In our study, we will look at Paul's answer to the question: Who's in charge of the church? This letter was written while he was under house arrest in Rome and delivered to the church in Colosse. The city was located in the Lycus River Valley of what is the modern country of Turkey. This letter was written to address gnosticism which had crept into the group of believers. A group of believers met there in the home of Philemon which the letter of the same name was addressed to.
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From: Sha'ul, by God's will an emissary of the Messiah Yeshua, and brother Timothy
Paul introduces himself as an apostle because of God's calling. This is important in that the gnostics believed that salvation was achieved only through a secret knowledge of the scriptures. Here, he lets them know immediately that it is from God and not by any secret knowledge.
To: God's people in Colosse, faithful brothers in the Messiah: Grace to you and shalom from God our Father.
The letter is addressed to the believers in the city of Colosse and he gives them his usual greeting of grace and peace. Paul usually put grace before peace to remind us that it is only by the Grace of God that we can have peace with Him.
Whenever we pray, we always give thanks for you to God, the Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. For we have heard of your trust in the Messiah Yeshua and of the love you have for all God's people.
Paul always prayed for the believers and here he lets us in on what he prayed. We see that he thanked God for them and the fact that they had an active faith that was demonstrated by their love for others. We, too, should pray for the believers especially those that we have led to Christ and we should also demonstrate love to all men so that our faith is evident and productive.
Both spring from the confident hope that you will receive what is stored up for you in heaven. You heard of this earlier in the message about the truth. This Good News has made its presence felt among you, just as it is also being fruitful and multiplyinga throughout the world in the same way as it has among you since the day you heard and understood the grace of God as it really is.
Paul goes on to explain that this faith and love is not from the efforts of men but from the hope that comes from God. He explains that the growth and bearing of fruit that was happening in Colosse was normal and that it was all because of the grace of God.
You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow-slave and a faithful worker for the Messiah on your behalf; and he has told us about the love which the Spirit has given you.
While Paul was teaching in Ephesus, Epaphras went to Colosse and taught and the "church" was formed and met in the house of Philemon. It takes many people in many places working together for the kingdom and, by them working together in separate areas, more was accomplished. He also went back and gave an update to Paul on the progress of the believers which was an encouragement to Paul and the rest of the team.
Therefore, from the day we heard of it, we have not stopped praying for you, asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will in all the wisdom and understanding which the Spirit gives;
Paul continues to let us know of his prayers for the Colossians. We see how important it is to have the wisdom to know the will of God. He continually prayed for them to be filled with this wisdom as it is a gift of God. He continually prayed for it to increase as we will never have all of the wisdom to understand God but we can grow in our understanding.
so that you may live lives worthy of the Lord and entirely pleasing to him, being fruitful in every good work and multiplying in the full knowledge of God.
Paul shows us the reasons that he prayed for the believers to have wisdom concerning God's will and it comes down to pleasing God. You please someone by knowing what they want and giving it to them and Paul is simply praying that they understand what God wants from them. Once the believers know that, then their lives can please God and demonstrate His power and glory to others (bear fruit). Listening to God and following His plan will help us to grow in our knowledge of Him. It is not this knowledge that saves us (the Gnostics believed that knowledge saved) as we are already saved.
We pray that you will be continually strengthened with all the power that comes from his glorious might; so that you will be able to persevere and be patient in any situation, joyfully giving thanks to the Father for having made you fit to share in the inheritance of his people in the light.
Even our ability to walk in the ways of God does not come from ourselves but is a gift from God. It is only by His power that we have the strength to continue to walk this road. Even in trials, we can be glad and give thanks for the fact that we are His children and a part of the kingdom of light.
He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son. It is through his Son that we have redemption - that is, our sins have been forgiven.
Paul reminds us of what we are giving thanks for and that is the forgiveness of our sins that happened because of the blood of Jesus Christ. God loves us because He loves His Son and His Son loved us enough to die for us.
He is the visible image of the invisible God. He is supreme over all creation, because in connection with him were created all things - in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, lordships, rulers or authorities - they have all been created through him and for him.
Jesus Christ reigns supreme as the very Son of God. He was there at the creation of all things and is the very representation of God. He has all of the authority of the Creator. Paul is reminding the people that it is all about Jesus and the work that He does and not some super knowledge as the gnostics were saying.
He existed before all things, and he holds everything together.
Jesus is not only the Creator but He is the glue that holds everything together. He sustains all life, even those that do not accept Him as Lord and Savior. This is comforting to know in that we do not have to worry about things when we know that Jesus is on the job.
