LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

Introduction and Salutation

Colossians 1:1-14

INTRODUCTION

In Colossians Paul is addressing the heresy called Gnosticism (nah-steh-cism). Although this heresy is in its early stages when Paul writes Colossians, it grows and develops by the end of the 1st century into the greatest danger Christianity ever faced. Whereas persecution actually strengthened the church, this heresy almost destroyed her.

The primary reason Gnosticism was so damaging was that although its beliefs differed radically from Christianity, it nevertheless adopted many of the same terms Christianity used and even claimed to be a Christian sect. (We see Mormons adopting this same strategy.) For example, Gnosticism claimed that there was a God and that Christ came to redeem us. It claimed that the world had been created, that we are sons of light, and that there is a fight to the finish between good and evil. On the surface it did appear to be Christian. A deeper look though revealed its pernicious character.

At the heart of Gnosticism was the belief that the soul/spirit is good and the body is evil. Not only was the body bad, all matter was supposed to be bad: the earth, the trees, the seas, the animals, the fish, etc. Everything created was evil. How then could a good God create such an evil universe? Their answer was quite simple: a good God did not create the material universe.

Gnostics (nah-stiks) believed that originally there was a perfect God. From this perfect God sprang another being, an emanation, so called because He emanated from the original God. From this emanation sprang another emanation, etc., etc., etc. Each time an emanation sprang from an emanation, the resulting emanation was more imperfect than the one it sprang from. It is similar to the situation in the movie Multiplicity in which Michael Keaton cloned himself and then cloned his clone, etc. Each clone was more stupid than the one it was cloned from. The third clone was outright low-rent. In the Gnostic system, so many emanations sprang forth that eventually one of the latter emanations was evil. This evil emanation created the universe, especially the body of man. The Gnostics believed this evil emanation was Jehovah, the God of the OT, who not only created the evil universe but also ordered the Israelites to slaughter innocent women and children.

The Gnostics believed that in addition to these emanations, there existed the Man of Light, the Man of Spirit, also known as the Primal Man. The evil forces (lesser emanations also known as wicked angels) attacked the Man of Light and shattered him into thousands of little shards of light. The forces of darkness then took the little shards of light and encased them in human bodies. As long as these shards of light existed on earth, the earth would have light.

Not everybody has a shard of little light. Only certain people have this light within them; they are called "spirituals"; as a result only certain people could be saved. Salvation was nothing less than these shards of light being released from evil bodies, reuniting with all the other shards of light in the heavenly sphere so that the Man of Light might be reconstituted. Once he has been reconstituted and all the shards of light have escaped the material universe, the forces of darkness will be destroyed and the material universe will be plunged into eternal darkness.

Now being released from the body was one thing. Getting back to the Primal Man was quite another. Gnostics believed the Primal Man lived in the heavens. In order to get to him, the shards of light would have to pass by planets and stars which were ruled by demonic forces. In order to get past them, you had to know secrets, mysteries, or code words. Upon approaching the hostile forces, you would have to utter the secrets. Part of their religion then consisted in learning these code words. In fact they believed that Christ had come to give them these secret code words.

In Gnosticism Christ was important, especially because He revealed these code words to the Gnostics; however, Christ was just one of many emanations. He was not necessarily even the primary One. As a result, Gnostics focused on the numerous emanations promoted by Gnosticism. They engaged in angel worship.

Now that I live in an evil body, what should be my response? Some Gnostics claimed that the right way to deal with the body was to subject it to severe discipline. Fasting, frigid baths, and extreme frugality were proper ways to treat the body. Since Gnosticism adopted some Jewish features, some Gnostics practiced circumcision and observed strictly the Jewish religious feasts. Other Gnostics claimed that since the true self was the shard of light within them, it did not matter what they did with their body. As a result they plunged themselves into the cesspool of depravity.

Now all of this may seem foreign to you and me; however, much of it should seem faintly familiar. For example, some Christian denominations totally denigrate the OT. They feel uncomfortable with the view of a wrathful God who orders genocide. Like Gnosticism some other Christian denominations tend to be legalistic, while even other Christian faiths tend to be permissive. Like Gnostics our Calvinist brethren believe that only a predetermined set of people are going to be saved. Just like Gnostics focused on "knowledge," so many of our fundamentalist brethren focus on knowledge almost to the exclusion of a faith relationship with Jesus Christ.

What is the Christian response to these different elements? Paul articulates it in Colossians. For him the primary response is Christ. He is not just one of many emanations from God; He is God Himself, God in the flesh. In Him we understand the mysteries of the universe. By uniting ourselves with Him through faith we have been freed from the fear of the future and have taken unto ourselves the same destiny that He Himself enjoys at this very moment. Instead of punishing our bodies or degrading them, we follow Christ on a daily basis by means of His Spirit so that we can actually experience His life. In addition to the Gospel of John and Ephesians, Colossians is the great exposition in the NT of the person and work of Jesus.

