This week,
we shall finish the study of the Book of Colossians in the New Testament.
1:24-27—Paul’s view of his suffering (imprisonment in Rome as a result of his persecution by the Jews which began in Jerusalem)
(1) His suffering is for “you” (meaning the Colossians): Paul has never met these Gentile believers in Colosse. Why then does he say that his suffering is for them? (See Rom. 11:13; Gal. 2:8)
(2) His suffering is to" fill up what is still lacking" in regard to Christ’s affliction in the flesh:
a. On whose behalf is he filling up this “lacking”? (v. 24b) (Note: “for the sake of” is literally “on behalf of”)
b. What does “filling up” mean?
(3) How then can he “rejoice” in this suffering? Can you, if you were Paul?
(4) Paul says he has become a servant (or minister) of the church, commissioned by God. (v. 25)
a. What is his charge? (v. 25b)
b. Why is the gospel called a “mystery”? (v. 26)
c. In particular, Paul points out that the essence of this mystery, which is now revealed even among the Gentiles, is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (v. 27)
- Why does Paul call this mystery “glorious riches”?
- What does this “mystery” mean to you now?
1:28–2:3—Paul’s Strenuous Labor
(5) Paul’s ongoing ministry (1:28-29)
a. What is involved in his proclamation of this mystery of the gospel?
b. Why does such proclamation need to be done “with all wisdom”?
c. What is the ultimate goal of his ministry? (1:28b)
d. Why does he describe his effort as “strenuous labor or struggle”? (1:29a)
e. Where does the power of his ministry come from? (1:29b)
(6) Paul is not one who wishes to brag about his labor. Why then would he want all those he has not met (the Colossians and also the Laodicean believers) to know how hard he has struggled for them? (2:1)
(7) How hard has Paul struggled for these Gentile believers?
(8) The ultimate goal of his labor is for the Gentile believers (2:2-3)
a. To be encouraged (or comforted) in heart and joined (or knitted) together in love
- What might threaten their heart and unity in love?
- How does Paul’s labor serve to help them in these aspects?
b. And this will lead to all riches of “full assurance of understanding” and “full knowledge of the mystery of God”.
- What does it mean?
- Why does Paul say that in Christ "are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge"?
- Have you found this to be true? How?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
2:4-15—Standing firm in Christ
(1) What is the purpose of the preceding deliberation in which Paul affirms the supremacy of Christ (1:15-22) and the mystery of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (1:25-27)? (v.4)
(2) What does Paul desire to see the church become (especially in the case of the church in Colosse as he could not be there with them)? (v. 5)
(3) Paul
reminds them of the centrality of Christ in their faith. What are they to understand in the following areas?
a. Who Jesus Christ is to them (v. 6)
b. What or who is the foundation on which they should be built up and strengthened (v. 7a)
c. The kind of teaching they should adhere to (v. 7b)
d. The result of continuing to walk (or live) in Christ (v. 7c)
(4) What do those who promote heretical, fine-sounding arguments seek to do to them? (v. 8)
(5) Paul calls those arguments “philosophy” (v. 8)
a. What kind of philosophy is it?
b. What is it based on?
c. What is it not based on?
(6) Why our faith should be based on Christ alone (vv. 9-15):
a. Who is Christ? Is He God or man? (v. 9)
b. Since the “incarnate” Christ is 100% man (in bodily form) and 100% God, what does it mean to us that we are “in Christ”? (v. 10)
c. What has been accomplished concerning us by being in Christ includes:
- We were circumcised (vv. 11-12)
a) How?
b) What effect does it have on our old self?
c) What does our baptism signify? (v. 12; see Note below)
- We have been made alive with Christ (vv. 13-15)
a) Being alive in Christ is made possible by the forgiveness of all our sins. What does it include? (v. 14)
b) How have these charges which condemned us been cancelled? (v. 14b)
c) Who was behind the hanging of Christ on the cross?
d) What did these spiritual evil powers and authorities think they had accomplished when Christ was hung on the cross?
e) As it turned out, what victory has Christ achieved by His death on the cross and His resurrection? (v. 15)
(7) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
Baptism itself as a rite only signifies what has happened to us when we “received Christ Jesus as Lord” (2:6)—our union with Christ in His death and in His resurrection (Romans 6:2ff). Since in the early churches, receiving Christ Jesus as Lord is inseparable from immediate baptism, it is always mentioned in the same breath.
2:16-19—The Heresies of Observance of Religious festivals
(1) Why would people judge the Gentile believers by their non-observance of the OT rites and festivals?
