Ecclesiology
The Atonement
The Putting Away of Sin
Colossians 1:20-23
Lesson V
By M.V. Brown, edited by L.O. Pritchard.
Colossians
1:20-23
(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;
GOD'S GREAT PURPOSE regarding sins of the people of old as
well as today, is the putting away of sin by substitution. When we think of Christ bearing our
punishment on the cross, we at once ask: "WHO or WHAT" demands
punishment for sin? And this brings us
to the subject of the lawful use of the law.
The Law of Moses. The
commandments. In 2 Corinthians 3:7, Paul
calls the law, "the ministration of death written and engraven in
stones," because the penalty of death is attached to the law. Back of all
punishment is the demand of the law.
Justice must be satisfied. God,
who gave the law to prove all guilty, must be satisfied. The death sentence MUST be carried out.
2 Corinthians 3:7
(7) But if the ministration of
death, written [and] engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of
Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his
countenance; which [glory] was to be done away:
THE
DEATH OF CHRIST was designed to render SATISFACTION to Divine justice, (God
must be satisfied). This is good news to
sinners! Our human conscience cannot be
at peace, unless we believe with all our hearts, that the wrath of God has been
appeased. The position of Christ is that
of the Last Adam, who was obedient unto DEATH.
The chief end of the death of Christ was to satisfy the demands of the
law! Can you see that? Can you believe
that?
"Imputed
sin to Christ and imputed righteousness to man" is the greatest theme on
earth. It is born in Heaven. The merit of Christ is reckoned to the one
who believes, and that one is counted righteous in the sight of God. Romans 3:22, "The righteousness of God
which is by faith of Jesus Christ is unto all, and upon all them that
BELIEVE." This is grace
indeed! To believe that one is made
righteous as to standing before God is to believe the gospel. By means of this one act (Romans 5:18), the
believer on Christ is saved. This is so
simple, and God made it so, that any man can receive salvation on these
terms. And if this truth does not find a
place in your heart, it is a sure mark that you have a heart of unbelief!
Romans 3:22
(22) Even the righteousness of
God [which is] by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe: for there is no difference:
Romans 5:18
(18) Therefore as by the
offence of one [judgment came] upon all men to condemnation; even so by the
righteousness of one [the free gift came] upon all men unto justification of
life.
But back to Colossians 1:20.
Colossians 1:20
(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.
The
verb to "reconcile" and the phrase, "having made peace,"
both express the fact that the "having made peace" and
"reconciling” were done at a definite moment, once for all. God did require the blood of Him in whom
dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead.
And God laid upon Him our iniquities (Isaiah 53:6).
Isaiah 53:6
(6) All we like sheep have gone
astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
1 Peter 2:24
(24) Who his own self bare our
sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto
righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
In
1 Peter 2:24, we read that He bore our sins in His body and by His stripes we
are healed. There is no more open sore
of sin! The balm of Gilead has been
applied! We are healed of the Serpent's
bite! There is not a trace of
condemnation left! We are healed of
fear, that disease that blinds millions of heathen and good religious people of
our civilized countries. His BLOOD has
made us whole. Peter states that our
sins were not only placed on Christ on the cross, but the effect of sin on our
lives, with all the heart-wounds, were healed.
Matthew
26:28: His blood was shed for the remission of sins. 2 Corinthians 5:21: He who knew no sin was
made a sin-offering for us. It was
punishment, which Christ suffered.
Punishment at the hands of God!
It was expiation on our behalf.
In Christ dwelt the fullness of Deity, and by Him, reconciliation was
effected.
Matthew 26:28
(28) For this is my blood of
the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
2 Corinthians 5:21
(21) For he hath made him [to
be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him.
WHAT
WERE THEY WHOM GOD RECONCILED?
Colossians
1:21: They were once enemies.
Romans
1:30: They were once haters of God.
Romans
5:10: If when we were enemies.…
Psalm
12:4: "Our lips are our own. Who is lord over us?"
Such
a state of mind must work itself out in the deeds of life. The whole history of the human mind is proof
of this enmity.
"Men
worship and serve the creature more than the Creator", says Paul in Romans
1:25.
