The Epistle of Paul the Apostle

The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Colossians

The present work is not a usual attempt to provide a learned study of the Scriptures. Indeed I am not qualified to write a commentary. Nor is it an actual exposition, though I do see myself as an expositor of the Scriptures (an expositor explains). How good or bad an expositor I am is not for me to say. I have not done a lot of study, but just wrote what came to mind as I read the text. I did look things up where factual accuracy was needed, but I have not read through several commentaries, and so forth. After completing the initial writing, I did consult a few commentaries and expositions, though not at length. I did not read through any one. I did this to check myself, to see if I had left out something of importance or had something entirely wrong. I made one or two adjustments. Then I set to work on writing an introduction to Colossians, which follows. I did a small amount of consulting, but mostly went through the book and made notes, and then wrote what I see as the main themes of the book. Whatever is of value I owe to the Lord primarily, and to many who have helped me over the years, and whatever is of no value is my own. I could not possibly give all credit where credit is due, having gathered my thoughts over many years, decades now, from many sources. There is, of course, little likelihood of remembering where most of it came from. I will give credit in place where I know to whom it is due. The translation is my own. It is deliberately very literal and thus will not always read as polished English. If the Lord be pleased to use this poor work for his purposes, I will be most grateful to him.

Hendersonville, NC, Feb. 12, 2019

Introduction

It is unknown whether or not Paul ever visited Colossae and it is unlikely that he was present at the birth of the church there. Col. 1.6-7 tells us that the people there heard the good news from Epaphras. Paul did know Philemon, who lived there, as evidenced by his epistle to Philemon (which means, incidentally, “one who kisses,” philema being Greek for “kiss”), which may give some indication that he had been to Colossae, but it is not known with any certainty. It also seems likely that Ephesians and Philemon were written and sent at the same time as Colossians. See Eph. 6.21, Col. 4.12, Phm. 23.

The occasion of the epistle seems to be some danger of the Colossians being led astray; 2.4 reads, “This I say so that no one deceives you with persuasive [but false] arguments.” Then in v. 8 Paul writes, “Beware so that someone will not be the one taking you captive though the philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world and not according to Christ.” In 2.16-23 we read

Don’t let anyone judge you with regard to food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath…. Don’t let anyone willfully rule against you with humility and worship of the angels, standing on things he has seen, puffed up in vain by the mind of his flesh…. If you died with Christ from the elementary principles of the world, why as living in the world do you obey rules and regulations, do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, (which things are all for destruction in being used), according to the commandments and teachings of men? Which things are a matter having a reputation of wisdom in will worship and humility and severe treatment of the body, not with any value with regard to the satisfaction of the flesh.

Each of these matters will be dealt with as we come to them.

Paul’s answer to these deceptions is his usual answer to such things: Christ! If the Colossians, and we, will look to Christ and seek his counsel, his revelation of himself, in such situations, he will show to us how to proceed. We see in 1.15-20 the greatness of Christ. He far greater than anything else in the universe, except for his Father. He suffices to meet our needs, from forgiveness to glory in the Kingdom and in Heaven! In 1.26-2.3 there is the revelation that Christ in us is our hope of glory. Not angels. Christ! In 2.9-15 we read of his Fullness and of his work on our behalf to bring forgiveness and freedom from evil spiritual forces. His work is a finished work. There is nothing more to do. We don’t need any rules and regulations as means of salvation. In 3.1-4 Paul writes of the fact that we have been raised up with Christ, so seek the things above where he is; set our minds on the things above, not on all this earthly stuff. Our lives are hidden with Christ in God. We are told in 3.11 that Christ is all and in all. What else is there? In. vs. 15-16 we are told to let the peace of Christ and the word of Christ rule and dwell in our hearts. What is the problem? Christ is the answer. What is the false teaching? Christ is the answer.

What we see in all of this is the supremacy of Christ. We see his preeminence (1.18). As Eph. 1.21 tells us, he is “far above all.” If he is supreme, preeminent, all these secondary things fall by the wayside.

Along with this strong emphasis Paul writes of the church. Many passages in Colossians deal with the church in a general way in referring to the readers as “you.” This could be taken as referring to the Colossians in the plural, but as more or less meaning each one. I do think Paul had the whole church in mind, but I will not list all the passages where this occurs because it would take up a high percentage of the book, and we will see them as we go through. There are four passages in which he does refer to the church explicitly. One is 1.18. Here we read that Christ “is the Head of the body, the church.” This is the first verse in which we see the church as a body. This is repeated in 1.24-29. Then in 2.19 we read that one of the failings of the false teachers is “not holding fast the Head, from whom all the body, supplied and united through the joints and ligaments [lit. bonds], increases with the increase of God.” Finally, 3.15 says, “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful.“ We will deal with these passages in place. The point here is that the church is the place in which Christ provides the answer to the questions of this epistle. Yes, we all have to come to the Lord individually and must walk with him as such, but the church is not a bunch of individuals. It is a body. We will see much of this truth as we proceed.

I have been told that in Ephesians we have the church in Christ and in Colossians we have Christ in the church. I cannot honestly say that I see this. I see both in Colossians. Col. 1.2 says that the Colossians (the church) are “in Christ.” Col. 1.27 says, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (the “you” is plural). Col. 3.11 says that “Christ is all and in all.” And is the body of Christ not Christ in the church and the church in Christ, one body?

In Colossians I see Christ in preeminence. But then he is that in all the Bible. Let us turn to the text itself with prayer for the revelation of the Lord.

My Thoughts

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy, the brother, ²to the holy ones and faithful brothers in Christ in Colossae: grace to you and peace from God our Father.

Paul the apostle was called Saul from Acts 7.58-13.9, and Paul thereafter. The name “Saul” is Hebrew and means “asked for” or “prayed for.” We know nothing of the details surrounding this name. We also do not know anything about why he began to be called Paul, except for the possibility that “Saul” is Hebrew and “Paul” is Latin. Since Paul was working in the Roman Empire rather than Judea, he may have taken or been

given that name. The name does have meaning though, and perhaps we can see something in that meaning. “Paul” comes from the Roman family name “Paulus” and means “small” or “humble.” This could mean that Paul was a small man or that he was humble, but it is not known if these apply. We can imagine though that Saul was humbled by his encounter with the resurrected Lord Jesus, realizing that compared to him he was small, even nothing, and that would be a humbling experience. Whatever the possibility of this we know that Paul was humbled before the Lord and served him in humility for the rest of his life. Greek words meaning “humble,” “lowly”, “meek,” “gentle,” and so forth, occur frequently in his letters. Without doubt we need to humble ourselves before the Lord.

The word “apostle” means “someone sent” and is equivalent to “missionary” (“apostle” is from the Greek word and “missionary” is from Latin). In the New Testament it applies particularly to the twelve disciples of the Lord Jesus, to Paul, and to a few others. We are not given a full explanation of the word in the New Testament, but it obvious that it applies to certain men who were sent by God to hold a position of leadership in the church that few held. These were men who were missionaries, sent by God to proclaim the good news of the Lord Jesus. I love what Austin-Sparks says about their word. He says that they were not sent to plant churches, but to take Christ into a place. Those who responded positively to the good news were the church. A church cannot be founded or planted. It can only be born of the Spirit, and those who are born from above make up the church in a given place, and of course what we might call the church universal is all those born of the Spirit. The apostles of the New Testament seem to have had a special role in the coming into being of the church and of overseeing it in the time of the New Testament. I have heard of a few men in our day who call themselves apostles, and confess that I am mightily wary of such a claim.

All of this is the doing of Christ Jesus, “Christ” being the Greek form of the Hebrew “Messiah,” and a matter of the will of God. As Paul wrote in Galatians, “Paul, apostle, not from men or through a man, but through Jesus Christ and God….”

Paul also lists Timothy (“honoring God”) as a brother, actually the brother, and author, or at least as a sender, of the letter. You can read about Timothy beginning in Acts 16.1, and Paul wrote two letters to him near the end of his, Paul’s, life, I and 2 Timothy.

The letter is addressed to the holy ones. Most of our translations have the word “saints,“ but that word means “holy ones” and the Greek word means “holy ones,” so I have decided to translate it that way. Sometimes we take the word “holy” as applied to a person as meaning someone especially good and godly and almost free of sin. The word does have that meaning: God is holy. In fact he is the only one who is holy in that sense,

but he calls his people to be holy in the sense of “set apart for God.” The word “holy” ultimately means “different” or “unique.” That is what God is. There is no one and nothing else like him. Some Old Testament verses ask who is like God. The answer is “Nothing. The name “Michael” means, “Who is like God?” The answer is still “Nothing.” He is indeed unique. But his people are set apart for him. Dt. 32.9 says that “I AM’s portion is his people.” We are God’s people, his portion, set apart from all others for him. That is why 2 Cor. 6.17, quoting Is. 52.11, says, “’Therefore come out from their midst and be separated,’ says the Lord.” The Old Testament indicates that Israel is the wife of God (Is. 62.4-5, Jer. 2.2) and we are all aware that the church is to be the bride of Christ. A wife is set apart for her husband and for no one else. And that is why it is so wrong for the Lord’s people to traffic with the world and follow after sin. We are called to holy ones, set apart for the Lord.

In addition, the recipients are called “faithful brothers in Christ in Colossae.” This includes the sisters, too. The Lord’s people are a family. We all have the same Father, God the Father. We all have the same mother, the Jerusalem above, which is the church (Gal. 4.26). Individually we are all sons and daughters of the church. Corporately we are the church. We are called to be faithful, to be true to one another and to stand by one another no matter what.

We are “in Christ.” That is our spiritual location. We find one of the most amazing verses in the Bible in 1 Cor. 12.12: “For as the body is one and has many members,* but all the members,* being many, are one body, so also is Christ.” Do you grasp what that says? It says that we are Christ, but not the whole, just the body part. He is the Head (Eph. 1.22, Col. 1.18, 2.19). Please don’t think I have gone off the deep end and that I claim divinity for us people or some such thing. I hold firmly to the belief that we are human and will never be divine or have any trace of divinity. But look at what our verse says: Christ is a body, including the Head, and has many members,* whom we are. We are a part of Christ. That is the body of Christ, Christ plus us. He is divine and human; we are human. But we are one body. Wow! (* I have placed an asterisk by the word “members.” I do so to say that “members” in this context does not mean “on the roll” of a local church or any other human organization. It means living parts of a living body, the church, the body of Christ. There is only one church and the only way to get into it is to be born into it by the new birth, from above. You cannot join it. You can join a human organization, but not the church. Your hand cannot join you: it is you, in part.)

A further thought about “in Christ.” My dear brother Stuart Lane said, “Where you are determines what you are.” If you are in Christ you are a child of God, a member of the body of Christ, one called to be a holy one, set apart for the Lord, a joint-heir with Christ, and on we could go.

These holy ones and faithful brothers and sisters are also “in Colossae.” This shows us that the church is not just that universal body that is a spiritual entity. It is also many expressions of that body on earth in particular localities, placed here by God to be witnesses for him and to be brought to maturity by him through the training and trials we experience. Wherever you are on this earth, you are God’s person in that place, and you are there for a reason, to represent him – we are ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor. 5.20) – with the good news and to trust him and be obedient to him in whatever his will may be.

Paul prays for these people to know God’s grace and peace. We should not just go past these two words because they are Paul’s usual greetings. They have deep meaning. I will not go into it at length at this point because you are familiar with grace and peace. These are not just nice words. Grace is the love of God extended to us who don’t deserve it. If we did it would not be grace. “We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3.23) and we deserve condemnation, but we get forgiveness and a place in God’s family if we repent and trust in him. And beyond undeserved love, as we go on with the Lord we begin to see that grace is a far vaster reality than we realize. It is not just something God gives us, undeserved love, but it is God himself, his very nature. John tells us that God is love (1 Jn. 4.8, 16), and grace, of course, is an aspect of love.

Peace is the same. It is not just the absence of conflict. It is not just a nice life with the absence of war or other unsettling matters. Again, it is God himself. Rom. 5.2 tells us that if we have been justified (acquitted, made right) by faith we have peace with God. Eph. 2.14 says that the Lord Jesus is our peace. Our peace is not a thing, but a person. Micah in Mic. 5.2-5a prophesies,

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of you will come forth to me one that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she who travails has brought forth. Then the residue of his brothers will return to the children of Israel. And he will stand, and will feed his flock in the strength of I AM, in the majesty of the name of I AM his God, and they will abide, for now will he be great to the ends of the earth. And this one will be peace. (Emphasis added)

If you have the Lord Jesus you have peace. Rom. 5.1 reads, “Therefore having been justified we have peace with God….” It can also be translated as a command: “Therefore having been justified, have peace with God.” Which did the Holy Spirit through Paul mean? All who have been justified have peace with God, but not all who

have been justified experience peace with God. Some are still guilt-ridden: Am I really saved? How could God forgive that sin? And so forth. Whatever else Paul may mean, he is as good as commanding you justified ones to have peace. Take hold of it. It is yours. Questions about it are Satan’s lies.

So please do not skim over grace and peace and hurry on to the next verse. Take time to think about these two wonderful words and what, Who, they mean. Paul did not know about the multitude of people who would read the letter to the Colossians, but grace and peace are for all who read it.

³We give thanks to God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Do the same with thanks. Think about it. Give thanks to God right now. always praying for you,

Paul and Timothy always pray for the Colossians.

⁴having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the holy ones ⁵because of the hope laid up for you in the Heavens,

The reason that Paul and Timothy pray for their readers, including you and me, is that they have heard of the faith in Christ Jesus that they have and of the love which they have for all the ones set apart for God because of the hope that is laid up in Heaven for them, and for us! I would take I that Paul means they are praying for the readers to continue on this past and to grow in these matters of faith and love and hope.

which you heard in the word of the truth in the good news ⁶coming to you,

Where did these brothers and sisters get such faith and love and hope? In the word of the truth of the good news. “Word” implies that someone has spoken or written, or both. Most if not all religions have priests who stand between the god or gods and the people. Even though there may be religious writings, it is the prerogative of the priests to interpret them. Even the Roman Catholic religion (it is not a church) reserves the right to interpret the Bible to what they call “the church.” The people do not really have the word of God. But Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship with a Person, and all its members are priests who have the right to read God’s word, which he has spoken and written, for themselves and to interpret it for themselves under the direction of the Holy Spirit. This word is truth, not myths or fairy tales or nice stories.

And it is coming to us. That is, we do not have to go looking for it, though there is the search for God in a person’s life, but God saw to it that his word came to us. He sent it. It is as though he mailed a letter, just as Paul sent letters to churches. They did not have to track Paul down and ask him what he thought. He took the initiative. God has taken the initiative in sending his word to us.

