Over the next two months Selwyn will be covering Paul’s letter to the Colossians.
As Selwyn tell us, Colosse was one of three towns in the Lycus valley (located in present-day Turkey), the others being Hierapolis and Loadicea.
The main purpose of Paul’s letter is to oppose false teaching. Although there is not a detailed description of the false teaching, it is possible to gain an understanding of the nature of the issues, by what Paul writes about. First off, there is the same heresy that we find throughout the last two thousand years – that Jesus is not God (or not fully God) - there is an attempt to argue against the supremacy and completeness of Christ. To fill the gap of a depreciated Jesus there are the usual suspects: a reliance on religious traditions and human wisdom; the manufacture of secret knowledge that can only be shared within a senior hierarchy;  and related to these two, is the practice of venerating angels and/or ‘holy’ people (usually a ‘holy’ person in this context is someone who has usually demonstrated a leaning towards an austere life-style). The last issue is a greater problem if the veneration is a form of worship; and, this can be seen when the veneration results in our eyes being taken off Jesus.
IÂ liked Mick Brooks (Consulting Editor)Â introductory remarks to this issue: “It’s my prayer that we discover again, as if for the first time, this ageless truth: Jesus was there at the beginning; He made everything; and He holds all things together. By holding onto this truth, and letting it take hold of us, we can know true freedom – the freedom only Christ can bring.”
The first ten verses of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, follow:
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, … “
Today, Selwyn covers the first verse, he says – Paul begin’s his letter by laying down his credentials – who can argue with Paul’s claim that he was an apostle ‘by the will of God’? Yet, by their actions there are many today, who don’t believe what Paul wrote!
Shut up – to write
Over the next two months Selwyn will be covering Paul’s letter to the Colossians.
As Selwyn tell us, Colosse was one of three towns in the Lycus valley (located in present-day Turkey), the others being Hierapolis and Loadicea.
The main purpose of Paul’s letter is to oppose false teaching. Although there is not a detailed description of the false teaching, it is possible to gain an understanding of the nature of the issues, by what Paul writes about. First off, there is the same heresy that we find throughout the last two thousand years – that Jesus is not God (or not fully God) - there is an attempt to argue against the supremacy and completeness of Christ. To fill the gap of a depreciated Jesus there are the usual suspects: a reliance on religious traditions and human wisdom; the manufacture of secret knowledge that can only be shared within a senior hierarchy;  and related to these two, is the practice of venerating angels and/or ‘holy’ people (usually a ‘holy’ person in this context is someone who has usually demonstrated a leaning towards an austere life-style). The last issue is a greater problem if the veneration is a form of worship; and, this can be seen when the veneration results in our eyes being taken off Jesus.
IÂ liked Mick Brooks (Consulting Editor)Â introductory remarks to this issue: “It’s my prayer that we discover again, as if for the first time, this ageless truth: Jesus was there at the beginning; He made everything; and He holds all things together. By holding onto this truth, and letting it take hold of us, we can know true freedom – the freedom only Christ can bring.”
The first ten verses of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, follow:
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, … “
Today, Selwyn covers the first verse, he says – Paul begin’s his letter by laying down his credentials – who can argue with Paul’s claim that he was an apostle ‘by the will of God’? Yet, by their actions there are many today, who don’t believe what Paul wrote!