< Colossians 1 >

The disciples in Colosse, like all true disciples of Jesus, were “saints and brethren of Christ”.v.2Waiting for response for Colossians 1:2 These were also faithful v.2Waiting for response for Colossians 1:2 and Paul prayed to God for them, especially when he heard of their faith, hope, and love.vs.3-5Waiting for response for Colossians 1:3-5 Their hope was “laid up in heaven”;v.5Waiting for response for Colossians 1:5 stored there until the Lord Jesus Christ returns with the life that is promised to all the saints. Colossians 3:3-4Waiting for response for Colossians 3:3-4

Jesus had declared that the “gospel of the kingdom would be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then the end would come”. Matthew 24:14Waiting for response for Matthew 24:14 This was fulfilled in the first century, as Paul declared: the gospel had come to everyone “in all the world” v.6Waiting for response for Colossians 1:6 and had been “preached to every creature which is under heaven”.v.23Waiting for response for Colossians 1:23 The “world” here in the Greek is “habitable” referring to the Roman Empire, the world of those days. The words of Jesus do not refer to the globe, to the present day, or to “the burning up of the earth” as might be thought, but to the preaching of the gospel in the days of the apostles.

Paul prayed the disciples would “be filled with the knowledge of God’s will” v.9Waiting for response for Colossians 1:9 and would “walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work”.v.10Waiting for response for Colossians 1:10 They had been “made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” v.12Waiting for response for Colossians 1:12 and God had delivered them from darkness, i.e. ignorance, and “changed their position for the kingdom of his dear Son” (as the original Greek expresses it).v.13Waiting for response for Colossians 1:13 We are all born “in Adam” but by belief and baptism our position can be changed before God so that we are “in Christ” and fit to live in his kingdom when it is established.

Jesus is not only the “first-born of every creature” of the new creation but also the manifestation of his Father, for he is “the image of the invisible God”. The saints likewise are required to be like the Father if they are to live and reign with Christ.

The completed body of the saints is referred to here as “the all” who must be “in Christ”: “for it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell”.v.19Waiting for response for Colossians 1:19 Unfortunately, the translators translated “the all” as “all things”, misleading many into thinking that Paul was speaking of the creation of the universe and that Jesus was born before anything else was made! However, he does not speak of the physical universe, but of “thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers” v.16Waiting for response for Colossians 1:16 because the new creation is a body of people who will reign with Jesus in the new political heavens when the kingdom of God is established. When reading this chapter, changing “all things” to “the all”, meaning “all the saints”, gives a proper understanding of the message, e.g. Jesus shed his blood on the cross “to reconcile the all [the saints] unto himself”.v.20Waiting for response for Colossians 1:20 Jesus is the supreme head of the body of saints, “he is before the all, and by him the all consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that among the all he might have the preeminence”.vs.17-18Waiting for response for Colossians 1:17-18

The true secret was that God would manifest himself in a new creation of men and women, and this explains the use by the apostle of the word “creature” instead of “person”. These new creatures constitute a body, with Jesus as its head: “he is the head of the body, the church”. It is vital in the purpose of God that Jesus is supreme, so God made him “the first-born from the dead; that in the all [the saints] he might have the pre-eminence”.

These early Christians had to resist the ideas of “Gnostics” (“gnosis” is the Greek word for knowledge) who exalted human knowledge and wisdom. These philosophers thought that the secret purpose of life was the development of people who glorified the mind and head but punished the body. Paul argues against these ideas in this letter. He shows that the true secret of God, hidden for ages, was then being made known to his saints. vs.25-28Waiting for response for Colossians 1:25-28 Jesus had died on the cross v.20Waiting for response for Colossians 1:20 to reconcile men and women who were previously enemies in their mind v.21Waiting for response for Colossians 1:21 so they can be presented to him holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight.v.22Waiting for response for Colossians 1:22 However, acceptance by Christ is conditional: he will only welcome us “if we continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel”.v.23Waiting for response for Colossians 1:23