Colossians 1:1–29

Notice next that this apostleship is "by the will of God." That suggests Paul received his ministry straight from God. He was an apostle "not of men, nor by man" (Gal. 1:1).

For himself, he was not unauthorized, nor was his title human. He was an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will — not an apostle of the Church. Timothy stands with him as "the brother," and nothing more. … He names his own apostolic place with quiet dignity, and it plainly fits everything that follows.

This letter unfolds the doctrine of Christ. So Paul speaks of himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and he speaks of Timothy as a brother. When he wrote to the Philippians, he called himself and Timothy servants, and he did not mention his apostleship at all. When he writes to the Colossians, he must refute error and reveal truth, so he uses his title as apostle.

He writes to them as Christ's apostle, clothed with the authority of His name, and charged them with passing on His grace. What is more, God had set him apart for this service. … It is to bring the hearts of the saints into the settled knowledge and enjoyment of their place and portion in Christ. Then they can walk in peaceful communion with Him until He appears. He carries out this ministry in the name of Jesus Christ, and as His apostle. So the whole letter flows straight from Christ through His chosen apostle.

Think of most men in his high position as the apostle to the Gentiles. They would not dream of naming smaller and younger men beside themselves in their inspired letters. Who ever heard of a Pope putting another name next to his own in an official letter? Or the Archbishop of Canterbury adding one when he gives instructions to his clergy? That Paul names others besides himself in his inspired letters shows humility, a large heart, thoughtfulness for others, and fellowship.

Paul writes with apostolic authority and by the will of God, so believers are rightly called to submit fully to what he writes. … Note, however, it is not "Paul and Timothy" as in Philippians, a pastoral epistle. Timothy is added after Paul's apostleship is stated. This means the absolute truths Paul gives are more important than the way they affect us — though they should have their proper effect.

Paul had never seen the Colossians, but had heard of them through Epaphras. He could thank God as to what he had heard of them (chap. 1:3, etc), but he could agonize in prayer for them.

Colosse was not a very large town in Phrygia, a region in the south of Asia Minor (that is, today's Turkey), close to the two cities mentioned in this letter, Hierapolis and Laodicea. The apostle Paul did not go there on his missionary journeys (Col 1:4; 2:1). From Colossians 1:7, however, it seems that a Christian named Epaphras, who himself came from Colosse, was God's instrument for the conversion of the Colossians.

"Saints and faithful brothers" (v.2) are not two classes of people, but the same, for he does not speak of the measure of their faithfulness, but of the fact, for new birth makes one faithful in whatever measure.

Paul views the Colossian believers as "in Christ". He addresses them as "holy", which involves separation from the world; as "faithful", and so true to God and to the position in which God has set them; and as "brothers", forming a circle of shared life among themselves on earth. So the Apostle longs for them to have the grace and peace that the saints never stop needing, and that is always available from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The assembly at Colosse is described not only as "saints and faithful," as the Ephesians were, but as "faithful brothers." It is clear that here again, all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. This term "brothers" brings out their relations to one another. The other two words assume God's grace and their faith, if not their faithfulness.

As holy, they are not only separate from evil, but separate to God, the first necessity for fruit. The field that bears it must be fenced off from all that would intrude from the world around. They are faithful to the position that God has given them and to the light they have received. That is a second need, just as important, though the first already contains it… God can still give much more to those who hold on to what they have received with living power. But they need, as we all do, "grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

They were "in Christ," the great centre of the new creation; holy and faithful brothers in Him. Then he ministers the sweet stream of grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was parted from His disciples while He was blessing them. In the same way, the apostle of Christ begins his letter to the Colossians, before anything else, by greeting them with the grace or unmixed favour of the Father and the Son. They were always the objects of that favour, being in Christ. And he greets them with the peace which is the fruit of that favour.

This shows at once that the letter's object is not to put the people he addresses on Christian ground. He sees them as truly standing on it.

He addresses them as saints and faithful brothers in Christ. God has separated such people from evil and to Himself, and the precious greeting to them follows: "Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Grace and peace belonged to them, as it belongs to all who are in Christ. Their state could not affect what God has bestowed upon them in His Son.

Paul wishes the Colossian brothers the grace that lifts their souls above their circumstances, and the peace that is calm well-being in all circumstances.

As so often in his letters, the Apostle opens by assuring the Colossians of his prayers for them. A word of warning or correction may be needed. It carries far more power when it comes from lips that have been regularly busy in prayer for us. We also accept it far more readily from them than from anyone else.

Others have rightly noticed that the Apostle leaves out anything like the magnificent opening of his letter to the Ephesians. There was a check on his spirit; he felt the danger that threatened the Colossians. How could he then at once break out into an unhindered strain of blessing? The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and deals with hearts and consciences. Still, if that high tone of worship could not fittingly find a place here, thanksgiving comes at once.

In the letter to the Ephesians, Paul first lets a whole stream of the riches of the grace of God flow out. Only then does he come to the faith of the saints and their spiritual condition. In the letter to the Colossians he deals with their condition at once. This suggests that they were in a lower moral condition than the Ephesians.

There are two titles given to God in this letter. In one He is called the GOD of our Lord Jesus Christ. That title views Christ as glorified Man, who has been down here, suffered, died, and was raised again. In the other He is called the FATHER of our Lord Jesus Christ. This time Christ is seen not as the risen and glorified Man, but as the Son of God.

The gospel was first brought into Europe in connection with a group of praying women by the river at Philippi. Paul, the servant who received the vision calling him into Macedonia, was a great man of prayer. The intensity of his prayers for the believers who had not seen his face he could only describe as "conflict," or combat (Col. 2:1). "Praying always for you" shows his steady perseverance in this matter.

With the Colossians he is just as urgent about prayer. He writes, "We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you." Again, "we have not ceased to pray for you." And again, "Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving... praying also for us." He also speaks of Epaphras, a man of the same mind as himself. Epaphras was "always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God."

Paul had never seen the Colossians, but had heard of them through Epaphras. He could thank God for what he had heard about them. But he could also agonise in prayer for them, asking that they might know more of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Then they would walk worthy of the Lord.

They were marked by faith in Christ Jesus and love to all the saints. Not only had they been drawn in faith to the Lord Jesus as needy sinners, but they walked by faith as dependent saints. The reality of their faith in Christ was proved by their love to the saints. Their love was not the merely human kind, which might have tied them to certain people only. It was divine love, and it went out to "all saints" because they were saints.

Have you faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? May I give thanks to God for you because you have faith in Jesus? The moment Paul learned that these Colossians had faith in Jesus, he began to give God thanks for them.

Paul wrote so confidently because of what he had heard. A faithful servant of the Lord had been working among them, and he reported that they not only claimed to be Christians but showed the two central marks of Christianity, "faith in the Lord Jesus, and love to all the saints." He also told the apostle of their "love in the Spirit" (Col. 1:4, 8). It goes without saying: these movements of soul are never found in the natural man. Only a divine work can produce them.

Faith in Christ Jesus and love to all the saints marked them. Faith had drawn them to the Lord Jesus as needy sinners, and they went on walking by faith as dependent saints. Their love to the saints proved that their faith in Christ was real. Their love was not human love, which might have attached them only to certain people. It was divine love that went out to "all saints" because that is what they were.

This may seem a small thing to say. One might ask, Is this unique to the Colossians? Does not every believer trust in Christ and love those who are His? We may reply with another question: Does it characterise every Christian? Does it characterise us? It involves more than believing in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. It means He is the blessed, lasting object of our faith, and that the saints are the circle where our love is now at work.

