Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Obedience | Part 3: Relationship | Part 4: Fruitfulness | Part 5: Intimacy | Part 6: Muscle | Part 7: Gratitude | Part 8: Specifics 1 | Part 9: Specifics 2 

So how does God make well-rounded Christians? 

Well, like all maturation, it takes time. It involves growth in comprehension, beginning with knowledge that is supplemented by understanding that comes from the means of grace and from experience. It involves growing in one’s knowledge of God and the consequent maturation of a living, personal relationship with him. It involves experiencing hard things that develop endurance and, yet again, more understanding. It involves experiencing victories that teach methods for and confidence in future victories. 

The primary element, I would assert, is that personal relationship, that love of God, that makes our confidence in his presence and trustworthiness almost second nature to us, beyond even the ways that we trust our closest human friends. With that relational foundation we walk with him throughout the day; we expect his direction and empowerment; we trust his will, in the light and in the darkness; and we see everything as from his hand, prompted by his wise love, something for which we should be profoundly grateful. 

That’s what I want to be when I grow up. 

Who is He on yonder tree 
Dies in grief and agony? 

Who is He who from the grave 
Comes to succor, help, and save? 

Who is He who from His throne 
Rules through all the worlds alone? 

’Tis the Lord! oh wondrous story! 
’Tis the Lord! the King of glory! 
At His feet we humbly fall; 
  Crown Him! crown Him, Lord of all! 

– Benjamin Russell Hanby 

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Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Obedience | Part 3: Relationship | Part 4: Fruitfulness | Part 5: Intimacy | Part 6: Muscle | Part 7: Gratitude | Part 8: Specifics 1 

As we noted last time, Paul ends this chapter by listing, in two parts, a number of things for which we should be thankful. The first part lists what God, in the persons of both the Father and the Son, has done in his work of saving us. The second part, which we turn to in this post, is more personal; in the chapter’s final paragraph Paul focuses on what God has done in us as well as for us; and he meditates on how that has affected his life and ministry, and by implication, how it can affect ours as well. 

Building on his summary of what God has done for us in the previous paragraph, he now begins to talk about consequences. What difference does it make in us that the Father and the Son have “qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Co 1.12)? 

• He has reconciled us to God (Co 1.21-22); we’re not his enemies anymore. We don’t have to be afraid. 

• How has he done that? The Son became human, corporeal, so that he could die “in the body of his flesh” (Co 1.22); and by that death he paid the price for the sins we had committed, which sins had positioned us as God’s enemies. The offended one took the offense on himself and brought reconciliation. We are forgiven. 

• As a result we are “holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight” (Co 1.22). As far as he is concerned, we are in a special class, with nothing to answer for. And this is someone who knows all things perfectly. He knows. But he will never speak of our offenses again. 

• If you stick with it (Co 1.23). Now, this calls for some explanation. Paul is not saying that we have to stop sinning in order to “stay saved”; he has already said clearly that those who have begun by faith cannot mature through works (Ga 3.3), and he will later tell a protégé that we are not justified by any works of righteousness (Ti 3.5). He is referring here to Jesus’ teaching (Jn 15.1-10) that all who are genuinely in Christ will abide in him; “continuing in the faith” (Co 1.23) is not the cause of our salvation, but evidence that it has happened. We will endure; we will succeed. 

• Now Paul gets more personal. He begins to express his thankfulness that God has allowed him to have a part in telling the Colossians and others of these great gifts of salvation (Co 1.23-29). He vows to remain faithful to his calling, to continue to spread the word of the gospel so that more may hear. 

How is that something for which we can be thankful? 

Well, Paul is not unique in his divine calling. Jesus’ last words to his disciples—and by extension to us (Mt 28.19-20)—were the same call that Paul would later receive (Ac 9.15): we are to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. 

What a privilege that is! That we should be appointed representatives of the very God who created heaven and earth! That we should be ambassadors of reconciliation, of peace, of joy to those who walk in darkness! That every day we can watch for divine appointments, “chance” meetings, brief interactions that can make an eternal difference! 

How can we not thank him? 

How can we not face the real and significant challenges of each day with the joy of anticipating God’s presence and power and provision from beginning to end? 

How can we not face the darkness and chaos of our culture with the joy of knowing that God has already provided the means of reconciliation and applies it, with infinite power and certain success, to the hearts of those who believe? 

Next time: a brief closing thought. 

