The NVB represents a major milestone for the Vietnamese church. It was translated directly from the original biblical languages by a multi-denominational team of Vietnamese theologians, working with the guidance of The United Bible Societies. It uses language common to all areas of Vietnam—north, central, and south—making it a Bible for all Vietnamese, both those in Vietnam and those living in other countries. You can learn more about the NVB and its team of translators at NVBible.org.
To give you a taste of the NVB, here’s how it translates John 3:16:
Our hearts and prayers go out to our brothers and sisters in Brussels, where terrible acts of violence have killed and injured dozens. The survivors and families of the victims will have a long road of recovery ahead of them, so please keep them in prayer in the weeks and months to come, after the global media attention has moved on.
The “problem of evil”—the fundamental challenge of explaining the existence of evil in a universe ruled by a loving, all-powerful God—is one of the great spiritual and intellectual challenges facing Christians. There’s no easy answer (if there were, we wouldn’t still be grappling with this question two thousand years after Christ’s ministry on Earth), but there is hope to be found in the Bible for those who seek it out. Here are some insights we’ve published in the past about the problem of evil, and specifically the challenge that terrorist violence presents:
I’ll close (as I have in the past) with Romans 8, a remarkable Bible passage points to a higher perspective on human violence and evil:
The sufferings we have now are nothing compared to the great glory that will be shown to us. Everything God made is waiting with excitement for God to show his children’s glory completely. Everything God made was changed to become useless, not by its own wish but because God wanted it and because all along there was this hope: that everything God made would be set free from ruin to have the freedom and glory that belong to God’s children.
We know that everything God made has been waiting until now in pain, like a woman ready to give birth. Not only the world, but we also have been waiting with pain inside us. We have the Spirit as the first part of God’s promise. So we are waiting for God to finish making us his own children, which means our bodies will be made free. We were saved, and we have this hope. If we see what we are waiting for, that is not really hope. People do not hope for something they already have. But we are hoping for something we do not have yet, and we are waiting for it patiently. — Romans 8:18-25
So please, continue to pray for the victims of violence in Belgium today, and watch for opportunities for you and your church community to peace. In the days and weeks to come, discussion about the relationship between Christianity and Islam is sure to become heated, and a prayerful Christian perspective could be an important voice in those discussions.
Did you know that most of the books that comprise the New Testament are actually letters? These letters (also known as “epistles”) contain both general Christian teaching and specific instructions for the congregation to which they were addressed. As part of our Letters to the Church series, we’re taking a brief look at each epistle in the New Testament. Last week we looked at Paul’s letter to the Colossian church. This week, we look at what Paul had to say to the church leader Timothy.
When was it written? Most likely between AD 62 and 66. It’s likely that Paul was in Macedonia when he wrote this letter (see 1 Timothy 1:3).
To whom was it written? 1 Timothy is one of Paul’s “pastoral” letters. These letters were addressed to church leaders and outlined their pastoral duties. This one was written to Timothy, a believer in Ephesus who had worked and traveled extensively with Paul. Throughout the letter, Paul uses the tone of a father instructing a son, even calling Timothy his “true child of the faith.”
Why was it written? The Christian church in Ephesus was falling into serious error: a form of gnosticism was corrupting church teachings. Paul urges Timothy to remain in Ephesus to put a stop to these falsehoods and maintain spiritual discipline within the church. Both to protect the Ephesian church from further error and to encourage the formation of a Christlike community, Paul includes many instructions about the administration of the church.
What does it say? Like Paul’s letter to the Colossians, 1 Timothy confronts the danger of pagan, syncretistic theology within the church. Influential people within the church were promoting practices and ideologies that didn’t cohere with Christian doctrine. The Greek goddess Artemis was the city’s favored deity—the Temple of Artemis, located in Ephesus, was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World—and pagan beliefs were seeping into the young Christian church. Timothy’s charge was to urge the Church to stay true to the Christian faith in spite of this ever-present temptation (see 1 Timothy 2:5-6 and 4).
1 Timothy 2:5: Paul asserts the oneness of God and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, in contrast to polytheistic pagan beliefs.
