Historical and Illustrative
Table of Contents
Historical and Illustrative: The History of the Ark
Since the ark was, to Israel, the sacred symbol of Jehovah's presence in 'their midst, and moreover the divinely appointed meeting-place between the Lord and Israel (Ex. 25:22), by manifesting a becoming respect for the Ark of God the godly in Israel proved their devotion to Jehovah; and on the other hand, by their dishonorable treatment of the same, the ungodly among the Israelites proved their utter disregard of the Lord's commands. Therefore as we trace the ark from Jordan to Moriah, and observe Israel's varied treatment of it, we may at the same moment discern, in some measure at least, that nation's spiritual condition.
By setting the ark in the midst of Jordan, Jehovah formally took possession of Canaan.
The ark occupied a prominent position in the procession, during Israel's seven-days march round Jericho; meanwhile a work of grace was being wrought in the doomed city: Rahab and those found with her were separated from those that " believed not " in Jericho, and preserved in a day of destruction.
The twelve tribes stood on either side of the ark while the law was read before all Israel in Canaan; a witness to Israel that God was in their midst, to bless or to curse them according as they hereafter obeyed or disobeyed His sovereign commands (Josh. 8:33-35.)
After Joshua had subdued the seven nations of Canaan, all Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle there (Josh. 18:1). Thither the eleven tribes repaired, in the days of Phineas the high priest, in a day of sore distress, to humble themselves, and to weep before God, and to inquire of the Lord (Judg. 20:18-28).
From the days of Phineas until the days of Eli, during an interval of several years, no mention is made of the ark. This silence is most significant; that there is a reason for it the reader of Judg. 2 will not fail to discover.
In the days of Eli, although godly individuals went up to Shiloh to worship the Lord, and to pour out their souls before Him, Israel as a nation openly dishonored God by removing the ark from its divinely appointed resting-place within the tabernacle, thereby violating the sanctity of the Holy of Holies. They robbed the tabernacle of its mercy-seat when they bare the ark (perhaps uncovered) into the camp of Israel.
Verily the Lord did display His power in that camp! But the sad details of Israel's richly deserved chastisement are so well known, that there is no need to give them here. Suffice it to say that, for the sins of His priests, for the sins of His people, God "delivered His strength into captivity, and His glory into the enemy's head."
The Philistines lightly brought the ark of God into the house of Dagon their god, to whose power they were wont to ascribe their victories (Judg. 16:23, If they despised the armies of Israel, they were nevertheless compelled to give glory to the God of Israel. Dagon was broken to pieces, their land marred with mice, and themselves plagued beyond endurance until, to save themselves from utter destruction, they reverently sent the ark back again into the land of Israel.
It first arrived at Bethshemesh, where it was received with great joy; and thousands of Israelites assembled to behold it. We shall, however, the better understand the reason for what occurred at Bethshemesh, if we for a moment reflect that the ark contained the tables of the covenant. (Heb. 9:4). In fact, the ark was the only place in Israel where the law was preserved, absolutely unbroken! And it was where the law was preserved, but by the mercy-seat concealed, that atonement was made for the sins of Israel. The men of Bethshemesh violated the ark by touching it (Num. 4:25); and in opening the ark, so to speak, they separated mercy from justice (which two are ever associated in the word); and they had no sooner exposed the law, than 50,070 of them fell victims to awful sentence:-" The soul that sinneth, it shall die.",
On this account the ark was removed to Kirjath-jearim, an obscure Gibeonitish city (Josh. 9:17); where it remained for many, many years, as it were unnoticed and forgotten by Israel. 1 Chron. 13 furnishes us with positive testimony to the effect that Israel inquired not at it in the days of Saul.
David the man after God's own heart " heard " of the ark at Ephratah, and " found it" in the " city of woods," and vowed that he would give himself no rest until he found " an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob." (Psa. 132) And peace was no sooner restored to Israel, and himself established upon the throne, than he set about performing the long cherished desire of his heart.
He gathered Israel together at Kirjath-jearim to bring up the ark to Mount Zion. With music, and with singing, David and his mighty men set forward, but they had not proceeded far, when Uzzah touched the ark and died before God.
By this melancholy occurrence the Lord taught David and Israel, that the ark must not be treated as if it were simply a trophy of victory. For they had set the ark upon a new cart, instead of causing it to be borne upon the shoulders of Levites; they sought the Lord, but not after the due order (1 Chron. 15:13).
