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Updated: May 31, 2025
The Resurrection was a birth from the dead; so Paul, in Colossians i. 18, calls Jesus 'the first begotten from the dead. Romans i. 4,'declared to be the Son of God ... by the resurrection from the dead, is the best commentary on Paul's words here.
He does not mean, "I am not sure whether you are risen or not; but perhaps you are not; but if you are, you ought to do such and such things." He does not mean that. He was quite sure that these Colossians were risen with Christ. He had no doubt of it whatsoever. If you look at the chapter before, he says so.
A red line is drawn across the indictment, or, as Colossians has it, it is 'nailed to the cross. There is power in His death to set us free from the debt we owe. Christ does not bring oblivion, but yet takes away the remorse of remembrance.
I say these are the things which Paul endeavoured to provoke the Romans, Philippians, and Colossians, to an holy conversation by. To the Colossians, 'If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God; set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth; for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Grace is attributed to the Father, as these scriptures testify; Romans 7:25, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians 1:2, Colossians 1:2, 1 Thessalonians 1:1, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, 1 Timothy 1:2, 2 Timothy 1:2, Titus 1:4, Philemon 3. 2.
These works, these services, they thought, merited grace more than the use of wine and flesh, and than marriage, which seemed to be a profane and unclean matter, and which scarcely could please God, even though it were not altogether condemned. Paul to the Colossians, 2, 18, greatly disapproves these angelic forms of worship.
The very purpose of the Epistle to the Colossians is to assert the exclusive and perfect mediatorship of Christ, alike in creation and redemption; all that we call being, and all that we call reconciliation, has to be defined by relation to Him, and not by relation to any other persons or powers, visible or invisible; and however gladly Paul might reflect that in his enthusiasm for suffering he was continuing Christ's work, and exhausting some of the afflictions they were Christ's own afflictions which had yet to be endured ere the Church could be made perfect, it is nothing short of grotesque to suppose that in this connection he conceived of himself as doing what Christ did, atoning for sin, and reconciling the world to God.
The wife has the same right to expect fidelity from her husband that he has to expect it from her. The covenant of marriage is a mutual one, equally binding on both. The injunction to the Ephesians concerning the relations in the married state is also given to the Colossians, very evidently relating to the same thing: love and unwavering fidelity between man and wife.
I may just notice in passing that these words are evidently alluded to in the New Testament, in the Epistle to the Colossians, where Paul speaks of God 'having made us meet for our portion of the inheritance of the saints in light. And then the 'portion of my cup' is a somewhat strange expression.
Wouldst thou know how hard it is to go to heaven? Read Matthew 7:13, 14; Luke 13:24. Wouldst thou know whether a man by nature be a friend to God, or an enemy? Then read Romans 5:10; Colossians 1:21. Wouldst thou know what, or who they are that shall go to heaven? Then read John 3:3-7, and 2 Corinthians 5:17.
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