Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Colossians 1:3
We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
3 8. thanksgiving for the colossian saints
3. We give thanks ] So Rom 1:8; 1Co 1:4; Eph 1:16; 1Th 1:2; 1Th 2:13; 2Th 1:3; 2Th 2:13; Phm 1:4. Thanksgiving is the instinct of the life of grace. These thanksgivings recognize God as the whole Cause of all goodness in His saints.
God and the Father ] Better, with the more probable reading, God, the Father. Here, as often, the Father is called simply, and as it were distinctively, God. Not that He is more truly God than the Son, but that He is the Fountain of Godhead in the Son. Cp. Pearson, Exposition. Art. i., pp. 34, 35, 40.
praying always for you ] Better perhaps, always, when at prayer for you. The “prayer” here meant is prayer in its most inclusive sense, worship, of which thanksgiving is a part. For St Paul’s prayers for his converts cp. Col 1:9; Eph 1:16-17; Eph 3:14; Php 1:9; 2Th 1:1; 2Ti 1:3; and see below, Col 4:12.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
We give thanks to God – See the notes at the parallel place in Eph 1:15-16.
Praying always for you – See the Rom 1:9, note; Eph 1:16, note; compare 1Th 1:2.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Col 1:3-8
We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The prelude
I. A thankful recognition of Christian excellence as introductory to warnings and remonstrances. Almost all Pauls Epistles begin thus. Gentle rain softens the ground, and prepares it to receive the heavier downfall which would else mostly run off the hard surface. These expressions are not compliments, or flattery used for personal ends, but uncalculated expressions of affection which delights to see white patches in the blackest character, and of wisdom which knows that the nauseous medicine of blame is most easily taken if wrapped in a capsule of honest praise. All persons in authority may be the better for taking this lesson.
2. The praise is cast in the form of thanksgiving to God, as the true fountain of all that is good in men. All that might be harmful in direct praise is thus strained out of it. Christian excellences are Gods gifts. The fountain, not the pitcher, should have the credit of the water.
3. There were two points which occasioned his thankfulness.
(1) Faith. This is sometimes spoken of as towards Jesus, which describes the act by its direction, as if it were the going out of mans nature to the true goal of all active being. On Christ, describes it as reposing on Him as the end of all seeking. But more sweet is faith considered as in Him as its home, where the seeking spirit may fold its wings, be strengthened, and tranquillized.
(a) In all, faith is the same–simple confidence. But how unlike are the objects!–broken reeds in the one case, and the firm pillar of Divine power and tenderness in the other. And how unlike, alas! the fervency and constancy of our trust in each other and in Him.
(b) Faith covers the whole ground of mans relation to God. Everything that binds us to the unseen world is included in it.
(c) From that fruitful source all good will come, and that faith lacks its best warrant which does not lead to whatsoever is of good report.
(2) As faith is the parent of all virtue, so it is the parent of love–the whole law of human conduct packed into one word. But the warmest place in a Christians heart will belong to those in sympathy with his deepest self. The sign on the surface of earthly relations of the central fire of faith to Christ is the fruitful vintage of brotherly love, as the vineyards bear the heaviest clusters on the slopes of Vesuvius.
(3) So here we have two members of the familiar triad, and their sister, Hope, is not far off. And the hope laid up in heaven is a motive for brotherly love. This hope is not the emotion, but the object, and the ideas of futurity and security are suggested by that object being laid up. This is not the main motive, but it is legitimate to draw subordinate motives for holiness from the anticipation of future blessedness, and to use that prospect to reinforce the higher motives.
II. A solemn reminder of the truth and worth of that gospel which was threatened by the budding heresies of the Colossian Church.
1. He begins by reminding them that to that gospel they owed all their knowledge and hope of heaven. Its sole certainty is built on the resurrection of Christ, and its sole hope on His death. All around us we see those who reject these surrender their faith in the life beyond.
2. The gospel is a word of which the whole subject and contents is truth. It is of value, not because it feeds sentiment or regulates conduct only, but because it reveals knowledge about the deepest things of God, of which, but for it, man would know nothing. It is not speculation, but truth; and truth because it is the record of Him who is the Truth. To whom shall we go? If elsewhere, to will-o-the-wisps and Babel.
3. This gospel had been received by them. You have accepted the Word; see that your future be consistent with your past. Blessed are they whose creed at last can be spoken in the lessons learned in childhood, to which experience has but given new meaning.
4. This gospel was filling the world. All the world must be taken with an allowance for rhetorical statement, but the rapid spread of Christianity then, and its power to influence all sorts of men, were facts that needed to be accounted for if the gospel were not true. All schisms and heresies are partial and local, suit coteries, and are the product of circumstances; but the gospel goes through the world, and draws all men. Dainties are for the few, and the delicacies of one country are the abominations of another; but everybody breaks bread and lives on it. Do not fling away the gospel, which belongs to all, for that which can never live in the popular heart, nor influence more than a handful of superior persons.
5. Another plea for adherence to the gospel is based on its continuous and universal fruitfulness. It brings about results which attest its claim to be from God. Our imperfections are our own; our good is its. A medicine is not shown to be powerless if a sick man has taken it irregularly. This rod has budded at all events; have any of its antagonists rods done the same? Dont cast it away, says Paul, till you have found a better.
6. They have heard a gospel which reveals the true grace of God–another argument for steadfastness. In opposition to it then, as now, were put various thoughts and requirements, a human wisdom and a burdensome code. They are but bony things to try and live on. The soul wants something more than bread made out of sawdust. We want a loving God to live on, whom we can love because He loves us. Will anything but the gospel give us that?
III. The apostolic endorsement of Epaphras, the early teacher of the Colossians, whose authority, no doubt, was imperilled by the new direction of thought, and Paul was desirous of adding the weight of his attestation to the complete correspondence between his own teaching and that of Epaphras. We know nothing of him except from this letter end that to Philemon. He is a member of the Colossian Church (Col 4:12). He had brought the tidings which filled the apostles heart with joy and love for their Christian walk (verses 4-8), and of anxiety lest they should be swept away from their steadfastness. Epaphras shared this (Col 4:12). He was in some sense Pauls fellow-prisoner, and alone of Pauls companions receives the name of fellow-servant, which may be an instance of Pauls courteous humility. Dont make differences–we are both slaves of one Master. As He had truly represented Paul, so he had lovingly represented them. Probably those who questioned Epaphras version of Pauls teaching would suspect his report of the Church; hence the double witness borne from the apostles generous heart to both parts of his brothers work. Never was leader truer to his subordinates than Paul. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Thanksgiving
I. The duty.
1. Arises out of an express command. We are bound to be thankful for all things (Job 1:21; Isa 24:15).
2. Is a test of Christian character. All the saints have been distinguished by it, and have treasured up their mercies that they might render it. To be lacking in it is to lack the chief distinguishing grace of Christian character, and to incur the greatest sin- ingratitude.
3. Must always form a prominent feature of spiritual worship- witness the Psalms.
4. Is most reasonable in itself–when we consider that it is the best return we can make for any blessing.
II. Its special subjects. The graces of the spirit in ourselves or others.
1. Faith takes the precedence, because it is the first and root-grace. Think of what faith does–saves, is the evidence of things unseen, casts all care on God, etc.
2. Love which is fruitful in blessed effects. The loveless man is miserable.
3. A good hope through grace–which anticipates heaven. (T. Watson, B. A.)
Apostolic thanksgiving
I. Its spirit.
1. It is unselfish. We hear the prisoner praise and exult for the joys of others. Arthur Helps says: It is a noble sight. That man is very powerful who has no more hopes for himself, who looks not to be loved or admired any more, to have more honour and dignity; but whose sole thought is for others, and who only lives for them.
2. Ungrudging. He is about to deal with their errors, but is eager first to recognize what is laudable. There are two sets of men, those who first see the blemish, then the beauty; and those who first admire and then criticise. To the first of these Paul belonged.
3. Constant.
II. Its subjects.
1. The spiritual possessions of the Church. Sometimes Paul views faith and love as leading up to hope: here he depicts hope as kindling faith and love.
(1) The faith is Christ-centred.
(2) The love is practical.
(3) The hope is secure.
2. The means by which these possessions had been obtained.
(1) The gospel.
(a) In its universality.
(b) In its fertility. The gospel is not only vital, but reproductive.
(2) The preacher.
3. The source and sphere of their possession. Love in the Spirit is the life of all the saints. (U. R. Thomas.)
The custom of the apostle to begin his Epistles with thanksgiving showed the devout habit of his mind, his constant recognition of the source of good, and his interest in the spiritual condi tion of those to whom he wrote.
I. Thanksgiving an essential element in prayer. We give thanks, praying always for you.
II. The Being to Whom all thanksgiving is due. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
III. The grounds of this thanksgiving.
1. The reputation of their faith in Christ.
(1) Christ is the object and foundation of all true faith. He is so as the Divinely-consecrated Deliverer of our race. The grandeur of His work and the glory of His character are suggested by the titles here given.
(2): Faith is the root-principle of Christian life.
2. Their possession of an expansive Christian love. Love to Christ is necessarily involved, for love to the saints is our affection for Christs image in them. Love is all-embracing. Peculiarities, defects, differences of opinion, are no barriers. It is the unanswerable evidence of moral transformation (1Jn 3:14). It is the grandest triumph over the natural enmity of the human heart. It is the indissoluble bond of choicest fellowship.
3. Their enjoyment of a well-sustained hope.
(1) Its character. The prospect of heaven–of possessing a spiritual inheritance whose wealth never diminishes and whose splendours never fade–of seeing Christ, and being like Him and dwelling with Him for ever. This prospect lifts the soul above the wearinesses, disappointments, and sufferings of the present limited life.
(2) Its security laid up–safely deposited as a precious jewel in Gods coffer. There no pilfering hands can touch, no breath tarnish, no moth corrupt it. Earthly treasures vanish, and to Gods people sometimes nothing but hope remains. Where this treasure is there the heart should be.
(3) Its source–the gospel. It alone unfolds the mysteries of the future. How dismal the outlook where hope is unknown.
Lessons:
1. We should thank God for others more on account of their spiritual than temporal welfare.
2. Learn what are the essential elements of the Christian character–faith, love, hope.
3. The proclamation of the gospel should be welcomed, and its message pondered. (G. Barlow.)
The connection between thanksgiving and prayer
The participle marks the thanksgiving as part of the prayer, and the adverb makes it prominent, indicating that when they prayed for them they always gave thanks. There is no true prayer without thanksgiving. Gratitude intensifies the souls sense of dependence on God, and prompts the cry for the needed help; and, on the other hand, earnest prayer naturally glides into fervent thankfulness. As one sin is interlinked with and produced by another, so the Use of one grace begets another. The more temporal things are used, the more they wear and waste; but spiritual things are strengthened and increased with exercise. Every spiritual grace has in it the seed of an endless reproductiveness. Underlying every thanksgiving for others is a spirit of tender, disinterested love. Moved by this passion, the apostle, from the midst of imprisonment and sorrow, could soar on the wings of gratitude and prayer to heaven. Thanksgiving will be the bliss of eternity. (Passavant.)
Five Christian elements
I. Christian experience. It consists in–
1. Faith.
(1) That which leads us to accept as true the testimony of the gospel concerning Christ.
(2) To depend upon Him for all the blessings promised by Him.
(3) To constantly apply to Him for all that He has revealed and accomplished.
(4) To lay hold of His friendship, and find Him in every respect a faithful, suitable, ever-present, all-sufficient friend.
2. Love, the constant attendant of faith, and by which faith works.
(1) It produces universal benevolence to all the world, and compassion for perishing sinners.
(2) It especially delights itself in the saints as related to and bearing the image of Him who is the supreme object of love.
(3) It will evidence itself in love to Christs commands, ways, people.
3. Hope.
(1) Its object is heaven.
(2) As a grace it dwells in the heart, always in some measure accompanying faith and love.
(3) It is with the Christian even in his darkest moments.
II. Christian communion consists in–
1. Joy and gratitude to God on behalf of those who give evidence of being partakers of His grace in truth. This is quite distinct from ordinary friendship.
(1) It is founded on personal attractions or intimate intercourse.
(2) It is oneness of soul which subsists in the absence of every other consideration, and notwithstanding unfavourable circumstances.
2. Fervent prayer for the establishment and perfection of those graces in the beginning of which we rejoice (verses 9, 10).
3. Cheering and animating each other to perseverance, notwithstanding all the trials and difficulties we may meet (verse 11).
4. Encouraging each other constantly to keep in mind our infinite obligations and glorious prospects (verses 12, 13).
III. Christian resources.
1. The word of the truth of the gospel (verse 5). Till this came the Colossians were strangers to faith, love, and hope.
2. The instrumentality of ministers. Epaphras and Paul were dear fellow-servants and faithful ministers, one preaching to the Colossians, by which they believed, and both labouring for their establishment and edification.
3. Prayer for the supply of all those spiritual blessings which the saints have learned to appreciate and desire (verses 3-9).
4. The operations of the Holy Spirit, which gives efficiency to all love (verse 8) is especially said to be in the Spirit, who is indeed the agent of every grace.
IV. Christian practice (verse 6). Wherever the gospel is preached, and attended with Divine power and efficacy, it brings forth fruit.
1. In the conversion of sinners.
2. Where vital religion is possessed it is evidenced by exemplary deportment and diffusive benevolence. There is fruit that both the Church and the world can see. They cannot see our love to Christ or our hope of heaven, but they can see our conscientious dealings in the world, our charity, our unworldliness. These are fruits which give evidence of vitality and vigour in the root.
V. Christian expectations. Christians have a hope that is laid up for them in heaven.
1. As to themselves, it is secret and out of sight. It is only faith that can realize it. They are yet in their minority in a world of discipline and education; heirs, indeed, but not of age. Supplies are sent them here, but their hope, their portion, is laid up in heaven.
2. It is treasured up in a place of perfect security, so that no enemy or thief can reach it.
3. It is laid up where none of the changes of time can affect it. If we carried it about with us, we might lose it. When we die we should drop it; but it is safe in heaven, out of the reach of disappointment.
Conclusion:
1. If we desire spiritual prosperity, let us be much in prayer for ourselves and others. Nothing more enlarges our capacity for holy enjoyment.
2. If we possess a hope in heaven, let it be evidenced by superiority to the world and love to our fellow-heirs.
3. If these blessings are imparted to sinners through the instrumentality of the gospel, be concerned to spread the gospel. (J. Hirst.)
Christian love the chief grace
Love, amid the other graces in this world, is like a cathedral tower, which begins on the earth, and, at first, is surrounded by the other parts of the structure. But, at length, rising above buttressed walls, and arch, and parapet, and pinnacle, it shoots spirelike many a foot right into the air, so high that the huge cross on its summit glows like a spark in the morning light, and shines like a star in the evening sky, when the rest of the pile is enveloped in darkness. So love, here, is surrounded by the other graces, and divides the honours with them; but they will have felt the wrap of night, and of darkness, when it will shine, luminous, against the sky of eternity. (H. W. Beecher. )
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. We give thanks to God] Who is the author of all good; and from whom the grace, which has produced your conversion, has sprung by his mission of Christ Jesus. See the note on Eph 1:15; Eph 1:16.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
We give thanks to God: See Poole on “Phi 1:3“. He doth here take in Timothy and others, in acknowledging of Gods grace to them, which might express his great good-will to them.
And the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; describing God, to whom they render thanks both absolutely and relatively, as the Father of Jesus Christ, according to both natures: See Poole on “2Co 1:3“, and See Poole on “Eph 1:3“.
Praying always for you; always when they did address themselves to God by prayer making mention of them, as he also wrote to the Philippians: See Poole on “Phi 1:3,4“.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. Thanksgiving for the “faith,hope, and love” of the Colossians. So in the twin Epistle sentat the same time and by the same bearer, Tychicus (Eph 1:15;Eph 1:16).
WeI and Timothy.
and the FatherSo someof the oldest manuscripts read. But others better omit the “and,”which probably crept in from Eph1:3.
praying always for youwiththanksgiving (Php 4:6). See Col1:4.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
We give thanks to God,…. Meaning himself and Timothy. This is the beginning of the epistle, which is introduced with a thanksgiving to God; to whom praise and thankfulness are always due as a Creator and preserver, as the author of all good things, as the Father of mercies, temporal and spiritual, and as the covenant God and Father of his people through Christ: wherefore it follows,
and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; the sense of which either is, that God the Father, who is the object of praise and thanksgiving, is both the God of Christ, and the Father of Christ, the God of Christ, as Christ is man, and the Father of Christ, as Christ is God; or the latter is exegetical of the former, and may be rendered thus, “God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”: and very properly are thanks given to him under this character, because it is as he is the Father of Christ that he blesses his people with all spiritual blessings; and because he is their God, as well as his God; and their Father, as well as his Father, though in a different sense, his by nature, theirs by adoption. Moreover, as all their blessings come from God, as the Father of Christ, and through Christ, and for his sake, so it is very proper that thanks should be returned unto him under that character; and through Christ, by whom alone such sacrifices of praise are acceptable to God: it is added,
praying always for you; which, as it is expressive of the constant discharge of the duty of prayer, and the continual remembrance of these saints in it, and shows the affection the apostle had for them; so it points out the time when, and the way and manner in which Paul and Timothy gave thanks to God on account of them; it was when they were at the throne of grace, and in their frequent prayers to God; thankfulness for mercies received, both by ourselves and others, being a branch of the duty of prayer.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Paul’s Thanksgiving for the Colossians. | A. D. 62. |
3 We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, 5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; 6 Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth: 7 As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; 8 Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.
Here he proceeds to the body of the epistle, and begins with thanksgiving to God for what he had heard concerning them, though he had no personal acquaintance with them, and knew their state and character only by the reports of others.