Our love would bring in the thought of something on our part that would make us important. So although he is about to speak of love to the saints, he introduces the matter by "faith," because faith throws us not so much on our love to Him as on His love to us... This is a very important word in judging our love. We are all inclined to form a circle even among God's people. We have those we prefer, those who suit us best. Their thoughts, feelings and habits are more or less like our own, or at least are no great trial to us. But this is not love to the saints. There is more love of ourselves in it than love of them. The flesh likes whatever is agreeable to us, whatever causes us no pain.

These two things, simple and elementary as they may appear, are extremely important. They show clearly and surely that a person has the divine nature — see 1 John 3:14; 1 John 5:1. An unconverted person may be quite attached to one believer here or there who happens to appeal to him. But he does not love "all the saints." That is beyond anyone except the one who is born of God.

Here their love to the saints unfolds and grows. They did not know Paul personally, so they could only love him in the Spirit. I might know a fellow believer and be drawn to him by something attractive in the flesh. But love in the Spirit loves him because he belongs to Christ. Now love in the Spirit takes in "all saints," as we have it in verse 4.

It was "for" or "on account of" the hope that love to all the saints marked them. They would all be together with the Lord Jesus Christ and like Him, sharing the coming glory with Him. That hope was laid up for them in heaven, not on earth as Israel's hope is. That is why they loved all the saints.

Their hope was laid up. It was safe. It was "in the heavens," not on the earth — despite philosophy and rules about denying the body. They had to beware of all these, whatever they looked like and whatever they promised. He would remind them of their own true hope, calling them back to the heavens where Christ is. That is the true and only deliverance from all the working of the human mind in divine things, and from earthly religion.

It is not merely that we shall be there. Nor is it just that we have put all our interests into the hand of Christ, and that He will take care of all our happiness and joy in heaven. Christ Himself in glory is our hope. God has treasured up all that is ours in Him in the heavens, and we are to enjoy it now as hope.

It was "for" or "because of" the hope that love to all the saints marked them out. They would all be together with the Lord Jesus Christ and like Him, sharing with Him the coming glory. That hope was laid up for them in heaven, not on earth as Israel's hope is. So they loved all the saints.

The gospel, the good news of grace, had good news of glory wrapped up in it too. Such was the range and scope of the gospel they had heard. It was God's good news not only of the forgiveness of sins through the blood of His Son, but of eternal blessedness with Him in heaven.

We learn from this that those who preach the gospel should stress its present effect, which is deliverance from the power of sin. They should stress its final effect too — bringing the believer into glory. It would of course be just as much a mistake to preach the final effect without insisting on the present one.

It was not intellectual groping, but "the word" sent to them — God's revelation. It was not dabbling in legal forms, but "the truth," the truth of the gospel. The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. The gospel came to them, and was still there with them, as unchanging as the One who is its sum and substance. Real truth, even when new, never sets aside the old. Instead it supplies the missing links, deepens the foundations and widens the scope.

Hope in Scripture is not something uncertain. It is looking ahead to the future with no doubt at all involved… It was necessary to press this prospect on them, since they were travelling through a wilderness, exposed to present dangers and temptations. How vital it is for us all to keep the end in view!

Heavenly things are our hope. Colossians does not begin with the counsels of God, as Ephesians does. Instead we get a long opening in which the apostle longs to settle the saints in this hope of heavenly things… My hope is laid up in heaven, but I am not sitting there.

A second mark of the gospel was that it was for everyone. It had reached them, and was among them, just as it was in the world. It was not merely Jewish news; it was for man. Offences abounded among the Jews; but sin is a far wider thing, and where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.

Then, as now, there were people who tried to draw believers back onto Jewish ground. So the Apostle reminds them that the gospel is for everyone. The grace of God cannot be limited to the Jew; it is for "all the world".

This same gospel had produced fruit in all the world as well as in them, so they were not isolated, whether they felt so or not. Fruit had been coming from the day they heard and knew the grace of God in truth (v.6). What a precious encouragement about the power of the truth they had learned!

Does grace make us careless or indifferent? It does not; it works in exactly the opposite direction; it produces fruit. Another rendering of this passage reads: "The Glad Tidings … are bearing fruit and growing, even as also among you." Both growth and fruit-bearing prove that life is there. Where people truly receive the Gospel, there is no standing still and no decay.

Grace is not like the law. The Ten Commandments are mostly negative. The law mostly deals with what is evil, and it condemns it. But the gospel reveals Christ as a power that gives life, strengthens, and produces fruit. Because it is a principle of life, it expands and grows as well as bearing fruit.

What is more, in that day the gospel itself was "bearing fruit and growing". Later we learn that the saints are to bear fruit and grow (Col. 1:10); here it is the gospel that bears fruit and grows. The saints themselves are the fruit of the gospel, and the character of Christ in the saints is the fruit that believers are to bear.

It was gathering souls to God through Christ wherever it went, but besides, it was bringing forth fruit in those who were gathered. The clause that follows implies this: "since the day you heard it, and knew the grace of God in truth." Ever since that day it has been the power that bears fruit, just as at the start it was the seed of eternal life. And the grace of God, when known in truth, sets us before God in Christ; the fruits of that union we are to show here on earth.

The same gospel was going out into all the world, bearing fruit wherever people received it in faith. Could this be said of the various philosophical systems being introduced among the Colossians? Or could mysticism and law-keeping show such results? Only those who hear and believe the gospel know the grace of God in truth.

The Apostle sees two kinds of knowledge in the saints. One is the knowledge of "the grace of God in truth." The other is the knowledge of "His will in all wisdom and understanding" (verses 6 and 9). The saints at Colossae had reached the first; he longed for them to reach the second.

In common with the letter to the Romans, this letter was addressed to saints in a place where Paul had not worked (2:1). The apostle did not found the church at Colosse. It seems God chose Epaphras to bring them the gospel — one of them, a servant of Christ (4:12), Paul's beloved fellow servant, and their faithful minister of Christ (1:7).

It would appear from verse 7 that Epaphras had been the servant of Christ who brought the light to them. They had learned the Glad Tidings of the grace of God and of the hope of glory from his lips. Then verse 8 shows that he had travelled to Rome. There he told Paul what God had done among the Colossians, and how deep and sincere their Christian love was.

Paul was a deacon (minister) both of the gospel and of the Church, Christ's body (Col. 1:23 and 25). Tychicus was a faithful minister, or deacon, of Christ (4:7). And Epaphras was another. Both "minister" in Colossians 1:7 and "servant" translate the Greek word diakonos, "deacon."

Several manuscripts read "a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf," and the editors Lachmann, Tregelles, and Alford follow them. This is perhaps the more correct reading. By it Paul is vouching for Epaphras' work at Colosse.

So the Apostle takes the opportunity, as he often did, to strengthen the hands of one who was Christ's minister and faithful on their behalf. He calls him here, with affection, "Epaphras, our beloved fellow bondman." The speculative views and the Jewish ritual forms no doubt had their promoters. Such men would seek to win favour at a faithful labourer's expense. We can easily see why Colosse needed this word commending Epaphras.

It seems Epaphras brought them this knowledge. Paul speaks of him as his fellow servant, and as a faithful minister of Christ for them. The work showed what the workman was. Through him, the apostle himself saw their love in the Spirit.

God used Epaphras (Col. 1:7) as His servant for the blessing of the Colossians. Thinking of that, we might be tempted to ask, "Was Paul interfering with somebody else's work when he sent this letter to them?"

