The apostle now notices the theological error of the false teachers, which was the interposition of angelic mediators between God and man. "Let no man rob you of your prize by a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, dwelling in the things he hath seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind."

I. ANGEL WORSHIP IS CLEARLY CONDEMNED.

1. The angel whom John would have worshipped, said, "See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant.., worship God" (Revelation 22:9).

2. God will not share his rights with another. "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God." The first commandment forbids all other worship.

3. There is but one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5, 6). Papists say that the apostle merely condemns such worship of angels as excludes Christ, but the condemnation is most absolute and simple. Besides, Christ is declared to be the one single and only way to the Father, to the exclusion of all angelic mediators. "No man cometh unto the Father but by me;" "If ye shall ask anything in my Name, I will do it" (John 14:6, 14). "We offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God, by Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:5).

4. The worship of angels implies an omniscience on their part which belongs only to God. God only knows the hearts of men (2 Chronicles 6:30).

5. Our Lord's superiority to all angels, as asserted in Hebrews 1. and it implies the same condemnation; for they are merely "ministering spirits, sent to minister to the heirs of salvation."

II. THE MOTIVE OF THIS ANGEL WORSHIP. "A voluntary humility." The idea of the false teachers, like that of modern Papists, was that God was so high and inaccessible that he could only be approached through the mediation of inferior beings. It was remembered that the Law was given "by the ministration of angels" (Acts 7:53), and that angels exercised a certain tutelary guardianship (Daniel 10:10-21). But it was, after all, a mere parade of humility to approach God through the mediation of such inferior creatures. It implied, besides, a serious misrepresentation of the fitness of the one Mediator, of whom it was said, "It behoved him to be made like to his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God" (Hebrews 2:17). He surely can sympathize with us even more closely than angels, for he shared our human nature. It was, therefore, a false and perverted humility that sought the intercession of angels.

III. THE SPIRIT THAT SHAPED THIS DOCTRINE OF ANGEL WORSHIP. "Dwelling in the things he hath seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind."

1. The false teachers claimed to have visions of the heavenly world and a knowledge of angels which they could not possibly possess. They claimed to know the secrets of a region which they had never seen.

2. They were filled with great self conceit, notwithstanding their parade of excessive humility. "Vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind." The Gnostic tendency was always associated with an assumption of superior knowledge, but it was an utterly groundless assumption. It was "in vain." It was without reason or ground. God would resist it (James 4:7); men would not regard it (Proverbs 11:2); and they themselves would inherit nothing by it but folly (Proverbs 14:8; 1 Timothy 6:4). Even where real visions are vouchsafed, there is a temptation to self elation, as in the case of the Apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 12:7). But, in the case of false visions, the tendency would be still more manifest. The mind would be "the mind of the flesh," as it is literally; not "the mind of the Spirit." It was "the carnal mind that is enmity with God." Let us rather seek to become "fools that we may be wise" (1 Corinthians 3:18), and not be "puffed up one against another." It is knowledge that puffeth up (1 Corinthians 8:1); it is only love that edifieth.

IV. THE NEGATIVE SOURCE OF THE HERESY OF ANGEL WORSHIP. "Not holding the Head from whom the whole body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, increaseth with the increase of God." The Colossian errorists invented angel worship because they did not see in Christ the true and only Mediator who was to bridge the chasm between God and men. They put inferior beings in the place of him who is the only Source of spiritual life. They did not "hold the headship' doctrinally; they had no individual or vital adherence to the Head as the Source of life to them.

1. Jesus Christ, as the Head, is the true Source of spiritual life and energy. He who is "at once the lowest and the highest," who is "the Word made flesh," "raises up man to God, and brings God down to man" The fulness of the Godhead resides in him bodily, and out of that fulness he communicates freely to us.

2. The relation of the body to the Head. "From whom the whole body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands."

(1) The care of Christ extends to every member of the body. We must likewise learn to extend our love to all the saints.

(2) There is a double effect produced by the relation of Head and members.

(a) The supply of nutriment. Christ is the sole Source of supply to our souls - "through the joints." God calls us "to this fellowship with his Son" (1 John 1:7).

(α

) We can have no spiritual nutriment from Christ till we have believed in him.

