Colossians 1:1,2by Dr. Grant C. RichisonTo: Colossians Main Menu To: Grace Notes Home Page Colossians 1:1"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother."---------- The first two verses of the book of Colossians comprise the salutation. "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ" Paul does not begin his epistles with customary introductions of our day. Salutations of our day are irrelevant. We begin a business letter with the term" Gentlemen" and yet we know that there is not a gentleman in the whole crowd! We write, "Dear Sir," when we know that they are neither "dear" nor "Sir!!" We cannot start a letter with "Hey, you" either!! The name "Paul" means "little." If there was anyone who could call himself "Mr. big," it was the apostle Paul. He was the greatest missionary of the first century. He was one of the great men of his day. In Judaism he had a promising career. He was a Pharisee. He was the outstanding persecutor of the church. He ran out of victims in Jerusalem so he went to Damascus to capture more Christians, "Then Saul (Paul), still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem" (Acts 9:1-2). He was on his way to murder the disciples in Damascus. On that road to Damascus he met the risen Lord and received Jesus Christ as his Savior. As a Christian he spread the gospel to the Gentile Roman world. The Lord Jesus ruined his previous career of killing Christians! One look at Jesus and it changed everything in his life. Jesus' worst enemy became his greatest emissary. Paul was not one of the 12 original Apostles. One qualification for apostleship was seeing Jesus. He saw the risen Christ (I Cor. 9:1; 15:8-9). God gave him miraculous powers to authenticate his apostleship (II Cor. 12:12; Heb. 2:3-4). The word "apostle" conveys the idea of special commission from God. The apostle was under a divine commission to found the church and write Scripture. This is the highest ranking gift in the Bible. There are no more apostles today. No one has the right to write Scripture. This gift, as all gifts, can only be bestowed by the sovereignty of Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation (I Cor. 12:11,13). Paul was the human author of Scripture but the Holy Spirit was the divine author, "For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (II Pet 1:20). This does not mean that the human author mechanically writes Scripture with little or no input from his person. It means that the Holy Spirit guides every word he writes to accurately convey what God wants to communicate to man. Paul was Christ's apostle. He was not the church's apostle. He was a special emissary on special divine assignment from Christ (John 17:18). He took his marching orders from Jesus Christ. PRINCIPLE: When Jesus Christ fills our horizon, we can do nothing else but serve him. APPLICATION When we truly meet the Lord Jesus we lose interest in pleasing self. The greatest thing that can happen to a young person is to meet the Lord Jesus young enough that they can give their entire life to the Lord. Boy friends, girl friends, cars, career do not compare with knowing and serving him (Phil. 3:10). When we devote our lives to the Son of God, we live no lives of regret. Paul makes his commitment clear in I Cor. 9:16,17, "Or if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!" He said, "I must preach the gospel whether I want to do it or not. whether it is convenient or not, I have no choice." God is no cruel task master. He is a wonderful master who gives us a sense of satisfaction when we serve him. Paul did not quit. He served to the best of his ability which is all God asks. This kind of commitment gives us direction, point and purpose. We keep our drive no matter what opposition may come our way. ---------- "by the will of God" Paul is an apostle by the will of God, not by his own self appointment. He did not choose the career of an apostle. He became an apostle because he came into confrontation with the Lord of Glory. He was on his way to arrest Christians when the Lord arrested him and dispatched him to dispense the gospel. He did not earn nor deserve the right of apostleship. It was clearly within God's domain to place him in this special privilege within Christianity. It is not by his own merit or strength or sufficiency. God's sovereign choice is the basis for his apostleship. PRINCIPLE: The Christian does what he does "by the will of God." APPLICATION: People often rationalize themselves into a course of action and then say, "This is the will of God." When things fall apart they say, "Why did God do this to me? It is God's fault that I am in this situation." Their course of action came from themselves, not God. Others blame Satan for their difficulties whereas it the problem was self-induced. We make foolish decisions and say foolish things and then blame it on Satan whereas it is not Satan at all. We all make decisions which have nothing at all to do with the will of God. We blame Satan but is our own foolish mistake. For example, a person may say "I lost my job because of my testimony for Christ." But it was not his testimony at all, he lost his job because he was loafing on the job. He had the attitude that the world owed him a living. He did not view his job as part of his Christian service. Instead of doing his job as unto the Lord, he was a sloppy worker. Satan does not have a thing to do with this. Satan's system does attack Christians but not in this kind of incident. ---------- "and Timothy our brother" Timothy was a vest-pocket edition of the apostle Paul. He was Paul's companion on many of his travels (II Cor. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; II Thes. 1:1) and his son in the faith (II Tim 2:1). Timothy had a Gentile father (Acts 16:1) but Jewish mother and grandmother (II Tim. 1:5). He learned the Old Testament from a young age from them (II Tim. 3:15). Paul hand-picked Timothy to serve with him. Timothy joined Paul on his second missionary journey at Lystra where he was reported to be effective in ministry (Acts 16:2). Thereafter they were almost inseparable. Wherever Paul went, he took Timothy. Wherever Paul could not go, he sent Timothy. "Now if Timothy comes, see that he may be with you without fear; for he does the work of the Lord, as I also do" (I Cor. 16:10). Paul personally polished him as a leader. He wrote I & II Timothy to this young pastor. Paul had numerous colleagues and friends but none of them were quite as close as Timothy. Note his view of Timothy in Philippians 2:10-23, "But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state. For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus [but not Timothy]. But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel. Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it goes with me." Timothy was a spiritual "brother." He belonged to the family of God. He was not a physical relation to Paul. "Brother" also indicates that he does not share apostleship with Paul. He is a "brother," not an "apostle." God brought these two men together and they remained together. Their friendship stuck. Their friendship glued together with a divine adhesive. Others forsook Paul. When the going got tough, they quit, "This you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes" (II Tim. 1:15). Paul knew what it was like to have some bitter disappointments in his friends and co-workers. What kept Paul and Timothy together? They had nothing in common. Paul was much older than Timothy (Philemon 9). In I Timothy Paul said, "Let no man despise your youth." Usually, people who have a large age gap do not remain together for very long unless they are relatives These two were poles apart in their family background. Paul was a pure blood Jew (Phil. 3:5). Timothy was half Jew, half Gentile. His father was a Gentile (Acts 16:3). They were poles apart in their education. They were not on the same plane. Paul had a graduate degree. He sat at the feet of Gamaliel. There is no record of any formal training of Timothy. PRINCIPLE: God breaks down natural barriers between people. APPLICATION: Even though these men came from radically different backgrounds they served the Lord side by side. Paul mentored Timothy in action. Everything he learned he learned from Paul. Timothy was both loyal and faithful. Jesus Christ compensates for the differences in culture, education, financial background. He annihilates the differences that separate. Colossians 1:2"To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."---------- "To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse" The two phrases "in Christ" and "in Colosse" point to two spheres. "In Colosse" is the location where the saints at Colosse live. This is their earthly address. "Saints" in the Bible are people on earth (I Cor. 14:33; Eph. 4:11,12; 5:3; 6:18; Col. 1:4,12; Heb. 6:10; Jude 3). Here the "saints" locate at Colosse. The phrase "in Christ" is their spiritual sphere. This is their position (status quo) before God. As God views them, they have the same status quo as Jesus Christ as in God's eyes. Paul characterizes the Colossians with two descriptions. First, he called them "saints." This means that they are set apart as chosen for God. The Colossians were "saints" because they possessed by God in a distinctive way. The blood of Christ bought and paid for them. God acquired them by the death of Christ. This is not a term of morality. It has nothing to do with how we act. It has more to do with who we are. This is not a term of condition but of position. We belong to God. At our point of belief God claimed us for his own. Therefore, we belong to him. We are saints by virtue of our position in Christ. Second, Paul calls them "faithful brethren." The Colossian church faced false doctrine. However, Paul describes them as "faithful." They are dependable; God can count on them to remain true to truth. Not all saints are faithful. They have enough faith to receive Christ and that is about all. The church at Colosse was one of two churches (the other church is Rome) to which Paul wrote that he never visited. Epaphras founded the church at Colosse. PRINCIPLE: Grace always precedes peace. Grace is God's provision for the Christian life. Peace is the enjoyment of God's provisions. APPLICATION: Peace is orientation to the grace of God. A person experiencing peace is in the process of experiencing God's grace. Why you do not have peace in your life? Is it because you are experiencing God's grace? ---------- "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" This is Paul's customary greeting to churches by Paul. "Grace" is the normal Greek salutation. "Peace" is the normal Hebrew salutation. This is no perfunctory greeting. Paul conveys his heart for the Colossians here. This is not saving grace. This is grace for daily living. It is grace for the pilgrim path. Grace enables a believer to maintain his spiritual equilibrium (Rom. 12:3). A believer full of grace will go off on no tangent. Grace makes it possible for us to put a proper estimation upon ourselves (James 4:6; I Pet 5:5). Grace is something that God provides; we cannot earn or deserve it (I Pet. 5:10). God gives enough grace so we can face anything that may come our way (II Cor. 12:9,10). "Peace" is the other spiritual commodity God gives. This is not peace with God. That peace we receive at the point of salvation. This is peace of God, God's very own peace for everyday life. It does not take much for people to get our goat. We charge into conflict over something insignificant. Paul desires that every believer will know the peace of God in whatever situation they face. This is the ability to call an armistice because the war is over. We no longer need to fight insignificant battles. PRINCIPLE: Grace is what sustains us in the Christian life. It is God's provision for daily living. APPLICATION: The peace of God disappears quite often with Christians. It leaks out somewhere. Peace goes when we lose our temper and speak harshly to our family. We wound those closest to us. The peace of God enables us to live with a tranquil spirit. In the midst of turbulence with people no one ruffles us. When everyone else is upset we are calm. We can sit down in the inside. Not many of us have that kind of serenity. It is easy to have peace when everything is going our way. We are on top of the world. When everything comes up roses and everything is brakes for us, we can live the spiritual life. That is not the test of spirituality. The test is when we face trouble. God's peace is dynamic in the middle of trouble. Copyright © 1995, Dr. Grant Richison. All rights reserved. There is no charge for Grace Notes Materials. 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