It would help us all to remember this. In Christianity, God works the service, and it is not the private property of a servant. The gospel reaches souls to give them a living link with the Lord Jesus Christ in His glory. He uses one or another, but His object is to form this link with Himself.

Earlier in the letter we learnt that Epaphras had laboured among the Colossian saints as a faithful minister of Christ. Now we learn that he is no longer with them. Yet he still laboured hard in prayer for them, and for the saints in the neighbouring towns of Laodicea and Hierapolis... A wholesome and encouraging reminder that prayer is a powerful weapon in meeting the opposition of the enemy.

His labours, so far as the inspired writer has recorded them, do not seem to have been very showy or attractive. They were not designed to catch the human eye or win human praise. But they were most precious labours — peerless, priceless labours! They were labours done in private, labours behind the closed door, labours in the sanctuary. Without them everything else must prove barren and worthless.

It would appear from verse 7 that Epaphras had been the servant of Christ who brought the light to them. They had learned the good news of the grace of God and of the hope of glory from his lips. Then verse 8 shows that he had travelled to Rome. There he made known to Paul what God had worked among the Colossians, and the depth and sincerity of their Christian love. We can see how highly Paul esteemed him. He speaks of him as a faithful servant of Christ. At the end of the letter we learn how truly devoted he was to the spiritual welfare of the Colossians.

The work showed what the workman was. Through him they showed their love in the Spirit to the apostle himself.

It is remarkable too that Paul had not seen them... He wrote in this way because of a report. A faithful servant of the Lord had been working among them, and Paul heard from him that they did not just profess to be Christians. They also showed the two central marks of Christianity: "faith in Christ Jesus, and love for all the saints." He also declared to the apostle their "love in the Spirit." It hardly needs adding that these activities of soul are never found in the natural man. Only a divine work can produce them. On one hand, there may be much natural kindness and generous, self-denying service to others, without any knowledge of Christ. On the other hand, there may be a boastful faith that can remove mountains, without any sense of the love of God in Christ. But when the apostle heard of their faith in Christ Jesus, and of their love for fellow believers, the Spirit led him to assure them, without hesitation, of their present standing and blessings, and of the certainty that they would be with Christ in glory.

It does not present the Spirit of God as a person down here, though of course He is a person. It presents Him as giving the love its character. The love was not natural affection; it was love in the Spirit.

Here their love to the saints unfolds and grows. They did not know Paul in the flesh, so it could only be in the Spirit that they loved him. I might know a brother and be drawn to him by something attractive in the flesh. But love in the Spirit loves him because he belongs to Christ. Now love in the Spirit takes in "all the saints," as we have it in verse 4.

This is the only mention of the Holy Spirit in Colossians. The letter gives no doctrine about Him at all, unlike Romans, Galatians and Ephesians. Here instead the Holy Spirit is drawing attention to the Person of Christ as enough food for the wilderness. So He says nothing of Himself.

In Colossians the main subject is the glory of Christ, as Head, and the unfolding of His glories as the head of His body. We are all members of that body. So "love in the Spirit" is a mark of the life that each member has.

The Apostle has thanked God for the hope stored up for believers in heaven. The certainty of the end of the journey is not something to pray about; it is something to praise God for. But we are still in the world, though not of it, and there is a path to walk on our way to heaven. Because of its difficulties and dangers, this path draws out the Apostle's prayer.

God's will is to govern everything for us, so the knowledge of His will must come first. The word used for knowledge here is a very strong one, really meaning full knowledge, and they were to be filled with that full knowledge. God's will was to take up all their thoughts and fill their whole horizon. This is a very high standard, but God's standard and goal are never anything but very high.

In many passages the will of God refers to God's eternal purposes... In other passages it refers to God's will for His people in their daily path... That is the case here, where the will of God clearly refers to our practical walk. Discerning God's will for our path calls for knowing God's mind as revealed in the Word. But it also depends on the spiritual state of the soul, implied in the words "wisdom and spiritual understanding."

God has willed certain things for those who are redeemed by the blood of His Son. They are made holy in Him, put into the place of sons, accepted in the Beloved, heirs of God, sealed and indwelt by His Spirit. This is the knowledge Christians should be filled with. This the Colossians lacked.

I think "wisdom and spiritual understanding" means perceiving what is good and wise in God's sight, apart from it being His express command. For example, my father may tell me to do something, and I may do it without knowing why; but here it is my Father who at the same time shows me why it matters. So "wisdom" sees the beauty and rightness of any given thing, and "spiritual understanding" makes the right application. One grasps the cause; the other deals with the effect.

Our knowledge is to be in spiritual understanding — understanding gained by the Spirit of God, not by a merely intellectual process. A person can gather Bible information in much the same way as historical or geographical information. He may then be able to analyse and explain the Scriptures, and still be a complete stranger to how they touch real life and to their power.

God does not treat the believer like a horse or a mule, which have no understanding, but as an intelligent and loving person whom He brings into fellowship with Himself. A man is not a delivered man if his own will rules him. That is the very opposite of being filled with the knowledge of God's will, and that is why the Apostle prays that they may be filled.

It is a great thing to have a full knowledge of the will of God; that is what the Apostle desired for the Colossians in Colossians 1:9. It is a greater thing to stand perfect and complete in that will. Standing in it means that we are subject to it and marked by it. Clearly the desires and prayers of Epaphras for the believers at Colosse and the surrounding area ran exactly parallel with the prayers of Paul for them.

In verses 9 and 10, our walk is tied to our spiritual state, and God does not mean the two to come apart. To have only the knowledge of God's will, without walking worthy, would in fact do me harm. Nothing would then exercise me about actually being a spiritual saint.

Notice why this passage asks for the fullness of wisdom and spiritual understanding. It is not so that we might do great things for the Lord. It is not so that we might teach and preach the truth about the Lord. It is so that, above every other consideration, we might walk worthy of the Lord. Our spiritual condition and our practical walk in everyday life matter far more than all our service and activity.

Notice the standard for the walk: it is to "walk worthy of the Lord." How seldom we find anyone insisting on such a standard. We hear much about a "consistent walk," but such a loose, vague walk is not found in Scripture. It is "worthy of the Lord," who loved us and gave Himself for us. This is a different thought, and it silences a thousand questions about going here or there, doing this or that. The whole point is, Is it "worthy of the Lord?"

He could not say in this letter "worthy of your calling," as in writing to the Ephesians. He does not even say worthy of Christ, but "of the Lord." That is, he brings in His authority. A Christian can make no more serious mistake than to suppose that presenting the Lord as Lord is the higher thing for the believer. It is completely true in its place. But it speaks to our sense of responsibility more than to the loving fellowship of the children of God.

We often say and do much that we would never say or do if we stopped to ask ourselves two questions: "Is this worthy of the Lord?" and "Is this pleasing to the Lord?" So we do well to set out day by day with the prayer that we may "walk worthy of the Lord to all pleasing."

Fruit in the believer is always the expression of the character of Christ. The man of the world can do many good works, but he cannot bear fruit to God in his good works. The believer alone can express something of Christ in his good works. So in the good works that help people, there will be fruit for God.

We may distinguish between the "fruit of the Spirit," spoken of in Galatians 5:22-23, and "being fruitful," according to our tenth verse. There it is fruit produced in the way of Christian character. Here it is fruitfulness in good works. The former lays the foundation for the latter, but both are necessary.

