God

The Subtle Snare of Self-Made Religion

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16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. – Colossians 2:16-23 ESV

Far too often, well-meaning but misguided individuals attempt to turn faith in Christ into a lengthy list of dos and don’ts intended to regulate behavior. They take James’ simple premise that a faith without works is a dead faith (James 2:17) and twist it into a legalistic and guilt-inducing set of rules and regulations designed to measure righteousness. Unable or unwilling to accept that a believer’s right standing with God is based on grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, these purveyors of self-righteousness attempt to earn favor with God through rituals, rites, and fervent religious rule-keeping.

Entire denominations have been formed based on doctrines that teach that righteousness must be achieved the old-fashioned way: through hard work and merit. Essentially, their teaching is based on the old maxim, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Some seem to have founded their works-based concept of salvation on the often quoted but unbiblical statement, “God helps those who help themselves.”

Humanity’s pervasive pride problem lies at the core of this brand of false teaching and has been around since the fall. Ever since Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the forbidden tree, mankind has been attempting to assuage its guilt and amend its broken relationship with God through human effort. Over the centuries, countless religions have sprung up, each promoting its own unique set of rules and rituals for keeping its particular deity pleased and in a generous mood. While diverse in their doctrines and dogma, each of these religions shares one thing in common: a works-based form of righteousness. The adherents to these religions live under the repressive pressure of a performance-based system that demands constant and unwavering compliance to a set of rigid and unrelenting standards.

Paul and his fellow apostles had to constantly deal with the problem of legalism infiltrating the churches they helped to found. It was only natural for those who converted to Christianity from pagan religions to carry the baggage of their former faith system into their relationship with Christ. They were used to practicing a religion based on rule-keeping and rife with prohibitions of all kinds. So, they were attracted to any form of teaching that gave them a list of rules to follow and activities to avoid. This propensity made them particularly susceptible to the teachings of a group that later became known as the Judaizers.

The word Judaizer first appeared in Paul’s letter to the believers in Galatia, where Paul describes an encounter with one of his fellow apostles. Peter had been visiting Paul and the church in Antioch, where he freely associated with the predominantly Gentile congregation. Everything was going well until a group of Jewish believers from the church in Jerusalem showed up.

Paul states that “when they came he [Peter] drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party” (Galatians 2:12 ESV). His reference to “the circumcision party” was meant to explain that these were Jews who believed that all Gentiles had to convert to Judaism and practice all the rites and rules associated with it before they could be fully saved.  In their minds, salvation was reserved for God’s chosen people, the Jews. One of the primary ordinances they demanded the Gentile men to obey was that of circumcision.

The presence of these Jewish Christians from Jerusalem caused Peter to avoid the Gentile converts because they were uncircumcised and, therefore, ceremonially unclean. These Jewish believers were demanding that all converts to Christianity submit to the requirements of the Mosaic Law. Essentially, they were teaching that the Gentiles were not truly saved because they were living in violation of the law. But Paul, a Jew and a former Pharisee, would have none of it.

…when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” – Galatians 2:14 ESV

The Greek word translated as “to live like Jews” is ioudaikōs, meaning “after the manner of the Jews.” Paul was appalled that Peter was demanding that Gentile Christians be required to “Judaize” or live according to Jewish commands and customs. The doctrine of the Judaizers was a mixture of grace (through Christ) and works (through the keeping of the Law). The Jews who had shown up in Antioch were teaching, “unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.” (Acts 15:1 NLT).

Paul’s confrontation with Peter and the Judaizers forced Paul to make a trip to visit the leaders of the church in Jerusalem. Once there, Paul and his co-worker, Barnabas, debated the teaching of the Judaizers with James and the other apostles of Jesus. Paul pulled no punches in confronting this dangerous heresy.

“Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe. God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith. So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.” – Acts 15:7-11 NLT

According to verse 16 of Colossians 2, this was the same teaching that had infiltrated the church in Colossae. Paul lists a variety of topics that have a decidedly Jewish feel to them: Teachings about the consumption of food and drink, rules concerning feasts and new moon celebrations, and the keeping of the Sabbath.

Someone had obviously been teaching the Gentile members of the local congregation that there was more to their newfound faith than simply belief in Jesus. They were being told that they would have to alter their behavior and accommodate a litany of prescribed religious rules and rituals. But Paul strongly refuted the idea of adding anything to their faith in Christ alone.

…these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. – Colossians 2:17 NLT

As a Jew, Paul knew that God had designed these things to serve a vital but temporary purpose. Paul assured the believers in Galatia that the law had been given by God but that it had fulfilled its primary purpose. Now that Jesus had come, adherence to the law was no longer required to pursue a right standing with God.

Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed.

Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian. – Galatians 3:23-25 NLT

Paul wanted the believers in Colossae to understand that they were not subject to anyone’s teaching regarding additional requirements or rules concerning salvation.

Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. – Colossians 2:18 NLT

Their right standing with God was not based on what they did or didn’t do; it was based on the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. Upon placing their faith in Christ, they had been imputed His righteousness. What was true for Paul was also true for them.

I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. – Philippians 3:9 NLT

Paul was a staunch defender of the faith who was willing to hold accountable all those who taught a different gospel or a different Jesus. He declared that those who attempted to mislead the believers in Colossae were “puffed up without reason” (Colossians 2:18 ESV). He accused them of allowing their “sensuous” minds to determine their theology. These men were obsessed with the physical rather than the spiritual, which led Paul to assert, “They are not connected to Christ, the head of the body” (Colossians 2:19 NLT).

Their errant teaching separated them from Christ and His church, and their false doctrines concerning salvation made them enemies of the gospel. Their false teaching was doing more harm than good and was diminishing the unity of the body that Christ’s death made possible.

Paul reminded his brothers and sisters in Christ, “You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world?” (Colossians 2:20 NLT). They were becoming distracted by rules that declared, “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!” (Colossians 2:21 NLT). But these kinds of prohibitions were man-made and destined to fail. Laws can regulate human behavior but are incapable of changing the heart.

These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires. – Colossians 2:23 NLT

For Paul, the law was never about behavior modification. He revealed its true purpose to the believers in Galatia.

Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. – Galatians 3:19 NLT

Paul also pointed out that the law was never meant to provide salvation. It simply declared the kind of righteousness God required and revealed mankind’s incapacity to live up to God’s holy standards. Paul makes it painfully clear that rule-keeping was never intended to bring salvation.

If the law could give us new life, we could be made right with God by obeying it. But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ. – Galatians 3:21-22 NLT

Self-denial and forced compliance with a list of moral codes may promote a semblance of sanctification, but it can never change the heart.

Jesus had addressed this issue with His disciples. When answering a question about which foods defile the body, Jesus responded, “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you” (Matthew 15:17-20 NLT).

Jesus came to bring about heart transformation, not behavior modification. Yes, He expects our behavior to change, but that change must come from the inside out. Only a transformed heart can produce a changed life. So, Paul warned the Galatians that a law-based and flesh-focused religion would produce the wrong kind of fruit. Only a heart submissive to the leading of the Holy Spirit can produce life-altering, behavior-modifying fruit that made the law unnecessary.

The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. – Galatians 5:17-18 NLT

Adherence to a list of rules, rites, and religious rituals might make us feel more spiritual, but they are powerless to transform the human heart. Man’s penchant for pursuing holiness through self-effort is an ongoing problem and one that Jesus confronted the Pharisees about. He described these self-righteous Jewish religious leaders in unflattering terms, calling them “hypocrites” and declaring, “you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:27-28 NLT).

Having refused to recognize Jesus as their Messiah and Savior, their hearts remained unchanged despite their vain attempts to purify their actions. Man-made religions and self-help holiness never work. Salvation is a gift from God that is based on faith alone in Christ alone and nothing else.

