Growing In God’s Knowledge | Colossians 1:9-14

Today, I want to invite you to reflect upon Paul’s prayer for the believers at Colossae. This is a prayer for wisdom, strength, spiritual maturity, and thanksgiving for what God has done.

9For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Paul in Colossians 1:1-8 pours out his affection for the church at Colossae and thanks God. In Colossians 1:9-14 Paul continues his letter by praying for them. This is Paul’s report of his prayer.

SUMMARY

Paul’s Prayer

1. Knowledge; 1:9. (Believers to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will)

• Spiritual Wisdom
• Understanding

2. Conduct; 1:10. To Walk or live worthy of the Lord

• Fully Pleasing to him (honour & Shame culture)
• Bearing fruit (ethical usage in Paul)
• Increasing or growing in knowledge, 1:6

3. Spiritual Strength; 1:11. To be strengthened with power

• Endurance
• Patience

4. Demeanour: Thanksgiving; 1:12

Reason for Thanksgiving; 1:13-14

• Qualified us to share in the inheritance.
• Rescued from Darkness to the Kingdom of the Son.
• Redemption & forgiveness of sins.

Demeanour means outward behaviour.

Colossians 1:9a

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you.

In his opening prayer of praise, Paul thanked God for this church. Now he tells them that he has not ceased praying for them. Paul must have kept a long list of prayer needs, judging by the number of churches and individuals for whom he constantly prayed. He now moves from praise (v3-6) to intercession (v9-12). A saving work of God’s grace has been done in their lives, now he prays that God will complete it.

Let’s see what Paul is praying to God for.

Colossians 1:9b

We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,

Knowledge – 1:9.

(Believers to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will)

• Spiritual Wisdom
• Understanding

Paul prays that they may be filled with not just knowledge, but knowledge of his will. Jesus had taught his disciples that they are to seek first the kingdom of God and all these things (like food, drink, clothes) will be given to them (Mt. 6:33). When we pray, “May your kingdom come, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Mt. 6:10). Paul now prays that they will grow in the knowledge of God’s will.

The knowledge of his will: Knowledge for Paul has nothing to do with secret knowledge to some elite or clergy.

• For Paul, this knowledge is open to all.
• This knowledge comes from personal and direct experience of God.
• It is a relational knowledge. Without a living relationship with Jesus, no one can experience true knowledge.

Paul prays that they may personally know God and his will for their lives.

For Paul, understanding the knowledge of God’s will involves:

How Christ is the fulfilment of all things.

To understand how God the creator views his creation and how you fit into that. God is renewing the creation in and through the gospel of Jesus. It begins with Jesus being raised from the dead. Therefore we know what God’s will for the creation is that it be renewed from top to bottom. In a sense, that has already begun. Now you need to think about what that means for how you live in the world, how you treat the world, yourself (your own body), how you treat other people.

Being filled: Imagine yourself as a vessel being filled with spiritual insight with all wisdom, not just occasional flashes. This shows maturity and completeness. An understanding that informs your own spirit, where God’s Spirit comes in and dwells with you.

What does the knowledge of his will do in us:

• Understanding of his will.
• Knowledge of his will ground us in our faith.
• Knowledge of his will guide us especially when false teaching is infiltrating the church. Believers should have should be a reasoned faith. Something that is processed in the mind (intellectually), grounded in solid knowledge of the truth.
• Knowledge of his will fuels holiness.
• Knowledge of his will gives us wisdom & understanding.

Interestingly, he prays for knowledge and actually unpacks in specific areas that they may have spiritual wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives.

In the OT, wisdom belongs to God alone. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, Pro. 9:10.

Wisdom is one of the main themes of Colossians.

The theme of wisdom is throughout Colossians, particularly in v15 onwards. Then at the end of Chapter 1:28 and start of Chapter 2:2-3, Paul is emphasising wisdom is what you need. It is difficult to navigate through the complexities and the problems and the deceits of the world, and only a settled wisdom will see you through.

Paul here is echoing here the larger Jewish tradition which is embodied not only in the book of Proverbs, Psalms and the prophets that speak about God giving his people the wisdom they need. It is not just a matter of assuming that everything will be alright, you have got to learn to think clearly or learn to think better to outthink the world around you with all its deceits.

God’s wisdom is both spiritual and practical. Wisdom tells us how we should live our daily lives. Understanding is apply wisdom in our daily lives. Understanding involves the response of the whole person: Mind, heart, and body. Wisdom and understanding are inseparable.

Paul wants them to be wise, to be grown up, to be mature, to be able to think things through. Not to rush into silly decisions, not to absorb any teachings that come their way, not to assume that they have grasped everything and so go charging off in one particular direction. Paul wants them to have the mature settled wisdom which comes from being as he says, ‘rooted and grounded in Jesus himself.’

The Holy Spirit enables you to have that spiritual knowledge and understanding; 1:9.

