Colossians 1:9, commentary and pictures

Since the day he heard of their faith in Christ and their love in the Spirit, Paul did not cease to pray and to desire for the Colossians that they might be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. The knowledge prayed for is knowledge of God Himself, the most desirable blessing, and believers are to be not merely tasting but filled with it, with understanding made spiritual and knowledge of the Scriptures made practical. That filling equips believers to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, to be fruitful in every good work and increase in the knowledge of God, and to be strengthened with all might according to His glorious power unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. To everyone constantly yielding to be led and taught of God, ever-increasing development is promised with no limit fixed to advancement, presenting high attainments every believer may reach in going from strength to strength. It teaches the vital union that should exist between Christ and His disciples, gained by earnest unceasing prayer, daily beholding Jesus and habitual study of the Word, and it shapes daily life and service in doing His will, teaching truth with Christlike meekness, and bringing substantial joy, peace and health rather than gloom.

Paul's Unceasing Prayer

Since the day he heard from Epaphras of their faith in Christ and their love in the Spirit, and of their faith in Christ Jesus and their love to the saints, Paul did not cease to pray and to desire for the Colossians that they might be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

The continuing prayer was not for Colosse alone but for the whole church as well as Colosse, addressed to every believer and given for the help of those who should afterward compose the church. Believers are not to cease to pray it for one another, desiring that each might be filled in this way. It belongs to instruction on the vital union that should exist between Christ and His disciples and must be constantly striven for, since mere profession or having one's name on the church roll does not make one a channel of light. This promise encourages every striving soul, and assures each church established in the truth that an open door lies before it, understood more fully when church members value God's promises and His infinite love.

The prayer is complete and sets no limit to the blessings believers are privileged to receive. Because the Holy Spirit inspired it, an answer from God in accordance with the request is possible. God's will is manifested to His people as they need a clearer understanding of His will, by which they become sons and daughters of God.

The verse is a message to be given to those assembled in council, and it defines the work to be done for the saving of souls ready to perish by giving present truth to those in the darkness of error. It stands as part of the reforms called for by accepting present truth in genuine faith, with the sure result of that acceptance set forth in connection with it.

Knowledge of God's Will

The knowledge prayed for is knowledge of God Himself, the most desirable blessing of all. It is made possible through the power and riches of His great salvation and is obtained by earnest, unceasing prayer. In a time when iniquity abounds and God's law is made void, those who have this knowledge do not separate themselves from God by disobedience. They are animated with earnest desire to fulfill God's purpose for them and to live to please Him who gave His life so that all who believe should not perish but have everlasting life.

Believers are to do more than merely taste this knowledge; they are to be filled with it and thereby reach a higher state. That fullness reveals the love of God and brings joy into the heart. It produces a sense of God's goodness in sending His Son to die for sinful humanity. Such a sense removes desire for supremacy, hatred, envy, and evil surmising, and gives love for those for whom Christ died.

Wisdom and spiritual understanding give spirituality to the understanding itself. They make knowledge of the Scriptures practical rather than merely theoretical. The Lord is pleased when those connected with Him are filled with a knowledge of His will in this way.

This filling is spiritual discernment that guides a faithful life and service. It comes when the heart is melted and subdued by the Holy Spirit through daily aspirations for God's favor that the heart may be right with God, bringing sweet peace within. It is gained by walking in humility and by habitually studying His Word with set purpose to know God, by beholding Jesus and dwelling on His perfection and striving to be like Him. Then Scripture takes on new power, revealed in the words, and there grows a keen appetite for the Word of the living God. Hardheartedness is replaced by pure, tender feeling, with intense desire to be led by His Spirit, and with walking in love toward God and listening to every whisper of His Holy Spirit.

Worthy Fruitful Strengthened Life

The filling with knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding equips believers to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, to be fruitful in every good work, and to increase in the knowledge of God. This is the privilege of every Christian and the prayer of the living Christian, a filling to be desired and possessed and continually prayed for on behalf of one another. It leads not to mere acceptance of teaching or admiration of a preacher but to genuine conversion and a changed life.

The same knowledge brings strengthening with all might according to God's glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness. These are blessings to be enjoyed in this life as part of redemption through Christ and as fruits of Bible sanctification. Knowing God in this way is of greater worth than anything else, and through Christ's merits believers may ask for the fullness of the Holy Spirit and receive strength to live faithfully.

This life of living faith that acts is joined to thanksgiving to the Father, who makes believers fit to share the saints' inheritance in light. He delivers them from darkness into the kingdom of His Son.

Unlimited Ongoing Spiritual Growth

To everyone constantly yielding the will to be led and taught of God, ever-increasing development in spiritual things is promised, and God fixes no limit to advancement for those filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Through prayer, watchfulness, and increasing knowledge and understanding believers may keep advancing without limit, with no limit to the blessings and spiritual maturity to be received. This growth prepares them to serve others as Christ's helping hands.

The prayer presents high attainments that every believer may reach, in a spirit free from envy and fear of being outdone, holding wonderful possibilities. Heeding that desire brings going on from strength to strength and increasing in the knowledge of God, with each night finding believers a day's march nearer home. Being filled with the knowledge of God's will with wisdom and spiritual understanding is the beginning of continual growth in Christ, which is increase in understanding and knowledge of Jesus and not self-exaltation. It is part of an advancing experience in religious faith, encouraging every striving soul and assuring each church established in the truth that an open door lies before it.

It is the privilege of believers and of those who receive Christ and become children of God to have this higher life, even the life of God, increasing in spiritual, mental, and physical power. Repentant sinners may be filled with the knowledge of God's will with wisdom and spiritual understanding, and those whom Christ redeems from all iniquity, who repent and believe and accept His robe of righteousness, may follow His example by being so filled. God desires believers to make great advancement in the knowledge of His will so they may be used to His name's glory.

This knowledge comes with sanctified aspirations and a love that refines, uplifts, and purifies, and leads to growth toward the holier life of heaven. It comes by being renewed in the spirit of the mind, putting on the new man day by day, surrendering to God to be purified and cleansed and refined and elevated by Him, and being prepared as a vessel unto honor, for true holiness is becoming in all His saints.

Union With Christ

Colossians 1:9 is instruction about the vital union that should exist between Christ and His disciples, a union to be constantly striven for, and it was given for the whole church as well as for the believers at Colosse, for every believer and for those who should afterward compose the church. The unceasing prayer is that believers be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness. Religion consisting merely of profession is pretense, and those whose union with Christ ends with writing their names on the church roll do not become channels of light.

By being filled with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding believers become sons and daughters of God and children of God, and this is the high privilege of those who receive Christ. To have a knowledge of His will is worth everything, and hope in Jesus is worth everything. This privilege of standing on vantage ground comes because Christ was made an atonement for sins, and those who have escaped the corruption in the world and become partakers of the divine nature manifest His mind. The prayer is complete and sets no limit to the blessings believers are privileged to receive, so an answer from God in accordance with the request is possible, and God's will is manifested to His people as they need a clearer understanding of His will.

Colossians 1 is a chapter in which the Holy Spirit speaks, and studying it gives the receiver the mind of Christ, brings self and evil tendencies under control, and makes that person a faithful worker for the Lord. This filling belongs with an intelligent, converted faith, in which truth changes the life, removes selfish and arbitrary conduct, and leads to good works. A heart cleansed and sanctified by truth does not deal unfairly or oppress others.

The knowledge joined with wisdom and spiritual understanding equips believers to stand firm in the faith and to proclaim the message of mercy for the present time, and it is applied to those who know the truth for the present time for that purpose. The worthy, fruitful, strengthened life described in the following verses is what this knowledge supports.

Daily Life and Service

God's servants are to gain more knowledge of Him daily, and to grow daily in grace and in spiritual understanding. That filling with the knowledge of His will gives spirituality to the understanding and makes knowledge of the Scriptures practical, which pleases the Lord in those connected with Him. They are to be strengthened with might according to His glorious power. They are to increase in spiritual efficiency, so that they may give strength to those for whom they labor and to the people of God.

Those in responsible positions are to seek God daily and to set an example worthy of their faith. They are to make straight paths for their feet, lest the lame be turned out of the way. The religion of Christ makes all who possess it truly benevolent, with a nobility that allows no littleness, no mean transactions, and none of the cheap, covetous actions that disgrace the doer.

Knowing God's will comes through living connection and open communication between God and the soul, kept by watching unto prayer. It is kept with peace in the heart and with cheerfulness without levity, jesting, joking, or frivolous talk. The mystery of godliness thus opened lifts the mind above earthly and sensual pleasures and enjoyments into partaking of the divine nature and escaping worldly corruption through lust. That knowledge, joined with wisdom and spiritual understanding, leads to fruitful growth in the knowledge of God and opens treasures of practical truth to present to others. Those practical subjects solemnize the mind, touch the heart, and awaken moral feeling and sensibility to God's sacred claims upon the affections, heart, and life. Those who labor in word and doctrine must therefore be men of God, pure in heart and life.

Seeking to know and do His will makes believers learners in Christ's school. Continual prayer for this filling equips them to teach others the principles and practice of truth. Its spiritual wisdom appears in Christlike meekness and lowliness, which witness persuasively to unbelievers through conduct and character.

This true knowledge is the prayer of the living Christian, to be desired and possessed by every Christian as the privilege of believers. It does not lead to ungodliness or gloom, does not break down the constitution, and does not bring a gloomy cloud over the mind. It imparts substantial joy and true happiness, flowing ceaselessly as divine wisdom from a pure fountain that gives peace, joy, and health. It belongs to the higher life, even the life of God, with increase in spiritual, mental, and physical power. It leads to walking worthy of the Lord, being fruitful in every good work, and bringing forth fruit that brings forth more fruit unto eternal life. It therefore refuses to dwarf the self by overwork and refuses crushing burdens that destroy health, courage, and faith in God, planning wisely instead.

The wisdom and intelligent knowledge of His will are needed when circumstances leave one unsure what to do or which way to turn. Then God is to be sought as Counsellor, and more grace is needed, with prayer for the Holy Spirit. God gives that knowledge and spiritual understanding to every consecrated soul, so each may stand in freedom before God and serve Him intelligently. He directs their steps, and His leading is known when one acts in accordance with the Holy Spirit and in harmony with Christ.

In a time of danger God's people especially need this deep experience, growing light, and spiritual experience in knowing His will, in order to remain faithful to their sacred trust and represent God's character. That knowledge is to shape aims and conduct, helping them stand for what is right and exert a saving influence. It was the experience of the early disciples, who sought above all things to know the will of God. Being filled in this way is joined to walking worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, increasing in the knowledge of God, and being strengthened with all might unto patience and long-suffering with joyfulness. It brings the principles of God's law into the daily life, giving experiential knowledge that the law of the Lord converts the soul. By this standard the church's present condition is tested, in contrast to a weak and inefficient church whose members follow their own impulses instead of doing God's will, are led by another spirit and not by God's Spirit, refuse God's will, and do not know the meaning of the written Word.