Col 1

Review

3. (4-8) Why Paul was thankful.

Col 1:4-8 “4 Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, 5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; 6 Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth: 7 As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; 8 Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.”

a. Since we heard: Paul was thankful for their faith in Christ Jesus and their love for all the saints. Genuine faith in Jesus will always have a true love for God’s people as a companion.

b. Because of the hope: Paul was thankful for the hope laid up for them in heaven. He was thankful when he considered the destiny of the Colossian Christians.

i. We notice the familiar triad of faith, hope, and love. These were not merely theological ideas to Paul; they dominated his thinking as a Christian.

c. Which you heard before in the word of the truth: Paul was thankful that their eternal destiny was affected by the truth of the gospel, brought by Epaphras (as you also learned from Epaphras).

i. Epaphras is described as a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf. This doesn’t mean that Epaphras was superior to the other Christians in Colosse. The word minister does not mean “superior”; it means “one who serves.”

d. And is bringing forth fruit: Paul was thankful that the gospel was bringing forth fruit over all the world, even while Paul was in a Roman prison.

i. The phrase “in all the world” was “A legitimate hyperbole, for the gospel was spreading all over the Roman Empire.” (Robertson)

“The doctrine of the Gospel is represented as a traveller, whose object it is to visit the whole habitable earth… So rapid is this traveller in his course, that he had already gone nearly through the whole of the countries under the Roman dominion, and will travel on until he has proclaimed his message to every people, and kindred, and nation, and tongue.” (Clarke)

B. How Paul prayed for the Colossian Christians.

1. (9-11) Paul petitions God on behalf of the Colossians.

Col 1:9-11 “9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;”

a. To ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will: First, Paul prayed that they would have a knowledge of His will, informed by a true spiritual understanding. To know God and what He requires of us is our first responsibility.

i. “If you read this epistle through, you will observe that Paul frequently alludes to knowledge and wisdom. To the point in which he judged the church to be deficient he turned his prayerful attention. He would not have them ignorant. He knew that spiritual ignorance is the constant source of error, instability, and sorrow; and therefore he desired that they might be soundly taught in the things of God.” (Spurgeon)

b. That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him: Second, Paul prayed that they would live according to the same knowledge they received, living out a walk worthy of the Lord.

i. This is a familiar pattern, repeated over and over again in the New Testament. Our walk is based on our knowledge of God and our understanding of His will.

c. Being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. This is how we can be fully pleasing to God and how we can have a worthy walk.

i. This is an echo of Jesus’ thought in John 15:7-8 “7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.”

ii. “‘Fruitful in every good work.’ Here is room and range enough – in ‘every good work.’ Have you the ability to preach the gospel? Preach it! Does a little child need comforting? Comfort it! Can you stand up and vindicate a glorious truth before thousands? Do it! Does a poor saint need a bit of dinner from your table? Send it to her. Let works of obedience, testimony, zeal, charity, piety, and philanthropy all be found in your life. Do not select big things as your special line, but glorify the Lord also in the littles – ‘fruitful in every good work.’” (Spurgeon)

d. Strengthened with all might: As we walk worthy of the Lord, His strength is there to help us meet all of life’s challenges, and to endure and overcome problems with circumstances (patience) and people (longsuffering) with joy.

New material

2. (12-14) Paul’s specific thanks to the Father.

Col 1:12-14 “12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:”

a. Giving thanks to the Father which hath made : In the divine administration, the Father is mentioned in connection with the broad sweep of His plan of redemption. He is the Person of the Trinity who initiates the plan of the ages.

b. To be partakers of the inheritance of the saints: It is the Father which hath made , not our own works. We gain this as an inheritance, instead of earning it as a wage.

c. He has delivered us from the power of darkness: Christians have been delivered from Satan’s domain. The word has the idea of a rescue by a sovereign power.

i. Another place where this same phrase for power of darkness is used is in Luke 22:53, where Jesus spoke of the darkness surrounding His arrest and passion in the same terms. “These words refer to the sinister forces marshaled against him for decisive combat in the spiritual realm.” (Bruce)

ii. The power of darkness may be seen in its effects, and for those who have been delivered… from the power of darkness these effects should be less and less evident in the life.

· The power of darkness lulls us to sleep.

· The power of darkness is skilled at concealment.

· The power of darkness afflicts and depresses man.

