NOTES for Col 4:2

²Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;

Paul singles out one very important aspect of spiritual life: constancy. And, judging from the apostle's words, this should be constant thanksgiving. To people without faith, such a call sounds somewhat artificial: the demand to thank God for everything, even for what cannot in any way be called good for a person, seems unnatural to them, and often hypocritical.

Still, one has to admit that even a believer, if he remains within traditional religious boundaries, usually gives thanks for problems, hardships, and misfortunes, if he does so at all, with some strain and more out of religious duty. That is understandable: God does not want evil for a person and does not create it at all; any evil is the work of the hands and wills of those who either directly oppose God or ignore Him. Evil does not come from God, although at times He permits it to exist, and then the Bible speaks of such evil as "evil from God."

But even permission turns out not to be God's desire to do evil in order, for example, to punish someone, as religious consciousness sees the situation, but a consequence of the abuse of the freedom that God gives every being He has created who possesses self-awareness and therefore the ability to build a conscious relationship with Him. What, then, can a person thank God for when, as it appears, nothing good is happening in his life?

The answer may be Paul's mention of prayer, the very constancy in which he urges. Of course, if we treat prayer only as a religious duty, as words we are required to say to God some number of times a day, it can hardly help us, especially in a difficult situation. With that kind of prayer, what usually happens is what believers who find themselves in such a situation often complain about: there are already plenty of problems, there is no strength and no time, and now one still has to find time to pray...

But the apostle is plainly not speaking about that kind of prayer. He speaks of real prayer, the kind that involves the meeting of two wills, God's and human, in that inner space of a person where his spiritual life is born. This is something entirely different: such prayer opens another reality to a person, the reality of God's world, the reality of the Kingdom. And here there is always something for which to thank God. Here is the fullness of life, which is always with the one who prays and which no one will take away from him. A fullness for which thanksgiving is entirely natural, just as the apostle says.

Other notes

For Col 4:2-9

²Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;

³Withal 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:

⁴That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.

⁵Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.

⁶Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

⁷All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellowservant in the Lord:

⁸Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts;

⁹With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known unto you all things which are done here.

One of the first questions believers ask themselves is whether they should testify about Christ to unbelievers or “outsiders”... Read more

One of the first questions believers ask themselves is whether they should testify about Christ to unbelievers or “outsiders,” as the apostle Paul calls them in today’s reading. If they should testify, then how, and with what words? The apostle Paul answers these questions briefly and simply. First, he proposes that we always make use of the time, that is, let ourselves be guided by the specific circumstances. We should not regard unbelievers as an inert or aggressive mass, but, following Christ, address each particular person while taking account of his individual characteristics and problems. We should speak to each person in his own language, “wisely,” as the apostle writes. In another epistle Paul will write that he became “to those who are without law, as without law” (1 Cor. 9:19-23), and he calls his disciples to do the same. Second, Paul draws attention to the importance of how believers should address unbelievers. Speech with grace, seasoned with salt, is not empty argument, a desire to insist on one’s own way, or the destruction of everyone who disagrees. It is speech filled with truth, the speech of reason. Ultimately, it is the living Word that was in the beginning.

For Col 4:1-18

¹Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.

²Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;

³Withal 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:

⁴That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.

⁵Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.

⁶Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

⁷All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellowservant in the Lord:

⁸Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts;

⁹With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known unto you all things which are done here.

¹⁰Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him;)

¹¹And 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.

¹²Epaphras, 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.

¹³For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis.

¹⁴Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you.

¹⁵Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house.

¹⁶And 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.

¹⁷And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it.

¹⁸The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace be with you. Amen.

Like any letter, the Epistle to the Colossians ends with friendly wishes and instructions, greetings... Read more

Like any letter, the Epistle to the Colossians ends with friendly wishes and instructions, greetings from those who are near the Apostle, and brief news. Everything is as in an ordinary letter, apart from several aphoristic phrases that have become laws of Christian life. Again and again, Paul reminds us that a person's daily duty and need is prayer with thanksgiving—that is, unceasing communion with God, a dialogue in search of truth, and gratitude that this possibility has been given to us. We can continually contemplate the One who is Truth. Through this, our whole life is transformed into something wonderful and, as the Apostle puts it, we can conduct ourselves wisely toward outsiders.