Scripture tells us that "knowledge puffs up" (1 Corinthians 8:1) — that is, the mere collecting of the terms of truth. But it also says that we "increase by the knowledge of God" (Colossians 1:10). That is not knowledge about God, but personal heart-knowledge of Him, and it comes largely from what the soul has lived through with God.

Though we may have the knowledge of His will, we are still to go on increasing in the knowledge of God, or "by the full knowledge of God." We not only grow in it but by it. The more we know God by experience, the more our spiritual stature increases.

The more exalted a Person, the greater His power. Who then can estimate the might of the glory of Christ, who is at the right hand of power? ... This mighty power is at our disposal. It is not here to make us great preachers or teachers, or prominent leaders among the people of God. It is here to enable us to take the path of pleasing the Lord, and also to endure in that path with longsuffering and joyfulness. We look at His perfect pathway as our pattern. We look to Him in the glory for power to walk in that pattern.

We see here the character of the letter — the full knowledge of a glorious Christ. And so we are strengthened with all power. To what purpose? For some heroic deed? No; but that we may endure. It is unto all endurance and longsuffering. This is true power. When Paul speaks of proofs of power, he always puts endurance and longsuffering first. It is no easy matter to endure everything with joy; for this we need the might of His glory.

It was a bit of a shock. In those days I had never thought much about endurance, or about patience either, as our ordinary English Bible puts it. But God's thoughts are not our thoughts. God knows the true worth of endurance, and just the power it takes. This is even more true when "longsuffering", or "suffering-for-a-long-time", goes with it. And all of it is done not in a spirit of self-pity, but "with joy."

These terms describe what we are, rather than what we do. Patience has more to do with circumstances. Long-suffering has to do with our brothers and sisters, and joyfulness with God.

Hupomone comes from hupomeno, which means "to sustain." It is once translated "enduring" and once "patient continuance." That is the full thought of the word: a "patient endurance" that does not give way under trial and suffering. ... It is never applied to God Himself, since there could be no such testing or pressure in His case. But the Lord Jesus, in the place He has taken as Man, is our perfect example of it.

Is that not a wonderful thing to say? And what is the fruit of it? It sounds a poor thing — "patience!" But try it and see. Is there a working of will in you that does not like to be crossed? That is not patience! ... The moment my will breaks and bows to God's will, and I bear with patience everything I meet, joy is unhindered.

"Strengthened with all power," for a scene where everything is against us. ... And we are "strengthened … to all long-suffering." This long-suffering bears every evil work without a complaint. It can also do every good work through Christ who gives it strength. ... But "with joyfulness" crowns the verse. This is not the heart submitting with sorrow at its core. People call that resignation, a word unknown in Scripture. But the heart's joy springing up to Him in glory.

Even someone who is not a Christian can at times show long-suffering. But who except the Christian can combine long-suffering with joyfulness?

Here the Apostle is no longer giving thanks for qualities found in the Colossian saints, as in verses 4 and 5. He now thanks the Father for the blessings that belong to every believer alike. These blessings are not a matter for prayer but a theme for praise… The position and relationships are the result of Christ's work, so they must be as perfect as that work. We may grow in our grasp of them, but in the blessings themselves there can be no growth.

Made "fit for sharing the portion of the saints in light." Not, to be made, nor, in process of being made, but, MADE. We who have believed are fit for heavenly glory. We are fit for that portion in the light of God's presence, the portion all the saints of this present age will share together. We may be barely able to grasp what this inheritance means. Yet how full is the assurance that the Father has made us fit for it! The fitness is ours already though the inheritance is future.

Through redemption He has given us title to the inheritance. He has also fitted us for it, by giving us a new life that fully suits the holy character of the inheritance. That inheritance lies in pure light, and light shows everything as it really is. The believer is completely at home there. An unbeliever could not bear it, since light would expose his guilt.

Sharing the portion of the saints in light is a most wonderful favour. Yet the Apostle says it freely of these Colossians, whom he was about to rebuke very solemnly in the next chapter… He puts it "in light" on purpose, to show how complete the effect of God's work in Christ is. He does not say only "the inheritance", because that word by itself would not carry the thought of unsparing holiness, as light does. And this portion is not on earth, or even merely in the heavens, but in the light where God Himself dwells… Law always puts God at a distance. So here the Father is brought forward.

It is not that there is no progress; there ought to be… But you never find progress mixed up with being made fit. Progress belongs to experience and God's government. Being made fit belongs to Christ's work and to our being with Him… There is no progress in the value of Christ's blood-shedding. There is no progress in the life I have received; that is not its nature, though the way it shows itself ought to grow. There must be daily progress in our walk. But our fitness is the work of God… The poor thief on the cross goes straight to paradise, made in one moment a fit companion for Jesus throughout eternity.

The first — being made fit for the inheritance — is absolute and unconditional. The second — fitness for the kingdom — is strictly conditional. To look back from the plough shows unfitness. The first is the fruit of God's pure and boundless grace, and we thank the Father for this immense blessing. The second lies wholly in the line of responsibility — holding the plough of service — and depends on faithfulness on our part.

Made fit "to share in the inheritance of the saints in light" — absolutely, and now. The "saints in light" take in all the saints, not only those who make up the church. The inheritance here is close in thought to 1 Peter 1:4, and different from Ephesians 1.

And more than that: "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." This is not a gradual deliverance, but a deliverance accomplished. Both the deliverance and the move into His kingdom happen when we believe on Christ. There is a power of darkness. Satan is the ruler of darkness, and the unsaved sinner belongs to this power of darkness.

We are not only made fit for the share of the saints in light. The Father has also delivered us from the authority of darkness. Satan and his agents are "the rulers of the darkness of this world". Blinded by Satan, the world is in "darkness" — ignorance of God — despite all its civilization, discoveries, and inventions.

The power of darkness is the rule of Satan over this world. By vanity, money, even knowledge — by everything going on around them — he blinds the eyes of men and keeps his power over them. He uses all these different things to keep man without God.

It is a total taking us out of the place we were in. The blood has put away my sins, and I truly am born of God. But there is more. I have been moved out of the kingdom of Satan, who rules the darkness of this world, and into the kingdom of the Son of God's love. This is the only place where the kingdom is given this name, set in contrast with the kingdom of Satan. I was a slave of Satan, and I have been taken right out of it all.

"And has translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." So we have not only light but love, the two essential names of God. I have both according to Christ. I have been delivered from the power of darkness, and I am brought not simply into the light, but also into the kingdom where all God's love displays itself in the Son of His love. That is where I live.

The very thought of "kingdom" brings in the idea of rule. We are not saved to be lawless, of course, but to come under the rule of the Son. The full height of the Sonship glory of Jesus governs everything in this realm, including the lives of those brought into it. But behind all His authority and dignity is His Father's love. He is the Son of the Father's love.

The believer is no longer in darkness. He does not walk in darkness, but in the light. How much room he gives the light in his heart and life is another matter altogether. Even so, he is completely delivered from the authority of darkness. Satanic power no longer has authority over him. Satan remains his cunning enemy, but not his master. His Master now is the Son of the Father's love. This part of the kingdom of God includes only true believers.

The point is, how has this been reached? The answer is, by redemption… we were under "the authority of darkness." So we belonged to the kingdom of Satan. Escape by any power or cleverness of our own was impossible. Our sins shut us out from God and at the same time made us the hopeless captives of Satan.

Third, this verse reminds us of the righteous ground on which God made us fit for light and moved us into the kingdom of love. Christ's work on the cross cleared away everything that stood between us and the blessing. So we can say, "In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

These blessings are not a matter for prayer but a theme for praise. They set out the position and relationships the Father's grace gives the believer through the work of Christ. That position and those relationships come from Christ's work, so they must be as perfect as that work. We may grow in our grasp of them, but in the blessings themselves there can be no growth.

The common text added "Through His blood" here, and our version followed it, but the phrase really belongs to Ephesians. There is greater fullness in Ephesians than in Colossians. So Ephesians shows us how we can be blessed in this way despite our sins, since they enter into the account there. But here Paul is just summing up the blessing.

Every believer has this redemption and forgiveness now. Redemption is the total release of a person from bondage by a price paid — the price of the blood of Christ. Forgiveness of sins is a complete discharge of the things by which we had offended our Creator. Nothing is held against us, for the blood of Christ has answered for it all.

A slave may be bought and still be a slave. But to be redeemed is to be not only bought, but actually brought out of slavery into freedom.

It is not just a price paid, which might as yet have no answer in those purchased. Redemption is a state you enter, not merely a title Christ claims. No one is redeemed unless there is an effect produced — present deliverance from the enemy and the forgiveness of sins, though it goes further than that.

In Ephesians it is put in a more general way. In Colossians it seems connected above all with cleansing us from evil — the evil of the kingdom of Satan. Here the forgiveness mentioned first has more to do with bringing us out of the dark kingdom of Satan, under the power of the kingdom of God's dear Son.

I take verse 14 as the very starting-point — the forgiveness of sins. We get the blessed truth here, the first truth, if you like: grace, joy, and peace, with complete forgiveness through Christ. He has come down to us and redeemed us out of the condition we were in.

The more we go on from day to day, the more we see how important it is to get hold of this, elementary truth though it is. There is so much seeking after an unfinished forgiveness now. When people think of the sins they have not yet committed, the question comes up: "What about the future?" Then various ways of getting rid of them come into their minds.

The first chapter of Colossians sets out a rich array of the glories of the Son of the Father's love. These glories are introduced with "In whom we have redemption — the forgiveness of sins." We must first enjoy the forgiveness of sins before we can know the glories of the Son, and the grace, power and glory of God.

But Colossians 1 calls Him not only the "Image of God" but the "Firstborn of all creation." Even if He had been the last to be born, He would still hold the Firstborn's place. Here is the reason: He created all! And when the Creator-Son comes into His creation, He must have the first place.

In this detailed description of the Son's creative work, the Spirit leaves no loophole for unbelieving man to suggest an exception that might seem to disprove His claim: the Son of the Father's love is the Creator of the whole creation. He created all things Himself, in His own right, and as the instrument of God's purpose and glory. So, according to the Spirit's teaching, nothing can cross the fixed barrier between the Son, the Creator, on one side, and the created things He produced on the other.

Verse 16 states this great fact in a threefold way, using three different prepositions: in, by and for. In our Authorized Version the first preposition is "by," just like the second. Word for word, though, it is "in." Look this passage up in Darby's New Translation and you will find footnotes. They tell us that "in" means "characteristic power": "He was the One whose intrinsic power characterized the creation. It exists as His creature." They also tell us that "by" means He was "the active Instrument," and that "for" means He is "the End" for which creation exists.

He created the whole creation, the "all things," including thrones and so on, to bear some mark of His glory — each detail in its own measure. Suppose we knew the language of the heavens above our heads, or of the earth beneath our feet, as He created them. Then every form of life, every atom, every colour, every shape, every sound and every authority would tell us something of the wisdom and glory of Christ.

Whether they are thrones, the highest officials; or dominions, rulers over parts of God's vast universe; or principalities, lesser authorities; or powers, every angelic being glorying in its strength, fallen and unfallen — though all were unfallen when He created them.

What may be the real distinction between thrones, dominions, principalities and powers we do not know, but we do know that they all owe their very existence to our Lord Jesus. Twice over in this one verse is it stated that He is the Creator of "all things."

He is not a lesser workman creating for the glory of a higher Master, for a God above Himself, as Arianism later pretended. He is the End of created things as well as their immediate Source. When a creature lives for Him, it finds there both the explanation and the rule of its own being.

He is Creator, not created, and all created things are not only by but for Him. Did He, a creature, create all things for Himself? What is left then for God?

The Colossian heresy turned on a subtle error, a false mysticism that only a privileged few could enter. It set out to explain evil and creation. God is good and matter is evil, so a descending series of angelic orders (principalities and powers) must connect God with the universe. The result was that the Son of God lost His throne and angels received worship.

In the end, someone who represents Christ will fill every throne in the universe. All will be conformed to His image and represent Him. And every place of lordship will be held for the glory of Christ.

Some men claim to believe in His pre-eminence over creation, and yet say that He Himself had a beginning. We are guarded against such mistaken thoughts, for we are clearly told, "He is before all things." This statement tells us in no uncertain terms of the divine and eternal glory of the Son. We are carried back to a time before anything created existed. There we learn not merely "He was," but "He is." These words forbid the thought that "He began" or that "He was made." They tell us clearly of His eternal existence as the Son.

The verb establishes His existence before all created things: "He is," not was, "before all things" and beings. It is the scriptural phrase signifying absolute, timeless existence. The Holy Spirit uses it here of the Son. Jesus used it of Himself when He said to the Jews, "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). God said the same of Himself when He sent Moses to the children of Israel: "I am has sent me to you" (Ex. 3:14).

The special force of the pronoun may be lost to the English reader, but the original Greek uses the emphatic pronoun autos, which means "very self." So the verse declares that "He Himself," or "His very self" is "before all things." It is He (that is, the Son) and no other. The Person of the Son preceded the universe, and He is also the universal Cause.

"And He is before all things and by Him all things consist." Everything depends upon Him; all things are held together by Him. Without Him all would cease to be. Four times in these two verses we read of "all things." All things created by Him; all things for Him; He is before all things; all things consist by Him.

"And by [or, in virtue of] him all things consist." In virtue of Him gives a clearer and more intimate idea. The object here is to take away all vagueness in exalting Christ.

Created things do not only continue to exist; they continue together. The Son sustains the vast creation in all its parts as one harmonious whole. Men would use what they call the laws of nature to shut the Creator out of His universe. But without the sustaining power of the Son, all would collapse into ruin.

Our sun and other suns may all revolve around some great central point, and astronomers have tried in vain to discover it. But the simple Christian is after all wiser than the astronomers, for he can say, "By Him all things hang together." He is the central Pivot, the glorious Person in whom every part of the universe is concentrated, and He holds everything for God.

All things subsist together "by Him," and in what relation does this wonderful Person of such glorious pre-eminence stand to us? "He is the Head of the body—the assembly." Oh! to think that we are so closely united to such a One! He is our Head, and we are the members of His body! He gave Himself for the assembly.

It is interesting to see two very distinct firstborns. He is firstborn of all creation, because He is the Creator. And He is firstborn from the dead — a new, plain and weighty fact. So Christ is not only the Head of creation as man, but He is firstborn from the dead as risen. It is in connection with this that He is Head of the Church. He was not in this relationship on earth. He was not Head simply by becoming man. Becoming man is a completely different truth from His headship of the Church, which brings in the further truth of union. Many confuse union with His becoming man. Union is not His taking flesh and blood here below. It is our being made members of His body, now that He is risen and glorified. There could have been no union with Him until death and resurrection, and the Holy Spirit was given to unite us with Him in that risen condition. Then, and not before, we have the body, the Church.

