All Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible 1995 Ed. (NASB95) published by The Lockman Foundation

Preface: Why study the Letter to the Colossians at this time?

All of Scripture is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness, to equip God’s people for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Colossians lacks none of these qualities, since it’s an inspired letter from a confirmed eyewitness representative of the Lord Jesus, the famous Paul of Tarsus. But why am I bringing you lessons from Colossians?

First, I believe the teachings found in this letter are particularly relevant for western believers in Jesus, as we’re constantly hampered and ensnared by the foes of syncretism, sacerdotalism, egalitarianism, legalism, and clericalism. Let me define these false and harmful ideas briefly. Syncretism is the blending of completely different religions to suit people’s comforts and sensibilities, and often to make blatantly harmful beliefs and practices more palatable to people. Sadly, in the west, there’s often a blending of Christianity with various unbiblical religions, such as New Agism, humanism, secularism, Eastern mysticism, and such like. The Colossians to whom Paul wrote were facing similar errors, and being tempted to buy into them. Sacerdotalism is the concept that we need human priests to give us access to God, and this is something that meshes with syncretism, as insipid sacerdotalism is found in most western Christian traditions. Too many believers view their church leaders, pastors, bishops, elders, or priests as the men who give them more access to God through religious ceremonies or practices, even though they already have full access to God through Jesus! Egalitarianism is basically the teaching that men and women can both do all the same things – that there’s no basic or functional difference between them. Any mindset that views women as capable of doing most of the traditional tasks reserved for men is unbiblical egalitarianism. Legalism comes in two forms, both of which can deceive believers into false attitudes. First, there’s the obvious legalism of believing that you must obey God’s rules in order to merit your way into His favor and blessing. Then, there’s the more prevalent legalism of viewing the Christian life mainly as a fixed set of rules to follow, which you assume ought to be the standard for all believers. Finally, clericalism, which is an offshoot of sacerdotalism, is the concept that Christian leaders are a specially called and radically separated class of believers whose entire working hours ought to be devoted to studying, preaching, teaching, and doing most, if not all, of the important work for churches. It’s the excessive focus and reliance on a professionalized class of clergymen, who are viewed as somewhat superior and more important than normal believers.

Now, I would argue that Colossians addresses all these issues with clarity, persuasiveness, and beauty. Hence, I want to show you what Paul taught the Colossians when he wrote them, so we can learn what it means to find all our longings and needs satisfied through knowing and loving our Lord and Savior Jesus.

A second, and less important reason, why I want to take you through Colossians is because of Paul’s letters, it’s one of the most neglected. Although it was written during the same time period as Ephesians and Philippians, it’s usually eclipsed by those letters. Although it’s very similar to Ephesians, it’s not as comprehensive in its subject matter, nor as picturesque in its imagery. Compared to Philippians, Colossians has nowhere near the emphasis on Christian unity, example, or joy. However, what the letter lacks in comprehensiveness, sublimity, emphatic themes of unity and joy, it makes up for in its incessant focus on the all-sufficient nature of our knowledge of Jesus. In this letter, Paul is basically arguing that Jesus is the source of all we need from God, including all the knowledge, wisdom, and satisfaction that we need. The central argument of the letter is that Jesus, as the completely divine and sovereign Son of God, is the only Savior and Teacher that we need to understand any topic required for our fullest living. The key words in Colossians are full, fullness, and complete. Since Jesus is full of God, then believers too are full of God’s goodness, life, peace, wisdom, and joy.

So, please join me as we briefly study what Paul taught the Colossians, so we can learn how to better enjoy a fulfilled, complete, and whole life for our Lord Jesus. In this lesson, we’ll consider Paul’s introduction.

The Gospel Abounds with Fruit (1:3-8)

For the sake of brevity and succinctness, we’ll be glossing over Paul’s common greeting in the first two verses, but this is how he opens the letter:

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

To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as  it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it  and understood the grace of God in truth; just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.”

— Colossians 1:1-8

Starting with the body of the letter in verse 3, we can see six main truths:

  1. Faith and love are worthy of thanksgiving (vss. 3-4).
  2. The Gospel promises hope in heaven (v. 5).
  3. The Gospel unceasingly bears fruit (v. 6).
  4. The Gospel grows believers (v. 6).
  5. The Gospel is taught by slaves of Christ (v. 7).
  6. Christ’s servants commend spiritual love (v. 8).

Faith and Love are Worthy of Thanksgiving

As he usually does, Paul begins the main part of the letter by expressing his thanksgiving and prayers for the saints and faithful brethren to whom he’s writing. Paul shows us in all his letters that he was constantly devoted to praying for the brethren he served as an overseer and teacher. Like many of his letters, he tells the Colossians that he’s always praying for them (v. 3). Obviously, this isn’t a literal use of the word, but a relative use of it, meaning he prays regularly and often for them. But he prefaces his relation of prayer with thanksgiving, as he tells them that he also thanks God for them.

