Is The Mystery Still Hidden?

Col 1:20-29

20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:

25 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;

26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:

27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; WHICH IS CHRIST IN YOU, the hope of glory:

28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

As Paul begins writing to the church at Colossi, he begins by his usual type of greetings. He thanks God for them and tells them that he prays for them. After telling of the blessings that he prays for, he begins talking about Jesus Christ and the salvation that He brings. In this dialogue about salvation through Jesus blood, we get some informative words about the deity of Jesus Christ.

Col 1:14-19

14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

V. 21 & 22. After speaking of the glory of this Saviour, he then talks about the relationship that can now exist between Jesus and you.

21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

There are three things that the death of Jesus Christ and your reconciliation should do:

1. Make us holy.

2. Make us unblameable.

3. Make us unreprovable.

Now, only one out of the three of these things is understandable in our modern vocabulary… and that is the term holy. It is understandable although it is often argued throughout the churches about its definition. Now I believe every church would agree that Jesus Christ was holy as he lived upon this earth. But this passage says that the reconciliation was done to make you holy.

1. Holiness - hagios

NT:40 hagios (hag'-ee-os); from hagos… meaning to be sacred, pure, morally blameless, or consecrated:

KJV - (most) holy (one, thing), saint.

There is a neutered version of this Greek word that is used when it doesn't refer to a person, and that is the word hagion (hag-ee-on). That word refers to a sacred thing, the holiest of all, or the sanctuary. There can be a thing that can be once non-holy and then consecrated for the temple and made holy by its consecration. But then it is never flipped flopped back and forth from the temple to a common use and then back again to the holy use.

In Daniel chapter 5, when the King Belshazzar was making a great feast and was drinking wine, he ordered that the gold and silver vessels taken from the temple of Jerusalem to be brought so they could drink from these cups. As they drank their wines from the holy vessels of the Lord and defiled them, there appeared fingers of a man's hand that wrote on the wall.

Dan 5:5-6