Paul continues to combat the false teaching of Gnosticism in these verses where he had previously defended Jesus’ deity and superiority over all the creation. Gnosticism questioned Jesus’ divine attributes and taught He was one of God’s created beings making Him inferior to God the Father. Paul had already made it clear that Jesus “is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” So, why did God the Father send Jesus to earth? Submitting to God’s will, Jesus took on human form so that He could “reconcile all things to Himself.” Reconcile carries the idea of restoration and refers to a sinner being restored to life. Reconciliation took place “through the blood of His cross.” All mankind is separated from God because of sin and God required blood to be shed to pay for sin. The only way to satisfy the wrath of God on sin was through death. God told Adam that he would die if he disobeyed Him. Adam was deceived and immediately death came on all who would be born. Romans 5:12 declares that “through one man sin entered the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned….” Now those “who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works…He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight.” This act of making us holy and blameless is not about anything which we have done, but about the righteousness given to us through Jesus Christ in exchange for our sin. Bringing all of his teaching back into perspective, Paul reminds them that they should not move “away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.” These Gnostics had brought many false teachings into the church and Paul wanted them to understand the true gospel. If the deity of Jesus Christ is compromised, there is no salvation. Salvation is only found when a person places their faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and Him alone.
Dear God, thank You for providing salvation through Your Son, Jesus. Help people all over the world to look to Him for salvation and reject the things which they think will bring a relationship with You.
