Thursday, October 22, 2015

Studies in Colossians #5

Elaboration of Thanksgiving (1:4-8)
Part 1

James R. Gray

(a) Its Cause (1:4-5).
Since we heard” is a causal clause that gives the basis or reason for the thanksgiving.  This clause is an aorist participle indicating that Paul heard this prior to his praying.  It is because or on the basis of the report he took this action. Paul and Timothy did not know the Colossians personally, but the reports and reputation of the believers motivated their thanksgiving and prayer. By the time Paul writes this epistle there were more than likely a number of reports he had received about the Colossians, after all he spent over three years in the area, being at Ephesus. These reports may well have continued being received by him in Rome. Now under house arrest in Rome, he thinks back over those reports and praises God for them. He and Timothy rejoice over them.

C.F. Baker makes a very good practical observation about Paul’s methodology in this greeting.  He writes:
Paul’s psychology, if we may call it that, is always to commend the saints for their good points, before bringing up any weaknesses or failures on their part.  When we begin by attacking people whom we feel are going astray, we immediately set up a blockage which is very difficult to overcome, and which at the same time creates a spirit of antagonism, closing the mind of the listener to what we have to say.  Paul does not use insincere flattery, but he is truly thankful to God for all who manifest faith in Christ and show their love to the saints.[1]
Paul and Timothy where thankful for three aspects of the Colossians character:

(1) Faith. 
Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus” (1:4) Faith is the beginning point of Christian character and salvation, thus it is mentioned first. Faith means to exercise trust, belief, or to have confidence in. The object of their faith is Christ Jesus. En (in) denotes the sphere in which faith moves and operates. Christ is the sphere in which faith lives and acts. This faith is personal. It is the first component of the believer’s character. The text literally reads “the faith of you.” They walk by faith “in Christ Jesus.” Christ is the object of their faith, but the indication here by the preposition, points to the sphere or environment in which faith is exercised.

(2) Love.
And the Love which you have for all the saints” (1:4) Love is the next element in the life of a believer; it springs out of faith. Gal. 5:6 tells us that “faith…worketh by love.” Faith is expressed by love for others. “Faith must be exercised in Christ before love for the brethren can follow,” observes Johnson.[2] Lenski makes a worthy observation when he writes:
A love apart from this oneness of faith is a fictitious bond, however devoted and fervent it may be.  Nor is love ever stronger than the faith from which it originates. All of its strength comes from faith alone so that, in order to increase our love, we must first nourish and strengthen our faith.[3]
Love is the “incontestable proof of the reality of the new life (cf. 1 John 3:14).”[4] This type of love is not an inherent moral quality, but a gift of God. The word “love” here is the noun agape, and it means “to esteem, love, indicating a direction of the will and finding one’s joy in something or someone.”[5] It is used of God’s love toward us (Eph. 2:4).  It is the highest form of love.  It is that Calvary love that is self-sacrificing.  Love does not count the cost, nor is any sacrifice too great. We are taught of God “to love one another” (1 Thess. 4:9). The Colossians were channels of God’s love reaching out to “all the saints.”  The Love of God is always outreaching, and not inward directed, nor selfish. It is the love that Christ commands of believers (John 13:34-35), and part of the fruit that the Spirit grows within believers (Gal. 5:22).  This love is directed toward the saints as proof of the genuineness of our faith (James 2:14; 1 John 3:14). The mutual ministry of the body of Christ affords us opportunity to exercise our love toward one another by teaching, helping, and encouraging one another.  We are all to be channels, not reservoirs of His love.

(3) Hope (1:5).
Because of the hope laid up for you in heaven….” It is of note that this part of the verse begins with the word “because,” not “and.” It is the Greek preposition dia. It is used with the accusative, thus making it have the sense of on account of, or ground for an action. Hope is the motivation behind their faith and love. Moo expresses that “the Colossians need to be reminded that their present experience of faith and love rests on the solid foundation of what God has committed to do for them in the future.”[6] It also serves as the third factor of Paul’s thanksgiving. Paul is thankful for their expression of the Christian triad of faith, love, and hope (1 Cor. 13:13; Rom. 5:1-5; Gal. 5:5-6; 1 Thess. 1:3). Faith, love, and hope are the Pauline trilogy. “Faith is the soil from which the fruit of love springs, and hope is the sunshine which ripens this fruit of love.”[7]  Lightfoot reminds us that, “Faith rests on the past: love works in the present: hope looks to the future.[8]

