Chapter 1:1-5a
Greeting/Salutation (1:1-2)
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
This is a fairly standard greeting from Paul. In reviewing each of Paul’s epistles, we observe a similar pattern. Paul’s greetings take the following form:
Announcement of himself as the author; other names are mentioned as well if applicable (Timothy in this case)
An identification of who he is, most often that he is an apostle called by God
An addressing which identifies the recipient person or church
A statement of general blessing; nearly always “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”
This is not at all unique to Paul either. With minor variance, we find the same pattern present in James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, and Jude as well. This was the common way to open a letter in this era. Much like how we would start a letter (or an email) with “Dear Recipient’s name” followed by “I hope you are doing well,” and later ending it with “Kind regards, Sender’s name.” These first few sentences just clarified who was writing the letter, who was expected to receive it, and some kind words of greeting to the reader. The common salutation following the announcement of the From and To at the time, was simply “Greetings.” We find an example of this more “standard” greeting in James 1:1. Paul seems to prefer a more elaborate salutation, using “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” in nearly all of the epistles. There is potentially a small play on words occurring: “greetings” is chairein in Greek, and “grace” is charis. Paul may be deliberately using a word that conveys a Christian-oriented greeting, which is similar to the traditional “greetings.” Additionally, Jewish greetings often consisted of “Peace” or “Mercy and Peace,” and we can find an example of this as well, in Jude 1:2.
In most of his letters, Paul identifies himself as an apostle of Christ, specifically drawing attention to the fact that he was called to that role, or that he holds his role as an apostle by the will of God. We know from Acts 9 as we discussed last time, that God did specifically select Paul, who at the time was against the church. Specifically in Acts 9:15, God tells Ananias that Paul is a “chosen instrument of mine.” It is interesting to see that God specifically tells Ananias that Paul will carry His (God’s) name to Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. There’s not many people left out there, so you could argue that God was simply using Paul to reach “everyone.” However, my eye is drawn to “kings” which is perhaps an audience that not everyone would necessarily reach, and God did indeed use Paul to bring the message of Christ to various ruling authorities of Rome.
I do not think that Paul identifies himself as an apostle in order to convey a prideful assertion that God chose him specifically due to being better educated or well off than anyone else. Rather, I believe his attitude is one in which he is in full recognition that his calling comes with a responsibility to perform that role in a satisfactory manner before God, to whom he is accountable. In Acts 20:24, Paul says to the Ephesian elders that he doesn’t count his life to be of any value except that he can use it to accomplish the purpose that he received from the Lord Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 15:9-11, Paul refers to himself as the least of all apostles and as working harder than others, but notes that ultimately the responsibility of his apostleship and the apostleship of others was to preach so that people would believe. He doesn’t act as if the authority of his apostleship is for the purpose of exercising power over the church, but rather to serve Jesus in taking the message of the gospel to those who need to hear it.
A point of application that we can draw from Paul’s recognition of his apostolic role, is that we should be aware of what God has called us to, we should not be afraid to acknowledge our calling, and we should heed the responsibilities that are associated with the role or roles that God has given to us. In our church, Mr. Worden is our pastor. He should feel a certain confidence in that role and shouldn’t feel like he needs to hide it. We are all in agreement (hopefully) that he is the ordained elder in our church, and in that position, he has authority in our church that was given to him in order to ensure that we are operating in a manner that is pleasing to God. If or when God ordains additional elders in our church in the future, then the same would be true for them. But the principle extends beyond that. If your calling in the church is to be a deacon who serves the church, then you should hold that role confidently as well, operating in the responsibilities and servitudes that pertain to it. If your calling is to simply clean the church (first of all, thank you), then don’t be ashamed of that either, and do it well since you believe you were called to that responsibility by God.
Paul wrote letters to the various churches (Colossians in this case) because he had a responsibility to do so. And that responsibility was present because of the role that God called him to – apostle. Paul had a responsibility to ensure that proper theology was being taught in the churches, and he had a responsibility to correct errors that presented himself in these places. He could not be everywhere at once in order to do this, but he could write letters addressing these things and send them. Today, someone might use a video stream, or an email, or a web article to do the same thing. In Paul’s day, the letter was the fast way to get communication to diverse locations in an efficient manner. In any case, when Paul identifies himself in his letters as being an apostle, he is doing so in acknowledgement of what God has called him to, not shying away from the responsibility he has to bring proper teaching and answers to the churches where it is needed.
