The gospel ministry proclaims the all-sufficient Christ
I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by finesounding arguments. 5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
Paul’s desire to lead believers to full spiritual maturity targeted some very specific areas of concern among the Colossians. The apostle regarded the spiritual challenge those believers were facing as a particularly serious one, and he wanted to help them overcome it. In his ministry he was strenuously exerting himself also for the believers at Laodicea, to whom this letter was also to be read. Paul had never visited Colosse or Laodicea to do mission work. Most of the Christians there were not personally known to him. Nevertheless, Paul wanted them to know about his love for them and his concern for their souls.
His Christian love and his prayers were not reserved only for Christians in congregations he had founded or visited. His love and prayers embraced all believers everywhere. The very fact that he wrote this epistle shows his concern for the Christians of the Lycus Valley. Even as he wrote, he was wrestling for their souls in earnest prayer before the Lord. He wanted to encourage them and secure their hearts in Christ by once more holding before them Jesus, the all-sufficient Savior, as the unchanging object of their trust and the source of all the help they would ever need.
By holding Christ before them, Paul wanted first of all to encourage the believers in Colosse and Laodicea in their faith. He wanted them to put aside all doubt and wavering and to cling exclusively to Jesus as the Lord of their hearts and of their lives. By encouraging them in their faith, the apostle also hoped to unite their hearts more firmly in the love that results from faith. In unity there is strength. Believers united in faith and love and in a firm stand on God’s Word are able to detect and combat the errors that threaten their faith better than isolated believers.
As they grew in faith and love, Paul promised, the congregations in Colosse and Laodicea would have the riches of complete understanding. Their members would come to an even deeper knowledge of Jesus as their Savior and Lord. The longer and the more diligently Christians search the Scriptures, the more firmly they will be grounded in the knowledge of God’s will and the more they will understand that all the fullness of God’s spiritual riches is found in Jesus Christ alone.
The false teachers troubling the Colossians tried to minimize Christ. They boasted of their own wisdom and knowledge and of the powers of the spirits and the angels they worshiped, but neither man nor angel nor any other creature has anything to offer that cannot be found in an incomparably superior measure in Christ. In Christ all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden, not to remain hidden, but to be found in him. Believers who have come to know Christ through the gospel are spiritually rich, and they have true knowledge. All claims of wisdom, knowledge, and spiritual treasures apart from Christ are empty and false.
Paul concludes this section, therefore, with a plea to his readers, who will always have to contend with false teachers, to not be deceived by the impressive-sounding arguments of men but to stand firm on the riches they possess in Christ. Again he reminds his original readers that, though he is physically absent from them and has never met most of them, they are with him always in his thoughts and prayers. And, though he does not minimize the danger that is threatening them, the apostle is also gratified because the gospel is continuing to produce fruit in their congregation.
The false teachers were doing their utmost to destroy the Colossians’ faith, but, on the whole, the believers in Colosse had remained unmoved from their foundation on Christ. No schism, no disorderly behavior had appeared in the congregation. For the most part, the Colossians were exhibiting a sterling, steadfast faith. Over this the apostle rejoiced, and he urged them to continue to stand firm in that gospel-based, Christ-centered faith.
May we also heed his encouragement, so that we stand firm against all false teachers and continue to grow in Christ until our hopes are all realized and our knowledge is made perfect in the glory of eternity.