4 The Apoſtle after his exhortation, conſidering, their dan- ger from ſeducing ſpirits lying in wait to deceive by their ſleight and craftineſs, 1 Tim. 4. 1, 2. he doth here reinforce and en- large his caution he had before ſuggeſted, wv. 4. to engage £0 an heedful avoidance of all ſeduQion from Chriſt. 5 Left their Souls ſhould be made a prey, and they be carried for a ſpoil by thoſe worſt of robbers that beſet Chriſt's fold, 2 Cor. LI. 20» Gal. 6.13. © Through Philoſophy, either through the abuſe of true Philoſophy in bringing the myſtery of Chriſt under the tribunal of ſhallow reaſon, or rather through erroneous, tho curious, {pecu- lations of ſome Philoſophers, as Plato, Pythagoras, Heſiod, Oc. then in vogue , which the Gnoſti-ks afterwards (who thinking themſelves enriched with the notions of other Hereticks, would be thought the only knowing perſons) dreft up Chriſt with , not like himſelf. Their Philoſophy being a falſely ſo called ſcience or knowledge, 1 Tim. 6. 2D. whatever ſhew of wiſdom it might ſeem to carry along with it, v. 23. *twas not real- ly profitable. d But a vain deceit or ſeduftion, as ſeveral take tlie next clauſe appoſirely and the conjunQion expoſitively , yet if we conſider what follows, we may underſtand another gene- ral impoſture, viz. ſuperſtition, ſeeing vain deceit after the tradi- on of Men, is ſo like that ſuperſtition our Saviour doth rebuke in the Phariſees, Mat. 15. 9. ſeveral branches of which the Apoftle doth afterward in this Chapter diſpute againſt, ve 16. to 23, ſuperſtition might well be called deceit from the cheat 1t puts upon Men, and the notation of the Greek word, which im- ports 2 withdrawing Men from the way, Chrift, and from hs way of worſhip preſcribed in his word; And wvaiy it is as well as a deceit, ith it is empty and unprofitable, not accompanied with God's bleſſing, nor conducing to the 'pleafing of him, but the provoking of him, 7ſal. 106.29, 43. e Being led by no 0- ther rule than the tradition of Men, which is the ſame with the precepts of Men, Mark 7. 8. which God likes not, Iſa. $. 20. and 28. 13. Fohn 20. 3l. Affs 26. 22. 2 Tim. 3. 15, 16. he would not give place to human traditions in his houſe. f Nor to the Elements of the World (in alluſion to Grammar, wherein the Letters are the Elements or rudiments of all literature) 7. e. the Ceremonies of the Moſaical Law, containing a kind of Ele- mentary inſtruQion, for that ſeems to be the Apoſtle's meaning, comparing this verſe with the 20, and 21. of this Chapter, and other places, G4l. 3. 24. theſe being but corporeal, carnal and ſenſible ordinances ſuitable to a worldly ſan&tuary, Z##b. 9. 1, 10. not to be impoſed in that ſpiritual one which Chriſt hath ſet up, Fohn 4. 23, 24. Gal. 5. 2. g Whatſoever Philoſophi- cal colours, or Phariſaical paint, they might appear in, they are not after Chriſt : We ſay, a falſe Pifture of a Man, is not after the Man, being not taken from, or reſembling his Perſon, but clean another 3 ſuch deſcriptions of him as were not taken from the life and truth that was in him. And therefore he who is head of his Church, and likes not to be miſhap'd or miſ- repreſented, will not accept of homage from thoſe of his own houſe, in a livery that he hath not given order for, Lev. 10. 1. Fer. 7. 31. 2 Cor. 5. 9. how ſpecious ſoever it may be in the wiſdom of this world, and the Princes thereof, 1 Core 2. 6, To
9 For h in him : dwelleth & all the fulneſs of the Godhead 1 bodily m.
þ The cauſal particle induceth this as an argument to enforce the caution immediately foregoing, againſt thoſe who did ſeek to draw from Chrift by Philoſophy, as well as urging the cere- monial Law, elſe the Apoſtle's reaſoning were not cogent unleſs againſt both. 7 *Tis evident that the Lord Jeſus Chriſt him- ſelf, whom he had deſcribed and but juſt now named, is the ſub- jea, the Perſon of whom he ſpeaks, and in whom is ſeated, and to whom he attributes what followeth, ch. 1. 19. Fohn 1. 14. 1 Tim. 4. 16. he doth not ſay in hs do#rin, whatever Socinians cavil, as if they would render the Apoſtle abſurd and not to agree with himſelf in what he aſſerts of Chriſt's Perſon before (as hath been ſhewed) and after in the Context. *Tis plain, this. relative kim, reſpeas not only v. 8. but the 11th, &c. in
whom the believing Coloſſians are ſaid to be compleat as their head,
both in the former Chapter, and ſoon after in thiszz Would it not be abſurd to ſay, Chriſt's Dottrin is the head of Angels ? we are crucified in the Dodtrin of Chriſt , buried and quickned together with his Do&rin? The hand-writing of ordinances was nailed to the croſs of Dottrin? Is a Dottrin the head of principalitics and powers ? Can a DoGtrin be buried in Baptiſm, Ec. To ſilence all the Earth that they ſhould not reftrain it to Chriſt's Doarin only, what he aſſerts. of his perſon, Paul, af- ter Chrift had been ſeveral years in Heaven, put it in the pre- ſent tenſe. k Dwelleth, not dwelt (as 2 Tim. 1.5.) in regard of the perſon eternally the ſame, ZAeb. 13. $. for his argument had not been cogent, to contain Chriſtians in the faith of Chriſt, and their duty to him, to have alledged in the doQrin,of Chrift now in Heaven hath dwelt all the fulneſs of the Godhead, bodi- ly (could propriety of ſpeech have allowed it) but from the 0-
ther reſpect becauſe in their very fleſh (the body of Chriſt now |
an inhabitant of the Heavens) the very Godhead in the whole fulneſs thereof , perſonally from the moment of his incarnation doth yet dwell 3 what will not the faithful perform and work out with their utmoſt faith, that they may never ſuffer themſelves to be rent from ſpiritual and myſtical union with him, in whom they underſtand that even they themſelves ſhall be alſo divinely filled, v. 10. 7.e. in their meaſure be made partakers of the divine nature, 2 Pet. 1. 4. Dwelleth imports more than a tran- tient ſtay for a few minutes, or a little while, even abiding in
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COLOSSIANS.