Colossians 3–4

In Colossians 2 we are risen, and Colossians 3 begins, "If then you have been raised with Christ." It is the "if" of argument. It introduces the consequences and results that flow from this fact.

The believer has both died and risen with Christ. Here he is viewed not as seated in the heavenly places, as in Ephesians (Eph. 2:6), but as still walking on the earth, while Christ is sitting at the right hand of God (v. 1). So His place is where our true blessing lies. We are to seek the things that are above the level on which we walk. He Himself is our true Object and delight. We cannot ignore our relationships here, or the need to provide for our own bodies and families. But these are not to be the chief occupation of our minds.

Sometimes the question is asked, What are these things? They are all the things that mark out the place where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. They are the whole scene of glory of which He is the centre. And we belong to this place because He is there.

Christ on the cross is the clear witness to the failure of all men's schemes. Christ in glory, at the right hand of God, is the sure sign that God will carry out His purpose. The things above are all those things that depend on Christ at the right hand of God, and that God has purposed for the glory of Christ and the blessing of man.

By these words God challenges His people to search earnestly and diligently for heavenly blessings. He tells them to give their minds to these things. A man who seeks one clear aim in life, and makes that one thing his business, is likely to succeed. The same diligence should mark the Christian as he gives his soul to the things above, where Christ is. "Seek those things" means no weak or half-hearted action, but eager and intense purpose. If the mind is set on these things, the whole life will be formed by the things the mind is set on.

We set our minds on things above, not by sitting back in armchairs and dreaming about what may be in heaven, but by setting our minds above all on Christ, and seeking in everything to advance Heaven's interests. The British ambassador in Paris sets his mind on British things by seeking British interests in French circumstances. He does not do it by sitting down again and again to recall what British scenery looks like. As risen with Christ, then, we are lifted into His heavenly interests and allowed to seek them while still on earth.

The reason for this is found in our position: we have died, and our life is hidden with Christ in God. It does not say, "we must die." Man cannot do this by his will: we cannot deny will by will. Nor would the will of the flesh ever do it. If it acts, it does not give up its place. We have died: this is the precious, comforting truth about the Christian, because Christ died for him. He has received the life of Christ, and all that Christ did for him in that life belongs to him. The life that the power of temptation, guilt, and the attacks of sin belong to no longer exists for faith.

Colossians 3:3 states the teaching with the authority and truth of God: "You have died." Faith counts on it in Romans 6:11: "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin." 2 Corinthians 4:10 shows it worked out in daily life. So we are dead to sin, to the law, and to the world. We are crucified with Christ, counted dead according to the word of God, and counting ourselves dead.

Christ is this life. He is hidden in God, and the world does not see Him until the day of His appearing. So our life is a hidden one by its nature... This life takes its character from Him who is the soul of it. A world that has rejected the Son of God, and found no glory in the Lord of glory, cannot know it... But that is no denial of its being in us here — it implies the very opposite. It is our possession of it that gives us this character.

Hidden from the men of this world. It is not hidden from us, for it says "your life."

The world cannot see the source of the Christian's life. It cannot see the One the Christian lives for. But the world should be able to see "Christ in you."

Your life is hidden with Christ in God, and therefore you cannot be robbed of it. Our Lord treats us as fathers treat their small children. They put jewels above the reach of small arms. Otherwise the children would reach up, take them down, and soon lose them. Our Lord has done the same with our spiritual life. Jesus Christ is the high chest in which our Lord has hidden our life... So long as this life is not harmed, all other troubles are only knocks on the heel.

The moment I believe in Jesus, I am called to count myself dead. I am never told to die, but I am told to put to death my members that are on the earth. A man under the law will try to die with all his might, but he will never succeed. A Christian has died, and his life is hidden with Christ in God. So he puts to death his members on the earth, living in the power of the life he has in the Son of God.

Here he does not speak of the church when it comes to our position... He speaks of us individually. Each one truly has his own life in Christ, but as his own; this is not our union with other Christians. It is the individual character of the Christian, to whom Christ, the Head, is everything.

"Our life is hidden with Christ in God; and when Christ who is our life shall appear," and so on. Here Christ is spoken of as being our life. So we are said to "dwell in Him, and He in us" — the strongest expressions there could be. But this is just what makes the difference with Christ, and shows that the life is not something we have in ourselves. He is our life. He dwells in us.

A risen Christ is our life, and He is beyond death. So we have resurrection-life — a life that lives beyond death's reach. It is not a prolonged natural life, but spiritual life; not life for a time, but forever — eternal life.

Right now Christ is not on display here; He is hidden in God. He is our life, and so all the hidden springs of our life are hidden with Him in God. The day is coming when He will appear, and then we shall appear with Him in glory. It will be quite clear in that day where our real life is found.

The theory was to add what they could to Christ. The aim was to increase the saints' blessing and security, and to make a present display to His glory. The Apostle shows them that their life is hidden with Christ in God. So, though they have the most perfect security, it is in keeping with Christ's place — hidden, and not displayed yet.

What assurance and confidence this inspired language gives! Could anyone say it more definitely? … And how could it be any other way? If Christ, who is in the glory, is our life, how could He appear in glory without us? There is no such thought in His loving heart. We know from His own words that He wants us with Him where He is.

But our life will certainly be displayed in the future. When Christ appears, we also shall appear with Him, and in glory, no longer in circumstances of weakness and trial. First we will have been taken up to be with Him at the Rapture. Only then can we come with Him on the day He appears.

The Lord Himself refers to this when He says, "The glory that you have given me I have given to them … so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." (John 17:22-23.) The world will then know, because it will see Christ revealed in glory, and the saints displayed in the same glory with Himself.

Because you are dead, because you have this new life, even Christ, and so are dead and risen with Him — put to death what is earthly in you.

Then comes the other side, "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you." Life there and my old life here cannot go on together.

The Apostle shows them that their life is hidden with Christ in God. So they have the most perfect security. But it matches Christ's own place: hidden, not yet displayed. You are dead. You have this new life, even Christ. You are dead and risen with Him. So put to death your members which are on the earth.

The apostle does not allow that we have any life here. He talks of our members: "Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth." Notice how different this is from dying to sin. Putting to death is the opposite — it is power. If I say, "I must die," that means I am still alive. Christ having died, we have died... Now I have the place of power to put to death every evil the flesh would produce. You are dead; therefore put to death your members. If you let them act, it is the flesh.

You have been urged to put to death — that is, a very practical matter — your members which are on the earth. These are not the parts of your body. They are the moral members of a sinful fallen nature: the ungoverned lusts and passions of the body. Given free rein, they lead to the dishonouring of the physical members of the body.

What a humbling thought! People so blessed — dead, as we have said, and risen with Christ — are here told to put to death what is most shameful and shameless. It is really what man is; and that is the only nature we had as children of Adam. These are, in the strikingly forceful language of the Spirit of God here, called the members of the man.

The love of money is such a deadly root of evils that one danger comes first: its power to draw people away from the faith. This may help explain the strong language in Ephesians 5:5. There a covetous person is called an idolater, just as Colossians 3:5 declares covetousness to be idolatry... The love of money is at least included in that unsatisfied greed which becomes an absorbing, idolatrous passion that shuts out true homage to the true God.

If sexual sin is no special trap for us, its twin brother covetousness may be. Let us beware. It has been truly said: "The slippery path of sin is always walked with faster and faster steps. The first sin tends to weaken in the soul the authority and power of the one thing that can stop us committing greater sins. That is the Word of God, along with the awareness of His presence, which gives the Word all its practical power over us."

They are called members because they are things that cling to the flesh. Since we have crucified the flesh, let us also put to death all of its activities. The force of the Greek verb here is to have this matter settled once, not to have to keep on doing it. The child of God should judge these evils — sexual sin, uncleanness, passion, and so on — so completely that they have no influence over him at all.

As to the "members which are on the earth," they are not said to be crucified. The old mortal body and its members, prone to evil, are still present, and they have to be subdued... To mortify is to put to death. We cannot put to death what is already dead. Mortification, then, is a continual killing, if one may say so, of the members and of their deeds.

Because you are dead, because you have this new life, even Christ, and so are dead and risen with Him, put to death what is earthly in you. And what is that? Sexual sin, impurity, uncontrolled passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. That is what they — and what we — really are. It is a wonderfully strong and pointed way of presenting the truth. God is not mocked. Grace does not hold back His judgment — not in the verdict of His Word now, and not later, when He carries it out.

Sons are those who show the typical or distinctive traits of their fathers. The Bible often uses this idea of representing a parent in moral matters. So the "sons of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2) are people whose conduct shows disobedience as clearly as a son resembles his father.

"The sons of disobedience" are those who have heard the truth, but have rejected it. The Jews in Paul's day were, as a class, the sons of disobedience in a special way, but the same is fast becoming true of the Christian world. Yet God will judge people for their wicked deeds, though the crowning sin will be disobedience to the Gospel.

We think it very unsound and dangerous to teach that people will only be judged for rejecting the gospel… Scripture says the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience because of these things — and not merely because of their rejection of the gospel. (Col. 3:5-6)

Scripture plainly declares God's wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people. It will surely fall on the children of disobedience. Rom. 1:18; Col. 3:6… How pointless, then, for false teachers to speak only of the love of God, and to say that because "God is love" there will be mercy for all in the end. There is grace for all now, but there is just as surely a day of wrath coming, for God is righteous.

It is because of these things that God's wrath comes on the ungodly, who are characterized as children of disobedience (v.6). These things therefore certainly have no place in a believer's life. Before being saved, we walked and lived in them, but under the wrath of God! Christ's salvation totally changes this.

You walked in those things, he says, when you lived in them. But the walk must follow the character of the life. What a disgrace to walk in things in which we do not live!

These are very simple, but very telling words. As the hymn writer puts it: "By nature and by practice far, So very far from God". We have these two elements in these two verses, practice — "you too once walked" — and nature — "when you were living in them". We do what we do because we are what we are.

"In these you too once walked, when you were living in them." They are not supposed to be in them now that they are in Christ. They had walked in them, like other Gentiles.

