Reading for July 8th

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE HOPE

Read Colossians 2.20-4.6
Like with Christ governs regulations about food and drink and relations with other Christians,
family members, and outsiders.
An initial transition  (2,20-23) reveals the practical implications of death with Christ.
Another transition (3.1-4) commends the life raised with Christ, followed by a vice list (3.5-11),
a virtue list (3.12-17), and household duties (3.18-4.6).
Comments or Questions...

Reading for July 7th

Read Colossians 1.24-2.19 A personal witness and a warning.
An autobiographical sketch describes the church's maturation (1.24-2.5) and leads to
a warning against deviating from the truth (2.6-18).
In verse 1.24 a certain amount of suffering is assumed to be necessary (see 1 Thess 3.3)
before the end can arrive.
Completing...Christ's afflictions, any suffering brings the end sooner.
In verses 26-27 the mystery is Christ in you, the image of Christ growing in you.
In verse 29 toil, struggle, the effort to bring about the community's maturity.
See 1 Thess 2.9.
In verse 2.6 live your lives, "conduct" your lives; see 1.10.
In verses 8-19 the warning: although the heresy appears as wisdom because of its ascetic
and ritualistic practices, Christ's death and resurrection are sufficient to bring the believers'
lives into the new dominion.
In verse 8 takes you captive, false teachers are like robbers or kidnappers.
In verses 11-12 putting off, buried with him in baptism, baptismal images joined with
spiritual circumcision to describe entry into the new life (see Gal 3.27).
In verse 14 Record, a not of debt.
In verse 15 Disarmed, stripped of power.
Roman emperors led captives in a public triumphal procession.
In verse 17 Shadow and substance, a familiar contrast in Greek thought
(see Plato's Republic 514a-518b).
In verse 18 Angels' worship, worship offered to angels or worship offered by angels,
probably the latter.
Comments or Questions...

Reading for July 6th

Read Colossians 1.15-23 A hymn to the universal Christ and comment on his redeeming work.
Christ, the cosmic agent of creation, has reconciled creation's warring elements (vv. 15-20),
and their early teachings to ensure maturity (vv. 21-23).
In verses 15-20 the hymn's origin is unknown, but if not Christian it may be an adaptation
from a Greek mystery religion, a Jewish text about the Son of Man and the end times, or a
Hellenistic Jewish wisdom text like Prov 8.22-31 or Sir 24.1-22.
It easily divides into two: Christ as the agent of creation (vv. 15-18a) and Christ as an
agent of redemption (vv. 18b-20).
In verse 16 Christ's role in creation is like the role of Wisdom (see Prov 8.22-26; Sir 24.9).
In verse 18 Head of the body, see 2.19; Eph 1.22-23.
In verse 20 Reconcile, restore to friendship from enmity.
In verse 21-23 a direct exhortation to the recipients: God has reconciled them and they will be blameless before God if they are steadfast.
In verse 21 Estranged, alienated or unfamiliar with something.
See Eph 2.12; 4.18.
Comments or Questions...

Reading for July 5th

Read Colossians 1.3-14 Prayers and God's redemption.
Two prayers (vv. 3-8, 9-12) reveal the basis of the community's growth in faith: God rescued the believers from the power of darkness and moved them into the kingdom of his beloved son (v. 13).
In verses 3-8 themes of growth and learning (1.28; 2.6; 3.10; 4.12) emphasize the fruitfulness of the gospel (v. 5) increasing the knowledge of God's will (vv. 9-10) and in building the body
of Christ (2.19).
Epaphras (v. 7) taught hope linked to Christ, unlike the "heresy" which downplays
Christ (see 2.18-19).
In verse 5 hope, no longer the firm expectation of God's promise but an object already available,
laid up or stored up, though it awaits revelation.
In verse 6 bearing fruit and growing describes the gospel of God's grace.
In verse 7 Epaphras, 4.12; Philem 23.
In verses 9-12 a shift from past reception of the gospel to a fuller comprehension of God's will.
In verse 9 knowledge...spiritual wisdom and understanding.
All three have practical implications.
Wisdom (a favorite term; see 2.3, 23; 4.5) and understanding or insight are linked in the
Hebrew Scriptures or their Greek translation (see Deut 1.13, 15; 1 Kings 16.18; Isa 3.3).
In verse 10 lead, or conduct; see 2.6; 3.7-17; 4.5.
In verse 12 inheritance, share or allotment.
In verses 13-14 this basic statement of belief recites what God has done.
Comments or Questions...

Reading for July 4th

Read Colossians 1.1-2 The epistolary opening.
See 2 Cor 1.1; Gal 1.1.
In verse 1 saints, holy ones, believers (2 Cor 1.1; Rom 1.7; Phil 1.1; Eph 1.1).
Comments or Questions...

Reading for July 3rd

Read Daniel 12.5-13 The realization of the vision.
This section attempts to calculate the time when the vision will be realized.
In verses 5-6 Two others: Angels.
In verse 7 A time, two times, and half a time: Three and a half years, the approximate time
from the desecration of the Temple in 167 BCE to its re-dedication in 164 BCE (see 7.25).
In verse 11 One thousand two hundred ninety days: An attempt to specifty the figure in v. 7.
In verse 12 Thousand three hundred thirty-five days: A second attempt to specify this figure.
In verse 13 The end of days: The end of  the period outlined in the vision
(see 8.17; 9.26; 11.6, 13, 35, 40; 12.4, 9).
Comments or Questions...

Reading for July 2nd

Read Daniel 12-1-4
Michael calls upon Daniel to remain silent about the vision until its fulfillment.
In verse 2 resurrection of the righteous (Isa 26.19; Ezek 37).
In verse 3 like the brightness of the sky: the Hebrew word "zohar" ("brightness") from this verse serves as the title of the Zohar, the primary mystical work of Judaism.
Comments or Questions...