Colossians: Keeping The Hope In View
by G.S. Augustine
Getting It Right
I refinished an old antique dresser recently. It turned out better than normal for me. I start projects before I get out all the tools, partly because I haven’t thought through all the details. There are some advantages of doing things this way, though. I finish more projects than others simply because they spend a lot of their energy on planning. They put off getting started because their detailed plans gives the illusion of work. However, my method can also cause me to rush, making mistakes and rendering a less than desirable result.
But I wanted this dresser to turn out well. So I forced myself to patiently sand the entire dresser with three progressively finer sandpaper grades. The surface was almost sensually smooth. I let the glue dry for 24 hours on the repairs to the drawers. I used two coats of stain and three coats of polyurethane, allowing ample drying time between coats. And I lightly sanded the surfaces before each coat. Then painstakingly measuring where to put each drawer handle achieved a stunning symmetrical look.
Seeing What Could Be
The result was a work of art, but it took a week and a half longer to do than I would normally take. But I took the time because I kept visualizing what it could be if I were careful. The endurance to stay with a project while patiently taking each stage properly is a learned behavior. But even then, only by holding up before your eyes a vision of the end result you want will you be able to stay on course.
When High Theology Becomes A Distraction
Paul’s letter to the Colossians has a similar intent, but the high theology of the message can take you away from it. Most theologians consider Colossians 1 and 2 to possess the most developed theology of Christ in the New Testament. In fact, here Paul seems to anticipate later theological debates with statements like:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together … For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him … (Col. 1:15-19)
Did Paul Write Colossians?
In no other letter does Paul speak as clearly as this. For this reason, some scholars deny that Paul even wrote this letter. But just because other letters don’t contain the high Christology found here, doesn’t mean Paul didn’t write this letter. A rising gnostic heresy and demands by some teachers to obey Mosaic Law likely made Paul think more carefully about these subjects. And there is no evidence anywhere that Paul didn’t write it.
Paul’s Target Focus
However, Paul’s erudite explanation of Christ’s person and work can distract from the important point he is making. Paul makes clear what is on his mind in the very first sentence after the greeting.
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 the saints—the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. (Col. 1:3-6 emphasis mine)
Paul is not just throwing around religious sounding jargon to kick off a letter designed to impress the theologically sophisticated. As we will see, hope for you in heaven is a vision Paul wants to keep before his readers eyes.
It Will Take Patient Endurance
The vision of the end result will give them the patience and endurance to stick with the “word of truth.” Otherwise they may veer off to high sounding but ultimately bankrupt philosophies.
For this reason since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you. May live a life worthy of the Lord and may 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 joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. (Col. 1:9-13 emphasis mine)
Insight Into God’s Kingdom of Light
There is much theological nuance in this paragraph, as there is in all of Colossians. Briefly, Paul’s prayer focuses on gaining wise insight into God will, not for whether they should marry or buy a piece of property, but God’s will pertaining to the ultimate establishment of the kingdom of light. He wants them to have this clear understanding “so that you may have great endurance and patience ….” Endurance is needed because perseverance is a necessary aspect of salvation.
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. (Col. 1:21-23 emphasis mine)
Enticing Voices
There are two voices out there attempting to draw believers at Colosse into other practices: gnostic ideas and Jewish demands to keep the law. And Paul has never visited, nor will he ever visit, Colosse because it was a small unimportant city. But he still worries that these gnostic and Judaistic heresies might spread and upset other churches. Below we will go into how Paul’s wording shows his concerns about these heresies. But for those who are not familiar with them, we can briefly point to two issues:
- Gnosticism appealed to the intellect promising secret knowledge to achieve salvation. Insiders used this to deny adequacy of faith in the work of Christ.
- Judaizers promised a system whereby you may have the mark of insider status: namely circumcision.
Driven By Ego
Both of these systems inflate the ego (see Col. 2:18), pitting members of the body against one another, eventually leading to the disintegration of the church. Since Paul couldn’t be there, he makes his most complete statement about the adequacy of Christ Jesus for salvation. The goal is that Colossian believers become inoculated against these diluting influences.