It is God's new start, after the failure of the first man and his end under judgment in the cross of Christ. When He was on earth, Christ was the Second Man from heaven. But in God's purpose He was not in the condition of the Second Man until after He was risen and glorified. So it is as the Firstborn from among the dead that He is the beginning of the new order of things. God is working to that pattern now, and He will bring all His redeemed into it, made fully like Him who is glorified at God's right hand.

He is "the firstborn from the dead," and so He is "the beginning." Everything that forms part of that new creation finds its origin in Him and takes its character from Him.

As the apostle comes to speak of Christ as the Head it becomes clear that death was needed in order for Him to become the Head. This was not the case with the first series of glories: He did not need to die in order to be the Creator, but He could only be the Head of the body if there was a body, and this could only be formed when the Holy Spirit came to dwell on the earth which, in turn, could only happen after Christ had died.

Christ is the head of the church (Ephesians 5:23; Colossians 1:18), and He is head over all things to the church (Ephesians 1:22; Colossians 2:10). As head of the church, Christ completely removes every other controlling or guiding authority. As the head of a man guides and controls his body, so Christ has complete control over His church.

If the Creator Himself steps into His own creation, He must take the first place. This is one of the glories of His supremacy. Then the apostle brings us into the new circle of the Church, and reminds us that He has the first place there too. He who is the head of His body, the Church, is the Beginning, the Firstborn from the dead. So wherever Christ is, in the first creation or the new, He is first. He holds absolute pre-eminence in His personal and acquired glories.

Is it not striking that the only other reference in Scripture to this word "pre-eminence" is in 3 John 9? Diotrephes sought the place for himself, and wanted to cast his brothers "out of the church."

The young believers at Colosse were led astray because they were "not holding the Head." That left them open to false teaching: the worship of angels, ritualism, and philosophy or rationalism. To hold the teaching of the Headship of Christ is one thing. To hold the Head Himself, in the faith and affection of our hearts, and so be in communion with Him, is another.

The passage has an unusual wording. It may have led the English translators to put in "Father" in verse 19. If that guess is right, the reason was not this verse so much as the next one, verse 20 — "to reconcile … to himself." They could not see how it could be to Him unless it were the Father. But I think the context is framed on purpose to show us that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in Christ. No one Person of that divine fulness acts to the exclusion of the rest. They all had one counsel — not merely similar counsels, as so many creatures might have, but one and the same.

"Dwelling" and "reconciling" are both personal acts. The verse states plainly that all the fullness is pleased to dwell in Him, and also to reconcile all things by Him to Himself. Notice how the run of pronouns in verses 19 and 20 keeps pointing to the same Person: "in Him"; "His cross"; "by Him"; "to Himself"; "by Him."

It sums up first all the varied glory of verses 15-18. But the words "All the fulness" go beyond even that expression of His glory. So we can think of nothing in the Godhead as revealed that did not find its revelation in Christ Himself. For instance, Christ revealed the Father so fully that He could say, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." … Again, besides creatorship and redemption glories, the Father dwelt in Him, John 14:10, and He was in the Father, verse 11.

There is a strong likeness between Colossians 1:19 and chapter 2:9. Only 1:19 refers to what was true of Him in the days He lived on earth, while 2:9 states it as true of Him today. It is hard to imagine a stronger statement of His deity. Yet the word "bodily" plainly implies that He is still Man.

The question is no longer how to create a world, or how to form a sphere for the display of glory. It is how to reconcile, where sin has entered and defiled. The creation must be cleared of the defilement of sin, so that God can have rest in His own creation. And man must be brought back to God, in keeping with the righteousness as well as the holy love of His own blessed nature. None could do this but that One in whom the Godhead fulness was pleased to dwell. There lay the value of that work of expiation, and the blood of His cross was its witness.

Verse 19 tells us that all the fulness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell in the Son when He came to do His mighty work… And we may safely add that what the Godhead aims at, the Godhead always accomplishes.

Here then is the grand antidote! The fullness of the Infinite One dwells in Him, and in Him we are complete. He came down beneath all for our salvation. He is now above all in exaltation. He is the glorified Man who glorified God on earth and is now crowned on high. In Him the Godhead fullness dwells bodily, and we too are filled full in Him.

Alienation would be connected with our position as being removed from God. But what were we doing there? We were enemies in our minds by wicked works.

We do not only have a wicked nature in us ("children of wrath"). More than this, we have done wrong, thought wrong, spoken wrong. And besides that, our hearts are alienated — the sure consequence of sin. Did you ever see a servant or a child do wrong, and be glad to meet his master or parent afterwards? Does not the sense of having done wrong keep them away from those they have sinned against? Yes. There is alienation of heart, because we do not want God to come and say to us, as He said to Adam, "Where are you?" First comes desire, then the act of sin, then the mind turned away and at enmity.

The testimony of Scripture is as distinct as possible. It never speaks of God being reconciled to us. "If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son" (Rom. 5:10). It does not say that God was reconciled to us. The death of Christ was essential to the reconciliation. But man was the enemy of God, and man was the one who needed to be reconciled.

On our side the alienation was not only in life but in heart also. On God's side, He felt the alienation in life far more sharply than we ever could, but there was no alienation in His heart. In other words, while we as sinners hated God, He never hated us. Had He hated us He could have simply damned us and left it at that. Instead He has Himself made the reconciliation available to us. It came at so great a cost as "the death of His Son."

Reconciliation brings us out of the condition of enmity and distance that marks everyone by nature. In other words, reconciliation has not so much to do with what we have done, as with what we are. It follows that reconciliation is not a matter of forgiveness. There can be no forgiveness for a condition of enmity towards God. The only way God could take it up was by death. Through the Lord's death, He has taken us out of the place of enmity and brought us into the place of nearness and acceptance before God.

While He lived, this work was not yet done at all. The incarnation, blessed and precious as it is, never reconciled man to God. It showed us the Person of the One who was to reconcile. In itself it was an important step towards the reconciliation. But in fact there was no reconciliation yet for a single soul. The cross of Christ accomplished it all.

All things are going to be reconciled in earth and in heaven. But we are already reconciled, in the middle of an unreconciled creation. God does not leave us as part of this unreconciled creation. It groans, and we groan too, but we are reconciled to God. So now we see why there is the patience and long-suffering, and the joyfulness too. These two things may seem very unsuited to each other, though the place we are in is very suited to glorify God. Reconciled is a strong, full word. It means everything is brought into God's presence as God would have it. And we are reconciled.

All things are going to be reconciled in earth and heaven — created things; but the saints are reconciled. We are a reconciled people in the midst of an unreconciled creation. God has not left you part of this unreconciled creation. It groans yet, and we groan too; but we are reconciled to God... "Reconciled" is a strong full word — everything brought into God's presence, as God would have it; and we are reconciled.

Notice again the words "the body of His flesh." His becoming Man was not enough on its own, and could not be; no, nor was all the fullness of the Godhead living in Him in bodily form. For guilty man it had to be "through death." It was not through Christ's birth or His living power, but "through death" — not by what He did, blessed of God as it all was, but by what He suffered... At any rate, "in the body of His flesh through death" contradicts the idea that His becoming Man was the means of reconciliation.

We are cleared from everything that once belonged to us as the fallen children of Adam. In "the body of His flesh through death" God carried out the judgment of all that we were. That same death provides the basis for the coming reconciliation of all things in heaven and on earth.

