Already and not yet.

John Farley
Pastor-Teacher
Sunday,
September 2, 2018

Grace Prison Ministries

www.graceprisons.org

Grace Prison Ministries works to change the lives of prisoners through evangelism and sound Bible teaching.

GPM visits jails, prisons, and youth detention centers.

GPM presents the simple grace gospel of Jesus Christ and the procedures for living the Christian life. 

To restore the lives of the scorned and rejected through the love, hope, and forgiveness found only in Christ.

Rich Freeman will be joining us on Sunday September 9th!

He will be preaching on the Feast of Trumpets and the Rapture of the Church.

 

Already… and Not-Yet

COL 1:22-23

3. What about that little phrase
“if indeed” ?

“At any rate, if you continue in the faith - and I’m sure that you will”

In a conditional sentence (“if” in the English), the indicative mood means the statement is presumed true for the sake of argument.

In the Greek, our phrase “if indeed” is ei ge (or eige)

Adding ge to ei adds emphasis and emotion.

ei ge speaks of what is to be taken for granted.

So not only does Paul presume this true for the sake of argument - he also believes it is true.

The certainty of the statement is determined by the context.

What do find in the neighborhood
of COL 1:23?

He calls them faithful brethren, (1:2)

They have love for all the saints (1:4)

The gospel is bearing fruit in them (1:6)

They understand the grace of God (1:6)

COL 1:9-12

Paul also knows that Christ reconciled the saints in His fleshly body through death in order to achieve this result! (1:22)

And most importantly, the hope for them is based on the fact that Christ dwells in them. (1:27)

Paul has confidence in them, but really his confidence is in the Lord.

2TH 3:3-5

“At any rate, if you continue in the faith - and I’m sure that you will”

Holy
Blameless
Complete
Sanctified

There is a tension between the already and the not-yet.

COL 3:12-13

Here we are said to be holy already.

COL 1:21-22

This is a not-yet situation.

EPH 1:3-6

COL 1:28

This speaks of our being complete in the future, based on admonishment and teaching.

COL 2:9-10

Here we have already been made complete
in Christ.

There are many passages about sanctification in the epistles.

Some of them speak of us as already being sanctified, while others say that we are not yet sanctified.

HEB 10:10-14

ACT 26:18

1TH 5:23-24

Yet, the passages that address the not-yet in sanctification are also very strong and weighty.

1TH 4:1-8
2TI 2:20-26

Set apart forever.
 
Set apart for service.

Already…. Not yet.