The Pulpit Commentary
Vers. 1 — ^17. — Sect. 7. The true Christian life. From above only can we be raised. There is no salvation in mere antipathy. Disgust at the vanities of life, repulsion from earthly things, will of itself never lift us beyond them ; it needs the superior influence of heavenly things to do that. This the Ctolossiau errorists did not rightly understand ; or they could not have made ceremonial purifications and bodily austerities the way of holiness, the means of reaching spiritual perfection. " Touch not, taste not " (ch. ii. 20, 21), — these were their chief commandments. The physical life was their great aversion, and to reduce and harass it was the leading object of their moral endeavours. In the last two sections of his letter (ch. ii. 8 — 23) the apostle has denounced their system as false and mischievous, to be rejected by Christian believers, since it is not according to Christ, but is, in spite of its high pretensions, essentially base and earthly. He now proceeds, by way of command and appeal, to delineate tlie true Christian character, the working of Christian principles of life, as contrasted with the mystico-ceremonial and ascetic ideal of the Gnosticizing teachers. 'J'he Christian be desciibes is one whose "life is Christ" — a life derived from, and animated and governed by, " the Lord from heaven," and not by " the tradition of men and the rudiments of the world " — " the things upon the earth " (comp. John vi. 31—33, 41, 42, 47 — 59). I. The hidden life. (

Vers. 1 — 4.) 1. The vital spring of a practical Christian life is personal union with Christ. " Ye were raised with Christ ; your life is hid zvilh Christ ; ye shall be manifested with him ; Christ is your life " (

vers. 1 — 4). (1) Not only must the principle of a perfect and all-sufficing life for men be heavenly ; it must be personai. " We live by admiration, hope, and love." All really commanding and sovereign influences acting on human nature contain a personal element. We cannot sustain ourselves on abstract laws, or great universal ideas, or " streams of tendency ; " on a " something not ourselves that makes for " this or that ; on formulas or generalizations of any kind, however grand and comprehensive, however true and useful in their place. In spite of all plausible argument and eleo;ant raillery, and underneath the changing modes and fashions of polite or scientific thought, it yet remains a constitutional and fixed necessity of the human soul to find in that which is higher than itself Some One to reverence and to obey. Against this necessity, Alexandrine theosophy and modern scepticism equally contend in vain. Men want a living Ood, One who knows, who loves and liates, who wills and acts — a just Qod and a Saviour ; and they will not have tbese terms exflained away. We aj-e not to te frightened or (Jiscompos!"d by being CH, m. 1—25,] THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIAUS. 168 told that our God is " a magnified, non-natural Man," and that our notions nre groisl; " anthiopomorphio." We cannot believe that the Power which is infinitely greater than ourselves is kss than a Person. " That which may be known of God is " so far -' manifest in ourselves" (Rom. i. 19), that what we find there of highest and most distinctive— in tliought, in will, in affection, in moral self-consciousness — must needs be an index, the surest and directest that reason furnishes (for it is given by the very being of reason itself), to the nature of that Power which made and governs us. To this first principle we are compelled to hold, notwithstanding the metaphysical difficulties old as human thought, which surround those indications— difficulties which meet every interpretation of them alike. The Incarnation has confirmed, while it has corrected, this universal assumption. In the mind of Christ, in the love of Christ, in the huly will that says, " Father, I will . . . nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt " (John xvii. 24 ; Mark xiv. 36), we behold in its purest and most satisfying form that which may he known of Ood, and the relations in which as men we stand thereto. How much God is beyond and behind all that, we cannot guess ; bat he is all that, he is nothing less than, nothing different from, that which we see " in the face of Jesus Christ " (ch. i. 15; 2 Cor. iv. 4 ; John i. 18). (2) The man whose " life is hid with Christ" is "joined in one spirit" (1 Cor. vi. 17) — ^in a sympathy of love and fellowship of thought and aim the most complete of which the human soul is capable — ^with a living Person in heaven. He is " joined to the Lord," who has " all authority in heaven and in earth " (ch. i. 13, 15, 18 ; Bom. xiv. 9 ; John xvii. 2 ; Matt, xxviii. 13 ; Bev. i. 5), with the wisdom that touches on the one side the resources of omniscience and on the other the everyday experience of human infirmity and suffering (ch. ii. 3 ; 1 Cor. i. 24 ; John ii. 25 ; xvi. 30 ; Matt. xi. 27 ; Heb. ii. 17, 18 ; iv. 15 ; Rev. ii. 23), and the claims on our devotion of One who " loved us and gave himself for us " (ch. i. 14, 20 — 22 ; Eph. ii. 13, 14 ; Gal. ii. 20 ; 2 Cor. viii. 9 ; John x. 15 ; xv. 13 ; Bev. i. 5 ; v. 12). In hira we recognize personal being, personal worth, and personal rights in relation to ourselves, the highest conceivable both in kind and degree. To have a life hid with Christ is to dwell in an inward communion of heart with One whom we can perfectly trust, perfectly love, and absolutely obey. (3) This is life indeed (Jqhn vi.- 53 ; 1 John V. 12). This fellowship supplies, as nothing else can do in the nature of things, the means of moral culture, the influences by which men may be " redeemed from all iniquity" (Titus ii. 14; GaL L 4; John xv. 3), by which a Divine character is formed in the soul (Gal. iv. 19) and it is trained for the life of heaven (ch. i. 27 ; Phil. i. 6). The Christian life is nothing less than a Divine friendship (John xv. 12 — 15 ; Isa. xli. 8 ; Exod. xxxiii. 11 ; Gen. v. 24 ; xviii. 17). To gain this life one may gladly consent to die to all that is alien from the life of Christ (ver. 3 ; oh. ii. 11, 20 ; Phil. iii. 7 — 12 ; Rom. vi. 2, 11 ; viL 4 — 6). 2. A true union with Christ lifts our aims ahive this world. "Ye were raised with Christ, seek, mind, the things above, where Christ is, for (from the things on the earth) ye died " (

vers. 1 — 3). Christ has gone to heaven, and he is our Life. Thither he has carried with him our desires and hopes (Phil. i. 23 ; 2 Cor. v. 6 — 8). To be where he is, is the deepest longing of the Christian heart; and its attainmeat is the supreme reward of faithful service (John xii. 26 ; xiv. 1 — 6 ; Bev. jiL 21 ; xiv. 4). Heaven is the Christian's home, because he is there. And he has gone thither, not simply as to " the place where he was before " (John vi. 62), and to which he properly belongs (John iii. 13), but as our " Forerunner " (Heb. vi. 20), the " Firstborn among many brethren " (ch. i. 18 ; Bom. viii. 29). He aven is the goal which he has marked out for his followers, the " Father's house," the native city of all the members of his body, the Church (Eph. i. 18 — ^23 ; Phil. iii. 20 ; John xiv. 2 ; Heb. xi. 10, 13—16). " The prize of our high calling " (t^j itiit KKriffeas, " that calls us above ") is bestowed at " the resurrection of the dead " (Phil, iii. 9 — 21). (1) As workmen, as tradesmen, as citizens, our aims terminate with the things upon the earth ; as Christians, we seek the things that are above. The present in our view is the seed-time, the training school for the immortal future ; and its value lies in what it leads to rather than in what it is. Our present spiritual life, the knowledge of Christ and communion with him we now enjoy, is but " the earnest of our inheritance," "the firstfiuits of the Spirit" (Eph. i. 14; Bom. viii. 23; Phil. iii. 12—14). "By" this " hope we are saved " (Bom. viii. 17 — 25) ; for this, most of all, do we give thanki (cb, I a-6, 23; Phil i. 6; 1 Cor. i. 7, 8; I Pa. j. 3—7 comp. bomiletigs, sect, I, 160 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [oh. in. 1—25 II. 1 (3).) (2) Yet tliis minding of the things above involve! no diiparagement tf fh* interests and daims of secular life. For this present is the pathway to that future. How seriously important, how carefully to be studied and appraised, how diligently to be improved, are the " few things " of our earthly stewardship, if by a right management of them we may become " lords " of the " many things " of the everlaeting habitations (Matt. xxv. 14 — 30 ; L\ike xvi. 9 — 12 ; 1 Oor. vii. 31) ! But we must keejj our thoughts and aims above the world, taking care not to be overcharged with " cares and pleasures of this life" (Luke viii. 14; xxi. 34), "declaring plainly that we seek a country" (Heb. xi. 14), turning earth at every step into "a scale to heaven," making Christ all in all in family and social life, in business and in politics. 3. ITie Christian life it, therefore, in its essence a mystery. "Your life is hid" (vex. 3). (1) "The world knoweth us not " (1 John iii. 1). As to the life of the children of this world, and of the Christian man so far as he is a man of the world, everything is plain. The principles and motives of the man of business, the politician, or the scientist are easily stated and generally intelligible. And the influences which govern the depraved, ungodly man are all too plain ; " the works of the flesh are manifest " (Gal. v. 19). But the man whose "citizenship is in heaven," who "walks by faith, not by sight," who is " looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of Gfod," whose life it is to love and serve a Master who was crucified eighteen hundrsd years ago, and whcim he expects to see only after he himself is dead, — such a person is an enigma to natural men born only of this world; he is "judged of uo man" (1 Cor. ii. 14, 15). Political economy, experimental psychology with its " analysis of the human mind," fail to account for him; and the philosopher haply will pass him by as a pretence or an abnormity. He is like a planet deflected from its course by some unknown body out of telescopic reach, whose magnitude and position it is impossible scientifically to deter* mine. (2) Our life is hidden, because he who is owr Life it hidden. " Ye see me no more," said Jesus ; and again, " The world seeth me no more ; but ye see me : because I live, ye shall live also" (John xvi. 10; xiv. 19). " Therefore the world kuoweth ug not, because it knew him not" (1 John iii. 1). Our life is wrapped up in One " whom we have not seen " (1 Pet. i. 8, 9), with whom we can have no kind of sensible communication ; ill a Christ who indeed was " manifested in the flesh," but was scornfully disbelieved and put to death, "justified" only "in the Spirit," seen only " of angels " (1 Tim. iii, 16). A mystery to the world, the Christian life is a mystery also to its possessor as respects the methods by which it is bestowed and sustained on God's part. " The things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God," and though we receive this Spirit, " we know " but " in part " his operation! (1 Cor. ii. 11 ; xiii. 12). " Thou hearest the voice thereof" — that is all (John iii. 8). There is a supernatural something that defies analysis and measurement in the experience of every Christian — a Divine life as distinct from the natural soul-life, as that is from mere animal vitality ; and this is just the sovereign creative factor of his religion, the principle of his new birth and new manhood : his life is " hid in God." But while this life itself is hidden, itsfruits are not (

