Rooted In Christ: Colossians Week 5

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Week 5, Day 1

Pray: “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into His presence with singing! Know that the Lord, He is God! It is He Who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture” (Psalm 100:1-3).

Read: Today let’s make sure we have an accurate interpretation of Colossians 1:15 which says, “Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”

First, write any question you have, or that you think others may have, regarding Colossians 1:15.
Use a Greek concordance to look at the definition of the following words. Image (Strong’s #1504, eikon), Firstborn (Strong’s #4416, prototokos), Creation/Creature (Strong’s #2937, ktisis)
Next make sure you understand the passage in context by reading Colossians 1:3-20. Write your observations below.
Read the following passages and write what you learn regarding Jesus and God. Colossians 1:15, Colossians 1:19, Colossians 2:9, John 1:1-2, 14, John 3:16 (if you have time, look up the Greek word which is translated only begotten (Strong’s # 3439) Son (Strong’s # 5207), John 10:30, Isaiah 9:6, Hebrews 1:3
What does the Bible say about Jesus and creation? Read the following passages and write what you learn. Colossians 1:16, Colossians 1:17, John 1:3 and 10, Hebrews 1:3 (you already looked at the verse in question #2, but read it again and write what you learn regarding Jesus and creation), 1 Corinthians 8:6
According to what you have learned in the Word, what does it mean for Christ to be the firstborn of all creation?

Apply: Your memory verse this week is Colossians 3:3-4, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Week 5, Day 2:

Pray: “Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him bless His name! For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations” (Psalm 100: 4-5).

Read: Yesterday we learned that Jesus is God, we learned that Jesus was not created but is the only begotten Son of God, and we learned that all things were created though Him and for Him. Let’s look now at Colossians 1:18b which says, “He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent.”

Use a Greek concordance to look at the definition of the following words. Firstborn (Strong’s #4416 prototokos) (You should have already looked this up yesterday), Everything/all things (Strong’s #3956 pas), Preeminent (Strong’s #4409 proteuo)
Next gain context by reading Colossians 1:13-22, 2:9-15, 3:1-4. Write your observations below.
Now, correlate what you have learned with the rest of Scripture. Read the following passages and write what you learn. Romans 6:9, Acts 26:23, Romans 8:29, 1 Corinthians 6:14, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 1 Corinthians 15:20-23
Jesus is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might be… (1:18)

Apply: According to the Word of God, can a person be saved without believing that Jesus is God? Romans 10:9 and 13 says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Spend time journaling your prayer to God below.

Week 5, Day 3:

Pray: Dear Father, Thank You for Jesus “Who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5-11)

Read: Today we are going to look at what Colossians teaches us about the Gospel.

Read the entire book of Colossians and highlight in green everything you learn about the Gospel.
In your Cross-Referencing Journal, begin a new page and entitled “The Gospel.” Write everything you learn from the book of Colossians about the Gospel.
What is the Gospel according to Colossians 1:5?
What is the Gospel doing according to Colossians 1:6?
Where has the hope of the Gospel been proclaimed according to Colossians 1:23?
What are we instructed to do regarding the Gospel in Colossians 1:23
In a Greek word concordance look up the following words and write what you learn. “continue” (Strong’s #1961, epimeno) and “shifting” (Strong’s #3334, metakineo).
Can a true believer lose their salvation? John 10:27, Hebrews 7:25, Hebrews 5:9, Romans 8:37-39, Philippians 4:6
Then who are those people who do not continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the Gospel? Matthew 13:3-9 and 13:18-23, Matthew 7:22-23, Colossians 2:18-19

Apply: If you are a believer then do not be discouraged by the conditional phrasing of Colossians 1:23. As believers we know this is a guaranteed condition for us because as Romans 8:37-39 says, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And Philippians 4:6 says, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” And 1 John 1:9 says, ^“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

However, Colossians 1:23 is a warning to unbelievers; those “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” (Colossians 2:19). Spend time in prayer; join Paul in asking that God may open to you a door for the Word, to declare the mystery of Christ.

