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This divinely inspired letter was written toward the end of the life of one of the greatest men who ever lived. Rabbi Paul of Tarsus was intelligent, courageous, intense, devoted, zealous. He was a great scholar and a theologian and an expert in Judaism. He was also a Roman citizen. He spoke and wrote Greek and was familiar with Greek and Roman culture.
Paul was one of the greatest evangelists of all time, a missionary and a congregation planter. Paul was a prophet – one of a relatively few men who heard clear messages from God. He was also an apostle, a special representative of the Son of God. Paul was a very special apostle – the apostle to the Gentiles, a Jewish rabbi specially equipped and sent to reach and teach the non-Jewish peoples of the world. The divinely inspired Rabbi from Tarsus wrote much of the New Testament and left a tremendous imprint on Christianity and Western civilization. Rabbi Paul was one of the very greatest human beings who ever lived. We should pay attention to his writings that have been preserved for us.
After his third missionary journey, Paul had been arrested in Jerusalem and sent to Rome, the capitol of the Roman empire, to stand trial. He was in confinement there, awaiting his trial. From there he and Timothy wrote this letter to the community in Colossae.
Colossae was located in ancient Asia Minor, which is modern-day Turkey. The city was about 100 miles east of Ephesus. The Colossian Community got good teaching from Epaphras but were being challenged by false teaching. It was a mixture of Jewish legalism, Greek philosophy and a false kind of mysticism. Charles Ryrie inform us: “Specifics include dietary and Sabbath observances, circumcision rites, the worship of angels and the practice of asceticism. Combating this heresy, Paul emphasizes the cosmic significance of Messiah as Lord of creation and the Head of the Messianic Community. The theme is the supremacy and the all-sufficiency of Messiah. Any teaching, practice or intermediary that detracts from the uniqueness and centrality of Messiah is against the Faith.”
This letter starts with the authors introducing themselves. Paul, an apostle of Messiah Yeshua by the will of God, and Timothy our brother. As someone raised up, sent out and empowered by the Son of God to represent the Son of God, Paul wielded great spiritual authority. As an apostle, he represented the Son of God. Therefore Paul should be listened to. He should be obeyed – by the Colossians, and by us 1950 years later. Helping Paul compose this letter was his disciple, Timothy. Timothy’s mother was a Messianic Jew and his father was a Greek. Those are the senders of this letter.
Next are the recipients. To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Messiah: This letter was written to the Messianic Jews and Gentile Christians in Colossae. They were saints, holy ones, called out from a dying world, set apart from a sinful race to serve God’s special purposes which included becoming God’s beloved sons and daughters, salvation and eternal life in the New Jerusalem! Saints, holy ones, set apart ones. That’s who we are too. That’s who God made us to be! Now, we need to live in a way that reflects that reality! May God help us to do so more and more, amayn?
To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Messiah. The community in Colossae was made up of men and women whom Paul and Timothy considered to be brothers and sisters. Paul, Timothy, the Christians and Messianic Jews in Colossae were like a big, extended spiritual family who loved and supported each other. This family wasn’t perfect, but it was faithful – loyal to God; loyal to the Word of God; loyal to good spiritual leaders like Paul and Timothy and Epaphras.
We want to be a united, loving community that functions like a family, that helps and supports and encourages one another, and works together to bring the Good News to the world around us. amayn? What can you do to help us become that kind of community?
After the introduction of the authors of this letter and its recipients, comes the greeting. Grace and peace to you from God our Father. This greeting is a prayer. Paul and Timothy are praying that God the Father would bless the Colossian Community with grace – unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor; and with peace – wholeness, completeness, well-beingness. Human beings who have been so damaged by the Fall – and that’s all of us – desperately need grace and peace that come from God the Father. And, it’s the nature of the Father to want to give undeserved favor and restore wholeness to fallen and broken creatures, who are made in His image – especially to the sons and daughters of God, who have ended their rebellion against the High King and His Son, King Yeshua.
After greeting them with a prayer for grace and peace, Paul and Timothy let them know of other prayers they had been praying for them. But, before Paul and Timothy get to their prayers, they inform the Colossian Christians and Messianic Jews that they were thankful for them, and why they were thankful. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, when we pray for you. God the Father is also the Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. The Son has a Father. The Son is not the Father. The Father is not the Son. The Father and the Son are one in nature. Both share the essential attributes of deity. But God the Father is superior to the Son in position and in authority, just as an earthly father is superior to his son in position and authority in their family. The Father orders the Son. The Son never orders the Father. The Son prays to the Father. The Father never prays to the Son. The Father sits on the main throne in Heaven. The Son sits at His right hand. A simple way to understand this: Within the Trinity there is an equality of nature; a distinction of Persons; and a hierarchy of authority.