vers. 1 — 4); in its uncompromising and mortal warfare with the old life of sin (veis. 5 — 9) ; in its purpose to form a new humanity in the individual soul, and in the world at large (vers. 10, 11). We are now to follow its practical working, to see how the " new man " is to show himself in a new habit and style of living, how the " hidden life " is to blossom out into its fragrance and beanty, and its " celestial fruit " to " grow on earthly ground." We note that the Christian character is one derivtd/rom Ood and that refers to Ood in everything. It is as "God's elect, his holy nnd beloved ones " (ver. 12), that we are called to assume the new habits of Chri'.tian grace and gondness. Knowingwliat the Divine Father is, and what he has done for us (ch. i. 12 — 14), and what he in' ends us to be (Bph. i. 4 — 6), sensible of our filial relation to him (Rom. viii. 15 — 17 ; Gal. iv. 1 — 7; 1 John iii. 1, 2), loyally embracing his will (Rom. vi. 22) and seeking to be conformed to his nature as that is translated for us into " the image of his Son" (Rom. viii. 29 ; 2 Pet. i. 4 ; 1 John iv. 17), we shall be " holy in all maimer of conversation." But God is known to us through Cnrist. And, therefore, m the formation of the Christiau character " Christ is all aud in all " (ver. 13; 1 Cor. xi. 1; Rom. xv. 3; Phil. ii. 5; 1 Pet. ii. 1:2; 1 John ii. 6; John xiii. 15). It is nothing else than Christ formed in us (Gal. iv. 19). In the perfect Chri.^titm character, then: 1. Ohiisf slave rules. (Vers, i:^, 1 1 ; 2Cor. v. 14; 1 John iii. 23 ; John -xiii. 34.) 'J he tender heart of compassion, the gentle, sympathetic kimihness, the lowliness of mind, the uncomplaining meekness, the patient long-suffering, the forlieara'ioe and forgivingncss (vers. 12, 13) of the Christian nature,— these centre in the all-perlect and all-peifecting grace of Christ-like love (1 Cor. xiii. ; 1 John iv. 7 — 21 ; lloin. xiii. 9, 10). He in whose heart dwells the love ol Christ caimot " shut up his compassion " from any within reach of help whonecd it (1 John iii. 17) ; cannot be rude and uiigraeious, or hard and unforgiving; (Kph. iv. 31, 'M; 2 Cor. ii. 5 — 11); cannot be self-asserting; clamorous, overbearing (2 (.:or. x. 1; Phil. ii. 6, R.V. mar;.;in; M»tt. .\ii. 19); cannot be passionate and re-sentful, irritable and faiilt-findmg, obstinate in prejudice, intolerant oi opposition. The love of Christ will assimilate his whole disposition and make it sweet, gracioui, uuselfish, loving, and lovable as that of an OB. m. 1— 2S.] THE EPISTLE fO tHfi OOtOSStA^fS. 166 Innocent child (Matt, xviii. 1 — 4). And the Christian man who in the spirit of this love can "()ossess his soul in piilieuro" through all the strenuous endeavours and paiiiTul collisions and vexing wrongs of life, wears " the girdle of perfrctness," and has attained tlie perfect Christian temper. 2. Christ'speacegnards. (

The Pulpit Commentary
Vers. 5 — ^9.) Impurity, greed, malice, falsehood, — these are the leading features of the former life of sin which the apostle represents his readers as having followed before they became Christians, He does not, of course, charge all of them equally and alike with these offences. But then, as now, these four types of vice were prevalent amongst the great mass of ungodly men (ver. 7 ; 1 Cor. vi. 9 — W). Such statements, when applied to men living under the influences of Chiistian society, must be applied with discrimination, and in the light of our Lord's teaching addressed to the moral Jews in Matt, v, 17 — 48, e*c. These vices are native to the soil of the human heart (Mark vii. 20 — 23). By habitual practice they take possession of the man, so that his "members" are made "slaves to uncleanness and iniquity" (Rom, vi. 19; John viii. 34), and his body becomes a " b(jdy of sin" and "of death" (Rom. vi. 6; vii. 23 — 26; ch. ii. 11). They become virtually his "members that are upon the earth" (ver, 5). Under the sway of sensual apjietite and worldly desire, ungoverned by any influence from "the things abuve," his person becomes more and more completely ore incarnation of sin (Rom. vii. 5, 20, 23). These " members," then, individually and collectively, must be " put to death ; " this " body of the flesh," as a " body of sin," must be " stripped off" and " done away " (oh. iL 11 ; Kom. vL 6), Christ cannot dwell in the soul while " sin reigns in the mortal body" (Rom. vi. 12). He has no "concord with Belial," or with Mammon (2 Cor. vi. 15 ; Mntt. vi. 24). " The old man " must be " so buried, that the new man may be raised up" in us (oomp. Bph. iv. 17 — 24). 1. Unchastity was the most conspicuous sin of the Gentile world in which St. Paul moved. There it prevailed in the grossest and most shameless forms; and its prevalence is a fearful warning, as he points out (Rom. i. 18 — 27), of the outcome of a godless civilization. The society of the populous Greek cities of that day was one in which " fornication, uncleanness, lustful passion, evil desire" (ver. 5), had free course, and its moral condition was only less abanduned than the "reeking rottenness" of Sodom and Gomorrha. Adultery, indeed, was condemned as a civil crime by pagan moralists ; but fornication they held, as a rule, to be an innocent and almost a necessary thing. It was in writing to Corinth, perhaps the most licentious city in that licentious age, that the apostle launched his sternest and most vehement interdict against this crime, which is a moral leprouy and peatiooLOBSiAtn. ■ 182 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [oh. ni. 1—25 lence. There he marks it out as peculiar from all other sins in being a sin against a man's own body, and an especial insult and outrage to the Holy Rpiiit who claims the human body fur his temple (1 Cor. vi. 13 — 20 : cdmp. 1 Thess. iv. 2 — 8). There are too many ovideuces in the state of modern society, both in high quarters and in low, that as' Christian sentiment grows weak and religious faith dies down, in the same proportion the perversion of the sexual passions follows, with its invariable result. in the relaxation of moral fibre, the destruction of social confidence, and the physical decay of the corrupted race. Man begins by denying his Maker, and ends by degrading himself. There are times and places where plain speaking on this subject is needful, and no prudery or sentimt-atal delicacy should prevent it. The tempted must be warned ; the guilty rebuke'l ; bodily self-respect must be tauatht in good time. The pure will know how to do this, like the apostle himself and like his Master,^' in all purity." When once inward chastity has been lost and unoleanness spots the soul, the stain is not easily effaced. Evils of this kind flourish in the dark and love to be ignored. 2. Covetousness is idolatry. (

