Colossians 1:21–23

TABLE 3.3: Similarities between Colossians 1:21–22 and Ephesians 2:12, 16

1:22 The only solution is the intervention of God, and that is precisely what Paul expounds. Paul presents the history of the Colossians in the “once . . . , but now” schema seen also in both the first and second parts of Ephesians 2. Although the Colossians passage is much more condensed than the text in Ephesians, the fundamental pattern is clear in both letters: mankind was willfully rebellious and completely helpless, but “he” acted decisively to transform alienation into reconciliation. Who is this “he”? There is some ambiguity, since Paul uses the pronoun “he” freely without always making the antecedent explicit. There is certainly reference to Christ in the context (“the body of his flesh through death”; Col. 1:22 KJV), but there may also be an implied antecedent of the Father from 1:19. This would tie in well with the role of the Father in the narrative of 1:13. Christ, however, appears to be the main actor in the parallel passage in Ephesians 2:14–16, so it is difficult to come to a confident judgment.

In either case, there is complete harmony of will and action. God’s response to this hostility is to accomplish reconciliation, an act only he could accomplish. The use of the verb apokatallassō (“to reconcile”; Col. 1:22) forms a clear link between what has been said in the preceding section (note the use of the same verb in v. 20) and this passage, and it is clear that the theme of reconciliation is crucial to understanding the change of situation the Colossians have experienced. Whereas the verb katallassō is used several times in Romans and 1 and 2 Corinthians, the compound verb apokatallassō is found only in Ephesians 2:16 and Colossians 1:20 and 22.

The believers’ reconciliation has been accomplished “in [Christ’s] body of flesh by his death.” The Greek phrase here employs two words that might be used to describe someone’s body. The word sōma is used eight times in various sections of Colossians (1:18, 22, 24; 2:11, 17, 19, 23; 3:15) with a number of different nuances. In 1:18, e.g., it was used figuratively, in a way similar to 1 Corinthians 12:13, 27. Here in Colossians 1:22, however, it refers to Jesus’ physical body. But this term, which might have stood on its own, is combined with the term sarx (“flesh”), which emphasizes its frailty and vulnerability (though not, in this case, its sin). The key matter relating to Christ’s body here is his death, giving the sense of his “earthly body . . . subject to death.”¹ The use of dia followed by the genitive case indicates means: reconciliation comes through Christ’s death.²

This act of reconciliation accomplished through Christ’s death was not without purpose. The purpose is expressed using an infinitive plus adjectives: “to present you holy and blameless . . . before him.” Note the recurrence of the adjective hagiois, which was previously used in 1:2, 4, and 12. There the emphasis was on the believers’ status as saints, “holy ones,” definitively set apart for God. In this verse, however, the emphasis shifts to a future hope: that the purpose God is working out in the lives of the Colossians will be brought to completion (cf. Phil. 1:6) and the Colossian Christians will be brought to the point of moral perfection.

1:23 The way God’s decisive saving activity in Christ is forcefully described makes the following qualification all the more striking: “If indeed,” says Paul (using the emphatic particle ge), “you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.” The conditional particle (“if”) should be read as indicating a real condition. Paul is not engaging in theological speculation regarding whether a true believer is able to fall away. He is simply warning believers not to fall away! The impact of Paul’s words are well summed up by J. I. Packer: “The only proof of past conversion is present convertedness.”³

The way to ensure that one reaches the goal is to remain “stable and steadfast.” The word translated “stable” is exactly the same participial form of the verb used in Ephesians 3:17 (there translated “grounded”), the only two occurrences of the word among the letters of Paul. This positive description is then balanced with a negative phrase: “not shifting.” Where does one find this stability? The answer Paul gives is “the hope of the gospel that you heard.” This phrase recalls the words of Colossians 1:5–6. The Christian’s hope lies in the proclaimed and heard message of God’s saving acts in Christ. It is these acts and this Christ that have absorbed Paul’s attention throughout this opening section of the letter. The repetition of the connection between hope and gospel might have been intended to function as an inclusio for this first part of the chapter.

Paul further explains this gospel: first, it is the gospel that “has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven.” This phrase recalls Paul’s comment in 1:6 that the gospel is bearing fruit and growing “in all the world.” The global perspective evident in that earlier statement is still clear at the closure of the inclusio. Yet Paul does not feel bound to use the word he used earlier (kosmos). Instead, he now picks up one of the key terms used in the exalted prose of 1:15–20: ktisis, “creation” (v. 15). The gospel has been proclaimed to all that Christ, the content of the proclamation, has created.

Paul’s second qualification of the gospel also recalls an aspect of what he said earlier in the letter. In 1:7, Paul described Epaphras, the herald of the gospel from whom the Colossians first heard of the hope that had transformed their lives, as “a faithful minister [or servant] of Christ on your behalf.” Now in 1:23 he again identifies a servant (diakonos) by name, but this time it is “I, Paul,” who has become a minister (or servant) of the gospel.

We thus see a remarkable echo in verses 21–23 of the early verses of Paul’s thanksgiving (vv. 3–8). In these verses, Paul’s central focus is on the gospel that brings hope, proclaimed throughout all creation by those who are servants both of Christ and of his gospel.