Colossians 1:1-14 - Deepening Understanding of Grace

Colossians 1:1-14

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

2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Their Faith in Christ

3 We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; 5 because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth; 7 as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, 8 who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.

Preeminence of Christ

9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

The believers in the city of Colosse heard about Christ as the head of the church in contrast to the letter to the Ephesians that focused on the body of Christ, the church.  The chosen apostle (messenger) of Jesus Christ made it clear as in other letters to the church that it was the will of God who chose him and not his own will to know or make Christ known as an apostle in his own effort or choice.  This is yet another aspect of God’s sovereign election, of His free will to choose whom He will to come to Himself for deliverance from sins penalty and to choose who would serve Him with particular gifts and calling as 1 Corinthians 12:7, 11 makes clear to us.  This one spoke for God as an apostle, a calling of which Paul was the last one needed, to complete the writing of God’s word into scripture for our edification and guidance to live accordingly as he initially addressed to the Colossians.  These believers were each faithful saints as proclaimed by God to be holy in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and not by the decree of Paul or any other apostle or man or institution as some erroneously would have us believe.  All who are in Christ are saints and should continue in faithfulness as called In the Grace of God’s calling which gives us peace (Romans 5:1-2) with God forevermore by the act of God’s will and not our own (John 6:44).  The beloved messenger wrote to encourage these believers with thankful prayer because of their faith in Christ and love for each other in Him as a proof of their conversion (1 John 4:7, 10-11, 12, 20) and reminder of the eternal hope of heaven awaiting them because they believed the gospel and received the Lord (John 1:12) by divine faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).  This word of truth which they accepted as they took God at His word was the faith desired from the beginning of creation instead of doubting His word and wanting to reason God’s will by man’s will and wisdom (Genesis 3:5-6, 11) instead of hearing and observing what was told us in Eden’s Garden.  This word bears fruit in those regenerated by God’s word of grace as in these believers as in we as well who have joined them since then.  Our love in the Spirit is the fruit we bear as marks of true Christian men and women, therefore.  Because we are His, this prayer for of Paul for the Colossians is also for us that that we be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding so that we may live worthy of the Lord as called.  We are to be fruitful and grow in our pursuit of knowledge and understanding to put into practice as we put off the former sins of the old man and put on the character of Christ.  We then find our strength in His power and understanding and have a foundation for patient suffering for His sake and the gospel’s.  As heirs of eternal life with all the other saints, we have been qualified by this grace in which we stand.  We also realize that we have been irrevocably delivered from the power of sin and this world’s kingdom of darkness; we are now standing in the kingdom of God’s light!   We have been forgiven forever because we have been redeemed by the blood of His sacrifice as the only Son of God and sacrificial Lamb.  This is the hope in which we stand and are called to understand deeper each passing day to be truly thankful as part of His body in love for Him and one another to fulfill the foundational commandments of the Lord God (Mark 12:30-31) in Christ by faith in pursuit of Him.  We therefore pray this for both new believers as we teach them all things (Matthew 28:19-20) and build up one another (Ephesians 4:12-13) in Christ Jesus.  This is the deepening understanding of grace of our sanctification.