01 - Introduction 2011

We are thankful for the excellent commentary by John Phillips for much of the content of this series and the outline below.

Our time in Colossians will cover:

Part 1: Introduction (1:1-14)

Paul’s passion for people (1:1-2)

Paul’s passion for prayer (1:3)

Paul’s passion for principle (1:4-5)

Paul’s passion for progress (1:6)

Paul’s passion for preachers (1:7-8)

Paul’s passion for perspective (1:9-14)

Part 2: The Truth About the Christ (1:15-29)

The deity of Christ (1:15-19)

The Person of God revealed (1:15)

The power of God revealed (1:16-17)

The purposes of God revealed (1:18-19)

The death of Christ (1:20-22)

The demands of Christ (1:23-29)

Part 3: The Truth about the Cult (2:1-23)

Experiencing the truth (2:1-7)

Exposing the lie (2:8-23)

Secular reasoning (2:8-10)

Sundry rituals (2:11-17)

Special revelations (2:18-19)

Stricter Rules (2:20-23)

Part 4: The Truth About the Christian (3:1-4:6)

The statement of what is expected (3:1-4)

The steps to what is expected (3:5-4:6)

In our personal life (3:5-14)

In our church life (3:15-17)

In our domestic life (3:18-21)

In our business life (3:22-4:1)

In our secular life (4:2-6)

Part 5: Conclusion (4:7-18)

THE BEGINNING—THE LITTLE TOWN OF COLOSSAE

We don't know when it was founded, but Colossae was already in existence in the days of Xerxes, who was the king of Persia from 486 to 465 B.C., so about 500 years before Christ was born. Xerxes was the king during Esther's time. At that time, Colossae was in existence. It was still therein Paul's day. So, it was an old city located about a hundred miles from Ephesus.

"Colossians" literally translated means "punishments." The main road from Ephesus to the Euphrates ran through Colossae. Its population was a mix of Phrygians, Greeks (Gentiles), and Jews. In apostolic times it had ceased to be of much importance, being a small, insignificant market town.

The whole area bore the scars of past volcanic activity. Within several years of the writing of this letter, Colossae was destroyed by an earthquake. We would likely have never heard of it had Paul not written a letter bearing its name.

As brief as the letter is, it ranks among the giants. No one ever wrote greater or grander things about the Lord Jesus than Paul does in this epistle. The book was written by the great Apostle Paul in 62-64 A.D. from Rome during Paul's first imprisonment. The major themes of the book are thanksgiving, (1:3,12; 2:7; 3:15,17; 4:2) and completeness in Christ, (1:17,18; 2:10; 3:3,4,11; 4:12).

The first chapter is noted for its' very long sentences...(verses 3-8) are one sentence, (9-17) is also one sentence, (verses 21-29) follows suit.

It is difficult to outline this book because of the wealth of material contained in each sentence, but if there is a primary thought found in chapter one it is the preeminence of Christ (1:18).

The catalyst for the writing of Colossians was a visit to the imprisoned Paul from its pastor, Ep’a-phras. He came with deep concerns over the spread of heresy in his little church. The heresy at hand was the same one that had concerned Jude—the heresy of Gnosticism.

As we have seen repeatedly in our studies of scripture, false teaching, false doctrine, heresy and apostasy were common weapons of choice against the early church—and Satan’s tactics haven’t changed.

Satan likely thought that the little church at Colossae would be an easy conquest. It was made up of very ordinary people—a village tinker here, a local butcher there, a man pushing a wheelbarrow through the streets hawking fruit, and so forth.

But as always, Satan greatly underestimated the power of the Christ that lived within them! Every time they fell on their knees, Satan’s kingdom shook.

In Satan’s mind, the best tactic against the church was to corrupt it from within. So, he took the truth of God and found his willing vessels to deny it, distort it, and debase it. He attacked the Word of God, the Son of God, and the Spirit of God.

At Colossae, he attacked the deity of Christ first. Then came the wicked additions of intellectualism, ritualism, legalism, mysticism, and asceticism. It was enough to make Pastor Epaphras’s head swim! He was soon out of his depth. The error that had invaded Colossae was too deep, too subtle for him.

So he went to the one man Satan most feared—the Apostle Paul. He makes a trip of a thousand to thirteen hundred miles, depending upon which way he took, to go to Rome and see Paul ... and he pours his heart out to Paul. Even the demons in the book of Acts had cried out of a demon possessed man, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about…”—Acts 19:15

Paul was the only man on earth intellectual enough and spiritual enough to unravel and refute the tangled web of truth and error that was snaring the simple souls that Epaphras was seeking to shepherd.

As we saw in our study of Jude, Gnosticism was a diabolical heresy that directly attacked and undermined the work and Person of Jesus Christ. The word "Gnosticism" comes from the Greek word "gnosis" which means "knowledge,” or “to know.” 

The Gnostics claimed to have a special and superior kind of knowledge. Gnosticism taught that salvation is achieved through special knowledge rather than Christ’s death on the cross. 

