The Pulpit Commentary — Colossians — Section 137

in their own will, not iie reality. The way in which he makes it out is this: 'rhe angel-worshipper "dwells in the things which he bath seen." This must be held to be a ~eat ~lot o~ the ~evised translation. The mea~ing suggested is that the angel- "-orslupper 1s an mhab1tant of the world of sense. This is nothin" less than "rotesque, For the angel-worshipper shows the spuriousness of his humility°by confide;tly goine1 across the boundary line or sense. "Dwelling in" is a most objectionable translatio;, The word is literally to step on, to step off one place on to another. The exact sense depends on the retention or non-retention of "not" in the text. The former makes the better sense, well brought out in the old translaUon, "intrudin" into those thin"S which he bath not seen." The latter has a slight preponderance ~f authority in its favour, and may be understood as giving the sense-stepping on to the domain of the visio":?-ry. The ge~eral meaning is u1;1doubtedly this-that, w~ile p~ofessing (in his humility) that he 1s only fit to worslnp angels, he penetrates 1llee1it1mately into the in"l'isiblc world, i.e. not in the way of faith and revelation. He mak~s the large asser- tion that the Divine Being does not care for our worship. And he names (as though be had actually seen) the different orders of angels. And so the apostle makes it out to be not humility at all. It is (when unb,ued) inflation. It is inflation with what is baseless, wnreal. It is inflation from a bad principle,-the mind of the flesh (as dis- tinguished from the mind of the Spirit). That is to say, there is in it fleshly discontent with the simple contents of revelation regarding the angel-world. And there is the fleshly desire to appear to know more than is to be known. The lesson to be learned from this is that we are not to undervalue oui· humanity. We are all the greater beinas 0 that our Father in heaven is so great. "We look up in our littlenesa To thy majestic stu.te; Onr comfort is thou art so good, And that thou art so greu.t." As the angel-worshipper said that it was not for us to worship God, so the agnostic says nowadays that it is not for us to know God. If there is a God, he is not to be known, and we are not at liberty to go beyond the known. 'l'bere is an appearance of humility in that, but if there is abundant evidence against holding the existence of God in Sllspense, then it is not really an indication of humility, but rather of proud dislike of God. 2. Its renunciation of the Head. "And not holding fast the Head, from wbo:n all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, increascth with the increase of God." The apostle puts his objection to angel- worship on a strong basis of truth. The parts of the body are jointed and banded. 'l'he joints and bands serve for the body being nourished and compacted. This takes place in connection with a common centre of vital energy. The result is the increase appointed for the body by God. So Christians in their relations to one another are as joints and bands. They form lines along which communications can be sent from Christ, by which the Church is nourished and compacted and has its appointed increase. Dnt this is on condition of holding fast the Head. 'fhe angel-worship, by which the falso teachers would have tripped up the Colossians on their way to the goal, would have been a losing hold of Christ. It would have been a substituting for the mediation of Christ the mediation of inferior beings. It would have been fatal severance from him who does the whole work of mediation for men. And the same strong objection is to be taken to the regard paid to angels, to saints, especially to the Virgin Mary, in the Church of Rome. Whatever distinctions may be drawn by Roman Catholic theologians, whatever safeguards may be adopted, the practical result is whattho apostle notes here, the letting go of the all-sufficiency of the mediation of Christ and the paralyzing of tho Church's energies. III. ASCETICISM. The teaching of the apostle is that Christians are freed from mundane ordinances. "Jf ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to ordinances?" One part of the truLh of baptism is that we arc sharers with Christ in bis death. We not only die with Christ; but there is something to or from which we die. '!'his is thought of some- times as sin, sometimeB as self, sometimes as the Law. It is here thought of as the world in its rudiments, that is to say, its teachings and rules (the latter prominent CH, II. 1-23.) 'l'HE EPISTLI!: TO THE COLOSSfANS. 131