Christ in You

Volume Three of The Pauline Captivity Letters

Colossians is the letter of the fullness. Writing from prison to a congregation he had never visited, Paul answers teachers who were offering something more than Christ with a single confession: in him all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form, and you have been filled in him. Christ is enough. He is more than enough.

This ten-session study walks through the whole letter, from the Christ-hymn of chapter one to the household table and the apostle’s handwritten farewell. It reads Colossians as the Lutheran Confessions read it: Christ as the fullness of God, baptism as the new circumcision, the cross as the place where the certificate of debt was canceled, and the Christian life as the daily return to what Christ has already given. Each session closes with discussion questions and a prayer, for use in adult Sunday school, small groups, or personal devotion.

Study contents

Start here

Preface Preface 8 min read

Ten sessions

Session 1 · Colossians 1:1–14 Faith, Love, and Hope 25 min read
Session 2 · Colossians 1:15–23 He Is the Image of the Invisible God 29 min read
Session 3 · Colossians 1:24–2:5 Christ in You, the Hope of Glory 25 min read
Session 4 · Colossians 2:6–15 Rooted and Built Up in Him 27 min read
Session 5 · Colossians 2:16–23 Let No One Pass Judgment on You 22 min read
Session 6 · Colossians 3:1–11 Seek the Things That Are Above 24 min read
Session 7 · Colossians 3:12–17 Put On Love 24 min read
Session 8 · Colossians 3:18–4:1 In the Lord 23 min read
Session 9 · Colossians 4:2–6 Walk in Wisdom 19 min read
Session 10 · Colossians 4:7–18 Remember My Chains 23 min read