Colossians 3:12-17 - Homilies By R. M. Edgar

The new life of love.

We have turned over a new leaf, so to speak, in these verses. The old life we have to mortify gives place to a new life of love which we have to develop. Now, the moment we speak of love, we are brought into relations with others. It is the social Christian life, therefore, of which Paul here speaks. As already seen, he is aiming at the unity of the Church. Here we have the means by which it is secured. Let us briefly analyze this life of love.

I. IT HAS A HEART OF COMPASSION . ( Colossians 3:12 , Revised Version.) All the emotion which misfortune evokes in the heart of God is to have its counterpart in the heart of his people. "Kindness, humility, meekness, and long suffering" are to be in exercise within us continually. The apparent drawbacks in others are thus transfigured by our kindly spirit into helps to unity.

II. IT HAS A FORGIVINGNESS LIKE THAT OF GOD . ( Colossians 3:13 .) Church members and those outside the Church will, from time to time, be guilty of injustice towards us; we may have just ground of complaint. But how our brother's offences dwindle into utter insignificance when compared with the offences we have ourselves committed against God! It will not do to be severe on our debtors after God has been so forgiving towards ourselves ( Matthew 18:21-35 ). If we cultivate a God-like forgivingness, then we shall be promoting constantly the unity of the Church.

III. LOVE IS ITS BOND OF PERFECTNESS . ( Colossians 3:14 .) We need only study 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 . to see how love is the all-important matter. It is what brings the whole life into harmony. For love expresses the willingness of the person to give himself to the good of others. It is the principle of the new life, without which it cannot exist.

IV. GOD 'S PEACE RULES AND EVOKES MAN 'S GRATITUDE . (Verse 15.) For when we are God like in our compassion, forgiveness, and love, we find a peaceful temper laying hold of us. We cannot war with others, but must follow the things that make for peace. To the unity of peace we feel that God has called us. He has been our Peacemaker and the Peacemaker of many more, and so we dwell in the unity of the one mystical body, And surely such a state of mind and heart is something to be thankful for. A grateful spirit for our personal peace and for the peace which permeates through the Church of God.

V. GOD 'S WORD IS TRANSLATED INTO HEARTFELT PRAISE . (Verse 16.) For we can only sustain the new life by the reception of God's quickening Word. It must dwelt within us richly. And if it do, it will evoke praise from our grateful hearts. We will sing in our social gatherings one to another, and be mutually helpful. The meetings of the saints shall be of a most joyful character. And what a unifying element is always found in social praise! How it blends our hearts into unity as we praise the one Lord. The very harmony of the music catches our souls and blends them into something like the harmony of heaven.

VI. ALL LIFE BECOMES SACRAMENTAL . (Verse 17.) There can be no idle words nor random deeds in the new life. All is consecrated to the Lord. His Name is our banner, and under it all is done. God has thus come and made "the common" clean, and the life on earth is like the great sheet of the Apostle Peter, in which the four footed beasts and creeping things were pure. Into every nook and cranny of the new life the consecrated spirit is carried. The meanest matters are thus lifted into heavenly light, and God reigns over all. Thus it is that the sacramental element is carried into all things, and we feel that "the communion of the Lord's Supper is meant to be a sample of, and not an exception to, our common days; and in the rite there lies a mighty power to make the whole of the rest of life like itself." Arnold has a curious sermon on this text, in which he advocates the consecration in the making of "wills." But this is only an illustration of a universal principle which God requires in the Christian life. There is to be no exception to consecration. In a grateful spirit we are to do all in Christ's Name. May it be our single ambition!—R.M.E.

Verse 18-ch. 4:1

Christianity remodelling the ancient household.

The unity of the Church, which Paul has in view, is to have its counterpart and model in the unity of the Christian household. The Church is only an enlarged family. Hence Church officers are to serve their apprenticeship in the matter of rule in the family. If they are not able to rule their own families well, they have no business to take office in the Church of God ( 1 Timothy 3:2 , 1 Timothy 3:12 ). Of necessity, therefore, Christianity takes up the household and sanctifies it. The relation of Christianity to family life is most important. In the present section Paul takes up three relations and shows how love is to regulate them all.

I. THE RELATIONS OF HUSBANDS AND WIVES . ( Colossians 4:18 , 19) Now, it is well known that women did not get justice under the ancient regime, and yet the apostle exhorts the wives to be in subjection to their husbands, as is fitting in the Lord (Revised Version). Christianity has emphasized the passive virtues; it glorifies woman, therefore, by showing to the world how glorious a thing it is to be subject and even to suffer for love. Apparently this is to neglect "women's rights," but really it has secured them. It is in woman lovingly filling her station that she secures, not only her rights, but absolutely her reign. Husbands, again, are exhorted to give up all bitterness against their wives and to love them. Elsewhere he shows that the measure of the husband's love is to be the love of Christ for his Church; that is, a love which can be self sacrificing if need be, and which will be considerate at all times ( Ephesians 5:22-33 ). In such a case, how harmonious family life proves! The stronger and the weaker natures are blended by love into one. Each has its sphere, and there need be no collision amid the responsibilities of love.

II. THE RELATIONS OF PARENTS TO CHILDREN . Here, again, the apostle appeals first to the weaker side. He wishes children to think how pleasing to the Father in heaven obedience is, and, as he has put their parents over them to be obeyed, the children should obey them in all things. There is to be strict obedience in all things to the natural authority. On the other hand, the fathers are exhorted not to provoke the children by their tyranny, lest the little ones be discouraged. Paul saw no such danger from the mother's rule. A mother comes with a tenderness and sympathy such as the harder nature of the father cannot always command. This exhortation to fathers is surely a great triumph for the mother.

III. THE RELATIONS OF MASTERS TO SLAVES . And here, again, Paul appeals first to the slaves. He does not encourage revolt, but the conquest which comes through loving obedience. Let the slave simply obey in the fear and love of God; let him do his work, not in a spirit of eye service as a pleaser of men, but in a spirit of conscientiousness as a slave of Christ, and he may rest assured of compensation from his Master in due season. This is liberty—the liberty of love, even though he is still nominally a slave. It is this Christian spirit which has made its mark and won the sympathy of the world, and issued in the emancipation of the slaves. Although Christianity apparently neglected the slaves, it has really been their deliverer. For what has it insisted on among the masters? On justice. Above them it has pointed out a heavenly Master, with whom there is no respect of persons, and who will do right by slave as well as by freeman, and give all their due. The gospel has contended for justice as between man and man, and the world is gradually coming to it. This freedom from respect of persons which characterizes God is a terror at once to the evil-doing slave and to the evil-doing master. If we could bring the world to this, men's wrongs would soon be righted. We are coming to it, blessed be God, steadily. The Christianized household is thus seen to be a unity. Husbands and wives are united in love's best bonds. Parents and children are united in beautiful authorities and subordinations. And masters and servants are united as subjects and servants of the one Master in heaven. It is the one God of love, who, as he overshadows all, unifies them in a life of love, which is the greatest witness he can have on earth. Let us see to it that the Christian spirit in all its beautiful and unifying power reigns in our households and fulfils within them the work of God.—R.M.E.