We have a dandy this week, no disrespect to the Gospel intended. Paul with the help of Timothy writes this epistle about A. D. 58-62. This from the NLV…1:1This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy. The letter is in part intended to warn Colossians of doctrinal errors and to reset them onto a path of that will encourage their continued growth in Christ. If we break it down into two parts we start with a theological essay in simple words amounts to the study of the person and work of Jesus Christ…or up-town talk…Chirstology. Now Paul sets out to make a point…Jesus was much more than a prophet, a teacher or a godly man. This was God…come down to earth to walk among us. Now Jesus never said “I am God” but there were many other things that he said or did that could only be interpreted as saying and showing that indeed He was. Sometimes we get carried away with phrases  like “The hypostatic union”… using scripture to stand behind it… John 8:58- Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I AM! ‘…John 10:30  The Father and I are one.’ Then there is the capper I call it…John 1:14  so the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. Paul takes to task those of the Colossians’ church about their individual life also their home and family as well as their work. Paul continues to stress the Lordship of Jesus Christ and His sufficiency in meeting our needs in every area of our life.

The second half is a mini-ethics course, addressing every area of Christian life. Paul gets on a roll here…He speaks to Christ as being…the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Paul warns of  becoming a captive of a hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on mortal habits and basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. He wraps this dissertation up with…Colossians 3:12-13, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Paul was a man of compassion, his love for God, Christ and word were the strengths along with his unshakeable faith that powered his mission. He understood what it took to follow the “good way.”

Colossians 4:5-6, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”  One mystery we encounter here is that we do not know what was told to Paul, which was the reason for this letter. We do know but  other writings tell us that there was reason to believe that heresy had arisen in Colosse, which endangered the existence of the church and Paul wrote this response to defeat it. Some other things were in play of course. I may repeat myself…so please excuse me, there is so much here. People were denying Jesus’ real and true humanity and not accepting His full deity. I guess you could say that Paul threw some salt in the wound by disputing the “Jewish” emphasis on circumcision and traditions. The heresy could have been from either a mix between Jewish religious reasons and Greek Stoic philosophy. Paul makes it plain that the sufficiency of Christ is all that is needed. Paul was relentless in his view of Jewish legalism in Colossae. So radical was the concept of salvation by grace and those steeped in Old Testament law it provided a constant ground of division. The legalists still insisted on circumcision and was still practiced among some of the Jewish converts. 

There are some books of the Bible that leave no doubt to what displeases God and that might be future fodder for a blog. But for now I will share this with you…From gotquestions.org 

“Good deeds, astrology, occultism and horoscopes do not show us God’s ways. Only Christ does. His will is revealed in His word, His love letter to us; we must get to know it!”

Paul did a great job in this book of showing us “The Christ Way”

Life is Good 

jk