Ephesians 1:1-2. Wow only two verses. Remember though that you need to read the “Intro to Ephesians” which includes some links to other “Did You Know” helps. It is important to know what is gong on and who the players are if you are going to read someone else’s mail. This mail is meant to be read by all because even though it is a letter by a specific guy addressed to a specific group of people. It is meant for all of us so we can understand more about God and live for him better each day.

This greeting is very similar to the greetings used in letters of that time, in fact for centuries before and after. But it is also different. Paul packs much more into his greetings that the average, “Hey John this is Mike”. In verse 1 Paul identifies himself as the sender but he adds information about himself. He is an “apostle”. That word means “messenger” or “one who is sent”. It is clear that he was sent by God and he is about “Christ Jesus”. Jesus is his message. The term “Christ” is a title that means something like “chosen” (Technically it means anointed. That is what they would call it when someone would smear or dump something on you to identify you as “the one”. Kind of like when a team dumps Gatorade on the coach after the game, but Jesus was “the one” before the game even started. “Tag, you’re it!”). For some of Paul’s readers that would mean a lot for other not as much. Anyone familiar with the Old Testament would have know that God had a chosen one who would do certain things. Most Jews though of the chosen one (Messiah in Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament) as a political leader who would kick butt on the world and set up a forever kingdom for them. Most Jews missed the point that that chosen one also needed to suffer for the sins of the people (Isaiah 53:6). Jesus is that chosen one, the Christ (Messiah). And he did kick butt but on the real enemy, our sin. He dealt with that first so we could have a new relationship with God. He’s coming later to deal with the whole kingdom thing. Paul’s mention of being an apostle was probably to establish some authority for what he is going to say in the letter. If you read the Intro you know that some of the believers in Jesus in Ephesus might have known Paul but many probably did not.

We see that the letter is to some people in a place called Ephesus. These people are called “saints” and “faithful” or “believers” in Christ Jesus. The word translated “saints” also means “holy”. The word basically means “separated” or “set aside” or even “dedicated” and has a sense of fear in it. It was used for offerings to gods that were set aside and dedicated to them. The sense of fear probably comes from the fact that you better not touch something that belongs to such a powerful being.   These people are also described as “faithful in Christ Jesus”. That word “faithful” is found in a different form in verse 13 and is usually translated “believe”. The idea here is people who have trusted in something, they believe in it or have faith in it. In this case the people have trusted in, believe in , and have faith in Jesus. In Hebrews 11:1 the same word is used, “faith”. That verse tells us that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things we have not seen”. In that verse “assurance” translates a word that means to “stand by or beside” and “conviction” translates a word that means “evidence or proof”. Faith is standing by the things we hope for and it is the proof of things we have not seen. These people firmly believed in Jesus as the one who had paid the price for their sins and would one day give them a place in his forever family in his kingdom.

In verse 2 Paul mixes the greetings from two different cultures and gives them a distinctive spin that only those who understand the truth about Jesus would get. In Greek (the language the of New Testament times) “grace” is a form of the word that we translate as “rejoice, be glad, hail, greetings”. The word “rejoice” was a common greeting in the ancient world but “grace” was not. The word “grace” means “favor” and refers to something that brings pleasure or delight. In other words it refers to a “gift” or a “free gift”. What brings more delight than a free unexpected undeserved gift? To believers this would bring to mind the gift of a new relationship that Jesus made possible by taking our punishment on the cross.

The word translated “peace” is the word that we get the English word “irenic” from. You probably don’t know that word but you might know another, serene (you know “peaceful”, actually both of these word mean the same thing).   That word was never used as a greeting in the Greek world but a similar word “shalom” was used by the Jewish people. “Shalom” is a Hebrew word and it is often translated as “peace” but it has a much deeper meaning that just being in a calm place. The Hebrew word has the idea of completeness or wholeness in it; everything as it should be and in its place. For most of us that is the ultimate peace.

