Hold Fast to the Gospel: The Call to Persevere in Faith
Orientation
The enemy seeks to undermine our assurance by distracting us from the core gospel message we first believed.
- We are entrusted with the treasure of the gospel from the beginning.
- Our responsibility is to cling to it, refusing to be moved.
- To lose our grip is to forfeit the blessing and completeness already secured for us in Christ.
Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. (Revelation 3:11)
— Revelation 3:11
Clarification
Holding fast is not about striving for a reward through effort, but about remaining anchored in Christ's finished work.
- The command to continue is attached to Christ's finished work of reconciliation.
- Being 'moved away' means being swayed by other messages, philosophies, or traditions.
- The loss is not salvation itself, but the enjoyment of our completeness and the assurance of our reconciliation.
And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard... (Colossians 1:21-23)
— Colossians 1:21-23
Structure
The apostolic pattern is to walk in Christ exactly as we received Him—by faith alone—guarding against any addition.
- We received Christ Jesus the Lord by faith through hearing the gospel.
- We are to be rooted, built up, and established in Him by that same faith.
- Any alternative foundation—philosophy, tradition, or worldly principles—spoils us from our completeness in Christ.
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:6-7)
— Colossians 2:6-7
Weight-Bearing Prose
The Pauline charge is to guard the original gospel deposit. Reconciliation through Christ’s death is the objective fact, designed to present us holy before God. The conditional ‘if’ in Colossians 1:23 does not threaten that objective reconciliation but describes the necessary path to enjoy its present reality: continuing steadfast in the faith and not being moved from the hope of that gospel. To be ‘moved away’ is to be spoiled (Colossians 2:8), deceived by philosophies and traditions that are ’not after Christ.’ This spoiling is a present loss of blessing, a forfeiture of walking in the completeness found only in Him, in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. The Galatian error is parallel: beginning in the Spirit by faith but then seeking to be made perfect by the flesh (Galatians 3:1-3). Spiritual maturity and progress depend on continuing in the same faith by which we received the Spirit, not on adopting new systems. The enemy’s target is always the simplicity of the gospel initially heard and believed, aiming to erode its sufficiency.
Integration
Our safety and completeness are found in Christ alone. He is the treasure we have received. The call to hold fast is not a pressure to perform, but a reminder to rest in what is already and eternally true. Your reconciliation stands. Your position before God as holy and unblameable in Christ is secure. Any sense of being moved or spoiled is corrected by returning to the same faith that first received Him. There is no new foundation to seek, no upgrade to earn. Abide in Him. Let your heart be re-anchored in the hope of the gospel you first heard—the message of forgiveness and reconciliation through His death. Christ is your completeness. In Him you are full. Rest here.