Grace and Peace from Our Father
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Colossians 1:1 .
Let’s recap the last four weeks on who Paul is.
Paul is a man living in weakness, trusting Jesus to show himself strong in his weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
Paul is a man who identifies with Jesus, in his sacrifice, and takes on, not the identity of “sinner,” but the identity of Christ (Romans 6:8-11).
Paul is a man who’s zeal is to know Jesus in every way (Philippians 3:3-11).
Paul is a man called by Jesus to walk in service to him by preaching the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15).
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
What is an apostle?
The word “apostle” comes from the transliteration of the Greek word “ἀπόστολος” (apostolos). This word means one sent out. Paul, however is trying to communicate more than just being sent out by Jesus by God’s will. He is trying to communicate his position of authority granted to him by Jesus. He therefore is making claim to the office of apostle. In the early church, to hold this office you had to be “an envoy of Jesus Christ commissioned directly by Him or by other apostles; normally someone who has been taught directly by Jesus and who is invested with the authority to speak on His behalf.” The people in Scripture that fit that definition are the 11 disciples, Mathaias, and Paul. For further discussion on this, scan or click the QR code.
Paul’s office and gifting are by God’s will. What can we take away from that?
We can have confidence in what is written in the book of Colossians.
We also know that Paul is showing humility, because his apostleship is by the will of God.
We can also know that the whole church has been gifted by God’s will for the edification and building up of the Church. Therefore, if I want to know God’s unique will for me, I should discover how he has gifted me (Ephesians 4:11-16).
Who is Timothy?
He is our brother. Paul uses familial language to describe our relationship each other and to God.
This language lays a foundation for how we are to relate to each other and to the Trinity.
It is a foundation for vulnerability that is regulated by the love of God, expressed through grace.
Do you think of your church as your brothers and sisters in Christ, and extend to them grace through the love of God?
He is the co-author of the letter to the Colossians.
How is he the co-author?
He is a co-labour with Paul for the gospel of Christ (1 Thessalonians 3:2).
We know that Paul used an amanuensis to write many of his letters. So perhaps Timothy is functioning as Paul’s amanuensis.
Paul and Timothy model for us working together for the gospel. We are not called to work alone, but with our brothers and sisters in the family of God.
Colossians 1:2 .
2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
Paul is writing to the faithful saints, our brothers and sisters in Christ who lived in Colossae.
Paul continues to develop our identity with the title of “saint” or “holy ones.” With the word saint, he calls us back to the OT language for the people of God, whom God sanctified by his promise to Abraham, which was expressed in the sacrifices which foreshadowed Jesus’ sacrifice, which was once for all.
We now look back in belief to Jesus’ sacrifice, which according Hebrews 10:9-14 made us saints.
9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second.
10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
Everyone who confesses Jesus as Lord and believes in their heart that God raised him from the dead is saved, and therefore is a saint by the work of Christ.
We do nothing but believe in Jesus’ sacrifice and thus receive sainthood through his work.
All who believe are saints. This identity is not something that is earned but is imputed by Christ’s sacrifice.
The saints at Colossae were faithful. They had believed in Jesus and were continuing to believe, even through adversity. They chose to engage in the familial identity God had given them, and extend grace and love to their brothers and sisters in Christ. This is what it means to be faithful.
He continues to use the familial language of brothers and sisters to remind us of our identity, and therefore how we should conduct ourselves as the family of God.
Our identity as saints, as brothers and sisters, is all because we are in Jesus. It is in Christ that we discover our true identity and gifting. Without being in Christ we can never truly know who we are.
These saints were in Colossae. Colossae has no archaeological digs, so we know very little about the town itself from archeology. We do know that it was a Greek city with a Jewish presence. The native people could be described as animists. They believed in the reality of the gods and goddesses, as well as in the pervasive influence of good and evil spirits.
The first century writer, Plutarch, describes the fear first century people lived in. He writes “the people are terrified by the gods and worried about potential attacks by evil spirits. They experience awful dreams and see frightening and horrible apparitions. They also live in the fear of life beyond the grave, imagining that they will descend to the abysmal underworld and face countless numbers of woes. This dread prompts people to wear protective amulets and to use magical charms and spells, to seek the assistance of magicians and conjurers, to severely abuse their bodies as they confess their errors, to offer sacrifices and perform purifications, and to pray with quivering voices. For all these people, hope is fleeting.” (Clinton E. Arnold, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Romans to Philemon., vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 374.)
Paul has a message of hope for the people of Colossae. He invites them to join the family of God and receive grace and peace from God the Father.
Paul’s greeting of “grace to you and peace from God our Father” sets the precedence of how God is interacting with his children.
There are three elements I want to draw out:
Paul reminds us that God is our Father. He could have reminded us that he is Creator, that he is Lord, that he is the God of gods, that he is the judge of all, but he reminds us that he is Father.
He invites us into the relationship of a family, which is intended to be a loving and safe environment for equipping to live in the world.
Paul reminds us of grace. Grace is unmerited, undeserved favor. We, as the family of God, are first to receive God’s grace, and then we are called to extend grace to ourselves and to each other.
Paul reminds of the peace (Shalom) that has been extended to us. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have the privileged of receiving God’s peace in our relationship with him. We are no longer his enemies. He is not against us, but for us. We can then rest in our relationship by casting all our anxieties upon our Father, thus receiving his peace which surpasses all understanding (Romans 5:1-2; Philippians 4:5-7).
Knowing God as our Father, let us receive his grace and peace, and then in turn, express grace and peace to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.