Once Begun, How to Live?

It's been a while since I first posted on Colossians, but I want to continue looking at this fascinating letter, not least because it offers an instructive look at the connection between Christian identity and Christ.

Col. 1.3-8

Early on, Paul indicates that a Christ-centered life is the key to pleasing God.

A key question for the Colossians, and one that I struggle with, is how to be the kind of individual that God wants to call his own. They had begun to work out their own answers to this question by embracing practicies that were admirable (ones that had "the appearance of wisdom"--2.23). The were strict in their observance of the Sabbath and other key religious days and were serious about disciplining their bodies. Somehow, though, these actions were deemed woefully inadequate.

[Let me observe at this point that the too easy tendency for many of us is to dismiss actions like those of the Colossians as obviously legalistic and counter to the gospel. Yet it's interesting to note that Paul doesn't chastise the intent driving the Colossians' practices (contrast Paul's approach here with the one taken in Galatians); in fact, he assumes the desire to please God is a laudable goal, and is careful in his remarks not to stamp out such enthusiasm. For those of you like me, who wrestle mightily with feelings of failure, induced in part by our inability to live out the fulness of our convictions, we can be encouraged that our goals are nevertheless affirmed.]

Paul's thanksgiving in the first chapter hints that the means for pleasing God begins elsewhere--with another, to be precise. In the thanksgiving the apostle starts to lay the groundwork for his later appeal to "walk in [Christ]" (2.6). Paul's prayer is offered up because he has "heard of [the Colossians'] faith in Christ and the love which [they] possess for all the saints" (1.4). As will become more evident later in the letter, this linkage of faith in Christ and love is significant; essentially, for Paul, the latter is a result of the former. Faith in Christ as properly understood leads to a life characterized by actions that are pleasing to God, foremost among which is love.

The problem for the Colossians--and for me on most days--is not the intention to please God through righteous works, but rather the failure to begin where my (new) life begins, with Christ. Failure to begin with Christ leads to frustrated intentions, and hence to angst. While the Colossians may not have been in a state of acute spiritual turmoil, they were, from Paul's perspective, in danger of living disconnected from the source of their right standing with God.

But life is rarely "either/or." Sometimes we get things right without knowing exactly what we've done and other times we stray far from "spiritual wisdom and understanding" (1.9). As I noted earlier, the Colossians are "projects," works of God, and Paul's desire is to bring to "maturity in Christ" (1.28). That they have indeed begun well, though--are pleasing God, and on their way to spiritual maturity--is seen by their "love for the saints." Only Christ's life, accessible by faith, is effectual for bringing about such love as theirs. Paul is encouraging them for having embraced (to some degree) the true way of life.