Colossians 1:25-29 - A Biblical Mystery Revealed (Session 8)

This episode is a verse-by-verse Bible study of Colossians 1:25–29, exploring the historical context, theological meaning, and faithful application of the passage within the Christian faith. 

Are you ready to unravel a Biblical mystery that Paul mentions? As we venture through the book of Colossians, you'll discover the transformation from being lost to being saved and the invaluable role of Jesus Christ. We dissect Colossians, chapter 1, verse 25, and examine the divine responsibility entrusted on Apostle Paul by God to minister the Word. We'll also shed light on the true meaning of being chosen by God and the benefits of embracing Apostle Paul's teachings. 

The episode doesn't stop there. We delve into the intriguing roles within the church and how individuals are beckoned to serve. Every role, no matter how visible or concealed, contributes to the body of Christ. If you're unsure where you belong, we'll guide you to seek answers through prayer and encourage you to be receptive to God's calling. As we conclude, you'll be reminded that you too have an essential role within the church. So tune in, get motivated to participate and catalyze positive changes in your congregation.

Transcript

Speaker 2 0:16

Hello and welcome to Reasonings of the Bible and I have a question for everyone. A lot of people like mystery stories and I've read a few mysteries in my day and I like mysteries as much as the next guy. But today we're going to talk about a mystery, only it's a very, very different type of mystery than a mystery story. This mystery is not a who done it. We know the answer to this mystery before we start.

Speaker 1 0:40

And why is it that people like mysteries? It's because they like to put their mind at work figuring out what the mystery is. I believe it's the same thing in Scripture. Let's try and figure out what that mystery was.

Speaker 2 0:51

And that mystery today is going to be given by the Apostle Paul in the book of Colossians. So if you have your copy of the Word of God, turn to Colossians, chapter 1, and we're going to start with verse 25. A little bit of just summary of where we are. Colossians is the Apostle Paul writing to the church at Colossae and there was a series of false teachers that had been in this church and Paul was trying to emphasize at least two things. One is this dramatic change from the state of a lost person to a saved person, and he was also trying to emphasize the person of the Lord, jesus Christ, and who he was and what his qualifications were, who we are in Christ and how we're saved and things like that is what's all being talked about. So let's just go ahead and jump right.

Speaker 2 1:37

In Colossians, chapter 1, starting at verse 25, says this Of this church, I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the Word of God. That is the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations but has now been manifested to the saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory, of this mystery amongst the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose I also labor, striving according to his power which mightily works within me. So wonderful passage. This is Paul describing his role here and what he's been doing. Let's go back through and kind of look at each of these. Steve, in verse 25, why does Paul say he was made a minister? For what reason?

Speaker 1 2:48

It was a stewardship that was bestowed upon him from God. In other words, god gave him a responsibility to be a minister to the sheep, to the flock, and it was something that was given to him or put upon him by God.

Speaker 2 3:03

One of the translations uses the word commission. God commissioned him, so God chose Paul and made him a minister. Look at the verb tenses. Paul is saying I was made a minister, I was put there by the stewardship or the commission of God, and he says so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God. Paul had a role and it was an apostle, and the role was to go around and preach and teach and that was his role. According to this passage, who chose that job?

Speaker 1 3:38

for Paul. God chose the job for Paul and he also says there for your benefit. Well, how is it that they're benefiting? They're benefiting by getting this teaching and this doctrine from Paul, same way that we're benefiting from God's decision to bestow upon Paul being a minister. We're getting a great benefit out of all of these teachings and doctrines that Paul gives throughout all of his letters. And, of course, the faithful ones and the holy ones that are here, the saints that are at Colossae, are also getting the benefit as well.

Speaker 2 4:14

So again, look at verse 25. I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God. So he says here that I was made a minister. God did this to him. That's a passive verb. He was made a minister. Paul didn't choose it, god chose it. The church didn't choose Paul. The church didn't pray and figure out God's will here. No, god chose Paul, set him up and made him. It was entirely on God. It had nothing to do with the church even figuring out God's will here. God lifted this person up and made him. That way, god revealed to Paul that he was an apostle and proved it with signs and teachings of an apostle. From that, what can we conclude, steve, about the other roles in the church? Who sets those up and how are people placed into those roles in the church today?

Speaker 1 5:20

Well, part of it's the same way. I know in the nomination that we're a member of, we go and look for pastors and one of the things that we look for them to do is to have a calling on their life to come and serve at the church where we are, the local congregation of where we are. We look at it the same way that God puts these callings and puts these burdens on people in order for them to become servers and ministers of flocks all around.

