The Epistle to the Colossians looks at the Christian as risen with Christ,
but not, as in that to the Ephesians, as sitting in heavenly places in
Christ. A hope is laid up for him in heaven; he is to set his affections on
things above, not on things on the earth. He has died with Christ and he is
risen with Him, but not sitting in heavenly places in Him yet. We have in
it a proof of that which other epistles demonstrate, namely, the blessed
way in which our God in His grace turns everything to the good of those
that love Him.
In the Epistle to the Ephesians the Holy Ghost had developed the counsels
of God with regard to the church-its privileges. The Christians of Ephesus
had nothing to be reproached with: [see note #1]
therefore the Holy Ghost could use the occasion furnished by that faithful
flock to unfold all the privileges which God had ordained for the church at
large, by virtue of its union with Jesus Christ its Head, as well as the
individual privileges of the children of God.
It was not so with the Colossians. They had in some measure slipped away
from this blessed portion, and lost the sense of their union with the Head
of the body; at least, if it was not actually so, they were assailed by the
danger, and liable to the influence of those who sought to draw them away
from it, and subject them to the influence of philosophy and Judaism, so
that the apostle had to occupy himself with the danger, and not merely with
their privileges. This union with our Head (thank God!) cannot itself be
lost; but as a truth in the church, or of realisation by individuals, it
may. We know this but too well in the church of the day we live in. This
however gives occasion to the Spirit of God to develop all the riches and
all the perfection which are found in the Head and in His work, in order to
recover the members of the body from their spiritual feebleness, or
maintain them in the full practical enjoyment of their union with Christ,
and in the power of the position gained for them by that union. For us this
is abiding instruction with regard to the riches that are in the Head.
If the Epistle to the Ephesians delineates the privileges of the body, that
to the Colossians reveals the fullness that is in the head, and our
completeness in Him. Thus in that to the Ephesians the church is the
fullness of Him who filleth all in all; in that to the Colossians, all the
fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily, and we are complete in
Him. There is another difference however, which it is important to remark.
In the Epistle to the Colossians we do not- save in the expression, "love
in the Spirit "- find any mention of the Holy Ghost. He is fully brought
forward in the Ephesians. But on the other hand, we have Christ as our life
far more fully developed, of equal importance in its place. In Ephesians we
have more largely the contrast of heathenism with christian privilege and
state. The formation of the soul in living likeness to Christ is largely
developed in Colossians. It is more, in the well-known expressions, Christ
in us than we in Christ, though these cannot be separated. A further
important difference is that in Ephesians the unity of Jew and Gentile in
one body holds a large place. In Colossians the Gentiles only are in view,
though in connection with the doctrine of the body. These differences well
noted, we may say that the two epistles have a great resemblance in their
general character.
They commence in nearly the same way. [see note #2]
Both are written from Rome, while the apostle was a prisoner in that city,
and sent by the same messenger and on the same occasion, as well probably
as that to Philemon: so the names and salutations give us reason to
believe. The address to the Ephesians places them perhaps more immediately
in connection with God Himself, instead of presenting them as in brotherly
communion on earth. They are not called brethren in Ephesians 1:1, only
saints and faithful in Christ Jesus. They are viewed as walking on earth in
Colossians, though risen. Hence there is a long prayer for their walk,
though on high and holy ground as delivered. In Ephesians it begins with
the full purpose and fruit of God's counsels. In that epistle the apostle's
heart expands at once in the sense of the blessings enjoyed by the
Ephesians. They were blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly
places in Christ. For the Colossians there was a hope laid up in heaven.
And there is a preface of many verses referring to the gospel they had
heard, and introducing his prayer for their walk and state down here. This
brings us where Ephesians 1:7 brings us, but with a much more enlarged
development of the personal glory of Christ, and more in an historical way
of God's actual dealings. It is also a more personal church address than
the Ephesians.
