Someone reminded me of a book study I had done years ago on Just Words by Dr. J.A.O. Preus III, from Concordia Publishing House. That book covered many important Biblical terms that speak of the Good News of what Jesus has done for us, in a rich variety of ways. Paul has already used a number of those Gospel words in what we have already studied in Colossians 1. You might go back and see how many of those Gospel words you can identify in Colossians 1:1-22, and what they tell you about what Jesus has done for you personally.
Last week, we heard Paul speaking what Lutherans call both Law and Gospel. Paul spoke in Colossians 1:21 of our sinful human nature and how we are alienated, other than and away from God, (separated from Him and even enemies of Him and His will) on our own. Then Paul speaks the gospel in verse 22, telling how we have been “reconciled” (another of those big Gospel words) to God through the bodily death of Jesus on the cross. We have peace with God and are counted as “holy and blameless and above reproach” through Christ and “before Him." This same message is given by Paul in Ephesians 5:26-27, where He emphasizes the blessing of Baptism, “the washing of water with the Word," and how we are now “holy and without blemish" before Him. (Remember that Paul likely wrote both Ephesians and Colossians while he was in prison in Rome, and the two letters have many similarities.)
As we are brought to faith by our Lord through Baptism and the Word of God, Paul calls us in verse 23 to “continue in the faith, stable and steadfast” in the Gospel we have in Jesus and His Word “that you have heard.” The Greek words here emphasize that this faith is on a solid foundation, built by God as we came to faith, and with ongoing value for us, so that we can be “grounded” and “immovable," not shifting, not moving away from “the hope of the Gospel. (Other Scriptures that use the same and similar words are Ephesians 3:17 and 1 Corinthians 15:58, based also on the certainty of Christ’s resurrection described earlier in 1 Corinthians 15.)
This Good News in Jesus is exactly what Epaphras had preached to the church at Colossae and exactly what was being proclaimed wherever Paul and others have been able to bring it. It is meant for the whole world, for it is Good News for everyone, as Paul will go on to say in Colossians 1 verses 24-28, which follow. (See Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15, Acts 1:8, Romans 10:13-18, 1 Timothy 2:3-6, and on and on. Note also Romans 8:18-23, where the whole creation is affected by Christ’s saving work.) Paul is in effect saying to the people at Colossae: if this message of Christ is being proclaimed everywhere by Paul and many others, don’t be led astray from this solid foundation to some new and different teachings being pushed by false teachers who have come to you.
Paul is a “minister” of the Gospel of Jesus (v.23) and rejoices to serve others in this way, even if it means suffering for himself, on the front lines of sharing and defending the Good News of Jesus (v.24), as front-line medical people face danger and suffering in the battle against Covid-19 today to help protect the rest of us. When Paul speaks of suffering for Christ, he does not means that Christ’s sufferings for us for our salvation were not enough or were incomplete. Christ suffered “once for all," and when He said from the cross, “It is finished,” He had done all that was needed. Every one of our sins is paid for, by His sacrifice for us. There is no “purgatory” ahead for us after death, and we cannot and do not have to pay for the sins of others somehow in this life.
Jesus does predict, however, that we all will face some trouble and tribulation from our sinful, unbelieving world, just by being believers in Christ. (See John 15:18-21, John 16:33, and the story in Acts 14:19-22, for example.) Paul tells how Jesus had told him, at his conversion to Christianity, that he would suffer much as a Christian leader (Acts 9:16) and Paul tells the Ephesians “not to lose heart” over his being in prison in Rome (Ephesians 3:13).
God can bring good out of our troubles, as Paul will talk about later in Colossians. Paul will keep serving the church, the body of Christ, no matter what, for God made him a “steward," a manager of the church, especially “to make the Word of God fully known” (Colossians 1:25). That involves revealing the “mystery“ hidden before but now clearly revealed - that Jesus is the Savior for all people, Jews and non-Jews (v.26-28).
We will hear much more about that in next week’s lesson. May the Lord enable us all to stay in the faith, on the firm foundation of Jesus and His Word, as we keep listening to it and studying that Word!
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