We have three words to show the perfect character of this reconciliation. The first is "holy" — a word that says in the strongest way possible that the believer is perfectly fit for the holy presence of God. Then we have "blameless." In Hebrews we read that Christ "offered Himself without blemish to God" (Heb. 9:14), and that is the same word. So we gather that the believer, in his standing, is before God what Christ was when He offered up Himself: without blemish. Last comes "above reproach" — more exactly, "without charge" or "accusation": one against whom no charge can be brought.

Long before the reconciliation of all things, believers are already presented "holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight" (v.22). This is the way God sees them in Christ, and not according to their personal daily experience. Only by grasping the perfection of our blessing and position "in Christ" will our experience come to match it in any measure.

Here an "if" comes in. It does not cast doubt on the reconciliation — there is no flaw there, for God has carried it all out according to the fullness of the Godhead. What is in question now is our presentation in glory, and none of us have reached that moment yet. So with some it may have been profession only.

God's purpose is the source of our blessing. Christ's death is the means of our blessing. How full, how secure, how perfect must it all be — according to God's own thoughts and for His eternal glory.

If we abandoned Christianity, we would lose our advantage. We would be rejecting the grace that presented us to God. This does not touch election or the perseverance of the saints at all. You find this kind of language all through the letters. It only proves that God keeps us personally, and keeps us morally. His faithfulness guaranteed that He would carry out His purpose.

It is the test for everyone who claims to be a Christian. If he continues, it proves that he is reconciled, and in God's sight holy, blameless and above reproach. Certainly, if one is born again, he will continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast... If one does not continue, this proves he had never been reconciled. This sad condition answers to the seed sown on rocky ground. Appearances were good at first, but it soon withered away (Matthew 13:5-6, 20-21). True faith becomes grounded and settled, and it keeps a person from being moved away. In fact, faith makes the hope of the gospel more and more precious as time goes by.

It is not simply "continue in faith." The expression is "the faith" — the full range of things presented here, with the believer grounded and settled in them... So everything Paul was made a minister of, shown in this letter, is "the faith." It is the whole circle of revelations given to him from first to last — some shared with the other apostles, some given to him alone.

What it really proves is this: no amount of blessed order or steadfastness can safeguard a soul that lets in wrong thoughts and corrupt principles. Such principles cloud, weaken, or lower the glory of Christ... No soul, whatever its blessing past or present, can afford to trifle with anything that upsets the Person or glory of Christ.

What is "the hope of the gospel"? It is in a heavenly Christ who died for us, giving us the assurance of being with Himself there. The hope of Israel was the earth; this "hope of the gospel" is above. Without knowing it, the Colossians were truly losing sight of their heavenly hope. This was happening because the thought of adding philosophy or religious rules to Christ tends to strip a person of Christ.

Some people were trying to lure these saints away from their heavenly hopes. They pressed them to take up strict self-denial, feast days, and religious rules, which tied them to earth. Such teaching did not match the gospel they had heard, and of which Paul had been made a minister.

The words "in all creation that is under heaven" mean that its witness went out over the whole world as people knew it then... The word "creation" is not the one used for each single creature. It means creation in a general sense, and the missing "the" in Colossians 1:23 confirms this... Yet it had truly been proclaimed then, because Christ's servants had gone out and preached everywhere in the world as it was known at that time.

Notice these two ministries: the preaching of the gospel in all the creation under heaven, and Paul's service as minister of the church. These two ministries are distinct, but we see them combined in the person of Paul.

The meaning seems to my mind clear. Christ suffered in love and holiness from the evil around Him, as well as in atonement; in the latter He was alone, in the former not exclusively so. Paul was filling up part of those afflictions, in his flesh, for His body which is the church. It is not that Christ did not suffer as well as walk perfectly as none ever did; but He left us to follow in the same path of suffering love here below, and specially for His body's sake.

The word "afflictions" ("afflictions of Christ") is never found anywhere else in connection with our blessed Lord. But it is used again and again of the saints. It shows the trials, persecutions and tribulations that come on them from outside, because they confess Christ and stay faithful to Him in an evil world. This proves that these afflictions of Christ are entirely apart from His sufferings on the cross, when making atonement. Instead, they are the sufferings He endured all through His path of doing the will of God, and here the point is that they came on Him through His love for the Church.

The word of God was not "completed" until the truth of the Church was made known. So Paul, as its minister, suffered in a special way for the sake of His body, the Church.

Whatever has been introduced into this world concerning Christ, Satan has opposed. He opposed Christ when Christ was in this world. Now Christ is in glory, forming this body which will exist joined to Himself, and Satan is going to persecute it. That is why he attacks the apostle who brings out this truth of the church so fiercely. He can no longer persecute Christ, who is in the glory, so he persecutes the vessel that brings out this ministry.

Our Lord could not share in the sufferings that had to be borne while the church of God was formed and carried on through this world. When the church was first formed our Lord was in glory, past all earthly suffering. So it was left to the Apostle Paul to have the high honour of suffering for the church... The Greek word for "fill up" occurs only in this passage. It means to put in as a complement, or to fill up instead of.

They were real outward sufferings from enemies, as he says, "in my flesh." He does not make it only a question of his spirit. Yet if his spirit had not gone along with the trials, the suffering would have had no value. And it was no light thing for his body either. Some at Colossae, we know from the end of Colossians 2, were pressing for hard treatment of the body. The Apostle lets them know that this fits very well with a thoroughly puffed-up flesh.

"Filling up that which is behind" signifies that there was more to be done. The Head had done His part, of course: Paul's was not atonement. I think this was confined to the apostle Paul. Peter and the rest never suffered for the church, though they suffered for Christ's sake... We may have our share in the privilege, as some great banker takes up a large loan and other people take up parts of it.

In his imprisonment the Apostle was filling up the cup of his afflictions, and he did it for the church in the widest sense. Not only for the church as it existed on earth in his day, but for the church through the ages to the end of its history here, including ourselves. He suffered so that the truth about the church might be made completely plain and settled. Out of his sufferings came these immortal letters, which instruct us today.

Does it not show how precious this ministry was to the heart of the apostle, that he could rejoice in these sufferings? Here is a man given the most remarkable ministry, and it involved the most intense suffering. Yet the ministry was so precious in his sight, and so essential for the practical salvation of the saints, that he would rejoice in all the sufferings it involved.

Notice these two ministries: the preaching of the gospel in all the creation which is under heaven, and Paul's service as minister of the church. These two ministries are distinct, but we see them combined in the person of Paul. God usually gives lesser ministries than apostleship for one or the other of these two branches of service. Yet He sometimes uses one and the same servant to meet the very varied need of souls.

There were two things: the light and the voice. The light gives character to Paul's gospel — the radiance of the glad tidings of the Christ (2 Cor. 4:4). The voice speaks to the nature of the church: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" That is, the believers on earth were a part of Himself, members of His body (Eph. 5:30). Both ministries are distinct, yet they are still connected. Separating them harms both. The gospel leads to the church.

In verse 25, Paul says of himself that he was "made minister." The word means "waiter." Paul as a waiter served this truth to give light to the saints. In the same verse, the word "dispensation" means "house-law." God gave him that house-law so that he might complete the divine revelation. The word "complete" does not mean adding to something else. It means filling up a system already sketched out. The idea of fresh light is ruled out.

In verse 25 the context suggests "complete" rather than "fulfil." There was a blank left in the revelations of God, and the apostle, as minister not only of the gospel but of the assembly, was given to complete the word of God, who would now show to His saints the mystery hidden from the ages and from the generations. Such was the dispensation or stewardship of God given him towards the Gentiles.

