“Oftentimes as an accompaniment of this [Arminian] conception of the message and of the response to the message there has been fostered a certain type of high-pressure appeal and of emotional excitement that is scarcely compatible with the sobriety and dignity that ought to characterize the preaching of the gospel, and scarcely consistent with the deliberateness and intelligence appropriate to the exercise of faith in Christ as Saviour and Lord.” —John Murray, The Message of Evangelism
Author: Josh King
Corrective Therapy for Incorrect Walking (Colossians 2:6–7)
“6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” —Colossians 2:6–7 (ESV)
““This paragraph… is the heart of Colossians. In these two verses Paul succinctly summarizes the basic response he wants from his readers.” —Douglas Moo
Paul’s central point is clear, succinct, and powerful, but we bring a danger to it. It’s a danger those who have grown up in the evangelical bubble are prone to. The danger is created when Biblical language is removed from its context and used to describe something basically true, but alien to the original context. We then return to the Bible reading the alien definition back into the text. This is what we call eisegesis, rather than exegesis. Exegesis seeks to draw out, where eisegesis puts in. Exegesis draws the author’s meaning out. Eisegesis puts the reader’s meaning in. This is bad, even if the things you are reading into the Bible are true and good things.
When you try to walk the walk of this text in this way, it’s like waking up in the middle of the night in a new home, thinking you are in the old home. Wham! You’ve got the right walk but in the wrong home. When you try to walk according to your evangelical church house map in the Bible, you go bump.
“As you received Christ… .”
What do these words bring to mind? Perhaps you’re thinking of a so-called man-ufactured event like a scheduled “revival.” Or maybe, a crusade, church camp, or simply the church invitation that goes on and on, all pleading for someone to “receive Jesus into their heart.” In theological shorthand, you think about conversion—being saved.
This use of language simply isn’t faithful to the Scriptures. When the gospel is preached, the proper response is repentance and faith. When Jesus is heralded, the proper response isn’t an invitation to an invitation. “We want to invite you to invite Jesus.” The gospel is good news to be believed. It is not good news about how desperate Jesus is to receive an invitation to your heart-house and bring the party. “Want a party of joy and significance in your heart-house? Invite Jesus!”
Still, taken in the best sense, one could think this passage meant something like, “You began by belief in Jesus, continue that way.” This is so very true, and close, but walking close to the door still means running into the wall.
What is meant by “receive?” Paul has just elaborated on the mystery, the revelation of Jesus Christ entrusted to him for the sake of the church. This is what they’ve received, the revelation of Jesus Christ. The church receives what Paul received. Listen to how this language of receiving is used and how it relates to what Paul delivered.
“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.” —1 Corinthians 15:1–3
“For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you.” —1 Corinthians 11:23
“As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. … For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. —Galatians 1:9, 11–12
“Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.” —1 Thessalonians 4:1–2
What Paul received is identical to what we receive, the revelation of the mystery of Jesus Christ. Paul is admonishing the Colossians to walk in this Christ, the true Christ, the Christ of the Scriptures. Consider all that Christ is shown to be in the Scriptures, all that His apostles have revealed Him to be, and walk as one in union with Him.
All the fullness of God dwells in Him bodily, and you have bee filled in Him (2:10). In Him, you’re circumcised (2:11). When Christ died, you died, when He rose you rose (2:13). You’ve been raised with Christ, so seek the things that are above (3:1). Your life is hidden with Christ in God (3:4).
In our walk, this turns our eyes outward. Instead of looking within trying to reproduce the same kind of faith and experience we had at conversion, we look to Christ. It’s always better to walk looking up than looking within. We’re thinking about our sneakers, and God is concerned about the One who is the Way. We’re concerned about our cool stride of faith; God tells us to keep our eyes on the road. When we’re looking within, we run into stuff. Keep your eyes on Christ, and walk as one in union with Him.
The Exegetical Systematician: Worse than Undeserving
We cannot think of sinners as merely undeserving; they are also illdeserving. The grace of God to sinners is, therefore, not simply unmerited favour; it is also favour shown to the ill-deserving, indeed to the hell-deserving. When Paul says, ‘justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus’ (Rom. 3:24), the grace in view must be understood on the background of the judgment of God referred to in verse 19—’that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God’. It is guilty men, and therefore hell-deserving men, that the justifying grace of God contemplates. —John Murray, The Grace of God
Christ’s Cross Is the “X” that Marks the Spot
“1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.” —Colossians 2:1–5 (ESV)
Do you see the disjunction between Colossians 2:2–3 and 2:4? If the mystery entrusted to the apostles for the church is Christ, and all is in Him, then anything else, no matter how plausible, is unnecessary. If all wisdom and understanding are found in Christ, then not only is it unnecessary to seek wisdom elsewhere, it is futile. If it is necessary to seek wisdom elsewhere, then all isn’t in Christ.
