Called to Edify

Meditations on the Book of Colossians

July 3, 2020

Called to Edify

We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

Colossians 1:3

Read: Colossians 1:1-8

The ancient city of Colossae was in Turkey, inland from Ephesus. Paul was writing from jail, either in Rome or Ephesus, in about 61 A.D. Colossae was destroyed by an earthquake four years later. The abiding theme of this letter is thankfulness. Paul begins in v.3 by thanking God for the church in Colossae, then in v.12 by thanking the Father for all he has done in the life of the believers. This theme of thanksgiving will be carried forward to 2:7, 3:17, and 4:2.

Every person elected as President of the USA comes to office with dreams and ambitions for our country. Not too long after taking office, they learn they are quite limited in their ability to effect change. Why? Because there are other powers and forces that contend for control: congressional, judicial, economic, international, and the forces of nature. This is a world the people of Colossae could easily understand. The culture in Colossae at that time was dominated by a belief that the entire world was controlled by powers and forces beyond the control of the ordinary person. Life was spent trying to appease these forces. The new church in Colossae struggled with new believers in Christ bringing their pagan beliefs with them. The church also had to contend with elements of Judaism, astrology and magic in the church. This mixed bag of doctrines, thoughts and ideas was reducing Jesus to merely an angelic being. Paul responded to this situation by a presentation of both the uniqueness and supremacy of Jesus.

My Takeaway: The issues Paul needed to address were quite serious, and his manner is one we can learn to practice in our churches. In this opening passage, Paul edifies the church in Colossae. I counted at least nine specific points of praise Paul had for the members of the church. By affirming their faith in Christ and identifying ways in which Paul knew God was working in their lives, Paul built a foundation for correcting their misunderstandings.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2020 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.