Original Meaning
Devoting Yourselves to Prayer (4:2–4)
THE IMPERATIVE “DEVOTE yourselves to prayer” is modified by a participle (“being watchful”) and a prepositional phrase (“in thanksgiving”). Another participle directs them to pray for Paul and his associates so that a door might open to them.
Devotion to prayer recalls the disciples’ early days after the resurrection (Acts 1:14; 2:42, 46; 6:4; see also Rom. 12:12; 1 Thess. 5:17). It implies unrelenting persistence.1 “Being watchful” may be related to the unknown hour of the Lord’s return and the world’s end. It will keep the Colossians from being caught off guard or unready (see 1 Thess. 5:4–6). But more likely Paul is warning them against spiritual lassitude so that they can fend off the temptations that can steal upon them. This command recalls Jesus’ words to his disciples in Gethsemane: “Stay here and keep watch!” “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation!” (Mark 14:34, 38).2 Vigilant prayer provides the spiritual fortitude to face down temptation.3
Paul knows his dependence on God and asks for intercessory help in prayer, just as he has prayed unceasingly for them (1:9–11).4 He does not ask them to pray for anything that will bring personal advantage to him; his sights remain firmly fixed on his mission calling (1:25). He therefore asks them to pray that God will open a “door for our message” (lit., “the door of the word”).5 Such opportunities exist even in prison. He tells the Philippians that his imprisonment has helped advance the gospel. The whole palace guard has learned that he is in chains for Christ, and his imprisonment has miraculously emboldened believers “to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly” (Phil. 1:12–14).6
Paul does not fear imprisonment (see Acts 21:23–24), though the possibility of deliverance (see Philem. 22) is important to him because it will open up unrestricted mission opportunities. His request may then parallel the one in 2 Thessalonians 3:1–2: “Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith.” MacLeod notes that God answered the prayer perhaps differently from the way Paul expected: “The letters he wrote from prison are sacred scripture, and have kindled countless flames of Christian devotion from that day to this.”7
Paul again mentions the content of his message as “the mystery of Christ” (4:3; cf. 1:26, 27; 2:2), which is God’s purpose to reconcile the world through Christ and to welcome Gentiles in him.8 Preaching the gospel does not always win friends and influence people. It can evoke enormous hostility and has led to his current imprisonment. Paul usually qualifies references to his chains with some comment on his commitment to the gospel (see Phil. 1:7, 12; Philem. 13). This subtly notifies his readers that proclaiming the mystery of Christ crucified is more likely to open the door to a prison cell for them instead of the door to financial and social success (see 1:24).9 The comments in 2 Timothy 2:8–9 are apt:
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.
The narrative ending to Acts 28:30 confirms these words: Paul remained under house arrest, but the gospel was proclaimed “unhinderedly” (NIV, “without hindrance”).
The NIV translation, “Pray that I may proclaim it clearly” (Col. 4:4), suggests that Paul has the responsibility to proclaim the word so that people will not misunderstand—so that the message is clear to all. This translation may be misleading, because some remain blind to the truth no matter how clearly or simply it is proclaimed. They willfully misunderstand or misinterpret the message. The verb “proclaim” (phaneroo, “to make manifest”) only means that Paul announces this mystery revealed in Christ intelligibly. “As I should” has to do with making the message appropriate for the audience, but it also implies a sense of oughtness. A better translation might be, “as I am bound to do.” Paul is bound more by his commission to preach the gospel (1 Cor. 9:16–23) than by his chains.
Bridging Contexts
IT IS TEMPTING to disregard the concluding greetings and blessing of Paul’s letters with the cluster of names as an insignificant postscript to the theological meat found in the body. Here we get a glimpse, however, into the boiler room of the New Testament, those laboring in various capacities in various places. The bits of limited information we get with names are tantalizing, and we should be cautious not to read too much into the references and construct fanciful theories that go beyond the evidence. There is a danger of building up romantic reconstructions from the brief references, and I may be guilty of this in identifying the letter to the Laodiceans with Ephesians. We need to be careful that we not get snared in the web of our historical spinning and miss the theological and practical cues that these concluding greetings offer us.
Contemporary Significance
PAUL’S CONCLUDING WORDS show his driving concern for the advancement of the gospel throughout the world. He does not ask them to pray for his deliverance but that his work might be even more effective. We do not know how the prayers were answered, but we do know that his imprisonment forced him to write letters that have blessed far more lives than he could have reached had he been free to speak in person.
Guidelines for advancing the gospel. Paul’s final exhortation and greetings have contemporary significance for our task of advancing the gospel in our world and gaining a hearing for the witness to the mystery of God revealed in Christ. E. D. Martin notes that Paul does not ask them to pray for God “to save lost people,” but that they get “new opportunities” for witness.41 Paul gives guidelines for making the most of those occasions.
(1) Praying earnestly. A new technique to increase efficiency in automobile manufacturing is to have materials manufactured as needed. That tactic may work in industry, but it does not work in prayer. If we expect our prayer life to have any effect in our lives and in our world, it cannot be sporadic or haphazard. We cannot fall back on prayer only when we think we need it; we must devote ourselves to it (see Acts 1:14; 6:4; Rom. 12:12).
Prayer requires serious discipline. Paul describes Epaphras’s indefatigable prayer for the Colossians as something akin to a wrestling match (Col. 4:12). He prays for them with all his might, straining every nerve and muscle. If Christians prayed with the same zeal that some people manifest to keep themselves physically fit for a longer and healthier life, they might see different results in the life and witness of their church. William Cowper’s hymn expresses it well:
And Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees.
A church in a rural part of a rural state has experienced phenomenal quantitative and qualitative growth, and they attribute it to the Holy Spirit and their prayer ministry. The associate pastor says, “God is doing some unbelievable things at Buck Run because His people are daring to open up the channel for the power of the Spirit to flow…. They are paying the price in prayer.”42
(2) Cultivating a sense of urgency. The metaphor of “buying up the time” implies that believers must capitalize on every chance and use every moment to the full. Successful evangelism requires a sense of urgency. Scott states it well: “If men are to be won to Christ before he comes to judgment it must be done now.”43
Unfortunately, that sense of urgency has faded. Too often we have frittered away opportunities. As someone has put it, the world has been multiplying while the church has been making “additions”—indeed, sometimes “subtractions.” Some members in churches that are experiencing a dwindling membership may wonder where all the people are and worry about the decline. But it does not seem to bother them enough to do anything about it. They have no sense that it requires immediate action and no compulsion to reach out to unbelievers.
Jesus’ parable of the shrewd manager (Luke 16:1–8) provides an illustration of someone who acted decisively when the urgency of the moment demanded it. Caught in a desperate situation threatening total ruin, the steward deftly and quickly took action to secure his worldly life. When everything was at stake, he staked everything on a bold course of action. He represents the prudence of worldlings who recognize crisis and respond to it promptly with daring. The parable draws a pointed contrast between “the people of this world” and “the people of the light.” If worldlings such as this fellow act so astutely in a crisis to protect their self-interests, should not the people of the light seize each moment and act astutely to ensure their interests in the world to come?
In Colossians we might apply the lesson of the parable slightly differently. Others (“the people of this world”) face the crisis, and the time is short. But “the people of the light” sit idly by, twiddling their thumbs, as if the time for those living in darkness to decide for Christ were unlimited. If Christians felt the same urgency to reach others with the gospel as they do about securing their own welfare in this world, our churches would see amazing results.
(3) Acting wisely. Paul insists that the Colossians should act in the right way as well as at the right time.44 The message Christians have is clear: Jesus Christ embodies God’s good purposes for creation. Creation has come under the bondage of satanic powers and human sinfulness, but Christ’s death on the cross defeated these powers and canceled the debt of sin. God raised him from the dead and exalted him, and salvation is now available to all through him. But people listen to our message sometimes more with their eyes than with their ears. Its clarity gets garbled by our boorishness, acrimony, and misbehavior. Paul is acutely conscious that unbelievers watch what Christians do, and the New Testament contains many cautions, warning Christians to do nothing that would bring discredit to the gospel or confirm unbelievers’ misgivings about Christianity (see 1 Cor. 10:32–11:1; 1 Thess. 4:11–12; 1 Tim. 3:7; 6:1; Titus 2:5; 1 Peter 2:12, 15; 3:1).
In Paul’s world, Christianity was a new and different teaching. In our contemporary world, nations that were formerly overwhelmingly Christian now have a majority who claim to be agnostics or atheists, or who follow another religious faith. Christianity is increasingly becoming an unfamiliar and strange teaching in our world. Many have become skeptical about Christians and their faith, and a few well-publicized scandals involving prominent Christians have substantiated these suspicions. Pokorný recognizes, “In the secularized world of today, when being a Christian is no longer a matter of course, Christian conduct itself takes on a missionary function again.”45
Making a good impression is not everything, but it is not unimportant. The purpose of acting wisely is not simply to win the good opinion of outsiders but to help win them to God. The gospel message must always be fleshed out by the way believers live. The silent force of righteous living can speak loudly, and the most productive evangelists are Christians who enter the daily mix of life and live their faith. It can cause others who may be dubious or indifferent to become more receptive to hearing the verbal message of God’s love. It can lead them to ask why Christians live as they do, and the answer should point them to Christ. Christians are to present the gospel at all times, especially when they do not use words.
(4) Being gracious. The experience of grace should make us gracious. Christians must leaven a bold, uncompromising witness with civility, gentleness, kindness, and good humor. Before we can make disciples, we need to make friends and build rapport. Amos Starkadder, a character in the novel Cold Comfort Farm, is a caricature of the grim religious fanatic, and he provides a perfect example of how not to reach others. The following exchange captures his preaching philosophy: “ ‘They’ll all burn in hell,’ added Amos in a satisfied voice, ‘and I mun surelie tell them so.’ ”
When his cousin Flora wants to come to hear him preach to his small flock of Brethren, Amos replies:
“Aye … ye can come … ye poor miserable creepin’ sinner. Maybe ye think ye’ll escape hell fire if ye come along o’ me, and bow down and quiver. But I’m tellin’ ye no. ’Tes too late. Ye’ll burn with the rest. There’ll be time to say what yer sins have been, but there’ll be no time for more.”
When she asks if she needs to confess her sins publicly, he responds churlishly: “Aye, but not tonight. Nay, there’ll be too many sayin’ their sins aloud tonight; there’ll be no time for the Lord to listen to a new sheep like you. And maybe the spirit won’t move ye.”46 Probably not, when confronted with this kind of attitude. Amos begins his sermon with scorn.
“Ye miserable, crawling worms, are ye here again, then? Have ye come like Nimshi, son of Rehoboam, secretly out of yer doomed houses to hear what’s comin’ to ye? Have ye come, old and young, sick and well, matrons and virgins (if there is any virgins among ye, which is not likely, the world bein’ in the wicked state it is), old men and young lads to hear me tellin’ o’ the great crimson lickin’ flames o’ hell fire?”47
This approach may be “salty,” but it is not full of grace. We do well to remember what is was like when we were formerly estranged from God. What was it that we needed to hear? What was it that touched our hearts? It would help our approach if we look at those we consider to be “poor, miserable sinners” the same way we imagine that Christ looked at us when we were once lost in the darkness of our own sin. We should respect others and treat them as reflecting, sensitive human beings who can decide for themselves. The key is to season our witness with liberal doses of the virtues enjoined in 3:12–17: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, love, wisdom, and thanksgiving.
On the other hand, we can go to the opposite extreme by trying to be so gracious that we never share the gospel with others. This is no less problematic. Some Christians have become so hypersensitive about offending non-Christians that they never present them with their vision of God’s truth clearly and directly. Many people never darken the door of a church because they have never been invited in. We are not showing compassion or love if we choose to keep meekly silent and never share the truth about Christ with those who need desperately to hear it.
Helen Keller’s poignant reflection on her blindness and deafness resonates with the way many sighted and hearing people feel:
Sometimes, it is true, a sense of isolation enfolds me like a cold mist as I sit alone and wait at life’s shut gate. Beyond there is light, and music, and sweet companionship; but I may not enter.48
Her isolation was caused by physical barriers. Others who have both physical sight and hearing may feel a similar isolation induced by their spiritual alienation from God. For these persons, Christians have good news. Christ has broken down the barriers of sin that bar us from God’s presence, isolate us from others, and imprison us in our own little hell. Christ invites all to enter his light and sweet companionship, but he invites them through us. Christians should never forget that the grace given to us was intended to be passed on to others (see Eph. 3:2).
(5) Being lively (seasoned with salt). Many believe that obedience to God is “tedious, boring, dull”; and many believers “do their part to confirm this attitude by being tedious, boring, and dull, seasoned with nothing.”49 A wearisome, dreary, lackluster, and insipid presentation of the gospel has done immeasurable harm. Godliness is not to be equated with stodginess. Flat formulas or lifeless platitudes do not capture the gospel’s excitement. It must be made palatable with a savory combination of charm and wit.
The danger is that we can go overboard in trying to be entertaining. Lively presentations can be as hollow as “fine-sounding arguments.”50 We should not emphasize being colorful at the expense of communicating the basics of the faith. Scott’s comment on 4:6 offers a helpful check: “The salt with which they are to flavour their talk is not literary allusion and epigram, but the spirit of the gospel.”51 Anything that does not accord with that spirit should be avoided.
What people may regard as “lively” usually depends on their cultural background. Some may find certain styles of speaking or writing disagreeable, while others find them captivating. Regardless of the style we use, if we are to communicate powerfully our message, it will need to be “salted” with images that connect theological truth to everyday life. As most preachers know, people usually remember their illustrations while forgetting the details of the argument.
Jesus provides a classic example of this kind of “salt” in his parables. He captured profound theological truth in homely stories that have captured the imaginations of persons for generations. Paul also wove in different images from everyday life to make his points. Most of his metaphors, so familiar and concrete to his original listeners, have become obscure to us because the distance of time has dissipated their power or because we have so theologized them that we do not even recognize that he is using everyday imagery. The result is that it no longer grips us in the same way that it did the first audience.
We spoke earlier of how Paul utilized vivid images in 2:6–23 (kidnapping, death as circumcision, baptism as burial, the head and the body, canceling IOUs, nailing charges to a cross, and leading defeated captives in a triumphal parade) to convey the truth that we have died in Christ’s death, triumphed in his victory, and been forgiven our trespasses. Most effective preachers and teachers recognize that communicating the message of timeless truth requires packaging it in time-bound imagery that excites the imagination and opens the eyes of the mind and heart to see the truth more clearly.
(6) Being well grounded. Paul tells the Colossians to be ready to answer unbelievers’ questions and challenges. The key here is that they are their questions. All too often we arm ourselves with pat answers to questions about theological fine points and debates that people never ask. People do not respond well to a canned message and are usually sophisticated enough to see through something that is only slick propaganda. When they quiz us on the issues bothering them, we may be caught off guard and stammer out only muddled replies. If someone asks, for example, “Why do you think Christianity is better than any other religion,” many Christians are at a loss to give anything more than pious clichés learned from childhood Sunday school experiences. Some cannot answer their own spiritual questions, let alone the questions the world poses concerning the latest scientific discoveries, personal crises, and moral dilemmas.