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Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Obedience | Part 3: Relationship | Part 4: Fruitfulness | Part 5: Intimacy | Part 6: Muscle | Part 7: Gratitude 

Paul has spent just under 3½ verses (Co 1.9-12a) summarizing the process by which God matures his people. That’s taken up 7 posts so far in this series. Now, jumping off from his final step of thankfulness, Paul spends almost 17 verses—almost 5 times as many—delineating specific things for which we should be thankful. 

This is no afterthought. It’s at the core of what matures us. If we want to grow up, we need to pay thoughtful attention to the list, so we can construct our thinking around it—so it can inform and underlie what we think about everything else. 

I note that Paul’s list comes in two sections. In the first (Co 1.12-23), he focuses on what God has done for us in salvation. In the second (Co 1.23-29), he meditates on the great gift God has shown him personally in allowing him to have a role in spreading the story of that salvation. 

Much could be written on these verses—and much has been. One of my commentaries has more than 50 pages of dense type exegeting just these 17-18 verses. Given the purpose of this blog, I won’t do that. :-) I’ll summarize. 

But here at the beginning I’ll say that these truths should fill our thoughts every day; they should inform our decisions; they should drive our goals. They should be how we live. 

So we turn to what God has done for us. Paul focuses first on the Father’s work, and then on that of the Son. 

What has the Father done? 

• who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light (Co 1.12). We were by nature not qualified to be saints (“holy ones”) and thus to inherit their standing before God. God has made us qualified. (Paul will explain how he has done that in a bit.) 

• He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son (Co 1.13). We were by nature citizens of a dark kingdom, one ruled by the evil one; and we were not inclined to emigrate. But God made us citizens of an infinitely brighter kingdom, one ruled by his Son, one greater than the Evil One. 

Now Paul expands on the person and work of the Son, who has redeemed us. 

• in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Co 1.14). The Son has removed us from under the authority of the Evil One and has made us his own, or redeemed us. We have a new passport, one that gives us entrance to the spiritual universe over which God himself rules. And he has done all this by the simple (!) act of forgiving our sins. That’s what frees us from the Evil One; that’s what “qualifies us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light” (Co 1.12). 

• He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation (Co 1.15). The Son is Lord over all—even the Evil One. I’ve written much more extensively on this passage elsewhere. 

• For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him (Co 1.16). The Son is the Creator; he is the “Elohim,” “God,” of Genesis 1. 

• He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together (Co 1.17). He also maintains all that he has created; he is what we call “Providence.” 

• He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything (Co 1.18). As the one who created us and who redeemed us from the Evil One, he is the head of the body of all believers; he directs our life here on earth, and we represent him here. Further, his resurrection from the dead guarantees our own resurrection in due time. 

• For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him (Co 1.19). The Son is all that the Father is; God is One. 

• ²⁰and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven (Co 1.20). All of this is but a part of something far bigger than you and I. God is reconciling everything—the universe and everything that is not the universe—to himself. In his plan, all will be at peace, ruled justly and cohesively. The chaos will end. 

Is there anything here for which we can be thankful? Because of which we can face the pressures and trials of the day? 

A day in the light of these truths is a good day indeed. 

There’s even more to come. Next time. 

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Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Obedience | Part 3: Relationship | Part 4: Fruitfulness | Part 5: Intimacy | Part 6: Muscle 

Paul now comes to the fourth and final characteristic of one “walking worthy of the Lord” (Co 1.10): “giving thanks unto the Father” (Co 1.12). 

Gratitude. It’s a characteristic we often lack. 

I suppose there are several reasons for that—beyond the general fact of human depravity, of course. 

First, we’re selfish, self-centered. We’re focused on what we need, or what we want; if we don’t have it, we’re driven to get it. If we do have a particular thing we need, then we focus on something else that we don’t have. There’s always something, isn’t there? And the drive to get The Thing typically attracts our attention more easily than the gratitude for The Things that we do have. 

I suppose a way to mitigate this problem is to be content—that is, to recognize that you need less than you think you do. Now, I’m not talking to the single Mom of 4 kids who’s working two or three jobs—somehow—to keep all the bills paid. There are clear instances of genuine need, and feeling that lack is no failing. 

