Colossians 1:3-8 - Gospel, Faith, Hope, Love

Posted by Brance on April 24th, 2008 filed in Colossians

This post is part of a teaching series on the book of Colossians. All of the lessons in this series can be found here. In the first lesson we outlined the book. In each subsequent lesson we look at one small section of the outline and seek to answer five questions concerning the text.

What does the Scripture say?

In verse three we see Paul giving thanks to God for the Colossians. It is to God the Father that Paul prays, while affirming Christ’s position as the Son of God. This is important as we remember that one of the theological error the Colossians had wondered into was to reduce Christ to less that supreme. Paul also encourages the Colossians that he is faithfully praying for them.

Verse four begins with the word ’since,’ referring back to verse three. This word is supplied in our english translations, as it is implied by the first greek word in the verse which literally translated means ‘having heard.’ Basically, Paul is sharing the reason(s) he gives thanks to God for the Colossians. One reason for his thanksgiving is the demonstrated faith of the Colossian Christians. He reminds them it is their faith “in Christ Jesus” that causes him to give thanks. Another reason for Paul’s thankfulness is the love they demonstrate for other believers.

It may seem strange that Paul is thankful for their love for Christians, but does not mention their love for the unsaved. The reason for this is simple. Jesus himself said that our love for each other as Christians would be one of our primary witnessing tools.

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:35)

It is no wonder then that Paul is thankful for their love to other Christians, since that love will demonstrate the love of Christ to those who witness it.

Verse five presents us with the motivation behind the love being displayed by the Colossians. Some theologians have other ideas about the meaning of this verse, but as I’ll explain when get to the application part of this lesson, I believe the greek word ‘dia’ which means ‘on account of’ to be referring back to the Colossians’ love. Incidentally, the word ‘truth’ used in this verse is alethia (or the alternate spelling we use ‘aleethia’) and implies the underlying reality at the base or essence of a matter, in this case the gospel. This verse also tells us that their hope, and our by extension, is found in the gospel. More on that in a minute.

In verse six we learn all about the gospel. First we learn that the Colossians were not ignorant of the gospel. We learn that despite the teaching of proto-gnostics in Colossae, the Gospel is not secret knowledge, but rather is spreading through the known world. We learn as well that the Gospel is grace, not the Jewish legalism seeking to hold sway among the Colossian believers. And finally we learn that the Gospel bears fruit wherever is goes. It results in changed lives. It is not powerless. In fact, “it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” (Romans 1:16)

Verse seven brings us Paul’s endorsement of Epaphras. He tells us that Epaphras had correctly taught them the Gospel. He was a fellow servant with Paul. The word ‘minister’ in this verse means ‘one who serves’ and is the same word translated in other passages as ‘deacon.’ He was a minister of Christ who’s service benefited the Colossian believers.

And our final verse, verse eight, tells us that Epaphras gave Paul a report on the Colossians’ life style, reporting of their love, which we are told was ‘in the Spirit.’ I would take this to mean that the love they had was a work, or fruit, of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

What does Scripture mean? (application)

Working from our outline of the letter, this paragraph is Paul’s prayer of thanksgiving for the Colossian believers. One application we can learn from this passage is how and what we should thank God for in other believers. And once we see those things, we should strive to build them into our own lives.

Next I want to spend some time looking at verses four and five. In these two verses Paul mentions four things that I think caused him to give thanks for these believers.

• Gospel
• Faith
• Hope
• Love

These four are closely interrelated. Paul speaks of these four often in his letters (for example: 1 Thessalonians 1:2-5). Let me explain why I put them in the order I did.

The gospel is the first because it is central to the Christian life. Often times we seem to think that since we’ve already been saved (justified) we don’t need to spend a lot of time with the Gospel, we want deeper truths. But for Paul, the Gospel is central.

There are three parts to our salvation: Justification, Sanctification, Glorification. Justification happens at a fixed point in time when we are made right with God by the atoning work of Jesus Christ. Sanctification is the process of becoming Christ-like. Glorification is the ‘hope’ that Paul speaks of in verse 5. According to Paul, the Gospel is behind all this. But what is the Gospel?

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand (justification), and by which you are being saved (sanctification), if you hold fast to the word I preached to you - unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. (1 Corinthians 15:1-5)

That is the gospel. Christ crucified for our sins, dead and buried, resurrected on the third day. That is of “first importance” Paul says. The gospel is recorded in the Word of God. And it is from this Gospel, found in the Scriptures, that our faith arises.

