It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything! I fizzled out in Exodus and got busy with
wedding planning. I have been reading
Colossians recently though so I’m gonna try to go through Colossians on here
now. We’ll start with Colossians
1:1-14. My format will be less
structured with these. I’m changing
everything up! Paul identifies himself
in the beginning of this book as an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. His apostleship has nothing to do with who he
is or what he has done. He is an apostle
because of the will of God. Timothy is
also writing this letter.
The recipients of this letter are the saints and faithful
brothers in Christ at Collosae. Collosae
was the smallest church written to by Paul.
It is located east of Ephesus and was mostly known for its wool
trade. Paul wrote this letter while in
prison in Rome. He probably wrote it
about the same time as Ephesians and Philemon.
All three letters were delivered by the same people. There was a false teaching going around at
this time which basically undermined the power and authority of Christ. Paul was writing this letter partly to set
them straight. The preeminence of Christ
is one of the major themes of Colossians.
Paul finishes his introduction with the greeting, “Grace to
you and peace from God our Father”. He
establishes God as our father and attributes both grace and peace to Him. We are four lines into the book and Paul has
already attributed grace, peace, and his apostleship to God.
Paul begins his letter by praising the Colossian
church. He lists all the reasons he is
thankful to God for them. He is thankful
to God because of their faith in Christ and for the love they have for the
saints. He attributes this faith and
love to the hope they have laid up for them in heaven. This is significant for several reasons. Once again, Paul attributes the Colossians
faith and love to the Father. Secondly,
the Colossian church was apparently known for their faith and their love for
their brothers. Their motivation is
their hope laid up for them in heaven.
If we ever find it difficult to have faith or love others, we might want
to evaluate what our hope is placed in.
Is it placed in affirmation?
Attention from our friends and family?
Do we hope that we won’t feel guilty if we love others? Or do we love because of the hope we have in
Christ. Is our focus on things of this
world or on things of heaven. The
Colossians were placing their hope in heaven and Paul was thanking God for
that. Paul then states that this hope
comes through the word of truth, the gospel.
The gospel came to Collosae as it was coming to the whole world. The gospel was bearing fruit and growing
around the world as people were hearing and understanding the grace of God in
truth. When our faith is healthy, we
should bear fruit. Often we look at
fruit as only the visible “proof” of our faith.
We ignore the entire purpose of fruit.
Fruit is designed by God to bear seeds and help plants reproduce. We are to bear fruit to help the gospel
spread and grow. If the church is
healthy, it will bear fruit and spread.
Apparently, Epaphras was the man who brought the gospel to Collosae and
then reported back to Paul and Timothy.
I find it important that Paul seems to indicate that the gospel didn’t
grow in Collosae or around the world until it had been heard and
understood. This underscores to me the
importance of discipleship. Faith comes
by hearing, but growth comes through understanding. It is not enough to just tell people the good
news of Christ’s sacrifice for us, we also have to help them understand the
grace of God in truth.
Paul then outlines his prayer for the Colossian church. He prays that they would be filled with the
knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. This makes sense; we all want to know God’s
will. But what are our motives? Paul seems to indicate that our reason for
knowing God’s will is to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to
Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in knowledge of God. We should want to know God’s will for our
lives not for our benefit, but so that we would please God, bear fruit, and
increase our knowledge of Him. I know I
personally feel like often I want to know God’s will so that I can know what my
future holds or so I can prepare for the future. My desire for knowledge of His will is partly
for my own benefit. We should know His
will for His benefit. Paul then asks
that the Colossian church would be strengthened with all power according to
God’s glorious might. The purpose for
this strengthening is for endurance and patience with joy. Many times I think we ask God to help us
avoid hardship or to give us want we want quickly. What we need to ask for is strength so that
we can endure and be patient with joy.
Along with this strengthening we should give thanks to the Father who
has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints. Once again, it appears that our focus should
be on heaven. It appears that Paul is
praying that when hardship and persecution come, the Colossians would have
strength to endure by thanking God for their salvation. Once again, the focus should be on Christ and
not the world. We have been transferred
from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of Christ, who has redeemed us. This is huge!
We need to be careful to remember this and not focus on our earthly
problems.
