Colossians is the least quotable letter of Paul. Romans and Galatians have received attention from Luther and the Reformation, which resulted in millions of books, articles, sermons, and testimonies. While Colossians wait in the wings as the lesser-known major Epistle for many believers. Colossians is a companion book for Ephesians, the two should be studied to gather. They are united more then any others letters of Paul.
Colossians 1
A Letter Written by the Will of God 1:1-2
Colossians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 1:2 To God’s holy people [saints] in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. NIV
1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 1:2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse NKJV
The Will of God
This expression is used 21 times in the NT. However, it was not used in the OT. Paul says that this letter was written under the direction and will of God, for all believers. God provided the time, place for this letter to be written, the content was God’s will. Paul “received” the content of his letters not by education but “by revelation from Jesus Christ” (Gal 1:12). The things that Paul teaches us should be regarded as post resurrection instruction from Jesus, through the Spirit.
In the last instruction Jesus gave to his disciples, just before his trial and death he said, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:12,13). The Spirit of truth was the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The Spirit blessed the ministries of the disciples and early belivers. The Letters of instruction in Paul, Peter, James and John are the direct fruit of Pentecost. It is called “the truth of the gospel” (Gal 2:5,14). It is also called “the truth that is in Jesus” (Eph 4:21). Which is centered and focused on the Son of God. The last three words that God the Father spoke out loud to the world is, “A voice came from the cloud, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him’” (Lk 9:35).
Now, in front of you, is a message from God the Father and his Son, preserved for over 2,000 years. It is for us to be blessed every day. This letter carries self-authenticity by each reader because it comes from God, the “everlasting God” (Isa 40:28).
God has directed Paul to author this book of Colossians, and God has preserved it for several thousand years, for us to read today. This book did not come from Paul himself, as is obvious to high esteem millions daily give to this letter. Would anyone today read Roman or Greek literature for inspiration?
God’s Holy People, Saints, in Colossae, Faithful in Christ
The word saint has a simple meaning; it says that a believer has made a personal commitment to be faithful to what Jesus taught. We should never forget that God’s holy people are first and foremost faithful to Jesus.
The word saint in Greek simply means to be set apart, not the newer meaning given today as one who has been canonized. Saint was a common word in the Roman world; it was used by pagan devotees because they were dedicated and set apart in their service to a God or Goddess.
To be set apart, we become different from this world, “our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil 3:20).
In a general sense the word holy has a practical meaning. It means belivers are “God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved [by God], clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Col 3:12). And lift up “holy hands without anger or disputing” (1 Tim 12:8). But this is only made possible because we are “sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (Rom 15:16).
All Believers are saints
This was a general word that Paul used for believers. Because of the practice of calling unusual people saints, today we are called Christians; a term that was only once used in the New Testament in Acts 11:26.
Grace & Peace
Twin blessings from two sources make it double strength.
Grace is
Grace is God’s undeserved favor, seen in always freely leaning toward us. Reaching out to us because of God’s pre-eminent kindness to bless us. To Love us, to care for us, to be Father to us. Grace is like a natural fountain, inside God himself, innate, it is inherent in God, directed toward unworthy and unruly sinners. For “all” of us in this world have “sinned” (Rom 3:23), but now we “are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24).
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8).
The last words of the book of Colossians are “Remember my chains. Grace be with you” (4:18). Paul is asking the belivers in Colossae to remember to pray for him as he has written this letter chained to a Roman Guard. But he does not end the letter with attention to himself. He uses the term grace, in reference to “the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people” (Titus 2:11).
Paul ends the book of Philippians with the similar greeting, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit” (Phil 4:23). Here grace from God and our Lord Jesus Christ is to be in “our spirit.” This is a place, somewhere inside us, where “the [Holy] Spirit himself testifies with our [human] spirit that we are God’s children” (Rom 8:16)!
Peace is
Peace is a state of inner harmony, sourced from within the body temple by the Spirit (see Gal 5:22). When we lose this peace, its absence will create a feeling of spiritual discomfort. This peace has unique attributes, it is called “the peace of God” because it is a gift from God. This unique gift Paul describes as transcending “all understanding” and it “will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:7). It has a protective effect in our lives, when confronted with anxiety and depression, enabling us to more quickly rise above them.