But let us consider more closely that which is said to the Colossians. The
blessed calling of which the apostle speaks (Eph. 1:3-10), and the
privileges of the inheritance (11-14), are wanting in Colossians; risen but
on earth, they are not sitting in heavenly places, all things being thus
their inheritance. It is not they in Christ there, but Christ in them the
hope of glory, and the prayer referred to above fills up the chapter till
we come to the common ground of Christ's glory in Colossians 1:15; and even
here the divine glory of Christ is brought out in Colossians, the simple
fact of the purpose of God as to Christ in Ephesians. And not only we have
not God's inheritance ours; but in Colossians the Spirit as earnest of it
is not spoken of. This indeed we have seen is characteristic of Colossians.
The Spirit is not spoken of, but life. We have the Person and divine glory
of Christ, and our completeness in Him, more insisted on in Colossians; but
not the saints' place with God in the same way. Further, as the saint is
looked at as on earth, not in Christ on high, his responsibility is brought
in. (Chap.1:23.) Colossians 1:3 answers to Ephesians 1:16: only one feels
that there is more fullness in the joy of Ephesians 1:16. Faith in Christ
and love to all saints are found in each exordium, as the occasion of the
writer's joy.
The subject of his prayer is quite different. In the Ephesians, where he
develops the counsels of God with regard to the church, he prays that the
saints may understand them, as well as the power by means of which they
participated in them. Here he prays that their walk may be guided by divine
intelligence. But this belongs to another cause, to the point of view from
which, in his discourse, he looks at the saints. We have seen that in the
Epistle to the Ephesians, he views them as sitting in the heavenlies. Their
inheritance consequently is that of all things which are to be gathered
together under Christ as Head. Here he prays for them in view of a hope
laid up for them in heaven; his prayer therefore refers to their walk that
it may be in harmony with the object which they had set before them. As on
earth and in danger of not adhering to the Head, the believers in Colosse
were in danger of departing from that object. He prayed therefore in view
of that heavenly hope. They had heard of this perfect and glorious hope.
The gospel had proclaimed it everywhere.
It was this gospel preached in view of a hope laid up in heaven which had
produced fruit among men, fruit that was characterised by its heavenly
source. Their religion, that which governed their heart in these
relationships with God, was heavenly. The Colossians were in danger of
falling back into the current of ordinances, and of the religious customs
of man living in the world, whose religion was in connection with the world
in which he dwelt, and not enlightened, not filled with heavenly light.
There is nothing but conscious union with Christ which can keep us securely
there. Ordinances to reach Him can have no place where we are united to
Him; the philosophy of human thoughts none, where we possess livingly
divine ones in Christ.
Nevertheless how precious it is-even if we are not in the full height of
our calling-to have an object set before our hearts which delivers us from
this world, and from the influences which hide God from us! Such is the
apostle's object in this scripture. He directs the eyes of the Colossians
to heaven, in order that they may see Christ there, and regain that sense
of their union with the Head which they had in some measure lost, or were
in danger of losing. The ground work was however there-faith in Christ and
love to all saints. They only needed realising their union with the Head;
which moreover could alone maintain them in the heavenly element above
ordinances, above human and earthly religion.
The apostle, in order to raise them up, sets out as usual from the point
where he found good in the saints to whom he wrote. This heavenly hope had
reached them and had produced fruit. It is this which distinguishes
Christianity from all other religions, and in particular from the Jewish
system, which-although individuals who were in it by grace sighed for
heaven-hid God behind the veil, and enveloped the conscience in a series of
ordinances at a distance from Him.
Now, based upon this hope which placed the inner life of the Christians in
connection with heaven, the apostle prays that the Colossians may be filled
with the knowledge of the will of God in all wisdom and spiritual
understanding. It is the fruit of a risen man's connection with God on the
earth. This is very different from commandments and ordinances. It is the
fruit of intimate communion with God, of knowledge of His character and of
His nature by virtue of this communion; and, although it refers to
practical life, as belonging to the inner life, it leaves ordinances
completely behind. The apostle had to begin at this practical end, at
christian life. Perhaps the Colossians did not at first understand the
bearing of these instructions, but they contained a principle which,
already planted in their heart and capable of being re-awakened, led them
to the point which the apostle aimed at, and was at the same time a very
precious privilege, the value of which they were in position to apprehend.
