NOTES for Col 1:1-23
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother, |
2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. |
3 We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, |
4 Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, |
5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; |
6 Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth: |
7 As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; |
8 Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit. |
9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; |
10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; |
11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; |
12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: |
13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: |
14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: |
15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: |
16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: |
17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. |
18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. |
19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; |
20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. |
21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled |
22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: |
23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; |
Hide
Beginning his letter to the church in Colossae, Paul as it were repeats anew the fundamental truths without which there is and can be no Christianity in its original sense, connected with the experience of the life of the Kingdom. It is no surprise that the center of his witness is the image of the Messiah-Christ, without whom Christianity as the experience of the Kingdom is impossible in principle (vv. 9-17). And if, according to traditional rabbinic ideas, the Messiah was conceived by God even before the creation of the world, then for Paul the Messiah becomes the One without whom the world is unthinkable, the One on whom it rests and who constitutes its true foundation (vv. 15-17).
Such a transformation of traditional ideas is entirely logical: if the Messiah contains all the fullness of the Kingdom (v. 19), and the Kingdom is the only real, true reality through which and for the sake of which everything else exists, then the Messiah Himself quite naturally becomes the foundation on which the universe rests.
But for Christians, whose main task is participation in the life of the Kingdom and then rooting themselves in it, the most important thing is the possibility, opened by Christ's coming into the world, of complete cleansing from sin, without which one cannot enter the Kingdom (vv. 13-14). In former times God cleansed His people from sin through purifying sacrifices, but such cleansing was not complete: one could be cleansed in this way only from a sin committed involuntarily, through ignorance or under compulsion. The blood of sacrificial animals, sanctified by God's presence, was not enough for more than that. Now every seeker of the Kingdom has the possibility of being cleansed from any sin, beginning his spiritual life anew and dedicating it to the path into the Kingdom.
For the apostle the Kingdom is nothing other than the union of heaven and earth; for him the Church turns out in this respect not even to be a prefiguration, but the form of the Kingdom's existence in our world, which is being transformed but is not yet transformed (vv. 18-20). No less important for Paul is the overcoming by seekers of the Kingdom of their own sinfulness, without which one cannot enter the Kingdom (vv. 21-23). The task of the Church is twofold: on the one hand, it must become the space of the Kingdom in the world being transformed; on the other hand, it must be a community of those being saved, a community of people walking the path of the Kingdom but still far from reaching the goal. The unfolding of the fullness of the Kingdom in our transforming world is inseparable from the spiritual formation of its inhabitants, and this process will be completed only at the end of time with the return of Christ.
Topics:
Readings for 30 July 2025
After registering, you can subscribe to any Bible reading plan. Personalized settings and other services for registered users are planned, so we recommend registering now. Registration is free. | ||
