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    Colossians and Philemon: A 12-Week Study
    Colossians and Philemon: A 12-Week Study
    Colossians and Philemon: A 12-Week Study
    Ebook129 pages1 hour

    Colossians and Philemon: A 12-Week Study

    By Christopher A. Beetham

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    About this ebook

    The Knowing the Bible series is a resource designed to help Bible readers better understand and apply God's Word. These 12-week study lead participants through books of the Bible and are made up of four basic components: (1) Reflection questions help readers engage the text at a deeper level; (2) "Gospel Glimpses" highlight the gospel of grace throughout the book; (3) "Whole-Bible Connections" show how any given passage connects to the Bible's overarching story of redemption, culminating in Christ; and (4) "Theological Soundings" identify how historic orthodox doctrines are taught or reinforced throughout Scripture. With contributions from an array of influential pastors and church leaders, these gospel-centered studies will help Christians see and cherish the message of God's grace on each and every page of the Bible.
    The books of Colossians and Philemon complement each other as two New Testament texts that gloriously display the gospel and its implications for how God's people should live today. Written around the same time, both letters resonate with the apostle Paul's overriding passion to magnify Jesus Christ as the supreme manifestation of God's redemptive purposes.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCrossway Books
    Release dateJun 15, 2015
    ISBN9781433543746
    Colossians and Philemon: A 12-Week Study
    Author

    Christopher A. Beetham

    Christopher A. Beetham (PhD, Wheaton College) is senior editor of biblical languages, textbooks, and reference tools at Zondervan Academic. Previously he taught for a decade at the Evangelical Theological College and the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology, both in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He is the author of Echoes of Scripture in the Letter of Paul to the Colossians and Colossians and Philemon, and editor of The Concise New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis.  

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      Book preview

      Colossians and Philemon - Christopher A. Beetham

      SERIES PREFACE

      KNOWING THE BIBLE, as the series title indicates, was created to help readers know and understand the meaning, the message, and the God of the Bible. Each volume in the series consists of 12 units that progressively take the reader through a clear, concise study of that book of the Bible. In this way, any given volume can fruitfully be used in a 12-week format either in group study, such as in a church-based context, or in individual study. Of course, these 12 studies could be completed in fewer or more than 12 weeks, as convenient, depending on the context in which they are used.

      Each study unit gives an overview of the text at hand before digging into it with a series of questions for reflection or discussion. The unit then concludes by highlighting the gospel of grace in each passage (Gospel Glimpses), identifying whole-Bible themes that occur in the passage (Whole-Bible Connections), and pinpointing Christian doctrines that are affirmed in the passage (Theological Soundings).

      The final component to each unit is a section for reflecting on personal and practical implications from the passage at hand. The layout provides space for recording responses to the questions proposed, and we think readers need to do this to get the full benefit of the exercise. The series also includes definitions of key words. These definitions are indicated by a note number in the text and are found at the end of each chapter.

      Lastly, for help in understanding the Bible in this deeper way, we urge readers to use the ESV Bible and the ESV Study Bible, which are available in various print and digital formats, including online editions at esv.org. The Knowing the Bible series is also available online. 

      May the Lord greatly bless your study as you seek to know him through knowing his Word.

      J. I. Packer

      Lane T. Dennis

      WEEK 1: OVERVIEW

      Getting Acquainted

      Paul’s letter to the Colossians is a jewel of Christian Scripture. Only four chapters long, it is easy to read through in one sitting, yet it provides stunning vistas of the perfections of Christ that few other New Testament documents can match in such short space. Its majestic hymn of Christ at 1:15–20 is rivaled only by that of Philippians 2:5–11. The letter therefore provides a feast for the theologian to digest. Yet Colossians also pulsates with a message that, despite the limits of the situation for which it was originally written, remains as relevant and significant as ever.

      Written at the same time, Philemon is a short companion letter to Colossians. Often neglected, Philemon’s impact is out of all proportion to its size. Twenty-five verses long, Philemon was one of the key biblical texts that guided the church in its struggle for the abolition of slavery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the West. Paul’s rhetorical skill, as well as his heart, are clearly on display here as he seeks reconciliation between Philemon and his runaway slave Onesimus. (For further background, see the ESV Study Bible, pages 2289–2292; 2353–2354; available online at esv.org.)

      Placing Colossians and Philemon in the Larger Story

      In the beginning, the Creator-King appointed humanity to be his image-bearers, to establish the earth as the realm of the kingdom of God. Heaven and earth would intersect, and God would dwell among a flourishing human community. The will of God would be done on earth as it was in heaven. But humanity rebelled against their King and plunged the world into sin and death. Yet God’s original intention for humanity was not to be thwarted. He called Abraham and promised that from this family all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12:3). From Abraham descended the nation Israel, which was to carry this blessing to the nations. But the Old Testament story is largely of Israel’s failure to accomplish this vocation. In the fullness of time, however, God sent Jesus, Israel’s ultimate king (Messiah), who, having dealt with humanity’s sin forever at his cross and resurrection, took up Israel’s stalled mission. In him, the redeemed people of God—comprised now of Jew and Gentile—take up this vocation of Old Testament Israel, bringing the good news of God’s reign in Christ to the nations. (Paul’s letters to the Colossians and to Philemon fit here.) At the end of history, Jesus will return as the world’s King to consummate God’s original intention for creation and to establish the kingdom of God fully upon the earth in the new creation. Then God will finally and fully dwell among his people forever.

      Key Verse

      If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1).

      Date and Historical Background

      Paul probably wrote his letters to the Colossians and to Philemon while imprisoned in Rome, about AD 61 (although an imprisonment in Ephesus in the mid-50s must remain a possibility). The apostle had already completed the three missionary journeys recorded in the book of Acts (ca. AD 46–57; see 13:1–21:16). After Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem and two years of imprisonment in Caesarea, a centurion guard escorted Paul by ship to Rome (Acts 21:27–27:1). After a hazardous journey, he arrived there in the spring of AD 60 (Acts 27:2–28:16). Here he lived under house arrest, although he was able to receive guests (Acts 28:17–31). This first Roman imprisonment lasted at least two years (AD 60–62; Acts 28:30). During this time, he wrote not only Colossians and Philemon but also the letters to the Ephesians and the Philippians. Timothy possibly served as his amanuensis (writing secretary) while Paul dictated the letters (Col. 1:1; 4:18; Philem. 1). Tychicus carried the letters from Rome to Colossae as the apostle’s delegate (Col.

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