Colossians 1:1-14 Devotional/Study
Over the next few months, we will be exploring the book of Colossians! This 4-chapter book is a rich resource that shows how what we know about Jesus (1:1-2:6) should impact how we live for Jesus (2:7-4:18). This book has many key themes including Wisdom, Suffering, Spirituality, and, above all, Christ himself. We here at Orchard Hill Church pray that this devotional series is an encouragement to you as we unite in our mission of helping people find and follow Jesus. Join us as we dive in!
Greeting (1:1-2)
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. - Colossians 1:1-2
The book of Colossians is a letter written by the apostle Paul to a church in the city of Colossae during Paul’s time in prison. Unlike some of his other letters to churches he planted, Paul did not plant the church in Colossae. Paul found out about the church at Colossae while in prison from his fellow prisoner Epaphras (Col. 1:7). During Paul’s missionary journeys he met many people, and it is clear from reading his letters that his friendships were vital. He often calls these friends “co-workers for the kingdom of God” (Col. 4:11). This can be seen in the very first verse, as Paul includes Timothy in his greeting to the church. In the same way today, our friends in ministry are very dear to us. There is something special about serving alongside someone, in big ways like planting a church together, and in small ways like serving coffee together. God has given us the church so we might grow in our friendship with God and one another!
While a greeting may just seem like a standard way to begin a letter, Paul’s greetings served as an introduction to the theology he would expound later. This can be seen in verse 2 as Paul addresses the Colossians as “God’s holy people” and “faithful brothers and sisters in Christ.” The significance of these titles will be touched on in later passages of Colossians, as Paul seeks to encourage the Colossian church to be holy by “[setting] your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Col. 3:2) The greeting is concluded with Paul’s standard issuance of “grace and peace” to those he is writing. Here we see the faith of Paul in the will of God, that though he is in jail, he is confident God is building His church and continues to offer grace and peace to those who seek it.
Thanksgiving (1:3-8)
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. - Colossians 1:3-8
In this section, we learn just how much Paul cares about the church as he thanks God for them continually. Specifically, he is thankful for how much God has grown their love for all God’s people (Col. 1:4). He reminds them that this love springs from their hope in heaven that they know about because of the gospel – the good news of Jesus Christ. This reminds us that everything comes back to the gospel. Nothing excited Paul more than to reflect and think about how the gospel was changing lives. His circumstances did not matter – whether he was in jail or a free man, what mattered to Paul was that the gospel was going out, and we can certainly feel this excitement in this passage.
Paul goes on to encourage the Colossians by telling them that this gospel message was not only taking root in Colossae but that the gospel “is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world” (Col. 1:6). What an encouragement it would have been for the Colossians to know that what they are going through (gospel growth) was not something local to their town or province, but that other churches were being planted throughout the world. In the same way, thousands of years later, we can be encouraged that this message of forgiveness is not only for us but that Jesus is “the atoning sacrifice … not only for our sins but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2)
Prayer (1:9-14)
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. - Colossians 1:9-14
Paul continues his direct encouragement to the Colossians by sharing that he had not stopped praying for them since the day Epaphras spoke of them. He goes on to tell them that he specifically prays that God would fill them “with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives” (Col. 1:9). He then gives them the reason God is doing this work: “so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way; bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.” This passage creates a paradigm by which we should all live, namely that what we know about God through the gospel message should transform our behavior in such a way that the Lord is pleased. As Christians, we are not only saved from sin, but we are saved to righteousness. What an encouragement to know we have such a grand purpose because of Jesus!
Paul concludes this section by sharing the basis for how the Colossians can pull off this grand goal of pleasing God. It is not in their own power, but only by “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might... and giving joyful thanks to the Father who has qualified you.” (Col. 1:11-12) Isn’t it amazing that God empowers us to do things we could not do on our own? How comforting is it to know that we do not need to “qualify” ourselves, but that Christ has done this on our behalf? He has done it at the cross, where he “rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Col. 1:13). Living a life pleasing to God is not an impossible task we cannot accomplish, but one God has strengthened us to perform when He rescued us in Christ. What a beautiful mystery it is that the same grace that saved us from sin is the same empowering grace that enables us to live holy and upright lives. Thank you, Jesus, for this gift we did not deserve!
Additional Resource - Bible Project Video on Colossians
