The Book of Colossians Pt. 6 The Glory of Salvation Through The Blood of Christ!

I hope that you remember one of the heresies Paul addressed in his letter to the church at Colosse is Gnosticism. I gave you a detailed explanation of this heresy in Part 2 of this study, published on May 14. 

Don't allow Satan to divide us over foolish issues. 

Colossians 1:10,11  That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11)  Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; 

We spent time looking at Paul's prayer for the Colossian Christians. I have a couple of thoughts to add to this section. One of the great mysteries in scripture is that God uses the gospel of Christ to break down barriers between people (See for examples, Ephesians 2:11-22; Galatians 3:26-29).

Typical markers of societal status do not matter in the body of Christ. Slaves and masters were the same in the church. 

Gender does not matter for male and females share the same blessings in Christ. Education, wealth, vocation, talent, skills or abilities do not matter in the body of Christ. 

Yet, all too often, the people of God have allowed frivolous things to divide them. I remind us today, that every church will experience some form of problems because each church has people. 

On a good day, we are still sinners saved by grace and we still carry about our old man who resists the things of God and the work of the Spirit of God in us. 

Therefore, we will sometimes have people problems to work through and we must obey the instructions for these things contained in the Bible. 

We must stop letting Satan get an advantage over us by creating divisions, disunity, disappointment or discouragement in the church. 

The following texts are part of the spiritual antidote that Paul gave us, to combat Satan's schemes to create division among believers. 

The Father makes us fitted for heaven!

Colossians 1:12  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 

Paul turns to express heartfelt gratitude to the Father in heaven for all He did to make us righteous through repentant faith in Christ Jesus. 

"Giving thanks unto the Father" reminds us that we have nothing except what we received from the Father's merciful hand. We have no claim of merit upon Him for anything, for salvation is the mighty work of God.   

It is the Father who makes us "meet." This word means to be made fit, suitable, proper, or qualified for heaven.

Paul does not mean that the Father is making us "meet” by progressive growth in holiness, but that He once for all time made us meet. 

We are made fit for heaven ONE time just as we are regenerated by the Spirit of God ONE time, just as we are judicially declared justified ONE time. 

The Holy Spirit’s work is not as much in view here, as is the Father’s work in putting us into the family of God by adoption. This too, happens one time where we receive an eternal blessing from Christ. 

Christians at Colosse were at various stages of progressive sanctification, but with regard to being "meet" or made fit for heaven, they were all the same. Each was meet or fitted for heaven, even though some were more spiritually mature than others. 

Being made fit to be a child of God also means that the Father assigned us a portion, an inheritance in heaven and our Father does this for each of His children. 

There is a picture of this that can be seen in the narrative of how the twelve tribes of Israel divided the promised land into lots or portions (See Joshua 11:23; and chapters 12-19). 

Thus, each child of God has an inheritance with all other saints in heaven. Our Father in heaven did this work. This is connected with being adopted by the Father through faith in His Son, and being made heirs of eternal life. 

Glorious deliverance from the grip of darkness!

Colossians 1:13  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 

Darkness is personified as having power, authority, and exerting evil influence in the world.  All people who do not embrace the Gospel are living under this malicious authority and power. 

Nothing less than the mighty power of God can redeem a soul from this pervasive darkness (See Romans 1:16). The Devil, by means of temptations, appealing to our fleshly lusts, generates sin and unbelief in human hearts. He seeks to keep men in ignorance, vice, and misery.

The word "delivered" means to be rescued. It means setting someone free or to release one from restraint. It also means to liberate someone who was a prisoner or held captive (See Isaiah 61).  

What did the Father deliver us from? We are delivered from the pervasive, evil power of darkness. We are delivered from the power of the grave, hell, sin and death (See 1 Corinthians 15:54-58).

Satan commands the rulers of darkness of this world, which includes the fallen angels. He unleashes spiritual wickedness in high places in his assault against all humanity, and especially against Christians. 

The Father "translated" us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. The word "translated" means to pick us up and carry us away to a different place. Hell is exchanged for Heaven! It means having our life and situation utterly changed forever!

Think about this for a moment. Before I was born again, I was a sinner, a slave to the lusts of my flesh, doing whatever vile things the world was doing. 

When I turned to Jesus Christ with repentant faith after hearing the gospel, part of the Father's mighty work was rescuing me from the Devil's domain. He placed me safely and securely into the kingdom of God. 

This is true for all who are born again. We are delivered from darkness and are put into the kingdom of light. To learn about this kingdom read through Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) for this defines the kingdom rule and principles of living. 

Gospel Light dispels spiritual darkness. 

Ephesians 2:2,3  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3)  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 

Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus about spiritual warfare and spiritual darkness. Here, the Devil is called the prince of the power of the air. This simply means that his sphere of influence and operations is centered upon our world. 

His corrupting evil schemes entice people to disobey God to such a degree that they are driven by the lust of their flesh to commit outrageous sins against God. It is much like the days of Noah when men's imaginations were inflamed with evil desires (Genesis 6:5). 

The wrath of God abides over the head of each sinner. If a sinner hears the gospel of Christ and calls upon Jesus with repentant faith, then the wrath of God will be removed and the sinner will no longer be under divine condemnation for sin (Romans 8:1). 