Ver. 5.) It is, obviously and directly, " worshipping and serving the creature" (Rom. i. 25). While it appears to be self-love, it is really the sacrifice of self to the world, offered at the shrine of wealth, or fame, or pleasure. The man seeks to gain power over other men or things ; but if this becomes his supreme desire, or if he seeks to attain it by evil means, then from that moment the object of his guilty pursuit gains power over him, and begins to entangle and enslave him (John viii. 34 ; Eom. vii. 23). His passion becomes his tyrant, his ambition an insanity, his pursuit of pleasure an infatuation. Even the thirst for knowledge, the noblest of natural desires, may grow into a selfish greed, jealous and grasping, eating out the best affections, and producing an accomplished scholar, a master of science, void of all goodness of heart and human worth. All croaturely things, regarded out of God, are but " passing shows" (etSaiXo, idols) of the absolute and enduring goodness that belongs to him (Matt. xix. 17). The homage rendered to them — whether by the savage to his fetish, by the civilized worldling to his wealth or rank, or by the scientist to his laws and farces of nature — is idolatry, the worshipping of shams and shows, in so far as it is a departing from the living God (Heb. iii. 12; Exod. xx. 3; Isa. xliii. 10; 1 Cor. viii. 4 — 6). And with life thus perverted at its fountain-head, it becomes a mere vanity and vexation of spirit. 3. Mdice is universally denounced. Moralists of all schools and all ages agiee in proscribing this vice, though in little else. The malicious man is instinctively dreaded ; he is a peril to every one. Sins of malice and of falsehood strike directly at the existence of society, while the two former classes of offence threaten it more gradually and indirectly. (1) Yet it can scarcely be denied that cCnger, wrath, malice, railing, shameful speaking, are, to a large extent, congenital to human nature. It is true that there is an instinctive benevolence, a fellow-feeling for one's kind, only exceptionally wanting ; but at the same time there exists a proclivity, that is often terribly strong even in its earliest manifestations, in the opposite direction. " Cain was of that wicked one, and slew his brother ; . . . because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous " (1 John iii. 12). It is a weak and fatal delusion to rely on natural benevolence as an effective and commanding moral force, a stable foundation for a system of practical ethics. Nor is it possible in the nature of things that enlightened self-interest or any combination of prudential or utilitarian considerations should ever teach men to love their neighbours as themselves, or should succeed in suppressing rage and jealousy and the murderous passions slumbering in the blood of the race. We must be "taught of God to love one another" (1 Thess. iv. 9; see 1 John ii. 7—11 ; iii. 13—24 ; iv. 7—21). (2) The love of Christ will at last subdue the fratricidal passions of mankind, will " make wars to cease unto the ends of the earth ; " and one day will brin<^ men of the most distant climes and hostile interests to clasp each other's hands and look into each other's eyes and say, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another! " Here lies the only hope of the fraternization of mankind. 4. If impurity dishonours the body, falsehood dishonours the mind. This sin at once degrades the man, wrongs by deceiving his fellow, and insults his God, the ever-present Witness and Guardian of truth (Acts y. 4; Rom. ix. 1; 1 Thess. ii. 5; Ps. cxxxix. 4 ; Jer. v. 3). Here the apostle points out (1) its inconsistency with the Christian character of the man (vers. 9, 10) ; and (2) its contradiction to the Christian view of society (ver. 11). Similarly in Bph. iv. 25: "For we are members one ol tm. THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANa 1«S another.'' For a man to deceive his neighhour by word or deed,ia as if the eyes should coDspire to trick the ear or misguide the hand. The ancients condemned falsehood between men of the same community, but generally regarded it as a lawful weapon to use against enemies or strangers; although the Stoics, with their wider views o/ humanity, taught on this point, as on others, a higher morality. The " Greek " mig)it deceive the " barbarian," the " bondman " might lie to his master, and have no sense of moral wrong. And so it has been too commonly in the dealing of servants nr schoolboys with their masters, of civilized men with savages, of libertines in their conduct towards the other sex. Witness the immoral maxim, " All's fair in love and war.' One chief cause of deceit would be removed if men would understand that the instinct of honour which bids them be truthful to their equals and comrades, requires the same honesty in dealing with every man as man. The Christian acts on this principle ; he will not in any sense " hold the faith of our Lord Jesus with respect o/ persons " (Jas. ii. 1). (a) Many men who would resist the temptation to utter a lie in sc many words, will silently act it ; especially in a continued course of action, where the deception lies not in any single definite act, but in the general construction which they lead others to put on their proceedings. Such deception is no less culpable in itself, and as a rule still more disastrous in its effects, than a palpable lie. (V) And again, men find it easy to lie collectively who would not do so singly. Though men of [irobity in their private affairs, they will put their hands to documents, they will consent with others to acts, which they know to be misleading, or, at least, which they do not know to be true. And now that busiDcss is becoming more and more a matter of "limited liability," the perils of divided responsibility in this direction should be well understood. 5. "Because of all these things God's anger is coming on the sons of disobedience" (ver. 6). Every act or thought of any of these kinds is a disobedience, a breach of " the holy and just and good Law " under which man was first cjeated in his Maker's image (ver. 10). This "Law worketh out wrath," inexorably and perpetually, against "every soul of man that doeth evil" (Rom. ii. 9; iv. 15). And that anger of God is coming (Isa. xxx. 27, 28). There is a day appointed for its " revelation" (Rom. ii. 5, 16; Mai. iv. 1), even as for "the manifestation of the sons of God " (ver. 4 ; Rom. viii. 19). It is already " revealed from heaven " (Eom. i. 18), and gives forewarning of its advent in many a personal and public calamity (Isa. xxvi. 9 ; Mai. iii. 5 ; Matt. xxiv. 3 — 42 ; 1 Cor. v. 3 — 5 ; xi. 30—32). On every account, the Christian must have done with the old life of sin. He sees it to be inoonipatib'e with fellowship with Christ, to be hateful to God, to be ruinous to himself and to his felloumen. No return to it, no renewal of it, no dallying or temporizing with it in any kind or degree, can be tolerated. It must die if he is to live. III. The nNiTT of mankind in Chbist. (

The Pulpit Commentary
ver. 6— ch. It. 6 ; Bph. v. 8—14 ; Phil. ii. 15, 16 ; Titus ii. H, 12 ; Matt. v. 1-4—16 ; John xiii. 35 ; 1 Pet. ii. 9, 12, 15 ; iii. 1, 2, 15, 16). 4. But the mystery of the Christian life is to have its revelation. " When Christ shall be manifested, then shall ye also be manifeated with him, in glory" (ver. 4). This riddle of life must be solved (1 Cor. liiL 12, R.V. margin) ; " the things shaken " must be removed, " that the things unshaken may remain" (Heb. xii. 27); appearance must give place to reality; " mortality " must be " swallowed up of life ; " Gtod has " wrought us for this very thing" (2 Cor. V. 4, 5). Faith is the virtue of education, and must have its reward in sight ; if there is nothing to be seen, then (hose are not "blessed," but only mistaken, "who have not seen and yet have believed " (John xx. 2y). Hope must be crowned with fruition, or it will " put us to shame " (Rom. v. 5). And love, content now to " see him not " (1 Pet. i. 8), is only so content on the assurance that " we shall see him even as be is" (1 John iii. 3 ; Acts i. 11 ; John xiv. 3). (1) Christ shall bemanifestid. He has pledged himself, both to his friends and to his foes, to return (John xiv. 3 ; Matt. xxvi. 63, 64). That pledge he gave in the most puMic and solemn manner possible, in assertion of his Divine sonship and Messiahship, His second coming is the goal of New Testament prophecy, and of the Church's hope and longim; through the ages (Matt. xxv. 19, 31; Acts iii. 21; xvii. 31; X Thess. iv. 14—18; Phil, iii 20; Titus iL 13} Heh CH. HL 1—25.] THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. Ml ii. 28 ; 1 Pet. L 7 ; 1 John ii. 28 ; Eev. 1. 7; xxii. 20, etc.). It is the constunmation of human history, the denouement of the great time-drama, " the one far-off Divine event, to which the whole creation moves." But he waits till " the guspel of the kingdom is preached to all the nations," " till his enemies be made his footstool," till " the harvest of the earth is ripe," till the hour has struck appointed in the Father's eternal counsels (Mark xiii. 10, 32 ; Heb. x. 12, 13 ; Rev. xiv. 15, 18). Then he will appear in that glory (Matt. XXV. 31; xxvi. 64; Titus ii. 18), something of which the three saw "in the holy mount " (2 Pet. i. 16 — 18), which dying Stephen beheld as he fell asleep, and Saul of Tarsus' as he journeyed to Damascus, and John in Patmos (Acts vii. 56; ix. 3 — 6; Rev. i. 13 — 18); of which in entering upon his earthly estate he had " emptied himself, taking the form of a servant" (Phil. il. 6, 7). " We shall see him even as he is — the Lord of glory " (1 John iii. 3 ; Jas. ii . 1). (2) Christ's glory his saints will share. They, too, will be manifested. There will be an " unveiling of the sons of - God " (Eom. viti. 18^5)* " In this tabernacle we do groan, being burdened " (2 Cor, V. 4), Our life is " cribbed, cabined, and confined." The body, virtually " dead because of sin," oppresses and conceals, while it contains, the immortal " spirit, which is life because of righteousness" (Eom. viii. 10, 11). "Now we see through a glass, darkly " (1 Cor. xiii. 12). We move about as if under a heavy, muffling cloak. " We are spirits in prison, able only to make signals to each other." But we shall then enjoy " the liberty of the glory of the children of God " (Rom. viii. 21). This " natural body " will become a " spiritual body," in which the spirit; will be perfectly expressed and for ever at home, (3) Then Chrisfs glory will be manifest in us. He will be " glorified in his saints," and they glorified in him (2 Thess. i. 10 ; Ps. xc. 16, 17). Like some Bculptor'a work, prepared in concealment and with long labour, carved out of the rough, unshapely block by many a painful stroke of hammer and of chisel, till the artist's glorious ideal is wrought out, and on some public day the finished master-piece is at last Unveiled ; so the man, perfect in Christ, will be "presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (ch. i. 22, 28 ; Jude 24). II, The death or the old self, (

The Pulpit Commentary
Vers. 10, 11.) This truth belonged, at least in St. Paul's time, to the more advanced Christian knowledge, "unto which" the believer was "being renewed" (ver. 10); and the Church still comes far short of its full apprehension. 1. The gospel of Christ reveals the spiritual unity of mankind. To make this known was a part of the apostle's mission, and of the special " mystery God" entrusted to him (ch. i. 25—28; Eph. iii. 1—6; Rom. iii. 9—30; xv. 5— 12). Its manifestation, and the consequent " breaking down of the middle wall of partition '' (Eph. ii. 14), were necessary to a complete Christian virtue, the proper virtue of man as man, carried out. in all his relations to God and to his felluwa; and for the regeneration of tmman society, the salvation of the world. There was a jireparation for this belief in the breaking down of the old nations into the unity of the Roman empire, in the decay of local and ancestral religions, and in the advance of philosophy from the narrower and more political ethics of Plato and Aristotle to the moral system of the Stoics, which was at once more inward and more humane. But there'was wanting that conception of a living. Divine centre of the human race, given iu Christ, which alone could make the sentiment of universal humanity a creative, organic force. 2. 'JTiis unity lias been realized in the Christian Church. It appears in the beautiful simplicity of its childlike beginning, in the communism of the infant Church of Jerusalem (Acts ii. 44 — 47). It was set forth in a larger and fuller way by the Apostle Paul in addressing the mixed Churches of the great cities where he laboured ; and was actually put into practice there in a good degree. Jew and Greek (Gal. ii. 12), rich and poor (1 Cor. xi. 20 — 22 ; t/it exception proves the rule : comp. Jas. iL 1 — i), H4 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANa [oh. in. 1—28. master and slave (Philem. 16, 17), met at the same table of the Lord, mingled as eqnali in tlie sariif ("linstian society, distinguished only by the measure of "grace" and " Riiiiitualgiii ■ b.stuvvudoneach (Uoin.xii. 6 ; lCor.xii.7 — 11). And the reoordg of the first ibree Cliiistiari centuries show how faitiilnlly, on the whole, this principle waa niaiiJtaiuuil, and how nobly the Church held herself superior to temporal distinctions of woaltli and rank. Far indeed has she subsequently departed from this rule; and lost l)i)w much thereby in spiritual dignity and power] We admire it now as a proof of special humility if the titled or cultured man forgets amongst Christian brethren his worldly eminence ; if the employer of labour is glad to sit at the feet of his Workman, when that workman, as may often be the case, is bis spiritual superior; if the wi altby contributor to a Church fund does not expect, on that account, to dictate in its managemi.'nt. 3. The Church is destined to gather mankind into a spiritual eommonwealth. In it there is to be no "strife as to who shall be greatest; but in huniility and self-forjietfulnesa "the greater shall be as the younger, and the chief as he that doth serve" (Luke xxii. 24 — 26). Tliere "all are bretliren, with one Master even Christ " (Matt, xxiii. 8 — 12). All authority and office are derived from him, and attested by his Spirit in his people (1 Cor. xii. 1 — 11; Acts 1.24; xiii. 1 — 4; Gal. i. 1 ; John xx. 21). The Church is his body, complete in him — a unity in itself and in its action, because in every limb it draws its life and gets its direction from the Head. And as the Church becomes a greater and more pervasive power in the world, the spiritual brotherliood it creates will work appeasingly on the " wars and fightings," on the aristociatic exclusiveuess and haugljtiness, the democratic bitterness and jealousy, the invincible prejudices, the clashing interests, by which society is distiaoted and its bonds are strained almost to rending, and the nations are kept in arms and hurled repeatedly against each other in deadly conflict. When mankind recovers its unity in him in whom it was created and redeemed, when it is reconciled to God and bows its every knie "at the name of Jesus," — then at last there will be "peace on earth." Where " Christ is all and In all " antipathy must cease. IV. The NEW Chkistian CHARACTER. (Vcrs. 12— 17.) We have traced the principle of the Christian life in its inner ground and aim, as "hid with Christ" and seeking its home in heaven (

