the beginning of the creation of God, not the end of it. People render it often a new creation; but that is not it. He is the Head, the beginning of the creation of God. He is the firstborn from the dead; that is, it was God’s purpose to establish all on the footing of resurrection. Redemption is in Christ, and He is risen, and hence it follows that all in the creation of God must be on that footing, otherwise it would not be in accord with Christ.
Rem The eagerness to connect Christ with this world is in order to put a sanction on it.
FER Yes; the way forgiveness of sins has been presented, is that man might have it in this world. The truth is, man is forgiven in view of another world. People are forgiven, and receive the gift of the Spirit, and that connects them with Christ and another world. The benefit is presented to every man, so that in coming to Christ they might receive the Spirit, and thus be in attachment to Christ, who is the beginning of another world. We are justified in Christ; not in ourselves. The disposition is to connect Christ and Christianity with the course of this world. Christianity has come to be the religion of this world. It is a point of the last moment to make manifest the great end of preaching. Forgiveness is preached in the name of One who is the Head of a [p. 50] system, and the object is that man may believe in Him, and, consequent on faith, receive the Spirit, which attaches him to Christ and to another world.
“For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him which is the head of all principality and power” (verses 9, 10). It is a great expression that “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily”. The idea is, that “all the fulness of the Godhead” is brought into contact with man. All that God is, is brought into contact with man.
Verse 9: There is nothing left out of the Godhead “all the fulness”, and it is in a vessel, “bodily”. This verse refers to what the Lord is now, but chapter 1: 19 is what He was as down here. No one knows anything of God, save as we see it revealed in Christ as man. We have the full revelation of God in a man, without any confusion of God and man. There is where the mystery lies. There is the full setting forth of what God is in a man. The union of God and man is an improper thought. By the fact of the incarnation, the Son becoming a Man, He took a place lower than angels. Chapter 1: 19 is not what was true of Him in eternity. He was in the form of God then. You must have the vessel for the fulness of God to dwell in. In eternity the unity of Godhead existed, but after the incarnation there was a spot where the fulness of Godhead was pleased to dwell. In becoming Man He gave up the place that was proper to Him. The object of it was that everything might take its character from Him. The truth is God can trust nothing but the divine nature. There is no greater mystery in Scripture than the unity of Godhead. Three Persons, and yet unity of such a character that they can speak of an “I”. Someone has said, “No separation of will, but each willing”. In the Old Testament there is but one Person speaking, and nothing to show there were three Persons there.
[p. 51] In Christ, the High Priest can touch the Ark. The Son became man, and in doing so He touched the Ark. The Ark and the High Priest are one. It is two lights in which Christ is presented; in Him the approach is equal to the revelation. The Priest has gone in and touched the Ark; He did not need blood or incense (the blood was on our account). Approach and revelation are set forth in the same Person; it is the foundation of Christianity that approach is equal to revelation.
In verse 10 we get He is “the head of all principality and power”. Men are affected by principalities and powers, they are affected intellectually. The influences by which men are affected come from heaven. Take idolatry, superstition, and infidelity; these are influences which come from the unseen world. Satan has not yet been cast out of the heavenly places; and therefore Satanic influences come from heaven. Man never invented idolatry, nor do I believe that infidelity is natural to man; they have come in; but they have come in from somewhere else. In result, what will be is that every man will be affected by Christ, for Christ will be the wisdom of the universe. The universe will come under the influence of Christ. The wisdom which is from Him alone, is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy”, James 3: 17. It is a remarkable passage: the wisdom of man leads to “confusion and every evil work”, verse 16. The universe will be influenced by Christ, and you will get — not confusion and every evil work — but purity and peace and gentleness, mercy and good fruits, and no hypocrisy. How would the world get on without hypocrisy and partiality? Every man in the world is a hypocrite. People keep up false appearances. We are warned against dissimulation.
The account we get of wisdom is very beautiful. It is a wonderful thing to look forward to a system [p. 52] where the wisdom which is from God alone will prevail. The first principle of the world to come is righteousness and salvation. That will be purity — full of mercy and good fruits. The other expressions are what describe Christ. He was pure, peaceable, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. It is a description of what Christ was Himself while down here. No man can walk rightly according to God down here, except under the influence of Christ. You may distribute millions of money; but except you are under the influence of Christ, there is something wrong with it. Suppose you could cure all the poverty in the world; it would not improve man morally. Lawlessness came in first; but it was succeeded by hatred; and these principles mark the world now.
Principalities and powers generally refer to heaven; thrones and dominions refer more to things on earth. Principalities and powers are looked upon as the forces which act upon men down here, whether for good or for evil. Satan is the anti-priest; he is the accuser of the brethren; he accuses them day and night; he accused Job; and he tried to accuse Joshua in the time of Zechariah. Christians often want to walk according to men. What do the masses get from the great men in the world? Things are not improved by their influence. I believe what comes out now has never been surpassed. There may be the advance of education and civilisation; but what we want is the wisdom from above.
All that God is, dwells in Christ bodily. But in the fact of dwelling in Him bodily, it is all brought into contact with men. The moment He became man, all the fulness was there. The necessary consequence of the incarnation was that all the fulness of the Godhead was there. Nothing could affect the unity of the Godhead. Figures and illustrations which attempt to give an idea of the Trinity are useless. The Father [p. 53] and the Son are one in the unity of the Spirit. The Spirit is spoken of as the Spirit of the Father, and also as the Spirit of the Son. The truth as to God is that He dwelleth “in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see”, 1 Timothy 6: 16. Many people have poorly entered into the truth that Christ is God. Many sentimental ideas have been brought in in connection with the name Jesus, which have affected people more perhaps than they know. But the soul has to apprehend that He is God. “Ye are complete in him”. That is, you lack nothing. You are complete in regard to wisdom. People read books, and they may get a knowledge of men and manners; but where is wisdom? I cannot see that wisdom has reference to this world only. You cannot be wise and leave God out. If you leave God out, there is no standard of good and evil, nor any solution of them. When you get an absolute standard of right and wrong, and can look on to the solution of good and evil, then you begin to get an idea of wisdom. The coming of Christ involves God bringing everything to an issue; and wisdom, therefore, has reference to that great question. Good and evil will each respectively find its own place. Everything has an end. There will be a disentanglement. The Son of God has been manifested that He might undo the works of the devil. He has come in, as the absolute standard of right and wrong, so that all may be brought to an issue. The disentanglement is now going on in Christians. They are to refuse the evil and choose the good. We have a perfect standard. Christ loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Now Christ gave Himself for us, that He might deliver us from all lawlessness. A Christian being full-grown in Christ means that every moral faculty is developed; every part is proportionately developed. The heart and the conscience and the mind all exercised in proportion.