And it is good news. The Greek word for what we usually call “gospel” is literally “good news.” Actually, “gospel” also means “good news” from Old English, but no one knows this except Old English scholars, of which I am not one. I just looked it up! I like to use “good news” because that is the literal meaning of the Greek word and because I like Greek! Bear with me! And the good news really is good news. We were all lost in sin with no hope and nothing to look forward to but hell, and then two of the most beautiful words in any language came up: “But God” (Eph. 2.4). “But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, and we being dead in the trespasses, made us alive with [or “in”] Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us and seated us in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus…” (vs. 4-6). That, my friend, my brother, my sister, is good news! “As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country” (Prov. 25.25). That far country is Heaven and it has sent us good news, the water of life (Jn. 4.14, 7.38)!

as also in all the world it is bearing fruit and increasing

It is true in our day that the good news is bearing fruit and increasing. In communist lands, in Muslim lands, in Catholic lands, all over the word the good news is bearing fruit and increasing. Where there is persecution the church grows. As Paul wrote in 2 Tim. 2.8-9: “Remember Jesus Christ, having been raised from the dead, from seed of David according to my good news, in which I suffer hardship to the point of imprisonment as an evildoer, but the word of God is not bound.” The word of God is not bound. Communists and Muslims and Catholicism cannot keep it from the people God chooses to reach.

as also in you from which day you heard of and knew the grace of God in truth, ⁷as you learned from Epaphras our beloved fellow slave, who is our faithful servant in Christ, ⁸and the one making known to us your love in the Spirit [Greek has “in spirit”].

And the word of God was bearing fruit and increasing in Colossae, and had done so from the first day that they heard and knew of the grace of God in truth. We might ask ourselves if the word of God has borne fruit in us, from you and from me, from the first day we knew the grace of God in truth.

Paul points out that Epaphras, a Colossian himself (4.12), was the one from whom the Colossians had learned the good news. He was working with Paul as a faithful servant in Christ. Paul was not there at the birth of the Colossian church. Did he send Epaphras to Colossae to preach the good news? Had Epaphras preached the goods in Colossae and later met Paul. If so, where and how did Epaphras come to the Lord? We do not know. We do not know if he was working more or less permanently with Paul or not. Phm. 23 says, “Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you….” That would indicate that Epaphras was with Paul during an imprisonment, but it is not clear which imprisonment. Paul was imprisoned in Caesarea for two years before his journey to Rome, and he was imprisoned in Rome, perhaps twice. There is the suggestion that he was imprisoned in Ephesus, but there is no certain evidence of this. So – whatever the historical details may have been, Epaphras had the joy of preaching in his home town and seeing the church there born as hearers trusted in Christ.

Just a word about Paul’s use of the word “slave:” from our standpoint of having seen the evil of slavery and its end (more or less) in some parts of the world, including ours, we may recoil from the word itself. Some have even raised the question as to why Paul and other Christians did not preach against it. We do not know the history of such thought in Paul’s day. What we can say is that the early Christians saw themselves as slaves of God and of Christ, but to them it was not the evil thing that it is to us, but freedom itself. They had experienced the horrible slavery to sin that ruled the ancient world. We cannot imagine, perhaps, the depth of sin and corruption of ancient cultures. Except for the Jews, more or less hated in that day, there was no good news, such as we have. Religion was not ethical, that is calling on people to live a godly life. Even their gods were not godly! They were as sinful as people were. Theirs was a world of darkness. Then light shone into that world, the light of the Lord Jesus, and those awakened from their spiritual death by that light found themselves slaves to a new Master, and that slavery was wonderfully opposite to their old slavery. Many of them took slavery as the way it was in that day and were so pleased to have a new Master whose rule was full of love and grace, gentleness and peace, kindness and compassion. It was Paul himself who wrote, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves for obedience, slaves you are to the one whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness? But thanks be to God that you were slaves of sin, but you obeyed from the heart a standard of teaching to which you were delivered, but having been delivered from sin you were made slaves to righteousness“ (Rom. 6.16-18). Peter adds in 2 Pt. 2.19, “… promising them freedom, themselves being slaves of corruption, for by what one is overcome, to this he has been enslaved.” Being right with God is a thing of joy. Realize that we are all slaves to something, but we have a choice of masters, sin or God. Freedom from God is slavery to a cruel master. Freedom from sin is

slavery to a wonderful Master who makes us free in him. Epaphras was delighted to be a fellow slave with Paul, even in prison. And he was Paul’s, and God’s, beloved.

Thus he was pleased to be a faithful servant of Paul, having the blessing of being used by the Lord to assist one whom he had called to proclaim the good news. Epaphras himself had proclaimed such news in his own home town and was happy to help someone else make the same proclamation. Do we proclaim the good news, and are we happy to help some else do so?

Epaphras also had the blessing of making known to Paul the love in the Holy Spirit of the Colossians for him. As far as we know Paul had not been to Colossae, but the Colossians loved him nonetheless, as all Christians should love all other Christians, and it may in part have been because Paul had sent Epahras to them with the good news

The Greek for “love in the Spirit” is actually “love in spirit,” so there is room for interpretation. It could mean that the Colossians loved Paul spiritually. It seems more likely to me that it should be “in the Holy Spirit.”

⁹Because of this also we, from which day we heard, do not cease praying for you and asking

Paul now says that because of this, that is, because they heard of and know the grace of God in truth, he and those with him do not cease praying for the Colossians and asking for them a long list of requests. Note that he says that they have prayed from the first day they heard that the Colossians heard and know the grace of God in truth. Then he starts his list.

that you may be filled with the full knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,

The Greek word for “full knowledge” is different from the word for “knowledge.” It adds to that word a word that intensifies the meaning, not just knowledge, but full knowledge. We as Christians begin with knowledge of the Lord, but we should be growing into full knowledge all through our life in the Lord. Paul specifically mentions the full knowledge of God’s will. One of the great questions of life, especially for younger Christians, is as to how one may know the will of God. There are several factors that bear on the answer. I do not want to go into a full discussion now, but just let me say that one’s abilities and interests are an important indicator, but that is not final. Nor is the counsel of people wise in the Lord, as valuable as that is. One of my favorite books ever is the life of James O. Fraser, an Englishman who was an

outstanding student in math and engineering in college and he was a brilliant pianist. As he finished his college days he was planning on a career in engineering, which offered great prospects, but a fellow student handed him a tract about missions. The Lord began to speak to him and he became sure that he was to go abroad as a missionary. All other interests faded, though he still cared for them, especially music, but like Paul, he counted them loss compared with the value of knowing the Lord Jesus. He went out to China and spent the rest of his life there evangelizing and discipling a people who had never heard of Christ. His story is told in Mountain Rain by his daughter, Eileen Crossman. I recommend it very highly. If you cannot locate it, let me know. Here was a man who had great ability and prospects in the world, but knew in his spirit that he was being called by God to something else. Rather than seeking so much to know God’s will, seek to know God. He will make his will known one way or another. Incidentally, I felt such a kinship with Fraser that I wanted contact his mother, who wrote the book. It took time and detective work, but I tracked her down in England and corresponded with her by mail, and called her on the phone and spoke with her.

She is a very gracious servant of the Lord now in her late eighties.

Paul continues that they may be filled with the full knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. As you know, knowledge has to do with facts, knowing the facts, but there are people who are very knowledgeable who do not know what to do. Wisdom is knowing what to do. We have this vision of a wise person as an old man with a beard sitting on top of a mountain and saying wise things. I don’t believe that is wisdom, though it may be in some cases, if that is God’s calling! Wisdom is knowing what to do with facts. But Paul adds spiritual understanding. All of you are aware of the difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge. You can know all the spiritual truth there is and not know God. Spiritual truth can be head knowledge. Read all the great Christian writers and you will get a grasp of spiritual truth. But is it real in your life? We need spiritual understanding, mental understanding that has been filled with and enlightened by the Holy Spirit. Seek the Lord for such wisdom and understanding. Proverbs says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and of wisdom. Fear the Lord, then go on with him, asking, seeking, finding, laying hold of him and his reality on the heart level.

¹⁰to walk worthily of the Lord to all pleasing,

Paul prays that his readers will be able to walk worthily of the Lord so as to please him. He also writes in Rom. 12.1, “I urge you therefore, brothers … to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God….” We walk worthily of the Lord by laying our lives down for him, surrendering to his will and doing as he leads. The Lord Jesus was

the ultimate sacrifice, laying down his life as he lived by fully obeying his Father, then laying his life down at the cross in further obedience that we might have our sins forgiven and be born from above. To do the will of God as Paul wrote in the previous statement is to walk worthily of him and is pleasing to him.

in every good word bearing fruit and increasing in the full knowledge of God,

We noted above in v. 6 that the word of God is “bearing fruit and increasing” in all the world, and now Paul applies that truth directly to the Colossians in his list of requests that he is making in prayer for them. He asks that they may bear fruit and increase in every good word in the full knowledge of God. “In every good word.” The prayer is that their speech would be of such quality that every word they speak may bear fruit, that it may bear fruit in the hearer, that it may convey something of value. He adds “in the full knowledge of God.” As we grow in the full knowledge of God, it adds more and more to the quality of our speech.

¹¹being empowered with all power according to the strength of his glory into all endurance and longsuffering,

In addition, as we grow in the full knowledge of God, that knowledge gives us power. You have heard the saying, “Knowledge is power.” For example, we may have been beaten down by the lies of Satan. He is the master of deceit. He can make us believe things without our even knowing that it is a lie is coming from him. We may think it is our own thought. Then one day we learn that Satan is a liar and that all these thoughts we have are coming from him. Then we learn that the Lord Jesus has defeated Satan finally and that we are in that victory. We read Jn. 8.32: “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” The light dawns on us. We can expose the lies of Satan and resist them, refuse to believe them, and declare the truth. We are free! Knowledge is power. By the truth we are “empowered with all power according to the strength of his glory.” There is glory in that! And the result for now? We can endure and suffer long in the hard place we are in knowing the truth, that God is in charge and has purpose for his glory and our good in the difficulty. And as Rom. 5.3-5 says, “… the tribulation works endurance, and endurance, character, and character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, for the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

¹²giving thanks with joy to the Father who qualified us for a part of the inheritance of the holy ones in the Light,

As a result we can and do give thanks with joy to the Father, not only for what we have already seen in these verses, but for the fact that he has “qualified us for a part of the inheritance of the holy ones in the Light.” We could go to great lengths in dealing with the inheritance. Let us just say that in the Old Testament, under God the land of promise is everything. Every Israelite was guaranteed a piece of land, an inheritance, in perpetuity. No one could take it away, and if the heir became so poor that he had to sell it, it came back to him at no cost to himself in the year of Jubilee, every fiftieth year. But Israel had to obey the Lord for this promise to hold and we know the sad story that prevails to this day. Praise God his promises do not fail in the end. The Jews will turn back to God, receiving the Lord Jesus!

We have the same promise of an inheritance, but our inheritance is not a piece of land, but a share in the Lord Jesus. But like the Jews, we must obey the Lord to receive the inheritance. There are many Scripture passages that deal with our reward as Christians. Our salvation is not a reward. It is a free gift of God given by his grace when we trust in the Lord Jesus. But our inheritance is a reward and can be forfeited. It is Paul again who tells us in 1 Cor. 3.10-15 that he has laid a foundation and that we must build on it, and that we must see to how we build. We can build on it with gold, silver, and precious stones or wood, hay, and straw. On the day when we must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, not for salvation, a free gift, but for reward, our work must pass through fire. If it is burned up, as wood, hay, and straw will be, we do not lose our salvation, but we will lose our reward, our inheritance. It was the Lord Jesus himself who said in Rev. 3.11 to the members of the church in Philadelphia, the ideal church, “I am coming quickly. Hold what you have, that no one take your crown.” We are promised a crown of life and of righteousness if we overcome, but our crown can be taken. On this matter, see 2 Sam. 1.10 regarding King Saul. If we overcome, we will have “a part of the inheritance of the holy ones in the Light.” And be aware that the Light is the Lord Jesus, the Light of the world. Our inheritance is in him, in whom is no darkness at all (1 Jn. 1.5).

¹³who delivered us from the authority of the darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son of his love, ¹⁴in whom we have the redemption, the forgiveness of the sins;

Now we have one of the great statements of the Bible. Paul tells us that we have been delivered from the authority of darkness. That word “authority” is important. It is usually translated as dominion or domain or some such, but the word is “authority.”

Power refers to brute strength, we might say. In the world might makes right. The strong can take whatever they want from the weak. Authority refers to what is right. Because we are sinners Satan has a right to us. We are under his authority. But when we trust in the Lord Jesus who died to pay the penalty for what we did that gave Satan authority, that authority is taken away from Satan. He has no further claim on us. We are transferred from his authority to the kingdom of the Son of his love. And in the spiritual realm, might does not make right; right makes might. Because we are now under God’s authority he has the right to us and Satan cannot take us away from him. Nothing and no one can pluck us from his hand (Jn. 10.28).

In this kingdom we have “the redemption, the forgiveness of the sins.” Redemption in the Bible is the buying of someone out of slavery. As sinners we were all in the slave market of sin and anyone could lure us into his particular trap, whether it be love of money, a very common trap, or love of pleasure, or immorality, or addiction, or dishonesty, or thievery, and on we could go. What trap were you in? Don’t answer that! We were all in a trap, and as we saw a moment ago, Satan had a right to us because we were sinners. But the Son of God’s love has paid the penalty for that sin and we were forgiven when we trusted in him. Now we have no sin and Satan has no right to us. In other words, when the Lord Jesus paid the penalty, we were redeemed. He went into that slave market and bought us out of it.

*****

Having gone through Paul’s prayer list, which includes this thanksgiving at the end – and all prayer should include thanksgiving; we should not just keep on asking, never giving thanks to God – we now turn to a new topic, and it is one of the great statements in the word of God about the Lord Jesus.

¹⁵who is image of the invisible God,

He is the Son of God’s love, “who is the image of the invisible God.” In Ex. 33.20 God said, “You cannot see my face, for man cannot see me and live.” Jn. 1.18 and 1 Jn. 4.12 read, “No one has ever seen God.” Paul writes in 1 Tim. 1.17 that God is invisible. But Paul now writes that the Lord Jesus “is the image of the invisible God.” The Lord Jesus himself said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” How can one born of woman be the image of the invisible God? He was a man. How can a man be the image of the invisible God? Who is this man? He is the Word become flesh (Jn. 1.14). Because there was no ordinary man who could pay the penalty for our sins, God himself in the person of his Son, the eternal Word, the eternal speaking of God, shared in flesh and blood (Heb. 2.14) and gave himself to die, for death is the penalty of sin. By that sacrifice he

showed what God is like: God is love; God is grace. We do not come to see God with physical eyes, but we come to know what he is like, what his nature is, by seeing what his Son is like. Like Father like Son. Can you see that I am struggling for words to explain this concept? It is beyond us. We can only marvel and give thanks, and give ourselves to him in gratitude.

firstborn of all creation,

Some might want to use this verse to deny the uncreated nature of the Lord Jesus, but we know that he is eternal God and therefore uncreated. We must have another explanation of this word, “firstborn of all creation.” I think the answer is simple. Adam was the first man. He was not born, but created by God out of the dust. We are told in 1 Cor. 15.45 that Adam was the first man and that the Lord Jesus is the last Adam. This last Adam was born. He existed eternally as the uncreated Son of God, but he was born a human being, a man, of the virgin Mary. But he was a different kind of man from Adam. Adam was a fallen man, the one by whom sin came into the world (Rom. 5.12). Because of his fall into sin, all humans are now born with a fallen nature (Ps. 51.5). We are subject to the law of sin and death: we will sin and we will die (Rom. 8.2). The Lord Jesus was born without a sin nature. He had the choice of sinning or not sinning. He chose not to sin, but to live in full obedience to the will of his Father and lived a sinless life.

