The Method and Motive of Ministry, Col 1:28-29

(28) We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. (29) For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me. (Col 1:28-29)

In these two verses, Paul explains the hard work of what ministry is all about. We all want to be instructed in the ways we are supposed to live in Christ, but how many of us want to be admonished by having our bad conduct called into question? But that is exactly what Paul is saying. His goal was always to confront believers about their sin in one breath, and then teach them how to walk out their faith in Christ in the next breath. And all of this was for the purpose of maturing us so that we might become complete in Christ. He also knew that it was not by his own human ability to accomplish this work, but that it was what God had called him to do, and then empowered him to be able to complete.

The Method of Ministry

We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, (1:28a)

‘We proclaim Him’ –

Definition: ‘proclaim’ (‘preach’ KJV) – The Greek word, ‘kataggello’ { kat-ang-gel’-lo }, means ‘to announce or declare publicly, broadcast, make known.’
By saying ‘we’, Paul was associating himself with all the other apostles and in so doing, making the point that they were all proclaiming the exact same message. There was no division or confusion in that message. They were all in perfect unison, harmony and total agreement.
The word, ‘Him’ identifies a ‘who’, not a ‘what.’ They were proclaiming the person of Christ, not a system of rules and regulations to be followed. Jesus was the very pattern for man to follow. By using the word, ‘proclaim’, as defined above, Paul was stating that they were announcing or publicly declaring a fact, not arguing to convince, as if in a debate, nor speculating as to what might be true.
Unlike other religions, Christianity cannot separate the message from its author, Jesus Christ. The person of Christ and His teaching are so intertwined that it is completely impossible to separate the message from the messenger. Nearly everything Jesus taught was exclusively about Himself. It is true that His teachings are truth, but more importantly, Jesus is the truth. “His message is not only what He said with His lips about God and man, but also what He said about Himself, and what He did in His life, death, and resurrection. You may take Buddha’s sayings, if you can make sure that they are his, and find much that is beautiful and true in them, [and] whatever you may think of him; you may appreciate the teaching of Confucius, though you know nothing about him but that he said so and so; but you cannot do thus with Jesus. Our Christianity takes its whole color from what we think of Him.” [1]
The mystery hidden from the beginning of time was now being revealed. And not just revealed, but publicly declared to everyone through the preaching of the Apostles. The incarnate Word of God was now being preached to anyone that would listen. It was not just the doctrines of Christ that were being preached, but Christ Jesus Himself. As one commentator put it, “This Christ is the one and undivided object of proclamation; and if He be the hope of glory, no wonder that they rejoice to proclaim Him wide and far, and on every possible occasion.” [2]
“So the gospel (1 Cor. 9:14), the testimony of God (1 Cor. 2:1), and the Word of God (Acts 13:5; 17:13; cf. 15:36) are ‘proclaimed,’ while sometimes Christ (Phil 1:17, 18), his death (1 Cor. 11:26) and resurrection (Acts 4:2), as well as the forgiveness of sins (Acts 13:38), were the significant elements in the apostolic announcement.” [3]
It is also noteworthy to point out that Paul is stating boldly that his preaching is revealing the mystery of the Gospel to the Gentiles (1:26-27). And Paul was determined to do everything in his power to bring that message to every person God led him to.

