Daily Bible Reading 14th August 2025 // Colossians 4:7-18
7 Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. 8 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, 9 and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here.
10 Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions—if he comes to you, welcome him), 11 and Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. 12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. 13 For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. 14 Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas. 15 Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. 16 And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. 17 And say to Archippus, “See that you fulfil the ministry that you have received in the Lord.”
18 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
It is particularly wonderful and significant (v 9) that Paul should describe Onesimus, the one who was a runaway slave, a thief and a fugitive (Philemon), as 'our faithful and beloved brother', just as he had described Tychicus. How completely, as far as Paul is concerned, Onesimus' past is forgiven and forgotten. Onesimus, despite the past, is now a child of God, a member of the family of God, and he is representing Paul to the Colossians. In all likelihood, this would have been Onesimus showing his face for the first time after his flight. I wonder if there might have been those in the fellowship who would have been suspicious and uncertain of Onesimus' profession of faith? (cf Paul's own reception by the church after his conversion, Acts 9:21). There are today, sadly, even within the Church of Jesus Christ, those who will never let a man's past be lived down. They tend to hold it against him and keep him at a distance. For Paul, for God, and surely this must be the case for us, when a true work of grace is wrought in a man's heart, there is complete reinstatement (Luke 15:20). This is the humanity and the love of the new creation, and when grace has its perfect way in our lives and hearts we will surely become more truly human, more godly, more able and willing to forgive and to forget. As Mr Philip says so pointedly:
The fact is that God is far more forgiving than we humans are. When He forgives, He also forgets. The Church sometimes cannot forget, and does not allow itself to forget the sin a man commits, thus denying him the possibility of ever becoming 'a faithful and beloved brother' and truly 'belonging' again to the fellowship. How very cruel and merciless!