[Note: Lightfoot, p. Have you not got the substance? It is false and ruinous, whether it leaves Him out or brings Him in whether it denies the true God, or makes everything a sham god. That is an attitude which is not unfamiliar today, although often it is supported by specious arguments. As this epistle then is not said to have been addressed to Laodicea, we may gather that it was either from that church, or, if apostolic, going its round from one assembly to another. Because I live you shall live also,John 14:19. In baptism the Christian dies and rises again. There is patience (makrothumia, G3115) . As believing in Him, this is our place. But the apostle took every pains to, show how great was the love of Epaphras for them; for his faithful spirit knew some little of that which the apostle knew well, that the more abundantly he loved, the less he was loved. It matters little how well taught the saint may be, nor how he may know the moral beauty and the unfailing wisdom of the word, if positive fruit be not increased: if the spirit and power of worship abound not, there is something altogether short, or wrong. There is not rich or poor, there is not favored and special class; we are just all one. Thumos ( G2372) is a blaze of sudden anger which is quickly kindled and just as quickly dies. Its true character will be fully shown on the day when Christs glory is revealed (3-4). Colossians 3:1. There is no proof of the sort. There is no scale of angelic beings forming a ladder to link Christians with God (18-19).Having been set free from the bondage of sin through Christs death, Christians should not get into bondage again by becoming slaves of religious regulations that people want to impose upon them. But whereas he said, "that you, being dead," were now thus raised, so he says, "blotting it out against us;" for all that we, poor Jews, could boast the ordinances were against us instead of being for us, and they are gone now. The Christian forbears and forgives; and he does so because a forgiven man must always be forgiving. Here is a thought which was very dear to the heart of Paul. Secondly, Christ, meanwhile, is in or among the Gentiles here below. That is to say, there may be a difference of reading here and there which impairs the full beauty and accuracy of the blessed word of God; but, as to the substance, the most timid may be assured that you have it in the worst editions of Christendom. . But is this all? Their motives were far from good sometimes. And the reason is because Christ sits at the right hand of God. The apostle, having described our privileges by Christ in the former part of the epistle, and our discharge from the yoke of the ceremonial law, comes here to press upon us our duty as inferred thence. These two are tied together. Hence, though the Holy Ghost is really on earth, dwelling in the saint and in the church, yet under such circumstances, to occupy the mind even with the blessed Spirit, would clearly have interfered with His own great aim in glorifying Jesus. Simple, isn't it? How could it be otherwise if by the knowledge of God? But now ye also put off all of these; [not just these more overt sins of the flesh, but put these off too, put off] anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Clifton James was his official "double" and was studying him during a rehearsal for D-Day. We must acquaint ourselves with them, esteem them above all other things, and lay out ourselves in preparation for the enjoyment of them. But, even in making your living, if you will do things heartily as unto the Lord, it will open up many opportunities for you to witness. Not on things on the earth - Wealth, honor, pleasure. CSB Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. There was, there could be, no lack of the attractiveness of love and power in Him who went about doing good; yet miserable hearts did not turn to Him, save where the grace of God the Father drew them to the only adequate expression of Himself. He who is our best friend and our head is advanced to the highest dignity and honour in heaven, and has gone before to secure to us the heavenly happiness; and therefore we should seek and secure what he has purchased at so vast an expense, and is taking so much care about. In a sense Paul is saying--and saying truly--that some day the verdicts of eternity will reverse the verdicts of time and the judgments of God will overturn the judgments of men. In classical Greek there is no word for humility which has, not some tinge of servility; but Christian humility is not a cringing thing. Here the apostle speaks of another system altogether: Christ come, but the glory not yet apparent, but only coming. To me to live is Christ,Philippians 1:21. There was no provision for the aged. But it was given to Paul, and to Paul alone, to communicate this great truth in his epistles; and he alone has used the well-known phrase. He had not even the right to marry, and if he cohabited and there was a child, the child belonged to the master, just as the lambs of the flock belonged to the shepherd. Don't presume upon the grace of God." Everything which would keep him from fully obeying God and fully surrendering to Christ must be surgically excised. We can readily understand that the Spirit did not bring out the fulness of the glory of Christ then, but as it was needed. As this gives us the new estate, and position, and relation in which stands the glorious person of the Lord Jesus, so next we have a view of His work suitably to the object of the epistle: "For all the fulness was pleased in him to dwell." The epistle to Laodicea is not said: so we have no sufficient reason to trouble ourselves about there being a lost portion of the inspired writings. They are in nowise the same, but may be viewed each as a supplement to the other. Paul was the one that God raised up to fill the gap. It is based on two things. In this we have what the Spirit occupies Himself with as sent down from heaven. but, "What do I owe to others?". This was an entirely new thing. This new creation is a continual renewal. Whatever you do, work at it heartily, as if you were doing it for the Lord and not for men; and never forget that you will receive from the Lord your just recompense, even your share in the inheritance. We know well that God is making a good use of them, and that, in point of fact, if we meddle, it can only be to loss and confusion. But He is the Christ that God raised from the dead and seated in heavenly glory. And why? I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me,Galatians 2:20. Only through Him are the eyes of the heart enlightened to know what God has wrought and secured for the saints. As the waters close over him, it is as if he was buried in death; as he emerges from the waters, it is like being resurrected to a new life. How we want them to be better than we were. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged ( Colossians 3:21 ). If He is, the fulness, you are made full in Him, "which is the head of all principality and power." If we live a life of Christian purity and devotion now, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we shall also appear with him in glory,Colossians 3:4; Colossians 3:4. God knows that the greatest need a man has is to be macho, to feel he's in control. In moral truth, as well as literal fact, the veil, shadowing their state, was not yet lifted up from the unseen world. A blaze of light springs up among the hills; the storm ceases; the gloom is . But assuming that the parents love the Lord and you have a Christian home, children, obey your parents in all things; this is well pleasing unto the Lord. His grave is man's grave. Here we come not merely to that which is displayed in the forms of the corruption that goes on through things or persons outside us, as it were, but by inner feelings of violence: "But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth." "You must not only seek heaven, you must think heaven" (Lightfoot). Set your affection - Margin, or mind. Greek think of - phroneite. We are not Jews; we have our place in Christ dead and risen, or are nothing. Bengel speaks of "the plague of youth, a broken spirit (Fractus animus pestis iuventutis)." He is certainly not pleading for an other-worldliness in which the Christian withdraws himself from all the work and activities of this world and does nothing but contemplate eternity. We are offered two realities; things above and things on earth. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he has done: and there is no respect of persons ( Colossians 3:25 ). As she rebels, then he's got to show that he's macho. If, as men have fabled, spiritual beings sprang forth ready armed, as well as in fulness of wisdom and vigour, it would not be Christianity. "Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily." This is to be spiritually minded (Romans 8:6), and to seek and desire a better country, that is, a heavenly,Hebrews 11:14; Hebrews 11:16. God knows that the greatest need that the woman has is to know that she is loved, that she is loved supremely. In Colossians 3:8 Paul says that there are certain things of which the Colossians must strip themselves. They needed to know, I will not say, that Christ suffices only; but that there is such fulness of blessing and glory in Christ as utterly to eclipse and condemn all that flesh would glory in. He exhorts to the mortification of sin, in the various instances of it (v. 5-11). Who could ever have combined with God's glory such a place for man too? Is it all we want to draw from Him? Everything in our epistle is traced up to Christ as the head of all possible blessing. "Christ is all, and in all.". He now brings Him in openly, and to ourselves. The Greeks were the scholars and they would never have deigned to study a barbarian tongue. And above all these things put on charity [love], which is the bond of perfectness [completeness] ( Colossians 3:12-14 ). The Greek looked down on the barbarian; and to the Greek any man who did not speak Greek was a barbarian, which literally means a man who says "bar-bar." He lives in us by his Spirit, and we live to him in all we do. Undoubtedly the one word would suggest the other. The first two chapters present Christ's person and work and the last two His peace and presence. As also, looked at individually, the Christian is a son of God, so there should be a growth up to Christ in all things. "For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea." Colossians 1:24 and ends with these verses was written by Morgan thus: Nielson read the meaning of this to be: "In Jesus Christ are hid all the attributes of Deity." Guthrie's significant analysis of these two verses is: It pertains to a life in this world to say, "Touch not; taste not; handle not." In view of the freedom that Christ has won for them, the Colossian believers must not listen to those who try to force them to obey the rules and regulations of the Israelite law. "I don't need you; I don't need anybody. This, I am sure, should not be weakened, brethren. They had really themselves slipped away in heart: no such hope had found favour otherwise. They were created by Him, and for Him, equally with the Father. There is gentleness (praotes, G4236) . We must walk the more closely with God in all the instances of evangelical obedience. And it doesn't mean that Paul is giving these people a license to live after the flesh. Now, that ye are converted to God, act in reference to heavenly things as ye did formerly in reference to those of earth; and vice versa. This is unfortunate, since his works contain priceless gems of information that are found nowhere except in the ancient writings of the Jews. It will be his glory to have his redeemed with him; he will come to be glorified in his saints (2 Thessalonians 1:10); and it will be their glory to come with him, and be with him for ever. "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised him from the dead.". He divested himself of one kind of life and put on another. Knowledge and faith make a soul rich. The average clergyman is shocked and outraged by the prospect of shameless, harmless and unlimited pleasure which birth control offers to the young, and, if he can stop it, he will." The apostle would have them to feel the slightest touch of another's misery; and, as their clothes are put over their body, so their tenderest feeling should be always within the reach of the miserable. Therefore, as it seems, does He call away undividedly to Christ. Not a prophet, not even the smallest shred of any prophecy, reveals such a truth. His master could thrash or brand or maim or even kill him at his caprice; he had not even the right of marriage. He it is finally who gives vigour for all the holy conflicts we have to wage with the adversary. [Note: See Cleon L. Rogers Jr., "The Davidic Covenant in Acts-Revelation," Bibliotheca Sacra 151:601 (January-March 1994):81-82; John F. Walvoord, "Biblical Kingdoms Compared and Contrasted," in Issues in Dispensationalism, especially pp. require us to pronounce on evil ways in order to look into this evil doctrine or that; but the apostle speaks now of the saints in their ordinary and normal manner. If there was danger, certainly it was love to admonish them; and in this spirit he therefore says, "If ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled.". Oh, what majesty, as well as adaptation to need, in the truth of God! Josephus uses it as a description of Isaac, the man who dug wells and gave them to others because he would not fight about them ( Genesis 26:17-25). Surely union with Him in His death will lead us to die to the world which is alien to us, and to live in aspiration, thought, desire, love, and obedience with Him in His calm abode, whence He rules and blesses the souls whom, through their faith, He has made to live the new life of heaven on earth. Can we do it, asking for his help?" This is the legitimate mysticism of Paul. To report dead links, typos, or html errors or suggestions about making these resources more useful use the convenient, Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. John 14:19 license to live is Christ, Philippians 1:21 never have deigned to study barbarian. Be surgically excised striving according to his working, which worketh in me, colossians 3:2 commentary 2:20 the saints among. Sudden anger which is not rich or poor, there is not unfamiliar today although. 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