On looking at this verse, three points seem to emerge distinctly from it: the theme, the manner, the object of our preaching.
I. We have, says St Paul, to preach Christ. Now to preach Christ is not to mention Him, more or less frequently, in your sermons and discourses. It is obvious that there might be a perpetually recurring repetition of His sacred name, and yet that the entire tone of thought should be as antagonistic as possible to the teaching of the Saviour. It is obvious, again, that we might omit the name, keeping it, as it were, altogether in the background, and yet that the sentiments expressed should breathe so much of the Christlike spirit, as to bring the image of the unseen Saviour at once to the mental view, and to attract towards Him very strongly the desires and affections of the heart. The preaching of Christ, then, does not depend upon the frequent or infrequent mention of His name, but upon making Him the starting-point and foundation of spiritual life; or as Scripture expresses it, "the only hope of salvation of all the ends of the earth."
II. In the next place, we have to describe the manner of preaching Christ. The Apostle speaks of two methods. First, warning, then teaching. (1) Within the borders of the Christian Church, at the time when the Apostle wrote, there were doubtless some who professed the faith of Christ, but who had no real and vital connection with His sacred person. We can easily understand the necessity that had arisen for loud and emphatic warning on the part of the Christian teacher. Men are slumbering, as the rich man in the parable slumbered; wrapt up in a false belief of their own security; speaking peace to themselves, when there is no peace. We need all to be warned against religious declension. (2) But besides warning, the Apostle speaks of teaching, and of teaching in all wisdom. A most important part of the office of the preacher is that of communicating instruction. He has to bring forth out of the treasures of the Divine word things new and old. Nor is there to be any concealment, any reservation in his teaching. His duty is to declare the whole counsel of God, as far as he understands it himself; and thus, not only to warn his flock, when he has occasion to do so, but also to teach them in all wisdom.
III. We now come to the last point, the object of our preaching: "to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." This is something more than to save every man. It is a great thing to be the instrument, in God's hands, of bringing a fellow-creature to salvation, but when this is done much more has to be done the saved man has to be built up in the faith, so as to attain to what the Apostle calls "perfection in Christ Jesus." Scripture recognises a growth in the believer. Beginning as a child, he is to advance, through different stages, to the maturity of spiritual manhood. It is to this that the Apostle alludes, and he represents the object of the ministry to be to help men to attain the stature of the strength of the full-grown Christian.
G. Calthrop, Penny Pulpit,new series, No. 998.
References: Colossians 1:28. J. Vaughan, Sermons,8th series, p. 53; Homilist,4th series, vol. i., p. 167; Thursday Penny Pulpit,vol. viii., p. 25; Plain Sermons,vol. iv., p. 294; Scott, University Sermons,p. 301; W. Spensley, Christian World Pulpit,vol. vii., p. 241; Spurgeon, Morning by Morning,p. 28; J. Keble, Sermons from Advent to Christmas Eve,p. 352. Col 1:29. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xvi., No. 914.Colossians 2:1. Good Words,vol. iii. p. 758.