9th Sunday after Pentecost: Colossians 1:3-8
Last week I introduced the book of Colossians noting that Paul’s purpose in writing is to set out a way to maturity for the people of God that is rooted in union with Christ. In the face of false teachers telling the Colossians to do this or that to progress in the Christian life, Paul tells them that they already have all they need in Christ. In his introductory greeting we saw that the Colossians have been given: 1). Access to God’s sanctuary as priests(“saints”); 2). Enduring faith to continue “in Christ” (“faithful brethren”); 3) God’s bounteous gifts and favor in Christ (“grace”); 4) Fullness of restored relations with God and one another (“peace”). As Paul begins to develop his message in the body of the letter in vv 3-8, he begins by thanking God for the fruit of the gospel in their lives. In this thanksgiving we are given a glimpse into how God’s grace works in our lives, and in the world as a whole, to bring about a new creation. Following an introductory statement of thanksgiving and prayer in v.3, Paul goes on to tell us what he thanks God for in vv. 4-5a. Then in vv 5b-8 he tells us how this things have come about.
In v. 3 we have a straightforward statement of thanksgiving and prayer to God. Paul writes that he and Timothy always thank God and pray for them. Their prayer of thanksgiving will be elaborated in vv. 4-8 and their prayer of petition will be elaborated in vv. 9-12, which we will consider next week. Before passing on to v. 4, however, note the regularity and constancy of Paul and Timothy’s prayers for them. “Always” doesn’t mean every second of the day, but it does convey the idea that Paul and Timothy prayed for the Colossians everyday and probably throughout the day. It is most likely that prayers of thanksgiving and intercession for the Colossians (and other churches) formed a fixed part of Paul’s hours of prayer in the morning, at noonday, and in the evening.
So when Paul prays for the Colossians, for what does he thank God? In vv. 4-5a we find that he thanks God for the fruit of faith, love, and hope. This triad is a fixed part of Paul’s teaching (most notably in 1 Cor. 13), but here it is developed in a different manner than elsewhere. The first thing that Paul thanks God for is their “faith in Christ.” This, of course, concerns their confession of faith, “if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved (Rom. 10:9.” Historically the Church has taught that there are three elements to saving faith: knowledge, assent, and trust. A confession of faith in Jesus has a definite content focused upon the person and work of Jesus, minimally that he died on the cross to atone for our sins and was raised the third day. A person must assent to this content, believing to be a true statement of the gospel. And then a person must put their trust in this gospel. It is not enough to know the message and believe it is true, the demons have that kind of faith. No, a person must believe this message is true for them, and stake their life upon it’s truth and commit themselves to it. And the Colossians had that kind of true saving faith.
Now all throughout Scripture, and especially in Paul, saving faith is always demonstrated in concrete actions (“faith working by love”). And this is the case for the Colossians as well. For the second thing that Paul thanks God for is their “love for all the saints.” Of all the demonstrations of faith the Scriptures return again and again to love. Jesus referred to this it as his new commandment, “that you love one another (Jn. 13:34).” Paul referred to love as “the fulfillment of the Law (Rom. 13:10).” In the NT love is always patterned after the sacrifice of Christ. For in this event we see the nature of true love as a sacrificial action. For the Colossians this love would have involved an active and practical concern for the needs of their brothers and sisters in Christ that would have moved them to meet those needs without regard to what it would cost them. And note to whom this love is directed: “for all the saints.” This phrase means to all without exception. Their love went out to any and all of Christ’s people regardless of the factors that normally divide, factors of race, class, or gender. For these have all been overcome in union with Christ.
So Paul thanked God that the Colossians were marked by faith and love. And these two fruits function as indications of the working of God’s grace. When a person has an orthodox profession of faith in Jesus and their life demonstrates that faith in sacrificial love for God’s people, then we rightly regard that person as a Christian. And in the same way we can use these criteria to assess our faith and life. Would the Apostle Paul likewise give thanks to God for our faith and love? Does this living faith and sacrificial love characterize our relationships within our families and our church? Furthermore, this is the fruit that we pray for and work for in our children, that they would hold fast their confession firm until the end and demonstrate this confession in sacrificial love for God’s people.
