Chapter 4

 

            In verses 2-6 we have the team function of the royal family of God. The first item on the list is the function of prayer. Here we have the silent service, the great function of the royal priesthood, the unseen but important dynamics.

            Verse 2, our first word is a present active imperative of proskarterew, and it is translated “continue.” The word means to be busily engaged in something, to persevere, to devote yourself entirely to something. That is probably what it means here. We as members of the royal family of God have a phenomenal weapon which is very rarely properly used. It should be translated therefore, “Be devoting yourselves.” This is a customary present for what may reasonably be expected to occur among members of the royal family and the universal priesthood of the believer. The active voice: the royal family priesthood produces the action of the verb. The imperative mood is the imperative of command. The object of this verb is prayer: “Be devoting yourselves to prayer,” the dative singular indirect object of the noun proseuxh, one of the basic words for prayer. The dative of indirect object indicates the one in whose interest the act of prayer is performed. Specifically in context prayer is offered on behalf of the apostle Paul. The apostle Paul needs this prayer support because of something he is about to accomplish. The dative of advantage is also here, it is to the advantage of every believer priest to have prayer on his own behalf and to devote prayer to others. It is a team function, it pulls the team together.

            “and watch,” there is no conjunction here in the original manuscript, we simply have a present active participle of the verb grhgorew which means to be alert. The static present represents a condition in phase two which is assumed as perpetually existing. The active voice: the royal family produces the action of the verb as a sacrifice and function of the royal priesthood. The participle is used instead of another imperative and so this is the imperative use of the participle as a command, “be constantly alert” or “be constantly being alert.”

            “in the same,” preposition e)n plus the instrumental of the intensive pronoun a)utoj. The intensive pronoun is a demonstrative pronoun intensified to emphasise something very special but something that is not very well understood. It should be translated “constantly being alert by means of the same function of prayer.”

            “with thanksgiving,” e)n plus the locative of the noun e)uxaristia. It should be translated “in the sphere of thanksgiving.”

            Translation: “Be devoting yourselves to prayer, constantly being alert by means of the same function of prayer in the sphere of thanksgiving.”

            There is one aspect of prayer that needs to be emphasised and reemphasised, and that is the word constantly, and then the word “thanksgiving.” We have two present tenses in this verse. One is a present imperative, one is a present participle. Both of them have linear aktionsart. We should be constantly devoting ourselves to prayer, we should also be constantly alert in the field of prayer. Thanksgiving is the key. Thanksgiving basically means the principle of a very happy person, a person who is oriented to the grace of God.

           

            The doctrine of thanksgiving

            1. Thanksgiving is the daily act of rendering gratitude to God. And there is no gratitude to God apart from Bible doctrine in the soul. Thanksgiving is often a public acknowledgment or celebration of worship in which the goodness and graciousness of God are extolled, 1 Chronicles 16:7-36.

            2. Thanksgiving is the normal mental attitude of the royal family of God, Ephesians 5:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

            3. Thanksgiving is based on knowing God through doctrine resident in the soul, Psalm 100:3-5.

            4. Thanksgiving is a priestly sacrifice. It was a sacrifice in the Old Testament, it is a sacrifice for the royal priesthood of the New, Psalm 116:17; 107:22; Amos 4:5; Hebrews 13:15.

            5. Thanksgiving is a supergrace function, Colossians 3:15; 2 Corinthians 4:15. Maximum ability in thanksgiving is related to the supergrace life, therefore maximum thanksgiving comes from maximum doctrine in the soul. You must have doctrine in the soul before you have the mental attitude of thanksgiving. 2 Corinthians 9:10,11, related to the priestly function of giving. Personal testimonies, Daniel 2:23; Romans 1:8; 1 Corinthians 1:4; Philippians 1:3; 2 Timothy 1:3.

            6. Thanksgiving is motivated, therefore, by Bible doctrine resident in the soul, Colossians 2:7. You have to be taught before you overflow in thanksgiving.

            7. Believers who are positive toward doctrine motivate thanksgiving in others, 1 Thessalonians 3:9.

            8. Thanksgiving is related to the function of prayer, Colossians 4:2.

            9. God is the object of thanksgiving, 2 Corinthians 9:15; Revelation 7:12

 

            The outline of this chapter: Verses 2-6, the function of the royal team; verses 7-14, the personnel of the royal team; the rest of the chapter is a special note to the Laodiceans.

            Verse 3, our first word is an adverb mistranslated “Withal.” We have the adverb a(ma and it should be translated “At the same time.” “At the same time you are praying.” This is a transitional adverb. The transition being made is a prayer going specifically now in the direction of the apostle Paul.

            “praying,” the present middle participle of proseuxomai. The present tense is an iterative present which describes what recurs at successive intervals, therefore called the present tense of repeated action. You don’t pray all the time. This is a deponent verb and the middle voice is only the form. The active voice in meaning means that the Colossians will produce the action when they pray. The participle is an imperative used as a participle. It should be translated “At the same time be praying also for us.”

            “also” is the correct translation of the adjunctive use of kai. With that we have the prepositional phrase peri plus the genitive plural of the personal pronoun e)gw, which should be translated “on behalf of us.” This emphasises the great principle of teamwork. As members of the royal family of God we are not to be critical of each other, we are to pray for each other. Being critical of other believers indicates arrogance on your part, often stupidity, all kinds of erroneous functions of the soul. When Paul says “us” he is referring not only to himself as a communicator of doctrine but those who will communicate the Word down through all generations. Prayer becomes the means of encouraging those who have the gift of teaching, like the apostle Paul, and prayer is a part of the teamwork.

            “that,” the conjunction i(na introduces a final clause introducing a purpose, a goal; “God,” o( qeoj, used for God the Father.

            “would open,” here is a specific prayer request on the part of the apostle Paul, and it is also an admission that up to now he hasn’t done the best possible job on getting the message over to some of the Praetorian guard and the VIPs in the palace. We have the aorist active subjunctive of a)noigw which means to open a door. The aorist tense is an ingressive aorist contemplating the action of the verb at its beginning. The active voice: Paul and other Bible teachers produce the action of the verb. The subjunctive mood is used to denote the purpose clause. They will produce the action once the door is opened. It is God who is going to open the door in answer to the prayers of people all over the world. This is the way it always is. Believers who are faithful in praying open the door for someone to communicate the gospel to the unbeliever and to communicate Bible doctrine to the royal family.

            “unto us,” the dative plural indirect object from the personal pronoun e)gw. The apostle is not only including himself but there are many pastors in Rome, it is a large city with many congregations, and he is asking for prayer for all the pastors there. The dative of indirect object indicates the one in whose interest the door must be opened by God. The dative of advantage therefore results. It is to the advantage of any pastor-teacher to have an open door. God opens the door because of prayer.

            “a door,” the accusative singular direct object of qura, used for a door and also for a Roman shield which was shaped like a door.

            “of utterance,” this is the descriptive genitive singular from the noun logoj, and here it means doctrine. Sometimes it means speech, sometimes it means the content of speech. It is translated “word” as the content of speech, it is translated “speech” when it is used for the emphasis on the function of speaking.

            The purpose for it is “to speak,” the aorist active infinitive of the verb lalew, and it means to communicate. The aorist tense is a constantive aorist, it gathers up into one entirety all of the communicating that Paul will do in Rome. The active voice: Paul and other pastors will produce the action through the open door. The infinitive expresses Purpose.

            “the mystery,” will be the content, “of Christ.” This is the accusative singular direct object from the noun musthrion, used for Bible doctrine pertaining to the Church Age only. And it belongs to Christ, the possessive genitive of Xristoj, “the mystery of the Christ” or Church Age doctrine.

 

            The doctrine of the mystery

            1. Musthrion is derived from an Attic noun. It is Koine Greek but it is taken from the Classical Greek noun musthj which in turn came from the Classical Greek verb muew which means to initiate in basic doctrine of a fraternity. it means to grill someone until they are thoroughly inculcated with the doctrine of the secrets of the fraternity. It means, however, more than doctrine. It means doctrine which was never revealed until the Church Age. This is brought out in many passages. It is doctrine or secrets which belong only to the royal family and therefore not revealed by Old testament writers, not revealed until the Lord Jesus Christ became the first prophet of the Church.

            2. In the epistles of the New Testament the word “mystery” always refers to some aspect of Church Age doctrine, Ephesians 3:2-26.

            3. The mystery doctrine of the Church Age was not revealed in Old Testament times, Romans 16:25,26; Colossians 1:26,27.

            In other words, what is the content of the Old Testament?. From the standpoint of doctrine the coming of Christ was revealed: His ministry, His death on the cross, His resurrection, His ascension, His session at the right hand of the Father. Then the Old Testament becomes silent. The whole principle of the baptism of the Spirit and all Church Age doctrine, the universal priesthood of the believer, the royal family of God, the indwelling Holy Spirit of the body of the believer, the Rapture, all of these are not found in the Old Testament. Ten you will find the Old Testament talking about the Tribulation, the second advent, and the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ. So the only thing not taught in the Old Testament is Church Age doctrine. The Church Age doctrine not taught is called the mystery. Mystery doctrine simply means Church Age truth not taught in the Old Testament — Romans 16:25,26; Colossians 1:26,27.

            4. Part of the mystery doctrine includes the blindness of Israel during the Church Age, or the scar tissue of Israel during their fifth cycle of discipline — Romans 11:25.

            5. The mystery or Church Age doctrine was a part of the divine decrees in eternity past, 1 Corinthians 2:7.

            6. The pastor or the minister of the local church is responsible today for the communication of the mystery or Church Age doctrine. In this sense his function is called the stewardship of the mystery, 1 Corinthians 4:1.

            7. The Rapture of the Church is a part of mystery doctrine, 1 Corinthians 15:51.

            8. Mystery doctrine is always related to the dispensation of the Church, Ephesians 1:9; 3:2.

            9. Mystery doctrine is understood through the function of GAP, Colossians 2:2; 1 Timothy 3:9.

 

            The doctrine of the open door

            1. The open door of communication of doctrine, 2 Corinthians 2:12. An open door obviously means an opportunity.

            2. The open door of service, 1 Corinthians 16:9. Service opportunities, the privilege of serving in the angelic conflict.

            3. The open door of reversion recovery, Revelation 3:20.

            4. The open door of supergrace blessings, Revelation 3:8.

            5. The open door of the Rapture, Revelation 4:1.

            6. The open door of the second advent. At the end of the Tribulation a door opens in heaven and the Lord Jesus comes back with the Church, Revelation 19:11; Psalm 24:7,8.

            7. The door of salvation, Acts 14:27; John 10:9.

 

            The second sentence in this verse starts out “for which,” the preposition dia plus the accusative of the relative pronoun n o(j, which is literally, “because of which.”

            “I am also in bonds,” the adjunctive use of kai means “also I have been imprisoned” or “I have been chained,” the perfect passive indicative of dew. In other words, you might classify this passage as an ambassador in a chain. The perfect tense is the intensive perfect indicating a past completed action. Two years ago he was chained with the result that he is still chained to a Roman soldier. When special attention is directed to the results of the action emphasis is intensified, that is why it is called the intensive perfect. The passive voice: Paul received the action of the verb, namely being chained to a Roman soldier. The indicative mood is declarative for the historical reality of Paul’s first imprisonment.

            The principle: Since Paul has been restored from his state of reversionism he only emphasises the grace blessings of his imprisonment. It is true that Paul has been imprisoned because of his reversionism but his reversionism started with his desire to teach doctrine in Jerusalem which was not the will of God. So God closed the door and punished him at the same time. Now Paul is asking for prayer that doors might be opened in the royal palace of Rome, in the Praetorian camp, that he might have the opportunity of communicating doctrine in these areas.

            Translation: “Also at the same time be praying for us, that the God would open a door of doctrine, to communicate the mystery of the Christ, because of which mystery doctrine I also have been chained.”

            Verse 4, the purpose for his prayer request. “That,” the conjunction i(na introduces a purpose clause, a final clause as it is sometimes called.

            “I may make it manifest,” the aorist active subjunctive of the verb fanerow. The word means to make something clear or to make something understood by teaching. The aorist tense is a constantive aorist which gathers into one entirety the teaching ministry of the apostle Paul during the rest of his time in Rome. The active voice: Paul will produce the action of the verb by teaching mystery doctrine, which is simply Church Age doctrine. The subjunctive mood goes with the conjunction i(na to form the purpose clause, and the beginning of the verse should read: “In order that I might make it known by teaching.”

            The word “it” in itself is the accusative neuter singular from that intensive pronoun a)utoj that has so many meanings, but they all boil down to one thing: a)utoj is the amplification of the demonstrative into a sort of a super intensification. It’s purpose is to emphasise identity and the identity emphasised here is Bible doctrine. There is nothing more important than teaching doctrine. Rather than translating it “it” it should be translated “the same doctrine.” So the phrase in its best translation reads, “In order that I might make known by teaching the same doctrine.”

            “as” introduces a comparative particle, o(j which is built on the relative pronoun and indicates the manner in which the function of teaching should proceed.

            “I ought,” we have an impersonal verb here, it does not actually have any parts, it is simply dei and becomes a particle of compulsion or responsibility. It can be translated “as I ought” or “as it is necessary.” Whichever way it is translated it indicates responsibility and the whole purpose of it is to indicate that he has a definite responsibility in this area. Here it is smoother to translate it “as it is necessary,” because with this we have a personal pronoun in the accusative singular, “as it is necessary for me,” e)gw.

            “to speak,” the aorist active infinitive of the verb lalew. It means to communicate information and here it means to communicate Bible doctrine pertinent to the Church Age. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist which views the teaching of the Word of God in its entirety but it regards it from the viewpoint of existing results. The stabilised teaching of the Word of God stabilises and leads to tactical victory in the royal family of God. The active voice: Paul will produce the action of the verb by communicating the doctrine. The infinitive is called the infinitive of intended result wen a result is indicated as fulfilling a deliberate aim or goal. This construction then becomes a blending of purpose and result. The apostle Paul needs prayer in order that he might stay on course. It is very easy for anyone who has the gift of communication to be distracted or to get off course. This means that there is the constant necessity of a very strong stability in the life of a pastor-teacher. He must be unusually stable in order to stay with what his job is and not be distracted into other things.

            Verse 5, the function of Bible doctrine resident in the soul. 

 

            Synonyms for Bible doctrine resident in the soul

            1. The first is a crucifixion synonym. Taking up the cross and following Jesus is a synonym for Bible doctrine resident in the soul. It takes up the function and the principle in this one synonym. It is found in Matthew 10:38; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; 14;27. The idea of picking up your cross is the concept of self-discipline. To pick up the cross is to follow a course of action contrary to public thinking. So taking up your cross means the self-discipline of attending Bible class regardless of any factor, of staying in the principle of not letting anything distract from taking in the Word.

            2. The priestly synonym is the construction of the altar in the soul, Hebrews 13:10. It is related to the fact that we are a royal priesthood. And it is related also to the fact that the Levitical priesthood of the Old Testament had a visible altar on which animal sacrifices were sacrificed. But our altar is not of that nature. Our altar is real also, but invisible. The real invisible altar which we possess is the altar of doctrine in the soul. Our function in life must be based upon doctrine resident in the soul. So this particular synonym sees Bible doctrine, including the ECS, as an altar and the function of our life as sacrifice. The sacrifices of the priesthood must be based on what we have in our souls. You become spiritually self-sustaining at the point in your life when you have maximum doctrine in your soul and doctrine dictates your life. Doctrine in the Bible cannot control you, you must transfer that doctrine through the function of GAP. When you have taken in Bible doctrine in your soul this becomes your dictator, the means of conveying to you what you should do on any given occasion.

            3. A building synonym, the edification complex in the soul, Ephesians 4:12, 16. It is constructed of Bible doctrine and in a sense it is very similar to the altar synonym, the only difference being that the building becomes a shelter, a point of security, of protection from the elements of weather and therefore your doctrine in the soul is your protection in time of adversity, your ability to handle any difficulty in life.

            4. A theological synonym, the word “grace,” James 4:6. The Greek word meizwn means “greater grace” and greater grace is a synonym for supergrace. So this is another synonym for maximum doctrine in the soul.

            5. The military category:

                        a) Following the colours to the high ground of supergrace, Hebrews 12:1,2.

                        b) Putting on the full armour from God, as in Ephesians 6:11,13.

            6. Language synonyms. We have both Hebrew and Greek language synonyms. Chakmah in the Hebrew and e)pignwsij in the Greek.

            7. A time synonym. The principle here is called “redeeming the time,” Ephesians 5:16-18 is directed toward God. The same phrase in Colossians 4:5 is a synonym toward the unbeliever.

            8. The chemical synonym. Salt is used for maximum doctrine resident in the soul resulting in supergrace status, Matthew 5:13; Mark 9:50; Luke 14:34; Colossians 4:6.

 

            The first word we have in verse 5 is the word “Walk,” the present active imperative from the verb peripatew. it is used here is a figurative sense for lifestyle, for modus operandi. The present tense is a retroactive progressive present, it denotes what has begun in the past and continues into the present time. You as a member of the royal family of God must have a lifestyle that is different, a lifestyle that will have a dynamic effect upon your own generation and have eternal repercussions as far as the angelic conflict is concerned. The active voice: the royal family of God produces the action of the verb. The imperative is the imperative of command. We are commanded to be walking “in wisdom toward them who are without.”

 

            The doctrine of walking

            1. The secret to walking is found in energy plus balance. Energy can put you off balance so there must be the concept of balance. Those two words describe the function of the believer in the royal family. We must have the spiritual energy of being filled with the Spirit, we must have the spiritual energy of Bible doctrine resident in the soul. Bible doctrine resident in the soul plus the filling of the Spirit is the modus operandi or the lifestyle of the royal family of God on earth. However, they must go together. Energy must be controlled. and the controlling of energy is balance.

            2. In the area of nomenclature we have a number of different words for walking.

            3. Walking depicts the believer living his life in relationship to Bible doctrine. This is the great combination of energy and balance. Ephesians 5:8, Darkness of soul; light in the Lord. “Keep walking as the sons of light.” The world is in darkness because Satan is the ruler of this world. As the ruler of this world Satan has as his constituents the “sons of darkness.” When a person believes in Jesus Christ he becomes a member of the royal family of God. He is now a son of light. The only spiritual light, the only historical light, the only divine good light this world possesses comes from the believer with Bible doctrine resident in the soul. So walking depicts the believer living his life in relationship to Bible doctrine. 3 John 3, “walking in doctrine.”

            4. Walking is a synonym, therefore, for lifestyle, Romans 13:13.

            5. Walking is related to some positive things in the function of GAP, Colossians 1:10; 2:6.

            6. Walking is related to faith or non-meritorious positive volition, 2 Corinthians 5:7. Walking by sight is the reversionist, he walks by human viewpoint, by what he sees, what he hears and what he learns from cosmos diabolicus; but we walk by faith or by doctrine resident in the soul and faith-rest is the applicator.

            7. Walking also is used to describe the filling of the Spirit, Romans 8:2-4; Galatians 5:16.

            8. Walking describes the supergrace status, Philippians 3:17; Romans 6:4. We walk in newness of life which is Bible doctrine resident in the soul; Ephesians 4:1.

            9. Walking is also used in describing reversionism in Ephesians 4:17,18. The reversionist has no doctrine in the mind. Philippians 3:18.

 

            Verse 5 begins with a present active imperative and it is translated correctly “Walk” or “Be walking,” peripatew, used throughout the scripture to indicate way of life, lifestyle, pattern of life, modus vivendi, modus operandi. The present tense is a retroactive progressive present denoting what has begun in the past when we become members of the royal family of God and continues into the present time. The active voice: the royal priesthood produces the action of the verb during the course of the Church Age. The imperative mood is a mood of command here. So this is a command and should probably be better translated, “Be walking” or “Keep walking.”

            “in wisdom” is a prepositional phrase, the preposition e)n plus the locative of sofia. Sofia means here wisdom which God imparts to the royal priesthood through the doctrine resident in the soul.

            “toward the ones that are without.”: “them that are without” is a prepositional phrase, proj touj e)cw. The definite article is used as a demonstrative pronoun to emphasise the unbeliever as needing information, and you are his source.

            “redeeming the time” is another way of commanding the same thing. The word for “redeem” is the present middle participle of the verb e)cagorazw which means to purchase, to buy up, to buy out. The progressive present denotes the continuation of existing results of GAP. The more you take in doctrine the more you will utilise doctrine when you are in contact with the unbeliever, and you will give him the opportunity of making a decision for Christ simply by a clear and lucid presentation of the information. The middle voice here is a permissive middle representing the agent as the royal priest as voluntarily yielding himself to a course of action in his own interest. The participle is the imperative use of the participle. When a participle follows an imperative it often is simply another imperative or command. So it should be translated, “keep purchasing the time.” The word for “time” is the accusative singular direct object of the noun kairoj, time in chunks, segments, allotments of time, in contrast to xronoj which is time as you look at your watch. So “keep purchasing the time” obviously means the span of time beginning at salvation and concluding at the Rapture; there are certain moments in that period of your life on this earth as a believer when you will have opportunity to witness and you are commanded to do so.

            Translation: “Keep walking in wisdom toward the ones outside [unbelievers]; keep purchasing the time [where they are concerned].”

 

            Summary

            1. To summarise this verse it is best to begin at the end with the phrase “keep purchasing the time.” Time is purchased by means of witnessing, according to this verse. (Time is also purchased by being filled with the Spirit, according to Ephesians 5)

            2. However, prior to attitude toward the unbeliever is the purchase of time in Ephesians 5:16-18 which is a dissertation on temporal sanctification or balance of residency in the soul.

            3. Maximum doctrine in the soul means entrance into the supergrace life.

            4. Therefore maturity has three categories of expression: supergrace or maturity expresses itself toward God — occupation with Christ; toward life — capacity for life in every type of circumstance, the prosperities of life, the adversities of life, but having great capacities for life; toward persons — having excellent relationships with fellow believers and a dynamic witness toward the unbeliever, maximum category #2 love as well as category #3.

            5. In this context “keep purchasing time” is definitely related to the unbeliever.

            6. The verse relates doctrine resident in the soul to your ministry of reconciliation.  

 

            The doctrine of witnessing

            1. Definition: Witnessing is the royal family fulfilling its ministry of reconciliation. One of the full-time Christian service functions that belongs to you is the ministry of reconciliation, 2 Corinthians 5. Witnessing is the royal family communicating the gospel to the unbeliever on a personal basis. Witnessing, therefore, is personal evangelism. Witnessing functions apart from mass evangelism, apart from church evangelism or the preaching of the believer who has the gift of evangelism. This is a personal contact, personal conversation, do-it-yourself type of thing.

The threefold character of witnessing is found in 1 Thessalonians 1:4,5, the witnessing of the life, the lips, the witnessing of God the Holy Spirit.

            2. The Holy Spirit is the sovereign executive of witnessing. The unbeliever is minus a human spirit, he has no frame of reference for the gospel. The gospel is spiritual phenomena and therefore it is impossible for any unbeliever to understand any portion of the gospel by his own ability in the field of perspicacity. Therefor God the Holy Spirit must act as a human spirit in order for them to understand the gospel — John 16:8-11. In these verses sin does not mean personal sin, or the fact that you are bad or that you are a sinner. The only sin that is an issue in presentation of the gospel is the rejection of Jesus Christ as saviour. Therefore verse 9 says, “Concerning sin because they do not believe on me.” Personal sin is not the issue. The second factor, “concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you no longer see me.” In other words, Jesus Christ as a member of the human race is accepted at the right hand of the Father, everyone who believes in Him is in union with Christ, also accepted at the right hand of the Father. This is what the Holy Spirit emphasises. Finally, “concerning judgement because the ruler of this world has been judged.” The ruler of this world is Satan and Satan was judged when Jesus Christ died on the cross, rose again, ascended. The judgement of Satan is mentioned in Colossians 2:24; Hebrews 2:14. Satan has been judged and therefore since he has and is going to be cast into the lake of fire those who reject Christ as saviour will share the lake of fire with him. Again, the reason for God the Holy Spirit having to make this information real to the unbeliever is because of the statement of 1 Corinthians 2:14, “The soulish man [unbeliever] does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he is not able to obtain knowledge of the gospel because they are discerned from the source of the human spirit.” There is no way he can understand the gospel because all gospel information is discerned by the human spirit. We are born with a soul and a body but without a human spirit. We acquire the human spirit at the point of regeneration. The human spirit is the means, the frame of reference, for spiritual phenomena. Before the spiritual phenomena [Bible doctrine in any form] can enter the frame of reference in the soul it must be assimilated in the human spirit. But the unbeliever doesn’t have a human spirit, therefore the spiritual phenomena is foolishness to him, he can’t comprehend it. So whenever the gospel is presented it is God the Holy Spirit who takes what is pertinent in the presentation and makes it reality in the soul of the unbeliever so that he sees an issue, so that he understands an issue, so that he becomes aware of what the issue really is.

            3. Pertinent Bible doctrine [the gospel] is always the weapon of witnessing — not salesmanship tactics, not weeping and wailing and begging, not some gimmick system or jumping through psychological hoops. Under this concept we have seven principles related to the Bible as the weapon:

                        a) The gospel which is in the Bible is the power of God to salvation. It is the gospel, the message, the content, that saves, not salesmanship tactics, Romans 1:16; 1 Corinthians 1:18. A true presentation of the gospel is what God the Holy Spirit uses and it is the power of God unto salvation.

                        b) The Bible is the absolute norm or standard for truth, 2 Peter 1:12-21.

                        c) The source of the gospel, therefore, is the Bible, Luke 16;28-31: 1 Corinthians 15:3,4.

                        d) The Bible is the mind of Christ, 1 Corinthians 2:16. So when you are witnessing you are presenting the very thinking of the Lord Jesus Christ.

                        e) The Bible is said to be divine power, Hebrews 4:12.

                        f) The Bible never returns void, Isaiah 55:11.

                        g) The Bible endures forever, Luke 21:33; 1 Peter 1:25.

            When you put all these things together you have a weapon. And you never sit around and argue, Is the Bible the Word of God? That is ludicrous, it is beside the point.

            4. The believer priest is the agent in witnessing.

                        a) Witnessing is the responsibility of every member of the royal family of God, Acts 1:8; Ephesians 6:15,20; 2 Timothy 4:5.

                        b) There are two areas in which we as believers witness: the witness of the life, 2 Corinthians 3:3; 6:3; the witness of the lips, 2 Corinthians 5:14-21; 6:2.

                        c) Knowledge of pertinent doctrine is necessary for effective witnessing because the believer must witness in the wisdom of the Spirit. he must make the issue clear. He must exclude human persuasiveness and human salesmanship. The believer must understand principles of Christology and soteriology. He must understand, above all, redemption, reconciliation, and propitiation. He must certainly understand imputation and justification, as well as positional sanctification. And if he is going to be lucid and clear he must understand the true issues of the last judgement. So knowledge of pertinent doctrine is very important in witnessing.

                        d) The believer’s ability to witness depends on five different concepts:

                        1. His emphasis on the gospel, especially reconciliation, Ephesians 2:14-17.

                        2. His correct and accurate information, 1 Corinthians 1:18; Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12.

                        3. He must be filled with the Spirit when he witnesses. This gives him the flexibility to do the job correctly, Acts 1:8.

                        4. He must have the right mental attitude — the best expression is found in Romans 1:14-16, the three “I ams.”

                        5. The believer must have the assurance of eternal security to be stabilised in his own witnessing, Romans 8:38,39; 1 Peter 1:4,5.

            5. The witnessing of the royal priest is the extension of his ambassadorship, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20.

            6. The concept of making the issue clear:

                        a) You must give the unbeliever pertinent salvation information. When you walk away from an unbeliever after witnessing he must have a clear understanding of the issue of the gospel. Christ is the issue; attitude toward Christ is the issue. False issues must be avoided., they muddy up the water [drinking, smoking. etc. are false issues]. There are certain things that are obnoxious to all of us but we should not get our own personal likes and dislikes tangled up with the gospel. The issue is very clearly presented by Ephesians 2:8,9.

                        b) Never put the cart before the horse. Do not try to get the unbeliever to live the Christian way of life before he is born again.

                        c) Be sure to provide gospel information on which the unbeliever can make a decision for Christ. Remember the gospel boundaries are well defined in 1 Corinthians 15:3,4. Make sure that you make an issue out of the Lord Jesus Christ and not out of people’s sins and bad habits.

                        d) Do not add to the gospel of grace. Grace needs no addition. Nothing is accomplished toward salvation by persuading the unbeliever to give up his sins, improve his personality and behaviour pattern, feel sorry for his sins, join the church, be baptised, or give money.

                        e) Do not try to force a decision for Christ. This is the Ministry of God the Holy Spirit under the doctrines of common and efficacious grace, so stay out of the way of the Holy Spirit. Do your job and get out of the way.

