Colossians 3:1-17

Doctrinal Correction

15 Not only is the believer exempt from the authority of the apostles of the Circumcision, but, in spirit, he is beyond the reach of all human jurisdiction. Even before His resurrection our Lord reminded Pilate that he had no authority whatever in His case except what had been granted him from above (Joh_19:10-11). By His rising He reversed the sentence of death pronounced against Him by the Sanhedrin and the Roman governor.

16 The prohibition of certain foods under the law, the observance of festivals and fasts and rest days, all foreshadowed the rest and joy and plenty of that future kingdom on the earth, in which the body of Christ has no part. The divine picture of our portion is the physical body of Christ, risen and ascended and seated at God's right hand in the celestial spheres. As the physical members are to this body, so we, His spiritual members, are to Him. We, too, are roused and seated there, and are the instruments through which He will effect His Father's will in the empyrean.

19 "Holding the Head" is a succinct expression of our duty as members of the body of Christ. A conscious connection and subjection to Him as our Head will sever us from the things of the world, whether it be its religion (however divine its origin) or its philosophy. Any attempt to improve our position before God by physical means, whether it be an appeal to the senses or a curbing of its normal needs, denies our completeness in Christ.

CORRECTION-DEPORTMENT

The secret of pleasing God is a conduct conformed to our spiritual position. The key to this position is the great truth that we have not only died and have been roused with Christ, but have ascended with Him into celestial spheres. Our interests, our expectations, are no longer on earth at all, but among the celestials. Let this great and glorious truth be behind our motives and guide us into the path that pleases Him.

Correction-Deportment

5 We are exhorted to transform faith into fact. Are we dead to the world? Then let us live as those who are past the practices which pollute it. How can we keep on in the course which will draw down God's indignation not upon us-but upon those who do not trust Him?

9 The old humaniity, with its diversity and division, no longer reflects the Image of its Creator. In the new, or fresh, humanity, in which Christ displaces Adam, these divisions disappear. The religion of the Jew and the philosophy of the Greek, the privileges of the

Circumcision and the proscription of the Uncircumcision, the subjection of the slave and the superiority of the freeman-all these find no place in the young humanity of which Christ is the Head. We should so behave that it will be recognized as created in His image.

12 The greater our appreciation of our Lord's grace toward us, the greater grace will we show towards all who belong to Him. Without this compelling power we shall be able only to exercise our natural, ungracious dispositions.

14 Love, the greatest of the abiding trinity (1Co_13:13), is the tie which binds us to the Lord and should be the tie which unites us to our fellow saints. Before maturity, in the preparatory era preceding the present economy, the saints were united (or rather divided) by a common rite, as Circumcision, or a common ancestor, as Israel. Now that these are abolished there is a spiritual unity unmarred by any division (Eph_4:3-6). Love is the tie that makes us one, peace is the tie that keeps us one.

15 All difficulties should be submitted to the arbitration of the peace of Christ.

16 The sincerest source of song is a heart full of grace. It should be the overflow of a heart surcharged with an appreciation of God's love. All other motives are a mockery, and discordant to His ears.

17 God is jealous that His Son be duly honored in all we do or say. Even our thanksgiving must be accompanied by the incense of His name.