Colossians 1:1-2
We have an opportunity this morning to do something we don’t often get to do, which is to start a brand new study in the book of the Bible. So open your Bibles to the letter of Paul to the Colossians. Any introduction to a literary work, especially a book of the Bible, will involve several elements; talk about the title, Colossians; name for the people to whom Paul wrote; the date of the writing; the author, it’s Paul; the recipients, those who received the letter; something about where it was written from, that’s called the provenance, that’s the place it came from; the occasion that prompted the writing of the letter; something about its purpose; something about major themes. We’re going to cover all that this morning, and I’ll do some of that here at the beginning, but I’d like to address the purpose and the themes by getting into the first 2 verses of the text.
We want to make some progress this morning into the exposition of Colossians and not just talk about all the introductory stuff. But the introductory stuff is not only important, it’s actually fascinating, and I hope that you share my view of it by the end of this morning. Colossians is one of the four letters that Paul wrote while he was imprisoned in Rome, his first Roman imprisonment. There would be a second that would result in the end of his life as he was beheaded by Nero.
But this is the first Roman imprisonment. Around AD 62 or so, he was imprisoned in Rome, and this is one of the letters he wrote while in prison. Along with the letter, he wrote to an individual named Philemon who was a member of the Colossian church. He lived in Colosse. There are also two other letters that he wrote to churches; to the church in Ephesus and Philippi, so the letter to the Ephesians and to the Philippians. Paul wrote the letters to Colossians, Philemon, and Ephesus sometime in the year of AD 61 and then to the Philippians at the end of his first Roman imprisonment in AD 62.
So the Church of the Colossians was founded nearly 10 years earlier during his third missionary journey along with two other churches in the Lycus Valley. The Church of Colosse was founded with the two other churches in the Lycus Valley. The Lycus Valley is a place in southwest of Asia Minor, it’s modern day Turkey and the Lycus Valley was located about 100 miles east of the great city of Ephesus. It was home to three cities that we know from Scripture, Colosse, Hieropolis, and Laodicea. All those names show up in the Bible.
Colosse was situated to the furthest east. It was strategically located at the mouth of the valley, the eastern mouth of the valley, and at the base of a large mountain called Mount Cadmus or today it’s called Mount Honas. It’s the tallest mountain in the region. It ascends 7000 feet above the valley floor to a height of 8500 feet. It’s quite a distance in elevation, quite a marked distance in elevation and so that mountain stood out.
Two rivers run through this Lycus Valley. The Lycus River descends down from Mount Cadmus into the southeast end of the valley, and it runs about 20 miles to the northwest to meet up with the Meander River and the Meander River runs from the Lycus Valley, then 100 miles to the west, empties into the Aegean Sea near Miletus, which is a city just south of Ephesus on that Aegean coast. Those two rivers provided abundant water to irrigate that entire valley, making it a very rich and fertile valley. There’s volcanic soil, so plenty of nutrients in the soil makes this a fertile ideal place for farming, surrounding hills, very wonderful place for pasture land, perfect for raising large flocks of sheep, which they did.
It was due to the volcanic seismic activity in the valley. They’re very interesting travertine deposits at the north end, kind of like that white light colored porous limestone formation we can see up in Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park. It looks like melted candle wax pouring over and you can see there are hotels up there in near ancient Hierapolis.
Hot mineral springs that bubble up from the earth’s crust. Those minerals from the hot springs were used to produce special dyes for treating wool, so made Colosse famous for its jet black wools. An extremely valuable purple dye was drawn from those minerals and treated the fabrics. There’s a thriving textile industry in this city, Colosse itself, because it sat on an East West trade route connecting Persia with Greece, its clothing, its carpets, its oriental rugs, all were exported all over the world.
So this area was, in ancient times, five centuries before this time, was famous for all these benefits and products coming out of its valley. The area was also, as I said, famous for its hot spring baths, the medicinal benefits in the waters. So think of modern day spas, hot springs like we have in our own state. Hierapolis was a place like that, it was a city that had those baths and people would come to those spas and dip in the hot baths. And one writer said that, “its streets and baths were thronged by visitors in search of pleasure or health.”
The Laodicean Medical School, there was a medical school associated with the Phrygian God Menkaure. It was famous for its eye salve which it got from those minerals. Again, they produced, exported that eye salve.
The late Iron Age, of, time of classical antiquity, the region was called the Phrygian Kingdom, so it wasn’t under Roman rule when it started, so late Iron Age classical antiquity. The chief city of the Phrygian Kingdom was called Gordium. Gordium was named for its first king Gordius, but by defeat and decline in the mid sixth century, the region passed into Persian rule under Cyrus the Great, who we find in Scripture.
Darius the Great also, who we find in Scripture, he was someone who reestablished the royal road that connected Susa in the Persian east to Sardis in the Ionian or the Greek west. It was during the Greco Persian Wars, when the Greeks threw off the yoke of the Persians, that Xerxes the first, marched his army west to subdue the Greeks and fight against them. Xerxes the first is biblically Ahasuerus, we read about him in the Book of Esther, and at that time in the fifth century, the Greek historian Herodotus referred to Colosse as a great city of Phrygia. So it was a thriving, bustling, prosperous city at that time. Fifty years later after Herodotus, Xenophon described it as a populous city, wealthy and large. By the time we get to the New Testament, we see that this all has changed.
In 333 BC, Alexander the Great entered into Gordium, the capital city of Phrygia. There’s an ancient prophecy that said whoever could do the impossible, that is untie the Gordian knot. Perhaps you’ve read some of that mythology. Whoever would untie the Gordian knot would be the new and rightful ruler of the Phrygian Kingdom. While Alexander famously drew out his sword, cut the Gordian knot with a sword, and he took over, and effectively put an end to that superstitious myth. That’s where we get that saying Cut the Gordian Knot. Takes an impetuous young man like that to show the folly of old superstition.
Demographic changes had been taking place in that region even before Alexander’s arrival. The Persians who were ruling that area, they had mixed with the native Phrygian population, and those Persians, in the population there, were in the decline. They were leaving as Ionian Greeks were migrating east. So this demographic mix meant they all had to learn how to celebrate diversity. The Phrygians were originally, the native Phrygians indigenous there, were pagans, they were mystical, superstitious. You may have heard of the God of wine, Dionysus. That’s a God that was worshipped there. Sybil also, she was worshipped as a fertility goddess. All kinds of rituals and rites and all kinds of immorality and drunkenness was associated with Dionysius and Sybil worship.
