Colossians 1:28

Col_1:28

Whom we preach.

The Apostolic Ministry

I. Its substance. Christ.

1. In the dignity of His person (Col_1:12-19.)

2. Therefore Christ only. Some preach themselves, morality, human systems, philosophy.

3. Christ always. If I come into the pulpit with another theme, concluding I shall have other opportunities, and so compel Him to give place, it may be the last time I shall preach. Christ in you, the hope of glory. This includes two things

(1) Christ, in His intimate relation to the believer.

(2) Christ, in all the animating hopes of futurity. Christ in you, the hope of glory. This can counteract the darkness of the future.

II. Its manner.

1. Warning.

(1) Fidelity demands this. The world must not only be instructed, but admonished. Let us take warning. A few blessings yet remain; but they will soon be gone; let us not trifle with them also.

(2) The voice of death urges this upon us. (Read Eze_33:2-9.)

2. Teaching. Here two things are essential.

(1) Simplicity. No one can teach who does not make himself understood. There must be ability to communicate. Some lock up their ideas as the miser his wealth, and perishes with it.

(2) Diligence also is necessary. We must be instant in season and out of season.

(3) This must be done individually, teaching every man. Here much care, prudence, and promptitude is required. Let men see how intent we are on their salvation.

(4) Wisely also--In all wisdom, seeking out suitable season to speak to the heart. Various means must be employed, and we must accommodate ourselves to the capacities of those whom we address.

III. Its end.

1. A final presentation. Christ is to present all to the Father, and the minister all to the Son.

2. A personal presentation, i.e., all must stand before Him.

3. A presentation of acceptance; therefore all will not be presented.

4. It is a perfect presentation--That we may present every man perfect.

(1) It is a perfection of knowledge--What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.

(2) It is a perfection in righteousness.

(3) As to the perfection of glory, Eye hath not seen, etc. It doth not yet appear what we shall be.

5. It is a ministerial presentation. The minister must of necessity be a witness as to the reception or rejection of his ministry, and give an account. (W. B. Collyer, D. D.)

I. The great subject of an evangelical ministry. We preach Christ.

1. In the dignity of His person.

2. His deep humiliation.

3. His infinite atonement.

4. His distinct offices as Prophet, Priest, and King.

5. The fulness and sufficiency of His grace for all the purposes of our present, complete, and everlasting salvation.

6. The purity of His character, leaving us an example that we should follow His steps.

7. As our great Leader to a mighty and glorious victory.

8. As our judge.

II. The manner in which this subject is to be applied to the understanding and the conscience.

1. Warning every man of the danger of

(1) Denying Christ.

(2) Substituting anything in the room of Christ.

(3) Slighting Christ or neglecting Him in any way.

(4) Perverting the grace of Christ or neglecting to improve it.

2. Teaching every man

(1) His privilege--to enjoy through Christ remission of sins--to be adopted into Gods family--to be sanctified wholly--to obtain a seat at last in the kingdom of Gods glory.

(2) The way to obtain these privileges--Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

(3) His duty

(a) to God, to love, serve, honour, and obey Him, and that until death;

(b) to the nation, of which he is a subject, to fear God and work righteousness.

(c) To the world, of which he is a citizen.

III. The great end which a christian minister has to keep in view. That every man may be--

1. Perfectly instructed in the doctrines, privileges, and duties of the Christian faith.

2. Perfected in the love of Christ.

3. So as to be presented blameless at the coming of Christ. (J. Waterhouse.)

I. Whom a gospel minister should preach. Christ.

1. On the cross. No other sacrifice but His could avail to roll the reproach from a guilty world. There is salvation in none other.

2. In the grave triumphing over death, bringing life and immortality to light, becoming the pledge of our resurrection.

3. On the throne able to save, protect, rule.

4. On the judgment-seat.

II. How a gospel minister should preach.

1. Warning every man

(1) by the threatenings of the Divine law;

(2) of his responsibility for religious privileges.

2. Teaching every man--

(1) The love of God.

(2) The duty of man.

III. The great end of this preaching. To present every man--

1. Perfect in the attributes of a renewed and glorified nature.

2. To be secured by union with Christ. (D. Moore, M. A.)

I. The nature of the Apostolic Ministry--Preach.

1. Paul was no ritualist. The day for ritualism was gone by. The Christ dimly seen in the worlds childhood through the old economy was now fully revealed, and must be presented in a manner suited to the reason and heart of full-grown men.

2. Paul had no philosophy to elaborate; the realities of the gospel had superseded its speculations useful as they once were.

3. Paul was a preacher. He proclaimed war against sinners, peace to the penitent.

II. Its subject.

1. A personal act, not a sublime legend or poetic myth.

2. Christ as distinguished from every other person.

(1) From angelic or saintly mediators.

(2) From himself, We preach not ourselves, etc.

3. Christ as a Person as distinguished from Christianity any part of it as a thing. Christ, and not merely

(1) Christs example.

(2) Christian theology.

(3) The sacraments.

III. Its characteristic was to so present Christ that the Master might do His own work in His own way. Hence his ministry was--

1. Admonitory.

(1) He preached a Saviour. So as to show that the cost and character of His salvation were such as to involve those to whom He was offered in a tremendous responsibility.

(2) He preached Christ as the only Saviour, and thus set the issues of accepting or rejecting Him clearly before men.

(3) As the Judge.

2. Instructive. Paul teaches every man by

(1) Setting forth the Instructor.

(2) The Teacher as the education--That I may know Him.

(3) Wise. In all wisdom.

(4) Universal. Every man.

IV. Its aim.

1. Christ is the sphere in which Christian perfection is to be attained.

2. In Christ the believer is perfect.

3. Perfect in Christ we are presented for acceptance, consecration, work, warfare, and reward. (J. W. Burn.)

The Christian Ministry.

The false teachers had a good deal to say about a higher wisdom reserved for the initiated. They apparently treated the Apostolic teaching as trivial rudiments only fit for the vulgar crowd. They had their initiated class to whom their mysteries were entrusted in whispers. Such absurdities excited Pauls special abhorrence. He had broken with Judaism on the very ground of its exclusiveness. These dreamers were trying to enforce an intellectual exclusiveness quite as opposed to the gospel. So the apostle takes up their phrases--Mystery, perfect or initiated, wisdom, and presses them into the service of the principle that the most recondite secrets of the gospel were for every man. Our business is to tell out as fully and loudly as we can to all, all the wisdom we have learned.

I. The apostles statement of his work.

1. Not a theory or a system, but a living Person.

(1) The peculiarity of Christianity is that you cannot take its message and put aside Christ. His Person is inextricably intertwined with His teaching, which centres in Him who is The Truth. You may separate between Buddhas and Confuciuss teaching and themselves, but you cannot do so with Jesus. If we think less of Him than Paul does in this chapter, we shall scarcely feel that He should be the preachers theme; hut if He is to us what He was to him, then our own message will be Behold the Lamb. Let who will preach abstractions, the Christian minister has to preach Christ.

(2) To preach Him is to set forth His person, and the facts of His life and death, and to accompany these with that explanation which turns a biography into a gospel. The gospel which Paul preached was how that Christ died. That is biography, and to stop there is not to preach Christ; but add for our sins, etc., and you preach Christ.

(3) A ministry of which Christ is manifestly the centre may sweep a wide circumference, and include many themes. The requirement bars out no province of thought or experience, but demands that all themes should lead up to Christ, and that His name, like some deep tone on an organ, shall be heard sounding on through all the ripple and change of the higher notes.

2. The manner of the Apostles activity.

(1) We proclaim, tell out fully, clearly, earnestly. We are not muttering mystery-mongers. We cry in the streets to every man.

(2) This implies that the speaker has a message, that he is not a speaker of his own words or thoughts, but of what has been told him to tell.

3. This connection of the ministers office.

(1) Contrasts with the priestly theory. We preach, not we sacrifice, work miracles at any altar, or impart grace by any rites, but by the manifestation of the truth discharge our office, and spread the blessings of Christ.

(2) Contrasts with the false teachers style of speech, which finds its parallel in much modern talk. Their business was to argue and refine and speculate. They sat in a lecturers chair; we stand in a preachers pulpit. If the Christian minister allows the philosopher in him to overpower the herald, and substitutes his thoughts about the message or his arguments in favour of it for the message itself, he abdicates his office.

4. We hear many demands to-day for a higher type of preaching, which I would heartily echo, if only it be preaching, the proclamation of the great facts of Christs work. But many are trying to play up to the requirements of the age by turning their sermons into dissertations, philosophical, moral, or aesthetic. We need to fall back upon this Whom we preach, and oppose that to the demands of an age one half of which require a sign, and would degrade the minister into a priest, and the other calls for wisdom, and would turn him into a professor.

II. The varying methods by which this one great end is pursued.

1. Warning or admonishing.

(1) The teaching of morality is an essential part of preaching Christ. But the moral teaching which is confined to general principles is woefully like repeating platitudes and firing blank cartridges; yet if the preacher goes beyond these toothless generalities, he is met with the cry of personalities. But there is no preaching Christ completely which does not include plain speaking about plain duties.

(2) Nor is such preaching complete without plain warning of the end of sin. People like to have the smooth side of truth always uppermost; but there are no rougher words about what wrong-doers come to than some of Christs; and he has only given one half of his Masters message who hides or softens the wages of sin is death.

(3) But all this must be connected with and built on Christ. Christian morality has Jesus for its perfect exemplar, His love for its motive, His grace for its power. Nothing is more impotent than mere moral teaching.

2. Teaching. In the facts of Christs life and death, as we grow up to understand them, we get to see more and more the key to all things, and the Christian ministers business is to be ever learning and teaching more and more of the manifold wisdom of God. He must seek to present all sides of truth, teaching all wisdom, and so escaping from his own limited mannerisms. The Christian, ministry is distinctly educational, and is more than the simple preaching which is the avoidance of mere dogma or the repetition of Believe. The New Testament and common sense require more from a teacher.

3. Observe the repetition of every man, which is Pauls protest against an intellectual aristocracy, and his affirmation that Christianity is for all.

III. The ultimate end of these divine methods.

1. Presentation at the Judgment.

2. Perfection. The word may be used in its, technical meaning of initiated, but negatively it implies the entire removal of, all defects, and positively the complete possession of all that belongs to human nature as God meant it to be.

3. This completeness is attainable only in Christ, by that vital union with Him brought about by faith, which will pour His Spirit into ours.

4. This is possible for every man. There are no hopeless classes.

IV. The struggle and the strength with which paul reaches toward this aim.

1. He has found that he cannot do his work easily. That great purpose made a slave of him. I not only preach, I toil like a man tugging at an oar, and putting all his might into each stroke. Perhaps there were people who thought the preachers life an easy one, and so the apostle had to insist that the most exhaustive work is that of heart and brain. The minister who is afraid of putting all his strength into his work, up to the point of weariness, will never do much good.

2. There must be not only toil, but conflict, striving, contending with hindrances, without and within, which sought to mar his work.

3. Now for the strength. The measure of our power is Christs power in us. He whose presence makes the struggle necessary, by His presence strengthens us for it. We have not only His presence beside us as an ally, but His grace within us. Let us take courage then for all work and conflict. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Christ personally the subject of preaching

Suppose that a man has heard of a great physician who understands his complaint. He has travelled a great many miles to see this celebrated doctor; but when he gets to the door they tell him that he is out. Well, says he, then I must wait till he is in. You need not wait, they reply, his assistant is at home. The suffering man, who has been often disappointed, answers, I do not care about his assistant, I want to see the man himself: mine is a desperate case, but I have heard that this physician has cured the like; I must, therefore, see him. Well, say they, he is out; but there are his books; you can see his books. Thank you, he says, I cannot be content with his books; I want the living man, and nothing less. It is to him that I must speak, and from him I will receive instructions. Do you see that cabinet? Yes. It is full of his medicines. The sick man answers, I dare say they are very good, but they are of no use to me without the doctor: I want their owner to prescribe for me, or I shall die of my disease. But see cries one, here is a person who has been cured by him, a man of great experience, who has been present at many remarkable operations. Go into the inquiry-room with him, and he will tell you all about the mode of cure. The afflicted man answers, I am much obliged to you, but all your talk only makes me long the more to see the doctor. I came to see him, and I am not going to be put off with anything else. I must see the man himself, for myself. He has made my disease a speciality; he knows how to handle my case, and I will stop till I see him. Now, if you are seeking Christ, imitate this sick man, or else you will miss the mark altogether. Never be put off with books or conversations. Be not content with Christian people talking to you, or preachers preaching to you, or the Bible being read to you, or prayers being offered for you. Anything short of Jesus will leave you short of salvation. You have to reach Christ, and touch Christ, and nothing short of this will serve your turn. Picture the case of the prodigal son when he went home. Suppose when he reached the house the elder brother had come to meet him. I must make a supposition that the elder brother had made himself amiable; and then I hear him say, Come in, brother; welcome home! But I see the returning one stand there with the tears in his eyes, and I hear him lament, I want to see my father. I must tell him that I have sinned and done evil in his sight. An old servant whispers, Master John, I am glad to see you back. Be happy, for all the servants are rejoiced to hear the sound of your voice. It is true your father will not see you, but he has ordered the fatted calf to be killed for you; and here is the best robe, and a ring, and shoes for your feet, and we are told to put them upon you. All this would not content the poor penitent. I think I hear him cry--I do not despise anything my father gives me, for I am not worthy to be as his hired servant; but what is all this unless I see his face, and know that he forgives me? We are not content to preach unless Jesus Himself be the theme. We do not set before you something about Christ, nor something that belongs to Christ, nor something procured by Christ, nor somebody that has known Christ, nor some truth which extols Christ; but we preach Christ crucified. We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Ministerial faithfulness