Week 5, Day 4

Pray: Dear Father, We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is through His flesh, and we have a great Priest over the house of God. Therefore, we draw near with true hearts in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. I pray we will hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for You Who promised are faithful (Hebrews 10:19-23). In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Read: Paul had a unique writing style. Many of his letters are divided into two distinct parts. First, he would teach doctrine, then he would give instructions. Over the past five weeks you have read the book of Colossians over and over and have hopefully observed the flow of the author’s thoughts.

Read the book of Colossians, looking for the major subject divisions. Chapter and verse divisions were not in the original text of Scripture, they were added later; so, do your best to ignore chapter and verse divisions and look for the natural breaks in the author’s thoughts. Whenever you notice a major subject change, give that section a title by writing a few words in the margin that summarizes what that section is about. Many Bibles will add section titles for you. These are helpful, but they profit you more when you have studied the text for yourself and written them for yourself. I do this in pencil in case I want to make changes later. Try to use the language of the text; in other words, don’t paraphrase but use the words of Scripture wherever possible.
Next, outline the book of Colossians. Your outline can be as simple or as detailed as you choose to make it. A simple outline would just list your section titles and the references where each section begins and ends. However, I highly recommend you try writing an old-fashioned, roman-numeral outline. Start by identifying the broadest subjects and then fill in the details until you have outlined the entire book.

Apply: On day two of week one I asked you to write a summary of the book of Colossians. After having spent all these weeks reading and studying, how would you now summarize the book of Colossians for a friend? Write it below, then pray and ask God to give you one person who you can share this with today.

Week 5, Day 5:

Pray: Dear Lord, You are able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to You be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21)

Read: We have learned so many rich truths over the past five weeks. Today’s assignments may take more than one day to complete, in fact I expect it to.

First: If you have not already done so, neatly transfer all of your highlights and notes to your Bible. I love transferring my notes to my Bible. What a blessing it is to have the cross-references listed in the margins and to have my own subject divisions dividing the text. How lovely it will be a year from now to be able to open the book of Colossians and walk someone through what it teaches us about Jesus, Paul, Redemption, Reconciliation, and who I am in Christ by simply following the colored highlights.
Second: Set up a review schedule for yourself. There are many ways you could do this. You could assign one day of every month to a specific book of the Bible. For example the 1^st of every month could be “Colossians Day” and the 2^nd of every month could be “Philippians Day” and so on. Use the review day to read the entire book, review your memory verses from that book, read through your Cross-Reference Journal entries for that book, and do the Comprehensive Review which can be found at the end of this lesson. Don’t forget to put the review days on your calendar and set reminders on your phone.You could also have weekly review days for specific aspects of your studies. For example, you could commit to reviewing all of your old memory verses for 20 minutes every Sunday and to reading your entire Cross-Reference Journal for an hour every Monday (this is another reason why it is so important you write your Cross-Reference Journal using the exact words of Scripture).
Third: Work on hiding in your heart all the truths you have learned, that you might not sin against God (Psalm 119:11). At the end of the lesson is a brief review of the book of Colossians. To use this review, answer each question using the exact words of Scripture (do not paraphrase). Then go through the questions again, covering the answers with a notecard and see if you can answer each question from memory using the words of Scripture. If you can say the answer accurately, then put a little check mark by that question, you have buried that truth in your heart. When you get through all the questions, go back to the beginning and repeat the process on any questions without checks until you have all of the truths memorized. Isn’t it an amazing blessing to see how much Scripture you have memorized through daily studying the Word?!

Apply: Spend time in prayer and journal about all God has taught you in this study. Think about what specific things have changed in your life since you began five weeks ago. What do you plan to do differently as you move forward?

Once you are finished, go share it with someone.

