«　WEEK 3　DAY 6　»

　　Col. 3:17-21 ...Do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing in the Lord. Fathers, do not vex your children, that they may not be disheartened.

　　In Colossians 3:12—4:6 Paul turns to the matter of the living of the saints in union with Christ. In 3:12-15 he speaks of the necessity of being ruled by the peace of Christ, and in verses 16 and 17, of the word of Christ dwelling in us richly. To live in union with Christ means that in our living we are not apart from Christ. In John 15 the Lord tells us to abide in Him, for apart from Him we can do nothing. In the eyes of God, whatever we do apart from Christ has no value. Therefore, if we are separated from the all-inclusive Christ revealed in Colossians, we cannot do anything. The living of the saints must be in union with Christ. This means that in our living we need to be one with Him. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 239-240)

　　God desires that Christ be expressed through human life. We see this in Colossians 3:18—4:1, a sister passage to Ephesians 5:22—6:9, regarding the believers’ ethical relationships. In Ephesians the emphasis is on the need of spirit-filled ethical relationships for the expression of the Body in the normal church life. In Colossians the emphasis is that we should hold Christ as our Head and take Him as our life by having His rich word dwelling in us, that the highest ethical relationships, issuing not from our natural life but from Christ as our life, may be realized for His expression.

　　If we live in union with Christ, Christ will be expressed through our humanity. Christ is to be expressed in the human life, not in the angelic life. Angels cannot express Christ. The Father has ordained that we, His chosen ones, be the expression of His Son. “Live Thyself, Lord Jesus, through me” should be our prayer (see Hymns, #403).

　　If we would be those through whom Christ can live, we need to pass through the first two and a half chapters of the book of Colossians. Then, coming to 3:15 and 16, we need to be those in whom the peace of Christ arbitrates and in whom the word of Christ dwells richly. Then Christ will be expressed in our human living. Many of those in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Catholicism have a low estimate of human life. They do not care for marriage or for the proper family life. They prefer to remain unmarried, and they aspire to live a type of angelic life. But the angelic life cannot express Christ. On the contrary, Christ needs to be expressed in those who are husbands, wives, parents, children, masters, and slaves. In order to express Christ, we need to have a proper and normal human life.

　　As an elderly person with eight children and more than twenty grandchildren, I can testify that the Lord knows how to choose the best husband or wife for us and what kind of children we should have. He also knows how to break us and make us transparent so that we can express Christ. Through our family life we learn many valuable lessons from the Lord. I believe that the angels are observing to see whether or not we live out Christ in our family life. It is not as difficult to live out Christ in the church as it is to live Him out at home. But how wonderful it is for a brother or sister to express Christ in his or her married life! No brother or sister in the Lord’s recovery should aspire to live like a monk or nun. At the right time, the brothers and sisters should marry and then learn through the experiences of married life to express Christ in their human living. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 250-251)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 29-30