Paul’s ministry included Christians like the Colossians who he had never seen face to face. He had a great struggle for them in care, desire, and prayer (vv. 1-3). He was concerned lest someone deceive them (v. 4, “delude”), and he was rejoicing in their discipline and stability (v. 5). Paul is a model for all of us in many ways, but here, we see the model of pastoral concern. While we may not all be pastors, it does show us how we can care for others well.
1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument. 5 For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ. (NASB)
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- As Paul struggled for those he never met, so we too should care for and pray for our Christian brothers and sisters around the globe.
- Our commitment to Christ will lead us to a more mature understanding of God and His ways in Christ
- True knowledge and wisdom is not just available to a select few but is available to all who believe and pursue Jesus
Closer Look
Verse 1: Paul’s struggling (agōna; cf. 1:29; 4:12) was not limited to those he personally knew; it extended to all who have not personally seen his face. This is a clear indication that Paul had not started this or other churches in the Lycus Valley.[1] The mention of Laodicea (cf. 4:16) indicates that the heresy had spread there too, though it was probably centered in Colosse. Laodicea was a sister city of Colosse about eleven miles away. The two churches were to share their letters from Paul (4:16). As Paul applied his ministry to the Colossians, he began with the struggle. This struggle was emotional rather than physical (as was the case in 1:24). The use of the same word to describe it, however, demonstrates Paul’s total involvement with them.
Verses 2–3: The three purpose statements are progressive, but each expresses various aspects of the one hope. They may be understood as the purpose, the intermediate goal, and the ultimate goal. Paul’s stated purpose was that their hearts might be encouraged, and they are “knit together” (united)[2] in love.
The intermediate goal develops the idea further. Paul’s encouragement envisioned a full understanding. He called it the “riches of complete understanding.” Here Paul spoke of the benefits of a full understanding. There were spiritual riches reserved for those who encourage each other and have a strong commitment to the body of Christ. Confidence and strength of conviction as well as cohesive unity yield a full understanding of the truth. There is no full knowledge apart from moral commitment.[3]
Complete understanding (syneseōs)[4] results from complete dependence (or yielding). And this understanding is Christocentric. This insight into God’s ways enables believers to truly know (epignōsin) Jesus. The ultimate goal, for Paul, was to “know the mystery of God, namely Christ” in the fellowship of the church. The statement is comprehensive, involving a complete knowledge of Christ. Christ, as the true mystery of God, reveals God to humanity (cf. John 1:18; Heb. 1:2–3). Though the false teachers at Colosse spoke of initiating people into a superior knowledge, Paul tells his readers that they can understand the mystery (1:26, 27) of God without this false philosophy. The Gnostics sought knowledge as an end in itself, but Paul reminds the Colossians that true knowledge will demonstrate itself by bringing people together in Christian love in the church.
For in Jesus are hidden (cf. Col. 1:26) all the treasures of wisdom (sophia, cf. 1:9)[5] and knowledge.[6] “Knowledge is the apprehension of truth; wisdom is its application to life. Knowledge is prudent judgment and wisdom is prudent action.”[7] Both knowledge and wisdom are found in Christ (cf. Rom. 11:33; 1 Cor. 12:8) whose wisdom is seen as foolishness to the world (1 Cor. 1:21–25), but it is because of Christ, who became for us the wisdom of God, by which a believer receives “righteousness, holiness, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). The people of Colossae were seeking knowledge. However, the heresy threatened to substitute a pseudo-knowledge for the riches of the treasures of wisdom found in Christ. If they were to find real knowledge and, as some taught, salvation through it, they had to find it in a commitment to Christ. Their common commitment to Christ and to each other would lead them in love to a more mature understanding of God and His ways in Christ.
Notice how Paul joins the God the Father and Jesus Christ together, emphasizing their common deity and unity. The Gnostics would view Jesus only as an emanation from the Father, sharing a portion of the attributes of deity. Paul not only emphasizes Jesus’ deity but also explains that He possesses all wisdom and knowledge. The Gnostics thought only certain “knowledgeable” people could join their elite group; Paul teaches that every believer has access to complete wisdom found in Christ
Verses 4–5: Only this full knowledge and wisdom of Christ can keep a believer from being deceived by persuasive arguments (pithanologia).[8] Truth and persuasion do not always correlate. Do not let the persuasive but deceptive words of false teachers lead you from the true wisdom in Christ. Theologically, Paul was concerned that the Colossians not be deceived by “fine-sounding arguments.” Thus, they were to grow in the knowledge of Christ to avoid the deceitful traps of heretical arguments. “These heretical arguments came in the appearance of deeper theology. In reality, they were subtle inroads of heresy.”[9]
Paul could not be with the Colossians in person, but he felt a strong spiritual tie to them. They were his spiritual children, though they were not directly his converts. Consequently, even though Paul was absent from the Colossians, he delighted in how disciplined (“orderly,” cf. 1 Cor. 14:40) and how stable (firm, steadfast, solid) their faith in Christ was. Although Paul did not know the Colossians and Laodiceans personally, his strong feelings for them and the glowing report from Epaphras made him feel present with them in spirit.