Speaker 2 5:53

God made Paul an apostle and a minister of the gospel. Are there other roles in the church? And the next follow-up question is how do people today fall into?

Speaker 1 6:05

these roles. I believe it's again a calling from God. We use our example, this ministry that we have here. We both feel that God has called us into it. It was something that God impressed upon us to start and to do. I believe it's the same way, and that's with all roles there's. All the different things that make up the body of Christ, I think, are calling from God. The question is whether or not the people heed those callings or whether or not they put them off and say no. Maybe they act like a Moses God, you really don't want me, I don't speak very well and other people that we see, other characters in the Bible that try and put off and say no, god, you really don't want to use me. But yet in the end we see that, yes, god has something for them to do. I think it's still the same way today.

Speaker 2 6:55

Is there a role for everyone, or is there some people that God just wants them to warm up? You?

Speaker 1 7:02

No there is a role for everyone, and if you have that calling and feeling that God is wanting you to do something, please by all means step up and say hey, I believe that God is calling me to do this and talk to a leader in your congregation or somewhere and to do it or something. And someone that's going to be God's calling you to do something out away from the church. It's something that he might want you to do. Maybe nobody else ever sees it, but yet it's still a benefit to the body of Christ. I believe that those roles are out there too.

Speaker 2 7:38

I think some people probably think they have the role of the church complainer or the church troublemaker or the church strife generator. I've met some people that seem to have the gift of discouragement and dissension and because that's their role and that's what they do and I say that only half tongue and cheek, because it seems like there's some people out there that that's all they do and I submit there is a role that's productive for everyone. What would, what should people do if they? I don't know where I should fit in.

Speaker 1 8:12

They should pray. They should pray and ask God God, where do you want me to fit in? What do you want me to do? And those people that many times that are complainers and grumblers? You look at them and guess what? They're not doing anything. They're just sitting back taking potshots at other people saying, oh, this isn't working. That person isn't doing what they're supposed to do. And yet you look at them and look at what they're doing and all they're doing is like what you mentioned they're warming a chair in the church, they're warming a pew and they're not actually out there getting involved. Because if they're actually getting involved, they don't have time to be looking around and seeing what other people are doing.

Speaker 2 8:51

So I submit respectfully as I can to our listeners If there's a lot of issues and problems in your church, then it might be you. The answer might be to go out there and make it better, go to the pastor and say where can I fill in to improve this, instead of complaining about what other people are doing. Maybe the answer is to hey, I should roll up my sleeves and shut my mouth and go and do a job to kind of make things better. And I submit that's usually what's needed. There's generally the churches I've been in. There's some people that are overworked, that need to do a little less, and there's a whole lot of people that need to step in and do a little more. And if that happened then everything would flow a little better and we wouldn't have the professional complainers. But moving on, in the next verse, verse 25 says according to the stewardship from God bestowed upon me.

Speaker 2 9:41

Now, the King James version there, instead of the word stewardship, use the word dispensation, and that's where there's a section of theology called dispensational theology. That's where it comes from. Is place like this. It just means dispensation, just means stewardship or economy. That's really what the original Greek was transliterated into. Was economy, stewardship, economy, dispensation All these things in a theological sense mean the same thing, and here's what I would say regarding that Prior to Adam, adam was in a different stewardship than after his fall.

Speaker 2 10:19

You know, prior to Adam's fall he had a relationship with God that was different than after his fall. In between Adam's fall and before Moses, there was still a different stewardship. Once Moses came with the Mosaic Law, the Jews were asked. They were under a different stewardship. They were asked to keep the Mosaic Law, 600 plus laws and rules. The Gentiles never were asked to keep the Mosaic Law.

Speaker 2 10:47

Well, now we're in the church age and we're in a stewardship still. That's what this verse is saying, according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me. So Paul had a new stewardship that was given him, a new dispensation. That's what he's talking about. Paul and the apostles led in the church age, which is the present dispensation, the present stewardship. This term is where the name came from in dispensational theology, the old economy, god asked people to bring a lamb and slaughter it at the temple. Those people sacrificing that lamb in the Old Testament looked forward to the lamb of God that made the sacrifice, which is Jesus Christ. And in the present dispensation. We don't have to sacrifice lambs because Jesus made the sacrifice. Here's a question, steve Under Moses in the Mosaic dispensation, did those lambs take away sin?

