And you, being dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you, I say, did he quicken together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses. These words add no new thoughts to the passage, but are a more detailed explanation of the matters involved in the work of Christ in the soul.

I. CONSIDER THE PERSONAL QUICKENING OUT OF A STATE OF DEATH AND DEFILEMENT.

1. The condition of all men by nature - spiritual death. This death is viewed in two aspects.

(1) In relation to definite acts of transgression, as showing the power of sin and the fruit of an evil nature.

(2) In relation to the root of the evil - "the uncircumcision of your flesh;" your unsanctified, fleshly nature marked by alienation from God (see homiletical hints on Ephesians 2:1).

2. The quickening energy of God. "You did he quicken together with him." Spiritual death is put away by the quickening energy of God, which flowed into your hearts out of the risen life of Christ. You are brought up with him objectively in his resurrection, subjectively in his application of the power of his resurrection (see homiletical hints on Ephesians 2:1).

II. CONSIDER THE GROUND AND CONDITION OF THIS QUICKENING. The pardon of sin. "Having forgiven us all our trespasses." Thus spiritual life is connected with pardon, and presupposes pardon. The sins of men must be pardoned before life could properly enter. Our Lord could not have been quickened till we, for whom he died, were potentially discharged (Romans 4:25). So, indeed, the quickening presupposes at once pardon, the blotting out of the handwriting, and the victory over Satan.

III. CONSIDER THE INDISPENSABLE ACCOMPANIMENT OF THIS PARDON. The removal of the condemning power of the Law. "Having blotted out the handwriting in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross."

1. The nature and effects of this handwriting in ordinances.

(1) It is not the mere ceremonial law, though its ritual observances were symbols of deserved punishment or an acknowledgment of guilt. We cannot limit it to this law, though the outward observances of ver. 20 were specially in view; for the apostle is not here distinguishing between Jews and Gentiles.

(2) It is the whole Law, moral and ceremonial - "the Law of commandments contained in ordinances" - which fastens upon us the charge of guilt, and is the great barrier against forgiveness. It was immediately against the Jews, mediately against the Gentiles. It is the Law, in the full compass of its requirements.

(3) The hostility of this Law to us. It was "against us; it was contrary to us."

(a) Not that the Law was in itself offensive, for it was holy and just and good" (Romans 7:12); but

(b) because our inability to fulfil it or satisfy its righteous demands exposed us to the penalty attached to an undischarged obligation. It was, in a word, a bill of indictment against us.

2. The blotting out of the handwriting. It was blotted out, so far as it was an accusing witness against us, by Christ wiping it out, taking it "out of the way, and nailing it to his cross." It was not done by an arbitrary abolition of the Law; moral obligations cannot be removed in this manner; but by the just satisfaction which Christ rendered by his "obedience unto death." It was nailed to his cross, and thus its condemnatory power was brought to an end. Strictly speaking, there was nothing but Christ's body nailed to the cross; but, as he was made sin, taking the very place of sin, "bearing our sins in his own body on the tree," the handwriting, with the curse involved in it, was identified with him, and thus God condemned sin in Christ's flesh (Romans 8:3). Christ exchanged places with us, and thus was cancelled the bill of indictment which involved us in guilt and condemnation.

IV. CONSIDER THE RELATION OF THE ATONEMENT TO THE VICTORY OVER SATAN. "Having put off from himself the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." It was the cross that gave the victory over the principalities and powers of darkness, because sin was the ground of their dominion over man and the secret of their strength. But no sooner had Christ died and extinguished the guilt lying on us, than the ground of their successful agency was undermined, and, instead of being at liberty to ravage and destroy, their weapons of warfare perished. Christ on the cross, as the word signifies, reft from him and from his people those powers of darkness who could afflict humanity by pressing homo the consequences of their sin. He cast them off like baffled foes (John 12:31), made such a show of them openly as angels, if not men, could probably apprehend. He made the cross a scene of triumph to the irretrievable ruin of Satan's kingdom. - T. C.

