The Apostle Paul’s Letter to the Colossians

Remain Steadfast in Christ and the Faith

The Apostle Paul wrote the Book of Colossians while in a Roman prison; his first imprisonment in Rome in which he spent over two years under house arrest. Paul wrote this letter in 60 A.D., also writing Ephesians and Philemon the same year, while under the same incarceration; arrested in Jerusalem, he was turned over to Roman authorities to be transported to the Roman prison.

Several hundred years before Paul’s time, Colosse was a leading city in Asia Minor[Present day Turkey]. Located on the Lycus River and the respected east-west trade route beginning at Ephesius on the Aegean Sea to the Euphrates River. By the first century A.D., Colosse had fallen behind in business matters. The town was sadly reduced to a second rate commerce-city.

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Colossians 1:21-23- Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22- But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—23- if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven and which I, Paul, have become a servant.

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Out of Christian concern, Paul attempts to remind the Colossians just how badly they, as a church, had,  in the past, drifted from God. Their heinous behavior caused a separation between themselves and the Lord. Then they, as a congregation, repented, and became right with God.

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2:1- I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2- My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, 3- in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4- I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. 5- For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.

vs 6- So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7- rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

vs 8- See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

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Paul pleads with the Colossians, not to let themselves be led astray by false teachings of the world. Do not become ritualistic in your worship. Remain steadfast in Christ and the faith.

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vs 11- In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ 12- having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

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Paul reminds them that not only have they been crucified and buried with Christ, they have also received a deeper spiritual covenant with God, the circumcision of their hearts by Christ.

Deuteronomy 30:6- The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.

Jeremiah 4:4- Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done—burn with no one to quench it.

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vs 13- When you were dead in your sins, and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins.

3:1-2- Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2- Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.

vs 5- Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, which is idolatry. 6- Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.

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Your behavior should reflect the fruits of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 – But the fruits of the Spirits are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Some of these behaviors are easier to achieve than others. Many take work and training. We are called as Christians to master them.

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3:17- And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving to God the Father through him.

4:2- Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3- And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.

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Paul is wearing leg and arm irons, in prison, while writing this letter to the Colossians. He writes due to hearing reports that the people of the church of Colosse are expressing and possibly teaching and/or practicing heresy.
The church of Colosse had a history of both; apostasy and returning to biblical doctrine and faith in Christ.

It is easy to fall into the apostasy that Paul is describing. In today’s world it has never been easier to drift from the doctrine of the church and Jesus Christ, and away from God entirely—for many people.

For Christians, the bible warns of a great danger in doing that very thing.

Matthew 10:33- Jesus said, “But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.”

It is very dangerous for a Christian to drift into apostasy. We are out of the will of God. God cannot use us. We are on a road to disaster. God might have mercy on us, and be patient with us, but eventually he will call us to repentance—If we are his child. If not, that is also a road to disaster—hell with Satan.

Do you need to re-dedicate your life to Christ?  Have you ever accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior? To receive Jesus into your heart or re-dedicate your life to Christ, I invite you to pray this Believer’s Prayer to God.

Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I am sorry for all my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be. Thank you Lord Jesus. A-men.

If you prayed this prayer for the first time, you are now a child of God. Through the Holy Spirit, you have a personal relationship with the creator of the universe and Jesus Christ.
If you were already a Christian, only in a state of apostasy of sorts, now you are back in fellowship with the living God, our creator.

Either way, we are called to walk in the Faith, daily. That means to pray continually, study the Word of God[Bible], and attend church regularly with other believers in Christ.  By doing these things, we will be able to stand firm against Satan and his schemes—thus avoiding apostasy.

May we all stand firm in Christ and stand against Satan and his schemes,

Gary The Tested

Are You Ready?—When Jesus Returns?

Jesus Is Returning Soon!

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 – Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14- We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15- According to the Lord’s own Word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16- For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with a voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17- After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18- Therefore encourage each other with these words.

1 Corinthians 15: 52- 53-in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53- For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable and the mortal with the immortality.

John 5:28-29- Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice 29- and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.

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Daniel 12:1-2- At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. 2- Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.

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Everyone dead will rise at that moment, the non-believers in Christ, during the rapture will rise from their craves. (John 5:28-29) All will rise.

