ten bullet points for colossians 3

you have been raised with Christ!
therefor:

1. seek the things above

2. always think on those things

3. put to death your earthy nature
____a. sexual immorality
____b. impurity
____c. shameful passions
____d. evil desires
____e. greed,which is idolatry
4. put off such things as
____a. anger
____b. rage
____c. malice
____d. slander
____e. abusive talking w/ your mouth
5. do not lye, for you are a new man after the image of Christ.
6. as the elect of God, holy and dearly beloved - clothe yourself w/ a heart of:
____a. mercy
____b. kindness
____c. humility - (humbleness of mind)
____d. gentleness
____e. long suffering
____f. bearing with and forgiving one another
7. to all this add love/ it's the perfect bond
8. let the peace of God dwell in your heart
9. let the word of God dwell in you richly
10. whatever you do, wither in word of deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ - giving thanks to God the father through Him.

Colossians 1:14-17

Col 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
Col 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

in whom we have redemption, or apolutrōsis:
1) a releasing effected by payment of ransom
1b) liberation procured by the payment of a ransom

where as our eternal life was being held ransom by the fall of mankind Christ paid for (or) redeemed it with the price of his own blood, the just for the unjust!!
the forgiveness of sin was necessary for it was sin its self that held us in derision from God. whereas sin entered the world and death by sin.

the image of the invisible God:

not invisible to Christ but to us, man having no way of seeing God in his lost state. for unless a man be born again he cannot see even the kingdom of God and hence shall not see God.

the first born of every creature:

first-born points to eternal preexistence. we must be very careful not to misread this as the first of all created beings - this is cleared up right away with the following verses

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

the first book of our bible tell us; in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. john expounds upon this in the start of his gospel, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God, all things where made by him! if any man wants to point to this passage as a proof text that Jesus was the first created being, they are sorely misled and blinded by their own fallin nature. this passage can only be used to prove that Jesus Christ is God himself, that he is deity. it can only be used to show how God came to earth and paid the sin debt of man with his own blood, setting striate that which man made crooked. note that all things where made by him and for him, proof text of God's sovereignty. he created all things and hence has ownership rights over his creation. whereas we think all things to be ours and to be created for us; God is very clear in his purpose of creation of "all things" that they are for him and his good pleasure!

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist:

before all, all, all things!! not the things just metioned here. Jesus is before everything. he has no start, there was nothing before him and there will be nothing after him to speak of. he is from everlasting to everlasting. this again just makes me ponder how JW'S can read this and say "look he is the first born", implying that Jesus was made. if only they would put the text into it's context the mistery would solve it's self. he is before all things and by him all things consist. not only is there nothing that ever was before Christ but by him all things consist. i take this not as a repeat of verse 16 but as a new statment alltogehter. not only did he make all things but by him they contunue to consist. he his the very fabric that holds all things together in the universe. i once heard a man say that as the roman solders where whipping him, he was holding the whip together in time and space, and not only so but the men using it to rip the flesh from his back. should he have willed it so he could have let go and they would have fallen into nothingness before the crowd. he did not let go from holding them together though. he maintained them as matter and life so they could carry out his will, so they could preform the task for which they where made.

τοῦ υἱοῦ τῆς ἀγάπης αὐτοῦ

Col 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

we will note right off the bat that he is going to contrast the light of verse 12, with the powers of darkness. also we can see in the verse the contrast of the powers of darkness, or kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of his dear son or powers of the light.

the powers of darkness - Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. - note, the darkness is of this world and with it comes powers, and spiritual wickedness. eph 6:11 says Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
the powers, and darkness of this world and this spiritual wickedness can all be traced back to the devil. lets take a look at him.

Devil - Eze 28:13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
Eze 28:14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
Eze 28:15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
Eze 28:16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
Eze 28:17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
Eze 28:18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
Eze 28:19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
Isa 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Isa 14:13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Isa 14:15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
Isa 14:16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;

this is not just any other person, he was a very great creation of the Lord until iniquity was found in him. and now he has been cast down to the ground - Job 1:7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
let us not be ignorant of his ways but let us now take hope in our text -

we have been delivered out of this dark kingdom, translated into the kingdom of the Son. Jesus Christ delivered us by taking our sins to the cross, he then translated us at the time of our regeneration into his kingdom.
i see in this a picture of the rapture -
TRANSLA'TED, pp. Conveyed from one place to another; removed to heaven without dying; rendered into another language.
delivered out of this world and "raptured or translated" into the
kingdom of his dear Son. Amen Amen!!

one last note - of his dear son or, τοῦ υἱοῦ τῆς ἀγάπης αὐτοῦ
......................................................of the Son of His love.........
Heb 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Heb 1:4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Heb 1:5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
Heb 1:6 And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
Heb 1:7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
Heb 1:8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom.
Heb 1:9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

Amen!

Colossians 1:12

In my next few entrees I will be looking at Colossians 1:12 – 17, there is no real reason why I picked this text other then it was part of my reading today and it seemed to jump off the page at me. I will do my best to try to explain what I saw in it, while trying to stay theologically sound.

(Col 1:12) Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

Just as the apostle makes an end of his petitions to God for the Colossians, he starts into this portion of text with thanks giving for what God has done in and for them and us already.

What God hath done in us:

Which hath made us meet – the Greek word used here is ἱκανόω hikanoō.
Meaning to make sufficient, or abundant. * note * the text does not say who Has made us. That does not mean that it is not saying “who hath made us”, I struggled with this because I believed that it was saying “who hath made us” in its context, yet it would seen to imply that it is the act of giving thanks that hath made us meet to be partakers. It was not until I looked at the word it’s self and saw that “which” is really nothing more then a representative for a noun or a thing. We call that a pro noun relative, or a substitute. In it’s usage in this verse it is the pro noun of God the father, which (ß he he he! I used it!!) is the same as saying,” who hath made us”. With all that said I can now make my point that, God made us meet, or sufficient to be partakers of the inheritance. It was not of us, for as we all know there is none good. Let us take this fast minute to praise our Lord and King! For he and he alone hath made us sufficient to be partakers!!!

of the inheritance - A plain allusion to the division Of the Promised Land among the different families of the twelve tribes of Israel. This was a type of the kingdom of God, in which portions of eternal blessedness are dispensed to the genuine Israelites; to them who have the circumcision of the heart by the Spirit, whose praise is of God, and not of man.

What God hath done for us:

Of the saints in light - Connect with inheritance: the inheritance which is in light. This need not be limited to future glory. The children of God walk in light on earth. And so the inheritance it’s self, maybe a reference to the future glory that awaits us. “In light” maybe a reference to the grace God flows out onto his children in their current state.
Eph 5:8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: