(Part One) (Part Two) (Part Three) (Part Four) (Part Five) (Part Six)

One of my main concerns for preachers and teachers of the Word is that the gospel would not merely have the stated centrality (i.e. “The gospel is central in all that we say and do here.”) but also the functional centrality in the life of the church. It is one thing to state that the gospel is central in our corporate existence when the Word is preached. It is another thing to demonstrate explicitly—regardless of the text that is preached—that the gospel is central functionally in the church’s life. If the gospel is not central functionally, though it holds a stated centrality, can we really say that it is central in our church’s existence? I don’t think we can. The very nature of the gospel demands that it be the functional center of every church and not merely the stated center.

It is with this issue that my next several posts are concerned. I hope to demonstrate from a short survey of Colossians the necessity of the functional centrality of the gospel in the life of the church. Let’s begin by observing Paul’s emphasis on the centrality of the gospel in this epistle to the Christians at Colossae.

The Functional Basis

Notice, particularly, the words in bold throughout. First, in Colossians 1:3-6, we learn of the central place the gospel had in the church at Colossae.

Colossians 1:3-6—We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, [4] since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, [5] because of the hope laid up for you in heaven (Key Question: What is this hope that is laid up for us in heaven? We’ll come back to this in a latter post.). Of this (laid-up-in-heaven-hope) you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, [6] which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth

Paul says that the gospel had come to them and was like a plant that grows covering more and more ground and bearing fruit—the fruit of faith and love (Colossians 1:4). Verse 6 also says that the gospel was growing in their midst since the day they “heard it and understood the grace of God in truth” (verse 6). Concerning these verses Tim Keller writes:

“Here we learn: 1) That the gospel is a living thing (cf. Romans 1:16) which is like a seed or a tree that brings more and more new life—bearing fruit and growing. 2) That the gospel is only “planted” in us so as to bear fruit as we understand its greatness and implications deeply—understood God’s grace in all its truth. 3) That the gospel continues to grow in us and renew us throughout our lives—as it has been doing since the day you heard it… [The gospel] is a living power that continually expands its influence in our lives, just as a crop or a tree would grow and spread and dominate more and more of an area with roots and fruit” (article: The Centrality of the Gospel, p. 1).

Interestingly, Paul uses creation language to describe the gospel’s activity in Colossae. It is—note the verb tense—bearing fruit and growing. I think he uses creation language because he intends that we recognize that the gospel is God’s power unto the life of the New Creation (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:6; 5:17; Galatians 6:15; Ephesians 2:10; 4:24; Colossians 3:10; also Romans 1:16-17; 8:20-21)? We will see this developed as we move farther into Colossians. But Paul’s point here is that God’s power unto New Creation life, namely, the gospel, was at the very center of God’s ongoing work in Colossae. Paul does not want the Colossians, or us for that matter, to think of the gospel only as that which gives entrance into the life of God’s New Creation, but also as that which sustains it and will ultimately bring it, this new creation life, to completion. So the gospel, according to Paul here in Colossians, is God’s power unto the entirety of New Creation life, and is, therefore, God’s power to grow the Colossian church. In other words, the gospel is to be the functional center of the church.