The Epistle to the Colossians

Chapter 1

As the Apostle Paul often does, he divides his writings into sections. Here in his epistle to the Colossian believers, Paul takes the first two chapters to confront the heresy that has entered into the church, as well as remind these believers what God has done for them. As we look at chapters 3-4, the apostle then challenges them to take action as an act of submission and to do it with a heart of gratitude. 

• As believers in Jesus, we too must look at what God has done for us, and how we, as an act of submission and heart gratitude, take action in our lives in response to God's goodness toward us.

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, ² To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

As is customary for the Apostle Paul, he begins his greetings to the churches by announcing himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ to his readers. This was important that Paul addressed himself as an apostle so that the people would, first of all, recognize him as an apostle of Jesus Christ, as well as the author of the letter he was sending.

Not everyone recognized Paul as an apostle of Jesus Christ - particularly some Jewish believers. As such, Paul referred to himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ in nearly all of his writings to validate himself as one of Jesus' apostles.

Paul includes Timothy as co-authoring this book. More than likely he was the apostle's secretary who penned this letter as Paul dictated it to him. Timothy, a young man and one who was being discipled by the apostle, was well known as a partner with Paul in the ministry for a number of years. In addition, Timothy had spent a great deal of time with the apostle in his prison house while he was under guard by a Roman soldier. 

In all of the apostle's greetings to the various churches and ministers in his letters, Paul always included two words in his opening greetings - grace and peace. Grace and peace signifying God's unmerited favor, emphasized salvation and blessings freely given, not based on human merit or action, whole peace represented wholeness and well-being that comes from a relationship with Christ. This greeting became the apostle's signature greeting, and all within the Church understood what he meant.

Epaphras Taught Faith to the Colossians

³ We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, ⁴ since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; ⁵ because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, ⁶ which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth; ⁷ as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, ⁸ who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.

As customary in his letters, Paul gave thanks to God and made mention of how he has prayed for the believers in the various house churches. Even though Paul had not met these Christians in Colossae personally, he spoke of how grateful he was to God for their faith in Christ Jesus that was brought to them by Epaphras, one who had become a believer under Paul's ministry when he was in Ephesus. How excited the apostle was to know there was fruit of his labor of what Epaphras had learned, and then he passed that same faith on to others who then became believers in Christ.

• The message remains the same - God so loved the world that He sent His Son to die for the sins of the world. For those who believe and trust in Him are given eternal life with God forever. The "Good News" of salvation never diminishes or weakens over time.

It has been close to 2000 years since Epaphras took the message given to him by the Apostle Paul who received it from Jesus, and is still being replicated today. The fruit of their labor keeps increasing throughout the world to you and I today.

• The "Good News" of Jesus never changed. It still remains the hope of our salvation - even today.

A Pauline Prayer 

The following verses are considered one of the Pauline prayer that have become so recognize as a powerful prayer to pray over any believer.

⁹ For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; ¹⁰ that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹ strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 

Ever since the apostle heard about these new believers in Colossae, he had prayed for them to be filled with the knowledge of God's will and receive it with His wisdom and spiritual understanding. He prayed that they would honor and please the Lord and their lives will produce good work as they continue to grow in the things of the Lord. As part of their inheritance, his prayers for them also included that they would be strengthened with all the power that comes from God so that they would be able to persevere and be patient in any situation, and to be able to do it thankfully and cheerfully.

This is a prayer that we can pray over ourselves. Think about the power that comes with praying like this:

• Pray to be filled with the knowledge of God's will in your lives.
• Pray to be filled with God's wisdom. Remember, if we lack wisdom, all we have to do is ask to receive.
• Pray that we receive spiritual understanding.
• Pray that we honor and please the Lord in our life
• Pray that our lifes will produce good works.
• Pray that we can be strengthened with all the power that comes from God
• Pray that we will be able to persevere in all situations
• Pray for patience in all situations
• Pray that we are able to be thankful and cheerful in all situation
• Pray that we will continue to grow in the thing of the Lord

Now, we can pray this same prayer for any believer - your spouse, your children, friend, neighbor, co-worker, or any believer who may be struggling in their faith or simply to pray continued growth in a believer.

¹² giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. ¹³ He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

We must never forget that all these requests that the Apostle Paul prayed over the Colossian believers were part of their inheritance in the Lord that belonged to them. Not only that, these are treasures that belong to us as well. This is our inheritance. All we have to do is ask our Father God to supply to us what rightfully belongs to us - all because of Who Jesus is and what He has done for us.

• God delivered us from the powers of Satan and his darkness, and in love placed us in the light of His Kingdom instead.
• We've been set free from the pit of darkness that we were living in - we have been redeemed through the shed blood of Jesus, receiving forgiveness of sins from Almighty God.

Who is Jesus?

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. ¹⁸ And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

We look to Jesus Who was the visible image of the invisible God while upon the earth. As such, Jesus became the first-born-again over all creation, and through Him, we too can become born-again unto God, having a brand new life in Christ. Jesus existed with God before anything was created, being supreme over all creation. 

