CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Colossians 2:1. What great conflict—R.V. “how greatly I strive.” It is a repetition of the thought of the previous verse expressed in terms of the arena. For them at Laodicea.—About a dozen miles distant from Colossæ.
Colossians 2:2. The mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ.—The R.V. has greatly simplified this perplexing phrase: “The mystery of God, even Christ.” Of the eleven various readings extant (given by Lightfoot) that of our A.V. is to all appearance the latest and worst.
Colossians 2:3. In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.—When we have “laid our reasonings at His feet,” He does not stultify us. Neither pure reason nor practical reason is to “fust in us unused,” if they seek their answers in Him.
Colossians 2:4. Should beguile you with enticing words.—The word for “beguile” is only again found in the New Testament at James 1:22. It means to lead into error by sophistical reasoning. Enticing words, or persuasive speech, plausible but false.
Colossians 2:5. The stedfastness of your faith in Christ.—Some think “stedfastness” (as well as “order” preceding) may have a military significance. If so, it would mean the compact firmness of the phalanx. Others say that meaning is not inherent, but derived from its context, which here does not suggest it. The word is used in the LXX. for firmament—a solid vault, as it was thought.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Colossians 2:1-4
Ministerial Anxiety.
The more clearly we apprehend truth in its many-sided aspects and in its complex and vital relations, the more grievous and calamitous does error appear. Error cannot come into collision with truth without creating confusion of ideas and much mental distraction, and as a consequence robbing the soul of the peace and solace it enjoyed. The apostle saw the dangerous tendency of the doctrines advocated by the false teachers against whom his epistle was directed, and he was deeply concerned lest the pure and simple gospel embraced by the new converts should be contaminated. As one drop of ink pollutes the whole vessel of water, as one stroke of the hammer diverts the rod from a straight line and spoils it throughout its whole length, so one single error obscures and warps the holiest truth.
I. This anxiety was intense.—“For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have” (Colossians 2:1). In the closing words of the preceding chapter the apostle referred to his stern self-discipline in training himself for his arduous and self-denying labours as an apostle; and in this verse he expands the same thought, and would have the converts know the magnitude of the struggle which his anxiety for their welfare cost him. This conflict refers not only to his external labours on behalf of the Churches, in journeys, perils, privations, persecutions, and imprisonments, but more especially to his fervent wrestling with God in prayer, like Jacob of old; his importunity, like the widow with the unjust judge; his inward soul struggles in earnest intercession for their stability in the faith. The danger must have been serious that produced in such a man so great an agony of anxiety: great souls are not affected by trifles. People little know what their pastors pass through: when they think them the most at leisure, then are they the least so—the fervent conflict of prayer is going on in secret. A knowledge of the minister’s anxiety is sometimes necessary to create a responsive sympathy, and to teach the people the care and anxiety they should feel for their own salvation.
II. This anxiety was disinterested.—“For you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh” (Colossians 2:1). The solicitude of the apostle was not restricted to the Colossians, as though they were more liable than others to defection from the truth, but embraced the converts in the neighbouring city of Laodicea. In this populous and thriving city, celebrated at that time for its immense commercial wealth and for the high intellectual attainments of its philosophers, the heretic leaven had begun to work; and the subsequent history of the Church there showed that it spread only too surely and disastrously (Revelation 3:14-18). The apostle also extended his anxious regard to “as many as had not seen his face in the flesh.” The bulk of our troubles in this life we endure on behalf of others. The Christian spirit, in its broad, comprehensive charity, gives us a deep interest in all who have any connection with Christ. Fervent prayer on behalf of others, notwithstanding the sneers of some modern scientists, is efficacious, irrespective of locality or of actual personal intercourse. Prayers offered in private are often answered in a strange, unlooked-for manner in public. God has a sovereign right to select the mode in which He answers the prayers of the faithful. An old divine has said: “If we would reap openly in the conversion of souls and their steady walk, we must plough in secret with prayers and tears.” Our anxiety about the welfare of others is a strong evidence of our possessing the genuine love of the truth. It was a trenchant aphorism of Coleridge that, “He who begins by loving Christianity better than truth, will proceed by loving his own sect or Church better than Christianity, and end in loving himself better than all.”
