Chapter 1

1:14 - God bought us with someone else's blood.

* Our sin requires our death.  However, God has a plan of redemption.  His old plan (the Old Covenant) was for an animal to die and be sacrificed to Him.  His new plan (the New Covenant) is for us to trust, believe, and accept Jesus' sacrificial death for our sins.  Therefore, God has redeemed us with Jesus' blood.

1:15 - The invisible God? But lots of folks have seen him! (Gen.18:1, 32:30; Ex.33:11; 1 Kg.22:19)

* Genesis 18:1 simply says, "The Lord appeared . . ."  This isn't saying that the person of God the Father has a body.  God has appeared to many people and generally it has been in the form of Jesus Christ.  On some occasions, God's glory was seen, but not the actual Spirit-body of God.

* In Genesis 32, Jacob wrestled Jesus.  This was a theophany: a pre-Christ appearance of Jesus.

* In Exodus 33:11, the words "face to face" are a metaphor for their relationship and closeness.  The face of God's literal Spirit-body was never seen, recorded, described, etc.

* 1 Kings 22:19 describes a heavenly vision and not an earthly encounter.

1:19-20 - God makes peace through blood.

* Our sin requires our death.  However, God has a plan of redemption.  His old plan (the Old Covenant) was for an animal to die and be sacrificed to Him.  His new plan (the New Covenant) is for us to trust, believe and accept Jesus' sacrificial death for our sins.  Therefore, God has redeemed us with Jesus' blood.

1:23 - Paul claims that "the gospel ... was preached to every creature under heaven." This is of course untrue since most of the world was unknown in Paul's day.

* This is a figure of speech.  The English equivalent would be a person going to a party, talking to a lot of people, then saying, "I talked to everyone at the party!"

Chapter 2

2:2-3 - These verses imply that Jesus knows everything. Yet Jesus said (Mt.24:36, Mk.13:32) that he didn't know when the end would come, and according to 1 Kings (3:12) Jesus was no match for Solomon.

* Colossians 2:2 and 3 read, "that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."  Paul is clearly saying that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in God the Father and God the Son (Jesus).  

* In 1 Kings 3:12, it is clear that Solomon was the wisest human ever to live on the Earth.  This doesn't pertain to Jesus Christ, who is God's chosen Messiah (part of the triune God - the trinity).

2:8 - Paul, knowing that their faith would crumble if subjected to free and critical inquiry, tells his followers to avoid philosophy.

* Colossians 2:8 reads, "Beware lest any man deceive you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."  Paul is simply telling Christians to be discerning and trust God before men.

2:9 - This verse implies that Jesus is God, but other New Testament verses imply otherwise.

* Colossians 2:9 reads, "For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily."  When He came to Earth, Jesus was fully man and fully God.  The passages of scripture that call Him a "man" are simply noticing and highlighting the fact that He took on human form.  The occasional omission of His deity is not a conflict or contradiction.

2:12 - Who raised Jesus from the dead?

* The scriptures indicate that both Jesus and God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Since we have scriptures that indicate both, we know that both were involved.

2:16 - Paul says it's OK to break the Sabbath, contrary to the Old Testament's clear teaching (Ex.20:8, 32:13-17, 34:2-3; Dt.5:12-14; Is.56:2).

* All of these passages about the Sabbath are for the Israelites and written in the Old Testament, to them, specifically.  Paul is highlighting the New Covenant and the correct interpretation of the scriptures.

* This passage correlates with the gospels and many other passages of scripture.  It was all right for Jesus' disciples to pick grain on the Sabbath.  It was also ok for Jesus to heal on the Sabbath.  The Pharisees were interpreting this law in an ungodly way.  Furthermore, Jesus made it clear to love and worship Him every day, in every place.  The strict Sabbath laws were only applied to the Israelites and were not part of the New Covenant.

Chapter 3

3:1 - Jesus can't be God if he sits next to God, can he?

* God the Son is a different "person" than God the Father.  They are one in character, but two "persons."  They have different functions, yet both are part of the Godhead, which is called the trinity.

* Christ's place at the right hand of God is given in many passages of scripture.  See Mark 16:19, Acts 2:33, 1 Peter 3:22, etc.

3:18 - Wives, according to Paul, must submit themselves to their husbands.

* This is true.  Incidentally, the very next verse commands husbands to love their wives.

* 1 Peter 5:5 reads, ". . . all of you, be submissive to one another . . ."  Therefore, this verse that addresses women isn't sexist.  

3:20 - Paul says that children should obey their parents "in all things." This verse must be a favorite for Christian parents who abuse their children.

* Perhaps it is a favorite for unbelievers to use when they abuse their children.

* The Bible is clear that a person, like a child, only needs to obey another when their words don't contradict the Bible.  If a parent or another person demands that someone must do something that makes them disobey God, then they are to obey God - their highest authority.  Furthermore, physical abuse never needs to be tolerated.

3:22 - Paul who, unlike Jesus (Mt.4:10, 23:10), sees nothing wrong with slavery, orders slaves to obey their masters "in all things."

* In this verse, Paul uses the word "servant," which refers to maids and such.

3:25 - Does God respect anyone? This verse says he doesn't, but others say that he does (Gen.4:4, Ex.2:25, Lev.26:9, 2 Kg.12:23, Ps.138.6).

* It is clear that God is not a "respecter of persons."  This verse is saying that God does not judge people by their titles, earthly wealth, social status, etc.  He is not a respecter of these things.  However, God does respect and love people, as evidenced by these other verses.

* This Greek word for "respecter" and "persons" is better translated "favoritism."  Therefore, a better translation of this verse is: "He who does wrong will suffer the consequences.  They will not be shown favoritism."

Chapter 4

4:1 - Paul's instructions for slave owners: It's okay to own slaves, but you should try to treat them well.

* Paul never condones slavery. However, he instructs masters to treat their servants well.

4:6 - "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man." Good advice for both believers and skeptics. 

* Amen.