1 Timothy 3: Paul’s list of qualifications for church leaders is also an excellent guide for godly living in general.
1 Timothy 6:7: The origin of the saying “you can’t take it with you!”
1 Timothy 6:10: Paul’s famous warning that “the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil.”
What can we learn from 1 Timothy? As we’ve seen in some of Paul’s other letters, false teaching has been a threat to the church from its earliest days. While it’s unlikely that the specific heresies described in 1 Timothy are taking root in your church, our modern age has its own fair share of appealing but false philosophies; we can certainly benefit from Paul’s emphasis on refuting erroneous beliefs and remaining true to the teachings of Christ. Paul’s message is simple and exquisitely clear: one God; salvation by Jesus Christ.
Paul’s instructions regarding church leadership and responsibilities are very relevant today, and churches around the world use 1 Timothy as a guide for choosing leaders and understanding their duties.
Consider these questions as you read 1 Timothy:
Why do you think Paul focuses so much on interpersonal guidance in this letter?
Reading 1 Timothy, what picture do you get of the church in Ephesus?
Does your church use 1 Timothy’s guidelines for leaders and church administration as the basis for its everyday work? How does your church approach some of the more controversial guidelines in 1 Timothy, such as Paul’s instructions for women and slaves?
Your church probably isn’t tempted by Artemis worship. But what non-Christian beliefs could you see threatening your church, if you were to let your guard down?
What is the evidence for Jesus’ actual bodily resurrection?
What facts related to the resurrection can be shown to be true beyond reasonable doubt—even when placed under the microscope of historical and critical scrutiny?
Here are five:
1. Jesus was crucified by the Romans around AD 30
No credible scholar denies that Jesus existed and that he was crucified under orders from Pontius Pilate. There’s a wealth of New Testament and extra-biblical evidence that attests to this. The two most telling examples are from Tacitus and Josephus:
Tacitus writes in Book 15 of The Annals:
“Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular.”
Josephus wrote in AD 93 in his Antiquities of the Jews:
“Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross,[9] those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day;[10] as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.”
From these sources we know that Jesus was crucified, and it’s inconceivable that Jesus did not die on the cross. The Romans were very efficient and thorough in their execution.
2. Jesus Was Buried in the Tomb of Joseph of Arimathea
There’s no reason for the church to create an incidental detail as this. Arimathea has no symbolic meaning.
What’s more, Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the Sanhedrin—the very council that condemned Jesus. It wouldn’t have made sense for the church to invent a story where a member of the council which condemned Jesus would have given him a noble burial.
3. The Tomb Was Discovered Empty on the Third Day
All four Gospels testify that women discovered the empty tomb. This minor detail is important.
In first-century Judaism, women were not considered reliable witnesses. They would have never been allowed to testify in a court of law.
Think about this: the church would never have created stories about women discovering the empty tomb in a context where women were not considered credible witnesses.
4. Many Credible Witnesses Saw Jesus Alive
Paul, a primary first-century source confirms that more than 500 people saw Jesus alive, many of whom were still living at the time of writing:
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. (1 Corinthians 15:3–8)
5. The Transformed Lives of the Disciples
What else could account for such a transformation?
Before the resurrection, the disciples were a small band of defeated, cowardly followers of Jesus. But after the resurrection they could not be silenced by persecution, the threat of martyrdom, or death itself.
Something happened—the Resurrection—to change their lives forever.
Keep Learning
There’s even more to the story. Learn the five theories that explain why Jesus didn’t rise from the dead—and how you can respond. All of this is found in unit 16 of the online course on Jesus and the Gospels: Four Portraits, One Jesus.
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What happened on each day of Holy Week? This week, we’ll be looking at the biblical events that took place during the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion on Good Friday. We’ll base this discussion on our Holy Week Timeline, which you’re welcome to download, print, and share with your church or community. So what happened on Holy Monday and Tuesday?
Browse resources for Easter in the Bible Gateway Store.
Here’s the a timeline for Holy Monday and Tuesday. The horizontal axis is a timeline; the vertical axis represents the proximity of specific individuals and groups of people who played an important role in the Easter story:
Below are the scriptural descriptions of these events.
Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”
Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.
When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.
Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”
Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”
They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”
So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
“‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
La Biblia Reina-Valera Actualizada ya está disponible en Bible Gateway
(Reina-Valera Actualizada Spanish Bible Translation Now Available on Bible Gateway)
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The New International Version of the Bible translation is available in a variety of editions, one of which is the NIV Zondervan Study Bible (website). A team of more than 60 contributors crafted study notes, book and section introductions, a library of articles, and other study tools that specifically focus on biblical theology—the progressive unfolding of theological concepts through the Bible.