I. He gave thanks to God for them, that they had embraced the gospel of Christ, and given proofs of their fidelity to him. Observe, In his prayers for them he gave thanks for them. Thanksgiving ought to be a part of every prayer; and whatever is the matter of our rejoicing ought to be the matter of our thanksgiving. Observe, 1. Whom he gives thanks to: To God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In our thanksgiving we must have an eye to God as God (he is the object of thanksgiving as well as prayer), and is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in and through whom all good comes to us. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as well as our Father; and it is a matter of encouragement, in all our addresses to God, that we can look to him as Christ’s Father and our Father, as his God and our God, John xx. 17. Observe, 2. What he gives thanks to God for–for the graces of God in them, which were evidences of the grace of God towards them: Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love you have to all the saints; for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven,Col 1:4; Col 1:5. Faith, hope, and love, are the three principal graces in the Christian life, and proper matter of our prayer and thanksgiving. (1.) He gives thanks for their faith in Christ Jesus, that they were brought to believe in him, and take upon them the profession of his religion, and venture their souls upon his undertaking. (2.) For their love. Besides the general love which is due to all men, there is a particular love owing to the saints, or those who are of the Christian brotherhood, 1 Pet. ii. 17. We must love all the saints, bear an extensive kindness and good-will to good men, notwithstanding smaller points of difference, and many real weaknesses. Some understand it of their charity to the saints in necessity, which is one branch and evidence of Christian love. (3.) For their hope: The hope which is laid up for you in heaven, v. 5. The happiness of heaven is called their hope, because it is the thing hoped for, looking for the blessed hope, Tit. ii. 13. What is laid out upon believers in this world is much; but what is laid up for them in heaven is much more. And we have reason to give thanks to God for the hope of heaven which good Christians have, or their well-grounded expectation of the future glory. Their faith in Christ, and love to the saints, had an eye to the hope laid up for them in heaven. The more we fix our hopes on the recompence of reward in the other world, the more free and liberal shall we be of our earthly treasure upon all occasions of doing good.
II. Having blessed God for these graces, he blesses God for the means of grace which they enjoyed: Wherein you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. They had heard in the word of the truth of the gospel concerning this hope laid up for them in heaven. Observe, 1. The gospel is the word of truth, and what we may safely venture our immortal souls upon: it proceeds from the God of truth and the Spirit of truth, and is a faithful saying. He calls it the grace of God in truth, v. 6. 2. It is a great mercy to hear this word of truth; for the great thing we learn from it is the happiness of heaven. Eternal life is brought to light by the gospel, 2 Tim. i. 10. They heard of the hope laid up in heaven in the word of the truth of the gospel. “Which has come unto you, as it hath to all the world, and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, v. 6. This gospel is preached and brings forth fruit in other nations; it has come to you, as it hath to all the world, according to the commission, Go preach the gospel in all the nations, and to every creature.” Observe, (1.) All who hear the word of the gospel ought to bring forth the fruit of the gospel, that is, be obedient to it, and have their principles and lives formed according to it. This was the doctrine first preached: Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance, Matt. iii. 8. And our Lord says, If you know these things, happy are you if you do them, John xiii. 17. Observe, (2.) Wherever the gospel comes, it will bring forth fruit to the honour and glory of God: It bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you. We mistake, if we think to monopolize the comforts and benefits of the gospel to ourselves. Does the gospel bring forth fruit in us? So it does in others.
III. He takes this occasion to mention the minister by whom they believed (Col 1:7; Col 1:8): As you also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellow-servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ. He mentions him with great respect, to engage their love to him. 1. He calls him his fellow-servant, to signify not only that they served the same Master, but that they were engaged in the same work. They were fellow-labourers in the work of the Lord, though one was an apostle and the other an ordinary minister. 2. He calls him his dear fellow-servant: all the servants of Christ ought to love one another, and it is an endearing consideration that they are engaged in the same service. 3. He represents him as one who was a faithful minister of Christ to them, who discharged his trust and fulfilled his ministry among them. Observe, Christ is our proper Master, and we are his ministers. He does not say who is your minister; but who is the minister of Christ for you. It is by his authority and appointment, though for the people’s service. 4. He represents him as one who gave them a good word: Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit, v. 8. He recommends him to their affection, from the good report he made of their sincere love to Christ and all his members, which was wrought in them by the Spirit, and is agreeable to the spirit of the gospel. Faithful ministers are glad to be able to speak well of their people.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ( ). Correct text without (and) as in 3:17, though usually “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2Cor 1:3; 2Cor 11:31; Rom 15:6; 1Pet 1:3; Rev 1:6). In verse 2 we have the only instance in the opening benediction of an epistle when the name of “Jesus Christ” is not joined with “God our Father.”
Always (). Amphibolous position between (we give thanks) and (praying). Can go with either.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
And the Father. Some of the best texts omit and. So Rev. The form with and is the more common. Compare ch. 3 17.
Praying always for you. Rather connect always with we give thanks, and render we give thanks for you always, praying, or in our prayers.
According to the Greek order, praying for you (as Rev. and A. V.), would make for you unduly emphatic.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “We give thanks” (eucharistoumen) “We express gratitude or give thanks” for the Christian graces of his readers at the Church of Colosse and at Laodicea, Col 4:16; 1Th 1:2-3. This reflects pleasant memories.
2) “To God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (to theo patri tou kuriou hemon lesou Christou) To God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;” 2Co 1:3.
3) “Praying always for you” (pantote peri humon proseuchomenoi) Always praying concerning all of you” or “We always give thanks when we pray for you” — the idea expressed is one of continuing earnest care for the welfare of others, Php_2:4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
3. We give thanks to God. He praises the faith and love of the Colossians, that it may encourage them the more to alacrity and constancy of perseverance. Farther, by shewing that he has a persuasion of this kind respecting them, he procures their friendly regards, that they may be the more favourably inclined and teachable for receiving his doctrine. We must always take notice that he makes use of thanksgiving in place of congratulation, by which he teaches us, that in all our joys we must readily call to remembrance the goodness of God, inasmuch as everything that is pleasant and agreeable to us is a kindness conferred by him. Besides, he admonishes us, by his example, to acknowledge with gratitude not merely those things which the Lord confers upon us, but also those things which he confers upon others.
But for what things does he give thanks to the Lord? For the faith and love of the Colossians. He acknowledges, therefore, that both are conferred by God: otherwise the gratitude were pretended. And what have we otherwise than through his liberality? If, however, even the smallest favors come to us from that source, how much more ought this same acknowledgment to be made in reference to those two gifts, in which the entire sum of our excellence consists?
To the God and Father. (279) Understand the expression thus — To God who is the Father of Christ. For it is not lawful for us to acknowledge any other God than him who has manifested himself to us in his Son. And this is the only key for opening the door to us, if we are desirous to have access to the true God. For on this account, also, is he a Father to us, because he has embraced us in his only begotten Son, and in him also sets forth his paternal favor for our contemplation.
Always for you, Some explain it thus — We give thanks to God always for you, that is, continually. Others explain it to mean — Praying always for you. It may also be interpreted in this way, “Whenever we pray for you, we at the same time give thanks to God;” and this is the simple meaning, “We give thanks to God, and we at the same time pray.” By this he intimates, that the condition of believers is never in this world perfect, so as not to have, invariably, something wanting. For even the man who has begun admirably well, may fall short in a hundred instances every day; and we must ever be making progress while we are as yet on the way. Let us therefore bear in mind that we must rejoice in the favors that we have already received, and give thanks to God for them in such a manner, as to seek at the same time from him perseverance and advancement.
(279) “ A Dieu qui est le Pere. Il y auroit mot a mot, A Dieu et Pere;” — “To God who is the Father. It were literally, To God and Father.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Col. 1:3. We give thanks to God.The apostle here, as usual, gives credit for all that is worthy in his readers, though the tidings from Coloss had been disquieting.
Col. 1:4. Having heard of your faith.This last word might possibly mean fidelity, the steadiness of an unwavering loyalty. But it is better to take it as the act of personal trust. Love to all the saints.This was the distinguishing trait of all Christianslove one for another (Joh. 13:35). How often have we heard the irony, How these Christians love one another! We are not warranted in withholding love until men are paragons of spiritual perfectionall in Christ are saints.
Col. 1:5. For the hope.This word completes the triad, though the order is changed, and hope here is the objectthe thing hoped for. Laid up for you in heaven.It is the same word in Luk. 19:20, laid up in a napkin; in 2Ti. 4:8, henceforth there is laid up; and in Heb. 9:27, it is appointed unto [laid up for] men once to die. The word of the truth of the gospel.Not to be interpreted into the truly evangelic word. There is an imposing sound in the phrase meant to agree with the thing denoted.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Col. 1:3-5
The Causes of Ministerial Thanksgiving.
It is customary with the apostle to begin his epistles with the ardent expression of thanksgiving. This showed the devout habit of his mind, his constant and emphatic recognition of the grand source of good, and his deep interest in the spiritual condition of those to whom he wrote.
I. Thanksgiving an essential element in prayer.We give thanks, praying always for you (Col. 1:3). The participle marks the thanksgiving as part of the prayer, and the adverb makes it prominent, indicating that when they prayed for them they always gave thanks. There is no true prayer without thanksgiving. Gratitude intensifies the souls sense of dependence on God, and prompts the cry for the needed help; and, on the other hand, earnest prayer naturally glides into fervent thankfulness. As one sin is interlinked with and produced by another, so the use of one grace begets another. The more temporal things are used, the more they wear and waste; but spiritual things are strengthened and increased with exercise. Every spiritual grace has in it the seed of an endless reproductiveness. Underlying every thanksgiving for others is a spirit of tender, disinterested love. Moved by this passion, the apostle, from the midst of imprisonment and sorrow, could soar on the wings of gratitude and prayer to heaven. Thanksgiving will be the bliss of eternity.
II. The Being to whom all thanksgiving is due.To God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Col. 1:3). God is the Father of Jesus Christ, not only as God, by an eternal generation and communication of His whole essence unto Him in a method to us mysterious and ineffable, but also as man by virtue of the personal union of the two natures in Christ, and in a special sense exceeding every other way in which He is Father to men or angels. Thus God and the Father of our Lord Jesus are one; the particle and being exegetic of the same thing, not copulative of something different. All our blessings have their source in the bosom of the divine Father. Christ is the only revealer of the Father, and the active agent in bestowing the paternal benefits on humanity. The paternal aspect of the divine character as unfolded by Jesus Christ is most fascinating and assuring; and the loving heart delights to trace its blessings up to the Parent of all good, and to render Him devout and grateful praise.
III. This thanksgiving was grounded on the reputation of their faith in the Author of Christianity.Since we heard of your faith in Christ (Col. 1:4).
1. Christ is the object and foundation of all true faith.He is so as the divinely consecrated Deliverer of the race. The grandeur of His redeeming work and the dignity and glory of His character are suggested by the titles here given to Him. Man must believe in Christ, not as an abstract truth, not as a poetic conception, not as a dim impersonal force acting in the sphere of ideality, but as a divine-human personthe anointed Saviour.
2. True faith is the root principle of the Christian life.Without it neither love nor hope could exist. All the graces that strengthen and beautify the Christian character must grow out of faith.
3. True faith is ever manifest.Since we heard. It is seen in the changed disposition and conduct of the individual believer. It is marked by the anxious Christian worker, and becomes known to a wide circle of both friends and foes. Epaphras rejoiced to bear tidings of the fact; and the soul of the apostle, since he heard, glowed with grateful praise. Happy the people whose highest reputation is their faith in Jesus!
IV. This thanksgiving was grounded on their possession of an expansive Christian love.And of the love which ye have to all the saints (Col. 1:4). Love to Christ is necessarily involved, for love to the saints is really a generous, unselfish affection for Christs image in them. Love is all-embracing. Peculiarities, defects, differences of opinion, distance, are no barriers to its penetrating ardour. It is the unanswerable evidence of moral transformation (1Jn. 3:14). It is the grandest triumph over the natural enmity of the human heart. It is the indissoluble bond of choicest fellowship.
While we walk with God in light,
God our hearts doth still unite;
Dearest fellowship we prove,
Fellowship in Jesus love.
V. This thanksgiving was further grounded on their enjoyment of a well-sustained hope.The grace of hope naturally springs out of and is properly associated with the preceding two. Not one member of the holy triad can be divorced from the other without irreparable damage; without, in fact, the loss of that which is the resultant of the threeviz. active religious life. Faith rests on the past; love works in the present; hope looks to the future. They may be regarded as the efficient, material, and final causes respectively of the spiritual life (Lightfoot).
1. The character of this hope.The hope which is laid up for you in heaven (Col. 1:5). It is the prospect of future heavenly felicity. Hope is put for the object hoped forthe hope of possessing a spiritual inheritance whose wealth never diminishes, whose splendours never fade; the hope of seeing Christ in all His regal glory; of being like Him; of dwelling with Him for ever. A prospect like this lifts the soul above the meannesses, disappointments, and sufferings of the present limited life.
2. The security of this hope.Laid up. This priceless inheritance is safely deposited as a precious jewel in Gods secret coffer. There no pilfering hands can touch it, no breath can tarnish, no rust corrode, no moth corrupt. Earthly treasures vanish, and sometimes, to Gods people, nothing but the treasure of hope remains. The saints enduring riches are in the future, locked up in the heavenly casket. Where the treasure is there the heart should ever be.
3. The source and foundation of this hope.Whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel (Col. 1:5). The gospel is based on unchangeable truth, and is therefore worthy of universal credence. It alone unfolds the mysteries and glories of the future. The hope of heaven rests, not on the discoveries of human philosophy, but on the revelations of the true gospel. In vain do men seek it elsewhere. By the preaching of the gospel this hope is made known to man. How dismal the outlook where hope is unknown!
Lessons.
1. We should thank God for others more on account of their spiritual than temporal welfare.
2. Learn what are the essential elements of the Christian characterfaith, love, hope.
3. The proclamation of the gospel should be welcomed, and its message pondered.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Col. 1:3-5. Good News and its Good Effects.
I. The good news, what it was.That certain at Coloss had not only the gospel, but had known the grace of God in truth, and were now joined to Christ by faith and to His people by love.
II. What were the results.
1. Abundant thanksgiving to the God of redemption.
2. Constant prayer.
3. This epistle.
III. Application.
1. It is well that ministers should be informed of the success of the gospel, both for their own encouragement and to secure their sympathy, prayers, and counsel for the young converts.
2. Established Christians and especially ministers should assure young converts of the gratitude, joy, and sympathy they feel and the prayers they present on their behalf.
3. If our hearts are right, we shall rejoice at the success of the gospel.Preachers Magazine.
Col. 1:5. Hope a Stimulus to Christian Perseverance
I. In gaining the heavenly reward.
II. Because the heavenly reward is secure.Laid up for you.
III. Is based on truth already known.Whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
3. We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4. having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have toward all the saints.
Translation and Paraphrase
3. We give thanks (continually) to God (the) father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), always praying for you,
4. because we have heard of your faith (and faithfulness) in Christ Jesus, and (of) the love which you (always) have toward all the saints.
Notes
1.
Most of Colossians chapter one is a prayer. Some of it (like Col. 1:12-23) consists of thoughts that grow out of Pauls remarks about his prayers; but it still relates to prayer.
2.
In Col. 1:3-8 Paul expresses his constant thanks for the Colossians. Compare Eph. 1:16. He was primarily thankful for their faith and love.
3.
In Col. 1:3-8 Paul expresses his constant thanks for the Colossians. In all cases his thanks were sincere. He did not say he was thankful just because that was a psychologically good approach.
4.
Paul expressed his thanks in prayer. Prayer was the constant habit of Pauls life. Compare 1Th. 1:2.
5.
The Colossian church had faith, love, and hope, the three great virtues. Col. 1:4-5. Compare 1Co. 13:13 and 1Th. 1:4-5.
6.
Col. 1:4 indicates that the Christian life is primarily directed toward two people: (1) toward Christ Jesus; and (2) toward the saints.
7.
Paul was particularly thankful for the faith and love of the Colossians. We in our generation with its organized and militant unbelief should also feel very thankful to God for our brethren who have faith, wherever they are and however imperfect their faith may be.
8.
Faith comes first, and then love. Love without faith is only sentimentality and perishable humanitarianism. However, faith without love is cruel; yea worse than that it is utterly nothing. 1Co. 13:2.
9.
Paul had heard of the faith and love of the Colossians from their minister Epaphras, who visited him in Rome. Col. 1:4; Cf. Eph. 1:15.
5. because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel.
Translation and Paraphrase
5. (You have cultivated this faith and love) because of the hope (that is) laid up (and reserved) for you in the heavens. (This hope is the hope) which you heard about previously in the message of the truth, (that is, in) the gospel.
Notes
1.
The message of the gospel tells us about the hope laid up for us in the heavens. This hope produces faith and love within us, as it did in the Colossians.
If we expect people to have faith and love as the Colossians did, we must tell them of the hope laid up for us. How long has it been since you preached a sermon or taught a lesson about heaven?
2.
Our hope is laid up in the heavens. Compare 1Pe. 1:4; 1Pe. 1:13; Tit. 2:13; Heb. 6:18-19. This is the one hope of Eph. 4:1.
Our generation has largely repudiated every religion based on a hope in the world to come, on pie in the sky. Even many theologians and clergymen (and surely God despises both of these titles) openly scorn the hope of a heavenly home.
But the fact remains that those who believe most earnestly in the world to come live the present life in the best way. Heaven-loving Christians are not lawless anarchists and revolutionaries.
If heaven has lost its appeal to you, go and study Rev. 21:1-27; Rev. 22:1-21 and Joh. 14:1-31. Study these chapters on your knees; meditate; pray over them until the light of heavens glory crowds out the last bit of love for the worlds gaudy glare.
3.
The gospel is the word of truth. Eph. 1:13; 2Pe. 1:12; 1Th. 2:13. We have the gospel in written form, but it is still truth. This is indicated by the honesty and sacrifice of its authors; by the endorsement of Christ; by the fulfillment of the prophecies in the Scriptures; by the consistent close agreement in the wording in ancient Bible manuscripts; and by the power of the gospel in our lives.