Such is charity. The apostle develops their privileges in this respect with
force and clearness, as one to whom such a walk was well known, and
moreover with the power of the Spirit of God. They are not in heaven but on
earth, and this is the path that suited those risen with Christ and looking
to heaven from the earth. It is divine life on earth, not the Holy Ghost
putting the soul of the believer at the centre of divine counsels, as in
Ephesians 3 through Christ dwelling in the heart by faith.
The first principle of this practical heavenly life was the knowledge of
the will of God-to be filled with it, not to run after it as a thing
without us, nor in indecision, in uncertainty, as to what it was, but to be
filled with it by a principle of intelligence which comes from Him, and
which forms the understanding and the wisdom of the Christian himself. The
character of God was livingly translated in the appreciation of everything
that the Christian did. And remark here that the knowledge of God's will is
based on the spiritual state of the soul-wisdom and spiritual
understanding. And this is of all practical importance. No particular
direction by man as to conduct meets this at all-rather saves us from the
need of spiritual understanding. No doubt a more spiritual mind may help me
in the discernment of Gods will ; [see note #3]
but God has connected the discovery of the path of His will, His way, with
the inward state of the soul, and causes us to pass through
circumstances-human life here below-to test and to discover to ourselves
what that state is, and to exercise us therein. The Christian has by his
spiritual state to know God's ways. The word is the means. (Compare John
17:17, 19.) God has a way of His own which the vulture's eye hath not seen,
known only to the spiritual man, connected with,flowing from, and to, the
knowledge of God. (Compare Exod.33:13.) Thus the Christian walks worthy of
the Lord; he knows what becomes Him, [see note #4]
and walks accordingly, that he may please Him in all things, bearing fruit
in every good work, and growing by the knowledge of God.
It was not then only the character of life: this life was productive; it
bore fruit, and, as life grew up, by increasing knowledge of God. But this
connection with God brings in another very precious consideration. Besides
the character and the living energy which are in relationship with this
knowledge, the strength of the Lord [see note #5]
is developed in it also. They draw strength from Him. He gives it that they
might walk thus. "Strengthened," he says, "with all might, according to the
power of his glory." Such is the measure of the Christian's strength for a
life in harmony with the character of God. Thus the character of this life
is revealed in the heavenly glory on high-Jesus Christ. On earth its
manifestation-as it had been in Jesus Christ-is realised in all patience
and long-suffering with joy, in the midst of the sorrow and afflictions of
the life of God in this world. This form of the life too is striking: all
divine strength according to His glory given in order to be patient, to
endure. What a character it gives to the Christian's life in this world !
And there is a generous bearing with others which it enables us to
maintain. Nor is anything a more manifest fruit of power than this. Will
too is here subdued. Thus, in spite of all we have to endure, we have with
God constant joy. It is a blessed picture of the form in which divine life
manifests itself.
And here the apostle connects this life of endurance with that which is its
source, its aim, and its present possession by faith. Walking thus we are
full of joy, and we give thanks to the Father who has made [see note #6]
us meet to share the portion of the saints in light. Here are the saints
established in their proper relationship with God (their Father) in
heaven-in the light, that which God is, and in which He dwells. Thus we
have the state of the soul, the character of the walk, and the strength in
which we accomplish it. As to meetness for God in light, we possess it.
Moreover we are translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son.
The means employed, and the practical character of the work which sets us
in the light, are then presented, introducing us (as far as Colossians
does) into the counsels of God, but in a practical way-in their results
future or present, not in counsel or as the mystery of His will.
