Colossians 1 verses 21 to 23 

Sunday School for September 14, 2025

Malcolm recently presented this captivating, in-depth study of these verses from Colossians; he prayed and studied for hours before-hand, and let me tell you that this isn’t even half of what Holy Spirit led him through! (So perhaps we may get to read a follow-up or bonus article on this very important exhortation—and warning—from Paul.) Special thanks to Malcolm for letting us post this ♥️✝️🙏

—-

now, let’s get down to verses 21 through 23 of Colossians chapter 1 from the King James version.

 “21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

 23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;”                                        

Before I get into the meat and potatoes of my understanding, as far as this portion of scripture goes, I feel as though one word needs to be clearly defined, alienated.

To be alienated means: 

“to feel estranged, hostile, or detached from others or a group, and it can also mean to cause someone to feel this way, or in a legal context, to transfer ownership of property to another person. 

The word comes from the Latin “aliēnus,” meaning “belonging to another” or “foreign”. 

With that definition in mind the first verse of this portion of scripture, verse 21 ties back to verses 12 to 14 in a way that to me was very unexpected but also now painfully clear. Please allow me to share these verses with you. 

“12 giving thanks[d] to the Father, who has qualified you[e] to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” 

If we also think of the definition of the word redemption which is either 

the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil or the action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment, or clearing a debt.

 (Which reminds me of the Greek phrase “TETELESTAI,” but I’ll come back to that in a moment)

This set of verses 12,13,14 and 21 can be seen from a different yet equally powerful angle.  

Which is that, all the way back in genesis we read that both lucifer AND mankind suffered a catastrophic fall from grace.

 lucifer fell both first and farthest, from heaven to earth. 

While Adam and Eve (who also at this time could be called mankind) suffered a  fall later from the garden of eden, out of God’s presence and away from the tree of life so they could not further damage themselves thereby further condemning mankind. 

In a way the fall of mankind mirrors the fall of lucifer in that they were both brought about by the sin of pride. With his fall, lucifer brought sin into the world and would tempt eve, the first woman and wife of Adam with it, the very same sin that got lucifer removed from heaven. 

We know that our sin causes separation from God, but this was different. God sent mankind away, out of his presence and into the world which was now inhabited by demons and drenched in what we know as sin sickness and death. 

This can be seen as lucifer taking ownership over mankind through our sin, our sin caused us to be alienated from our God. Which we now know can mean to transfer ownership of property to another. 

Now, back to Colossians.

The 21st verse is only able to continue the way that it does “and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled” because of the love and mercy of God.

 The love and mercy of God allowed him to send his son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to save us from our sins to pay our sin debt and reclaim us from satan.  

The 22nd verse continues this thought and explains it further with “in the body of his flesh through death to present you Holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight.” 

because of the fall of mankind, we are all born with original sin, and then as we live, we pile more sin, depravity, and darkness on top of it. Verse 22 shows us that through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, We are redeemed we are made faultless, his death and resurrection made whole what once was broken, our heavenly father reclaimed what was previously estranged from him, he reclaimed us, took us back from Satan with the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus. 

His love is unconditional; however, as verse 23 shows us, reconciliation is not. The transfer from death to life from darkness to light can only happen if we choose to live as God created us to live.  

“If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;” 

 but what does that mean, to continue in the way, and God wants us to live? 

By The grace of God himself and the guidance of his Holy Spirit. I understand that to mean, we must turn away from our sin because our sin drives us out of God’s presence. If we live a life that is out of God’s presence, our eternity will also be, so which means Satan will own us rather than our benevolent and loving Heavenly Father. Jesus paid the price for us. We cannot live a life that places us in the return bin. We can’t fall into sin and stay down. We have to get up EVERY TIME repent of what we have done and move forward with the intent and purpose of doing better. 

As Proverbs 24:16 states, 

“For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.”  

Through Christ Jesus, we are made righteous and we must live like it. 

Verse 23 is warning against back-sliding falling back in into our sinful ways after having repented of our wrongdoing, 

Repentance is the mark of a transformed heart.

 To fall in the same sin time and time again shows that the heart is still wicked and struggles, it shows that we have not fully let go of that sin and given it to the one who paid for it. It shows that we have not laid it at the foot of the cross where it belongs.  

As romans 12:2 states 

“2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” 

When we accept Jesus as our lord and savior, when we allow The Holy Spirit of God to not only lead and guide us but to InDwell us, to live inside of us, we are made new—not just a renewed mind, but a completely new creation in christ. The very temples of The Holy Spirit.

John 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here!

Now don’t think I forgot about that word TETELESTAI from earlier it means or is at least literally translated to it is finished.

 It can be used in a tax collector sense to say the debt has been paid. It can be used in a sense to mark victory in a battle. And it can also be used. Finally, it can be used in a judicial sense to say that a sentence has been fully carried out or served. That word or phrase is written in the Greek translation as the last words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the words he uttered to show that his work here on earth was, indeed, finished, our sin debt had been paid the victory over and death had been one and our sentence and eternity in hell had been taken care of by him and him alone. 

So now that I have said all that the the Lord has given me to say on this topic, I will say as far as this presentation goes “it is finished.” but in the name of Jesus, my journey through the word both learning and possibly even teaching has only just begun.