“For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face…”

Uh oh, here goes Paul’s ego again.

“…that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love…”

Ok, so that may work. If people who are fighting amongst themselves hear of someone else who is suffering for them all it makes their dissagreements seem rather petty–and an insult to the one giving his all for them! Even more, even those who are not in any particularly grievous relationship, when they hear of Paul’s trials and all the pain he endures to “present everyone mature in Christ” certainly this would move their hearts to see the value in one another that is put in them by the sufferings of Christ. Well, now I’ve got the warm fuzzies; why don’t we just all love eachother?

“…to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery…”

Huh? First, how does ‘being knit together in love’ give me assurance of understanding anything, or of knowledge? But forget even that; what’s God’s mystery? Paul sure is setting his audience up for a big disappointment if he doesn’t deliver on that. He doesn’t say ‘a’ mystery, but the mystery of God.

“…which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

This is quite a claim. Christ is the mystery of God, in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and I am supposed to be able to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of this mystery by having the warm fuzzies about Paul’s hardship?

“I say this so that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.”

So Paul is setting up in opposition here the power of the unity of the body of Christ to persuasive arguments that lead to anything but a stronger unity in love as the body encourages one another.

There is no doctrine does not directly support the unity in love of God’s people. For the very identity of the church, it’s very life, the very connection that we have with the eternal and the only truth to be known is Christ crucified for all people in all time for all eternity. This is the encouragement that we have for one another and the doctrine that knits us together.

If anyone should teach anything, whether it be in scripture or not, that is not beneficial to building up in love then it is not completely true–or atleast it cannot be known to be true. For according to this passage all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery is being knit together in love. This is the plumb line and guarantee that Christ will be glorified in all our teaching: if, when judged according to scripture to be consisent with God’s revelation, it encourages the hearts of the believers to love one another.