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… And although you were formerly alienated and enemies in mind and in evil deeds,
but now He reconciled you in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach— if indeed you continue in the faith firmly grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and I fill up what is lacking of Christ’s afflictions in my flesh, on behalf of His body, which is the church, of which I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God given to me for you, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His 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.

Colossians 1:21-27

While the apostle Paul was a prisoner in Rome, likely under house arrest, he was visited by Epaphras, who had served the Colossian church in ministry since it’s commencement. Epaphras told Paul of false teaching and worldly practices which had developed among some in the church, so Paul wrote to refocus the Colossian Saints.

In verse 21, he wrote “…you were formerly alienated and enemies in mind and in evil deeds,“. He was speaking specifically to the Gentile Christian’s here. Today, Gentiles constitute approximately 98% of the world’s population. Compared to the Jews, who are the descendants of Jacob and were spoken of in Deuteronomy 14 as being:

… a holy people to Yahweh,… chosen to be a people for His treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Before salvation, we Gentile Christians, were formerly “alienated” from God, meaning we were shut out from fellowship with Him, we were “enemies in mind“, we had no place for Him in our thoughts; but not only that, our thoughts were against His will, and largely governed by our own desires and by evil influence. So with this being our condition, we weren’t producing righteous works; our actions were contrary to God’s will, they’re termed as being “evil deeds,“, we weren’t obedient to, or serving to the glory and recognition of God.

Paul also wrote similarly of our pre-salvation condition in Ephesians 2:11-13:

Therefore, remember that formerly you—the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands—
remember that you were at that time without Christ,
alienated from the citizenship of Israel,
and strangers to the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world.
But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

and in the Colossians passage, we’re told:

He reconciled you in the body of His flesh through death,

I can’t comprehend the depth of Jesus suffering in the body of His flesh through death, how we who were formerly far off have been brought near by His blood.

What a contrasted we see here; having been brought from darkness to light.

Christians need to comprehend more of what we’ve been saved to, and part of this acknowledgment comes from remembering what we were, not morbidly dwelling on it, but gratefully and with freedom praising God for His forgiveness and work in changing us from it. Psalm 103 v4 tells us that:

He redeems your life from the pit, He crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;

Paul wrote to the Colossian Gentile believers, from the perspective of a Jewish believer who had previously persecuted Christians and committed them to death; but through God’s mercy in his life, he came to know personally, what it means to be forgiven of substantial sin, and he knew that although many Jews were chosen by God out of all the peoples of the earth, the salvation of the Gentiles was a massive reconciling change in God’s relationship to us through Christ, a massive contrast; Paul who had previously been persecuting Christ, had now been apprehended, forgiven and freed by Him. This is what Paul was focusing us and the Colossian Gentile Saints on, the contrast of who we were, and who we are now. So he exhorted them; to remain firm in the gospel, not moved from the truth and hope which has been delivered to us.

The contrast of coming to the light in the kingdom of the Son of His love, having been rescued from “the authority of darkness”, this contrast is diluted and overlooked through the ingress of worldly practices and false teaching developing in the saints lives and the congregation of the Church. And the source of their dilution, is the authority of darkness that we’ve we’ve been rescued from. This evil influence works subtly to move Saints away from the hope of the gospel which we’ve heard, this evil influence works to remove us from being firmly grounded and steadfast in our faith.

But in order for us to be presented before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach— we need to
continue in the faith firmly grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which we have heard.

You can see that there’s a conditional portion in this verse which says: “if indeed you continue“, this isn’t a condition that our eternal salvation is subject to. It’s a conditional statement in relation to how we will appear before God.
His desire is that we are presented before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach; but “if” we depart from the hope of the gospel, then firstly, while we’re still alive, we’ll either become partially worldly, and/or possibly spiritually corrupt, through accommodating false doctrine; but in either case, these conditions make Christians less effective in taking the light to the world, and they reduce the peace of fellowship with God. But there’s another future result that comes from not continuing “in the faith firmly grounded and steadfast, and moving away from the hope of the gospel”, this takes us to 2 Corinthians 5:9-10 where we’re told:

Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
that each one may receive the things done in the body,
according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

The application of this time of being presented before Him, isn’t for condemnation, and we know this, because we’re told in Romans 8:1 that there’s no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus; I presently understand the judgment to be either by way of receiving more or less responsibility in His eternal service; as portrayed in the parable of the “Ten Minas“, or it may be a matter of being spoken to in terms of being corrected “face to face” by Christ, where any foolish use of our God granted time, and other resources will be recalled, to our undeniable acknowledgment, similarly to how we see expressed in 1 John 2:28

And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He is manifested, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.

