Commentary on Colossians 1:3

We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

Author

Kayode Crown
November 06, 2024

We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

Colossians 1:3 NET

This is half a sentence, but it contains enough. 

Thankfulness

First we have the concept of thanking God. We would learn the reason why Paul was thanking God later, but should thanking God as part of our prayer life. 

  • When we thank God we affirm His identity as the one who is worthy of thanks. In another place we read, “All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights (James 1:17).” 

  • In another place Jesus told the disciples, “If you then, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:11).”

  • One of the ills of humanity is being unthankful. (Romans 1:21)

  • Thanking God is so vital that one of the signs of the perilous times according to Paul is that many would be ungrateful. (2Timothy 3:2)

  • Paul thanked God many times and tells people the specific things that he is thanking God for (Philippians 1:3-5, 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3).

  • Therefore, whatever good that Paul is seeing in those he is writing to, he has enough spiritual insight to trace it back to God. The recipients would not be swollen up with pride, because they would recognize that God is the source, and others reading it about them would not be envious for the same reason: God is the source.

  • Thanksgiving directs the heart to God.

Thanking the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Paul says that he thanks God, but not just any god, not just any god with any name, with any pedigree, but the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. How is God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (and by the way, that is the only God), you may ask?

Paul did not deem it necessary to explain further because this is a foundational truth to being a Christian. But let’s explore the concept of Trinity.

The Trinity

The Father and the Son exist in an eternal relationship of equal-ness . But the revelation of the Son was not fully known before the incarnation, the coming of God the Son as a human being through virgin Mary.  

There are many incidences in the Old Testament where you have one entity called the angel of the Lord (Genesis 16:7-13, Exodus 3:2-6) who speaks in the first person as if He is God and in the same breath talks from God, seamlessly moving from His own authority to speaking from the Father.

  • Later on we see that it was Jesus Christ who brought the children of Israel out of the land of bondage, out of Egypt (Jude 1:5).

  • The revelation of God the Son in incarnation was for a similar purpose: rescuing his people from bondage to sin. (Matthew 1:21)

  • The same person who rescued the Israelites from the Egyptian bondage, is the same one who, through the incarnation, God becoming flesh, the second person of the Trinity, dying on the cross, rescued us from sin and death.

  • As surely as the children of Israel left Egypt, He has translated us from the kingdom of darkness (Colossians 1:13). That languages that Paul uses clearly mimics the language God used to describe His rescuing of Israelites from Egypt.

  • “Before Abraham was, I am,” Jesus said (John 8:58). He going is from distant past, another passage in the Old Testament said (Micah 5:2). 

  • “…before Abraham came into existence, I am!,” said Jesus. (John 8:58)

For the unsaved, the concept of the Trinity is bizarre. God in three persons? But the Holy Spirit himself births that truth in us.

  • We do not struggle with the concept of the Trinity because we know that God the Father is God, Jesus is also God because he receives worship, and how high he is elevated in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

  • The Holy Spirit is God because Jesus said to baptize “in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit"(therefore co-equal partners) (Matthew 28:19). 

So, there you have it, three in one. We understand the Trinity intuitively, but for the unsaved, that is ludicrous.

Prayer

In many of Paul’s letter, he said that he is praying for the recipients. 

  • He was praying for them before he wrote a letter to them, he brought them before God before he brought God to them in the truth of the letter he was going to write. 

  • Prayer was therefore a priority for Paul.

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