You will be interested in hearing the particulars of the final interview between the Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV.) and the late Bishop of London (Porteus), which have lately been communicated to me. Among other good people with whom my informant is intimate is Mr. Owen, minister of Fulham, who was in a manner the Bishops parish clergyman, and long his chaplain. It seems his Royal Highness had sent out a summons for a great military review, which was to take place on a Sunday. The Bishop had been confined to his house, and did not hope, nor, I suppose, wish, ever in this world to go out again. He ordered his carriage, however, upon hearing this, proceeded to Carlton House, and waited upon the Prince, who received him very graciously. He said, I am come, sir, urged by my regard to you, to your father, and to this great nation, who are anxiously beholding every public action of yours. I am on the verge of time; new prospects open to me; the favour of human beings, or their displeasure, is as nothing to me now. I am come to warn your Royal Highness of the awful consequences of your breaking down the very little that remains of distinction to the day that the Author of all power has hallowed, and set apart for Himself. He went on in pathetic terms to represent the awful responsibility to which the Prince exposed himself, and how much benefit or injury might result to the immortal souls of millions by his consulting or neglecting the revealed will of the King of kings; and, after much tender and awful exhortation, concluded with saying, You see how your father, greatly your inferior in talent and capacity, has been a blessing to all around him and to the nation at large, because he made it the study and business of his life to exert all his abilities for the good of his people, to study and to do the will of God, and to give an example to the world of a life regulated by the precepts of Christian morality; he has been an object of respect and veneration to the whole world for so doing it. If he has done much, you, with your excellent abilities and pleasing and popular manners, may do much more. It is impossible for you to remain stationary in this awful crisis; you must rise to true glory and renown, and lead millions in the same path by the power of your example, or sink to sudden and perpetual ruin, aggravated by the great numbers whom your fall will draw with you to the same destruction. And now, were I able to rise, or were any one here who would assist me, I should, with the awful feeling of a dying man, give my last blessing to your Royal Highness. The Prince upon this burst into tears, and fell on his knees before the Bishop, who bestowed upon him, with folded hands, his dying benediction; the Prince then, in the most gracious and affecting manner, assisted him himself to go down, and put him into his carriage. The Bishop went home, never came out again, and died the fifth day after. On hearing of his death, the Prince shut himself up, and was heard by his attendants to sob as under deep affliction. I think I have now given you a brief but faithful account of this transaction as I heard it. (Memoirs of Mrs. Grant of Laggan.)

Sinners must be warned

John Elias was a Welsh preacher of great power. On one occasion he went to Rhuddlan to preach in the open air on Sunday, during which a fair was held there to sell and buy articles used in the time of harvest. Scythes, sickles, etc., were sold there on that day. Crowds of ungodly people were present. Mr. Elias ascended some steps near a public-house, as a messenger of God to denounce the desecration of His day. His prayer arrested at the commencement the attention of all present. He acknowledged with trembling voice how the people in the fair were bringing Gods wrath upon their heads by violating His holy day. The contagion of serious apprehension of danger spread through the throngs in the fair. They hid their sickles and scythes as if the Judge of the world had come to call them to account for their rebellion against Him. Mirth and music were hushed under the power of the dread which ruled all hearts. At the conclusion of his discourse the people quietly but quickly wended their way toward home, glad that a storm of fire and brimstone had not consumed them.

On preaching Christ

There was a devoted clergyman of the Church of England, Mr. Mackenzie, of Holloway, London, who used to go down to Wemyss Bay every year for his holiday; and then he would also preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. God laid His hand heavily upon that godly minister, and when he was lying on his death-bed, the saintly Mr. Pennefather, of Mildmay, went to see him; and the dying minister looked up at his kind visitor and said, If God should raise me up from this sick bed, I should not preach the doctrines less, but I should preach the person of Christ more. (Mr. Wilson.)

Motives to earnestness

We read that the Rev. Charles Simeon kept the picture of Henry Martyn in his study. Move where he would through the apartment, it seemed to keep its eyes upon him, and ever to say to him, Be earnest, be earnest; dont trifle, dont trifle; and the good Simeon would gently bow to the speaking picture, and, with a smile, reply, Yes, I will be in earnest; I will, I will be in earnest; I will not trifle, for souls are perishing, and Jesus is to be glorified. Oh, Christian, look away to Martyns Master, to Simeons Saviour, to the omniscient One. Ever realize the inspection of His eye, and hear His voice of tenderest importunity, Be instant; entreat with all long-suffering and tears. Be faithful unto death; for lo, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me. (S. J. Moore.)

An earnest preacher

When Dr. Chalmers occupied the chair of philosophy in the College of St. Andrews, he used to gather into his own: house each Sabbath evening the poorest and most ignorant of the vagrant children of the neighbourhood; and his biography states that for that audience he prepared himself as carefully, with his pen in his hand, as for his class in the University. So, on a winter day, through frost, and in the face of a driving snow-storm, you might have seen him walking five miles to fulfil an appointment of religious worship with a little company of rustic people at Kilmany--and there, amid some illiterate, shivering cottagers, too few for a church or chapel, met in a damp room--an audience that many men would have thought it expedient to dismiss at once, on account of the weather, and many more would have put off with some crude, unpremeditated talk--he preached as laboured and as eloquent a sermon as would have moved to rapture and wonder the learning and fashion of Glasgow or of London. It is only of such earnest stuff as this that the truly commanding persons in any of the elevated ranges of action or of learning are made.

Faithfulness reciprocated

I was seventeen years old when I went to Boston. On Sunday I went into a Bible-class in one of the churches. I had been there but a few Sundays before that teacher came down into the shoe-store where I was engaged, and put his hand on my shoulder, and spoke to me about my soul. He was the first man that ever spoke to me about my soul. He shed tears. I forget now what he: said, but I never will forget the pressure of his hand and those tears. Seventeen years rolled away, and one dark, rainy night I was speaking in Worcester; a young man, after the meeting, came up the aisle and said to me, I have heard my father speak of you, so after that I thought I would like to become acquainted with you. Who is your father? Edward Kemble. My old teacher! The thought passed across my mind, Oh, if I could do for his son what he did for me. I put my hand on his shoulder, and said, Henry, are you a Christian? The tears started as he said, No, sir; but would like to be. Thank God for that! I preached Christ to him; but he could believe all that was in the Bible against sinners, like many others, but not what was for them Briefly, he believed at last, and comforted his dying mother with the knowledge of this fact. And his sisters conversion followed. (D. L. Moody.)

Earnestness in warning men

A story is told of a traveller who was journeying in the darkness along a road that led to a deep and rapid river, which, swollen by sudden rains, was chafing and roaring within its precipitous banks. The bridge that crossed the stream had been swept away by the torrent, but he knew it not. A man met him, and after inquiring whither he was bound, said to him in an indifferent way, Are you aware that the bridge is gone? No, was the answer. Why do you think so? Oh, I heard such a report this afternoon, and I think you had better not proceed. Deceived by the hesitating and undecided manner, the traveller pushed onward. Soon another, meeting him, cried out in consternation, Sir, sir, the bridge is gone. Oh, yes, replied the wayfarer, Come one told me that story a little distance back; but from the careless tone with which he told it, I am sure it is an idle talk. Oh, it is true, it is true! exclaimed the other. I know the bridge is gone, for I barely escaped being carried away with it myself. Danger is before you, and you must not go on. And in the excitement of his feelings he grasped him by the hands, and besought him not to rush upon manifest destruction. Convinced by the earnest voice, eyes, gesture, the traveller turned back and was saved. (W. Baxendale.)

Perfect in Christ Jesus.

The exalted aim of the Christian minister

In one of the compartments of the London Express the other day, an eminent artist was trying to hurt the feelings of a Baptist minister who was travelling in his company. The artist said, contemptuously, Preaching is such a very low occupation! The minister replied, Pray, sir, will you tell me what is your chief object in life? The painter said, Why, of course, my chief object is to make great pictures. The minister observed, Well, that may be a worthy object; but, in my opinion, the highest aim in life is to make good men. Pictures perish; men are everlasting. Ah, said the painter, you are right; the humblest preacher who by example as well as precept inspires goodness in men is much more useful to the world than the most eminent artist. (W. Birch.)

I. The faithful are said to be perfect.

1. Comparatively with the unconverted. Religion will make a man perfect in comparison of that which by nature men can attain unto.

2. They may be said to be perfect who want nothing that is absolutely necessary for salvation.

3. In righteousness there is perfection, and so they shall be absolutely perfect at the day of judgment, and are already perfect in respect of justification; yea, this word is given to the sanctification of the faithful, and that two ways--

(1) As to be perfect notes nothing else but to be a strong man in Christ (Heb_5:1-14. ult.).

(2) As to be upright is accepted with God for perfection, by the benefit of the covenant of grace and the intercession of Christ. Thus I think the very word is used in these places: 1Co_2:6, Php_3:15, Jam_1:17, Heb_6:1; Heb_6:12-13, Thus there is perfection in doctrine (Heb_6:1), in faith (Jam_2:22), in hope (1Pe_1:13), in love (1Jn_4:18 and Joh_17:23), in understanding (1Co_14:20).

II. But who is a strong man in Christ or a perfect man?

1. He that can forgive his enemies, and pray for them, and do good to them (Mat_5:48).

2. He that finishes his work; he doth not begin slightly and work for a spirit, but perseveres (Joh_17:4).

3. He that holds constant amity and holy communion with Gods children (1Jn_4:12; Joh_17:23).

4. He that renounces the world, denies himself, and consecrates his life to God (Rom_12:12).

5. He that is not carried away with every wind of doctrine, but follows the truth with all constant unmovableness (Eph_4:13-14).

6. He that presseth after perfection (Php_3:13-15).

7. He that hath a plerophory or full assurance of the will of God towards him (Col_4:12).

8. He that can digest the stronger doctrines of religion (Heb_5:14).

9. Patience hath in him her perfect work (Jam_1:4).

10. He sins not in word (Jam_3:12).

11. He keeps the word (1Jn_2:5).

12. He is settled in the love of God, and hath not fear, but boldness (1Jn_4:17-18). (N. Byfield.)

Aim at perfection

Aim at perfection in everything, though in most things it is unattainable. They who aim at it and persevere will come much nearer to it than those whose laziness and despondency make them give it up as unattainable. (Lord Chesterfield.)

A training perfection

At present the believer is like the marble in the hands of the sculptor; but though day by day he may give fresh touches and work the marble into greater emulation of the original, the resemblance will be far from complete until death. Each fresh degree of likeness is a fresh advance towards perfection, It must then be when every feature is moulded into similitude, when all traces of feebleness and depravity are swept away for ever, the statue breathes, and the picture burns with Deity--it must be that then we shall be filled. We shall look on the descending Mediator, and, as though the ardent gaze drew down celestial fire, we shall seem instantly to pass through the refiners furnace, and leaving behind all the dishonour of the grave, and all the dross of corruptible humanity, spring upward, an ethereal, rapid-glowing thing, Christs image extracted by Christs lustre. (H. Melvill, B. D.)

Growth in perfection

The thing which is most perfect, if it be susceptible of growth at all, will have the most sure and rapid growth. Which grows most and in the best manner, the flower which is whole and perfect in its incipient state, or that which has a canker in it, or is otherwise injured in its parts? Which will grow the most rapidly and symmetrically, the child which is perfect in its infancy, or one that is afflicted with some malformation? Facts of this kind make it clear that, although it is possible for a person who is partially holy to grow in holiness, a person who is entirely holy will grow much more. (T. G. Upham, LL. D.)

Perfection a lifes work

The process of Christian perfection is like that which a portrait goes through under the hand of an artist. When a man is converted, he is but an outline sketch of a character which he is to fill up. He first lays in the dead- colouring; then comes the work of laying in the colours; and he goes on day after day, week after week, year after year, blending them and heightening the effect. It is a lifes work; and when he dies, he is still laying in and blending the co]ours and heightening the effect. (H. W. Beecher.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES

Col_1:28. Whom we preach.—What a glorious comprehensiveness there is in preaching Him in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead! Here is nothing narrow. Warning every man.—R.V. “admonishing.” It is a direction of the reflective faculty—a reproof administered with intent to amend the conduct. It corresponds to “Repent ye!” And teaching every man.—The positive side of which the warning is the negative. It is not enough to tell a man he is wrong—the right must be indicated; so the heralds of the gospel followed up “Repent ye” with “Believe the gospel.” Note the repeated “every man.” Exclusiveness which shuts the door in the face of any “weak brother for whom Christ died” is utterly strange to the teaching of St. Paul. That we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.—St. Paul, and every true successor, labours for this end; and, as Col_1:22 shows, in so doing all are “workers together with God.” We have the idea of presentation elsewhere in St. Paul, as where he speaks of presenting his converts as a chaste virgin to Christ. The risk of offering a tainted animal for sacrifice is as nothing in comparison of offering a hypocrite as a trophy of the gospel.

Col_1:29. I also labour.—The word implies strenuous effort. “The racer who takes care to slack his speed whenever he is in danger of breaking into a perspiration will not win the prize” (Maclaren). Striving.—Lit. “agonising,” as in Luk_13:24. Like a stripped gymnast, every encumbrance cast off. The same word in 1Ti_6:12. “Fight the good fight.”

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Col_1:28-29

The Secret of Effective Preaching.

Much has been written concerning the inefficiency of the modern pulpit; and it has been argued that the press is now the great and successful rival of the preacher, and must ere long render his office nugatory. This prediction might possibly be fulfilled if the preaching of the gospel was simply a human institution and depended only on man for its permanency. But when we remember that preaching is a divine ordinance, and is adapted to reach and stir the heart as no other agency can, the preacher’s function can never cease while human nature remains what it is, or while God honours His own institution with His blessing. Only as the pulpit is faithful to its grand theme and lofty mission will it be effective. The deepest want of the age is Christ; and that preaching will be irresistibly potent that most adequately represents Him. These verses reveal to us the secret of effective preaching.

