Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20070527.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Colossians: Maturing Over False Beliefs By Christ's Supreme All-Sufficiency
Part V: Valuing Christ's Applied Salvation To Trust In His Supreme All-Sufficiency
(Colossians 1:21-23)
  1. Introduction
    1. The greatness of the reconciliation we believers enjoy in our salvation in Christ is so great, recalling it leads us to trust in Christ's supreme all-sufficiency versus heeding cultic error or legalism for fulfillment.
    2. To that end, Paul briefly detailed the role of Christ's reconciliation of the believer in Colossians 1:21-23, and we focus on that passage for insight to adhere confidently to our Savior's supreme all-sufficiency:
  2. Valuing Christ's Applied Salvation To Trust In His Supreme All-Sufficiency, Colossians 1:21-23.
    1. The Epistle to the Colossians has as its theme "the supremacy and all-sufficiency of Christ", and Paul promoted this theme to equip his readers to resist errant beliefs that tended to hinder their trust in Christ's supremacy and all-sufficiency, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., p. 1690, "The Colossian Heresy."
    2. Having listed seven characteristics of Christ's supremacy and all-sufficiency in Colossians 1:15-20, the seventh being Christ's reconciliation of all things via Himself, Paul explained Christ's reconciliation of the believer in Colossians 1:21-23 to cause his readers to appreciate the depth of their reconciliation that they might rely on Christ's supremacy and all-sufficiency opposite Gnostic errors undermining such truth:
      1. Paul wrote that, before salvation, the believer was very estranged from God, Colossians 1:21a,b,c:
        1. Before salvation, the believer was alienated from God and at enmity with Him, Colossians 1:21a,b.
        2. This alienation and enmity began in the mind and resulted in evil works (Prov. 23:7a), Col. 1:21c.
      2. However, at salvation, Christ reconciled those who believed in Christ and His atonement, Col. 1:21d.
      3. The means used to establish this reconciliation was His death in His physical body, Col. 1:22a. Paul's reference to Christ's death in His body counters the Gnostic error the Colossians faced that "denied both Christ's true humanity and His true deity," Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 674. Gnosticism treated Christ as only a Spirit, but spirit's "cannot die, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness' (Heb. 9:22)," Ibid. Hence, since the death of Christ's physical body was necessary to atone for sin and thus to save and reconcile the sinner to God, Paul highlighted this truth that his Colossian readers might come to resist the Gnostic error that undermined this great work of God!
      4. Because of this reconciliation of the cross, Paul's Colossian readers were positionally set to be holy, spotless and without blame in God's heavenly presence at the final judgment, Colossians 1:22b:
        1. The New Testament Greek word for "unreproveable" (KJV) ["above reproach" ESV; "free from accusation" NIV] in Colossians 1:22b is anegklaytous, and in view of the similarity of its use here and Paul's use of the word in 1 Corinthians 1:8, it depicts the believer's standing in Christ before God at His return, Theol. Dict. of the N. T., vol. I, p. 356-357; U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966 ed., p. 695.
        2. One might argue the phrase, "If ye continue . . ." implies doubt, that Paul spoke of a believer's walk, for the word, "if" (ei) is followed by ge that makes the "if" emphatic, and may create doubt if the context allows it, Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.; C. F. D. Moule, An Idiom-Book of N. T. Grk., p. 164).
        3. However, Paul's use of anegklaytous in Colossians 1:22b that is so similar in theme to his use of it in 1 Corinthians 1:8 implies certainty of the position in Christ for the Colossians at Christ's return.
      5. Paul added that the Gospel of Christ his Colossian readers had trusted was universal, not limited to a few, Col. 1:23. This claim opposed the Gnostic promotion of "an intellectual oligarchy" where only a few were held to understood God's wisdom, J. B. Lightfoot, Colossians and Philemon, 1974, p. 98-99.
Lesson: Through His bodily death on the cross in accord with His Gospel for all men, both of which truths stood in opposition to the Gnostic errors the Colossian believers faced, Christ had positionally taken the Colossian Christians from alienation and enmity in mind and deed against God into positional holiness, spotlessness and blamelessness in the day of final judgment. Thus, they were to appreciate Christ's supreme all-sufficiency in saving them opposite the Gnostic cultic errors.

Application: May we focus on the massive reconciliation we enjoy in Christ as grounds to continue to trust and live in complete confidence in His supremacy and all-sufficiency for all of doctrine and life.