The false teacher’s arguments are only plausible, when one is not settled in Christ, which is what I believe is the essence of v. 2. John Newton said, “My principle method of defeating heresy, is, by establishing truth. One proposes to fill a bushel with tares: now, if I can fill it first with wheat, I shall defy his attempts.”
False teachers make false maps to false treasures. Christ’s cross is the “X” that marks the spot. Those who have found Christ, have found all. Search no more. Believe no false treasure tales. He is the Pearl of great price. Sell all for Him and hunt no more. There is none greater. In Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
The Exegetical Systematician: Orientating Advents
“In God’s plan all history is oriented to the incarnation of the Son of God and to his manifestation in glory at end of the age. The lessons for us are numerous. But one is of paramount importance. Life here and now that is not conditioned by faith in Jesus’ first coming and oriented to the hope of this second is godless and hopeless.” —John Murray, The Advent of Christ
Why Beg for Crumbs when you Have the Bread of Life? (Colossians 1:24–29)
The mystery of the gospel isn’t very mysterious for the saints, therefore, beware of the mysterious. The mystery religions of Paul’s day had a hierarchy of knowers. One ascended the ladder by means of rites, experiences, and acts of piety. It seems that false teaching blending pagan mystery religion and Jewish mysticism was attempting to make inroads at Colossae (i.e. Colossians 2:18–19). Be certain, it’s made its way well into the church today. Beware of spiritual Christian caste systems.
You don’t need the mysterious when the mystery entrusted to the apostles has been revealed to you. Jesus is sufficient. This means the Scriptures are sufficient. You don’t need angels, saints, or oil to get a spiritual high. Talk of second blessing is laughable when the first one gave you everything. Prophecies are puny compared to the revelation of the mystery given to the church through Christ’s apostles. Anxiety for a fresh word is like the billionaire worrying if his social security will come through. Why beg for crumbs when the apostles hold forth the Bread of Life?
Sarah Young says she hears from Jesus. Like a modern apostle, she passes along her revelation in a book she titled Jesus Calling. It’s sold over ten million copies. Therein she says, “This practice of listening to God has increased my intimacy with Him more than any other spiritual discipline, so I want to share some of the messages I have received. In many parts of the world, Christians seem to be searching for a deeper experience of Jesus’ Presence and Peace. The messages that follow address that felt need.”
Jesus is the final word and His apostles are His final word on Himself as the final Word. No others are necessary.
In contrast consider John Piper’s testimony of hearing God speak to him. He begins, “Let me tell you about a most wonderful experience I had early Monday morning, March 19, 2007, a little after six o’clock. God actually spoke to me. There is no doubt that it was God.” After many paragraphs that could cause concern that Piper is siding with the likes of Young, he clarifies:
“And best of all, [these words] are available to all. If you would like to hear the very same words I heard on the couch in northern Minnesota, read Psalm 66:5–7. That is where I heard them. O, how precious is the Bible. It is the very word of God. In it God speaks in the twenty-first century. This is the very voice of God. By this voice, he speaks with absolute truth and personal force. By this voice, he reveals his all-surpassing beauty. By this voice, he reveals the deepest secrets of our hearts. No voice anywhere anytime can reach as deep or lift as high or carry as far as the voice of God that we hear in the Bible.”
You don’t need more than Jesus. You don’t need more than His word.
The Exegetical Systematician: The Free Offer Rides the Wave Divine Soverignty
It must be said without reserve that there is no limitation or qualification to the overture of grace in the gospel proclamation. As there is no restriction to the command that all everywhere should repent (Acts 17:30), so is there none to what is correlative with it. The doctrines of particular election, differentiating love, limited atonement do not erect any fence around the offer in the gospel. No text is more eloquent of the pure sovereignty of both the Father and the Son in the revelation of gospel mystery than the words of our Lord in Matthew 11:25-30: ‘Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so. Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.’ Here is the sovereign will and differentiation of the Father. ‘He to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal him.’ This is the witness to Jesus’ own sovereignty in revealing the Father to men. But the immediate sequel is: ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden.’ The lesson is that it is not merely conjunction of differentiating and sovereign will with free overture, but that the free overture comes out from the differentiating sovereignty of both Father and Son. It is on the crest of the wave of divine sovereignty that the unrestricted summons comes to the labouring and heavy laden. This is Jesus’ own witness, and it provides the direction in which our thinking on the question at issue must proceed. Any inhibition or reserve in presenting the overtures of grace should no more characterize our proclamation than it characterized the Lord’s witness. —John Murray, The Atonement and the Free Offer of the Gospel
If (Colossians 1:21–23)
And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,
he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. —Colossians 1:21–23
This once/now contrast is only a reality if. Colossians 1:21 is true of all men. All men were once alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, but for many, there is no contrasting now, as evidenced by the failure of this if. This is not to say that a Christian can revert from their now of reconciliation to their once of alienation. It is to say there is evidence that they never made the transition. Who they once were, they’ve always been and still are.
