Notes on the Epistle to the Colossians

J. N. Darby.

<27025E> 249

Two Epistles of the New Testament are occupied with the mystery of the church united to Christ in one body, the Epistle to the Ephesians, and that to the Colossians. There is consequently identity in a measure between the two epistles; but they show the subject each under a particular aspect, presenting as to the details a sensible difference. In the first Paul sees the church in Christ, the saints occupying in Him their place in heaven; in the second he sees Christ in the saints (not them in Him) on the earth.

Chapter 1: 1-3. Paul addresses himself to the Colossians from our God and Father [and the Lord Jesus Christ],* that is to say, on the footing of our relationship with God. He blesses the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the first source of all our blessings. This is the manner in which he enters upon his subject. This opening is the same as that of the Epistle to the Ephesians.

{*The critics omit "and the Lord Jesus Christ" here.}

Verses 4-12. But here is a difference. In the Epistle to the Ephesians, Paul, before coming to that which concerns the faith of the saints, and their spiritual condition, causes quite a stream of the riches of the grace of God to flow (Eph. 1: 3-14); whilst in the Epistle to the Colossians he is occupied immediately with their condition. This would indicate that these latter were found in a lower moral condition than the former. He could, from the very outset, speak to the Ephesians of the riches of the counsels of God; the Colossians required him to be occupied with them firstly. In verse 4 Paul records their faith, and in verses 5-12 he recalls the work of God in their favour, expressing his desires and his prayers for their prosperity.

Verses 9-12. This introduction presents to us a fine summary of all that one can ask of God for Christians. If we had sufficient confidence in the interest which God takes in His children, we should have greater boldness in asking God, according to the intentions of His grace. We do not live enough by this grace, and that is why our prayers are so constantly stamped with the sense of want. We are often the Abraham of Genesis 15, who asks for himself, saying to God: "What wilt thou give me?" But Paul shews himself here the Abraham of Genesis 18, sitting before God, worshipping Him, and making requests for others.

250 Verse 10. To walk worthily, is not only not to fall, but rather also to act in a manner so as to be pleasing to the Lord; it is to shew Him a walk in harmony with the knowledge He has given us of Himself and of His will.

Verse 11. Strengthened with all might according to the power of His glory; not merely "glorious." The power indicated by these words is that which the glory of God possesses.

Verse 12. Giving thanks to the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints. We inherit from God as children (Rom. 8: 17); it is then from our Father that we receive the inheritance. And the Father, who gives us the right to the inheritance, prepares us also to receive it, and to enjoy it.

"In light." He has made us such, that we are capable of dwelling in the light. We can dwell there with joy, where is found absolute holiness.

Verses 13, 14. "Translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love." God does not wish to put His own in absolute purity without giving them an object of affection. This inheritance which He gives is also the kingdom of the Son of His love into which we enter virtually through the redemption accomplished by His Son.

Verses 15-29. Having thus named Christ, Paul goes on now to present Him in the glory of His Person; he goes on to tell what Christ is in Himself, the works He has accomplished, what He is in His own.

As concerns this, we remark in Christ, as elements of His glory; two headships, one in creation, the other in resurrection (v.15-18); two reconciliations, that of the creation, and that of the saints forming the church (v. 19-22); and two ministries proceeding from Him, the gospel preached to all creation, and the ministry of the church (v. 23-29).

Verse 15. What glory there is in the Person of Christ! He is on one side the image of the invisible God, manifesting in His Person the God that cannot be seen, and on the other He is the Head of all creation.

"First-born." This title indicates that He who bears it is Head over all. One sees an example of this in Psalm 89: 27, where Solomon, tenth son of David (1 Chron. 3), receives with the title of "first-born" the right to his father's throne. It is not difficult to conceive that if the Creator-God finds it good to take a place in the creation, the first belongs to Him. The Son took this place in becoming Man.

251 Verses 14-17. The Son, who is before things, created all things from the beginning, and by the same power which He shewed in the formation of the worlds, He holds up all things to-day. Without Him, all in creation would dissolve.

Verse 16. Visible and invisible things, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, everything powerful depends upon the power of Christ who created all. And not only is it by Him, but for Him, that all things were created.

Verse 18. He is the Head in resurrection, as in creation.

Verse 19. Hitherto we have seen Christ the image of God, and Head of all things. He presents Himself now to us, uniting all fulness in His Person. There dwelt all the fulness. The Gnostics had imagined a fulness in which Jesus occupied one place only. Now to preserve for the Lord His true place, the apostle declares that, far from belonging to a fulness, Jesus is the one in whom all the fulness was pleased to dwell. What is this fulness? It is deity.

Verse 20. It pleased this fulness, which created everything, to reconcile all things, when after the entrance of sin they were found in disorder.

"To reconcile all things," that is, creation outside Himself, and the church in Himself; the reconciliation of the church is already an accomplished fact. "You hath he reconciled."

The general condition of things is complete confusion: all creation is in disorder; Satan is in the heavenly places; and, being the god of this age, leads the course of this world. But this disorder will not always last. God will put His hand to it; the state of things will change. Meanwhile the moral reconciliation is already wrought; we are reconciled to God: as for our bodies which partake of corruption, deliverance will come also, for that we wait, the reconciliation of creation.

When speaking of reconciliation, Paul neither mentions wicked men nor Satan: they are named when it is a question of the subjection of all things to Christ (Phil. 2). But when it is a question of reconciliation, it is evident that they could not be spoken of.

252 Verse 21. The reconciliation of the saints, composing the church, presents a fact which is special to it. Paul, in looking at it, finds the objects of this reconciliation in the greatest distance from God. He sees the Colossians (their condition is that of every man in the flesh) as not only sharing in the general disorder of creation, but as alienated from God. Such are the beings that Christ has reconciled to God. He has reconciled them in the body of His flesh - in Himself.

Verse 22. It is important to remark that the reconciliation of the church, as well as the headship of Christ in resurrection are in connection with His Person.

Verse 23. "If ye continue in the faith." One may gather from these words that there was not much stability among the Colossians. The words "if ye continue in the faith," indicate a condition. As concerns this, we may remark, that the presentation of our persons to God, to which this condition would seem to be bound up, is very free for us, since it is God who does all that this condition requires (v. 22). But then (v. 23), if we abandoned Christianity we should lose our advantage, seeing that we should thereby have rejected the grace by which we were presented to God. This does not at all touch the election and the perseverance of the saints (one finds this language unceasingly in the epistles); it only proves that God, whose faithfulness guaranteed the accomplishment of His counsel, keeps ourselves, and that He keeps us morally.

Verses 23-25. Observe these two ministries: the preaching of the gospel in all the creation which is under heaven; and the service of Paul as minister of the church. These two ministries are distinct; but we see them combined in the person of Paul. Ministries inferior to the apostleship are in general given for one or other of these two branches of service, though it may happen, too, that God sometimes employs one and the same servant to meet the very varied need of souls.

Verse 25. "To fulfil the word of God." The doctrine of the church completes the word of God - the Scriptures. What was given afterwards did not add new truths to the revelation of God. The Apocalypse, for instance, gives many new details on prophecy; it casts much light on the prophets of the Old Testament, etc., but they are not at all new truths.

Verses 26, 27. "The mystery which hath been hid from ages." To declare the coming of Christ on the earth, His sufferings, His departure, His return in glory to establish a kingdom - all this was not a mystery, it was revealed. One may misunderstand these revelations, and in this case there was ignorance or mistake. But a Christ glorious and heavenly, who unites all in His Person - a Christ, Head of His body, forming the same heavenly body of saved Jews and Gentiles - was only revealed in the New Testament. And not only was this mystery hidden, but it does not at all agree with the hopes of the Jews: for a Christ present (by His Spirit) among the Gentiles, who is as yet only the hope of glory, is far from answering to the expectations of the Jews, who looked for the Messiah to come then, bringing them the glory and establishing the kingdom.

253 "Christ in you," or among you, Gentiles. Such is the side of the mystery which attaches to the presence of Christ come, where He has given the Holy Spirit (Acts 2). "Came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh," Eph. 2: 17. This expression "among you" applies consequently in the dispensations of God to this particular period during which Christ is among the Gentiles by His Spirit.

Verses 28, 29. Paul laboured to present "every man perfect in Christ Jesus." It is not enough for the spiritual life that one be in Christ without anything more. It is needful, besides, that one should apprehend what Christ is, and that our character should be formed by this knowledge. A Jew or a Gentile who embraced the faith was saved; but he had much to learn with respect to our Saviour. He must learn that Jesus is Lord of all, Head over all, as well as to the church, that He is High Priest of good things to come, etc. Paul did not weary in his efforts to make Jesus known. His heart desired in a lively way that every man should become a formed and full-grown Christian. Every man "perfect" means full-grown. The same word reappears in Philippians 3: 15, and in Hebrews 5: 14.

