the mystery that was hidden for ages and generations but is now revealed to His saints. Sermons
I. THE APOSTLE'S SUFFERINGS FOR THE CHURCH "Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the Church." 1. The nature of his sufferings. These are to be understood by his frequent reference to the afflictions of Christ. (1) The afflictions of Christ are not (a) afflictions borne on account of Christ; (b) nor afflictions imposed by Christ; (c) nor afflictions which resemble those of Christ; (d) nor the afflictions which the apostle endures instead of Christ, as supplementing his afflictions; but the afflictions which Christ endures in his suffering Church. The Messiah was "to be afflicted in all their afflictions" (Isaiah 63:9). (2) How the apostle filled up that which was lacking of Christ's afflictions. Not as if Christ did not suffer all that was necessary to the salvation of men, but left something to be suffered by members like the apostle as a means contributory to their own salvation. Roman Catholics base upon this passage their doctrine of supererogatory merit and indulgences. Some Protestant divines think this position is to be met by distinguishing part of Christ's sufferings as vicariously satisfactory and part as merely edifying by way of example, and represent the apostle as supplementing, not the first, but the last kind of suffering. This view is subject to the grave objection that there were no sufferings of Christ that were not vicariously satisfactory, as there were none that were not likewise designed for edification, comfort, and example. The Roman Catholic view is unsound, (a) because it contradicts the whole tenor of Scripture (John 19:30; Hebrews 10:1-15); (b) because it is absurd, for if the apostle supplied in his suffering what Christ failed to supply, nothing remains for other saints to supply by their sufferings. (3) The apostle shows in the context that his work was not to redeem, but to edify the Church. What, then, is the meaning of the apostle's statement? That the sufferings of the members of Christ are the sufferings of Christ; for the Church is his body, in which he exists, lives, and therefore suffers. All the tribulations of the body are Christ's tribulations. 2. The design or intent of the apostle's sufferings. "For his body's sake, which is the Church." It was for the extension and edification of the Church. He suffers in his natural body - "in my flesh" - for the mystical body. He teaches us: (1) That we are to seek the advancement of the cause of Christ above our own personal comfort. (2) That we ought to endure sufferings because they concern the good of others more than ourselves. (3) That we are not to take care for the flesh or serve the flesh. (Romans 13:14; Galatians 6:8.) 3. The spirit in which the apostle bore his varied sufferings, "I now rejoice in my sufferings for you." (1) Because they were the means of unspeakable blessing to the Gentiles; (2) because they would confirm the faith of the Colossians and encourage them to bear suffering with like patience; (3) because they would contribute to the apostle's own ultimate blessedness (Hebrews 10:34; 1 Peter 1:6, 7). II. THE SPECIAL DISPENSATION ASSIGNED TO THE APOSTLE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE GENTILES. "Whereof I was made a minister according to the dispensation of God which was given me to you-ward, to fulfil the Word of God; even the mystery which hath been hid from all ages and generations, but now hath it been manifested to his saints, to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the Hope of glory." 1. The apostle's peculiar mission to the Gentiles. He calls himself here "a minister of the Church," as he has just called himself "a minister of Christ." His commission is from God himself. "A dispensation of God is given to me." God is the Dispenser of all good things to his Church. Hence we infer (a) that the efficacy of the Word depends much upon God's appointment of his servants; (b) that his servants ought to be regarded with confidence and love, because they are God's ambassadors and make the Word of God their supreme rule in dispensing the things of God; (c) that the commission ought to be executed with all faithfulness and diligence (2 Timothy 4:1, 2; 2 Corinthians 2:17; 2 Corinthians 4:2). 2. The design of the dispensation given to the apostle. "To fulfil the Word of God." That is, to give its complete development to the Word of God - "to give its fullest amplitude to, to fill up the measures of, its foreordained universality." Every minister is bound "to fulfil the Word of God" in his ministry, (1) by preaching the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27); (2) by rightly dividing the Word of truth according to the wants of the hearers; (3) by the application of the promises of the Word (Luke 4:21); (4) by bringing men to fulfil it in a gospel obedience (Romans 15:18). 