Peace is sent to us by the Spirit, to dwell in us and with us wherever we go. For “the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom 8:6), for “For the kingdom of God is… righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17). God at creation “fashioned us for the very purpose” to give “us the Spirit” (2 Cor 5:5). This peace, sourced from God, can’t be explained on paper or in words. Because it is a Divine Influence that creates peace that does not come from something that is human in origin.
This heavenly peace that is God-given through “His Spirit” (Phil 3:3) will “guard” our hearts and minds “in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:7). The loss of peace warns us to stop and pray for direction and discernment or confession of something in your life that is numbing you spiritually. Peace is the guard of our hearts that spiritually alerts us when false steps have been taken. Peace comes from the “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6), made available to us through “His Spirit” (Eph 2:22). This precious gift is something that unbelievers do not have in the same manner as belivers, “There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked” (Isa 57:21).
Paul’s First Prayer of Thanksgiving 1:3-6
Colossians 1:3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 1:4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people. NIV
1:3 We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 1:4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints. NKJV
Thank God the Father for You
This is Paul’s pastoral prayer of thanksgiving. Why is Paul so thankful to God? Paul sees their faith in Jesus and their love.
“God’s holy people” (1:2) are those that have Faith in Christ Jesus and love for all God’s people, belivers everywhere they may be. Their faith gave them a big-hearted love that extended beyond their family group, across the Empire.
To the Ephesians Paul proudly said, “ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers” (1:15,16). Paul was very thankful for the Ephesian believer’s strong faith in Jesus and their love that was not self-centered, including all believers in Christ.
Again, the third chapter of Ephesians Paul returns to this same theme. In his longest public prayer, encouraging belivers to let “Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, and I pray that you, being rooted and established in love…” (Eph 3:17).
Genuine faith is always in union with love. These two go together making them brighter than if they were all alone. They should be considered as primary doctrines of the church, the most important teaching themes month to month. Paul’s final greetings to the Ephesians was “Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love” (Eph 6:23,24).
Thinking of the Christian life in terms of a Roman Soldier, Paul says they are to put “on faith and love as a breastplate” (1 Thess 5:8). “Which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (Eph 6:16).
Later to the Colossians, Paul tells them that his “goal” of believers is to be “knit together in love” (Col 2:2). Knitting is a reference to whenever a tear occurs in the garment, it is to be knitted back together again. If there is division in the church, love seeks ways to restore and knit all together through faith in Christ. From a “pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Tim 1:5).
Colossians 1:5 [The faith and love that springs from the hope stored [reserved] up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel. NIV
1:5 because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel NKJV
Hope stored up for you in heaven
Hope sees a future event, such as receiving the “riches of His glorious inheritance” (Eph 1:18). Hope see’s that you are “qualified you to share in the inheritance…in the kingdom of light” (Col 1:12). It is stored up, meaning God has laid it up in heaven’s storage.
In fact it is yours already, but not yet. Perhaps God has your “new name” (Rev 2:17; 3:12) and your new title to your inheritance. Hope see’s it there, as real as can be. However, hope is kept alive as we continue to enjoy “faith in Christ Jesus” and “love…for all God’s people” (Col 1:3). This is the foundation of hope; it is by this means that we know we have our inheritance waiting for us in heaven.
Paul says, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people” (Eph 1:18). Hope sees our inheritance, stored up in a safe location around the presence of God, with your new name affixed to precious document handwritten by God, soon to be handed over to you. Can you see it?
Into—an inheritance
Both Paul and Peter say the same thing: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3,4)
From being “Born Again” (John 3:3,6) of the Spirit into living hope based on the resurrection of Jesus, will result in receiving an inheritance. What a simple formula! Both conditions are the results of the direct action of God, when God Himself, through “His Spirit who lives in you” (Rom 8:11). Through whom our God takes up residence in “our spirit” (Rom 8:16), “to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit” (Eph 2:22), also called the Holy Spirit.
