Divine Rescue – Colossians 1:1-14
We mentioned last week from Luke 7 that Jesus has the solution to man’s problems and you and I, just like the centurion did with his servant, need to go to Jesus – or bring our friends to Jesus – to find that solution.
The letter of Colossians is about that solution. But I want to approach this study in a different way. I’m going to show you how to study the letter of Colossians and how to unpack the information that is found in it.
We will eventually end up, Wednesday, in 1:9-12 (as an example). But before we get there, we need to follow a process of studying the Scriptures.
FIRST, READ THE WHOLE LETTER THROUGH AT ONE TIME:
Ideally, you read the whole book of the Bible, the whole letter through, entirely, all at one time. You really should read it more than once – maybe 4 or 5 times. It took me under ten minutes to read Colossians. As you read it through, you pick up more and more items and see the flow of thought better and better. As you read, you want to ask yourself these questions:
1. Who is the author?
2. Who are the recipients?
3. Why does the author write this letter? Does he give a purpose statement somewhere?
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5. What are some key words that “jump out” at you, words that are used over and over again?
SECOND, THE PROBLEM THE COLOSSIANS WERE HAVING:
Once you have read the letter, you will be able to answer these questions:
The author is the apostle Paul – 1:1 and his associate minister, Timothy. Notice in verse 1 that Paul identifies himself immediately as an apostle. You would think that Paul identifies himself as an apostle in order to emphasize the authority that he had as an apostle. We could do further study on Paul as an apostle and his life and work but we will assume that we have a fair amount of knowledge in that area right now.
As we read the letter, we also realize that Paul did not establish the church in Colossae. Colossae is a village found in the Lycus Valley, about 100 miles inland from the city of Ephesus. Paul had been in the city of Ephesus several times; we read about that in the book of Acts. But, we do not read about Paul being in the village of Colossae. Notice in 2:1, Paul refers to Christians in Colossae and in another neighboring village, Laodicea, who had not seen him personally. Also, in 1:7 Paul mentions a man named Epaphras from whom the Colossians had learned the truth. So, Epaphras is the one who established the church of Jesus Christ in Colossae. Perhaps Epaphras had been in Ephesus at some point and been converted by the apostle Paul.
That gives us a little introduction to this letter. We’ll answer more of the questions tomorrow. Read Paul’s letter through again!
–Paul Holland
