Bearing Witness to the Gospel
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
Colossians 4:2-6 in the English Standard Version (2025)
Bearing Witness to the Gospel: Prayer, Life, Words, Grace
One of the primary responsibilities as God’s people is that we bear witness to the saving work of God in Jesus Christ. Because we’ve experienced his saving grace in Jesus, we have the privilege and responsibility to proclaim it.
But how do we do it?
Many years ago, I had a conversation with Eugene Peterson (author of The Message translation of the Bible), and I used the word “evangelism”. He corrected me by saying we’re to bear witness to the gospel as Acts 1:8 says: “you shall be my witnesses”. Bearing witness is not so much a triumphant act as it is a humble testimony to what Jesus has done for us and can do for others. It’s more conversational than confrontational.
In his closing statements of Colossians 4, the apostle Paul gives us some tips about being better witnesses:
Making prayer a priority in our individual lives and in our churches – 4:2
Shouldn’t prayer be part of the DNA of churches? The foundation that shows our dependence on God? Maybe more than how many people attend on Sunday morning? Acts 2:42 says the early church devoted themselves to “the prayer”. Given the largely Jewish nature of the early church in Acts, it seems like they continued the practice of praying together at set times at the temple in Jerusalem. Both verses (Acs 2:42, Colossians 4:2) use the same word translated “steadfastly” in the ESV and “devote” in other translations.
In other words, make prayer a priority. Don’t be weary in doing it. In Luke 18:1, Jesus says that “we always ought to pray and not lose heart”. We continually need to be reminded of this as it is too easily forgotten.
Pray for the gospel ministry of others that they know what to say and how to say it – 4:3-4
The scholars point out that Paul doesn’t ask to be released from prison (Colossians is one of the so-called prison epistles). He asks that he and others buy up the opportunities to witness while in prison.
Someone pointed out that Paul had two guards chained to him 24 hours/day. The guards rotated throughout the day. Guess who Paul witnessed to? The following verses in Philippians 1 tell us the results:
“I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” Phil.1:12-14 (ESV)
The phrase in v.3 speaks of buying up the opportunity, like when you find a good deal at the grocery store or a sale at Walmart or on Amazon. We recognize the opportunity and seize it.
Recently, I had a conversation with a successful young man who grew in the Mormon church. Several years ago, he began to question the veracity of the historical underpinnings of his faith. Nevertheless, he has stuck it out. His wife has a strong faith in the LDS church and he has a daughter at BYU. When casting about what to say to him, I remembered Ephesians 2:8-9, “for by grace are you saved…”. I said a fundamental difference (notwithstanding the foundational differences in what the Bible teaches about God, Jesus, and the Scriptures and what Mormons believe!) between the LDS church and biblical faith is grace. Salvation, eternal life is a free gift never earned or deserved. I let those verses linger with him. Hopefully they’ll bear fruit in his life.
The mystery of the gospel (Ephesians 3:5-6) is that all kinds of people get included in the body of Christ. Let’s make sure our message is crystal clear.
Finally, we’re to be wise in our interactions with non-Christians in both our lifestyle and speech: make it gracious and winsome as we value each person – 4:5-6
Paul wants us to read the room. Gauge the spiritual temperature. Know your audience. Use wisdom and tact. Be winsome but not sentimental. Speak appropriately to the person.
Paul uses the word kairos in v.5. It speaks of seasons, opportunities rather than a specific time. It’s like saying we’re approaching the Christmas season versus the Christmas eve service will be at 6 pm on December 24th.
My friend David Hansen in his book The Art of Pastoring says the best evangelistic conversations are those that God sets up.
F.F. Bruce in his commentary on Colossians says this: “reputation of the gospel is bound up in the conduct of his people”. Often people are attracted by our life before they’ll listen to our words. Too often our lifestyle betrays our message.
I like the phrase Paul uses in v.6: “seasoned as with salt”. Salt adds flavor to food. Salt can also sting when applied to an open wound. But salt can also create thirst for those who are empty spiritually.
Let’s be the kind of people who bear witness by our lives and words to the truth of Jesus.