Colossians 1:1-29

Written ~ 10-04-2024

Read Colossians Chapter One

Colossians 1

 The Book of Colossians is another letter Paul wrote while he was in prison in Rome. After doing some research I found that Paul didn’t actually visit the city of Colosse (see Colossians 2:1), instead that church was started by a man named Epaphras. It’s thought that Epaphras became a believer under Paul’s teaching while he was in Ephesus then returned home to Colosse and founded the church there. It was also noted in my research that the believers in Colosse held their meetings in the home of Philemon (see Philemon 1:2), a little later in the New Testament we will study the letter Paul wrote to Philemon. The letter to the Colossian church came out of the concern Epaphras had with false teachings which threatened to divert the believer’s attention from the truth found only in Jesus.

After Paul’s usual greeting, he let his readers know that he and the other believers he was with were praying for them. When you have a mentor, a spiritual leader, a spirit filled believer praying for you, that should bring you great comfort. Anytime someone is bringing their thanksgiving to the Father on your behalf is a wonderful thing. It brings great encouragement to the one being prayed for.

Even though Paul had not visited Colosse he was greatly pleased by how the believers continued strong in their faith. So, let’s start with part of the prayer of Paul for these believers…

Colossians 1:9-14…

9 “So, we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of His will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all His glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, 12 always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to His people, who live in the light. 13 For He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.”

In the Books of Ephesians and Philippians we see similar prayers to this one. In these prayers Paul is giving each group of believers some of the best things we should be praying for one another.

Ephesians 1:15-19…

  • Spiritual Wisdom and Insight
  • Growth in the Knowledge of God
  • Hearts that are Flooded with Light
  • Understanding the Confident Hope that’s found in Christ
  • Understanding of the Incredible Greatness of God’s Power

Philippians 1:9-11…

  • Love that Overflows
  • Keep Growing in Knowledge and Understanding
  • Live Pure and Blameless Lives
  • Be filled with the Fruit of Salvation
  • Have a Righteous Character produced in your life by Jesus Christ

Colossians 1:9-14…

  • Have Complete Knowledge of God’s Will
  • Have Spiritual Wisdom and Understanding
  • Always Honor and Please the Lord
  • Produce every kind of Good Fruit
  • Be Strengthened with All God’s Glorious Power
  • Have Endurance and Patience
  • Be Filled with Joy

In every prayer there is one word present in all three… And that word is Understanding…

When we read the Word of God, one of the main goals we should long for is to have understanding when reading the Bible. When we read a verse or a chapter or an entire Book of the Bible and there isn’t understanding, what good does it do? If we get stumped on a particular subject, it is up to us to either get the answers from someone we trust knows the Bible or do some extra research to find out the meaning behind the words that we might find confusing. Don’t just skip over it because it’s not easy to understand. Learning and understanding the hard things is how we grow.

I pointed that out because I think it’s important to recognize in the prayers of Paul the word “understanding” is one thing he always included in each of his prayers. When we don’t understand, we need to ask the Lord to bring understanding to help us grow in our knowledge of Scripture and understand who our God is.

This next section of Paul’s letter is amazing! One of the heresies that continues to plague the church even today, is the notion that Jesus was JUST a man, a good teacher, a kind, loving man, and that’s it. To remove the Deity (having the nature of God) of Christ is one of the most blasphemous errors a false prophet or false teacher can make. If you want to know who Jesus Christ the Son of God is, (without any doubt) then put these next several verses into your memory. “This is one of the strongest statements about the divine nature of Christ found anywhere in the Bible.” (Life Application Study Bible footnotes)

Colossians 1:15-20…

15 “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
    He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
16 for through Him God created everything
    in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
    and the things we can’t see…
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
    Everything was created through Him and for Him.
17 He existed before anything else,
    and He holds all creation together.
18 Christ is also the head of the church,
    which is His body.
He is the beginning,
    supreme over all who rise from the dead. So, He is first in everything.
19 For God in all His fullness
    was pleased to live in Christ,
20 and through Him God reconciled
    everything to Himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
    by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.”

It might be that we will have to read that passage of Scripture repeatedly to really get a grasp of who Jesus Christ is! And even then, it only scratches the surface. In John 1:1-5, John touches on a few of the things Paul talks about in these verses. Why do you think Paul chose this letter written for the Colossian believers to add such a brilliant description of our Lord and Savior? Maybe it was because Epaphras, the founder of the Colossian church, saw there was a great misleading by false teachings that were causing division and confusion in the church. Maybe it was because Paul saw a widespread problem throughout the Christian churches which was diminishing the true nature of Christ. When we read these verses and read them over and over again with conviction and power in our voices and in our minds, it will bring understanding to Who it is that we trust and Who it is that we serve.

