Colossians 1:15-16 (NIV): “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.”

This is the core message in Paul’s letter to the Colossians – the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. This is the mystery, which we cannot fully understand – Jesus is fully human and fully God! This mystery is the main  stumbling block for the world in general; and so-called liberal christians in particular – it’s the mystery which separates the sheep from the goats.

I liked Selwyn’s conclusion: “Like the watermark in paper, Christ is written into the structure of our beings. This means that Christ’s way is the right way to do everything, and all other ways are the wrong way.”

When we die, I think we will meet the one and only God – if we could ask the question; ‘Where is the Father?’ I think the answer could be, ‘The Father and I are one.’ Likewise, if we could ask the question, ‘Where is the Holy Spirit?” The answer could possibly be, ‘The Holy Spirit and I are one.” However, at the present time, it’s a mystery – something we cannot understand – yet, and it’s an important ‘yet’ – we must accept without reservation that Jesus is God – there can be no compromise on this point.

Colossians 1:12-14 (NIV): ” … giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Selwyn, as he has done so many times before, uses these verses to illustrate the truth that Jesus has saved us and He gets all the glory – ‘glory goes to the one who saves, not to the one who is saved.’ Nothing we do, or can ever do, contributes to our salvation – the entire rescue mission is initiated by God. Put another way – we are drowning in a rough sea and we can’t swim – it is He alone, who swims out from the shore and it’s His choice who He takes hold of, to take back to the safety of the distant shore. I know there will be a number who will not agree with this view but the whole of Scripture leads us to the outright sovereignty of God: He choose (called) Abraham, Israel, the prophets, and the apostles. There is a consistent theme running through the history of God’s relationship with mankind – and this theme is that He initiates, our interactions with Him.

The last part of today’s study is worth repeating here: ‘The Christian faith begins at the point of redemption. We need redemption from sin – that is, release from the bondage of sin- and forgiveness for our sins. Both are provided in Jesus Christ. (Jesus took upon Himself, the punishment we deserved for our sins.) I know of nothing more wonderful than redemption and forgiveness. The slate is wiped clean. Once I ask for forgiveness from Christ then I am, as far as God is concerned, a person without a past history. I am just like a newborn baby; I have a future but no past. How amazing.”

As followers of Jesus, our sins are gone; and the death penalty, which was hanging over our heads, has been removed by Jesus’ death on the cross. How great is this?

Colossians 1:11-12 (NIV): ” being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.”

Selwyn summarises these two verses by saying: “… what Paul has in mind as he prays for power to be seen in the lives of the Colossian Christians is power to endure all trials and come through them with thanksgiving.”

A Christian will never go through trials that will cause the break-up of their relationship with God – we can trust that this outcome will never happen – because Jesus loves us; and we will not be tested past our breaking point. Does anyone disagree with this statement?

I’ve not been well for a couple of days but now back to normal; well, as close to ‘normal’ as I can be

Selwyn is now up to verses 9 & 10 of the first Chapter of Colossians (NIV): ”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, … ”

I think the key statement from today’s study is: “Notice the word ‘fill‘. It suggests that however much the Colossians Christians had received from the Lord, there was still room for more. You see, no one can ever rest and say, ‘I am now completely Christian.’ For the Holy Spirit always has more to teach us about the will of God.”

Another important point is found in verse 10, ‘that you may live a life worthy of the Lord’; many people think that because God loves them that they can continue to live their life in the same way, as before they came to know Jesus. This view is not correct. All those who follow Jesus are called to live a life worthy of the Lord. To live such a life – you must constantly seek God’s will for you life and ensure (by prayer) your eyes and ears are open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit as He highlights the direction for you to walk. Do you agree?

Today, Selwyn is speaking about the following verse from Colossians (1:7, NIV): “You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow-servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ.”

I don’t have much to say about today’s material, I guess because I don’t agree with certain aspects, for example, I think it’s a worldly view, to say: ‘The worth of praise is always determine by the one giving the praise.’ I think that honest praise from anyone (rich or poor, old or young) is worth the same – because we are all equal in the eyes of God!

In summary, while it’s commendable to be swift to see and speak of the good in others; it’s better to be able to discern both the good and the bad; that is, one should not turn a blind eye to the latter, for the sake of being polite. Do you agree? 

