Keeping What We Have: The Imperative to Hold Fast to the Gospel
Orientation
The struggle is not about earning more from God, but guarding the complete gospel truth you have already received.
- The enemy's strategy is to spoil your assurance by shifting focus from Christ's sufficiency.
- The command is to hold fast to the original message of reconciliation and forgiveness.
- Losing grip on this foundational hope risks losing the crown of assurance.
Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
— Revelation 3:11
Clarification
Continuing in faith is not a new condition for salvation, but the means by which we remain settled in the holiness Christ has already provided.
- God has reconciled you to present you holy; continuing in faith is how you remain in that state.
- Being 'moved away' refers to embracing teachings that divert you from Christ's completeness.
- The initial blessing of forgiveness and reconciliation is maintained by clinging to the gospel hope.
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 1:22-23
Structure
Biblical logic shows our walk begins and continues the same way: by faith in the sufficiency of Christ.
- You received Christ by hearing and believing the gospel; you walk in Him the same way.
- Philosophy and human tradition are vain deceit because they point away from Christ's fullness.
- In Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him.
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
Weight-Bearing Prose
The Pauline charge is to guard the deposit. The gospel initially received—Christ died for our sins and rose—is the foundation upon which we stand and the truth we must keep. This is not about progressive maturity into deeper truths, but about not being moved from the hope of the gospel. The negative pattern is being spoiled through philosophy, vain deceit, and the tradition of men—systems that, however sophisticated, are not after Christ. In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him. This completeness is the present possession of every believer. To embrace other teachings is to be diverted from this sufficiency. The positive pattern is to continue in the faith, grounded and settled, which results in being presented holy, unblameable, and unreproveable before God. This continuation is the means by which we experience the assured results of Christ’s reconciling work. The Galatian error was attempting to perfect by the flesh what began in the Spirit by faith. The antidote is to walk in Him as you received Him: by faith, rooted, built up, and established.
Integration
Your assurance rests on Christ’s finished work, not your grip. The command to hold fast is given to those who are already reconciled, holy, and complete in Him. This is not a pressure to perform, but a call to rest in what is already true. Christ is your completeness. The Spirit you received by hearing with faith is the same Spirit who keeps you. Abound in thanksgiving for this. If your focus has drifted to other teachings, the remedy is not effort but returning to the simplicity of Christ. He is the anchor. Your standing before God is secure in Him. Let your heart be re-anchored in the hope of the gospel you first heard: you are forgiven, reconciled, and complete in Christ. This is your resting place.