I. In order to effectiveness in preaching Christ must be the changeless theme.—“Whom we preach” (Col_1:28).

1. Preach Christ as to the special characteristic and unrivalled excellencies of His person.—The greatest men who ever lived, however brilliant and capacious their genius or stupendous their labours, never made so profound and widespread an impression upon humanity as Christ has done and is now doing. Their influence operated for only a limited period; His pervades all time—past, present, and future; theirs was confined to a narrow locality, His is diffused through the universe. The person of Christ is unique in this—that it combines two natures, the divine and the human. It was necessary He should be both God and man in order to fully accomplish the work He voluntarily undertook. As God, He met and satisfied all the requirements of Deity; and as man—putting Himself in our place—He realised and reached the extremities of our need, and thus fairly laying hold of us, gathering up and grasping the roots of our corrupt nature, He raised from sin to holiness, from earth to heaven. He is Emmanuel—God with us.

2. Preach Christ in His mediatorial character.—As the Prophet who testified of the truth of God; as the Priest who, by His one offering of Himself on the cross, has atoned for sin and made reconciliation possible; and as the King who has vanquished all our spiritual enemies and demands our absolute allegiance to His rule.

3. Preach Christ as the Saviour of every man, and as the only Saviour.—The threefold repetition of the phrase “every man” has a special significance, and emphasises the universality of the gospel. This great truth, a truth which the apostle sacrificed his life in establishing, had been endangered by the doctrine of a ceremonial exclusiveness taught by the Judaizers in several places, and was now endangered by the doctrine of an intellectual exclusiveness taught by the Gnosticizers at Colossæ. Christ must be proclaimed as the Saviour of men of every class, community, and country. He is the only Saviour, for “there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” The preaching of Christ is no narrow theme, but stands essentially related to all the noblest truths of the universe.

II. In order to effectiveness variety of method must be adopted.—The declaration of the truth must be:—

1. Authoritative.—“Whom we preach” (Col_1:28). The New Testament idea of preaching involves three elements—the announcement of joyful tidings; the proclamation of truth as by a herald, urgently and authoritatively; and the conviction and persuasion of men to belief by means of arguments. The preacher is the ambassador of God, and the message must be delivered as coming from Him, in His name, and by His authority.

2. Admonitory.—“Warning every man.” Sin has placed man in imminent peril, and its tendency is to deaden his sensibilities and render him oblivious of his danger. Hence he must be roused to concern and repentance by faithful remonstrance, by earnest exhortation, by solemn admonition, by impassioned appeal.

3. Instructive.—“Teaching every man” (Col_1:28). Not only must the emotions be swayed, but the understanding enlightened. It is not enough to convince the unbeliever of his error, not enough to bring home to the lover of sin the vileness and enormity of his transgressions, but by clear and forcible exposition and persuasion the will of the individual offender must be seized, and with firm, yet loving pressure biassed to seek after the light, truth, and purity that once were shunned.

4. With shrewd insight as to its adaptability.—“In all wisdom” (Col_1:28). The ancients spoke of a blind faith in their mysteries which belonged to the many, and of a higher knowledge that was confined to the few. The apostle, while declaring that in the gospel the fullest wisdom was offered to all alike, without restriction, exercised discretion as to the method in which he presented it to the individual. The style of his address at Athens would be different from that adopted at Jerusalem. This involves a study of character, and of what goes to make it—habits, customs, opinions, sympathies, and the general circumstances of life-culture.

III. In order to effectiveness man must be aided in realising the highest ideal of the Christian character.—“That we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (Col_1:28). The gospel is a mirror in which is glassed the portrait of the character after which each believer is to model his own. That character is not simply a development of one’s own natural manhood, so much as it is something added to and thrown around that manhood, lifting it into dignity and transfiguring it with a glorious beauty. The gospel reveals the ideal of the Christian character after which the soul is continually to aspire. That ideal, in all its loveliness and witchery, is projected before the soul’s inmost vision in the Spirit and life of the man Christ Jesus. He who approximates nearest to the Christly character attains the highest moral perfection. It is the sublime mission of the preacher not to gratify the intellect, charm the imagination, or expand the mind by propagating the ideas of a transcendental philosophy; but to strengthen the soul in the great contest with evil, to supply it with holiest motives, to promote its spiritual progress, to present it “perfect in Christ Jesus.”

IV. In order to effectiveness there must be self-denying toil and the vigorous forth-putting of divinely inspired energy.—“Whereunto I also labour, striving according to His working which worketh in me mightily” (Col_1:29). All great ideas have cost the solitary and individual thinker unspeakable labour, and not a little suffering in the endeavour to elaborate and make them known and set them in their due relation before the world. The world is ruled by ideas; but the revolution they occasion is a slow and painful process. The apostle was the custodian of a great idea—that the gospel was intended for all, and must be fully preached to all. The idea is familiar to us; but it was new to that age, and revolutionised the whole realm of human thought. If the apostle had been content to preach an exclusive gospel, he might have saved himself more than half the troubles of his life. But he saw the magnitude of the issues at stake; he espoused the God-given truth with all the strength of his great nature; he confronted the colossal prejudices of the ages; he trained himself in the discipline of self-denying toil; he suffered as only the true martyr-soul can suffer; he strove with an agony of earnestness to make known the whole truth; and, aided by the mighty working of the divine power within him, he triumphed signally. Preaching is always effective when it is the consentaneous outworking of the divinely imparted energy within the man. The preacher alone, however strenuous his efforts, is powerless; but inspired and strengthened by the divine Spirit, and acting in harmony with His promptness and help, he is mighty to prevail.

Lessons.—

1. Every sermon should be full of Christ.

2. The preacher should be master of every method that will ensure success.

3. That sermon will be most effective that is prepared and preached under the most direct influence of the divine Spirit.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES

Col_1:28. Apostolic Preaching.

I. They preached Christ as the only foundation of a sinner’s hope of salvation.

II. As the object of supreme love.

III. As the source of our supplies.

IV. As the model of our lives.—W. Antliff, D.D.

Col_1:29. The Christian Ministry—

I. Involves strenuous labour and patient suffering.

II. Is dependent on divine help.

III. Ascribes all its success to God.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chapter 1 Part 9

THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY IN ITS THEME, METHODS, AND AIM

Col_1:28-29 (R.V.)

THE false teachers at Colossae had a great deal to say about a higher wisdom reserved for the initiated. They apparently treated the Apostolic teaching as trivial rudiments, which might be good for the vulgar crowd, but were known by the possessors of this higher truth to be only a veil for it. They had their initiated class, to whom their mysteries were entrusted in whispers. Such absurdities excited Pauls special abhorrence. His whole soul rejoiced in a gospel for all men. He had broken with Judaism on the very ground that it sought to enforce a ceremonial exclusiveness, and demanded circumcision and ritual observances along with faith. That was, in Pauls estimate, to destroy the gospel. These Eastern dreamers at Colossae were trying to enforce an intellectual exclusiveness quite as much opposed to the gospel. Paul fights with all his might against that error. Its presence in the Church colours this context, where he uses the very phrases of the false teachers in order to assert the great principles which he opposes to their teaching. "Mystery," "perfect" or initiated, "wisdom,"-these are the keywords of the system which he is combating; and here he presses them into the service of the principle that the gospel is for all men, and the most recondite secrets of its deepest truth the property of every single soul that wills to receive them. Yes, he says in effect, we have mysteries. We have our initiated. We have wisdom. But we have no whispered teachings, confined to a little coterie; we have no inner chamber closed to the many. We are not muttering hierophants, cautiously revealing a little to a few, and fooling the rest with ceremonies and words. Our whole business is to tell out as fully and loudly as we can what we know of Christ, to tell to every man all the wisdom that we have learned. We fling open the inmost sanctuary, and invite all the crowd to enter.

This is the general scope of the words before us which state the object and methods of the Apostles work; partly in order to point the contrast with those other teachers, and partly in order to prepare the way, by this personal reference, for his subsequent exhortations.

I. We have here the Apostles own statement of what he conceived his life work to be.

"Whom we proclaim." All three words are emphatic. "Whom," not what-a person, not a system; we "proclaim," not we argue or dissertate about. "We" preach-the Apostle associates himself with all his brethren, puts himself in line with them, points to the unanimity of their testimony -"whether it were they or I, so we preach." We have all one message, a common type of doctrine.

So then the Christian teachers theme is not to be a theory or a system, but a living Person. One peculiarity of Christianity is that you cannot take its message, and put aside Christ, the speaker of the message, as you may do with all mens teachings. Some people say: "We take the great moral and religious truths which Jesus declared. They are the all-important parts of His work. We can disentangle them from any further connection with Him. It matters comparatively little who first spoke them." But that will not do. His person is inextricably intertwined with His teaching, for a very large part of His teaching is exclusively concerned with, and all of it centres in, Himself. He is not only true, but He is the truth. His message is, not only what He said with His lips about God and man, but also what He said about Himself, and what He did in His life, death, and resurrection. You may take Buddhas sayings, if you can make sure that they are his, and find much that is beautiful and true in them, whatever you may think of him; you may appreciate the teaching of Confucius, though you know nothing about him but that he said so and so; but you cannot do thus with Jesus. Our Christianity takes its whole colour from what we think of Him. If we think of Him as less than this chapter has been setting Him forth as being, we shall scarcely feel that He should be the preachers theme; but if He is to us what He was to this Apostle, the sole Revealer of God, the Centre and Lord of creation, the Fountain of life to all which lives, the Reconciler of men with God by the blood of His cross, then the one message which a man may be thankful to spend his life in proclaiming will be, Behold the Lamb! Let who will preach abstractions, the true Christian minister has to preach the person and the office-Jesus the Christ. To preach Christ is to set forth the person, the facts of His life and death, and to accompany these with that explanation which turns them from being merely a biography into a gospel. So much of "theory" must go with the "facts," or they will be no more a gospel than the story of another life would be. The Apostles own statement of "the gospel which he preached" distinctly lays down what is needed-"how that Jesus Christ died." That is biography, and to say that and stop there is not to preach Christ; but add, "For our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was raised again the third day,"-preach that, the fact and its. meaning and power, and you will preach Christ.

Of course there is a narrower and a wider sense of this expression. There is the initial teaching, which brings to a soul, which has never seen it before, the knowledge of a Saviour, whose Cross is the propitiation for sin; and there is the fuller teaching, which opens out the manifold bearings of that message in every region of moral and religious thought. I do not plead for any narrow construction of the words. They have been sorely abused, by being made the battle cry for bitter bigotry and a hard system of abstract theology, as unlike what Paul means by "Christ" as any cobwebs of Gnostic heresy could be. Legitimate out, growths of the Christian ministry have been checked in their name. They have been used as a cramping iron, as a shibboleth, as a stone to fling at honest and especially at young preachers. They have been made a pillow for laziness. So that the very sound of the words suggests to some ears, because of their use in some mouths, ignorant narrowness.

But for all that, they are a standard of duty for all workers for God, which it is not difficult to apply, if the will to do so be present, and they are a touchstone to try the spirits, whether they be of God. A ministry of which the Christ who lived and died for us is manifestly the centre to which all converges and from which all is viewed, may sweep a wide circumference, and include many themes. The requirement bars out no province of thought or experience, nor does it condemn the preacher to a parrot-like repetition of elementary truths, or a narrow round of commonplace. It does demand that all themes shall lead up to Christ, and all teaching point to Him; that He shall be ever present in all the preachers words, a diffused even when not a directly perceptible presence; and that His name, like some deep tone on an organ, shall be heard sounding on through all the ripple and change of the higher notes. Preaching Christ does not exclude any theme, but prescribes the bearing and purpose of all; and the widest compass and richest variety are not only possible, but obligatory for him who would in any worthy sense take this for the motto of his ministry, "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified."

But these words give us not only the theme, but something of the manner of the Apostles activity. "We proclaim." The word is emphatic in its form, meaning "to tell out," and representing the proclamation as full, clear, earnest. "We are no muttering mystery mongers. From full lungs and in a voice to make people hear, we shout aloud our message. We do not take a man into a corner, and whisper secrets into his ear; we cry in the streets, and our message is for every man." And the word not only implies the plain, loud earnestness of the speaker, but also that what he speaks is a message, that he is not a speaker of his own words or thoughts, but of what has been told him to tell. His gospel is a good message, and a messengers virtue is to say exactly what he has been told, and to say it in such a way that the people to whom he has to carry it cannot but hear and understand it.

This connection of the Christian ministers office contrasts on the one hand with the priestly theory. Paul had known in Judaism a religion of which the altar was the centre, and the official function of the "minister" was to sacrifice. But now he has come to see that "the one sacrifice for sins forever" leaves no room for a sacrificing priest in that Church of which the centre is the Cross. We sorely need that lesson to be drilled into the minds of men today, when such a strange resurrection of priestism has taken place, and good, earnest men, whose devotion cannot be questioned, are looking on preaching as a very subordinate part of their work. For three centuries there has not been so much need as now to fight against the notion of a priesthood in the Church, and to urge this as the true definition of the ministers office: "we preach," not "we sacrifice," not "we do" anything; "we preach," not "we work miracles at any altar, or impart grace by any rites," but by manifestation of the truth discharge our office and spread the blessings of Christ.

This conception contrasts on the other hand with the false teachers style of speech, which finds its parallel in much modern talk. Their business was to argue and refine and speculate, to spin inferences and cobwebby conclusions. They sat in a lecturers chair; we stand in a preachers pulpit. The Christian minister has not to deal in such wares; he has a message to proclaim, and if he allows the "philosopher" in him to overpower the "herald," and substitutes his thoughts about the message, or his arguments in favour of the message, for the message itself, he abdicates his highest office and neglects his most important function.

