The letter to the Christians in Colossae was written by Paul around 60 AD. The letter was written in response to fellow Christian Epaphras, who had witnesses heresies there. Upon reporting it to Paul, the letter was written and meant to be read aloud to the congregation, reminding them of the supremacy of Christ and that the world’s teaching didn’t equal the heresy affecting the church.
The heresy is never named, but based on the callouts (2:11, 2:18, 2:23, 3:11), it appears that false teaching entered the church in the form of ceremonialism (what drinks and food was permissible), asceticism (human rules of conduct) and the worship of angels.
In order to refute these claims, Paul goes back to the very tenants of faith: Christ as the image of God (1:15), the sustainer (1:17), head of the church (1:18), resurrection (1:18) and the reconciliation of all things to God through him (1:20-22). In bringing Christ’s supremacy to the forefront, Paul shreds away the ideas that human rules have no bearing on the risen son.
Colossae itself was a small place which had lost its splendor many years before. It was once a city revered for its fabric dyes, but by the time of the letter it was a small, insubstantial city. It isn’t mentioned in the book of Acts. In around 60 AD an earthquake is thought to have destroyed the city completely.
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
The author of this letter, Paul, wrote it while he was being held by Rome (4:3,10,18). Paul had not met this church personally but was qualified to speak to them as an apostle.
Thanksgiving and Prayer 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
One of Paul’s regular prayers was for the Colossians, a group he hadn’t yet met. Why would Paul pray for people he hadn’t met? Because Paul understands the larger picture of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-31). Not all of the parts of the body work in the same way, but the intention of yearning toward Christ in love, support and fidelity is common to all Christians. Each part of the body works in a different way, however they’re all vital parts of the same body, with different functions, and to pray for their success in relationship to Christ is as important as Paul striving for his own deeper connection.
Love and faith: The Colossian’s faith exceeds their small stature. Again, Colossae isn’t a big spot on the map. But they are big of faith, They are exuberant in love and faith. This love and faith come from the gospel itself, the wellspring of their foundation.
Hope: Where is their hope? It is stored in heaven for them. It is the eternal outlook that is meant for all Christians to have in this world. The hope must always be on the eternal, not the temporal.
1 Corinthians 13:13 sums up Paul’s thinking, a message that permeates all of his writing: And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
The gospel isn’t only alive in Colossae but growing throughout the known world. In this passage we learn that Epaphras, the faithful servant who has reported the heresy to Paul, was also the very person who brought the gospel to them. This job, “servant” (KJV calls it “minister”) means the same thing: one who serves.
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Let’s analyze Paul’s prayer:
1. Fill you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and the understanding that the spirit gives: Paul’s prayer isn’t for the people of Colossae to be successful in any temporal way. The first part of his prayer is for the people to listen and be led by the spirit. Why? So they can understand what God wants of them. Often our prayers are prayers of saving: save me from this pain, this circumstance, this moment. In other words, our prayers are often about saving us from moments that could give us pain. But Paul’s prayer isn’t one of self-preservation. It isn’t “let their lives be good all the time.” This prayer of spiritual understanding is the basis of our foundation. Until we are willing to submit, our prayers will be prayers of self-preservation. When we turn it around and begin listening to God, they become prayers of mobilization.
2.That you may walk worthy of the Lord: Once one is listening to the Lord, then it is vital for that person to bring that spirituality into daily life. This walk, with the Lord, becomes the outward sign on the inward walk. If we are truly submitting to God, then the outward walk will resemble the inward spirit.
3. Please Him in every way: When we understand the will of God and live it out, God is pleased. When we sin and fall short and return to Him, He is pleased with our return, just like the wayward son in the parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15:11-32). In the story of David this principle is played out again and again. David strays from God but he returns, acknowledges his sin, repents, deals with the consequences and is restored. To walk with God and fully please Him we don’t have to be perfect, we just have to continue to return to the source, understanding our salvation to work it out with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12-13).
4.Bearing fruit in every good work: Our works don’t get us to salvation; they are an extension of our inner spirit. When we walk by the spirit, we develop a natural desire to show our inner spirit. This displays oftentimes in good works. In these good works that we do, some easy for us and others challenging, we bear fruit, or extend our spirit into the world to affect others or outside situations in positive ways. Paul’s prayer is to make the best of these moments, extend yourself in such a way that you show God’s heart to others so that they can see it too.
5. Growing in the knowledge of God: It is important to reach out and investigate who God is. God is always present, and God may intervene in your life, but in most cases He awaits us to reach out to Him. James 4:8 says this: Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. God desires our active interest. If we are willing to reach out to Him, the promise is that we will begint o see him more clearly.
6. Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might: God’s strength is present in our life to help us through the various circumstances, seasons and trials that slide inside and outside our existence. It is no secret how to access God’s strength: it begins with humility. It begins with understanding our brokenness and realizing we can’t exist in our own ecosystem. It just doesn’t work over the long-haul. When we tap into the source of strength, we are given a great gift. But it must be through submission, understanding that the wellspring of power is by understanding our own weakness.