(2) Why should Christians (Jewish or otherwise) not celebrate any religious festivals or rituals of the OT? (v. 17; also see Heb. 10:1-18)
(3) What if we continue to observe such OT rituals? (v. 18)
(4) What does Paul say their motives in so doing are? (v. 18b)
(5) Such actions will lead to a loss of connection to the Head (v. 19):
a. Does it mean that the body (the church) will lose its function?
b. Do these false teachers show that they in fact “have no true part in that body” (Bruce, 123)?
2:20-23—The Heresies of Observance of Rules
(6) Why would our unity with Christ in His death also mean our death from those elements of the world? (v. 20)
(7) These elements of the world are called “rules” and include "do not handle, do not taste and do not touch":
a. The objects of these three “don’ts” are things that are destined to perish with use (v. 21). What might they be?
b. Why does Paul say these (negative) rules indeed have an appearance of wisdom?
c. Why does Paul say that they are in fact “self-imposed worship and false humility” which really do not work in helping us restrain sensual indulgence?
d. What might be examples of these three “don’ts”?
e. Is Paul against self-discipline or setting negative rules to foster a false sense of humility or holiness? Why?
f. What might be contemporary examples of these useless “prohibitions” among Christians?
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
In contrast to living by rules and regulations, what really matters is what we think and Paul begins his exhortation on these bases:
3:1-4—Where We Are
(1) Where is Christ now as He has been raised from the dead? (v. 1)
(2) What does it mean that He is “seated at the right hand of God”? (see Ps. 110:1 also)
(3) Since we have been united with Christ in His resurrection, where is our life now? (v. 3)
(4) What is meant by our life being “hidden with Christ in God”?
(5) When will our “hidden” life appear? (v. 4)
(6) How then should we live? (vv. 1-2)
3:5-11—Set Our Minds not on Earthly Things
(7) Paul lists some of the things that belong to our earthly nature in vv. 5-6:
a. Examine yourself in light of these.
b. Ask God for forgiveness and pray for strength to put them to death.
c. If “because of these, the wrath of God is coming”, what will happen if He finds you living in these things?
(8) Paul lists a few more things that once marked our lives in vv. 8-9
a. Examine yourself in light of these.
b. Ask God for forgiveness and pray for strength to rid yourself of these.
(9) What analogy does Paul use in exhorting us to be rid of the old and put on the new? (v. 10)
(10) While clothes can be put off and on, this new life in Christ is permanent:
a. What is the goal of this process of renewal? (v. 10)
b. Is there anyone not created in God’s image and not meant to be renewed in His image? (v. 11; see Jas. 3:9)
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
3:12-15—Set Minds on Things Above—Paul lists several qualities of God’s people whose minds are set on things above.
(1) Examine yourself in light of the following realities:
(a) We are God’s chosen people.
(b) We are a holy people.
(c) We are dearly loved by God .What does each of these three realities have to do with the following qualities:
a. Compassion
b. Kindness
c. Humility
d. Gentleness
e. Patience
f. Bearing with each other
g. Forgiveness — See Paul’s explanation in v. 13.
h. Love — How important is love in this respect? (v. 14)
(2) Can you tell what is the commonality of all these qualities listed by Paul?
(3) All the above qualities clearly relate to church-life—life together in Christ.
a. What does Paul exhort us to use as a “gauge” to see if we have truly lived out true love in our lives together in Christ? (v. 15)
b. How does it work?
3:16-17—The Path to Peace
(4) What does Paul use to describe the church-life of his time? (v. 16b)
(5) Do these modes of fellowship describe your life together with your brothers and sisters in church?
(6) What part does the word of Christ play in all these? (v. 16a)
(7) Why should we do everything “in the name of the Lord”? (presumably the context is still about church life)
(8) Why does Paul in this short section of exhortation repeatedly emphasize the need to give thanks (vv. 15-17)? What if we do all of the above as exhorted by Paul in our “life together” without a sense of thankfulness to the Lord?
(9) What is the main message to you today, and how may you apply it to your life?
3:18–4:1—Household Relationships in Christ—Unlike his letter to the Ephesians (5:22– 6:9), Paul only briefly touches on household relationships in Christ in this letter to the Colossians. It is not that it lacks importance, but rather it is not the letter's main purpose. Let’s consider each of these relationships briefly:
(1) Husband and Wife (vv. 18-19)
a. What is Paul’s emphasis to the wives?
b. In what way it is “fitting in the Lord”?
c. What is Paul’s emphasis to the husbands?
d. In what way(s) do husbands tend to be harsh on their wives?
e. Can a husband still claim that he loves his wife if he is harsh to her? Why or why not?
(2) Children and Parents (vv. 20-21)
a. What is the emphasis to the children concerning obedience?
b. Why will this please the Lord?
c. Why is Paul’s emphasis on not embittering your children directed to “fathers” in particular?
d. What is the reason given for this emphasis?
