For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, don’t cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light,
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For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, don’t cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love, in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible things and invisible things, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things are held together. He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him, and through him to reconcile all things to himself by him, whether things on the earth or things in the heavens, having made peace through the blood of his cross.
Parallel Translations
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For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, don’t cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God,
strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance with joy,
giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light,
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For this cause we also sence the daye we herde of it have not ceasyd prayinge for you and desyringe
that ye myght be fulfilled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdome and spretuall vnderstodynge that ye myght walke worthy of the lorde in all thynges that please beynge frutfull in all good workes and encreasynge in the knowledge of God
strengthed with all myght thorowe hys glorious power vnto all pacience and longe sufferynge with ioyfulnes
gevynge thankes vnto the father which hath made vs mete to be part takers of the enheritaunce of sainctes in light.
Show all 3 translations
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For this cause wee also, since the day wee heard of it, cease not to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be fulfilled with knowledge of his will in all wisdome, and spirituall vnderstanding,
That ye might walke worthy of the Lord, and please him in all things, being fruitefull in all good workes, and increasing in the knowledge of God,
Strengthened with all might through his glorious power, vnto all patience, and long suffering with ioyfulnesse,
Giuing thankes vnto the Father, which hath made vs meete to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saintes in light,
Cross-references (146)
- Ephesians 4:1 (v10) I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called,
- Hebrews 13:21 (vv9–10) make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom…
- James 3:17 (v9) But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and…
- Ephesians 3:16 (v11) that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner…
- 2 Peter 1:2-3 (v10) Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, seeing that his divine power has granted to us all…
Show all 100 cross-references
- Philippians 1:9-11 (v9) This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are…
- Philippians 4:13 (v11) I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
- James 1:5 (v9) But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
- John 15:16 (v10) You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that…
- Ephesians 1:15-20 (v9) For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and the love which you have toward all the saints,…
- 1 John 3:22 (v10) so whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.
- Acts 20:32 (v12) Now, brothers, I entrust you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build up, and to give you the inheritance among all…
- Colossians 4:5 (vv9–10) Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (v9) Pray without ceasing.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:1 (v10) Finally then, brothers, we beg and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, that…
- 1 Peter 2:15 (v9) For this is the will of God, that by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
- 2 Thessalonians 1:11 (v9) To this end we also pray always for you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire of goodness and work…
- Hebrews 13:16 (v10) But don’t forget to be doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
- 1 John 5:20 (vv9–10) We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in…
- Psalms 143:10 (v9) Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.
- 1 Samuel 12:23 (v9) Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Yahweh in ceasing to pray for you: but I will instruct you in the good and…
- John 15:8 (v10) “In this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples.
- Ephesians 4:2 (v11) with all lowliness and humility, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
- Ephesians 6:10 (v11) Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might.
- Ephesians 1:11 (v12) We were also assigned an inheritance in him, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who does all things after the counsel…
- Ephesians 3:14-19 (v9) For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he…
- Romans 5:3-5 (v11) Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and…
- Galatians 5:22-23 (v10) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things…
- Proverbs 16:7 (v10) When a man’s ways please Yahweh, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
- 2 Corinthians 4:7 (v11) But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.
- 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (v11) He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in…
- Titus 3:14 (v10) Let our people also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they may not be unfruitful.
- Hebrews 10:36 (v9) For you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise.
- Ephesians 1:18 (v12) having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his…
- Colossians 3:16 (v9) Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs,…
- James 1:2-4 (v11) Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let…
- 2 Peter 1:8 (v10) For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to not be idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 2 Peter 3:18 (v10) But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
- Micah 4:5 (v10) Indeed all the nations may walk in the name of their gods; but we will walk in the name of Yahweh our God forever and ever.
- Acts 26:18 (v12) to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins…
- Ephesians 6:6 (v9) not in the way of service only when eyes are on you, as men pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,
- Colossians 2:6 (v10) As therefore you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, walk in him,
- 1 Thessalonians 2:12 (v10) to the end that you should walk worthily of God, who calls you into his own Kingdom and glory.
- Ephesians 2:10 (v10) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.
- Ephesians 5:15 (v10) Therefore watch carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise,
- Romans 6:4 (v10) We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,…
- 2 Corinthians 2:14 (v10) Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place.
- Ephesians 5:2 (v10) Walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance.
- 1 Thessalonians 1:3 (v9) remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and perseverance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and…
- Ephesians 5:10 (vv9–10) proving what is well pleasing to the Lord.
- Romans 12:2 (v9) Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing,…
- Philemon 1:4 (v9) I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers,
- James 5:7-8 (v11) Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient…
- Philippians 1:11 (v10) being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
- Philippians 1:27 (v10) Only let your way of life be worthy of the Good News of Christ, that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your state,…
- 1 Peter 1:2-5 (v12) according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his…
- 1 John 2:17 (v9) The world is passing away with its lusts, but he who does God’s will remains forever.
- Habakkuk 2:14 (v10) For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh’s glory, as the waters cover the sea.
- Romans 8:17 (v12) and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.
- 1 Corinthians 1:5 (v9) that in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge;
- 2 Corinthians 6:4-6 (v11) but in everything commending ourselves, as servants of God, in great endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings,…
- Ephesians 3:6 (v12) that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus through the Good…
- Ephesians 4:13 (v10) until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of…
- Philippians 1:4 (v9) always in every request of mine on behalf of you all, making my requests with joy,
- Colossians 3:20 (v10) Children, obey your parents in all things, for this pleases the Lord.
- Titus 3:1 (v10) Remind them to be in subjection to rulers and to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,
- 1 Peter 4:2 (v9) that you no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
- Acts 5:41 (v11) They therefore departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for Jesus’ name.
- 2 Corinthians 5:5 (v12) Now he who made us for this very thing is God, who also gave to us the down payment of the Spirit.
- Colossians 1:3-4 (v9) We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the…
- 1 Thessalonians 3:3-4 (v11) that no one would be moved by these afflictions. For you know that we are appointed to this task. For most certainly, when we were with…
- 2 Timothy 2:1-3 (v11) You therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me among many…
- Hebrews 11:5 (v10) By faith, Enoch was taken away, so that he wouldn’t see death, and he was not found, because God translated him. For he has had testimony…
- Hebrews 11:34-38 (v11) quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, grew mighty in war, and caused foreign armies to…
- John 7:17 (v9) If anyone desires to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is from God, or if I am speaking from myself.
- Romans 8:29-30 (v12) For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Whom…
- Ephesians 1:8 (v9) which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
- Ephesians 1:17 (v10) that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him,
- Philippians 4:18 (v10) But I have all things and abound. I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things that came from you, a sweet-smelling fragrance,…
- Colossians 2:19 (v10) and not holding firmly to the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and ligaments, grows with…
- 2 Timothy 2:4 (v10) No soldier on duty entangles himself in the affairs of life, that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier.
- Hebrews 3:14 (v12) For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end,
- 1 John 3:1-3 (v12) See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us,…
- Exodus 15:6 (v11) Your right hand, Yahweh, is glorious in power. Your right hand, Yahweh, dashes the enemy in pieces.
- Psalms 119:99 (v9) I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.
- Proverbs 4:18 (v12) But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light that shines more and more until the perfect day.
- Proverbs 16:1 (v12) The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from Yahweh.
- Isaiah 53:11 (v10) After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light and be satisfied. My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of…
- Daniel 12:4 (v10) But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end. Many will run back and forth, and knowledge will be…
- John 14:6 (v12) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
- Acts 1:8 (v11) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and…
- 1 Corinthians 8:6 (v12) yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things,…
- 2 Corinthians 9:8 (v10) And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work.
- Ephesians 5:17 (v9) Therefore don’t be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
- Ephesians 5:20 (v12) giving thanks always concerning all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God, even the Father;
- Colossians 1:6 (v9) which has come to you, even as it is in all the world and is bearing fruit and growing, as it does in you also, since the day you heard and…
- Colossians 2:2 (v12) that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that…
- Colossians 4:12 (v9) Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salutes you, always striving for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and…
- Hebrews 12:1-2 (v11) Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily…
- 2 Peter 1:6 (v11) and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control perseverance; and in perseverance godliness;
100 distinct cross-references across this passage (146 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv9–12 9. For this cause we also. As he has…
9. For this cause we also. As he has previously shewn his affection for them in his thanksgivings, so he now shews it still farther in the earnestness of his prayers in their behalf. And, assuredly, the more that the grace of God is conspicuous in any, we ought in that proportion specially to love and esteem them, and to be concerned as to their welfare. But what does he pray for in their behalf? That they may know God more fully; by which he indirectly intimates, that something is still wanting in them, that he may prepare the way for imparting instruction to them, and may secure their attention to a fuller statement of doctrine. For those who think that they have already attained everything that is worthy of being known, despise and disdain everything farther that is presented to them. Hence he removes from the Colossians an impression of this nature, lest it should be a hinderance in the way of their cheerfully making progress, and allowing what had been begun in them to receive an additional polish. But what knowledge does he desire in their behalf? The knowledge of the divine will, by which expression he sets aside all inventions of men, and all speculations that are at variance with the word of God. For his will is not to be sought anywhere else than in his word.
He adds — in all wisdom; by which he intimates that the will of God, of which he had made mention, was the only rule of right knowledge. For if any one is desirous simply to know those things which it has pleased God to reveal, that is the man who accurately knows what it is to be truly wise. If we desire anything beyond that, this will be nothing else than to be foolish, by not keeping within due bounds. By the word συνέσεως which we render prudentiam, (prudence,) I understand — that discrimination which proceeds from intelligence. Both are called spiritual by Paul, because they are not attained in any other way than by the guidance of the Spirit.
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For the animal man does not perceive the things that are of God. (1 Corinthians 2:14.)
So long as men are regulated by their own carnal perceptions, they have also their own wisdom, but it is of such a nature as is mere vanity, however much they may delight themselves in it. We see what sort of theology there is under the Papacy, what is contained in the books of philosophers, and what wisdom profane men hold in estimation. Let us, however, bear in mind, that the wisdom which is alone commended by Paul is comprehended in the will of God.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv9, 11, 12 God’s will.
God’s will.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv9–12 9 For this cause we also, since the day…
9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
Ver. 9. In all wisdom and spiritual] {See Trapp on "Eph 1:8"} There you have the same expression. And indeed this Epistle hath many passages common with that, and seemeth to have been written soon after that, cum adhuc qua ad Ephesios scripserat, in animo haererent, while the things that he had written to the Ephesians were yet fresh in his mind and memory. (Grotius.)
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv9–12 For this cause we also; he doth here suggest…
For this cause we also; he doth here suggest the motive mentioned in the precedent verses, viz. their faith and love, Col 1:4,5, and their special love to him, Col 1:8, why he and his brethren had them so much upon their hearts: See Poole on "Eph 1:15-17".
Since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you: it seems, from the time they were refreshed with these things they did (as he exhorts the Colossians here, Col 4:2) always upon all solemn occasions wait upon God for the Colossians’ spiritual prosperity, as Paul himself did for the Philippians: See Poole on "Luk 18:1". See Poole on "Rom 12:12". See Poole on "Phi 1:4". See Poole on "Phi 1:9". See Poole on "1Th 5:17".
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And to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will; and the subject matter of their instant prayer was, that they might attain to a more distinct, clear, and practical knowledge of the mind of God in Christ, and a greater measure of conformity to what he requires in the gospel, Col 1:6; Eph 5:15-17.
In all wisdom; in (rather than with) all necessary knowledge of the things of faith and manners, according to the prescript of the gospel: for sapience or wisdom doth properly respect the most excellent things, and such we learn most distinctly and satisfactorily from the revealed will of God, which we have in the Bible: this is that which Paul and other holy men spoke as taught of God amongst the perfect or grown Christians, in opposition both to the wisdom of man and of the world, 1Co 2:4,6, being agreeable to the will of God, Job 28:28; Pro 28:7; Joh 6:40; 1Th 4:3. And with this Christian wisdom some would render the following words, in
spiritual prudence, but if we render it understanding, or intelligence, it may be expounded to the same sense; for which there may be very good reason, for the philosopher doth sometimes by the Greek word mean that power or habit whereby men judge aright of things presented conducing to happiness, so as upon a due expense of circumstances to discern the good from the evil, the true from the false, and the real from the apparent: such a gift as Paul prays the Lord would give unto Timothy, 2Ti 2:7, compared with 1Co 1:5, that they might rightly distinguish between the simplicity and purity of the gospel, and those false glosses and colours that false teachers went about to sophisticate it with; not be without understanding his some who followed our Saviour, Mat 15:16 what course they should take in the practice of piety, but be able to discern the times, 1Ch 12:32, and other circumstances, Psa 39:1; 50:23; Ecc 5:1; Luk 8:18; for the ordering their actions aright, so as they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things, as becomes the gospel, Eph 1:8, with Phi 1:10,27; Col 4:5; Tit 2:10. Ignorance then can be no mother of true devotion, nor the inventions of men acceptable service to the living God, whose will alone is the rule of his worship.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv10–12 Here the apostle sets down the end of his…
Here the apostle sets down the end of his prayer in the fore-mentioned manner for the Colossians, why he desired that their knowledge should so exceedingly increase; it was in order to practise, that they might walk worthy of the Lord, unto all pleasing, and be fruitful in every good work; this is the true end of knowledge, practical obedience.
All this is the true end of knowledge, practical obedience. All knowledge without this, makes a man like Nebuchadnezzar’s image, with an head of gold, and feet of clay: Some persons study to know, only to know, that is curiosity; others endeavour to know only to make themsleves known, this is vain-glory: But to know, that we may practise what we know, this is gospel duty.
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Quest. But how can any person be said to walk worthy of the Lord?
Ans. Not with a worthiness of merit, but with a worthiness of meetness, when we walk as it is meet and fit for persons professing godliness to walk; when we walk as becometh the gospel of Jesus Christ, in obedience to his precepts, in imitation of his pattern, answerable to the helps and supplies of grace which the gospel affords, and answerable to the high and glorious hopes which the raises us to the expectation of, this is to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.
The second branch of the apostle’s prayer, on behalf of these Colossians, was, that they might be fruitful in every good work, that is, labour after an universal fruitfulness in good works.
By good works, he undoubtedly means works of piety towards God, works of righteousness towards our neighbours, works of sobriety towards ourselves, works of charity towards all.
By fruitfulness in these good works, he means an unwearied diligence, and persevering constancy in the doing of them, that our fruitfulness be an universal fruitfulness, an humble and self-denying fruitfulness, a proportionable fruitfulness, an abounding and abiding fruitfulness; that is to be fruitful in every good work.
The third request, which in this verse he puts up for them, is, That they may increase in the knowledge of God. As fruitfulness in good works makes much for the increase of knowledge, so increasing in knowledge will contribute very much towards our fruitfulness in good works; the way to grow in grace is to grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, 2Pe 3:18.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv9, 12 The apostle proceeds in these verses to pray for…
The apostle proceeds in these verses to pray for them. He heard that they were good, and he prayed that they might be better. He was constant in this prayer: We do not cease to pray for you. It may be he could hear of them but seldom, but he constantly prayed for them. - And desire that you may be filled with the knowledge, etc. Observe what it is that he begs of God for them,
I. That they might be knowing intelligent Christians: filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Observe, 1. The knowledge of our duty is the best knowledge. A mere empty notion of the greatest truths is insignificant. Our knowledge of the will of God must be always practical: we must know it, in order to do it. 2. Our knowledge is then a blessing indeed when it is in wisdom, when we know how to apply our general knowledge to our particular occasions, and to suit it to all emergencies. 3. Christians should endeavour to be filled with knowledge; not only to know the will of God, but to know more of it, and to increase in the knowledge of God (as it is Col 1:10), and to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Pe2 3:18.
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II. That their conversation might be good. Good knowledge without a good life will not profit. Our understanding is then a spiritual understanding when we exemplify it in our way of living: That you may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing (Col 1:10), that is, as becomes the relation we stand in to him and the profession we make of him. The agreeableness of our conversation to our religion is pleasing to God as well as to good men. We walk unto all well-pleasing when we walk in all things according to the will of God. Being fruitful in every good work. This is what we should aim at. Good words will not do without good works. We must abound in good works, and in every good work: not in some only, which are more easy, and suitable, and safe, but in all, and every instance of them. There must be a regular uniform regard to all the will of God. And the more fruitful we are in good works the more we shall increase in the knowledge of God. He who doeth his will shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God, Joh 7:17.
III. That they might be strengthened: Strengthened with all might according to his glorious power (Col 1:11), fortified against the temptations of Satan and furnished for all their duty. It is a great comfort to us that he who undertakes to give strength to his people is a God of power and of glorious power. Where there is spiritual life there is still need of spiritual strength, strength for all the actions of the spiritual life. To be strengthened is to be furnished by the grace of God for every good work, and fortified by that grace against every evil one: it is to be enabled to do our duty, and still to hold fast our integrity. The blessed Spirit is the author of this strength; for we are strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inward man, Eph 3:16. The word of God is the means of it, by which he conveys it; and it must be fetched in by prayer. It was in answer to earnest prayer that the apostle obtained sufficient grace. In praying for spiritual strength we are not straitened in the promises, and therefore should not be straitened in our own hopes and desires. Observe, 1. He prayed that they might be strengthened with might: this seems a tautology; but he means, that they might be mightily strengthened, or strengthened with might derived from another. 2. It is with all might. It seems unreasonable that a creature should be strengthened with all might, for that is to make him almighty; but he means, with all that might which we have occasion for, to enable us to discharge our duty or preserve our innocence, that grace which is sufficient for us in all the trials of life and able to help us in time of need. 3. It is according to his glorious power. He means, according to the grace of God: but the grace of God in the hearts of believers is the power of God; and there is a glory in this power; it is an excellent and sufficient power. And the communications of strength are not according to our weakness, to whom the strength is communicated, but according to his power, from whom it is received. When God gives he gives like himself, and when he strengthens he strengthens like himself. 4. The special use of this strength was for suffering work: That you may be strengthened unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness. He prays not only that they may be supported under their troubles, but strengthened for them: the reason is there is work to be done even when we are suffering. And those who are strengthened according to his glorious power are strengthened, (1.) To all patience. When patience hath its perfect work (Jam 1:4) then we are strengthened to all patience - when we not only bear our troubles patiently, but receive them as gifts from God, and are thankful for them. To you it is given to suffer, Phi 1:29. When we bear our troubles well, though ever so many, and the circumstances of them ever so aggravating, then we bear them with all patience. And the same reason for bearing one trouble will hold for bearing another, if it be a good reason. All patience includes all the kinds of it; not only bearing patience, but waiting patience. (2.) This is even unto long-suffering, that is, drawn out to a great length: not only to bear trouble awhile, but to bear it as long as God pleases to continue it. (3.) It is with joyfulness, to rejoice in tribulation, to take joyfully the spoiling of our goods, and rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer for his name, to have joy as well as patience in the troubles of life. This we could never do by any strength of our own, but as we are strengthened by the grace of God.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv10–12 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord,.... The…
That ye might walk worthy of the Lord,.... The Vulgate Latin version reads, "of God"; to which the Ethiopic version agrees; but rather the Lord Jesus Christ seems to be designed: and to "walk worthy" of him, is to walk by faith in him; to walk after his Spirit, and according to his word, and in his ordinances; to have the conversation as becomes his Gospel, and worthy of that calling wherewith the saints are called by grace to the obtaining of his kingdom and glory. The apostle prays that their knowledge might issue in practice; for knowledge, without practice, is of no avail: he first asks for knowledge, and then practice, for how should men act according to the will of God, or Christ, unless they know it? and when they know it, they should not rest in their knowledge, but put it in practice:
unto all pleasing. The Syriac reads it, "that ye may please God in all good works": an unregenerate man cannot please God in anything; without faith in Christ it is impossible to please him by anything man can do; Christ only could, and did always the things that pleased his Father; there are many things done by believers which are displeasing to God; nor is there anything they can do that is pleasing to God but through Christ, in whom their persons and, services are accepted; good works being done in faith, and from a principle of love, and with a view to the glory of God, are acceptable unto him through Christ; and therefore are to be carefully maintained, and studiously performed by all those that have a spiritual understanding of the will of God, and believe in Christ their Lord and Redeemer:
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being fruitful in every good work; saints are trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord; good works are the fruit, which, under the influence of divine grace, they bring forth; and this is not of one sort only, as trees usually do, but of every kind; being ingrafted into Christ the true vine, and deriving life, sap, and nourishment from him, they are filled with the fruits of righteousness by him, which they bring forth and bear, to the glory of his heavenly Father; and being such, they are pleasant plants to him, as fruit bearing trees are to the owner of them: wherefore, in order to the saints walking in their lives and conversations unto all pleasing, or pleasing in all things, the apostle prays they might be fruitful in good works, and that in everyone, in every kind of good works:
and increasing in the knowledge of God; not barely of his nature and perfections, as they are displayed in the works of creation; but of his mind, and will, and the mysteries of his grace, as they are revealed in the Gospel; of the knowledge of him in Christ, as the God of all grace, and as a covenant God and Father. The apostle had before prayed for an increase of the knowledge of the will of God, previous to his request, for the putting of it in practice; and now suggests, that an increase of the knowledge of God himself may be expected in a practical use of means, an attendance on the ordinances of Christ, and a diligent performance of good works: from the whole of these petitions, it may be observed by the apostle's asking for them, that all our knowledge, and the increase of it, and all our fruitfulness in good works, are all from the Lord; and therefore we have no reason to boast of our knowledge, nor depend upon our works, but frankly to own, that notwithstanding all we know, and do, we are but unprofitable servants.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv9–12 We pray for you - This was mentioned in…
We pray for you - This was mentioned in general, Colossians i, 3, but now more particularly. That ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will - Of his revealed will. In all wisdom - With all the wisdom from above. And spiritual understanding - To discern by that light whatever agrees with, or differs from, his will.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv9–12 Verse 9. For this cause] See on Eph 1:15-16…
Verse 9. For this cause] See on Eph 1:15-16 (note), where the same sentiment occurs.
That ye might be filled] Nothing could satisfy the apostle, either for himself or his hearers, but the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of peace. The Colossians had knowledge, but they must have more; it is their privilege to be filled with it. As the bright shining of the sun in the firmament of heaven fills the whole world with light and heat, so the light of the Sun of righteousness is to illuminate their whole souls, and fill them with Divine splendour, so that they might know the will of God, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; in a word, that they might have such a knowledge of Divine things as the Spirit of truth can teach to the soul of man.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv9, 12 Col 1:9-11. For this cause — The report of…
Col 1:9-11. For this cause — The report of your faith and love; we do not cease to pray for you — We fail not to remember you in all our prayers. This was mentioned in general, Col 1:3, but now more particularly; that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will — That is, his revealed will concerning the salvation of mankind by faith, (Eph 1:5; Eph 1:9; Eph 1:11,) or the gospel of Christ, — the truths declared, the blessings offered, and the duties enjoined in it; in all wisdom — That ye may have just, clear, and full views of every part of it; and spiritual understanding — That understanding which proceeds from the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, spoken of Eph 1:17, (where see the notes,) and is a spiritual and experimental, and therefore a practical knowledge of divine things, very different from that mere speculative and notional knowledge of them with which many rest satisfied, though it neither changes their hearts nor governs their lives. That — Knowing his will, and complying with it; you may walk worthy of the Lord — May conduct yourselves in a manner suitable to his nature and attributes, the relation in which you stand to him, the benefits you have received from him, and the profession you make of believing in, loving, and serving him; unto all pleasing — So as actually to please him in all things. The apostle mentions next four particulars included in this walking worthy of the Lord. 1st, The being fruitful in every good work — Or embracing all opportunities of doing good to the bodies and souls of men, according to our ability, and thus showing our faith continually by our works, and our love by our obedience, Jas 2:14-18; 1Jn 3:17. And, 2d, Increasing in the knowledge — The experimental practical knowledge; of God — That is, while we are diligent in performing good works outwardly, taking care that we increase in vital religion inwardly, even in a participation of the divine nature, and a conformity to the divine image. 3d, Receiving and bearing with patience, long-suffering, and joyfulness — All the sufferings which come upon us in the course of divine providence: in other words, that we sustain, with entire resignation to, and acquiescence in, the divine will, and with a calm and tranquil mind, all the chastisements of our heavenly Father, knowing they are for our profit; and all the trials by which it is his will our faith and other graces should be exercised, and all the purifying fires through which he is pleased to lead us; that we patiently bear with the infirmities, failings, and faults of our fellow-creatures, saints or sinners, and receive even their injuries and provocations without resentment; and that in the midst of all these apparent evils, we rejoice on account of the present blessings we possess, and especially in the knowledge we have that all these, and such like things, however afflictive to flesh and blood, shall infallibly work together for our good, while we love God. Well might the apostle signify, that, in order to all this, we need to be strengthened with all might, or very mightily strengthened, according to God’s glorious power, always ready to be exerted in behalf of his suffering people. The fourth particular mentioned by the apostle, as included in walking worthy of the Lord, is continual gratitude for the blessings enumerated in the three next verses; blessings which whosoever enjoys, has unspeakable reason for thankfulness, whatever his state or condition may be as to the present world.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv9–12 Do not cease to pray for you - Col…
Do not cease to pray for you - Col 1:3. The progress which they had already made, and the love which they had shown, constituted an encouragement for prayer, and a reason why higher blessings still should be sought. We always feel stimulated and encouraged to pray for those who are doing well.
That ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will - They had shown by their faith and love that they were disposed to do his will, and the apostle now prays that they might be fully acquainted with what he would have them do. He offered a similar prayer in behalf of the Ephesians; see the parallel place in Eph 1:17-19, and the notes at those verses.
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In all wisdom - That you may be truly wise in all things; Eph 1:17.
And spiritual understanding - In understanding those things that pertain to the “Spirit;” that is, those things taught by the Holy Spirit, and those which he produces in the work of salvation; see the notes at 1Co 2:12-13; compare 1Jo 2:20; 1Jo 5:20.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv9–10 In all wisdom. He begins by an admonition against…
In all wisdom. He begins by an admonition against false teachers, who it is likely, says St. John Chrysostom, with their philosophical notions mixed errors and fables. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v9 2. Earnest supplication for the progress of the Church…
2. Earnest supplication for the progress of the Church in true knowledge, especially of the Being and Work of Christ
(Col_1:9-23.)
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9For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire16 that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all Wisdom 10 and spiritual understanding [in all spiritual wisdom and understanding]: That ye17 might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in [by]18 the knowledge of God; 11Strengthened with all might [strength]19 according to his glorious power [the power of his glory],20 unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness [joy];21 12Giving thanks unto the Father, which [who]22 hath made us meet, to be partakers [for the portion, εἰς τὴν μερίδα]23 of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13Who hath delivered us from [out of] the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son [the Son of his love];24 14In whom we have redemption through his blood [omit through his blood],25 even the forgiveness of sins: 15Who is the image of the invisible God, the 16 firstborn of [before] every creature: For [Because] by [in] him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in [on] earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17And he Isaiah 26 before all things, and by [ἐν, in] him all things consist [subsist]. 18And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn27 from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence. 19For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell [Because in him God was pleased that the whole fulness should dwell]:28 20And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself: by him, I say, whether they be things in [on] earth, or things in heaven. 21And you, that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works 22 [lit.: as to your understanding in wicked works], yet now hath he reconciled,29 In the body of his flesh through [his] death,30 to present you holy and unblamable and un 23 reprovable in his sight: If [If at least, εἴγε] ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature31 which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.32
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The immediate object of supplication: full knowledge of the Divine will, (Col_1:9.)
Col_1:9. For this cause refers to the entire paragraph, Col_1:3-8. What the Apostle had heard of the Colossians moved him to the petition. This is required by the contents of the petition and by the accords: “since the day we heard” (Col_1:9), to which the object must be supplied from above (“your faith in Christ Jesus and love to all the saints”); Col_1:6. “since the day ye heard” and Col_1:4. “since we heard:” and also “do not cease to pray for you” (Col_1:9), and Col_1:3, “praying also for you.” After his thanks to God, Paul now gives the purport of his prayer. Certainly Col_1:9 is not connected with Col_1:8 alone, where the love of the Colossians to himself is spoken of: because he had heard this, he now prays for them (Bleek); as though Paul, like the Pharisees, prayed only for those who loved him.
We also, as in “we give thanks” (Col_1:3), is Paul and those with him, hence not Timothy merely (Meyer, Schenkel), nor is he excluded (Baehr). Καί, “also,” refers chiefly to Epaphras, who represents and labors for the Colossians (Col_1:7-8), and then to the Colossians also, who were won to the gospel (Col_1:6) and have love to the brethren (Col_1:4; Col_1:8). It does not therefore indicate merely the reciprocity of intercourse between the Colossians and Paul (Schenkel, Meyer). [It has here its slightly contrastive force (Ellicott), and marks the change of subject; “we on our part” (Alford).—R.] It is not to be separated from ἡμεῖς and joined to διὰ τοῦτο (De Wette), nor by any means to προςευχόμενοι(Baumgarten-Crcsius).
[Since the day we heard.—Ellicott: “incidental definition of the time with reference to ἀκούσαντες, Col_1:4. Eadie: “The receipt of the intelligence produced immediate results and led to prayer. The effect was instant—and it was not spent with a single impulse.” The prayer was continuous also.—R.]
Do not cease to pray for you, and to desire.—On οὐ παυόμεθα with the participles, see Eph_1:16. [Ellicott: “an exactly similar affectionate hyperbole.”—R.] The first verb denotes the wish (2Co_13:9; 3Jn_1:2; Act_27:29), addressed to any one, then in general a prayer expressing a wish; the second, the supplication, entreaty, the medium with its reflection; sibi expetere, the pressing hearty petition from a sense of fellowship. [It seems a better distinction to regard the first as general, the second as special, “the one prayer in its ordinary aspect, the other direct request.” Καί “brings into prominence a special after a general” (Alford). The comma of the E. V. answers the same purpose here.—R.]
That ye might be filled.—(Bengel: “He made mention of his supplications generally Col_1:3; he now expresses what he supplicates.” Ἵνα indicates the aim of the petition, the purpose of the petitioner, hence not simply its purport (against Harless, Eph. 17). [On ἴνα after verbs of praying, see Alford, 1Co_14:13. “The purport and purpose become compounded in the expression.” Ellicott: “Ἵνα has here its secondary telic force, the subject of the prayer is blended with the purpose of making it.”—R.] Πληρωθῆτε pre-supposes the imperfect state of those prayed for, and from its position at the beginning renders prominent the importance of progress to fulness. It occurs in this Epistle alone five times, here; Col_1:25; Col_2:10; Col_4:12; Col_4:17; in Ephesians (Eph_1:23;Eph_3:19; Eph_4:10; Eph_5:18), and in Philippians (Php_1:11; Php_2:2; Php_4:18-19), each four times.
With the knowledge of his will.—Τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν is an accusative of reference, like Php_1:11; so σκηνοποιὸς τὴν τέχνην (Act_18:3). [Ellicott: “accusative of the remoter, the quantitative object in which the action of the verb has its realization.” “The genitive marks the absolute material out of which the fulness was realized, the accusative as it were, the domain of which the fulness was evinced.”—R.] See Winer’s Gram. p. 216. Further it is not =τῇ ἐπιγνώσει, since they were not to be filled with the knowledge, but their knowledge should be full, perfect. The word itself describes the knowledge which grasps and penetrates the object (Meyer), as Col_1:10; Col_2:3; Col_3:10. [Wordsworth: “ἐπίγνωσις, full knowledge is more than γνῶσις, it is a gift and grace of the Holy Spirit. This word occurs oftener in this Epistle than in any other of St. Paul. He may perhaps have used it as a contrast to the false γνῶσις or gnosticism of the false teachers, who were beguiling the Colossians with the speciousness of their vain philosophy. They in their theories promise γνῶσις, but the Apostle gave ἐπίγνωσις by his ministry.” De Wette suggests, the former is a mere impractical and theoretical, the latter full and living knowledge.—R.] “Of his will,” since it concerns the purpose of the prayer, is God’s will, and, according to the context (Col_1:10), the will of God respecting the walk and conversation of the Christian in the world. Hence not the redemptive decree, as Eph_1:9 (Steiger and others), not the will of God which operates on us and is efficient in us, but the will of God to be obeyed by us, “hence not the will of the majority (Schenkel). [The immediate context “in all wisdom,” is against this limitation of “His will.” The result of full knowledge was to be worthy walk, but the knowledge was not therefore to be limited to His will respecting walk. As a fact Christian walk is based on a far wider knowledge.—R.]
Paul now sets forth the mode in which this “being filled” was to be consummated: In all spiritual wisdom and understanding.—Hence this is not to be joined with “walk” (Col_1:10), which is otherwise defined (Theodoret and others). See Eph_1:8 : “in all wisdom and prudence.” Σύνεσις is not identical with φρόνησις (Sir_1:4; σύνεσις φρονήσεως); the latter refers more to the God-given organ, the former more to the activity of man in using it; the latter more to the original gift, the former obtained rather by exercise. [The former is perhaps seen more in practically embracing a truth, the latter more in bringing the mind to bear upon it (Ellicott).—R.] The adjective “spiritual” belongs to both substantives. It indicates that the “being filled” cannot be effected by any purely natural, development of human mental life from its own power. The wisdom is not “fleshly” (2Co_1:12; 1Co_1:26), nor is the understanding of this character; yet neither are of themselves spiritual,” they become so only through the Holy Ghost. [Eadie and Alford join πνευματικῇ to συνέσει alone, but it seems better with Ellicott to join both adjectives to both substantives. On σοφία and σύνεσις, the general and particular, Ellicott remarks: “both appear to have a practical reference; the former is, however, a general term; the latter its more special result and application.”—R.]
The aim of the petition; Christian walk. Col_1:10-12. They were not to rest with “knowledge of His will,” but advance.
Col_1:10. That ye might walk.—The infinitive, περιπατῆσαι, depending on πληρωθῆτε is epexegetical (Winer’s Gram. pp. 298, 301); it is not necessary to supply εἰς or ὥστε. The closer definition follows.—Worthy of the Lord refers to Christ [as always apparently in St. Paul’s Epistles (Ellicott).—R.], the model of the Christian. Neither 1Th_2:12, “worthy of God,” nor Eph_4:1, “followers of God,” will justify us in understanding it otherwise.—Unto all pleasing describes the manner of the worthy walk, giving prominence to the purpose (εἰς). Ἀρέσκεια, only here, in a good sense, describes in classical authors the conduct of the ἄρεσκος, the obsequious, i. e., obsequiousness. The context requires that it be understood as “pleasing Christ” not God, in spite of Mat_5:48 (Schenkel). Since Christ can be pleased in everything, “all” is added.
This is confirmed by the following characteristic of the Christian walk: Being fruitful in every work.—[Braune reads, “being fruitful and increasing in every good work,” a collocation in conformity with his view of the text and his exegesis. The order of the E. V. seems to preserve the symmetry and present the meaning better.—R.] On the nominatives καρποφοροῦντες καὶ αὐξ., instead of the more exact accusatives, to agree with ὑμᾶς implied after περιπατῆσαι, see Eph_4:1; Eph_4:3. Here it is readily explained, yet not by joining the participles to πληρωθῆτε (Bengel); the two participles are united as in Col_1:6; first bearing fruit, then growing more, as in a tree, in order to greater fruitfulness. The sphere of both is denoted by “in.” The prepositional phrase, standing first for emphasis, is not to be joined with “pleasing” (Oecumen, Steiger and others), but with the verbs [or according to the view of Alford, Ellicott and others, with the verb “being fruitful”—undoubtedly to be preferred if the instrumental dative is retained. See below.—R.] By “good works” we are to understand, works required by the will of God, growing out of faith, demanded, not merely by law, but by relations, circumstances, by the inward impulse of the conscience and the Holy Ghost.
[And increasing by the knowledge of God.] The advance is made into, up to the knowledge of God. This indeed depends upon their being “filled with the knowledge of His will” (Col_1:9). Their being fruitful and increasing in every good work aids thereto. Hence Luther is incorrect; and be fruitful in every good work and increase in the knowledge of God. [The order of the E. V. is the same.—R] Advance is made from knowledge to knowledge in the Christian walk, wherein the spirit of God guides into all truth (Joh_16:13; Joh_14:26). Είς is neither = κατά (Böhmer) nor = ἐν (Beza), nor = the dative which Huther and others read. [The close union of the two participles above and the preceding exegetical note are based on the less supported reading: εἰς τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν. The better reading is τῇ ἐπιγνώσει (instrumental dative). This is to be joined with αὐξανόμενοι “increasing by the knowledge of God.” As the main reason for retaining the reading of the fewer MSS. is that it is more difficult, Alford remarks, supporting τῇ ἐπιγνώσει: “this is by far the most difficult of the three readings, the meaning of ἐν and εἰς being very obvious, the former pointing out the element, the latter the proposed measure of the increase. And hence, probably, the variations. It is the knowledge of God which is the real instrument of enlargement, in soul and life, of the believer—not a γνῶσις which φυσιου, but an ἐπίγνωσις which αὐξάνει.” So Olshausen, De Wette, Huther, Eadie, Ellicott.—R.]
