Colossians Overview
September 19, 2012
Oak Park Baptist Church – Wed Bible Study Series
Colossians 1-4 (Overview/Introductory Sermon/Teaching)
Colossians 1:23 [NLT]
23But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.
Let’s look at the book of Colossians and look at some of the facts behind the book… facts we can know from the book itself… and other Scriptures as well…
Who wrote the book?
In His greeting Paul states that he was the one writing this letter. (Col 1:1)… NLT states, “…this letter is from Paul…” HCSB states, “…Paul, an apostle… to the saints in Colossae…” implying a message from Paul to these believers!
There is overwhelming evidence for Paul’s authorship and it is generally accepted throughout Christian scholarship that Paul is the author of this letter to the church in Colossae.
We also see Paul closing his letter in 4:18 with this statement:
“…Here is my greeting in my own handwriting…” [NLT]
“…This greeting is in my own hand—Paul…” [HCSB]
Now we also know something else of importance about Paul and the church in Colossae. In Col 2:1 Paul reveals that he had never been to their city… meaning this was NOT a church Paul had started directly, but we find that it is a church possibly started by someone who met Paul and was mentored by Paul in Ephesus…
I believe that in this letter to the Colossian believers, Paul was hoping to develop a personal connection with these believers. I believe that these were people that Paul truly hoped to one day teach and serve with them in person!
When we get to the end of this letter we find an even more personal tone… this transition in tone by Paul is especially significant in creating that connection with the Colossian believers.
ESPECIALLY since a main focus of Paul’s letter… a main reason for Paul’s writing this letter was to call the heretical teachers who had infiltrated the Colossian church…and were obviously gaining influence within the church in Colossae.
So we can rest assured that it was Paul who wrote this letter… from his greeting to his salutation to the style of teaching and challenge that he gives his readers… this letter has Paul written all over it!
Where are we (Dating the text)?
Most scholars place the writing of Colossian around AD 60–61, OR during Paul’s 1st imprisonment in Rome. Paul penned this letter to the Colossian church after he had received a report that they were struggling with a Christological heresy.
This report came from Epaphras, likely a leader within the church of Colossae OR THE leader/pastor of the church at Colossae. Epaphras was actually a convert to Christ because of Paul’s more than two-year ministry in Ephesus.
Epaphras had come to Rome in part to serve Paul during his imprisonment (Philemon 1:23) but also to confide in him regarding the dangerous teachings the Colossians were hearing.
So Paul sent this letter was sent, with Tychicus who was accompanied by the former runaway slave Onesimus…
They took this letter to Colossae as well as other letters from Paul… one to his friend Philemon and another addressed to the Church at Ephesus (Colossians 4:7; Philemon 1:10–12).
We can know that Paul was very meticulous about teaching those in the church the right and proper way to live for Christ, but Paul knew he could not go, so Paul sends a trusted friend and fellow minister, Tychicus!
Tychicus was a coworker of Paul who would have been able to help the Colossian believers understand and apply the apostle’s teachings in the letter.
All of these events fall into the time line we set for the dating of this letter which was between 60-61AD…
Why is Colossians so important?
So what makes Colossians worth of being included within Scripture? Well Paul was an apostle, one who had seen and learned from Jesus.
Paul’s time with Jesus came AFTER the resurrection… Paul’s time with Jesus came on the Damascus road! Paul was considered an apostle after this experience… it took some longer than others to accept him, but Paul was eventually accepted by all believers to be a leader within Christianity.
AND… this letter was tremendously important for at least 2 reasons… FIRST it was important to the church in Colossae, as they needed wise, godly counsel at a time of influx within their fellowship.
BUT… this letter transcends time because of the truth that is revealed… the Holy Spirit moved Paul to write and because of that, Paul’s letter to the Colossian church ALSO carries great weight with all believers from all times…
In fact, Paul encourages the church to share his letter with the church in Laodocia and that they are to get the letter he sent to them and read it for themselves!
The letter to the Laodocians has never been recovered and we don’t know what it said, but we can rest assured that God has provided all we need in teaching through the letter to the Colossians.