Christians must be well grounded and well prepared in advance to answer others’ questions whenever they pose them. When the Ethiopian eunuch asked Philip what the passage from Isaiah 53 meant, the evangelist did not ask for time to go home and study and tell him that he would get back to him later. The chance would have been lost forever. He needed to give him the answer right then; and to give an answer, he needed to know what his Bible said and what it meant. Many today may not even know how to formulate their questions. We need sensitivity to reach out to them where they are and wisdom and knowledge to provide answers.
(7) Cultivating networks (and unity). Throughout these closing remarks Paul mentions how Christians should pray for one another. Prayer links individuals and churches together into overlapping networks (see Rom. 15:30–32). It keeps us from focusing only on our own immediate group and its concerns. If Epaphras founded the congregation in Colosse, he did not forget it when he left but continued to pray for it. How many pastors continue to pray for the congregations they once served when they moved to different, usually greener pastures? How many Christians continue to pray for the churches they may have left after moving away? We see the premium Paul put on friends working together and praying together, caring about what was going on in their lives, and offering mutual support.
Paul clearly did not believe that he was self-sufficient; he needed the help of all those listed and appreciated and affirmed each person’s contribution. No one works alone. The emphasis is on
• cooperation, not independence or competition
• praying for mission opportunities for others, not just for ourselves
• praying for mission opportunities over the entire world, not just our corner
• praying that every Christian in every circumstance will have the wisdom and courage to communicate the gospel boldly and clearly.
Like Paul, we should never lose sight that God has called us to serve him and has called us to serve with others. We need each other’s prayers and support.
(8) Being ready to accept the consequences of preaching in a hostile world. Paul preferred to be freed from his chains so that he might carry the gospel to ever more distant climes (see Rom. 15:23–24; 2 Cor. 10:15–16). But he accepted his present chains and continued to preach the gospel and to write encouraging letters to churches. For centuries those letters have blessed those who have studied them. For this reason, Paul’s imprisonment may have contributed more to advance the gospel than his freedom. Paradoxically, suffering may abet our mission, and we must be prepared to accept it graciously.
Will Willimon recorded this exchange with Bishop Emilio de Carvalho from Marxist Angola. The struggles with government oppression caused his church to grow stronger.
The government does what it needs to do. The church does what it needs to do. If we go to jail for being the church, we shall go to jail. Jail is a wonderful place for Christian evangelism. Our church made some of its most dramatic gains during the revolution when so many of us were in jail. In jail, you have everyone there, in one place. You have time to preach and teach. Sure, twenty thousand of our Methodist pastors were killed during the revolution, but we came out of jail a much larger and stronger church.
Willimon remarked that the Bishop saw the drift of the questions directed to him from the audience and responded:
Don’t worry about the church in Angola; God is doing fine by us. Frankly, I would find it much more difficult to be a pastor in Evanston, Illinois. Here there is so much. So many things. It must be hard to be the church there.52
Overcoming failures. If we read the names in Paul’s final greeting canonically, we discover three names associated with personal failures in the New Testament—Mark, Onesimus, and Demas. John Mark went along with Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey to help them (Acts 13:5). For unspecified reasons, he left the mission and returned home to Jerusalem (13:13). Acts records a later split between the former mission partners Barnabas and Paul over whether to take Mark again on a new mission (15:36–40):
Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.
Paul clearly harbored suspicion of Mark. But this breach between Paul and Barnabas did not hinder the gospel’s advance. Instead, it meant that there were now two missions. Yet somehow, by the writing of Colossians, Mark redeemed himself in Paul’s eyes and become helpful to his ministry (see also 2 Tim. 4:11).
The fascinating and moving story of Onesimus, a runaway slave, will be dealt with in the commentary on Philemon. He also was guilty of desertion but had turned things around when he was converted by Paul. Paul warmly recommends him to his master as a brother in Christ who has served him in the gospel while he was in chains.
Paul mentions the third person, Demas, without any commendation. Perhaps this is a hint of his failure to come: “Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica” (2 Tim. 4:10). In Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Demas appears as the halfhearted Christian who beckons the pilgrims to turn aside from their journey to tarry at a silver mine. The judgment of Bunyan’s Christian against Demas may be too strong:
I know you; Gehazi was your great-grandfather, and Judas your father; and you have trod in their steps; it is but a devilish prank that thou usest: thy father was hanged for a traitor, and thou deservest no better reward.
After all, Paul only says that Demas deserted him, not Christ. We do not know the rest of the story; but we do know how God can redeem failure, including those who even desert their Lord and deny him with curses (cf. John 18:15–18, 25–27; 21:15–19). The key to overcoming failure is that one turn to God in repentance and trust in God for renewal.
The stories of personal failures connected to these names presents an opportunity for the homilist to investigate the nature of failure. Failure happens, but failure need not be final. Those who have triumphed over their failures or in spite of their failures recognize that they may have had a failure, perhaps many; but they were not failures. Failures may simply be underpasses that lead to success. C. S. Lewis wrote:
No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be v.[ery] muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes in the airing cupboard. The only fatal thing is to lose one’s temper and give up. It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the v.[ery] sign of his presence.53
We can never succeed on our own. The good news of the gospel is that we do not have to. We live in Christ and triumph through him.
Original Meaning
Being Wise in Reaching Outsiders (4:5–6)
THE NEXT IMPERATIVE advises the Colossians on how to act toward outsiders in daily life. As a minority in a hostile environment, Christians were concerned about the impressions they made on their neighbors. They were not resentful that they were marginalized in their society. They believed they “have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority” (2:10), and it led them to look at the pagans around them as the deprived “outsiders,” aliens to God’s kingdom (see Mark 4:11; 1 Cor. 5:12–13; 1 Thess. 4:12; 1 Tim. 3:7).10 This theological viewpoint can be dangerous if it leads to a false sense of privilege that would shut the door on outsiders rather than flinging wide the gates. The Colossians share the responsibility of evangelizing unbelievers as much as the traveling missionaries. They must blend wisdom (1:9, 28; 2:3; 3:16; see Eph. 4:5) with a sense of reckless urgency that exhausts every opportunity to reach unbelievers.11
Paul does not want the Colossians to be fearful, threatened, or isolated. He wants them to speak openly with others and gives three characteristics that should govern their speech. (1) Their words should always be gracious.12 Civility and graciousness can overcome the misgivings of neighbors and make them more receptive to the message. Gracious speech forms a stark contrast with the sins of speech listed in 3:8–9 and the cocky arrogance of the opponents who belittle the Christians’ faith.13
(2) The Colossians’ speech is to be salty. In our idiom, salty language is something replete with profanities, but obviously that is not Paul’s meaning. “Seasoned with salt” was used to refer to witty, amusing, clever, humorous speech.14 Their saltiness will prevent them from being ignored as irrelevant bores.
(3) Because believers live in a hostile context, they need to have their answers ready for those who challenge or are curious about their faith (see 1 Peter 3:15–16). To do this they need to be well-grounded in their faith (Col. 1:9–10; 4:12).
Bridging Contexts
IT IS TEMPTING to disregard the concluding greetings and blessing of Paul’s letters with the cluster of names as an insignificant postscript to the theological meat found in the body. Here we get a glimpse, however, into the boiler room of the New Testament, those laboring in various capacities in various places. The bits of limited information we get with names are tantalizing, and we should be cautious not to read too much into the references and construct fanciful theories that go beyond the evidence. There is a danger of building up romantic reconstructions from the brief references, and I may be guilty of this in identifying the letter to the Laodiceans with Ephesians. We need to be careful that we not get snared in the web of our historical spinning and miss the theological and practical cues that these concluding greetings offer us.
Contemporary Significance
PAUL’S CONCLUDING WORDS show his driving concern for the advancement of the gospel throughout the world. He does not ask them to pray for his deliverance but that his work might be even more effective. We do not know how the prayers were answered, but we do know that his imprisonment forced him to write letters that have blessed far more lives than he could have reached had he been free to speak in person.
Guidelines for advancing the gospel. Paul’s final exhortation and greetings have contemporary significance for our task of advancing the gospel in our world and gaining a hearing for the witness to the mystery of God revealed in Christ. E. D. Martin notes that Paul does not ask them to pray for God “to save lost people,” but that they get “new opportunities” for witness.41 Paul gives guidelines for making the most of those occasions.
(1) Praying earnestly. A new technique to increase efficiency in automobile manufacturing is to have materials manufactured as needed. That tactic may work in industry, but it does not work in prayer. If we expect our prayer life to have any effect in our lives and in our world, it cannot be sporadic or haphazard. We cannot fall back on prayer only when we think we need it; we must devote ourselves to it (see Acts 1:14; 6:4; Rom. 12:12).
Prayer requires serious discipline. Paul describes Epaphras’s indefatigable prayer for the Colossians as something akin to a wrestling match (Col. 4:12). He prays for them with all his might, straining every nerve and muscle. If Christians prayed with the same zeal that some people manifest to keep themselves physically fit for a longer and healthier life, they might see different results in the life and witness of their church. William Cowper’s hymn expresses it well:
And Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees.
A church in a rural part of a rural state has experienced phenomenal quantitative and qualitative growth, and they attribute it to the Holy Spirit and their prayer ministry. The associate pastor says, “God is doing some unbelievable things at Buck Run because His people are daring to open up the channel for the power of the Spirit to flow…. They are paying the price in prayer.”42
(2) Cultivating a sense of urgency. The metaphor of “buying up the time” implies that believers must capitalize on every chance and use every moment to the full. Successful evangelism requires a sense of urgency. Scott states it well: “If men are to be won to Christ before he comes to judgment it must be done now.”43
Unfortunately, that sense of urgency has faded. Too often we have frittered away opportunities. As someone has put it, the world has been multiplying while the church has been making “additions”—indeed, sometimes “subtractions.” Some members in churches that are experiencing a dwindling membership may wonder where all the people are and worry about the decline. But it does not seem to bother them enough to do anything about it. They have no sense that it requires immediate action and no compulsion to reach out to unbelievers.
Jesus’ parable of the shrewd manager (Luke 16:1–8) provides an illustration of someone who acted decisively when the urgency of the moment demanded it. Caught in a desperate situation threatening total ruin, the steward deftly and quickly took action to secure his worldly life. When everything was at stake, he staked everything on a bold course of action. He represents the prudence of worldlings who recognize crisis and respond to it promptly with daring. The parable draws a pointed contrast between “the people of this world” and “the people of the light.” If worldlings such as this fellow act so astutely in a crisis to protect their self-interests, should not the people of the light seize each moment and act astutely to ensure their interests in the world to come?
In Colossians we might apply the lesson of the parable slightly differently. Others (“the people of this world”) face the crisis, and the time is short. But “the people of the light” sit idly by, twiddling their thumbs, as if the time for those living in darkness to decide for Christ were unlimited. If Christians felt the same urgency to reach others with the gospel as they do about securing their own welfare in this world, our churches would see amazing results.
(3) Acting wisely. Paul insists that the Colossians should act in the right way as well as at the right time.44 The message Christians have is clear: Jesus Christ embodies God’s good purposes for creation. Creation has come under the bondage of satanic powers and human sinfulness, but Christ’s death on the cross defeated these powers and canceled the debt of sin. God raised him from the dead and exalted him, and salvation is now available to all through him. But people listen to our message sometimes more with their eyes than with their ears. Its clarity gets garbled by our boorishness, acrimony, and misbehavior. Paul is acutely conscious that unbelievers watch what Christians do, and the New Testament contains many cautions, warning Christians to do nothing that would bring discredit to the gospel or confirm unbelievers’ misgivings about Christianity (see 1 Cor. 10:32–11:1; 1 Thess. 4:11–12; 1 Tim. 3:7; 6:1; Titus 2:5; 1 Peter 2:12, 15; 3:1).
In Paul’s world, Christianity was a new and different teaching. In our contemporary world, nations that were formerly overwhelmingly Christian now have a majority who claim to be agnostics or atheists, or who follow another religious faith. Christianity is increasingly becoming an unfamiliar and strange teaching in our world. Many have become skeptical about Christians and their faith, and a few well-publicized scandals involving prominent Christians have substantiated these suspicions. Pokorný recognizes, “In the secularized world of today, when being a Christian is no longer a matter of course, Christian conduct itself takes on a missionary function again.”45
Making a good impression is not everything, but it is not unimportant. The purpose of acting wisely is not simply to win the good opinion of outsiders but to help win them to God. The gospel message must always be fleshed out by the way believers live. The silent force of righteous living can speak loudly, and the most productive evangelists are Christians who enter the daily mix of life and live their faith. It can cause others who may be dubious or indifferent to become more receptive to hearing the verbal message of God’s love. It can lead them to ask why Christians live as they do, and the answer should point them to Christ. Christians are to present the gospel at all times, especially when they do not use words.
(4) Being gracious. The experience of grace should make us gracious. Christians must leaven a bold, uncompromising witness with civility, gentleness, kindness, and good humor. Before we can make disciples, we need to make friends and build rapport. Amos Starkadder, a character in the novel Cold Comfort Farm, is a caricature of the grim religious fanatic, and he provides a perfect example of how not to reach others. The following exchange captures his preaching philosophy: “ ‘They’ll all burn in hell,’ added Amos in a satisfied voice, ‘and I mun surelie tell them so.’ ”
When his cousin Flora wants to come to hear him preach to his small flock of Brethren, Amos replies:
“Aye … ye can come … ye poor miserable creepin’ sinner. Maybe ye think ye’ll escape hell fire if ye come along o’ me, and bow down and quiver. But I’m tellin’ ye no. ’Tes too late. Ye’ll burn with the rest. There’ll be time to say what yer sins have been, but there’ll be no time for more.”
When she asks if she needs to confess her sins publicly, he responds churlishly: “Aye, but not tonight. Nay, there’ll be too many sayin’ their sins aloud tonight; there’ll be no time for the Lord to listen to a new sheep like you. And maybe the spirit won’t move ye.”46 Probably not, when confronted with this kind of attitude. Amos begins his sermon with scorn.
“Ye miserable, crawling worms, are ye here again, then? Have ye come like Nimshi, son of Rehoboam, secretly out of yer doomed houses to hear what’s comin’ to ye? Have ye come, old and young, sick and well, matrons and virgins (if there is any virgins among ye, which is not likely, the world bein’ in the wicked state it is), old men and young lads to hear me tellin’ o’ the great crimson lickin’ flames o’ hell fire?”47
This approach may be “salty,” but it is not full of grace. We do well to remember what is was like when we were formerly estranged from God. What was it that we needed to hear? What was it that touched our hearts? It would help our approach if we look at those we consider to be “poor, miserable sinners” the same way we imagine that Christ looked at us when we were once lost in the darkness of our own sin. We should respect others and treat them as reflecting, sensitive human beings who can decide for themselves. The key is to season our witness with liberal doses of the virtues enjoined in 3:12–17: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, love, wisdom, and thanksgiving.