Speaker 1 11:49

No, they did not, not permanently. And the reason we can say that is because, guess what? The next time that they were needed as a sacrifice, they had to be sacrificed. So no, they did not do it permanently. It had to be done over and over again. But under this age of grace that we have, Jesus' sacrifice was once and for all.

Speaker 2 12:12

The Old Testament, sacrificial animals didn't take away sin. We know that because of Hebrews 10.4. It's not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. The Old Testament sacrifices didn't take away sins. As you rightly pointed out, I got to do another one tomorrow and another one the day after that, because they keep sinning. So, but when Jesus paid for it, he paid for it once for all. But we're now in a different economy. Why would God then ask the Old Testament saints to sacrifice the lamb if they didn't take away sins? Well, it's because it was a reminder. It was a picture of what Jesus did. It was a picture in the Old Testament of what Jesus did, and it looked forward to Jesus' sacrifice. I submit, steve, it's just a way of God dealing with His people, and that's what he's talking about here with this stewardship or this dispensation. And there could be a future one, there could be a temple in the millennium, and if there's sacrifices there, those bulls and animals aren't going to take away sin either. It'll look backwards to Jesus.

Speaker 1 13:16

You mentioned, rightly so, that what the Israelites or the Jewish people were to do was to keep the law, and that was the dispensation or the stewardship there, that the Gentiles weren't asked to keep it, but the Jewish people were. Well, it wasn't that they were different from the standpoint of being a human being, they were both human beings, but they were there to be an example to the other nations and that's why the law was given to them. All of these things that they were doing and performing in the law looked forward so that when Christ came as that satisfactory sacrifice, it made sense. There are people today that go why do I need to have somebody die for my sins? They ask that question. Well, it's because they don't know and have studied about this period of the law and what it was there for. That it was to look forward, to make sense that whenever Jesus Christ did it and fulfilled it.

Speaker 2 14:19

And you know I had that exact same question before I was saved. I heard people say Jesus died for your sins. But I didn't have. What in the world some guy died in 2000 years ago Got anything to do with me? And I was too embarrassed to ask the question. I just went through life not knowing. But the good news is that the Apostle Paul again, look at the verse I was made a minister according to the stewardship or the dispensation from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God. So the goodness is that God sent the Apostle Paul and all the other ministers of Jesus Christ in order to give this great message. But let's go ahead and move on. In verse 26, it says preaching of the Word of God. That is the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations but has now been manifested to his saints. Steve, we've hit this word mystery. And what is a biblical mystery?

Speaker 1 15:21

Well, paul mentions it here. It's something that was hidden from the past ages, which means that in our scriptures what we call the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible it's this mystery of the Gentiles being brought in. So we had these dispensation, these stewardship that you talked about, and we had the law that was given to the Israelites for them to keep and for them to be an example to the rest of the nations. That's the mystery, though, is that now, in order to be brought in and to worship God, you had to be brought into the nation of Israel, you had to be circumcised, you had to be a follower of Yahweh to be brought into that and go through all of that system. Now we're free of that, and we're free, and Gentiles can be brought into it and have a relationship with God, apart from the law.

Speaker 1 16:13

That's the mystery that Paul is talking about here. We should also not lose the thought here that 24, 25, and 26 are all one thought. They're broken up into verses here, but they're all one thought. This is the middle part of Paul's thought. He's been bestowed as a minister for the benefit of the people and to preach this mystery. He says in verse 25, that is the mystery that has been hidden from the past ages and generations but now has been made manifest to the saints. The manifestation was Jesus Christ. That's the manifestation.

Speaker 2 16:53

This gives us a very clear definition of what a biblical mystery is. We don't have to wonder, because he says in that verse that the mystery has been hidden but has now been manifested. That's a biblical mystery. We don't have to wonder about this. It's not a secret, it's not anything that, oh, I wonder what that is. Everywhere where it talks about a biblical mystery, it's talking about something that's exactly the same as this verse. It was not known in the past, but has now been revealed. A biblical mystery is one that we now know. We know the answer to it. It's like, okay, I read the last part of the book and I know the answer. Well, it's in the Old Testament. There were things that God had not revealed yet, but now they're revealed in the New Testament. That's a mystery. The mystery is that it talks about in the New Testament. We know the answer to it. We know what they are. So here's the question what is the mystery here? What is it, steve? He tells us.