[When you purchase the NIV Zondervan Study Bible print edition: you’ll get a code to gain free digital access (a $19.99 value) to its comprehensive study notes, maps, charts, articles and more from your computer or mobile device through Bible Gateway and Olive Tree.]
Mark L. Strauss, (PhD University of Aberdeen), professor of New Testament at Bethel Seminary in San Diego, Calif., is vice-chair of the Committee for Bible Translation for the New International Version of the Bible and is an associate editor for the NIV Study Bible.
Resurrection Life
A remarkable story appeared in the news about one of the victims of the tragic Kalamazoo, Mich., shootings a few weeks back (Feb. 20, 2016). After being shot in the head, fourteen-year-old Abigail Kopf’s heart stopped beating during attempts to resuscitate her. She was identified as one of the dead and plans were underway to donate her organs. Suddenly, however, she squeezed her mother’s hand! Her mother asked her to squeeze again if she could hear her and sure enough, the girl squeezed. The doctor then said to give a “thumbs up” if she could hear him, and she gave two thumb up. She was declared to be alive!
We’ve probably all heard stories of remarkable near-death experiences, where someone makes an amazing recovery after being declared dead. The Gospels tell even more remarkable stories about Jesus raising people to life who were actually dead. These include the raising of Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:22-43), the raising of the only son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-15) and the raising of Jesus’ friend Lazarus (John 11). This last is especially remarkable, since Lazarus had been dead for four days when Jesus raised him! These miracles are extraordinary evidence of Jesus’ divine authority and his power to give life.
Yet when scholars discuss these events, they usually refer to them not as “resurrections,” but as “resuscitations,” or “revivications.” This is because—though these people were truly dead—they were raised to normal human life. All of them grew old and eventually died. All of these are risings from the dead—small “d”. Jesus’ resurrection was something entirely different. Jesus rose in a glorified body to a new kind of existence—one that was immortal, imperishable and eternal. His was a resurrection from the Dead—capital “D”. That is the true meaning of resurrection, the ultimate and final defeat of Death itself (1 Cor. 15:50-57). It is the beginning of the new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), which finds its ultimate fulfillment in the new heavens and the new earth (Isa. 65:17; Rev. 21:1).
Paul refers to Jesus’ resurrection as the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20). The firstfruits were the beginning of the harvest and the guarantee that the rest was coming. Jesus’ resurrection is the beginning of the final resurrection (see Daniel 12:1–3) and the guarantee that we, too, will be raised from the dead into new and glorified bodies. Through our faith in Jesus and his death on the cross, we are identified with him in his life, death, burial and resurrection (Rom. 6:3–7). His resurrection life becomes ours (Col. 3:3–4). We rise with him spiritually in the present, guaranteeing the resurrection of our bodies in the future.
While the dramatic saving of a human life is a wonderful thing, and medical breakthroughs that prolong human life are cause for celebration, these are nothing compared to the gift of resurrection life we receive through Jesus Christ our Lord. That is the real meaning of Easter.
Stan and Jan Berenstain introduced their first Berenstain Bear book in 1962. Mike Berenstain grew up watching his parents work together to draw and write about this lovable bear family. Eventually he started drawing and writing about them, too, and today, more than 200 books later, he continues to create the delightful Berenstain Bear adventures.
Explain how The Berenstain Bears started and the popularity they’ve achieved.
Mike Berenstain: My parents, Stan and Jan, started as magazine cartoonists when they married in 1946 creating humor about family life for such publications as McCall’s and Good Housekeeping.
When they became parents, they became interested in the children’s book my brother and myself were enjoying—especially those of Dr. Seuss (Ted Geisel). With the great success of Geisel’s The Cat in the Hat in the late 1950s, they learned that he had become editor and publisher of a new line from Random House—Beginner Books—and that he was working with well-known cartoonists in developing the series.
They felt this would be a good opportunity for them to break into the world of children’s books. So they submitted a concept for a book about a family of bears. Geisel liked it and worked with them for about a year to bring it to publication as The Big Honey Hunt. This was followed up by The Bike Lesson. On its cover Geisel made the announcement, “Another adventure of the Berenstain Bears.” This was the origin of the characters’ name.
For their first decade, The Berenstain Bears books were in the tradition of Dr. Seuss books—funny, zany, early reading stories. In the mid 1970s, the first stories in what might be called the family life category began to appear—such titles as The Berenstain Bears’ New Baby (in which Sister Bears was introduced) and The Berenstain Bears Go to School. This kind of story achieved greater and greater popularity over the years and has come to be the subject matter with which the characters are strongly identified.