I. TO WHAT EXTENT AND TO WHAT PERSONS THIS CONDITION APPLIES.

1. The terms of the text include Jews and Gentiles. The Jews were spiritually dead notwithstanding the ordinance of circumcision; the Gentiles in their uncircumcision. The great error of Judaism as the rabbis made it was to mistake religious ordinances for religion; equally fatal is the same error in its pseudo-Christian shape.

2. It is clear that this state is not predicated of heathen and profligates only; it is the normal condition in which men are born, and in which they live and die without grace. This is clear from Colossians 1:13; Matthew 21:1; Matthew 22; John 6:53-63; 1 John 3:14.

3. Whatever privileges of pious parentage, godly training, gospel ministrations, etc., we may have been favoured, over and above these we "must be born again."

II. SOME OF THE PARTICULARS INVOLVED IN THIS CONDITION. In death is implied —

1. Deprivation — there is something lost. We do not say that a stone is dead, it never lived. Hence the view of a stone on the highway excites no emotion or sympathy; but how different with regard to a dead bird, much more a dead man or a dead friend. Once there was spiritual life in man. He was made a living soul; now he is dead in trespasses and sins, having lost it. And yet how strange that the spectacle of this most terrible of deaths scarcely moves us.

2. Corruption. Life has its degrees: vegetable, animal, rational, but in death there are no degrees; all the dead are equally corrupt. There are differences in the sight of man, comparing man with man; there are some better characters than others, of more natural virtue, and society owes them reverence; but society was not our maker and is not our judge. This reflection should humble us. "Who maketh thee to differ from another?"

3. Helplessness. "A living dog is better than a dead lion," who is as incapable as his own shadow. The dead soul is equally helpless; without foreign aid it must lie like the tree where it has fallen. Spiritual life must be communicated before the soul can move.

4. Resurrection. The decayed vegetable dies, but to be reproduced in another form. Every falling leaf that strews the earth in autumn with the silent evidences of the fall of man, seems to catch a whisper from the breeze, "Thou shalt rise again." So when man dies the principle of his existence is not destroyed but withdrawn. But, alas for the soul that has lain in the death of sin before the body has reached the grave; that shall indeed rise again, but "to shame and everlasting contempt."

(J. B. Owen, M. A.)

The dead, as insusceptible as their kindred dust, cannot be won back to the activities of life. No voice reaches them, no spectacle arouses them, no terror seizes them. The analogies of death in souls spiritually dead are full of painful truth. They are insensible to the attractions and momentousness of Divine and eternal realities. They are not touched by that which is tender in Divine love nor awed by that which is terrible in Divine law. Alienation from God ever produces spiritual callousness. With an eye to discern sensible beauty in the marvels of creation and the triumphs of art, there is no perception of the grander beauties of holiness, no apprehension of the character and glory of the Almighty. With an ear to hear and a taste to appreciate the rich harmonies of sound, and the eloquence of human tongues, there is no ear to hear the voice of God or the whisperings of His gracious Spirit, the only true and saving Teacher of men. With a heart that can feel for the woes and miseries of our fellow-creatures, and that can cherish kindness towards them, there is no conscious love to God, and no cheerful response to His claims. The mind may be acute, the disposition amiable, the character virtuous, and yet the soul be dead, alien from God, and blind to its own greatest needs.

(J. Spence, D. D.)

The physical order is a descent from life to death; the spiritual order an ascent from death to life.

I. THE NATURAL CONDITION OF HUMANITY IS ONE OF SPIRITUAL DEATH. Man is in a condition of —

1. Spiritual insensibility. The dead know nothing, appreciate nothing; nor does the sinner of the things of God.

2. Moral corruption. "And the uncircumcision of your flesh." Death unbinds the forces that brace up the body in life, and leaves it a prey to the power of corruption.