From this wonderful arrangement that God does not find us, in our unclean sinful condition incompatible to His holiness. Amazing, instead God takes one more step, unmerited by us, we “are shielded by God’s power” (1 Pet 1:5). What God owns, He protects. This is a vibrant living hope—it is our assurance, as we discern the blessing of God in our lives, that God’s promises are real and reliable.
This inheritance has nothing like what we could even imagine on earth. Is it possible that somehow, we could earn the right to receive that inheritance? Well, yes and no. Yes, because we believed in the Son of God, to which God has promised He will give us “eternal life” (John 3:16). Well, no because Christ is God’s “indescribable gift!” to us “because of the surpassing grace God has given you” (2 Cor 9:14,15). God was under no obligation to us, except His desire to give to us His grace—His favor, His blessings, His gifts, of His choosing, His Inheritance, His Holy Spirit, His faithfulness to us all, His “lovingkindness and tender mercies” (Ps 103:4 NKJV).
Hope looks to and sees the future promise of God
In Ephesians 1:18 Paul links the words “hope” and “call” together. Hope looks to the future, of becoming family to God in heaven. You see and feel your vast inheritance that God has called you to come and receive it. Your heart longs for it, your eyes envision it as reality. Together, your “heart” and the “eyes” (Eph 1:18) are focused there, with anticipation, it is called:
“Living Hope” 1 Pet 1:3
“Blessed hope” Titus 2:13
“Hope that is sure” Heb 6:11
This gives us confidence that we really are God’s children and God’s hands are on us leading us to a certain and “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). We are called to destiny where “the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isa 35:10; 51:11 NKJV).
Before they call I will answer;
while they are still speaking I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
and dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord. (Isa 65:24,25)
How little we know of these blessing, that God has planned. What do we know of heavenly joys and the warmth of enduring love unmixed with disappointment? We know what we are to soon be in possession of our inheritance, therefore we live differently here on earth. The citizens of heaven make the greatest difference on earth.
“Giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you
to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light” (Col 1:12 NIV).
Hope is sensitive to unbelief, being inattentive to prayer with Scriptures which will affect hope’s vision of heaven. Hope is a valued gift coming from the gospel. There is nothing like it, you cannot buy it, receive it from another. It comes from “truly understanding God’s grace” (Col 1:6).
True message of the gospel
The Gospel is the Word of Truth to the World. All other philosophies have no inheritance from God, that comes by “faith in Christ Jesus” (1:4), with love.
Colossians 1:6 [The true message of the gospel, 1:5] that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it [the gospel] and truly understood God’s grace NIV
1:6 which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth. NKJV
The gospel is Bearing Fruit and Growing, First Way to Fruitfulness
The first way to be fruitful is by knowing and understanding God’s wonderful grace as revealed in the gospel. Which is “God’s abundant provision of grace” (Rom 5:17) and “the surpassing grace God has given you” (2 Cor 9:14). Of all the qualities of God that we most appreciate is grace. Why God, the just judge of humanity, should overlook justice and instead give us His favor, His blessing, His peace, His love—in the package of His grace—It is unfathomable.
In Paul’s farewell to the Ephesian Elders he said, “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance” (Acts 20:32). The end purpose of grace is for God to take us by His hand into life everlasting in His kingdom of heaven. This is grace upon grace heaped up over top of us, fallen and rebellious, human beings of lesser intelligence, very weak in strength or resolve and often given to despair. Any divine being with less grace to offer would become frustrated with our frequent distractions, indecisions and waywardness. Give God the glory He deserves for his work of offering grace, every day in all locations of our globe where belivers are staggering and lost in greed, lust and pride of life. Yet the face of grace seen in the visage of God is not given to anger, although by human standard it would be well deserved.
Really, truly understand God’s Grace
Grace is God’s favor, his forgiveness of even unconfessed sins we yet to see the need of repentance. Grace is God’s kindness in so many ways we cannot ever count them. Grace is God’s many blessings to us with a personal touch, much undeserved. God’s love that He offers from His grace is dynamic and as living as our heart-beat briming over with much thankfulness and praise to God. His grace is living, re-creating, working powerfully, not static, sweeping in and round our life. Sometimes we are confronted with the grace of God, in unusual ways, making us aware of his “loving kindness and tender-mercies” (Ps 103), when not seen ever before.
