LESSON PLAN 10 - Col. 1:24-2:5 - THE MYSTERY HIDDEN FOR AGES
INTRODUCTION: Last week, in Col. 1:15-23, we heard Paul teach an extraordinary lesson that was intended to better ground the Colossian Christians in the fundamentals of their Christian faith, specifically, that Jesus Christ is preeminent above al things. His rationale was that if (1) the Colossians better understood (1) the nature and mission of Christ and (2) who Christ is and what He came to do for them, it would give them the theological foundation they needed to completely refute the garbage the false teachers had been feeding them. Written in the form a memorable poem, Paul's message provides a model of how we-as 21st Century Christians-should be nurturing the faith of new believers in our churches. This week, in Col. 1:24-2:5, we will hear Paul shift gears as he gives them a detailed report his work for the cause of the gospel generally, and for the Colossian Christians specifically. In vv. 24-29, he explains two aspects of his ministry: (1) his own suffering for the sake of the gospel and his stewardship of what he refers to as the "mystery," which is the unfolding of God's plan for the entire world; then in Chapter 2, vv. 1-3, he explains his specific efforts for the Colossian, and in vv. 4-5, issues a stern warning about the real dangers of being side-tracked by false teaching.
Read Col. 1:24-28 - PAUL REJOICES IN HIS SUFFERING FOR THE COLOSSIANS
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
v. 24a: "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake" - All of the perils that Paul was required to endure over the course of three missionary journeys is legendary. I'm not going to list all of them, but you can find a good summary in 2 Cor. 11:24-28. When Paul says "I rejoice" in them, he's isn't speaking as a masochist who derives a perverse pleasure from pain and humiliation but rejoices because this struggle means the gospel is being preached and that the church is being built up both in numbers and maturity and finally, because all of his suffering has eternal significance.
v. 24b: "and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church" - Paul isn't implying that Christ's suffering on the cross was in any way deficient but saying that, having ascended to heaven, Christ is no longer here in the flesh to absorb the wrath of the enemies of God that is now being
directed against Paul and other Christian workers.
v. 25a: "of which I became a minister" - The word "minister" (Gk. diakanos) also means servant. In v. 23 (last week), Paul referred to himself as a servant of the gospel and now, he's also referring to himself as a servant of "His body" (v. 34b), which is the church.
v. 25b: "according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you" - The word "stewardship" (Gk. oikonomia) was a widely used term for a person appointed to exercise managerial responsibility over a large estate or property. In this context, God was the master who appointed Paul to administer and oversee the function of churches-everywhere.
v. 25c: "to make the word of God fully known" - Paul will explain in detail what he means by "fully known" in the next verse.
v. 26a: "the mystery hidden for ages and generations" - A "mystery" is spiritual knowledge or understanding that God keeps hidden for a time, then reveals it to those who come to Him in faith (Rom. 16:25; Eph. 3:9). For example, the gospel is a mystery (Eph. 6:19) of Christ Himself (Col. 2:2). In Ephesians, Paul explained it this way: "how the mystery was made known to me by revelation [from the risen Christ in Act 9], as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel." (Eph. 3:3-6). Thus, the mystery is that God chose the Jews to be His people at the time of Abraham but kept secret the fact that Christ would one day open the door of the church to the Gentiles, which is to say that God was unfolding His plan to save the world.
v. 26b: "but now revealed to his saints" - That which was hidden for ages and generations is now revealed. But this is true only for the "saints," (Gk. hagios, lit. holy ones) which refers to those whom God has regenerated and made his own in Jesus Christ. The term "saints" was applied to any Christian believer to whom God had revealed the mystery. This title didn't imply that the saints were sinless people but signified those who had been made holy by Christ's sacrifice on the cross.
v. 27a: "To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery" - The "mystery" God revealed is actually traceable to the covenant relationship that God made with Abram, even before Israel existed as a nation, where God promised him that "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" Gen. 12:3. This promise alluded to a day and time when the exclusive relationship God enjoyed with Israel would be expanded to all people, i.e., Gentiles, though the Jewish people developed a marked tendency not to see this.
v. 27b: "which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" - Keep in mind that most of these Colossian Christians are Gentiles, and as such, Paul is telling them that their Gentile origins are no longer an obstacle to their salvation. He confirms that "Christ in" them, "the hope of glory," extends to them the promise that they would experience the resurrection of the dead and see Christ in His glory. Thus, to summarize all of this, Paul is making "the word of God fully known" and revealing the "mystery" hidden through the ages by preaching that Jesus Christ is the goal, the content, and the meaning of all of God's previous revelation. All of God's previous revelation in the OT, from Genesis to Malachi, was leading up to and preparing the way for the Incarnation, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ-He is the complete fulfillment and there is nothing more. The point Paul is leading up to is that any teaching that there is more revelation beyond Christ is absolutely, completely false.
v. 28a: "Him we proclaim" - The "Him" whom Paul proclaims is Christ in all His fullness.
v. 28b: "warning everyone" - The "warning" (Gk. noutheteo, lit. to shout a warning) Paul issues here is that a person's relationship with Christ is a life and death issue.
v. 28c: "and teaching everyone with all wisdom - The "wisdom" that Paul teaches isn't that of all the great philosophers that was so prized by scholars of that era but very simply the cross of Christ, because His cross is the ultimate expression of God's wisdom. (1 Cor. 1:25-27).
v. 28d: "that we may present everyone mature in Christ" - The word used here for "mature" (Gk. teleios) literally means to be made whole. It wasn't enough for Paul to simply see people make a profession of faith in Christ but to see them perfected into mature and fruitful, Christ-like believers.
