Christ in You, the Hope of Glory1
Paul continues to glorify the Lord Jesus and to stir up his brothers and sisters to remain faithful. He shows how the death of Jesus has restored peace with God and one another.
Colossians 1:21-29
21And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, (The grace of God works in us to produce the highest level of holiness. To be blameless before other people is wonderful, but to be blameless before God is absolute perfection. This will be the condition of all believers when the Lord’s plans are accomplished in them.) 23if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
A necessary ingredient of true religion is reliability. A tree that is often transplanted cannot thrive. Since the gospel is the unchanging truth of God, it is extremely foolish to be lured away from it by the inventive teachings of others. Paul gloried in being a minister of the old unchanging gospel.
24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s affliction for the sake of his body, that is, the church, (When the Head is in pain the entire body suffers. The church must experience a certain amount of suffering and persecution in the process of gathering in all the Lord’s chosen. The atoning sufferings of Jesus were finished long ago. Jesus’ sufferings as part of the body, that is the church, are not for the atoning of sin, but result from our battle with the powers of evil. Paul was glad to receive his share in the suffering for the sake of the body of Christ.) 25of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.
27To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
Paul again reminds the Colossians that his call to minister among them came from God, not humans.
Colossians 2:1-7
1For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
To know Christ is the highest wisdom. However simple the gospel may appear, it is far superior to the wisdom of all systems of philosophy or schools of theology that teach new ideas about Christianity.
4I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
6Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. (May the Lord allow us to do so. The gospel that has saved us is also good enough to live by and to die by. To turn away from the gospel would be throwing out fullness for emptiness, the substance for the shadow, and the truth for falsehood. May the Holy Spirit continue to lead us even further into the knowledge of Christ crucified. May we never in any way quit our sincere belief in the truth or stop being thankful for it.)
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1 Colossians 1:27
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