Colossians 1:25-27 NLT
[25] “God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you. [26] This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. [27] For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.”

This is a bold and outrageous claim, Paul, you are making! Paul was claiming to know what God’s secret was, hidden from the beginning of time. He declared that God had chosen him to reveal this secret to the church.

How could Paul make a statement like this unless he was absolutely convinced it was true? He would be putting himself in grave danger of God’s judgment. After all, he knew the Scriptures.

Jeremiah 23:21, 34-36 NLT
[21] “I have not sent these prophets, yet they run around claiming to speak for me. I have given them no message, yet they go on prophesying.
[34] “If any prophet, priest, or anyone else says, ‘I have a prophecy from the Lord,’ I will punish that person along with his entire family. [35] You should keep asking each other, ‘What is the Lord’s answer?’ or ‘What is the Lord saying?’ [36] But stop using this phrase, ‘prophecy from the Lord.’ For people are using it to give authority to their own ideas, turning upside down the words of our God, the living God, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”

What was Paul saying?

God had a plan which He kept secret hidden until Jesus came. Despite Israel’s hatred of the Gentiles, God’s secret was to include the Gentiles in His plan of salvation.

Prophecies in the Old Testament, especially in Isaiah’s prophecies, hinted at this plan.

Isaiah 45:22 NLT
[22] “Let all the world look to me for salvation! For I am God; there is no other.”

Isaiah 49:6 NLT
[6] He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Isaiah 66:23 NLT
[23] “All humanity will come to worship me from week to week and from month to month.”

The more Paul delved into Isaiah’s prophecies, the more convinced he became that God’s plan was much bigger than just Israel’ salvation. Why was the Holy Spirit revealing these truths to him? Only when Jesus came and fulfilled all these prophesies did the whole plan become clear and begin to make sense. Since God was showing him this truth, it was up to him to reveal it to the church.

As this glorious truth dawned on him, Paul became convinced that this revelation was for him to pass on. His call to take the gospel to the Gentiles fitted into God’s great “mystery”, a secret God kept hidden until the right time to reveal it to the world. Through him, God was now making this truth known.

Is it any wonder, then, that the Jews hated both Jesus and Paul! Jesus’ compassion spilled over into the lives of Gentiles. Paul shared in the sufferings of Jesus because he identified with Jesus’ mission. The Jews could not tolerate the idea that God was opening His grace to all people. Paul had to be exterminated.

Acts of the Apostles 22:21-22 NLT
[21] “But the Lord said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles!’” [22] The crowd listened until Paul said that word. Then they all began to shout, “Away with such a fellow! He isn’t fit to live!”

Now, Paul’s words begin to make sense.

Colossians 1:24-25 NLT
[24] I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. [25] God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you.”

Paul was suffering specifically for this reason, that he was preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. As he testified to his call and mission, the religious leaders in Jerusalem listened until he told them…

Acts of the Apostles 22:21-22 NLT
[21] “But the Lord said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles!’” [22] The crowd listened until Paul said that word. Then they all began to shout, “Away with such a fellow! He isn’t fit to live!”

So, this is the deal. The Colossian believers were included in God’s plan of salvation for the whole world. Paul reassured them that this was God’s plan from the beginning. They were not an “add-on” to God’s plan. They were an integral part of the church.

God’s mystery was the profound truth that Jew and Gentile together would have a share in Christ’s glory.

Colossians 1:27 NLT
[27] “For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.”

This promise implies that everyone who believes in Jesus will share His nature, to become like Him in eternity because He lives in us now.

1 John 3:2 NLT
[2] “Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.”

No, Paul was not overstepping the boundaries of his calling. He was right in line with God’s revelation. Jew and Gentile together, reconciled and made one new nation, shared in everything God had provided in His great salvation plan.