Colossians 1:21-23
Once, But Now
21Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds.
22But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence—
23if indeed you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope of the gospel you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Berean Standard Bible
The passage about Christ holding the universe together ends, and Paul turns straight to the people reading. He does it with two words that carry the whole of this letter: once, and now.
Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds.
He does not soften the once. Alienated is a word about distance, hostile is a word about intent, and evil deeds is what came of both, so the three of them together describe people who were walking away rather than people who had wandered off and could not find the road back. Whatever else was true of these people before, Paul is not describing a search that had not yet found its answer. He is describing opposition.
And he says it to their faces, in a letter that opened by thanking God for them. He is not raking it up. He is setting up the second word.
But now He has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence
Every verb in that sentence belongs to God. He has reconciled them and he will present them, and the people who were hostile are on the receiving end the whole way through. Nothing between the once and the now is credited to them.
Then there is the phrase that keeps this from floating off: by Christ's physical body through death. Not by a decision God made at a distance, and not by overlooking anything. The reconciling went through a body that could die, and did. That is the same cross 1:20 called the place where peace was made with all things, brought down now to what it did for the people in this room.
And it was done for a purpose larger than forgiveness alone. Holy, unblemished, blameless, in his presence. Those are words about being fit to stand somewhere, and the somewhere is in front of God.
if indeed you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope of the gospel you heard
That last clause has worried people, and it should be read for what it says. Paul is not telling them to hold on tightly enough to keep the reconciliation working. He tells them not to be moved from the hope, and at 1:5 the hope is something stored up in heaven for them before any of this. The peace, the body and the death are all behind them already. Staying put is the instruction, and the ground has already been laid.
Questions
1 Paul says they were hostile in their minds. Is that different from just not knowing about God?
AnswerYes, and he does not blur it. Alienated is about distance, hostile is about intent. He is not describing people who had not heard yet. He is describing people who were against it.
2 In verse 22, who does the reconciling and who gets presented?
AnswerGod does both, and the people who were hostile are on the receiving end of both. He has reconciled you, to present you. Nothing in that sentence is our contribution.
3 Why does Paul say Christ's physical body and through death, instead of just saying God forgave them?
AnswerBecause it cost something and happened somewhere. The reconciling was not a decision made at a distance. It went through a body that could die, and did.
4 Paul says "if indeed you continue." What is it he asks them not to move from?
AnswerThe hope of the gospel they heard. Not their own grip, and not their performance. He asks them to stay where they were put, and verse 22 says who did the putting.
What This Means for Us
Once and now is how the Christian life runs, and it is easy to get the order backwards. We tend to hear now first: what we are supposed to be, how this family ought to look, what still needs fixing. Paul puts the once behind us and the now in God's hands, and only then talks about staying put.
There is also something here for anybody who thinks their once was too much. The people being addressed were hostile in their minds and doing something about it, and the sentence that follows their description begins with But now. The size of the once did not decide the now. The body and the death did.
So try this tonight, and let it be short. Each person names one thing about themselves that belongs to the once, spoken or kept to themselves, whichever the youngest can manage. Then somebody reads verse 22 over the room, the whole verse, ending with in his presence. Do not add anything to it afterwards.
Prayer
Father, we were further off than we like to admit and you did not meet us halfway. Thank you that Jesus came in a body that could die, and did, and that what he did is what makes us fit to stand in front of you. Keep us from moving off that. Amen.