Colossians 4

CHAPTER 4

 

Further Instructions (4:1-6)

1 In the world’s eyes, some men are masters and some are slaves, or servants. But in God’s eyes, all men are servants. Therefore, let earthly masters beware! Just as they behave toward their servants on earth, so will God behave toward them in heaven (see Ephesians 6:9 and comment).

2 Here Paul tells the Colossians: Devote yourselves to prayer. Christians should take every opportunity to pray whenever there is a suitable occasion. This is the responsibility of every Christian. If we do not pray, we shall receive little help or blessing from the Holy Spirit. If there is no prayer, there certainly won’t be any answers to prayer!

As we pray, we must be watchful. Watchful for what? First, we must watch for those—both believers and non-believers—who need our prayers; we must be watchful for the needs and welfare of others. Second, we must be watchful for Satan, lest he trip us up (see Mark 14:38; Ephesians 6:18; 1 Peter 5:8 and comments).

3 All Christians must pray continually that God may open a door of opportunity for preaching His word, the Gospel, so that the Gospel of Christ might reach into every corner of the world, and so that every man and woman might have the chance to hear about Christ.

4 Paul was a great and effective preacher and teacher. But Paul knew very well that his effectiveness was due to the prayers of fellow believers. Therefore, Paul continues to ask the Colossians for their prayers, knowing that if their prayers for him lessen, his effectiveness will also lessen.

God has placed His work into our hands. Yes, God can do everything by Himself, but He has chosen to do His work through us, His children. If we fail to carry out our responsibilities to work and to pray, then God’s work will suffer loss.

Therefore, let us continue to pray diligently for one another and, like Paul, continue to ask for prayer for ourselves that we might effectively do God’s work (Ephesians 6:19-20).

5 Paul says here that we should make the most of every opportunity—that is, every opportunity to witness. Let us not miss opportunities that arise. We must take every opportunity to share the Gospel with outsiders—that is, with unbelievers (Ephesians 5:15-16; 2 Timothy 4:2).

6 One’s speech can either be loving and gracious, or it can be harsh and bitter. Let our speech always be full of grace.

Our speech also needs to be seasoned with salt. Speech that is “seasoned with salt” is speech that is wise, uplifting, and challenging. In particular, our speech needs to be “seasoned” with wisdom. We need to witness wisely. There are different ways of presenting the Gospel, and one way works well with one person and another way works well with another person. Therefore, we must understand the person we’re talking to, so that we can speak in the most effective way. Let people not be turned away from Christ because of our inappropriate speech (see 1 Peter 3:15).

Final Greetings (4:7-18)

7-8 Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians while in prison in Rome. Paul’s fellow worker Tychicus then delivered it to the Colossians (Ephesians 6:21-22).

9 Onesimus was a slave from Colosse who had fled to Rome after running away from his master Philemon. In Rome he met Paul, and became a believer. Now Paul is sending Onesimus back to his master Philemon (see Philemon 10-16).

10-11 Aristarchus was with Paul in Ephesus (Acts 19:29). After that, he went with Paul to Rome (Acts 27:2).

Mark is the writer of the Gospel of Mark. Some years earlier, Paul had become very displeased with Mark, because Mark had deserted Paul in the middle of a preaching journey. After that, Paul refused to take Mark with him on any more of his travels (Acts 15:36-40). Now, from this letter, we can see that Paul has forgiven Mark and forgotten about Mark’s earlier mistake.

From this we can learn an important lesson. Even though someone makes a great mistake or commits a great sin, we must not always hold it against him. We must not only forgive the person for his mistake—we must then forget it!

Consider what happened to Mark after he made that earlier mistake. Having been forgiven, he eventually went on to become Paul’s faithful fellow worker (2 Timothy 4:11). And God chose Mark to be the first to write down the story of Jesus’ life.¹⁴

We must never keep on accusing someone of a past sin. If we do this, it is we who are committing the sin! When we refuse to forgive, we are opposing God and inviting judgment upon ourselves (see Matthew 6:14-15).

As for Jesus, who is called Justus (verse 11), nothing else is known about him except what is written here.

12-13 Epaphras was one of the founders of the church at Colosse (Colossians 1:7). Let us also, like Epaphras, always be wrestling in prayer for each other (verse 12). To overcome Satan, we must “wrestle” in prayer; we are in a spiritual battle with Satan, and prayer is one of our most effective weapons (see Ephesians 6:18 and comment). And may Epaphras’ prayer for the Colossians also be for us: that we might stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.