Paul and Timothy are thankful to God the Father for the holy ones in Colossae for two reasons – for their faith and for their love. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Messiah Yeshua and of the love you have for all God’s people. The first reason Paul and Timothy were thankful: The Colossians had faith – faith in Messiah. They knew that Yeshua was the ultimate prophet, priest, king and savior of the world. They knew who He was, believed in Him and were loyal to Him. This kind of faith is a very special thing. It is a gift that comes from God. Only a minority of human beings will ever have this kind of faith, belief, trust, loyalty to the Messiah. Most human beings are unfaithful and will remain disloyal to the Son of the High King of Heaven. They refuse to end their rebellion against Him and His Father. It’s a wonderful thing, a very special thing, when anyone ends his part in the rebellion against God and becomes faithful to Messiah. It is truly something to thank God for.
The second reason Paul and Timothy were thankful: The Colossians had love for all God’s people. Human beings by nature find it difficult to love others. We might care for our circle of family and friends, but to really love a large group outside of that circle is very hard. But the Colossians loved all of God’s people. They cared for, were concerned about, wanted to help all of God’s people – God’s people who were close to them and God’s people who were far away; God’s people who were doing well, and God’s people who were struggling; God’s people who were Messianic Jews and God’s people who were Gentile Christians of all nations and races.
Paul and Timothy thanked God for the faith and the love of the Community at Colossae. What was the source of their faith and love? Where did that faith and love spring from? The source was the Good News and the hope stored up for them in Heaven. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Messiah Yeshua and of the love you have for all God’s people – the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in Heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the Gospel, the Good News that has come to you. When someone responds to the Good News about Messiah coming into this world; living a perfect life; being rejected by the majority of the Chosen People; suffering; dying; rising from the dead; ascending to the right hand of God; sending His Spirit to those who become loyal to Him; rewarding those loyal to Him with resurrection and eternal life and a great inheritance in the New Jerusalem – when someone embraces these truths and becomes loyal to the Three-In-One God, he is born again. The Spirit of God lives in him in a whole new way and works in him in a whole new way. The Spirit of God transforms him within. The Spirit of God enables him to love people in a new way, especially God’s people; the Holy Spirit enables him to have faith, and to maintain faith – to remain loyal to God, loyal to the Word of God, loyal to the people of God.
Understanding and acting on the Good News and our heavenly hope is the source of faith and love in human beings. Understanding the Good News and our heavenly hope, and acting on these truths, produces faithfulness and love in us. Do you understand the Good News? Do you comprehend the hope store up for you in Heaven, the amazing things that God has for you? Have you acted on this Good News, this heavenly hope? Have you been born again? Have you received the Holy Spirit? Is there evidence of it? Do you love all of God’s people? Think warm thoughts about them? Think about how to help them? Do you have faith, are you faithful to, loyal to God the Father, Messiah the Son, the Word of God, God’s Community?
The Colossians weren’t the only ones that were producing good fruits that come from a positive response to the Good News and the work of the Holy Spirit. By this part of the First century, around 61 AD, were many others were producing good results too. In the same way, the Good News is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world – just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Messiah on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit (love produced by the Spirit). Epaphras, friend of Paul and Timothy, seems to be the one who came to the Colossians and proclaimed the Good News to them, and the gracious things that God does to provide salvation, and the gracious things God does for those who respond to the Good News.
Now, back to the prayers that Paul and Timothy had been praying for these faithful, loving saints: For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
As soon as Paul and Timothy found out about this Community in Colossae of born-again ones, they prayed for these children of God and didn’t stop praying for them. For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. They prayed for them all the time.
Here is what they asked God to do for them: We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives. Paul and Timothy prayed that the Colossians would know the will of God, what God wants. Human beings come into this world ignorant or confused about God, and what God wants. We need to know who God is and what He wants.
It is the work of the Spirit of God to teach us what God wants. The Spirit teaches us what the will of God is using the Word of God and godly counsel from others. The Spirit teaches us what God wants by helping us pray, and by teaching us how to listen to the still small voice of God speaking to us. The Spirit of God teaches us how to discern what God wants from our circumstances or through supernatural means like prophecy, dreams or visions. Paul and Timothy prayed that the Messianic Community at Colossae would be filled with the knowledge of the will of God by the wisdom that the Spirit of God gives.
We too can be filled with the knowledge of the will of God by cultivating a strong spiritual life, so that we are close to God, and He is close to us. Then, the Spirit will use the Word of God, prayer, the still small voice of God speaking to us, godly counsel, discernment of our circumstances, or even prophecy, dreams or visions to let us know what God wants.