Father, we like rules and get a perverse sense of self-satisfaction in being able to measure our holiness based on our performance. But You look at the heart and You determine our righteousness based on our reliance upon the death, burial, and resurrection of Your Son. It is our reliance upon Him that makes possible our relationship with You. We stand in Your presence, not because of anything we have done, but because of what Jesus has done for us. Never let us forget that life-changing and freedom-producing truth. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Sufficiency of Christ

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8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. – Colossians 2:8-15 ESV

Paul now warms to his primary task: warning the Colossian believers about the dangers of the doctrinal heresy threatening their congregation. He has established the preeminence of Christ and emphasized the foundational nature of His divinity and humanity. Now Paul presents a stinging indictment of the false teachers, labeling their rhetoric concerning Jesus as nothing more than a purely human-based philosophy based on tradition and filled with empty deceit. Paul’s use of the Greek word philosophia was not meant to refer to an academic or scientific study of thought but the teaching of “certain Jewish Christian ascetics, which busied itself with refined and speculative inquiries into the nature and classes of angels, into the ritual of the Mosaic law and the regulations of Jewish tradition respecting practical life” (The Online Bible: Outline of Biblical Usage).

Paul emphasized that the teaching infiltrating the Colossian church was purely speculative and not based on divine revelation. It was not according to or in keeping with the prophetic pronouncement concerning Christ in the Old Testament. Nor was it in line with Christ’s teachings concerning Himself. No, these men propagated false doctrines based on “the elemental spirits of the world” (Colossians 2:8 ESV). The word translated as “spirits” is στοιχεῖον (stoicheion), which might be better translated as “principles.” Paul seems to be juxtaposing Christ-centered teaching with worldly and man-centered teaching. According to Paul, the elemental or fundamental theories of a non-Christian, fallen world were insufficient to explain or guide the Christian life. The false teachers were vainly attempting to use human reasoning to explain spiritual truths.

Paul addressed this lack of spiritual discernment in his first letter to the churches in Corinth. He informed his audience that the gospel’s message was impossible to discern without assistance from the Holy Spirit.

When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. For,

“Who can know the Lord’s thoughts?
    Who knows enough to teach him?”

But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ. – 1 Corinthians 2:13-16 NLT

Paul explained that “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV). He followed up this statement by quoting Isaiah 29:14.

For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

Then Paul excoriated the false teachers and religious traditionalists of his day, exposing them as frauds and fools who pridefully rejected the message of the gospel.

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. – 1 Corinthians 1:20-25 ESV

Some found the apostles’ teaching concerning Christ to be illogical and unacceptable. They found the idea that Jesus was the embodiment of divinity and humanity untenable and indefensible. For others, the belief in Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection was little more than wishful thinking or a fairy tale. But Paul refers to his teaching concerning Christ as the power and wisdom of God.

Paul considered the false teachers’ denial of Christ’s divinity a particularly egregious sin. That’s why he unapologetically stated, “In Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body” (Colossians 2:9 ESV). This was a foundational truth concerning the doctrine of salvation, and, without it, the validity of Christ’s substitutionary death was rendered impotent. The sinlessness of Christ was based on His divinity; He was the unblemished God-man who was “tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15 ESV).

For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. – 2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT

To deny Jesus’ deity was to invalidate His entire ministry. He was the sinless and wholly righteous Son of God who took on human flesh so that He might do what no man had ever been able to do before. Jesus fully obeyed every one of the commands of God found in the Mosaic Law.

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh… – Romans 8:3 ESV

The deity and humanity of Christ were both non-negotiable aspects of His character. Jesus was fully divine and entirely human. He was not a phantom or a god masquerading as a man. Some taught that Jesus only appeared to be human, and this erroneous teaching led to a distorted understanding of Jesus’ death on the cross. If He wasn’t truly human, then His death was little more than theater, a clever form of play-acting that accomplished nothing. It would mean the substitutionary nature of His death was invalid. Not only that, if Jesus didn’t die, then there was no resurrection, and if there was no resurrection, then mankind has no hope.

…if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. – 1 Corinthians 15:17-19 NLT

Paul assures the Colossians believers that the resurrection of Jesus was real and that its implications for their lives were substantial.

…you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. – Colossians 2:12 NLT

He wanted them to understand that they needed nothing more than Christ. Despite the claims of the false teachers, the believers in Colossae weren’t lacking anything from their spiritual experience. They had been filled with the fullness of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ indwelled them, making the nature of Christ available to them. They had also had the righteousness of Christ imputed to them. Unlike the Judaizers, who taught that Gentiles needed to be circumcised to be fully saved, Paul emphasized a spiritual form of circumcision.

When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. – Colossians 2:11 NLT

This was the same thought Paul had shared with the believers in Rome.

For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision. No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people. – Romans 2:28-29 NLT

Paul reminded the Colossians that, before encountering Christ, they had been spiritually dead because their “sinful nature was not yet cut away” (Colossians 2:13 NLT). But God took care of that problem.

God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. – Colossians 2:13-14 NLT

In doing so, God “disarmed the rulers and authorities” (Colossians 2:15 ESV). This is most likely a reference to “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12 ESV), which Paul describes as “the cosmic powers over this present darkness” (Ephesians 6:12 ESV). In conquering sin and death on the cross, God effectively silenced Satan and his minions, voiding the accusations of guilt and shame they level against God’s people. In Revelation 12:10, Satan is described as the accuser of the brethren, “who accuses them day and night before our God.” But, because of the atoning nature of the cross, Satan’s accusations carry no weight. His weapons lack any power against the children of God. But, just as Paul warned the believers in Ephesus, the Colossians were to “put on the whole armor of God,” so they might “be able to stand against the schemes of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11 ESV).

The false teachers were attempting to undermine the effectiveness of Christ’s death and resurrection by questioning its validity. These godless men were acting as pawns of the enemy by sowing doubts among the believers in Colossae. But Paul exposed their so-called truths as nothing more than cleverly disguised lies meant to deceive and destroy the faith of God’s people.

For Paul, the gospel was enough. No new teaching was required, and the power of the cross required no additional enhancement or improvement. As Paul told the believers in Corinth, the gospel’s message required no assistance from human reasoning or cleverly crafted rhetoric.

When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified.

Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God. – 1 Corinthians 2:1-2, 4-5 NLT

Christ alone is sufficient to supply all our needs. He is enough to save, sanctify, and secure our future state as citizens of His eternal Kingdom.

Father, Youur Son is enough. He is all I need, and while I might find it difficult to comprehend how He came to earth and took on human flesh, I rest in the veracity of Your Word. You spoke through the apostle John and affirmed that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14 ESV). He “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8 BSB).

He obeyed Your command, fulfilled Your will, and accomplished the mission You assigned Him, and I am the beneficiary of Your grace and the sacrificial gift of His life. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Faith That Endures

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1 For 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, 2 that 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, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For 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.

6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. – Colossians 2:1-7 ESV

In verse 29 of chapter one, Paul speaks of his ongoing “struggle” to proclaim the true gospel of Jesus Christ. The Greek word agōnizomai carries the idea of strenuous effort driven by intense zeal. Paul was obsessed with the idea of spiritual formation and expressed his own desire to do whatever was necessary so that every believer achieved full spiritual maturity.

…we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. – Colossians 1:28 NLT

He poured out every ounce of his being to accomplish that goal. Here in Chapter 2, he uses the root word agōn to describe the ongoing “conflict” in which he finds himself engaged, and he confesses that his efforts are on behalf of all those congregations located in the Lycus Valley. The errant teachings concerning Christ had impacted not only the church in Colossae but also the one in nearby Laodicea. Likely, the community of Hierapolis had also come under the influence of teachers making false claims that denied either Jesus’ deity or humanity.

The members of these three congregations had never met Paul face to face because, at the time he wrote this letter, he had not yet set foot in the Lycus Valley. His knowledge of their situation had come to him through Epaphras and others. But like a true shepherd, Paul expressed his loving concern for these distant flocks, declaring his intense desire “that 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” (Colossians 2:2 ESV).

Paul was the consummate encourager. Yes, he often displayed a blunt, in-your-face style of confrontational leadership that could be withering in its intensity. Still, his ultimate goal was correction intended to further spiritual growth. Even in these verses, Paul displays the loving concern of a pastor who longs to see his congregants experience the full measure of their salvation. For Paul, coming to faith in Christ was not a one-time event but an ongoing experience that included the believer’s initial reconciliation to God and their ongoing sanctification and ultimate glorification.

