The Grace of God in Truth. Colossians 1:6 The Gospel is the authentic message from God. The message of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection holds the authority of divine truth, unlike the empty theories of Gnostics and Judaizers. The purpose of the Gospel is for all people to be saved and come to know the truth. This greatly surpasses the ritualistic, self-centered, self-glorifying speeches of those who present their opinions as the ultimate truth.
Hearing about God’s grace and experiencing it firsthand are two different things. The believers in Colossae had experienced both. The Gospel message that was preached and their faith in Christ for salvation provided evidence of new life and a fruitful, meaningful existence for God. They had been producing “fruit,” which only comes from healthy trees. God's grace is the message of the Gospel, and the believers in Colossae had both heard and received it.
There is a counterfeit Gospel today, similar to how false teachers promote strange ideas about God. Those who preach the counterfeit share their personal opinions and insist they are true because they claim to have had some extrabiblical revelation. However, it is a "gospel according to you." The true message, communicated in fellowship with God, remains the same wherever it is preached around the world, from the apostles to Bible-believing preachers today. It is easy to tell truth from falsehood. God's Gospel is the message that produces lasting fruit. The Holy Spirit convicts the hearts of listeners, and many are pricked in their consciences when sin, righteousness, and judgment to come are presented. It causes listeners to realize that the path they are on is wrong.
The gospel presents Christ as the only Savior from sin. It can bring repentance even to the hardest of men when they confront their sins, but if it is deliberately rejected and people turn away, grace spurned will not last forever. Those who turn to Christ when the Gospel is preached see how far grace has reached to bring strangers and aliens into the family of believers through faith. Genuine change quickly reveals itself through the fruit of the Spirit in new believers. Those who knew them before trusting Christ can now see a new life in those who are preparing for eternity. This transformation is not limited; it is universal. New life in Christ produces visible fruit that cannot be hidden. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Grace and truth lead to faith that affirms Jesus as Lord.
That needed to be emphasized to the believers at Colosse because of the speculations of false teachers. The truth of the Gospel is that, due to God’s sovereign love for the world and His desire to include people in His family, that love was demonstrated at the cross. God’s love was revealed through His grace when Christ came, full of grace and truth, to bring us to God—who deserved nothing from us. Like the believers at Colosse, we heard the message of the Gospel, accepted it joyfully, and made it our own.
What marvelous relief the truth of God, which centers on Christ alone as the Savior, gives to us who were convicted and condemned by our sins and are now freely forgiven because of His grace. That accounting put on Him was given to us as a gift, and we are forever saved by grace through faith. Tears of joy often accompany such thoughts that forgiveness and acceptance by God bring to our souls.