The Demands of Christ
The word if is used in various ways in the New Testament. The force of the word is always determined by the mood of the verb with which it is used. Two Greek words are used for “if.” One of them can be followed by a verb in the indicative mood or by a verb in the subjunctive mood; the other can be followed by a verb in either the indicative, the subjective, or the optative mood. Here the word for “if” can rightly be rendered “if so be,” and it is followed by a verb in the indicative mood. In other words, there is no doubt about it. We can supply the ellipsis: “If ye continue in the faith (which you will assuredly do).”[11] What we have here, then, is a definite loyalty. Paul is not casting doubt on our salvation; he is simply saying that a person who is genuinely saved will most assuredly continue in the faith. It is not a question of “if you do this or that,” you will be saved; it is a question of “because you are saved,” you will do this or that.
Paul uses the word if in this way on several notable occasions. In his great passage on the resurrection of Christ he says, “Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead” (1 Cor. 15:12). There was no doubt at all that Christ was being so preached. The apostles were turning the Roman Empire upside down with that very message. It was at the very heart of apostolic preaching.
In the same passage, Paul says, “And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (1 Cor. 15:14). Again, there was no doubt at all about the fact of Christ’s resurrection. In both cases, the word for if is the same one used here in Colossians 1:23, and in both cases it is in the indicative mood.
So, then, the loyalty of which Paul speaks here is not a doubtful loyalty but a definite loyalty. Paul had no doubt at all that the Colossian believers would show that their faith in Christ was genuine.
Throughout history we see this characteristic in the lives of individuals who made a noticeable mark for God. David, for instance, made it a fixed principle never to retaliate against King Saul, who on two dozen different occasions, in this way or that, sought to murder him. On two occasions, he could have killed Saul easily, but he refused to do so (1 Sam. 24:1–21; 26:1–25).
We see the same determination in Joseph, who was resolved to keep himself clean although he was a slave in Egypt and was exposed to fierce temptation (Gen. 39:7–20). Likewise, “Moses … refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt” (Heb. 11:24–26). Similarly, Daniel, a youthful captive in Babylon, purposed in his heart that he would not compromise his convictions for the sake of worldly gain (Dan. 1:8)
Paul was made of similar granite and iron. He scoffed at persecution. He spoke equally fearlessly to Jewish pontiff, Roman governors, and Herodian king. He stood firm for God in prison, whether at Philippi, Caesarea, or Rome. He was bold when faced with Nero, disciplined and determined to be true to martyrdom itself (Eph. 6:19–20). Well Paul knew the importance of settling down on the Rock.
Our commitment to Christ must be of the same nature. We are to take our stand on the eternal verities that Paul has been expounding to the Colossians. We are to sit down on them, resolved to stay there at all costs