1 John 2:28

But God loves us so much that He doesn’t warn us once then leave us, no, He wants us to be presented before “Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach“, so He exhorts us to “abide in Him“, daily committing our way to Him, praying and growing in the knowledge of His Word in our hearts so that we don’t sin against Him.

We may interact throughout each week with numerous people who are still alienated from God, just as we used to be; they’re pursuing the temporary pleasures of sin, or just simply living by their own rules of life, with no regard for God. and without His peace.

Many unbelievers are so caught up in living their best life, that they don’t care to even consider the end of the road they’re traveling on, and many are looking in all the wrong places for peace and purpose. But there are also Christians, who are not so focused on seeking and following Christ, we can easily be occupied with the ways and entertainment of those who will be eternally separated from God, caught up with the cares of life which choke the Word; this can result in us being impatient, frustrated, or just feeling unsettled; living without peace, or being comfortably numb; this can happen in a moment and last for a short period, or it can become a more substantial practice and continue for decades.

God knows our weakness in the flesh, Jesus said “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.“, and Paul wrote in verses 9-10:

be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 
so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: 
bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

This exhortation reminds me of psalm 1, where we’re told:

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the way of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

But his delight is in the law of Yahweh,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.

This Psalm is now also applicable to us Gentiles who have become believers, rather than only to the Jewish believers; It is, as Paul wrote in verses 26 & 27:

the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His 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.

I understand “the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations ” to be referring to the Saints from Adam through to those before the time of Holy Spirit entering the Saints at Pentecost, these Saints didn’t live to see the actual indwelling of God in the Gentiles, although they were given a glimpse of it, as we’re told in 1 Peter 1:10-11 where it’s written:

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. ”

The mystery has been revealed, it’s Christ in the Gentile believers, who now have the hope of being partakers in God’s glory, instead of His judgment. But we haven’t been changed to “tread water”, or to better utilise the worlds resources for our benefit.


The hope of the gospel mentioned here, eclipses all other hope in this world.

God has encouraged us, through Paul accurately handling and delivering the word of truth, and we’re to do the same, so that Christ Jesus is supremely glorified, the church is maintained in spiritual strength and the gospel is delivered in certainty, so that the lost are saved.

Certainty comes through a deeper relationship with Jesus through His Word.

In the earlier verses 15-20 we’re told of the superiority of Jesus Christ, this is of great importance to Jew and Gentile Christians, but maybe more so to Gentile Christians, because before we were eternally saved, Jesus meant nothing to us, we didn’t care to know anything of the God of Israel, or of Christ Jesus the Son of God, who the Jews knew of as the Messiah. But now we have the mind of Christ, and through the knowledge of Him, through Holy Spirit’s revelation, through faith and repentance granted by God in Christ, we can appreciate and express, a portion of His glorious self, and through this knowledge, we can be guarded in our faith, from our own foolish desires and from corrupt teaching, if indeed we continue in the faith firmly grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which we have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which, … Paul, was made a minister.

It’s easy to partially return to living like unbelievers do, and sometimes we can be so compromising in our own walk, that other Christians observe us and make compromises in their lives as well. Compromise was similarly occurring in the church at Colossae, just as it’s happening in many churches today.

So remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 
remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, 
alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, 
having no hope and without God in the world. 
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 
For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility  by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances,
that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 
and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross,
thereby killing the hostility. 
And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 
For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, 
Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 
in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 
In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:11-22

For to this you were called, Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps:

1 Peter 2:21

So we give

… thanks to the Father,
who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
Who rescued us from the authority of darkness,
and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son of His love,
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 1:12-14

APO 5-May-2026