Colossians 1:1-14 

The following is a Bible study posted on our Bible Study Group.

Welcome to our first Bible study lesson. I'm going to quickly summarize
what we're going to be studying and give you some background on the book of
Colossians, then I'll ask a few questions. Chime in your answers, or ask
some questions that you have come up with by reading.

As always, you can follow along online at here. 

As a note, I'm sure we have a lot of versions of the Bible represented out
there. I'm using the New King James Version, but I referred to several
other versions when studying for this. I'll try to ask questions that can
be answered no matter what version you're using, but I don't read Greek so
you might have one up on me there! LOL!

Using the New Testament Bible Knowledge Commentary by John Walvoord and Roy
Zuck, I learned that Colossians was probably written around A.D. 60-62,
while the apostle Paul was imprisoned in Rome, at the same time Paul wrote
the books of Ephesians and Philemon and before he wrote the book of
Philippians. The book was written as a letter to the Colossian people to
help them avoid bad doctrine. The city of Colosse is about 100 miles east
of Ephesus in Asia Minor. You can see it on a map at
http://www.biblestudy.org/maps/pauls-third-journey-map.html. The authors
say, "The area was rich in mineral deposits and was also subject to frequent
earthquakes. Rich pasturelands were nearby. Several references in
Colossians indicate that Paul had not visited the city" (2:1 for instance).

I wanted to study the book of Colossians mostly because of the extremely
practical ideas for the home found in chapter 3. But as I've been studying,
I've been blessed with the doctrine covered in the first few chapters. As
we learn about what Christ has done for us, we are changed and become more
what Christ wants us to be -- and that begins at home. This book is also
special to me because I remember studying it at summer camp after the 3rd
grade, and you know that it was life changing because I can still remember
it!

Today, we're going to look closely at Col. 1:1-14. Here it is:

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our
brother,

2To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying
always for you, 4since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your
love for all the saints; 5because of the hope which is laid up for you in
heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel,
6which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing
forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the
grace of God in truth; 7as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow
servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, 8who also
declared to us your love in the Spirit.

9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray
for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in
all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10that you may walk worthy of the
Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing
in the knowledge of God; 11strengthened with all might, according to His
glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12giving thanks
to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the
saints in the light. 13He has delivered us from the power of darkness and
conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14in whom we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Questions for this week:
1. Verse 4-5 say that when we have faith in Christ Jesus and love for all
the saints, it's because of what?
2. Verse 9 says that Paul had a special prayer request for the Colossians,
so special he never stopped praying for them! What was his prayer request?
3. According to verses 10-12, what four things are part of a life that is
worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him? (I found four -- you might see
something different.)
4. According to verses 12-14, what has Christ done for us?

This week's key verses: (maybe you should print this on a 3x5 card and
place it on your bathroom mirror and -- gasp! -- memorize it!)
"...That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful
in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened
with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and
longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father..." (Col. 1:10-12)

As you can see, I barely touched the surface of what is in these verses.
Everyone, please chime in your answers to my 4 questions. Don't worry --
all sincere answers are great! Also, feel free to bring our attention to
other great truths in these verses. When we feel like we have a good handle
on this introduction to the book, we'll move on.

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