The Letter to the Colossians

EPAPHRAS HAS TOLD ME ABOUT YOU  Read Colossians 1:1-8

   Paul opens his inspiring letter to the Christians of Colossae with the salutation grace and peace which has become so familiar in nineteen hundred years of church correspondence. I have heard Epaphras and others [Paul says] describe the growing fruitfulness of your faith and the love you have held for the Christian fellowship ever since the gospel of God's grace was first preached in Colossae.

REDEEMED BY THE SON OF HIS LOVE  Read 1:9-14

   We pray every day for your continued growth in spiritual understanding. We ask God to make you fruitful in your tasks, and strong enough to endure — or rather to take with joy — the suffering that comes your way. Nor do I forget to thank God for making us competent to take our places in the great Christian heritage, and for delivering us from the dark authority [Satan] into the kingdom of the Son of his love.

HE HAS PREEMINENCE IN EVERYTHING  Read 1:15-23

   Christ really antedates all creation, and with the Father was co-creator of the whole universe, visible and invisible. Christ holds everything together. He was made head of the church as well as the firstborn from the dead, so that in everything he might have the preeminence. Furthermore, all things were reconciled to God by him through the blood of his cross — even you Colossians! No matter what your past may have been, if you continue in the faith Christ will present you forgiven and holy before his Father.

THE NATURE OF PAUL'S MINISTRY  Read 1:24-29

   My own sufferings are nothing. I am merely a servant in the economy of God, filling up the cup of what is left of our Lord's sufferings in behalf of his body, the church. My particular function as an apostle is to reveal to the nations outside of Palestine, by my preaching and teaching and admonition, the secret of God's great, long-concealed mystery. That secret, my friends, is nothing less than Christ in you, the hope of glory. In the same way, as I go about my work, Christ works powerfully in me.

YOU NEED TO BE SET STRAIGHT  Read 2:1-7

   Frankly, I am in an agony of mind over you and the Christians of Laodicea. You need a lot of encouragement, and you need to be knit together in love. More than that, you need to be set straight about the divine mysteries: about God and Christ. There are too many fast talkers in this business.

   I am happy, of course, about the firmness of your faith in Christ. I want you to stay rooted and built up in him, and to walk in him as you have received him.

YOU ARE COMPLETE IN CHRIST  Read 2:8-10

   Look out for the man who tries to get at you through "philosophy" and airy speculation, or by appealing to the crude, elemental instincts of men. You don't need their "line"; you are complete in Christ, for he is the fulness of the Godhead.

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NOT YOUR SKIN, BUT YOUR SIN  Read 2:11-15

   When Christ circumcises you, he cuts off not your skin but your sin! You are buried with him in baptism, and the same God who raised Jesus from the dead has raised you. You were once dead in your sins, but he brought you to life and forgave you and us. The regulations of the law were nailed to the cross, ripped with Christ's body, and triumphantly destroyed with his death.

JUST IGNORE THESE PEOPLE  Read 2:16-23

   So you don't have to take a thing from people who try to criticize you for your diet ("Mustn't eat this, mustn't touch that!") or for ignoring the religious calendar. Neither do you have to listen to those stuffy ascetics who insist on cumbering heaven and earth with the worship of secondary religious figures — angels, and so on. Why should you listen? These are the commandments and doctrines of men. With Christ you are dead to it all.

FIX YOUR MIND ON GODLY THINGS  Read 3:1-11

   Since you were raised with Christ, and your life is now hid with him in God, set your mind on godly things — on the glory of Christ . . . our life. Kill the earthy instincts, that old behavior (anger, foul language, pretentious speech). You have now stripped off the old man and have put on the new, who knows no distinctions of status or culture or race, but for whom Christ is all in all.

SET YOUR HEARTS TO MUSIC  Read 3:12-17

   Clothe yourselves with kindness, humility, mutual forbearance, love; even as Christ forgave you, so you do likewise. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, putting spiritual music into your hearts, so that whatever you do is done thankfully and in the name of the Lord Jesus.

ABOUT PERSONAL RELATIONS  Read 3:18-4:1

   It is the Lord's will that wives be submissive to their husbands; that husbands love their wives and not turn bitter toward them;

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that children be obedient; that fathers not antagonize their children. If you work for someone, don't just make a pretense or "showing"; put your heart into it. You are really working for the Lord Christ, not for men; and God plays no favorites. Masters, be just and fair; remember you have a Master too.

GRACE AND SALT IN YOUR WITNESS  Read 4:2-6

   Keep praying for us. Ask God to open a door of witness here for the word and to make me able to proclaim it. As for your own witness, keep it gracious — and salted.

SOME PERSONAL GREETINGS  Read 4:7-15

   I am sending Tychicus to you to buoy you up. He and Onesimus will let you know just how things are here. Aristarchus (who is in jail with me) and Mark and Justus send greetings. If Mark should reach you, give him a hearty welcome. Epaphras sends his best to you. He has worked very hard for you and for the churches of Laodicea and Hierapolis. Luke, our much-beloved doctor, and Demas also greet you.

HOW TO READ THIS LETTER  Read 4:16-18

   See that this letter is read to the Christians at Laodicea, and read the one I sent them. Archippus, you have a task to perform in the Lord: get busy! Remember me in chains. Grace be with you.

   Like the letter to the Ephesians, this heartwarming missive testifies to the supreme position of Jesus Christ in the entire created universe. In doing so, it makes two unique points in 1:13 and 2:14,15. Both concern the victory of Christ over the demonic forces that plague and menace the human race.

   This is not an easy subject to understand, but a good way to introduce it in a Bible discussion group would be to ask, "Do you ever feel that outside forces are ganging up on you?" Then, with the use of three or four translations, work slowly through the

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two above references. You will discover new meaning and depth to the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

   The third chapter of Colossians is one of the most powerful in Scripture. It was read daily by members of the Billy Graham Team during the 1959 Australia-New Zealand crusade. It is worth memorizing in its entirety. Nowhere is Christian living so simply yet so grippingly set forth.

   Here, as in other letters of Paul, are strictures against false teachers (2:8-23). Paul never hesitated to grapple with the problems confronting the churches. The Colossian church had its peculiar gnostic tendencies and its legalists. Because the apostle applied himself to very real issues, his observations are still useful and helpful today.

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