The Productive Prayer Life of Paul-Colossians 1:3-12
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Colossians 1:3 We continue making it our habit of giving thanks to God namely the Father of our Lord, who is Jesus, who is the Christ when we make it our habit of occupying ourselves with praying on behalf of each and every one of you as a corporate unit. (My translation)
Colossians 1:3 demonstrates Paul and Timothy’s great appreciation for the Colossian Christian community.
Colossians 1:4 We do this because we heard about your faith in Christ, who is Jesus and in addition your love which you continue to regularly demonstrate for the benefit of each and every one of the saints. (My translation)
When Paul says that he and Timothy thanked the Father for them after hearing about their faith in the Christ who is Jesus, he is referring to the moment of their conversion or justification.
Therefore, it refers to justifying faith or in other words, it speaks of their faith at the moment of conversion which resulted in their justification.
Colossians 1:5 All of you do this because of the confident expectation which is reserved in the heavens for all of you. All of you heard this by means of the teaching, which is the truth, namely the proclamation of the gospel. (My translation)
The apostle Paul in Colossians 1:5 presents to his readers the reason why his readers continued to regularly demonstrate the love of God to all the saints.
He states that they did so because of the confident expectation which is reserved in the heavens for all of them and which confident expectation is of blessing and specifically it refers to rewards for faithful service.
It refers to the confident expectation of receiving rewards from the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church if they are faithful in life.
This interpretation is indicated by the fact that Paul says that this confident expectation of blessing is laid up in heaven for these faithful Colossian Christians indicating that this confident expectation of blessing is still yet future since they were not in heaven yet with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Colossians 1:6 which all of you continue to appropriate for the benefit of all of you. Just as in fact throughout the entire world, it continues to produce fruit as well as spread so also it continues to produce fruit as well as spread among all of you from the day all of you obeyed. Consequently, all of you acquired an objective experiential knowledge of the grace originating from God by means of the truth. (My translation)
Then, in verse 6 the apostle writes that these faithful Colossians appropriated the gospel for their benefit.
Then, in Colossians 1:6, the apostle compares the impact and spread of the gospel throughout many different locations with its impact and spread among the Colossians.
He states that the gospel continued to produce fruit and spread throughout the entire world, which is rhetorical exaggeration meaning that the inherent power of the gospel had been manifested in many different parts of the world.
Then, the apostle says that the gospel had produced fruit among the Colossians and had spread among all of them as well from the day they obeyed the gospel at their conversion by exercising faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.
This fruit refers to sinners being declared justified and regenerated and identified with Jesus Christ through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.
This fruit would also involve the spiritual growth of these Christians after their conversion by appropriating by faith their identification with Jesus Christ.
Colossians 1:6 closes with a result clause which states that as a result of the gospel producing fruit among the Colossians and spreading among all of them, they acquired an objective experiential knowledge of the grace originating from God by means of the truth.
Colossians 1:7 Just as all of you learned the truth from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-servant who is faithfully serving the Christ on behalf of each and every one of us. (My translation)
This verse is emphasizing with these faithful believers in Colossae that Epaphras was instrumental in their acquiring this objective experiential knowledge of the grace of God.
It emphasizes with them that they would never had received this knowledge of the grace of God if Epaphras had not taught them the gospel, which is the truth.
Colossians 1:8 The one who also revealed to us your divine-love by means of the Spirit’s power. (My translation)
The apostle informs these faithful believers in Colossae that Epaphras revealed to Paul, Timothy and their companions in Rome that they were exercising the love of God in their lives and this was accomplished by means of the Holy Spirit.
Colossians 1:9 For this reason also, from the day we ourselves heard about all of you, we never permit ourselves to cease making it our habit of occupying ourselves with praying on behalf of each and every one of you. Specifically, we make it our habit of occupying ourselves with making urgent requests that (God) would cause all of you to be filled with that which is knowing His will experientially by means of a wisdom which is absolute resulting in a discernment which is spiritual. (My translation)
“For this reason” is pointing back to the preceding statements which appear in Colossians 1:4-8.
“From the day we ourselves heard about all of you” refers to the conversion of the Colossians when they first exercised faith in Jesus Christ which resulted in the imputation of Christ’s righteousness which in turn resulted in the Father declaring them justified.
“We never permit ourselves to cease making it our habit of occupying ourselves with praying on behalf of each and every one of you” emphasizes with the Colossian believers that Paul and his companions were concerned for them and cared for them.
Then, Paul tells the Colossians that he and his companions made it their habit of occupying themselves with making urgent requests that God would cause all of them to be filled with that which is experientially knowing His will.
“Resulting in a discernment which is spiritual” indicates that the Colossians will possess spiritual discernment as a result of having an experiential knowledge by means of a wisdom which is absolute.
This “discernment” pertains to the result of apprehending the inner nature of things or of seeing intuitively.
Colossians 1:10 The purpose would be all of you living your lives in a manner worthy of the Lord so as to be fully pleasing to Him. This would result in all of you bearing fruit by means of each and every kind of action which is divine good in quality and character and in addition increasing in knowing experientially God the Father. (My translation)
Colossians 1:10 presents the two-fold purpose for which Paul and his companions in Rome made it their habit of interceding in prayer for the faithful believers in Colossae.
The first purpose was that the Colossians would be living their lives in a manner worthy of the Lord and the second is that they would be pleasing to the Lord.
When Paul speaks of the Colossians knowing the Father experientially, he is speaking of them personally encountering the Father through the process of experiential sanctification or fellowship with Him as the Father is revealed by the Holy Spirit in the pages of Scripture and prayer.
It also refers to being affected by this encounter with the Father while experiencing fellowship with Him.
This will in turn result in the gaining of practical spiritual wisdom and more of the character of Christ.
Colossians 1:11 This is because of all of you are empowered by means of a power which is absolute, because of a power which is sovereign, namely, His glory. The purpose of which is to perfectly embody perseverance as well as patience with joy. (My translation)
Here in verse 11, Paul is making the assertion that the Colossians would live in a manner worthy of the Lord so as to be pleasing to Him because of being empowered by means of a power which is absolute.
This power refers to the divine omnipotence of the Son which indwells the Colossians and which omnipotence empowers them to live in a manner worthy of the Lord so as to be pleasing to Him.
Paul asserts that this power is “absolute” which indicates that God exercises His power freely without any restraint from His creatures.
Thus Paul is teaching the Colossians that living in a manner worthy of the Lord so as to be fully pleasing to Him is based upon a power which is sovereign and specifically it is based upon the Father’s glory who is His Son Jesus Christ.
Thus, he is informing his readers that when they live in a manner which is pleasing to the Lord Jesus Christ it is because of His power.
In other words, the omnipotence of Jesus Christ, who is the glory of the Father because He manifests perfectly the Father’s character and nature, is the basis for living the Christian way of life.
Colossians 1:12 All the while, all of you making it your habit of giving thanks to the Father who has qualified each and every one of you with regards to sharing in the saints’ inheritance residing in that which is characterized by light. (My translation)
Now, here in verse 12, the apostle Paul states that while the Colossians lived in a manner worthy of the Lord so as to be fully pleasing to Him, they would be giving thanks to the Father.
Then Paul describes what the Father has done for the Colossian believers in that he teaches that the Father qualified each and every one of them including Timothy and himself to share in the saints’ inheritance which resides in that which is characterized by light, namely the kingdom of God.
This inheritance is a reference to rewards at the Bema Seat for faithful service to God and it speaks of the reward believers will receive for being a good and faithful steward with their time, talent, treasure and truth God gave to them as trusts.