In the New Living Translation, the word “supreme” is used a couple of times in the description of Christ… Let’s look at the dictionary for a good definition of the word “supreme…”

  • Highest Rank or Authority
  • Highest in Degree or Quality
  • Ultimate
  • Final

Other translations (New King James Version for example) use the word “preeminence,” which means to have paramount rank, dignity, or importance – some synonyms are… the highest, most sovereign, the greatest, the number one.

There is nobody or nothing above the Lord Jesus Christ besides God Himself.

My challenge for each of us is to write out these verses, have them handy so you can reach them easily and read them over and over every day until you have it memorized. It is important for us to know our Savior and besides all the other descriptions we can find in the Bible, this one shows His incredible Deity (having the nature of God) and that should never be questioned or removed.

When you and I put our faith in Jesus and we accepted Him into our hearts and lives, we asked the Living, Supreme, Creator of the Universe to dwell within us! Isn’t that just spectacular! When Christ shed His blood on the cross and rose from the dead, He brought peace to everything in heaven and earth. Before we accepted who Christ was and is and before we realized what He did on the cross, we were lost… but now we are saved.

Colossians 1:21-23…

21 “This includes you who were once far away from God. You were His enemies, separated from Him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now He has reconciled you to Himself through the death of Christ in His physical body. As a result, He has brought you into His own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault.

23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.”

Look at where we were and what we were before we gave our hearts to Christ!

  • We were far away from God
  • We were God’s enemies
  • We were separated from God by our evil thoughts
  • We were separated from God by our evil actions

But now look where we are and what we are since giving our hearts to Christ!

  • We are reconciled with God because of Christ’s sacrifice
  • We have been brought into the presence of God
  • We are holy and blameless
  • We stand before God without a single fault

Verse 1:21 says who we were, verse 1:22 says who we are, verse 1:23 however, begins with the word “but.” In the New King James Version verse 1:23 begins with the word “if.”

Colossians 1:23a… (NLT)

23a “But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News.”

Colossians 1:23a… (NKJV)

23a “…if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard…”

When we put our trust in the knowledge of who Jesus Christ is…it is vitally important that when we believe this truth, we stand firm in it, that we continue in our faith. We need to stay grounded and steadfast (firmly fixed, immovable). We should never drift away or move away from the assurance and the hope we found in the Gospel message, the Good News of Jesus Christ.

God gave Paul the responsibility to serve the body of Christ (the church) and to preach the Good News everywhere. Even though Paul was currently in jail and suffering for the sake of Christ, he was glad. When he was suffering, it showed everyone that it was because of his devotion to Jesus Christ and that was the reason behind his imprisonment and suffering.

Colossians 1:24-29…

24 “I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for His body, the church. 25 God has given me the responsibility of serving His church by proclaiming His entire message to you. 26 This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. 27 For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing His glory.

28 So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. 29 That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.”

When Paul talks about the “secret” that was kept for centuries, what do you think that means? Well, it means all the prophecies given to us in the Old Testament were a mystery! Not until Christ came and fulfilled each “secret” could the whole mystery be revealed to us.

Verse 1:27 says that God wanted us to know that the riches and glory of Christ were for us too! And now because we know the “secret:” Christ lives within us! Christ is the Hope and Assurance of Glory!

Verses 1:28-29 seems to be what burdens Paul’s heart, but actually it should be the burden of every believer…

  • Tell others about Christ
  • Warn everyone about falling away
  • Teach everyone with the wisdom of God
  • We want to present believers to God
  • We want them to be “perfect” in their relationship with Christ

I loved what the “Expositor’s Bible Commentary” said about the one line from verse 1:28, “We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ.”

  • The aim of Paul’s proclaiming, admonishing, and teaching was to “present everyone perfect in Christ.” “Present” refers to being brought into God’s presence at the return of Christ; only then will God’s work in the believer be complete. “Perfect” suggests attainment of the proper end of one’s existence – maturity in faith and character. Such maturity is possible “in Christ,” that is by virtue of the believer’s union with Christ.

We all have a common purpose once we have given our hearts and lives to the Lord, we are to proclaim the Good News of who Jesus is… by studying the Word of God like we are doing right now it gives us a wonderful opportunity to learn and grow. And the more we learn, the more we should want to share this knowledge with others. Let’s take on the burden that Paul had and choose to take the responsibility presented to us by God and proclaim His entire message.

~AMEN~