Treasures of Paul - Colossians

Paul's exquisite Letter to the Colossians stands unique in world literature. It contains ideas that had never before entered any human mind. To view it as fiction is, if not impossible, certainly absurd. Anyone who spurns Colossians as nothing more than a piece of pious imagination must then explain how a devout, passionate, sternly monotheistic Jew, was able to write a letter about another contemporary Jew, and ascribe to him, in the most illustrious terms, all the attributes of Deity. Paul could use such exalted language about Jesus of Nazareth, only because he had met him on the road to Damascus and discovered forcefully that he, Jesus, is the crucified, risen, and exalted Christ, "through whom and by whom all things were created!" Paul could write it simply because it is true! Had there been even a slight possibility of falsehood or of delusion, then such a man as Paul could never have penned even the first half dozen sentences in the letter, let alone the remainder of its stunning revelations. This book makes no attempt to achieve a detailed exposition of Colossians. It does no more than select some of Paul's most wonderful ideas to interpret and apply to the daily life of the believer. But it has been said of the author (by a fellow clergyman) that he has a fine ability to take hold of deep mysteries and make them delightful for ordinary readers. Another reader of this book has written, "One of the things I so enjoy about your books is how you just get off into praise, and the joy of the Lord is like a river running through the book. I don't know if everyone gets that but I sure hope they do." Well, we hope that you too will discover joy as you read these pages, and that you will discover things here that will indeed be treasure in your experience of life in Christ. Rev Ken Chant (MRE, PhD, OAM) is an Australian pastor, teacher, and church planter. He has written more than 40 books on scripture and Christian life. He has preached and taught in many countries, and in many denominations. He and Alison, his wife of more than 60 years, presently reside in Sydney. He was trained initially to be a Baptist pastor, but in 1953 he joined the Australian group known as CRC Churches International, and he has held credentials with them ever since. Also, for some ten years during the 1980s, while living in the USA, he held credentials with the Assemblies of God. He founded a Bible Correspondence School in Launceston, Tasmania, in 1974, which he and Dr Stan DeKoven (Ramona, California) later developed into a local-church based Bible College, now known as The International Training and Education Network with campuses in more than 150 countries