Colossians 1:9-14 - fully pleasing to Him
Posted by Brance on May 11th, 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.
Taking up where we left off in our last lesson, Paul continues sharing his prayer for the Colossian believers. In these verses he moves from thanksgiving to petition. In verses 3-8 he was thanking God for what had already been done in their lives. Now he is asking God for continued work.
Paul begins verse nine with an explanation. He says, “And so” referring back to the work that has already be accomplished in their lives. Because of this work, he asks God for what follows.
He also makes it known that he has prayed this for them since he was first told of their faith, and that he continues to do so even now.
His main request is that they would be
filled with the knowledge of his [God’s] will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Two important words to notice here are “filled” and “all”. To be filled with something means that there is no emptiness, no lack. This means there is no space not occupied. If we are filled with the knowledge of God’s will, then we won’t be uncertain what God’s will is. That knowledge of his will, will inform all aspects of our lives, our thoughts, actions, affections, purposes, and plans. That knowledge is to be coupled with “all” spiritual wisdom, not the wisdom of this world, but wisdom given by the Holy Spirit. We should heed the Word of God and pray that such wisdom be given us (James 1:5). Knowledge of God’s will along with spiritual wisdom, should also be coupled with understanding. Martin Luther describes this understanding as
a careful retention of what has been received. ¹
What he means is that we must exercise discernment and compare all new teaching to the Word. Anything found in opposition to the Word must be rejected. Failure to do so has led many a Christian into error.
The importance of Paul’s request for knowledge coupled with wisdom and understanding, is seen in verse ten when Paul explains his prayer. He desires that they be filled with the knowledge of God’s will so that they may live their lives in a way that honors God. The ESV uses the word “walk” which is an accurate translation of the greek. This word is used throughout the Bible to refer to the way we live our lives. It is an action word. It means we are doing things, going places, and all the while proving we are Christians by our behavior. We should live our lives, every aspect, in such a way that others, who see the way we live, will see Christ as being great, not us.
This is what it means to magnify Christ. We make Him look great and glorious, not ourselves. This means that everything we do should be done to the best of our abilities. We shouldn’t slack off at anything, AND our attitude must be one of humility. So when people look at our lives they see that we do our best, but we do it to please Christ.
fully pleasing to him
This literally means “desiring to please him.” This greek word was used outside the NT, in classical greek, to mean
a cringing and subservient habit, ready to do anything to please a patron; not only to meet but to anticipate his most trivial wishes ²
In other words, we should be eagerly looking for ways to please God with our lives. Anticipating what would please him. When we have school work, or a job, to do, we should think at the beginning, “How could I please Jesus with this work?”
The remainder of this paragraph outlines four distinctives of a life lived to please God. Paul used four Greek participles (formed from a verb, used as an adjective or noun) that grammatically all modify peripatesai, translated ‘walk’.
- Bearing fruit
- Increasing
- Be strengthened
- Giving thanks
Let’s look at each of these in turn.
Bearing Fruit
The greek participle used here is in present tense, meaning that the bearing of fruit is something continuous, not a one-time event. Paul says we are to bear fruit ‘in every good work’. This is an area of theology that gets misunderstood a lot in our culture, it seems we take one of two positions on the idea of ‘good works’. Some say good works are essential to salvation, while others say good works are not necessary at all. Both are wrong. Paul speaks of salvation by grace alone firmly enough to establish that truth, but he also spends much time talking about good works. Notice here that good works are the result, the fruit, not the root, of the Christian life. We don’t do good works to be justified, we do good works because we have been justified, and are now being sanctified.
We’re talking about a life that is pleasing to God. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6), but faith without works is dead (James 2:14-26). So a life pleasing to God is one that bears the fruit of good works in the life changed by faith in Christ.
Increasing (in the knowledge of God)
Here again the participle is in present tense, so this is a continuous action. We never reach such a complete knowledge of God that we stop increasing, or growing, as Christians. Martin Luther put it this way.
