Echoes Of The Garden
Paul, here, exclaims his pleasure for the Colossian church's growth. Not numeric growth (though that would be a wonderful thing), but it's spiritualdeepening. Paul is thrilled to hear of their faith in Christ despite the surrounding pagan world where Christianity is certain to attract sneers. And he is encouraged by their love for one another, proof of Christ's presence of among them.
He identifies why the Colossians find themselves in this wonderful spiritual state. It is because they heard the gospel that Epaphras preached to them. But, as he indicates in verse 6, it is not just hearing that has produced in them this faith, love, and hope. They also understoodthe gospel. And this understanding is the product onlyof the Holy Spirit. No human merit or effort led to this understanding. The Holy Spirit gave them the ability to understand and believe and, thus, live.
Paul makes a comment about this growth in terms of the gospel's influence amongst them. He says, "...the word of truth, the gospel, which has come to you...is bearing fruit and growing..." This echoes the overarching plan of God for all of human creation, which finds its genesis in, well, the Book of Genesis. In the beginning, at creation, God commissions both the animal kingdom and humanity (which is to rule over the animal kingdom) to "be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:22, 28). To fill the earth. But not just with the right kind of people. To fill the earth with godly people.
So here we have it. Woven into Paul's theology is God's overarching plan and how that plan works together, from the dawn of creation to the dawn of the gospel and, finally, to the arrival of Christ at his Perousia, or Second Coming. We are to expect that, if the gospel is truly planted among us, it should bear fruit and multiply. It should drive individual believers along the narrow path of the kingdom. It should cause the church to meld together in love and faith. And it should lead to the numeric expansion of the kingdom of God in every believer and local church's respective setting.
Created 9 months ago
