Colossians 1:21-23: God's Reconciling Love

Colossians 1:21-23: God’s Reconciling Love

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of Colossians, and today the next passage we come to is Colossians 1:21-23. Hear now the words of the Living and True God:

²¹ And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²² he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, ²³ if indeed 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.

May God bless the reading of his Word.

One of the most difficult and painful things someone can go through in life is a divorce. Although I’ve thankfully never gone through a divorce myself, I’ve spoken with enough people who have to understand that there’s almost nothing as painful as being separated from the person with whom we’ve had a one-flesh union. Someone once said that “it feels like a traumatic amputation” and then went on to say, “I didn’t know this level of emotional pain existed.” And not only is divorce emotionally painful, it’s also incredibly consequential in that it affects so many other things in our lives.

Yet, as consequential as divorce is, there’s another separation that’s even more consequential—and that is our separation from God. As we’ll see this morning from our main passage in Colossians, our separation from God has had a devastating effect on every aspect of our lives—even in ways we may not be fully aware of. And not only has it affected every aspect of our lives personally, it’s also affected every aspect of our community and society and even the entire created order.

However, as Paul makes clear here in Colossians 1:21-23, God’s acted in a decisive manner to bring about reconciliation. And that’s the main idea of this passage. God has reconciled us to himself when we were alienated from him. Again, God has reconciled us to himself when we were alienated from him. And as we’ll see, this reconciliation has positive consequences that are just as far-reaching as the negative consequences of our alienation. So, let’s walk through this passage together verse by verse. We’ll consider it under four headings: the problem, the intervention, the result, and the condition.

The Problem

Paul first states the problem in verse 21: “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds….” This statement shows us that there are three components of the problem we have. The first is that we’re “alienated” from God. This can also be translated as “estranged” and refers to the state of enmity that exists between us and God.

Originally, humanity had a harmonious relationship with God. God created the first humans, Adam and Eve, in his own image—which means, among other things, that they had the capacity to know God in the context of a close personal relationship. This made them distinct from everything else God created. And their relationship with God was perfect in every way. But one day, Adam and Eve chose to listen to the lies of Satan instead of trusting in the goodness of God. This led them to disobey God and rebel against his authority by eating the fruit of a certain tree from which God had commanded them not to eat. And just like that, the perfect harmony between people and God was destroyed so that each one of us is “alienated” from God.

And as Paul makes clear, this alienation involves us being “hostile in mind.” Contrary to what some people assume, we’re not neutral or indifferent toward God but are actively “hostile” toward God. Although we might not be hostile toward the imaginary god we often create in our minds who always just so happens to conform to our own viewpoints and preferences, we are hostile toward the true God of the Bible. In Romans 1:30, Paul even goes so far as to refer to us as “haters of God.”

And the reason for our hostility and hatred toward God is very simple: we love our sin. And we love our sin to such a degree that we instinctively hate anyone or anything that would prevent us from having our sin—such as God. So, understand that it’s not just those who openly mock Christians and Christianity who are hostile toward God. In reality, everyone is by nature hostile toward God—even if their hostility is more subtle and hovers beneath the surface of a well-mannered personality.

Moreover, according to Paul, this inward hostility manifests itself outwardly in “doing evil deeds.” What’s within our hearts comes out in the form of a lifestyle that’s contrary to God’s will. Our inwardly rebellious hearts lead us to engage in outwardly rebellious behaviors. So, our overall condition is one being “alienated” from God, and it involves both inward hostility and outward rebellion.

In addition, I think it’s also worth mentioning that our alienation from God affects our relationships with one another as well. We live in a society in which people are at each other’s throats almost constantly. The level of hatred and vitriol people increasingly exhibit toward each other is at times downright astonishing. Yet, our horizontal alienation from each other is, in reality, only a symptom and a manifestation of our vertical alienation from God.

You see, one component of our alienation from God is that we’re ardently self-focused. To use a Latin phrase given to us by Augustine, we are “incurvatus in se”—or curved inward on ourselves. The phrase kind of reminds me of an ingrown toenail. Instead of being oriented outwardly toward God and others, we’re oriented inwardly to the point of being obsessed with our own desires. Paul aptly describes the condition in 2 Timothy 3:2 when he describes people as “lovers of self.” Our hearts have been warped and twisted in such a way that our greatest loyalty is to ourselves and our greatest desire is to serve ourselves.