Now 2 Cor. 5.17 says, “Therefore if anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation.” We were born with a fallen nature, but in Christ we are a new creation. We are now free from sin. That does not mean that we do not sin, for we still battle with our flesh, the old man (Eph. 4.22-24, Col. 3.9-10), but that is being dealt with by the crucifixion of the flesh (Gal. 5.24) and we have a choice to say no to sin. Rom. 6 teaches that we have already been crucified with Christ, buried with him, and raised from the dead with him. That is our position in him. During this life God is in the process of making what is true in Christ actual in our experience. We are being saved (1 Cor. 1.18). We were saved from our sins when we trusted Christ, but we are being fully saved, being saved from the power of sin. We are waiting for “for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pt. 1.5) when we will be fully saved not only from the power of sin, but from the very presence of sin. Christ is the firstborn of all creation, that new creation which he began at his birth as a man, continued with his life, death, and resurrection, and will complete at his coming again.

In the Old Testament it was the law that the firstborn son of a family would have both the birthright and the blessing. The birthright was the right to inherit a double portion from the father. That is, if there were two sons, the older would get 2/3 and the younger

1/3. If there were four, the older would get 2/5 and the others would get 1/5 each. If you will look up the phrase “double portion” in your Bible, you will find that this double portion applies spiritually as well. The blessing was also the right of the firstborn. The father would bless each son, but the oldest would get the best blessing. The best example of all of this is Jacob and Esau.

As the firstborn of all creation, the Lord Jesus is entitled to a double portion of the inheritance from the Father, and the best blessing. In fact, he is greater than that. He is Heir of all things (Heb. 1.2), but he is not selfish. He shares his inheritance with us, his joint heirs. (Rom. 8.17). In Mt. 21.9, paralleled by Mk. 11.9, we read, “’Hosanna’ to the Son of David. ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ‘Hosanna’ in the highest.” “Hosanna” and “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord” are quotations of Ps. 118.25-26, a prophecy of the coming of the Lord Jesus to take the throne as Son of David. Mark adds in v. 19, “’Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. Hosanna’ in the highest.” This is the blessing of the firstborn of all creation, the Lord Jesus, who will take the throne of his father David and reign forever and ever.

¹⁶for by him were all things created,

We saw in Jn. 1.3 that the Lord Jesus is the creator of all things, and Heb. 1.2, which says that he is Heir of all things, also says that he is the one through whom God made the ages. This word “ages” can also mean “worlds,” but there are other words for “world,” and I believe that the word for “ages,” from which we get “eon,” has to do with time, an age, an eon, and in the matter of the world it shows that the world is limited as to time. At the end of this age, or perhaps of the millennium as I believe, God will bring this universe to an end and create new skies and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pt. 3.13, see also Is. 65.17, 66.22).

in the heavens and on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or lordships or rulers or authorities;

The word “heavens” here I take to include both Heaven and the skies (the same Greek word means both, see v. 23), for there are created things in Heaven, angels for example. All things in the heavens and on the earth were created by the Lord Jesus. This includes the visible and the invisible. The visible we know. The invisible would refer to things in the physical world such as air and microscopic things, though these would be invisible only to the naked eye, and to the spiritual world. We are surrounded by spiritual beings, good and evil, and who knows what else? It was all created by the Lord Jesus. “Thrones or lordships or rulers or authorities” would include visible things such as

human governments, and the invisible angelic and Satanic hierarchies that govern our world in the spiritual realm.

all things were created through him and for him,

All of these things were created through the Lord Jesus, as we saw above, but also for him. We saw that he is Heir of all things. Everything God made through him was also made for him. They are parts of his inheritance. But there is also a greater part of his inheritance. We saw in considering v. 1 that “I AM’s portion is his people.” The Lord Jesus is the great I AM, as the “I AM” sayings in John show us, and Eph. 1.18 speaks of “the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the holy ones.” Ephesians, as you know, is a sister book with Colossians. Things are just things, but the angelic beings and the Lord’s people are what matter to him. And take note: we are created beings, which means that we were made for him. How wonderful is the reward of the one who voluntarily gives himself or herself to the Lord, and again, that reward is not things. Don’t worry about mansions and crowns. Our reward is the Lord Jesus himself in that eternal marriage of the heavenly Bridegroom and his bride. Can you imagine…? And how incomprehensibly sad the failure of so many to take advantage of the opportunity to fulfill their calling to be “for the Lord.” Share the good news, a part of which is that all people are made to be for the Lord Jesus, but only those who trust in him and give themselves to him will realize that objective.

¹⁷and he himself is before all things

This statement refers to his eternal existence. He did not come into being at his human birth, but had always existed as the eternal Son of God.

and in him all things have held together.

The Lord Jesus not only made all created things, he also holds them together. They do not fly apart as they zoom around in their orbits. Heb. 1.3 says that he bears “all things by the speaking [rema*] of his power.” Not only did he make all created things, but he also directs them constantly, speaking to them what to so. {* rema: there are two Greek words for “word.” Logos is well known and is the usual word, i.e., Jn. 1.1: “In the beginning was the logos.” Rema usually refers to the spoken word and I usually translate it “speaking.”)

All of these statements about the Lord Jesus beginning with v. 15 show his great position and power. He is an eternal member of the almighty Trinity. He is at the highest position possible, taking into account that he has always existed as the

submissive Son of the Father. The greatness of the Lord Jesus is beyond our comprehension. And now Paul turns from his greatness in eternity to his work on the earth.

¹⁸And he himself is the Head of the body, the church;

Paul does not begin with the Lord’s virgin birth or childhood or ministry or even his redemptive work on the cross. He starts beyond these things with their result, the church, for the church is the people to whom this letter is addressed. He starts with his readers where they are and then goes back to look at some of these other matters. He is the Head of the body. We dealt with the body when dealing with the statement in v. 1 that we are “in Christ.” We saw there that the Head and the rest of the body make up Christ. He is also a part of the church, the Head. The church is not an organization. It is a living organism, in a sense one living being – the church, with Christ as the Head and us as the rest of the body. Keep that truth constantly in mind – we are an organism, not an organization.

who is the beginning, firstborn from the dead,

The Lord Jesus is the beginning of the church. What is the church? All those who have the life of the Lord Jesus in them by the indwelling Holy Spirit. We saw that he is the firstborn of creation. He is also the firstborn from the dead. He is the first human being to experience resurrection. Moving from death to resurrection life is like having a birth into a new realm. Imagine the day when all those who have died in Christ are resurrected and come into a life that they have not known before, a life, including the resurrected body, that is no longer subject to sin, disease, death. Our Lord became one of us and lived as a human being as we do, and went through death, as we will if we are not alive at his coming, and having gone through that death he was resurrected, never to die again. And because of that we will never die again. Some might point out that Elijah and Elisha raised someone from the dead, and that the Lord Jesus raised three during his ministry, and that Paul raised someone. Yes, but they were not resurrected. They were raised back to the same life they had before. They all died again. But resurrection life is forever in a spiritual body (1 Cor. 15.44, Phil. 3.21).

that in all things he himself may become preeminent,

Because of the Son’s obedience to his Father, the Father is delighted in him and has raised him to the highest place. As Paul puts it in Philippians in one of the sublime passages of all Scripture,

Therefore also God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in Heaven and those on earth and those under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (2.9-11).

The Lord was always the submissive Son of the Father, but the purpose of the Father for him was that he be exalted to the highest place, or as Paul puts it in our Colossian passage, that he might become preeminent. That preeminent place was conditioned on his obedience unto death, as Phil. 2.8-9 says: “He humbled himself by becoming obedient unto death, but death of a cross. Therefore….” The statement, “but death of a cross,” seems understated. It is not just that the Lord Jesus was obedient unto death, but look at what kind of death it was: death of a cross. The Lord did not die a hero’s death, a great martyr’s death. He died a shameful death, reserved for the worst criminals. He did not die peacefully in bed. He died a death of terrible suffering. Some might say that many have given their lives for others. That is true, but no one has ever gone to the extreme that the Lord Jesus did. He experienced the turning away of his Father and cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” At that moment, I believe, he experienced hell. I do not believe he went to hell, but I believe he experienced it. No one else has ever tasted hell for someone else, but he did. Obedience beyond anything anyone else has ever experienced. Therefore…. Therefore God highly exalted him. Is there any wonder that he is preeminent? There is great wonder at what he did for us in obedience to the Father, but is there any wonder that he is preeminent? How can anyone not bow before him in worship right now? Blessed Lord Jesus, you are so worthy of the highest place. There are no words….

¹⁹for in him all the Fullness was pleased to dwell,

This is an interesting verse. This is the literal translation. Most if not all translators have it something like this: It was God’s (or the Father’s) good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him. That is certainly a true statement, but that is not what the Greek says and I like to be literal when dealing with what the Scriptures mean. I will tell you what I think it means, but I will translate it as literally as possible so you can know exactly what it says and make your own decisions before the Lord. So – what does it mean for all the Fullness to be pleased to dwell in him? What is the fullness?

Let us look at a number of passages that use the word “fullness.” A few do not appear to be relevant, so I will consider the ones I think are. First there is Jn. 1.16: “For of his fullness we have all received, and grace upon [lit. instead of] grace.” John is writing about the fullness of the Lord Jesus. V. 14 says that he was full of grace and truth. The fullness of the Lord Jesus.

Rom. 11.12: “But if their [the Jews’] transgression is the riches of the world and their failure is the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness?” The full fullness of the Jews.

Rom. 11.25-26: “… until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in, and thus all Israel will be saved….” The full number of Gentiles who are to be saved.

Rom. 15.29: “But I know that coming to you I will be coming in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.” The fullness of the blessing of Christ.

Gal. 4.4, Eph. 1.10: “… the fullness of the time(s)….” The fullness of the time and times. Eph. 3.19: “… That you may be filled to all the fullness of God.” The fullness of God. Eph. 4.13: “… to the measure of stature of the fullness of Christ.” The fullness of Christ,

Col. 2.9: “… for in him dwells all the fullness of the Deity bodily….”The fullness of the Deity.

We see the fullness of God the Father, of the Lord Jesus, and of the Holy Spirit (the fullness of the Deity), of the Jews, of the number of the Gentiles who are to be saved, and of the times. The fullness seems to consist of the Trinity and the full realization of God’s plans for the Jews and the Gentiles, which will be realized in the fullness of the times. The fullness of the Jews refers to their acceptance of the Lord Jesus as their Messiah. The full number of the Gentiles who are to be saved is unknown to us, but God knows the number. The fullness of the times is known only by God. Eph. 1.10 shows us that in the fullness of the times all things will be headed up in Christ. The fullness of the time began when God sent the Lord Jesus to the earth, as Gal. 4.4 shows.

I believe that Scripture teaches that all of God’ plans center in his Son. He is the one in whom he delights. He is the Heir of all things. He has the highest place and will reign forever with his bride. And more. I believe that all of these facts taken together indicate that the Fullness is God himself and this centering in Christ of all of God’s purposes, including the saved Jews and Gentiles, the church. All of this dwelled in him as a man on earth, the one who would bring into realization all the purpose of God. “For as many as are the promises of God, in him is the Yes. Therefore also through him is the Amen to God, unto glory, through us” (2 Cor. 1.20). All the promises of God! Of course, the “things of God” are not things. They are living beings, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, angels, heavenly elders, the four living beings, Christians, and Jews who have accepted their

Messiah Jesus. All of this Fullness of God and of the purposes of God dwelled in the man Jesus.

²⁰through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, through him, whether the things on the earth or the things in the skies.

A large part of this purpose of God is to reconcile all things to himself. Paul writes in 2 Cor. 5.20, “I implore you, be reconciled to God.” To be reconciled means to be restored to friendship or harmony (Merriam Webster). Since the fall all of us have not been in friendship or harmony with God at all until we were saved. I think the “be reconciled” refers to the fact that Adam and Eve were in friendship and harmony with God before they sinned and God wants that restored with all people. We have free will and many will refuse to be reconciled, but all who trust in the Lord Jesus are reconciled. We are in friendship and harmony with God. We all have varying degrees of that friendship and harmony, but God is at work through his Spirit to bring us to fullness.

This peace is made through the blood of his cross. The blood washes away sin. Sin is the cause of a lack of reconciliation. When that cause is dealt with, reconciliation occurs, and that comes when one trusts in Christ and has his sins forgiven, and that is possible because of the blood. There is a lot of watering down or outright denial of the efficacy of the shed blood. Reject that outright! “When I see the blood I will pass over you.” The blood and not anything else. That is why the Scripture calls it precious blood (1 Pt. 1.19).

“Through him,” Paul underlines, through the Lord Jesus. He is the only way of salvation (Jn. 14.6).

Then Paul writes that all things on the earth or in the skies, that is, in all creation, will be reconciled to God. Paul deals with this more fully in Rom. 8.19-23. Creation is out of sorts with God, doing harmful things, not by its own choice, but because of the fall of man. Our sin dragged all creation down with us. We are supposed to rule over creation on God’s behalf, but instead we have some rule, but we also abuse creation and we are ruled over by it in the natural disasters. All of this has been reconciled to God in the work of the Lord Jesus and we will see it come into actuality in the fullness of the times. This leads us to one more “fullness”: “The earth is the Lord’s, and its fullness” that is, everything in it (1 Cor. 10.26, quoting Ps. 24.1). The very creation will come into fullness by the work of the Lord Jesus. All the Fullness dwells in him.

²¹And you, once being alienated and hostile in mind in the evil works, 21

Paul continues with the theme of reconciliation with the statement that we were once alienated from God and hostile in mind, in evil works. Some have been to extremes with this reality, being full of anger and hostility and very evil things. Other have been “good citizens,” but all who are honest have to admit that they have had their moments of disagreement with God. Sometimes we are just angry with God because we cannot get our way, just as a child can be angry with a parent or other authority. These are the ones who need to be reconciled, and that includes everyone.

