Let the realisation that you have everything you need in the things you believe – in terms of your salvation, everything is certain. Let this realisation and assurance rule in your hearts, direct your thoughts, order your behaviour, govern your thoughts and feelings. In other words, love one another and realise that this brother, this sister has the same doctrinal certainty and assurance and salvation. We are one and therefore I must never lord it over that person; I must never neglect that person, be indifferent to that person. We are all called together to this glorious doctrinal certainty. What privileges we have, what blessings. You say, ‘I am offended, I have been wronged, I have been short-measured.’ Yes, but let the peace of God rule. Reflect for a moment. These are little things you have been wronged in. You have eternal glory and forgiveness and light and blessing. Be satisfied, be supremely contented and let the peace of God rule in your hearts and be thankful.
To some extent he has now gone back in his mind to those heretics who were knocking at the door of the church at Colossae. Don’t forget they were saying, ‘You haven’t got everything in that church of yours, let’s come in and teach you. We are Christians too but you have got certain things that are missing. You speak of Christ, that is good; you speak of his work on Calvary, that is good; but you don’t know anything about the angels and how to worship them, and you’ve left out Jewish circumcision without which you cannot know God.’ And Paul seems to be saying, ‘Oh, yes you have. You have peace. Your doctrine is all there. This and this alone saves the soul and brings you to God. They are wrong, they are embellishing, they are unnecessarily disturbing you.’