Colossians 1 – The Hope of His Glory

2023-10-29

Pastor Jonathan Falwell

Today, we will start our study of the book of Colossians. This letter was written by the Apostle Paul as he sat in home imprisonment longing to encourage the believers in churches throughout the world. The church at Colossae was one he had heard much about but had never visited. The church had been planted by Epaphras and may have been pastored by Philemon. This letter was written, like other Pauline letters, to warn of dangerous beliefs which were filtering into the church. The primary concern Paul had for the Colossian church was an attack on the deity of Christ Himself. Thus, he begins his letter focusing on the supremacy and deity of Christ.

1. The mark of the believer

     a. Faithfulness to Christ – Vs 2-4

² To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ³ We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, ⁴ since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints;

• The Colossian church was marked by their faithfulness
• They were known for doing the right thing, both in knowledge and service
• It is clear here that Paul was addressing a common problem in that day – Gnosticism

 

     b. Faithfulness to His Word – Vs 5-7

⁵ because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, ⁶ which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth; ⁷ as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf

• They had sat under faithful teaching which had drawn them closer to God

 

     c. Faithfulness to His work – Vss 9-14

⁹ For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; ¹⁰ that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹ strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; ¹² giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. ¹³ He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

• filled with the knowledge – epignõsis – “an intimate recognition and awareness”
• Verses 10-12 are a great checklist for every believer

 

2. The object of our worship

• CHRIST! – Vss 15-18

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. ¹⁸ And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

• These verses focus on the deity of Christ
• Vs 15 “image” of God; has always existed – eikon
  • “firstborn”

Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”

• Vs 16 He is creator; everything is under His rule
  • It would be impossible for Christ to be “created” if He was Creator
  • This is a clear repudiation by Paul of the Gnostic way of thinking
• Vs 17 He is supreme over everything; all things “consist”
  • “consist” – synistēmi meaning “to set in place and hold together”
• Vs 18 He is the head of the church
  • Ephesians talks about the “body” which is the church
• Vs 18 HE IS RISEN

 

3. The source of our hope

• The cross – Vss 19-20

¹⁹ For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, ²⁰ and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

• He is our connection to God
• Only through His sacrifice on the cross do we find this reconciliation

 

4. The promise of His gift

• Reconciliation – Vss 21-23

²¹ And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled ²² in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—²³ if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

• We had no way of being made right with God other than through Christ
• We were once “enemies” but have been made right

Ephesians 2:1-5 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, ² in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, ³ among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. ⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)

5. The riches of His glory

 

• Christ in us – Vss 24-29

²⁴ I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, ²⁵ of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, ²⁶ the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. ²⁷ To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. ²⁸ Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.^[1]

• Max Anders says, “The unprecedented secret is that all are included. The unprecedented truth is that Jesus Christ lives in all who trust him. Not only does he live in us; he is our hope of glory.”^[1]

^[1] Max Anders, Galatians-Colossians, vol. 8, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 285.

^[1] The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Col 1:1–29.