²²but now he reconciled in the body of his flesh through the death,

This is a restatement of the fact that it is through the death of Christ, the blood of Christ, that we are reconciled. “In the body of his flesh.” The Lord Jesus had to die to accomplish his purpose. Later in Colossians we will see that there were various false teachings among the Colossians. We do not know what all of these teachings might have been, but one that was around in those days was the belief that all material things, including our bodies, are evil, and only the immaterial is good. This being the case, the Lord Jesus could not have become a real man because that would have had him in an evil body. He was actually a spirit who just appeared to be in a physical body. This belief was used to teach that whatever one wished to do in the body was acceptable because the body is evil anyway. This is just another excuse for immorality, common to man almost from the beginning and right down to this moment. Of course, the problem with this teaching is that the Lord had to become a real man and die a real physical death if he were to save real physical people. The Scriptures are quite clear that God created the body and saw that it was good. Intimacy between a person and someone not his or her spouse is evil, but intimacy between man and wife is commanded by God (Gen. 2.24). He does not command people to do evil things.

So – the Lord Jesus had to die for our sins, and he himself was born of a woman with a real human body and eventually gave that body up to the cross and died. Thus, along with his resurrection, we can be saved.

to present you holy and without blemish and beyond reproach before him,

This being saved is not the end of the matter. If a baby is born and never grows physically and never matures psychologically, that is a great tragedy. There is a life to be lived after birth. Yet many Christians seem to believe that once they get saved that is it. They just rejoice in their salvation until they die or the Lord comes. But there is a life to be lived after the new birth. God wants us to be holy and without blemish and beyond reproach. How many of can say that we have arrived at that point? Just as I thought. We all have a long way to go. This is where the work of the Holy Spirit in our

hearts begins to work on us, putting us through trials and various experiences, teaching us, convicting us, and so forth, so as to bring us to that point of full spiritual maturity. That will last our lifetime and be fully realized only at our passing from this life into the next. And no doubt God has a whole lot more to teach us – it will last for eternity!

²³if you remain in the faith, grounded and steadfast and not moved from the hope of the good news which you heard,

To get to that point we must keep at it. Remain in the faith. Don’t turn away. I do not believe that a saved person who does turn away will lose his salvation, but he can lose the inheritance we dealt with earlier. If we are to come to place of holiness, without blemish, beyond reproach, we must remain in the faith, and that does not mean just stand there. It means going on with the Lord. Abide in Christ, as the Lord Jesus puts it in Jn. 15. “If you continue in my word,” he says in Jn. 8.31. If we do that, we are grounded and steadfast, not moved from the hope. No matter what life may bring, don’t give up hope. Our hope is not the wishful desire of the world. It is the sure promise of the God who cannot lie (Ti. 1.2, Heb. 6.18). This hope is in the good news which we have heard. And what is the good news? To state it briefly, it is what Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 15.3-4: Christ died for our sins. He was buried. He was raised from the dead. There is more detail, but that is the heart of it, along with the promise that if repent and trust in him, we will be saved.

preached in all creation under the sky, of which I Paul became a servant.

Now Paul writes that this good news was preached in all creation under the sky, or under Heaven (the same word means both, see v. 16). The good news has not been hidden. As Paul said to Festus, “This has not been done in a corner” (Acts 26.26). It did not take the scattering Christians long to turn the world upside down (Acts 17.6).

“Of which I Paul became a servant, or a minister. I prefer “servant” because “minister” can be a “religious” word, and we are not about a religion. The Lord Jesus was “my servant,” as he was called by the Father in the Old Testament, especially in Isaiah. If our Lord was a servant, so are we, or even a slave, as Paul calls himself in v.1. The slave is not above his lord (Mt. 10.24). We can think of a minister as some high and holy person. A true minister is a servant. That is what the word means, servant. But “minister” is not a bad word. Just be aware that it can be used wrongly.

²⁴Now I rejoice in the sufferings

It is so easy for us to see our sufferings as some evil thing we want God to get us out of. There is evil in suffering, for God made the world without sin and suffering, and suffering is a result of the fall, but God uses it for good, to conform us to the image of his son (Rom. 8.28-29). Paul has an entirely different outlook on his sufferings from this one of “get me out of this.” Our prayer should be, “Lord, get all that you want out of this. Achieve your full purpose in causing or allowing me to be in this place.” Look at Phil. 3.7-11:

But what things were gain to me, these I have considered loss because of Christ. But indeed I also consider all things to be loss because of the greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, because of whom I lost all things, and I consider them refuse that I may gain Christ, and may be found in him, not having my righteousness which is from law, but the righteousness which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on faith, to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, if somehow I may attain to the out-resurrection which is from the dead.

Paul saw losing things of this world as a pathway to knowing Christ. James points out that friendship with the world is enmity with God (Ja. 4.4). Paul goes further, saying that he lost all things because of the greater value of knowing Christ. So great is the value of knowing Christ that even things that we would consider good things are refuse compared with knowing him. His righteousness by law is refuse. He has left that behind and gone on to righteousness which is his by faith in Christ. That faith in Christ is from God, and it interesting that Paul adds “on faith,” that is, I think, the righteousness that rests on faith. On the having of faith, the righteousness is given, much as we might say that on the payment of the price the goods are delivered. Then Paul turns to one of the great prayers of Scripture: “to know him” – the personal relationship; “and the power of his resurrection” – that is something we all pray for; but then he adds what is almost shocking – “and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death” – who would pray for such? – we want to escape sufferings. But Paul knew that his sufferings in Christ were putting to death his old man, his flesh (Eph. 4.22., Col. 3.9), and releasing him from their captivity to the attaining of the out-resurrection from the dead. This word out-resurrection is used only here in the New Testament (the verb form is used in Mk. 12.19 and Lk. 20.28). It could be just another word for “resurrection,” but some think that it refers to some other aspect of resurrection, such as the first resurrection of Rev. 20.5-6, as opposed to the resurrection after the millennium (Rev. 20.13). At least one writer I have read believed that the overcomers among Christians would be raised at the first resurrection, at the return of the Lord, and that Christian non-overcomers, if I may use such a term, would be raised

after the millennium. They would still spend eternity with the Lord, but would miss the blessings of the millennial reign of Christ. I will not deal with that matter at this point.

What vision Paul had, what insight into spiritual things, the things of God. for you

Paul next goes on to point out that his sufferings were not just for himself, but for his readers. They enabled him to have the spiritual knowledge that he had, indeed the wisdom and spiritual understanding of v. 9, and the power of God to declare the good news of Christ effectively, the power of his resurrection. The power Paul had was resurrection power, but there is only one way to get resurrection – death. His dying to self released this power (see 2 Cor. 4 in this regard). When he preached, the Holy Spirit worked in that preaching to convict and enlighten, and people turned to Christ and received him as Lord and Savior. Paul also wrote that great passage on suffering and comfort in 2 Cor. 1.3-7.

and fill up the things remaining of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body, which is the church,

But even more, Paul saw that his sufferings filled up “the things lacking of the affliction of Christ.” That is the literal translation, but I made one exception to being literal in translating, “the things remaining.” I did so because I do not believe there is anything lacking in Christ. I do not think Paul meant that either. I think that what he meant was that there is something Christ left for us to do. It is not to make up what he failed to do, but to do what he left for us to do. We do have a part. Christ is the foundation of the church (1 Cor. 3.11) laid by the apostles and prophets (Eph. 2.20). It is our place to build on this foundation (1 Cor. 3.10-13). We have already dealt with this passage in 1 Corinthians 3 in considering v. 12. We saw there that we can build on the foundation with gold, silver, and precious stones or wood, hay, and straw. If we wish to receive our inheritance in the kingdom, we must build with gold, silver, and precious stones. These building materials come out of the earth and are formed, especially precious stones, by being under great temperature and great pressure in the darkness of the depths of the earth for a long time. That is, we produce precious stones for building by undergoing the heat and pressure, even the darkness, of sufferings. We must submit ourselves to the hand of God as he leads us through sufferings. In doing so we join with Paul in filling up “the remainder of the afflictions of Christ.” We do our part to build the church, and in the end that church will be seen to be the new Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, made with gold, silver, and precious stones, which were formed in his people as they yielded to him in suffering.

Paul also states here that the church is the body of Christ. We have already dealt with that matter, so I will not do so here. I suspect it will come up again.

²⁵of which I was made a servant according to the stewardship of God given to me for you

We also dealt with the word “servant” in v.23. Paul the servant says that he was made a servant “according to the stewardship of God.” A stewardship is something given to a steward, one who is responsible for handling it properly, being sure that it achieves its purpose (see 1 Cor. 4.1-2). There was a stewardship given to Paul for his readers. It was not just for Paul, but for him to carry out for others, in this case, the Colossians, but also for all the church. What is that stewardship?

to fulfill the word of God, ²⁶the mystery hidden from the ages and from the generations, but now made known to his holy ones,

How did Paul go about fulfilling the word of God? He did so by making known “the mystery.” A mystery in the Bible is not something like our murder mysteries in which there is an unknown murderer who has to be discovered by good detective work. A mystery in the Bible cannot be discovered by good detective work. It can be known only by the revelation of God. The mystery Paul is referring to was revealed to him by God for him to reveal to God’s holy ones, those set apart for him. It says here that this mystery was hidden from the ages and the generations, for a very long time, I suppose from eternity past. But now, that is, in the time of the New Testament, God was revealing it. He revealed it to Paul, and perhaps others, for him to preach.

²⁷to whom God wanted to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,

It was his holy ones to whom God wanted to make known this mystery. He wanted them to know that this mystery is full of riches and of glory, “the riches of the glory of this mystery.” And he wanted to make it known among the Gentiles, because it involves the Gentiles. The Old Testament was a revelation of God to the Jews, and it was given to prepare them for the Lord Jesus, and to prepare a way for the Lord Jesus, and for the good news to go beyond the Jews to all the world (Is. 42.6, 49.6, Lk. 1.17), to the Gentiles. And what is this mystery?

which is Christ in you, the hope of the glory,

Christ, the Messiah, in the Gentiles? Impossible! He is the Jew’s Messiah. The Gentiles are dogs (Ps. 22.16, Mt. 6.26-27, Mk. 7.27-28). As Is. 42.6 and 49.6, show us, even in the Old Testament God’s purpose was to include the Gentiles. One purpose of the Jews was to be a light to the nations, to produce the Messiah through them for them to take to the nations, the Gentiles (the Greek word means both). They were to evangelize the world, but except for a few who received the Lord Jesus as the Messiah, they rejected him, and it was left to a few, beginning with the twelve and the five hundred (1 Cor. 15.5-6), and those who came in through their witness, and Paul. Within a few years the church consisted almost entirely of Gentiles when it was meant to be the fulfillment of Judaism. That fulfillment will yet come (Rom. 9-11). But for the Gentiles there is great joy and the hope of the glory, the glory of God, a walk with him in this life and an eternity with him thereafter. See Eph. 2.11-22 on this topic. It goes into more detail, but would take up a good bit of space in this work, which is about Colossians. But do read the Ephesian passage. It is very important.

²⁸whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man mature in Christ, ²⁹for which I also labor, striving according to his working which works in me in power.

“Christ in you…, whom we proclaim.” That is Paul’s message. It is not a religion, a doctrinal system, a philosophy. It is a Person. The one thing we are about as Christians is the Lord Jesus. He is it. He is in us. He is our life (Col. 3.4). There are many things that flow out from him, but hold to him, trust him and obey him, and these things will be as they should be. That is all Paul proclaims – Christ.

In proclaiming Christ, Paul is “admonishing every man and teaching every man,” and woman, in that wisdom we saw in v. 9, so that he might present these people to God as mature people in Christ. They have been born again, from above, spiritually, but like a baby, they are to grow and mature. It is not just to get saved. Paul labors for this. He strives for it. But his labor and striving are not in his strength, but “according to his working which works in me in power.” Just as Paul proclaimed the good news in the power of the Holy Spirit to bring people to new birth, so he admonishes and teaches in the same power to bring his hearers and readers to maturity in Christ. It is the Holy Spirit working in him, in the power of God.

2. For I want you to know how great a conflict I have for you and for those in Laodicea and for those who have not seen my face in flesh,

In vs. 24-29 of chapter 1 Paul has written of his sufferings for the Colossians and for the church and of his labor and striving to present every man and woman mature in Christ.

He adds to that at the beginning of chapter 2 that he has a great conflict (the Greek word is the word from which we get “agony”) for the Colossians and Laodiceans and those who have not seen him in flesh, in person. Does this mean that the Colossians and Laodiceans have seen him in the flesh?

that their hearts may be encouraged, having been united in love, and into all the riches of the full assurance of understanding into a full knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ,

He wants them to know this not because he is bragging or feeling sorry for himself, but that their hearts may be encouraged. The word root for “encouraged” is the same word that is used for comfort, comforter, consolation, exhort, exhortation, counsel, counselor, help, and helper, and is applied by the Lord Jesus to the Holy Spirit in John’s account of the good news. That is, whatever we need the Holy Spirit is able to provide.

Then Paul adds three phrases that reveal why the readers should be encouraged: (1) having been united in love. As the readers of this letter see that their faith in and obedience to God have resulted in their being united in love, their hearts are encouraged. We referred earlier to the cultures into which Paul and the other evangelists went and how wicked they were. It was every man for himself and there was little concern to help others. But these followers of the Lord Jesus were united by their love for each other and by their desire to be of help to one another. To have been born into and brought up in such a culture and then to be a part of a group of people unrelated by family or other close ties who actually loved one another and looked out for each other was something startlingly new, and was a great encouragement to these people united in love.

(2) Then they were united “into all the riches of the full assurance of understanding.” They understood that there was a God they had not known about before, but now they not only knew about him, but they knew him. They found that this knowledge was riches, “the riches of the full assurance on understanding.” Have you ever had that struggle about assurance? Have I really been saved? Am I really in the will of God? And so forth. These people had seen such a difference in their lives – people actually loved and helped each other – that they were assured that they had been changed inwardly by the Lord. They did not understand everything, as no Christian ever has, but they understood enough to have full assurance. That is encouraging.

(3) They were united “into a full knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ.” We have already dealt with “the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,” in 1.27. That mystery is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Now Paul writes of the mystery of

God, Christ. This and “Christ in you, the hope of glory” are basically the same thing, but the emphasis is different. The first stresses that the mystery revealed by God is that Christ is not just the Messiah of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles. He is in the hated dogs. The second emphasizes the fact that Christ is God’s mystery, the secret that God had had from eternity, that he had a Son and that son would be the Messiah, of the Jews and of the Gentiles. The mystery of God, Christ, includes everything pertaining to God’s eternal purposes. In him they have been made known. How was God going to fulfill his promises to the Jews? By sending his Son. The Jews saw their Messiah as someone who would drive out their enemies and restore Israel to greatness, indeed, to the head of all the nations. God had in mind a Messiah who would save people not just for this life, but spiritually, for this life and the next. He would establish a spiritual kingdom that would never end. He had so much more for his people than the Jews ever conceived of. And keep in mind that a mystery is something hidden from the ages and the generations. That is, it has been God’s intention from the very beginning to include the Gentiles, and to establish this eternal spiritual kingdom, but only with the coming of the Lord Jesus and his death and resurrection and the birthing of the church at Pentecost has this mystery been made known. What encouragement this is!

³in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ⁴This I say so that no one deceive you with persuasive arguments.

Paul adds that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. Mankind has always had a thirst to know and understand. Where did the world come from? What is beyond the earth? How does the universe work? Are there other people out there in space somewhere? What happens when I die? Is there is a God? If so, what is he like? Of course, there has been no end of answers to these questions, from the sublime to the ridiculous. There are the ancient mythological religions. There is philosophy. There is science. There is evolution. There is new age. There is humanism. There are modernism and post-modernism. Paul tells us that whatever may be the true answers to our particular questions, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. We cannot know all the answers in this life, but we can put our trust in what God has revealed. That is enough to get us through this life and to prepare us for the kingdom and for eternity. He will reveal to us all that we need to know.

Then the apostle says that his reason for saying this is that no one deceive them with persuasive, but false, arguments. We read of a number of these things elsewhere in the New Testament. I will not go into a long discussion of them, but state that 1 Tim. 1.4, 4.7, 2 Tim. 2.23, 4.4, Ti. 1.14, 3.9, and 2 Pt. 1.16 mention myths and endless genealogies, worldly fables, foolish and ignorant speculations, Jewish myths, and cleverly devised tales, and we will encounter philosophy in Col. 2.8. All these speculations promise

answers to the mysteries of life, but they are not worth the papyrus they were written on, or the breath it took to speak them. In all honesty, the only things we need to understand that really matter are the Bible and the Holy Spirit to guide us in it. And even then many who confine themselves to the Bible come up with all sorts of crazy interpretations of the word of God. I am not saying to disregard all that man has learned through study and observation. Science has been a most tremendous boon to our way of life. But science which denies God is out of bounds. Science deals with nature and material things, things that can be put into a test tube and looked at under a microscope, and so forth. But it has no competence to deal with the spiritual. Just because the Russian cosmonauts could not see God in outer space does not mean he is not there. It just means that he is the invisible God, and that the cosmonauts had not had the eyes of their hearts enlightened (Eph. 1.18). When you are looking for life’s answers, it is not wrong to study some of the writings of men, who have indeed learned much, but they need to be compared with Scripture. If they do not agree with God’s word, you can safely disregard them. But DO read and study and pray over the word of God. Remember that the Lord Jesus is the Word of God (Jn. 1.1), and in him “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

⁵For if I am also absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit, rejoicing and seeing your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

Paul adds that he is not present with them to deal with all these matters of wisdom and knowledge, but he is with them in spirit so that they can follow his instructions in what he writes, and he is rejoicing “in seeing their order,” that is, their ordering of their lives and fellowship after the teachings of the Lord (1 Cor. 14.33, 40 point out that God is not a God of confusion, but of order), and he is rejoicing in “the steadfastness of their faith in Christ.” He writes in 1 Tim. 4.1 that some will fall away from the faith, and is grateful that the Colossians are steadfast in their faith in Christ.

⁶Therefore as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him,

“Therefore” is always an important word in the Bible. It means that because of what has just been written, so and so should be done or is true, and so forth. Since all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ and since Paul is with them in spirit and has seen their good order and their steadfastness in faith, they are not just to receive the Lord and then sit down and rest on their laurels. They are to walk in him. Watchman Nee had a wonderful message on Ephesians that has been put into print called Sit, Walk, Stand. In it he says that the first step in Christian life is to sit. Eph. 1-3 teach that we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies (Eph. 2.6) and that the Christian must come to a place of rest in Christ, not working to be saved, but resting in the

finished work of Christ for salvation. Once he has this truth firmly established in his life, he is then to walk (Eph. 4.1), that is, to get up and walk with the Lord and do his will, the work God has for him. Then there comes a point in life when the servant of the Lord is challenged by the devil who is attempting to defeat him in spiritual battle. If one is firmly seated in Christ for salvation and walking worthily of the Lord, he will be able to stand in the day of challenge. Paul says to stand, withstand, and keep on standing (Eph. 6.11, 13). So, he says here in Col. 2, walk in Christ Jesus the Lord.

⁷having been rooted and being built up in him and established in the faith as you were taught,

Similar to Nee’s outline of Ephesians beginning with being seated at rest in the Lord Jesus, here the Christian is to be rooted in the Lord. As a Christian one ought to be bearing fruit for the Lord, but the roots must go down before the fruit can come. The roots provide the firm foundation that will prevent the plant from just falling over, and will also nourish and water the plant from the soil. So we must sink deep roots in the Lord for spiritual stability and nourishment. Then Paul changes the metaphor in writing that we must be built up. When a firm foundation is laid, then a building can be built on it. The foundation is an absolute necessity, but what is the point in laying a good foundation if nothing is built on it? One of the lovely metaphors of the Lord’s work is seen in the fact that he was a carpenter, but he did not build buildings. He built lives. That is what Paul is getting at. To mix the metaphors, as one is rooted and nourished in Christ, he can be built up because he is on a firm foundation.

All of this establishes one in the faith as he is taught, but being taught here does not refer just to classroom lectures. Yes, one is to read and study the Bible and seek the teaching of good Bible teachers, but the deepest lessons one learns, and the ones that bring the person into an intimate knowledge of the Lord, not knowledge about him, but knowing the Lord, are the experiences of life in which one is cast upon the Lord as his only hope. In his little book Prophetic Ministry, T. Austin-Sparks has a couple of statements that capture this truth so well. He writes about these difficult times, “A dark time, a deep time; a breaking, crushing, grinding time; emptied out. It seems as if everything is going, that nothing will be left” (p, 32). The he adds,

You must be prepared to let the Cross be so applied to your life that you are broken and emptied and fairly ground to powder – so that you are brought to the place where, if the Lord does not do something, you are finished. If you are prepared for that way, you will get to know the Lord. That is the only way. It cannot be by addresses or lectures. They have their value, but you do not know the Lord spiritually along those lines (p. 78).

You can be taught the facts of the Bible and correct doctrine and spiritual truths and so forth, but that teaching is for the head and is needful. It is those deep, dark experiences that move it to the heart, and that reveal so much more than the facts and the doctrines and the truths. It brings that personal knowledge of the Lord that he wants for all of his people. In Jn. 14.26 we read, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, that one will teach you all things and will remind you of all the things I said to you,” and John adds in 16.13, “But when that one comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you in all the truth….” The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, is the great Teacher, but he does not just give us information by speaking to our minds, but he takes us through those hard places that teach on a deeper level. It is very informative that Jn. 16.13 says that the Spirit will guide you in all the truth. It is not into all the truth, that is, our hearing the truth for the first time, but in all the truth. He takes the truth we already know and guides is in it. He takes us to places where the truth becomes heart knowledge and personal knowledge of the Lord, intimacy with the Lord.

abounding in thanksgiving.

Paul emphasizes gratitude in Colossians. He uses a word for thanksgiving six times in four chapters: 1.3, 12, 2.7, 3.15, 17, and 4.2. Think back over what he has written in six verses of this chapter alone: encouraged hearts because they have been united in love; all the riches that come from the full assurance of understanding; a full knowledge of God’s mystery, Christ; good order and steadfast faith; Christ received; firm rooting in him and being built up in him and established in faith. That is why Paul does not say just to be thankful, but to abound in thanksgiving. Never can we give the Lord adequate thanks for what he has done for us and is doing for us.

⁸Beware so that someone will not be the one taking you captive though the philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world and not according to Christ.

We come now to a part of Colossians in which Paul deals with false teaching. It appears that some of the Colossians have been led astray to some degree. He warns them not be taken captive through philosophy. The world in which Paul worked was largely under the influence of Hellenism, or Greek culture. This was not long after the golden age of Greece, when democracy was developed and philosophy was much in vogue. Socrates and Plato were born in the fifth century B.C., and Aristotle in the fourth. Although the Romans had conquered Greece and now ruled much of the known world of that day and place, and democracy had died with the falling of the Roman republic in the first century B.C., the intellectual legacy of Greece reigned on. Greek was largely the

language of the known world. It is the language in which our New Testament was first written, and the Old Testament had been translated from Hebrew and Aramaic into Greek for Jews who did not speak those languages. And Greek philosophy was still influential. We read of Paul’s encounter with Stoic and Epicurean philosophy in Acts 17.18. It was a world of ideas.

All of this had reached Colossae, of course. Some of the philosophy and other false teachings had apparently captured the fancy of some of the Christians there as we see in this chapter of Colossians. Paul first mentions philosophy and empty deceit. Let me say that philosophy is not inherently evil. The word means “love of wisdom,” and that is certainly biblical: “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.” That is just the problem with the philosophy of Paul’s day. It did not begin with the fear of God, but came from the minds of men who were striving to discover truth. Truth begins with God, as does wisdom. Ja. 3.15 says that the wisdom of the world is not from above, that is, from God, but is “earthly, soulish, demonic.” “Earthly” obviously means it is of earth, not of Heaven. “Soulish,” also translated “natural,” means that it is not supernatural, and not from the Holy Spirit who imparts wisdom to man through the human spirit, not through the soul, which is the psychological aspect of man (the Greek word for “soul” is fuch,v psyche, from which we get “psychology”). It is man’s spirit that is able to communicate with God. Demonic is also obvious: it comes from Satan and his forces, and there is no truth in him; is a liar and the father of lies (Jn. 8.44). Ja. 3.17 describes the wisdom from above, from God. I consulted three good commentaries on the meaning of “empty deceit” in this context. All agree that because of the grammar, “empty deceit” is explanatory of “philosophy,” that is the philosophy is empty deceit.

Philosophy and empty deceit are according to the tradition of men. They are spun out of men’s minds with no dependence on God to speak truth to them, but with Satanic deception whispering in the ears of their minds. Over long periods men develop traditions and those traditions become sacred. This is true even in Christianity. Very much of what we see in Christianity today is the tradition of men, just as much of Pharisaism was the tradition of men, as the Lord Jesus pointed out in Mt. 15.1-9 and Mk. 7.1-7. There are good traditions (1 Cor. 11.2, 2 Thess.2.15, 3.6), but they are matters revealed by God that he wants carried on, and even they can become empty.

“According to the elementary principles of the world.” Gal. 4.3 will help us with this word: “So also we, while we were children, were enslaved under the elementary principles of the world.” The explanation of “enslaved” in this context is not that the children were actually slaves, but, as in v. 1, they were no different from slaves while they were minors. Most or all well-to-do families in that culture would have had slaves to supervise and teach and train their children, as v. 2 says. The slave would teach the

children the basics, such as ABC’s. And the children would be “under the law,” that is, they would have to live by rules because they were not yet old enough and mature enough to make wise decisions. When a child reached majority and had been well taught and trained, he would begin to take responsibility and to make decisions. In time the father might even put him in charge. To follow philosophy and empty deceit would be to be enslaved under the philosophers, being taught elemental things and what might appear to be very advanced thoughts because of their intellectual nature, but that are not really advanced because of their lack of truth in explaining what is in reality God’s creation. Spiritual truth is far advanced over human intellect, and the godly way of living is far advanced over the world’s way. To be under human philosophy and deceit is to be a slave indeed to the world. It is not “according to Christ.” We have noted the word “full knowledge” in Col. 1.9, 10, and 2.2, and will see it again in 3.10. This full knowledge is knowing God himself as well as knowing about him, and is also deeper truth. We said that one of the elements of teaching children is ABC’s. There are also ABC’s of God and of spiritual truth. That is what we teach our children and new Christians, but we need to move on to deeper truths, and most especially into knowing the Lord intimately. We need to be taught and to teach “according to Christ”: “… let us grow up in all things into him who is the Head, Christ…” (Eph. 4.15).

⁹For in him dwells all the fullness of the Deity bodily,

We saw in 1.19 that “in him all the Fullness was pleased to dwell.” Now we have, “For in him dwells all the Fullness of the Deity bodily.” Jn. 1.14 tells us that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The eternal Son of God became a human being and dwelt among people in a human body. The Fullness did not just dwell in the Lord Jesus, but did so bodily. In this context of false teaching, this is probably another statement that deals with the lie that the Lord was not really human, but only appeared to be so, because anything material was evil. The Fullness was not pleased to dwell in the Lord because he was not really human, but because he was human. In our day of the denial of the divinity of the Lord, we may be prone to forget about the importance of his humanity, but it is equally important. If he was not really human, he did not die for our sins and we are not saved. Since it was a man who sinned and brought about the fall, it must be a man who reverses that by not sinning and dying sinless for our sins, an unblemished Lamb. All the Fullness of the Deity is pleased to dwell in this sinless human body.

¹⁰and you are complete in him who is the Head of all rule and authority,

Since we have been made complete in him, we do not need the guidance of philosophers, the tradition of men, and the elementary principles of the world. We have

everything we need in Christ. We follow his word. Philosophers and so forth might appear very authoritative because of their dignity and worldly wisdom, but our Lord is the Head of all rule and authority. As Austin-Sparks puts it in various places, Christ is the answer to the problem. You have him. That is enough.

¹¹in whom also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands in the putting off of the body of the flesh, with the circumcision of Christ,

It is well known that there were Jewish believers in Christ who followed Paul around and told his converts that they must keep the law of Moses to be saved. Sometimes these Judaizers dogged his steps. That was one more battle he had to fight, and fight it he did. In Galatians and Philippians he uses rather graphic language to combat this lie. Phil. 3.2-3 reads, “Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the mutilation, for we are the circumcision, those worshipping God in spirit [or “the Spirit”] and boasting in Christ Jesus and not having put any confidence in flesh….” Gal, 5.12 says, “Would that those unsettling you would mutilate themselves.” (The word for “mutilate” can also mean “castrate”! It is different from the word “mutilation” in Phil. 3.2.)

Paul’s statement in v. 10 that his readers are complete in Christ is further explained here by his writing that they had already been circumcised – but with a circumcision not made with hands. It was a putting off of the flesh. Flesh in this connection is not the bit of flesh of physical circumcision, but flesh in its spiritual meaning, our self-centered nature, that in us which is opposed to God (Rom. 7.18). There must be the crucifixion of the flesh (Gal. 5.24).

It is very instructive to study this matter in the Old Testament. Lev. 26.51 mentions the “uncircumcised heart.” Dt. 10.16 reads, “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart and be stiff-necked no longer.” Dt. 30.6: “And I AM your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed, to love I AM your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live.” Jeremiah the prophets says in 4.4, “Circumcise yourselves to I AM and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem.” He adds in 9.25-26, “’Behold, the days come,’ says I AM, ‘that I will punish all those who are circumcised in uncircumcision…. All the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.” We see in all these references that there is a theme in the Old Testament, a theme that what really matters to God is the heart. He says in Prov. 23.26, “My son, give me your heart.” He called David “a man after his heart (Acts 13.22). Circumcision in the flesh was to be a sign of something internal, of the heart. Circumcision in the flesh without circumcision in the heart meant nothing to God. And Paul adds in Rom. 2.28-29, “For a Jew is not one outwardly, nor is circumcision

outward, in flesh, but a Jew is one in secret and circumcision is in spirit [or “the Spirit”], not in letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God.”

Christians have been circumcised, but it is a circumcision in the putting off of the body of the flesh, the circumcision of Christ, which is that putting off of the flesh nature. When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, he died not just for our sins, but for our sin nature, the flesh. That is really the deeper issue, for the sin nature is the cause of the sins.

¹²having been buried with him in the baptism, in which also you were raised up with him through the faith of the working of God, the one having raised him from the dead.

Paul teaches in Rom. 6 and Gal. 2.20 that we died in Christ when he died and were raised up with him when he was raised. It was the old man, the flesh, that died, and that which was raised was the new man, raised up in newness of life. As Gal. 2.20 says and as we will see in Col. 3.4, Christ is our life. That dying with Christ took care of the flesh problem in principle, and now we must live it out by faith. We still struggle with the flesh, but the victory has been won by the Lord Jesus, and as we are more and more conformed to his image, the more we see the reality of the crucifixion of the flesh. That new life is in us, and though we sometimes struggle with living it out, as we stand by faith in the Lord’s victory, we will see it more and more. This is all of the working of God. If he raised up his Son, he raised us up with him. God does not fail.

¹³And you being dead in the trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he raised you up with him,

Before all this we were dead in sin, in the trespasses we had committed and in the uncircumcision of our flesh, but God did raise us up with Christ,

having forgiven us all the trespasses,

so now we are forgiven and start out with a clean slate.

¹⁴having canceled out the certificate of debt in decrees against us which was opposed to us, and has taken it from the midst, having nailed it to the cross.

It is as though there were a certificate of debt that we owed for our sins, and that certificate consisted of decrees against us, much as a judge sentences a guilty person in court. Those decrees were against us, but by his death and resurrection the Lord Jesus

has taken it out from the midst. As we stand there before the judge, the certificate disappears. Why? Because our Lord nailed it to the cross. What a graphic picture of what he has done for us.

¹⁵Having stripped himself of the rulers and the authorities, he made a show of them openly, having triumphed over them in it.

We have heard already about the spiritual rulers and authorities under Satan, and that they had authority over us because of our sins. They also attacked the Lord Jesus, in the temptation at the beginning of his ministry, in the Garden of Gethsemane, at the cross, and who knows how much in between those events? Yet by his sinless death and resurrection, he stripped himself of these evil rulers and authorities, then made an open show of them in the spiritual realm. There are ancient drawings and sculptures that picture the Romans parading the Jewish Menorah, the golden lampstand from the temple, through Rome in victory after the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70. That is just what the Lord did. He made an open show of his defeated enemies. Because he triumphed over them in it, that is, the cross.

¹⁶Don’t let anyone judge you with regard to food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath, ¹⁷which are shadows of the things to come, but the body is of Christ.

Paul now continues with some of the false teachings that turned up in Colossae. “Don’t let anyone judge you with regard to food and drink….” There were some who said that it was right or wrong to eat or not eat certain things. Paul dealt with these matters in Rom. 14, 1 Cor. 8, and 1 Tim. 4. It would be helpful for one to review these chapters in this regard. Here he just writes that his readers should not let anyone judge them about the foods they eat. Or about a festival. There are not any festivals set out for the Christian to observe in the New Testament. It is neither right nor wrong about observing a festival unless it is evil in itself, such as observing a pagan holiday in honoring a false god. Or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are days that some say must be observed. There are no days set out in the New Testament that must be observed as holy days. We know that the early Christians met on the first day of the week, Sunday, for worship, but in reality some met virtually every day, as we see in Acts 2.46-47. I think most, if not all, Christians believe that Sunday should be observed, but I know of no command that we must do that. In Rev. 1.10 John writes of the Lord’s day and we take that to be Sunday, but does it say that? The Seventh Day Adventists believe Saturday must be observed as the Sabbath because that was the Jewish law (actually from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday). We are not under Jewish law. We are not under any law, except for civil law (Rom. 13.1-7, 1 Pt. 2.13-17), but grace.

Then Paul makes a peculiar statement: “… which are shadows of the things to come, but the body is of Christ.” Whatever does he mean? I think he is saying that all of these things were types in the Old Testament, given to foreshadow Christ, but when he comes we no longer need the types. We have the real thing. Christ is the body that casts the shadows, just as when we stand in the light we cast a shadow. We don’t need the shadows when we have the body that casts the shadows. In the Old Testament Christ cast the shadows, but only they, the types, were seen. He was not seen. But now he has been seen physically and is seen spiritually. This is much like a man who has a picture of the wife he loves, but he spends all his time with the picture, not with his wife. Why would he spend his time with a picture when he has the real thing! We have the Lord Jesus. Forget about all those rules! They have served their purpose, to lead us to Christ (Gal. 3.24).

¹⁸Don’t let anyone willfully rule against you with humility and worship of the angels, standing on things he has seen, puffed up in vain by the mind of his flesh,

The picture in this verse is of a competition in which a referee or judge willfully and unjustly rules against a competitor, or competitors, using his false humility to plead his case. His real purpose is to seduce the competitors into false religion, such as the worship of angels. Surely such a humble judge would not be attempting to seduce someone. Oh, but he is willfully using his pretense of humility to make himself look like a fair judge. Further, he tries to prove his worthiness to judge by standing on things he has seen – religious visions, perhaps, that he claims, as though his having seen visions qualifies him to judge. The devil can give false visions. In truth, instead of being humble, he is puffed up, proud, by the mind of his flesh (see Rom. 8.6-8). The flesh will always choose pride before real humility, but God resists the proud and gives grace to the truly humble (Prov. 3.34, Ja. 4.6, 1 Pt. 5.5).

It would seem that some of these false teachers believed that the Lord Jesus was lower in the spiritual hierarchy and that there were angels above him. Go over his head. Worship the angels. That is the way to the greatest blessings of God. There is no one over his head, except God the Father. Christ is supreme. Christ is preeminent, in first place. Angels are your servants (Heb. 1.14). Worship Christ, not them. They worship Christ!

¹⁹and not holding fast the Head,

And here is the real truth coming out. These people who pretend to speak for God are not holding fast to the Head, the Lord Jesus. Anything but the Lord Jesus. Worship

angels. Observe days and festivals. Eat and don’t eat certain foods. But not Jesus! Yes, Jesus. He is the Head, and he is the real prize giver to the competitors, not the false judge. The Lord Jesus will not rule against you falsely, but will render fair judgment.

from whom all the body, supplied and united through the joints and ligaments [lit. bonds], increases with the increase of God.

Now Paul says again that this Head is Head of the body, that is, the Head of the body, the church. And from this Head all the body, all the members, are supplied, and from him they are united, through the joints and ligaments, that which holds the body together, and with this supply from the Head the body increases with the increase of God. I take this increase to mean both an increase in numbers as more are saved, and an increase in spiritual growth and maturity.

²⁰If you died with Christ from the elementary principles of the world, why as living in the world do you obey rules and regulations, ²¹do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, ²²(which things are all for destruction in being used), according to the commandments and teachings of men?

In v. 4 of this chapter Paul brought up the matter of the possibility of the Colossians being deceived by persuasive, but false arguments, and he got into various false teachings that could lead them astray. He wrote of the elementary principles of the world. Now he brings this up again and ask his readers why, if they had died with Christ, would they follow these elementary principles, these ABC’s of the world. He has pointed out in vs. 12 and 13 that they had died with Christ and were buried with him in baptism. So why, as living in the world, do they obey rules and regulations? ‘Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch.” They are not under law, rules, regulations. They are free in grace. All these elemental things of the world are destined for destruction with the using. Why act according to the commandments and teachings of men?

²³Which things are a matter having a reputation of wisdom in will worship and humility and severe treatment of the body, not with any value with regard to the satisfaction of the flesh.

All of these things may have the reputation of wisdom in their worship – will worship, that is from the will of man and not from God, and may be the worship of angels of v. 18. This reputation of wisdom is supposed to be indicated by humility, but it is the same false humility of v. 18. Severe treatment of the body is supposed to show the sincerity of these false teachers. Surely anyone who would treat his body in such a way must be genuine. But no. Paul says that he bruised his body so as to keep it under his control so

that after preaching to others he would not himself be disqualified, but he did not go to the extremes of asceticism (1 Cor. 9.27). I have seen tape of people in some Catholic countries following the crucifix down the road in a parade while beating their own backs bloody with whips, what is called flagellation. They miss the whole point – Christ took the punishment for our sins. We do not have to be whipped for them. Our sins were of such magnitude that we could never in eternity be whipped enough to atone for them, and we are not qualified to atone for sin anyway, precisely because we are sinners. The one who atones must be an unblemished Lamb.

Furthermore, this severe treatment of the body may appear to be very religious, which it is, but we are not about religion, and it is of no value in the matter of satisfaction of the flesh. That is, we are not to satisfy the flesh, either with regard to morality or with regard to our flesh nature, but the way to victory is to recognize that we have died with Christ and he lives in us. He is our life. And he is victorious in every way. We trust him to live his victorious life in us. That severe treatment of the body is just self-effort and it will fail. Yes, we need to discipline ourselves, but even that is done in the recognition that our success in that is a matter of Christ living in us.

We come now to chapter 3, where Paul begins to spell out this matter of the life of Christ in us.

3. If therefore you have been raised with Christ, seek then the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your mind on the things above, not the things on the earth, ³for you died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ, our life, may be revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

We are all so very aware of the fact that the Lord Jesus died for our sins that we might be saved, and are so thankful for it, that we may not realize or may not take note of the fact that we also died with him and were raised up with him. Many thank the Lord for and tell of their salvation for a lifetime, but never really grow beyond new birth. But there is a life to be lived, as noted earlier. There are the deep things of God to be pursued (1 Cor. 2.10).

Paul starts with the fact that we have been raised with Christ. Keep in mind that this subject is coming after he has just written a good bit about false religions and other false teachings, and has said that all these things are of no value in the satisfaction of the flesh, that is, in our ability to deal victoriously with our own flesh. How do we overcome in this battle with the flesh, and with the allure of sin and the world and with the devil and his forces? We don’t need all these false things. The Lord Jesus is

adequate, all we need. Paul reminds us that we have been raised with Christ, and therefore we should seek “the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” He puts it in Rom. 8.5-6, “For those being according to flesh mind the things of the flesh, but those according to spirit [or the Spirit], the things of the Spirit. For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace.” If we set our minds on the things above, we are taking them off the things of the flesh and the world. That is one way to work for victory over the flesh.

Then Paul writes that we “died and [our] life has been hidden with Christ in God.” When Christ died we died with him in principle, and when he was raised up, we were raised up with him in principle. Paul writes many times that we are “in Christ.” I think it is Austin-Sparks who writes that we are judicially dead and raised up. Our lives are now spent in part with the Holy Spirit making this judicial death and life real in our experience. It becomes real when we claim it by faith and choose to walk in it. When those things of the flesh and the world attract us, we deliberately choose to set our minds on the things above, to seek what the Lord has for us. It is a battle, but our struggle is not with flesh and blood, but with spiritual evil, Satan and his forces. We win that battle by turning to the Lord, seeking the things above, claiming the victory already won by the Lord Jesus at the cross and in resurrection, and standing on that truth by faith.

I think it is worth noting that Paul writes that our lives are hidden “with Christ in God.” That would seem to be a rather safe place! With Christ would be enough. In God would be enough. With Christ in God is more than enough!

We may appear to be in anything but glory in this battle here on earth, and in the heavenlies, for the battle is really spiritual, but we have the assurance that when Christ, who is our life, is revealed, we will be revealed with him in glory. The victory that we may appear to be barely standing on will be open glory!

⁵Put to death therefore the members that are on the earth, immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the covetousness, which is idolatry, ⁶beause of which the anger of God comes [on the sons of disobedience], ⁷in which you also once walked when you were living in them.

Put to death these evil things. How? By recognizing the truth that Paul is setting forth. We have died with Christ. It is the old man, the flesh* who is full of these evil things, and we choose with Paul to put these things to death by recognizing by faith, trusting in what God says, that they have already been put to death in him on the cross. The anger

of God comes on those who do these things, the sons of disobedience. And all of us once walked in these things.

*The old man and the flesh: The old man is what we are or were in Adam, a fallen sinful man, and that is or was our nature. Austin-Sparks points that that all unsaved people are in Adam, a corporate man, just as all saved are in Christ, a corporate man (The Stewardship of the Mystery, Volume 1, chapter 4). The flesh seems to me to be very nearly the same thing. It is what we are apart from God, opposed to God, determined on our own way (see Rom. 7.18).

⁸But now you also put off all these things, anger, rage, malice, slander, shameful speech from your mouth. ⁹Do not lie to one another, having put off the old man with his deeds,

Paul now lists a few more evil things and tells the Colossians to, put off these things, because we have put off the old man. The old man is Adam when he had fallen into sin, and we were all in Adam, the first Adam, the first corporate man. When he fell we fell and came into a condition of enmity against God and desire for sin.

¹⁰and having put on the new, which is being renewed to full knowledge according to the image of the one having created him, ¹¹in which there are not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, foreigner, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all.

“[A]nd having put on the new man,” who is Christ, the new corporate man, the last Adam (1 Cor. 15.45), (see Rom. 13.14: “put on the Lord Jesus Christ”). The new man is Christ.* A new man is a man in Christ. This new man, this man newly in Christ, “is being renewed to full knowledge according to the image of the one having created him.” Who is the one having created him? God in Christ. Gen. 1.26-27 tells us that we are made in the image of God. Now as people who have fallen into sin and out of the image of God, we are being renewed, having the image of God restored in us. I do not pretend to know all that it means to be made in the image of God, but one thing is that we have spirits, that part of us that is able to communicate with God. Animals, like men, are living souls, but they do not have spirits (Gen. 1.20, 21, 24, and 30 say that the animals God created were “living souls”). We are also capable of some of the character of God, such as love, kindness, humility, and so forth. We may not think of God as humble, but he is not proud, and the Lord Jesus in the flesh was humble (Mat. 11.29). As we walk with the Lord and grow in him, his character grows in us.

*On this matter of the old man being Adam and the new man being Christ, see Austin-Sparks, The Stewardship of the Mystery, Volume 1, chapter 4, the first two sections, The Significance of the Term “Old Man” and The New Man.

