Colossians 1:3 - Meaning and Application

Here Paul moves into the main body of the letter, and he begins with thanks to God for what he has heard about the believers there. He has not met them in person, and he knows their condition only from the reports of others.

He gives thanks to God for them because they had accepted the gospel of Christ and shown real loyalty to him. Notice that in his prayers for them, he also thanks God for them. Thanksgiving should be part of every prayer, and whatever gives us joy should also move us to thank God.

He gives thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In thanksgiving, we must look to God as God, since he is the one we thank as well as the one we pray to. He is also the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and through Christ all blessing comes to us. He is Christ’s Father, and he is our Father too, which encourages us when we come to him, since we can look to him as Christ’s Father and our Father, his God and our God (John 20:17).

Paul thanks God for the grace at work in them, which showed that God had been gracious to them. He heard of their faith in Christ Jesus, their love for all the saints, and the hope stored up for them in heaven (Colossians 1:4-5). Faith, hope, and love are the chief graces in the Christian life, and they are fitting subjects for both prayer and praise.

He thanks God for their faith in Christ Jesus, meaning they were led to believe in him, confess his religion, and trust their souls to what he had done. He also thanks God for their love. Besides the broad love owed to all people, there is a special love due to the saints, meaning fellow Christians (1 Peter 2:17). We should love all believers and show real kindness toward good people, even when we differ with them on smaller matters and see many weaknesses in them.

Some understand this love as their care for saints in need, which is one part and proof of Christian love. He also thanks God for their hope, the hope laid up for them in heaven (Colossians 1:5). Heaven is called their hope because it is what they are waiting for, the blessed hope (Titus 2:13). Believers receive much in this world, but far more is stored up for them in heaven.

We have reason to thank God for the hope of heaven that good Christians have, that is, their sure expectation of future glory. Their faith in Christ and their love for the saints were both shaped by that hope in heaven. The more we set our hearts on the reward to come in the next world, the more freely we will use our earthly goods for good deeds.

After blessing God for these graces, Paul also blesses God for the means by which they received grace. They had heard about this hope in the word of the truth of the gospel. The gospel is the word of truth, and it is safe for us to trust our souls to it, because it comes from the God of truth and the Spirit of truth. It is a faithful message, and Paul even calls it the grace of God in truth (Colossians 1:6).

It is a great mercy to hear this word of truth, because the great thing it teaches us is the blessedness of heaven. Eternal life is made known by the gospel (2 Timothy 1:10). They heard about the hope stored up in heaven through the word of the truth of the gospel. This gospel had come to them, as it has to the whole world, and it keeps bearing fruit, as it also does in them (Colossians 1:6). It is preached among the nations and brings fruit there, according to Christ’s command to preach the gospel to all nations and to every creature.

Everyone who hears the gospel should bring forth its fruit, meaning they should obey it and have their beliefs and conduct shaped by it. This was the first lesson preached: “Produce fruit worthy of repentance” (Matthew 3:8). And our Lord says, “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them” (John 13:17). Wherever the gospel comes, it should produce fruit to God’s honor and glory. It bears fruit among them, but it does the same among others too. We are wrong if we think the comforts and benefits of the gospel belong only to us.

Paul then mentions the minister through whom they believed, Epaphras, their faithful teacher (Colossians 1:7-8). He speaks of him with great respect so that they will love him. He calls him his fellow servant, meaning not only that they served the same Master, but that they shared the same work. They were fellow workers in the Lord’s service, even though one was an apostle and the other an ordinary minister.

He also calls Epaphras his dear fellow servant. All servants of Christ should love one another, and it is a precious thing that they are joined in the same service. Paul describes him as a faithful minister of Christ for them, one who carried out his trust and completed his ministry among them. Christ is our true Master, and we are his ministers. Paul does not say he is your minister, but the minister of Christ for you. He serves by Christ’s authority and appointment, though he serves for the people’s good.

Paul also says that Epaphras gave them a good report: he told Paul of their love in the Spirit (Colossians 1:8). Paul recommends Epaphras by pointing to the sincere love the Colossians had for Christ and all his members, love that the Spirit worked in them and that fits the spirit of the gospel. Faithful ministers are glad when they can speak well of their people.