The Knowledge of God's Will Pt 2

Colossians 1:9-14 ESV

“And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Note: This writing is the second of two parts, for this passage would be too long to cover all in one writing. But I wanted to keep both writings in context, so I am quoting vv. 9-14 in both in order to keep this in the context in which it is written. But this one will be covering vv. 13-14 only.

The knowledge of God’s will is a rather broad subject which entails so many different topics, but we can learn to know his will through the study of the Scriptures (in their context), if we are willing to hear the Lord and what his word teaches us, and if we are willing to obey his will and to walk in his ways in obedience to him, by the grace of God, and in the power of the Spirit.

Delivered and Redeemed

This word “delivered” in the Greek is “rhuomai,” which means to draw to oneself, i.e. deliver. It means “to draw or rescue a person to and for the deliverer. So this is about the Lord Jesus delivering us from our slavery to sin in order to bring us into fellowship (communion, partnership, cooperation) with him. “Redemption” has a similar meaning in that it means that by the blood of Christ we are bought back for God (redeemed) out of our lives of slavery to sin so we will now honor God with our bodies (with our lives).

Romans 6 has a good description of this. For it speaks of how we, by God-given faith in Jesus Christ, are crucified and buried with Christ in death to sin, and of how we are raised with Christ to walk now in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. So no longer are we to let sin reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its passions, for if sin is what we obey, it will end in death, but if obedience to God is what we obey, it ends in eternal life with God.

[Romans 6:1-23; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:15]

And what is the domain of darkness? The word for domain in the Greek is “exousia,” which means power, command, authority, influence and domain. And it has to do with control, the power and influence of darkness (sin, wickedness, evil) over our lives when we are living outside of the will of God, still walking in sin according to the flesh and not according to the Spirit. 

And Romans 6 teaches us that by faith in Jesus Christ we are to no longer be enslaved to sin, we are to no longer continue living in sin, for we are to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus, and we are to no longer allow sin to reign (have control or power over us) in our mortal bodies to where we obey its passions. For if we do, we will die in our sins.

Transferred

So, by faith in Jesus Christ – a faith which comes from God, is empowered by God, is gifted to us by God, is persuaded of God, and is not of our own doing, and is not of the will of man nor of the flesh of man – we are delivered (rescued, set free) from the domain (power, control) of darkness (sin, wickedness), and we are transferred to the kingdom of Christ. And to transfer means to change its place, but we have to watch the wording here.

[Hebrews 12:1-2; Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12-13; John 6:44]

For we are not transferred just from no profession of faith in Christ Jesus to a profession of faith in Christ, i.e. this is not merely a change in status. For we are removed (delivered) from our lives of living under the power and control and enslavement of sin to now, by the grace of God, living as slaves to God and to his righteousness, walking in holiness and in obedience to our Lord, now under the power of God and his Spirit, living lives pleasing to God.

For Jesus Christ said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven but only the one DOING the will of God the Father who is in heaven. For many will stand before our Lord on that day and will profess that they did this or that in his name, but he will say to them, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness,” because they would not obey the Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; 1 John 2:3-6).

Forgiveness

Now “forgiveness” is a word which is commonly being misused and abused in modern-day Christianity here in America. So many are teaching that we can just pray a prayer after someone else, or we can just make a confession or an acknowledgment of Christ as Lord and Savior, and now all our sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), heaven is now secured us, and nothing can take it away from us, but regardless of how we live. That is a lie!

The Greek word for forgiveness is “aphesis” which means “release, pardon.” It has to do with “something sent away” (source: biblehub.com interlinear). And what is sent away when we are forgiven our sins? The biggest thing it sends away is the power and control of sin over our lives which had kept us enslaved to sin and which resulted in death and not life eternal. For we are not going to be delivered from the punishment of sin if we are not delivered first from our slavery to sin, and if we continue to walk in darkness (sin).

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

For if we read this passage correctly, redemption and forgiveness of sins are intertwined, not separate events. And Romans 6 blends them together. And Jesus’ words summarize this well when he told us that to come after him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For, in essence, he said that if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for his sake we die to sin and now live to righteousness, in obedience to him, then we have eternal life with God (Romans 6:1-23; Luke 9:23-26).

The Spirit Calling

An Original Work / November 12, 2019

Hear the Spirit calling.

He’ll keep you from falling.

Tenderly He’s calling,

“Come and follow Him.”

Walk with Jesus daily.

Don’t give in to lazy.

Folks may call you crazy.

Fellowship with Him.

Follow where He leads you.

Eat what Jesus feeds you.

His love will renew you

If you follow Him.

Do what Jesus tells you.

Don’t let your faith fail you.

His love will avail you

If you walk with Him.

Jesus, Lord and Savior,

Reigneth now forever.

He gave us His favor

So we’d live with Him.

Turning now from our sin,

Holy Spirit live-in.

Holiness we walk in,

Purified by Him.

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