Col. i. 28. Whom we preach, warning every man, arid teach- ing every man in all ivisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
THE mystery of the Gospel was first made known to Adam in Paradise : but in process of time the real scope of it was forgotten ; and nothing of it remained but the rites whereby it was shadowed forth. To Abraham a plainer revelation of it was given ; and to Moses, a complete system of types, which were to illustrate the Gosnel in all its parts. Still, however,
the views which men had of it were obscure : the design of the ceremonial law itself was very imper- fectly understood ; and the idea of all men being saved through the crucifixion of the incarnate Deity, was almost as new to the Jews, in the apostolic age, as to the heathens themselves. Hence St. Paul speaks of it as " hid from all preceding ages and generations," and as then for the first time " mani- fested to the saints." That the memory of it might continue to the end of time, and its benefits be universally diffused, our blessed Lord appointed an order of men, whose sole business should be to spread the knowledge of it throughout the world. Amongst these St. Paul was a very distinguished instrument. He both laboured more abundantly, and suffered more severely, than any other of the Apostles.
In our text we see,
I. The ministrations of this great Apostle —
He specifies distinctly, first of all, the subject of his ministrations —
[This, as he tells us in the words preceding our text, was Christ in us the hope of glory. The words might be trans- lated, " Christ among* you the hope of glory." But whether we change, or retain, the present translation, we are sure that the death of Christ, as an atonement for sin, was that which he chiefly insisted on. He expressly tells us so in another place b, and declares that he had fully " determined to know and preach nothing else0."
This he affirmed to be the only hope of sinful man : that it was that which made satisfaction to divine justice, and procured our reconciliation with his offended Father d : that nothing could be added to it to render it more effectual6 : and that if ever we attained to happiness and glory, it must be entirely through the merit of his all-atoning sacrificed But though the sufficiency of the death of Christ for our salvation was the principal subject of the Apostle's preaching, yet the in-dwelling of Christ in the soul by his blessed Spirit was necessarily connected with it; and the two points together formed the sum and substance of all his ministrations. He
a lv is so translated, a few words before, " among the Gentiles." b 1 Cor. i. 23, 24. ° 1 Cor. ii. 2. & ver. 21, 22.
« Gal. v. 2, 4. f 1 Cor. iii. 11.