Colossians 1 - The Most Important Doctrine. Jesus is 100% God and 100% Man!

Introduction to the Book of Colossians by Charles Swindoll, Insight for Living

Please read this introduction before we begin walking through the book of Colossians. Knowing Paul's context for this letter will be super helpful as we unpack each chapter

Colossians 1 - New International Version

Enduring Word Commentary, David Guzik

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

Paul had never visited the Colossians, and he wrote this letter from prison about 60-61 A.D. The Colossian church was located in modern day Turkey, near Galatia in Asia Minor. Paul also includes Timothy his trusted colleague in ministry. Paul ends his introduce as he normally does saying, "Grace and peace to you from God our Father." 

Grace and peace are two of the greatest gifts in the Christian faith. Grace is the unmerited favor given to us from God through Jesus. Peace is a gift that is an antidote to anxiety and also prevents us from fear. 

Thanksgiving and Prayer

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant,[c] who is a faithful minister of Christ on our[d] behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

Paul starts by telling them he prays for them. Do you pray for other churches besides your own? Please pray for the church in Nigeria as it has the highest number of those who are being persecuted and killed for their faith in Jesus. 

Though Paul has never visited or met them, he has still love for them, which is given to us from Christ for each other. Paul shares that the gospel is going out and bearing fruit throughout the whole world. The fruit of the gospel is people coming to faith in Jesus. When we preach the gospel faithfully God uses in through the Holy Spirit to give people faith in Jesus. 

Epaphras is most like the pastor to the Colossians. Epaphras is the source of the news he has received about what is happening in the church. It is from this report that Paul will address the issues confronting and threatening the church. 

“If you read this epistle through, you will observe that Paul frequently alludes to knowledge and wisdom. To the point in which he judged the church to be deficient he turned his prayerful attention. He would not have them ignorant. He knew that spiritual ignorance is the constant source of error, instability, and sorrow; and therefore he desired that they might be soundly taught in the things of God.” (Spurgeon)

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[e] 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[f] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Paul's prayers for the church are unceasing just as it is to every church he writes to. Paul is possibly the greatest apostle in the history of the church, and we see the key to his effectiveness was his prayer life. The only person he knew was Epaphras, yet he prayed for them as if he knew them intimately. This shows Paul's heart for all of the churches and all of the people of God. 

Paul's urges them to be filled with knowledge of God's will which is obtained through wisdom and given through the Holy Spirit. Notice this is a gift of the Holy Spirit, but we have to learn it and use it. Why? Paul says it best, 

"To live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God."

This is the Christian life in a nutshell. Jesus has made us worthy by what he did on the cross, but we always strive to live worthy of the call and gift of faith he has given us. Paul continually stresses to grow in knowledge. We often think knowledge is "head knowledge" but in the New Testament it is "experiential knowledge". Meaning knowledge which is acquired by doing, just like an apprentice learns knowledge of his craft by doing it under the tutelage of his master. 

This is why a great word for "discipleship" is also "apprenticeship". I.e. We are learning to do what Jesus would do if he were us. Therefore, the definition of a mature Christian would be someone who knows Jesus by doing what he had called us to do. 

Paul ends by using the language that we have dominion over darkness. Since Jesus conquered sin, death, and the devil once and for all on the cross, we have been delivered from darkness into the light of Christ. Jesus is sovereign over all things good and evil!

The Supremacy of the Son of God

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

 Paul now gives an eloquent explanation on the person and deity of Jesus. We call this doctrine called "Christology". This was every important to the church, because false teachers were slipping into the church denigrating the true nature of Christ. I.e. He was only a good teacher, not God. Therefore, you see in the above verses all of the attributes of Jesus related to His divine nature.

1. The image of the invisible God. 

2. The firstborn over all Creation. 

3. In him all things were created. 

4. He is all powerful and has more power than any other spiritual rulers or authorities. Why? Because they were created through and for him. These are angelic beings both good and bad. 

5. He is the head of the body. aka the Church.

6. He is the beginning and the firstborn from the dead. 

7. All of God's fulness dwells in him. 

8. He has made peace for all things, most important us, through his blood shed on a cross. 

I think you get the point. Paul has described how Jesus is truly God truly man in at least 8 different ways in five verses. Paul wanted to make abundantly clear that anybody who taught that Jesus was 100% God is a false teacher. 

Do you see how relevant this is for us today? There are some many false teachers and false religions out there today. They may acknowledge Jesus as a prophet or great teacher but if they don't acknowledge him as God it is heretical. 

The doctrinal truth that Jesus is 100% God and 100% man is probably the most important doctrine in the Christian faith. If there is compromise on either side what it is purporting is not Christian. 

21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of[g] your evil behavior. 22 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— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Paul emphasizes that Jesus' physical body died on the cross. Jesus could only die if he was 100% human. He didn't just appear to be human like the Gnostic heresies try to put forth. This is how we can be completely without blemish in God's sight because of Jesus' all sufficient work on the cross. 

Once again shows that the gospel is a free gift we receive in faith, but our gift back to God is continuing in your faith established and firm Him and never wavering in the hope we have in the gospel. One day this hope will become sight, which is guaranteed 100% by Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. 

The Christian faith is the only religion that purports this kind of doctrine. The literal and historical life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is the linchpin of what we believe, on which our faith stands or falls. Because of the birth of Jesus at Christ, the death of Jesus on Good Friday and the resurrection on Easter Sunday, one day faith will become sight. 

Paul’s Labor for the Church

24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering 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. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 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. 28 He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. 29 To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.

Not only did Jesus suffer for them but Paul did as well. His own suffering in prison showed how "sold-out he was for the gospel. Paul said that his suffering for Christ was ultimately for the church. Paul could withstand the suffering he was going through because of His call to bring the gospel to the whole world. 

I would urge you to memorize Colossians 3:28. Once again they are a summary of what it means to be a Christian. As a pastor I would also say this is what goal and purpose. 

"He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.

My job is to proclaim, admonish, and teach to present everyone fully mature in Christ. Being a fully mature Christian is the goal of the Christian life. We are all in process in this maturity process. As we grow in knowledge, grace, and the pursuing this goal for our life. We are certainly not perfect but as Paul says in Philippians 

"Forgetting what lies behind we press on to win the prize of the heavenly calling in Christ Jesus!"

Is your goal in life to become a fully mature Christian and live a life worthy of the calling you have been given in Christ?

In what area of your Christian life do you need to become more mature?

Find another person who has a similar goal and meet to encourage and pray for each other. We can't do this alone!