Letters from Paul

A taste of the study room coming with Paul — pull open whatever you'd like to sit with.

The reading — Colossians 4:2-18

²Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving; ³praying together for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds; ⁴that I may reveal it as I ought to speak. ⁵Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. ⁶Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. ⁷All my affairs will be made known to you by Tychicus, the beloved brother, faithful servant, and fellow bondservant in the Lord. ⁸I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts, ⁹together with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will make known to you everything that is going on here. ¹⁰Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you, and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you received commandments, “if he comes to you, receive him”), ¹¹and Jesus who is called Justus. These are my only fellow workers for God’s Kingdom who are of the circumcision, men who have been a comfort to me. ¹²Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salutes you, always striving for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. ¹³For I testify about him, that he has great zeal for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for those in Hierapolis. ¹⁴Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you. ¹⁵Greet the brothers who are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the assembly that is in his house. ¹⁶When this letter has been read among you, cause it to be read also in the assembly of the Laodiceans; and that you also read the letter from Laodicea. ¹⁷Tell Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you fulfill it.” ¹⁸The salutation of me, Paul, with my own hand: remember my bonds. Grace be with you. Amen.

World English Bible

The words behind the words

When I say "continue steadfastly in prayer" (Colossians 4:2), the word carries the sense of holding fast to a thing, staying with it as one keeps close to a post that will not move — not a stray thought sent up, but a settled devotion. And when I ask that your speech be "seasoned with salt" (Colossians 4:6), I mean that a word to an outsider ought to have savor in it, not bland and not corrupt — a word that preserves and gives taste, so you know how to answer each one.

Where else you say this

The same thread of watchful, thankful prayer I pressed on the Philippians (Philippians 4:6), and on the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18). The open door for the word I have asked others to pray for as well (2 Corinthians 2:12), for it is God who opens it and God who shuts. And redeeming the time as you walk toward those outside — I wrote nearly the same to the Ephesians (Ephesians 5:15-16), for the days press hard on us all.

The situation

I write these lines in chains, and I do not hide it — "remember my bonds" (Colossians 4:18). That is why I ask prayer for a door: I preach from a rented cell. Tychicus and Onesimus carried this letter to Colossae, a church I had not seen with my own eyes but held in my heart. Around me are men whose names I set down — Aristarchus a fellow prisoner, Mark whom you should welcome, Luke the physician, Epaphras wrestling for you in prayer, and Demas, whose name I would later write with grief. These were not strangers to each other; they were one body, and the letters passed between them (Colossians 4:16).

The hard question

A reader may ask: why does the Spirit trouble to preserve a list of greetings and a request for a cloak's-worth of errands? Is this the Word of God, or only a man's post? I answer: do not divide the two. The gospel is not an idea floating above the world; it came down into names, houses, prisons, a letter carried by a real man on a real road. That Christ is preached in the ordinary traffic of friends and errands is not beneath the Word — it is the very shape of how God saves. Read the list again and see the church itself, held together in love. That is no small thing.

This is a small window into what a study room with Paul will hold — word by word, letter by letter, and the maps and journeys behind them. Get notified when it opens →

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