Sunday school notes from 4/1/12
The following are the rather raw and unpolished notes used for teaching in my sunday school class. If anyone is called upon to teach from Colossians and would like to use these notes as a resource, I would be happy to email the Word docs to you. Hopefully you have access to several good commentaries, which will fare you far better than anything you find here.
Blessings.
The following are the rather raw and unpolished notes used for teaching in my sunday school class. If anyone is called upon to teach from Colossians and would like to use these notes as a resource, I would be happy to email the Word docs to you. Hopefully you have access to several good commentaries, which will fare you far better than anything you find here.
Blessings.
Colossians 3:12-13
12 “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”
IV. Forgiving. The last of the 4 words that Paul uses to describe the truly Merciful Christian is the word “forgiving.” He says “and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”
There are primarily 2 words used in the NT for “forgive.”
The first word, the one used nearly 150 times, has to do with what we might call the “legal” or maybe “official” act of forgiveness. It has the idea of a debt being cancelled or covered. Imagine I owned a pharmacy and you are very sick and out of work and you come to get your prescription filled. It is a very expensive medicine, but I give it to you and tell you that I’ll send you a bill at the end of the month. The end of the month comes and you are still out of work, you have barely enough money to feed your family, and you come into me with the bill and say “Jason, I’m sorry, I don’t have the money yet – but once I get well I will be able to repay it.” And I take the bill from your hand and I tear it up. I tell you that bill no longer exists. It has been erased from the record books. That is the first word “forgiveness.” It describes you right now if you are a Christian. God has torn up your debt.
