Colossians 1
v.5-6
the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel 6that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.
v.7
You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf,
Epaphras founded the Colossian church and earnestly remained praying for them.
v.9-11
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10And we pray this in order that you may life a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully,
This is another way in which we may walk worthy of the Lord, and so as to please him. It is by endeavoring to become better acquainted with his true character. God is pleased with those who desire to understand what he is; what he does; what he purposes; what he commands. Hence he not only commands us to study his works, but he has made a world so beautiful as to invite us to contemplate his perfections as reflected in that world. All good beings desire that others should understand their character, and God delights in those who are sincerely desirous of knowing what he is, and who inquire with humility and reverence into his counsels and his will.
Wisdom sought those worthy of her (Wisdom of Solomon 6:16), and the righteous who persevered would be “worthy for God,” like an acceptable offering (Wisdom of Solomon 3:5). The Old Testament spoke of knowing God relationally, in covenant with him (Jer 24:7; 31:34; Hos 2:20), an idea developed also in the *Dead Sea Scrolls.
v.13
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
v.15
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Similar to Hebrews 1:3.
v.16
For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all thing were created by him and for him.
If it is asked why the proposition “in” is used here instead of the more usual “through,” the answer seems to be that Christ is the beginning “in” which, according to Gen. 1:1, “God created the heaven and the earth.” This is not mere surmise: he is expressly called “the beginning” in v.18. The phrase “in him” seems to mark Christ out as the “sphere” within which the work of salvation takes place; one might compare Eph. 1:4, where the people of God are said to have been chosen “in him” before time began. God’s creation, like his election, takes place “in Christ” and not apart from him.
When creation is said to have take place “through him,” as it is at the end of v.16, he is denoted as the agent by whom God brought the universe into being. This is corroborated by the writer to the Hebrews, who affirms that it was through the Son that God made the worlds (Heb. 1:2), and by the Fourth Evangelist, who declares in his own uncompromising way, “All things came into being through him, and apart from him none of the things that exist came into being” (John 1:3).
v.17
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Another similarity to Hebrews 1:3.
Laminin:
v.21
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.
v.22-23
But not he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation - 23if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
v.26
the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations; but is now disclosed to the saints.
The *Dead Sea Scrolls and other texts speak of “mysteries” in the Scriptures that only the spiritually enlightened can understand; for Paul, Christians are now enlightened (1:9, 12). This statement would refute mystics who claimed special, elite revelations belonging only to themselves (2:18).
v.28
We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.
v.29
To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.
See more in Maclaren on Colossians 1 29 Colossians1 v 29.