A Comprehensive Review of Colossians

Memory Verse Review:

Colossians 1:9-12 “And so, from the day we ___________, we have not ___________ to _____________ for you, _____________ that you may be _____________ with the ______________ of His ___________ in all ___________ ___________ and _________________, so as to ___________ in a manner ___________ of the ___________, fully ___________ to Him; bearing ___________ in every good ___________ and increasing in the _______________ of _________; being strengthened with all ___________, according to His glorious ___________, for all ___________ and ___________ with ________; giving ___________ to the Father, Who has ___________ you to share in the ______________ of the ___________ in light.”

Colossians 2:6-7, “Therefore, as you ___________ Christ Jesus the ___________, so ___________ in ________, ___________ and built up in ________ and _____________ in the ___________, just as you were ___________, ___________ in _______________.”

Colossians 3:1-4, “If then you have been ___________ with ___________, ___________ the things that are ___________, where ___________ is, ___________ at the right hand of ___________. _________ your ___________ on things that are ___________, not on ___________ that are on ___________. For ___________ have ___________, and your ___________ is ___________ with ___________ in ___________. When ___________ who is your ___________ appears, then you also will ___________ with ___________ in ___________.

Review Questions:

What form of literature is the book of Colossians?
Who wrote Colossians?
How does Paul describe himself in 1:1
Where is Paul when he writes this letter? (4:10,18)
Has Paul ever met the Colossian church in person? (1:4, 8, 9; 2:1)
And yet, how does he regard the Colossian church? (1:9, 24, 29; 2:1,5)
What is Paul a minister of?
How does he describe his own ministry? (1:23,25,28)
With Whose energy does Paul toil, is it through his own strength that he ministers? (1:29)According to Colossians 1:2, who was this letter originally written to?
Who was it who first shared the Gospel with the Colossians (1:7-8 and 4:12)How does Paul describe Epaphras? (1:7, 4:12)
How does Paul describe the Colossian church in verses 1:4-6, 8 and 2:5
What did Paul tell them to do with the letter according to 4:16?
Review your chart about what you are to let no one do and why.
Review your chart of Instructions.
Who were you before Christ? (1:13, 1:21, 2:13-14, and 3:7)
What has God delivered us from? (1:13)
What has God transferred us to? (1:13)
What is redemption according to Colossians 1:14?
In Whom do we have redemption? (1:14)
What has He redeemed us from? (2:13-14)
Who have we been reconciled to? (1:20)
Why did Jesus die? (1:20)
By what was our reconciliation accomplished? (1:22, 2:14b)
You, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death. Why? (1:22b)
If you are a believer, you have died to your old self and your life is hidden with Who? (3:3)
Who is your life? (3:4)
In Christ you are _______________ (2:10)_______________ (3:12)_______________ (3:12)_______________ (3:12)
Colossians 3:9b-10 says, “you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after…
Who are you serving? (3:24)
If you are in Christ then what is your future? (Colossians 1:5, 1:12, 1:27, 3:4, 3:24)
Who is Jesus’ Father? (1:3)
What has God done? (1:12, 1:13, 1:20, 2:12, 2:15)
Who is Jesus? (1:15, 1:17, 1:18, 1:19, 2:2, 2:3, 2:9, 2:10, 2:17, 3:11)
In Christ are hidden all the treasures of what? (2:3)
What has Jesus done? (1:16, 1:17, 1:21)
Jesus is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. Why? (1:18)
Where is Jesus now? (3:1)
What will God and Jesus Do in the future? (3:4,3:6)
What is God’s mystery? (2:2, 1:27)
The mystery was hidden for ages and generations but now is revealed to who? (1:26-27)
True believers hold fast to the head (Colossians 2:19). Who is the Head? (1:18)
Who is the body? (1:18, 24; 3:15)
From Whom does the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grow? (2:19)
Who does the growth come from? (2:19)
What is the Gospel according to Colossians 1:5?
What is the Gospel doing according to Colossians 1:6?
Where has the hope of the Gospel been proclaimed according to Colossians 1:23?
What are we instructed to do regarding the Gospel in Colossians 1:23
Review all of you Cross-Reference Journal entries for the book of Colossians.

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