Also he is head of the Body, the Messianic Community - he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might hold first place in everything.
Now, Paul gives us the answer to the question that we started with: Who's in charge of the church? and we see that it is Jesus Christ. He is supreme over everything and, as we see in Revelation 5, He is the one that owns everything. There are leaders that God has placed in His church for the good of the people but those leaders have to remain humble and subject to the leading of God through the Holy Spirit.
For it pleased God to have his full being live in his Son
Jesus was both fully God and fully man even though this may be hard for us to understand. He was fully God in that He has all of the same characteristics of God (the DNA) yet He came to this earth as a man. This fact is how we can tell those that truly are God's children from the imposters that have gone out to deceive many. (see 1 John 4).
and through his Son to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace through him, through having his Son shed his blood by being executed on a stake.
The penalty for sin always has been death and all things were tainted by sin. To have a right relationship with God (be reconciled) required the payment for sin. The Old Testament sacrifices were for individual sins and were only temporary while victory over all sin was accomplished once and for all time by Jesus on the cross.
In other words, you, who at one time were separated from God and had a hostile attitude towards him because of your wicked deeds,
Before we come to faith in Jesus Christ, our minds are focused on ourselves and on things of the flesh. This makes us enemies of God because it leads to all kinds of evil actions. This verse reminds us of just how bad sin is. Oh, it may seem like fun for a season but, even then, it is separating us from God and causing us to be His enemies. When we come to Christ, we have a renewal of the mind. This word renewal is like when you remodel a house. You take the old stuff out and replace it with new stuff and that is what happens through the Holy Spirit.
he has now reconciled in the Son's physical body through his death; in order to present you holy and without defect or reproach before himself -
Our evil behavior (sin) had to be paid for so that we could have a renewal of our relationship with our Creator. The payment for sin is physical and spiritual death and Jesus suffered through both on our behalf. His blood covered our sins just as the blood of the lamb covered the houses of the Israelites and kept their firstborn sons from being killed (see Exodus 12). Jesus was the perfect sacrifice and, when He took on our sin, he left us without blemish and justified (free of accusation).
provided, of course, that you continue in your trusting, grounded and steady, and don't let yourselves be moved away from the hope offered in the Good News you heard. This is the Good News that has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven; and I, Sha'ul, have become a servant of it.
Paul reminds the Colossians that the gospel is all about Jesus Christ who died for our sins and rose again from the grave. In the face of this teaching about a special secret knowledge, Paul just says we need to keep focused on the truth of that. That is what they started out believing and he urges them to hold on to the truth.
I rejoice in my present sufferings on your behalf! Yes, I am completing in my own flesh what has been lacking of the Messiah's afflictions, on behalf of his Body, the Messianic Community.
How could Paul rejoice in all that he went through such as beatings and prison? Here, he tells us that he knew that it was for the good of the body of Christ and he was willing even to the point of death. If we stay focused on telling others about Jesus, we can rejoice even when it is difficult and He will give us the strength to endure.
I became a servant of the Good News because God gave me this work to do for your benefit. The work is to make fully known the message from God, the secret hidden for generations, for ages, but now made clear to the people he has set apart for himself.
Paul reminds them that it was God who sent him to share the gospel with the world and therefore it is God who is in charge. He also tells them that he has not held anything back but has presented the full gospel to them (no secret knowledge was necessary).
To them God wanted to make known how great among the Gentiles is the glorious richness of this secret. And the secret is this: the Messiah is united with you people! In that rests your hope of glory!
Paul sums up the mystery with the fact that we, as believers, are the temple of God. God lives in us through the Holy Spirit and that was only made possible after the temple was cleansed (our sins removed).
We, for our part, proclaim him; we warn, confront and teach everyone in all wisdom; so that we may present everyone as having reached the goal, united with the Messiah.
Paul tells us, now, why he and his team do what they do and the simple reason is that they want us all to glorify God with our lives. That is why they (and we) warn people that do not know Jesus of the coming judgment and teach those that know Jesus how to live for Him. (That is also why we do these online Bible studies.)
It is for this that I toil, striving with all the energy that he stirs up in me so mightily.
Paul reminds us that not only is God in control of all things but He is also the sustainer. It is only through God's energy and power that Paul could serve and the same is true for us. If you try to do things (even good things) on your own, you will grow weary but, if it is God's will and plan for you, He will give you the energy and power to do them.
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