The Greeks brought into the region what’s called Hellenization. Hellenization referring to a powerful force of culture formation, as Greek language and philosophy was used to shape all the conquered indigenous peoples, but it was adaptable too. It adapted and syncretized with the native customs and religions and culture, making a blend.
Added to the demographic mix of the Phrygians and the Greeks, Antiochus the Great took 2000 Jewish families from Mesopotamia and transplanted them into the regions of Phrygia and Lydia and though they were culturally Jewish, Jewish by birth, they were also totally Hellenized, Greek speaking. They came into that region not by dragging their feet, but they came seeking material prosperity, and they looked for a new life there. One Talmudist lamented, “the wines and the baths of Phrygia have separated the ten tribes of Israel.”
The Greeks called that region Anatolia, which means land of the sunrise. When the Romans took over, they returned the province to its ancient name, which is Phrygia. To Phrygia they added a Latin name, Pakatiana, which means peaceful, peaceful. So this is Phrygia, peaceful, no longer Phrygia at war. The Romans were announcing really a new era and they were casting that whole Greco Persian war to the dustbin of history, putting it in the rearview mirror as they heralded the salvation of Rome in the Pax Romana, Roman peace.
Rome, when they came to divide up the land and to organize it and put it under districts and regions for taxation purposes, they chose the thriving Laodicea over the declining Colosse to be the capital city of this region for taxation purposes. 25 cities were under Laodicean oversight. So by the time Paul wrote we need to understand in the first century, Colosse was no longer what Xenophon described a, a large, populous, wealthy city. In fact, Strabo referred to Colosse and his Geographica as a palisms, which means small town, little tiny town.
So interesting, isn’t it, that God chose this little church in this little, insignificant, declining little town to be the recipient of this majestic letter to the Colossians; giving special Apostolic attention and loving concern and great honor to this little church. Paul himself, he had not visited Colosse, personally at this time, when he wrote the letter. It was actually Epaphras, who was one of Paul’s converts, during his three years in Ephesus. We can see in Acts chapter 19, verses 8 through 10, that he spent three years there and the whole region, the whole area was evangelized because of Paul’s ministry there.
Epaphras was converted under Paul’s ministry. He went back to his native Lycus Valley, evangelized Lycus Valley, planted churches in each city, Hierapolis, Laodicea, and Colosse. He’s responsible for those churches being there and established, but Christ chose Paul to be their apostle, to be the apostle to all the Gentiles. He put Colosse under Paul’s authority. God has chosen Colosse to highlight the supremacy of Christ.
Jesus Christ over all creation, over all of heaven and earth and when you think about that and you think about what is said about Christ, especially in verses 15 and following, in chapter 1, we realize Christ shows his sovereignty and his majesty, and his greatness in little things, little places where he shows, puts his glory on display.
We can divide the letter into three parts: The introduction from verses 1 of chapter 1 to, verse, chapter 2, verse 5. That’s the introduction. The body of the letter from chapter 2 verse 6 to chapter 4, verse 6, and then the conclusion of the letter from chapter 4, verses 7 through 18. There are some who try to break down the letter a little bit further than that, but they all cover the same ground. Whether you break it into three parts, 4 parts, 5 parts, even 6 parts, you can do that, but it covers the same ground.
So with the brief introduction, just want to consider the occasion, and the purpose, and the themes of the letter. But we want to do that through the lens of Paul’s greeting. Let’s look at that greeting in verses 1 and 2. “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colosse. Grace and peace to you from God our Father.”
The greeting has all the typical elements of a first century letter. Paul identifies himself as the author. He identifies the Colossians as the recipients. He tells them the subject of the letter, he adds a salutation and though the greeting is a typical first century greeting, Paul has adapted this greeting to this situation and to these people to address their issue. And so the greeting is, though it’s typical in form, it’s unique to their situation and their need.
So what we want to do using Paul’s introduction is to discover the themes of the letter and along the way, really to prepare our hearts to kind of learn alongside of these Colossian believers, want to pick up what Paul’s laying down here in the letter and what it is that? Paul wants to cement, let’s just put ourselves in here, Paul wants to cement not only the Colossians commitment, but our commitment to Jesus Christ.
Paul wants to anchor us deeply into Christ, to exalt Christ as supreme in our hearts and minds. He wants to fan into flame our affections for Christ so that we’re fully satisfied in him and we go further with him, abandoning all others, but to put all of our hope and trust in him and to walk with him faithfully and obediently and steadfastly. And that’s been my prayer for us.
I want you to recognize the great treasure that you possess in Christ, so that you examine him much more carefully than you do right now, so you worship him more deeply, so you love him more fully, so you live in the joy of knowing him, and in gratitude for the fact that he has saved you. I want you to see this in this letter to the Colossians and abandoning all others to put all your hope and trust, have all your fidelity to Christ.
So let me give you a little outline, as we work through the greeting here. Four words: Authority, family, identity, and reality. Authority, family, identity, and reality. So first point, starting with authority, it’s authority in Christ. Authority in Christ. Paul begins here by asserting his Apostolic authority when he says, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God.”
He identifies himself by name, Paul. We’re familiar with him in the book of Acts. He’s an Apostle of Jesus Christ and that apostleship comes by the will of God. The word apostolos, apostle related to the verb apostello. Apostello meaning to send out, but apostolos really refers to an authoritative messenger. Think of the herald of a king or an ambassador to a country. Think of that level of authoritative messenger with an authoritative message.
Commentator E. Earle Ellis gives a little bit of background on this term, apostolos. He says, “It was primarily a legal term signifying authorized representation.” Think about that, authorized representation, that’s what Paul is. He’s an authorized representative or Ellis goes on to say, “is the modern law of agency. The one sent, was to be held equivalent to the sender himself, and to dishonor the King’s ambassador was to dishonor the king.” You can see this indicated especially in 2 Samuel 10 or 1 Samuel 25, where to dishonor David’s messengers was to dishonor David. He almost went to war over that.
