Colossians : 1v21-2v7

God has reconciled us, Christ lives in us, so let nothing distract us

We have already heard how this letter was being written to a church which was being threatened by Gnostic heresies - a church where people were getting confused about the spiritual and the physical, a church where people were getting hung up on secret knowledge, special rituals and regulations to help them 'advance' in their spirituality - or so they thought.

God has reconciled us and Christ lives in us, so let nothing distract us

God has reconciled us (v21-23)

Paul summarises the gospel for us here in v21-23. Once you were alienated from God, but now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body. This is the gospel that you heard.

It is always amazing to think about Gods love for us, which is hinted at here in the opening verses of this passage. We tend to forget it, but God is so holy and pure that our evil behaviour is truly abhorrent. Hab 1v13 says of God "your eyes are too pure to look on evil, you cannot tolerate wrong". You know how we feel when we hear on the news about some monster who has abducted and killed a child? Our evil behaviour looks an order of magnitude worse to God.

And yet. He doesn't blast us out of existence. Instead God had a plan to reconcile this world to him - to put everything right. And what would be the cost? It would cost the life of his beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The one who has had all those marvellous things written about him just a little higher up the page in your Bible would die on the cross for you and I, bearing our sin in his body.

I think Paul deliberately makes the point in v22 that we have been reconciled by Christ's Physical body. Do you remember what Justin was saying last week? Many people at Colossae had embraced the Greek philosophy that physical matter was evil and only spiritual things were good. Paul has been at pains to point out that it was Christ's physical body which was used to reconcile us. It is a detail which is doubly significant for us because it is tying this reconciliation to a physical event, which has a definite place and time in history.

God has reconciled us, and he did it at a time and place in history which is attested by unimpeachable independent witnesses, such as Thomas Aquinas.

I ought to mention v23 in particular since it holds one of those "difficult" verses that crop up now and then. Why does Paul say "if"? Apparently the Greek expression here is one that doesn't express doubt. The scholar Peter O'Brien says that this could be paraphrased "At any rate if you stand firm in the faith - and I am sure that you will". Paul is expressing confidence in their ability to press on to the end.

Let us all hear that encouraging word today too - "stand firm in the faith, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel". Who knows what troubles face us in the years ahead? We are probably all going to face our share of personal difficulties and tragedies as we get older. When those troubles come, let us hold on firmly to the hope held out in the gospel - that we are reconciled to God and one day will be in his presence.

God has reconciled us - and moving on to the next part of our passage, we see Christ lives in us .

Christ lives in us (v24-29)

Although v24 onwards is subtitled in the NIV "Paul's labour for the church" there are some remarkable words which are used here to convey important truths to the Colossian believers, and to us today - all centring around the remarkable expression in v27 - "Christ in you, the hope of glory".

Look at the language that Paul is using to the Colossians, those people who were in danger of being distracted from the fundamentals of the gospel by seeking after secrets and mysteries.

1v26 - the mystery now disclosed to the saints

1v27 the glorious riches of the mystery which is Christ in you

1v28 taught with all wisdom

2v2 full riches of complete understanding

2v2 know the mystery of God, namely Christ.

2v3 in Christ are hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Can you see what Paul is saying to them?

You want mystery? You find it in Christ! You want wisdom? You find it in Christ! You want understanding? You find it in Christ!

There is no secret knowledge, no special tradition or behaviour which opens the door to becoming a "super-Christian". Just knowing Jesus better.

 

I ought to say something about a verse that I was tempted to skip past it and hope that nobody noticed, but I didn't think it was right to avoid v24 entirely. "I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions". What does that mean? I'd like to make some observations if I may.

  1. Paul is not suggesting that there is anything incomplete or lacking in Christ's work . The fundamentals of the gospel, the complete sufficiency of Jesus' death on the cross to bring about our reconciliation with God are not in doubt here. Paul is always at pains to point out that Jesus has completed all that is necessary for our salvation.
  2. Lacking is used in the sense of 'not fully completed'. It doesn't have the pejorative sense that it normally carries in common usage today.
  3. The Church is the body of Christ (as it says even in this very verse) and that is not just a metaphorical term. Remember when Paul encountered Christ on the road to Damascus ? He was continuing in his persecution of the Church when bright light shone around him and he heard a voice calling "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me ?". Similarly in the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matt 25 Jesus says "I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me".

Taking these elements into account, I think this verse is recognising that while we await the day when the Lord Jesus Christ returns, the afflictions which Christians suffer are filling up the full measure of the rejection and hurt which Jesus is bearing for his people even now. Paul was especially warned that he would be suffering a lot for Jesus, back when he was first saved in Acts 9. Around the world today we know that our brothers and sisters are suffering too - falsely imprisoned, tortured and worse. It is only in the day before the Lord Jesus returns in glory that his afflictions will have reached their full measure.

Jesus feels our pains and sorrows. He lives in us, and since we are part of the Church, the body of Christ, so we are also part of him.

God has reconciled us and Christ lives in us, so let nothing distract us

So let nothing distract us (2v1-7)

If we grasp hold of the truth that God has reconciled us, and that Christ does live in us, it should make it easier for us to stand firm in our faith. Why has Paul been telling his readers all these things? So that they might be encouraged in heart, united in love, have complete understanding; in order that they might know Christ.

And ultimately v4 - "I tell you this so that no-one may deceive you by fine sounding arguments".

Look also at the closing verses of our section, v6-7. "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him"

How does any person receive Christ Jesus as Lord? Is it by secret knowledge, initiation into inner circles, special anointing by God? No. Emphatically No. It is by simple faith. One of the wonders of Christianity is that even the simplest soul can grasp the central fact. That Jesus died in my place. And as it says in Romans 10v9 "If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved".

And how do we continue to live in him? This letter gives us some guidance:

If we know the truth well, we can identify the false.

Illustration: the US Federal treasury agents, trained to spot forgery - not by looking at all the forged notes, but by spending time with the real stuff. They become so familiar with the real thing - its appearance, its texture, its smell - that when the false comes into their hands they know it is false straight away, even if they cannot immediately articulate why.

God has reconciled us and Christ lives in us, so let nothing distract us

 

 

Alex White

 

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