Sunday, July 1, 2018 Robert T. Walker, "Colossians: All things hold together in Christ" https://tftorrance.org/firbush/ The audio recording for this presentation is available on the Firbush Retreat section of the website for the Thomas F. Torrance Theological Fellowship. The following AI transcript is too rough to rely upon, but perhaps useful for word searches and time-stamps. It is unretouched; if anyone wishes to listen to it and clean it up we will be happy to post an improved version (contact the webmasters). We invite speakers to send us slides for their talks, which we will post alongside the audios and transcripts. If any speaker wishes to have their talk removed from the website, just let us know and we'll take down both the audio and the transcript. ------------ 00:00-00:12 1 July 2018. The topic is 'Colossians, all things hold together in Christ'. We've 00:12-00:22 read from some of Colossians 1, Colossians 2 and the beginning of Colossians 3. This 00:22-00:29 is very much a follow-up from last week when we looked at Christian dogmatics, seeing Christ 00:29-00:43 stereoscopically. There is a huge amount of overlap between Colossians and Ephesians. 00:43-00:51 I find it helpful to have different symbols in my Bible to connote different things. For 00:51-01:00 example I've got a cross in the sidelines. A cross refers to any time it says 'in Christ', 01:00-01:11 in Christ, the word 'in'. Then a big dash is knowledge. Paul wants us to be filled with 01:11-01:23 all knowledge and the word 'knowledge' occurs several times. A round circle is a number 01:23-01:39 of times the first to Thanksgiving. The Greek 'm' which is like that, like a U but with 01:39-01:51 the first stroke of the U going down, refers to the word 'mystery', the mystery of Christ. 01:51-02:04 If it's with Christ then it's a kind of asterisk. There are various other things to add as well 02:04-02:12 but it just gives you the idea because it helps you to identify the key topics and how 02:12-02:21 often they occur. That helps you when you want to see the chapter as a whole. 02:21-02:31 Throughout this chapter there is an emphasis on Thanksgiving and that's very important 02:31-02:36 because the fact that we've come to faith that everything we have in a Christian life 02:36-02:47 is the pure gift of God's grace. Whatever we do we should do with Thanksgiving. There 02:47-02:53 are lots of other words I could have mentioned like 'hope'. The word 'truth' is also very 02:53-03:00 important. For example, in chapter 1 verse 3, 'of this you have heard before in the word 03:00-03:11 of truth, the gospel which has come to you'. Verse 6 speaks from the day you heard and 03:11-03:20 understood the grace of God in truth. The gospel is fact, it's truth. It's truth in 03:20-03:27 the richest possible sense of truth, not just intellectual truth but the truth of faithfulness 03:27-03:38 and of things done in truth. The word 'knowledge' in Greek is 'epi gnosis'. 03:38-03:53 'Gnosis' is the word for 'knowledge' in Greek. This is 'epi gnosis' and 'epi' means 'upon'. 03:53-03:59 In knowing God our minds are resting on God. We're not just thinking about God from a distance 03:59-04:08 but we're really knowing God in such a way that our thoughts stand on him. It's a direct 04:08-04:20 encounter with God. We know God personally through his word. It's significant that our 04:20-04:30 English word 'epistemology', which is the science of knowing, is 'epistemi' – standing upon. 04:30-04:38 We stand upon the object. We think things. We don't just think about things but we actually 04:38-04:45 think things themselves. We think things through words. One of the things that T.F. used to 04:45-04:54 emphasise is that we don't just think statements but we think statements through words. That's 04:54-05:02 very important. The whole interrelation between knowing the reality and the words we use to 05:02-05:09 know it is very important. We'll come back to that later. 05:09-05:14 The whole business of language, for example, if we didn't have language we couldn't know 05:14-05:23 as nearly as well as we could do. Different words enable us to pick out and identify features 05:23-05:36 of what we know. If we haven't got the words then we can't, in a real sense, know the reality 05:36-05:42 fully because we can't grasp it and see how it hangs together, how different parts hang 05:42-05:48 together. But at the same time, if we don't know the reality, the words don't mean anything. 