Chapter 2: 2. "Being knit in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding." The New Testament speaks of full assurance of faith in Hebrews 10: 22; and "of full assurance of hope" in chapter 6: 11 of the same epistle. But in the passage that we are studying we read, "full assurance of understanding." Paul asked in his prayer for the Colossians that they might joy in this "full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God." This last is more vast and extending; it is all in connection with the glory of Christ. The full assurance of faith and hope is more towards ourselves, and our joy; the full assurance of understanding brings us into the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and this gives us understanding in all His ways. It is astonishing to see how quickly our thoughts turn to the earth, and bring down heavenly things to our own lives. That explains why legality is so often found among Christians, for the elements of the world and law go together. If we live up to our heavenly position, enjoying communion with God in that position, we see things in God, and contemplate from on high His great love.

254 It is love which gives us this assurance of understanding; love precedes it. In this love we can understand divine things; but if not there we find ourselves led away by self, and selfishness understands nothing of the things of God.

Verses 2, 3. Omit in these verses the words, "and of the Father and of Christ," and read "the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." The church is part of the mystery of God, but it embraces more than the church; it is the purpose that God before all time had of uniting all under one Head, Christ, in giving Him, as centre of this whole, the church composed of Jews and Gentiles to form one body with Him. Thus, according to the purposes of God, Christ takes His place as Head over all who belong to the second creation having in glory the church as a body.

God's government down here represents the elements of Christ's glory, but they do not form part of the mystery; so the glory of the Messiah among the Jews, and the lordship of the Son of man over the nations do not belong to the mystery of God. These things are revealed in the Old Testament.

Verse 6. It appears the Colossians were inclined to philosophy, legality, etc. To turn them from it the Holy Ghost says, "There are no such elements in the things which ye have received, but hold fast that which ye have received of God, and walk ye in it."

Reasoning is a vain deception. If man does not accept the testimony of the word of God, he understands nothing amidst the confusion which surrounds him. Philosophers say, "All is God" Well evil being in the world, what is the consequence? Is the evil of God? Admit the fall of man, and these errors will vanish.

255 For "after the tradition of men," read, "according to the teaching," the word signifies, "transfer to another." The Jews went a good deal into the elements of philosophy; they adopted the form to which they submitted the Jewish elements.

"The rudiments of the world." Philosophy goes no farther: it could not give us anything, much more where the truth of God is in question; anything we find added only tends to destroy. Gnostical inventions reject the divinity of Jesus, and the mystery of the incarnation. Later inventions make other truths disappear. Thus, the mass annuls the perfect sacrifice of the cross; and invoking the intercession of saints does not acknowledge the priesthood of Christ. So the Christian should seek for nought outside Christ. We are in Him in whom all fulness dwells: what can we want more? We are complete and perfected in Him.

Verse 9. "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." In this verse, as in chapter 1: 19, already noticed, we see that all fulness dwells in Jesus. There this fulness is seen respecting the counsels of God, the goodwill of God; here it represents, rather, the accomplished work of redemption.

Verse 10. "Ye are complete in him." Notice: far from having anyone between us and Christ, we are in Him who is the Head of all principality and power. We lose our standing, if, for example, we allow an angel to come between Christ and us, although as a creature an angel is far superior to us. There is no mediator between us and Christ; there is between us and God, this very mediator being Christ Himself.

Verse 11. Paul shews that we have in Christ the reality of things signified in the ordinances. Being in Christ we have life, and this life produces death in the flesh, the true circumcision.* To seek life by death would be to wish for death outside of Christ. We are never recommended to die to sin; it is said, we are dead to sin. In practice, it is true, one realises life according to the measure that he is dead.

{*This truth decides the question discussed with the monks and the Irvingites. They want to obtain life by death, instead of knowing that we are dead by the fact that we have received life.}

In Christ circumcision consists in putting off the body (of the sins) of the flesh. With one gleam of faith one is entirely freed from sin looked at as a whole. This passage does not refer to practical life. It shews a moral condition, which is, in fact, when we receive Christ by faith. Note here, it does not say, "the sins of the body," but "the body of the sins" - sin being looked at as a principal characteristic of the body. The circumcision of Christ exists in the fact that we are constituted dead to sin.

256 Verse 12. To unfold the subject more fully, Paul adds, "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him," v. 12, 13. One can look at man in two ways - as living in the world, and as being dead in his sins. Paul, in Romans 6, sees the Christian out of the first of these two conditions. "Shall we continue in sin?" and in Ephesians 2 he sees him out of the second - "Ye were dead." And here we find the grace which corresponds with these two states - "Ye walked according to the course of this world; now ye are buried with Christ. . . . Ye were dead in your sins; God hath quickened you.

Verse 13. This verse represents a detail, which, I believe, was not remarked in the Ephesians, namely, that God in quickening us pardons our offences; with one act He does the two things. The knowledge of our sins does not prevent Him from quickening us. In this case the quickening brings of itself the pardon of our sins. If, for example, my child is being punished, and I come and take him for a walk, it is clear he is forgiven. One sees in the light of such grace how man has liberty through Christ.

Verses 13-15. The death of Jesus corresponds in several ways to the condition and wants of sinful man. There are trespasses - Jesus has forgiven them (v. 13); ordinances - He has blotted them out (v. 14); principalities and powers - He has triumphed over them. How valuable it makes the cross! Respecting this deliverance, it all applies to saints individually, not to the church as a body. This body has its existence in Christ alone. The church has never been under the power of death, nor under judgment; it has never needed to be justified, which is all individual. Where the church is named, there is no room for any such question.

But do we not see in Ephesians 5: 25, that Christ gave Himself for the church? Yes; before Christ formed the church for Himself, He bought it with a price. In this passage the idea is not justification, but the love that Jesus had in giving Himself for the church. Justification, that is to say, the grace that enables a sinner to stand before God, is not brought out in the Epistle to the Ephesians. This epistle speaks of the church as being in the heavenlies, united to Christ, and heir to His glory, according to all the counsels of God; it shews also the love and care of Jesus for His church. Christ, according to this love, gave Himself for it, bought it by His death; and now that it is His, He purifies it by the word before presenting it to Himself glorious. The church in this last case is the object of care, similar to that received by Esther before being presented to king Ahasuerus. But all this is not justification.

257 Verse 14. The handwriting should be, "the obligation" - the obligation that existed in ordinances. An ordinance is all that is given to one in the flesh to accomplish: Peter calls it a yoke that neither we nor our fathers could bear. The ten commandments are presented under the form of an ordinance, but they point to something larger; they trace the conduct of a creature that knows love, and are thus the expression of a great moral principle that even angels obey.

258 The breaking of bread, is it an ordinance? Not in the sense that we understand ordinance; it is not a commandment, but a privilege granted to us to remember Jesus. The feast of unleavened bread on the contrary was an ordinance to which one must submit under pain of being cut off. Neither is the breaking of bread a sacrament. Originally a sacrament was a faithful oath that the Roman soldiers made to their flag. Fathers of the church called many things by this name; breaking of bread, baptism, and marriage were all sacraments to them. In a time of persecution to break bread was well, in one way, to profess the faithfulness of Christ; but it happened also at a similar time to profess faithfulness was no more than the breaking of bread. This expression "a sacrament" has become so ecclesiastical that it leads the mind away. Breaking of bread and baptism are no more sacraments than the viaticum and marriage. It is well to get clear of these bits of superstition.

Christ has left us two signs: one of His death and resurrection, baptism; the other, the memorial of His death, the breaking of bread. It is sad that it is called an ordinance if more is meant than the Lord's institution. When Jesus said "Do this in remembrance of me," surely He meant that it should be done; but by these words He only gave a motive, and did not establish an ordinance.

The breaking of bread, and baptism, were things practised by the Jews. They broke bread with the afflicted (Jer. 16: 7); they had pools for their baptisms. The Lord adopted the first of these two customs for the breaking of bread; the second for the washing of regeneration. "He took bread, and blessed it" (Luke 24: 30) means He gave thanks to God, no more.

Verse 15. Having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly. Jesus has, as it were, drawn the enemy into a public scene. Speaking historically it is the enemy who has conducted the things in this manner.

Verse 16. There are three results derived from verse 12: "Let no man therefore judge you," etc. (v. 16-19); "Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ," etc. (v. 20-23); "If ye then be risen with Christ," etc. (chap. 3: 1-4).

"Of the sabbath," all the days that they were compelled to rest were called sabbaths.

Verse 18. "Let no man beguile you of your reward." The idea that these words present is to be deprived of the crown after having run. "In a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels intruding into those things which he hath not seen." But the adversary is satisfied; he succeeds in that way to force you to make a diversion, and to turn your thoughts from the object of your faith. As soon as men take this attitude of voluntary humility, they are not "holding the head." How can he that has the right to own himself one with Christ let such a privilege go to turn to other objects?