I’m going to digress into a warning or caution for a moment. I think we should also be careful to not self-appoint ourselves to positions that God has not truly called us to. There are surely people who would assert themselves to be called to positions that God never called them to, and they cause problems in the church at large. In such cases, they may believe that God revealed to them that they were called, and that those who disagree with them on this are not actually hearing from God. I don’t think every calling or opinion of calling requires validation – if you believe God has called you to a position in which you are to clean the church, or to make meals to share, or to read books to the children, or any such thing, then I think you can just go ahead and do that. We are all called to serve in the church, and so such things can be entered into in confidence that servitude is acceptable to God. If there’s a perceived issue with it, then the elders (or elder in our case), can address it. But if you believe that you are called to a position of church authority, then it is my belief that that should be confirmed in some fashion by the existing church elders. I think we would call this “ordination.” What ordination looks like could vary from church to church, but I think it would at minimum be public, be announced by the existing church eldership, and involve the laying on of hands. And with that last one, I think it would be the responsibility of the church eldership to “not lay hands suddenly” on anyone as Paul instructed in 1 Timothy 5:22.
As a final thought – well what if you are starting a new church? Could you self-appoint yourself as an elder to such a church? I say no. Perhaps there are a very few exceptions, but I can’t think of any great examples. No church should be isolated from the rest of the church at large. We are individual church bodies, but we are part of the “universal” body of Christ also. Accountability is not just important, it is necessary, and my belief is that if someone were to start their own church, they should do so with the approval of other elders who have proven themselves to be of good character. I was talking recently with a pastor that we do some volunteer work with in Hartford, and he indicated to me that though he is the only pastor in their church, he deliberately joined a sort of “pastors association” which exists for the purpose of accountability between pastors. They do not all believe the same things exactly, but they meet periodically to discuss the goings on of their churches and so have a measure of accountability to one another. He believed that because he did not have other elders within his church to be accountable to, that it was necessary for him to seek accountability in another fashion. Is that the only way to do that? Absolutely not. But there should be some measure of accountability that is present. In Paul’s case, I would assert that his accountability was to the other apostles, and in Galatians 2:11-14, we see an example of this inter-apostolic accountability in which Paul rebukes Cephas (Peter) for separating from the Gentiles out of fear of the Jews (or perhaps Jewish believers).
When we review Paul’s start to ministry, it actually doesn’t look like Paul started his apostolic work until after he had proved himself in preaching and in smaller mission work with Barnabas (Acts 11:27-30, 12:25). God announced his plan for Paul to take the gospel to many people in Acts 9, but when Ananias laid hands on Paul at that time, it was not for ordination, but for healing and so Paul would be filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17). Ananias was not being asked by God to lay hands suddenly on Paul so as to ordain a man to ministry who had been persecuting the church one day and was converted the next. It was in Acts 13:2-3 that God announced that it was time for Paul to begin the ministry that he had been called to, and I believe that the laying on of hands that occurred here represents Paul’s ordination into apostleship.
I want to make the observation that Paul refers to the church in Colossae as “saints and faithful brothers in Christ.” Paul has never met the Colossian church personally, but he seems to feel that he is able to confidently address them as being saints and as being his brothers in Christ. Paul inclusion of the Colossians as his brothers in Christ also appears to be hinted at in how he refers to Timothy as being our (Paul’s and the Colossians’) brother.
Is Paul just giving the Colossian church the benefit of the doubt that they are in fact fellow believers? Is his perspective one in which he has never met the church, and so in the interest of “Christlike love” he is just going to assume that they are in fact believers? I do not believe so. We must remember that Colossae is not some random church that Paul just happened to hear about and decide to write a letter to. Paul heard about the church in Colossae from Epaphras, who is someone he has spent time with and trusts, and so he has some good idea about their condition as a church.
In reading verses 3-8, Paul reveals the following knowledge about the Colossian believers:
He has heard of their faith in Christ Jesus (1:4)
He has heard of the love that they have for other believers (1:4)
He knows that they have heard the true gospel (1:5)
He knows that the gospel is bearing good fruit in their church (1:6)
He knows that they understand the grace of God (1:6)
He knows that they heard the gospel from Epaphras, who he trusts to be a faithful minister of Christ (1:7)
He knows that they have “love in the Spirit” (1:8)
Later in the epistle, Paul also says that he rejoices to see “your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.” (2:5)
In reviewing these things, we understand that Paul is not ignorant as to the legitimacy of the Colossian church. No “benefit of the doubt” is necessary. Paul has spent time with Epaphras. Doubtless, he knows what Epaphras believes. He knows enough that he can say that Epaphras is a “faithful minister of Christ” (1:7). And on the basis of his trust for Epaphras and his faithfulness to Christ, he can be confident that the true gospel has been shared with the Colossians, that they are responding with fruit that demonstrates that that true gospel has taken root in their hearts and that they are therefore in fact, “saints and faithful brothers in Christ.”