This is not an if of grounds, but an if of evidence. When a doctor says, “If you have these symptoms, then you have the flu,” the symptoms are not the grounds or cause of the flu. Coughing doesn’t make you sick; being sick makes you cough. Symptoms are not he grounds of sickness; they are the evidence of sickness.
Continuing in the faith does not make you reconciled, any more than sneezing makes you sick. Continuing in the faith evidences reconciliation. If one is reconciled, they necessarily show forth this evidence. “For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end (Hebrews 4:13).”
The saints of old spoke of “the perseverance of the saints,” whereas we hear “once saved always saved,” or “eternal security.” Perseverance does not say less but more than these other terms. “Once saved always saved,” taken alone, is a neutered version of perseverance. “Eternal security,” is a good enough term, but often disguises an emasculated doctrinal definition. Perseverance says God’s saving grace not only secures your justification and glorification, but keeps you on the road of sanctification that runs from one to the other. Listen to how the Westminster Divines teased this out.
They, whom God has accepted in His Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.
This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father; upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ, the abiding of the Spirit, and of the seed of God within them, and the nature of the covenant of grace: from all which arises also the certainty and infallibility thereof.
The flip side of perseverance is preservation. We persevere in the faith because God preserves our faith. What God gave, He keeps. By God’s power, we are guarded through faith for salvation (1 Peter 1:5). We will remain faithful because God is faithful (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24). Our continuing is the result of His sustaining (1 Corinthians 1:8–9).
If you do not continue, your once is your now. “But I walked an aisle, I said a prayer, I have a Bible with a date in it, I was baptized, my parents and my pastor told me I was saved.” There are two serious problems here. First, you’re grounding assurance of your salvation in something you did in the past instead of what Jesus did in the past. Second, you’re not meant to find assurance about your future by looking for grounds in the past, but evidence in the present. Is there fruit that you have the root of salvation in Jesus’ work of reconciliation? Are you continuing in the faith right now, stable and steadfast, not shifting?
If not, don’t try to continue in a faith that you’ve never had. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved with so great a salvation that you will continue in the faith.
“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” —Jude 24–25
The Exegetical Systematician: So Close
“The fact is that the Lord Jesus came not only into the closest relation to sinful humanity that it was possible for him to come without becoming himself sinful, but he also came into the closest relation to sin that it was possible for him to come without thereby becoming himself sinful.” —John Murray, The Death of Christ
Creating Word, Sustaining Word, Redeeming Word (Colossians 1–20)
Jesus created the spheres and circles of the universe and set them spinning. From the macro-cosmos of Jupiter its 53 named moons, the Sloan Great wall of galaxies, and the colossal star UY Scuti, to the micro-cosmos of uranium 235, protons, and quarks—all things visible and invisible—all were made through Jesus.
Further, Jesus is no deistic spinner of the watches He has made. He is no grand designer of perpetual motion machines. The universe was not an epic pitch of the omnipotent one, wherein he wound up and let go. Jesus not only creates, he sustains. By His word creation is—always, at all points of its is-dom. It came into being by His word and is sustained in being by His word (Hebrews 1:3). You walk around on, breath in, and are made of nuclear energy. Micro-cosmos, capable of undoing you a million times over, are not simply held together by His hand, they are by His hand. They don’t have an independent existence. Jesus doesn’t simply do maintenance on the stars. He does stars at every point of their existence.
Jesus doesn’t complete the watch to set it in motion independently of Him. He motions it at all times. Man makes a generator because he is limited. He can’t produce electricity. Man isn’t more intelligent than God because he can make a hands off machine. God is unlimited in wisdom and power, such that, nothing works without Him; including you and your generator. God never has too many irons in the fire.
But what are all these ticks and tocks ticking and tocking towards? Has an alarm been set? Is a consummatory suppertime comming? Yes; one day this old creation will grow up, mature, and be born anew—a new creation, and then, the marriage supper of the Lamb. The cosmos isn’t an experiment. Men toy with magic and science and find power that undoes them. Jesus created and sustains that He might be preeminent in the redemption of all things by the blood of the cross. The Word delivers no impromptu speech. Every word—creating words, sustaining words, redeeming words—every word is scripted, with the basic plot outlined in the Scriptures.
No Other Boast 