· The power of darkness can fascinate us.

· The power of darkness emboldens some men.

iii. “Beloved, we still are tempted by Satan, but we are not under his power; we have to fight with him, but we are not his slaves. He is not our king; he has no rights over us; we do not obey him; we will not listen to his temptations.” (Spurgeon)

d. And translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: According to Barclay, the word we translate translated had a special significance in the ancient world. When one empire conquered another, the custom was to take the population of the defeated empire and transfer it completely to the conqueror’s land. It is in this sense that Paul says we have been conveyed into God’s kingdom. Everything we have and everything we are now belongs to Him.

e. In whom we have redemption through His blood: Redemption has the idea of release by a legal ransom. The price for our release was paid by the blood of Jesus.

i. This is one reason why pleading the blood of Jesus – in the right sense, not in a magical or superstitious sense – has such great significance in spiritual warfare. It shows the “receipt” of our lawful purchase as redeemed people.

ii. One of the great sticky questions of theology is to whom was the price paid? Some say it was to God that the ransom price was paid, but we were prisoners of Satan’s kingdom. Others say it was to Satan that the ransom price was paid, but what does God owe to Satan? This question probably simply extends the metaphor too far.

Romans 8:3-4 “3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

f. The forgiveness of sins: The word translated forgiveness is the ancient Greek word aphesis, most literally rendered “a sending away.” Our sin and guilt is sent away because of what Jesus did on the cross for us.

i. “It thus speaks of the removal of our sins from us, so that they are no longer barriers that separate us from God.” (Vaughan)

3. (15-20) Paul’s meditation on the person and work of Jesus.

Col 1:15-20 “15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; 20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.”

a. Who is: Paul started out thanking the Father for His plan of redemption (Colossians 1:12). He couldn’t do that without also thinking of the Son, who is the great Redeemer.

i. Most scholars think that Colossians 1:15-20 came from a poem or a hymn in the early Church that described what Christians believed about Jesus. This is entirely possible, but can’t be proven one way or another.

b. He is the image of the invisible God: The word translated image (the ancient Greek word eikon) expressed two ideas.

· Likeness, as in the image on a coin or the reflection in a mirror.

· Manifestation, with the sense that God is fully revealed in Jesus.

i. If Paul meant that Jesus was merely similar to the Father, he would have used the ancient Greek word homoioma, which speaks merely of similar appearance. The stronger word used here proves that Paul knew that Jesus is God just as God the Father is God. It means that “Jesus is the very stamp of God the Father.” (Robertson)

c. The firstborn over all creation: Firstborn (the ancient Greek word prototokos) can describe either priority in time or supremacy in rank. As Paul used it here, he probably had both ideas in mind, with Jesus being before all created things and Jesus being of a supremely different order than all created things.

i. Firstborn is also used of Jesus in Colossians 1:18, Romans 8:29, Hebrews 1:6, and Revelation 1:5.

ii. In no way does the title firstborn indicate that Jesus is less than God.

d. For by Him all things were created: There is no doubt that Jesus is the author of all creation. He Himself is not a created being. When we behold the wonder and the glory of the world Jesus created, we worship and honor Him all the more.

i. Comets have vapor trails up to 10,000 miles long. If you could capture all that vapor, and put it in a bottle, the amount of vapor actually present in the bottle would take up less than 1 cubic inch of space.

ii. Saturn’s rings are 500,000 miles in circumference, but only about a foot thick.

iii. If the sun were the size of a beachball and put on top of the Empire State Building, the nearest group of stars would be as far away as Australia is to the Empire State Building.

iv. The earth travels around the sun about eight times the speed of a bullet fired from a gun.

v. There are more insects in one square mile of rural land than there are human beings on the entire earth.

vi. A single human chromosome contains twenty billion bits of information. How much information is that? If written in ordinary books, in ordinary language, it would take about four thousand volumes.

vii. According to Greek scholar A.T. Robertson, all things were created has the idea of “stand created” or “remain created.” Robertson adds: “The permanence of the universe rests, then, on Christ far more than on gravity. It is a Christ-centric universe.”

e. Whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers: As will be demonstrated in the rest of the letter, the Colossian Heresy seemed taken with an elaborate angelology, which effectively placed angels as mediators between God and man. Paul emphasized that whatever ranks of spirit beings there may be, Jesus created them all and they all ultimately answer to Him.