In the past these believers had walked in these things, and in them they had found their life. In those days their evil walk matched their unconverted life exactly. Now, as Christians, the apostle urges us to walk in a way that matches the new life.

It is because of these things that God's wrath comes on the ungodly, whom verse 6 calls children of disobedience. So these things have no place in a believer's life. Before we were saved, we walked and lived in them — and we were under the wrath of God! Christ's salvation changes all of that.

This is a striking verse. It shows the clear change that had come into the lives of the Colossian believers since conversion. The things listed in verse 5 were once their way of life, but they were finished with them now. Those around them, no doubt, still lived that way. For these believers there was a separation: they lived differently.

God is acting on that blessed basis. The sacrificial death of your Saviour and mine has settled the righteous claims of God once and for all. Because of that, He makes this appeal to us: "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you" — the very things you walked in when you lived in them. God never calls us to any practice without giving us the power to obey.

We need to remember that we too were once in the condition we now dislike in others. This should humble us and make us patient with them. Such evils mark everyone: some things may stand out more in some people than in others, but all have the same nature that produces them. In us, nothing could change this but the grace of God in Christ. Others need that same grace if their condition is to be any different.

So the three ways in which the flesh expresses itself are: corruption, violence, and lying. In verse 3 of this third chapter of Colossians we get corruption; in verse 8, violence; and in verse 9, lying. Unless you see these three forms of the flesh's expression, it seems strange that lying comes in here.

But there are other things besides those listed in verse 5 which we must be done with, and verses 8 and 9 mention them. It is not now "put to death," but "put off." We once lived wrapped up in these things like a garment. When people looked at us, that is what they saw. But they are to be seen no more. The ugly garment that once marked us out is to be visible no more. We are to put on another garment, as we shall see when we reach verse 12.

Now Paul urges them to put off those features of the "old man" that the natural conscience may find less offensive. They were not only to "put to death" the gross sins in which they once walked.

If I get angry, it is proof that the will of the old man is not broken. Anger is not a lust; but if you are living in grace, you do not fly into a passion. There is the power of a life that does not do these things, and that masters the thing that does them. We find anger and violence in Satan, who is a murderer; corruption and violence in men… I am to put off the movements of the old nature.

Verse 8 uses the same form of the verb as verse 5. We are once and for all to have put off such things as anger, wrath, malice, vile language and lies. A believer has no excuse for not controlling his temper. And he should thoroughly judge as evil the slightest tendency to hold on to hard feelings.

Notice how much of verses 8 and 9 has to do with our tongues. That means it has to do with our hearts, which speak through them. Sins of the tongue are terribly common even among Christians. We all know the kind of words that anger, wrath and malice provoke. Would any true believer blaspheme? Hardly — yet how very easy it is to speak of God and of divine things in a light and irreverent way. How easy too it is to say unsavoury things, even if we do not go as far as filthy language.

In Scripture this does not always refer to speaking evil of God, which is what the word is now limited to. The same Greek word appears as "railing" in 1 Timothy 6:4 and Jude 9, and as "evil speaking" in Ephesians 4:31. It could well read that way in other places too.

It is sweet to see how the truth that we died with Christ brings deliverance from nature in all its forms, whether corruption or violence. It is the judgment of the first Adam as a whole; nothing is spared… God wants His children to enjoy the fullest comfort. Indeed, no one can be holy in practice until he is happy… If we are called to put off anger, wrath and the rest, it is because we are dead.

The old man is what accounts for lying; the old man is false, full of deceit. There is not, there cannot be, thorough truthfulness in nature as it is now. We see this from the first. Adam was false as soon as he sinned. Cain was false too. Other evils, such as violence, show up at times in some people and not in others. But all are false — lying you do see in everyone.

The old man and the new man speak of two natures. Both are found together only in someone truly born of God. The old man, palaios (Rom. 6:6; Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9) is a term used of that sinful nature which governs the unconverted, and which we all inherit from Adam. It is also called the flesh, and sin… Before his conversion the man walked by the dictates of the old or former man. That is to mark him no longer. For that old man has been crucified with Christ; that is, God dealt with it in judgment at the cross.

It is not now, "put to death," but, "put off." Once we lived wrapped up in these things as in a garment. When men looked at us that is what they saw. But they are to be seen no more. The ugly garment that once characterized us is to be visible no more. Another garment is to be put on as we shall see when we arrive at verse 12.

Put these off, because "you have put off the old man [faith has done it] and put on the new." You are done with the old in its very nature, and you have put on the new. So do not bring out the fruits of the old — the sour crab apples of the old tree.

We have put off the old man. When did we do this? We put him off in the day when we trusted Christ as our Saviour. The exhortation in this chapter is to put to death the members of that old man which are listed for us here.

Fellowship is the object here. Lying and deceit are marks of the old man. In verse 9 the Christian has put off the old man with his deeds. So honesty in our dealings with one another makes for brotherly confidence.

We find in Col. 3:9, "Do not lie to one another." There it is a matter of practical life. But in Eph. 4:25 we have, "having put away lying, speak truth" to each other… In Colossians the call is only to refuse the practice of lying. Here the thing itself is looked on as gone, and the call takes the positive side.

In Ephesians the ground for not lying is that we are members of one another. Here it is treated as inconsistent with our having put off the old man and put on the new man.

Truth, however, is required of us because we have put off the old man and have put on the new. This is what we have done in our conversion, and the calls to put off and put on in verses 8 and 12 rest upon it. Conversion means we have learned to judge, condemn and refuse the old order of man and his character. It means we have put on the new man, who is God's creation and shares His character. We do not say that we understood or realised this at the moment of our conversion. But in the light of this Scripture, this is what our conversion really involved, and it is high time we understand and realise it.

These expressions do not refer to particular people. They describe different orders of men, each having certain characteristics... Also, "new man" does not mean simply a fresh man, the way we speak of a new man appointed to fill some position. It implies an order of man that is new in the sense of being entirely different from the old man.

The Greek word for "new" does not mean repaired, or even renovated, the way you might renew an item that has fallen into disrepair. It means what is absolutely and radically new, something that had not existed before. It is the same word we find in Colossians 3:10, the "new man."

We use the word 'new' in two senses in English. We speak of a 'new fashion,' and of a 'new coat.' "Renewed in knowledge" in Colossians 3:10 is a completely new thing, like a new fashion. "Renewed in the spirit of your mind," in Ephesians 4:23, is like a new coat, constantly renewed by the grace and Spirit of God.

The first man was innocent; he was not righteous but innocent... To be righteous and holy you must have the knowledge of good and evil... Colossians uses another expression of great importance — "renewed in knowledge according to the image of him that created him." There is a positive knowledge of God. It is not just that sin is absent. I have a positive knowledge of God Himself, and what God is gives the new man his character and essence.

Our renewing is according to the image of Christ. No lower standard is put before us. He Himself is the image of God. Notice again how this renewing is connected with the mind. The reading should be "renewed into full knowledge." How important it is, then, that our thinking should be in the direction God has indicated.

The Creator is Christ; in Colossians all creation owes its existence to Him. The new man is formed after the pattern of Christ.

Likeness is in distinct qualities; "image" is the complete presentation of the person. So in Colossians 3:10 they were renewed in knowledge according to the image — the complete presentation of what He was, and of all that He was. That is a wonderful position and calling.

This new man is "renewed", a word that implies it is daily gaining new strength. This fresh strength is found in the knowledge of the One who has created the new man. As we grow in the knowledge of Christ, we become like Christ. He is the perfect expression of the new order of man.

In this new order of man there are no national distinctions, such as Greek and Jew. There are no religious distinctions, such as circumcision and uncircumcision. And there are no social distinctions between ignorant and learned, or slaves and free. The old man may indeed include many kinds of men, such as Jews and Gentiles. But all of them are marked by certain evil features. The new man is an order of man in which "Christ is everything, and in all". Christ is everything as the perfect pattern and object; and Christ is in all to form the character of the new man.

So in this region or circle — that of the new man — all that is of the flesh has disappeared. Only Christ, and what is of Christ, remains. Christ is everything, for that is the force of the expression, and He is also in all. It is Christ as the object before us and Christ within us, and there is nothing besides.

Do we desire to know, not merely what Christ will be by and by, but what Christ is now? Then, according to the mind of God, He is not only "all," but "in all," that is, in all Christians. He Himself is the whole spring and character of Christian conduct. He is our life... It is not merely a question of right and wrong, of what we ought to do or be. This was law. But now it is a question of being consistent with Christ who is all and in all. And what then is the standard of our consistency? Christ, and Christ as He is in the presence of God.

While awaiting the glory when God will be all in all, Christ dwells already in His saints. He has formed in them the new man, in whom also He is all and in all. The old man can have ordinances and philosophy, but to the new man Christ is all.

The words "that God may be all in all" in 1 Corinthians 15:28 are often confused with the close of Colossians 3:11. Colossians applies now, the other not until the end of the millennium... Even now Christ is all and in all. His death and resurrection have blotted out, before God and to the eye of faith, all that is merely human and earthly in those who are one with Him.

There may be different nationalities in an assembly, but they are all one "in Christ"... The closing chapter shows this beautifully. Paul writes of Onesimus, the former runaway slave, as "one of you," that is, "a faithful and beloved brother" in the assembly. We then get Luke, "the beloved physician." What a contrast socially between the slave and the doctor!

As Christ is all and in all, so we have to seek to act on this always, only prizing in one another what is of Him... The Christian is in constant danger of sinking into thoughts of natural qualities — the things that make men attractive. The point of faith is to rise above all this.

When individual conduct is in question, some of these distinctions are not only recognised but clearly provided for. But when believers are looked at simply as members of the body of Christ, all differences merge. They "are one in Christ Jesus," and Christ becomes "all and in all."

Our walk and practice could never secure this place of privilege before God. Our standing in blessing is wholly the result of the grace of God that has reached us through Christ. The walk cannot secure that position of privilege. But the position is meant to govern the walk.

The Gospel does not expect to find ready-made saints: it makes them. It is preached to sinners, not to saints, and the first thing is to receive it as a sinner... All such things are fruits of the Gospel. So the Gospel must be received first, and the fruits follow.