Therefore let us learn this truth and with Paul pray for…full knowledge of God’s will, not a mere beginning; for we are not to imagine a beginning will suffice and to stop there as if we had comprehended it all. Everything is not accomplished in the mere planting; watering and cultivation must follow. In this case the watering and cultivating are the Word of God, and prayer… ³
Notice how we are to grow as Christians, in knowledge. According to Vines (Expository Dictionary of NT words), the greek word epignosis
denotes exact or full knowledge, discernment, recognition…acknowledge
Knowledge can be defined two ways. (New Oxford American Dictionary)
- Facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education.
- Awareness or familiarity gained by experience
So increasing in our discernment, recognition, and acknowledgment of facts, about God and familiarity with God, happens through experience and education. Experience is the most important of these two. Experience is something you must look to yourself. I can help educate you on Sundays and Wednesdays, but you must experience God for yourself, through personal study, prayer, and the practice of good works.
Be strengthened
This literally means ‘enabled’ or made strong. If someone is strong, they possess the power to move heavy weights or perform other difficult tasks, and they are able to withstand great force directed against them. Paul uses the root of this word in passages that speak of our spiritual battle against the forces of evil.
We are enabled, or made strong, in power, which is
The ability to do something or act in a particular way.
‘according’ or ‘after the manner of’ or ‘in proportion or relation to’ God’s glorious strength.
This is an amazing statement. Paul is ask praying that these believers would be enabled to act in a certain way (we’ll see in a minute) in proportion to God’s dominion and power, not in proportion to the task. God’s power is much superior to the task of living the Christian life. This unbalance of power is what enables us to live an ‘abundant’ life, not merely an ‘enough to get by’ life.
So how is that we are supposed to act, with this strengthening? With endurance and patience.
Endurance here is the opposite of cowardice and despondence. It is steadfastness. It is the ability to see things through, to stick with it, even when the going gets rough.
Patience could better interpreted as ‘forbearance’ but we don’t use that word much anymore. KJV uses the word ‘longsuffering’ which comes closer than any other english translation to getting it right. It means to be patiently self-controlled, restrained, tolerant. It is the opposite of retaliation or revenge.
This takes more strength of character than lashing out does.
This should all be done with joy Paul tells us. There is some dispute over the association of joy with endurance and patience, or with giving thanks in verse 12. NIV associates it with giving thanks because they feel this rendering is correct based on the construction of the previous clauses: in every good work bearing fruit, with all power strengthened, with joy giving thanks.
The problem is that the greek doesn’t bear this out, and so more literal translators have always (KJV, RSV, ESV) understood joy to be associated with endurance and patience. This also coincides with Paul often teaches considering joy during suffering. See verse 24.
Understood this way, we are to cheerfully endure hardship without retaliation. We are enabled to act in this way by God’s power, which far outweighs any suffering we might have to endure here on earth.
Giving Thanks
The fourth quality of the Christian life we should live to please God, is gratitude. Paul goes on to give us the reason we should express gratitude to the Father.
[the Father] has qualified you [us] to share in the inheritance of the saints in light
We don’t qualify ourselves, it is something God does. The word here is in past tense meaning that this is a one time event, and for believers, to whom this is written, it has already occurred. Here’s how the dictionary defines ‘qualified’.
be entitled to a particular benefit or privilege by fulfilling a necessary condition.
Verses 13 and 14 explain how God accomplished this.
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Notice that this has already been done. We are currently in the kingdom of Jesus. This is not something off in the future somewhere, but is a present reality. This is NOT the kingdom in an eschatological sense. We’re not talking about Jesus’ established physical rule on earth. We’re talking about his rule in our hearts. He has rescued us from bondage and slavery to sin, and he now reigns as King in our lives, despite any suffering that might come our way in this world.
In verse 14 Paul uses the term ‘redemption’. Redemption means a release ‘bought with a price’ for the deliverance of prisoners of war. This idea of redemption is one that runs throughout the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. In 1 Corinthians Paul tells us that we don’t own ourselves, we belong to Jesus because he purchased us with his blood. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
This involved the removal (forgiveness) of our sins. With that removal we are then fit for, entitled to, the benefits of inheritance in the Kingdom as saints and children of God. For this we should be grateful!
- Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, Volume 4.2 p.366
- Cambridge Bible for Schools, p.72 (H.C.G. Moule)
- Complete Sermons of Martin Luther Volume 4.2 p.362
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