What is “head of principality and power”?
FER There is nothing above Christ. It is a great thing to get this into the soul. He is the Head of all principality and power. Fulness of Godhead dwells in Him, and ye are complete, “filled full” in Him. You want no knowledge but Christ. What can philosophy give me? There is really no such thing as philosophy, for if you leave God out, it is not philosophy, no wisdom in it, and if you bring God in, it is religion. J.N.D. said, “If a person wants to be wise and intelligent, it is the knowledge of God will make you wise”. The end of wisdom is God, to know Him. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. The tendency was to try and make philosophy and Judaism work together. The Jew adopted a great deal of the eastern speculation as to God; the teaching of the Old Testament was turned into allegories; the historical persons were made to represent some principle or other; all turned to mysticism. It is a great lesson for us to learn in what complete independence God has placed us of all that is of man. The apprehension of truth is not according to a person’s natural ability, but according to one’s spirituality. We do not learn through men, we are taught by the Spirit. It is the only way we get it. People may have a retentive memory and the like, but you only get what you are prepared for. We were speaking about Ephesians 2 the other day, and I felt I knew little or nothing about it. I felt I was not man enough for it. Scripture tells you (as someone has said) what you are to get, but it does not give it to you. It is the Spirit who gives it to you. I do not believe the Lord has a greater pleasure here in the good of His people, than to direct us into the will of God. We get “the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God”, 2 Thessalonians 3: 5. We may have truth suggested to us by another, but you have to get it by the Spirit. The disciples never learnt anything from the Lord [p. 55] upon earth, and they had the best Teacher that ever was, or could be, until they received the Spirit, and then they got all the gain of it afterwards. John 14: 26: “He shall bring all things to your remembrance; whatsoever I have said unto you”. Of course our walk must be guided by our knowledge.
If saints want to grow, do you not send them to the Scriptures?
FER No. I should try to lead him to the Lord. The Lord might lead him to the Scriptures. The word of His grace is a moral idea, not so much the Bible, but the expression of God’s grace. Whatever expresses the grace of God is the word of His grace. It is the word of His grace, not the word of His requirement as the legal system was. Now in verse 11 you get the other side: “we are filled full in him”, but now we are circumcised, we are cut off from the other man. Just as a saint grows in Christ, he grows in intelligence according to God. What will man’s knowledge here be worth, if this world were to pass away. We want intelligence as to what is eternal and enduring, and just as we grow in Christ, we are intelligent in this way. We are complete in Him, and we are cut off from the other. All that is in Christ the fulness of the Godhead is available for you. “He is head of all principality and power” is brought in to cut off the system of mediation that they were bringing in. Circumcision meant the putting off the body of the flesh, and baptism meant burial so that you should not be seen. Circumcision refers to the death of Christ. Many a man died, but it was the death of Christ that was the putting off the body of the flesh, the whole state before God was condemned. In the circumcision of Christ all goes. The putting off the body of the flesh was what was effected in His death. No other death could effect it. Resurrection brings in the new man. We could not have putting off without bringing in something else. We are sanctified by being [p. 56] extinguished, as God will not allow the flesh in a man.
These are authorities by which men will be affected in the world to come, men will be affected by influences from heaven; but, then, Christ is Head. He is pre-eminent above all principalities and powers. The practical result will be, that all will be affected by Christ. “Worshipping of angels”. Angels play a great part in the imagination. One great man supposed that there was an angel in every blade of a plant! Men intrude into the angelic world, which they know nothing about.
Rem But the One who is above them all has come close to man down here.
FER When a man has got Christ he has got wisdom. There is no wisdom when the most important considerations are left out.
It is a great thing in regard to what is going to be displayed, that all the fulness of the Godhead resides in Christ, and that He is the Head of all principality and power. It is not the case in connection with this universe; it is in connection with what is going to be. When God created Adam, the fulness of the Godhead did not dwell in Adam, nor was Adam head of all principality and power; it is that which has come to pass in Christ. All that is in the Godhead has come into contact with men, and then again, no principality and power can be against man, for Christ is Head of all. There have been principalities and powers under which man has been; but all will be changed. It makes all the difference between the world which has sprung up in the providence of God, and what will be. When the Son of God became man, then of necessity all the fulness of the Godhead must be there; you could not have the Son apart from the Father; nor the Spirit apart from the Father and the Son. But, then, all the fulness of the Godhead is in touch with man. “Living water” is presented for every man — “whosoever will”.
[p. 57] It is an immense point to see what has come to pass in the Son of God becoming man. It was only the One to whom the inheritance belonged who could take up the liabilities and accomplished redemption; so the Son of God became man; but, in doing so, all the fulness of the Godhead was in touch with man. All principality and power is tested by Christ; and in result all principalities and powers which do not answer to Him, will be ejected; and hence Satan will fall from heaven as lightning. I cannot conceive of a principle more important than that all the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily, and that He is the Head of all principality and power. It seems to me that the whole system of blessing in the world to come is dependent upon these. They are, therefore, vitally important. “Ye are complete in him”. You are furnished with all wisdom and knowledge and understanding. I do not care how men are going to carry out things. If any government came into office, the most astute politician cannot forecast what will be the course of things; but he will be governed by expediency and circumstances. It is not wisdom; there is no resource; and he has to depend upon circumstances. But what we get in Christ is all the resources of wisdom and knowledge. He is Head of all principality and power; that is, that every power which affects man must take its cue from Christ. Principalities and powers evidently refer to heaven; they are in the heavenly places. They do not now take their character from Christ. Satan does not acknowledge Christ, for he will set up Antichrist. But it is true now that Christ is Head of all principalities and powers, and in result they must be ejected.
In Luke you get tremendous things brought out. “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven”. Then you get “all things are delivered to me of my Father”. Christ is the appointed Centre. Then He speaks of revealing the Father. Then He comes in as man’s neighbour. He comes in to give the impulse and impetus to mercy upon earth. Satan falling from heaven will produce a great change in heaven. Then you get Christ as centre, and as the revealer of the Father. Then He comes to give the impulse to mercy. Man is more prone to judgement than to mercy. The heavens will be purged; now they are not clean in His sight; and so, too, the earth will be purged.
You get more proof of the deity of Christ in Luke’s gospel than almost anywhere else; more moral evidences, not in statements, but in acts. “No man knoweth who the Father is save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him”. He revealed the Father, and only One in whom all the fulness of the Godhead was, could do so. I think people might ponder these two statements: “In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” and “He is the head of all principality and power”. They are amazing! There are three things we are warned against here: (1) Reason, that is man’s mind (verse 8); (2) Religious order (verse 16); (3) Sentimentality (verse 18). These three things make up man. There is an answer in us to all these. Reason takes up things and makes deductions, takes up traditions of men, and the elements of the world.
“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days”. There is religiousness about man, superstition, religious order. High-churchism is a kind of religious order; months and seasons and times. Then there is sentimentality, which is more strongly developed in some than in others; that is intruding into things which they have not seen. Take man apart from the animal part of him, he is made up of these three things — reason, religious order, and sentimentality. “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ”. All these things have come into Christianity. The Colossians were warned against them. There are many things which are of reason in higher criticism. It is all after the traditions of men. Then strongly developed in Christendom you get religious order. The Roman catholic and high churchman live in a world of imagination. The point in this chapter is that they all belong to this world system. Now, the point is, we belong to another system, and one which God has already called into existence, “for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” — and “He is the head of all principality and power”. We belong to that order, and so we get “ye are circumcised”, “ye are risen with Christ”, and “quickened together with him”. Circumcision is the putting off the body of the flesh; the whole moral condition which qualifies a man for this world. A Christian is not qualified for this world; circumcision is the putting off the whole moral condition which fits for this world. There is a certain moral condition which qualifies a man for this world in feeling and mind and desire: that is the body of the flesh. It is the complete moral condition (which is the force of “body”). The world is made up of the “lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life”. Now circumcision is the putting off the complete body of the flesh. The point is to see the divine idea. The moral condition which suits a man of this world, does not suit a man of the world of which Christ is the Centre. These two moral conditions are as different as they can be. You are risen with Christ and quickened with Him. We are risen, for all that is in association with Christ must be in accord with Christ. When people depart from the truth, they get back to what is natural to man. It is not to be wondered at in some cases that people who have been brought up with us, go back to these things if there is no work of God in them. In some cases [p. 60] reason and mind are more developed, and people turn to dissent; in others, sentimentality is stronger, and high churchism attracts; but in every case religious order is accepted.
What is “Buried with him in baptism”?
FER Until the body of the flesh is put off, they could not be buried, otherwise you bury them alive. Then it is you come back to your baptism. Baptism is not a person’s responsibility. People were baptised in the early days apart from their entering into the significance of it; but we have to come to it, in its moral import, which is putting off the body of the flesh, then we come to the truth of our baptism. On the other hand, you are risen with Him; that is, you are in association with Christ. Then, too, you are quickened; that is, you are qualified in respect of spiritual affections; that is, you have a new moral being according to God. If Christianity brings before you living associations and relations, I do not see how you can be in them save as quickened of God. You cannot get a new moral condition and being, in any other way, save by being quickened. It is the only way a new moral being can be produced. We are quickened. It is not only we believe. We are quickened; but we realise the truth of the statement by virtue of the work of God in us. The whole theory, “only believe, and you will have everlasting life”, is wrong. It is getting people to believe something about themselves. We are called to believe about God and Christ. We get nothing by faith, we know what is there by faith, but it is by the Spirit we appropriate. Faith apprehends what is there in Christ; but what is in Christ is for everybody, not for me in particular. I apprehend by faith that forgiveness and salvation are there in Christ for every man; but consequent upon faith we receive the Spirit, and it is by the Spirit we can appropriate these things. The divine way is that everything is in Christ [p. 61] for man. By faith I apprehend that; but by the Spirit I appropriate what is in Christ.
The most lawless men sometimes are those who are so in mind, others are lawless in imagination; they pry into what is not seen. There is no lawlessness where the Sun rules. In the heavens (Psalm 19), “Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge; they have no speech nor language, yet their voice is heard”. The point in each and all, whether circumcised, risen with Him, or quickened, is to separate us from the course of this world. From the end of verse 13 to the end of verse 15 refers really to the coming of the Lord. We have no scapegoat. Forgiveness of sins is not now administered publicly in the world.
Then we do not get the handwriting of ordinances blotted out yet; but publicly we still are under the period of law. The dispensation is not changed. The High Priest has not come out, nor have principalities and powers been spoiled publicly yet. Satan is not yet cast out. These will all be apparent in the world to come; but we anticipate all by faith. All was effected in the death of Christ; but it does not come out publicly until Christ comes in glory. There are the sufferings of Christ, and the glories to follow. We are still in the period of the sufferings; the glories are to come. Forgiveness of sins in the end of Luke 24 is anticipative of the world to come. It is in His name. We have forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Spirit, and the object is that we might approach God, that we might have liberty with God. The witness we have is totally unknown by the world. The witness of the Spirit is good to me; but one proof to others is, I can carry my bed. The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in those who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. The law previously killed him; but now he carries his bed. These things will all be manifested in the world to [p. 62] come; but in the witness of the Spirit we have the good of them now. They are all accomplished. The principle of Christianity is that we anticipate by the Spirit what is going to be displayed. Then the apostle warns them against these different things — religious order and imagination.
