The Pulpit Commentary — Colossians — Section 164

told that onr GoJ is" a magnified, nou-natural Man," and that our notions are grossly "anthropomorphic." We cannot believe that the Power which is infinitely greater than ourselves is less than a Person. "That which may be known of God is" so far 'manifest in ourselves" (Rom. i. 19), that what we find there of highest aud most dis- tinctive-in thought, in will, iu affection, in moral self-consciousness-must needs be an index, the surest and directest that reason furnishes (for it is given by the very being of reasou itself), to the nature of that Power which made and governs us. To this first principle wo are compelled to hold, notwith~tanding the metaphysical difficulties old as human thought, which surround those indications----<lifficulties which meet every interpretation of them alike. The Incarnation has confirmed, while it has corrected, this universal assumption. In the mind of Christ, in the love of Christ, in the holy will that says," Father, I will . . . nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt" (John xvii. 24; Mark xiv. 36), we behold in its pnrest and most satisfying form that which may be known of God, and the relations in which as men we stand thereto. How much God is beyond and behind all that, we cannot guess; but he is all that, he is nothing less than, nothing different from, that which we see" in the face of Jesus Christ" (eh. i. 15; 2 Cor. iv. 4; John i. 18). (2) The man whose" life is hid with Christ" is "joined in one spirit" (1 Cor. vi. 17)-in a sympathy of love and fellowship of thought and aim the most complete of which the human soul is capablo--wit.h a living Person in heaven. He is" joined to the Lord," who has" all authority in heaven and in earth" (eh. i. 13, 15, 18; Rom. xiv. 9; John xvii. 2; Matt. xxviii. 18; Rev. i. 5), with the wisdom that touches on the one side the resources of omniscience and on the other the everyday experience of human infirmity and suffering (eh. ii. 3; 1 Cor. i. 2!; John ii. 25; xvi. 30; Matt. xi. 27; Heb. ii. 17, 18; iv.15; Rev. ii. 23), and the claims on our devotion of One who "loved us and gave himself for us" (eh. i. 14-, 20---22; Eph. ii. 13, 14; Gal. ii. 20; 2 Cor. viii. 9; John x. 15; xv. 13; Rev. i. 5; v. 12). In him we recognize personal being, personal worth, and personal rights in relation to ourselves, the highest conceivable both in kind and degree. To have a life hid wit.'i Christ is to dwell in an inward communion of heart with One whom we can perfectly trust, perfectly love, and absolutely obey. (3) This is life indeed (John vi. 53; 1 John v. 12). This fellowship supplies, as nothing else can do in the nature of thing~, the means of moral culture, the influences by which men may be "redeeILed from all iniquity" (Titus ii. 14; Gal. i. 4; John xv. 3), by which a Divine character is formed in the soul (Gal. iv. 19) and it is trained for the life of heaven (eh. i. 27; Phil. i. 6). 'l'he Christian life is nothing less the.n a Divine friendship (Johu xv. 12- 15; Isa. xii. 8 ; Exod. xxxiii. 11 ; Gen. v. 24 ; xviii. 17). To gain this life one may gladly consent to die to aUthat is alien from the life of Christ (ver. 3; eh. ii. 11, 20; Phil. iii. 7-12; Rom. vi. 2, 11; vii. 4-6). 2. A true union with Christ lifts 6ur aims above this world. "Ye were raised with Christ, see!,·, mind, the things above, where Christ is, for (from the things on the earth) ye died" (vers. 1--3). Christ has gone to heaven, and he is our Life. Thither he has carried with him our desires and hopes (Phil. i. 23; 2 Cor. v. 6-8). To be where he is, is the deepest longing of the Christian heart; and its attainment is the supreme reward of faithful service (John xii. 26; xiv. 1-6; Rev. iii. 21; xiv. 4). Heaven is the Christian's home, because he is there, .And he has gone thither, not simply as to " the place where he was before" (John vi. 62), and to which he properly belongs (John iii. 13), hut as our "Fore- runner" (Heb. vi. 20), the "Firstborn among many brethreu" (eh. i. 18; Rom. viii. 29). Heaven is the goal which he has marked out for his followers, the " Father's house," the uative city of all the members of his body, the Church (Eph. i. 18-23; Phil. iii. 20; John xiv. 2; Heb. xi. 10, 13-16). "'l'he prize of our high calling" ( Tiis /iv., Kll.~u,.,s, "that calls us above ") is bestowed at " the resurrection of the dead" (Phil. iii. 9-21). (1) As workmen, as tradesmen, as citizens, our aims terminate with the thin!Js upon the earth; as Christians, we seek the things that a.re above. 'l'he present in our view is the seed-time, the training school for the immortal future; and its valtHJ lies in what it leads to rather than in ,what it is. Our present spiritual life, the knowledge of Christ and communion with him wo now enjoy, is but "the earnest of our inheritauce," "the firstfruits of the Spirit" (Eph. i. 14; Rom. viii. 23; Phil. iii. 12-14). "By" this "hope we are ~aved" (Rom. viii. 17-25); for this, most of all, do we give thanks (eh. i. 3-5, 23; Phil. i. 6; 1 Cor. i. 7, 8; 1 Pet, i. 3-7 comp. homiletics, sect, 1,  'l'HE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. [cu. m. 1-25,