Colossians 3:18-4:1
English Standard Version

Rules for Christian Households
​18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. 22 Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. 25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.
​
4 Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

This should sound very familiar to what we studied in the book of Ephesians.  There is a created order to things and it is good for us a Christians to respect the established order that God has created, even in situations where the authority that has been put over us is not good and godly because all authority is derived from God's authority and it is up to God to establish and put down authorities--it is our job to submit to those authorities as long as they don't command us to commit sin.  (See Romans 13:1-7).

Specifically, Paul is addressing the structure and order of the family and work units here.  Wives are to submit to their husbands because God will hold the husband responsible in the way that He held Adam, not Eve, responsible in the Garden of Eden.  We are told throughout the Scripture that it is because of Adam's sin that all of humanity fell and it is Adam that God talks to first, then Eve, and then the serpent.  This is the order of things--not that women are in any way less valuable, but that God holds the men to a higher standard and it is their duty to teach God's nature and Law and the gospel to their wives and children.  Wives are to submit to their husbands to respect this established order and to show the proper relationship between Christ (the Bridegroom) and His Church (His Bride).  We are supposed to be submissive to our Lord and Savior.

Husbands have the difficult task of loving their wives as Christ loves the Church--with such a great and sacrificial love that He died for the Church.  Paul also commands husbands to not be harsh (I believe this refers to what we'd call "abusive" behaviors) because Christ does not treat us that way and our marriages are supposed to be representations to the world of our relationship with Christ in an eternal covenant  Marriages is one of the closest things that we can use to explain the covenant of redemption to the world because it is the man who chooses the woman (God chooses us), the relationship is meant to be reproductive (we are supposed to go and make disciples of all nations so that they too may become children of God), the bond is unconditional as you are not supposed to let anything separate what God has brought together and in the same way nothing can separate us from the love of God, but unlike marriage here on earth, not even death can stop the vows.  Marriages to each other here end with the death of the wife or the husband, but since we will live eternally with Jesus, the covenant of redemption (the gospel) is forever.

Children are to be obedient to their parents in the same way that we as children of God are to be obedient to God the Father.  Notice here that children are only to be obedient to their own parents.  There is no command here for children to be obedient to those whom God has not given authority and charge over--that duty, responsibility and privileges' belongs only to that child's parents.  Some people need to hear this--the child needs to obey the voice of their parents in the same way that the sheep need to listen to and obey the voice of its Shepherd and it should not be odd to us that they do not listen to other voices.

Fathers are commanded to not provoke their children to wrath (I think again this has to do with abuse, but I think this also has to do with showing favoritism and being absent from their lives, and breaking promises to them).  We see so many examples of bad fathers in the Bible, that we should have learned how to do it right by now, but we still make the same mistakes.  It is important as fathers that Christians admit when they have done wrong to their children and apologize and ask for forgiveness.  This teaches the children that you realize that this thing that you did was not a good reflection of God and what it means for Him to be Father to you.  So many people today have a wrong idea of who God is because they had no father in their household, the father in their household was absent or selfish, or the father they had was abusive or in some other way showed that he didn't love or didn't want them as his child.  Children are not dumb and pick up on all these cues that their fathers give them (sons and daughters base their identity and their view of their value and learn things like ethics and morality mostly from their early years with their fathers).  One of the reasons our society is so messed up today is because of homes without fathers and homes without good fathers.  Much has been said on this topic by people like Dr. James Dobson and the two ministries he's been most closely associated with over the years (Focus on the Family and Family Talk).  Parents are not going to get it perfect, but children are responsible to obey their parents as if they are obeying the Lord because God has put the child's parents in authority over them and will hold the parents responsible (and anyone else responsible) for causing any child to sin.  Jesus says it would be better for the person who does this to have a millstone tied around his neck and cast into the sea.  I think that's the only "exception" to this rule--as we get older and understand sin, we should be willing to say that we will not sin and will face the consequences of that decision from our parents if they command us to sin.  It is hotly debated if there is ever an "expiration date" to this commandment, but I think the answer is no--other than we know that marriage is described as "for this reason will a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and the two shall become one flesh."  This could be interpreted as meaning that the man is then no longer under the authority of his parents and they are not responsible at that point to tell him how to husband his wife or father his children.  Everything he needed to know about those things should have been taught and "caught" by observation up to that point.