Paul was called by Christ himself in Acts Chapter 9, he was on the road to Damascus. He was commissioned by Christ himself and so when he writes, he represents Christ and that’s how we need to read this, that when Paul writes, Christ writes. So when we read and study this letter, we’re reading and studying a letter from Christ. The letter comes with Christ’s authority. And Paul writes with Christ’s authority, which is, we’re going to see, is the greatest of all authorities. He is King of kings and Lord of Lords. He is head of all creation and head of the church.
And so when some mere man stands in a pulpit like this one and starts reading to you from this letter, what he reads from this letter doesn’t come from him, comes from Christ. To dishonor or set aside the words that come from this letter is to dishonor and set aside Christ. Think we understand that, but it’s always worth reminding ourselves who’s speaking to us, when we open the Word of God.
As an Apostle of Jesus Christ, Paul is clearly asserting his calling. That calling happened at a particular time and at a particular place, but Paul wants us to go farther back than that, well before his calling, well before meeting Christ, even before the time of Christ. He stretches all the way back before time began to the creation of heaven and earth, and beyond that to eternity. And he says, he’s um, his, his calling is a matter of the divine will. His apostleship, then, is a settled fact. It’s a certainty. It’s a certainty and a settled fact that was established before time began.
Paul tells them the subject of the letter, he adds a salutation and though the greeting is a typical first century greeting, Paul has adapted this greeting to this situation and to these people to address their issue. Travis Allen
The ultimate agency at work in Paul’s apostleship is not his own. He did not put himself forward. He was chosen. It’s God’s choice, it’s his electing work, it’s his will that is at issue here. So when we read this letter, it’s Paul who wrote, and it’s Christ’s words that we read, and it’s God’s will that’s being manifested, made known to us. The eternal will of God, though, did enter into time and space when Jesus commissioned Paul on the Damascus Road in Acts Chapter 9.
Why is Paul asserting his apostleship in the opening line of the epistle? There’s not really an indication in the letter of some attack against Paul’s apostleship and against his authority, like we read in the Corinthian epistles; there was an attack and a campaign to dethrone Paul and to set him aside. There’s not really that going on here, so why does he seem to flex his authority? Is he being heavy-handed here? No, not at all.
What’s going on, most straightforwardly, is really an introduction. Remember, Paul had not personally met the Colossian church. He, as I said before, the church is founded during Paul’s Ephesians ministry, Acts 19 or so, around AD 52 or so. But it was not founded by Paul, Epaphras is the one who evangelized the citizens of this city and started the churches, as it says in Colossians 1:7, “You learned” this gospel, “from Epaphras, our beloved fellow slave.” According to chapter 2, verse 1, none of them had seen Paul’s face in the flesh. He says, “I want you to understand how great a struggle I’ve had on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not seen my face in the flesh.”
So he’s making an introduction here. He’s letting them know who he is, who he represents, that they are under his care, under his pastoral care, and attention and love. It’s not a flexing of authoritative muscles. It’s more of like a, an expression of pastoral concern. Paul had met Epaphras and Philemon, who was a prominent citizen of Colosse. Probably both of them had some type of a business or some type of a reason for them to travel back and forth from Colosse, the Lycus Valley, and into Ephesus and back.
Probably had business concerns in Ephesus and so they met Paul, most likely during Paul’s ministry in Ephesus, likely when each of the men had come to Ephesus on business. And so whether Epaphras and Philemon had known one another beforehand or not; they probably did. Prominent men tend to know each other in regions that they live and do business and work together. Whether they were converted together or separately, we don’t know any of that, but we do know that they both were converted under Paul’s ministry.
There’s another point of contact, though. We discover this in Paul’s letter to Philemon, which was written at the same time that he wrote the letter to the Colossians. During his first Roman imprisonment, Paul met Philemon’s runaway slave named Onesimus. That’s an interesting study too. Onesimus had run far, far away from the Lycus Valley. He didn’t go from Colosse to neighboring Ephesus. No, he got far away and went to Rome, where he could mix in with a huge population, where no one would know his name.
You think anonymity on the Internet is something new? People love anonymity when they have sins to hide. Onesimus ran all the way to Rome, but he didn’t see this coming. The Lord introduced Onesimus to Paul and from Paul he heard the gospel and believed it and was saved and from that point Onesimus really attached himself to Paul.
Served Paul faithfully since his conversion and up to this point, and he’s growing in the grace and the knowledge of Christ. And now Paul is going to send Onesimus back to his master Philemon, along with Tychicus. It’s going to be Tychicus and Onesimus and maybe some other companions, but they’re going to travel back to Ephesus and into the Lycus Valley with these three letters in hand. One goes to the Church of Ephesus, one to the church in Colosse, and another to Philemon.
Here at the start of the letter, so what Paul’s doing is introducing himself. They had known him by name, they’d known him by reputation, they knew him by his gospel, they knew him by the doctrine that he taught, but they never saw him, met him face to face, at this point. He’s writing to them personally and he asserts his Apostleship, and not at all to Lord it over them, but to put himself and his gifts at their service.
As their Apostle, the Colossians are going to have the benefit of several important ministries from the Apostle Paul, and I’ll just briefly survey them for you. They’re going to have the benefit, as you can see in Colossians 1:9 through 12, they’re going to have the benefit of his prayers, “For this reason also, since the day we’ve heard, we’ve not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with all the full knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding,” and then so it goes.
How about that prayer from an apostle? You think, well, isn’t one prayer as good as another? No, not necessarily. The informed, mature, doctrinally sound prayers of a mature saint, let alone an Apostle; he knows exactly how to pray for people, knows what they need, knows the matters of concern to take their issues before the throne of grace, to find help for these people in their time of need. They’re going to have the benefit of his prayers.
Colossians 1:13 through 23, we see, man, the benefit of his instruction, his doctrine, his teaching, as they learn who this Christ is really, and then what he has done for them, what he’s accomplished on their behalf, and there is freedom and joy and instruction. Don’t ever take that for granted. Remarkably, we see in Colossians 1:24 to 27 that Paul, this apostle who they’ve never met face to face, he’s committed to suffering for their sake. He’s like, I’m going to take blows for you. My life is going to be hard for your sake. I’m going to endure pain for you.
