Lessons.—1. Christ is supreme in all spheres. 2. Christ is the great need of the human soul. 3. Faith in Christ brings the soul into a personal participation in the Divine fulness.
Christ is All and in All.
- The essential glories of Christ.—He possesses all things.
- Christ has purchased all blessings for us.—All temporal and all spiritual blessings.
- All blessings are treasured up in Christ for the eternal use of His Church.
- He will keep His family in the possession of all good for ever.—W. Howels.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 12, 13.
Essentials of the Christian Character.
In the cultivation of a rare and valuable plant care must be taken to rid it of everything that would retard its growth, and to supply it with whatever aids it in reaching the highest possibility of shapeliness and beauty. Not only must it be severely pruned and divested of every noxious weed and destructive parasite, but it must be diligently tended, and liberally provided with air, light, and moisture. So is it in the training of the Christian character. It is not enough that the old man—the sinful principle—is suppressed, mortified, deadened; all the graces of the new man—the new spiritual nature—must be assumed and sedulously cultivated. Religion is not a dry, sapless, dead negation, but a grand positive reality—an active, ever-growing life, pushing its way through every channel of man’s nature, and fashioning his character after the loftiest pattern of moral loveliness and purity. The change the Colossians had experienced furnished the most forcible reason why they should advance in spiritual development. Having risen with Christ, and having put off the old man, with his deeds, there is an unmistakable emphasis in the exhortation—Put on, therefore, the characteristics of the new man.
I. That the Christian character is distinguished by a special designation.—“The elect of God, holy and beloved” (ver. 12).
1. Distinguished as the object of the Divine choice.—“The elect of God”—chosen by Him, as an act of undeserved, unmerited mercy, to the knowledge of Himself and His glorious salvation; called out of darkness and translated into the kingdom of His dear Son. This election is a condition of exalted privilege to which all rise who accept the message of God’s mercy through Jesus Christ.
2. Distinguished by personal purity.—“Holy.” Here is the evidence and practical result of the Divine election. “Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, that they should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (Eph. i. 4). The people of God are called to be holy—consecrated to His service; set apart from a common and wholly devoted to a sacred purpose. Holiness is the habitual condition, aim, delight, and employment of the Christian’s life.
3. Distinguished by the Divine affection.—“Beloved.” The believer is the object of God’s special love, of the favour which He beareth unto His people. “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the sons of God.” The epithets here used have each the force of a motive. Since the believer is elect, holy, beloved, let him act in harmony with his exalted character and calling. Lavater has said, “The more honesty a man has, the less he affects the air of a saint.”