4.
The Colossians had heard of their heavenly hope sometime previously, when the gospel had first been preached to them.
Study and Review
9.
When did Paul give thanks for the Colossians? (Col. 1:3)
10.
How did he express his thanks?
11.
What two things about the Colossians had Paul heard? (Col. 1:4)
12.
What caused the faith and love of the Colossians? (Col. 1:4-5)
13
Where was their hope laid up?
14.
Where had the Colossians heard about their hope?
15.
What is referred to as the word of the truth?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(3, 4) Comp. Eph. 1:15-16, where there is an almost exact verbal coincidence. Whatever may be the force there of the words having heard of your faith, clearly here they harmonise with many indications that the Colossian Church, though well known to St. Paul, was not known by personal knowledge.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(3-8) In this expression of St. Pauls thanksgiving for them there is as usual a peculiar correspondence to their circumstances. They had been full of faith, love, and hope, the fruit of a true gospel preached by Epaphras; there was fear now lest they should be beguiled from it, although that fear was obviously not yet realised, as had been formerly the case with the Galatians. Hence St. Pauls emphasis on their hearing, knowing, and learning the truth, and on the faithfulness of Epaphras as a minister of Christ.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Give thanks Paul had learned of the gracious state of the Colossian Christians through the communications of others, especially of Epaphras, Col 1:8; and the account of their faith in Christ and their love to all Christians, incited him to profound thanksgiving and incessant prayer in their behalf.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Paul Expresses His Appreciation of Them ( Col 1:3-8 )
‘We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.’
‘We give thanks.’ An indication of his confidence in the faith of the Colossians (contrast Galatians and 2 Corinthians). Paul never forgot to express his gratitude to God for all He had done.
Having greeted them in the name of ‘God the Father’ he now reminds them that He is especially ‘the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’.
The title ‘our Lord Jesus Christ’ contains three elements. Firstly He is Lord (kurios), the One Whose Name is above every name, Yahweh Himself (Php 2:9). To the Jew and to Paul the Name above every name was Yahweh and in the Greek Old Testament Yahweh is represented by kurios. He is also elsewhere the great ‘I am’ (Joh 8:58, compare Exo 3:14), another name for Yahweh, and thus ‘the Word’, Who existed in the beginning, through Whom God created the worlds (Joh 1:1-3; Heb 1:1-3; Psa 33:6; Psa 33:9), the Lord of all.
Secondly He is ‘Jesus’. He became flesh and dwelt among us (Col 1:14). He was truly man and yet in His manhood epitomised all that man was meant to be. He was the only true man. He hungered as a man (Mat 4:2). He grew thirsty as a man (Joh 4:7; Joh 19:28). He suffered as a man. And His death was the death of a man, and yet it was of more than a man, for He was ‘the Lord’. He was ‘the Christ (Messiah)’. And the name Jesus means ‘Yahweh is salvation’.
Thirdly He is ‘the Christ.’ By His death and resurrection He is declared to be ‘both Lord and Christ’ (Act 2:36). He is the expected King Messiah, the One appointed to eternal Rule (2Pe 1:11; compare Psa 145:13; Dan 4:3; Dan 4:34; Dan 7:14), the One Who both sits on His own throne and also uniquely shares His Father’s throne (Rev 3:21), the One before Whom every knee shall bow (Php 2:10).
But because of this He is the powerful One (Rom 1:4). He is the One worthy of worship and honour. He is the Lord of glory. He is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
‘Praying always for you.’ Paul wants them to know of his constant concern for them, and that he prays for their spiritual growth because he is aware of their dedicated Christian lives. It is the sign of the true minister of Christ that he prays tenderly for his flock.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Paul’s Recognition of Their Faith and Love in Christ – After greeting the church at Colossi (Col 1:1-2), Paul opens with a word of thanksgiving by recognizing their faith and love in Christ and giving praise to God (Col 1:3-8).
Col 1:3 We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
Col 1:3
We see the adversity that Jesus faced by calling God His Father.
Joh 5:18, “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.”
Col 1:4 Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints,
Col 1:4
Mat 22:37-40, “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
In Col 1:4 Paul is commending these saints for having a love for God through their faith in Jesus Christ and for their love towards one another. The first four of the Ten Commandments tell us how to love God and the last six Commandments teach us how to love our neighbour.
Col 1:5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;
Col 1:5
1. A reward:
Mat 5:12, “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
2. A crown of righteousness:
2Ti 4:8, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
3. An inheritance:
1Pe 1:4, “To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,”
“which is laid up for you in heaven” – Some things we will not receive from God until that day of redemption from this body of corruption.
Col 1:4-5 Comments Three Great Virtues – These two verse describe the church at Colossi as walking in the three greatest virtues, “faith, hope, and love,” as listed in 1Co 13:13, “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” In these three words are found the work and offices of the Trinity in relation to the Church (see 1Pe 1:2).
1Pe 1:2, “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”
We place our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by our obedience to Him. As a result, we are filled with the Holy Spirit and the love of God is poured forth within us (Rom 5:5) in order to bring about our sanctification. We are then able direct our hope on the divine plan that the Heavenly Father has prepared for each of us through His foreknowledge, no longer setting our affections on the things of this world, but towards heaven.
Rom 5:5, “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”
We also see this three-fold emphasis in 1Th 1:3; 1Th 1:9-10 when Paul refers to their faith, love and hope in relation to awaiting for the Second Coming of Christ.
1Th 1:3, “Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;”
1Th 1:9, “For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.”
Col 1:6 Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:
Col 1:6 “and bringeth forth fruit” Comments – Many modern translations read, “bringeth forth fruit and increasing” ( ASV).
ASV, “which is come unto you; even as it is also in all the world bearing fruit and increasing , as it doth in you also, since the day ye heard and knew the grace of God in truth;”
In the phrase “bearing fruit and increasing,” which Paul uses again in Col 1:10 as, “being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God,” he describes our Christian experience by using the analogy of a tree bearing fruit and its seed bringing forth new trees. In the same way that a tree grows up and bears fruit, and its seed falls to the ground and brings forth a new tree, so do we grow up in our Christian life and bring forth fruit well pleasing unto God and causing others to come into the Kingdom of God. This analogy from nature is similar to other passages in the New Testament (Act 6:7; Act 19:20, 1 Cor, Jas 1:18).
Act 6:7 “and the word of God increased , and the number of the disciples multiplied.”
Act 19:20, “So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.”
1Co 4:15, “For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel .”
Jas 1:18, “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”
Col 1:6 “since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth” Comments – The Colossians understood and came to realize God’s saving grace; for they experienced it in their lives.
Col 1:6 Comments – The subject this passage in Col 1:3-8 is “the word of the truth of the gospel” (Col 1:5). God’s Word produces fruit and God’s Word grows within our hearts.
Isa 55:8-11, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
Joh 15:5, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
Joh 15:16, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.”
Act 6:7 “and the word of God increased , and the number of the disciples multiplied”
Act 12:24, “But the word of God grew and multiplied.”
1Pe 1:23, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”
Also, the parable of the sower, Mar 4:2-9; Mar 4:13-20.
Col 1:7 As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ;
Col 1:8 Col 1:8
Rom 5:5, “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Introduction: The Preeminence of Christ over the Colossians In Col 1:3-11 Paul places emphasis upon the preeminence of Christ over the church at Colossi. After greeting the church at Colossi (Col 1:1-2), Paul opens with a word of thanksgiving by recognizing their faith and love in Christ and giving praise to God (Col 1:3-8). He then prays for these believers to come to the full knowledge of the revelation of the Lordship of Jesus Christ in their lives (Col 1:9-11). We can see the theme of Colossians within Paul’s prayer in this passage of Scripture. Paul prays for them to come to the knowledge of the riches that have been given to us in Christ Jesus (Col 1:9) so that we will be able to walk in the fullness of that knowledge (Col 1:10) by being strengthened with His glorious power (Col 1:11). In the book of Colossians, Paul reveals the riches of our inheritance in Christ Jesus so that the saints can walk in this understanding and revelation. He calls them “saints in light” who are walking in this revelation (Col 1:12) and it is only the saints who are walking in the light of this knowledge and understanding that able to partake of the inheritance that is reserved for them (Col 1:12).
We cannot walk worthy of God, nor please Him nor be fruitful (Col 1:10) unless we first know His will for our lives. This comes by first knowing His Word, which produces wisdom in our minds and also by spiritual revelation, which is a work of the Holy Spirit making His Word personal in our daily walk (Col 1:9). As we study God’s Word and come to know His “logos” Word, and as we learn to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit giving us divine revelations as “rhema” words, we are then able to pursue God’s plan in our lives. As we learn how to be led by the Holy Spirit and to stay filled with the Spirit (Col 1:11), we become men of God, filled with faith in His Word and filled with the anointing of the Holy Ghost, as were Stephen and Barnabas in the book of Acts. It is for this reason these two men were very fruitful in the work of the Lord.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. Paul’s Recognition of Their Faith and Love in Christ Col 1:3-8
2. Paul’s Prayer for Understanding Christ’s Preeminence Col 1:9-11
A Comparison of Themes We can compare the introductory passages of Ephesians, Colossians and 1 Thessalonians and see how they share a common function. These three epistles emphasize the role of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in God’s plan of redemption. Ephesians focuses upon the Father, Colossians the Son, and 1 Thessalonians the Holy Spirit. Just as Eph 1:3-23 serves to introduce the Father’s role in redemption, before expounding upon each role of the Trinity, so does Col 1:3-11 introduce the Son’s role and 1Th 1:2-10 introduces the role of the Holy Spirit. We see in all three epistles how Paul follows this introductory passage with an exposition of the role of the Trinity in redemption.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Paul’s Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession. A prayer of grateful joy:
v. 3. we give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
v. 4. since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints,
v. 5. for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the Word of the Truth, of the Gospel;
v. 6. which is come unto you as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth;
v. 7. as ye also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellow-servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ;
v. 8. who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit. It is characteristic of the Apostle Paul that he always finds some reason for thanksgiving, that he finds evidences of blessings all around, that he feels himself to be under the necessity of praising God for some special spiritual benefit: We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, always praying for you. In the midst of a situation which the average person would have considered decidedly gloomy and disagreeable, Paul wasted no time in lamentations. He prayed, continually, habitually, for his readers, for all Christians. And his prayer was, first of all, a prayer of thanksgiving. Seeing the glorious fruits of the Gospel in the various congregations, praise and thanksgiving rose from his heart to his lips and overflowed in words, in hymns of blessing. To God, the Giver of all good gifts, he addressed his prayer of thanksgiving; for this God is at the same time the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and therefore our Father through the atoning work of Christ. The will of God and the will of Jesus Christ for our salvation were identical. We may have a firm and certain confidence and faith in our heavenly Father through Christ, a childlike trust in His gracious will, knowing that He always hears the cries of His children.
The occasion of Paul’s thanksgiving he names in the words: Having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have toward all saints, on account of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven. The report which had reached Paul concerning the status of the congregation at Colossae spoke in glowing terms of their faith, which was centered in, and rested upon, Christ Jesus, the Savior. For there was abundant evidence of the existence of this faith in the love which the Colossian Christians showed to all saints, the true brotherly love, which feels a fellowship with all the saints, both near and far, and gives a practical proof of this feeling at every opportunity. Note that Paul here refers to the universal character of the Christian Church. In Jesus Christ all differences of rank, station, and sex are forgotten, for in Him, through his blood, we are one. These conditions obtaining in Colossae, Paul could give thanks on account of the hope which was laid up for them in heaven. Since they showed the unmistakable signs of being true Christians, Paul was certain that the object of their Christian hope, their inheritance as children of God, was laid up, reserved, for them in heaven. It is the hope to which we have been begotten by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, the inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, 1Pe 1:3-6. For the full possession and enjoyment of this hope we long with fervent desire, but also with the calm certainty based upon the promise of the Lord.
Of this hope of the Christians the apostle writes further: Of which you heard before in the Word of the Truth, namely, the Gospel, which, having come, is present with you, as also in the whole world, bringing forth fruit and increasing as also in you, since the day you heard it and realized the grace of God in truth. The hope of the inheritance in heaven was set before them, the certainty of obtaining the gift of heaven was guaranteed to them in the Word of eternal Truth, which is the Gospel. What God has promised to His believers in this Word is certain, infallible truth, to be relied upon at all times and under all conditions with a certainty which knows no doubt. When the Gospel was first brought to the Colossians, it had brought them the news of this hope in Christ, present in Him from eternity. And what they had learned at that time Paul here confirms with the authority of his apostolic teaching. This Gospel, in its course through the world, like a traveler going from one city to another, had reached also their city and had remained there since, bringing to them the tidings of great joy. The influence of the Gospel commonly does not spread with irresistible, crushing blows, but comes with steady penetration, gaining one heart after the other for the Lord’s cause. That was its progress in Colossae, that is its progress throughout the world. The message is not a vain and ineffectual sound, but it brings forth fruit in virtues and good works, Isa 55:10-11. The message of Christ enters a heart, works conviction, faith, and love; it reaches others, and the same process is repeated, there is a continual growth and multiplication of its adherents. From the first day of its introduction in Colossae this had been true, for even then some of them had come to the knowledge and understanding of the grace of God. For as the Gospel was first brought to them by Epaphras, it was preached in genuineness and sincerity; and they had accepted it in the same sense, in its genuine reality, and not in the form of the poor imitation which had been recently introduced. All true Christian knowledge must be based solely and alone upon the Word of the Truth in the Gospel, not upon human ideas and opinions.
This is emphasized by the apostle when he writes: Even as you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-servant, who is in your behalf a faithful minister of Christ, who also made known to us your love in the Spirit. Epaphras had founded and organized the congregation at Colossae. He was a pupil and a dear fellow-worker of Paul, a faithful, untiring servant of Christ for the benefit of the Colossians. And the latter had received his message, upon which Paul here sets the seal of his apostolic approval; they had based their faith upon this teaching; they had realized and accepted the grace of God in truth. Since Epaphras, moreover, had remained in connection with this congregation, his concern for its welfare had driven him to Rome to seek the apostle, when the Judaizing teachers had made their appearance in Colossae. Paul assures his readers that the report which had come to him through Epaphras was highly satisfactory, for it declared their love in the Spirit. Though they were not personally acquainted with Paul, they had received the Gospel out of the mouth of one of his pupils, and they had learned to love the great teacher of the Gentiles. It was a love in the Holy Spirit whose power is ever active in the hearts of the believers, and it was a love which naturally included all the brethren everywhere. All these facts gave Paul his reasons for thanksgiving.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Col 1:3. To God and the Father To the God and Father. Pierce, Doddridge, &c. P. Franck has a good observation here, which illustrates the beauty of many scriptures: “The order which would seem most artificial is transposed, to make the sense plainer. It is not,having heard of your faith, I bless God,but vice versa.” From this verse to the 13th, St. Paul acquaints them with the satisfactory account that he had received of their faith and love; assuring them, at the same time, of the great interest which they had in both his petitions and thanksgivings. In giving an account hereof, he evidently endeavours to raise their sense of the greatness of those peculiar advantages which they partook of by the gospel, which were such as the law could not secure to them; and which were in a more large and plentiful manner now dispersed, being offered to the whole world, and not confined, like the peculiar privileges of the former economy, to the comparatively small nation of the Jews. Herebyhe likewise stirs up their gratitude to God,who had dealt so kindly with them; and excites their endeavours to answer the obligations under which he had laid them.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Col 1:3 f. Thanksgiving for the Christian condition of the readers, down to Col 1:8 . ] I and Timothy; plural and singular alternate in the Epistle (Col 1:23-24 ; Col 1:28-29 ff., Col 4:3 ); but not without significant occasion.
. . .] who is at the same time the Father, etc. See on Eph 1:3 .
] belongs to ., as in 1Co 1:4 ; 1Th 1:2 ; 2Th 1:3 ; Phm 1:4 , and not to . . (Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Erasmus, Luther, Castalio, Beza, Calvin, Grotius, Bengel, and many others, including Bhmer, Olshausen, Dalmer) a connection opposed to the parallel Eph 1:16 , as well as to the context, according to which the thanksgiving is the main point here , and the prayer merely a concomitant definition; and it is not till Col 1:9 that the latter is brought forward as the object of the discourse, and that as unceasing . This predicate belongs here to the thanking , and in Col 1:9 to the praying , and . words which are not, with Bhr, to be separated from one another (whereby . would unduly stand without relation) is nothing but a more precise definition of : “ always ( each time , Phi 1:4 ; Rom 1:10 [11] ), when we pray for you .”
. . .] with reference to time; after having heard , etc. Comp. Col 1:9 . In that, which Paul had heard of them, lies the ground of his thanksgiving. The is faith (Rom 1:8 ; 1Th 1:3 ; 2Th 1:3 ) not faithfulness (Ewald), as at Phm 1:5 , where the position of the words is different. That Paul has heard their faith praised , is self-evident from the context. Comp. Eph 1:15 ; Phm 1:5 .
. .] on Christ , in so far, namely, as the faith has its basis in Christ . See on Mar 1:15 ; Gal 3:26 ; Eph 1:13 ; Eph 1:15 . As to the non-repetition of , see on Gal 3:26 .
] Paul so writes, not by joining on immediately ( . . . ), nor yet by the mere repetition of the article, as in Eph 1:15 (so the Recepta , see the critical remarks), because he has it in view to enter more fully upon this point of , and indeed definitely upon the reason why they cherished it .
