Colossians and Philemon: A Pentecostal Commentary

By Dr. Matthew N. O. Sadiku

Every serious student of the Bible desires to understand the text, discover the biblical principles, and apply the truths to his/her life. This commentary is designed to help students, pastors, and Bible teachers understand Colossians and Philemon in a simple manner. Working from the popular New International Version (NIV), the author provides helpful commentary on the text verse-by-verse.
This verse-by-verse commentary is different from others in two respects. First, it is brief while some commentaries are unnecessarily wordy and verbose. Second, it is Pentecostal in outlook. This implies that we generally adhere to the doctrine of biblical inerrancy and adopt a literalist approach to the interpretation of the Bible.
The major aim of this commentary is to expose readers to Colossians and Philemon, two closely related New Testament letters. Colossians deals with the absolute supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ as the head of all creation and of the church. No book in the Bible presents a more comprehensive picture of the fullness of Christ.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Oct 10, 2012
• ISBN: 9781466955936

Dr. Matthew N. O. Sadiku

Matthew N. O. Sadiku is a professor emeritus at Prairie View A & M University, Prairie View, Texas. He is a man of many talents with a broad experience in writing, publishing, education, theology, counseling, and engineering. He is the author of over 1,000 professional articles and over 100 books including Secrets of Successful Marriages, Enemies of Your Marriage, and commentaries on all the books of the New Testament Bible. His books are used worldwide, and some of them have been translated into Korean, Chinese, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. Janet O. Sadiku studied nursing science from 1975 to 1980 at the University of Ife, now known as Obafemi Awolowo University. She has worked as a nurse, educator, and church minister in Nigeria, United Kingdom, and Canada. She is presently retired with her husband in West Palm Beach, FL.

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Colossians and

Philemon

A Pentecostal Commentary

Dr. Matthew N. O. Sadiku

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Copyright 2013 Dr. Matthew N. O. Sadiku.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Unless otherwise stated, scripture quotations are from the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible, used by permission of Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are from the New King James Version.

Scripture quotations marked TLB are from The Living Bible.

Scripture quotations marked RSV are from the Revised Standard Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-4669-5592-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-5594-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-5593-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012916306

Trafford rev. 09/13/2012

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PREFACE

Earnest Christians are hungry for information that makes their Bible come alive. The Christian life can be described as getting to know God better every day. Every Christian should regularly—daily—read the Word of God. We should find time for quiet time or personal devotions. The reason we have so many bad days is that we do not spend time with God. We must spend time with God if we want His blessings on our lives and we want to hear from Him.

For over 20 years I have been using commentaries in my devotions. The blessings derived from the commentaries are overwhelming. I am writing this commentary to share some of those blessings and lessons I have learned over the years.

This commentary provides verse-by-verse exposition and application on Colossians and Philemon. It is different from others in two respects. First, it is brief while some commentaries are wordy and verbose. This commentary does not delve into critical and exegetical details. Therefore, the limits of this commentary forbid that we consider all the views concerning any issue, but an attempt will be made to provide a brief, sound, yet scholarly, view. Second, it is Pentecostal in outlook. This implies that we generally adhere to the doctrine of biblical inerrancy and adopt a literalist approach to the interpretation of the Bible. Pentecostal doctrines include speaking in tongues, gifts of the Holy Spirit, signs and wonders, divine inspiration, divine healing, Christian prophets, apostles today, to mention but a few. The early church was basically Pentecostal in nature, i.e. it exercised considerable freedom of the Spirit in its life and worship.

In order to provide a readable text, this commentary is based on the New International Version (NIV) translation. The commentary is for laymen, pastors, teachers, and student of the Word. It is designed to enrich your quiet time or personal study by making the commentary clear and simple. It is my prayer that this commentary brings you both delight and insight in understanding the Word of God.

The major aim of this commentary is to expose readers to Colossians and Philemon, two closely related New Testament letters. As we will see later, Philemon is a logical companion to Colossians.

I owe a great deal to all who have written on Colossians and Philemon before me. It is my pleasure and honor to thank Dr. Kayode Shope for reviewing the manuscript and my wife, Kike, for all her sacrifice and prayer.

