Week of 8th
Sunday after Pentecost: Colossians
1:1-14
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ
Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To God's holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and
sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.3 We always thank God, the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the
love you have for all his people-- 5
the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and
about which you have already heard in the true word of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same
way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world-- just
as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood
God's grace. 7 You learned it
from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on
our behalf, 8 and who also told
us of your love in the Spirit. 9
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying
for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will
through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy
of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work,
growing in the knowledge of God, 11
being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you
may have great endurance and patience, 12
and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the
inheritance of his people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought
us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
During this
‘green’ time of year the lectionary (or roadmap of Sunday readings) continues
to provide us with several opportunities for extended book/passage studies in
the Bible. Having just finished a 6-week stint in the book of Galatians, the
second readings will now come form the book of Colossians for 4 weeks.
“Colossians” is so named for the
city of Colossae in the ancient Roman province of Asia, which is modern day
Turkey. Historians tell us that the city itself was a somewhat minor ‘burg,’
not quite as important as nearby Laodicea or Hierapolis. From the letter we can
infer that the believers of Colossae
were not evangelized personally by St. Paul, but rather, from a man named
Epaphras (vs 7). By inference (vss 8-9) it seems safe to assume that not only
has Epiphras told Paul of the existence of the Church at Colossae, but also of
its particular challenges (necessitating the letter). Even though Paul did not
plant this congregation(s) personally, he nonetheless asserts his authority
over them as the Apostle to the Gentiles.
Regarding the particular reason for
the letter, or problem(s) being faced by the congregation, scholars have been
able to come to no clear consensus. This is no doubt due to the fact that
Paul’s original information is coming to him 2nd hand. This has led
to a certain ‘vagueness’ in parts of the letter, and in other parts, a sort of
“mixing and matching” of various ancient religious issues/customs. For
instance, at times it will appear that Paul is confronting a Judaizing tendency
similar to that which he confronted at Galatia; at other times it appears he’s
addressing Greek philosophical issues, or even some sort of mystery cult. One
thing that scholars seem to agree on is that whatever the particular issue was in Colossae, it was likely the
result of some sort of syncretistic teaching/preaching
(syncretistic, meaning, a combining of beliefs from a buffet of
religions) likely propagated by a single person—some sort of unnamed golden
tongued, highly charismatic, ‘shaman’ type individual.
The verses appointed for this Sunday
form the greeting/introduction of the letter, and also take on the form of a
written prayer from the Apostle for his flock. The meat of the passage is to be
found in vss 12-14: 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you
to share in the inheritance of his people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the
dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the
forgiveness of sins.
These verses are dense in English, but as
Barclay (and others) point out, they’re even more so in the original Greek. Vs
12 states a beautiful truth. It is solely the gracious work of the Father (to
whom we give thanks) that believers have become qualified (declared sufficient; to become authorized) to share in the inheritance. The word in
the Greek is kleros, which means to
have received an allotment; this allotment being to join “his people” (not sure why the TNIV didn’t stick with the word
“saints,” which is what the Greek hagios
means).
Continuing, vs 13 uses an interesting technical term. For he has rescued us from the dominion of
darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son. Concerning “brought
us,” Barclary says: The word which St.
Paul uses is the Greek verb methistemi. This is a word which a special use. In
the ancient world, when one empire won a victory over another, it was the
custom to take the population of the defeated country and to transfer them
lock, stock, and barrel to some other land. The word could also be used to
imply a new colonization process—something Rome did often. The point is
2-fold…not only have believers been transferred into a completely new ‘colony’
as it were, but this transference constitutes a rescuing. It’s a rescuing from slavery to freedom; from condemnation to forgiveness; and from the dominion of darkness to the kingdom of
the Son.
Paul’s great emphasis throughout this
letter is that being ‘colonists,’ as it were, in this new kingdom of the Son…
is GREAT! Why would we want to listen to the siren call of something else? Why
would we desire to syncretistically ‘improve’ on something that is already
perfect?
Cheers,
TM
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