Why does he suffer for their sake? To ensure the gospel is preached to them. We see that in Colossians 1:24 to 27, they’re going to benefit, Colossians 1:28 to 29, as the chief objects of Paul’s apostolic aim, which is their maturity. His goal in life is their maturity, “Him we proclaim, admonishing every man, teaching every man with all wisdom, so we may present every man complete in Christ. And for this purpose I labor,” I strive, “according to His working, which He works in me in power.” And I do that for you. I do that so you’ll be mature, so you’ll grow complete, strong, perfect in Christ and willing to suffer for it.
They’re going to be the targets, Colossians 2 versus 1 to 3, targets of Paul’s encouragement. What it says there, “I want you to understand how great a struggle I’ve had on your behalf and for those who are Laodicea, and for all those who haven’t seen my face in the flesh, so that their hearts may be encouraged” strengthened, built up, edified. “I want you to be held together in love, even unto the wealth of all the full assurance of understanding, unto the full knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ, Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” I want you to be encouraged, strong, assured.
Finally, this little brief survey of Apostolic benefit, the recipients, chapter 2, verses 4 and 5, of his Apostolic protection. “I say this so no one will delude you with persuasive argument. For even though I’m absent in the body, nevertheless I’m with you in spirit. I rejoice to see your good order and the stability of your faith in Christ.” I want you to be protected. I don’t want you to be deluded. I don’t want you to be led astray by fine sounding arguments that could deceive you.
This final point of concern is really what prompted Epaphras to pick up and make the long journey from his home, his ministry with three churches in mind, Hierapolis, Laodicea and Colosse, to leave this valley, to leave his businesses behind and make the long trek to Rome to see Paul in prison and say, Paul, I got a concern. He went and visited Paul to raise the alarm about an encroaching set of heresies, that was disrupting the church and the churches of the Lycus Valley. He wanted to get his counsel and that’s the occasion that prompts the writing of this letter. It’s the real and present danger to the health and the well-being of the Colossian Church.
We’re going to have a lot more to say about this as we study the letter, but just think about the demographics of the Lycus Valley, which I mentioned. The native Phrygians, the, the Greeks, the imported Jews, the Persians who’d been there before, all of the demographics of these different peoples, and the religions, and the paganism that they represented, all came up with a toxic blend of teaching.
That may seem surprising to us, but we could see how people today are caught up with intoxicating teaching. It’s exactly what’s happening here. The delusion, powerful delusion, was intoxicating, leading many of these young Christians astray. And so this is the benefit of having this Apostle look over their church, protect it with sound doctrine, with exhortation. Is it Apostolic duty that explains Paul’s level of concern, so that he would suffer for their sake? So you take the time to write this letter, so that you enlist others to deliver the letter to them.
Is just Paul being faithful to a calling here? That would be enough, wouldn’t it? Duty, faithfulness: those are good things, that would be certainly, as an excellent example of Paul’s commitment to his calling, faithfulness to the Christ who called him, the God who had chosen him. But there’s far more than just duty and calling and fidelity going on here, though those things are certainly in play.
This brings us to a second point, the word, family, and put family in Christ, family in Christ. Paul assures them here of their shared status as family. Paul is the author of the letter. He is the Apostle of the Gentile churches, and he names as a companion of his, one of their Asian neighbors, a man from Derby named Timothy. He calls him Timothy our brother and then notice what he says about the recipients. They are the saints and faithful brothers. Notice that language, Timothy is a brother of Paul, which means the Colossians, as brothers, are also brothers of Paul. They’re all family. Paul emphasizes their shared status as family again in verse 2 at the end of the salutation when he unites them all together under God our father.
Often times you’ll see in his other epistles where he says our God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, he mentions father of our Lord Jesus Christ in the next verse, chapter 1 verse 3, “we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you.” So that’s connections there. He’s certainly the father of the Lord Jesus Christ, but father of Jesus Christ in a different way then he’s father to us.
We’re all brethren, Paul is saying here, and he wants to emphasize, we’re all brethren and God is our father, God is father, Christ is Lord and Savior, Paul is their Apostle and elder brother in the faith. He’s that in addition to being their chosen Apostle. But there’s a family connection here. There’s a family identity, there’s a family unity, a family affection, a family care and concern. Notice the parallels here between the status of Paul, the author and his companion Timothy, and then the status of the recipients. They’re really on the same level.
As to the senders, Paul is identified here as an Apostle, so he’s been set apart for that task. He’s been saved and sanctified for service to Christ and to them and then Timothy is identified as a brother of the Apostle. He’s joined him to become a faithful member of this believing family. But as to the recipients, notice the parallels, the Colossians too are identified as set apart, they’re saints. Saints meaning, yes, there’s an aspect of holiness there and holiness has all the connotations of purity, sinlessness, which points to their status in Christ, reconciled to God, forgiven of all sin, covered in the righteousness of Christ, holy. But they’re also holy in the sense of being set apart.
Set apart, for God, for service to Christ, for gospel proclamation. They’re identified as saints. They’re set apart, they’re sanctified for service. That’s what every church is. You got to think of a local church as an outpost, like an outpost in enemy territory, but it’s an outpost with the intent that we’re going to advance the concerns of our country and our army and encroach and move and take over enemy territory. That’s what a church is.
Colossian church, churches of Lycus Valley, they’re there to take over. They’re there to take over for Christ. I don’t really mean in a political sense. I don’t mean to put unbelievers in jail. I mean, in the sense of to conquer every heart with the gospel, that every heart is set free, and every heart is turned to faith in Christ. These Colossians are set apart, they’re saints. In that sense, they’re parallel to Paul, who’s set apart for the Apostleship, set apart for the gospel.
The Colossians also are parallel with Timothy. They’re identified as brothers. They’ve joined in the Apostolic task like Timothy has with Paul. They’ve joined in the Apostolic task of gospel proclamation. They’re fruitful members of this believing family, verse 6, they’re constantly bearing fruit and increasing. So all of them, the apostle and his brothers, all worshippers of the true and living God, they’re all children of one father.