On the other hand, we can go to the opposite extreme by trying to be so gracious that we never share the gospel with others. This is no less problematic. Some Christians have become so hypersensitive about offending non-Christians that they never present them with their vision of God’s truth clearly and directly. Many people never darken the door of a church because they have never been invited in. We are not showing compassion or love if we choose to keep meekly silent and never share the truth about Christ with those who need desperately to hear it.
Helen Keller’s poignant reflection on her blindness and deafness resonates with the way many sighted and hearing people feel:
Sometimes, it is true, a sense of isolation enfolds me like a cold mist as I sit alone and wait at life’s shut gate. Beyond there is light, and music, and sweet companionship; but I may not enter.48
Her isolation was caused by physical barriers. Others who have both physical sight and hearing may feel a similar isolation induced by their spiritual alienation from God. For these persons, Christians have good news. Christ has broken down the barriers of sin that bar us from God’s presence, isolate us from others, and imprison us in our own little hell. Christ invites all to enter his light and sweet companionship, but he invites them through us. Christians should never forget that the grace given to us was intended to be passed on to others (see Eph. 3:2).
(5) Being lively (seasoned with salt). Many believe that obedience to God is “tedious, boring, dull”; and many believers “do their part to confirm this attitude by being tedious, boring, and dull, seasoned with nothing.”49 A wearisome, dreary, lackluster, and insipid presentation of the gospel has done immeasurable harm. Godliness is not to be equated with stodginess. Flat formulas or lifeless platitudes do not capture the gospel’s excitement. It must be made palatable with a savory combination of charm and wit.
The danger is that we can go overboard in trying to be entertaining. Lively presentations can be as hollow as “fine-sounding arguments.”50 We should not emphasize being colorful at the expense of communicating the basics of the faith. Scott’s comment on 4:6 offers a helpful check: “The salt with which they are to flavour their talk is not literary allusion and epigram, but the spirit of the gospel.”51 Anything that does not accord with that spirit should be avoided.
What people may regard as “lively” usually depends on their cultural background. Some may find certain styles of speaking or writing disagreeable, while others find them captivating. Regardless of the style we use, if we are to communicate powerfully our message, it will need to be “salted” with images that connect theological truth to everyday life. As most preachers know, people usually remember their illustrations while forgetting the details of the argument.
Jesus provides a classic example of this kind of “salt” in his parables. He captured profound theological truth in homely stories that have captured the imaginations of persons for generations. Paul also wove in different images from everyday life to make his points. Most of his metaphors, so familiar and concrete to his original listeners, have become obscure to us because the distance of time has dissipated their power or because we have so theologized them that we do not even recognize that he is using everyday imagery. The result is that it no longer grips us in the same way that it did the first audience.
We spoke earlier of how Paul utilized vivid images in 2:6–23 (kidnapping, death as circumcision, baptism as burial, the head and the body, canceling IOUs, nailing charges to a cross, and leading defeated captives in a triumphal parade) to convey the truth that we have died in Christ’s death, triumphed in his victory, and been forgiven our trespasses. Most effective preachers and teachers recognize that communicating the message of timeless truth requires packaging it in time-bound imagery that excites the imagination and opens the eyes of the mind and heart to see the truth more clearly.
(6) Being well grounded. Paul tells the Colossians to be ready to answer unbelievers’ questions and challenges. The key here is that they are their questions. All too often we arm ourselves with pat answers to questions about theological fine points and debates that people never ask. People do not respond well to a canned message and are usually sophisticated enough to see through something that is only slick propaganda. When they quiz us on the issues bothering them, we may be caught off guard and stammer out only muddled replies. If someone asks, for example, “Why do you think Christianity is better than any other religion,” many Christians are at a loss to give anything more than pious clichés learned from childhood Sunday school experiences. Some cannot answer their own spiritual questions, let alone the questions the world poses concerning the latest scientific discoveries, personal crises, and moral dilemmas.
Christians must be well grounded and well prepared in advance to answer others’ questions whenever they pose them. When the Ethiopian eunuch asked Philip what the passage from Isaiah 53 meant, the evangelist did not ask for time to go home and study and tell him that he would get back to him later. The chance would have been lost forever. He needed to give him the answer right then; and to give an answer, he needed to know what his Bible said and what it meant. Many today may not even know how to formulate their questions. We need sensitivity to reach out to them where they are and wisdom and knowledge to provide answers.
(7) Cultivating networks (and unity). Throughout these closing remarks Paul mentions how Christians should pray for one another. Prayer links individuals and churches together into overlapping networks (see Rom. 15:30–32). It keeps us from focusing only on our own immediate group and its concerns. If Epaphras founded the congregation in Colosse, he did not forget it when he left but continued to pray for it. How many pastors continue to pray for the congregations they once served when they moved to different, usually greener pastures? How many Christians continue to pray for the churches they may have left after moving away? We see the premium Paul put on friends working together and praying together, caring about what was going on in their lives, and offering mutual support.
Paul clearly did not believe that he was self-sufficient; he needed the help of all those listed and appreciated and affirmed each person’s contribution. No one works alone. The emphasis is on
• cooperation, not independence or competition
• praying for mission opportunities for others, not just for ourselves
• praying for mission opportunities over the entire world, not just our corner
• praying that every Christian in every circumstance will have the wisdom and courage to communicate the gospel boldly and clearly.
Like Paul, we should never lose sight that God has called us to serve him and has called us to serve with others. We need each other’s prayers and support.
(8) Being ready to accept the consequences of preaching in a hostile world. Paul preferred to be freed from his chains so that he might carry the gospel to ever more distant climes (see Rom. 15:23–24; 2 Cor. 10:15–16). But he accepted his present chains and continued to preach the gospel and to write encouraging letters to churches. For centuries those letters have blessed those who have studied them. For this reason, Paul’s imprisonment may have contributed more to advance the gospel than his freedom. Paradoxically, suffering may abet our mission, and we must be prepared to accept it graciously.
Will Willimon recorded this exchange with Bishop Emilio de Carvalho from Marxist Angola. The struggles with government oppression caused his church to grow stronger.
The government does what it needs to do. The church does what it needs to do. If we go to jail for being the church, we shall go to jail. Jail is a wonderful place for Christian evangelism. Our church made some of its most dramatic gains during the revolution when so many of us were in jail. In jail, you have everyone there, in one place. You have time to preach and teach. Sure, twenty thousand of our Methodist pastors were killed during the revolution, but we came out of jail a much larger and stronger church.
Willimon remarked that the Bishop saw the drift of the questions directed to him from the audience and responded:
Don’t worry about the church in Angola; God is doing fine by us. Frankly, I would find it much more difficult to be a pastor in Evanston, Illinois. Here there is so much. So many things. It must be hard to be the church there.52
Overcoming failures. If we read the names in Paul’s final greeting canonically, we discover three names associated with personal failures in the New Testament—Mark, Onesimus, and Demas. John Mark went along with Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey to help them (Acts 13:5). For unspecified reasons, he left the mission and returned home to Jerusalem (13:13). Acts records a later split between the former mission partners Barnabas and Paul over whether to take Mark again on a new mission (15:36–40):
Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.
Paul clearly harbored suspicion of Mark. But this breach between Paul and Barnabas did not hinder the gospel’s advance. Instead, it meant that there were now two missions. Yet somehow, by the writing of Colossians, Mark redeemed himself in Paul’s eyes and become helpful to his ministry (see also 2 Tim. 4:11).
The fascinating and moving story of Onesimus, a runaway slave, will be dealt with in the commentary on Philemon. He also was guilty of desertion but had turned things around when he was converted by Paul. Paul warmly recommends him to his master as a brother in Christ who has served him in the gospel while he was in chains.
Paul mentions the third person, Demas, without any commendation. Perhaps this is a hint of his failure to come: “Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica” (2 Tim. 4:10). In Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Demas appears as the halfhearted Christian who beckons the pilgrims to turn aside from their journey to tarry at a silver mine. The judgment of Bunyan’s Christian against Demas may be too strong:
I know you; Gehazi was your great-grandfather, and Judas your father; and you have trod in their steps; it is but a devilish prank that thou usest: thy father was hanged for a traitor, and thou deservest no better reward.
After all, Paul only says that Demas deserted him, not Christ. We do not know the rest of the story; but we do know how God can redeem failure, including those who even desert their Lord and deny him with curses (cf. John 18:15–18, 25–27; 21:15–19). The key to overcoming failure is that one turn to God in repentance and trust in God for renewal.
The stories of personal failures connected to these names presents an opportunity for the homilist to investigate the nature of failure. Failure happens, but failure need not be final. Those who have triumphed over their failures or in spite of their failures recognize that they may have had a failure, perhaps many; but they were not failures. Failures may simply be underpasses that lead to success. C. S. Lewis wrote:
No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be v.[ery] muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes in the airing cupboard. The only fatal thing is to lose one’s temper and give up. It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the v.[ery] sign of his presence.53
We can never succeed on our own. The good news of the gospel is that we do not have to. We live in Christ and triumph through him.
Original Meaning
Introduction of the Bearers of the Letter: Tychicus and Onesimus (4:7–9)
PAUL’S LIST OF coworkers in his letters reveals several things about his ministry. (1) It was “a team effort.”15 Paul could not possibly do all that he did without the help and support of others, and he is not stingy in giving them credit and thanks. It is striking that two people on the list, Luke and Mark, are considered to be authors of two Gospels (see 2 Tim. 4:11; Philem. 24).
(2) Paul inspired love and loyalty, and any picture of him as an embattled and embittered loner is mistaken. Dunn makes the interesting observation that persons driven by a “burning conviction and sense of destiny” are often “uncomfortable companions.” Many may harbor the suspicion that Paul was just such a person. But the long list of Paul’s coworkers suggests that he “was evidently able both to retain sufficient equipoise and to inspire tremendous loyalty and commitment on the part of others.”16 Rapske shows that they risked personal danger by staying close to the apostle. They faced the danger of being bullied by the rough characters assigned to guard prisoners, of being too closely linked to someone deemed a danger to national security, and of being betrayed by prison spies.17 Their physical presence and assistance would have heartened the apostle emotionally and spiritually during the dark days of his confinement and the long wait for some decision about his case.
(3) The early Christians relied much on a network of friends. Without supportive friends and partners throughout the world, Christians could never have succeeded in advancing the gospel across national barriers. All Christians need a community of friends and fellow workers. Maintaining such a network across the empire required much time-consuming, costly, and dangerous travel. The variety of those listed by Paul—a slave, a physician, Jews (“of the circumcision”), and Gentiles—shows how the gospel reached into every sphere of life to recruit committed missioners. For the Colossians, the list of names shows that Paul’s interpretation of the gospel is not idiosyncratic. Others (including those from the circumcision) hold to the same gospel and work with him to further it.18
Tychicus, as the bearer of the letter, is the first coworker mentioned (see Eph. 6:21–22). He appears in Acts 20:4, along with Trophimus, as a native of Asia.19 He is mentioned again in 2 Timothy 4:12, “I sent Tychicus to Ephesus,” and in Titus 3:12, “As soon as I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, because I have decided to winter there.” Perhaps he accompanied Onesimus on his return home, bearing a circular letter along with the letter to the Colossians. He receives the highest praise a Christian can receive: “a dear [lit., beloved] brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord” (see 1:7). He comes to encourage the Colossians with news of Paul and his team (see 2:2).
Paul may have judged it too risky to divulge in the letter any information about his circumstances that might jeopardize his case. He consequently passes on only innocuous details; Tychicus and Onesimus will supply the full particulars of “the news about me.”20 We might wish that Paul had provided more information about himself in his letters so that we also could learn more of his circumstances, but Paul was not the kind of leader who thought that everything revolved around him. Consequently, he does not readily share how things are going with him personally unless it is directly related to issues in the letter.
Paul identifies Onesimus simply as a “faithful and dear brother” (cf. Philem. 16) and as “one of you,” without mentioning any ministerial role. He offers no explanation of how he had contact with him. We can only guess. Was the letter to Philemon written sometime in the past? Paul sent the converted Onesimus to Philemon; Philemon honored his request and sent him back to serve Paul; and now Onesimus returns home again? If this scenario were true, we might expect Paul to explain why he was sending him back again, as he did for the Philippians when he sent Epaphroditus home (Phil. 2:25–30). Paul explains why Tychicus is coming to them but not Onesimus. If Onesimus were a runaway slave returning home, the reason would be obvious enough. The letter to Philemon, which Onesimus brings, fills in the rest of the story. I am inclined to believe that this is his first return to Colosse after his flight and conversion.21
Onesimus is not yet a “faithful minister and fellow servant” as Tychicus is, but he is a Christian. This is his new identity in Christ, not as the slave of Philemon. No individual is identified specifically as anybody’s slave in the New Testament except where Paul calls himself a slave of Christ (Rom. 1:1; Gal. 1:10; Phil. 1:1) or a slave of God (Titus 1:1). Even the discussion of Onesimus in the letter to Philemon is ambiguous enough for some to argue that he indeed was not Philemon’s slave but had some other relationship to him (see the discussion in the introduction to Philemon). He is not described as active in the ministry or part of Paul’s fellow workers, but both he and Tychicus come to share news.
Bridging Contexts
IT IS TEMPTING to disregard the concluding greetings and blessing of Paul’s letters with the cluster of names as an insignificant postscript to the theological meat found in the body. Here we get a glimpse, however, into the boiler room of the New Testament, those laboring in various capacities in various places. The bits of limited information we get with names are tantalizing, and we should be cautious not to read too much into the references and construct fanciful theories that go beyond the evidence. There is a danger of building up romantic reconstructions from the brief references, and I may be guilty of this in identifying the letter to the Laodiceans with Ephesians. We need to be careful that we not get snared in the web of our historical spinning and miss the theological and practical cues that these concluding greetings offer us.
Contemporary Significance
PAUL’S CONCLUDING WORDS show his driving concern for the advancement of the gospel throughout the world. He does not ask them to pray for his deliverance but that his work might be even more effective. We do not know how the prayers were answered, but we do know that his imprisonment forced him to write letters that have blessed far more lives than he could have reached had he been free to speak in person.
Guidelines for advancing the gospel. Paul’s final exhortation and greetings have contemporary significance for our task of advancing the gospel in our world and gaining a hearing for the witness to the mystery of God revealed in Christ. E. D. Martin notes that Paul does not ask them to pray for God “to save lost people,” but that they get “new opportunities” for witness.41 Paul gives guidelines for making the most of those occasions.
(1) Praying earnestly. A new technique to increase efficiency in automobile manufacturing is to have materials manufactured as needed. That tactic may work in industry, but it does not work in prayer. If we expect our prayer life to have any effect in our lives and in our world, it cannot be sporadic or haphazard. We cannot fall back on prayer only when we think we need it; we must devote ourselves to it (see Acts 1:14; 6:4; Rom. 12:12).
Prayer requires serious discipline. Paul describes Epaphras’s indefatigable prayer for the Colossians as something akin to a wrestling match (Col. 4:12). He prays for them with all his might, straining every nerve and muscle. If Christians prayed with the same zeal that some people manifest to keep themselves physically fit for a longer and healthier life, they might see different results in the life and witness of their church. William Cowper’s hymn expresses it well:
And Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees.