As "the elect", God chose us "before the foundation of the world" for heavenly blessing, according to His purpose. As "holy", He sets us apart for Himself, out of this present world. As "beloved", He cares for us every step of our journey through it.

In Colossians 3:12 the apostle uses of Christians the same terms as are used elsewhere of Christ... Compare Isaiah 42:1, "Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights." ... Matthew 3:17 says, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." God in His grace speaks of us as He speaks of His own Son. So let us "walk in the same way in which he walked" (1 John 2:6). Those who are beautiful before God should also be beautiful before men. Our practical state should correspond to our standing.

If a person loves me, that draws out love in return. So knowing God's love and God's delight creates bonds of affection that do not exist without it. Being accepted does not only mean my sins are gone, so that I could stand before Him. I am the object of His delight... So the Christian should walk through the world knowing he is loved by God. With that, we do not want the world. Without it, we have to turn to something that puts self at the centre.

Mercy is grace to those who depend on us in some way, and who are in special need. Kindness does not always mean meeting a real need... It serves the happiness and comfort of others who may have no special need. Lowliness looks at self; meekness looks at others. Lowliness thinks low thoughts, or no thoughts, of self; meekness gives way to others.

We see tender mercy in Him when He was "moved with compassion" (Matt. 9:36). We see kindness in His gentle dealings with Judas, right to the end... Meekness (not standing up for His rights) shows all through His life. It showed even when Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews) hated Him, persecuted Him, and were determined to crucify Him. He opened not His mouth (Isa. 53:7). Patience (bearing up under constant suffering) marked His entire life.

These graces have to be put on. They are meant to be seen on the outside, but they come from the life within... The fragrant oil of the sanctuary was poured on the head of Aaron, the high priest, and it ran all the way down to the hem of his robes. Christ is the Head of the body. All that delights God rests on Him in perfection. But the whole body must carry the grace of the Head.

It is the Christian's privilege to show the character of Christ in a world where people are not like Christ at all. And to do so not only in one circle, or on one special occasion, but in every circle the Christian is called to move in.

Long-suffering has more to do with trying circumstances. Bearing with one another has to do with trying people. We rightly speak of a person showing great forbearance when provoked. This provocation may be general — something that calls for the forbearance of all. There may also be personal wrongs, which would give the one wronged just cause for complaint. Such personal wrongs call for forgiveness. The measure of the forgiveness is to be even as Christ forgave us.

To bear with the other does not only mean carrying the burdens of others. It also means bearing with their weaknesses. This is exactly what the Lord Jesus did with His disciples. They had a lot of flaws, but He was ready to bear with them. It may even be that we must bear with the brother himself if he has become a burden to others. And we should not forget that Paul says: "bearing with one another." This is not a one-way street. Today, I may be the one who must do this; tomorrow, others may have to bear with me.

This may be the most difficult of these instructions. It assumes that my brother (or my sister) has sinned against me. How did our Lord react when they nailed Him to that shameful and cruel cross? He prayed for His enemies: "Father, forgive them" (Luke 23:34). He sets the example. So our standard is: "as Christ has forgiven us"! And how has He forgiven us? First, He did it completely. Second, He did it at once. Third, He did it willingly — from the depths of His heart… To forgive means to grant the grace to take something away. So the one who forgives shows grace, and the one forgiven receives it.

There is to be forgiveness should there be occasion to blame another. The wording "any … against any" perhaps covers not only individual complaints but difficulties that may arise between families and so on.

I do not say this lightly. When believers live and walk together there are sometimes difficulties. Something a brother or a sister does may hurt us deeply, and we say, "I cannot forgive this." On our own we cannot forgive. But we can when we realise how much God has forgiven us in Christ… Does this not sometimes happen among believers? We have been forgiven such a great debt in Christ, and yet we are sometimes unable to forgive our brother or sister.

We must always keep a spirit of forgiveness. Whenever we have a complaint against anyone, we must hold him in our hearts as already forgiven. And we learn when to speak that forgiveness out loud: when the person we blame confesses the sin.

Think of the measure of His forgiveness. He has not only pardoned all our sin and hostility against Himself. He has made us members of His body… He can have nothing against us for ever, since we are members of His body. How could the head of a body keep up a quarrel with any member of it, or hold hard feelings against it?… But we are also members of one another. To be unforgiving, impatient and hard toward one another denies in practice the whole truth of the body of Christ. To be unforgiving upsets everything. It blocks all joy and progress, grieves the Holy Spirit, dishonours the Lord and delights the devil.

We are to add love to the mercy, the kindness, and all the other qualities. All these blessed activities of the new man are to spring from love. If we show mercy, or kindness, or forbearance, or forgiveness, it should be because we love our brother.

To the Colossians he says, "Above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness." It completes all the rest. Without it there is a gap that no mix of the other qualities can fill.

It is not, as some translations put it, "Above all these things put on love", as if love were a separate quality standing above all the others. Add love to the mercy, the kindness, and all the other qualities. All these blessed activities of the new man are to spring from love. If we show mercy, or kindness, or forbearance, or forgiveness, it should be because we love our brother.

There is more in love than simple kindness and forgiveness; it goes beyond these. Love always brings in God, being the activity of His nature. In His nature He is light, but the energy of that nature is love going out in goodness to others.

But all this is not natural gentleness. He says, "Above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness." This is the real love of God. It perfects a thing and makes it divine. It is not the mild nature we see so often, with no power to resist and no firmness of character — the kind of person who cannot say "no." Many people find it torture to say "no," even when staying silent would grieve the Spirit. That is human kindness, not divine love. This bond of perfectness is a holy thing.

It is quite true that love between believers is a sweet and precious fruit of grace. It is precious in the heart that is full of it, and precious as it grows between them. But it is not the love this verse means. When love between believers becomes an end in itself, other believers become the motive and the rule of our conduct. Then our conduct is as uncertain as the state of the believers we happen to meet. So the apostle says, "Above all these put on love, which is the bond of perfectness."

It is called the 'bond of perfectness' because it binds in two ways. First, it binds these different qualities together by keeping their divine character. They belong to the moral nature of God, which every believer shares. They must never turn into, or be mistaken for, a naturally pleasant manner. Second, when the life and character of Christ show in these qualities, believers are held together in practice, and the local church keeps its unity and its witness.

I will always find something in my brother and my sister which does not invite me to show love. But there is no need to wait for an invitation. Because the love of God has been poured out in my heart, I can love the other without finding a reason in him or her to do so. Love is the bond of perfectness. Love is not everything, but without love everything is nothing.

Be united, closely united, united in that charity which is the bond of perfectness. No blessing without that; nothing will be lacking where love abounds… But if there are imperfections it is love and union which will prevent their bad effects.

Colossians 3:15 — Here it is the peace, not of God as such, but of Christ. All critics of note allow this, on the authority of the best manuscripts and versions. The general strain of the letter, and of this verse, is in its favour.

The first concerns the conscience, the second the heart, and the third is to guard the heart. The first, peace with God, the believer has as a result of being justified by faith... The second, the peace of Christ, is Christ's gift to His people (John 14:27). It is what He enjoyed on earth, in the middle of all He passed through in His testimony for God. And it is to rule in our hearts.

How easily we can meet every difficulty if we have the peace of Christ in our hearts! Go down to your shores when the storm is blowing and the winds are raging. See the waves crashing and breaking on the surface. But go far down below that troubled surface, and everything is perfectly calm. It is the same with the Christian while he passes through the storms here.

It was that rest of heart and mind which comes from perfect confidence in the Father's love and perfect submission to the Father's will.

Notice: the word of Christ dwells where the peace of Christ rules. This last one decides all questions. It is the umpire or court under which the heart rests.

It is the peace of Him who is now raised from the dead, in calm, tranquil triumph over all things. We are not told to make peace rule, but let it rule, for the only hindrance to this is an unsubmissive will.

The peace is not only to preside in our hearts. We are to enjoy it together in the Christian company, for to this we have been "called in one body". The oneness of the body needs peace between the members if it is to grow with the increase of God.

So it is peace, but not an isolated spirit — not as having finished with one another, but on the contrary clinging to everyone, despite everything. Suppose something painful troubled me about someone in fellowship. Should I let it trouble me so much that I stay away from the Lord's table? That would be adding wrong to wrong. I am never allowed to give in to trouble about such matters. I have the right to let the peace of Christ rule in my heart.

"Be thankful," for I receive everything from God. I cannot be thankful for everything if my will is not broken. But the moment I look to God as the One who counts the hairs of my head, I glory in tribulation. I count every trial and exercise as all joy.

Here is what it means to act in the name of Christ, or, as in this scripture, in the name of the Lord Jesus. It is to act on His behalf, and under His authority. The Christian stands to Christ as an ambassador stands to the ruler who sent him. His Lord's will is to govern everything he does.

I can only use His name if He authorises me.

Doing everything in the name of the Lord Jesus is more than the thought that we belong to Him. It carries the thought of perfect grace. Yet the title is "the Lord Jesus," not "Christ" alone, and that brings in our relation to His authority. Grace never weakens that authority, and the result is that we give thanks to God and the Father through Him.

Young believers, when their hearts are drifting from God, often ask questions like these. What harm is there in going to such a place? Can I not go to a concert? To a flower show? I answer, Yes; if you can do it in the name of the Lord Jesus. This test applies to every department of life. Christ is now to be everything in my life. Lip and life are the only two channels by which we can express anything, and Christ is to come out in my words and my ways.

If a thing cannot be done as service to Christ, it should not be done at all. That makes the matter much simpler. It is our sweet privilege to do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, and to the glory of God. We sometimes hear people speak of "a secular calling," as contrasted with what is "sacred." We doubt that this distinction is right. Paul made tents and planted churches, but in both he served the Lord Christ.

Verse 17 is a very simple direction, but how it sweeps things away. If you are going to buy a house — are you doing that in the name of the Lord Jesus? It is the motive that governs us. My life is not made up of heroisms, but of a hundred different little things; do them all in the name of Christ: it is everyday life. Suppose I am living three-quarters of my day without Christ, I then have to make an effort to get back. Christ at the bottom of my heart, and blameless conduct at the top — no one can reproach me, but in between the two there is just a man. When I look back over today, has it been for Christ?

