| CHRIST IN ALL COL. 1:25-28 KING JAMES BIBLE Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God; 26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:29 KJV NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE 25 Of this church I 1was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, 26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His 1saints, 27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. NASB TODAYS ENGLISH VERSION 25And I have been made a servant of the church by God, who gave me this task to perform for your good. It is the task of fully proclaiming his message, 26 which is the secret he hid through all past ages from all the human race but has now revealed to his people. 27 And Gods plan is to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret which he has for all peoples. the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God. 28 So we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we warn and teach them in order to bring each one into Gods presence as a mature individual in union with Christ. TEV YOUNGS LITERAL VERSION 25 of which I did become a ministrant according to the dispensation of God, that was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, 26 the secret that hath been hid from the ages and from the generations, but now was manifested to his saints, 27 to whom God did will to make known what is the riches of the glory of this secret among the nations which is Christ in you, the hope of the glory, 28 whom we proclaim, warning every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, YLT THE MESSAGE BIBLE When I became a servant in this church, I experienced this suffering as a sheer gift, Gods way of helping me serve you, laying out the whole truth. This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now its out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, therefore you can look forward to sharing in Gods glory. Its that simple. That is the substance of our Message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less. Thats what Im working so hard at day after day, year after year, doing my best with the energy God so generously gives me. THE MESSAGE BIBLE 1 I woke up this morning at about 3am and just lay there for a while but could not go back to sleep. I finally got up about 4am. I immediately sat down at my computer and began to read Col. 1:25-28 in a small devotional, it jumped out at me and I knew God was beginning to speak to me. You just know sometimes and it is wonderful. The above scripture is quite clouded in the KJV, NASB and NIV also in many other translations that I do not have time or space to reference. The problem is with the word translated gentiles in verse 27. It is translated from the Greek word ethnos its where we get our English word ethnic. Most do not know the true meaning of the word. Here is a Greek dictionarys definition: Strongs Greek Dictionary: 1484 Transliterated: ethnos; Pronounced: eth-nos Strongs No: 1484 Transliterated: ethnos; Pronounced: eth-nos 1. a multitude (whether of men or of beasts) associated or living together a. a company, troop, swarm 2. a multitude of individuals of the same nature or genus a. the human family 3. a tribe, nation, people group 4. in the OT, foreign nations not worshipping the true God, pagans, Gentiles Here we see this underlying Greek word here translated gentiles means the rest of humanity that have not known the true God or have been worshiping him or ever heard of Him. So we see that the passage is actually saying that God has had a secret that has been kept hidden until now; now that he has revealed it to his chosen, set apart or called out ones. In order that they would share it with the rest of humanity. This secret is simply and profoundly that the seed of Christ is in all the human race, waiting to be awakened by hearing the gospel - in you and me, Jews, gentiles, heathen, pagans, all the nations of the world whatever their ethnic origin might be. This is the hope for us all becoming the glorious ideal that God has always purposed and planned for His creation. What a wonderful, awesome loving God! Paul was saying that his commission from God was to proclaim a message that was to fulfill, fill up, or complete (Greek 4137. from 4134; to make full, to complete: accomplish ) the word or message of God. In other words Paul was saying this is the final word on the truth of Christ and what he was all about. Christ completes the plan and purpose of God by bringing the whole ethnos all nations to himself through the cross. Jesus said: if I be lifted up, I will draw (drag 1670) all 3956 men unto me John. 12:32 1670. helkō; a prim. vb.; to drag:drag(1) dragged(2), draw(1), draws(1), drew(2), haul(1). 3956. pas; a prim. word; all, every all God was saying through the cross - I love you all - and he is proving it by reconciling us all in Christ. He truly does love us all and wants to bring us all into a loving relationship with him even the difficult ones, the messed up ones, the bad and the good. And he has made this possible through the death and resurrection of Christ as the new federal head of the human race just as Adam was a type of the head in the beginning, Jesus came as the second Adam to fix what Adam broke and give us all a new hope. God did not lose anything or anyone in the garden; as a matter of fact GOD DOES NOT LOSE, PERIOD! HE IS GOD FOR HEAVENS SAKE! He had a secret plan all the time. He just decided not to reveal it at that time. He wanted his children to trust him for who he is, not give them a written guarantee. You do not tell your children everything you are doing, you just expect them to trust that you love them and will take care of them and you know what you are doing. How would you feel if your child came to you every day and said are you going to feed me today? Will you love me if I mess up? We expect them to know these things because of who we have shown ourselves to be in always loving and providing now and in the past. As Adam brought all to sin and death even so God has provided and sent Jesus Christ and brought all to righteousness and life through the cross and resurrection. The penalty of sin was death and so we died in Christ - the penalty is paid in full. But thats not the end, we were also raised with him and this is a new creation no longer condemned to death and destruction but raised to life and peace in the Spirit. Paul sums this up better than I can in 2 Corinthians: 5:13-21 NRSV 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. 