Col_1:11 gives a second definition of the walk, almost exactly like the first in its construction.—Strengthened with all strength, ἐν πάσῃ δυνάμει δυναμούμενοι. The verb, which occurs only here, marks those walking worthy of the Lord as energized in activity, not in one direction, but in all: in will, affection and perception, in understanding, in home and calling, in all external relations. [Braune seems to regard ἐν as indicating the element, and δύναμις as subjective (so Alford). It seems more natural and accordant with the phrase immediately following, to take ἐν as instrumental and δύναμις as objective, i. e., strength from God. So Meyer, Eadie, Ellicott (Theodoret is quoted by the latter), and E. V.; in either case “all” implies that the energy extends to every department.—R.] The paranomasia, as well as the construction like that of the previous clause, forbid the separation of the prepositional phrase from the verb, to join it with what precedes.
According to the power of His glory, κατὰ τὸ κράτος τῆς δόξης.—Power is requisite, the Christian does not have it in himself; the measure of it is not inconsiderable, it increases. God alone gives it in proportion to the Power which He has, in comparison with whose glory, majesty, grace and mercy, we are and have nothing. His glory ever reveals itself more and more to him who walks worthy of the Lord. The motive and measure of our strength is in the might of the majesty of God, whom we know ever better. Hence δόξα and ἰσχύς (Eph_1:19; Eph_6:10, “according to the power of his might”) are not to be considered as parallels and the former limited here to the Ruler’s dignity (Steiger), nor is the phrase=“glorious power” (Luther, Baehr, [E. V.], and others), as though it were ἔνδοξον κράτος.
Unto all patience and long-suffering with joy.—Through growing strength progress is made in directions the most various (πάσαν, all) “unto patience” (ὑπομονήν) which is not merely suffering (ὑπέχει, Judges 7. only) i. e., sustinere. Ὑπομένειν means the mind in suffering; ὑπομονήν denotes this constancy and patience of the mind. Hence we find, not the patience of God, but “the God of patience” spoken of (Rom_15:5), it is not God, who demands, but who dispenses “patience” (Tittmann, Syn., I. p. 191). “Patience” is opposed to displeasure without power to help or change; “long-suffering,” to displeasure with power to punish, to avenge, to alter and avert. Chrysostom: “one is long-suffering towards those whom it is possible to requite, but patient towards those whom he is unable to requite.” In the former case the objects are usually men, in the latter, circumstances. It is incorrect to make “patience” refer to the extent, and “long suffering” to the continuance of the feeling (Schenkel), or to contrast timidity with the former and irritability with the latter (Huther), or to ignore the distinction (Meyer, Bleek). [Ellicott renders εἰς, “to insure, to lead you into,” marking the final destination; Eadie: “in order to.” See his notes in loco, on the distinction between “patience” and “long suffering.”—R.] That which is characteristically Christian in both is: “with joy,” which is impossible in such a case without the power of God. In “patience and long-suffering” the Christian is glad, and certain of the victory of his cause, of his reward with God both in his own heart and in heaven. It must not then be joined with “giving thanks” (Col_1:12), as is done by the Greek fathers, Estius, Huther, Meyer, Schenkel, Bleek. [And also by Tischendorf, Lachmann, Ellicott, on the ground of the parallelism in the structure of the clauses.—R.] “With joy” would be entirely superfluous in that connection; the parallelism is not compulsory, and besides it is not “in joy,” indicating the element, but “with (μετά), which shows that it is only an accompaniment with “patience.” [As De Wette says: by such a connection “we lose the essential idea of joyful endurance—and the beautiful train of thought, that joyfulness in suffering expresses itself in thankfulness to God” (Alford).—R.]
The third definition follows (Col_1:12-14).
Col_1:12.—Giving thanks to the Father who hath made us meet.—Even in sorrow, let there be thanksgiving; let not Him be forgotten who giveth gifts and is the Father. It is incorrect, to take the participle, not as coördinate with “being fruitful,” “increasing,” “strengthened,” but as connected with “do not cease,” Col_1:9 (Greek fathers, Calvin, Bengel); or to supply “of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Col_1:3) after “Father” (Meyer) [Alford, Ellicott.—R.], instead of regarding Him, in accordance with the context, as our Father, who however is and proves Himself such in Christ: qui idoneos fecit, fueramus enim inidonei, 2Co_3:6 (BenGel). “Us” includes the Apostle and his companions and his readers, who are Christians.—For what has He made us meet?—For the portion of the inheritance of the saints in light.—“For” (εἰς as above) marks the aim the “making meet,” which (as aorist) shows that it is already, even though incipiently, attained. Τὴν μερίδα describes the “portion,” share, which falls to one personally (Luk_10:42; Luk_12:43), and “the inheritance” (τοῦ κλήρου) describes the whole of which the Christian is partaker, as given sorte non pretio (Bengel), as undeserved. The expression is borrowed from the Old Testament (Psa_16:5, “the portion of my inheritance, μερὶς τῆς κληρονομίας); as the chosen people obtained Canaan (ἡ γῆ τῆς κληρονομίας) through the grace of God, and each Israelite his part in the distribution of the land, so the Christian obtains his portion in and of the kingdom of heaven. “The saints” then describes the possessors of the heritage. The position of ἐν φωτί forbids our connecting it with ἱκανώσαντι, “making meet” (Greek fathers, Steiger, Meyer), which besides is accomplished in another way than “in light;” or with “inheritance” (Beza, Huther, Bleek), or with “Portion” (Bengel). It is a closer description of the sphere in which “the saints,” the Christians, (Col_1:2) are found in their walk (Col_1:10), in order to mark the extent of the benefit conferred, upon them through the “aking meet,” which is the occasion of the thanksgiving. Comp. Eph_5:9; Eph_5:11; Eph_4:18 According to the context the result is the principal point here, not the means, which are introduced afterwards, but without any exposition of “in light” or any reference to it. Hence it is incorrect, to contrast with Christians as the “saints in light” other saints in darkness, under the law in the Old Testament, which is contrary to the usus loquendi and to Pauline views (Grotius: thus is shown the distinction of the law and the gospel), or to refer it to future glory (Schenkel: = ἐν τῇ δόξῃ). [This last view is the popular one;. “light is taken to mean “heaven,” and the passage interpreted as a thanksgiving for what God has done to prepare us for an inheritance in heaven, or inheritance with the saints in heaven. Obviously this is forbidden by the context. Eadie, who joins it with “inheritance” as descriptive of it, Alford, who connects it with, the whole phrase “portion—saints,” and Ellicott, who indicates a preference for joining it with “inheritance of the saints,” all avoid this mistake. The saints are now “in light,” and the inheritance is “in light.” “In light” as the sphere of their walk, the saints enjoy their “inheritance” which is “begun here and the meetness conferred in gradual sanctification, but completed hereafter.”—R.]
God’s act and gift, as the foundation and beginning of the Christian walk, more accurately, defined (Col_1:13-14).
Col_1:13. Who hath delivered its out of the power of darkness.—“Who” refers back to “Father.” His act is first, “hath delivered us,” i. e., has drawn, snatched us out of danger (see Passow, Lex.). Chrysostom: “He does not say delivered, but snatched (ἐῤῥύσατο), showing our and their great misery and captivity.” Zanchius: “This is more than: he has liberated. For those are liberated, who are willing and desirous and deserving of being made free; those who are seized are often unwilling, as Lot from Sodom; he magnifies both the grace and the power of God.” “Out of the power of darkness” denotes the power under the dominion of which Christians were before Redemption. The first substantive describes the organized power, the second its character, as Eph_2:2 : “the power of the air;” Eph_6:12 : “powers of this darkness.” [Alford: “power i.e., in the territorial sense; darkness—not to be understood of a person but of the character of the region.” Ellicott: “evil and sin viewed objectively.” Davies refers here to the dualism of the Zend-avesta.—R.] Necessarily opposed to this is “the power of His glory” (Eph_1:11), and as a consequence “the saints” are “in light.” Here we find a justification of the exposition given above.
And translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.—But He did not stop with this “deliverance” (καί); He has “translated” (μετέστησεν) us. The word denotes a local change, hence a change of relation, determining the conduct and walk. “Into the kingdom” is in contrast with “out of the power,” and “the Son of His love” with “darkness.” “The Son of His love,” which recalls both in phrase and connection Eph_1:6, occurs only here, and sets forth the Son with the greatest emphasis as the Object of His love, upon whom His entire love flows, and through Him therefore upon us. The Son is not conceived of here as “out of” the love, born out of its substance (Augustine), [i. e., “Love considered more as an essence than an attribute.”—R.]; nor is it=His beloved Son (Mat_3:17; Mat_17:25; Mat_12:18). [Nor “His dear Son” (E. V).—R.] Not only is the “power” His, but the “kingdom” also, the Messianic kingdom of heaven, which is already actually present here, but not completed in the Christian Church, and therefore not identical with it. This is not then to be understood of the church (Baehr, Huther and others). [“The term has a reference neither purely metaphorical (the church), nor ethical and inward, nor yet ideal and proleptic (Meyer), but—semi-local and descriptive—nor is this wholly future” (Ellicott).—R.]
Col_1:14 gives the modus translations (Thomas Aquinas): In whom we have redemption, even the forgiveness of sins.—Like Eph_1:7, except that “through his blood” is omitted here [retained in Rec. and E. V.—R.], the means of redemption not being made prominent; and that ἀμαρτιῶν is deeper and more internal than παραπωμάτων. Paul’s freedom and independence are unmistakable. [The exact force is: “In whom we are having the redemption” (Ellicott).—R.] Such a possession is the result of the act of God which changes our relation to Him [through the Redeemer whom the Apostle then describes.—R.]
The exalted relation of the Mediator to God and the world. Col_1:15-17. Bengel: “He describes the glory and eminence of Christ above the highest angels; and scatters those germs from which he afterwards confutes the worshippers of angels. This so full knowledge of Christ is comprehended only by those who are experienced in the mystery of redemption.”
Col_1:15. Who is.—“Is,” not “was” or “became;” hence we have here defined, not what He became at His appearing in the flesh, but what He is, and is personally (τοῦ υἱοῦ—ὅς). [Undoubtedly the subject of the whole passage is “the Son of God’s love” (Col_1:13); and this subject must be taken in its widest and most complex relations, whether as Creator or Redeemer, the immediate context defining the precise nature of the reference (Ellicott). Meyer very justly remarks: “It must be noted that Paul is viewing Christ according to His present Being, i. e., according to His present and permanent status of exaltation, and hence he expresses not what Christ was, but what He is.” Yet it cannot be denied that while this is true, there must be a distinction made in referring the various predicates to the subject, for even Meyer in objecting to this says: “The only correct reference is to His whole Person, which in the theanthropic status of his present heavenly Being is continuously what His Divine nature (considered in itself) was before the Incarnation, so that by virtue of the identity of His Divine Nature, we can attribute the same predicates to the Exalted One as to the Logos.” He thus himself implies a distinction, which he will not permit in Paul’s language. In claiming as we do with the Fathers generally, Bengel, Ellicott, Bleek, Wordsworth and many others, that the immediate reference throughout this verse is to the λόγος ἄσαρκος (against Melanchthon, Barnes, Eadie, and Alford, who refer it to the λόγος ἔνσαρκος), we by no means deny that all which is here predicated is, now and forever, true of the Son of God’s love, but guard against a false interpretation of the predicates themselves. Admitting that such a distinction can be made, we find a reason for the above reference in the fact that Col_1:16, which gives a reason for the statements of this verse, must be referred to the Logos, or to the whole Person of Christ, “by virtue of the identity of His Divine Nature.” The grammatical connection with Col_1:14, which refers to the λόγος ἔνσαρκος is not so close. The subject then in this verse is the Son of God’s love, as He wag before the incarnation, and as He still “is.—R.]
The image of the invisible God, εἰκὼν τοῦ θεοῦ ἀοράτου (2Co_4:4). The first thing is His relation to God, immanent and permanent. Εἰκών is not in itself something visible (Philo: θεοῦ λόγον εἰκόνα λέγει θεοῦ). Comp. Gen_1:26-27. God’s image in man is not that which is perceptible by the sense, only thus cognizable. Compare the expression with μορφῆ θεοῦ, ἴσα θεῷ (Php_2:6), and ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης καὶ ξαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ (Heb_1:3). It denotes likeness to and equality with the invisible God (Joh_1:18; 1Ti_6:18), who cannot be perceived absolutely without a Mediator and a revelation, hence is invisible to angels and the redeemed (Heb_12:14). The context here differs entirely from Joh_1:14. Here we must think of the Exalted One, transported from our sight, who yet already existed before the creation. Thus the “Son of His love” is further described (Theophylact: μόνος—καὶ ἀπαράλλακτος εἰκών). The revelation, the making known, the rendering visible of the Father is put in the second place. It is not to be viewed as the chief point here, nor as the sole ground of this expression (Joh_14:9), as Calvin, Schenkel and others prefer; nor is it to be entirely denied (Baehr, Huther). [It is worthy of note that here, as in all the terms used in the Scriptures to express His relation to the Father, there seems to be an implication of revelation (λόγος, ἀπαύγασμα χαρακτήρ, μορφή, and even in πρωτότοκος π. κτ.) On this relation, immanent and permanent, the actual revelation in the Person of Jesus Christ, indeed the context implies, in all other ways, seems to rest. Still we must be careful not to limit the meaning to this actual revelation as Eadie, Barnes and others do, for as Braune remarks:—R.] it is a sad dilution to interpret: God has as it were made Himself visible in Him (DeWette), in Christ it is manifest that God is wise, powerful, good and the like (Grotius).
The first-born before every creature, πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως.—[So Ellicott. Braune’s exegesis is better set forth by: the first begotten before every creature.—R.] This second predicate defines His relation to the created world. Πρωτότοκος distinguishes Him as the Son from the creation (κτίσις); it is =πρωτόγονος, “first begotten” (Philo), but not =πρωτόκτιστος , ·πρωτόπλαστος (among the Alexandrians, Origen). It is joined with the first predicate, closely uniting with God and distinguishing from the creation. (Theodoret: “not as having creation for a sister, but as begotten before all creation.” Chrysostom: “not significant of glory and honor, but only of time.”) It is synonymous with ἀρχή (Col_1:18; Rev_3:4). The genitive κτίσεως depends on πρῶτος as πρῶτός μου, Joh_1:15; Joh_1:30 (Winer’s Gram. p. 229). [So Meyer. It must be here remarked that Winer does not expressly sanction this view of this passage. It would not perhaps be strictly correct to say that the genitive is governed by πρῶτος in composition, although the Greek syntax favors such government in composition. Bengel even governs this genitive by the πρό found in πρῶτος. Ellicott’s view is a safe one: “genitive of the point of view, rendered more intelligible by the latent comparative force involved in πρῶτος,” though even this is but a circumlocutory statement of its dependence on πρῶτος, As the word is Alexandrian, the syntax has been supported by Hebrew usage, though the broad use of the Greek genitive scarcely requires this.—R.]
Since πάσης denotes every kind of creature, angels and men, Christ existed before all. He does not begin the series of a category, as “first begotten of the dead” (Rev_1:15), “among many brethren” (Rom_8:29), but He is antecedent, conditioning the creation. [It is doubtful, whether it is better to take πάσης κτίσεως, collectively: “the whole creation,” or individually: “every creature,” the context favors the former, so Alford; the polemic aim of the Apostle, the latter, so Ellicott.—Braune makes this predicate refer exclusively to priority in time. On this Ellicott speaks of “His deigning by the mouth of His Apostle to institute a temporal comparison between His own generation from eternity and their creation in time,” but he admits “the possibility of “a secondary and inferential reference to priority in dignity.” Alford seems to include both views; “not only first-born, of His mother in the world, but first-begotten of His Father before the worlds—He holds the rank, as compared with every created thing, of first-born in dignity.” To the view which makes the latter thought the chief one, as held by Whitby, Barnes, Eadie (“the acting President of the Universe and therefore the first-born of every creature”), it may be objected; 1. that it confuses the aspects in which this verse refers to the Son of God’s love, see above; 2. it gives to πρωτότοκος a secondary and figurative meaning, where a more literal one seems more appropriate; 3. it ignores, or at least throws too far into the back-ground, the relation to the Father which is not only expressed in πρωτότοκος, but given further prominence by the close connection with the preceding clause; hence those who adopt it consistently refer that predicate also mainly to the revelation of the Father in Christ, rather than to the relation of the Son to the Father. Yet it must be admitted that there is an inferential reference to priority in dignity, a consequence of the priority in time of the Begotten to every creature; not only so, but as Braune well remarks: He ia antecedent, conditioning the creation—for the context, giving a reason (ὅτι) for this verse, goes on to set forth in detail His relation to tho creation. So that while His priority in time shows His independence of creation, creation is not independent of Him, as He is here described. In this His relation to the Invisible God is to be found the ground or condition of the whole creation. The 16th verse asserts that He is the causa conditionalis, this one seems to intimate that in virtue of His relation immanent and permanent to the Father, as the Image and Only Begotten, He holds the relation to the creation subsequently defined. So Wordsworth quotes Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch: “when God desired to create the world, He begat the world as προφορικὸν, πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως.” While He is thus placed out of the category of the created, He is the more intimately linked with “every creature.”—R.]
Therefore the view of the Arians that He is the first creature is incorrect, as also that of the So-cinians, Grotics and others, who refer κτίσεως to the new moral creation, in which case καινή would not be wanting (2Co_5:17). To make of the two predicates but one and join πρωτότοκος as an adjective to εἰκών (Schleiermacher, Stud. und Krit. 1832, p. 497) is not only harsh, but grammatically inadmissible. To read, πρωτοτόκος, “first bringer forth” (Isidore of Pelusium, Erasmus and others), is not allowable, since this is applied only to the female sex, and πρῶτος in that case would be irrelevant.
Col_1:16. Because in him were all things created.—This verse justifies the explanation given above. Ὃτι adds the reason that ante om-nem creaturam genitum esse filium, non creatum, before every creature the Son was begotten, not created: “in Him were all things created.” The emphasis is placed upon “in Him.” The verb requires us to understand the fact of creation as here spoken of; the historical act, as the aorist denotes. Act_10:6 has ἔκτισε τὸν οὐρανόν κ. τ.λ., while Act_14:7, reads: τῷ ποιήσαςτι τὸν ουρανόν. The same interchange occurs Gen_6:7; Deu_4:22, Sir_15:14; Sir_24:9 [LXX.]. Schleiermacher should not therefore affirm that κτίξειν is not used in Hellenistic Greek of the original creation, but means to give order, arrangement. This creation is έν αὐτῷ, not ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ, which would indicate the first cause. This is not the Son, but the Father, as the thought in the word is efficient in the Son, out from whom the creation is accomplished; but there is no thought of emanation, hence ἐξ αὐτοῦ is not used. It is here indicated that the accomplishment of the creation rests in Him, its immediate instrumental cause is to be sought in Him, but not the last, principalis. Ἐν αὐτῷ is not to be referred to the κόσμος νοητός, the idea omnium rerum, which was in Him (Schleiermacher and others), nor is it =δι’ αὐτοῦ (Usteri); nor does ἐκτίσθη refer to the new moral creation, which reference is not supported by Eph_4:23, where the context is entirely different. [’Εναὐτῷ here denotes, not the causa instrumental is nor causa exemplaris, but causa conditionalis, as the conditional element pre-existent and all-including. Alford, Ellicott.—R.] Τὰ πάντα is the existing all, the totality of things [the universe, Alford.—R.], πάντα would be all that actually is (Winer’s Gram. p. 105). A specification as regards place follows: in heaven and that are on earth, τα ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.—Thus Paul writes instead of οἰ οὐρανοί, not excluding these however, because to him all depends upon this, that nothing was created without Him; He stands in such a relation to the whole creation that He was before it and it exists first through Him. There is no reason for understanding by this, habitatores qui reconciliantur (Wettstein), or only living creatures (Baehr) or rational creatures. On τοῖς οὐρανοῖς see Eph_1:10. We cannot conclude from the precedence of οἰ οὐρανοί that emphasis is placed upon the creation of angels (Theophylact), nor from the omission of “under the earth,” that God has not created for the lower world (Unterwelt): the context gives no warrant for this.—Visible and invisible.—This is added to describe the nature of what was created. There is no reason for referring both exclusively either to earthly (Schleiermacher), or to heavenly things (Theodoret); nor are the former alone visible, and the latter invisible, since among the visible we must reckon sun, moon and stars, and among the invisible human souls. The Apostle places the highest, “things in heaven,” first, but here the more important follows, because he intends to give a specification of the angels. It must be borne in mind that τὰ πάντα is described. Hence “invisible” does not refer merely to the heavenly world of spirits (Meyer), though this is the main reference (Bleek).—Whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, εἴτε θρόνοι, εἴτε κυριότητες, εἴτε αρχαὶ, εἴτε ἐξουσίαι. Εἴτε, thus repeated, specifies the world of angels, to which we arrive through “invisible;” at the same time it indicates an uncertainty respecting the classes of angels, or that nothing essential depends upon this classification. In Eph_1:21, we find άρχή, έξουσία,δύςαμις, κυριόιης; δύναμις is not found here, nor θρόνος there. This latter word occurs here only in the New Testament, but is applied by the Rabbins, by Dionysius the Areopagite and testamentum Levi, to the angels in the seventh or highest heaven. These classes maybe regarded as different orders, joined in pairs; θρονοι, the highest, κυριότητες, the lowest, ἀρχαί and ἐξουσίαι, the intermediate. [Ellicott, comparing Eph_1:21, “where the order seems descensive,” says, “we may possibly infer that the θρόνοι are the highest order, etc., if indeed all such distinctions are not to be deemed precarious and presumptuous. It may have been suggested by some known theosophistic speculations of the Colossians, but more probably was an incidental revelation, which the term ἀόρατα evoked.” Pearson thus gives the intent of the passage and the force of εἴτε: “Lest in that invisible world, among the many degrees of the celestial hierarchy, any order might seem excepted from an essential dependence upon Him, he nameth those which are of greatest eminence, and in them comprehendeth the rest.”—R.] Schleiermacher most incorrectly applies ἀόρατα to earthly empires, civil orders and legal conditions (Melanchthon similarly), and understands here magisterial offices and other functions of persons in power.
All things were created by him and for him, τὰ πάντα δι’ αὐτοῦ καὶεἰς αὺ̀τὸν ἔκτισται. [Literally, all things have been created through Him and to Him.—R.] Solemn recapitulation (Meyer). The perfect, setting the past in relation to the present, is chosen instead of the aorist, noting the factum, because we have here a dogmatic consideration of the completed and now existing creation (Winer’s Gram. p. 255). Hence also we have not merely δι’ αὐτοῦ (instrumental), but εἰς αὐτόν, indicating Him as the τέλος of creation. Bengel: ἐν denotat prius quiddam guam mox διά et εἰς. Notatur initium, progressus, finis. Comp. Rom_11:36; 1Co_8:6, where εἰς αὐτόν refers to God, as here to Christ, to whom the κυριότης τῶν πάντων is committed (Mat_28:18; Php_2:9; 1Co_15:27), who is the delegated Regent of the world (Meyer). Εἰς denotes not simply for Him, but also to Him, in Him (Winer’s Gram. p. 390). That He is Lord over all is but one side therefore; the other is, that to Him the whole is directed, and thus is developed, exalted, glorified. To His exalted dignity is joined the glorifying of what is created, the participation of the creatures in His glory and blessedness. [Ellicott: ἐν αυτῷ, causa conditionalis; δι’ αὐτοῦ, causa medians; εἰς αὐτόν, causa finalis or finis ultimus. Alford: “He is the end of creation, containing the reason in Himself, why creation is at all and why it is as it is.”—R.]
Col_1:17 accordingly adds: And he is before all things.—Αὐτός and ἔστι are emphatic from their position.[“He Himself is” or “exists.”—R.] Both the permanence of the existence of Christ and His pre-existence are affirmed. The usus loquendi requires only, that it be understood of time, the context, of the whole; compare Joh_8:58. The Vulgate is incorrect: ante omnes, and Luther, vor Allen, [i. e., before all beings.—R.] So also the Socinians, Schleiermacher and others, who limit the meaning to superior rank, which is indeed sufficiently implied in such an assertion of priority.—And in him all things subsist.—[The E. V. here as in Col_1:15, unfortunately renders ἐν, “by.”—R.] The verb is used of things held together, as milk, which runs. So 2Pe_3:5; γῆ ἐξ ὔδατος καὶ δι’ ὔδατος συνεστῶσα τῷ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγῳ. Without Christ all things would fall asunder. The perfect, following ἔστι has the force of the present—put together and now subsisting. The reference is to organic permanence, the continuance of the composition of the things of the world “in Him,” because He holds together what He has created. [Ellicott: “the causal sphere of their continuing existence,—not exactly identical with ἐν αὐτῷ above. Christ was the conditional element of their creation, the causal element of their persistence.”—R.] It does not refer to a consolidation of earthly relations (Schleiermacher), nor to the acknowledgment and rule of the Lord in the new world (Baumgarten-Crusius).
The relation of the Mediator to the Church. Col_1:18-20.
Col_1:18. And he is the head of the body, the church.—“And He,” αὐτός, [is emphatic, possibly involving an antithesis to some errors of the Colossian Church (Alford, Ellicott). The subject is “the Son of God’s love,” the passage requiring a reference to the λόγος ἔνσαρκος, the now glorified Christ.—R.] “Is” :in form this is a resumption of Col_1:17, connected closely with that verse, but in matter it refers back to the starting-point, Col_1:14, so that just as in Col_1:15-16, the corresponding relative clause (ὄς ἐστιν) follows, together with its proof (ὅτι). The parallel of thought—Christ, the Son of God, is before and over the world, as He is Head of the Church—is echoed in the chain of parallel clauses. On “the Head of the Body, the Church,” see Eph_1:22-23. The second genitive is unquestionably appositional (Winer’s Gram., p. 494, and Eph_4:9). In the parallel passage: “Head over all things,” etc.—the relation of Christ to the world is defined by “over all things.” On the Church as an organism, a Body, see Eph_4:12; Eph_5:23; Eph_5:30; that the world might not be considered this Body, “the Church” is added. It does not refer to the family of God in heaven and on earth (Rösselt); this is too spiritualistic, is contrary to biblical realism and usus loquendi.
Who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, ὄς ἐστι ἀρχὴ, πρωτότοκος πρωτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν.—“First-born,” πρωτότοκος, here is somewhat different from Col_1:15,—in the more exact sense of one beginning a series. Hence ἐκ can be omitted, as in Rev_1:5. The preposition marks the fact, conceived of as in Eph_5:14 : “arise from (ἐκ) the dead;” as ἀπὸ τῶν νεκρῶν also occurs, to denote the separation of the living from the dead. The reference is not to those merely who have died within the church (Schenkel); for when the dead revived in the Old Testament times, they were not “first-born from the dead,” since they died again; it is otherwise in the case of Christ. [Ellicott distinguishes this passage from Rev_1:5, where the preposition is omitted: “first-born not only of, but out of the dead”—He left their realm and came again as with a new begetting and new birth into life.”—R.] It is pre-supposed, but not stated either in the text or context: “because He restores life to others” (Calvin. Theodoret: “the phrase hints also at the resurrection of us all”). [Eadie retaining his view of πρωτότοκος, as referring to priority in dignity, remarks: “as He rose from the midst of the dead, He became their chief,—came out from among them as their representative. His people rise in virtue of His power. He is not only the pledge, He is also the pattern.” This is undoubtedly true, but only implied here.—R.] By “first-born,” which was not chosen without a reference to Col_1:15, ἀπχή, a word of wide signification, is here more closely defined as “the Beginning,” while the personality is at the same time thus emphasized as the principal thing. Comp. Joh_11:25. So Gen_49:3 : “Reuben my first-born” (ἀρχὴ τέκνων μου=πρωτότοκός μου, Deu_21:17). It is therefore=“the first-fruits of them that slept” (άρχὴ τῶν κεκοιμημένων, 1Co_15:20), “first, that should rise from the dead” (πρῶτος ἐξ ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν, Act_26:23); hence to be taken as referring to time, with a secondary reference, however, to a power efficient in a succeeding series (Rev_3:14; Rev_22:13); in which it differs from ἀπαρχή. Hence it is neither principium (Baehr, Steiger, Huther), nor Regent of the world (Flatt), nor author of the Church (Baumgarten-Crusius), nor “beginning of the second and new creation” (Calvin). Nor is “of the resurrection” to be supplied (De Wette), since the Apostle had far more in view than “the dead,” nor “of the church” (Schenkel), since there is nothing to indicate this; nor is “first-born” an adjective joined to “beginning” (Schleiermacher). [While ἀρχή has here a primary temporal reference, and is further defined as a Personality by πρωτότοκος, there is an argumentative force in the relative “who” involving a secondary reference to “the church” which immediately precedes. So Ellicott, Eadie, who insists upon this too exclusively, however. Alford: “He is the ‘beginning,’ in that in Him is begun and conditioned the church.” Wordsworth suggests the two-fold sense of ἀρχή; 1. principium, beginning. 2. principalitas, dominion, rule. In the first sense, Christ is the source of life to the church: in the second, the Principality of all things, therefore even in His manhood superior to the angelic principalities and powers (against the false teachers).—R.]
That in all things he might have the pre-eminence.—[“In order that (ἵνα) in all things he (αὐτός, emphatic,) might become (γένηται) pre-eminent.”—R.] Ἵνα denotes the purpose of God working herein; it is not=ὥστε (Estius, Baehr). What He is, is the basis for something else, which is accomplished in the purpose—which becomes (γένηται); hence such permanent relations are here concerned, as took shape historically, and are adapted for definite ends, to be realized in time (Steiger). In that He is the Risen One, it is the design of God, that He becomes ἐν πᾶσιν αὐτὸς πρωτεύων, He, emphatically, and none other, sine locum tenentibus, sine vicario (Bengel), and “in all,” on all sides, in wisdom, holiness, might, death-overcoming power, dominion and glory, as respects the world as well as the church. The First, for ever and for every one. The verb πρωτεύω occurs only here in the New Testament and denotes strongly, “to have the first rank.” [Alford: “The wordis a transitional one, from priority in time to priority in dignity, and shows incontestibly that the two ideas have been before the Apostle’s mind throughout,” though, as Ellicott suggests, this being a result, the same meaning does not necessarily belong to πρωτότοκος.—R.] Ἐν πᾶσιν must be neuter, as Tit_2:9-10; 1Ti_3:11; 1Ti_4:15; 2Ti_2:7; 2Ti_4:5; Heb_13:4; Heb_13:18,=παντί (1Co_1:5; 2Co_4:8, etc). Did it refer to νεκρῶν, it must have the article. Hence inter omnes (Beza and others) is incorrect.
Col_1:19. Because in him God was pleased that the whole fulness should dwell.—As in Col_1:16, ὅτι introduces the ground of the last clause, and thus mediately of the whole preceding verse. It is not therefore a proof of the relative clause exclusively (Steiger), nor is this to be excluded (Meyer). Ἐν αὐτῷ εὐδόκησεν πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα κατοικῆσαι may be simply rendered; the finite verb εὐδόκησεν leads to a will, a personal author as final cause, over against a becoming of necessity: on this account θεός is the self-evident subject, hence not specially indicated; ἐν αὐτῷ is to be joined with κατοικῆσαι, it is placed first emphatically, and denotes the same as in the foregoing; πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα is the accusative subject of the infinitive, and according to the context, without the necessity of supplying anything, the whole fulness of Him, who had formed the decree (Eph_3:19 : “all the fulness of God;” Col_2:9 : “of the God-head”). [With this rendering, the E. V. agrees, but supplies Father instead of God, marking, it is true, an obvious antithesis between Christ (the subject hitherto), and the new one. But the impersonal form of the verb is not strictly correct. Ellicott renders: “the whole fulness of God was pleased to dwell,” making πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα the subject of the finite verb. The question is only a grammatical one, as the dogmatical result is the same in either case. See Ellicott in loco.—R.] On πλήρωμα, compare Eph_1:10; on κατοικῆσαι, Eph_3:17; on εὐδόκησεν, Eph_1:5. To regard πλήρωμα as the fulness of the Gentiles and totality of Israel (Schleiermacher), is as unfounded, as to understand it, from the terminology of Valentin, of the complex of Æons (Baur). Hofmann also is in error, in understanding it as the fulness of that which is, making Christ the subject of εὐδόκησεν, too artificial. [Wordsworth, after giving two interpretations: 1. that God the Son was pleased; 2. that God was pleased, with a preference for (1), adds “on the whole, we may perhaps affirm, that the Apostle designedly placed εὐδόκησεν here without any limitation of a nominative expressed, in order to bring out the truth more fully that the εὐδοκία is to be ascribed to the Father in the Son, and to the Son in the Father, and that there is perfect unity in will and operation in both.”—R.]
Col_1:20. And by him to reconcile all things unto himself.—Locus hic torquet interpretes et vicissim ab illis torquetur (Davenant). The force of καί is clear: “this indwelling (Col_1:19) is the foundation of the reconciliation” (Bengel). Διʼ αὐτοῦ i.e., Christ, is placed emphatically first, denoting the known mediation. The main difficulty is found in ἀποκαταλλἀξαι εἰς αὐτόν. The verb occurs only here, Col_1:21 and Eph_2:16; here with εἰς αὐτόν, in the last passage with τῷ θεῷ. καταλάσσειν Rom_5:10; 2Co_5:18-19 : τῷ θεῷ, ἐα υτῷ; 1Co_7:11 : τῷ ἀνδρί. The meaning is: to reconcile, strengthened by ἀπό. So that the one reconciled is freed, removed from something; open, conscious, outspoken enmity is not meant, rather concealed unconscious estrangement and separation of one or two parts (Hofmann): but it is found only in him who is reconciled, not in him who reconciles. See on Eph_2:16. With Meyer we hold as follows: sin began among the angels, and came, was brought from the angelic world to the race of men (Joh_8:44; 2Co_11:3; Eph_1:10); thereby the whole creation was disturbed in its harmony, “was made subject to vanity,” in “the bondage of corruption,” and suffered according to the saying: delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi (comp. Rom_8:19-22). In Christ the act of reconciliation is accomplished, and this reconciliation is to unfold itself in all directions unto the palingenesia (Mat_19:28; 2Pe_3:15), to the coming (Parusie) of Christ (1Co_15:24; 1Co_15:28). The aorist infinitive denotes the historical fact; εἰς αὐτόν instead of the usual dative ἑαυτῷ marks the direction, and consequently the gradually accomplished development. We meet here the comprehensive and classical idea of reconciliation, which is considerably modified with respect to the universe, as well as to the human race and the angelic world, as is afterwards indicated. It is therefore incorrect to identify ἀποκαταλλάξαι with ἀνᾳκεφαλαιώσασθαι, Eph_1:10 (Melanchthon, Grotius, Baehr and others), or in accordance with this view, to apply εἰς αὐτόν to Christ (Luther and others) and not to God, as the context requires. [E. V., “to Himself,” correctly applies it.—R.] Nor is τὰ πάντα to be limited to intelligent beings, or to men only (A-Lapide and others) or to universam ecclesiam (Beza); nor does the verb mean; “the removal of reciprocal enmity” (Stolz, Schleiermacher and others). [Ellicott, while objecting to any dilution of “reconcile,” or limitation of τὰ πάντα, cautions against the irreverence of far-reaching speculations on the reconciliation of the finite and infinite. “It does say that the eternal and incarnate Son is the ‘causa medians’ by which the absolute totality of created things shall be restored into its primal harmony with its Creator—more than this it does not say, and where God is silent it is not for man to speak.” Eadie: “The one Reconciler is the head of these vast dominions, and in Him meet and merge the discordant elements which sin had introduced. The humanity of Jesus bringing all creatures around it, unites them to God in a bond which never before existed—a bond which has its origin in the mystery of redemption. Thus all things in heaven and earth feel the effect of man’s renovation.” The view of Braune, that this will find its full development at the coming of Christ, is not in opposition to the above view. See Eadie and Alford, also De Wette.—R.]
Having made peace through the blood of his cross.—Εἰρηνοποιήσας naturally and grammatically agrees with the latent subject of εὐδόκησεν, God. The Verb, only here, like the substantive εἰρηνοποιός (Mat_5:9) is clear in its meaning. The aorist participle indicates the modality of “reconcile,” as Eph_1:19. Both acts are contemporaneous, conceived of as one, this does not ante-date the other [as E. V. implies—R.]. “Through the blood” marks the act as one of royal judgment and priestly sacrifice (Rom_3:25; Heb_6:14; Heb_6:18; Heb_6:20; 1Pe_1:19); while “of His cross” marks the shedding of blood as a consequence of the punishment to which He devoted Himself, in humblest obedience (Php_2:18), in innocence for our sake, in holiness to make us holy. Both denote the definite, historical act, over against all spiritualistic conceptions, as well as Christ’s suffering and death over against our moral or ascetic works. In order to preclude any materialistic or magical views of the blood of Christ, Paul reaffirms; by him, thus making prominent the Person of Him, who had shed His blood, and thereby made peace with God. [“I say” added in E. V. conveys the meaning.—R.]—Besides this repetition, designed to guard against false views, there is added, in explanation of the object, which has been and shall be reconciled, made partaker of the peace: Whether there be things on earth, or things in heaven (comp. Col_1:16).—Here “earth” stands first, because he has been just speaking of the act on earth, by which the reconciliation begins. It is not easy to determine how the reconciliation of angels may be conceived of, since it cannot be applied to wicked ones, who remain unreconciled and are condemned, and the good need no reconciliation, only sustaining power. This difficulty leads us to refrain from any explanation, which would be at best a mere surmise. [See above on τὰ πάντα, which is specified here. Ellicott remarks: “How the reconciliation of Christ affects the spiritual world—whether by the annihilation of ‘posse peccare,’ or by the infusion of a more perfect knowledge, or (less probably) some restorative application to the fallen spiritual world—we know not, and we dare not speculate.” Wordsworth specifies a fourfold reconciliation, 1. Between God and man. 2. Between angels and man. 3. Between Jew and Gentile. 4. Between man and the inferior creatures. Under the last particular he refers to the attempt of false teachers to mar this work of universal reconciliation, by forbidding the free use of the creatures, Col_2:20-21. This is open to the objection stated below.—R.] The disjunctive force of εἴτε forbids the idea of reconciliation of the two parts with each other (Erasmus), nor do “things on earth,” “things in heaven,” favor the view, that Jews and Gentiles had become hostile to each other on account of heavenly and earthly things, matters of Divine worship and principles related thereto, but should now be reconciled (Schleiermacher). Nor does this refer to the reconciliation of the Jews and Gentiles to each other and with the world of spirits, nor to the final conversion and blessedness of the demons (Origen), nor to a tendency at least thereto (Olshausen).