I tell you this so that no one may deceive you with fine sounding arguments. (2:4)
And:
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of the world rather than on Christ. (2:8)
Living Life Worthy Of All This
Colossians 1:19-13 says the purpose of religious knowledge is to “live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way.” This would happen by “bearing fruit in every good work.” Paul hints in 1:4 that “bearing fruit in every good work” involves love for all the saints. He will bring this love for the saints into clearer focus near the end of the letter:
Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love which binds them all together. (Col. 3:12-14)
He will then also bring into clearer focus this faith in Christ Jesus:
Let the peace of Christ rule your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish each other with all wisdom … (Col. 3:15-16)
And:
Devote yourselves to prayer, be watchful and thankful. (Col. 4:2)
Gnosticism’s Intrusion
Without going into an exposition of Gnosticism, Paul’s wording suggests this heresy is what Paul aims to combat. Gnosticism was an elitist kind of faith. Only certain people could achieve the knowledge. Paul’s work however aims at “every man.” Below is a more literal rendering of Paul’s language:
We preach, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom so that we might present every man perfect in Christ. (Col. 1:28 emphasis mine)
Paul’s strong emphasis on the “every man” language in this passage is a direct refutation of gnostic ideas of salvation. Also, gnosticism is based in Platonism which claims that matter is evil and only spirit is good. Paul emphasizes that Christ is the image of the invisible God and fully God (1:15, 19, 2:9). He is the creator all things both material and spiritual and holds them all together (1:16-17). Our reconciliation took place through Christ’s physical body (1:22), and that we have the fullness God in Christ (2:10). Each of these points is directly denied by gnosticism. Paul, though absent from the region, refutes these gnostic teachers.
Judaizer Intrusion
Additionally Paul refutes Judaizing voices that call for Christians to undergo circumcised and follow the law of Moses:
In him you were circumcised, in putting off the sinful nature, not a circumcision done by the hands of men but the circumcision done by Christ … (Col. 2:11)
And:
Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of things that were to come. The reality, however, is found in Christ. (Col. 2:16-17)
Appearance of Wisdom
Paul is afraid that these two heretical influences may harm the fledgling faith of the church at Colosse. So he therefore prays and teaches about the adequacy of Christ’s work at the cross. The goal is that the people there will have the knowledge and wisdom to resist these inadequate human philosophies. They not only take believers away from their allegiance to Christ, but ultimately cannot help them live holy lives.
Such regulations indeed have the appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining fleshly indulgence. Col. 2:23)
With this background, we can now look that the whole map of the letter.
Started With Genuine Faith
The believers at Colosse came to faith through the preaching of Epaphras who is a part of Paul’s apostolic team (1:7-8). So Paul knows they received the gospel correctly. He is confident of their true faith because Epaphras related to him their “love in the Spirit” (1:8). This love is the proper fruit of genuine faith. But Epaphras is no longer at Colosse, and they have no one to instruct them further. Additionally, purveyors of gnosticism and Judaizers that bothered Paul in Galatia (also part of Asia Minor) are confusing believers.
Paul knows that these philosophies have the appearance of wisdom and can be persuasive then and as now. So Paul takes a two-pronged approach. First, he affirms the complete adequacy of Christ and his work on the cross. Secondly, he shows their faith achieves everything we hope for from God.
The Effective Gospel
In Colossians 1, Paul begins with the second idea first. The faith of the believers there “springs from hope that is stored up for you in heaven” (1:5). This is the true gospel and Paul’s says the evidence for this is its fruitfulness:
“All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among your since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. (Col. 1:6 emphasis mine).
Though Paul does not emphasize salvation by grace alone as in Ephesians 2, grace clearly undergirds Colossians 1:3-14. But here Paul’s intends to discuss what salvation entails. God transfers believers from their slavery to darkness to freedom in light through the complete forgiveness of sins.
