Contemplation on a certain Colossians' concept
For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
Having been meditating on these couple verses, I have a few questions I'd like to work through (via typing "out loud"). And so I thought I might as well put my mental meanderings up for discussion, so if any of you have anything to add or correct to my Spartan thoughts, please jump in! (Additionally, this was to avoid a hefty fine to the blog police for announcing my 'coming out of retirement,' only to appear absent once again.)
One frustration of mine that I will put forward first is that I took a very brief overview class of Diagramming and Arcing the Bible many months ago (and freaking loved it!), but have since forgotten the few techniques I gleaned. I wonder if I'd be able to root through my moving boxes to find my papers on the subject to refresh my memory... At any rate, remnants of the class remained with me and, if not marginally, influences the way I look at and meditate on a passage of Scripture.
A few things I remember most about the class is the beginning exercise of dividing the passage up into propositional chunks (in order to find the basis of what is being said), and "for" and "therefore" are, respectively, grounding and inferring neon signs in a given passage. So with what terribly primitive familiarity I have with this concept, I took on Colossians 2:5-7, captioned above.
My trial run through of putting these verses in some semblance of order produced this. If you find this to be incorrect or having the potential to be ordered in a better fashion, I'd love to hear any edifying thoughts.
There are those two neon signs in this passage: for and therefore.
For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, (should those be two separate propositions?)
Preliminarily, I took this for as grounding the statement of his rejoicing to see both their good order and firmness of faith--in Christ.
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord,
I think the therefore is an inference to the base statement, the next proposition, so walk in him. Beacuse we received Christ, we should consequently walk in him.
rooted and built up in him and established in the faith,
This, describing how we are to walk in him.
just as you were taught,
Taught, I took as harking back to the statement "so walk in him." Or could it possibly be in cahoots with the following proposition...
abounding in thanksgiving.
This little guy nearly blindsided me (to be dramatic about it). I'm wondering where this came from and what it is qualifying. Is it directly tied with "just as you were taught" or is it going all the way back to walking in him while abounding in thanksgiving?
It's just a guess, but I think this theme of thanksgiving is kind of potent one. How often am I abounding in thanksgiving? Or is it more often than not merely a quaint effort of formality? Honestly, how could I dare to NOT be abounding in thanksgiving and giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ?! We are to pray and being watchful in it with thanksgiving, and with thanksgiving, letting our requests be made known to God. And coming into the presence of God with thanksgiving and magnifying and glorifying Him with the sacrifice of thanksgiving.
Hm. Interesting thought to let my brain sit on for a while. I would love to hear other thoughts to further my own as this post has been really nothing more than a mish-mash of rather inarticulate thoughts (though I do hope it appeases the blog cops).
Having been meditating on these couple verses, I have a few questions I'd like to work through (via typing "out loud"). And so I thought I might as well put my mental meanderings up for discussion, so if any of you have anything to add or correct to my Spartan thoughts, please jump in! (Additionally, this was to avoid a hefty fine to the blog police for announcing my 'coming out of retirement,' only to appear absent once again.)
One frustration of mine that I will put forward first is that I took a very brief overview class of Diagramming and Arcing the Bible many months ago (and freaking loved it!), but have since forgotten the few techniques I gleaned. I wonder if I'd be able to root through my moving boxes to find my papers on the subject to refresh my memory... At any rate, remnants of the class remained with me and, if not marginally, influences the way I look at and meditate on a passage of Scripture.
A few things I remember most about the class is the beginning exercise of dividing the passage up into propositional chunks (in order to find the basis of what is being said), and "for" and "therefore" are, respectively, grounding and inferring neon signs in a given passage. So with what terribly primitive familiarity I have with this concept, I took on Colossians 2:5-7, captioned above.
My trial run through of putting these verses in some semblance of order produced this. If you find this to be incorrect or having the potential to be ordered in a better fashion, I'd love to hear any edifying thoughts.
There are those two neon signs in this passage: for and therefore.
For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, (should those be two separate propositions?)
Preliminarily, I took this for as grounding the statement of his rejoicing to see both their good order and firmness of faith--in Christ.
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord,
I think the therefore is an inference to the base statement, the next proposition, so walk in him. Beacuse we received Christ, we should consequently walk in him.
rooted and built up in him and established in the faith,
This, describing how we are to walk in him.
just as you were taught,
Taught, I took as harking back to the statement "so walk in him." Or could it possibly be in cahoots with the following proposition...
abounding in thanksgiving.
This little guy nearly blindsided me (to be dramatic about it). I'm wondering where this came from and what it is qualifying. Is it directly tied with "just as you were taught" or is it going all the way back to walking in him while abounding in thanksgiving?
It's just a guess, but I think this theme of thanksgiving is kind of potent one. How often am I abounding in thanksgiving? Or is it more often than not merely a quaint effort of formality? Honestly, how could I dare to NOT be abounding in thanksgiving and giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ?! We are to pray and being watchful in it with thanksgiving, and with thanksgiving, letting our requests be made known to God. And coming into the presence of God with thanksgiving and magnifying and glorifying Him with the sacrifice of thanksgiving.
Hm. Interesting thought to let my brain sit on for a while. I would love to hear other thoughts to further my own as this post has been really nothing more than a mish-mash of rather inarticulate thoughts (though I do hope it appeases the blog cops).
posted by Jennifer at 11:52 AM
7 Comments:
The blog cops always love to read your stuff. My first thought after this post is that thankfulness is a type of fertilizer or cultivator for faith. I suspect that our faith is primed and exercised when we are thankful, giving credit to God for what He has done. …Just a thought.
Missed you.
Thanks for your thoughts. Sounds like an interesting class. I see that it's being offered at the North Campus starting on Jan. 22. I may have to check it out.
And welcome back once again!
Welcom Back Kotter!
Hey - good thoughts Craver. Thankfulness pretty much obliterates pride, I'd say. Yeah, so I think you may be right in that.
And I've certainly missed my little blogging family. :)
Lee - oh, sweet mercy. Take that class like you're taking back Sunday. It was such a good class! HIGHLY recommended.
Thank you, Your Geekiness.
Welcome back...
your dreams were your ticket out...
Welcome back...
to the same ol' place that you laughed about..
Sounds good. I like the name of your blog. such a great verse is Rom. 12:2.
Lee - have I mentioned, by the way, my FULL support of your profile picture?? We were to have a movie night at my house last night (Muppets!), but ended up talking too much. (Instead, we just quoted lines "From Space" - SAFETY FIRST..)
And Jazzycat - welcome! Take off your coat; stay a while.....word on the street is - I'm going to be posting with somewhat regularity (albeit that's yet to be seen).
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