Theme of Colossians 4

For the index for the Colossians Series, click here.

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Here's my theme for Colossians 4:

As I mentioned on Wednesday, Paul's letter focus on the Colossians prayer and conduct, specifically how it affects the ministry of the Gospel.

Here are some other themes I considered:
Seasoned with Salt (4:6)
Circumstances and Encouragement (4:8)
Take Heed to the Ministry (4:17)
Paul's Farewell (4:18)

Now that we have finished observing the text (in detail), we can begin interpreting the text itself in order to understand and apply it to our lives.

Next week, we will be devoting ourselves to the task of cross-referencing!  (It may sound boring, but there is MUCH to discover.)  So, take the weekend off to think over all we have learned in our chapter studies as we move forward.

Colossians 4: Paul's Farewell

For the index for the Colossians Series, click here.

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Most of Paul's letters contain short farewells (between 1 and 5 verses); however, Romans, 1 Corinthians, and Colossians all share lengthy farewells, full of greetings to and from various companions of Paul.

While some of the most interesting information from this section can be found from cross-referencing with other Bible books (a task we will attempt next week), there is still something important to find in this verses today, especially considering that Paul took the time to write such a lengthy goodbye.

While many of these names and situations probably seem familiar to us, it is important to see that Paul needed to give the Colossians quite a bit of information so that they could continue to support Paul's ministry and the ministry of his companions.

We're finally ready to close Colossians 4!

Colossians 4: Paul's Closing Thoughts

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Paul's closing commands for the Colossians focus on prayer and conduct.

Paul has three main prayer requests/commands for the Colossians...

...and one primary concern for their conduct.

Both sets of instructions focus on evangelism, more specifically Paul's ministry and the church of Colosse's ministry to "speak the mystery of Christ."

I think Paul may have closed with these instructions in order to remind the Colossians of their primary responsibility:  the Gospel.  The whole book has been leading up to this reminder.  When Paul explains his prayers for them, his ministry, when he warns them, teaches them, and instructs them in Christian living, when he explains how they should act to one another -- it all boils down to living in a manner that promotes Christ and His Word.

While this would be a great place to start closing out our study, Paul continues Colossians 4 with a long farewell speech.  Take a look at this and glean what you can.

Intro to Colossians 4

For the index for the Colossians Series, click here.

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I saw two main section of Colossians 4 during my reading:  Paul's Final Commands and Paul's Farewell.  (Colossians 4:1 really fits better with the end of Colossians 3 and our relationship study, so my "study" of Colossians 4 really begins with verse 2.)

Take some time to write down Paul's last few commands, warnings, and thoughts for the Colossians, specifically from Colossians 4:2-6.  Think about why he chose to close with these ideas.

Theme of Colossians 3

I can't believe we are starting Week 7 of our study!  Only 3 weeks left!

For the index for the Colossians Series, click here.

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What theme did you come up with?

Here are a few other themes I considered:
Life Hidden in Christ (3:3)
Christ, our Life (3:4)
Put Aside, Put On (3:5, 3:12)
Do All in the Name of Jesus (3:17)

While all of these seemed like good themes, I really felt like Paul's main point was to just keeping seeking God!  All of these other things follow naturally as a result.

Tomorrow we (officially) begin Colossians 4!

Colossians 3: Proper Relationships

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Did you learn a lot about relationships yesterday?  There's so much to learn for each section, but there are a lot of general principles that can be gleaned from all of these categories.

Now that we've studied through Colossians 3, take the weekend to choose a theme!

Colossians 3: The Church

For the index for the Colossians Series, click here.

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It's kind of weird to be talking about the church when it's not really mentioned in Colossians 3, but this epistle (letter) is written to the church (and other fellowships).

This is why we spent so much time marking the author and recipients at the beginning of our study; Paul is not speaking to an individual, but a group of people.

With this in mind, let's look at our passage, Colossians 3:12-17

Paul changes from talking to the church as a whole, to speaking to groups for the rest of the chapter (and the first verse of Colossians 4).

Colossians 3: The New Self

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The New Self.  This is the real heart of Colossians 3, perhaps the whole of Colossians.

Again, there is so much to be gleaned from this passage.

Though many people read the Bible personally (especially the many epistles of Paul), many of the commands, instructions, warnings, and advice is given to the church body, the Church as a whole, both individual (local churches) and universal (the entire Body of Christ globally).

This aspect of the New Self and Christian Living is what we're going to study tomorrow.

Colossians 3: The Old Self

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Paul has a lot of harsh things to say about the old self in Colossians 3!

Nevertheless, there is still a lot we can learn and apply to our lives.

Since the "old self" is to be replaced with the "new self," it is only fitting that we study that next.

Intro to Colossians 3

For the index for the Colossians Series, click here.

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Happy Belated Mothers' Day, and welcome to Colossians 3!

Like the previous chapter, Colossians 3 boils down to standards of Christian Living (or "Praxis," as in what you practice).

Paul touches on 3 Main Components of Christian Living -- the Old Self, the New Self, and relationships -- along with basic principles for the Body of Christ.  This is what we will be focusing on through our study of Colossians 3!

