Colossians Study Outline

Jesus Christ the Creator and Visible Presence of the Invisible God

Colossians 1:25

"Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation (stewardship, ministration and economy) of God which is given to me for you,…"

Remember, what kind of a congregation was Colossi, Jew or Gentile? Well, it was made up of mostly Gentile. Oh! There may have been a smattering of Jewish believers, but it was primarily a Gentile congregation. Look at his language in this verse.

 

 

Colossians 1:25b

"…according to the dispensation (administration, a stewardship) of God which was given to me (Paul) for you. (It was for the benefit of those Gentiles, and for us today) to fulfil the word of God."

And this is why we have to differentiate that God dealt differently with Israel then He deals with the One Body, the true Church of the Living God. And the only place we can differentiate this is by what Paul writes to the Church (not churches as being many [as in denominates, splinter groups] or separate from the Presence of the Living God) where the rest of Scripture writes to Israel also of one unite or nation. Even though Paul pulls from the ancient records for a lot of his proof because it contains or bears record most accuratly of the consealed Messiah and Christ Jesus. To fulfill the revelation of the Word of God, Who is Christ Jesus as we know Him. The same person who Peter says is the Messiah and the same illumination upon which He said He would build His Church. Jesus futher states that the secrets will be revealed to us, when we believe. NOT! The “in” which many say mindlessly as meaning into, NO revelation of Who He is! But rather BELIEVE Him Who Is! 

 

 

Now come back to Ephesians and he uses almost identically the same language, and remember repetition is for emphases. This is why we're sure the Holy Spirit caused him to write it. I don’t think Paul set there beating his head, and wondering how he could repeat this. No! the Holy Spirit just caused him to dictate it or however he did it, and that’s consequently the inspiration of the Scriptures.

 

Ephesians 3:1

"For this cause (because of what he wrote in those first two chapters) I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for (what people?) you Gentiles."

Don’t miss that. It is specifically directed to the Gentiles. We should know that everything from Genesis chapter 9 up through the four synoptic gospels accounts and early chapters of Acts were all directed primarily to the Jews. Because they were to have been the head and not the tail, which is what they became. Let me show you for example in the book of Acts chapter 2 so you can see the difference. This is just for comparison sake, and let’s just start with verse 22. Now watch this real careful because we're going to throw you a curve.

 

Acts 2:22a

"Ye men of Israel, (and all you Gentiles. See it doesn’t say that. Everybody thinks it should, but it doesn’t include a Gentile no how, no way but rather it states) Ye men of Israel, hear these words;…"

Come on over to chapter 3 and you’ll see this isn’t just a misprint. Just as clearly as Paul says, "to you Gentiles," Peter says "to you Jews," looking at verse 12.

 

Acts 3:12a

"And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel…."

Do you see how Peter qualifies who he is speaking to. Come on down to verse 13.

Acts 3:13a

"The God of Abraham, and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, (Peter is speaking to primarly Hebrews)

In Ephesians we find that Paul is going in the other direction when he says, "I am the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles." In Romans 11:13 he tells us who he was sent to minister to.

 

Romans 11:13a

"For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles;…"

Back to Ephesians 3 looking at verse 2.

 

Ephesians 3:2

"If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:"

The part I really want you to see is in the last part of this verse which is identical with Colossians chapter 1 verse 25. What’s the process? God revealed this whole body of Truth to this one man, the Apostle for the Gentiles, and he was instructed that he was to take this message to the Gentile world. Granted he tried to go to the Hebrews first and then to the Gentiles, but when the Hebrews rejected his message he would end up with his greatest results among the Gentiles. And that’s the way God intended it, because this is the Age of Grace within which God is dealing primarily with us Gentile nations. The, “in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” of Genesis 12:3. So God is still dealing with His promise spoken to Adam and woman in Genesis 3:15, He has never faulter on a promise, we are the only ones capable of that. And the diehard Jew has a hardtime swolling that because he is bound by his religion. However, if one chooses to accept God's plan and move on with Him as apposed to opposeing Him in hostilities as an enemy of the blood and cross of Jesus, they will find God open to them on a level playing field. The old bariers having been torn down through the operation of the cross. This barier is the same barier that keeps man in religion from knowning the True and Living God. Because it is active within the mind of worldly, fleshly and carnal men because such people mind the things of their own conduct first and foremost. In other wards they are men pleasers and self willed brutes. Which simply means self exhaulted above the knowledge of God.

 

 

Colossians 1:25

"Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;"

Let’s go all the way back to the Old Testament to see how it all fits together. Come back to Isaiah chapter 42, and then I’ll have a couple of others that we can look at. Okay, Isaiah 42.