The Pulpit Commentary — Colossians — Section 112

perforce bo mado to pay homago to it and fit himself into some limited and vacant 11pace where it '!light be nbl_e _tu mako room for him l Not in Christ, it appears, but in themselves and m "the tracht10n of men," were "the treasures of wisdom and know- ledge," out of whic~ the Cliristian teaching, in its uncultured crudeness and poverty of thought, must havo its errors corrected and its deficiencies supplied l But the philosophy of theso Colossian illuminati was clearly wrong in its views both of the world and of human naturo; and no one woulcl be found now to advocate it. Their attempts to recast and rationalize Christianity proved an utter failure, and bore fruit in the next age only in_ immorality and schism. Their wisdom was but a "wisdom of words" (vers. 2, 3); they were "ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim. iii. 7). Every system of philosophy, every scheme of human life, which aUempts to patronize and to pervert to its own purposes the Christian teachirw, has, we may be sure, a like doom awaiting it. St. Paul does not seek to check the rat.ionalistic movement at Colossro by mere repression, by discouraging intellectual inquiry. On the contrary, he impresses on his readers again and again the necessity of a better understanding, a deeper knowledge of" the mystery of God" (eh. i. 6, 9, 10, 25-28; ii. 1-4; iii. 10, lG). It was their slight and imperfect Christian education which laitl them open to the attacks of sophistry and a shallow philosophy. The letter is one that appeals to and stimulates Christian thought in an extraordinary degree, and is itself a theological discipline. The spurious and plausible gnosis, " the knowledge falsely so called" (1 'l'im. vi. 20), which was fascinating the Colossians, could be cast out only by the epignosis, the advanced and peifect knowledge (compare homiletics, sects, 1, III. and 4, I., II.). What Lord Bacon said of atheism may apply with equal trnth to heresy: "A little philosophy inclineth men's mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion." 2. \Vitlt their philosophical, a priori interpretation of Christianity, the false teachers of Colossre combined a love of ceremonialism and a devotion to the externals of worship. Here we note the Jewish element in their training, while their Greek sympathies aud habits of thought betray themselves in their fundamental philosophic bias. 'Ihe motive of their religiousness was, however, radically different from that of the traditional Jewish legalism, and St.. Paul deals with it in quite another method from that which he follows in Galatians. 'l'he "philosophers" of Colossre valued Jewish ritual for its expressive- ness and symbolic truth, and practised it as a means of spiritual self-culture rather than in mere obedience to law. Hence they iusisted much on the sacred seasons and feasts, on the distinctions of meats (vers. 16, 17), on circumcision ( ver. 11), and studic,l greatly the·art of worship (vers. 18, 23); while, like the Essenes, they attached little importance to the sacrificial system of Judaism. So, at least, 'l·e should infer from the apostle's silence on these latter topics, as contrasted with the leading part they play in the Epistle to the Hebrews. '!'heir system was Jewish in its materials, but wholly different from the Jewish in spirit and tendency. But their piety was wanting in spiritual depth and reality, or they could scarcely have failed to recognize in Christ "the Image of God" (eh. i. 15), and the" new and living way" to the Father. Gou was to them so far off that they would not seek to approach him directly in the Persou of his Son, but supposed a whole hierarchy of mediators necessary, to make worship possible. He was, in their view, a great abstract Infinitude, no "living Father," no listening, answering Presence. Their religion was an elaborate arti6ce, beneficial chiefly in its reaction on themselves; and their God was shrouded, like an Oriental monarch, behind a multitude of vague and fugitive mediators, whom practically they worshipped instead of him. A like result ensues wherever the idea of a personal God is obscured an<l weakened in the minds of men, whether by philosophical reflection making him a formula, or by superstitious ignomnce treating him ns a fetish. For true worship is the converse-'' in spirit and in truth" (John iv. 23, 24), of the human children with their living Father in heaven, And this cannot well bo maintained where an ornate ceremouia.lism overpowers the senses and fills the imagination with its external pomp; or where the living God "in whom we live," and Christ the "one Mediator" (1 'l'im. ii. 5), arc so distant from tho realizations of faith, that angels, or departed saints, or the blessed virgin-mother, or ca.rthly priests and confessors, are thrust in to fill tho void, e.nd arc made in rcnlity to intercept tho soul'~ reverence aud devotion. Thtro ruo.y be o. sincere "zcnl for worship" in the anxious stu,ly of ecclesiastical dress an,l  106 TIIE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [cu. n. 1-23.