The apostle Peter described this full-orbed approach in his first letter, encouraging his readers to “crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation” (1 Peter 2:2 NLT). Paul warned Timothy that “in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons” (1 Timothy 4:1 NLT). In a second letter to Timothy, Paul reiterated his concern about the danger of a feeble and stagnant faith.

For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths. – 2 Timothy 4:3-4 NLT

That’s why Paul told Timothy, “Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2 NLT). And Paul practiced what he preached, patiently correcting, rebuking, and encouraging the church in Colossae so that they might stand firm against the faith-deflating lies of the false teachers.

Throughout his ministry, Paul strived to keep Jesus Christ as the central focus of all his teachings. In his first letter to the church in Corinth, he referred to the doctrine of Jesus as the foundation upon which every other doctrine or teaching must rest.

I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. – 1 Corinthians 3:10-11 NLT

The teachings of Jesus were not the foundation; it was Jesus Himself. The deity, humanity, sacrificial death, Spirit-empowered resurrection, and promised return of Jesus formed the firm foundation on which every believer’s faith must rest and remain. But Paul had been forced to confront the Corinthian believers about their propensity to embrace false doctrines about Jesus.

I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims a Jesus other than the One we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the One you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it way too easily. – 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 BSB

Paul did not want the believers in Colossae to make the same mistake, so he reminded them that in Jesus, “lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3 NLT). Anyone preaching a non-deified Jesus was proclaiming a lie and disseminating foolishness rather than wisdom. Anyone who refuted Jesus’ humanity and discounted His sacrificial death on the cross was to be viewed as a liar and not as a messenger from God. 

But Paul realized that many of these false teachers were highly persuasive and used well-crafted, lofty-sounding arguments that seemed to make sense. To make matters worse, these men were operating within the context of the local church in Colossae, while Paul was hundreds of miles away in Rome. He had been placed under house arrest by the emperor and denied the freedom to travel. So, while the false teachers mingled with the flock in Colossae, Paul was restricted to writing a letter. But he reminded them, “Though I am far away from you, my heart is with you” (Colossians 2:5 NLT). They were out of sight but not out of mind, and Paul expressed his joy when Epaphras informed him of their firm commitment to the faith, even in the face of false teaching.

So, Paul exhorts them to remain steadfast and unwavering in their faith. Despite everything happening around them, they had all the truth they needed to survive and thrive. A new version of the gospel was unnecessary, and a different take on Jesus was not required. The key to their survival was not some new doctrine or novel take on Jesus’s identity but a continuing faith in the One who had made their salvation possible. Paul pleads with them to stay the course, saying, “as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him” (Colossians 2:6 ESV).

They had received Jesus by faith, and they needed to continue living their lives according to faith. Once again, Paul insists that faith is not a static, one-time act that results in salvation but an ongoing lifestyle of complete dependence upon the saving work of Jesus. True saving faith results in our ongoing transformation into His likeness, which will ultimately result in a future state of sinless perfection that will take place upon His return.

Paul firmly believed that his faith in Christ was active and alive, determining every facet of his earthly existence, which is why he told the Galatian believers, “The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20 BSB).

The author of Hebrews describes faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV). Faith is not wishful thinking or some some baseless, unfounded desire for that which has no substance or chance of fulfillment. Paul uses two powerful words to describe the nature of faith. The first is hypostasis, which means “confidence or assurance.” It carries the idea of something being substantive, real, and having actual existence. The second word is elegchos, which means “proof.” Our faith is based on the belief that God’s promises are real, even when invisible to the human eye. It is based on the trustworthiness of God, not our ability to see or touch what was promised. The Old Testament saints listed in Hebrews 11 each displayed faith because they “died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it” (Hebrews 11:13 NLT). Christians don’t operate by the old adage “Seeing is believing,” instead, they live by faith. As Paul said, “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7 ESV).

In his second letter to the church in Corinth, Paul reminded them that God had promised them “an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands” (2 Corinthians 5:1 NLIT). In their earthly lives, they struggled with pain, sorrow, and affliction. But God promised they would one day put on their “heavenly dwelling” and experience new life in His eternal kingdom. Then he assured them, “He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:5-7 ESV).

That is why Paul called the Colossians to live their lives focused on Jesus, “rooted and built up in him and established in the faith” (Colossians 2:7 ESV). They were to keep their eyes fixed on “the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2 ESV). Paul did not want them to get distracted or dissuaded from the truth regarding Jesus. They were to remain “rooted” in their faith. Like a healthy, fruitful plant, they were to sink their roots deep into the promises found in the saving work of Jesus Christ. Rootedness results in fruitfulness or, as Paul puts it, being “built up.” Paul uses a Greek word associated with architecture, portraying the steady, sound construction of a structure built upon a solid foundation.

Finally, Paul uses the term “established” to describe the final outcome of our faith. The Greek word means “to make good the promises by the event.” It conveys the idea of the promise being fulfilled, and produces the assurance and conviction that our faith will become reality.

Faith has an object: Jesus Christ. But faith also has an objective: our future glorification. That is why Paul wanted the Colossians to remain firm in their faith. Saving faith is an enduring faith that focuses on the unwavering promises of God despite the vicissitudes and difficulties of this life. The apostle John provides us with a timeless word of encouragement that points us to the day when all the promises of God will be established.

Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure. – 1 John 3:2-3 NLT

Father, You have intended for faith to be an ongoing and ever-increasing commodity in the believer’s life. We are to never stop displaying faith in Your promises. Even after salvation, we must continue to place our faith in Your ongoing goodness, love, mercy, power, provision, and protection. The gift of salvation promises us eternal life, but it does not immediately produce it. Coming to faith in Christ gives us a new nature but it does not produce a new, sinless body; at least, not yet. When You save us, You didn’t immediately transport us into Your presence, instead, You chose to have us remain here. Even Jesus acknowledged Your plan to have us remain behind, and prayed on our behalf, “I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth” (John 17:15-17 NLT).

Jesus even told His disciples, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am” (John 14:1-3 NLT). That is where our faith comes in. We must continue to hope and trust in the promise of Your Son’s return and our future glorification. Give us the faith to believe Your promises so that we might remain confident to the end. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Supernatural Mystery of Spiritual Maturity

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24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of 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, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To 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. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. – Colossians 1:24-29 ESV

As a faithful minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Paul often found his calling to be difficult and, at times, dangerous. In his letter to the Corinthian church, Paul described in excruciating detail the treatment he had received as a servant of Jesus.

I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm. – 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 NLT

Yet, Paul was pleased to suffer for His Lord and Savior. He viewed the trials and tribulations that accompanied his mission to be in keeping with the suffering experienced by Christ as He carried out His own earthly mission. Paul was well-acquainted with the darker side of ministry life. In fact, he wrote his letter to the Colossians while under house arrest in Rome, where he awaited trial before the Emperor.

But when Paul penned his far-from-exhaustive list of trials to the Corinthians, he wasn’t complaining about his lot in life; he was defending his right to be treated as a legitimate spokesman for Jesus Christ. Like His Savior, Paul had faced a barrage of persecution and personal attacks, and, on top of all that, he had been forced to carry “the daily burden of my concern for all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:28 NLT). He was a faithful shepherd and caretaker for the flock of Jesus Christ who took his role seriously and suffered persecution but was able to say, “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake…” (Colossians 1:24 ESV).

Paul saw his sufferings as an opportunity to, in some small measure, experience “Christ’s afflictions” (Colossians 1:24 ESV). He was eternally grateful for the pain that Jesus endured on his behalf so that he might be freed “from this life that is dominated by sin and death” (Romans 7:24 NLT). And Paul was more than willing to suffer “for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Colossians 1:24 ESV). It was the least he could do.

Paul understood that he had been made a gospel minister and was responsible for sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with the Gentile world. His job, while far from easy, was accompanied by great joy because he was able to witness firsthand the transformative nature of the gospel.

Paul states that his message to the Gentiles was a mystery to God’s chosen people, the Israelites. Their concept of the long-awaited Messiah did not include hope for anyone outside the Jewish community unless they had converted to Judaism. They believed themselves to be God’s treasured possession because that is exactly how He had described them.

“Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.’ This is the message you must give to the people of Israel.” – Exodus 19:5-6 NLT

Even Jesus’ 12 disciples found it difficult to watch Him minister to Samaritans, Syrophoenicians, and Romans. In their understanding of the Messiah’s role, they had no category that accommodated a ministry to the Gentiles, and yet, Jesus told them, “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd” (John 10:14-16 NLT).

This mystery of Gentile inclusion had remained hidden for generations and had not been revealed until after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Even on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, they began ministering to those who had gathered in Jerusalem for the annual feast. Luke describes the crowd as being made up of  “Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5 ESV). He goes on to describe them as “Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians” (Acts 2:9-11 ESV).

The crowd consisted of native Jews and converts to Judaism from a wide range of nations and ethnic groups. When they heard Peter’s gospel message, they responded en masse.

So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. – Acts 2:41 ESV

Many who had made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost would return to their native countries, carrying the gospel message with them. The apostle Paul would later join their forces and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ throughout the Gentile world. On his missionary journeys, he would encounter converts to Christianity who had heard the message of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone from their converted friends and neighbors. As Paul later told the believers in Ephesus, the mystery of Gentiles being grafted into the family tree of Abraham had been revealed and was making an impact on the world.

God gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you Gentiles. As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me. As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets. – Ephesians 3:2-5 NLT

God had always intended to redeem people from every tribe, nation, and tongue. His Son was the Messiah of Israel, but as God had promised Abraham, His offspring would bless the “nations.”

“And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” – Genesis 12:2-3 ESV

Jesus, a son of Abraham, fulfilled that promise. Although He was a Jew, Jesus came to offer salvation to all men, a fact that Paul expressed to the Gentile believers in Galatia.

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. – Galatians 3:9-11 ESV

It was through Jesus, a Jew, that the blessing of Abraham came to the Gentiles, so that they might receive the promised Spirit through faith (Galatians 3:14 ESV). Paul proudly declared that message of hope to the Gentile world and gladly endured suffering as he did so; he considered it his privilege and honor. Jesus had died to make salvation possible, so the least Paul could do was suffer to make it available and accessible.

He wanted the Colossian believers to know that their hope was based on the reality of the Spirit’s presence within them. Jesus had died, been raised to life, and was seated at the right hand of God the Father. But following His ascension, Jesus sent the Spirit of God to indwell His followers. In that sense, Jesus would not only be with them but in them.

“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.” – John 14:16-17 NLT

Paul’s mission was to proclaim this life-altering mystery of  “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:28 ESV), and he did so, “struggling with all his energy,” knowing that “he powerfully works within me” (Colossians 1:29 ESV). His ministry and message were comprised of both warnings and teachings. There were dangers to be avoided and lessons to be learned. False teachers would attempt to undermine the hope of the gospel and diminish the witness of God’s people.

Paul’s goal for the Colossian believers was nothing less than spiritual maturity. He would not settle for mediocrity or partial transformation. Since glorification was the ultimate goal of salvation, Paul remained committed to the ongoing sanctification of all those under his care. His lifelong objective was to one day be able to “present everyone mature in Christ” (Colossians 1:28 ESV). That lofty goal will not be achieved in the believer’s lifetime, but God has promised it will occur. John assured his readers of God’s divine plan for every believer’s ultimate glorification.

Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure. – 1 John 3:2-3 NLT

According to Paul, our glorification is inevitable and unavoidable because it is the work of God.

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. – Philippians 1:6 NLT

Salvation was for Jews and Gentiles alike. This marvelous mystery was proclaimed gladly by Paul, who willingly endured suffering to do so. But for Paul, salvation was to be followed by the believer’s sanctification, their growth in Christlikeness. This was a non-optional requirement for all who believed in Jesus Christ as their Savior. It would not be easy, but it would be well worth the effort because the God-ordained result was their future glorification. That is why Paul worked hard and suffered well. He knew that, one day, he would have the joy of presenting believers as “perfect in their relationship to Christ” (Colossians 1:28 NLT). They would stand before God in sinless perfection, having been transformed into the likeness of Jesus and accepted into the Father’s presence, “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9 BSB).

Father, thank You that Your plan of salvation included the hope of sanctification and, ultimately, our glorification. You saved us so that You could transform us into the likeness of Your Son and, one day, we will see that supernatural process finalized with our glorification. You came up with the plan to include Gentiles in Your eternal family long before You made the universe and placed Adam and Eve in it. Before You called Abraham and created the Jewish nation, You had plans to redeem men from every tribe, nation, and tongue, and You included me in that plan. I am forever grateful because I know I did not deserve Your mercy, grace, and forgiveness. I did not earn salvation; it was given to me as a gift of grace. Thank You for the gracious gift of salvation and the supernatural mystery of spiritual maturity. You are faithfully molding me into the likeness of Your Son with each passing day and You have promised to complete the process with my future glorification. I sometimes find it hard to believe, but I know it is true because You are faithful. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Gospel of the God-Man

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21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if 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. – Colossians 1:21-23 ESV

Paul knew it was essential that the Colossian believers fully understand who Jesus was and what He had done for them. Their concept of Jesus had become confused from allowing false ideas about His identity and accomplishments to filter into their beliefs about Him. After Jesus resurrected from the dead and ascended into heaven, growing speculation arose about His true identity and its implications for mankind. In His absence, His disciples continued to spread the news concerning the coming Kingdom of God and the sole means of gaining entrance into it by placing one’s faith in Jesus Christ.

But others had begun formulating their own ideas about Jesus and the implications of His life and death. The disciples had clearly spread the news that Jesus had risen from the dead and had returned to His Father’s side in heaven. Paul had boldly proclaimed the nature of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection to the believers in Corinth.

I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him. – 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 NLT

However, some had begun to refute the disciples’ teaching concerning the resurrection, declaring it improbable and even unnecessary. That’s what led Paul to warn the Corinthians about this dangerous heresy.

…if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. – 1 Corinthians 15:16-19 NLT

Others were spreading the idea that Jesus had not been an actual, flesh-and-blood human. They speculated that He only appeared to take on human form. This teaching was propagated by the Docetists who earned their name from the Greek word dokeĩn, which means “to seem.” They rejected John’s teaching that “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14). Because these people deemed the flesh to be inherently evil, they could not accept the idea of deity taking on humanity. So, they rationalized it away by claiming that Jesus had only appeared to have a human body. So, His “death” was just a fiction. But by voiding the humanity of Jesus, these false teachers were actually eliminating the heart of the gospel message. Without Jesus’ humanity, there was no goodnews. That is why the apostles boldly preached the reality of Jesus’ incarnation.

He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. – 1 Peter 2:24 NLT

The doctrine of the bodily death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus became the litmus test for determining the veracity of those claiming to be teachers.

Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here. – 1 John 4:1-3 NLT

So, as Paul continued the introduction of his letter to the Colossian believers, he stressed the humanity of Jesus, reminding them that they had been “reconciled in his body of flesh by his death” (Colossians 1:22 ESV). For Paul, that point was essential because it explained how sinful human beings could be made right with a holy and righteous God. He even stressed the nature of their pre-conversion state, describing them as “alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds” (Colossians 1:21 ESV). This concept of alienation and hostility was a common theme for Paul. He repeatedly stressed the former hopeless and helpless condition of those who now enjoyed a right standing with God. He wanted them to consider the almost incomprehensible scope of Christ’s sacrificial death and what it had accomplished on their behalf.

…since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. – Romans 5:9-11 NLT

The physical death of Jesus made possible their spiritual transformation from enemies to friends of God. They had been reconciled to a righteous God by the undeserved death of His righteous and sinless Son. Paul reminded the believers in Rome of the remarkable nature of Jesus’ selfless sacrifice of His life.

The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. – Romans 8:3 NLT

Paul told the believers in Colossae that because Jesus had died in their place, He had been able to present them to God the Father as “holy and blameless and above reproach” (Colossians 1:22 ESV). Jesus had taken upon Himself the penalty for their sins and, in exchange, had placed upon them His own unblemished righteousness. Paul fully understood the significance of this “great exchange” and boldly proclaimed His appreciation for it and his unwavering dependence upon it.