We hear many demands today for a "higher type of preaching," which I would heartily echo, if only it be preaching; that is, the proclamation in loud and plain utterance of the great facts of Christs work. But many who ask for this really want, not preaching, but something quite different; and many, as I think, mistaken Christian teachers are trying to play up to the requirements of the age by turning their sermons into dissertations, philosophical or moral or aesthetic. We need to fall back on this "we preach," and to urge that the Christian minister is neither priest nor lecturer, but a herald, whose business is to tell out his message, and to take good care that he tells it faithfully. If, instead of blowing his trumpet and calling aloud his commission, he were to deliver a discourse on acoustios and the laws of the vibration of sonorous metal, or to prove that he has a message, and to dilate on its evident truth or on the beauty of its phrases, he would scarcely be doing his work. No more is the Christian minister, unless he keeps clear before himself as the guiding star of his work this conception of his theme and his task- Whom we preach-and opposes that to the demands of an age, one half of which "require a sign," and would again degrade him into a priest, and the other calls for "wisdom," and would turn him into a professor.

II. We have here the varying methods by which this one great end is pursued.

"Admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom."

There are then two main methods-"admonishing" and "teaching." The former means "admonishing with blame," and points, as many commentators remark, to that side of the Christian ministry which corresponds to repentance, while the latter points to that side which corresponds to faith. In other words, the former rebukes and warns, has to do with conduct and the moral side of Christian truth; the latter has chiefly to do with doctrine, and the intellectual side. In the one Christ is proclaimed as the pattern of conduct, the "new commandment"; in the other, as the creed of creeds, the new and perfect knowledge.

The preaching of Christ then is to be unfolded into all "warning," or admonishing. The teaching of morality and the admonishing of the evil and the end of sin are essential parts of preaching Christ. We claim for the pulpit the right and the duty of applying the principles and pattern of Christs life to all human conduct. It is difficult to do, and is made more so by some of the necessary conditions of our modern ministry, for the pulpit is not the place for details; and yet moral teaching which is confined to general principles is woefully like repeating platitudes and firing blank cartridges. Everybody admits the general principles, and thinks they do not apply to his specific wrong action; and if the preacher goes beyond these toothless generalities, he is met with the cry of "personalities." If a man preaches a sermon in which he speaks plainly about tricks of trade or follies of fashion, somebody is sure to say, going down the chapel steps, "Oh, ministers know nothing of business!" and somebody else to add, "It is a pity he was so personal," and the chorus is completed by many other voices, "He should preach Christ, and leave secular things alone."

Well! whether a sermon of that sort be preaching Christ or not depends on the way in which it is done. But sure I am that there is no "preaching Christ" completely, which does not include plain speaking about plain duties. Everything that a man can either do rightly or wrongly belongs to the sphere of morals, and everything within the sphere of morals belongs to Christianity and to "preaching Christ."

Nor is such preaching complete without plain warning of the end of sin, as death here and hereafter. This is difficult, for many people like to have the smooth side of truth always put uppermost. But the gospel has a rough side, and is by no means a "soothing syrup" merely. There are no rougher words about what wrongdoers come to than some of Christs words; and he has only given half his Masters message who hides or softens down the grim saying, "The wages of sin is death."

But all this moral teaching must be closely connected with and built upon Christ. Christian morality has Jesus for its perfect exemplar, His love for its motive, and His grace for its power. Nothing is more impotent than mere moral teaching. What is the use of perpetually saying to people, Be good, be good? You may keep on at that forever, and not a soul will listen, any more than the crowds on our streets are drawn to church by the bells monotonous call. But if, instead of a cold ideal of duty, as beautiful and as dead as a marble statue, we preach the Son of man, whose life is our law incarnate; and instead of urging to purity by motives which our own evil makes feeble, we reecho His heart-touching appeal, "If ye love Me, keep My commandments"; and if, instead of mocking lame men with exhortations to walk, we point those who despairingly cry, "Who shall deliver us from the body of this death?" to Him who breathes His living spirit into us to set us free from sin and death, then our preaching of morality will be "preaching the gospel" and be "preaching Christ."

This gospel is also to be unfolded into "teaching." In the facts of Christs life and death, as we ponder them and grow up to understand them, we get to see more and more the key to all things. For thought, as for life, He is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the ending. All that we can or need know about God or man, about present duty or future destiny, about life, death, and the beyond, -all is in Jesus Christ, and to be drawn from Him by patient thought and by abiding in Him. The Christian ministers business is to be ever learning and ever teaching more and more of the "manifold wisdom" of God. He has to draw for himself from the deep, inexhaustible fountains; he has to bear the water, which must be fresh drawn to be pleasant or refreshing, to thirsty lips. He must seek to present all sides of the truth, teaching all wisdom, and so escaping from his own limited mannerisms. How many ministers Bibles are all dog-eared and thumbed at certain texts, at which they almost open of themselves, and are as clean in most of their pages as on the day when they were bought!

The Christian ministry, then, in the Apostles view, is distinctly educational in its design. Preachers and hearers equally need to be reminded of this. We preachers are poor scholars ourselves, and in our work are tempted, like other people, to do most frequently what we can do with least trouble. Besides which, we many of us know, and all suspect, that our congregations prefer to hear what they have heard often before, and what gives them the least trouble. We often hear the cry for "simple preaching," by which one school intends "simple instruction in plain, practical matters, avoiding mere dogma," and another intends "the simple gospel," by which is meant the repetition over and over again of the great truth, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." God forbid that I should say a word which might even seem to underestimate the need for that proclamation being made in its simple form, as the staple of the Christian ministry, to all who have not welcomed it into their hearts, or to forget that, however dimly understood, it will bring light and hope and new loves and strengths into a soul! But the New Testament draws a distinction between evangelists and teachers, and common sense insists that Christian people need more than the reiteration of that message from him whom. they call their "teacher." If he is a teacher, he should teach; and he cannot do that, if the people who listen to him suspect everything that they do not know already, and are impatient of anything that gives them the trouble of attending and thinking in order to learn. I fear there is much unreality in the name, and that nothing would be more distasteful to many of our congregations than the preachers attempt to make it truly descriptive of his work. Sermons should not be "quiet resting places." Nor is it quite the ideal of Christian teaching that busy men should come to church or chapel on a Sunday, and not be fatigued by being made to think, but perhaps should be able to sleep for a minute or two and pick up the thread when they wake, quite sure that they have missed nothing of any consequence. We are meant to be teachers, as well as evangelists, though we fulfil the function so poorly; but our hearers often make that task more difficult by illconcealed impatience with sermons which try to discharge it.

Observe too the emphatic repetition of "every man" both in these two clauses and in the following. It is Pauls protest against the exclusiveness of the heretics, who shut out the. mob from their mysteries. An intellectual aristocracy is the proudest and most exclusive of all. A Church built upon intellectual qualifications would be as hard and cruel a coterie as could be imagined. So there is almost vehemence and scorn in the persistent repetition in each clause of the obnoxious word, as if he would thrust down his antagonists throats the truth that his gospel has nothing to do with cliques and sections, but belongs to the world. To it philosopher and fool are equally welcome. Its message is to all. Brushing aside surface diversities, it goes straight to deep-lying wants, which are the same in all men. Below kings robe and professors gown, and workmans jacket and prodigals rags, beats the same heart with the same wants, wild longings, and weariness. Christianity knows no hopeless classes. But its highest wisdom can be spoken to the little child and the barbarian, and it is ready to deal with the most forlorn and foolish, knowing its own power to "warn every man and to teach every man in all wisdom."

III. We have here the ultimate aim of these diverse methods.

"That we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus."

We found this same word "present" in Col_1:22. The remarks made there will apply here. There the Divine purpose of Christs great work, and here Pauls purpose in his, are expressed alike. Gods aim is Pauls aim too. The Apostles thoughts travel on to the great coming day, when we shall all be manifested at the judgment seat of Christ, and preacher and hearer, Apostle and convert, shall be gathered there. That solemn period will test the teachers work, and should ever be in his view as he works. There is a real and indissoluble connection between the teacher and his hearers, so that in some sense he is to blame if they do not stand perfect then, and he in some sense has to present them as in his work-the gold, silver, and precious stones which he has built on the foundation. So each preacher should work with that end clear in view, as Paul did. He is always toiling in the light of that great vision. One sees him, in all his letters, looking away yonder to the horizon, where he expects the breaking of its morning low down in the eastern sky. Ah! how many a formal pulpit and how many a languid pew would be galvanised into intense action if only their occupants once saw burning in on them, in their decorous deadness, the light of that great white throne! How differently we should preach if we always felt "the terror of the Lord," and under its solemn influence sought to "persuade men"! How differently we should hear if we felt we must appear before the Judge, and give account to Him of our profitings by His word!

And the purpose which the true minister of Christ has in view is to "present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." "Perfect" may be used here with the technical signification of "initiated," but it means absolute moral completeness. Negatively, it implies the entire removal of all defects; positively, the complete possession of all that belongs to human nature as God meant it to be. The Christian aim, for which the preaching of Christ supplies ample power, is to make the whole race possess, in fullest development, the whole circle of possible human excellences. There is to be no one-sided growth, but men are to grow like a tree in the open, which has no barrier to hinder its symmetry, but rises and spreads equally on all sides, with no branch broken or twisted, no leaf worm eaten or wind torn, no fruit blighted or fallen, no gap in the clouds of foliage, no bend in the straight stem, -a green and growing completeness. This absolute completeness is attainable "in Christ," by union with Him of that vital sort brought about by faith, which will pour His Spirit into our spirits. The preaching of Christ is therefore plainly the direct way to bring about this perfecting. That is the Christian theory of the way to make perfect men.

And this absolute perfection of character is, in Pauls belief, possible for every man, no matter what his training or natural disposition may have been. The gospel is confident that it can change the Ethiopians skin, because it can change his heart, and the leopards spots will be altered when it "eats straw like the ox." There are no hopeless classes in the glad, confident view of the man who has learned Christs power.

What a vision of the future to animate work! What an aim! What dignity, what consecration, what enthusiasm, it would give, making the trivial great and the monotonous interesting, stirring up those who share it to intense effort, overcoming low temptations, and giving precision to the selection of means and use of instruments! The pressure of a great, steady purpose consolidates and strengthens powers, which, without it, become flaccid and feeble. We can make a piece of calico as stiff as a board by putting it under a hydraulic press. Men with a fixed purpose are terrible men. They crash through conventionalities like a cannon ball. They, and they only, can persuade and arouse and impress their own enthusiasm on the inert mass. "Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" No Christian minister will work up to the limits of his power, nor do much for Christ or man, unless his whole soul is mastered by this high conception of the possibilities of his office, and unless he is possessed width the ambition to present every man "perfect in Christ Jesus."

IV. Note the struggle and the strength with which the Apostle reaches toward this aim.

"Whereunto I labour also, striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily." As to the object, theme, and method of the Christian ministry, Paul can speak, as he does in the previous verses, in the name of all his fellow workers: "We preach, admonishing and teaching, that we may present." There was substantial unity among them. But he adds a sentence about his own toil and conflict in doing his work. He will only speak for himself now. The others may say what their experience has been. He has found that he cannot do his work easily. Some people may be able to get through it with little toil of body or agony of mind, but for himself it has been laborious work. He has not learned to "take it easy." That great purpose has been ever before him, and made a slave of him. "I labour also"; I do not only preach, but I toil-as the word literally implies-like a man tugging at an oar, and putting all his weight into each stroke. No great work for God will be done without physical and mental strain and effort. Perhaps there were people in Colossae who thought that a man who had nothing to do but to preach had a very easy life, and so the Apostle had to insist that most exhausting work is brain work and heart work. Perhaps there were preachers and teachers there who worked in a leisurely, dignified fashion, and took great care always to stop a long way on the safe side of weariness; and so he had to insist that Gods work cannot be done at all in that fashion, but has to be done "with both hands, earnestly." The "immortal garland" is to be run for, "not without dust and heat." The racer who takes care to slack his speed whenever he is in danger of breaking into a perspiration will not win the prize. The Christian minister who is afraid of putting all his strength into his work, up to the point of weariness, will never do much good.

There must be not only toil, but conflict. He labours, "striving"-that is to say, contending-with hindrances, both without and within, which sought to mar his work. There is the struggle with oneself, with the temptations to do high work from low motives, or to neglect it, and to substitute routine for inspiration and mechanism for fervour. Ones own evil, ones weaknesses and fears and falsities, and laziness and torpor and faithlessness, have all to be fought, besides the difficulties and enemies without. In short, all good work is a battle.

The hard strain and stress of this life of effort and conflict made this man "Paul the aged" while he was not old in years. Such souls agony and travail are indispensable for all high service of Christ. How can any true, noble Christian life be lived without continuous effort and continual strife? Up to the last particle of our power, it is our duty to work. As for the sleepy, languid, selfindulgent service of modern Christians, who seem to be chiefly anxious not to overstrain themselves, and to manage to win the race set before them without turning a hair, I am afraid that a large deduction will have to be made from it in the day that shall "try every mans work, of what sort it is."

So much for the struggle; now for the strength. The toil and the conflict are to be carried on "according to His working, which worketh in me mightily." The measure of our power then is Christs power in us. He whose presence makes the struggle necessary, by His presence strengthens us for it. He will dwell in us and work in us, and even our weakness will be lifted into joyful strength by Him. We shall be mighty because that mighty Worker is in our spirits. We have not only His presence beside us as an ally, but His grace within us. We may not only have the vision of our Captain standing at our side as we front the foe-an unseen presence to them, but inspiration and victory to us-but we may have the consciousness of His power welling up in our spirits and flowing, as immortal strength, into our arms. It is much to know that Christ fights for us; it is more to know that He fights in us.