Three months afterward, with reverence and godly fear, and yet with rejoicings and sounds of a trumpet, the kings and men of Israel, in solemn procession, brought up the ark to Zion, into the tent which David had already prepared for its reception; and David being perfectly content to lay aside his glory as king, that God might be all in all to Israel-clad in a servant's simple attire-danced before the Lord with all his might.
And Asaph and his brethren ministered before the ark continually (1 Chron. 16:37.)
Presently the thought occurred to David, that he dwelt in a house of cedar, while the ark simply abode within curtains; and he resolved to build " an house of rest for the ark,"-but that honor was reserved for Solomon. The ark remained in Mount Zion (for David would not allow it to be carried forth from Jerusalem, when he fled from Absalom), until the temple was built on Mount Moriah.
Let us now retrace our steps, that we may observe what had become of the tabernacle during all this time. The writer had failed to discover one Scripture which warrants his supposing that the ark was ever restored to the tabernacle! The thought of a tabernacle without an ark is all the more saddening when we connect it with the sacred rites peculiar to the great day of Atonement.
And the priests of Shiloh, who were principally to blame in the matter, had soon ample cause to rue the day when the mercy-seat was lost to Shiloh! So terrible was the visitation of Shiloh, that the fearful doom of that city became an example to Israel of the dire results of provoking the Lord to anger (Jer. 7:12-14.)
During the reign of Saul the tabernacle was pitched at Nob. David appears to have been a frequent visitor to the tabernacle whither he went to inquire of the Lord (1 Sam. 21 22:14). Nob was also overtaken with visitation, scarcely less terrible than that which befell Shiloh. Doeg the Edomite was an instrument in the Lord's hands, by which he performed that which had been foretold concerning the guilty house of Eli. As for king Saul, the instigator of the foul deed, when he, in a day of sore distress, inquired, the Lord answered him not. And the unhappy king went, in despair, to the witch of Endor. As a man sows, so shall he reap.
We have already observed that the ark remained for many years in one of the cities of the Gibeonites. How very remarkable that, during David's reign, the tabernacle was found in another of their cities, even in Gibeon! What reader of Josh. 9 would have thought this possible? "Them that honor me I will honor."
And Zadok, and his brethren the priests ministered before the tabernacle, in the high places at Gibeon. (1 Chron. 16:39,40.)
When David saw the destroying angel with his sword drawn over Jerusalem, he could not go to Gibeon, for he was afraid, &c. And when he had offered a sacrifice upon Orman's threshing floor, by the Spirit he foretold that this was the exact spot upon which the temple should be built (1 Chron. 22:5). And because he had set his affection upon the house of his God, he prepared with all his might, abundance of costly materials for the building of the same.
The temple was no sooner built and prepared, than Solomon gathered all Israel together. And they brought up the tabernacle from Gibeon, and the ark of God from Mount Zion, and both were carried into the Temple. The only contents of the ark at this time were the two tables of stone (1 Kings 8:9). Aaron's rod, and the golden pot of manna, each commemorative of the wilderness journey, were no longer contained within it. Comp. Heb. 9:4. Who can express the joy of those thousands who had assembled in that " holy and beautiful house," when Jehovah answered the fervent prayer: " Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest; thou, and the ark of Thy strength."
Historical and Illustrative: The Epistles - Colossians, Part 1
I. The Colossians.
It is evident that it would greatly assist us in understanding the different Epistles of the New Testament, if we could learn with exactness the history and condition of the assemblies or individuals to whom they were addressed.
This is not in every case possible, but in some instances both the Epistles themselves and also contemporary history furnish evidence in this respect of the highest interest. In this series of articles we hope to direct the attention of our readers to evidence of the former class, and to lay before them interesting details of the latter class, gathered from various sources.
We shall confine ourselves to the Epistles of the Apostle Paul, the writings of the other apostles not being as a rule addressed either to special assemblies or to individuals, and we propose to commence with the Epistle to the Colossians.
