We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
The verse is continual thanks to God as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ joined with unceasing prayer for the saints and faithful brethren at Colosse. The thanks and prayer answer the report of their faith in Christ Jesus and love to all the saints, grounded in the hope laid up for them in heaven heard in the true gospel. It teaches the vital union that must exist between Christ and His disciples, for mere profession without living connection is pretense and cannot make believers channels of light. Its prayer desires that they grow in spiritual understanding and live fruitful Christian lives, since genuine faith works through love and purifies the soul while the gospel softens and tenderly changes the heart.
Thanks, Prayer, and Context
Continual thanksgiving is offered to God as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, joined with always praying for the believers at Colosse, the saints and faithful brethren in Christ. Prayer for fellow believers is inseparable from that continual thanksgiving, and the prayer is constant and unceasing. The thanksgiving and prayer look forward with continual hope and prospect of growth in Christ and of increase in spiritual understanding for a fruitful Christian life.
That thanksgiving and prayer respond to hearing of their faith in Christ Jesus and their love to all the saints. This faith and love rest on the hope laid up for them in heaven, which they heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. Genuine faith works through love and purifies the soul, while the truth of the gospel softens and tenderly changes the heart, giving strong reasons for gratitude and for expressing love for God in prayer. The faithful testimony of converts heard in this way brings joy and comfort to a minister deeply interested in their experience in Christ.
That gospel has come to them as it has come into all the world, and it brings forth fruit since the day the grace of God was heard and known in truth. It was learned from faithful ministers of Christ who declare the believers' love in the Spirit. The first chapter in which this stands is a decided address to every believer, shaped by the Holy Spirit for the help of those who should afterward compose the church as well as the original readers. In it the truth is presented in its simplicity with deep earnestness and great power.
Union, Fruitfulness, and Conduct
With its context the verse teaches the vital union that should exist between Christ and His disciples, a union to be constantly striven for. Religion consisting only of profession is pretense. Those whose union with Christ ends with writing their names on the church roll are not channels of light. The prayer expresses desire that believers grow in spiritual understanding and live fruitful Christian lives. Prayer for fellow believers is joined with continual thanksgiving, with continual hope and prospect of growth in Christ.
Bringing forth fruit is the test of gospel ministry, so that preaching the Word in a way that brings forth no fruit makes labor vain. The thanksgiving expresses the joy and comfort that the faithful testimony of converts brings to a minister deeply interested in their experience in Christ. All who thus accept the truth become living epistles known and read of all men. Genuine faith works through love and purifies the soul, and the truth of the gospel softens and tenderly changes the heart. The faith, love, and heavenly hope joined to this thanksgiving give strong reasons for gratitude and for expressing love for God in prayer.
The hope in Jesus Christ leads to manifesting His mind in the relation believers sustain to one another. The verse means it is the privilege to have the higher life by planning wisely to increase in spiritual, mental, and physical power. This requires refusing to dwarf self by overwork and refusing to carry so many burdens as to lose health, courage, and faith. It is being filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding to walk worthy unto all pleasing, fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. It is being strengthened unto patience and longsuffering with joyfulness, giving thanks for fitness to partake of the inheritance of the saints in light through deliverance from darkness and translation into the kingdom of Christ with redemption and forgiveness, to bring forth fruit unto eternal life.
The words are a message to those assembled in council, showing the work to be done for saving perishing souls by giving truth, present truth, to those in the darkness of error. The instruction shows that the religion of Christ makes all who possess it truly benevolent, kind and courteous. Those who possess it bear fruit in good works with heaven's endorsement, allowing no littleness, no mean transactions, and no cheap covetous actions. Those in responsible positions are charged to make straight paths for their feet lest the lame be turned out of the way.
The verse is continual thanks to God as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ joined with unceasing prayer for the saints and faithful brethren at Colosse. The thanks and prayer answer the report of their faith in Christ Jesus and love to all the saints, grounded in the hope laid up for them in heaven heard in the true gospel. It teaches the vital union that must exist between Christ and His disciples, for mere profession without living connection is pretense and cannot make believers channels of light. Its prayer desires that they grow in spiritual understanding and live fruitful Christian lives, since genuine faith works through love and purifies the soul while the gospel softens and tenderly changes the heart.
Thanks, Prayer, and Context
Continual thanksgiving is offered to God as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, joined with always praying for the believers at Colosse, the saints and faithful brethren in Christ. Prayer for fellow believers is inseparable from that continual thanksgiving, and the prayer is constant and unceasing. The thanksgiving and prayer look forward with continual hope and prospect of growth in Christ and of increase in spiritual understanding for a fruitful Christian life.
That thanksgiving and prayer respond to hearing of their faith in Christ Jesus and their love to all the saints. This faith and love rest on the hope laid up for them in heaven, which they heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. Genuine faith works through love and purifies the soul, while the truth of the gospel softens and tenderly changes the heart, giving strong reasons for gratitude and for expressing love for God in prayer. The faithful testimony of converts heard in this way brings joy and comfort to a minister deeply interested in their experience in Christ.
That gospel has come to them as it has come into all the world, and it brings forth fruit since the day the grace of God was heard and known in truth. It was learned from faithful ministers of Christ who declare the believers' love in the Spirit. The first chapter in which this stands is a decided address to every believer, shaped by the Holy Spirit for the help of those who should afterward compose the church as well as the original readers. In it the truth is presented in its simplicity with deep earnestness and great power.
Union, Fruitfulness, and Conduct
With its context the verse teaches the vital union that should exist between Christ and His disciples, a union to be constantly striven for. Religion consisting only of profession is pretense. Those whose union with Christ ends with writing their names on the church roll are not channels of light. The prayer expresses desire that believers grow in spiritual understanding and live fruitful Christian lives. Prayer for fellow believers is joined with continual thanksgiving, with continual hope and prospect of growth in Christ.
Bringing forth fruit is the test of gospel ministry, so that preaching the Word in a way that brings forth no fruit makes labor vain. The thanksgiving expresses the joy and comfort that the faithful testimony of converts brings to a minister deeply interested in their experience in Christ. All who thus accept the truth become living epistles known and read of all men. Genuine faith works through love and purifies the soul, and the truth of the gospel softens and tenderly changes the heart. The faith, love, and heavenly hope joined to this thanksgiving give strong reasons for gratitude and for expressing love for God in prayer.
The hope in Jesus Christ leads to manifesting His mind in the relation believers sustain to one another. The verse means it is the privilege to have the higher life by planning wisely to increase in spiritual, mental, and physical power. This requires refusing to dwarf self by overwork and refusing to carry so many burdens as to lose health, courage, and faith. It is being filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding to walk worthy unto all pleasing, fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. It is being strengthened unto patience and longsuffering with joyfulness, giving thanks for fitness to partake of the inheritance of the saints in light through deliverance from darkness and translation into the kingdom of Christ with redemption and forgiveness, to bring forth fruit unto eternal life.
The words are a message to those assembled in council, showing the work to be done for saving perishing souls by giving truth, present truth, to those in the darkness of error. The instruction shows that the religion of Christ makes all who possess it truly benevolent, kind and courteous. Those who possess it bear fruit in good works with heaven's endorsement, allowing no littleness, no mean transactions, and no cheap covetous actions. Those in responsible positions are charged to make straight paths for their feet lest the lame be turned out of the way.