If, is a word that gives a condition to a statement. In the New Testament alone the word is used 602 times. Each time there are conditions that can be positive or negative. As a parent, many times I used the word if. If you obey there will be a reward. If you disobey there will be negative consequences. It’s part of our vocabulary almost every day.
Paul uses this little word at the beginning of verse 23. He is teaching them that they must continue in their faith relationship with the Lord. He then proceeds to tell them how to maintain their faith.
Colossians 1:23 “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;”
First, he is giving the conditions that they must maintain their faith if they are to reach Heaven. This warning points back to verse 22, where he tells them they will be presented “holy and unblameable and unreproveable:” when they stand before God if they meet the conditions. It’s the same warning found in several other places in the Bible.
II Peter 2:20-22 “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog has turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.”
II Peter 3:17-18 “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.”
Hebrews 3:14 “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end;”
Second, they are to be firmly grounded and settled in their faith. If they follow what they have been taught it will be difficult for anyone to sway them away from the truth. The best way to be able to identify a lie is to know the truth. They are to make sure they learn all can. This would include the study of whatever manuscripts they had. It was also important that they find other believers and support one another. They had been preached to by true men of God and they were to adhere to the biblical teaching.
This warning is for us today also. We have no excuse, except, our own laziness and selfishness. Many teach that you can say a prayer, and no matter what you do, your salvation is secure. As you can see when you read these verses, if we are to gain Heaven we must finish our course faithful to God. Today we have the written Bible in full, we have the Bible online, and study tools that are free simply by a click. We have no excuse. We have Bible-believing churches all over the world. Some places are not as blessed as those reading this devotion. You have the internet, therefore, you have access to commentaries, dictionaries, the written word, teachers, and preachers online. You have no excuse to not know the word.
If you want to enter Heaven one day you must be faithful and hold on until the end. It is so worth it. Not only will your faithfulness allow you to have a home eternally in Heaven, it will make you a better witness for those around you here on this earth. I have four grandchildren. and one day I will pass off the scene. When that happens, the greatest thing they can say about me is that I was faithful to God.
