“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom,so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.“

Review

We have seen thus far in Colossians quite a few things—some expected, some unexpected. Before continuing, let us briefly review what we have learned to this point. In the introduction and greeting we see that Paul first begins the letter with the claim that he is an apostle of Jesus, that is, he is the authorized emissary of Jesus who speaks for Jesus. Second, he reminds the Colossian church that they are set apart to and by God, that is, God is both the initiator and the reason for their consecration. Third, Paul blesses the Colossian church with God’s favor and wholeness. Since wholeness belonged to the Jewish Messianic age, Paul is claiming that in Jesus this age has already started.

In Paul’s thanksgiving we see first that way of addressing God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ indicates that we have access to God only because God is the Father of Jesus. Second, Paul relates each aspect of the Christian trio—faith, love and hope—to each other. He says that we believe something happened in the past that enables us to expect wonderful things in the future because of which we live as though we were in that future today. Third, Paul says that because the Colossians display faith, hope, and love, the gospel is growing in their midst.

Immediately after saying this Paul gets to his prayer of intercession for the Colossian church. Here he prays first that the Colossian church would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will and know that they are integral to God’s purposes. Second, he prays that they would thank God for qualifying them to share in the inheritance of his Son, in the kingdom of his Son, by rescuing them from the dominion of darkness and bringing them into the light.

From there Paul moves to a hymn in honor of Jesus’ roles in the Old and New Creations. We studied this last Sunday What is the function of an image? . So what did Paul mean when he said that Jesus is the image of the invisible God? What is the importance of Paul’s saying that Jesus is the head of the body which is the church? What does this say about the church and its purpose in the world?

Paul uses prototokos twice in the hymn with different meanings. What are the two meanings? Which one applies to the first use? Why? Which applies to the second use? Why?

Paul uses the phrase “all things” many times in the hymn. Why is it so important? What does it mean when Paul says that in Jesus all the fullness of deity was pleased to dwell? What idea does the phrase “Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit” convey? What notion does the phrase “the Word became flesh” communicate? Where on that spectrum does this phrase from Colossians belong?

Means of Our Reconciliation

Paul begins the next section by reminding the Colossians that they were once estranged from God and hostile toward him. Their hostility is revealed in their doing evil deeds. Having reminded them of this Paul says that Jesus has reconciled them. What this does is elevate what Jesus has done. In v. 13 there is the idea that Jesus rescues the Colossians from the dominion of darkness. This is more like a hostage rescue—the devil had the Colossians captive and Jesus stormed the dungeons and rescued them. Here the image is different. The Colossians are not helpless captives but openly hostile to God. That is, their evil deeds reveal that they are partners with the devil. Now this is not what they were created to be. The hymn told us that everything was created for Jesus. So Jesus, knowing that the Colossians belong to him effects their reconciliation even though they were hostile to him. Paul is saying, “It is you evil doing hostile people and not helpless captives that Jesus has reconciled.”

But how was this accomplished? In Jesus’ body and by his death. What appeared to all to be a defeat was actually a victory.

Purpose of Our Reconciliation

But not just a victory. Jesus did not win and take us into his kingdom as prisoners of war. No! His purpose was to present us holy and blameless and irreproachable before God. Note these three terms. By presenting us holy, Jesus restores us to our purpose of being consecrated to and by God. But what about our past hostility toward God? That is where the other two terms come in. Paul says that Jesus makes us blameless and irreproachable before God. That is, our past hostility is not just not remembered but is treated as though it had not happened.

Our Role in Our Reconciliation

Granted that all of this was done by Jesus, is there something we do in this process? Yes and no. We cannot do what Jesus has done. Making enemies into friends is his job. Consecrating us is his business. Our job is to remain firm in the faith and to continue in the hope of the gospel. Paul mentions two aspects of the Christian trio here. As we said earlier, we believe something happened in the past that enables us to expect wonderful things in the future because of which we live as though we were in that future today. This is what Paul reiterates. Our assurance of being reconciled to God comes from the faith we have in what Jesus has accomplished by his death and from the hope we have that his purpose in dying was to present us holy and blameless.