Colossians 4

Notes

Ver. 1. And as servants ought to obey their masters in all lawful things, so ye Christian masters ought to deal justly and equitably with them, allowing them proper work, provision, and wages, and giving them proper reproofs or encouragements in their work, knowing that ye yourselves serve the Lord Jesus Christ, and must give an account of your treatment of servants, as well as of every part of your conduct, to him who now inspects, and will hereafter judge and reward you. 2. But to return to general exhortations, all of you daily, at set seasons, in secret, private, or his blessings—temporal, spiritual, or eternal. Watch for special calls of Providence and needful assistances of spiritual influence, to make you ever ready, fervent, and persevering in prayer; and watch against all hindrances of it, or deadness or wandering in it. And let all your supplications for mercies be joined with grateful praises and cheerful thanksgivings for what ye have received or expect. 3. And in all your addresses to God earnestly plead with him that I and my fellow-labourers in the ministry may be favoured with extensive opportunities and abilities to preach the gospel in a right manner, and with remarkable success, and to lay open the deep things, and exhibit and offer the unsearchable riches of Christ (for doing of which I am now a prisoner in bonds); 4. That, as far as Providence shall grant me opportunities, I may be eminently assisted in declaring the whole counsel of God with a proper frame of spirit, and in a duly free, extensive, and plain manner. 5. And let the whole of your conversation toward your unbelieving neighbours be managed with such Christian skill, circumspection, and prudence that ye may not be defiled by them, or encourage them in sin; but may, by your example, win them to Christ. In this manner improve and extend every opportunity of doing your proper duty, and doing good to them. 6. And let your speech be always such as proceeds from the grace of God in your heart, and as may recommend his free favour to others, and promote in them a gracious temper, that thereby ye may know how to give a reason of your hope with all modesty, meekness, and wisdom; and how to answer scrupulous doubts, serious inquiries, and captious cavillings relative to any point of Christian faith, duty, or experience which may be proposed to you.—7. As to my outward circumstances and inward comforts, Tychicus, my beloved fellow-Christian and faithful minister of Christ, who brings you this letter, will fully inform you. 8. And being desirous to know how matters in religion stand with you, I have ordered him to make a thorough inquiry, and inform me of them—while he comforts you by his good counsels, and his informations of God's kindness to me. 9. He and Onesimus your countryman, who is now a noted convert to Christ, and comes along with him, will inform you fully of everything important about this place. 10, 11. Aristarchus, the Macedonian, who endangered his life for my sake, and is now my fellow-prisoner; and John Mark, nephew to Barnabas, my dear old colleague in apostolic labours (whom, if he come to you, I hope ye will respectfully receive, according to the recommendations he hath received); and Joshua Justus—the only three Jewish preachers who have here assisted me in propagating the gospel, and comforted me under my sufferings,—send you their heartiest wishes of temporal and spiritual blessings. 12-14. Epaphras, your fellow-citizen, who spends much of his time in earnest wrestlings with God in prayer, that ye may continue steadfast in the faith, be fully instructed in and eminently conformed to the will of God, and who manifests an uncommon concern for your present and eternal happiness, and your neighbours in Laodicea and Hierapolis; Luke, the beloved physician and evangelist; and Demas,—send you their Christian respects. 15. Present my cordial love to your brethren at Laodicea; and particularly to Nymphas, and his regular, holy, and religious family, or other Christians who meet at his house for public worship. 16. And when ye have, in a proper and public manner, read this letter among yourselves, let an exact copy of it be sent to and read in like manner by the church in Laodicea; and let the letter from the Laodiceans be also publicly read among you. 17. And as ye are surrounded with subtle enemies who seek to pervert you, entreat and respectfully admonish Archippus, under a deep sense of the excellent nature, design, and importance of his ministerial work, to lay out himself to his utmost in the authority and strength of Jesus Christ, and for his glory, to fulfil the duties of his office with all wisdom, diligence, faithfulness, and perseverance; explaining, confirming, vindicating, and enforcing the great doctrines of revelation, in exemplifying them in his own conduct, in reproving sin and confuting error, and in every other thing in his power, for the furtherance of the gospel in the conversion of sinners, and the edification and comfort of saints. 18. To conclude in my usual manner, I send you, in my own handwriting, my hearty respects, wishing that the full favour of God, with all the precious manifestations and effects thereof, may abound towards you. This I heartily desire and hope for; and that my letter may have the greater weight with you, and render you the more earnest in prayer for me, remember that I am suffering, with patience and cheerfulness, in bonds, for preaching the gospel to you Gentiles.

