Background
So Colossians is in the New Testament, squidged between Philippians and 1 Thessalonians. We're jumping in at 60AD in Colosse which is modern day Turkey full of new Christians. It's kind of all about not needing rules, or clothes, or extra stuff to be a Christian (error from Judaism and Gnosticism, and i've mentioned that before!!) - it simply is a relationship with Christ. This will be great for new Christians apparently! Geographically I can't find it, but shall have a wee search in my student atlas later :)
v1-2
Paul starts off by calling himself an apostle - a personal representative. He says he has been sent on a special assignment by Jesus as part of a special plan. He says he's in this plan with Timmy (remember him? I know, long time no see!) and Timmy was probably with Paul when this letter was written. He then greets the people in Colosse!
v3-4
Paul says he prays and thanks to God about the faith of the people in Colosse (remember, new Christians!) Paul says this a lot, not that it loses it's meaning, but it's great. Oh and he also thanks for the love the Christians have! As shown in Galatians 5v6 that faith only works WITH love: When we are in Christ Jesus, it is not important if we are circumcised or not. The important thing is faith—the kind of faith that works through love.
v5 -6
Long verse! Okay so Paul tells them that they have kept their faith and love because of hope, and the hope they have in heaven. They knew about this when they were told about the Good News of Jesus. So obv the hope in heaven is eternal life, and the hope they have is a strong hope of salvation, and it's from Christ! Interestingly, Paul calls the bible, the "truth" which it is, but it shows it's all from God, it's all true. We can give our complete reliance onto the Bible, cause it's from God. So here, now we've got Faith Hope and Love!
Faith (from Christ) --> Love (from faith) --> Hope (result of faith)
Yay. the Good News is throughout the world, and it's bringing blessings and it's growing. And it happened to the people in Colosse too!
v7-8
the Christians in Colosse learned about God's grace from Ephras, who was a friend of Pauls and servant of God who may have established the church in Colosse. He's guilt of telling Paul of how faithful and love filled the people were.
Application
Okily Dokily. Paul thanks God for the people of Colosee, how often do we thank God for stuff? We complain when things go wrong, but do we say thank you when things go right? We also need to think more about the hope we have in heaven, this gives us a better outlook on life now. If you thinking whether to gossip about that friend, and you think about the hope in heaven, you'll stop. when Ephras tells Paul about the people of Colosee, people also talk about us. This can be in a good way, when we've represented ourselves well at something, when you do a youth service and everyone loves it, or when you've been a good witness, but this works both ways too. When you've been a bad witness, people will talk about it. The characteristics of the growing christians were holy, faithful and loving, ask God to help you with all three!
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