Paul then addresses what the passage calls "bondservants" though we've discussed already that this is really the word "slave" and that English versions of the Bible avoid translating this word as "slave" whenever possible.  We don't have the same kind of system today as slavery is illegal in most (but not all) of the world and much of the slavery that's left in the world is not anything like the slavery that Paul was talking about here.  However, let's not ignore what is said here because perhaps there are other relationships in our lives where these principles could be applied.  This is definitely a relationship outside of the regular family structure (though maybe still within a household here) where someone has ownership of you, authority over you and is responsible for your well-being and what happens to you (they are legally culpable before man and morally culpable before God).  Again, it's hard to think of something quite like that in today's society, but we see in this that God has instituted every system of authority and that Christians are to submit to the authorities placed over them because they are really submitting to God in doing this.  Even if their master is oppressive or abusive, they are to trust God with dealing with the heart of their master and they are to live in a way where the gospel is lived out so that their master understands that there is something different about them.  They are to do their work as if doing it unto the Lord and not as people-pleasers--especially not like the people of the world that only perform well when the eye of their master is upon them.  Do you know anyone like this at work who only performs well when they know they are being evaluated or are under review?  If you have a good work ethic all day every day, you need not live in fear of being put under review directly or indirectly as your character will speak for itself and those that try to speak against you will have their words fall on deaf ears as people will know believe the lies of those that are jealous or even worse seek to make trouble for you because they know you are a Christian.

In all these things we should remember that God sees all and will give to everyone what he deserves.  To the one who is a faithful slave, and obedient child, a good father and and/or a good husband, God will give that person eternal rewards.  But for the one who is lawless we see the words that Jesus says God will speak to them in Matthew 7, "Depart from me you who practice lawlessness.  I never knew you."  We cannot be saved by Jesus and be obstinate against the authority that is the Law of God.  That is not to say that the Law saves us, but those who love God will love His commandments and will keep them (Jesus said this many times in the Gospels and we see it over and over again in Psalm 119 and other places).  That's not legalism, that's saying that changed hearts lead to changed actions and if we are becoming more and more like Christ than our actions will conform more and more to the Law of God which is the expression of the nature and character of God because God's nature and character are in perfect alignment with His Law.  Jesus could not violate the Law of the Lord because it was against His very nature to do so, and it should be against our nature to do so as well--and we should never abuse our positions of authority to order others to violate God's Law.  If we do, then we will answer to God for that some day.

Last, but not least, we carry some of this over into the next chapter to say that earthly masters should treat their earthly slaves in the way they want their Master (Christ) to treat them because they are also slaves of God.  We all have equal status when it comes to God--all of us are the lowest of the slaves, but it is God who chooses to give us status and responsibility that we don't deserves so that we are made adopted sons that are co-heirs and that we are charged to be ambassadors of the kingdom of God.  There is only one crown prince and that is Jesus, but oh how great it is to be a son of the King of Heaven and know that our Father is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we could ask or imagine.  Our duty in the here and now is to submit to every authority that He puts over us and to correctly exercise authority which He gives us over others and His creation so as to glorify Him our actions and point others to the gospel by our words and our actions.

Put On the New Self​
3 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Paul now addresses the issue of how we should live our lives in the here and now until we reach heaven.  There are so many things around us that could ensnare and easily entangle us Coas the writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 12:1.  We are instead to fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter (or Finisher) of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).  Likewise, Paul here tells the church in Colosse seek after the things "above where Christ is" (heavenly things) and to not be fixated on earthly things.

This is not to say that we look upwards so much that we forget the gospel work in the here and now--Paul will correct the church in Thessalonica for this in the epistles to the Thessalonians, but we must first be citizens of the kingdom of God and swear full allegiance to Christ and His kingdom, as that is where our residence and destiny lie--with Him in glory.

We see another one of the great passages about what Christians cannot be (we'll see others in I Corinthians, and we saw lists like this in Galatians and Ephesians).  I'd say that this topic of how life in Christ being controlled by the Spirit and not by the flesh and how that makes us look and act different from the world is probably one of the biggest topics that you can find throughout the entire New Testament, but definitely in the Pauline epistles.  Many don't like these passages because they seem to tell you how to know that someone is not genuinely saved and that's not something we like to think about.