Will non-believers receive a resurrected body, as believers in Christ do, or remain in spirit? (Luke 16) Jesus tells the parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus. Lazarus dies and goes to heaven. The rich man dies and goes to hell. His tongue was (is) overheated from the fire he is in. He was(is) in torment. A spirit body would not feel pain. A physical body of some type would feel torment.

Matthew 10:28 – Jesus said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

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The scriptures suggests people in hell have some type of physical body that can be tormented.

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What will our ( Believers in Jesus Christ) resurrected bodies be like? Paul gives us an idea in (1 Corinthians 15:35-54) Our heavenly bodies will be completely different from the earthly bodies. Changed forever, immortal. Imperishable, raised in glory, raised in power, also a spiritual body, people from heaven- likeness of Christ.

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2 Corinthians 5:6-8- Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.  7- We live by faith, not by sight. 8- We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

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When our earth body fails to function, we are taken immediately to heaven to be with our Lord. This process takes only a second. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death , is your sting? (1 Corinthians 15:55)

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REVELATION6:9-11- When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the alter the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10- They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood? 11- Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers were to be killed as they had been was completed.

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According to this scripture, as our souls(Us-Who we are-Our person) waits for the rapture and our resurrected bodies(Which will be out of this world), we live in heaven with the Lord. We are given some type of temporary, physical body that is capable of supporting a robe. That scripture is a hint of the bodies we will have at that time.

Then, at the moment of rapture, all the dead will rise from their graves, no matter where their graves are. All will receive their resurrected bodies. (I believe the bodies of Christ’s followers will be different than that of non-believers. Our bodies will be designed by God for heaven, Christ-like. Non-believers bodies will be designed by God for a total separation from the Lord in hell, the burning lake of fire, for all eternity.)

We believers in Christ, will live with our Lord Jesus and the Lord God Almighty and the Holy Spirit in heaven for all eternity. We will have our resurrected bodies designed for His purpose.
Non-believers will spend all eternity in the lake of fire with Satan, his fallen angels, in their resurrected bodies designed by God to endure that environment, separated from God.

Where are you going to spend eternity? Jesus said, “If you are not for me, you are against me.”
If you do not choose Jesus, you are choosing Satan. It’s that simple. It does not matter if you don’t like it. It does not matter if you remain in denial your entire life. If you reject Jesus for any reason, you are choosing Satan.

Please choose Jesus.  Your eternity depends on it.

How do you choose Jesus? You must believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins. That He took your punishment for your sins. He died for your sins. Jesus went to hell in your place; for you. On the third day, God raised him out of hell and the grave and gave him a resurrected body. You must believe this happened for you; because Jesus did it for you. All mankind; every person who will ever live. He bought our way into heaven. That is the only way we could get there; by Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf. A free gift, we must accept it and believe.

Next, with the repentance of a child, pray to the Lord that you are truly sorry for your sins and you want God’s forgiveness for your sins. That you want Jesus to be the Lord of your life. You want him to be your Lord and Savior. Pray this in Jesus name. A-men. Pray with a sincere heart with true repentance.

If you prefer, there is a Believer’s Prayer at the beginning of this blog. Pray that prayer with sincerity and repentance. Jesus will become your Lord and Savior. He will change your life for all eternity. It is God’s Will for all to receive Him and come to His Son, Jesus.

Become a believer in Christ and wait expectantly for Christ’s return,

Gary The Tested

A Bible Story – David; Saul; and Jealousy

   Dear Faith Readers,

   Being a life-long scripture reader, God's Word has helped me to understand many trials. However, by understanding my plights, that hasn’t always made me feel better. Often times the increased anxiety of wisdom is equally painful.

   Just like today, in many of my favorite bible passages, the character in the story goes through horrific trials. Knowing that my biblical brothers and sisters suffered for their faith doesn’t always help me to feel better.

A Bible Story - David and Saul

   You probably think I’m referring to  Job.  His testing is considered by many to be the harshest in the history of mankind.  I don’t know if that's true or not since testings go on every day in God’s kingdom. I have read about many testings. I have also endured many of my own testings – some more severe than others.

   I'm referring to the trials that David endured. If you recall, Saul and his armies had been pursuing him  for some time. Saul’s goal was to kill David. In the cave, David had an opportunity to kill Saul and spared his life; he crept behind him.

   Have you ever known someone who is truly gifted? That was David. He was gifted in music, in appearance, and in battle skills. Everything about him displayed God’s favor. Were all of those gifts and recognition easy for him to live with? David would have been the first person to say no. These gifts caused jealousy. His gifts also caused him to sin.