The verse closes with "giving thanks to God the Father through Him." We are to give thanks in every circumstance. The Lord, when rejected by Israel, could say, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth". Paul could sing in the inner prison, with his feet locked in the stocks. These instructions show how tightly two things are tied together: the character of Christ in believers, and the way they live day by day.

We learn to appreciate it as being dear to the Father. We ask of the Father in that name because it is the centre around which all the Father's glory circles. The day is coming when every knee will have to bow to that name. Before that day dawns, if we understand the Father's thoughts about that name, it will be our joy and privilege to let our words and actions show, in some small measure, that the Father has taught us to value it.

This is another section of Colossians. It deals with particular relationships that connect not with the new creation, but with the first creation. All believers have a vital part in the new creation. But that does not free them from the responsibilities of earthly relationships, no matter how much we enjoy the new creation. In fact, such enjoyment should make us all the more diligent and faithful in these temporary relationships.

God's arrangements are never lop-sided. If there is a word of instruction and guidance for those who have the subject place, there is equally a word for those who take the lead. In each case the Spirit of God puts His finger on the weak spot. The husband is urged to love. Mere natural love can easily turn to bitterness, but this can never happen when his love is a reflection of the divine. If the husband is marked by love the wife has no difficulty in being subject.

They are to love their wives. Let them make no excuse for not doing so! They are not told to enforce their wives' submission, but real love for the wife would encourage her submission... His bitterness will certainly not encourage either her love or her submission to him.

The wife needs no urging to love her husband. It is assumed that her affections are all right there. But a husband might well let anxiety and the outward pressure of life so occupy him that he takes too little care of his wife, or too little interest in her worries... The wife necessarily depends on her husband. She leaves father, mother and all, and leans on him in a special way. If he is not watchful, he may fail in thoughtful love and in the attention of every day. He may not guard his temper enough, which seems to be what is meant by being "bitter."

You might think that if the love were secured, there would be no room left for the bitterness. But is it so in the actual experience of life? Many a husband truly loves his wife, and still drops hasty words in moments when he is off guard, out of the presence of God. Such words are as bitter as gall to a tender heart. The aim of the warning seems to be constant self-judgment, so that the husband may avoid anything that might fret or irritate the spirit of his wife.

The husband comes home after a day of contact with this evil world. Others may have handled him roughly, or disappointed him, or deceived him. He arrives with a ruffled and soured temper (if he has not kept his Christian balance through grace), and he is prone to forget the divine instruction... The Spirit of God does not tell him, "You ought to love your wife, and if you don't, you are the most inconsistent Christian." Instead, He puts Christ and His love before the husband as the motive power: "as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her."

Husbands are told to love their wives, and not to be bitter against them. This last point stands in contrast to Adam. Love would shelter a wife and take the blame for her, rather than let a bitter spirit lay the blame on her. "She gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate," said Adam. This is the deed of the old man. The new man is renewed after the image of Christ, and He loved the church and gave Himself for it.

We come to these special instructions for the family circle through the instructions addressed to the Christian circle. Are we right in the Christian circle? Are we seeking the things above? Are we putting to death the members of the flesh? Have we in practice put off the old man and put on the new, so that the grace, love, and peace of Christ mark us? Then we shall be ready to carry out the family relationships rightly.

The same thing may be done either for self or for Christ. You may, for example, obey your parents to please yourself, or to please Christ. The second is showing godliness at home. The spirit of Christ then shows in all your relationships as a son or daughter, and the whole household can see it.

Here too it is stated in absolute terms. We know that elsewhere there are landmarks to guard us. Clearly neither a father nor a husband has any right to insist on what is contrary to the Lord. But here the apostle assumes agreement. What the Apostle urges is that the children should obey their parents in all things. And how good is obedience!

Only let your obedience be in the Lord, that is, not against His own Word. The obligations connected with our heavenly relationship must always be paramount. So the "in all things" of Colossians is completed in Ephesians by the words "in the Lord." Otherwise the subtle flesh and self-will in the child might use the duty of obedience in its earthly relationship to cover up disobedience to another divine command. And for the same reason, the "in the Lord" of Ephesians has its necessary completing addition in Colossians. Otherwise a child might appeal to its heavenly relationship (under the plea of "conscience," that is, without the Word) to cover disobedience in the earthly one.

Children must be very careful not to plead this exception in doubtful cases. They should be very sure that the parent's command really does oppose the Lord's claims before they dare to refuse obedience... So parents are absolute in their own circle — the circle God has described. But that circle sits inside a larger one, where the Lord Himself is supreme.

Here the principle is unhesitating submission to the authority of parents. That authority is of God, and such obedience is to be recognised as well pleasing in the Lord. Ephesians brings forward the righteousness of the obedience; here it is its moral beauty and good pleasure.

"Well pleasing to the Lord" would point us simply to the Lord as the One who accepts this obedience. "Well pleasing in the Lord" goes a great deal farther. The Christian is conscious of the Lord's love now, and of His interest in all his ways and trials day by day.

Walking in obedience, children would show something of the beautiful character of Christ. In the days of His flesh He was "subject" to His parents (Luke 2:51).

Postponed obedience is often disobedience in one of its worst forms, and it shows both insubjection and self-will. As soon as the command is given, the obligation is binding. Every moment of delay (unless the parent allows it) asserts and prolongs opposition to his authority.

The apostle also brands disobedience to parents as one of the characteristic signs of the perilous times of the last days (2 Tim. 3:1-2), and of great moral corruption (Rom. 1:30). Even a slight acquaintance with life shows this plainly: the first step in a downward career has often begun with disobedience to parents.

Verses 18 to 21 give practical instructions about the natural relationships God has set up: wives, husbands, children, and fathers. Christianity brings us into relationships higher than the relationships of earth. But it does not set aside the natural relationships while we are still in the body. God set them up, the Lord approved them, and the Christian is to respect them.

This is only one line in my Greek Testament, but how much that one line holds! "Fathers, do not stir up your children, so that they may not be disheartened." The word for stir up (or provoke) also appears in 2 Cor. 9:2, and nowhere else in the New Testament. God our Father is the God of all Encouragement, and we are not to do anything that will dishearten, or discourage, our children. Our character towards them is to be the same as our Father's character towards us: Encouragement.

What a word for the "Fathers" this is! How many sides of the child's character it touches! There is the danger of his losing heart. There is losing courage too. And there is the stirring up of the child's temper, and of that will of his that is so hard to control.

This is an important instruction to fathers. We can provoke our children by sinful behaviour, when we want to show that we are the master of the house. We can provoke them by demanding far too much of them. And we can provoke them if we do not give them more freedom when they grow up and need to live a life of their own.

So with the fathers, they are not to provoke or vex their children. Discipline is necessary and good. But if love does not control it, discipline can go too far and become irritating, and leave the child completely discouraged.

Fathers must be careful not to use their authority just as they please. Unjust punishment drives away the child's love. Needless fault-finding disheartens the child. Fathers are to show that perfect wisdom of Christ, who knew how to correct His disciples and keep their love (Luke 22:24-30).

Children's eyes see fast, and their young hearts feel deeply. Even while being corrected, they sense whether love, or anger and temper in the parent, is applying the rod. In the second case, the corrective instrument will do anything but correct. Wrath provokes wrath. Then every stroke of the rod will drive the precious child further and further away. It will turn his poor heart away from the parent, instead of drawing him nearer to you.

"Lest they should be discouraged." How easy it is to discourage children, and especially to discourage them from the right ways of the Lord. They have keen and tender feelings. They observe fast and spot inconsistency at once. So harsh government can very soon undo years of patient teaching, and spoil the most careful efforts to bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

It is written, "Children, obey your parents in everything." And with beautiful balancing power it is also written, "Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged." … In short, the child must be taught to obey. But the obedient child must be allowed to breathe an atmosphere of tenderness, and to walk up and down in the sunshine of parental affection. This is the spirit of Christian education.

It seems that masters and slaves were no part of the creation order. So you might expect Christianity to ignore such arrangements, or even to ban them. It does neither. Christianity does not approve slavery and does not condemn it, because the work of grace is not to "set itself to change the state of the world, and of society". Its great purpose is to call a people out of the world to Christ, and to bring them into new and heavenly relationships.

The command is absolute in every one of these cases in Colossians. It is not so in Ephesians, which brings in more of a guard. I think this is because the Ephesians were in a happier and better state. They needed the limits of the duty rather than the pressure of it. The Colossians needed to be urged to obey… Strange to say, you will always find self-will keeping company with a spirit of rule-keeping. There is never true obedience without the power of grace.

A slave suddenly found himself a brother to his master. If he did not watch himself, he would soon start to judge his master, weighing whether he ought to say this or do that. If his master blamed him for anything, he might think his master had acted in a hard, unspiritual way… Yet a man ought to do everything better after he knows Christ than before. The idea that a Christian master should put up with badly done work, just because he is a Christian, is all selfishness.

As the very name suggests, the servant's first duty is obedience… and, as with children, the obedience called for is almost unlimited. The one limit lies in what they owe the Lord above all. Scripture does not state this outright, but it clearly implies it when it says they serve the Lord Christ. (Col. 3:24.)

Verse 22 speaks to slaves, yet the principle applies also to employees and students at school. If even slaves are to obey, then those who are well paid have far more reason to obey… Their obedience is not to be "eye service" — work done only while the master is watching. They are to work as people who are always under the eye of God, in sincerity of heart, which is the opposite of a double life, and moved by the true fear of God.

They are not to plan and plot to cast off their chains and assert their rights. They are not to give way to sour, sullen and revengeful feelings. Instead they are to become models of faithful, hard-working service… Even in the extreme case of slavery, unrighteousness in the master would not excuse unrighteousness in the servant.

The noun "singleness" (or "simplicity") appears more often. Ephesians 6:5 and Colossians 3:22 speak of singleness of heart, and 2 Corinthians 1:12 and 11:3 of simplicity before God and before Christ. It is a heart marked by love and trust, simple and undivided. It will not let any sin spoil our relationship with our Lord and our God and Father — not doubt, and not wrong hidden motives.