Let us take courage then for all work and conflict; and remember that if we have not "striven according to the power"-that is, if we have not utilised all our Christ-given strength in His service-we have not striven enough. There may be a double defect in us. We may not have taken all the power that he Has given, and we may not have used all the power that we have taken. Alas, for us! we have to confess both faults. How weak we have been when Omnipotence waited to give Itself to us! How little we have made our own of the grace that flows so abundantly past us, catching such a small part of the broad river in our hands, and spilling so much even of that before it reached our lips! And how little of the power given, whether natural or spiritual, we have used for our Lord! How many weapons have hung rusty and unused in the fight! He has sowed much in our hearts, and reaped little. Like some unkindly soils, we have "drunk in the rain which cometh oft upon it," and have "not brought forth herbs fit for Him by whom it is dressed." Talents hid, the Masters goods squandered, power allowed to run to waste, languid service and half-hearted conflict, we have all to acknowledge. Let us go to Him and confess that, "we have most unthankful been," and are/,x zEfitable servants indeed, coming far short of duty. Let us yield our spirits to His influence, that He may work in us that which is pleasing in His sight, and may encircle us with ever-growing completeness of beauty and strength, until He "present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy."

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

Col 1:28. Ἡμεῖς, we) Col 1:1 [I and Timothy].—πάντα ἄνθρωπον, every man) This expression, so often used, has the greatest δεινότης (vehemence) and force, and contains the reason why he writes even to them who are unknown to him, ch. Col 2:1. The distribution of the all [“every man—every man—every man”] may be compared with ch. Col 3:11.—καὶ διδάσκοντες) and teaching. νουθετοῦνται (they are admonished) is said of those who have been already taught, as the Colossians; διδάσκονται (are taught) is said of the ignorant and uninstructed.—τέλειον) See Eph 4:13: perfect, without the elements of the world.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Col_1:28. Christ was not proclaimed by all in the definite character just expressed, namely, as Christ among the Gentiles, the hope of glory; other teachers preached Him in a Judaistic form, as Saviour of the Jews, amidst legal demands and with theosophic speculation. Hence the emphasis with which not the simply epexegetic ὅν (Erasmus and others), but the ἡμεῖς, which is otherwise superfluous, is brought forward;[74] by which Paul has meant himself along with Timothy and other like-minded preachers to the Gentiles (we, on our part). This emphasizing of ἡμεῖς, however, requires the ὅν to be referred to Christ regarded in the Gentile-Messianic character, precisely as the ἡμεῖς make Him known (comp. Php_1:17 f.), thereby distinguishing themselves from others; not to Christ generally (Hofmann), in which case the emphasizing of ἡμεῖς is held to obtain its explanation only from the subsequent clause of purpose, ἵνα παραστ. κ.τ.λ.

The specification of the mode of announcement νουθετοῦντες and διδάσκοντες, admonishing and teaching, corresponds to the two main elements of the evangelical preaching μετανοεῖτε and πιστεύετε (Act_20:21; Act_26:18; Rom_3:3 ff.; Mar_1:15). Respecting the idea of νουθετεῖν, see on Eph_6:4. It occurs also joined with διδάσκ.[75] in Plato, Legg. viii. p. 845 B, Prot. p. 323 D, Apol. p. 26 A; Dem. 130. 2.

ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ] belongs to ΝΟΥΘΕΤ. and ΔΙΔΆΣΚ. :by means of every wisdom (comp. Col_3:16) which we bring to bear thereon. It is the πῶς of the process of warning and teaching, comp. 1Co_3:10, in which no sort of wisdom remains unemployed. The fact that Paul, in 1Co_1:17, comp. Col_2:1; Col_2:4, repudiates the ΣΟΦΊΑ ΛΌΓΟΥ in his method of teaching, is nottaking into consideration the sense in which ΣΟΦΊΑ there occursat variance, but rather in keeping, with the present assertion, which applies, not to the wisdom of the world, but to Christian wisdom in its manifold forms.

The thrice repeated. πάντα ἄνθρωπον (in opposition to the Judaizing tendency of the false teachers) maximam habet ΔΕΙΝΌΤΗΤΑ ac vim, Bengel. The proud feeling of the apostle of the world expresses itself.[76]

ἵνα παραστήσ. κ.τ.λ.] The purpose of the ὃ ἡμεῖς καταγγέλλομεν down to σοφίᾳ. This purpose is not in general, that man may so appear (Bleek), or come to stand so (Hofmann), but it refers, as in Col_1:22, and without mixing up the conception of sacrifice (in opposition to Bähr and Baumgarten-Crusius), to the judgment (comp. on 2Co_4:14), at which it is the highest aim and glory (1Th_2:19 f.) of the apostolic teachers to make every man come forward τέλειον ἐν Χ. Ἐν Χριστῷ contains the distinguishing specialty of the τελειότης, as Christian, which is not based on anything outside of Christ, or on any other element than just on Him. It is perfection in respect of the whole Christian nature; not merely of knowledge (Chrysostom, Theophylact, and others, including Böhmer), but also of life. Moreover, this ἐν Χ. is so essential to the matter, and so current with the apostle, that there is no ground for finding in it an opposition to a doctrine of the law and of angels (Chrysostom, Theophylact, and others). Theophylact, however (comp. Chrysostom), rightly observes regarding the entire clause of purpose: τί λέγεις; πάντα ἄνθρωπον; ναί, φησι, τοῦτο σπουδάζομεν· εἰ δὲ μὴ γένηται, οὐδὲν πρὸς ἡμᾶς.

[74] Without due reason, Holtzmann, p. 153, finds the use of the plural disturbing, and the whole verse tautological as coming after ver. 25. It is difficult, however, to mistake the full and solemn style of the passage, to which also the thrice repeated πάντα ἄνθρωπον belongs.

[75] In Col_3:16 the two words stand in the inverse order, because there it is not the μετανοεῖν preceding the πίστις which is the aim of the νουθεσία, but mutual improvement on the part of believers.

[76] Which Hofmann groundlessly calls in question, finding in πάντα ἄνθρωπον the idea: every one singly and severally. This is gratuitously introduced, and would have been significantly expressed by Paul through ἕνα ἕκαστον (Act_20:31), or through the addition of καθʼ ἕνα, or otherwise; comp. also 1Th_2:11. Calvin hits the thought properly: ut sine exceptione totus mundus ex me discat.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Col 1:28 . δν : i.e ., Χριστὸν ἐν ὑμῖν . ἡμεῖς : (emphatic) we in contrast to the false teachers. But the reference seems to be simply to Paul, not to Timothy and Epaphras as well. For throughout the section he is speaking of his own special mission. νουθετοῦντες . Meyer points out that admonishing and teaching correspond to the two main elements of the evangelic preaching, repent and believe. Haupt thinks on the ground of the order that Paul is not referring to elementary Christian teaching, but has this epistle in his mind. The order might, however, suggest warning to non-Christians followed by teaching of new converts. But the addition of ἐν π . σοφίᾳ and τέλειον support the view that it is warning against error, and advanced teaching that he has in view. πάντα ἄνθρωπον : emphatically repeated here. The Gospel is for all men, in opposition to any exclusiveness, and for each individual man in particular. And the ideal is only attained when each individual has reached completeness. The exclusiveness might be, as with the Judaisers, of a sectarian type, or, as with the Gnostics, and possibly here, of an intellectual, aristocratic type. Since such is the Apostle’s task, he addresses a Church the members of which are unknown to him. ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ is taken by some to express the content of the teaching, everyone may be fully instructed in the whole of Christian wisdom. This forms a good contrast to the probable practice of the false teachers of reserving their higher teaching for an inner circle. But for this we should have expected the accusative. Probably the words express the manner of teaching. If the phrase is taken with both participles the content of the teaching is excluded. παραστής .: probably to present at the judgment. τέλειον . Here also allusion to the mysteries is discovered by Lightfoot. The term is said to have been employed to distinguish the fully initiated from novices. But, even if this be correct, the word is used in Mat 5:48 ; Mat 19:21 , where such a reference is out of the question. Probably Paul is contrasting the completeness he strives to secure with that promised by the false teachers.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Perfect and sound wisdom, which is perfect in itself, and shall in the end make them perfect that follow it.

He protesteth that he doth faithfully execute his Apostleship in every place, bringing men unto Christ only, through the Lord’s plentiful blessings of his labors.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

preach--rather as Greek, "announce" or "proclaim."

warning . . . teaching--"Warning" is connected with repentance, refers to one's conduct, and is addressed primarily to the heart. "Teaching" is connected with faith, refers to doctrines, and is addressed primarily to the intellect. These are the two heads of evangelical teaching.

every . . . every man--without distinction of Jew or Gentile, great or small (Rom 10:12-13).

in all wisdom--with all the wisdom in our method of teaching that we possess: so ALFORD. But Col 1:9; Col 3:16, favor ESTIUS' view, which refers it to the wisdom communicated to those being taught: keeping back nothing, but instructing all in the perfect knowledge of the mysteries of faith which is the true wisdom (compare Co1 2:6-7; Co1 12:8; Eph 1:17).

present--(See on Col 1:22); at Christ's coming.

every man--Paul is zealous lest the false teachers should seduce one single soul of Christ's people at Colosse. So each individual among them should be zealous for himself and his neighbor. Even one soul is of incalculable value.

perfect in Christ--who is the element in living union with whom alone each believer can find perfection: perfectly instructed (Eph 4:13) in doctrine, and full grown or matured in faith and practice. "Jesus" is omitted in all the oldest manuscripts.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

28. Whom we preach. Here he applies to his own preaching everything that he has previously declared as to the wonderful and adorable secret of God; and thus he explains what he had already touched upon as to the dispensation which had been committed to him; for he has it in view to adorn his apostleship, and to claim authority for his doctrine: for after having extolled the gospel in the highest terms, he now adds, that it is that divine secret which he preaches. It was not, however, without good reason that he had taken notice a little before, that Christ is the sum of that secret, that they might know that nothing can be taught that has more of perfection than Christ.

The expressions that follow have also great weight. He represents himself as the teacher of all men; meaning by this, that no one is so eminent in respect of wisdom as to be entitled to exempt himself from tuition. “God has placed me in a lofty position, as a public herald of his secret, that the whole world, without exception, may learn from me.”

In all wisdom. This expression is equivalent to his affirming that his doctrine is such as to conduct a man to a wisdom that is perfect, and has nothing wanting; and this is what he immediately adds, that all that shew themselves to be true disciples will become perfect. See the second chapter of First Corinthians. (1 Corinthians 2:6.) Now, what better thing can be desired than what confers upon us the highest perfection? He again repeats, in Christ, that they may not desire to know anything but Christ alone. From this passage, also, we may gather a definition of true wisdom — that by which we are presented perfect in the sight of God, and that in Christ, and nowhere else.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(28) Warning every man, and teaching.—In “warning” is implied the idea of reproof of folly or sin. (See 1Th_5:14; 2Th_3:5.) “Teaching” is simply instruction—including, of course, practical exhortation—of those already warned.

Perfect.—See Eph_4:13; Php_3:15, and Notes there. Here, however, as in 1Co_2:6-7, the reference may be to the sense of “perfect “as “initiated in mystery.” St. Paul, in opposition to the exclusive claim of “perfection” by the speculators in mystic knowledge (“falsely so called”) would present “every man,” learned or ignorant, “perfect before God.” In this universality of privilege lies the glorious distinction between the gospel and all schools of philosophy, whether they reject or assume its name.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

28. we] Emphatic. He has the alien emissaries in mind.

preach] Slightly better, as R.V., proclaim. The Greek word recurs with Christ as its living Object, Act_17:3; Php_1:16; Php_1:18.

warning] Better, as R.V., admonishing; a word which is rather more general in its scope. The kindred noun occurs Eph_6:4.

every man … every man … every man] Perhaps this solemn emphasis has a double reference; (a) as Lightfoot, to the universality of the Gospel, whose “counsels of perfection” are not (as the false teachers would have it, in their “Gospel”) for a privileged inner circle of votaries but for every one without exception who comes to Jesus Christ; and (b) to the fact that in this universality the individual is never lost or merged in the community; each soul, each life, as if there were no other, is to be “perfect in Christ.”

in all wisdom] In the whole field of that holy “wisdom” which is not a mere mass of knowledge but the principles and secrets of a life of faith and love. It is better to explain this phrase thus than as meaning that “we” teach with perfect wisdom. This would less fully bring out the emphasis (so strong in the Greek) of “every” “all,” in this verse. The point is that every disciple may and should learn every secret of grace. There are no spiritual secrets behind the Gospel.

that we may present] when the Lord returns, and the pastor “gives his account” (Heb_13:17). See for another side of the same prospect, Eph_5:27.

perfect] Teleion. In this word Lightfoot sees a technical term of the pagan “mysteries,” borrowed and adapted for the Gospel. In the mysteries, the teleios, or “perfect,” was the man who had passed his novitiate and was fully instructed. The term was certainly used by the Gnostics of the sub-apostolic age to denote the man who had passed from mere “faith” (so called) into “knowledge” (so called). See Lightfoot’s full and instructive note, in which he further remarks that the word “perfect” is early used in Christian literature to distinguish the baptized man from the catechumen. But we doubt whether the word here can with any certainty be viewed as quasi-technical, or however whether such can be its main bearing. It appears in e.g. Mat_5:48, with the apparent meaning of spiritual entirety, whole-heartedness, in the life of love; and cp. 1Co_14:20; Heb_5:14; where it is “full-grown,” adult, as different from infantine. So Eph_4:13, and perhaps Jas_3:2; 1Jn_4:18. Not initiation so much as developed maturity of conscience, faith, life, experience is the thought of this passage.

