The Knowledge of His Will (Col. 1:9a)

15/02/2007

After his opening greeting and thanksgiving, Paul prays for them. This prayer flows from his thanksgiving, as it often does, and continues afterwards with exuberant praise (1:13-20). The flow of thanksgiving, prayer, and worship, is so subtle that it is sometimes hard to see if he is praying, thanking, or praising. The fact that it is a 262-word sentence in the Greek certainly adds to this effect! He prays that they would have the knowledge of His will.

Paul begins his prayer by saying, “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you” (1:9a). He is compelled to pray because of his thankfulness over the good fruit that has been produced in the Colossian church. He also has in mind the danger of heresy in their community that he will address, and is praying that God would protect them from these heresies. Richard Melick writes, “The words of the prayer clearly reveal Paul’s concern about the future of the church. Thus, while the grammar looks backward to the heritage of the church, the content looks ahead to the danger faced by the congregation.”

He continues his prayer, “that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (1:9b). In Paul’s writings, the word “knowledge” often refers to a personal knowledge of God. It was this knowledge that the faithful Israelites pursued. “Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD” (Hos. 6:3). This type of knowledge is not an intellectual pursuit or an understanding of what we are to do in specific situations, but an intimate understanding of God’s ways and heart. It is “heart-transforming and life-renewing” because it understands God’s redemptive purposes in Christ Jesus. Paul is praying that they would have a deep understanding of His will.

There are 3 comments in this article:

  1. 15/02/2007Brandon say:

    262 word sentence! Whoa man, and I thought i was bad at run on sentences. That’s a good handle to have on the knowledge as being not mental wisdom, but rather spirtual and emotional interdependence on the identity of God. Good post man. You should put me on your blog roll.

  2. 15/02/2007Ian say:

    You are right. You are on my blogroll.

    I find it hard to communicate the strength of His will. I think the key Scripture in understanding His will is Ephesians 1:5 where it talks about our being predestined to the adoption as sons. The idea of this is that He has determined from before creation that He would take created beings (sinless or not) and give them the dignity and honor of knowing His love, having His character, and sharing His authority. This is stunning enough when we consider that this was an honor and dignity to Adam and Eve, but it is even more stunning to think about Him taking sinners and making us sons. Now, if we had deep understanding of that will–now we are talking.

  3. 15/02/2007Brandon say:

    You said, “The idea of this is that He has determined from before creation that He would take created beings (sinless or not) and give them the dignity and honor of knowing His love, having His character, and sharing His authority.”

    So true man. Unbelievable. They guy made that commitment and He was so determined to follow through with it that He even gave that opportunity to us sinners. What kind of a love does that? What kind of love does our God have to actually have the ability to predestine those who are going to wilfully and continually turn their backs on Him? The devotion of God far surpasses the desire of men.

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