Colossians

·       Summary (church, strengths and weaknesses, reference to Acts):

The church addressed here was in the small town of Colosse in modern day turkey. It was neither established nor visited by Paul and is therefore not accounted for in Acts. A man named Epaphras shared the good news with them (1:7).  Paul writes to them because they are faced with the danger of falling back to paganism and all the immorality concerned with that (1:21-23/2:6/3:5-11). They seemed to have been trying to find a balance in syncretism between gentile and Jewish ideas (2:8/ 2:11, 16-17). There were influences of angel worship (2:1) and false teachings (2:8-23). However, on the up side, Paul says that He has heard about the love they have for others (1:8).

·       Main ideas, key words and repeated ideas:

The main theme and idea of Colossians is that Christ is the fullness of God, the pre-eminent all sufficient savior! Loving kindness is emphasized through the book as well as the supremacy of Christ. Repeatedly Paul refers to the mystery and secret of our faith which is also repeated as Christ in us, the hope of glory. The key verse of Colossians is 2:9-10, it says,” For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.”

·       Character and nature of God:

I think there is much to be said about God’s character regarding the sovereignty and kindness we see in Colossians. In 1:11 we see that it is His glorious power which strengthens us and that He is the provider of both patience and joy.  Chapter 1:15-20 emphasizes that God is supreme and sovereign over all things. We see that In Christ is all wisdom and knowledge (2:3) and that his mighty power works within us (1::29). In 3:10 Paul points out that God is our creator and we are to become like him. We see that God has free will and has chosen to love us in 3:12.

·       Point of Passion:

Concerning education we need to make sure that no matter what we teach whether it is the Bible or Grade 4 Geography, we need to hold Christ as the pre-eminent in all of life. Colossians 2:3 “In him lie all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” We are to search Christ in whatever we teach and then we will not only find our Savior and friend but along with Him the treasures of wisdom and knowledge which we need revelation on.

In the passages of Colossians 3:1-2 and 3:23-24 we see the importance of teaching people to look at their work and everything with an eternal perspective.