Category Archives: Colossians

Click here for Colossians 4 audio:

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Read it. Pray it. Share it. Live it.

Paul concludes his letter by showing how Christ’s lordship shapes everyday faithfulness, beginning with justice and accountability in relationships. Masters are reminded that they too are under authority, serving a Master in heaven, which reframes power, work, and responsibility in light of Christ (v. 1, Ephesians 6:9). Paul then calls the whole church to a life marked by persistent, watchful prayer—prayer that is sustained by gratitude and focused on God’s purposes rather than personal comfort (v. 2). Even from prison, Paul asks not for relief but for open doors to proclaim the mystery of Christ clearly and boldly (vv. 3–4, Ephesians 6:19–20).

That prayerful posture flows outward into daily witness. Believers are urged to walk wisely toward outsiders, making the most of every opportunity because time is short (v. 5). Their speech is to be gracious, thoughtful, and “seasoned with salt,” reflecting both truth and kindness so that the gospel is commended rather than obscured (v. 6, Matthew 5:13). Paul assumes Christians are actively engaged in their communities, living in such a way that their words and actions work together to point others to Christ.

Paul closes with personal greetings that reveal the gospel at work in real relationships. He commends faithful partners like Tychicus and Onesimus, highlights restored relationships such as Mark’s reconciliation with Paul, and lifts up Epaphras’s tireless prayers for the churches in the Lycus Valley (vv. 7–13). Luke remains at Paul’s side, while others are reminded to faithfully fulfill their ministry (vv. 14–17). Writing the final greeting in his own hand, Paul asks them to remember his chains and ends as he began—with grace—underscoring that every act of faithfulness, prayer, and service flows from God’s unearned favor in Christ (v. 18).

🌀 Reflection:
How might a more watchful, thankful prayer life reshape both your daily priorities and your witness to those outside the church?

💬 Mission Challenge:
Pray intentionally today for an open door to speak about Christ—and when the opportunity comes, respond with wisdom, grace, and clarity.

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Click here to return to the contents page for Phase 2.4 — The Savior, His Church, and the Mission.

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Click here for Colossians 3 audio:

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Read it. Pray it. Share it. Live it.

Because believers have been raised with Christ, Paul calls the Colossians to live with a new focus and a new identity (v. 1). Their lives are no longer defined by earthly standards or spiritual shortcuts but by Christ Himself, who is seated at the right hand of God and reigns with authority (vv. 1–2,  Psalm 110:1). Though their true life is presently hidden with Christ, it is secure and destined for glory when Christ appears again (vv. 3–4, Romans 8:29–30). This eternal perspective becomes the foundation for how believers live faithfully on earth.

Flowing from that identity, Paul urges believers to put to death the sins that once defined them—especially sexual immorality, greed, anger, and destructive speech—because these belong to the old self that has already been put off in Christ (vv. 5–9). In its place, believers have put on the new self, which is being renewed in the image of its Creator (v. 10, Ephesians 4:24). This new life breaks down every barrier of race, culture, and social status, because Christ is all and in all (v. 11, Galatians 3:28). The gospel does not merely improve behavior; it creates a new humanity centered on Jesus.

Paul then describes what this new life looks like in everyday relationships. As God’s chosen and beloved people, believers are to clothe themselves with compassion, kindness, humility, patience, forgiveness, and above all, love, which binds everything together in unity (vv. 12–14). The peace of Christ is to rule in the community, the word of Christ is to dwell richly through teaching and worship, and everything is to be done in the name of the Lord Jesus with thanksgiving (vv. 15–17). This Christ-centered life reaches into the home and workplace, shaping marriages, parenting, and daily labor, as every role is lived under the lordship of Christ and for His glory (vv. 18–25).

🌀 Reflection:
What habits, attitudes, or relationships reveal whether your mind is set more on earthly concerns or on the risen Christ who is your life?

💬 Mission Challenge:
Intentionally display one Christlike virtue today—such as forgiveness, patience, or kindness—in a relationship where it would normally be difficult.

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Click here to return to the contents page for Phase 2.4 — The Savior, His Church, and the Mission.

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Click here for Colossians 2 audio:

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Read it. Pray it. Share it. Live it.

