The Literature and History of New Testament Times

by J. Gresham Machen

3. THE PERSON OF CHRIST AND THE WORK OF CHRIST

In Col. 1:20-23, Paul bases upon the preceding exposition of the nature of Christ a noble description of Christ's work. The work which has been intrusted to Christ is nothing less than that of reconciling the creation unto God. Through sin, an enmity had been set up between God and the work of his hands. That enmity applies primarily of course to the sinful persons themselves. They are under God's wrath and curse. Sin is not a trifle. It cannot simply be treated as though it had never been. If God be righteous, then there is such a thing as a moral order. The wrath of God rests upon the sinner. But by the sacrifice of Christ, that enmity has been wiped out. Christ has paid the awful penalty of sin. Christ has brought the sinner again near to God. The enmity and the following reconciliation concern primarily the men who have sinned. But they also apply to the whole world. The ground has been cursed for man's sake. The end of the reconciliation will be a new heaven and a new earth. The groaning and travailing of the creation will one day have an end. Compare Rom. 8:18-25.

This brief description of the work of Christ in Col. 1:20-22; 2:10-15, can be richly paralleled in the earlier epistles. What now needs to be emphasized is that the Pauline view of Christ's work depends absolutely upon the Pauline view of Christ's person. All through the epistles of Paul the life and death and resurrection are represented as events of a cosmic significance. But they can have such significance only if Christ is the kind of being that is described in the Epistle to the Colossians. The glorious account of salvation, which runs all through the epistles and forms the especial subject of the second group, is unintelligible if Christ were merely an inspired prophet or merely the greatest of created things. It becomes intelligible only if Christ is "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation." The mysterious Christology of Colossians lies at the very heart of Christian faith.

4. THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON

The Epistle to the Colossians, though addressed to a church that Paul had never visited, is full of warm-hearted affection. Paul could hardly have been cold and formal if he had tried. He was a man of great breadth of sympathy. Hence he was able to enter with the deepest interest into the problems of the Colossian Christians—to rejoice at their faith and love, to lament their faults, and to labor with whole-souled devotion for their spiritual profit.

The simple, unconstrained affection of Paul's nature, however, had freer scope in the delightful little letter to Philemon. Philemon apparently was a convert of Paul himself. Philem. 19. He was not a man with whom Paul had to be on his guard. Paul is perfectly confident that Philemon will fully understand the motives of his action and of his letter.

The letter is addressed to Philemon primarily, but also to Apphia and to Archippus and to the church in Philemon's house. We are here introduced into a Christian household of the apostolic age. Apphia was probably Philemon's wife and Archippus perhaps his son. Evidently Archippus held some sort of office in the Colossian church. "Say to Archippus," says Paul in a strangely emphatic way, at the very end of the Epistle to the Colossians, "Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it." We should like to know what the ministry was which Archippus had received. At any rate, we hope that he fulfilled it. It was a solemn warning which he received—a warning which might well have made him tremble. We also may well take the warning to heart. Our task of imparting Bible truth is no light responsibility. To us also the warning comes, "Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it."

The letter is addressed not only to Philemon and his family, but also to the "church" which met in his house. This "church" was a part of the Colossian congregation. In the early days, when it was difficult to secure meeting places, well-to-do Christians frequently offered the hospitality of their own homes. A certain Nympha or Nymphas—the name varies in the manuscripts—performed this service in Laodicea, Col. 4:15, Aquila and Priscilla in Corinth, I Cor. 16:19, and also Gaius in the same city. Rom. 16:23.

The Epistle to Philemon exhibits that perfection of courtesy and delicacy of feeling which has been observed again and again in Paul. A man of coarser feeling might have kept Onesimus with him until receiving the response of Philemon. In that case no doubt Philemon would have replied not only that Onesimus was forgiven, but that Paul might retain the benefit of his services. But Paul saw clearly that that would have made Philemon's goodness seem to be of necessity and not of free will. Philem. 14. There was only one really fine, honorable, high-toned way of dealing with the situation, and that was the way which Paul adopted.

The letter is informal and affectionate. There is even apparently a little delicate play on the name Onesimus, which means "helpful." Once Onesimus belied his name, but now he has become helpful again. Philem. 11. In v. 20, also, where Paul says, "Let me have joy of thee," he uses a word which comes from the same root as that which appears in the name of the slave. Nevertheless, despite all informality, Paul has succeeded, here as always, in lifting the matter to a lofty plane. Paul was a man who ennobled everything that he touched.