(β

) The joints through which our supply of grace comes cannot be broken. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" (Romans 8:39).

(γ

) It is through these joints we receive Christ's "unsearchable riches" (Ephesians 3:9); all spiritual blessings in heavenly places" (Ephesians 1:3); so that we come behind in no spiritual gift.

(b) The compacting of the frame into a perfect unity - "knit together by bands." Christ is the Source of the Church's unity. "He hath made both one" (Ephesians 2:14). There is a unity of faith, a unity of spiritual life, a unity of ordinance, a unity of love, a unity of final destiny, in the Church, by virtue of her connection with her Head.

3. The end of this relation. "Increaseth with the increase of God;" that is, with the increase which he supplies.

(1) The body grows extensively, by the addition of new members; it grows intensively in grace, knowledge, and the practice of all holy duties.

(2) he First Cause of all this growth is God. Paul may plant, and Apollos water, but "it is God who gave the increase" (1 Corinthians 3:6). Thus through Christ, God and man are linked together; the finite and the Infinite are reconciled; the great problem of speculation has been at last practically solved.

V. THE DANGER OF ANGEL WORSHIP. "Let no man rob you of your prize." The apostle implies that the prize of eternal life - "the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" - would be lost by turning aside from the Head to angelic mediators. We must not "lose what we have wrought" in this way (2 John 1:10). "Let no man take thy crown" (Revelation 3:11). Let us, therefore, avoid "profane babblings and oppositions of science falsely so called" (1 Timothy 6:20), and hold fast "the faith once delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:4). - T. C.

I. THE SPECULATIVE SIDE OF THE COLOSSIAN HERESY. In the Authorized Version the apostle is made to bring a charge of presumption against the false teachers "intruding into the things which he hath not seen." But this is a strange argument for one whose whole walk was by faith and not by sight, and who would hardly count it an answer to a professed revelation to say "you are intruding into that which you have not seen, and therefore you cannot know" with modern materialists. But this difficulty is removed in the Revised Version, which, on high authority, omits the "not," and inverts the argument. Again, the Greek word "intruding into" means "dwelling in" or "taking his stand upon," and the charge now becomes that of self-complacent self-conceit.

1. This man has "seen things," the exact equivalent of our "a man has views," a phrase of which obscure thinkers are very fond. The Colossian speculator may have professed to see visions and revelations of the Lord, and to bare come back from the third heaven to reveal them; or, if not this, to have seen things in the tone of an arrogant thinker, who gives his notions the style of certainties, verified with the eye of the mind, "dwelling in" them with complacent satisfaction as the whole of truth.

2. Or we may take the marginal reading, "taking his stand upon" his views; regarding them as land which he has won with his intellectual bow and spear, and from which he can go on to move or conquer the universe.

3. These new thinkers spoke much of the mind, made knowledge the bait of their enticements, endeavoured to establish an aristocracy of intellect within that Christian society which was free to all comers, and in which the wise and prudent are set side by side with babes. How striking is St. Paul's language, "idly inflated with the mind of his flesh." So far from being edified into the spiritual realm it was merely puffed up, and had its moving power in the repudiated sphere of matter. That Paul would so describe all so-called modern thought which sets aside Christ is certain.

II. We pass on to verse 23 to THE PRACTICAL SIDE OF THE NEW HERESY.

1. Here we have its treatment of matter, how its teachers sought by ceremonial prohibitions (ver. 21) to counteract the deadly influence of sense in spirit, and to mortify the body as an enemy of the spiritual life. It was a plausible, and perhaps, in its origin, a well-intentioned effort. It was nobler than that which treats matter as of no moment. But the two perversions have one root. Asceticism and licence both rob the body of its dignity as the servant of the spirit.

2. St. Paul admits that the ascetic rules have a show of wisdom; they speak plausibly, and promise largely by their will worship, i.e., their religion of self-imposed observances; by their humility, i.e., their obsequiousness; and by their severity to the body, i.e., their mortifying restrictions.