By using these two words Paul was basically making a prayer to God that he wanted to come true in the lives of the people he was writing to; one scholar used the term prayer-wish. This was certainly not the way the average person would greet someone on the street or in a letter, Paul was filling his world with the reality of his new life, his new relationship with God, through Jesus. Some Bible experts think that Paul was going even further my mimicking or echoing a “blessing” that ancient Jewish priests were told to give in Numbers 6:23-26. In that “blessing” (again a sort of prayer-wish, see a similar discussion in “What’s in a name”) Aaron (the first chief priest of Judaism, God’s system of rules and remembrance for the Jewish or Israelite people. See “The Old Testament Connection”) was told to ask God to be gracious to the Israelites and give them peace (shalom). This would have been another way of Paul hinting at his authority. To a mostly non-Jewish (gentile) group though I think this idea would be mostly lost.

In this introductory greeting Paul definitely makes it clear that he had some authority, he was sent by God to represent Jesus. He certainly must have had some message for them. I think the readers wouldn’t have felt too threatened though because he addresses them as people who have been set a side, dedicate or put in a place of protection. He also acknowledged that they were people who had put their faith in the chosen one, Jesus. I’m sure it must have been an interesting time for these believers; to hear from one of the early messengers, one who had made such an impact on the whole Roman world, would have been awesome, better than a concert by the greatest band or musician you can think of.   It will be interesting to see what he has to say to these believers for whom he feels such a responsibility as the “Sent one to the gentiles”.

I love the fact that this guy who had spent his early years hunting and hurting Christians was now so interested in helping them. He was probably about 30 when he became a believer maybe a little older. Now here he is 30 years later under house arrest, chained to a Roman guard and all he can think about is a bunch of believers he has never even met, both in Ephesus and Colosse.   And I don’t think he mentioned being an “apostle” to flex his muscles, he makes it very clear in his other letters that he isn’t really interested in the whole power trip thing. Over the years he had been accused of being weak because he didn’t push his authority, he had turned down pay so people wouldn’t accuse him of being in it for the money, and he even refused to order Philemon to release Onesimus. This guy was all about helping people get right with God through Jesus. He wants people to have the free gift God is offering (charis, grace) and peace too. That is a major “about face” for Paul; an amazing change of life brought on by a face to face with God, from murderer to missionary, awesome. And the same change is available to us all through Jesus.

God thank you for taking our harsh, selfish, brutal lives and making a way to change them. Thank you for offering us eternity with you and peace, wholeness, in our lives. Help me live each day for you. Help me help others find you. Let me be concerned for people I haven’t even met. Help me love you more by loving others every day.

Colossians 4:7-18. Today we come to the end of Paul’s letter to the believers in Colosse. The ending is filled with greeting, like all of Paul’s letters and most letters from that time. This final reading can be divided into four sections. The first section identifies the people Paul sent the letter with and also tells us why Paul sent them (there was a mail system in that day so Paul didn’t need to sent anyone with it, but he did).   The second section is greetings from people with Paul to the believers in Colosse. The third section includes a few greetings to specific people in Colosse. Finally Paul ends the letter with a personal greeting.

As I mentioned in an earlier post the letter was carried from Paul to Colosse by two men; Tychichs and Onesimus. In verses 7-8 Paul identifies Tychicus as one of the messengers but he is much more than an errand boy. Paul uses three different words to describe Tychicus, beloved brother, faithful servant, and fellow bond-servant. We all know what a brother is and Paul’s use of it here shows the closeness that these Christians felt for each other, they were family in the best sense of that idea. Next Paul uses a word for servant that first shows up in the church in Acts 6. In verses 1 and 2 the word serve and serving appear. Those words and the one here are forms of the same word. If you read the rest of the story in Acts 6 you will see that some guys were picked to make sure the widows in the church all got fed.   In 1 Timothy 3:8 the same word is used but basically un-translated, “deacons”. It seems to be a reference to an office or permanent “job” that had developed in the early churches. Deacons were servant in the church taking care of peoples needs, and Tychicus was faithful at it. Finally Tychicus is described as a fellow bond-servant in the Lord. This word has the idea of servant but also of willing servitude. The idea is that the person willingly became a servant. We also see that Paul considered him a “fellow” servant, they were in it together and what they were in was Jesus.

So Tychicus was a trusted servant of Jesus and as was Paul. Paul sent the letter with him because he trusted Tychicus to bring news to the Colossians about what was going on in Paul’s life. He wanted the news to be encouraging. Although letters can do the same thing it’s not as good as a real person.

