21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Dig Deeper
A few years back I took a trip to Orlando, Florida with my wife and our two sons. While we were there we went to both Disney World and Universal Studios. We got in line at Universal for a ride (although I would have to say that it was part ride, part 3-D movie, part interactive experience) that came highly recommended and we were all very excited. The way the event operated was that they would let a large group of people, maybe 50 or 60 in at a time, into the ride. We had been in line for a long time and thought we were going to get in when suddenly the door shut. We were locked out and would have to continue to wait. We were pretty bummed at having been shut out of the show one more time. Suddenly, the door opened up and they announced that they could let four more people in. We had made it! It felt good to be included and we certainly enjoyed the ride.
No one likes to be excluded, but often times once we are included, we forget the great privilege of being included. As soon as we were let into the show, we forgot about what it felt like to be on the outside, and quite, frankly didn’t think much about those who were still out there. Paul has just finished a hymn about the limitless and incredible depth of who Christ is. It would be easy for someone to read a majestic passage like that and wonder where they fit into all of this. Paul wants them to know exactly where they fit in when it comes to all of this. They were once on the outside, looking in, but Paul is going to make it very clear that this is no longer the case. They have been let in and they need to buckle up and enjoy the ride.
Sometimes considering who Jesus Christ is and what is has done can be so overwhelming that the best way to proceed is to take a step back and focus on what he has done for us personally. It seems that Paul has a sense of this in this passage. He realizes that the hymn he just wrote could be overwhelming, so he will now take a step back and remind them not only where they stand but where they stood. They were not just alienated from God and locked out of His presence, but they were actually enemies to God because of their evil behavior. Why, however, does Paul stress that they were enemies in their minds? As Paul wrote in Romans 1:21, "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened." All rebellion against God begins in the mind with futile thinking, which leads to a will darkened by that distorted thought process. The mind is where the spiritual battle is fought and either won or lost. If one loses the battle in the mind, they will end up in full rebellion against God. The way to combat the mental assault is to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5). Paul gives a wonderful paradigm for doing just that in Philippians 4:8 when he offers eight criterion to which any thought must measure up in order for it to be worthy of dwelling on.
So what has moved the sinner from the status of being alienated from God? Exactly what he states in verse 22, which connects Paul to the primacy of Christ that he mentioned so eloquently in verses 15-20. The thing that has changed their status from being on the outside to being on the inside of God’s people is the reconciliation that is made available in Christ. Paul is clear to distinguish that the reconciliation between God and man has come as a result of Christ’s actual physical body, not the church, which Paul has already called the body of Christ (v. 18). Paul talks frequently of the reconciliation that took place between God and man (Rom. 5:10-11; 2 Cor. 5:18-20; Eph. 2:16), and that God has even entrusted this ministry of reconciliation to His people (2 Cor. 5:18). Because Christ, who was without sin, suffered death as a man and came out the other side as a result of his resurrection, those who enter into his life can stand before God holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation. The most important aspect of being in Christ for Paul is the access to the presence of God that we are allowed in the present age, and even more importantly, the ability to be fully in God’s presence in the age to come.
One thing that should not be missed about the reconciliation of which Paul speaks in verse 22 is that, as he has already made clear in verse 20 is that through Christ, God has set about reconciling his entire creation to Himself. The reconciliation that Christ has enacted is not just limited to man. Paul states this clearly in Romans 8:20, saying, "the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God." Keeping this in mind helps us to understand that God’s age to come is a completely restored and renewed creation that is fully physical and spiritual, not one or the other. Many in the religious culture of our day have an incorrect notion that heaven is a non-physical, spiritual reality in which those souls that have been saved, go off to be with God while the rest of the evil, physical creation is destroyed. This is exactly wrong, however. Through Christ, God has set in motion the process through which He is redeeming and reconciling the whole world to Himself so that paradise lost will be paradise restored. The age to come, then, will be a reality in which heaven and earth are once again fully united in God’s presence (Rev. 21:1-5).
Paul is wise enough to know, however, that the incredible effects of this reconciliation don’t automatically take effect on the individual believer. It’s not as though we are thrust into the presence of a holy God, completely transformed immediately, and then can sit back, do nothing, and enjoy the rest of the ride. A perfect foundation has been laid, but it is up to us to build a secure house on that foundation. It is our responsibility (although always with the assistance and guidance of the Holy Spirit) to continue in our faith, established and firm. If we do not stand firm on the foundation or move from the hope held out in the gospel then it is easy to begin to wonder if we really do stand in God’s presence. Were we ever part of the great ministry of reconciliation in the first place.? If we continue in that faith, established, and do not move, though, we will begin to see the building grow and conform to the perfect foundation on which it is built.
Paul declares, at the end of verse 23, that the gospel, the pronouncement of this great ministry of reconciliation through Christ, has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. If we don’t properly understand that Paul has been discussing the reconciliation that has taken place for all of creation, it is easy to take this portion of the verse out of context. Paul is not discussing, as some have claimed, whether or not the gospel has been preached to every human being on the face of the earth within the first generation of the church (which it had not been, although it had traveled far and wide). This verse has even been erroneously used to back up a belief that each and every generation subsequent to Christ has been commanded to evangelize the entire world in its own generation, rather than building on what the previous generations have done and following the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Paul’s point is that the gospel of reconciliation that is being proclaimed is sending shock waves through everything "being created" (the literal meaning of "creature"). In other words, the reconciliation that has been made available to the Colossians and to us, is the same message that will reclaim and restore all of creation.
Devotional Thought
The message of the gospel is not some grand message that is so large and universal that individuals get lost in it. The message of new creation is for us to share in as individuals because it is about the renewal of the entire world, not in spite of it. Are you standing firm in and establishing your faith as a part of that great renewal project or do you lose sight from time to time of the incredible privileges you have as a result of your access to God in Christ?
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