There is no evidence that the Apostle had ever visited Colosse, and indeed all that we can gather both from the account of his travels given in the Acts, and also from the Epistle itself, would seem to indicate that he was a stranger to the Colossians. We cannot however doubt that it was indirectly through his instrumentality that they were brought to the knowledge of the truth. He was long resident at Ephesus, a neighboring town to Colosse, and his opponents there bore witness to the fact that the effect of his teaching had reached almost throughout all Asia" (Acts 19:26); Ephesus too being a place of resort on account of the temple of Diana, many from the country round had no doubt opportunities of hearing the Apostle's teaching in his disputations in the school of Tyrannus. It would appear however that the direct instrument of their conversion to Christianity was Epaphras, who in the Epistle is several times referred to in terms of warm commendation of his faithfulness in service and of his love for the Colossians. How natural then that, earnest as he was in prayer for their welfare, he should be alarmed at the appearance of any evil doctrine or practice in their midst, and should have laid his trouble before the Apostle in the hope that warnings such as in the case of the Corinthian Church had already proved so effectual, might now be used for the awakening of the Colossians to a sense of the danger to which they were exposed.
Of the subsequent history of the Colossian Church we have no record in Scripture, but of the neighboring church, that of Laodicea, the book of Revelation affords us instructive details, more especially when we consider that the Epistle to the Colossians and the one, which if not addressed to, was at least in the possession of the Laodicean church, were to be ex-.changed, and that the same elements of danger probably existed in both assemblies-It is interesting therefore to notice that the warnings addressed by the Apostle Paul to the Colossians indicate the working of a principle, the fruits of which were sternly rebuked in the message the apostle John was instructed to deliver to the angel of the church of Laodicea. It is interesting too in this connection to note, as has been pointed out by a recent writer, that some of the decrees adopt_ ed at a council held at Laodicea about three centuries after the date of the Epistle to Colosse, forbid the very practices against which the apostle's warnings are directed.
The consideration of the close links which Scripture thus shows us existed between the two churches, leads us to think that a few details as to the position and history of the cities and of the neighboring one of Hierapolis also mentioned in our Epistle (Chapter 4:13) may not be uninteresting.
The three cities were situated close to each other in the South-Western part of Asia Minor on, or at least near, the Lycus a tributary of the Meander. Of the three the most important undoubtedly was Laodicea, which at the date the apostle wrote had been built about three centuries, and for some time had been noted for the wealth of its citizens and the magnificence of its public buildings. As an instance of the former we may mention that the city having been destroyed by an earthquake, was speedily rebuilt by its inhabitants without external help, and of the latter, the present extent and character of the ruins which now mark the site are abundant witness. What is however of more immediate interest to us, is the fact that amongst the inhabitants were a great number of Jews, who, as the historian Josephus tells us, had been transplanted into the district by Antiochus the Great: from the same authority too we learn that their wealth had become so enormous as to excite the cupidity of the Roman Governor of the Province.
Elsewhere we read that they were of sufficient importance to obtain certain special privileges as to the practice of the different rites of their religion. The presence in Laodicea of this extensive and wealthy colony will help us to understand how much the faith of the converts might be tinged by the deep-rooted prejudices of the Jews, and how readily like the Galatian Christians, they might slip from the simplicity of the gospel back to the elements of Judaism.
Intercourse between the cities of Asia Minor and the great center Jerusalem would be very constant, and there would therefore be a continued influx, not only of Jews whose every religious thought was bound up with the service-barren though it might be-of the temple, but also of Jewish Christians, who, as we learn from Acts 21:20, were themselves " zealous of the law."
To the heathen superstitions and other doctrinal dangers to which the faith of the christians of the three cities was exposed, especially the speculations of the Greek philosophers we may perhaps refer more conveniently later on.
The subsequent history of Laodicea does not now concern us; suffice it to say that after having become of great ecclesiastical importance, it was entirely destroyed by the Mohammedan invasion, the judgments pronounced by the apostle John falling upon the Church as upon the city.
Situated but a few miles from Laodicea, Hierapolis was perhaps of scarcely so much importance either commercially or politically: it was however of note on account of valuable medicinal baths which caused it to be a place of much resort. We may assume however that the inhabitants consisted of very much the same classes of people as Laodicea. In later days it occupied a prominent position in connection with the various discussions which agitated the church and still later it shared the fate of the sister city.
Whilst Laodicea and Hierapolis were increasing in importance, Colosse was declining and until quite recently its very site was uncertain. Modern research has determined it as having been near the existing village of Chonas. It is interesting to note in connection with one of the exhortations of the Epistle (see Chapter 2:18), that in later days angel worship prevailed to some extent in the city, a church having been erected in honor of the archangel Michael. Colosse was eventually destroyed at the same time as Laodicea and Hierapolis.