In verse 9 we see that Onesimus is also traveling with Tychicus. If you read the posts on Philemon and the intro for that book you will learn that Onesimus was a slave that ran away from his master. The master was a member of the church in Colosse (for more in this whole master in the church thing see the post from 2 days ago). Evidently Onesimus wound up with Paul and turned his life over to Jesus.   It is interesting here that Paul calls Onesimus a “faithful and beloved brother”. The second part of that is exactly what he said about Tychicus. I’m sure the people in Colosse were shocked to see Onesimus willingly returning with Tychicus and they would have been even more shocked to hear Paul use the same words to describe their faithful old friend and a run away slave. That’s the part of the pint that Paul made in the reading from two days ago though and why he wanted slaves to be good servants of their earthly masters. The change that Jesus makes in people shocks people. Paul also calls him “faithful”, this is more thatn just the fact that he was now a believer it relates to the fact that he was living for Jesus day by day. In the letter to Onesimus’ master Paul makes it clear that Onesimus had been a helper to him. The “one of your number” could be a way of telling the Colossian believers that Onesimus was a believer too (brother also does that though) but it probably is referring to the fact that he was from Colosse. It may contain both ideas. In those days slaves really weren’t counted as people, real members of society, this may have been Paul’s way of informing them that now he was a part of their community (remember Colossians 3:11. See also Galatians 3:28). We see this sort of equality in the fact that the message was carried by him as well as by Tychicus.

In verse 10-14 Paul mentions the guys with him who are sending greetings to the believers in Colosse. In verses 10-11 Paul mentions three guys Aristarchus, a fellow prisoner (this word was only used for a person under arrest). Aristarchus had been a companion of Paul’s during some of his trips around the Mediterranean world telling people about Jesus. He also traveled with Paul from his imprisonment in Israel to Rome. We aren’t really sure why he was a prisoner too. Maybe someone in Caesarea (in Isreal where Paul had been a prisoner) saw Aristarchus (who had been in Jerusalem when Paul was first accused by some of the Jews) and remembered he had been with Paul in Jerusalem and made accusations against him too.

Next he mentions Mark, Barnabas’ cousin. Mark had been one of the original guys who travelled with Paul but for some reason had left him. Later Paul refused to take him along on his second trip. Mark didn’t stop serving Jesus though, he continued on with his cousin, Barnabas. Somewhere along the line Paul and Mark made up and they worked together (as here). Mark was specifically asked for by Paul not long before Paul’s execution (2 Timothy 4:11).

Third Paul mentions a guy named Jesus (his Jewish name) or Justus (his Roman name). Paul then mentions that these three guys are the only Jews with him that are serving Jesus. Considering that the problem in Colosse was with false teachers who were most likely Jewish Paul probably wanted to show that not all Jews were bad guys. In fact Paul might be sending Mark to them and he wanted to be sure that they listened to Mark (v. 10). If they needed and example that in Christ they was neither free nor slave, Onesimus being their reminder of that, maybe theses three guys were their reminder that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek (Colossians 3:11).

In verses 12-13 Paul sends them greeting from One of their friends who had been with Paul for a while too, Epaphras. This was probably the guy who first taught them about Jesus (see the “Intro to Colossians”). It seems like maybe they missed him or though he had forgotten them. If they were having difficulties with false teachers (which they were) they probably missed this faithful knowledgeable old guy. He hadn’t forgotten them nor abandon them he was praying like crazy that they would stay strong in their faith and know just how to live for Jesus (“assured in the will of God”). He was very concerned about all of the churches he had started in the area including Laodicea and Hierapolis (see the “Intro to Colossians”).

Finally Paul includes greetings from Luke (who traveled a lot with Paul, wrote the books of Luke and Acts and probably was Paul’s secretary for many of his books too (think human word processor here)) and Demas. We don’t know much about Demas but the people in Colosse must have know him and he was sending them a greeting. Remember this is a real letter not everything in it has a hidden meaning. Demas does show up in 2 Timothy 4:10 where we are told he has deserted Paul (That’s about 5 years after this letter). It is interesting that when he leaves Paul that he goes to Thessalonica (probably his home town). Thessalonica is in Greece and Colosse is in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). The two towns were maybe 800 miles apart by land (Rome was 1200 miles by land from Colosse). Although people traveled a lot in those days it is amazing how connected the Christians were.