But for most of us, that scenario is not what we’re facing, even in times of economic pressure. Witness the ubiquity of businesses renting out storage lockers—there are two within a block or two of my house—as just one evidence of the fact that we have more than we need. As further evidence, take my testimony, which is typical of people my age. We’re trying desperately to get rid of a houseful of stuff so our kids don’t have to wade through it after we die. And much of that stuff we haven’t used, or perhaps even seen, in years, or even decades. These days I’m finding boxes of stuff in my attic that I had literally forgotten I had. I’m not suggesting we go all Marie Kondo on everything, but the simple fact is that most of us have much, much more than we need. 

I’m realizing that in my retirement I can live much more simply, much more cleanly, and yes, simultaneously even much more comfortably than I ever thought possible. Contentment is a liberating and pacifying thing. 

A second reason for thanklessness, I think, is a lack of attention to the source of what we have. Where did I get my ability to walk routinely without pain? To smell the honeysuckle growing in my yard? To see the gradations of brilliant color that embellish my skies every morning and evening? To hear the laughter of my grandson when I say, “Gotcha!”? My generous Father has given me all these things freely and from my earliest days on this earth. How good. How kind. How deserving of a daily word of thanks. 

My daily prayer time includes a section of thanking God for the countless things he has done for me physically, providentially, and spiritually. I have a list, and I go over it constantly. And let me say that a side effect of this practice is peace—something sadly missing in much of the current culture. 

A third reason for ingratitude, and the last one I’ll mention, is lack of attention—or rather, inordinate attention to less important things. We’re focused on What We Gotta Do Right This Minute. And there’s something to be said for responsible living, for excellence, for prioritization, for stewardship. But life is about people as well as projects and processes, and we invest wisely when we give attention to the benefits that others bring to our lives. When they smile, or say a kind word, or offer a hand, or give a gift, these are things that have measurably improved our lives and for which we should be grateful. And we should put that gratitude into words, whether prayed, spoken, or written. 

Well. This has been more of a meditation than an exegesis. There’s a place for that. 

Next time, we’ll turn to the passage, where Paul spends the rest of the chapter—17+ of its 29 verses, or more than half—specifying things for which we should be thankful. It will be fun to spend some time on that pleasantly aromatic pathway. 

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Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Obedience | Part 3: Relationship | Part 4: Fruitfulness | Part 5: Intimacy 

Paul comes now to the third in his list of four characteristics of those who “walk worthy of the Lord” (Co 1.10): they are, he says,  

Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness (Co 1.11). 

There’s a lot to talk about in this clause. I’ll note initially that most of us have trouble taking Paul seriously here. This is an astonishing promise. 

First, he says, we are “strengthened with all might.” Now, right on its face, it seems beyond belief. “All might?” Really? 

Well, that’s what it says. Of course, we need to read contextually. God is omnipotent (e.g. Ge 18.14), and he’s also holy, or unique (Is 6.3; 45.5-6), which means that we are not as powerful as he is. So in what way is the mature believer “strengthened with all might”? 

I’d suggest that God provides us with all the strength we need to do whatever he wills or calls us to do. We’re strong enough. We can get it done. 

And lest we get nervous about making extravagant claims, Paul piles on the confirmation. In just this phrase Paul uses both the verb and the noun forms of the same word: literally, we are “strengthened with all strength.” 

Now, Paul is a Jew, educated under Gamaliel the Rabban, and he knows his Hebrew language and culture. When a Hebrew speaker wanted to emphasize something, he repeated or duplicated it. In Genesis 1, for example, God says to Adam, if you eat the fruit of that tree, “dying, you shall die” (Ge 2.17). Most English translations rightly render that as “You shall surely die” or “You shall certainly die.” Scholars call that a “Hebraism.” 

So if the mature believer is “strengthened with all strength,” then he is, as my Bostonian friends would say, “wicked strong.” 

But there’s more. The next phrase gives the scope, or the measure, of that strength: “according to his glorious power.” The word “power” here is a different Greek word, one that means simply “might,” whether physical or military or political. I think the point here is not that we’re as strong as God—as we’ve already noted, that’s impossible—but rather that God’s commands for us are backed up by his omnipotence; we act not merely in our own strength, but with the impelling force of his omnipotence. We can do whatever God calls us to do. 

One more thing. Paul adds a phrase here that specifies the kinds of things he’s calling us to do. Not impressive exploits or acts of strength, but rather “all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness” (Co 1.11). Both patience and longsuffering have to do with bearing up under a heavy load, not collapsing, finishing a difficult experience. We might say “endurance.” Often in the Scripture the words are connected to suffering or persecution. 