Paul and Timothy prayed that the Colossians would live a life worthy of the Lord. When we are close to God and know what He wants, then we can live a life worthy of the Lord. The Lord is excellent, and He is worthy of an excellent, not mediocre life. The Lord is holy and is worthy of a holy, pure, highly moral and ethical life. The Lord is the Supreme Being and worthy of a dedicated life, a life that is lived for God, and not for self; a life lived for God and not for the world; a life that is focused on eternity and not the frivolities of the present.
Paul and Timothy also prayed that the Colossians would please God in every way. When we are close to God and know what He wants, then we can please Him in every way. We will know good from evil, and choose what is right and avoid what is wrong. We will do the things He wants us to do, make the choices He wants us to make. Our priorities will be His priorities; our goals will be His goals. We will please Him in every way.
Paul and Timothy also prayed that the Colossians would bear fruit in every good work. When we are close to God and know what He wants, then we will bear fruit in every good work. We will do good things for others. We will be good fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, sons, daughters. We will proclaim the Good News to human beings who are dead in their trespasses and sins. We will build up the Community of the Messiah, and help and serve in some way. We will bear fruit in every good work.
Paul and Timothy also prayed that the Colossians would grow in their knowledge of God. We come into this world ignorant about God, confused about the Creator. We need to know who God is, what He is really like. The Creator is real and good and exciting, and it’s a wonderful thing to increase in knowledge about the Supreme Being. Growing in our knowledge of Him can be an exciting adventure! It’s beneficial to grow in our knowledge of God. The more the creator knows the Creator, the better off that creature is, and the better off the universe is. The more we know about God, the better we can serve Him, and the more we can help others know Him. We should grow in our knowledge of God – by reading the Word of God, hearing others talk about God, spending time alone with God and talking to Him and hearing from Him, and by worshiping Him.
Paul and Timothy prayed that the Christians and Messianic Jews in Colossae would be strengthened with all power according to God’s glorious might. God is mighty. He is very powerful. He is strong – gloriously strong – so strong that He can make a universe with billions of galaxies filled with trillions upon trillions of stars, each one hugely powerful. God is so gloriously mighty He can make this beautiful planet and everything on it. God is so gloriously strong that He can do all kinds of miracles. The Lord is so gloriously strong that the Father could send His Son into this world through the Incarnation, who lived a perfect life, then died a horrible death, then rose from the dead, thereby overcoming the real and powerful forces of Satan and the demons, sin and the sin nature, and death!
That same glorious, mighty power is available for the sons and daughters of God – available for us to be strengthened – strengthened to live a life that is pleasing to God, strengthened to live a holy life. That mighty power is available to produce great endurance and patience in us – and we need endurance and patience in a corrupt, dark world that doesn’t like us, a demonic world that opposes us, an anti-God world that may make fun of us, reject us, persecute us.
Paul and Timothy prayed that Messiah’s Community in Colossae would be thankful. Human beings are generally not thankful, not grateful, not appreciative – especially of the Living God. It’s natural for our fallen nature to ignore God and His many gifts, or to complain more than give thanks. But human beings have so much to be grateful for. The gift of life. The graces of a beautiful creation. God’s providential care. In addition, the sons and daughters of God have even more to thank God for – especially for God’s works of redemption. The Lord rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. When we know who the Son is and become loyal to Yeshua, and we are joined to Messiah, we have redemption and the forgiveness of all of our sins. Forgiven! Redeemed! Qualified! Qualified to share in the inheritance of His holy people in His kingdom of light.
Before we were united to the Messiah, we were not qualified, not able, not fit to live in that kingdom that is characterized by light – a symbol for joy, happiness, truth, reality, victory and life. By nature we were part of another kingdom, a dark demonic kingdom that opposes God, opposes truth, is full of unhappiness, ruination and death. We were controlled by kingdom. We were qualified to be part of that kingdom. We were fit citizens of that kingdom.
But human beings don’t have to remain in that dark kingdom! God has another kingdom – a very real kingdom full of joy and happiness, unmixed with any sadness; a kingdom of truth and goodness and beauty that will never be defeated, a kingdom that will endure forever and whose inhabitants will live forever! By forgiving us, redeeming us, buying us back from the satanic slave-market of sin and death, transforming us, changing us so that we can live in His kingdom, we become qualified to live in the kingdom of light. Once that truth really sinks in, our attitude changes, and we become appreciative, grateful, joyously thankful. Paul and Timothy prayed that they would give joyful thanks.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t stop praying for the members of our congregation like this, and for all of God’s set apart ones, our brothers and sisters everywhere, continually, constantly?
That they would experience God’s grace and peace.
That they would be faithful and loving.
That God would fill them with the knowledge of His will through the wisdom the Spirit gives.
That they may live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way.
That they would bear fruit in every good work.
That they would grow in the knowledge of God.
That they would be strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that they would have great endurance and patience,
That they would give joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified them to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light.
Amayn?