Application. Col_1:21-23.
Col_1:21. And you.—Καὶ ὐμᾶς, as Eph_2:1, to begin a new sentence. There is an anacoluthon in the construction, since the reading is ἀποκατηλλάγητε, not ἀποκαταλλάξαι. See critical note 14. [The additional note gives the authorities for the reading Braune rejects. So great is the preponderance in its favor, that the translator feels bound to differ from the author here. The anacoluthon is not so strong with this reading; εἴτε is the object of the verb, though νυνὶ δέ intervenes.—R.] There is no reason for joining “and you,” with its immediate attributive, to the preceding sentence (Lachmann and others). [The better punctuation is that of E. V. and most modern editors, beginning a new sentence or paragraph here.—R.] Καί is not merely a copulative particle (and); but is = “even,” “precisely,” as the following characteristic requires: that were sometime alienated and enemies, ποτὲ ὄτας ἀπηλλοτριωένους καὶ ἐχθπούς.—With ποτέ he refers to their past condition, and with emphasis, as its position indicates, in praise and thanksgiving; the participle is imperfect. On “alienated,” see Eph_2:12. Neither “from the commonwealth of Israel,” from that passage, nor “from the life of God,” from Eph_4:18, is to be supplied (Baehr); the context clearly suggests “from God.” But more than alienation is mentioned, they had passed into enmity of which the former is the germ; ἐχθρόυς is therefore active, enemy against God (Rom_8:7). It is incorrect to consider it as passive, invisos deo (Rom_5:10, Steiger), since it is enmity, not on the part of God, but of men, which is extirpated, out of which they are delivered in the reconciliation.—As to your understanding in wicked works, τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς.—Their enmity is thus described. The article refers to a known previous disposition and mode of conduct. The simple dative is one of reference; “in” marks the sphere in which the alienation and enmity manifested itself. Both belong to “alienated” as well as “enemies.” On διάνοια, see Eph_2:3; Eph_4:18; 1Jn_5:20. [Ellicott: “the higher intellectual nature especially as shown in its practical relations.” “Understanding,” “mind” (as distinguished from heart in E. V.) is correct rendering, though Braune, referring it to the state rather than to the faculty itself, has Gesinnung, disposition.—R.] This manifests itself actively; in it the “wicked works” have their ground and soil. [The form τ. ἔργ. τοῖς πον. emphasizes the character of the works.—R.] The phrase includes all works which are done contrary to God’s command, or if formally in accordance with the law, yet from carnal appetites and propensities. It is incorrect to govern τῇ διανοίᾳ by ἐχθρούς (Erasmus: “enemies to reason”) or to consider it as the ground: through their disposition (Meyer), through their reason (Luther), since the cause of the enmity cannot be found in this organ or in this disposition, which is a product as respects the enmity. Nor does ἐν ἔργοις depend on διανοίᾳ (Beza, Baehr).—Yet now hath he reconciled, νυνὶ δὲ ἀποκατάλλαξεν.—[Braune, reading ἀποκαταλλάγητεάλλαξεν “now you are reconciled.”—R.] Νυνί marks the present which begins with the reconciliation, when the readers have become par takers of it; δέ marks the resumption of the thought uninterrupted by the parenthesis [describing their previous condition—R.], like the Latin inquam. “Reconciled” is an act through Christ, (Col_1:20) not of Christ (Greek fathers, Calvin, Calov., others). Compare 2Co_5:19. [The subject throughout is God.—R.]
Col_1:22. “In the body of his flesh through death.—This sets forth in twofold manner the way or the means of reconciliation. First: “In the body of his flesh.” This describes the earthly, sensible, historical appearance of Christ. Sir_16:23 : ἄνθρωπος πόρνος ἐν σώματι τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ, where σαρκός refers to the sensual lusting. Here the reference is to the Redeemer and Reconciler, who had taken upon Him our flesh and blood and appeared in the life and history of our race; ἐν is to be taken locally. [Alford: “The situation or element of the reconciliation.” Ellicott: “the substratum of the action is pointed to by ἐν.”—R.] It is entirely foreign to the context to suppose “of his flesh” is in contrast with the body “of the church,” as Col_1:20 (Bengel). The antithesis is less docetic false teachers according to Col_2:23 (Steiger), or the glorified body of the Risen One, 1Co_15:44 (Schenkel), or exaggerated doctrine of angels (Meyer), than this, that the work of Redemption was far too easily separated from the person of Christ and His historical, human nature in the form of a servant. The expression is evidently anti-spiritualistic. Secondly: “through death,” [the means, instrumental cause.—R.] renders prominent the exit from this natural life, in short, the suffering and death referred to in Col_1:20; the entrance into this life through birth must have corresponded with such an exit. Hence it is not strange that Paul speaks often of the latter, but never of the former ex professo.
To present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.—The end to be attained. “To present you” depends on the verb “reconciled.” What has occurred to the Christian in this reconciliation is something to be preserved, unfolded, perfected. The God who effects reconciliation, effects more, as Eph_5:27. The subject is not the subject of the passive ἀπακαταλλάγητε, but of the active [i. e., of the verb ἀποκατἀλλαξεν, as most read—R.]; the accusative ὑμᾶς is the object not the subject of the infinitive (Meyer, Schenkel). Certainly the immediate result of the reconciliation, the righteousness imputed for the sake of Christ, is not meant (Huther and others). The three adjectives ἀγίους καὶ ἀμώμους καὶ ἀνεγκλήτους mark the continued effect of the reconciliation, viz., moral purity in three directions. As “holy,” ἄγιοι, they are consecrated to God, live to God, die to the world, have conducted and shown themselves as such; as “unblameable,” ἄμωμοι, they are free from the faults and stains of sin; as unreprovable, ἀνέγκλητοι, they are not accused by their neighbors. Bengel is not incorrect in his: erga deum, respectu vestri, respectu proximi. [Alford and Ellicott follow Meyer in referring the first to the positive, the latter two to the negative side of holiness. Davenant deems it the aggregation of three similar ideas. On the whole Braune’s view, which is that of Eadie, is much preferable.—R.] “In his sight,” κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ, refers undoubtedly to the Judgment, hence according to the context we may apply it to Christ. Comp. 2Co_5:10. [Alford seems most correct; referring it to the day of Christ’s appearing; but before His i. e., God’s presence. Ellicott doubts the former reference, but renders: “before Him, God not Christ.” The passage undoubtedly refers to justitia inhærens, as the necessary result of the reconciliation which gave to the believer justitia imputata. So Calvin, but, as Hooker judiciously remarks, “whensoever we have any of these (actual, inherent or imputed holiness) we have all—they go together.”—R.]
Col_1:23. If at least ye continue in the faith.—God’s act for and upon them is not carried out to a blessed consummation without subjective advance and personal activity. Εἴγε marks a condition, about which there is no doubt. [Alford: “assuming that.”—R.] It is the mildest, most delicate method of calling attention to the necessity of faith (Bleek), and seems to belong to “present,” rather than to depend on the finite verb, Col_1:21 (Bengel). See on Eph_3:2; Eph_4:21. Ἐπιμένετε τῇ πίστει is construed, as Rom_6:1; Rom_11:22-23; 1Ti_4:16. [Stronger than μένετε, implying with the dative, rest at a place, perseverance to and rest in the end, “persist” (Alford, Ellicott).—R.] The article marks the faith as definite; an indefinite one, after their own pleasure, does not suffice.—Grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel.—[“Grounded and settled and not being moved away” is the literal construction. The E. V. seems to make “moved away” co-ordinate with “continue.”—R.] The modality of the persistence is thus denoted: 1. Τεθεμελιωμένοι (see on Eph_3:18), whose antithesis is χ ωρὶς θεμελιόυ (Luk_6:49 : “without a foundation”), refers to an objectively given foundation, placed upon which they still stand. This is a reference to Christ, to God’s grace in Him, not to the hope (Meyer). 2. Ἑδρᾶιοι dicit internum robur, quod fideles ipsi habent; quemadmodum œdificum primo quidem fundamento recte solideque inniti, deinde vero sua etiam mole probe cohœrere et firmiter consistere debet (Bengel), 1Co_15:58. [These two denote the positive side of the modality of their persistence; then the negative follows—R.] 3. Μὴ μετακινούμενοι ἀπὸ τῆς ἐλπίδος εὐαγγελίου marks, through the present participle passive, what is very possible, likely to enter every moment from without and within; circumstances, purposes and suggestions, as well as lusts and selfish thought and desire can easily move, so that they are moved away from the hope of the gospel, held up before them as an aim (not a point of support—Schenkel), and both sure and glorious as belonging to the gospel (see on Eph_1:18). [Alford makes the hope subjective, but grounded on the objective, and the genitive possessive. Ellicott says: “the hope arising from, evoked by the Gospel,”—subjective, therefore: “τοῦ εὐαλλ. is the genitive of the origin or the originating agent”—which is preferable. Eadie thus discriminates between the three expressions: “the first epithet alludes to the cause, the second to its effect, the third depicts a general result,—as the use of μή seems to indicate.” Μή is usual and proper, however, in such a sentence as this—see Winer’s Gram. p. 443.—R.] Μετά refers to the inward change in being moved, ἀπό to removal from the given object, thereby effected.—Which ye have heard, denotes a fact which takes away all excuse, they know it, it has been told them. [Ellicott objects to “have” in the E. V. without reason, as the inexcusableness rests upon the fact that it has already been heard, thus best expressed.—R.]—It has been made efficient for them, and not for them alone: And which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, ==in the whole world. The command of Christ, Mar_16:15 : “preach the gospel to every creature” has begun to be carried out. “Preached to every creature” is not hyperbolical (Meyer), nor is κτίσις to be limited to the Gentiles. [Alford incorrectly renders: “in the whole creation.” Eadie and Ellicott call this hyperbole, though agreeing with Braune’s next remark.—R.] The Apostle prophetically sees as accomplished what has as yet only begun, and marks the universality of Christianity. Sane undiquaque vulgatum evangelium Christi, ne quid cogitarent Colossenses de mutanda fide, quæ jam ab omnibus esset recepta (Erasmus). [On the phrase, “which is under heaven,” Ellicott remarks, that it characterizes the κτίσις as ἐπίγειος, including, however, thereby, all mankind.—R.]
Whereof I Paul am made a minister.—See on Eph_3:1. [Meyer makes here “three considerations” enforcing their “not being moved away”—It would be, 1) inexcusable for themselves, because they had heard the gospel; 2) inconsistent with the universality of the gospel “preached to every creature;” 3) contrary to the personal relation of the Apostle to the gospel, “whereof I Paul,” etc.—R.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Christian knowledge. The progress of Paul’s thanksgiving for the faith and love of the Church to supplication for their advance in true knowledge derives its motive from the end in view, viz., Christian walk. Herein is implied. First: the basis of Christian knowledge is the Christian morality of the perceiving subject, in its fundamental traits and principles, in faith and love. Here it begins, and hence advance is made to and in the former. The subject of knowledge must also be correctly situated on account of the object of knowledge, and the organ of knowledge in the knowing subject must, at the same time, be first acted upon, that it may enjoy healthy activity and the reward of sound knowledge. Yet is faith itself an immediate knowing, and love, a desire which directly grasps the objects of faith, so that what makes an impression in faith, can be intelligently conceived. Second: the object of Christian knowledge is the will of God, in the unity of that will in creation, law and redemption, hence in the visible and invisible, in the temporal and eternal, in the moral and intelligent world, both what was designed in creation and redemption, and what was commanded in word as precept. Third: the effect of Christian knowledge is essentially a re-action upon the Christian walk, and thus they reciprocally further each other. Fourth: the way to Christian knowledge is essentially a life of practical morality. Fifth: its course is like that of the Christian life, a gradual advance, moving and developing itself in various experiences, temptations and circumstances.
2. The Christian walk has its ground in the fact of redemption, which has been decreed and ordained by God the Father, mediated and accomplished through the Son; its beginning, in the appropriation of this fact of objective redemption and subjective acceptance; its standard, in the example of our Lord Jesus Christ; its motive, in pleasing this Lord; its activity, in good works, according to the various relations of life in which we are placed; its modality in this, that what is done, is done from inward constraint and not from calculation; its development, in this, that it perceives more clearly each moment the will of God, grasps it more securely, retains it more firmly, proves it more widely: its genuineness, in the joy with which it bears and forbears, and controls itself with ever increasing strength; its tone, in gratitude for what God had done to and in and for One, and its aim in the eternal heritage in heaven, of which an earnest is given within us.
3. The Apostle’s conception of God. God, who is the beginning and end for the Christian, is conceived of, not as absolute substance, but as an absolute Person, in substance a Spirit, in character Love; here especially in the latter aspect. He has His will, and His εὐδοκεῖν (Col_1:19) wills itself as the good, wills it with energy and al-mightiness, and accomplishes His will in general and particular alike. In this recession (Zurücktreten) of the absolute substance behind the freedom of the absolute Subject, the right of Pantheism and Emanatism is taken away, in the precession (Vortreten) of His almighty and saving Love, that of Deism and Naturalism. The personality of the Living One, and the Life of the Absolute Person are the cardinal points of the Christian’s belief in God. Against Indifference “the whole fulness” of God (Col_1:19) speaks. By this is meant the fulness of Love and Holiness, of Wisdom and Power, of Grace and Majesty and Blessedness, which bursts forth in the works of Creation, Redemption, Sanctification and Glorification, but which neither is nor can be exhausted in the world; although immanent in the world, He far transcends it. Only in the Son of His Love is “the whole fulness” to be seen and found. Hence there is a reference to a Triune relation, since such fulness of God, the Living One, did not first come in flow with the creation, but moved already in Him, who is before and above all creatures.—The self-existence of God the Father, who is αἴτιος πάντων τῶν ὄντων, is indicated; on Him the Son Himself depends and His activity in the works of Creation and Redemption.
4. The Person of Christ is more accurately described in a threefold relation:
a) His relation to God is set forth in the phrases: ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀγάπης αὐτοῦ, “the Son of His Love,” (Col_1:13); εἰκὼν τοῦ θιοῦ αὀράτον, “the image of the invisible God,” (Col_1:15). The first expression marks Him as the object of the Father’s love, which has in Him, nothing that can grieve it, holy as it is, or that it must first subdue; thus His Holiness, Sinlessness are implied, on account of which it is He, in whom the forgiveness of sin is obtained. The other phrase leads into the substance of the glory of God, manifesting itself first and most of all in Him, and denotes also His Divine Personality; He is indeed the Image of a Personality, so that he must both have existence and be a Person, especially as “all the fulness” of God is said to dwell in the Son of Man. It may be conceded to Hofmann (Schriftbeweis, I. 153–158), Beischlag (Christologie des N. T., 228–233), Schenkel and others, that the historical Christ must be made the subject for the most part (Col_1:13). [See Exeg. Notes on Col_1:15.—R.] But what gives to this One His position in history and His Dignity, lies above this history in his super-terrestrial position and intrinsically Divine Dignity. Indeed the historical events pre suppose the relation of the Son to the Father, His Divinity, and do not first constitute Him the Son, or God the Father, or Him a Person, who did not exist before, or was not yet a Person nor the Son of God.
b) His relation to the world is described by πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως, “first-born of every creature” (Col_1:15), and further explained by the confirmatory clause (Col_1:16), “in him were all things created”—“by him and to him” (ἔκτισται), and sharply defined in Col_1:17 : “He is before all things and in him all things subsist.” In the given connexion there is first, a temporal definition (πρὸ πάντων), so that here His pre-existence is decidedly and expressly asserted, in agreement with Joh_17:5 : “πρὸ τοῦ τὸν κόσμον εἰναι, “before the world was;” Col_1:1 : ἐν ἀρχῇ, “in the beginning;” Eph_1:4 : “before the foundation of the world.” Second: Prominence is given to the Personality, denoted both by πρωτότοκος and the creation of God “in,” “by” and “to Him,” as in Joh_1:1 : πρὸς τὸν θεόν; Joh_8:58 : ἐγὼ εἰμί. So that the Apostle here treats of a pre-existent Person, not merely of a pre-existent principle, or of a historical Person, as though the pre-existent principle first became personal in Jesus at the Incarnation, or the personality had previously been only ideal. Compare Thomasius, Christi Person und Werk, pp. 60–66. Thirdly: His Creatorship excludes any creatureship in Him, and the identity of the Creator and Redeemer is so affirmed, that He who became man is placed more under the idea “God” than the idea “man.” On this account Theodoret aptly says, “not as having creation for a sister, but as begotten before all creation.” Fourthly: Our text defines Him, not as Him, ὑφ’ οὐ̄ all things were created, and yet as active in the creation: δι’ αὐτοῦ; He is not simply an archetype of the creation for the Creator. Fifthly: He is emphatically indicated as the foundation and centre of the world and its history, its stability, and development. [Chrysostom interprets this passage and Eph_2:22 : “as teaching that Christ is the Living Centre, to which all things in creation converge, the Divine Keystone in the arch of the Universe, on which the whole fabric leans; but he. warns his readers against supposing that Christ Himself is consubstantial with the creatures whom He made and upholds” (Wordsworth).—R.]
c) His relation to the Church is described by “Head of the body, the Church;” “beginning;” “first-born from the dead.” On the first expression, see on Eph_1:22. It is the organizing power, dwelling in Him, through which the Church has come into being. The other expression refers to the victory over death, as the fact upon which the secure status of the Church rests; as indeed Paul appears especially as a witness of the resurrection, wherever as Apostle he founds churches. All views which will not recognize and appreciate the Person of Christ as the centre of His work and His Church, as Divine in origin and nature, as eternal, pre-ter restrial and super-terrestrial, efficient both in Creation and Redemption, degenerate into a false speculation against which this Epistle to the colossians contends. The question is not raised here, not even a hint given, how we are to conceive of Divinity and humanity united in One; nothing is said upon this point; hence Nestorian error does not lie so near, as Schenkel thinks, but rather Arian or Sabellian or Gnostic or another spiritual error, which volatilizes the eternal reality of the Person of Christ, or a dualistic one, which overshadows and crowds out the act of the Redeeming Subject by asceticism or legality, the so-called virtue of the subject to be redeemed.
5. The Work of Christ, with respect to God, from whom the world has apostatized through sin, is described as an ἀποκαταλλάξαι τὰ πάντα, “reconciling all things;” with respect to the state into which the world has fallen through sin, as ἡ ἀπολύτρωσις, “the redemption,” and as to its beginning and principle, as ἡ ἄφεσις τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν, “the forgiveness of sins.” First of all, the ultimate cause of Reconciliation and Redemption is God the Father (Col_1:13 : ὃς ἐῤῥύσατο, Col_1:19 : εὐδὸκησεν—ἀποκαταλλάξαι), as in creation. The Mediation of these belongs, as in the creation, to the Son of God, as Theanthropos in His historical Personality (Col_1:20 : by Him—and that “through the blood of His Cross,” Col_1:22 : “in the body of His flesh through death”); His Person has central importance, His suffering and death is the climax. He entered into the fellowship of humanity, which is the object of Divine wrath, endured in this fellowship the wrath of God resting upon it, gave Himself as a Sacrifice, holy and innocent, proved in His self-denying obedience, in His office as Saviour, that just as His Son in whom He was well pleased became man, so it was the man in whom He was well pleased,—so that the Father for the sake of this One could turn His complacency upon the whole race which through Him dies to sin, and turns to God in grateful love.
The work of Redemption, as to its Object, relates to the totality of the creatures, although it begins in the human race; as to its Purpose, it tends to a restitution of the creation, or to a bringing back of the creation to the path which it has forsaken, toward its proper consummation. The former marks the extent of the corruption of sin. Man is a prey to the “power of darkness,” which forms the antithesis to the kingdom of Love, so that darkness, which is opposed to Love, is to be conceived of, rather, as moral, than intellectual. Will, as well as knowledge, religiousness and morality, social and political relations, are effected and corrupted, and this can not only be affirmed of heathen (Col_1:21 : ὑμᾶς), but is applicable to Jews (Col_1:13 : ἡμᾶς). In the presence of this Redemption in Christ the advantages of Israel over the Gentiles disappear. The purpose of Redemption is directed, chiefly, to the internal sanctification of men, to the forgiveness of sin, extirpation of it and its consequences, to justification before God in the judgment within the conscience, and in the future at the last day (Col_1:21). But it extends in ever wider circles, in order to permeate the whole creation, and bring all creatures and all relations to happiness and blessedness with Him into eternity. [To avoid any misconception, see Exeg. notes on Col_1:20.—R.] Hence no dualistic view finds any justification here, in fact, dualism is anti-christian. The overcoming of the antagonisms, which are easily recognized, is thus set forth as a possibility and an indispensable task, and this is accomplished by ethical means, from the reconciliation of the world to the transformation of the world. [Henry: Christ is the Mediator of reconciliation, who promises peace, as well as pardon, and brings into a state of friendship and favor at present, and will bring all holy creatures, angels as well as men, into one glorious and blessed society at last.—R.]
6. The Church in which the Redemption, objective in Christ, and accomplished by Him, is, and will be subjectively appropriated, is presented in our text in a two-fold aspect;
a) as respects its region—the militant and triumphant church, referred to in the expression, (Col_1:18); ἀρχὴ, πρωτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν;
b) as respects its inner life: cœtus vocatorum et fidelium, referred to in the expression (Col_1:12): ἅγιοι ἐν φωτί, “saints in light.” The organism of the church is indicated by the expression (Col_1:18): “Head of the body, the church.” Its extent is denoted by the former reference, its vitality by the latter, and its mission is to further, subjectively, the purpose of the work of Christ. It is by no means indifferent how one stands in the church and holds to her; but it is just as little without important influence, whether or that one belongs to her, as it is indifferent in what nation or family one is incorporated.
7. The morality of the individual within the church of Christ is defined as objectively caused (ἅγιος, “holy”), subjectively internal (ἄμωμος, “unblamable”), and constantly referred to God (ἀνέγκλητος κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ, “unreprovable in his sight”); and on that account conditioned by faith, which must prove itself in a two-fold manner, in its life and its substance, as right and correct, as genuine and true, as fides qua and as fides quæ creditur; it is indeed the word of God become alive in the Christian. This, at the same time, explains, why and that faith must be stable and independent of time and human opinions; it depends upon permanence.
8. The Word of God, which should be heard and proclaimed, requires living persons who have been filled and moved by it, whom it has first served, to serve it in turn. Here we find a direction for the establishment of public worship, in which the exposition and proclamation of the Word should not be wanting, as well as for the labors of Bible Societies, that should circulate God’s Word, not merely in black and white, as copies from the press, like booksellers, and bookbinders, but in accordance with the organism and mission of the Church, in connexion with the efforts of Home and Foreign Missions.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
There is an order in prayer. Luther sets it forth in his explanation of the second Commandment [Luther’s small catechism, the 2nd answer—on our Third Commandment.—R.]: “In all necessities call, pray, praise and give thanks.” The call for help, the cry of distress, the entreaty, which necessity presses out, is the easiest, briefest, first, the prayer of an elementary pupil; the petition in perplexity for a need is an affair of the apprentice, who has learned first to pray for himself, and when further advanced, to offer supplications of unselfish love for others. The journeyman knows how to give thanks for gifts received, but the master praises the giver, not forgetting Him in His bounty. Whoever can and does do this, will not slight the easier part. Paul always goes from praise to thanksgiving, and from thanksgiving to supplication. He begins with the former, nor does he neglect the latter. Do you also? [The Apostle’s order is that of mature Christian experience. But the other is that of the learner. It is also that of the Psalms. They usually begin with petition and end with praise. They were written in the times of preparation for Christ. How often Christians revert to David’s method. The Old Testament still leads us to the New—we pray first like the Psalmist, then like the Apostle.—R.]
Theory succeeds practice, as Philosophy follows Poetry. To live the truth is more than to know the truth. To perceive the truth is rather a matter of the sanctified will, than of the will-stored memory or the isolated intellect.—Being filled with the knowledge of the truth, is to know both what is nearest and what is most remote. Reason is both a telescope, to look into distant eternal things, and a microscope to inspect and understand the things at hand, in house and heart, in life and business, but to adjust the glasses aright is not hers, it belongs to the will, it is not an intellectual, but a moral act. Christian living is not the product, but the producer of Christian thinking.—The more you do, the more you become.—Only when bearing fruit, does the Christian grow.—Self-redemption is a falsity, and forgiveness of sins, without Christ, a lie. The folly of the sixteenth century, when people bought absolution with money, is laughed at, but why should we not also ridicule the blindness of the nineteenth century, when people forgive their own guilt and sin, and fancy they get absolution at a still cheaper rate. Those who credit Christ, no longer have a creditor in God; in this privilege unbelief has no share.—The Christian cannot divide or divorce God and Christ, God and the world, Creation and Redemption, Christ’s Person and Work, this world and the next, faith and love, faith and God’s word, faith and forgiveness, faith and bliss, religion and morality, church and Christianity, sin and corruption, grace and salvation, salvation and sanctification, though it is he who accurately distinguishes them.—The truth in Christ is the greatest paradox of life; the cross is a throne, death is life, weakness is strength, defeat is victory, gain is loss.—Christ, who satisfies all the needs of the human heart, begins with pardon, with grace that ends in blessedness with God. He blesses man in himself and goes on until He completes the whole creation—to the choirs of angels.—The Bible is the jewel of all the literature of the world; in the ring of the Bible the gospel is the diamond.—The news and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures come to us in personalities, and in him who understands them they become again personal.
Starke:—You flatter yourself that you are a good Christian because you do nothing wicked! Is a tree good then, that does not bear thorns and thistles? If you are not diligent in good works, your Christianity is nothing, your imagination is vain, your hope is lost. We must grow in knowledge, grow in the power of God, grow in spiritual walk and in holiness. If a new-born child does not grow perceptibly, it is a bad sign. So it is with a Christian also.—To be patient in so many sufferings of this present time, and long-suffering amid so many adversities are excellent gifts of God. But those are far advanced, who endure evil not only with patience, but with joy also.—Eternal life is an inheritance, hence it can be trifled away with sin, but not earned with good works. For a little child, though it have done nothing as yet, comes to its inheritance as well as the larger ones, who have done much.—Sad condition of men through the fall of Adam! once monarchs over all creatures, they must now be subject to the devil and his empire.—[Believers also are first born, and enjoy the liberty of the First Born.—The dignity of believers surpasses that of angels, for they are united with the Son of God, who is higher than all angels.—R.]
Rieger:—Darkness, ignorance, doubt, inability man traces to himself; vexation and impatience break out of this darkness. But the gospel first makes known that behind this there is concealed a rule and power of darkness, out of which a deliverance is required, deliverance accomplished by means of right and justice moreover.—It was not done by the Father’s sending the Son into the world, as a great witness of His love, to tell much of His name, and thus lead us away from our hostile disposition toward God, or direct us to confidence in Him: but God laid our sins and those of the whole world on this our Mediator, accepted His obedience, His sufferings, His sacrifice and the shedding of His blood as a ransom-price for us.—There is no doubt the corruption in heathenism was greater than now, although we, who spring from Christian, perhaps specially sainted parents, are still wicked and born sinners; yet much is ameliorated in our hereditary disease, and the favorable opportunity for us to find God as Love, is much facilitated. But this must be regarded rather as an advantage of our age, and not one of our persons. Through neglect of this grace of our age, we may become again as bad and worse than a heathen.—[The praise of the blood of Christ reaches to our being presented holy and unreprovable before God.—R.] Heubner:—The heart of a Christian is a large heart. Paul had already entered into intimate fellowship with this Church, although he had never seen it. What attracts the heart of one Christian to another? How easily true Christians at once understand each other!—The more fruitful our walk, the more does our knowledge of God grow. True knowledge can come only out of and with action. It is not only the knowledge that increases, but the power is enlarged, the capacity of enduring, holding out in conflict, as well as of cherishing kindly sentiments toward enemies—and of doing both with joy. We must live ourselves into Christianity.—Those who do not desire to become holy or to be “made meet,” may be external adherents, but are not citizens of the kingdom of heaven.—Christ is before all with respect to time; He does not belong to the series of beings created in time. This “before” of priority naturally includes the “before” of preëminence.—Justification precedes, sanctification follows: the heart must first be stilled, then it can collect itself and prepare for sanctification. The latter is the end of the reconciliation. Why then will we ever invert this order? Because we would ascribe pardon to our merit, and not to the merit of Christ.
Schleiermacher:—A mind, that would fully apprehend the truth of the gospel, will soon mark a voice in itself, when something important and essential is omitted, while on the other hand, good sense will soon warn us, if we allow ourselves to be misled, so as to insert in the Scripture, through artifice, something which is not there.—Only when He has become to us the knowledge of the Divine will, is there a walk worthy of Him.—Expanded knowledge is itself a consequence of fruitfulness in good works.—The more plain the will of God becomes to us, the more we see what God has laid upon us to do; so much the more do we encounter opposition, the more difficult it becomes to instil the same view into others, and the more does this spiritual conduct of life enter into spheres which appear foreign to it.—Oh that we so investigated the Scriptures, that it tended to edification!—Paul makes sanctification dependent upon “being grounded” in faith, and upon not being “moved away” from the hope of the gospel, which is no other than that of the consummation of the kingdom of God in Christ.
Passavant:—At the time of the council of Constance, three cardinals in their ride met a poor shepherd weeping on the beach. They asked him why he wept so. “Out of gratitude,” he answered, pointing to a worm, “that God has made me a man and not a poor worm like that.” “What would have been the gratitude of the poor shepherd, had the cardinals revealed to him, that God could, besides, make him meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.—Darkness is a kingdom, and this kingdom has its principalities and powers, and their artifice and malice is great; their might is great and the abyss is deep.—Many a one may appear pure and refined in conduct and culture, whose conscience sleeps, whose heart deceives itself; it is a dream of rest and peace, a false dream of life: sin can scatter over the whole life of a sinner her poppy leaves.—There exists among highly cultivated minds, among educated people, an alienation from God, and in consequence an enmity, which seems to arise not so much from the ordinary sinful flesh, as from the temerity and pride of the thinking or subtilizing faculty in us, which indeed is also flesh. [“One can—and the inconsistency is not rare—worship Jesus Christ as God, and yet not have acknowledged Him as God formally and with the understanding; the heart makes Him God, the understanding makes Him man, still with most men the heart cannot cure the mind of its error, but is rather led astray itself.” Quotation in Passavant.—R.] “To extend the law of Christ,” says Theodorus, “they did not use carnal weapons. The power of convincing speech alone attested the power of these divine precepts. Every where exposed to the greatest dangers, they endured in all cities, through which they passed, the most shameful and cruel mal-treatment: scourge and rack, prisons, executions and martyrdoms of all kinds were daily their lot: yet though the executioner could kill the bearers of the divine message, they could not kill the message itself. It proved still mightier after their death: the gospel survived with equal vital power the efforts and the rage of Barbarians and Romans: out of the funeral pile where they would bury the memory of those fishermen and tent makers, it went forth yet more brilliantly and gloriously.”
[Henry:—The Apostle heard that they were good, and he prayed that they might be better.—1. That they might be knowing, intelligent Christians. 2. That their conversation might be good. 3.
That they might be strengthened. Col_1:12 sq. Here is the summary of the doctrine of the gospel concerning the great work of our redemption by Christ. It comes in here not as the matter of a sermon, but as the matter of a thanksgiving.—He does not discourse of the work of redemption in the natural order of it; for then he would speak of the purchase of it first, and afterwards of the application of it. But here he inverts the order; because in our sense and feeling of it, the application goes before the purchase. We first find the benefits of redemption in our own hearts, and then are led by those streams to the original and Fountainhead.—They who are not saints on earth, will never be saints in heaven. All who are designed for heaven hereafter, are prepared for heaven now. They who have the inheritance of sons, have the education of sons, and the disposition of sons.—This meetness for heaven is the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts; which is part of payment, and assures the full payment.—The greatest enemies to God, who have stood at the greatest distance and bidden Him defiance, may be reconciled, if it is not their own fault.—There was such a value in the blood of Christ, that on account of Christ’s shedding it, God was willing to deal with men upon new terms, and bring them under a covenant of grace; and for His sake and in consideration of His death upon the cross, to pardon and accept to favor all who comply with them.—This gospel may be preached to every creature; for it excludes none who do not exclude themselves.—Paul was a great Apostle; but he looks upon it as the highest of his titles of honor, to be a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ.—R.]
[Burkitt:
Col_1:10. Our fruitfulness should be an universal fruitfulness, an humble and self-denying fruitfulness, a proportionable fruitfulness, an abounding and abiding fruitfulness; this is to be fruitful in every good work.
Col_1:12. This meetness is a spiritual blessing, a transcendent favor, a discriminating favor, an everlasting favor; eternity will be too short to spend in the admiration of it; let such as are interested in it, now begin the work upon earth, of giving thanks to the Father for it.—R.]
[Eadie:
Col_1:10. Superabundance of one kind of fruit is no compensation for the absence of another. “Every good work” is inculcated. Such fruitfulness is not exhaustive. The tree grows healthfully while its fertility is so great.
Col_1:11. That peculiar position which necessitates the exercise of “patience and long suffering” should not induce despondency, as if it were inevitable fate, to be sullenly submitted to, but rather should there be joy that this Divine power is communicated, and that the mind is upborne in triumph, and enabled to hope and wait in quiet expectation.
Col_1:12. None but the saints, as being “light in the Lord”can dwell in that light. They who enjoy it are made meet for social intercourse. Selfishness vanishes before universal love, the intense yearnings of a spiritual brotherhood are developed and perfected.
Col_1:13. The one kingdom of God has an earthly and a celestial phasis. It resembles a city divided by a river, but still under the same municipal administration and having one common franchise.
Col_1:14. Forgiveness is more closely connected with redemption than any other blessing; it comes at once from the cross to the believing soul.
Col_1:15-19. The sentences in which Paul describes the rank and prerogative of Christ are like a bursting torrent. How he exults in the precious theme, and how his soul swells into impassioned panegyric!—Had the Divine Being remained alone, His glory would have been unseen and His praises unsung. Christ fitted up these “all things” “for Himself,” in order that He might exhibit His glory, while He diffused happiness through creatures of innumerable worlds, and enabled them to behold His mirrored brightness and to reflect it.—At every point of His existence, it may be said of Him, “He is.” What faith in power and extent should not be reposed in such a Saviour-God!—In all things He has the preeminence. None like Christ is the decision of faith, none but Christ is the motto of love.—Every grace as it is needed, and when it is needed, in every variety of phasis and operation, is wrapt up in that fulness which dwells in Christ.
Col_1:20. Blood shed on earth creates feuds to be extinguished only by other blood; but the blood of Christ’s violent and vicarious death brings peace, restores alliance between heaven and earth.
Col_1:21. Man does not win his way back to the Divine favor by either costly offering or profound penitence. God re-unites him to Himself; has not only provided for such an alliance, but actually forms and cements it. The incarnation rightly understood, enhances the Redeemer’s greatness.
Col_1:23. Thus a life of faith is one of hope. The loss of faith is the knell of hope.—Man is not acted on mechanically by the grace of God, but his whole spiritual nature is excited to earnest prayer and anxious effort. The confidence of success inspirits them.—R.]
[Barnes: Col_1:9-11. It is a good time to pray for Christians when they are already prosperous, and are distinguished for zeal and love. We have then encouragement to do it.
Col_1:12-13. No words can express appropriately the goodness of God in thus making us heirs of light.
Col_1:15-18. In the affections of our hearts let the Saviour in all things have the preeminence. None should be loved by us as Christ is loved.
Col_1:19. In all our wants let us go to Christ, in whom all fulness dwells.
Col_1:20. What a glorious work is that of the gospel! It reconciles and harmonizes distant worlds.—R.]
[Robert Hall:
Col_1:19. In Jesus Christ “all fulness” dwells, for the supply of spiritual destitution. Fulness of knowledge: knowledge is the great distinction of the mind, and here is all spiritual knowledge. Christ is Himself the wisdom of God; to know Him is to attain at once the highest knowledge. Fulness of holiness; holiness is the proper riches and beauty of the soul; and the subjects of Christ are created anew in holiness after His image. Fulness of consolation; the greatest comforts that ever visited the troubled heart of man are those which flow from Christ as their fountain. Fulness once more, as it respects the inheritance in reserve; of which the saints have at certain seasons a present sense and foretaste, though the light of eternity is required to display its real extent, to display the accessible fulness of the present Saviour.—R.]