7. So that you may have great endurance and patience: The purpose of tapping into God’s strength is so that we can weather all of the challenging moments in our life. Patient endurance is one of the benefits of a God-centered life. If we have God’s strength to get through trials, then we have a great foundation, built in love, in order to build strength in our character.
8. Giving joyful thanks to the Father: To understand how God works in us for our own benefit is extraordinary. He builds us from the inside out and develops us not into an independent creation but into a dependent one. The dependency is important because if we aren’t dependent on God’s love, mercy and strength, then we can’t understand the depth of His care. That depth of care is crucial to creating joy in our life. Joy is not happiness; happiness is based on our circumstance. Joy is about understanding the eternal in the temporal state. It’s about bringing that understanding into every situation, so that the temporary state of circumstance doesn’t bring our life and faith to a screeching halt. This joy needs to be brought back to the father, the source of our strength.
9. Who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light: We aren’t “qualified” by our works, but by the Father, who sees deeply into us, examines our motives, and understands what we are all about. He designed us. His aim is to help us reconnect with that design so that we can become as efficient and fruitful as possible. This qualification is the inheritance into his holy kingdom. God’s aim is to bring us from a place of torment and self-satisfaction to a holiness that resembles Christ. We are to remember that it is God’s doing. He breathed life into us. He designed us. He allowed challenges into our life in order to build us. He called us.
10. He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness: Paul touches on this concept many times in his writing. The idea that we were once living in darkness, but in the revelation of Christ in our life, we have been transformed into a new creation. This new creation (born again) is the symbol of this life change. It doesn’t mean we are perfect from that point on, but it does mean we are saved. We have turned to God and intend to follow Him and that leads us from the darkness into a new light.
11. Brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins: This new life, this new way of living in light instead of darkness, is coming into the place where Jesus is. This repentance (changing our mind so that our actions are changed) is important in our spiritual evolution. We must want it, because ultimately that is where Jesus is. The redemption of us and the forgiveness of sins is only in one place.
The Supremacy of the Son of God 15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Jesus is:
1. The image of the invisible God: Jesus is the very likeness of God. He is a way we can understand the heart of God. Paul uses the Greek word Eikon to relay the idea that God is fully revealed in Jesus, His image like the reflection in a mirror.
2. Firstborn over all creation: This may seem like Jesus is a created entity, but firstborn is merely a title given to the “supreme” figure in divine existence. He is before all created things.
3. For in him all things were created: All things have been created through Christ and for Him. This speaks to the central nature of Christ. He is not a created being but everything goes through Him and for Him. This does not mean that He is less than God but part of God, the second part of the Godhead of Father, Son and Holy Spirit (The Trinity).
4. He is the head of the body, the church: This concept is taught in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. Paul lays out the metaphor of the body of the church as a human body, each part of that body serving a purpose to the greater whole. Christ is the head of this body, which is the church itself.
5. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross: In his summation, Paul orchestrates the final musical notes of his concept. This is God’s great plan. To bring Christ to earth, filled with all the attributes of God Himself, so that we can see and understand who God is. By Christ’s resurrection we gain the understanding of the blood sacrifice. It is the thing that reconciles us back to God.
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
We were lost in our transgressions (sins) for a good part of our lives. Paul uses an interesting word here to drive home a point. Apellotriomonous in Greek means to transfer to another owner. NIV translates it as “alienated.” So if Paul is really saying that God transferred us to another owner during this time in our life, it changes the meaning dramatically. This may help us to understand why we were enemies of God back then: we were enemies in our minds based on our behavior. We wanted to conduct ourselves in sin so we convinced our mind that our behavior was right.
Our former way of thinking becomes apparent once we introduce God back into our lives. The change is apparent. The evil of yesteryear is obvious and shameful. If we were to stay in that mindset, perhaps we wouldn’t see our sin as shameful. But God, through Jesus Christ, has come into our lives. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit has taught us. There is a submission and repentance. There is change. It only happens through Christ. We believe in Christ and follow Him authentically, and continue in that faith, our sins are forgiven. There is action involved in faith. It isn’t dormant, it isn’t the result of a few emotional words uttered a long time ago. It is the constant fight to rid ourselves from the world and sin and become the holy creatures that God desires us to be.
Paul’s Labor for the Church 24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.
Paul’s joy in suffering in his own personal faith journey is folded into the ever-present ministry of Christ. The afflictions he speaks of is in regard to the ministry, which continues through time. This ministry, the building of the church, is Christ’s ultimate goal. Paul is a subset of Christ, both working for the same goal.
25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people.
Paul became a minister of Christ not because he wanted it, because he trained or had a goal at doing something glorious in his life. He did it because he was commissioned to. His mission is to present the Gospel. The mystery he speaks of is Christ, the building of the church, and the work of Jesus in His people.
27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The grafting of the Gentiles into the picture of redemption was not know to the Old Testament people, but is understood in Christ. Redemption is open to all people.
28 He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. 29 To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.
Jesus is the one Paul proclaimed. He didn’t do this for his own glory or to build a golden megachurch. He did it so that people would know who Christ is and why it matters. His strength, derived from Christ, compels him forward so that all will know.