Paul received a stewardship from God to preach this divine Christ (shown in verses 9-18) who had reconciled the world (vv. 19-23). It was Paul’s ministry, but we, too, are responsible to God to preach Christ.

Paul’s enemies used his imprisonment against him. The Colossian false teachers probably ridiculed Paul and used this as a weapon to fight the truth of the Gospel. But Paul being Paul, turned this attack around and used it to defeat his enemies and to build a closer relationship with the Colossian church. Had Paul compromised with his enemies and stopped ministering to the Gentiles, he could have been spared a great deal of suffering. But he could not abandon his calling just for personal safety and comfort. God had made him a minister, he had been given a “stewardship” (dispensation), and he had to be faithful to his calling (1 Cor. 4:2). It was not a matter of choice: he was called to fulfill the Word of God.

Paul’s special message regarding the Gentiles had to do with what he called the mystery. To us today, a mystery is something eerie and perhaps frightening; but this was not the way the word was defined in Paul’s day. The false teachers used this word to describe the inner secrets of their religions. A mystery is a “sacred secret,” hidden in the past and now revealed by the Holy Spirit (see Eph. 3:1–13).