The words "with fear and trembling" do not in the least imply any slavish fear of men. Such service could not be done "in singleness of heart," nor "unto Christ"… There are two motives for service given here. The first is the purest and the highest: the fear of the Lord and affection for His blessed Person, who as a servant has set us such an example in everything that is good and for the glory of God.

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men" (Col. 3:23). Paul wrote these words to people who were slaves. A slave's life could be hard, depending on what the master was like. Either way, Paul urged them to work heartily. They had an earthly master, but they were to look up to their Master in heaven. They were to please Him. Paul puts a remarkable dignity on these slaves when he writes, "you are serving the Lord Christ." Slavery as Paul knew it may no longer exist. But the Christian employee still owes the same hearty service, as to the Lord.

But do not be so taken up with serving an earthly master. Remember, "you are serving the Lord Christ." This will make you all the more willing to obey your earthly master. You will do whatever you do heartily — not just because it is right, but with your heart in it.

Verse 23, though addressed especially to slaves, may be taken to heart by every believer. What a difference it makes to our whole life if we do everything heartily to the Lord, and not grudgingly or unwillingly!

"Not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers." The eye is not to be on the face of the master. If it is, the temptation will be to please him, and so to become a man-pleaser. The smallest duty loses its value before God if we do it for men instead of for Him.

What then is given as a safeguard against this people-pleasing eye-service? The uplifting thought that we serve the Lord Christ. Our work is for the eye of the Lord in heaven, not only for the eye of the master on earth. Even the dull, hard work of the lowest slave should still be done for the Lord of all.

What a happy thing it is to know that our God stoops to link His name and His glory with the humblest duties of ordinary daily life! This gives dignity, interest and freshness to every little act, from morning till night. "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men." Here lies the precious secret of the whole matter. It is not working for wages, but serving the Lord Christ, and looking to Him to receive the reward of the inheritance.

How it brightens and beautifies the daily round of duty to be looking for the approval of Christ! Think what a difference it makes to writing up a ledger, planing a stubborn plank, or learning a hard verb. Our loving, patient Lord stands at our elbow to notice our efforts and reward our hard work.

So the Lord puts servants in His own presence. They are the servants of Christ. They are to do the will of God from the heart, and to fix their eye on the Lord alone. Remembering this is the secret of all happy, cheerful service and of all true obedience. It also sets them free from what their masters are like.

Service of any kind is only done as it deserves to be done for the Lord when the eye looks on to the end of the path. The Lord Christ pays good wages. He even pays a bonus at the end of the path of service — the reward of the inheritance.

The word for "reward" here is not the ordinary one so translated. It occurs only here in the New Testament, though often in the Greek translation of the Old. It means recompense, with the underlying thought of compensation. You can feel how well it fits: grace would light up the otherwise hard condition of the Christian slave, from verse 22 onwards.

Do not be so taken up with serving an earthly master. Remember, "you serve the Lord Christ." Then you will be all the more subject to your earthly master. You will do whatever you do heartily — not just because it is right, but with heart.

There is no disgrace in being a slave of Jesus Christ. His service is so dignified that the lowliest task becomes an honoured privilege to those who know that they "serve the Lord Christ."

What encouragement for a poor slave, if trampled on here and denied his rights as a man, to know that God looked on him and thought of him! And in the day of Christ's glory God would give him openly his position and his inheritance, owning him as one of His sons. In many a difficulty and trial it would help him to remember this: in serving his earthly master well, he was serving the Lord Christ.

True service of any kind is only done as it deserves to be done for the Lord when the eye looks to the end of the path of service. The Lord Christ pays good wages. He even pays a bonus at the end of the path of service — the recompense of the inheritance. Just think of it. He is destined to take up that glorious inheritance in the day of His coming glory, and we are going to share it with Him.

There are two motives for service given here. The first is the chief one, because it is the purest motive. It is the fear of the Lord and affection for His blessed Person. As a servant He has set us such an example in everything that is good and for the glory of God. This is what comes first: doing service heartily, as to the Lord, "fearing the Lord" (the correct reading in Colossians 3:22), and serving the Lord. The second motive for service is a "reward," which, in our character as "servants" of Christ, is quite a proper motive.

All service, whatever its character, is done in responsibility to the Lord; and here lies the encouragement. His eye is on the faithful servant. He marks all his discouragements, trials and sorrows. He sustains him by His present approval, and by the prospect of "the reward of the inheritance" which he will receive at last from the hands of his Lord. For the time is not far off when He will settle accounts with all His servants.

In that coming day when accounts are settled, if not already now, the Lord will make it clear that He shows no partiality. Whoever does wrong, master or slave, will receive back the wrong he has done. So masters are to treat their slaves in the fear of the Lord, knowing that they themselves have a Master in heaven.

What encouragement for a poor slave who is trampled on here and denied his rights as a man! God looked on him and thought of him. In the day of Christ's glory God would give him his place and his inheritance in full view of all, owning him as one of His sons. ... Was he treated unjustly, when he had no protector on earth? The apostle reminds him that the wrongdoer would certainly reap the reward of his deeds.

Verse 25 warns that doing wrong would mean the servant reaping what he sowed — whether or not he felt his master's treatment justified it. No doubt the same would be true for the master, but that is no real comfort to the servant. God shows no partiality. No matter how great the wrong someone suffers, it never justifies doing wrong in return.

The apostle adds a remarkable word here: "the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality." I take this as covering both the present and the future, since it is a general principle.

"Whatever one sows, that will he also reap." But this is not grace; it is government. Still it is true of a saint as well as of a sinner. God deals with His people in both ways now: in grace, and in righteous government. I will never reap the reward of my sins in eternal blessedness, for that is infinite grace. But under His righteous government I will reap the reward of my wrongdoing here on earth.

The grace that has delivered us from judgment should shape our ways more powerfully than the fear of that judgment. And more than that, we must remember this: as sinners we are delivered from judgment and wrath, yet as servants we must give account of ourselves and our ways. The question is not whether men, angels, or devils see us here or there. No — "we must give account to God."

Even a Christian master might forget that social distinctions, though recognised and approved on earth, have no existence in Christ's judgment. Master and servant will all answer to Him. ... The law might give the injured servant no remedy. Yet the master is reminded of another court, where he must stand and where his treatment of his servant will be judged. It will be judged not by human laws, but by the standard of Him who is holy, Him who is true.

There is no reason for a chapter division here. The responsibility of masters is tied closely to that of servants, which we have seen would include employers and employees, or teachers and students. A believing master must be completely impartial in caring for the needs of his servants, giving them what is just and fair (v.1). What is just is what is right as before God. What is fair is what does not favor one above another.

The word "just" shows a sense of what is right. Grace would not have fitted here, because it would have left the door open more or less. Justice holds obligations in place. … Masters are told to be just and equal, and this recognises real responsibilities they had toward their slaves. Masters, do not imagine that all the duty is on one side; you have yours toward your slaves. This is often forgotten, and it seems implied in the word "just." And "equal" forbids favouritism.

A Christian master and mistress will act as far as they grasp two things: in their consciences, the authority of their Master in heaven, and in their hearts, His goodness and kindness. Then they will "do the same things" to their servants that they wish their servants would do to them. They will give their servants "that which is just," as a matter of conscience towards Christ. And not only what is just, but also what is "equal" (or "fair"), as a matter of the heart in kindness.

Servants have a claim upon their masters for this. What is just and equal will cover both treatment and wages. They are shut in to their masters and especially dependent on them, with no appeal against their treatment… Their very position gives them a claim upon their masters for what is just and equal. So they can leave themselves in their masters' hands with confidence, fully sure that their interests will be considered and guarded.

In the third case, that of the masters, the leading thought is not love but righteousness. Every Christian master should keep asking himself about his servants, "What is just? What is fair?" And he is to remember that he himself is a servant, with his Master in the heavens — a Master who has laid it down that "with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

It seems the existence of masters and slaves was never part of the creation order. So you might expect Christianity to ignore such arrangements among men, or even to ban them. But it does not. Christianity neither approves nor condemns slavery, because it is not the work of grace to "set itself to change the state of the world, and of society". Its great purpose is to call a people out of the world to Christ, bringing them into new and heavenly relationships.

You can never demand or claim grace. In writing the letter to Philemon, the Apostle brings motives of grace to bear on the case. He does not dictate what Philemon was to do. He reminds him of his heavenly relationship and leaves it to Philemon's grace. The runaway slave could rightly have been put to death… yet the Apostle would have Philemon receive him back, no longer as a slave, but as a brother.

Urging others to pray made the Apostle feel his own deep need of the prayers of the Lord's people. So he asks them to pray that God would open a door for him to speak. And once that door is open, he asks to be able to unfold the mystery of Christ, and to do it in the right way, as he "ought to speak."

This naturally leads on to the truest service in this day and world, and Paul had a special commission for it — the making known of the mystery of Christ. The whole world is set against that mystery, and so is he who is the usurping "prince of this world." So if it is to have its way, God must open a door for it. For this, then, the apostle seeks the prayers of the disciples.

Sometimes we hear news from the Lord's work, and someone writes that there are many open doors. But Paul does not ask for many doors. He only asks for one, because you cannot pass through many doors at one time. So he asks for prayer that the Lord might open one door for him, so that he might announce the mystery of Christ. That mystery takes in the whole of Christian truth. We pray for the gospel, and this is important, but it is not everything. We should pray that the whole of Christian truth is proclaimed.

Paul asks the Colossians to pray for him and for his fellow workers. Above all, he asks that God will open the door for him to declare the full truth of the mystery of Christ. This mystery of Christ takes in both Christ and His body, the Church. It is no longer a mystery, now that God has revealed it through the apostle Paul.

How little the Apostle was discouraged even at this late day! He writes to the Colossians from prison. His testimony to the mystery of Christ is what put him there. And that same mystery is what he still wanted them to pray about for him before God.

Sad to say, people in the flesh, whether Jews or Gentiles, oppose this wonderful message of the grace of God. But Paul was not intimidated. He saw his imprisonment as another field for his service, and depended only on God to open the door for it.

Our prayers are not to be mainly personal or even selfish. Paul urged the Colossians to pray for him, that he might make clear that "mystery of Christ." He had spoken of it earlier in the letter. He wanted them to be intercessors on behalf of the work of God, and so to take a share in the conflict connected with it.