It’s not Apostolic duty alone that explains Paul’s concern for the Colossian believers. It’s not like, okay, I’m in this role, better write a letter. There’s some heresy coming in to take over one of my churches. I got duty to that church. Certainly, there’s a sense of duty, responsibility, but you know what drives him? Love, it’s a family identity. There’s a brotherly affection that not only prompts the writing of the letter, but is woven all through the letter. You can hear the affection of this pastor for these people. It’s, that’s what draws forth the warnings, draws forth the admonition, draws forth the exhortation.
Listen, you younger Christians, you younger people, don’t take offense if an older brother or sister or a mature Christian or an elder or a Deacon corrects you or confronts you. Take that in the spirit it’s intended, of an older to a younger, of love and affection and concern. We have your best in mind. We want you to grow. We want you to be protected. We want you to be faithful to Christ, bound to him, loving him, worshipping him. That’s what’s driving Paul.
What’s threatening the family here is this Colossian heresy. Many commentators have tried to identify this precisely. It’s kind of proved an elusive assignment to try to figure out the precise identification of this heresy, but there’s a growing consensus over the years, and it seems to be that this heresy is a synchronistic blend of Greek philosophy with elements of teaching that later became known as Gnosticism.
So you could say that’s not only coming from the West, from Greece, west of the Lycus Valley, but also from the East. There was a kind of Gnostic ideas and philosophical ideas that came out of Persia and so all that kind of met and mixed in the Lycus Valley. There’s also from these imported Jews, a distorted form of Judaism, not true Judaism because true Judaism worships Christ.
Today we call it completed or Messianic Judaism, but it’s not Judaism, it’s Christianity. That’s what completed Judaism is, is Christianity. This distorted teaching is a Christ rejecting Judaism and it’s also distorted and perverted with the worship of angels and the exaltation of angels. So we’ll get to that. There’s an Essene form of, of Gnosticism, or Angel worship I should say, that has been imported into Lycus Valley as well.
But also thirdly, in addition to the philosophy from the Greeks, and the Persians, and then a distorted Jewish teaching, secondly, thirdly, there’s just the native soil, the Phrygian mystery cults that offered spiritually intoxicating experiences of communing with deities, going to temples, participating in kind of like mind altering drug or alcohol inducement that connected you with the divine. And that’s what even the sexual immorality that had to do with temple prostitutes had to do with the ecstatic experiences that would connect someone with the divine. All this blended together in the Lycus Valley in a toxic, toxic form of heresy.
This is what Paul says about each of them. Look at chapter 2 verse 8 where he warns them against Greek philosophy. He says, “see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” Warns them about the twisted teachings of a distorted Judaism in verse 16 of that same chapter. “Therefore no one is to judge you in food and drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day, things which are only a shadow of what’s to come. But the substance belongs to Christ.”
In the next verse, this is about the ecstatic experience of communing with Phrygian deities cast in more Jewish imagery as angels. Verse 18, “Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self abasement,” and take that word delighting and bring it forward, “delighting in self abasement and delighting in the worship of angels.” Going on into detail, think about pride there, prideful detail about the visions he’s seen being puffed up for nothing by his fleshly mind. And again, the warning, “not holding fast to the head who is Christ.”
These spiritual influences had come into the Lycus Valley, had entered into the churches and were in the Colossian church and they threatened to entice members of the believing family to take them away from the family, to become dissatisfied with the family, even to suspect the family of being a little bit too restrictive, as if this family is maybe, well, they’re, they’re quaint. They’ve got quaint celebrations and quaint beliefs and teachings. Perhaps they were too basic for them, too mundane, too backward, too simplistic. After all, that has to do with Christ and it’s good to have Christ, but now we need to move on in Christ from Christ and go to even higher levels of communing with deities and understanding and Gnostic teachings and different levels.
This brings us to a third point. Paul has asserted, as we said in the first, his Apostolic authority in Christ, out of loving concern to protect his Christian family in Christ and rather than majoring on the threat, he fixes their attention instead on their identity in Christ. That’s the third point: identity in Christ. Let me just take a minute to set this up because it’s become quite relevant once again for us today in our time. I think there’s cycles of heresy and cycles of influence that happen all through history, and the older you get, the more you can spot that. But it’s so critical for us today as well.
In a declining society such as in Colosse, a declining city, it’s declining economy, it’s declining influence, there is going to be spiritual unrest, social and cultural upheaval, as anxious people look for answers, as worried people grasp for hope. In every period of decline, people tend to look for other options, look for greener grass, look for solutions. We see this all the time, and we’ve seen in our own country.
But as the Colossians looked 10 miles up the road and saw Laodicea ascending while they themselves are declining, might their hearts have become troubled with anxiety and fear? Might they become envious of the prosperity of the neighboring city, the favor of Rome? Might they have started to say, I wonder what they’ve got that we don’t have. I wonder why prosperity there and not here, takes them right into the kind of concourse and fellowship, relationship, friendship, where they try to find answers. They’ve got something else in mind.
The Laodiceans we know became famous for saying things like Revelation 3:17 as Christ quotes them. He says, “You’ve said I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing.” That’s powerful and it’s a powerful indictment on the lukewarmness of the wealthy in Laodicea, who are untroubled and self-assured and living in comfort and living at ease. But all of that looks pretty good from 10 miles down the road; everything’s going the opposite direction.
It’s not just the rich who have money problems, of worship of money, of love of money, sometimes it’s the poor who have a real problem with money, envy, and condemning the rich, but also at the same time longing for the rich. Easy to imagine, isn’t it, as life gets harder for the Colossians, longer hours working, less money coming in, there’s a desire for an easy life that had to become a very enticing influence within their own hearts and their hearts were already unstable, already unsettled, and that’s leading them and calling them away from a life of faithfulness to Christ.
They’re all family. Paul emphasizes their shared status as family again in verse 2 at the end of the salutation when he unites them all together under God our father. Travis Allen
They’re being diverted from Christ to pursue other things. They’re going to make life easier. And that is why Paul uses the word faithful as an adjective to describe these brothers. The adjective pistas, which means loyal, steadfast. It’s both a description of the truly faithful in Colosse, who are being commended by the description of that term. It’s also a mild but clear corrective to those who are, at the same time, this present time, being lured away from simplicity of faith in Christ, turn away from being faithful, loyal, steadfast. The price of admission to get into the game in this society, this culture, and all throughout the first century world, to achieve prosperity, to gain wealth, you got to mix with the right people.