I joined with my parents as author and illustrator in the late 1980s. In 2005, we decided to explore creating a new series, Living Lights, with specifically spiritual content. My father passed away that year but the series was launched in 2008. My mother and I created them together until her passing in 2012 and I have continued on with both Zondervan’s Living Lights books and our more secular-themed stories with HarperCollins Publishers.
Why do you think parents and children appreciate your characters so much?
Mike Berenstain: First and foremost, the books are funny and entertaining—my parents and I always put great emphasis on telling stories that appeal to a child’s sense of humor.
Second, the stories are about a family. Families are where children live. Almost everything they experience is in the context of family life.
Third, the books are useful teaching tools—sometimes they deal with factual information, sometimes moral and life-knowledge information and, sometimes, spiritual guidance.
Finally, the illustrations of the books are interesting and complex and designed to appeal to a child’s sense of visual curiosity.
I sometimes find that my family’s emphasis on stories, characters, and art that appeals directly to children rather than over their heads to adults is not fully appreciated by parents who may have more narrowly adult concerns and agendas. For instance, parents sometimes object to the amount of humor introduced into stories that are designed to teach moral or spiritual lessons. They seem to think that simple grim lecturing of children is the best way to achieve such goals. If this were true, The Berenstain Bears series would not have been successful since it is by the combination of teaching with entertainment that they have achieved their appeal.
At first the books’ storylines concerned topics of general interest. Now they include spiritual themes. Describe the spiritual atmosphere in your home as you grew up and the thinking that prompted the decision to include those themes in the books.
Mike Berenstain: My father was from a secular Jewish family and my mother from a nominally Christian (Episcopalian) one. They were not religious as adults. They did, however, believe in educating their children about the Bible. They viewed this as an essential part of any education. So, we had family Bible readings every Sunday.
As a young adult, I began to read widely in history, philosophy, and religion—including the Bible. I began to feel that a purely secular view of life was incomplete and that the universe was a fundamentally spiritual place. Later, as a parent myself, I was influenced by my children’s education in Quaker schools in the Philadelphia area. I experienced a spiritual awakening and became a Christian, was baptized, and joined a church. My interest in creating spiritually-themed books flowed from that. My parents were supportive of this since they realized that a large portion of the audience for The Berenstain Bears books were families who were seeking support for their values and family life.
Are your fans surprised to learn of your spiritually-themed books?
Mike Berenstain: Very much so—most favorably but, some, quite negatively. The Living Lights books have been enormously successful and have, in fact, reinvigorated the popularity of the non-spiritually-themed Berenstain Bears books, as well.
How does the Bible influence your drawing, whether or not a book is in the Living Lights series?
Mike Berenstain: I cannot say the Bible has influenced my drawing directly. But I and my parents always worked in an illustration style which uses the visual vocabulary originally developed in Western art from the late Middle Ages through the 18th century primarily to represent biblical imagery. Any illustrator working with this vocabulary of composition, perspective, foreshortening, naturalistic drawing, etc. is indebted to that tradition of religious art.
How are lessons from the Bible reflected in your books?
Mike Berenstain: My intention is to take a subject that children will experience in every day family life—for instance, Thanksgiving Day—and see what the Bible has to say about the subject. Of course, the Bible has a great deal to say about something like thankfulness and I incorporate that message into the story.
What messages do your books about Easter convey?
Mike Berenstain: The celebration of Easter in contemporary America is a complex subject. Christians are observing the death and resurrection of Jesus at the same time that many Christians and non-Christians, alike, are celebrating something quite different—the return of spring as represented by such popular images as the Easter Bunny and Easter eggs. This is further complicated by the ancient Christian tradition of drawing symbolic analogies between Christ’s return to life and the rebirth of life in the spring. It can be pretty confusing for kids!
I view my job as sorting this all out for them—explaining that Easter is really about Jesus, not all that springtime stuff, and, though some Christians disapprove of the springtime imagery entirely, many other Christians think it’s okay to participate in Easter egg hunts, etc., as long as you keep in mind that it’s just a side show, not the main event which is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
What do you hope you’re achieving with the readers of your books?
Mike Berenstain: It’s my goal to give a little support to Christian families in raising their children. In our popular culture we’re constantly bombarded with a vast barrage of ideas and imagery which make it challenging to remain true to Christian teachings. The Berenstain Bears Living Lights Books are just one small tool that may be used in the task of strengthening Christian families.
