Colossians 1.25-Paul Received a Stewardship from God to Communicate the Message from God to the Church
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday July 19, 2015
Colossians: Colossians 1:25-Paul Received a Stewardship from God to Communicate the Message from God to the Church
Lesson # 33
Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. 25 Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God. (NASB95)
“I was made a minister” speaks of Paul’s conversion experience which resulted in him receiving the gift of apostleship and the command to publicly proclaim the gospel to every creature on earth.
“According to the stewardship from God” is composed of the following: (1) preposition kata (κατά), “according to” (2) noun oikonomia (οἰκονομία), “the stewardship” (3) noun theos (θεός), “from God.”
The noun oikonomia means “stewardship” and which stewardship is identified as proclaiming the Word of God to the church.
Oikonomia is the object of the preposition kata which means “because of” since it functions as a marker of cause indicating that this prepositional phrase κατὰ τὴν οἰκονομίαν τοῦ θεοῦ is presenting the reason why Paul became a servant of the church at the moment of his conversion.
The noun theos refers to the Father which is indicated by the articular construction of this noun in the New Testament which commonly signifies the first member of the Trinity unless otherwise indicated by the context.
The noun theos functions as a genitive of source indicating that Paul’s stewardship “originated from” the Father.
“So that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God” is composed of the following: (1) verb plēroō (πληρόω), “so that I might fully carry out” (2) noun logos (λόγος), “the word” (3) the noun theos (θεός), “of God.”
The verb plēroō means “to fulfill one’s duty to something, to fulfill the task of performing a particular activity, to complete the task of performing a particular activity.”
Therefore, the word speaks of Paul “fulfilling the task” or “completing the task” of teaching the Word of God to the Christian community.
The verb plēroō is an infinitive of purpose which indicates that Paul became a servant of the church at the moment of his conversion because of the stewardship bestowed on him by the Father for the benefit of the Christian community “in order to” fulfill the task of teaching the Word of God to the Christian community.
The noun logos means, “the message” and refers to the gospel Paul communicated to the Christian community.
The articular construction of the word emphasizes the “uniqueness” of this Word in that it is from God the Father, which is indicated by the genitive adjunct, τοῦ θεοῦ.
The noun theos is a genitive of source meaning that this message “originates from” God the Father since He is the one who in eternity past designed the plan to provide salvation through His Son becoming a human being in suffering in the place of sinful humanity and then rising from the dead.
Colossians 1:24 I am presently rejoicing because of my sufferings on behalf of each and every one of you. In fact, I am supplementing that which remains of the one and only Christ’s intense sufferings by means of my physical body on behalf of His body which is, as an eternal spiritual truth, the church. 25 Of which I myself became a servant because of the stewardship which is from God (the Father) which was given to me on behalf of each and every one of you in order to fulfill the task of communicating the message originating from God (the Father). (My translation)
The apostle Paul continues his discussion regarding his relationship to the church and specifically, he presents another means by which he was serving the church.
In fact, Paul in this verse is emphasizing his service on behalf of the church but in relation to the communication of the Word of God to the church.
When Paul asserts that he became a servant of the church, he is speaking of his conversion experience which resulted in him receiving the gift of apostleship and the command to publicly proclaim the gospel to every creature on earth.
At his conversion, he was assigned the task to serve the church of Jesus Christ.
Paul then informs the Colossians the reason why he became a servant of the church at the moment of his conversion, namely because of the stewardship given to him by God the Father at the moment of his conversion.
Paul asserts that this stewardship from God was for the benefit of each and every one of the Colossian believers without exception.
This stewardship Paul received from the Father at his conversion is identified as communicating the God’s message to the church and speaks of the task assigned to Paul by the Lord Jesus Christ to communicate the gospel to the Christian community.
He will give an account to the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat in order to determine if he merits a reward or not for being faithful to this task of communicating the gospel to the church.
This stewardship also speaks of another task the Lord Jesus Christ assigned to Paul, namely to communicate the gospel to the non-Christian.
When the unregenerate exercise faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ during the dispensation of the church age, they become members of the body of Christ, i.e. the church.