We have a saying today, it’s not always what you know, it’s who you know, right? Same thing then, you got to know the right people, be in the right places, mix of the right people, have the same habits, to win the available business contracts, to have influence to start new revenue streams, to maintain revenue streams and cash flow. And so you want to become conversant with the influencers of the day, get up to speed of the various in vogue topics and philosophies and have conversations that matter with the people that matter.
So you can’t be too strict about Colossians 2:8, “See that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception.” Oh, I’m not being taken captive, just talking, just having conversations. I mean, I need to study it in order to be up to speed with what’s going on around the table. What’s the harm in staying informed. Need to start living like they live, right? Do what they do and not doing what they forbid. You don’t want to make them uncomfortable by having different dietary practices. You sit at the table. Can’t pay too close of attention to Colossians 2:16 about food and drink, festivals, new moon, Sabbath days.
That’s just not how the world works. I mean, we have to have business meetings and those business meetings take place at the temple of Menkaure or Dionysus or Sybil. Got to get with the in crowd, got to attend the same events, go to the same concerts, be where the social and the political action is. This is all happening now, isn’t it? In our time, it’s always happening. It’s always happening. Nothing ever changes.
There’s nothing new under the sun, as Solomon said so wisely. And all too often, Christians are caught up in the same enticing schemes. They listen to the same siren songs. They’re in danger of being defrauded by those who are peddling something better, something more, in addition to Christ. Yeah, I have Christ. That’s good. You got enough of Christ in Sunday school. It’s time for you to get a little bit more with it, mature, become a little bit more sophisticated in your thinking. It’s just not the way the world works.
So many Christians are led astray by this kind of thinking, especially the young and especially those without a solid foundation, who are coming out of a sin saturated life. Some of the people, that pastorally we deal with, who come out of the world, I mean, divorce is so rampant today. The breakdown of the home and the family has created a hunger for fathers. A lot of people growing up with only a mother and sometimes that mother is trying to hold down two, three jobs.
I feel for her, but she’s not much help in the home. She can’t provide what a father only can provide. We see that all the time today. You know what these people are coming out of? This is a first-generation church. None of these people grow up in Christian homes. All of them were immersed in idolatry and sexual immorality and dysfunction in the home. They had a mess on their hands. And yet these letters are written at a high level, targeting the mind to drive the will to grab the affections. And we’re still learning from them. There’s hope in Christ. There’s no hope without them and that’s why turning away from Christ and wandering off to other things leads to hopelessness.
So many Christians become prey for the bold and the confident out there. Men who love to parade their self-abasement, and their glory, and their special insights, and they’re puffed up in their fleshly minds. The Internet and YouTube, politics, media, entertainment, sport, these are happy hunting grounds for the proud and the bold and the confident who want to grab your attention and your money and your heart and your affections and make merchandise out of you.
All these places are dominated by influencers who are skilled in selling The Mirage, creating brands and styles, promoting certain aesthetics, all of which is devoid of true substance in any lasting value. The blind leading the blind out there, Christian, do not be caught up in it. It’s folly for us as pastors and leaders to confront and refute every false path. That’d be the futility of like playing a never ending game of whack A mole. It’s always something popping up. You got to smash and then you got to go run over here. If you do that, you’re just going to be caught up in that forever.
Some influencers of our day attract followers this way, I’m the guy with all the answers to the social, cultural, political, ecclesiastical maladies that are afflicting us today, so sign up, subscribe, follow, read my, watch my, listen to my whatever it is, this is an affliction that’s always been with us, but I think it’s just accelerated because of the connectivity that we all have through the Internet.
Did Paul confront every false view at every false path? Did he major on that in Colossians? I submit to you he did not. Commentators have wrestled with the evidence in figuring out what the exact nature of the Colossian heresy is. They’ve wrestled with that for years. Was it most heavily influenced by Pagan mystery cults or Greek philosophy or Persian philosophy or Judaism? Was it like an incipient form of Gnosticism?
Gnosticism really took full. You can kind of put a capital G on that really only in the second century, that’s when it came into full bloom. But all the ideas of Gnosticism were in the culture for centuries before. And so if it’s an incipient form of Gnosticism, what was most prevalent was as the Syrian form or the Iranian form. Was there some kind of blend coming out of Greek philosophy? You think Paul knew? Yeah, obviously he knew. He was a studied man. You bet he knew.
As a zealous Jew, he’s a Hebrew of Hebrews. He’s a student of Gamaliel. So Paul knew Judaism. He could identify all the elements of a distorted Judaism in the culture. He’s a man born in Tarsus, a citizen of as, as it says in the King James, of no mean city. That is to say, a citizen of no insignificant city, meaning Tarsus is a really prominent city, Hellenized Greek. So he knew the Greco, Roman religious and philosophical systems in and out as a traveler and on foot. That’s where you really get to know the land is when you travel not by car, by bus, by train, by plane, but on foot.
He’s a traveler throughout the Galatian, and Phrygian and Lydian regions and territories. And so Paul knew the native mystery religions and cults very, very thoroughly. He’s a traveler, in fact, through the entire Roman Empire. So he had a native familiarity with all the Gnostic ideas that travelled East and West, North and South, from Persia to Greece, from Alexandria all the way up to Antioch and Syria and everywhere in between.
So Paul knew, he understood, and he doesn’t spend a chapter or three identifying with precision exactly what the heresy is. He gets to the heart of it. He doesn’t want to defuse the focus of his letter by getting too specific about the threat. He didn’t want to restrict the use of this letter, making it too provincial, too narrow. So he signals from the very opening verses how he intends to address the threat.
Back to our point. This is point three: identity in Christ. Paul affirms in verse 2 their dual identity. They are brethren in Christ who are at Colosse. Brethren in Christ, one citizenship; who are at Colosse, another citizenship. Brethren in Christ, that’s one identity. They’re at Colosse, that’s another identity. The translation gives the right emphasis though, doesn’t it? Spiritual identity comes first, then the temporal, even though in the original it’s the other way around, it’s to the, in Colosse saints and faithful brethren in Christ. So in Colosse, in the original comes first, then in Christ temporal identity is sighted first.