Imagination is the most lawless thing; take a mad man — he is controlled by imagination without reason; then take a dreamer, he is quite lawless. A novel writer is one of the most lawless of men in imagination; he allows his imagination to work; he himself lives in an unreal world; and he seeks to induce others to do so. “Paradise Lost” is all imagination. If people spend their faculties in research, putting things together which have occurred, that is wholesome comparatively. I respect historians; but I feel very strongly about novel writers. Judaism was a worldly religious order, feasts and new moons, etc. — they were only shadows, but the body is of Christ. The body is the beginning of the substance; the substance is what God is going to set forth in Christ. “Holding the head”. You can do that because He is revealed. He has come out. That is not intruding into things which you have not seen. Men can hold Christ because He has been revealed. The Holy Spirit has come down to report the glory of Christ; but that followed His having been down here. “Holding the head” refers to the Head of all principality and power. The body is the only thing now which is in connection with the Head, and so the body gets all the present good of the Head. The Head will supply all morally in the world to come; there will be sunshine and healing water. The Head is the source of supply now; we get all the good of the Head now. “Increases with the increase of God” is the divine nature; unto its self-edifying in love.
It is difficult to realise many of these things now, on account of the state of things; but in the early [p. 63] church we can see it. They were exhorted to let their love abound one toward another. It is wonderful that the fulness of the Godhead dwells in a Man, because it brings it close to men. Then that Man is the divinely-appointed Centre to which men are to be attached, that they may be delivered from lawless men. There you get the gospel.
Christ came out the first time to reveal God, and in redemption to lay the foundation of everything; but then He has gone in to present man to God, and He comes out the second time both as King and Priest; King to rule, and Priest for blessing, like Melchisedec. He goes in to present us holy and unblameable. He has gone in that the offering up of the Gentiles may be acceptable. He presents Israel — in fact — all. It is the function of the Priest to present man to God. But when He comes again, He does not come out to reveal, for He has revealed God; and He does not present; but He comes out as King and Priest to rule and bless. The thought in this epistle is presentation and going in; we do get the coming out in the expression that “in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily”; but that is not the point of view in this epistle. We are buried with Him, risen with Him, and quickened together with Him. It is all God-ward, and the thought of it is, that we might live towards God. They had been dead in trespasses and sins, and were dead in regard to God.
Circumcision is the seal of righteousness; it was a fleshly rite as taken up in Israel, but it is not of Moses, but of the fathers; and so to get the real significance we have to go back to Abraham. Then it is the seal of faith; it is the having put off the old man, and the putting on of the new. That is the seal that he is righteous. It is the proof and evidence that the man is no longer lawless; but is in attachment. Circumcision is of the heart and spirit, not of the letter.
FER [p. 64] When righteousness of God is upon you, then Christ is your righteousness. It is toward all, but it is not upon a man, until he is in Christ. The bearing of it is toward all; but it is upon all who believe. The righteousness of God is established in Christ, and those who believe are covered in that way by Christ. There has been a great effort to give a man a standing by faith. If a man is not in Christ, he has no standing, no real place before God. In Romans 3 God is declaring Himself from His own side. Christ is a mercy-seat for God.
Then, in chapter 4 we have Christ on our side: “He was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification”, and so Christ is appropriated as Lord; that is the test and evidence of faith. If a man confesses Christ as Lord, it is a proof he has got the Spirit (verse 13). Morally and dispensationally the Gentile was outside everything. The conduct of the Gentile was such that he was morally dead in regard to God; practically impotent. The terrible thing is that man is dead in regard to God, and yet alive in sin down here. Then God meets it by quickening us together with Christ, so that we may live in regard to God. Quickening is anticipative of the coming of the Lord, and the object is that we may live in regard to God. You are dead to the world, that is your baptism; but you live in regard to God. It is the contrast to your previous state, “Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God”.
The great thought in this epistle and in the Ephesians, is Christ gone in to present (not as in other epistles coming out), and in connection with that the Spirit is given. “Thou hast ascended up on high, and given gifts unto men”. “Ye are risen together with him”, brings in the thought of association. Quickening accompanies being risen with Christ. You get association in Colossians; you are risen with Him. In [p. 65] mind, the Christian is on the same ground as Christ is.
Why bring in “having forgiven you all trespasses” after quickening?
FER You are quickened in regard to God; and so all that could come between God and man has been removed. Offences would come on man’s conscience, so we get a purged conscience. Then, again, the handwriting of ordinances has been taken out of the way; that might hamper a Jew; but then the system is all abrogated.
Then He has spoiled principalities and powers. People were under the power of these; now all has been exposed; holy angels, and evil angels, they are all exposed. There was a show of them openly. “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”. Christendom has put itself back under these things. In popery and high churchism people have no real idea of approach to God — of access to God; all is carried on by the clergy. “Triumphing over them in it”. The death of Christ was a great triumph. Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the sea shore. God made a way through the Red Sea. Pharaoh thought he had got the people; and then a way is made through the sea, and the waters were a wall unto them, and they went through to God. Pharaoh and his hosts were foolhardy, and they assayed to go, and were drowned in the Red Sea. So David slew Goliath; the enemy was led in triumph. When you come to the present application, the point is their power is annulled. You can drown flesh as the Egyptians, but not spirit; and so you cannot see principalities and powers gone; but, through death, the power of the enemy is gone. When a way is made through death, the enemy cannot terrify man. Man can pass through death to God; baptism is the figure. We pass through to the house of God, where the Spirit is. The object of this epistle is to plant the saints as to their intelligence in the sphere where God and Christ are, really [p. 66] on resurrection ground. There is no peace, unless people are living in this.