[11] For a like use of , see Stallbaum, ad Plat. Rep. p. 360 A.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
II. FIRST PART
Mention of the ground of Christian fellowship and warning against apostasy
Col 1:3 to Col 2:23
1. Thanks to God for the faith and love of his readers from the beginning
(Col 1:3-8)
3We give thanks to God and [omit and]5 the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always [always, when praying] for you,6 4Since we heard of your faith in Christ 5Jesus, and of the love which ye have7 to all the saints, For [on account of] the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; 6Which is come unto you [lit.: is present unto you], as it is in all the world; and8 bringeth forth fruit [is bringing forth fruit and increasing],9 as it doth [it is] also in [among] you, since the day ye heard of it [it], and knew the grace of God in truth: 7As ye also [Even as ye]10 learned of Epaphras our dear fellow servant, who is for you11 a faithful minister of Christ; 8Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The immediate object of thanksgiving (Col 1:3-5). Ver. S. We give thanks.As a rule the Apostle begins with thanksgiving; this is precisely as in 1Th 1:2; but in 1Co 1:4, though the address reads: Pauland Sosthenes, we find (so also Php 1:1-3). The plural is not then conditioned by the mention of Timothy in the address (Meter, Schenkel), yet it is not= (Baehr). Plural and singular forms are not used arbitrarily by the Apostle; the choice depended upon the predominance of the Apostles individual feeling, or of the common sentiment of those participating: and this certainly includes not merely him or those named in the address, but the church in the house or place where the Apostle was. [Ellicott says: we, i.e., I and Timothy, but intimates that the context always fully accounts for the selection of singular or plural. So Eadie, Alford. Conybere contends for the singular meaning of the plural throughout all the Epistleswhich is inadmissible.R.]
To God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.See Eph 1:3.Praying always for you defines more particularly we give thanks; the participle marks the thanksgiving as part of the prayer, and the adverb renders it prominent, that the former was never wanting in the latter. Always is not to be joined with the participle praying (Greek Fathers, Bengel, Luther, etc.) [Alford, Ellicott, E. V. The majority of modern commentators join it with the verb,Eadie renders: We bless God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ always, when praying for you.R.] Still less is for you to be joined with we give thanks (Baehr). The latter cannot be decided by Rom 1:8; 1Co 1:4; 1Th 1:2, while the former opinion is confirmed by Eph 1:16. On the difference between and , see Eph 5:2; Eph 6:18.
Col 1:4. The occasion of thanksgiving.Since we heard, .This second participle (aorist) sets forth what had preceded the thanksgiving, while the first one (present) appends what had accompanied it. See Winers Gram. p. 323.12 The plural here marks the fact as publicly known, not merely made known to the Apostle and his friends.
Of your faith in Christ Jesus, and the love which ye have to all the saints.Your faith in Christ Jesus is the first ground of this thanksgiving; your faith, resting on Christ, moving itself in Him; the phrase in Christ Jesus limits faith so Eph 1:15, not (De Wette). The preposition does not affect the meaning of faith, so that it becomes believing constancy (Luther), but it only denotes that the object is to be regarded, not as the end of effort (), but as the element and ground. [Ellicott: In Him as the sphere or sub-stratum of the , that in which the faith centres itself. The omission of the article gives a more complete unity to the conception, Christ-centred faith. Alford: the immediate element of their faith, not its distinctive character, is the point brought out,R.] On the remainder of the clause, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, see Eph 1:15.[The reading: carries more affectionate commendation (Alford) than the simple article of the Rec. It draws attention to the love and points to its persistence (Ellicott).R.]
Col 1:5 : describes this love more closely.On account of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven.[Joined to love.R.] Since is joined grammatically to , Paul has not written as in the parallel passage, Eph 1:15, but subjoined the relative clause. The hope is characterized by the clause which is laid up for you in heaven, as objective, like the (Rom 8:24), that which is hoped for, which is preserved, set aside (), in deposito reconditum (Lsner), as a securely placed treasure (Chrysostom: ; Bengel: sine periculo), or rather as a reward and prize according to 2Ti 4:8; 1Pe 1:4; Mat 19:21; comp. Heb 9:27; Heb 6:18. On in heaven, see Eph 1:10. Accordingly this hope gives a motive for the love in its activity as well as its extent; it does not depend upon the present, on temporal life and possessions, nor on the men, the brethren whom it reaches. It is certain of the eternal, heavenly, divine possessions and salvation, and has in these enough. Hope is not therefore the third with faith and love (Steiger and others), nor does it furnish a motive for faith (Baehr and others); least of all for the thanksgiving (Bengel: from the hope is manifest how great the ground of thanks giving for the gift of faith and love). [So Eadie, Barnes. The E. V.for the hope seems obscure. Both on account of (Eadie, Alford), and because of (Ellicott), leave the reader uncertain as to the connection, which is the main difficulty here.R.]
Whereof ye heard before, .In the : , according to the context the refers to the object, the hope laid up which is future and concealed. Meyer is therefore incorrect: before you had this hope; Heinrichs: alio doctore (Epaphra) ante me; Bhmer, Huther: before the Epistle was written; Schenkel: before he had received tidings of their faith. The interpretation (Grotius): prima rudimenta accepistis, as if described the first instruction of catechumens, is unwarranted. [Braune seems to follow De Wette and Olshausen in their view of the force of before, before the fulfilment of the hope, but as Eadie well remarks such an exegesis is a species of truism. Ellicott: not before any definite epoch, but merely at some undefined period in the past, formerly.Eadie gives the sense of already, as intimating that this hope had been made prominent in preaching, and they of course heard of this in hearing the gospel; a view to be preferred as giving more point to the passage and fully accordant with the context.R.] To laid up in heaven corresponds what is joined to heard before, viz:
In the word of the truth of the gospelthrough which the hearing before has its guarantee. This expression is another briefer and independent setting forth of Eph 1:13, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. The hearing before of the hope is mediated by the preaching ( ) of the truth (), which is the substance of the , but is taken out of nothing other than the gospel ( ), to which the truth belongs. It is not proper to follow the parallel passage, which is grammatically different, and take of the gospel as a genitive of apposition to in the word of truth (Steiger), or to the truth (Baehr), [Ellicott: a defining genitive, allied to the genitive possessivus (genitive continintis), which specifies, and so to say, localizes the general notion of the governing substantive: the truth which was preached in and was announced in the gospel.R.] Nor is the word of the truth=sermo verax (Erasmus), or the preaching of truth (Huther, Bleek), nor of the truth of the gospel=genuine gospel (Storr), nor is defined as to its substance by as absolute truth, as to its form by as proclamation of salvation (Schenkel).
The deeper cause of thanksgiving (Col 1:6-8). Col 1:6. Which has come unto youlit., is present unto yon. This is spoken of the gospel. notes its being present (1Co 5:3; 2Co 13:10); with , 2Co 11:8; Gal 4:18; Gal 4:20, here . In the passages quoted the Apostle stands before them, turned towards them; here he speaks of the gospel, that penetrates into them; he describes the steady, constant and finally entire penetration of the gospel, which is not forced through with one blow. [The preposition conveys the idea of its having reached them, the participle implies its abiding there (Ellicott).R.] The added clause: as it is in all the world, renders prominent the simple fact of the presence of the gospel in the world. The preposition marks the distinction between its presence in the world, and in Colosse, where it has already wrought what it should and would. In all the world indicates the whole world as the field, in which the gospel is found and which it will permeate. It is not confined to one part, had already begun its efficacy in the most diverse places, among Jews and Gentiles. Hence it is no synecdoche, meaning the most noted parts of the world, as Rom 1:8; Rom 10:18 (Grotius), nor only the Roman Empire, nor popular hyperbole (Meyer). [Alford: No hyperbole, but the pragmatic repetition of the Lords parting command.R.]
And is bringing forth fruit and increasing.[Alford, omitting , calls the paragraph broken and unbalanced.R.] It is not merely in all the world, but efficient there also. We have here the usual transition from the participial construction to that of the finite verb (Winers Gram., p. 505 sq.); the participle with indicates continuance and duration (Winers Gram., p. 326 sq.). [So in English, hence the literal rendering: is bringing forth fruit and increasing is preferable.R.] Theodoret: , . The figure is borrowed from a tree which both bears fruit and grows (Mat 7:17; Mat 13:32; Luk 13:19). The former word refers to the faith, the love, the Christian virtues, which the gospel produces in the internal and external life, the latter to the extension and the multiplication of its adherents (Act 6:7; Act 12:24; Act 19:20). [The former the intensive, the latter the extensive progress of the gospel. Ellicott.R.]As it is also among you, introduces Colosse as a part of the field, in which the gospel is and is working (in all the world), and furnishes a proof that the gospel is, and how it is, in all the world. Hence is among you, not in you (Luther). Bringing forth fruit and increasing must be supplied. [It doth, supplied in E. V., is to be changed to it is, to correspond with the participial form of the verb in the former clause.R.]
Since the day ye heard it, and knew the grace of God in truth.[Braune, following De Wette, supplies no object after heard, making the grace of God the object of both verbs. Meyer, Steiger, Eadie, Alford, Ellicott, supply: the gospel, which is to be preferred. E. V. of it, is unsatisfactory; they must have heard the gospel, as well as heard of it, before it would bring forth fruit among them.R.] On the construction see Winers Gram., p. 130. The first proclamation of the gospel was followed by the acceptance of it, and from that time forth the Christian life and character of the Church developed internally and externally in constant progress. The object is the grace of God, the substance of the evangelical preaching (Col 1:6), the marrow of the gospel over against the law. In truth is an adverbial qualification of the verbs heard and knew. The gospel is proclaimed vere et sincere absque fuco, 13 (Greek Fathers), and is accepted non simulate, sed vere. It implies a contrast to the false teachers and is not = , truly, nor to be joined with grace (Storr and others), nor = in the gospel (Grotius) [Barnes.R.]. Nor is it to be joined only to knew (Meyer and others), nor to heard alone (Baehr and others). [Alford: in its truth, and with true knowledge. So Eadie: the words describe the teaching of Epaphras, or represent that genuine form, in which, by his preaching, the grace of God had been exhibited at Colosse. This makes it qualify the verb knew, and at the same time define the grace of God by presenting the element, in which the gospel was proclaimed.R.]
Col 1:7. Even as ye learned of Epaphras. refers to in truth [Alford: in which truthR.], and describes the manner in which they had learned from Epaphras. The verb, the object of which must be the grace of God, marks the intermediate step between hearing and knowing and describes the earnest, constant effort of the Colossians, to which the activity of Epaphras corresponds.Epaphras a Colossian or Phrygian (Col 4:12 : one of you), with Paul in his imprisonment (Phm 1:23 : my fellow prisoner), is not identical with Epaphroditus, the Macedonian, a preacher of Philippi14 (Php 2:25; Php 4:18), as Grotius arbitrarily assumes; here indicated as the founder of the Church in Colosse, but otherwise entirely unknown to us. Even should we accept the reading before , we could not, with Wiggers,15 treat it as though it were (as in Rom 5:7; Eph 4:4), in order thus to maintain that there had been a proclamation of the gospel in Colosse before that of Epaphras. Still less does the resume the preceding , as though Epaphras had only told that the gospel was every where proclaimed (Theodoret). The preposition indicates that the Colossians had gladly met Epaphras and heard him speak. The words which follow are a confirmation of the preaching of Epaphras: our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ.Our dear fellow servant describes him in his position toward Christ () [no thought of his imprisonment with Paul (Conybeare)R.], and toward Paul with his helpers (), and in his relation to them (), as an excellent minister, who, entirely dependent on the Lord, and independent of men, labored as a colleague with the Apostle and his fellow laborers, especially for the Church at Colosse ( ), from the beginning, with proper fidelity ( ) in the service of Christ ( ). [The reading of the Rec. for you, on your behalf, is not only better supported, but avoids the repetition of the other reading, while it is as strong a commendation of Epaphras to the Colossians, to say that he had been a faithful minister of Christ for them, as to say that he had been faithful vice apostoli.R.]
Col 1:8. Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.The declaration is made prominent. Epaphras has not only seen in Colosse, but spoken in Rome to Paul in a detailed, perspicuous way, as a witness respecting your love in the Spirit. The love was not carnal, but spiritual (cumenius), fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22 : Rom 15:30); Spirit is of course the Holy Spirit (as Rom 14:17). Hence it is not the spirit of man, the inner man, nor a love which depends on an internal sentiment and disposition, a love sincere and earnest (a Lapide, Bhmer and others), and since the context must decide what is the object of the love, it is to be regarded as love of the brethren (Col 1:4), including love to the Apostle, but not this latter exclusively (Baehr, Bleek and others); the following we also at least cannot decide this to be the meaning, since the Apostle does not pray merely in reciprocity. It is improper to join with (Wahl), as though Epaphras had narrated it through inspiration, or to explain it, per spiritum sanctum (Grotius). [Eadie properly expounds love as denoting the Christian grace of love, hence in the Spirit. Alford: the chief gift of the Spirit, thus in the elemental region of the Spirit; Ellicott: genuine and operative only in the sphere of His blessed influence.R.]
It is unmistakably the object of Paul in this honoring description, to establish as firmly as possible in every direction the authority of Epaphras; his doctrine is right, his relations to the Apostle hearty and intimate, his interest for the Colossians active and pure, undisturbed from the first. He seems to have been suspected by the false teachers. Paul gives prominence to these facts, in order to shame the errorists, to warn and guard the Church against them; for their sake and that of the cause, he enters particularly upon the efficiency and conduct of Epaphras. Estius: Lest they might suffer themselves to be led away from the doctrine which they had learned from him by new teachers.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Faith and Love are the chief points, in judging of the condition of the Christian Church. Faith must not only be directed to () Christ, but be a life in () Christ; it is the foundation and source of love, by which it worketh [Gal 5:6.R.]. This love must be in the Spirit (Col 1:8), that it may be pure, and extend to all the saints (Col 1:4), that it may be large-hearted, not limited by sensuous, arbitrary and selfish sympathies. Living, active faith in Christ alone leads to such purity and extent of love, because the believer has first of all love to God, the Father of Jesus Christ (and through Him his Father), and from a faith on the love of God in Christ, which enjoys the love of the Father and Son, he gains a love to all, in whom the same faith is active, who have become and still are the objects of the same mercy, altogether irrespective of the stage of results accomplished, however manifold the degrees of its strength may be. It overleaps party lines and difference of creeds, and prays in truth: Our Father, which art in heaven. In Father lies the doctrine of faith, in our the ethics of love, in which art in heaven, the impulse and motive of hope.
2. The activity of this love, growing out of faith, which embraces all Christians as brethren, as children of the Father, has its mainspring in the hope of salvation, secure for us in heaven. This is Christian eudmonism, which indeed has in view the salvation of our own souls, the perfection and blessedness of our own personality, yet not selfishly, but seeks and knows in fellowship with all believers; nor yet externally, sensualistically, like a Turk or heathen German, but internally, in the spirit of the mind; nor yet here, but in heaven, not in time, but in eternity, hence not as a materialist or atheist burning for good fortune and earthly pleasure; and finally not in our own strength, as it has been attempted in godless virtue, but as a gift of the gracious God through Christ.
3. Faith grows from the preached word of gospel truth. Since faith as to its essence is Gods word become living in the heart of man, since it grows out of this word as from a seed, its establishment and growth depends altogether upon the preaching of this word of God (, Col 1:5), which alone contains the truth indispensably necessary for the soul, presenting the grace of God, which is the marrow of the gospel (Col 1:5 : , Col 1:6 : ). This and not the preaching (Schenkel) is the vital principle of Christianity, which penetrates ever more deeply into the believers, producing in them and in the life of the church the fruits of virtues, both active and passive, ever extending more widely, ever permeating more thoroughly every one and all things (Col 1:6). [To keep the figure of the Apostle, it was like a tree, whose fruit, falling to the earth, germinated, so that there sprang up a youthful and healthy forest on all sides of it (Eadie).R.] Preaching is only the principal means, to which we must hold fast in simplicity and freedom from all perversion, deterioration or obscuration.
4. The teachers or preachers of the gospel must labor as belonging to Christ, as entirely dependent on Him (Col 1:7 : ) yet attached to Him (); they are not servants of the church (Schenkel), but only of Christ; servants, but for the church ( ), in doctrine (Col 1:6-7), in supplication to God (Col 1:3), and in the varied intercourse with men, among whom they would advance their cause. They should never forget that they do not stand alone and for themselves, but in fellowship (Col 1:7 : ), that as colleagues they should esteem and love each other, that one should rejoice without envy in the other, as Paul in Epaphras, who meekly flies to him, and should fraternally suffer with each other, as Epaphras with Paul. [Henry:Thus he puts an honor on an inferior minister, and teaches us not to be selfish, or think all that honor lost which goes beside ourselves. We learn in his example not to think it a disparagement to us, to water what others have planted, or build on the foundation others have laid.Observe Christ is our proper master and we His ministers. He does not say your minister, but the minister of Christ for you. It is by Christs authority, but for the peoples service.R.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Even where we must fear and blame and warn, an opportunity for thanksgiving is not wanting.In the general prayer for Sunday service belongs the petition for love toward all men; however easy towards some, it is just as difficult towards all.Do not suffer a preacher, colleague or friend to be misunderstood and falsely judged, for speaking well of him belongs to obedience to the Ninth Commandment; neither break out blindly against him, that misunderstands the neighbor whose cause you would advance.Rejoice when you see the word of God efficacious, and learn to wait patiently, as a husbandman for the fruits.
Starke:He who does not believe on Jesus Christ, does not believe on God at all; so though the Jews and Turks think they believe on God, yet they in no wise do; for they do not believe on Jesus, on whom we must believe before we can assure ourselves of grace and salvation from God.[Always to pray, and always to give thanks are the Christians needful duties.If teaching and learning are of the right sort, then Gods word hath good speed.Not all loving is praiseworthy; love in the Spirit is commended.R.]