In verses 15-17 we have the third section of Paul’s conclusion to the letter, greetings to specific people. First Paul want the people in Colosse to send greetings from him to the believers in Laodicea. We see that the “church” (the word translated “church” in the New Testament means “those who are called out”. The idea is people who hear God calling to them and join together) in Laodicea is in the house of a woman named Nympha. That was common in those days for a church to be in a person’s house. Nympha gets a particular greeting, but the other believers in Laodicea get the greeting too. In verse 16 we learn that the Laodiceans also got a letter from Paul. We don’t have this letter and have no idea what it is about. Clearly God didn’t intend for it to be a part of his word to all of us for all time. There are other letters mentioned in the Bible that we don’t have either, but we can be sure God made sure we have all he wants us to have. Although the Loadicean letter wasn’t for us Paul did want the Colossians to read it, and share their letter with the Laodiceans. One thing we see here is that God is involved in our day to day lives. Although the Laodicean letter wasn’t for us it did have some meaning for the Colossians and so he made sure that they would read it. One last interesting thought about this part is, if the Laodiceans got a letter from Paul why did the Colossians need to pass on a greeting from him? I think their letter would have had it’s own greeting, like all of Paul’s letters did, so he must have wanted the two church to get a little more in touch with each other. In Hebrews 10:24-25 that author encourage the believers not to give up meeting together as some of them had done. He wanted them to encourage each other. There was some sort of trouble behind the scenes of that letter that was making people avoid church and each other, the author wanted that to stop. Maybe the trouble in Colosse (and probably the whole valley) was making the churches in the valley go solo. Paul wanted them to stay involved in each others lives.

In verse 17 Paul encourages a particular guy in Colosse to be faithful in the job Jesus had given him. The word translated “ministry” is the same word in Acts 2 translated “serve”. It is interesting that some of the greeting are to a group and others are to individuals. Although not everyone in Colosse is mentioned by name I like it that God mentions some by name. God sees the group but he also sees the individuals in it and gives each one of us a job to do.

Paul ends his letter by personally signing it. It was common in ancient time for people to have secretaries who did the actual writing for them. They would dictate the letter and the other person would write it. Some times theses secretaries would edit things like grammar or otherwise help with the composition. Paul had help at least some time when he wrote. At the end of this letter he personally signed it though telling us that he approved everything written there. He also tells them to remember his imprisonment. In yesterday’s post we saw that his imprisonment was sort of a proof of how serious he was about the message of Jesus. Here he may be encouraging them to be willing to pay whatever price they needed to pay to be faithful to do whatever God wanted them to do. They each needed to be “faithful to fulfill their service. Paul ends the letter with grace. Grace is the undeserved gift that they had received from God. A gift of eternity in Heaven with God. Here he wants them to remember it and the hope it had given them. They could face whatever they needed to face if they would keep Heaven in their sights.

I like it that God gets personal, we are known by him, and he gives us each a part in his forever kingdom and in serving him here today. Serving God may cost us but it is worth it. I like it that God doesn’t care where we have been, what family we are from, whether we are guys or girls. He doesn’t care that we have failed (remember Colossians 3:7) because we have all failed. The good news is Jesus paid the price for our sins (1 John 2:2). He has set us free from trying to get to Heaven and has empowered us (through the Holy Spirit in us) to live for him each day just because; because he loved us first (1 John 4:19). We need to remember his gift and faithfully serve him as a act of love and devotion and thanks (Colossians 4:2).

Jesus thank you for dying for me. Thank you for coming back to life and proving who you are and the kind of power you have. Thank you for offering a forever relationship with you to whoever will accept who you are and what you have done for us. Thank you for being a personal God, a God who is here and cares. Thank you for knowing each of us and communicating to each of us personally. Help me listen and help me faithfully serve. And let me remember to be involved with others who love you too, even if it costs me something. Help me keep heaven and you in view.