And that’s what leads to our animosity toward each other. Because our self-serving desires are often directly contrary to the self-serving desires of those around us. We want what we want for ourselves, and they want what they want for themselves. And that’s a recipe for conflict and at times even hatred and ultimately alienation. So, that’s the way in which our alienation from God is at the root of our alienation from each other.

However, God hasn’t left us in this miserable condition. Instead, in his mercy, he’s acted decisively to rescue us from our self-destructive tendencies and address our alienation from him. So, now that we’ve looked first at the problem, let’s look at the intervention.

The Intervention

Paul speaks of it in the first part of verse 22. After describing how we were once “alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,” Paul states that “he [God] has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death….” So, even though we’ve demonstrated self-absorbed hatred toward God, he’s demonstrated self-sacrificing love toward us. According to Paul, he’s “reconciled” us to himself. God’s addressed our alienation with his reconciliation. He’s turned the enmity that once existed between us and him into friendship and restored the close relationship that originally existed in the Garden of Eden.

So, understand that God hasn’t merely brought about a cessation of the hostility that was once between us and him. He hasn’t just made us “not enemies.” Instead, he’s actually brought about full and complete reconciliation so that the enmity has been replaced with friendship. In fact, the Bible even teaches that God’s adopted us into his own family—as his very own sons and daughters. 1 John 3:1 declares, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” Also, Romans 8:14-16 tells us, ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

And Galatians 4:4-7 says, ⁴ But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. ⁶ And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. So, again, reconciliation[Colossians 1:22] involves not only the end of our enmity with God but also the establishment of a reconciled relationship with God—even as God’s own children.

So, for those who are Christians, is that the mentality you have as you relate to God? Do you view him as a harsh taskmaster who’s up there just waiting to bring the hammer down on you for the slightest slip-up or do you view him as a loving Father who cares for you more than you can even imagine? Also, do you view God as inaccessible or are you confident of the access he’s given you to himself so that you can enter his presence in prayer and lay your requests at his feet as often as you desire? And do you strive to serve God out of fear of what he’ll do if you don’t measure up or out of love as you remember the lavish love he’s demonstrated toward you?

So, you see that our reconciliation with God isn’t just a doctrine to be believed. It’s a reality that should revolutionize the way we view God and approach God.

Yet, at this point, we have to ask, how exactly is it that God’s able to reconcile us to himself? We know from the Bible that God’s holy and just, and we therefore understand that he can’t just turn a blind eye to our sins or sweep them under the rug. So, how can we as sinful people be reconciled with a holy God? We find the answer to this question as we continue on in verse 22 and see the means by which God’s brought about this reconciliation. Paul states that “he has now reconciled [us] in his body of flesh by his death.”

Imagine a teenager who’s left at home by himself for a few days deciding he wants to use the opportunity to throw a wild party for all of his friends. So, he invites over everyone he knows at school, and they bring people they know, and pretty soon there there’s a huge crowd of people there, and they not only trash the house but also do thousands of dollars of damage.

Now, of course, when the teenager’s parents come back home, they’re not going to be happy. The relational harmony between them and their son is going to be broken. And here’s the thing: even if their son apologizes and says he won’t do anything like that again and asks for their forgiveness, that doesn’t change the fact that some very costly damage has been done to the house. So, in order for full reconciliation to take place, someone’s going to have to pay to repair all the damage. 

Similarly, even if we ask God to forgive us for our sins, that doesn’t change the fact that our sins have to be punished in order for justice to be satisfied. Reconciliation isn’t possible until sufficient payment is made for our sins. And the problem is that we can’t make sufficient payment for our sins apart from spending eternity in hell.

However, the good news of the gospel is that God loved us so much that he decided to make that payment himself. Just like the parents of the teenager will likely choose to pay for the damage to the house themselves and thereby pave the way for full reconciliation to their son, God sent his own Son Jesus to pay the price for our sins. That’s what Paul’s talking about here in verse 22 when he states that God’s reconciled us “in his body of flesh by his death.” Jesus died on the cross to suffer the punishment for our sins so that we wouldn’t have to. And that’s the only way reconciliation is possible.

