Colossians Series
Chapter One
Verses One Through Two
Verse One. Paul is the writer. He refers to himself as “an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.” Acts 26:13-18 Paul was personally commissioned by Jesus Christ as were each of the apostles. There are no apostles today, because Jesus Himself personally in bodily form commissioned each of the apostles. Notice that prior to Paul being commissioned he wasn’t even a Christian. He was saved and immediately given a duty. As Christians when we are saved we have duties too. We may not have the duty to be an apostle, but we do have some duty. Paul states in verse 19 of Acts 26, that he was not disobedient to his call. We should ask ourselves about the call God has for each of us, are we being obedient to God’s call for us?
Not only was Paul an apostle, but he was chosen by God. Paul was on the road to Damascus to persecute Christians when God blinded him. Paul wasn’t looking to be saved, because he thought that he already was. After all he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. Paul was more zealous in his religion than his counterparts. But fervor and being zealous do not save. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ saves. Ephesians 2:8,9 Paul was saved not from him searching out God, but by God searching out him. The conversion of Paul shows the Sovereignty of God, that salvation hinges on God and not man. Romans 8:28,29; Ephesians 1:4; John 15:16; II Thessalonians 2:13,14; I Timothy 1:9; I Thessalonians 1:4; Revelations 13:8; Colossians 3:12; II Peter 1:5-11; Romans 9:11-13,16 Of these verses which all show that God chose us to salvation the one that I think really drives home the reason why is John 15:16. We are chosen to bear fruit. Paul was obedient to his calling. Paul bore fruit by doing exactly what God had told him to do. We too as Christians are called to bear fruit. God does not call us to be pew stuck Christians or as Pastor Pete Rivera says ‘Bench Warmers’. God calls us to bear fruit. Works do not produce faith, but our faith will produce works. Even as we are saved by the will of God, we must be obedient to Him after we are saved. Paul obeyed God and saw many people come to know the Lord. Paul, also, suffered for the cause of Christ. He laid down his will for the will of God. We need to lay down our all at the foot of the cross.
Paul in his obedience wrote this Epistle from the confines of Roman imprisonment. Even though he was in jail for the cause of Christ, he continued to serve. He did not let problems deter his service to God. Paul persevered and encouraged others even though he was in jail. Paul wrote this letter to encourage the Christians at Colosse to be strong and resist those who were teaching false doctrines.
Verse Two This Epistle is addressed “to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse”. As Christians we are to be faithful. Hebrews 11 tells of person after person who in the Bible were counted as being faithful. They were of all backgrounds and were human even as we are, but they trusted God to do what He said He would do. They exercised their faith. We as Christians need to exercise our faith. We have many malnourished out of shaped Christians. Too many come to church when it is convenient, read their Bible if they have time, and exercise their faith only if they have to. If we ate once a week if it was convenient, drank water if we had time, and exercised only if we had to. We would grow lethargic quickly and have to be rushed to the hospital for an IV. In America we wonder why there are so many lethargic Christians, but I think if a Wednesday night service is any indication, we know why. There is an old saying, ‘Sunday morning attendance shows the popularity of the church, Sunday evening the popularity of the preacher, Wednesday night the popularity of God.’ The saints at Colosse were faithful brethren. We don’t see the Laodicean church complimented the same way in Revelations. The two churches were only a few miles apart. What type of church do we have? How can we become a faithful church? We as members must be faithful in order to have a faithful church.
Paul knew that he was addressing those faithful to God, so he could earnestly wish grace and peace for them. Galatians 5:22-24 Notice that love, joy and peace are productions of the Holy Spirit in us. If we are faithful then we will not quench the Holy Spirit and will have grace and peace.
Paul further states that this Epistle is “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” He asserts the divine inspiration of this book. Since, the book is God breathed it is different from Paul just writing a personal letter to the saints at Colosse. II Timothy 3:16 The Bible has purpose. Each word is there for a reason. Expository study searches the Scripture and gets the juiciness of God’s Word. Like eating an orange and nibbling the peel to get every bit of juice and pulp. By explaining through setting forth in detail the golden nuggets of God’s Word we become rich. When we read through something quickly we often miss it’s meaning. Will Hallman uses the example of the angel in the garden of Eden being posted on the east side. Genesis 3:24 We read that and we miss the fact that the angel was on the east side, but what about the north, south, and west? The east side is where God was thought to be. In order to get back to the reconciliation with God they would have had to enter on the east side. If we don’t get into the Word we can miss some really awesome nuggets that God has for us. Every Word of the Bible is literally God breathed and there for a reason. Paul asserts the divine inspiration of this Epistle. Colossians is not Paul’s opinion, but God’s truth. Men’s opinions change, but the Word of the Lord stands forever.
In our next study we will dive into prayer and thanksgiving.
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