Colossians 1 21 23 The Work of Christ

Colossians 1: 21 -23 The Work of Christ & The application of the Work of Christ 1

Long Live Colossae!

Col. 1: 21: The Past: “Formerly” You Were formerly: • Alienated – apallotrióō; meaning estranged; SHUT OUT from fellowship & intimacy – ESTRANGEMENT: important, because of the relation it has to RECONCILIATION (the core subject of the passage); more later • Hostile – HOSTILE: echthrós - hated; odious; an enemy (used as ‘enemy’ in numerous passages, as well as other translations) – “Enemy Combatant”: is this a modern day rendering? Question: What does a reasonable person (or Diety) do to keep out/ keep separate from the Hostiles, the Enemies? BUILD A WALL? A sin barrier between a Holy Righteous God and mankind? …. . 3

Our ODIOUS Past“Formerly”: Evil Deeds: - Col 1: 21 4

More of Our ODIOUS Past“Formerly”: Evil Deeds Pt. II: - Col 1: 21 5

“Formerly”: Gen. 6: 5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. - Col. 1: 21 God’s Answer to the ‘Formerly’ Col. 1: 20 Jer. 17: 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who 6

Formerly: Yet Now: Col. 1: 22 § Holy § Blameless [without blemish] § Beyond Reproach [unreprovable; without charge] 7

To Reconcile: Meanings 1 -3 Apo/katallassō Meaning 1: A thorough CHANGE: § BACK (apo) to: § A former state of relations Meaning 2: To bring into harmony by: § Removing an emnity § In order to: render man saveable Merryman Lightfoot, Marchbank Meaning 3: A Return to: § Fellowship § Goodstanding KEY POINT: In order to be reconciled, There must have existed: A RELATIONSHIP 8

To Reconcile: Meanings 4 -6 Meaning 4: Meaning 5: To Exchange: The ending of: Meaning 6: To Overcome: § Hostility for: § Estrangement Friendship § Feuding § Alienation KEY POINT: § Incompatibility § Cosmic hostility § through the lordship of Christ R. H. Martin A RELATIONSHIP 9

“To Present”: Col. 1: 22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach— paristēmi [note: the purpose clause: “in order that”] Meanings: § to place beside or near § to proffer, provide § proffer: to hold someone out for acceptance (dictionary. com! Wow, this is good…) § to place: person or thing at one’s disposal § to present a person for another to see and question 10

Col. 1: 23 - if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister. § “if indeed”: really translated since (it’s a 1 st Class condition) § “in the Faith”: What is it? - Used 10 times in NT just like this. But Tim. 3: 13’s restrictive clause “that is in Christ Jesus”. Heb. 12: 2 Jesus Christ is the author/captain/prince of the faith § “Firmly established”: themelioō: to make stable; to lay the foundation, to found. Anchored, moored. Heb. 6: 19 “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil” § “moved away” metakineō; to move; excite a riot, disturbance; to throw into commotion • “I Paul was made a minister”: Paul had a special gospel he was responsible to God for, and He had the grace/privilege to deliver it: 1 Tim 1: 11: according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted. 11

THE WORKS of CROSS IN SALVATION: § § § § Regeneration: new birth Redemption Justification Forgiveness Reconciliation Assurance Baptism / Union Propitiation Judgment: Sin Nature Adoption Sanctification Election Foreknowledge Predestination Question of the Day: Why in all these critical aspects of Christ’s work on the cross does Paul zero in on RECONCILATION? Answer: 12

One Possible Answer: Colossians 1: 16 -20 is the ongoing framework of the passage in 21 -23 v. 16: because by him were created all things, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, or lordships, or principalities, or authorities: all things have been created by him and for him. v. 17: And *he* is before all, and all things subsist together by him. v. 18: And *he* is the head of the body, the assembly; who is the beginning, firstborn from among the dead, that *he* might have the first place in all things: v. 19: for in him all the fulness (of the Godhead) was pleased to dwell, v. 20: and by him to reconcile all things to itself, having made peace by the blood of his cross -- by him, whether the things on the earth or the things in the heavens. 13