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Elevation - Resurrection
by T. Austin-Sparks
Reading: John 20:19-22; Col. 3:1-11, 27.
This fragment with which Colossians chapter 3 commences is clearly intended by the apostle to strike a practical contrast, though it is not definitely stated that it is so, I have thought it is very clearly implied; and it is important for us to bear in mind why this letter was written, so that we may appreciate its peculiar value and message. Colosse had recently been visited by some proselytizers, who had connected a philosophical religion with a combination of elements out of Judaism and Christianity, but was neither Judaism nor Christianity. However, it was a philosophical thing with elements out of both, and with this teaching which contained certain things about the nature of God and the orders of angels or angelic beings, there had been added the demand for certain outward observances along religious, and in a sense moral lines. And this thing had come into Colosse and had been threatening the lives of the true believers. There was that much of Christianity about it as to make it a deception, and there were those elements in it which created a strong appeal to the religious instincts and the moral desires of people. But the apostle implicitly condemned the whole thing as being human and earthly and quite unworthy of those who had been called with a heavenly calling. And this fragment: "If then ye were raised together with Christ" brings in exactly what the believer's true life is in contrast with this other imitation thing and strikes that contrast very clearly. And what the apostle is saying in effect is this: there is all the difference possible between two things, between this religion of religious and moral elevation, and being raised together with Christ. Now you will immediately see the value and importance of that. There have been many things like this in the course of the years, things which have extracted from Christianity certain things and attached them to a religious philosophy of life and practice and given them the colouring of Christianity, so that many people have thought them to be Christian in essence. And they have demanded a certain level of moral life and practice, and carried with them certain outward observances as to religion, and many have been carried off and have been affected by that thing morally. Yes, they have been morally changed, morally influenced for the better, and led into a life of religious observances which they never entertained before. So they have, to all outward appearances, been changed people and become religious people with religious interests which have often been called Christian because of the extracting of these Christian elements, the name of Christ and other phraseology having been adopted. The outward appearance of a changed life, and now these religious interests have all been taken to represent a true regeneration, a true heart change, and there has been something that looked very much like Christianity; very much what you have in the New Testament; celestial beings have been honoured, Christ has been given a place. That is exactly the background of the letter to the Colossians, and the apostle, as we have said, most strongly repudiated the whole thing, and the point of contrast that he makes is, in effect, the tremendous difference between elevation and resurrection. It is possible to have a wonderful moral elevation by the introduction strongly, enthusiastically, of religion, Christianity. Christianity can affect things morally. It can creep in like an uplifting elevating atmosphere into society, into the mind, and people may get a wonderful moral stimulus by the bringing home strongly of Christian principles and ideals, and by being drawn into a company that have such interests at heart. And there may be a wonderful moral elevation; that is, the taking from one level of life and placing onto another different and higher level of life. But what this letter to the Colossians clearly teaches is that the believer’s true life is not just going up so many more rungs of a moral ladder and living upon a high moral platform. That is elevation from one level to another, but the believer’s true life is in the nature of a resurrection, and that is an entirely different thing. And when you have seen that as the key to the letter, your door into this letter, then you are able to understand the true nature of the believer’s life. What is the true nature of the believer’s life? It is living union with God. Now that is utterly and entirely impossible to the natural man, utterly impossible, for the position of the natural man is, so far as God is concerned, that he is dead. Fellowship and union with God are out of the question; he is dead to God. No amount of moral elevation can make any difference. You cannot bring about real, vital union and fellowship with God by just raising the standard of life morally, religiously, by the inculcating of Christian principles. What is necessary? It is that there shall be a Man between God and man and that Man must be God and man united in one. That Man (spelt with a capital M) is on the one side God, and on the other side Man and in one being, one person, these two must be combined. They must be one person combining God and man, being God and man, and if we are to have vital union, fellowship, communion with God, that Man between God and man must be resident within us. That can only be on the ground of a resurrection, because in that resurrection the living union is made with that One Whom we have called the Man between God and man. Now that is why the apostle opens this letter as he does with the first chapter and brings the Lord Jesus into such a position as is not revealed anywhere else in all the Scriptures. You want to read that chapter again in the light of what I have just been saying and see the presentation of Christ in Colossians one. And the two things are so marvellously combined there: Who He is on the Divine side, from God’s standpoint, and Who He is on the human side, on the man-ward side. And there He is brought into the place of absolute pre-eminence, and then, "Christ in you, the hope of glory"; before you close the chapter you have got that marvellous statement. |
