Colossians "Brethren"
The greetings/introductions to each of the New Testament books reveal who Jesus is, His leaders are, and who the church is individually-collective, and this blog series intends to help us understand how that allows God’s people receive revelation into a deeper relational existence than they had prior to knowing this amazing map of our journey that He has given to us.
The letter to the Colossians greeting is, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother, To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paul deepens his greeting by saying, “faithful ‘brethren’ in Christ” which is almost the same as the greeting to the Ephesians, except for the word brethren. This is the first time brethren is used in a greeting throughout the Bible, and it might appear to be a slow progression into the full revelational relation, but it is a huge step in the process. The term brethren not only refers to the lateral human to human relationships; it also refers to Jesus and all of His people’s connection with Him.
Being a sibling of Jesus Christ gives His people the right to approach Him not only as the Saviour, but a relatable Brother that can understand what His family is being challenged with as they live through the same things He experienced on Earth. Jesus did not come to Earth to be a foreign "Holier than thou God," He came to give His family members a pathway of life to walk back to their Father, the truth for them to hear and follow because they are of the Truth, and the life that is separated from this world and no longer focused on the things in it as they gather others into the Kingdom.
God has this incredible map for His people, and He shares it with them as He knows they can receive it. Continue following the series and find out how amazing the journey can be.
Tomorrow’s blog is 1 Thessalonians which states, “in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ:” This is the first time in scripture that it says in God the Father, and we will go more in depth about it tomorrow.