3. Thus far both versions agree. But now the Authorized Version says, "not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh." This leaves out a particle which demands a contrast. But without this is it in accordance with St. Paul's teaching to blame a system for not satisfying the flesh? Indeed, the Greek word is "indulgence." But the Revised Version has inserted the particle of antithesis, and reads, "but are not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh." The language is borrowed from the medical profession. What is good for it? What is a valuable remedy for such and such a disease? Indulgence of the flesh is the disease; can asceticism cure it? St. Paul says no! It sounds well, professes loudly, but has no real value.

4. Rules of abstinence, regulations as to food or drink — lawful, indeed, but from which it is an act of religion to abstain — have a show of wisdom; they point to a terrible evil and profess to cure it; they are well sounding words, "temperance" and the like; they talk of the value of humility in bending the neck to discipline. St. Paul does not deny that the conquest of the body is good, and that the means have something to say for themselves; but he declares as a man of large experience who has tried all means, and who is taught of God that all such regulations will fail.

III. THE TRUE PRINCIPLE OF CHRISTIAN THINKING AND LIVING.

1. In Christ Jesus are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. They who do not hold fast the Head therefore, whatever they may think or see or dream, cannot but be puffed up and not edified.

2. In Christ with whom our life is hid in God (chap. Colossians 3:1) can alone be found the secret of the victory over the flesh which is the professed object of every system of ethics. If ye are dead what need of "touch not," etc.? If ye are risen the chains of flesh shall fall off by the influence of the spiritual life.

(Dean Vaughan.)

I. THE WARNING.

1. "Let no man rob you of your prize." The metaphor is that of the race or wrestling ground; the judge is Christ, the reward is the crown, not of fading bay leaves, but of sprays from the "tree of life" which dower with blessedness the brows round which they are wreathed. The tendency of the heresy is to rob them of this. No names were mentioned, but the portrait of the robber is drawn with four rapid but accurate strokes of the pencil.(1) "Delighting in humility and the worshipping of angels" —(a) The humility has not a genuine ring about it. Self-conscious humility in which a man takes delight is not the real thing. A man who knows that he is humble and is self-complacent about it, glancing out of the corners of his downcast eyes at any mirror where he can see himself, is not humble at all. "The devil's darling vice is the pride that apes humility."(b) So very humble were these people that they would not venture to pray to God. The utmost they could do was to lay hold of the lowest link of a long chain of angel mediators in hope that the vibration might run upwards through all the links, and perhaps reach the throne at last. Such fantastic abasement which would not take God at His word, nor draw near to Him through Christ, was the very height of pride.(2) "Dwelling in the things he hath seen," i.e., by visions, etc. The charge against the false teachers was of "walking in a vain show "of unreal imaginations.(3) "Vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind." The self-conscious humility was only skin deep, and covered the utmost intellectual arrogance. The false teacher was like a blown bladder, dropsical from conceit of "intellectual ability" which was after all only the instrument of the flesh, the sinful self. Of course, such could have no grip of Christ, from whom such tempers were sure to detach.(4) Therefore, the damning indictment closes with "not holding the head."

2. The special forms of these errors are gone; but the tendencies which underlay them are as rampant as ever.(1) The worship of angels is dead, but we are often tempted to think that we are too sinful to claim our portion of the promises. The spurious humility is by no means out of date, which knows better than God whether He can forgive, and grasps at others as well as Christ, the one Mediator.(2) We do not see visions and dream dreams, except that here and there some one is led astray by "spiritualism," but plenty of us attach more importance to our speculations than to the clear revelation of God in Christ. The "unseen world" has for many an unwholesome attraction. The Gnostic spirit is still among us which despises the foundation truths of the gospel as milk for babes, and values its baseless artificial speculations about subordinate matters which are unrevealed because they are subordinate, and fascinating to some minds because unrevealed, far above the truths which are clear because they are vital, and inspired because clear.(3) And a swollen self-conceit is, of all things, the most certain to keep a man away from Christ. We must feel our utter helplessness and need before we shall lay hold of Him; and whatever slackens our hold of Christ tends to deprive us of the final prize. "Hold fast that thou hast; let no man take thy crown."

II. THE SOURCE AND MANNER OF ALL TRUE GROWTH is set forth in order to enforce the warning and to emphasize the need of holding the head.