in Christ Jesus] vital union with whom is the sine quâ non of growth and maturity, because of spiritual life altogether.—The word “Jesus” is to be omitted, by documentary evidence.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Whom we preach,.... Under the above considerations; as the riches, the glory, and the mystery of the Gospel; as the hope set before lost sinners to lay hold upon; as the only Saviour and Redeemer, by whose righteousness believers are justified, through whose blood their sins are pardoned, by whose sacrifice and satisfaction atonement is made, and in whose person alone is acceptance with God: Christ and him crucified, and salvation by him, were the subjects of the ministry of the apostles; on this they dwelt, and it was this which was blessed for the conversion of sinners, the edification of saints, the planting of churches, and the setting up and establishing the kingdom and interest of Christ:

warning every man; of his lost state and condition by nature; of the wrath to come, and the danger he is in of it; of the terrors of the Lord, and of an awful judgment; showing sinners that they are unrighteous and unholy, that their nature is corrupt and impure, their best righteousness imperfect, and cannot justify them before God; that they stand guilty before him, and that destruction and misery are in all their ways; and therefore advise them to flee from the wrath to come, to the hope set before them in the Gospel:

and teaching every man in all wisdom; not natural, but spiritual and evangelical; the whole Gospel of Christ, the counsel of God, the wisdom of God in a mystery, and all the branches of it; teaching them to believe in Christ for salvation, to lay hold on his righteousness for justification, to deal with his blood for pardon, and with his sacrifice for the atonement of their sins; and to observe all things commanded by Christ, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly: by these two words, "warning" and "teaching", the several parts of the Gospel ministry are expressed; and which extend to all sorts of men, rich and poor, bond and free, greater and lesser sinners, Gentiles as well as Jews; and who are chiefly designed here, and elsewhere, by every man and every creature:

that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus; not in themselves, in which sense no man is perfect in this life; but in the grace, holiness, and righteousness of Christ, in whom all the saints are complete: or it may regard that ripeness of understanding, and perfection of knowledge, which, when arrived unto, saints become perfect men in Christ; and is the end of the Gospel ministry, and to which men are brought by it; see Eph 4:13; and to be understood of the presentation of the saints, not by Christ to himself, and to his Father, but by the ministers of the Gospel, as their glory and crown of rejoicing in the day of Christ.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

Ver. 28. Whom we preach] Ministers do not only preach of Christ, but preach Christ, that is, they give what they speak of. As the manna came down in the dew, so doth the Spirit in the ministry of the gospel.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Whom we preach, warning every man - This does not mean warning of danger, but “admonishing all of the claims of the gospel to attention.” Our word warn is commonly used in the sense of cautioning against danger. The Greek word here means to put in mind; to admonish; to exhort. The idea of the apostle is, that he made it his great business to bring the offers of the gospel fairly before the mind of every man. As it had the same claims on all; as it might be freely offered to all, and as it furnished the only hope of glory, he made it the object of his life to apprize every man of it, as far as he could.

And teaching every man - Paul made it his business to instruct men, as well as to exhort them. Exhortation and warning are of little use where there is not sound instruction and a careful inculcation of the truth. It is one of the duties of the ministry to instruct men in those truths of which they were before ignorant; see Mat 28:19; 2Ti 2:25.

In all wisdom - Compare the Mat 10:16 note; Col 1:9 note. The meaning is, that he and his fellow-laborers endeavored to manifest true wisdom in the method in which they instructed others.

That we may present every man - When we come to appear before God; Notes, 2Co 11:2. Paul was anxious that no one to whom this gospel was preached should be lost. He believed it to be adapted to save every man; and as he expected to meet all his hearers at the bar of God, his aim was to present them made perfect by means of that gospel which he preached.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whom we preach: here he shows that the subject of his and other ministers’ preaching was Christ, (as he had before described him), in whom alone hope of glory was to be had, Act 4:12; 1Co 2:2; Gal 5:4; 1Jo 1:3.

Warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; the manner of it was by admonishing and instructing all, in all the Christian wisdom that Christ required, that they might avoid sin and do their duty. He means all collectively, not distributively; of the generals of each, not each one of those generals; excluding none from the communion of so great a benefit, having no acceptation of nations or persons, making no exception of any condition, but inviting all men to Christ, holding forth this light of the gospel to whosoever would receive it, while God did vouchsafe life and strength to them, in the most taking way, Act 20:21,27,31; Ro 1:14-16; 1Ti 3:2; 2Ti 2:24; 2Ti 3:16; 4:2; Tit 1:9.

That we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus; and the end and aim he and others of his mind had in preaching of this matter in such a manner was the same with Christ’s, Col 1:22, to put them into such an estate by their labours that they might, through Christ, appear at a throne of grace without confusion, 2Co 11:2; Phi 3:12,15; Heb 5:14.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

28. Whom we preach—Not the philosophy offered them as a substitute for the gospel, not circumcision, not the worship of angels, not asceticism, but Christ, was the one theme of the preaching of Paul and Timothy, and, moreover, Christ, as he is set forth in this chapter, in his Godhead, his incarnation, his atoning sacrifice, his resurrection, his headship in the Church, his lordship in the universe, the only Saviour of men. Thus sharply are the lines drawn between the true and false preachers, whether of that time or the present. The manner of their preaching also appears.

Warning—Reiterating the truth and rousing to repentance and active service.

Teaching—Instructing in Christian doctrine, especially as related to a holy life.

In all wisdom—Not the subject, but the method of the teaching is meant, referring to the skilful adaptation of means, plans, and arguments to the end sought, beginning with conversion and reaching on to the day of judgment. The triple use of the phrase every man shows the apostle’s constant concern for the souls under his care.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Whom we proclaim, admonishing every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom (Col_3:16; 1Th_2:4-13; 1Co_1:23, 24 4:1-5 15:11; 2Co_4:1-6 2Co_5:18-21; 2Co_6:1; Act_20:18-35 Act_26:22, Act_26:23) We (emphatic, like the "I" of vers. 23, 25) includes St. Paul"s coadjutors, Epaphras in particular. (ver. 9; Col_4:7, Col_4:11, 12: comp. 2Co_1:19) Kataggellw, to publish, bears a wider sense than khrussw, to herald (ver. 23), St. Paul"s favourite word. "Admonishing and teaching" are the two essential parts of the apostle"s ministry, related as repentance to faith (Lightfoot, who gives interesting classical parallels). Nouqetew (radically, "to put in mind"), peculiar to St. Paul in New Testament (including, (Act_20:31) may denote reproof for the past, but more especially warning for the future. (see 1Co_4:14; (2Th_3:15: comp. note on Col_3:16) Thrice in this verse "every man" is repeated, and "in all wisdom" follows "teaching" with a marked emphasis. The Colossian errorists, as we should presume from the general tenor and affinities of their system, sought to form an inner mystical school or circle of discipleship within the Church, initiated into a wisdom and holiness supposed to be higher than that attainable by ordinary Christian faith (see note on "mystery," ver. 26; also. (Col_2:2, Col_2:3, Col_2:8) An intellectual caste-feeling (see note, (Col_3:11) was springing up in the Church. In 1Co_2:6-16 the apostle denounces the pride of reason which claims "the things of God" as its own; here he denounces the pride of intellect which refuses the knowledge of them to those who stand on a lower level of mental culture. To every man the Divine wisdom in Christ is accessible (Col_2:3, 10 3:10, 16; Eph_2:17 Eph_3:18, Eph_3:19) to none but "the spiritual man". (1Co_2:6, 12-3:1) "Wisdom" here is not subjective, a quality of the apostle (so Meyer, quoting, (1Co_3:10) but objective, the quality of the truth itself (comp. Col_2:2, 23 3:16; Eph_1:18; 1Co_1:22-25 1Co_2:6, 1Co_2:7) That we may present every man perfect in Christ: (ver. 22; Eph_4:13 Eph_5:25; 2Co_13:7-9; 1Th_2:19, 1Th_2:20; 2Ti_2:10) the aim alike of Christ"s redemption (ver. 22) and of the apostle"s ministry. "Perfect" (teleiov) is a word associated with the Greek mysteries, (comp. 1Co_2:6, 1Co_2:7; and quotations in Lightfoot) and in common use denoted "full-grown," "grown men," as opposed to children (Eph_4:13, Eph_4:14; Php_3:12, 15; Heb_5:11-14; Heb_6:1) The philosophic Judaists affected this term considerably. Philo frequently distinguishes between the "perfect" or "fully initiated" (teleioi), who are admitted to the sight of God, and the "advancing" (prokoptontev: comp., (Gal_1:14) who are candidates for admission to the Divine mysteries; and he makes Jacob a type of the latter, Israel of the former (see "On Drunkenness," "On Change of Names," "On Agriculture," The apostle makes "perfect" designedly parallel to the "holy and without blemish" of ver. 22, holding out a spiritual ideal very different from that of Alexandrine mystics; and declares that it is to be realized "in Christ" (vers. 2, 4), as in ver. 22 it appeared to be wrought "through Christ" and "for Christ" (comp. ver. 16).

Vers. 28, 29.

The manner in which the apostle discharged his divinely given trust.

we proclaim, admonishing every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ: whereunto I labour also, striving according to his working who worketh in me mightily.

I THE DUTY OF MINISTERS. It is to preach Christ.

1. It is not to preach morality. Though it is right and necessary to exhibit moral duties in the light of the cross.

2. It is not to preach a philosophy or a thaumaturgy. ) (1Co_1:22-24)

3. It is to preach Christ crucified. (1Co_2:3) Some preach Christ"s incarnation as the grand hope of man, but this is to present a broken hope, if it is not supplemented by the death of Christ.

4. It is to preach Christ as the only Saviour. "Neither is there salvation in any other". (Act_4:12) There is no salvation in ordinances, in saints, in angels, in images, in pictures, in works of righteousness.

5. It is to preach Christ as a sufficient Saviour. He is mighty to save, and "able to save to the uttermost.

II THE MANNER IN WHICH CHRIST IS TO BE PREACHED.

1. "Admonition. "Admonishing every man." This implies:

(1) The duty of rebuke in the case of those who repair to other saviours than Christ. Preachers must, likewise, rebuke sin (Isa_58:1; 2Ti_3:17; Heb_9:10)

(2) Preaching is to set forth examples of admonition. (1Co_10:11)

(3) Great is the profit of admonition to those who receive it aright. (Pro_28:13)

(4) It implies that all men need admonition, for all are apt to err or sin.

2. Teaching. Christianity is not a thaumaturgy, not a spectacular religion; it is the exhibition of Christ through the gospel of truth. The understanding must be informed.

(1) There is the promise of the Spirit to lead us into all truth. (Joh_14:26)

(2) There is the Word of truth, which preachers are rightly to divide. (2Ti_2:15)

(3) We need to be instructed, for we are ignorant and prejudiced.

(4) There is immense variety in truth. "In all wisdom." Preachers must preach wisely not in the "wisdom of words", (1Co_1:17) but in the truly Divine wisdom which enables us "to understand our own, (Pro_14:8) which teaches us humility fools that we may be wise; (1Co_3:18) to walk not as fools, but as; (Eph_5:15) and "to consider our latter end, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom". (Psa_90:12)

III THE DESIGN OF THIS PREACHING OF CHRIST. "That we may present every man perfect in Christ.

1. Perfection is the aim. It will be attained in glory. It implies perfection in knowledge as well as holiness. We are to seek perfection

1. in doctrine; (Heb_6:1)

2. in faith; (Jam_2:22)

3. in hope; (1Pe_1:13)

4. in love; (1Jn_4:18)

5. in understanding. (1Co_14:20)

1. Perfection is only to be realized in Christ.

1. Its ultimate realization comes through him. (Php_1:6)

2. This thought ought to make saints seek a closer intercourse with Christ.

3. It is a perfection designed for all saints. "Every man." It is not for an inner circle of disciples, an initiated few, but for "every man." This universality of blessing marks the distinction between the gospel of Christ and the schools of Judaeo-Gnostic speculation.

IV THE SPIRIT IN WHICH MINISTERS OUGHT TO LABOUR IN THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST.

1. They must labour and strive. The ministry is a severe labour to body, mind, and spirit. The apostle "laboured more abundantly than they all." The Lord"s work cannot be done negligently (2Ti_4:1-3; 1Th_5:12)

2. Ministers must labour, not in their own strength, but in the Lord"s strength. "Striving according to his working, who worketh in me mightily." It is the Lord who works in his ministers for the salvation of souls. Paul may plant, and Apollos water, but "it is God that giveth the increase". T.C. (1Co_3:6)

Vers. 28, 29.

The mission of Christian preaching.

In describing his own practice St. Paul describes the model mission of the Christian preacher. Nothing less than this great ideal should satisfy a Christian minister. But nothing outside it should be assumed by or expected of him. The apostle is but a preacher and teacher, not a priestly authority.

I THE SUBJECT OF CHRISTIAN PREACHING IS CHRIST. It does not consist in vague speculations on religion. It is clear, positive, definite, and concrete. The preacher is to uphold Christ. He is to tell the story of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ; to draw the portrait of Christ; (Gal_3:1) to proclaim the grace of Christ; to set forth the claims of Christ; and to show the relation of Christ to everything in life.

1. There is a unity in this preaching. It all centres in Christ.

2. There is a breadth in it. Christ has grace and authority in regard to all aspects of life.

3. There is power in it. The charm and spell of the gospel dwell in Christ himself. In proportion as he is lifted up does he draw all men to himself, and in proportion as the preacher wanders into side issues does he lose the secret of his influence.

II THE FIELD OF CHRISTIAN PREACHING IS ALL MANKIND. Three times does the apostle express the universality of this truth as against the Jew who would limit the best treasures to his nation, and the Gnostic who would keep the higher truths for the more instructed. "Admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom.

