March through Colossians - 2:6-7

Paul has just told the Colossians about how much he struggles for them in order that they might grow in the knowledge of Christ instead of being deluded by the plausible arguments of the false teachers. He doesn't want them to drift from Christ. He wants to see their good order and the firmness of their faith in Christ.

The "therefore" of v. 6 serves as a way of connecting Paul's desires for the Colossians (that they would stay firm in their faith in Christ) with Paul's directives to the Colossians (about how they can stay firm in their faith in Christ). As those who have already received Christ Jesus the Lord they are to:

-Walk in Christ (like the "walk in a manner worthy of the Lord" in 1:10).
-Be rooted in Christ (O'Brien: "the readers have been firmly rooted in Christ and they are to conduct their lives according to this beginning").
-Be built up in Christ (O'Brien: the rooted and built up metaphors "are joined so as to describe the solid foundation upon which believers' lives are to be based").
-Be established in the faith just as they were taught (like the continuing in the faith stable and steadfast in 1:23).
-Abound in thanksgiving (like the thanksgiving in 1:12: "giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light").

O'Brien is careful to point out how central God is in all this: "Whatever responsibilities to Christ the readers had, and these were many, they were not to lose sight of the fact that God had been at work in their midst. It was he who had rooted them in Christ and was presently building them up in him, thereby consolidating [establishing] them in the faith."

These are spot-on directives for us who are in Christ as well, who know how easy it is to drift from Christ and who long to walk in Him.

2:8-12 tomorrow.

March through Colossians - 2:1-5

Aha! "For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit" (2:5). So that's where it comes from!

Actually the ESV Study Bible has an intriguing note on this verse: "Because both the Colossians and Paul live 'in Christ' and possess the Spirit of God, there is a sense in which Paul is, in fact, present with them (see also 1 Cor. 5:3-5)."

I think it's appropriate for us to be challenged by Paul's example in this section (to follow him as he follows Christ, 1 Cor. 11:1). He says he wants the Colossians to know how great a struggle he had for them and other believers. O'Brien says that this struggle mentioned here and elsewhere "involves in the first place untiring toil and labor, an intense wrestling and struggle for the spread, growth and strengthening of the faith as the goal of his mission."

What do you struggle for? For what and for whom do you toil and labor? That's not a bad diagnostic question to ask yourself from time to time (or a lot). Remember what Paul labored for, and what by God's grace we can labor for too: for people to know Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

2:6-7 tomorrow.

March through Colossians - whole book

Why do we take time to read the whole book of Colossians in one sitting? Well for lots of reasons, but at least so that we can take in the whole message of the letter at once so that we can rightly understand the parts in their context. Hear what Moises Silva has to say about this in his book, God, Language, and Scripture:

In our effort to interpret the Bible...we should give special attention to the way sentences are joined, how they form paragraphs, and how the paragraphs combine to constitute larger units. At the simplest level, this means that we should read the Bible the way we read other literature. When we receive a letter from a friend, do we read the middle paragraph today, the last sentence next week, the introductory section two months from now? Unfortunately, many Christians use precisely that "method" in their reading of Paul's letters. The biblical books were meant to be read as wholes and that is the way we should read them.

If you have time, read what he says right before the above paragraph:

We should note that even the smallest books of the Bible consist of whole discourses. If propositions by themselves were quite sufficient, the Scriptures might be composed of a long list of individual sayings. Instead, God has given us narratives (some quite long), hymns, letters.
And these various portions are brought together in a coherent and unified whole. The principle that the Bible is its own best interpreter is not wishful thinking. From one perspective, this principle is but a reflection of the nature of all communication: sentences must be understood in the light of their total context. Even if we are reading Plato, we cannot artificially wrench one proposition in the Republic from the philosopher's whole thought. From another perspective, however, this principle is unique to Scripture. For those who are persuaded that the Bible comes from God in a sense that is not true of other writings, its unity and coherence take on a completely new dimension. God does not fail to speak in a consistent fashion - as Plato or an uninspired Paul might - and thus individual propositions in Scripture do perfectly cohere with other propositions and shed light on each other.