They’re residents of the city of Colosse, and that’s followed by their spiritual identity as those who are now in Christ. And in fact, verse 13, they’ve been transferred into the Kingdom of God’s beloved Son, that is the more prominent, more essential true identity, since they’re united to Christ, the most important mark of their identity is Christ. And this gives the solution to any and every temporal problem they face and this brings us really to the thesis.
The main thesis of this letter, which is found in, look at it in Colossians 2, verses 6 and 7, “Therefore, having said everything about my apostleship, which is based on what Christ has done, which is based on who Christ is. Therefore, verse 6, “as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, having been firmly rooted and being built up in him and having been established in your faith just as you were instructed and abounding with Thanksgiving.” That’s the thesis: Walk in Christ, stay rooted in him, don’t depart from him, be built up in him. That’s the thesis.
How does Paul know these Colossians have indeed received Christ Jesus the Lord and even have the capacity, the capability, the ability to walk in him. How does he know that, because of a past verses report. Look at chapter 1, verses 3 and the following, “We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel.”
They have faith, they have love, and why do they have that? Because of the hope laid up for them in heaven. Where’d they hear that about faith, hope and love? They heard it from the gospel verse 6, “which has come to you just as in all the world also it’s constantly bearing fruit and multiplying, just as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard and understood the grace of God and truth.” That is to say, Colossians, what’s happening in you, because of the gospel that you’ve heard, there’s your faith in Christ, there’s your love.
That’s a fruit of Christ and a fruit of the Spirit of Christ and it’s because of a hope that is not now, not present; it’s hope for future. Because of that, you’re changing. There’s something different about you. And you know what? What’s happening among you and the transformation that’s happening in your lives, your speech, your priorities, your behavior, that’s exactly the same as it is all over the world.
Wherever this gospel has taken root, all you Christians look the same. Hard to tell you apart, “just as you learned,” at verse 7, “from Epaphras, our beloved fellow slave, who’s a faithful servant of Christ on your behalf, who also informed us of your love in the Spirit.” Paul knows these Colossians are rooted in Christ, that they can walk in him because of the reports about them, because of their union to Christ and their true identity in Christ.
They need to be reminded once again of what a great Savior he is, the unique kind of person that he is, which is the point of setting forth the doctrine of Christ in chapter 1 verses 13 to 22. So by continuing to walk in Christ, holding fast to the head, the Colossian Christians are in no way missing out on the true fullness. The word fullness is pleroma. It’s a big word in the Gnosticism of the day; pleroma, the fullness. “Know the fullness of Christ” kind of spoke of it in hushed terms, fullness.
They are no way in danger of missing out on the true fullness of spiritual experience. They are no way ignorant of any true spiritual mystery that may be known as the Gnostics tried to tell them. They’re not missing out on any communion with any actual deity. In fact, the opposite’s true, knowing Christ means the joy of discovering Colossians 2:2, “All the wealth,” the wealth, “of the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
Knowing him means learning to put that wealth to its best use. Fine thing to hand a bar of gold to a three-year old, he has no idea what to do with it. He just sets it on the ground, rolls his little cars over the top of it. He’ll give gold to someone who knows how to spend gold right? If we have treasures in Christ, I don’t know how to spend them, how to make use of them. Knowing Christ means knowing what that wealth is, how to use it. Knowing Christ is communing with deity, Colossians 2:9, “For in Him all the fullness of deity dwells bodily, and in Him you have been filled.” Can’t get closer to the Deity than that, to have him in you and you in him. This one who took on flesh, so God may Tabernacle with us, he is the one in whom we are, as we commune with him, as we Tabernacle with God in him.
So if the Colossians were to follow the siren song of the voices, offering a fuller freedom, a deeper communion, a richer experience, well they will, by of necessity, forfeit Christ, forsaking fellowship with him. Why? Because Christ will not share fellowship with rival gods and lesser gods. He won’t tolerate it. He doesn’t commune with the double minded, calls us to worship God with all heart, soul, strength, and mind.
So the answer for these Colossians, it’s the same answer and solution for us, today. We must all dive even deeper into Christ. We have to have more of him, not less. Go further with him and not hang back as it says in Colossians chapter 3, “If you’ve been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Contrary to what others say then and now, by becoming more heavenly minded, we’re not of no earthly good. That’s totally false, more heavenly mindedness not less, makes us of any earthly good, any benefit to people on earth. Which brings us to the importance of the Colossians and their temporal identity. There’s our identity in Christ, yes, but Christianity is not like paganism, it’s not like Gnosticism, it’s not like a mystery cult, it’s lived out in both private and in public, in Colosse, in America, in Colorado.
You hear many people say today, things like, I’m a very spiritual person, that they reject organized religion, churches. Oh, I don’t go to church anymore. I had a bad experience. I was hurt by church people. There are hypocrites there. I’m not into institutional authority. I don’t need that to worship God. People say that and if they’re professing Christians and they say that they’re only demonstrated, they really don’t know their Bibles, because you will not find Paul saying anything like that spiritual, not religious rubbish.
The spirituality of Christianity is religious. It’s lived both privately and publicly. It’s lived in the heart and from the heart through the life to the outside world, that’s true Christianity. If that’s not happening in a life, I question whether Christ is present, because he drives us into the world.
Christianity is not about speculative philosophy or empty deception. It causes a real sanctification, true change, actual increasing freedom from sin. As it says in Colossians 3:5 through 10, Christianity does not tolerate coarse attitudes, foul mouth angry speech. Whether you find it in the manosphere or find it in politics or find it in sports or wherever you find it, it’s about real love, of a spirit dominated, fruitful life. That’s what Colossians 3:12 through 17, “As the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion.”
It’s leaving behind all the works of the flesh and all the malice, and evil deeds, and wrath, and anger and it’s as the elect of God, holy, beloved, “put on a heart of compassion and kindness and humility and gentleness and patience, bearing with each other in love, graciously forgiving each other. Whoever has a complaint against one another, just as the Lord’s graciously forgiven you, so you should forgive. Above all these things put on love…..Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.”