It is a point of the greatest moment that we see the testimony of that which God has had before Him to bring to pass. It is one testimony all through. The central point in the Pentateuch is the ark of the covenant. In the historical books the central point is David. In the Psalms it is Christ come out and gone in; and in the prophets it is the “testimony of Jesus” which is the spirit of prophecy. God takes up the kingdom under the whole heaven, that He may dwell in Zion. Scripture is in spirit and principle the testimony of God. It is not merely a collection of inspired writings; it is that; but it is in spirit and principle the testimony of God. I should like people to be established in the Old Testament. The enemy assails the Old Testament, and in doing so he wants to get rid of the New. The effort of the present day is to get rid of the Old, and then they think they have the New; but the truth is, when you get rid of the Old, you have also got rid of the New. If you do away with the Old, you make Christ an impostor. There is not a writing in the New Testament which has not a root in the Old. People want to get a comprehensive view, and to see that Scripture in the real spirit and principle of it, is the testimony of God.
What are “shadow of things to come”?
FER These things are shadows — feasts, new moons, etc. “New moons” refers to the renewing of God’s relation with His people; it is a new epoch; but it is a shadow of things to come. We do not want to be taken up with shadows now, for the day has dawned; for the substance has come in. It is not the exact thing that has come in; but Christ has come in; and the substance, the body, is of Christ. The people to whom these enactments were given did not understand them. They were written for us. A Jew did not know what a “new moon” meant. If a [p. 67] prophet did not understand his own writings, I do not think a Jew could understand what the “new moon” signified. Men like Abraham, Moses, and David were beyond their dispensation. God wrought in them in a special way. Moses said, “Show me thy glory”. He saw God’s hinder parts; he could not anticipate; he could only see something of God’s past ways.
What would verse 16 answer to in the present day?
FER Religious order; days and seasons are regarded; Lent, etc.
How were these things shadows?
FER Because the things will be fulfilled in the millennium. The millennium will be a great holy day; so also the sabbath, and the feasts. The feast of tabernacles is a shadow of good things to come. There has been an effort, and a successful one, too, to interweave these things into Christianity, into the present world-system. The truth is they do not belong to this world at all. In the Christianity around, the spirit and principle of popery is Babylon; and when the harlot rides the beast, it betrays its true character. Popery, and all allied to popery, will ride the beast. It is Babylonish, and the glory of man is the feature. Everything comes to its own issue. In Zechariah the woman takes the ephah, and it is established in the land of Shinar. The harlot does not come under the judgement of God, the beast tears her. “Holy days”, etc., suit the religious instincts of men; the ordinances which God gave to Israel were suited to a people in the flesh. “The body is of Christ”, refers to the assembly. Christ is the substance; but the body is of Christ. There is a body here which is Christ’s body. He is the Head of it in the sense of a Leader. If the House of Commons is summoned to the House of Lords, they follow the leader. The speaker is the head, and there is a body attached to him. Verse 18 is a figure; it refers to [p. 68] the place of association with Christ. Christians are often cheated out of their prize; they do not get what Christ has earned for them. True humility is holding the Head. We have no title to be in the presence of God; it is Christ who presents us there. Christ had a personal right to go in; but He has accomplished redemption, and so gives us His Spirit, and it is that which entitles us to go in. The real substance is you have got God. I do not see how you are going to deal with Christians if they have not God. If the young do not find their portion in God, I do not see what portion there is. You may get them occupied with service; but God is the portion. The priests had no inheritance. God was their portion. I cannot understand the rightness of any special treatment of the young. There is no justification of it in Scripture. The Levite derives from the priest. A man will not be much of a Levite if he is not something of a priest. I see the difficulty in regard to the young; but what people are devising to meet the difficulty has no vindication in Scripture. The deficiency with the young is, they are not really in the good of the Spirit. When I came into fellowship people were eagerly occupied with dispensational truth; but it is not so now; that has been made plain.
Rem “Such were some of you, but ye are sanctified”.
FER Sanctification of the Spirit is that we are set apart to God from the world and from all that is obnoxious to God. A sanctified vessel is one which is not used for common or profane purposes. Many want to go on with things externally, and to go on with the world; but if you want the enjoyment of God, you cannot have that and the world, which is made up of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. The thought which has been too much lost sight of is attachment; that is, brought into bond to Christ. You cannot abide in Christ unless [p. 69] you have attachment. Christ is the point of attraction; then you get attachment; and then you get abiding, and the result of abiding is affection. If you are brought into attachment to Christ, you are detached from the world. The truth of the body is a great thing. It is the first-fruits of reconciliation. It is that which is brought into attachment to Christ in the presence of God. The object of reconciliation is to present us holy and unblameable and irreproachable in His sight.
It has been said that up to verse 12 we get the Romans side of truth; and then from verse 13 the Ephesians side. The latter part of verse 12 goes beyond Romans, that is being risen with Christ; but in the main it is the same line. Ephesians does not speak of us as being risen with Him. In Romans resurrection is more future. It says “shall live”. “Raised up” is not the same order as “risen with”. The former is the exaltation, as Christ was raised up, and set at the right hand in heavenly places. When the apostle comes to these exhortations, he takes up both thoughts; that is, “dead with” and “risen with” (verse 20 of chapter 2); and then in chapter 3 verse 1, “If ye then be risen with Christ”. Verse 12 is more the ground we have taken; it is connected with baptism. We have taken that ground. It is through faith in the operation of God, who raised up Christ from the dead. It is not subjective; we do not get that till verse 13.
Why “faith” in verse 12?