APPLICATION 1: The "hidden" mystery that the word of God makes fully known is that Jesus Christ is the goal, the content, and the meaning of all of God's previous revelation. All of God's previous revelation in the OT was leading up to and preparing the way for the incarnation, life, death, resurrection of Jesus Christ-He is the complete fulfillment, and there is nothing more.
Read Col. 1-29-2:1 - HOW GREAT A STRUGGLE I HAVE FOR YOU
29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. 2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face,
v. 29: "For this I toil, struggling with all His energy that He powerfully works within me" - What Paul is "struggling with all His energy," that is, with the truly remarkable spiritual empowerment that God had given him, was his passion to help these Colossians and other Christian believers grow and mature into the fruitful and Christ-like believers referenced in v. 28. Because God's had appointed Paul as His chosen servant to spread the Gospel of grace, Paul worked tirelessly to preach this gospel to Jew and Gentile alike and then, worked unceasingly to bring them to spiritual maturity.
v. 2:1a: "For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you" - The word used for "struggle" here (Gk. agon) pictures a contest, a virtual battle, like those fought in the Roman arenas. Paul was a prime target of Satan who sought to tear down Paul's work in ministry with false teaching. As Paul said earlier to the Ephesians: "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Eph. 6:12); and this represents Paul's verbal battle against false teachers who are working to wreck Paul's efforts to bring spiritual maturity to the churches.
v. 2:1b: "and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face" - Paul intended that this letter would also be read to the church in Laodicia, which was only nine miles northwest of Colossae. Paul's efforts here are made more problematic because he's unable to deliver this message in person.
APPLICATION 2: The evil powers behind the false teaching that Paul struggled against were spiritual. Because of Paul's huge success in spreading the gospel message, he was a prime target of Satan and the spiritual forces of evil who used false teaching to tear-down Paul's efforts to bring these young churches into spiritual maturity.
Read Col. 2:2-5 - THAT NO ONE MAY DELUDE YOU WITH PLAUSIBLE ARGUMENTS
2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
v. 2a: "that their hearts may be encouraged" - The gospel message isn't just for the unconverted-the lost, but also to "encourage" (Gk. parakaleó, lit. to be close beside, joined with) believers by giving them reassurance and inner-strength, what we think of as firm unswerving, conviction about the truth of our faith.
v. 2b: "being knit together in love" - This statement literally pictures Christians, regardless of background, whether Jew, Gentile, or otherwise, being welded together in a bond of love with no barriers between them; however, the false teachers were seeking to re-erect these barriers and use them to create divisions in the church.
v. 2c: "to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding" - the "riches" to which Paul is referring is the importance of fully "understanding" God's truth-i.e., the gospel-and all the "assurance"-the promises of God-that come with it.
v. 2d: "and the knowledge of God's mystery" - Which, as already stated, means that Jesus Christ is the goal, the content, and the meaning of all of God's previous revelation.
v. 2e: "which is Christ" - Christ is the complete fulfillment and nothing more can be added.
v. 3: "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" - Valuable treasures are often hidden away for the purpose of keeping them safe; but, in the case of the wisdom and knowledge hidden in Christ, all of it is available to those who believe in Him. What this means is that any wisdom or spiritual knowledge that comes from any source other than Christ cannot be trusted. This confirms the truth that everything there is to know about God is known through Jesus Christ.
v. 4: "I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments" - While Paul doesn't go into the specifics (because they really don't matter), the false teachers were using clever arguments-rhetoric-that probably combined elements of worldly philosophies, reasoning, or logic. Sometimes these arguments, when cleverly put, may seem reasonable or wise but are in reality foolish when compared to God's wisdom.
v. 5a: "For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit" - Because both the Colossians and Paul live "in Christ" and possess the Spirit of God, there is a sense-spiritually-in which Paul is, in fact, present with them, inasmuch as the Sprit of God is omnipresent.
v. 5b: "rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ" -the terms, "good order" and "firmness" are both military metaphors that express the idea that the Colossians should be like troops who are drawn up in battle formation, standing firm like soldiers to resist the enemy.
APPLICATION 3: The spiritual wisdom and knowledge hidden in Christ is available to all who believe in Him. Everything a Christian believer needs to know about God can be known through Jesus Christ. Worldly wisdom and philosophy can sometime seem reasonable or wise but is in reality foolish when compared to God's wisdom, which is in Christ. Therefore, and any spiritual wisdom or knowledge that comes from any source other than Christ cannot be trusted.
PRAYER: Father in heaven, we come before You today, thanking You for Your mercy and Your undeserved grace. We thank You also for the great turnout at the Fall Festival we held at this church last Sunday afternoon. I pray, Lord, that You will help all of us to realize that those young moms and dads and their children that we encountered there truly represent the future of our church-our combined efforts to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We need to understand that they need us for the sake of their families and their children and that we need them in order to accomplish the vision and mission You gave to us when You led us to build Your church on this site over 20 years ago. I pray, God, that You will equip us to do this great work-whatever it takes. Help us Lord to get out of our comfortable pews and do the work that needs to done. And I ask these things in the name of Jesus, the perfecter and finisher of our faith, AMEN.