A church in a rural part of a rural state has experienced phenomenal quantitative and qualitative growth, and they attribute it to the Holy Spirit and their prayer ministry. The associate pastor says, “God is doing some unbelievable things at Buck Run because His people are daring to open up the channel for the power of the Spirit to flow…. They are paying the price in prayer.”42
(2) Cultivating a sense of urgency. The metaphor of “buying up the time” implies that believers must capitalize on every chance and use every moment to the full. Successful evangelism requires a sense of urgency. Scott states it well: “If men are to be won to Christ before he comes to judgment it must be done now.”43
Unfortunately, that sense of urgency has faded. Too often we have frittered away opportunities. As someone has put it, the world has been multiplying while the church has been making “additions”—indeed, sometimes “subtractions.” Some members in churches that are experiencing a dwindling membership may wonder where all the people are and worry about the decline. But it does not seem to bother them enough to do anything about it. They have no sense that it requires immediate action and no compulsion to reach out to unbelievers.
Jesus’ parable of the shrewd manager (Luke 16:1–8) provides an illustration of someone who acted decisively when the urgency of the moment demanded it. Caught in a desperate situation threatening total ruin, the steward deftly and quickly took action to secure his worldly life. When everything was at stake, he staked everything on a bold course of action. He represents the prudence of worldlings who recognize crisis and respond to it promptly with daring. The parable draws a pointed contrast between “the people of this world” and “the people of the light.” If worldlings such as this fellow act so astutely in a crisis to protect their self-interests, should not the people of the light seize each moment and act astutely to ensure their interests in the world to come?
In Colossians we might apply the lesson of the parable slightly differently. Others (“the people of this world”) face the crisis, and the time is short. But “the people of the light” sit idly by, twiddling their thumbs, as if the time for those living in darkness to decide for Christ were unlimited. If Christians felt the same urgency to reach others with the gospel as they do about securing their own welfare in this world, our churches would see amazing results.
(3) Acting wisely. Paul insists that the Colossians should act in the right way as well as at the right time.44 The message Christians have is clear: Jesus Christ embodies God’s good purposes for creation. Creation has come under the bondage of satanic powers and human sinfulness, but Christ’s death on the cross defeated these powers and canceled the debt of sin. God raised him from the dead and exalted him, and salvation is now available to all through him. But people listen to our message sometimes more with their eyes than with their ears. Its clarity gets garbled by our boorishness, acrimony, and misbehavior. Paul is acutely conscious that unbelievers watch what Christians do, and the New Testament contains many cautions, warning Christians to do nothing that would bring discredit to the gospel or confirm unbelievers’ misgivings about Christianity (see 1 Cor. 10:32–11:1; 1 Thess. 4:11–12; 1 Tim. 3:7; 6:1; Titus 2:5; 1 Peter 2:12, 15; 3:1).
In Paul’s world, Christianity was a new and different teaching. In our contemporary world, nations that were formerly overwhelmingly Christian now have a majority who claim to be agnostics or atheists, or who follow another religious faith. Christianity is increasingly becoming an unfamiliar and strange teaching in our world. Many have become skeptical about Christians and their faith, and a few well-publicized scandals involving prominent Christians have substantiated these suspicions. Pokorný recognizes, “In the secularized world of today, when being a Christian is no longer a matter of course, Christian conduct itself takes on a missionary function again.”45
Making a good impression is not everything, but it is not unimportant. The purpose of acting wisely is not simply to win the good opinion of outsiders but to help win them to God. The gospel message must always be fleshed out by the way believers live. The silent force of righteous living can speak loudly, and the most productive evangelists are Christians who enter the daily mix of life and live their faith. It can cause others who may be dubious or indifferent to become more receptive to hearing the verbal message of God’s love. It can lead them to ask why Christians live as they do, and the answer should point them to Christ. Christians are to present the gospel at all times, especially when they do not use words.
(4) Being gracious. The experience of grace should make us gracious. Christians must leaven a bold, uncompromising witness with civility, gentleness, kindness, and good humor. Before we can make disciples, we need to make friends and build rapport. Amos Starkadder, a character in the novel Cold Comfort Farm, is a caricature of the grim religious fanatic, and he provides a perfect example of how not to reach others. The following exchange captures his preaching philosophy: “ ‘They’ll all burn in hell,’ added Amos in a satisfied voice, ‘and I mun surelie tell them so.’ ”
When his cousin Flora wants to come to hear him preach to his small flock of Brethren, Amos replies:
“Aye … ye can come … ye poor miserable creepin’ sinner. Maybe ye think ye’ll escape hell fire if ye come along o’ me, and bow down and quiver. But I’m tellin’ ye no. ’Tes too late. Ye’ll burn with the rest. There’ll be time to say what yer sins have been, but there’ll be no time for more.”
When she asks if she needs to confess her sins publicly, he responds churlishly: “Aye, but not tonight. Nay, there’ll be too many sayin’ their sins aloud tonight; there’ll be no time for the Lord to listen to a new sheep like you. And maybe the spirit won’t move ye.”46 Probably not, when confronted with this kind of attitude. Amos begins his sermon with scorn.
“Ye miserable, crawling worms, are ye here again, then? Have ye come like Nimshi, son of Rehoboam, secretly out of yer doomed houses to hear what’s comin’ to ye? Have ye come, old and young, sick and well, matrons and virgins (if there is any virgins among ye, which is not likely, the world bein’ in the wicked state it is), old men and young lads to hear me tellin’ o’ the great crimson lickin’ flames o’ hell fire?”47
This approach may be “salty,” but it is not full of grace. We do well to remember what is was like when we were formerly estranged from God. What was it that we needed to hear? What was it that touched our hearts? It would help our approach if we look at those we consider to be “poor, miserable sinners” the same way we imagine that Christ looked at us when we were once lost in the darkness of our own sin. We should respect others and treat them as reflecting, sensitive human beings who can decide for themselves. The key is to season our witness with liberal doses of the virtues enjoined in 3:12–17: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, love, wisdom, and thanksgiving.
On the other hand, we can go to the opposite extreme by trying to be so gracious that we never share the gospel with others. This is no less problematic. Some Christians have become so hypersensitive about offending non-Christians that they never present them with their vision of God’s truth clearly and directly. Many people never darken the door of a church because they have never been invited in. We are not showing compassion or love if we choose to keep meekly silent and never share the truth about Christ with those who need desperately to hear it.
Helen Keller’s poignant reflection on her blindness and deafness resonates with the way many sighted and hearing people feel:
Sometimes, it is true, a sense of isolation enfolds me like a cold mist as I sit alone and wait at life’s shut gate. Beyond there is light, and music, and sweet companionship; but I may not enter.48
Her isolation was caused by physical barriers. Others who have both physical sight and hearing may feel a similar isolation induced by their spiritual alienation from God. For these persons, Christians have good news. Christ has broken down the barriers of sin that bar us from God’s presence, isolate us from others, and imprison us in our own little hell. Christ invites all to enter his light and sweet companionship, but he invites them through us. Christians should never forget that the grace given to us was intended to be passed on to others (see Eph. 3:2).
(5) Being lively (seasoned with salt). Many believe that obedience to God is “tedious, boring, dull”; and many believers “do their part to confirm this attitude by being tedious, boring, and dull, seasoned with nothing.”49 A wearisome, dreary, lackluster, and insipid presentation of the gospel has done immeasurable harm. Godliness is not to be equated with stodginess. Flat formulas or lifeless platitudes do not capture the gospel’s excitement. It must be made palatable with a savory combination of charm and wit.
The danger is that we can go overboard in trying to be entertaining. Lively presentations can be as hollow as “fine-sounding arguments.”50 We should not emphasize being colorful at the expense of communicating the basics of the faith. Scott’s comment on 4:6 offers a helpful check: “The salt with which they are to flavour their talk is not literary allusion and epigram, but the spirit of the gospel.”51 Anything that does not accord with that spirit should be avoided.
What people may regard as “lively” usually depends on their cultural background. Some may find certain styles of speaking or writing disagreeable, while others find them captivating. Regardless of the style we use, if we are to communicate powerfully our message, it will need to be “salted” with images that connect theological truth to everyday life. As most preachers know, people usually remember their illustrations while forgetting the details of the argument.
Jesus provides a classic example of this kind of “salt” in his parables. He captured profound theological truth in homely stories that have captured the imaginations of persons for generations. Paul also wove in different images from everyday life to make his points. Most of his metaphors, so familiar and concrete to his original listeners, have become obscure to us because the distance of time has dissipated their power or because we have so theologized them that we do not even recognize that he is using everyday imagery. The result is that it no longer grips us in the same way that it did the first audience.
We spoke earlier of how Paul utilized vivid images in 2:6–23 (kidnapping, death as circumcision, baptism as burial, the head and the body, canceling IOUs, nailing charges to a cross, and leading defeated captives in a triumphal parade) to convey the truth that we have died in Christ’s death, triumphed in his victory, and been forgiven our trespasses. Most effective preachers and teachers recognize that communicating the message of timeless truth requires packaging it in time-bound imagery that excites the imagination and opens the eyes of the mind and heart to see the truth more clearly.
(6) Being well grounded. Paul tells the Colossians to be ready to answer unbelievers’ questions and challenges. The key here is that they are their questions. All too often we arm ourselves with pat answers to questions about theological fine points and debates that people never ask. People do not respond well to a canned message and are usually sophisticated enough to see through something that is only slick propaganda. When they quiz us on the issues bothering them, we may be caught off guard and stammer out only muddled replies. If someone asks, for example, “Why do you think Christianity is better than any other religion,” many Christians are at a loss to give anything more than pious clichés learned from childhood Sunday school experiences. Some cannot answer their own spiritual questions, let alone the questions the world poses concerning the latest scientific discoveries, personal crises, and moral dilemmas.
Christians must be well grounded and well prepared in advance to answer others’ questions whenever they pose them. When the Ethiopian eunuch asked Philip what the passage from Isaiah 53 meant, the evangelist did not ask for time to go home and study and tell him that he would get back to him later. The chance would have been lost forever. He needed to give him the answer right then; and to give an answer, he needed to know what his Bible said and what it meant. Many today may not even know how to formulate their questions. We need sensitivity to reach out to them where they are and wisdom and knowledge to provide answers.
(7) Cultivating networks (and unity). Throughout these closing remarks Paul mentions how Christians should pray for one another. Prayer links individuals and churches together into overlapping networks (see Rom. 15:30–32). It keeps us from focusing only on our own immediate group and its concerns. If Epaphras founded the congregation in Colosse, he did not forget it when he left but continued to pray for it. How many pastors continue to pray for the congregations they once served when they moved to different, usually greener pastures? How many Christians continue to pray for the churches they may have left after moving away? We see the premium Paul put on friends working together and praying together, caring about what was going on in their lives, and offering mutual support.
Paul clearly did not believe that he was self-sufficient; he needed the help of all those listed and appreciated and affirmed each person’s contribution. No one works alone. The emphasis is on
• cooperation, not independence or competition
• praying for mission opportunities for others, not just for ourselves
• praying for mission opportunities over the entire world, not just our corner
• praying that every Christian in every circumstance will have the wisdom and courage to communicate the gospel boldly and clearly.
Like Paul, we should never lose sight that God has called us to serve him and has called us to serve with others. We need each other’s prayers and support.
(8) Being ready to accept the consequences of preaching in a hostile world. Paul preferred to be freed from his chains so that he might carry the gospel to ever more distant climes (see Rom. 15:23–24; 2 Cor. 10:15–16). But he accepted his present chains and continued to preach the gospel and to write encouraging letters to churches. For centuries those letters have blessed those who have studied them. For this reason, Paul’s imprisonment may have contributed more to advance the gospel than his freedom. Paradoxically, suffering may abet our mission, and we must be prepared to accept it graciously.
Will Willimon recorded this exchange with Bishop Emilio de Carvalho from Marxist Angola. The struggles with government oppression caused his church to grow stronger.
The government does what it needs to do. The church does what it needs to do. If we go to jail for being the church, we shall go to jail. Jail is a wonderful place for Christian evangelism. Our church made some of its most dramatic gains during the revolution when so many of us were in jail. In jail, you have everyone there, in one place. You have time to preach and teach. Sure, twenty thousand of our Methodist pastors were killed during the revolution, but we came out of jail a much larger and stronger church.
Willimon remarked that the Bishop saw the drift of the questions directed to him from the audience and responded:
Don’t worry about the church in Angola; God is doing fine by us. Frankly, I would find it much more difficult to be a pastor in Evanston, Illinois. Here there is so much. So many things. It must be hard to be the church there.52
Overcoming failures. If we read the names in Paul’s final greeting canonically, we discover three names associated with personal failures in the New Testament—Mark, Onesimus, and Demas. John Mark went along with Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey to help them (Acts 13:5). For unspecified reasons, he left the mission and returned home to Jerusalem (13:13). Acts records a later split between the former mission partners Barnabas and Paul over whether to take Mark again on a new mission (15:36–40):
Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.
Paul clearly harbored suspicion of Mark. But this breach between Paul and Barnabas did not hinder the gospel’s advance. Instead, it meant that there were now two missions. Yet somehow, by the writing of Colossians, Mark redeemed himself in Paul’s eyes and become helpful to his ministry (see also 2 Tim. 4:11).
The fascinating and moving story of Onesimus, a runaway slave, will be dealt with in the commentary on Philemon. He also was guilty of desertion but had turned things around when he was converted by Paul. Paul warmly recommends him to his master as a brother in Christ who has served him in the gospel while he was in chains.
Paul mentions the third person, Demas, without any commendation. Perhaps this is a hint of his failure to come: “Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica” (2 Tim. 4:10). In Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Demas appears as the halfhearted Christian who beckons the pilgrims to turn aside from their journey to tarry at a silver mine. The judgment of Bunyan’s Christian against Demas may be too strong:
I know you; Gehazi was your great-grandfather, and Judas your father; and you have trod in their steps; it is but a devilish prank that thou usest: thy father was hanged for a traitor, and thou deservest no better reward.
After all, Paul only says that Demas deserted him, not Christ. We do not know the rest of the story; but we do know how God can redeem failure, including those who even desert their Lord and deny him with curses (cf. John 18:15–18, 25–27; 21:15–19). The key to overcoming failure is that one turn to God in repentance and trust in God for renewal.
The stories of personal failures connected to these names presents an opportunity for the homilist to investigate the nature of failure. Failure happens, but failure need not be final. Those who have triumphed over their failures or in spite of their failures recognize that they may have had a failure, perhaps many; but they were not failures. Failures may simply be underpasses that lead to success. C. S. Lewis wrote:
No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be v.[ery] muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes in the airing cupboard. The only fatal thing is to lose one’s temper and give up. It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the v.[ery] sign of his presence.53
We can never succeed on our own. The good news of the gospel is that we do not have to. We live in Christ and triumph through him.