3. Condemnation.(1) The Divine ordinances record an indictment against the transgressor.(a) Handwriting. The primary reference is to the Jews, who might be said to have signed the contract when they bound themselves, by a curse, to observe all the enactments of the law (Deuteronomy 27:14-267(b) Ordinances, though referring primarily to the Mosaic ordinances, include all forms of positive decrees in which moral or social principles are embodied or religious duties defined. Man everywhere is under law, written or unwritten; and he is morally obligated to obey it.(2) The Divine ordinances are hostile towards the transgressor. "Which was contrary to us." We are often painfully reminded of our broken bond, as the debtor is often reminded of his undischarged obligation.

II. THE BELIEVER IS RAISED INTO A CONDITION OF SPIRITUAL LIFE.

1. This life begins in the consciousness of liberty. "Having forgiven you all trespasses."

2. It implies a freedom from all condemnation.

III. THE TRANSITION OF THE SOUL FROM DEATH TO LIFE IS A DIVINE WORK.

1. God only can raise the dead.

2. He does so by a blessed union with Christ.

3. Which issues in immortal life.

(G. Barlow.)

I. SPONTANEITY. Life is neither mechanical nor forced, but proceeds from the principle of vitality within. When man by grace begins to live anew, what was formerly a burden, if it received any attention at all, becomes a pleasure. Commandments which were grievous are now joyous, and the newborn energy finds its spontaneous manifestation in loving loyalty to God's will.

II. ASSIMILATION. Life is nourished by that which may seem foreign to its nature. The rose can draw beauty and fragrance from pestilent manure, juices of the soil, radiance of sunshine and showers from heaven. So the new life derives strength even from trial and the bread of sorrow. All things work together for its good, not excepting the entanglements of the flesh and the cares of the world.

III. GROWTH. All life grows, and the Christian who does not has an unhealthy life. His privilege is to be like a tree (Psalm 1:3).

IV. ASPIRATION. Life everywhere seeks to reach the perfection of its nature. Spiritual life comes from above and seeks to rise to the level of its source. It cannot rest satisfied with the world, but puts forth its tendrils Godwards.

V. INDIVIDUALITY. No two plants, blades of grass, animals, men, are exactly alike. God loves variety in grace as well as nature. So some Christians are intellectual, some emotional, some practical; yet all are one in Christ.

(J. Spence, D. D.)

I. THE MISERABLE CONDITION OF OUR NATURE.

1. All the children of Adam are reckoned as dead.(1) Because Divine grace, the soul, as it were, of the soul, being withdrawn, a polluting mass of deadly vices succeeded in their room.(2) Because they lie under the sentence of eternal death (Ephesians 2:3).

2. The causes of this death are —(1) Actual transgressions of the Divine law — "The wages of sin is death," "The soul that sinneth it shall die."(a) This is the death of grace inasmuch as sin by its impurity dissolves the gracious union of the soul to God in which our life consists (Isaiah 59:2).(b) The death of hell (Romans 2:9).(2) The uncircumcision of your flesh, i.e., original sin, which is derived by carnal propagation and renders the very soul, as it were, carnal (Deuteronomy 10:16; Jeremiah 9:25). Every natural man is dead in this his native corruption.(a) The understanding, which is the eye of the soul, is darkened and blinded as to spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:14), and rushes into errors and deceivings (Galatians 5:20).(b) The will is depraved, its good desires weak, its unlawful desires strong (Genesis 6:5; Romans 3:1.).(c) The inferior powers of the soul are disordered, so that they refuse to obey the law of the mind (Romans 7:23). Hence the affections control, and are not controlled by reason.

3. Lessons:(1) Since every man in a state of nature is dead, it is not in the power of free will, by its own strength, to prepare for conversion, even as a dead man cannot dispose himself for his resurrection (Lamentations 5:21).(2) No man can dispose himself to any motion to quicken himself unless his mind be formed to the life of grace by God. For as every natural operation supposes a natural power, so every spiritual motion a spiritual power (Ezekiel 11:19).(3) Since the cause of death is sin, the; madness of men is discovered who administer that deadly poison to the soul and are guilty of its murder.

