From Enemies to Saints (Part 2)

We see His sovereign care in our salvation.

January 31, 2020

"And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight."

Colossians 1:21-22

Part 2

Yesterday:
“And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works.”
When we were owned by the Devil, we were in a world of hurt.  We had no way out of our sinful, lost condition.  And then Jesus came and made all the difference.

Today:
“Yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death.”
Jesus reconciled us by His death on Calvary for our sin.  The picture was this.  We were in the slave market of sin, ready to be sold to the highest bidder.  There was no good in us, and we were dead, worthless in our trespasses and sins.  But then Jesus came and paid for our redemption.  He reconciled us and pardoned our sin.  We were naked and helpless, and He clothed us in the robe of His righteousness.  He adopted us into His family.  Now we belong to the King!

“To present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.”
Here is what He is doing in the Believer’s life.  He is working in us to present each Believer to the heavenly Father.  This is the result of “His reconciling atonement by His death” for us.

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25-27).

He will present us,

Holy:

Entirely separated and consecrated to God, and set apart for Him.  Jesus is the only one who can make a guilty sinner, holy!  No amount of penance can make a sinner, sinless.  It is His Gospel that changes the heart of the sinner.  At salvation, we are declared to be righteous (justified).  The Father now sees us as holy.  It is through the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying work[1] in us that we are progressing in our holiness, day by day.  When we finally see Jesus, He will complete the changes in us, and our person will match our position in Christ.

He will present us,

Unblameable:

This word means “without blemish, as a sacrifice without spot or blemish.  Morally: without blemish, faultless, unblameable”[2] (Thayer).  From a position of thoroughly sinful to the reality of being “unblameable.”  This is God working in us.

“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love” (Ephesians 1:4).

He will present us,

Unreprovable:

Because of Christ’s work and the Gospel and the Word of God working in us to change us, we are “unreprovable,” that is, we “cannot be called into to account, unreproveable, unaccused, blameless”[3] (Thayer).  This concept is so foreign to the everyday practical side of our lives that for this principle to be working in us is truly amazing. God is gracious!

“I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:4-8).

 

 

 

[1] For the Holy Spirit’s work in sanctification, see 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2.
[2] J.H. Thayer, Thayer’s Greek Definitions, the electronic version in eSword.
[3] Thayer, ibid.