Wisdom to be Perfect

Scripture: Colossians 1:24-29

²⁴ I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. ²⁵ I became its minister according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, ²⁶ the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. ²⁷ To them God chose to make known how great among the gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. ²⁸ It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. ²⁹ For this I toil and strive with all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me.

Questions

1. How does this paragraph relate to the rest of Colossians 1?
2. How does wisdom relate to maturity in Christ?
3. How does wisdom relate to the mystery that Paul describes in verse 28?

Background

Related Scriptures: Proverbs 1:1-7; Matthew 5L48; 1 Corinthians 1:10

This paragraph continues the themes established in verse 9 that Paul’s goal in preaching and ministering to the Colossians is so they can be filled with “the knowledge of God’s will” and wisdom.

Wisdom is not, as we tend to think, arbitrary or philosophical musings on the world and life. It is not pondering on the deep matters of life. Wisdom is the ability to use practical experience in ways that are clever to gain one’s desired ends.

Wisdom and shrewdness are often the same word in the Bible and how we translate the word is dependent on whether the person was using the quality for good or ill. If a person was seeking harm we call this shrewd and if they are seeking good, we call it wise.

Wisdom also has a meaning of teachings as in Mark 6 where Jesus’ wisdom refers to how he teaches, and this is similar to how Paul uses the idea. Paul is saying that his teachings are about practical living in the world based on the knowledge of God.

The paragraph begins that Paul is sharing in Christ’s suffering and death, as is appropriate for Christians, and this sets the stage for his discussion of wisdom which is living in the world the way Jesus did and would want from us.

Τέλειος “mature” in Colossians 1:28 and “perfect” in Matthew 5:48 is the state of being complete or whole. In relation to Christians it is the person who completely reflects a life that God desires for that individual, one dedicated to love, peace, and righteousness.

Reflection

It is graduation time and across the country in high schools and colleges speakers will stand before crowds of students and parents to dispense their wisdom. This is the traditional “last lesson” for the graduates as they close one door of life and open another. As I thought about that I thought about how some scholars think that Colossians was written shortly before Paul’s death and in some ways the book functions similarly to a commencement address. Though Paul is providing his last lesson to the community as they prepare for life without him. And I think it is significant that Paul focused on wisdom and learning as he starts this book. He clearly wants his audience to think about the kinds of wisdom they live by in their everyday lives. He recognizes there are many paths that “wisdom” can take depending on what one thinks is the goal of human life. But what Paul wants is for the Colossians to follow one specific path of wisdom, that found in Jesus.

In this passage wisdom is directly connected to maturity and to the teachings of Jesus. What Paul wants for us to live in a way that demonstrates Jesus. That is to fulfill the words of Matthew 4:48, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Many people have difficulty with Jesus’ words in this verse because we associate perfection with never making a mistake. Yet, what Jesus means is live out your purpose as God lives out God’s purpose. We tend to think of perfection as never making a mistake, but that is not how the Bible defines perfection. The Bible defines perfection as seeking to live in love with others and trying to act in love. Jesus does not expect us to go through life without making mistakes, instead Jesus expects us to go through life trying to be good to others and help improve their lives. Thus perfection—or maturity as Paul calls it in Colossians—is living out passages like 1 Corinthians 1:10 “Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you but that you be knit together in the same mind and the same purpose.” The perfect Christian life is not one free from mistakes, nor free from conflict, the perfect Christian life is one marked by a continued pursuit of love and dedication to unity within the family of Christ. The perfect person is the person committed to being spiritually mature.

Wisdom is about learning how to live in the world, it is about accumulating knowledge that can be put into practice. But wisdom needs to be guided. Wisdom for Paul is lived experience guided into line with Jesus’ teachings. Many people gain lived experience, but their experience can be how to manipulate others, how to harm others, or how to best others. Wisdom is intentionally thinking about how Jesus wants us to live in this world and how he wants us to treat others and then living that out to the best of our abilities. In a world that is committed to money, power, efficiency, utility and other commercial gains we are called to recognize a commitment to people. When the world around us focuses on “get yours” we are called to remember others and give. In a world where disagreements destroy relationships we are meant to look past disagreements. Wisdom is seeing the other person with the differing viewpoint as a person God has called me to love. Wisdom is recognizing that loving others is difficult and requires me to forgive and listen. Wisdom is recognizing all the ways in which God puts up with me and learning to learn to treat others that way.

I wonder what wisdom Paul would emphasize to Americans particularly those graduating. I think he would encourage us to look around at our society and ask ourselves how we are treating people better than the rest of society. I think he would ask us to consider how we handle disagreements, especially with those in our churches. I think he would ask us to think about how we are criticizing others and how we praise them. I think he would ask us to slow down and consider who is not receiving love and how we can change that. I think he would certainly ask us to slow down and notice the world. I think he would ask us not to rush through life always pursuing the next thing. Instead, he would tell us to stop to notice, really notice the person next to us. I think Paul would say that one of the evils of this world is, the pace. We jump from event to event, experience to experience, problem to problem without ever taking stock of how we are impacted. We take so little time to invest ourselves in asking who needs love and if we are showing love that we cannot truly achieve the kind of maturity Paul calls us to. Wisdom is about learning to live in this world the way Jesus does. Offering and receiving love, forgiveness, and kindness, is the type of wisdom that shows we are living life the right way.