Col 1:23 - Eh?

[jeffnevins]

23if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

23If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

The Gospel's been preached to every creature under heaven?

How does Paul know this? (Maybe God told him- he did say he went to heaven & returned)

Why creatures and not just man? Poetic language, maybe.

Every? What about those remote tribes in the amazon just discovered? This isn't supposed to occur until the end time, correct?

Paul is great, but can confuse more than anyone...

Thanks-

[EricH]

Jeff,

Great question. The better translation here can be found in the Holman:

if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith, and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a minister of it.

Colosssians 1:23 HCSB

The idea here is not that the gospel has been preached to every creature, but that it has bee preached through all creation (to every type of person). It is hyperbole and basically a restatement of Paul's thoughts in Colossians 1:6

The gospel that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God's grace in the truth.

Colossians 1:6 HCSB

The idea is not that every person has heard it, but that it is spreading through the entire world. What is revealing in 1:23 is that the word proclamation is in the aorist tense. The aorist tense speaks of concrete action in the past with continuing impact into the future. Paul has preached the gospel in the past and that is not spreading into the future.

[EricH]

23if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

23If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

The Gospel's been preached to every creature under heaven?

How does Paul know this? (Maybe God told him- he did say he went to heaven & returned)

Why creatures and not just man? Poetic language, maybe.

Every? What about those remote tribes in the amazon just discovered? This isn't supposed to occur until the end time, correct?

Paul is great, but can confuse more than anyone...

Thanks-

Be careful that you are not parsing too finely here. The general rule with the epistles is to read and think in paragraphs. Colossians 1:15 - 3:4 is a long section on Christian doctrine. 1:15-23 is a section describing the person and work of Christ. In context, Paul's description is an exaggeration to make his point. He's excited about the gospel.

Exactly

[jeffnevins]

Thank God for fellow believers. I was really stumped. Thanks.

[BurnForChrist]

This passage in the past has often, seemingly, confused me. But taking a deeper look into the meaning of the passage, I agree with what Albert Barnes wrote (this is not to mean that I disagree with anyones post thus far, but rather I agree to what has been written):

"Which was preached to every creature which is under heaven - It cannot be supposed that it was literally true that every creature under heaven had actually heard the gospel. But this may mean:

(1) That it was designed to be preached to every creature, or that the commission to make it known embraced everyone, and that, so far as the provisions of the gospel are concerned, it may be said that it was a system proclaimed to all mankind; see Mar_16:15. If a vast army, or the inhabitants of a distant province, were in rebellion against a government, and a proclamation of pardon were issued, it would not be improper to say that it was made to every one of them, though, as a matter of fact, it might not be true that everyone in the remote parts of the army or province had actually heard of it.

(2) the gospel in the time of Paul seems to have been so extensively preached, that it might be said that it was proclaimed to everybody. All known countries appear to have been visited; and so zealous and laborious had been the heralds of salvation, that it might be said that the message had been proclaimed to all the world; see Col_1:6; compare the notes at Mat_24:14."

Burn

[HisMindinme]

In a fuller context.

Col 1:18 And He is the Head of the body, the assembly, who is the Beginning, the First-born out of the dead, that He be preeminent in all things;

Col 1:19 because all the fullness was pleased to dwell in Him,

Col 1:20 and through Him making peace by the blood of His cross, to reconcile all things to Himself; through Him, whether the things on the earth, or the things in the heavens.

Col 1:21 And you then being alienated and hostile in your mind by evil works, but now He reconciled

Col 1:22 in the body of His flesh, through death, to present you holy and without blemish and irreproachable before Him,

Col 1:23 if indeed you continue in the faith grounded and settled and not being moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard proclaimed in all the creation under Heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister,

Col 1:24 who now rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf and fill up in my flesh the things lacking of the afflictions of Christ on behalf of His body, which is the assembly,

Col 1:25 of which I became a minister, according to the administration of God given to me for you, to fulfill the Word of God,

Col 1:26 the mystery having been hidden from the ages and from the generations, but now was revealed to His saints;

Col 1:27 to whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, who is Christ in you, the hope of glory;

Col 1:28 whom we announce, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man full-grown in Christ Jesus,

Col 1:29 for which also I labor, struggling according to the working of Him who works in me in power.

The question was: Is Paul saying the gospel must be preached to every creature and not just to every man? Bear in mind ANY English translation IS A TRANSLATION and not the Greek Paul wrote and communicated in. The text above is from Dr. Jay P. Greene's Literal Translation. I appreciate the work and find it does an honest job in modern English.

So, looking at verse 23, we can see Paul is talking about the scope. Man is the target hearer of the gospel and the scope is ALL men in ALL of creation. This is fairly clear.

[iwbswiaihl]

I believe you are ready to much into this verse. All he is saying is that the gospel that he is preaching is the same gospel that has went out to others that were living at that time. The same good news that Jesus proclaimed is the same gospel that he is proclaiming. Have a great day. Isaiah 26:3

[truthbringer]

23if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

23If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

The Gospel's been preached to every creature under heaven?

How does Paul know this? (Maybe God told him- he did say he went to heaven & returned)

Why creatures and not just man? Poetic language, maybe.

Every? What about those remote tribes in the amazon just discovered? This isn't supposed to occur until the end time, correct?

Paul is great, but can confuse more than anyone...

Thanks-

The Greek word for "Every", Means, [All kinds, or All classes of people]

The Greek word for, "Creature", Means, [People].

This is how it should read, "The gospel's been preached to every kind of people under heaven".