The Father has delivered us from the power of darkness, and transported us
into the kingdom of the Son of His love. It is not a Jewish rule for man;
it is an operation of the power of God, who treats us as altogether by
nature the slaves of Satan and of darkness; and places us by an act of that
power in an entirely new position and relationship with Himself We see
indeed here, if we examine the principles in their origin, the same thing
as in Ephesians 1:4,5; 2:1-6, as to our position before. But it is evident
that the fullness and definiteness of a new creation are wanting.[see note #7]
"The inheritance of the saints in light," "the kingdom of the Son of his
love," remind us of Ephesians 1:4, 5; but it is not the thing itself, as it
is in God's mind, but our having been made meet for it when here; nor
consequently the development of a position with which one is familiar as
standing in it. The power and the love of the Father have made us meet for
it, and although the character of God is necessarily there as light and
love, according to His relationship to His Son, yet what we have here is
not our own relationship with God Himself, outside the question of whence
He took us, but the work in general which places us there in contrast with
our previous position. He has delivered us from the power of darkness, and
translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son; we have part in the
inheritance of the saints in light: but where is the saint " without blame
before him in love?" where our relationship to Him, according to the
counsels of Him who saw only the good which He purposed in His own heart?
where the "children unto himself by Jesus Christ," through His
predestination before the world was?
In Ephesians deliverance is brought in as a consequence of the position in
which the heirs, the objects of the eternal counsels of God, are seen.
[see note #8]
Here deliverance is the chief subject. How dangerous and disastrous it is
to depart from the Head, and to lose the full consciousness, in the light,
of our union with Him! How perfect and precious is that grace which takes
notice of our condition, and brings us out of it to God, to make us
enjoy-according to the power and grace of God-the inestimable position
which He has given us in Christ!
The means which the Spirit here employs to accomplish this work of grace is
the development of the glory of the Lord, of the Son of His love.
Here alone, I believe, is the kingdom called the kingdom of the Son; and, I
think, it is only as introducing His Person as the centre of everything and
giving us the measure of the greatness of the blessing. It is the kingdom
of One who has this place, the Son of His love, into which we are
introduced. It is indeed His kingdom; and in order that we may apprehend
the character of this kingdom as it is now for us, and our nearness to God
as having part in it, it is called the kingdom of the Son of His love. It
is this which is the present foundation and characteristic of the
relationship with God of those who are truly in and of it. As the kingdom
of the Son of man, it is His manifestation hereafter in glory and in
government. Here it is characterised by the relationship of the Son Himself
to the Father, in His Person, with the addition of that which gives us a
full title to share it-redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins.
The apostle, having thus introduced the Son in His relationship to the
Father, as the central and mighty object which was to attract the heart of
the Colossians and set them free from the yoke of ordinances sketches now
the different parts of the glory of that Person. If therefore the
assembly's own glory is wanting, that of Jesus is so much the rather set in
stronger relief before us. Thus God brings good out of evil, and in every
way feeds His beloved people.
The Lord Jesus is the image of the invisible God. It is in the Son of His
love that we see what God is. (Compare John 1:18; and also 1 John 1:2.)
This is the first character of His personal glory, the essential centre of
all the rest. Now, in consequence of this proper character of His Person,
He takes by right the position of representing God in the creation. Adam
was created in some sort in the image of God, and placed as centre in a
creation that was subjected to him. But, after all, he was only a figure of
the Christ, of Him who was to come. The Son, in His very Person, in His
nature (and for us as in the bosom of the Father), is He who makes God
known, because He presents Him in His own Person and in a full revelation
of His being and of His character be fore men and in the whole universe;
for all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Him. Nevertheless He
is a man. He is thus seen of angels. We have seen Him with our eyes or by
faith. Thus He is the image of the invisible God. The perfect character and
living representation of the invisible God have been seen in Him. Wondrous
truth for us with regard to the Person of our Saviour!
But then what place can He have in creation when He has come into it
according to the eternal counsels of God? He could have but one, namely,
that of supremacy without contestation and without controversy. He is the
firstborn of all creation; this is a relative name, not one of date with
regard to time. It is said of Solomon, " I will make him my firstborn,
higher than the kings of the earth." Thus the Creator, when He takes a
place in creation, is necessarily its Head. He has not yet made good His
rights, because in grace He would accomplish redemption. We are speaking of
His rights-rights which faith recognises.