3. The long hid but now revealed mystery of the gospel. (1) It is "Christ in you, the Hope of glory." Here is the true mystery of godliness. It is not Christ, but Christ freely given to the Gentiles. (a) Christianity is Christ in the heart. "He dwells in our hearts by faith" (Ephesians 3:18). He lives in us (Galatians 2:20). He is in us (2 Corinthians 13:5) if we are not reprobates. If he is in us, then (α ) we must continue to live by faith (Galatians 2:20); (β ) we may expect to receive "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" that are "hid in him" (Colossians 2:3); (γ ) we may look for larger measures of his love (Ephesians 3:18); (δ ) we must keep holy hearts, for he will not dwell in an "evil heart of unbelief" - "The heart is Christ's chamber of presence: shall we not, therefore, keep it with all diligence?" (ε ) the grace of Christ will be efficacious against all temptations (2 Corinthians 12:9). (b) Christ in the heart is the Hope of glory. (α ) He is expressly called "our Hope" (1 Timothy 1:2; Colossians 1:4, 23). (β ) He is the Hope of glory because he has, as our Forerunner, carried the anchor of our hope within the veil, and fastened it to the two immutable things - the oath and the promise of God - in which it was impossible that he should lie. (γ ) The resurrection of Christ establishes this hope (1 Corinthians 15:19), We should be of "all men most miserable" without it. (δ ) We should read the Word, that "through patience and comfort of the Scriptures we may have hope" (Romans 15:4), seeing Christ therein as the ground of our hope for eternity. (ε ) There is no hope. for man apart from Christ. (2) The mystery was long hid from the world. Hid from ages and from generations." (a) This does not mean that the future salvation of the Gentiles was unknown in ancient times; for the prophets are full of it (Isaiah 40:3; Isaiah 62:2; Isaiah 54:1-3). (b) But the mystery was that the Gentiles should be admitted to the blessings of salvation on equal terms with the Jews. (3) The mystery was at last made known to the saints (a) by revelation to the apostle (Ephesians 3:5); (b) by preaching (Colossians 4:4; Titus 1:3); (c) by prophetic exposition (Romans 16:26); and (d) by the actual conversion of the Gentiles themselves without their conformity to Jewish usages. - T. C.
The mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations. The term "mystery," as here used twice, and often in this epistle, does not describe what is essentially incomprehensible, but rather what was hidden and is now revealed. The gospel is a mystery, but a mystery that is to be preached fully, and into which (as the word borrowed from the ancient mysteries in ver. 28 suggests) every man may be initiated.I. THE GOSPEL A MYSTERY. All religion deals with mystery. Genuine mystery is the stamp of a religious Divinity — false mystery is the counterfeit superstition stamp. In its aspect to wards the vast, the infinite, the Divine, religion must always have some mystery to man. II. The gospel a mystery that was LONG SECRET FROM MAN. "The secret things belong unto God." There are hidden facts and laws in nature that science has only gradually discovered, or is now only gradually discovering; hidden moral meanings in nature and history that poets' sight only can descry, and poets' song only describe. There were hidden things in religion that only holy men of old, moved by the Holy Ghost, could reveal. III. The gospel is a mystery that is NOW FULLY REVEALED. Whatever may have been the guesses of nobler pagans, or the anticipations of patriarchs, or the predictions of prophets, it was only as the pale light of very early dawn upon the hills of antiquity. It was noon when Christ lived, taught, died. The seal was broken, the secret revealed. What secret? IV. The gospel is THE REVEALED SECRET OF GOD'S UNIVERSAL REDEEMING LOVE. Christ is fully proclaimed, and Christ is the mystery. In Him are all the treasures of God stored away. 1. All the mystery is proclaimed in Christ. As the rainbow has all possible colours in its wondrous are, as the fabled music of the spheres has all possible tones in its chord, so in Christ is all the wisdom, righteousness, love of God. 2. All men may receive the blessings of this mystery. Christ, and Christ freely given to the Gentiles, given to be an indwelling power in them, is the great mystery which, as Paul dwelt in it, made Him proclaim it with newer and deepening joy. (U. R. Thomas.) I. THE MYSTERY. 