Original Meaning
Greetings from Associates with Paul (4:10–14)
ARISTARCHUS IS MENTIONED in Acts 19:29 as a Macedonian from Thessalonica who braved the riotous uproar in Ephesus with Paul. He also traveled with Paul to Jerusalem (20:4, as one of the delegates from Thessalonica?) and then on to Rome (27:2). He may have been one of the other prisoners (27:1). Paul identifies him here as a “fellow prisoner” (see Rom. 16:7). This may be an honorific title using a military metaphor, “a captive of Christ,” akin to “fellow servant” (1:7; 4:7) and “fellow soldier” (Phil. 2:25; Philem. 2). In Philemon 23, Paul applies the phrase “fellow prisoner” to Epaphras (cf. Col. 4:12), not Aristarchus. If it is an honorary title, it might explain how Paul could apply it to one fellow worker and then another.
On the other hand, Paul refers to his actual captivity in 4:3, 18, so one assumes that he is referring to the actual imprisonment of his fellow workers. Aristarchus and Epaphras could have rotated in voluntarily sharing Paul’s quarters and hence his captivity, though they were not charged with any crime. Taking turns in sharing Paul’s captivity would explain why Paul refers to them in this way.22
Mark is identified as “the cousin of Barnabas,” who was apparently a well-known figure in the ancient church, familiar to the Galatians (Gal. 2:13) and the Corinthians (1 Cor. 9:6). This relationship presumably adds stature to Mark and makes it likely that he is the same John Mark we meet in Acts (Acts 12:12, 25; 13:5, 13; 15:36–41; see also 2 Tim. 4:11; Philem. 24; 1 Peter 5:13). If so, then Onesimus is not the only one who has turned the corner.23 Mark is no longer a cause for dispute (Acts 15:36–41) but has become a source of comfort as a coworker. We do not know the content of the “instructions” or from whom they came. Paul does not presume to be dispatching Mark as if he were controlling his movements. He may or may not come.
Jesus Justus is mentioned along with Aristarchus and Mark as “the only Jews” (lit., “of the circumcision”) among his coworkers. It is unclear who fits in this category and how to punctuate the sentence.24 If it means that they are the only Jewish converts among his coworkers, it would appear to exclude Timothy, the coauthor of the letter. Possibly the phrase “of the circumcision” refers to the circumcision party (see Acts 10:45; 11:2; Gal. 2:12) and means: These are the only ones from that group who bring him comfort. If it refers to these three as Jews, it may be a lament (see Rom. 9:1–3)—these are the only ones. In the context of Jewish opposition in Colosse, however, it is more likely that Paul wants to remind them that some Jews, whom they know or know about, have been willing to throw aside their religious entitlements for the sake of the gospel in which there is no Jew nor Greek, circumcised or uncircumcised. They also serve with him in his mission among the Gentiles.
Epaphras, like Onesimus, is identified as “one of you.” He is also given the title “servant of Christ Jesus,” a title Paul uses for himself in Romans 1:1 and Philippians 1:1 (including Timothy). “Servant” in our idiom implies voluntary service, but the Greek word doulos is better translated “slave.” To be a “slave of Christ” means that all one’s possessions, aspirations, and time belong completely to him. Christ owns him, and therefore Epaphras does not offer service to him only as his time or inclination permit.
Paul again reminds the Colossians of the prayer bond among Christians by telling them that Epaphras “is always wrestling in prayer for you.” If Epaphras founded the congregation, he did not forget it when he left but continued to pray for it, perhaps suffering from the same anxiety for the well-being of his church that plagued Paul (2 Cor. 11:28). The verb “wrestling” (agonizomai) may allude to Christ’s struggle in prayer in Gethsemane (see Luke 22:44), but Paul uses the word in 1:29 to refer simply to his missionary labor (cf. 1 Cor. 9:25; 1 Tim. 6:12; 2 Tim. 4:7). Paul connects prayer with his “working hard” for them, and the battle metaphor pictures prayer as a struggle. Epaphras does not wait for things to grow desperate before interceding for them but continually prays for them, day in and day out (see 2:1).25
Epaphras’s goal for the Colossian believers is no different from Paul’s: “that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God” (4:12c, lit. trans.; see 1:9–14; 2:2).26 The prayer fits our reconstruction of the Colossian situation. Outside opponents are assailing the Colossians’ faith, and they need to stand firm. The “will [thelema] of God” does not refer here to what God wants them to do but to God’s plan of salvation: “God has chosen [Gk. ethelesen, willed] to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (1:27; see 1:9). Epaphras, like Paul, wants the Colossians to become less tenuous in their understanding of all that God has done in Christ so that they will not become easy marks for false teaching that has an “appearance of wisdom” (2:23).
The greetings of Luke and Demas come last, and Paul does not mention their specific mission tasks. Luke is identified only as “the beloved physician” (NRSV).27 Demas is mentioned only by name with no commendation, which may hint of his future desertion of Paul (2 Tim. 4:10). He did not prove to be faithful in Christ. We have no information about the reasons for that desertion or what happened next.
Bridging Contexts
IT IS TEMPTING to disregard the concluding greetings and blessing of Paul’s letters with the cluster of names as an insignificant postscript to the theological meat found in the body. Here we get a glimpse, however, into the boiler room of the New Testament, those laboring in various capacities in various places. The bits of limited information we get with names are tantalizing, and we should be cautious not to read too much into the references and construct fanciful theories that go beyond the evidence. There is a danger of building up romantic reconstructions from the brief references, and I may be guilty of this in identifying the letter to the Laodiceans with Ephesians. We need to be careful that we not get snared in the web of our historical spinning and miss the theological and practical cues that these concluding greetings offer us.
Contemporary Significance
PAUL’S CONCLUDING WORDS show his driving concern for the advancement of the gospel throughout the world. He does not ask them to pray for his deliverance but that his work might be even more effective. We do not know how the prayers were answered, but we do know that his imprisonment forced him to write letters that have blessed far more lives than he could have reached had he been free to speak in person.
Guidelines for advancing the gospel. Paul’s final exhortation and greetings have contemporary significance for our task of advancing the gospel in our world and gaining a hearing for the witness to the mystery of God revealed in Christ. E. D. Martin notes that Paul does not ask them to pray for God “to save lost people,” but that they get “new opportunities” for witness.41 Paul gives guidelines for making the most of those occasions.
(1) Praying earnestly. A new technique to increase efficiency in automobile manufacturing is to have materials manufactured as needed. That tactic may work in industry, but it does not work in prayer. If we expect our prayer life to have any effect in our lives and in our world, it cannot be sporadic or haphazard. We cannot fall back on prayer only when we think we need it; we must devote ourselves to it (see Acts 1:14; 6:4; Rom. 12:12).
Prayer requires serious discipline. Paul describes Epaphras’s indefatigable prayer for the Colossians as something akin to a wrestling match (Col. 4:12). He prays for them with all his might, straining every nerve and muscle. If Christians prayed with the same zeal that some people manifest to keep themselves physically fit for a longer and healthier life, they might see different results in the life and witness of their church. William Cowper’s hymn expresses it well:
And Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees.
A church in a rural part of a rural state has experienced phenomenal quantitative and qualitative growth, and they attribute it to the Holy Spirit and their prayer ministry. The associate pastor says, “God is doing some unbelievable things at Buck Run because His people are daring to open up the channel for the power of the Spirit to flow…. They are paying the price in prayer.”42
(2) Cultivating a sense of urgency. The metaphor of “buying up the time” implies that believers must capitalize on every chance and use every moment to the full. Successful evangelism requires a sense of urgency. Scott states it well: “If men are to be won to Christ before he comes to judgment it must be done now.”43
Unfortunately, that sense of urgency has faded. Too often we have frittered away opportunities. As someone has put it, the world has been multiplying while the church has been making “additions”—indeed, sometimes “subtractions.” Some members in churches that are experiencing a dwindling membership may wonder where all the people are and worry about the decline. But it does not seem to bother them enough to do anything about it. They have no sense that it requires immediate action and no compulsion to reach out to unbelievers.
Jesus’ parable of the shrewd manager (Luke 16:1–8) provides an illustration of someone who acted decisively when the urgency of the moment demanded it. Caught in a desperate situation threatening total ruin, the steward deftly and quickly took action to secure his worldly life. When everything was at stake, he staked everything on a bold course of action. He represents the prudence of worldlings who recognize crisis and respond to it promptly with daring. The parable draws a pointed contrast between “the people of this world” and “the people of the light.” If worldlings such as this fellow act so astutely in a crisis to protect their self-interests, should not the people of the light seize each moment and act astutely to ensure their interests in the world to come?
In Colossians we might apply the lesson of the parable slightly differently. Others (“the people of this world”) face the crisis, and the time is short. But “the people of the light” sit idly by, twiddling their thumbs, as if the time for those living in darkness to decide for Christ were unlimited. If Christians felt the same urgency to reach others with the gospel as they do about securing their own welfare in this world, our churches would see amazing results.
(3) Acting wisely. Paul insists that the Colossians should act in the right way as well as at the right time.44 The message Christians have is clear: Jesus Christ embodies God’s good purposes for creation. Creation has come under the bondage of satanic powers and human sinfulness, but Christ’s death on the cross defeated these powers and canceled the debt of sin. God raised him from the dead and exalted him, and salvation is now available to all through him. But people listen to our message sometimes more with their eyes than with their ears. Its clarity gets garbled by our boorishness, acrimony, and misbehavior. Paul is acutely conscious that unbelievers watch what Christians do, and the New Testament contains many cautions, warning Christians to do nothing that would bring discredit to the gospel or confirm unbelievers’ misgivings about Christianity (see 1 Cor. 10:32–11:1; 1 Thess. 4:11–12; 1 Tim. 3:7; 6:1; Titus 2:5; 1 Peter 2:12, 15; 3:1).
In Paul’s world, Christianity was a new and different teaching. In our contemporary world, nations that were formerly overwhelmingly Christian now have a majority who claim to be agnostics or atheists, or who follow another religious faith. Christianity is increasingly becoming an unfamiliar and strange teaching in our world. Many have become skeptical about Christians and their faith, and a few well-publicized scandals involving prominent Christians have substantiated these suspicions. Pokorný recognizes, “In the secularized world of today, when being a Christian is no longer a matter of course, Christian conduct itself takes on a missionary function again.”45
Making a good impression is not everything, but it is not unimportant. The purpose of acting wisely is not simply to win the good opinion of outsiders but to help win them to God. The gospel message must always be fleshed out by the way believers live. The silent force of righteous living can speak loudly, and the most productive evangelists are Christians who enter the daily mix of life and live their faith. It can cause others who may be dubious or indifferent to become more receptive to hearing the verbal message of God’s love. It can lead them to ask why Christians live as they do, and the answer should point them to Christ. Christians are to present the gospel at all times, especially when they do not use words.
(4) Being gracious. The experience of grace should make us gracious. Christians must leaven a bold, uncompromising witness with civility, gentleness, kindness, and good humor. Before we can make disciples, we need to make friends and build rapport. Amos Starkadder, a character in the novel Cold Comfort Farm, is a caricature of the grim religious fanatic, and he provides a perfect example of how not to reach others. The following exchange captures his preaching philosophy: “ ‘They’ll all burn in hell,’ added Amos in a satisfied voice, ‘and I mun surelie tell them so.’ ”
When his cousin Flora wants to come to hear him preach to his small flock of Brethren, Amos replies:
“Aye … ye can come … ye poor miserable creepin’ sinner. Maybe ye think ye’ll escape hell fire if ye come along o’ me, and bow down and quiver. But I’m tellin’ ye no. ’Tes too late. Ye’ll burn with the rest. There’ll be time to say what yer sins have been, but there’ll be no time for more.”
When she asks if she needs to confess her sins publicly, he responds churlishly: “Aye, but not tonight. Nay, there’ll be too many sayin’ their sins aloud tonight; there’ll be no time for the Lord to listen to a new sheep like you. And maybe the spirit won’t move ye.”46 Probably not, when confronted with this kind of attitude. Amos begins his sermon with scorn.
“Ye miserable, crawling worms, are ye here again, then? Have ye come like Nimshi, son of Rehoboam, secretly out of yer doomed houses to hear what’s comin’ to ye? Have ye come, old and young, sick and well, matrons and virgins (if there is any virgins among ye, which is not likely, the world bein’ in the wicked state it is), old men and young lads to hear me tellin’ o’ the great crimson lickin’ flames o’ hell fire?”47
This approach may be “salty,” but it is not full of grace. We do well to remember what is was like when we were formerly estranged from God. What was it that we needed to hear? What was it that touched our hearts? It would help our approach if we look at those we consider to be “poor, miserable sinners” the same way we imagine that Christ looked at us when we were once lost in the darkness of our own sin. We should respect others and treat them as reflecting, sensitive human beings who can decide for themselves. The key is to season our witness with liberal doses of the virtues enjoined in 3:12–17: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, love, wisdom, and thanksgiving.
On the other hand, we can go to the opposite extreme by trying to be so gracious that we never share the gospel with others. This is no less problematic. Some Christians have become so hypersensitive about offending non-Christians that they never present them with their vision of God’s truth clearly and directly. Many people never darken the door of a church because they have never been invited in. We are not showing compassion or love if we choose to keep meekly silent and never share the truth about Christ with those who need desperately to hear it.
Helen Keller’s poignant reflection on her blindness and deafness resonates with the way many sighted and hearing people feel:
Sometimes, it is true, a sense of isolation enfolds me like a cold mist as I sit alone and wait at life’s shut gate. Beyond there is light, and music, and sweet companionship; but I may not enter.48
Her isolation was caused by physical barriers. Others who have both physical sight and hearing may feel a similar isolation induced by their spiritual alienation from God. For these persons, Christians have good news. Christ has broken down the barriers of sin that bar us from God’s presence, isolate us from others, and imprison us in our own little hell. Christ invites all to enter his light and sweet companionship, but he invites them through us. Christians should never forget that the grace given to us was intended to be passed on to others (see Eph. 3:2).
(5) Being lively (seasoned with salt). Many believe that obedience to God is “tedious, boring, dull”; and many believers “do their part to confirm this attitude by being tedious, boring, and dull, seasoned with nothing.”49 A wearisome, dreary, lackluster, and insipid presentation of the gospel has done immeasurable harm. Godliness is not to be equated with stodginess. Flat formulas or lifeless platitudes do not capture the gospel’s excitement. It must be made palatable with a savory combination of charm and wit.
The danger is that we can go overboard in trying to be entertaining. Lively presentations can be as hollow as “fine-sounding arguments.”50 We should not emphasize being colorful at the expense of communicating the basics of the faith. Scott’s comment on 4:6 offers a helpful check: “The salt with which they are to flavour their talk is not literary allusion and epigram, but the spirit of the gospel.”51 Anything that does not accord with that spirit should be avoided.
What people may regard as “lively” usually depends on their cultural background. Some may find certain styles of speaking or writing disagreeable, while others find them captivating. Regardless of the style we use, if we are to communicate powerfully our message, it will need to be “salted” with images that connect theological truth to everyday life. As most preachers know, people usually remember their illustrations while forgetting the details of the argument.
Jesus provides a classic example of this kind of “salt” in his parables. He captured profound theological truth in homely stories that have captured the imaginations of persons for generations. Paul also wove in different images from everyday life to make his points. Most of his metaphors, so familiar and concrete to his original listeners, have become obscure to us because the distance of time has dissipated their power or because we have so theologized them that we do not even recognize that he is using everyday imagery. The result is that it no longer grips us in the same way that it did the first audience.
