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. I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.

Introduction

In Col 1:26-7, Paul mentions what he calls a mystery. Now, the Greek word musterion does not mean something that is difficult to fathom or something that requires extremely good sleuthing skills to uncover. Rather, it refers to something that cannot be uncovered by human means and that, consequently, must be revealed by the spirits. The Jews adopted this word readily into their monotheistic worldview. So musterion came to mean something that was formerly secret and that was beyond the grasp of human wisdom and that now has been revealed by God. In Col 1.26-7 the mystery is “Christ in you.”

Christ—The Mystery Revealed

Now Paul says that the mystery is Christ himself. Note here that Paul mentions wisdom and knowledge right after saying that Christ is the mystery revealed. Not only was this mystery beyond human wisdom, not only did this mystery require divine wisdom, but also the divine wisdom by which this is revealed is Christ himself.

Christ—Revealer of the Mystery

This is a very important point. Jesus is both the mystery and the revealer of the mystery. What Paul is doing here is underscoring the importance of the life of Jesus. In Colossae there seem to have been groups that advocated that Jesus is not really central. They said he was important but not the hub of the Christian faith. We will see this as we get further into chapter 2. Paul counters this claim by saying that the Christian faith is a mystery because now not only Jews, but Gentiles also have access to the one true living God. The Christian faith is a mystery because such universal access to God could not have been granted from within the existing traditions of Jewish thought. It had to be revealed by God. And God has revealed this mystery in Jesus. But the mystery is Jesus himself because it is only through him that anyone—Jew or Gentile—can have access to God. In other words, Jesus is not only important, he is crucial. Moreover, he is not only crucial for without him not only would we not know the mystery. Rather, because Jesus is both the mystery and the revealer of the mystery, without him there would be no mystery to be known!

Christ—Wisdom Personified

Now Paul says in v. 3 that in Jesus are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Therefore, in some sense, though the mystery has been revealed, we are not privy to all wisdom and knowledge. Rather, we know where all wisdom and knowledge resides. They reside in Jesus. Therefore, we are not to search for wisdom and knowledge elsewhere. In fact, Paul will continue, and we will see this next week, that to search elsewhere for wisdom and knowledge is to make ourselves captives of those powers from which Jesus has freed us. Rather, we are to seek wisdom and knowledge from Jesus. We have full access to all the wisdom of God by virtue of being in Christ.

In Col 1.24-2.5 Paul links two important strands of his theology—that of our having Christ in us and that of our being in Christ. The second is not explicitly mentioned but it is present nonetheless. Christ himself has revealed to us that he is in us and so we have access to all the wisdom of God—here personified in Christ—by virtue of our being in him.

Paul packs all of this into two verses because he is about to take on a serious problem faced by the Colossians. He intimates the reader of this in v. 4 when he writes, “I am saying this so that no one may deceive you with plausible arguments.” This indicates two things.

First, Paul does not want the Colossians to be swayed by arguments. This means that there were arguments at Colossae. In other words, the Christian faith was facing opposition at Colossae. Second, Paul characterizes the arguments with the adjective “plausible”. This means that the arguments had some strength. They were not flimsy arguments that could be dismissed easily. Rather, they were arguments that were difficult to refute precisely because they were plausible.

How would you refute current serious challenges to the Christian faith? Say Islam or Hinduism or Atheism or Atheistic-Darwinism. Paul’s response to this is might be a surprise. And for that we must wait another week!