SALUTATION (1:1-2)

Greeting

As in nearly all his letters Paul begins Colossians by using the customary greeting found in letters of the first century: first, name of author; second, name of recipients; and third, brief greeting. Paul tailors this greeting in order to address the specific situation in Colossae. First, after identifying himself as Paul, he labels himself an apostle of Jesus Christ. Not an apostle of any other emanation or angel but an apostle of Jesus Christ Himself. Whereas the Gnostics claimed that Christ gave them their code words, He actually commissioned Paul to be His official spokesperson. Moreover, Paul's apostleship is not based upon an inferior being; it is based upon the will of the supreme God Himself. As such, Paul's message must be heeded. Next Paul identifies his readers as the faithful saints in Colossae. Third, as in most of his letters he greets them with his characteristic greeting: "Grace to you and peace." In this letter though Paul does not say that grace and peace come from Jesus. He only says that they come from God. Does he mean that Jesus does not dispense this grace and peace? No. At the very outset he is telegraphing to the Colossians that although he is going to focus almost exclusively on Jesus in this letter, behind all he says stands God the Father. Our response to Jesus and what Paul says about Him constitutes nothing less than our response to God. [For a full explanation of Paul's use of the words "grace" and "peace," refer to (Philippians 1:1-18a)].

Thanksgiving (1:3-8)

As is typical of first-century letters, Colossians has a thanksgiving following the greeting. Notice the reason Paul thanks God for the Colossians: their faith in Christ Jesus, their love for their fellow Christians, and their hope which allows them to trust Jesus and love their fellow Christians. (Paul loves to use this triad throughout his letters.)

Of the three terms (faith, hope and love), the main one here is hope. Hope in this context does not mean wishful thinking. It does not mean, "I hope something will happen, and yet it may not." Hope in this verse refers to the thing hoped for. It specifically refers to what we believe will happen to us in the future: Christ will return in order to transform us into His image and to give us a glorious existence. We are confident in this hope because this is exactly what happened to Christ. Because of His resurrection, He has been transformed and now enjoys a glorious existence. We shall experience His destiny because we are united with Him because of our faith. Because we have believed in Him, Christ has placed His Spirit within us so that we are now one with Him. Because we are one with Him, we too shall enjoy His new glorious existence. Because Jesus is already in heaven, our hope is already in heaven. We don't have to learn a lot of code words to get to heaven. For all practical purposes we are already there.

Because we have this hope, we are now free to love. When people are stressed out, they are incapable of loving. Look at the wife who is stressed out over her husband's reckless spending. Her children become starved for love and affection. Look at the husband who is afraid he is going to lose his job. He either sits in his room watching TV or engages in some kind of irresponsible behavior. This should not be true of the Christian. The resurrection of Jesus informs us of what our future will be like. We no longer have to worry about the future. This frees us to trust Jesus daily by listening to Him and obeying Him. It also frees us now to love those God has placed in our lives, especially Christians.

Unlike the heresy of the Gnostics which is based upon lies, the hope Paul is speaking of is based upon the truth, the gospel. Paul lists 2 characteristics of the gospel which apply specifically to the Colossians' situation. First, this gospel has come to the whole world. By the time Paul writes Colossians, the entire Roman world has for all practical purposes been evangelized. That fact argues for the truth of Christianity. How? Christianity proclaims that Jesus has been exalted to the status of Lord of the universe. If He is universal Lord, then it only stands to reason that the universe will be evangelized. A universal Lord will have universal appeal. (This is one of the reasons faith and not works of the Law is necessary for salvation. Only a selected few have the Law, whereas the entire universe of mankind can exercise faith. The universal Lord will offer His salvation in such a way that universal mankind can experience it.) This contradicts Gnosticism (and Calvinism) because Gnosticism claims it is only for the select few.

The second characteristic of the gospel is that it spreads. The idea of a small group of Christians meeting regularly and getting deeper and deeper into the world while letting the rest of the community go to hell is a gross distortion of Christianity. True Christianity grows. Before Christ rose from the dead, the Holy Spirit had not been given; therefore, you don't see widespread evangelism and conversions. Now that Jesus has been exalted to God's right hand (Acts 2), the Holy Spirit who leads people to Christ has been poured out upon the world of mankind. He draws people to Christ (Acts 1:8). The Christian not drawing others to Christ is resisting the desires and movement of the Spirit within him.

Paul next reminds them that Epaphras (short for Epaphroditus, not the same Epaphroditus in Philippians) was the one who had founded the church in Colossae and had instructed them. Paul is most likely mentioning Epaphras in order to confirm and support him in his ministry. Paul the apostle is backing Epaphras in the things he taught the Colossians. Accepting Epaphras and his teachings means that you are accepting Paul. Accepting Paul the apostle means that you are accepting Christ.