We spoke earlier of how Paul utilized vivid images in 2:6–23 (kidnapping, death as circumcision, baptism as burial, the head and the body, canceling IOUs, nailing charges to a cross, and leading defeated captives in a triumphal parade) to convey the truth that we have died in Christ’s death, triumphed in his victory, and been forgiven our trespasses. Most effective preachers and teachers recognize that communicating the message of timeless truth requires packaging it in time-bound imagery that excites the imagination and opens the eyes of the mind and heart to see the truth more clearly.
(6) Being well grounded. Paul tells the Colossians to be ready to answer unbelievers’ questions and challenges. The key here is that they are their questions. All too often we arm ourselves with pat answers to questions about theological fine points and debates that people never ask. People do not respond well to a canned message and are usually sophisticated enough to see through something that is only slick propaganda. When they quiz us on the issues bothering them, we may be caught off guard and stammer out only muddled replies. If someone asks, for example, “Why do you think Christianity is better than any other religion,” many Christians are at a loss to give anything more than pious clichés learned from childhood Sunday school experiences. Some cannot answer their own spiritual questions, let alone the questions the world poses concerning the latest scientific discoveries, personal crises, and moral dilemmas.
Christians must be well grounded and well prepared in advance to answer others’ questions whenever they pose them. When the Ethiopian eunuch asked Philip what the passage from Isaiah 53 meant, the evangelist did not ask for time to go home and study and tell him that he would get back to him later. The chance would have been lost forever. He needed to give him the answer right then; and to give an answer, he needed to know what his Bible said and what it meant. Many today may not even know how to formulate their questions. We need sensitivity to reach out to them where they are and wisdom and knowledge to provide answers.
(7) Cultivating networks (and unity). Throughout these closing remarks Paul mentions how Christians should pray for one another. Prayer links individuals and churches together into overlapping networks (see Rom. 15:30–32). It keeps us from focusing only on our own immediate group and its concerns. If Epaphras founded the congregation in Colosse, he did not forget it when he left but continued to pray for it. How many pastors continue to pray for the congregations they once served when they moved to different, usually greener pastures? How many Christians continue to pray for the churches they may have left after moving away? We see the premium Paul put on friends working together and praying together, caring about what was going on in their lives, and offering mutual support.
Paul clearly did not believe that he was self-sufficient; he needed the help of all those listed and appreciated and affirmed each person’s contribution. No one works alone. The emphasis is on
• cooperation, not independence or competition
• praying for mission opportunities for others, not just for ourselves
• praying for mission opportunities over the entire world, not just our corner
• praying that every Christian in every circumstance will have the wisdom and courage to communicate the gospel boldly and clearly.
Like Paul, we should never lose sight that God has called us to serve him and has called us to serve with others. We need each other’s prayers and support.
(8) Being ready to accept the consequences of preaching in a hostile world. Paul preferred to be freed from his chains so that he might carry the gospel to ever more distant climes (see Rom. 15:23–24; 2 Cor. 10:15–16). But he accepted his present chains and continued to preach the gospel and to write encouraging letters to churches. For centuries those letters have blessed those who have studied them. For this reason, Paul’s imprisonment may have contributed more to advance the gospel than his freedom. Paradoxically, suffering may abet our mission, and we must be prepared to accept it graciously.
Will Willimon recorded this exchange with Bishop Emilio de Carvalho from Marxist Angola. The struggles with government oppression caused his church to grow stronger.
The government does what it needs to do. The church does what it needs to do. If we go to jail for being the church, we shall go to jail. Jail is a wonderful place for Christian evangelism. Our church made some of its most dramatic gains during the revolution when so many of us were in jail. In jail, you have everyone there, in one place. You have time to preach and teach. Sure, twenty thousand of our Methodist pastors were killed during the revolution, but we came out of jail a much larger and stronger church.
Willimon remarked that the Bishop saw the drift of the questions directed to him from the audience and responded:
Don’t worry about the church in Angola; God is doing fine by us. Frankly, I would find it much more difficult to be a pastor in Evanston, Illinois. Here there is so much. So many things. It must be hard to be the church there.52
Overcoming failures. If we read the names in Paul’s final greeting canonically, we discover three names associated with personal failures in the New Testament—Mark, Onesimus, and Demas. John Mark went along with Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey to help them (Acts 13:5). For unspecified reasons, he left the mission and returned home to Jerusalem (13:13). Acts records a later split between the former mission partners Barnabas and Paul over whether to take Mark again on a new mission (15:36–40):
Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.
Paul clearly harbored suspicion of Mark. But this breach between Paul and Barnabas did not hinder the gospel’s advance. Instead, it meant that there were now two missions. Yet somehow, by the writing of Colossians, Mark redeemed himself in Paul’s eyes and become helpful to his ministry (see also 2 Tim. 4:11).
The fascinating and moving story of Onesimus, a runaway slave, will be dealt with in the commentary on Philemon. He also was guilty of desertion but had turned things around when he was converted by Paul. Paul warmly recommends him to his master as a brother in Christ who has served him in the gospel while he was in chains.
Paul mentions the third person, Demas, without any commendation. Perhaps this is a hint of his failure to come: “Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica” (2 Tim. 4:10). In Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Demas appears as the halfhearted Christian who beckons the pilgrims to turn aside from their journey to tarry at a silver mine. The judgment of Bunyan’s Christian against Demas may be too strong:
I know you; Gehazi was your great-grandfather, and Judas your father; and you have trod in their steps; it is but a devilish prank that thou usest: thy father was hanged for a traitor, and thou deservest no better reward.
After all, Paul only says that Demas deserted him, not Christ. We do not know the rest of the story; but we do know how God can redeem failure, including those who even desert their Lord and deny him with curses (cf. John 18:15–18, 25–27; 21:15–19). The key to overcoming failure is that one turn to God in repentance and trust in God for renewal.
The stories of personal failures connected to these names presents an opportunity for the homilist to investigate the nature of failure. Failure happens, but failure need not be final. Those who have triumphed over their failures or in spite of their failures recognize that they may have had a failure, perhaps many; but they were not failures. Failures may simply be underpasses that lead to success. C. S. Lewis wrote:
No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be v.[ery] muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes in the airing cupboard. The only fatal thing is to lose one’s temper and give up. It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the v.[ery] sign of his presence.53
We can never succeed on our own. The good news of the gospel is that we do not have to. We live in Christ and triumph through him.
Original Meaning
Greetings to Other Christians in the Area (4:15–17)
PAUL ALSO EXTENDS his greetings in this letter to the Christians in Laodicea and particularly to the church that meets in Nympha’s house (4:15).28 In the Greek, if the accusative Nymphan is given a circumflex accent on the last syllable, the name would be masculine (from Nymphas). If it is given an acute accent on the first syllable, it would be a feminine name (from Nympha). The original and the earliest texts did not employ accent marks, so the key for deciding the gender is the personal pronoun modifying the house, but it has three textual variants. Some texts read “his” house (masculine), others read “her” house, and still others have “their” house, which would include the “brothers.”
The feminine reading best explains how the others may have developed.29 It is more plausible that later scribes thought it impossible for Paul to refer to a woman’s house church (with its implication of some leadership role for her) than that they would have mistaken a man’s house for a woman’s. They would know that the householder did more than simply provide space for the church to meet, so they altered it accordingly. The reference to the church meeting “in her house” does not treat it as an unusual circumstance or anything worthy of special comment. She is probably either unmarried or widowed. Either status would give her more independence and flexibility in the ancient world as the patria of her household than if she were married and under a husband’s legal authority.
The greetings assume that the Colossians will go to Laodicea with their letter and will retrieve a copy of the letter sent to them (4:16). The reference to this Laodicean letter, however, poses an intriguing puzzle: Who wrote it? What happened to it?
Paul does not say that the letter is “to” Laodicea but “from” (ek) there. Some contend that the letter was written by the Laodiceans to Paul, to Colosse, or to Epaphras.30 Others suggest that it was a letter written by Epaphras.31 Since Paul knows about the letter and can decide who should read it, we can safely assume that he wrote it. The phrase “the letter from Laodicea” reflects an epistolary style that views things from the perspective of the Colossians.32
If this reference is not some ruse by a forger composing Colossians to explain the sudden appearance of the letter, three nominees from canonical letters have been proposed for this unknown letter: Hebrews, Philemon, and Ephesians.33 The letter could have been lost long before Paul’s letters were collected, possibly destroyed in the earthquake in A.D. 61–62, or allowed to fall into neglect by a “lukewarm” church. If this were the case, it raises the natural questions: How many more of Paul’s letters were lost? Why would the letter to the Laodiceans be lost, if an exchange took place, when the companion letter to the Colossians was not?
Lightfoot’s argument that the letter was our canonical Ephesians still has merit.34 Ephesians was a circular letter without specific greetings or advice tailored to a specific setting.35 Tychicus was sent with a copy of the letter to the churches in the Lycus valley; the reference to him in Ephesians 6:21–22 agrees almost exactly with the one in Colossians 4:7–8. He naturally planned to visit Colosse after Laodicea. He also brought with him Onesimus and the special letter for Philemon. Paul apparently did not think that the circular letter with its more sweeping agenda and poetic expression was adequate to resolve the issues broached in 2:8–23, nor were the issues addressed in the Colossian letter suited for a circular letter. Consequently, Paul wrote a separate letter to the Colossians to deal with the specific problems.36 Though Paul wrote to particular situations, he fully intended his letters to have wider circulation.
Paul concludes his greetings with a cryptic comment about Archippus’s work: “Tell Archippus: ‘See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord’ ” (4:17). Is this word to be taken as a warning (cf. the phrase in 1 Cor. 16:10) or as supportive encouragement? The charge to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:5, “Discharge all the duties of your ministry,” is similar in Greek. In Timothy’s case, it is “do[ing] the work of an evangelist.” This parallel makes it more likely that Paul intends this exhortation as a positive reminder to Archippus.
We can do no more than guess at the nature of Archippus’s “work” (lit., “ministry”), but it parallels what Paul says about himself in 1:25. Paul writes that he has become the church’s “servant [diakonos] by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness” (lit., “given to me unto you to fulfill [aorist infinitive of pleroo], the word of God”). Similarly, Archippus has received in the Lord a ministry (diakonia) that he may “fulfill” it (present subjunctive of pleroo).37 We can only guess what it was but should observe that “the whole body of believers at Colossae is asked to share the responsibility for its execution.”38 Ministry and authority are shared obligations in this community (3:16).
Bridging Contexts
IT IS TEMPTING to disregard the concluding greetings and blessing of Paul’s letters with the cluster of names as an insignificant postscript to the theological meat found in the body. Here we get a glimpse, however, into the boiler room of the New Testament, those laboring in various capacities in various places. The bits of limited information we get with names are tantalizing, and we should be cautious not to read too much into the references and construct fanciful theories that go beyond the evidence. There is a danger of building up romantic reconstructions from the brief references, and I may be guilty of this in identifying the letter to the Laodiceans with Ephesians. We need to be careful that we not get snared in the web of our historical spinning and miss the theological and practical cues that these concluding greetings offer us.
Contemporary Significance
PAUL’S CONCLUDING WORDS show his driving concern for the advancement of the gospel throughout the world. He does not ask them to pray for his deliverance but that his work might be even more effective. We do not know how the prayers were answered, but we do know that his imprisonment forced him to write letters that have blessed far more lives than he could have reached had he been free to speak in person.
Guidelines for advancing the gospel. Paul’s final exhortation and greetings have contemporary significance for our task of advancing the gospel in our world and gaining a hearing for the witness to the mystery of God revealed in Christ. E. D. Martin notes that Paul does not ask them to pray for God “to save lost people,” but that they get “new opportunities” for witness.41 Paul gives guidelines for making the most of those occasions.
(1) Praying earnestly. A new technique to increase efficiency in automobile manufacturing is to have materials manufactured as needed. That tactic may work in industry, but it does not work in prayer. If we expect our prayer life to have any effect in our lives and in our world, it cannot be sporadic or haphazard. We cannot fall back on prayer only when we think we need it; we must devote ourselves to it (see Acts 1:14; 6:4; Rom. 12:12).
Prayer requires serious discipline. Paul describes Epaphras’s indefatigable prayer for the Colossians as something akin to a wrestling match (Col. 4:12). He prays for them with all his might, straining every nerve and muscle. If Christians prayed with the same zeal that some people manifest to keep themselves physically fit for a longer and healthier life, they might see different results in the life and witness of their church. William Cowper’s hymn expresses it well:
And Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees.
A church in a rural part of a rural state has experienced phenomenal quantitative and qualitative growth, and they attribute it to the Holy Spirit and their prayer ministry. The associate pastor says, “God is doing some unbelievable things at Buck Run because His people are daring to open up the channel for the power of the Spirit to flow…. They are paying the price in prayer.”42
(2) Cultivating a sense of urgency. The metaphor of “buying up the time” implies that believers must capitalize on every chance and use every moment to the full. Successful evangelism requires a sense of urgency. Scott states it well: “If men are to be won to Christ before he comes to judgment it must be done now.”43
Unfortunately, that sense of urgency has faded. Too often we have frittered away opportunities. As someone has put it, the world has been multiplying while the church has been making “additions”—indeed, sometimes “subtractions.” Some members in churches that are experiencing a dwindling membership may wonder where all the people are and worry about the decline. But it does not seem to bother them enough to do anything about it. They have no sense that it requires immediate action and no compulsion to reach out to unbelievers.
Jesus’ parable of the shrewd manager (Luke 16:1–8) provides an illustration of someone who acted decisively when the urgency of the moment demanded it. Caught in a desperate situation threatening total ruin, the steward deftly and quickly took action to secure his worldly life. When everything was at stake, he staked everything on a bold course of action. He represents the prudence of worldlings who recognize crisis and respond to it promptly with daring. The parable draws a pointed contrast between “the people of this world” and “the people of the light.” If worldlings such as this fellow act so astutely in a crisis to protect their self-interests, should not the people of the light seize each moment and act astutely to ensure their interests in the world to come?
In Colossians we might apply the lesson of the parable slightly differently. Others (“the people of this world”) face the crisis, and the time is short. But “the people of the light” sit idly by, twiddling their thumbs, as if the time for those living in darkness to decide for Christ were unlimited. If Christians felt the same urgency to reach others with the gospel as they do about securing their own welfare in this world, our churches would see amazing results.
(3) Acting wisely. Paul insists that the Colossians should act in the right way as well as at the right time.44 The message Christians have is clear: Jesus Christ embodies God’s good purposes for creation. Creation has come under the bondage of satanic powers and human sinfulness, but Christ’s death on the cross defeated these powers and canceled the debt of sin. God raised him from the dead and exalted him, and salvation is now available to all through him. But people listen to our message sometimes more with their eyes than with their ears. Its clarity gets garbled by our boorishness, acrimony, and misbehavior. Paul is acutely conscious that unbelievers watch what Christians do, and the New Testament contains many cautions, warning Christians to do nothing that would bring discredit to the gospel or confirm unbelievers’ misgivings about Christianity (see 1 Cor. 10:32–11:1; 1 Thess. 4:11–12; 1 Tim. 3:7; 6:1; Titus 2:5; 1 Peter 2:12, 15; 3:1).