And ultimately for Paul, wisdom is the name for God’s own second self as we will see later on this chapter. Wisdom is one of the ways in which we understand who Jesus himself really is. He is God’s beloved son, the very embodiment of human wisdom, hence the one in whom we have that wisdom. So this is part of what it means to be indwelling in the Messiah, in the King to find that in him we have the wisdom we need.

According to Paul as per the Jewish tradition, this wisdom is given so that we can walk in the right way. This goes back to the Jewish idea of – Halakhah – walking – the idea of human conduct and behaviour being a matter of, ethically speaking, putting one foot in front of the other and making sure those feet are going in the right direction. It is so easy to drift off course. Again, the book of Proverbs says:

Proverbs 4:25-27

Let your eyes look straight ahead;

Fix your gaze directly before you.

Give careful thought to the paths of your feet

and be steadfast in all your ways.

Do not turn to the right or the left

Keep your foot from evil.

In other words, figure out which way you ought to be going and make sure you walk there. That you take responsibility for your mind, your body, your whole person going in the right direction. Be careful how you do that.

Colossians 1:10

..so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

Conduct – 1:10

To Walk or live worthy of the Lord

• Fully Pleasing to him (honour & Shame culture)
• Bearing fruit (ethical usage in Paul)

Paul repeats this theme in 2:6; 3:7; 4:5

Our walk needs to be worthy of the Lord Jesus. He is the sovereign one and he needs to be seen in action in Colossae through you. When people see how you behave, when people see how you walk, they are to see a reflection of who Jesus is.

Our worthy life or worthy walk actually gives Jesus real delight. This pleases God. People sometimes worry about the idea that something we could do would actually please God or please Jesus. Paul has no such worries. When you behave in the right way, Jesus is delighted, he is pleased. Jesus is the very centre of love and wisdom. When people are even taking their first steps on the path of wisdom and right conduct, Jesus is delighted.

A life and walk that is pleasing to God is the one that bears fruit in every good work (serving others) resulting in the believer growing in the knowledge of God.

Fruit comes from careful pruning and patient cultivation of the tree, which translates into godly living and compassionate service to others.

Paul uses the same image of bearing fruit and growing, which he used a few verses earlier in terms of the word of God doing its own work. And he now says that this is to be true of you. You are to be the living embodiments of that word which now, you having heard it, it is growing and bearing fruit in you. You yourselves are to grow and bear fruit. You cannot just be static Christians or Christians for your own sake and nobody else’s. You are to be people through whose lives other people are refreshed, other people find that God is present to them, challenging them, calling them, loving them, instructing them as well.

As a result of that wisdom he prays that they will be able to have conduct which is worthy of the Lord. To have conduct which when people see how they behave, how they talk to one another, how they behave towards outsiders; will actually be a silent witness to who Jesus really is. So when people see that they are behaving in different ways and being different sort of people and when they ask why, ultimately the answer is ‘well we are trying to follow Jesus.’

It is not easy being a Christian. It never was. It is always a matter of swimming against the tide, and for that you need to settle down and realise, this is going to take a determination to put one foot in front of another and go on following Jesus whatever the winds of cultural philosophy and friends going on all around you.

For this you need the knowledge of God. Growing up in the knowledge of God comes again and again in Colossians. It is not the sense of, “Yes, I believe in God,” but of who God is, see the name of God in Exodus and reflect on ‘I am who I am.” The I AM who sent Moses to Pharoah to let his people go. This is a personal God in a sense, this God has character. He is not a vague divinity figure. He is someone whose character we can get to know as we know other persons. As we do that, we will find that we are able to bear fruit and to grow.

Spiritual Strength – 1:11

Colossians 1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,

Paul prays that believers be strengthen with all power according to his glorious might. There are tough times coming. Paul prays for their perseverance. He prays for their continued loyalty.

For Paul it is about the living glorious presence of God. When God is gloriously present, as he was in Exodus, as he revealed himself in the temple to Isaiah, as on the mount of transfiguration. He revealed himself through the shining of Jesus to the disciples. So powerful things happen. Jesus comes down from the mount of transfiguration and heals the boy that his disciples could not heal. Something about the power of glory.

Romans 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Glory is not just a sense of light or halo around a person, glory is a sense of power of the diving presence. This strength will enable them to endure hardships.

See what happens when we are strengthened with all power: Patient, steadfast, and joyful.

Colossians 1:11-12a so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father

Patient, steadfast, and joyful. Earlier we saw the Christian triad in 1:4 & 5: Faith, love, and hope. Now he says the triad of essential qualities to grow in maturity: Endurance, patience, and joy.

Endurance: Endurance is suffering opposition or challenges without bitterness or desire for revenge.

Patience: God is long-suffering and slow to anger to those who deserve his wrath (Johan 4:2; 2 Pet. 3:9). The Christian is called to face with patience the trials of the present in confident hope that God’s purpose will prevail ultimately (James 5:7-11; Rev. 13:10).