Ahlfeld: He who places the full Christian grace before his soul, will strive the more earnestly to possess it. 1) Wherein does it consist? 2) How may I gain what I still lack?—Carsten: Peace through His blood on the cross. 1) Between God and man, 2) Heaven and earth, 3) in each human breast—or 1) The world reconciled with God, 2) Heaven opened, 3) Conscience stilled.—Löhe: A ladder that reaches from heaven to earth. 1) God the Father has set it through the Son of His Love; 2) the highest round, at first concealed, shines in the light of sanctification; 3) the second in that of justification; 4) the third in the bloody scene of Golgotha; and our Redemption.—Köhler: Thanksgiving for the benefit of Redemption; 1) end; 2) mode; 3) means; 4) Person of Redemption.
Zimmerman: Strife of two kingdoms for the souls of sinners; 1) God the Father devised the struggle concerning us; 2) God the Son has won the victory and kingdom for us; 3) whoever abides in Him, has escaped the enemy.33
On the epistle for the 24th Sunday after Trinity [Col_1:9-14. The Prot. Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, following that of the Church of England, uses Col_1:3-12.—R.]—Heubner: The great change wrought in man by Christianity. 1) Its nature: a) new light, full of knowledge and wisdom; b) a new virtuous walk, worthy of God; c) the translation into a new kingdom; d) the eternal Redemption. 2) The consequences: a) what is the reason, if we have not yet experienced this change? b) what have we to do?—Rautenburg: The question respecting our growth in Christianity. 1) Can we—2) will we grow? 3) Have we grown?—Paul prays for the believers in Colosse : 1) that, 2) what, 3) where and when he prayed for them.—Kapff: What is eternal blessedness ? 1) Redemption for all evil; 2) blessed fellowship with God and all saints; 3) unspeakable joy and honor in the glory of the heavenly kingdom.—Lorenz: Darkness and light. 1) Man according to nature; 2) man according to grace.—Florey: Light, the believer’s inheritance. 1) They have the light of truth; 2) they walk in the light of virtue; 3) they come into the light of blessedness.—Beck: How a share in the glorious power of God 1) makes us meet; 2) admonishes us to thanksgiving.
[Beveridge: Col_1:12. The happiness of the saints in heaven. 1) What kind of persons they are, who are or shall be happy in the other world; they are saints. 2) The happiness they enjoy there; the inheritance in light. 3) They who desire to enjoy that happiness must be duly qualified for it; “made meet.” 4) All who are so qualified must ascribe it wholly to God, and give Him thanks for it; “giving thanks,” etc.—Steinhofer : The economy of the Triune God in the work of our blessedness. 1) What God has determined according to the counsel of His own good pleasure; 2) what in His Son from all eternity for our salvation; 3) what actually takes place in us to the praise and glory of His name.—The three glorious names of Jesus (Begotten before every creature, first-born from the dead, Head of the Body) should awaken us 1) to an humble joy, 2) a complete faith, 3) a tender love to Him.—Lisco: The actual union of God with the human nature in Christ the ground of the most intimate re-union of humanity with God through Christ.—Schenkel: A fruitful teacher’s duty to pray unceasingly for his people.—The Christian should not rest until he has fully known the will of God, 1) in its highest designs and ends; 2) according to its manifold methods and means.—How Christian life and Christian thought reciprocally condition each other. 1) Without Christian thought the Christian life is not plain. 2) Without Christian life Christian thought is not correct.—The blessing of Redemption: 1) Wherein it consists (forgiveness of sins); 2) whereby it is obtained (through the blood of Christ.)—Jesus Christ, the Risen One, the Head of the church: 1) Its Founder, 2) its Upholder, 3) its Ruler.—Jesus Christ, according to God’s good pleasure, the Bearer of all fulness of humanity and of man. Consider then 1) His glory, 2) our poverty.—The threefold witness for the truth of the gospel: resting 1) on the antiquity, 2) the extent, 3) the power of the proclamation of the same.—R.]
Footnotes:
[16]Col_1:9.—Καὶ αἰτούμενοι is wanting in B. [On the order of the latter part of the verse see Exeg. Notes.—R.]
[17]Col_1:10.—[Ὑμᾶς, inserted after περιπατῆσαι, Rec. Tischendorf, Wordsworth. Rejected by Lachmann, Meyer, Scholz, Alford, Ellicott, on the authority of א. A. B. C. D. F. The subject “ye” necessarily supplied in the finite construction of our language.—R.]
[18]Col_1:10.—Instead of the more difficult reading: εἰς τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν, of D.3 E.2 K. L., we find in א. B. [C. D. F. G] τῇ ἐπιγνώσει, which with Meyer is to be regarded as an explanation. [Braune’s German text: in der Erkenntniss, is certainly a typographical error for in die. Erkenntniss. The reading ἐν with the dative has little support. Εἰς with the accusative, which Braune adopts, is that of Tischendorf (eds. 2 and 7, not 1). But Lachmann, Griesbach, Scholz, De Wette, Alford, Ellicott follow the preponderant uncial authority and read τῇ ἐπιγνώσει, all of them previous to the discovery of א., which confirms this reading. I have therefore altered the English text to express the force of this reading (instrumental dative).—R.]
[19]Col_1:11.—[“Strengthened with strength;” δυνάμει δυναμούμενοι.—R.]
[20]Col_1:11.—[The hendiadys of the E. V. is generally considered unfortunate. Coverdale, Rhemish: “the might of His glory.”—R.]
[21]Col_1:11.—[“Joy;” Wickliffe, Rhemish, Eadie, Alford, Ellicott.—R.]
[22]Col_1:12.—B. inserts καλέσαντι καί before ἱκανώσαντι [retained by Lachmann only.—R.]. D.1 F. G. read καλέσαντι only, omitting ἱκαν. The first appears to have been interpolated, then the subsequent omission.
[23]Ver 12.—[“For the portion,” more literal than E. V., following the versions of Wickliffe, Coverdale and the Rhemish—“for the share,” “for the part,” etc.—R.]
[24]Col_1:13.—[“Son of his love,” preferred by all modern commentators, avoiding the hendiadys of the E. V.—R.]
[25]Col_1:14.—[Ellicott: “διὰ τοῦ αἴματος rests only on cursive manuscripts, and is rightly omitted by nearly all modern editors.” From Eph_1:7.—R.]
[26]Col_1:17.—Wordsworth reads ἔστι, “exists,” instead of ἐστί “is.” “Subsist,” Alford, Ellicott.—R.]
[27]Col_1:18.—Ἑκ is to be retained before τῶν νεκρῶν with B. and the corrector of א.—B. alone has the article ἡ before ἀρχή.
[28]Col_1:19.—[The rendering of Alford, given above, coincides with that of Braune. See Exeg. Notes.—R.]
[29]Col_1:21.—B. and others have ἀποκατηλλάγητε. The reading ἀποκατήλλαξεν, א. A. C. and others, seems to be an emendation on account of the construction. [The preponderance of authority is on the other side. Lachmann adopts the reading of B., but Rec, E. V., Tischendorf, Alford, Ellicott, Wordsworth follow the mass of MSS. See Exeg. Notes.—R.]
[30]Col_1:22.—Αὐτοῦ after θανάταυ א. A., is properly omitted in B. [Τοῦ θανάτου is=“his death” here.—R.]
[31]Col_1:23.—Τῇ is omitted after πάση in א. A. B. C. and others. The corrector of א. adds it.
[32]Col_1:23.—Instead of διάκονος, the reading of א. B. [?A.] is κήρυξ καὶ ἀπόστολος, yet δίακονος is added in the margin of א.
[33][These divisions are made to rhyme in German—a fashion in sermonizing that happily has not yet come into vogue in America: 1) Gott der Vater hat den Kampf um uns ersonnen, 2) Gott der Sohn hat Sieg und Reich fur uns gewonnen; 3) wer in Ihm, bleibt, der ist dem Feind entronnen.—R.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv9–12 we also--on our part.
we also--on our part.
heard it-- (Col 1:4).
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pray--Here he states what in particular he prays for; as in Col 1:3 he stated generally the fact of his praying for them.
to desire--"to make request."
might be filled--rather, "may be filled"; a verb, often found in this Epistle (Col 4:12, Col 4:17).
knowledge--Greek, "full and accurate knowledge." Akin to the Greek for "knew" (see on Col 1:6).
of his will--as to how ye ought to walk (Eph 5:17); as well as chiefly that "mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself; that in the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ" (Eph 1:9-10); God's "will," whereby He eternally purposed to reconcile to Himself, and save men by Christ, not by angels, as the false teachers in some degree taught (Col 2:18) [ESTIUS]. There seems to have been a want of knowledge among the Colossians; notwithstanding their general excellencies; hence he so often dwells on this subject (Col 1:28; Col 2:2-3; Col 3:10, Col 3:13; Col 4:5-6). On the contrary he less extols wisdom to the Corinthians, who were puffed up with the conceit of knowledge.
wisdom--often mentioned in this Epistle, as opposed to the (false) "philosophy" and "show of wisdom" (Col 2:8, Col 2:23; compare Eph 1:8).
understanding--sagacity to discern what on each occasion is suited to the place and the time; its seat is "the understanding" or intellect; wisdom is more general and has its seat in the whole compass of the faculties of the soul [BENGEL]. "Wouldst thou know that the matters in the word of Christ are real things? Then never read them for mere knowledge sake" [Quoted by GAUSSEN.] Knowledge is desirable only when seasoned by "spiritual understanding."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv9–12 9. For this cause—Namely, the report of their faith…
9. For this cause—Namely, the report of their faith and love, from the foundation of their Church. A like report respecting the Ephesians had incited the apostle to special prayer for them. Eph_1:16. There is a marked resemblance in the two prayers, particularly in the request for an enlarged knowledge of God, as lying at the foundation of all spiritual growth and hope. In the present case, the prayer more specifically beseeches that they may be filled with the full knowledge of the divine will, both as to the truth to be known and believed, and also as to the things to be done by them as Christians. In this knowledge of God’s thoughts is true wisdom, but a correct understanding of them requires the illumination of the Holy Spirit.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv9–12 9–12. thanksgiving passes into prayer that they may will…
9–12. thanksgiving passes into prayer that they may will and walk with god
9. For this cause] In view of the whole happy report from Colossæ.
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we also] The “also” means that the news of the loving life at Colossæ was met by the loving prayer of Paul and his friends.
since the day, &c.] The phrase used above of the Colossians, Col_1:6. This (as Lightfoot remarks) gives a point to the “also.”
do not cease to pray] So Eph_1:16; and see Act_20:31. An “affectionate hyperbole” (Ellicott); and such hyperboles are absolutely truthful, between hearts in perfect sympathy. On St Paul’s prayers, see above on Col_1:3.
to desire] The word defines the more general idea conveyed by “pray” just above. “Prayer” (in the Greek, as with us) may include many directions of thought in worship; “desire” fixes the direction, that of petition.—On the verbs used for praying, asking, and the like, in the Greek Scriptures, see Grimm’s Greek-Eng. Lex. to N.T. (ed. Thayer), under αἰτεῖν.
“Desire,” as very often in the English Bible, here means “make request” (A.V.). See e.g. 2Ki_4:28; Psa_27:4; Mat_16:1; Act_7:46; 2Co_8:6; 1Jn_5:15. This meaning is still not uncommon.
filled] A word and thought often occurring in similar connexions in St Paul. Cp. Rom_15:13-14; Rom_15:29; 2Co_7:4; Eph_3:19; Eph_5:18; Php_1:11; Php_2:2; Php_4:19, below, Col_2:10; 2Ti_1:4.—Nothing short of the total of what God can and will give to the saints satisfies his inspired desire.
knowledge] Epignôsis; more than gnôsis. See above on Col_1:6.
of his will] Cp. Eph_5:17, and our note there.—“Thou sweet, beloved will of God,”[79] is meant by the Gospel to be the Christian’s always underlying and ruling thought and choice. And such an attitude of soul, if genuinely taken, will lead direct to an active enquiry “what the will of the Lord is.” Mme. Guyon, on this verse (La Sainte Bible) writes characteristically and truly: “All perfection consists in doing the will of God … the works which seem greatest are nothing if they are not in the will of God.… The more the soul does the will of God in all things, the more it knows God.”
[79] See the hymn beginning, Liebwerther, süsser Gottes-Wille, in Tersteegen’s Blumengârtlein; translated in Hymns of Consecration and Faith, No. 257.
spiritual] As due to the gift and teaching of the Spirit. The adjective should be placed before “wisdom” (as R.V.), qualifying both it and “understanding.”
understanding] A narrower and more precise word than “wisdom.” The man spiritually “wise” brings that characteristic habit of thought to bear on special questions, and spiritually “understands” them. Cp. for a partial parallel Eph_1:17. And for the Apostle’s desire that his converts should (under the Holy Spirit’s guidance) “think for themselves,” see 1Co_14:20; Eph_4:14.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv9–12 (9) Do not cease to pray for you.—Comp. Eph_1:16.…
(9) Do not cease to pray for you.—Comp. Eph_1:16. “To pray” (see Eph_6:18; Php_4:6) is the general word for “to worship”; “to desire” indicates prayer, properly so called, asking from God what is requisite and necessary for ourselves or for others.
The knowledge of his will.—The “knowledge” here spoken of is the “full knowledge,” to be attained in measure here, to be made perfect in heaven. See 1Co_13:12, “Now I know in part; but then shall I know (perfectly) even as I am known.” On this word, especially frequent in the Epistles of the captivity, see Note on Eph_1:17. It should be noted that the knowledge here prayed for is “the knowledge of God’s will”—not speculation as to the nature of God, or as to emanations from Deity, or even as to the reasons of God’s mysterious counsels, but knowledge of what actually is His will, both in the dispensation which is to be accepted in faith, and in the commandments to be obeyed in love. So St. Paul (in 1Ti_1:4-5) contrasts with the “fables and endless genealogies” of Gnostic speculation, “the end of the commandment,” “charity out of a pure heart and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned.”
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In all wisdom and spiritual understanding.—This “knowledge of God’s will” is man’s “wisdom.” For “wisdom” is the knowledge of the true end of life; which is (as the Book of Ecclesiastes so tragically shows) vainly sought, if contemplated apart from God’s will, but found (see Ecc_12:13; Job_28:28; Pro_1:7) in the “fear of the Lord” and the “keeping of His commandments.” (On the relation of the supreme gift of wisdom to lesser cognate gifts, see Note on Eph_1:8.) “Understanding” here is properly the faculty of spiritual insight or judgment, the speculative exercise of wisdom, as the “prudence” of Eph_1:8 is the practical. Hence St. Paul subjoins the practical element at once in the next verse.
(9-12) From thanksgiving St. Paul passes, as always, to pray for them. The prayer is for their full and perfect knowledge of God’s will; but this is emphatically connected with practical “walking” in that will, first by fruitfulness in good work, next by showing themselves strong in Christ to endure sufferings, lastly by thankful acceptance of God’s call to inheritance among the saints in light. There is a hearty recognition of the blessing of knowledge (on which the incipient Gnosticism of the day was so eloquent); but it is to be tried by the three tests of practical goodness, patience, and thankful humility.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv9–12 Vers. 9-14. The opening prayer rises cut of the…
Vers. 9-14. The opening prayer rises cut of the foregoing thanksgiving, and leads up to the chief doctrinal statement of the Epistle (vers. 15-20: compare, for the connection, (Eph_1:15-23; Rom_1:8-17) The burden of this prayer, as in other letters of this period, is the Church"s need of knowledge. (comp. Eph_1:17, Eph_1:18; Php_1:9, 10) Here this desire has its fullest expression, as the necessity of the Colossians in this. respect was the more urgent and their situation, therefore, the more fully representative of the stage in the history of the Pauline Churches now commencing. He asks for his readers
(1) a fuller knowledge of the Divine will (ver. 9); to result in
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(2) greater pleasingness to God (ver. 10 a), due
(3) to increased moral fruitfulness and spiritual growth (ver. 10 b), to
(4) patience under suffering (ver. 11), and to
(5) thankfulness for the blessings of redemption (vers. 12-14).
For this cause we also (Eph_1:15-17; 1Th_3:6-13) Timothy and I, in return for your love to us (ver. 8) and in response to this good news about you (vers. 4-6). From the day that we heard (it); an echo of "from the day that ye heard it" (ver. 6). Do not cease praying for you, and making request. The former is a general expression (ver. 3), the latter points to some special matter of petition to follow. This second verb St. Paul only uses elsewhere of prayer to God inw, Eph_3:13, 20 (see Trench"s "Synonyms" on aiJte) aithma). That ye may be filled with (or, made complete in) the knowledge of his (Col_2:10 Col_4:12; Eph_3:18, Eph_3:19; Heb_13:21) On "knowledge" (ejpignwsiv), see note. to ver. 6, and Lightfoot"s note here. "With the knowledge" represents the Greek accusative of specification; (as in Php_1:11, where see Ellicott) and the verb plhrwqhte (comp. note on pleroma, ver. 19), as in Col_2:10 and 1:25, denotes "fulfilled" or "made complete," rather than "made full complete as to the full knowledge," etc. "His will" ("God"s will," ver. 1; Col_4:12) need not be limited to the original purpose of salvation, (Eph_1:9) or to his moral requirements respecting Christian believers (ver. 10; so Meyer), but includes "the whole counsel of God" (Act_20:27) made known to us in Christ (vers. 26, 27). In all spiritual wisdom and understanding (Col_2:2; Eph_5:17; Php_1:9; 1Co_14:20) Wisdom, in its highest sense, is the sum of personal excellence as belonging to the mind; it implies a vital knowledge of Divine truth, forming the sentiments and determining the will as it possesses the reason, Hence the word occurs in a great variety of connections:
and knowledge", (Col_2:3) "and prudence", (Eph_1:8) etc. For this Church the apostle asks specially the gift of understanding or comprehension, comp. Col_2:2; only in Eph_3:4 and 2Ti_2:7 besides, in St. Paul; (1Co_1:19 from LXX) the power of putting things together (sun-esiv), of discerning the relations of different truths, the logical bearing and consequences of one"s principles. For the errors invading Colossae were of a Gnostic type, mystic at once and rationalistic; against which a clear and well-informed understanding was the best protection (comp. notes on "truth," in vers. 5, 6; also Col_2:4, Col_2:8, Col_2:18, Col_2:23; Eph_4:13, Eph_4:14) This "wisdom and understanding" are "spiritual," as inspired by the Divine Spirit (comp. the use of "spirit," "spiritual," in 1Co_12:1-11; Gal_6:1 Gal_5:16, Gal_5:25; Eph_1:17 Eph_3:16-19) and opposed to all "wisdom of the flesh," the unrenewed nature of man (Col_2:18; 1Co_2:4-6, 1Co_2:13-15; Jam_3:15)
Vers. 9-11.
The apostle"s prayer for the enlargement and completion of their spiritual life.
I THE URGENT SPIRIT OF THIS PRAYER. "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray and make request for you.
1. It is the duty as well as the desire of ministers, not only to teach their flocks, but to pray for them. They must say, like Samuel, "God forbid that I should cease to pray for you". (2Sa_12:23) The prayer of Moses was more influential against Amalek than all the weapons of Israel. "The prayer of a righteous man availeth much". (Jam_5:16)
2. . They ought to be unceasing in their supplications. There must be "perseverance in supplication for all saints". (Eph_6:18) We must give God no rest; for he often delays the answer to increase our importunity (Luk_18:3, Luk_18:4; 2Co_12:8, 2Co_12:9)
3. The reason for constant supplication. "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you." The apostle had heard of their faith and love, and was naturally concerned for their growth in grace, for the free course of the Word among them, and for their freedom from all error. He heard they were good, and he prayed that they might be better.
II THE SUBSTANCE OF THE APOSTLE"S PRAYER. "That ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
1. The Divine will is the supreme subject of knowledge to a believer. It is not mere speculations about God"s nature or his counsels, but his will, that we are to study. This is God"s will as it is made known to us either in Scripture or experience.
(1) It is his determining will. (Eph_1:5)
(2) It is his prescribing will, including Law and gospel, and especially the nature of faith and repentance (Act_22:9; Eph_1:9; Rom_12:2)
(3) It is his will of approval (Gal_1:4; Mat_18:14)
(4) It is his providential will (1Co_1:1; Rom_1:10) We have much to learn concerning God"s will in these four respect s.
2. The knowledge necessary to understand it is instinct with "spiritual wisdom and understanding. Knowledge is power, but it may work for evil as well as good. It must be regulated by wisdom and understanding.
(1) Wisdom; not that which has "a show of wisdom," and springs from vanity nurtured by the fleshly mind; (Col_2:18, Col_2:23) not fleshly wisdom; (2Co_1:12) much less that which is "earthly, sensual, devilish"; (Jam_3:17) but spiritual wisdom the knowledge of the true end of life, such as God gives to the simple, (Psa_19:7) enabling them to penetrate the mysteries of Divine truth (1Co_2:6) and to understand their duty to God and man in all the relations of life. It is "from above"; (Jam_3:17) it presupposes the existence of faith and love; it is a subject of Christian prayer.
(2) Understanding is the faculty of spiritual insight which takes in the bearings of things. It fits us for the service of God on earth and for the glory of God in heaven. As it is spiritual, it is touched with meekness and humility.
3. The measures of this knowledge. "That ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will." There is no limit assigned to it.
(1) We cannot rest with mere rudiments; we must be "filled with all knowledge". (Rom_15:14)
(2) There will always be something wanting in this life. "We know in part". (1Co_13:11)
(3) Nothing but the knowledge of the will of God will ever satisfy the deep hunger of man"s heart.
4. Motives to this fuller knowledge.
(1) It is the glory of the saints to have it. (Jer_9:24)
(2) It is their special privilege to have it (Mar_4:11)
(3) To want it is a sin and a sorrow. (Hos_4:6)
(4) It is the most excellent of all knowledge; for it is eternal life itself. (Joh_17:3)
5. Design of this knowledge. "To walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing by the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to the power of his glory, unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness." The design is twofold as it bears respectively upon action and upon suffering.
(1) The knowledge of God"s will is to influence conduct. Its true end is practical obedience. We are "to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.
(a) Walking worthy of the Lord. This is not
(a) with a worthiness of merit, far we are all of us unprofitable servants; (Luk_17:10)
(b) but with a worthiness of meekness such as is becoming when we consider the dignity of our calling, the glory of the kingdom of God, the supplies of grace which the gospel affords, and the blessed hopes laid up for us in heaven.
(c) It is a worthiness "unto all pleasing." We must "so serve God that we may please him" (Heb_12:28; 1Co_7:31)
(i.) He that seeks not to please him in all things seeks not to please him in anything.
(ii.) If we please him he will make our very" enemies at peace with. (Pro_16:7)
(iii.) "Men pleasing" is inconsistent with God pleasing. (Col_3:22)
(iv.) It would be sinful and ungrateful to displease him.
(v.) Pleasing God is the work of heaven. (Psa_103:20, Psa_103:21)
(b) A twofold aspect of worthy walking.
(a) Christian fruitfulness. "Bearing fruit in every good work.
(i.) The necessity of it.
(a) It is for God"s glory. (Joh_15:18)
(b) As a proof of our faith. (Jam_2:18, Jam_2:26)
(c) The edification of others (Mat_5:16; Tit_3:8)
(d) The increase of our final reward (2Jn_1:8)
(ii.) The means of it.
(a) We must abide in the true Vine, Jesus Christ. (Joh_15:4 Php 1)
(b) We must dwell beside the rivers of water. (Psa_1:3)
(iii.) The extent of it every good work." We must be harmoniously developed in our obedience as in our inward experience. (Php_4:8)
(b) Increase in moral stature by the knowledge of God." We grow in grace just as we grow in knowledge. (2Pe_3:18) There is a mutual interaction between knowledge and grace. We are to add to our faith virtue, and to our virtue knowledge, (2Pe_1:5) just as we are to grow in all spiritual graces by knowledge. Knowledge promotes the sanctification of our callings and our food, (1Ti_4:3) enables us to discern things that differ, (Php_1:10) and keeps down corrupt affections. (Isa_11:7, Isa_11:9)
(2) The knowledge of God"s will tends to strengthen patience in suffering.
(a) The need of abounding strength "strengthened with all might.
(a) The afflictions of life tend to weaken us.
(b) Our adversaries are many.
(g) Our faith is fitful.
(d) We are often unsettled and tossed about by the wind of contrary doctrine. (Eph_4:14)
(e) We are, perhaps, "babes in Christ," and unskilful in the word of righteousness. (Heb_5:12, Heb_5:13)
(b) The source of our strengths "according to the power of his glory;" his glory being the manifestation of his love to man. (Eph_3:16) We "can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us". (Php_4:13) He "giveth strength to his people" and "strength is of the Lord.". (Psa_62:11) "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength". (Isa_40:31) "Glorious power will be victorious power." It is God"s revelation of himself to us that gives us our greatest strength. It is his glory that sets his power to work, as it is by promise pledged to his people. Therefore:
(a) Let us pray for knowledge and faith to discern God"s promise and power. (Eph_1:8)
(b) Let us hold fast the truth of the gospel, eschewing "winds of doctrine." Let us "follow the truth in love.
(c) The fruit of our strength patience and long suffering with joyfulness.
(a) Patience or endurance.
(i.) It is the grace which does not easily succumb under suffering, and is one of the most blessed fruits of the tree of life. It is the result of the bracing effect of affliction, (Jam_5:11) and is opposed to despondency or cowardice.
(ii.) Our patience will grow
(a) through the word of patience, for the comforts of the Scriptures beget both patience and hope. (Rom_15:4)
(b) We must cultivate a humble and constant trust in the Lord. (Psa_37:3)
(c) We must continue instant in prayer. (Rom_12:12)
(b) Long suffering is a temper of gentleness and self restraint, closely connected with patience.
(i.) It is the Lord"s command that we should suffer long (Mat_5:21, Mat_5:22)
(ii.) There are injuries that befall us in Divine providence. (2Sa_16:10)
(iii.) A revengeful spirit is a hindrance to prayer (1Ti_2:8) and to the due power of the Word, (Jam_1:21) and it lets the devil into the heart. (Eph_4:21) Therefore, let us practise this grace of long suffering.
(c) Joyfulness. "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." It is possible to be "sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing". (2Co_6:10)
(i.) Our patience and long-suffering must be balanced with joy so as to sustain their true temper.
(ii.) It is possible to be joyful in tribulations. (Jam_1:2)
(iii.) It is commanded by Christ (Mat_5:12) and enforced
by his own example on the cross. (Heb_12:2)
(iv.) Its ground is our fellowship with Christ in his sufferings, (1Pe_4:13) and the expectation of a heavenly inheritance. (Heb_10:14)
(v.) It is one of the fruits of God"s Spirit. T. C. (Gal_5:22)
Vers. 9-14.
The kingdom of God"s dear Son.
From the thanksgiving presented because of the faith, hope, and love of the Colossians, Paul next proceeds to intercession for their spiritual progress There is considerable similarity between the intercession he makes for the Ephesians (Eph_3:14-21) and the intercession he here makes for the Colossians. In both he appeals to the Father that the most intimate and loving relations may be established between the persons prayed for and "his dear Son." He gives, however, in the case before us a magnificence to his conception of Christ which is not found in the longer Epistle. In this way he could best meet and overcome the Gnostic tendency at Colossal. Let us consider the truth embodied in the intercession in the following order:
I WE SHALL CONSIDER THE KING HERE REFERRED TO. (Ver. 13.) Paul has already presented Jesus Christ as the Object of the Colossians" faith. But in the present section he presents him as "God"s dear Son," or "the Son of his love" (uiJou thv ajgaphv aujtou), in possession of a kingdom. This kingdom is the antithesis of "the power of darkness;" it is, in fact, a kingdom of light. The sphere of the inheritance of the saintly subjects is said to be light (ver. 12). Hence Jesus is brought before us in this prayer much as he is brought before us in the Apocalypse, as the light giving Lamb. (Rev_21:23) "I am the Light of the world," he said; and as the greater light rules the day, so does Jesus rule in his kingdom (Joh_8:12; Gen_1:16) The sun is now known to be the source of all the light and heat enjoyed on the earth; to his genial beams we owe spring and summer and autumn, and all the precious fruits of the earth; so is it to Jesus Christ we owe all the procession of seasonable blessing which his kingdom affords. He is King, then, over such a realm as Pilate could not appreciate over a kingdom of truth, whose rights interfered not with the rights of Caesar (Joh_18:33-38; Mat_22:21) The light in which our spirits are bathed is truth the truth as it is in Jesus. From his glorious Person there radiates the benign and healing beams which enable the recipients to grow even as the calves of the stall. (Mal_4:2)
II LET US CONSIDER THE SUBJECTS SECURED FOR THIS KING. (Vers. 13, 14.) Now, Paul in this prayer speaks of the Father providing subjects for his dear Son. And, strange to say, he finds them in the kingdom of darkness, and by translation he populates the kingdom of his Son. He finds the raw material in sinners who need redemption and pardon, and they become Christ"s subjects through receiving at his hands these indispensable blessings. Truly it is a strange arrangement that the King, God"s dear Son, should, before entering upon his reign, first die and provide through the shedding of his blood the redemption and forgiveness the subjects need. Yet so it is. The Father sent his Son to be the Sacrifice to take away sin, and from the altar he passes to the throne. We here can see how endeared the King must be to his subjects. Having lived and died to redeem us, we feel it to be only just that we should live, and, if need be, die for him. Hence the consecration of the blood of the Son of God is upon all the subjects. It is a kingdom of redeemed and pardoned and blood-bought souls over whom Jesus reigns.
III CONSIDER NEXT THE OCCUPATIONS OF THIS KINGDOM. (Vers. 9-11.) We can now see clearly that the duty of the blood bought subjects of King Jesus is, in one word, to do his will. But, before we can do his will, we must know it. Hence Paul prays that these Colossians may be "filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding." The cry of the blood bought soul is "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" We place ourselves at the disposal of our King and ask him to show us his will. As a rule, we shall not be left long in doubt regarding it. In the darkest hour the light ariseth for the upright. (Psa_112:4) If we straight fowardly want to know what Christ"s will is, we shall soon find it. But this knowledge of Christ"s will is that the Colossians may "walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." Jesus indicates his will that his blood bought people may walk worthily. High moral principle is to characterize them constantly. And every good work will find in them willing hands. The servants of Christ have been always in the van of philanthropic effort. And this morality and zeal will not be allowed to hinder progress in the knowledge of God. Education is not withheld from any of Christ"s subjects by reason of the multiplicity of other claims. The real education, which is in the knowledge of God for the world and all that it contains constitute in the last analysis simply a revelation of his power and Godhead (Rom_1:20) goes hand-in-hand with moral earnestness and effort. But yet again, the subjects of Christ"s kingdom find the need of patience and long suffering; they cannot get along without bearing a good deal from worldly people sneers, insolence, persecution, and in extreme eases death. Yet the King strengthens his people with might according to his glorious power, so that they are able joyfully to bear and suffer what is sent. It is here that the occupations of the kingdom constitute a power. The world wonders at the saints who can be so joyful in their King, in spite of the drawbacks and difficulties to which they are exposed.
IV CONSIDER AGAIN THE COMPENSATIONS OF THE KINGDOM. (Ver. 12.) What is "the inheritance of the saints in light"? Does it mean a heavenly world where light such as only shines on tropical lands shall bathe emancipated men, and they shall be enabled to lie like lotus eaters amid the glory, and never further roam? It is to be feared that the current notions of heaven partake of the dreamy "sofa religion," which to earnest worldly natures is so repulsive. Let us, on the contrary, remember that the doing of our Lord"s will is its own reward. Heaven will afford no higher enjoyment than this. Our souls are not rightly balanced when they look for something else or more. "We are saved," says Archer Butler, "that we may for eternity serve God; salvation itself would be misery if unaccompanied by a love for that service." In the pleasing of our King, therefore, all the compensations of the kingdom lie. The outward conditions and circumstances would be changed in vain if we were not animated by this loyal and loving spirit. May such meetness for the inheritance be our present experience, as it was that of the Colossians. R.M.E.
Vers. 9-23.
Prayer leading up to the Person of Christ.
I MAKING REQUEST.
1. Impulse under which request was made for the Colossians. "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray and make request for you." It was formerly praying and giving thanks; it is now praying and making request.
(1) It was an impulse with a sufficient cause, viz. the same which led to the thanksgiving. It was an impulse, not founded on fiction, but on matter of fact, on well-accredited testimony. Information received regarding the faith and love of the Colossians had led to praying and thanking God on their behalf. This information also (such is the force of "also," it is wrong to connect it with "we ") led to praying and making request on their behalf.
(2) It was a united impulse. We; i.e. Paul and Timothy. So that here it is literally the carrying out of the Lord"s words, "If two of you shall agree on earth, as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
(3) It was a well-sustained impulse. It did not spend itself in a day (as is sometimes the case); but, commencing with the day when the first hearing had taken place, it had continued without interruption and was still operative. How much, then, did all this represent of availing prayer, of influence going forth on behalf of the Colossian Church! Blessed is the Church that has two such men from day to day mingling their prayers together in its interest.
2. For what request was made.
(1) For knowledge. There is the same notable petition in the Epistle to the Ephesians and in the Epistle to the Philippians. There can be no doubt that the apostle was the friend of enlightenment. If ignorance is the mother of superstition, then knowledge is the mother of true religion.
(a) It is a request for progressive knowledge. "That ye may be filled with the knowledge." We are not born with our minds full of knowledge. Rather are our minds like empty vessels that need to be filled. There is our capacity of knowing, over against the vastness of the knowable. This filling process begins soon, and the prayer is that it may go on toward fulness.
(b) It is a request for the progressive knowledge of God"s will. "Of his will." This is very wide as it stands. It is by his will that things have been made as they are made. And, therefore, this may be taken as a prayer for the advance of science. It is not by his will that he is, or that he is love, or that there is a distinction between right and wrong. But it is his will that we should justly conceive of him, and that we should act in a manner consistent with his holy character. It is by his will that Christ became our Substitute and died for our salvation. And it is his will that we should believe on Christ, and, as we shall presently see, take after him in our characters.
(c) It is a request for the progressive knowledge of God"s will within the spiritual sphere. "In all spiritual wisdom and understanding." In Ephesians "wisdom" is conjoined with "prudence;" here it is conjoined with "understanding." We are happily in the position of having exact definitions of these three words. Aristotle, in his "Nicomachean Ethics," treats of them at length. All are characterized as intellectual virtues. "Wisdom" is conversant with universals, or things eternal and immutable. "Prudence "and "understanding" are conversant with particulars, or details, or applications of principles or things about which deliberation is needed. Prudence is practical (has to do with lines of action, what is to be done or not to be done). Understanding is critical (has to do with processes of thought, how things are to be viewed or not to be viewed). This account of the three words is quite in accordance with Pauline usage. "Wisdom" has evidently with Paul to do with the everlasting verities the character of God, the principles of his government, the mystery of redemption. And "understanding" has to do with subjects of thought which admit of doubt and which have to be presented in their relations to the great entities. And his wisdom and understanding are of the spiritual kind, such as unspiritual men are strangers to. There must be a penetrating with the Spirit if we would rightly apprehend eternal principles and understand their application to subjects that come up for consideration. And it is this that is asked for the Colossians as necessary for the filling with the knowledge (the clear, certain, experimental knowledge) of God"s will.
(2) For the Christian form of character. This is emphatically here the will of God, the knowledge of which is asked.
(a) Generally. It is a request for a worthy Christian walk. "To walk worthily of the Lord." Christ is Lord; we are his servants. And we are like those servants whose ears were bored, as bound to serve this Master for ever. He is no common Master; for (in connection with his doing of God"s will) it is said that his ears were bored. Conduct worthy of him, then, how shall we get the conception of it, and, when we have got the conception, put it into execution? "Unto all pleasing." It is implied in this language that he is uninterruptedly observant of our conduct, and that be forms an estimate of it as we proceed an estimate which must be according to truth. It is implied also that, if we would bring our conduct up to what is worthy of Christ, we must seek his universal approval, we must seek to please him in every moment that we live, in every step that we take.
(b) Under a special aspect.
(a) It is a request for progressive fruitful. ness following upon progressive knowledge. "Bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." It it better to read, "by the knowledge of God." The advantage of this translation (which is grammatically correct) is that "knowledge" is used as before, viz. as that which leads to good conduct as its fruit. There is a taking up here of language which has already been employed. It was said that the gospel-tree was bearing fruit and increasing in Colossae as in all the world. Now, Christians are trees, whose fruit is every good work. A work is good which has Christian principle in it. If for the sake of Christ we are industrious, eager to learn, contented, slow to anger, humble, ready to give up what is hurtful, then we are fruitful in good works. Especially are we fruitful in good works if, after the example and for the sake of Christ, we live for the good of ethers, try to make all around us happy, are kind to the poor, pity the sinful. If a tree is in a healthy state, it not only bears fruit, but increases (in wood) so that it bears more fruit another year. So, if we are in a healthy spiritual state, we shall not only bear fruit, but as we go on in life we shall increase (in quality of being, in aptitude) so that we ever bring forth more fruit. This progressive fruitfulness is brought about by the knowledge of God, which has already been characterized as progressive. The more we get into our minds of Divine truth, the fuller our knowledge of God, the richer will be the fruit which we produce.