It’s a good study – the one we read today. Based on verse 6 (Colossians 1, NIV): “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing … ”

As Paul reminds the Colossians there is only one gospel and only one truth; the way to discern what is true is to examine the type of fruit produced by those who honestly live their lives according to what they believe.

Selwyn says: “The truth of the gospel … is not relative (one thing for me and another thing for you) it is absolute and therefore universal (and timeless) – the same truth for all. …

The gospel of Christ cannot be enriched with new ideas; it is divine in origin and so has the power to bear fruit – the power to transform lives. The gospel is ‘the grace of God in truth’. God’s mercy, not our merit, caused Him to send His Son to save us. That’s the truth. … ”

In John’s Gospel, we read in Chapter 14:15-17a & 26, plus 15:13 (NIV): “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. … the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. … when he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.”

These words from John tell us that those who have a relationship with Jesus will be guided into all spiritual truths. People, from time to time,  may have different interpretation of certain biblical verses but over time (& with prayer) their views should converge into, one single view. There is no essential, spiritual truth in the Bible which can be looked at differently by various followers of God. 

There are some minor, non-essential matters which can be open to dispute; for example, Paul talks about eating food sacrificed to idols (First letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 8), while a mature Christian knows that idols are nothing at all, but if someone though it was wrong to eat such food then it’s better not to eat the food in their company -  to avoid causing your brother or sister to stumble – you do this, out of love for them.

However, with essential spiritual truths it’s important to guide those who hold erroneous views to seek the help, by prayer, of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit may open their eyes, at various times, through verses of Scripture or by His agents – in many different ways. In this case, it is an act of love to gently persuade these people to seek the truth. To walk away from these difficult conversations is like walking away from an accident scene when someone is seriously injured. Do you agree?

Sometimes, those who have spiritual difficulties with God will point out difference in accounts of various events in the Bible. This morning I was reading about Saul in the two books of Samuel. In Chapter 21, of the first book, we read (verses 4,5) that ‘Saul took his own sword and fell on it (and died)’.  Compare this to verses 6-10, in Chapter 1, of the second book of Samuel; we read about a young Amalekite who went to David and claimed he came across a dying Saul, leaning on his spear. Saul asked the young man to put him out of his misery – so, he ‘stood over him and killed him’. One explanation, given by commentators is that the young Amalekite probably came upon the dead Saul while robbing fallen soldiers of their valuables and that he fabricated his ‘nicer’ story for David, hoping for a reward. However, we don’t know exactly what happened – but it is not an important fact which is pivotal to our understanding of a spiritual truth – with the Holy Spirit’s assistance we can easily discern between the ‘unimportant’, and the ‘important’. What do you think?

Another diversion by those who don’t want to accept the truth as contained in the Bible: is that they will say that what Jesus said at the time may have been true, but He did not take into account the cultural differences which would occur over time. That is, the cultures of Israel and Rome were very different to the cultures we currently experience and therefore we need to modify what Jesus taught to make his truths more relevant for us, today. Likewise, with a lot of Paul’s writings – not much of his, so-called ’hard teachings’ survive this type of cultural ‘revision’. The tough facts are, that God does not change and He knows what will happen at any time – past, present and future. His truth, as declared in Scriptures, is as relevant today as it was two thousand years ago, or three thousand years ago, or a few years into the future. I have a feeling that the whole earthly story of the human race is soon (hundreds not thousands of years) coming to an end. Then, we will all know the truth!

What’s your view on this issue?

The main verse for reading and meditation is one that’s worth committing to memory.

Colossians 1:5 (NIV): “‘the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven … ”

Notice the definite nature of Paul’s words – it’s not a ‘maybe’, or ‘if you are very good’; for those who follow Jesus it is definitely the case that their hope will be realised. So – why is it then that many Christians are so timid about living their faith – for six days of the week you may never see any evidence that they follow Christ; and on the seventh day it’s often a token attempt at worship? Given the hope we have in Jesus – and the eternity we will spend with Him – you would think that every moment of our existence on this earth would be used to proclaim His message of eternal life.

I liked this part of Selwyn’s conclusion: ” … hope is not a consequence of faith and love but its origin. Faith and love spring from hope.”

What did you get out of today’s study?