1. Colossians 1:6. The Gospel was in “all the world”?

It was customary for the Jew to think of a limited scope for the call and purposes of God. Israel was the focus of all of God’s activities up until now. But their Master had told them to go into all the world. The Gentiles, the nations, would now hear the Gospel. Though it was not literally reaching every island and nation and uttermost part of the earth at present, it had begun its way into Africa via Philip’s work with the eunuch, throughout the Middle East, and now throughout the Roman Empire because of Paul’s travels. And it was meeting with success wherever it went.

2. Colossians 1:12. Explain “the inheritance of the saints in Light.”

Our place. Our lot. That which has been assigned to us. A domain that will be characterized by Light, as opposed to the domain of darkness referred to in the very next verse. This Kingdom of Light is equal to the Kingdom of His dear Son, also in the next verse.

3. Colossians 1:15-20. Who is the “He” and “Him” of these verses?

Verse 15: The image of God is Jesus. The firstborn of all creation is Jesus.

Verse 16: The creator is Jesus. Created by Him, through Him, for Him.

Verse 17: The One holding the world together is Jesus.

Verse 18: The head of the body, the church, is Jesus. The firstborn from the dead is Jesus.

Verse 19: The One in whom all fullness dwells is Jesus.

Verse 20: The avenue of reconciliation to the Father is Jesus.

4. Colossians 1:15, 18. What does the term “firstborn” mean?

It means supreme, preeminent. It is not based on the natural counting of 1, 2, 3. It is based on the will of the Father. All the privileges of a “firstborn” are assigned by the Father to Whomever he pleases. And He pleases to confer this honor on His only begotten Son, Jesus.

Psalm 89:27, “I also shall make him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth…”

The firstborn of all creation. Like a firstborn son, Jesus is the preeminent one, the one who rules all creation. Knowing that this whole passage is about Jesus helps us to understand that Jesus could not be called a created being in this verse, and the Creator of all in the next. We place this next to John 1:1-3, and say that the One Who was with God and was in fact God, is the One who created all. He did not create Himself. There was no need. He always existed.

The firstborn from the dead. Once more it is a term showing preeminent position. Others came from the dead before Jesus, but when He was raised by the Father, He was given the top place, the place of highest honor. No one was ever raised to such power and glory as was Jesus. All others were resuscitated corpses. Jesus was crowned with the glory of the Father that He had with Him before the foundation of the world.

5. Colossians 1:22-23. Is our salvation dependent upon Jesus or our own works?

The big “if” scares a lot of people. Yes, they say, Jesus will present me holy and blameless one day, “if” I continue… At that point they begin to live in fear, because they know their weaknesses and the way the flesh waylays them every day. How will they ever pull it off?

Our faith tells us that the One Who called us will also keep us. That the One Who saw us from the foundation of the world, will see us through. Yes, it’s true we don’t get to go there if we fall away, but God’s grace and love is not going to allow that to happen.

Yes, all the commands of Scripture are real and true. We must obey. We must not wander off the pathway. But these injunctions are merely the way He will bring us on. We will make it. He has willed it.

6. Colossians 1:24. How could anything be said to be “lacking” in Christ’s afflictions?

Paul is not saying that there was some deficiency in Jesus’ life and ministry and sacrifice for us. Far from it. Yet Christ lives on in us. He continues to be abused and persecuted in us. “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” cried Jesus to the future apostle.

Jesus was being afflicted now inside of Paul. Paul was no longer the cause of the persecution, but in his body, he had become the recipient of it. God gave to Paul an assigned portion of the suffering and grief that every generation pours on the Son of God. He willingly took it upon himself.

Our generation too has been assigned a measure of suffering. Those who know and love Jesus willingly continue to bear His cross and suffer with Him.

7. Colossians 2:8. How was it that the Colossians might be captured through “elementary principles of the world”?

This same terminology is used in Galatians 4:3. He’s referring again to Jewish ritual. These were external practices, things that dealt with rituals that were physical and visible. He goes on to contrast this vain worship of Judaism to the reality of Who Christ is, the One Who contains all the fullness of God in a bodily form. This is the one that wants to fill them and complete them, something that the keeping of elementary rituals could never do.

See also Paul’s further comments on this in verses 20-23.

8. Colossians 2:15. What does Paul mean by saying that Jesus made a public display of the decrees that were against us?

Elsewhere Paul says that Jesus led captivity captive at His resurrection. The entire demonic world that was set against Him, was defeated on this day of the crucifixion and resurrection. He finished the bondage of the Law by fulfilling it Himself, breaking the stranglehold it had over men. He “nailed” the Law to His cross, then rose from the dead to boast before the spirit world of His great victory, even to the point of descending into the earth to preach deliverance to captives of sin before the Law came. A sublime all-inclusive victory over the works of the Devil.

9. Colossians 2:18-23. Explain the warnings given here. Isn’t self-abasement a good thing? Are there not angels?

Ellicott points out that there is a pride that copies humility. When a person is humble, he is not aware of it. Persons who try to look like the humble usually fail, lacking the substance of humility, which is Christ in us. There are external habits that some pick up, flagellation, extreme fasting, and the like, that have no value in our fight against flesh, because they are done to impress others, not to know God.

Others there are who delight in purported visions of angels and other such things, drawing us aside from the narrow road to follow the way of flesh. When we follow such distractions, our reward is in danger. Stay connected to Christ and the Narrow Way.

10. Colossians 3:5. Is our flesh dead or not?

We are to act as though it were dead. We are to ignore its cravings, walking instead in the desires of the Spirit. In this way, we kill the flesh, crucify it, on a daily basis.

11. Colossians 3:11. Who are the barbarians and “Scythians” to whom Paul refers?

Barnes’ commentary says that the Scythians were the “people who lived on the north and northeast of the Black and Caspian seas… they were regarded as a wild and savage race.”

Barbarians were simply “foreigners” in general, as opposed to “Greeks”, citizens of the civilized world of the Roman Empire.

No one is to be excluded from the grace of God and the acceptance of the Father. Whether you are the most orthodox of the Jewish faith, or the most unreached heathen of the known or unknown world, God is no respecter of person, there is no distinction that is allowed to be made. Christ can save any man anywhere!

12. Colossians 4:6. How can words be seasoned with “salt”?

Mark 9:50 may be the word of Jesus in Paul’s heart here. “… if the salt have lost its saltness [savor, tastiness] wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves.”

If salt is considered the preservative, then the meaning is that our words must be incorruptible, pure. If the seasoning image is intended, then the idea is that our words must be chosen with the goal of making them desirable to others. We must tell the truth in such a way that the morsel we put out there is tasty, attractive. Speaking the truth in love is always the goal, not just being a voice.

13. Colossians 4:9. Who is this Onesimus?