“Colossians 1”

Saturday, July 01, 2017

Colossians begins with Paul’s typical greeting to churches. He identifies himself, tells who is with him, tells to whom he is writing and then pronounces God’s grace and peace upon his readers.

Verses 3-8 contain a prayer of thanksgiving. Paul was grateful for the disciples of Christ to whom he was sending this inspired letter. Again, this is typical of his epistles. Not in all of his letters, but in most of them, he lets them know that he has been praying for them and why.

Paul was grateful that the gospel was bearing fruit everywhere around the world. He was especially thankful, as he expresses here, that the people of Colosse were being brought to Christ by the preaching of the gospel.

In verses 9-18, Paul deals with the preeminence of Christ. Jesus is the Head of the church (verse 18). This is true for many reasons.

He has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18) and said He would build His church (Matthew 16:18). Christ adds those who are being saved to the church (Acts 2:47) and purchased the church with His own blood (Acts 20:28). The church is His body (Colossians 1:18),

Reconciliation (verses 19-23) is one of the many word pictures of salvation used in the New Testament.

Reconciliation refers to the process of restoring a broken friendship between two people. In the spiritual realm, of course, reconciliation refers to a reuniting between sinful man and a perfect God. Separated from a holy God because of our sins (Isaiah 59:1-2; Romans 3:23), the Lord made it possible for us to be brought back into fellowship with Him. This reconciliation was accomplished through the death of His Son on the cross.

As disciples of Christ, our responsibility is to take the gospel of reconciliation to a lost world (2 Corinthians 5:14-21). The first century Christians took the gospel to the entire known world of their day (Colossians 1:23).

The goal of all spiritual activity should be to develop “Christ in you,” that is, in every Christian (verses 24-29). Let us work toward the goal, then, of helping each member of the Lord’s church to be more like the Master in all things.

--Roger Hillis

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