Ricky J Brooks

There is somethings in life worth dying for… When Jesus died on the cross he died for all, not just a few. I find that challenging!! Just the fact that he died for that moaning woman at the back of the church as well as me is unthinkable…I ask myself, would I die for her?? Hate that question!!

So….what about you? Jesus seems to define “Living Life for all its worth” as laying it down for one another…. ouch! over to you….

…so we move on to verse 2. With the help of our trustee NIBC (New International Bible Commentary), we progress:

As far as we know, Paul is not writing to a Church that he himself established. It could be that Epaphras planted it (Col 1.7). I remember the early months of City of Joy when I would go to ‘relating elders times’ with other church-planters in the UK and share our news. The UK apostolic team that helped us get off the ground was led by Nigel Day-Lewis. I’d often invite him to speak to the church here in Aberdeen. His manner and vocabulary were not that different from what we glean from this verse and those that follow..

In verse 2, the Colossians are identified in two ways:

    First, they are holy (lit., “saints,” hagioi). It was not uncommon for Paul to call Christians saints (1 Cor 1.2; Phil. 1.1; Eph. 1.1), referring to their status in Christ and not to the degree of holiness that they may have attained (see Col 1.4). As saints, they are a distinct class of people who are called out and separated from their former way of life in order to live in and for Christ (Col 1.21ff.). It is a mistake to think that the “saints” are only the apostles, which is an error the Catholic Church would do well to correct, as there simply is no biblical foundation for this and is so unhelpful to understanding what Paul is saying here (and elsewhere). 
    Second, they are faithful brothers in Christ. Here there is some uncertainty whether Paul’s use of faithful carries the sense of “reliability,” or of “belief,” that is, is Paul referring to those who are faithful to the gospel, or is he referring to those who have been joined together by their faith in Christ and who now form a believing community? Given that many of Paul’s greetings and thanksgivings foreshadow later pastoral concerns, it is quite possible that the latter is more consistent with his phrase (Col 1.10, 23; Col 2.6, 7).
    The greeting ends with an appeal for grace and peace, which have their source in God the Father. This serves to draw attention to the favour that God freely bestows upon his undeserving people and to the healthy or peaceable condition of life that they enjoy because of it. (NIBC) This is a pretty consistent type of prelude to his letters (Even in Galatians where his prose quickly changes to a rebuke). Its a little more spiritual to my, ‘Dear Jonny, trust you are well”!

Colossians 1.1
Opening Colossians with my friend and worship leader Jonny Gagel.

Pauls letter to the Philippians opens with “Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ….”
In Colossians (and 2nd Corinthians), “Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother”


Verse one reminds me of my days researching at university. Every paper I ever wrote was edited and subsequently published with my professor’s name first and mine following even though it was my work! He would say that it was helpful if the more prominent co-author’s name was mentioned first. Here in scripture however it is very different. Paul and Timothy were not just co-workers (or co authors). No, they ‘enjoyed’ a relationship that surpassed even the most generous or eloquent descriptions of a co-worker. In 1 Tim 1.2 Paul calls Timothy, “my true son in the faith”. Timothy, who spent the latter years travelling with Silas (who up until Acts 17, had journeyed with Paul) is thought to be a young man, who’s father is a Greek and mother Eunice was a believing Jew (Acts 16.1), as was his grandmother Lois (2Tim 1.5). Within the twenty-six times Timothy is mentioned in the New Testament, he is referred to as ‘fellow worker’ (Rom 16.21), ‘my son whom I love’ (1 Cor 4.17), ‘our brother’ (2 Cor 1.1) and commended as ‘faithful in the Lord’, ‘Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel’ (Paul in Phil 2.22), ‘God’s fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ’ (1 Thes 3.2), ‘…you, man of God’ (1 Tim 6.11). My professor never referred to me in such encouraging terms.

These commendations from Paul are not merely talking-up his co-worker Timothy. In Phil 1.5 we see something of the type of true-relationship that exists here between Paul and his ‘friends’ and ‘co-workers’. His use of the term koinonia is more than the watered down interpretation ‘fellowship’ or ‘partnership’ that we use today…. Here Colossians opens with the affirmation that Timothy is “our brother”.

Lord may we always learn from you first and foremost, and do things your way. May I spur on our brothers as you do, and have the grace and humility to know that I am always an undergraduate with you. As Paul was with Timothy without hidden agendas for the order of names, may I be with Jonny my friend, and our brother in Your Gospel. Amen