II. THE DELIVERER; GOD IN CHRIST, BY CHRIST, AND WITH CHRIST. God alone could impart animal life to this earth; He alone, therefore, can impart spiritual life to carnal men, which is a greater work than creation (Ephesians 2:10). Hence we may learn —

1. The eternal love of God the Father. We shudder to touch the dead bodies of our friends; but God is not only ready to touch but to embrace and restore our dead souls. This should inflame us with love to Him.

2. The infinite guilt of sin which could not be acquitted, and we justified but by the death and resurrection of Christ. This should excite our hatred and avoidance of sin.

III. THE DELIVERANCE.

1. The forgiveness of our trespasses. In this it is to be noticed that it is —(1) Gratuitous, χαρισαμενος, being derived from grace itself. It is gratuitous on our part, for we are absolved without any price paid by ourselves; but on the part of Christ we are redeemed with the price of His precious blood (Romans 3:24), and indeed either a gratuitous remission or none at all must be admitted. As to our. selves, we are not able to pay, since the debt is infinite; nor can we blot out our sins by suffering, because no suffering of the guilty is deletive of sin.(2) Universal — "All trespasses." For it does not accord with Divine majesty and goodness to remit some of our debts and require the rest from us. Because —(a) The blood of Christ being received as a ransom, it would be unjust not to remit all, since that outweighs all.(b) To forgive is an act of paternal love and cannot dwell with enmity; but enmity remains with unremitted sin, and those who admit a partial remission make God at once reconciled and hostile.(c) Unless we reckon on full remission, remission is vain; for its end is life eternal, which a partial remission cannot yield the hope of, because death is the wages of even one sin (Jeremiah 33:8; Micah 7:19; 1 John 1:9).

2. Hence we derive these corollaries —(1) To forgive sins is the property of God alone; for who can forgive another his debt while the will of the creditor is not yet understood (Isaiah 43:25).(2) As universal remission is granted on God's part there ought to be a universal detestation of it on ours.(3) Troubled consciences may be sustained, for though sin be not destroyed upon faith it is forgiven.

(Bishop Davenant.)

The same shower blesses various lands in different degrees, according to their respective susceptibilities. It makes the grass to spring up in the mead, the grain to vegetate in the field, the shrub to grow on the plain, and the flowers to blossom in the garden; and these are garnished with every hue of loveliness — the lily and the violet, the rose and the daisy: all these worketh the same Spirit that renews the face of the earth. The influences of the Holy Spirit, descending on the moral soil, produce "blessing in variety" — convictions in the guilty, illumination in the ignorant, holiness in the defiled, strength in the feeble, and comfort in the distressed. As the Spirit of holiness, He imparts a pure taste; as the Spirit of glory, He throws a radiance over the character; as the Spirit of life, He revives religion; as the Spirit of truth, He gives transparency to the conduct; as the Spirit of prayer, He melts the soul into devotion; and, as the Spirit of grace, He imbues with benevolence, and covers the face of the earth with the works of faith and labours of love.

(T. W. Jenkyn, D. D.)

Colossians, PaulColossae, LaodiceaAlive, Christ, Condition, Dead, Evil, Flesh, Forgave, Forgiven, Forgiveness, Natural, Nature, Nevertheless, Offences, Quickened, Sinful, Sins, State, Transgressions, Trespasses, Uncircumcision1. Paul still exhorts them to be constant in Christ;
8. to beware of philosophy, and vain traditions;
18. worshipping of angels;
20. and legal ceremonies, which are ended in Christ.