Our hope is “laid up for you in heaven.” Hope “is not enjoyed now—but it exists now; it is kept in store, and will certainly be possessed[9] Hope projects us beyond the present, and brings expectation or longing for what is ahead. Hope and assurance are merged in this passage. The Greek word for “laid up” is apokeimai, a compound word to lay or set away for preservation, to reserve or to store. Hope is God’s layaway plan. The word indicates security or assurance of what has been laid away has no possibility of loss. The present tense brings this out, it speaks of action in progress—it had a point of beginning and continues to be laid up for us. 

This is a specific hope, as seen by the used of the article—it is “the hope.” “The biblical idea of hope can be expressed in the simple formula hope equals desire plus expectation.”[10] Our hope and expectation is not simply a thing or an event; rather it is a person—the Lord Jesus Christ (Col. 1:27). This hope has many aspects: salvation (1 Thess. 5:8); righteousness (Gal 5:5); transfiguration or resurrection (1 Cor. 15:52-55); eternal life (Titus 1:2, 3:7); and glory (Rom. 5:2, Col. 1:27). We gain these in the person of our Lord and realize them in His coming for His own (1 Thess. 4:13-18; 1 Cor. 15:51-53). Our hope is a living (1 Peter 1:31), purifying (1 John 3:13), unifying (Eph 4:4), and a blessed hope (Titus 2:13). It is a personal hope where the object is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. The location where this hope is found is “in heaven” or literally, “in the heavens” where Christ is sitting at the right hand of the Father. It is at the same location as the source of our spiritual blessings (Eph. 1:3) and the place of our citizenship (Phil 3:20).

Of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel” (1:5). The phrase points to the source of the knowledge of their hope. “Of which” is the Greek word hen, a relative pronoun referring back to the word hope. This hope had been expounded upon in the presentation of the truth of the gospel. Apart from the revelation of God’s truth, we would know nothing of this hope. This phrase “truth, the gospel” is used here and in Galatians 2:5, 14. In Galatians it is clear this phrase is used in the context of Paul’s message in comparison to the Twelve. The truth of the Gospel was committed to him by special revelation (cf. Eph. 3:1-10). This truth is the Mystery (Eph. 3:1-10) which says Jews and Gentiles are now one in Christ.

Thus, they had “heard” the Word. The Word of truth they heard in the Gospel from Epaphras was a contrast with the falsehood of their recent teachers. This seems reasonable in light of the context where the Gospel was being attacked as not sufficient. It is clear from the context that the true gospel had been presented unto them. This gospel consists of truth as its major characteristic, for it is the Word of God, who cannot lie. The emphasis is on what they had heard—the truth of the Gospel—and to remain true to it.



[1]  C.F. Baker, UNDERSTANDING THE BODY OF CHRIST: A PAULINE TRILOGY, [Grand Rapids, Grace Bible College Publication, 1985], 115.
[2]  S. Lewis Johnson, “Studies in Colossians-Part 2: Spiritual Knowledge and a Worthy Walk,” BIBIOTHECA SACRA, October 1961, 338.
[3]  R.C.H. Lenski, THE INTERPRETATION OF COLOSSIANS, THESSALONIANS, TIMOTHY, TITUS, PHILEMON, [Minneapolis MN, Augsburg Publishing House, 1946],  22.
[4]  Johnson, “Spiritual Knowledge and a Worthy Walk,” 338.
[5]  Spiros Zodhiates, THE COMPLETE WORD STUDY DICTIONARY: NEW TESTAMENT,[Chattanooga TN, AMG Publishers, 1002], 64.
[6]  Douglas J. Moo, PNTC: THE LETTERS TO THE COLOSSIANS AND TO PHILEMON, [Grand Rapids MI, Eerdmans, 2008], 85
[7]  Ibid., 23.
[8]  J.B. Lightfoot, SAINT PAUL’S EPISTLES TO THE COLOSSIANS AND TO PHILEMON, [New York, Macillan, 1890], 132
[9]  John Eadie, COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE COLOSSIANS,  [Grand Rapids MI, Zondervan, reprint 1957], 10.
[10]  Bing, Charles, “The Warning of Colossians 1:21-23,” BIBLIOTHECA SACRA, January 2007, 78. 

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