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Introduction

We conclude this letter by noting the emphasis that this section places on both words and names. Paul is concerned with the prayers of the Colossians, and their speech toward others outside, and for those who minister there in that region. He always wants them to pray for him, that his speech would be unfettered and plain. In addition to this, Paul concludes with a number of greetings to individuals, each of whom had a life, face, and story.

The Text

“Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man . . .” (Col. 4:2-18).

Summary of the Text

As Paul wraps up this short letter to the Colossians, he does so in characteristic fashion. He tells them to continue in prayer, and tells them to be watchful in that prayer with thanksgiving (v. 2). He asks to be included in their prayers, that God would open opportunities to preach about the mystery of Christ (v. 3). He wants to make this mystery manifest, as he ought to do (v. 4). He then tells the Colossians to walk in wisdom with regard to outsiders, making the most of the time (v. 5). And he tells them to have their speech be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that they can make adjustments as they answer all kinds of men (v. 6).

The beloved and faithful Tychicus, who is delivering the letter, will bring them up to date (v. 7). He was sent to encourage the Colossians, and find out for Paul how they were doing (v. 8). Onesimus is with Tychicus, and he will fill in the gaps (v. 9). Aristarchus is in prison with Paul, and he sends his regards. Mark, the nephew of Barnabas, should be received by them if he comes (v. 10). This indicates that the quarrel between Paul and Barnabas has been repaired, and it perhaps shows us why Barnabas wanted to stick with Mark after the Jerusalem council (v. 10). Jesus (called Justus) belonged to the circumcision party, but despite this was in fellowship with Paul and was a fellow worker with him (v. 11). This indicates that the circumcision party had a liberal wing. Epaphras, remember, was the likely founder of the church at Colossae, and Paul commends him highly (v. 12). In addition, we see that he was also ministering with great zeal in the nearby towns of Hierapolos and Laodicea (v. 13). Luke, beloved physician, sent his greetings, as did Demas, before his falling away (v. 14). The church in Colossae was in close communication with the church in Laodicea, and their church was of a size that it was able to meet in the house of Nymphas (v. 15). They were instructed to swap letters with the church in Laodicea (v. 16). Paul wants Archippus to be encouraged by them—he was perhaps laboring in Laodicea also (v. 17). And with that, Paul signs off (v. 18).

Continue in Prayer

When the gospel is preached efficaciously in the world, the entire body of Christ is involved in it. Note that Paul does not say that he is “an apostle,” and that he therefore has it well in hand. He wants believers to lift him up so that he might be able to lift up Christ in the message he preaches. This involves propositional content, certainly, but Paul didn’t need prayer in order to learn that propositional content. He knew that already, but still required the prayers of the saints. There was a time when Spurgeon was asked about the secret of his power, and his answer was “my people pray for me.”

Think of it this way. When the gospel is preached, the church should be swinging for the fence. The preacher might be the hands holding the bat, but the reason the ball goes over the fence has to do with the placement of the feet, and how the hips rotate.

Seasoned With Salt

We can determine in part what Paul intends by “seasoned with salt” by looking at the result he believes it will obtain. There are three parts to the exhortation. The first is “let your speech be always with grace.” That is the baseline. That is what you are communicating. Your words are to be rooted and grounded in grace, and the fruit that your words bear are to be equally gracious. And what is grace but undeserved favor? Our message is grace, proceeding from grace and heading toward more grace. All of it is grace upon grace. The second part to the exhortation is “seasoned with salt.” Whatever your gracious words are, put some salt on it. Grace needs salt. Like eggs, which are wonderful, grace still needs salt. You would have to be a raccoon to eat eggs without salt. And salt is the kind of thing that seasons different things differently—what does salt do to corn, and to watermelon, and to prime rib? These are all types of variegated grace, and salt is an additional grace. What kind of grace do you offer to outsiders, and how much salt do you put on it? That depends, and we see the third part—“that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” In the verse prior, Paul told them to walk in wisdom, and wisdom understands the mystery of timing.

The Mystery of Christ

The mystery of Christ is something that was hidden for long ages past, but the responsibility now is for the emissaries of the church to make this mystery plain. The word rendered in verse 4 as manifes tmeans to reveal, or make clear. It comes from a root word which means shine.

All through the Old Testament, the Christ was the promised one. When He came, He lived a perfect sinless life, so that it could be imputed to us. He died on the cross, so that the penalty for our iniquity might be fully paid. He went into the grave so that we might come out of the grave. He was raised to life for our justification, and when He ascended into the heavens, it was so that we might not know Him after the flesh any longer. We worship the Christ of the cosmos, the one in whom all things are transfigured.

And as we worship Him, here today, as we worship, we are declaring to the world His manifest Deity, and the glories of His mediatorial reign. Nothing will ever be the same.

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Introduction

In the Scriptures, we are given a high theology, a high Christology. Christ has ascended into the highest Heaven. He is seated at the right hand of God the Father, and He is Himself the infinite waterfall of holy pleasure that cascades at that right hand (Ps. 16: 11). That waterfall of infinite joy has no top, no bottom, no sides, no front and no back. Christ is all, and Christ is all in all.