So, what are we to put to death so that these things have no more control over us?:  Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desires and covetousness (which is idolatry).  That last one seems new to us as Paul doesn't seem to address that much in the other epistles, so we can only guess that this church had an issue with materialism and worshiping "stuff" (not simply money).  When we look to stuff to make us happy and find our meaning in it, that stuff has taken the place of God.  We covet the things we don't have believing that they will fill the God-shaped vacuum in our hearts.  Stuff will never provide us with the answers to origins, meaning, morality, destiny and identity that we seek.  Only God can give us those answers.

We are also told to put away things like anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk (swearing, cursing, foul language and dirty jokes), and we are not to lie to each other because lying is the language of the devil, but if we are in Christ who is the Truth, that we should be full of the Truth and should be truth-tellers.  We should put off these things because Christ died to save us from these things and to buy us out of our slavery to sin.  We should all be made in the image of our Creator so that there will be no more distinction between Jew and Gentile, man or woman, slave or free, but we will all be made into the image of Christ (who is the exact and perfect image of the invisible God) so that we might fully reflect His character and nature and glory to the whole world.  We should let His desires become our desires and His will become our will.

So then what should our new character and nature look like and what should living in accordance with this new nature look like?  We first need to remember who we are and what we are called to be.  We are beloved (loved of God) and we have been made holy (set apart) and blameless through Christ and we are who we are because we were chosen before the beginning of time in Christ not because of our own goodness, but because of the goodness of God who desired to redeem a people for Himself that would make His name great.  We should therefore reflect God's character and nature and demonstrate His attributes to others in the way that He has demonstrated them to us.  We should be known as people who are compassionate, kind, humble, meek, patient, forgiving, and bound by the bond of love which makes us one in Christ (so that there is harmony in the body of Christ).  We should have the peace of Christ guarding our hearts and minds so that we are not controlled by fear as we have faith in the one who can speak the world into existence, and at the sound of His voice the raging storms will cease.  He is the one who owns the cattle on a thousand hills (He has wealth beyond our imagination) and there is nothing impossible for Him and He is the Good Shepherd who not only laid down His life for His sheep, but makes everything that gets to them pass through Him first--He will not let anything get to us that isn't for our good and His glory, even if it is painful.  Because of this we are to give thanks in all things and be known for having an attitude of gratitude and living a different as we can sing songs of praise to the Lord for who He is and what He has done even in life's darkest moments because nothing can steal our joy from us.

In Christ we will learn the wisdom of the Word instead of the wisdom of the world.  We will be filled with this knowledge and understanding of who God is and what His character and nature is as the Holy Spirit lives in us and leads us into all truth.  We encourage each other and teach and admonish each other with the wisdom of the Word.  We sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs in both private and corportate worship and the praise of God is always on our lips.  Most importantly, we exist so that everything we are and everything we do is for the glory of God alone.  It is Him what we are serving and worshiping as we seek to make His name great among the peoples and nations of the earth.  He alone is worthy as we will see sung by all the saints in the book of Revelation in the seven-fold Hallelujah.


Revelation 19:1-8
English Standard VersionRejoicing in Heaven19 After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
2     for his judgments are true and just;
for he has judged the great prostitute
    who corrupted the earth with her immorality,
and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

3 Once more they cried out,

“Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”

4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” 5 And from the throne came a voice saying,

“Praise our God,
    all you his servants,
you who fear him,
    small and great.”

The Marriage Supper of the Lamb

6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
    the Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
8 it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”--

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

Let No One Disqualify You​
16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations-- 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

The issue of Judaisers seems to be at the heart of this passage as once again, Paul has to address that Gentiles don't need to first become Jewish and adhere to all the of the Law before becoming Christians.  None of these Gentile Christians were to let anyone pass judgment on them for not eating what we would call a Kosher diet or their for not celebrating the Jewish holy days (holidays).  Paul says that all of the things that the Jews celebrate in their feasts, festivals, and even Sabbath days are but a foreshadowing of the better things that are to come when we are united with Christ.