Colossians 1:21
(21) And you, that were
sometime alienated and enemies in [your] mind by wicked works, yet now hath he
reconciled
Romans 1:30
(30) Backbiters, haters of God,
despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
Romans 5:10
(10) For if, when we were
enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being
reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Psalm 12:4
(4) Who have said, With our
tongue will we prevail; our lips [are] our own: who [is] lord over us?
Romans 1:25
(25) Who changed the truth of
God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator,
who is blessed for ever. Amen
HOW
DID GOD RECONCILE?
Colossians
1:22, "He did it in the body of Christ's flesh." Christ really suffered and died. His humanity would have been of no avail
except as in His humanity he actually suffered and actually died. His sufferings and death were both expiatory
and penal. God's condemnation of sinners
must be first done away with before any reconcilement to Him could possibly
have place. Here lies the truth of the
gospel. It is stated in our text that
the very force of the reconciliation effect was that God presented the condemned
ones in the Presence of Himself UNCHARGED.
Colossians 1:22
(22) In the body of his flesh
through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his
sight:
Now
the argument is: If they became uncharged, of course the condemnation was done
away. Since Christ was appointed to die
in order that reconciliation be effected, it follows that He was appointed to
die in order to exempt us from the penal consequences of our condemnation. His death was the means of our deliverance
from our punishment. He died not merely
the death of the body, but He endured, for a time, those immeasurable horrors
of the Father's desertion of Him (Matthew 27:46).
Matthew 27:46
(46) And about the ninth hour
Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to
say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
He
bore the penalty which was our dessert, and thereby made us free from the
bearing of it. In reconciling the sinner
to Himself, God takes away His condemnation of the sinner, so that, placing the
sinner in an UNCHARGED condition, speaks peace between the two parties. According to the Scriptural usage, to
reconcile is to remove the opposition, not from the offending but from the
offended party. It is the removal of
God's judicial condemnation. Not merely
pardoned but justified.
In
such a position the believer is presented holy and without blemish (Colossians
Colossians 1:22
(22) In the body of his flesh
through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his
sight:
To
understand how a sinner is presented blameless and uncharged in the Presence of
God is of utmost importance.
WE
MUST ASK A QUESTION HERE: Of what Christian’s practical life can it be said,
that he is without blemish?
The
answer: There are none without
blemish! All are conscious of sins of
commission and often times not conscious of sins of ignorance and we add
omission. There has never been more than
ONE LIFE in this world which was without blemish. It is the identification with Jesus Christ
whose death for sinners is the sweet incense of perfect satisfaction to Divine
Justice, which gives the sinner for whom Christ died, the CONDITION of being
without blemish in the Judicial Presence of God.
2
Corinthians 5:21: We are made the righteousness of God in Him.
1
John 4:17, "As He is, so are we in the world".
Perfect
in the perfection of Christ! This is the believer’s standing in the presence of
the Infinite and Almighty!
Uncharged! Unchargeable! What a truth!
2 Corinthians 5:21
(21) For he hath made him [to
be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him.
1 John 4:17
(17) Herein is our love made perfect,
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we
in this world.
It
does not at all express conduct. It is
the expression of judicial standing. It
is the condition of non-liability to punishment. And which is according to Christ, to every
sinner with whom God became reconciled in the death of Christ. Justice has nothing to lay against the
believer! No accusation, seeing that
justice was fulfilled as regards the believer, in the penal suffering of our
Divinely Constituted Substitute.
At
the cross the believer became uncharged and continues to be so; else it would
follow that there were some of his sins to which the suffering of Christ did
not refer. It is that condition of full and final deliverance from the liability
of punishment that produces genuine obedience, acceptable conduct, before
God. The believer is uncharged,
unarraigned, unaccused, pardoned and set free!
To say that God does not accuse the believer is not only to say He does
not condemn him, but it is to say so in the most emphatic and absolute
way. Such is the perfect condition of
every believer in Christ. He has indeed,
his daily failures and sins, which must needs be confessed and put away, but
his confessions are as those of a child, at the feet of his Father, and the
Father’s forgiveness, in the death of Christ, washes off those daily sins, and
thus he is kept clean every whit (John 13:10).
