Publisher's Synopsis
Paul had never been to Colossae, but he'd heard from a good friend that the church in that city was blossoming in faith and love. They'd been rooted in Christ-but young churches had been misled before. Paul desperately wants to encourage the church and head off any persuasive arguments from false teachers, so he writes them a letter.
The brief book of Colossians is all about who we are in Christ. This volume is a verse-by-verse study of the Book of Colossians.
Expositors have differing views on the relative importance of the letters of St. Paul. Many do not consider the letter to the Colossians to rank high in that echelon. I beg to disagree. I do not believe that there is more urgent and important writing in the Bible than the book of Colossians. It does not deal with the fundamentals of justification and the simple layout of the bases for the faith as Romans does. And it does not build the masterful case for the sanctification that Christ has provided by the Cross as the book of Hebrews does. In that regard, I do not say that Colossians are more important than Romans and Hebrews. Even so, the subject taken up by Colossians and how it impacts the modern church and the problems that we face in the Age of Reason ranks it as a book of unexcelled urgency in my view. Colossians teaches us plainly that outside of Christ there is no wisdom and understanding that has any merit, either for the present or the future. It firmly establishes the truth that Christ, the Triune God in bodily form, created all things and that all things consist in Him. All wisdom and knowledge that has any merit are in Christ. This means positively everything. The Church cannot stop the world from blaspheming God and coming up with evil theories of origins, and we should not try. What Colossians is teaching us is that for the Christian and the Church of the living God it is important to understand that all truth in existence, not only in this universe but in heaven, comes from Christ. It takes us back to the Garden of Eden and underscores the dreadful mistake that was made by our ancient mother Eve. Truth is not the result of science, reason, philosophy, experience, religion, or any other humanistic endeavor. Truth comes and only comes by revelation from God. In that revelation, all wisdom and knowledge that is valid are comprehending. I believe that this great book is much needed in the church of our time. We pray to God that He will assist us in being able, through the power and wisdom of the Holy Ghost, to lay this truth out in our expositions as clearly as God has shown it to us and our meditations.