I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. – Philippians 3:9 NLT

For Paul, belief in Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection was essential for living the Christian life. He called the Colossians to reject any false teaching that might undermine their faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ and urged them to remain committed to the good news just as they had heard it from Epaphras.

…you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. – Colossians 1:23 NLT

Paul knew that false teachers would be a constant problem in the church. Each generation of believers would face a new wave of plausible but unreliable doctrines concerning the saving work of Jesus. He also knew that immature and poorly informed Christians would be easy targets for false teachers and end up “tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching” and tricked by “lies so clever they sound like the truth” (Ephesians 4:14 NLT). For Paul, the best defense against false teaching was the truth. He declared his firm commitment to continue doing what he had always done: preach the unadulterated gospel of Jesus Christ to any and all who would listen.

The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it. – Colossians 1:23 NLT

Paul wanted the Colossians to know that they had been reconciled to God through the physical death of Jesus Christ. He had been fully divine and wholly human and died a very real, excruciating death on the cross—in their place. By placing their faith in Jesus’s substitutionary death, they had been restored to a right relationship with God. Formerly enemies of God, they now enjoyed a new status as His sons and heirs, and no false teacher or faulty doctrine could take that away from them.

Paul will continue to drive home his belief in the humanity of Jesus because it was essential to the gospel message. In the second chapter of his letter, he states, “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness” (Colossians 2:9-10 NLT). For Paul, Jesus’ humanity and deity were inseparable and non-debatable. If Jesus did not become an actual flesh-and-blood human, then His death on the cross was pointless. For Paul, the bodily death and resurrection of Jesus were the key to the gospel message. If Jesus only appeared to be human, then His death was nothing more than a charade. Without an actual body, it would be impossible for Jesus to die, and if Jesus did not die, the resurrection was unnecessary. But in his first letter to the believers in Corinth, Paul debunked this heretical notion.

For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. – 1 Corinthians 15:13-19 NLT

Paul was willing to die to protect the integrity of the gospel. He would not tolerate any twisting of the truth or perversion of the message he had received from Jesus because there was too much at stake. The gospel was not up for interpretation or alteration. Yet, Paul constantly had to clean up the mess left behind by false and heretical teachers. He was forced to chastise the believers in Galatia for their lack of discernment and gullibility.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. – Galatians 1:6-9 ESV

There was only one gospel, and it was based on Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. To ensure that his audience understood, Paul unequivocally states, “He has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault” (Colossians 1:22 NLT). 

Father, no man could have come up with the plan You devised for humanity’s redemption. The thought of a deity taking on human flesh is not a novel idea, The Greeks had their pantheon of gods who masqueraded as mere mortals. But Your plan involved Your sinless Son taking on the form of an infant baby and growing up to be a man. As Paul wrote, Jesus, ths Son of God “did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8 N:LT). It took a sinless Savior to sacrifice His life on behalf of sinful men. But to do it, He had to become like us. He lived among us, suffered hunger and weariness like us, endured rejection by us, and gave us life for us. All so that we could one day become like Him. That was Your plan and it is perfect down to the last detail. Thank You! Amen

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Divine Doctrine of Jesus’ Deity

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15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. – Colossians 1:15-20 ESV

As far as Paul was concerned, one of the most non-negotiable aspects of God’s will that the Colossians needed to understand concerned the preeminence of Christ. Evidently, Epaphras had informed Paul that the doctrine of Christ was under direct assault by men claiming to have apostolic authority. These unnamed individuals were teaching false doctrines concerning Christ that left the Colossian congregation confused and dangerously close to diminishing the fruitfulness for which Paul had so graciously complimented them.

In an effort to redirect the focus of his letter back to Christ, Paul adeptly and somewhat abruptly shifts the emphasis from God the Father to Jesus Christ the Son.

For he [God] has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. – Colossians 1:13-14 NLT

Following this reminder of Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross and its eternal implications for their redemption and justification, Paul states, “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15 NLT). In coming to earth and taking on human flesh, Jesus, the Son of God and second person of the Trinity, made God both visible and knowable. He became the visible image of the invisible God on earth.

In his gospel account, the apostle John elaborates on this unique aspect of Christ’s earthly ministry.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:14 ESV

And John boldly proclaims that Jesus was more than just another messenger from God; He was God in human flesh.

No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is at the Father’s side, has made Him known. – John 1:18 BSB

The author of Hebrews expands on the nature of Jesus’ divinity and further solidifies the identity as a member of the Godhead.

The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names. – Hebrews 1:3-4 NLT

For Paul and the other authors of the New Testament, the divinity of Jesus was an essential doctrine that must be defended at all costs because it was the hinge upon which the door of salvation swung. If Jesus was not divine, then His death on the cross would have been ineffectual. His sinlessness was the key to His death’s effectiveness.

…we have an advocate before the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins… – 1 John 2:1-2 BSB

But you know that Christ appeared to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. – 1 John 3:5 BSB

What makes the atoning work of Jesus even more significant is the fact that, as God, He was the Creator laying down His life for those whom He created. Paul further enhances Christ’s divine credentials by stressing His eternality and the essential role He played in the creation story.

…by him [Jesus] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. – Colossians 1:16 ESV

And, once again, the apostle John provides ample support for Paul’s claim.

He [Jesus] was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. – John 1:2-3 BSB

Paul presented this same message concerning Christ’s role in the creation account when writing to the believers in Corinth.

…there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist. – 1 Corinthians 8:6 BSB

As the Creator-God, Jesus was responsible for all that existed, including the believers in Colossae. He was not just a Messiah who came to save them, but He was also the God who created them. He was responsible for their very existence and their salvation. He had formed them and forgiven them. He had breathed in them the breath of life and had become for them the means for experiencing new life.  And, more importantly, by His divine power, Jesus would hold them safe and secure to the end.

And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. – Colossians 1:17 ESV

Paul goes out of his way to stress the unique nature of Christ. He was adamant that the believers in Colossae grasp and appreciate the significance of Jesus’ life-giving and life-transforming role as the Son of God. Jesus had been so much more than a teacher, Rabbi, healer, and miracle worker; He was supreme in all things. He had no equal, and there was no one who could replicate His accomplishments or diminish His one-of-a-kind status as the sovereign Savior of the world. That is why Paul stressed the headship of Christ over the church, and promoted His well-deserved position as the preeminent one.

And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. – Colossians 1:18 ESV

Paul’s point is that the church would not exist without Christ. Had Jesus not died and risen again, there would be no church because there would be no Christ-followers. He was not a martyred teacher who managed to cultivate a faithful host of committed followers who continued to propagate His teachings. He was the “firstborn from the dead” who, through His death and resurrection, made possible the spiritual transformation of countless men and women.

However, there were those who taught that the resurrection of Jesus was a fable or myth, and downplayed its importance to the Christian faith. Paul addressed the misguided musings of these dangerous “false teachers ”in his first letter to the church in Corinth.

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. – 1 Corinthians 15:12-14 ESV

Christ’s resurrection made possible the redemption of condemned humanity and guarantees the future resurrection and glorification of all those who accept His free gift of salvation. Again, Christ was more than a gifted teacher with a message of life transformation based on behavior modification. He had not just modeled a new way of living; He died so that sinful men and women might receive new lives and new natures that emulated His.

Paul emphatically states that Jesus is preeminent and one-of-a-kind; He has no equal. Jesus was the sole means by which God chose to redeem fallen humanity. That’s why Paul claims, “God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ” (Colossians 1:19 NLT), and no one else. It was only through Christ that “God reconciled everything to himself” (Colossians 1:20 NLT). No one else could take credit for the role that Jesus played in God’s grand redemptive plan. God used Jesus to reconcile sinful humanity to Himself, and anyone who diminished Jesus’ role as Savior or presented another means of salvation was to be avoided at all costs. Paul chastised the believers in Galatia and Corinth for embracing a false version of the gospel that eliminated the deity of Jesus.

You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. – Galatians 1:6-8 NLT

You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed. – 2 Corinthians 11:4 NLT

Paul held strong views concerning this topic and was committed to defending the doctrine of Christ at all costs. He would not tolerate anyone who attempted to diminish Christ’s divinity or who tried to devalue His role as the God-man who, through His life, death, and resurrection, made it possible for sinful men to be made right with a holy God.