FER We can be said to be buried without faith, because it refers to baptism; but you cannot take the ground of being risen except by faith; this the Colossians had taken. In early days Christians really left the world for the assembly; which is properly the new ground in resurrection. This cannot be done apart from faith — and so we get “risen with him through faith in the operation of God, who raised him from the dead”. “If” is brought in to give point to the [p. 70] responsibility. It raises no question, but presses the responsibility which attaches to the ground we have taken. It points out what is consistent with that ground. These Colossians were really baptised, so that they might leave the world and come into the Christian circle, really the truth of the assembly. There can be no association with Christ save in resurrection. The true idea is that in our relations with God and with Christ we have to leave the flesh behind. We come out on completely new ground, in the power of the Spirit. “In whom ye have been circumcised”. The ground on which we are entitled to be baptised is that God has dealt judicially with the old man. Circumcision indicated in type that it was the only ground on which God could have to do with man. The saints understood these things very well in early days; it is more difficult now, for we have a Christian world all around. Then the assembly was entirely dependent upon the Holy Spirit come down from heaven; and that had taken place consequent upon Christ being exalted. They were altogether apart, too, from the world. Now we have a spurious Christianity all around; but in early days, when they left Judaism, or heathendom, as the case might be, they came into an entirely out-of-the-world condition of things, entirely supported by a power come down from heaven. Christianity around us is, “they say they are Jews and are not, but do lie”. What a corruption of Christianity it is all around! a complete falling back on what is of man and the flesh. The real ground is dead and risen with Christ. It is very difficult to realise this in the present day, the assembly having so completely lost its place. Nothing is more feeble than an effort to set up an imitation of the assembly. The principles and the truth remain as light; but all else is individual. The assembly must be taken in its full extent. When all is in ruin, all that is left is instruction to the individual. Verse 13, they are [p. 71] quickened, and all is gone out of the way, sins forgiven; writing of ordinances, etc. The object of quickening is that they may be in association with Christ. While God was testing man in the flesh, He never told him he was dead. Here God is acting to give effect to His purposes, it is the Ephesian line; but does not go so far — we do not get raised up.
How are principalities and powers spoiled?
FER Because they are still viewed as being on earth; so we get, too, trespasses forgiven, because they are viewed as here. If we are to live to God, being quickened together with Christ, all must be removed — there must be nothing left. The whole legal system was nailed to His cross, and so completely ended. Jews are transgressors; but Gentiles are trespassers, because they trespass on the rights of God. Transgressions are the infraction of a known law — it is broken. Gentiles are said to be dead in trespasses. “Made a show of them openly”, is that all was exposed in connection with Christ. Then the character is brought to light. If we are in bondage to the world, and the prince of this world, it is not because they have not been exposed in their true character. “Now is the judgement of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out”, John 12: 31. Nothing subsists now in the eye of God, but Christ. When Christ died, nothing was left under the eye of God. Even when the law will be written in their hearts, it will be part of Christ. The earthly people will partake of Christ.
It is a point of great moment to see that there is nothing now under the eye of God but Christ. “The body is of Christ”. So the law written in the heart of Israel is in a degree of Christ (verse 17). “Body” has a double meaning. It is the body of Christ; and yet it is a play upon the word. “Substance”, is hid in the word “body”. No one has ventured to translate the word ‘body’ in verse 17 as ‘substance’;
[p. 72] the idea is the substance; but then the body is the substance. Verse 16 all points on to the fulness. We have not got the good things to which new moons and sabbaths refer. There were many things foreshadowed by the law which will not have their fulfilment till the millennial age. We have what is entirely new and better; not the good things to come, which are connected with earth. The law did not foreshadow Christianity. It foreshadowed a state of things in which Christ is recognised. It would be difficult to get a foreshadow of a time when Christ was in rejection. We get many things in principle which we do not have in literality.
The apostle’s point in verse 16 is that they might not be entangled by these things, for there was no literal application of these things to Christians — the substance is of Christ. Christ is rejected; and the only way in which He can be here now is in the body. Eve is taken from Adam; she was of Adam; the body is of Christ. The idea of head in verse 19 is taken from verse 10. He is chief; just as the husband is head to the wife. “Head over all things to the assembly”, as Head of all principality and power (verse 19). The whole thing is an organism in the power of the Holy Spirit, so perfect that the organism is most delicate. “If one member suffer, all the members suffer”. It is a great thought the being quickened together with Christ. It is easy to read it; but to know the reality of it is another matter. It is to bring you into the circle of affection in which He is. It has no meaning otherwise. If we ask ourselves what this means, we shall find we know very little about it. It is a state which is produced by the quickening power of God; and the divine object of it is that we live in association with Christ, and to bring us into that circle. It supposes that you are in the truth of what is true of you. The apostle could say it of the Colossians; I do not think he could have [p. 73] said it of the Galatians; but I think he could say it, of both the Colossians and Ephesians. “You hath he quickened”, etc. If you attempt to introduce the idea of time, you spoil it, it is all moral. To enter into the idea of being quickened, you must be entirely apart from the flesh, and even apart from the body. “The body is dead because of sin”. The Spirit connects itself with our spirit. In Old Testament times He connected Himself with the flesh; but now, living to God is in the Spirit. If you bring in flesh, or natural power, it spoils it. It is the Spirit witnesses with our spirits. We live apart from mere natural power, when it is a question of living God-ward there must be the abnegation of the flesh. It is a life with God, outside of a man’s circumstances here; it is the circle in which Christ is. Still, in my circumstances I have to be for the glory of God.
Quickening with Christ is another order of things, and we cannot connect Christ with our life of responsibility here. I am under the Lord in it; but when it is a question of living together with Him, you have to be in another sphere for it; it is outside all here. The teaching here is all leading on to the truth of the body. We get the “body of Christ”, and then we get “from whom all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God”. In Corinthians we get the idea of one body, and the statement that it is Christ’s body; but it does not give you the mystery which is, that it is of Christ, as Eve was of Adam. In Colossians we learn it is derived from Him. The epistle to the Corinthians is brought in to correct ecclesiasticism, which was a practical denial of the body here. If man sets up a minister, it is a denial of the truth of the body. In one body no one member can claim prominence; it must abide in its place; but when you come to Colossians, you get the wonderful truth — “Christ in you the hope of glory”.
[p. 74] We come now to the hortatory part. The apostle applies the doctrine. I suppose we get here what the purpose of heart is as connected with the doctrine which had been brought out. The doctrine is what precedes. They were dead with Christ, risen with Him; that is the ground of the exhortation which we get here. If we are dead with Christ, we cannot take account of ourselves as alive in the world. The point is the account we take of ourselves. “If ye are dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances?” Ordinances have to do with man’s will, and they only apply to man in the flesh. The only ordinance we get in Christianity is the Lord’s supper. It is the only thing which has the nature of an institution; it has the character of a commemoration. “Subject to ordinances”. The real word is dogmatised, “why, as though alive in the world, are ye dogmatised?” In Christendom people are dogmatised, they are subject to ordinances, but they have no intelligent understanding of what they mean. The moment you come to dogmas, you have left the ground of Christianity. People cannot give account of things they go on with, which is the proof that they are dogmatised. Much that exists in Christendom has been taken up from Judaism and heathenism. The moment you go outside the Spirit, you have gone outside true Christianity.
