I was asked about the interchange of tenses in Col 1:21-23. It is part of a much larger theological question that I can’t get into right now, but it is worth looking at the Greek.
Paul writes, “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled (ἀποκατήλλαξεν, aorist) in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present (παραστῆσαι, aorist) you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue (ἐπιμένετε, present) in the faith, stable (τεθεμελιωμένοι, perfect) and steadfast, not shifting (μετακινούμενοι, present) from the hope of the gospel” (ESV).
Everyone’s theology, Wesleyan and Calvinists, have to struggle with this passage. And remember, if our theology can’t honestly handle this passage, then our theology is wrong.
