EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS.

CHAPTER I.

AFTER the usual salutations (v. 1, 2) Paul speaks of his gratitude and prayer to God in their behalf ever since he first heard of their faith and love for all the saints, this being the natural fruit of gospel truth (v. 3-8); speaks more in detail of the blessings which he implores in their behalf (v. 9-11); of the ground for thanksgiving to God (v. 12-14); then affirms the real divinity of the Son of God; his supremacy; his universal creatorship (v. 15-17); his headship as to the church (v. 18); the fullness that dwelt in him to the result of accomplishing perfectly the great work of human redemption and the reconciling of all things unto God (v. 18-20); and of this reconciliation in their particular case (v. 21-23); speaks of his own sufferings for the church as related to Christ's (v. 24); of his ministry to the Gentiles, assigned him as his gospel work (v. 25-29).

1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother,

2. To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Timothy was with Paul at Rome. Apparently his name in this salutation signifies only his warm sympathy with Paul in his care of all the churches, and in his prayers and thanksgivings in their behalf. His presence appears only in these relations. The "we" (Paul and Timothy) runs through the portion which speaks of their common prayers, thanksgivings, and preaching labors (v. 3, 4, 9, 10, 28), but not elsewhere.

3. We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

4. Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints,

5. For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;

6. Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:

7. As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellow-servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ;

8. Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.

In the first clause of v. 5 the words, "for the hope," etc., fail to indicate clearly the relations of this hope. "Because of"" translates the original better than "for"-the sense being that the love which they have for all the saints is quickened specially by the glorious hope laid up for them in heaven; i. e., this love was in its nature Christian, and was quickened intensely by their mutual hope of a common, blessed immortality.- -Of this they had heard in all that true gospel preaching which had gone forth widely, bearing fruit and growing elsewhere as among themselves.

"The grace of God known in truth"-i. e., truthfully, according to its reality.Epaphras, then Paul's beloved fellow-servant, but formerly their gospel minister, had testified to the apostle of their "love in the Spirit"-love that flourished in the atmosphere of the Divine Spirit-only in and under his inspirations.

do

9. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

10. That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

11. Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness;

These are the points made in his continual prayer in their behalf, and serve to show what the Christian life truly should be -full of the knowledge of his will; a life worthy of the Lord and pleasing him in all points; evermore girded with spiritual strength, according to the measure of his glorious power to help; strength moreover that will avail us to endure all labors and all trials with joy.If this puts the standard high, it equally shows the help of God's grace and strength to be great, unto the attainment of this high standard. The labor to be done, and the strength proffered to help in the labor, adjust themselves to each other. If God asks much, he also promises to give much.

12. Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

13. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Sou:

14. In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

To the Father's love it must be ascribed ultimately that men are new-born to holiness and made meet, fit, to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light-the bliss of heaven. This "light" stands over against the realm of darkness from which his grace delivers. Marvelously does God pluck his people out of the jaws of death and translate them into the kingdom of his beloved Son-here called "the Son of his love"-in the sense, perhaps, not merely of being his well-beloved Son, but of manifesting the Father's love in coming down from heaven on no errand but of love, for no work but one of love."In whom we have the redemption," the well known redemption which is through his blood, and which brings with it as its first and chief blessing, the forgiveness of sin. This, Paul brings to view here as the great, the central, crowning work wrought by Christ. By this redemption it is that we are saved from the power of darkness and death, and transferred into the kingdom of God's beloved Son.

15. Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature:

16. For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

17. And he is before all things, and by him all things

consist:

The subject treated here is at once profoundly deep and of sur passing importance-the true nature and relations of the Son of God (the "Logos" of John), as he was before his incarnation. "Who is "-is evermore and is by nature, the image of the invisible God; not an image, one among many that are supposable, but the image-the only one. The Greek article is to be assumed here idiomatically, after the verb of existence, and is essential to express the exact thought.- 'Image," in its fundamental sense, is that which truly represents something else, the copy of it, its truthful manifestation. In this sense the Son is the image of the Father. I see no ground to question that the popular use of this phrase" a son the very image of his father" gives the true sense here. The word "invisible," said of God, assumes not only that no eye hath ever seen his form, or ever can; but that he becomes in a sense visible, manifest, through his Son. As Jesus himself said: "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." No material form is to be thought of, yet the Son is a real manifestation of what else in the Infinite God, would have been to us invisible and unknown. The same doctrine on this point appears elsewhere; e. g., Who, being the brightness Leffulgence]" of his glory and the very image of his substance

(Heb. 1: 3):-"Who, being in the form of God," did not persistently retain his equality with God in glory; but emptied himself (i. e., of his visible, manifested glory). (Phil. 2: 6,7.)

