Read: Colossians 1:3-7
Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel. (v. 5)
Paul usually began his letters with a word of thanks for the people to whom he was writing, and Colossians is no exception. But he always had a specific reason to be thankful, and in this case it was because of their faith and their love. These were, of course, lovely reasons for which to give thanks to God and to give a compliment to the Colossians.
But notice how Paul saw all of that goodness as rooted in precisely one reality: the gospel. Paul also referred to that gospel as “the word of the truth.” Everything we have springs finally from the gospel, the Good News, the message of how God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone. That’s the gospel! That is the word of the truth.
All of what we are as Christians can be located finally inside that wonderful message. Probably we too often take the gospel for granted. We have such easy access to it in our multiple copies of the Bible. Some of us have heard “the gospel” since Sunday school days. Yet it is the ultimate truth about everything. And if you have faith, if you have love in your heart for others, then the gospel is the reason.
Probably all of us should be thanking God for sending us this message. And probably we ought to be doing that every single day! —Scott Hoezee
As you pray, thank God for the precious gift of his truth in Christ’s gospel.
About the Author
Scott Hoezee is an ordained pastor in the Christian Reformed Church of North America. He served two Michigan congregations from 1990-2005 and since 2005 has been a faculty member at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he serves chiefly as the Director of The Center for Excellence in Preaching. He is the author of several books, including most recently Why We Listen to Sermons (Calvin Press 2019) and is the co-host of the “Groundwork” radio program.
