NOTES for Col 4:1-18
1 Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven. |
2 Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; |
3 Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: |
4 That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. |
5 Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. |
6 Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. |
7 All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellowservant in the Lord: |
8 Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts; |
9 With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known unto you all things which are done here. |
10 Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him;) |
11 And Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These only are my fellowworkers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me. |
12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. |
13 For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis. |
14 Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you. |
15 Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house. |
16 And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. |
17 And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it. |
18 The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace be with you. Amen. |
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Paul concludes the discussion of the Kingdom and spiritual life in his letter to the Colossian Christians with a call to prayer, so that when witness is required, everyone, including the apostle himself, may prove to be a worthy witness (vv. 2-6). This call of Paul's echoes another, in which the apostle calls his Colossian brothers to keep the word of Christ (Col. 3:16). Such a call is quite traditional with regard to the understanding of the sacred text and its role in spiritual life. Indeed, in Paul's day the rabbinic tradition saw in the Torah not only a text that required study and fulfillment, but also a way of communion with God and knowledge of God, which reading the Torah was for the believing Jew. Normal and full spiritual life required everyone to cultivate in his heart what was called the inner Torah: the spiritual core of the person, based on the practice of keeping the commandments and bearing witness to faithfulness to God and to the Torah, not only by word but by one's whole life.
Paul, however, as it appears, transfers this traditional idea of the inner Torah to those relationships of the faithful with Christ without which there is no Christianity. The inner Torah was always thought of as something inseparable from constant communion with God, so much so that in the Gospel era rabbinic circles even discussed the question of whether unceasing prayer was obligatory for the believing Jew. Paul also advises the Colossian Christians to remain constantly in prayer, perhaps having in mind some practice of this kind (v. 2).
Yet in this case the apostle considered the chief task to be not only the formation of the inner Torah in the hearts of his addressees, but also their rooting in the life of the Kingdom. This was the continuation of the former tradition, newly understood in the light of the new messianic revelation and the experience of the life of the Kingdom. And now the faithful were called to bear witness not only to their faithfulness to God and to the Torah, but also to the Kingdom of which they had become partakers. The apostle calls his Colossian brothers to such witness, considering it the chief task of every Christian in our transforming world, which has not yet been transformed to the end.
Readings for 5 August 2025
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