Colossians 2:6-7 - Paul's Ministry of Encouragaing
Colossians 2:6-7 – “As you therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.” In these verses Paul encourages his readers to:
- Remember their initial commitment to Christ – “As you therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord…” points to something that happened in the past. There was a definite point in time in the past when they made a decision about who Jesus is and accepted Him into their lives. They received/accepted Him into their lives as:
- “Christ” - Christ is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah. They received Him as the Anointed One, the Promised One, the One God promised to send ages before through the prophets of the Old Testament.
- “Jesus” - That name is a reminder of His earthly mission as Savior. The name literally means “salvation is from Jehovah.”
- “Lord” - That title is a reminder of His deity. As Paul says a little later in this chapter, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity [God] dwells in bodily form...”
- To continue to grow and mature in the faith – “…so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built-up in Him, established in your faith…” The verb “rooted” is in the perfect tense carrying the idea of a completed action in past time. It happened once and for all. The verbs “walk…built-up …established…”are in the present tense indicating continuing action.
- To abound in thanksgiving - “overflowing with gratitude…” A spirit of thanksgiving should bubble out of our lives. Thanksgiving is a major theme of Colossians. At least six times in the four chapters of this letter Paul stresses the importance of having a grateful heart.
(For more detailed notes on Colossians go to http://www.larryreynolds.org-a.googlepages.com/home)
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