Paul says Colossians 1:23 that the gospel which
the Colossians heard through Epaphras and which is spreading through the world (Col
1:6–7) has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven. Scholars deal with it
in different ways. Hendriksen and Kistemaker understand by this that as
the gospel has reached Rome, “it had actually invaded every large center of the
then-known world” (Exposition, 85). This is patently incorrect as there
were centers north, south, and to the east that were both known and a part of
the world. Ernest Martin suggests that we should not push this statistically,
but it speaks of the gospel’s universal application (Colossians, Philemon,
83), a view others hold to (e.g. Ash). Osborne considers that the gospel is
being proclaimed in every part of the world and so there is hope for all of
creation to be brought back into harmony with God (Verse by Verse, 50).
Pao similarly sees here not hyperbole, but the universal scope of the gospel and
“cosmic submission to God” (ZECNT, 110). A large number of scholars see here
hyperbole. For example, Bird writes,
The phrase all of creation is certainly hyperbolic,
since Paul’s missionary endeavors only encompassed selected regions in the
eastern Mediterranean from “Jerusalem and as far around as Illyricum” (Rom
15:19). Nonetheless, through the work of Paul,
God and God’s Son were being proclaimed to peoples who knew only the domain of
darkness. Indeed, Paul’s service has a unique role in the unfolding of the
mystery of God, which has recently been made known. (NCC, 62–63, italics mine).
Wright in the TNTC commentary (pp. 88–90) suggests there are three ways
to take this statement:
(a) Either Paul is referring to a proclamation of the gospel which takes
place in and through a revelation in the world of created ‘nature’ itself: or
(b) he could be thinking of a single proclamation of the gospel (in the sense
of an announcement of Christ’s Lordship) which, made in advance of its verbal
declaration to human beings, was somehow made known to the other orders of
creation: or (c) he intended this claim to be taken in an anticipatory sense;
that, in Christ himself and in the fact of the Gentile mission, the gospel had in principle already been preached
world-wide.
He opts for the third option, seeing here that the gospel had been
preached to the world in principle. He rejects the second option because
Nor does the idea of an independent proclamation to the non-human
creation find any echoes elsewhere in his writings. Nor would it be clear how
he, Paul, could become a minister of such a proclamation, as he says in the
next phrase. Romans 10:18, though sometimes read in this way, refers in context
to Paul’s own Gentile mission, seen from God’s point of view as a single
world-wide proclamation.
In my view,
Wright writes off (b) too quickly as there is another angle to this. Wright
suggests that it could speak of “its verbal declaration to human beings” of “Christ’s
Lordship.” There is another possibility. That is, it speaks not of some verbal
moment, but of Christ’s coming per se and his whole ministry which was a
proclamation of the gospel. That is, Christ himself is the gospel declared by
God in the world climaxing in his declaration of Christ as Son of God by his resurrection
from the dead.
My starting
point is Paul’s understanding of the coming of Christ. For Paul, God sent his Son,
born of a woman (Gal 4:4, cf. Rom 8:3). He is the Theomorph (God in Form One)
who was “born in the likeness of humankind” and “found in appearance as a man”
(Phil 2:6–8, cf. Col 1:15). In Col 1:15–16, “he is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of all creation” and creator of the cosmos who holds
together the universe. His entry into the world and his ministry to death and
resurrection, then ascension and exaltation to Lordship, is the gospel. This is
way bigger than some “verbal declaration” or “a single proclamation of the
gospel;” the gospel is Christ. So, it is
the event which we proclaim that is being pointed to, not the moment of
proclamation. Jesus is his own proclamation; he is the Word (as John puts it).
He has been declared to the world because he declared himself by entering and
living without sin, dying as a propitiatory sacrifice for sin, and rising from
the dead.
Second, if
we are looking for a moment of declaration, it is found in Romans 1:4: “who was
declared the son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by his
resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.” His resurrection is the
point of God’s declaration of Christ in history over and for all creation. His
resurrection was declared to a range of people in the early church (e.g. 1 Cor
15:5–8). Since Mary’s first witness, this has been declared throughout the
world. By the time of Christ, it had penetrated some areas of the Roman Empire
and not much more. It certainly had not yet been proclaimed to all creation. However,
in a sense it had. Christ has come. He is risen! He is declared. God’s final
word has been spoken. As the writer of Hebrews puts it: “in these last days he
[God] has spoken to us by his Son” (cf. Heb 1:2). Or, as John writes: “In the
beginning was the Word … and the Word became flesh and tabernacle among us.”
A third
angle is found in points where Paul describes the preaching of the gospel as the
preaching of Christ. So, in Phil 1:12–18a Paul speaks of the gospel’s advance
(v. 13), the word proclaimed (v. 14), those who preach Christ (vv. 15, 17,
18). Christ is the gospel. He has been proclaimed in that he has come into
creation in the once-for-all event that was his birth, baptism, life of service,
death, and resurrection. He will never be declared in this way again until he
comes and declares himself for a second time. He is the Word, the Gospel, the
Message of God.
I believe
this is what Paul means in Col 1:23 and it fits with the beginning of the body
of the letter. He can, on the one hand, say of the gospel that it has been
proclaimed to all creation, yet is still expanding and spreading into the world
(1:6–7). So it is today, but the gospel has been proclaimed because Christ has
been. This idea fits with the heavy emphasis on Jesus whose kingdom is
established (v. 13). He launches the body of the letter with a magnificent “hymn”
of Christ’s supremacy (vv. 15–20).
So, I do
not believe we need to try and find ways to explain what Paul means here other
than to recognize what the gospel is. It is Jesus Christ Lord and Savior. We
simply tell the story of the inbreaking of God into the world once for all. That
moment was a historical period where Jesus, the gospel of God, walked the land
of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, with a jaunt outside very infrequently, and was
the gospel. He is God’s proclamation to the world. Hence, the gospel has been
proclaimed in all of creation. Our job is to let others know.
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