Colossians 2:1-7
Here is the Word .doc for the following lesson. Colossians Study 7
Walk
As we begin to step into the second chapter of this epistle to the Colossian believers, it would be a good idea to look back at where we’ve come. Sometimes in our diligence to thoroughly study a book of scripture, we end up losing the theme of it at the expense of its parts. It’s easy to find meaning in a verse or two that place it in conflict with the book in which it is found. This is why it’s important, when it’s possible, to read through the book you are studying in its entirety, repeatedly. It helps keep us from compartmentalizing the pieces and missing the forest for the trees. What has taken us 6 hours to cover in study would take us 3 minutes to read. And it is in those broad sweeps that we are able to return our eyes to the whole of a book. Which in the case of Colossians is the Supremacy of Christ.
To be sure, the entirety of scripture can be said to be all about Christ. But we do understand that themematically, different portions of the Bible have varying focuses. And Paul’s letter to Colossae would have to be considered one of the most, if not the most, Christ-centered book in the Bible. Consider what he has said thus far.
He opens his letter by greeting the “saints in Christ at Colossae”. Then proceeds to gush forth thanksgiving to God upon hearing that they have come to “faith in Christ Jesus”. And that the message of the good news of Christ that they heard and believed is also going out to the rest of the world. Paul then turns from thanksgiving to prayer as he asks that God would fill them with wisdom in order that they live worthily of the Lord Jesus Christ. Praising God that He has transferred them from a life of darkness to the Kingdom of His beloved Son. What follows next is one of the most comprehensive, superlative laden, all encompassing descriptions of the power and majesty of Jesus Christ found anywhere in the text of scripture. In fact it is vv.15-20 that makes up what I would consider to be the theme of Paul’s letter.