What do you mean by outside of the Spirit?
FER Suppose you get into ordinances and institutions in which unconverted men can take part, you have got outside the Spirit. All the great systems around us are outside the Spirit. All that has a formal character is outside the Spirit of God. You could not impose formality on the Spirit of God. The ground of this epistle, and also of Ephesians and Philippians, is different to the other epistles. In the others the point is God’s approach to man; in Romans,
[p. 75] Corinthians, and Galatians, it is God coming out to man; but Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians are the other way round; it is man going in to God; even Christ is looked at in that way.
How do you apply this to Philippians?
FER God has exalted Him on high, and given Him a Name. In Him is set forth the calling on high. Hebrews takes up both. The apostle is God coming out; the Priest is man gone in. In Ephesians and Colossians the idea is priestly, not apostolic; it is man gone in. For that reason we get the thought of the body, because the body is identified with Christ, and it has gone in with Him. Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.
What are the epistles of John?
FER There it is God coming out.
Is there the same division in the gospels?
FER Yes. Mark and Luke are going in, and so you get the ascension in both; but Matthew and John are God coming out. It is as gone in that we get the thought of association with Christ. We shall have association with Him in His coming out again. We are associated with Him; we are quickened together, and raised up and made to sit together in heavenly places. You cannot make hard and fast rules, but you have to take the general import of what is presented in the gospels and epistles. The body comes in in connection with going in. Christ comes out the second time as King and Priest. He came at first as Apostle, and has gone in as Priest; but He comes out again as King and Priest after the order of Melchisedec. It is to establish blessing. In Matthew you get the kingdom of heaven; the establishment of the moral sway of what God has established in heaven; it involves a king. You get the moral sway of Christ in heaven now. It is going a long way to speak of people as not being alive in the world. It seems as if [p. 76] we were very much alive in the world; it pulls one up. The Spirit of God evidently contemplates saints as not being alive in it. “Why, as though alive in the world, are ye subject to ordinances?” We often betray a considerable interest in the world, and yet it is inconsistent. Take the Christianity all around us; it is interwoven with the State. This is proved by its being called “The State Church”. Dissenters, too, have become centres of great political influence, they are very much alive in the world.
These ordinances were connected with asceticism and harsh treatment of the body, but the general character of these things was not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh, for “every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving”. It is not that which corrupts people. Now we get the positive side. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above ... set your affections on things above”. All through the chapter the idea is kept up of the Christ — the Head. It is official, where the Head is, there the great point of interest is, all takes character from Him. He is Head of all principality and power. In Daniel’s time Jerusalem was the great point of interest; he opened his windows three times a day and prayed toward Jerusalem. We expect all to come from the right hand of God, not from Jerusalem. The influences which affect men come from heaven, but Christ is Head of all principality and power.
What is “not holding the Head”?
FER It is Christ as Head of all principality and power. That seems to be the antecedent; it is in contrast to people being taken up with angels. The entire body is in view here. In Ephesians the gifts are given for the edifying of the body. It is Christ’s interest here. The idea of the body is priestly; it is association with the priest, as Aaron was with the people. The body gets the good of the Head. He [p. 77] has ascended and received gifts, and now the body gets the good of all that Christ dispenses.
What is the thought of the body; verse 17?
FER New moons, feasts, etc., are shadows, but Christ is the substance. The substance, which is Christ and the “all things” was what was foreshadowed. We have not got the “all things”, but we have Christ and the body.
Is there not a twofold idea in it?
FER Yes; all that was foreshadowed was Christ, and the “all things”; and while we have not yet come to the “all things”, we have come to Christ and the body. Things are anomalous. Christ is Head of every man, but that is not the mystery; the mystery is Christ and His body, which is bound up in Himself, and not yet made manifest.
In what sense were principalities and powers spoiled, and made a show of openly?
FER Their true character was exposed. Everything came out in the death of Christ. The principalities and powers are the powers of evil. It is like what you get in Revelation 12; when you get the Man-child, you get the great red dragon. It is the forces of evil acting upon the world so that the Man-child might be devoured. The principalities and powers are the rulers of the darkness of this world; that is how they work and affect men down here; they are the rulers of the darkness. The powers of evil work to get an entrance by taking advantage of men’s lusts and passions. It is often said that men are carried beyond what they intend, a man gets into a certain path and cannot stop himself; he gets into the current of evil. Saul sank so low as to consult a witch. The triumph was in the death of Christ, because there all was exposed; all was brought to an end in the death of Christ, “having forgiven us all trespasses”. Then the legal system is gone in the death of Christ, the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. These [p. 78] principalities and powers are made a show of openly.
“You being dead in the uncircumcision of your flesh” refers to the Gentile; it could hardly be said to the Jew. At the Red Sea there was smiting and the destruction of the enemy. In Jordan there was no smiting. It has been said that when you get into the land, the Red Sea and the Jordan coalesce. The starting ground here is the being circumcised with the circumcision of Christ; that is, they are on the ground of purpose; they are really in the land. Jordan is not the action of God, but the ark of the covenant passing through it, and you are in the fellowship of Christ’s death. In regard to the world-system and Israel, relatively Christ is dead. The ark of the covenant goes into Jordan, and it is in that sense that He is dead, and we are dead with Him. The bride was taken from Adam, when a deep sleep fell upon him; that is what has taken place in regard to Christ; while He is dead so far as Israel is concerned, we are dead with Him and risen with Him; that is the platform of divine purpose; it is “faith in the operation of God”, the energy of God who raised Him from the dead. “Wherein also are ye risen with him”. What follows baptism is resurrection. In baptism we come on to the new platform; baptism is the answer of a good conscience, but in the full issue of it it goes on to being risen together with Him; resurrection ground is in view in baptism.
