Colossians 1:19-23 → Reconciliation Through Christ
- Steve Schott
- Jan 13
- 6 min read
Theme
► The main theme of Colossians, in my opinion, is the deity of Jesus Christ - His fullness as God, and His complete sufficiency as having done all that is necessary to save us from our sins.
► Colossians 2:9-10a → "9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete,..."
→ Who Jesus is, is complete - the supremacy of the Person of Jesus
→ What Jesus has done, is complete - the sufficiency of the work of Jesus
• There is nothing that we can add to this to effect, improve, or add value to, our salvation.
► Paul will spend the rest of this letter, both carefully elaborating on the divine character of Jesus, and also being very specific about the completeness of what Jesus did on the cross to obtain our salvation.
► Attacks, if you will, from outside the church (and perhaps some from inside the church), that suggest that more is needed, specifically within the framework of our human efforts, to fully obtain salvation, will be shot down like enemy missiles, the intent of which is to destroy our faith.
Outline
► An outline of the Book of Colossians
• (This is the outline used by the group of teachers I participate with at our church. All of my blog postings for Colossians are following this outline)
Theological
• Pretty much everything in this section (chapters 1 and 2), including Paul’s greeting, is dialoguing about the truth of Jesus, and how it has impacted our lives, and will continue to do so in the future.
• Even when Paul is dealing with the false teaching, he’s dealing with the false teaching in light of the truth about Jesus he’s already dealt with up to that point.
1 → Introduction to the Book of Colossians
2 → 1:1-12 Greeting and Prayer for the Colossians
3 → 1:13-18 The Preeminence of Christ
4 → 1:19-23 Reconciliation Through Christ
5 → 1:24-29 Paul's Ministry to the Church
6 → 2:1-7 Reaching the Riches of Full Assurance
7 → 2:8-15 Made Alive Together With Christ
8 → 2:16-23 Let No One Disqualify You
Practical
• Once we get into chapter 3, and through chapter 4, Paul’s approach will be much more centered on how to live out this true gospel in our everyday lives, in the community of the body of Christ.
9 → 3:1-8 Seek the Heavenly, Put to Death the Earthly
10 → 3:9-17 Put on the New Self
11 → 3:18-4:1 Rules for Christian Households
12 → 4:2-6 Steadfast Praying, Wise Walking, Gracious Speaking
13 → 4:7-18 Final Greetings
Passage
19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
• There is such a stark contrast in these two verses. While in verse 19 Paul talks about Jesus possessing the "fullness to dwell in Him,...", in verse 20 it talks about how Jesus in humility would allow Himself to take our place at the judgement seat. We are reconciled to God, brought back to Him in righteousness, by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Jesus shed His blood on the cross, meaning He died, and through that work made peace between God and man. Or, from our perspective, the possibility of peace. In that we still need to respond. A Christmas present left under the tree is no good to you; until you receive it, and open it, and taking it for your own. Otherwise, it's no good to you.
• In verse 21 Paul emphasizes just how lost we are/were. 1st, we were "alienated", meaning we were separated from God. And no means of self-improvement or self-sacrifice could ever bridge that chasm. But not only that, we were also "hostile in mind", meaning that not only were we separated from God, but we also were demonstrating animosity toward God. Adding insult to injury, not only do we have a negative attitude toward God, but we are also participating in "evil deeds", meaning our actions were consistent with our attitude, in regards to our hostility.
• But that is the past.
22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—
• Paul sums up the process of reconciliation by stating that the means of our reconciliation is completely and only through the substitutionary death of Jesus, with the results that those who accept this gift are now positionally "holy and blameless and beyond reproach" before God, and will eventually experience this in a practical way in heaven.
23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.
• A little care needs to be taken with this verse, as it could be misunderstood to have a meaning that one could lose their salvation. Paul never taught that. But he did teach that the truth, or the validity of our salvation, could be evidenced by our works.
• My belief is that when Paul says "if indeed you continue in the faith", he is not suggesting that a person could have true faith and then reject it, but rather that if the faith you have continues "firmly established and steadfast", then it's indicative that your faith was true.
• I think that probably all of us know someone, perhaps within our own families, who seemed to be on track with Jesus and the Christian life, but at some point turned to walk down a different path. It may have not even been any specific path that they turned to, but rather just ANY path that lead them away from Jesus. My thought would be in this scenario is that they never really had true faith, but more of an understanding of what they perceived to be the facts at that point in time, but turned away from that later.
• I don't want to sound like some kind of expert in regards to this, because I'm not. There's a lot a chaos in the world - it's not functioning as simply as I would like - but I hold fast to the simplicity of the gospel. Jesus died for me, I've received His salvation, and I hope to continue to move more toward Christlikeness every day.
So What?
► We have been reconciled to God by the blood of Jesus Christ
• Paul, writing to Titus said in Titus 3:4-7 → "4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."
• There is nothing we can do, except trust in the work of Jesus on our behalf.
► We were once “alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds”
• Paul emphasizes the completeness of our separation from God - complete aggression toward God in both heart/mind and actions.
► We are now “holy and blameless and beyond reproach” before God
• But because of what Jesus did for us, when we respond to Him in faith, we are cleansed and restored to what we were designed to be - "holy and blameless and beyond reproach" - another way of saying without sin. We still stumble, tripping over our own shoe laces so to speak, but eventually we will be physically what we are today positionally - pure.
Photo • 01/06/2026 - Mushroom on a tree stump, foggy morning in Claremore, OK
“Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995
by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org”
All linked verses are from the YouVersion at www.Bible.com
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