What are your thoughts about Bible Gateway and the Bible Gateway App?
Mike Berenstain: I am an enthusiastic user—especially of the concordance. Creating the Living Lights Books requires a considerable amount of biblical research. The Bible Gateway concordance is much easier to use and more precise than others which are available.
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
Mike Berenstain: Just that I very much appreciate the enthusiastic response from fans of The Berenstain Bears to the Living Lights series. They have made it a success and, with God’s blessings, have enabled me to create books which are spiritually fulfilling to both myself and, hopefully, many others around the world.
Bio: Mike Berenstain lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where he continues to write and illustrate wonderful new adventures for Mama, Papa, Brother, Sister, and Honey Bear.
This lesson is part of Mel Lawrenz’ “How to Study the Bible” series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here.
Some people believe that, because there have been so many different interpretations of the Bible over the centuries, trying to get at its actual meaning is almost hopeless. Nothing could be further from the truth. While there will always be small details in the biblical text that seem elusive to understand, the basic meaning of the Bible, passage by passage, is accessible to us all. Think of it this way: when Paul wrote a letter to a group of a believers he meant something specific and he wanted to be understood. So also David writing a Psalm or Jeremiah speaking an oracle or the writer of Chronicles giving a timeline or Luke giving his “orderly account” of the details of the life and ministry of Jesus. And, if the Bible is the word of God, we can also assume this: God wants to be understood. God has graced us with wisdom and guidance, with confrontation and warning, with love and hope—all delivered through the words of the prophets and apostles.
There are a few basic principles of Bible interpretation that actually apply to understanding any text. If we can hold these ideas in our heads when we read Scripture, most of what we read will be clear.
1. The simplest and most natural explanation of a Biblical text is always the best. This is how your friend expects you to read and understand a letter or an email, and this is what the writers of Scripture expected when they wrote. If the text says that Jesus and his disciples traveled from Galilee to Jerusalem, that is exactly what they meant.
2. The Bible is its own best interpreter. Most of the expressions in Scripture that seem challenging or mysterious have probably appeared in Scripture elsewhere. We therefore look up and cross reference these instances, and the meaning becomes clear.
3. Recognize how figurative language works. The metaphors and similes, parables and symbols of Scripture are powerful ways the writers communicated. When Jesus said he was the “door” of the sheepfold, he gave us a memorable figurative expression of his protection. Symbolic and figurative language is not inferior to the literal.
4. Take an expression as literal when the natural way of reading the text is to take the words in their usual sense. Jesus is not literally a door, but when in John 20 it says that the disciples were gathered behind locked doors, we take door there in its normal literal sense. Unfortunately, sometimes today we use the word literal to mean really or truly, which is not what the word literal has historically meant, and it causes confusion. If someone says, “it’s literally raining cats and dogs outside,” he or she does not mean pets are dropping from the sky. So yes, we take the Bible to be literal where its language is meant to be literal, but figurative where the biblical authors intended to be figurative or symbolic. One is not superior to the other.
5. The methods we use to understand the Bible are basically the same as the way we interpret any written text. We get at the meaning of words, the way words work together, the background of the texts, the historical setting of the text, etc. The outcome we get is the life-changing word of God, but the way we come to understand that is the way we interpret written texts in general. (This, by the way, is why ordinary believers can read and understand the Bible for themselves rather than being dependent upon a few enlightened teachers who are the only ones who can understand the Bible.)
6. A particular biblical text has a particular meaning. It may be applied in various ways, but the meaning is specific to the intent of the author. This prevents us from making biblical texts mean whatever we want them to mean, which is an insult to the intent of God.
7. The Bible has large controlling themes, and these help us with interpreting its various parts. In the Old Testament the idea of God’s promise, of covenant, of the people of God, of the land, are a few examples of the major ideas. In the New Testament, the central theme is Jesus the Christ. From the perspective of the New Testament we understand how the coming Messiah is a central theme in the Old Testament as well.
Interpreting the Bible correctly is the way we respect the biblical authors, revere God, and best help ourselves with the actual truth of God.
Mel Lawrenz trains an international network of Christian leaders, ministry pioneers, and thought-leaders. He served as senior pastor of Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin, for ten years and now serves as Elmbrook’s minister at large. He has a Ph.D. in the history of Christian thought and is on the adjunct faculty of Trinity International University. Mel is the author of 18 books, the latest, How to Understand the Bible—A Simple Guide and Spiritual Influence: the Hidden Power Behind Leadership (Zondervan, 2012). See more of Mel’s writing at WordWay.
