<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2>LESSON XXIII</h2>
<h3>THE SUPREMACY OF CHRIST</h3>
<h4>1. THE EPISTLES OF THE THIRD GROUP</h4>
<p>With the lesson for to-day, we are introduced to the third group
among the epistles of Paul. The epistles of the second group, which
were written during the third missionary journey, are concerned
with the problem of sin and salvation; the epistles of the third group
are interesting especially for their teaching about the person of
Christ and about the Church. A period of about three or four years
separates the last epistle of the second group from the first epistle of
the third. Most of this interval had been spent by Paul in captivity.
Undoubtedly, during this period of enforced leisure, there had been
development in Paul's thinking, but it is very difficult to determine
exactly wherein that development consisted. The differences of the
third group of epistles from the second are due to the difference in
the readers at least as much as to a difference in Paul himself. It is
hard to say just how much of Colossians and Ephesians Paul would
have been incapable of writing during the third missionary journey.</p>
<p>At any rate, the epistles of the captivity differ from those of the
former group in being for the most part quieter in tone. During the
third journey Paul had had to continue the great battles of his
career against various forms of Judaizing error. Christianity at one
time seemed to be in danger of being reduced to a mere form of
Judaism; the free grace of God was being deserted for a law religion;
faith was being deserted for works. In Galatia, the question of
principle had been uppermost; in Corinth, the personal attack upon
Paul. Everywhere, moreover, the gospel of salvation by faith was
exposed to misconception. Pagan license was threatening to creep
into the Church. Unless it could be kept out, the legalists would
have some apparent show of reason on their side. Taking it all in
all, it had been a hard battle. But it had been gloriously fought, and
it had been won. Now Paul was able to turn his attention to new
fields of labor and to new problems.</p>
<h4>2. THE CHRISTOLOGY OF COLOSSIANS</h4>
<p>The Epistle to the Colossians is peculiarly "Christological."
More fully and more expressly than in any other of his letters Paul<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</SPAN></span>
here develops his view about the person of Christ. Even here, however,
this teaching is incidental; it was simply Paul's way of refuting
certain errors that had crept into the Colossian church. Except
for those errors Paul would perhaps never have written at length, as
he does in Col. 1:14-23, about the relation of Christ to God and to
the world. Yet in that case his own views would have been the
same, and they would have been just as fundamental to his whole
religious life. In the epistles, which are written to Christians, Paul
takes many things for granted. Some of the things which are most
fundamental appear only incidentally. Just because they were
fundamental, just because they were accepted by everyone, they
did not need to be discussed at length.</p>
<p>So it is especially with the person of Christ. From the first
epistle to the last, Paul presupposes essentially the same view of
that great subject. Practically everything that he says in Colossians
could have been inferred from scattered hints in the earlier epistles.
From the beginning Paul regarded Jesus Christ as a man, who had a
real human life and died a real death on the cross. From the beginning,
on the other hand, he separated Christ sharply from men
and placed him clearly on the side of God. From the beginning, in
other words, he attributed to him a double nature—Jesus Christ
was always in Paul's thinking both God and man. Finally, the
preëxistence of Christ, which is so strongly emphasized in Colossians,
is clearly implied in such passages as Gal. 4:4; and his activity in
creation appears, according to the best-attested text, in I Cor. 8:6.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the more systematic exposition in Colossians is of
the utmost value. It serves to summarize and explain the scattered
implications of the earlier epistles. Christ according to Paul is, in
the first place, "the image of the invisible God." Col. 1:15. He
is the supreme Revealer of God, a Revealer, however, not merely by
words but by his own nature. If you want to know what God is,
look upon Christ! In the second place, he is "the firstborn of all
creation." Of itself that phrase might be misconstrued. It might
be thought to mean that Christ was the first being that God created.
Any such interpretation, however, is clearly excluded by the three
following verses. There Paul has himself provided an explanation
of his puzzling phrase. "The firstborn of all creation" means that
Christ, himself uncreated, existed before all created things; he was
prior to all things, and, as befits an only son, he possesses all things.
Indeed he himself was active in the creation of all things, not only
the world, and men, but also those angelic powers—"thrones or<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</SPAN></span>
dominions or principalities or powers"—upon whom the errorists in
Colossæ were inclined to lay too much emphasis. He was the instrument
of God the Father in creation. And he was also the end
of creation. The world exists not for its own sake, but for the sake
of Christ. Especially is he the Head of the Church. His headship
is declared by his being the first to rise from the dead into that
glorious life into which he will finally bring all his disciples. In a
word, the entire "fulness" of the divine nature dwells in Christ.
That word "fulness" was much misused in the "Gnostic" speculations
of the second century. It is barely possible that the word had
already been employed in the incipient Gnosticism of the Colossian
errorists. If so, Paul by his repeated use of the word in Colossians
and Ephesians, is bringing his readers back to a healthier and simpler
and grander conception.</p>
<h4>3. THE PERSON OF CHRIST AND THE WORK OF CHRIST</h4>
<p>In Col. 1:20-23, Paul bases upon the preceding exposition of the
nature of Christ a noble description of Christ's work. The work
which has been intrusted to Christ is nothing less than that of
reconciling the creation unto God. Through sin, an enmity had
been set up between God and the work of his hands. That enmity
applies primarily of course to the sinful persons themselves. They
are under God's wrath and curse. Sin is not a trifle. It cannot
simply be treated as though it had never been. If God be righteous,
then there is such a thing as a moral order. The wrath of God rests
upon the sinner. But by the sacrifice of Christ, that enmity has
been wiped out. Christ has paid the awful penalty of sin. Christ
has brought the sinner again near to God. The enmity and the
following reconciliation concern primarily the men who have sinned.
