Paul in Colossians exhorts us not to give up on the hope of the gospel. It is easy to give up hope especially when we feel everything is going against us. I remember as a child singing 'Jesus bids us shine' with the words:
Like a little candle
Burning in the night.
In this world of darkness
So let us shine-
You in your small corner,
And I in mine.
The image has always stayed with me - of a child with a candle in a corner surrounded by darkness, hoping Jesus comes back before the darkness gets him or her! But is this really what the hope of the gospel looks like? Celtic missionaries used to have a very different way of looking at the world. The unseen world that surrounded us was full, not of darkness or foreboding spirits, but the light and glory of God. We were enveloped by the presence and power of the angelic and the saints. In the midst of whatever we were going through the all encompassing light of God surrounded us and dispelled the reality of the darkness.
It is a similar vision that governs Paul's words in Colossians. Paul is affirming a truth that is often forgotten today. The gospel is not dependent on whether I believe in it or not; or whether our society thinks it's true. No, the gospel is a declaration of what has already occurred. It proclaims the difference that the coming of Christ has made to the whole of the created order. It is a declaration of events that have occurred in time and space that have changed the nature of all things. Often in our pluralistic and relativistic age we think all religious truth is simply a matter of what I choose to believe, but Paul wants us to know the gospel is a declaration of how God has transformed the world through the coming of Christ. It is about something that has happened that affects us all whether we choose to believe in it or not.
The first part of the passage is probably a creedal statement used by the early church. It shows us that from the inception of Christianity Jesus is affirmed, not as 'a god', but as the creator God - 'by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ' (16-17). Paul wants us to be in no doubt that when Jesus the Creator became part of creation, 'the invisible God' became visible. He uses a phrase 'the first born of all creation' to describe this state of affairs. The phrase is not saying that Jesus is created, but that he is the head of all creation - its author and sustainer. In the same way, Christ is the head of the church.
But Paul also wants to affirm that the coming of Christ has tangibly changed everything. The gospel is not some ethereal timeless spiritual truth that some people might find helpful; it is declaring an event that has ramifications for us all. God's relationship to the world and to each one of us has changed through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Death is no longer the end and the world is no longer a place full of darkness and alienation. Christ has brought reconciliation, healing and forgiveness. Although it may seem the darkness is winning and power of Christ is waning, Paul exhorts us: 'don't give up the hope of the gospel'. The Christ event has changed everything. The reality of that transformation does not depend on how we feel or how we are doing or even whether we believe in it. It rests on what Christ has done - his birth, death and resurrection. This reality impacts everyone. Let's not lose sight of what Jesus has done, but let others know of the transforming power of God that is at work in the world.
Source: The Hope Of The Gospel - Alasdair Black Senior Pastor, Stirling Baptist Church