But this is not the kind of high theology that puffs up. Quite the contrary. “For thus saith the high and lofty One That inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Is. 57:15). As we shall see, we should measure the height of our theology by how low it can stoop.

The Text

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God . . . (Col. 3:1-17)

Summary of the Text

So if you have been raised with Christ, you ought to yearn to be where Christ is, which is at the right hand of God (v. 1). Set your affections where you actually are (v. 2). This is because your earthly identity is dead and your heavenly identity is alive (v. 3). When Christ—our life—appears then we will also appear in shared glory (v. 4). Because of that, it is necessary to mortify your members which are on the earth, which can be described under the one word lust(v. 5). These are things that the wrath of God rests upon (v. 6), and you used to walk that way yourselves (v. 7). So take off the coat of all foul attitudes (v. 8). Stop lying to each other, since you have taken off the coat of the old man (v. 9). But it is not enough to take off the foul coat, you must also put on the coat of the new man, the Jesus coat (v. 10). When we wear that uniform, previous differences fade—Jew, Greek, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free (v. 11), and Christ is everything. Putting on the Jesus coat means putting on a number of other things as well—mercy, kindness, meekness, forgiveness, all of that (vv. 12-13). Don’t forget to put on love, which is the bond of perfection (v. 14). What do you do when this is all done? You let the peace of God rule—among all of us—and you show gratitude (v. 15). Let the word of Christ dwell in your richly—teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (v. 16). And whatever you do, remember whose coat you are wearing, and be grateful (v. 17).

Mortify Your Members

Remember that Paul began this letter by saying that the Colossians were “saints and faithful brethren” (Col. 1:2). These saints and faithful Christians—like all Christians since—were summoned up into the heavenly places. They are called to straddle H Like the great angel in Revelation had one foot on the land and one of the sea, so we also have one foot on the rock of the heavenly places and one foot on the miry clay of this earth and its lusts. Paul tells these saints to put their leprous passions to death. There are two things we can derive from this instruction. One is that true Christians can be afflicted with these lusts. The second is that true Christians are instructed to execute them. And if you have to do it again, well, then, do it again.

Remember the three stages of mortification, which means putting to death or executing. The first is what all true believers have done, which is putting yourself to death to the world and the world to you (Gal. 6:14; Rom. 6: 3). The second is found here in Colossians 3, and it refers to putting significant sins to death, and it is a definitive event. The third is an ongoing task, a daily task, and refers to the mortification of the deeds of the body, and it is an ongoing responsibility (Rom. 8:13). It is like weeding your garden every morning at 5 am. You will always find something.

Slave or Free

We live in a time when racial animosities are festering and growing. Just the other night I saw a candidate for president saying that we needed to pay reparations for slavery. What this must mean to us is really straightforward—these people need Christ. The slavery of two centuries ago was awful. In fact it was so awful that nothing devised by the wit of man can even come close to dealing with it. Roman slavery was also atrocious, and when believers put on the Christ coat, what does Paul say about it? He says that slave/free distinction becomes meaningless. The fact that we are still trying to fix slavery a century and a half later is a testament to our apostasy from Christ. We are a lost people—not because we want racial reconciliation, but rather because we cannot obtain it through our own wisdom, not for love or money.

The Devil in Your Mouth

The sins of verse 5 are the corrupt and grimy ones, the ones we rarely mention at church. As professing Christians, we are ashamed of them. That’s good, so long as we make sure to go on to slaughter them as instructed. But the sins of verses 8 and 9 are often the sins that we commit at church. To be sure, when we do this, we have decorate our anger, our malice, our accusations, and we have even gotten adept at making it all seem like a zeal for righteousness.

Dwell in You Richly

And this section closes Paul says that we are to have the word of Christ dwell in us richly, and there is a particular kind of overflow. The overflow is musical—psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. This is place where we can profitably compare parallel passages in Ephesians and Colossians because Paul says something very similar in both places, at least in terms of the fruit. By “fruit” I mean the psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs.

In Ephesians this overflow is the result of the filling of the Spirit. Many translations make this sound like the Spirit is the “fluid” we are filled with, but a better translation would be “filled by means of the Spirit.” He is the agent, the one doing the pouring, not the one being poured. And what is being poured? We see that here in Colossians—it is the word of Christ. Put this all together. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly through the agency of the Holy Spirit, resulting in musical and scriptural gratitude.”

One last comment. This passage makes plain that all Christians are to be musical. Music is not optional for us because gratitude is not optional, and grateful people sing. But stack these things in the proper order. I say this because I am addressing a congregation that contains a great deal of musical talent, and we will be tested in this area, particularly as musical literacy spreads in our midst, becoming commonplace. The Spirit leads to music, but it not the case that music leads to the Spirit. You can be a Christian and you can be a musician, and yet not be a Christian musician. If you are ungrateful, or unkind, or sour, or critical, or competitive, or envious, or conceited, or vain, then you might be a musician . . . but not Christian in your music.

