Daily Devotions

Colossians 1:12-14, 1:20-22, 2:11-15 - The Great Transfer One of the hardest things about God is finding the right words to describe him. By definition, God is separate from our world and quite distinct; the biblical word is ‘holy’. Although we are made ‘in his image’ (Gen 1:26-27), he is still different from us in a radical and extraordinary way. How do you precisely describe something (or someone) that is unlike anything in our own world? The best we can do is use the means that God himself has provided. He has revealed himself to mankind: through creation and through Israel and finally through Jesus Christ. Throughout his revelation, God uses various images and ideas to describe himself and his relationship with mankind. In Colossians, we encounter a number of these images. We find the apostle Paul using common words from his own time and culture to describe what God has done for the Colossians. Today, we’ll focus on three short passages and on the images they employ to describe t...

Colossians 1:1-20 - Jesus is King Kanye West’s recent album "Jesus Is King" is a success. The rapper’s latest album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts and also outsold his last solo album. Just like now, whatever else you might say about the motley crowd that call themselves ‘Christians’ back then seem to have one thing in common: an uncommon regard for a Jewish carpenter’s son who died nearly 2000 years ago. Who was he, this Jesus? In Paul’s mind, Jesus was the “Christ”. Right from the greeting in 1:1, Paul identifies himself as an apostle (i.e. messenger) of “Christ Jesus”. As we’ve seen already, ‘Christ’ is an Old Testament term meaning ‘anointed one’. This was a Jewish way of saying ‘God’s king’, for that was how kings were chosen and installed—they were anointed with oil (see, for example, the anointing of Saul and David in 1 Samuel 9-10 and 16). ‘Christ’ was not simply Jesus’ surname, as if his letters were addressed to Mr J. Christ. It was more of a title, like...

Colossians Overview (part 2) There is much to challenge us in this short but very important New Testament letter, and to get to the heart of that challenge, we are going to leap headfirst into the middle.  It may seem rather strange to start studying a letter in the middle, but in Colossians 2:6-7 we find a sentence that virtually summarises the whole letter: "Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." These two verses are the hinge around which the letter turns. They summarise all that comes before, and outline what is to follow. “Therefore”: The opening word in these two verses prepares the readers for some sort of conclusion. “Okay,” says Paul, “given what I have just been saying, this is what I want you to do”. What has Paul just been saying? He has just been reminding the Colossians of his ministry to the Gentiles, of which they are part...

Colossians - Overview (part 1) Imagine, if you can, a fertile valley with a river meandering through it, in what we would now call Turkey. On the shores of the river, at the junction of two important roads, is a town like many first-century towns. This is Colossae, just down the road from Laodicea and Hierapolis. As you stroll through the streets and into the marketplace, you encounter a mix of people and religious beliefs. There are Jews and Greeks there, as well as a variety of other races, cults and religious philosophies. Among the various subcultures is a group calling itself ‘Christian’. These Christians were the original recipients of the letter that we call ‘Colossians’, and which we will examine in some depth in the next little while. We’re not certain exactly when the Colossian church came into existence. It may well have been during Paul’s lengthy stay in Ephesus (which was not all that far from Colossae). In Acts 19, we read that as a result of Paul’s teaching in the ...

3 John - Learning by example (Part 4) 3. Demetrius—a Christian follower (verses 11–12) Many commentators are surprised that John moves on from Diotrephes with an exhortation which seems quite mild, given the catalogue of Diotrephes’ crimes against himself and the church. They have surmised that John must have been in a minority, or not sure of his ground, but Marshall’s suggestion seems both more likely and more characteristic of the apostle. ‘He was determined not to fight a battle of words and descend to his opponent’s level.’ Verse 11 is typical of John’s style, with its clear-cut antithesis between good and evil. T If Diotrephes exemplifies what is bad, then Demetrius, in verse 12, will model what is good. Typically, John immediately connects the moral qualities of good and evil with an individual’s personal relationship with God, or lack of it. Since what we call moral good is what is in harmony with God’s will, and moral evil is what is at variance with it, John’s unambiguo...

3 John - Learning by example (Part 3) 2. Diotrephes—a Christian fraud (verse 9–10) John now moves into the major thrust of his short letter, which is to expose to Gaius the false motives and sub-Christian behaviour of Diotrephes, who was clearly exercising a great deal of influence in the church. John speaks of having already written to the church.  It seems likely that John had made another approach to the church, which Diotrephes had rejected. In such circumstances it would be surprising if the letter had survived. This third letter would then be another attempt by John to reach the church and to seek to persuade them to mend their ways, this time using Gaius as the channel. There has been much discussion as to what lies behind John’s brilliant cameo of Diotrephes, who loves to be first. Perhaps the RSV catches the meaning even more accurately: ‘who likes to put himself first’. Was this a power struggle between a local church leader and an outside authority figure, John the el...

