Colossians 1:1-8

Scripture: Colossians 1:1-8

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

² To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

³We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴ since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, ⁵ because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, ⁶ which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, ⁷ just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf ⁸ and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. ^[1]

Devotion

Paul in writing to the Colossians was writing to a church he had not founded and had never visited. Instead he had heard about the new church there from Epaphras who had evangelized there and had come back with his report of the how the church there was progressing. Colossae was a small town that was later destroyed by an earthquake and not rebuilt. It has never been excavated so we know very little about the town compared to some of the other locations where Paul sent letters. This letter and its two companion letters, Ephesians and Philemon were sent at the same time from Paul and Timothy by the hand of Tychicus around AD 60. Commentators disagree widely on the date of authorship anywhere from AD 50 to AD 65.

The letter begins with a typical greeting from Paul and his co author Timothy. Paul declares himself to be an apostle writing to the Colossians. Paul gives them a threefold identification. First, he calls them holy. This means the Colossian believers, in fact all believers, are “set apart” by and for God. Next, Paul refers to the Colossian believers as faithful. As he does later in the letter, Paul commends the Colossians for their steadfast commitment to the gospel. Finally, Paul says the Colossians are brothers. They are one spiritual family despite differences in background, race, or any other purely human considerations.^[2]

Then Paul says Grace to you and Peace from God our Father. A typical was of greeting in Paul’s day. Stating then that he always gives thanks to God for them in his prayers. In verse 4 and 5 the familiar Pauline triad of faith, love and hope make their appearance. The gospel should do for us what it did for the Colossians. The gospel of Jesus Christ, like a seed, is a dynamic force that shatters the hard, stony soil of sin and takes root as new life. By complimenting the Colossians on how the gospel had taken root and grown in them, as it has in all the world ^[3] It produces faith that preservers through good times and bad. Love for all people Jew and Gentile alike. Finally, hope for eternal life through the gospel of Christ.

Verse 6 commends them for believing the gospel which is growing not only there but in the whole world. The most important date in the history of any town is when the gospel is first proclaimed in it.

Then Paul lets his readers know that Epaphras has made known to him the love that the Colossians have for him and for all the saints. A love given through the working of the Holy Spirit.

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^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Col 1:1–8.

^[2] Max Anders, Galatians-Colossians, vol. 8, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 277.

^[3] Max Anders, Galatians-Colossians, vol. 8, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 278.