Christ is all, and is in all. And this means that He is in all the music.

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Introduction

There was a church in Laodicea also, about ten miles from Colossae. Paul mentions that church in this passage, and a lost letter to them is referred to later in this book (Col. 4:16). This church at Laodicea had fallen on hard times by the time the Lord Jesus addresses them directly in the book of Revelation, where He has nothing good to say of them as a church. Nevertheless, there were some there who could still hear His voice (Rev. 3:20).

The Text

“For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words . . .” (Col. 2:1-23).

Summary of the Text

Paul has not met these believers, or those in Laodicea, and he wishes they knew the conflicts he had had on their behalf (v. 1). These conflicts were apparently instances of wrestling in prayer, that their hearts might be comforted, that they might be knit together in love, and into a full assurance (v. 2). As they are knit into this understanding of Christ, they find that in Him are all treasures of wisdom and understanding (v. 3). He wants this for them so that they would be immune to beguiling and enticing words (v. 4).

Paul was not there, but he was with them, rejoicing in the steadiness of their worship and faith (v. 5). They needed to walk like Christians; the 10,000^thstep should be just like the first one—by faith (v. 6). They are to be rooted in Christ, built up in Christ, the way they were taught, and overflowing with gratitude (v. 7). The alternative to this progress in sanctification is to be spoiled through philosophy and vain deceit, the way men do, and not according to Christ (v. 8).

Remember that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ (v. 9). This means that if we are in Him, that is sufficient (v. 10). In Christ we were all spiritually circumcised (v. 11), which corresponds to our baptism (v. 12). We used to be dead, but now we are alive (v. 13). The accusations of the law were against us, and so God removed them by nailing them to His cross (v. 14). This humiliated the principalities and powers, and Christ triumphed over them (v. 15).

This is why and how we are liberated from the fastidious, and regulations having to do with food or drink or calendar observance, new moons, Sabbaths (v. 16), which are all just shadow play (v. 17). Don’t let any man beguile you with this kind of stuff (v. 18), and remember that a certain kind of fleshly mind is attracted to this. Such a one does not hold on to the Head, which is how the body is knit together (v. 19). If you are dead in Christ, then why act as though you were alive to the world and its fussiness (v. 20)? Don’t don’t don’t(v. 21). These things are transient and temporal (v. 22). They have the look of wisdom, they display well, but they don’t do any good whatever (v. 23).

Beguiled

Paul is concerned that the Colossians might be susceptible to a particular kind of worldly wisdom. He warns them against vain deceit and philosophy (v. 8). He says that the deception is deeply embedded in the way this world operates—the traditions of men and the rudiments of this world (vv. 8, 20). When people veer off into vain nonsense, they are doing something that seems to fitsomehow. They think they are finding themselves, or getting down to the bones of the world, but they are actually drifting away from Christ. Paul uses two different words that are rendered as beguiled by the KJV. One is in v. 4 and the other in v. 18. The latter has the sense of controlling or manipulating. This chapter is crammed with cautions, and while their particular first century pitfalls are not with us today, the rudiments of the world most certainly are. Beware of new age spirituality. So beware of crystals, oils, depth psychology, feel-good affirmationism, spelunking in the cavernous world of personality and identity, and the all-round Ophrafication of America.

Beholding Your Order

Why do we worship the way we do? In verse 5, Paul refers to how orderly the church was in its worship. The word there is taxis, and originally it was a military term—much like how we might use the word regimentation. He was pleased about two things at Colossae that he had heard about. One was the steadfastness of their faith in Christ, and the other was the disciplined order of their worship services. For many reasons—most going back to the spontaneity of Rousseau—we tend to think that structured worship is somehow insincere. We tend to think that a prayer that you actually thought through and prayed overas you wrote it is hypocritical. But why on earth would we think that?

Circumcision and Baptism

The Bible teaches that physical circumcision is a representation of spiritual circumcision (Deut. 10:16; Rom. 2:28-29). The physical represents the spiritual. The Scriptures also teach that physical baptism is a representation of spiritual baptism (Acts 10:47). The physical represents the spiritual. We are told here that spiritual circumcision (without hands) corresponds to spiritual baptism (vv. 11-12). So why on earth would we not be able to finish the fourth side of the square? Why doesn’t physical circumcision correspond to physical baptism? And if that is the case, then how would infants be excluded?

Spiritual Knitting

We saw earlier how God wants us to be knit together in love. This happens when we hold fast to the Head, that is Christ. Our growth in the faith is Christocentric, and our love for one another, in order to be fervent, must be Christocentric also. If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another (1 John 1:7).

So love God, and love your brother, in that order. A lover of Christ is a lover of Christians. But if any finite being assumes the place of God in your life, and you love them more than anything else, it will not be long before you run out of gas and they will receive less love than they would if you had kept them at #2. If you cling to Christ then you will be knit to one another. We see this in v. 2 and v. 19.

Christ is the one principle of unity here. We worship an infinite Christ, not an infinite series of little complicated christs.

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