In Paul’s world, Christianity was a new and different teaching. In our contemporary world, nations that were formerly overwhelmingly Christian now have a majority who claim to be agnostics or atheists, or who follow another religious faith. Christianity is increasingly becoming an unfamiliar and strange teaching in our world. Many have become skeptical about Christians and their faith, and a few well-publicized scandals involving prominent Christians have substantiated these suspicions. Pokorný recognizes, “In the secularized world of today, when being a Christian is no longer a matter of course, Christian conduct itself takes on a missionary function again.”45
Making a good impression is not everything, but it is not unimportant. The purpose of acting wisely is not simply to win the good opinion of outsiders but to help win them to God. The gospel message must always be fleshed out by the way believers live. The silent force of righteous living can speak loudly, and the most productive evangelists are Christians who enter the daily mix of life and live their faith. It can cause others who may be dubious or indifferent to become more receptive to hearing the verbal message of God’s love. It can lead them to ask why Christians live as they do, and the answer should point them to Christ. Christians are to present the gospel at all times, especially when they do not use words.
(4) Being gracious. The experience of grace should make us gracious. Christians must leaven a bold, uncompromising witness with civility, gentleness, kindness, and good humor. Before we can make disciples, we need to make friends and build rapport. Amos Starkadder, a character in the novel Cold Comfort Farm, is a caricature of the grim religious fanatic, and he provides a perfect example of how not to reach others. The following exchange captures his preaching philosophy: “ ‘They’ll all burn in hell,’ added Amos in a satisfied voice, ‘and I mun surelie tell them so.’ ”
When his cousin Flora wants to come to hear him preach to his small flock of Brethren, Amos replies:
“Aye … ye can come … ye poor miserable creepin’ sinner. Maybe ye think ye’ll escape hell fire if ye come along o’ me, and bow down and quiver. But I’m tellin’ ye no. ’Tes too late. Ye’ll burn with the rest. There’ll be time to say what yer sins have been, but there’ll be no time for more.”
When she asks if she needs to confess her sins publicly, he responds churlishly: “Aye, but not tonight. Nay, there’ll be too many sayin’ their sins aloud tonight; there’ll be no time for the Lord to listen to a new sheep like you. And maybe the spirit won’t move ye.”46 Probably not, when confronted with this kind of attitude. Amos begins his sermon with scorn.
“Ye miserable, crawling worms, are ye here again, then? Have ye come like Nimshi, son of Rehoboam, secretly out of yer doomed houses to hear what’s comin’ to ye? Have ye come, old and young, sick and well, matrons and virgins (if there is any virgins among ye, which is not likely, the world bein’ in the wicked state it is), old men and young lads to hear me tellin’ o’ the great crimson lickin’ flames o’ hell fire?”47
This approach may be “salty,” but it is not full of grace. We do well to remember what is was like when we were formerly estranged from God. What was it that we needed to hear? What was it that touched our hearts? It would help our approach if we look at those we consider to be “poor, miserable sinners” the same way we imagine that Christ looked at us when we were once lost in the darkness of our own sin. We should respect others and treat them as reflecting, sensitive human beings who can decide for themselves. The key is to season our witness with liberal doses of the virtues enjoined in 3:12–17: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, love, wisdom, and thanksgiving.
On the other hand, we can go to the opposite extreme by trying to be so gracious that we never share the gospel with others. This is no less problematic. Some Christians have become so hypersensitive about offending non-Christians that they never present them with their vision of God’s truth clearly and directly. Many people never darken the door of a church because they have never been invited in. We are not showing compassion or love if we choose to keep meekly silent and never share the truth about Christ with those who need desperately to hear it.
Helen Keller’s poignant reflection on her blindness and deafness resonates with the way many sighted and hearing people feel:
Sometimes, it is true, a sense of isolation enfolds me like a cold mist as I sit alone and wait at life’s shut gate. Beyond there is light, and music, and sweet companionship; but I may not enter.48
Her isolation was caused by physical barriers. Others who have both physical sight and hearing may feel a similar isolation induced by their spiritual alienation from God. For these persons, Christians have good news. Christ has broken down the barriers of sin that bar us from God’s presence, isolate us from others, and imprison us in our own little hell. Christ invites all to enter his light and sweet companionship, but he invites them through us. Christians should never forget that the grace given to us was intended to be passed on to others (see Eph. 3:2).
(5) Being lively (seasoned with salt). Many believe that obedience to God is “tedious, boring, dull”; and many believers “do their part to confirm this attitude by being tedious, boring, and dull, seasoned with nothing.”49 A wearisome, dreary, lackluster, and insipid presentation of the gospel has done immeasurable harm. Godliness is not to be equated with stodginess. Flat formulas or lifeless platitudes do not capture the gospel’s excitement. It must be made palatable with a savory combination of charm and wit.
The danger is that we can go overboard in trying to be entertaining. Lively presentations can be as hollow as “fine-sounding arguments.”50 We should not emphasize being colorful at the expense of communicating the basics of the faith. Scott’s comment on 4:6 offers a helpful check: “The salt with which they are to flavour their talk is not literary allusion and epigram, but the spirit of the gospel.”51 Anything that does not accord with that spirit should be avoided.
What people may regard as “lively” usually depends on their cultural background. Some may find certain styles of speaking or writing disagreeable, while others find them captivating. Regardless of the style we use, if we are to communicate powerfully our message, it will need to be “salted” with images that connect theological truth to everyday life. As most preachers know, people usually remember their illustrations while forgetting the details of the argument.
Jesus provides a classic example of this kind of “salt” in his parables. He captured profound theological truth in homely stories that have captured the imaginations of persons for generations. Paul also wove in different images from everyday life to make his points. Most of his metaphors, so familiar and concrete to his original listeners, have become obscure to us because the distance of time has dissipated their power or because we have so theologized them that we do not even recognize that he is using everyday imagery. The result is that it no longer grips us in the same way that it did the first audience.
We spoke earlier of how Paul utilized vivid images in 2:6–23 (kidnapping, death as circumcision, baptism as burial, the head and the body, canceling IOUs, nailing charges to a cross, and leading defeated captives in a triumphal parade) to convey the truth that we have died in Christ’s death, triumphed in his victory, and been forgiven our trespasses. Most effective preachers and teachers recognize that communicating the message of timeless truth requires packaging it in time-bound imagery that excites the imagination and opens the eyes of the mind and heart to see the truth more clearly.
(6) Being well grounded. Paul tells the Colossians to be ready to answer unbelievers’ questions and challenges. The key here is that they are their questions. All too often we arm ourselves with pat answers to questions about theological fine points and debates that people never ask. People do not respond well to a canned message and are usually sophisticated enough to see through something that is only slick propaganda. When they quiz us on the issues bothering them, we may be caught off guard and stammer out only muddled replies. If someone asks, for example, “Why do you think Christianity is better than any other religion,” many Christians are at a loss to give anything more than pious clichés learned from childhood Sunday school experiences. Some cannot answer their own spiritual questions, let alone the questions the world poses concerning the latest scientific discoveries, personal crises, and moral dilemmas.
Christians must be well grounded and well prepared in advance to answer others’ questions whenever they pose them. When the Ethiopian eunuch asked Philip what the passage from Isaiah 53 meant, the evangelist did not ask for time to go home and study and tell him that he would get back to him later. The chance would have been lost forever. He needed to give him the answer right then; and to give an answer, he needed to know what his Bible said and what it meant. Many today may not even know how to formulate their questions. We need sensitivity to reach out to them where they are and wisdom and knowledge to provide answers.
(7) Cultivating networks (and unity). Throughout these closing remarks Paul mentions how Christians should pray for one another. Prayer links individuals and churches together into overlapping networks (see Rom. 15:30–32). It keeps us from focusing only on our own immediate group and its concerns. If Epaphras founded the congregation in Colosse, he did not forget it when he left but continued to pray for it. How many pastors continue to pray for the congregations they once served when they moved to different, usually greener pastures? How many Christians continue to pray for the churches they may have left after moving away? We see the premium Paul put on friends working together and praying together, caring about what was going on in their lives, and offering mutual support.
Paul clearly did not believe that he was self-sufficient; he needed the help of all those listed and appreciated and affirmed each person’s contribution. No one works alone. The emphasis is on
• cooperation, not independence or competition
• praying for mission opportunities for others, not just for ourselves
• praying for mission opportunities over the entire world, not just our corner
• praying that every Christian in every circumstance will have the wisdom and courage to communicate the gospel boldly and clearly.
Like Paul, we should never lose sight that God has called us to serve him and has called us to serve with others. We need each other’s prayers and support.
(8) Being ready to accept the consequences of preaching in a hostile world. Paul preferred to be freed from his chains so that he might carry the gospel to ever more distant climes (see Rom. 15:23–24; 2 Cor. 10:15–16). But he accepted his present chains and continued to preach the gospel and to write encouraging letters to churches. For centuries those letters have blessed those who have studied them. For this reason, Paul’s imprisonment may have contributed more to advance the gospel than his freedom. Paradoxically, suffering may abet our mission, and we must be prepared to accept it graciously.
Will Willimon recorded this exchange with Bishop Emilio de Carvalho from Marxist Angola. The struggles with government oppression caused his church to grow stronger.
The government does what it needs to do. The church does what it needs to do. If we go to jail for being the church, we shall go to jail. Jail is a wonderful place for Christian evangelism. Our church made some of its most dramatic gains during the revolution when so many of us were in jail. In jail, you have everyone there, in one place. You have time to preach and teach. Sure, twenty thousand of our Methodist pastors were killed during the revolution, but we came out of jail a much larger and stronger church.
Willimon remarked that the Bishop saw the drift of the questions directed to him from the audience and responded:
Don’t worry about the church in Angola; God is doing fine by us. Frankly, I would find it much more difficult to be a pastor in Evanston, Illinois. Here there is so much. So many things. It must be hard to be the church there.52
Overcoming failures. If we read the names in Paul’s final greeting canonically, we discover three names associated with personal failures in the New Testament—Mark, Onesimus, and Demas. John Mark went along with Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey to help them (Acts 13:5). For unspecified reasons, he left the mission and returned home to Jerusalem (13:13). Acts records a later split between the former mission partners Barnabas and Paul over whether to take Mark again on a new mission (15:36–40):
Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.
Paul clearly harbored suspicion of Mark. But this breach between Paul and Barnabas did not hinder the gospel’s advance. Instead, it meant that there were now two missions. Yet somehow, by the writing of Colossians, Mark redeemed himself in Paul’s eyes and become helpful to his ministry (see also 2 Tim. 4:11).
The fascinating and moving story of Onesimus, a runaway slave, will be dealt with in the commentary on Philemon. He also was guilty of desertion but had turned things around when he was converted by Paul. Paul warmly recommends him to his master as a brother in Christ who has served him in the gospel while he was in chains.
Paul mentions the third person, Demas, without any commendation. Perhaps this is a hint of his failure to come: “Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica” (2 Tim. 4:10). In Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Demas appears as the halfhearted Christian who beckons the pilgrims to turn aside from their journey to tarry at a silver mine. The judgment of Bunyan’s Christian against Demas may be too strong:
I know you; Gehazi was your great-grandfather, and Judas your father; and you have trod in their steps; it is but a devilish prank that thou usest: thy father was hanged for a traitor, and thou deservest no better reward.
After all, Paul only says that Demas deserted him, not Christ. We do not know the rest of the story; but we do know how God can redeem failure, including those who even desert their Lord and deny him with curses (cf. John 18:15–18, 25–27; 21:15–19). The key to overcoming failure is that one turn to God in repentance and trust in God for renewal.
The stories of personal failures connected to these names presents an opportunity for the homilist to investigate the nature of failure. Failure happens, but failure need not be final. Those who have triumphed over their failures or in spite of their failures recognize that they may have had a failure, perhaps many; but they were not failures. Failures may simply be underpasses that lead to success. C. S. Lewis wrote:
No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be v.[ery] muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes in the airing cupboard. The only fatal thing is to lose one’s temper and give up. It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the v.[ery] sign of his presence.53
We can never succeed on our own. The good news of the gospel is that we do not have to. We live in Christ and triumph through him.
Original Meaning
Final Greeting from Paul’s Own Hand (4:18)
PAUL SIGNS HIS letter with a terse, final request for them to “remember my chains.” The apostle customarily dictated his letters, but he takes the pen in hand for the final greeting. His brief benediction may hint at the difficulty of writing with manacles binding his wrists.39
The call to remember his chains is not some forlorn plea for pity from a woebegone and disheartened apostle. He does not ask for commiseration. He is glad to suffer for Christ (1:24) and his bonds are the bonds of the gospel (Philem. 13). It is better to regard this call as a note of encouragement for those who may also suffer persecution for their faith as well as another request for their prayer support. Theodore of Mopsuestia interpreted it: “Following my example, do not be ashamed to suffer for the truth.”40 Following Paul’s example requires more than a halfhearted commitment to the gospel. The letter itself becomes a means by which believers can see and experience God’s grace even when things become difficult.
Bridging Contexts
IT IS TEMPTING to disregard the concluding greetings and blessing of Paul’s letters with the cluster of names as an insignificant postscript to the theological meat found in the body. Here we get a glimpse, however, into the boiler room of the New Testament, those laboring in various capacities in various places. The bits of limited information we get with names are tantalizing, and we should be cautious not to read too much into the references and construct fanciful theories that go beyond the evidence. There is a danger of building up romantic reconstructions from the brief references, and I may be guilty of this in identifying the letter to the Laodiceans with Ephesians. We need to be careful that we not get snared in the web of our historical spinning and miss the theological and practical cues that these concluding greetings offer us.
Contemporary Significance
PAUL’S CONCLUDING WORDS show his driving concern for the advancement of the gospel throughout the world. He does not ask them to pray for his deliverance but that his work might be even more effective. We do not know how the prayers were answered, but we do know that his imprisonment forced him to write letters that have blessed far more lives than he could have reached had he been free to speak in person.
Guidelines for advancing the gospel. Paul’s final exhortation and greetings have contemporary significance for our task of advancing the gospel in our world and gaining a hearing for the witness to the mystery of God revealed in Christ. E. D. Martin notes that Paul does not ask them to pray for God “to save lost people,” but that they get “new opportunities” for witness.41 Paul gives guidelines for making the most of those occasions.
(1) Praying earnestly. A new technique to increase efficiency in automobile manufacturing is to have materials manufactured as needed. That tactic may work in industry, but it does not work in prayer. If we expect our prayer life to have any effect in our lives and in our world, it cannot be sporadic or haphazard. We cannot fall back on prayer only when we think we need it; we must devote ourselves to it (see Acts 1:14; 6:4; Rom. 12:12).