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)

Faith is a result of understanding the Gospel. Or as Paul put it in Colossians 1, understanding “the grace of God in truth.”

So first is the gospel, second is faith, then comes hope.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)

This hope is an eager expectation of things to come, of our heavenly reward, our future glorification. Hope here is something real and tangible, it is objective, not subjective. We are not hoping in the unknown. We are hoping in the glory of God, joy of eternity, seeing Jesus, freedom from sin. This hope is stored in heaven for safe keeping.

Back in 1 Corinthians 15, after describing the gospel, Paul goes on to later describe our hope in glory (1 Corinthians 15:50-57). It is our hope of resurrection and reunion with Christ. Our hope of freedom from sin and death.

So we have the Gospel, which leads to faith, which results in hope. This hope causes us to ‘rejoice’ Paul said (Romans 5:2), and our joy in our hope overflows towards others as love. Love is the overflow of the joy we have in our hope. Love is us sharing that joy and hope with others. Rejoicing with those who are believers, and treating them as fellow heirs, compassionate love and concern for those who are not believers, wanting to share the good news (gospel) with them so they too might have joy and hope.

If you lack this kind of joyful love in your life, then perhaps it is because you have not firmly fixed in your mind and heart, the hope of glorification. To do that, we must understand the gospel, remind ourselves of the gospel, listen to the gospel.

Our hope is not in this world, but in the world to come. This world screams at us all day long, from TV, radio, movies, magazines, etc., telling us to place our hope in things of this world: money, popularity, success, beauty, etc. Instead we need to firmly fix our minds on things above, not on things that are on earth (Colossians 3:1-2).

In Colossians 1:8 Paul says their love was “in the Spirit.” And in Romans 5:5 he said that it is God’s love

poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

So if we lack love, and that love is the overflow of joy in our hope, we should pray like David (Psalm 51:9-13) and ask God to restore that joy, hope, and love by the power of His Spirit.

Notice that David acknowledges his sin and seeks forgiveness (gospel), then prays for a restoration of the joy he first had upon God’s salvation. He lost the joy. We are not unlike David. We can be fully justified, our salvation secure, and still loose our joy. This is because we have lost sight of the gospel. We must fix firmly in our minds what Christ has done for us on the cross, we must be broken in spirit, humble before our God, and then we may rightly ask Him to restore our joy.

This joy comes not first, but follows pardon and purity: in such order it is safe, in any other it is vain presumption or idiotic delirium. ~ Charles Spurgeon

David knows that once his joy is restored he will share it with others (v13). So it is with us. Once we are filled with joy in our salvation, that joy will overflow as love toward others.

We should beg God to fill our hearts with love as we read and understand the gospel. Love is a fruit of the Spirit, not of ourselves. Notice that Paul thanks God for the Colossians’ love, not them. Paul never thanks people for having faith or demonstrating love, he thanks God for these things, since they come from God.

Direct our minds to the hope laid up for us in heaven. Be heavenly minded. Being heavenly minded results in loving people.

Why do we resist this truth?

There are two main objections I can imagine we might raise to this truth. The first would be that we should not seek our own joy. That we should not focus on our own reward. One could think that dwelling on our reward would be selfish. The lie is that being heavenly minded makes you no earthly good. So the objections are that it is selfish to dwell on your own reward, and that doing so would result in a person becoming so focused on heavenly things that they are no good on earth.

But these objections have already been answered. We saw above that focusing on our own hope in Christ’s salvation results in a joy that overflows toward other people. It is not self-centered joy because it is not joy in ourselves. It is joy in Christ, and results in our wanting to share that joy with others. So being heavenly minded in this way actually makes us more earthly good, for our Lord.

Why does this matter?

It matters because Christ said our love for others is how people would know we are His disciples. So having love for others glorifies Christ, which is our main calling. It glorifies him in the eyes of non-believers, and points them toward him. It is our main witness to the world, and the means of our own sanctification. It is of ‘first importance’ Paul told us.

How is Jesus the hero?

Jesus is the hero because He is the gospel. The gospel is Jesus crucified, buried, and resurrected. It is Jesus’ work for us that we focus on. Our faith is in Jesus, our hope is in Jesus, and it is his Spirit working within us to sanctify us in love. Without Jesus there is no Gospel, no faith, no hope, and no love.