Paul always wished “grace and peace” to the people receiving his letters.

And no wonder! Because whether you’re trapped in the dominion of darkness in the Twenty-First Century, or trapped in the dominion of darkness in the First Century, you’ll need grace and peace.

For example, when Paul wrote “[t]o God’s holy people in Colossae,” he said: “Grace and peace to you from God our Father”. (Colossians 1:2).

Why did the people in Colossae—and in Humanity today—need grace and peace? The dominion of darkness.

The key to overcoming the dominion of darkness is God’s amazing grace—the good news of the gospels about Jesus Christ, the one anointed by the Holy Spirit.

Through his amazing grace, God fills us “with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives.” (Colossians 1:9).

Through this wisdom and understanding, we may “live a life worthy of the Lord and pleasing him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God”. (Colossians 1:10).

How?

Through great endurance and patience, we become “holy people in the kingdom of light”. (Colossians 1:11-12).

How?

Through his amazing grace, God our Father “has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14).

Through this amazing grace, we find peace. Indeed, ever since God’s holy people are heard the gospel and truly understood God’s grace, the gospel had been “bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world.” (Colossians 1:6).

Why?

We no longer settle for less than the best! We no longer settle for less than the fullness of God!

Jesus “is before all things and in him all things hold together.” In everything he is supreme. (Colossians 1:17).

Why?

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.” (Colossians 1:19).

This fullness of God includes the yearning of God “to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross.” (Colossians 1:20; Luke 15:1-32).

Now that we have died with Christ—crucifying and destroying our old way of life in the dominion of darkness—Paul told us to stop walking in the ways of “idolatry” such as “sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed”. (Colossians 3:5).

Paul told us we “must also rid [ourselves] of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from [our] lips.” (Colossians 3:8).

We must not “lie to each other.” (Colossians 3:9).

Since Jesus—the Christ who is anointed by the Holy Spirit—“is all, and in all”, those following the Way of Jesus must not be divided into Jews and non-Jews, Romans and foreigners, elites and deplorables, globalists and nationalists. (Colossians 3:11).

Furthermore, it is not enough merely to put an end to these old ways of the dominion of darkness. We must put into practice the new ways of the dominion of light.

We must become God’s chosen people, living lives worthy of the LORD and pleasing him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. (Colossians 3:12; 1:10).

Paul wrote:

“[C]lothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” (Colossians 3:12).

“Bear with each other and forgive one another . . ..” (Colossians 3:13).

And over all these virtues put on love, which binds [you] all together in perfect unity.” (Colossians 3:14).

This is a familiar laundry list of virtues—of fruit of the Holy Spirit—that Paul wrote about in his letters.

Then Paul crescendoed to one of the most compelling visions of God’s chosen people in all of the Scriptures:

“Let the peace of Christ [—the one anointed by the Holy Spirit—] rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.” (Colossians 3:15).

“[B]e thankful.” (Colossians 3:15).

“Let the message of Christ [—the one anointed by the Holy Spirit—] dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” (Colossians 3:16).

Inspired by this vision of one body unified by the peace of Christ, no wonder Paul told the Colossians in the First Century—and tells us in the Twenty-First Century:

“Whatever you do, whether in word or in deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:12-17).

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To learn more about grace and peace, please read my blogs “Grace and Peace—Galatians”, “Grace and Peace—Thessalonians”, “Grace and Peace—Corinthians”, “Grace and Peace—Romans”, “Grace and Peace—Ephesians”, and “Grace and Peace—Philippians”.

For additional thoughts about the dominion of light and the dominion of darkness, please read my blogs “The Labyrinth of Light” and “The Labyrinth of Darkness”.

After the citation to Colossians 1:20 about how the fullness of God includes his yearning to reconcile all things to himself through the blood of Jesus shed on the cross, I include a citation to Luke 13:1-32. In this passage, Jesus tells the stories: (1) of the shepherd tirelessly searching for a lost sheep and carrying it home; (2) of the housewife diligently searching for her lost coin until she found it; and (3) of the father joyfully welcoming his lost son home.

Luke was the doctor who (FYI, I love BBC’s long running TV science fiction series Doctor Who!) became Paul’s traveling companion (Acts 16:10). He wrote the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts.

It’s fair to assume that what Luke wrote in these books is similar to what Paul knew and taught. Therefore, in this blog and my other blogs, I will frequently draw from the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts when describing what Paul knew and taught about Jesus and the early church.