Paul’s Passion for Others

Paul says some pretty remarkable things, theologically speaking, to the Colossians. Here’s a few bits that often catch our eye.

  • He praises Jesus the Son of God for his preeminence in creation, salvation, indeed, all things. All things were created through him. He holds all things together. And he reconciled all things (Colossians 1:15–20). There is no one higher. He is supreme.
  • He declares that Jesus in his people is the mystery hidden for ages but now revealed to his saints (Colossians 1:26–27). Christ in man is the hope of glory—the hope of salvation (Colossians 1:27).
  • He says that Jesus is the treasure trove, the repository of riches of all godly wisdom, knowledge, and understanding (Colossians 2:3).

Colossians is a theological gold mine for studies in Christology.

But Paul also says some things to the Colossians that reveal a little about himself. He says things like,

  • Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake (Colossians 1:24).
  • Him (Christ) we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me (Colossians 1:28–29).
  • For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face (Colossians 2:1).

These are some bits that could easily get engulfed by the wake of Paul’s high Christology. However, these passages give us a glimpse under Paul’s hood, so to speak. They reveal to us in part what drives Paul’s ministry engine. Namely, they reveal that Paul’s passion for others and his passion to see others sanctified together propel his gospel ministry. In other words, his ministry aims to see people grow in spiritual purity and in purity with regard to understanding the gospel of Jesus. Paul desires to see the Colossians increase in their purity in Jesus and in their passion for Jesus and the gospel. In short, Paul’s passion for the Colossians is a passion to see them sanctified. An added benefit of this, that Paul exemplifies, is that sanctification begets sanctification. That is, when we seek others sanctification in love for them, this lends to our personal sanctification. First, consider Paul’s desire to see the Colossians sanctified.

 

Paul’s Passion for the Colossians

In Colossians 1:24–2:5, Paul gives the Colossians a glimpse into his ministry. Paul deems it necessary that they know what it is that drives him. Paul wants them to know why he would write and proclaim the gospel of Jesus to them. So why? What is Paul’s overall goal in sharing his joy and pain in ministry? It’s this:

  • That we may present every mature in Christ (Colossians 1:28).
  •  That their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ (Colossians 2:2).
  • That they might be a people of unwavering passion for Christ and the truth of the gospel (Colossians 2:5).

In sum, everything Paul says (Colossians 2:1, 5) is for this purpose: the Colossians’ sanctification in life and belief—their purity in Christ and passion for Christ as revealed in the truth of gospel.

Amazingly, this is Paul’s desire for a people whom he has never even met (Colossians 2:1). Paul is concerned for their personal holiness. Paul is concerned for their personal assurance as it relates to their belief and understanding of the gospel. This is why he ministers to them, suffering, toiling, and struggling. And this itself is Christlike and leads to greater Christlikeness.

 

Passion for Others and Christlikeness

We often have a hard enough time suffering, toiling, and struggling in ministry for the sake of those we know—those who are in our lives and those who are in our church—those we love! Indeed, we often think of and apply the ideas of suffering, toiling, and struggling for the purpose of sanctification only personally. We say, “I suffer, toil, and struggle enough in my own sanctification. I cannot even think of expanding that suffering, toiling, and struggling outward to include caring for others in their sanctification. I don’t have the bandwidth!” But here, Paul’s disposition admonishes us. He gives his life for the sake of others’ sanctification. Where did he learn this? Well, he tells us: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).

Indeed, Christ considered others more significant than himself, looked to the interest of others, took on the form of a servant, humbled himself in obedience even to death (Philippians 2:3–8). Jesus suffered, toiled, and struggled for the sake of the salvation and the sanctification of others. So this is what Paul aims to do, and this is what his life and ministry encourages us to do. We might be tempted to say, “What about me and my sanctification!” Well, in this is the genius of the gospel.

When we begin to consider and care for others more, when we begin to love our neighbor as ourself, we grow in Christlikeness. When we become willing to suffer, toil, and struggle on behalf of others for their joy and growth in Christlikeness, for their purity and passion, we find that we begin to look more and more like Christ ourselves. Our pursuit of others’ sanctification goes hand-in-hand with and often leads to our own sanctification.

