Colossians (2011)

The word "hope" means different things to different people. Can it be defined as wishful optimism? Or trust and reliance? Or assurance of a future reality? Or confident expectation? All of these are recognized meanings of "hope", yet some come from a secular worldview and others come from a Biblical worldview.

As we continue in our study of the Doctrine of Hope, we learn that hope is the Christian's calling. We learn that we are to be "reconciled to God" and live in a way that is set apart and distinct from the world around us.

How do we “continue in the faith”, and what does that mean? Paul reminds us that reconciliation gives us hope. But what is the Biblical view of hope? It is a conviction of reality, an expectation of our destiny.

In this lesson we again are reminded that as believers we are “future oriented”, living for the future.

As human beings under condemnation, we really do not want to think about reality, but God's Word forces us to. We have all been tainted by sin and exhibit hostility toward God. True peace was broken when Adam sinned, and his fall had both spiritual and physical consequences. Full reconciliation is necessary. As we continue our study in Colossians 1:20-21, we look at the correlation to what Paul is teaching in Ephesians 2:11-17. With reconciliation, we see how God transformed hostility to peace, making it possible to have fellowship with a Righteous God by the legal, forensic action accomplished once and for all by Jesus Christ on the cross. What was the distinction between how salvation was taught in the Old Testament compared to the New Testament? Where do atonement and reconciliation fit in?

And how does reconciliation relate to illegal immigrants? The difference between how the Jews had the Messianic hope, but the Gentiles were aliens to the commonwealth of Israel had to be addressed. This lesson reveals how Christ removed the barrier of hostility between Jews and Gentiles that had existed since the Mosaic Law.

In a continuation of our study of the sufficiency of Christ, we learn more about the implications of "in all things" with the Doctrine of Reconciliation. But what does reconciliation really mean? And why was it necessary at the cross? This doctrine is so often confusing, misrepresented, and misstated. There is no sense of it in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, Paul is the only author who addresses it. View this lesson and find out what it really means for a Christian to be "at peace with God".

The deity of Christ is not some abstract doctrine, or interesting curiosity within Christianity. The deity of Christ is necessary. If Jesus was not fully God, then He could not have paid for our sins, and nothing else about Christianity matters. Many cults and non-Christian religions reject the deity of Christ. How would you support the deity of Christ from the Bible? In this lesson you will learn more about the significance of Christ's deity. You will also learn three Old Testament passages and three New Testament passages you can use to demonstrate the undiminished deity of Christ.

Jesus is sufficient and necessary. He provides all we need, and He alone can provide all we need. The first line of evidence is that He is the Creator with all that implies. The second line of evidence is that He is the head of the church, the authority over the church. Authority is a crucial concept involved in headship. What does it mean that Jesus is head over the church? What does it mean that Christ is the head of man, and man the head of woman? These are just some of the questions answered in this lesson.