{"id":2040,"date":"2012-10-18T05:00:14","date_gmt":"2012-10-18T11:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=2040"},"modified":"2023-01-31T10:16:56","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T16:16:56","slug":"colossians-13-8-pauls-prayer-for-the-colossians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=2040","title":{"rendered":"Colossians 1:3-8 \u2014 Paul’s Prayer for the Colossians"},"content":{"rendered":"

3<\/sup> We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

4<\/sup> since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints;<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

5<\/sup> because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel,<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

6<\/sup> which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth;<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

7<\/sup> as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf,<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

8<\/sup> who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

thanks to … God (v.3) \u2014 Paul credits God for the Colossians’ faith, love and hope.<\/h3>\n

always (v.3) \u2014 should be connected with “give thanks” rather than with “praying”<\/h3>\n

for (v.3) = concerning<\/h3>\n

faith in<\/span> Christ Jesus (v.4) \u2014 Christ is the sphere in which faith operates \u2014 faith rests in Christ.<\/h3>\n

love (v.4) = agape<\/em> \u2014 caring love<\/h3>\n

hope (v.5) \u2014 objective \u2014 the thing hoped for<\/h3>\n

laid up (v.5) = stored up, like a treasure<\/h3>\n

truth (v.5) \u2014 found in the gospel, as contrasted with Gnosticism<\/h3>\n

has come (v.6) = is present<\/h3>\n

all the world (v.6) \u2014 It hadn’t yet spread to the whole world, but it was spreading, as it had to Colossae, and it was for<\/span> the whole world.<\/h3>\n

bringing forth fruit (v.6) \u2014 people were hearing and believing<\/h3>\n

The participles “bearing fruit” and “increasing” are in the middle voice. The middle denotes the inherent energy. The gospel is essentially a reproductive organism, a plant whose “seed is in itself” … The gospel is not like those plants which exhaust themselves bearing fruit and wither away. The external growth keeps pace with the reproductive energy. While “bearing fruit” describes the inner working, “increasing” give the outward extension of the gospel. \u2014 Wuest, page 174.<\/span><\/h3>\n

knew (v.6) = fully apprehended<\/h3>\n

Epaphras (v.7) \u2014 He is mentioned elsewhere in Colossians 4:12-13<\/a><\/span> and Philemon 1:23. He was from Colossae and had ministered in Laodicea and Hierapolis. Paul calls him a fellow-prisoner and fellow-minister. His name is a derivative of Aphrodite. It means “lovely” or “handsome.”<\/h3>\n

love in the Spirit (v.8) \u2014 agape<\/em> love \u2014 Some commentators think this just means spiritual love as contrasted with carnal love, but most think it means love inspired by the Holy Spirit. It’s the only mention of the Holy Spirit in Colossians.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

3 We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; 5 because of the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-colossians"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2040"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7411,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2040\/revisions\/7411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}