 

Conclusion

Paul teaches us that passion or love for others and the desire to see them grow in purity in Jesus and passion for Jesus should drive our ministry and service to others. And, by divine design, our ministering to others in their sanctification is bound up with our own personal sanctification. Paul knew this and he exemplifies it. His heart, ministry, and passion is for the Colossians, for the church, for people. He wants them reach full maturity in purity of holiness. He wants them to have the joy and full assurance of understanding of Jesus. He wants them to taste and see the riches of glory in Jesus. He wants them to increase in their passion for Jesus. He wants them to know God and experience his glory and joy. This is what drives him. This is a Christlike passion. And this should be our passion as well.

3 Ways to Pray to a Passionless God

One common objection to the doctrine of impassibility which states that God does not suffer or feel the actions of creatures upon himself is that it implies that God’s love for us is inferior in someway. We can be tempted to think that God lacks of passion means he doesn’t care about our circumstance (particularly our suffering), and so it appears that God’s love is cold and distant. This cannot be further from the truth. God being revealed as a God who does not have passion actually means that he cannot love you more than he already does. His care and intention toward you is superior to human care and intention because it does not require a first cause or stimuli. As we heard proclaimed during our time in the book of Mark, God loves you because he loves you and all of his acts toward you are filled with his khesed.

I’ve been encouraged by the response I’ve received since I preached on this topic. The questions, challenges, and conversations have led to deeper study of the doctrine and confirmed my belief that these doctrines matter. I want to continue the dialogue by applying God’s impassibility to our prayer life. How does understanding Yahweh as a passionless God impact our prayer life? If God is impassible why should we pray? And, what is the impact of my prayer on God? So here are 3 ways to pray to a passionless God.

When we follow Gods command to pray we are more able to see him as the infinitely loving God in all of life’s circumstances.

Pray with the knowledge that Christ is your Lord

When we focus on a particular attribute of God whether it is his impassibility or omniscience, we can lose sight of the other things that God has revealed himself to be. God has revealed himself fully in the life of Christ who prayed often to the same Father we have. Christ is not only our model but our Lord who commands that we pray (Matthew 26:41), so we pray to follow the lead of our master who forever lives to intercede for us. We do well to humble ourselves under a God who seeks to serve and build us up through our prayers.

Pray as a means of Gods grace and glory

Imbedded in the question “If God is impassible why should I pray?” is the implication that our prayers are not a result of God’s attributes. This may be easier to see if we replace impassibility with sovereignty. God has revealed himself to be sovereign over all things and this can lead us to ask the same question, “Why pray?” The answer is the same for both questions, our prayers are means of God’s sovereignty and an act of God’s unchanging love toward us. God’s unchanging emotional state is not a reason to pray less but more. We pray for forgiveness knowing that our sins do not change God’s redemption love toward us in Christ, and he is zealous to redeem us as we have seen in the book of Ruth. We pray that God shows his glory through our words and deeds to those arounds us, which he is committed to do. He uses our prayers as a conduit to accomplish his good and perfect will for us. This is an act of his unchanging love for us. Our prayers are the means of grace that he uses because he is impassible not in spite of it.

The Psalmist is praying not to change God but to be changed by God because he knows God loves him despite his circumstance (42:8)

Pray in times of suffering knowing that God loves you

Psalm 42 is great example of how we should pray in light of Gods passionless love for us. The psalmist is in despair and he feels that God has forgotten him. His enemies take note of his condition as well and taunt him. At first glance, knowing that God’s love for him has not changed and cannot increase may not seem to be the best encouragement. We are tempted to think “if this is how God shows his love then no thanks.” This is not the psalmist’s response to his circumstance. Instead he prays for his soul to put its hope in God (Psalm 42:5,11). The psalmist is praying not to change God but to be changed by God because he knows God loves him despite his circumstance (42:8). This is a great example for us because our petitions to God should be informed by who he has revealed himself to be and not simply how we would like him to act on our behalf. This is not to say we should not pray that our suffering be removed—this is a good and worthy petition to God. However, what we ultimately need is to see God for who he is even when we suffer so that our faith In him increases even in our times of suffering. Nothing will separate us from his love, even life’s trials (Romans 8:31-39).

So our prayer life should not be hindered but enhanced by who God has revealed himself to be. He wants us to cast our cares onto him because of his unchanging love for us (1 Peter 5:6-7). When we follow God’s command to pray we are more able to see him as the infinitely loving God in all of life’s circumstances.