                        f) Remember that the first divine institution is free will. This includes freedom and privacy for decision. You provide gospel information but you leave the results in the hands of the Lord. The gospel must persuade the unbeliever to believe in Christ, and nothing else. Therefore avoid gimmicks which confuse the issue — emotional begging, public invitations, the raising of hands, the walking of aisles, the jumping through psychological hoops. There is no place for these in witnessing.

                        g) Effective witnessing depends on the ministry of God the Holy Spirit: the ministry of the Holy Spirit directed toward the believer in spirituality, Acts 1:8; 2 Corinthians 3:3; the ministry of the Holy Spirit directed toward the unbeliever in convincing, John 16:8-11; 1 Corinthians 2:14.

                        h) Clarity of witnessing depends on the believer understanding the judgement of human good. Human good was rejected at the cross, only sin was judged. Human good will be judged in the believer at the judgement seat of Christ, and human good will be judged in the unbeliever at the great white throne or the last judgement.

            7. Summary:

                        a) Prerequisites for witnessing involve knowledge of pertinent doctrines related to the gospel. You must know these.

                        b) Effectiveness of witnessing depends upon the ministry of God the Holy Spirit.

                        c) responsibility for witnessing belongs to every member of the royal family of God.

                        d) Dynamics of witnessing depend upon the believer’s mental attitude related to his spiritual growth.

                        e) Clarity of witnessing depends upon the believer’s accurate understanding of the two deaths of Christ on the cross.

                        f) Areas of witnessing include both the life and the lips.

                        g) The challenge to witnessing comes from the doctrine of unlimited atonement.

                        i) The reward for witnessing is included in the believer’s paragraph SG3, surpassing grace. 8. The biblical pattern for witnessing is found in 1 Thessalonians chapter two.

            9. The postulates of pitfalls in witnessing:

                        a) Avoid argumentation. You may win the debate but you won’t win the soul. Your responsibility is to disseminate information, not to argue over the validity of the information. You present it, leave the rest to the Holy Spirit.

                        b) Do not be sidetracked by false issues. These include such subjects as:

                                    Is the Bible the Word of God? What about the people who have never heard?

                        c) Deal with the individual alone where possible. Witnessing in front of others creates false issues by producing embarrassment, loss of prestige, heckling.

                        d) Avoid getting into a rut, using the same approach in every case. different approaches to the subject of the gospel are necessary for different people. Your flexibility comes with your spiritual maturity.

                        e) Avoid the false concept that you must speak to a certain number of people every day about Jesus Christ or you are not spiritual. Witnessing is not spirituality, it is the result of the balance of residency in the soul between the filling of the Spirit and maximum doctrine.

                        f) Motivation for witnessing must come from doctrine resident in the soul, not human pressure, not approbation lust.

                        g) Avoid bragging about your experiences in witnessing. The Lord knows what you have done and that is all that is necessary.

                        h) Do not judge other believers for their apparent failure to witness. This is a matter between them and the Lord. Such judging and maligning only brings divine discipline on yourself. You must face that issue for yourself and no one else.

            10. The analogy to witnessing — Matthew 4:19, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”

            A fisherman must have a desire to fish, and that is true of witnessing. You must have a desire to impart the gospel, you must love Jesus Christ, there must be some true spiritual motivation.

            A fisherman goes equipped. He knows exactly what he is after and he knows what he is going to hook it with. This is important in being a fisher of men, you must be equipped with the gospel.

            And they always go where the fish are located.

            They keep out of sight. Never make an issue of yourself, you are not the issue, Christ is the issue.

            Fishermen must be patient. When you get to the point where you are getting vibrations, cut it off!

            11. The principle of prayer in witnessing is a bona fide principle — Romans 10:1. 

            12. Effective witnessing belongs to those in supergrace status — Proverbs 11:30.

            13. There is a relationship between witnessing and doctrine resident in the soul. Human perspicacity based on high IQ is not necessary for evangelising those who have a high IQ. You have information he needs no matter how smart he is. Cognisance of the unbeliever’s religion or his philosophy is not necessary for witnessing. For example, you do not have to understand Judaism to witness to the Jews; you do not have to understyand Mahomedanism to witness to the Muslim, Mormonism to witness to a Mormon, philosophy to witness to a philosopher. What you need is doctrine in your soul. The creation of a public relations image is not s substitute for the filling of the Spirit. The believer’s consistency in the function of GAP determines both his motivation and his effectiveness.

            Verse 6, the importance of expressing the divine viewpoint of life no matter where we are. “Let your speech be alway with grace” should literally be translated , “Your word always in the sphere of grace.” It starts out o( logoj u(mwn, the doctrine, plus u(mwn, a possessive genitive plural which, in effect, says something that belongs to you personally. It is from the personal pronoun su. So it is literally, “Your word,” not “your speech.” The word logoj can be “word, reason, motive, but here it is word in the sense of doctrine. More than that it brings out the principle that what you think is what you say. Words which you utter are always formed in the mind. Then they are used for thought or for speech or for both. Therefore the mind must contain divine viewpoint based on Bible doctrine resident in the soul.

            The adverb pantote is correctly translated “always,” and it means at all times or always.

            “with grace” is the preposition e)n plus the locative of xarij, “in the sphere of grace.” “Your word in the sphere of grace.” That means that when you are in personal conversation, when you are speaking about anything anytime anywhere, any subject, it must represent the divine viewpoint of life. “In the sphere of grace” means Bible doctrine resident in your soul by which you can answer these things. The reason for this is quite obvious. The believer with Bible doctrine in his soul is the means of preserving the national entity.

            “seasoned,” perfect passive participle from the verb a)rtuw which means to season food to make it palatable, to season it with salt. The perfect tense is translated “having been seasoned.” This is the intensive perfect which includes the concept of an action completed with results that continue. The emphasis is on those existing results. We continue as a nation because this country has been seasoned with salt. The seasoning with salt are born again believers, members of the royal family of God, who continue to take in maximum Bible doctrine. When you have maximum doctrine in your soul you become the seasoning for the population of the country. The passive voice indicates that a nation receives blessing because of the spiritual advance and progress of believers living in that nation. The participle is a telic participle denoting the means by which Jesus Christ controls history and often permits nations to survive in spite of the reversionism, the apostasy, and the decadence in that nation.

            “with salt,” the instrumental from the noun a(laj, the Greek word for salt. Salt here connotes both seasoning and preservation. Grace thinking expresses the principle of preservation in the national entity. Grace speech preserves the society, the organisation, the country to which it is attached.

 

            The doctrine of salt

            1. Salt was very common in Bible times, that is why salt is used so extensively. For example, the dead sea has one of the largest salt deposits in the world. Salt was used in the ancient world for a number of reasons, all of which are brought in by way of illustration of Bible doctrine. Salt was used in the ancient world for preserving food. It was the original system of refrigeration, it was the means by which food was preserved. It was also used for the seasoning of food. It was used for the expression of fidelity in the ancient world. Eating salt with a king or a VIP meant allegiance to that king. Enlistment in armies often included eating salt, meaning I will be faithful to my commanders. Making a peace treaty or a covenant of friendship was used by eating bread and salt together. Salt was an expression of hospitality, and when you ate salt with someone, even though it was an enemy and under their roof, they couldn’t kill you until you left their property. Salt was used as an expression of judgement. For example, Carthage was sowed with salt after the Roman conquest of that city. Sowing the ruins of a captured city with salt was a picture of judgement. All of these uses add up to the fact that salt, therefore, is found in the scripture as an analogy and an illustration of many different things.

            2. The biblical use of salt as a seasoner of food, Job 6:6,7. You don’t eat something tasteless if you can help it. What Job is saying in is that there are certain things he will not do, it is like trying to eat food without salt. He won’t run around with the wrong crowd, he won’t buy something that is wrong in the sense of a wrong idea to advance himself. He won’t get involved with antiestablishment principles in order to get along with people. In effect, he is saying, My soul refuses to touch them — because he has salt in his soul. Salt in his soul is Bible doctrine. His life has been savoured with salt, it has been seasoned with salt, and since he now has a seasoned life he cannot go back to the tasteless things of socialism and liberalism and do-goodism, and all of the other principles that are minus salt or minus grace. So salt as a seasoner of food is used as an analogy for separation from false concepts.

            3. Salt was used in the Levitical offerings. The food offering of Leviticus chapter two, which portrays propitiation with emphasis on the person of Christ, used salt. Salt was also used in the other offerings as well. Salt in the food offering, however, has a special meaning, it follows the concept of preservation or eternal security. Leviticus 2:13. Salt in the Levitical offerings indicates the principle of eternal security. Because of who and what Christ is, because of what He did on the cross, eternal security is the seasoning of the various sacrifices with salt. The burnt offering which portrays propitiation with emphasis on the work of Christ also used salt. Salt was used in the burnt offering to indicate eternal security as well as the efficacy of the work of Christ and the importance of understanding this doctrine in orientation to grace. Ezra 6:9. The same principle occurs in the Millennial sacrifices which in the future will commemorate the work of Jesus Christ, Ezekiel 43:24. The salt, again, has the connotation of eternal security.

            4. Salt is used in three categories of judgement. Personal judgement: Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt, Genesis 19:26. Temporal judgement: the judgement of cities, Deuteronomy 29:23, “all its land in brimstone and salt, a burning waste, unsown and unproductive...” Judges 9:45. Salt is also used in eternal judgement. The eternal judgement of the lake of fire is described in terms of salt in Mark 9:47-49. Salt is used for the eternal judgement of the unbeliever, they are “salted with fire.”

            5. Salt is analogues to the supergrace believer as the preserver of his nation, Matthew 5:13. If there are no believers with salt (with doctrine in the soul) there is no hope for the nation. Mark 9:50, “Have salt in yourselves” is having maximum doctrine in the soul, this is the preservation of the nation, “and be at peace with one another,” in other words, the salty believer is at peace with everyone else.

            6. Unsaltiness is analogous to reversionism and is used to portray his discipline, Luke 14:34,35. GAP it.

            7. Salt is analogous to the supergrace believer in the expression of divine viewpoint, Colossians 4:6.

            8. In birth procedure salt was used as an antiseptic, Ezekiel 16:4. In the analogy of the birth of Israel, the birth of grace, we have: “As for your birth, on the day you were born, your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed down with salt, nor even wrapped in clothes.” Bible doctrine in the soul is a spiritual antiseptic.

            9. The salt of the covenant was used to express the eternal relationship between God and the believer. It is related to the Levitical offerings in Numbers 18:19, “… it is an everlasting covenant of salt before the Lord, to you and to your seed after you.” So the eating of salt was the basis for setting up a contract. It is also related to the Davidic covenant, 2 Chronicles 13:5.

 

            “that” is really a part of a perfect active infinitive; “ye may know,” the perfect active infinitive of the verb o)ida. The perfect tense is the intensive perfect, a completed action with existing results. The active voice: the believer of the Church Age produces the action. The infinitive is a result infinitive. However result infinitive s are found in three categories in the Koine Greek. First, there is the actual result. A second category is called conceived result, assuming as a consequence of something. The third is called intended result, fulfilling a deliberate aim or purpose, a blending of purpose and result. The third is pertinent here and it should be translated, “so that you may know.”

            “How” is the interrogative particle pwj, it is used here in a rhetorical sense since the assumption is based on doctrine resident in the soul producing the divine viewpoint.

            “ye ought” is the impersonal verb dei. This impersonal verb always is used to indicate compulsion of duty. It is our duty “how ye ought to answer — present middle infinitive a)pokrinomai, always used for answering something. The present tense is the aoristic present for punctiliar action in present time. You don’t have to sit around and figure things out when some subject comes up, doctrine resident in your soul will give you an instant answer, an instant viewpoint. The middle voice is the indirect middle for the agent producing the action of the verb. The agent is the supergrace believer or the royal priest with maximum doctrine resident in his soul — he has an answer for everything. The infinitive is conceived result assumed as a consequence of maximum doctrine resident in the soul.

            “every man” is the dative singular indirect object from e(ij, meaning “one.” With it we have the dative singular from the adjective e(kastoj, and the two words together mean “to each one.”

            Translation: “Your word always in the sphere of grace, having been seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”

 

            Verse 7, the greatness of the men we are going to study is all based upon one adjective, something they all had in common, something that God prizes in the believer. That adjective in pistoj. We will see it time and time again in this passage. For example, in the middle of verse 7 Tychicus is called a “faithful” minister. That’s pistoj. And Onesimus is called a “faithful” brother in verse 9. Wherever you go in the scripture one of the things that is so important is that principle, pistoj, and by implication the use of this adjective twice indicates also that Aristarchus and John Mark and Justus in verse 11, Epaphrus in verse 12, all of these men between verses 7 and 14 were faithful, stable, consistent.

            Beginning the verse we have three words, “All my state,” Ta kat’ e)me panta. The word Ta is the nominative neuter plural of the definite article and it is translated, “The things.” Our life is made up of things, not just materialistic things but experiences, circumstances, all kinds of activities. We call that here “the things.” This is followed by the nominative neuter plural of paj (panta), and it should be translated “all.” So when you put it with the definite article you have the phrase, “The all things.”

            Then we have the preposition kata. Notice that it is simple kat’ here because the next word starts with a vowel and you can’t have an a and then follow it by an e. They couldn’t say Kata e)me in Greek, they had to say Kat’ e)me. Therefore we have the preposition kat’ plus e)gw. When you put it all together literally we have “The all things pertaining to me.” When we translate these things literally, we suspect (but do not know) that this is an idiom. And, of course, it is idiomatic. The idiom is a very well-known one and very well established by the papyri, and it can be translated “All about my status quo” or “all about my affairs,” or “all about my circumstances — anything to indicate that this is a report of the missionary activities of the apostle Paul.

            Next we have the name of the person who is going to make this report, Tychicus. In the Greek his name is Tuxikoj. He is one of those people who is not very well known. Pistoj used with douloj and diakonoj and you have the whole story. Two things are going to be said about Tychicus. The first is going to be diakonoj and the second is going to be douloj. Diakonoj means a servant, someone who waits on tables; douloj means slave. Both of these are used for great believers. Diakonoj is directed toward people and is often translated “minister”; douloj means slave and is always directed toward the Lord. Tychicus was great, he was pistoj in two fields . He was faithful as the Lord’s slave and he was faithful in ministering to believers where he was sent under the authority of the apostle Paul.

 

            The profile of Tychicus

            1. He was first associated with Paul in the third missionary journey , so he was late in joining, Acts 20:4. However, when he did join he was already a mature believer, which is more than you could say for some of the others who linked up with the apostle Paul.

            2. Along with Trophimus he is called a native of Asia minor in Acts 21:29. This makes him the logical person to carry Ephesians and Colossians back home.

            3. When Paul went erroneously to Jerusalem Tychicus did not go with him. Instead, he stayed at Miletus which was 36 miles south of Ephesus and a seaport, Acts 20:15, 38.

            4. He rejoins the apostle Paul during his first Roman imprisonment when Paul was in reversion recovery, Ephesians 6:21.22; Colossians 4:7,8.

            5. During Paul’s second imprisonment in Rome he sent Tychicus to Ephesus on a special mission — 2 Timothy 4:12. He was to take over the Ephesians church, he was to relieve Timothy who was to go to Rome to be with Paul while he was dying.

            7. The outstanding characteristic of Tychicus was faithfulness, Ephesians 6:21; Colossians 4:7.

 

            Tychicus shall declare,” the future active indicative of gnwrizw. it means to make known, to bring information. The future tense is a predictive future for an event expected to occur in future time. The active voice: Tychicus will make the report when he arrives in Colosse. The indicative mood is declarative for the historical reality of this report.

            “unto you” is a dative plural indirect object from the personal pronoun su. It is interesting that Tychicus is going to combine two things to these people. He is going to make a report on Paul’s situation in Rome and he is going to teach doctrine.

            Next we have a profile of Tychicus. First of all he is called “a beloved brother,” o( a)gaphtoj a)delfoj.

           

            Principles

            1. The fact that Tychicus was loved, a)gaphtoj means that there was a certain type of love that everyone had for Tychicus — means that he was respected. They respected him for his strength of character, not sweetness.

            2. Furthermore, a)gaphtoj means that he was a relaxed person; he wasn’t arrogant, he was not trying to prove anything, he was not making an issue out of himself.

            3. The reason he was this way was because of what Bible doctrine accomplishes in the soul of the believer. He was consistent in his intake of doctrine and stability came out of this consistency.

            4. Note that the Bible emphasises the character of Tychicus, not his personality. Personality is all right as long as their is character to stabilise it. It is character that counts.

            5. Personality is a facade for hypocrisy, the cover for what you really are. Character is what the true soul essence is.

            6. Furthermore, this phrase indicates the stability of Tychicus as well as his capacity for life. Great character manifests itself through stability.

            7. Tychicus was a happy person. He was well balanced, well oriented to grace, he had great stability and great capacity for life. Therefore he was a great person to be around.

            8. He transmitted his enthusiasm about Christ and the royal family privileges to others.

 

            “and a faithful minister,” kai pistoj diakonoj. Diakonoj is directed toward God.

            1. God requires faithfulness from all believers, Matthew 5:21.

            2. If God requires faithfulness from every member of the royal family, much more so He requires faithfulness from the pastor-teacher or minister.

            3. God doesn’t ask the minister to be sensational, spectacular, or scintillating, He requires faithfulness.

            4. There is no substitute for plugging, for plodding. The pastor-teacher must be a plodder — study and teach.          

            5. Pastors must be consistent and faithful to the assigned task of the minister, which is the communication of doctrine to his entire congregation.

            6. Every time a pastor stops for counseling he is depriving his entire congregation of Bible doctrine. So to be faithful he has to refuse to do this quite frequently.

            7. The self-centered, egotistical, insolent, supercilious member of the congregation who demands attention should get it — out! Exit!

            8. It is imperative that the pastor avoid being sidetracked by psychopathic, self-centered people.

            9. When it comes to studying Bible doctrine for the teaching of the Word the pastor must be characterised as a plodder, a trudge, a drudge — word by word, syllable by syllable, he must study and teach.

            Verse 7, diakonoj is translated “minister.” Actually, diakonoj is a servant.

 

            The connotation of the word diakonoj

            There are five different ways in which the word “minister” or diakonoj is used in the scripture.

                        a) Political, Romans 13:3,4 and used in connection with the principle of the divine establishment as it relates to nationalism. Actually the people who administer in government are our servants. They are not our rulers, they are our servants, and their job is to fulfill their responsibility to us in the administration of the laws of the country. .

            Romans 13:3, “For rulers are not a cause of fear,” that is, those who have the responsibility of rule and government are not a cause of fear “for good behaviour.” If you are not violating the law you have nothing to fear from them is the principle. “But for evil,” the purpose of having rulers, government, is so that the criminal will fear that government and its law enforcement agencies — “Do you desire to have fear of authority? All right, do what is good and you will have praise from the same.” “Good” here, a)gaqoj, refers to being a law-abiding citizen.

            13:4 explains the word diakonoj as well as out-of-control crime. Qeou gar diakonoj e)stin soi e)ij ton a)gaqon should be translated, “For he is a minister from God.” Diakonoj has a political connotation here for someone who is in charge of some government, local or national.

            We have to have authority in life. It is imperative for every principle of freedom to which we adhere. Therefore the purpose of authority is to be our servant, diakonoj. Those who are the authorities of governments are the servants of the people. And they have a responsibility.

            “For he does not carry the sword.” Carrying the sword goes back to the time in which this was written. They had a man who administered punishment. After you went through the Roman court, if you were found guilty, they had prisons but prisons were generally for military prisoners. The Romans didn’t keep their own prisoners around except to feed to the Coliseum. Instead, what they had was a lictor and he carried a bundle of rods across his shoulder. Sticking out of that bundle was the head of an axe. The axe here refers to capital punishment. One of the jobs of the lictor was to decapitate those who were found guilty of capital crimes and they forfeited with their life. The bundle of rods was used for the various types of administration of punishment. The “sword” is the power of capital punishment.

            “for nothing,” he carries it for a purpose. One of the lictor’s administrations was to carry the sword. God has designed a principle in the devil’s world. In order to guarantee your freedom and mine, in order to guarantee our privacy, in order to protect our life and property, God has designed a principle to control crime called capital punishment. It is designed to control the old sin nature. Every member of the human race has an old sin nature and is therefore a potential criminal. The difference between a criminal and a non-criminal is merely the condition of the soul of the individual. A person who is a non-criminal today can be a criminal tomorrow, and a person who is a criminal today can be a non-criminal tomorrow. The point is that the only way to control crime is to have a system of punishment including death. That is the biblical system, and when any nation departs from the biblical system the crime rate goes up. The only control over the criminal and the only hope is that the police officer will shoot him in the act and he will go to the morgue!

            “for he is a minister from God,” diakonoj, “a punisher with reference to God’s wrath upon the one who practices evil [the criminal element].” The Bible principle is that there is no control of crime apart from capital punishment.

                        b) The universal ministry of the believer. The believer is a diakonoj as a believer in Jesus Christ, as a member of the royal family of God. In this sense (the universal ministry of the believer) every member of the royal family of God in the Church Age is a minister, which means each one of us is in full-time Christian service. It emphasises the Church Age believer as a royal priest and a royal ambassador. There are quite a few passage on this subject, like 2 Corinthians 3:6; 4:1; 6:1 cf 6:3.

                        c) The administrative use of diakonoj. There is a transliteration that has come down to us called “deacon.” This refers to an administrative ministry in the church. It is used in the sense of a servant again. He is a servant in the handling of the administration of the church. Philippians 1:1 gives us a description of this use of diakonoj, “including pastors and deacons.” The word “saints” is used here for all the royal family at Philippi, so it is a local church. Then we have a number of local churches there because we also have a number of pastors, the policy makers as well as the communicators. Deacons are the ones who carry out grace policy in administration.

1 Timothy 3:8-13 also uses diakonoj in this same sense.

                        d) The pastoral use of diakonoj. This same noun is used in the sense of being the servant of the congregation. Diakonoj is used for a pastor in the sense that he is a spiritual cook. He not only prepares the meals but he serves them as well, study and communication. This use is found in 1 Corinthians 3:5, “ministers through whom ye believed”; Ephesians 3:7, “Of which I have become a minister ...according to the gift of God’s grace.”; Colossians 1:7, Epaphras was a pastor, a diakonoj; 1:23 — “in which I Paul have become a minister”; 1 Thessalonians 3:2, again minister is used for the pastor-teacher; 1 Timothy 1:12, “putting me into the ministry”; Hebrews 6:10, “having ministered,” diakonew, the verb form. All of these indicate that diakonoj has a specialised use.

                        e) The evil use: 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 where we have it used in the sense of Satan’s ministers. Satan as the father of religion has ministers of religion who in the name of human good seek to advance the rule of Satan on earth through religion, through social action, through getting involved in all of the other human viewpoint panaceas.

             

            “fellowservant,” douloj with a pronoun, sundouloj which means fellowservant, but that is too weak. The literal Greek is “fellowslave.” Notice: We have the two words, douloj and diakonoj. Diakonoj is directed toward others; douloj is directed toward God. We are all God’s slaves, which is the only way to go. If you want to be free from God you’re in trouble. If you want to be free from God you are not protected, Satan will shoot you full of holes and keep you alive while he is doing it. None of us want to be free from God, God’s grace, and God’s blessing. The greatest state in the world is slavery. Why? Because it is all up to God. He has to provide all my needs, I am a slave. That is grace. God has provided in His slavery freedom, so we stand fast therefore in the liberty or the freedom wherewith Christ has made us free. The pastor is the servant of the people and at the same time he is the slave of God.

            Verse 8, the relative program “Whom” is in the accusative singular, direct object, o(j.

            “I have sent,” the apostle Paul is adjusting personnel constantly to meet the various difficulties that exist in the first century. This is the aorist active indicative of the verb pempw. This verb tells us that Paul understands personnel, he understands people very well. The aorist tense is the ingressive aorist in which the action is signified as just beginning . The ingressive aorist takes the entire action — the punctiliar action of the aorist tense — and views it from the beginning. The active voice: Paul produces the action of the verb by sending Tychicus as the epistle bearer and as the reporter of his own activities. The indicative mood is declarative for the historical reality of the situation.

            “unto you” is proj plus the accusative plural of the personal pronoun su, and it should be “face to face with you.” This will be face to face teaching, the report with be face to face and the Bible conference.

            “for the same purpose,” e)ij plus the accusative of the intensive pronoun a)utoj, and also with this there is the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj; altogether it is “for this same purpose.” 1. To give a missionary report on the functions of the apostle Paul; 2. To provide Bible doctrine implementation during the absence of their pastor. Their pastor is absent, they need Bible doctrine consistently, and therefore all of these functions will be fulfilled in this one man.

            “that” is the conjunction i(na and it introduces a final clause. The final clause denotes purpose or aim or goal.

            “he might know,” an incorrect translation. The verb is an aorist active subjunctive from the verb ginwskw which means to know, but we have as the suffix the second person plural: “in order that you might know.” The constantive aorist gathers into one entirety the action of the verb. In other words, gathered up into one ball of wax is the fact that he will be communicating information that is vital to their spiritual growth, vital to their function as members of the royal family of God in this dispensation. The active voice: the Colossian congregation produces the action of the verb, not Tychicus. The subjunctive mood is a part of the purpose clause with i(na, “in order that you might know.”

            “your estate” is wrong. It is peri plus the genitive plural of the personal pronoun e)gw, “the things concerning us” is the best translation. That is literal, and it means idiomatically “our situation.”

            The word “and” is the adjunctive use of kai and here it means “also”; “comfort” is wrong. It is “encourage,” parakalew, “also that he might encourage.” This verb means to comfort as well as to encourage. It also means to exhort. Usually the words around in determine which meaning is pertinent in any context. Here we have the aorist active subjunctive and it means encouragement. Bible doctrine is encouragement, they need Bible teaching, the need to hear about the apostle Paul. Encouragement comes always from teaching doctrine.

            “your hearts,” the area of comfort. The word for heart is accusative plural of kardia and it refers to the right lobe, not the emotions. The right lobe is the source of comfort, not the emotions.

            Translation: “[Tychicus] whom I have sent face to face with you for this very purpose, that you might know our situation, also that he might encourage your right lobes [with doctrinal teaching].”

            This is a reference to the teaching of Bible doctrine and under the function of GAP they will have developed their own command posts, and will come along very beautifully in the face of great opposition in the Lycus valley.

            Verse 9, Tychicus is a citizen of the Roman empire and he is a free man. But with him is Onesimus who is a slave. They will be traveling companions as they go back to Colosse.

            “With Onesimus” introduces the whole concept of slavery. The Romans were a very cruel people, a hardy and tough people.

            What is the attitude of the Bible toward slavery? What should be your attitude toward social problems as they occur today? Does the Bible take up and advocate the social gospel, becoming involved? Absolutely not. Slavery is not a theological issue in any sense of the word. Both kinds of people, slaves and free men, were saved. Here are two men on their way back to the Lycus valley. They are traveling from Rome — Tychicus, and with him Onesimus who is a slave to Philemon, a wealthy Christian living in Colosse. The situation is a very simple one. The Word of God never took the attitude of down with slavery. The Word of God did not become involved, it did not advocate believers becoming involved in social action. For the Word of God takes the correct position — since it is God’s Word — that the answer is not in social action, and that social action always creates greater problems than it solves.

            Onesimus lived at a time when slavery was at its worst. By 96 AD will have changed completely. There will be laws passed where masters cannot kill their slaves, cannot torture their slaves. But the laws of the Roman republic which carried over into the empire said that you never brought a slave in court until you have tortured him first, for, said the Romans, he will not tell the truth until he has undergone torture. So Christianity comes along and when Bible doctrine gets into a maximum number of believers the whole thing is going to change. But in 62 AD, the time of Onesimus, they were one generation away from change. Therefore, what should be Paul’s attitude about Onesimus.

            Onesimus was a slave to Philemon a very wealthy believer. In fact, the Colossian church met in his home. Onesimus is a Greek; Philemon is a Greek. This is not a racial issue. Onesimus has stolen from Philemon and had run off to Rome. Paul leads him to the Lord. Then begins the process of growth, and at the time now that Onesimus is returning he is returning as a mature believer with Tychicus. These are two mature believers returning together but one is still a slave. Paul says concerning these slaves in writing to the Corinthians, “Are you saved as a slave? Don’t try to get your freedom, don’t try to change it, don’t get involved in some kind of social action.” He told them to learn doctrine and to remember that they are the Lord’s free man. Then he turns around to the free men in Corinth and says to them, you were saved as a free man so remember that you are the Lord’s slave. And that is all that Paul said about it. Nowhere in the entire New Testament is their one word about down with slavery. Slavery was the greatest problem of the Roman empire, and what was the answer? Go right on with the Word! Doctrine makes changes, doctrine controls old sin natures, doctrine changes people in their souls, and doctrine must be the answer.

            The grace crisis always takes the believer and puts him in a test where he can do something that is wrong and have it absolutely right. When he does something that is wrong but is still right then he so caters to evil that he develops one of the worst concepts of evil — self-righteousness. A self-righteous believer is invariably right in the things that he proclaims and he is the one person that you never want to be around. Whereas we know that Philemon has what is called “the ministry of refreshment” because he has gone to doctrine and doctrine has changed him. Whenever a person in the grace crisis makes a legalistic decision and therefore develops a self-righteousness, he starts down the road of self-righteous legalism which is the worst of all. But when he makes a decision for grace he enters into the ministry of refreshment which is one of the greatest changing ministries in all of life. It is the only answer, the only solution.

            All Rome was divided the same way. There were many believers in Rome who were in reversionism and therefore they were ashamed of the apostle Paul. But there were a few believers who had developed a command post and were now spiritually self-sustaining and were functioning under the true principle of freedom, that is, doctrine in their command post was dictating their course of action. Therefore their course of action was to come into contact with the apostle Paul, now a prisoner of the empire. They were divided into two groups. Some of them were Jews and some were former Gentiles. Now these men are mentioned as the great role of honour of grace.

            Going back to Colossians 4:9, “Together with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is from among you. They [Tychicus and Onesimus] will report to you about the entire situation here.” The situation was one of reversionism versus grace, of those who had the ministry of refreshment and those who had been influenced by evil.

            There are two distinct types of reversionism, both are connected with evil. There is the self-righteous legalistic type of reversionism which is just as much evil as the sin type of reversionism. These are both evil and evil influences every believer or doctrine. If doctrine influences then we have the ministry of refreshment; if evil influences then we have some phase of reversionism. Remember that sin is a very small part of evil, that evil includes many other factors.

            Now we have a roster of the great ones. These people are not known today because of their great deeds, they are not known because there are many passages written about them, they are not known the same way that David is known because the Bible has so much to say about him. But the Bible in saying little is much. This is the ministry of refreshment or the great believers. These believers have all done exactly the same thing, they have been faithful in taking in doctrine, they have followed the colours to the high ground of supergrace. They now have resident in their souls a command post, and while the maintenance of supergrace demands that they be under their pastor-teacher they are now making all of their decisions from doctrine in the soul. Therefore they have their paragraph SG2. They have first of all the great spiritual blessing of having a command post, of being spiritually self-sustaining, of having the great ability to face every issue, every tragedy, every heartache, every unusual situation in life and to come up on top.

            Verse 10, the first one mentioned is Aristarchus, a Jew with a famous Greek name. His name means “best ruler,” A)ristaxoj. This particular name apparently was acquired because he was a famous man in the city, a Roman citizen, and he took this name when he became a Roman citizen. He is also a native of Thessalonica who joined Paul’s missionary team on its third missionary journey. In Ephesus Aristarchus was seized and nearly killed by a mob, Acts 19:29, but he survived it because God had a plan for his life. Principle: God has a plan for your life and you may survive some very devastating things for that very reason. But God’s plan for your life calls for two factors: spiritual advance, for you to have a command post in your soul so that Bible doctrine dictates your course of action at all times. Aristarchus was influenced by doctrine rather than by evil. Therefore he did not try to change the situation and in 59 Ad he left Ephesus and went with Paul to Greece. He has his own command post, he is a truly great believer. Paul was his right pastor and Paul was teaching him and he was maintaining the high ground. But along with Paul at this time he was a prisoner. He did a rather interesting thing. While he was on his jaunt with Paul, when he had the opportunity once again after the Ephesian mob scene he had the opportunity of breaking off from Paul when the great shipwreck voyage began. At that time he had the option of avoiding all of the problems but he decided to go along . He had a great ministry of refreshment and he went along with Paul. Like Paul he was martyred in Rome during Nero’s administration. Though he possesses a famous Greek name he is called a Jew in the category here and the principle is obvious. The Romans awarded some of their citizens who were non-Roman by race by giving them a new name. He is called “my fellow prisoner,” he was sharing with the apostle Paul the problems related to this situation. Aristarchus has been influenced by doctrine and not by evil. There are many Jews in Rome who have been influenced by evil but Aristarchus has taken the right step. Therefore when believers are influenced by doctrine, going to supergrace, they are called strong believers. When they are influenced by evil they become weak believers.

 

            The strong believer

            The strong believer is influenced by doctrine rather than by evil. He is a royal priest who has consistently functioned under GAP to attain supergrace status. He possesses paragraph SG2, he is blessed magnificently of the Lord, and he consistently makes grace decisions when he faces the issue of right versus right. He has the command post in the soul. He is an island to himself in that he makes all of his own decisions and they are correct ones before the Lord. He has put on the whole armour from God, he has established the altar of the priesthood, he is a mature believer, he has become the salt or the preservation of the nation. The strong believer receives maximum blessing from his paragraph SG2, and this blessing overflows to others. His spiritual blessing includes occupation with Christ, sharing God’s happiness (+H), maximum grace orientation from the command post in the soul, he is spiritually self-sustaining through doctrine resident in his soul. His temporal blessings include promotion, wealth, success, prosperity, social prosperity, sexual prosperity, material prosperity, technical prosperity, leadership dynamics. And he has the most wonderful capacity for life in all circumstances. He always has the capacity to avoid evil and line up with doctrine. He has maximum blessing and influence from doctrine and minimal influence from evil. He is not, therefore, sidetracked into causes which try to resolve the problems of evil.

 

            The weak believer

            The weak believer is the one who rejects Bible doctrine. He lives in evil, he is a reversionist. His sins may be refined so that people think he is a great person. He is involved in human good, in panaceas, and he is constantly trying to improve the devil’s world by his own actions. For example, a weak believer, female type, would be up to her heels in women’s lib. Or a man would be trying to resolve the problems of ecology. All of these people who get involved in social action and trying to help the downtrodden. The weak believer is always involved in trying to solve the problems of evil. The weak believer must never be confused, however, with the new believer. The new believer has recently regenerated but the weak believer is a reversionist. The weak believer is negative toward Bible doctrine, failing to function under GAP, is unstable, can never be counted on in any sense of the word. The weak believer is arrogant, rejecting all authority but his own. He rejects the authority of his right pastor. The weak believer has false norms and standards, a distorted conscience, rationalism and empiricism control. The weak believer is an emotional problem and often winds up being psychotic. The weak believer has erroneous concepts of Christian virtue, placing emphasis on sincerity as well as self-righteousness, placing emphasis on socialism, the social panaceas, pseudo morality, asceticism, tabooism, legalism. He is constantly critical of the strong believer, having no understanding or appreciation of grace and is therefore constantly picking at the grace believer. So the weak believer spends time in gossip maligning, nit-picking, being critical. He rejects doctrine, cannot understand grace, and he practices some form of pseudo spirituality or some type of immorality, depending upon the type of reversionism.

 

            We have in this man Aristarchus a strong believer. He has great stability of life, great capacity for category #3 love as manifest by the way he stands by the apostle Paul. He was a true friend of Paul, a strong believer in the midst of weak believers.

            The word “salute” is a present middle indicative of a)spazomai. It means tom greet or to salute. The deponent verb in the middle voice means that Aristarchus is producing the action. That means he has great capacity for life. He has many friends in the Lycus valley and he sends his greetings.

            This also indicates something else. Aristarchus is a man with good manners. Good manners are an important function of spiritual growth, they are a part of the function of the command post in becoming spiritually self-sustaining. They reveal self-discipline, respect for authority, stability. Good manners are also a sign of humility and grace orientation. With good manners the supergrace believer has that poise, that courtesy that concentration necessary for the perpetuation of the supergrace status. He recognises, therefore, the importance of doctrine. The good manners of Aristarchus contribute to his spiritual growth. He has the ability, therefore, to concentrate on doctrinal teaching, the teaching of Paul.

            “and Marcus” is another Jew, John Mark, Markoj; “sister’s son to Barnabas” is literally, the cousin of Barnabas. If we have in Paul and Aristarchus two men who were pluggers we have in John Mark the antithetical principle, but still arriving. Mark was the son of Mary of Jerusalem. Her home was the place where the original local church met in Jerusalem, according to Acts 12:12, 25. Mark was converted under the ministry of Peter, 1 Peter 5:13. The Gospel of Mark actually presents Peter’s account of our Lord. Mark accompanied his cousin Barnabas on the first missionary journey. However, he failed. He was a great person, a very unusual person. He was scheduled for the Jewish priesthood. Once he was saved under the ministry of Peter he immediately decided to eliminate himself forever so what he did was to cut off the tip of his finger. The Mosaic law says that if you have any deformed parts or any parts missing you can’t function as a priest. He had everything going for him but he made a great mistake. he failed. And when he failed he ran away in a very cowardly and dramatic way. He ran away and went back to Jerusalem. Therefore when Paul and Barnabas were planning their second missionary journey, by this time John Mark had recovered from whatever reversionism he has suffered, and by his recovery he was ready to go again. Here is a case of right versus right, a case where Paul had to make a decision. Right [legalism] says don’t take him, the boy is a failure, he will never make it. But right [grace] says take him and give him another chance, he is now a mature believer, we all make mistakes. Paul flunked his grace crisis. So Paul refused to take him and there was a split up between Paul and Barnabas. Paul went the legalistic way. By mentioning John Mark he is saying, in effect, now look Philemon I have failed in this thing, don’t you ever do it. Because he failed he lost his ministry of refreshment and for awhile he lost his relationship with the Lord. He made a wrong decision. Paul became self-righteous. There is nothing that will remove a person from the ministry with more rapidity and from blessing than one’s own self-righteousness.

            John Mark recovered from his state of reversionism, he rebounded and he didn’t let anyone slow him down. As a result he was ready to go and Barnabas took him. Paul, by mentioning Mark at this time, mentions his own mistake in the same paragraph that he is encouraging someone else to do what he didn’t do.

 

            Principles

            1. The church at Antioch delivered Paul into the Lord’s hands without censor or approval when Paul made his great mistake. They continued to recognise his authority understanding that the Lord, not they, possessed the authority in the matter   

            2. This grace action on the part of Barnabas is the last major activity recorded of this supergrace hero. He went on to have a great ministry but it is not a part of the Word of God.

            3. Historical tradition, however, associates Barnabas with both Rome and Alexandria. Because of his association with Alexandria, the academic centre for Classical Greek, it is suspected that Barnabas in the writer of Hebrews. But again, the writer of Hebrews remains anonymous.

           

            “touching whom,” literally, “concerning whom,” peri plus the genitive of the relative pronoun o(j.

            “you have received commandments [orders]” — the aorist active indicative of lambanw means that they have already received information that Paul was wrong in that great controversy, and Paul has now spread the word to all the churches: “Receive John Mark when he comes.” So the constantive aorist contemplates the action of Paul in its entirety. He was a great man, when he was wrong he recognised it and without destroying his authority he wrote to all of the churches stating his error and reminded them that Mark was a great believer.

            “if,” the third class condition is introduced by the conjunction e)an. There is a possibility he might come and then again he might not.

            “he comes” is the aorist active subjunctive of e)rxomai. The dramatic aorist is used to anticipate an event which is possibly on the point of being accomplished.

            “unto you” is proj plus the accusative of the personal pronoun su in the plural, “face to face with you all,” which means if he comes he will be teaching you the Word of God.

            “receive him,” the aorist active imperative of the verb dexomai which means to welcome with open arms. This is a culminative aorist and will indicate something else. The culminative aorist always indicates a result. It views the action of the verb in its entirety but it always indicates a result. As a result of always having doctrine in the soul, as a result of a maximum number of supergrace believers in Antioch they did not censor the apostle Paul when he started on his second missionary journey. In fact they encouraged him and launched him. With maximum doctrine in the souls of the people of Colosse they will do the same thing, they will welcome John Mark. The imperative mood is the imperative of entreaty. In other words, this is not a command, it is a suggestion to those who have doctrine. so in this case a command isn’t necessary.

            Translation: “Aristarchus my fellowprisoner conveys greetings, also Mark the cousin of Barnabas, (concerning whom you have received orders: if he comes to you, welcome him with open arms).

            Principle: When believers reach supergrace, pettiness, pride, vindictiveness, implacability, controversy and conflict are blotted out. And as individuals as well as groups they always face the same crisis that we will face: doctrine was here before we came; doctrine will be here after we are gone. Evil was here before we came; evil will be here after we are gone. We cannot change doctrine but doctrine can change us; we cannot change evil but evil will change us. If you are minus doctrine you will be influenced by evil and you will always do the right thing and the right thing will always be self-righteousness, and you will fade into oblivion. Or you will always with doctrine do the right thing and the right thing will be grace, the ministry of refreshment.

            Verse 11, we begin with the adjunctive use of the conjunction kai which includes Joshua the lawyer as the third Jewish Christian in Rome who is sending his greetings to the Colossian church. But there is more than a salutation, in effect this is the roster of supergrace believers among the Jewish Christians in Rome at that time. His name “Jesus,” I)hsouj, is actually taken from the Hebrew “Joshua,” and that is what we will call him.

            “which is called” is the present passive participle of the verb legw, a very common verb having two or three meanings all having to do with speaking. The present tense is an aoristic present for punctiliar action in present time. The aoristic present indicates that this is what they are now calling a man by the name of Joshua. The passive voice: Joshua receives the title as a lawyer defending Paul in the Roman court. The participle is circumstantial to indicate that Joshua is Paul’s legal representative in his trial before Nero. Translated therefore: “Joshua who is called the just [a technical word here for the fact that he was a lawyer]”

            “Justus,” I)oustoj which indicates not his name but his function. He was a barrister in Rome and as a lawyer he had the courage to stand up and defend the apostle Paul when no one else would touch Paul. He was a hot potato and to be associated with him meant the possibility of persecution and execution.

            “who are of the circumcision” indicates that they were Jews by race and they are now believers by new birth.

            “These only” is the nominative plural from the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj emphsises that only these three men out of the tremendous number of Jewish believers in Rome were in supergrace status and the only ones who were standing by the apostle Paul.

            “fellowworkers,” sunergoj, co-workers; “unto the kingdom of God,” the preposition e)ij is translated “with reference to the kingdom of our God.” Because the apostle Paul was persona non grata in the Roman empire — in other words a very controversial person — most of the Christian Jews had deserted him and only these three had stood by him during this difficult time.

 

            Principle

            1. Supergrace believers are never embarrassed by controversy started over grace. If you find yourself by knowing believers involved in controversy over grace, take a good look at yourself.

            2. These supergrace believers, these Christian Jews, had stability generated by doctrine resident in their souls. They were not ashamed of Paul’s chains, nor did they fear for their own personal safety. They were courageous, made strong by doctrine resident in their souls.

            3. As supergrace believers they understood that God had a plan for their lives and that no evil or legalistic forces on earth could remove them from the scene until God was ready to call them home. Therefore they were not embarrassed to go and see Paul and to offer him encouragement.

            4. They therefore moved around Rome in a completely relaxed manner and associated themselves with Paul as a minority of Christians.

            5. Of course the majority of believers in separation from Paul were wrong, reversionistic, cowardly, hypocritical, depending on Roman politics for their existence instead of the grace of God. In the day that you find that you are depending upon politics instead of upon God’s grace you are in trouble up to your ears.

            6. The “kingdom of our God” here refers to the Church as the royal family of God.

            7. This same phrase is used for regenerate persons of the Old Testament as well. Basically the kingdom of God is divided into two general categories as follows: The family of God — Old Testament believers. Jew and Gentile, anyone in the Old Testament who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ plus Tribulational and Millennial saints; the royal family of God — Church Age believers only. The difference is in the baptism of the Holy Spirit which only occurs in this dispensation.

 

            “which [are of such a category],” the nominative masculine plural from the qualitative relative pronoun o(stij. The qualitative relative pronoun emphasises that these are not just Jewish believers in the minority but they are supergrace believers, probably making them every much in the minority in that way as in any other way. They are standouts, they are different from anyone else around them. Therefore the characteristic quality of supergrace is emphasised in contrast to the rest of the Jewish believers in Rome.

            “have been,” the aorist passive indicative of ginomai which means to become, “have become.” The aorist tense is a constantive aorist, it gathers into one entirety the action of the verb. That is, supergrace believers becoming a comfort to the apostle Paul in his adversity. The passive voice: this is a defective verb. That means it is an irregular verb, it is passive in form but it is active in meaning, and three supergrace believers produce the action of the verb. They stand by the apostle Paul, they offer him comfort. It is a beautiful picture of the fact that people are often very lonely when they are serving the Lord the way the apostle Paul is. The declarative indicative views the action of the verb from the standpoint of reality.

            “a comfort,” the word for comfort here is the predicate nominative of parhgoria. It meant comfort, consolation and encouragement.

            “to me,” dative singular indirect object from the personal pronoun e)gw. One person is standing alone at this time and they are a great source of blessing and comfort to him. The dative of indirect object indicates that the person Paul is the one in whose interest they are performing their acts of encouragement and comfort. The verb is close to a dative of advantage.

            Translation: “Also Joshua who is called Justus [a lawyer], they who are from the circumcision [Jews by birth, royal family by regeneration}. These are the only co-workers with reference to the kingdom of God, who as a category of supergrace believers have become a source of encouragement to me.?”

 

            Summary

            1. Doctrine resident in the soul of the supergrace believer overflows to others, causing both comfort and encouragement.

            2. It is wonderful t know that when the majority of Jewish Christians in Rome had turned their backs upon the apostle Paul certain supergrace believers did not panic, swayed by the majority, and stuck by the apostle Paul.

            3. The vindictiveness of reversionistic Jews in Rome was only exceeded by the vindictiveness of reversionistic Jews in Jerusalem. In these two great cities the Jews really despised the apostle Paul.

            4. When Paul found among Jewish Christians in Jerusalem he found those who were antagonistic; he found the same thing in Rome. The only difference was that when Paul was in Jerusalem he was in reversionism. Paul in Rome was in supergrace.

            5. Here are three exceptions. They are a memorial to God’s grace, to the true principle of friendship.

 

            In verses 12-14 we have a roster of the Christian Gentiles in Rome who are standing by the apostle Paul.

            Verse 12, the first of these is Epaphras. He is mentioned in three passages: Colossians 1:7; 4:12; Philemon 23. Epaphras was the pastor of the Colossian church, 1:7. He was a “faithful minister” and the reason for this was that he constantly taught the Word of God. In Philemon 23 it is indicated that Epaphras is now in Rome sharing Paul’s imprisonment. Epaphras as the pastor of the Colossian church, having come to Rome, now finds himself also caught up in Paul’s problems. He has been made a prisoner. Apparently the Romans were seizing quite a few people associated with Paul. They were afraid that Paul was going to start a revolution. They didn’t understand that Paul would never dream of starting a revolution. Paul just taught doctrine that turned the world upside down. Paul didn’t believe in revolutions. This explains why Epaphras had not come back to his pastorate. Epaphras was retained as a witness is Paul’s trial. Eventually he would be released with Paul and returned to Colosse, and he would die in the ministry at Colosse, a martyr executed by the Roman empire.

            “who is one of you,” literally, “who is one from among you,” one unique person. We have e)k here plus the ablative which is “one from the source of you.” He was unique.

            “a servant of Christ” is literally, “a slave of Christ,” douloj Xristou I)hsou. The pastor is the servant of the congregation in the sense of providing spiritual food, but to be the servant of the congregation you have to be the slave of the Lord Jesus Christ.

            “saluteth you,” present active indicative of a)pazomai which means to salute, to greet. He salutes his congregation because during his absence they have been remaining faithful to the Word of God. He recognises the nobility of his congregation, the tremendous way they have handled the situation in his absence. The word “you” should be “you all.”

            “always,” the adverb pantote means “at all times.” In other words, Epaphras was consistent in whatever he did. Stability, then, is the key to anyone who is faithful. Stability of soul comes from that inner residency of Bible doctrine, and stability is the great thing which is honoured in these closing verses.

            “labouring fervently” is the present active participle from the verb a)gwnizomai. This is actually an athletic term for competition, it means to contend in the Olympic Games . It is also a military term, it means to fight in combat. Epaphras is fighting for them while he is away by praying for them, when he is there he is fighting for them by teaching. The retroactive progressive present denotes what has begun in the past and continues into the present time. Epaphras is fighting on behalf of them in prayer, he is separated from them and prayer is the way he maintains contact. The active voice: Epaphras the absent pastor produces the action of the verb. The participle is circumstantial.

            “for you” is u(per plus the ablative and it means “on behalf of you.”

            “in prayers,” literally, “by means of prayers”: e)n plus the instrumental of proseuxh. We have a definite article here which is used as a pronoun, “his prayers.”

            “that” introduces a final clause, i(na plus the subjunctive. The final clause denotes purpose, goal, aim.

            “ye may stand,” aorist active subjunctive of i(sthmi, used here in the military connotation of holding one’s ground. There will be times when you are away from Bible teaching, when there is no way that you can get it. That is called holding your ground, when you are thrown on your inner resources of doctrine to sustain you. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist, it views the fact that many of his congregation had reached supergrace status before Epaphras departed and they are holding there. The active voice: supergrace believers in the congregation of the Colossian church produce the action of the verb. The subjunctive mood goes with i(na in order to introduce the purpose. It is our purpose to always hold your ground.

            “perfect” is not correct. It is the nominative masculine plural of teleioj and it should be translated “mature ones.”

            “and” should be translated “also”; “complete,” perfect passive participle of plhroforew which means to fill completely, to fulfill. It is a synonym for plhrow, it means to fulfill your life here in the perfect sense of holding the high ground of supergrace. The intensive perfect emphasises the existing results which fall into two categories in this perfect tense. a) Temporal blessings which are spiritual and material. b) Dying blessings.  ll of these come from completing out your life on the high ground. The passive voice: the supergrace believer receives the action of the verb through doctrine in the soul, through holding the high ground. The participle is circumstantial and it should be translated, “having been completely filled up in all [literally, By all].”

            “in all,” e)n plus the instrumental of paj, “by all [doctrine].”

            “the will,” this is a locative of sphere from the objective connotation of qelhma, and it means what is willed.

            “of God,” ablative of source for qeoj should be “from God.”

            Translation: “Epaphras, who is one of you, a bond slave of Christ Jesus, salutes you; at all times he is contending on your behalf by means of his prayers, in order that you mature ones [supergrace believers] may hold your ground, also being completely filled up by all doctrine which is what is willed from our God.”

            Verse 13, “For” is the inferential use of gar; “I bear him record [testify],” marturew, present active, which means to give a solemn testimony, to be under oath and give a testimony. The aorist present denotes punctiliar action, testimony under oath. Paul is giving the testimony. The indicative mood is declarative for a simple statement of fact. “For I testify with reference to this same one [Epaphras].”

            “that,” o(ti after words of judgement or evaluation. The apostle Paul is now permitted to give an evaluation.

            “that he hath,” present active indicative of e)xw. This is retroactive progressive present, “he keeps having.” The active voice: Epaphras produces the action and the declarative mood here is historical.

            “a great zeal,” the word for “great” is poluj, “much.” The word for “zeal” is ponoj and it doesn’t mean zeal, it means “pain” or “distress.”

            “for you,” u(per plus the ablative, “on behalf of you.”

            “and them in Laodicea,” the adjunctive use of the kai should be translated “also”. Then we have a definite article used as a demonstrative pronoun, “also those.” Then we have proj plus the locative for Laodicea.

            “and them in Hierpolis,” this is the adjunctive and it should be “also those in Hierpolis.” Hierpolis means the city of Hera. It had now become a famous medical centre.

            There are two pastors we want to study in this passage. The first is Epaphras the pastor of Colosse, and the second one is found in verse 17, Archipus. One man is viewed by Paul as being successful, the other as a failure.

            We first hear of Epaphras in Colossians 1:7 where is says, “As you have been taught from the source of Epaphras, our beloved fellowservant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on behalf of you.” Nothing greater could ever be said for a pastor than this. God has not called any one of us as pastors to be brilliant, to be scintillating, to be celebrities in the human sense, to be successful by human standards, to be some kind of an unusual person in some aspect of life. God has called every pastor to be a plugger, to be steady, to be faithful. For the word “minister” in 1:7 we have the word diakonoj. As it is used here it refers to one of many many meanings, a pastor-teacher. it is used in the sense of being the servant of the Lord and therefore the chef for the congregation. He serves them doctrine.

            Epaphras was called a minister in the scripture and “minister” is a correct term. Also, “pastor” is a correct term. “Bishop” is not really a correct translation of e)piskpoj. It means “overseer.” it indicates authority, nothing more. Epaphras was said to be in Colossians 1:7 a faithful minister. The reason is found in the aorist active indicative of the verb manqanw which means to teach. It means to be a prepared teacher, and that is much more important. This is a constantive aorist, it gathers into one entirety the faithful teaching, the plugging, of Epaphras, “as you have been taught.”

 

            The doctrine of the pastor-teacher

            1. Since every believer is a priest, as well as being born into the royal family of God, it is important to understand the system of authority authorised by God. The system authorised by God for spiritual growth and progress in the church is found in one surviving gift (originally there were apostles, there are none today). The only communicating gift inside the local church is the pastor-teacher. There is one specialised communicating gift outside of the local church, the gift of evangelism, but an evangelist has absolutely no authority in the local church.

                        a) There are two basic categories of authority in the Church Age: overt authority, which includes the divine delegation of authority to the royal priest in the form of the Word of God. The pastor-teacher is the communicator of the Word and therefore the overt authority in learning doctrine is the pastor-teacher; secondly, there is the inner authority which is the function of the believer’s soul with doctrine resident in the soul.

                        b) The function of the pastor-teacher brings together the two basic systems of authority: Bible doctrine transferred to the individual believer by means of pastoral teaching of the Word. he teaches the Word [his authority]; he teaches with authority.

                        c) Consequently, the pastor-teacher is a spiritual gift sovereignly given by the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation, completely and totally apart from any human merit. Like everything else it is a grace operation.

                        d) The spiritual gift provides both the ability and the authority to communicate doctrine to the congregation — via monologue; there is no place for dialogue, no place for “sharing.” One person speaks, everyone else listens.

                        e) The gift of pastor teacher, like all spiritual gifts, is bestowed on the principle of grace and is bestowed at salvation. The gift is restricted to male members of the royal family and is based on the sovereign decision of God without regard to stereotype personalities. There is no such thing, therefore, as “surrendering to preach.,” or dedication to full-time Christian service. It is having a spiritual gift and being in a congregation where doctrine is taught, so that you grow up spiritually. And with spiritual growth comes the awareness of the spiritual gift. That is the only way anyone ever discovers his gift.

            2. Nomenclature:

                        a) The authority of the pastor comes under the Greek word presbuteroj. Every pastor is a presbuteroj. “Presbyterian” is a transliteration of this word. It is translated generally by the word “elder” and there is only one in each local church. There may be fifty local churches in an area and therefore fifty elders. Unless a church has a pastor-teacher it does not have an elder, and there is no such thing as plurality of elders. There is only one “old man” and old man means the one in authority. Presbuteroj means the one who has the authority, 1 Timothy 5:17, 19; Titus 1:5; James 1:5; 5:14; 1 Peter 5:1.

                        b) The function of the pastor, poimhnoj kai didaskolouj. The kai here merely hyphenates; it is “pastor-teacher.” This is taken from Ephesians 4:1. The literal translation: “and others, pastor-teachers.” This is a spiritual gift which emphasises the function and the authority. This is another authority word. This time it isn’t “elder” or presbuteroj, it is “shepherd.” He is the shepherd-teacher. A pastor is a shepherd, with emphasis on the feeding ground. Every pastor is a shepherd with a flock.

            Why don’t we have presbuteroj-teacher? For the simple reason that the old man sits up there and gives the orders — absolute authority, but the shepherd kicks butts! That is exactly what the teaching of the Word of God does. Sheep are very contrary and very stupid with no sense of direction. They are weak and helpless, always wandering off somewhere. Therefore they have to be kicked into line and kept in line. They have to be protected. That is the job of the pastor and all of this is accomplished through teaching.

                        c) E)piskopoj. It is translated bishop but it means an overseer. But that isn’t quite correct either. It means a policy-maker in a big estate. So e)piskopoj emphasises the pastor as a policy-maker. You can’t study the Word of God day in and day out without coming to firm conclusions about policy. Therefore the pastor is the policy-maker, Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:7.

                        d) The administrative function of a pastor, diakonoj. This does not mean that he handles administration, it means that he gets people to handle administration.