Verse 19. The Lord, far from having instituted an order . of things to come between us and Him, has given the ministry which works to join, and sustain the members of the body united to the Head. This verse shews the direct union of each member with the Head.

Verse 20. Why are ye subject to ordinances? As though living in the world. It is not the simple fact of being in the world that these words infer, but to have lived in it and of it, outside of Christ. It is to this kind of life that ordinances apply themselves. It is remarkable to see how the very things in which Christianity seems to give place to man - baptism and the breaking of bread, of which the flesh would make ordinances, these very institutions declare man to be dead.

259 Chapter 3: 1-4. Taking part in Christ's resurrection the Christian finds himself a heavenly person. Jesus his life and joy is hidden in heaven; and such a Christian can but have heavenly thoughts and affections.

Verse 4. "When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." We have life, we are already quickened, but there is more to expect from this life; God wishes it to shine in glory. The promise is given; and when Christ shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him.

Verse 5. If there are things we should not seek after, there are also others we should fight against.

Verse 6. Some people say unbelief is the only sin on which will fall the judgment of God, but we see by this and the preceding verses that God's judgment will come on the rebellious for other things beside unbelief.

Verse 10. The new man is renewed in knowledge, or in other words made new for knowledge. It is the Christian seen in his new nature through the new life. "After the image of him that created him." The renewing that God accomplishes in us is not after the pattern of the first Adam, but a renewing according to Christ. This verse presents two privileges for the Christian, the divine nature in him, the new man; and an object outside himself, Christ, the object of his faith and thoughts.

Verse 11. While awaiting the glory when God will be all in all, Christ dwells already in His saints, He has formed in them the new man, in whom also He is all and in all. The old man can have ordinances and philosophy, but to the new man Christ is all.

Verse 14. Nothing is perfect in our behaviour towards others without love, divine love, brotherly love, etc. You must bring God in, God is love. That is why love is the bond of perfectness. Surely, when the first thought of our heart is formed in God, it is perfection.

Verse 15. Read "Let the peace of Christ."

Verse 16. "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly"; that there should be in your hearts by the effect of the word, an unfolding of the Christ you acknowledge, and that it be perfect.

Chapter 4: 5. "Walk in wisdom: redeeming the time."

Verse 16. Read "That from Laodicea," the epistle which will come to you from Laodicea.

260 Remarks.

The comparison between the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians gives rise to the remarks which follow. They both treat of the church united to Christ, as being His body. But the Epistle to the Colossians goes rather to unfold the perfection of the Head, than to shew the privileges of the body; while the Epistle to the Ephesians does the reverse. The Ephesians being well grounded in faith and holding fast the truth of their union with Christ, the Holy Ghost could unfold to them the great privileges derived from that union. The Colossians, on the contrary, needed to be established in the faith and to be shewn Christ in His fulness, Head of the church. Thus the two subjects are complete, and present at once to us both the perfection of the Head, and the privileges of the body.

In the Epistle to the Ephesians the church, being in a good state, is seen on high in its position in Christ, and from there looking down contemplates what God is doing and going to do. In Colossians Paul shews rather what is on high, directs the Christian's gaze upward, shewing him the perfection of Christ, and the hope which is reserved for him in heaven. This position of the Christian awaiting the heavenly glory resembles a little that given him in the course where we see him pressing toward the mark. In this respect the subject of the Colossians approaches that of the Philippians. These two aspects of the Christian's position explain another difference remarked between Ephesians and Colossians. In one Paul says, Christ shall appear; in the other he does not speak of His return. The Ephesians are seen as being already on high. There is another epistle - to the Galatians, where Paul keeps silent as to the coming of Jesus, without doubt for the opposite reason: the moral state of the Galatians was too low.

Many things connected with the Holy Ghost in Ephesians are connected with the new man in Colossians, on account of the difference between the two on the common subject. In the Epistle to the Ephesians, where Paul looks principally at the body, he mentions necessarily the Holy Spirit who is in the body, uniting it all in one. In that to the Colossians, where individuality is more forcibly marked, he sees the new man characterised by the individual. Again two different effects: the Holy Spirit, the power of God which works in us; and the new man, the communicated divine nature, which renders us responsible.

Notes on the beginning of Colossians

<27026E> 261

I desire to send you a few remarks from time to time, as the Lord may enable me, on the Epistle to the Colossians, chiefly for the help of the young who have recently been brought, in His great mercy, to know and love the Lord Jesus Christ.

Two things in this epistle make it specially precious to such. The first is the way in which it so fully reveals the glory of Christ's Person, whether as Son of the Father's love, in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwells, or as Creator, and Redeemer, and Head of His body, the church. The second thing is the way in which it unfolds "the mystery" for joy and consolation of the saints - even Christ in them the hope of glory.

These are the two great subjects set before our hearts by the Holy Ghost in this precious epistle; and what can be more strengthening or gladdening than to have the eye and heart filled with the glory of Jesus, and to have the joy and assurance of our intimate union with Him made good in our souls by the Holy Ghost? To walk in the light of His risen glory, and in the consciousness of our individual interest in His love is the great requirement in these evil days. Nothing else will give courage to confess Him before men; and this alone will deliver from all the snares of Satan, whether of worldliness on the one hand, or of religion on the other, which is not after Christ.

These things will come before us, if the Lord will, by-and-by: meantime, let us follow the course of the epistle from the beginning.

In the first two verses we have the salutation of the apostle, and in the next three his thanksgiving on their behalf. He addresses them as Christ's apostle, clothed with the authority of His name, and charged them with the communication of His grace. Moreover, God had set him apart to this service. In the end of the chapter the apostle tells of a double ministry entrusted to him as the vessel of the grace of God: first, a ministry for the proclamation of the gospel to sinners; and second, a ministry for the church, to make known to the saints the unsearchable riches of Christ. It is in the exercise of this latter ministry that he writes this epistle. It is to bring the hearts of the saints into the assured knowledge and enjoyment of their place and portion in Christ so as to walk in peaceful communion with Him until He shall appear. This ministry he fulfils in the name, and as the apostle, of Jesus Christ. Thus the whole epistle flows directly from Christ through His chosen apostle.

262 It is to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ he writes, and, as we have seen, on the part of Christ. They were "in Christ," the grand centre of the new creation; holy and faithful brethren in Him. Then he ministers the sweet stream of grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as Jesus was parted from His disciples in the act of blessing them, so here the apostle of Christ begins his epistle to the Colossians, before entering on anything else by saluting them with the grace or unmingled favour of the Father and the Son, of which they were ever the objects, being in Christ, and with the peace which is the fruit of this favour.

Next we get his thanksgiving. He thanked God, even the Father of "our Lord Jesus Christ," praying always for them, for the hope laid up for them in heaven. Here we see how Paul identified himself with the interests of heaven. He had heard of the faith and love of these Colossians, and his heart at once turned to God in thanksgiving and prayers; thanksgiving that He had linked with heaven this fresh company of believers, and that He had done it. And note well, that it was not what they were delivered from that here occupies him, though he does not forget that, as we see lower down; nor is it what was wrought in them, blessed as that was; but it is what they were called to - that bright and blessed portion in heaven - the hope laid up for them there. Thus he would evidently fill their minds with what they were going to; and in his own sense of its exceeding excellency and glory he thanks God on their behalf as heirs of such an inheritance.

This is a very important point. For there is a great tendency, in the first joy of faith and fervour of feeling, to be occupied with the joy and with the feeling; and when afterwards trials and exercises of heart and conscience have to be passed through, to be occupied with them, or with what will give present deliverance and help, and to forget the bright and blessed hope laid up for us in heaven - the place of rest and glory with Himself, which Jesus is gone to prepare. But how can I journey on to Canaan through the trials and exercises of the wilderness if my heart has lost the sense of the blessedness of the Canaan I am going to? We are redeemed, not for the wilderness, but for Canaan; we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And when the glory of God is indeed our joy, we can add, "Not only so, but we glory in tribulations also." For then we know and experience that these very tribulations are all made to work for our good, and to further us on our way. For "tribulation worketh patience." It free us from the restlessness of our own will, which would turn aside, and delivers us, besides, from the fear of what man can do to us. We learn to trust in God. We learn, moreover, how little we can be the authors of our own blessing, and we count more and more on the constant watchfulness and love, and care of a Father in heaven. His love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. We know that we are in these tribulations because the objects of His love, the ransomed ones of His grace from the fire that shall never be quenched. And then, besides, we are on our way to God. Thus having the end in view enables us to confess that we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth, and it brightens with hope every step of the way. Otherwise we get weary, becoming faint in our minds. But if living in the midst of things that are unseen and eternal, the inward man is renewed day by day, and that, too, at the very time that the outward world is perishing and falling into decay.

