Colossians Study Outline

Jesus Christ the Creator God, the visible manifestation of the Invisible Godhead. In Whom and through Who alone is Salvation realized.

Romans 16:25a

"Now to him that is of power (that’s another one of Paul’s favorite phrases. The power of God, The power of His resurrection, The power of His Spirit) to stablish (to root, establish) you according to my gospel, (Jesus’ kingdom gospel that He and the twelve preached, Paul’s gospel that had been given to him goes even deeper spiritually through the proclaiming) and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery,…"

Not the preaching of Jesus Christ according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, but the proclaiming of Christ Jesus according to the revelation of the mystery, these secrets. If  I remember correctly, we went all the way back to Deuteronomy chapter 29 verse29 and found that "the secret things belong unto the Lord our God." What does that tell us? In His Sovereignty, God doesn’t tell us everything all at once, and He doesn’t have to. But He says, "Those things which are revealed belong to us and our children forever."

 

So we always have to look at this whole concept of the revelation, that Paul talks about. Are those secret things that God did not allow the Old Testament writers to reveal to Israel, or to Peter and the eleven, but rather He waited until Saul of Tarsus was converted. Then He sent him down to Mount Sinai and revealed at least a good portion of the revelation of the mysteries to him alone. As he allowed them to grow within himself and then shared them he was given more as his spiritual food and drink just as we're to experience also. This is the progressive revelation meaning of one of the Lord's titles, Yehovah-El Shaddai or Covenant-Supplier found in Genesis 2:7 and 17:1 mean and the “I AM that I AM” of Exodus. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, Who alone reveals these truths to each of us only  after we have fully surrender our old dead nature to Him. In our church history there have men and women who stood out among the crowd as great speakers of the revelation of Christ, but at what personal cost? This has been my question for many many years. I have had many of the books written about these people but have never found one actually written in their own hand as an autobiography of just how it was that God alloud them to speak in His behalf. This has been my quest because I know that there was a secret hidden but do not ask me how I knew it, I just did. This was the purpose and reason that Jesus stated that we are to become as little children and seek first God and His kingdom rule for ourselves because when we do we become His righteousness. This is what caused all the OT men of God's wisdom and knowledge who they were, approved of God. This requires a very deep soul searching on our part and open truthfulness as well. Not to mention many scrisises of life expierence before we are accepted as Paul illustrates in Galatians. Part of this secret is also scene in Romans 12:1-3 where we are told to surrender our bodies as living sacrifices onto God which is our reasonable service.

One more thing, I do not seek God for worldly wealth, riches, fame, or divine health. I seek God for God and allow all others things to take their rightfull place through His own power not mine.

 

Romans 16:25b

"…which was kept secret since the world began."

God kept this whole package of Truths secret, and never gave anybody an inclination of what was coming until it was revealed to this Apostle. Now a verse that we’ve looked at many times in Peter's little letters. And let’s look at it again, because Peter didn’t have any concept of what Paul was going to have revealed to him, these things that are called the mysteries.

 

There are two things in particular. First, Peter is recognizing that the Gospel for this period of time came from the Epistles of Paul. The second point was Peter puts Paul’s writings as Scripture, which means that Paul letters have just as much authority as Moses, Isaiah, Matthew, John or Peter, or any one else's, because His Words are Scripture for Christ Jesus is known as what? The WORD. The Living WORD, which is able to divide soul from the marrow of the bone of man and is sharper than a two edged sword. It is like the magnified light used to do surgery and used to cartalyze an open wound to stop the flow of blood. Before we read I want to remind people of when these things were written. Peter is writing this shortly before he’s martyred, at the end of his life. He’s not writing this way back there 20-30 years before. This is at the end of his life, and probably in the late 60’s shortly before the Temple and Jerusalem were destroyed as Daniel saw and foretold it.

 

 

2Peter 3:15

"And account (understand) that the longsuffering (the patience) of our Lord is salvation; (that’s the whole purpose of this whole Book. Whether it’s Old or New Testament, it’s to bring mankind into a knowledge of salvation, through redemption whether it was under Law [God's Will and Word not the Levitical Law or the commandments] or the Kingdom economy, or now under Grace. God’s heart is for the salvation of all lost mankind.) even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom (spiritual understanding) given unto him hath written unto you;"

Now we’ve got to remember, what group of people is Peter addressing? Hebrews of the dispersion, and he tells us that in 1Peter chapter1and verse 1. So even to his own Jewish people he is admonishing them to go to the letters of Paul. By this time Paul’s earliest Epistles had only been out there 7 or 8 years and his later Epistles had only been out there probably a year or two. But Peter is admonishing his fellow Hebrews to go through those letters of Paul's for instructions. If Peter felt this strongly about what had been given Paul how should we accept them?

 

 

2Peter 3:16a

"As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; (that is salvation as we now understand is by faith alone through Grace which is of God's doing) in which are some things hard to be understood,…"

Most people read right over that, and don’t even realize what the man is saying. But here Peter is admitting that this revelation given to the Apostle Paul was hard for a good Hebrew to comprehend. Why? Because it was totally, totally different and foreign to him. It was completely removed from Temple worship, it was completely removed from the covenant promises of Israel, on the surface and here is the offer of salvation to these pagan idolatrous Gentiles and Hebrews that if they would just simply realize their lost estate, and believe this Gospel of 1Corinthians 11:23-32 and 15:1-4 and Romans 10:9-11, God will bring them into Himself. Hey, that’s hard for a good Hebrew to comprehend because his heart is calloused (hardened by unbelief) which is his sin nature. 

 

 

2Peter 3:16b

"…which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, (twist) as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction."

So what’s Peter doing with Paul’s Epistles? He’s lumping them in with the rest of the Bible. They are Scripture! They’re the inspired Word of God! Isn’t it amazing that men just ignore this, and almost refuse to go into Paul’s writings? I don’t know why, but I can see it over and over that they just almost ignore them purposely. "Willingly ignorant," as Peter says concerning the flood in his little Epistles. Man makes light of these things not knowing that by so doing they are making light of Christ, in mockery of this Gospel. Well anyway, this is all part and parcel of this revelation of what Paul calls his Gospel, and that is God in Grace, Who is Christ. Of course as we’re going to see a little further on in Colossians that the mysteries are in several different categories. We’ve got, for example, the mystery of what we call the departure or the catching away of the Church. It’s a mystery we find in 1Corinthians 15 and repeated in 1Thessalonians 4.