Colossians ch1v19-23

a day behind, the format's changed, and i'm adding footnotes & more references...lemme know what you think...

Colossians 1:19-23:

19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness* dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood*, shed on the
cross. 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, not moved 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.

*1:19 = Jn 1:16 - From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.

*1:20 = Eph 2:13 - But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

+1:21 Or minds, as shown by

*1:22 = Eph 5:27 - and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

*1:23 = Eph 3:17 - so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,

*1:23 = Ro 10:18 - But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: "Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the endsof the world."

Paul writes to the church in Colossi that God desired to have continued blessings reside in Christ & that God desired to use Christ as the bridge between His own Holiness and mankind's unrighteousness...to bring peace (v20) through His shed blood...now let's think for a minute...to make peace you first need to be in a state of "not peace"...a state of conflict...and that's where Christians were & the unsaved currently are...we were & they are at odds with the Creator... we were & they are at war with the Most High… we were & they are enemies of GOD Almighty!...that's not a place i'd want to be...i've read the book of Revelations and i know what happens to God's enemies...not something i'd look forward to...we were alienated from God (v21), separated from God...due to and evidenced by: what?...evil behavior...our evil behavior...let’s take a look at some of the evil behaviors that God may be referring to here…

Romans 1:21-32

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. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were
inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

that is the kind of crud that shows us to be enemies of God...we may not practice these acts, and though we don’t explicitly encourage such behavior, we cover our PC behinds with garbage like “yeah, she’s gay - not that there’s anything wrong with that!”...bad news people!...there’s a lot wrong with that...sadly, we all just snicker when someone recites the PC catchphrase, and we all breathe a sigh of relief that we didn’t have to directly confront immorality...taking a stand on something is scary business isn’t it?...but these are the acts that declare and perpetuate a Christian’s past & an unbeliever’s present state of war on God...direct assaults against His will and His laws...open defiance of the statues He has laid forth and revealed through written Scripture and the Living Word, Christ...

but we were focusing on God’s desire for peace between mankind and Himself...His solution?...

v22 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

reconciled by the death of a physical body...Christ’s perfect, sinless physical human body...by that single surrender of a life...which act to some at the time must have seemed on the surface & during the moment to be completely senseless and pointless...by the victory of His physical human body’s resurrection...by Christ’s death & life (in that order) we are spared...by Christ’s death & life we are presented Holy in the Father’s sight...Holy in His presence...alive in our own Spirit and alive in the Holy Spirit...without blemish, without stain...pure and blameless, free from any and all accusation...by that one act of releasing His hold on the mortal shell He filled, Christ bridged the gulf...He re-established communication...He paid the ultimate price and fulfilled God’s desire for peace...

This is the Gospel that we have heard...are we then, like Paul (v23), servants of it?...