(b) It is a request for increased strength. "Strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, unto all patience and long suffering with joy." If a tree is to bear fruit, it must be supplied with nourishment. So, if we are to produce every good work, we must be strengthened by God. The measure according to which strength can be supplied is infinite. It is "according to the might of his glory." "Might" is an attribute of the glorious majesty of God. "God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God." Power can be communicated from this source to us. We have already been strengthened with some power, but we need to ask for ourselves, and others need to ask for us, that we may be strengthened with more power. We need to be strengthened in prosperity to make a right use of our powers; but especially do we need to be strengthened in times of trial unto all patience and long suffering. "Patience," in so far as it is to be distinguished from "long suffering," has reference to trials as laid upon us by God. "Long suffering," in so far as it is to be distinguished from "patience," has reference to trials caused, and as caused by others. We never need to bear with God, we have to bear up under what he (directly or indirectly) lays upon us; but we have to bear with others who are unreasonable or do us injury. And the power communicated from the Divine glory is efficient to make us endure with joy. This is the Christian, as distinguished from the mere Stocial, relation to sufferings. We can rise in triumph over our sufferings. "Let us also," says the apostle, "rejoice in our tribulations." "In the world ye have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
(c) It is a request for thankfulness. Alike in prosperity and in adversity, we have three causes for joy, for which we pour out our souls in gratitude.
(i.) Thankfulness for the loving purpose of God. "Giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." This is not a meetening for heaven in the way of holy habits. The words cannot bear that interpretation which is commonly put upon them. The historical parallel is to be kept in view. The Jews had their allotment (it is literally here "the portion of the lot," i.e. the portion which fell to them by lot) in the land of Canaan. God counted it a meet thing (so we would translate) that they should have this allotment. This was, in point of time, antecedent to the deliverance from Egypt, which is referred to in the next verse. It was true that in Abraham God counted it a meet thing that they, his descendants, should possess the land of Canaan. So for us saints, i.e. the successors of the holy people (not merely Jewish Christians, but Gentile Christians, who are referred to at the close of this paragraph), there is in store an allotted inheritance. This is to be in the world of light (when the shadows have fled away, when the light of God is all-penetrative), and with this in prospect there would need to be a meetening, in the expelling of all impurity, of all darkness, from our natures. But still it is true that this was the loving purpose of God from all eternity. The Father (it was his love that was at the root of it) counted it a meet thing in Christ that we should be partakers of the inheritance in light. And thus what is expanded and made prominent in Ephesians regarding the purpose of God, we have here in brief and incidentally.
(ii.) Thankfulness for the deliverance effected in Christ. "Who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love." The historical parallel is still kept up. Egypt was, to the Israelites, a house of bondage. They were under power, not power in its purity, power in the service of light, but power in the service of darkness harsh, oppressive power. But out of that they were brought with astrong arm, and were translated into a new orderly state of things, which is expressed by the word "kingdom" (the theocracy). So there is an Egypt behind us all. Sin was the tyranny of darkness. But the Father effected for us a deliverance. How it was effected is not stated here. But, to carry out the historical parallel, it was by the sacrifice of the Son of his love. The power of darkness came upon him in all its horrors. He was the Firstborn, slain in the land of Egypt, that Israel might escape. And this deliverance involved a complete changing of our state. It was a bringing us in Christ into a true kingdom, a kingdom presided over by Christ, a kingdom whose law is love.
(iii.) Thankfulness for the enjoyment of redemption. "In whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins." We are yet in our wilderness state; we have not come to our full redemption, to our possession of the lot. But we have the feeling of emancipation. We have the first and characteristic blessing of redemption, viz. the forgiveness of our sins. We feel happy in the enjoyment of the Divine favour. And that is only part of the redemption we have here. For, as is brought out in Ephesians, we have the Spirit as the Earnest of the inheritance. We have thus, under all circumstances, causes for thankfulness to God; and therefore prayer may always go up for this.
II THE PERSON OF CHRIST.
1. In relation to the universe. His having the preeminence.
(1) As arising out of his relation to the Father. "Who i.e. the Son of his love is the Image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation." First part of the designation. Image is to be distinguished from mere likeness. There is a likeness between members of the same family, but the parental features are imaged in the child. In "image" there is the idea of derivation from an original. So it is not mere likeness that is predicated of the First and Second Persons of the Godhead; but God is represented (imperfectly, we may believe) as the original, and Christ as the copy. In 1Co_11:7 man is said to be the image of God, so that this way of designating the Second Person does not necessarily imply his divinity. At the same time. it may be employed in consistency with his divinity, if (admitting the mystery of the relationship, viz. that one should be original or prototype, and another copy or impress) we think of him as the perfect Image of God. The designation "invisible" is here applied to God, and when Christ is said to be the Image of the invisible God, the apparent meaning is that the essential idea of his existence is that he is God manifest, and that antecedent to his being God manifest in the flesh. From all eternity he manifests, is in visible form, that God whom no man hath seen nor can see. And this, as we shall presently see, accounts for his connection with the work of creation. Second part of the designation. He is "the Firstborn of all creation." As we must first think of original and then of copy, so we must first think of Father and then of Son. The Father is imaged in the Son. In relation to the Father, the Second Person is strictly the Only-begotten. The firstborn has always reference to some coming after. Christ is the "Firstborn" among many brethren, i.e. Brother leading others after him. He is styled in this passage "the Firstborn from the dead" i.e. the first to rise from the dead himself, and bringing others after him. If the expression had been "the first-created of creation," the Arian interpretation (Christ"s creatureliness) might have been pressed. But there is an expression used which seems to make Christ stand out from all creation, as not created himself, but born. If it had been Christ"s relation to the Father that had been solely in question, the expression would probably have been not "born," but "begotten" (only begotten). But it is rather Christ"s relation to all that might be thought of as in the family. And therefore the ordinary word in such a relation is used, "firstborn" (as distinguished from after born by same mother). And it is intended to bring out emphatically the thought that he has the rights of the firstborn. Philo had applied the name "First-begotten" (relative to Father) to the Loges. But the Messianic name was "Firstborn" (relative to other members of a family). "I will make him my Firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth". (Psa_89:27) Kings of the earth, by virtue of primogeniture, are placed over their portions of the earth. As God"s Firstborn, Christ is higher, as absolutely placed over all creation.
(2) As arising out of his causal relation to the universe.
(a) Conditional cause. "For in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers." We are taught here, in opposition to the Arian idea, that Christ stood out from all things created as their Cause. He is thus placed in a different category from creation. As Cause, he was very closely connected with creation. There seems to be a catching up of the thought that he is essentially the Manifester of God. In him, as such, creation had its origin. God is manifested (comes out of invisibility) in creation. "For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity." If, then, it was to be made to appear (outside of Godhead) what God was in his wisdom, power, goodness, to whom did this belong but to the Second Person? It was in him as Manifester that it necessarily inhered. There was an emphatic universality connected with his work of creating. In him were all things (equivalent to the universe) created. But, as if that were not enough, a comprehensive division is added: "in the heavens and upon the earth." As if this, again, were not enough, a different division (for stars are in the heavens and visible, the human spirit is upon the earth and invisible), but an equally comprehensive division, is added: "things visible and things invisible." As if these two divisions in locality were not enough, essences are next brought in, but not all essences, only the highest angelic beings, that might be thought of as in rivalry with the Son: "whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers." Great prominence was given in Jewish speculations to the not very profitable subject of the grades of the celestial hierarchy. These speculations were mixed up with the non-scriptural doctrine of seven heavens. And Judaizing Christians speculated in the same line. These angels became the intermediate beings of Eastern theosophy. The idea was that, matter being the evil principle, God could not create it immediately. But there was a descending scale from God to matter. God created a being at a certain remove from himself. This first created being created another, still further removed; and so it went on, till one was created far enough down to create matter. It is quite likely, from the reference afterward to the worshipping el angels, that in Colossae there was danger of the idea gaining ground that the angels in their several grades were to be regarded, in the light of Eastern theosophy, as beings having to do with creation, and on that ground to be worshipped. The apostle certainly clears the whole ground here for the Colossians. He does not profess to know what the several grades are. He gives the common (not the inspired) names with a certain impatience (as associated with much that was rash). But this he asserts that, whatever they are, they have nothing to do with creating. In him all of them, from the highest to the lowest, were created. No part of creation was the work of an inferior angel, but every part of it was immediately in him.
(b) Instrumental cause. "All things have been created through him." Creation can be ascribed to God, as it is in, Rom_11:36. But it is true that God never acts immediately; he always acts through the agency of the Son. New Testament language is very explicit on this subject. "All things were made by him the Word) and without him was not anything made that was made." "Through whom his Son also he made the worlds." So here the present (no longer the past) fact of creation is attributed to the instrumentality of the Son. And this is not the passive instrumentality the Alexandrian Jew thought of in attributing creation to the Loges. Neither is the agent in creation the dark, hard, limited demiurge of the Gnostics; but he is distinctly a Divine Person, One who with an intelligence, with an interest, with a plastic power, that are all infinite, has done his work.
(c) Final cause. "And unto him." One Agent and one End; so the Christian doctrine of creation proceeds. And how grandly does it rise above all mere human speculations about creation! Why has this totality been brought into existence? There are subordinate ends which are served by the various parts. A plant has an end in its own development and fruit bearing. It has an end beyond that, in its service to man and to beast. Man the microcosm, as he has been called has an end in his own development.
He has an end beyond himself, in the mastering of the world. And each member of the race has an end in helping the development of his neighbour. But when we think of the presence of so much evil, we still ask Why have we and all things been made? It is a satisfaction to have, asthe answer, that the one reason which determined the existence of the whole, as the one Bringer into existence, is Christ as the Manifestation of God. It was no cold necessity, it was the Son, who is here the subject, freely, filially, and in view of all that now exists to mar creation, bringing out what was in the heart of the Divine Father. And in that answer, here given, faith can rest.
(d) Pre-existent cause. "And he is before all things." It was very necessary clearly to think, of Christ as preexistent to his incarnation. Christ himself said in memorable words, "Before Abraham was, I am." His pre-existence is here carried forward to a much earlier point. There is that totality now which is called the universe. The time was when there was nothing outside of God..There were no materials lying from all eternity (as some have vainly imagined) out of which a universe could be constructed. There were no germs out of which a universe could be developed. There was simply the creative energy of the Word, who had himself to create all the materials and germs of things. We have, then, to go back to him as the pre-existent Creator. And not only was he before all things; but, as it is here put, he is (absolutely exists) before all things. For time itself is his creation; and before it, and outside of it, he in himself exists.
(e) Permanent cause. "And in him all things consist." But for him, all things would fall asunder and go back into nothingness. There are laws, indeed, which regulate and give stability to things; but these laws subsist in Christ, are non existent out of him. His continued existence is really the guarantee for the sun rising every morning. It will rise so long as he, who made it, has an end in its rising. And all things have consistence and persistence only in his existence and in his ends. There is no other basis on which things can proceed toward the consummation.
2. In relation to the Church.
(1) His headship over the Church. "And he who has the pre-eminence in the universe is the Head of the body, the Church." As Christ, as God"s Firstborn, has rights over all creation, so has he the headship over the Church. In Eph_1:22, 23 the thought turns more on the Church as the body of Christ; here it turns more on Christ as the Head. Through the brain, in its connection with the nerves, the mind can be present in all the body; so Christ is present in all the members of the Church. From the brain as a centre the movements of the body can be originated, guided, combined, controlled; so from Christ as a Centre the movements of the Church are originated, guided, combined, controlled. This domination of the brain, being so complete, is well fitted to set forth the supremacy of Christ over the Church.
(2) As arising out of his relation to the Church.
(a) Originating cause. "Who is seeing he is the Beginning." He gives origin to the Church. It belonged to Christ, as the Manifester of God, to bring the universe into existence; so it belongs to Christ, as the Manifester of God, to bring the Church into existence. The connection is very close. It is as though we created and then guided and controlled the movements of our body. A king rules over those with whose existence he has had very little connection. Christ in the Church rules and by strongest right over those whom he has created and again created.
(b) Inaugurating cause. "The Firstborn from the dead." It is difficult to get a word to express the whole meaning. There is this idea that he exists in that in which he operates. He is the great Energizer incarnate. And as incarnate (in the carrying out of his work) he was numbered among the dead. But he rose from the dead, the possessor of a new life. He is not only the possessor of a new life himself, but he is regenerative cause to those that come after him. As regenerative cause to those that come after, he has the right of the Firstborn over them. Thus is his authority established in the Church as in the universe.
3. Combination.
(1) His being Mediator in both spheres. "That in all things he might have the pre-eminence." There was dualism (a good and a bad principle) at the root of the doctrine of intermediate beings or angelic mediators. The apostle teaches the existence of one Mediator presiding over the two spheres the universe and the Church. This is a cardinal point in the Christology of the New Testament. There are some who have mistakenly or confusedly the idea that it is God in nature and Christ in the Church. It is really Christ in both, as the Mediator of God. He mediated in creation before he mediated in redemption. It belongs to the very idea of his being to be Mediator. This absolute pre-eminence of Christ implies a unity of meaning, a harmony of working, between the two spheres. It is comforting so far as the universe is concerned. For it implies that we are as in a Christian temple. It is our Saviour who is working around us. We can feel that there is behind all works of creation, not iron law, but infinite love the love that bled on Calvary. It is comforting so far as the Church is concerned. For it implies, as is taught in Ephesians, that all things can be placed at the service of the Church. All the forms of things (even the evil forms) are for the education of the Church. All the products of the earth are for the support of the Church. The worldly powers are controlled for the Church. The very stars in their courses fight for the Church.
(2) His qualifications as Mediator. "For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fulness dwell," In the fact of Christ being Mediator there is implied a certain subordination, his being Second in relation to the First. There is the same subordination implied in his being represented as the copy of the great Original, and also in his being represented as Son which cannot be thought without first thinking "Father." With the First, here as elsewhere, there is associated the idea of good pleasure. It is as fitting for the Father to have his good pleasure as for Christ to carry it out. The remarkable thing here is that this good pleasure is represented as extending to the qualifications which Christ possessed as Mediator. "It was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fulness dwell." To the word pleroma, translated "the fulness," may be attached the idea of "filled-up receptacle." The word "plenitude" seems nearer the meaning. It is applied to the full complement for manning a ship. As applied to Christ, it means the totality of the Divine perfections. There were some who had the idea that the agent employed in creating had only a portion of the pleroma, as much as was needed for his work. It is asserted of Christ as Mediator that he exhausted in himself the Divine perfections. There were some who had the idea that there was a separation from (in human semblance), and afterward a return to, the pleroma. It is asserted of Christ that the Divine plenitude did not sojourn, but necessarily dwelt, in him. Thus were the Colossian believers guarded against all actual or possible philosophizings that would have dimmed the glory of the great Mediator.
(3) The issue of his work as Mediator. "And through him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say, whether things upon the earth, or things in the heavens." This relates to the doctrine of the last things. The word "reconcile" is stronger than "adjust, or "rectify." It is applied to the reconciliation of enemies. It is applied to our reconciliation, as sinners, to God. It is not so strong as the expression, "summing up in Christ," which is used in Ephesians. But it is stronger than the word translated "reconcile" in the fifth chapter of 2 Corinthians. It is intensive here, and means reconciliation (after a breaking of the harmony) back to the pristine or intended condition of things. This reconciliation is to extend to all things, viz. all things to which the Mediator gave being. This universal reconciliation is to be not merely between the different parts, but unto the Father. It is to be effected through the Son. More specifically it is stated that it is to be on the ground of God having made peace through the blood of Christ"s cross. The blood shed on the cross, the blood of atonement for sin, was the procuring cause of reconciliation. There the reconciling efficacy all centred. And it is to go out to the widest circumference, for it is added, "Through him, I say, whether things upon the earth, or things in the heavens." What are the contents of the universal reconciliation which is here taught? We must guard, on the one hand, against a dilution of the language of Scripture. We must guard, on the other hand, against a dogmatic fixing of the form which this universal reconciliation is to take. "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children." It belongs to us to take advantage of the revealed way of reconciliation, viz. faith in Christ.
III APPLICATION TO THE COLOSSIANS.
1. Gentilism. "And you, being in time past." The Colossians are reminded of what they were in time past, to emphasize their present participation in reconciliation.
(1) Gentile in position. "Alienated." In their heathen state they were among the "things "needing to be reconciled to God. They were away from him, as the Greek word indicates. They were in the position of aliens. They were without external privileges such as the covenant people had. And they were without the inward helps that were necessary for their living the life of God.
(2) Gentile in their thoughts. "And enemies in your mind." The mind is the seat of the thoughts. It is where we reflect, come to our conclusions, form our resolutions. It was in this sphere that the Colossians manifested hostility to God. If a right conception of God had been presented to them, it would not only have been uncongenial to them, but it would have called forth active, virulent hostility. As it was (with God very much as a lost thought), their hostility showed itself rather in their pleasing themselves in their thoughts, in their forsaking the rays of light that still lingered in their reason and conscience.
(3) Gentile in their works. "In your evil works." This was the outcome of their God-hating thoughts. Hating good (if not so directly God) in their mind, they did not, and indeed could not, keep their hatred there. Their actions took a complexion from their thoughts. Those who love God have more or less of the Divine form in their actions. But the actions of these Colossians in heathenism were evil. They were not done out of love to God. That alone was sufficient to give them a character of evil. Of positive forms of evil, from what is warned against in this Epistle, we may particularize sensuality, covetousness, deceitfulness, revengefulness.
2. The historical element in reconciliation. "Yet now hath he God reconciled in the body of his Christ"s flesh through death.
(1) God in bodily form. It is true that we must separate from God his having a body. He is a Spirit; "he consists not of various parts extended one without and beyond another." The ground on which the Jews were forbidden to represent God under any bodily form was that he had no bodily form. He was in the fifteenth verse declared to be the invisible God. "Now, if he had a body and hid it from our eyes, he might be said not to be seen, but could not be said to be invisible" (Charnock). And yet he whose divinity (from language in preceding verses) is indubitable has here ascribed to him a body. He appeared in Old Testament times in what was the semblance of a body; but it is a real body that is here ascribed to him. That is to say, we have what we cannot understand the Divine spirituality, and yet a body.
(2) God in the form of flesh. The Second Person did not receive a body unique in kind. He did not receive our body in its paradisical or ideal state; but as it was actually, inheriting the effects of the Fall. He received it from Mary. If there was a purifying (from the Holy Ghost), what he received was none the less flesh. He appeared in flesh in the midst of human history. That is to say, he whose existence formed the ground upon which history went forward, became himself part of history, became himself a historical Personage.
(3) God in the experience of death. Flesh is a weak thing. It cannot well stand the shocks of time. Its transitoriness is being ever evidenced. "All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field." "And the Word became flesh," it is said, and that carried with it a weak, transitory existence. In flesh he had to pass through the experience of death. That is to say, we have this as the climax of the mystery that he, who is the absolutely Living One, in experience went round to the opposite pole of death. In accordance with this, we can pray in such words as these: "Good Lord, deliver us: by the mystery of thy holy incarnation; by thy holy nativity and circumcision; by thy baptism, fasting, and temptation; by thine agony and bloody sweat; by thy cross and passion, Good Lord, deliver us." This is said by unitarians to be a materializing of God. God came into time, assumed humanity nineteen hundred years ago. That is what Christianity says, what stamps it as an historical religion. It is only to be scouted as a lowering of God on the supposition that it is impossible for God to descend. But if it is possible for God, impelled by love, to descend (and the possibilities of love are matter of revelation), then we have a grand historical commencement in God descending through the infinite interval into time and into humanity. He descended, according to the teaching here, in the Father"s Name to make reconciliation. The foundation of this reconciliation was laid principally in the great historical fact of his death. It was death in perfect submission to the will of God. It was death as the desert of sin. It was death deriving infinite value from the fact that the Person dying was the Son of God. To this Reconciler in humanity all can cling. His reconciliation would seem to have a universality extending beyond humanity. Within humanity Gentiles as well as Jews were included. "I am a man, and there is nothing human foreign to me." All alike can cling to God appearing in humanity and can participate in the benefits of his work performed in humanity.
3. The ultimate of reconciliation. "To present you holy and without blemish and unreprovable before him." "Before him" is to be understood as before God, and points to a time when we shall be in the presence of God in a sense in which we are not now in the presence of God. It is God also who presents here; but, as God reconciles through Christ, so also he presents through Christ (in accordance with. (Eph_5:27)
(1) Positively. Holy. This is to be taken in its full contents. We are now consecrated to God (as ancient Israel). At our presentation we shall have all the inward dispositions that correspond to our outward consecration. Our spiritual susceptibilities, affinities, aspirations, will correspond to the presence of God into which we come.
(2) Negatively. Without blemish. This is the constant sacrificial expression. Whatever was offered to God was to be without blemish. It would belong to the officiating priest to pronounce upon the fitness of an animal for sacrifice. There is a Greek word which means "blemish examiner." Such Christ is to those who are to be presented to God. In his inspection of the seven Churches he discovered blemishes in them. We shall not be in a fit state for presentation to God until all blemishes have been removed from us. Unreprovable. This is a following up of the previous expression. Pronounced upon by Christ, our position before God is for ever secured, our character is unimpeachable. No one can come in after him to reverse his decision. There cannot be ground for any subsequent charge being brought against us.
4. Gentle exhortation to steadfastness.
(1) In faith. "If so be that ye continue in the faith." To have so much done for us as is implied in our fitness for presentation to God, we must persevere, and persevere in the right way. Our position is to be faith toward Christ. Within ourselves we have not the elements of strength. We are powerless to form character. We are not only to come into the position of faith, but we are to rest in it. However our outward position may be altered, our inward position is to remain unaltered. Result. "Grounded." "My soul hath found the steadfast ground." We try other foundations, only to find them insufficient. When we have got past our own doings and the services of the Church down to Christ, then we feel that we have found the immovable Foundation, the steadfast ground for our being. "And steadfast." A building even by its own weight gets steadied when it is upon a secure foundation. So by faith are we to get steadied upon the Foundation. We are to become like the Foundation. The immovableness that is in Christ is to come up into us.
(2) In hope. "And not moved away from the hope of the gospel." Believing in Christ we have hope toward God we have hope in view of the future. We have hope of being presented holy and without blemish and unreprovable before God. This is the hope communicated in, evoked by, the gospel. From this hope we are not to be moved away (which is the negative corresponding to the positive connected with faith). We are not to be of two moods, hoping and desponding, but we are to keep to the one mood, hoping. Circumstances may arise in which we are tempted to despond or despair; but our hope is to partake of the immovableness of its object. The inexcusableness of being moved away from the hope of the gospel.
(a) From their having heard the gospel. "Which ye heard." Left to themselves, they would have been in heathenism and its hopelessness: "Having no hope, and without God in the world," as is said in Ephesians. Such had been their melancholy state, but by the grace of God the gospel had been preached to them in Colossae. It became them, then, to present a contrast to the hopelessness of heathenism, to be inspired with the hope of future presentation and everlasting continuance before God.
(b) From the universality which characterized the gospel. "Which was preached in all creation under heaven." The form of the command was: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation." The apostle, writing not many years after the giving forth of the command, regards its universal character as already established. It had already obtained this seal of its Divine authorship. It was not a partial provincial thing, but, preached in all creation under heaven, it had been proved to be adapted to the wants of men. They were not, then, to abandon its peculiar hope.
(c) From Paul"s personal relation to the gospel. "Whereof I Paul was made a minister." Of this gospel, the universal hope bringer, he had the high privilege of being a minister. He had no claim to the position. He was only Paul, one who had been a persecutor and had obtained mercy. But the gospel was dear to him, and, in writing to them and in introducing his personal relation to them, he puts that forward as a reason for their not being moved away from their hope. R. F.
Vers. 9-14.
The apostolic prayer.
The maxims of the Church as well as those of the world often throw a glamour round much that is worthless a glamour that stirs our desire of possession. But neither the world nor a worldly Church can teach us what is really worth aiming at, struggling after, praying for. A man like Paul can. What he asks for it must be good to have. His prayer may well guide us. We ought to wish for what he sought for Christians; and, more than that, we are encouraged to hope for it. He prays
I THAT THEIR KNOWLEDGE MAY INCREASE. Partly because of the error by which many of the Colossian Church were being misled, but also because increase of knowledge is good for any Church, Paul here says he prays for it, and even at times afterwards urges it on them. No Greek had more veneration for the blue-eyed Athena, no Roman for wondrously equipped Minerva, than Paul had for knowledge. There are three expressions here to describe this knowledge, expressions that are very often used in combination both in the Old and New Testaments. They describe, generally, the science, the philosophy, and the art of religion.
1. Knowledge, which in the Greek is not the simple word for knowledge, but intensified, large, and thorough knowledge. In this case full acquaintance with the Law of God, the precepts of Christ, the doctrine of the apostles, which is essential as a beginning, a basis of Christian culture, but is only a beginning and a basis.
2. Wisdom, which is higher than knowledge and includes both knowledge and understanding. It is not mere additional information, the acquaintance with more facts, or even more laws, or even more principles. Wisdom is digested knowledge, knowledge wrought into a system; or, as Cardinal Newman well puts it, "reason exercised upon knowledge." In this case it is the calm comprehensive view of the information attained information about God"s Law, Christ"s precepts, the apostle"s doctrine.
3. Spiritual understanding, using a word that denotes the application of knowledge to detail, following its processes as applied to daily life and separate actions. It means a keen, quick understanding of the bearing of God"s will on all their conduct, all their conversation, all their life. Such a knowledge, with wisdom and understanding, would not only save the Colossians, but save us. It is, thank God, a wisdom recorded for us in Scripture, incarnate in Jesus, interpreted by the Holy Spirit. But we must acquire it. Is half an hour a day too much to give? Is earnest study too much? Is persistent prayer too much? "Wisdom is the principal thing; with all thy getting get understanding.
II That, as the result of their knowledge, THEIR CHARACTER MAY RIPEN. This we should expect from prayer for knowledge of the will of God; not His essence, nature, attributes, but will. Religion is not a system for speculation, but for the regulation of life. What the apostle here taught, viz. that the end of all knowledge is conduct, Jesus Christ made gloriously clear in his words, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." No more than you would be satisfied if your vines year after year only "made wood," or your apple trees simply grew in height and in far-reaching branches would St. Paul or Christ, the great Husbandman himself, have been satisfied if there had been only mental growth, intellectual growth as the modern phrase is in this or any Church. Hence his prayer seeks blessing for character; he looks, as you on the vine, for clusters of the grape for fruit. In the description of character the apostle prays for, we notice:
1. A walking worthily of the Lord. A walk, a progress, an activity, worthy of the follower of him who "has left us an example that we should follow in his steps.
2. An increasing knowledge of God. So knowledge recurs, and this time it is more than a knowledge of God"s will; it is a knowledge of God himself. This is a result of such walking, such conduct. Obedience is the organ of spiritual knowledge. We are divinely assured that they who "do the will shall know of the doctrine.
3. The being strengthened with all might according to the power of his glory. Inner strength, producing not only endurance, but gentle patience in sorrow.
4. Giving thanks to the Father. Thus life shall have a glow on it, a music in it. Praying that their life may have this glow, this music, "with joyfulness," the apostle is led to recall the reasons for their profound joy.
(1) Meetness for blessedness: "Made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.
(2) Deliverance from tryanny: "Delivered us from the power of darkness.
(3) Settlement in liberty and honour: "Translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." And all this is through Christ, our Ransom, our Rescuer; but now not a victor rescuing by force of arm, but a philanthropist by payment of ransom. Thus Paul strikes the keynote of his message to Colossae Jesus Christ the King of the kingdom in which Christians already are; the Source of their deliverance from the guilt and from the power of sin; Jesus Christ the Fulness, the Plenitude of God"s presence and grace. U. R.T.
Vers. 9-12.
The intercession.
The news brought by Epaphras had a further effect on the apostle? It prompted him, not only to thanksgivings, but to intercessions. In the Christian life some prayers receive definite answers and need not be repeated. But new subjects are perpetually coming before us. Thus there is a call on us to "pray (proseucomai) without ceasing" and to "make request (aijteomai)" with perseverance for definite blessings till they are granted, and petitions are charged into thanksgivings or are clearly refused. Note how Paul, while "in labours more abundant," found time for prayers "without ceasing" also (Rom_1:9; Php_1:4; 2Ti_1:3) As a specimen of his intercessions take this prayer. The requests end with the words, "Giving thanks unto the Father," though the prayer may be said to include the statements of sublime truth which follow (vers. 12-14), which suggest motives for seeking the blessings asked on their behalf. And the prayer itself comes to no definite end, but may be said to lose itself in adoration as the apostle unveils the mystery of the person and glory of Christ. The key to the somewhat involved clauses of the sentence is in ver. 10, "to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing." And the objects of the prayer are
I FULLER KNOWLEDGE WITH A VIEW TO A MORE CONSISTENT CHARACTER. Paul prays that the Colossians may receive what they already possess (vers. 6, 9; cf. Psa_116:2; Mat_13:12) The more God gives, the more we should ask of him. God"s "will" includes doctrines to be believed and duties to be discharged. (cf. John. (1Th_4:3) The two questions put by Paul on the day of his conversion, "Who art thou, Lord?" and "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" are the two great questions of the Christian life. An uneducated conscience is a more serious obstacle to growth in grace than an unenlightened intellect. Our "wisdom and understanding" need to be "spiritual" (Psa_25:9, Psa_25:14; 1Co_2:9-12) as contrasted with "philosophy and vain deceit" and mere worldly policy. (Col_2:8, Col_2:18, Col_2:23) The Holy Spirit can make us discriminating as well as sensitive. The wisdom needed may be had for the asking. (Jam_1:5) For all the knowledge gained is in order to enable us "to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing." The end of all knowledge is conduct. (Joh_13:17)
II A CONSISTENT CHARACTER IN ALL ITS VARIOUS ASPECTS. Three signs of a full-orbed, consistent Christian character are mentioned in three clauses (see Greek, vers. 10-12). They are comprehensive enough to describe a completely sanctified life.
1. Fruitfulness. This is the natural, as it is also the appointed, end of spiritual life; (Joh_15:16) "fruit after its kind." But whereas a fruit tree can bring forth only one variety of fruit, we are to be "bearing fruit in every good work all manner of fruit, like the tree of life in the Paradise of God. "Twelve manner of fruits" are said to be borne by that celestial tree. And no less than nine varieties of "the fruit of the Spirit" (note "fruit," not "fruits," unity in diversity) are enumerated in a single passage. (Gal_5:22, Gal_5:23) Any manifestation of Christian consistency may be fruitful, though here the reference is chiefly to the active Christian life. While bearing fruit, we ourselves shall be "growing" and "increasing." A fruitful life is a healthy life. The "spiritual wisdom and understanding" already asked for will be means of grace and of growth, like rain and dew to the plant (Deu_32:2; Hos_14:5) We shall increase "by the knowledge of God" (Revised Version, margin). Such spiritual fruitfulness and growth will be most "pleasing" to God. (Joh_15:8)
1. Patience. (Ver. 11.) The reference here is to the passive virtues. "Patience and long-suffering" remind us of the heroic endurance and the superhuman self restraint by which suffering Christians may glorify God. To enable us to suffer patiently and.to suffer long, the omnipotence of God is put forth. His almighty and everlasting arms are placed beneath us to prop up our poor feeble patience. So great are "the riches of his glory" and "the might of his glory," that he can enable us to endure, not only with patience, but even "with joy" (Rom_5:3; 2Co_12:9, 2Co_12:10) Suffering may be as high a vocation as preaching. Notice how our Lord, passing over all the active labours of Peter with a word ("Feed my sheep"), fixes attention on his last sufferings and death as the special means by which (in St. John"s words) "he should glorify God". (Joh_21:18, Joh_21:19)
2. Thankfulness. (Ver. 12.) Some of the causes for thankfulness are brought before our thoughts in the clauses that follow. But we need go no further than that name "the Father," for hallelujahs to rise to our lips. (Illustrate this from some of the Father"s names, "Father of mercies," "Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," etc., and some of the statements respecting him Father himself loveth you;" "Your Father knoweth," etc.) Such thankfulness strengthens patience. (Illustrations: German Reformers, in times of special trouble, cheering one another by singing the forty-sixth psalm. Some Malagasy Christians, during the persecution, when meeting with the late Revelation W. Ellis and enjoying secret Christian fellowship, on one occasion said, "We are so happy we must sing. Warned of the danger of being heard, they restrained themselves for a time, but soon said again, "We must sing; and they sang in a whisper. If this prayer is answered in our experience, we enjoy the three elements of a consistent and robust Christian life described by our Lord in Joh_13:17, viz. knowing, doing, feeling: "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. E.S.P.
Vers. 9, 10.
The knowledge of God"s will.
I THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD"S WILL IS THE KNOWLEDGE WHICH IS MOST SUPREMELY IMPORTANT.
1. The knowledge of God is the most important knowledge attainable. Many are eager in pursuing the investigation of curious questions of human affairs who are quite indifferent to the truth about the Being who fills heaven and earth. Others are busily searching into the mysteries of the works of God, while quite forgetful of the Maker of them. But to know God is to know the Highest and Best.
2. The knowledge of the will of God is the most important knowledge of God.
(1) It is the highest knowledge of God; for the disposition of the will is the chief characteristic of a spiritual being.
(2) It is the knowledge of God with which we have most concern; for, though there must be glories and wonders in all the great thoughts of God, for us it is most needful that we "should understand what he is purposing to do and what he wishes us to do.
(3) It is the most attainable knowledge of God. The abstract ideas of the mind of God are far above our reach. The practical thoughts and laws and commandment of his will are what he has most clearly revealed.
II THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD"S WILL MAY BE ACQUIRED THROUGH SPIRITUAL WISDOM.
1. It may be acquired. This branch of theology is within our reach. In our darkest moments, when we cannot understand the thoughts and plans of God, we may discover what God wills us to do.
2. It is to be got at through spiritual wisdom. We have it not by nature. We cannot reach it by efforts of bare human intelligence. Philosophy will not reveal it. A higher wisdom than the earthly, a purer wisdom than the carnal, heavenly and spiritual wisdom is necessary for this knowledge.
3. This spiritual wisdom is a Divine inspiration. St. Paul prays for it. It is not a product of experience like our knowledge of the world. The man of the world learns much about evil by his experience, but little about goodness. Goodness and the will of God with which it is identical are only seen by a spiritual light which little children may have more clearly than learned men and experienced observers. It is an inward light, a spiritual inspiration.
III THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD"S WILL IS FRUITFUL IN GREAT PRACTICAL RESULTS. This is not a barren knowledge acquired only for the satisfaction of idle curiosity, nor even merely a worthy object of contemplation.
1. We must know the will of God in order that our life may be worthy of Christ. This is an important point not sufficiently considered by those people who slight the contemplative side of Christianity. The practical side will be a blundering failure without the due cultivation of the contemplative. A lame man with good eyes can walk more straightly than a man with sound limbs who is blind. To please God we must first of all know his will.
2. This knowledge helps us to be fruitful in good works to men. We can never benefit men so much as by doing God"s will. Our duty to God and our duty to men are mutually inclusive. We must study the will of God more carefully in order that our work amongst men may be more wise and successful. We often fail in our conscientious efforts to benefit men because we do not work Recording to the method of God"s will. W.F.A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv9, 11, 12 To pray for you and desire that ye might…
Col_1:9-12
To pray for you and desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge.
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The prayer
I. The fountain or root of all Christian character. That ye might be filled … understanding.
1. The thing desired is the perfecting of the Colossians in religious knowledge.
(1) The idea of completeness up to the height of their capacity is given in filled; like some jar charged with sparkling water up to the brim.
(2) The advanced degree of the knowledge is given in a favourite word which signifies mature knowledge, deeper apprehension of Gods truth.
(3) The rich variety of that knowledge is set forth in the clauses which may read filled … so that ye may abound in … wisdom and understanding, or with the knowledge of His will, i.e., manifested in that will. That knowledge will blossom out into every kind of wisdom and understanding.
2. The principles which these words involve.
(1) That the foundation of Christian character and conduct is laid in the knowledge of the will of God. What concerns us to know is not abstract truth, or revelation or speculative thought, but Gods will. No revelation has accomplished its purpose when a man has simply understood it. The light is knowledge which is meant to shape practice. Had this been remembered two opposite errors would have been avoided.
(a) The error threatening the Colossians, that Christianity was merely a system of truth to be believed. An unpractical heterodoxy was their danger, an unpractical orthodoxy is ours. The one important question is, does our Christianity work?
(b) The converse error to that of unpractical knowledge, that of unintelligent practice, is quite as bad. A numerous class profess to attach no importance to Christian doctrine, but put all the stress on Christian morals. What God hath joined together let no man put asunder. Knowledge is sound when it moulds conduct; action is good when based on knowledge.
(2) Progress in knowledge is the law of the Christian life. There should be continual advancement in the apprehension of Gods will from the first glimpse which saves to this mature knowledge. The progress does not consist in leaving behind old truths, but in the profounder conception of what is contained in them. The same constellations which burn in our midnight sky looked down on Chaldean astronomers, but how much more is known about them at Greenwich than was dreamed at Babylon.