05:48-05:55 So it's a very important interrelation between words and language. Again, we'll come back 05:55-06:01 to this later. This applies to theology and to dogmatics and the way we learn to understand 06:01-06:12 theological language. We won't understand the words until we know the God and the Christ 06:12-06:19 they speak about. At the same time, until we've learnt the language, we won't really 06:19-06:24 be able to understand. So they go together. It's the same with any language. As we grow 06:24-06:33 up as children we don't know language. We hear words and from birth children are making 06:33-06:39 little muscular movements in tune to the rhythm of adult speech around them and they just 06:39-06:43 soak the words up. They become familiar with the words. At the same time they're getting 06:43-06:52 to know the reality but all mushed up and beginning to distinguish things. Then when 06:52-07:00 they put the two together they can use the language to talk about things. They know the 07:00-07:07 one better through the other and the first better through. So they help each other knowing 07:07-07:14 the reality and knowing the language. Paul prays that they may be filled with the knowledge 07:14-07:23 of His will. He lays great stress on understanding but the key thing is that it's not just intellectual 07:23-07:32 knowledge but it's foolish knowledge with the whole person. In chapter 1 verse 9 he 07:32-07:37 prays that they may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom. There's 07:37-07:48 only a knowledge that we can be given through the Spirit to lead a life worthy of the Lord. 07:48-07:57 So the knowledge is that we can lead a life worthy of the Lord. Knowing theology and living, 07:57-08:05 knowing God and living out the new life are inseparable. Again that comes together beautifully 08:05-08:18 here. He prays that they may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual 08:18-08:25 wisdom and understanding. To lead a life worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing 08:25-08:38 fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. He goes on to pray that 08:38-08:44 they may be strengthened with all power according to His glorious mount for all endurance and 08:44-09:08 patience with joy. Then he comes to verse 12 to 14. One of the main themes here is that 09:08-09:16 what has happened in Christ is a done event. Something has happened which has been done. 09:16-09:22 We have been delivered out of darkness and we've been transferred into the kingdom of 09:22-09:32 His Son. When we come to chapter 2 we were put to death with Christ and we've been raised 09:32-09:47 with Him. He goes on to chapter 2 verse 20. "If with Christ you died etcetera" or again 09:47-09:54 chapter 3 verse 3 "for you have died". So we've been put to death and our life is 09:54-10:04 head with Christ and God. So the real us is in heaven. If I ask you where you'll be tomorrow 10:04-10:09 then of course being a good theologian you'll say I'll be in heaven tomorrow. I'm in heaven 10:09-10:26 now. Our life is head with Christ in God. I go back to chapter 1 verse 15. This magnificent 10:26-10:33 statement of the absolute priority of Christ. He is the image of invisible God. We can never 10:33-10:46 know God in Himself nakedly except through the Son, except through His image. When we 10:46-10:56 know Christ then we really know God. Our thoughts stand on Christ and He is the image of God, 10:56-11:06 the image of the Father and so in knowing Christ we know the Father. Then we get the 11:06-11:15 first of the "ins". Verse 15 "In Him all things were created". Verse 17 "In Him all things 11:15-11:26 hold together". Verse 19 "In Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell". Verse 21 "For 11:26-11:40 we who once were strained and hostile in minds, He is now reconciled in His body of flesh". 11:40-11:52 And Paul aims to present everyone mature in Christ. Verse 28. Verse 3 "In whom are hid 11:52-12:02 all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge". Chapter 2 verse 6 "We have to live in Christ". 12:02-12:09 Verse 7 "Routed and built up in Him". Verse 10 "You have come to fullness of life in Him". 