1. Christ is for all: for

(1) none are so good, or wise, or safe, or happy as to afford to do without him; and

(2) none are so ignorant, or foolish, or guilty as to be beyond the reach of his blessings.

2. In Christ all wisdom is for all men. There is no reserve, at least of the highest wisdom, since the Christ who is preached to all men freely is the Word and the Wisdom of God.

III THE METHOD OF CHRISTIAN PREACHING IS PRACTICAL INSTRUCTION.

1. Proclaiming Christ. The first requisite is information on the main points of the gospel. The Christian preacher is a herald and a witness. (Act_2:32 Act_3:15)

2. Admonishing. Men must be charged with the guilt of their sins, as well as encouraged by the offers of the gospel. An earnest, faithful dealing with individuals according to their personal condition is a necessary though painful part of a minister"s work.

3. Teaching. Thorough instruction must follow the general proclaiming of the gospel. Growth in grace depends largely on growth in knowledge, Neglect of this laborious, unexciting part of the preacher"s mission, careful teaching, is sure to be avenged by ultimate weakness, if not by disastrous lapses into practical errors.

IV THE END OF CHRISTIAN PREACHING IS TO PRESENT MEN PERFECT IN CHRIST. We are not to be satisfied with such abstract teaching as simply informs the minds of people. The great work is most practical. It is to mould lives, to develop characters, to perfect souls.

1. It is to bring men into living union with Christ. We preach Christ in order that men may live Christ. The great result is the effecting of a vital union with Christ.

2. It is also to lead men on to perfection in Christ. The preacher will be expected, at the return of his Master, to present, as the fruit of his life"s work, not a crowd of raw converts, but a body of ripe Christians. The work is not finished in conversion. It only begins with that. Line upon line, and precept upon precept, often with sad iteration as old lessons unlearnt need to be repeated, characterizes the necessary task of the Christian preacher. And it is not done till perfection is reached.

V SUCCESS IN THIS MISSION DEPENDS UPON WORKING HARD IN THE POWER OF CHRIST.

1. It requires hard work. St. Paul "labours," "striving. The words in the Greek suggest the athlete who trains himself into great vigour for some severe enterprise. Men are not to be won for Christ and perfected in Christ by indolent, self-indulgent preachers. No work is harder than that of the Christian preacher when it is faithfully discharged.

2. Success is also only attainable through the power of Christ. He works mightily in the preacher as well as in the hearer. With this secret of strength the feeblest preacher may succeed where a Demosthenes would fail. W.F.A.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

We teach the ignorant, and admonish them that are already taught.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

perfect (See Scofield "Mat 5:48").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Observe here, 1. What was the principal subject of the apostle’s preaching, it was Christ; whom we preach; Christ was the matter of his preaching, and the great end of his preaching.

Observe, 2. The manner of St. Paul’s preaching; it was by informing the understanding and judgment, and of the danger of continuing in it.

Observe, 3. The end of his preaching, it was to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus; that is, to render them complete both in knowledge and obedience.

Observe, 4. The indefatigable pains and diligence used by the apostle in that work of preaching, intimated in the words labouring and striving, whereunto I also labour, striving.

Observe, 5. The gracious help and blessed success which he had in his preaching, humbly and thankfully acknowledged, and ascribed unto God, according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

From the whole, learn, 1. What was the sum of St. Paul’s preaching, and ought to be of ours also, to bring men to repentance and faith in Christ, to advance them towards a perfection in knowledge and obedience, by informing their judgments, and directing their practice.

Learn, 2. That the faithful ministers of Christ do judge no labour and pains too great, no strivings or sufferings too much, no contending with the errors and sins of men sufficient, in order to the bringing of them unto God by conversion and repentance.

Learn, 3. That such ministers as thus indefatigably labour and strive for the good of souls, shall not labour and strive alone, they shall be accompanied with divine assistance: Christ will strive with them, and work with them: Striving according to his working.

4. That when ministers have met with success in their striving, by Christ’s working with them, they must ascribe nothing of praise to themselves, to their own piety, parts, or pains, but ascribe all to him that striveth by them, and worketh in them mightily.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ARGUMENT 8

PERFECTION THE ULTIMATUM OF THE PAULINE MINISTRY

28. “Whom we preach admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ.

29. “For which indeed I labor, agonizing according to his energy, which worketh in me with dynamite.” How an immortal man destined quickly to leave his pulpit and stand before the judgment-bar, there to give an account of his ministry, can open his Bible and read these flaming declarations of inspired Paul, and then not only fail to preach Christian perfection, but have the effrontery to antagonize it, is a mystery to me indissoluble. I preached fifteen years before I received the experience of perfection, but I always preached it in the honesty of my heart, and the candor of my convictions, though like a blind dog in a meathouse, smelling the meat and jumping after it, but as apt to jump the wrong way as the right. We live amid the awful fulfillments of the latter-day prophecies, when “men will not endure sound doctrine.” John Wesley advised his people, when a preacher spoke against perfection, quietly to get up and leave. Now, sad to say, his so-called gospel sons speak against it with impunity. Wesley said, that any man who could take the vows of a Methodist preacher, and go back on Christian perfection, was fit for any other place than the pulpit.

No honest person can read the two verses at the head of this argument, and not see beyond the possibility of cavil that Paul and his comrades made Christian perfection the constant burden of their preaching and pastoral labor, doing everything in their power by faithful warning against everything out of harmony with perfection and importunately and indefatigably laboring night and day, teaching the people the Word of the Lord and the way of salvation, thus leading every person into the experience and doing their utmost not only to bring all into the experience, but to establish them there, sedulously fortifying them against apostasy. Hear him certify, “for which (perfection) indeed I labor agonizing.” Do you not know that agonize is the strongest word in the English language?

It is of Greek origin, and means the awful fight of the gladiators in the Coliseum; where they met and fought for life, the contest ending only in the death of one or both of the gladiators. So Paul certifies that he is striving for the perfection of every person, just like the gladiator struggled with all the power of every nerve and muscle, fists and feet, teeth and toenails, for dear life. Paul says he was thus agonizing, “according to His energy, which worketh in me with dynamite.” Not only did Paul use all of his own power, physical, intellectual, and spiritual, but he lays under contribution all the Divine energy imparted to him by the Holy Ghost, “working in him with dynamite.” When men of science discovered the wonderful mechanical power called dynamite a few years ago, they found no word in the English vocabulary competent to describe this greatest of all mechanical powers; consequently they went to the old Greek, and took the very word used so frequently by the Holy Ghost in the New Testament to reveal the power that defeats the devil, and explodes sin out of the human heart. Paul declares that the Divine energy wrought in him with dynamite, thus qualifying him for the climactic work of his ministry; i.e., leading “every person” into perfection. Woe unto the man who dares to intrude into the sacred desk, and not only prove delinquent in preaching perfection, but even have the diabolical audacity to oppose it! Infinitely better for that man that he had never been born. The preacher’s hell is, of all, the most terrible. I have been preaching forty-four years in my humble way; if, in the end, hell should be my doom, I would gladly exchange places with the gambler or the saloonist; but, glory to God! I am a long way from hell, and running heavenward at racehorse speed. Yet I am on probation, liable to fall and make my bed in hell. God, help me to be true the little remnant of my pilgrimage!

The controversy on perfection in the modern pulpit is a confirmation of the awful infidelity which has flooded our Churches like avalanches from the bottomless pit. Perfection is the battle-cry of the apostolic ministry, the great salient fact culminating in every epistle, standing out so boldly as to sweep all candid controversy forever from the field. It is like the atonement of Christ, so patent that “he who runs may read.” Good Lord, have mercy on the preacher so blind as not to read Christian perfection from the Alpha to Omega of the New Testament, and pity the man so fraught with demoniacal delusion and Satanic effrontery as to try to explain it away!

1. It had not been the privilege of the beloved apostle in person to meet the saints of Colosse and Laodicea, his ministerial comrades having enjoyed that honor.

2. “In order that their hearts may be comforted, being cemented together in Divine love and in all the riches of the full assurance of understanding.” The Oriental cement is wonderful, utterly obliterating all seams and consolidating all the fragmentary rocks into a vast monolith. When I ascended to the roof of Simon the tanner in Joppa, that I might kneel on the roof where Peter was praying when the messengers of Cornelius arrived, I observed that the whole house was a solid limestone from the foundation to the roof, including the stone stairway on the outside, the cementation so perfect that I could not recognize a seam anywhere, impressing me as if the whole house had dropped solid from the hand of the Creator. Such is the mystical union of all the members constituting the bride of Christ, “cemented in Divine love.” This is all descriptive of the sanctified experience for which the “full assurance” is but another name. “In the perfect knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ.” The Greek word here, “knowledge,” E.V., is epignosin, from gnosis, knowledge, and epi, perfect. Hence, it means perfect knowledge of the mystery. We receive a knowledge of this wonderful mystery of salvation in regeneration; but it is not free from the liability of interruption ever and anon by the clouds of doubt and fear, prone to rise out of the old bogs of inbred sin still surviving in the deep interior of the spiritual realm. Entire sanctification must come to our relief, expurgating all inbred corruption. Then we will walk in cloudless day, delighted in the victories of experimental certainty.

3. “In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” While knowledge is the wonderful insight into Divine truth, imparted by the infallible Revelator, wisdom is that blessed enduement of heavenly gumption which we constantly need to qualify us to make a correct application of this wonderful supernatural knowledge revealed in God’s Word, Spirit, and providence.

4. “I say this, that no one may deceive you in a persuasive discourse.” This is a solemn warning against Satan’s preachers, whose strong forte is soft palaver, winning words, and genial manners, pandering to the prejudices of all and antagonizing none, so soft and polite that butter will hardly melt in their mouths. An old bishop in his cabinet, surrounded by the elders, receives a petition from a metropolitan Church, “Please send us a round man, who will please all the people.” Pausing a moment, he observes, “There is but one round figure, and that is Zero; the other nine all having sharp points and corners. So I hope I have no such a man in this Conference as this petition calls for; i.e., naught. Tell them I can not supply them, but they can pick such a one almost anywhere.”

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

28. Whom we preach. Christ. Every man. Note that this is repeated three times in the verse. The apostle impresses the fact that the gospel is not for a few favored ones, but for every one. In all wisdom. In every form of wisdom. Perfect. We should all aim at perfection; the apostle aims to bring all to this ideal. The high ideal is before, for which we all should aim. However, he whose sins are all blotted out will be counted perfect in the great day.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

we proclaim ... We admonish ... we teach ... we may present

These words do not include the Colossians. (See: Exclusive and Inclusive "We")

We admonish every person

"We warn everyone"

so that we may present every person

You may need to make explicit to whom they will present every person. AT: "so that we may present to God every person" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

complete

Being complete is a metaphor for being spiritually mature. AT: "spiritually mature" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

preach

wise

labor

power

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

28. νουθετοῦντες … καὶ διδάσκοντες, “admonishing and teaching.” Methods by which we καταγγέλλομεν, as is indicated in part by the participial form, in part by the insistence on πάντα ἄνθρωπον. For νουθετεῖν compare Act 20:31; 1Co 4:14; Wis 11:10, and for both verbs infra Col 3:16.

Of the two words the first refers to the more practical, the second to the more theoretical, side of men’s relation to Christ and of His to them. For διδάσκω see also Col 2:7, Col 3:16.

πάντα ἄνθρωπον, three times. The thoroughness of the proclamation of the Gospel includes the thought of its being brought to every member of the human race. Here too such individual work forms a natural transition to St Paul’s special efforts for the Colossians.

Compare 1Co 10:1-4; 1Co 12:29-30.

ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ, “in all (practical) wisdom” (cf. notes Col 1:9).

ἵνα παραστῄσωμεν. See notes on Textual Criticism. “That we may present,” i.e. to God as judge hereafter, see Col 1:22 note.

τέλειον, “perfect.” (1) In Col 1:22 stress was laid on the absence of faults, here on the perfection of development, consequent on the training implied in νουθετοῦντες and διδάσκοντες. Cf. Col 4:12; also Jas 1:4. In a somewhat lower sense it is used of the maturity of the adult compared with the child, e.g. Heb 5:13-14, and perhaps even Eph 4:13.

(2) It should, however, be added that Lightfoot thinks that both here and 1Co 2:6-7 “the epithet τέλειος is probably a metaphor borrowed from the ancient mysteries, where it seems to have been applied to the fully instructed, as opposed to the novices.” He refers to 1Ch 25:8, 2Pe 1:16.

ἐν Χριστῷ. Apart from Christ the believer has no spiritual vigour (Joh 15:5), in Him he has all (cf. Php 4:13).