263 But we now come to a third point, and that is - the ground of this thanksgiving on behalf of these Colossians. How could the apostle give thanks so assuredly on their behalf, having never seen them? Verse 4 tells us. It was because he had heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus, and of their love to all the saints. These were the grand distinguishing features and characteristics of the divine life in man. And these being of God, he well knew that all who possessed them were bound up for ever in the bundle of life with the Lord Jesus Christ, and that where He was there should they be also. These were the essentials. In Christ Jesus nothing avails but "faith which worketh by love." First, faith, which came to Jesus with all its load of sin and unworthiness because it had nowhere else to go, and because it saw a love and a holiness in Him which received sinners and made Him their companion and their friend; and then love which, having Him for its object, necessarily had all who were His. Faith not only thus comes to Jesus at the first, but it binds the soul to Him as risen, and is ever receiving of His fulness. And love, having seen the saints as the precious ones of His heart, enfolds them for ever in its bosom with a most tender affection. They are dear to Him. This is the motive of love, and it never fails. It clothes with divine comeliness all the objects of His grace. And what it does to them it does as unto Him; and great is its reward.

In the previous verses we had three points brought before us. First, is the apostle's salutation, in which he regards the saints as the objects of the present favour of the Father, and of the peace which He gives. Happy position! secured to us for ever in Christ. And sweet it is thus to be able to view the saints at all times, whatever their practical condition may be, as dear to God, the excellent of the earth, whose present peace and blessing He seeks, even as He has secured it for us for ever in Christ. In fellowship with these thoughts of God, the apostle greets them with grace and peace from God their Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

264 Then, secondly, we had his thanksgiving for the hope laid up for them in heaven. Heaven was near to his thoughts. Jesus was there. He had entered in, and He was preparing a place for them. He is to come again to take us to Himself, that we may be for ever with Him. And when He shall be manifested then shall we also be manifested with Him in glory. This latter, perhaps, was more especially the hope here before him; Christ in them "the hope of glory." What rest of heart the apostle had in contemplating this issue of Christ's travail on their behalf, their being with Him for ever in heaven! Many an exercise he had on their behalf even as to the very condition they were in at the time he was writing to them; they had lost the sense of their place with their risen Head; at any rate it had become much enfeebled, and with the enfeebling of this all else became enfeebled too. He had great agony for them; and this was Christ's Spirit yearning in him over them for their deliverance, and for their entrance in living power into the joy and comfort of the mystery. But when he turned to heaven all was peace; he could give thanks to the Father for the portion He had laid up for them there. Christ was there. The Head was there, and with Him everyone of the members should appear in glory.

Then, thirdly, in verse 4 we had the ground of this thanksgiving as far as they were concerned - even their faith in the Lord Jesus and love to all the saints. Grace had wrought in them already, and he at once connects it with glory.

265 In the close of verse 5, and in the next, a new subject comes before him - the gospel, "the word of the truth of the gospel." In connection with this he makes three statements, each of them weighty and important, as indeed every word of God is.

First, he connects the hope laid up for them in heaven with the word of the truth of the gospel. The gospel, the good tidings of grace, had wrapped up in it also good tidings of glory. It was in the word of the truth of the gospel that they had heard of the hope laid up for them in heaven. Such was the range and scope of the gospel, at least which they had heard; it was God's good news not only of the forgiveness of sins through the blood of His Son, but of eternal blessedness with Him in heaven.

How could it be otherwise? Christ was in heaven, and we are redeemed to be with Him. The cross put Him in glory, and it puts all there who trust in Him too. Blessed is it to know what we are delivered from - the wages of sin - eternal separation from God, who is love, the fountain of all goodness and joy; and this, too, as the expression of His everlasting displeasure. But how much more blessed to know that His perfect love did not spare His own Son, not only that I might not perish, but that I might know Him and be with Himself for ever! Jesus was forsaken for us, that we might be for ever brought nigh. This gives the heart an object as well as perfect peace to the conscience. It delivers also from this present evil world; the brightness and blessedness of that One discovering the true condition of this world - far from God and in bondage of Satan, and under wrath because of having rejected Jesus. The word of the truth of the gospel reveals all this - the true condition of man and his world; and the perfect grace of God which has wrought in the cross for us, and which has wrought in them by the gospel, giving them a place even now with Him who bore it for them, and the hope of being with Him for ever in heaven. It was the word of the truth of the gospel, and on it they might rely with confidence. Man and his glory was passing away, but the word of the Lord should endure for ever. And this was the word which by the gospel was preached unto them.

What firmness of step, and what buoyancy of spirit this heavenly hope gives to him who has it in passing through this world! Then we realise that we are not of it, and that we are on our way to God.

266 A second characteristic of the gospel was its universality. It had reached them, and was among them, as indeed it was in the world. It was no mere Jewish tidings; it was for man. Offences abounded among the Jews; but where "sin" abounded, a far wider thing, there grace did much more abound.

Then, thirdly, it was bringing forth fruit in all the world and amongst them too. It was gathering souls to God through Christ wherever it went, but besides, it was bringing forth fruit in those who were gathered. This last point is plainly implied in the clause which follows: "Since the day ye heard it, and knew the grace of God in truth." Ever since it was the power of fruit-bearing, as at the first it was the seed of eternal life. This is a very important point, and one we are apt often to forget. The seed that fell into the good ground brought forth fruit; some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundredfold. We have become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that we should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God. This is the simple natural result of union with Jesus risen. And the grace of God, when known in truth, sets us thus before God in Christ, the fruits of which union we are to manifest down here upon the earth. We are to walk in newness of life, that is, of response Godward. In order to do this, we must abide in Him. But when simply holding the Head, everything is fruit, fruit unto God.

What a place of honour and glory this is - of being here in this world the living channels of the affections and virtues of Christ hid in God. Oh! that we esteemed it more. Thus it is we adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, by manifesting in this world of sin and in the trying circumstances of daily life, not what flesh is, but what Christ is; our hearts feeding upon His love, whilst we lean upon His arm and are guided by His eye. What interest He takes in our being fruitful, that His Father may be glorified! Will He fail us in the hour of need? He lets us come into it just that we may prove how abundant are His resources to make us victors over all the power of the enemy.

May He keep us near to Himself that we may be happy in His love, and so be strong to live for Him.

Reconciliation

Colossians 1.

<27027E> 267

In a certain aspect, the Epistle to the Colossians does not take us up so far as the Ephesians does. The latter takes up very distinctly the purpose and counsels of God and the new creation. Hence the contrast of it with man in the old is presented in a very remarkable way.

In Ephesians we read that God has made us "sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus," and the Holy Ghost as the seal of our state; whilst in Colossians we are "risen with Christ," and that life and its place are largely developed, but yet we are upon earth ourselves, and are to "seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." Hence in Ephesians man is not looked at as a responsible person, to see what can be got out of him, and his responsibility met in grace as in the Romans; it begins with him as dead in sins. It is an entirely new thing. We are created in Christ Jesus. Even as to Christ Himself, it begins with Him as dead - as a man that is raised from the dead - and with man as "dead in trespasses and sins." It is not that man is a living sinner, as we have it in Romans, where the whole question of responsibility is looked at; but the man is dead in trespasses and sins, Christ has come down into the death that he is in. Christ is quickened out of it, and we are quickened together with Him, and raised up together, and seated together in heavenly places. Now Colossians does not go so far as this.

In the Epistle to the Romans man is always looked upon as living in the world; he is alive in his sins; and it takes him up in his responsibility, and brings fully home to Jew and Gentile their state. It does not speak of man being dead in sins, but he is to die because of being alive in sins. And when he is a Christian, he is still a living man in this world, Christ his life, and justified, and in Christ, but alive here though dead to sin, and exhorted to present his body a living sacrifice.

In Colossians you get man dead to sin through the cross of Christ, and then, though in this world, risen with Christ, as in Ephesians (which you do not get in Romans), but not, as there, carried on to sit in heavenly places. Here man is a risen man - not physically so, of course; his hope is laid up for him in heaven; he is not sitting there, but walking in this world as a risen man - risen in Christ; thus, being alive, he is connected with Christ; he is "quickened together with him," and therefore it is "having forgiven you all trespasses." Christ has come down to where we were lying dead in our sins, has borne and put them away by His death, and then we were quickened and raised up along with Him, all sins forgiven. Thus, when we were raised up with Him, we came clean out of the whole thing in which we were.

268 Still in Colossians we get far more of what Christ is in us, than of what we are in Christ. It is "Christ in you," not you in Christ; it is Christ in us down here. And this is what makes the epistle exceedingly precious; you have in it the fullest development of life here, in the Christian in his tried condition on the earth. It is "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." And then it is, "When Christ, who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." He first puts the man as risen with Christ, and then his heart and affections all go up after Him to where He is at the right hand of God. There is no mention of the Holy Ghost in Colossians. It is the fullest bringing out of the life of a person in Christ still walking in this world.

In chapter 1 we see the condition and standing of the Christian, and the bearing of this on his walk. How blessedly he puts the Christian in his place through grace!

