As already mentioned in the general context of the letter, Paul wants to clarify what the true life in Christ is all about. The congregation was losing their sight, forgetting the uniqueness and sufficiency of Jesus Christ. “The Colossians seem to be grappling with certain spiritual practices that they have been told are required for fullness of life.” Whatever practices may be, Christ was losing his supremacy on one’s life. Paul’s prayer depicts a sincere desire for the congregation to grow in the knowledge of God, through which an appropriate Christ-centered life would be understood. “There was some form of false teaching that threatened the place of Christ in the grand scheme of things.” In his initial prayer and the verses that follows, in an attempt to clarify the correct meaning of a new life, Jesus, who is more than the center of the Christian faith but the one through whom everything exists (Col. 1:15-19), is mentioned by Paul as never before. “Colossians
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Some were trusting in works, such as Jewish practices. Others were serving two or even more “lords”, lost in their minds, “not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God” (Col. 2:19). God has called humanity to live in him, a life that is absolutely different from the previous selfish one. He was, “in Christ, reconciling the world to himself” (see 2 Cor. 5:19). “Paul cautions the Colossians against pointless (and superstitious) self-indulgent practices that focus more on the self than on the Holy One and the commands to love the neighbor.” When praying, Paul was not recommending something due to a minor confusion but because of a huge misunderstanding of the whole process of salvation. I plan to expand on this
Some were trusting in works, such as Jewish practices. Others were serving two or even more “lords”, lost in their minds, “not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God” (Col. 2:19). God has called humanity to live in him, a life that is absolutely different from the previous selfish one. He was, “in Christ, reconciling the world to himself” (see 2 Cor. 5:19). “Paul cautions the Colossians against pointless (and superstitious) self-indulgent practices that focus more on the self than on the Holy One and the commands to love the neighbor.” When praying, Paul was not recommending something due to a minor confusion but because of a huge misunderstanding of the whole process of salvation. I plan to expand on this