If you recall, Paul in Second Timothy 2:10 informs Timothy that he endured each and every type of adversity on behalf of the chosen ones in order that they themselves will also enter into experiencing salvation which is by means of faith in Jesus Christ and along with salvation, eternal glory.
So Paul is saying that he suffered undeservedly in order to evangelize those non-Christians who were elected to be a member of the church in eternity past by the Father.
Therefore, this stewardship is speaking of two tasks assigned to Paul by the Lord Jesus Christ at the moment of his conversion: (1) to evangelize those non-Christians in order that they might receive eternal salvation and manifest in time their election in eternity past and become members of the church (2) to communicate sound doctrine to those who are already members of the church in order that they may grow to spiritual maturity and receive rewards at the Bema Seat.
The apostle Paul then communicates the purpose of this stewardship which he received from the Father at his conversion, namely in order to fulfill the task of communicating the message from God the Father to the Christian community.
This message from the Father refers to the gospel Paul communicated to the Christian community and refers to content of his teaching which he communicated to the Christian community in Colossae and throughout the Roman Empire.
It refers to the divine revelation Paul received from the Father and is now recorded in the Greek New Testament and speaks of the content of the instruction Paul provided the Christian community.
Therefore, it speaks of Paul’s apostolic teaching and refers to the content of the gospel communicated by Paul to the Christian community.
This message is unique in that it is truth which originates from and is revelation from God the Father since He is the one who in eternity past designed the plan to provide salvation through His Son becoming a human being in suffering in the place of sinful humanity and then rising from the dead.
This message from the Father to the church would refer first of all to communicating the good news to those non-Christians who have been elected to be a member of the church in eternity past by the Father.
This message to the non-Christian is that Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead for them and that through faith in Him they could receive the gift of eternal life and the forgiveness of sins.
The message which is good news for the Christian is that they are identified with Christ in His death and resurrection and by appropriating by faith this identification with Christ they can experience victory over sin and Satan.
In relation to the non-Christian, this message which is the gospel, is God’s victorious proclamation of God’s love in delivering the entire human race from sin, Satan, his cosmic system and eternal condemnation and has reconciled them to Himself through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
This reconciliation with God and deliverance and victory over sin, Satan and the cosmic system that God accomplished through His Son’s crucifixion, burial, death, resurrection and session is received as a gift and appropriated through faith in Christ (John 3:16-18; Acts 16:31; Romans 5:1-2).
In relation to the Christian, the message of the gospel is that the Spirit identified them with Christ in His crucifixion (Romans 6:6; Galatians 2:20), His death (Romans 6:2, 7-8; Colossians 2:20; 3:3), His burial (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12), His resurrection (Romans 6:5; Ephesians 2:6; Philippians 3:10-11; Colossians 2:12; 3:1) and His session (Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 3:1).
The believer can experience this victory and deliverance by appropriating by faith the teaching of the Word of God that he has been crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ (Romans 6:11-23; 8:1-17; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:5-17).
The stewardship Paul mentions in Colossians 1:25 is one of at least four which have been bestowed upon the Christian at the moment of their conversion or in other words, at the moment of justification.
This four-fold stewardship: (1) Time (Galatians 6:9) (2) Talent (1 Peter 4:10) (3) Treasure (Luke 6:38) (4) Truth (Colossians 4:5).
So at the Bema Seat, each and every Christian will have to give an account for this four-fold stewardship and at that time the Lord will answer four questions in relation to this stewardship: (1) Time: Were they profitable in how they used their time on earth that the Lord gave them? (2) Talent: Were they profitable in how they used their spiritual gift the Lord gave them? (3) Truth: Were they profitable in how they used the truth the Lord gave them? (4) Treasure: Were they profitable in how they used their finances that the Lord gave them?
Therefore, here in Colossians 1:25, Paul is referring to the stewardship of truth and is expressing the fact that he viewed his ministry of communicating the Word of God to the non-Christian and Christian as a sacred trust and a great privilege given to him by the Father.
