Day 268 – A letter for saints - Colossians 1 vs 1 – 2

1-2 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. Colossians 1:1-2 English Standard Version

In my comments two posts ago on Luke 9:46-56 I mentioned that 'saints' doesn't mean a special group of people who are amazingly good. Many think of saints as being those men and women depicted in medieval paintings with halos on their heads. Others think they are select people who've been given a promotion by the Pope! Yet, as we start this letter Paul wrote to some new Christians in a place called Colossae, we see he calls them 'saints'. They were ordinary people who’d heard the message of God's coming day of judgement and the sacrificial death of Jesus that could wash away their sins, and they had believed the message and become followers of Christ. So a saint is any person who has been set apart to belong to God.

What about the word 'apostle' Paul used for himself? Is that a special sort of person? I'd say no and yes. The word simply means 'to be sent'. It was used when angels were 'sent out' by God to do His work, so it could be used for messengers in general. But it does have a special meaning when it refers to those who were especially set apart by Jesus to take the gospel message into the world. Though Paul hadn't been part of the disciples who accompanied Jesus in the world, Jesus appeared to Paul personally and made him an apostle, especially to the gentile nations. In that use it is something unique. There are no apostles like that in the world today.

How did Paul refer to Timothy?

He calls him ‘brother’, the same as he calls those new Christians in Colossae. We know from Paul's letters and the book of Acts that Timothy had quite a big part in the early Church. But he wasn't an apostle. He was just like you and me. In his case, he'd been taught the Bible by a god-fearing grandmother and mother and had heard and believed the message of the gospel. So he was a saint, and a brother to the other saints, all who believed the gospel and turned to Christ.

The point I'm making is that this letter of Paul was a letter to people like ourselves. We will see as we go through it that they had been doing things that showed their lives were far from God. But a man named Epaphras had arrived in their region with the wonderful message of God's forgiveness for all who see the evil of sin and repent, and believe on the Jesus Christ as Saviour AND Lord. What then was the lovely greeting that Paul gave to these saints?

Grace, and peace from God our Father. That's the marvellous outcome of the gospel. Grace includes things such as kindness, mercy and forgiveness to the undeserving. It’s like when a powerful King pardons those who had rebelled against him instead of punishing them, and then blesses them with good things. He gives them terms of peace instead of destruction. This is how Paul put it in another of his letters: “God is so rich in mercy, and loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For He raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. Now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners - you are fellow citizens with all of God’s saints. You are members of God’s family.” (Ephesians 2:4-6, 19) 

There's nothing better in all the world than to be at peace with God, and to know the peace that comes from God. Verses 19-20 of this chapter we've started go on to say: “God in all His fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.” How wonderful it is to be a saint.