Recently in The Functional Centrality of the Gospel Category

I have found that the term "gospel-centered" often confuses and sometimes even offends people. Questions about the term and its implications abound.

"What does it mean to be gospel-centered? Aren't all Christians gospel-centered?" "Isn't it arrogant to refer to one's self or one's church as gospel-centered? Doesn't that imply that other believers and churches are not gospel-centered?" "Why don't you just say Christ-centered? Don't they mean the same thing?" "What distinguishes a gospel-centered person from a non-gospel-centered one?" "What's the big deal about all this gospel-centered talk anyway?"

I have heard questions like these fairly frequently. They are not hard to come by. Answers, on the other hand, can be very difficult to come by. So, what are we left with—a lot of questions about gospel-centeredness without any substantial answers? I hope not. Below you will find some lectures by Mark Lauterbach of Gospel Driven Life where he attempts to answer the "so what?" question of gospel centrality. The three-part series (plus a Q & A session) is entitled "Gospel Centrality...So What?" If you want to download each session, right-click on "download" and click "save as".

Session 1 - listen / download
Session 2 - listen / download
Session 3 - listen / download
Q & A - listen / download

What is the difference between Christianity and religion? While religion is primarily instruction about what man must do to approach God, Christianity is news about what God has done Himself in order to usher us into His presence. Religion says, “Live a moral life in order to gain God’s acceptance.” Christianity says, “None of us is moral enough. In fact, we are far worse off than we even know, but through Jesus God has already done everything that needs to be done in order for you to be accepted by Him.” Religion says, “Do!” Christianity says, “Done!”

Religion will either make you confident, if you think you are measuring up to its standards of moral behavior, or it will dishearten you (humble you), if you realize you are not measuring up. Christianity, on the other hand, will make you both confident and humble at the same time. It will make you confident because it tells you that your acceptance before God is entirely dependent upon the work of Jesus on your behalf. It will make you humble because it tells you that you were so bad off that you desperately needed the work of Jesus in order to be accepted by God.

Why this brief comparison between religion and Christianity? Because it seems to me that far too much preaching in evangelical circles stresses “do!” more than it stresses “done!” Or, if it does not stress “do!” over “done!”, it fails to show how the “do!” flows out of and is empowered by the “done!” Here is the question I ask myself when preparing to preach a text: Will people leave thinking “do!” more than “done!” or will they leave thinking I want to “do!” because of what has been “done!”? If they leave thinking “do!” more than “done!”, have we really preached a Christian message or just a religious one? Tim Keller writes:

The Bible’s purpose is not so much to show you how to live a good life. The Bible’s purpose is to show you how God’s grace breaks into your life against your will and saves you from the sin and brokenness otherwise you would never be able to overcome...religion is ‘if you obey, then you will be accepted’. But the Gospel is, ‘if you are absolutely accepted, and sure you’re accepted, only then will you ever begin to obey'. Those are two utterly different things. Every page of the Bible shows the difference.

So how might this look practically? In other words, how should preachers handle “wives, submit to your husbands…husbands, love your wives” (Colossians 3:18-19) so that their sermon is not religious but Christian, so that people leave thinking “do!” because of what has been “done!”? This leads us to part seven in our series entitled The Functional Centrality of the Gospel. Here is my attempt to demonstrate a Christian handling of the “do!” section of Paul’s epistle to the Colossians. If you haven't read parts 1-6, I've linked them here:

(Part One) (Part Two) (Part Three) (Part Four) (Part Five) (Part Six)

The Functional Connection (between doing and the gospel)

Marriage Implications

Colossians 3:18-19—Wives [in light of the gospel and your identity in the Messiah], submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. [19] Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.

Remember: A church where the gospel dwells richly is a church where believers are actively finding their identity in who Jesus is for them in his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to the Father’s right hand.

