Colossians 1.11a-Jesus Christ's Omnipotence Empowers the Christian to Live in a Manner Worthy of Him
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday February 22, 2015
Colossians: Colossians 1:11a-Jesus Christ’s Omnipotence Empowers the Christian to Live in a Manner Worthy of Him
Lesson # 13
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, 8 and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit. 9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding 10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously. (NASB95)
“Strengthened with all power” is composed of the following: (1) preposition en (ἐν), “with” (2) adjective pas (πᾶς), “all” (3) noun dunamis (δύναμις), “power” (4) verb dunamo (δυναμόω), “strengthened.”
The verb dunamo means “to be strengthened, to be empowered” since it pertains to causing someone to have the ability to do or experience something.
Here it is used of course in relation to the Colossians living their lives in a manner worthy of the Lord since this statement in verse 11 is related to the purpose in verse 10 which speaks of the Colossians living their lives in a manner worthy of the Lord so as to be pleasing to Him.
The participle form of this verb is a causal participle which expresses the cause or the reason why these faithful believers in Colossae would be able to live their lives in a manner worthy of the Lord so as to be pleasing to Him.
The result of fulfilling this purpose was that they would bear fruit by means of actions which are divine in quality and character and in addition would increase in knowing the Father experientially.
Therefore, all of this indicates that these faithful believers in Colossae would live their lives in a manner worthy of the Lord so as to be fully pleasing to Him “because” they were empowered by means of a power which is absolute.
It also indicates that they would bear fruit by means of actions which are divine in quality and character and in addition would increase in knowing the Father experientially “because” they were empowered by means of a power which is absolute.
The noun dunamis means “power” and refers to the divine omnipotence of God the Son which empowers these faithful Christians in Colossae to live their lives in a manner worthy of Him so as to be pleasing to Him.
This word is modified by the adjective pas which means “absolute” since it pertains to a characteristic of God completely free from any of restraint other than Himself.
Therefore, this word indicates that God’s power is “absolute” in the sense that He exercises His power freely without any restraint from His creatures.
In other words, the omnipotence of God is absolute in the sense that He exercises it sovereignly.
The noun dunamis is the object of the preposition en, which is a marker of means indicating the absolute power of God is the means by which these faithful believers in Colossae will be empowered to live their lives in a manner worthy of the Lord so as to be pleasing to Him.
“According to His glorious might” is composed of the following: (1) preposition kata (κατά), “according to” (2) noun kratos (κράτος), “might” (3) noun doxa (δόξα), “glorious” (4) intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός), “His.”
The noun kratos refers to the omnipotence of God which is sovereign and this is the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is also the object of the preposition kata means “based upon” since it is functioning as a marker of cause indicating that living in a manner worthy of the Lord so as to be fully pleasing to Him is based upon the Father’s glory who is His Son Jesus Christ.
The noun doxa means “the glory” and refers to the Lord Jesus Christ who as the incarnate Son of God is the glory of God since He manifests through His words and actions the absolute perfection of God’s character, and thus God’s omnipotence (cf. John 1:14; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:3; 1 John 1:1-13).
The word also functions as a genitive of apposition meaning the word is defining specifically for the reader what Paul means or is referring to with the noun kratos.
Thus, the noun doxa is identifying specifically for the reader that this power which is sovereign is in fact the Shekinah Glory Himself, who is Jesus Christ.
Colossians 1:9 For this reason also, from the day we ourselves heard about all of you, we never permit ourselves to cease making it our habit of occupying ourselves with praying on behalf of each and every one of you. Specifically, we make it our habit of occupying ourselves with making urgent requests that (God) would cause all of you to be filled with that which is knowing His will experientially by means of a wisdom which is absolute resulting in a discernment which is spiritual. 10 The purpose would be all of you living your lives in a manner worthy of the Lord so as to be fully pleasing to Him. This would result in all of you bearing fruit by means of each and every kind of action which is divine good in quality and character and in addition increasing in knowing experientially God the Father 11 because of being empowered by means of a power which is absolute, because of a power which is sovereign, namely, His glory. The purpose of which is to perfectly embody perseverance as well as patience with joy. (Author’s translation)
Paul’s statement here in verse 11 is directly related to his statement in verse 10 regarding the Colossians living their lives in a manner worthy of the Lord.
It expresses the cause or the reason why these faithful believers in Colossae would be able to live their lives in a manner worthy of the Lord so as to be pleasing to Him.
The result of fulfilling this purpose was that they would bear fruit by means of actions which are divine in quality and character and in addition would increase in knowing the Father experientially.
Therefore, all of this indicates that these faithful believers in Colossae would live their lives in a manner worthy of the Lord so as to be fully pleasing to Him because they were empowered by means of a power which is absolute.
It also indicates that they would bear fruit by means of actions which are divine in quality and character and in addition would increase in knowing the Father experientially because they were empowered by means of a power which is absolute.
So here in verse 11, Paul is making the assertion that the Colossians would live in a manner worthy of the Lord so as to be pleasing to Him because of being empowered by means of a power which is absolute.
The apostle Paul teaches the Colossians that when they live in a manner worthy of the Lord so as to be fully pleasing to Him it is because they are empowered by means of a power which is absolute.
This power refers to the divine omnipotence of the Son which indwells the Colossians and which omnipotence empowers them to live in a manner worthy of the Lord so as to be pleasing to Him.
Paul asserts that this power is “absolute” which indicates that God exercises His power freely without any restraint from His creatures or in other words, the omnipotence of God is absolute in the sense that He exercises it sovereignly.
So he is teaching the Colossians that this absolute power of God is the means by which these faithful believers in Colossae will be empowered to live their lives in a manner worthy of the Lord so as to be pleasing to Him.
Then, the apostle defines specifically this absolute power in that it is a power which is sovereign and in fact it is the Father’s glory Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thus Paul is teaching the Colossians that living in a manner worthy of the Lord so as to be fully pleasing to Him is based upon a power which is sovereign and specifically it is based upon the Father’s glory who is His Son Jesus Christ.
So the apostle Paul is teaching the Colossians that they will be able to live in a manner worthy of the Lord so as to be pleasing to Him because of being empowered by means of a power which is absolute.
He is also teaching that they are empowered by means of a power which is absolute because of a power which is sovereign, namely the Father’s glory who is Jesus Christ.
Thus, he is informing his readers that when they live in a manner which is pleasing to the Lord Jesus Christ it is because of His power.
In other words, the omnipotence of Jesus Christ, who is the glory of the Father because He manifests perfectly the Father’s character and nature, is the basis for living the Christian way of life.
He manifests through His words and actions the absolute perfection of God’s character, and thus God’s omnipotence (cf. John 1:14; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:3; 1 John 1:1-13).
The Lord Jesus as the incarnate Son of God is the glory of God since He manifested through His words and actions the absolute perfection of God’s character, which is His holiness (John 1:14; 2 Cor. 4:6; Col. 2:9; Heb. 1:3).
In John 1:14, the apostle John draws the parallel between the Shekinah glory in Old Testament Israel and the incarnation of the Son of God.
Hebrews 1:3 teaches that Jesus Christ is the “Shekinah” glory and in 1 Corinthians 10, Paul alludes to the fact that Jesus Christ is the Shekinah glory that was with Exodus generation of Israel.
Paul calls the Lord Jesus Christ, “the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7-8) and this same Shekinah glory indwells the body of a believer in the church age (Colossians 1:24-27).