Ver. 1. The servants here spoken of were bond-servants or slaves, wherefore the apostle is the more careful to commend them both to justice and equity—principles that could not long be in exercise until slavery would first change its character, and then cease to exist. C.

Ver. 3. A door of utterance—acceptable capacity and favourable opportunity of preaching the gospel. C.

Ver. 6. With grace—courteous, respectful, free from all rudeness real or affected.—Seasoned with salt—commingled with such wisdom as would render it agreeable to the intellectual taste, worthy of being preserved in memory, thought of, and repeated—even as salt seasons food, and preserves it from putrefaction.—That ye may know, &c. That having your thoughts in a state of preservation and readiness, and your minds habituated to a respectful and agreeable, because sincere and humble, manner of address, you may be able to reply to the learned or unlearned, the rich or the poor. C.

Ver. 9. Onesimus had been Philemon's slave (see Phile.), and is most probably sent as a free man, as the best practical and living commentary on the apostle's directions for masters. C.

Ver. 11. These only. It is worthy of remark that Paul had now but five fellow-soldiers at Rome; and yet, let none 'despise the day of small things;' for these were the leaders of that army that finally subdued that gigantic heathen empire.—Note, Among the millions of an unconverted world, let the ministers of Christ never despond; God, who encouraged Gideon to assail and conquer Midian with a reduced army, is able to conquer the whole kingdom of darkness by whatever handful he may please to commission. C.

Ver. 16. The epistle from Laodicea. Some suppose this to refer to a lost epistle; but this is gratuitous and unauthorized. Some think it to refer to 1 Ti.; others, to the epistle to the Ephesians left by Tychicus on his way to Colosse. What epistle it was is unknown, and conjecture is useless. The record, however, is most valuable, as it inculcates the duty of reading the apostolic writings. C.

Reflections.—With great equity, mildness, and mercy ought masters to treat their servants, in the view of God's authority over them, and of their accounting to him. Great is the necessity of fervent and persevering prayer for fellow-Christians, and especially for ministers—that they may preach the gospel with proper grace are necessary to make Christians improve their time, and order their speech to the honour of Jesus Christ and the edification of their neighbours. Much mutual esteem of one another, and fervent wrestlings for the church; great sympathy towards the distressed; courtesy to all men, especially the saints; and studious care to fulfil their ministry in the Lord—ought to prevail in every minister of Christ. And earnest care to vie with one another in every grace and duty, and to edify one another in love, and even to render their pastors duly diligent and faithful, ought to take place among all Christian professors.

Concluding Remarks on the Epistle to the Colossians.

There is a considerable similarity between the epistles to the Ephesians, the Philippians, and the Colossians; so that they may be most advantageously read as mutual commentaries. The Epistle to the Colossians has in it, however, several particulars that are not referred to in the others. Among these the most prominent are, the germinant doctrines of angel-worship, and acts of voluntary austerity and will-worship, which were subsequently matured by the popedom of Rome;—which voluntary austerities, in penances, pilgrimages, and such like, 'have indeed a show of wisdom and humility, and neglecting of the body;' but have in reality sprung from that ignorance which has rejected, even as the Jews rejected, 'the righteousness of God,' Ro. 10. 3; which will-worship has superseded the all-prevailing intercession of Christ, by conjoining with him apostles, saints, and angels, all exalted to be objects of confidence, not only without, but in defiance of, the divine commandment, Mat. 4. 10. Thus early did the enemy begin to sow the tares where even the hands of apostles had sown the wheat! And, no doubt, they will be permitted by a wise and merciful Providence to 'grow together until the harvest,' when the tares of false doctrine and evil practices shall be separated, and the wheat of truth and holiness shall be gathered for the garner of the Lord, Mat. 3. 12; 13. 25. C.