In addition, Austin-Sparks has a book entitled What is Man? in which he deals at length with the Bible’s teaching that man is spirit, soul, and body. I will not go to lengths with this matter here, but just point out that one thing he writes is that the spirit is that part of man that is able to communicate with God, and the soul communicates with the outside world, but also with the spirit (see our comments on Col. 2.8 above and on Col. 3.10 just above). However, before the new birth (of the spirit, by the way), the human spirit is dead toward God, so there is no communication. Austin-Sparks indicates that the old man is the soul, the natural man, which is dominated by the flesh and by human reasoning, desire, and emotion, and the new man is the born-anew human spirit. We are to put off walking by our own lights, we might say, what we are naturally (in our souls), and put on the new man, walking by the enlightened human spirit that is in touch with the Holy Spirit (Chapter 4 of What Is Man? the last five or six pages). These two thoughts, that the old and new man are Adam and Christ, and that they are our soul and our spirit, are new to me and are, I think, worthy of a good bit of thought and prayer. What is Man? is not an easy book to read!

Man in Adam is divided, so divided that there are quarrels and fightings (Ja. 4.1), so divided that there are even wars in which many millions have been killed, lives just wasted. (I do not mean that men and women who have died for their countries have had their lives wasted in that sense, but in the sense that there should not be any war at all. How man Beethovens never wrote a note; how many Pasteurs never filled a test tube; how many Einsteins never developed an equation? Men and women like them slaughtered in war. What might they have done to the good of all?) One of the greatest features of the corporate Adam, the last Adam, the new man, is unity. All who are in Christ are one body with him (1 Cor. 12.12). There is no “Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, foreigner, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all.” We are, or can be, at peace and in unity, not just in our own hearts and minds, but with one another, with all others, as far as it depends on us (Rom. 12.18).

¹²Put on therefore as elect of God, holy and beloved, hearts [lit. bowels] of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, ¹³forbearing one another and forgiving each other if anyone have a complaint against anyone; also, as the Lord forgave you, so you, too, ¹⁴but above all these things love, which is the bond of perfection.

Having told us a number of things to put off because they are works of evil, of sin, and because we have put off the old man, and having told us that we have put on the new man, Paul now lists good things to put on. We are elect of God, chosen by God, to be his people, set apart for him and loved by him, and thus we must put on good character. I need not go into a discussion of all these characteristics. Let me just say that where the Greek says “bowels of compassion,” or of mercy, we see the ancient way of understanding emotions. The ancients did not know of glands that secrete fluids that affect our feelings, but they knew that feelings came from somewhere. How they settled on the bowels I do not know. Maybe it has to do with the fact that we often feel very strong emotions deep down in the “gut,” as we say. What is your gut feeling? Anyway, we know that it is not from our bowels, but from our glands. Yet in much the same way as the ancients assigned different bodily functions to different organs, we also consider the heart to be something entirely different from the organ that pumps blood. We see our deepest emotions and desires as in our hearts. We say our hearts are breaking. They are not. That would kill us. But that is how we see it and put it. So even though the Greek does not say “hearts of compassion,” I have translated it that way because that is the way we think of it. And I have put “bowels” in brackets to show what the literal translation is in keeping with my holding to literal translation for study of the Bible.

Of course, all of these qualities are of utmost importance, especially forgiveness and love. Love is the bond of perfection, which I take to mean the perfect bond, that which above all else maintains unity among us.

¹⁵And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful.

Paul has told us in chapter 2 on the negative side not to let anyone take us captive by philosophy (v. 8), or to judge us regarding days, foods, and so forth (v. 16), or to rule against us for the prize of life (v. 18). Now he tells us on the positive side to “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” What does it mean for the peace of Christ to rule in your hearts? Several years ago we had Bro. Dale Linebaugh to speak in our fellowship. One of his messages had to do with just this question. He said that you can tell whether or not you are in the will of God by your peace. Do you have perfect peace about a matter? Then you are in the will of God. Do you not have perfect peace? Then wait until there is peace, about this or some other matter. Let the peace rule.

We were called to peace ruling in our hearts in one body. I take that to mean that we are to submit our thoughts to the body of Christ, to those with whom we worship and fellowship, and seek their prayer about a matter. If there is not peace in the body, that raises a question. I cannot say that a person should not do something if the body does

not have peace. If a person still has perfect peace in himself despite the lack of peace of the church, he may believe that he must go on with it in obedience to God. But the response of the body is a safeguard and must not be lightly ignored.

Paul calls for thankfulness again. If we have peace in our hearts and the body shares peace, we have great reason for thanksgiving. We have all known what it means not to have peace, and we have probably all known what it means for the church not to have peace. It is unpleasant at least. When there is peace, be thankful. Be very thankful. Is. 26.3 is a good verse to consider in this matter of peace. In the matter at hand, is your mind stayed on what you want? On the Lord?

¹⁶Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly;

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” What happens when the word of God dwells in one richly? We are told in Mk. 4.14 that the seed sown in the parable of the sower is the word: “The sower sows the word.” So – the word of God is a seed. Then we read in 1 Pt. 1.23, “… having been born again, not by perishable seed, but by imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.” We see that this seed of the word is imperishable and that it is the agent of our new birth. Just as with the parable of the sower with the seed being sown on good soil, the seed sprouts and produces a crop – new birth. It is by the word of God that we are born again.

Ja. 1.21 says, “… in humility receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” The word of Christ not only brings about the new birth, but also the salvation of the soul. The salvation of the soul is not the new birth. The new birth has to do with the human spirit coming alive from the dead at the entrance of the Holy Spirit when a lost person is first converted or turns (“convert” and “turn” mean the same thing) to God. This is initial salvation. The word “soul” is psyche in Greek, from which we get our word “psychology.” The soul is the psychological aspect of the person, his mental makeup, his emotional state, and his will. All of us have been damaged in our souls to some extent by our own sins, by the sins of others against us, by abuse, and so forth. Peter tells us in his first epistle 2.11 “to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.” This is one way we damage our own souls. Satan is a master at soul damage. The salvation of the soul is the lifelong process by which the Lord works to mend our damaged souls (the Greek word for “mending” nets in Mt. 4.21 is the same as the word for “restore” in Gal. 6.1. That is, the saved one who sins in Gal. 6.1 is to be mended by his brothers and sisters). In 1 Pt. 1.5 we read of “a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time.” That is, there is a salvation that we have not yet fully received. The salvation of our souls has begun, but it will completed only at the end of this age. That is the

salvation of the soul. See also 1 Pt. 5.9, receiving the salvation of the soul as the outcome of a life of faith.

It is not so relevant here, but I will point out that the salvation of our bodies, though that phrase does not occur in Scripture, will occur at the resurrection of the dead, or at the instantaneous changing of our corruptible bodies in to incorruptible spiritual bodies at the coming of the Lord (Rom. 8.23 – “the redemption of the body” – 1 Cor. 15.51-53, Phil. 3.21, 1 Thess. 4.15-17).

That is what takes place when a person is indwelt by the word of Christ richly. Wow! in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another;

Recall that in 1.28 Paul wrote of “admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom.” Here he reverses the word order, but whereas he was doing the teaching and admonishing there, here he tells the Colossians to do the admonishing and teaching. If they have taken to heart what he has written in this letter, they should be able to do just that.

with psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing with thanksgiving in your hearts to God.

If the peace of Christ rules in your hearts and the word of Christ dwells in you richly, with what that produces, it is in order to sing in your hearts to God, with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and to do so with thanksgiving. Probably the “in your hearts” should go with both the thanksgiving and with singing to God. One of God’s great blessings to us is music. How wonderful it is to sing with great joy to the Lord, worshiping and praising and thanking him for who he is to us and what he has done for us. And take that phrase “to God” to heart. Many of our songs and hymns sing about God, and there is nothing wrong with that, but oh, how sweet it is to sing to the Lord. I believe it is sweet to him, too. Indeed, we are told numerous times in the Psalms and elsewhere to sing to the Lord, and he inspired those instructions!

¹⁷And everything, whatever you do in word or in deed, do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God, Father, through him.

If you cannot do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, don’t do it. Is that simple enough? I hate to bring up such a subject here, but it is timely. In our day, immorality among Christians is common. The attempt to justify it is common. Heb. 13.4 says, “… fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” There is no justification. My question to

these people is, Can you commit fornication or adultery in the name of the Lord Jesus? Whatever you do, do it in the name of the Lord, and do it with thanksgiving to God through him. And Paul adds “Father.” Would you commit fornication or adultery in front of your father? Your heavenly Father?

¹⁸The wives, be submitted to the husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. ¹⁹The husbands, love the wives and don’t be embittered against them.

Now Paul gives instruction to wives, husbands, children, fathers, slaves, and slave masters, as he does in Ephesians 5.21-6.9. This is one touchy subject in these days of feminism, women’s rights, and so forth. Let me begin by saying that the corresponding passage in Ephesians begins thus: “… submitting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ.” Indulge me a bit of grammar. Eph. 21, just quoted, continues a passage in which Paul gives instructions to the church, to all, men and women. The phrase “submitting yourselves in the fear of Christ…,” is in the plural: all of you submit to one another, women to men, men to women, women to women, men to men. The point is that the basis of Paul’s instructions is that all Christians are obviously to be submitted to Christ, but also to one another. There is a submissiveness to one another in the church that precludes some lording it over others. The Lord does put some in positions of responsibility, but they are not dictators. They have a stewardship to carry out, not a position to be proud of and to use to get their own way, and they are accountable to God for their stewardship (1 Cor. 4.1-2). It is in this spirit that Paul writes in Ephesians, “submitting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ,” and this phrase should be kept in mind in Col. 3.18, as though Paul had written there, “… submitting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ, the wives to the husbands and the husbands to the wives.” There must be a mutual submission to one another in Christ before there is a submission of the wives to the husbands. A wife submitted to Christ will submit herself to her husband as the head of the family so appointed by the Lord, and the husband submitted to Christ will love his wife and not mistreat her or be embittered against her. Indeed, she is a helper to him, as Gen. 2.18 says. He is to see her as his “right hand woman,” his advisor and helper in all that he does, and to regard her very highly in this role, for the wives have intuitions and sensibilities that husbands do not have. She is needed, and not just to satisfy the man and take care of the house and the children, but to help him do what God has commanded him to do. He cannot do it properly otherwise.

So, wives, you are commanded by God to submit yourselves to him, the Lord, and to your husbands, but, husbands, you are commanded by God to submit yourself in the Lord to her first, and then to love her. And I would suggest that the husbands read 1 Cor. 13 before going any further with my poor words here.

The battles in the streets we see about women’s rights, or anyone’s rights, have their place in the world. Our nation was founded on revolution, demanding our rights before the king of England. The Declaration of Independence is a demand for rights. And I believe God was in all that, founding this country for his purposes, and blessing it beyond imagination. But when women demand their right to be an ordained minister in a church, at the least that raises questions. I will say no more.

²⁰The children, obey the parents in all things, for this is pleasing in the Lord. ²¹The fathers, do not provoke your children, that they not become passionless.

Children are to obey their parents for more than one reason. The first is, God says to, right here in Col. 3.20, and elsewhere. Then, because they don’t know anything at first, and then only a little as time goes by, and they need to learn from their parents so they will know how to live life. And because authority is necessary in any society; otherwise there is anarchy. If the anarchists had their way, no one would be safe. If there is no authority, then anyone could come into your house and kill you and your family and take over the house. Of course, someone would try to retaliate and the one who took your house would not be safe. There must be authority, and it begins with children obeying their parents, and then transferring that obedience to teachers, the police, the government, and others (Rom. 13.1-7, 1 Pt. 2.13-17).

The fathers also have a responsibility to their children, just as they do to their wives. Your children are not your slaves. They are a stewardship from God. I have long had the belief that an overbearing parent can take the passion out of a child. Recently I read something that I think expresses this better than I could:

Provoke. ἐρεθίζω [the Greek word]: irritate by exacting commands and perpetual faultfinding and interference for interference’ sake. The consequence of such foolish exercise of authority is that the child becomes discouraged; in other words, his spirit is broken, and since what he does leads to constant blame, he loses hope of ever being able to please. “Fractus animus pestis juventutis” (Beng.). “A broken spirit is the pest of youth” (Johann Albrect Bengel, an 18^th century Lutheran clergyman and Greek scholar who issued an edition of the Greek New Testament and wrote commentaries on it.) (W. Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor’s Greek Testament, p, 542).

We often ask someone what his passion is, or say, “My passion is….” A child who has been made passionless may have difficulty navigating through life, finding direction, and such. It is interesting that Paul does not give any positive direction, just this

negative. But in Eph. 6.4 he says to “raise them in the discipline and admonition of the Lord.” Take it to heart, fathers. Produce children with the right kind of passion by the right balance of praise and discipline. The Greek word for “admonition” used in Eph. 6.4 is the same word that Paul uses in Col. 1.28 and 3.16.

It is also interesting that Paul was a man of great passion, first for the traditions of his fathers, to the point of persecuting Christians even unto death, but then, for the Lord Jesus Christ. May we all have that passion.

I realize that what I have written about these family relationships is the ideal and that many who may read these words live in less than ideal situations. This is obviously not a place where I can give personal counsel, but I would say that each one of us in such situations should first of all make sure that we are right before the Lord ourselves in these relationships, and then, if things persist, seek the counsel of godly, mature men or women. There is help available. Be much in prayer and ask the Lord to lead you to the right place.

²²The slaves, obey in all things the lords according to the flesh, not with eyeservice as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.

Keep in mind that in our society we are not slaves, of course, though we may feel like it sometimes (!), but what is said here applies to us in whatever work or service we do. Slaves are to obey their human lords, or masters, as we would say, not just when someone is looking so as to please men, but in sincerity, to please the Lord, fearing the Lord. The fear of the Lord is not terror, as though God were a harsh taskmaster who is just hoping someone will do something wrong so he can punish him. It is the realization that God is the final Judge and of what he can do by way of judgment, but knowing him, we love him and desire to please him. The slave’s, or anyone’s, real obligation is to the Lord, not to man, but we must do right by man to please God. Sincerity means genuinely trying to please one’s master, or employer. If it is not sincere it is not genuine. It takes the sincerity to please God. He knows the heart.

²³Whatever you do, work from the soul, as to the Lord and not men, ²⁴knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Again, the slave is to work as to the Lord, and here Paul says to do it from the soul. Since the soul consists of mind, emotions, and will, I would think the will would be the primary factor: do it with genuine good will. Don’t be like the little boy who was obeying outwardly, but disobeying inwardly, standing in the corner outwardly, but

sitting inwardly. Throw your will into it. And I think you would also want to apply your mind so as to do your best. And don’t have grumpy or hateful emotions, but work cheerfully, thankful that you have work to do and are able to do it. The slave worked for his keep and we are working for the reward of a paycheck here and now, but we have the reward of the inheritance from God in the coming kingdom if we qualify (see 1.12). Even in our earthly work for a living we are serving the Lord Christ: do it with all your heart and soul.