Did you know that most of the books that comprise the New Testament are actually letters? These letters (also known as “epistles”) contain both general Christian teaching and specific instructions for the congregation to which they were addressed. As part of our Letters to the Church series, we’re taking a brief look at each epistle in the New Testament. Last week we looked at Paul’s letter to the Philippian church. This week, we look at what Paul had to say to the Christian community in Colosse.
In the decades following Christ’s ministry, death, and resurrection, Christianity wasn’t the only religion competing for people’s hearts and minds. Pagan cults and philosophies were firmly entrenched throughout the ancient Mediterranean world.
It’s understandable that early Christians—many of whom had followed such religions and philosophies before giving their lives to Christ—faced a continual struggle to keep their newfound faith separate from the spiritual currents of the world around them. The Christian community in the city of Colosse was caught up in that struggle… and they needed help.
When and where was it written? It’s widely believed that Paul’s letter to the Colossians was written in 62 A.D., during Paul’s imprisonment in Rome (around the same time he wrote his epistles to the Ephesians and Philippians).
To whom was it written? The house church in Colosse. Colosse had once been a city of considerable significance, but its importance was on the wane when Paul wrote his letter. The inhabitants of the area were mostly Gentiles (non-Jews), though there was a considerable colony of Jews among them as well.
Paul had never visited Colosse, but he had spent a considerable amount of time in Ephesus, located about one hundred miles to the east—so it was very likely that Paul and Epaphras (founder of the Colossian church) had been in contact with one another.
Why was it written? When Epaphras arrived in Rome, he brought with him disturbing news from the Christian community in Colosse: non-Christian teachings were circulating within the Colossian church. The problem was syncretism: Jewish and Gentile beliefs and practices were being combined, creating a sort of hybrid religion that no longer resembled true Christianity.
More specifically, the heresy taking root in Colosse was a form of gnosticism, which taught (among other things) that humans could transcend evil and the corruptions of the world through asceticism and their own strength of will. Gnostics believed that they could essentially ignore the world and follow their own desires and impulses. Paul wrote to the Colossian church to warn them away from error and reiterate the importance of the Christian ethic.
What does it say? This letter challenges the believers in Colosse to look solely to the divinity of Jesus Christ, through whom we are all saved. In it, Paul refutes the gnostic heresy spreading throughout the Colossian church and presents Jesus as God, creator of the universe. He emphasizes the importance of the cross: Jesus is Savior, and only by his blood we are saved.
Noteworthy passages:
Colossians 1:15-18: Paul asserts the supremacy and divinity of Jesus Christ as the head of the church.
Colossians 2:8-9: Paul warns to people of Colosse not to allow themselves to be led astray by false teachings.
Colossians 3:15-17: In this beautiful passage, Paul calls the Christians in Colosse to accept Christ and receive his peace.
What can we learn from Colossians? Although you might not feel tempted by gnosticism or the specific heresies described here, this letter is remarkably relevant to us today. Its central premise is that humans cannot achieve salvation through their own works, ideas, or accomplishments; we can’t “improve” Christianity by adding to it ideas or philosophies from other sources, no matter how well-intentioned they are. Paul’s letter to the Colossians reminds us that there is absolute truth in Christianity. There’s no need to look elsewhere for salvation.
Consider these questions as you read Colossians today:
How do you keep an eye out for heretical teachings?
Have you ever tried, perhaps unwittingly, to “complicate” the message of salvation? How so—and what helped you recognize your efforts for what they were?
Why do you think it was so easy for churches to fall prey to false teachings in Paul’s day? Do you think it’s still a problem in today’s church?
Imagine that this letter was written to you. How would you respond?
The Bible Gateway Blog features the latest news, announcements, and reflections from Bible Gateway. We hope what you find here will add to your understanding of and appreciation for the Bible.
We’re pleased to announce that the New Vietnamese Bible (NVB) is now a part of Bible Gateway’s online library! You can access it as you do any other Bible version by selecting it from the drop-down Bible menu at BibleGateway.com. Click here to start reading it from the beginning (Genesis 1).
When was it written? Most likely between AD 62 and 66. It’s likely that Paul was in Macedonia when he wrote this letter (see 
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