To fulfil the Word of God does not mean, as is often said, that Paul fulfilled his ministry and was faithful in it. It means instead that God gave him the revelation which makes full, or completes, the Word of God. The two letters written from prison, to the Ephesians and Colossians, contain this completion of the Word of God.

A "dispensation," or "administration" was given to him by God so that through it he might "fulfil," or "complete," His Word. This does not mean that Paul was to write the last words of Scripture, for, as we know, John did that. It means that God entrusted him with revealing the mystery mentioned in the following verses. Once that was made known, the last item of revelation was filled in. The circle of revealed truth was complete.

"The dispensation of God" given to Paul completed the word of God. Creation, Providence, Law, Government, the Kingdom, Incarnation, Atonement — the word of God had unfolded every subject but one.

The last stone was laid in the building of revelation when the apostle Paul had revealed to him, and laid in his teaching, the stone of the mystery. Christ's body, which is the church, and the mystery here called "Christ in you, the hope of glory," is the furthest point. There is absolutely nothing beyond it.

It may be asked, How do we know that the Book is complete? If the Spirit of God is in the Church, why may He not give further revelations? One scripture answers that question... The body of revelation was completed with the writings of Paul. No further unfolding of truth remains. Peter and John, rounding out their ministry, no doubt did write later than Paul. But they were only finishing a ministry already begun, and adding no fresh line of truth.

Paul knew the great importance of the mystery as the characteristic truth for this dispensation. Every dispensation of God has truth which gives character to it, and this is the truth which characterises the present one. Only as we are taught in it are we likely to be "perfect," or "complete," in Christ.

In Scripture a "mystery" does not mean something mysterious or impossible to understand. It simply means something that had been secret or hidden up to that time, or at least known only to those let in on it. The mystery spoken of here had been completely hidden in earlier ages, and now is only made known to God's saints... Read the verse and you will see that the "you" here means "you Gentiles." In the past God lived for a short time among Israel. Then the Messiah appeared for another short season among Jews in the land. But Christ now found in Gentiles was something completely new and unheard of.

Verse 27 gives us "Christ among you, the hope of glory." The Christ of the Jews was not "the hope of glory." When He came He was "a crown of glory," and He was not among the Gentiles at all. But now Gentiles who have no title to glory have Him as "the hope of glory."

Here we are plainly told what these vast riches are — Christ in us, the hope of glory! Christ, in whom, as verse 19 tells us, "all the fullness of the Godhead" dwells. He is in us — not apart from those who form His body, but living in them — the hope of glory.

What marked out "the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles" was Christ in them. It was not waiting for a glorious Messiah to come, which was the hope of the Jew. It was Christ in them, the hope of glory — Christ already theirs. He Himself secured the glory for those in whom He was pleased to live, and He was at the same time the hope of that glory.

Christ is said to be in us here, not dwelling in our hearts by faith, but actually the hope of glory... It is Christ's life in us in its full risen character of display.

After Colossians presents Christ's personal glories, its leading feature is "Christ in you" — Christ in the believer as the power of life. As we read in Colossians 3, He is our life. So the Christian is to show Christ in practice, in every trait of His character, while in this world. This Christian is the one who has died with Christ and has risen with Him.

It is very little understood. As a result the "hope" that should stir our souls grows weak, and our practical walk often falls far short of what it ought to be. Is it not sad that many people shrink this "hope" down to a vague idea of getting to heaven one day?

What Scripture presents as the object of faith is always the power of life in the soul. The apostle speaks of Christ in us. At once he adds, "Whom we preach," with the aim of presenting every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Though Christ is in all believers, His shaping power in us comes as we take hold of Christ, whom the Word unfolds to us.

It is worth noting that in this very passage (Colossians 1:28) the apostle, as a preacher of Christ, links "warning" with "teaching" as a Christian duty: "warning every man, and teaching every man." The faith was under threat at its very foundation. That is why the apostle's letter had this double character of caution and explanation. An epidemic calls for public safety warnings. Normal times do not need them.

Christ Himself is the object of preaching, warning and teaching. Paul makes no exceptions here: his message is for "every man." Some may need warning rather than teaching. Others do not need warning so much as teaching. But he was ready to give his message to Jews, Gentiles, rich or poor, upright or degraded. He wanted to present every person perfect in Christ Jesus. Paul was not content just to see a soul forgiven. He wanted every individual to understand the perfection of his place in Christ.

He who knew best the faithful love of Christ is just as urgent with each person one by one. So he never let up in his labour. So he spent heart and thought to build "every man" up in the truth… "that we may present every man full grown in Christ." This is the meaning of "perfect." Nothing here is about a question of evil within. It is about arriving at maturity in Christ, instead of staying babes who rest only in forgiveness.

It is not enough for the spiritual life that someone be in Christ and nothing more. We must also grasp what Christ is, and this knowledge must shape our character. A Jew or a Gentile who embraced the faith was saved. But he still had much to learn about our Saviour… Paul never grew tired in his efforts to make Jesus known.

He was not content with showing; he explained and pressed home what he had shown. A teacher may know a mathematical problem perfectly and be able to show it on the board. Passing that knowledge on to his pupils is another thing… So the apostle was not content with public ministry. He went from house to house. He no doubt found in his visits that much he had said in his public address had not been grasped. Are we not often surprised, when we question our hearers, to find how little they have kept?

There is no careless assumption that, because you are members of Christ's body, all else must be right and can be left alone. The man who knew the faithful love of Christ best was still urgent with "every man," one by one. ... "That we may present every man full grown in Christ." This is what "perfect" means. It says nothing about evil within. It means arriving at maturity in Christ, instead of staying babies who rest in forgiveness alone. ... The apostle's striving was by no means only evangelism. There was much more than this. It shaped him deeply and constantly, in all the anxieties of love.

But what does this "divine labour" of the apostle mean — "striving according to His working which works in me mightily" — a "great conflict"? Note that "striving" (1:29) and "conflict" (2:1) come from the same root as our English word "agony." It pictures a man fighting for victory in the arena, his whole self stretched to the limit. This conflict took in the Colossians and those at Laodicea. It also took in "all who have not seen me face to face" — the whole company of the saints on earth.

Here is a free translation of this verse: "agonizing, according to His energy, which works in me effectively." As far as I can see, that is what these words mean. He agonized for the saints in the work God had given him to do. God supplied the divine energy for it, and he thanked God that it proved effective.

Now this power worked in the apostle's weakness. It worked in a human heart that felt the needs of people and the difficulties that came along the way. He felt them as a man, yet according to God, and that feeling was the fruit of His love. He wanted the Colossians to understand the conflict he carried for them, and for all who had never seen him. He wanted it so that they would take courage and be fully united in love.

Paul speaks of himself as "combating (agonizing) according to His working (inworking) which works in me in power." This is the good fight of faith. As a good soldier and servant of Jesus Christ, Paul keeps it up on behalf of God's saints; the care of all the churches came on him daily. He wrestles with the wicked spirits in the heavenly places. By their tricks or open hostility they try to stunt Christian growth and block Christian energy.

This is more than doctrine — our daily devotion enters into it. The more I love the Lord, the more precious He is to me. And the more precious He is, the more I will agonize that the saints may display His own features. I would want to set these things out in order, so that the saints grasp them in their minds. But I would also pray that their affections be stirred. I do feel this is more than teaching. It involves closeness to Christ, and a valuing of His Person and His love. ... To agonize for them that this might be so is one of the highest services we can engage in.