Thanksgiving and prayer
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints—5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
Cultured writers in Paul’s day often followed their greetings with a thanksgiving. Paul likewise offers a thanksgiving here. This thanksgiving, however, rises to a level far above that of any secular writer, because it is offered to the true God, “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” From eternity Jesus and the Father exist in that Father-Son relationship, and through the Son all spiritual blessings flow to believers from the Father.
When Paul wrote this epistle, there were grave dangers threatening the faith of the Colossians. These dangers stemmed from false teachings that downgraded the person and the work of Christ. Paul begins with this thankful affirmation of Christ’s eternal relationship to the Father and its blessed consequences for believers, and throughout this epistle he makes countless tactful yet pertinent references to the spiritual dangers that the Colossians are facing. He also encourages them to stand firm in Christ.
Before he begins with his specific warnings and encouragements in the body of his epistle, Paul gives thanks. He thanks God that the Colossians are believers. From all the reports that he has heard concerning them, the apostle is convinced of the sincerity of the Colossians’ faith and love. He is especially thankful that they are continually giving evidence of their faith in loving concern for one another. Every believer ought constantly to have his fellow believer on his heart and seize every opportunity to give tangible evidence of that love. The Colossians were doing that within their congregational fellowship and their wider Christian fellowship. Would the apostle be able to commend us and our congregations with the same thankful joy?
The Colossians’ faith and love, Paul says, sprang from hope. Christians’ characteristics interact with one another. The more there is of one, the more there will be of another. That’s the way it works with the well-known triad of faith, hope, and love. Through God’s gospel promises, the Holy Spirit works in believers’ hearts. As believers then patiently and confidently wait for God’s promises to be fulfilled in the glory of eternity, their Spirit-instilled hope interacts mightily with faith and love, and they grow in all three.
The Colossians had received precious heavenly treasures through the message of the gospel, the Word of Truth that had been proclaimed to them. Paul was writing to them to encourage them to hold fast to that Word of Truth. Another word, claiming to be truth, was trying to gain entrance into their hearts, but neither that word nor any other word could compare with the greatness of the gospel.
The gospel the Colossians possessed was no mere flyby-night message proclaimed by some secretive, local sect. It was a universal message of truth and life. The wonderful change that the gospel had brought about in the Colossians’ hearts and lives was being duplicated in the hearts and lives of people all over the world. Its influence was being felt by ever increasing numbers of people as it made its way into region after region, producing fruit for Christ in people’s hearts and lives.
The progress of the gospel in that first Christian century was nothing short of astounding. From just 12 apostles and perhaps several hundred other followers of Jesus at the time of the Ascension, historians estimate that by the time the last apostle (John) entered eternity, the number of Christians had grown to half a million.
The apostle Paul played a central role in that amazing story. We marvel at the superhuman efforts that this onetime persecutor of Christians expended to carry the gospel into city after city and region after region. Even as a prisoner, he was sharing the gospel with everyone whom he came in contact with in Rome.
But Paul makes no mention of himself or his labors here. Personal plaudits mattered little to him. He knew the credit all belonged to the gospel itself, the universal message through which God’s power works in human hearts. Nor does the gospel’s work cease in those hearts after it brings people to faith. It continues to work in the hearts of believers, and its power enables believers to bring forth faith’s rich fruits. These fruits also were evident in Colosse and in the surrounding area.
Paul’s implications in all that he says here are clear. The Colossians possessed the gospel, the Word of Truth. That gospel is universal, and it is sufficient. It needs no changes or improvements. It does not have to be supplemented by human wisdom. The Colossians would do well to treasure the gospel and not to listen to those who wanted to deprive them of the gospel. Twenty-first–century believers would do well to do the same.
Epaphras was the Lord’s servant who had first preached the gospel in Colosse. He was still the pastor of the Colossian congregation. It was Epaphras who had come to Rome to share his concern about the threat to the gospel that was confronting the congregation and to seek Paul’s advice and help. Paul calls Epaphras “our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf.” Paul was grateful for the diligent work Epaphras had done in Colosse. Since he himself was not able to personally bring the gospel there, Paul considered the work Epaphras did to be work on his behalf. He felt personally indebted to Epaphras for doing that work. We ought to feel the same kind of personal gratitude to the missionaries and nurses who take the gospel into other lands in our place, as our representatives.
By his favorable description of Epaphras, Paul puts his apostolic stamp of approval on the Colossian pastor’s work. The gospel that Epaphras preached in Colosse was the very same gospel that Paul and Timothy preached. Even more important, it was Christ’s gospel. Any message that claimed to be gospel but did not agree with the gospel Epaphras taught was neither Paul’s message nor Christ’s.