1. The term is borrowed from the ancient systems in which certain rites and doctrines were communicated to the initiated (Philippians 4:12, and the word "perfect," which means "initiated," in ver. 28). Potentous theories have been spun out of this word. The Greek mysteries implied secrecy; the rites were done in deep obscurity; the esoteric doctrines were muttered in the ear. The Christian mysteries are spoken on the housetop, nor does the word imply anything as to the comprehensibility of the doctrines or facts which are so called. 3. We talk about "mysteries," meaning thereby truths that transcend human faculties. But the New Testament mystery may be, and most frequently is, a fact perfectly comprehensible when once spoken. "Behold I show you a mystery: we shall not all sleep," etc. There is nothing incomprehensible in that. We should never have known it if we had not been told; but when told it is quite level with our faculties. The word is most frequently used in connection with the notion of declaring. It frequently occurs in this epistle and in the Ephesians, and in every instance but one refers to a fact perfectly plain when once made known — the entrance of the Gentiles into the Church. 4. Then it follows that" a steward of the mysteries "is simply a man who has truths, formerly unknown but now revealed, in charge to all who will hearken, and neither the claims of a priesthood nor the demand for the unquestioning submission of the intellect have any foundation in this much-abused term. II. THE SUBSTANCE. OF THE MYSTERY. 1. The wonderful fact that all barriers were broken down. He saw in that the proof and prophecy of the world-wide destination of the gospel. There is no greater revolution in history than the cutting loose, through Him, of Christianity from Judaism, and widening the Church to the width of the race. No wonder that he was misunderstood and hated by Jewish Christians all his days. He thinks of these once heathens and now Christians at Colossae, and of many another little community in Judea, Asia, Greece, and Italy; and as he thinks of how a solid bond of brotherhood bound them together in spite of their differences of race and culture, the vision of the oneness of mankind in the Cross of Christ shines out before him as no other man had seen it till then. 2. That Christ dwelt in their hearts. That dwelling reveals the exuberant abundance of glory. To Paul the "mystery" was all running over with riches, and blazing with fresh radiance, and the possession of Christ was a pledge of future blessedness. The closer we keep to Him the clearer will be our vision of that blessedness. Anything seems more credible to a man who has Christ abiding in Him, than that such a trifle as death should have power to end such a union. This hope is offered to all. (A. Maclaren, D. D.) Homiletic Review. Christ, by His incarnation, answered the vague and unsatisfactory queries of the world.1. The Second Person of the Godhead was suspected by the ancients to be the active agent of the unknown God. Seneca: "Whoever formed the universe, whether the Almighty God Himself, or that incorporeal reason which was the artificer of these vast concerns." 2. The ancients conceived this Second Person to stand to the First in the relation of a word to the thought which it expresses. Zendavesta: "O, Ormuzd, what is that great word given by God, that living and powerful word, which existed before the heavens, before the waters, before the earth, before the flocks?" Compare Philo's "Philosophy of the Logos" with the Introduction to John's Gospel. 3. The ancients looked for some incarnation of the Divine Word. Persian Serosch, Hindoo Vishnu. : "It is necessary that a Lawgiver be sent from heaven to instruct men; and this Lawgiver must be more than a man." Jewish expectancy. 4. The ancients tried to furnish the ideal of perfect human character — e.g., the ideals of , , Seneca. The mythologic personages. Christ appeared manifestly (1) (2) 5. The ancients had the idea of atonement. Altars lined the track of history. Christ's cry when coming into the world: "A body hast thou prepared Me. Lo! I come to do thy will." John the Baptist's recognition: "Behold the Lamb of God!" 6. The ancients tried to demonstrate the perpetuity of human life. Our strongest points in the philosophy of immortality announced by Plato. The mythology of Greeks and Scandinavians. Christ's declaration, "I am the Resurrection and the Life," demonstrated by His resurrection. (Homiletic Review.). 5195 veil 1175 God, will of 1403 God, revelation February 18. "Christ in You" (Col. I. 27). Twenty Fourth Sunday after Trinity Prayer and Spiritual Knowledge. 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