But they also apply to the whole world. The ground has been
cursed for man's sake. The end of the reconciliation will be a new
heaven and a new earth. The groaning and travailing of the creation
will one day have an end. Compare Rom. 8:18-25.</p>
<p>This brief description of the work of Christ in Col. 1:20-22;
2:10-15, can be richly paralleled in the earlier epistles. What now
needs to be emphasized is that the Pauline view of Christ's work
depends absolutely upon the Pauline view of Christ's person.
All through the epistles of Paul the life and death and resurrection
are represented as events of a cosmic significance. But they can
have such significance only if Christ is the kind of being that is
described in the Epistle to the Colossians. The glorious account of<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</SPAN></span>
salvation, which runs all through the epistles and forms the especial
subject of the second group, is unintelligible if Christ were merely an
inspired prophet or merely the greatest of created things. It becomes
intelligible only if Christ is "the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation." The mysterious Christology of
Colossians lies at the very heart of Christian faith.</p>
<h4>4. THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON</h4>
<p>The Epistle to the Colossians, though addressed to a church that
Paul had never visited, is full of warm-hearted affection. Paul could
hardly have been cold and formal if he had tried. He was a man of
great breadth of sympathy. Hence he was able to enter with the
deepest interest into the problems of the Colossian Christians—to
rejoice at their faith and love, to lament their faults, and to labor
with whole-souled devotion for their spiritual profit.</p>
<p>The simple, unconstrained affection of Paul's nature, however, had
freer scope in the delightful little letter to Philemon. Philemon
apparently was a convert of Paul himself. Philem. 19. He was not
a man with whom Paul had to be on his guard. Paul is perfectly
confident that Philemon will fully understand the motives of his
action and of his letter.</p>
<p>The letter is addressed to Philemon primarily, but also to Apphia
and to Archippus and to the church in Philemon's house. We are
here introduced into a Christian household of the apostolic age.
Apphia was probably Philemon's wife and Archippus perhaps his
son. Evidently Archippus held some sort of office in the Colossian
church. "Say to Archippus," says Paul in a strangely emphatic way,
at the very end of the Epistle to the Colossians, "Take heed to the
ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it."
We should like to know what the ministry was which Archippus had
received. At any rate, we hope that he fulfilled it. It was a solemn
warning which he received—a warning which might well have made
him tremble. We also may well take the warning to heart. Our
task of imparting Bible truth is no light responsibility. To us also
the warning comes, "Take heed to the ministry which thou hast
received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it."</p>
<p>The letter is addressed not only to Philemon and his family, but
also to the "church" which met in his house. This "church" was a
part of the Colossian congregation. In the early days, when it was
difficult to secure meeting places, well-to-do Christians frequently
offered the hospitality of their own homes. A certain Nympha or<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</SPAN></span>
Nymphas—the name varies in the manuscripts—performed this
service in Laodicea, Col. 4:15, Aquila and Priscilla in Corinth,
I Cor. 16:19, and also Gaius in the same city. Rom. 16:23.</p>
<p>The Epistle to Philemon exhibits that perfection of courtesy and
delicacy of feeling which has been observed again and again in Paul.
A man of coarser feeling might have kept Onesimus with him until
receiving the response of Philemon. In that case no doubt Philemon
would have replied not only that Onesimus was forgiven, but that
Paul might retain the benefit of his services. But Paul saw clearly
that that would have made Philemon's goodness seem to be of
necessity and not of free will. Philem. 14. There was only one
really fine, honorable, high-toned way of dealing with the situation,
and that was the way which Paul adopted.</p>
<p>The letter is informal and affectionate. There is even apparently
a little delicate play on the name Onesimus, which means "helpful."
Once Onesimus belied his name, but now he has become helpful
again. Philem. 11. In v. 20, also, where Paul says, "Let me have
joy of thee," he uses a word which comes from the same root as that
which appears in the name of the slave. Nevertheless, despite all
informality, Paul has succeeded, here as always, in lifting the matter
to a lofty plane. Paul was a man who ennobled everything that he
touched.</p>
<hr class="tb" />
<p><span class="smcap">In the Library.</span>—Purves, "Christianity in the Apostolic Age," pp.
241-246. Davis, "Dictionary of the Bible," articles on "Colossæ,"
"Hierapolis" and "Laodicea": Purves, articles on "Colossians, Epistle
to the" and "Philemon" (supplemented). Hastings, "Dictionary of
the Bible": Ramsay, articles on "Colossæ," "Hierapolis," and
"Laodicea"; Murray, article on "Colossians, Epistle to the"; Bernard,
articles on "Philemon," and "Philemon, Epistle to." M'Clymont,
"The New Testament and Its Writers," pp. 91-98. Ellicott, "A New
Testament Commentary for English Readers," vol. iii: Barry, "The
Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians,"
pp. 1-8, 96-124; "The Epistle of Paul to Philemon," pp. 265-274.
"The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges": Moule, "The Epistles
to the Colossians and to Philemon." Zahn, "Introduction to the New
Testament," vol. i, pp. 439-479. Lightfoot, "Saint Paul's Epistles to
the Colossians and to Philemon." The two last-named works are intended
primarily for those who have some knowledge of Greek, but can
also be used by others.</p>
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