1:26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
God raised up Paul to teach what had not been revealed in the Old Testament. However, how could Paul know about this mystery when men and angels have never gotten wind of it? How do you faithfully teach what God has never revealed before from ages and from generations in His own holy book?
Jesus came and pulled back the curtains to reveal the mystery God wanted to show us. He gave us a box called the Kingdom of God, and gave us instructions on what to do with it. We still have those instructions in the gospels. They give a fuller picture of God’s vision of the coming kingdom than we see in the OT.
Jesus is the bridge between the Old and New Testaments. Jesus is the shoestring snugly pulling the two sides together into a unit, that our feet may walk in His ways. Through Jesus we understand that God is raising up a church, a people who take their stand on the statement that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. The Jews rejected the Messiah and the new wine He came to bring, the message of the kingdom that operates on faith and grace. So He is producing new vessels to carry His message.
Paul was one of these vessels. He was blown away by this kingdom. It wasn’t like the old days of much study from learned rabbis written on dusty parchments by closeted scribes. Power has been added, with the leading of the Spirit and the love of Christ, the changing of his life and outlook that his personal readings never gave him. Now through his writings we see the Kingdom of God enlarging to include every believer under the domain of Christ, each with a unique function, the body of Christ on earth, the whole communicating the many facets of the love and person of God.
We did not see this in the OT. Jesus takes the OT, adds His secret sauce, blends them together, and makes them complete. Now the kingdom flavor is more robust than ever known before.
1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
The glory of God could only be witnessed by the high priest only once a year on the Day of Atonement as he entered the Holy of holies to bring the blood to the mercy seat where God dwelt.
God dwelled in a tabernacle that was clothed with skins. He was looking forward to the day when He would walk out of its dim confines and into daylight, clothed in human skin and walking the earth. There, the people saw the glory of God, and marveled at Him. What signs and wonders! What miraculous healings, raising of the dead, and casting out demons! No man ever spoke like this. Here was revealed His glory, the splendor of the Son of God, full of grace and truth. Their eyes saw and their hands handled the Word of life, a mystery that was hidden for ages.
But the mystery gets even more magnificent. The God who dwelt in Jesus would make His home in us. Our bodies would be His temple. The glory of God would dwell in these jars of clay. As He reveals Himself in us, we rejoice over the hidden, yet revealed glory of God from the heart. They are not words in a book, but Truth that lives in us. We experience the glory of His presence with us, so we worship Him in spirit and truth.
“At that day you will know that I am in the Father, you in Me, and I in you.” Countless Christians have discovered this truth through much seeking, and taken comfort that He is with them and for them. “If you seek Me, you will find Me, if you seek Me with all of your heart.” He is found within as we treasure His words of truth and do them. We are jars of clay bearing about the glory of God with us, having hope of the glory to come.
Now we finally see, through a glass dimly, what is meant by the whole earth being filled with the glory and knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea. No one will need to point out God when the end of the ages has come, “for they shall all know Me,” says the Lord. He will put His laws in their hearts and minds, and everyone will know the Father, Son, and Spirit within. We will be like Him, for we will “see” Him as He is.
The hope of glory will be realized. And life will be complete.
1:28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
Colossians is full of Christ (“whom we preach”), warnings, and teachings. All of them are toward a goal: “that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”
At the time of this writing, the Colossian church was full of doctrinal errors that pointed them away from the superiority of Christ. So in Colossians we have a short epistle, but it is long on the excellencies of Jesus. We need to see again and again the wonder of the Son of God and what He did for us lest we stray into the same problems that they did.
Paul wanted to present the church as people in Christ. As long as they did not live by faith in Him, they were in the flesh instead. They were not in the liberty of Christ but in the chains of the flesh. If any persons be in Christ, they are a new creation, and the old things have passed away. To live in this nee creation we need to have a clear picture of Christ to place our faith in. Where our image of God is poor, there is a loophole for idolatry.
Paul’s warnings were fences that showed them and us where to back off lest we plunge over the cliff and wreck our spiritual lives. Paul desired that we end our lives in glory, not in shame. To that end he warns us of the perils of the flesh — of foolish philosophies, legalism and false religion, and carnality, which is idolatry.
God’s aim for His body on earth is high and wonderful. Sin can slow down or halt that purpose in the believer. We must rest our faith in Christ, remaining in Him, to see continued growth. If I want to show the world the beauty of marble, I don’t carve an object of wood to do so. If we want to show the world the love of Christ, we must use His materials, His love, values, power, and deeds. This is done only as we are in Christ and not the flesh.
1:29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
Paul labored strongly to present them in Christ. Why so strongly? Because the force of the flesh and sin pushes back. Because entrenched habits resist change. Because we have an enemy working to undermine the truths of God with his lies and half-truths.
Because the Spirit of God was working mightily in Paul. Because Paul loved Christ and was obedient to his calling to preach the gospel of faith. Because Paul loved the church and saw what it could become. Because Paul realized that he was positioned to make a difference in their lives.
Do any of these reasons reflect why you do what you do? I believe that my words on this website can make a difference in those who hear and obey. I pray and study to understand the whole counsel of God and put it plain language for me and others to understand. (If I can’t put it in plain language, then I don’t understand it yet.)
In these few verses we see the heritage of the saints, that we may know God dwelling in us and we in Him. That we may truly honor Him as we should, praising Him with exuberance. That we would stay on the path of ongoing Christian growth by fixing our eyes on Jesus — because He is what the end product looks like.