What is the functional gospel-connection to these commands for wives to submit to their husbands and husbands to love their wives? When wives are finding their identity in the gospel, in the life of the New Creation as it is found in the Messiah, submitting to their husbands is not a burden (cf. 1 John 5:3). Likewise, when husbands are finding their identity in the gospel, in the life of the New Creation, loving their wives and not being harsh with them will not be burdensome. I would like to suggest (given the overall context of Colossians) that the failure of a wife and husband to do what God has commanded here is due to their attempt to protect or create an identity of their own making. After all, is creating their own identity not what the false teachers were instructing the Colossians to do? Therefore, the functional centrality of the gospel in the marriage relationship is absolutely essential.

Family Implications

Colossians 3:20-21—Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. [21] Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

When children are finding their identity in the gospel, obeying their parents in everything will not be a chore. When our children are finding their identity in who Jesus is for them as the New Creation, they won’t obey their parents in order to derive their sense of identity from parental approval or acceptance. They also will not disobey their parents in an effort to establish an identity of independence (e.g. prodigal son and elder brother). Parents and churches should show children the connection between the command to obey and the gospel of what God has accomplished for them in the Messiah.

Likewise, when fathers are finding their identity in the gospel, they won’t constantly nag or belittle their children. Why not? Because they realize that their identity is not found in a well-ordered, well-behaved household. Fathers who are finding their identity in Jesus will not be finding their identity in children who through their good behavior reflect well upon them as fathers. Rather, they will demonstrate unconditional love and acceptance disciplining their children within that gospel-rich context.

Social Implications

Colossians 3:22-4:1—Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord… [4:1] Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

When slaves are finding their identity in the gospel, in who Jesus is for them as the New Creation where there is neither slave nor free (Colossians 3:11), they will obey their masters in everything because they are not allowing their earthly social classification to define who they are. Likewise, masters who are finding their identity in the Messiah will treat their slaves justly and with dignity because their identity is not defined by the possession of power.

I have attempted to demonstrate that we must not functionally disconnect the indicatives of the gospel, that is, the declarative statements concerning the truth of the gospel, from the imperatives that flow out of the gospel. Only in remembering and rehearsing the gospel are wives empowered to submit to their husbands and husbands empowered to love their wives. Graeme Goldsworthy does an excellent job explaining the necessity of not losing sight of the gospel when considering the imperatives of Christian living. He begins by asking:

What is the relationship of this text to the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth? Let me be a little more specific. Preachers with a concern for expository preaching are predisposed to developing a preaching program in which a series of expositions from one particular book is given. In my experience the preaching of a series of sermons, say, from an epistle, easily leads the preacher to fragmentation because, while the epistle was written as a single letter to be read at one time, it is often divided up so that it is dealt with in Sunday sermons over a period of several weeks. There is nothing wrong with that as such, provided we recognize the changed dynamics. Thus, Paul may expound the gospel in the first part of the letter, and then go on to spell out some ethical and pastoral implications. When the preacher finally gets to deal with the latter, it is possibly a couple of weeks or more since the gospel exposition has happened, and the connection between the gospel and behavior, very closely related in the epistle, can be lost. The result is that the exhortations and commands are no longer seen to arise out of the good news of God’s grace in the gospel but as simple imperatives of Christian behavior…The relationship between what is and what ought to be, that is, the relationship between the finished work of Christ and the task of the believers, is often well flagged in the text” (Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture, XIII-XIV).

A gospel-centered student of Scripture is one (1) who believes that the center and ultimate reference point of Holy Scripture is the life, death, and resurrection of the Messiah; and (2) who interprets and applies Scripture accordingly. If that is what a gospel-centered student of Scripture is, what would we say is a gospel-centered man or woman? A gospel-centered man (or woman) is one who is finding his identity functionally in who the Messiah is for him in his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of God. He is one who is increasingly defined functionally not by the world and any of its seductive values but by the gospel as it continually reveals who Jesus is for him as the life of the New Creation. He is one whose doing flows out of and is empowered by what God has done in Jesus.

(Part One) (Part Two) (Part Three) (Part Four) (Part Five)

One last post in this series before we begin to look specifically at the application of the gospel to particular family and societal relationships. Consider Colossians 3:16.

