Colossians
Summary Colossians teaches the supremacy of Christ and vigilance against heresy.
- Date written
- AD 60-62
- Historical period
- Paul’s first Roman imprisonment (Prison Epistles)
Background
While the apostle Paul was ministering in Ephesus (the hall of Tyrannus) during his third missionary journey, the church in Colossae was founded by his co-worker Epaphras. Later, a false teaching (syncretism) crept into the church, mixing Jewish legalism (festivals, the Sabbath, circumcision, and so on), Greek philosophy and early Gnostic dualism, the worship of angels, and asceticism. Paul, who was imprisoned in Rome, heard this news through Epaphras and wrote this letter to establish the church on sound truth.
Content
Colossians is broadly divided into a doctrinal (theological) section in chapters 1–2 and a practical (application) section in chapters 3–4. Jesus Christ, Preeminent over All Things (Chapters 1–2) The deity of Christ: Jesus Christ is the Creator of all things and the head of the church, and all the fullness (pleroma) dwells in Him. The victory of the cross: He nailed the written code of the law to the cross and triumphed over the rulers and authorities of the world by the cross. Guarding against false teaching: Believers must not follow human tradition or the elemental spirits of the world (philosophy and empty deceit), but must hold fast only to Christ, the head of the church. Putting On the New Self with Christ (Chapters 3–4) Seek the things above: Believers must put off the members of the old self that belong to the earth (sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness, lying, and so on), set their minds on things above, and be renewed in knowledge after the image of their Creator. The clothing of the new self: They must put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, and above all these bind everything together with love. The community and co-workers: They are to build relationships of forgiveness without discrimination, and finally, conveying greetings from the co-workers laboring together for the kingdom of God (Timothy, Epaphras, Aristarchus, Mark, Luke, Demas, and others), Paul urges them to walk worthily in every area of life.