3 John - Learning by example (part 2) 1, Gaius—a Christian friend (verses 1–8)  We can know with certainty no more about Gaius himself than the contents of this letter tell us. Although unknown to us, to John he was a dear friend. This is related to the distinctive Christian word for ‘love’ - the love that God has for us and which he creates in each of his children, so that as we are united in the truth, we are bound together in a supernatural love. As we have so often seen, far more than an emotion, this is a fundamental attitude to life. John follows this first use of the address by stressing "whom I love in the truth" - perhaps because Gaius, in taking an unpopular minority stand in the church, was not greatly loved by the heretical party that was developing around Diotrephes. The commendation of the elder would be a considerable encouragement to him in such circumstances. "Truth" means the truth of God in Christ that had bound John and Gaius together in love,...

3 John - Learning by example (part 1) This last of the three letters attributed to John is the most personal of them all. Its similarity in length to the second letter is probably due to the fact that it occupied a single sheet of papyrus, and in many other ways the two letters mirror each other. In both, the author simply presents himself as the elder. In both, he expresses a desire to visit the recipient personally in order to talk further through the issues raised by the letter. In both, he is concerned about travelling teachers and the attitude of the congregation towards them. But whereas 2 John is primarily a warning against welcoming ‘deceivers’, 3 John is a warning against rejecting those who are true fellow Christians and ambassadors of the gospel. It is the positive complement of the negative prohibitions of 2 John, reminding Gaius and his congregation that the possible abuse of hospitality by the heretics is not to become an excuse for failing to show hospitality to true a...

2 John - Priorities of truth and love (part 4) Having dealt with the problem regarding truth with such clarity, John now focuses on those who actively propagate false teaching (verses 10–11). This raises a problem of how to show love. Travelling prophets and preachers were multiplying in numbers, and Christians were well aware of their duty to give hospitality and support to God’s messengers. John stresses, however, that this sort of practical encouragement must depend upon the content of the traveller’s message. Verse 10 mentions two normal responses which Christian love would demand, especially towards someone who was devoting himself full-time to an itinerant teaching ministry and was therefore dependent on the generosity of his fellow Christians for his board and lodgings. In love, a Christian would take the visitor into his house and welcome him.  Everything depends on the content of the message, not the plausibility of the messenger. Probably, in this verse we should think ...

2 John - Priorities of truth and love (part 3) As we have seen, failure in love usually indicates a failure to know and practise the truth. One cannot suffer without the other suffering too - just as each will also strengthen the other. It is because of the crisis of truth which the church is facing through the inroads of the deceivers with their false teaching, that John wants to stir his readers up to be more determined in their Christian love for one another. Love like that can be one of the church’s strongest defences against heresy, just as holding to the truth is the greatest bastion against error. It is a fundamental principle of the New Testament writers not to devote themselves to the detailed dissection or even analysis of the false teaching they were combating. Rather, they give themselves to the positive proclamation of the truth, confident that it will, in and of itself, undermine and destroy the error. These "deceivers" have two primary characteristics by w...

2 John - Priorities of truth and love (part 2) Not surprisingly truth is the first great priority, underlined even by the opening greetings. John’s greatest joy is to find Christian disciples who are continuing steadfastly in the truth, children of God who are demonstrating the family likeness (verse 4). As always, the Scriptures balance God’s sovereignty with human responsibility. If it is a fact that the truth … lives in us … for ever (verse 2), it is the Christian’s unavoidable duty to walk in the truth (verse 4). There can be no option about this; it is the main ingredient of our discipleship. The truth of God, revealed supremely in the living Word, and recorded unerringly in the written Word, provides the route by which the Christian is travelling from earth to heaven. This is the road we are to follow. If we want to make a journey we need to read the map and carry out its instructions; it is not a matter of choice. You cannot reach the north by travelling west. But there is a ...

2 John - Priorities of truth and love (part 1) The gospel was continuing to spread rapidly. House churches were springing up throughout the Graeco-Roman world. The apostolic writings were beginning to circulate among them, but the apostolic generation had all but died out. It seems more than likely that John was the only remaining member of the original group of twelve. The careful oversight of the church depicted in the Acts of the Apostles was no longer possible. At the same time travelling preachers and missionaries were increasing. But the message did not always ring true to the gospel the apostles had preached. Some claimed new insights, taking them beyond the apostolic testimony, which was caricatured as primitive and unsophisticated. There was a fullness of knowledge and experience into which such teachers had been initiated and which they were willing to pass on to others, at a price. The temptation to join this self-defined spiritual élite must have proved very strong. Othe...

1 John 5:13-21 - Knowing That You Know Yesterday we reached arguably the climatic lesson of the entire letter. Eternal life is found in Jesus Christ—and only in Jesus Christ: “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (5:12). Now, in the final verses of this majestic letter, John summarises some of the wonderful consequences of this truth for those who believe in the Son of God. John finishes his letter by listing some of the wonderful truths that followers of Jesus can know. It’s an exciting list that summarises many of the things already mentioned in the letter. Those who believe in the name of the Son of God are God’s beloved children (3:1), which means they can know with confidence that they have eternal life (5:13), that God listens to them and answers their prayers (5:15), that they are freed from the power of sin (5:18), that they are from God (not part of the world under the control of the evil one; 5:19) and that they know the tru...