The passage
      v21. In v20 Paul tells us that Christ's work of reconciliation achieves "peace" for "all thing". He now brings the notion of reconciliation, and its end "peace", down to a personal level. The believers in Colossae were, like Paul, once estranged from God by sin. Their state was one of enmity, rather than peace. They had no peace with God, and therefore were not at peace with each other.
      v22. Yet, this enmity no longer exists because of Christ's reconciling work. The believer achieves peace with God through Christ's physical death. Paul does not go on to explain how Christ's death can move the sinner from their state of condemnation to one of acceptance before God. An exposition of the atonement is obviously outside his brief at this point in time. Here Paul focuses on the results of Christ's death. Peace with God, reconciliation, through Christ's sacrificial death, involves being presented before God holy, without blemish, and thus free from accusation. Identification with Christ involves the transfer of our sin to Christ on the cross, and the imputation of his righteous. Therefore, we stand totally approved before God, holy and acceptable, and thus reconciled and at peace with Him. We have full salvation now. This point obviously serves to counter the Colossian heretics who see full salvation as something achieved through law-obedience.
      v23a. As for perseverance in this hope (full salvation now), it is not dependent on progression in the Christian life through faithful obedience (sanctification by works), rather, it is dependent upon a continued trust in Jesus. The gospel promises the gift of eternal life through faith in Christ. This gift is always ours while faith remains. Disobedience, failure, not even weak faith, is able to separate us from God's free gift of life in Christ. While we believe, we live.
      v23b. This message of God's grace in Christ (the gospel) was proclaimed at Colossae, as well as throughout the known world. It is a message for all mankind; it is a message that transcends race. Paul, the persecutor of the church, is now one of its main communicators.

Continuing in the faith
      Presented holy in God's sight, without blemish, free from accusation:
          Once alienated
          Now reconciled
          Always reconciled

      From my early days in youth fellowship, I was aware of the ease with which people moved in and out of Christianity. For many young people, youth fellowship was little more than a place for socializing. Nothing wrong with socializing, and the local church did well to provide a safe place for teens to gather and interact, yet the lives of those young people did not necessarily intersect with Christ.
      What concerned me was the large number of young people who took up the faith with gusto, only to walk away from it once they were through their teens. Christianity was the social environment for the moment and they simply adjusted to this environment while they found their adult legs. They certainly revisited the church when they wanted to get married or have their children baptized. They would often send their children to the church youth club, and at times, even attended Sunday services themselves. There is nothing wrong with this minimal, or what we often call "nominal" church association, but none of it touched the substance of faith.
      In my own reaction to the socializing, enculturating influence of church, I tended to programme youth activities outside of a Christian environment. My only focus was to remind the kids that there was a God and that Jesus was the way into his presence. "If you want to be with Jesus for eternity, just ask him. He'll never let you go." Very few took up the offer, and this only served to further convince me that much of the people-management activities undertaken to grow institutional churches, serves only to bolster the institution rather than gather the lost. People-management serves to grow the dynamic youth fellowship, build the attending congregation, but rarely does it build the kingdom of God.
      These days, when I hear of objectives like growing our congregations by 10%, I actually cringe. I can't imagine Jesus telling the twelve that he wanted the apostolic band to grow by 10% over the next year. The gathering of an alienated people progresses through faith in Christ on a hearing of the gospel. The retention of a reconciled people is realized in the same way, through a word-centered faith in Christ. None of the machinations of human organization impinge on this reality.

v22
      In this verse, the three adjectives, holy, pure and faultless, describe the blameless state of a believer in the presence of God through the sacrificial death of Christ. All three start with the letter alpha (a), heightening the impact of the clause through alliteration. They are also words that have a cultic background, as does "present", ie. present a sacrifice to God.
      nuni "[but] now" - Intensive form of "now". The "now" may be this moment in time, but more likely it is the time in history when God has acted in Christ.
      apokathllaxen (apokatallassw) aor. "he has reconciled you" - he reconciled. The aorist "he reconciled" following the perfect "having been alienated" has problems in time terms, but Paul is talking about two states. The Colossians were in one, but because of a definitive act by Christ, they are now in another. Textual variants include a passive participle "having been reconciled" and the passave "have been reconciled." Irrespective of the textual varients, the meaning is clear: "God has restored your relationship with him", "God has made you his friends."
      en + dat. "by" - in/by. The preposition is taken as instrumental by the NIV, "by", ie. God has reconciled us by means of Christ's sacrificial death on the cross (lit. by the body of his flesh [physical body] through the death). Yet it could be locative, "in", ie. we are reconciled to God in our participation in / identification with the person of Christ, (dia = expressing the means) "through" his death on the cross.
      parasthsai (paristhmi) aor. inf. "to present" - present, bring into the presence of, stand by. The verb is probably transitive, with God as the subject and "you" the object, but note JB. opts for intransitive, "now you are able to appear before him." The infinitive probably forms a final (purpose) clause, "in order to present you / bring you into his presence ...", NRSV. The sense is of a future presentation in glory. Yet it may form a consecutive (result) clause, "to cause you to stand before him ....". The sense is then of a present reality, we even now stand before our God, perfect in his sight through the blood of Christ. Most commentators go with the first option.