-Again, Paul hadn’t been to Colossae. He didn’t know these believers personally. But he had heard about them - and he had heard two things which prompted him to give thanks to God: they knew Jesus, and they had love for others who knew Jesus.
-Faith is pistis, a noun form of the verb pisteuo, meaning to believe or trust. It is not simply knowing facts or truths about something or someone, it is believing/trusting that those things are in fact true. Pistis is trusting IN something or someone. It is all about the object - that something or someone can be fully believed and trusted. And it means complete reliance - commiting yourself to those truths and living into and living out their implications. In this sense, pistis in Christ Jesus means that you fully believe the things about Him which we read in Scripture, and you completely rely on them, on the truth that Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life and that no one can come to the Father except through Him. That He is Son of God and that He died on the Cross for our sins and that God raised Him from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures. That only in Him can I find forgiveness for sins and peace with God and eternal life, and only through Him can I be made fully right with God. But once I place my pistis in Christ Jesus, these things are all true for me, and I become part of the universal family of faith. Paul had heard that there was in fact an assembly of these people of pistis in Colossae, and for this he gave thanks to God. It was cause for celebration (Lk 15.4.7)! They had turned around from following other gods or from trusting in their own efforts to make them right with God and were now following Christ!
-Paul is also thanking God for their love. Love is the proof of the pudding, the evidence of my pistis. The fruit of the Spirit is love. The greatest of these is love. All men will know you have pistis in Christ - IF you have love. Paul had heard that these people believed in Jesus as Savior but he KNEW these folks were true followers of Jesus because they had His love, specifically for others who were following Christ. Things like going to some building or meeting one day a week or giving money to some church or charity can be good things but they are not mentioned as tangible proofs of pistis. The litmus test of faith in Scripture is, do I demonstrate genuine love for God’s people? (John 13.34-35, John 15.12, John 15.17, Romans 12.10, Romans 13.8, 1Thessalonians 4.9, 2Thessalonians 1.3, 1Peter 4.8, 1John 3.10-11, 1John 4.20-21, 1John 3.17, 1John 2.9, James 2.14-17, 1John 4.12, 2John 5, Deuteronomy 15.7-8)
-And note that Paul describes it as the love they had ‘for all the saints’. Not just love for God’s people who are similar to me or who like me or who live close to me. These believers had love for ALL of God’s people. Saints who were different - different ages, different personalities, different ethnicities. Saints who lived elsewhere. Saints who didn’t have it all together, who were flawed (just like the rest of us). Saints with different views on things like politics and social issues and theology and on how to do church. ALL the saints. Everyone who was truly following Christ the best they knew how. Because there is a tie, a unity, a oneness which binds God’s people together that is more important and more powerful than the things which conspire to pull us apart. This oneness is produced by God’s Spirit and it composes all of God’s people, every single one of them, into a body, one collective whole. A family. A family that truly loves one another. Love - the infinite everlasting unending love of God - knits our hearts together (Colossians 2.1-2). Love - that which pursues and forbears and forgives - keeps the family together (Ephesians 4.1-3). Love that is humble and lowminded and not self-seeking and looks out for the interests of others builds the family up (Ephesians 4.15-16). Love - the kind that really cares for others - is the ultimate proof of whether or not someone truly knows Christ.
-In a world where forces seem increasingly antagonistic to faith, it is understandable that people of faith can find themselves on the defensive. It is easy to find ourselves more concerned with orthodoxy, with making sure we have our spiritual act together and with minimizing our exposure to those who perhaps do not. The same can happen in a culture saturated by Christianity, where God’s people can become complacent about the eternal destiny of those around them (since it can feel like so many have heard and are following Christ), and the church becomes more like a cruise ship where the passengers have the luxury of focusing on aesthetics and on fine points of practice and doctrine. In both scenarios, our pursuit of a straight and true othodoxy can put us at odds with or at a distance from others who are truly following Christ as well. But make no mistake - love is orthodox.
-Do you care? Do I care? Do we really care about one another? There are no excuses. There is no place in the body for division or unforgiveness or unlove. If you know your fellow believer has something against you, leave your offering at the altar and first be reconciled to your brother. Zero tolerance. And what if I have something against a fellow believer? I must forgive them the way Christ has forgiven me. I must let it go and go low and serve and love them with the love for them that God has supposedly put in my heart. Oh it’s there - if I really have faith in Christ. I just need to stop bottling it up and give full expression to it. Love for ALL the saints. Which saint do you know who you need to love today? Find some way to bless them, to serve them. thank God for them. Pray for them (the way they might pray for themselves). Find some way to serve them. Let God fill your heart with His compassion and forgiveness and love for them. There are no excuses. Because love is the proof of our faith. As Paul writes elsewhere, if I do not have love, I am nothing... (1Corinthians 13.2)
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