Colossians 1
SIBVer. 1, 2. I, Paul, an inspired preacher, immediately called by Jesus Christ to be an eye-witness of his resurrection and ascension, and to plant churches among the Gentiles, according to the free purpose, commandment, and pleasure, of God the Father,—along with Timothy, my faithful brother in the work of the gospel,—to all the holy and faithful Christians in Colosse, spiritually united to Jesus Christ, and renewed and sanctified by virtue derived from him,—wish the most, abundant manifestation and application of divine favour, and all the happy and peaceful fruits thereof, from God our common Father, the original fountain of all blessings, and from Jesus Christ as the mediatorial purchaser and dispenser of them: 3, 4. To whom we have, in our daily prayers, offered up the most affectionate and hearty thanksgivings, ever since we heard of your cordial acceptance of, and trusting in, Christ alone for salvation, and of your brotherly affection to all that profess his holy name and bear his holy image. 5, 6. Our prayers and praises, as well as your faith and love to Christ and his people, are excited by the consideration of that perfect blessedness which ye justly hope for through him, and which is laid up and hid with him in God, as a rich treasure reserved and secured by him, as your Father, for you,—and which he has held forth, and offered to you in the preaching of the true and faithful gospel,—which was, in the kind providence of God, carried over and published to you without your seeking after it, as well as to both Jews and Gentiles, in most places of the Roman empire; and by the attending power of the Holy Ghost, has effectually converted many to Christ, and made them to bring forth the fruits of faith, love, and holy obedience,—as it has done among you ever since ye experienced a real work of grace on your hearts, and were led into the spiritual knowledge and sincere faith of its doctrines of divine grace
Colossians 1:7
According as ye were taught them by 2 Epaphras, your worthy minister, and our dear brother and faithful fellow labourer in the service of Christ and his church,—particularly in promoting your conversion to, and sanctification in and by Christ
Colossians 1:8
And who, in his great affection to you, has represented to us your hearty and spiritual love to Christ and to all his saints, which the Holy Ghost has wrought in you: and drawn out in a spiritual manner, and on spiritual accounts, by means of the gospel
Colossians 1:9
Reflecting upon which report, we ever since have been led to a peculiar concern for you in all our solemn addresses to God; and to beg that ye may be more and more abundantly filled with the knowledge of his mind and will, relating to the way of salvation by Jesus Christ, and to your comfort and duty, as interested therein,—and may exceedingly abound in a judicious, experimental, and practical, acquaintance with his manifold wisdom, and in all spiritual discernment of spiritual things, in their truth, excellence, and importance, and the use ye ought to make of them: 10. That, in the whole of your conversation before God or men, ye may act up to the dignity of your relation to, and profession of, him, and to the rich benefits which we have received and hope for from him,—and every way agreeable to his holy nature and will, bringing forth all the fruits of righteousness to his glory, and daily increasing in a transforming acquaintance and fellowship with him, as your heavenly Father and Friend
Colossians 1:11
Strengthened with every needful and almighty assistance of his Spirit for performing every duty and service, and for sustaining every trial in a sweet, calm, and patient manner, without either murmuring against God or raging against men;—persevering in them with a noble constancy and fortitude of spirit in submission to the will of God; and even triumphing in what he has done, does, or will do, to support, strengthen, comfort, and glorify you
Colossians 1:12
Yea, that instead of complaining under trouble, you may heartily join with us in the most grateful thanksgivings to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of us in him,—who, by graciously changing and renewing our nature, and endowing us with heavenly desires and affections, has prepared us for the full possession of that glorious inheritance which he had mercifully appointed, provided, and promised, to us, and to all other sanctified persons, as his children; and in the light, glory, and joy, of which we shall, in his immediate presence, be for ever perfectly filled with knowledge, holiness, and happiness
Colossians 1:13
Who also, by his almighty power and grace, has plucked out and rescued us that believe Jews or Gentiles, from the tyranny and dominion of sin and Satan; and, by changing our state, nature, and temper, has brought us into his kingdom of grace, in order to advance us into his kingdom of glory, under and through his infinitely beloved Son
