The Pulpit Commentary — Colossians — Section 63

which the ,Tc,rs were forbidden_ to repr~sent God under any bodily form wns that he had no bodily form. He was m the fifteenth verse declared to ho the invisible God. "Now, ii he had o. body and hid it from our eyes, he might be saicl not to be seen, but could not be Mid to be invisible" (Chamock). And yet he whose divinity (from lan- i;runge in preceding verses) is indubitable has here ascribed to him a body, Ho Bppeared in Old Testament times in what Wllll the semblance of a body; but it is a real body t.hat is here ascribed to him. That is to 11ay, we have what we cannot understand-the Di'l"ine spirit.nRlity, and yet a body. (2) God in the form of flesh. The Second Person did not receive a body unique in kind. He did not receive our body in its paradisical or ideal state; but as it was actually, inheriting the effects of the !<'all. He received it from Mary. If there was a puriiying (from the Holy Ghost), what he received Wl\S none the less flesh. He appeared in flesh in the midst of human history. That is to say, he whose existence formed the ground upon which history went forward, became himself part of history, became himself an historical Persona.go. (3) God in the experi- er.a of death. Flesh is a weak thing. It cannot well stand the shocks of time. Its transitoriness is being ever evidenced. "All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the fold." "And the Word became flesh," it is said, and tho.t carried with it a weak, transitory ex:istence. In flesh he had to pass through the cx:perience of death. That is to say, we have this as the climnx of the mystery-that he, who is the absolutely Living One, in experience went round to the opposite pole of death. In accordance ,\ith this, we can pray in such words as these: " Good Lor<l, deliver us: by the mystery of thy holy incarnation; by thy holy nativity and circum- cision; by thy baptism, fasting, and temptation; by thine agony and bloody sweat; by thy cross and passion, Good Lord, deliver us." 'l'his is said by unitarians to be a materi,aJ,izing of Goel. God came into time, assumed human·ity nineteen ltundred years ago. That is what Christianity says, what stamps it as an historical religion. It is only to be scouted as a lowering of God on the supposition that it is impossible for God to descend. But if it is possible for God, impelled by love, to descend (and the possibili- ties of love are matt.er of revelation), then we have a grand historical, commencement in God descending through the infinite interval into time and into humanity. Ho descended, according to the teaching here, in the Father's Name to ma'lre reconciliation. 'l'he foundation of this reconciliation was laid principally in the great historical fact of l,i.s death. It was death in perfect submission to the will of God. It was death as the desert of sin. It was death deriving infin_ite value from the fact that the Person dying was the Son of God. To this Reconciler in humanity all can cling. His reconciliation would seem to h.a,·e a universality extending beyond humanity, Within humanity Gentiles as well as Jews were included. "I am a man, and there is nothing human foreign to·me." All alike can cling to God appearing in humanity and can participate in the benefits of his work performed in humanity. 3. The ultimate of reconciliat-ion. "To present yon holy and without blemish and unreprovable before him." "Before him" is to be understood as before God, and points to a time when we shall be in the presence of God in a sense in which we arc not now in the presence of God. It is God also who presents here; but, as God reconciles through Ch1ist, so also he presents through Christ (in accordance with Eph. v. 27). (1) l'ositively. !]oly. This is to be taken in its full contents. We are now consecrated to God (as ancient Israel). At our presentation we shall have all the inward dispositions that correspond to our outward consecration. Our spiritual susceptibilities, affinities, aspirations, will correspond to the presence of God into which we come. (2) Negatively. Without blemish. 'l'his is the cc,nstant sacrificial expression. Whatever was offered to God was to be without Uemish. It would belong to the officiating priest to pronounce upon the fitness of an animal for sacrifice. There is a Greek word which means "blemish-examiner." Such Christ is to those who are t<, be presented to God. In his inspection of the seven Churches he discovercrl blemishes in them. We shall not be in a fit state for presenta- tion to God until all ,blemishes have been removed from ns. Unreprovable. This is a fullowing up of the previous expression. Pronounced upon by Christl our position befort: God i.;; for ever secured, our character is unimpeachable. No one can come in after him to reverse hi;; decision. There cannot be ground for any subsequent charge being brought against us. 4. Gentl,e ex/1,Qf'tatwn to 6teadfastness. (1) In faith. "It BO be that ye continue in the faith." To have so much done for us as is implied in our  CU, I, 1-20.] 'l'lIE EPISTLE 'fO THE COLOSSIANS. 57