In the first place I read verse 14: "In whom we have redemption [through his blood], even the forgiveness of sins." I take this as the very starting-point - the forgiveness of sins. We get the blessed truth - this first truth, if you please - of grace, and joy, and peace; complete forgiveness through Christ. He has come down to us and redeemed us out of the condition we were in.

I am sure, the more we go on from day to day, the more important we see it is to get hold of this, though it be an elementary truth, now that there is so much seeking for an unfinished forgiveness. When I am brought into God's presence, that which I have upon my conscience is the sins I have committed; of course I cannot have those I have not. And therefore when persons are brought to the knowledge of saving forgiveness, the sins of which they have a sense of forgiveness are those that they have committed. But when it comes to those they have not, then comes the question, "What about the future?" And then arise in men's minds various ways of getting rid of them, from the gross form of absolution to the more subtle form of the Eucharist.

269 If you take a person who is upon Calvin's ground, he tells you to look back to your baptism; while the ordinary evangelical teaches you to look to a perpetual sprinkling again with the blood of Christ, a thing unknown to Scripture, and you will find he is never settled. But it is settled, and so completely that, if all my sins are not now set aside to all eternity, they never can be. Christ must otherwise take the cross and have the sins laid upon Him now, which is impossible, for He is in glory. "By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." That word "for ever" there means not only eternally, but uninterruptedly; there is permanency in it before God, no discontinuance. It is not the word that speaks of eternity, though, of course, it is that too; but it is permanently perfect before God. As Christ is always ("for ever" here is the same word) sitting at the right hand of God, our conscience is for ever perfect; it is used in Hebrews 10: 12, to shew He has nothing more to do.

In these days it is really important to get clear on the point of our sins being put away - I mean as to justification before God, and to see that I am before God always upon that ground, because Christ has borne all my sins. That is the first thing given here - the first elementary thing, though not the first thing named. It is an eternal redemption; it is never discontinued or interrupted, for God can never overlook that which has so perfectly glorified Himself.

Then we see another point which the apostle here speaks of. The whole state of things in heaven and in earth - they will all be reconciled - all things made new. And then he adds, "And you, who were sometimes alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled." The creation has got ruined, corrupted, defiled by sin, though, of course, it could not be guilty as active in it; and it will all be reconciled. But he begins now with those who were active in this ruin - who were "enemies in their minds." I am reconciled to God, brought back to Him in a divine righteousness that has been worked out for me; there is not a question between me and God. Here is infinite divine love. We are brought to God - reconciled to God; and it is a great point to be consciously before God, to enjoy His love, knowing that He has nothing against us, and so our hearts in entire confidence, able to think of Him and His favour, not of ourselves.

270 I am made the righteousness of God in Him, if I look at righteousness. There is not a single thing left; nothing but God to be enjoyed. There cannot be any unpleasant feeling between two people if they are thoroughly reconciled; so I am at home with God. All His gracious feelings are towards me, and I know it, and my heart is brought back to Him, and when He looks at me, I can say He looks at His own righteousness - at His Son, who is mine; I am loved as He loves Him. My heart believes it, and I come back to Him. I am reconciled to God.

This epistle especially insists on life - the divine nature which is born of God, and is capable of delighting in Him, and of understanding His righteousness. Having this life I know, through the gift of Christ, and by the power of the Holy Ghost, the divine favour resting upon me: and I can rest there, and that is a great thing. It is not merely that I am forgiven - that my sins are all blotted out, but that God has wrought - even for His own glory - wrought a work in which He Himself is perfectly glorified. By Him I believe in God. And what do I believe? Why, that He has brought me, associated with Christ, into His own presence; sin is gone, and I am made the righteousness of God in Him. I get to the very secret and spring of God's nature; I get the very source of what He is in Himself, and am able to enjoy it. I have not a word to say for myself; I was totally lost, and now I am totally saved, not according to what man ought to be, but according to what God is. If it were according to what man ought to be, there would be no salvation needed; but that is not it.

What put it into God's heart to give His Son? Why, nothing, of course! It was out of His own heart. And is not God righteous in the way He has saved us? Yes, I am "made the righteousness of God in him." He has "made peace through the blood of his cross," and thus reconciled us to Himself. This reconciliation is that in which God has perfectly glorified Himself, and it is to Himself that I am reconciled. The only part that we had in what has saved us was our sins. Imperfect in every sense, how was I reconciled? As redeemed, and quickened, and brought back to God according to that work that He has wrought. And I am not come halfway to God: "Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed; thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation." "I bare you on eagles' wings and brought you unto myself." He has brought me to Himself consistently with Himself.

271 Thus has the love of God to us been shewn out in this reconciliation, Christ giving Himself for it; and it is a blessed thing for us that we are reconciled to God, according to what He is; and God is glorified in it. "If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him." A wonderful thing it is! The enmity of the human heart against God shewed itself to the uttermost at the cross where that work was wrought out, in virtue of which God has put Christ into glory at His own right hand, and God Himself is glorified. It is like the prodigal, most blessedly true, that, when you get the young man back to his home, you do not hear a word about him; it is all the joy of the Father; it is the Father who does everything; it is the display of what God is; and my heart is in consonance with Him.

Thus I get reconciled to God. Things here are not reconciled yet - our poor bodies are not, as we know. "We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." It is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ alone, and never any labour on our part, because who did it? We? Not a bit of it, but God Himself!

Then I get another thing, which gives clearness and distinctness to this. "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." Here I get this blessed truth, that, though I am here in this poor body, compassed about with infirmity, and sin dwelling in me, so that if I am not walking in the presence of God, the flesh comes up, yet I get this - "Who hath made us meet?" It is not that there is no progress; there ought to be, and there is, because the Lord will make us make progress by chastening if we will not in any other way. At any rate progress is insisted on continuously: "He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure." But you never find it mixed up with being meet. Progress is mixed up with experience, and divine government: meetness with Christ's work and our being with Him. There is the constant government of God with respect to our walk. He looks for progress in it; but here, where it is a question of reconciling us to Himself, there is no progress. There is no progress in the value of Christ's blood-shedding; there is no progress in the life that I have got - that is not in its nature - though there ought to be in the development of it. There must be daily progress in our walk; but, as to our meetness, it is the work of God; it is, "What hath God wrought?" The poor thief on the cross goes straight to paradise, made in one moment a fit companion for Jesus throughout eternity.

272 The world will not have this; many Christians will not have it, because they want their own righteousness. It is not here holiness - which you cannot insist on too much - but it is a question of righteousness. We are "accepted in the Beloved." Of course no fault is there, and no progress; and it injures holiness bringing it in here, because it confounds righteousness with holiness. When you talk of holiness, which is intimately connected with walk, there ought to be progress; but that is not righteousness. Holiness is abhorrence of evil. There is no holiness really developed in us, though a holy nature be there, till we understand we are the righteousness of God, because till then I cannot help mixing it up with my acceptance. Till then the question with me is, what the effect of sin will be as regards my acceptance before God. But when I am settled as to my acceptance, and in the light as God is in the light, then it comes to be a detestation of sin for its own sake; not the evil act so much as sin - the root itself. And that is holiness.

I get then another truth, and this is, that I am delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son. That may come in before the other if you will. I have changed my whole place. Darkness is the absence of the knowledge of God. The light shone in the darkness, "and the darkness comprehended it not." "If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another." "If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." People are in light or in darkness. It does not say according to light, or according to darkness. God is light, and if I am walking in darkness I do not know Him at all. Christ said, "This is your hour, and the power of darkness." Dreadful word for man! He is a slave of Satan. He does not say they are reprobate criminals, but that they are without God, and in darkness, though they may be amiable natures or unamiable.

273 In Christ, of course, the light was perfect. He went through this world with the consciousness that all the people He met with, of course, excepting the converted ones, were without God.

In all there is a consciousness - a sense - that man is a responsible being. Though he may try every kind of effort to get right with God, yet, if he has been committing sins, he knows he has been committing sins. There is conscience in everybody, but people confound the rule for conscience with the conscience itself. Man feels this is right, and that is wrong. Now Satan totally hides God from the conscience. I do not believe he can destroy the conscience, but he hides Him from it. Christ says, "I am the light of the world," and then He opens the man's eyes and he sees. All the rest were under the power of darkness. There it was all openly so. The world is utterly without God; there is not one common thought between God and their souls.

Well, we are "delivered from the power of darkness," but is that all? No; we are "translated into the kingdom of his dear Son." That is where we are brought to. Truth could not come by itself. As truth came in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, there could not but love come too. He does not say "translated into the light," though that is true; but "translated into the kingdom of his dear Son." The power of darkness is the rule of Satan over this world; and by vanity, money, knowledge even - by all that is going - he blinds the eyes of men and maintains his power over them; he uses all these various things to keep man without God. Just like Cain, he embellishes his city, and sets it all up and makes everything as pleasant as he can without God. And we are delivered from all that, and brought into the kingdom of God's dear Son.

