Your Story: Past, Present, Future (Colossians 1:21-23).Thursday October 8, 2026
1. Their previous state: born in Adam - alienated enemies who do evil deeds.
Paul first reminds them of the vast gulf of separation.
Col 1:21 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds
Your position determines your condition - your identity affords options for behavior.
Every person is born in Adam and so is born a sinner. Doctrine of original sin; doctrine of total depravity.
Psa 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
Psa 58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb; These who speak lies go astray from birth.
Ecc 7:20 Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins
Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Rom 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive
It is not your committed sin that made you a sinner. You were born one. In the same way, you did not save yourself, you were saved.
Col 1:22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death
2. Your present condition: reconciled through Christ.
Because of God’s grace through the atoning work of Christ we have been reconciled.
In familiar Pauline fashion, he uses a before and after approach, “once … but now” to describe their salvation. It must therefore be important for us not to forget the past.
Paul tells us that he:
Phil 3:13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
But the past that Paul chooses to forget is in the realm of specifics (Phi 3:5-8): He was a top rated Pharisee; he persecuted the church of the God he claimed to represent.
He did not leave in the forgotten past his status as a sinner in dire need of God’s mercy.
1Ti 1:15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost.
The gift of God that is life without regret. The gift of God to live a life of gratitude.
Reconciliation by His fleshly body through death: the Lamb of God.
These terms along with the terms that describe our future presentation carry an OT sacrificial connotation.
The issue is how can the holy love of God come to terms with the unholy lovelessness of man?
The short answer is the self-substitution of God.
The OT sacrifices were clearly substitutionary in meaning.
So why so much blood?
Lev 17:11 'For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.'
Life was given for life, the life of the innocent victim for the life of the sinful offerer.
We can then see what the blood of Christ means.
Heb 9:22 without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Heb 10:4-5 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, … a body you have prepared for Me.
He gave His life for us: spiritual death and then physical death followed by resurrection.
This and this alone is the means of your reconciliation.
The human in time looks to the past, the present, and now the future, and it continues the OT sacrificial idea a little further.
3. Their future destiny: presented holy, blameless, beyond reproach.
The words holy and blameless are used to describe the unblemished animals set apart for God as OT sacrifices (Exo 29:37-38).
This has led some good expositors to conclude that these terms pointed to Christ presenting His saints to the Father for approval.
The third word, beyond reproach, moves us beyond the altar to the bench (courtroom or judgment seat). “Beyond reproach” means to bring someone to court and find that they are perfectly irreproachable before the judge.
Therefore the sacrificial overtones refer to Christ as the Lamb of God who reconciled us through His fleshly body through death and the result is that at the throne of God we are like Him, holy, blameless, and irreproachable.
The word given to this outlook of the future is hope.
Col 1:5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel
Col 1:12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.
Our culture has lost hope. But man cannot live without hope.
Looking to the proper past, present, and future from the foundation of Christ all pour their contents into our present obligation.
Col 1:10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects…
4. The present duty: persisting in faith and maintaining hope
Col 1:23 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, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.
The force is: “If — and let us assume this is true for the sake of argument — …”
The protasis is in a first-class condition and Paul is assuming that the Colossians are going to fulfill it.
What are they going to fulfill? They will remain faithful to the hope of the gospel.
What is forsaking the belief that one has an inheritance in Christ. The hope of the gospel is the future – the inheritance. Remember, the false teachers are telling them that there is no secure hope.
There is no guarantee that they will not fall into false doctrine, and that is why Paul uses a condition.
These conditional clauses sometimes scare us, but what is in question is forsaking belief in the gospel, not sin.
5. Conclusion:
Our place in time: causes us to look back, consider the present, and look to the future.
Our old blind selves who were ignorant of God’s goodness.
Our current confident selves in Christ who still sin, but confess our sins and grow in the Lord, knowing we always have Him as our example for living in the face of good and evil, church, home, and the world (Col 2:8-4:6).
Our future selves perfect and presented in front of the Father as He sits on His glorious throne and us without an iota of shame, but only love.
And all of this pours into our daily evaluations of what we should do and with whom and where.
It is our story. It is still being written by us and God, but the final chapters show you secure in holiness face-to-face with the Lord. |