15 And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view;b even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given 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 the message of reconciliation to us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Now lets break it down or as some would say lets break the bread of life. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. 15 And he died for all. According to Paul here ALL died in Christ so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view we know him no longer in that way. Everything that we can see with these physical eyes from a human point of view has died and was buried with Christ when he died as us. What we now see in the physical realm does not necessarily agree with what is true in the spirit realm. Jesus is no longer with us in the flesh but in the Spirit. I know him now as the Spirit. I have not seen him lately with my physical eyes; have you? That has all changed. The one that John saw in the vision on the island of Patmos was much different than the Jesus that he knew from Galilee. So I should not regard anyone I see according to their outward condition that is temporal, fleshly and passing away. I do not know all that is going on inside of them. 1Sam. 16:6 For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart. ESV. From now on I will see through spiritual eyes that can see the kingdom of God among and within us all. Jesus said that unless one is born of the spirit you cannot see the kingdom of God; you cannot see with spiritual eyes. He did not say you were not in the kingdom he said you could not see it. Jesus also said that the Kingdom of God was not only here but also within you (he said this to a group of self-righteous religious folks - Pharisees). We must begin to see the kingdom working in people in a new way, like Jesus did. Because we are now in a new creation, the old order has passed away and the new has come. God is patiently waiting on us and knows that we will finally get it. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! The subject here from the beginning of this passage has been ALL not some because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. 15 And he died for all. So the translation if anyone (as if some were not included) is not in keeping with the context. Lets look at the original Greek word used here for IF in the Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Greek (New Testament) 1623 (ei): usually conditional pt. Str 1487 & 1489 & 1490 & 1499 & 1508 & 1509 & 153 1. LN 89.65 if adj. marker of adj. condition, real, hypothetical, actual, or contrary to fact (Mt 4:3; 11:21; 26:42; Lk 19:42); 2. LN 89.30 because, since; adj. marker of cause or reason (Mt 6:30; Ro 6:8); 3. LN 90.26 that, whether, if; adj. marker of an indirect question (Mk 15:44; Jn 9:25); 4. LN 89.131 (ei mē), except that (Mt 5:13; 11:27) Now a better translation in keeping with the context would be BECAUSE OR SINCE anyone, no matter who you are; you are in Christ, you have become and are in a new creation and the old has passed away. Now all things have become new! [ Caldwell Translation CT for short ] thats also the initials for CAT scan showing that my translation looks deep into things :) Just kidding; well maybe not? LOL For those would be argumentive even if you translate the Greek with the word IF the contextual subject is still all being dead in Christ all things being made new so the words if any would still be contextually referring to the all referred to before and after this phrase. 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given 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 the message of reconciliation to us. Whatever may have appeared to have been lost in the garden was brought back reconciled to God by his secret plan of the ages to be revealed in Christ. God is not counting keeping a record of our sins but has reconciled us through Christ. PRAISE GOD! HE IS NOT MAD AT YOU. Now he wants you to believe it so you can enjoy it and begin a new relationship with him; working out (living) your own salvation. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God God has already been reconciled to you through Christ; what more could he do? The passage says YOU need to be reconciled to God, contrary to traditional theology God does not need to be reconciled to you. You are only separated from God in your own mind and beliefs. COL.1:21 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christs physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation NIV. That is why the bible says in Ephesians 4:23 (KJV) 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; It is in your mind that you understand and so believe the truth and are saved from your own blindness to the truth of Gods love and grace. . 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God Jesus became our sin and was put to death; and we became His righteousness and were brought to life in his resurrection. Rom. 5:8-21 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. 