The Letter of Paul to the Colossians

Translation: The New Jerusalem Bible

The Spoken Word Set 2

The Mature Letters of Paul Volume 6

The recording of this letter read by David Guthrie
available on CD  

or may be purchased and downloaded digitally from Naxos at

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Track 13 :Title

PREFACE

Track 14 Chapter 1:1-2 Address

From Paul, by the will of God an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy to God's holy people in Colossae, our faithful brothers in Christ. Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

Track 15 Chapter 1:3-14 Thanksgiving and prayer

We give thanks for you to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, continually in our prayers, ever since we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you show towards all God's holy people because of the hope which is stored up for you in heaven. News of this hope reached you not long ago through the word of truth, the gospel that came to you in the same way as it is bearing fruit and growing throughout the world. It has had the same effect among you, ever since you heard about the grace of God and recognised it for what it truly is. This you learnt from Epaphras, our very dear fellow-worker and a trustworthy deputy for us as Christ's servant, and it was he who also told us all about your love in the Spirit.

That is why, ever since the day he told us, we have never failed to remember you in our prayers and ask that through perfect wisdom and spiritual understanding you should reach the fullest knowledge of his will and so be able to lead a life worthy of the Lord, a life acceptable to him in all its aspects, bearing fruit in every kind of good work and growing in knowledge of God, fortified,  in accordance with his glorious strength, with all power always to persevere and endure, giving thanks with joy to the Father who has made you able to share the lot of God's holy people and with them to inherit the light.

Because that is what he has done. It is he who has rescued us from the ruling force of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son that he loves, and in him we enjoy our freedom, the forgiveness of sin.

I. FORMAL INSTRUCTION

Track 16 Chapter 1:15-20 Christ is the head of all creation

He is the image of the unseen God,
the first-born of all creation,
for in him were created all things
in heaven and on earth:
everything visible and everything invisible,
thrones, ruling forces, sovereignties, powers –
all things were created through him and for him.
He exists before all things
and in him all things hold together,
and he is the Head of the Body, that is, the Church.
He is the Beginning,
the first-born from the dead,
so that he should be supreme in every way;
because God wanted all fullness to be found in him
and through him to reconcile all things to him,
everything in heaven and everything on earth,
by making peace through his death on the cross.

Track 17 Chapter 1:21-23 The Colossians have their share in salvation

You were once estranged and of hostile intent through your evil behaviour; now he has reconciled you, by his death and in that mortal body, to bring you before himself holy, faultless and irreproachable –  as long as you persevere and stand firm on the solid base of the faith, never letting yourselves drift away from the hope promised by the gospel, which you have heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become the servant.

Track 18 Chapter 1:24-29 Paul’s labours in the service of the gentiles

It makes me happy to be suffering for you now, and in my own body to make up all the hardships that still have to be undergone by Christ for the sake of his body, the Church, of which I was made a servant with the responsibility towards you that God gave to me, that of completing God's message, the message which was a mystery hidden for generations and centuries and has now been revealed to his holy people. It was God's purpose to reveal to them how rich is the glory of this mystery among the gentiles; it is Christ among you, your hope of glory: this is the Christ we are proclaiming, admonishing and instructing everyone in all wisdom, to make everyone perfect in Christ. And it is for this reason that I labour, striving with his energy which works in me mightily.

Track 19 Chapter 2:1-5 Paul’s concern for the Colossian’s faith

I want you to know, then, what a struggle I am having on your behalf and on behalf of those in Laodicea, and on behalf of so many others who have never seen me face to face. It is all to bind them together in love and to encourage their resolution until they are rich in the assurance of their complete understanding and have knowledge of the mystery of God in which all the jewels of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. I say this to make sure that no one deceives you with specious arguments. I may be absent in body, but in spirit I am there among you, delighted to find how well-ordered you are and to see how firm your faith in Christ is.

II. A WARNING AGAINST SOME ERRORS

Track 20 Chapter 2:6-8 Live according to the true faith in Christ, not according to false teaching

So then, as you received Jesus as Lord and Christ, now live your lives in him, be rooted in him and built up on him, held firm by the faith you have been taught, and overflowing with thanksgiving. Make sure that no one captivates you with the empty lure of a 'philosophy' of the kind that human beings hand on, based on the principles of this world and not on Christ.

Track 21 Chapter 2:9-15 Christ alone is the true head of all humanity and the angels

In him, in bodily form, lives divinity in all its fullness, and in him you too find your own fulfilment, in the one who is the head of every sovereignty and ruling force. In him you have been circumcised, with a circumcision performed, not by human hand, but by the complete stripping of your natural self. This is circumcision according to Christ. You have been buried with him by your baptism; by which, too, you have been raised up with him through your belief in the power of God who raised him from the dead. You were dead, because you were sinners and uncircumcised in body: he has brought you to life with him, he has forgiven us every one of our sins.

He has wiped out the record of our debt to the Law, which stood against us; he has destroyed it by nailing it to the cross; and he has stripped the sovereignties and the ruling forces, and paraded them in public, behind him in his triumphal procession.

