A few excerpts from Pastor Bob’s personal notes on the first chapter of Colossians:

Click here to download Pastor Bob’s notes on Colossians 1.

This is a letter written by Paul when he was imprisoned in Rome in or around AD 60. He wrote it out of concern that the faith of those in Colossae was being eroded by false doctrine. Specifically, Apostolic teaching was being co-mingled with the religious and philosophical thinking of the region and with Judaism. The result was that the doctrine of Christ was being compromised. Paul wanted to bring clarity to this situation and anchor the faith of the Colossians in a right understanding of the person of Christ and His work that the gospel proclaimed. This understanding would help order their lives.

1:5—“Because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel.”
Hope is the great motivator. Where there is hope, there is a dynamic atmosphere. Where there is no hope there is stagnancy and where there is stagnancy there is soon both atrophy and entropy. Paul names hope as that which had inspired the faith and love in the Colossians spoken of in verse four.

1:15—“And He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”
He makes two important statements about Jesus here that will be followed in the ensuing verses by a number more. He states first that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, which is somewhat of an oxymoron. In this case the invisible God chose to make Himself visible, becoming a man. As such He was fully Divine and fully human and named Jesus. And so for a period of time there was the experience of seeing God occurring on earth.