He is then the image of the invisible God, and, when He takes His place in
it, the firstborn of all creation. The reason of this is worthy of our
attention-simple, yet marvelous: He created it. It was in the Person of the
Son that God acted, when by His power He created all things, whether in
heaven or in the earth, visible and invisible. All that is great and
exalted is but the work of His hand; all has been created by Him (the Son)
and for Him. Thus, when He takes possession of it, He takes it as His
inheritance by right. Wonderful truth, that He who has redeemed us, who
made Himself man, one of us as to nature, in order to do so, is the
Creator. But such is the truth.
In connection with this admirable truth, it was a part of God's counsels
that man should have dominion over all the works of His hands. Thus Christ,
as man, has it by right, and will take possession of it in fact. This part
of the truth of which we are speaking is treated in Hebrews 2; we shall
consider it in its place. I introduce it here merely that we may under
stand the circumstances under which the Son takes possession. The Spirit
speaks of the One who is Man but the One who is at the same time Creator of
all things, the Son of God. They were created by Him, they were necessarily
then created also for Him.
Thus we have hitherto the glory of the Person of Christ and His glory in
creation connected with His Person. In Him is seen the image of the
invisible God. He has created all things: all is for Him; and He is the
firstborn of all that is created.
Another category of glory, another supremacy, is now presented. He takes a
special place in relation to the assembly in the power of resurrection. It
is the introduction of divine power, not in creation but in the empire of
death; in order that others may participate in His glory by redemption, and
by the power of life in Him. The first glory was, so to speak natural-the
latter special and acquired (although in virtue of the glory of His Person)
by undergoing death, and all the power of the enemy in it. Accordingly it
is connected, as we have just said, with redemption, and with the
introduction of others into the participation of the same privileges. He is
the Head of the body which is the assembly, the Beginning, the Firstborn
from among the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence. He
is the Firstborn of creation, He is the Firstborn [see note #9]
according to the power of resurrection, in this new order of things in
which man is predestined to an entirely new position, gained by redemption,
and in which he participates in the glory of God (as far as that which is
created can do so), and that by participating in divine life in Jesus
Christ, the Son of God and everlasting life; and, as regards the assembly,
as members of His body. He is the First born of creation, the Firstborn
from among the dead; the Creator and the conqueror of death and the enemy's
power. These are the two spheres of the display of the glory of God. The
special position of the assembly, the body of Christ, forms a part of the
latter. He must have this resurrection-glory, this universal preeminence
and superiority also, as being man, for all the fullness (namely, of the
Godhead, see chap. 2: 9) was pleased to dwell in Him. What place could He
have except that of first in all things! But, before speaking of that which
follows, some important remarks are yet to be made on that which we have
been considering.
The Son is here presented to us as Creator, not to the exclusion of the
Father's power, nor of the operation of the Spirit. They are one, but it is
the Son who is here set before us. In John 1 it is the Word who creates all
things. Here, and in Hebrews 1, it is under the name of Son, that He, who
is also the Word, is revealed to us. He is the Word of God, the expression
of His thought and of His power. It is by Him that God works and reveals
Himself. He is also the Son of God; and, in particular, the Son of the
Father. He reveals God, and he who has seen Him has seen the Father.
Inasmuch as born in this world by the operation of God through the Holy
Ghost, He is the Son of God. (Psalm 2:7; Luke 1:35.) But this is in time,
when creation is already the scene of the manifestation of the ways and
counsels of God. But the Son is also the name of the proper relationship of
His glorious Person to the Father before the world was. It is in this
character that He created all things. The Son is to be glorified even as
the Father. If He humble Himself, as He did for us, all things are put into
His hands, in order that His glory may be manifested in the same nature in
the assumption of which He humbled Himself. And already the power of life
and of God in Him is manifested by resurrection, so that He is declared to
be the Son of God with power by the resurrection. This is the proof of it.