III. This anxiety had special reference to the highest spiritual attainments of believers.—
1. The apostle was solicitous for the confirmation of their faith. “That their hearts might be comforted” (Colossians 2:2)—i.e. encouraged, confirmed. The apostle knew the subtle power of error in disintegrating the heart’s confidence, producing trouble, dejection, doubt, and perplexity. Hence he was anxious so to present the truth as it is in Jesus, as to restore and cheer the bewildered mind and settle it on the firm basis of an intelligent and cordial faith. No man can reach the high attainments of the Christian life whose heart is not at rest in God.
2. The apostle was solicitous for their union in love.—“Being knit, together in love” (Colossians 2:2). The heart can never enjoy solid comfort till it is united in the love, as well as in the faith, of the truth. Error divides as well as distresses; it snaps the bond of love, splits the Christian Church into parties, rends what ought to be the seamless robe of Christ. Where there is discord in the understanding about fundamental truths, there cannot be concord in the will and affections. The stability of believers depends upon their being knit together in a mutual love, as the timbers of a building are joined and compacted by a carpenter—such is the original signification of the word—each part being fitted in with the rest, and all subserving the firmness and safety of the whole. “He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him.”
3. The apostle was solicitous they should be enriched with the unspeakable wealth of the divine mystery.—
(1) The divine mystery is explained in the unique person and endowments of Christ. “The mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:2-3). Christ embraced in His own person the divine and human natures. As God, He is equal with the Father, and possesses in Himself all the essentials of Deity; but as man He is dowered with moral treasures surpassing the endowments of the highest angel. The mystery is not so much Christ, as Christ containing in Himself “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” There is in Christ an all-sufficiency for every possible want of man—copious and inexhaustive riches of eternal and saving wisdom. These riches are hid in Christ as treasure in a field—concealed from the gaze of the mere passer-by, the careless, indolent, and proud; but revealed to and enjoyed by the humble, diligent, and persevering seeker. “He who is not content with Christ, but goes out of Him to philosophy or tradition, forsakes the treasures for the miserable beggary of human counterfeits.” It is still a mystery to the world how Christ can be the grand depositary of all wisdom; and the mystery is dispelled only as the soul becomes savingly acquainted with Him.
(2) The believer is privileged to gain the full knowledge of the divine mystery.—“To the acknowledgment of the mystery” (Colossians 2:2). The word implies that the knowledge of God and of Christ is the perfection of knowledge. The ancient sage declared: “If thou criest after knowledge, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.” And the apostle prayed for the Ephesians that “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ might give unto them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” This knowledge is to be not a simple perception of the truths contained in the divine mystery, but a full, firm, and distinct knowledge as the result of careful sifting, and the actual experience of their soul-transforming power. We know nothing to purpose until it is strongly grasped by the heart as well as by the understanding.
(3) A clear and profound understanding of the divine mystery is the true enrichment of the mind.—“Unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding” (Colossians 2:2). The vast store of moral riches here indicated is opposed to the poverty of the mind, which has only a few confused, unconnected truths about the gospel laid up in its treasury. By the full assurance of understanding is meant an unclouded perception and firm conviction of the truth revealed in the gospel. This is obtained only by diligent study and the inner illumination of the Spirit; the understanding is cleared up, the judgment settled, and the individual believer enabled to apprehend each part of the gospel in its essential relation to the grand whole, and thus to grasp with a firm hold the salient features of the divine mystery. In this assured knowledge of the greatest truths the mind of man finds it true enrichment; its abiding rest and felicity. “Wisdom is more precious than rubies, and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.” Every other kind of knowledge, however rare and extensive, is in itself poor and unsatisfying.
IV. This anxiety prompted the apostle faithfully to warn the Church.—“And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words” (Colossians 2:4). Error assumes the most seductive forms: it charms with its eloquence, bewilders with its subtle reasoning, misleads with its bold, assured statements of half-truths. The soul is fascinated as by the gaze of a basilisk, and morally poisoned by its breath. “Men are easily persuaded to believe that which flatters their own vanity, and dilutes or modifies the gospel, so as to accommodate it to their own degenerate tastes.” It is needful to maintain a vigilant outlook, and be on our guard against every phase of false teaching. Some contend that words have little to do with religion; that true religion is a sentiment in the soul independent of words. The apostle thought differently when he exhorted to hold fast “the form of sound words”; and in this verse he distinctly avers that enticing words may beguile. He solemnly warns the Ephesians, who were assailed with a similar class of errors: “Let no man deceive you with vain words; for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.” The most effectual antidote to any heresy is the faithful, simple proclamation of the doctrine of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. This is the clue that leads us out of all the mazes of error.
