Colossians 1.4-Two Occasions Which Prompted Paul and Timothy to Thank the Father for the Faithful Colossian Christians
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday January 11, 2015
Colossians: Colossians 1:4-Two Occasions which Prompted Paul and Timothy to Thank the Father for the Faithful Believers in Colossae
Lesson # 7
Colossians 1:3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. (NASB95)
Colossians 1:3 We continue making it our habit of giving thanks to God namely the Father of our Lord, who is Jesus, who is the Christ when we make it our habit of occupying ourselves with praying on behalf of each and every one of you as a corporate unit. (Author’s translation)
Colossians 1:4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints. (NASB95)
“Since we heard of” is the verb akouō (ἀκούω), which refers to Paul and Timothy “hearing” in the sense of receiving news regarding the Colossians exercising faith in Jesus Christ for eternal salvation and then exercising the love of God toward each other.
The participle form of the verb is an antecedent temporal participle which indicates that Paul and Timothy continued making it their habit of giving thanks to the Father when they prayed for these faithful Colossian believers “after” hearing of their faith in Christ Jesus and in addition hearing about their love for all the saints.
“Your faith in Christ Jesus” is composed of the following: (1) articular form of the noun pistis (πίστις), “the faith.” (2) personal pronoun su (σύ), “your” (3) preposition en (ἐν), “in” (5) proper name Christos (Χριστός), “Christ” (4) proper noun Iesous (Ἰησοῦς), “Jesus.”
Christos is the object of the preposition en which means “in” since it is a marker of the object of the Colossian’s faith.
Based upon Pauline usage of pistis in passages which are without dispute referring to justifying faith or faith of the sinner at conversion, the noun pistis in Colossians 1:4 should be interpreted as referring to justifying faith or the faith of the Colossians at the moment of their conversion exclusively.
“And the love which you have for all the saints” means that these faithful Colossian believers demonstrated love for the Lord Jesus who is the head of the body of Christ, by exercising this love towards the body of Christ.
Colossians 1:3 We continue making it our habit of giving thanks to God namely the Father of our Lord, who is Jesus, who is the Christ when we make it our habit of occupying ourselves with praying on behalf of each and every one of you as a corporate unit 4 since we heard about your faith in Christ, who is Jesus and in addition your love which you continue to regularly demonstrate for the benefit of each and every one of the saints. (Author’s translation)
Here in verse 4, the apostle Paul continues his thought from verse 3 in which he informed the faithful believers in Colossae that he and Timothy continued to make it their habit of giving thanks to God the Father when they made it their habit of occupying themselves with praying on behalf of them.
Now, here in verse 4, the apostle then presents two occasions in which he and Timothy thanked the Father for them during their prayer meetings.
The first time was at their conversion.
Paul tells these faithful Colossian believers that he and Timothy thanked the Father for them after hearing about their faith in Christ Jesus at their conversion.
When Paul says that he and Timothy thanked the Father for them after hearing about their faith in the Christ who is Jesus, he is referring to the moment of their conversion or justification.
Therefore, it refers to justifying faith.
In other words, it speaks of their faith at the moment of conversion which resulted in their justification.
One of the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith is that of the doctrine of justification.
This doctrine has given assurance to believers throughout the centuries and has changed the course of human history.
By way of definition, justification is a judicial act of God whereby He declares a person to be righteous as a result of crediting or imputing to that person His righteousness the moment they exercised faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
Consequently, God accepts that person and enters that person into a relationship with Himself since they now possess His righteousness.
The mechanics of justification are as follows: (1) God condemns the sinner, which qualifies them to receive His grace. (2) The sinner believes in Jesus Christ as His Savior. (3) God imputes or credits Christ’s righteousness to the believer. (4) God declares that person as righteous as a result of acknowledging His Son’s righteousness in that person.
Justification is God declaring a person to be righteous as a result of acknowledging or recognizing His righteousness in that person, and which righteousness He imputed to that person as a result of their faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.
It causes no one to be righteous but rather is the recognition and declaration by God that one is righteous as He is.
It is a once and for all declaration, which never changes and never can be rescinded since God is a perfect Judge who because He is immutable, always makes perfect decisions.
To be justified by God through faith alone in Christ alone means that God can never condemn us for our sins.
It means that a believer can never lose his salvation because of any sin since God, who is a perfect judge, rendered a perfect decision when he declared righteous the person, who exercised faith in His Son Jesus Christ!
Thus, Paul declares the following: Romans 8:1, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
In Romans 3:28, Paul teaches that justification is by means of faith in Jesus Christ, independently of actions produced by obedience to the Law.
In Romans 5:1, Paul teaches that since the believer has been justified by faith in Jesus Christ, he has peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul in Romans 5:9 writes that if Christ died as a substitute for sinners, how much more then, will He deliver the sinner justified by faith in Jesus Christ from the wrath of God.
In Colossians 1:4, the apostle Paul informs the faithful believers in Colossae of another occasion which prompted he and Timothy to thank the Father for them.
Namely, it was when they heard about the love of God which they continued to regularly demonstrate for the benefit of each and every one of the saints.
This love does not refer to the function of human love but rather the exercise of divine-love that is produced by the Holy Spirit through the believer who is obedient to the Spirit inspired command of the Lord Jesus Christ to love one another as He loves.
Divine love exercised by Christians is distinguished from the exercise of human love in that the former is a response to God’s love for the Christian and expression of faith in God whereas the latter is based upon the attractiveness of the object.
Therefore, the love Paul mentions is the love of God manifested in the life of these faithful Colossian believers.
It indicates that they reflected God’s love towards the Lord Jesus by demonstrating this love in their relationships with their fellow members of the body of Christ.
These faithful Colossian believers demonstrated love for the Lord Jesus who is the head of the body of Christ, by exercising this love towards the body of Christ.
It indicates that they obeyed the Lord Jesus’ command to love one another as He loves (John 13:34).
1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (NASB95)
John 13:34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you self-sacrificially love one another, even as I have self-sacrificially loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have self-sacrificially love for one another.” (Author’s translation)
John 15:12 “This is my commandment, that you self-sacrificially love one another, just as I self-sacrificially loved you.” (Author’s translation)
When we obey the command to love one another as Christ loved, we reflect God’s love.
But in order to obey this command we must first prayerfully meditate upon the Spirit’s revelation in the Word of God of the Lord Jesus Christ’s self-sacrificial love for us at the Cross.
Romans 5:5 In fact, this confidence, as an eternal spiritual truth, never disappoints because God’s love is always being poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us for our benefit. (Author’s translation)
Then we must accept by faith the Spirit’s revelation of the Lord’s self-sacrificial love and service for us, and which faith expresses itself in obedience to the Lord’s command to love one another as He has loved him.
1 John 4:16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (NASB95)
When we obey the command to love one another as Christ loved, we are in effect responding to God’s love for us, which He demonstrated at the cross and by saving us and giving us a new nature and making us His children.
Love for others is motivated by our love for the Lord and our love for the Lord is demonstrated by our obedience to His commands to love one another and our obedience to His commands is the response in our souls to the love, which He exercised towards us (1 John 4:7-21).