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

28.] Whom (Christ) we (myself and Timothy: but generally, of all who were associated with him in this true preaching: not, as Conyb., ‘I,’ which here quite destroys the force: the emphasis is on ἡμεῖς. We preach Christ—not circumcision, not angel worship, not asceticism, as the source of this hope) proclaim (as being this ἐλπὶς τῆς δόξης), warning (see on Eph 6:4, and below) every man, and teaching every man (I am inclined with Mey. to take νουθετοῦντες and διδάσκοντες as corresponding in the main to the two great subjects of Christian preaching, repentance and faith: but not too closely or exclusively: we may in fact include Thl.’s view,—νουθ. μὲν ἐπὶ τῆς πράξεως, διδ. δὲ ἐπὶ δογμάτων,—Steiger’s, that the former belongs more to early, the latter to more advanced instruction, and Huther’s, that the former affects the heart, while the latter informs the intellect (see Eadie’s note): for all these belong, the one class to repentance, the other to faith, in the widest sense) in all wisdom (method of this teaching: not as Est. (giving the other but preferring this), ‘in perfecta cognitione Dei et mysteriorum fidei, quæ est vera sapientia,’ and so Aug., Anselm, al.-latt.: this is usually in the accusative: but the Greek Commentators, τουτέστι, μετὰ πάσης σοφίας κ. συνέσεως), that we may present (see above ver. 22) every man (notice the emphatic triple repetition of πάντα ἄνθρ., shewing that the Apostle was jealous of every the least invasion, on the part of the false teachers, of those souls with whom he was put in charge. At the same time it carries a solemn individual appeal to those thus warned and taught: as Chrys.,—τί λέγεις; πάντα ἄνθρωπον; ναί, φησι, τοῦτο σπουδάζομεν· τί γάρ; εἰ καὶ μὴ γένηται τοῦτο, ἔσπευδεν ὁ μακ. Π. τέλειον ποιῆσαι. There is hardly perhaps, as Mey., Bisp., Ellic., al., suppose, an allusion to the Judaizers, those who would restrict the Gospel) perfect in Christ (element of this perfection, in union with and life in Him,—comprehending both knowledge and practice. The presentation spoken of is clearly that at the great day of Christ’s appearing):

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

28. ὃν ἡμεῖς καταγγέλλομεν. “And Him we proclaim.” Him, i.e. not Χριστόν only, but Χρ. ἐν ὑμῖν. ἡμεῖς, emphatic, in opposition to the heretical as well as to the Judaising teachers; “we,” himself and Timothy in particular.

νουθετοῦντες … καὶ διδάσκοντες … “admonishing … and teaching.” These, as Meyer observes, correspond to the μετανοεῖτε καὶ πιστεύετε of the gospel message. νουθεσία μὲν ἐπὶ τῆς πράξεως, διδασκαλία δὲ ἐπὶ δογμάτων.

πάντα ἄνθωπον, thrice repeated, emphasises the universality of the gospel as taught by St. Paul (3:11), in opposition to the doctrine of an intellectual exclusiveness taught by the false teachers; probably also it points to the fact that each man individually was an object of the apostle`s care, τί λέγεισ; πάντα ἄνθρωπον; ναί, φησι, τοῦτο σπουδάζομεν, εἰ δὲ μὴ γένηται, οὐδὲν πρὸς ἡμᾶς, Theophylact.

ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ, i.e. μετὰ πάσης σοφίας καί συνέσεως, Chrys. al., expressing the manner of the teaching. The Latin Fathers understand the words as denoting the object of the teaching; so Moule: “in the whole field of that holy wisdom,” etc. But in the N.T. the object of διδάσκειν is put in the accusative, not in the dative with ἐν.

There is no contradiction to 1Co 1:17, 1Co 2:1-16, for there is a Θεοῦ σοφία (1Co 2:7), a divine philosophy, the source of which is indicated in ch. 2:3; cf. Eph 1:8, τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ ἧς ἐπερίσσευσεν εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ. Compare ver. 9 and 3:16.

ἵνα παραστήσωμεν, as in ver. 22, refers to presentation before a tribunal, not as a sacrifice.

τέλειον. This is one of the words noted by Lightfoot as “probably borrowed from the ancient mysteries, where it seems to have been applied to the fully instructed, as opposed to the novices,” and in 1Co 2:6, 1Co 2:7 he finds the same allusion. This technical sense of τέλειος as applied to persons does not seem sufficiently made out; in the passages cited by Lightfoot, with one exception, it is not to the persons, but to the mysteries, τελεταί, that the term is applied. The one exception is Plato, Phaedr. 249 C, τελέους ἀεὶ τελετὰς τελούμενος τέλεος ὄντως μόνος γίγνεται, which cannot be regarded as proving the usage. But even if this be granted, there seems no sufficient reason for introducing this sense here, where what is in question is not complete initiation, or knowledge, but maturity of faith and spiritual life. In this sense the word is used by St. Paul, Eph 4:13, μέχρι καταντήσωμεν εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον: Php 3:15, ὅσοι οὖν τέλειοι, τοῦτο φρονῶμεν: 1Co 14:20, ταῖς φρεσὶ τέλειοι γίνεσθε. Compare Heb 5:14; Mat 5:48, Mat 19:2. And in the present Epistle, 4:12, ἵνα σταθῆτε τέλειοι καὶ πεπληροφημένοι ἐν παντὶ θελήματι τοῦ Θεοῦ. Observe also here the defining addition τέλειον ἐν Χριστω1͂ͅ. For the use of the term in early Christian to denote the baptized as opposed to the catechumens, see Lightfoot’s note.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν] i.e. ‘as exhibited among the Gentiles.’ It was just here that this ‘mystery,’ this dispensation of grace, achieved its greatest triumphs and displayed its transcendant glory; φαίνεται μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἐν ἑτεροις, writes Chrysostom, πολλῷ δὲ πλέον ἐν τούτοις ἡ πολλὴ τοῦ μυστερίου δόξα. Here too was its wealth; for it overflowed all barriers of caste or race. Judaism was ‘beggarly’ (Gal. iv. 9) in comparison, since its treasures sufficed only for a few.

ὅ ἐστιν] The antecedent is probably τοῦ μυστηρίου; comp. ii. 2 τοῦ μυστηρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ, Χριστοῦ ἐν ᾧ εἰσιν πάντες κ.τ.λ.

Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν] ‘Christ in you,’ i.e. ‘you Gentiles.’ Not Christ, but Christ given freely to the Gentiles, is the ‘mystery’ of which St Paul speaks; see the note on μυστήριον above. Thus the various reading, ὃς for ὅ, though highly supported, interferes with the sense. With Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν compare μεθ’ ἡμῶν Θεός Matt. i. 23. It may be a question however, whether ἐν ὑμῖν means ‘within you’ or ‘among you.’ The former is perhaps the more probable interpretation, as suggested by Rom. viii. 10, 2 Cor. xiii. 5, Gal. iv. 19; comp. Ephes. iii. 17 κατοικῆσαι τὸν Χριστὸν διὰ τῆς πίστεως ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν.

ἡ ἐλπίς] comp. 1 Tim. i. 2; so ἡ [κοινὴ] ἐλπὶς ἡμῶν Ign. Eph. 21, Magn. Philad. 5, etc., applied to our Lord.

28, 29. ‘This Christ we, the Apostles and Evangelists, proclaim without distinction and without reserve. We know no restriction either of persons or of topics. We admonish every man and instruct every man. We initiate every man in all the mysteries of wisdom. It is our single aim to present every man fully and perfectly taught in Christ. For this end I train myself in the discipline of self-denial; for this end I commit myself to the arena of suffering and toil, putting forth in the conflict all that energy which He inspires, and which works in me so powerfully.’

28. ἡμεῖς] ‘we,’ the preachers; the same opposition as in 1 Cor. iv. 8, 10, ix. 11, 2 Cor. xiii. 5 sq., 1 Thess. ii. 13 sq., etc. The Apostle hastens, as usual, to speak of the part which he was privileged to bear in this glorious dispensation. He is constrained to magnify his office. See the next note, and comp. ver. 23.

ὃν ἡμεῖς κ.τ.λ.] as in St Paul’s own language at Thessalonica, Acts xvii. 3 ὃν ἐγὼ καταγγέλλω ὑμῖν, and at Athens, Acts xvii. 23 τοῦτο ἐγὼ καταγγέλλω ὑμῖν, in both which passages, as here, emphasis is laid on the person of the preacher.

νουθετοῦντες] ‘admonishing.’ The two words νουθετεῖν and διδάσκειν present complementary aspects of the preacher’s duty, and are related the one to the other, as μετάνοια to πίστις, ‘warning to repent, instructing in the faith.’ For the relation of νουθετεῖν to μετάνοια See Plut. Mor. p. 68 ἕνεστι τὸ νουθετοῦν καὶ μετάνοιαν ἐμποιοῦν, p. 452 ἡ νουθεσία καὶ ὁ ψόγος ἐμποιεῖ μετάνοιαν καὶ αἰσχύνην. The two verbs νουθετεῖν and διδάσκειν are connected in Plato Protag. 323 D, Legg. 845 B, Plut. Mor. p. 46 (comp. p. 39), Dion Chrys. Or. xxxiii. p. 369; the substantives διδαχὴ and νουθέτησις in Plato Resp. 399 B. Similarly νουθετεῖν and πείθειν occur together in Arist. Rhet. ii. 18. For the two functions of the preacher’s office, corresponding respectively to the two words, see St Paul’s own language in Acts xx. 21 διαμαρτυρόμενος ... τὴν εἰς Θεὸν μετάνοιαν καὶ πίστιν εἰς τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν.

πάντα ἄνθρωπον] three times repeated for the sake of emphasizing the universality of the Gospel. This great truth, for which St Paul gave his life, was now again endangered by the doctrine of an intellectual exclusiveness taught by the Gnosticizers at Colossæ, as before it had been endangered by the doctrine of a ceremonial exclusiveness taught by the Judaizers in Galatia. See above pp. 77, 92, 98 sq. For the repetition of πάντα compare especially 1 Cor. x. 1 sq., where πάντες is five times, and ib. xii. 29, 30, where it is seven times repeated; see also Rom. ix. 6, 7, xi. 32, 1 Cor. xii. 13, xiii. 7, xiv. 31, etc. Transcribers have been offended at this characteristic repetition here, and consequently have omitted πάντα ἄνθρωπον in one place or other.

ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ] The Gnostic spoke of a blind faith for the many, of a higher γνῶσις for the few. St Paul declares that the fullest wisdom is offered to all alike. The character of the teaching is as free from restriction, as are the qualifications of the recipients. Comp. ii. 2, 3 πᾶν πλοῦτος τῆς πληροφορίας τῆς συνέσεως ... πάντες οἱ θησαυροὶ τῆς σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως.

παραστήσωμεν] See the note on παραστῆσαι, ver. 22.

τέλειον] So 1 Cor. ii. 6, 7 σοφίαν δὲ λαλοῦμεν ἐν τοῖς τελείοις ... Θεοῦ σοφίαν ἐν μυστηρίῳ τὴν ἀποκεκρυμμένην. In both these passages the epithet τέλειος is probably a metaphor borrowed from the ancient mysteries, where it seems to have been applied to the fully instructed, as opposed to the novices: comp. Plato Phædr. 249 C τελέους ἀεὶ τελετὰς τελούμενος τέλεος ὄντως μόνος γίγνεται... 250 B, C εἶδόν τε καὶ ἐτελοῦντο τελετῶν ἣν θέμις λέγειν μακαριωτάτην ... μυούμενοί τε καὶ ἐποπτεύοντες ἐν αὒγῇ καθαρᾷ, Symp. 209 E ταῦτα ... κἂν σὺ μυηθείης· τὰ δὲ τέλεα καὶ ἐποπτικά ... οὐκ οἷ δ’ εἰ οἷός τ’ ἂν εἴης, Plut. Fragm. de An. vi. 2 (v. p. 726 Wyttenb.) ὁ παντελὴς ἤδη καὶ μεμυημένος (with the context), Dion Chrys. Or. xii. p. 203 τὴν ὁλόκληρον καὶ τῷ ὄντι τελείαν τελετὴν μυούμενον; see Valcknaer on Eurip. Hippol. 25, and Lobeck Aglaoph. p. 33 sq., p. 126 sq. Somewhat similarly in the LXX 1 Chron. xxv. 8 τελέιων καὶ μανθανόντων stands for ‘the teachers (or the wise) and the scholars.’ So also in 2 Pet. i. 16 ἐπόπται γενηθέντες τῆς ἐκείνου μεγαλειότητος we seem to have the same metaphor. As an illustration it may be mentioned that Plato and Aristotle called the higher philosophy ἐποπτικόν, because those who have transcended the bounds of the material, οἷον ἐντελῆ [l. ἐν τελετῇ] τέλος ἔχειν φιλοσοφίαν [φιλοσοφίας] νομίζουσι, Plut. Mor. 382 D, E. For other metaphorical expressions in St Paul, derived from the mysteries, see above on μυστήριον ver. 26. Influenced probably by this heathen use of τέλειος, the early Christians applied it to the baptized, as opposed to the catechumens: e.g. Justin Dial. 8 (p. 225 C) πάρεστιν ἐπιγνόντι σοι τὸν Χριστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τελείῳ γενομένῳ εὐδαιμονεῖν, Clem. Hom. iii. 29 ὑποχωρεῖν μοι κελεύσας, ὡς μήπω εἰληφότι τὸ πρὸς σωτηρίαν βάπτισμα, τοῖς ἤδη τελείοις ἔφη κ.τ.λ., xi. 36 βαπτίσας ... ἤδη λοιπὸν τέλειον ὄντα κ.τ.λ.; and for later writers see Suicer Thes. s. vv. τελειόω, τελείωσις. At all events we may ascribe to its connexion with the mysteries the fact that it was adopted by Gnostics at a later date, and most probably by the Gnosticizers at this time, to distinguish the possessors of the higher γνῶσις from the vulgar herd of believers: see the passages quoted in the note on Phil. iii. 15. While employing the favourite Gnostic term, the Apostle strikes at the root of the Gnostic doctrine. The language descriptive of the heathen mysteries is transferred by him to the Christian dispensation, that he may thus more effectively contrast the things signified. The true Gospel also has its mysteries, its hierophants, its initiation: but these are open to all alike. In Christ every believer is τέλειος, for he has been admitted as ἐπόπτης of its most profound, most awful, secrets. See again the note on ἀπόκρυφοι, ii. 3.

J. B. Lightfoot, St Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon: a revised text with introductions, notes and dissertations (London: Macmillan, 1875) — public domain. Electronic text from Project Gutenberg (ebook #50857). Covers Colossians and Philemon only (the verse-by-verse notes; introductions and dissertations are omitted); Lightfoot's companion Galatians and Philippians volumes are not included, as the available public-domain scans carry garbled Greek that cannot be faithfully reproduced.