(Col. 1:25-29.)

(Continued from page 182.)

The closing statement of verse 25 is important. Paul affirms that it was given him "to complete the word of God." It is connected with his previous statement regarding the assembly, "Of which I became minister according to the dispensation of God which is given me towards you,"* 1:e., toward the Gentiles in particular. :*Quotations are from the New Translation.* Compare Rom. 15:16 and Eph. 3:1,2.

This dispensation of God refers not to a period of time, as we sometimes use the word, but to the apostle's stewardship or administrator ship of God's things concerning the assembly. The force of the term may be seen from its use in Luke 16:2-4 (stewardship); 1 Cor. 4:1 and 1 Pet. 4:10 (stewards). The use of this same word in Eph. 3:2 is parallel to the statement of our verse. It is the divine arrangement committed to Paul concerning the assembly. He uses the word again in Eph. 1:10, where the connection helps to shows its significance. There it refers to the order of the divine government concerning the universe, the central feature of which is, the heading up of all things in Christ.

This dispensation given to Paul comprised the completion of the Word of God-not the last that was written, of course, for John wrote his epistles and the Revelation some thirty years later; but the thought is that Paul's ministry concerning the assembly completes the revelation of God's purpose:it is the finale of His plan to which all the previous epochs or dispensations were preparatory. In it are revealed the riches of His grace and glory, even the unsearchable riches of Christ. The glad tidings that Paul announced were "to enlighten all with the knowledge of what is the administration (or, dispensation-it is the same word) of the mystery hidden throughout the ages in God, who has created all things; in order that now to the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies might be made known through the assembly the all-various wis-dom of God, according to the purpose of the ages, which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." This completion of the Word of God is a present revelation to heavenly intelligences. Now, along with ourselves, they have the wondrous secret of God's eternal purpose disclosed to them, which embraces the truth of the headship of Christ and His Bride, which is the assembly.

To "complete the word of God," therefore, meant to make known the mystery which had been hidden from the previous ages and generations (ver. 26).

As already remarked, this has a present meaning for the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies. Among them there are "the universal lords of this darkness"- spiritual powers of wickedness in the heavenlies (Eph. 6:12). In view of what they now know, it is no wonder that they are arrayed against us whose inheritance is in Him, who is the object of their hatred. The place we have, as made known by the revealed mystery, makes them our real antagonists. "For this reason take to you the panoply of God."

In Colossians, however, the apostle has chiefly in mind what the revealed mystery means for the saints. Of this mystery, which completes the Word of God, he says, "Which has now been made manifest to His saints." Let us search our hearts to see how far we have appropriated what God has been pleased to make known to us. He has made "the riches of His grace.. .to abound toward us in all wisdom and intelligence" (Eph. 1:8). It is what He "had predetermined before the ages for our glory" (i Cor. 2:7).

The apostle very earnestly desired that the saints should enter into these eternal realities. To this end he toiled unceasingly. It was a combat, as he here expresses it (ver. 29, ch. 1:1). The administration given to him placed him in the arena where he battled against those spiritual powers of wickedness of which he speaks in Eph. 6. He was our protagonist in this, but we are called to the same conflict. Do we, who know the truth of the mystery, strive with a measure of the apostle's spirit, seeking to bring our fellow-saints into the appreciation and enjoyment of its meaning for them? Beginning with the apostle's day the enemy has sought to hide what God has disclosed, and bury it under "systematized error" (Eph. 4:14). How great his success the past centuries of the Church's history bear witness. During the past hundred years the truth has been dug out from the accumulated debris of those centuries. Are we walking in the light of it as we should?

But verse 2 7 claims our attention, for it presents God's thought for His saints-in connection with the mystery made manifest. To them "God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." What the mystery is we have briefly stated; here the apostle speaks of the riches of the glory pertaining to it. God wishes His people to know what comprises those riches. This expression calls attention to the exalted aspect of the mystery, specially mentioned as "among the nations." This phrase intimates what is distinctly in contrast with what had been revealed in previous ages, when Christ was spoken of in connection with Israel, in the nations filling a secondary place and receiving their blessing through Israel. Now the distinctive glory of the mystery is "Christ in you," that is, in those of the nations, like the Colossians, who had faith in Christ.

This is not blessing in a national sense, as spoken of by Old Testament prophets, but individual, true of each believer in Jesus wherever found among the nations. And it is not in outward display, as is characteristic of the kingdom in the Old Testament. It is an inward and spiritual blessing, carrying with it "the hope of glory," and thus linking those of whom it is true with another scene-with heaven, where Christ is seated. Literally, it is of the glory, referring to the glory of the mystery, the fulness of which is to be realized at the second coming of Christ.

Now as to the force of this expression, "Christ in you," which is the riches of the glory of the revealed mystery, we have said that it is inward and spiritual, in contrast with the outward display of glory of the kingdom and the Messiah in the Old Testament. This accords with the Lord's words in John 14. He there promised to manifest Himself to the one who keeps His commandments. This form of selective manifestation Judas could not understand, for he thought of the outward manifestation of the Messiah, in which Israel would occupy the foremost place as foretold by the prophets. The Lord explains (vers. 23, 24), and links all with the coming of the Holy Spirit. This at once turns us to other words in this same chapter which may well be linked with the statement in Colossians.

In His teaching concerning the coming of the Spirit, the Lord says, "I am coming to you.. .In that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in Me, and I in you" (John 14:15-20). The manifestation of which He speaks is connected with this. Thus "Christ in you" is by the presence and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This is the distinctive feature of the mystery, making it unique among all the divine mysteries mentioned in Scripture. By His personal coming into the world, after Jesus was glorified, the hidden mystery was made manifest (Eph. 3:5), and its administration put into effect.

Again, the Lord says, "The glory which Thou hast given Me I have given them, that they may be one as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in one" (John 17:22, 23). Here the glory is linked with the expression, "I in them," as in the former case the presence and indwelling of the Spirit. We are not yet in the glory of which the Lord speaks, though the title to it is already given. Not until "the Christ who is our life is manifested… shall ye also be manifested in glory" (Col. 3:4); and, "Beloved, now are we the children of God, and what we shall be has not yet been manifested; we know that if it is manifested we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And every one that has this hope in Him (1:e., in Christ) purifies himself, even as He is pure" (1 John 3.:2, 3).

How beautifully these scriptures blend together. In purpose, the glory is given, and we are marked as joint-heirs with Christ. As not yet in it, it is our hope, but this hope is in Christ. On the other hand Christ is in us "the hope of the glory." This, the Lord has made clear, is by the presence and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Thus He is the earnest of the coming glory, and God's seal put upon His people up to the redemption of the acquired possession (Eph. 1:13,14;4:30). In this connection how fittingly He is called "the Holy Spirit of promise," so that being given by God to be in our hearts -His anointing, His seal, His earnest-we may now enjoy His blessed ministry of the things of Christ, and know that He who is our Saviour and Lord comes to us, is in us, our life, with the comfort of knowing that "Whatever promises of God there are, in Him is the yea, and in Him the Amen, for glory to God by us" (2 Cor. 1:20-22). As entering into this knowledge of Christ, ministered by the Spirit, we come to maturity, to full growth. This is what "perfect in Christ" means (Col. 1:28). The apostle always had this end in view for the saints. Therefore, he says, it is Christ "we announce, admonishing every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom… Whereunto also I toil, combating according to His working, which works in me in power." He could truly say, "We do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus, Lord" (2 Cor. 4:5). John Bloore