Am I Truly Blameless?

Am I Truly Blameless?

I was studying Colossians this morning and got hung up on one verse that just seemed so rich and deep that I could not get past it. It is Colossians 1:22. But you know me, I never isolate a single verse. I adamantly preach and promote context so, let’s look at the passage together in its entirety. But before we do, let me give you a summary of the background of Colossians, the letter that Paul wrote to the church in Colosse.

While Paul was in prison, he wrote Colossians to address heresies and false doctrines that were infiltrating the church. Certain sects were trying to add to the gospel. Some were trying to incorporate Jewish legalism, some were introducing Greek philosophy, and others even mysticism. One of the more prevalent influences that Paul was dealing with was Gnosticism, the belief that Jesus was not entirely God and man. Paul wrote the letter to refute and rebuke the practice of diluting and tainting the purity of the gospel by combining it with other religions and practices. We see the same thing happening today. I am sure at some point you have stopped at an intersection behind a car donning a bumper sticker that says “Coexist” and has symbols for multiple religions. The practice of combining religions with the premise of all religions leading to the same God is called “syncretism” and it was born in the pit of hell. The devil would love for every person in the world to be “religious” and feel secure in the belief that every religion leads to the same God. They don’t. Jesus said that no man comes to the Father except through Him. Now let’s look at what The WORD Says.

Colossians 1:19-23; 19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight-- 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Let’s break this down together. Paul is adamantly promoting the deity and sufficiency of Christ to a church that has been confused by false teaching, particularly Gnosticism. This is why Paul stresses that in Jesus all the fullness dwells. The Greek word for fullness here is plērōma and it means completeness, fullness, completely filled up, or copiousness. It means exactly what the English translation says; Jesus was fully God. Paul goes on to say that all things were reconciled to God through the blood of the cross and the reason Paul specifies this is to refute those that were incorporating Jewish legalism into the gospel. That is why Paul used the phrase, “…having made peace…”. The Greek word for this phrase is eirēnopoieō and it means to make peace or harmony with the emphasis that it has been completed. The finished or completed work is emphatic, past tense, to refute the teachings that “works” were needed to continue in salvation. It is the sense of rest or contentment that what needed to be accomplished was accomplished.

Now let’s look at verse 21. Paul wrote those who have received Jesus’ finished work at the cross are successfully and sufficiently reconciled to God. The Greek word used for “reconcile” is apokatallassō and it means, according to Vine’s Expository Dictionary, to change from one condition to another, so as to remove all enmity and leave no impediment to unity and peace. It is finished! Hallelujah! And it was done in His flesh through His death only; nothing else lacking or needing to be accomplished.

It is verse 22 that I want to focus on. This is the verse that grabbed my attention. I am going to type it again so we can dissect it thoroughly together.

Colossians 1:22 …in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—

The Greek word for “to present” here is paristēmi. By itself, it means to stand by or near. But paristēmi actually comes from two Greek words: para which means besides or near and the second word is histēmi which means to cause or make to stand, to place, put, set; to bid to stand by, [set up]; in the presence of others, in the midst, before judges, before members of the Sanhedrin; to place, to make firm, fix establish, to cause a person or a thing to keep his or its place, to stand, be kept intact (of family, a kingdom), to escape in safety, to establish a thing, cause it to stand; to uphold or sustain the authority or force of anything; to stand immovable. (All the definitions I give you come from https://www.blueletterbible.org/. This is a great resource, and I encourage everyone to download this free app.) I know I gave you a lot there, but I wanted to stress the permanence of the word used because Paul will go on to say “…if indeed you continue in the faith…”. That is important because inevitably someone will say, “You, see? You can lose your salvation!” but that is not what Paul was saying. That is why it is important to understand the original meaning of words. Paul was saying that if you believe that Jesus saved you with His suffering, death, and resurrection, then nothing else needs to be added. That is the purpose of this entire passage; to stress that adding anything else is superfluous.

If you believe in something and later change your mind about it, did you ever truly believe? No, you were just in support of a notion at one time until you had evidence that something else was more correct. Jesus described this exact scenario in the Parable of the Sower. Jesus stated in that parable that some indeed received the seed (the Word) but they did not allow it to fully take root for various reasons, so they never gave in to complete belief or faith and the seed (the Word) died in them so that they no longer believed. Those that experience this type of receiving of the Word were never truly saved. They only considered something for a time. It is much like anything else that we believe like politics. People switch party affiliations because they align their beliefs more with one party than the other. And that affiliation sometimes changes depending on the platform that each party presents. But those platforms change, and affiliations follow suit. But the Word of God never changes, not with times, or cultures, or even man’s interpretations. It stands unshakeable and immovable. So, if you truly believe and cannot be moved, you have overcome and are saved.

I wasn’t going to take this blog in this direction, but I think this next point aptly applies. What does it mean to “overcome”? A lot of people believe that it means to overcome sin, addictions, sinful thoughts, or anything else that is contrary to God’s laws. That is not what being an overcomer means according to the Word.  Let’s look at what The WORD Says about being an overcomer.

1 John 5:4-5; 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

This is straight from His Word. To be an overcomer is you must have faith or believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And if you believe that in your heart and confess it with your mouth, then you are saved and have overcome the world. But if you believe it for a while and then believe something else, then that seed, His Word, was never truly planted in you. You did not receive it and allow it to take root. It was just something you thought was right temporarily but never truly let it change you.

Now let’s get back on topic in verse 22. The next word I want to examine is “blameless”. In Greek it is amōmos and it means without blemish, faultless, unblameable. That seems clear enough. It means perfect. Do you see yourself amōmos? Well, if you are saved, God sees you that way because He sees you through the blood of Christ that was poured out on the mercy seat. You are washed in His blood and are seen by God as pure and white as snow. Hallelujah! And this is the point that Paul was trying to make. It has all been accomplished by Jesus. Nothing else needs to be done. The only thing you must do to be saved is believe.

Let’s look at one final word in verse 22. The Greek word for “reproach” is anegklētos. It is an adjective and it means (and I love this definition) cannot be called into account, unreproveable, unaccused, blameless. If you are in Christ, not only are you blameless, but you are UNACCUSED! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, a million times to the nth degree to infinity and beyond blackjack no trade backs, Jesus! You have made me UNACCUSED! WOW! I just typed myself happy.

I want to finish this blog with one last point. Keep in mind, the letter to the church in Colosse was written to rebuke the blending of the true gospel with any other teaching, to include the works of the law given in the Old Testament. Paul, the same Paul who wrote Colossians, wrote this in Galatians.

Galatians 1:8-9; 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.

Paul was so emphatic about tainting the original and true words and meaning of the gospel that he emphatically pronounced a curse, not just once but twice, on anyone who taints it. That is an extremely stern warning and one I will heed and why I believe the Holy Spirit led me to create this blog. I believe His intention for this blog was to help people understand what The WORD Says. Be at peace my fellow believers. YOU ARE BLAMELESS!

I hope this helps. Jesus loves you!