Colossians 1
Big idea: Paul thanks God for a faith he has only heard about, then prays it would deepen into knowledge — and the content of that knowledge turns out to be a person. The chapter climbs to the letter's summit: a hymn declaring Christ supreme over creation and reconciliation alike (vv. 15-20). That supremacy is not abstract; it has already been applied to the Colossians (vv. 21-23) and is the burden of Paul's own suffering ministry (vv. 24-29).
Chapter 1 establishes WHO Christ is — image of God, creator, head, reconciler, the one in whom all fullness dwells. Chapter 2 draws the fighting conclusion: if that is who he is, then nothing can be added to him, and no one may disqualify those who are complete in him.
1:1-2 — Greeting
The standard letter-opening, but already loaded. Paul writes as an apostle 'through the will of God' to a church he did not plant and has never visited — 'faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae.' The blessing, grace and peace, previews the letter's claim that everything worth having is found in Christ and given by God the Father.
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1:3-8 — Thanks for a faith heard from afar
Paul's thanksgiving names the triad that recurs through his letters — faith, love, and hope. Their faith and love spring from a hope 'laid up in the heavens,' which reached them through 'the word of the truth of the Good News.' That gospel is doing everywhere exactly what it did in Colossae: bearing fruit and growing. And Paul knows all this secondhand — through Epaphras, the coworker who actually planted the church.
3 We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have toward all the saints, 5 because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the Good News 6 which has come to you, even as it is in all the world and is bearing fruit and growing, as it does in you also, since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth, 7 even as you learned from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on your behalf, 8 who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.
1:9-14 — Prayer for knowledge that shapes a life
The thanksgiving turns to petition. Paul prays not for their circumstances but for their knowing — 'filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom' — precisely the territory the false teachers claim as their own. But this knowledge is not information for its own sake; its aim is a worthy walk that bears fruit and endures. The prayer swells into thanksgiving for what God has already done: qualified them, rescued them from darkness, and transferred them into the kingdom of his beloved Son, where they have redemption.
9 For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, don’t cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, 11 strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, 13 who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love, 14 in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.
1:15-20 — The hymn: Christ supreme
The letter's summit, and one of the New Testament's great Christological passages — probably an early hymn. It falls into two matched stanzas. Over CREATION: Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn (that is, sovereign heir) of all creation; everything visible and invisible, including the very 'thrones and powers' the false teachers revere, was created through him and for him, and holds together in him. Over the NEW CREATION: he is head of the body, the church, the firstborn from the dead, in whom all fullness dwells and through whom God reconciled all things by the blood of his cross.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible things and invisible things, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things are held together. 18 He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19 For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by him, whether things on the earth or things in the heavens, having made peace through the blood of his cross.
1:21-23 — Reconciliation brought home to you
The cosmic reconciliation of the hymn lands on the Colossians personally. Once alienated and hostile in mind, expressed in evil deeds, they have now been reconciled 'in the body of his flesh through death' — and the purpose is presentation: holy, blameless, above reproach before God. A conditional clause follows: if they continue in the faith, stable and not shifting from the hope of the gospel. The section closes by binding this gospel to Paul, its servant.
21 You, being in past times alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil deeds, 22 yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without defect and blameless before him, 23 if it is so that you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the Good News which you heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, was made a servant.
1:24-29 — Paul's ministry of the mystery
Paul explains his own suffering as service. He 'fills up what is lacking of Christ's afflictions' for the church's sake — completing the quota of hardship the gospel's spread entails. His commission is a stewardship: to make God's word fully known, specifically the 'mystery' hidden for ages and now revealed — 'Christ in you, the hope of glory,' astonishingly among the Gentiles. His labor is to present everyone mature in Christ, and he works at it with an energy that is Christ's own power at work in him.
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the assembly, 25 of which I was made a servant according to the stewardship of God which was given me toward you to fulfill the word of God, 26 the mystery which has been hidden for ages and generations. But now it has been revealed to his saints, 27 to whom God was pleased to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 We proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus; 29 for which I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).