Also, they should not listen to the "wisdom" of the Greek philosophers that were trying to mix their paganism with Christianity and make a false gospel--for example, the Gnostics.  There were various false gospels and false doctrines that Paul is summing up in these few words here, but essentially Paul is telling the Colossians like he told the Galatians not to believe any other gospel.  They need to hold fast to Jesus and Him alone because it is by Him through Him and for Him that we exist and are held together.

If we died to the world through the work of the crucifixion, then why would anyone turn to the world and its systems to tell them how to be a Christian?  The world has no valid input to give here, even if it was from a system such as Judaism that was somehow closely connected with those who were the first Christians.  The laws were there to protect us and if we obey the Law, we do so out of love for the one who is the Law-Giver, but not out of a desire to earn favor with God.  We are not saved by religion that weighs our good deeds against our bad deeds, but by a relations and if we are "in Christ" or "in Adam."  No amount of good works or acts of contrition will save us.  We are sinful by nature and only a change in nature brought about by the gospel (and eventually Christ conquering sin, death, the devil and all those who have rebelled against God) will free us from the very presence of sin.  Until then, only the gospel and allowing the Holy Spirit to fight for us and live through us will give us victory over the power of sin in our lives.

Alive in Christ​
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

This again shouldn't sound new or surprising to us having read many of the other epistles from Paul to the churches that he helped plant and pastor, nor should it surprise us having read other epistles like I John and James, as well as having read the gospel of Matthew and having studied parts of the gospels of Mark, Luke and John as well--real faith results in a metamorphosis of sorts where everything about us seems to change, but it's even more than that.  Like the Valley of Dry Bones in Ezekiel the gospel actually takes that which was dead and makes it alive and all things have been made new in the image of Christ Himself so that when God the Father sees us, He sees His own Son living in and through us by the power of the Holy Spirit.  So then everything about us should be different as we put off our old sinful nature (the flesh) and are led by the Spirit.  We studied this both in Galatians and Ephesians and even talked about how we need to "suit up" in the armor of God daily for the spiritual warfare that we encounter.

Paul reminds them first that true faith also leads to true worship--that we will have an attitude of gratitude towards God and the things He has done.  This attitude and the things we know to be certain through God's Word should keep us from falling prey to the lies of the vain philosophies of this world that were espoused as the "wisdom of the world" that are nothing more than empty deceit.

Instead we should remember that Jesus is fully God (not just fully man) and all of God's attributes, including His omniscience, lives fully and completely in Jesus and in the Holy Spirit as well, and that as we let the Spirit of Christ (the Holy Spirit) live in and through us, we too have access to that knowledge and power and understanding as the Holy Spirit explains it to us--that is as much as we need to know at the time.  Therefore we should not be tricked into believing that there is some deep knowledge that is mysterious that some men have access to that God is hiding from us--these are the lies of the devil.  Go back to the Garden of Eden if you want to see the first time this line of attack was used on humans as Satan convinced Eve (and Adam who was with her) that God had hidden some good from them in hiding knowledge from them that would make them like gods themselves.  One of the temptations was that the fruit was desirable to make them gain wisdom.  We fight the same enemy who uses many of the same tricks today, just rewrapped in different packaging, but inside are the same old lies.  As Solomon says in Ecclesiastes, "There is nothing new under the sun" (he was speaking of philosophies and worldly wisdom when he said this). This is still true to today as people may take a little of this and a little of that and mix it together and rename and repackage it, or they may blatantly take something ancient and try to make it sound new, but there really is nothing new.  We've seen all the rebellion and false religion of this world system traces back to the book of Genesis and the rebellion that we saw in chapters 3-10.  Do not be tempted by any system of religion or philosophy that promises that you will be a god or like God or that you can build your own way to God.

The next section that speaks of circumcision not made by hands might have been a little tricky if we hadn't already talked about the book of Galatians, and there are a couple of other places we've looked at along the way so far that should help us understand that Paul is talking about us not receiving an outward sign of the covenant put something that happens to our hearts that is an inwards sign so that this is something that God alone does and it is done without human hands.  Once we are saved we become a new kind of tree that produces a new kind of fruit because we have a new kind of root.  This transformation is usually radical and visible to all around us.  Again, read I John, James, and I & II Peter if you have any question about real faith being faith that is lived out in action and that "by their works you will know them  (See Matthew 7:16).  Even though that's true we can't take apples and put them on a grape vine and make it an apple tree. the issue is the root, not the fruit, even though the fruit is the visible evidence that we see of what has happened at the root level.  But we can say that if we see bad fruit or no fruit, then there is an issue with the root.  Only a good root will produce good fruit.  We also know that the Father is the Vinedresser that takes every branch (person who says they are in Christ or a part of the "true Israel") that is dead or diseased and that bears no fruit or diseased fruit and cuts them off and throws them into the fire as well as pruning back the things in the lives of every true believer that are unnecessary and will make us more fruitful in the areas where we are meant to grow.