Histotical and Illustrative: The Epistles - Colossians, Part 3
I. THE COLOSSIANS-continued.
THE five points to which we drew attention in our last article on this subject, as illustrating the errors into which the Colossians were apparently being drawn, may be divided broadly into two classes; first, errors derived from the heathen, and secondly, those derived from the Jews. In this manner we may perhaps most conveniently consider them; bearing in mind, however, that in certain points the distinction cannot be drawn.
1st. Errors as to the person of Christ. " In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Chapter 2:9. also 1:19), an expression to which we have drawn attention in speaking of the first chapter. He was the full manifestation of all that God is-all abiding in Him, finding its full expression in Him, and revealed through Him. We must notice particularly the word " bodily ": in no mystical sense, but in all verity, in the person of our Lord here on earth, dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead: " the Word was made flesh." If He cast out devils, it was by the Spirit of God; if He wrought miracles, it was the Father who dwelt in Him; and notice His own words to Philip, " He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father."
To us the expression quoted above may seem a simple one, one that carries with it its own meaning without question, even if we find it difficult to express it in our own words in more detail; but it was not so to the Colossians and early Christians generally. We do not know from any writings which have been handed down to us, the exact signification attached to the word " fullness " by heretics in the days of the apostle; but in later writings there is found attached to it a peculiar meaning, that in all probability is the same in principle as that in earlier times. The " fullness" then being the aggregate of all the divine attributes, virtues, energies, it was taught that Christ was but one of these attributes; merely one of the powers by which God, who is unknown, works. By some these attributes were personified, and were regarded as emanations from God Himself, Christ being one of them. From this point of view they formed a ready, and to them a satisfactory solution of the mystery-our Lord was not God, but one of these emanations (Christ) descended upon the man Jesus at His baptism, and returned to the " fullness " when Jesus was crucified.
It is not possible in our limits to touch more fully upon these theories, the discussion of which seems to have had a great fascination for some of the early heretics: to us they seem so extraordinary, that to state them is to ensure their rejection by the Christian. We have said enough to show what point there is in the apostle's emphatic assertion of the dignity and glory of the person of Christ: no inferior position can be His; in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
2nd. Errors as to the Creation. We can easily understand that, where the knowledge of God, once given to man, has been lost, the mind of man speculates-gropes in the dark-about the many problems presented in the world. Where there is left any sense of good and evil, the cause of the evident antagonism of the two, and their respective origin, would furnish an abundant field for the exercise of his ingenuity. We accordingly find that such has been the case in connection with the ancient religions of the world, or at least such as had a regular system, with the exception of the Jewish, which alone was based on revelation. When Christianity has exercised a scarcely more than nominal influence, or has been received as an addition to previous knowledge and not as entirely supplanting it, instead of drawing the heart away from the contemplation of subjects which do not profit, it has been regarded only as another means towards the solution of difficulties, leaving them difficulties still.
We may follow the argument thus:-If God be, as revealed in Christ, holy, how can He be the Creator of all things, seeing that evil exists? If He be, then He must be the Creator of a power or principle of evil, independent of, and antagonistic to, God; and this was called " matter." How then could God act as the Creator? not by direct means, seeing that good and evil are opposed. To solve this difficulty there was imagined a succession of emanations from God, each inferior to its predecessor, until at last there results one so far removed from infinite good as to be able to come in contact with the evil of matter, and so create this world.
In opposition to these reveries there is the teaching of the apostle that Christ is the direct Creator and upholder of the world. The idea of an inferior being as the direct instrument finds no support, nor does the thought of an antagonistic power. But further, seeing that in Christ we have all that is required to supply the wants of our souls, there is great need to be careful that we be not robbed of the joy which is ours in the contemplation of Himself, by the study (absorbing if yielded to) of the material world, even if we be not led altogether astray, through failure to recognize in everything the hand of the Creator. How needful, then, the apostle's warning, " Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." (Chapter 2:8). The thought that matter in itself is evil has an important bearing upon our fifth point.
(To be continued.)
Historical and Illustrative: The Epistles - Colossians, Part 4
I. THE COLOSSIANS-concluded.
We now come to the third error in doctrine from which the apostle seeks to deliver the Colossians.