Track 22 Chapter 2:16-23 Against the false asceticism based on ‘the principles of this world’

Then never let anyone criticise you for what you eat or drink, or about observance of annual festivals, New Moons or Sabbaths. These are only a shadow of what was coming: the reality is the body of Christ. Do not be cheated of your prize by anyone who chooses to grovel to angels and worship them, pinning every hope on visions received, vainly puffed up by a human way of thinking; such a person has no connection to the Head, by which the whole body, given all that it needs and held together by its joints and sinews, grows with the growth given by God.

If you have really died with Christ to the principles of this world, why do you still let rules dictate to you, as though you were still living in the world? – 'Do not pick up this, do not eat that, do not touch the other,' and all about things which perish even while they are being used – according to merely human commandments and doctrines! In these rules you can indeed find what seems to be good sense – the cultivation of the will, and a humility which takes no account of the body; but in fact they have no value against self-indulgence.

Track 23 Chapter 3:1-4 Life-giving  union with the glorified Christ

Since you have been raised up to be with Christ, you must look for the things that are above, where Christ is, sitting at God's right hand. Let your thoughts be on things above, not on the things that are on the earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ is revealed -- and he is your life-you, too, will be revealed with him in glory.

III: ENCOURAGEMENT

Track 24 Chapter 3:5-17 General rules of Christian behaviour

That is why you must kill everything in you that is earthly: sexual vice, impurity, uncontrolled passion, evil desires and especially greed, which is the same thing as worshipping a false god; it is precisely these things which draw God's retribution upon those who resist. And these things made up your way of life when you were living among such people, but now you also must give up all these things: human anger, hot temper, malice, abusive language and dirty talk; and do not lie to each other. You have stripped off your old behaviour with your old self, and you have put on a new self which will progress towards true knowledge the more it is renewed in the image of its Creator; and in that image there is no room for distinction between Greek and Jew, between the circumcised and uncircumcised, or between barbarian and Scythian, slave and free. There is only Christ: he is everything and he is in everything.

As the chosen of God, then, the holy people whom he loves, you are to be clothed in heartfelt compassion, in generosity and humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with one another; forgive each other if one of you has a complaint against another. The Lord has forgiven you; now you must do the same. Over all these clothes, put on love, the perfect bond. And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, because it is for this that you were called together in one body. Always be thankful.

Let the Word of Christ, in all its richness, find a home with you. Teach each other, and advise each other, in all wisdom. With gratitude in your hearts sing psalms and hymns and inspired songs to God; and whatever you say or do, let it be in the name of the Lord Jesus, in thanksgiving to God the Father through him.

Track 25 Chapter 3:18-4:1 The morals of the home and household

Wives, be subject to your husbands, as you should in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be sharp with them. Children, be obedient to your parents always, because that is what will please the Lord. Parents, do not irritate your children or they will lose heart.

Slaves, be obedient in every way to the people who, according to human reckoning, are your masters; not only when you are under their eye, as if you had only to please human beings, but wholeheartedly, out of respect for the Master. Whatever your work is, put your heart into it as done for the Lord and not for human beings, knowing that the Lord will repay you by making you his heirs. It is Christ the Lord that you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid in kind. For there is no favouritism.

Masters, make sure that your slaves are given what is upright and fair, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.

Track 26 Chapter 4:2-6 The apostolic spirit

Be persevering in your prayers and be thankful as you stay awake to pray. Pray for us especially, asking God to throw open a door for us to announce the message and proclaim the mystery of Christ, for the sake of which I am in chains; pray that I may proclaim it as clearly as I ought. Act wisely with outsiders, making the best of the present time. Always talk pleasantly and with a flavour of wit but be sensitive to the kind of answer each one requires.

Track 27 Chapter 4:7-9 Personal news

Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a very dear brother, and a trustworthy helper and companion in the service of the Lord. I am sending him to you precisely for this purpose: to give you news about us and to encourage you thoroughly. With him I am sending Onesimus, that dear and trustworthy brother who is a fellow-citizen of yours. They will tell you everything that is happening here.

Track 28 Chapter 4:10-18 Greetings and final wishes

Aristarchus, who is here in prison with me, sends his greetings, and so does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas -- you were sent some instructions about him; if he comes to you, give him a warm welcome –  and Jesus Justus adds his greetings. Of all those who have come over from the circumcision, these are the only ones actually working with me for the kingdom of God. They have been a great comfort to me. Epaphras, your fellow-citizen, sends his greetings; this servant of Christ Jesus never stops battling for you, praying that you will never lapse but always hold perfectly and securely to the will of God. I can testify for him that he works hard for you, as well as for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis. Greetings from my dear friend Luke, the doctor, and also from Demas.

Please give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea and to Nympha and the church which meets in her house. After this letter has been read among you, send it on to be read in the church of the Laodiceans; and get the letter from Laodicea for you to read yourselves. Give Archippus this message, 'Remember the service that the Lord assigned to you, and try to carry it out.'

This greeting is in my own hand – PAUL. Remember the chains I wear. Grace be with you.

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