Colossians 1:9 That is why we keep on talking to God about you since the day we heard about you. We ask him that you may know everything he wants you to do. We ask him that you may be very wise and that the Spirit will help you to understand.
10 We ask him that you will live the way the Lord wants you to live, so that you will please him in everything you do. We ask that you will do everything that is good. We ask that you will see the fruit from what you do. We ask that you will know more and more about God.
11 God has wonderful power. And we ask him to give you all the strength you need to go through all your troubles,to be very patient in them, and to be happy.
12 Thank the Father who has made us ready to be with the people of God who live in his light.
Day 17—Paul bore afflictions for the Church, but the sufferings were born by Christ alone. |
Paul spoke of Christ’s body, the Church whereof he had been ...made a minister, according to the dispensation of God, which was given to him to fulfill the Word of God (Colossians 1:25).
Three words in Paul’s statement take our attention. First, he had been made a minister. This is from the Greek diákonos, a word generally meaning, a servant, someone who sees to the needs of others and hastens to their aid. This word was even used in Matthew 20:28 to speak of the ministry of Jesus.
The second word taking our attention is dispensation from the Greek oikonomía. This word carries the basic meaning of, one who manages a household. It speaks of one who has a ministerial commission to make known the Gospel of Christ. Both words apply to one who serves others.
The third word is fulfill. It would seem there was something in Paul’s ministry that was necessary to bring the Word of God to completion. In one great sense this would be true, for there was much to come through him in his Epistles that would accomplish that very thing. But in the context of its use in this statement here, he referred to the responsibility on him to declare all the counsel of God, as he had done toward the people at Ephesus (Acts 20:27).
Though there are some points in J. B. Phillips interpretation of the New Testament text that might be questioned by some, much that he has given us is valuable. See here his interpretation of Colossians 1:24-25. In this, Phillips is able to express what I would have liked to say.
I myself have been made a minister of this same Gospel, and though it is true at this moment that I am suffering on behalf of you who have heard the Gospel, yet I am far from sorry about it. Indeed, I am glad, because it gives me a chance to complete in my own sufferings something of the untold pains for which Christ suffers on behalf of his body, the Church.
For I am a minister of the Church by divine commission, a commission granted to me for your benefit and for a special purpose: that I might fully declare God’s word.
GRACIOUS LORD, I want to be one who is always a servant for others in Your Body. Please grace me with this privilege. While I consider myself as little in comparison with others who serve, I believe there is a special commission upon my life. Help me fulfill it. And as I do this, please keep me committed to giving forth Your full counsel.
How Paul Ministered at Ephesus—Acts 20:17-36
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