1. Christ is not merely represented as supreme and sovereign, but as the source of spiritual life.

2. That life which flows through the head is diffused through the whole body by the various and harmonious action of all the parts. The body is "supplied and knit together," i.e., the functions of nutrition and compaction into a whole are performed by the "joints and bands," in which last word are included muscles, nerves, tendons. Their action is the condition of growth, but the Head is the source of all. Churches have been bound together by other bonds, such as creeds, polity, nationality; but an external bond is only like a rope round a bundle of faggots.

3. The blessed results of supply and unity are effected through the action of the various parts. If each organ is in healthy action the body grows. There is diversity in offices; the same life is light in the eyes, beauty in the cheek, strength in the hand, thought in the brain. The effect of Christianity is to heighten individuality, and to give to each man his own proper "gift from God." The perfect light is the blending of all colours.

4. A community where each member thus holds firmly by the Head will increase with the increase of God. There is an increase not of God. These heretical teachers were swollen with dropsical self-conceit. The individual may increase in apparent knowledge, in volubility, in visions and speculations, in so-called Christian work; the Church may increase in members, wealth, influence, etc., and it may not be sound growth, but proud flesh that needs the knife.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

A false philosophy —

I. THREATENS TO ROB THE RELIEVER OF HIS REWARD. Many erroneous opinions may be held without invalidating salvation; but any error that depreciates our estimate of Christ, and interrupts the advance of our Christian life, is a robbery.

II. ADVOCATES THE MOST PRESUMPTUOUS AND PERILOUS SPECULATIONS.

1. It affects a spurious humility. God is unknowable to the limited powers of man, so it reasons. But this humility was voluntary, self-induced, and was in reality another form of spiritual pride.

2. It invents a dangerous system of angelolatry.

3. It pretends to a knowledge of the mysterious. Locke says a work in the drawer of a cabinet might as well pretend to guess at the construction of the universe, as man venture to speculate about the unseen world.

III. IGNORES THE DIVINE SOURCE OF ALL SPIRITUAL INCREASE.

1. Christ is the great Head of the Church — the centre of its unity, the source of its life, authority, and influence.

2. The Church is vitally and essentially united to Christ.

3. The vital union of the Church with Christ is the condition of spiritual increase. Lessons: A false philosophy —

1. Distorts the grandest truths.

2. Substitutes for truth the most perilous speculations.

3. Against its teachings be ever on your guard.

(G. Barlow.)

I. THE APOSTLE BRANDS THE SEDUCERS AND CONCLUDES THAT NO REGARD IS TO BE PAID TO THEM.

1. Because in sacred things they arrogated to themselves, by no right whatever, a power of determining as the judges were accustomed in contests. These voluntary umpires decreed the reward of eternal life to none who were unwilling to subscribe to their doctrines. Therefore, as St. Paul struck at this usurpation, we must understand that no such power is granted to man that he should determine anything in religion of his own will; but is bound to judge according to Scripture (Isaiah 8:20). Hence estimate Romish tyranny which claims this very power.

2. They abused their power to deceive Christians. A director of the games, if he should order any one to run outside the course, would deprive him of his prize; because he would never that way arrive at the goal. So they who direct Christians to seek salvation apart from Christ, endeavour to beguile them of their reward (Hebrews 3:14). This condemnation rests on all who would lead us from the simplicity of Christ.

II. HE SHOWS IN WHAT INSTANCE THEY ABUSED THEIR USURPED AUTHORITY. The foolish lowliness of mind which would seek the mediation of angels rather than that of Christ, is rebuked because Christ is more united to us than the angels (Romans 5:2; Hebrews 4:16; Ephesians 3:12).