II. The river or stems of christian conduct.
1. Worthily of the Lord. There are other forms of the same expression (Eph_4:1.; Rom_16:2; Php_1:27; 1Th_2:12), in all of which there is the idea of a standard to which the practical life is to be conformed.
(1) The Christian should walk in a manner corresponding to what Christ has done for him. We say that we are not our own, but bought with a price. Then how do we repay that costly purchase. Nothing short of complete self-surrender can characterize the walk that corresponds with our obligations to Christ. Repugnant duties then become tokens of love, pleasant as every sacrifice made at its bidding ever is.
(2) The Christian should act in a manner corresponding to Christs character and conduct. Nothing less than the effort to tread in His footsteps is a walk worthy of the Lord. All unlikeness to His pattern is a dishonour to Him and to ourselves.
2. Unto all pleasing, which sets forth the great aim as being to please Christ in everything, and satisfy Him by our conduct. We are not to mind other peoples approbation. We can do without that. What does it matter who praise, if He frowns? or who blame if He smiles. Nothing will so spur us to diligence, and make all life solemn and grand as the thought that we labour that … we may be well pleasing to Him. Nothing will so string the muscles for the fight, and free us from entanglements as the ambition to please Him who hath called us to be soldiers. Men have willingly flung away their lives for a couple of lines of praise in a dispatch. Let us try to live and die so as to get honourable mention from our Captain.
III. The fourfold streams or branches into which this general conception of Christian character parts itself.
1. Bearing fruit in every good work.
(1) Here the man in whom the word (verse 6) is planted is regarded as the producer of fruit. The worthy walk will be first manifested in the production of a rich variety of forms of goodness. The only true fruit is goodness; all else is leaves. Much of our work and its results is no more fruit than galls on oak leaves.
(2) The Christian life is to be fruitful in every good work. We should seek to fill the whole circuit of the year with various holiness, and to make widely different forms of goodness our own. Let us aim at this all round multiform virtue, and not be like a scene for a stage, all gay and bright on one side, and dirty canvas and stretchers hung with cobwebs on the other.
2. Increasing in the knowledge of God. The figure of the tree is probably continued here. If it fruits, its girth will increase, its branches spread, its top mount, and next year its shadow will cover a larger circle. Fruitfulness in good works leads to increased knowledge, and all true knowledge tends to influence action. Obedience gives insight. If any man will do His will, he shall know, etc. Moral truth becomes dim to a bad man. Religious truth grows bright to a good one.
3. Strengthened … joyfulness. Knowing and doing are not the whole of life; there are sorrow and suffering too.
(1) Here again we have Pauls favourite all. Every kind of strength that God can give and man receive is to be sought after. And that Divine power is to flow into us, having this for its measure and limit--the might of His glory. His glory is the lustrous light of his self-revelation; and the far-flashing energy revealed in that is the immeasurable measure of the strength that may be ours.
(2) And what exalted mission is destined for this? Nothing that the world thinks great--
(a) patience, including the idea of perseverance in the right course and uncomplaining bearing of evil as sent by God;
(b) longsuffering, the temper under suffering considered as a wrong and injury done by man.
(c) with joy--flowers beneath the snow, songs in the night.
4. Giving thanks unto the Father. This is the summit of all, and is to be diffused through all. Thankfulness should mingle with all our thoughts and feelings, like the fragrance of some perfume penetrating the scentless air. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
A comprehensive apostolic prayer
It was--
I. Expressive of deep spiritual interest.
1. Suggested by the report of active Christian virtues. For this cause. They had believed in Christ, loved the brethren, hoped for the future, borne fruit. All this excites Pauls grateful heart to pray for higher blessings for them. We best show our love for others by prayer. That is always needed since Christian vows are imperfect and may decay or be abused.
2. Constant and fervent. Do not cease. Paul had undoubted faith in the efficacy of prayer.
II. For amplest knowledge.
1. The main subject of this knowledge. Man thirsts for knowledge, but the highest is the knowledge of God; not simply of His nature, but His will.
2. The measure in which the knowledge may be possessed. The word indicates a living, complete knowledge of the Divine will. There is no limit to our increase in Divine knowledge but our own capacity, diligence, and faith.
3. The practical form in which the knowledge should he exercised. In all wisdom and spiritual understanding. The word spiritual applies to both wisdom and understanding. The false teachers offered a wisdom which had only a show of it; an empty counterfeit calling itself philosophy. The wisdom and understanding the gospel imparts are the work of the Holy Spirit. No amount of mental or moral culture can supply it. This was the power lacked by the Galatians, and to save the Colossians from their fate Paul prays that they may discern between the true and the false, the carnal and the spiritual.
III. For the loftiest Christian career. Observe--
1. The high standard of Christian conduct. For this purpose we are filled with the knowledge of His will. The end of knowledge is practice.
2. The rule by which that standard is maintained. We are not to please ourselves or others as an ultimate object. If our conduct does please parents, friends, country as well as God, it is well; but though all others are displeased we must please Him. This is the simplest as well as the grandest rule of life, and will settle many perplexing questions of human duty.
3. The productiveness of Christian consistency. It is not enough to bear one kind of fruit; there must be fertility in every good work. The Christian is in sympathy with and will promote every enterprise that aims at the physical, social, or moral welfare of man.
4. Progress in Divine knowledge. We can recall no stage in which additional knowledge is unnecessary. Activity in goodness sharpens the knowing faculty and adds to the stores of wisdom, and increased knowledge stimulates the worker (Joh_7:17; Mat_25:29).
IV. For supernatural strength.
1. The appropriateness and fulness of the blessing desired. Man is morally weak by sin. Christ introduced another force which counteracts sin and will overthrow it. All who believe in Him have this force and it is necessary to realize the blessings for which Paul prays. Our enemies are numerous and our infirmities are many. We need, therefore, every kind of strength to endure onslaught or solicitation.
2. Its supernatural source, might of His glory. Moral power is not native to the Christian. Power is an attribute of Gods glory, and is manifested in the splendid works of creation.
3. Its great practical purpose. Patience is the temper which does not easily succumb under trial: long-suffering, or long-mindedness, is the self-restraint which does not hastily retaliate a wrong. Patience respects the weight of the affliction: long-suffering its duration. The former is exercised in our relation to God, the latter in our relation to man. The true strength of the believer consists, not so much in what he can do, as in what he can endure (Isa_30:15). The characteristic of both patience and long-suffering is Joyfulness. To suffer with joyfulness is the great distinction and triumph of the Christian spirit: The endurance of the stoic was often the effect of pride or insensibility.
Learn:
1. How sublime are the topics of genuine prayer.
2. Deep experimental acquaintance with the things of God is essential to a lofty and useful career.
3. Knowledge, wisdom, spiritual fertility and strength are the gifts of God. (G. Barlow.)
A worthy walk
I. Its sources. The whole ground of this prayer is found in who hath made us meet, who delivered us out of the power of darkness.
1. The gift of Divine sonship.
2. An increase in the knowledge of Gods will. We must know what Gods will is before we can walk worthily, etc. His will is revealed in His Word.
3. The impartation of wisdom and spiritual understanding.
4. The bestowment of Divine strength. Sonship does not stand alone.
II. Its fruits.
1. Good works.
2. Patient endurance of tribulations as well as perseverance through and in spite of them.
3. Long-suffering towards personal foes and the enemies of the truth.
III. Its end. A worthy walk begins in sonship, proceeds to sanctification, and ends in glory. (Family Churchman.)
Pauls desire for the Colossians
The Colossians were distinguished for love, and for that cause the apostle shows his interest in them and gratitude for it by praying for them. Noble example! He goes on to say that he desired certain things for them--lit., asked, lifted up his desires.
I. The matter of the apostles desire.
1. That they might be filled with the knowledge of Gods will.
(1) It is one thing to have a full knowledge and another to be filled with knowledge. As far as God or His will are concerned we cannot have a full knowledge. God only knows the love, the glory, the will of God. But it is possible to be filled with the knowledge of God. The smallest of cups may be as full as the great ocean. So the smallest minds may be filled with the knowledge of Gods will.
(2) It was not immense spaces of vacant imaginations and day-dreamings that he desired, but knowledge of realities, that knowledge which is the principal thing.
(3) But not numerous details of knowledge in general; mans mind is too limited for that. He must choose between knowing a few things well and a large number indifferently. Hence Paul limits his petition to one all-important department--the will of God. This has two distinct applications--what God is determined to do Himself and what He is desirous that we should do. In the first sense it is used in Eph_1:11, and in the confession of Nebuchadnezzar; but it is more frequently used in the second. Thy will be done on earth--not done by Gods self. So far as Gods determination to take His own way is concerned His will is always done. The reference is to that will which we ought to do, and with the knowledge of which Paul prayed that the Colossians might be filled.
2. In all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Wisdom was needed, profitable to direct to the things worthiest and best; and understanding, that they might penetrate beneath the surface of things, so as to be standing under them and thence understanding them. When thus understood, things are joined together in a unity of subjective thought, and a higher agency than mans gets abundant scope for a gracious and beneficent operation.
3. But the highest knowledge is but a means to an end (1Co_13:1-3). The knowledge possessed by God, though immense, is not the most glorious of His attributes; even to Him it is but a means to an end. It is but one of His natural attributes. The most illustrious of Gods attributes are the moral--those which have a will within them.
II. The purpose of his desire. It is not therefore surprising that the apostle should guard the Colossians against the idea that they need aim no higher than this knowledge. He asked that they might have it, that--
1. They should
(1) walk--lit., walk about. He seized a prominent feature of human society. Men walk hither and thither in their homes, in the streets, and in the country. They walk out in the morning, go about their business; and in the evening walk about within the circle of their friends and visit. In the homes mothers walk about adjusting various details.
(2) There are different ways of demeaning ourselves as we walk about. Some go about stealthily to entrap the unwary and confiding; some in the dark to conceal their evil deeds; some bent on making profit of others, or on amusement. Paul might have prayed that the Colossians might walk circumspectly, humbly, consistently, with gifts in their hands or love in their hearts; but he chooses to say that ye may walk about in a way worthy of the Lord.
(3) It is assumed that the transcendent worth is in the Lord. As the Apocalyptic visions show us, in the estimation of all heavenly beings He is infinitely worthy; and hence it is that He is worth all the possible honour that can be reflected on Him by the most beautiful demeanour and most costly sacrifices of His disciples. Hence we should ever make it our aim to walk worthy of Him, and all our knowledge must be subservient to this.
2. The Colossians are told that if they do so Christ will take note of every step we take, and be pleased. He will appreciate our aim, and have in reference to our conduct a feeling of pleasure. How different this from putting Him to an open shame. We may make our Saviour happy, and not only in reference to a few acts of exceptional effort, but in reference to all the humble incidents of our every-day life.
3. But nothing will be really pleasing if fruitfulness be wanting.
(1) Leaves will not suffice, nor blossoms. Every Colossian was to be a tree of righteousness to bring forth fruit for the refreshment of the great Husbandman.
(2) Fruitful in every good work--in long-suffering in the home and beyond; in the continual restraint and guidance of all the passions; in the fruits of the Spirit--love, joy, peace, etc.
(3) What are the means of this abounding fruitfulness? By the knowledge of God. The most effective guarantee for increase in fruitfulness is the knowledge of God with which he desired they might be filled. This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, etc. (J. Morison, D. D.)
Spiritual knowledge and its practical results
I. The preciousness of spiritual knowledge. Consider--
1. The intensity of the apostles desire for it. It is the subject of earnest; ceaseless prayer.
2. The men for whom it is desired. Saints and faithful brethren, who knew the grace of God in truth, and were bringing forth fruit to God. We must not cease to pray for those who know the Lord that they may know more.
3. The measure of this knowledge. Filled--grand scholarship to have mind, heart, whole manhood filled with knowledge. When a measure is full of wheat there is no room for chaff. True knowledge excludes error. If we have empty places in our minds, unstored by holy teaching, they will be an invitation to the devil to enter and dwell. Try and know Divine truth more intimately. You know a man, for you pass him in the streets with a nod; you know another far better, for you lodge in the same house with him; but you know him best of all whose troubles and joys you have shared, and with whom you have had the closest fellowship.
4. The matter of it. The revealed will of God.
(1) The perceptive will. What wilt Thou have me to do?
(2) The will of God as it constitutes the gospel. This is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one that believeth.
(3) This is the will of God, even your sanctification.
5. The manner.
(1) In all wisdom, which is better than knowledge, for it is knowledge rightly used. Knowledge may find room for folly, but wisdom casts it out. Knowledge may be the horse, but wisdom is the driver. Wisdom enables you to bring your knowledge practically to bear upon life, to separate the precious from the vile, and rightly conduct your affairs. All wisdom--wisdom that will be useful in the shop, the counting-house, the church, etc.
(2) That wisdom operates by a spiritual understanding that is powerful within. This is an inward knowledge of truth, a spiritual discernment, taste, experience, and reception of truth whereby the soul feeds upon it and takes it into herself.
II. The practical result of spiritual knowledge. That ye may walk--not that they might talk, sit down and meditate, and enjoy themselves. He desires that they may be instructed, so as to walk--
1. According to the best model. Let not a disciple walk so as to bring disgrace upon his Lord! When you walk with a king you should be royal in gait; when you commune with a prince you should not act the clown. It is well to have no lower standard than the life of Jesus, the life of tenderness, self sacrifice, love, holy service, and communion with God.
2. So as to be pleasing to our best friend.
(1) Some live to please themselves, or their wives, neighbours, and some, the devil. Our business is to please Him whose servants we are. Without holiness no man shall see Him, much less please Him.
(2) Unto all pleasing--from the moment we rise till we lie down, in eating and drinking, etc.
(3) Paul desires that we may be filled with knowledge to this end. If I do not know the will of God, how can I do it?
3. That we may produce the best fruit. Without knowledge we cannot be fruitful. Some are hindered in this because they do not know how to set about holy service. How can a man be fruitful as a preacher if he does not know what to preach? In a hundred ways ignorance will make us run risks, lose opportunities of usefulness, and fall into dangerous mistakes.
4. That he may cultivate a comprehensive variety of the best things. In every. Here is room and range enough. Let works of obedience, testimony, zeal, charity, piety, all be found in your life. Do not select big things as your spiritual line, but glorify the Lord in the littles. The Lord Jesus, if He were here, would gladly do a thousand things which His poor little servants are too great to touch.
III. The reflex action of holiness on knowledge.
1. Holiness is the road to knowledge.
2. This knowledge rises in tone--before it was in Gods will, now it is in God Himself.
3. He would have in us increased capacity to know yet more. In verse 9 it is filled; but if a man is full of knowledge, how can it increase? Make the vessel larger. Let no man think he can go no farther. Bernard says: He is not good at all who doth not desire to be better. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Intercessory prayer
It would be a useful exercise if we would give thanks for the gifts and graces of our brethren. I am afraid that we are more inclined to spy out their faults, and to suppose that we deplore them, than we are to discern the work of the Holy Spirit in them. Now, Paul surveyed the Church at Colosse, and observed their faith, love, and hope, and thanked God for them. But he noted that they were somewhat lacking in knowledge. They differed from the Corinthians, who abounded in talent and were enriched with knowledge. The Colossians had fewer gifted brethren, and as Paul would not have them come behind in any desirable attainment, he offered this prayer. He knew that spiritual ignorance is the constant source of error, instability, and sorrow; and therefore he desired that they might be soundly taught in the things of God. Intercessory prayer is--
I. A very important part of the work of Christians for one another. We are not sent into the world to live unto ourselves, but we are members of one body, and each member is expected to contribute to the health and comfort of the whole. We cannot all preach or distribute alms, but we can all pray.
II. An invaluable proof of love and the creator of more love. The man who will pray for me, will forgive me if I offend him, and relieve me if I am in necessity.
III. An infallible means of obtaining the blessings we desire for our friends. The unselfish devotion which pleads as eagerly for others as for itself is so pleasing to God that He puts great honour upon it. If we desire any blessing for them, our best course is to pray. If we wish them converted, taught of God, quickened to a nobler life, etc., take the case to God in prayer.
IV. Will be all the more valuable if it is our immediate resort. Since the day we heard it. Paul began to pray at once. Whenever you perceive the holy change begun, pray at once that it may proceed with power, and we shall find that God in answering quickly gives a double blessing. He who wins earthly riches is most diligent in their pursuit, and he shall be richest towards God who is most diligent in supplication.
V. Will be all the more valuable if they are incessant as well as immediate. We cease not. He was always praying for them in the sense he explains, and to desire. Desire is the essence of prayer. Though you cannot be always speaking in prayer, you can be always desiring. The act of prayer is blessed, the habit more so, the spirit most so, and this can continue for months and years.
VI. Will be increased in value if offered in union with other saints. We also. In two of you agree as touching My kingdom. Here is Paul, and with him youthful Timothy, who, compared with Paul, is inconsiderable; yet Pauls prayer is all the more effectual because Timothys is joined to it. Our Lord sent out His servants two and two, and it is well when they come back to Him in prayer two and two. The habit of frequent prayer together is to be commended. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The value of intercessory prayer
An aged woman, a member of my church, whom I frequently met, always appeared to me to have a more than common interest in the prosperity of religion. She would often inquire: Are any of our young people coming to Christ? One day, as I was passing her house, she called me in. Says she: I asked you to come in here because I wanted to tell you a revival is coming. How do you know that? said
I. Dear me, says she, now dont think me one of that sort of folks who think themselves particular favourites of the Lord, as they were inspired. But I have got faith, and I have got eyes and ears, and I believe in prayer. Perhaps you may think me too certain, but I tell you a revival is coming; and I dont know it by a miracle either, or because I am any better Khan other people, or nearer to God. But, for this good while, every day when I have been out in my garden, I have heard that old deacon (pointing to his house) at prayer in his chamber, where he thinks nobody hears him. The window is open just a little way off from my garden, and I have heard him praying there every day. He is not able to leave his house much, because he has got only one leg; but if he cant work he can pray; and his prayers will be answered. A revival did come. Before a year from that time more than a hundred persons in that congregation were led to indulge hope that they had been born of the Spirit. Among them were a son and a daughter of that old man of prayer, and a grandson of this woman who believed in prayer. (I. S. Spencer, D. D.)
The blessed occupancy
This is possible. Paul was in its enjoyment.
I. The nature of Gods will. The mill is the expression of the inner nature. God is love. His will is goodwill to all. It means happiness for all who will not thwart His loving purpose.
II. The knowledge of Gods will. This can be obtained by being willing to do, by searching the Scriptures and listening to the voice of the Spirit.
III. The measure of this knowledge. Filled--no room for self. Every cupboard opened, door unlocked, window raised, and the entire being flooded. Blessings then flow out. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
The knowledge of the will of God
I. The will of God.
1. The phrase brings before us the personality of Deity. He is not a blind force, but a conscious being, or He could not have a will.
2. The text contradicts Deism, which says: God does not concern Himself with us.
3. But imagine God to have a malevolent will concerning us! As it is, however, the will of God moves not merely under the influence of His intelligence and righteousness, but of His mercy. It is in Christ Jesus concerning us.
4. This will has reference to our whole nature.
(1) To our mind; and therefore God has put before us doctrine. God has a will concerning our thoughts, and therefore has provided us with themes for meditation.
(2) To our hearts. We may not trust, distrust, love, everything we please. God has indicated the objects and the measure of our confidence and affection.
(3) To our will; giving us principles and motives, and rules of action, so that His will directs us in all things. This is not bondage, but freedom. He is the slave who is tethered to his whims and wishes; he is free who moves in harmony with the will which is connected with perfect wisdom and love.
II. The will of God revealed.
1. Not entirely, as, e.g., to your future circumstances; these are mercifully concealed.
2. The media employed.
(1) Conscience--imperfect, but under Christs influence gradually becoming sound.
(2) Gods Word.
(3) Gods Spirit.
(4) Providence.
(5) Christ, in whom it is perfectly embodied.
3. There is some little difficulty in getting at this will. You must search the Scriptures, and carefully analyze your own conscience to judge whether it is an index of Gods will. But the knowledge is well worth the trouble. If you take no trouble you will be perplexed, but if you do He will teach you.
III. The will of God known. The revelation is distinct from the knowledge, and may be possessed without it. The knowledge must be sought. Look at it as--
1. Full.
(1) We may know doctrine and not precept; both, and not the promises; or all partially. Knowledge is full when we know all we need to know.
(2) A young disciple in his novitiate cannot know all that is revealed, nor indeed the mature. There are many things concealed from the Church in its present state.
(3) But there are things which can be comprehended in the present age, and the present state of the believers mind. The Bible opens like flowers. You must sometimes wait before a text and seek a right influence on your spirit before the meaning will be manifest. The Bible to the child has one manifestation, to the young man another, and to the mature man another.
2. Correctly applied. It may be misapplied; hence the prayer in all wisdom, etc. We must get below the letter to the underlying Spirit, and with Divine sagacity apply it to our circumstances.
3. A fit subject for prayer.
4. A subject of deep anxiety to ministers as essential to the holiness and activity of the Church. (S. Martin.)
The knowledge of God
1. This knowledge lies at the foundation of all true religion. It is the want or indistinctness of it that occasions the stupidity of sinners, the false hopes of professors, and most of the religious errors that abound. Although it is open to all, there is very little of it. There is so much unbelief, pride, worldliness, guilt, which shrinks from clear views of God, sluggishness, which binds the soul to earth, that the mass even of Christians pass to the grave with a very incompetent knowledge of God. Now and then a Christian arises of pre-eminent piety, and when you search for the cause of it you find it in his superior knowledge of God.
2. In general, the great end for which we were sent into the world was to learn the character of our Master, by studying His glories in His works and word, that we might obey and enjoy Him. The object on which His eye is fixed, and which He will fully attain, is that the earth may be filled with the knowledge of His glory.
3. He is the Being with whom we have the most intimate and interesting connection, and therefore it chiefly concerns us to be acquainted with Him. In Him we live and move, etc., and He will be our final Judge.
4. There is room for far more enlarged knowledge of God than any of us have yet acquired. In His nature are treasures of knowledge which eternal research will not exhaust. Of course none but Christ could with perfect propriety say, I know this, but we may follow on to know the Lord.
5. This knowledge is--
I. Most purifying. A sight of God is transforming. When with open face we behold, as in a glass, tile glory of the Lord, we are charged with the same image. When God is seen in all the majesty of His glory and holiness the Christian cannot, dare not, wilfully sin.
II. Most humbling. Other knowledge puffeth up, but the more God is seen, the more abased the soul will be. All the glooms of guilt and fears of hell which are not accompanied with a spiritual discernment of God will not humble the soul. When Isaiah saw the Lord he exclaimed, I am a man of unclean lips, and when Peter discovered the Godhead of Christ he fell at His feet, saying, Depart from me, etc.
III. Most exalting. It will do more to ennoble the mind and elevate it above vulgar disputes, than all other views. If it is a dignity to be intimately acquainted with great men, what is the dignity of knowing and being known by God.
IV. Most blessed. One direct view of God fills the soul with greater peace than the most splendid attainments in other branches of knowledge, and than all the glories of the world. This is to be the happiness of heaven, because nothing greater can be provided. (E. D. Griffin, D. D.)
The experimental knowledge of God the end of all Christian endeavour
It is for the want of keeping this end steadily in view that many persons make so little progress. Their efforts are misdirected. They confound the means and effects of religion with its life. Digging, manuring, pruning, and fruit-bearing are not the life of a tree. What, then, is the soul of religion towards which all efforts are to be directed.
I. The life of true religion is an experimental knowledge of God. Such an appreciation of the excellence of His character as satisfies the soul. Philip said, Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. No earthly source of happiness does suffice. The pursuit of earthly desires is like the countrymans chase after the rainbow. They one after the other disappoint those who attain them. Their prismatic colours all vanish when we come close to them, and some new rainbow is seen ahead to lure us into another fruitless pursuit. But our Creator does not mock us by implanting great yearnings after happiness which have nothing to correspond to them. In the knowledge and enjoyment of Him man can find rest.
II. This knowledge is the end of ends, to which every other part of the religious system is subordinated. It is the end of the atoning and interceding work of our Lord. This removes barriers which preclude communion. Any knowledge of God independently of Christ must frighten us from Him, for God is infinitely holy, and His holiness is a consuming fire.
III. The exercises which so most directly to this end.
1. Living much with Him. If we only come across a man occasionally and in public, and see nothing of his private life, we cannot be said to know him. All the knowledge of God which many professing Christians have is derived from the formal salute they make to Him in their prayers. But no progress can be made thus. Try to draw God down into your daily work; consult Him about it; offer it as a contribution to His service; ask Him to help you in it and to bless it; refer to Him in your temptations; go back at once to Him if you have left Him; in short, walk hand in hand with Him, dreading above all things to quit His side; seek not so much to pray as to live in an atmosphere of prayer.
2. Studying His mind in His Word. We may be said to know an author, when we have so carefully read his works as to imbibe his spirit. It is through His Word that God speaks to us, as it is through prayer we speak to Him. Cultivate a taste for the Holy Scriptures. Oh, how sweet are Thy words unto my taste … All the day long is my study of it. My mind in which it is stored is always recurring to it in the intervals of business, turning it over with fresh inquiry into its significance, finding new illustrations of its truth in nature, life, and experience. There is a study of Scripture which is analogous to ejaculatory prayer, which interweaves the Word into the daily life of the Christian, a rumination which can be carried on without book.
3. The discipline of life. If a man has no dealings with us personally, though he may be no stranger to us by reputation, we cannot be said to know him. But if transactions pass between us his character transpires. Now God comes close up to us, if we give our hearts to Him, and deals with us in all the changing scenes of life. So long as people keep Him at arms length, He only sweeps round the circumference Of their existence. Those who desire to have a practical knowledge of Him in His dealings try to learn the lesson of every part of their experience.
IV. Increase in the knowledge of God, as it characterizes the true Christians present course will be his business throughout eternity. We are not to conceive of a glorified saint as if he were stereotyped and could advance no further in the knowledge of God. Our nature is so constituted as not to acquiesce in a particular measure of knowledge on any subject. And why, as God is infinite, and His resources of wisdom, power, and love are inexhaustible, may not a blessed eternity be spent in fresh discoveries of His glory, each of which will throw preceding discoveries into the shade? (Dean Goulburn.)
God known imperfectly but really
No man can take a pencil and mark the features of Jehovah, and say: Thus far is God, and no farther. How poor a God must that be whom I can understand! He would be no larger than the measure of my thought--and that would be small indeed. No man can limit and define God after all intellectual statements have been made, after all definitions have been given, immensely more is left untouched than has been touched. But the functions of the Divine nature, the quality of that nature and its moral essence, one may suspect or know without comprehending all of God. Bring me but a glass of water, And I know what water is. I may not know, if I have not travelled, what are the springs in the mountain, what are cascades, what are the streams that thunder through deep gorges, what are broadening rivers, what are bays, or what is the ocean; and yet I may know what water is. A drop on my finger tells me its quality. From that I know that it is not wood, that it is not rock, that it is not air, that it is not anything but water. I am not able, by searching, to find out God unto perfection; and yet I know that, so far as I have found Him out, and so far as He is ever going to be found out, whatever there is in nobility, whatever there is in goodness, whatever there is in sweetness, whatever there is in patience; whatever can be revealed by the cradle, by the crib, by the couch, by the table; whatever there is in household love and in other loves; whatever there is in heroism among men; whatever there is of good report; whatever has been achieved by imagination or by reason; whatever separates man from the brute beast, and lifts him above the clod--I know that all these elements belong to God, the eternal and universal Father. Although I may not be able to draw an encyclopaediac circle and say: All inside of that is God, and anything outside of it is not God; yet I know that everything which tends upward, that everything which sets from a lower life to a higher, that everything which leads from the basilar to the coronal, that everything whose results are good, is an interpretation of God, who, though He may be found to be other than we suppose, will be found not less, but more glorious than we suspect. (H. W. Beecher.)
Knowledge of Divine will
The knowledge of the Divine will embraces in itself the knowledge
(1) of the law, which shows us the abyss of our misery, and also proposes to the regenerate a rule of new life;
(2) of the gospel, which opens to us the depths of Divine mercy, and also teaches the method of obtaining salvation. Neither is the bare apprehension of these things called the knowledge of the Divine will, but the efficacious apprehension which applies Christ to ourselves, and expresses the rule of the law in our life and actions, as far as in us lies. (1Jn_2:3) the commandments as well concerning faith as obedience. (Bishop Davenant.)
Filled with the knowledge of His will
The world is in darkness. This is the beginning of a natural day. The sun has not yet risen. Here is a great building. You see it; the sun rises and touches the top of it; gradually it touches the highest ridges and windows; then it comes down, and touches another story, and another, till at last the light, in all its fulness and amplitude, fills the whole house and bathes the whole building in the splendour of its rays. Every room--from the lowest to the highest--all filled! Now, that gives you a faint idea of what the apostle means. The knowledge of God fills, not one faculty alone, not the intellect looking at truth objectively, but the whole nature; feeling, imagination, sensibility, all flooded with this Divine light. (T. Binney.)
The use of spiritual understanding
By wisdom and spiritual understanding the Christians at Colosse would be led to distinguish things that differ; to detect the sophistry of new teachers; to discern the dangerous bearings of ingenious but seducing systems; to keep close to the letter and spirit of Scripture; to look around on the whole compass of truth and all the methods of Gods dispensations before they committed themselves to any conclusive opinion; to use every part of Divine revelation for the purposes, and in the proportion, and according to the order, and in the spirit of the divinely-inspired record. (Bishop D. Wilson.)
That ye walk worthy of the Lord.
Life a walk
Having entered the world, at once we leave the moment of our nativity, as a starting-place, and incessantly advance towards death, as a common habitation, where, sooner or later, all men meet. Other travellers may, if they please, delay their journey, or retrace their steps; but we cannot do either. Time, enfolding us from the first moment of our life, perpetually carries us forward, whether we wake or sleep, whether we consent to it or resist, without permitting us to turn back, or indulge in the shortest repose. We are like him on board a vessel propelled by sea and wind, whose personal motion does not arrest or abate his course. But as the roads and projects of travellers are very different, so there is a great diversity of habit and manners in mens lives. Wicked men follow one way, and good men another. The pagan steers one course, the Jew another, the Mohammedan another, and the Christian another, each wholly different from the others. This is what the Scripture calls the way of man; that is, the fashion and method of life which each man follows. And suitably to this expressive figure, it often makes use of the word walking, to signify a regulating and framing of the life after some certain manner, whether good or evil; meaning the tenor of our lives, and our customary deportment. There is nothing more common in the Psalms, and in the Proverbs, than these forms of speech; to walk in integrity; or, on the contrary, to walk in fraud and iniquity: and in the writings of the New Testament, to walk in light, or, in darkness; after the Spirit, or, after the flesh; with other similar phrases, all signifying a certain manner and condition of life, good or evil, as it is qualified. Agreeably to this scriptural style, the apostle says here, that ye might walk; meaning, that you may live, that you may regulate and form your lives. (J. Daille.)
Walk worthily
It is said that among the high Alps, at certain seasons, the traveller is told to proceed quietly; for on the steep slopes overhead the snow hangs so evenly balanced that the sound of a voice or the report of a gun may destroy the equilibrium, and bring down an immense avalanche that will overwhelm everything in ruin in its downward path. And so about our way there may be a soul in the very crisis of its moral history, trembling between life and death, and a mere touch or shadow may determine its destiny. A young lady, who was deeply impressed with the truth, and was ready, under conviction of sin, to ask, What must I do to be saved had all her solemn impressions dissipated by the unseemly jesting of a member of the Church. Her irreverent and worldly spirit cast a repellent shadow on the young lady not far from the kingdom of God. How important that we should always and everywhere walk worthy of our high calling as Christians. (T. Stork.)
Walking so as to please God
1. All mere speculative knowledge is profitless. If the whole world of science were before me, and yet if its principles were not applied, it might puff me up but it would be of no utility. Much more is this so with regard to Divine truth. I may have all knowledge, but if I lack the faith that worketh by love it is vain.
2. But there is one peculiar glory about Divine truth--he that knows one truth cannot be wholly ignorant of its bearings. It is a chain that has involved in it link within link, and he that touches one can move the whole. E.g., He that has a spiritual knowledge of God loves Him, and he that loves Him loves His will, and he that loves His will desires to do it.
I. The worthy walk. There are similar passages in Eph_4:1; 1Th_2:12.
1. Every man living in sin is dead, a cumberer of the ground, and only fit to be cut down. This is his worthlessness. He is as unprofitable servant and spiritually worthless. This is one of the first teachings of the Spirit, and even the saint is compelled to confess that in Him dwelleth no good thing (Gen_32:9-10). This was the confession of the Centurion and the Prodigal.
2. But although in the natural man this is so, and the spiritual man is made to feel it--yet the latter knows that he has been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, redeemed for glory, and renewed by the Holy Spirit, and so is made worthy by grace.
3. Hence he is under powerful obligations to walk worthy by being fruitful in good works. This the natural man cannot be any more than a bad tree can produce good fruit, but the renewed man can be and is.
(1) The characteristics of a good work are--
(a) that God has commanded it;
(b) that it is the result of faith--for without faith it is impossible to please God.
Faith first pleads the righteousness of Christ as the ground of acceptance, and then lays hold of the strength of Christ as the power for performance. In the Lord I have righteousness and strength.
(2) In these sorts of works we are to be fruitful. There must be no reserve. All we have and are is to be devoted to Gods service.
II. The high aim--to please God in all things.
1. This is impossible to the natural man who is without faith. Even a child of God does many things that are displeasing to God. There was but one who was perfectly well-pleasing to God. But in Him we are pleasing too--for we are made the righteousness of God in Him.
2. The Christian aims at acting out this righteousness in unreserved obedience, in little things as well as great--in eating and drinking, etc. With such a life God is well pleased.
III. The Divine knowledge. Notice the order of procedure--knowing the will of God, doing it, and by doing it brought into closer acquaintance with God. If any man will do His will he shall know. Thus shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord. David knew more than the ancients, because he kept Gods precepts. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)
All pleasing.
I. What is meant by all pleasing? We are to please everybody that we may please God.
1. The wish to please or to be liked by everybody is a virtue or a sin according as it is a means or an end. If you please only to be admired it is selfish and has no religion in it. But if you wish to please that Christ may be liked, and that you may have more influence for good, then in pleasing others you will please God.
2. By this rule we reconcile St. Pauls apparent contradiction, If I yet pleased men I should not be a servant of Christ, with Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. It is evident that we may, on the one hand, so make compromises in order to please that we shall not walk worthy of the Lord, and that on the other we may think we are walking worthy of the Lord by a strictness and severity which are certainly not unto all pleasing.
3. It would be quite a mistake to suppose that Christ did not please men. There were some, of course, He never tried to please--the proud and hypocritical. But he pleased the multitude. The record of his early life, is He grew in favour both with God and man; and afterwards all the people rejoiced for the glorious things which were done by Him.
II. How did Christ please men? and how may we by pleasing like Him, walk worthy of Him?
1. The first secret of all pleasing is humility. If you meet a man who is in everything your superior, and yet he treats you as if he were your equal without the least appearance of condescension, there is a charm in that which every one feels. This was exactly what Christ did and what we are to do.
2. Sympathy. It is the spring of all power to throw yourself into anothers mind, look with his eye, feel with his touch, to do this with all, and with the countenance and manner as well as the word, and to be always respectful with your sympathy. This is the capability to please, and Jesus had it without measure.
3. That potent and rare art of seeing the good in everybody. Christ saw the Israelite indeed in the rude Nathaniel; He loved the impetuous, self-ignorant young man; and asked his Father to forgive His murderers since they knew not what they did. Is there then anything more Christlike than to see the germ of piety before it developes, the bit of blue on a dark sky, the excuse in every thing? He who knows how to do that walks unto all pleasing.
III. It is the duty and in the power of every one to be pleasing. For to please does not depend upon the face, dress, form, riches, talents, wealth, etc, but upon moral character, tact, effort, and simple motive. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Fruitful in every good work.
Fruitfulness and progress
I. Fertility implies--
1. Life. A fruit-bearing tree is necessarily a living tree. The fruitful Christian has been grafted into the Saviour and partakes of His life. This life is worthy of our nature, capability, and destiny. How different the idea of many. Business, money, pleasure, science, art--the pursuit of these is life; all that it demands of energy, all that it imparts of joy.
2. Culture. The tree left without pruning will soon bring forth leaves only. So the fruitful Christian is one who is under the care of the Divine husbandman (Joh_15:2). Abounding fertility is the result of His gracious culture. The pruning processes of His providence are often necessary. Without these there may be woody suckers or luxuriant foliage, but no fruit.
3. The Christian living in Christ and pruned by God is to be fruitful in every good work (Joh_15:8). The works to be done must be good in their nature, influence, and issue, glorifying to God, beneficial to man, and worthy of the life the Christian has in union with His Lord. Note the breadth of requirement--every. The physical and social elevation of the alien, the outcast, and the ignorant should go hand and hand with saving agencies. Was Christ not Physician for body and soul, the loftiest Philanthropist, the sincerest Patriot, the truest Friend?