Rieger:In the eyes of the world the character of a philanthropist, embracing all in his love, will indeed bring us more honor and glory than love to the saints; for this implies a distinction which the world does not willingly admit. The world has a love to which a Jew or Turk is more acceptable than a saint.If we consider only the yet feeble beginnings of faith, the still prevailing temptations, we may doubt whether we have cause to rejoice and thank God. But by looking out to the mark of hope, which is set before us, the grace to us becomes very great.It is certainly unspeakable how much the world, now so unbelieving and unthankful, does yet enjoy of the fruits of the gospel; how many arts and sciences, milder customs and laws would not exist, had not the gospel made the first advance in that direction.
Schleiermacher:Faith, since it is active, becomes not only love to Christ, but also love to all, who belong to Christ.We see how readily we allow ourselves to be led into all manner of divisions and limitations of love, which have less ground than then existed in the difference between Jewish and Gentile Christians. It is better to study such a love to all saints, and not one that extends to the few who exactly and specially agree with us, however great enjoyment there may be in it.[The gospel is a germ, made fruitful by God, which cannot be received, without its making an impression on the spirit.R.]
Passavant:There is generally an unspeakably beneficent, tender feeling in giving thanks from the heart for a benefit.Thanksgiving will be the bliss of eternity. The beginning, the first steps thereto must be made on the porch, else we shall have no voice nor place, no life above in the holy choirs.It may often be long: days, years, decades may pass as we hear and know the gospel, before we obtain a living knowledge of the grace of God, that permeates our heart and mind and life.There are men, says Pascal, who admire external greatness alone, as if there were no mental greatness; others can only admire mental greatness, as though there were not one infinitely higher, to be found in wisdom.
[Lisco:The Apostolic thanksgiving and the praise therein contained has no other purpose than encouragement, 1) to continued steadfastness; 2) to further advance in all good.Henry:
Col 1:3. In our thanksgiving we must have an eye to God as God (He is the object of thanksgiving as well as prayer), and as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom and through whom all good comes to us.
Col 1:4-5. Faith, hope, and love, are the three principal graces in the Christian life, and proper matter of our prayer and thanksgiving.We must love all the saints, bear an extensive kindness and good-will to good men, notwithstanding lesser points of difference and many real weaknesses.
Col 1:6. All who hear the word of the gospel, ought to bring forth the fruit of the gospel.Wherever the gospel comes, it will bring forth fruit to the honor and glory of God. We mistake, if we think to monopolize the comforts and benefits of the gospel to ourselves.
Col 1:8. Faithful ministers are glad to be able to speak well of their people.R.]
[Eadie:
Col 1:5. For the hope. Every blessing which the gospel makes known has futurity in its eye,and the Christian life, in the meantime, is one as much of expectation as of positive enjoyment.
Col 1:6. The gospel bore choice and noble clusters of fruit. It is not a ceremonial to be gazed at, or a congeries of opinions to be discussed. It is essentially a practical system, for its ethics are involved in its creed and worship.The gospel was ecumenical, but the error which menaced them was only provincial in its sphere.
Col 1:8. Love is to be regarded as the crown and consequence of all the other graces. The Spirit of Him who is Love takes possession of the believing bosom, and exerts upon it His own assimilating power. A Christian community may be congratulated upon its love.R.]
[Schenkel:The true Christian idiosyncrasy of a church: 1) Its groundfaith in Christ: 2) its fruitlove to the saints; 3) its powerhope of the heavenly treasure of eternal life.The gospel of Jesus Christ, the tree of life for humanity: 1) The fruit, which it brings; 2) the extension, which it gains.The power of the gospel: 1) It consists in the word of the grace of God. 2) It is conditioned by a faithful proclamation and simple apprehension of it.R.]
Footnotes:
[5]Col 1:3. , B. C. and other MSS. and the oldest versions. . [with A. K. L.] and others insert , as in Eph 1:3; Rom 15:6; 2Co 1:3; 2Co 11:31 in a similar connexion; here it is an interpolation. [ is another reading, not well supported. Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford, Ellicott (though not with perfect confidence) reject ; Wordsworth retains it.R.]
[6]Col 1:3., . A. C. [K. L., Tischendorf, Alford, Ellicott, WordsworthR.], the less supported [LachmannR.] probably from Col 1:9, and because more significant. [See Exeg. Notes on the above emendation.R.]
[7]Col 1:4. , . A. C. and others, supported by the context, [so all recent editorsR.]; is poorly supported, probably from Eph 1:15. [The italics of the E. V. are therefore unnecessary.R.]
[8]Col 1:6. on the authority of F. G. K. L. and the oldest versions, supported by the context. [Tischendorf, Meyer, De Wette, Ellicott.R.] is omitted in . A. B. C. and others [by Lachmann, Alford, WordsworthR.], and is the less difficult reading.
[9]Col 1:6.[ , supplied on the authority of . A. B. C. D.1 F. L., many versions and all modern editors.R.]
[10]Col 1:7.After , . A. B. C. D. omit . It is a mechanical repetition from Col 1:6. [So modern editors. E. V. retains it in also, which should be omitted. = even as, here (Ellicott).R.]
[11]Col 1:7. , C. E. F. K. L. and . corrected and in nearly all versions. The otherwise well supported , A. B., is an error of the transcriber, accounted for by the prevalence of the first person. [Tischendorf, Ellicott, Wordsworth. Alford, quoting Ambrosiaster (4th century, vice apostoli), reads , following Lachmann.R.]
[12][The original references are to the 6th German edition; altered throughout to the 7th German ed., 1867.R.]
[13][Truly and sincerely, without dissimulation, not in deceit and rash words.R.]
[14][Conybeare, II. Col 385: Epaphras is the same name with Epaphroditus (?)but this can scarcely be the same person, etc.R.]
[15][Sludien und Kritiken. 1838. p. 185.R.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 2166
PAULS COMMENDATION OF THE GOSPEL
Col 1:3-6. We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the Gospel; which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth.
THE grace of God in truth! What a beautiful description of the Gospel! It is grace: it is all grace, from first to last: it is the most stupendous grace that ever God vouchsafed to any creature, whether in heaven or on earth. It was marvellous grace to confer on angels such an exalted nature as they possess, together with all the glory and felicity of heaven. It was most astonishing grace also to form man in Paradise; to form him in the very image of his God; and to give him a promise, that if he should hold fast his integrity, both he and all his posterity should participate with the angels in all the blessedness they enjoy. But what is all this to the gift of Gods only dear Son to bear the iniquities of fallen man, and, by his own obedience unto death, to restore man to his forfeited inheritance? This is emphatically called, The Gospel of the grace of God: and truly it does exhibit the grace of God in such a view as no creature could ever have anticipated; and in such a view as must fill the whole creation, whether of men or angels, with the profoundest admiration, and gratitude, and love. This is the Gospel which ye have heard; which also, through the illuminating influence of the Spirit of God, many of you know; and the excellency of which may be seen,
I.
By the effects produced in our hearts
There are three effects mentioned, as produced in the converts of Colosse:
1.
Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
[This is the first effect which the Gospel produces, wherever it is received into the heart. It reveals to us our need of a Saviour; and it holds forth the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, sent into the world to bear our sins, and to expiate our guilt by his atoning sacrifice, and thereby to reconcile us to our offended God. It discovers to us the fulness and suitableness of this salvation; and brings us to this Saviour, as our only hope. It leads every one to renounce altogether every other hope, and to trust entirely in the merits and mediation of this adorable Redeemer ]
2.
Love to all the saints
[This is the next effect produced on all. Through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are brought into a new family, of which Christ is the master: yea, we are incorporated into a new body, of which Christ is the head, and all the saints are members. I add further, we are all penetrated with one spirit; (for he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit;) and have thus a bond of union, which never did, nor could, exist before. The very instant we believe in Christ, we feel ourselves brought into this relation to all his believing people, whether they be separately known to us or not; and we have, from that moment, somewhat of the same sympathy with them, as every member of our body has with all the rest, the eve with the hand, and the hand with the foot ]
3.
Hope of happiness in heaven
[The hope laid up for us in heaven is that for which the Apostle principally gives thanks in the passage before us [Note: See the Greek. The faith and love are parenthetically inserted.]. But this, like the two foregoing principles, is wrought in the heart by the Gospel: by which, as St. Peter says, we are begotten again to a lively hope of an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us [Note: 1Pe 1:4.]. Yes, faith penetrates the highest heavens, and sees there crowns and kingdoms purchased by the blood of Christ, and promised to all who believe in him. An eternity of glory upon the very throne of God, the believer expects as his assured portion ]
But the excellency of the Gospel is further shewn,
II.
By the effects produced on our lives
It brings forth fruit in all the world
[See the fruits of the Spirit as described by the Apostle: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance [Note: Gal 5:22-23.]. There is not a grace that was in Christ Jesus himself, which the Gospel does not form in the souls of those who believe in him The discovery which it gives us of the glory of Christ transforms us into his image, from glory to glory, by the Spirit of our God [Note: 2Co 3:18.].]
It does this invariably and universally
[There is not a creature who receives the grace of God in truth, but experiences this effect upon his soul. It matters not whether he be the most civilized man on earth, or a poor savage Indian or Hottentot: he will, from the moment that he receives the Gospel, begin to bear the image of his heavenly Father in righteousness and true holiness And the man who professes to believe in Christ, and does not bring forth the fruits of righteousness in his life and conversation, is a self-deceiver, and a hypocrite. His faith is no better than the faith of devils; and, if he die in his present state, his end shall be like theirs also: for God has decreed, that without holiness no man shall see the Lord [Note: Heb 12:14.] ]
Tell me now, brethren,
1.
Have we not ground to give thanks for you?
[Were you all reduced to the most abject state of poverty, and relieved by the Gospel to the utmost extent of your necessities, and enriched with all that the whole world could bestow; or were you all in dying circumstances, and restored to health by the Gospel; it were nothing, in comparison of the blessings ye have received (many of you at least) through the word ministered unto you. You have been brought by it from death to life, from sin to holiness, from hell to heaven. O! what inestimable blessings are these! Say, then, whether those who have preached unto you the word of life have not reason to bless God for you, as the seals of their ministry, and as destined to be their joy and crown of rejoicing in the presence of that Saviour whom they have preached unto you [Note: 1Th 2:19-20.]? ]
2.
Have we not encouragement, also, to pray for you?
[What will not God confer on those for whom he has already done so much? Surely there is not any thing which Omnipotence can effect, that shall not be bestowed upon you, in answer to the prayer of faith. See what Paul prayed for in behalf of the Colossians [Note: ver. 914.] That same prayer would I offer for you, and entreat all of you to offer for yourselves. Open your mouths wide, and God will fill them. Be not straitened in yourselves; for ye are not straitened in him. Only ask in faith; and according to your faith it shall be done unto you.]
3.
Is there not, however, ground for lamentation, on account of some amongst you?
[Would to God I could say that the change here described had been wrought on all! But there are many of you, I fear, who still remain in your unconverted state; and who, notwithstanding the Gospel has so long been ministered unto you, are yet strangers to the faith, and love, and hope, which it forms in the hearts of those who truly receive it; yes, and whose tempers and dispositions are widely different from the fruits which the Gospel is sent to produce. Dear brethren, I pray you study the Gospel more: pray over it more: beg of God to make it the rod of his strength, and to effect by it in you all that it wrought in the Colossian Church, and all that it is ordained to work in all the world ]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
“Handfuls of Purpose”
For All Gleaners
“We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.” (Col 1:3 .)
The Apostle was made rich by his disciples; not by their money, but by their devotedness, their simple piety, their continual service for Christ. As the husbandman gives thanks for abounding crops so the Apostle gives thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because of souls that were saved, and lives that were consecrated to the Cross. The Apostle did not pray occasionally for his friends, he prayed always for them; that is to say, he always had them in his thoughts, and he always desired for them the highest blessings. The time since the prayer began is indicated in the following verse:
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
3 We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
Ver. 3. We give thanks-praying, &c. ] Prayer and thanks (saith one) are like the double motion of the lungs; the air that is sucked in by prayer is breathed out again by thanks.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
3 29 .] INTRODUCTION, but unusually expanded, so as to anticipate the great subjects of the Epistle. And herein,
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
3 8 .] Thanksgiving for the faith, hope, and love of the Colossians, announced to him by Epaphras .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
3 .] We (I and Timotheus. In this Epistle, the plural and singular are too plainly distinguished to allow us to confuse them in translating: the plural pervading ch. 1., the singular ch. 2., and the two occurring together in ch. Col 4:3-4 , and the singular thenceforward. The change, as Mey. remarks, is never made without a pragmatic reason) give thanks to God the Father ( , like , ,&c. is anarthrous, as indeed often in our own language, from its well-known universal import as a predicate necessarily single of its kind: see Eph 1:2-3 ) of our Lord Jesus Christ, always (I prefer, against De W., Mey., B.-Crus., Eadie, to join to . ., rather than to . For 1) it would come rather awkwardly after so long an interruption as . . . . . . . (see however 1Co 15:58 ): and 2) I doubt whether the next clause would begin with , so naturally as with , which are found together so usually, cf. 1Co 1:4 ; 1Th 1:3 ( 2Th 1:2 )) praying for you (Meyer’s and Eadie’s objection to joining with is, that it is much more natural to say ‘we always give thanks when we pray,’ than ‘we give thanks, always praying.’ But we must remember that ‘prayer with thanksgiving’ was the Apostle’s recommendation ( Php 4:6 ), and doubtless his practice, and that the wider term included both): since we heard of (not, because we heard: see Eph 1:15 . The facts which he heard, not the fact of his hearing, were the ground of his thanksgiving) your faith in (not : the immediate element of their faith, not its distinctive character, is the point brought out) Christ Jesus, and the love which ye have (these words, dwelling on the fact as reported to him, carry more affectionate commendation than would merely the article of the rec.) towards all the saints ,
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Col 1:3-8 . PAUL’S THANKSGIVING FOR THE TIDINGS HE HAS RECEIVED OF THE SPIRITUAL WELFARE OF THE COLOSSIANS. According to his usual custom (so in Thess., 1 Cor., Rom., Phil., Philm.), Paul begins his letter with an expression of his thankfulness to God for the Christian graces of his readers. There is, however, a certain conventional element in these greetings, as may be seen from a comparison of similar formul in letters found among recently discovered papyri (see articles by Prof. Rendel Harris in The Expositor for Sept. and Dec., 1898). Eph 1:15-17 is parallel to Col 1:3-4 ; Col 1:9 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Col 1:3 . . . .: “to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus”. Even if were read, we should probably not make dependent on as well as , since this is not Paul’s usual language, though it is found in Eph 1:17 ( . . . . .). is connected by several commentators (Beng., Alf., Ell., Findl., R.V.) with . In favour of this is . . . (Col 1:9 ). But more probably it should be taken with . (Mey., Lightf., Ol., Haupt, Weiss, Abb.), as this is the usual collocation in Paul. But belongs to ., not (as Lightf., Ol.) to . “We always give thanks when we pray for you.”
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Col 1:3-8
3We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; 5because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel 6which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth; 7just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, 8and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.
Col 1:3-8 Col 1:3-8 are one sentence in Greek which means they are one sustained prayer of thanksgiving for the church’s faith in Christ. Opening prayers of thanksgiving for the recipients was common in Greek letters. In this letter Paul has two opening prayers (i.e., Col 1:3-8 and Col 1:9-14).
Col 1:3 “thanks” “Thanks” is a recurrent theme in this letter (cf. Col 1:12; Col 2:7; Col 3:15; Col 4:2), as “joy” is in the letter to the Philippians. Remember that Paul was imprisoned at Rome and the church at Colossae was undergoing difficult times. See Special Topic: Thanksgiving at Col 4:2.
“God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” Notice the Trinity in Col 1:3; Col 1:8. See Special Topic at Eph 1:3.
“Lord” The term “lord” (kurios) can be used in a general sense or in a specific theological sense. It can mean “mister,” “sir” (cf. Joh 4:11; Joh 4:15; Joh 4:19; Joh 4:49; Joh 5:7; Joh 12:21; Joh 20:15), “master,” “owner,” “husband,” or “the full God-man” (e.g., Joh 4:1; Joh 6:34; Joh 6:68; Joh 11:2-3; Joh 11:12; Joh 11:21; Joh 11:27; Joh 11:34; Joh 11:39). Good examples of both usages in one context is Joh 9:36; Joh 9:38.
The OT usage of this term (adon) came from the rabbis’ reluctance to pronounce the covenant name for God, YHWH, from the Hebrew verb “to be” (cf. Exo 3:14). They were afraid of breaking the commandment which said, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain” (cf. Exo 20:7, Deu 5:11). They thought if they did not pronounce it, they could not take it in vain. So, they substituted the Hebrew word, adon, which had a similar meaning to the Greek word, Kurios (Lord).
The NT authors used this term to describe the full Deity of Christ. The phrase “Jesus is Lord” was the public confession of faith and baptismal formula of the early church (cf. Rom 10:9-13; 1Co 12:3; Php 2:11).
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE NAMES FOR DEITY
“praying always for you” “Always” can relate grammatically to “pray” (NASB, NKJV, NJB) or “thank” (NRSV, TEV). Prayer and thanksgiving are inseparably linked in Paul’s theology and practice. Paul prayed for them (cf. Col 1:9; Eph 1:16) and requested that they pray for him (cf. Col 4:3; Eph 6:18; 1Th 5:25). See Special Topic: Intercessory Prayer at Col 4:3. Paul mentions this again in Col 1:9. There seems to be two prayers put together.
Col 1:4 “since we heard” The plural pronoun referred to Paul and his mission team. They had heard about the problems of the false teachers and the faith of the believers from Epaphras (cf. Col 1:7-8) who founded this church.
Col 1:4-5 “faith . . . love . . . hope” This was a favorite triad of Paul’s theology (cf. Rom 5:2-5; 1Co 13:13; Gal 5:5-6; 1Th 1:3; 1Th 5:8). It expresses the confidence that believers have both now (faith) and in a certain future consummation (hope). This confidence is to be lived out daily in love.
