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is impossible to please God." Here then we have the means and the end of this part of the
prayer: "In all wisdom . . . . . unto all pleasing." This is the first aim of the new life, to
be well-pleasing unto Him.
It is not always possible to discover the origin of words, but there is a possibility that
aresko, "to please", comes into the Greek language from the Hebrew ratson, "to
conciliate". This is the opinion of Parkhurst, and if there is truth in it, it will enable us to
perceive that here in this worthy walk unto all pleasing (conciliation) is the believer's
response to the great reconciliation effected by the blood of the cross (Col. 1: 20).
Full as this opening petition is, it is not to be taken as an end in itself, but as a
preparation for a further phase of Christian fullness. What is the meaning of "all
pleasing"? The word is abstract, and we are apt to miss its force and fullness. The
following part of the passage replaces "all pleasing" by "all good works".
MEANS.--"In every good work being fruitful."
END.--"Unto the knowledge of God increasing."
The most important words here are "fruitful" and "increasing". Both speak of growth,
contrary to toiling and striving. "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil
not." The only good works that are unto "all pleasing" are those that are "fruit" and the
result of "growth"; all else is vanity and vexation of spirit. Sanctification that is the
result of labour and struggle is a deception. The real thing flows out of living union with
the Lord. The principle of John 10: 4 is true for the one body:--
"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in
the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me."
The walk of the believer in Col. 1: is associated with fruit. The walk of the believer
in Col. 2: 6, 7 is associated with root:--
"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: rooted and
built up in Him."
He who would bear fruit upward must "take root downward" (II Kings 19: 30), and
where the root is dry, fruit will fail (Hos. 9: 16).
Eph. 3: 17 speaks of being rooted and grounded in love. The interchange of the
figures of growing and building may seem to us a trifle incongruous, but God uses them
together. He speaks of "all the building growing" (Eph. 2: 21), for He deals with living
stones. This growth or increase is found alone in Christ, and only as we "hold the Head"
shall we "increase with the increase of God".
Fruit unto God is only possible by union with the risen Christ, and it can only be
produced in those who have died in Him to the old nature and its "fruit unto death"
(Rom. 7: 4, 5). Thanksgiving is called "the fruit of the lips" (Heb. 13: 15), service in