shadmans Musings  

(10) so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; (11) strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously (12) giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. (13) For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, (14) in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col 1:10-14) This passage stresses our good works and service to God, which is the outgrowth of our relationship with God through our personal relationship with Jesus. Our works are the fruit and not the root. They are the fruit of God working in us, not us working for God. We are not earning a paycheck based on what we do for God. As Scripture says, we are clay in the hands of the potter, designed to be filled with the knowledge ...

As we begin part 14 of our Sola Scriptura study, so far we have looked at the divine origin of Scripture, that it is an infallible standard, and its authority comes straight from God, since its words are His words to mankind. We have also seen that Scripture proclaims itself to be ‘theopneustos’, or God-breathed. Scripture “possesses an unrivaled authority and certainty for the Christian.” [1] Christians understand that all of God’s special revelation, whether oral as it was before it was inscripturated into the New Testament Scriptures or in written form as it is today, was given by God and is authoritative and binding on believers. But this is not the case for the uncertain, and often artificial and contrived nature for the claims of unwritten tradition. Without historical proof to validate these claims for ‘tradition’ as a co-equal authority along with Scripture, Scripture stands alone as the only knowable ‘special revelation’ from God that Christians possess and is therefore the o...

(9) For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, (10) so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; (11) strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; (12) giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. (13) For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, (14) in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  (Col 1:9-14) After giving thanks to God for the Colossians’ faith in God and love for each other (1:3-8), Paul lets them know that he has been praying for their spiritual growth in the knowledge of God’s will in their lives (1:9-14). As Jesus...

The authority of Scripture is a topic that has been touched upon in several blog entries but always associated with another topic being addressed in my Sola Scriptura series, and this is technically part 13 of that series. For a lot of Protestants, the authority of Scripture is an unquestioned ‘given’. They generally place Scripture above everything, at least in their minds, even if they do not live their lives that way. Most never actually think about the authoritative place Scripture has and consequently are generally ignorant about the topics I’m going to present below. And that ignorance helps to keep them from actually reading and knowing Scripture, or applying it to their lives, as is their charge from both Jesus and the apostles. And all is seemingly ‘fine’ in their lives until someone challenges that belief and asks them to prove that the Bible is really the one and only Word of God, over and above other religions. This challenge, whether a question, a confrontation, a snicker...

Truth Rests in Hope because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel (1:5) ‘ because of the hope laid up for you in heaven ’ (1:5a) – Hope is the final component of the great triad of Christian virtues: faith, hope and love (1 Cor 13:13). The Greek word for hope, ‘elpis’, is defined as ‘confident expectation or prospect.’ In the context of this verse, hope would be defined as “the full manifestation and realization of that life which is already the believer’s possession.” [1] Definition: ‘laid up’ – is the Greek word, ‘apokeimai’, which means ‘stored up or reserved’. The result of hope for the Christian is that they are willing to forsake the present for the future. When a person is persuaded that the treasures of this life are reserved for him in heaven, then his aspirations will also be there. Christians are willing to forsake the wants and desires associated with this world for a future glory that is already theirs, in Ch...