As I'm sure you noticed, not very many of our key words from Colossians 1 are found here, and the only key words/phrases are our topics!  So get digging into our first topic, the "old self" or "old man."

Theme of Colossians 2

For the index for the Colossians Series, click here.

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You may remember my Colossians 2 theme from our Overview:

This theme incorporates much of what we have learned in Colossians 2:  the defrauders were trying to persuade the Colossians to their way instead of God's way.  Paul's mission in this chapter was to warn the Colossians against this and remind them of what salvation truly is.

Here are a few other themes I considered:
Stability of Faith (2:4-5)
Nailed to the Cross (2:13-14)
The Appearance of Wisdom (2:23)

What theme did you pick for Colossians 2?

Monday we will begin Colossians 3, a powerful chapter that discusses how the Colossians should live since they have died and been raised to a new life (2:20-23).

Colossians 2: God's Wisdom and Man's Knowledge

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Did you check out "persuasive" in a concordance yesterday?  My concordance gave the definition "fine-sounding argument" and "plausible yet false argument."  What an insight into Paul's warning!

Of course, Paul had quite a few choice words about man's knowledge, wisdom, and arguments.  Here are some of the terms used in Colossians 2:

Paul also calls it philosophy (2:8) and accuses them of severe treatment of the body (2:23).  Not a pretty picture!

While Paul is not condemning every bit of man's wisdom, his bottom line is "God knows better than men, so follow after His teachings, not theirs!"

This clarifies Paul's thought even more by showing these were about Christian worship and practices, not all man's thoughts as a whole.

Now that we have delved into Paul's main topics of Colossians 2, we're ready to find the theme and move on to Colossians 3!

Optional Colossians 2 Study:
If you're interested in learning more about what the "defrauders" may have been teaching the Colossians, do a word study on the terms listed above!  You can also check out a commentary on Colossians to study a few viewpoints of what opposition the Gospel was facing -- legalism? a cult? another religion?  Find out!

Word Study: Delude

We're officially halfway through our study of Colossians!  Yay!

For the index for the Colossians Series, click here.

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Did you learn a lot about "delude" in your study yesterday?

There are several ways to do a word study, and it can be very stressful and overwhelming if you don't know where to begin or have a basic plan in mind.  So today, I am sharing my "mini word study" method with you!

This is a basic method that you can use day-to-day in your studies, not an in-depth method like what I would use for scholarly research.

This is the simplest way to find out more about a word, especially if you are using any kind of study Bible.  Unfortunately, in my Bible there are only cross-referencing notes for Colossians 2:4.  What to do next?

This can be a bit tricky if you A) don't have a concordance or B) don't know how to use a concordance.  While I will be covering how to find and use a concordance in detail next month, here are the basic steps necessary (once you have a concordance).

This is where things can get tricky; the number next to your passage (normally on the far right) corresponds to the back of the book where Hebrew and Greek words and meanings are given.  While we aren't worried about the original Greek, there is also a brief definition given.

My number is 3884; after skipping over all the Greek parts, you can see a definition:  to deceive, delude.  Then (after the symbol :- is shown) it lists all the times this specific word is used in the Bible. (As beguile 1 time, as deceiving 1 time).

I know what you're thinking: "De, that is a lot of work to do to get not a lot of information."  In this case, you're right.  We probably could have found out similar information from a regular dictionary or a Google search.  However, sometimes the amount of information you get from this method is very abundant!

Optional Word Study
Use this same method to check out the word "persuasive" from Colossians 2:4.  (In the KJV, it is the word "enticing.")  The results are much more interesting and give a great picture into what we are studying tomorrow:

Mark all the references to both differently; we already marked the reference's to God's Wisdom with our Colossians 1 marking on Monday, so choose a different marking for man's wisdom.

Colossians 2: Salvation

For the index for the Colossians Series, click here.

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Here are the four pictures of salvation I saw in Colossians 2.

What four points about salvation did you find?  Share your thoughts below!

Why is this emphasis on salvation so important to Paul?  The salvation of the Colossians needed to be guarded and protected from those who were trying to defraud them of it.  Paul warns them not to be deluded by persuasive arguments (2:4).

Tomorrow, we will be doing a small word study on "delude" to learn more about Paul's warning to protect their salvation and understanding of God.

Colossians 2: Key Words

For the index for the Colossians Series, click here.

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I hope you enjoyed looking through Colossians 2 for key words!  While there is not much new to learn, having these key words marked will help us develop a more complete picture of the book.

There were a few things I did take away from these key words:

Did you learn anything new from your markings?  Add these thoughts to your previous lists (if you made them) so a fuller picture of Colossians' teachings is formed.

These points reminded me of the two main topics Paul has in Colossians 2:  Salvation through Christ and God's Wisdom over Man's Wisdom.  Therefore, we will be studying these two topics in our Colossians 2 study!!!

As I re-read Colossians 2, I noticed four different metaphors (or descriptions) of salvation.  Look for these metaphors and mark them in your Bible (or make a list).  Also jot down anything else you learn about salvation from Colossians 2.