Theme of Colossians 1

Yay for May!!!

For the index for the Colossians Series, click here.

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What theme did you come up with for Colossians 1?

I have already given you mine:

Here are a few other themes I considered:
All Reconciled to Him (1:19-20)
The Hope of the Gospel (1:5-6, 23)
Christ Above All (1:15-20)

I chose this theme because it seemed to incorporate all the other themes: we proclaim Him reconciler, we proclaim Him the hope of the gospel, we proclaim Him above all, and so on.

Tomorrow, we begin Colossians 2!  We will be taking a slightly different approach to this chapter than we have with Colossians 1, so read through Colossians 2 to familiarize yourself with the content and key words marked from our Overview.

Colossians 1: Faith and Hope

For the index for the Colossians Series, click here.

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Today we are finishing our Colossians 1 key word study with two wonderful words:  faith and hope.

Both words are found all throughout the Bible and are full of meaning, so it is very important to note what can be learned about these words from Colossians 1.

Here's what I wrote in my Colossians binder about these words:

Even though we celebrated Easter over a week ago, Christ's work for us is relevant EVERY DAY.  It is our faith in his life, death, and resurrection that it worthwhile.  It is our hope in this Gospel that we can cling to when all else fails.

If this is something you have questions about, or something you have never believed, please talk to your pastor or leave a comment here so someone can talk to you about the hope you can have in Jesus.

Now that we have marked Colossians 1 (or made several lists), we can pick a chapter theme.  I shared my theme in our Overview, but take time now to read through this chapter once more, pick out a verse or phrase that encompasses the basic theme of this chapter, and put that theme into words.

Colossians 1: All

For the index for the Colossians Series, click here.

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Did you mark all the alls?  (Sorry, can't help myself!)

While there's not much to learn about the word "all," but we can learn something from it's repetition in the chapter.

I'm sure you're wondering what else we could possibly glean from Colossians 1; well, we have two more words to study:  faith and hope.

Mark these two words (differently) or make lists for each word to wrap up Colossians 1.

Colossians 1: Prayer

For the index for the Colossians Series, click here.

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Prayer is a major topic in Colossians 1; Paul describes his prayer life concerning the Colossians.  While there are a few things we can learn about prayer in general, it may be more beneficial to look at Paul's prayer life.

While I marked the key word pray in my Bible, I also listed the contents of Paul's prayer in the margin (or you can number them in your Bible).

You may have noticed another key word while reading through his prayer:  all.  This is our next key word for Colossians 1, so mark it or make a list!

Colossians 1: Knowledge and Wisdom

I hope my Bible Marking post helped you visualize how I mark my Bible (or in this case, Binder) with key words.  Just remember to keep it simple!
Having trouble finding your place in the study?  Check out the Colossians Study Index here.

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Now, what did Colossians 1 have to say about knowledge and wisdom?

While this may not seem like an important topic, it is clear that Paul felt spiritual wisdom or knowledge of God was necessary for personal growth and the Christian life.  It was a central part of his prayer for the Colossians!

Speaking of which, that will be our topic over the weekend:  prayer.  Mark the references, especially what Paul was praying.

Colossians 1: The Gospel

For the index for the Colossians Study, click here.

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Colossians 1 had much to say about the Gospel!

These three points make a logical progression: a) Christ's work unlocked the Gospel, b) when understood it can be spread through His ministers throughout the earth, c) providing hope and instilling thanks in all who believe.

Tomorrow I will be talking in more detail about marking key words in your Bible for Inductive Study, so take some time to review your marking system (if you have one) and all that we have covered so far in Colossians!

If you aren't currently marking your Bible, I hope tomorrow's post will help you see the benefits of a simple marking system!

Colossians 1: Learning about God

Did you enjoy learning about God and the Spirit in Colossians 1?

For the index for the Colossians Study, click here.

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For me, sometimes it can be difficult to take all the different markings and make sense of what you have learned about a person, event, or term.

To help, I have included my "method" of narrowing down information to find a few main truths.

Here's my list:
1. Grace and peace from God, our Father (1:2)
2. We give thanks to God...because of the hope laid for you in heaven (1:3)
3. God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (1:3)
4. The grace of God in truth (1:6)
5. In the knowledge of God (1:10)
6. Giving thanks to the Father (1:12)
7. [The Father] qualified us to share in the inheritance (1:12).
8. He rescued us from darkness (1:13)
9. [He] transferred us to Christ's kingdom (1:13)
10. The invisible God (1:15)
11. The Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in [Jesus] (1:19)
12. The stewardship from God bestowed on me (1:25)
13. The preaching of the Word of God (1:25)
14. God willed to make known (1:27)

This looks different depending on what you are studying; for a person I choose attributes, facts, actions, and titles.  If anything doesn't seem to fit in a category, I put it in the miscellaneous category. This works best if you start at the top of your list (or your first marking) and move forward.

Here is what my list looks like:
1. Title: Father (1:2-3, 12-13, 19)
2. Attribute: Gives Grace (1:2, 6)
3. Action: Thanks to God (1:2, 12)
4. Action: For Christians (1:12-13)
5. Attribute: Invisible (1:15)
6. Action: Delegations (1:19, 25)
7. Miscellaneous (1:10, 25, 27)

Here is an example of how I worked through the first point, God as a Father, using the references listed:

Here is my final list from Colossians 1 about God.

As you can see, many of the things we learned from the title "God as Father" didn't make my final list.

While there is much that can be learned, there are normally a few main points that stand out to me; there may be different things that stand out to you.

Use your overall Colossians theme and your chapter theme to help distinguish your main points.

Likewise, the Holy Spirit is only mentioned once here (1:8), and I could not glean much about the Spirit from that reference; I marked it in the epistle but chose not to make a list.

Make sure to keep track of synonyms (like "the word of God") and pronouns as you work through.

Colossians 1: Beginning our chapter sutdy

Congrats on finishing the overview of Colossians!
For the index for the Colossians Study, click here.

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Now we can go from "flying over" the text to "walking through" it chapter-by-chapter.  We can focus in more closely on the key words we found in the overview (and others) to learn even more from this epistle.

Moving Forward

We've already learned about Jesus in this book, so now let's see what we can learn about God the Father and the Holy Spirit in Colossians 1.

Here's how I differentiate these three terms for the Godhead/Trinity:

Keep in mind whatever overall theme and chapter 1 theme you chose; see if what you find about God and the Spirit line up with your theme!