In the Epistle to the Colossians that which is set before us is the proper
glory of His Person as the Son before the world was. He is the Creator as
Son. It is important to observe this. But the persons are not separated in
their manifestation. If the Son wrought miracles on earth, He cast out
devils by the Spirit; and the Father who dwells in Him (Christ) did the
works. Also it must be remembered, that that which is said is said, when He
was manifested in the flesh, of His complete Person, man upon earth. Not
that we do not in our minds separate between the divinity and the humanity;
but even in separating them we think of the one Person with regard to whom
we do so. We say, Christ is God, Christ is man; but it is Christ who is the
two. I do not say this theologically, but to draw the reader's attention to
the remarkable expression, "All the fullness was pleased to dwell in him."
All the fullness of the Godhead was found in Christ. The Gnostics, who in
later years so much harassed the assembly, used this word " fullness" in a
mystical and peculiar sense for the sum and source (and yet after all, in
the sense of a locality; for it had a "oros", limits which separated it
from everything else) of divinity which developed itself in four pairs of
beings- syzygies-Christ being only one of a pair. [see note #10]
It is not necessary to go further into their reveries, except to observe
that, with different shades of thought, they attribute creation to a god
either inferior or evil, who also was the author of the Old Testament.
Matter, they said, did not proceed from the supreme God. They did not eat
meat; they did not marry; at the same time they gave themselves up to all
sorts of horrors and dissoluteness; and, strange to say, associated
themselves with Judaism, worshiped angels, and etc.
The apostle was often in conflict with these tools of Satan. Peter also
mentions them. Here Paul sets forth, by the word of God, the whole fullness
of the divinity of Christ. Far from being something inferior, an emanation,
or having a place however exalted in those endless genealogies, all the
fullness itself dwelt in Him. Glorious truth with regard to the Person of
the Lord our Saviour! We may leave all the foolish imaginations of man in
the shade, in order to enjoy the perfect light of this glorious fullness of
God in our Head and Lord. All the fullness was in Him. We know indeed the
Father, but revealed by Him. We possess indeed the Spirit, but the fullness
of the Spirit was in Him, and because, having accomplished our redemption
and our purification, He then received that Spirit for us. And God Himself
in all His fullness was revealed, without any reservation, in the Person of
Christ; and this Christ is ours, our Saviour, our Lord. He has been
manifested to us and for us. What a glorious truth for us!
It is for His own glory, no doubt, that He should be known as He is, as
love; but it is not the less true that this revelation was in connection
with us. It is not only the Son revealing the Father, sweet and precious as
that fact is; it is the fullness of the Godhead as such that is revealed
and shewn forth in Christ. It was the good pleasure of the fullness to
dwell there.
But Christ was not only the Head of creation in virtue of the divine glory
of His Person, and the Head of the assembly as risen from among the dead
and victorious over the power of the enemy; creation, and all those who
were to form the assembly, were alike far from God, and the latter were so
even in their will; to be in relationship with God they must be reconciled
to Him. This is the second part of the glory of Christ. Not only was it the
good pleasure of the fullness of the Godhead to dwell in Him, but by Him to
reconcile all things to itself, having made peace by the blood of the
cross. This reconciliation of things in heaven as well as on the earth is
not yet accomplished. Peace is indeed made by the blood, but the power has
not yet come in to bring back the whole into actual relationship with God
according to the value of that blood.
Thus, in Israel, the blood was put upon the mercy seat, and
expiation-peace, was made; but besides this everything was sprinkled, and
the sins of the people were confessed. This, with regard to Israel and to
creation, has not yet been done. As to that which is outward, it remains
still at a distance from God, although peace is made. We know that it is
the good pleasure of God to reconcile all things in heaven, and on the
earth, by virtue of this blood. All things shall be restored to order under
a new rule. The guilty, remaining in their sins, will be outside this scene
of blessing; but heaven and earth will be completely freed from the power
of evil (and even from its presence during the millennium, as regards
manifestation -still later, absolutely from its presence itself), according
to the virtue of that blood which has separated between good and evil,
according to the character of God Himself, and so glorified God that peace
is made. God can act freely for blessing; but here the work is twofold,like
the glory of the Person of Christ, and refers to the same objects as His
glory. It is in the counsels of God to reconcile unto Himself all things in
Heaven and on the earth through Christ. But Christians He has already
reconciled. Once not only defiled, like the creature, but enemies in their
minds, He has already reconciled them in the body of His flesh by means of
death. The perfect work which Christ accomplished in His body, blotting out
our sins and perfectly glorifying God His Father, has brought us into
relationship with God in His holiness according to the efficacy of that
work; that is to say, it is efficacious to present us, perfectly
reconciled, holy, without blemish and without blame, before His face; and
with the consciousness of it, and of the love that has wrought it, and the
favour into which we are brought, so that in the sense of this the heart is
brought back to God: we are reconciled to God. This supposes that we
continue steadfast in the faith unto the end.
