6-14-25 The Divine Bond

Last week the 4^th chapter of Colossians discovered the inner circle of Paul and the range of backgrounds, education, and ethnicity they shared while being I the family of Christ. Today we will conclude this 5 ½ month series covering every aspect of this book from 4:15.

Paul sinks deeper into displaying his appreciation for people who with some time and study you can gain greater clarity for the importance of relationships joined by the bond of the love and allegiance to the divine.

¹⁵ Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house.

Nympha is a woman who has a house church. Despite popular belief the house churches are what is the biblical norm, not mega churches. Truth be known the average church has only 70 people. Paul sends his greetings to both men & women because of the common bond of not just being in a house church but hungering and thirsting for the righteousness of Christ. In the NIV it lists Nympha as a female, historical documents cannot determine the gender. Other translations have it listed as His house. The controversy comes from the pronoun in the GR. The word autos, it means self, spoken in third person and can be either he or she.

He is letting these people know despite being separated that there is still the Divine Bond of unity in Christ. This highlights a problem in the church today because of the tribalism that has been the result of church branding church denominations and church communities. Any church that pushes branding is operating outside the biblical model. The brand is the Messiah, no one, nothing else. We are not little gods, our church is not the only church recognized by Holy Spirit. We are joined by the blood of Christ, the Holy Spirit who dwells within and recognizing what in this age would be a small church, some would even say it is not a church but the word of God says different.

Paul as should we be thankful for all in the body! And the respective purposes carried out by our callings.

¹⁶ After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.

Laodicea mentioned 3x in two verses. That means it carries weight. This letter must be given as encouragement to the people of God as well as the letter to the Laodiceans. This letter is a mystery because it has never been discovered. This is not to say it did not exist, obviously it did. It was important in a similar vein. The apostle is sharing the message of encouragement, similar to what he said Tychicus & Onesimus would do. Because let’s be honest the world is a tough dark place. We do not have to look far to become dismayed. Corruption is not hard to find, injustice is not tough to located, deception rules over this world & breeds the next generation into its filth.

¹⁷ Tell Archippus: “See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.”

Archippus shared same ordeals as Paul. Mentioned in Philemon, this means he is called. Because you have to go through fire to be refined. God can’t use you until he hurts you. Archippus has a ministry and it a finish line, but the calling does not. Destiny is not one grande finale. It is a step by step destination pursuing where and what you are led by the Messiah to achieve. Paul recognizes his call knows of his work and encourages him to see it through. When was the last time you did that for someone you know who has a calling on their life?

Paul then concludes:

¹⁸ I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.

Paul’s common method in his letters was to have the body dictated, but in his own hand sign the final remarks. He is in chains, he is under guard and he is still being an encouragement to those around him, those who share the Divine Bond of being in the family of God! They rejoice in their victories; they call out the world trying to deceive them. They are extended the prayer of grace. This is the GR word charis meaning God’s favor.

The body of Christ is made up of that which he owns, the bride. He bought and paid for it with his blood to redeem, to purify, to change, and to lift up. You need to embrace this you need to not fight this because Gods favor is in this.

The importance of the relationships in your life is significant because God views how you love your neighbor almost as important as your love for him. Gods grace is being extended. Despite the ridiculous branding, the non scriptural barriers between fellow Christians who share the Divine Bond.