   God speaks about jealousy in Exodus 20:17, You shall not covet…

   In 1 Samuel 18.6,7; When the men returned home after battle, the women sang the praises about and to David for slaying ten times as many Philistines as Saul. Saul burned with jealousy. In Vs. 10, God put an evil spirit into Saul. I believe just like with Saul, God uses evil spirits for his work today. If  someone is jealous, that is an invitation for trouble – an open door for temptation.

   It can be very difficult to accept that someone  simply has more gifts. It is important to accept that fact and don’t fall into jealous temptation. That was true in David’s time and it’s true in our time. It will be true in the future. Jealousy is a dangerous temptation. Follow God's Word and make the personal decision to avoid the trap.

   In Christ's Service,

   Shepard Cross

 

A Public Faith – Book Review

To My Christian Readers,

I read another interesting book today; A Public Faith by author and Yale professor, Miroslav Volf. In the introduction he writes, debates are raging today about the role of religions in public life, and it is not difficult to see why. Religions of all faiths are on the rise. In a provocative statement he writes, religious people fear impositions—different faiths fear each other.

He argues; Unlike those who think religion should stay out of politics, religious people ought to be free to bring their visions to the good life into the public sphere – into politics as well as other aspects of public life. It would be oppressive to prohibit them from doing so.  The author adds, some refer to this as religious totalitarianism; the ghosts that haunts discussions of the role of public religion today. He cites Sayyid Qutb’s Milestones, to sketch his point.

Miroslav designates a religious political pluralism, emerged within Christianity, but it is not the Christian position.

He explores three questions. One; In what ways does the Christian Faith malfunction into the contemporary world, and how should we counter these malfunctions. Two; What should be the main concern of Christ’s Followers when it comes to living in the world today. Third; How should Christ’s followers go about realizing their visions of living well in today’s world in a relationship to other faiths and together with people with whom they live under the roof of a single state.

In chapter two; Idleness, he states his three reasons for idle faith. One; the character of believers—shallow faith. Two; very little effort put into their faith. Three; their faith has very little meaning to them—irrelevant faith. He also states, many Christians turn from faith due to materialism.

He believes God is not a demander; God is a giver. He further believes, the more we reduce faith to vague religiosity that serves primarily to energize, heal, and give meaning to the business of life whose course is shaped by factors other than faith, the worse off we will be.

He writes, Christians have used and continue to use their faith to legitimize violence they deem necessary, and they have done so on a massive scale. Misconceptions of the Christian Faith mirror the wide spread misbehavior of Christians.

I Sharing Wisdom, he writes, we live in an age of great conflicts and petty hopes. Petty hopes generate self-subverting melancholy experiences.

Although Miroslav Volf’s book, A Public Faith, was interesting, I detected  almost from the beginning a lack of passion or personal understanding for his topic; rather, a tremendous amount of research rewritten.  I felt he used the words Christian and Christianity far too loosely. I detected a lack of personal understanding of the topics.  He somewhat validated my suspicions in his conclusion, With these eight points I trust I have sufficiently attended to the problem of faith’s coerciveness – at the level of theory, of course, not at the level of practice.

I will admit to disconnecting emotionally from this book in the second chapter when he stated his reasons why Christians turn from their faith—shallow faith, no effort, and irrelevant faith. From my experiences, many people turn away from faith and churches as an act of emotional survival of the moment. When a heart has been broken by betrayal, hypocrisy, or an act of evil by a church or church associate, the only viable option is to run; then try to understand why—later. I have seen this wreck a person’s faith far more than this author’s reasons. That is why I suggest this author is lacking person experience in his topic.

Having said that, the book, A Public Faith, was interesting to read. I only recommend that someone reads it from the point of view of a very successful college professor who is well studied in his trade but probably has never experienced the heartache that church members can cause.

In Christ’s Service,

Shepard Cross

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The Greatest Prayer – Book Review

Christian Readers,

Recently I spent an afternoon reading John Dominic Crossan’s book, The Greatest Prayer. Let me start by saying; John has a real appreciation for linguistics, parallelisms, and rhetorical effects. He spends a great deal of the book describing his views and analogies on how the Lord’s Prayer was written using these metaphorical techniques.

