-We proclaim Christ. That’s it. When all is said and done, He is our message, Paul says. There are many good things to talk about. Many good things to discuss with our friends or to address from the pulpit, but at the end of the day, there is only one crucial core component of our message - it is He. In the words of Count Zinzendorf, “I have but one passion: It is He, it is He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ.” If we give the nations water and food and roofs over their heads and medicine and education and technology and jobs and justice and freedom from slavery and trafficking and yet fail to give them Jesus, we have sold them short and have stopped short on our mission. We must give them Living Water, the Bread of Life, Messiah. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world - Christ alone is the Way and the Truth and the Life - no one comes to the Father except thru Him.
-To this end Paul is proclaiming and admonishing and teaching. The first word means to declare, announce, make known publicly. And it is tempting to avoid doing that with the name of Jesus, because talking about Him runs the risk of putting you in the crosshairs of disagreement and rejection. The second means to put in mind, to exhort, to warn. It is something you do for children (1Corinthians 4.14) and for those who are ‘unruly’ (1Thessalonians 5.14). It is exerting influence upon the mind of another, implying that there is resistance. It is redirecting a person from their wrong ways of thinking and doing, but the target of your words is their will and feelings. They may know the truth, the right thing to do, the right way to go, but for some reason are unwilling or somehow unable to follow it. The third word is teaching, which is directed at the intellect, developing and guiding and helping someone learn truth about Jesus. This is what we (should) do - help people learn about Jesus such that we help them identify and overcome whatever barriers are keeping them from trusting in and following Him.
-And this Paul is doing with all wisdom. Wisdom is skill with knowledge and the ability to apply it. Paul not only knows truth about Jesus but is able to apply it in whatever context he may find himself, to the hearts and minds of his hearers. It may sound arrogant to talk about having ‘all wisdom’ the way he does, but Scripture is clear that God does not hesitate to give wisdom generously to those who ask (James 1.5). Look what He did for Solomon (1Kings 3.9-12, 4.29-30, 10.23). How will He not also give us the very wisdom and discernment we need to be able to help others come to believe in His Son?
-Complete in Christ - something which has reached its desired destination and having been completed successfully is by extension perfect. This is the end game. This is the goal. Our job is not done until they are fully (and perfectly) following Christ with faith that does not fizzle before the finish (cf James 1.4, Hebrews 6.1, Philippians 3.12). Look further down and you will see what Paul has in mind - his job is never finished this side of heaven, as long as there is some possibility of someone coming up short of the grace of God. His goal is to see people not only professing Christ as well as baptized, but also loving one another and living a life characterized by discipline, stable faith, walking and growing in their knowledge in Him, overflowing with gratitude, not deceived by false teaching in any way. There are actually two kinds of complete - Paul says later that all believers are already having been made complete in Christ (Colossians 2.10, cf Hebrews 10.14, Philippians 3.15) - this second different kind of complete speaks to a positional perfection which accompanies salvation and which while true will nonetheless never be fully realized this side of heaven. And in this sense, the scope and vision driving Paul forward is both - to see each and every person not only profess saving faith in Christ which will render them complete and perfect in eternity but also to see them growing in their faith in this life, in their knowledge of Christ and love for Him and in the consistency and completeness and maturity of their faith.
-And finally, every man. Every man. Every man. He says it three times - this was indeed the broad scope of Paul’s vision and calling. And while the word anthropos is usually rendered as ‘man’, it of course encompasses each and every person on planet earth. Each and every man, woman and child into whom God has breathed the breath of life is someone for whom Christ died and who needs to know Him, who desperately needs to hear this message which Paul was proclaiming. we all need Jesus, He is our only hope of glory.
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