The epistle to the Colossians presents believers as dead and risen with Christ:upon this ground are given the main exhortations of the epistle. The varied glories of Christ mentioned in the first chapter are also a distinguishing feature. As man, He is preeminent above all creation; for '' all things were created by Him and for Him."Divine and human glory is seen in the Son:He who was manifest in the flesh is Himself Creator of all.
As "first-born from the dead," "He is head of the body, the Church;" and the saints are warned against those teachers of false doctrine who were "not holding the Head, from which all the body, by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God." We have thus presented to us the truth that Christ is Himself Creator of all things, and that He is risen -first-born from the dead-the "first-fruits"* in resurrection, and Head of the Church-and that believers are risen with Him. *1 Cor. 15:ami Lev. 23:* A truth peculiar to " Colossians " is that the kingdom of Christ is spoken of as present, and believers have been translated into it:and Christ is the Son of the Father's love- "hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love" (1:13). The mention of the kingdom at all in "Colossians " arrests the attention:it is unexpected, if one may use such a term:there is no mention of it in Ephesians-that companion epistle to the Colossians.
These two epistles, Ephesians and Colossians, are akin to one another to a degree that is true of no others. There is no other such parallelism in doctrine and exhortation, perhaps, in Scripture. It is intended to strike our attention, and lead to comparison, and thus to impress the more clearly on the mind the distinctive features of each. Thus the Spirit of God would impress us, too, with the special importance of the doctrines presented in these epistles. The necessity of this, also, is seen in the ignorance that prevails in the Church in regard to them. The world has blinded the Church to its exalted position and relationship.
In Ephesians, the truth is presented of the heavenly position of the saints:God has blessed them with "all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Israel blest with earthly blessings in Canaan is a type of this.
In Colossians, as we have seen, we are "risen with Christ"-the type of which is the priests with the ark passed up out of Jordan:" dead with Christ" and "risen with Christ" as the priests with the ark halted in the bed of Jordan, and then passed up out of it, and the Jordan flowed on again in its course behind them.
We are thus instructed as to a peculiar presentation of the believer's position in relationship with Christ in this epistle. We are seen not as in Canaan -to refer to the type-and yet, as it were, at the end of the wilderness. It suggests that what answers to this position is a heart on the alert for deliverance out of the world at the Lord's coming."Ye are dead, your life is hid with Christ in God. When He who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory."Nevertheless, it has been shown that while Ephesians is typical of the book of Leviticus in the pentateuchal arrangement of the Bible, Colossians in this way answers to Numbers, since Colossians makes prominent the "walk" just where in Ephesians we have position and relationship. How, then, does this harmonize with the type, which suggests a heart having done with the wilderness, as "dead" and "risen with Christ," and beyond the Jordan ?
We may call attention at this point to what may not have been noticed, that at the passage of the Jordan it is no longer the Levites who bear the ark, but the priests. The testimony, therefore, is priestly. May it not be, then, that we have in Colossians the walk through the world in its priestly character ? or perhaps, rather, a testimony in the world of that character ?And this may be further illustrated by the priests and their occupation among Israel during the journey through the wilderness. Their service was in connection with the tabernacle and the worship of God. So Colossians may give us a priestly testimony in the world-that side of things-more than the pilgrim journey through it. We have the two sides in the second chapter of first Peter, where Christians are appealed to as"strangers and pilgrims," and also as a "holy and a royal priesthood; " so also in Hebrews. In the fourth chapter is the pilgrim journey, Israel as a whole, types of us as we "labor to enter into" God's "rest;" and in the tenth chapter we are priests;* the priests only in Israel, at this point, being our types. *"We have boldness by the blood of Jesus to enter into the holiest" (10:19).* That is, Colossians gives us a priestly Godward side of the believer's witness. He is in the world, but lifted above it. We are thus to walk worthy of the Lord:and who is He? He is one risen from the dead, "first-born from among the dead," and we"are risen with" Him:and He is Creator of all.
In the epistle to the Romans we have presented the line of truth that is typified in Israel's history, as sheltered by the blood of sacrifice in Egypt, and brought through the Red Sea-answering to the deliverance from bondage to sin, in the old nature, in chapters six and seven ; then journeying through the wilderness, after being presented to God at the mount. The whole nation, as pilgrims, treading the sands of the desert, typify thus what we have in Romans, rather than the priests and their sanctuary-service:though Scripture does not rigidly separate things, where, nevertheless, it may be instructive to see that one side or the other of truth is more or less prominently presented:and Colossians does seem to present this worshipful "heart at the end " side of things, as we compare thus the doctrine and the types. Note the spirit of praise throughout the epistle:" long-suffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father"-" established in the faith . . . abounding therein with thanksgiving"-"let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, . . . and be ye thankful"-"singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord"-"and whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him"-"continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving."
Twice only do we have such exhortations in Ephesians, and hardly at all in Romans.
In Ephesians, as we know, the one body and one Spirit is prominent-our exalted relationship to Christ; whereas in Colossians Christ the Head of the body is exalted, as we have seen:and so the name of Christ is prominent throughout in Colossians. We have mentioned, the " afflictions of Christ"-"Christ in you"-"the circumcision of Christ"-"the body (substance) is of Christ" – "Christ is all, and in all "-" as Christ forgave you" -"let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts"-
"let the word of Christ dwell in you richly"-"ye serve the Lord Christ" – and "the mystery of Christ." Therefore, in Ephesians we are exhorted to be "filled with the Spirit" where in Colossians it is said "let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns."
Another point that shows the harmony of each part of the epistle with the whole is, that in Ephesians Christ is spoken of as " raised from the dead and set at His own right hand in the heavenly places," there to be "Head over all things to the Church, which is His body;" whereas in Colossians "He is the Head of the body, the Church; who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead." In each case in Colossians, whether as to the "Head of the body " or as to the position of the saints, the truth goes as far as resurrection only; but in Ephesians, both as to the " Head of His body " and as to the saints, the position is "in heavenly places."For this we see the perfection of Scripture, to the glory of God, every part being consistently in the place where it is found, just as with things in creation.
It is the handiwork of God that we see, whether in the Bible or in nature. All has the divine stamp upon it:it is not of man-he is but a learner in the school of God; and he only enters that school when born again. The priests could see the gold and the silver and the blue and the purple and the scarlet in the holy sanctuary, but the wise of Egypt lived and died in ignorance of it all. No wisdom of Egypt could enable one to see what could not be seen in Egypt. E. S. L.
(To be concluded in our next issue.)