Colossians 3:16—Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

The phrase “the word of Christ” is just another way of referring to the gospel. The word that is to dwell richly in the congregation at Colossae is the word about the Messiah, the one who in himself, seated at the right hand of God, is the New Creation. Paul is exhorting the Colossians to let the message of what God has done in and through the Messiah fill every aspect of their corporate existence. This is what it means for the word of the Messiah to dwell richly in them.

Paul goes on to say that not only must the gospel dwell richly in their teaching and admonishing and in their singing, but also in everything that they do, in word or deed (verse 17). It is not until after this point in his epistle that Paul begins to make concrete applications to specific areas of life. In other words, it is not until after Paul has established the functional centrality of the gospel in all of life that he gives commands to wives, husbands, children, fathers, slaves, and masters. Therefore, as interpreters, we must be very careful not to separate these commands from the gospel message as it is articulated in Colossians.

(Part One) (Part Two) (Part Three) (Part Four) (Part Six)

This is the post were we move from discussing the stated centrality of the gospel in Colossians to discussing the gospel’s functional centrality. Paul has not stressed the basis for the functional centrality of the gospel in the life of the Colossian (and every) church so that our churches can then preach the imperatives of chapters 3-4 without explicitly demonstrating how they connect to the gospel content of chapters 1-2. Therefore, in Colossians 3:1-2, Paul makes that connection for us as he begins to bring out some of the ethical implications that flow out of the truth of the gospel.

Colossians 3:1-2—If [“since”] then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. [2] Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Paul’s argument here, in part, is essentially this: since, according to the gospel, it is true that you have been raised with the Messiah, set your minds on that which you have been given in the Messiah, namely, the life of the New Creation. Why do I think Paul is calling the Colossians to set their minds on the life of the New Creation as it is found in the Messiah? This is where we need to remember a couple of Paul’s earlier thoughts. First, it is important to recall Paul’s obvious use of creation language when describing the activity of the gospel in Colossians 1:6 where he states that the gospel “is bearing fruit and growing.” Second, Paul again uses creation language when he refers to the Messiah as both “the firstborn of all creation” (1:15) and “the firstborn from the dead” (1:18). So not only is it through the Messiah that the original creation was created and is sustained, but it is also through him that humanity is re-created. It is this Messiah, Paul says—the Messiah of the New Creation—that has ascended to the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1). So when Paul calls the Colossians to seek the things that are above, he is calling them to think on the life of the New Creation as it is found in the Messiah and on their participation in it.

We need to be careful here not to think of Paul’s phrase, “the things that are above” (Colossians 3:1), merely in terms of that which is spiritual, that is, merely in terms of non-physical realities. When we consider the full context of Colossians, we are to see in that phrase a perfect wedding together of the spiritual world with the physical world. Paul, as we have noted, has been thinking in physical resurrection terms from the beginning of the epistle. He has already referred to the Messiah as “the firstborn from the dead” (Colossians 1:18), and in Colossians 2:12 Paul stated that we were raised with the Messiah “through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead” (a physical resurrection). Therefore, what I believe Paul means for us to understand when we get to Colossians 3—and what we are, therefore, to set our minds upon—is that in the heavenly places, as Ephesians puts it, God’s good future for the physical creation is already a reality. In the Messiah we find a true resurrected human being who is enjoying perfect, unbroken fellowship with God, exercising dominion over the world as God originally intended, and who is totally free from every effect of the fall.

I think we find additional evidence that this is the case in verses 3-4. “Set your minds on things above… [3] for (because) you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God.” What exactly is this life that is hidden? Verse 3 says that it is hidden “with the Messiah in God.” This life to which Paul refers is entirely wrapped up in the resurrected Messiah. How wrapped up? So much so, that Paul says in verse 4 that the Messiah is himself our very life. If there is no Messiah, there is no life.

This is where things get really interesting. Verse 4 says, “When the Messiah who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4). If we look at verses 3 and 4 side-by-side, we see two very significant phrases that will help us identify just what this hidden life actually is: “your life is hidden” and “your life appears.” So the life that is now hidden, the life that is entirely wrapped up in the Messiah, will someday appear. What’s Paul talking about here? Remember, he’s speaking of the physical, resurrected life of the Messiah, the true human being, the firstborn of the New Creation, who embodies in himself the perfect wedding together of the physical and spiritual worlds. Therefore, when the Messiah appears, that is, when he comes, Paul says, we “also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4) so that the entirety of his New Creation experience becomes ours in experience.

When Paul calls the Colossians to set their minds on “the things that are above,” he intends that they think on the place where God’s intended goal for the renewal of all creation is being kept in store, namely, “at the right hand of God” where the resurrected Messiah is seated (Colossians 3:1). This is, I believe, “the hope of the gospel” to which Paul refers in Colossians 1:5 and 1:23. The hope of the gospel is the resurrected life of the New Creation as it is wrapped up in the Messiah himself. Therefore, they do not need any other teaching than that which has already been given them in the gospel. They are, in other words, already complete in the Messiah. They do not need to follow the rules and practices that these false teachers were giving them in order that they might go on to spiritual maturity. Paul is in no uncertain terms exhorting the Colossians to find the totality of their identity in the identity of the Messiah. He is calling the Colossians to find their identity in who the Messiah is for them in his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to the Father’s right hand, namely, the firstborn of the New Creation. We need to see in Colossians 3:1-4 that Paul intensely desires that the gospel and its hope of the renewal of creation be the functional center of the believer’s life. The life of the New Creation as it is found in the Messiah is to be what Christians live and breathe at all times! It is to be that which determines the Christian’s sense of identity and establishes his perspective on all of life as it is lived in the here and now.

Therefore, the commands for wives to submit to their husbands (Colossians 3:18), for husbands to love their wives (Colossians 3:19), for children to obey their parents (Colossians 3:20), for fathers not to provoke their children (Colossians 3:21), for slaves to obey their earthly masters (Colossians 3:22), and for masters to treat their slaves justly and fairly (Colossians 4:1) must be understood and obeyed within this gospel-rich, Christian-identity context. This is the garden of life for the Messiah's people. If these commands are not understood and obeyed in this way, it will not be long until we find ourselves wandering through the barren desert of moralism.

(Part One) (Part Two) (Part Three) (Part Five) (Part Six)

If you are waiting for me to move from writing about the basis for the functional centrality of the gospel to actually writing about the functional centrality of the gospel, never fear. I'm almost ready to make that necessary and all important move. After all, one of our primary concerns is that the gospel not merely have the stated centrality (i.e. “The gospel is central in all that we say and do here.”) but also the functional centrality in the life of the church. But for now, let's look again at the gospel's essential stated centrality by considering Colossians 2:13-14 briefly.

Colossians 2:13-14—And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, [14] by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

Paul says that God made the Colossians alive together with the Messiah, having forgiven them all their trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against them with its legal demands. “Paul,” we ask, “where did God do this? Paul says, “This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” God did this at the cross. What we read here of the gospel in these verses is described very eloquently by John Stott in his book entitled The Cross of Christ.

“The Biblical gospel of atonement is the good news of God satisfying himself by substituting himself for us. The concept of substitution may be said then, to lie at the heart of both sin and salvation…For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God; while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be. Man claims prerogatives which belong to God alone; God accepts penalties which belong to man alone” (John Stott, The Cross of Christ, p. 160).

This is what happened when God canceled our damning record by nailing it to the cross. Paul is essentially saying that legally the Messiah became the record of debt that stood against us and in his death destroyed it (per James D.G. Dunn, The Epistle to the Colossians and to Philemon, p. 166). Paul states within this gospel-rich context that the Colossians have been buried and raised with the Messiah (verse 12) so that what is true of him as the firstborn from the dead is now true of them. This emphasis in chapter two sets us up nicely for part five of this series on the functional centrality of the gospel. Please stay tuned.

