The Pulpit Commentary — Colossians — Section 167

lc,nce. There he marks it out as peculiar from all other sins in being a sin against a man's own body, and an especial insult and outrage to the Holy Spirit who claims the lrnman body for his temple (1 Cor. vi. 13-20: comp. 1 'l'hess. iv. 2-8). Thero are too many evidences in the state of modern society, both in high quarters and in low, that as Christian sentiment grows weak and religious faith dies down, in the same proportion the perversion of the sexual passions follows, with its invariable result in the relaxation of moral fibre, the destruction of social confidence, and the physical decay of the corrupted race. Man begins by denying his Maker, and ends by degrading himself, '!'here aro times and places where plain speaking on this subject is needful, and no prudery or sentimental delicacy should prevent it. The tempted must bo warned; the guilty rebuked; bodily self-respect must be taught in good time. 'fho pure will know how to do this, like the apostle himself and like his Master, "in all purity." When once inward chastity has been lost and uncleanness spots the soul, the stain is not easily effaced. Evils of this kind flourish in the dark and love to be ignored. 2. Covetous- ness is idolatry. (Ver. 5.) It is, obviously nnd directly, "worshipping and serving the creature" (Rom. i 25). While it appears to be self-love, it is really the sacrifice of lSelf to the world, offered at the shrine of wealth, or fame, or pleasure. The man seeks to gain power over other men or things; but if this becomes hi8 supreme desire, or if he seeks to attain it by evil means, then from that moment the object of his guilty 1mrsuit gains power over hiin, and begins to entangle and enslave him (John viii. 34; Hom. vii. 23). His passion becomes his tyrant, his ambition an insanity, his pursuit of pleasure an infatuation. Even the thirst for knowledge, tho noblest of natural desires, may grow into a selfish greed, jealous and grasping, eating out the best affections, and producing an accomplished scholar, a master of science, void of all goodness of heart and human worth. All creaturely things, regarded out of God, are but" passing shows" (,i'5.. ~ci, idols) of the absolute and enduring goodness that belongs to him (Matt. xix. 17). The homage rendered to them-whether by the savage to his fetish, by the civilized worldling to his wealth or rank, or by the scientist to his laws and furces of nature-is idolatry, the worshipping of shams and shows, in so far as it is a departing from the living God (Heb. iii. 12; Exod. xx. 3; Isa. xliii. 10; 1 Cor. viii 4--6). .And with life thus perverted at its fountain-bead, it becomes a. mere vanity and vexation of spirit. 3. Malice is universally denounced. Moralists of all schools and all ages agree in proscribing this vice, though in little else. 'l'he malicious man is instinctively dreaded; he is a peril to every one. Sins of malice and of falsehood strike directly at the existence of society, while the two former classes of offence threaten it more gradu..1.lly and indirectly. (1) Yet it can scarcely be denied thnt unger, wrath, malice, railing, shameful speaking, are, to a large extent, congenital to human nature. It is true tbat there is an instinctive benevolence, a fellow-feeling for one's kind, only exceptionally wanting; but at the same time there exists a proclivity, that is often terribly strong even in its earliest manifcstntions, in the opposite direction. "Cain was of that wicked one, nnd slew his brother; . . . because his own works were cvi~ and his brother's 1ighteous" (1 John iii. 12). It is a. weak and fatal delusion to rely on natural benevolence as an effective and commanding moral force, a stable foundation for a system of practical ethics. Nor is it possible in the naturo of things that cnliahtened self-interest or any combination of prudential or utilitarian considera.- 1 ions sho~ld ever tench men to love their neighbours as themselves, or should succeed in suppressin"0 ra(Te and jealousy and the murderous passions slumberiug in the blood of the race. W e° must be "taught of God to love one another" (1 'l'hess. iv. 9; see 1 John ii 7-11; iii. 13-24; iv. 7-21). (2) The love of Christ will at last subdue the fratricidal passions of ma.nkind, will "make wars to cease unto the ends of the earth ; ~ and one day will brin~ men of the most distant climes and hostile i~t.erests to clasp each other's hands and look into each other's eyes and say," Beloved, 1I God so loved us, we ought also to love one another!" Hero lies the only hope of the fraternization of mankind. 4. If impurity dishonours the body, falsehood dishonours the mind. This ~in at once decrrades the man, wrongs by deceiving his fellow, and insults his God, the ever-present \Vitness and Guardian of truth (Acts v. 4; Rom. iL 1; 1 'l'hess. ii. 5; Ps. cxx.xix. 4; Jer. v. 3). Here the apostle points out (1) its inconsistency with the Chrislian character of the man (vers. 9, 10); and (2) its contradiction to the Christian view of society (ver. 11). Similarly in Epb, iv. 25; ".l<'o,r we are ~embers one of OH, III, 1-25.] THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 163