Prayer requires serious discipline. Paul describes Epaphras’s indefatigable prayer for the Colossians as something akin to a wrestling match (Col. 4:12). He prays for them with all his might, straining every nerve and muscle. If Christians prayed with the same zeal that some people manifest to keep themselves physically fit for a longer and healthier life, they might see different results in the life and witness of their church. William Cowper’s hymn expresses it well:
And Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees.
A church in a rural part of a rural state has experienced phenomenal quantitative and qualitative growth, and they attribute it to the Holy Spirit and their prayer ministry. The associate pastor says, “God is doing some unbelievable things at Buck Run because His people are daring to open up the channel for the power of the Spirit to flow…. They are paying the price in prayer.”42
(2) Cultivating a sense of urgency. The metaphor of “buying up the time” implies that believers must capitalize on every chance and use every moment to the full. Successful evangelism requires a sense of urgency. Scott states it well: “If men are to be won to Christ before he comes to judgment it must be done now.”43
Unfortunately, that sense of urgency has faded. Too often we have frittered away opportunities. As someone has put it, the world has been multiplying while the church has been making “additions”—indeed, sometimes “subtractions.” Some members in churches that are experiencing a dwindling membership may wonder where all the people are and worry about the decline. But it does not seem to bother them enough to do anything about it. They have no sense that it requires immediate action and no compulsion to reach out to unbelievers.
Jesus’ parable of the shrewd manager (Luke 16:1–8) provides an illustration of someone who acted decisively when the urgency of the moment demanded it. Caught in a desperate situation threatening total ruin, the steward deftly and quickly took action to secure his worldly life. When everything was at stake, he staked everything on a bold course of action. He represents the prudence of worldlings who recognize crisis and respond to it promptly with daring. The parable draws a pointed contrast between “the people of this world” and “the people of the light.” If worldlings such as this fellow act so astutely in a crisis to protect their self-interests, should not the people of the light seize each moment and act astutely to ensure their interests in the world to come?
In Colossians we might apply the lesson of the parable slightly differently. Others (“the people of this world”) face the crisis, and the time is short. But “the people of the light” sit idly by, twiddling their thumbs, as if the time for those living in darkness to decide for Christ were unlimited. If Christians felt the same urgency to reach others with the gospel as they do about securing their own welfare in this world, our churches would see amazing results.
(3) Acting wisely. Paul insists that the Colossians should act in the right way as well as at the right time.44 The message Christians have is clear: Jesus Christ embodies God’s good purposes for creation. Creation has come under the bondage of satanic powers and human sinfulness, but Christ’s death on the cross defeated these powers and canceled the debt of sin. God raised him from the dead and exalted him, and salvation is now available to all through him. But people listen to our message sometimes more with their eyes than with their ears. Its clarity gets garbled by our boorishness, acrimony, and misbehavior. Paul is acutely conscious that unbelievers watch what Christians do, and the New Testament contains many cautions, warning Christians to do nothing that would bring discredit to the gospel or confirm unbelievers’ misgivings about Christianity (see 1 Cor. 10:32–11:1; 1 Thess. 4:11–12; 1 Tim. 3:7; 6:1; Titus 2:5; 1 Peter 2:12, 15; 3:1).
In Paul’s world, Christianity was a new and different teaching. In our contemporary world, nations that were formerly overwhelmingly Christian now have a majority who claim to be agnostics or atheists, or who follow another religious faith. Christianity is increasingly becoming an unfamiliar and strange teaching in our world. Many have become skeptical about Christians and their faith, and a few well-publicized scandals involving prominent Christians have substantiated these suspicions. Pokorný recognizes, “In the secularized world of today, when being a Christian is no longer a matter of course, Christian conduct itself takes on a missionary function again.”45
Making a good impression is not everything, but it is not unimportant. The purpose of acting wisely is not simply to win the good opinion of outsiders but to help win them to God. The gospel message must always be fleshed out by the way believers live. The silent force of righteous living can speak loudly, and the most productive evangelists are Christians who enter the daily mix of life and live their faith. It can cause others who may be dubious or indifferent to become more receptive to hearing the verbal message of God’s love. It can lead them to ask why Christians live as they do, and the answer should point them to Christ. Christians are to present the gospel at all times, especially when they do not use words.
(4) Being gracious. The experience of grace should make us gracious. Christians must leaven a bold, uncompromising witness with civility, gentleness, kindness, and good humor. Before we can make disciples, we need to make friends and build rapport. Amos Starkadder, a character in the novel Cold Comfort Farm, is a caricature of the grim religious fanatic, and he provides a perfect example of how not to reach others. The following exchange captures his preaching philosophy: “ ‘They’ll all burn in hell,’ added Amos in a satisfied voice, ‘and I mun surelie tell them so.’ ”
When his cousin Flora wants to come to hear him preach to his small flock of Brethren, Amos replies:
“Aye … ye can come … ye poor miserable creepin’ sinner. Maybe ye think ye’ll escape hell fire if ye come along o’ me, and bow down and quiver. But I’m tellin’ ye no. ’Tes too late. Ye’ll burn with the rest. There’ll be time to say what yer sins have been, but there’ll be no time for more.”
When she asks if she needs to confess her sins publicly, he responds churlishly: “Aye, but not tonight. Nay, there’ll be too many sayin’ their sins aloud tonight; there’ll be no time for the Lord to listen to a new sheep like you. And maybe the spirit won’t move ye.”46 Probably not, when confronted with this kind of attitude. Amos begins his sermon with scorn.
“Ye miserable, crawling worms, are ye here again, then? Have ye come like Nimshi, son of Rehoboam, secretly out of yer doomed houses to hear what’s comin’ to ye? Have ye come, old and young, sick and well, matrons and virgins (if there is any virgins among ye, which is not likely, the world bein’ in the wicked state it is), old men and young lads to hear me tellin’ o’ the great crimson lickin’ flames o’ hell fire?”47
This approach may be “salty,” but it is not full of grace. We do well to remember what is was like when we were formerly estranged from God. What was it that we needed to hear? What was it that touched our hearts? It would help our approach if we look at those we consider to be “poor, miserable sinners” the same way we imagine that Christ looked at us when we were once lost in the darkness of our own sin. We should respect others and treat them as reflecting, sensitive human beings who can decide for themselves. The key is to season our witness with liberal doses of the virtues enjoined in 3:12–17: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, love, wisdom, and thanksgiving.
On the other hand, we can go to the opposite extreme by trying to be so gracious that we never share the gospel with others. This is no less problematic. Some Christians have become so hypersensitive about offending non-Christians that they never present them with their vision of God’s truth clearly and directly. Many people never darken the door of a church because they have never been invited in. We are not showing compassion or love if we choose to keep meekly silent and never share the truth about Christ with those who need desperately to hear it.
Helen Keller’s poignant reflection on her blindness and deafness resonates with the way many sighted and hearing people feel:
Sometimes, it is true, a sense of isolation enfolds me like a cold mist as I sit alone and wait at life’s shut gate. Beyond there is light, and music, and sweet companionship; but I may not enter.48
Her isolation was caused by physical barriers. Others who have both physical sight and hearing may feel a similar isolation induced by their spiritual alienation from God. For these persons, Christians have good news. Christ has broken down the barriers of sin that bar us from God’s presence, isolate us from others, and imprison us in our own little hell. Christ invites all to enter his light and sweet companionship, but he invites them through us. Christians should never forget that the grace given to us was intended to be passed on to others (see Eph. 3:2).
(5) Being lively (seasoned with salt). Many believe that obedience to God is “tedious, boring, dull”; and many believers “do their part to confirm this attitude by being tedious, boring, and dull, seasoned with nothing.”49 A wearisome, dreary, lackluster, and insipid presentation of the gospel has done immeasurable harm. Godliness is not to be equated with stodginess. Flat formulas or lifeless platitudes do not capture the gospel’s excitement. It must be made palatable with a savory combination of charm and wit.
The danger is that we can go overboard in trying to be entertaining. Lively presentations can be as hollow as “fine-sounding arguments.”50 We should not emphasize being colorful at the expense of communicating the basics of the faith. Scott’s comment on 4:6 offers a helpful check: “The salt with which they are to flavour their talk is not literary allusion and epigram, but the spirit of the gospel.”51 Anything that does not accord with that spirit should be avoided.
What people may regard as “lively” usually depends on their cultural background. Some may find certain styles of speaking or writing disagreeable, while others find them captivating. Regardless of the style we use, if we are to communicate powerfully our message, it will need to be “salted” with images that connect theological truth to everyday life. As most preachers know, people usually remember their illustrations while forgetting the details of the argument.
Jesus provides a classic example of this kind of “salt” in his parables. He captured profound theological truth in homely stories that have captured the imaginations of persons for generations. Paul also wove in different images from everyday life to make his points. Most of his metaphors, so familiar and concrete to his original listeners, have become obscure to us because the distance of time has dissipated their power or because we have so theologized them that we do not even recognize that he is using everyday imagery. The result is that it no longer grips us in the same way that it did the first audience.
We spoke earlier of how Paul utilized vivid images in 2:6–23 (kidnapping, death as circumcision, baptism as burial, the head and the body, canceling IOUs, nailing charges to a cross, and leading defeated captives in a triumphal parade) to convey the truth that we have died in Christ’s death, triumphed in his victory, and been forgiven our trespasses. Most effective preachers and teachers recognize that communicating the message of timeless truth requires packaging it in time-bound imagery that excites the imagination and opens the eyes of the mind and heart to see the truth more clearly.
(6) Being well grounded. Paul tells the Colossians to be ready to answer unbelievers’ questions and challenges. The key here is that they are their questions. All too often we arm ourselves with pat answers to questions about theological fine points and debates that people never ask. People do not respond well to a canned message and are usually sophisticated enough to see through something that is only slick propaganda. When they quiz us on the issues bothering them, we may be caught off guard and stammer out only muddled replies. If someone asks, for example, “Why do you think Christianity is better than any other religion,” many Christians are at a loss to give anything more than pious clichés learned from childhood Sunday school experiences. Some cannot answer their own spiritual questions, let alone the questions the world poses concerning the latest scientific discoveries, personal crises, and moral dilemmas.
Christians must be well grounded and well prepared in advance to answer others’ questions whenever they pose them. When the Ethiopian eunuch asked Philip what the passage from Isaiah 53 meant, the evangelist did not ask for time to go home and study and tell him that he would get back to him later. The chance would have been lost forever. He needed to give him the answer right then; and to give an answer, he needed to know what his Bible said and what it meant. Many today may not even know how to formulate their questions. We need sensitivity to reach out to them where they are and wisdom and knowledge to provide answers.
(7) Cultivating networks (and unity). Throughout these closing remarks Paul mentions how Christians should pray for one another. Prayer links individuals and churches together into overlapping networks (see Rom. 15:30–32). It keeps us from focusing only on our own immediate group and its concerns. If Epaphras founded the congregation in Colosse, he did not forget it when he left but continued to pray for it. How many pastors continue to pray for the congregations they once served when they moved to different, usually greener pastures? How many Christians continue to pray for the churches they may have left after moving away? We see the premium Paul put on friends working together and praying together, caring about what was going on in their lives, and offering mutual support.
Paul clearly did not believe that he was self-sufficient; he needed the help of all those listed and appreciated and affirmed each person’s contribution. No one works alone. The emphasis is on
• cooperation, not independence or competition
• praying for mission opportunities for others, not just for ourselves
• praying for mission opportunities over the entire world, not just our corner
• praying that every Christian in every circumstance will have the wisdom and courage to communicate the gospel boldly and clearly.
Like Paul, we should never lose sight that God has called us to serve him and has called us to serve with others. We need each other’s prayers and support.
(8) Being ready to accept the consequences of preaching in a hostile world. Paul preferred to be freed from his chains so that he might carry the gospel to ever more distant climes (see Rom. 15:23–24; 2 Cor. 10:15–16). But he accepted his present chains and continued to preach the gospel and to write encouraging letters to churches. For centuries those letters have blessed those who have studied them. For this reason, Paul’s imprisonment may have contributed more to advance the gospel than his freedom. Paradoxically, suffering may abet our mission, and we must be prepared to accept it graciously.
Will Willimon recorded this exchange with Bishop Emilio de Carvalho from Marxist Angola. The struggles with government oppression caused his church to grow stronger.
The government does what it needs to do. The church does what it needs to do. If we go to jail for being the church, we shall go to jail. Jail is a wonderful place for Christian evangelism. Our church made some of its most dramatic gains during the revolution when so many of us were in jail. In jail, you have everyone there, in one place. You have time to preach and teach. Sure, twenty thousand of our Methodist pastors were killed during the revolution, but we came out of jail a much larger and stronger church.
Willimon remarked that the Bishop saw the drift of the questions directed to him from the audience and responded:
Don’t worry about the church in Angola; God is doing fine by us. Frankly, I would find it much more difficult to be a pastor in Evanston, Illinois. Here there is so much. So many things. It must be hard to be the church there.52
Overcoming failures. If we read the names in Paul’s final greeting canonically, we discover three names associated with personal failures in the New Testament—Mark, Onesimus, and Demas. John Mark went along with Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey to help them (Acts 13:5). For unspecified reasons, he left the mission and returned home to Jerusalem (13:13). Acts records a later split between the former mission partners Barnabas and Paul over whether to take Mark again on a new mission (15:36–40):
Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.
Paul clearly harbored suspicion of Mark. But this breach between Paul and Barnabas did not hinder the gospel’s advance. Instead, it meant that there were now two missions. Yet somehow, by the writing of Colossians, Mark redeemed himself in Paul’s eyes and become helpful to his ministry (see also 2 Tim. 4:11).
The fascinating and moving story of Onesimus, a runaway slave, will be dealt with in the commentary on Philemon. He also was guilty of desertion but had turned things around when he was converted by Paul. Paul warmly recommends him to his master as a brother in Christ who has served him in the gospel while he was in chains.
Paul mentions the third person, Demas, without any commendation. Perhaps this is a hint of his failure to come: “Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica” (2 Tim. 4:10). In Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Demas appears as the halfhearted Christian who beckons the pilgrims to turn aside from their journey to tarry at a silver mine. The judgment of Bunyan’s Christian against Demas may be too strong:
I know you; Gehazi was your great-grandfather, and Judas your father; and you have trod in their steps; it is but a devilish prank that thou usest: thy father was hanged for a traitor, and thou deservest no better reward.
After all, Paul only says that Demas deserted him, not Christ. We do not know the rest of the story; but we do know how God can redeem failure, including those who even desert their Lord and deny him with curses (cf. John 18:15–18, 25–27; 21:15–19). The key to overcoming failure is that one turn to God in repentance and trust in God for renewal.
The stories of personal failures connected to these names presents an opportunity for the homilist to investigate the nature of failure. Failure happens, but failure need not be final. Those who have triumphed over their failures or in spite of their failures recognize that they may have had a failure, perhaps many; but they were not failures. Failures may simply be underpasses that lead to success. C. S. Lewis wrote:
No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be v.[ery] muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes in the airing cupboard. The only fatal thing is to lose one’s temper and give up. It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the v.[ery] sign of his presence.53
We can never succeed on our own. The good news of the gospel is that we do not have to. We live in Christ and triumph through him.