As I mentioned earlier faith, love, and hope are a familiar triad in Paul’s writings. And hope is the third thing that Paul thanks God for in the beginning of v. 5: “the hope laid up for you in heaven.” But we need to note the function of the hope. Paul introduces hope in v.5 as the cause of their faith and love: “because of the hope…” Whatever this hope is it serves as the motive, or impulse for faith and love. The NIV actually captures well this function of hope when translate the verse, “the faith and love that spring from hope.” So what is this “hope laid up for you heaven.” It is not the activity, but rather the content of our hope. It is laid up for you heaven so that it is safe and secure in the place where thieves cannot break in and steal, nor moth or rust decay it. If we pay attention to the broader context of Colossians we can say that this hope refers to Christ and the life that he has secured for us. In Col. 1:27 Paul sums up the mystery of gospel as “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” So in this verse Christ is associated with our hope. Furthermore in Col. 3:1-4 Paul’s us to “seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.” This clearly a reference to heaven where our “life is hidden with Christ in God.” And Paul says that “when Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Given the association between Christ and hope in 1:27 and our life hid with Christ in God in heaven in 3:1-4, we can safely conclude that the hope laid up for us in heaven is Jesus Himself and the eternal life that He has secured for us. But how does this hope cause faith and love? Well, it is as we look to Christ and consider the life that will be ours when He comes again and live that life in the present. Furthermore it is Christ at the right hand of the Father, Who has poured out His Spirit into our hearts to fill us with faith and love.
Paul isn’t content simply to tell us what he thanks God for because in vv. 5b-8 he goes on to tell us how the Colossian’s faith, love, and hope have come about. He sums it up in the end of v. 5 saying the heard about this hope in the gospel. Their faith, love, and hope have come about as a result of gospel they have heard. And Paul tells us several things about this gospel. First, the gospel is a truthful announcement (5b). We know that the gospel is an announcement because it something they heard. It is the declaration of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Paul sums it up as the declaration that He died on the cross for our sins and was raised up on the third day to sit at the right hand of the Father as Lord of heaven and earth (see 1:15-20). By referring to this announcement as the “word of truth,” Paul is drawing a contrast between the message they heard from Epaphras and the message they have heard from the false teachers. The former is true; the latter is false. Since they have believed the true message their hope is certain and secure.
Second, the gospel is a universal announcement (6a). The message they have heard is not something spoken in a dark corner, but has “come to you as it has also in all the world.” The gospel announced to the Colossians concerned not Colossae, but the four corners of the Empire and everywhere in between. Note how Paul personifies the gospel by speaking of it as coming. This personification of the gospel is intended to communicate God’s action in the gospel. When you think about the gospel being unleashed in the world, think about the image we’re given in Rev. 19:11ff. There, Jesus is described as “the Word of God,” leading the saints on horseback with the two edged sword proceeding out of His mouth. Through the church’s proclamation of the gospel, Jesus is conquering the world. And the Colossians have likewise been conquered by Jesus in His gospel.
Third, the gospel is an effective announcement (6b). Everywhere this gospel is announced it is pictured as “bring forth fruit.” This image of fruitfulness reminds of the calling of Adam to “be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it (Gen. 1:28).” This calling was reiterated time and again to Noah, Abraham, and Israel. Now finally, through the gospel, this calling is being fulfilled. As one has noted, God is now doing through the gospel what He always intended to do: fill the earth with fruitful, productive, image-bearers for His glory. Paul wanted the Colossians to know that the source of this fruitfulness did not lie in them, but in God’s action in the gospel. Fourth, the gospel is a gracious announcement (6c). God’s action in the gospel was a gracious action. The gospel announced to them is described as “the grace of God in truth.” In this announcement God’s saving grace is truly revealed as the source of all fruitfulness, as the source of the faith and love that now characterize them. This fruitfulness had a beginning point in their experience: “since the day you heard and knew.” When God sent the gospel to them and opened and minds and hearts to understand it, the gospel began bearing fruit and increasing among them.
Last, the gospel is a commissioned announcement (7-8). God sent the gospel to them by one commissioned to preach, Epaphras. Paul says they “learned” this gospel from Epaphras. This truthful, universal, effective, gracious announcement must proclaimed and taught by men sent for this purpose. Epaphras is given a standing on par with Paul and Timothy as “our fellow servant.” Furthermore he “is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf.” Note that the way Epaphras discharged his ministry to Christ, was on behalf of the Colossians. This is how you are to think about my ministry. That I labor before Christ in your behalf in order that you might hear and be taught this glorious gospel and that I may have occasion to declare “your love in the Spirit.”
This is first reference to the Holy Spirit in the letter, but His activity has been assumed throughout. So consider this in closing. When Paul thanked God for the fruit of the gospel in their lives, he was thanking the Holy Spirit by whose power that fruit was produced. For it is the Holy Spirit who unites you to Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit who works faith in your heart and who is poured out into your heart as the love of God enabling you to love one another. It is the Holy Spirit who seals for you for the Day of Redemption that your hope may not be disappointed. And it is as the Spirit accompanies the preaching of the gospel that fruitfulness extends throughout the earth, to Greer even as it did to Colossae.
In v. 3 we have a straightforward statement of thanksgiving and prayer to God. Paul writes that he and Timothy always thank God and pray for them. Their prayer of thanksgiving will be elaborated in vv. 4-8 and their prayer of petition will be elaborated in vv. 9-12, which we will consider next week. Before passing on to v. 4, however, note the regularity and constancy of Paul and Timothy’s prayers for them. “Always” doesn’t mean every second of the day, but it does convey the idea that Paul and Timothy prayed for the Colossians everyday and probably throughout the day. It is most likely that prayers of thanksgiving and intercession for the Colossians (and other churches) formed a fixed part of Paul’s hours of prayer in the morning, at noonday, and in the evening.
So when Paul prays for the Colossians, for what does he thank God? In vv. 4-5a we find that he thanks God for the fruit of faith, love, and hope. This triad is a fixed part of Paul’s teaching (most notably in 1 Cor. 13), but here it is developed in a different manner than elsewhere. The first thing that Paul thanks God for is their “faith in Christ.” This, of course, concerns their confession of faith, “if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved (Rom. 10:9.” Historically the Church has taught that there are three elements to saving faith: knowledge, assent, and trust. A confession of faith in Jesus has a definite content focused upon the person and work of Jesus, minimally that he died on the cross to atone for our sins and was raised the third day. A person must assent to this content, believing to be a true statement of the gospel. And then a person must put their trust in this gospel. It is not enough to know the message and believe it is true, the demons have that kind of faith. No, a person must believe this message is true for them, and stake their life upon it’s truth and commit themselves to it. And the Colossians had that kind of true saving faith.
Now all throughout Scripture, and especially in Paul, saving faith is always demonstrated in concrete actions (“faith working by love”). And this is the case for the Colossians as well. For the second thing that Paul thanks God for is their “love for all the saints.” Of all the demonstrations of faith the Scriptures return again and again to love. Jesus referred to this it as his new commandment, “that you love one another (Jn. 13:34).” Paul referred to love as “the fulfillment of the Law (Rom. 13:10).” In the NT love is always patterned after the sacrifice of Christ. For in this event we see the nature of true love as a sacrificial action. For the Colossians this love would have involved an active and practical concern for the needs of their brothers and sisters in Christ that would have moved them to meet those needs without regard to what it would cost them. And note to whom this love is directed: “for all the saints.” This phrase means to all without exception. Their love went out to any and all of Christ’s people regardless of the factors that normally divide, factors of race, class, or gender. For these have all been overcome in union with Christ.
So Paul thanked God that the Colossians were marked by faith and love. And these two fruits function as indications of the working of God’s grace. When a person has an orthodox profession of faith in Jesus and their life demonstrates that faith in sacrificial love for God’s people, then we rightly regard that person as a Christian. And in the same way we can use these criteria to assess our faith and life. Would the Apostle Paul likewise give thanks to God for our faith and love? Does this living faith and sacrificial love characterize our relationships within our families and our church? Furthermore, this is the fruit that we pray for and work for in our children, that they would hold fast their confession firm until the end and demonstrate this confession in sacrificial love for God’s people.
As I mentioned earlier faith, love, and hope are a familiar triad in Paul’s writings. And hope is the third thing that Paul thanks God for in the beginning of v. 5: “the hope laid up for you in heaven.” But we need to note the function of the hope. Paul introduces hope in v.5 as the cause of their faith and love: “because of the hope…” Whatever this hope is it serves as the motive, or impulse for faith and love. The NIV actually captures well this function of hope when translate the verse, “the faith and love that spring from hope.” So what is this “hope laid up for you heaven.” It is not the activity, but rather the content of our hope. It is laid up for you heaven so that it is safe and secure in the place where thieves cannot break in and steal, nor moth or rust decay it. If we pay attention to the broader context of Colossians we can say that this hope refers to Christ and the life that he has secured for us. In Col. 1:27 Paul sums up the mystery of gospel as “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” So in this verse Christ is associated with our hope. Furthermore in Col. 3:1-4 Paul’s us to “seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.” This clearly a reference to heaven where our “life is hidden with Christ in God.” And Paul says that “when Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Given the association between Christ and hope in 1:27 and our life hid with Christ in God in heaven in 3:1-4, we can safely conclude that the hope laid up for us in heaven is Jesus Himself and the eternal life that He has secured for us. But how does this hope cause faith and love? Well, it is as we look to Christ and consider the life that will be ours when He comes again and live that life in the present. Furthermore it is Christ at the right hand of the Father, Who has poured out His Spirit into our hearts to fill us with faith and love.
Paul isn’t content simply to tell us what he thanks God for because in vv. 5b-8 he goes on to tell us how the Colossian’s faith, love, and hope have come about. He sums it up in the end of v. 5 saying the heard about this hope in the gospel. Their faith, love, and hope have come about as a result of gospel they have heard. And Paul tells us several things about this gospel. First, the gospel is a truthful announcement (5b). We know that the gospel is an announcement because it something they heard. It is the declaration of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Paul sums it up as the declaration that He died on the cross for our sins and was raised up on the third day to sit at the right hand of the Father as Lord of heaven and earth (see 1:15-20). By referring to this announcement as the “word of truth,” Paul is drawing a contrast between the message they heard from Epaphras and the message they have heard from the false teachers. The former is true; the latter is false. Since they have believed the true message their hope is certain and secure.
Second, the gospel is a universal announcement (6a). The message they have heard is not something spoken in a dark corner, but has “come to you as it has also in all the world.” The gospel announced to the Colossians concerned not Colossae, but the four corners of the Empire and everywhere in between. Note how Paul personifies the gospel by speaking of it as coming. This personification of the gospel is intended to communicate God’s action in the gospel. When you think about the gospel being unleashed in the world, think about the image we’re given in Rev. 19:11ff. There, Jesus is described as “the Word of God,” leading the saints on horseback with the two edged sword proceeding out of His mouth. Through the church’s proclamation of the gospel, Jesus is conquering the world. And the Colossians have likewise been conquered by Jesus in His gospel.
Third, the gospel is an effective announcement (6b). Everywhere this gospel is announced it is pictured as “bring forth fruit.” This image of fruitfulness reminds of the calling of Adam to “be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it (Gen. 1:28).” This calling was reiterated time and again to Noah, Abraham, and Israel. Now finally, through the gospel, this calling is being fulfilled. As one has noted, God is now doing through the gospel what He always intended to do: fill the earth with fruitful, productive, image-bearers for His glory. Paul wanted the Colossians to know that the source of this fruitfulness did not lie in them, but in God’s action in the gospel. Fourth, the gospel is a gracious announcement (6c). God’s action in the gospel was a gracious action. The gospel announced to them is described as “the grace of God in truth.” In this announcement God’s saving grace is truly revealed as the source of all fruitfulness, as the source of the faith and love that now characterize them. This fruitfulness had a beginning point in their experience: “since the day you heard and knew.” When God sent the gospel to them and opened and minds and hearts to understand it, the gospel began bearing fruit and increasing among them.
Last, the gospel is a commissioned announcement (7-8). God sent the gospel to them by one commissioned to preach, Epaphras. Paul says they “learned” this gospel from Epaphras. This truthful, universal, effective, gracious announcement must proclaimed and taught by men sent for this purpose. Epaphras is given a standing on par with Paul and Timothy as “our fellow servant.” Furthermore he “is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf.” Note that the way Epaphras discharged his ministry to Christ, was on behalf of the Colossians. This is how you are to think about my ministry. That I labor before Christ in your behalf in order that you might hear and be taught this glorious gospel and that I may have occasion to declare “your love in the Spirit.”
This is first reference to the Holy Spirit in the letter, but His activity has been assumed throughout. So consider this in closing. When Paul thanked God for the fruit of the gospel in their lives, he was thanking the Holy Spirit by whose power that fruit was produced. For it is the Holy Spirit who unites you to Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit who works faith in your heart and who is poured out into your heart as the love of God enabling you to love one another. It is the Holy Spirit who seals for you for the Day of Redemption that your hope may not be disappointed. And it is as the Spirit accompanies the preaching of the gospel that fruitfulness extends throughout the earth, to Greer even as it did to Colossae.
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