Speaker 1 17:54

The mystery is that both Jews and Gentiles could now have salvation and have a direct relationship with God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, through his death, burial and resurrection. That's the mystery that Paul is preaching and is talking about. That has now come about and that was hidden before. That's what the Jewish people in the leadership didn't understand. They felt that they were kept separate and that they were going to carry it on, which they did. But now we have all of these Gentiles, the other nations that can now come in, and we have this mixture of Jews and Gentiles together that make up now the body of Christ, and that's the mystery that's been revealed.

Speaker 2 18:39

Yes, that's the mystery that is now known and we don't have to guess, because he says it very plainly in the text. Look at verses 26, 27,. Verse 26, the mystery which has been hidden from past ages and generations but has now been manifested or made real. So we know it. Verse 27, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of his mystery among the Gentiles. And then the second part of that which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Speaker 2 19:08

As you rightly said, the mystery is that now the Gentiles are going to be in an equal footing with Israel in the Messiah. That was the mystery that we didn't really know. Now. We knew in some passages in the Old Testament that God would ultimately have an opportunity to save the Gentiles, but not that they would be put together in one church. That was the mystery. And that again, look at it says which is Christ in you. That was the other part of the mystery, which is we now have Christ in us. In the Old Testament we didn't have the Lord, god through the Holy Spirit of Christ, to be in us. Those were the facets of the mystery.

Speaker 1 19:50

And we now have this recurring theme of in Christ. So he now says here which is Christ in you? Same thing as being in Christ. So a question that comes up again in this is are you in Christ or are you out of Christ? But that is what he's talking about here, the mystery of that the Gentiles can now be brought in, of Christ in you.

Speaker 2 20:14

And that's really the question Are we in Christ or are we not in Christ? Because that's the division. The division is not so much Israel and the Gentiles anymore, it's God's. People are the ones that have Christ in them. That's where we are today, and each of us should ask myself do I have Christ in me, christ in you, the hope of glory?

Speaker 2 20:35

It says at the end of verse 27,. Christ has a physical body that's in heaven, but he's also in us. Whenever a person puts their trust in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit baptize them and transfers them to the body of Christ. This is what he's been saying throughout chapter one. Jesus is now in us. We are brought into something new. So again, this theme of what happens to the Christian as they become saved from this great, great gulf, from a lost state to a saved state. Now the saved people have Christ in us, and that's adding to this long list of things that he's mentioning here in chapter one. The next question, steve, now that we have Christ in us, if we're a follower of Christ, what is Jesus ministry in us? What does he do in us? Well, he gives us glory, he gives us power over sin, and it says here he gives us hope. Jesus is our hope and I honestly fail to see how people look around the world today and with the horribleness that's crashing down all around us. How could they live in that without any hope?

Speaker 1 21:48

And the word hope here it's not hope in like I hope something's gonna happen, not knowing whether or not it is not going to happen. No, the word here the Greek word. Here it means desire of some good with the expectation of obtaining it. So the hope of glory that we have here is something of an expectation that we're going to obtain this glory. We're not hoping, wishing, that it's gonna happen. No, we have an expectation and we're hoping that it's gonna come soon.

Speaker 2 22:26

So it says here one of the part of the mystery is that Christ is in us. So here's a question, steve If Christ paid for my sins on the cross, then what difference does it make right now to day if Christ is in me or not? What difference does it make in my daily life? If he paid for my sins, then why would I care about Christ in me?

Speaker 1 22:45

Well, it all goes to the of being a new man, and Paul and other epistles talks about putting on the robe of righteousness or putting on the robe of Christ daily. That's what it means. By having Christ in us, we are a new creature, we have new desires. We wanna have a relationship with God, we wanna do Godly things. We wanna do things and follow Jesus' commands that he gave whenever he was here. That's what having Christ in us does for us. And if we don't have Christ in us, then that means that we're in Adam or we're in the world and we're back to living in darkness and not wanting to do those Godly things. It all works together that you're either in Christ or out of Christ.

Speaker 2 23:32

At the end of verse 27,. It says Christ in you, the hope of glory, and if you have Christ in you, then you have eternal life. That's your hope. We have Christ in us, we have eternal life. If we don't have Christ in us, we don't have eternal life.