Gnosticism taught that God was unknowable, and far too pure and perfect to have anything to do with the material universe, which was considered evil. 

Since, according to the Gnostics, matter is evil, deliverance from material form was attainable only through special knowledge revealed by special Gnostic teachers.  Christ, according to the Gnostics, was the divine redeemer who descended from the spiritual realm to reveal the knowledge necessary for this redemption. 

The Gnostics produced what is known as the Gnostic Gospels, which are a collection of about fifty-two texts based upon the ancient wisdom teachings of several so called “prophets and spiritual leaders,” written from the 2nd - 4th century AD.

These gospels are not part of the standard Biblical canon of any major Christian denomination, and as such are part of what is called the New Testament apocrypha (writings that are not accepted as valid scripture). Recent novels and films such as The Da Vinci Code that refer to the Gnostic gospels have recently increased public interest.

The danger of Gnosticism is that it denies the incarnation of God as the Son.  In so doing, it denies the true efficacy of the atonement since, if Jesus is not God, He could not atone for all of mankind and we would still be lost in our sins.

The Gnostic teaching was a threatening, growing reality in the days of the Apostles, and Satan was seeking to establish a Gnostic beachhead at the church in Colossae. In response, Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians in which he utterly dismantled the Gnostic belief system.

Gratefully, the church has been the happy recipient of a spectacular kaleidoscope of brilliant truth concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, and what His death, burial and resurrection has done for the redeemed!

So this time we’re going to look at Paul’s passion for people, passion for prayer, and passion for principle. First, his passion for people:

“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 Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul was not made an apostle by democratic election, or because of his incredible education or natural, brilliant intellect. It was by the ordination of the nail-pierced hands, “by the will of God.”

Paul was called to be an Apostle to the Gentiles. The proof of his calling was in the long string of churches founded by him and his converts. It was important that the recipients of his letter understand that Paul was writing to them in his official capacity, and that they had better pay heed to his words.

He was a major “people person.” Paul loved people, longed to see them saved, and labored tirelessly to promote their spiritual welfare. So in his greeting he writes “Paul…and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren…”

The church had become his family. He had likely been disinherited and disowned by his own flesh and blood family for his Christian faith. In Phil.3:8 he confessed, “For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish in order that I may gain Christ…” But the church had pulled in the slack and then some. Now, his family had become the blood-bought sons and daughters of God!

Paul next makes it clear that every believer has two addresses. He writes, “To the saints…in Christ which are at Colossae.” As God’s children we all live in two addresses at the same time. We are “at Colossae” (or Fort Worth, or Chicago, or California), and we are “in Christ.”

According to Ephesians, God has “raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (2:6). Living in Colossae, seated in heavenly places in Christ; two addresses at the same time.

Next, we see Paul’s passion for prayer:

“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;”—vs. 3-4

Keep in mind that at the same time Paul wrote this letter, he was under house arrest in Rome and chained to a Roman soldier. Yet this did not quench his powerful spiritual life. In actuality, it only gave him more time to focus on prayer. Paul’s great passion for people only fueled his great passion for prayer.

No sooner did Paul think of Titus on his way to Corinth, or of Phoebe on her way to Rome, or of James in Jerusalem, or of Demas forsaking his call and backsliding into the world, than he prayed for them. This was Paul’s way. He breathed prayer, prayed without ceasing as surely has he told us to do the same, “Pray without ceasing…”—1 Thes.5:17

"Without ceasing" doesn't mean that verbally or mentally we have to be speaking prayers every minute of the day. But we should pray over and over and often. John Piper writes, “Our default mental state should be: "O God..." Praying without ceasing means praying repeatedly and often.

And I think it also means that we shouldn’t give up on prayer. Don't ever come to a point in your life where you cease to pray at all. Don't abandon the God of hope and say, "There's no use praying." Go on praying. Don't cease. Jesus taught in Luke 18:1, “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart…”

Paul had a great passion for people, passion for prayer, and next we see Paul’s passion for principle:

“We give thanks…since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus…”—vs.4

Paul’s favorite trilogy of words was faith, hope, and love. John’s favorites were love, light and life. Paul spoke of faith voluminously and profoundly. It was his mantra—faith in Christ and Him alone for salvation, “not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph.2:9).

In verse 4, Paul mentions their “faith in Christ Jesus” because the Gnostic cults were teaching false doctrine about this very thing. When it comes to faith, the most important issue is what your faith is in!

Faith can be tragically misplaced. Faith in the wrong person or the wrong thing is worse than no faith at all. A person can put his faith in a quack doctor or a dubious cure. He will pay dearly for it in the end.

We all have faith, and we exercise it every day. We have faith in the automaker that designed our car; faith in the architect that designed our house; faith in the bank where we deposit our hard-earned pay.

The only thing that transforms our ordinary, mundane, simple faith—everyday faith—into saving faith is its object! Simple faith becomes saving faith when it becomes “faith in Christ Jesus.” Paul said, “We give thanks…because of your faith in Christ Jesus!”

NEXT TIME: Supernatural Love and Sustaining Hope