Until a sinner is regenerated by hearing the gospel and exercising repentant faith in Christ, they remain children of wrath. 

The blood of Jesus Christ paid for our sins.

Colossians 1:14  In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 

I have to stop here a moment to discuss important words that are omitted from modern Bibles. {The NKJV omits these words by using a footnote.} 

"Through his blood" is omitted. 

(Col 1:14 NASB) “in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”   

(Col 1:14 NIV) “in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”   

(Col 1:14 NRSV) “in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”   

(Col 1:14 ESV)  in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Here is how some popular modern Bibles read. Notice that in each version, the words "through his blood" are omitted. Why? Because "higher critics" set themselves up in judgment over what constitutes the Word of God. 

We do not have time to study the guiding principles used by these critics but generally, they have chosen to follow a Greek New Testament that did not exist prior to 1881. 

The Greek text supporting the KJV can be traced back to the early church. The modern position means that critics think the Holy Spirit guided believers into the wrong truth for 1800 years, and this is an untenable position (See John 14:15-31; 16:4-15).

In case you are wondering about the manuscript evidence supporting keeping "through his blood" in the text, it is as follows. 

The majority of manuscripts support the reading as it stands in the KJV. This includes the cursives 614 and 630 along with the large number of Byzantine manuscripts and several Latin and Syriac copies that support the reading found in the KJV.

Another scholar lists the following cursives that contain the missing words. 206, 223, 330, 383, 424, 614, 630, 876, 1505, 1518, 1912, 1960, 2005, 2200, 2344, 2412, and 2464. 

They can also be found in many of the Old Latin manuscripts. including g (9th century), f (9th century), c (11th century) and dem (12th century). 

It is also found in the foreign language translations of Syriac Harclean and the Philoxenian, as well as the Armenian (4th to 5th century) and in the Latin Vulgate of Jerome (382 A.D.) 

It is also found in the ancient versions of the Old Latin, the Vulgate 382 A.D., and Slavonic ancient versions.

As for early church Fathers who quoted Colossians 1:14 as it stands in the Reformation Bibles the list includes  Theodoret (420 A.D.), Cassiodorus and John Cassian (360 A.D.) along with Nestorius John Cassian (360 AD). 

Now, why would the phrase "through his blood" be omitted in any manuscripts? Remember that Gnosticism is a heresy that was beginning to impact the church at Colosse and other places. Gnostics and several other ancient heresies held a "dualistic view" where matter was evil and spirit was pure. 

Gnostics believed that all of the physical world was inherently evil and that our bodies were evil. The spirit world was pure and as a result of this view, they reject a literal interpretation of the Bible. 

They would reject the idea of God being born in a body of flesh. They would reject the idea of a literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Therefore, ancient heretics altered their manuscript copies of scripture and this is why the words were taken out. They were conforming their copies to their perverted beliefs. 

This is why we glory in the cross of Christ!

Colossians 1:14  In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 

Now that we dealt with why important words are not found in many modern Bibles, let us look at what this verse is teaching us. 

The words "in whom" refer to a believer being joined to Christ by the regenerating work of God's Spirit. When we are born again, we are "in Christ." 

The word "redemption" refers to the cost to pay for our sins. It literally means to be liberated by paying a price. Jesus fully paid the price of our redemption with His own blood, He cancelled our debt of sin so that we can be made fit to be partakers of the inheritance among the saints in light.

There is no remission of sins without the shedding of blood. Redemption by the innocent blood of a perfect substitute began with God killing an innocent animal to cover the sin of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. 

Jesus was God manifest in the flesh and the blood He shed was nothing less than the blood of God (See Acts 20:28).

Through His blood, Jesus brings full forgiveness of our sins to all who turn to Him with repentant faith. 

The word "forgiveness" means receiving  forgiveness or pardon of sins, a letting go of them as if they had never been committed, and a remission of the penalty of sin. The Hebrew word for forgiveness means to lift up and carry away all the guilt, shame and penalty of sin. 

Full forgiveness is made possible by the blood of Jesus Christ. 

Thoughts to Ponder...

I do not often comment about Bible version issues, but I felt that this particular example was important enough to discuss with you. 

In most cases, when words or verses are omitted from modern Bibles, the manuscript evidence supporting including the words, is overwhelming. 

If you have questions about a specific verse or omission that you run into, please email me and I will do my best to share the manuscript evidence with you.

Bear in mind that ancient heretics corrupted their own copies of scripture and this is where the omissions come from in modern Bibles. We will run into more of these as we study through the book of Colossians. 

Now, we have so much to praise God for. Our Father makes us ready for heaven because we put our faith in Jesus Christ and are "in Christ."

He gives us a heavenly inheritance that we will enjoy one day. He delivered us from the domain of the Devil and put us in the Kingdom of His dear Son. 

When we are "in Christ" we receive full pardon and forgiveness for our sins. We are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. 

Sin, death, Hell and condemnation passed away from us and we receive a home in heaven, and eternal life with God.

I pray that we all take time to thank our heavenly Father for the mighty works He has done for us through our faith in Christ. 

I pray that we rejoice as we consider the beauty of His salvation. I pray that we never lose sight of the tremendous cost of our salvation. I pray that these things will motivate us to live for Christ with renewed sincerity of heart and spiritual vigor.

Bob