Colossians Introduction Series

Paul’s Letter to the Colossians

Introduction:

Author & Date:

The author identifies himself as Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Saul of Tarsus was on his way to do what he felt was his patriotic duty as a Jewish Pharisee, to stop the Jesus-followers from bringing about the wrath of God upon Israel. As he was on the road to Damascus, the Lord let him know that he was barking up the wrong tree and turned him around. God sent Ananias to pray for Paul to receive his sight, be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit. Paul was commissioned then and there as an apostle to the gentiles. God sent him to preach to you and me. And the epistle to the Colossians is relevant for where we are living today. Paul took his calling and duty seriously and thus he left this epistle behind.

Paul wrote the letter to the Colossians from prison (Colossians 4:3, 18). Some suggest that this first Roman imprisonment that we read about at the end of the book of Acts (28:16, 30-31). This was probably in the early 60s A.D., about 30 years after the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord. Others have suggested that it was written during one of Paul’s other imprisonments, like when he was at Ephesus. It was a whole lot easier to get from Ephesus to Colossae than from Rome to Colossae. This would make the letter written sometime in the 50s. It was written from prison somewhere. There are four of Paul’s letters that are grouped together as prison letters: Colossians, Philippians, Ephesians, and Philemon. Paul spent a lot of time in prison. If you read Colossians and Ephesians side by side you will find some striking parallels. Repeated concepts, phrases, and words. But Colossians has an even greater relationship with Philemon. “Apparently Colossians and Philemon were written at the same time and place, sent to the same place, and carried by the same messenger” (David K. Bernard, Colossians, pg. 14). In both letters Paul says Timothy is with him. He also mentions Archippus and says that Onesimus was accompanying the letters. In the greeting sections of Colossians and Philemon there is almost an identical list of recipients (Col 1:1; 4:7-17; Phil 1-2, 10-12, 23-24).

The bearer of the letter was Tychicus who was a native of Asia Minor (Col 4:7-8; Acts 20:4).

The Original Recipients:

Colossae was a Roman province in Asia minor, just a little town in the Lycus Valley. It is one of the cities that has been buried and has only recently begun to be excavated. Paul had not personally visited this city (Col 2:1). It was a church that was started under Paul’s oversight by Epaphras (Col 1:6-7; 4:12-13).

Some believe that the Colossians had fallen into some type of false belief system that worshipped a series of angelic mediators between God and themselves. Other suggest that all the things Paul mentions are a jab at the idea that returning to the Jewish law augmented or completed their salvation. Paul tells them that things like circumcision, keeping various feasts, not eating certain types of food, or observing the Sabbath have no salvific value (Col 2:16-23). Whatever it was, they had made a place for Jesus in their system, but He was not first or central. And this is what Paul addresses in the epistle. Jesus must be preeminent in all things! Paul preached a gospel that excluded both Jewish and gentile religion from being the gospel. It was the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus that had inaugurated God’s reign and Paul was an ambassador welcoming both Jews and gentiles to enter the kingdom. Jesus is the only way. He is not one of the ways!

Paul uses some unique language in Colossians. There are about fifty-five words not found in any of his other letters and thirty-four found nowhere else in the NT. In Colossians Paul does not directly quote any OT passage. It may be that those whose philosophy Paul was addressing had favorite buzzwords that Paul picks up and uses against them—words like wisdom, knowledge, philosophy, and mystery.

But the real question is, so what? How does a little letter written in the first century to a small church in a valley across the world apply to the church in Deer Park, TX in the 21st century? Glad you asked. There seems to be a large gap between us and them. The Bible is not a systematic theology book (although systematic theology is valuable). The Bible contains pieces of literature, like Colossians that were written to be read aloud to the corporate Body of Christ. The first century heard the Voice of the Spirit in its words as they read it together. The other day, Bradley and I sat in my study in the front room of my house and read Colossians aloud together. God wants to speak to us as we read it together as well. So that is what we are going to do, read it together and listen for what He might be saying to us together. As we seek to hear what the Spirit said through Colossians to the first century hearers, I believe we can hear what He is saying to us. Everything is not going to directly apply to us, but we will hear through it what He is saying to us. There is probably not anyone here who is tempted to start worshipping angels, but perhaps we do need to be reminded that our completeness is in Him and not in what we can do. This can soothe our anxieties and free us from pride. We are complete in Him. If you are in Jesus, you have all you need!