Colossians 1.7-8-Paul Commends Epaphras' Service to the Lord and the Colossians
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday February 1, 2015
Colossians: Colossians 1:7-8-Paul Commends Epaphras’ Service to the Lord and the Colossians
Lesson # 10
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. 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf. (NASB95)
“Just as you learned it from Epaphras” expresses a comparison between the faithful believers in Colossae acquiring an objective experiential knowledge of the grace of God by means of the truth and their learning the gospel, i.e. the truth from Epaphras.
“Our beloved fellow bond-servant” expresses the common relationship that Epaphras had with Paul, Timothy and the rest of Paul’s companions in Rome in that they are all serving the Lord Jesus Christ in some fashion or another.
It describes the personal love and affection Paul, Timothy and their companions in Rome and the Colossians had for Epaphras indicating that they were all dear friends.
“Who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf” describes Epaphras’ service as a pastor who communicates the gospel of Jesus Christ and faithfully communicates Paul’s apostolic teaching to the church at Colossae.
This servanthood is manifested by Epaphras communicating to the Colossian Christian community Paul’s apostolic teaching.
Epaphras served both the Lord Jesus Christ and the Colossian believers by faithfully communicating the gospel which is Paul’s apostolic teaching.
Epaphras remained a loyal servant of Jesus Christ by remaining loyal to Paul’s apostolic teaching in contrast to those Christians who were not because they were obeying the false teaching of an Essene branch of the Judaizers.
Epaphras firmly adhered to Paul’s apostolic teaching and firmly resisted the false teaching of the Essence branch of the Judaizers whose teaching was being propagated in Colossae.
He demonstrated this loyalty by not only obeying Paul’s apostolic teaching but also by continuing to communicate to the Colossians through instruction this apostolic teaching.
Colossians 1:7 Just as all of you learned the truth from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-servant who is faithfully serving the Christ on behalf of each and every one of us. (Author’s translation)
Colossians 1:7 is presenting a comparison with the result clause at the end of Colossians 1:6 which presents the result of the gospel continuing to produce fruit and spread among the believers in Colossae.
Paul employs a comparative clause which expresses a comparison between the faithful believers in Colossae acquiring an objective experiential knowledge of the grace of God by means of the truth and their learning the gospel, i.e. the truth from Epaphras.
Therefore, this comparative clause is emphasizing with these faithful believers in Colossae that Epaphras was instrumental in their acquiring this objective experiential knowledge of the grace of God.
It emphasizes with them that they would never had received this knowledge of the grace of God if Epaphras had not taught them the gospel, which is the truth.
Thus, here in Colossians 1:7 Paul is giving a glowing commendation of Epaphras in order to build the Colossians’ confidence in him so as to combat the false teaching being propagated in their city.
Epaphras is not only mentioned in Colossians 1:7 but also he is described in Colossians 4:12 as well as Philemon 23.
The city of Colossae was more than likely evangelized during Paul’s stay in Ephesus since Acts 19:10 states that “all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord.”
It appears that Epaphras served as the apostle’s personal representative for the evangelization of the Lycus Valley region which included Colossae, Laodicea and Hierapolis (Col. 1:7-8; 4:12-13).
Colossians 1:7 just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, 8 and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit. (NASB95)
Colossians 1:8 presents a description of Epaphras in relation to the Colossians which is in addition to the previous description of this man that he was faithfully serving the Christ on behalf of Paul and the Colossian church.
The love that the Colossians manifested was not natural human love but rather the exercise of divine-love that is produced by the Holy Spirit through the believer who is obedient to the command to love one another.
The Colossians demonstrated their love for the Lord Jesus who is the head of the body of Christ, by exercising this love towards the body of Christ.
“In the Spirit” is composed of the following: (1) preposition en (ἐν), “in” (2) dative neuter singular form of the noun pneuma (πνεῦμα), “the Spirit.”
The noun pneuma means “the Spirit” and refers of course to the Holy Spirit and speaks of the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit reproducing the love of God in the lives of the Colossians when they obeyed the Spirit inspired apostolic teaching of Paul.
The Holy Spirit empowered the Colossians to manifest the love of God in their lives when the Colossians appropriated this power.
This took place when they exercised faith in Paul’s Spirit inspired apostolic teaching which resulted in the Colossians obeying the Spirit inspired commands and prohibitions in this teaching.
Therefore, the word contains the figure of metonymy meaning that the Spirit is put for the omnipotence of the Spirit.
The noun pneuma is the object of the preposition en which means “by means of” since it is functioning as a marker of means indicating that the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit was the means by which the Colossians manifested the love of God in their lives.
The Holy Spirit’s omnipotence was the means by which the Colossians manifested the love of God in their lives in the sense that they appropriated this power when they exercised faith in Paul’s Spirit inspired apostolic teaching.
This faith resulted in obedience to the Spirit inspired command of the Lord Jesus Christ to love one another.
Colossians 1:8 The one who also revealed to us your divine-love by means of the Spirit’s power. (Author’s translation)
By exercising faith in the Spirit inspired apostolic teaching of the apostle Paul which resulted in obedience to the Spirit inspired commands and prohibitions of this teaching, the Colossians were being filled or more accurately influenced by the means of the Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18 And do not permit yourselves to get into the habit of being drunk with wine because that is non-sensical behavior, but rather permit yourselves on a habitual basis to be influenced by means of the Spirit. (Author’s translation)
This obedience also constitutes obeying the command to let the Word of Christ richly dwell in your soul (see Colossians 3:16).
Obeying the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God which constitutes being filled with the Spirit is synonymous with the command in Colossians 3:16 to let the Word of Christ richly dwell in your soul since both produce the same results and the Spirit inspired the Scriptures.
This obedience enables the Spirit to reproduce the character of Christ in the believer and of course the love of God (see Galatians 5:22-23).
Paul in Romans 8:5-6 is in effect, describing how to be filled with the Spirit, which is commanded of the believer in Ephesians 5:18.
Romans 8:5 For you see those who at any time exist in the state of being in submission to the flesh are, as an eternal spiritual truth, preoccupied with the things produced by the flesh. However, those in submission to the Spirit, the things produced by the Spirit. 6 In fact, the mind-set produced by the flesh is, as an eternal spiritual truth temporal spiritual death. However, the mind-set produced by the Spirit is, as an eternal spiritual truth life as well as peace. (Author’s translation)
If you notice in Colossians 1:6-8, we can see that the apostle Paul mentions all three members of the Trinity.
Thus, it constitutes another triadic pattern which is found in the Greek New Testament.
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. 7 Just as all of you learned the truth from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-servant who is faithfully serving the Christ on behalf of each and every one of us. 8 The one who also revealed to us your divine-love by means of the Spirit’s power. (Author’s translation)
In verse 6, “the grace originating from God” is a reference to the Father.
Then, in verse 7, Paul mentions the Lord Jesus Christ and then in verse 8, he mentions the Holy Spirit’s work in the lives of the Colossians.