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

My concern in this series of posts is to demonstrate the necessity of maintaining the centrality of the gospel even with texts where the gospel is not explicitly mentioned. If the gospel is only central in our preaching when the text at hand refers to it, can we really claim gospel-centeredness for our preaching? I have become convinced that true gospel-centered preaching recognizes the necessity of demonstrating how every text finds its ultimate reference point in what God has accomplished in the Messiah. This means that a gospel-centered handling of “fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged” (Colossians 3:21) will seek to show its relationship to the gospel of grace. But if we are to do that, we must discern what aspects of the gospel Paul emphasizes in the chapters of Colossians leading up to the imperatives of chapters 3 and 4. So let’s continue to consider this epistle’s focus on the gospel by looking at Paul’s exhortation to the Colossians at the end of chapter one.

Colossians 1:21-23—And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, [22] he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, [23] if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard…

The occasion for Paul’s letter to the Colossians was that there were false teachers who “thought that Christ was no more than a beginning; to go on to spiritual maturity, it was necessary to follow their rules and practices” (Carson, Moo, and Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, p. 335). The church’s steadfastness in the gospel was what was at stake in Colossae. So what does Paul do? He exhorts them to continue in the faith, that is, to remain steadfast in the apostolic gospel. So it was essential for the Colossian church to keep the gospel central in its corporate existence.

Notice that Paul states that they are not to shift “from the hope of the gospel” (Colossians 1:23). This is the second time Paul mentions hope in this epistle. However, we are left wondering, once again, what this central-to-the-gospel hope actually is. We do know at this point that whatever this false teaching was that was threatening the church at Colossae, it was attacking the hope of the gospel. So Paul writes this epistle to protect this gospel-hope. What I think we will find is that this hope holds the key to identifying the fuctional connection of Colossians 3:21 (”fathers, do not provoke your children…”) to the gospel.

Now consider Colossians 2:6-7.

Colossians 2:6-7—Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, [7] rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Paul says that the Colossians “received Christ Jesus the Lord.” The word “receive” is a technical term that is used when referring to the practice of transmitting a corpus of teaching from one individual or group to another. So when Paul says that they “received Christ Jesus the Lord,” he’s referring to the reception of doctrinal content that concerns the Messiah. What we find, then, in the phrase “Christ Jesus the Lord” is the content of the gospel in compressed form. In essence, what Paul is saying is that they received the corpus of truth about the Messiah (i.e. “Christ”) who is none other than the crucified and risen Jesus (i.e. “Jesus”) and now the exalted Lord (i.e. “the Lord”). This is the message that they heard and understood when it was presented to them (Colossians 1:6). So Paul, once again, exhorts the Colossian church to remain steadfast in the truth of the gospel.