Col 1:4 “your faith” This term (pistis) may have three distinct connotations.
1. Its OT background meant “faithfulness” or “trustworthiness,” therefore, it was used of believers living godly lives.
2. It was used of believers accepting or receiving God’s free offer of forgiveness in Christ.
3. It was used in the collective sense of the Christian doctrine or truths about Jesus (i.e., “the faith,” cf. Act 6:7 and Jud 1:3; Jud 1:20).
In several passages it is difficult to determine which is meant. See Special Topic: Faith, Believe, Trust at Col 1:2.
“in Christ Jesus” The usual preposition Paul used for faith was “into” (eis) Christ, which spoke of Him as the object of one’s faith, but here the preposition is “in” (en) which referred to Jesus as the sphere of existence (cf. Col 1:2; Act 17:28).
“the love which you have for all the saints” Faith toward God is expressed in love toward others, especially those of the household of faith (cf. Gal 6:10). The use of the word “all” is significant in a setting disrupted by the exclusivism of the false teachers. Believers must be able to distinguish between who are saints and who ar not! For “saints” see Special Topic at Col 1:2.
Col 1:5 “the hope” Paul used this term in several different but related senses. Often it was associated with the consummation of the believer’s faith. This can be expressed as glory, eternal life, ultimate salvation, Second Coming, etc. The consummation is certain, but the time element is future and unknown. Hope was often associated with “faith” and “love” (cf. Rom 5:2-5; 1Co 13:13; Gal 5:5-6; Eph 4:2-5; 1Th 1:3; 1Th 5:8).
SPECIAL TOPIC: HOPE
“laid up for you in heaven” This was a metaphor for the divine protection of the believers’ hope (cf. 2Ti 4:8; 1Pe 1:4).
The false teachers could not affect the believers’ consummated salvation (hope).
“you previously heard” This is an aorist active indicative of a compound term, “to hear” and “before.” This referred to Epaphras’ preaching of the gospel, to which the Colossians had already personally responded by faith. Believers must hear, respond, obey, and persevere.
“in the word of truth, the gospel” This phrase can be understood in several ways.
1. instrumentally they heard the truth by means of the gospel
2. temporally they had heard the gospel
3. appositionally as a way of identifying the gospel as the truthful word
Notice how in Col 1:6 the gospel is characterized as “the grace of God in truth.” See Special Topic: Truth in Paul’s Writings at Eph 1:13.
Col 1:6 “in all the world” This referred to the Greco-Roman world. This was a common NT overstatement (hyperbole), which because of Mat 28:18-20; Luk 24:46-47; Act 1:8, became a reality.
The Greek term (kosmos) had several usages. It could refer to
1. this physical planet
2. humanity that inhabits the surface of this planet
3. the philosophies, governmental structures, educational institutions and religious systems of fallen mankind which allow them to function in independence from God
SPECIAL TOPIC: PAUL’S USE OF KOSMOS (WORLD)
“constantly bearing fruit and increasing” These are both present participles. The first is middle voice and the second passive but in this context there is no theological distinction implied, but it does illustrate the covenant balance of human and divine actions. Bearing fruit is the sign of regeneration (cf. Col 1:10; Mat 13:1-23; Joh 15:16; Gal 5:22-23; Jas 2:14-26).
NASB”understood”
NKJV”knew”
NRSV”comprehend”
TEV”came to know”
NJB”recognized”
This is an intensified Aorist active indicative form of the Greek term epignsk which implies “to fully and experientially know.” The Colossians received the gospel which is both a person and a truth (combining the meaning of “know” from Hebrew and Greek). This was Paul’s reaction to the heretics’ false emphasis on human knowledge (cf. Col 1:9-10).
“the grace of God in truth” This refers to the gospel of Jesus Christ, which finally and fully expresses the nature and character of deity to the human race. Believers’ ultimate hope is in the unchanging, merciful character of God (i.e., Mal 3:6).
The Greek word “grace” (charis) was used in Koine Greek (200 B.C.-A.D. 200) and the Septuagint (250-100 B.C.) in several different senses-charm, beauty, gracefulness, a matter of approval, a benefit, an act of favor, or a provision. In the NT it was primarily used of the undeserved, unmerited love and mercy of the triune God which gives righteousness and restores fellowship to fallen mankind (cf. Eph 4:4-7). The emphasis was always on the worth of the giver (God), not the receiver (mankind). All that was needed God has provided! All that the individual can do is respond (cf. Eph 2:8-9)!
For “truth” see Special Topic: “Truth” in Paul’s Writings at Eph 1:13.
Col 1:7 “Epaphras” (cf. Col 4:12-13; Phm 1:23). He was the founder of three of the churches (Colossae, Hierapolis, and Laodicea) in the Lycus River Valley, and Paul’s representative (cf. Col 1:7). He was probably converted during Paul’s stay at Ephesus (cf. Act 19:10). His name was a shortened form of Epaphroditus which was etymologically related to the goddess Aphroditus. Another man by this same name is mentioned in Php 2:25; Php 4:18. However, he was from a different geographical area.
NASB”a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf”
NKJV, NRSV”of a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf”
TEV”Christ’s faithful worker on our behalf”
NJB”A trustworthy deputy for us as Christ’s servant”
The ancient Greek manuscripts vary on the pronouns. Some have “our” and others have “your.” “Our” seems textually best because it is found in the early Greek manuscripts P46, *, A, B, D*, F, and G. But the United Bible Society’s scholars felt “your” was original because of its place in the early church fathers’ and the early Latin, Aramaic, and Coptic translations (cf. Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, pp. 619-620).
Col 1:8 “your love in the Spirit” This is, surprisingly, the only specific reference to the Holy Spirit in the letter although He is, perhaps, alluded to in “filled” in Col 1:9 and “indwell” in Col 3:16. The object of the Spirit-engendered love may be
1. other believers
2. Paul and his mission team
3. Epaphras
4. all the above and even the lost
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
give thanks. See Act 27:35.
and. The texts omit.
the Father. See Joh 1:14.
Lord. App-98.
Jesus Christ. App-98.
praying. App-134.
for. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
3-29.] INTRODUCTION, but unusually expanded, so as to anticipate the great subjects of the Epistle. And herein,
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Col 1:3. -, we give thanks-since we heard) Comp. Eph 1:15-16. For the Epistle to the Colossians bears considerable resemblance to the two epistles to which it is subjoined: to the Epistle to the Ephesians, in its general subject (thesis) and mode of exhortation (paraclesis); to the Epistle to the Philippians, in its opposition to the false teachers, and in their refutation. More of these coincidences will be noticed in their proper places. The Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians were sent at the same time by Tychicus, Col 4:7; Eph 6:21.-, always) Construed with praying: Rom 1:10; Php 1:4.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Col 1:3
Col 1:3
We give thanks-In all Paul’s epistles to churches, with the exception of that to the Galatians, the salutation is followed by thanksgiving. [It was ever his way to appreciate before criticizing. There was much in the condition of the Colossians for which he most heartily thanked God-their faith and love, strengthened by their hope of the coming of the Lord; their personal acceptance of the world-wide gospel; their regard for Epaphras who had labored among them so faithfully for years, and who was then in Rome with a heart full of gratitude for their kindness.]
to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,-He to whom Paul gives thanks is God, the divine person whom Jesus addressed as Father. (Joh 17:1; Joh 17:5; Joh 17:11; Joh 17:21; Joh 17:24-25). [The usual form is “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom 15:6; 2Co 1:3; 2Co 11:31). Paul did not hesitate to use God of our Lord Jesus Christ as Jesus himself did to Mary Magdalene: I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God. (Joh 20:17). The use of Lord with Jesus Christ shows the high sense of the term here. Jesus Christ stands on the same plane with God the Father.]
praying always for you,-Thanksgiving was a part of the apostles prayers and doubtless both were closely united in his mind. He thanked God whenever he prayed for them, having heard of their faith and love. [It is probable that always belonged both to give thanks and to praying.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
give: Rom 1:8, Rom 1:9, 1Co 1:4, Eph 1:15, Phi 1:3-5, Phi 4:6, 1Th 1:2
praying: Col 1:9, Col 1:13, Eph 3:14-19, Phi 1:9-11, 1Th 3:10-13, 2Th 2:16, 2Th 2:17, 2Ti 1:3
Reciprocal: Psa 72:17 – his name Rom 6:17 – But Rom 16:19 – I am 2Co 11:31 – God Gal 1:24 – General Eph 1:16 – Cease Phm 1:4 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
(Col 1:3.) , -We bless God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ always, when praying for you. There are variations in the text, some of which may be noted. Some read on no great authority, and the Received Text inserts without conclusive evidence. Other MSS. read as if by correction in the singular, and , found in A, C, D3, E2, J, K, appears to have higher warrant than , which is preferred by Lachmann and Griesbach. The distinctive meaning of and in such a connection may be seen under Eph 6:19. We cannot agree with Bhr, Steiger, Baumgarten-Crusius, and Conybeare, who imagine that Paul simply means himself in the plural . That he may occasionally use this style we do not deny. The apostle in the First Epistle to the Corinthians joins Sosthenes with himself in the salutation, but formally excludes him from any share in the communication, for he immediately subjoins the singular . The same avowed distinction is made with regard to Timothy himself in the Epistle to the Php 1:1-3. May we not infer, that if Paul had wished to exclude Timothy here, he would have done so by a similar use of the singular; and as he does afterwards employ the singular in sharp contrast, may not the plural here have been chosen to represent the share which Timothy had in those good reports, and the consequent prayers? There is no sentiment in the verses in which the plural is used, peculiar to inspiration. And we are the more confirmed in this view, because Paul formally disconnects himself from Timothy in Col 1:23, and by the emphatic words, ; and again a similar distinction occurs in Col 1:29, and in Col 4:3. The phraseology of these three verses implies, that when he says we, he means himself and Timothy, but that in cases where he states something special to himself, and not common to him and his colleague, he says I, to prevent mistake. If the plural simply represented himself, he did not need to change the idiom. [, Eph 1:16.] Under Eph 1:3 we have shown that the genitive . is governed as well by as by . And if we read , as in the Textus Receptus, the same construction would be vindicated here. But as the reading is either , or rather , it would seem that alone governs the following genitive. We thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. [ . Eph 1:3.] Beza well says, neque vero aliter a nobis considerari potest Deus in salutem nisi quatenus est Pater Christi. It is God, in the character of the Father of Christ, that we thank, for He is in this relation our Father-God. The grateful heart pours itself forth in praises. Paul and Timothy, on hearing of the spiritual progress of the Colossians, did not congratulate one another, but both gave the glory to God. So much had Timothy of Paul’s own spirit, that the apostle had no hesitation in saying, We thank God.
It is a matter of dispute whether should be joined to , or to . Chrysostom, Theophylact, Grotius, Piscator, Beza, Luther, Calvin, Bengel, Suicer, Grotius, Bhmer, and Olshausen, hold the second view, and render with the English version, praying always for you. But if we follow the analogy of 1Co 1:4, 1Th 1:2, 2Th 1:3, Phm 1:4, Eph 1:16, we shall join to the first verb. So think Bhr, Pierce, Meyer, De Wette, and Baumgarten-Crusius. The Syriac version follows the same exegesis-for it reads, We give thanks for you always, and pray for you; and Cranmer’s Bible of 1539-We give thanks to God alwayes for you in oure prayers. Besides, the declaration is, that the intelligence which he had received filled his heart with gratitude, and impelled him to give thanks. The Colossians did not need to be told that he prayed for them, but it was some comfort to be assured by him, that when he did pray for them such was his opinion of them, based on reports which he had received about them, that he gave thanks to God for them. He would have prayed for them, whatever their spiritual state, and the worse it was, the more importunate would have been his supplications, but he would not have given thanks for them unless he had been persuaded of their spiritual purity and progress. Therefore he adduces these reports as the grounds of his thanksgivings; and the spirit of his language is-Whenever we pray about you, we always give thanks for you. So cheering was the intelligence communicated by Epaphras, that thanksgiving was uniformly mingled with his prayers for them, and the special contents of those prayers are mentioned for the first time in Col 1:9. This exegesis is far more natural than that of Olshausen, who says that the thanksgiving is offered at the moment, but the intercession is su pposed to be going on, and to be based on the tidings which he had received. Now, those tidings did not create the prayer, but being so good, they naturally induced the thanksgiving. We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as often as we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and love to all the saints.
– praying for you. The apostle prayed for them-such was his interest in them, and sympathy with them, that he bore their names on his heart at the throne of grace. Nor could such an effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man be without its rich results. The suppliant in his far-off prison was like the prophet on Carmel, and as he prayed, the little cloud might be descried, which, as it gradually filled and darkened the horizon, brought with it the sound of abundance of rain.
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Col 1:3. It is important to note that God is called the Father of Christ. This refutes the doctrine of Rome, and most of the denominational world, that God and Christ are one and the same person. It is foolish to imply that a father can be his own son, or vice verse. In the beginning of the verse Paul says we give thanks’, and in the close lie says he is praying for the brethren. This is because there are various forms of addresses to God; thanks being offered for past favors, and prayer being requests for future ones.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Col 1:3. We give thanks, etc. The Apostle usually begins with thanksgiving; comp. his earliest Epistle (1Th 1:2) which exactly corresponds. The plural (we) is probably occasioned by the mention of Timothy (Col 1:1); but in 1Co 1:4, Php 1:3, the singular occurs after others have been named in the address. The plural does not stand for the singular, but is used when the Apostle, in thought, associates others with himself. Some extend the reference here to the church in the house or place where the Apostle was; which seems uncalled for.
To God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ And is to be omitted, although found in Aleph and A (retained by Tischendorf), because the copyists would be far more likely to insert it than to omit it. With this reading the sense is precisely the same as in the E. V., and as that of the alternate rendering given in Eph 1:3, though some nice grammatical questions are involved in the discussion of the Greek.
Always. This is connected by some with praying, but since the thanksgiving is the more prominent point, it seems better to join it with give thanks, there being no serious grammatical objections to this view. Comp. 1Co 1:4; 1Th 1:2; 2Th 1:3; Phm 1:4.
When praying. The force of the participle is better expressed by supplying when.
For you The better supported reading here gives a different preposition from that usually occurring in this connection. But the difference is extremely slight, if indeed appreciable (Ellicott). Although the Greek order would allow us to connect the phrase with give thanks, it receives greater emphasis when taken with the word praying, according to the usual view.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Our apostle, to give the Colossians a full assurance of the firmness of his love unto them, acquaints them, that himself and Timothy, from the time they heard of their conversion, did never to give solemn thanks to God for it, and particularly, for their faith in Christ, and for the love which they bare to all saints, to all their brethren, and fellow members in Christ.
Where note, 1. The person whom St. Paul offers up his prayers and praises, his supplications and thanksgivings to, and that is God; intimating, that religion’s invocation and adoration belong only to God; not to any creature, who can neither know, nor is able to supply our wants.
This God whom St. Paul prayed to, is called the Father of our Lord Jesus; so he is, with respect both to his divine and human nature; in respect to his Deity, he is of the same essence with the Father, begotten of him from all eternity; and in respect of his humanity, he is his Father, being, as man, conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Note, 2. The mercies and blessings which St. Paul offers up his thanksgivings to God for, and this on the behalf of the Colossians; in general they are spiritual blessings:
In particular, 1. For their faith in Christ Jesus; Christ alone is the proper object of our affiance and trust; and by faith we repose the entire trust and confidence of our souls upon the sufficiency of his merits.
2. For their love to all the saints.
Where observe, That faith and love ar inseparable companions: There is a necessary connection between them: Faith without love, is no living grace; love without faith, is no saving grace.
Observe also, The proper object of a Christian’s love, it is the saints as saints, that is, for their sanctity and personal infirmities be what they will: We have heard of your love to all the saints: Love is that brotherly affection which every true Christian chiefly bears to all his fellow members in Christ, for grace’s sake: now the love of grace in another, being so good an evidence of the life of grace in ourselves.
Hence, it was taht St. Paul, hearing of the Colossians’ love to all the children of God, ceases not to give thanks unto God for it, as the fruit and evidence of their conversion.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Thank God for the Brethren in Colossae!
