others who have not seen his face, and he
also intimates here that the Colossians learned of Christ and the
Gospel from Epaphras, Paul's fellow-servant.

4. "And therefore I always pray for you," he writes, "that you may
continue in this way; may increase and be steadfast." He is aware of
the necessity for such prayer and exhortation in behalf of Christians
if they are to abide firm and unchangeable in their new-found faith,
against the ceaseless assaults of the devil, the wickedness of the
world, and the weakness of the flesh in tribulation and affliction.

"That ye may be filled," Paul continues, "with the knowledge of his
will."

5. This is his chief prayer and desire for them and if it is
fulfilled there can be no lack. The words are, "be filled"; that is,
not only hear and understand God's will, but become rich in the
knowledge of it, with ever-increasing fullness. "You have begun well;
you are promising shoots." But something more than a good beginning
is required, and the knowledge of God's will is not to be
exhaustively learned immediately on hearing the Word. On the contrary
it must be constantly pursued and practiced as long as we live if it
is ever to be rounded and perfected in us.

KNOWLEDGE OF GOD'S WILL IMPOSES OBLIGATION.

6. "Knowing the will of God" means more than simply knowing about
God, that he created heaven and earth and gave the Law, and so on, a
knowledge even the Jews and Turks possess. For doubtless to them has
been revealed that knowledge of God and of his will concerning our
conduct which nature--the works of creation--can teach. Rom 1, 20.
But if we fail to do God's revealed will, the knowledge of it does
not benefit us. Such mere mental consciousness is a vain, empty
thing; it does not fulfil God's will in us. Indeed, it eventually
becomes a condemnatory knowledge of our own eternal destruction. When
this point has been reached, further enlightenment is necessary if
man is to be saved. He must know the meaning of Christ's words in
John 6, 40: "This is the will of my Father, that every one that
beholdeth the Son, and believeth on him, should have eternal life";
and in Matthew 18, 14: "It is not the will of your Father, that one
of these should perish, which believe on me."

7. Since we have not done God's will according to the first
revelation and must be rejected and condemned by his eternal,
unendurable wrath, in his divine wisdom and mercy he has determined,
or willed, to perm