Colossians 1:23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

◄ Colossians 1:23 ►

Parallel Verses

Cross References

Matthew 24:14
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations; and then shall the end come.

Mark 16:15
And he said to them, Go you into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Acts 1:8
But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come on you: and you shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth.

Acts 2:5
And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.

Romans 10:18
But I say, Have they not heard? Yes truly, their sound went into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.

1 Corinthians 3:5
Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?

2 Corinthians 10:1
Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:

Ephesians 3:7
Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effectual working of his power.

Ephesians 3:17
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

Colossians 1:5
For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;

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Commentaries

Matthew Henry's Commentary

1:15-23 Christ in his human nature, is the visible discovery of the invisible God, and he that hath seen Him hath seen the Father. Let us adore these mysteries in humble faith, and behold the glory of the Lord in Christ Jesus. He was born or begotten before all the creation, before any creature was made; which is the Scripture way of representing eternity, and by which the eternity of God is represented to us. All things being created by Him, were created for him; being made by his power, they were made according to his pleasure, and for his praise and glory. He not only created them all at first, but it is by the word of his power that they are upheld. Christ as Mediator is the Head of the body, the church; all grace and strength are from him; and the church is his body. All fulness dwells in him; a fulness of merit and righteousness, of strength and grace for us. God showed his justice in requiring full satisfaction. This mode of redeeming mankind by the death of Christ was most suitable. Here is presented to our view the method of being reconciled. And that, notwithstanding the hatred of sin on God's part, it pleased God to reconcile fallen man to himself. If convinced that we were enemies in our minds by wicked works, and that we are now reconciled to God by the sacrifice and death of Christ in our nature, we shall not attempt to explain away, nor yet think fully to comprehend these mysteries; but we shall see the glory of this plan of redemption, and rejoice in the hope set before us. If this be so, that God's love is so great to us, what shall we do now for God? Be frequent in prayer, and abound in holy duties; and live no more to yourselves, but to Christ. Christ died for us. But wherefore? That we should still live in sin? No; but that we should die to sin, and live henceforth not to ourselves, but to Him.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

23. If—"Assuming that," &c.: not otherwise shall ye be so presented at His appearing (Col 1:22).

grounded—Greek, "founded," "fixed on the foundation" (compare Note, see on [2407]Eph 3:17; Lu 6:48, 49).

settled—"steadfast." "Grounded" respects the foundation on which believers rest; "settled," their own steadfastness (1Pe 5:10). 1Co 15:58 has the same Greek.

not moved away—by the false teachers.

the hope of the gospel—(Eph 1:18).

which ye have heard … which was preached to every creature … whereof I … am … a minister—Three arguments against their being "moved away from the Gospel": (1) Their having heard it; (2) The universality of the preaching of it; (3) Paul's ministry in it. For "to (Greek, 'in') every creature," the oldest manuscripts read, "in all creation." Compare "in all the world," Col 1:6; "all things … in earth," Col 1:20 (Mr 16:15): thus he implies that the Gospel from which he urges them not to be moved, has this mark of truth, namely, the universality of its announcement, which accords with the command and prophecy of Christ Himself (Mt 24:14). By "was preached," he means not merely "is being preached," but has been actually, as an accomplished fact, preached. Pliny, not many years subsequently, in his famous letter to the Emperor Trajan [Epistles, Book X., Epistle 97], writes, "Many of every age, rank, and sex, are being brought to trial. For the contagion of that superstition [Christianity] has spread over not only cities, but villages and the country."

whereof I Paul am—rather as Greek, "was made a minister." Respect for me, the minister of this world-wide Gospel, should lead you not to be moved from it. Moreover (he implies), the Gospel which ye heard from Epaphras, your "minister" (Col 1:7), is the same of which "I was made a minister" (Col 1:25; Eph 3:7): if you be moved from it, ye will desert the teaching of the recognized ministers of the Gospel for unauthorized false teachers.