The very fact of having such a gospel to pray for may well be the greatest encouragement. How could He, who at such a cost has provided salvation, fail to answer a desire of heart so completely in sympathy with His own heart? This is something we may pray about with boldness and confident expectation. Here is the secret of confidence: when we have learned to identify ourselves with Christ's interests on earth as our real concern.

Paul asks the Colossians to pray for him and his fellow workers, above all that God will open the door for him to declare the full truth of the mystery of Christ. This mystery takes in both Christ and His body, the Church. It is no longer a mystery, because God has now revealed it through the apostle Paul... Paul was faithful in proclaiming this wonderful truth, and that is why he was in chains, a prisoner (v.3). Sad to say, people in the flesh, whether Jews or Gentiles, oppose this wonderful message of God's grace. But prison did not frighten Paul. He saw it as another field for his service, and it needed only God to open a door for it. He was sure he ought to speak the truth of God wherever an opportunity came (v.4), yet he felt his own real need of prayer.

This leads on to the truest service in this day and world, and Paul had a special commission for it — making known the mystery of Christ. The whole world is against that message, and so is the usurping "prince of this world". So if it is to go forward, God must open a door for it. That is why the apostle asks the disciples to pray... And the very fact that we have such a gospel to pray for may well be the greatest encouragement. How could He, who provided salvation at such a cost, fail to answer a desire of heart so completely in tune with His own heart?

Urging others to pray made the Apostle feel his own deep need of prayer from the Lord's people. So he asks them to pray that God would open a door for him to speak. Then, with that door open, he asks to be able to unfold the mystery of Christ, and to do it in the right way, as he "ought to speak".

When people are only half taught, their thoughts and their words tend to be in a cloud. They often imagine that, because they are hard to understand, they must be very deep. The truth is that where you are certain of the truth you know, you can afford to be simple... As a rule, the closer someone lives to God, the simpler he will be with people. Simplicity can go very well together with depth. But we must remember that depth is a very different thing from being unclear.

Yet it is remarkable to see how the Apostle values and asks for the prayers of saints... The value of united prayer is great; but God makes much of individual waiting on Him, and very especially in the interests of His Church and the gospel — of Christ, in short — here below. How little the Apostle was discouraged even at this late day! He writes to the Colossians, from his imprisonment because of his testimony to that very mystery of Christ, which he still desired to be the object of their requests on his behalf before God.

Paul urged the Colossians to pray for him, so that he could make clear that "mystery of Christ" which he had spoken of earlier in the letter. He wanted them to pray for the work of God, and so to take a share in the conflict that goes with it.

Paul does not ask for many doors. He asks for only one, because you cannot pass through many doors at one time... He asks for that one door so that he might announce the mystery of Christ, which takes in the whole Christian truth. We pray for the gospel, and this is important, but it is not all. We should pray that the whole Christian truth is proclaimed.

Verse 5 speaks of the unconverted as "those who are outside." There are those inside the Christian circle and those outside it. It matters greatly that we are right in our dealings with those outside. We are set in a place of testimony toward them. First, wisdom is to mark our general behaviour towards them. That being so, we are sure to have opportunities for witnessing, and we are to redeem them by seizing them as they come.

In early days every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ understood the terms "within" and "without" (1 Cor. 5:12-13; Col. 4:5), and the limits were clearly drawn. Within were all who professed to be believers in the Lord, and were so as far as anyone could judge. Without were all who had not taken Christian ground. Within was the sphere where the Spirit of God ruled and dwelt. Without was the region where the god of this world held power.

As he closes the spiritual part of the letter, the apostle tells them to walk wisely toward those outside, commending Christ by their walk. They have to learn wisdom to live out their position, confessing the Lord in a world that does not know Him.

It is plain from 1 Cor. 1:24 that Christ is the "wisdom of God"; and that He is made to us wisdom (v. 30). … Christ's word — that is, the expression of Himself — is to dwell in us richly in all wisdom. The Christian, too, is urged to walk in wisdom toward those outside, that is, the world, redeeming the time (Col. 3:16; 4:5).

Christians are told to "redeem the time" (Eph. 5:16; Col. 4:5). This does not mean "to make up for lost time." It means to seize every favourable opportunity. In Dan. 2:8 the king said the wise men were trying "to gain the time" — that is, to get a delay.

We are called, in a world that is against us, to be awaiting every opportunity to seize for Christ. To live Christ before the world, that is wisdom; "redeeming the time" is not merely not wasting it. The devil works to fill people's thoughts and affections. We want to win that time back by looking for every chance to introduce Christ.

A right walk calls for wisdom. It also calls for a readiness to use the openings that come for speaking for the Lord. Our danger is that we have wisdom but lack boldness, or show great boldness with little wisdom.

Words alone are not enough to bear a true witness. People often say, So-and-so's life gives the lie to what he says! … On the other hand, we have known cases where children of God were spoken of like this: If anyone holds the right thing, they do, for they are as consistent on weekdays as they are on Sundays! That is just what it should be.

Grace gives us the rich glow of divine favour to the undeserving. It displays what God is in Christ to those who belong to this guilty ruined world. Salt presents the guard of holiness, the preserving power of God's rights in the middle of corruption. The verse does not say "always with salt, seasoned with grace." It says "always with grace, seasoned with salt." Grace should always be the groundwork and the spring of all we say. No matter how much we may differ, righteousness must be maintained without compromise.

In this beautiful God-given type, the grain offering was mainly in view, and the salt in it was the seasoning. So now, graciousness of speech is the main thing for those whom grace has saved. But salt must season it — the moral savour of the truth. The salt must not be missing, even though it is only the seasoning and grace is the main part… There must be grace in abundance, and the powerful salt of the truth kept within wise limits, so that it does no harm. Too much of otherwise good and useful salt can turn nourishing food sickening.

We carry a message of grace, to be expressed in words of grace; at the same time our speech is to be seasoned with the salt of holiness. Speaking this way, our grace will not sink into treating sins lightly, and our faithfulness will not turn into mere hard condemnation of sinners.

Our words are to be always with grace. Never are we to sink to the critical, or the bitter, or the cutting remark. But then, on the other hand, our words, while full of grace, are not to aim at merely pleasing people. They are to be seasoned with what salt represents — the sharp quality of truth. Grace and truth were found in our Lord, and they should mark those who are His, even characterising their words.

In Mark the Lord urges us to have salt in ourselves and to "be at peace with one another." This is important. It is what should mark us inside — "with one another." What should mark us outside — "toward those outside" — is given in Colossians 4:5-6… Among the children of God, self-judgment and peace are to prevail within. Outside, graciousness of speech (preserved by the truth), wisdom and zeal should mark them. The salt of the covenant of our God is needed to keep peace inside, and to present divine grace outside. We are to apply it to ourselves first, and then let it give savour to our speech.

Divine love in the middle of an evil world goes together with holding, without compromise, to what is due to God's holy and righteous will. This combination teaches the Christian not merely what to answer, but how to answer each one as he ought.

The Lord Jesus showed every form of moral perfection, and this form among them. He knew how to answer every man. His words were always for the profit of the hearer's soul, whether people would listen or refuse to listen. At times He seasoned them, and seasoned them strongly, with salt.

The Apostle is glad to speak of Tychicus not only as a "brother", but as "a beloved brother"; not only as a "minister", but as "a faithful minister"; not only as a "servant", but as a "fellow-servant" with the Apostle in the Lord. These Christian traits were so well balanced in this servant that his love did not hold back his faithfulness, and his faithfulness did not shut out his fellowship with others.

Tychicus is first on the list and Demas last, as far as Paul's companions go. One of the marks of Tychicus seems to be exactly the thing that tested Demas: the mark of the "fellow-bondman". Demas was not prepared to suffer along with the glad tidings.

Notice the remarkable care the Apostle takes to support and commend true-hearted workers. He knew well the belittling tone that comes naturally to men who can see the failings of those whose service has left them far behind… This overflow of loving praise deserves careful weight. Where it is missing, the bonds of love among believers tend to loosen and come apart.

Paul did not simply grab hold of a man who was standing around with nothing to do. In divine things that does not happen. A person is fitted for the work he is entrusted with. It would take some measure of spiritual judgment in Tychicus to describe the state of the Colossians to Paul, and to describe Paul's feelings towards them.

We see how Christian love loves to tell news and to hear it… Can anything be sweeter than this simple, genuine affection and interest in each other? In a mere man it would be vanity and idle curiosity. In a Christian it is blessed… Here the humble-minded apostle writes in full confidence. He had never seen them, and they had never seen him. Yet he was sure that hearing about one another, through the man who travelled between them, would be a real joy on both sides. What a spring of power the love of Christ is! Truly love is "the bond of perfectness."

Paul sent Tychicus and Onesimus — the runaway slave, now through grace "a brother beloved" (Philemon 16) — to Colossae (Col. 4:7-9). Tychicus carried the letter written to the Colossians, to correct the evils that had arisen in that church and to warn them against the wicked teachings being spread among them. Onesimus the slave carried that beautiful little letter written to his master Philemon. At the same time, as Tychicus and Onesimus left Rome, Paul handed Tychicus the letter to the Ephesians. Never before and never after were such weighty and blessed documents entrusted to human messengers.

Perhaps the best way to describe the closing section of Colossians is "heart-openings." It is in fact the free interchange of brotherly feeling among those who have recognised the place they have been given with regard to one another. So it begins with the provision for mutual knowledge of each other's state. Tychicus is a beloved and faithful brother, able to enter into such things. The apostle sends him to bring the disciples news about himself, and to bring back from them the account of their condition. He knows this is what their hearts would long for as comfort, since they are united together in the love of Christ.

To bring back a report to the Apostle, Tychicus would learn their state. At the same time he would encourage their hearts by letting them know of the Apostle's deep interest in them.

Verse 8 is a plain instance where the influence of most of the oldest copies has misled editors and revisers. The Paris manuscript, with most other Greek copies and translations, has the right reading. The end of verse 9 and the beginning of verse 7 confirm it.

