Exposition of Colossians

This is surely the most extensive exposition of Colossians. It totals some 350,000 words. Yet its value is not expressed in the number of the words, but in the sweet spirit of the words. Daille simply bubbles over with love for the Word, love for the saints, and admiration for the heavenliness of the apostle Paul's way of expression. He sees the grace of God working powerfully to implant spiritual loveliness in every person He touches. For ''the operation of the divine grace is sweet and pleasant, for it persuades, it wins the heart, it is accompanied with the extreme joy of him who receives it. Still it is potent and effectual. . . . I wish that the same Spirit which of old indicted it to the pen of the apostle would please to engrave it in the lowest depth of our hearts, with the point of a diamond, in characters that could not be effaced, that we might have it day and night before our eyes, that we might carefully peruse it and consult it in all the occurrences of our life. This meditation would suffice to preserve us in a constant and happy exercise of Christian piety, and to guard us from all that interrupts our sanctification or our comfort'' (Col. 1:12, 13). You can see that Daille flows, like a bee that gathers sweetness from flower to flower, this man gathers God's honey from verse to verse and deposits it into the reader's heart. The apostle Paul says, Be imitators of me'' Daille complies , Paul-like, issuing ''seek the things above'' (Col. 3:1). ''Purify your mind and your bodies; never defile them with base and earthly thoughts or actions . . . . You who are Christians, and whose life is hid in Jesus Christ, seek His kingdom and His righteousness. Let this be your ambition, and all the desire of your souls. Let this divine life, and the glory with which it will one day crown you in the sight of heaven and earth, be night and day the object of your thoughts. Possess yourselves of it now with a holy impatience. Begin now to live a

Jean Daille (1594-1670) was a French Pastor and Expositor during the Puritan period. His expositions are on Philippians, Colossians, Timothy, and Titus. They are noted for their sweetness, their pure and simple language. He wrote in French, of course, but his translator carefully retained the easy-to-read wording.