This is from this week’s Colossians Bible study, which you can find on the Living Story Facebook page in Notes.
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 Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
What Paul is saying here often confuses modern readers because when we see “if,” we think “condition” – that is, “If I clean my room, my mom will give me allowance/be pleased with me…”
In this sentence, though, the Greek verb is in the “indicative” mood, which means that it is a statement of assurance. As the ESV Bible says, ‘Paul fully expects that the Colossians believers will continue in the faith; no doubt is expressed.”
Why is this good news? Because, contrary to what many people have been led to believe, the gospel is NOT UP TO US. Jesus died and reconciled us to God. That’s been done. Now we will assuredly grow in our faith. Listen to what Pastor Tullian Tchivdjian says:
“Paul…is actually assuring believers that because they’ve been reconciled through Christ’s work on their behalf, they’ll indeed continue in the faith, stable and steadfast. Spiritual steadfastness and stability will become a growing experience in their life. Paul isn’t saying that our performance leads to our rescue; he’s saying that genuine rescue leads to our performance. Our improvement comes from God’s approval; God’s approval doesn’t come from our improvement.
