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

How much of a struggle do you have for the unity, love, and spiritual understanding of your brethren in Christ? If you’re like most western believers, you’ll have to admit that you fall short of the measure of concern, earnestness, and longing for the faithfulness and Christlikeness of your Christian acquaintances that we’re instructed to have by the apostles, and by the New Testament body of Christ. What is it that can motivate us to be regularly, consistently, and fervently devoted to praying for our brethren’s good, and for the advancement of the gospel through them? Thankfully, the apostle Paul gives us many good reasons and helps in this endeavor, and some can be found in his letter to the Colossians.

The people to whom he’s writing in this letter never met him personally, and yet he still had a great longing for their spiritual vibrancy, understanding, and joy. So great was his concern for them, that he says he struggles in prayer for them. And this while he’s suffering discomfort, constraint, and scorn as he’s confined to house arrest during the waiting period before his hearing with Caesar. He expresses this struggle of prayer, and his rejoicing  in the Colossians’ faithfulness, in the second chapter of the letter. In the first section of this chapter, he shows us the main things he prayed for the Colossians to enjoy, and their successes in which he rejoiced for them. We can learn from this section how we ought to be praying for, and rejoicing in, our brethren as well.

This is what Paul writes in this section, starting with the end of chapter 1 to get the connection from the previous thought:

“We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me. For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding . . . in a true knowledge of God’s mystery . . . Christ . . . in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument. For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ.” – Col. 1:28-2:5

In the first five verses of chapter 2 to which I want to focus your attention, we see Paul describing two things that we ought to learn from in our relationships with our closest brethren in Christ:

  1. He Struggles for Strangers’ Unity and Assurance (vss. 1-3)
  2. He Spiritually Exults in their Order and Stability (vss. 4-5)

Let’s see what exactly Paul struggled for the good of his brethren, and what exactly they were doing that filled his heart with joy as he sat chained to a Roman guard for days on end.

He Struggles for Strangers’ Unity and Assurance

The first response to his Gentile brethren’s condition, which included their immaturity and weaknesses, is his struggle for their spiritual maturity. Really, that’s the essence of what Paul expresses a striving after in the first few verses of chapter 2. But what’s most remarkable about this explanation of desires is that he wants these things for people whom he’s never met. In fact, he writes that he struggles for “all those who have not personally seen my face” (v. 1). This includes, not only the Colossians, but those in the later notorious city of Laodicea, and every congregation to which Paul is connected, but has never visited. This shows us the incredibly large heart, and magnanimity of Paul. He was concerned about every mainly non-Jewish assembly of believers that he had some influence on, since he was “the apostle to the Gentiles”. He felt responsible for all these mostly Gentile Christian communities in the Mediterranean world, and was compelled to pray for all of them.

And although he doesn’t explicitly say that he’s describing his prayers here, that’s the only logical implication, since he certainly wasn’t trying to give these blessings to these people through only physically struggling in prison, or struggling with people. No, Paul expresses that he struggles in prayer. And understanding the word “struggle” provides us with a glimpse of Paul’s humility, since he doesn’t describe his praying as an easy task, but a difficult one. He faced the opposition of his sinful desires, as well as distractions from other interests, when he determined to pray for all the congregations he was concerned for.

Paul’s prayers consist of three main things here. First, he prays for their encouragement. Second, he prays for their unity. And finally, he prays for their knowledge of Christ. Let’s examine each of these requests more closely. Note that he says he struggles for their hearts to be encouraged (v. 2). Although those in today’s western culture use the “heart” to refer to one’s emotions, this wasn’t the way they used it in the ancient Greco-Roman world. The “heart” meant one’s core, or control center, which mostly means the mind and will. Hence, Paul’s describing his desire that these Gentile brethren would truly be encouraged, or emboldened, to obey the Lord with all their might. And the second petition shows us the main way they’d be encouraged. It’s by being “knit together in love”. What a wonderful description of Christian unity! Paul desired every congregation in his care to be knit together like a beautiful quilt, so they’d together function to serve the Lord’s purposes in the world. And the thread and needle that would accomplish this was love. Love is the only virtue and action that can bind Christians together, since it’s the central feature of God’s character that we reflect.

