Few aspects of the Holy Spirit’s ministry have caused greater division in the church than those of Spirit baptism and spiritual fullness. Yet whenever the New Testament speaks of these things, it does so in terms of unity, not division. The baptism and filling with the Holy Spirit, rightly understood, should be sources of the church’s unity.

In Colossians 1:24–2:5, the apostle Paul invites the Colossian believers to examine the shape of his ministry, his goals, and the pleasures he takes from his labor. In the face of false teachers among them, he lays down a spiritual plumb line against which we may measure a ministry’s legitimacy as we ask, “Whom has God really sent to us?” In other words, who should become a pastor, what should their work look like, and what should they hope to accomplish through it?

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