Colossians 2:13

     4018   life, spiritual
     5110   Paul, teaching of
     6024   sin, effects of
     6028   sin, deliverance from
     6163   faults
     6260   uncircumcised
     6511   salvation
     6647   eternal life, experience
     6728   regeneration
     9024   death, spiritual
     9313   resurrection, spiritual

Colossians 2:11-13

     6214   participation, in Christ
     7336   circumcision, spiritual

Colossians 2:12-13

     6139   deadness, spiritual

Colossians 2:12-15

     1105   God, power of

Colossians 2:12-23

     7328   ceremonies

Colossians 2:13-14

     4906   abolition
     6615   atonement, necessity
     6661   freedom, and law
     8106   assurance, nature of

Colossians 2:13-15

     2414   cross, centrality
     2525   Christ, cross of
     6653   forgiveness, divine
     8738   evil, victory over

Colossians 2:13-17

     4438   eating
     7422   ritual

Notes on the Fourth Century
Page 238. Med. 1. In the wording of this meditation, and of several other passages in the Fourth Century, it seems as though Traherne is speaking not of himself, but of, a friend and teacher of his. He did this, no doubt, in order that he might not lay himself open to the charge of over-egotism. Yet that he is throughout relating his own experiences is proved by the fact that this Meditation, as first written, contains passages which the author afterwards marked for omission. In its original form …
Thomas Traherne—Centuries of Meditations

July 18. "Ye are Complete in Him" (Col. Ii. 10).
"Ye are complete in Him" (Col. ii. 10). In Him we are now complete. The perfect pattern of the life of holy service for which He has redeemed and called us, is now in Him in heaven, even as the architect's model is planned and prepared and completed in his office. But now it must be wrought into us and transferred to our earthly life, and this is the Holy Spirit's work. He takes the gifts and graces of Christ and brings them into our life, as we need and receive them day by day, just as the sections …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

January 15. "As Ye have Received Christ Jesus So Walk in Him" (Col. Ii. 6).
"As ye have received Christ Jesus so walk in Him" (Col. ii. 6). It is much easier to keep the fire burning than to rekindle it after it has gone out. Let us abide in Him. Let us not have to remove the cinders and ashes from our hearthstones every day and kindle a new flame; but let us keep it burning and never let it expire. Among the ancient Greeks the sacred fire was never allowed to go out; so, in a higher sense, let us keep the heavenly flame aglow upon the altar of the heart. It takes very much …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

June 2. "As Ye have Therefore Received Christ Jesus the Lord So Walk Ye in Him" (Col. Ii. 6).
"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in Him" (Col. ii. 6). Here is the very core of spiritual life. It is not a subjective state so much as a life in the heart. Christ for us is the ground of our salvation and the source of our justification; Christ in us of our sanctification. When this becomes real, "Ye are dead"; your own condition, states and resources are no longer counted upon any more than a dead man's, but "your life is hid with Christ in God." It is not even always …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Christian Progress
'As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and builded up in Him.'--COL. ii. 6, 7 (R.V.). It is characteristic of Paul that he should here use three figures incongruous with each other to express the same idea, the figures of walking, being rooted, and built up. They, however, have in common that they all suggest an initial act by which we are brought into connection with Christ, and a subsequent process flowing from and following on it. Receiving Christ, being rooted …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Fear which Terminates in the Second Death.
"The fearful--shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death." The terms on which only we can be Christ's disciples are laid before us in the Scriptures, and we are counselled to consider them before we engage to be his. Though Christ was born to be a king, his kingdom is not of this world. He doth not persuade men with the prospect of great things here; but on the contrary warns his followers, that "in this world they shall have tribulation;" …
Andrew Lee et al—Sermons on Various Important Subjects

Christ Triumphant
I shall this morning, by God's help, address you upon the two portions of the text. First, I shall endeavour to describe Christ as spoiling his enemies on the cross; and having done that I shall lead your imagination and your faith further on to see the Saviour in triumphal procession upon his cross, leading his enemies captive, and making a shew of them openly before the eyes of the astonished universe. I.First, our faith is invited this morning to behold CHRIST MAKING A SPOIL OF PRINCIPALITIES …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859