What is the main reason that Paul thanks God for the Colossians? It’s very simple – because he’s heard of their “faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints” (v. 4). It’s just because he knows that they are trusting in the Anointed Jesus, and that they love all the saints, or “holy ones,” whom they know, that he’s thankful for them. And the next verse tells us why he’s thankful that they possess these qualities, and why he’s compelled to pray for their good. He goes on to explain that what they possess through their faith is of the greatest significance to all of them – it’s the main benefit of the Gospel.

The Gospel Promises Hope in Heaven

The first specific quality of the Gospel we learn from this passage is that it’s the revelation, and provider, of the hope of heaven. But what is the Gospel? As you probably know (but just in case), the word “Gospel” is an English translation of the Greek term used by Paul, euangellion, from which we get “evangelism”. It literally means “a good message”, or more properly “a good announcement”. This is obviously the most fitting term for “the word of truth”, since this message is the announcement of the most good truths in history.

Paul sums up the Gospel in his first letter to the Corinthians, and the first few verses of chapter 15 when he writes,

“Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you; which also you received; in which also you stand; by which also you are saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures . . .” – 1 Cor. 15:1-4

Although Paul doesn’t lay out all the essential elements of the Gospel, all of them are found in some form in this passage. Basically, the Gospel – which you must be believing if you’re a worshiper of Jesus – is the message of the Son of God’s coming, dying for our sins, rising from the dead, going into heaven, and call for repentance and trust in Him to obtain God’s full and complete peace, forgiveness, and life.

But what does Colossians 1:5 say specifically about the Gospel? That when people heard it in the first century, they were told that they would have “hope laid up for you in heaven” if they put their trust in its claims about Jesus. And that’s exactly what the Colossians had done. Because they had put their faith in the Anointed King and Savior Jesus, God had “laid up” the hope of eternal life in heaven for them, where Jesus is now ruling over all things.

Now, it should be noted right now that this isn’t a potential hope for believers, but a certain hope. Paul was thankful, not because the Colossians had the possibility of enjoying heaven, but because they would certainly enjoy heaven, since God had secured it for them, as if He was keeping treasure safe for them, until He would give it to them later. This is the hope that all believers should enjoy through their faith in the Lord Jesus.

The Gospel Unceasingly Bears Fruit

If I wanted to make one element of this passage the main point of this lesson, I would make it this one. Paul excitingly claims that the Gospel itself that came to the Colossians is “constantly bearing fruit and increasing” in the whole “world” (v. 6). Some might think about the effects of the Gospel in our current world, and say that that was then, but now the Gospel is occasionally, sporadically, partially, or deficiently bearing fruit and spreading. Paul would tell such people that they don’t understand what the Gospel is.

I want to impress on your heart the encouraging and joyful reality that the Gospel, the message of truth, which tells us of a certain hope in heaven for believers, is God’s appointed means for giving Him satisfying fruit from people, and changing them from the inside out. What is the fruit that Paul’s talking about? He’s already mentioned two of them in verse 4 – faith in Jesus, and love for His worshipers, the saints. Also, wee just looked at yet another of its fruits – heavenly hope for believers. Essentially, the main fruit of the Gospel is people’s faith in Jesus, and their Christlike love for people, based on their hope of heaven. This means that God uses the Gospel to persuade and convince people to put their trust in Jesus, and to truly love people. And it does this constantly. There’s never a moment when the Gospel isn’t persuading someone in the world to believe in Jesus, and to love His people. Better yet, the Gospel does this all over, and not just in a few places. Now, in Paul’s day what he meant by “all the world” was limited roughly to the confines of the Roman Empire, and probably some of its frontiers. However, this was still a huge part of the world, and the home of various people groups, tribes, ethnicities, and cultures. In our day, its even truer to say that the Gospel is bearing the fruit of faith, love, and hope through the salvation of sinners in the whole world.

And how is it bearing fruit? By “increasing,” or “multiplying,” or “spreading.” As the Gospel is taught, explained, discussed, announced, in diverse ways, more and more people are learning what it says. Every hour of every day, yet more people are learning the glorious claims of the good news about Jesus, and some of them are being persuaded of its truth, and entrusting their souls, lives, and salvation to the Lord Jesus. Even when you’re not changing people, or making Jesus more known, the Gospel itself is.

Paul describes this inherent work of the Gospel by calling it “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:15). He later says in that same letter that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17).

So, it’s clear from what Paul writes in these places that whether you like it or not, God is constantly using the Gospel of truth to bear the fruit of salvation, faith, love, and hope, as He spreads it to more and more people. And this should be true of you personally.

The Gospel Grows Believers

The third characteristic of the Gospel we find from Paul’s words to the Colossians is that it is the instrument used to make believers produce fruit for God. We’ve just seen that God uses the Gospel to bear the fruit of conversions or salvations, but He also uses the Gospel to cause believers to grow in their fruit. Most of our Scripture-informed minds will probably go to Galatians 5, where Paul explicitly lists several virtues that he calls collectively “the fruit of the Spirit”. Obviously, these qualities are included among the fruit that the Gospel produces in believers, since they’re all results of faith in Jesus. And essentially what do they look like? They look like the character of Jesus Himself, the perfect and godliest man who ever walked the earth. Thus, to say that the Gospel grows believers, so they produce fruit, is to say that it enables them to increasingly conform to Christlikeness.