Joy: Joy is the fruit of patience and endurance. Joy is the mark of the whole community. Joy is not a superficial grin on whatever is going on. Joy comes from that faith, steadfastness and patience which looks at God and looks at God’s purposes and says, “I know that God will work this out, not necessarily the way I wanted but the way that he wants and when that happens, that will be ultimately for the best and in that I will rejoice.”

Colossians 1:12-14

12and giving joyful thanks to the Father, (why) who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Then he prays for demeanour. He prays that in fact there might not be grumpy people in the church, but that they might be filled with joy of gratitude & thanksgiving.

Demeanour: For the joy of gratitude to the Father

Inheritance: Give thanks to God for that access and participation in the inheritance of his holy people: Paul is telling the Exodus story and in Jesus we have a new Exodus. God sees his people in slavery in Egypt. God hears their cry and he comes down to act powerfully to save them, to rescue them from the kingdom of Pharoah and to deliver them through the crossing of the Rea Sea, so that then his own presence would be with them in the tabernacle leading them through the wilderness, taking them home to the promised inheritance, promised land, revealing that he was the King and they were citizens of his kingdom.

You are the people who are on the way to the promised land. Your inheritance is the hope stored up for you in heaven, 1:5. You are a child of God who has inheritance in God. Give thanks to God for that access and participation in the inheritance of his holy people.

Give thanks to God for the deliverance he has offered.

We have participation in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light:

Rescue: In contrast in verse 13 “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness” contrasting the light and the benefit in the light” and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves”.

Darkness is a synonym for the realm or reign of Satan’s demonic kingdom. The verb ‘rescue’ is used to rescue of captives from an evil power. God has rescued us. We are powerless to save ourselves. Jesus rescued people who were captive by evil spirit. The world that is filled with the activities of the dark forces. We will see this concept later in this letter. We are taken from the darkness of the world, saved in Christ and brought into the kingdom of his beloved Son.

Redemption: Give thanks for giving redemption/release and forgiveness:

Redemption carries the idea of a ransom purchase from the slave market. The question to whom the ransom was paid does not arise, for it was God rescuing God.

Linked with redemption is the forgiveness of sins. In the OT, it is used to describe the Jubilee year (every 50 years) as a year of release from all debts (Lev. 25:8-55), restoration of land etc. Here, forgiveness involves release from shame as well as guilt. Thus the forgiven sinner is liberated from both the power of sin and the power of evil.

Ephesians 1:7 In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

That great theme of forgiveness which characterizes so much of what we call the postexilic period of Israel’s history. Israel had gone into exile in Babylon because of their sins but now God was going to do a new thing, and forgiveness of sins meant the restoration of Israel and the restoration of the whole creation as in Isaiah 52-55. When God becomes king through the death of the servant, the covenant is renewed and the whole creation is given a whole new lease of life.

So Paul is saying, “You are part of that story. This is who you are. Learn to tell that story to understand your place in it and then you will find that thanksgiving will rise from your lips.”

CONCLUSION

As we conclude our time reflecting on Paul’s prayer for the Colossians in Colossians 1:9-14, we are reminded of the transformative power of God’s wisdom and grace in our lives. Through this prayer, Paul reveals his deep desire for the Colossian believers to be filled with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding that lead to a life bearing fruit, inner strength, and joyful gratitude.

Paul’s prayer serves as a timeless reminder that our pursuit of knowledge and understanding should not be confined to intellectual pursuits alone. True wisdom comes from God and is meant to shape our character, guide our decisions, and transform our lives from within. It is through the knowledge of God’s will and the wisdom that the Holy Spirit provides that we can walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.

LIFE APPLICATION POINTS

Seek God’s Wisdom: Let us commit ourselves to a lifelong pursuit of God’s wisdom. Take time each day to study His Word, seek His guidance in prayer, and invite the Holy Spirit to illuminate our minds and hearts with divine understanding.

Bear Fruit in Every Good Work: The knowledge and wisdom we receive from God should manifest in our actions. Let us actively seek opportunities to bear fruit through acts of love, kindness, and service in our daily lives. May our actions be a reflection of God’s grace and character.

Draw Strength from God: In moments of weakness or trials, let us remember that our strength comes from God alone. Through the power of His Spirit, we can endure hardships, face challenges with patience, and find inner resilience. Rely on God’s strength and trust that He will sustain us.

Embrace Gratitude and Joy: As recipients of God’s grace and redemption, let us cultivate a heart of gratitude and joy. Recognize the magnitude of God’s rescue from the darkness of sin into the marvellous light of His Son. Live with an attitude of thankfulness, continually offering joyful thanks to the Father for His faithfulness.

Share the Light: As we experience the transformation brought about by God’s grace, let us share the light of His Son with others. Extend compassion, forgiveness, and love to those around us, proclaiming the good news of salvation and redemption found in Jesus Christ.

May we be a community that embodies the wisdom and understanding found in Paul’s prayer. Let us walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, bearing fruit, experiencing God’s strength, and living with gratitude and joy. Through His grace, may our lives shine brightly, pointing others to the transformative power of Jesus Christ.