It is the kingdom - the place where Christ has the rule. It is the effect of redemption. The power of love has come in and has delivered us, and has brought us into the kingdom that He has set up. In the cross the full power of Satan was destroyed; there Satan brought everything to bear. The apostles ran away, and Satan had everybody against the Son of God. For it was Satan's hour and the power of darkness. He carried the world with him against the Son of God. So the Spirit "will convince the world of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged." Satan came against the Son of God as the prince of this world, now he is cast out. The cross was the full enmity of man against God, under Satan's power; but he has been met; his power has been judged - it is all destroyed. If we go and listen to him in the flesh, he can ensnare us; but he has no power; if we only resist the devil, he will flee from us; it is not said we shall overcome. As to this, the cross was the very thing that God allowed, so that in it his power might be destroyed. At the cross Satan governed the whole world; there the exercise of his power came to a crisis; he pushed men on to crucify the Son of God; and then all his power was destroyed. So now it is, "Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations" - not sins, of course; we have only to resist the devil in them, and he will flee from us. We are delivered from the power of darkness, and passed over to the place where Christ is, and spoken of as only here; not only into light out of darkness, but associated in the kingdom with the only-begotten object of His special love - the kingdom of God's dear Son - brought into that. We have got this place into which grace has brought us; we are "made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light."

274 But then we have it all in these poor earthen vessels, though "risen with Christ." And therefore we are to "seek those things which are above." It is, "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth, for ye are dead" - dead to the law, dead to sin, quickened together with Christ, and, ."When Christ, who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory." The risen Christ at God's right hand is our life, and yet we are not taken out of this world.

And then I get, "Walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing." I get three "worthies" in the epistles. "Worthy of God who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory," in Thessalonians. "Worthy of the vocation," in Ephesians; practically the same thing, the Holy Ghost having us for His habitation, the habitation of God through the Spirit as a present thing. And here, it is "Worthy of the Lord." My path through this world is to be worthy of Him. My life should be the expression of Christ; my life, ways, everything that Christ expressed.

275 "Fruitful unto every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." Here I get growth. I get no growth in reconciliation: there is no growth in the value of Christ's blood; but the moment I get life, there is "increasing" or "growing by the knowledge of God." I know God, and can say, That is not fit for God. I purify myself. It does not say he is as pure as Christ, but that he is to "purify himself as he is pure." As I get my eye purified, I see better; I get my "senses exercised to discern good and evil," and the more I get on, the more I see what I am getting on to.

Here I could say a word (as I find it current in certain circles that perfection is attainable here) that there is no perfection for the Christian except Christ in glory. If I am a risen man I take Him on earth as a pattern for my steps, but not what I am to attain to. Christ down here is unattainable, because Christ had no sin, and I have sin. There is no perfection down here - you never find any maintaining that there is, who do not lower it to Adam condition. I seek to walk as Christ walked, not after the flesh at all, but the point I am aiming at and looking to is Christ in glory. It is "when he shall appear" that I shall be like Him, and not till then. I try to be as like Him here as ever I can be. "This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling" - the calling above - "of God in Christ Jesus." I have no calling down here; there is the calling above - the whole thing that God has set before us.

People say, God cannot give you a rule you cannot attain to. But I say, God never gives you a rule which you can attain - never! First, there was the law. Could man attain to that as in the flesh where it was given to him? It was not subject to the law of God, nor can be. And now there is Christ in glory. Can I attain to that? Never here! But I press on to it; it is before me, and I never attain it till I get to Him. This object that I am aiming at governs me where I am; "I live by the faith of the Son of God"; and, if you are not living by Him glorified, you have not got Him at all. If you look for perfection down here, you have lost your object; it is a complete blunder in the very nature of the thing. Christ in glory is the object to which our minds ought to be always looking on. We are predestined "to be conformed to the image of his Son," and, if you are looking at anything else, you are not looking at that.

276 And now, mark, as regards the path down here, we are "strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power." Is not that a wonderful thing to say? And what is the fruit of it? It sounds a poor thing - "patience!" But I say, you try and see if there be not a working of will in you that does not like to be thwarted. That is not patience! "Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." See if you do not want divine power for patience. "If when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." This is the first thing: "Strengthened with all might unto all patience." And what next? "Long-suffering." As we see it in Ephesians, "I beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering." And then follows "joyfulness." The moment the will is broken - my will bowing to God's will - bearing with patience everything I come across - then joy is unhindered.

Thus we have got the place in which we are set, and then the behaviour with which we are to walk. What the apostle looks for is that we should be "filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding." But do we not often find ignorance of His will? Where we do, there is always our own will working. He looks for a spiritual conformity to Christ's mind to so mark our mind, and walk, and ways, that our life should bear the expression of the life of Christ. It is not merely avoiding positive sins; it is far more than that. The question is, What will please Christ? I do not say a thing is wrong - not merely wrong; but what will please Christ? The question, beloved friends, really is, Is Christ in our hearts enough to make us seek only one thing upon this earth until we get to Him where He is? If our hearts are set on Christ our one desire will be to "walk worthy of the Lord," and then the world will not know us.

Thus we see, that, not only are our sins gone - put away through the precious blood of Christ, but that we are brought into this new place in Christ, "delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of his dear Son," and that, being thus brought there, we have now to walk in it "worthy of the Lord." Just as I would send a child out into the world, and say to him, Now walk worthy of your father and your family. But how could he do it if he did not know his father?

277 God wants us to be "holy, and unblamable, and unreprovable in his sight." That is what He would have us - what is pleasing to Himself. The earnest seeking to walk worthy of the Lord to all pleasing; forgiven, justified, reconciled to God, fit for the inheritance of the saints in light, fit for the kingdom of God's dear Son, and sent now to walk down here in the consciousness of our place up there.

The Lord only give His saints to have a deeper truer sense in this way of the place into which He has brought them in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they may know what it is to be brought to God according to the acceptance that is in Christ Jesus.

All in Christ and Christ All: a word on spoilings and beguilings

Colossians 2

<27028E> 278

The Lord can bring good to His people out of any evil.

These Christians at Colosse were in danger of not "holding the head," that is, of slipping away from the consciousness of being in Christ, through getting beguiled into subjection to ordinances. To meet this the apostle urges them back, shewing them how the believer has everything in Christ, and not anything out of Christ. In result we get much precious teaching as to the fulness of the Head for the body, as well as solemn warning against practical separation from our standing of union with the Head, through the allowance of religiousness in the flesh. Everything is based on union with Christ risen and glorified. But then, if here, as in the Epistle to the Ephesians, we get this great truth as a basis, the Colossians are addressed on somewhat lower ground than the Ephesians, who were standing fast in the faith of it, and could profit by teaching which unfolded to them the whole extent of the church's privileges, inasmuch as they have to be got up to the point from which the Christian's thoughts and feelings should ever flow - his standing and privileges in Christ. The epistle to each is perfect in its place.* The stedfastness of the one and the failure of the other have both been made to subserve the blessing of the church in all ages.

{*A great part of New Testament scripture had, as the occasion for its being written, mischief done by Satan in the church. The Epistles to the Corinthians and Galatians are examples of this. Man gets humbled in it, but God overrules it for greater blessing.}

The moment we look to ordinances, as it regards position before God, we are slipping away from Christ: something is brought in between us and the Head. God's thought of completeness is Christ; if, therefore, I have the thought of not having already all perfection, everything I need, in Him, I am leaving Christ. "Ye are [it is not said, ye shall be] complete in him," v. 10. If there is anything for me to obtain, there comes in at once some means of obtaining it. If the body is united to the Head, or (which, in respect of the individual, is the same thing) if I am one* with Christ, I have in Him all I need. I may have to be taught about it and to seek grace to manifest it, but the moment I think I have to obtain what is in Christ, a subtle form of self-righteousness is at work - I must do something. No matter what shape this may assume, prayer, or works, or anything else, I am not "holding the head." One in possession of an estate may have to see about that estate, but were he to say, I must get possession of it, he would be all wrong.

{*This is not merely true of the church, in an abstract manner (the religion of the flesh can be orthodox): faith is an individual thing, and places him who possesses it in the enjoyment - or personally under the effects - of its object.}

279 Christ is revealed to the humble soul. Intellectual attainment is not in question here, it is no matter of great learning or of philosophy. "Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" The "things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given us of God." The most transcendent mind could never discover the ways of God; we get effort, but never success in attaining to that which the simplest Christian knows - things "hidden from the wise and prudent" but "revealed unto babes." How painful the efforts of man in arriving at darkness! "What is truth?" asked Pilate, and crucified Christ. Christ is the truth, and the humble simple soul of a poor sinner, taught of God, has it perfectly; he may not have realised it, but he has it all there, "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" in the mystery. Christ is the righteous One, and we are made "the righteousness of God in him" - life, "in him is life," and He is "our life." As to all that is divine and eternal, there is not anything out of Christ.