12:09-12:17 Verse 11 "In Him also you were circumcised". Again this great stress on "in Christ" and 12:17-12:25 as we saw last week "in" means inside, inside the personal Christ. Our salvation is inside 12:25-12:33 Christ. It's not primarily something He gives to us, it's something that He is Himself in 12:33-12:43 His person, in the union of His divinity and humanity. He is the living bridge between 12:43-12:52 God and man and He has won it for us in His humanity. Because He has taken our old humanity 12:52-12:59 and put it to death and raised it to new life, having undone sin and death, that is our new 12:59-13:08 life, our new humanity. So our salvation is in Christ and never goes outside Christ. So 13:08-13:17 we have it by being united to Christ and in union with Christ we partake of it. So we 13:17-13:27 can speak of it to others that they too might come to share in it. Several times He speaks 13:27-13:42 about the mystery. Chapter 1 verse 26 "To Paul has been given the secret of the mystery, 13:42-13:51 the mystery hidden for ages and for generations". Verse 27 "To make known how great among the 13:51-13:58 Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope 13:58-14:09 of glory". That's interesting. Christ is the mystery. He Himself, how can God become man? 14:09-14:20 How can in His humanity can our salvation be? How can all God's plans and wishes and 14:20-14:29 accomplishments and fulfilment of what He desires contained in Christ? But it's not 14:29-14:37 just Christ, it's Christ in us, which is the mystery. Because He has come for us and the 14:37-14:44 fact that Christ is now in us, and we discussed last week in what sense Christ is in us, and 14:44-14:52 we can discuss that later. But the mystery is that everything that Christ is, is now 14:52-14:59 working in us through the Spirit, through our being united to Christ. And so Paul's 14:59-15:07 whole aim is to present everyone mature in Christ. Again that's an echo of Ephesians. 15:07-15:14 We have to be all built up in the faith until we achieve the same stature as Christ in His 15:14-15:25 knowledge of God. And he goes on in chapter 2 to speak about how we're built up in the 15:25-15:33 faith. "We're knit together in love to have all the riches of assured understanding, the 15:33-15:40 knowledge of God's mystery, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." 15:40-15:48 Verse 6 and 7, as we're built up in Christ, we live in Him and we're established in the 15:48-16:00 faith and throughout there's thanksgiving. And then moving on quickly, chapter 2, verse 16:00-16:06 9, "In Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you've come to fullness of life 16:06-16:14 in Him. In Him also you were circumcised, with a circumcision made without hands." So 16:14-16:23 there's no obvious outward cutting off of flesh. But this is a reference to the crucifixion 16:23-16:35 of Christ. Paul's thought is that when Christ died, circumcision is a sign of the uncleanness 16:35-16:47 of the body being cut off. For Jewish children, for Jewish boys, it's hygiene. But it's symbolic 16:47-16:57 of what's wrong with the flesh being cut off. So the death of Christ is viewed as His circumcision, 16:57-17:06 so that He dies our death. And that's the cutting off of the foreskin. And that death 17:06-17:15 was our death. And that's what's signified in baptism. We're buried with Him in baptism. 17:15-17:21 He was baptized in our place for us. We partake in His baptism. And then, "In which you were 17:21-17:31 also raised." And the Greek is "through the faith of the working of God." That's chapter 17:31-17:37 2, verse 12. It's not "through your faith in the working of God." It's "in which you 17:37-17:44 were also raised within through the faithfulness of the working of God." So again, that's 17:44-17:55 not an actualization of the Greek in many of the versions. And again, verse 13, "You 17:55-18:06 who were dead, God made it alive together with Him." Our sins have been cancelled out. 18:06-18:16 The bond against us was legal demands. He nailed it to the cross. Our sins have been 18:16-18:26 down in black and white on the cross, as it were, picturesquely. Our sins have been detailed 18:26-18:36 and nailed to the cross and cancelled. So in the light of all that, chapter 3, if we've 18:36-18:43 been raised with Christ... obviously the answer is yes, we have been. So our real life is 18:43-18:51 now with Christ. So our whole focus should be upwards to heaven and on our life in heaven, 18:51-19:00 what we really are in Christ, forgiven, redeemed, raised, our new humanity. We have died and 19:00-19:11 our life is saved with Christ in God. Therefore we have to put to death the old humanity, 19:11-19:16 refuse to listen to it, and just live in the light of what we know ourselves now to be. 19:16-19:26 But obviously that's an ongoing struggle. We don't really have time to go right through 19:26-19:35 the rest of it, but I want to do two brief things. Chapter 4 continues steadfastly in 19:35-19:41 prayer. Verse 2, "Being watchful in thanksgiving, and pray for us also that God may open to 19:41-19:49 us a door for the Word to declare the mystery of Christ, so that we cannot come to know 19:49-20:01 God except through grace, except through the work of God, through the