How about that? A key evidence of spiritual maturity is that you don’t lose your cool. You don’t quit under pressure. You don’t let exhaustion, or pain, or fear move you to stop trying, to stop standing. When you’re persecuted, you take it, for as long as the persecutor can dish it out. 

You Just Do It. 

And finally, Paul says, you Just Do It with a smile on your face. “With joyfulness,” he says. 

Yikes. 

We have an example of that in the very earliest days of the church. After Peter healed a lame man in the Temple (Ac 3.1-10), he preached Christ to the gathered crowd (Ac 3.11-26). In response the Jewish leadership demanded that the apostles stop their preaching, under threat of severe punishment (Ac 4.1-22). But the church saw this opposition as the fulfillment of prophecy (Ac 4.23-31) and determined to continue preaching; and the apostles continued their healing miracles (Ac 5.12-16). 

In response the Jewish leadership came down hard and eventually determined to execute the apostles, but began with a beating (Ac 5.17-40). And how did the apostles respond? 

They departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name (Ac 5.41). 

They rejoiced that God had allowed them to suffer. 

And they kept preaching: 

And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ (Ac 5.42). 

Strengthened with all might. 

It can happen. 

Next time: thankfulness. 

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Obedience | Part 3: Relationship | Part 4: Fruitfulness  

As Paul continues his list of specific ways that we will “walk worthy of the Lord, unto all pleasing,” he comes to item 2: “increasing in the knowledge of God” (Co 1.10).  

It shouldn’t surprise us that he lands here at this point; while the “good works” he’s just discussed are a necessary, even crucial, evidence of our regeneration—“faith without works is dead,” Jesus’ half-brother pithily observed (Jam 2.20)—Jesus made it abundantly clear that good works are not the central definition of Christian life. Throughout his ministry he lambasted the Pharisees, who had more good works going for them than anybody else in their day—even tithing their herbs and spices (Mt 23.23)—because they ignored “justice, mercy, and faith” (Ibid.). He identified the greatest commandment as “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Mt 22.37); and in an intimate conversation with his Father, he said, “This is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (Jn 17.3). 

So it’s clear that Christian maturity is about more than just Doing What the Boss Says. Perhaps we can even say that it’s about more than the Lordship of Christ—though it is certainly about that. Christian maturity goes beyond that to the personal, to the intimate, to having a deep and loving—may I say affectionate?—relationship with God. We sometimes speak of “asking Jesus into our heart”—there’s some controversy about that—but as we’ve noted already, God is One, and we seek that intimacy with the Father (recall John 17.3, referenced earlier) and with the Son and with the Spirit, as One. 

The word knowledge here, as in the previous verse, has a preposition prefixed to it in the Greek (epiginosko as contrasted with ginosko). Sometimes, but not always, such a preposition signifies an intensification: so here, perhaps “to know with certainty,” “to know more deeply.”  

Maybe, maybe not. Trench thinks so, as does Geisler in the Bible Knowledge Commentary. But in any case we do not doubt that Paul is holding before us the goal of knowing God as thoroughly,as profoundly, as transformatively as a human can. 

Note that Paul describes this knowledge of God as “increasing.” This is something that grows, that develops, over time. 

We know what that’s like; we experience that in all our human relationships. My wife and I have been married for more that 41 years. There was a time when I didn’t know her at all. As we became acquaintances, we needed time for our understanding of each other to develop. Along the way there were times of misunderstanding due to the relative shallowness of the relationship. But as time proceeded, as experience was added to experience, we began to understand one another, to care for one another, to love one another. Most couples say that they thought they knew each other when they got married, but they realize now that they were just beginning. 

So it is in our walk with God; we are, after all, his bride (Rev 21.9). Unlike our human relationships, this growth is not reciprocal; God knows us perfectly from the beginning. But we have a lifetime of learning to do, and mature Christians find that their understanding and trust grow with that learning. 

Skeptics sometimes accuse Christians of being naïve, overly trustful, acting in blind faith. But that is not at all what’s happening. I trust my wife when I can’t see her, because I know her and have known her for decades. The mature Christian has the same kind of relationship with God. He knows his goodness and greatness from experience, and  he trusts him as a consequence. 

Do you have trouble trusting God? That’s normal for people who aren’t well acquainted. Give it time, and pay attention; God’s greatness and goodness will become apparent, and that will mature you over time. 

Next time: slow-twitch muscle.

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