I also appreciate how Paul’s very clear that Jesus took on what he calls a “body of flesh.” Jesus wasn’t just a walking hologram but a real embodied human being. Paul likely emphasizes this because the false teachers in Colossae were claiming the opposite. Advocating a philosophy that would later become known as Gnosticism, they were teaching that physical matter is inherently evil and therefore that Jesus couldn’t possibly have taken on a physical body. Yet Paul understands how important it is to maintain that Jesus took on a “body of flesh” because that was a part of him being fully human. And the reason it was so important for Jesus to be fully human is because that was the only way he could act as our representative.

Some of you may have heard me compare it before to the way things work in the United States Senate. If someone wants to represent the people of Pennsylvania in the Senate, what’s one of the requirements for doing that? Among other things, one of the requirements is that they have to live in Pennsylvania. They have to actually be a resident of the state they’re seeking to represent. If they’re from Ohio, they’re not allowed to represent the people of Pennsylvania. Similarly, in order for Jesus to represent humanity on the cross and serve as our substitute and bear our sins, he had to be one of us. He had to be a real human being.

So, Jesus was fully God—as Paul’s already made clear in the previous verses—and also fully human, and he died on the cross to pay for our sins. And that’s how God’s reconciled us to himself. Now, of course, in order for this reconciliation to take effect, we have to actually turn from our sins and put our trust in Jesus to rescue us. The Bible teaches that, after Jesus died, he was raised from the dead and therefore now stands ready to rescue everyone to looks to him and places their confidence in him to save them from their sins. That’s the only way we can enjoy the reconciliation we’ve been discussing. So, if you haven’t already put your trust in Jesus, I can’t emphasize enough how critical it is for you to do that even today.

I also think it’s important to notice in verse 22 the fact that it’s God who’s initiated this reconciliation. Typically, when two people are at odds with each other, it’s the person who committed the offense who often makes the first move and initiates reconciliation. Yet God’s actually the one who’s initiated the reconciliation between us and him. So, whereas our alienation from God came as the result of our initiative, our reconciliation to God comes as the result of his initiative.

Not only that, I’d also like to point out the social implications of our reconciliation to God. It’s only as we’re reconciled to God that we can be truly reconciled to one another. As I noted earlier, it’s pretty obvious that we live in a very fractured society in which people are at each other’s throats almost constantly. Many people in our society don’t just disagree with each other—they actually hate each other. And we can talk about the need for more civil discourse all day long, but I’m not sure it’ll do any good unless people experience a profound and supernatural change of heart and are reconciled first with God as the foundation of being reconciled with one another. Vertical reconciliation with God is prerequisite for horizontal reconciliation with others. This is because it’s only as we’re humbled before God and filled with his love that we have the building blocks we need for reconciled relationships with one another. 

In addition, another social implication of our reconciliation to God is what the Apostle Paul calls “the ministry of reconciliation” we’ve been given toward others. In 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, Paul says that, ¹⁸ All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

So, for those of us who are Christians, God has reconciled us to himself in order that we might share with others the “message of reconciliation”—that is, share with them how they can be reconciled to God. We dare not be content merely with our own reconciliation to God but should yearn to see others reconciled to God as well.

The Result

Then, returning to our main passage, we read not only about the problem and the intervention, we also read—thirdly—about the result. Looking once again at verses 21-22, Paul says, ²¹ And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²² he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. So, that’s the result of our reconciliation: that Jesus might present us before the Father as “holy and blameless and above reproach.” 

To be “holy” means that we’ve been cleansed of our sin in order that we might be set apart to God. Paul also speaks of us being presented as “blameless.” More literally, this term refers to being without blemish and is the same language used of what was required of sacrificial animals in the Old Testament. In order to be considered suitable for sacrifice, an animal would have to be “without blemish,” which means that they had to be free of any physical defect. Similarly, Jesus will present us before the Father as those who are free of any moral defect. We’ll stand before God not as blemished but as blameless.

And lastly, Paul speaks of us being presented as “above reproach.” This means being so far from any kind of moral deficiency that no one can even bring any kind of credible charge against us. It means there’s not even the shadow or the slightest hint of anything morally questionable about us.

