The Apostle Paul writes in Colossians 1:28: We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ (Col 1:28).
Paul’s ministry consisted of proclaiming Christ, the mystery of Christ in you, the hope of glory (v 27). We know that every believer in the dispensation of the Church and the NT possesses the indwelling Christ, the glorious mystery announced in the past but revealed in the present age. We possess the spiritual riches of Christ and in Christ. The riches speak of an unfathomable future hope. Our salvation today is hope tomorrow, future glory guaranteed forever.
This proclamation as Paul indicates represents the fundamental message necessary for the spiritual growth of every church. Within the immediate context of our passage, Paul mentions that God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the gentiles… (v 27). God chose to reveal this unspeakable and incomparable mystery among the gentiles, that is the Church, redeemed Gentile and Jew, united into one new man in Christ.
The message itself, the proclamation, was announced to the church by Paul and his co-laborers through admonishing and teaching… every man. The goal of this proclamation was to present every man complete in Christ (v 28). The message preached in other words was so that the whole church could be trained, every man, to maturity and to Christ-likeness. Paul proclaimed Christ so that the church, all the church, could be strengthened, made complete in courage, love, and in the fullness of the knowledge of Christ.
The Italian Theological Academy (ITA), just days before we celebrate another Christmas, days before we remember the first advent of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth, the Word made flesh, and at the end of the year 2017, wishes to remind our supporters of our ultimate aim in Italy.
We are determined through our training of expositors for the exposition of the Word to mature the church in Italy, that it may be complete and equipped for every good work.
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