There Is Clarity In The Word (Even When It Looks Muddied)

Word-of-the-Day: ‘(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 – (23a) if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.’ (Colossians 1:22-23a)

When God gives us positive instructions, it is often through if/then statements, or ‘if you do this, then God will do that’.  Sometimes, directly stated or indirectly implied, the Bible will give the negative connotation added on, similar to ‘but if you don’t do this, then God will not do that’, with the mention of ‘instead God will implement this consequence’ added to the negative ‘then’ action.

Throughout Scriptures, God, and Jesus, tells us consistently the positive benefits of following Him in obedience in the Word through these if/then statements.  In Old Testament, obedience was followed with a positive consequence, ‘if My people follow me, then I will bless them and protect them’.  Disobedience was followed by the negative consequence, ‘if My people turn away, then I will remove my hand from them and they will be cursed with <famine, plague, or exile>.’ 

The key is, when reading Scriptures, is when you come across the ‘if’, look for the ‘then’.  If you come across the ‘then’, look for the ‘if’.  It may not always be so stated, however, but it is always implied.  In Colossians 1:22-23a, Paul writes to the church in Colossae the positive connotation and consequence in an eloquent but in the translation not necessarily orderly ‘if’ statement on Faith. 

To extrapolate the ‘if’ statement, we must first read verse 23a, ‘if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.’  The ‘then’ statement is implied in verse 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.’ 

In making it clear and place it in order for understanding, we can read it as:

IF you establish and firmly continue in your faith, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel; THEN he will reconcile (or has reconciled) you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation.’.

Paul is telling us, through is letter to Colossae, that as long as we remain steadfast in Faith and Hope in the Gospel message of Christ, we are reconciled through Jesus to Father God by His Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, to be ‘washed as white as snow’, cleansed of all our sins and indiscretions and be presented blameless in front of God’s Judgement.  We may occasionally falter and fall short of this standard, but when we do, we are to repent and try to regain that standard set by Jesus per these instructions given to Paul.  This reconciliation is permanent and for the believer means an eternal presence with God, even after physical death, our spiritual life continues with Him.

There are also the negative connotation and consequence in Paul’s writing, and it is found in the verse just before, in verse 21, ‘Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.’  This negative connotation is again written by Paul in an eloquent fashion (as least as it is in translated form), but the ‘if/then’ is not made as clear.

It is in the past tense as Paul is writing this to believers who have received Salvation, but in order to make it sensible for those who have not yet accepted Jesus as their Savior, we can change the words ‘were’ to ‘are’.  We can then see the ‘if’ statement is after the ‘then’ in the verse.  Swapping them around, for the non-believer it would read as:

‘IF you are enemies <of Jesus> in your minds because of your evil behavior, THEN you are alienated from God.’

Again, Paul is (correctly) indirectly implying that a non-believer is aliened or separated from God as long as they are in unrepented sin, and have not accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. As long as one is an enemy of Jesus, failing to reconcile themselves to Jesus’ sacrifice for them, then they will not be received into the family of God.  This can, as we who are Faithful know, lead to a permanent and eternal spiritual separation from God for the non-believer if they physically die before accept Jesus.  We understand those alienated to serve eternity in the Lake of Fire, banished forever from God’s presence.

All Scripture is good and proper for instruction.  Sometimes it can be confusing and at first unclear, but if you find yourself in a situation where it may not be clear (or it’s ‘clear as mud’, as the old saying goes), look if it is an ‘if/then’ or ‘before/after’ statement that is ‘out of order’, and use a scratchpad to write the verses into an order that makes it clear for you.  You can always ask your Pastor, an Elder, or a Life Group or Bible study teacher to help as well.  God is not a God of Confusion but of clarity, and it’s always good to ask Him, via the Holy Spirit, to give such clarity.