Paul did not just pick a man who was standing by with nothing to do. In divine things that does not happen. A person is fitted for the work entrusted to him. It would take some measure of spiritual judgment in Tychicus to outline the state of the Colossians to Paul, and also to outline Paul's feelings towards them.

This warm and generous praise deserves careful weight. Where it is missing, the bonds of love among believers loosen and come apart. Notice too that love counts on the interest of others in our affairs, just as much as it truly cares to hear about theirs. Among men this feeling is either unknown, or, where it exists, it is only vanity. But then love, divine love, is not there.

Though the apostle was not known to the Colossians in person, he counts on their love for him and their interest in his welfare, so that they would want to know about it. It is sweet to trace this love in the Spirit between the apostle and those he had never yet seen, and the close affection that flows from a shared identification with the interests of Christ.

Onesimus, the main subject of the letter to Philemon, had once been a servant or bond-slave of Philemon, as verse 16 shows. He had wronged his Christian master and then had run away. In God's great mercy, however, the runaway slave met Paul at Rome during Paul's imprisonment, and through Paul he was converted. He was converted so soundly that Paul could speak of him not long after as "a faithful and beloved brother."

Onesimus, who is called "a faithful and beloved brother," was the runaway slave with whom the letter to Philemon is concerned. What but the grace of God can turn a slave who had wronged his master and run away into a faithful and beloved brother in Christ? So Tychicus carried the letter to the Colossians, and Onesimus the letter to Philemon, when they travelled to Colossae together.

In Colossians 4:9 Onesimus is not described as a pardoned criminal but as "our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you." This is the wonder of God's grace. Pardon for crimes of the deepest kind — would that not have answered our great need? But grace does not give pardon alone; it raises us up to be brothers. He is not ashamed to call us brothers.

The letter goes to Philemon himself, and Paul appeals to him on behalf of Onesimus. But the gathered assembly had just as much reason to care about this runaway slave. He was coming back as a beloved brother, so they were to receive him into Christian fellowship. The Lord had received Onesimus. Through grace he had become a member of the body of Christ, and he belonged to the Colossian assembly.

At Colossae the church held both Philemon and his slave Onesimus, "a faithful and beloved brother." So grace triumphs over distinctions that hold good in this world. God recognises those distinctions. But in the church of God they give way to something infinitely higher, on a different level.

The apostle looked for more in the changed slave than simply a saint. So he pressed Philemon harder for a fresh triumph of grace — not only in taking the wrong-doer back to his heart, but in setting him free.

Onesimus, one of the Colossian saints, is also commended as a faithful and beloved brother. Yet nothing suggests that he took part in public ministry. He was probably not a gifted brother. Remember that in social position he was a slave. The commendation Paul gives him would show how fully he answered to the instructions given to slaves in this letter.

Notice the remarkable care the apostle takes to support and commend true-hearted workers. He knew well the fault-finding tone that comes naturally to men who can see the failings of those whose service leaves them far behind… This abundance of affectionate commendation deserves great weight. The lack of it tends to loosen and dislocate the bonds of love among the saints.

Can anything be sweeter than this genuine, simple affection and shared interest? In a mere man it would be empty and prying; in a Christian it is blessed.

When this letter was written, Aristarchus was a fellow-prisoner with the Apostle. He had been a companion in Paul's travels (Acts 19:29). He was a fellow-sufferer in the shipwreck (Acts 27:2). He was a fellow-labourer in service (Philemon 24). And at last he is a fellow-prisoner in the Apostle's chains.

It is not exactly "prisoner," as Paul speaks of himself in this and in other letters... Yet it is a word of force, and means a captive, or war prisoner. Meyer, following Fritzsche, suggests that some of the apostle's companions chose to share his prison by turns. It was the turn of Aristarchus when Paul wrote to the Colossians, and of Epaphras when he wrote to Philemon.

It is striking that he should say, "These only are my fellow-workers", and yet Barnabas is named in verse 10. It is not Barnabas to whom he is calling attention but Marcus. Barnabas had apparently ceased to be a fellow-worker with Paul... It is striking that the very man who was the cause of the difficulty now comes in as a fellow-worker.

They had already received instructions about Mark that did not need repeating, and were probably not suited to a public letter. Paul wanted them to know how fully Mark had regained his confidence, by specially commending him for their welcome if he came to them.

How beautiful too is the grace which clearly commanded the reception of Mark! Otherwise, remembrance of the past would have forbidden a warm welcome to him, and so must have hindered his ministry among the saints... real love is as generous as it is faithful. It acts at all cost for the Lord, and where needed, despite what it costs nature. But it is glad to praise aloud and warmly where the grace of God has stepped in to remove the obstacle.

The apostle had already joined Mark with himself as one of the few fellow-workers for the kingdom of God who had been a comfort to him. In the same letter to the Colossians he refers to instructions they had received to welcome him if he came to them (Col. 4:10-11). But now he goes further. He restores him to close personal service with himself — the very thing in which he had failed at the start. In nature a breakdown is beyond repair; not so where grace prevails.

Jesus called JUSTUS. A fellow-worker who had been a comfort to Paul while he was a prisoner in Rome. Col. 4:11.

Of Jesus called Justus we know no more than that. Like Mark, he was of the circumcision. And like Mark, he comforted the apostle as a fellow-servant — something rare among men used to the law and its prejudices. The Justus of Acts 18:7 was a Gentile who had adopted the Jewish faith. Barsabbas, who was put forward for a place among the apostles, was of course a Jew and had the same surname, but he was not called Jesus like the man here.

The mention in Col. 4:11 gave enough honour to the name of "Jesus that was called Justus", which is left out here. There was no need to send Philemon the greeting of someone so little known. … Luke, called "the beloved physician" in Col. 4:14, comes last here among the fellow-workers. That is clear proof that the order does not mark, as men do, the spiritual value or the honourable rank of those named.

It is worth noting in that connection that Paul says of Justus that he was "of the circumcision". Yet in Colossians 3 he had taught that in the new man there was neither circumcision nor uncircumcision.

We have to note a clear distinction there; it is "in Christ Jesus" that there is neither Jew nor Gentile. A Jew converted to the Christian faith would not stop being a Jew as to flesh and blood conditions. We have to distinguish between what we are as "in Christ" and what we still are in the body.

It is not certain whether "Jesus who is called Justus" is the same person mentioned in Acts 18:7. But he and the others mentioned before were the only Jewish helpers with Paul in the work. They were an encouragement to the apostle in his trials. Others spoken of later seem to be Gentiles.

It was a very low point for them — at the centre of the civilised world, after thirty years of tireless labour and suffering to spread Christianity. But after a while even these last few fellow-workers scattered. Duty or death called some away, and others like Demas had fallen away from the truth.

We know how deeply Mark's desertion in early days grieved Paul, and how it even led to a break with Barnabas. But the healing goodness of God had long since blotted this out. The apostle had already joined Mark with himself as one of the few fellow-workers for the kingdom of God who had been a comfort to him… In nature a breakdown cannot be repaired. Where grace prevails it is not so, for "we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us" (Rom. 8:37).

It is good to note these things. At times we may have to notice and comment on the lack of interest in certain ones. That is not because we want to develop a complaining spirit. If we do have to mention that lack of interest, let us not forget the ones who are deeply devoted to the Lord's interests. If Paul needed encouragement, and took courage as he looked at them, let us look at such and take courage.

It would be a joy for the believers at Colossae to know this about Epaphras. He was a Colossian himself, like Onesimus. He held a high place in the Apostle's love and esteem, and just as high a place in his earnest remembrance of them in prayer, asking God to bless them... He was not so narrow that he prayed for only one gathering of believers. Yet he remembered with affection the needs he knew best, where he knew the people and their circumstances.

Epaphras being a local brother would know what to pray for, "always labouring fervently for you in prayers".

Prayer, you see, is work — or at least it can be work. Epaphras took it so far that it really was work for him, and ongoing work too, since Paul testifies that it was always his practice. The word translated "struggling" means striving or fighting. Epaphras was away from his friends, yet he fought a real battle in prayer for them. His aim was that they might stand in the will of God, perfect and complete.

It seems he realised that the enemy was making a definite attack on these gatherings of believers, to draw them away from Christ by religious devices... This is a healthy and encouraging reminder that prayer is a powerful weapon against the opposition of the enemy. And Epaphras did not only want the enemy's efforts stopped. He also wanted the believers to "stand perfect and complete in all the will of God". He saw that if they were full-grown Christians, settled in the truth according to the will of God, they would be able to stand against every attack of the enemy.

The word comes from the Greek pleroo, 'to fill full.' The believer is complete in Christ, or filled full. This points to all fullness dwelling in Christ: the fullness of the Godhead is in Christ, as towards the believer; and the believer, as towards God, is complete in Him. The prayer for the Colossians is that they might be 'complete in all the will of God,' or, as most editors read it, 'fully assured' in all the will of God.

It is a great thing to have full knowledge of the will of God... It is a greater thing to stand perfect and complete in that will. Standing in it means we are subject to it and marked by it... Clearly the desires and prayers of Epaphras for the believers at Colossae and the neighbourhood ran on exactly the same lines as Paul's prayers for them.

The precious work of private prayer needs no special gift, no unusual talents, no outstanding mental powers. Every Christian can do it. A man may not have the ability to preach, teach, write, or travel; but every man can pray. People sometimes speak of a gift of prayer. It is not a pleasant expression... It often means no more than a smooth flow of familiar truths that the memory holds and the lips pour out. This is poor work to be at. This was not the way with Epaphras... We want a spirit that enters into the present need of the Church, and carries that need in steady, earnest, believing prayer before the throne of grace.

Christ is at work on behalf of His people. He desires that they should "stand perfect and complete in all the will of God," and those who are drawn out in prayer for this same end have the privilege of deep fellowship with the great Intercessor. How wonderful that poor, weak creatures down here are allowed to pray about the very thing that occupies the thoughts and interests of the Lord of glory!

Luke's occupation was not wiped out because he was a saint and a servant of Christ, and even an inspired writer. Demas, I gather, was already distrusted by the Apostle. Paul mentions his name with an ominous silence and no affectionate word — something unusual for him. Even in the letter to Philemon, written at about the same time, he is "my fellow-labourer." In 2 Timothy he had forsaken the Apostle, having loved the present age. The steps of decline were rapid, and no record tells of his recovery. But a wider falling away was near (2 Timothy 1:15); once the ice was broken, many were ready to slip through.