f. He is before all things… who is the beginning: Centuries after Paul, a dangerous (yet popular) teacher named Arius claimed that Jesus was not truly God and that there was a time when He did not exist. Paul rightly understood and insisted that Jesus is before all things and is Himself the beginning.

i. “As all creation necessarily exists in time, and had a commencement, and there was an infinite duration in which it did not exist, whatever was before or prior to that must be no part of creation; and the Being who existed prior to creation, and before all things-all existence of every kind, must be the unoriginated and eternal God: but Paul says, Jesus Christ was before all things; ergo, the apostle conceived Jesus Christ to be truly, and essentially God.” (Clarke)

g. In Him all things consist: The idea that Jesus is both the unifying principle and the personal sustainer of all creation.

i. “Hence, God, as the Preserver, is as necessary to the continuance of all things, as God the Creator was to their original production. But this preserving or continuing power is here ascribed to Christ.” (Clarke)

h. Head of the body, the church: This describes Jesus’ relationship to the church. Here, head probably refers to Jesus’ role as source of the church, even as we refer to the head of a river.

i. That in all things He may have the preeminence: This is a fitting summary of the verses found in Colossians 1:15-18.

i. Adam Clarke on Colossians 1:16-17: “Now, allowing St. Paul to have understood the terms which he used, he must have considered Jesus Christ as being truly and properly God… Unless there be some secret way of understanding the 16th and 17th verses, which God has nowhere revealed, taken in their sober and rational sense and meaning they must forever settle this very important point.”

j. Fullness: This translates the ancient Greek word pleroma, and was really just another way to say that Jesus is truly God.

i. The word fullness was “a recognized technical term in theology, denoting the totality of the Divine powers and attributes.” (Lightfoot, cited in Robertson)

ii. According to Vincent, pleroma was used by the Gnostic teachers in a technical sense, to express the sum-total of divine powers and attributes “Christ may have been ranked with these inferior images of the divine by the Colossian teachers. Hence the significance of the assertion that the totality of the divine dwells in Him.” (Vincent)

iii. “The Gnostics distributed the divine powers among various aeons. Paul gathers them all up in Christ, a full and flat statement of the deity of Christ.” (Robertson)

k. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell: The ancient Greek word for dwell is here used in the sense of a permanent dwelling. There is an entirely different word used for the sense of a temporary dwelling place. Paul wanted to emphasize the idea that Jesus was not temporarily God, but is permanently God.

i. “Two mighty words; ‘fullness’a substantial, comprehensive, expressive word in itself, and ‘all,’ a great little word including everything. When combined in the expression, ‘all fullness,’ we have before us a superlative wealth of meaning.” (Spurgeon)

ii. Once it pleased the Father to bruise Him (Isaiah 53:10); now it pleases the Father that in Him all the fullness of God should dwell.

iii. “Thus the phrase in Him should all the fullness dwell gathers into a grand climax the previous statements – image of God, first-born of all creation, Creator, the eternally preexistent, the Head of the Church, the victor over death, first in all things. On this summit we pause, looking like John, from Christ in His fullness of deity to the exhibition of that divine fullness in redemption consummated in heaven.” (Vincent)

iv. The fullness is in Jesus Christ. Not in a church; not in a priesthood; not in a building; not in a sacrament; not in the saints; not in a method or a program, but in Jesus Christ Himself. It is in Him as a “distribution point” – so that those who wanted more of God and all that He is can find it in Jesus Christ.

l. And by Him to reconcile all things to Himself: Jesus’ atoning work is full and broad. Yet we should not take Colossians 1:20 as an endorsement of universalism.

m. Through the blood of the cross: Again we notice where the peace was made. We don’t make our own peace with God, but Jesus made peace for us through His work on the cross.

i. However, we should not regard the blood of the cross in a superstitious manner. It is not a magical potion, nor is it the literal blood of Jesus, literally applied that saves or cleanses us. If that were so, then His Roman executioners, splattered with His blood, would have been automatically saved, and the actual number of molecules of Jesus’ literal blood would limit the number of people who could be saved. The blood of the cross speaks to us of the real, physical death of Jesus Christ in our place, on our behalf, before God. That literal death in our place, and the literal judgment He bore on our behalf, is what saves us.