What is the difference between circumcision and baptism?
FER When you come to circumcision you have come to your baptism — baptism is not a part of your personal responsibility or experience. In circumcision you come back to your baptism. Circumcision is putting off the body of the flesh, and that is practically burying oneself. Circumcision is experimental; it is the point where your mind is in accord with the crucifixion of Christ; when you can say, “I am crucified with Christ”. When people want to live in this world, their mind is not in accord with the death of Christ. We have to be in accord with the death of Christ, until He comes again; when He comes again it will be another matter. “Risen with him” is faith. It is the entering into the operation of God who raised Him from the dead. You must get into the light of the great system of which Christ is the beginning. That system will be established on the platform of resurrection. Death is upon everything; how can we find a footing with God except on the ground of resurrection? We have to get the light of the operation of God in raising Christ from the dead; it is the apprehension and light coming into the soul, of what God meant in raising Christ from the dead, and we are risen with Him. That new ground becomes the basis of conduct. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above”.
In verse 18 the apostle was afraid of the saints being cheated of their portion; the reward is really Christ, but carries with it our place of association with Christ. The persistent effort of the enemy all along has been to bring Christianity down to the level of the world; within the reach of man in the flesh. That was the effort of the enemy — ‘voluntary humility’. You get an affectation of humility, with an unsubdued will beneath it; you see this in high-churchism. “Worshipping of angels” is another form, but it is all imagination; we know nothing about angels save their existence, and to go prying into it must be imagination. By far the larger part of Christendom at this moment who affect religion is after this sort of thing. People worship saints now, which is more gross. The germ of all these things came in in the apostle’s day. We have two things to guard against in Christianity; that is, will and imagination. In religion there is great scope for imagination, and that is the very nature of it. All true religion depends upon [p. 80] the way in which God has been pleased to reveal Himself. Christ is Head of all principality and power; it is good ones, and they will have their part in the world to come. Michael was a prince, and angels will have a great place in putting down the forces of evil; they will bind together the tares in bundles. Christ is the great Head of the world to come, which is put under the Son of man, so that all may be established on the ground of redemption. God has taken up the right of Redeemer in Christ, and hence it is that the world to come is established on the basis of redemption. Michael, in regard to the last time, stands up for the children of his people — they have their place in that way. The angels are holy. There are angels who have been maintained by God in holiness, and they desire to look into redemption. Christ came into contact with the power of evil here when tempted by the devil, but He overcame, and then He began to spoil his goods. In the case of the legion, you get that they pass into the herd of swine, and they went violently down a steep place, and perished in the sea; it is a figure, really, of what happened to Israel.
In verse 17 the Christ is the great Head in whom everything is established. Feasts, etc., were shadows of what will be fulfilled in the millennium; meanwhile the substance, the body, has come in, the substance is of the Christ. The good things will come; they will be fulfilled in the kingdom. The feasts, new moons, etc., foreshadowed the good things to come, but in the meantime the body is of the Christ. There is the idea of substance in the word in contrast to shadow, and yet it really refers to the church. We belong not to the shadow, but to the substance. The assembly is the beginning in that way. All Scripture has in view the world to come, and we have come to the Head, and so we can have an apprehension of the entire system. The meaning of Christianity is, that [p. 81] there is a body here, in which Christ lives. All that has ever been wrought of God will all come to light in the world to come; but the rest of the dead live not again until the 1000 years are fulfilled. What is heavenly is not dispensational. The earth will come under the benign influence of heaven on the heavenly city coming down, but heaven is outside of dispensation. It is a great thing that before Christ comes out in the character of Head of principality and power, that we hold the Head and are connected with and derive from Him. We belong to the world to come; we hold the Head. We are not to be insubject to the powers that be; they are ordained of God, but we want to be holding the Head, the Head of all principality and power. The apostle wept over those who minded earthly things. Instead of being taken up with the politics of earth, we know that God sitteth above the water-floods. The sea roars, but Christ sits above; “sitting” indicates rest. “Where the Christ is sitting”, it is a place of rest for the moment. His offering work is over. He is sitting at the right hand of God. We know He gives rest; the moment He moves, it brings about a terrific revolution in heaven and on earth.
What is “the increase of God”?
FER It is the divine nature, really; it is all moral. It is the effect of all that is going on in the body; joints and bands hold all together. How these things are interfered with through the state in Christendom I cannot say. Joints and bands are most essential things to the practical working of the body; ministering nourishment and knit together. We should be of much more service to one another than we are. The Head is the source to the body, and so it will be at that day when He comes out; every family under the Head will derive from the Head. In the day of Christ, selfishness and covetousness, or pride, or arrogance will not be appreciated; meekness and gentleness will [p. 82] have the place. There is nothing more unlovely than an out-and-out man or woman of the world, and yet after all they have to die, and are no better off than a beggar who dies in the workhouse.
The second coming of Christ is the completion of His first coming. He brought in the light and revelation of God morally, and when He comes in power He will bring in God. In the world to come people will have no sense of insecurity, “we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved”. There will not be the same feverish excitement of mind; man’s faculties will not then be impaired. In the things of God there is the greatest scope for his intelligence; the more you know of them, the more there is to be known. Intelligent Christians are not inferior to other people. Their minds have worked in a different direction. People are disposed to despise a Christian, because he is one, and disposed to regard him as fettered and petty. I do not believe it is true at all. “Mystery” is what God is working, but is concealed from human gaze. The world will be much astonished one day when it all comes out into manifestation. Here the “nourishment ministered” is by fulfilling our obligations to one another. John 6 is individual; there our constitution is built up by food. Man is really a religious creature — it seems instinctive in man; the devil brought in this. Man deified his lusts and then worshipped them, and that is idolatry which is Satanic. Satan has changed his method in our day; he transforms himself into an angel of light. Things have to assume a new form to act upon men in our day, the light of Christianity having exposed philosophy.