            3. The purpose of the pastor-teacher, Ephesians 4:12,13. “For the purpose of training and equipping the saints for combat,” the first objective is preparing the royal family for the angelic conflict. This is accomplished by teaching, “for the purpose of the vocation of the ministry,” with Bible doctrine as the inner dictator of the believer’s soul, with an altar of the soul established, the believer on the basis of that doctrine can find his area of ministry — for the purpose of the edification of the body of Christ, until we all [members of the royal family] have attained the goal [spiritual maturity; supergrace] because of the consistency of doctrine, and e)pignwsij of the Son of God,” no one ever loves Jesus Christ until they know Him, and you must have e)pignwsij of the Son of God before you can be occupied with the person of Christ, “with reference to a mature nobleman,” it is the objective of the pastor-teacher through the teaching of the Word to bring each one of his congregation to the point of being a mature nobleman, “to the standard of maturity which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” In other words, there is a standard that can only be achieved by maximum doctrine in the soul. The pastor is the communicator.

            4. The function of the pastor-teacher, Ephesians 4:20,21, “But you [members of the royal family of God] have not been taught this manner in Christ, inasmuch as you have begun to hear him, and have been taught by him, since doctrine is in the Jesus.” The teaching of the Word of God therefore fulfills the principle of giving us the minds in Christ. With that in mind we have certain words, such as didaskw. It is always used of one person teaching a group, in a group. No one-on-one. The public assembly of the local church is the classroom in this dispensation. Note: There is no spiritual growth outside of the local church. Part of spiritual growth is the academic authority, and this is why no one ever grows up in any service organisation. No one is going to grow up apart from a local church. The pastor is the only communicator in the local church. The public assembly of the local church is designed by God to provide privacy for each member of the royal family. That is why it is set up this way. The local church may fail here but the principle of the local church is privacy. Privacy is the only way to learn. The only time that it becomes necessary not to give people their privacy is when they are troublemakers. Always a pastor must know his troublemakers. He must communicate [monologue] to a group. Personal time with members of the congregation is an intrusion upon the freedom and privacy of the priesthood and it results in pastoral dictatorship through personal coercion, bullying, overpowering salesmanship, and it violates the right of the royal priesthood to live his life as unto the Lord.

            Notice two things that are missing. A pastor is not promoter and he is not a counselor. There is a legitimate place for counseling but he is definitely never a promoter and he does minimal counseling.

            5. The appointment of the pastor-teacher. The pastor is appointed at the point of salvation, and only males. No one at the point of salvation is aware of it. The individual becomes aware of it as a result of spiritual growth. It is the function of the Holy Spirit to decide who gets the gift. The gift is bestowed on the basis of God the Holy Spirit determining how many people are going to be positive in any generation, where and how, and under what circumstances.

            6. The principle of right pastor/right congregation is found in 1 Peter 5:2.

            7. The concept of the pastor as the total product of grace is found in 1 Corinthians 15:10. Paul makes it very clear that it is a grace type of labour. Ephesians 3:7 Every pastor owes his ministry to the omnipotence of God, and that only. 1 Timothy 1:12-16, the only thing that grace can use is a plodder: “faithful.” Spiritual growth is based upon consistent teaching, day in and day out.

            8. There are many passages on the pastor: Ephesians 3:7-10; Colossians 1:23-29; 1 Timothy 2:24-26; 3:1-9; Titus 1:6-9.

            9. The authority and concept of the pastor, Hebrews 13:7,17.

            10. The reward of the pastor, Hebrews 6:10; 1 Peter 5:4. The wreath of glory is the exclusive decoration in eternity for the pastor-teacher. Remember that the reason for this particular award is faithfulness in studying and teaching. The soul is the battlefield in the angelic conflict, and if you are faithful in studying and teaching this issue will become clear. Doctrine was here before we came; doctrine will be here after we are gone. Evil was here before we came; evil will be here after we are gone. The issue with every member of the congregation, as well as the pastor: Are you influenced by doctrine? Are you influenced by evil? Notice that sin is not an issue. Sin was solved at the cross; sin is handled by rebound. The issue is doctrine versus evil. Doctrine is the manifestation of the genius of God; evil is the manifestation of the genius of Satan. David was influenced by doctrine and blessed; Saul was influenced by evil and cursed. Verse 12a: “faithful minister,” pistoj diakonoj.

 

            Faithfulness

            1. God requires faithfulness from all believers, Matthew 25:21.

            2. Much more so does God require faithfulness from pastor-teachers, ministers.

            3. God does not ask the minister to be sensational, spectacular, scintillating, but faithful.

            4. The key to being a pastor is found in one word: plugging. The pastor-teacher must keep right on studying and teaching.

            5. Pastors must be consistent and faithful to the assigned task of the ministry which is the communication of Bible doctrine to his congregation.

            6. Every time a pastor stops for counseling he is depriving his entire congregation of Bible doctrine.

            7. The self-centered, egotistical, haughty, insolent, supercilious member of the congregation who demands attention should get it — on his butt!

            8. It is imperative that a pastor should avoid being sidetracked by the psychopathic, imbecilic, self-centred people who demand attention. When it comes to studying the Bible or teaching the Word of God the pastor must become a plodder.

 

           

            “Epaphras who is one of you,” o( e)c u(mwn. We have e)k plus the ablative plural of the personal pronoun su. In the Greek the definite article is used for the pastor, the communicator, and the definite article usually becomes a demonstrative pronoun. But when it comes to the congregation the Word of God is consistent. The congregation is always described in terms of a personal pronoun, a plural personal pronoun. Every member of the congregation is important to the Lord and members of the congregation are entrusted to an under-shepherd, the pastor-teacher. Therefore, always remember that the pastor who bullies, the pastor who confuses his congregation, the pastor who gets one-on-one and pushes them around, the pastor who is a tyrant and not a true pastor, this man will be disciplined double by the Lord. The Romans had seized Epaphras but Paul says he is “one of your number,” or “one from among you.”

            “a servant of Christ,” douloj which is a bondslave. The pastor is the douloj of Jesus Christ.

            “saluteth” is a verb, the present active indicative of the verb a)spazomai. The present tense is an aoristic present, it is used for punctiliar action in present time. The aoristic present has the concept here of a quick greeting, a recognition of men of honour and integrity, a recognition of authority. Epaphras recognises his own congregation.

            “you” is the accusative plural direct object of the personal pronoun.

           

            The grace provision for learning doctrine

            1. The formation and the preservation of the canon of scripture. We must have a text book of absolute authority. This includes the mechanics of inspiration as well as the faithfulness of God in protecting the canon. The canon has been under constant Satanic attack since Moses picked up his pen and under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit began the book of Genesis. Right down to the present time the Word of God is the most attacked book. But because of the grace of God and the power of God we have always, and abiding forever, the Word of God. The result is that the 20th century believer has the canon intact, preserved the original languages of scripture, and the meaning of any passage is perspicuous today as it was 2000 years ago. The idea that something is obscure and cannot be understood is ludicrous. Because someone can’t handle it it doesn’t mean that it is there to be hidden. All portions of the Word of God are designed to be understood. The Word of God is divine revelation and there are no passages too difficult to comprehend.

            2. Divine authorisation for a classroom. The local church is the classroom for learning Bible doctrine and therefore it is the place for assembly of all believers in a specific geographical area. It includes a pastor as an absolute ruler, deacons as administrators, and a congregation which is to be benefited by the study of the Word of God. All worship is centred around learning doctrine, therefore strict academic discipline is enjoined. The royal family of God assembled in the local church are students without portfolio.

            3. The provision of a right pastor. The spiritual gift of pastor-teacher provides both the ability and the authority to communicate the Word of God via monologue. The gift of pastor-teacher, like all spiritual gifts, is a grace gift from God.

            There is only one way under God by which any believer ever has spiritual growth. There must be the Word of God, there must be a pastor teaching the Word of God, and there must be a local church. That means everything outside of the local church cannot bring about spiritual growth.

            4. The royal priesthood of the believer is necessary for learning doctrine. In this dispensation there exists a universal and royal priesthood, and that is why it is so important to stress the authority of the pastor-teacher because his whole congregation is made up of royalty. The minute you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ you are not simply a child of God, you are a royal family. The royal priesthood demands special consideration. The purpose of the priesthood is for privacy is reception of doctrine. The only way you can have privacy in the reception of doctrine is to be in a group. Principle: Every royal priest must construct his own altar of inner residency of doctrine.

            5. The ministry of God the Holy Spirit. The aristocracy of the believer’s priesthood is related to the ministry of God the Holy Spirit who at the moment of salvation does five things for every believer. The one which makes us royalty is the baptism of the Spirit, the means by which each one of us enters into union with Christ. At the point of salvation God the Holy Spirit not only regenerates but He at the same time baptises each one of us into union with Christ, indwells us, seals us, and provides for each one spiritual gifts. For the first time in history throughout the Church Age the believer’s body is indwelt by the Holy Spirit as a sign of royalty. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit, therefore, begins the whole system. The filling of the Spirit is an experience of God the Holy Spirit controlling the soul. It is this experience that gives us objectivity in learning the Word.

            6. The provision of the human spirit. The unbeliever is dichotomous, having a body and soul. The born-again believer becomes trichotomous, having a body, soul and spirit. The human spirit is an immaterial part of the believer and it is the basis for storing Bible doctrine as well as processing it. The ministry of God the Holy Spirit to the believer’s human spirit is the basis of spiritual perspicacity.

            7. The laws of divine establishment are designed for the believer to learn doctrine. Under the laws of divine establishment the national entity protects the freedom and the privacy of the local church. The system of authority which exists throughout the laws of establishment demands orderly function within the local church, and when a nation functions under the laws of establishment the local church is protected, church and state are always kept separate; and yet, the state takes the responsibility of protecting the privacy of the local church and permitting the local church to function under the Word of God so that believers can grow spiritually. The believer who rejects the authority of the police officer will also reject the authority of the pastor-teacher.

            8. The principle of grace in human anatomy.

            The next word is an adverb, pantote, it means “always.” It means that Epaphras is a noble man. He is consistent in whatever he did. He was faithful in teaching doctrine when he was there, when he is away he always sends a greeting or a salute, and he always throws up a prayer for his congregation. He is stabilised. Stability is the key to any faithful type person and stability is the key to being a pastor because stability means consistency, consistency means to be a plodder, a trudge. “Always” is pantote, meaning at all times. This adverb indicates the great consistency of Epaphras and the importance of being consistent in the communication of the Word. Epaphras is in Rome and a long way from his congregation but he can still contend for them.

            “labouring fervently” is a present active participle of the verb a)gonizomai. This is an athletic term for contending in the Olympic Games and also in the sense of fighting in combat in a military situation. It is derived from the Greek word a)gwn which means a stadium or a combat situation. This means to fight or contend. The retroactive progressive present or the present tense of duration denotes what was begun in the past and continues into the present time. Epaphras is fighting on behalf of his congregation and he is using one of the greatest weapons of all: prayer. The active voice: Epaphras as the absent pastor produces the action. The participle is circumstantial.

            “for you” is the preposition u(per plus the ablative of the personal pronoun su. This should be translated, “at all times fighting on your behalf.”

            “in prayers” is the weapon, the preposition e)n plus the instrumental of the definite article, plus the instrumental of the noun proseuxh. It should be translated, “by means of his prayers.” The definite article is used as a personal pronoun.

            “that” is the conjunction i(na and it introduces a final clause. It should be translated “in order that.”

            “ye may stand” is the aorist active subjunctive of the verb i(sthmi. It is used here in the military connotation of holding one’s ground. The aorist tense is the culminative aorist, it views the fact that many in his congregation have reached supergrace status because of his faithful teaching. The fact that he has so many mature believers in his congregation and in the fact that Paul is not critical of the Colossians — as he is the Corinthians, the Galatians, and other people — is indicative of the fact that there is a tremendous amount of maturity. The culminative aorist views the action of the verb in its entirety — they are holding their ground — but it emphasises the existing results. By taking in doctrine and by standing on doctrine they are holding their ground on the supergrace life. The active voice: the supergrace believers in the congregation at Colosse produce the action of the verb. This is why Epaphras is contending on their behalf. The subjunctive mood goes with the conjunction i(na to indicate a purpose clause.

            “perfect” is erroneously translated. This is the nominative masculine plural from the noun teleioj. It refers to a mature believer, “mature ones.” The nominative is actually vocative, Paul is addressing himself to these who are mature. The principle is that the stability of a congregation is found in its supergrace believers. As goes the supergrace believer so goes the congregation.

            “and” is the adjunctive use of the conjunction kai and it should be translated “also.”

            “complete,” perfect passive participle from the compound verb plhroforew. It means to fill completely, a synonym for plhrow. It is a reference to maximum doctrine resident in the soul by which the believer attains supergrace and maintains that status in life. The perfect tense is an intensive perfect. That means something that happens in the past with results continuing. The point is that they have reached supergrace, now they must continue. The passive voice: the supergrace believer receives the action of the verb through doctrine resident in the soul by which he holds the high ground. The participle is circumstantial and it should be translated, “also having been completely filled up.”

            “in all,” e)n plus the instrumental neuter of paj. Paj in the neuter refers to doctrine here, “by all doctrine.”

            “the will of God,” the locative of sphere from the objective connotation of qelhma which means what is willed. Then we have the ablative of source, qeoj, for “God.”

            Translation:  “Epaphras who is one of you, a bondslave of Christ Jesus, salutes you, at all times he is contending on your behalf by means of his prayers, in order that you mature ones may hold your ground, also having been completely filled up by all doctrine which is what is willed from our God.”

            Verse 13, the inferential particle gar expresses a cause or a reason. “For” is all right if you understand that a reason is being expressed.

            “I bear him record,” present active indicative of the verb parturew which means to testify. We also have a dative singular of reference from the intensive pronoun a)utoj. The intensive pronoun is sued to emphasise the identity of Epaphras as the pastor. This is the attributive use of the intensive pronoun and it should be translated “with reference to this same one.” The present tense is an aoristic present, it denotes punctiliar action in present time. The aorist denotes punctiliar action in past time. The active voice: Paul produces the action of the verb in vouching for the character of Epaphras. The indicative mood is declarative indicating a simple statement of fact.

            “that,” this time it is the conjunction o(ti which is used after verbs of judgement or evaluation to indicate the content of that judgement or evaluation.

            “he hath” — present active indicative of e)xw. O(ti indicates he is now going to estimate Epaphras, he is going to judge him, “he keeps having.” The present tense is retroactive progressive present, indicating the fact that he has always been this way, he is a stabilised individual. The active voice: the pastor Epaphras produces the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative for historical reality of the fact. This is what Epaphras is really like. He is consistent, honourable, stabilised, and he keeps on having a great zeal.