Lessons.—
1. The true minister is anxious to promote the highest good of the people.
2. All truth finds its explanation and all error its refutation in Christ, the Source of eternal Wisdom
3. False doctrine should be fearlessly and faithfully exposed.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Colossians 2:3
The Hidden Treasures of Wisdom in Christ.
Wisdom does not consist in the possession of varied and extensive knowledge. The student may be deeply read in ancient and long-forgotten lore, be versed in the entire circle of the arts, sciences, and philosophies, be intelligibly familiar with the best literature of the day, be a walking encyclopædia, a literary fountain gushing in a perennial stream of information, and yet be far from being a wise man. Wisdom is the practical application of knowledge, the attainment of the highest moral results by the use of the best and simplest means. The cry of the human intellect in all ages has been, “Where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?” The greatest souls have toiled painfully in search of the coveted treasure, but failed to discover it. Their mightiest endeavours have terminated in disappointment and despair. True wisdom is a divine revelation. The world by wisdom knew not God; and one of the profoundest philosophers of any age, and who approached as near the threshold of the grand discovery as the unaided human mind was perhaps ever permitted to do, had to confess with a sigh, “If ever man is destined to know the good and the true, it must be by a revelation of the Deity.” That wisdom which all need, and of which all are in quest, is found only in Christ. This verse declares that Christ is the unfathomable depositary of the highest wisdom. Observe:—
I. That Christ is the inexhaustible Source of the truest wisdom.—“In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” The false teachers at Colossæ, like certain pretentious philosophers of modern times, boasted of the vast range of their wisdom and knowledge. They discussed questions, some of which, strange to say, are reproduced and advocated to-day—questions on the nature of the world, the eternity or non-eternity of matter, the chief good of man, the orders and ranks of the angelic hierarchies and their relation to the mediatorial work of Christ, the necessity of observing the ceremonies and austerities of the law, and of the beauty and grandeur of the theories of Plato and Pythagoras, the ruling philosophers of the time. But all this is simply “the wisdom of this world and of the princes of this world, which come to nought.” It is only in Christ we find all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge to furnish and enrich the mind and to guide into the way of salvation. He is “to us who are saved the power of God and the wisdom of God.” If, for the sake of illustration, we classify the principal sources of human knowledge into poetry, history, philosophy, and theology, we may assert that only in Christ does each department find its fullest explication, and from Him derive its significance and worth.
1. Christ is the loftiest ideal and purest inspiration of the poet.—Poetry occupies an important place in contributing to the sum of human knowledge, and to the culture, development, and happiness of man. It was the language of the world’s infancy, as it is of the infancy of man; the spontaneous outflow of the soul, on its first acquaintance with the marvels of the present life, expresses itself in strains of poetic music. It is true this great gift has been abused, and often made the instrument of debasing instead of elevating the mind. Hence Plato, in constructing his ideal republic, would exclude the poets because of the evil tendency of some of their productions, though he accords them all honour on account of their learning and genius. The genuine poet pants after the noblest expression of the beautiful and the good. Christ is the glorious ideal and embodiment of the pure and beautiful; the poet drinks in his most ravishing inspiration from Him, and exhausts all the resources of his genius in attempting to portray the exquisite lineaments of His matchless character.
2. Christ is the grandest hero of the historian.—History furnishes us with the knowledge of man and his doings in all ages—in his individual, social, and national aspects. It traces the development of the race from the first solitary man to the peopling of the world with the varied nationalities which now swarm upon its surface. But the history of the world and man would be a dark, unsolvable enigma if the name of Christ could be struck out. The story of redemption unites Christ with the destiny of man in all ages—past, present, and future; and “no history of the world, political or moral, can be either just or accurate that does not find in Christ foretold to come, or in Christ come and crucified, its centre and its key.” The world was created by Christ; it exists for Him; and, without interfering with individual freedom, it may be said that He makes its history: His name and influence are traceable everywhere, and are everywhere potent. The devout historian finds in Him the hero in whom all excellencies combine, and whose exploits he loves to chronicle.
