If you know Christ, you ean lay your hand on the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You know them, not by the intellect but by the heart. They are matters of daily experience. The Apostle’s aim in this chapter is to put his converts on their guard against those who might divert them from their simple faith in Jesus, and their sufficiency in him. The keynotes are Take heed and Let no one.

The first act of the Christian life is to receive Christ, and every moment afterward we must continue receiving him. The act must become an attitude. Breathe in the love and power of Jesus. Take deep breaths. Then we shall be rooted in him in secret, and built up in him in our outward walk and behavior. If we have Christ, we have all God’s fullness, and this is easily accessible. Like Jacob’s ladder, he links us with God. Wihat need have we for celestial beings, like those invented by the Gnosties, or for the rite of circumcision, as insisted on by the Jews? We have everything in Jesus. He has fulfilled the Law in all respects on our behalf. Let us put the waters of entire surrender and consecration between our past, our sins, and the world, and rise into his life, the life of resurrection