            “a great zeal,” this is one thing he does not have. We have an adjective of degree here, poluj, meaning much or great. With it is ponoj, which means pain or distress.

            “for you,” u(per plus the ablative plural of su, “on behalf of you all.” This is a reference to his own congregation in Colosse which is under attack from Gnosticism. And not only them but there are two other churches nearby which are weaker churches.

            “and them in Laodicea,” the adjunctive use of the conjunction kai plus the definite article used as a demonstrative pronoun, plus proj, plus the locative of Laodikeia. It should be translated, “also those in Laodicea.”

            “Hierapolis” is another medical centre famous for its baths.

            Translation: “For I testify with reference to this same one [Epaphras], that he keeps on having much distress for you, also them in Laodicea, also those in Hierapolis.”

            This is another reference to the fact of the Satanic attack in the Lycus valley. It was of deep concern to Epaphras and because of it he had made the long journey to Rome. He was obviously aware of the fact that the area had been a demon headquarters for centuries. he was aware of the fact that the people were in great danger of being hooked by one of several possibilities. This, along with the infiltration of evil, meant that there was going to be a very serious battleground. In fact is did become a battleground and it is the subject of a short passage in Revelation.

            Verse 14, a true man of medicine. “Luke” was not only a great physician but a demonstration of the fact that a man can be great in his profession and even greater beside. He had such a capacity for life that not only was he a great doctor but his capacity for life went from his profession into the fact that he was a historian and the closest companion that Paul ever had. Reason: In intellect Luke and Paul were very close. They had the mentality to enjoy one another. Luke was a well educated Gentile from Antioch. He joined Paul’s team at Troy on the second missionary journey, Acts 16:10,11. He accompanied Paul to Philippi but was not involved in the persecutions of Paul and Silas which are recorded in Acts 16. When Paul left Philippi he had to leave Luke behind, but he rejoined Paul on the third missionary journey.

            “the beloved physician,” o( i)atroj o( a)gaphtoj. This confirms the fact that Luke was a medical doctor. He was Paul’s medical adviser and personal physician, and God used this man not only as Paul’s closest companion, his closest friend, but He used him to preserve the life of Paul on many occasions.

            “and Demas [Demetrius],” mentioned here, also in 2 Timothy 4:10; 3 John. As long as we are alive God has a purpose for our lives, and if we have failed miserably the purpose is rebound, reversion recovery, whatever it takes to get back and to get cracking.

            Demas is the shortened form of Demetrius and they are one person. He is the subject of the last part of this verse, kai Dhmaj. This is a Gentile name and the first thing we recognise about Demas is that he is a believer, and along with Luke we have a representation of Gentiles in Rome. He is mentioned in the same verse with Luke which means that at this point he was either close to or in supergrace status. The fact that he becomes a reversionist is not discovered until we get to 2 Timothy 4:10, “Demas has deserted me, having loved the now age, and has gone to Thessalonica.” So we learn that between the first and second imprisonments something happened to him. Desertion here is desertion under fire. This represents his reversionism. “Having loved the now age” means that some detail of life, or details, some frantic search for happiness, caused him to move from Rome to Thessalonica. The passage reveals that Demas has now become a reversionist.

            There is one more passage on Demas, 3 John 12. John is explaining that Demas is no longer the Demas that he was in 2 Timothy 4, he is now Demetrius and a recovered believer. The reversion recovery of Demas was noted in one of the last things that John ever wrote. “He had received “a good testimony from everyone, and from doctrine itself.’ He made a complete recovery.

            We see in Colossians 4:14 two kinds of spiritual greatness. Luke who has great stability, who never faltered, who did not ever go into reversionism but kept right on going. Demas went down and then back up. These are two different kinds of greatness. One is stability greatness. The believer with stability greatness has a fantastic life and he eliminates a great deal of sorrow and misery simply by his stability.. However, Demas is also great but his is recovery greatness. The principle is that greatness comes in reversion recovery as well. So the great ones are not those who have never failed but those who never let their failures keep them down. That is Demas.

            “greet,” the present middle indicative from the verb a)spazomai which means to salute. The present tense is an aoristic present for punctiliar action in present time. Therefore it means this is a greeting in the moment in which this is received. This is what is called a deponent verb, middle in form but active in meaning. These two Gentiles produce the action. The indicative mood is declarative for a simple statement of historical fact.

            “you” is the accusative plural direct object from the personal pronoun su, a reference to the congregation.

            Translation in the Greek word order: “Luke, the beloved physician, salutes you, also Demas.”

            Verse 15, we move now to the city of Laodicea. Negative volition gathers to playgrounds is the principle. One of the playgrounds of the ancient world was Laodicea.

            The word “salute” is the aorist active imperative of the verb a)spazomai which means to salute or to send greetings. The constantive aorist tense gathers up into one entirety the action of the verb, i.e. the salutation. The salutation consists of an apostolic recognition of that local church. Then active voice: the Colossian believers will produce the action. They are told to greet those who are nearby when the Colossian epistle is delivered. Obviously this epistle was written to all of the churches in the Lycus valley. The imperative mood of command orders the Colossians to circulate this letter.

            The word “brethren” is wrong here. We have the accusative plural direct object from the definite article and it simply means “the ones, the people, the individuals.”

            “and Nymphas,” the adjunctive use of the conjunction kai plus the accusative singular direct object of the proper noun Numfaj which is a woman’s name.

            “and the church which is in his house,” is incorrect. Numfaj is a woman. She is “the elect lady” of 2 John, verse one. It should be translated “in her home.” We have the genitive feminine singular intensive pronoun a)utoj. The fact that churches met in homes is found in Acts 12:12; 20:8; Romans 16:3-5; 1 Corinthians 16:19; Philemon 2.

            verse 16, the importance of circulating this epistle. The word for “epistle” here refers to Colossians which was to be taught throughout the Lycus valley, and then circulated throughout Asia Minor.

            The word “is read” is a misnomer. This is the aorist passive subjunctive from a compound verb, a)naginwskw, which means to exegete, to gather exact knowledge, to discern, to distinguish the content of a passage, to know accurately what is taught and then to communicate it. This is where the idea of reading comes in here — reading in the sense of communication. Taught verse by verse would be a better translation. it is a reference to exegetical, expository teaching. The aorist tense is a constantive aorist which gathers into one entirety the teaching of this epistle. The passive voice: the epistle is the subject and receives the action of the verb, namely analysis and exposition. The subjunctive mood is potential and is for a future reference in a subordinate clause. In other words, it is now being written in the concept of the context and as soon as it is received it is to be taught and to be taught thereafter as long as the Church Age exists and as long as time exists.

            “among you,” the preposition para plus the locative plural of the personal pronoun su. It means “in your presence.”

 

            Several things should be emphasised here

            1. The prepositional phrase emphasises the system of teaching doctrine which is ordained by God for the Church Age.

            2. Inasmuch as believers involved are royalty the Local church is a special school for royalty, a school to make royalty spiritually self-sustaining.

            3. Royalty becomes spiritually self-sustaining by the daily function of GAP, resulting in maximum doctrine resident in the soul.

            4. This doctrine resident in the soul establishes the command post in the individual believer in the angelic conflict. He becomes spiritually self-sustaining because he receives his orders on a daily basis from doctrine in his soul.

            5. This command post, therefore, is tantamount to a dictator in the soul whereby the believer knows the will of God in all circumstances and has the power to execute that will.

            6. When this command post of inner doctrine is established, the believer does not have to rely on anyone else for advice or direction in the function of his, own life. He has the privacy of his priesthood and the option of living his life as unto the Lord.

            7. he is totally dependent upon the inner residency of Bible doctrine.

            8. His only other dependence is on his right pastor who continues to feed him the Word of God and makes it possible for him to seize and hold the high ground of supergrace.

            9. The maintenance of maturity means the perpetuation of blessing in dying grace, and surpassing grace for all eternity.

            10. So a principle emerges. No member of the royal family of God in phase two will ever be independent of his right pastor or the Word of God. The maintenance of supergrace is essential and demands that the mature believer continues to GAP it as long as he lives on this earth, for even reaching maturity and being spiritually self-sustaining does not remove the maintenance principle.

 

            “cause that,” the aorist active imperative of poiew plus the conjunction i(na which introduces a final clause expressing purpose, aim, goal, objective. The aorist active imperative of poiew should be translated “execute” — “execute in order that.” In other words, “Execute this command in order that.” Someone has to teach Colossians to the Laodiceans. This says to them in effect that someone has to teach them the epistle. Obviously there is only one qualified person and he will mentioned shortly. In the meantime, the aorist tense of poiew is a culminative aorist emphasising the completion of verse by verse exposition of Colossians so that it can be taught in Laodicea and that it will result in spiritual growth in both places. The active voice: in the absence of the pastor the apostolic command to teach this epistle will be accomplished by the one who brings it, Tychicus. Then it goes to Archipus. The imperative mood is the imperative of command.

            “it may be taught,” same a)naginwskw, same aorist passive subjunctive,. However this time the subjunctive goes with i(na to introduce a purpose clause. “Accomplish this command in order that it may be taught exegetically in Laodicea.”

            “and that ye likewise read this epistle from Laodicea” — showing that at the end , starting at verse 15, we actually have the Laodicean epistle. In other words, the Colossians were also to study what was said to the Laodiceans. This emphasises the fact that all of this is a part of the canon of scripture. It actually reads, “the epistle from the Laodiceans,” e)k plus the ablative plus the definite article used as a demonstrative pronoun to emphasise

 also the other epistle, the Ephesian epistle which is now being taught in Laodicea, according to the implications here. Ephesians was addressed to all the believers in the Roman province of Asia and the Lycus valley was a part of that province.

            “that,” the conjunction i(na introducing a final clause; “you likewise read it [the Ephesians epistle] exegetically.”

            Translation: “And when this epistle has been taught exegetically in your presence, execute the following command in order that it [Colossians] may be taught exegetically in the Church of the Laodiceans; and that one [Ephesians] from Laodicea circulate it in order that Ephesians might be taught.”

            Verse 17, the apostolic command to the pastor of Laodicea. His name is Archipus.

            “And say,” the connective use of the conjunction, but we have the aorist active imperative of the verb legw. The imperative means that this is really a command. The aorist tense is ingressive, “begin to command him.” The active voice: Tychicus, the bearer of the epistle, will walk in and tell him to get off his butt and start teaching. “Archipus,” A)rxippoj [i(ppoj means horse; a)rx means master]. He was the chief of horse, the master of horse., therefore he should have understood something about discipline. From the context of the first two verses in Philemon he appears to be the son of Philemon and Apphia. As pastor of the local church he had failed to teach doctrine and this was the problem. But the arrival of the two epistles in this context, Ephesians and Colossians, indicates that it is time to fulfill his ministry. “Archipus” is in the dative of indirect object, indicating the one in whose interest the command to teach is transmitted.

            “take heed,” present active imperative of blepw. It means here to beware. The tendencial present tense is used for an action which is purposed but not taking place. He is not aware of the fact that he should be teaching it and he is ignoring it. Therefore it implies that Archipus had neglected to be faithful in teaching his congregation. The active voice: Archipus must produce the action of the verb by understanding the true function of the ministry. The imperative is a direct command.

            “to the ministry” should be “your ministry.” The definite article is used as a possessive pronoun and the word for ministry is diakonoj.

            “which thou hast received,” the accusative singular of the relative pronoun o(j, translated “which.” The ministry is something that he has received. He didn’t earn it and he didn’t deserve it. With it is paralambanw as the verb, which means to take over. This is a dramatic aorist tense used to state a present reality from the certitude of a past event. The active voice: Archipus has taken over the pastorship of the church but has done nothing about it in the way of teaching.

            “in the Lord,” e)n plus the instrumental of kurioj, “because of the Lord.” This says in effect that the Lord calls pastors and even assigns them to churches. Even though churches may vote they have nothing to do with whether the pastor is the right one or not, it is the job of the Lord to do the assigning. The Lord ordered Archipus to take over the ministry there and even if the congregation voted it was still the Lord’s will and that was the only thing that counted.

“that” introduces the final clause: the conjunction i(na for a purpose clause or an objective clause; “thou fulfil it,” the present active subjunctive of the verb plhrow. Plhrow is a very strong verb and it takes a lot of analysis.

                There are four basic meanings of plhrow: It means to fill up a deficiency. The function of the pastor is to fill up the deficiency of doctrine in the souls of the congregation. It means to fully possess. The function of the pastor-teacher is to be so faithful in teaching that doctrine fully possess the souls of his congregation. Thirdly, it means to fully influence. The pastor must continue to teach doctrine so that doctrine fully influences the life of the believer. The word also means to fill up with a certain quality. Doctrine resident in the soul is the highest quality in life.

           Plhrow is used for the royal priest filled with the Spirit in Ephesians 5:18. It is also used for the fulfillment of the law through the filling of the Spirit in Romans 8:4 and in Galatians 5:14.. It is used for the pastor-teacher communicating doctrine, Colossians 1:25; 4"17. It is used for the believer’s function under GAP, the believer erecting the ECS and his entrance into the supergrace life. It is used for the humanity of Christ fulfilling this function in Luke 2;40 and for the royal priest fulfilling this function, Ephesians 3:19; 4:10; Colossians 1:9. It is used for the construction of the ECS in the supergrace believer in 1 John 1:4. It is also used for the priestly function of the royal family in giving, Phil. 4:18; for the production of divine good, Phil. 1:11.

                “it” is the intensive pronoun a)utoj, used for his ministry not being fulfilled; used in connection with the verb. This is the accusative singular direct object, the object of the verb. The present tense is a customary present in the Greek, it has linear aktionsart, it denotes what should habitually occur. He ought to be studying and teaching. The subjunctive mood is used with the conjunction i(na to introduce a final clause. This was his aim, his goal, his objective, and he wasn’t doing it.

               Translation: “And tell Archipus, Pay attention to your ministry which you have taken over because of the Lord, in order that you might fulfill that same ministry.”

                Verse 18, the word “salutation” is simply the word “saluting”; “by the hand of me Paul.” “The salutation from Paul with my own hand” is the literal translation.

                 “Remember,” present active imperative of mnhmoneuw should be translated, “Keep remembering.” The present tense is the iterative present which means repeated action. The active voice: the Colossian church produces the action of the verb through intercessory prayer, and the Laodiceans are included here. The imperative mood is a command.

                  “my bonds,” “my chains.” In other words, this is a command to pray. Remembering is prayer, to recall to mind, to be specific to God about someone is prayer.

                  “Grace be with you,” h( xarij meq u(mwn, “The grace be with you.”

                  “Amen,” I believe it.