A Warning to Believers
"Let no man beguile you of your reward."--Colossians 2:18. THERE is an allusion here to the prize which was offered to the runners in the Olympic games, and at the outset it is well for us to remark how very frequently the Apostle Paul conducts us by his metaphors to the racecourse. Over and over again he is telling us so to run that we may obtain, bidding us to strive, and at other times to agonize, and speaking of wrestling and contending. Ought not this to make us feel what an intense thing the …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 61: 1915

Conflict and Comfort.
"For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; that their hearts may be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ."--COL. ii. 1, 2. Although he was in prison the Apostle was constantly at work for his Master, and not least of all at the work of prayer. If ever the words …
W. H. Griffith Thomas—The Prayers of St. Paul

Bands of Love; Or, Union to Christ. "I Drew them with Cords of a Man, with Bands of Love: and I was to them as they that Take Off the Yoke on their Jaws, and I Laid Meat unto Them. " --Hosea xi. 4.
BANDS OF LOVE; OR, UNION TO CHRIST. SYSTEMATIC theologians have usually regarded union to Christ under three aspects, natural, mystical and federal, and it may be that these three terms are comprehensive enough to embrace the whole subject, but as our aim is simplicity, let us be pardoned if we appear diffuse when we follow a less concise method. 1. The saints were from the beginning joined to Christ by bands of everlasting love. Before He took on Him their nature, or brought them into a conscious …
Charles Hadden Spurgeon—Till He Come

The Disciple, -- Master, Some People Say that the Comfort and Joy that Believers Experience...
The Disciple,--Master, some people say that the comfort and joy that believers experience are simply the outcome of their own thoughts and ideas. Is this true? The Master,--1. That comfort and abiding peace which believers have within themselves is due to My presence in their hearts, and to the life-giving influence of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. As for those who say that this spiritual joy is the result only of the thoughts of the heart, they are like a foolish man who was blind from his birth, …
Sadhu Sundar Singh—At The Master's Feet

The Faithful Steward
"GOD IS LOVE." Perfectly blessed in Himself, he desired that other intelligences should participate in his own holy felicity. This was his primary motive in creating moral beings. They were made in his own image--framed to resemble him in their intellectual and moral capacities, and to imitate him in the spirit of their deportment. Whatever good they enjoyed, like him, they were to desire that others might enjoy it with them; and thus all were to be bound together by mutual sympathy,--linked …
Sereno D. Clark—The Faithful Steward

The Subordination of the Spirit to the Father and to the Son.
From the fact that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person, it does not follow that the Holy Spirit is in every sense equal to the Father. While the Scriptures teach that in Jesus Christ dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead in a bodily form (Col. ii. 9) and that He was so truly and fully Divine that He could say, "I and the Father are one" (John x. 30) and "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father" (John xiv. 9), they also teach with equal clearness that Jesus Christ was not equal to the Father in …
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit

The Person Sanctified.
"The putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh."--Col. ii. 11. Sanctification embraces the whole man, body and soul, with all the parts, members, and functions that belong to each respectively. It embraces his person and, all of his person. This is why sanctification progresses from the hour of regeneration all through life, and can be completed only in and through death. St. Paul prays for the church of Thessalonica: "The God of peace sanctify you wholly, and may your whole spirit and soul …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Assyrian Revival and the Struggle for Syria
Assur-nazir-pal (885-860) and Shalmaneser III. (860-825)--The kingdom of Urartu and its conquering princes: Menuas and Argistis. Assyria was the first to reappear on the scene of action. Less hampered by an ancient past than Egypt and Chaldaea, she was the sooner able to recover her strength after any disastrous crisis, and to assume again the offensive along the whole of her frontier line. Image Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a bas-relief at Koyunjik of the time of Sennacherib. The initial cut, …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 7

