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Christ in you, the hope of glory
God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27). Paul made that mystery known to the saints in Colossae, and to us. He revealed the mystery so we can understand it. Here, we will read how Paul gives us “assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery—Christ” (Col 2:2).
Paul starts revealing Christ in you
He greets, blesses, edifies and show what hope motivates
1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy our brother: 2To the saints in Christ at Colossae, who are faithful brothers. Grace to you and peace from God our Father. 3We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints 5because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the message of truth, the gospel 6that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God’s grace in the truth. 7You learned this from Epaphras, our dearly loved fellow slave. He is a faithful servant of the Messiah on your behalf, 8and he has told us about your love in the Spirit. Col 1:3-8 HCSB
The saints in Christ were faithful brothers [brethren—brothers and sisters]. Paul blesses them. He tells them he and Timothy “always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.” Then tells them why, sharing the gospel at the same time.
These saints had faith and loved all the saints because of the hope reserved for them in heaven. They had heard about this hope in the message of truth, the gospel.
The hope reserved for us is in heaven is our God given inheritance, the kingdom of God in the New Heaven and New Earth (Rev 21-22; 1 Peter 1:3-9; 2 Peter 1:3-11).
Paul and Timothy’s prayer for the saints
Please note the contents. This is a model prayer we can pray for all who believe in Jesus Christ and declare He is the Son of God.
9For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, 10so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. Col 1:9-10 HCSB
Being filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and understanding leads us to walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God
A blessing we can speak to one another
This is a model blessing. It builds us up in our faith.
11May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy 12giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. Col 1:11-12 HCSB
God our Father has rescued us and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves
He rescued us from the tyranny of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, who paid the ransom to forgive our sins and set us free. He is the image of the invisible God, born before and above everything created, since in Him was created everything you can see and cannot see in heaven and on earth—thrones, lords, rulers, or powers—everything was created by Him and for Him. He was before everything, and He holds everything together. He is the Head of the church, which is His body. He is the Beginning, the first among the dead to become alive that He may be first in everything. God decided to have His whole being live in Him and by Him to reconcile to Himself everything on earth and in heaven in a peace made by the blood on His cross. Col 1:12-20 AAT
Those few verses reveal Christ. Soaking them up in our hearts and spirits helps give us “assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery.”
The kingdom of the Son is invisible spiritual reality we can comprehend by the Spirit. “He is the image of the invisible God.” We live in His kingdom now as we look forward to living in the kingdom that is to come. That’s living in the light.
“God decided to have His whole being live in Him and by Him to reconcile to Himself everything on earth and in heaven in a peace made by the blood on His cross.”
If we live by our own reason and strength and try to attain peace with God, ourselves, our spouse, our children, or with our neighbor, we ultimately fail. In the Messiah, we have peace. We are reconciled to God our Father in shalom made by the blood on His cross. Nothing of the world can bring us that kind of peace.
Christ must reign
20But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, 24then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. 25For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26The last enemy that will be abolished is death. 1 Cor 15:20-26 NASB
Christ reigns by His Spirit in us
1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Ro 8:1-2 KJV
9But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 10And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Ro 8:9-11 KJV
Christ is “the One who by His Holy Spirit and power indwells believers and molds their character in conformity to His likeness, Rom 8:10; Gal 2:20; 4:19; Eph 3:17. Vine’s
Paul concludes his revelation of the mystery
He begins by contrasting our unsaved state with what we are in Christ.
21Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds because of your evil actions. 22But now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him—23if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.
24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for His body, that is, the church. 25I have become its servant, according to God’s administration that was given to me for you, to make God’s message fully known, 26the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to His saints. 27God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28We proclaim Him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29I labor for this, striving with His strength that works powerfully in me.
1For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me in person. 2I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery—Christ. 3All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him. Col 1:24-29; Col 2:1-3 HCSB
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