Mysteries - Colossians 1:18-29

1:18-22 - Not only was Christ the first born spiritually, but he was also “the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.” That kind of reads like the beginning of a zombie thriller, but we read repeatedly in the scriptures that Jesus was the “first fruits of them that slept” or in other words, he was the first person who was resurrected. In that sense, he led the way for all of us to both be born spiritually and be raised from the dead to immortal, perfect bodies. It’s also important to note that Christ’s resurrection gave him “preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.” As far as I know, before His resurrection, Jesus did all things under the guidance of the Father, but after His resurrection, Heavenly Father gave all power to Jesus, and I’m sure that they consult together on stuff, but all power is in the Son’s hands. Paul continues that “through the blood of his cross,” he made peace… to reconcile all things unto himself.” He saved us “that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.” It’s interesting to note here that Paul is really emphasizing everything that Jesus does to benefit us. The creator of all things, given all power by God, uses that power to save us from not only the trouble we get ourselves in to but from the trouble brought to us by other people. I was thinking yesterday about the different gods that the Colossian saints might be tempted to worship, and when it comes to plants and animals and mortal beings, the teaching that Jesus created them all really takes the wind out of their sails. But what about the Greco-Roman gods that ruled? You could point to the sun and say “don’t worship the sun, Jesus created the sun.” Or “don’t worship the trees, Jesus created the trees.” But what about Zeus and Hades and all of them, who were worshipped by the Romans at the time of Christ? What about all the other gods who were believed to be dwelling in the heavens and controlling the fate of mankind, just like they supposed Jesus was doing? The key difference here is that these other gods used their power to fight with each other, have sex with all types of people and things, and generally just not care less about the people that they were supposed to rule. Paul emphasizes that Jesus’ motivations for anything that he does is to benefit mankind, that puts a stark contrast between Jesus as the Savior of mankind and the other gods as hedonistic tyrants. Who do you want to worship, the guy who’s only desire is for you to be happy forever or the ones who can’t stop fighting with each other long enough to even glance in your direction? Another interesting insight about the term “reconciliation” that Paul uses to describe Christ’s motivation comes to us from the article on this chapter from gospeldoctrine.com which quotes Hugh Nibley as noting, “Every term, every translation, every equivalent of atonement has the idea of coming back. Redemption means you will be bought back again. You must have been with him before if he buys you back again, after the Fall.” I thought that this was interesting because it seems to separate in my mind, pre-earth life and post-earth life that it’s hard for me to understand that we will be going back. It’s almost like the people we were when we lived in the pre-mortal world must have been so naïve, so innocent, and now coming back after this, after all this trauma and craziness that happens here in this world, it must be like coming home after war and just being a complete shell of a person, just completely different than who we were before. But I guess that’s the point, that when we get out of this life, everything will be so compensated for and we will be happy and satisfied with it. And I hate to use the word “satisfied” because it makes it seem like we will be given a 50% off coupon and we will be like “fine” because we don’t want to fight the injustice anymore, but we will actually, eventually be grateful for the opportunity that we had to go to earth and we the joy we will experience because we were here will be limitless. It’s just hard to understand it now because we are in the thick of all the craziness here, and I’m say all this and I don’t even have it very hard. It’s an interesting concept but it makes looking at the horrors of this life just a little bit easier to live with. 1:23-26 - Paul kind of talks about this same thing, telling the people that if they “continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel,” that he will “rejoice in my sufferings for you.” Paul has been persecuted for preaching the gospel for many years at this point, it is hard and I bet sometimes he wonders why, but when people accept the gospel and endure the hardship that comes with believing, it makes all the suffering that he did worth it. In a greater sense, Jesus suffered and died for all of our sins and our pains, and while it’s absolutely our prerogative to not take advantage of the atonement, when we suffer a little less because he suffered for us, I bet he feels like it’s worth it. That’s why I really hope that just like Christ felt all of our pains, I hope that he gets to also feel all of our joy and our deep, heartfelt gratitude for everything that he did for us. It’s only fair that he would get to experience those too. Paul has set Jesus up as the all-powerful creator of the universe who’s only goal is to make us eternally happy, and now he establishes himself as a representative saying, “whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God.” He also covers another aspect of Christianity that is interesting in a couple of ways. He says that he has been charged with bringing to the people “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but not is made manifest to his saints.” Later on Paul specifies that he’s been charged with bringing this mystery to the “Gentiles.” The word “mystery” here is interesting because, obviously, it’s an English translation but I wonder if the original word has so much mystical connotation. I believe that ancient pagan people were very much into intrigue and new ideas and stuff like that, keeping their interests always peaked, and while the gospel isn’t about constant excitement, the more you learn, the more you are taught, so I wonder if that’s the kind of “mystery” that Paul is alluding to, that there’s always something more to learn and understand when in the gospel. Another interesting way to look at the “mystery” that Paul is talking about here is to consider that for hundreds of years, thousands even, this gospel was not allowed to be taken to the gentiles and was held solely by the Jews, who corrupted it over time. And now that it’s being taken to everyone, this “mystery” religion is available to the masses. 1:27-29 – Paul is using lots of really enticing descriptive words to illustrate the importance of the gospel. He uses “mystery” and now “riches” and “hope” and “wisdom” and others to really drive home the point that the gospel is just as important as these other life pursuits. Paul says that these are the saints, “to whom God would make known that is the riches of the glory of the mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Even those who are not members of the church might hear that phrase and think, “wait, I get what?” For those who are already committed and believe in “laying up treasure in heaven” then they are inspired by the concept of later rewards for good works. But for those who might be a little bit less committed, then they could look at these concepts Paul describes as God giving them wealth, and sometimes that’s a good place to start, because he is invested in our physical well being as well as spiritual. Paul emphasizes that his only goal is to “preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” His only purpose is to teach all people wisdom so that every one can meet the God of the universe. This might be a new concept because I don’t think that most people at the time had any concept of ever meeting one of their pagan gods.