The worship of angels. The distance thus placed between the Creator and the creature, and the introduction of a crowd of intermediate beings, gave room for the worship of angels-mediators who could approach God on behalf of man. In like manner now, the Roman Catholics recognize the intercession of the mother of our Lord, and also that of the saints. The true object of worship is the One who is at once the Redeemer and the Head of all principality and power.
There is abundant evidence that the worship of angels was a custom among the Jews, and in later days was practiced by many of the sects of the first centuries of Christianity, and at one time at any rate it was prevalent in the district round Colosse. We have already mentioned that at a late; date a Church was erected in the city in honor of the archangel Michael; and we have referred to a Council held in the neighboring city of Laodicea about the year 300 A.D., at which, among other decrees, one was passed strongly condemning and forbidding angel-worship. " Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things that he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind. (Chapter 2:18). There is at first sight an appearance of humility, a taking of the low place, as though unworthy to directly approach God; but it is a false humility, may we not say a pride, which under the garb of humility, seeks to pry into those things which God has not been pleased to reveal to us.
But there is more than this. It is a practical denial of the glory of the person and of the value of the work of Christ. He alone can be the mediator between God and man, and by His work He has brought us into union with Himself, and has given us an entrance into the Father's house. The worship of intermediate beings is a denial of His mediatorship, and of the close place of intimacy into which He has brought us. This brings us to the consideration of our fourth point.
4th. Loss of the sense of union with Christ. The links in the chain of our association with Christ, as given in scripture, are very interesting: crucified, dead, buried, quickened, raised with Christ, and made to sit in heavenly places in Him.
The christian is now brought into vital union with Christ (he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit, 1 Cor. 6:7); he is a member of that body of which Christ is the Head. As in nature, the separation of the body from the head is fatal, so is it with that mystical body, which is the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. If the members of the body forget, in practice, their links with the Head, it is impossible that there can be healthy progress in the things of God. The introduction of any intermediate being whose presence can prevent the enjoyment of the intimacy of our union with Christ, is fatal to the well-being of the body. How beautifully expressive are the words used by the apostle in illustration of the figure: " not holding the Head, from which all the body, by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God." The consequences of the failure which the apostle saw in the Colossians being so disastrous, we can well understand the fervency of his prayer on their behalf (See Chapter 1:28; 2:3).
5th. The value and the effects of the work of Christ depreciated and supplemented. In this connection we may note the striking difference between the language used by the apostle to the Colossians, and the Galatians. In the case of the latter, the danger was a denial of the value of the work of Christ, as setting the believer in fullness of acceptance before God. Ignoring the fact that everything needful had been wrought by Christ (as expressed elsewhere, "by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified"), they were seeking to be made perfect by keeping the law. Theirs was a fatal error: they became debtors to keep the whole law, and gave up grace, by which alone man can be justified before God. It was a denial of the fundamental principle of the gospel.
With the Colossians it was far otherwise: theirs, too, was an error as to the work of Christ, but more with regard to its elects on the practical walk of the believer. Does it put him in a place and give him a power to walk worthy of God (a walk of liberty and not of bondage), or is he to be fenced in on every hand by restrictions and ordinances? We here see at once the introduction of a Jewish element; but mingled with it, as we shall find, heathen thoughts.
In our Lord's exposure of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, as for example in Mark 7:1-23, we see how much they had added by their traditions to the law of Moses: in later times, other sects of the Jews went much further in their rigid adherence to an exaggerated ritual. We have before alluded (p. 180) to the thought of the heathen philosopher that matter in itself is evil: the natural body, they considered, was to be regarded as vile, to be subdued and mortified in every possible way, so that the soul might be free and untrammeled. Where-ever Jew and heathen met, there would be a mingling of these two principles-an adherence to an exaggerated ritual, and an asceticism which regarded the body as vile, and in every way to be mortified. These elements, which we find from history were present in most Jewish colonies, are exactly those against which the apostle contends (see Chapter 2:20-23).
But ordinances and asceticism are concerned with the body: they recognize it as living, and to be dealt with. The apostle shows that with Christ we are dead, and that therefore the body has no claim to recognition at all; save, that as being the creature of God, it is entitled to a respect which asceticism denies. The work of Christ, then, is the answer to these errors: through it the believer is dead-dead to the rudiments and principles of the world; and must not subject himself to ordinances which suppose an existence in the world.