Father, there is a sense in which we take the deity of Jesus for granted. I don’t catch myself doubting His divinity or wondering whether He was just another man who promoted one more religious system to follow. Yet, at the same time, I don’t fully appreciate or contemplate the incredible reality of His incarnation. At Christmas, we celebrate His birth and sing songs that commemorate the doctrine of His divinity. 

O come, O come, Immanuel,
and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.

But even as we sing those words, we miss the radical implications of their meaning. Jesus is Immanuel, which means “God with us.” In sending Your Son to take on human flesh, You revealed Yourself to humanity in a never-before-seen way. For the first time in human history, You manifested Yourself in a form we could understand and relate to. And it was in that human form that Jesus lived a sinless life and died a gruesome death on behalf of sinful mankind. That was the only way for our sin debt to be paid and our condemnation to be removed. Paul reminds us, “But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children” (Galatians 4;4-5 NLT). He adds, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners” (Romans 5:6 NLT). And it was all Your plan. It was Your idea for Your Son to become a man so that He could become the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Thank You for this amazing gift and help me never take it for granted. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Future-Focused Praying

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9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. – Colossians 1:9-14 ESV

Paul’s response upon hearing of the Colossians’ ongoing display of faith, hope, and love was to let them know that this was an answer to his prayers for them. He states that he and Timothy had regularly and zealously prayed that God would fill them with “the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9 ESV).

The prayers of Paul, many of which are recorded in his letters, reveal a shepherd’s heart for his dispersed and ever-increasing flock. These prayers provide a rare glimpse into the approach to ministry and discipleship of this great 1st-century apostle, missionary, and church planter. Paul had a passion for the gospel and a love for people that revealed itself in how he prayed for them. While it’s likely that he received many personal requests from Christians he met during his many journeys, his recorded prayers are more universal in nature and deal with the spiritual needs of the congregations to which he wrote. There is little doubt that he faithfully lifted up to the Lord the personal requests of individual believers, but his real passion for people went way beyond the surface needs, wants, and desires they may have had. While he took their physical needs seriously and cared deeply about their health and well-being, his real concern was for their spiritual lives and their relationship with God.

In the opening lines of his letter to the believers in Colossae, Paul encourages them by informing them of his constant prayers for them.

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. – Colossians 1:3 ESV

…from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you. – Colossians 1:9 ESV

What a blessing it is to hear that someone has been praying for you. It is so encouraging to know that someone cares enough about you to lift you up before the throne of God.

Paul reveals to them the content of his prayers. This is where it gets interesting and revealing. Paul says that his request to God for them was that they would have a knowledge or awareness of His will. But he has been doing much more than asking; he has been begging. The Greek word, proseuchomai, carries much more force than our English word for prayer. It means “to pray earnestly for” and reflects Paul’s strong desire for God to provide the believers in Colossae with knowledge of His will for them. Not only that, he wants God to fill them with that knowledge.

Once again, the original Greek language is much richer and more forceful in its meaning. When Paul asks God to fill them, he means “to fill to the top: so that nothing shall be wanting to full measure, fill to the brim.” In other words, he is asking God to fill them so fully that there isn’t room for anything else, including their own wills. For the believer, knowing the will of God is essential because it is what directs our actions and influences our attitudes. As we live life in this world, we will be constantly influenced by our own sinful nature and the world around us. We will constantly be tempted to control our lives according to our own will.

Paul warned the believers in Rome, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2 NLT). So there is a sense in which we have to turn our attention from the things of this world and concentrate on God’s will as revealed in His Word. God is out to transform us by influencing our thinking and altering our behavior, from the inside out.

But Paul goes on to qualify his request. He says that he is asking that they be filled with a knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. In other words, God’s will must be spiritually discerned because it is not of this world. In fact, the wisdom of God will often, if not always, stand in conflict with worldly wisdom. It will make no sense from a human perspective and appear illogical. To know God’s will requires spiritual wisdom and understanding, which can only be provided by the Holy Spirit. Paul told the believers in Corinth, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV). Then he reminded them, “But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16 ESV). We have the mind of Christ because we have the Spirit of Christ living within us. We are spiritual creatures with a God-given capacity to understand and know His will. And Paul’s prayer was that his brothers and sisters in Christ be filled to overflowing with that knowledge.

But for Paul, to be aware of and filled with the knowledge of God was not enough. Knowing the will of God is useless if it is not put into action. That is why Paul states that his prayers for them had an objective. He wanted them “to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10 ESV). The knowledge of God should produce obedience to God. Knowing His will should instill a desire to live it out in daily life.

While the Greek word, peripateō, can be translated as “walk,” it can also convey the idea of conducting one’s life. Paul is expressing his prayerful desire that the Colossians live their daily lives in submission to and in keeping with God’s will. Doing so will please the Father, produce a life of spiritual fruitfulness, and result in an even greater awareness of His will. Paul wanted them to know that, as they expended energy in doing God’s will, they would tap into an inexhaustible supply of power based on His “glorious might” (Colossians 1:11 ESV). Rather than growing weak or weary, they would find themselves with an overabundance of endurance and patience despite the trials of life. God would supply them with strength for the task and they would respond with joyful thanksgiving. 

Paul desperately desired for the Colossian believers to understand the magnitude of the gift they had received upon placing their faith in Jesus. Something truly remarkable had taken place when they accepted the free gift of salvation through faith alone in Christ alone. They had been immediately “delivered…from the domain of darkness and transferred…to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13 ESV). As a result, they shared in the inheritance of the saints in light. They had a permanent place reserved for them in God’s eternal kingdom. The apostle Peter expressed it this way:

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see. – 1 Peter 1:3-5 NLT

The author of Hebrews also wrote of this inheritance of the saints. In his great “Hall of Faith” in Chapter 11, he mentions such Old Testament luminaries as Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah, and describes how they were distinguished by their faith in God.

All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. – Hebrews 11:13-16 NLT

When Paul tells the Colossians that God has “delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13 ESV), he is letting them know that they are as good as there. The promises of God are so sure and certain that the Colossians can live in perfect peace in the present because their future has been guaranteed by God. They were already citizens of that eternal kingdom, even while living their lives here on earth.

And Paul lets them know that this future kingdom belongs to Jesus Christ, the one who made possible their redemption and forgiveness from sin. Jesus was not only their Savior but their coming King. Their redemption and justification would one day result in their glorification. That is why Paul’s ongoing prayer for them was that they might continue to grow in their knowledge of the full scope of God’s grand redemptive plan for them.

Paul’s prayer provides a powerful example of how we should be praying for one another. There is nothing wrong with praying for someone’s physical healing, their marriage, financial needs, or any other concern they may have. But how much more important it is to pray that they grow in their knowledge of God’s will. One of the problems believers face is understanding what it is we’re supposed to do in life. We need to know how we are to use our time, talents, and resources. When we face difficulties and trials, we need to discover what God is trying to teach us. How would God have us respond to the situations and circumstances in which we find ourselves? It is not difficult to discern our will; that comes easy. But knowing God’s will takes intention and requires listening to the Holy Spirit and patiently waiting to hear God speak. So, what greater prayer could anyone pray for a friend or family member than that God would fill them with a knowledge of His will, His good, pleasing, and perfect will?

Father, we tend to pray surface prayers that are temporal in nature and focus on the external needs of others. Even when praying for ourselves, we place far more emphasis on those things that we believe are hindering our happiness or affecting our comfort. We seem to believe that if the trial would just go away, everything would be better. Yet, as Paul seems to indicate, You are far less concerned about removing the difficulties of life than in making us more dependent upon You and using them to transform us into the likeness of Your Son. As You told Paul, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness..(2 Corinthians 12:9 NLT). According to Paul, You are “able to make all grace abound…so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times,” we “may abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8 ESV). When we pray for ourselves and others, we need to place more emphasis on internal and eternal matters. I am reminded of Paul’s words to the believers in Rome: “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love (Romans 5:3-5 NLT). Help me to pray for others with my eyes fixed on the hope that we have in Christ. It is not that it is wrong for me to pray for the physical needs of others, but that their spiritual well-being is far more important to their long-term joy, peace, and contentment. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Three Indispensable Gifts

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3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. – Colossians 1:3-8 ESV

Paul describes the believers in Colossae using three of his favorites terms: Faith, hope, and love. He mentions their faith in Christ and their love for all the saints, and he indicates that these two qualities are based on the hope that is laid up for them in heaven. Since they have a secure hope in the future salvation promised to them because of their faith in Jesus Christ, they are able to love others as they have been loved.

