Daily Bible Reading 25th May 2025 // Colossians 1:3-12
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
Now, it is against this background that Paul's opening prayer of thanksgiving and intercession should be understood. When seen in this light it just bursts into life: From vv 3-12 Paul, as was his custom when writing, opens his letter with a prayer for the Colossian believers. This opening thanksgiving and intercession is, however, no banal or insincere formality. It is highly significant. He makes every word and phrase count in his efforts to reassure and encourage the Colossian believers. This prayer highlights his pastoral response to danger attacking and infecting the church. For Paul, prayer was the immediate response to news of heresy and false teaching (vv 3 and 9). We shall see as we proceed that Paul does not seek primarily to refute the Colossian heresy by argument. What he does do, and this is surely a fundamental lesson for us as we face a church increasingly infected with empty and deceitful humanistic philosophies, is that he prays and he proclaims the truth of Christ. Paul prays for the believers who are in the midst of danger and attack. He gives thanks to God for them and he bears them up before the throne of grace with specific, pointed intercession.