We may note that the keeping of the sabbath (v. 16) was one of the errors condemned at the Council already referred to, as having been held at Laodicea, about A.D. 300.
But if the apostle points out the errors of the false teachers, he does not leave the Colossian saints without the antidote. The truth that the believer has died with Christ may show that ordinances have now no place, but it does not give power for a godly walk: there is needed an object on which the eye of faith can rest, and by which the new life can be sustained.
We would conclude with the apostle's own words, so needed to-day, earnestly desiring that they may find a place in the heart of each reader: " If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at 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. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory."
Historical and Illustrative: The Epistles - Colossians, Part 2
1. THE COLOSSIANS-continued.
It was the frequent practice of the apostle in his epistles to commence by such a development of divine truth as should in itself be the rebuke, or the warning which he knew to be the especial need of those to whom he addressed himself, the application of the truth in its practical bearing being given subsequently.
Bearing this in mind, we shall readily see that, apart from the direct warnings which may be recorded, a consideration of the truth brought out at first will throw much light on the condition of the assembly addressed, and this is perhaps in no case more apparent than in the Epistle to the Colossians.
Before proceeding therefore to the latter part of the second chapter, which will more directly occupy us, we may call attention to a few points in the previous portion of the Epistle.
In the first chapter, after expressing his thankfulness for their faith and love, and his continuous prayer for their spiritual welfare, and giving in a few words a summary of the blessings they had received, the apostle proceeds to dwell upon the glories of the person and work of the Lord: from this we may judge that the false doctrines which were being introduced at Colossi were having the effect of robbing the saints of their affection for their Savior, and of their appreciation of the value of His work.
In all ages the heart of man has experienced the need, however vaguely it may have been expressed, of being brought to the knowledge of God. The inquiry contained in the question asked by Job's friend " Canst thou by searching find out God?" which has exercised the minds of the wisest men, finds its only answer in christianity, where we learn that though no man has seen God at any time, " the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him."
The works of creation testify the power of God of, and neglect of their witness leaves man without excuse (Rom. 1:19,20); the perfect manner in which every created thing from the lowest to the most highly developed organism performs its allotted functions may cause us to wonder at His wisdom; but all this tells us nothing of His heart, and it needed the gift of His Son that we might learn how much He has loved us. How needful then that our thoughts of the Revealer of the Father, of the Word of God, should be divinely directed!
In the first place then, Christ is the image of the invisible God-He is the representative and manifested. Of the first man (Adam), we read that he was created in the "image" of God: in a deeper and fuller sense is this expression used of the second Man, for He is not only, as Adam, the representative of God, but in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead. The first man was innocent; of those who are in the new creation, of which the second Man is the beginning we read " created in righteousness and true holiness," and "renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created Him."
We then find an unfolding of the dignity of the person of Christ in a double aspect-in connection with all things (whether in heaven or on earth), as their creator and upholder, and with the church as its head: and in both respects He is shown to have the first place, the pre-eminence, not only as regards the material creation, but also as to the new order of things brought in by redemption.
In the second place the glory of His work is unfolded, again, in a double aspect-in connection with the world as the Reconciler of all things (a work the basis of which was laid in the: cross, though the full results are not yet manifest), and also as the present Reconciler of those who are the objects of divine grace.
Between these two thoughts, and linking them together, is the emphatic assertion of the divinity of Christ, repeated again in the second chapter, that in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead.
Having thus set forth the glories of the person and work of Christ in such a manner as should call forth the adoration and affection of the Colossians, the apostle proceeds to add a few words of warning and enters a little into detail as to the character of his own ministry (which we see has a double sphere-the church and the world), and his desire for their welfare.
Let us now consider what light these passages throw upon the condition of the Colossians, and what inferences we may fairly draw as to the errors into which they were in danger of falling. We should thus judge1st. That their faith in the divinity of Christ was being undermined, and that they were attributing to Him an inferior place as to His person.
2nd. That the question of the creation of the world was exercising their minds, and that they were losing sight of the only key to the many problems it presents to the human mind.
3rd. That their worship was not addressed to God alone, but that inferior beings, " thrones, dominions, principalities, powers," were occupying their attention.
4th. That their sense of their union with Christ was being lost.
5th. That they were forgetting what they had been taught as to the value and effects of the work of Christ, and were seeking to supplement the reconciliation wrought out by Him.
In our following papers we may consider from the warnings given by the apostle if these conclusions are just.