Where Do We Go from Here?

Summary

Paul wants us to be “filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (v. 9). Paul wrote to the followers of Christ in Colossae, a city on a major roadway in Asia Minor, a part of the Roman Empire that now lies in modern Turkey. The Colossians knew both Greek and Roman philosophy. They probably experienced cultural pressure from Jewish mysticism and the Hellenistic mystery cults known as “neo-Pythagoreanism.” There were a lot of schools of thought in Colossae. The people felt pulled in many different directions, just as we are pulled today by a variety of issues. To people embroiled in fierce debates, Paul prays that they may “be filled with the knowledge of God’s will.” This is not philosophical knowledge, but practical knowledge. This wisdom is “the ability to choose right conduct,” says New Testament scholar Andrew Lincoln; “here in Colossians the wisdom and insight produced by the Spirit have an explicitly ethical dimension.”