²⁵For the one doing wrong will receive the wrong that he did, and there is no partiality.

I believe, in context, that this statement applies not to our earthly punishment, but to the kingdom, before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5.10). We can be saved and lose our reward.

4. The lords, the just and the fair give to the slaves, knowing that you also have a Lord in Heaven.

Slave masters are commanded to give what is just and fair to the slaves. Slaves are not paid for their labor, but they have to be fed and housed and treated in one way or another. When deciding how to deal with these matters, the master is to keep in mind that he, too, has a Lord – in Heaven, and he is accountable to him for how he treats those under his authority.

In all these matters concerning slaves, don’t forget the culture in which these instructions were given. There is no justification for slavery, but it still exists in our world.

It is of interest to me that in these instructions, Paul writes one sentence to wives, one to husbands, one to children, one to fathers, one to masters, and four to slaves. Why? Possibly because slaves were in the worst position of all and had the greatest reasons for hatred, resentment, bitterness, and so on, so perhaps they needed the most encouragement to do what was right before God.

²Devote yourselves to prayer, staying alert in it with thanksgiving,

Paul began this epistle with prayer in 1.3 and 9, and now he returns to prayer as he is nearing its end. He tells his readers to devote themselves to prayer. Prayer is not just, “Lord, bless so and so. InJesus’nameamen,” as if the close were one quick word. The call to devotion shows its importance, and the instruction, “staying alert,” indicates that

there are matters that we must keep ever before us. Yes, we must sleep, but we need to stay awake spiritually. Just as a military guard must stay awake so as to protect his fellows and his country’s interests, we must stay awake. Satan is always prowling around seeking someone to devour (1 Pt. 5.8). Stay on the alert.

Once again Paul stresses thanksgiving, as he did in 1.3 and 12, 2.7, and 3.15 and 17. As we devote ourselves to prayer and keep ourselves awake, let us remember to be thankful to God, to whom we owe everything. Gratitude is so important, and the Lord is most deserving of all.

³at the same time praying also for us that God would open for us a door of the word, that we may speak the mystery of Christ, because of which I am in bonds, ⁴that I may make it clear as I ought to speak.

Paul of all people knew the importance of prayer, for he was in constant conflict with the forces of evil, so he asks for prayer for himself and his companions that God might open a door for the word, the good news of the Lord Jesus and of his kingdom, and especially that they may speak the mystery of Christ. We have seen the mystery in 1.26-27: “Christ in you the hope of glory;” and in 2.2: “the mystery of God, Christ. Christ himself, in 2.2, is the mystery of mysteries, but also as “in you, the hope of glory.” Now in 4.3 Paul asks for prayer to be able to preach the mystery of Christ, to make know God’s secret, now revealed. He adds the statement, “for which I am in bonds.” His preaching of the good news has landed him in prison, but he asks for prayer to go right on preaching it. When he adds, “that I may make it clear as I ought to speak,” perhaps he meant that he wanted to speak as he should in the prison environment. How do I preach it here? Or possibly he hoped for the prison door to be opened that he might go on from there preaching the word, making known the mystery of Christ.

⁵Walk in wisdom to those outside, buying out the opportunity, ⁶your word being always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how to answer each one.

It takes wisdom to know how to relate to those outside the church, outside the Lord, so that they may be won to the Lord. Contact with them is an opportunity to share Christ. Don’t waste the opportunity, but buy it out. We might think of buying out as one partner in a business buying out the other, but in this context it may be that Paul means buying the lost person out from Satan’s authority (see 1.13). Helpful in doing this is making sure that one’s word is always with grace, or we might say, graciousness, and seasoned with salt, making it palatable to the one outside rather than offending. As one follows these directions he can count on the Lord to help him know how he may answer each one. Different people to whom he may speak will probably need to be spoken to

differently. People have different personalities, experiences, problems, questions. Sharing the Lord is not a “one size fits all” proposition, but a seeking to make the good news relevant to each one: “that you may know how to answer each one.”

⁷All the matters with me Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow slave in the Lord, will make known to you, ⁸whom I sent to you for this very thing, that he might make known to you the matters concerning us and that your hearts might be comforted, ⁹with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is of you. He will make known to you all the matters here.

Paul had good relationships with many of the churches he had helped to bring into being and there was the Lord’s love between them. Many would want to know what was happening with Paul and how he was doing. He had sent Tychicus and Onesimus to Colossae to take all the news of Paul and his work. We encounter Tychicus in Acts 20.4, where he was traveling with Paul and others to Jerusalem with the offering from the churches that Paul had been raising for the poor brothers and sisters there, and we learn that he was from Asia, that is, what we would call Asia Minor, or Turkey today, and he may have been from Ephesus. In Eph. 6.21 he will go to Ephesus to make known Paul’s situation. It seems very like that this was the same trip on which he would go to Colossae, about 120 miles from Ephesus. In 2 Tim. 4.12 Paul writes that he has sent Tychicus to Ephesus. This might well have been the same trip. He is mentioned once more, in Ti. 3.12, but there is not enough information there to know any details. Paul calls Tychicus a “beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow shave in the Lord.” This shows the close relationship between the two and the dependability of Tychicus. In addition to information, Paul wants the hearts of the Colossians to be comforted. Onesimus, another faithful and beloved brother, accompanied him. Onesimus was from Colossae, whether by birth or by residence we do not know, and he was the slave we read of in Philemon who ran away from his master and was brought to the Lord by Paul. Paul wanted to keep him as a helper, but felt that he was obligated to send him back to his master, with the request that Philemon allow him to return to Paul. We are not told the outcome of the story, but read Philemon.

¹⁰Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you,

Paul sends the greetings of Aristarchus to the Colossians. We read of him in Acts 19.29 that he was Paul’s traveling companion and that he was dragged into the theater during the riot in Ephesus. Then he is with Tychicus in Acts 20.4 as part of the group traveling to Jerusalem with Paul. In Acts 27.4 he left with Paul at the beginning of his journey to Rome as a prisoner. We hear of him in Phm. 24 as he sends greetings to the Colossians

in Paul’s letter to Philemon. Paul calls him a fellow prisoner. Nothing else is known of him.

and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions; if he come to you receive him),

Mark is thought to be the young man who traveled with Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey in Acts 13, but turned back. Then when they were about to set out on a second trip in Acts 15, Barnabas wanted to take him along, but Paul refused so that the two split up and Paul went out with Silas. Now we hear that Mark is back in Paul’s good graces. Probably he was very young at the first trip, but had matured by this time and was serving the Lord. Paul sends Mark’s greetings and tells the Colossians to receive him if he comes. And Mark is thought to be the one who wrote The Good News According to Mark.

¹¹and Jesus, called Justus.

We know nothing more of this man other than what is told here.

These alone, being of the circumcision, are fellow workers for the kingdom of God, having become an encouragement to me.

Apparently Paul means that these are the only Jews who were his fellow workers for the kingdom of God. Of course, when Paul preached in the synagogues he was mostly rejected, and even some Jewish Christians opposed him, the Judaizers who followed Paul and tried to get his converts to accept the Jewish law. His fellow workers for the kingdom became an encouragement to him. At least there were some Jews who became Christians without bringing the law along with them.

¹²Epaphras, who is of you, greets you, a slave of Christ Jesus, always striving for you in the prayers, that you may stand complete and fully assured in all the will of God. ¹³For I bear him witness that he has much labor for you and those in Laodicea and those in Hierapolis.

Another one from Colossae, Epaphras, sends his greetings, and Paul says of him that he strives for them in prayer (an example of devoting himself to prayer, as seen in v. 2 above). His prayer is that they may “stand complete and fully assured in all the will of God.” Again we see there is a lifetime of growth beyond the new birth. And think of how blessed it is to be fully assured in the will of God, rather than always wondering if one is in the will of God or not. Paul bears Epaphras witness that he labors, presumably

in prayer, for the Colossians and also for the Laodiceans and those in Hierapolis. Laodicea and Hierapolis were two towns a bit north of Colossae. These three would have been sister churches.

¹⁴Luke the beloved physician greets you, and Demas.

Another greeting is sent via Paul’s letter, that of Luke. Here he is called the beloved physician. He is mentioned in 2 Tim. 4.11, where Paul writes simply, “Luke alone is with me.” Phm. 24 also contains Luke’s greeting. These are the only mentions of Luke in the Bible. He is accepted as the author of the Good News According to Luke and the Acts. He never states his own name in either of these works, but in Acts 16.10 the narrative changes from third person, when Luke would write, “They went through,” to first person: “We sought.” This is where we first meet Luke, and there are more “We’s” right up to the last chapter in 28.16, when Paul and his party, including Luke, entered Rome. Paul suffered from some ailment (Gal. 4.13) and it is possible that he joined Paul to treat him and traveled with him after that, but this is not known with certainty.

Demas also sends his greeting, as he did in Phm. 24, but in 2 Tim. 4.10, Paul writes, “Demas has forsaken me, having loved the present age….” Was this the same Demas? It would appear so, but we do not know.

¹⁵Greet the brothers in Laodicea, and Nympha and the church in her house.

Now Paul sends greetings of his own, first to the Laodicean church. As noted just above, Laodicea was about ten miles NW of Colossae. Paul also greets Nympha and the church in her house. Many of the early local churches were small groups who met in homes. A number of the ancient Greek manuscripts read “his house,“ so Nymphan (as it is in Greek) could have been a man or a woman, but some even read, “their house,” remarkable because the grammar would be incorrect (Nymphan is singular and “their” is plural).

¹⁶And when the epistle has been read among you see that it is also read in the church in Laodicea, and the one from Laodicea, that you also read it.

Evidently Paul also wrote a letter to the Laodicean church because he gives the Colossians instructions to see to it that when the letter to Colossae had been read there, it should also be read in the Laodicean church, and that the Colossians should also read the letter that went to Laodicea. The Greek says, “the one from Laodicea,” so I suppose one could argue that this letter was written by the Laodicean church to someone, but it seems highly likely, obvious really, that Paul meant his letter that went to Laodicea,

which would then be going from Laodicea to Colossae. Wouldn’t we love to have that letter today? For whatever reason the Lord did not see fit to preserve it.

¹⁷And say to Archippus, “See to the ministry that you received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.”

Archippus was a part of the church in Colossae, as we learn in Phm. 2. Remember that Philemon lived in Colossae, so that was the destination of Paul’s epistles to him and, obviously, the Colossians. We know nothing else of Archippus except that his name means “master of horses” (as “Philippians” means “lover of horses”), and what Paul gives instructions to say to him in this letter: “See to the ministry that you received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.” Apparently Archippus had been gifted by the Lord to carry out some ministry, but he was hesitant to do so. For what reason we do not know. Paul exhorts him to do so.

¹⁸The greeting in my hand of Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace be with you.

Paul gives similar greetings in his own hand in 1 Cor. 16.21, Gal. 6.11, 2 Thess. 3.17, and Phm. 19. Most if not all of Paul’s letters were probably written by someone else at his dictation. We see this in Rom. 16.22.

“Remember my bonds.” Paul writes from prison, as he did with Ephesians, Philippians, Philemon, and 2 Timothy. From the standpoint of the world Paul was a prisoner of Rome, but from his own standpoint he was the prisoner of Christ (Eph. 3.1, 4.1, 2 Tim. 1.8, Phm. 1, 9, and 23). He knew that nothing comes into the life of the Christian except by the Lord’s action or permission, and that he has purpose in everything. Yet he wants his readers to be aware of his situation, not to forget it. As anyone would, he needed prayer and fellowship and encouragement in such conditions. Paul could be very tough, but here is a tender moment of the aged apostle.

He ends where he began, with grace. Is that not true of our lives in the Lord, grace from beginning to end. We would never come to Lord without his grace. We would not make through life in victory without grace. We would not end this life in victory without grace. Thanks be to God for his wonderful, abundant grace. Amen.

Copyright © 2019 by Tom Adcox. All rights reserved. You may share this work with others, provided you do not alter it and do not sell it or use it for any commercial purpose. “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10.8). Also you must include this notice if you share it or any part of it.

Old Testament quotations are my update of the American Standard Version. New Testament translations are my own unless otherwise noted.

in one sense probably comes in the realization that the Lord Jesus is eternal God, and he is also the Creator. Jn. 1.3 says that “all things became through him and without him nothing became that has become,” (“Become” is an important word in John, referring to that which was not and came into being, became, as opposed to that which is uncreated, God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who never became, but always was, and is, and will be.) The Lord Jesus is the Creator. When he became a man, he identified himself with the creation. Even though many men, and women, had been born before him, became, he is nonetheless the first of all creation because he existed before any of them and never became. He did become a man, but he himself as a living being is eternal and never became. Perhaps I am confusing you and myself, but it seems to me that the answer is partially along this line of identification. It is like his baptism. The Lord Jesus did not need John’s baptism, a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, but he identified with the sinners who did need it, and for whom he would become sin (2 Cor. 5.21), and incidentally, by his baptism he showed that he would die and be raised up from the dead, for that is what baptism pictures, going down into the watery grave and being raised up to newness of life.

I say that this is partially the answer. In addition to identifying with mankind by becoming a man (there is that word “become”: John does say that “the word became flesh,” 1.14), he actually joined the creation by taking on real human flesh, a real human body. The Lord Jesus was not a created being, but is eternal, but I would say that his body was created. Flesh is a created substance. He was “born of a woman” (Gal. 4.4). He was not a god who popped out of the air or even out of a woman. He was a real human whom was conceived in her womb and born from it, just as you and I were. Phil. 2.7-8, reads, “… he emptied himself, taking a slave’s form, becoming (!) in men’s likeness, and being found in appearance as a man….” These three words, form, likeness, and appearance, show what the Lord looked like to other people, and the word “form” “… is therefore properly the nature or essence, not in the abstract, but as actually subsisting in the individual…” (Edwin Gifford, The Incarnation, in W.E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, p. 123). That is, the Lord’s form as a man was real flesh, created flesh. In that since the Lord Jesus, though not a created being in his person, joined the creation, and by virtue of the high standing of his destiny, yet to be at the time of his birth, he was and is the firstborn of all creation. He was born to be the last Adam, the last Man, who would incorporate in himself all who come to him by faith, with himself as the Head, the firstborn in the legal sense (see next paragraph) of all creation.

Copyright © 2021 by Tom Adcox. All rights reserved. You may share this work with others, provided you do not alter it and do not sell it or use it for any commercial purpose. “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10.8). Also you must include this notice if you share it or any part of it.

Scripture quotations from the Old Testament are the author’s updates of the American Standard Version. Quotations from the New Testament are the author’s translations.

The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Colossians

Blogs