Contents

PREFACE

ABBREVIATIONS

PART 1—COLOSSIANS

INTRODUCTION TO COLOSSIANS

THE GOSPEL TRUTH DECLARED

PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH

THE SUPREMACY OF CHRIST

THE SUPREME RECONCILIATION

THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY

THE SUPREME CONCERN

CHRIST IS SUPERIOR TO PHILOSOPHY

COMPLETE IN CHRIST

WARNING AGAINST FALSE TEACHING

SEEKING THE THINGS ABOVE

LAYING ASIDE THE OLD LIFE

THE CLOTHING OF THE NEW LIFE

THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY

THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNICATOR

FINAL GREETINGS

PART 2—PHILEMON

INTRODUCTION TO PHILEMON

GREETING TO PHILEMON

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

A PLEA FOR ONISEMUS

THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

ABBREVIATIONS

PART 1—COLOSSIANS

INTRODUCTION TO

COLOSSIANS

Colossians deals with the absolute supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ as the Head of all creation and of the church. No other book in the Bible presents a more comprehensive picture of the fullness of Christ. Colossians is the most Christ-centered book in the New Testament. For this reason, many Bible scholars have concluded that Colossians is the most profound epistle Paul ever wrote.

Before we start on our journey through this exciting letter, we should first consider some preliminary matters—authorship, the church in Colosse (also spelt Colossae), and message—concerning this letter.

Authorship

All evidence points to Paul as the author of Colossians. He called himself by name three times (1:1, 23; 4:18). In both Colossians and Philemon, Paul mentioned his associates who were with him when he wrote the letters: Timothy, Onesimus, Aristarchus, Mark, Epaphras, Luke, and Demas. This supports the view that both books were written by the same author at the same time and place.

Paul means little, in contrast to his former name Saul, which means asked or prayed for. We know for sure that Paul was a Jew and was born in Tarsus, a city about 700 miles north of Jerusalem and capital of the Roman province of Cilicia (Acts 22:3). Paul’s father was a Jew and a Pharisee who migrated to Tarsus. His son Paul was raised a Pharisee (Acts 23:6). Therefore, Paul was born a Roman citizen, not a naturalized citizen. As a Jew, Paul learned the OT, the law and the traditions. As a Greek, he received typical Greek education comprising music, history, religion, philosophy, poetry, and science. Roman culture, Jewish culture, and Greek culture—all summed up in this one man and prepared him to write one of the greatest books of the Bible.

Paul’s fast track took a U-turn on the road to Damascus. His encounter with the Lord on his way to Damascus was also his commissioning to serve as an apostle to the Gentiles. Paul was the church’s greatest thinker, the church’s greatest missionary, and the church’s greatest apologist. Paul was in chain in Rome when he wrote this epistle. Although the Bible does not mention this, Bible scholars believe that Paul was released after two years. Eventually, he was arrested again and returned to Rome, where he was beheaded in AD 68.

The Church at Colosse

Colosse was a small market town in Western Asia Minor (modern Turkey). It belonged to the region of Phrygia. It was located about 80 miles inland from the city of Ephesus in the Lycus River Valley. The town was largely overshadowed by the larger and more prosperous cities of Laodicea (about 10 miles west) and Hierapolis (about 15 miles northwest). (See the map at the end of this Introduction.) Colosse was devastated by an earthquake in AD 61, and unlike Laodecia and Hierapolis, Colosse was never rebuilt. It seems that the earthquake struck shortly after Paul wrote Colossians. Colosse would never have been mentioned in the Bible if not for the church there. Its population consisted of people of various origins, but the majority were Phrygians, Greeks, or Jews.

We know very little about the founding of the church at Colosse. Evidently, Paul did not found it (2:1). However, Paul preached the gospel for two years in Ephesus. During that period, Acts 19:10 says that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia [which included Colosse] heard the word of the Lord. Epaphras, who was from Colosse, met Paul in Ephesus and took the gospel to his own people. Thus, Epaphras was regarded to have founded the church in Colosse.

Message

The major theme of Colossians is the all-sufficiency of Christ. He is not only sufficient to bring salvation, He is sufficient to lead us through life. As a result, Colossians portrays Christ as the Lord of the creation. He is the image of the invisible God (1:15). In Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form (2:9). Jesus is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20).

Paul received reports about the church at Colosse and responded by writing the epistle. He dealt with a specific heresy. The heresy that was threatening the Colossian church was a combination of Jewish legalism and Greek philosophy. The Jewish legalism insisted, Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch! (2:21). The Greek philosophy believed that matter was evil and spirit was good. Both groups denied the sufficiency of