Verses about the
Apostles' "TRAVELS and ACTS"
Part 17 - PAUL'S LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS
Introduction to Colossians & Location Map
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Book 12 of 27 - PAUL'S LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS
Writer: The apostle Paul
Date: c AD62; sent with the Letters to the Ephesians, and to Philemon
Where written: Under house arrest in Rome
Reader: The church at Colossae in Asia Minor, probably established by Christian workers from Ephesus. Colossae does not appear to have been visited by Paul
Why: Colossians is a general message of love and friendship to a church Paul has not visited. In it, he warns them against false prophets who teach a mixture of Jewish tradition and Greek philosophy and mysticism which belittles Christ's coming. In doing so he makes clear exactly who Jesus is, and his part (Paul's) in teaching the true Gospel as an apostle to the Gentiles
Map - Paul Writes from Prison in Rome
Map Key: Letter for Colossae sent from 1 to 2
GREETINGS, THANKSGIVING AND PRAYER
17.1 GREETINGS TO THE CHRISTIANS OF COLOSSAE
Colossians 1:1-2 - Paul, messenger of Jesus Christ by God's will, and brother Timothy send this greeting to all faithful Christians at Colossae: grace and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
17.2 PAUL GIVES THANKS FOR THEIR FAITH AND LOVE
Colossians 1:3-8 - I want you to know by this letter that we here (in Rome) are constantly praying for you, and whenever we do we thank God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ because you believe in Christ Jesus and because you are showing true Christian love towards other Christians. We know that you are showing these qualities because you have grasped the hope reserved for you in Heaven - that hope which first became yours when the truth was brought to you. It is, of course, part of the Gospel itself, which has reached you as it spreads all over the world. Wherever that Gospel goes, it produces Christian character, and develops it, as it had done in your own case from the time you first heard and realised the amazing fact of God's grace.
You learned these things, we understand, from Epaphras who is in the same service as we are. He is a most well-loved minister of Christ, and has your well-being very much at heart. As a matter of fact, it was from him that we heard about your growth in Christian love ....
17.3 HE PRAYS THAT THEIR KNOWLEDGE AND OBEDIENCE TO GOD WILL GROW EVEN AS THEY SUFFER
Colossians 1:9-12 - ... so you will understand that since we heard about you we have never missed you in our prayers. We are asking God that you may see things, as it were, from his point of view by being given spiritual insight and understanding. We also pray that your outward lives, which men see, may bring credit to your master's name, and that you may bring joy to his heart by bearing genuine Christian fruit, and that your knowledge of God may grow yet deeper.
We pray for you to have real Christian experience
As you live this new life, we pray that you will be strengthened from God's boundless resources, so that you will find yourselves able to pass through any experience and endure it with courage. You will even be able to thank God in the midst of pain and distress because you are privileged to share the lot of those who are living in the light.
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17.4 HOW THEY PREVIOUSLY LIVED, THEIR CHANGED RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, AND THE GOSPEL THEY HEARD
Colossians 1:21-23 - And you yourselves, who were strangers to God, and, in fact, through the evil things you had done, his spiritual enemies, he has now reconciled through the death of his body on the cross, so that he might welcome you to his presence clean and pure, without blame or reproach. This reconciliation assumes, of course, that you maintain a firm position in the faith, and do not allow yourselves to be shifted away from the hope of the Gospel, which you have heard, and which, indeed, the whole world is now having an opportunity of hearing.
PAUL'S MINISTRY AS AN APOSTLE
17.5 EVEN IN PRISON PAUL'S MINISTRY IS TO PROCLAIM THE GLORY OF CHRIST TO ALL PEOPLE
Colossians 1:24-29 - I myself have been made a minister of this same Gospel, and though it is true at this moment that I am suffering (in prison) on behalf of you who have heard the Gospel, yet I am far from sorry about it. Indeed, I am glad, because it gives me a chance to complete in my own sufferings something of the untold pains for which Christ suffers on behalf of his body, the Church. For I am a minister of the Church by divine commission, a commission granted to me for your benefit and for a special purpose: that I might fully declare God's word - that sacred mystery which up to now has been hidden in every age and every generation, but which is now as clear as daylight to those who love God. They are those to whom God has planned to give a vision of the full wonder and splendour of his secret plan for the sons of men. And the secret is simply this: Christ in you! Yes, Christ in you bringing with him the hope of all glorious things to come.
