Colossae was an ethnically and religiously diverse city in modern-day Turkey where Jews and Gentiles co-existed. But the believers there had found themselves floundering as they tried to navigate what following Jesus looks like in a pluralistic society. So Paul wrote to the young church to confront individualism and the falsehood that the world revolved around them. This wasn’t just an issue for the Colossian Christians . . . it’s an issue for us today.
In this Q&A, Jay Y. Kim (@jaykimthinks) talks about his 6-session streaming video Bible study in the 40 Days Through the Book series, Colossians: One Jesus, One People (HarperChristian Resources, 2022).
What would you say is the core message of the letter to the Colossians?In his book Deep Work, the writer Cal Newport describes what he calls “frenetic shallowness.” The busyness of life in the modern world leaves us prone to living in a constant frenzy, moving about from one thing to the next. In turn, this leaves us shallow, as we lose our aptitude and ability to stay and linger for extended periods of time with anyone or anything.
But the life of discipleship to Jesus, being formed into Christlikeness, is, in the words of Jesus himself, like a branch remaining attached to the vine, in order to bear fruit over the long haul, across many seasons of waiting. This isn’t easy. It takes practice and effortful participation.
In my life, this has come down to the pragmatics of allowing specific disciplines to disrupt my calendar and my daily rhythms—waking up early to sit with a hot cup of coffee and immerse myself in the Scriptures, before the mad rush of life begins to take hold. I also try my best to practice digital sabbaths—one hour a day and one day a week—when I detach myself from all digital distractions to spend focused and intentional time with God and those he’s entrusted in my care.
[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, Jesus is More Beautiful Than You Know: An Interview with Pastor Derwin Gray]
What are some deceptive philosophies that are increasingly embraced and accepted in the culture today?The first that comes to mind is the myth of autonomy and individualism as the path to human flourishing. This is a replaying of Genesis 3, when the first humans believe the serpent’s lie, that by disobeying God’s command and eating the forbidden fruit, their eyes would be opened and they’d be like God. But as the story goes, autonomy from God leads not to God-like status for the humans but rather, to shame and eventually to death. Nothing’s changed.
Especially in the hyper-individualistic culture of our day, when “you do you” is the norm and “my truth is my truth” our assumed ethic, we find ourselves mired in shame, living through little deaths every day—the death of hope, the death of meaning, the death of identity. As Paul makes clear in Colossians and so many of his other letters, it is only when Jesus becomes the center that we find true hope, meaning, and identity.
What is Paul getting at when he declares that we have “died” and that we are called to put these sinful actions to “death” in Colossians 3:3-5?God’s rule and reign is often called his “upside down kingdom.” This is in large put because the kingdom of God looks so diametrically opposed to the kingdoms of this world.
In God’s kingdom, the first are last and the last are first, the rich are poor and the poor are rich. In God’s kingdom those who are persecuted and those who mourn are actually blessed.
In the same vein, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, idolatry are in many ways held in high regard in culture at large. We have different names for them, of course—sexual freedom, individual autonomy, pleasure, affluence, prosperity, etc. But they are the values of worldly kingdoms, not God’s kingdom. So to put them to death is to live and embody a sort of death; death to the kingdoms of this world, in order to find true life in the kingdom of God.
In a time of growing conflict, division, and fractured relationships, how can taking off old ways of life and putting on the clothing of Jesus help us find peace with fellow believers?
Paul writes in Colossians 3:11, “Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer once explained that, “Christian brotherhood is not an ideal, but a divine reality.” He also wrote that, “Those who love their dream of a Christian community more than they love the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community.”
Putting off the old life means putting off not only our obvious sinful desires but also discarding the more insidious, earthly, even sinful, ideals we have about the sorts of communities we want to belong to. It means relinquishing preferences and personal opinions in order to be drawn into the brand new family of God, allowing the peace of Christ to bind us together and form us into the single community of God, formed together into his image.
Difficult to narrow it down to one. Seeing as how I’ve been deep in Colossians for a while, I’ll go with Colossians 1:15-20: “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
That’s it! That’s the source of all hope for all of life. Christ reigns supreme and we, his people, are held together in him. Doesn’t get much better than that.
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[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, Explore the Many Ways Bible Gateway Helps You Study the Bible]
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