Spirit." In this 20:01-20:14 whole chapter, this whole book is a beautiful focus on the absolute centrality of Christ 20:14-20:22 and in a way in which everything hangs together in Him. That's one of the chief aims of Christian 20:22-20:31 dogmatics or of all Christian life. It's to understand more and more how everything we 20:31-20:36 know in the Bible, how our Christian lives, how all we do in Christian worship, how all 20:36-20:41 we come to know about Christ points to Him, is fulfilled in Him, and hangs together in 20:41-20:55 Him. How do we get this understanding that Paul wants? That's the key question that comes 20:55-21:05 out of it. The first thing is that we don't know. We don't know how we get it because 21:05-21:15 it's given to us. You all know what it's like if you can't remember something. You can't 21:15-21:21 make yourself remember it. You can try to remember it, but you don't know how you remember 21:21-21:33 it. It comes into your mind. You try very hard to understand something you can't, and 21:33-21:37 then all of a sudden it clicks and you've understood it. What did you do to make yourself 21:37-21:44 understand it? You can't say. In the very nature of the case, we cannot know how we 21:44-21:52 make these discoveries. It's partly just a tacit knowledge, the way our human minds think, 21:52-21:59 but that's even more true in theology. We cannot know how we come to know God. We cannot 21:59-22:08 know how we come to this understanding. The key thing is that we look for understanding. 22:08-22:18 We keep searching for it. We try to see the whole. How does this make sense? This is where 22:18-22:25 we just have to keep working at it, learning the language, learning the Bible, the whole 22:25-22:32 interrelation between the Bible, preaching, worship and dogmatics. They all help each 22:32-22:39 other. We learn little by little as we learn the language so we can look at the reality. 22:39-22:46 As the language helps us to see the reality and the reality God makes Himself known to 22:46-22:56 us, we can understand the language better. We can read it and study it, but to me it's 22:56-23:02 a question of all the time looking for understanding and not being worried about it. I've never 23:02-23:07 met a child yet who is worried that they couldn't understand the world when they were born. 23:07-23:14 They just soak it up and the understanding comes. The same should be true of us as adults. 23:14-23:23 We should just keep reading and reading and reading and thinking and it will come. The 23:23-23:29 more we do something the more it comes. For example, if you've done one type of dancing 23:29-23:34 like ballet or something it's much easier to pick up another type of dancing. The same 23:34-23:43 with languages. You can do one language and then another one. The more we begin to understand 23:43-23:52 about thought and concepts it accelerates. We begin to understand the language and through 23:52-23:57 understanding the language we know the reality better. Knowing the reality we understand 23:57-24:09 the language better. It's all bound up together. One of the key things is, and I think Calvin 24:09-24:16 is very helpful here, his whole aim in his commentaries was to follow the thought behind 24:16-24:29 the text. I spent the first year of studying Calvin reading his Old Testament commentaries. 24:29-24:37 There are about 30 books in the Old Testament. I quite often thought, 'How did he get this 24:37-24:49 out of the text?' Then I read the text again and I was almost always forced to say, 'Yes, 24:49-24:54 that is what he has given an explanation of the thought behind it which makes sense'. 24:54-25:00 So it's not just reading the words, it's trying to follow the thinking behind the words. Why 25:00-25:08 are they saying it the way they are saying it? Calvin is very useful. As we read the 25:08-25:17 Bible we should all the time be thinking. It's a focused thinking. We are focused on 25:17-25:26 the word, on the words. Theology preaching helps us hugely because it points us to the 25:26-25:37 key concepts. We are looking for understanding. We are not emptying our minds. It's a focused 25:37-25:44 understanding but we are looking for understanding. For an understanding we don't have yet and 25:44-25:51 we can't say how it comes. But as we look for it and pray for it, it does begin to come. 25:51-26:02 Let's finish there. We pray, O God, the light of your Holy Spirit to work in all of us together 26:02-26:11 and in our own individual thinking as day by day we look to learn and understand more 26:11-26:15 and more of the riches of Christ. In His name, Amen. 26:15-26:17 Thank you.