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Paul was praying that the Christians in Colosse and elsewhere would truly love each other. In other words, he prayed for them to act in a way that showed genuine and sincere care for each other (see 1 John 4:20-21). Such an attitude of love would encourage them to stand together as a church. They had come from many different nations and cultures, but God had joined them together (3:11-15). Therefore, they should not allow people to separate them.
The Christians needed that love because evil teachers were entering their churches (Acts 20:29-30; 2 Corinthians 11:12-15; 2 Peter chapter 2). They taught wrong and dangerous ideas to the Christians; they tried to separate the churches so that Christians would become loyal to them.
These teachers spoke well, and they claimed to have great wisdom and knowledge. Especially, they loved to speak about great mysteries and about secret knowledge. They used these ideas to attract people away from the other Christians. Then, by the same method, they tried to tempt them away from Christ.
Paul spoke firmly against those teachers. Christ was not just another teacher about God; Christ is God the Son. If we wish to know God fully, we can only do that through Christ (John 14:6). God has no mystery, or secret plan, except for the way that Christ is working in the lives of his people (1:27). Even that is not a secret to God’s people as God’s Holy Spirit teaches them (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).
Christ is God the Son, so all God’s wisdom and knowledge are in him. So no teacher can ever teach us the truth about God unless that teacher’s knowledge came from Christ.
Next part: Our prayers for people across the world are powerful and effective (Colossians 2:5)
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© 2019, Keith Simons.