Paul did not take his praying lightly, nor his thanksgiving. The letters of 2 Corinthians and Galatians do not contain such a prayer with thanks for the brethren. Paul calls God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ because that is what Jesus called Him ( Joh 20:17 ). Notice the thanks and prayer are directed to the Father and not Jesus. He gave thanks, in part, because he had heard good things about the church in Colossae. Paul often inquired concerning the churches he helped establish when he was away from them ( 1Co 1:11 ). So, this verse does not force us to believe someone else established this church. Paul did work in the region of Phrygia ( Act 16:6 ). A Christian’s faith in Christ, as described here by Paul, would be his loyalty to Christ and obedience of His Word ( Rom 1:5 ; Rom 16:26 ). Love of the brethren is a natural outgrowth of that faith which proves such faith exists ( Col 1:3-4 ; 1Jn 3:14 )
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Col 1:3-8. We give thanks, &c. See on Rom 1:8; to God and the Father Or, even the Father of our Lord, &c.; or, as the original expression is still more literally rendered, To the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: praying always for you Making express mention of you in all our addresses to the throne of grace; since we heard , having heard; of your faith, &c. See on Eph 1:15; for the hope which is laid up for you Namely, the hope of eternal life. The apostles meaning seems to be, that he gave thanks for this their hope, the fourth verse coming in as a parenthesis; whereof Of which blessedness in heaven; ye heard before I wrote to you, in the word of the truth of the gospel The true gospel preached to you; which Through the singular goodness of God to the Gentiles, whom he seemed so long to have neglected; is come to you At Colosse; as it is in all the world In all parts of the Roman empire. So the phrase often signifies; and bringeth forth fruit Is instrumental in turning men from idolatry, and all vicious practices, and of producing in them faith and holiness. At the time this epistle was written, probably A.D. 64, the gospel had been preached and received in most of the countries within the Roman empire, and had produced a great change in the manners of those who received it. The apostle made this observation to confirm the Colossians in the faith of the gospel, which, by its rapid progress, and happy influence in reforming mankind, was plainly declared to be from God. As also in you Among whom it hath produced a great reformation; since the day ye heard it, and knew, or acknowledged, the grace of God in truth Truly experienced its efficacy in your hearts. As ye learned of Epaphras From the epistle to Philemon, (Col 1:23,) which was sent at the same time with this to the Colossians, it appears that Epaphras was in prison at Rome when the apostle wrote. But it is probable he did not choose to mention that circumstance in a letter directed to the whole church of the Colossians, lest it might have grieved them too much. Our dear fellow-servant Of Paul and Timotheus; who is for you a faithful minister of Christ Appointed by him to labour among you and to watch over you: the apostle bore this honourable testimony to Epaphras, that the Colossians might not suffer themselves to be drawn away from the doctrine which they had received from him; who declared your love in the Spirit That is, the love wrought in you by the Spirit of God.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
3. Always praying for you. We do not pray enough. We ought to pray incessantly for all the saints on the earth.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Col 1:3-8. A Paragraph of Thanksgiving.He always gives God thanks when he prays for them, for he has heard (from Epaphras) of their loyalty in Christ and the love which they exhibit towards all Gods people: a love based upon that hope of a heavenly destiny which was included in the word of the truththe Good Newsas originally preached to them. They must remember that the Gospel which is in their midst is also in all the world; that it is bearing fruit and increasing, exactly as it did at Coloss ever since they first heard it, and came to know Gods grace as it truly is. Epaphras their teacher is a beloved sharer in Pauls own slavery to Christ, a loyal ministrant of Christ to them on Pauls behalf. It is he who has notified Paul of their love in the Spirit.
Col 1:6-8. By emphasizing the universal character of the original gospel Paul hints at the falsehood of the new teaching which has become prevalent at Coloss. It is a merely local fad. They should have listened to Epaphras, whose doctrine Paul approves, and who seems to have been their original evangelist.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
DIVISION I PRAISE AND PRAYER.
CHAPTER 1:3-14.
SECTION 2. PAUL THANKS GOD FOR HIS READERS FAITH. CH. 1:3-8.
We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ always about you, when praying, having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which ye have towards all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in the heavens, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the Gospel, which is present among you, according as also in all the world it is, bearing fruit and increasing, according as also among you, from the day when ye heard and understood the grace of God in truth; according as ye learnt from Epaphras our beloved fellow-servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.
Col 1:3. As to the Philippians, so here Paul begins with praise for Gods work in his readers and with prayer for its further development.
We-give-thanks: so 1Th 1:2; 2Th 1:3; where however the plural is explained by the close relation of Silvanus and Timothy to the Thessalonican Christians. Here, possibly, the plural is used, in contrast to Php 1:3, because Pauls more distant connection with the Church at Coloss permits him to fall back on somewhat official phraseology.
God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: same words as in Rom 15:6; 2Co 1:3, except that here Paul omits the copula and which there formally joins together the titles God and Father of etc. He to whom Paul gives thanks is God, the divine Person whom Christ used to address, and to speak of, as His Father.
Give thanks always about you: better than always when praying about you: for it is more likely that Paul would say that his thanks were ceaseless, than that his prayers were ceaseless, for his readers.
When praying: i.e. in his regular devotions. He is always thanking God about the Christians at Coloss: and the specific time and manner of this perpetual thanksgiving is his approach to God in prayer.
Col 1:4. Special occasion and matter of these thanks. When Paul heard of his readers faith and love he began, and continues, to thank God on their behalf.
Faith in Christ: Eph 1:15; 1Ti 3:13; 2Ti 1:13; 2Ti 3:15; not elsewhere in the N.T. It must not be separated from Pauls frequent phrase in Christ; and notes that the personal object of our faith is also its encompassing element. Faith saves because Christ is the element in which it dwells and rests.
Love which ye have: for love is an enrichment to those who possess it. Faith takes inward hold of Christ: love reaches out towards all the saints. The universal scope of Christian love is a mark of its genuineness.
Col 1:5 a. Real significance of this faith and love; and therefore the ultimate reason of Pauls thanks: because of the hope etc. All Christian hope is a germ developing into the glory of heaven: it is the dawn of the eternal day. And this is its real worth. In his readers faith and love Paul saw a foretaste of eternal blessedness: and this prompted his thanks on their behalf. Similarly, in Php 1:6 he looks forward to the completion of the work already begun. The simplicity of this exposition renders needless all attempts, necessarily forced, to represent this hope as in any way the cause or reason of the faith. and love. Col 1:3 is Pauls thanksgiving: Col 1:4, its immediate occasion: and Col 1:5, its ultimate cause or ground. See a good paper by Findlay in The Expositor, 1st series, vol. x., p. 74.
The infinite objective reality underlying the Christian hope gives even to the subjective hope itself an objective reality; and prompts us to think and speak of it as such. Now this objective reality is in heaven, far away from us and above reach of the uncertainties of earth. It is therefore a hope laid up in heaven. For, where our treasure is there is our heart and our hope. Thus a hope cherished in the breast of men on earth is guarded from disappointment by the security of heaven. Similar thought in Php 3:21. Notice here in close relation faith, love, hope: so in the same order, 1Th 1:3 a close parallel: also 1Co 13:13; Gal 5:5-6.
Col 1:5-6. Objective source of this hope, viz. the Gospel preached at Coloss and throughout the world.
Heard-before; makes conspicuous the fact that the subjective hope in the heart was preceded by an objective proclamation.
The truth of the Gospel: Gal 2:5 : the reality underlying the good news brought by Christ. See under Rom 1:18.
The word of the truth etc.: the announcement of this reality. The announcement preceded and caused the Christian hope at Coloss.
Which Gospel is present among you: or, more fully, which has reached you and is now present with you. This suggests the good fortune of the Colossians in that the Gospel had reached them; and the reality of the Gospel which like an overshadowing presence is now among them.
According as also in all the world it is: a larger fact in harmony with that just stated. Paul carries out his readers thought from the valley of the Lycus where they had heard the Gospel to the wide world throughout which also the same Gospel is, or exists, i.e. is heard and believed and gains victories.
All the world: an hyperbole similar to that in Rom 1:8. Within Pauls mental horizon, which was very large, the Gospel was everywhere preached.
Bearing-fruit and increasing: further information about the universal Gospel.
Fruit: results produced by the organic outworking of its own vitality, viz. the many and various benefits of the Christian life. Same word in Rom 7:4-5; Mar 4:20; Mar 4:28 : cp. Php 1:11; Php 1:22; Php 4:17.
Increasing: as the goodness is carried from place to place and its converts multiply, the Gospel itself becomes a larger thing. So Act 6:7; Act 12:24; Act 19:20. Thus it bears fruit in the blessings it conveys, and increases in the increase of its adherents.
According as also among you: another fact added to, and in harmony with, the foregoing. That the Gospel is preached at Coloss, is part of a larger fact, viz. that it is preached throughout the world. Paul now adds that its good effects through out the world are reproduced also at Coloss. He reduplicates the comparison because the second member of it, viz. the general statement, goes beyond the foregoing particular statement, and therefore needs to be supplemented by the second comparison. These last words are a courteous recognition of the genuineness and extent of the work at Coloss. The Gospel produced there the good effects it produced elsewhere. This Paul strengthens by saying that the fruitbearing and increase began at once and continue to the present: from the day when etc. In the Gospel the Colossians heard the grace of God, i.e. the favour to our race which prompted the gift of Christ. And the word needed to be, and was, understood, i.e. apprehended by careful thought.
In truth: so Joh 4:23-24. Correspondence with reality was the surrounding element of their hearing and mental comprehension. While hearing the Gospel and grasping its contents they were dealing not with delusion but with reality.
Col 1:7-8. Ye learnt from Epaphras: an historical detail in harmony with, and expounding, the general statement in Col 1:5. Like Paul, (Php 4:11,) the Colossian Christians had acquired gradually and with effort their understanding of the grace of God: ye learnt. Their teachers name is given: Epaphras.
Fellow-servant: with Paul in the service of Christ: same word in Col 4:7; Rev 19:10; Mat 18:28. The plural number assumed in Col 1:3 is retained: our us our. Paul recognises Epaphras as, along with himself, Timothy, and others, doing the work of the one Master.
Who is etc.: a commendation of Epaphras.
Minister: see under Rom 12:7. The added words of Christ (cp. 2Co 11:23) make us certain that the word minister is used, not in an official sense as in Php 1:1, but in the more general sense of one who does free and honourable work for another. In this work he was faithful or trustworthy: Eph 6:21; 1Co 4:2.
On our behalf: emphatic. The difficulty of this reading confirms its genuineness as attested by the best copies. Paul probably means that his interest in the Colossian Christians was so great that the service rendered to Christ by Epaphras in caring for them was rendered also to himself, and that this interest was shared by his companions. Possibly Epaphras may have been urged by Paul to care for the Christians at Coloss: but this is not necessarily implied in his words.
Who also declared etc.: another fact. It implies that Epaphras had come to Rome and there told Paul the story of the Colossian Church. Consequently, from Epaphras the Colossians heard the good news of the grace of God and Paul heard the good news of the work of God at Coloss.
Your love; implies faith, which therefore is not here mentioned.
In the Holy Spirit: the animating principle of all Christian life. Cp. Rom 14:17, joy in the Holy Spirit.
We are here introduced to another of the noble band of Christian workers who surrounded the great Apostle; of whom we have already met Timothy, Titus, and Epaphroditus. Since EPAPHRAS was apparently (Col 4:12) a Colossian and yet founded the Church at Coloss, we may suppose that on a journey perhaps to Ephesus, the capital of the province, he heard the Gospel preached by Paul; that he carried back to his own city the good news he had himself embraced and thus became founder of the Church there. Evidently, he had come to Rome; and was remaining there when Tychicus started with this letter. Even in Rome his deep interest in the spiritual welfare and progress of the Christians at Coloss moved him to ceaseless and very earnest prayer on their behalf. The intelligence of his prayer (see Col 4:12) proves him to have been a man of highest worth. Well might Paul call him a beloved fellow-servant and a faithful minister of Christ. In Phm 1:23, for reasons unknown to us he is called a fellow-prisoner of Paul.
Pauls letter to the Colossians begins with an expression of his constant thanks to God on their behalf, prompted by tidings he has heard about their faith and love. This evokes his thanks because it is a sure indication of better things to come. It therefore inspires a hope not dependent for its realisation upon the uncertainties of earth but resting on the security of heaven. These hopes the Colossians owe to the Gospel which has reached their city. Paul reminds them that the same Gospel is preached throughout the world; and that everywhere it is bearing fruit and extending its influence. He is glad to recognise that the same good results have followed the preaching of it at Coloss from its first proclamation to the present day. This Gospel they had heard from the lips of Epaphras, a fellow-worker of Paul and a minister of Christ: and also from Epaphras Paul had heard the good news about the Church at Coloss.
The distinctive feature of this thanksgiving is Pauls mention of the universal proclamation of the Gospel throughout the world, and of its universal fruit-bearing and growth. He thus raises his readers thoughts above their own Church and city to the great world and the Church Universal: a transition of thought always beneficial in the highest degree. Possibly this reference to the proclamation and success of the Gospel throughout the world was suggested by the strange doctrines which it is the chief business of this letter to correct and which were a local perversion of the one Gospel. This local perversion Paul wishes to discuss in the light of the universal Gospel everywhere preached and everywhere successful.
Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament
“We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,”
Have you ever been thankful for a group of saints other than in your own church? Years ago there was a little Bible school in the middle of nowhere. The staff served on missionary support. For many years before serving there myself I found myself quite thankful for those men and women that were committed to training young people for the ministry.
Two actions Paul and Timothy are taking on behalf of the saints – Thanking God for them and praying for them. Yes, one is in the other but giving thanks is part of how we pray.
It would be interesting to know what those topics of prayer might have been. I suspect a good study would be to just read through the book jotting down items that Paul wanted for them. You would then have a good idea what Paul’s prayer list might have been like.
Always praying for you – pray without ceasing – Paul must have been quite a man of prayer. (Act 12:5; Rom 1:9; 1Th 2:13; 1Th 5:17) There must have been something to this prayer thing that Paul thought was positive.
“We give thanks”
Thanks comes from “Euchariseo” or the term that we gain our term Eucharist from today.
Paul later seems to ask for their growth. There are mature and there are babes in Christ. It is the mature that ought to be teaching the babes, not the other way around. If a church is made up of only babes, then the one most mature should be teaching them until others find maturity.
We find that Paul is evaluating the believers – not judging them. It is not wrong for the church leaders to evaluate the believers that God has placed under them. After evaluation there should be a setting of goals for those believers – where does the church desire these people to be spiritually in five years – ten years?
Now that we have said this, we need to add a good warning to the leadership. The evaluation must be objective and based on God’s requirements, not personal bias nor personal choice.
As one that might be evaluated, we must be open to the evaluation of the leaders and consider it wisely.
Years ago when just starting a marriage, a family and college we were church mouse poor. I wore the very best I had to church which included a sweater and cowboy boots instead of suit and dress shoes. The pastor took exception with my dress – decided I was being rebellious and told me to wear shoes and a suit. While agreeing with him that shoes and a suit would have been preferable, I had no suit nor money to buy one. I had one pair of footwear – cowboy boots. Rebellious? No. His evaluation was based on personal bias not fact, nor Scripture.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
1:3 {1} We give thanks to God and the {c} Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
(1) He commends the doctrine that was delivered to them by Epaphras, and their readiness in receiving it.
(c) We cannot otherwise think of God to be our salvation, except that he is Christ’s Father, in whom we are adopted.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
B. Thanksgiving 1:3-8
Paul gave thanks to God for his readers frequently. He told them so to enable them to appreciate the fact that he knew of their situation and rejoiced in their good testimony.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Whenever Paul and Timothy prayed for the Colossians they gave thanks to God for them. Note the many references to thanksgiving in this letter (Col 1:3; Col 1:12; Col 2:7; Col 3:15-17; Col 4:2).
"Paul could have meant that every time he prayed he remembered his various churches. Perhaps he maintained the Jewish practice of prayer three times a day (cf. Dan 6:11; Act 3:1; Didache 8:3), or perhaps he used the long hours of travel and of work in stitching to hold his churches before God (see also on Col 1:9 and Col 4:2)." [Note: Dunn, p. 56.]
Specifically Paul and Timothy rejoiced over the continuing demonstration of their trust in Christ as contrasted with their initial acceptance of Him as their Savior. This is clear from the Greek preposition en, translated "in." Furthermore the Colossians manifested self-sacrificing love for other Christians.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 1
THE PRELUDE
Col 1:3-8 (R.V.)
THIS long introductory section may at first sight give the impression of confusion, from the variety of subjects introduced. But a little thought about it shows it to be really a remarkable specimen of the Apostles delicate tact, born of his love and earnestness. Its purpose is to prepare a favourable reception for his warnings and arguments against errors which had crept in, and in his judgment were threatening to sweep away the Colossian Christians from their allegiance to Christ, and their faith in the gospel as it had been originally preached to them by Epaphras. That design explains the selection of topics in these verses, and their weaving together.
Before he warns and rebukes, Paul begins by giving the Colossians credit for all the good which he can find in them. As soon as he opens his mouth, he asserts the claims and authority, the truth and power of the gospel which he preaches, and from which all this good in them had come, and which had proved that it came from God by its diffusiveness and fruitfulness. He reminds them of their beginnings in the Christian life, with which this new teaching was utterly inconsistent, and he flings his shield over Epaphras, their first teacher, whose words were in danger of being neglected now for newer voices with other messages.
Thus skilfully and lovingly these verses touch a prelude which naturally prepares for the theme of the epistle. Remonstrance and rebuke would more often be effective if they oftener began with showing the rebukers love, and with frank acknowledgment of good in the rebuked.
I. We have first a thankful recognition of Christian excellence as introductory to warnings and remonstrances.
Almost all Pauls letters begin with similar expressions of thankfulness for the good that was in the Church he is addressing. Gentle rain softens the ground and prepares it to receive the heavier downfall which would else mostly run off the hard surface. The exceptions are, 2 Corinthians; Ephesians, which was probably a circular letter; and Galatians, which is too hot throughout for such praises. These expressions are not compliments, or words of course. Still less are they flattery used for personal ends. They are the uncalculated and uncalculating expression of affection which delights to see white patches in the blackest character, and of wisdom which knows that the nauseous medicine of blame is most easily taken if administered wrapped in a capsule of honest praise.
All persons in authority over others, such as masters, parents, leaders of any sort, may be the better for taking the lesson-“provoke not your”-inferiors, dependents, scholars-“to wrath, lest they be discouraged”-and deal out praise where you can, with a liberal hand. It is nourishing food for many virtues, and a powerful antidote to many vices.
This praise is cast in the form of thanksgiving to God, as the true fountain of all that is good in men. How all that might be harmful in direct praise is strained out of it, when it becomes gratitude to God! But we need not dwell on this, nor on the principle underlying these thanks, namely that Christian mens excellences are Gods gift, and that therefore, admiration of the man should ever be subordinate to thankfulness to God. The fountain, not the pitcher filled from it, should have the credit of the crystal purity and sparkling coolness of the water. Nor do we need to do more than point to the inference from that phrase “having heard of your faith,” an inference confirmed by other statements in the letter, namely, that the Apostle himself had never seen the Colossian Church. But we briefly emphasise the two points which occasioned his thankfulness. They are the familiar two, faith and love.
