Colossians 1.5-The Confident Expectation of Rewards for Faithful Service Motivated the Colossian Church to Love All the Saints
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday January 18, 2015
Colossians: Colossians 1:5-The Confident Expectation of Rewards for Faithful Service Motivated the Colossian Church to Love All the Saints
Lesson # 8
Colossians 1:3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel. (NASB95)
“Because of the hope laid up for you in heaven” is composed of the following: (1) preposition dia (διά), “because” (2) noun elpis (ἐλπίς), “the hope” (3) verb apokeimai (ἀπόκειμαι), “laid up” (4) personal pronoun su (σύ), “for you” (5) preposition en (ἐν), “in” (6) noun ouranos (οὐρανός), “heaven.”
In Colossians 1:5, the noun elpis means “confident expectation” of receiving rewards from the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church for becoming like Christ in time, which is accomplished by means of living a godly life.
This interpretation is indicated by the fact that Paul says that this confident expectation of blessing is laid up in heaven for these faithful Colossian Christians indicating that this confident expectation of blessing is still yet future since they were not in heaven yet with the Lord Jesus Christ.
The noun elpis is also functioning as the object of the preposition dia which means “because” since it is functioning as a marker of cause meaning its object is presenting the reason why these faithful Colossian believers continued to regularly demonstrate the love of God towards their fellow Christians.
They did so because they had a confident expectation of receiving rewards from the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat.
This prepositional phrase does not present to the reader the reason why or the cause for which Paul and Timothy continued to make it their habit of thanking for the Father for them during their prayers because Paul in verse 4 has already told them why he and Timothy thanked the Father for them.
“Of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel” is composed of the following: (1) relative pronoun hos (ὅς), “which” (2) verb proakouō (προακούω), “of...you previously heard” (3) preposition en (ἐν), “in” (4) noun logos (λόγος), “the word” (5) noun alētheia (ἀλήθεια), “the truth” (6) noun euangelion (εὐαγγέλιον), “the gospel.”
The noun logos means, “teaching” and refers to the apostolic teaching communicated by Epaphras to the Colossian church regarding rewards for faithful service.
It is the object of the preposition en which means “by means of” or “through” since it functions as a marker of means indicating these faithful believers in Colossae heard they can receive rewards at the Bema Seat as a result of faithful service “by means of the apostolic teaching.”
The noun alētheia means “truth” and refers to Paul’s apostolic teaching and specifically it refers to his apostolic teaching concerning rewards for faithful service which was communicated to the believers in Colossae by Epaphras.
The noun euangelion means “the proclamation of the gospel” and refers to the good news that the church age believer will receive rewards from the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat for faithful service.
Colossians 1:3 We continue making it our habit of giving thanks to God namely the Father of our Lord, who is Jesus, who is the Christ when we make it our habit of occupying ourselves with praying on behalf of each and every one of you as a corporate unit 4 since we heard about your faith in Christ, who is Jesus and in addition your love which you continue to regularly demonstrate for the benefit of each and every one of the saints 5 because of the confident expectation which is, as an eternal spiritual truth existing in a state of being reserved in the heavens for all of you which all of you heard by means of the teaching, which is the truth, namely the proclamation of the gospel. (Author’s translation)
The apostle Paul in Colossians 1:5 presents to his readers the reason why his readers continued to regularly demonstrate the love of God to all the saints.
He states that they did so because of the confident expectation which is reserved in the heavens for all of them.
This confident expectation is of blessing and specifically it refers to the confident expectation of receiving rewards from the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church if they are faithful in life.
The apostle then tells his readers that this confident expectation of receiving rewards for faithful service was communicated to them by Epaphras through his apostolic teaching.
These faithful believers in Colossae heard about rewards at the Bema Seat as a result of faithful service.
They heard about rewards for faithful service by means of Paul’s apostolic teaching which was faithfully communicated to the Colossian church by Epaphras.
The apostle Paul then defines his apostolic teaching regarding rewards as “the truth.”
His apostolic teaching was the truth of God in an objective sense as a body of knowledge containing the revelation that a church age believer will receive rewards if they are faithful.
Lastly, Paul specifies that his apostolic teaching regarding rewards for faithful service is the gospel or is the good news.
Here in Colossians 1:5, Paul is stating that these faithful believers in Colossae were regularly demonstrating the love of God towards all the saints because they had a confident expectation of receiving rewards from the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat if they did so.
They had this confident expectation because Epaphras communicated this fact of rewards for faithful service in the past to them.
So Paul is teaching that rewards at the Bema Seat motivated these faithful Colossian believers to regularly demonstrate the love of God towards all Christians.
A prominent doctrine of the New Testament concerns the Judgment Seat of Christ which is not a place and time when the Lord will mete out punishment for sins committed by the child of God but rather, it is a place where rewards will be given or lost depending on how a believer has lived his life for the Lord.
It is significant that among the final words of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, we find these words of the Lord: “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done” (Rev. 22:12).
Both Romans 14:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:10 speak of the “judgment seat” which is translating the noun bema.
This word was taken from Isthmian games where the contestants would compete for the prize under the careful scrutiny of judges who would make sure that every rule of the contest was obeyed.
The victor of a given event who participated according to the rules was led by the judge to the platform called the Bema.
There the laurel wreath was placed on his head as a symbol of victory (2 Timothy 2:5; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
As the victorious Grecian athlete appeared before the Bema to receive his perishable award, so the Christian will appear before Christ’s Bema to receive his imperishable award.
Every passage in the Greek New Testament that is either addressing rewards or the Bema Seat are addressed to believers or church age believers specifically (Romans 14:10-12; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15; 2 Corinthians 5:9-10; 1 John 2:28; 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20; 1 Timothy 6:18-19; Titus 2:12-14).
The “overcomer” will receive rewards at the “Bema Seat Evaluation” of the church, which takes place immediately after the rapture of the church (1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Colossians 3:23-25; 2 Timothy 4:17; James 1:12; 1 Peter 5:4; Revelation 2:7, 10, 17, 26; 3:4, 5, 12, 21; .
The believer who does not execute the Father’s plan by habitually remaining out of fellowship through disobedience will experience loss of rewards and temporary shame and embarrassment when he stands before the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat Evaluation (1 John 2:28).
Every church age believer will have to present himself at the Bema Seat in order to have his actions as related to his service evaluated by the Lord Jesus Christ to determine if these actions related to his service merit a reward or not.
They will be held responsible by the Lord for their service, which involves a four-fold stewardship: (1) Time: Were they profitable in how they used their time on earth that the Lord gave them? (Galatians 6:9-10) (2) Talent: Were they profitable in how they used their spiritual gift the Lord gave them? (1 Peter 4:10) (3) Truth: Were they profitable in how they used the truth the Lord gave them? (Colossians 4:5-6) (4) Treasure: Were they profitable in how they used their finances that the Lord gave them? (Luke 6:38).
They are to be good stewards with their time (they are to use their time wisely for the Lord), talent (they are to operate in their spiritual gifts) and treasure (they are to financially support each other when necessary) and truth (they are to apply the Word of God in their relationships with each other).
At the Bema Seat, the believer’s service, as expressed through their stewardship in these four areas, will be evaluated by the Lord Jesus Christ to determine if they were a faithful and profitable steward in these four areas or not.
If they were a faithful and profitable servant and steward with their time, spiritual gift, truth and finances that were given to them by the Lord as trusts, they will receive a reward from the Lord and if they were not, they will not receive a reward.
