Sunday Service Sermon 40.25
September 28 10:30 - 11:30 am | Faith Evangelical Free Church
The Book of Colossians
The City – Colossae
• Inland city 100 miles from the port of Ephesus
• Major trade route
The Church
• Not started by the Apostle Paul
• Started as a result of Paul’s 3-year ministry in Ephesus when residents of Colossae came to hear him. Most likely Epaphras – verse 7
• The Pastor was Archippus, the son of Philemon – 4:17
The Crisis
• False Doctrine of Gnosticism
º Spiritual perfection could be achieved through increased knowledge
º Spiritual fullness could be realized if you prescribed to the teachings and ceremonies (legalism)
º All flesh and physical matter are evil and God does not have any contact with it. Transposing yourself out of the physical and into the spiritual is the highest form of life.
º They believed in angelic rule of all things created.
º They combined that with strict adherence to the Old Testament laws in an attempt to suppress the flesh. OR…
º They gave up and embraced the flesh since God doesn’t have anything to do with it.
º Therefore, because God cannot touch evil and the flesh, Jesus could not have been God.
º This false doctrine was so deadly that by the time Jesus wrote to the 7 churches in Revelation the church at Colossae is not mentioned.
The Correspondence
• Paul wrote to this church to set them straight
• Paul will use the Gnostic vocabulary of “fullness”, “perfection”, and “completeness” but with a different definition – one that comes straight from God Himself.
• The word “all” is used 30 times.
• Paul will explain the preeminence of Christ and the completeness of each believer in Christ
• Colossians is a thesis on the identity of Christ and the believer’s identity in Christ.
The Miracle of Salvation
Colossians 1:1-8
- _____________ are transformed into __________ – verse 2
a. Only by ________ in _________ – verse 4
b. Only by __________ – verse 6
2. Saints live ________________ – verses 4-5 “Since we heard”
a. Their ________ is ____________
b. Their ________ is e____________________
c. Their ________ is _____________________