3. Christ is prominent among the sublimest themes of the philosopher.—A philosophy that does not recognise the divine plunges its votaries into labyrinthine darkness; its legitimate office is to conduct to God. Coleridge has well said: “In wonder all philosophy began; in wonder it ends; and admiration fills up the interspace. But the first wonder is the offspring of ignorance; the last is the parent of adoration.” In every sphere where philosophy penetrates it is confronted with ineffaceable evidences of the power and presence of Christ. Among the splendid phenomena of the natural creation—the forces that move, and the laws that control its vast machinery—Christ is acknowledged as the creating and ruling spirit; and only as the material world is regarded as the theatre of redemption, and of moral conflict and discipline, does the philosopher reach its highest meaning: in the realm of mind, the true dignity, preciousness, and immortal endowments of the soul are understood only as we apprehend that the life of the great Redeemer was sacrificed to effect its ransom; and, in the sphere of morals, we decipher the relation of man to man, and to society at large, learn the duties and obligations we owe to each other and to God, discover the standard of right actions, and are aided in explaining and harmonising the inequalities that exist, when we gain an insight into the moral relation of Christ to the whole race.
4. Christ is the all-comprehensive subject of the theologian.—God is inscrutable to the unchristianised reason. “Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven, what canst thou do? deeper than bell, what canst thou know?” Men have sought God in all ages with tears, sacrifices, and sufferings indescribable; but in vain. Christ is the only way to the Father; in Himself He reveals and illustrates the Godhead. All our saving and renewing knowledge of God, and of our manifold relations to Him, we owe entirely to Christ. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” In the domain of theology “Christ is all in all.” But for Him the office of the theologian would be an impossibility.
II. That the treasures of divine wisdom are discoverable by the sincere and earnest seeker.—They are hid; but not so hid as to be beyond our reach. They are intended for discovery and appropriation. Their brilliancy sparkles even in their hiding-place. They are like a mine, whose riches, though faintly indicated on the surface, are concealed in the depths of the earth. The more diligently the mine is worked, the more precious and abundant the ore appears. So in Christ there are treasures of wisdom unseen by the superficial and careless observer; but to the humble and believing student new and deeper veins are perpetually opening up, until, still pursuing his search, he is dazzled by the splendour and inexhaustible fulness of wealth, surpassing all finite comprehension, and filling him with admiration and awe.
Lessons.—
1. Man universally covets Wisdom
2. The highest wisdom is treasured up in Christ for man.
3. If man finds it not, it is his own fault.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Colossians 2:1-3. Christian Unity.
I. We cannot but lament the divisions and scandals of the professed disciples of Jesus, which have more than anything else prevented the universal diffusion of the gospel.
II. We should make it manifest, by acknowledging the truth in whomsoever found, that we are not bigoted sectarians.
III. As regards those with whom we are united in fellowship, let us prove by our humble, modest, and kind disposition that we are lovers of peace and concord.
IV. Christian unity is promoted by mutual efforts to edify one another in faith and love.—W. France.
Colossians 2:3. Christ the Treasury of Wisdom and Knowledge.—The revelation of Christ not merely teaches us a series of truths of inexpressible importance, and without it wholly unattainable, but it also, as a great central discovery, harmonises all our beliefs, sacred and secular, binds them together as its own servants, gives them a new interest, position, and colouring, and dignifies the pursuit of them as a labour in the very cause of God Himself, begun and prosecuted with a view to His glory—for to know the beauty of the temple is to know the glory of the Architect.—Archer Butler.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Colossians 2:5
Apostolic Praise of Order and Stability.