Faith is sometimes spoken of in the New Testament as “towards Christ Jesus,” which describes that great act of the soul by its direction, as if it were a going out or flight of the mans nature to the true goal of all active being. It is sometimes spoken of as “on Christ Jesus,” which describes it as reposing on Him as the end of all seeking, and suggests such images as that of a hand that leans or of a burden borne, or a weakness upheld by contact with Him. But more sweet and great is the blessedness of faith considered as “in Him,” as its abiding place and fortress home, in union with and indwelling in whom the seeking spirit may fold its wings, and the weak heart may be strengthened to lift its burden cheerily, heavy though it be, and the soul may be full of tranquillity and soothed into a great calm. Towards, on, and in-so manifold are the phases of the relation between Christ and our faith.
In all, faith is the same, -simple confidence, precisely like the trust which we put in one another. But how unlike are the objects!-broken reeds of human nature in the one case, and the firm pillar of that Divine power and tenderness in the other, and how unlike, alas! is the fervency and constancy of the trust we exercise in each other and in Christ! “Faith” covers the whole ground of mans relation to God. All religion, all devotion, everything which binds us to the unseen world is included in or evolved from faith. And mark that this faith is, in Pauls teaching, the foundation of love to men and of everything else good and fair. We may agree or disagree with that thought, but we can scarcely fail to see that it is the foundation of all his moral teaching. From that fruitful source all good will come. From that deep fountain sweet water will flow, and all drawn from other sources has a tang of bitterness. Goodness of all kinds is most surely evolved from faith- and that faith lacks its best warrant of reality which does not lead to whatsoever things are lovely and of good report. Barnabas was a “good man,” because, as Luke goes on to tell us by way of analysis of the sources of his goodness, he was “full of the Holy Ghost,” the author of all goodness, “and of faith” by which that Inspirer of all beauty of purity dwells in mens hearts. Faith then is the germ of goodness, not because of anything in itself, but because by it we come under the influence of the Divine Spirit whose breath is life and holiness.
Therefore we say to everyone who is seeking to train his character in excellence, begin with trusting Christ, and out of that will come all lustre and whiteness, all various beauties of mind and heart. It is hard and hopeless work to cultivate our own thorns into grapes, but if we will trust Christ, He will sow good seed in our field and “make it soft with showers and bless the springing thereof.”
As faith is the foundation of all virtue, so it is the parent of love, and as the former sums up every bond that knits men to God, so the latter includes all relations of men to each other, and is the whole law of human conduct packed into one word. But the warmest place in a Christians heart will belong to those who are in sympathy with his deepest self, and a true faith in Christ, like a true loyalty to a prince, will weave a special bond between all fellow subjects. So the sign, on the surface of earthly relations, of the deep-lying central fire of faith to Christ, is the fruitful vintage of brotherly love, as the vineyards bear the heaviest clusters on the slopes of Vesuvius. Faith in Christ and love to Christians-that is the Apostles notion of a good man. That is the ideal of character which we have to set before ourselves. Do we desire to be good? Let us trust Christ. Do we profess to trust Christ? Let us show it by the true proof-our goodness and especially our love. So we have here two members of the familiar triad, Faith and Love, and their sister Hope is not far off. We read in the next clause, “because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens.” The connection is not altogether plain. Is the hope the reason for the Apostles thanksgiving, or the reason in some sense of the Colossians love? As far as the language goes, we may either read “We give thanks because of the hope,” or “the love which ye have because of the hope.” But the long distance which we have to go back for the connection, if we adopt the former explanation, and other considerations which need not be entered on here, seem to make the latter the preferable construction if it yields a tolerable sense. Does it? Is it allowable to say that the hope which is laid up in heaven is in any sense a reason or motive for brotherly love? I think it is. Observe that “hope” here is best taken as meaning not the emotion, but the object on which the emotion is fixed; not the faculty, but the thing hoped for; or in other words, that it is objective, not subjective; and also that the ideas of futurity and security are conveyed by the thought of this object of expectation being laid up. This future blessedness, grasped by our expectant hearts as assured for us, does stimulate and hearten to all well doing. Certainly it does not supply the main reason; we are not to be loving and good because we hope to win heaven thereby. The deepest motive for all the graces of Christian character is the will of God in Christ Jesus, apprehended by loving hearts. But it is quite legitimate to draw subordinate motives for the strenuous pursuit of holiness from the anticipation of future blessedness, and it is quite legitimate to use that prospect to reinforce the higher motives. He who seeks to be good only for the sake of the heaven which he thinks he will get for his goodness-if there be any such a person existing anywhere but in the imaginations of the caricaturists of Christian teaching-is not good and will not get his heaven; but he who feeds his devotion to Christ and his earnest cultivation of holiness with the animating hope of an unfading crown will find in it a mighty power to intensify and ennoble all life, to bear him up as on angels hands that lift over all stones of stumbling, to diminish sorrow and dull pain, to kindle love to men into a brighter flame, and to purge holiness to a more radiant whiteness. The hope laid up in heaven is not the deepest reason or motive for faith and love-but both are made more vivid when it is strong. It is not the light at which their lamps are lit, but it is the odorous oil which feeds their flame.
II. The course of thought passes on to a solemn reminder of the truth and worth of that Gospel which was threatened by the budding heresies of the Colossian Church.
That is contained in the clauses from the middle of the fifth verse to the end of the sixth, and is introduced with significant abruptness, immediately after the commendation of the Colossians faith. The Apostles mind and heart are so full of the dangers which he saw them to be in, although they did not know it, that he cannot refrain from setting forth an impressive array of considerations, each of which should make them hold to the gospel with an iron grasp. They are put with the utmost compression. Each word almost might be beaten out into a long discourse, so that we can only indicate the lines of thought. This somewhat tangled skein may, on the whole, be taken as the answer to the question, Why should we cleave to Pauls gospel, and dread and war against tendencies of opinion that would rob us of it? They are preliminary considerations adapted to prepare the way for a patient and thoughtful reception of the arguments which are to follow, by showing how much is at stake, and how the readers would be poor indeed if they were robbed of that great Word.
He begins by reminding them that to that gospel they owed all their knowledge and hope of heaven-the hope “whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel.” That great word alone gives light on the darkness. The sole certainty of a life beyond the grave is built on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the sole hope of a blessed life beyond the grave for the poor soul that has learned its sinfulness is built on the Death of Christ. Without this light, that land is a land of darkness, lighted only by glimmering sparks of conjectures and peradventures. So it is today, as it was then; the centuries have only made more clear the entire dependence of the living conviction of immortality on the acceptance of Pauls gospel “how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was raised again the third day.” All around us we see those who reject the fact of Christs resurrection finding themselves forced to surrender their faith in any life beyond. They cannot sustain themselves on that height of conviction unless they lean on Christ. The black mountain wall that rings us poor mortals round about is cloven in one place only. Through one narrow cleft there comes a gleam of light. There and there only is the frowning barrier passable. Through that grim canyon, narrow and black, where there is only room for the dark river to run, bright-eyed Hope may travel, letting out her golden thread as she goes, to guide us. Christ has cloven the rock, “the Breaker has gone up before” us, and by His resurrection alone we have the knowledge which is certitude, and the hope which is confidence, of an inheritance in light. If Pauls gospel goes, that goes like morning mist. Before you throw away “the word of the truth of the gospel,” at all events understand that you fling away all assurance of a future life along with it.
Then, there is another motive touched in these words just quoted. The gospel is a word of which the whole substance and content is truth. You may say that is the whole question, whether the gospel is such a word? Of course it is; but observe how here, at the very outset, the gospel is represented as having a distinct dogmatic element in it. It is of value, not because it feeds sentiment or regulates conduct only, but first and foremost because it gives us true though incomplete knowledge concerning all the deepest things of God and man about which, but for its light, we know nothing. That truthful word is opposed to the argumentations and speculations and errors of the heretics. The gospel is not speculation, but fact. It is truth, because it is the record of a Person who is the Truth. The history of His life and death is the one source of all certainty and knowledge with regard to mans relations to God, and Gods loving purposes to man. To leave it and Him of whom it speaks in order to listen to men who spin theories out of their own brains is to prefer will-o-the-wisps to the sun. If we listen to Christ, we have the truth; if we turn from Him, our ears are stunned by a Babel. “To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”
Further, this gospel had been already received by them. Ye heard before, says he, and again he speaks of the gospel as “come unto” them, and reminds them of the past days in which they “heard and knew the grace of God.” That appeal is, of course, no argument except to a man who admits the truth of what he had already received, nor is it meant for argument with others, but it is equivalent to the exhortation, “You have heard that word and accepted it, see that your future be consistent with your past.” He would have the life a harmonious whole, all in accordance with the first glad grasp which they had laid on the truth. Sweet and calm and noble is the life which preserves to its close the convictions of its beginning, only deepened and expanded. Blessed are they whose creed at last can be spoken in the lessons they learned in childhood, to which experience has but given new meaning! Blessed they who have been able to store the treasure of a lifes thought and learning in the vessels of the early words, which have grown like the magic coffers in a fairy tale, to hold all the increased wealth that can be lodged in them! Beautiful is it when the little children and the young men and the fathers possess the one faith, and when he who began as a child, “knowing the Father,” ends as an old man with the same knowledge of the same God, only apprehended now in a form which has gained majesty from the fleeting years, as “Him that is from the beginning.” There is no need to leave the Word long since heard in order to get novelty. It will open out into all new depths, and blaze in new radiance as men grow. It will give new answers as the years ask new questions. Each epoch of individual experience, and each phase of society, and all changing forms of opinion will find what meets them in the gospel as it is in Jesus. It is good for Christian men often to recall the beginnings of their faith, to live over again their early emotions, and when they may be getting stunned with the din of controversy, and confused as to the relative importance of different parts of Christian truth, to remember what it was that first filled their heart with joy like that of the finder of a hidden treasure, and with what a leap of gladness they first laid hold of Christ.
That spiritual discipline is no less needful than is intellectual, in facing the conflicts of this day. Again, this gospel was filling the world: “it is in all the world bearing fruit, and increasing.” There are two marks of life-it is fruitful and it spreads. Of course such words are not to be construed as if they occurred in a statistical table. “All the world” must be taken with an allowance for rhetorical statement; but making such allowance, the rapid spread of Christianity in Pauls time, and its power to influence character and conduct among all sorts and conditions of men, were facts that needed to be accounted for, if the gospel was not true.
That is surely a noteworthy fact, and one which may well raise a presumption in favour of the truth of the message, and make any proposal to cast it aside for another gospel a serious matter. Paul is not suggesting the vulgar argument that a thing must be true because so many people have so quickly believed it. But what he is pointing to is a much deeper thought than that. All schisms and heresies are essentially local, and partial. They suit coteries and classes. They are the product of special circumstances acting on special casts of mind, and appeal to such. Like parasitical plants, they each require a certain species to grow on, and cannot spread where these are not found. They are not for all time, but for an age. They are not for all men, but for a select few. They reflect the opinions or wants of a layer of society or of a generation, and fade away. But the gospel goes through the world and draws men to itself out of every land and age. Dainties and confections are for the few, and many of them are like pickled olives to unsophisticated palates, and the delicacies of one country are the abominations of another; but everybody likes bread and lives on it, after all.
The gospel which tells of Christ belongs to all and can touch all, because it brushes aside superficial differences of culture and position, and goes straight to the depths of the one human heart, which is alike in us all, addressing the universal sense of sin, and revealing the Saviour of us all, and in Him the universal Father. Do not fling away a gospel that belongs to all, and can bring forth fruit in all kinds of people, for the sake of accepting what can never live in the popular heart, nor influence more than a handful of very select and “superior persons.” Let who will have the dainties, do you stick to the wholesome wheaten bread.
Another plea for adherence to the gospel is based upon its continuous and universal fruitfulness. It brings about results in conduct and character which strongly attest its claim to be from God. That is a rough and ready test, no doubt, but a sensible and satisfactory one. A system which says that it will make men good and pure is reasonably judged of by its fruits, and Christianity can stand the test. It did change the face of the old world. It has been the principal agent in the slow growth of “nobler manners, purer laws” which give the characteristic stamp to modern as contrasted with pre-Christian nations. The threefold abominations of the old world-slavery, war, and the degradation of woman-have all been modified, one of them abolished, and the others growingly felt to be utterly un-Christian. The main agent in the change has been the gospel. It has wrought wonders, too, on single souls; and though all Christians must be too conscious of their own imperfections to venture on putting themselves forward as specimens of its power, still the gospel of Jesus Christ has lifted men from. the dungheaps of sin and self to “set them with princes,” to make them kings and priests; has tamed passions, ennobled pursuits, revolutionised the whole course of many a life, and mightily works today in the same fashion, in the measure in which we submit to its influence. Our imperfections are our own; our good is its. A medicine is not shown to be powerless, though it does not do as much as is claimed for it, if the sick man has taken it irregularly and sparingly. The failure of Christianity to bring forth full fruit arises solely from the failure of professing Christians to allow its quickening powers to fill their hearts. After all deductions we may still say with Paul, “it bringeth forth fruit in all the world.” This rod has budded, at all events; have any of its antagonists rods done the same? Do not cast it away, says Paul, till you are sure you have found a better.
This tree not only fruits, but grows. It is not exhausted by fruit bearing, but it makes wood as well. It is “increasing” as well as “bearing fruit,” and that growth in the circuit of its branches that spread through the world, is another of its claims on the faithful adhesion of the Colossians. Again, they have heard a gospel which reveals the “true grace of God,” and that is another consideration urging to steadfastness.
In opposition to it there were put then, as there are put today, mans thoughts, and mans requirements, a human wisdom and a burdensome code. Speculations and arguments on the one hand, and laws and rituals on the other, look thin beside the large free gift of a loving God and the message which tells of it. They are but poor bony things to try to live on. The soul wants something more nourishing than such bread made out of sawdust. We want a loving God to live upon, whom we can love because He loves us. Will anything but the gospel give us that? Will anything be our stay, in all weakness, weariness, sorrow, and sin, in the fight of life and the agony of death, except the confidence that in Christ we “know the grace of God in truth”? So, if we gather together all these characteristics of the gospel, they bring out the gravity of the issue when we are asked to tamper with it, or to abandon the old lamp for the brand new ones which many eager voices are proclaiming as the light of the future. May any of us who are on the verge of the precipice lay to heart these serious thoughts! To that gospel we owe our peace; by it alone can the fruit of lofty devout lives be formed and ripened; it has filled the world with its sound, and is revolutionising humanity; it and it only brings to men the good news and the actual gift of the love and mercy of God. It is not a small matter to fling away all this.
We do not prejudge the question of the truth of Christianity; but, at all events, let there be no mistake as to the fact that to give it up is to give up the mightiest power that has ever wrought for the worlds good, and that if its light be quenched there will be darkness that may be felt, not dispelled, but made more sad and dreary by the ineffectual flickers of some poor rushlights that men have lit, which waver and shine dimly over a little space for a little while, and then die out.
III. We have the Apostolic endorsement of Epaphras, the early teacher of the Colossian Christians. Paul points his Colossian brethren, finally, to the lessons which they had received from the teacher who had first led them to Christ. No doubt his authority was imperilled by the new directions of thought in the Church, and Paul was desirous of adding the weight of his attestation to the complete correspondence between his own teaching and that of Epaphras.
We know nothing about this Epaphras except from this letter and that to Philemon. He is “one of you,” a member of the Colossian Church, {Col 4:12} whether a Colossian born or not. He had come to the prisoner in Rome, and had brought the tidings of their condition which filled the Apostles heart with strangely mingled feelings-of joy for their love and Christian walk {Col 1:4, Col 1:8}, and of anxiety lest they should be swept from their steadfastness by the errors that he heard were assailing them. Epaphras shared this anxiety, and during his stay in Rome was much in thought, and care, and prayer for them. {Col 4:12} He does not seem to have been the bearer of this letter to Colossae. He was in some sense Pauls fellow servant, and in Philemon he is called by the yet more intimate, though somewhat obscure, name of his fellow prisoner. It is noticeable that he alone of all Pauls companions receives the name of “fellow servant,” which may perhaps point to some very special piece of service of his, or may possibly be only an instance of Pauls courteous humility, which ever delighted to lift others to his own level-as if he had said, Do not make differences between your own Epaphras and me, we are both slaves of one Master. The further testimony which Paul bears to him is so emphatic and pointed as to suggest that it was meant to uphold an authority that had been attacked, and to eulogise a character that had been maligned. “He is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf.” In these words the Apostle endorses his teaching, as a true representation of his own. Probably Epaphras founded the Colossian Church and did so in pursuance of a commission given him by Paul. He “also declared to us your love in the Spirit.” As he had truly represented Paul and his message to them, so he lovingly represented them and their kindly affection to him. Probably the same people who questioned Epaphras version of Pauls teaching would suspect the favourableness of his report of the Colossian Church, and hence the double witness borne from the Apostles generous heart to both parts of his brothers work. His unstinted praise is ever ready. His shield is swiftly flung over any of his helpers who are maligned or assailed. Never was a leader truer to his subordinates, more tender of their reputation, more eager for their increased influence, and freer from every trace of jealousy, than was that lofty and lowly Soul.
It is a beautiful though a faint image which shines out on us from these fragmentary notices of this Colossian Epaphras-a true Christian bishop, who had come all the long way from his quiet valley in the depths of Asia Minor, to get guidance about his flock from the great Apostle, and who bore them. on his heart day and night, and prayed much for them, while so far away from them. How strange the fortune which has made his name and his solicitudes and prayers immortal! How little he dreamed that such embalming was to be given to his little services, and that they were to be crowned with such exuberant praise!
The smallest work done for Jesus Christ lasts forever, whether it abide in mens memories or no. Let us ever live as those who, like painters in fresco, have with swift hand to draw lines and lay on colours which will never fade, and let us, by humble faith and holy life, earn such a character from Pauls Master. He is glad to praise, and praise from His lips is praise indeed. If He approves of us as faithful servants on His behalf, it matters not what others may say. The Masters “Well done” will outweigh labours and toils, and the depreciating tongues of fellow servants, or of the Masters enemies.