Because today’s passage was a bit shorter, I want to take this time to talk more about a couple of important issues we saw in chapter one.
- “Firstborn” (prototokos; Strong’s 4416; Col 1:15; Rom 8:29; Heb 1:6)
- In the fourth century, Arius, a preacher from Alexandria, Egypt, taught that Christ was a created being. He was greater than the rest of the creation but lesser than God himself. Arius hoped this position would protect Christianity from the charge of polytheism. This position was condemned in the church in a.d. 325. Even still today, Arius’s position has refused to die and lives on in several groups. He understood this text to teach that Jesus was the firstborn (part) of the creation (whole). Arius argued that even though Jesus was unique among created beings, he was still created. According to Arius, Jesus occupied the strange position of being “created creator.”
- The first part of this word (proto) can indicate “first in time” (temporal priority) or “first in place” (preeminence). In this context, preeminence is at the forefront. It occurs 130 times in the LXX, normally with the primary meaning of primogeniture. Used this way, it expressed the first birth of men or animals. “Moreover, the phrase carriers either an active or passive sense, bearer of one born, here the former.”[10] Thus, Jesus, the Son of Man, is the “chiefbearer” of all God’s creatures. In Exodus 4:22; Deuteronomy 21:16-17; and Psalm 89:23, the Greek OT prototokos is used to express the idea of preeminence and first cause. It often expressed a special relationship with God the Father, one of privilege. This is certainly the meaning in such passages as Ps 89:27, where David is called the “firstborn” among the kings of the earth. In the New Testament, the word occurs only eight times. It is clearly used literally of “firstborn” (primogeniture) only once. The rest of the occurrences are figurative, and they are far removed from any idea of birth. This designation in no way indicates that God created Jesus; the verse moreover asserts that all things were created in, through, and for Christ. As a participant in the creation of all things, Christ cannot be a created being. Instead, He is the Son of God, the second person of the Godhead, who has existed from eternity. The term “firstborn” distances Jesus from creation rather than subsumes him under it. Therefore, the point is that Jesus is the firstborn (preeminent) with reference to the creation, just as later Paul argued that Jesus was preeminent “out of the dead.”
- In Colossians 1:15-18, Paul presents Jesus as the cosmic Christ, Creator of the universe, Sustainer of earth and all of its ecological systems, and Ruler over the competing power networks of the world. This is quite a contrast from Jesus the Servant, as presented in Philippians 2:5-8, where He is Lord of the personal and the private, the One who speaks to someone’s heart. In Colossians, Paul proposes Jesus as the Lord of the public who transcends individual needs to deal with global concerns. These are not two different Messiahs, but the same Messiah, that is, Jesus who is Lord of All. And His rule over both domains, the public and the private, suggests the kinds of activities in which His followers need to engage. On one side, Christ lives in us to transform us personally. He wants to affect our individual lives, including our jobs, families, local communities, and personal relationships. On the other side, Christ is at work globally, using people to transform societies and their systems, confront principalities and powers, and work for public justice and human rights.[11]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Norman L. Geisler, “Colossians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 677.
[2] Strong’s 4822. Unite, cause to be a unit.
[3] Norman L. Geisler, “Colossians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 677.
[4] Strong’s 4907. BDAG “the content of understanding or comprehension, insight, understanding”
[5] Strong’s 4678. BDAG “the capacity to understand and function accordingly.” This includes natural wisdom and transcendent wisdom.
[6] Knowledge is gnosis (Strong’s 1108). It means a comprehension or intellectual grasp of something. Or the content of what is known, knowledge.
[7] Norman L. Geisler, “Colossians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 677.
[8] Also translated as plausible or fine-sounding. Occurring only here in the NT, is literally, “persuasive speech” that uses plausible but false arguments
[9] Melick, Richard R. “Colossians,” in The New American Commentary. N.p.. Nashville, Tenn: Broadman Press, 1991.
[10] Earl D. Radmacher, Ronald B. Allen, H. Wayne House, eds., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville: Nelson, 1999), 1562.
[11] Earl D. Radmacher, Ronald B. Allen, H. Wayne House, eds., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville: Nelson, 1999), 1563.