Speaker 2 23:48

Paul says he proclaims Christ so that we may present every man complete and perfect or mature in Christ. And question Steve present every man? Where Does it say Before God? Present every man before God as complete in Christ? It says at the end of verse 28. So from that I can conclude that if we have faith in Christ, we will be presented before God as complete and perfect. He already said that a few verses earlier. He's repeating it now. Remember he said he made us holy, blameless and beyond reproach, and now he's saying here in verse 28 that Paul preaches the gospel so that he can present every man before God as complete and perfect. So if somebody's complete, again he's adding to these attributes of these saved people. If you're complete, do I still have sins that I have to go suffer for?

Speaker 1 24:52

No, no, no, we don't complete. Other translations might say perfect, which means being complete. And notice there, in verse 28, there's three every man that are mentioned. There is admonishing every man. So Paul is saying we proclaim him, we proclaim Jesus Christ, which that means what he did sacrifice, death, burial and resurrection. We proclaim Jesus Christ, jesus the Messiah, admonishing every man, teaching every man, so that every man may be presented complete in Christ, exactly.

Speaker 2 25:30

And it says in verse 28, we proclaim him, meaning Jesus. Notice that we're not giving out an idea, we're not giving out a concept. We're not teaching theology here, although there's nothing wrong with theology. We're proclaiming a person, jesus Christ. We proclaim Him. That's the point here that Paul's making. The focus is on Him, jesus Christ. And it says here we proclaim admonishing every man and teaching every man. Says it twice, with all wisdom, so that we may present every man. That's three times in one verse complete in Christ. Now, steve, we would not believe what's called universalism. Universalism believes that all people are saved. He says three times here every man. But what he's saying is here I'm going to preach to every man so that the hope is that every man would accept it. Whatever we believe about how many people are saved in election and atonement, what he's saying here is that we're going to preach it to all people. We're going to preach it to all people with the hope that all of them will accept it. That's what he's saying.

Speaker 1 26:38

Yeah, there's other scriptures that talk about how to get into Christ. So he finishes up that thought there of being complete in Christ. So you can't put aside all the other scriptures that talk about how we get into Christ or how we become in Christ or how Christ becomes in us. You can't leave all of those out and use this verse to say, oh well then every man is going to be in Christ and we have universal salvation. No, no, it's what you just pointed out there, and we need to keep in context all the other scriptures that talk about how we even become or get into Christ.

Speaker 2 27:16

The Apostle Paul believed we should go out and preach to every man with the hope that all of them will accept it. And then in the last verse, in the chapter verse 29, he says for this purpose I labor, striving according to his power. So he uses two words there, that kind of constitute struggle. He says I labor and I strive. Those words constitute work. Paul was working hard. Again, look at all the things that Paul did in his life. If you were with us when we went through the book of Acts, paul just was going and doing all these things. Steve, is there a place for us today to work hard, to labor and strive for the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Speaker 1 27:59

Yeah, absolutely there is, and that's what we should be doing. We shouldn't just be going to worship one day out of the week and not doing anything for the next few days. We have, I believe, an obligation to tell others about Christ. That's not going to be popular with the world and it might not be popular with certain people, but why wouldn't we want to tell the good news to other people? If we're just going to church on one day, we grab our Bibles or take our phones in our age today and open the app when we're there on Sunday or at worship, and then we close the app, never to open it again until the following week? The question would be why we see Paul here. He is striving and laboring every day in order to get the word out.

Speaker 2 28:51

And he says in that verse that last verse 29,. Strive and labor according to whose power?

Speaker 1 28:57

Jesus's power According to his power.

Speaker 2 29:00

That's the point is that he's yes, paul is working hard, but it's according to his power, not according to Paul's power. What do we do if we strive according to our own strength? What do?

Speaker 1 29:12

we get, we just get tired.

Speaker 2 29:14

That's the lesson Paul says. I've been given this new message, this mystery that's now been revealed to me, this new stewardship, this new dispensation that all of us are one in Christ Jesus, and I'm going to go out and I'm going to strive and preach that to every man so that all may be presented complete in Christ. That's the message of chapter one of Colossians. It's this dramatic change from this lost state to the saved state and it's done through the power of this very unique person, Jesus Christ. And he's only got his toe dipped into the theology because chapter two is going to have a ton more. That's where we're going to go next. We're at the end of chapter one. We'll stop our lesson for today and please come back next time and we'll get into chapter two, which is more deep water. So don't lose your life jacket. We're going to be in some very deep water and we trust that you'll be back with us here again to reason through the scriptures.

Speaker 1 30:08

Thank you for watching and listening. May God bless you.