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Small Group Resource Week 3
Week 2 (Colossians 1:24-2:15) Colossians 2:16-3:17
Meditating on Colossians
In this section of the letter, Paul reflects on
his ministry and his hope for the Christians
at Colossae (1:24 – 2:5), highlights the
importance of growing in Christ (2:6-7),
and shows the power of the cross over the
rulers of this world (2:8-15).
A small group discussion could focus on
the key themes that emerge in this pas-
sage, such as Paul’s commitment to making
the gospel known, the riches of the mys-
tery of Christ, and being buried and raised
to new life with Christ.
You could also help others to engage with
this section of Colossians through a group
meditation. While there are a variety of
ways to meditate, one helpful approach
was developed by the great Reformer
Martin Luther. Luther encouraged every
Christian to read and engage with the
Bible, and described a way of praying
with Scripture through a ‘garland of four
strands,’ namely: instruction, thanksgiving,
confession and prayer. Considering a
biblical text with these four dimensions in
mind can be a powerful way of entering
into biblical meditation, either as an
individual or as part of a group.
Approaching the text
Read Colossians 1:24-2:15 aloud twice. Make sure that everyone
has a Bible or a copy of the text to read for themselves.
Invite members of the group to read and reflect on one of the small-
er sections within this passage (1:24-2:5; 2:6-7; 2:8-15), focusing on
the following questions:
a) Teaching: what does this text teach me about God or my faith?
b) Thanksgiving: what can I praise and thank God for in this passage?
c) Confession: How can this passage lead me to confess and turn
away from sin?
d) Prayer: How can this passage guide me in my prayer now?
Spend some time together praying through each of these areas,
allowing the reflections to shape your prayer.
Discuss in the wider group the different dimensions of the text
that emerged. How did the passage speak more powerfully through
considering it in this way?
Further Reading
Martin Luther described this approach to prayer in his A Simple Way to Pray.
A helpful and accessible recent guide to the approach is Michael Parson’s Praying
the Bible with Luther: A simple approach to everyday prayer (Abingdon: BRF, 2017).
Professor James D. G. Dunn
Free from Condemnation (2:16-19)
Clearly what is imagined is a situation
where the Colossian believers were being
criticized for their conduct in respect of
dietary rules and festival days (2:16). They
were not observing the rules regarding
clean and unclean foods (Lev. 11:1-23;
Deut. 14:3-21) – the make-or-break issue
at the time of the Maccabees (1 Macc.
1:62-63). This was one of the most crucial
issues for earliest Christianity, and it is
where decisive steps were taken by both
Peter (Acts 10:1-11:18) and Paul (Gal.
2:1-14).
PREACHING POINTS
Paul was criticizing the Colossians for
putting certain rituals and practices
before their belief in Christ. Is that a
danger for today’s Christians?
Equally important in Jewish religious prac-
tice were ‘sabbaths, new moons and feasts’
(e.g. 1 Chron. 23:31; Isa. 1:13-14). So it
is clear that the Colossian believers were
being criticized for being only half-converts
– believing in a Jewish Messiah, but hold-
ing back from full commitment to Judaism.
Paul’s response is emphatic. Such beliefs
and practices were only foreshadowing
what was to come, that is, the Christ (Col.
2:17; cf. Heb. 10:1).
Using the metaphor of a race, Paul envisag-
es the local synagogue authorities disqual-
ifying the Colossian believers. They were
insisting on acts of humility, probably fast-
ing. ‘Worship of angels’ is puzzling, perhaps
suggesting particular beliefs and practices
rooted in visions, but at some remove from
(Jewish) religious traditions (Col.2:18). An
alternative is to interpret the reference as
joining with the angels in their worship.
2:19 is a vigorous variation of Paul’s earlier
vision of the church as the body of Christ
(as in 1 Cor. 12, 14). Here the thought is
of the body’s complete dependence on
the head (Christ) for its nourishment and
growth. Clearly indicated is the interde-
pendence of the members of the body and
their mutual dependence on the head.
Free in Christ (2:20-23)
The critique of the Colossian ‘philosophy’
is rounded off by emphasizing what the
Colossians had been rescued from. The ap-
peal is the same as in 2:12, to that decisive
event of baptism in which they identified
themselves with Christ in his death, his
death marking the end of their identifica-
tion with the world to which Christ died.
The ‘elemental spirits/forces’ could be ‘the
laws of nature’, or more precisely, the rules
and social conventions which order society,
and to which we all conform. Hence the
question: why do you live as though you
still belonged to this world? (2:20).
The ‘regulations’ which are quoted are all
to do with purity and food – a reminder
that such rules governing ritual are seen
by all religions as a means of maintaining
harmony with the spiritual forces behind
perceptible reality. Again it would appear
that characteristically Jewish concerns
are in view, particularly the distinction
between ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’, raising issues
which confronted Jesus, as in Mark 5:1-34
(2:21).
PREACHING POINTS
What are the ‘elemental forces’ which
shape and order society today?
Following Jesus (Mark 7:7, Matt. 15:9) Paul
alludes to the rebuke of Isaiah (Isa. 29:13):
honouring with lips, while the heart is far
from God, worshipping by rote, parrot-like,
giving permanence to what was never in-
tended to be more than temporary (2:22).
In 2:23 the text becomes difficult as a
result of a sequence of unusual terms,
probably drawn from the Colossian phi-
losophy. The warning that ‘appearance of
wisdom’, ‘self-made religion’, (pretend?)
‘humility’, and ‘severe treatment of the
body’ are of no value in checking self-
indulgence is a sobering warning against
over-enthusiastic religion (2:23).
A NEW PATTERN OF LIFE
(3:1 – 4:6)
Life with Christ (3:1-4)
The message of Jesus’ death on the cross
would not be gospel without the message
of his resurrection – and of their sharing
in both: ‘buried with him’ (2:20) and ‘raised
with Christ’ (3:1). The completion of
Christ’s saving work was his exaltation to
heaven, now ‘seated at God’s right hand’,
echoing Ps. 110:1, one of the OT passages
most quoted in the NT. It is from here that
the Colossians, listening to the letter being
read, should draw their values and guiding
principles. They should not follow the val-
ues and goals of contemporary society (Col.
3:2). For their old way of life and values
had been left behind, and their whole point
of living was bound up with Christ, ‘hidden
with Christ in God’ (3:3). That challenge
was far from easy, but the climax of what
was to come would be their vindication.
The sharing in his death and resurrection
would climax in a sharing in his glory (3:4).
PREACHING POINTS
‘Christ who is your life’ (3:4): how well
does that resonate with you and your
relationships?