Thursday, March 3, 2011

March through Colossians - 1:1-5a (Part 1)

So, do you speed up when you are reading the opening verses of one of Paul’s letters? “Yeah, yeah, I know you’re an apostle, I’ve heard you say that before Paul.” Let commentator Peter O’Brien help you:
“The creative variations in the opening [stuff] regarding authorship, where Paul adapts his description of himself and his credentials to the circumstances of each particular letter, the various phrases he employs to describe his Christian readers, and the theological content poured into the greetings all indicate that his prescripts are far from being stereotyped introductions to his epistles.”
So pay attention to the nuances, to how Paul describes himself, to how he greets believers, and to the Grand Canyon of truth conveyed by the simple greeting: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father.”
By the way, if you are trusting in Jesus for salvation from your sins, you’re a saint. Think about that for a little while.

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