(Part One) (Part Two) (Part Four) (Part Five) (Part Six)

My concern in this series of posts is to demonstrate the necessity of maintaining the centrality of the gospel even with texts where the gospel is not explicitly mentioned. If the gospel is only central in our preaching when the text at hand refers to it, can we really claim gospel-centeredness for our preaching? I have become convinced that true gospel-centered preaching recognizes the necessity of demonstrating how every text finds its ultimate reference point in what God has accomplished in the Messiah. This means that a gospel-centered handling of “fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged” (Colossians 3:21) will seek to show its relationship to the gospel of grace. But if we are to do that, we must discern what aspects of the gospel Paul emphasizes in the chapters of Colossians leading up to the imperatives of chapters 3 and 4. So let’s continue to consider this epistle’s focus on the gospel by looking at Paul’s exhortation to the Colossians at the end of chapter one.

Colossians 1:21-23—And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, [22] he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, [23] if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard…

The occasion for Paul’s letter to the Colossians was that there were false teachers who “thought that Christ was no more than a beginning; to go on to spiritual maturity, it was necessary to follow their rules and practices” (Carson, Moo, and Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, p. 335). The church’s steadfastness in the gospel was what was at stake in Colossae. So what does Paul do? He exhorts them to continue in the faith, that is, to remain steadfast in the apostolic gospel. So it was essential for the Colossian church to keep the gospel central in its corporate existence.

Notice that Paul states that they are not to shift “from the hope of the gospel” (Colossians 1:23). This is the second time Paul mentions hope in this epistle. However, we are left wondering, once again, what this central-to-the-gospel hope actually is. We do know at this point that whatever this false teaching was that was threatening the church at Colossae, it was attacking the hope of the gospel. So Paul writes this epistle to protect this gospel-hope. What I think we will find is that this hope holds the key to identifying the fuctional connection of Colossians 3:21 ("fathers, do not provoke your children...") to the gospel.

Now consider Colossians 2:6-7.

Colossians 2:6-7—Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, [7] rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Paul says that the Colossians “received Christ Jesus the Lord.” The word “receive” is a technical term that is used when referring to the practice of transmitting a corpus of teaching from one individual or group to another. So when Paul says that they “received Christ Jesus the Lord,” he’s referring to the reception of doctrinal content that concerns the Messiah. What we find, then, in the phrase “Christ Jesus the Lord” is the content of the gospel in compressed form. In essence, what Paul is saying is that they received the corpus of truth about the Messiah (i.e. “Christ”) who is none other than the crucified and risen Jesus (i.e. “Jesus”) and now the exalted Lord (i.e. “the Lord”). This is the message that they heard and understood when it was presented to them (Colossians 1:6). So Paul, once again, exhorts the Colossian church to remain steadfast in the truth of the gospel.

(Part One) (Part Three) (Part Four) (Part Five) (Part Six)

I introduced part one in this series on The Functional Centrality of the Gospel by writing, “One of my main concerns for preachers and teachers of the Word is that the gospel would not merely have the stated centrality (i.e. “The gospel is central in all that we say and do here.”) but also the functional centrality in the life of the church.” This was Paul’s main concern for the church at Colossae. So, using creation language, he begins his epistle to the Colossians by stressing the absolute centrality of the gospel in God’s redemptive activity not only in the whole world but also in Colossae (Colossians 1:5-6).

The Functional Basis (continued)

Notice what Paul does in Colossians 1:15-18 to take us deeper into this gospel-centered New Creation thinking that he introduced in verses 3 to 6. There are two key parallel phrases, though they are not exact parallels, which open and close these rich Christo-centric verses; and if we are to follow Paul’s line of New Creation thought, it is important that we discern how these two phrases are related.

Colossians 1:15-18 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. [16] For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. [17] And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. [18] And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead…

In what sense is the Messiah “the firstborn of all creation”? Paul tells us in verse 16. He is the firstborn of all creation in that it was “by him that all things were created.” He is not the firstborn of all creation in that he was the first to be created but rather in that he was the agent through whom the original creation was made and is sustained (verse 17). It makes sense, then, that the pre-incarnate Messiah, the Father’s agent in creation, would become man in order to bring about the renewal or recreation of the created order, which is with what the second phrase—the firstborn from the dead—is concerned. So verse 15, then, tells us that the pre-incarnate Messiah was uniquely qualified for the redemptive work of verse 18 where Paul refers to him as “the firstborn from the dead.”