The Pulpit Commentary
ver. 12. The evidence for the alternative readings, " Lord " and " Christ," is nearly equal in weight. In any ease^ the "Lwd" is "Christ" in this passage (ck ii. 6 ; iii. 17, 24): and that he forgive (comp. oh. i. 20, note) is quite eonsistent with the assertion, that God forgave (ch. ii. 13), for God forgave " in Christ " (Eph. iv. 32). So " God in Christ reconciled" (2 Goi; v. 19); and yet " Christ reconciled us " (ch. i. 20, 21 ; Eph. ii. 16). ** Forgiving," supplied in thought from previons context, completes the sense of "so also jet" (Meyer, Alford, EUioott). To suppose an ellipsis of the imperative, with Lightfoot and Uie English Version ("do ye"), ia needleelBly to Inresk the structure of the (entunae. Vex. 14 shows that the leading imperative, " put on," of ver. 12 is still in the writer's mind. For the reciprocal double Kal (" even , . . also "), oiunip. ch. i. 6 or Bom. i. 13; it is eharacteiietie of the writer.

The Pulpit Commentary
Yer. 14. — And over all these things (pat on) love, whieh(thing) isthe bond of perfectues8(ch.ii. 2; Eph.lv. 2,3; v. 1; Phil. ii. 2; 1 Cor. xiii^; GaL v. 13—15, 22; Bom. xiii. 8— ID ; 2 Pet. i. 7 ; 1 John iv. 7—21 ; John xiii. 34, 35). In 1 Cor. xiii. " lore " is the substance or substratum of the Christian virtues ; in GaL v. 22 it is their head and beginning ; here it is that which embraces and completes them. They imply love, bnt it is more than them all together. They lie within its circumference ; wanting it, they fall to pieces and are nothing. (For (rufSeir- ^^Sr (fisaA" Of "band"), eomf> oh. U. 19.) In Bph. iv. 3 we have the " bond of peace " (see next verse). Love is the bond in th» active sense, as that wherewith the constituents of a Christian character or the members of a Oliuich are bound together: peace, in a passive sense, as th:it wherein the union consists (comp. 1 Cor. i. 10 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 1 1). " Love " (compare " oovetousness," ver. 5) is made conspicuous by the Greek definite article — being that eminent, essential grace of Christian love (ch. i. 4, 8 ; ii. 2 ; 1 Cor. xiii.; 1 John iv. 16, etc.). "Perfectness " ia genitive of object, not of quality : love unifies the elements of Christi.in goodness and gives them in itself their " perfectness " (Bom. xiii. 10). (For " perfectness," see note on " perfect," ch. i. 28 ; and comp. iv. 12.) Against Galatian teacljers e>f circumcision, aud Coriuthian exalters of knowledge, the apostle had magnified the supremacy of love (Gal. v. 6 ; 1 Cor. viii. 1 — 3); and so against the Colossian mysticism and asceticism be sets it forth as the crown of spiritual perfection, the goal of human excellence (comp. Eph. iv. 15, 16).

The Pulpit Commentary
Yer. 15.— And let the peace of Christ be umpire in your hearts (ch. i. 14, 20 — 22; u. 18 ; Eph. ii. 13—18; Bom. v. 1, 10; 2 Cor. V. 18—21; Acts x. 36; Heb. xiu. 20; Phil. iii. 14). " Of God," the reading of the Beoeived Text, is borrowed from Phil. ir. 7, where, however, " in Christ Jesus " follows (comp. ver. 13 6, and Eph. iv. 32). " The peace of Christ " is that which he oifects in rejouciling men to God, and to himself as their Lord (ver. 135; ch. i. 20, tee note; Bom. V. 1). Here is the source of inner tranquillity and health of soul (see note on " peace," ch. i. 2 ; Rom. viii. 6 — 9 ; John xvi, 33) ; and of the outward union and harmony of the Church, the body of Christ (Eph. ii. 16; iv. 2, 3 ; Kom. xiv. 15—19 ; xv. 7). In John xiv. 27, on the other hand, Christ's peaee, his "legaiy," is that which he possessed and exemplified — an idea foreign to this context. This " peace" is to " act as umpire " in the Christian's heart. The compound Kara-fifmfieva (" act as umpire against you ") has already been used in ch. ii. 18 (see note ; also PhiL ui. 14, cognate ^po/SeioK) of the false teacher who, in condemning the faith of the Colossian Christians as insufficient for the attaining of " perfectness." (ver. 14) without angel-worship, etc., virtually took away, their prize and judged them " unworthy of eternal life:" Tii« Greek eommentatols seem, therefore, to be right, as against moat moderns (but see Klopper -on the other side), in retaining the primary sense of the verb instead of generalizing it into " rule " or tlie like. It stands in precise antithesis, both of sense and sound, to ch. ii. 18 : " Let not the deceivers decide againat you, but let th» peace of Cfaciat deeid» ia your heatt»" (fitan»\ 1S4 THE KPDm>B To TUK WL .3»1A»8. [««. m. I— 25. •Catena*). "The peace of Chrifsfdwcllfr,); within the heart is to be the security of the Coloasiau believer agaiuet the threats of [siUe teachers : " They teek to rob you of your piize ; let this assure you of it." Present, conscious peace with God is a warrant of the Christian's hope of everlasting life (Bom. V. 1—11 ; viii. 31—39 ; iv. 13 ; Eph. i. 13, 14; 1 Thess. t. 23; Titns iii. 7). This assurance is identical with " the witness of the Spirit" (Bom. viit 15, 16; Gal. iv. 6, 7: Eph, i. 13, 14). The apostle argued in ch. i. 4, 5 from the present faith and love of his readers lo "the hope laid up for them in heaven;" here he bids them find in the peace which Christ has brought to tlieir souls the eam&st of their future bliss. It is but a generalizing of the same idea when he gpeiiks in Phil. iv. 7 of " the peace of God " us "garrisoning the heart and thoughts" against fear and doubt. TTuto which also ye were called, in one body (ch. i. 12, 18 ; ii. 2 ; Eph. iv. 14-18, 1—6; Phil. i. 27, 28; 1 Oor. X. 17; lii. 12, 13; Bom. xii. 5). So this "peace" is to be at once their inward safeguard, and the ground of their outward union. They are to stand together in its defence (Phil. i. 27, 28). Error, which blights the Church's hope, destroys her unity. So the maintenance of that "one hope of our calling," assured by a Divine peace within the soul, unites all Christian hearts in a common cause (compare the connection of vers. 18 aTid 19 in oh. ii.). With St. Paul, the peace of God's children with him and with eacli other is so essentially one that lie speaks almost indistinguishably of both (Eph. ii. 15, 16; 2 Cor. xiii. 11 ; 2 Tliess. iii. 16). He adds, and be ye thankful (ch. 1. 3 — 5, 12; ii 7; iii. 17; iv. 2; Eph. v. 20); viz. "for this assurance of your future blessedness afforded by the peace of Christ within your hearts, vrith its outward evidence in your Christian unity." The apostle gave thanks for them on like grounds (ch. i. 3—5 : comp. i. 12 — 14). Tlie command to give thanks prevails in this Epistle, as that to rejoice in Philippians. "Be " is the Greek ylvoiiai (" become ") ; so in Eph. iv. 32 ; v. 1, 17, It implies " striving after an aim as not yet realized " (Meyer : comp. John xv. 8) — rather, therefore, "to be in act," "to prove" or "show one's self thankful " (see Grimm's 'Lexicon;' and comp. Bom. iii. 4; Luke X, 36).

