Homily V. Colossians i. 26–28 “Even the mystery which hath been hid from all ages and generations: but now hath it been manifested to His saints, to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: whom we proclaim, admonishing every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ.” Having said what we have come to, and showed the lovingkindness of God and the honor, by the greatness of the things given, he introduces yet another consideration that heightens them, namely, that neither before us did any one know Him.776 As he doth also in the Epistle to the Ephesians, saying, neither Angels, nor principalities, nor any other created power, but only the Son of God knew. (Eph. iii. 5, 9, 10.) And he said, not simply hid, but “quite hid,” and that even if it hath but now come to pass, yet it is of old, and from the beginning God willed these things, and they were so planned out; but why, he saith not yet. “From the ages,” from the beginning, as one might say. And with reason he calleth that a mystery, which none knew, save God. And where hid? In Christ; as he saith in the Epistle to the Ephesians (Eph. iii. 9.), or as when the Prophet saith, “From everlasting even to everlasting Thou art.” (Ps. xc. 2.) But now hath been manifested, he saith, “to His saints.” So that it is altogether of the dispensation of God. “But now hath been manifested,” he saith. He saith not, “is come to pass,” but, “hath been manifested to His saints.” So that it is even now still hid, since it hath been manifested to His saints alone. 280 Let not others therefore deceive you, for they know not. Why to them alone? “To whom He was pleased,” he saith. See how everywhere He stops the mouth of their questions. “To whom God was pleased to make known,” he saith. Yet His will is not without reason. By way of making them accountable for grace, rather than allowing them to have high thoughts, as though it were of their own achieving, he said, “To whom he was pleased to make known.” “What is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles.” He hath spoken loftily, and accumulated emphasis, seeking, out of his great earnestness, for amplification upon amplification. For this also is an amplification, the saying indefinitely, “The riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles.” For it is most of all apparent among the Gentiles, as he also says elsewhere, “And that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy.” (Rom. xv. 9.) For the great glory of this mystery is apparent among others also, but much more among these. For, on a sudden, to have brought men more senseless than stones to the dignity of Angels, simply through bare words, and faith alone, without any laboriousness, is indeed glory and riches of mystery: just as if one were to take a dog, quite consumed with hunger and the mange, foul, and loathsome to see, and not so much as able to move, but 776 [Or, “know it,” a reading having some support, and adopted by Field.—J.A.B.] Colossians 1:26-28 493 Colossians 1:26-28