1. Because from this and similar places there arises between us and the Papists a great controversy about the worship of angels and deceased saints who are equal to the angels (Luke 20:36); let us see with whom the truth lies.(1) Religious worship, whether it be called latria or dulia, is given to God alone, and not to angels or saints. "Religion," says Cicero, "is that which is comprised in the pious worship of the gods," and Hilary says that "religion paid to the creature is accursed." With this Scripture agrees (Deuteronomy 6:13; Galatians 4:8; Revelation 19:10). The foundation of religious worship is infinite excellence apprehended under the consideration of our first cause and chief good; it is not a sufficient reason therefore, for offering to them, that angels and saints are endowed with supernatural gifts, or procure for us many good things, unless they are the first and chief cause to us of our chief good.(2) The Papists ascribe to angels and even to saints supreme religious worship no less than these seducers here censured.(a) Prayer is an act of latria or highest worship; for where we pray we acknowledge that its object can hear, deliver, and answer (Psalm 50:15). But this is offered to saints.(b) To make a vow to another is an act of latria, due to God alone (Isaiah 19:21; Psalm 1:14). But vows are made to angels and saints.(c) To erect a house of prayer, to raise altars and offer incense upon them to any one is to pay Divine honour to him (Exodus 30:37; Matthew 21:13). But this is done wholesale by Rome to the angels and saints.

2. Paul rejects this doctrine, because(1) it proceeded from those who are accustomed rashly to invent and speak about matters unknown to them (1 Timothy 1:7). For they cannot trace angel or saint worship to the Word of God, or learn it from the example of prophets or apostles. Hence we may infer —(a) That their bold curiosity is not to be endured who intrude themselves into the determining of things, the investigation of which surpasses human wit (Romans 12:3).(b) Concerning religious matters nothing should be determined without a sure foundation, i.e., the Word of God, for whatever things we see relating to our salvation we find here. He who obtrudes anything not found there, hath not seen it but imagined it.(c) They, therefore, exercise tyranny over the Church who anathematize all who reject commandments of men for articles of faith.(2) The authors of this doctrine are puffed up with pride, and thence presume that their inventions are the dictates of truth. The fleshly mind denotes the animal man, or perspicacity, unenlightened by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14).

(Bp. Davenant.)

One of the saddest incidents connected with the disastrous fire at Chicago is that so many trusted not only their goods, but their lives, to buildings that were regarded as fireproof, and that they perished together. Dr. Goodall records similar incidents connected with the great fire at Constantinople in 1831, and makes a suggestive reflection: "We, like many others, fared the worse for living in houses which were considered fire-proof. In the great burning day may no such false confidence prove our ruin."

(Christian Age.)

Thomas a Becket wore coarse sackcloth made of goats' hair from the arms to the knees, but his outer garments were remarkable for splendour and extreme costliness, to the end that, thus deceiving human eyes, he might please the sight of God.

(Hoveden.)

A person who had long practised many austerities, without finding any comfort or change of heart, was once complaining to the Bishop of Alst of his state. "Alas!" said he, "self-will and self-righteousness follow me everywhere. Only tell me when you think I shall learn to leave self. Will it be by study, or prayer, or good works?" "I think," replied the bishop, "that the place where you lose self will be that where you find your Saviour."

The discoveries of modern physiology have invested the apostle's language with far greater distinctness and force than it can have worn to his own contemporaries. Any exposition of the nervous system more especially reads like a commentary on his image of the relations between the body and the head. At every turn we meet with some fresh illustration which kindles it with a flood of light. The volition communicated from the brain to the limbs, the sensations of the extremities telegraphed back to the brain, the absolute mutual sympathy between the head and the members, the instantaneous paralysis ensuing on the interruption of continuity, all these add to the completeness and life of the image. Bearing in mind the diversity of opinion among ancient physiologists, we cannot fail to be struck in the text, not only with the correctness of the image, but also with the propriety of the terms; and we are forcibly reminded that among the apostle's most intimate companions at this time was one whom he calls "the beloved physician" (Colossians 4:14).

(Bp. Lightfoot.)

I. THE HEAD SUPPLIES ALL THINGS NECESSARY TO ITS MEMBERS. In worshipping angels the seducers diminished the dignity of Christ, for they took away from Him the prerogative of the Head, and incorrectly judged of His virtue and sufficiency. For Christ, the God Man, is Head of the Church. If they acknowledged Him as God they would seek from Him alone grace and salvation; if as man, they would not solicit angels to intercede for them, since Christ, our Elder Brother, sits continually at the right hand of God. Hence we may infer —

1. That they who are concerned about their salvation, ought never to turn their eyes from their Head in whom alone is salvation.

