1
Da i l y Devot iona l Studi es in tke
555?»
L
1 1
N ew Te s t ament
i i
By R. A. TORRET
Ü
SUNDAY, Dec. 1. Col. 2:18, 19. The false teachers in Colossae were not only seeking to bring in the Jewish ordinances, but also the wprship of angels. Against this error also Paul warns them: “ Let no man,” he says, “ rob (or defraud) you of your prize.” Faith in Christ and consequent devo tion to Christ, and Christ alone, with out the mediation of angels or saints, brings a “ prize” (viz. the crown of life, Jas. 1:12; Rev. 2:10). If anyone induces us to give to another what belongs to Christ and Christ alone, if he can get us to bring some other per son between us and Christ, he will defraud us of our prize. The things by which the false teachers in Colossae would defraud them of their prize were “ a voluntary humility and worshiping of the angels.” The angels are not proper objects of worship (cf. Rev. 19: 10, R. V.; 22:8, 9, R. V.). God alone should be worshipped, but the sinful heart of man is always seeking some other object of worship besides God. It has been well said that “ angels will always win the day over Jesus Christ, despised and crucified, if the choice of a mediator between us and God is left to the vanity of the human mind.” Paul speaks of the false teachers as “ dwell ing in the things which he hath seen” (R. V.), i. e., in his visions and revela tions and manifestations. There are constantly arising in our day false teachers who boast of and dwell in and demand our faith because of the vis ions and revelations and manifestations which they say they have seen, hut which do not accord with the sure Word of God. If we take the rendering of the Authorized Version, for which there is some considerable authority, “ intruding into those things which he hath not seen,” the thought is that the false teacher invades a territory where hp has no knowledge (cf. Deut. 29:29). The false teacher is “ puffed up by his fleshly mind” (literally, “ by the mind of his flesh,’-’ i. e., by his own mind which is not taught by the Spirit of God but controlled and blinded by the flesh). Being “ puffed up” is the com mon fault of false teachers. The funda mental fault of the false teachers in
Colossae (and of false teachers every where) was that of “ not holding fast the Head,” i. e., Jesus Christ, (R. V.). They let go of the head, i. e.,' Jesus Christ, and took hold of subordinate members and angels, just as many today let go of Jesus Christ and take hold of saints and the Virgin Mary or perhaps some great preacher or “ the latest scholarship” or someone or some thing else than Jesus Christ. “ From” (more literally and expressively, “ out of” ) this “ Head” all the body (the church) “ inereaseth with the increase of God” (literally, “ groweth the growth of God,” i. e., growth of which God is the source and power). All true Chris tian growth either of the individual believer or of the church, is “ out of” Christ, i. e., from union with Him and by the vital energies that flow out of Him, the Head, to every member of His body (cf. John 15:1-11). In this growth of the body and church, “ out of” Christ, the vital force that there is in Christ is supplied to the church “ through the joints and bands” (joints .and ligatures, each smallest member of the body). Thus in its growth the whole body is “ knit together,” each part to every other part (cf. Eph. 4:16, R. V.), The individual believer does not grow by himself alone, but is a part of the body and in union with the body, the strength which comes from Christ being supplied through each other member of the body. MONDAY, Dec. 2. Col. 2:20-23. Paul here continues his practical inferences from the great foundation truths of Christianity found in vs. 8 - 15. Every believer in Christ is identi fied with Him in His death and resur rection: “ Ye died with Christ” (cf. Rom. 6:3; 2 Cor. 5:14, R. V.). But if we died with Christ this world and its “ rudiments” (its elementary principles of living, its A B C’s) belong to the past, to the time before we “ died.” So Paul asks the question, “If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world (not merely being in the world— which, of course, we are— hut living in
V
}
V *c
*
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs