Thinking about Colossians 1:15 – the Greatness of Jesus

In this verse, and the following verses, the Holy Spirit leads Paul to give a magnificent description of Jesus as to his person and activities. In doing so, the apostle gives answers to important questions that would have been asked by his contemporaries about Jesus.

 

First, Paul says that Jesus is the exact image of the invisible God. He means that, in Jesus, the invisible God who cannot be seen was seen by his creatures. His description refers to the incarnate Christ and his mission on earth. The idea is like the statement by the apostle John when he said of Jesus that ‘No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known’ (John 1:18). Or we can think of Jesus’ self-description when he told Phillip that ‘Whoever has seen me has seen the Father’ (John 14:9).

 

As Calvin put it, ‘he is revealed to us in Christ alone, that we may behold him as in a mirror. For in Christ he shows us his righteousness, goodness, wisdom, power, in short, his entire self. We must, therefore, beware of seeking him elsewhere, for everything that would set itself off as a representation of God, apart from Christ, will be an idol.’

 

It is possible to see some of God’s attributes through looking at the creation. As Paul says in Romans 1, in creation we can see God’s power in that he made the universe and sustains it in existence. We can also deduce that since he is the creator of all things he existed before all things that he made. It is also possible to conclude from harvests that God the creator reveals his goodness to his creatures.

 

Yet the revelation of God in creation is limited as far as we are concerned. Creation does not tell us that God is triune, that he is love, that he is merciful, that he is full of pity, as well as many other details about him. We cannot discern God’s plan for the creation merely by looking at the creation.

 

Jesus, however, revealed those truths about God. He told us that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Through his explanations connected to his acts of kindness, he showed that God is full of compassion and mercy. By giving himself to die on the cross for our sins, he revealed that God is love, that he gave his Son for that purpose. His giving himself showed that God had a plan of salvation, a plan that intends to bring sinners into his family, to sanctify them by his Holy Spirit, and to bring them to dwell in God’s presence for ever. He also revealed that God will judge those who rebel against him, and that the Judge will be Jesus himself.

 

When he calls Jesus the image of the invisible God, Paul does not suggest that Jesus is somehow inferior to God. Rather, when he came to reveal the Father, it was the Creator who had entered our world. He did not cease to be divine when he became human. Yet he did reveal more about God when he came and did so because he was and is God. The Son of the Father’s love became man to show us his Father.

Thought on Colossians 1:14 – True Liberty

Redemption has the meaning of setting slaves free from an owner by the payment of a ransom price. Paul mentions here that Jesus has liberated his people from a hostile power, described in the previous verse as the power of darkness. He makes a connection between the hold that that power had on them and the fact that they were guilty sinners.

The power of darkness is the devil, and he has a hold on sinners in the sense that he can demand punishment for their sins. He knows that sinners deserve punishment and that God will judge them for their sins and pronounce the sentence that sin deserves. It would have seemed impossible for that situation to be changed.

Paul, however, knows that God provided the way for sinners to experience deliverance from this awful  outcome. He had revealed how he would do this in several Old Testament passages such as Isaiah 53, but as Peter says, even the prophets who foretold this deliverance did not fully appreciate what they were predicting.

Jesus paid the ransom price when he died on the cross as a sacrifice for his people’s sins. When they believe in him through responding to the gospel, they are forgiven all their sins. God, the judge who otherwise would have condemned them, now freely pardons them because Jesus paid the penalty.

It is important to note the present tense of the verb, that believers have redemption, the forgiveness of their sins. As Christians, they no longer are enslaved, imprisoned in a dungeon awaiting punishment. Rather they are now subjects in the kingdom of Christ. The devil no longer has any claim on them in connection to the penalty their sins deserved. They have been redeemed from their sinful state and brought into his amazing, delightful, eternal kingdom.

Thoughts on Colossians 1:12-13 – Thankful for a change

Verse 12 gives a reason for Paul’s gratitude concerning the Colossians – the Heavenly Father had qualified them to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. ‘Saints in light’ is the opposite of ‘sinners in darkness’. The Colossians had been sinners in darkness, but through responding to the gospel they had become saints living in the presence of God.

The position they have is an inheritance from the Father. Paul is glad that the Colossians are fellow heirs with him of the riches of divine grace. It is not so much that they have those things than that they have an unchangeable place in his presence where they enjoy all those things. They are always under his eye, as it were.

Paul does not mean that they are sinless, although one day they will be. He does not mean that they are no longer in Colosse, although one day they will be. Something has happened to them that their sinfulness does not alter and that a change of circumstances will not disrupt. They are already qualified even although they are not yet perfect and are not yet in heaven.

The Colossians are as really children of God as he and his Jewish fellow-believers in Jesus are. Both Gentile and Jewish Christians have experienced a great deliverance without physically moving an inch. God the Father did two actions on their behalf at their conversion. First, he took them out of a realm and, second, he put them in another kingdom. The realm they left forever is dark, the kingdom they entered forever is light.

As Spurgeon put it, ‘Oh, Christian! If you are careless, if you are asleep, if tonight your heart is heavy and dull, I should like to come and whisper this right into your soul, “He has delivered us from the power of darkness.” We are now to be active, earnest, zealous and full of devoted life!’

It is easy to forget the great change that has happened to believers. Now we belong to the kingdom of Jesus and will do so forever. When we trusted in Jesus through believing the gospel by the illumination of the Spirit, we were justified (given a permanent standing) and adopted (given a permanent status) by the Father. Of course, the full experience of the Father’s grace is in the world to come, but still we should remind ourselves what he has done for us already, and thank him for the change.

Thoughts on Colossians 1:9–11 - Intercession

Christians  often wonder what they should pray for other believers, especially when they have not seen them for a while. One reason for this concern is that we can limit prayer to specific circumstances in a person’s life rather than focussing on ongoing spiritual matters that are common to all Christians.

Although Paul and his friends would have some knowledge of the circumstances facing the Christians in Colosse, they would not have exact knowledge of their immediate temporal needs. But that did not prevent them interceding daily for the Colossian Christians. What did they pray for?

They prayed that the Colossians would have spiritual wisdom and understanding so to live according to God’s will. In order to make spiritual progress, they needed to be submissive to God’s holy requirements. Although they did not have the New Testament, they would have been taught by Epaphras the implications of the gospel. They also would have access to the demands of God contained in the Old Testament.

The obedience that Paul prayed for was to be continuous, with full commitment to Christ the Lord. After all, the life he lived for us was continuous and fully committed. While we know that no Christian can live a totally dedicated life, that is not a reason for not praying that they will be as dedicated as possible. Such a way of living, while not perfect, gives pleasure to the One who died for us on the cross.

Such consecration has two benefits. One is fruitfulness in every area of Christian living. The other is growth in the knowledge of God. Paul probably means experiential knowledge of God’s power (Paul mentions that power in three ways in verse 11, and it is amazing that such power is available to sinners). The experience of that power brings persistence in serving God, perseverance despite the circumstances, and a growing sense of God-given joy in our hearts.

What should I pray today for my fellow Christians?

Thoughts on Colossians 1:7-8

Pauline descriptions

It was through Epaphras that the gospel had come to Colosse. The gospel he brought there had to be taught there, which indicates that by ‘gospel’ Paul had more in mind than how a sinner becomes a Christian. We are not told why Epaphras was now with Paul. Maybe he had gone there to ask Paul for advice about a matter or perhaps he had gone there to inform Paul about the spiritual health of the congregation and dangers they faced, or he could have gone with a gift from the congregation, or possibly all three reasons.

Paul refers to Epaphras as ‘our beloved fellow servant’. Literally, he says ‘fellow slave,’ a reminder that they had a common Master, Jesus the Lord. Describing themselves in this way indicates the depth and extent of their devotion to Jesus. He had purchased them by his redeeming death, they had been bought with a great price. His words are also a reminder that they served Jesus wherever they were. He was constantly first in their lives.

By ‘our’, Paul probably means himself and Timothy or himself and other believers then with him. Whoever they were, they all had the same attitude towards Epaphras – they loved him. It is a strong word – dearly beloved. Brotherly love is a basic evidence of salvation, as the apostle John reminded his readers in his first letter.

Paul also says that Epaphras was a faithful servant of Christ. Here the word for servant is the word for a waiter or a deacon and was often used to describe how a pastor functioned in a church. Basically, he gave to those under his care what was good for their spiritual health, and he gave to them from the resources that Jesus has in abundance. Faithfulness to Jesus required Epaphras to get from Jesus in heaven that which was good for his people in Colosse. We can see how Epaphras would have done this by noting what is said about his prayer life in 4:12.