“If the Lord had not been on our side—let Israel say
If the Lord had not been on our side, when people attacked us,
They would have swallowed us alive, when their anger flared against us;
The flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us,
The raging waters would have swept us away…
Praise be to the Lord, who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
We have escaped like a bird from the fowler’s snare.
The snare has been broken, and we have escaped.
Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” (Ps 124 NIV)
Believers today are receivers of God’s gifts, of His grace and love for them. It is God’s profound love for us. It moves, shakes us, inspires us and refocuses us.
Grace is freely given to the unbeliever as a means of creating faith in God. It is proprietary, built for us, to influence us individually. God’s grace is the foundation of the gospel, the center point of its global appeal to all humanity, everywhere or anywhere faith in God is freely expressed.
Once God’s grace has been truly understood, belivers will never want to be away from the grace of God, his gift to us. It will be our anchor, our hope, our joy and assurance that we are loved by God. Once God’s grace, mercy and love are understood there is true worship. Those “who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Phil 3:3).
“Grace has been given according to the measure of Christ gift” (Phil 4:7 NKJV). Thus it is unmeasurable, it is as great as the Father’s love for His son. When we are by faith brought “in Christ”, we are in vicinity where God’s love is reveled, next to his Son. So that, “in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace [toward the redeemed], expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:7).
How do we describe God’s grace that is given to each believer?
Grace is too broad, too all encompassing, too varied, too rich to completely define it.
Grace is too vibrant to measure, too powerful to be contained in one location only.
Grace is too heavy with blessings that no scale could weigh them, as God dispenses it.
Grace is God’s love to us when we have been unloving to Him and others.
Grace is forgiving, not just for our honest mistakes, but our rebellious ones, our evil ones.
Grace counts us worthy and righteous when we are not, and we know it.
Grace is not static, not like a Christman gift that is always the same, it is dynamic and explosive.
Grace is pregnant with potential, it sees our future, when currently we are really a mess.
Grace has an unusual ability to see what needs to be done, to transform our current dismal state.
Grace is like a mother that loves her growing child, even after discipline is needed.
Grace is another name for God the Father, if it weren’t, then grace would not be so real and alive.
Grace is holy because it comes from the person of God, it’s his possession
Grace is God’s gift that he freely gives us, as part of Himself.
Grace is God’s eyes on us, looking for what good His grace can do for us, even as we lean away.
Grace is an intangible as “God” himself “is spirit” (Jn 4:24), it can’t be photographed but can be known.
Grace is too much too much for us ever comprehend or understand in its fullness.
Grace is directly from out of the world, it is the only means to bring us into eternity.
Grace is the best, the greatest, the most sacred and longest of anything that has lived on earth.
Grace is designed by God to be very personal, very uplifting of the inner human spirit.
Grace is God’s undeserved favor, seen in always freely leaning toward us.
Grace is God reaching out to us because of His pre-eminent kindness to bless us.
Grace is God’s love directed toward unworthy and unruly sinners.
Grace is God’s desire to be Father to us, to care for us and make his “home” (Jn 14:23) with us.
Grace is available in China, Asia, Mexico, tropics, and deserts, all receive the “riches of God’s grace”
Grace is from God so huge, as the life of the Father Himself, its unlimited, unmeasured.
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (1:7).
“This grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ” (3:8).
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being” (3:16).
“God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27).
“My goal [in teaching and preaching] is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ” (Col 2:2).
"How much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!” (Rom 5:15).
Since the day you heard about the Gospel
They became acquainted with the gospel, “becoming thoroughly and deeply acquainted with it” (AMP). This tells us that God’s Grace was the chief features of the gospel taught to the Colossians.
More to come, daily or weekly
by the grace and will of God
This is a work in progress, always growing, always learning more than before.
Scriptures are like living plants that must be refreshed, watered and cared for.
Scriptures will bring you close to God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit
and will give you “love-joy-peace” (Gal 5:22),
it is not comparable to any joy we have ever experienced.
Brothers of Scriptures