(3) Slaves and Masters (3:22–4:1)
a. Slaves really do not have a choice but to fully obey their masters. How should Christian slaves differ from non-Christian slaves in their obedience to their “lords in the flesh” (literal translation of “earthly masters”)?
b. While slaves do not have any inheritance from their “lords in the flesh”, what about their service to the “Lord Christ”?
c. How may we apply this admonition in our attitude at work?
d. What is Paul’s emphasis to the masters? (4:1)
e. What is the basis of his admonition?
f. How may we apply this admonition to our attitude at work?
4:2-6—Final Words of Exhortation
(4) About our prayer life (vv. 2-4)
a. We have to devote ourselves to prayer. What does it mean? How would it look like to you?
b. Can you describe your prayers as watchful? Why or why not? (See the example of a lack of watchfulness in prayer and its consequences in Matt. 26:36-46.)
c. What is the importance of being thankful in our prayers?
d. What does Paul ask them to intercede for? Why?
e. How consistent is your intercessory life? (Have you taken advantage of the intercessory chart at the end of this devotional material?)
(5) Dealing with outsiders, i.e. non-believers (vv. 5-6)
a. What does “make the most of every opportunity” (literal translation of “redeeming the time") have to do with acting wisely toward non-believers? (You may want to consult the Meditative Reflection of Ephesians 5:8-20 [Year 5, Week 10, Day 67].)
b. How does the admonition of v.6 echo that of Peter in 1 Peter 3:15?
(6) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
The final greetings by Paul involve quite a few of his co-workers in Rome and by considering each of them, we can have a glimpse of the team of leaders of the early churches surrounding Paul. Since Paul was in prison, their identification with him at this time necessarily involved some risks.
(1) Tychicus (vv. 7-8)—Read Acts 20:4, Ephesians 6:21-22; 2 Timothy 4:12 and Titus 3:12.
a. How long has he been with Paul?
b. What does Paul call him?
c. What is the purpose of Paul using him as the bearer of this letter (and likely the letter to Ephesus, Laodicea and Philemon)?
(2) Onesimus (v. 9)—He is slave who ran away from one of the members of the Colossian church. Paul has written a separate letter to this member (Philemon) to urge him to take the slave (Onesimus) back because of his conversion to Christ (Phlm. 10).
a. What pressure does Paul exert on Philemon by mentioning the name of Onesimus so publicly?
b. Why is it important for the entire church, not just Philemon, to receive Onesimus as one of them?
(3) Aristarchus (v. 10a)—Read Acts 19:29; 20:4
a. What has he gone through with Paul?
b. What does Paul call him here in v. 10?
(4) Mark (v. 10b)
a. Who is Mark according to this verse?
b. How did Paul look upon him after their first missionary journey together? (see Acts 15:36-41)
c. How does Paul eventually look upon him? (See Paul’s final letter before his death—2 Tim. 4:11.)
d. What lesson can we learn from Paul’s relationship with Mark?
(5) Justus (v. 11)—We know nothing about Justus apart from this letter.
a. Together with Mark and likely Aristarchus, Paul says they are the only “circumcision” (literal translation) among his co-workers in Rome who have proved to be a “comfort” to him. What does Paul mean?
b. What might other Jewish Christians in Rome do to Paul? (see Phil. 1:17)
(6) Epaphras (vv. 12-13)
a. Who is he according to 1:7?
b. What does this greeting mean to the Colossians especially given what Paul says about him?
(7) Luke and Demas (v. 14)
a. This is the only place the profession of Luke is mentioned. What has his companionship meant to Paul and the gospel?
b. While Demas is mentioned here as part of the greeting-senders, what does Paul say of him in his final letter before his execution? (2 Tim. 4:9)
(8) From the above list of greetings, what can you learn about what each has meant to Paul at a time like this?
(9) A circular letter (vv. 15-16)
a. From these verses, we know that most, if not all of Paul’s letters are meant to be circular letters read by many churches. Why do you think some of these letters are not extant?
b. We also learn that many of the churches in Paul’s time are house-churches—with no specialized ministries like ours. How does this fact speak to what might be the things that ultimately define a church of Jesus Christ?
(10) Archippus (v.17)—It is not a greeting per se, but a word of admonition.
a. What does Paul admonish him to do?
b. While we have no idea what ministry Paul is referring to, why does Paul have to single him out so publicly?
(11) Paul usually authenticates his letters by ending with his own hand-writing. (see 1 Cor. 16:21 and 2 Thess. 3:17)
a. What is the importance of such authentication?
b. “Remember my chains” is essentially the last words of Paul in this letter. How does it express the inner struggle of Paul at the time?
(12) As we reach the end of the letter, take a moment to reflect:
a. What is your overall impression of the letter?
b. What is the main message to you today and
c. How may you apply it to your life?