It is in this mindset that Paul then writes to the Colossian church. They are his faithful brothers, and he perhaps even feels some responsibility toward them on the basis of his apostleship.
Paul’s Thankfulness in Prayer (1:3-5a)
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.
Another frequent characteristic of Paul’s epistles is the mention of prayers that he offers on behalf of the church or person that he is writing to. These prayers include specific thanks to God the Father for that church or person.
Romans 1:8-10 – First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.
1 Corinthians 1:4-8 – I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in Him in all speech and- all knowledge – even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you – so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:3-5 – I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
Colossians 1:3-5a,9a – We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. … And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you…
1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 – We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Thessalonians 1:3,11-12 – We ought always to give thanks to God for you brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. … To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by His power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Timothy 1:3 – I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.
In Paul’s statement here, we see the inclusion of Timothy in the prayers also. Paul says “We always thank God…when we pray for you.” It is logical to associate “we” with the announcement that it is both Paul and Timothy who are sending greetings to the Colossian church. This may be a clue that suggests that Timothy was working closely with Paul at this time; not just aiding in general needs, but directly serving with Paul in such ministry responsibilities as prayer. Timothy’s specific inclusion in the letter greetings may suggest that he helped Paul write the letter, perhaps as his amanuensis (scribe). This is something that I mentioned previously, and it will remain a topic that we won’t spend much time digging into as I don’t think it has any specific bearing on the letter’s content as it pertains to what we will be looking at.
There are several lessons we can glean from the example Paul provides in his mentions of prayer.
Paul’s prayers include thanksgiving to God in their content. This is something that he teaches in other epistles, and it is evident that he practices it as well, as we see in the openings of his epistles.
In Philippians 4:4-6, Paul gives instruction that “by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,” we should make our requests known to God.
In 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Paul indicates that “prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings” should be made for all people.
In Colossians 4:2 Paul says that the Colossians should be watchful in prayer “with thanksgiving.”
What is thanksgiving?
It is praise to God for the works that he has done. The Oxford Languages dictionary defines thanksgiving as “the expression of gratitude, especially to God.”
In Psalm 26:6-7, David says, contrasting himself to the wicked, “I wash my hands in innocence and go around your altar, O Lord, proclaiming thanksgiving aloud, and telling all your wondrous deeds.” A connection is drawn between the proclaiming of thanksgiving and the telling of God’s wondrous deeds. What is the proclamation of thanksgiving? That God has done wondrous deeds!
Why is thanksgiving in prayer important?
If for no other reason, thankfulness is simply the appropriate response from us for what God has done. God desires to be glorified, and He is glorified when we offer thanksgiving unto Him. God blesses us so that He will receive glory from us. Thanksgiving is a sacrifice, and it is a sacrifice that God values highly.
Psalm 50:23 says The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God.
Psalm 69:30-31 says I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.
You and I might question how mere thanksgiving could count as a sacrifice. What exactly are we giving? Weren’t we simply the beneficiaries of God’s giving? What intrinsic value does an expression of gratefulness actually carry? Isn’t it just words? But consider also, that it seems to be an element of prayer that we easily neglect to give any decent time to. If it’s so trivial to give, then why aren’t we giving more of it, knowing that it pleases God? Perhaps we think that merely feeling thankful is enough, because we know that God knows our feelings, and so we believe that he is pleased simply by our feeling happy about Him blessing us. But I believe God would be even more pleased if we acted on those feelings and brought continual thanksgiving to Him in our prayers for all of the many things that He blesses us with. It’s even okay to thank God for his blessings more than once! I believe that it would be a good practice for all of us, if we would periodically take the time to reflect on all the blessings that God has given to us, all the prayers that He has answered for us, and just thank Him for them again. Perhaps some of you already do this, but it’s something that I know I could work on.
Also consider what Paul is being thankful for here in his prayer. God has not done something for Paul in this particular instance. Paul is thanking God for the hope that the Colossians now have laid up in heaven (Which Paul also shares in of course, but he is thanking God not for his own salvation, but for the salvation of the Colossians). He is offering thanks to God for something that is not even explicitly his own and which is for people whom he does not even personally know! In offering our thanks to God, we are not limited to offering thanks for the blessings given to ourselves. We can and should thank God for the blessings that He gives to others also. God gives blessings for the purpose of receiving glory to Himself. So when you hear of God’s works that he has done for others, offer thankfulness to Him that those others are blessed also.