II. Progress. The fruitfulness is not exhaustive. The tree grows all the more healthily when its fruitfulness abounds.
1. Hence the connection here between fertility and progress. We must bear fruit that we may be strong, and do good that we may grow. Many forget this and find that withholding more than is meet tendeth to poverty. Their selfishness starves their souls.
2. The real means of growth is the knowledge of God. Our fruitfulness may be a condition, but it cannot make us grow. The knowledge of God is the true nourishment of the soul. A God in shadow or unknown creates superstition, and to view Him in only one aspect of His character will lead either to fanaticism or mysticism.
3. This knowledge is the only knowledge which encompasses our whole being and fills the whole man. It supplies truth for the intellect, conscience, and heart; stimulus and nourishment for every attribute of our being. Devotion to mere human studies may develop the intellectual side of our nature at the expense of the moral and social, but the growth which this promotes is symmetrical and full. Conclusion: These two things embrace two sides of our nature, action and reflection. They act and react on each other. The activity would pass into formalism were it not fed by the contemplation of God. Our meditation would pass into fanaticism were it not regulated by active duty. (J. Spence, D. D.)
Fruitfulness
This metaphor is taken from a tree; not every tree, but one bearing fruit (Psa_1:3; Joh_15:5). From this comparison note--
1. As no tree can bear fruit, unless it hath a certain life-giving seed in itself, and is nourished daily with good sap; so no one can bear spiritual fruit, unless he hath in himself the seed of the Spirit, and is daily watered with the outpourings of Divine grace.
2. As that tree is pleasing to God, which does not occupy the ground in vain, neither dissipates the moisture which it draws on leaves and blossoms alone; but produces good fruits: so he alone is pleasing to God, who does not uselessly occupy room in the Church, neither wears the appearance and form of godliness alone, but puts forth its power and virtue by fruitfulness.
3. As a tree lives and bears fruit not for itself but its owner, and for others to whom he sees fit to impart its fruits: so a godly man ought not to live for himself alone, nor to care only that his life be honourable to himself, but that it may be honourable to God and beneficial to all his brethren.
4. Behold the spacious manner in which the fruitfulness of a godly man is exercised. In this he differs from a tree. For no one seeks different fruits from the same tree, but God expects every Christian to produce every kind of good works (Gal_5:22). There are, therefore, two things to be noted in the matter of the fruitfulness.
(1) That God does not approve of every kind of fruitfulness, but restricts it to good works. But those are called good works which are commanded and directed by God. Wisely and piously spake Cyprian, The exercises of righteousness are to be chosen not by our own will, but by the will of God. And in Isaiah God complains of the Jews, that they worshipped Him by the precepts of men (Isa_29:13).
(2) That fruitfulness of any one kind is not sufficient, but we must be fruitful in every good work. If any one produce the good fruit of alms deeds, and mingle with them the impure fruits of lewdness; or if any one be conspicuous for chastity, and defile himself by avarice; he would not answer the Divine will, or the apostles desire of being fruitful in every good work: nay, he is accounted by God bad and unclean. For who shall say that any one is clean, who is wont to wallow even in a single sewer? (1Th_5:22-23). (Bishop Davenant.)
Fruitful in every good work
From the decalogue downwards. Scripture teaching has been poured impartially into two moulds--to know the truth and to do the right.
I. The nature of each.
1. Fruitfulness in every good work.
(1) Work. They who find Christ find rest, but not exemption from work; peace in believing only supplies a foothold whereon the labourer may stand more steadily and so work with more effect.
(2). Good work, not energy of action merely.
(a) The Master is good: God.
(b) The motive: love.
(c) The aim: the good of the world.
(d) The standard: the law.
(3) Every.
(a) Not that man should go round the world and meddle with every thing, but that he should neglect no opportunity that comes in his way. Do not waste time and effort in trying to do all at once, but cultivate a universal willingness.
(b) Act those virtues, too, that are not in your nature. When a man of might bears the infirmities of the weakest, and the timid display a martyr courage, there is more conspicuous evidence of grace.
(c) Do not pick and choose but do whatever God has put in your way, whether the opening of a church or the digging of a well, the support of a missionary or the widening of a street.
(4) Fruitful. This indicates--
(a) Spontaneousness. The tree has first been made good, and then the fruit grows spontaneously. A partaker of Christ gives forth Christ-like actions. There is a good deal of artificial charity. People can tie oranges to a fir-tree; but true Christian beneficence is a fruit that grows and is not tied on. The water in the pipes connected with a reservoir must flow by reason of the pressure from above. The love of Christ constraineth us.
(b) Sweetness and profitableness.
(c) Abundance.
2. Increase in the knowledge of God.
(1) In obtaining reconciliation through Christ we have the beginning of this knowledge, and those who attain the beginning can never rest there.
(2) Among other features of the Divine nature which the experienced disciple knows better now, the Fatherliness of God is perhaps that in which the greatest advances are attained. It is long ere perfect love casts out all fear; but much progress is made in its diminution by the inlet of confiding love. It is like the process of exhausting the air from a glass cup, and so making it adhere more and more firmly to the table. More and more fear is drawn off from the Christians bosom; more and more firmly therefore does it cleave to the Almighty strength it leans upon.
II. The union and reciprocal relations of the two.
1. They grow together not only as two parallel boughs of one tree, one of which might live if the other were wrenched off. The union is like two sides of a human body: if one were wanting the other would die.
2. Contemplate the two sides alternately.
(1) Active obedience is necessary to the increase of spiritual experience. Spiritual contemplation soon runs to seed when duty is neglected. The old monks desired to increase in the knowledge of God, and hid themselves in caves where good works were impossible. So they made themselves barren in that wherein God had commanded them to be fruitful. Simon on the top of his pillar with the world wondering at him as a saint, did not know God so well as he might if he had kept a shop all day and played with his children at night. In active life you will make most progress in this knowledge. The more work you do the more you will be wearied, which will lead you to lean oftener on the Father and thus increase your acquaintance.
(2) Contemplative communion with God is necessary to successful activity. If you rush into work without prayer the work will wane like the flame of a lamp when the oil is exhausted. When our work increases in bulk we need more of experimental communion to animate the extended body. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
Multiform fruitfulness
You never saw in nature a tree which yielded all sorts of fruit, and you never will. I have seen a tree so grafted that it produced four kinds of fruit at one time, but I remarked that it was a poor business in reference to two of the varieties; for one of the grafts, more natural than the others to the parent stem, drew off the most of the sap, and flourished well, but robbed the other branches. The second sort of fruit managed to live pretty fairly, but not so well as it would have done on its own stem. As for the third and fourth, they were mere attempts at fruit of the smallest size. This tree was shown to me as a great curiosity; it is not likely that practical gardeners will be encouraged by the experiment. But what would you think of a tree upon which you saw grapes, and figs, and olives, and apples, and all other good fruits growing at one time? This is the emblem of what instructed believers will become: they will produce all sorts of goodness and graciousness to the honour of their heavenly Father, I have no doubt that you will naturally abound most in certain good works for which you have the largest capacity, but still nothing ought to come amiss to you. In the great house of the Church we want servants who will not be simply cooks or housemaids, but general servants, maids of all-work, prepared to do anything and everything. I have known persons in household employment in England who would not do a turn beyond their special work to save their masters lives: these are a sort of servants of whom the fewer the better. In India this is carried to a ridiculous extreme. The Hindoo water-bearer will not sweep the house, nor light a fire, nor brush your clothes--he will fetch water, and nothing else: you must, therefore, have a servant for each separate thing, and then each man will do his own little bit, but he will not go an inch beyond. When we enter into Christs Church we should come prepared to wash the saints feet, or bear their burdens, or bind up their wounds, or fight their foes, or act as steward, or shepherd, or nurse. It has been well said that if two angels in heaven were summoned to serve the Lord, and there were two works to be done, an empire to be ruled, or a crossing to be swept, neither angel would have a choice as to which should be appointed him, but would gladly abide the will of the Lord. Let us be equally prepared for anything, for everything by which fruit can be produced for the Well-beloved. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The necessity of Divine knowledge to Christian fruitfulness
There is a well in your garden, and a pump for raising the water to the surface. This for ordinary seasons is sufficient. But at length a drought compels you to make a greater demand upon the well. Every day you ply the handle harder and longer, to preserve the life of the languishing vegetation. At last the supply fails, and you ply your task in vain. No water comes, because there has been too much working; the work degenerates into a barren noise. What then? Sink your well deeper, and it will stand a greater strain. We must go and do likewise when, by too long-continued activity, our movement becomes fruitless labour. When we work till our souls are wrought out, we must go deeper down into the hidden veins of the souls supply--go deeper into the love of God, by secret communion with the Saviour; and the increase of His favour consciously compassing your soul will sustain a new and greater effort of Christian activity. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
The necessity of Christian fruitfulness to Divine knowledge
In the case of the monks, their kite, so to speak, was pointing heavenward and rising; but it was not rising far enough nor fast enough. It seemed to be struggling upward, but held in check by the string that attached it to the ground. That line which bound it to the earth seemed the only hindrance of its flight to heaven. Like foolish children, they cut the line that bound it to the earth, expecting to see it then rising unimpeded to the sky; but, lo! the kite when so set free, instead of ascending majestically to heaven, whirled round two or three times wildly, giddily, and then fell fiat upon the ground. Such was the result of Romes effort to raise her votaries to heaven, by cutting their connection with the earth. The so-called saints fell lower than before. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
The essential connection between knowledge and piety
As the swing of the pendulum to the right becomes the power which carries it to the left, and its swing to the left the power which carries it back to the right; so true good-doing makes the doer know God more, and true knowledge of God sends back the scholar with a new impulse to his work in the world. Moreover, by the balancing alternations of the pendulum aberrations are prevented, and the steady, true-going of the clock is secured; so the Christian life goes best which goes between a deep, comtemplative, spiritual knowledge of God, and hearty practical work, as far as opportunity offers, for every interest of every brother man. These two God hath joined; let no man dare to put them asunder. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
No work must be declined
You have probably read of a certain renowned corporal in the American service a century ago. A general as he rode along saw a body of men endeavouring to lift timber. They were short-handed, and the work lagged, but their famous corporal stood by ordering them about at a magnificent rate. The general paused and said, Why dont you lend them help and put your shoulder to it? Why, sir, said the great little officer, how can you think of such a thing? Do you know who I am? I am a corporal! The general got off his horse, pulled off his coat, and helped to move the timber, and by his judicious help the soldiers achieved their task. Then he turned to the high and mighty gentleman and said, Mr. Corporal, next time you want a man to do such work as this you can send for me. I am General Washington. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Col_1:9-14
For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you.
The knowledge of the Divine will
The petition asks--
I. For a bestowment of a knowledge of the divine will as attained by a spiritual understanding and wisdom. The faith and charity of the Colossians had been so reported to the apostle as to fill his heart with thankfulness, which took its habitual course, that of unceasing prayer. Blending the subject of his prayer with his purpose in offering it, St. Paul asks--
1. Generally that they may he filled, etc.
three terms which in their union signify an impartation from above of a thorough insight into the will of God as directing the practical life. Based on the eternal purpose of redemption, this will is the counsel of human sanctification. As a matter of request it is the Holy Spirits operation on our faculties making the knowledge experimental, rewriting the moral law on the heart, and making it there supreme.
2. Particularly the apostle connects with this the spiritual wisdom and understanding which bring Divine knowledge into the sphere of the human faculties. The Holy Spirit imparts it to the understanding which makes it the object of study, and aggregates the whole into wisdom, which is the practical application to life of the precepts which the understanding embraces. But both are spiritual. The unregenerate understanding may make the moral law an object of study, and arrange the whole into a system of rules for the wisdom of human ethics. But in the regenerate the precepts are studied in the light of the new nature, and the whole wisdom of holiness is the result of a teaching that is from above (Jam_1:17).
II. For practical conformity with that will in--
1. Fruitfulness
(1) in every good work. All the manifestations of godliness are the fruit of a Divine life within wrought by Christ indwelling by His Spirit. But the phrase every good work teaches us that the thoughts, words, and deeds of holiness are our own. In their secret source they have a heavenly origin, in their manifestation they are human. The wonderful completeness arrests attention. The tree brings forth all the fruits that the infinite diversity of the relations of life permit.
(2) The words increasing in the knowledge of God suggests that Christian fruitfulness knows no limitation. As the knowledge of God and His will grows, the fruits of obedience grow likewise, and with growing sanctity the notion of the Divine Being becomes more clear. But the general spirit of the prayer recommends the former, viz., that the enlarging knowledge of Gods will, as proved in its varying applications in daily life, leads to an unlimited increase in good works. To the Christian the interior law of God unfolds perpetually new obligations; and as it does this, the obedient life puts on new aspects of perfection.
(3) We now go back to the glowing words which precede That ye might walk, etc. Here is a twofold standard.
(a) Such a walk as should do honour to God.
(b) Such an aim to secure His approval as should win His complacency always and in all things.
There is a daring completeness in this sentence. There is no reservation for human infirmity, no undertone of deprecation of the Divine severity, no hint of a tolerant construction of our conduct.
2. Endurance presented as a passive patience combined with an active longsuffering.
(1) While the Divine knowledge is the instrument or energy of the holy life, it is the Divine power which is connected with the patience of that holiness. The strength of God of course accomplishes all; but that strength is made perfect in weakness. The interior discipline of religion is both endurance of what is imposed, and resistance of all temptation to rebel. Thus the grandeur of the Christian conflict is that the omnipotence of God is brought down into the secret arena of the struggle. He infuses every kind of strength--strength to bear the inflictions of the Divine will in the sorrows of life, its disappointments, the oppositions of evil, the inexhaustible varieties of the pressure of the one great cross; strength to resist temptations from without, in the assaults of Satan, the waywardness of men, persecution, etc.
(2) If this be the case, surely the believer should count it all joy to be undergoing temptation and that only in the feeling of victory. The very conflict itself is joyous, if Divine and human strength unite; the spirit feels most here what it is to be one with Christ.
3. Thanksgiving enters into all the other elements of the Christian life, and is not merely their supplement. It is here made to spring solely from the sense of redemption. But since the perfecting of the redemptional scheme all the benedictions of providence become redemptional. To pass from the kingdom of darkness into that of Gods dear Son is not to leave the kingdoms of nature and providence, but to add to them, as he shows further on, all the glory of the inheritance of the saints in light. (W. B. Pope, D. D.)
The apostolic prayer
Chrysostom said to those who would realize the classical allusion more vividly than we do, that as in the games we urge on those who are near victory, so Paul here prays for an increase of Christian attainment for the Church that had already attained so much. Hence he says, For this cause. We should rightly consider this prayer for such increase:--
(1) Because it teaches us what we should seek in our intercession for Churches. Our standard of Church prosperity is convicted by such a prayer; our right plans for Church increase are here inspired.
(2) Because it teaches us what we are to seek and expect for ourselves: what is really worth aiming, struggling, praying for. Paul prays--
I. That their knowledge may increase--doubtless partly because of the error that was confusing some, but also because knowledge is always good. Three expressions describe it that are frequently used in combination in Scripture, and which Aristotle denotes as intellectual virtues.
1. Knowledge. This is descriptive of acquaintance with any subject. He has it who has information. It is essential as the basis of culture, but is only the basis.
2. Wisdom is higher than knowledge, and includes both that and understanding. Newman well calls it Reason exercised upon knowledge.
3. Spiritual understanding the application of knowledge to practical detail, the following out of its processes to daily duty and to the spiritual realm.
II. That as a result of their knowledge their character may ripen. The knowledge of Gods will must result in action, or it is valueless. The character resulting from this knowledge includes--
1. Walking worthily of the Lord. The Christian life is an activity, a progress tested by the highest standard.
2. Increasing in the knowledge of God. So knowledge increases. This time it is more than knowledge of Gods will, it is knowledge of Gods self. Obedience is the organ of spiritual knowledge.
3. Being strengthened with all might. Energy, inner energy, inner energy of the highest sort for endurance.
4. Giving thanks to the Father. Life shall have music in it--the highest music of praise. For what?
(1) Fitness for blessedness, meet for inheritance. An inheritance is allotted to those who are ready for it.
(2) Emancipation from the power of darkness--rescue from the tyranny of confusion, ignorance, peril, evil.
(3) Settlement in an empire of liberty, order and honour.
(4) And through and above all for Christ as the means to blessing, and Himself the chiefest blessing. (U. R. Thomas.)
The power of unceasing prayer
If I was ever brought into the kingdom of God, said a venerable Christian lady, it was owing to the intercessions of old Dr. L. He married me, and he used often to call and speak a few earnest words to me about my soul. You are now a wife and a mother, he would say; do not delay to give yourself to the Lord, and to pray for grace to fulfil your duties. I shall never cease to plead for you. The thought that a man of God was pleading for her before God, as well as pleading with her at the bar of her own conscience, was the point which seems to have made the impression.
Sanctified knowledge
Sanctified knowledge is the Holy Spirits greatest helper. It carries the torch before faith; it opens the door of eternity to hope; it presents love with a perfectly beautiful object; it furnishes joy with its sweetest melodies; it supplies patience with the strongest motives, and resignation with the noblest patterns. (S. Charnock.)
Spiritual knowledge
The difference between believers and unbelievers is not so much in the extent, as in the manner of their knowledge. An unbeliever may know more, and be able to talk more of Divine things than many believers, but he knows nothing spiritually and savingly, with a holy, heavenly light. A believer may comprehend less, but he apprehends more. (G. S. Bowes.)
The best knowledge
Many there are that are accounted deep scholars, great linguists, excellent mathematicians, sharp logicians, knowing politicians, fine rhetoricians, sweet musicians, etc. These may be good or bad, as the case may be, but he is certainly the best grammarian that has learnt to speak the truth from his heart; the best astronomer that hath his conversation in heaven; the best musician that hath learned to sing the praises of his God; the best arithmetician, that so numbereth his days as to apply himself to wisdom; he is knowing in ethics, that traineth up his family in the fear of the Lord; he is the best economist who is wise to salvation, prudent in giving and taking good counsel; he is the best politician, and he is a good linguist that speaks the language of Canaan. (J. Spencer.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On vv9, 12 Chapter 1 Part 3
Chapter 1 Part 3
THE PRAYER
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Col_1:9-12 (R.V.)
WE have here to deal with one of Pauls prayers for his brethren. In some respects these are the very topmost pinnacles of his letters. Nowhere else does his spirit move so freely, in no other parts are the fervour of his piety and the beautiful simplicity and depth of his love more touchingly shown. The freedom and heartiness of our prayers for others are a very sharp test of both our piety to God and our love to men. Plenty of people can talk and vow who would find it hard to pray. Pauls intercessory prayers are the high water mark of the epistles in which they occur. He must have been a good man and a true friend of whom so much can be said. This prayer sets forth the ideal of Christian character. What Paul desired for his friends in Colossae is what all true Christian hearts should chiefly desire for those whom they love, and should strive after and ask for themselves. If we look carefully at these words we shall see a clear division into parts which stand related to each other as root, stem, and fourfold branches, or as fountain, undivided stream, and "four heads" into which this "river" of Christian life "is parted." To be filled with the knowledge of Gods will is the root or fountain source of all. From it comes a walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing-the practical life being the outcome and expression of the inward possession of the will of God. Then we have four clauses, evidently coordinate, each beginning with a participle, and together presenting an analysis of this worthy walk. It will be fruitful in all outward work. It will be growing in all inward knowledge of God. Because life is not all doing and knowing, but is suffering likewise, the worthy walk must be patient and long suffering, because strengthened by God Himself. And to crown all, above work and knowledge and suffering it must be thankfulness to the Father. The magnificent massing together of the grounds of gratitude which follows, we must leave for future consideration, and pause, however abruptly, yet not illogically, at the close of the enumeration of these four branches of the tree, the four sides of the firm tower of the true Christian life.
I. Consider the Fountain or Root of all Christian character:
"that ye may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding."
One or two remarks in the nature of verbal exposition may be desirable. Generally speaking, the thing desired is the perfecting of the Colossians in religious knowledge, and the perfection is forcibly expressed in three different aspects. The idea of completeness up to the height of their capacity is given in the prayer that they may be "filled," like some jar charged with sparkling water to the brim. The advanced degree of the knowledge desired for them is given in the word here employed, which is a favourite in the Epistles of the Captivity, and means additional or mature knowledge, that deeper apprehension of Gods truth which perhaps had become more obvious to Paul in the quiet growth of his spirit during his life in Rome. And the rich variety of forms which that advanced knowledge would assume is set forth by the final words of the clause, which may either be connected with its first words, so meaning "filled so that ye may abound in wisdom, and understanding"; or with "the knowledge of His will," so meaning a "knowledge which is manifested in." That knowledge will blossom out into every kind of "wisdom" and "understanding," two words which it is hard to distinguish, but of which the former is perhaps the more general and the latter the more special, the former the more theoretical and the latter the more practical; and both are the work of the Divine Spirit whose sevenfold perfection of gifts illuminates with perfect light each waiting heart. So perfect, whether in regard to its measure, its maturity, or its manifoldness, is the knowledge of the will of God, which the Apostle regards as the deepest good which his love can ask for these Colossians. Passing by many thoughts suggested by the words, we may touch one or two large principles which they involve. The first is, that the foundation of all Christian character and conduct is laid in the knowledge of the will of God. Every revelation of God is a law. What it concerns us to know is not abstract truth, or a revelation for speculative thought, but Gods will. He does not show Himself to us in order merely that we may know, but in order that, knowing, we may do, and, what is more than either knowing or doing, in order that we may be. No revelation from God has accomplished its purpose when a man has simply understood it, but every fragmentary flash of light which comes from Him in nature and providence, and still more the steady radiance that pours from Jesus, is meant indeed to teach us how we should think of God, but to do that mainly as a means to the end that we may live in conformity with His will. The light is knowledge, but it is a light to guide our feet, knowledge which is meant to shape practice.
If that had been remembered, two opposite errors would have been avoided. The error that was threatening the Colossian Church, and has haunted the Church in general ever since, was that of fancying Christianity to be merely a system of truth to be believed, a rattling skeleton of abstract dogmas, very many and very dry. An unpractical heterodoxy was their danger. An unpractical orthodoxy is as real a peril. You may swallow all the creeds bodily, you may even find in Gods truth the food of very sweet and real feeling: but neither knowing nor feeling is enough. The one all-important question for us is-does our Christianity work? It is knowledge of His will, which becomes an ever active force in our lives! Any other kind of religious knowledge is windy food; as Paul says, it "puffeth up"; the knowledge which feeds the soul with wholesome nourishment is the knowledge of His will.
The converse error to that of unpractical knowledge, that of an unintelligent practice, is quite as bad. There is always a class of people, and they are unusually numerous today, who profess to attach no importance to Christian doctrines, but to put all the stress on Christian morals. They swear by the "Sermon on the Mount," and are blind to the deep doctrinal basis laid in that "sermon" itself, on which its lofty moral teaching is built. What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. Why pit the parent against the child? why wrench the blossom from its stem? Knowledge is sound when it moulds conduct. Action is good when it is based on knowledge. The knowledge of God is wholesome when it shapes the life. Morality has a basis which makes it vigorous and permanent when it rests upon the knowledge of His will.
Again: Progress in knowledge is the law of the Christian life. There should be a continual advancement in the apprehension of Gods will, from that first glimpse which saves, to the mature knowledge which Paul here desires for his friends. The progress does not consist in leaving behind old truths, but in a profounder conception of what is contained in these truths. How differently a Fijian just saved, and a Paul on earth, or a Paul in heaven, look at that verse, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son"! The truths which are dim to the one, like stars seen through a mist, blaze to the other like the same stars to an eye that has travelled millions of leagues nearer them, and sees them to be suns. The law of the Christian life is continuous increase in the knowledge of the depths that lie in the old truths, and of their farreaching applications. We are to grow in knowledge of the Christ by coming ever nearer to Him, and learning more of the infinite meaning of our earliest lesson that He is the Son of God who has died for us. The constellations that burn in our nightly sky looked down on Chaldean astronomers, but though these are the same, how much more is known about them at Greenwich than was dreamed at Babylon!
II. Consider the River or Stem of Christian conduct.
The purpose and outcome of this full knowledge of the will of God in Christ is to "walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing." By "walk" is of course meant the whole active life; so that the principle is brought out here, very distinctly, that the last result of knowledge of the Divine will is an outward life regulated by that will. And the sort of life which such knowledge leads to is designated in most general terms as "worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing," in which we have set forth two aspects of the true Christian life.
"Worthily of the Lord!" The "Lord" here, as generally, is Christ, and "worthily" seems to mean, in a manner corresponding to what: Christ is to us, and has done for us. We find other forms of the same thought in such expressions as "worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called," {Eph_4:1} "worthily of saints," {Rom_16:2} "worthy of the gospel," {Php_1:27} "worthily of God," {1Th_2:12} in all of which there is the idea of a standard to which the practical life is to be conformed. Thus the Apostle condenses into one word all the manifold relations in which we stand to Christ, and all the multifarious arguments for a holy life which they yield.
These are mainly two. The Christian should "walk" in a manner corresponding to what Christ has done for him. "Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people, and unwise?" was the mournful wondering question of the dying Moses to his people, as he summed up the history of unbroken tenderness and love on the one side, and of disloyalty almost as uninterrupted on the other. How much more pathetically and emphatically might the question be asked of us! We say that we are not our own, but bought with a price. Then how do we repay that costly purchase? Do we not requite His blood and tears, His unquenchable, unalterable love, with a little tepid love which grudges sacrifices and has scarcely power enough to influence conduct at all, with a little trembling faith which but poorly corresponds to His firm promises, with a little reluctant obedience? The richest treasure of heaven has been freely lavished for us, and we return a sparing expenditure of our hearts and ourselves, repaying fine gold with tarnished copper, and the flood of love from the heart of Christ with a few niggard drops grudgingly squeezed from ours. Nothing short of complete self-surrender, perfect obedience, and unwavering, unfaltering love can characterise the walk that corresponds with our profound obligations to Him. Surely there can be no stronger cord with which to bind us as sacrifices to the horns of the altar than the cords of love. This is the unique glory and power of Christian ethics, that it brings in this tender personal element to transmute the coldness of duty into the warmth of gratitude, so throwing rosy light over the snowy summits of abstract virtue. Repugnant duties become tokens of love, pleasant as every sacrifice made at its bidding ever is. The true Christian spirit says: Thou hast given Thyself wholly for me: help me to yield myself to Thee. Thou hast loved me perfectly: help me to love Thee with all my heart.
The other side of this conception of a worthy walk is, that the Christian should act in a manner corresponding to Christs character and conduct. We profess to be His by sacredest ties: then we should set our watches by that dial, being conformed to His likeness, and in all our daily life trying to do as He has done, or as we believe He would do if He were in our place. Nothing less than the effort to tread in His footsteps is a walk worthy of the Lord. All unlikeness to His pattern is a dishonour to Him and to ourselves. It is neither worthy of the Lord, nor of the vocation wherewith we are called, nor of the name of saints. Only when these two things are brought about in my experience-when the glow of His love melts my heart and makes it flow down in answering affection, and when the beauty of His perfect life stands ever before me, and though it be high above me, is not a despair, but a stimulus and a hope-only then do I "walk worthy of the Lord."
Another thought as to the nature of the life in which the knowledge of the Divine will should issue, is expressed in the other clause-"unto all pleasing," Which sets forth the great aim as being to please Christ in everything. That is a strange purpose to propose to men, as the supreme end to be ever kept in view, to satisfy Jesus Christ by their conduct. To make the good opinion of men our aim is to be slaves; but to please this Man ennobles us and exalts life. Who or what is He, whose judgment of us is thus all-important, whose approbation is praise indeed, and to win whose smile is a worthy object for which to use life, or even to lose it? We should ask ourselves, Do we make it our ever-present object to satisfy Jesus Christ? We are not to mind about other peoples approbation. We can do without that. We are not to hunt after the good word of our fellows. Every life into which that craving for mans praise and good opinion enters is tarnished by it. It is a canker, a creeping leprosy, which eats sincerity and nobleness and strength out of a man. Let us not care to trim our sails to catch the shifting winds of this or that mans favour and eulogium, but look higher and say, "With me it is a very small matter to be judged of mans judgment." "I appeal unto Caesar." He, the true Commander and Emperor, holds our fate in His hands; we have to please Him and Him. only. There is no thought which will so reduce the importance of the babble around us, and teach us such brave and wholesome contempt for popular applause, and all the strife of tongues, as the constant habit of trying to act as ever in our great Taskmasters eye. What does it matter who praise, if He frowns? or who blame, if His face lights with a smile? No thought will so spur us to diligence, and make all life solemn and grand as the thought that "we labour, that whether present or absent, we may be well pleasing to Him." Nothing will so string the muscles for the fight, and free us from being entangled with the things of this life, as the ambition to "please Him who has called us to be soldiers."
Men have willingly flung away their lives for a couple of lines of praise in a despatch, or for a smile from some great commander. Let us try to live and die so as to get "honourable mention" from our captain. Praise from His lips is praise indeed. We shall not know how much it is worth, till the smile lights His face, and the love comes into His eyes, as He looks at us, and says, "Well done! good and faithful servant."
III. We have finally the fourfold streams or branches into which this general conception of Christian character parts itself.
There are four participial clauses here, which seem all to stand on one level, and to present an analysis in more detail of the component parts of this worthy walk. In general terms it is divided into fruitfulness in work, increase in knowledge, strength for suffering, and, as the climax of all, thankfulness.
The first element is-"bearing fruit in every good work." These words carry us back to what was said in Col_1:6 about the fruitfulness of the gospel. Here the man in whom that word is planted is regarded as the producer of the fruit, by the same natural transition by which, in our Lords Parable of the Sower, the men in whose hearts the seed was sown are spoken of as themselves on the one hand, bringing no fruit to perfection, and on the other, bringing forth fruit with patience. The worthy walk will be first manifested in the production of a rich variety of forms of goodness. All profound knowledge of God, and all lofty thoughts of imitating and pleasing Christ, are to be tested at last by their power to make men good, and that not after any monotonous type, nor on one side of their nature only.
One plain principle implied here is that the only true fruit is goodness. We may be busy, as many a man in our great commercial cities is busy, from Monday morning till Saturday night for a long lifetime, and may have had to build bigger barns for our "fruits and our goods," and yet, in the high and solemn meaning of the word here, our life may be utterly empty and fruitless. Much of our work and of its results is no more fruit than the galls on the oak leaves are. They are a swelling from a puncture made by an insect, a sign of disease, not of life. The only sort of work which can be called fruit, in the highest meaning of the word, is that which corresponds to a mans whole nature and relations; and the only work which does so correspond is a life of loving service of God, which cultivates all things lovely and of good report. Goodness, therefore, alone deserves to be called fruit-as for all the rest of our busy lives, they and their toils are like the rootless, lifeless chaff that is whirled out of the threshing floor by every gust. A life which has not in it holiness and loving obedience, however richly productive it may be in lower respects, is in inmost reality blighted and barren, and is "nigh unto burning." Goodness is fruit; all else is nothing but leaves.
Again: the Christian life is to be "fruitful in every good work." This tree is to be like that in the apocalyptic vision, which "bare twelve manner of fruits," yielding every month a different sort. So we should fill the whole circuit of the year with various holiness, and seek to make widely different forms of goodness our own. We have all certain kinds of excellence which are more natural and easier for us than others are. We should seek to cultivate the kind which is hardest for us. The thorny stock of our own character should bear not only grapes, but figs too, and olives as well, being grafted upon the true olive tree, which is Christ. Let us aim at this all round and multiform virtue, and not be like a scene for a stage, all gay and bright on one side, and dirty canvas and stretchers hung with cobwebs on the other.
The second element in the analysis of the true Christian life is-"increasing in the knowledge of God." The figure of the tree is probably continued here. If it fruits, its girth will increase, its branches will spread, its top will mount, and next year its shadow on the grass will cover a larger circle. Some would take the "knowledge" here as the instrument or means of growth, and would render "increasing by the knowledge of God," supposing, that the knowledge is represented as the rain or the sunshine which ministers to the growth of the plant. But perhaps it is better to keep to the idea conveyed by the common rendering, which regards the words "in knowledge" as the specification of that region in which the growth enjoined is to be realised. So here we have the converse of the relation between work and knowledge which we met in the earlier part of the chapter. There, knowledge led to a worthy walk; here, fruitfulness in good works leads to, or at all events is accompanied with, an increased knowledge. And both are true. These two work on each other a reciprocal increase. All true knowledge which is not mere empty notions, naturally tends to influence action, and all true action naturally tends to confirm the knowledge from which it proceeds. Obedience gives insight: "If any man wills to do My will, he shall know of the doctrine." If I am faithful up to the limits of my present knowledge, and have brought it all to bear on character and conduct, I shall find that in the effort to make my every thought a deed, there have fallen from my eyes as it were scales, and I see some things clearly which were faint and doubtful before. Moral truth becomes dim to a bad man. Religious truth grows bright to a good one, and whosoever strives to bring all his creed into practice, and all his practice under the guidance of his creed, will find that the path of obedience is the path of growing light.
Then comes the third element in this resolution of the Christian character into its component parts -"strengthened with all power, according to the might of His glory, unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness." Knowing and doing are not the whole of life: there are sorrow and suffering too.
Here again we have the Apostles favourite "all," which occurs so frequently in this connection. As he desired for the Colossians all wisdom, unto all pleasing, and fruitfulness in every good work, so he prays for all power to strengthen them. Every kind of strength which God can give and man can receive, is to be sought after by us, that we may be "girded with strength," cast like a brazen wall all round our human weakness. And that Divine power is to flow into us, having this for its measure and limit-"the might of His glory." His "glory" is the lustrous light of His selfrevelation; and the far-flashing energy revealed in that self-manifestation is the immeasurable measure of the strength that may be ours. True, a finite nature cart never contain the infinite, but mans finite nature is capable of indefinite expansion. Its elastic walls stretch to contain the increasing gift. The more we desire the more we receive, and the more we receive the more we are able to receive. The amount which filled our hearts today should not fill them tomorrow. Our capacity is at each moment the working limit of the measure of the strength given us. But it is always shifting, and may be continually increasing. The only real limit is "the might of His glory," the limitless omnipotence of the self-revealing God. To that we may indefinitely approach, and till we have exhausted God we have not reached the furthest point to which we should aspire.
And what exalted mission is destined for this wonderful communicated strength? Nothing that the world thinks great: only helping some lone widow to stay her heart in patience, and flinging a gleam of brightness, like sunrise on a stormy sea, over some tempest-tossed life. The strength is worthily employed and absorbed in producing "all patience and long suffering with joy." Again the favourite "all" expresses the universality of the patience and long suffering. Patience here is not merely passive endurance. It includes the idea of perseverance in the right course, as well as that of uncomplaining bearing of evil. It is the "steering right onward," without bating one jot of heart or hope; the temper of the traveller who struggles forward, though the wind in his face dashes the sleet in his eyes, and he has to wade through deep snow. While "patience" regards the evil mainly as sent by God, and as making the race set before us difficult, "long suffering" describes the temper under suffering when considered as a wrong or injury done by man. And whether we think of our afflictions in the one or the other light, Gods strength will steal into our hearts, if we will, not merely to help us to bear them with perseverance and with meekness as unruffled as Christs, but to crown both graces-as the clouds are sometimes rimmed with flashing gold-with a great light of joy. That is the highest attainment of all. "Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." Flowers beneath the snow, songs in the night, fire burning beneath the water, "peace subsisting at the heart of endless agitation," cool airs in the very crater of Vesuvius-all these paradoxes may be surpassed in our hearts if they are strengthened with all might by an indwelling Christ.
The crown of all, the last of the elements of the Christian character, is thankfulness-"giving thanks unto the Father." This is the summit of all; and is to be diffused through all. All our progressive fruitfulness and insight, as well as our perseverance and unrufled meekness in suffering, should have a breath of thankfulness breathed through them. We shall see the grand enumeration of the reasons for thankfulness in the next verses. Here we pause for the present, with this final constituent of the life which Paul desired for the Colossian Christians. Thankfulness should mingle with all our thoughts and feelings, like the fragrance of some perfume penetrating through the common scentless air. It should embrace all events. It should be an operating motive in all actions. We should be clear sighted and believing enough to be thankful for pain and disappointment and loss. That gratitude will add the crowning consecration to service and knowledge and endurance. It will touch our spirits to the finest of all issues, for it will lead to glad self-surrender, and make of our whole life a sacrifice of praise. "I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice." Our lives will then exhale in fragrance and shoot up in flashing tongues of ruddy light and beauty, when kindled into a flame of gratitude by the glow of Christs great love. Let us lay our poor selves on that altar, as sacrifices of thanksgiving; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv9–12 9–12. For this cause. What he had heard, named…
9–12. For this cause. What he had heard, named in the preceding paragraph. Since the day we heard. He had heard something which had aroused his solicitude. That ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will. This would be their best security against false teaching, and an assurance of a faithful life. Wisdom and spiritual understanding. The wisdom and understanding conferred by walking as led by the Spirit. See Eph. 1:3, 8, and 1 Cor. 12:8.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v9 Col_1:9. Do not cease to pray for you, and…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Col_1:9. Do not cease to pray for you, and to desire.—R.V. “pray and make request.” The general notion comes first, then the particulars; so in Mar_11:24. In the Lord’s Prayer there are several “petitions” or “requests.” Knowledge.—Here represents the advanced knowledge of the initiated. “Spiritual understanding” is the use in the realm of things spiritual of the faculty which, as employed in physical research, makes the difference between the man of scientific method and the empiric. Compare the union of “wisdom” and “spiritual understanding” with our Lord’s words, “Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent.
