Pastor and 1st Lady Mims

Week 4, September 28, 2025

LESSON 4

The Works of Christ

Lesson Text:

Colossians 1:21-23; Ephesians 2:1-3,12

Memory Verse
"And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now bath he reconciled"
Colossians 1:21

Key Terms
Conditional • Subject to one or more requirements being met; made or granted only on certain terms.

Reconciliation • The restoration of friendly relations.
Unregenerate • Not reforming or showing repentance; obstinately wrong or bad.

Suggested Emphasis

After climbing some lofty heights to view the majesty of Christ in the previous passage (Col. 1:15-20), Paul descends back to a personal address to the Colossians. The apostle returns to his primary task of this epistle: to assist the Saints in remaining "grounded and settled" in the faith (Col. 1:23).

Emphasis 1:

At One Time Enemies

The first thing Paul does here is remind the Colossians of how awful they were before their salvation. He says they were once "alienated" from God, and "enemies" of His in their minds, and full of "wicked works."

This is comparable to what he told the Ephesians: "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others" (Eph. 2:1-3). "That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12). Of course, we should not assume that the Colossians and Ephesians were uniquely wicked. This is meant to illustrate the total depravity of unregenerate people. These are descriptions that apply to anyone who is without Christ in the world. And this reminder is a service even to the Saints. Unless we understand the corruption of our nature before salvation, we will never truly appreciate what it means to be reconciled to God.

Emphasis 2:

Reconciled to God

But now our reconciliation has been accomplished and applied to us. Paul asserts, "And you... yet now hath He reconciled." How so? Paul will later explain, "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross" (Col. 2:13,14). More than 2000 years ago the record of our sin debts was erased: "Against Jew and Gentile alike there was a bond, a note unpaid, an obligation unfulfilled. This bond was the law of God, chiefly the law embodied in the Ten Commandments, but also, for the Gentiles, the law of conscience 'written in their hearts.' This bond Christ canceled by his atoning death" (Erdman, 1966, p. 78). The metaphorical language is so powerful. The handwriting on the bond was blotted out as if the Blood of Christ dripped onto the page and made the writing illegible!

Now the cancellation was accomplished decisively when Christ died. However, the debt cancellation is not accrued to our individual accounts until we accept Christ as Savior and Lord. "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins" (Acts 10:43). Nobody has forgiveness of sins as an experience until they are united to Christ by faith. That is how the reconciliation that Jesus purchased on the Cross is directly applied to us. That is how we can trust that we will be presented "holy and unblameable and unreproveable to his sight.

Emphasis 3:

Perseverance Is Necessary

Now Paul does introduce a conditional phrase to his argument: "If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister" (Col. 1:23). The warning is that our reconciliation with God will not endure if we surrender our saving faith. Paul testified that some erstwhile believers had not held onto their faith or listened to their conscience, and thereby "made shipwreck" (1 Tim. 1:19). Paul admitted that he personally had to stay on guard: "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway" (1 Cor. 9:27). Paul seemed to believe that any person (even he, himself) is susceptible to falling away. That is why he wanted to admonish the Colossians about the dangers of heresy.

Missions Application Questions:

Why does Paul remind the Colossians of their depravity when they were unregenerate?
How did Christ reconcile us to God?
Under what conditions do we secure God's forgiveness of our sin debt?

World Missions Prayer Points

Let us pray to remember that before we were saved we were enemies to God.
Let us thank God for the perseverance He will give us to remain holy and un-reproveable.
Let us pray that the whole Church refuses to surrender saving faith.

Mims Chapel Church