Colossians
Notes
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Background
Background
This church that Paul was writing to was made up mostly of Gentiles, but it also had Jewish members. There had been certain heretical teachings that had spread there which is what caused Paul to write the letter. One of those teachings brought the divinity of Christ into question.
A Prayer For Everyday
A Prayer For Everyday
Colossians 1:9–12
For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
So Paul asks for six things for the Colossian church here.
Paul prays that they will be filled with knowledgeof God’s will, that they may walk worthy of the Lord, he wants them to be fruitful and increase in knowledge of God, to be strengthened with all might, and finally give thanks to God.
We Have Been Delivered
We Have Been Delivered
Colossians 1:13-14
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
The Greek word for delivered there means rescue. Paul spells out salvation for us here.
Jesus rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us to His kingdom of love. This wasn’t free, but it was paid for by His blood on the cross.
Image of God
Image of God
Colossians 1:15–18
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
If you want to know what God is like, look to Jesus! He is the image of that God that seems so mysterious, but in reality, He is approachable and knowable!
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