Paul opens this chapter by sharing his deep concern and struggle for believers he has never met personally, including those in Colossae and nearby Laodicea (v. 1). His desire is that they would be encouraged in heart, united in love, and filled with a full assurance of understanding—knowing that God’s mystery is Christ Himself (v. 2). In Jesus alone are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, which means no secret insight, mystical experience, or spiritual elite can offer something Christ lacks (vv. 3–4). Paul rejoices that the Colossians are standing firm, and he urges them to continue living the same way they began: rooted, built up, and established in Christ, overflowing with thanksgiving (vv. 5–7).

Paul then issues a strong warning: do not be taken captive by teaching that sounds wise but is rooted in human tradition and spiritual powers rather than Christ (v. 8). The reason believers can resist such deception is because Jesus is fully God—the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily in Him—and believers have already been made complete in Him (vv. 9–10). Through union with Christ, they have experienced a true spiritual transformation: a “circumcision made without hands,” burial and resurrection with Christ, forgiveness of sins, and new life by God’s power (vv. 11–13). At the cross, God canceled the record of debt due for our sin that stood against us and decisively defeated the spiritual rulers and authorities, triumphing over them through Christ (vv. 14–15).

Because of this finished work, Paul warns the Colossians not to let anyone judge or disqualify them based on food laws, religious festivals, Sabbaths, ascetic practices, angel worship, or mystical visions (vv. 16–18). These things may look spiritual, but they are only shadows; the substance belongs to Christ (v. 17). True growth comes from holding fast to Christ the Head, from whom the whole body grows with a growth that is from God (v. 19). Since believers have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, submitting again to human rules and self-made religion is both unnecessary and powerless to restrain sin (vv. 20–23).

🌀 Reflection:
Where are you tempted to look for “more” than Christ—whether through rules, experiences, or approval—and how does Paul’s reminder of Christ’s sufficiency challenge that impulse?

💬 Mission Challenge:
Gently encourage someone who feels spiritually inadequate by pointing them to the truth that, in Christ, they are already complete.

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Click here to return to the contents page for Phase 2.4 — The Savior, His Church, and the Mission.

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Click here for Colossians 1 audio:

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Read it. Pray it. Share it. Live it.

Paul opens his letter by thanking God for the Colossians’ faith in Christ, love for the saints, and hope laid up in heaven—a hope grounded in the true gospel they learned from their pastor, Epaphras (vv. 3–8). This gospel is not a local message but the only gospel, and it is bearing fruit and growing throughout the world, producing changed lives wherever it is truly received (v. 6). Paul then shares how he prays continually that the Colossians would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, leading them to walk in a way that pleases the Lord—bearing fruit, growing in knowing God, and being strengthened with God’s power for endurance, patience, and joyful thanksgiving (vv. 9–12).

At the heart of Paul’s prayer is gratitude for salvation itself. God has rescued believers from the domain of darkness and transferred them into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption and forgiveness of sins (vv. 13–14). Paul then lifts the reader’s eyes to one of the richest portraits of Christ in all of Scripture. Jesus is the image of the invisible God, supreme over all creation, the agent and goal of everything that exists, and the one who holds all things together (vv. 15–17). He is also the head of the church and the firstborn from the dead, so that He might be preeminent in everything (v. 18). In Him all the fullness of God dwells, and through the blood of His cross God is reconciling all things to Himself (vv. 19–20).

Paul applies this glorious truth personally. Once alienated and hostile toward God, believers are now reconciled through Christ’s death so that they may be presented holy, blameless, and above reproach—if they continue steadfast in the faith and do not shift from the hope of the gospel (vv. 21–23). Paul then explains his own ministry: he suffers gladly for the sake of Christ’s body, the church, and faithfully proclaims the mystery once hidden but now revealed—Christ in you, the hope of glory (vv. 24–27). His aim is not merely conversion but maturity, as he labors with Christ’s power to present everyone mature in Christ (vv. 28–29).

🌀 Reflection:
How does seeing Jesus as supreme over creation, redemption, and the church reshape the way you view your life and your faith today?

💬 Mission Challenge:
Encourage another believer by reminding them—verbally or in writing—that Christ is at work in them and that their hope is secure because Jesus reigns.

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Click here to return to the contents page for Phase 2.4 — The Savior, His Church, and the Mission.

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