Vers. S-15.-Tlie complete man. Tbe one thought around which we may let the many, varied, and some of them strange ideas of this paragraph gather, is the conception of the complete man. 'l'he words teach us- I. 'l'HAT 'l'HE COMPLETE MAN IS NOT LED AWAY DY ERROR m THOUGHT OR DY EVIL IN LIFE. Any one who is so led is incomplete. And the apostle is here warning his readers to be on their guard, lest, having once been emancipated from such captivity, they should be insidiously captured a.gain an<l taken away as prey i11to such slavery. His words here show: 1. How error in thouyld und evil in lij'e are closely connected. (Vers. 8, 18.) 2. The two common causes of such error and evil. "Traditions of men," mere superstitions, are the "rudiments of the world "-mere beginnings of knowledge. All such are to be condemued when they are not" after Christ;" that is, when they are not (1) doctrines of which he is the Teacher, or (2) doctrines of which he is the ultimate 'l'heme. II. 'l.'HE COMPLETE MAN DERIVES BIB COMPLETENESS FROM CHRIST. "Ye are complete in him," or we might paraphrase it, "Ye are filled up from him." This paragraph shows what Christ has done for such a man. 1. By Christ he is separated from evil. (Vers. 11, 12.) Circumcision was the great symbol of the separation of the Jews; baptism of the separation of the Christians. The complete man is as one "circumcised without hands" by Christ, bnptized as in a burial by Christ. 2. By Christ he is mad~ alii·e to goodness and to God. (Vers. 12, 13). Such a man is "risen with Christ." llo is a man marked by pre-eminent livingness. (1) The type of his livingness is here; the risen Christ; he who was gloriously alive. (2) The means of his livingness are here: through faith in the mighty power of God, which was triumplrnntly manifested in tho raising of Jesus. 3. By Christ he is emancipated from guilt. (V crs. 14, 15.) Most vi \·icl and full arc the metaphors describing emancipation from the guilt and from the power of sin. "Illottiog out handwriting," etc. And nil this work or Christ was consurnmatc,l on Calvary. He like a conqueror nailed to his cross" the wriLiu;;s" tliat were against us; on hi8 cross he openly triumphed over evil. III. CmusT TIIUS MAKES MEN COMPLETE BECAUSE OF WHAT HE IS IN lIIMSELF. The life of God must be wafted in upon man; borne in upon him. Whence? From Christ, "in whom dwells all the fullless of the Godhead bodily." There are three thoughts here about Christ. 1. .&ll the fulness of God is in him; he is not a mere emallaLion or God; not a mere flash of the light, but it~ Brightness; not a mere tone of the truth, but tho Word. 2. All the fulness of God is permanent in Christ. In him "dwelleth." He is a reservoir whose waters never fail ; he does not say be has brca,l or h& has water to bestow, but he is the Bread of life, he is the Water of life; the lloly Ghost abo,Je ur. Lim. 3. All the fulncss of God wae incarnate -in his l,umanity. It dwelt in Lim 13-l THE EPISTLE 'l'O 'l'HE COLOSSIANS. (olI, II, 1-23, --- - ----------------------·------ " b~dil_v." 'l'he pur_ity, righteousness, wisdom, compassion, love, of God wns gathered up in that human hfe. He was Immanuel, and from his fulness thus complete last- ing, human, we are fed.-U. R. T. ' '
Vers. 16-19.-0'liri'.stian indrpendence. Remembering the evils in the Church at Colossal, namely, the ccremonlalism, the asceticism, the appeal to angelic mediators, and at the same time recalling _the theme of the paragraph preceding the verses now before us, the complete sufficiency of Christ as man's Mediator, nature's Lord and Consecrator and the soul's Deliverer from bondage to ceremonies, we nre prepared to notice th~ result of Christ's work for man and over man, as here suggested, and to consider the great theme of Ohnstian independence. I. THAT CHnISTIAN INDEPENDENCE IS A FREEDOM FROM THE BONDAGE OF CEREMONY A:!-"'D OF SUPERSTITION. The sixteenth ver.se suggests what ceremony may bind men • the eighteenth what superstition may enslave them. We notice the Christian's inde~ p ·ndence: 1. From the bomiage of ceremonialism. The form of this bondaa-e varies but its spirit continues. The form of bond:Lge in those days was (1) bond~go as t~ food. There were restrictions as to meat and drink, which were rigid as any moral c,"lde. 'l'hey were mostly Jewish, and had wrongly been inserted in the Christian ~ystem. (2) Bondage a.s to days. These were also mostly Jewish anniversaries, or monthly or weekly celebrations. The claim of their observauce was so punctilious as to be a sore bondage. From both of these the Spirit of Christ frees men, .As to meats, "nothin;; was common or unclean;" as to days, the shadow thrown in advance had girnn way to the substance. 2. From tM bondage of superstition, .A heathen super- ~tition bad intruded in the form of the worship of angels, which led to" a voluntary J,umility,'' that is, to an artificial, self-conscious affectation of humility, leading to the 1,r,)stration of men before imaginary superior beings. I•'rom this parade of humility and morbidly fostered prostration Christ delivers by bringing each soul into conscious relationship with the Highest. That lofty relationship enjoyed, there will be no cring- inp: before any who are inferior to him. II. THA.T FALSE TEACIIERS SEEK TO DEPRIVE MEN OF THIS INDEPENDENCE, So they did in Paul's day, and so they do now. '!'hey "beguile" men, trip them up in the race, and binder their attaining the prize. 'l'wo sets of falso teachers so beguile men. ] . The sentim~ntalist-tbose who foster among their adherents a pietism under the name of unworldliness. 2. The sacerdotalist-tbose who exercise over their followers a priestism that makes the man a slave of the institution, instead of the institution being a servant of the man. III. THAT CHRISTIA.N nmEPENDENCE IS DERIVED FROM AND NOURISHED BY UNION wrrrr CHRIST. I. The right relationship with Christ gives independence because of tho strength flowing from union with the Head, the Source of,all power and cont~ol. ~- 'J'his right union with Christ gives independence because it involves healthy relat1onslnp to the body, i.e. all fello\v-Christians. 'l'here is none of the ruptured relalionship with Christ or the Chnrch that some count liberty, but which is really only licence. There is ratlier the being healthily and perfectly united to Christ and to the Church by the Ji,:,;amen~s of loving relalionship-ligarueuts these that hold all togeth~r and ~old all to Christ, and gfre him the complete control of all. Each soul bas hbc:ty, Just ns tho limbs of a Leal thy man have free play. l'lloreovcr, such a soul grows w1tb the growth cf God.-U. R. 'l'.