2. Christians are seduced to do so, and do not hold the Head, whenever they embrace new doctrines, worship, means of salvation never prescribed by Christ and His apostles (1 Timothy 6:3, 4).

II. THE HEAD BINDS AND KNITS TOGETHER THE SAME. TO ITSELF AND TO EACH OTHER.

1. The effect obtained from cleaving to Christ is that the whole body has by joints nourishment ministered.(1) The joints are(a) The Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9). As that member is not united to the head which is not animated by the same essence as the head itself, neither is that Christian united to Christ who lacks His Spirit.(b) The gifts of the Spirit, e.g., faith by which as a secondary mean we are united to Christ, and receive the remission of sins and all the grace promised in the gospel (John 6:85).(2) The whole body thus adhering to Christ hath nourishment ministered. The Greeks called him "minister" who supplied all the apparatus to the leaders of the sacred dances. By a metaphor derived from this he is said "to supply the expenditure" who furnishes to another the things necessary for any particular object; and the word used by Paul signifies the doing of this copiously and abundantly by Christ, who supplies all the means of salvation. For whether we regard the grace making grateful, or grace gratuitously given, Christ abundantly supplies both to His Church by His Spirit.(a) Of that grace which has reference to justification and sanctification, Paul testifies (Romans 8:10; 2 Corinthians 8:9) that it is ministered to all His members by Christ.(b) The same with that which relates to the edification of the Church (1 Corinthians 12:7, etc.; Ephesians 4:11).(3) We may here observe —(a) That in the whole body of the Church is not a single dry member, but all are watered by streams of grace flowing from the Head.(b) To adhere to the Pope as a visible head, does not constitute membership, but adherence to Christ. Therefore the ungodly are not true members, to whatever visible Church joined, unless by the joints of the Spirit and faith they are united to Christ.(c) As to doctrine and salvation the Church is supplied from its. Head, not one member from another.(d) The Papists err, who will have the Church to draw the doctrine of salvation, not alone from Christ, but from tradition; who will have her receive holiness, merit, etc., not from Christ alone, but the saints. If this be so, the text is not true.

2. By virtue of the Head, the whole body is knit together (Romans 12:5). The "bands" are the same- the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. For the same Spirit who unites us to Christ is the principal band by which we are united to each other (1 Corinthians 12:13), and after He is infused into all the ligaments of the Church, He enkindles in every one that excellent gift of charity which is also the firmest bond of cohesion. The other ties are diversities of gifts and callings emanating from the same Spirit (Ephesians 4:11, 12).

III. THE FRUIT OF THIS UNION.

1. While united to Christ by faith, and knit together by love, the whole body of the Church increaseth in faith, love, holiness, and all saving grace. This growth is said to be of God as He is the primary agent (1 Corinthians 3:6), and because it tends to His glory as the ultimate end.

2. Observe of this increase —(1) As there is a growth in the natural body in all its parts, so in the mystical body all the members increase spiritually.(2) Not every increase is approved. A member of the body is not said to increase when it is inflated with any bad humour. So the piety of a Christian man is not increased when his mind is filled with tradition and will worship, which proceed not from the Spirit, but from the empty mind of ignorance and pride.(3) Be not deceived by that incongruous mass of opinions of the Romish Church. The kingdom of the Pope may be increased, viz., by temporal things, traditions, superstitions, not by the knowledge of God and piety.

(Bp. Davenant.)(See also on chap. Colossians 1:18, and Ephesians 4:16.)

Colossians, PaulColossae, LaodiceaFALSE, Delights, Detail, Disqualify, Dwelling, Fleshly, Goes, Humility, Idle, Mind, Notions, Prize, Puffed, Puffs, Rob, Unspiritual, Vainly, Voluntary, Worship, Worshipping1. 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 2:18

     1615   Scripture, sufficiency
     4114   angels, and praise
     5038   mind, the human
     5334   health
     5830   delight
     5864   futility
     8140   prize
     8476   self-discipline
     8623   worship, of God
     8831   syncretism

Colossians 2:12-23

     7328   ceremonies

Colossians 2:16-18

     5821   criticism, among believers
     8824   self-righteousness, nature of

Colossians 2:16-19

     7025   church, unity

Colossians 2:16-23

     5441   philosophy

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

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