Read – Study Notes – Chapters 1:21-29

Col. 1:21 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,
Col. 1:22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—
Col. 1:23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.

• This tells us Paul was concerned about the thinking that a believer still required something to enter into Heaven
• The false teaching in their church had gained a foothold in the church preaching that there was more you needed to do to be secure in your place with God
  • The only way you become susceptible to that kind of thinking is if you are not confident about what the scriptures say about your relationship
  • Paul says in v.23 that the fact they are able to gain a foothold gives clear evidence to indict their confession
• This is the same point made by the writer in the letter to the Hebrews

Heb. 3:12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.
Heb. 3:13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Heb. 3:14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,

the end,

• The writer is not saying what you have to do to be a Christian, he’s saying this is the definition of a Christian
  • A Christian hold firms their assurance to the end
  • False teachers don’t get a crack at you because you know Christ’s work on the cross is sufficient
  • But when you run after the teaching that says you haven’t done enough, you show the falseness of your confession
• Again in v.23, we are to be firmly established in the hope of the Gospel
• Paul is pointing out to this group that Christ has reconciled us into the body, and we gain the benefit from it – only as long as we trust in that message
  • But if we depart from it to chase false messages, we’re showing ourselves to never having believed the truth to begin with
• Paul transitions away from a discussion of the person of Jesus Christ to a discussion of the work of Jesus Christ
  • False teachers were teaching a new Gospel for being saved – Christ plus something
  • But Paul talks of Christ’s work on the cross as the saving work of creation
    • Whether things on earth of things in heaven = broad scope

Rom. 8:20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope
Rom. 8:21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Rom. 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

• It is not just that you and I were born into sin, but when Adam sinned he put the whole world into bondage
  • By the curses God pronounced in response to his sin
  • God did not curse man (or woman)
  • He cursed the ground, and the enemy
    • To be cursed is to be forever condemned to Hell
• So what happens to the creation?
• Paul alludes here (and elsewhere) that eventually this world will be burned up by fire
  • But will be replaced, as a function of God’s need to provide a dwelling place for His children
  • He has to provide a corrupt free environment for His corrupt free children He is producing by the work of Christ on the cross
• Given that Jesus is pre-eminent in all these things, Paul concludes in verse 21 that the Colossians can offer nothing in support of their own salvation
  • There is nothing they can do to prompt, ensure, hold on to, enhance or make better their salvation
  • It was done once for all on the cross
• Paul is about to make an interesting point, that you are to continue in your salvation they way you received your salvation
  • But entering into salvation, we start as enemies of God
  • In another parallel with the Ephesian church, Paul made a similar statement on this point:

Eph. 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
Eph. 2:2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
Eph. 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Eph. 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
Eph. 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

• Grace means that before you deserved it and before you knew it, He was already making us a child of God
  • In using the analogy of baptism, we were dead and now we’re alive
  • No more could a physical corpse bring itself back to life, than we could do spiritually
• I received a letter from a listener in New Zealand who wrote to tell me about a conversation between her 13-year old daughter and a schoolmate who was an unbeliever

My 13 yr old daughter, Georgia, (who was just baptized) came home from school the other day.  She told me she had a conversation with her friend which went something like this….

Georgia:  Ashley, do you know that you hate God?

Ashley:  I don’t hate God!

Georgia:  Well actually, the Bible says that if you are not with Him, then you hate Him, even if you don’t personally feel like you do.

• What a bold conversation for a newly baptized 13 year old to have with a friend, but her words were truth
  • Do we sometimes forget the truth of that statement?
    • It sounds like Paul was concerned that the false teaching in Colossae must have included some kind of teaching that personal achievement  – obtaining some kind of special knowledge – was a part of obtaining or maintaining our salvation
• But then Paul in verse 23 says this assurance is only true for someone who holds to the true gospel
  • Close doesn’t count
    • There is nothing more dangerous than something close to the truth that is not in fact the gospel
  • But if you have not held to the true gospel, you have no right to share in the promises he is giving out to the church
  • He’s trying to differentiate the two groups up front as he begins to teach
    • Not to say anything about someone who has already believed the truth and is in someway in jeopardy
  • Paul is making this dramatic turn to emphasize the seriousness of this church tolerating false teachers who present a false gospel
    • It leads people astray
    • It becomes a stumbling block
    • For a true believer, it stunts their maturity
    • To the unbeliever who falls prey, it becomes a diversion to finding the path for truth
• Paul’s concern is that this church has abandoned its responsibility to protect the flock
• At the end of verse 23, Paul made a reference again to his authority
  • He calls himself a minister of the gospel – diakonos, servant
  • This leads Paul to spend another moment establishing his credibility with this church
    • And he’s doing this because of where is preparing to go next
  • Paul is acting on the principle: What you think of me, has a lot to do with how you will receive my criticism
• As an aside, the reason we teach verse-by-verse is to avoid accusations of false motives in our teaching
  • We’re just teaching what God wrote
    • Paul is trying to establish his own motives to be pure, honest, and good intentioned
    • Let’s look at what he says about himself

Col. 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.
Col. 1:25 Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God,
Col. 1:26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints,
Col. 1:27 to whom God willed 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.
Col. 1:28 We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.
Col. 1:29 For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

• Verses 24-29 are again one sentence, so let’s take it apart in pieces
  • To begin, the whole point of this sentence is to communicate Paul’s credibility
    • But even more than credibility, it explains his motives
    • First, he says he is not taking a privileged place in the Body of Christ, but rather he is doing his part
      • Specifically, he’s doing his part to suffer for Christ
      • This verse is one of the most controversial in all of Paul’s writing
      • Filling up what is lacking in Christ’s sufferings
        • Some use it to suggest we have more work to do in accomplishing our salvation
        • A sense of works on top of grace
    • Paul is actually saying that the Body of Christ is appointed to suffer at times
      • That suffering began when our Lord suffered Himself while on the cross
      • And we are the body of Christ now, and we continue his suffering

Acts 9:4 and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

• This is not to suggest this additional suffering is the atonement – that was done through Christ’s physical death on the cross
  • But it is God’s purpose that there continue to be suffering so that we identity with Christ
  • We share in His inheritance and His suffering
• Paul says that he is doing his part to fill up the afflictions that are lacking in the body of Christ until the appointed suffering has reached its end
  • Paul was writing from jail, whereas I doubt the false teachers were taking the same persecution
• Second point – Paul was to preach the mysteries of God’s word
  • Paul was granted the privilege of revealing certain mysteries to the church
    • The word mystery, in Biblical terms, is any truth that was revealed in the Old Testament, but its meaning was hidden until a later date
    • And chief among these mysteries was that God would bestow His grace upon the gentiles
      • The fact that God planned to saved Gentiles through Christ was revealed in Genesis (to Abraham), but not understood until after the resurrection
    • So the mystery Paul has to tell the Colossians is about God’s plan to redeem them, Gentiles
  • So Paul’s motive is for their good, to bring them good news that God has prepared beforehand
• Then Paul shifts in v.28, to say with that responsibility comes the necessity of preparing men to stand before Christ
  • Admonishing and teaching
    • The work of ministry is first and foremost about shaping lives
      • Correcting wrong behavior and thinking
      • Teaching truth from scripture
  • Paul is going to so much effort, laboring on their behalf, so they are brought up in the right way