It is an impressive spectacle to see a well-armed body of troops drawn up in compact military order, resisting with calm, unflinching courage the terrible charge of the enemy. Every point of attack is strongly guarded, every vacancy occurring in the exposed front line is instantly supplied, and the broad, deep phalanx remains impenetrable and invincible. The enforced companionship of the apostle with the soldiers of the prætorian guard, in his imprisonment in Rome, where he would be a daily witness of their exercises, might suggest some such metaphor as this to his mind. And as he foresaw the confusion and ruin that would be introduced into the Colossian Church if the fatal errors of the false teachers were triumphant, in this verse he expresses his joyous satisfaction in being assured of the orderly array and firmly set stability which their faith in Christ presented against the assaults of the foe. Note:—
I. The apostle commended the external order of the members of the Church.—“Beholding your order.” This is mentioned first, because it first meets the eye, though all external discipline and order must necessarily spring out of and accompany a genuine faith. There is no form of ecclesiastical government that can claim an exclusively divine sanction. The New Testament lays down broad, general principles; and the Christian Church has been left to shape itself according to circumstances and in harmony with the indications of divine Providence. True order depends, not upon the form of Church polity we adopt—whether prelacy, presbytery, or congregationalism—as upon the consistency, fidelity, and union of the individual members of the Church. Order that is not based on a vigorous Church-life, and regulated by it, is empty and powerless; it is like the ice of the Polar regions, which sometimes assumes forms of exquisite and wondrous beauty, but is cold, heartless, dead. The Scriptural directions on this subject are brief, but pregnant with meaning: “Let all things be done decently and in order”; “God is not the Author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the Churches of the saints”; “Let all things be done with charity”; “The rest will I set in order when I come.” While organisation that is not instinct with a moving, pervasive, and aggressive life is cumbersome, vapid, and useless; on the other hand, Christian steadfastness is imperilled where order is disregarded.
II. The apostle commended their stability in the faith.—“And the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.” These words describe the internal condition of the Church; and the picture of a firm, confident reliance on Christ which he beheld delighted the soul of the anxious apostle. Order is the fence and guard, steadfastness the end in view, order is the garb and ornament, steadfastness the substance of the Christian character. Faith girds and strengthens the soul with its unchanging and invincible verities; the shafts of error and profanity assail it in vain. When the Roman proconsul, from his judgment-seat, urged the holy Polycarp to save his life by cursing the name of Jesus Christ, the venerable martyr calmly answered: “For eighty-six years I have served him; He has never yet done me harm. How can I blaspheme my King, who has saved me!” Man is great and noble, not by what he possesses, not by what he says, not by what he gives, not by what he does, but by what he believes. The most magnanimous outward conduct may be, after all, a very imperfect representation of the soul’s deepest faith. What a man believes is not therefore a matter of comparative indifference, but a question of supreme importance; he must have a clear, definite creed. True a creed is but the visible, expressive mould of the inward conception of the truth believed; but as the tendency of all life is to assume form, and can be understood by us only as it does so, so faith, as a vital and irresistibly active principle, must inevitably shape itself into some outward expression. Where there is no creed, there is no faith; a creedless man believes in nothing, and he is himself that nothing. He has no more cohesion in him than the separate particles of sand in the hour-glass. All true faith takes its rise “in Christ,” and gathers its stability by continuing in Him.
III. The apostle cherished a deep, personal interest in their welfare.—
1. In spirit he was present with them. “For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit.” We have no satisfactory evidence that the apostle had as yet personally visited Colossæ. Epaphras, the faithful and anxious evangelist, sought him out in Rome, perhaps for the purpose of laying before him the state of Colossæ and of the neighbouring Churches on the banks of the Lycus. The apostle’s interest in Colossæ was further excited at this time by meeting with Onesimus, a runaway slave, belonging to the household of Philemon, a Colossian. The apostle was the means of bringing the runaway to repentance and to the enjoyment of the liberty of the spiritually free. These circumstances deepened St. Paul’s concern in the affairs of the Colossian Christians; he grasped all the points of the situation, was keenly alive to the gravity of the dangers with which they were threatened, and, as though he were personally present in their midst, expressed his sincere sympathy with them in their trials, and his profound satisfaction on hearing of their steady adherence to the truth. It is not necessary to be locally near in order to hold spiritual intercourse; oceans may roll between individuals whose souls participate in the highest communion. The soul is where it loves: thither it directs its affections, wishes, and hopes.
2. He rejoiced in their fidelity.—“Joying and beholding.” As though an actual spectator of their order and steadfastness, his soul is filled with joy. The expression of his hearty interest in their state, and his praise of their fidelity, prepared them to give heed to his cautions against the seductions of false teachers, and to his exhortations to perseverance. No disappointment is so poignant as that arising from the failure of Christian toil, and no joy so exquisite as the joy of success. The spectacle of a Christian Church poised in beauteous order, and strengthened with the might of an unfalteringly aggressive faith, is a subject of unspeakable joy to God, to His angels, and to all true ministers.
Lessons.—
1. Attention must be paid to the outward as well as the inward state of the Church. 2. While the Church preserves its order and stability it is invulnerable.
3. It is cause of rejoicing when the Church faithfully maintains the conquests already won.