At the commencement of the chapter the apostle speaks of the great conflict he had had on behalf of these saints, that their "hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God [and of the Father, and of Christ]." For as we know, God is about to gather together all things in Christ (Eph. 1: 8-10), and the church is associated with Him who is this centre. "And this, I say," he continues, "lest any man should beguile you with enticing words [pretending to bring you a mass of wisdom and knowledge in all manner of things that are not Christ]; for though I be absent in the body, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ," v. 4, 5. It is all well to have Christ for Christianity, he may come and say (alas! how often is this said), But is there to be nothing else besides Christ? No, not anything. We cannot deal with the plants of this earth, without dealing with that which belongs to Christ; and if we deal with them without Christ, we sin. We are exiled from paradise and have forfeited everything. Forgetfulness of all that had taken place, thorough blinding of heart and hardening of conscience marked the way of Cain, till at last, when driven out from the presence of the Lord, he sought to make that world, into which God had sent him forth a fugitive and a vagabond (the very name of the place in which he dwelt - "the land of Nod" means, "the land of a vagabond"), as agreeable an abode as practicable apart from God. And all that man is now doing, to inherit the earth without Christ, he is doing according to Cain, settling himself down as a poor sinner in a world like this. The Christian acknowledges that he has forfeited everything; he cannot talk about "my rights"; in using anything himself, he would be using it as a poor guilty rebel. He trusts in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; he eats his meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God; whatever he does, in word or in deed, he does all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks unto God and the Father by Him. To him, there is not anything outside Christ - all belongs to Christ, and it is, as a Christian, that he enjoys it.

280 Let us not suppose that this "mystery of God" is some great knowledge. Where the soul has so owned itself a sinner and everything to be in Christ, it has owned Christ as centre of all; it has received Him for forgiveness, and it has all in Him; "as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord," he continues, "so walk ye in him, rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving," v. 6, 7. Everything I have, I get from God's love.

"Beware lest any man spoil you" - despoil or cheat you of your blessing - "through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." The tradition of men is never faith - truth or error, it is never faith - it is natural and belongs to man. Faith is the reception of a divine testimony by the soul, so that God Himself is believed; and, further, it is founded on His testimony alone. Man may be the instrument of leading me into truth - a sign-post shews me the way - but I cannot believe man, that is, I cannot believe because man says it; I believe God. We have believed Satan when we were enjoying God's blessings; now, God calls upon us to believe Himself. Herein is the real return of the soul to God. If I believe because "the church" has put its authority or its sanction on that which I believe, I am just simply saying that I do not believe God. The Bible is the word of God. God has given a testimony carrying His authority with it, which testimony I am bound to believe: otherwise I despise God's testimony. To believe because man says it, or because "the church" says it, is to make God a liar; for, when I had only what God said, I did not believe. It is well to look this distinctly and definitely in the face. There are two things: 1, that which I believe - the fulness, riches, and perfection of Christ; and 2, the ground on which I believe it. Now as to the latter, if a person were to tell me something, in order really to believe that person's testimony, I must receive what he said, because he said it. If I cannot believe God, why is it? My eyes are holden, I cannot believe when God speaks. He has not failed in giving the testimony. The only rightness in regard of this is to believe what God says, because He says it; in other words, to believe God. To tell a person, "I will believe what you say, when I get it sanctioned by another," is not to trust him. To require "the church's" testimony to accredit God's word is to disbelieve - to dishonour - God. In doing this, I am, as it respects moral position, infidel in regard of God.

281 But more: Christ is a heavenly Christ, He is not of this world; He was from heaven and He has gone back to heaven. Hence all that is "after the rudiments of the world," beautifully suited, though it be, to human nature, and calculated to make man pious,* is not "after Christ." That which has not been in heaven can only tell about heaven at second hand; all that is not simply Christ's revelation of Himself does not belong to heaven. He says, "No man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven" - who else could? And, therefore, no matter what man tells me, or what men have said about heaven - be it what the ancients have said, or what "the church" has said, I cannot believe it. That which is "after the rudiments of the world" is exactly opposed to heaven. The moment we get what is suited to the flesh, or makes a fair show in the flesh, it belongs to the world, it is not "after Christ."

{*The religion of the flesh is altogether as evil as its lusts; for after all, it is but one of them, though covered up with the veil of works and of holiness. It can be occupied much in good works, be without reproach as to conduct, have much of self-denial, much of piety, plenty of humility, be much occupied with the love of God, but while pretending, perhaps, to found it upon His love (which is infinite), it will be that love which is in the heart - our love to Him. One may ask, But, if all these things can exist in a person and be nothing but the flesh, how can we discern the true circumcision? It rejoices in Christ Jesus. Nothing is easier than to judge these things, if Christ is our all. The fact that He is so makes us feel, without hesitancy, that all this is flesh, and yields its help to that which destroys Christianity from its foundations. The flesh is very pious when it acts the pious, for it always rejoices in itself.}

282 "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," v. 9. There is here something exceedingly blessed; it is not a Pilate's What is truth? Nor yet seeking after God, if haply we might feel after Him and find Him (Paul's expression in regard of the heathen), but, as John speaks, "that which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life" (1 John 1: 1), that which is brought home to the senses of men. In place of working up the feelings to seek after something, God has come down to us, poor wretched creatures that we are. But God is there. He has come down to us in our sins and miseries bodily: I do not get a heap of stories, patched up nobody knows how, to act on my senses, and work on my imagination; it is the God who saves me. But He will be always God. There is not a trouble, there is not a distress, there is not a feeling in the heart of man, that is not met in Christ (and, after all, we do want something to fill the heart, we are men, and we want what man wants), not as a doctrine merely, but bodily. We find in Him that which is to be found nowhere else. Let it be the most loving person possible, he has not loved me and died for me. But then I have not simply the love of a gracious person: there is in Him "all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." All flights of the imagination are checked, for I meet it in the Holy One, though I meet it in all my wants.

"And ye are complete in him," v. 10. Not only have I all I want, but I am all I need to be in Him. I must appear before God, and have to say to God, as a responsible being; looked at as what I am in myself, I am lost; in Christ, I am complete, as complete as Christ is, for I am complete in Him. There are these two sides: if God is manifested to us, we must also be manifested before God. Blessed be God! I have not anything to seek out of Christ as to completeness. And mark, it is not merely what there is, but what we have in Christ. Our hearts are so deceitful and treacherous, they do like to get in a little bit of their own. But let it be humility, or what else it may, there is no room found here for anything of self. In us, that is, in our flesh, dwelleth no good thing. There is neither righteousness, nor holiness, nor humility out of Christ.

283 The Jews were looking to a variety of forms; we have all in Christ. A person talks to me about getting absolution from a priest, I do not want it; I had it years ago in Christ. Another says, You will receive the Holy Ghost in this or in that particular way. I have received the Holy Ghost already. So, in regard of what the apostle speaks of here: "In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ" (v. 11); we have done with sin, we are dead to it with Christ. He goes on to shew how: "Buried with him in baptism wherein also ye are risen with him, through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead," v. 12. We have done with the flesh; it is not an effort to have done with it, we are dead. He does not say, "Die to the flesh" (neither does Scripture anywhere speak thus), nor yet, "Die to sin." Such an expression is in itself a clear proof that he who uses it does not know the gospel simply. But we do find it said, "Mortify your members which are upon the earth," etc. (chap. 3: 1-5). This supposes us to be dead, and to have our life hid with Christ in God. Elsewhere the apostle says, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me," Gal. 2: 19, 20. All that Christ is, and all that Christ has done,* is mine in Him. Has He been put to death? so have I. Is He risen again? so am I; therefore I am able to "mortify," etc. We cannot mix these two things (in our minds we often do, and hence confusion):** Christ's having died unto sin for me, is my power for being dead practically to sin. To make this clearer, if need be, see the argument of Romans 6. "How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? . . . In that he died, he died unto sin once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body," etc. The moment the eye rests on Him, faith says, I am dead to sin.

{*It is all ascribed by God to me, as though it had happened to myself.}

{**The true mortification of the flesh is accomplished through grace, in the consciousness of grace. Without this, there is only the effort of a soul under law, and in that case, a bad conscience and no strength. This is what sincere monks attempted, but their efforts were not made in the power of grace, of Christ, and His strength. If there was sincerity, there was also the deepest spiritual misery.}

284 And mark how this is brought in. The faith is not in my being risen, but in Christ's having been raised. This distinction is far from unimportant. Many a sincere soul is continually turning in upon itself to know if it be risen, but this is not "the faith of the operation of God." Peter says, "You, who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God," 1 Pet. 1: 21. So Paul, "to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead," etc. My soul, knowing that all that is flesh is condemned, that there is no good thing in it, has given up seeking good from it; God has found plenty of evil, and I have done so too - He may have allowed me to struggle on in the hopeless endeavour to better it - but I look out of myself, and I see that God has raised Christ from the dead. "What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh," Rom. 8: 1-3. My confidence is in this, that God has raised Christ from the dead, when He was there for me. But then, if this sets aside everything that I am in myself before God, it sets all aside for acceptance also. Am I saying, There is no good at all in my flesh, it must die, I cannot mend it? It is dead, the whole old thing gone; I am in heaven in Him, who has been raised from the dead, and now I have to mortify my members which are on earth.

