Written From Rome
311
their heart,” but “circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming
the time.”
Ephesians 4:14, 13, 17, 18
;
5:15, 16
. He encouraged the
believers to look forward to the time when Christ, who “loved the
church, and gave Himself for it,” would “present it to Himself a glori-
ous church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing”—a church
“holy and without blemish.”
Ephesians 5:25, 27
.
These messages, written with a power not of man but of God, con-
tain lessons which should be studied by all and which may with profit
[471]
be often repeated. In them practical godliness is outlined, principles
are laid down that should be followed in every church, and the way
that leads to life eternal is made plain.
In his letter to “the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which
are at Colosse,” written while he was a prisoner in Rome, Paul makes
mention of his joy over their steadfastness in the faith, tidings of which
had been brought him by Epaphras, who, the apostle wrote, “declared
unto us your love in the Spirit. For this cause,” he continued, “we also,
since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire
that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom
and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord
unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in
the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His
glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness.”
Thus Paul put into words his desire for the Colossian believers.
How high the ideal that these words hold before the follower of Christ!
They show the wonderful possibilities of the Christian life and make
it plain that there is no limit to the blessings that the children of God
may receive. Constantly increasing in a knowledge of God, they may
go on from strength to strength, from height to height in Christian
experience, until by “His glorious power” they are made “meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.”
The apostle exalted Christ before his brethren as the One by whom
[472]
God had created all things and by whom He had wrought out their
redemption. He declared that the hand that sustains the worlds in
space, and holds in their orderly arrangements and tireless activity all
things throughout the universe of God, is the hand that was nailed to
the cross for them. “By Him were all things created,” Paul wrote, “that
are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they
be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were