Ver. 15.) TheChristian's rnitli and nope are assailed by a thousand enemies. Sometimes amid the common iuciilents of life, sometimes in "the heavenly places "of his richest experience and most exalted communion with spiritual things (Kph. vi. 12) — sometimes brought about by open and palpable causes, sometimes by strange influences shadowing the inner life and coruing we know not whence or how — sometimes through the rugg<dn(-ss and <:l'om of his providential path, sometimes through mental perplexities and the cliilliiit: and confused intellectual atmosphere around him, — in any or in all of these ways "the trial of his faith" comes — comes, in one shape or other, to every man who has a faith worth tiial. And then, whatever be the form which the assault takes or the quarter from which it is directed, he may find in " the peace of Christ" his strcns; tower of defence and harbour of refuge. His difficulties may not disappear under this influence ; his doubts may not be at once dispelled ; the conflict may stdl rage furiously aroimd and within him ; but he will be kept, the fortress of his heart will not be sunendered (1 Pet. i. 5.; I'tiil. iv. 7). So long as " we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," and " his love 18 shed abroad in our hearts" (iloni. v. 1 — 5), nothing can shake our essential faiih or rob us of our immortal hope (Ps. xxvii. ; xlvi. ; Luke xii. 32 ; Rev. i. 17). Neither sophistry (ch.ii. 4) nor threatening (ch. ii. 18) will take from us " the prize of our high calling." " One thinu'," at any rate, " we know " (John ix. 25) ; and to it " we have the witness in ourselves " (1 John v. 10), in " the peace of God, which jiasseth all understanding," "to which we were called," in the "new heart and right spirit" he has " put withiu " us, in the moral victory attained over self and the world (1 John v. 4, 5) : " we knew that we have passed from death unto life "(1 John iii. 14). And we safely infer that he " who has begun a good wbrk in us " will carry it through (Phil. i. 6) ; that ho will keep that which we commit to him, and " none shall pluck us out of his hand " (2 Tim. i. 12; John x. 27—29; Rom. viii. 31—39). So, unitedly and thankfully, we " hnld fast the beginning of our confidence, and the glorying of our hope, firm unto the end"(Hib. iii. 6, 14). 3. ChrisPs word inspires. (Ver. Ki.) It is to "dwell in the heurt richly " — t<i be the welcome visitant and constant inhaliitant of the mind ; to be listened to and diigently learned ; to be cherislied and pondered in inward meilitation, not as an ol jict of theoretic stmly only, but as the power which is to shape the characier and guide the life of the Christian (Deut. vi. 6 — 9 ; Ps. cxix. 105 ; John xvii. 17), as the soul's daily nutriment — the bread of God, " wliich strengtheneth man's heart," "the word of eternal life " (Deut. viii. 8 ; Jer. xv. 16 ; Mait.iv.4; John vi. 63, 68). (1) This werd gives all wisdom — best of God's gifts to man, which instructs the mind and prompts the tongue and guidis the action of its possessor (ch. ii. 2, 3 ; iv. 5, 6). So furnished, every Christian (ch. i. 28) is able to minister something to his fellows of that which God has taught him by his own study of the Word and its iiraetice in his experience of life (JTatt. xiii. 52 ; Rom. xv. 14 ; 1 Cor. xiv. 31). Thus the members of the Church are able, ''in the meekness of wisdom," to "teach and admonish one another," " being knit together in love, and led into all the riches of the full assurance of the understanding, into the knowledge of the mystery of God " (ch. ii. 2). (2) And it stirs in the heart an ardour of holy feeling that finds expression in Christian song, " The word of Chiist," cherislied in thought, kindles the emotions and wakens all the music of the soul. The early Christians were a singing people, for they were a chieriul and thaiikful people. And subsequent revivals of religions life, as a rule, have been attended with fresh outbursts of sacred song (Ps. xl. 3). The singing of a people — its heartiness, and simplicity, and the care and pains taken in its cultivation, are a good test of their spiritual state. " Psalms, hymns, spiiitual songs" — hymns old and new, narrative, didactic, lyriial ; in every measure and every tone of expression— songs of ]iraise, (jf ctmfessiou, of wailicir sorrow, of ecstatic joy; for the congregation, the household, oi the private chamber; — all find a i lace in the diapason of the Cliureh's music. 4. Christ's name hallows everything. (

The Pulpit Commentary
Ver. 16. — Let the word of Christ dwell in yon richly, in all wisdom (ch. i. 5, 9, 27, 28 ; ii. 2, 3 : iv. 5, 6 ; Eph. i. 17, 18 ; iii. 8, 9 ; 1 Cor. i. 5, 6 ; 2 Tim. iii. 15). The " word of Christ " is the Christian doctrine, fhe gospel in the widest sense of the term (ch. i. 5), as proceeding from Christ (Gal i. 11, 12; Heb. ii. 3; Matt xxviii 20; 2 Cor. xili. 3). This pzeoiw pbiase occurs only here, wnere the Mirne rtf Chrifl i« empKuized in so many ways (eomp. 1 Thea^. i 8 ; 2 Theas. iii. 1). The afOistlfc, it may be, alludes primarily to the per=onal teaching of Christ himself (comp. Acts XX. 35 ; 1 Cor. vii. 10). "You" is understood collectively by Meyer and others ("amongst you"); but the verb " dwell-in " (Bom. viii. 11 ; 2 Tim. i. 5, 14) requires the stronger sense, suggested also by the " in your hearts " of ver. 15 (comp. note on " in you," ch. i. 27). As " the word " is rich in the Divine wealth stored in it (ch. i. 27; Eph. i. 7, 18 ; ii. 4, 7; iii. 8 ; Titus iii 6), so it is to dwell " richly " in those who possess it. "In all wisdom" God's grace abounded (Epii. i. 8), and St. Paul himself taught (oil, i. 28) ; so with the richly indwells ing word in the minds of the Colossians, especially as they were beset by intellectual forms of error (ch. i. 9 ; ii 2 — 4, 8, 23 : comp. ch. iv. 5 ; Eph. v. 15). In this connection of thought, the phrase appears to belong to the previous sentence ; so English Version and Lightfoot. Bengel, Meyer, Alford, and Ellicott, however, attach it to the words which follow. Teaching and admonishing each other [or, yourselves: comp. ver. 13, note] (ch. i. 28; Rom. xv. 14; Heb. v. 12; x. 24, 25; Eph.iv. 15, 16). (For this absolute participial nominative, so marked a feature of St. Paul's style, comp. ch. i. 10 ; ii. 2 ; Eph. i. 18 ; iv. 2 ; Phil. i. 30 : iii. 10 ; 2 Cor. vii. 5 ; Winer, p. 716.) Wljat he is doing in his own ministry and by writing this letter, he bids the Colossians do for each other. "Teaching" precedes, being suggested by "wisdom." With psalms, hymns, spiritual songs (Eph. V. 19; 1 Cor. xiv. 26). These are to be a chief means of mutual edification. The repeated "and," also the singular "heart," and "Lord" in place of "Uod" in the sequel of the verse, are borrowed by the Eeceived Text from Eph. v. 19. The Greeks, the Asiatic Greeks in particular, were devoted to the arts of music. Song and jest, stimulated by the wine-cup, were the entertainment of their social hours (Eph. v. 4, 18, 19). Their Christian intercourse is still to be enlivened by the varied use of song, and by the play of wholesome wit (ch. iv. 6 ; Eph. iv. 29) ; but both song and speech are to be " in grace," stamped with a spiritual character and governed by a serious Christian purpose. A " psalm " (from tfidwa, to play an instrument) is " a song set to music ; " but this name was already in the LXX appropriated to its present use. Whether its application here is restricted to the psalms of the Old Testament is doubtful (comp. 1 Cor. xiv. 15, 26). "Hymn" (B/ti-oj) denotes a solemn, religious composition, of song of Divine praise. The word "song" (ode, cfSif) is wider in sense ; hence is qualified by " spiritual," equivalent to " with [or, • ia. "J •*.m. 1—25.5 THE Ei'lSTLB TO TBE COLOSSIAKS. IM the Spirit" (Eph. v. 18) — ^"eongsof a spiritual nature, inspired by the Holy (jhoat" (comp. "spiritual wisdom," ch. i. 9). Such Bongs would echo the varied sentiments and experiences of the Christian life. In Eph. v. 14 and 2 Tim. ii. 11 — 13, very possibly, we have fragments of early Christian song. St. Paul's own language, in more exalted moods, tends to assume a rhythmic anil lyrical sirain (see introductory note on ch. i. 15 — 20). In grace singing, in your hearts, to God (oh. iv. 5 ; Eph. v. 19 ; 1 Cor. xiv. 2, 15, 28 ; Rom. viii. 27 ; 1 John iii. 19 ; Kev. ii. 28 ; 1 Sam. xvi. 7 ; 1 Chron. xxviii. 9). " The correct reading is iv r^ xipm U" the grace);" so Lightfoot.Tisohendorf, Tregelles, VVestcott and Hort in margin, rejected by the Keviseru. The tendency to omit the article in prepositional phrases should be taken into account in its favour here. And the article helps the sense by giving " grace " a definite Christian meaning (so "the love," ver. Ii). Otherwise, ev x'^P'''^' ^^7 mean no more than "gracefully," "pleasantly;" comp. ch. iv. 6. " The (Divine) grace " is the pervasive element and subject-matter of Christian song. Its constant relrain will be, '' to the praise of the glory of his grace I " (Eph. i. 6, 12, 14 : comp. Eev. i. 5, 6). " In your hearts " (ver. 15) — the inner region of the soul — there is the counterpart, audible " to God," of the song that vibrates on the lips. • In Eph. v. 19 we read, " with your hearts" — the instrument (here the region) of the song. (For the connection of "in your hearts" and "to God," comp. vers. 22, 23; Luke xvi. 15 ; Acts i. 24 ; XV. 8 ; Bom. viii 27 ; 1 Thess. ii. 4 ; 1 John iu. 19.)

The Pulpit Commentary
Ver. 17. — And everything, whatever ye be doing in word or deed, (do) all in the name of (the) Lord Jesus (I Cor. x. 31; v. 4; Uph. V. 20; 2 Thpss. ii. 17). Ver. 16 speaks of " word ' only ; to it is added the " deed," which stands for all the practical activities of life. Both meet in the following "all." "The name of the Lord Jesus" is the expression of his authority as "Lord" (oh. i. 13, 15, 18; ii. 6; Phil. ii. 9—11; Eph. i. 21—23; 1 Cor. xii. 3; Kom. xiv. 9 ; Acts X. 36), and of his personal character and relation to us as " Jesus " (Matt. i. 21 ; Acts iv. 12 ; xvi. 31, Revised Text). (On tlie prominence of the title "Lord" in this JEpistle, see note on ch. ii. 6.) (For the emphatic, absolute nominative van at the head of the sentence, comp. John vi. 39; XV. 2 ; xvii. 2 ; Matt. x. 32 ; Luke xii. 10.) Giving thanks to God (the) Father through him (ver. 15; oh. i. 12—14; ii. 7; iv. 2). Again thanlcsgiving is urged on the ColoBeians. It is to be the accompaniment of daily talk and work — to be offered to God in hia oliaracter as "Father" (see notes on ch. i. a, 8, 12), and "through the Lord Jesus" (Bom. i. 8; vii. 25), by whom we have access to the Futlier (Kph. ii. 18 ; iiL 12; Bom. v. 1, 2; Heb. x. 19-22) and receive from him all the benefits of redemption (oh. i. 14; Eph. ii. 5—10; Rom. iii. 24 —26; Titus iii. 4— 7).

ver. 17 .) In the Revised Text, however, the turn of expression differs from that of ver. 17, ircLf being cancelled. The writer is thinking, not so much of the variety of service possible, as of the spirit which should pervade it. "Do" is replaced in the second clause by tl:e more en.rgetic " work," opposed to indolent or useless doing (comj) 1 ph. iv. 28 ; 2 Thess. iji. 10 ; John v. 17 ; ix. 4). "From [ek, out of] the soul "indicates the spring of their exertions — inioard principle, not outward com^itlsion ; the s> rvant must put his soul into his worh. " Suul " implies, even more than " heart," the engagement of the man's best Individual powers (comp. Phil. i. 27, as well as Eph. vi. e). The slaves' daily taskwork is to be done, not only in sight and in fear of the Lord (ver. 22 6 ; Eph. v. 21), but as actually " to tlie Lord." Him they are serving (ver. 24 6), who alone is " the Lord " (ch. ii 6) ; every mean and hard task is dignified and sweetened by the thought of being done /or him, and the commonest work must be done with the zeal and thoroughness that his service demands (comp. Eph. vi. 7, " with good will doing bond-service"). The word " not " (ou instead of /iii) implies that their service is actually rendered to One other and higher than " men " (1 Cor. vii. 22 ; Gal. i. 10).