All that is taking place in the individual life. Christianity is not some privatized spirituality, individualized, tailored to the subjective experience of the individual, devoid of any personal accountability. No. Christianity has tangible effects and it starts in the most intimate personal spaces, in the home, in the family. Look at verse 18, “Wives, be subject to your husbands as this fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is pleasing to the Lord and fathers, do not exasperate your children so they will not lose heart.”
Man, so much packed into those verses, and yet at the same time, as we see Christianity take an effect, not only in the heart, in the life, causing a life of repentance, the first members of society to see that change are the family members. It doesn’t stay in the family. I want to emphasize this. Christianity is not a family movement. It’s not devoted to the primacy and the priority of the family over all of their social commitments and responsibilities. It has its place. It has a foundational place, very important place. We have to recognize though, Christ is the Lord of all of life, in every sphere of authority, family, government, church; “all authority in heaven on earth has been given unto me.” Jesus said it’s his domain and so whatever is his domain, that’s where our Christianity is lived out.
Says in verse 22, “Slaves, in all things obey those who your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, in integrity of heart, fearing the Lord,” skipping down, of chapter 4 verse 1, “Masters, if you show your slaves what’s right and fair, knowing you too have a Master in heaven,” there’s no partiality with God.
That’s Christianity. It’s productive, it bears actual fruit, it’s not the abstract, ethereal, intangible stuff of speculative religion and philosophy. It’s concrete, it gets stuff done. You can, you can record it. You can take a picture of it, a video of it, and see, there’s a change. So in Christ, citizens of heaven, and that matters in Colosse, as Christianity and in Christ, identity becomes productive and growing, maturing, making us useful as citizens not just of heaven, but of the kingdoms here on earth too.
Christianity is the stuff of reality, stuff of reality that deals with actual and sufficient causes and real effects. Which brings us to our fourth and final point: Reality in Christ. Reality. Reality in Christ, Paul affirms the divine reality at work, pointing to cause and effect in his salutation to the Colossians. He says, “grace to you,” that’s the cause, “and peace from God our Father,” that’s the effect.
There’s a fourth element, as I mentioned earlier, in the first century letter, there’s author, recipient, subject, and then fourthly, the salutation. This is that salutation. Typical Hebrew salutation is Shalom, peace. Typical Greek salutation, Chairo. Literally it means rejoice, but it was more like greetings or hail. Hey, what’s up? That’s kind of the idea. So Paul combines these Greek and Hebrew salutations. He rephrases them and repurposes them for Christian use.
Instead of starting with greetings from the Greek word that means rejoice, he calls attention to the cause of all rejoicing, which is not chairo, but charis, takes out a letter, drops the iota. He calls attention to the grace of God, “grace to you.” That’s what explains the cause of the Colossians, the cause of their new identity, the cause of their belonging to a new family, the privileged objects of divine election. They’re recipients of the sovereign grace of God. They’re set apart by him as saints. “They’re chosen to be,” Colossians 1:22, “chosen to be holy and blameless.”
We borrow from the language of Ephesians 2:8 through 10, It’s by the grace of God, “they’ve been saved through faith, not by their own works,” even the faith that they exercise, that too is the gift of God. “It’s not a result of works. So no one can boast.” No one can boast except in the unmerited grace of God. No one can boast except in the sufficient cause, who is God and God alone. That’s who explains them. Grace to you.
The effect, second part of the salutation, “peace from God our Father.” That’s the result of divine grace. Man, this confronts again what they’re facing in their church, the promise of Greek philosophy and that distorted Judaism and the Phrygian mystery cults. The promise is freedom and peace, but in actual fact, it only tightens the bonds of slavery to sin. It leads to nothing but dissatisfaction and the loneliness, and isolation, and sadness, and turmoil of life, because there is no freedom from sin, no freedom from corruption, no cleansing of the conscience.
Submission to the religious decrees of the culture which at their best, they only dabble in the elementary principles of life, things like Colossians 2:22, “that deal with everything destined to perish with use, which are in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men; which are matters having to be sure, a word of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but,” listen to this, “they’re of no value against fleshly indulgence.”
You think some YouTube influencer is going to help you with your fleshly indulgence? Get off of YouTube, get into your Bible, and get into Christ. Paul’s opening salutation, “Grace to you. Peace from God our Father.” That’s not some sanctimonious phraseology. It’s not some Christianese for starting a letter. Paul’s opening salutation sets forth from the very beginning what he intends his letter to accomplish. He puts their focus on the reality of the Grace. It sets these believers apart as saints and faithful brethren, as objects of God’s love, as recipients of his fatherly affection, as beneficiaries of Christ’s finished work.
That salutation, “Grace and peace,” encompasses everything from the eternal election of God to present justification in the enduring peace of God. No more war with God, but now cessation of hostility and a favored position of peace with God and that blessing of God that continues on eternally is then highlighted. Eschatological promise of chapter 3, verse 4, “When Christ, who is our life, is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory.”
What we really are in Christ isn’t seen yet, but when he appears, we’ll be manifested with him. So let no one take you captive, my friend, let no one judge you, defraud you, instead stand fast in Christ. And the last words, very last words of this epistle, which are really a recapitulation of the first words of the epistle, they point to the fulfillment of Paul’s purpose in this letter, “Grace be with you.” Let’s pray.
Our Father, we give thanks to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our supreme Lord, our perfect Savior, the perfect mediator, whom you have sent us, the Christ, the Anointed One. And really, he’s condescended to become like us in the flesh and to call us brethren, and even to call us friends. So we thank you for this great salvation and we know that this enticement of Christians to, to leave the grace that you have provided, to leave the Christ that you’ve given to us, to take our eyes and our minds off of this great salvation that he purchased for us. It’s a perennial problem. It was true in Colosse and all the churches of Lycos Valley. It was also true throughout the Old Testament in the wanderings of your people and the difficulties that believers, if we’ve always experienced from the very beginning, but they come into our own day as well. And so we just asked Father, that you would give us great strength and encouragement through this letter as we’re embarking on a study of it. We pray that you would open our minds and satisfy our hearts in Christ. It’s in his name we pray. Amen.