And the final request from God for the Gentile believers is that they’ll obtain “all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding . . . in a true knowledge of God’s mystery . . . Christ” (v. 2). As you can see as you can continue reading the second chapter of this letter, the Colossians were facing several different false teachings that contradicted the truth about who Jesus was, and what He’d accomplished through His death and resurrection. In fact, this was going on throughout most of the Gentile congregations that Paul was concerned for. Hence, he prayed that God would give them assurance, or certainty, about Jesus’s identity and accomplishments, which would result in them enjoying wealth. This wealth Paul elaborates as being “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” which are to be found in Jesus Messiah, or the anointed One.

Although Paul perceived that his Gentile brethren were lacking in these critical areas of spiritual maturity, and in danger of being led astray by false teachings, he still goes on to express his joy in their faithfulness to Jesus, and their zeal in this faithfulness.

He Spiritually Exults in Their Order and Stability

In the last two verses of this passage, we see Paul explaining both his greatest concern for the Colossians, as well as his greatest encouragement from their character he’s learned about. So, he first explains why he’s just described why he struggles for their assurance in the knowledge of Jesus, and then he praises them for their discipline in living out the teaching of Jesus. He begins by confessing that he’s just told them that “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” are “hidden” in Christ, and gained through knowing Him, “so that no one will delude [them] with persuasive argument” (v. 4). Apparently, as you can see later in this chapter, there were many people attempting to persuade them to believe false things about Jesus and salvation, and Paul wants to remind the Colossians of the true source of wisdom and knowledge. People would claim to be offering heavenly wisdom and knowledge, but if it contradicted the teaching of Jesus, it was false. Regardless of the seemingly logical and reasonable character of arguments, anything contradicting Jesus Christ is false, and to be rejected.

Thankfully, Paul had confidence in the Colossians’ willingness and ability to oppose false teachings, though. He follows up his warning about persuasive arguments with his encouragement to them that he’s still rejoicing in them. There are two virtues they’re exercising that give him delight to see, even though he’s “absent in body” (v. 5). They first possess “discipline,” and secondly, “stability” (v. 5). The term rendered “good discipline” in the Greek was often used to describe the diligent, careful, and cooperative conduct of military units in their combat. Thus, he’s picturing the Colossians as a well ordered unit of soldiers who are following their orders, locking shields together, and marching forward in step, as they face the enemy. Second, he rejoices in “the stability” of their faith. Clearly, if they were exercising proper discipline in their everyday and corporate lives, then they had to have a stable faith in Jesus. Therefore, although Paul was concerned they’d be led astray from faith in the essential truths about Jesus, and from trust in Him alone for salvation, he still recognized that they’re basic trust was there. Nevertheless, as he goes on in chapter 2, he points out a few ways in which they’ve been persuaded that live in ways that contradict the gospel. But he prefaces his correction of them with praise for what’s good about their character.

Struggle in Prayer for All Your Known Brethren and Rejoice in Their Faithfulness

From this passage, we can take a couple of cues from Paul and intensify our prayers and pleasures because of our brethren. First, we learn from his words that it doesn’t matter if you’ve personally met a brother or sister when you’re considering whether to pray intensely for them. We ought to have just as much concern for the encouragement, unity, and understanding of the brethren we’ve never met, as we do for those with whom we meet regularly. Further, we ought to always be concerned for our own, as well as our brethren’s, danger to being deluded by unbiblical, but persuasive, arguments for worldly ideas.

The second action we can take in response to Paul’s example is simply to rejoice in learning about any of our brethren’s discipline and solid faith in the Lord. We ought to take pleasure in the spiritual efforts of our brethren, regardless of what errors they hold or faults they have. Wherever they are, and whoever they are, anyone in Christ ought to be viewed by us as “the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight” (Ps. 16:3).

Now that we’ve seen Paul’s expression of his agony and joy in his Gentile brethren, we’ll next learn how he counseled the Colossians avoid being deceived by fine-sounding and reasonable ideologies and philosophies that contradicted the teachings about Jesus and His salvation.