9 Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11 But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. We have now received the reconciliation, but most just dont know it or dont believe it. You dont receive salvation at some alter or in some ceremony or by some prayer. You have already received it, you just need to come to a realization of it in your mind and believe it. Alters and ceremonies and prayers are all good im not knocking that, but they dont get you saved, Jesus did that, you just have to believe it. All these ceremonies are just tools that God uses to awaken our mind to the truth in a way that our fleshly nature in this physical realm can relate to what He has already done in the spiritual realm and believe its true for us for us personally. The good news is God has saved us all from the curse of Adam and brought us into the blessings of Christ which we inter into by faith believing that he did what he said he did. He said he was the savior of the world and the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world; did he take away the sin of the world or not? Do you believe him? Or did he fail? Or did he just take away your sin and the people's sin at your Church? You say well I have my freewill and that over rules Gods will. Do you have children or loved ones? Would you let them do something that would irreparably damage their body or mind? If you had the power to stop them wouldnt you? You wouldnt say well I told them and they made their choice. If you had the power to hold that childs hand and keep them from running into the freeway you would not let go because you love them. Or you would build a fence that would let them only go so far and no farther. Consider what I am saying. And that would only be protecting them from a temporary injury even if it lasted a lifetime. But we are talking about eternity here. Well I have good news God is all powerful, all knowing, ever-present and loves us ALL! And never lets go. 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned 13 sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. 14 Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come. Adam was successful in bringing us all into that mess. But he wasnt the real head of the human race, the bible says he was only a type. Jesus is the real head and Lord over all and he was successful in bringing us all out of that state of sin and death. That was Gods secret plan from the beginning. Listen to the rest of this passage; the same all that was condemned are the same all that will be made righteous 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one mans trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. 16 And the free gift is not like the effect of the one mans sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. 17 If, because of the one mans trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore just as one mans trespass led to condemnation for all, so one mans act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. 19 For just as by the one mans disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one mans obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 But law came in, with the result that the trespass multiplied; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, just as sin exercised dominion in death, so grace might also exercise dominion through justification leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Since all would agree that Adams sin caused all to become sinners agreeing with the first part of verse 19; why do we try to say the second part about all being made righteous would apply to the same all that is referred to in the first part of the verse. How come we change groups in the middle of the verse? Now just as without your choice you were made a sinner so also with or without your choice you will be made righteous (not a sinner, you will quit sinning) Praise God! Now dont get all upset about your free will I do believe we have free will but it is limited by the Sovereign will of God. God wills that you be made righteous and that requires us chosing Christ as savior and believe me God can allow the fire of whatever sort it is to get hot enough for long enough either now or later that you will chose Christ. Were not your circumstances or your realization of them what brought you to bow at the feet of Jesus and ask Him to forgive you? Didnt you come to realize later that your sins were already forgiven 2000 years ago; and you just were awakened to the fact? every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ as Lord Isa. 45:22-23 Rom. 14:11 Phil. 2:10-11. It is totally illogical to think that anyone would do otherwise given the proper opportunity. Lets see; do I choose to continue to stay in this suffering getting worse and worse or do I chose to be set free and enjoy abundant life, peace, and joy? you get it. Now that you have heard the truth you are free from the dominion of death in your mind and free to believe the truth of the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ. He has saved us from our sins. And whoever the son sets free is free indeed! Concerning this; Jesus said in John 8:34-36 (NIV) 34 Jesus replied, I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. You have been made a slave to sin through Adam but it was not your choice and it is not a permanent condition. Because the Son of God who has all authority has chosen to set you free from sin and death. And what he does is forever because he is forever. YOU ARE FREE, FREE, FREE INDEED! BELIEVE IT, RECIEVE IT, IN JESUS NAME, AND INTER INTO THE JOY OF THE LORD! Rev. Dennis D. Caldwell RETURN TO HOME PAGE |