St. Basil and St. Gregory of Nazianzum; Council of Constantinople,
PART I (AD 373-381) Although St. Athanasius was now dead, God did not fail to raise up champions for the true faith. Three of the most famous of these were natives of Cappadocia--namely, Basil, his brother Gregory of Nyssa, and his friend Gregory of Nazianzum. But although Gregory of Nyssa was a very good and learned man, and did great service to the truth by his writings, there was nothing remarkable in the story of his life; so I shall only tell you about the other two. Basil and Gregory of Nazianzum …
J. C. Roberston—Sketches of Church History, from AD 33 to the Reformation

His Eyes are Like a Dove's by the Rivers of Waters, Washed with Milk, and Sitting Beside Overflowing Streams.
She goes on holding up to admiration the perfection of her Bridegroom; His abundance and His wonderful qualities are the joy of the Spouse, in the midst of her misery. His eyes, says she, are so pure, so chaste and so simple, His knowledge so purified from everything material, that they are like dove's; not like doves of any common beauty, but doves washed in the milk of divine grace, which, having been given to Him without measure, has filled Him with all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge …
Madame Guyon—Song of Songs of Solomon

Christians must not Forsake the Church of God, and Go Away and Invoke Angels And...
Christians must not forsake the Church of God, and go away and invoke angels and gather assemblies, which things are forbidden. If, therefore, any one shall be found engaged in this covert idolatry, let him be anathema; for he has forsaken our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and has gone over to idolatry. Notes. Ancient Epitome of Canon XXXV. Whoso calls assemblies in opposition to those of the Church and names angels, is near to idolatry and let him be anathema. Van Espen. Whatever the worship …
Philip Schaff—The Seven Ecumenical Councils

The Poison and the Antidote
'And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to compare the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. 5. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. 6. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 7. Therefore …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

More Particularly, in what Respect Christ is Called the Truth.
But for further explaining of this matter, we would see more particularly, in what respects it is, that he is called the truth; and this will make way to our use-making of him. So, First, He is the Truth, in opposition to the shadows and types of him, under the law. Hence, as "the law," the whole Levitical and typical dispensation, "came by Moses, so grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," John i. 17. They were all shadows of him, and he is the substance and body of them all, Col. ii. 17; and this …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Faith
'The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.' Gal 2:20. The Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us. Christ is the glory, and faith in Christ the comfort, of the gospel. What are the kinds of faith? Fourfold: (1.) An historical or dogmatic faith, which is believing the truths revealed in the Word, because of divine authority. (2.) There is a temporary faith, which lasts for a time, and then vanishes. Yet has he no root in himself, …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

In the Work of the Redemption of Man, not Only the Mercy, but Also the Justice, of God is Displayed.
In the work of the Redemption of man, not only the mercy, but also the justice, of God is displayed. 15. Man therefore was lawfully delivered up, but mercifully set free. Yet mercy was shown in such a way that a kind of justice was not lacking even in his liberation, since, as was most fitting for man's recovery, it was part of the mercy of the liberator to employ justice rather than power against man's enemy. For what could man, the slave of sin, fast bound by the devil, do of himself to recover …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

He Made the Pillars Thereof of Silver, the Couch of Gold, the Ascent Thereto of Purple; and the Midst Thereof He Strewed with Love for the Daughters of Jerusalem.
The pillars of the holy Humanity of Jesus Christ are of silver; His soul with its powers and His body with its senses being of a finished purity well set forth by the most refined and brilliant silver. His couch, which is the Divinity itself, in which Christ subsists in the person of the Word, is clearly expressed by the couch of this mysterious chariot being made all of gold, which is often put in the Scriptures for God. The ascent thereto is adorned with purple, whereby it is signified, that although …
Madame Guyon—Song of Songs of Solomon

Colossians 2:13 NIV
Colossians 2:13 NLT
Colossians 2:13 ESV
Colossians 2:13 NASB
Colossians 2:13 KJV

Colossians 2:13 Bible Apps
Colossians 2:13 Parallel
Colossians 2:13 Biblia Paralela
Colossians 2:13 Chinese Bible
Colossians 2:13 French Bible
Colossians 2:13 German Bible

Colossians 2:13 Commentaries

Bible Hub