Ver. 17.) Our eating and di ink jug — acts which seem the most ordinary and jiurely jihysical, and quite remote frohi the interests anil sentiments of the ppii itual life — these are to be " sanctified by the word of God and prayer " (1 Tim. iv. 5), by the mention of Christ's name in thanksgiving to the Father, who through him sends 16« THE EPISTLE "tO THE C0L0SSIAN3. [oh. m. 1—^5, us all life's blessings. And if our mere animal necessities of life are capable of lioin^ thus hallowed, there is nothing in family relations, or secular employments, or social or civil duties, which may not receive and does not demanfl the same consecration. We may associate Christ with everything we do, doing all as his servants and under his eye, and in such a way that, by every part of our work, he may be glorified in us. And this will be a safeguard to the Christian man. If he is to do everything in Christ's name, he must do nothing unworthy of that name, nothing with which he cannot associate it. Nowhere, in any company or on any business, must he forget, " either in word or deed," that this " worthy name " is the name which he bears, and whose honour is in his keeping. This is the seal that marks the true Church of Christ, which every Christian wears upon his heart : " Let every one that na/meth the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness " (2 Tim. ii. 19).

The Pulpit Commentary
Ver. 18— ch. iv. 1.— Section VIII. Tbb Christian View op Family Duties. We note that in each of the three family relations here dealt with, the subordiunte party is first addressed, and tlieduty of submission is primarily insisti d upon (

vers. 18, 20. 22 • comp. 1 Pet. ii. 18, 18 ; iii. 1 — 6). So iu Eph. V. 21—24; vi. 1—3, 5—8. There may have been some special reason for this in the state of the Asiatic Cliurolies or of Greek society in that region. But other indications show (1 Cor. vii. 24; xi. 3—16; xiv. 34, 35; Gal. V. 13; 1 Thess. iv. 11 ; 2 Thess. iii. II, 12 ; 1 Tim. ii. 1 1, 12 ; vi. 1, 2 ; Titus ii. 5, 9 ; 10; iii. 1) that the apostle perceived and sought to check the danger of unsettlement in the natural order of family and social life which often attends great spiritual revolutions, especially when they are in the direction of religious liberty. As in the case of Luther, the apostle's later teaching is largely directed against the antinomianism which resulteil, by way of perveisiou and abuse, from the preaching of salvation by grace and of the sanctity of the individual believer (comp. introductory note to this chapter). Observe how the Lord and his authority are made to furnish a higher sanction for each of these natural duties.

Ver. 18. — ^Ye wives, be in subjeotion to your husbands, as is fit in the Lord (Eph. v. 22—24 ; 1 Tim. ii. 11—15 ; Titus ii. 5 ; 1 Cor. xi. 3; xiv. 34, 35; 1 Pet. iii. 1—6 ; Gen.ui. 16). On this duty the apostle dilates in the Ephesian letter, in illustration of its teaching respecting "Christ and the Church" (comp. tlie very different treatment of it in 1 I'et. iii. 1 — 1). The use of the article (ai yiyaiKcs') in the nominative of address is frequent in New Testament, though not in classical Greek. Lightfoot thinks it Hebraistic. "Ayijufi/ stands in the imperfect tense (literally, it was fit), denoting a normal propriety (comp. Eph. v. 4, Westcott and Hort ; and for the general expression, 1 Cor. xi. 13, 14; Philem. 8; Eph. v. 3; 1 Tim. ii. 10: Phil. iv. 8 ; Rom. i. 29). Like all men of n sound moral nature, St. Paul has a strong sense of natural propriety. The adjunct " in the Lord " belongs to " was fit," not " be subject" (comp. ver. 20). The constitution o( nature, as we have learnt iu ch. i. 15 — 18, is grounded "in the Lord." In Eph. v. 22 — 33 St. Paul shows that this inherent propriety has a deep spiritual siguificance; aud he makes the subjection of the Church to her heavenly Lord a new reason for wife'ii' lubmissiou, '' 156 THE EHSTLE TO THE OOLOSSlANS. [ob- m. 1—26

Ver. 18 — ch. It. 1 — Sect. 8. The Christian view of family duties. Certain general considerations bearing on the family and social constitution of life may be drawn from the teaching of this section. 1. We note that the apostle brings each of the three primary relationships of which he speaks into connection with " the Lord." The natural order of human life is grounded in Christ. If "all things were created and do consist in him " (ch. i. 16, 17), then, amongst the rest, this also and in chief. For man in his relation to the world around him is " the image of Gol," even as Christ Is to the whole universe (1 Cor. xi. 7 ; Jas. iii. 9 ; Gen. i. 26 ; Ps. viii.). And man is not a solitary individual ; he is a social being, a race-unity. And those relations which are essential and fundamental to human society— marriage, sonship, service — have, most ol all, their spiritual type and creative ground iu Christ. This is obvious in the case of the two latter relations ; as to the first, see Eph. v. 22 — 32. 2. The intrinsic fitness of a right discharge of natural duties is affirmed in the first case (ver. 18), and injplied in the other two. The apostle recognizes and appeals more than once to the sense of ethical propriety, that which " nature itself teaches " (1 Cor. xi. 14), which belougs to the universal conscience surviving in our nature though fallen and debased. All true sentiments of natural morality the Christian revelation reaffirms and supports with its efiectual sanctions, " as is fit in the Lord " (comp. Phil. iv. 8). Their consciousness of the right as the beautiful (rb KdK6v) was a sound and valuable element in the teaching of the best Greek moralists. They regarded conduct as a work of art, in which grace and fitness were to be studied, and the perfection of an ideal beauty to be the aim of life. While men may have, as a rule, a stronger sense of the right, women better understand the fitting ; and it is in regard to the place and duties of woman that St. Paul appeals to convictions of moral fitness and decorum (comp. 1 Cor. xi. 13 ; 1 Tim. ii. 10). 3. We are taught, indirectly! to cherish a pleasant and cheerful temper in domestic life. Bitterness (ver. 19) and harshness, with the distrust and timidity which they engender (ver. 21), and a sullen or constrained obedience (ver. 23), are forbidden ; and these are the common elements of domestic unhappiness. Where the husband is gentle, and the father tender though strict, and the master considerate, and the servants willing and honestly anxious to please, there all goes well. Whatever storms may beat upon that house from without, there is peace and sunshine within. And this is " well-pleasing in the Lord." 4. 2%e principle of authority is steadfastly maintained throughout. (

Vers. 18, 20, 22.) In every house that is not to be " divided against itstlf," there must be a single head, a ruling will, a definite centre of power and direction. And that power God has placed, as a solemn trust, in the hands of the husband, father, master, who is in his prerogative within his own house an image of Christ in the Church (Eph. v. 23 ; cb. iv, 1), of God himself, the Father of men (Heb. xii. 9). This principle is thecorner-stone of order in human society. Here is " pure religion breathing household laws " (Wordsworth). I. Hdsband and wife, (

Vers. 18, 19.) The marriage relation stands first, being the basis of the family, which again is the basis of society and of the community of mankind. " He which made them from the beginning, made them male and female " (Matt. xix. 4 — 6). Marriage is to he " had in honour among all " (Heb. xiii. 4 ; 1 Tim, iv. 1 — 3) ; and not merely the criminal act, but any impure word, thought, or look which offends against its sanctity, " defiles the man " from whom it proceeds, offends in fta especial way the Holy Spirit of God, and brings down his wrath upon Uie offeudei 0H.in. 1— 25.] THE EPISTLE TO THE C0L0SSIAN8. 167 (Matt. V. 27, 28; Mark vii. 20— 23; 1 Thesa. iv. 3— 8 ; 1 Cor. vi. 13— 20). The degree of honour and reverence in which it is held in any society largely determines tlie degree of soundness in its moral condition. Where the op] osite vices prevail, whether secretly or openly practised, general moral corrnption and decay set in (see homiletics, sect. 7, II. 1). 1. On the one side, there is to be submission. The apostle says, " Children, . . . servants, obey " (vers. 20, 22) ; but not " Wives, obey your husbands:" " Be in subjection " (ver. 18) is a gentler and fitter teim to use. Obedience implies a certain distance and inferiority that has no place here. There is something wrong on one side, or on both, when the husband gives formal orders to his wife. There should be such an intimacy of mutual understanding and sympathy between them, that they seem to have but one mind and will in all common matters. And while to that single mind the wife contributes the queenly influence of her insight and persuasion, she will feel and show that resolve and direction belong to him and not to her. 'J'he final res])onsibility for the business of the house devolves on the husband, by the ordinance of God and by the nature of things, which are but two expressions of the same laut (1 Cor. xi. 3 — 15). It is his part to " rule well his own house " (1 Tim. iii. 4). 2. It was not so needful to say, " Wives, tore your husbands ; "though the apostle once enjoins this, in speaking of " the younger women " in Titus ii. 4. For failure on the wife's side in this respect is comparaiively rare. But the man, full of business, often absent, and with his more exacting nature, is more liable to fall into some disloyally. He allows other company to become more agreeable to him ; seeks amusements and pursuits in which his wife cannot join ; no longer makes her his confidante and the sharer of his inner life ; and allows home to become little more to him than a selfish convenience. And with this selfishness and the uneasiness of conscience that attends it, there supervenes often an irritableness of temper that chafes over every dumestic care or trouble, and makes no allowance for infirmities in others; that magnifies every trifling mistake or mishap into an injury, and ignores the wife's patient affection and eagerness to please. How different is all this from the exalted ideal that St. Paul holds lip to the Ohribtian husband! — "Love your wife even as Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for her " (Eph. v. 25). Bengel's shrewd and caustic remark on this passage is too often verified : " There are many, who out of doors are civil and kind to all ; when at home, towards their wives and children whom they have no need to fear, they freely practise secret bitterness." II. Fathee and child. (