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. (Col 1:14)
Full Possession of Believers
And this hope they possess is in Christ fully and Christ is fully in them:
For in Christ the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. (Col 2:9)
I became its (the church’s) servant … to present to you the word of God in its fullness—the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but now is disclosed among the saint. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Col. 1:25-27 Emphasis mine)
And the purpose of focusing on this hope that will one day will become reality is that:
… you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may 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 joyfully give thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. (Col. 1:10-12)
A Foundation For Holy Living
Keeping a vision of the hope we have in Christ is foundational for living a holy life. Through that hope, we are able to patiently endure. The Greek words used here give us insight into what Paul is aiming at. On the one hand, he doesn’t want the Colossians enslaved by deceptive philosophy. But on the other, he doesn’t want them to engage in arguments with outsiders that hinder the gospel’s progress. Love is the proper fruit of faith. The word in our translation “endurance” is in Greek “hupomone.” William Barclay gives some nuance to this Greek word:
It means not only the ability to bear things, but the ability in bearing them to turn them into glory. It is a conquering patience. Hupomone is the ability to deal triumphantly with anything life can do to us. (William Barclay, The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians and Thessalonians, Revised Edition, p. 110 emphasis original).
The second word translated “patience” in our translation is in Greek makrothumia more literally “long suffering.” Again William Barclay:
Its basic meaning is patience with people. It is the quality of mind and heart which enables a man so to bear with people that their unpleasantness and maliciousness and cruelty will never drive him to bitterness, that their unteachableness will never drive him to despair, that their folly will never drive him to irritation, and their their unloveliness will never alter his love. Makrothumia is the spirit which never loses patience with, belief in and hope for men. (Ibid, emphasis original)
Since Both Matter, Long-Suffering Needed
Walking this tight rope is important for Paul. Both those inside the body of Christ and those outside the body of Christ matter, not just to Paul, but to the gospel itself. This is why Paul is words this letter so carefully. And this is why “great (lit. all) endurance and patience” is necessary. We need strengthening “with all power according to his glorious might,” because walking this tight rope will come with afflictions due to the fallenness of people. Paul experienced it, and Christ himself experienced it.
Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, which is the church. (Col. 1:24)
Are We Missing Something?
What can undermine this hope however is the possibility that we don’t have all that is necessary in Christ alone. Paul then embarks on what is arguably the New Testament’s premiere explanation of the person of Christ. Paul begins this discussion of the magnitude of who Jesus actually is in 1:14 by calling Christ Jesus “the Son [the Father] loves.” Jesus is nothing less than the Son of God. But he’s not content with leaving it there. Jesus is the image of the invisible God (1:15). Here Paul can either be emphasizing Jesus deity or his humanity, though one idea bleeds into the other for Paul.
Fully Man, Fully God
God created the first man and the first woman “in his image” (Genesis 1:28). but sin tarnished it. Jesus virgin birth and resurrection establishes a new human race. He is now the proper “image of God,” making Christ the “firstborn of all creation.” But Jesus is also fully God:
For by him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together … For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him … (Col 1:16, 19)
And just to make sure the believers at Colosse don’t forget it, Paul restates this again in 2:9: “For in Christ, all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”
Sufficiency of the Cross
Though Christ Jesus is fully God, that alone might not be enough to prevent believers from questioning the adequacy of the cross. So Paul explains what Christ accomplished there. We quote it again here.
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation … (Col. 1:21-22).
What Christ accomplished is the complete package. Believers in Christ are “without blemish and free from accusation” whether from gnostics or Jews. Paul does also adds the phrase “if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel” (Col 1:23). It is this aspect of the faith that concerns Paul. Leaving the hope held out in the gospel for some other hope is to fall for a lie.
A Detailed Explanation
So Paul adds further details on just what God was able to do for us through Christ. These verses make clear that because of the cross, there is now nothing that stands between us and God.
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Col. 2:13-15).
Not only has Christ reconciled us to God and by the cross canceled the written code that stood accused us, he also triumphed over the spiritual powers and authorities that welded those accusations. Gnostics saw the world filled with powerful spiritual “emanations” of God that blocked our way. Though Paul would not call them “emanations”, he is aware of “spiritual forces of this dark world” (see Eph. 6:12). Even these, Paul says have also been conquered.
Leaving Worldly Philosophy Alone
Christ’s work on the cross is fully adequate for salvation. No gnostic practices or Jewish rituals needed. When we are baptized into his death and raised with Christ, (2:12) we are no longer subject to these worldly principles. So Paul warns the believers to leave these so called required practices behind.
Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!? These are all destine to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. (Col. 2:20-22)
No Antinomianism However
But Paul doesn’t mean we can live anyway we please. Though we don’t need to follow regulations or harsh practices, we do need to live a life that reflects the character of Christ. In Chapter 3, he points to practices proper to faith. We are to set our minds on things above where our life now resides. Here Paul is combining both the hope we possess with the behaviors that goes with it.
Since, then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Col. 3:1-4)
Paul spells this out by speaking of two sets of things we must now “put to death” if our focus on this hope is to remain clear. The first set reads:
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. (Col. 3:5)
Notice these practices are incompatible with love. Since love is the proper fruit of faith, to lack love is an indication you lack faith.
God’s Wrath: Not Like Ours
Practicing what belongs to our earthly nature, Paul says, amounts to idolatry—that is the worship of another god. Ultimately, idolatry is the reason for both our alienation from God and the eventual coming of his wrath (3:6).
At this point it may be wise to look at the wrath of God in a proper light. We tend to think of wrath in terms of our tendency to express uncontrolled rage. God is never uncontrolled. For God, what we will call his wrath may be compared to breaking the law of gravity. If you step off a cliff you will fall. If the drop is big enough you’ll probably die when you hit the ground. When that happens we could say that you are experiencing “the wrath of nature.” In fact, we sometimes use that kind of language in the face of a hurricane or volcanic eruption.
With God, it is a bit different though. We rebel against God’s authority but often experience no sudden consequence. God is gracious toward all people and “slow to anger.” However, that doesn’t mean that God can allow himself to step down as God in favor of some idol we have erected. If God did that, the existence of everything would end. So at some point, God must allow the natural consequence of our idolatry to fall. God stops bugging those who serve idols and leaves them alone completely apart from and knowledge of his kingdom rule. Unfortunately, idols are powerless to do anything for them and the resulting despair is what we call hell. The New Testament refers to the day when God does that as the “coming wrath” (see Romans 2:5, 1 Thess. 1:10 and cf. Matt. 3:7 et al).
Idolatry And Anger: Interesting Bedfellows
For the believers at Colosse, this constitutes a dire warning. Faith in Christ is incompatible with idolatry and to continue in them is to move from the hope of the gospel. He then adds another list consisting of uncontrolled negative emotions.
But now you must rid yourself of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. (Col. 3:8)
Notice once again these negative emotions not only do not promote love, they destroy it. Paul may also indicate progression here from bad to worse until one explodes in spewing negative emotions. The expression of these negative emotions may also draw us back to the idolatrous practices of the first list.
Community Wellbeing At Stake
But Paul is also concerned for the overall well being of the whole body and shows that is his clear intention in these verses. “Do not lie to each other,” and make no distinctions among each other according to ethnicity or station in life:
Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all. (Col. 3:11)
This statement is followed by the climax of the letter. Paul explains what proper expression of faith looks like as opposed to worldly philosophy. Though partly quoted above, it is worth quoting again if full:
Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love which binds them all together. Let the peace of Christ rule your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish each other with all wisdom and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thank to God through him. (Col. 3:12-17)
A Few Closing Admonitions
Paul finishes off the letter with summation of how specifically wives and husbands, children and fathers, and slaves and master are to treat each other (3:18-4:1). And lastly, to devote themselves to prayer and to pray for Paul and his team for the gospel (4:2-5)—and even be partners with him in it (4:6). The letter closes with greetings from various people on Paul’s team and instructions on receiving those Paul will send to them (4:7-18).
One important greeting is from Epaphras. He is “constantly wrestling in prayer for you that you may stand firm in the will of God, mature and fully assured” (Col. 4:12). This is a reiteration of what Paul is hoping for the believers at Colosse throughout the whole letter.
This rich treatise from Paul has much more to say. To plumb the depths of this letter would take far more space than I’m allotting here. But we can summarize Paul’s intent in writing it as:
Focus your hearts and minds on the unassailable hope you will fully receive when Christ comes so that you may live a life worthy of him and not allow philosophies of this dark world take you captive.
