21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. (Col. 1:21-23)
God wants us to be holy, blameless, and above reproach before Him. This is even shown in Ephesians:
”just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (Eph. 1:4)
How can we become holy and blameless before God and how can we be kept above reproach before Him?
It is not about us being perfect in ourselves. As long as we live on earth, we will always have shortcomings, since we still have a flesh – a body and soul – that has not yet totally been united with Christ in the same sense as we now, as born-again believers, are “one spirit” with God (see 1 Cor. 6:17).
Religion in all of its forms always points to that we might become good and holy enough so that we please God, if only we try harder to live more holy and righteously. The Gospel totally contradicts the core teaching of all religions (including the Christian religion): By faith in Jesus Christ we have already become holy and blameless before God!
It is not about us always living a perfect life. It is not about our own efforts, nor what we have done for Gud. It is all about what Jesus Christ has done for us!
How we live our lives is important. But our own works cannot make us righteous before God. The book of Isaiah describes our own “righteous deeds” as filthy rags.
”But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags…” (Is. 64:6)
We are holy and blameless before God – by grace through faith in Jesus Christ! How did this take place? It happened as a result of Jesus Christ – at the cross – taking upon Himself all the sins of the world – past, present, and future. Jesus was made sin for us, that we might become “the righteousness of God in Him” (se 2 Cor. 5:21).
The believers have been made into Gods righteousness – in and through Jesus Christ! It is only because of this that we can become holy and blameless before Gud.
Many Christians would probably agree that we might be holy and blameless before God at the moment of salvation, as we are given a “clean slate” as “new creations in Christ” (2 Cor. 5:17). However, few are aware of that we as believers also can be preserved as holy, blameless, and above reproach before God in our Christian walk.
How could this happen, you might wonder? The above quoted verses from Colossians chapter 1 give us the answer: If we continue in the FAITH, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from THE HOPE of the Gospel!
Just as it was not through our own performance that we became holy and blameless before God at the moment we were born-again, we are not kept above reproach before God in our Christian walk because of our own efforts. We are kept holy, blameless, and above reproach before God if we hold fast to the faith in the hope of the Gospel – that we are righteous by grace through faith, and not by our own good works.
When we do not trust in ourselves, but only trust in Jesus and in His grace and unconditional love for us – the hope of the Gospel – we are kept holy, blameless, and above reproach in God’s eyes.
