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of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timothy our brother'. The third verse of each epistle commences with
thanksgiving to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Colossians the apostle alludes to the spiritual
blessings in heavenly places, in the words:
`The hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel
... as you learned from Epaphras' (1:5-7 Author's translation).
Walk worthy.
While the words `walk worthy' do not come in Ephesians until we reach chapter 4, this is the next feature of
Colossians 1: `that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing' (verse 10). In Ephesians 4 that `walk
worthy' leads on to `the knowledge of the Son of God'; and the `increase' is `the increase of the Body' (Eph.
4:13,16).
In Colossians we go further and look beyond this period of knowledge and increase to another, which is the goal
of all the grace given us: `Increasing by', or `up to' (readings differ here) `the knowledge of God' (verse 10).
The inheritance of the saints.
Ephesians dwells upon `the riches of the glory of HIS inheritance in the saints' (Eph. 1:18). Colossians 1:12
gives the other aspect of the truth: `Giving thanks unto the Father, Who hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in the light'. Ephesians 1:18, therefore, must not be construed to teach that the believer has
no inheritance personally. It merely emphasises the other and oft-forgotten side of the truth, that God Himself finds
His inheritance in His redeemed people.
Accepted, delivered.
In Colossians 1:14 we read, `In whom we have redemption'. The same words come in Ephesians 1:7.
Immediately before the words of Ephesians 1:7 we read, `Made us accepted in the BELOVED'. This is expanded in
Colossians 1:
`Who delivered us from the authority of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His LOVE ...
in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight'
(Col. 1:13-22 Author's translation).
Reconciliation.
The subject of reconciliation in Ephesians 2 is related to the great dispensational change that took place at the
inauguration of the Church of the Mystery, and is limited to the Church, the words being `the both in one body'.
Colossians still speaks of the mystery and those things which pertain to it - and, although the connection here is
wider in its scope, it is really an expansion of Ephesians 2.
In the second case the change with which the reconciliation is connected is `translation out of the authority of
darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son'. This kingdom is a foreshadowing of that time when, as Ephesians
1:10 indicates, Christ shall be Head over all things in heaven and in earth.
Thus, Ephesians 1 and 2 show:
Acceptance in the Beloved.
Redemption through blood.
Reconciliation of the both.
which in Colossians is repeated or amplified as:
Translation into the kingdom.