This triad of Christian character traits was near and dear to Paul’s heart. In fact, in his great “love chapter,” 1 Corinthians 13, Paul summarizes his statements on love by writing, “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT).

For Paul, faith, hope, and love were the non-negotiable essentials of the Christian experience. In writing to the church in Corinth, he expressed his admiration for them and expressed that they had been blessed by God with every spiritual gift.

God has enriched your church in every way—with all of your eloquent words and all of your knowledge. This confirms that what I told you about Christ is true. Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. – 1 Corinthians 1:5-7 NLT

And yet, despite their God-given gifts, the church in Corinth was divided, bickering needlessly over who had the most impressive spiritual gift. They had missed the whole point and were allowing the gifts that God had given them to create a hierarchy of spiritual elitism marked by pride and arrogance.

So, as Paul wrote to the fledgling church in Colossae, he emphasized the three characteristics that were essential to living the Christian life and honoring the name of Christ: Faith, hope, and love. Paul used the same trifecta of godly qualities when addressing the believers in Thessalonica.

We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. – 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 ESV

In Paul’s theology, faith was an ongoing experience, not a one-time, once-for-all action that ushered in one’s salvation. While faith was essential for experiencing God’s saving grace as expressed through Christ’s sacrificial and substitutionary death on the cross, it did not stop at the point of salvation. Faith was to be a dynamic and ever-increasing quality in the life of the believer. Paul told the Corinthians believers, “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7 ESV). He commended the Thessalonian believers for their ever-increasing faith.

We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. – 2 Thessalonians 1:3 ESV

When speaking of his own life, Paul stated, “the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 ESV). Paul no longer relied upon his own strength or his capacity to produce good works in the flesh but, instead, he relied upon the sanctifying work of Christ, by faith. He truly believed what he wrote to the church in Philippi,

I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. – Philippians 1:6 ESV

For Paul, love was the greatest proof of a truly transformed life. According to the author of Hebrews, it is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6). But Paul would qualify that statement by adding, “if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1 ESV). Love for others provides demonstrable proof that we have been loved by God and had our hearts transformed by the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit. As James so eloquently put it, faith that produces no tangible evidence is not really faith at all.

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. – James 2:14-17 ESV

James was not inferring that we are saved by works; he was emphasizing that saving faith produces godly fruit, such as love for those in need. The apostle John would echo that sentiment.

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. – 1 John 4:20 ESV

According to Paul, both faith and love are founded upon the hope of our future glorification, promised to us by God and provided by the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Jesus was proof that there is life after death; this world is not all there is. That is why Paul told the Corinthians, “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4 ESV).

And Paul went on to stress the essential nature of Christ’s resurrection. If He has not risen from the dead, then our faith has no meaning whatsoever. It’s little more than a pipe dream.

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. – 1 Corinthians 15:13-14 ESV

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. – 1 Corinthians 15:17-19 ESV

Ultimately, our faith is in the resurrection of Jesus Christ because it is His resurrection that assures us of our future hope of glorification. Paul went on to assure the Corinthians of the unwavering reliability of God’s plan for our future glorification.

…in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
    O death, where is your sting?”  – 1 Corinthians 15:52-55 ESV

In the present life, we live by faith because we have hope for the future. The God who will fulfill all that He has promised regarding the hereafter is fully capable of meeting all our needs in the here and now. And because we rest in His unfailing love for us, we are able to express that same love to all those around us, including our enemies. And Paul commends the Colossian believers because the gospel continued to bear fruit in their lives.

…it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth… – Colossians 1:6 ESV

Their faith, hope, and love were anything but static; each was increasing daily and being manifested in their lives for the world to see. The missionary work of Epaphras had been productive, resulting in their salvation and ongoing sanctification. Paul wanted the Colossians to know how proud he was of their perseverance and determination to continue to pursue faith, hope, and love, even in the midst of the difficulties and distractions of life in a fallen world.

Father, You have made faith, hope, and love the indispensable marks of every Christ follower. You have loved us with a selfless, sacrificial love, sending Your Son to die on our behalf and providing us with a righteousness we could never have produced on our own. Jesus loved us by giving His life for us and then called us to love others in the same way. To make it possible, He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell and empower us, and that same Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our future glorification (Ephesians 1:4). He is transforming us now into the likeness of Christ, but He will one day make possible our final glorification that will transform us into the likeness of Christ. That is why we have hope., and it also why our faith continues to grow and mature, even as we face the difficulties of this life. You didn’t just saver us, You are sanctifying us and, one day, You will glorify us. That promise is the solid foundation for our faith and should produce in us an ever-increasing love for You and for others. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Left Behind To Leave An Impression

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21 Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. 22 At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be graciously given to you.

23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, 24 and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.

25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. – Philemon 1:21-35 ESV

Paul’s use of the word “obedience” seems odd in light of the fact that this entire letter has been couched in terms of a request, not a command. Just a few verses earlier, Paul had admitted that he could have used his authority as an apostle to order Philemon to comply, but he refused to do so. He wanted this to be Philemon’s decision.

…though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you… – Philemon 1:8 ESV

Because all of this revolved around a relationship, Paul had not wanted to dictate the terms of Philemon’s decision or to use coercion to force his hand. He knew that any healing between the two men would have to come from the heart and not the head.

I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord. – Philemon 1:14 ESV

So, what prompted Paul to bring up obedience at this point in his letter, and why does he express such confidence that Philemon will do the right thing? I think it goes back to what Paul knew and believed about Philemon. He had every confidence that Philemon would respond positively and correctly because of his relationship with Jesus Christ. Remember what he said about his friend earlier in his letter: “I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints” (Philemon 1:5  ESV).

Philemon had a track record of doing the right thing, and Paul was confident that his friend would face this latest test with the wisdom and strength of the indwelling Spirit of God. Philemon was not left to his own devices or relegated to operating according to his sinful flesh. He was a new creation with a new heart, and he had a supernatural power available to him that would enable him to respond with justice, mercy, grace, and love.

Paul’s confidence was in the power of God to reform the hearts of men. He knew that the reconciliation of these two men was God’s will and that He would equip Philemon with the strength to obey that will. Paul knew from personal experience that, because of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, nothing was impossible. He confidently told the believers in Philippi,  “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13 ESV).

His prayer for the believers in Ephesus had been that God would “from his glorious, unlimited resources…empower you with inner strength through his Spirit” (Ephesians 3:16 NLT). And Paul was confident that God would answer that prayer, boldly claiming, “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20 NLT).

Paul believed that Philemon would obey the will of God because Paul believed in the power of God. His job had been to present the facts of the case to Philemon and then leave the result up to the Spirit of God. The resolution of the relationship between Philemon and Onesimus was going to have to be divinely empowered; it had to be a “God thing.” If Philemon tried to accomplish it in his own strength, he would fail. If he attempted to muster up the resolve to free Onesimus from slavery and treat him as a brother in Christ, only to please Paul, he would end up having regrets and harboring resentment over his financial losses.

If Philemon’s motivation to do the right thing came from an external source, his decision, no matter how righteous in nature, would be short-lived and wouldn’t last. But Paul had every confidence that God would work a miracle of heart-transformation between these two men. And, as a result, God would get the glory because the news of their reconciliation would spread. The paradigm-shifting precedence of Philemon emancipating his former slave and treating him as his social and spiritual equal would leave an indelible mark on the church and the community. And the only explanation would be the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul rested in the knowledge that God would accomplish far more than even he could imagine. Philemon, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, would far exceed Paul’s words of counsel and his hopes for reconciliation.