The Lord’s Prayer, according to John, is Christianity’s greatest prayer. He believes the Lord’s Prayer is one; a prayer from the heart of Judaism on the lips of Christianity for the conscience of the world. Two; a radical manifesto and a hymn of hope for all humanity in languages addressed to all the earth.  

He feels the Lord’s Prayer was written using synonymous and crescendo parallelisms.

John asks the question, If the “Our Father” is prayed by God’s Spirit within and through us, to whom and for what is that prayer uttered? Are we praying for God’s intervention, or is God praying for our collaboration? If Paul can summarize the entire prayer in its opening cry, “Abba, the Father!” how is the rest of that prayer contained in its inaugural address?  

He feels Matthew’s version of the Lord’s Prayer is a well-crafted, carefully organized, and poetically structured hymn—poetic parallelism. The primary and fundamental name of God is a verbal paradox just as the burned-but-not-burned bush is a visual one.  In effect, John states, “My name is the unnamable one.”

John Crossan describes Daniels vision of the kingdom of God coming down from heaven to earth as a eschatological vision. He describes it as God’s Great Divine Cleanup of the World; worldwide peace, banquet, and equality.

He believes this divine cleanup does not begin, cannot continue, and will not conclude without our divinely empowered participation and transcendentally driven collaboration. He also believes it will be nonviolent.

Why is God’s Will more difficult for us than God’s name or kingdom? John writes, God’s Will is an anthropomorphic or human word.

In the chapter; Your Will Be Done on Earth, John sights, 1938 Hitler’s Nazi Germany and the holocaust, Dr. Martin Luther King JR’s assassination, and the execution of Jesus. These are examples of catastrophic events that he asks how it could have been God’s Will. As Christians, we understand that Jesus’ crucifixion was God’s Will. He asks, how could other cataclysmic events be God’s Will as well? John offers no hypothesis for this question after posing it.

He also states, the question is not whether God will forgive this or that sin, but whether there is anything God will not forgive, even-or especially-our lack of human forgiveness.

John Dominic Crossan’s book, The Greatest Prayer, was interesting to read. He believes strongly in the topic with a love for linguistics.

He raised the timeless question; how can a loving God allow such evil in this world as the holocaust, assassinations, etc.  Sadly, he raised the question without offering his opinion of a possible answer.

If you have a heart for Bible analysis, like I do, and can allow for John’s frequency of linguistics, parallelisms, and rhetorical effects, his book will probably be at least somewhat interesting for you. I will admit to skimming through many redundant areas; John tends to overstate his points.

 Blessings,

Shepard Cross

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The Mystery of God’s Will * What Does He Want For Me? – Book Review

Dear Faith Readers,

Recently I had the opportunity to read Charles R. Swindoll’s book about God’s Will—What does He want for me?  This is a question I’ve struggled with much of my life—as I’m sure many others have.

I read this book to learn Chuck’s insight on God’s Will and the scars that many believers have. In this book, an author believes God encourages scars. So many believers are scared. It’s easy to take that point of view.

This book takes the strong view that everything we experience, good and bad, is God’s plan and His will—everything. When something bad happens to us it’s God’s Permissive Will. God permitted it to happen. He admits many times throughout this book to not understanding God’s Will—especially God’s permissive will; it’s a mystery.

I found the section on how God leads us interesting. According to Chuck, God leads us with the Bible, inner prompting of the Holy Spirit, and through the counsel of wise, qualified, trustworthy people. Finally, God leads us into His will by giving us an inner assurance of peace.

Another part I found interesting is, The Truth About Holiness. Chuck says, His holiness assures us that he is absolutely trustworthy. No deceitful agenda, no questionable motives. A model of perfection.

The section on God closing doors was also interesting. He says when God closes a door, He opens another. He also says, a door that God closes, no one can open. A door that God opened, no one can close.

He says most of life is learning and growing, falling and getting up, forgiving and forgetting, accepting and going on. He concludes this book by saying, God’s will—That’s right, M-Y-S-T-E-R-Y.

I read this book to get the perspective of a very big, charismatic minister. I thought his answers on these troubling questions to be theological—seminary based. Interesting but not particularly helpful. Especially when he refers to these issues as a mystery.

God’s Will and the painful things that happen as a result of us doing God’s Will are serious issues for me. If these are important issues for you as well, stay tuned to this blog.

Shepard Cross

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