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Col_1:10. Walk worthy.—“The end of all knowledge, the apostle would say, is conduct” (Lightfoot). The previous verse taken with this gives the “theory and practice” of religion. Unto all pleasing.—With the end ever before you of being approved by God. For the same combination, see 1Th_4:1. Being fruitful … and increasing.—Like the gospel itself see Col_1:6).
Col_1:11. Strengthened with all might according to His glorious power.—Lit. “with all power made powerful,” etc. The two words representing “might” and “power” have become familiar in “dynamite” and the termination of “auto-crat”; the one indicates stored-up energy, the other victorious or ruling force. Patience and longsuffering.—The first word indicates the attitude of an unfainting mind when things go wrong; the second the quiet endurance under irritation from others, the being “not soon angry.”
Col_1:12. Made us meet.—Duly qualified us, gave us competence. Just as a man needs to be a qualified practitioner of medicine or the law, so these Colossians are recognised as fit and proper persons for participation in the kingdom of light.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Col_1:9-11
A Comprehensive Apostolic Prayer.
I. It was a prayer expressive of deep spiritual interest.—
1. It was suggested by the report of their active Christian virtues. “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray” (Col_1:9). They had believed in Christ, they had shown a genuine love to the brethren, they hoped for the glory of the future, they brought forth the fruits of the Spirit. All this excites the grateful heart of the apostle to pray that they may enjoy yet higher spiritual blessings, may increase in knowledge and wisdom, and rise to the highest standard of moral perfection. We best show our love to others by praying for them. Prayer is always needed, since the most excellent Christian graces are imperfect, liable to decay, and may be abused.
2. It was constant and fervent.—“Do not cease to pray for you and to desire” (Col_1:9). The apostle had unbounded faith in the efficacy of prayer. Many in these days limit the advantage of prayer to its reflex influence on the individual who prays—expanding the thoughts, spiritualising the mind, and sanctifying the heart; and maintain that it is powerless to affect God, whose purposes must advance by the irresistible operation of unchanging law, irrespective of human supplication. Above this partial philosophy of the modern scientist we have the authority and practice of an inspired apostle. If God did not hear and answer prayer—answer it, not in violation of, but in harmony with, the highest law—then the frequent intercessions of the apostle are reduced to a solemn mockery, are unjustifiable and inexplicable. The apostle prayed with the utmost assiduity—night and day, as opportunity permitted—and with the utmost ardency, desiring that the blessings sought might be liberally and at once bestowed. As Augustine puts it, our desires being prayers, these are continual when our desires are continual.
II. It was a prayer for amplest knowledge.—
1. The main subject of the knowledge desired. “The knowledge of His will” (Col_1:9). Man thirsts for knowledge. He is eager to become acquainted with himself and the wonders around him. In his unwearied search after knowledge he has conquered colossal difficulties; has penetrated the starry spaces with the telescope; revealed the smallest visual atom with the microscope; and, with the deep-sea dredge, has made us familiar with the long-hidden treasures of the ocean. But the highest knowledge is the knowledge of God—not simply of His nature, majesty, perfections, works, but the knowledge of His will. So far as we are concerned, that will comprehends all that God wishes us to be, believe, and do. We must know His will in order to salvation, and as the supreme rule and guide of every action. Man may be ignorant of many things; but he cannot be ignorant of God’s will and be saved. The knowledge of that will is the first great urgent duty of life.
2. The measure in which the knowledge may be possessed.—“Filled with knowledge.” The word “knowledge” is full and emphatic, indicating a living, comprehensive, complete knowledge of the divine will. They already possessed some knowledge of that will; and the apostle prays that it may be deeper, clearer, and increasingly potent within them, that they may be filled. The soul is not only to possess this knowledge, but it is to possess the soul—informing, animating, and impelling it onwards to higher attainments in the things of God. Knowledge is a power for good only as it acquaints with the divine will, and as it pervades and actuates the whole spiritual being. We may seek great things from God. He gives largely, according to His infinite bounty. There is no limit to our increase in divine knowledge but our own capacity, diligence, and faith.
3. The practical form in which the knowledge should be exercised.—“In all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (Col_1:9). The word “spiritual” applies to both wisdom and understanding. The false teachers offered a wisdom which they highly extolled, but it had only a show of wisdom; it was an empty counterfeit, calling itself philosophy; the offspring of vanity, nurtured by the flesh: it was unspiritual. The true gospel is spiritual in its origin, characteristics, and effects. The wisdom and understanding it imparts are the work of the Holy Spirit. Without His presence and operation in the soul both the knowledge of the divine will and advancement in it would be impossible. The two terms are similar in meaning, but there is a distinction. Wisdom refers to the God-given organ by which truth is selected and stored up; understanding to the faculty by which truth is practically and prudently used: the one is comprehensive and accumulative, the other discriminative and practical. True spiritual insight is the work of the Holy Spirit. No amount of mental or moral culture, of human wisdom and sagacity, can supply it. This was the power lacked by the Galatians when they were so soon seduced from the gospel; and to prevent a similar result among the Colossians the apostle prays they may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, that they may discern between the false and the true, the carnal and spiritual, the human and the divine.
III. It was a prayer for the loftiest Christian career.—
1. The standard of Christian conduct. “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord” (Col_1:10). Life is a journey; death is the common goal and resting-place where all meet. Our conduct is the pathway on which we travel. The walk therefore describes the general course of life, the actions, habits, and deportment of the man in his relations to God and to the race. This walk is to “be worthy of the Lord”—worthy of His holy and dignified character; worthy of His law, of His kingdom, of His glory, of the high destiny He has designed for us. When a certain prince, on being captured, was asked how he should be treated, his prompt reply was, “As a king.” We should ever remember the high vocation wherewith we are called, and the exalted pattern after which our behaviour should be modelled (Eph_4:1; 1Th_2:12). Our life is to be worthy of the Lord—in its spirit, motive, active outgoing, development, scope, and aim. For this purpose we are filled with the knowledge of His will. The end of knowledge is practice; its value consists in what it enables us to do. He is not an architect who simply theorises about buildings, but he who has the art to erect them. To speak eloquently of war does not constitute a general; he only deserves that distinction who can skilfully manage an army in the field, whether in attacking or defending.
2. The rule by which that standard is maintained.—“Unto all pleasing” (Col_1:10). We are to please the Lord in all things; to attempt and sanction nothing that will not be acceptable to Him. We are not to please ourselves—we are not to please others—as the ultimate object of life. If our conduct please others—our parents, our friends, our country—it is well; but though all others are displeased and estranged, we must strive in all things to please God. This is the simplest as well as the highest and grandest rule of life. Attention to this will settle many perplexing questions concerning human duty. The will of God must be studied as our supreme rule, and to it all our thoughts, words, and actions must be conformed. Thus the life on earth becomes a preparation and discipline for heaven, and blends the present with a future of immortal blessedness. It is well with us when we obey the Lord (Jer_42:6).
3. The productiveness of Christian consistency.—“Being fruitful in every good work” (Col_1:10). One result of a worthy walk is fertility in Christian activity. In order to fruitfulness there must be life. The believer’s life is hid with Christ in God, and the existence of the hidden life is manifest in the fruits. Fruitfulness also involves culture. Neglect the vine, and instead of the pendent clusters of glossy, luscious fruit there will be barrenness and decay—withered branches fit only for the consuming fire. God disciplines His people for fruitful and abundant service by painful but loving exercises of His providence (Joh_15:2). It is not enough to bear one kind of fruit; there must be fertility “in every good work.” The Christian is in sympathy with every good enterprise that aims at the physical, social, or moral welfare of man, and will heartily contribute his influence and effort in its promotion.
4. Progress in divine knowledge.—“And increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col_1:10). The knowledge of God is the real instrument of enlargement, in soul and life, of the believer (Alford). We can reach no stage in Christian experience and practice in which additional knowledge is unnecessary. Activity in goodness sharpens the knowing faculty and adds to the stores of wisdom. On the other hand, increased knowledge reacts and stimulates the worker (Joh_7:17; Mat_25:29). Divine knowledge is the great necessity of the soul, and the real means of fruitfulness and growth in goodness. It appeals to, elevates, and expands the whole man.
IV. It was a prayer for supernatural strength.—
1. The appropriateness and fulness of the blessing desired. “Strengthened with all might” (Col_1:11). Man is morally weak. Sin has enfeebled and debased the soul; it has tyrannised over humanity for ages. “When we were yet without strength” Christ came and introduced another force which counteracts sin and will ultimately effect its overthrow. All who believe in Christ receive strength to struggle against and conquer sin. This imparted strength is especially necessary in realising the blessings for which the apostle prays—complete knowledge of the divine will; a life worthy of the Lord; spiritual fertility and advancement in heavenly wisdom. “Strengthened with all might.” Our enemies are numerous, violent, and obstinate, and our infirmities are many. We therefore need strength of every kind. As it is necessary to overcome all our enemies, so it is necessary to be endued with all might—might to endure the most furious assault, might to resist the most bewitching solicitation to evil.
2. The supernatural source of the blessing.—“According to His glorious power” (Col_1:11)—or, more correctly, “according to the power of His glory.” Moral power is not native to the Christian; it has its source in God. He imparts it to the believing heart. The motive and measure of our strength is in the might of His glory. Power is an essential attribute of the divine glory; it is manifested in the splendid works of creation, in the inscrutable ways of providence, and preeminently in the marvels of human redemption. God’s revelation of Himself to us, in whatever form, is the one source of our highest strength. The power of His glory reveals itself more and more to him who walks worthy of the Lord. Armed with this supernatural energy, the weakest saint becomes invincible.
3. The great practical purpose contemplated by the blessing.—“Unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness” (Col_1:11). Patience is the temper which does not easily succumb under trial; longsuffering, or longmindedness, is the self-restraint which does not hastily retaliate a wrong. Patience respects the weight of the affliction, longsuffering its duration. The former is exercised in relation to God, in the endurance of trial, or in waiting for promised blessing; the latter in relation to man, in long-continued forbearance under irritating wrongs. The true strength of the believer consists, not so much in what he can do, as in what he can endure (Isa_30:15). The quiet, uncomplaining sufferer is greater than the most vigorous athlete. The characteristic of both patience and longsuffering is expressed in the phrase “with joyfulness.” To suffer with joyfulness is the great distinction and triumph of the Christian spirit. The endurance of the Stoic was often the effect of pride or insensibility. But the Christian, though keenly sensitive to pain, is enabled by the Holy Spirit to rejoice in the assurance of God’s presence, in the certain victory of his cause, and in the prospect of reward both here and hereafter.
Lessons.—
1. How sublime are the topics of genuine prayer.
2. Deep experimental acquaintance with the things of God is essential to a lofty and useful career.
3. Knowledge, wisdom, spiritual fertility, and strength are the gifts of God.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Col_1:9-11. Paul’s Prayer for the Colossians—
I. For knowledge.—Fulness of knowledge both extensively and intensively is the burden of his desire. “In all wisdom”—as a practical guide, not as mere theory. “And spiritual understanding”—the spirit of the believer receiving the Spirit of God to lead him inwardly to understand, realise, and delight in the divine will.
II. For fruitfulness.—
1. A life worthy of the Christian as it is well pleasing unto his Lord.
2. Good works of every kind.
3. Substantial growth.
III. For strength.—In order to this fruitfulness all might is required of body, mind, and spirit, but especially that of the Spirit within. The measure—“according to His glorious power”; so as to suffer patiently the constant trials of the Christian life, and exercise all longsuffering towards persecutors and enemies of the truth, and this with joyfulness. It is not what we can do, but what He can do in us, and we through Him.—Preacher’s Magazine.
Col_1:11. Divine Strength—
I. Is spiritual strength, the source and sustenance of all might.
II. May be realised in increasing measure.
III. Arms the soul with invincible power.—Power to endure with patience the trials of life; power to bear with the opposition and cruelty of others.
IV. Enables the soul to rejoice in the midst of suffering.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Col_1:12
Meetness for the Saintly Inheritance.
The epistle has been hitherto occupied with prefatory observations. In this verse the writer enters upon his principal theme relating to the person and redemption of Jesus Christ. He offers thanks to God the Father as the primal source of that grace which constitutes the meetness for the saintly heritage. Observe:—
I. The opulent inheritance provided for the good.—
1. It is a present and prospective possession. “The inheritance of the saints in light.” Light is symbolic of knowledge, purity, and joy. The saints even now are called out of darkness into God’s kingdom of marvellous light. “They walk in the light as He is in the light.” They have a measure of knowledge, but it is dimmed by many earthly obscurities; of purity, but it is surrounded with imperfections; of joy, but it is moderated by life’s sorrows. In the prospective heavenly inheritance, of which the earthly portion is a preparation and pledge, knowledge shall be unclouded and complete, purity unsullied, joy uninterrupted. “The life for eternity is already begun: we are at and from the very hour of our regeneration introduced into the spiritual world—a world which, though mysterious and invisible, is as real as the world of sense around us: the Christian’s life of heavenliness is the first stage of heaven itself! There is a power now within the believer in the germ, of which his celestial immortality shall be the proper fruit. The dawn of heaven hath already begun in all who are yet to rejoice in its noontide glory” (Archer Butler).
2. It is a possession provided for the good.—“The saints.” Not for the unholy, the impenitent, the unbelieving, the worldly. It is an inheritance where only the pure in heart can dwell. There is a world of significance in that pithy saying of an old divine: “Every one will get to heaven who could live there.” Only the saints who have made the Lord their light and their salvation can bear the splendour of His presence.
3. It is a possession freely given.—The legal heir has no need to work for his inheritance; he enters in possession by right of succession or testatorial bequest. The saint enters upon his inheritance of righteousness, not by natural descent or by any self-constituted right, but on the ground of a free, divine gift. The believer has a title to the inheritance; but it is not earned by his own efforts: it is bestowed by Christ who won the inheritance by suffering and dying. Thus all idea of merit is excluded; we can do nothing to deserve such a heritage of blessing. The word “inheritance” really means “the parcel of the lot”—an expression borrowed from the Old Testament (Psa_16:5). The promised Canaan suggests an analogy between it and the higher hopes and wealthier possessions of the new dispensation. As each Israelite, through the grace of God, obtained his allotment, so the Christian obtains his portion in the kingdom of God. The present and future possession of the saints infinitely surpasses the earthly inheritance.
II. The special meetness necessary to a participation in the inheritance.—“Hath made us meet to be partakers.”
1. This meetness is absolutely necessary.—Naturally we are unmeet. A monarch may raise the basest slave to a dukedom, but he cannot give him fitness to discharge the duties of the exalted position; he may change his state, but he cannot change his nature. To obtain a moral fitness for the saintly inheritance our nature must be changed. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
2. This meetness consists in the loving conformity of the human will to the divine.—The future life of heaven is the object and pattern of our present heavenly life: “there is the mighty model on which we are to reconstruct our nature; there dwells that central form of moral and spiritual beauty of which our life is to be the transcript.” The celestial spirits find their highest glory and blessedness in the complete submission of their whole nature to God; in cheerful, willing, loving obedience to His will. The heavenly life is the test and standard of our life on earth—of every motive, word, and deed. The Church of Christ is a training-school for a more exalted career. An ancient sage once said, “Boys ought most to learn what most they shall need when they become men.” So men ought to learn in this life what they shall need most as glorified beings in the future. Only as our whole soul is conformed in loving obedience to the will of God are we “meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” We are thus brought into sympathy with the good in all realms, and fitted to participate in the most exalted fellowships of the future!
3. This meetness is a divine work.—It is God “the Father who hath made us meet.” He provides the inheritance; He gives the title to it; He confers the moral fitness by which the soul enters into its possession and enjoyment. None but God, the fountain of holiness, goodness, and power, could accomplish this work. “He worketh in us to will and to do.” In the meetening process He hath dealt with us as a FATHER, instructing our ignorance, correcting and chastising our faults, and comforting and strengthening us in trouble.
III. The great duty we owe to the generous donor of the inheritance.—“Giving thanks.” Gratitude is the easiest and commonest duty of a dependent creature; yet is the duty most frequently and grossly neglected. Our hearts should ever glow with an unquenchable flame of grateful praise to the bountiful Author of all our blessings.
Lessons.—
1. We owe thanks to God as the Provider of the inheritance.
2. We owe thanks to God as the active Agent in producing the special meetness to participate in the enjoyments of the inheritance.
3. Our thanks to God should be expressed in active obedience to His uill.
4. Our thanks to God should be joyful, fervent, and constant.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSE
Col_1:12. Qualification for Heaven.
I. The state contemplated.—It is “an inheritance”; not a purchased property, but the common heritage of the children of God. “Of the saints,” holy persons. “In light,” knowledge, holiness, happiness.
II. The meetness required.—Adaptations in the natural world. In social arrangement. In regard to the heavenly state. A change of heart is necessary. Without it heaven would not be heaven to us. It must be sought and obtained in the present world. It is here ascribed to the Father.
III. The thanks to be rendered.—We thank our fellow-men for their gifts. We thank God for His other gifts. We should thank Him for meetness for heaven. This thanksgiving prepares us for heaven.—G. Brooks.
Meetness for the Inheritance of the Saints in Light.—Life for eternity is already begun. The business and the beatitude of heaven must consist in conformity of the will to the will of God: this is equally the law of earth.
I. Faith is the realising power of this meetness.
II. Hope is the consoling and fortifying power.
III. Love is the uniting power, the consummation, and the perfection of all.—A. Butler.
The Inheritance of the Saints.
I. An interesting view of the future world as it is inherited by believers.—
1. The saints are in light in respect to the place.
2. As it respects purity.
3. In respect of the permanency of their felicity.
4. As it respects knowledge.
II. The meetness which is wrought by God in the hearts of all who are raised to the enjoyment of this inheritance.—
1. The relative meetness is expressed by the word inheritance. It is assigned to heirs.
2. The personal meetness is indicated by the term saints.
Lessons.—
1. Give thanks to God for those who are made meet.
2. Give thanks to God if the work be begun in yourselves.—R. Watson.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv9, 11 9. “That you may be filled with the perfect…
ARGUMENT 2
THE SCHOOL OF THE SPIRIT
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9. “That you may be filled with the perfect knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” Man is a trinity like God. His is an immortal spirit, having a mind and body. In the fall the human spirit was utterly bereft of Divine life, and has been dead ever since, till the resurrection of the Holy Spirit raises it into life. Our educational system is radically defective at this point. As a rule, our colleges, under the auspices of the different religious denominations, are minus the school of the Holy Ghost. They educate the mind, but not the heart, sending out semi-infidels to occupy the pulpits. We have a few holiness colleges, and need a thousand more. These schools, like holiness revivals, recognize the Bible as the only authority, and the great Textbook to which all others are subordinated. We can not depend on the dualistic system of theology to educate our young people, if we do not want them to graduate like Samson, shorn of his locks, to go out and grind in the mills of Dagon all of their lives. We must have teachers filled with the Holy Ghost. The holiness movement must take our schools into hand, if we would supply the world with able ministers of the New Testament. Instead of spending four years studying heathen authors as I did, and many others are now doing, we should make out our Latin course in the Latin Bible, and our Greek course in the Greek Bible, and likewise with the Hebrew. It is a shame on the escutcheon of Christianity to educate our young people in the heathen classics. I would rather than a million of dollars today I had spent my four years in the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew Bible, instead of the pagan authors. It is high time we would throw off this semi-paganism which we carried out of the Dark Ages. If we are going to save the world, we must have Spirit-filled teachers as well as preachers. We must wake to the fact that the Bible is the only Book, and let all others be merely subsidiary. The secret of the awful apostasy now so fearfully prevailing in the Churches is, that the pulpits are filled with intellectual giants and spiritual babies (in the same person).
10. “That you walk worthily of the Lord in all loyalty.” All of this clamor about Church loyalty is heretical and misleading. The Bible says nothing
about it, but teaches us to be loyal to God. If you are loyal to God, you are loyal to everything in Church and State which is in harmony with God, and disloyal to everything which is disharmonious with God. When you let any one but God expound your loyalty, look out! There is danger ahead. There is where all of the martyrs bled. Be loyal to God alone, revealed in his Word, Spirit, and providence. Abide your destiny right there. If God needs a martyr, put in the first bid. If Church and State are loyal to God, I gladly accept of their company. If they are disloyal to God, I am disloyal to them.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv11–12 Col 1:11 {R.V.}.
Colossians
‘ALL POWER’
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Col 1:11 {R.V.}.
There is a wonderful rush and fervour in the prayers of Paul. No parts of his letters are so lofty, so impassioned, so full of his soul, as when he rises from speaking of God to men to speaking to God for men. We have him here setting forth his loving desires for the Colossian Christians in a prayer of remarkable fulness and sweep. Broadly taken, it is for their perfecting in religious and moral excellence, and it is very instructive to note the idea of what a good man is which is put forth here.
The main petition is for wisdom and spiritual understanding applied chiefly, as is to be carefully noted, to the knowledge of God’s will . The thought is that what it most imports us to know is the Will of God, a knowledge not of merely speculative points in the mysteries of the divine nature, but of that Will which it concerns us to know because it is our life to do it. The next element in Paul’s desires, as set forth in the ideal here, is a worthy walk, a practical life, or course of conduct which is worthy of Jesus Christ, and in every respect pleases Him. The highest purpose of knowledge is a good life. The surest foundation for a good life is a full and clear knowledge of the Will of God.
Then follow a series of clauses which seem to expand the idea of the worthy walk and to be co-ordinate or perhaps slightly causal, and to express the continuous condition of the soul which is walking worthily. Let us endeavour to gather from these words some hints as to what it is God’s purpose that we should become.
I. The many-sided strength which may be ours.
The form of the word ‘strengthened’ here would be more fully represented by ‘being strengthened,’ and suggests an unintermitted process of bestowal and reception of God’s might rendered necessary by our continuous human weakness, and by the tear and wear of life. As in the physical life there must be constant renewal because there is constant waste, and as every bodily action involves destruction of tissue so that living is a continual dying, so is it in the mental and still more in the spiritual life. Just as there must be a perpetual oxygenation of blood in the lungs, so there must be an uninterrupted renewal of spiritual strength for the highest life. It is demanded by the conditions of our human weakness. It is no less rendered necessary by the nature of the divine strength imparted, which is ever communicating itself, and like the ocean cannot but pour so much of its fulness as can be received into every creek and crack on its shore.
The Apostle not merely emphasises the continuousness of this communicated strength, but its many-sided variety, by designating it ‘all power.’ In this whole context that word ‘all’ seems to have a charm for him. We read in this prayer of ‘ all spiritual wisdom,’ of ‘walking worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing,’ of ‘fruit in every good work,’ and now of ‘ all power,’ and lastly of ‘ all patience and longsuffering.’ These are not instances of being obsessed with a word, but each of them has its own appropriate force, and here the comprehensive completeness of the strength available for our many-sided weakness is marvellously revealed. There is ‘infinite riches in a narrow room.’ All power means every kind of power, be it bodily or mental, for all variety of circumstances, and, Protean, to take the shape of all exigencies. Most of us are strong only at points, and weak in others. In all human experience there is a vulnerable spot on the heel. The most glorious image, though it has a head of gold, ends in feet, ‘part of iron and part of clay.’
And if this ideal of many-sided power stands in contrast with the limitations of human strength, how does it rebuke and condemn the very partial manifestations of a very narrow and one-sided power which we who profess to have received it set forth! We have access to a source which can fill our whole nature, can flower into all gracious forms, can cope with all our exigencies, and make us all-round men, complete in Jesus Christ, and, having this, what do we make of it, what do we show for it? Does not God say to us, ‘Ye are not straitened in me, ye are straitened in yourselves; I beseech you be ye enlarged.’
The conditions on our part requisite for possessing ‘all might’ are plain enough. The earlier portion of the prayer plainly points to them. The knowledge of God’s Will and the ‘walk worthy of the Lord’ are the means whereby the power which is ever eager to make its dwelling in us, can reach its end. If we keep the channel unchoked, no doubt ‘the river of the water of life which proceedeth from the throne of God and the Lamb’ will rejoice to fill it to the brim with its flashing waters. If we do not wrench away ourselves from contact with Him, He will ‘strengthen us with all might.’ If we keep near Him we may have calm confidence that power will be ours that shall equal our need and outstrip our desires.
II. The measure of the strength.
It is ‘according to the power of His glory.’ The Authorised Version but poorly represents the fulness of the Apostle’s thought, which is more adequately and accurately expressed in the Revised Version. ‘His glory’ is the flashing brightness of the divine self-manifestation, and in that Light resides the strength which is the standard or measure of the gift to us. The tremendous force of the sunbeam which still falls so gently on a sleeper’s face as not to disturb the closed eyes is but a parable of the strength which characterises the divine glory. And wonderful and condemnatory as the thought is, that power is the unlimited limit of the possibilities of our possession. His gifts are proportioned to His resources. While He is rich, can I be poor? The only real limit to His bestowal is His own fulness. Of course, at each moment, our capacity of receiving is for the time being the practical limit of our possession, but that capacity varies indefinitely, and may be, and should be, indefinitely and continuously increasing. It is an elastic boundary, and hence we may go on making our own as much as we will, and progressively more and more, of God’s strength. He gives it all, but there is a tragical difference between the full cup put into our hands and the few drops carried to our lips. The key of the treasure-chamber is in our possession, and on each of us His gracious face smiles the permission which His gracious lips utter in words, ‘Be it unto thee even as thou wilt.’ If we are conscious of defect, if our weakness is beaten by the assaults of temptation, or crushed by sorrows that ride it down in a fierce attack, the fault is our own. We have, if we choose to make it our own and to use it as ours, more than enough to make us ‘more than conquerors’ over all sins and all sorrows.
But when we contrast what we have by God’s gift and what we have in our personal experience and use in our daily life, the contrast may well bring shame, even though the contrast brings to us hope to lighten the shame. The average experience of present-day Christians reminds one of the great tanks that may be seen in India, that have been suffered to go to ruin, and so an elaborate system of irrigation comes to nothing, and the great river that should have been drawn off into them runs past them, all but unused. Repair them and keep the sluices open, and all will blossom again.
III. The great purpose of this strength.
‘Patience and longsuffering with joyfulness’ seems at first but a poor result of such a force, but it comes from a heart that was under no illusions as to the facts of human life, and it finds a response in us all. It may be difficult to discriminate ‘patience’ from ‘longsuffering,’ but the general notion here is that one of the highest uses for which divine strength is given to us, is to make us able to meet the antagonism of evil without its shaking our souls. He who patiently endures without despondency or the desire to ‘recompense evil for evil,’ and to whom by faith even ‘the night is light about him,’ is far on the way to perfection. God is always near us, but never nearer than when our hearts are heavy and our way rough and dark. Our sorrows make rents through which His strength flows. We can see more of heaven when the leaves are off the trees. It is a law of the Divine dealings that His strength is ‘made perfect in weakness.’ God leads us in to a darkened room to show us His wonders.
That strength is to be manifested by us in ‘patience and longsuffering,’ both of which are to have blended with them a real though apparently antagonistic joy. True and profound grief is not opposed to such patience, but the excess of it, the hopeless and hysterical outbursts certainly are. We are all like the figures in some old Greek temples which stand upright with their burdens on their heads. God’s strength is given that we may bear ours calmly, and upright like these fair forms that hold up the heavy architecture as if it were a feather, or like women with water-jars on their heads, which only make their carriage more graceful and their step more firm.
How different the patience which God gives by His own imparted strength, from the sullen submission or hysterical abandonment to sorrow, or the angry rebellion characterising Godless grief! Many of us think that we can get on very well in prosperity and fine weather without Him. We had better ask ourselves what we are going to do when the storm comes, which comes to all some time or other.
The word here rendered ‘patience’ is more properly ‘perseverance.’ It is not merely a passive but an active virtue. We do not receive that great gift of divine strength to bear only, but also to work, and such work is one of the best ways of bearing and one of the best helps to doing so. So in our sorrows and trials let us feel that God’s strength is not all given us to be expended in our own consolation, but also to be used in our plain duties. These remain as imperative though our hearts are beating like hammers, and there is no more unwise and cowardly surrender to trouble than to fling away our tools and fold our hands idly on our laps.
But Paul lays a harder duty on us even in promising a great gift to us, when he puts before us an ideal of joy mingling with patience and longsuffering. The command would be an impossible one if there were not the assurance that we should be ‘strengthened with all might.’ We plainly need an infusion of diviner strength than our own, if that strange marriage of joy and sorrow should take place, and they should at once occupy our hearts. Yet if His strength be ours we shall be strong to submit and acquiesce, strong to look deep enough to see His will as the foundation of all and as ever busy for our good, strong to hope, strong to discern the love at work, strong to trust the Father even when He chastens. And all this will make it possible to have the paradox practically realised in our own experience, ‘As sorrowful yet always rejoicing.’ One has seen potassium burning underwater. Our joy may burn under waves of sorrow. Let us bring our weakness to Jesus Christ and grasp Him as did the sinking Peter. He will breathe His own grace into us, and speak to our feeble and perchance sorrowful hearts, as He had done long before Paul’s words to the Colossians, ‘My grace is sufficient for thee, and my strength is made perfect in weakness.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v9 The apostle’s intercession for the Colossian Christians:
The apostle’s intercession for the Colossian Christians:
v. 9. for this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,
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v. 10. that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
v. 11. strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness;
v. 12. giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light;
v. 13. who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son;
v. 14. in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.
The good report from Colossae, which had caused Paul to break forth in a prayer of thanksgiving, now also prompts him to add an earnest intercession in behalf of the Colossian congregation: For this cause also we, since the day we heard, do not cease praying in your behalf and desiring that you might be filled with reference to the understanding of His will in all wisdom and spiritual insight. Just when the condition of a congregation is most gratifying and hopeful, this prayer for the continued success of the Gospel is most necessary. The prayer of Paul had been unceasing from the very first day that the good news from Colossae had reached him. But it had culminated in a definite request, in a specific petition, a cordial, urgent supplication. He wanted the Colossian Christians to be filled with the understanding, with the knowledge of the will of God. All Christians should know that the domain of the gracious will of God extends to them, that God’s thoughts toward them, as toward all men, are thoughts of peace and mercy and love. This knowledge has been in their hearts from the beginning of faith, but it must grow ever fuller, ever more perfect. The true and complete knowledge of the gracious will of God in Jesus Christ is not only wrought in the heart by faith, but is maintained and increased in its certainty by the Gospel. It is effected, moreover, in all wisdom and spiritual insight. The enlightened mind of the Christian bears down upon, tries to penetrate ever more deeply into, the wonderful truths of the Gospel. The knowledge of God works true wisdom in us, it increases spiritual understanding in our hearts. All this is the work of the Spirit, it cannot be effected by any purely natural development of human mental life, it is an enlightenment from above. In this way the Christian moves forward day by day toward the perfection of the knowledge of God, the consummation of which will take place in heaven.
The aim of such understanding and knowledge is: To walk, to lead a life, worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, in every good work bringing forth fruit and increasing through the knowledge of God. If a Christian is fully equipped with the wisdom and knowledge from above, if the eyes of his understanding are enlightened through the power of the Spirit, then he is able to make the proper choice of paths in life, then he will know what will please the Lord under certain circumstances, in certain positions and situations. Then his object will be to conduct himself at all times in such a way as to agree with the exalted position of the Lord, to avoid everything that is apt to bring shame and disgrace upon the name of Christ. Pleasing to Christ a believer’s life and conduct must be, that everything which he map say or do will meet with the approval of Him whose name the Christian bears. "To that end our wisdom and knowledge in the understanding of God shall serve and be of use, that we become such people as are an honor and praise to God, that He be praised through us, and that we thus live to the pleasure of God and in every way please Him according to His Word. " This is done, first of all, if the Christians in every good work bring forth fruit. The fruits of a Christian’s faith are his good works, as the apostle writes, Gal 5:22. In every good work the Christian should become proficient, not only in this or that individual case which just happens to strike his fancy. In this way the believers grow through the understanding of God, they increase in sanctification, make progress in every good work, because they are growing up to manhood, to the full stature demanded by the will of God. Thus the knowledge of God is the means, the instrument, of our spiritual growth. As we get to know God better and ever better in His essence, we also advance in the knowledge of His will and are thus enabled to make headway in such conduct and life as will meet with the approval of God on every hand.
Another point that Christians should strive for is: in all strength made strong according to the power of His glory unto all patience and long-suffering. It is impossible for the believers, by their own reason and strength, to lead the life demanded by the will of God. But they have a source of strength and spiritual power which is unlimited, since it flows from the divine supply. They are strengthened with power from above, and the strength thus obtained they apply in every direction, in all efforts of will and understanding, in the home and outside of the home, in the Church and outside of the Church. God gives this strength in proportion to His own almighty power; for through this power His glory is revealed, first to the believer, and through him to all with whom he comes in contact. But above all does the power of God enable the Christian to observe the right attitude in times of tribulation, when poverty, sickness, and various temporal afflictions, when scorn, mockery, persecution come upon him. It is then that patience and long-suffering are needed, which the believer cannot obtain by his own efforts, but which must come to him according to the measure of God’s majesty and glory. In His power he can patiently endure all sufferings and tribulations unto the end, if he be but instant in prayer.
Another feature of the Christian’s conduct in life is: With joy giving thanks to God the Father, who has qualified us to take part in the inheritance of the saints in light. The thanksgiving of the believers is not one which is dictated to them by a sense of duty: it is a free and joyful, almost a spontaneous outgrowth of their relation to God. Their entire life, both in good and evil days, both in joy and in sorrow, is one continued round of thanksgiving to God for His unspeakable gifts. This attitude and its expression is wrought in the Christians by the fact that they realize that God is their Father. By keeping this fact in mind, that the Father above, the great God of heaven and earth, guides and governs His children’s lives according to His gracious and good will, and that He will surely lead them home, whether through clouds or through sunshine, these children will always find new cause for rejoicing, and their praise of His fatherly love and care will be ever more sincere and joyful. But the most wonderful gift of the heavenly Father is this, that He has made us meet, ready, has qualified us for taking part in the inheritance of the saints in light. Two things are here stated of the inheritance of heaven; first, that it belongs to the saints, being intended for all believers; secondly, that it consists in light. The final, eternal glory of salvation, the consummation and realization of the Christians’ highest hopes, is given to the believers by God’s free grace. For this He made us ready by having mercy upon our sinful state, by making us His children through faith in Christ Jesus, by guaranteeing to us the glory of heaven for our everlasting possession. It is not an uncertain, indefinite expectation with which the Christians are trying to bolster up their own courage, but a definite certainty, resting upon the promise of the ever-faithful God.
This thought is now expounded at greater length: Who has torn us out of the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have the redemption, the forgiveness of sins. By nature we Christians, with all other men, were under the power, in the slavery, of darkness, in the kingdom of Satan, where there is only curse, wrath, punishment, damnation, not one ray of light or hope. As sinners by nature we were held captive in this slavery and could look forward only to death and damnation. But God rescued us, He tore us away forcibly from the power of the devil. By the same act and at the same time He transferred us to, gave us a position in, the kingdom of His beloved Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. By sending His one, His beloved Son, in whom the full love of the Father is realized, into this world, by giving Him into death for our sakes and reconciling the world to Himself, God has established the kingdom of His Son, the Church, the realm of light, where righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost are ever present. Moreover, by working faith in our hearts, He has made us citizens in this Kingdom; we are Christ’s own, and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and happiness. In Christ, through Christ’s atoning work, we have redemption; He paid the ransom by which we were delivered from the power of Satan. In His immeasurable mercy and love toward us Christ gave Himself as our Substitute, He shed His holy blood in payment of our debt of sins and transgressions. We now have forgiveness of sins in Him; for His blood cleanses us from all sins, it makes us free from their guilt and power. That deliverance, with all its resulting blessings, is our abiding possession.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv9, 11 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Because the Spirit has enabled them to love others, Paul prays for them and tells them here how he prays for them.
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Because of this love
"Because the Holy Spirit has enabled you to love other believers"
we heard ... we have not stopped ... We have been asking ... We have been praying
These words do not include the Colossians. (See: Exclusive and Inclusive "We")
from the day we heard this
"from the day Epaphras told us these things"
that you will be filled with the knowledge of his will
Paul speaks of the Colossian believers as though they were containers. AT: "that God will fill you with what you need to know so that you can do his will" (See: Metaphor)
in all wisdom and spiritual understanding
", so that the Holy Spirit will make you wise and able to understand what God wants you to do"
that you will walk worthily of the Lord
Walking here signifies behavior in life. AT: "that you will live the way God expects you to" (See: Metaphor)
in pleasing ways
"in ways that will please the Lord"
will bear fruit
Paul is speaking of the Colossian believers as if they were trees or plants. As a plant grows and bears fruit, so also believers are to keep getting to know God better and doing good deeds. (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
love
wise
spirit
worthy
lord
pray
good
God
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv9, 12 1:9-10 Paul prays that God would grant his readers…
1:9-10 Paul prays that God would grant his readers deeper understanding of the Good News and its full expression in their lives. Spiritual growth yields a clearer and deeper comprehension of Christian truth and conduct that pleases the Lord, through which a believer will have the endurance and patience to stand firm against evil (1:11).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.