Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians
November 9, 2025
Opening Prayer
Goals of the Letter
That the readers would:
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Be filled with knowledge of God’s will
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Grow in spiritual wisdom and understanding
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Walk in a manner worthy of the Gospel.
Outline of the Course
November 9 – Introduce the letter, give the outline, and
cover Colossians 1:1-14
November 16 – Colossians 1:15-20 – A Hymn of Christ and
Christology
November 23 – Colossians 1:21-29 on Reconciliation and
Colossians 2:1-5 on Knowledge
November 30 – Colossians 2:6-15 on the Fullness of Christ
December 7 – Colossians 2:16-23 on Freedom and Colossians
3:1-4 on Death and Life
December 14 – Colossians 3:5-17 on Putting On and Putting
Off and Colossians 3:18-4:1, a Table of Duties
December 21 – Colossians 4:2-6 on Watch and Pray and Colossians
4:7-18 on Concluding Matters
December 28 – No Class
January 4 – Begins 3 Sessions on Worship
February 2 – Joining Jesus on His Mission with Greg Finke
Introductory Information
Author(s): Paul and Timothy
-
Notice that the authority of the letter is
rooted in Paul’s role.
o
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of
God”
o
Christ is a title that means “Messiah”
o
Apostle – literally means “one who is sent.” He
is an envoy.
To: The saints and faithful at Colossae
-
4:16 states, “And when this letter has been
read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that
you also read the letter from Laodicea.”
o
This shows that the letter is meant for the
whole church, not just the church at Colossae.
o
There is some thought that the letter to the
Laodiceans is the letter we know as Ephesians.
Gnosticism
A
belief that rejects physical creation as good.
It
claims to have secret spiritual knowledge.
It is
parasitic – found not only in Christianity, but attached to many religions,
including Islam.
The
tenets of the belief are hard to pin down, morphing by time and context.
|
This is one of Paul’s Prison Epistles.
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Written from where? Caesarea? Rome? Elsewhere?
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Why was Paul imprisoned? See Acts 21-26
There letter addresses a heresy that seems to be an early
form of Gnosticism.
Outline of the Letter
There are 2 parts
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Proclamation – chapters 1 & 2
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Ethical Instruction – chapters 3 & 4
I.
Proclamation
a.
Greeting (1:1-2)
b.
Overture
i. Giving
thanks (1:3-8)
ii. Paul’s
prayer for the reader (1:9-14)
1.
Knowledge, Wisdom, Understanding
iii. The
Christ Hymn (1:15-20)
1.
Creation and Reconciliation
c.
Paul Proclaims On
i. The
ministry of reconciliation (1:21-29)
ii. True
knowledge (2:1-5)
iii. The
fullness of Christ (2:6-15)
iv. True
freedom (2:16-23)
II.
Ethical Instruction
a.
The Christian Life
i. Two
models
1.
Death and Life (3:1-4)
2.
Put on and Put off (3:5-17)
ii. The
table of duties (3:18-4:1)
iii. Watch
and Pray (4:2-6)
b.
Final Greetings and Instructions (4:7-18)
Colossians 1:1-2
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of
God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To the saints and faithful
brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our
Father.
1:1
This is a fairly typical greeting.
When we get to v. 3 we will find that this letter is written
from a 1st person plural point of view – “We always thank God ….”
Paul wrote this letter with Timothy. This arrangement
is also seen in 2 Corinthians, and 1 & 2 Thessalonians (which also includes
Silvanus).
-
Paul also credits Timothy as an author of the
letter to the Philippians, but uses the 1st person singular in his
greeting – “I thank my God….”
So, who is Timothy?
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Acts 16:1-5
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1 & 2 Timothy
1:2
Saints – Holy ones
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How does one become holy?
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This is, properly speaking, a letter for
_______________.
Faithful brothers (and sisters)
These things – saintliness and faithfulness – go together. See
Ephesians 2:1-9.
In Christ
-
This is an important concept in the letter, and
in other parts of Paul’s writing.
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What does it mean to be “in Christ”?
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What images does this language bring to mind?
Grace – Is this a substance or an attitude?
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Remember the Hebrew concept of chesed.
Peace – What is peace?
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This is informed by the Hebrew concept of shalom.
1:3-8
This section of the letter is a sort of overture to
introduce the various themes Paul is going to expand upon as he writes the rest
of the epistle. See the overview of the overture on the last page of the
outline.
For now, we’re going to work our way through the letter
verse by verse.
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith
in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because
of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before
in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has
come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and
increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and
understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you
learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He
is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and
has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
1:3
We always thank God …
-
How might we model this practice? For whom do
you give thanks?
… pray for you …
1:4-5a
Since we heard of your
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faith in Christ
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love for the saints
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hope laid up on heaven
Does this formula sound familiar?
How did the ancients see hope?
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Epicureans
-
Stoics
How does our world today see hope?
1:5a-8
Heard
-
Faith comes by ___________.
The Word of Truth
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Notice the definite article.
-
How does the world define truth?
-
How might John’s Gospel inform the way we hear
this phrase?
The Gospel
-
Gospel means good news. The original word gives
us the basis for our word “evangelical”
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NB – that the gospel has come to you
o
The action flows from God to us.
o
This informs how we see our spiritual life and
worship.
Bearing fruit and growing
-
Does the gospel bear fruit and grow today?
Follow the verbs - heard, understood, learned
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The object of the verbs: Grace
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What is Paul emphasizing here?
Epaphras
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Philemon 23 – “fellow prisoner”
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Beloved fellow “servant”
Paul is offering some nice words about their pastor.
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The Colossian church was not founded by Paul.
1:9-20
This section is one very long sentence in the original text.
We are going to take it in two chunks, but notice that the translation into
English requires several sentences.
9 And so, from the day we
heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be
filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and
understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of
the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and
increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened
with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and
patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the
Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the
saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the
domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved
Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of
sins.
1:9-10
We have not ceased to pray …
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How does this fit with our prayer practice?
What do Paul and Timothy pray for?
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Filled with knowledge of God’s will
o
General Facts?
o
Something more? (Genesis 4:1)
o
When we study God’s Word what are we hoping for?
§
Proper distinction of Law and Gospel?
§
Information about faith and ethics?
§
A relationship with the one behind the message?
-
Spiritual Wisdom
o
What is the difference between knowledge and
wisdom?
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Understanding
1:11-12
The text shifts from describing their prayer to actively
blessing the readers.
-
God’s power and might strengthens the believer
for
o
Endurance – What do we endure?
o
Patience with joy – what do these have to do
with one another?
o
Gratitude toward God
§
Specifically for “qualifying” us for “the
share of the inheritance.”
§
What inheritance?
1:13-14
He has delivered us …
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The deliverance is God’s action.
From the domain of darkness
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The chaotic nature of sinful life.
And transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved
Son
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The movement is all caused by God.
-
What kind of kingdom are we talking about here?
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Why does he do this?
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Why does this matter for us?
In whom
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NOTICE: IN CHRIST!
We have
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Redemption
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The forgiveness of sins
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The construction of the phrase equates these two
things.
Wrapping Up
What is one insight/word of comfort/challenging idea that
you hope to hold onto from these verses?
How will the lessons learned from these verses impact your
faith life?
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