p. 7 | COLOSSIANS by F. D. Starr

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Apr 25, 1906

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 17.

COLOSSIANS.

By F. D. Starr

COLOSSE was a city in Asia Minor, but a few miles distant from Laodicea, and not far removed from the rest of the seven churches to whom John had messages as recorded in Revelation 2, 3, tho Colosse itself was not favored with one of these messages from the Seer of Patmos, personally directed to it.

This epistle written from the prison in Rome, about A.D. 62, contains excellent instruction for believers in all ages. The exaltation of Christ, as being not only our Redeemer, but also the One by whom all things were brought into existence and by whom they are still kept in order, is brought to our minds in the first part of this letter, "For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities or powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him; and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." "All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made." John 1:3. In Heb. 1:2 we are informed that God, the Father, made the worlds by the Son.

Christ being the One who created the world and all things connected with it, He is, of course, the One who rested from the work of Creation. This is the reason why He is Lord of the Sabbath. The same Being who created all things must unquestionably be the One who rested on the Sabbath from the six days' work of Creation. So the seventh day, the original Sabbath, must be the Sabbath that Christ made and upon which He rested, and is indeed the Christian Sabbath. It is the only Sabbath that He observed while He was here as a man among us. What an honor to observe the very Sabbath that Christ instituted at Creation.

In Col. 1:25 we have a very clear explanation of the term fulfil as applied to moral obligation. The verse reads thus: "Whereo I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the Word of God." The marginal reading is, "fully to preach the Word of God." This is also Mr. Wesley's rendering. To fulfil the Word, then, is to fully preach the Word. In Matt. 5:17, Jesus says He came to fulfil the law, not to destroy it. By this He meant that He had come fully to preach the law as well as to observe it. "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." Gal. 6:2. Christ's law is, of course, to be fulfilled by observing it. No question about that. "If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well." James 2:8. We would not do well to abolish this law,—the golden rule,—but we do well to practise it. "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Matt. 3:15. It does not become us to abolish all righteousness, but it does become us to perform all righteousness. "All thy commandments are righteousness." Ps. 119:172. No one need be in any doubt as to what is meant by the instruction of our Saviour as to fulfilling the law; it is to be fulfilled just as moral precepts are always fulfilled—by keeping them.

In Col. 2:14 we are clearly informed what it

was that was blotted out by the death of Christ. It was the "handwriting of ordinances." In Heb. 9:10 we learn what class of ordinances these were, "Meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation."

Carnal ordinances! Was there anything carnal about the Ten Commandments?—By no means. "For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin." The law is spiritual. There is nothing in the Decalogue about feast days, sacrifices, priesthood, circumcision, or anything of that nature. These carnal commandments were made void by the death of Christ, when the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom, but the precepts of the moral law are of eternal obligation. The same distinction is to be observed in the statement of Col. 2:16, 17, where we are told not to let any man judge us in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days; which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. The sabbaths here mentioned were the shadowy sabbaths connected with the typical feast days of the ceremonial law.

Most excellent instruction to husbands, wives, parents, children, servants, masters, and all in every condition of life is found in chapters three and four. What a delightful condition of society we would have if this instruction were followed.

We find from Col. 4:16 that Paul had written an epistle to the neighboring church at Laodicea, and that he directs that the Colossians and the Laodiceans exchange epistles and so both get the benefit of both letters. The letter to the Laodiceans has not been preserved to us, but we may be very thankful that the letter to the Colossians is ours to study. If we only had the one to the Laodiceans how eagerly we would study that also. So it seems to us. Let us be even more diligent in studying the one we have, the epistle to the Colossians. It is not that which we do not have, but what we do have that should interest us most.

F. D. STARR.