Bible Studies

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The Letters
Colossians 1:15-28 – Unlocking the Secret

Key Verses: (NCV)

• 15: “No one can see God, but Jesus Christ is exactly like Him. He ranks higher than everything that has been made.” – The Colossians were struggling with Christ’s divinity so Paul continues in this letter to address this hypocrisy and to set the record straight.
  
  
• 16: “Through His power all things were made – things in heaven and on earth, things seen and unseen, all powers, authorities, lords, and rulers. All things were made through Christ and for Christ.” – One argument presented by the Colossians was that God would not have created evil which is represented by the physical world. This led to a belief that Christ then, could not have been truly human.
  
  
• 20: “And through Christ, God has brought all things back to Himself again – things on earth and things in heaven. God made peace through the blood of Christ’s death on the cross.” – All that is wrong in the world has been reconciled with God through Christ.
  
  
• 21-22: “At one time you were separated from God. You were His enemies in your minds, and the evil things you did were against God. ²²But now God has made you His friends again. He did this through Christ’s death in the body so the He might bring you into God’s presence as people who are holy, with no wrong, and with nothing of which God can judge you guilty.” – We cannot make ourselves holy in God’s sight. We must depend totally on His grace.
  
  
• 23: “This will happen if you continue strong and sure in your faith. You must not be moved away from the hope brought to you by the Good News that you heard. That same Good News has been told to everyone in the world...” – God’s forgiveness is for everyone.
  
  
• 26-27: “This message is the secret that was hidden from everyone since the beginning of time, but now it is made known to God’s holy people… ^27bThis secret is Christ Himself, who is in you. He is our only hope for glory.” – Amen!
  
  
• 28: “So we continue to preach Christ to each person, using all wisdom to warn and to teach everyone, in order to bring each one into God’s presence as a mature person in Christ.” – Warning that without Christ we are doomed for eternity and teaching that salvation is available through our belief and faith in Christ.
  

Points to Contemplate:

• Do you wonder who Christ is? Do you accept His humanness but struggle with the stories of His birth, the miracles He performed, His victory over death, and ascension into heaven? Is His divine nature too “unreal?” Do you tend to think that He was simply a good teacher like so many other teachers in history? Or do you accept His divinity but struggle with how or why He would become human? Do you shy away from stories that make Jesus too human? These were the types of issues causing struggle within the early Colossian church. Do you see how people today still wrestle with the same questions in their efforts to understand Christ? What can you do to help them with this struggle?
  
  
• Are you or have you been separated from God? Were you doing things that caused that separation? Were you sinful and confrontational? Did you feel that you did not need God and that your life was yours to live as you wanted? Paul suggests that your separation from God is only in your mind. Do you see how that is true? As you look back, do you recognize how God has always been with you, even in those times you felt completely isolated and alone? If your mind can cause a feeling of separation, can it also bring you close to God? Are the first steps to knowing God simply deciding that you want to know Him? Once you take the first step, once you decide to ask Christ into your life, can you sense you are on the path leading to holiness and a closeness with God that will last forever?
  
  
• Are you preaching Christ to everyone? Are you warning people of their possible doom? Do you teach them what you have come to know about Christ? Do you feel that this is something you would rather not do or do you accept it as your responsibility? Look at how Paul viewed this task – “in order to bring each one into God’s presence.” Can there be anything greater than this? Who can you bring in to God’s presence today? Who can you help to understand, know, and feel the glory of God in their lives? What can you do to unlock the “secret” that is written on their hearts?
  

Promises of the Gospel:

Paul writes a letter about issues that everyone faces in their lives. Coming to know Christ as our Savior and Redeemer takes a little work. When we learn to unlock the secret of God’s love for us and that He has decided to live within us, then we can come to know Him on a close and personal level. When we realize that He is not aloof or separated from us but is actually available for an intimate relationship, then all things become possible. When we accept that through Christ we have been made holy, anything we may have done to cause separation from God has been erased and forgotten. We can stand before Him and with Him without concern or worry of condemnation. Instead, we can walk hand-in-hand with Him and daily grow to know Him more. And then…we can help others grow to know Him, too.

FUMC Devotionals

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