Ellicott says "Christian antiquity has ever regarded the expression "the image of God" as denoting the Eternal Son's perfect equality with the Father in respect to his substance, nature, and eternity-i. e., as being the Father's image in all things save that the Father is unbegotten and holds in himself a Fatherhood, corresponding to which the Logos held as to the Father a Sonship. But these words, though perhaps the best possible for their purpose, are but a feeble attempt to set forth the profound mysteries that lie in the being of the Infinite God.

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"The first-born of every creature." The term "first-born" admits three possible senses :-(a.) Priority of birth; the first of several sons-its primary meaning. (b.) Supremacy; superior dignity or power-a secondary meaning, resulting from the ancient Jewish (perhaps Oriental) usage of giving special prerogatives to the first-born son-"the birthright." (c.) Priority in point of existence, applied to one to affirm his existence before any thing else existed, yet without implying that his existence had a beginning analogous to theirs. The two last (b.) and (c.) may supposably be combined in the same usage. The New Testament has examples of (a.) (Matt. 1: 25 and Luke 2: 7 and Heb. 11:28); also of (b.) (Heb. 11: 23): "The church of the first-born "-who perhaps were angels, certainly beings of high rank, yet any reference to priority in existence is doubtful. See also Rom. 8: 29: -"Whom he foreknew, he predetermined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he (the Son) might be the first-born among many brethren "—said with no reference to prior birth, or even to priority of existence; but involving supremacy, headship among the many who bear his spiritual image. Under this head we may include the phrase twice occurring, "The first-born of [or from] the dead" (Col. 1: 18 and Rev. I: 5)—which means more than priority of resurrection-even that He is the Author and potential cause of the resurrection of his people. The passage (Heb. 1: 6)—" When he bringeth his first-begotten into the world he saith-Let all the angels of God worship him,' may possibly refer to his human birth, yet not certainly, or at least, not exclusively; for there may be a reference to the Old Testament prediction-" I will make him my first-born; higher than the kings of the earth" (Psalm 89: 27).

Excepting the passage in hand, this list exhausts the cases of usage in the New Testament. Aided by the light they give and by our context, let us seek the true sense of "first-born in this

passage.

The sense (a.) must be rejected because He certainly is not classed here among other creatures, only being the first among

* This assumes that the relation of Sonship is eternal, and is not merely the result of the incarnation—an assumption which to say the least admits of grave doubt.

them to be brought into being. The entire drift of the context forbids this construction. For he is the "image of God; and for every reason God must be the Great Uncreated; and the Son could not be in his image if really he lacks this cardinal element of the Father's nature and being. Moreover, "the firstborn One is declared to be universal Creator, and this affirmation is made exceedingly strong and all-comprehensive, indicating that Paul designed to foreclose the supposition that this first-born could himself be one of the created beings. This primary sense (a.) must therefore be promptly rejected.

The second sense (b.) is manifestly involved here, though not to the exclusion of the third (c.). This first-born bears absolute supremacy; prerogatives than which there can be none higher; a birthright comprehensive of all honor and all power. So the context purposely and most abundantly shows. There is also included the idea of priority in time as well as in rank. The element of time is probably included in the word "first-born." It is so important in the writer's view that he makes it a special affirmation (v. 17)-" He is before all things." The same truth is implied in his universal Creatorship. The Maker must exist before the things he makes. In this view of the sense of the word "first-born," we must rest.

"The first-born of every creature," or as some prefer-of the whole creation-might be translated-First-born as to every thing created-not in a sense which includes him among created persons or things, but, as shown above, in a sense which puts him before and above them all.

In v. 16 the word "for" is important since it shows that the facts affirmed in this verse come in as the ground or reason of what is declared in v. 15. The Son is not only before but infinitely above all else that exists (the Father excepted) because he created them all. The enumeration, the reader will notice, is very specific and comprehensive:-first, "all things; "then by their locality-things in heaven; things in earth:-then by their nature as spiritual or as material—" things visible and things invisible: then as to their rank-all the greatest, noblest, most exalted beings in the universe, and of course by implication, all inferior orders and creatures as well. Let it also be noted that our English translation-" by him" (beginning of v. 16) is not precisely accurate, for the Greek preposition is (en) in—in him were all things created. This is Paul's favorite preposition, and though it may seem slightly transcendental, yet does it not suggest that in Paul's thought, all created things were potentially in the Infinite Creator before they became actual by being born into a real existence? All lay within him as to power and as to plan, before the creative fiat-before "he spake and it was; "before 'he commanded, and it stood" forth in actual being. In the last clause of this v. 20 two other prepositions are used, viz., "by" and " for; created by him as the author; for him as the

final end for which creatures were made. We must notice also