And it’s important to understand that, for those of us who are Christians, these things are true of us even now. At this very moment, there’s a sense in which we’re already “holy and blameless and above reproach” before God. Now, as my wife can tell you, there are many instances in which my actual behavior falls far short of this standard of perfection. I have a long way to go to get to that point—and I’m pretty sure you do as well. In fact, I know you do. However, even though we all fall far short of perfection in terms of our behavior, the Bible teaches that when God looks at us, he sees us as if we’re already perfect. This is because we’ve been clothed, as it were, with the perfect righteousness of Jesus. If you wanted to use theological terminology, you could say that the righteous status of Jesus has been imputed to us.

You see, when Jesus came to this earth, he didn’t immediately go to the cross. Instead, he first lived a life of perfect obedience to God’s law. And it was absolutely essential for him to do that—because, in order for us to be fit for heaven, we need not only to be cleansed of our sin but also to have perfect righteousness. So, Jesus lived a perfectly righteous life and is therefore now able to impute his own righteous status to us.

You might think of it this way. In order to get to heaven, we need a perfect score on God’s test. We need a grade of A+, 100%. That perfection is what’s required in order to dwell in the presence of a perfectly holy God in heaven. Now, obviously, every single one of us has failed that test. And not only have we failed the test, we’ve actually failed miserably with a grade of 0%. You see, the Bible says in Isaiah 64:6 that even the most righteous things we do are nothing but “filthy rags” in the eyes of God—because they all flow out of a sinful heart and are therefore tainted. So, our grade isn’t just barely shy of a passing grade, which is 100%. Our grade is 0%. Yet, when Jesus came to this earth and lived as one of us, guess what grade he earned? 100%. He answered every question on this “test” correctly and earned a perfect grade and therefore passed the test.

Now, here’s the beauty of the gospel: as we put our trust in Jesus, we get to swap test scores with him. Jesus takes our 0% on himself and suffers the penalty for our failure on the cross. But remember…we still need a 100% test score to get into heaven, don’t we? So, not only does Jesus take our 0%, he also gives us his 100%. His perfect test score is applied to our record. And that’s true of us even at this moment. When God the Father looks at us, he doesn’t see our sin but instead sees only the perfect righteousness of his Son.

So, maybe you’re here this morning and have put your trust in Jesus but are still struggling with feelings of guilt and shame about things you’ve done in the past. Understand that those things don’t define you any longer. Because of Jesus and the righteousness he’s imputed to you, you can be free of the feelings of both guilt before God and shame before others. 

In addition, not only has Jesus already imputed his righteousness to us, he’s also in the process of imparting his righteousness to us through a process commonly known as sanctification. In preparation for presenting us before the Father one day as “holy and blameless and above reproach,” Jesus is working within us now to transform our character. And we know that, once we’re glorified in heaven, our character will be fully perfected as we stand before God. On that day, we’ll finally be in practice what we already are now in position. The imputed righteous status of Jesus we presently possess will be matched by the imparted righteous character of Jesus.

Martin Luther compares it to administering medicine to a patient who has a life-threatening illness. A physician might administer the medicine and be so confident the medicine will work that he declares that the patient is well immediately after administering the medicine. Of course, the patient might still technically be sick at that moment, but it’s only a matter of time before the medicine has its intended effect and makes the patient well. Similarly, as soon as we put our trust in Jesus, God immediately views us as perfectly righteous and then begins the gradual but inevitable process of transforming our character until it matches the perfectly righteous status he’s declared us to have. So, that’s the process of Jesus presenting us before the Father as “holy and blameless and above reproach.”

The Condition

Yet as we look once again at our main passage, we see that there’s a condition all of this depends on. So having looked at the problem, the intervention, and the result, let’s now look finally at the condition Paul adds to all of this in verse 23: “if indeed 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.”

So, the condition of us being reconciled to God and one day being presented before him as “holy and blameless and above reproach” is that we “continue” in our faith in Jesus. Even though each one of us will face challenges in our lives that test our faith, the mark of a true Christian is that he or she perseveres through those trials and continues with a faith that’s, as Paul says, “stable and steadfast,” and doesn’t shift from the hope of the gospel.

It’s also helpful to note that scholars tell us that the construction of Paul’s statement in the original Greek indicates that Paul fully expects the Colossian Christians to continue in their faith. The thrust of verse 23 is therefore as follows: “if indeed you continue in the faith—as I fully expect you will—stable and steadfast….” And the reason we can be confident of this is because God’s the one who ultimately enables us to continue. It’s his strength—rather than our own—that sustains us through times of testing and guarantees we continue in our faith all the way to heaven.