Therefore, given the creation language of verse 6 and the parallel phrases in verses 15 and 18, we are to understand that the Messiah is not only the one through whom the original creation came into existence and is sustained, but that he is also the one through whom humanity is redeemed from the dead—death being the climactic effect of the corruption of sin upon the world—and ultimately the one through whom the entire created order is renewed (cf. Romans 8:18-21). So what Paul is doing in this section of Colossians is identifying what exactly is at the heart of this gospel that is bearing fruit and growing, namely, the New Creation work of the Messiah in redemption (Colossians 1:6). As I will argue in future posts, if we are to interpret and apply the imperative sections of Colossians properly (Colossians 3:1ff), the New Creation work of the Messiah must be central in our thinking.

(Part One) (Part Two) (Part Three) (Part Four) (Part Five) (Part Six)

One of my main concerns for preachers and teachers of the Word is that the gospel would not merely have the stated centrality (i.e. “The gospel is central in all that we say and do here.”) but also the functional centrality in the life of the church. It is one thing to state that the gospel is central in our corporate existence when the Word is preached. It is another thing to demonstrate explicitly—regardless of the text that is preached—that the gospel is central functionally in the church’s life. If the gospel is not central functionally, though it holds a stated centrality, can we really say that it is central in our church’s existence? I don’t think we can. The very nature of the gospel demands that it be the functional center of every church and not merely the stated center.

It is with this issue that my next several posts are concerned. I hope to demonstrate from a short survey of Colossians the necessity of the functional centrality of the gospel in the life of the church. Let’s begin by observing Paul’s emphasis on the centrality of the gospel in this epistle to the Christians at Colossae.

The Functional Basis

Notice, particularly, the words in bold throughout. First, in Colossians 1:3-6, we learn of the central place the gospel had in the church at Colossae.

Colossians 1:3-6—We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, [4] since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, [5] because of the hope laid up for you in heaven (Key Question: What is this hope that is laid up for us in heaven? We’ll come back to this in a latter post.). Of this (laid-up-in-heaven-hope) you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, [6] which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth

Paul says that the gospel had come to them and was like a plant that grows covering more and more ground and bearing fruit—the fruit of faith and love (Colossians 1:4). Verse 6 also says that the gospel was growing in their midst since the day they “heard it and understood the grace of God in truth” (verse 6). Concerning these verses Tim Keller writes:

“Here we learn: 1) That the gospel is a living thing (cf. Romans 1:16) which is like a seed or a tree that brings more and more new life—bearing fruit and growing. 2) That the gospel is only "planted" in us so as to bear fruit as we understand its greatness and implications deeply—understood God's grace in all its truth. 3) That the gospel continues to grow in us and renew us throughout our lives—as it has been doing since the day you heard it... [The gospel] is a living power that continually expands its influence in our lives, just as a crop or a tree would grow and spread and dominate more and more of an area with roots and fruit” (article: The Centrality of the Gospel, p. 1).

Interestingly, Paul uses creation language to describe the gospel’s activity in Colossae. It is—note the verb tense—bearing fruit and growing. I think he uses creation language because he intends that we recognize that the gospel is God’s power unto the life of the New Creation (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:6; 5:17; Galatians 6:15; Ephesians 2:10; 4:24; Colossians 3:10; also Romans 1:16-17; 8:20-21)? We will see this developed as we move farther into Colossians. But Paul’s point here is that God’s power unto New Creation life, namely, the gospel, was at the very center of God’s ongoing work in Colossae. Paul does not want the Colossians, or us for that matter, to think of the gospel only as that which gives entrance into the life of God’s New Creation, but also as that which sustains it and will ultimately bring it, this new creation life, to completion. So the gospel, according to Paul here in Colossians, is God’s power unto the entirety of New Creation life, and is, therefore, God’s power to grow the Colossian church. In other words, the gospel is to be the functional center of the church.