is natural, but that He should redeem and reconcile is a revelation of

greater glory; and unless we have a true conception of His purposes and ways,

more harm than good may come from an attempt to unfold the apostle's

teaching.  The surest safeguard for the expositor is to observe not only the

immediate setting, but also the remote context; and here the remote context

embraces every other passage of Scripture that speaks of kindred themes.  To

explore this vast territory would be a life's work; to attempt to summarize

it on paper would demand a large volume.  We can only draw attention to the

obvious and give a few guiding principles.

While we maintain that the distinctive message of Colossians concerns

the dispensation of the Mystery, this does not preclude the use of other

Scriptures when they deal with the same or parallel lines of teaching.

While the Image of the invisible God is a title which occurs only in

Colossians, it would be unreasonable to disregard such a passage as John 1:18

in an endeavour to approach its meaning.

John 1, Colossians 1 and Hebrews 1 have several points in common which

we should know, and accordingly we direct attention to the following

The Word

The Image

The express Image

God never seen

The invisible God

The Substance

All things made by Him

All things created by Him

Ages, heaven and

earth made by Him

Preferred before John

Pre -eminent in all

Superior to angels

His fulness

All the fulness

Heir of all things

.

.

.

.

All things by Him consist

All things upheld by

Him

The Word was God

.

.

.

.

Thy throne, O God

The only begotten Son

John in his first Epistle presents the matter in its several aspects

'We shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is'.

'As He is, so are we in this world'.

'As He is, we shall be'.

'As He walked, therefore we should walk'.

(See 1 John 3:2; 4:17; 3:2; 2:6).

Looking for that blessed hope, the Psalmist envisaged the day when this

mortal should put on immortality and bear the Image of the heavenly, saying: