Chapter three

Verses eleven through twenty-five: In verse 12 the Apostle Paul identifies exactly to whom he is writing: the elect of God whom He loves with tender mercy. These are those in the church who love Him wholeheartedly. These are the “peculiar” priests and servants who have only one overriding, all-consuming goal for their lives–obedience to Him. These are the righteous saints whom Peter said had judged themselves relative to God’s word, found that they were in compliance with His Word and would, therefore, be saved, but just barely (1 Pet. 4:18). These are those in the church who, having endured hatred, persecution and ostracism for their obedience until the end, would at that time be saved (Mat. 10:21,22). The remainder of this passage consists of Paul’s admonition to these people who, as God tells us in Matthew 7:13,14, were (are) few in number. Let us examine the remaining verses to see what the Lord commands of these few.

They will be merciful, kind, humble, meek, long-suffering and forgiving toward one another (12,13). There is no discrimination with God relative to race (11). Neither is there among God’s elect. His peculiar ones have love toward and peaceful relations with those in the body of Christ (14,15). God’s true saints embrace His Word and share It with one another through wise teaching and persuasion, admonishing one another to believe and obey It (16). The Lord’s jewels (Mal. 3:17) do whatever they do in the name of Jesus Christ, as if doing it for Him (17). Wives are to submit to their husbands; husbands are to love their wives; children are to obey their parents; fathers are to love their children; bondservants (called “slaves”) are to obey their masters from their hearts (18-23). This will assure that one will receive his inheritance (24). As is usually the case, Paul ends the segment with a warning against failing to follow God’s commands (25).

Chapter four

Verses one through six: In this segment of his letter Paul addresses those who are called “masters.” An explanation is in order. What is viewed as “slavery” in the Bible is in reality not traditional slavery in which one human being owns another human being. All men are created in God’s image. One is not to be “owned” by another. What is referred to is commonly called “indentured servanthood” and “bondservice.”  Such an agreement would be entered into when someone owed another person a debt that he was unable to pay. The debtor would agree to work for (serve) the debtee for a specified amount of time in order to pay off the debt. At the end of that period the debtor was free of his debt and could leave the service of the debtee if he/she desired to do so. Some people chose to be servants of another because they could not make it on their own. Several passages of Scripture speak about the payment of the debt and the freeing of the debtor. Masters were to treat their indentured servants with respect as fellow human beings. By the same token, a servant was expected to serve his/her master as if he was the Lord Himself. In verse 1 masters are told to give their servant what is fair, knowing that they themselves also had a Master in heaven. Masters were to continue in prayer, always being thankful for what they had been given by the Lord (2). They were also to pray for the apostles that God would open doors of opportunity for them to make known the mystery of Christ–the Kingdom of God (3,4). Masters were to walk in wisdom among those who were outside the body of Christ, carefully redeeming (make good use of) the time they had been allotted on earth (5). They were to guard their mouths, speaking with grace to to those who would question them about their faith (6).

Verses seven through eighteen: Here Paul praises the Jews who had accompanied him in his most recent ministry endeavor (7-11). Epaphras, a “bondservant of Christ,” had been praying for the Colossians that they would “stand perfect and complete in all the will of God,” (which is made known in His Holy Bible). This faithful servant felt a special burden for the churches in Colosse, Laodicea and Hierapolis. In that the churches in Colosse and Hierapolis are mentioned in the same vein as the church in Laodicea, they apparently were experiencing moral problems as was the Laodicean church. See Revelation 3:14-20. In verse 15 Paul speaks of a home church. Most early churches met in private homes. In verse 16 he noted that the apostles’ letters were to be passed around to the other churches–a common practice in the early church. Verse 17 proves that the word “fulfill” means to do something, not to do away with something as the church believes Christ did with the Law (Mat. 5:17). Here Jesus said that He had not come to destroy the Law, but to “fulfill” it. Paul was not telling Archippus to do away with the ministry God had given him. In verse 18 Paul notes that he has written the entire epistle in his own hand. Often, scribes (writers) were used to record what the Lord’s ministers said to the people. Lastly, Paul tells the Colossians that he is in chains for preaching God’s Word and asks the church to pray for him. L.J.