The believers/church in Colossae had faced a spiritual nightmare and in this letter Paul is giving them a road map to escape that nightmare…
The church at Colossae was under attack from false teachers who were demeaning the divinity of Jesus; they were teaching that Jesus was not actually God. Paul clarifies the proper teaching of Christa and encourages them to NEVER forget who Jesus is and what Jesus has done!
Now although Paul had never been to the church itself, he addressed their issues head-on, just as if he was their pastor.
Paul teaches that the nature of Jesus Christ as Creator and Redeemer was a nonnegotiable item of belief! Paul wrote this letter to these believers so that he might bring his wisdom to bear on this very difficult and trying situation.
It was critical to him that this church know God in His greatness and glory, rather than in the deficient view given them by the false teachers (Col 1:25; 2:1–2.)
What’s the big idea?
In this book, the apostle Paul describes Jesus with some of the loftiest language in all the NT. Here Paul is focusing on the preeminence and sufficiency of Christ in all things.
Paul presented Christ as the center of the universe, not only as the active Creator but also as the recipient of creation—in His taking on of human flesh.
Christ was and is the visible image of the invisible God, containing within Himself the fullness of Deity (Colossians 2:9).
Because of His divine nature, Jesus is sovereign, above all things with an authority given Him by the Father. As such, Jesus is also Head over the church.
But Jesus had also reconciled all things to Himself through His death on the cross, making believers alive to God and setting them on the path to right living.
This proper view of Christ served as the antidote for the Colossian heresy as well as a building block for Christian life and doctrine both then and now.
Simple Outline of Colossians:
Chapter 1
Greetings
Prayer for Spiritual Growth
The Centrality of Christ
Paul’s Description of His Ministry
Chapter 2
Paul’s Description of His Ministry (cont.)
Christ vs Colossian Heresy
Chapter 3
The ‘new’ man/person we are in Christ
Living OUT your Christianity in the world
Living OUT your Christianity begins at home
Chapter 4
Importance of Prayer
Wisdom in speaking with others
Christian love/greetings to friends
So, preacher what does this mean to me today, how do I apply this to my life?
How can we apply what Paul is teaching here? What does this mean for our lives? Well, think about it for a moment… as a believer your view of who Jesus Christ is will impact every area of your life.
There are many people today who want only practical instruction and helps for living life… They stay away from things that may focus on what they may deem as too spiritual… topics like doctrine OR theology. They do this because they are out of touch with their day-to-day reality.
BUT… Paul’s view was different… Paul saw the problems in the Colossian church and most of them were about the importance of knowing just who Jesus was and just what Jesus had done…
Paul understood that their view of Christ was not limited to the spiritual realm or doctrinal theology but it also carried with is some very practical importance as well.
Paul emphasized that believers had died with Christ; therefore, we need to die to our sins.
Paul also taught that as believers we have also been raised with Christ and through His power; therefore, we must live as Christ and called us to live!
Paul teaches here in this letter that for the believer to be well in Christ that the believer must learn to put on qualities that Christ-like… put on the qualities that are not geared toward a prideful spirit but instead are motivated by our mutual Christian love for Christ and each other.
Paul also teaches that because Jesus is Lord over all that the life of the Christian is a life of submission to Him. Because of Jesus’ example before us… we are called to live a life of submission to God’s will in our lives as well.
Paul lays out some extremely tremendous teachings on how we should be living out our Christian lives… So I want us to dive into this book… it is only 4 chapters in length so it should not be a problem for you to sit down in ONE sitting and read thru the entire book…
I want to challenge ALL of you here tonight, and any who may be listening to this teaching via the internet to read thru the entire book of Colossians at least one time per week while we are studying this book…
Then as we read and dive into each area that Paul teaches we can begin to address the important questions, such as:
Are you following after Jesus as you should?
Does my life reflect the life of Christ?
Is my faith live OUT for the world to see it and know what it is?
You see, our faith in Jesus Christ should radically transform EVERY relationship we have in EVERY area of our life!
We should be transformed by Jesus in every way and in every facet of our lives…The transformation should be evident within our private lives, our work environment, our school, our social arena and our churches, and even in the world around us…