The Pulpit Commentary
Ver. 19.— Ye hnstands, love yonr wivei, and be not bitter against them (Eph. t. 25 — 31 ; 1 Pet. iii. 7). " Love " is ayavda, the word wbieh expreeses the highest spiritual affection — " even as Christ loved tlie Gburch" (Eph. V. 25). Here, first and most of all, the " new corumandment " of Jobn xiii. 34 applies. St. Paul only uses the verb nKfaiva (" to make bitter") here, but he has the noun iriKpla. (" bitterness ") in a wider application in Eph. iv. 31. It denotes " exasperation," piompting to hasty severity. Bengel defines itas"odiumamorimixtum" — hatred infused into love.

The Pulpit Commentary
Ver. 20. — ^Te children, be obedient to your parents in all things ; for this is well-pleating in the Lord (Eph. vi. 1, 2; Exod. xx. 12; Deut. V. 16; Lev. xix. 3; Prov. xxiii. 22; Luke ii. 51, 52). In Eph. vi. 1, 2 "in all things" (jcwri. ■nitrra, "in regard to all things") is wanting; and not the extent, but I he intrinsic rightness of the command as it is found in the Decalogue is insisted on. But here, where " Christ is all and in all" (ver. 11), it is "iu the Lord" (Revised Text) that the child's obedience is declared to be "well-pleasing." There is something especially pleasing in the behaviour of a lovingly obedient child, that wins "favour" both " with God and man " (Luke ii. 52). The law of filial obedience has its creative ground "in him" (ch. i. 16), and is an essential part of the Christian order of life, which is the natural order restored and perfected. " Well-pleasing " is a favourite word of St. Paul's (comp. oh. i. 10; Eph. v. 10 ; Phil. iv. 8 ; Eom. xiv. 18 ; Titus ii. 9, etc ; used also in Hebrews).

Vers. 20, 21.) 1. Prom children, obedience to their parents »n all things is required, and therefore in many things contrary to their inclination and opinions. Childhood means dependence and ignorance. It is only under the shelter of parental oversight that the incipient faculties and plastic nature of the child can be formed to the strength of judgment and firmness of character which will enable him to meet the tasks and the perils of adult life. And for this discipline to be effective, the submission of the child must be absolute. Only when a parental command plainly contradicts the Law of God and violates the child's conscience, can any kind of disobedience be justified. In that case, obedience cannot be " well-pleasing in the Lord." But even the worst of parents will rarely be found to have so little respect for the conscience of childhood as to enforce such an injunction. The requirement addressed to the child presumes that the parent exMts obedience. This is his inalienable prerogative. Instaut, unmurmuring obedience should be made the habit of the child's life, and as a law of nature to it. To have this understood from the first is the simplest and easiest course. If the child be allowed, through passion or persistence, once successfully to rebel, a mischief is done uot easily to be repaired. His own self-mastery, and the sense of law and of duty which aie to attend him through the whole of life, largely rest on this basis of ingrained obedionce. For this purpose, children should be in their earliest years as much as possible under the direct influence of their parent* presence and authority. The parental ofBce cannot be discharged by proxy. And there must be unity of parental administration, as well as harmony between precept and practice, if a true and reverent obedience is to be possible. In no State was the authority of the father (patria potestas) so strict and absolute as in ancient Eome. And there can be little doubt that this stern maintenance of family discipline largely helped to form the Roman character with its extraordinary vigour and teuacity, and to preserve that rigid, firmly knit order and devoted loyalty which were the secret of l«d *rHa EPISTLB TO THE OOLOSStANS. [ea.tn.1-26, Home's invincible strength. 2. On the other hanri, the father must heware lest hi» authority should wear a n^edhss aspect of severity. His rigiiteous desire to " command his children and his houseiiold after him " (Gen. xviii. 19), and his anxious sense ol responsibility, may occasion this, if not relieved by more genial influences. The innocent liveliness and the many unintended offences of childhood must not provoke him to ill temper. He must learn by patience and tenderness to win the child's affection and open-hearted trust, without impairing its submissive reverence. A mechanical, unsympathetic strictness, or an angry and unequal discipline, will fatally alienate the sensitive heart of the child, which in that case either sinks down Into a dull, spiritless apathy, or prepares for a passionate revolt when the hour of its strength shall coine. Too often those mast anxious to commend religion to their children have made it odious by presenting it in forms unintelligible to the young mind, and associating it with tasks unsuited to its powers, and burdens that it found " grievous to be borne." As the child should find in the child Jesus Its pattern and model (Luke ii. 40 — 52)^ so the parent should seek to be to his children an image of "our Father in heaven." UI. Master and servant. (

The Pulpit Commentary
Ver. 21. — Ye fathers, do not irritate your children, lest they be disheartened (Eph. vi. 4). "E/)efliCu ("irritate " or "provoke") St. Paul uses once besides (2 Cor. ix. 2), in a good sense. It implies a use of parental authority which, by continual exactions and complaints, teaches the child to look on the father as big enemy rather than his friend. The synonymous rapopji^u of Eph. vi. 4, found here in many copies, is, more definitely " to rouse to anger." 'ASviniat (only here in the New Testament) means " to lose heart," to have the confidence and high spirit of youth broken; "fractus animus pestis juventutis" (Bengal). In place of this treatment, " the discipline and admonition of the Lord " are recommended in Eph. vi. 4.

The Pulpit Commentary
Ver. 22. — ^Ye servants (literally, landineiC), be obedient in all things to your lords according to the flesh (Eph. vL 5 — 9 ; 1 Tim. vi. 1, 2 ; Titus ii. 9, 10 ; 1 Cor. vii. 21—24 ; Rom. xiii. 1, 5; 1 Pet. u. 18—25). The duties of tervwnta and masters are prominent lieie (

ver. 22 — ch. iv. 1), in view of the emphasis thrown upon the lordship of Christ; Md partly, no doubt, with reference to the case of the runaway slave Onesimns (oh. iv, 9; Epistle to Philemon). "Servant" i« SovKos, hondman, as in ch. L 1 and commonly in St. Paul. In 1 Pet. ii. 18 we have the milder ower^i, domedie. The vast majority of servants of all kinds at this time in the Greek and Roman world were tlaves. In most districts the slaves were much more numerous than the free population. And they were undoubtedly numerous in the early Church. The gospel has always been welcome to tlie poor and oppressed. The attitude of St. Paul and of Christianity towards slavery claims consideration under the Epistle to Philemon; on this point see Lightfoot's 'Introduction.' Here and in Eph. vi. S (comp. vers. 7, 8) the apostle calls the master xipios (" lord ") ™ reference to " the Lord Christ " (vers. 22 6, 24) ; elsewhere in the Xew Testament, as in common Greek, the opposite of Sov\os is SeiriroT^s (1 Tim. vi. 1, 2; 2 Tim. ii. 21, etc.). "According to flesh," that is, " in outward, earthly relationship" (comp. Bom. iv. 1): Christ is the Lord in the absolute and abiding sense of the word (similarly, " in the flesh " and " in the Lord," Philem. 16). Not with acts of eyeservice (literally, not in eye-aeridoes), as manpleasers, bnt in singleness of heart, fearing the Lord (Eph. vi. 6 ; v. 21 ; 1 Thess. ii. 4 ; Gal. i. 10 ; Matt. vL 22 ; Luke xi. 34 ; Jas. i. 5 — 8 ; Ps. cxxiii. 2 ; Isa. viii. 13 ; Eev. ii. 23). " Eye-service " is plural here, according to Revised Text; singular in Eph. vi. 6. Here the word 6<l>da\fioSov\eia first occursin Greek, like iSf\o6pv(tKela (ch. ii. 23). It strikes at the besetting sin of servants of all kinds. 'A^Bpieiriipea-Kos (" man-pleaser ") occurs in the LXX, Pa. Iii. 6 (comp. 1 Tiiess. ii. 6 ; Gal. i. 10). The servant whose aim it is to )ilease his earthly master in what will catch his eye, plays a double part, acting in one way when observed, in another when left to himself ; with this duplicity it contrasted "singleness of heart" (comp. Rom. xii. 8; 2 Cor. xi. 3; i.Tr\6nis in 2 Cor. viiL 2 and ix. 11, 13 has a different application). " Fearing the Lord " more than the eye of his earthly lord, the Christian servant will always act in " singleness of heart; " for "the eyes of the Lord are in every place." In the same manner the apostle ("bondman of Christ Jesus," ch. i 1) speaks of his own relations to men and to the Lord Christ respectively (1 Cor. iv. 3—5 ; 2 Cor. v. 11 ; Gal. i. 10; 1 Thess. ii. 4 — 6, etc.: comp. John V. 37—44). The reading "God" of Received Text is a copyist's emendation, a sample of a large class of corruptions of the text, where a word more &miliar in any given connection is, more or less unconsciously, (ubstituted fox the original woicL BH. in. 1—25.] THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANSw 15/

vers. 22, 2.'5 ; ch.ii. 6; Eph. vi. 6; Itnm. xiv. 8, 9; 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20 ; vii. 21, 23 ; J.ihn xiii. 13) ; thtit id, Christ is the Lord whom bondmen ye are. " For " is probably a ooiTeet gloss, thou','h a corrupt reading. Its insertion indicates that the sentence was rear! iiidicntively (Lightfoot, and R.V.); not imperatively ("serve the Lord Christ"), as Meyer. Alford, ElHcott, with the Vulgate, construe it. The verse amounts to this : " Work as for the Lord : he will repay you ; you are his servants."