We (or flesh and its passions and desires) have been crucified with Christ and like Christ we have been raised to walk in newness of life, but we have not yet received our Resurrection bodies--we will receive those one day in what we call the Rapture.  Through this death and Resurrections Christ became sin for us and put it to death so that we might become the righteousness of Christ and be presented holy, blameless and without blemish to God the Father and will be the Bride of Christ adorned in garments white and clean as we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ alone.  No one who comes to God with garments polluted by the works of the flesh (comes in their old, sinful nature) will be able to enter into His presence.  They must discard that identity that they are clothed in that is filthy (Isaiah 64:6) to be dressed in the righteousness of Christ which are our wedding garments (Matthew 21-22)

Through these actions our debt has been cancelled as in the parable of the Unmerciful Servant (Matthew 18:21-35).  Not only that but our account has been filled up to overflowing with the good credit that comes from Christ's infinite righteousness that we did not deserve.  For this reason Christ used the accounting term to say "It is finished" meaning "The debt has been paid in full" when He died on the cross (John 19:30).  All this was done so that sin, and the flesh, and the devil and all of the forces of darkness would no longer have any power over us. 

​
Romans 8:37-39
English Standard Version37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul's Ministry to the Church​
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

2 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

I have to admit that it's hard for me to grasp in verse 24 what Paul is talking about that is "lacking" in Christ's afflictions, but nonetheless, Paul is saying that he is suffering for the good of the Church in the same kind of way that Christ suffered for the Church by giving His body as a sacrifice for them.  Paul's sacrifice is very different as it is not penal substitutionary atonement, but I think Paul is saying that in becoming like Christ, the world hates him in the same way that they would hate Christ Himself and that they are doing the things to Paul that they would do if Christ were still physically here--instead they are doing those things to the members of His Body, the Church.

We've seen much of the same language of this passage before--Paul is a minister of the gospel and is a steward of the people that God has entrusted to him (like an under-shepherd to watch over the flock of God).  Paul's job is to make the Word of God known and to preach it in season and out of season, and to make the mystery of the gospel known among the Gentiles (an apostle to the Gentiles) so that God's plan from before the beginning might be revealed and God might be glorified.

Another part of that ministry that was given to Paul (and to us today) is teaching, exhortation and correction as we desire to see all those we lead and disciple become spiritually mature and become more and more like Christ.  Paul says this is hard work and he can only do it because of the energy that comes from Christ working in him and through Him to accomplish His good purposes that He set out to do.

Paul then specifically relates a struggle he has with wishing to visit the churches in Colossae and Laodicea face-to-face.  We heard this before with the epistle to the Ephesians how Paul desired to see the believers in these churches so that they might be encouraged during the time that they were so worried about him, but he is concerned for them like a parent for his children.  He wants them to have full assurance of the gospel and full understanding of who Christ is and what He did and what He is doing and what He will do so that they will be complete and mature and lacking nothing.  Paul also desires for them to be knit together so that the many may become one Body and that they might receive every spiritual blessing through Christ.  Paul also desires for them to have the fullness of the wisdom and knowledge that comes from God so that they will not be led astray by false teachers and false gospels.  The devil and those that belong to him are still at work telling lies to try to steal, kill and destroy and to try to disqualify the elect of God, if possible (a theme that is coming up soon in this letter).

Paul ends this section by reminding them that even though he can't be with them physically that there is a stronger connection here that binds them and he still has unity and communion with them, even from such a great distance.  We can rejoice with those who are rejoicing and weep with those who are weeping from afar because we are one Body in Christ.  When one part is in pain, the whole body feels it, but also when one part is glad the whole body feels that as well.  Paul is happy to see them growing in their faith in Christ, becoming more spiritually mature and holding fast tot he things they have been taught and not wavering from the true gospel.