To preach and teach Christ is everything to us
So, naturally, we proclaim Christ! We warn everyone we meet, and we teach everyone we can, all that we know about him, so that, if possible, we may bring every man up to his full maturity in Christ. This is what I am working at all the time, with all the strength that God gives me.
17.6 HIS LONGING THAT THE COLOSSIANS & LAODICEANS WILL CONTINUE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT LOVE AND CHRIST
Colossians 2:1-3 - I wish you could understand how deep is my anxiety for you, and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have never met me. How I long that you may be encouraged, and find out more and more how strong are the bonds of Christian love. How I long for you to grow more certain in your knowledge and more sure in your grasp of God himself. May your spiritual experience become richer as you see more and more fully God's great secret, Christ himself! For it is in him, and in him alone, that men will find all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
PAUL DENOUNCES FALSE TEACHING; HE PROCLAIMS GOSPEL TRUTHS
17.7 HE WARNS THEM AGAINST FALSE TEACHERS
Colossians 2:4,8 - I write this (... "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" can only be found in Christ) to prevent you from being led astray by someone or other's attractive arguments. .... (Verse 8) Be careful that nobody spoils your faith through intellectualism or high-sounding nonsense. Such stuff is at best founded on men's ideas of the nature of the world and disregards Christ!
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17.8 PAUL ENCOURAGES THEM TO PRAY, ASKS FOR PRAYER AND REMINDS THEM HE IS IN PRISON; HE ALSO ADVISES THEM ABOUT RELATIONS WITH NON-CHRISTIANS
Colossians 4:2-6 - Always maintain the habit of prayer: be both alert and thankful as you pray. Include us in your prayers, please, that God may open for us a door for the entrance of the Gospel. Pray that we may talk freely of the mystery of Christ (for which I am at present in chains), and that I may make that mystery plain to men, which I know is my duty.
Be wise in your behaviour towards non-Christians, and make the best possible use of your time. Speak pleasantly to them, but never sentimentally, and learn to give a proper answer to every questioner.
PERSONAL MESSAGES
17.9 TYCHICUS WILL BE PAUL'S MESSENGER AND ACCOMPANY THE RETURNING ONESIMUS TO COLOSSAE
Colossians 4:7-9 - Tychicus (a well-loved brother, a faithful minister and a fellow-servant of the Lord) will tell you all about my present circumstances. This is partly why I am sending him to you. The other reasons are that you may find out how we are all getting on, and that he may put new heart into you. With him is Onesimus one of your own congregation (well-loved and faithful, too). Between them they will tell you of conditions and activities here.
17.10 PAUL INCLUDES GREETINGS FROM FELLOW CHRISTIANS IN ROME
Colossians 4:10-14 - Aristarchus, who is also in prison here, sends greetings, and so does Barnabas' cousin, Mark. I believe I told you before about him; if he does come to you, make him welcome. Jesus Justus, another Hebrew (Jewish) Christian, is here too. Only these few are working with me for the kingdom, but what a help they have been!
Epaphras, another member of your Church, and a real servant of Christ, sends his greeting. He works hard for you even here, for he prays constantly and earnestly for you, that you may become mature Christians, and may fulfil God's will for you. From my own observation I can tell you that he has a real passion for your welfare, and for that of the churches of Laodicea and Hierapolis.
Luke, our beloved doctor and Demas send their best wishes.
17.11 PAUL SENDS HIS OWN GREETINGS TO THE COLOSSIANS; AND INSTRUCTS THEM TO CIRCULATE HIS LETTERS
Colossians 4:15-17 - My own greetings to the Christians in Laodicea, and to Nymphas and the congregation who meet in her house.
When you have had this letter read in your church, see that the Laodiceans have it read in their church too; and see that you read the letter (now sadly lost) I have written to them.
A brief message to Archippus: God ordained you to your work - see that you don't fail him!
17.12 A PERSONAL FAREWELL; A FINAL REMINDER HE IS IN PRISON
Colossians 4:18 - My personal greeting to you written by myself.
Don't forget I'm in prison. Grace be with you.
PAUL
continuing the Apostle's "Travels and Acts", on to Part 18, Philemon OR back to J B Phillips HomePage
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