Ver. 22-^h. iv. 1.) This third relationship is one which we may be sure will continue to exist, however varied the forms it may take, so long as the world stands. And what the apostle says here is of universal application, though slavery has happily given place to free service. Even when our lower classes shall have become so far raised in intelligence and independence that co-operation iu industrial labour will become the rule instead of the exception, still there must be some to command, others to obey; Indeed, the more extended and complicated the operations of trade and manufacture become, the more thoroughly labour needs to be organized and authority graduated, and the more entirely success depends on management and discipline and on a right adjustment of the relations of master and servant. 1. From servants Christianity demands, what conscienc« demands, an honest obedience, that serves as well behind the master's back as to his face (ver. 22). As a mere matter of commercial advantage, the uniform presence of this quality would be an incalculable economy and enrichment of the community. And religion secures this, directly and of necessity. The man who doe's his work In God's sight — " as ever in his great Taskmaster's eye " — and as for the judgment-day, cannot scamp any part of it. He Is serving, not a man like himself, but a heavenly Lord, whose searching eye is always upon him, who understands and can judge every man's work (ver. 24 ; 1 Pet. i. 17), and who has promised infinite rewards for faithfulness in the "few things" of our earthly probation (Matt. xxv. 21, 23). These convictions form the best guarantee, with the mass of men the only suflBcient and effectual guarantee, for good work and thorough workmanship in every department of life. " A servant with this clause. Makes drudgery divine ; Who sweeps a room as for thy lawa, Makes that and the action fine." (George Herbert.) 2. And the Christian master, whether at the head of a farm or a factory, of a commercial house or a private family, will remember that he has his duties along with his rights as a master. He is dealing with human beings, not with machines. The lawg of iwlitical economy are not to be his only guide. " The nexus of cash- payments " can never be the sole link that associates any two men together. Woe be to him if he says, with Cain, " Am I my brother's keeper ? " (Gen. iv. 9). " Just dealing and fairness " (ch. IV. 1) must rule In the relations of master and man, if they are to be on a moral and righteous footing. He will not take a hard advantage of his servant's necessity ; or allow, if he can help it, his dealings with him to degenerate into a mere struggle between capital and labour for every inch of vantage. The cruel greed that grasps at immediate gain at whatever cost of toll and poverty toothers, and that "grinds the faces of the poor " (Isa. iii. 15), may enrich th* individual, but in the long run is fatal to the class or the trade which practises it. And the rich oppressor will have to appear at a tribunal where " there is no respect of persons " (ver. 25). Political economy itself teaches that ill-paid labour Is the most expensive and wasteful. The man who has want and fear gnawing at his heart cannot be a good workman, even if, in spite of extreme temptation, he be an honest one. Injustice and over-reaching on the part of en. THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 1«9 the rich »nd governing classes, political and social institutions that favour " the fat and the strong " at the expense of the weak and poor (lilzek. xxxiv. IG — 27), are sure ol God's heavy judgment. They generate in the hatred excited in those subject to tlierii an explosive force which, with a suitable train of circumstances, will burst forth, as in the French Revolution, in some volcanic upheaval that the strongest social fabric will be unable to resist, Christ's golden rule of equity (Luke vi. 31) is the only safe, as it is the ouly righteous, basis lor the dealings of man with man, of class with classy or of nttion with nation in the world's great polity.

The Pulpit Commentary
Ver. 23. — ^Whatever ye ta doing, work (therein) from (the) sonl, as to the Lord, and not to men (ver. 17 ; Eph. vi. 6, 7 ; 1 Gor. vii. 21—23). (On the first clause, see

The Pulpit Commentary
Ver. 24.— Knowing that from (the) Lord yon will receive the just recompense of the inheritance (Eph. vi. 8; Bom. ii. 6 — 11; 2 Cor. v. 10; Eev. xxii. 12; Ps. Ixii. 12). "Knowing" (€iS<iT€s)— that of which one is aware, not merely learning or "getting to know" (yipdxTKm): see both words in Eph. V. 6 and John xiv. 7, Revised Text ; also Rom. vi. 6 and 9; 1 John t. 20. " The absence of the definite article" before Kvplov " is the more remarkable, because it is studiously inserted in the context " (Lightfoot). St. Paul virtually says, "There is a Masttr who will recompense yoTi, if your earthly masters never do" (comp. ch. iv. 1). " Just " renders the ovtI in a.vTaTr6So(!ui (a word common in LXX), implying "equivalence" or "correspondence " (comp. i,vTavtxTrXi]pS> in ch. i. 24; also Rom. xi. 35 ; xii. 19 ; 1 Thess. iii. 9 ; 2 Thess. i. 6 ; Luke vi. 38 ; xiv. 12, 14)— « reward in the case of each individual, and in each particular, answering to the service rendered to " the Lord " (comp. Matt. xxv. 14 — 30). The opposite truth is asserted in ver. 25; Eph. vi. 8 combines them both. The recompense of the faithful Christian slave ii nothing less than " the inheritance " of Go4'»ohildien(ch. i. 12; Eph. i 5, 11, 1*; iii. 6 ; t. 5 ; Rom. viii. 17 ;. Gal. HI 29 ; 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10; xv. 50; Titus Hi. 7; 1 Pet i. 4), which the apostle has so often undei other terms assured to his readers (ch. i. 5, 23, 27 ; ii. 18 ; iii. 4, 15). For a time to be heir was " a paradox " (Lightfoot) : see GaL iv. 1,7 ; Rom. viii. 1 5 — 17. No form of promise could be more cheering and ennobling to the despised slave than this. "In Christ," Onesimus is "no longer as a slave, but a brother beloved" (Ptjilem. 16), and if a broiher, then a joint-heir with liis master riiilc>monintheheavenlyinheritance(oh. iii 11). Yo serve the Lord Christ (

The Pulpit Commentary
Ver. 25.— For he that doeth wrong shall receive again that he did wrong ; and there is no respect of persons (Eph. vi. 8, 9 ; Phil. L 28 ; 2 Thess. i. 5—7 ; 1 Pet. i. 17 ; Rom. U. 11 ; Gal. ii. 6). " For " is replaced by " but " in the same inferior copies which insert it in the last sentence. Here we have the other side of the recompense promised in ver. 24 a, to which tlie explanatory "for" points back. The impartial justice which avenges every wrongguarantees the reward of the faithful servant of Christ. So the Old Testament saints rightly argued (Ps.xxxvii.9— 11 ; Iviii. 10, 11 ; Ixiv. 7—10) that the punishment of the evil-doer affords hope to the righteous man. This warning is quite general in its terms, and applies alike to the unfaithful servant and to the unjust master (comp. Eph. vi. 8). At the judgment-seat of Christ there will be no favouritism; all ranks and orders of men will stand on precisely the same footing (oh. iii. 11). The word aSiKea., twice employed here, denotes a legal wrong or injurjr (1 Cor. vi. 7, 8); e.g. the conduct of Onesimus towards Philemon (ver. 18). The verb "receive" (^KOfilCof^iii) carry off, gain; Eph. vL 8 ; 2 Cor. v. 10 ; 1 Pet. v. 4 ; Matt. xxv. 27) looks more to the receiver, whereas kiroXim^eaBe vmi (ver. 24) points to the giver. Tlpo(rwiroKrin^la (literally, accepting of tha face) is a pure Hebraism, found in St. James twice, and four times in St. Paul. The apostle turns from the slave to address bis master. (Jh. Iv. 1. — ^Te lords, show jnst dealing and fairness to your servants [bondEmen] (Eph. vj. 8, 9 ; Matt. xTiii. 23—35 ; Luke vL 31). 168 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [ch. m. 1— 26. The verb " show " (irapexf(r6(, afford, render) IB middle in voice, and, as in Luke vii. 4 and Titus ii. 7, implies spontaneity — " show on youi part," "of yourselves." Tb Bf/toiov (" the just "), a concrete expression, denote* the justice of the master's dealing (comp. ri xp''!"'''^" ™ Eom. ii. 4, " the kind dealing of God "). Tj)* io-(iTT)Ta gives the principle by which he is to be guided, that of equity, fairness (so Alford, EUicott, Lightfoot). " Equity is the mother of Justice " (Philo, ' On the Creation of Magistrates,' § 14 ; gee other illustrations in Lightfoot). Meyer confeuds for the stricter sense, " equality " (2 Cor. viii. 13, 14) — i.«. of Church status and brotherhood (Philem. 16 ; ch. iii. 11). But the context suggests no such special reference ; it deals with the family and social relationship of master and servant. " Equity " is a well-established sense of the Greek word. The law of equity bearing on all human relations Christ has lai I down in Luke vi. 31. Here is th^- geriuiiial priuciple of the abolition of alavery. Mural equity, as realized by the Christian con sciousness, was sure in course of time to bring about legal equality. Knowing that ye also have a Lord in heaven (ch. ii. 6 ; Eph. vi. 9 ; 1 Cor. vii. 22 ; Phil. Ii. 11 ; Eom. xiv. 9; Eev. ivii. 14; xix. 16). (On "knowing," see ver. 24 a.) " Ye also," for Christ is " both their Lord and yours " (Epii. vi. 9, Eevised Text). The lordship of Christ dominatea the whole Epistle (ch. i. 15, 18; ii. 6, 10, 19, etc.). The assertion that the proud master who deemed his fellow-man his chattel is himself a mere slave of Christ, sets Christ's authority in a vivid and striking light. This consideration makes the Christian master apprehensive as to his treatment of his dependents. He is " in heaven " (ch. iii. 1 ; Eph. i. 21 ; vi. 9; iv. 10 ; Phil. iii. 20; 1 'I'hess. i. 10; 2 Thess.i7; Acts iii. 21; John iii. 13; viii. 23; Heb. ix. 21), the seat of Divine authority ami glory, wlience he shall soon return to judgment (comp. P». Ixxvi. 8 : Bom. L 18). H0MILETIC3.