Colossians 1:1-6
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,
To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,
Just FYI, I am not a theologian, I am just a sinner saved by grace with a desire to know Christ more fully, so I may be jumbled up in my writing as well as it may be apparent that I have no theological training. When I read this I was encouraged just that Christ would give me the ability to learn about scripture, and be able to memorize it. While I have been on the road, I have struggled to find community; this is something that we may take for granted at a church like Sojourn, but when you are out working in the oil fields it is rare to find a faithful brother-- it is a blessing that for a time I have been able to come and seek encouragement and revitalization at my home church in Louisville. God has given me a church to be blessed by and learn from in every place I have been.
A friend of mine once told me that Paul had not actually been to Colossae, but they knew of him from one of those men whom he had mentored. I've noticed that Paul always identifies himself to the readers of his letters, and my guess is that he wants to verify that he is indeed an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ (an apostle of Christ Jesus), so he doesn't write from his own authority (by the will of God)-- he writes to encourage his faithful brothers in the faith. I can really identify with Paul when he says "We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you...", in all our joys and struggles we must readily call to remembrance the goodness of God, and the unmerited blessings that He brings to us by our fellow workers in the Lord through the Spirit. There are two things that he is thankful for that as a Christian often times I overlook or simply under value; he is thankful for their faith in Christ and their love for fellow Christians-- it may not say that he is thankful for anything else, but I reflect on these things seeing in my own life those whom I am not thankful because of their faith and love for other Christians. He wants us to acknowledge with gratitude not merely those things which the Lord confers upon us, but also those things which he advises others.
Good ol' Canis lupus impersonating Ovis aries again...
Scripture always convicts me that Christ is truly Lord especially when I read ,"since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus"-- it always shows me to keep my eyes on Christ because he is our salvation and the proper image of our faith. Since we are made in his image, I see myself in life focusing on myself instead of the Lord, yet not realizing in the moment the glory of what it means to be made in his image. It leads then to "because of the hope laid up for you in heaven", and when I read this I see that Paul has already mentioned three really big things that are a part of the Christian life.
- Faith - We have faith in Him who was the propitiation by His own blood once and for all, atoning for all of the sins of his people for sin in the past, present, and future, and he is now exalted at His Father’s right hand. He who knew no sin became sin, so that we may know the righteousness of God. Our faith is a gift from Him.
- Love - I feel as though I should love Christians not for their station, or for their natural amiability, but because Jesus loves them and because they love Jesus. The faith is in Christ Jesus, but the love extends beyond Christ, and goes to all those who are in union with Him.
- Hope- Christians have a hope in the world to come whereas people of the world have a hope in something that can be seen by the eyes; by this I mean that we do not desire fame and riches, long life and prosperity, or for pleasure and domestic peace, for our hope is in the promise that Christ return and he will make all things new, fulfilling what he has spoken to us in His word.
If Christianity were something like a flower then I would hope that these three would be the petals representing true beauty that is of Christ. Thanks be to God that he has given the gift of faith to his people, for it is that faith that yields my love because it was, after all, Christ who loved us first: faith and love in and for Christ leaves us praying,"Come Lord Jesus!". The hope for myself isn't to lie on a hammock eating grapes in pleasure, but rather it is to be totally connected in a full and raw relationship with Jesus, so that is heaven to me simply to be in his presence for eternity. Of course, along with it come great things like no crying, no pain, or sin anymore because the hope is that Christ will make all things new.
When I read,"of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel," I was encouraged because I was reminded of the gospel. It is a thing that we must as Christians should be preaching to ourselves daily. The phrase "of this you have heard before" is something that I identify myself with in that I can get so dull to the gospel that I find myself vilifying the cross of Christ-- who am I to vilipend my Lord who was the first born of all creation? He created everything, predestined us for his glory, and even knows every hair on our head. It is during this time that I can see myself see believing less in the gospel and more in a mammonistic thought that I or Satan, himself, brings to my head. When I reflect on "the word of the truth, the gospel," all I can do is ask myself this one question. Is there any other truth? The answer is obviously no; the only truth is the gospel of Jesus Christ, for he is the way the truth, and the life, but do I believe this in my day to day life? Am I believing this when I sin? My actions would bespeak otherwise at times.
In verse 6 it begins with,"which has come to you" which made me stumble in memorization. It made me stumble because it seems that it would be easy to gloss over; let's be honest with one another, we would like to say that you came to God, and not the other way around: it is an easy thing that we can say and believe, but is it really the truth? No. God gives us that gift of faith, and it is only because of his Grace that we receive it. Mankind have capricious minds, switching back and forth, for that is one thing that God is not, and I am so thankful for it. He doesn't decide to change his mind considering the gift of our faith, and not only does he give us that gift of faith, he also sustains and grows our faith as well.
The gospel since those days has been bearing fruit and growing. When I read,"as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing, as it also does among you," I reflected and thought of how great God's mercy and grace truly are to save so many souls from eternal separation from him. I don't see in the passage that everyone in the entire world will be saved, nor do I believe that every single person in the world is bearing fruit and growing, but I do believe this of his people. What does it mean to understand the grace of God in truth? Spurgeon puts it well when he says," We do not know the grace of God in truth unless it brings forth fruit in us. We may know it with the head very correctly, but yet we do not truly know it unless it is knowledge in the heart, knowledge in the inner man. We do not really know it unless it affects our lives, and brings forth faith love, hope; — faith, which lifts us above the world; love, which preserves us from selfishness; and hope, which keeps us up under all trials." He put it so well that I feel insufficient to actually provide an answer for my own question, for it feels that it is answered so fully to add to it would only depreciate the value of Spurgeon's answer.
All in all, I would have to say that God has blessed me tremendously in my efforts to learn and study even thus far in Colossians. I pray that my further study can be just as fruitful, dare I say even more fruitful.
Grace and Peace
In verse 6 it begins with,"which has come to you" which made me stumble in memorization. It made me stumble because it seems that it would be easy to gloss over; let's be honest with one another, we would like to say that you came to God, and not the other way around: it is an easy thing that we can say and believe, but is it really the truth? No. God gives us that gift of faith, and it is only because of his Grace that we receive it. Mankind have capricious minds, switching back and forth, for that is one thing that God is not, and I am so thankful for it. He doesn't decide to change his mind considering the gift of our faith, and not only does he give us that gift of faith, he also sustains and grows our faith as well.
The gospel since those days has been bearing fruit and growing. When I read,"as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing, as it also does among you," I reflected and thought of how great God's mercy and grace truly are to save so many souls from eternal separation from him. I don't see in the passage that everyone in the entire world will be saved, nor do I believe that every single person in the world is bearing fruit and growing, but I do believe this of his people. What does it mean to understand the grace of God in truth? Spurgeon puts it well when he says," We do not know the grace of God in truth unless it brings forth fruit in us. We may know it with the head very correctly, but yet we do not truly know it unless it is knowledge in the heart, knowledge in the inner man. We do not really know it unless it affects our lives, and brings forth faith love, hope; — faith, which lifts us above the world; love, which preserves us from selfishness; and hope, which keeps us up under all trials." He put it so well that I feel insufficient to actually provide an answer for my own question, for it feels that it is answered so fully to add to it would only depreciate the value of Spurgeon's answer.
All in all, I would have to say that God has blessed me tremendously in my efforts to learn and study even thus far in Colossians. I pray that my further study can be just as fruitful, dare I say even more fruitful.
Grace and Peace
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