14 Luke is the writer of the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. He was a close colleague of Paul, and journeyed with Paul to Rome.

Demas later deserted Paul, because he loved this world (2 Timothy 4:10). It is not written anywhere that Demas repented and began serving the Lord again. Some, like Mark, return to serve the Lord; others, like Demas, fall away and do not return.

Let us beware that none of us becomes like Demas. For us, he is a warning.

15 Laodicea was a city near Colosse, where there was also a church. The Laodicean church is one of the seven churches mentioned in the book of Revelation, to which Jesus, through the Apostle John, sent letters of warning (Revelation 3:1422).

In New Testament times, most of the Christian churches were “house churches” or “house fellowships” (Philemon 1-2). Perhaps in places where there was much persecution against Christians, the believers met in homes so as not to attract attention. But probably in most cases they met in homes because there was not enough money to build a separate church building.

16 The letter mentioned here which Paul wrote to the Laodiceans has been lost.

17 Paul here gives a special admonition to Archippus, a member of the Colossian church. Let Paul’s word to Archippus be for every one of us: See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord. And let us, like Paul, be able to say at the end of our lives: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith (2 Timothy 4:7).

18 Up through verse 17, Paul has dictated this letter to a scribe. But now in verse 18, he writes in his own hand, so that the Colossians may know that this letter has truly been sent from Paul.

Paul writes: Remember my chains. In most of his letters, Paul asks for the prayers of his readers. We must not neglect to pray for our fellow workers in Christ. Especially we must pray for those in prison, and minister to their needs whenever we can (see Matthew 25:36; Hebrews 13:3).

 

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¹ For further discussion, see General Article: How We Got Our Bible.

² Satan and his evil spirits fear God, because they know that in the end they will be punished and destroyed. Believers, however, haw the assurance of salvation and eternal life. Hi us they have no fear of eternal punishment. Fear of God is only the first step of wisdom; once we have believed, our fear of God is replaced by love for Him (Psalm 2:11; 1 John 4:18 and comment).

³ Some people would answer that anyone who “stops believing” never truly believed to begin with. This may be true; there is no way to prove it one way or another. Only God knows who has truly believed; only God is in a position to judge men’s hearts.

⁴ There is a difference between Christ’s suffering and the believer’s suffering. Christ’s suffering was for our redemption, for our salvation. Our suffering, on the other hand, is for the propagation of the Gospel. Our suffering is not complete because there is still much work to do to spread the Gospel throughout the world. The Gospel spreads most rapidly through the suffering of believers.

⁵ Laodicea was eleven miles from Colosse; Paul wanted this letter read in the church there also (see Colossians 4:15-16 and comment).

⁶ In place of the words sinful nature, some versions of the Bible say “flesh,” which is the literal translation of the Greek. For further discussion, see Galatians 5:13,16-17,24; Word List: Flesh.

⁷ I here is a sense in which we cannot completely “cut away” or “put off” our sinful nature as long as we are alive on this earth. Without the overruling power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, our sinful nature will always try to reassert itself.

But, in another sense, through the Spirit, we can render the sinful nature powerless, lifeless; we can “crucify’it” (Galatians 5:24). This is what Paul means here by the putting off of the sinful nature. It means putting off the power and control of the sinful nature in our lives.

⁸ The Jewish law is written in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. It is the law that God gave to the Jewish people. For further discussion, see Word List: Law.

⁹ Satan is the prince of this world (John 12:31). For further discussion, see Word List: Satan.

¹⁰ Worldly men are men who love the world more than they love God.

¹¹ The expression “kingdom of Satan” has two meanings, which are closely related. First, it means Satan’s authority and power. Second, it means the world; because it is in the world that Satan exercises his authority.

It should be noted, however, that the “kingdom of Satan” is not limited to this physical world. Satan also rules over spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12).

¹² In place of the word barbarian, some versions of the Bible say “speakers of other languages,” which is the literal translation of the Greek text. The meaning is essentially the same. The educated Greek-speaking people of New Testament times considered anyone who didn’t speak Greek to be a barbarian.

¹³ The Scythians were residents of the uncivilized country of Scythia, which is now part of southern Russia.

¹⁴ Even though Mark’s Gospel is the second Gospel in the New Testament, most Bible scholars believe that it was actually the first to be written.