allusions in the Epistle to the Colossians to those principles proved that it also is spurious; that would be only a dictum in the face of all evidence, and utterly subversive of all history. There is no portion of the New Testament the genuineness of which the church has from the beginning, with more cordial unanimity, acknowledged, than that of this epistle.
΄
ὁ ὙΠ]. Contents of the Epistle.
The apostle addresses himself principally to Gentile Chris- tians. His object was, 1. To bring them to a just apprecia- tion of the plan of redemption, as a scheme devised from eter- nity by God, for the manifestation of the glory of his grace. 2. To make them sensible of the greatness of the blessing which they enjoyed in being partakers of its benefits. 3. To lead them to enter into the spirit of the gospel as a system which ignored the distinction between Jews and Gentiles, and united all the members of the church in one living body des- tined to be brought into full conformity to the image of Christ. 4, To induce them to live as it became a religion which had delivered them from the degradation of their condition as heathen, and exalted them to the dignity of the sons of God.
He begins, therefore, with the primal fountain of all spirit- ual blessings. He refers them to their predestination to son- ship, and their consequent election to holiness, before the foun- dation of the world. From this flowed their actual redemption by the blood of Christ; and the revelation of the divine pur+ pose to unite all the subjects of redemption in one body in Christ; in whom first the Jews, and then the Gentiles, had been made the heirs of eternal life. Ch. 1, 1-14.
He next earnestly prays that God would enable them to appreciate the hope which they were thus entitled to cherish ; the glory of the inheritance in reserve for them; and the ex- ceeding greatness of that power which had already wrought in them a change analogous to that effected in the resurrection and exaltation of Christ. For as Christ was dead and deposited in the tomb, so they were spiritually dead; and as Christ was
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XVlli - INTRODUCTION.
raised and exalted above all creatures, so they also were quick- ened and exalted to a heavenly statein Him. Ch. 1,15. 2,10.
He therefore calls upon them to contrast their former con- dition as heathen, with their present state. Formerly they were without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, without God, and without hope. But by the blood of Christ a two-fold reconciliation had been effected. The Jews and Gentiles are united as one body, and both are reconciled to God, and have equally free access to his presence. The Gen- tiles, therefore, are now fellow-citizens of the saints, members of the family of God, and living stones in that temple in which God dwells by his Spirit. Ch. 2, 11-22.
This great mystery of the union of Jews and Gentiles, had been partially revealed:under the Old Dispensation, but it was not then made known so clearly as it had since been re- vealed to the apostles and prophets of the New Dispensation; whose great vocation it was to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men understand the plan of redemp- tion, hid for ages in God, but now revealed, that through the
‘church might be made known to principalities and powers the manifold wisdom of God. Ch. 3, 1-13.
The apostle, therefore, bows his knees before the common Father of the redeemed, and prays that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith; that they being rooted and grounded in love, might be able to apprehend the infinite love of Christ, and be filled with the fulness of God, who is able to do for us far more than we are able either to ask or tothink. Ch. 3, 14~— 21.
The Gentiles, therefore, are bound to enter into the spirit of this great scheme—to remember that the church, composed of Jews and Gentiles, bond and free, wise and unwise, is one body, filled by one Spirit, subject to the same Lord, having one faith, one hope, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is in, through, and over all. They should also bear in mind that diversity in gifts and office was not inconsistent with this unity of the church, but essential to its edification. For the ascended Saviour had constituted some apostles, some prophets,