THE KI NG' S BUS I NESS ness, not laying down a lot of rules for the conduct of life (cf. ch. 2:20-23, R. V.), but living in the power of the thought that we “ died with Christ” and that our “ life is hid with Christ in God.” And now comes the future glor ious outcome of having our lives not seen and applauded by the world but “ hid with Christ in God”— “ when Christ who is our (Paul no longer says “ your,” he must put himself in, “ our” ) life shall be manifested (i. e., in His glor ious coming again when He shall be seen, cf. Matt. 16:27; 26:64) then shall ye also with Him be manifested in glory.” Christ is “ our life.” When we take Him we receive life. He Him self becomes life in us (1 John 5:11, 12, 3 . Y; John 14:6). Our manifesta tion in glory is inseparably, involved with His. What a day that will be for the sons oi. God, now despised and rejected by the world when they together “ with Him” shall “ be mani fested in glory.” No glory has ever shown upon this earth like unto that which will illuminate heaven and earth when Christ with us, radiant in all “ the glory of the Father,” shall come sweep ing down from heaven to earth. THURSDAY, Dec. 5. Col. 3:5-7. In vs. 5-11 Paul draws a very prac tical everyday conclusion from what he has just said: since we are to be manifested with Christ in glory when He is manifested, “ therefore” we should now “ mortify,” i. e., make dead, reduce to a state of death, our “ members which are upon the earth.” By our “ members which are upon the. earth” Paul does not mean our hands and feet and the other members of our body,, but the members of our body in so far as they are instruments of sin. We are to reduce to death our practice of “ for nication, uncleanness (all impurity of thought, word or act), passion (uncon trollable lust), evil desire (lust in its active form) and covetousness (greed for more, which is constantly and closely associated in Paul’s writings with impurity, cf. 1 Cor. 5:11; Eph. 4:19, R. V., Margin, 5:3, 5). The last named of our members upon the. earth, “ cov etousness” is idolatry. This being true, there are many idolaters in our day. Because of such things as these just mentioned, “ the, wrath, of God (i. e. His burning and punitive indignation) cometh upon the sons of disobedience.”
1098 Paul says better than the word “ if.” Since we rose with Christ and are now seated with Him, our head, “ on the right hand of God,” (cf. Eph. 2:6) we should “ seek” the things that belong to the world where we really live ( cf. Phil. 3:20, R. V .), and not the things that belong to this world where we only seem to live. So Paul says, “ If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above (i. e., the heavenly and not the earthly things) where Christ is,”' (and where we are in Him and wtih
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