But we need to emphasize here that it’s the Gospel, and its truths, which mainly produce increasing fruit in believers. What does this mean practically speaking? It means that the more a believer believes and thinks in alignment with what the Gospel says is true of him, the more he’ll think right thoughts, and make proper decisions. What does the Gospel say about believers? It says that Jesus has accomplished, and now provides, all they need to enjoy God’s peace, favor, blessing, and love. Because of this accomplishment, they now share in all that Jesus the man possesses as the beloved Son of God — namely God’s power, wisdom, knowledge, peace, and joy. Hence, God treats them as if they have the same perfect human status as Him. The implications of these facts are the basis for all a believer’s thinking and acting. If we are now God’s beloved, empowered, and loved children, then we ought to think and act as if we love Him, and represent Him. And the more you seek to do this, the more you’ll become like Jesus, even if you don’t immediately notice the change. This is what it means that the Gospel grows believers. Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 1 that “the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God” (1:18).

The Gospel is Taught by Slaves of Christ

As I already pointed out, the Gospel doesn’t just come out of nowhere, as if God always just communicates it to unbelievers’ minds directly, without any intermediate instruments. On the contrary, His usual method of revealing the Gospel to unbelievers is using His believing and serving people. This is why Paul adds to the passage from Romans already quoted by writing, “how will they hear without a preacher; and how will they preach unless they are sent?”.

What we see in this opening of Colossians is Paul’s recognition of the messenger who preached to the Colossians when they were unbelievers. This man’s name is Epaphras, which means nothing significant to us, except to note that it was a common Greek name of the time. This tells us that Epaphras was no one inherently special, except in the ways that God made him special.

Paul gives him two descriptions. One is “bond-servant”, and the other simply “ faithful servant”. The first one conveys his ownership and obedience, since it literally means “slave”, whereas the second expresses his diligence and usefulness. How did he come to be used by God to preach the Gospel to the Colossians? Simply because he was obedient to His Master, and faithful to his occupation of serving Jesus.

Christ’s Servants Commend Spiritual Love

The last principle Paul illustrates in this passage is that the Lord’s servants, or true believers, love to praise and commend the spiritual love of other believers. Epaphras told Paul and Timothy of the Colossians’ “love in the Spirit”, according to verse 8. Apparently, he wanted to do this to testify to the change the Gospel had made in the Colossians for the benefit of Paul and Timothy. He wanted to encourage them that the Colossian converts were living lives of love, and therefore giving proof that they’d been indwelt by the Holy Spirit. This is why Paul adds the qualifier of “in the Spirit” to describe the Colossians’ love. It was love granted by the Spirit, and it’s only this kind of love that is pleasing to God.

Epaphras may have said something to Paul like, “These believers from Colossae love each other like the Lord taught us. They’re sacrificing their lives, possessions, time, and energy to meet each other’s needs. And they pray for each other, and meet together, on a regular basis. Not only that, but they also clearly love you, since they include you in their prayers.”

Such love is one of the key fruits of the Gospel, and is in fact the main goal of its teaching (1 Timothy 1:5). Since Epaphras was a faithful servant of Jesus, he was eager to describe this love that the Colossians’ were expressing to Paul and Timothy. We should do likewise.

Seek the Fruit of the Gospel for Your Food

Having examined what this passage means, let’s end by considering how we can best apply its principles in our everyday lives as believers. There’s at least one way to apply each of the truths that Paul teaches us here. However, I’d like to focus on one main application.

The picture Paul paints here is of a work of God that is accomplished mainly through the communication of a divinely powerful Gospel by His faithful servants. To reiterate, the Gospel is the provider of the hope of heaven, of faith and love, of Christlike character, and of the understanding of God’s grace. Yet, God only provides these things to people if we, His saints and faithful slaves, speak the Gospel in some way to everyone with whom we have opportunity. The Gospel is inevitably spreading and bearing the fruit of repentance and faith, but it only does so through our communication to those around us. Therefore, I urge you that you need to be Gospel-gorged. The Gospel must be your favorite story, theme, and song. You must understand it, remember it, think about it, believe it, and make decisions based on it. Further, you need to be eager to preach it, and proud of it, as Paul was (Rom. 1:15-16).

Do you want to see more Christlike fruit in your mind and actions? Then think more consistently with the Gospel, and apply more of its teachings from the Scriptures.

Do you want to see the Gospel bear more fruit and spread to more people? Then you should be lovingly, boldly, compassionately, and prayerfully sharing this good News with all you have opportunity to.

This is the way our Lord has ordained to make Himself more known, and to persuade more people to repent and trust in Him, so they become godly servants, and hopeful heirs of heavenly life. So, when you’re around unbelievers, ask questions about their faith and hope, offer tracts, or just open your mouth and tell the faithless, loveless, and hopeless what the Lord Jesus did to secure the hope of heaven for believers, and to give us the fruit of God’s grace and Spirit.