‘admonishing every man and teaching every man’ –

Definition: ‘admonishing’ (‘warning’ KJV) – The Greek word, ‘noutheteo’ { noo-thet-eh’-o }, means ‘to admonish, warn, exhort.’ Albert Barnes adds ‘to put in mind’ to the definition. [4] Louw and Nida’s Greek-English lexicon says, “to provide instruction as to correct behavior and belief” [5] The word carries the idea of using admonishment or counsel to put understanding into the heart and mind of man. The intent is to cause someone to change their direction. It is the negative side of proclamation.
Definition: ‘teaching’ – The Greek word, ‘didasko’ { did-as’-ko }, means ‘to hold discourse with others in order to instruct them; to impart instruction.’ It is the positive side of proclamation. It involves conveying truth to lay a foundation of wisdom and understanding.
Admonishing and teaching correspond to repentance and faith. Admonishment and repentance are more general and refer to someone’s conduct. These are words that provoke the heart of a person causing them to reconsider their actions. While teaching and faith are more specific and refer to someone’s intellect. These are words that define a form of doctrinal instruction which produces change in someone, solely by the power of God’s grace and mercy. These are two truths that are the responsibility of any church leader, any brother and sister in Christ. (1 Co 4:14; 10:11; Ro 15:14; Mt 28:19-20; Col 3:16; 2 Ti 2:24-25; Mark 6:30,12:14; Lu 20:21; John 14:26; 1 Ti 4:11; Tit 1:11; 1 Th 4:6; 5:12-14; 1 Ti 3:2)
The preaching of Christ is two fold. One part of the message is that mankind is warned about the evils of sin and encouraged to live a moral and godly life, with Jesus as our example. The warnings show the end result of a life lived without Christ – eternal death and separation from God. The other part of the message is to teach the doctrines of Christ so that man realizes that he does not have the power to be or to do good. Without the unmerited grace and mercy of God man is helplessly and hopelessly lost.
If only the warnings are emphasized then mankind will embrace a humanistic faith that seeks to do good to merit God’s favor. If only the intellectual side is emphasized then mankind embraces a humanistic faith that will produce a powerless God stripped of His ability to operate in the world He created and subservient to mankind’s superior intellect.
‘every man’ – Once again we see one of Paul’s trademarks; he repeats the phrase ‘every man’ three times, which we will see in the ending of verse 28. Paul’s goal was to admonish and teach every single person that became a believer, regardless of their race or nationality, rich or poor.

‘with all wisdom’ –

Definition: ‘wisdom’ – As we saw in verse 9, the Greek word, ‘sophia’ { sof-ee’-ah }, means ‘broad and full of intelligence; used of the knowledge of very diverse matters.’ Louw and Nida’s Greek-English lexicon says, “knowledge which makes possible skillful activity or performance.” [6] It refers to the ability to discern or judge the best course of action.
Paul links teaching and admonishment together as the agents that produce ‘wisdom’ in believers. He stresses their importance in imparting the doctrinal truths necessary to enable the believer to properly discern the correct paths to follow in life. That does not mean that believers will always discern correctly, but without them, the believer has absolutely no hope of being able to discern any truth, except for the few times it is stumbled upon by accident. Wisdom comes only through costly and actual experience; it doesn’t just happen overnight. (1 Cor 2:5-10; Col 1:9; 2:2-3; 3:16; Jas 1:5; 3:17; 1 Ti 3:2; 2 Ti 2:24; 2 Ti 3:16; 4:2; Tit 1:9)

The Motive of Ministry

so that we may present every man complete in Christ. (1:28b)

Definition: ‘present’ – The Greek word, ‘paristemi’ { par-is’-tay-mee }, means ‘to place a person or thing at one’s disposal, to bring, to lead.’
Definition: ‘complete’ (‘perfect’ KJV, NIV) – The Greek word, ‘teleios’ { tel’-i-os }, means ‘wanting nothing necessary to completeness; brought to its end, finished.’ The ESV uses the word, ‘mature.’
It was both Paul’s aim and desire to preach the gospel to everyone he encountered and that all would repent and believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. It was also his goal to educate every single believer so that they would become mature Christians, complete, and perfect in Christ. (Heb 10:14; 13:21)
It should be the goal of all Christian ministry to reproduce itself; to train up all believers in their charge so that they will be mature in both their faith and actions (2 Tim 1:13; Heb 4:2) – complete in the perfect knowledge of Christ. Churches should primarily be training camps, not hospital wards, training or discipling believers to be like Christ and have the mind of Christ, so that someday those new disciples will train others (2 Tim 2:2). Most believers were at one time damaged and broken people who came to Christ. But too many of those damaged and broken people stay that way their entire lives – they never grow up, they never move on. They wallow in their misery and self-pity, while those around them are too afraid to ‘admonish’ them in Christian love, or they’re too harsh. Church leaders are not called to coddle or pamper their flocks. It is their job to teach believers and equip them for further works of ministry (Eph 4:12-13, 2:10).

