II. The authority that designates and qualifies.—“By the will of God.” The will of God is the great originating and dynamic moral force of the universe. That will raised Paul to the apostleship, and invested him with all essential qualifications. The miraculous incidents of the journey to Damascus (Acts ix.) formed a crisis in his career. The startling discovery as to the character of the Being he had madly opposed evoked the utterance of a changed and willing heart: “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” That was the sublime moment of his sending. In undertaking the highest work for God, it is not enough that we possess learning, gifts, piety, unless with all there be a consciously Divine commission. There are crises when we can gain fresh inspiration for the exigencies of the work only by falling back on the clearest call and appointment of the Divine will.
III. A familiar Christian relationship.—“Timotheus, our brother.” Paul was the means of Timothy’s conversion; and in another place he calls him his “own son in the faith.” Here he recognises him on the more equal footing of a brother. Christianity is a brotherhood. Not a low, debasing communism that drags down all to its own common level, but a holy confederacy in which men of all ranks, ages, and talents unite. The equality of Christian brotherhood is based on a moral and spiritual foundation. The minister whose reputation is won, and position assured loses nothing by honouring his younger brethren.
IV. Union of sympathy and desire.—“Paul . . . and Timothy.” The greatest intimacy existed between the two, notwithstanding the disparity in rank and abilities. There were qualities in Timothy that elicited the admiration and love of the great apostle. They were constant companions in travel; and Timothy was often a source of comfort to Paul in captivity. They had a common sympathy in the propagation of the Gospel, and with the changing fortunes of the newly founded Churches and joined in prayer for their welfare. The union of Timothy with himself also strengthened the testimony of the apostle regarding the supernatural character of the truths declared.
Lessons.—Christian salutation—1. Takes its value from the character of the sender. 2. Should be pervaded with genuine sympathy. 3. Implies a mutual interest in the success of Christian work.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE 2.
Apostolic Estimate of Christian Character.
I. Suggestive phases of Christian character.—“Saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colossæ.”
1. Saints.—This implies union with God and a personal participation in His righteousness. This is the root of the saintly life. Faith in Christ is the point and means of junction. Canonisation cannot make a saint. Must be saintly experience to produce saintly conduct. A holy reputation excites to action consistent with itself. Nehemiah refused to hide from threatened assassination as an act beneath his well-known character for high integrity and bravery (Neh. vi. 11).
2. Faithful brethren which are at Colossæ.—Implies union with each other. They embraced a common faith and held steadfastly together amid the agitations of false teachers and the defections of the wavering. Christianity blends the strangest elements. It is a foe to all national enmities and prejudices. Paul, a Jew, Timothy, a Grecian, and the Colossians, a mixture of several races, are here united in a holy and faithful brotherhood. “Here the Gentile met the Jew whom he had been accustomed to regard as an enemy of the human race; the Romans met the lying Greek sophist, the Syrian slave, the gladiator born beside the Danube. In brotherhood they met, the natural birth and kindred of each forgotten, the baptism alone remembered in which they had been born again to God and to each other” (Ecce Homo).
3. The sublime origin of the Christian character.—“In Christ.” Character is the development and crystallisation of a life. The character of the blossom and fruit is decided by the vital energy in the tree. Christ is the unfathomable fount of all spiritual life; the ideal pattern and formative force of a perfect character. He is the centre and bond of all true brotherhood.