1:21-23
False teachings try to make out that we are lacking something, and it is true that once we were alienated from God, we were enemies of God in our minds. All this was a result of sin. But now this has all changed. We have been reconciled “by Christ’s physical body, by His death on the cross. So through Christ we are now “without blemish and free from accusation”. In order to continue to benefit from this we need to continue in the faith. We need to be firmly grounded in the faith. This is the gospel that Paul preached, and it has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, there is no other way in which we can be made right with God.
1:24
The false teachers may have made much of the fact that Paul suffered so much, and was continually being thrown in prison. But the gospel is founded on suffering. Christ’s suffering earned our salvation. Paul is not saying that there was anything lacking in that, but the continued growth of the kingdom and advancement of the gospel depends upon God’s people being ready to suffer. So Paul is happy to suffer in order to build up the church.
No comments:
Post a Comment