An Impossible Leap?
“Be perfect” (Matthew 5:48). That is the standard we talked about in last week’s writing, the standard all of us humans are held to, and the Christian, especially. This standard is seen to be the holiness of God. It is that because God, alone, apart from all others, is altogether perfect. More specifically, right now we are talking about the perfection of his character, his all-surpassingly great love. There is not a single moment of time, no matter how small, where God is anything but loving. Therefore, God is perfect in character, in love, and because of that he is holy. He is unlike the character that exemplifies this world, which is hatred for God and man. God has called us to be like him. That is the standard.
Now, there were clues given in last week’s writing and in the latest Growth series as to the hope and security we, Christians, have regarding the qualification for this standard. If we have put our faith and hope in Jesus Christ and his gospel, then we have evidence in Scripture that we are titled as, “Saint” (Col. 1:2). To be called a saint is to be called a holy one. You are holy if your faith is in Jesus; you have been set apart, sanctified unto God. How, then, do we make this seemingly impossible leap from being a part of this unholy world to now being considered separate from it, holy and beloved by God (Col. 3:12)? Have we met the standard? As was mentioned in the previous article and promised to be the discussion of this one, “This mystery is great” (Eph. 5:32).
Christ in You
It is this mystery that we will now jump into, “That is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints” (Col. 1:26). There are a few things from this verse to recognize: 1. The mystery. 2. It has been hidden from past ages and generations. And 3. It has now been manifested to God’s saints. There are many mysteries spoken of in Scripture, things to be revealed (Mat. 13:11; Rom. 11:25; 1 Cor. 2:7, 15:51; Eph. 1:9, 3:3-6; 2 Thess. 2:7; Rev. 1:20, 10:7, etc.). That is what they are, too, things to be revealed. It is not as though God wants these things to be mysteries forever, but they are formerly or currently secret things of his plan and purposes for past, present, and future history. The mystery we are discussing here is as Paul stated in the verse, revealed, now, to God’s saints. Still, what is the specific mystery we are discussing?
The answer is found in context, in Colossians 2:2-3. Before I quote it, I want to lead up to it in the way the apostle, Paul, does. He says he was made a minister of the gospel (Col. 1:23). That entails the, “Preaching of the word of God” (Col. 1:25), the proclaiming of Christ (1:28), and the striving (1:29) to admonish and teach everyone (1:28). So, then, with that he says he does it so they will attain, “To all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:2-3).
God’s mystery is Jesus Christ and Paul preaches and teaches Jesus Christ so that everyone would have what he says there in vv.2-3, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge making them wealthy or rich not with money or the things of this world, but with Jesus Christ. It is in Christ that, “All the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col. 2:9). Being fully God, Jesus is the source of all truth, goodness, righteousness, love, perfection, and eternal life. But the question remains, how does this mystery help us to make the jump from unholiness to the required standard of holiness? Is it from knowledge, alone, that we obtain the standard? How can that be? It seems to me someone could see the other side, know it, but not have it. They could see it but still not be there. So, the question remains.
What is the effect, the direct application of putting your faith in Jesus Christ and his gospel message? Again, how can we be considered saints, holy, through faith in Christ? Continuing from where we began in 1:26 where Paul brought up the mystery that we now know is Jesus Christ and has been manifested to God’s saints, he goes on to say regarding these saints, “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. Did you catch that? “Christ in you.” What is the riches of the glory of the mystery? “Christ in you.” The impossible leap from unholiness to holiness, to perfection and all the wealth included in Christ is not just seen and known from a distance. It is not out of your grasp if you are a Christian; it is in you. The word, gospel, means “good news”. This gospel is, indeed, good news.
Upcoming
“And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach – if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard…” (Col. 1:21-23). In those three verses, we see everything that we want to explore to set a foundation for understanding the standard of Philippians 3:16-17, mentioned in the first article of this series. We were alienated from God, unholy, but now because of Jesus, “Christ in you,” we can be presented before God, “Holy and blameless.” Though, there is a big, “If,” that begins Col. 1:23. That, “If,” and what follows is linked with our use of Phil. 3:16 that says, “However, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.”
We will explore that Philippians passage in another title before we move on to the attributes that make up the standard. This was part one of two of The Mystery. In part two, we will look more into this mystery of Christ in you.
-Pastor Ben