Verse 27 says, “To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Bible students have differing opinions as to what the antecedent of which is. Some say it is the riches, while others say it is this mystery. I prefer to say that which refers to this mystery, but whether it is riches or mystery, it is the same. We may speak of the riches of our bank account; the riches and the bank account are the same thing. Without the riches, the bank account means nothing. Likewise, without the riches in verse 27, the mystery means nothing. The mystery depends on the riches, and the riches are the contents of the mystery. The King James Version incorrectly says, “What is the riches of the glory of this mystery,” using is in the singular. The riches are not one item only. They are the many items of the mystery as the contents of the mystery. This mystery is Christ, not Christ alone, but Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ is in us for today, and He is our hope of glory for tomorrow.

Verse 28 begins, “Whom we announce.” What Paul announced was not dispensations, prophecy, teachings, doctrines, gifts, or tongues. I say this again because people stress these things too much. Who is the whom that Paul announced? It is Christ. This verse continues, “Admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom.” Paul not only announced but he admonished and taught. Some say that I am a trouble maker; if I am, it is because I desire to admonish every man and teach every man. We need not only to announce but also to admonish and teach. We need to admonish because there are too many things to distract people from the central item, which is Christ. Admonishing is negative, while teaching is positive. We admonish and teach not only all men but every man, one by one.

Verse 28 ends, “That we may present every man full-grown in Christ.” The Greek word here is not perfect but full-grown. The word perfect is too simple; it does not give the feeling that we need to grow. The word here implies maturity, growth in a full way to its fullest extent. This is not maturity in doctrine, teaching, speaking in tongues, or gifts of healing. It is to be mature, full-grown, in Christ. We have to grow in Christ, and we must mature in Christ. Verse 29 continues, “For which also I labor, struggling according to His operation which operates in me in power.” The apostle strove, struggled, and fought to labor in this way, not by his own human strength but by the divine power which operated in him.

Chapter two reveals more concerning Christ. Verses 2 and 3 say, “That their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love and unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding, unto the full knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.” Then verse 6 says, “As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him.” I like these two words: received and walk. We have received Christ, and now we walk in Him. Verse 7 continues, “Having been rooted and being built up in Him, and being established in the faith even as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” In Greek, having been rooted is in the perfect tense, while being built is in the present. We have been rooted in Christ; this is an accomplished matter. Now we are in the process of being built up in Him; this is still going on.

Verse 8 is a warning: “Beware that no one carries you off as spoil through his philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ.” To be carried off as spoil is worse than being damaged. It is to be brought into captivity, to be captured. Verses 9 and 10 say, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you have been made full in Him, who is the Head of all rule and authority.” Fullness in verse 9 and made full in verse 10 are from the same Greek root. The fullness dwells in Christ, and we have been made full in Him. We may illustrate fullness and being made full with a glass containing blue dye. If we put a white handkerchief into the glass, it will be made blue, because the blue dye is in the glass. The fullness dwells in Christ, and now we have been put into Christ, “dipped” into Him, so in Him we have been made full.

Verses 11 through 13 say that we have been baptized, buried together with Christ, raised with Him, and made alive together with Him. Christ also blotted out the ordinances and stripped off the rulers and authorities (vv. 14-15). Stripping off may be compared to dusting, like the way we dust off our clothes. When the Lord Jesus was on this earth, the principalities, the evil powers, came to Him, but the Lord brought all this “dirt” to the cross. Through His death on the cross He dusted them off.

Verses 16 and 17 say, “Let no one therefore judge you in eating and in drinking or in respect of a feast or of a new moon or of the Sabbath, which are a shadow of the things to come, but the body is of Christ.” The apostle mentions five items: eating, drinking, a feast for joy, a new moon for a new beginning, and the Sabbath for rest. Food, drink, joy, the new beginning, and rest are all a shadow, but the body is of Christ. Verse 19 goes on to speak of the Head, the Body, the joints for the supply of the Body, and the sinews for the knitting together of the members of the Body.

Chapter three begins, “If therefore you were raised together with Christ, seek the things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things which are above, not on the things which are on the earth” (vv. 1-2). In this book Paul speaks of the mind several times. In 1:21 he said that the Colossians had been enemies in their mind because of evil works, in 2:18 the defrauders are vainly puffed up by the mind set on the flesh, and here in 3:2 the believers should set their mind on the things which are above.

Verse 3 says that we have died, and our life is hidden with Christ in God, and verse 4 says that when Christ our life is manifested, we also will be manifested with Him in glory. Following this, verses 10 and 11 say, “And have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all.” Finally, verses 15 and 16 say, “And let the peace of Christ arbitrate in your hearts, to which also you were called in one Body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.”
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