285 "And you who were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses," v. 13. Here comes in another blessed truth. Instead of its being a question as to the flesh getting better, not only is it condemned already, but we have been quickened together with Christ. This is no mere doctrine: Christ is our life. I am in this new man before God. And what has become of all my sins? They are gone. He has quickened me out of Christ's grave, and they are left behind. Christ went down with my sins into the grave (they were put away on the cross - "He bore our sins in his own body on the tree" - the grave is the expression of this), when He rose again they were all gone. What can give me such a sense of the heinousness, the hatefulness, of my sins, as seeing Christ bearing them! But they are gone.

"Blotting out the hand-writing of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross," v. 14. He is not setting men to obtain righteousness through that which quickens sin and works condemnation. Am I saying, I have not done this, or, I have not done that, then where there is the obligation of some act, and it is not fulfilled, there is condemnation. In taking up the Lord's supper - that sweet, and blessed, and holy memorial* of Christ's death, the joy of my heart, so as to put it between myself and Christ, then I am not "holding the head." Christ has taken ordinances out of the way, it is the flesh that does them: let it be penance, it is the flesh that does it - but the flesh is dead; the same thing that put away sin put away ordinances; the man who had the sin and was to do the ordinances is dead, because Christ has died. I am alive in Christ, who is alive again from the dead: He is my life. I do not need to obtain a standing before God through any ordinance. Had I to perform the smallest act, as that through which I needed to get completeness before God, it would be a denial of the perfectness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

{*The passover was the memorial of the deliverance out of Egypt for Israel. The Supper is the memorial not only of our deliverance, but of the love of Him who has delivered us.}

But more. Those "principalities and powers," with whom we have to contend (Eph. 6: 12), have been "spoiled"; He has "made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it," v. 15. Does Satan come and accuse me? It is all true, but my sins are gone. God has said He will remember them no more. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Why flee? Because of having already met Christ. Is it temptation through the agreeable things of the world, or the sorrows and trials of life, or the power of death? he has been "spoiled," his power is gone for faith; Heb. 2: 14. Death, to the believer, is but a departing to be with Christ; all that it could be from Satan, or from the wrath of God, Christ has gone through for us; but He has gone through it, and He is now with God. Dead and risen with Christ, yet here in a dying body, if I put it off, "absent from the body," I shall be "present with the Lord."

286 And now, having shewn us how we have everything in Christ, and not anything out of Him - completeness in the presence of God, and perfect deliverance from all that we are in ourselves, as also from all that we are in ourselves, as also from all that is, or could be used, against us, as in ourselves, he goes on to say, "Let no man therefore, judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holiday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath-days, which are a shadow of things to come: but the body is of Christ," v. 16, 17. What perfect liberty! We need to see that we use it holily, but it is a perfect liberty.

A "holy-day" (it is well to call it so, as indicative of its meaning) was one God had made to be esteemed above another: this and other things, the meats, and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances of Judaism, had their time and use. "The body is of Christ." In Him we have that which they were designed to typify. If I take them up now, I take up the shadow and not the substance; it is a mere shadow, but, in setting it up again, I make it substantive and deny Christ. This may be done through ignorance, still it ought to be treated as a thorough infirmity, the soul has not the knowledge of what it is in Christ; whilst ignorance has to be borne with, the saint is beguiled of his reward.

"Let no man beguile you of your reward, in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up in his fleshly mind, and not holding the head," v. 18. I may talk much about saints and angels in heaven, their glories, and the like, and call this humility; but it is not so, it in reality is the very opposite, a being vainly puffed up in my fleshly mind. What do I know about them? Have I been in heaven? Whilst thus intruding into things I have not seen, I am losing knowledge needed by all saints. The weakest believer is as much one with Christ as an apostle, and as complete in Him. It might seem more humble to say, I am this, that, or the other thing; but can we do without Christ? Do you reply, I have not arrived at such a position? Then you are expecting to attain it - that is presumption. It is because we are lost, poor, and blind, we are miserable, naked, and have nothing in ourselves - we have this all in Christ.

287 The moment he has brought them there, left nothing between them and Christ, "Now," he says (v. 19), there is that which flows down from the Head - that which has to be manifested in the members. We have not a single grace, or thought of grace, until we are complete; we must be united to the Head. People are looking to that to make them complete, which they cannot have until they are in that position. Whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, we have to do all to the glory of God; let it be but the purchasing of some article of dress, I should do it for Christ to please Him. This is our one rule, to do all for Christ; and both as to inward graces and outward manners, the more I realise what Christ is for me, the better shall I know what is pleasing to Him. Here spirituality comes in. It is not man increasing in order to get God, it is "increasing with the increase of God." All flows down from Christ's fulness.

In Christ I am not "living in the world," I am "dead with him to the rudiments of the world," v. 20-23. If really dead to the flesh, I cannot be looking to ordinances to get the flesh bettered. But the tendency of our hearts is ever to this. And God has met that tendency. If the flesh must be laboured to see if any good could be got out of it, He has taken it up and proved that, after all that had been done for it that could be done, there was no good in it - God could get no good from it. Still here is our danger; religiousness in the flesh is that against which there is this special warning. And with all its specious appearance, what does the apostle call it? "Will-worship." It may have a great character for humility, but it is the most positive and terrible pride before God; it does not look like this; it looks like mortifying* the flesh and putting it down.

{*The tendency of bodily austerities, as shewn by the apostle here, instead of being really to subdue and mortify the flesh, is to satisfy and exalt it. We are thus taught a most important truth - the difference between "the body" and "the flesh." The very neglecting and afflicting of the former, and not yielding it any honour or respect, may contribute to the inflation of the latter. The body may he sanctified to God - may be nourished and used for God - may glorify God; the flesh never. The body may be the servant of the Spirit; not so the flesh, for it is essentially opposed to God; Romans 8: 7, 8.}

288 The only thing that will deliver from it is, the knowledge of our completeness, and a walking in the power of a dead and risen Christ.

Here there is rest for the heart (there will be conflict still, we have not, in that sense, rest yet), my eye turned from myself, I rest in Christ; there I can delight, and there God delights - I have a common feeling with God. All that I see in Christ is mine, all that perfection that my soul delights in, my perfection before God.

There are these two truths: all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Christ; and we are complete in Him. My need is met.

God has come down to me in Christ. Am I troubled about my sins? where shall I find any as gracious to me as Christ? I can tell to Him what I dare not to another. Brethren may be kind and sympathising; but I can tell out my heart to Christ, so as to no one else. Well! it is to God, and He does not reproach me. All the infinitude of love is brought down to display itself in kindness to a poor sinner; I meet it by my wants, my sorrows, my failures, my sins. The poor woman of the city had not a mouth to tell it out; she was weeping at His feet about her sins, but she had found One who could so meet her in them, as to give confidence to her heart, whilst conscience was awakened in the very deepest way. I never add to that fulness; all the majesty of God is there. On the other hand, conscience is awakened: God is a holy God, and how shall I appear before Him? The same Christ who is God towards man, is man before God for us. He has come down to meet me in my sins, and He has gone up to be my righteousness before God.

If we desire to manifest Him - the life of Christ is daily walk and conduct, it must flow out from Him; and for this, the flesh has to be mortified and Satan resisted. We are not our own, we are bought with a price; let us, therefore, glorify God in our bodies; 1 Cor. 6: 20. In doing anything for myself, I am a dishonest person; He bought me when I was the slave of Satan.

289 Christian, is your soul honouring God by resting thus in the completeness of Christ? or are you seeking to honour self in ekeing out a righteousness, it matters not how - by doings or by feelings? A child ought to have right feelings for its parent: but, if that child is making a merit of its feelings, it is destroying the whole thing. Looking for feelings to make out righteousness through (while feelings are right) is just as bad as looking to works.

The Lord give us to know that we are complete in Christ, that we may have blessed and happy liberty, loving and serving Him in love, because He has given us all we need, loved us, and saved us, and made us complete.

Dead with Christ, Risen with Christ

Colossians 2: 20; 3: 1.

<27029E> 290

The Christian's risen life is exhibited in two things - death unto that which is here, and heavenly-mindedness. "Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ," writes the apostle, "from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances?" The expression "rudiments of the world," goes a vast way. I am to be dead, not only to sin, but to all the religiousness of human nature. A Jew has this religiousness, and it was cultivated of God; but it brought not forth good fruit, it produced nothing but "wild grapes."