Being thankful to God for the blessings that He gives to us and to others reminds us of His goodness and faithfulness to us. It builds a mindset of gratefulness in us. It is the appropriate response from us for what God has done.
It is a good thing and to be encouraged, that we would keep other believers in regular prayer. This could be whole churches, it could be families, or it can be specific individuals. Really, if our prayers include this characteristic, I suspect that we will find that we have all three and probably other groupings of believers also.
In Ephesians 6:16-20, Paul completes the instructions to wear the armor of God by saying that the church should “pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.” He then says that “To that end,” the church should make supplication for all the saints and requests the same for himself.
Here in Colossians 4:2-4, Paul instructs that the Colossian church should continue in steadfast prayer, and requests inclusion of himself and Timothy in those prayers also.
1 Timothy 2:1-2 says that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings, should be made for all people. If these should be offered for all people, then certainly our fellow believers are to be included in our prayers.
Now, you could say that Paul, having a ministry of evangelism and apostleship, had a vested interest in keeping each of these churches in prayer, since he would of course want the churches that he established to succeed in growing mature in the Lord. But here, Paul indicates that he is keeping the Colossian church in constant prayer, and they are a church that is not “his own” – it is a church established by Epaphras. And besides, if Paul is instructing others to pray for believers other than themselves, we can surely take that to mean that Paul himself is doing likewise. Ultimately, I believe a takeaway from Paul’s indication here in Colossians 1:3,9 that he is praying regularly for the Colossians, is that we should keep our fellow saints lifted up in unceasing prayer before the Lord.
Paul says that he and Timothy are thankful to God for the Colossian believers “since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints…”
This is extremely similar to what Paul says he is giving thanks in prayer about for the Ephesian church (Ephesians 1:15-16).
Why is Paul thankful for this? What is significant about this?
Well, these are the marks of a true believer!
In Romans 10:5-17, Paul speaks of righteousness by faith, and in it, he makes the statement that we are all familiar with, that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” The faith that the Colossian believers have in Christ is evidence that the word of Christ has been shared with them (through Epaphras), and that that word has taken root in their hearts.
Paul says in Galatians 2:16 that it is faith in Christ which justifies a person before God.
In John 13:34-35, Jesus gives a command that his disciples should love one another and that this is how others will know that they are His disciples.
In 1 John 3:10-14, John indicates that those who don’t love the brothers are not of God, and that we know if we have passed from death into life if we love the brothers.
So when Paul expresses thanks to God for the Colossian believers because they have faith in Christ and love for the saints, it is because these are evidences that the Colossian church is a true church.
When we hear of others who have put their faith in Jesus Christ, and who have a great love for their fellow saints, these are cause for thanksgiving to God. We should rejoice to hear of saved souls. Such people are our brothers and sisters; we are family with them. And as stated before, Paul can be certain that the faith and love he is hearing about is genuine because he is hearing of it from Epaphras, who has established the church there, and whose report Paul knows he can trust.
Paul additionally says, “because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.” I admit, I am not 100% clear on what this statement attaches to. Paul could be expressing his understanding that this is the Christian motive for why the Colossians have love for all the saints, or he could be saying that it’s an additional thing that he is thankful for on their account.
“since we heard…of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.”
“We always thank God…when we pray for you…since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus…”
“We always thank God…when we pray for you…since we heard…of the love that you have for all the saints…”
“We always thank God…when we pray for you…because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.”
My tendency is to believe that it is the latter case; that Paul is thankful for the hope that the Colossians have laid up in heaven. The reason I would see it this way is because Paul goes on to spend some time clarifying what that hope is and how it works (it is the gospel). If the “hope laid up in heaven” was the motivation for why the Colossian church loves all the saints, then I doubt Paul would have needed to spend time elaborating on what this hope is, since it would seem that they’ve already given enough thought to it to the extent that it is able to serve as a motivation for their love to others. If however, it’s an additional item that Paul is thankful for on their behalf, then it makes sense to me why Paul may feel that it is useful to explain it further – that is, he is thankful for this hope that they have, and following after is why he is thankful for it.
Ultimately, whichever is the proper understanding, I think both Paul and the Colossians are thankful for this hope. It’s just a case in which either Paul is thankful for it since it motivates the Colossians’ love, or Paul is thankful for it and is giving the Colossians a reason why they can also appreciate it.