(Just a brief note on the relationship of Epaphras and the Colossian church. Luke informs us that during Paul's 3rd missionary journey, Paul evangelized the entire Roman province of Asia of which Colossae was a part. He either directly evangelized all the Asian cities/villages or indirectly evangelized them through his protégés. In the case of Colossae, Paul indirectly evangelized the city through Epaphras. Apparently some years later while Paul was in a Roman prison, Gnosticism had made inroads in the church at Colossae. Epaphras had journeyed to Rome to seek Paul's instructions regarding this heresy. While in Rome Epaphras discovered that a runaway slave from Colossae named Onesiphorus had made his way to Rome. What was even more intriguing was that the slave's owner was Philemon, a member of the Colossian church. Although Paul had led Onesiphorus to the Lord and desired that he remain with him, Paul honored Philemon's relationship with Onesiphorus and returned Onesiphorus to Philemon. Onesiphorus accompanied Epaphras back to Colossae.)

Prayer (1:9-13)

Paul concludes his salutation to the Colossians with prayer, another customary feature of first-century letter writing. Paul's prayer relates directly to the situation in Colossae. He first prays that they will be filled with full knowledge of God's will by means of spiritual wisdom and insight. Although Paul does not mention the Holy Spirit in Colossians, the Holy Spirit nevertheless lies just beneath the surface in Paul's thoughts. Here he alludes to the Spirit when he says that they will know God's will by means of spiritual wisdom and insight. The Spirit is the Spirit of Christ and of God; as such He knows what is the mind and will of the Father and the Son (1 Cor. 2:11-16). Since that Spirit lives in us, He can give us this knowledge.

What is that will? To live in a way worthy of the Lord and to His entire satisfaction. Although we have been saved by grace through faith, we nevertheless have been called to live lives worthy of the Lord Jesus. Is the life we're living now worthy of the great cost Christ paid for us not only in leaving the glories of heaven to become one of us but also in dying for us on the cross? In the ABC TV movie about Jesus, Satan tempts Jesus to refuse the cross by showing Him what kind of people Christians one day would be. He showed Jesus how Christians would in His name kill millions. Satan showed Him how Christians would in many ways be no better than non-Christians. Satan's point was "Is it going to be worth it?" That's the question we must ask ourselves: "Is the life I am living worth the death of Christ?" (We are also to live lives for His satisfaction, His pleasure. Although God now favors us because we are one with Christ, we nevertheless need to live daily lives that would please God.)

How do we live worthy of the Lord and for His pleasure? "By producing results in all sorts of good work and by growing in the knowledge of God." The emphasis here is on the life lived, not on the knowledge attained. This was a real slap at the Gnostics who prided themselves on their knowledge. The name "Gnostics" literally means "the Knowledgeable Ones" or "The Knowing Ones." They felt that knowledge equalled salvation, especially knowledge that they were chosen, knowledge of the true nature of the universe, and knowledge how to escape from this material prison and escape from demonic fortresses in order to reunite with other Gnostics in a heavenly realm. Although knowledge is important, Christianity focuses on life. Read the OT and you will see God's people living, not studying. Although Paul in Colossians will present some profound knowledge of Christ, Christ came primarily to give us life (John 10:10), not exclusively knowledge. A balance between life and knowledge is needed, a balance tilted towards life.

The second emphasis is knowledge of God. In the Bible knowledge of God primarily refers to a relationship with God. Although head knowledge is important in this relationship, it is not the primary focus of this relationship. In the Bible this relationship primarily involves knowledge of God and of His will, and of obedience to Him. It focuses on living life in a full awareness of His presence and of His power to perform His will.

Next Paul prays that the Colossians will be invigorated with complete power in accordance with His glorious strength for the cheerful exercise of unlimited patience and perseverance. The words italicized represent three different Greek words for power. For all practical purposes Paul is speaking about power to the third power, or power cubed. One of the Greek words used here (kratos) refers in the OT exclusively to God's power. What kind of power is Paul referring to here? To the resurrection power which resides within us. According to Paul the Spirit is the One who raised Jesus from the dead (Rom. 8:11). This same powerful Spirit came to live within us at the time of our salvation. As a result, this same power, resurrection power resides within us. We are equipped for any situation which life may present us.

Paul prays that we will use this resurrection power for the cheerful exercise of unlimited patience and perseverance. The word translated "patience" literally means "to bear up under." It's the idea of the weighlifter bearing up underneath the weights, becoming stronger and stronger the more he remains beneath the weights. The Colossians are to remain under their weights, their loads by refusing to shuck the truths of Christianity for the lies of Gnosticism. Life would certainly be a lot easier if they compromised; however, Christ never calls us to compromise the truth especially about who He is and how we come into a proper relationship with Him. The word "perseverance" simply means there is no giving up. No matter how rough it may get, the Christian is never allowed to give up. With the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit living within him, the Christian has no reason or excuse to give up.

Notice the 2 responses the Christian should have: joy and thanksgiving. Paul will later say that thanksgiving (gratitude) is the appropriate response to the fact that Jesus is not simply Lord over my life but also over all of life. Here joy and thanksgiving are due to the fact that the Father has qualified us for our share in the inheritance of Christ, in His kingdom of light. Christ as the Son of God inherits all that the Father possesses. Because we are one with Christ by means of His indwelling Spirit, we too shall inherit all that the Son inherits. No matter how difficult life may become, our glorious future is guaranteed. Our response? Joy and thanksgiving.