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Christ Above All

Christ Above All. a study in Colossians for the Twixt N Tween Class March-April 2009. about Mac. Hendersonville native; Laura: St. Louis Lipscomb University

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Christ Above All

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  1. Christ Above All a study in Colossians for the Twixt N Tween Class March-April 2009

  2. about Mac Hendersonville native; Laura: St. Louis Lipscomb University Director of Public Services at Disciples of Christ Historical Society, 19th Ave South near Vandy Research into anything and everything Restoration Movement, 3 years High School Bible, Ezell-Harding, 7 years Associate Minister and Deacon, Central Church, downtown Nashville, 12 years

  3. Christ Above All Left: Byzantine icon depicting Christ pantokrator, or Christ the all-powerful

  4. Fruitful, worthwhile, engaging, stimulating, transformative Bible Study: Head (exegesis) Heart Hands (prayer and worship) (service, God’s mission)

  5. Goals: • Appreciate Colossians as inspired scripture; it is foundational for our understanding of God, ourselves, the world and God’s saving work • Gain a thorough knowledge of Colossians • Attempt to hear Colossians as it was originally heard by its original readers, as intended by its author • Responsibly apply its message in our own setting • To know God, listen to and respond to God

  6. Strategies • Cultivate a desire to hear Colossians as God’s message for us • Read Colossians at least once at home and study through it together on Sunday mornings • Examine the literary, historical, archaeological, social, political and theological backgrounds • Intentionally seek the points of connection between the text and our lives as Christ’s disciples in Smyrna in 2009…open our hearts, minds and lives to God

  7. March 1 – Introduction 8 – Introduction concluded 15 – 1.1-2 and 3-14 22 – 1.15-23 29 – 1.24-2.5 April 5 – 2.6-23 12 – 3.1-11 19 – 3.12-4.6 26 – 4.7-18

  8. Introduction --Historical Background --The Church in Colossae --The Colossians: Recipients of God’s Grace and Paul’s Letter --The Occasion of the Letter --The ‘Colossian Heresy’ --Structure of the Letter

  9. Colossae

  10. Prison Epistles: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon

  11. Downtown Nashville Brentwood Smyrna

  12. Google Earth

  13. Historical Background • Tri-cities: Hierapolis, Laodicea, Colossae • See 2.1 and 4.13-16 • Important city on the main road across Asia Minor from Ephesus to the Euphrates River • Laodicea was a medical, judicial, financial and banking center of the region (overshadowing Colossae). Both were economically prosperous (wool) and culturally diverse. • 5th-4th c BC: large, prosperous, populous • See Revelation 3.14-22

  14. Both cities were damaged by earthquakes. • Laodicea was destroyed by an earthquake about 60 AD, but rebuilt using their own resources with no assistance from Rome. • There are Jewish settlers in this area for about 300 years before Paul writes Colossians • 2000 Jewish families relocated in 2nd c BC • One estimate puts about 9,000 Jewish males over the age of 20 in Laodicea about 60 BC. • Jews were allowed to practice their religion without hindrance (observing Sabbath, etc) • By Paul’s day Colossae waned in importance

  15. The Church in Colossae • The origin of the community of faith in Colossae is unknown • Paul did not establish the church in Col (2.1) • See Acts 2.10 for Phrygians at Pentecost • Paul spends considerable time in Ephesus and Asia (Acts 19.10) @ 110 miles away

  16. The Church in Colossae • The origin of the community of faith in Colossae is unknown • Paul did not establish the church in Col (2.1) • See Acts 2.10 for Phrygians at Pentecost • Paul spends considerable time in Ephesus and Asia (Acts 19.10) @ 110 miles away • Epaphras (1.7 and 4.12, also Philem 23) brought some of them to faith, perhaps during Paul’s time in Ephesus in Acts 19.

  17. The Colossians: Recipients of God’s Grace and Paul’s Letter • The church is at least ethnically mixed, with both Jewish and Gentile converts. • It may have been primarily Gentile • 1.24-27 may indicate they were ‘outsiders’ • Allusions to the OT are scarce (only 6). OT isn’t quoted at all in Col. (quoted 6x in Eph.) • Vices in 3.5-7 are Gentile vices? • 3.11 is the only mention in Col of reconciliation of Jew and Gentile in the body of Christ

  18. Occasion for the Letter • Colossians, like all NT letters, is occasional. Some situation in life (recipients’ or sender’s) prompts the writing of the letter • Letters are task-theology • Epaphras visits Paul. Of concern is some kind of teaching or influence at Colossae and possibly Laodicea and Hierapolis (see 1.8 and 4.12-16) • This teaching = “the Colossian heresy”

  19. Is it a single threat or a set of problems? • Is it full-blown heresy or dangerous tendencies? Is it a clear-cut system? • Does it come from inside or outside? • What is/are its root/s? Jewish? Xian? Pagan? Blend of some or all of the above? • What is the best way to characterize it? • Philosophy? Heresy? Way of life?

  20. Paul does not give us the benefit of a full, formal description and exposition of this heresy • The Col church knows what it is…Epaphras has told Paul about it…and Paul responds • We discern it by “mirror-reading” • Ask: What do Paul’s statements reflect?

  21. Is it a single threat or a set of problems? • Probably a single point of view • All its diverse elements (and they are diverse) seem to somehow hang together • Paul easily moves from one element to another when countering them • It appears to be a world-view large enough to encompass a degree of variety in the details

  22. Does it come from inside or outside the community of faith? • What is/are its root/s? Jewish? Xian? Pagan? • Judaizers or Jews?: • Food, festivals, sabbaths: see 2.16 and Gal. 4.8-10 • Circumcision: 2.11; 3.11 • Angels: 2.18; also Gal. 3.19 and Heb. 2.2

  23. Christian: • May be rooted in a low view of Christ….that Christ is a fine beginning, but one needs to move beyond and above Christ to be ‘mature’ • In this sense it would be correct to characterize it as a Christian heresy • Possible pagan (Graeco-Roman) elements: • Wisdom and knowledge: 1.9-10; 2.2-3 • Philosophy: 2.8 • Asceticism: 2.20-23 • Elemental spirits of the world: 2.8, 20

  24. What is the best way to characterize it? • Philosophy? Heresy? Way of life? • It certainly affects how life is lived: see Paul’s argument in 3.1-8 follows naturally from 2.20-23 • Caution: • Modern preacher who warns a church against taking stock in horoscopes isn’t necessarily addressing heretics who have infiltrated the congregation

  25. Structure of the Letter • In form, ancient letters share these elements: • Author • Recipients • Greeting • Prayer/thanksgiving • Body of the letter • Farewell/final greeting

  26. Structure of Colossians • Author 1.1 • Recipients 1.2a • Greeting 1.2b • Prayer/thanksgiving 1.3-8 or 14 • Body 1.9-4.6 • Farewell/final greeting 4.7-18

  27. March 8 – Introduction concluded 15 – 1.1-2 and 3-14 22 – 1.15-23 29 – 1.24-2.5 April 5 – 2.6-23 12 – 3.1-11 19 – 3.12-4.6 26 – 4.7-18

  28. Christ Above All

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