Jesus was involved in God's original purpose in everything He created. For Jesus ranks higher than all of the angels - thrones, dominions, or powers in the unseen world. As will be demonstrated in the next chapter, the apostle here aludes to the false teaching that angels are mediators between God and man. This is his first mention of what was known as the Colossian heresy that had entered into the church at Colossae. Paul emphasized that whatever ranks of spirit beings there may be, Jesus created them all and they all ultimately answer to Him. We also see this same emphasis for who Jesus is in Hebrews, chapter 1, for Jesus is above all, being equal with God. Everything in existence began with the godhead - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. 

Because Jesus existed before all things and hold everything together, He is head over the Church. He is supreme as being the first to rise from the dead, He led the way over all who rise from the dead. Jesus organized the Church, holds it together, very much like a head controls the body. The Holy Spirit gives it power; however, Jesus is the head of the Church and holds everything in place. Angels are simply servants of the Godhead.

God Was Please to Dwell His Fullness Within the Son

¹⁹ For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, ²⁰ and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

 ^"For it pleased God the Father to have his full being live in his Son - God the Son." According to the Jewish New Testament commentary, this was a technical term used by the Gnostics to refer to the various spiritual "levels" that supposed existed. Here, Paul was simply taking a known thought with Gnosticism of seizing on a characteristic distinctive of the heresy he was fighting and showing how it instead related to and supports the Gospel of Jesus.  He was asking them to take this thought captive and apply it to Jesus instead of Gnosticism.

• As one in substance and equal with God, Jesus, through His shed blood took all that was broken in the earth and in the heavenlies, meaning people, animals, nature, and even angels that roam in the heavenlies with the sin and the fall of mankind some 4000 years earlier and has properly fitted them together in peace and harmony, reconciling everything together to Himself. Jesus has reconciled everything together and is Lord over all!

Once Separated From God

²¹ And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled ²² in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— ²³ if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

As former Gentile pagan believers, these new Colossian believers in Christ were once separated from God - not because of God's choice, but because of mans' rebellion before God. Mankind lived in his own alienation and chose to be enemies of God by his wicked behavior. But now, because of the individual's faith and trust in Jesus, each has been reconciled to Christ through His death, so he might be presented holy and without defect or reproach before God. God now looks at each of them differently, because they chosen to belong to Him and His Kingdom . If they, however, lose their faith in the Gospel by being distracted by another gospel, God cannot recognize their faith in another Gospel.

The same goes for us today. Before we came to accept Christ and all He has done for us, we were alienated from God, being rebellious in our own way with our thoughts, intents of the heart, and the actions of our body. But now that we have accepted Christ, God sees us through Christ as holy and blameless, without fault, all because of what Jesus has done for us. As long as we continue in our faith in Christ Jesus, God has reconciled us back to Himself, grounded, steadfast, and not moved away from the hope and promises of the Gospel in which we receive from God's Word.

• Therefore, we must continue to believe in the truths of the Gospel of Christ that has been preached by Jesus through His apostles and stand firm in it. If we, however, turn from the Gospel of Jesus Christ to follow another gospel, we too will get involved in a heresy that will cost us our faith in Jesus and thus God can no longer see us as holy and blameless before Him. 
• We must never get distracted or diverted to any other message but that of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. Anything else is heresy and God cannot recognize it as His Gospel for our salvation.

Sacrificial Service for Christ

²⁴ I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, ²⁵ of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, ²⁶ the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. ²⁷ To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 

The apostle wrote that he has considered it an honor to have suffered for Christ on behalf of the Church. Here, he is sitting in chains, off in Rome to face emperor, already have taken abuse, torture, and even stoning at an earlier date, and he is telling these Colossian believers that he has counted it a privilege to be sitting in chains on their behalf.

• God has given him the responsibility of serving Christ's Church by proclaiming the Good News of salvation to everyone. While this message was kept secret for centuries and generations past from them, meaning the times during the Old Covenant where only the Jews believed in God, now the Gospel of Jesus has been revealed to the Gentiles as well - those who have come to believe in Jesus.

This same promise is now given to us who believe in Jesus. The mystery and secret of Christ is that He now lives in us as believers in Him through the power of His Holy Spirit, giving us the hope of glory, and to be able to spend our eternal life with Him - all because of what He has done for us.

²⁸ Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.

So, the apostle winds down this chapter by saying, he and those with him, will continue to tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given them so that through their words and actions, you and I can be presented to God, perfect in our relationship to Christ. 

• That is why the apostle had to guard against any heresy that would try to enter into the Church.

That has never changed. The Gospel is right and true in its foundation and must never be altered. Once we start changing, even little things, we change the whole Gospel. The apostle struggled so hard to keep the truths of God's Word pure before us, while he leaned on Christ's mighty power that worked within him.

Can we do the same thing as we live our lives purposing to keep the Gospel right and true in its foundation? The true Gospel of Jesus Christ must never be altered, because once we start changing it, even in little things, we are in danger of changing the whole Gospel.

• Mankind has tried to change it to fit his needs over the centuries, but we have the Word of God in written form, as well as the power of the Holy Spirit residing in us to show us the Truth. Therefore, we have a responsibility as Christians to not only live strong in our faith, but stand up strong for our faith to protect it from ever changing.

Stand firm and strong in the Lord.

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