Commentary on Colossians 1:9-14

Paul continues from yesterday’s reading his words of praise and encouragement for the Christians of Colossae. Moved by Epaphras’ account, Paul has prayed fervently for the Colossians that their response to the gospel may bring the fullest knowledge of God’s will, “in all spiritual wisdom and understanding”. He expects a mutual interaction between their life according to the gospel and this knowledge, which will reveal the power of God’s presence among them, encourage them to courage and calm determination, and result in grateful love of the Father for his saving gifts. For the Father conquers the power of evil over men by offering them the power of his Son, who is his love in person and has already forgiven their sins.

Following on what Paul has heard from Epaphras about the strong faith of the Colossians, he makes a beautiful prayer on their behalf. It is laid out here in a way that will make it easier for us to see its contents. It is a prayer that we can make for ourselves and for other people. Let us hear Paul saying this prayer for each one of us:

We have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, so that you may have all endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

This is a prayer we should take line by line, stopping at any word or phrase which we find particularly meaningful or relevant to our own life and pausing there for a while – or even make that word or phrase the subject of our whole prayer.

Let’s think about some of the lines in the prayer:

…we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding

Scriptural knowledge is not merely the possession of facts, knowing a lot about the Bible. Rather, knowledge and wisdom in the Bible are concerned with the inner meaning of every passage and how it touches on living a Christ-filled life.

May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, so that you may have all endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father

This is the lot of God’s holy people (the hagioi) – what all holy people are to inherit, i.e. the ‘salvation’ that originally had been thought of as a bequest made exclusively to the Chosen People of Israel.

Now, with the coming of Jesus, non-Jews are called to share in:

…the inheritance of the saints in the light

This symbolises holiness, truth, love, glory and life. Accordingly, God, Christ and the Christian are all characterised by light. The “kingdom of light” is the opposite of the “dominion of darkness”. ‘Kingdom’ does not here refer to a territory, but to the authority, rule or sovereign power of a king (Greek, basileia, meaning ‘reign’ or ‘kingship’). Here it means that the Christian is no longer under the dominion of evil (darkness), but under the loving rule of God’s Son.

To be in the ‘Kingdom’ is to be closely united to God in being the kind of person he wants to us to be, and to be in cooperative union with others who are also that kind of person. What more could we ask for than a full knowledge of God’s will and to be filled with wisdom and spiritual insight? It is a prayer we need to make in some form every day of our lives. Only then may we:

…walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him.

Let us then today thank God for all that he has done for us through Jesus Christ and the Christian community to which we belong. Let us pray that we grow in knowledge and wisdom and insight so that we may love and serve him more and more.