Colossians 1:14
In whom, through his righteousness, fulfilled in our stead, and imputed and applied to our persons, we have a complete discharge from the guilt of sin and curse of the law; and, in consequence thereof, a deliverance from the power of sin, Satan, and the wrath of God; and have a full title to, and the anticipating possession of, all spiritual and eternal blessings
Colossians 1:15
For the dignity of his person added an infinite value to his sacrifice, he being the express image of his Father’s person; one with him in essence, nature, and perfections;—and being, in his mediatorial office, incarnation, qualifications, and performances, the representative image of the Godhead, in which all its spiritual excellencies are most clearly, amiably, and transformingly, displayed,—and having existed from eternity, as the essential Son of God, begotten of the Father before any creature was formed; and being, along with him, the former of all things, and accordingly the original Lord and first-born Heir thereof
Colossians 1:16
For by him, together with his Father and blessed Spirit, as the efficient cause; and in order to their subserviency to his mediatorial kingdom, and for his glory, as their last end, were all creatures of every rank and order, material or spiritual, formed out of nothing: 17. Which undeniably demonstrates that he had an existence prior to all creatures, and has an infinite dignity above them;—and all things do equally subsist, stand, or continue, in him, who is omnipresent, all-powerful, and active, in his providential influences over them, by which they are continually perserved in being, order, and proper action, under him, as Head over all things to his church
Colossians 1:18
In which capacity, he is not only her political Head of direction and government, but her Head of vital influence, to communicate all spiritual life, nourishment, growth, and activity, to all and every one of his members;—the original spring, not only of the spiritual life of their souls, but of the glorious resurrection of their bodies to eternal life; being the first that rose from the dead to an immortal life, and that by his own power, as the pledge, pattern, quickening cause, and first-fruits, of his people’s resurrection,—that in all things he might be dignified and exalted by God, and esteemed by the church, even in his mediatorial capacity, above all saints, angels, and every other creature
Colossians 1:19
For, in effecting our salvation, JERHON, in his own infinitely wise, gracious, and holy, good pleasure, in honour to his Son, and love to his people, has ordained and appointed that, answerably to the greatness of Christ’s divine person and mediatorial office, all fulness of gifts and graces, merit and right, light and power, should permanently abide in him to the utmost perfection, not only for himself, but to be communicated to the members of his mystical body, that out of his fulness we may receive and grace for grace
Colossians 1:20
And, having, through that redemption which was purchased by his righteousness, which was finished in his painful, shameful, and accursed death on the cross, removed the enmity, and made up the breach between him and his elect, it has pleased the Father by him, as their Head and Mediator, to bring them all into a state of favour and friendship with himself, that the demands of his broken law and offended justice being fully answered by him in their stead, he might honourably act towards them in a way of gracious kindness and friendship, whether they be Jews or Gentiles, believers on earth, or glorified saints in heaven. 21, 22. In consequence of this, you, who, in the days of your Heathenism and unregeneracy, were estranged from the life of God, inwardly filled with enmity, and living in constant rebellion against him and his holy law, has he now, upon your believing, brought into a state of peace and friendship with himself, through the incarnation, obedience, and satisfactory sufferings, of Christ, that he might present you now, as his mystical members in his church, and hereafter in the last judgment, as persons made righteous in law, and thoroughly sanctified in nature and life
Colossians 1:23
Which I am satisfied will be the happy issue with respect to you, since ye stedfastly persevere in the faith, profession, and obedience, of the truth, as persons who are built upon, and established in, him as your spiritual foundation, and so maintain your ground against all the artful and violent attempts of Satan and his agents to shake or carry you away from Christ, the object of your hope, and from your hope in him, as set before you in the gospel, which ye have attentively heard, and cordially received, when promiscuously preached to both Jews and Gentiles,—and of which God, in his infinite mercy, has appointed me a stated and inspired preacher
Colossians 1:24
And, in the view of your stedfastness, I am so far from repining at the severe persecutions and present imprisonments which have befallen me on account of my preaching the gospel to Gentile sinners, that I greatly rejoice and glory in all these outward tribulations, which I, who was once a persecutor, do or may endure, according to the appointment of Christ, and for his glory, and for the confirmation, edification, and comfort, of his mystical body the church
Colossians 1:25
Of which church God, by his immediate authority, has constituted me an apostolic minister, according to that infinitely gracious order which he has fixed for dispensing the gospel, which is committed to me as a sacred trust, for the fulfilment of the ancient promises of the conversion, edification, and salvation, of you Gentiles: 26. Which gospel is indeed a mystery, as it contains the unsearchable riches of Christ; and as it was for many ages concealed in its brightest glories, not only from the Gentile nations, but even in a great measure from the Jews, but which is now revealed, as clearly as the nature of the things permits, to his holy prophets and apostles, and by them to all true believers, who, by profession, obligation, and regenerating grace, are his saints
Colossians 1:27
To whom, of his own good pleasure, according to his eternal purpose and ancient predictions, God would now, under the New Testament, make a plain discovery of the exceeding riches of the glory, and incomprehensible excellency of the gospel tidings, of salvation among you Gentiles;—the all-comprehending sum of which is Christ, in his person, offices, relations, fulness, and work; who also is preached among you, and dwelling in your hearts by faith as the foundation, author, and object, of all your hopes of eternal life
Colossians 1:28
And, it is this Christ, in his nature, person, and mediation, and in the believing, affectionate, obediential, regards due to him, whom we faithful preachers of the gospel make the grand subject of our ministrations, wisely and prudently admonishing all sorts of persons, Jews or Gentiles, to consider their sinful and miserable state by nature, and to beware of rejecting him;—and instructing them, as God enables us, in the knowledge of the manifold wisdom of God, as displayed through him in the gospel revelation, to render them truly wise unto salvation,—that we may be honoured instruments of presenting them to God as true and uncorrupted believers, renewed in all the faculties of their soul, and members of their body, and remarkably fruitful in the several graces of the Spirit,—who are perfect already in Christ their Head; and to be, through him, perfected in all knowledge and grace, holiness and happiness
Colossians 1:29
For this end, and in this work, as one excited and assisted by the remarkable influences of the almighty power of God, I labour to my utmost in prayer and preaching, and every other means, amidst all difficulties, and in the face of all opposition
REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. I.—Ministers ought never to lose sight of their mission from Christ; and Christians ought never to lose sight of the divine authority of the scriptures. Abundant is the grace, peace, and other blessings, which Christ and his Father give, and which we ought therefore to wish to all his people. It is a great mercy to hear the gospel, to have its power manifested in our hearts, its glorious fruits appearing in our lives, and to hear of the like in others. And very thankful should we be that the gospel of our salvation, which was so long concealed under obscure figures and in dark promises, and almost confined to the Jews, is now plainly manifested to both Jews and Gentiles. Happy is it to experience its power in enlightening our mind, renewing our will, delivering us from the slavery of Satan, and translating us into the kingdom of Christ, that he may dwell in us as the hope of glory!—With much assurance may prayers be made for the increase of saints in light and grace, their strengthenings unto all patience and comfort under present trials, and unto all fruitful and holy walking with God and meanness for their heavenly inheritance. Infinite are the glories of our Redeemer, as the essential, necessary, and eternal, Son of God,—the Creator, Preserver, and Governor, of all things,—the Head of the church,—the Storehouse of all new covenant blessings,—the reconciling Mediator between God and men; and abundant the peace, pardon, preservation, sanctification, and everlasting glory, which his people receive through and from him. Great is the honour to be made wise, faithful, diligent, and successful, preachers of Christ. No sufferings nor labour must be reckoned too hard for his sake, or for the edification, comfort, and eternal salvation, of souls