The Strength of Ministry

For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me. (1:29)

Definition: ‘labor’ – The Greek word, ‘kopiao’ { kop-ee-ah’-o }, means ‘to grow weary, tired, exhausted (with toil or burdens or grief); to wear oneself out; to work to the point of exhaustion.’
Definition: ‘striving’ – The Greek word, ‘agonizomai’ { ag-o-nid’-zom-ahee }, means ‘to contend, to struggle with difficulties and dangers; to fight, to endeavor with strenuous zeal, engage in an athletic contest, strive: to obtain something’. Louw and Nida’s lexicon says, “to engage in intense struggle, involving physical or nonphysical force against strong opposition.” [7] Our English word ‘agonize’ is derived from this word.
‘For this purpose’ – The purpose for which Paul speaks is to ‘present every man complete in Christ’, as we saw in verse 28. It is a task that demands maximum effort, but produces the greatest reward. (2 Tim 2:10; Php 2:14-16)
‘I labor, striving according to His power’ – It was Paul’s fervent desire to see every believer grow and mature in Christ, and he gave us a window into his world of how he had worked to achieve the goal God had laid before him. But as Keathley put it, “The apostle labored, struggling hard in the task God had given him, but not in his own strength. He labored and struggled only in the strength that God abundantly supplies to all His people if they will just draw upon His supernatural resources—the Word, the Holy Spirit, and prayer.” [8] If it is a task that we must do with our own power and strength, then we will fail miserably because we just don’t have the ability to draw men’s hearts to God. Only God can do that. (1 Cor 15:10; 2 Cor. 3:4-6; Php 2:13; Eph 1:18-19; 3:7; Heb 13:21)
‘which mightily works within me’ – Paul recognized where the true power to achieve anything came from. Apart from God’s supernatural power working in his life, his feeble work would have been useless (Gal 2:20; 2 Cor 12:9-10; 13:3).

And finally, I leave you with this thought,

Authentic ministry isn’t just about suffering. It’s also hard work. Paul makes this clear by calling his work labor (to work to the point of exhaustion) and struggling (literally, agonizing). The good news is that this hard work is motivated and enabled by God’s energy, which so powerfully works in [us].

Paul tells us his objective or aim in enduring the suffering and hard work—to present everyone perfect [mature] in Christ. The goal of spiritual experience is not to chase the fads or jump on every new religious bandwagon. The goal is spiritual maturity. By reminding believers of this simple truth, Paul hopes to help us avoid the enticing sounds that might lead us away from maturity and into deception. [9]

In reality, although not apostles, we are no different than Paul. We too are called to the ‘work of ministry’ (Eph 4:12) and it is ‘work’! But, God empowers us to complete the work he has given us to do. Far too often we expect pastors and evangelists to do this work, but that is not what Scripture says. Scripture says in Eph 4:11 that their job is to ‘train’ us to do the work of the ministry. As someone once said, “What we were saved for is far greater than what we were saved from.”

(28) We proclaim [announce, publicly declare] Him, admonishing [warning, provide instruction to to correct behavior or belief for] every man and teaching [conveying truth to] every man with all wisdom [knowledge that makes one able to discern the best course of action], so that we may present every man complete [mature, wanting nothing, brought to its end] in Christ. (29) For this purpose also I labor [to work to the point of exhaustion], striving [contending as for a prize, to struggle with difficulties and dangers] according to His power, which mightily works within me. (Col 1:28-29)

Footnotes

J. Hampton Keathley III, Paul’s Letter to the Colossians: An Exegetical and Devotional Commentary, p. 101.
Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), p. 414, p/o Logos Bible Software.
Ibid, p. 334, p/o Logos Bible Software.
Ibid, p. 495, p/o Logos Bible Software.
J. Hampton Keathley III, The Supremacy of the Work of Christ Part 3, The Propagation of Christ’s Work (Col. 1:24-2:3).
Max Anders, Galatians-Colossians, vol. 8, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), p. 285-286, p/o Logos Bible Software.

The primary sources for this study use J. Hampton Keathley III, Paul’s Letter to the Colossians: An Exegetical and Devotional Commentary, from bible.org, Copyright ©1996-2020 Bible.org, and all attributions are reprinted with permission granted by bible.org, and John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Colossians & Philemon, (Moody Bible Institute: ©1992).

This study uses many of the commentaries, dictionaries and the Greek Lexicon which are all part of 'The Online Bible', Computer Program, © 2023, Larry Pierce, http://www.onlinebible.net/, unless otherwise referenced. See Colossians Bible Study for full attribution.

Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), p/o Logos Bible Software, Faithlife, LLC, © 2023.

All Scriptures quotes are from the New American Standard Bible, 1995 Revision, unless otherwise noted. Verse links from Blue Letter Bible, https://www.blueletterbible.org/

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