The Preeminence of Christ​
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

For those of us in our Gospel Foundations curriculum, you should find these verses familiar, as we recently studied them as part of our first lesson on Creation.  Some key points here is that Jesus is not "made in the image of God" like Adam was, He is THE image of the invisible God--Jesus is everything that God, especially the things that we cannot see.  Jesus put all of God's invisible attributes into action for us so that we could see them at work through the way He lived and died and rose again and now how He intercedes for us and is coming again as Husband of the Church, Judge, and King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Jesus is the Creator of all things and the one for whom all things were created.  We see in John 1 that Jesus is the Word--the very Word of God that spoke the world into existence out of nothing.  He is preeminent over all creation and He himself is uncreated--He is like nothing else in creation.  He is before all things, so even though He was born in Bethlehem, He is as eternal as the Father, and He is the one in whom all things consist and hold together.

He is the Head of the Body (the Church)--which I mentioned before by calling Him our Husband.  We will be married with Him once we are united with Him in heaven and will live with Him forever in the New Jerusalem (heaven on earth).  He is also the firstborn of the living from among the dead--a promise to us that like Him we will receive a new body in His likeness that is fit for heaven, for this body that is fit for earth is not fit for heaven since it has been corrupted by sin.  Again we see that this was done so that in all things Christ may have authority and be preeminent.

But why would God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit set out on such a plan that included the death of God the Son on a cross from before the beginning of time?  Paul answers that one too--so that He might reconcile until Himself all things whether things on earth or things in heaven.  That is everything that lasts after the coming judgement will belong to Him because He has purchased its redemption and made way for its reconciliation through His own blood.  Even though we failed God and deserved hellfire and damnation for our rebellion and sins that we willingly commit against Him, God interceded on our behalf to make a way--the one and only Way--to Him through the body and blood of Jesus that through His death we might have life and that through God's wrath being poured out on His own Son that we might receive grace and mercy and that by becoming sin for us, we might become the righteousness of Christ.  Now we are co-heirs with Jesus as we are going to be made like Him and receive everything that a son of God would receive from the one we can call "Abba, Father" (Daddy).

We have been brought near and are presented without blemish and with no need for shame or reproach) remember how after sin Adam and Eve realized they were naked and were ashamed and tried to cover themselves, but before that they were naked and not ashamed?  Shame will no longer exist for us in heaven because we will simply be exactly what God has created us to be.  This is the destiny for all those who persevere in their faith, but that too really is something that He does, and not that we do, for He is the one that keeps us to the end.  Remember in John where Jesus talks about Himself being the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep and that He will not lose any of the sheep that have been given to Him.

There is one true gospel that we must cling to and not waver from.  It is the foundation that is our solid rock that our lives are built on because it is the gospel of Jesus Christ and what He has done for us, in us and through us.  He is the one who has made us new, called us to be holy and set apart, and sealed us with the Holy Spirit (like the ring that is given as both a promise and down payment as an engagement ring to show that we belong to Him and He belongs to us), and He is coming again for us and will put all of His enemies in subjection to Himself and judge them for what they have done to Him (and part of what they have done to Him is what they have done to us as the Church).  It is this good news that like Paul we go forth to tell--this is the only message that can save people and give them hope in the kinds of times that Paul lived in and that we now live in.  We are citizens of a kingdom that is not of this world and are made for a purpose that this world doe not understand unless they too come to salvation by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is because He loved us that He did things for us and sent His apostles to the whole world to tell us, and it is because we have His love flowing in and through us that we go into all the world to proclaim the gospel to all people groups so that all creation might be reconciled to Christ.

Greeting
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

​9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Let's continue studying the Pauline epistles with the epistle to the church in Colosse.  This letter is jointly written by Paul and Timothy (we've talked about him already in other blogs).

Paul opens with his traditional greeting of "Grace and peace...."  He then goes into a prayer of thanksgiving for the Colossian church and the certainty of their salvation through Jesus.  Paul sees the gospel taking root and bearing fruit in their lives.  We hear again of Epaphras, whom Paul also gives thanks for.

Paul then shifts to prayer for them--one of my favorite prayers to pray when I don't know what to pray in verses 9-14.  I encourage you to think of someone (someone who is saved) and pray this prayer for them today.