2:1-5 tomorrow.

March through Colossians - 1:24-29

After mentioning at the end of yesterday’s section that he became a minister of the gospel, Paul takes some time in today’s section to expand on his gospel ministry. I’m sure he did this for a number of reasons, but one that we can spot is that since he was unknown (in person) to the Colossians, he wanted them to be informed about the authenticity of his ministry in light of the claims of the false teachers present in Colossae (2:4-5: “I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit.”).

Paul, as a servant of Christ, like Christ, cares quite thoroughly for His people.

A good study Bible like the ESV Study Bible can give you some help on difficult passages like the one today about “what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” (see the ESV Study Bible note here for an explanation).

I like verse 29: “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.” Most certainly, based at least on 1:11 (“May you [regular non-apostle believers] be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might…”), the energy and power at work in Paul for his gospel ministry is available to you who are in Christ for whatever calling God has set before you today.

March through Colossians - 1:21-23

So what's the biggest word in this passage? What's the one word that jumps off the page at you? I'm guessing that for some of you it's the "if" of verse 23 ("in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith"). Paul was really on a roll there and then he had to throw in the if.

The short answer about what's happening here is that Paul is encouraging the Colossians about the reconciliation they have in Christ, and then challenging them to continue in the faith. Continuing in the faith (stable and steadfast...) would be evidence that they indeed are genuine believers. Not continuing in the faith would only prove that they were never really reconciled to God. Paul is not doubting that they will continue; he is confident that they will (we know this because of something having to do with the specific form or kind of conditional sentence used [think "if" statement] which my brain is not remembering right now). But his words certainly should challenge us to continue in the faith.

So the "if" seems big. But let's not miss a few other big ones. How about the "once" and the "now"? "And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him." If we could start our days with this "once...but now" perspective on our life, that sure would go a long way to clearing the morning fog about who we are and what we should be about.

March through Colossians - 1:15-20

These verses say a whole lot about the person and work of Jesus Christ. If you have access to a good commentary (the one I've been using by Peter O'Brien is superb), or if you have time for some extended reflection (maybe with a good study Bible nearby), you can go a bit deeper into the numerous statements about Christ made in this section. And I would recommend that.

My suggestion for today though is this: try to capture the big picture of these verses and meditate on that big picture. Turn it over again and again, ask God to help you understand it, and try to squeeze out of it all the implications for your life that you possibly can.

My sense for the big picture of 1:15-20: Jesus Christ is the supreme Lord of every square inch of creation and He is the supreme Lord of redemption and reconciliation, and He is the head of the body that we (through the cross) are a part of.

But don't let me stop you from meditating also on the trees.

1:21-23 tomorrow.

March through Colossians - 1:9-14

Most definitely it is not bad for us to pray for our health issues. Or for financial matters. Or for job struggles. Or for whatever is on our mind. But we could also be challenged and trained by Paul’s prayer (really a summary of his prayers) in these verses:

-He and his companions have not ceased to pray for the Colossians (this was a perfectly common way of saying "we have been praying for you regularly," not necessarily "we have organized a 24/7 prayer rotation," though there's certainly nothing inherently wrong with that practice).
-He asks God.
-He asks God that they would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will (think “knowing how to glorify God in my life,” not “knowing what will happen in the future”), which requires spiritual wisdom and understanding, which he asks for.
-He asks God for the above so that the Colossians would walk (live daily) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him (not a bad goal viewed with a gospel lens), bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God (kind of sounds like what the gospel does/produces, from 1:6).
-He asks God to strengthen them with all power according to His glorious might (a necessary power source for the kind of walking/living described above), so that they could
endure with patience and joy and thanksgiving in this crazy world.

I’m not quite sure how we transfer all of that from the reading-it-on-a-blog part of our brain to the putting-it-into-practice part of our brain, but let’s try to be appropriately challenged in our own praying.