The position of the Colossians gave room for this warning, being viewed as
walking on earth.[see note #11]
We have seen that they had a little departed, or were in danger of
departing, from the realisation of their union with Christ.
It will be noticed also, that the apostle speaks of his gospel as spread
abroad in all the world. Grace had overstepped the narrow limits of Judaism
and the expectation of the Messiah, in order to make known the testimony of
the perfect love of God in the whole creation under heaven, of which Paul
was the instrument as the apostle of the Gentiles. [see note #12]
Hitherto, then, the Spirit of God has set before us the two preeminences of
Christ, that over creation and that over the assembly, and the two
reconciliations which answer to them, namely, first, that of the things
over which Christ is set as Head, that is, of all things in heaven and
earth; and second, that of Christians themselves: the latter already
accomplished, the former yet to come. The ministry of the apostle had now
the same double character. He has not undoubtedly to preach in heaven; but
his ministry is exercised in every place under heaven where there is a soul
to hearken. He is a minister of that gospel; and then he is a minister of
the assembly, a distinct service or ministry, making known its true
position and its privileges, connected indeed with the other, in that the
gospel went out also to the Gentiles to bring them in. (Vers. 23, 25) By
this last instruction he completed the word of God: an important principle
with regard to the exclusive authority of the written word, which shews
that its totality already exists, demonstrated by the subjects which it
comprises; subjects which are entirely completed, to the exclusion of
others which people may seek to introduce. The circle of truths which God
had to treat, in order to reveal to us the glory of Christ and to give us
complete instruction according to His wisdom, is entire, when the doctrine
of the assembly is revealed. There were no others to be added. [see note #13]
It is not a question here as to the dates of the books, but of the
circle of subjects. The law, the kingdom, the Person of Christ, redemption
and the ways of God, had already been brought out; the doctrine of the
assembly was then to be revealed, in order to make the communications of
God complete as to their subjects.
But this doctrine in particular exposed the apostle to persecution and
sufferings, which the Jews especially, and the enemy sought in every way to
inflict upon him. But he rejoiced in this as a privilege, because Christ
had suffered on account of His love for the assembly-for His own. The
apostle speaks here, not of the efficacy of this death, but of the love
which led Him to suffer. Looked at in this point of view, the apostle could
participate in His sufferings, and we also in our little measure; but the
apostle in a peculiar manner, as the special witness-bearer to this truth.
If Christ had been content to accept the position of Messiah according to
man, He would have been well received. If Paul had preached circumcision,
the offence of the cross would have ceased: man could have taken part in
the religion of God, if His religion had recognised man in the flesh. But
if God is revealed, if His grace extends to the gentiles, if by this grace,
and without having respect to the Jew more than to the Gentile, He forms an
assembly, which is the body of Christ, sharing the heavenly glory of His
Son-this is what the flesh cannot endure. To be thus shut out as nothing
worth before God, even in its religion, take what pains it might-this is
unbearable. This is the source of the enmity of the Judaising spirit, which
is founded on the flesh, on man, and which is constantly reappearing in the
apostle's history, whether as exciting the hatred of the heathen, or as
corrupting the doctrine of Christ and the simplicity of the gospel.
Religion in the flesh boasts its own peculiar privileges. (See Phil 3)