Paul mentions Demas by name only. If there had been something good to say about him, it seems Paul would have said it. But later, in 2 Timothy 4:10, Paul writes, "Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world." Does this not tell us that, if we have no positive testimony for Christ, our testimony will soon become negative?

Luke is called "the beloved physician". This proves that his everyday job as a doctor did not clash with his higher call to serve — as the companion of the Apostle on his travels, and as the inspired writer of the Gospel.

Here we are in different walks of life, and yet we see each other from the standpoint of the divine circle — "beloved brother", whatever job a person may hold.

Luke is called "the beloved physician" (v.14). He earned that title by a character of kind concern for the needs of others, which drew a loving response.

Paul wrote in the days of hard Roman rule. When he mentions that Luke was a physician — the beloved physician — scholars at once suspect that Luke may have been a freed slave. Though he belonged to an honourable profession, it was then by no means an honoured one. Here again we find the dignity of Christianity. It ignores local prejudice, narrow hatred between social ranks, and hostility between classes, and rises far above them all. Matthew is a tax collector; Zenas a lawyer; Luke a physician; Philemon a "capitalist," and Onesimus a slave.

The final break with Paul might have been sudden, but we may be sure that his soul had been drifting long before. A gradual decline of spiritual life and energy always comes before an open failure. This is how the Lord deals with His people. If they have grown cold and have turned aside in heart from His ways, He lets them be tested sooner or later, so that their true state comes to light.

This may mean that Demas had not abandoned the faith, but that love of this present age had pulled him away from the path Paul followed.

In these inspired letters Paul paid no false compliments. Any praise he gave to one person or another was deserved.

His love was in no way inactive or limited. There was no such idea as caring only for the saints in his own particular place. Paul narrowed himself to no local ties, and neither should we allow such a thing for an instant. All the saints belong to us, as we belong to all of them.

The salutations that close the letter give a beautiful picture of Christian love. They show believers taking a real interest in one another's circumstances, and a tender regard for the spiritual welfare of the Lord's people. Such was the Christian circle in the days before the church, as a united witness for God, became ruined, and the people of God became divided and scattered.

This does not mean only the Christian members of the household. It means those who were used to meeting there as gathered to the Lord's name. That appears to be the force of the phrase wherever it occurs (Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:19; Colossians 4:15). There were many Christian households. But the assembly in any given house meant that people met in that house.

Those who had suitable houses opened them for the service of the Church. Some, such as Philemon at Colossae (Philemon 2), and Nymphas at Laodicea (Colossians 4:15), threw them open for the assembly to meet in. In this work Aquila and Priscilla took part. At Corinth they had opened their house for this purpose (1 Corinthians 16:19), and when they moved to Rome, believers there found a suitable room under their roof (Romans 16:5).

It appears that Christians were not many at Laodicea. The apostle greets the believers there. Some met in the house of someone named Nymphas. They were not in a position to have a letter addressed to them in particular, yet the apostle does not forget them. What he says here is almost certain proof that he had not sent any letter to them. He would not have sent greetings to the believers in Laodicea through the Colossians if he had written them a special letter at the same time... This little assembly in Nymphas' house was not to be forgotten. It was to profit from the letters sent to other, larger assemblies whose condition called for a letter.

Suppose this had been the only company gathered to the Lord's name in the city. Then it would naturally have been called the church "in Laodicea", not the one "at Nymphas' house."

The unity of all the saints in Laodicea in no way hinders or denies the assembly at a certain saint's house... Each meeting no doubt had its own local responsibility; but there was none the less unity for all in the city.

Laodicea was in the neighbourhood... The very name has a sad sound about it in view of what the Lord has to say to this church in Revelation 3:14-22. Paul and Epaphras prayed and struggled on their behalf. The apostolic letters circulated among them. Yet it fell to the lowest depths.

I need not notice every letter, because each repeats the same thing: they are addressed to all the faithful. One expression in the first letter to the Thessalonians shows this clearly. Paul says at the end of it, "I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers." Colossae and Laodicea were to exchange letters, and they were to be read in the churches.

Was this letter the one commonly known as the letter to the Ephesians, which has a circular character? Or the one to Philemon, who likely lived in or near Laodicea? Or does it refer to a letter no longer in existence? Learned men have long argued over these questions. Two remarks seem clear and certain. 1) "The letter from Laodicea" would be a very strange way of describing a letter written to the church there. It fits well if it meant a letter that was there at the time and intended for the Colossian saints too, whoever it was addressed to. 2) There is nothing to forbid the view that there were more letters than we have. God preserved only those designed for the permanent guidance of the saints.

The one "from Laodicea" is, I have no doubt, one they were to receive from that assembly. Paul wrote it, and the saints at Colossae were to profit by it — perhaps the letter to the Ephesians, which he may have had passed on to the Laodiceans... Paul may well have written one letter, or a hundred letters, to others which God did not purpose to keep for the universal assembly. But here there is no proof that he had written a letter to the Laodiceans.

Suppose it is a letter that has not been preserved for us. Then we know it was written for that time only. The Spirit did not give it for the church in every age.

But this little assembly in the house of Nymphas was not to be forgotten. It should profit by the letters sent to assemblies larger than itself — assemblies whose condition called for a letter, or gave occasion to write one. The apostle ordered those letters to be passed on to Laodicea.

If the Laodiceans had received the truth about Christ as the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of the creation of God, they never would have put Christ outside the door. If they had paid attention to the letter to the Colossians, which was to be read "in the church of the Laodiceans" (Col. 4:16), it would have saved them from making everything of man and nothing of Christ. It would save people who profess religion today in the same way. There they would have learned the glories of Christ in connection with all created things, and that Christ "is all, and in all."

Titus, Timothy, Apollos and other servants of the Lord travelled from one assembly to another. They brought news of joys and sorrows, and so linked the Lord's beloved people together. One letter went to all the churches in Galatia (Gal. 1:2); the one to the Corinthians took in all the saints in all places.

The apostle does not forget even individuals. Archippus receives a solemn call to pay attention to the ministry the Lord had entrusted to him, and to complete his service.

Believers cannot give up their responsibility and their exercise of godly discipline. But a servant receives his ministry from the Lord and in the Lord. The assembly never appoints anyone to service in the word. Christ, the Head, does that. Apostles or their delegates (never the Church) acted for Him when it came to a local charge.

All we know about him is that he belonged to the church at Colosse, and that Paul could speak of him with honour as a fellow-soldier. (See Philemon 2.) That is all. He had received a service from the Lord, and he was a fellow-soldier of the apostle... But beyond this link, Archippus was under direct and special orders from the Lord. He had a ministry — a service — to fulfil. What this may have been we are not told.

We cannot escape the conviction that courage and endurance in spiritual warfare led the apostle to mark not only Epaphroditus but Archippus as "fellow-soldier." Words like this are always used with the greatest precision, as is true of every word in scripture.

To put the emphasis of our phrase a little differently: take heed to your ministry that you have received. When Peter was too much occupied with another servant's ministry ("Lord, what about this man?") the Lord told him: "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!" (John 21:21-22)

But Archippus was to fulfil the ministry. He might have been tempted to do three-quarters or nine-tenths of it, and leave the rest. No, the service must be finished. That is why the charge carries such force. The chief honour lies in the finishing touch. That tells the master hand. And for Archippus to apply that touch would be his greatest good and highest honour.

But we do know of One who looked back on His service of perfect, unbroken faithfulness. He could truly say "I have accomplished the work that you gave me to do" (John 17:4)... He needed no exhortation to fulfil His blessed and gracious service.

It seems Archippus needed a special message: pay attention to the ministry he had received in the Lord, so that he would fulfil it. How many of us need this same word! Discouragements are many and opposition is strong, and we may grow weary. Our part is to keep going in any small service the Lord may have entrusted to us, even if for now we see little result.

Has the Lord given a service to you? Then take good heed to perform it, however insignificant it may appear to be. Failing to do the service means laziness. Laziness at once opens the door to decline and spiritual disaster. Nothing can keep us but that grace, the closing word of the letter.

He usually had others write for him. Tertius, for example, wrote the letter to the Romans. Paul dictated what he wanted to say, then added the blessing in his own handwriting, certifying that what stood in the letter was correct (1 Corinthians 16:21; 2 Thessalonians 3:17). That is a remarkable proof of the importance the apostle attached to his writings. He did not send them out as ordinary letters from one man to another, but as carrying an authority that called for such care.

Very early in the apostle's work among the Gentiles, believers at Thessalonica received a letter that seemed to come from him (2 Thessalonians 2:2). It was meant to make them believe that the day of the Lord had come. It was a forgery, and a forgery with a clear aim. So, to guard them and others from being deceived later, he told them what the mark of his letters would be. It was the greeting that closes all his letters, either in a longer form (2 Corinthians 13:14) or in a shorter one, as in Colossians and in the letters to Timothy and Titus. And no other apostle ever added that greeting to the end of his own letters while Paul was alive.

He dictated this letter to a secretary, as he did his other letters, apart from Galatians (Galatians 6:11) and Philemon (verse 19). But he wrote this closing verse with his own hand. And when he added these words, the chain was on his hand. "Remember my chains." We may see it as a gentle excuse for not having written the whole letter to the Colossians, whom he did not know personally. At the same time, mentioning his bonds was meant to remind them that he is the prisoner of the Lord for the Gentiles (Ephesians 3:1).

He reminds them of his bonds. They are the witness of his love for the Lord and for the saints, a love that led him to endure imprisonment rather than surrender the truth. Finally, he commends them to the grace of God.

We tend to be ashamed of a friend in jail, but the believers at Philippi were not ashamed. They gloried in being his fellow-partners. Is this not just what Hebrews means, where we read, "Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them"? (Hebrews 13:3)

He was a prisoner, and his work had stopped, so they had much to remember him about. He ends with "Grace be with you" — grace being the favour and the free mercies of God.

Blessed be God that His grace will always be with His people.