Colossians: Chapter 3 Overview

Welcome to Chapter 3!! YEAH!!!! We are half way through with the book of Colossians. As I have been telling you we are at a turning point in the book of Colossians. 

If you are new to our study, I have a little catch up for you. I encourage you to read through the entire book of Colossians. Now, go back through chapters 1 & 2, and mark every reference to Jesus (including pronouns) with a red cross. Next make a list on what you learn about Jesus. As I mentioned above, so far in Colossians the focus has been on Jesus. So it is important for you to observe what we learn about Jesus in the first two chapters. When you make your list, just write down what you learn about Jesus exactly as it is mentioned in the text. (Example: 1:13- He (God) rescued us from the domain of darkness & transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son (Jesus))

Now let's turn to chapter 3 and do an overview.  Remember in an overview we are getting an birds eye view of the chapter. We won't dive into each truth that we see, but are looking what this chapter is about and how it relates to the rest of the book. Read through chapter 3. Now, read through it again and mark any reference to Jesus. Make a list on what you learn about Jesus in chapter 3. 

Now, read through chapter 3 again and look for terms of conclusion, contrasts, or lists. We have talked before that Paul likes to use terms of conclusion (the words therefore or so that) and contrasts. Another thing Paul loves is making lists. Read through chapter 3 and mark with a black rectangle any terms of conclusion. Now go back through and look for any contrasts, mark the contrast with a black slash /. When you see a contrast (like life or death, light or dark) put a / where the two thoughts divide. Now read back through one last time and look for any lists Paul makes (hint: there is one in verse 8). When you find a list number the list by putting a number by each item in the list. Please remember, at this point we are doing an overview of chapter 3. So we are not going to get into the detail of what we learn  about these terms of conclusion, contrasts, or lists quiet yet.

Now I want you to look for paragraph sections. If you are using an Observation worksheet or a NASB version of the Bible, it is easy to see the paragraph sections, you simply look for the bold verse numbers. Bold verse numbers help us to see the beginning of a new paragraph. Read through chapter 3 and write down where the paragraphs divide. 

Now let's look at each paragraph and write down the main theme of each paragraph. We determine the theme, not by interpreting the paragraph, but looking for a part of the paragraph that sums up what Paul is saying in the paragraph.

So where do our paragraphs divide? 3:1-4, 5-11,12-17,18-20,22-25. Read through each paragraph and look for a word, or phrase that sums up what Paul is saying in that paragraph. 

Now consider the rest of the book of Colossians. Write down how chapter 3 relates to the rest of the book of Colossians. I have told you this is a turning point in the book, how so?? Write down your thoughts in your journal.

Colossians 2: Bringing it to an End

Last week we talked about Paul's instruction to the Colossians to not allow anyone to judge them based on food, drink, Sabbath, festivals, or New Moon. All of these were laws that God gave the Israelite people in the Old Testament. We saw that these laws were only a shadow of things to come. That they foreshadowed something better that was coming, something perfect when the OT laws could not make us perfect. That something, was a someone: Jesus.

This week we are going to look at the next set of verses. Read Colossians 2:18-23. Focusing on verses 18-19 ask yourself some 5W's & H questions & write down your answers in your journal:

• In what ways are the Colossians allowing themselves to be defrauded of their prize?
• What are they not doing in verse 19?

As you read 18-19 once again look for words or phrases that we might need to study further (with a key word study or cross reference). Write down the words that you see we need to look at.

So what words did you write down? Did you really do it, or are you just waiting for me to give you the answer? No cheating!! If you didn't write anything down, then stop and do it now. It's okay, I will wait for you!

Okay, so let's do some word studies!! Pull up Blue Letter Bible and let look up some words. I picked these words to look at in the Greek: defrauding, self abasement, hold fast. You might have those same words, or you might have different ones. That is okay, it's better to look up too many than none at all. When you look these words up, write down in your journal what you learn about it. Make sure to also read the Vine's entry, sometimes Vine's gives us more insight.

Okay, let's look up some cross references on some of the words above and some I haven't mentioned yet.

• Self-Abasement: James 4:6 & 4:10
• Angels: Romans 8:38, 1 Corinthians 6:3, Hebrews 1:4
• Visions: Isaiah 8, Deuteronomy 13, Joel 2, Acts 2, 1 Corinthians 12

Okay, lets look at a couple more cross references. Look up Gal 4:8-11 & 1 Timothy 4:1-8. As you read these consider how they connect with Colossians 2:16-23. Write down your observations in your journal.

Okay, now let's go back to Colossians 2. Read verses 2:20-3:4. Ask yourself these questions and write down the answers in your journal:

• What is the flow of thought that we see from 2:20-3:4? Look for the therefore? Why is it therefore? What is it concluding. 
• The end of chapter 2 is reasoning about being dead with Christ. What is the reasoning and what does that have to do with what we saw in 2:16-19?
• What is the reasoning about being raised up with Him in 3:1-4?

We will study chapter 3 in more detail next week, but I want you to see how these two chapters connect. Remember that when Paul wrote this, he didn't write in chapters, but it was one long letter. Sometimes we need to stop and see how each chapter connects. 

Colossians 2:16-17

If you haven't already, read through the book of Colossians to re-establish context. It's been several weeks since we studied together, so I want you to remember what is happening in the book.

Now, go back and read through chapter two. As you read, consider what we have looked at specifically in chapter 2. In your journal, write down these questions along with the answers:

• What are Paul's labors & struggles according to the end of chapter 1 and the beginning of chapter 2
• What truths does Paul stress regarding Jesus in chapter 2

Now it's time to focus on verses 16-17 of chapter two. Read through these verses again. Did you notice the term of conclusion in verse 16. The word "therefore" is called a term of conclusion. Paul uses this often in his writings, often to sum of (or conclude) something he has been talking about. Look at the serves above and below verse 16 and write down what Paul is concluding or connecting with "therefore."

Read through these verses again and write down words, or ideas that we might need to do a word study on or cross reference. (Yes Marissa, that's how I figure this part out.) Often it is something that the Bible references that I am not sure what it is talking about. Other times a word stands out that I have studied in a different passage that I know is important. In these verses what are things that you need to know more about? Are there any words that stand out to you that you might need to do a word study on? Write them down in your journal.

Now, let's start doing some word studies!! What words did you write down? The words I wanted to learn more about were: judge, shadow, & substance. Using Blue Letter Bible, look up these words and any other words you wrote down.

Okay, now it's time to do some cross references!! YEAH!!! We have talked before how we find cross references. The easiest way to do this is when you are doing your word studies. When you have the Greek definition pulled up, you can scroll down to the bottom of the page and see every reference to that word in the Bible. Sometimes you will find several pages, other times you will only find a couple.In the verses we are studying this week, there are several references to law from the Old Testament. It's important that we get some understanding about these laws, so we are going to focus our cross references here.

Look up the following cross references and write down what you learn about the laws God gives regarding food, drink, festivals, new moon, or the sabbath.

• Leviticus 11
• Exodus 20
• Mark 2
• 1 Chronicles 23
• 2 Chronicles 31
• Nehemiah 10
• Hebrews 8 & 10 (don't miss in these verses what you learn about the new covenant vs the law or old covenant)

Okay sweet girls, that is all for this week. I prayed for you this morning and asked the Lord to give you understanding of these verses. Love you greatly!! Cannot wait to see you!!