Class Notes, Col 1:1-20

• Background:
• Once an important town, but no longer
• Most traffic is carried through nearby towns of Laodicea and Heirapolis
• Antiochus the Great relocated many Jewish families from Mesopotamia to this region
• Jews more liberal, i.e., Hellenistic, than those in nearby Galatia
• A very unimportant town from a human perspective.  Least important of all towns with letters.  But not necessarily in God's eyes
Col 1:1-8 (NIV) Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
• What do we learn of Paul's relationship to the Colossians?
• Never knew them
• Never ministered there
• How did they come to know about Christ?
• Epaphras' ministry
• Col 4:12-16 (NIV) Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. 13 I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis. 14 Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings. 15 Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. // 16 After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.
• Apparently there is a church at Laodicea and possibly also Hierapolis
• Philemon mentions all the same characters, and even suggests that Epaphras was a fellow prisoner (although that may be a metaphorical comment)
• How does Paul describe the work of the gospel?
• Bearing fruit & growing
• Suggests two things for a real work of God
• Spiritual multiplication
• Spiritual change in people
• Why might Paul be writing this letter?
• In response to some need Epaphras has mentioned
• Allusion to Hellenestic philosophy (2:8)
• Allusion to Judaistic ritualism or traditionalism (at odds with previous point) (2:11-19)
• Allusion to ascetic self-denial (2:20-23)
• Allusion to Gnosticism, special teaching required to achieve maturity (1:28; 2:18, 3:11)
• Danger of syncretism -- trying to harmonize many different schools of thought -- great tolerance debate of today that there is no difference in any religion -- but there is a great difference in the religions
• An opportunity to teach (from afar) another body of believers.  If you only had one letter, what would you write to someone about how  to live the Christian life?
Col 1:9-14 (NIV) For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
• If Paul is trying to emphasize some important points of the Christian faith to a group he has never visit, how does he start off?
• By implication, prayer, since he is praying for them (sets an example)
• Filled with the knowledge of God's will.  Why is that important?
• Now that I am a believer, what is it God wants to do with my life
• How do we understand his will?
• Paul prays for spiritual wisdom and understanding -- comes through the word of God
• Live life worth of the Lord, please him (Jn 14:21)
• This is obedience or application of the word to your life (Jm 1:22)
• Bear fruit in every good work
• Obedience results in a changed life, which is some of the fruit of walking with God
• Growing in the knowledge of God
• Reading the word and obeying the word is how we grow in our relationship with God
• Strengthened in power
• Learning to rely on the Holy Spirit's power (we choose to obey and God gives us the strength to follow through)
• Great endurance and patience
• At some point in our Christian life, we will face trials and we need to have a solid foundation
• Joyfully giving thanks
• One of the keys in our Christian growth is a change in attitude.  The day when we start joyfully giving thanks for hard times is when we really believe that God cares for us and is working to bring his best into our lives (this is the definition of walking faith)
• Paul then emphasizes three works of God
• God qualified us to share in the inheritance (the qualification is our faith in Jesus)
• God rescued us from the dominion of darkness (we are no longer slaves to sin)
• God has brought us into the kingdom of his son (we have a new citizenship and we are now aliens and foreigners here -- Heb 11:13-16)
• APPLICATION:  Paul gives a nutshell description of what it means to walk with God in his prayer for the Colossians.  How am I doing in these areas?
Col 1:15-20 (NIV) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
• Paul now deals with a key philosophical point, and one of the major differences of Christianity with all other religions
• What does it mean to be an image?
• Constable suggests three things (2010, p. 13)
• Likeness -- Christ is the exact likeness or the mirror image (Heb 1:3)
• Representation -- Christ represents God to us (In Islam God is transcendent and cannot be known)
• Manifestation -- Christ makes God known to us (Jn 1:18)
• Man is made in the image of God, but Jesus is the image of God.  Unlike some teaching in Mormonism, Jesus is not the same as us, he is different.  We can attain likeness to Jesus, but not the exact image, because we can never be God
• Who is Jesus?  From the perspective of the world?
• Firstborn over all creation.  The word, prototokos, may denote either priority in time or supremacy in rank (Constable, 2010)
• It does not mean as Jehovah Witnesses teach that Christ was the first created being, since verses 16-18 state his existence before all things and his role as the creator (Constable, 2010)
• Vs 16, He is the creator, everything, period, dot.  He cannot create himself, therefore he is not created.  He is also the agent of creation (by him) and the purpose of creation (for him)
• Vs 17, He precedes creation.  He sustains creation
• Who is Jesus?  From the perspective of the church?
• Again, he is the head, the beginning, and the firstborn
• In this case firstborn, while also meaning supremacy does apply to his priority in time.  He was the first to rise from the dead in his new body
• He is supreme over creation and over the church
• In later Gnostic literature, angels mediated between God and man
• All divine power resides in Jesus (vs 19-20)
• Not temporarily as Christian Science religion teaches
• God's ultimate purpose is reconciliation
• We are enemies
• God has always loved us, but we have been in enmity with him
• Christ' death give us the opportunity to reconcile ourselves to God, but we have to accept what he has done on the cross for us