The Importance of the Resurrection in Colossians

The resurrection is key in Colossians.  Oddly enough Paul grounds the Colossians' faith and love upon the hope they heard in the word of truth of the good news (1:5).  The gospel here is defined as the Colossians' hope.  This is reiterated in 1:23 when Paul writes about the "hope of the good news".  What is this hope?  I contend that this is the resurrection of the Colossians at the end of the age, a resurrection made possible by Jesus' resurrection.  This hope is stored in heaven (1:5) but this does not mean that when the hope is fully realized it will "be in heaven".  Paul says that when Christ is revealed then those in him will also be revealed in glory (3:4).  This is because Christ in you is the hope of glory (1:27).  It is clear that this hope is the future eternal resurrected life made possible by Jesus' resurrection.

Further prove of this found in 1:12 where the Colossians are told that they have been qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints "in the light".  The "in the light" probably refers to the glory of the eternal kingdom where the resurrected dwell.  The next verse (1:13) says that the Colossians have been rescued from the authority of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of the Son.  This rescue reminds us of Exodus where God rescued Israel (see Ex. 6:6; 12:27; 14:30).  The Exodus from the slavery of sin is clear in 1:14 when it states that in Jesus we have redemption the forgiveness of sins.

It is very significant that the cure for sin is the death and resurrection of Jesus.  This is evident in 2:12-13.  In 2:12 we are told that the Colossians are buried and raised with Jesus.  In 2:13, they are dead in their trespasses (same word used in the singular in Rom. 5:15), but that they are made alive in Jesus.  They are made alive because Jesus was raised from the dead.  This is reiterated in 3:1, where the Colossians are told that they have been raised with Christ.  Christ is their life (3:4). 

The process of salvation in Colossians is therefore one of incorporation into Christ (hence all the talk of being "in Christ").  We die in Christ and we are made alive in Christ because he was killed and raised.  This is a far cry from just saying that our sins are forgiven because Jesus was sacrificed like an animal.

Some thoughts on Jesus' death in Colossians

Colossians 1:20 and 1:22

Jesus' death is mentioned in both Colossians 1:20 and 1:21-22:

• 1:20: and through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of the cross of him.
• 1:21-22: and you once having been alienated and enemies in the mind by evil works, yet now he reconciled in the body of the flesh of him through his death to present you holy and blameless and without reproach before him.

I want to argue that what it is about Jesus' death that atones or "does the work" is Jesus' obedience and not necessarily Jesus as an animal-like sacrifice.

The first argument pertains to the structure of 1:21-22:

• 21a and you once  ------  22a yet now
• 21b having been alienated and enemies in the mind ------ 21b he reconciled
• 21c by/in evil works ------ 22c by/in the body of the flesh of him through his death

The structure of verses 21 and 22 suggests that the counterpart to the evil works is the good work of Jesus' death on the cross.  This goes along the same tracks as Romans 5:12-21, where the sin of Adam is countered by the righteous act of Jesus.  Nothing in Colossians 1:22c points to Jesus as animal-like sacrifice.  One might point to the word "present" later in verse 22 and claim that this pertains to the sacrifical system, but this is not necessary because the word "present" could be a legal concept just as much as a cultic one.  The connection to Romans 5 is instructive because some of the very words in 1:22 occur in Romans 5:10 and in Romans 5:7 we have a likely reference to martyrdom (for rarely will anyone die for a righteous man--though perhaps for a good man someone might dare to die).  Also, on my website I claim that in Romans 5:1 we have a reference to the faithfulness of Jesus.  The important thing is that an act of martyrdom or a righteous act can reap benefits for others without it being an animal-like sacrifice.  Also, the focus of the description in Colossians 1:22 does not invoke the language we would expect if an animal-like sacrifice is meant ("blood" for example).

This brings me to Colossians 1:20, which does mention blood.  However, there is no reason to assume that an animal-like sacrifice is meant.  "Blood" could just be an example of metonymy (as "Hollywood" would be a stand-in for the movie business).  "Blood" could still be a reference to Jesus' obedience and could even pertain  to the "war" Jesus waged against the forces of evil (see Colossians 2:14-15).  "Blood" elsewhere in the Scripture can refer to death and not animal-like sacrifice (see Genesis 9:6 for a famous example).

It's true that Paul does not spell out the mechanism of atonement in Colossians but he tends to use language of incorporation which is not the language of animal-like sacrifice (see Colossians 2:11-12 as just one example).

Ephesians 3:12 (and 2:8) and Jesus' Obedience

Introduction

On my website, I mention seven occurrences of some form of pistis christou (faithfulness of Jesus).  There I argued that these refer to Jesus' obedience and not our faith in Jesus.  I want to argue the same thing for Ephesians 3:12 and then 2:8.  This is huge because 2:8 is part of the evangelical mantra of 2:8-9 (while 2:10 is largely ignored).

Ephesians 3:12

We are told that the mystery of Christ is in accordance with the eternal purpose that was carried out in Jesus (3:11), "in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through the pistis [faith/faithfulness] of/in him" (3:12).  I have deliberately left the translation vague in order to not prejudge the situation but my purpose is to argue for the following: "in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through [dia] the faithfulness [= obedience] of him [Jesus]."

Two arguments can be given for my translation.  The first concerns the context (3:1-12).  As  mentioned above, the mystery of Christ, which involves the Gentiles as fellow heirs (3:6), was made/carried out in Jesus (3:11).  This mentions the action of Jesus, which I take to be his obedience unto death and resurrection.  Likewise, in the very next verse we also have a reference to Jesus' action, "through the faithfulness of him".  Also, Jesus' obedience no doubt is included in the phrase "the boundless wealth of Christ" (3:8).

The other argument involves a parallel to 2:18.  There, we are told that "through him" we have access in one Spirit to the Father.  So, both 3:12 and 2:18 refer to access.  Now, the access of 2:18 is the result of Jesus' death: "But now in Christ Jesus you who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ" (2:13).  I take the blood of Christ to refer to his obedient death.  2:16 also refers to Jesus' death: we have been reconciled "through the cross".  So we have the following parallels:

2:16 "through the cross"
2:18 "through him"

Which argues that the access we have is due to Jesus' obedient death.  And we have this parallel:

2:18 access to the Father in Jesus' death
3:12 access to the Father through the faithfulness of him

Which argues that the faith in 3:12 is Jesus' faithfulness and not our belief.

Ephesian 2:8

This now brings us to 2:8-9:  We are saved by grace through [Jesus'] faith[fulness] and this is not of yourselves it is God's gift.  Not of works [of law] lest anyone should boast.

The context itself argues that the faith in question pertains to Jesus' obedient death and resurrection because the "Christ event" throughout the New Testament is considered a grace/gift of God (see my last post).  It would be odd to mention our belief in the middle of claiming that our salvation does not depend on us (!) which is what the standard evangelical reading has us do.

Answer to Objection

One might counter my reading of 3:12 with 3:17 and claim that "the faith" there is our faith.  First of all, even if 3:17 refers to our faith this just shows that our obedience is in view and is to mimic Jesus' obedience.  See my interpretation of Romans 1:17 on my website and Ephesians 2:10 which is almost always unquoted by evangelicals!  But, one could argue even here that it is Jesus' work that made possible the gift of the Spirit that is poured out in our hearts (see 3:16 which immediately preceeds 3:17).

Food For Thought

How different would evangelical Christianity be if Ephesians 2:8 was interpreted as refering to Jesus' faithfulness and not our belief?