Epaphras was not only faithful to Jesus, he was also faithful to the Colossians. He ensured that Paul and others knew what kind of believers the Colossians were. Paul has already referred to their love for all the saints and maybe he and others deduced that such love could only have come from the Holy Spirit. Perhaps it was Epaphras who said that such was the change in their lives that the only explanation was the sanctifying work of the Spirit. Either way, the challenge comes to us – do we have such love?

John Brown - The Glorious Work of Mercy

 ‘Mercy and Truth are met together: Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and Righteousness shall look down from Heaven: Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield her increase.’

The redemption of sinners is, strictly speaking, the work of mercy; and though no excellency of God is subordinate to another in itself, yet in this transaction they seem all to act as employed by love. Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

No sooner had Mercy intimated that she intended to save, than WISDOM stepped forward  and said, ‘I will form the plan’; and now that the scheme is made known, it is scarce possible for the saved to forbear exclaiming, ‘O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God!’

 

POWER proposed to lend her arm to execute Mercy’s projects; and all who have seen the work acknowledge that she hath done great things, and marvellous deeds without number.

 

GOODNESS, natural Goodness, said, that for her part she would give to Mercy her earth and heaven, to be theatres where she might show to the ages to come the exceeding riches of her grace; and she did as she said.

 

JUSTICE engaged that, for Mercy’s sake, she would cause her sword to work against the man [who is] God’s fellow, that she would smite the Shepherd till she received full satisfaction, and in the fullness of time she acted according to promise.

 

HOLINESS was equally cheerful, and vowed that, agreeably to her nature, she would sanctify Mercy's objects, that Mercy might have honour by her deeds. So she promised, and so she performs; for when any man is united to Christ, he becomes a new creature: ‘Old things pass away, and behold all things are made new.’

 

INDEPENDENCY hinted to Mercy, that however great her gifts, yet the divine glory could not suffer; Jehovah being God over all blessed for ever.

 

INFINITY intimated, that however numerous her wretched objects, she need fear no expense, for God was all-sufficient.

 

UNCHANGEABLENESS assures us, that having once begun the saving work, neither the provocations of men, nor the alterations in their lot, should cause a change in this; God is the Lord, he changeth not, and therefore the sons of Jacob are not consumed.

 

Yes; and ETERNITY declared that if Time would not serve Mercy to perform her kind deeds, and to confer her special favours, a long forever should be had: ‘Israel should be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation, and not ashamed nor confounded, world without end.’

 

What shall I say? With Redemption, the work of Mercy, in my eye, I think I see all the attributes engaged at once, all acting in the greatest harmony, and all, so far as men can conceive, exerting themselves to the uttermost!

(From among the Papers of the late Rev. J. BROWN, Author of Self-interpreting Bible.)

 

 

 

Thoughts on Colossians 1:6 – Gospel growth

It is astonishing that we can say that the gospel has come somewhere, given that we as sinners do not deserve to hear good news from God. Yet it is also astonishing that Paul could say that the gospel had come everywhere, and he could make that claim within a few decades of the giving of the great commission by Jesus.

Whatever Paul meant by the ‘whole world’, the church was growing and spreading to the regions beyond. As Calvin commented, ‘in the multitude of the believers at that time there was beheld an accomplishment of the many predictions which extend the reign of Christ from the East to the West.’

Moreover, Paul was informed, without aids such as the internet, as to this global growth. Maybe God told him (the Holy Spirit certainly inspired him to write about it). He also had a wide range of contacts. Romans 16 tells us that he knew a great deal about the church in Rome long before he travelled to the capital of the empire. Of the initial destinations of his letters, those to Rome and Colosse are the two locations he had not been to before he composed them, yet he knew much about them. He had different reasons for writing his letters, yet they all reveal that he knew to some degree those to whom he was writing, even the names of some of them.

The gospel comes to places with different degrees of experience and prospects. Colosse had been an important place in the past, but its influence and size had declined. Still, the gospel came to it. Further, shortly after receiving this letter, the city was destroyed in an earthquake and we do not know what happened to the Christians there. Still, the gospel came to it. Presumably, they helped in rebuilding the city. But they would be grateful to know that in the gospel they had an immovable foundation on which to build their lives.

The gospel can be described in different ways. Sometimes its contents are detailed, at other times its effects are mentioned. Paul here says that the gospel is alive, having constant effects in the lives of the believers living in Colosse; in other words, their sanctification. Through the gospel, they experienced in a true manner the grace of God. Their minds had been enlightened about the provision of salvation and they had embraced it and continued to experience its power.