”˜Without doubt’, according to Bishop J.B. Lightfoot, ”˜Colossae was the least important church to which any epistle of St. Paul is addressed.’ Impolite, perhaps, but probably true. What had once been a prosperous city had declined in size and significance, and was largely populated by low-born people who eked out a living as shepherds and slaves, wool dyers and market traders.
And yet it is ones like these for whom Paul thanks God, excited that the gospel which has been ”˜bearing fruit and growing in the whole world’ has also been bearing fruit and growing among them. That fruitfulness is then applied to the Colossians again as Paul prays for them to be ”˜bearing fruit in every good work’.
Far from being incidental, his references to ”˜bearing fruit’ here and elsewhere in his letters tap into a rich seam which runs through the Bible from beginning to end. We find fruit on the first and last pages of Scripture ”“ in the garden of Eden and the new Jerusalem ”“ and almost everywhere in between. Look more closely, and it becomes clear that God’s desire for fruitfulness is as extensive as the gospel ”“ with what God has done in Christ in bringing men and women back to himself and in setting in motion his plan to restore the whole of creation.