John 13:10
(10) Jesus saith to him, He
that is washed needeth not save to wash [his] feet, but is clean every whit:
and ye are clean, but not all.
The
believer never becomes an accused culprit at the bar of Justice. The believer's appreciative sense of the
Father's love of him will ever prompt him to be sensitive to sin, and cause him
to purify his daily conduct. Or, if his
appreciation grows faint and feeble, and thereby be betrayed into more or less
carelessness of living, then will the Father deal with him according to a
Father's discipline. BUT the believer
remains uncharged. God is no longer his Judge, having already judged the
believer in Christ. The believer is
accused of nothing and is never again condemned. The believer's daily failures are dealt with
in the intercourse of Father and son.
Uncharged of every claim all his life long, is he who is IN CHRIST.
"YOU"
says the Apostle, "God reconciled in the body of Christ’s flesh through
death, to present YOU holy and without blemish, and uncharged in the Presence
of Himself. Pardoned. Justified!
(Colossians 1:23). But he adds: "if
ye continue in the faith" or "seeing that ye continue in the
faith". By this he means, IT BEING
A FACT THAT YE CONTINUE IN THE FAITH", therefore did God pardon and accept
you in the body of Christ's flesh through death. Such is the connection here. This is the expression of the Greek text.
Colossians 1:23
(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;
We
are aware that, to many readers of the Bible, the word "if" in the
text seems to surround with limitation and uncertainty the declaration of
salvation contained in the preceding verses.
As if it read: "You are saved in the death of Christ, by reason of
your being now faithful.” That would be
leaven! The declaring of the preceding
verses is absolute. GOD DID RECONCILE
YOU in the death of Christ to present you uncharged in the presence of Himself.
Christ
was either a substitute bearing the punishment of those for whom He stood, or
He was not. If real, then the punishment
born by Him, can never be exacted of those for whom He bore it, and their
deliverance is an accomplished fact. The
deliverance from condemnation, which was absolutely accomplished in Christ,
cannot depend for its existence on anything subsequent to His sufferings. It cannot be that we were saved in the death
of Christ by reason of our being faithful now.
Mark
your Bibles on this verse. It were an
absurdity to make the assurance of what has ALREADY TAKEN PLACE to depend on
the occurrence of something else in the future.
Nor does the Apostle’s "if" at all countenance such an
absurdity, for as we have seen his expression in the Greek "if
indeed", "it being so", "seeing", "since",
these words explain that he is referring their being in the faith as a present
fact and as such proving that they were saved in and at the time of the
sufferings of Christ.
It
is a finished atonement or unfinished!
It being so that we are in the faith, therefore it is certain that in
the death of Christ, GOD DID present you uncharged in His Presence. There is no uncertainty to the believer about
his pardon and acceptance. It was a long
ago accomplished event, and the believer’s present faith is to him the
demonstration of it.
Again,
it seems to some, as though our text were teaching this: "you shall get to
Heaven IF you continue in the faith".
The Apostle does not refer here to getting to Heaven. Instead he is speaking alone of the
believer's personal standing in Christ, uncharged, a personal standing which
was affected for the believer at the time of, and in the death of Christ, and
of which present faith is a proof.
Certainly,
whoever is uncharged and without blemish in Christ is already meet for Heaven
(Colossians
Colossians 1:12
(12) Giving thanks unto the
Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the
saints in light:
And
again our text has been understood by some to imply the doctrine that the
believer may so far lose his faith as to backslide from his personal standing
in Christ and be finally lost. "If
ye continue in the faith", they regard as equivalent to: “Ye may lose your
faith and therein also your condition of deliverance from
condemnation." BUT WE ANSWER: The
text speaks of a present faith as the proof of a past fact. YE WERE delivered from condemnation and
accepted of God, seeing that ye are now in the faith. No reference is here made to the future. NO
DOUBT of any kind is insinuated. No
threatening danger is implied. The
Apostle’s purpose is simply to state the absolute accomplishment of salvation
in the past sufferings of Christ and the demonstration of it which is furnished
to an individual soul in the present existence of faith.
The
believer's deliverance and acceptance are ACCOMPLISHED FACTS of the past and
the connection therewith is simply that he is a believer. The believer was judicially delivered by the
finished work on the cross, and now he is consciously so.