Colossians 1.6-Paul Reminds the Colossians of the Inherent Power of the Gospel to Transform Lives
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday January 25, 2015
Colossians: Colossians 1:6-Paul Reminds the Colossians of the Inherent Power of the Gospel to Transform Lives
Lesson # 9
Colossians 1:3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel 6 which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth. (NASB95)
“Which has come” is the verb pareimi (πάρειμι), which is used of the gospel and means “to appropriate” indicating that the Colossian believers appropriated the gospel in the past at their conversion and continued to appropriate the gospel after their conversion.
“To you” is composed of the following: (1) preposition eis (εἰς), “to” (2) personal pronoun su (σύ), “you.”
The second person plural form of the personal pronoun su refers to the faithful believers in Colossae and means “all of you” referring to them as a corporate unit.
This word is the object of the preposition eis which means “on behalf of, for the benefit of” since it functions as a marker of benefaction indicating that these faithful believers in Colossae benefited from appropriating the gospel in the past at their conversion and continuing to do so up to the time Paul wrote this epistle.
“Just as in all the world” is comparing the fruit produced by the gospel and the spread of the gospel in many different places, with the fruit it has produced among the Colossians and the spread of the gospel among them.
“It is constantly bearing fruit and increasing” indicates that the gospel had been producing Christ-like character in believers throughout the world and it also refers to many people being exposed to the gospel in various geographical locations.
“Even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it” is the apodasis of the comparative clause and expresses a comparison between the gospel bearing fruit and spreading throughout the world and it bearing fruit among the Colossian believers and spreading throughout their geographical location.
“You heard” is the verb akouō means “to obey” in the sense of listening to the gospel and obeying it by exercising faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and here it refers to the Colossians’ conversion experience when each one of them heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and obeyed it by exercising faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.
“And understood the grace of God in truth” presents the result of the gospel continuing to produce fruit as well as spread among the Colossian believers.
“Understood” is the verb epiginosko which means “to possess an objective experiential knowledge of” the grace of God indicating that the gospel was producing fruit and spreading among the Colossians so that “they possessed an objective experiential knowledge of” the grace of God.
“The grace of God” refers to the crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session of Jesus Christ which provided them eternal salvation.
These events in the life of Jesus Christ provided the Colossians deliverance from sin, Satan, his cosmic system and eternal condemnation and reconciled them to God (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
At the moment of their conversion, through the baptism of the Spirit, the Colossian believers were identified with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
Consequently, they were delivered positionally from the power of Satan, the old sin nature and the cosmic system of Satan (See Romans 5-7).
Positionally means that God views them as crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ, which was accomplished at the moment of conversion through the baptism of the Spirit when the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit placed them in an eternal union with Christ.
So therefore, here in Colossians 1:6 Paul says that as a result of the Colossians obeying the gospel from the day of their conversion up to the time he wrote this epistle, they possessed an objective experiential knowledge of the grace of God.
This means that they personally encountered Jesus Christ by appropriating by faith their union and identification with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session.
It also means that they were affected by this encounter which resulted in their gaining a practical spiritual wisdom and more of the character of Christ.
“In truth” is composed of the following: (1) preposition en (ἐν), “in” (7) noun alētheia (ἀλήθεια), “truth.”
The noun alētheia means “truth” and refers to the truth of God in an objective sense as a body of knowledge containing the revelation that the Christian is identified with Jesus Christ in His death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
The noun aletheia is the object of the preposition en, which is a marker of means indicating that the faithful believers in Colossae acquired an objective experiential knowledge of the grace of God “by means of” the truth in the sense that they appropriated by faith their union and identification with Jesus 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 We do this because 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. 5 All of you do this because of the confident expectation which is, as an eternal spiritual truth reserved in the heavens for all of you. All of you heard this by means of the teaching, which is the truth, namely the proclamation of the gospel 6 which all of you continue to appropriate for the benefit of all of you. Just as in fact throughout the entire world, it continues to produce fruit as well as spread so also it continues to produce fruit as well as spread among all of you from the day all of you obeyed. Consequently, all of you acquired an objective experiential knowledge of the grace originating from God by means of the truth. (Author’s translation)
In verse 6 the apostle Paul continues to describe his apostolic teaching, i.e. the gospel in relation to the Colossians’ experience by reminding them that they appropriated the gospel for their benefit.
It was for their benefit because when they first heard the gospel and exercised faith in Jesus Christ as Savior, they were declared justified by the Father.
Also at their conversion, they were identified with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session through the baptism of the Spirit.
By appropriating the gospel after their conversion, they experienced fellowship with God and their union and identification with Jesus Christ.
Then, in Colossians 1:6, the apostle employs a comparative clause which compares the impact and spread of the gospel throughout many different locations with its impact and spread among the Colossians.
In the protasis of this comparative clause, he states that the gospel continued to produce fruit and spread throughout the entire world, which is rhetorical exaggeration meaning that the inherent power of the gospel had been manifested in many different parts of the world.
In the apodasis of this comparative clause, the apostle says that the gospel had produced fruit among the Colossians and had spread among all of them as well from the day they obeyed the gospel at their conversion by exercising faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.
This fruit refers to sinners being declared justified and regenerated and identified with Jesus Christ through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.
This fruit would also involve the spiritual growth of these Christians after their conversion by appropriating by faith their identification with Jesus Christ.
This resulted in these Christians experiencing fellowship with God and resulted in the Holy Spirit reproducing the character of Christ in their lives.
The production of Christ-like character in the believer is the result of the believer being obedient to the Word of God which in turn enables the Holy Spirit to reproduce the character of Christ in them (John 15:1-8; Rom. 1:13; 6:22; Gal. 5:22; Eph. 5:9; Phil. 1:11; 4:17; Heb. 12:11; James 3:17-18).
The apostle Paul states in Colossians 1:6 that the Gospel produces fruit in those who trust in Christ as Savior in the sense that sinners are regenerated when they exercise faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It produces fruit in the justified sinner who obeys the Spirit inspired commands and prohibitions of the Word of God which results in Christ-like character.
The Spirit’s job after conversion is to reproduce the life and character of Christ in the believer’s life and this is called fruit bearing (Galatians 4:19; 5:22-23; Ephesians 5:9; Hebrews 12:11).
Colossians 1:6 closes with a result clause which presents the result of the gospel continuing to produce fruit and spread among the believers in Colossae.
Paul states that as a result of the gospel producing fruit among the Colossians and spreading among all of them, they acquired an objective experiential knowledge of the grace originating from God by means of the truth.
When reading Colossians 1:6, we can see that the apostle Paul is not only encouraging these faithful believers in Colossae but he is also reminding them of the inherent power of the gospel to transform the lives of sinners.
The purpose of this was to put into perspective for them the impotence of the false teaching being propagated in their area at that time.
The inherent power of the gospel was manifested not only in the lives of the Colossians but also in the lives of many Christians throughout many different parts of the world.
This demonstrated the superiority of Paul’s apostolic teaching which was truth and the gospel.
It was also serve to persuade the Colossians to reject this false teaching being propagated in their area.