He closes his letter by asking Philemon to prepare a room for him. He fully expected to be released from his house arrest at any moment and had every desire to visit his friends in Asia Minor. As always, Paul was grateful for the prayers of those who had been lifting up during his confinement in Rome. Never one to take the petitions of others lightly, Paul found great encouragement in the knowledge that his needs were coming before God’s throne in heaven, and he believed that God would answer those prayers.

Finally, Paul provides Philemon, Apphia, and Archippus with greetings from some of their mutual friends. He includes Epaphras, an evangelist whom Paul describes as “my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus” (Philemon 1:23 ESV). This doesn’t mean that Epaphras was imprisoned with Paul in Rome, but that as a fellow minister of the gospel, he shared the same risks as Paul. He was “imprisoned” or held captive to his role as an ambassador and bondslave of Jesus Christ.

Paul adds the names of four other individuals and then closes his letter with the words, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit” (Philemon 1:21 ESV). It’s hard to imagine that Paul did not have in mind the words spoken to him by God regarding the empowering nature of His grace.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV

Paul knew from personal experience that God would supply all the power Philemon needed to do what he had been called to do. The power of God’s abundant grace would flow through Philemon and provide him with the ability to love his former slave Onesimus and treat him as a brother in Christ and a fellow heir of the Kingdom.

Father, this little vignette of the relationship between Philemon and Onesimus provides such a stark reminder of the power of the gospel. We tend to relegate salvation as nothing more than a get-out-of-jail-free card that guarantees us an eternity free from sin, judgment, and death. But You intended faith in Christ to have far more immediate consequences. In fact, Your Son said that He had come to earth so that we might have abundant life, right her,e, right now (John 10:10). He came to change lives in the present, not just the future. Our future glorification is the culminating point of a long process of sanctification that is slowly transforming us into the likeness of Jesus. When Jesus returned to Your side in heaven, He didn’t take His disciples with Him; He left them in the world. But on the night He was betrayed He asked You, “Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are” (John 17:11 NLT). 

Jesus, You knew how difficult life in this world could be, because You experienced it firsthand. So You told Your Father, “I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth” (John 10:15-17 NLT). 

The disciples were left behind, and so were we. Yet, we have everything we need for living godly lives on this planet. Jesus did not leave us alone, but gave us His Holy Spirit to guide, protect, and empower us. Show us how we can model Christ-likeness more effectively in this world as we await His return. Help us to rely upon Your grace, walk in the Spirit’s strength, and love as we have been loved, so that the world will believe in the life-changing power of the gospel. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Talk Is Cheap

/ kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

17 So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. 18 If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. 19 I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self. 20 Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. – Philemon 1:17-20 ESV

It’s quite easy to give advice to others. In fact, it comes naturally to most of us. Sharing our opinions and providing free counsel to our friends and family members just seem like good things to do. We can even back up our good intentions from the “Good Book.”

Where there is no guidance, a people falls,
    but in an abundance of counselors there is safety. – Proverbs 11:14 ESV

But even the best counsel, motivated by the best intentions, doesn’t always produce the best outcomes. Telling someone what they should do, without providing them any hint as to how to do it, can be demoralizing and even damaging.

Paul was asking Philemon to accept his runaway slave back with open arms. Not only that, but he was also advising Philemon to treat Onesimus as a brother and not a slave. Everything Paul wrote to Philemon was biblically sound and spiritually appropriate; it was wise counsel coming from a godly and well-meaning friend. And yet, from Philemon’s perspective, it was all “easier said than done.” Paul, under house arrest in Rome and with plenty of time on his hands, could write Philemon a hundred letters full of godly advice on a wide range of topics, but at the end of the day, it was Philemon who would have to turn Paul’s rhetoric into reality, and that was not going to be easy.

Paul was quite clear in expressing how he expected Philemon to treat Onesimus.

So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. – Philemon 1:17 NLT

Philemon was to show Onesimus the same courtesy and respect he would extend to Paul if he were to walk in the door. That was a tall order. Paul was asking Philemon to respond in a manner that was antithetical to logic and social protocol. For him to treat any slave with that kind of respect and honor would have been unheard of in civil society. Yet, Paul was asking him to extend this kind of courtesy to a runaway.

Remember, Paul told Philemon that Onesimus was “no longer like a slave to you” (Philemon 1:16 NLT). That was easy for Paul to say. But in Philemon’s social circle, everyone would have known that Onesimus was his slave, and that he had run away. When Onesimus returned, they would have expected Philemon to deal with him according to Roman law. To not do so would have set a dangerous precedent. If Philemon failed to punish Onesimus for running away, it might encourage other slaves to follow his example. Other slave owners in the community, and possibly in the church, would have viewed his kind and gracious treatment of Onesimus as unacceptable behavior.

Paul was fully aware of the gravity of his request of Philemon. He knew it would not be easy to follow, and it could also prove costly. Paul was cognizant of the fact that Onesimus represented a financial investment for Philemon. In the economic system of Rome, Onesimus had monetary value that was greater than his human worth. He was a commodity whose appraisal was based on his production capacity or resale value. So, when Paul asked Philemon to set Onesimus free, he was asking his friend to take a substantial hit to his bottom line.

But look closely at what Paul wrote next: “If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account” (Philemon 1:18 ESV). You might say that Paul was putting his money where his mouth was. He was backing up his wise words with the promise of action. Paul was personally investing himself in the process of reconciliation between these two men.

When Paul told Philemon, “charge that to my account,” he was essentially saying, “Impute Onesimus’ debt to me.” It was like saying, “put it on my tab.” Paul was committing himself to make up any financial liability Philemon might face as a result of following his advice. Paul was willingly putting skin in the game, and his model for this kind of selfless, sacrificial commitment was Jesus.

For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. – 2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT

Jesus came to earth so that He might reconcile sinful men to God, and in order to do so, He took on their sin debt. He bore their sins on the cross and died the death they deserved to die. And because those who place their faith in Christ enjoy a renewed relationship with God the Father, they have the capacity to view things from a totally new perspective. Consider Paul’s words to the believers in Corinth.

So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. – 2 Corinthians 5:16-19 NLT

Philemon and Onesimus had both been reconciled to God through the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross. But Paul deeply desired to see Philemon and Onesimus reconciled to one another. They had both been set free from slavery to sin and death, and now they could live in newness of life together as brothers. And Paul was willing to invest himself in the process of reconciling their differences, even to the point of underwriting the financial debts of Onesimus.

Paul made his commitment clear, telling Philemon, “I will repay it” (Philemon 1:19 ESV), and Philemon knew he could trust Paul to keep his word. To further influence Philemon’s decision, Paul resorted to a bit of guilt-tripping, essentially saying, “You owe me.” This should not be viewed as a threat but as a gentle reminder that Philemon owed his new life in Christ to Paul’s ministry. Paul had risked a lot to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to Philemon’s community and, as a result, Philemon had been reconciled to God. By placing his faith in Jesus, Philemon’s debt had been paid in full.

Nothing would make Paul happier than to hear that Philemon and Onesimus had been reconciled, and he let Philemon know his decision to receive Onesimus as a brother in Christ would be all the payment he needed.

Yes, my brother, please do me this favor for the Lord’s sake. Give me this encouragement in Christ. – Philemon 1:20 NLT

Telling others what they ought to do is easy, but how willing are we to commit ourselves to help them follow our advice? What cost are we willing to pay to see that our wise words are followed? Paul was willing to put his money where his mouth was. What about you? Are you committed to walking alongside the ones with whom you freely share your counsel and dedicate your time and resources to see that they have what they need to succeed?

This reminds me of the story of the chicken and the pig. In debating the degree of their commitment to a typical breakfast of bacon and eggs, the chicken bragged about how some brave hen willingly made provision for the eggs. But the pig responded by pointing out that while the breakfast required the chicken’s participation, it demanded a pig’s total commitment.

Paul wasn’t content to provide wise counsel; he was totally committed to seeing that it was followed, regardless of the personal cost. Paul could have easily said to Philemon what he wrote to the believers in Philippi.

But I will rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God, just like your faithful service is an offering to God. And I want all of you to share that joy. – Philippians 2:17 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.