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!
Outline (Borrowed from N.T. Wright, Colossians and Philemon, Tyndale New Testament Commentary):
1. OPENING GREETING (1:1-2)
2. INTRODUCTION OF PAUL AND HIS THEME (1:3-2:5)
A. Thanksgiving (1:3-8)
B. Prayer and Meditation (1:9-23)
i. Paul’s prayer: the knowledge of God (1:9-12a)
ii. Reasons for thanksgiving (1:12b-23)
a. The new exodus (1:12b-14)
b. Creation and new creation in Christ (1:15-20)
c. New creation in Colossae (1:21-23)
C. Paul’s ministry and his reason for writing (1:24-29)
i. Paul’s ministry in Christ (1:24-29)
ii. Paul’s ministry to the Colossians (2:1-5)
3. THE APPEAL FOR CHRISTIAN MATURITY (2:6-4:6)
A. Introduction: continue in Christ (2:6-7)
B. Let no-one exclude you (2:8-23)
i. Already complete in Christ (2:8-15)
a. Christ and His rivals (2:8-10)
b. Already circumcised in Christ (2:11-12)
c. Already free from the laws demands (2:13-15)
ii. Therefore, do not submit to Jewish regulations (2:16-23)
a. These things were mere preparations for Christ’s new age (2:16-19)
b. With Christ you died to this world and its regulations (2:20-23)
C. Instead, live in accordance with the new age (3:1-4:6)
i. Live in Christ, the risen Lord (3:1-4)
ii. Knowledge and life renewed according to God’s image (3:5-11)
iii. Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus (3:12-17)
iv. New life—at home (3:18-4:1)
v. New life—in the world (4:2-6)
4. FINAL GREETINGS (4:7-18)
A. Introduction of messengers (4:7-9)
B. Greetings from Paul’s companions (4:10-14)
C. Greetings to Christians in the Colossae area (4:15-17)
D. Signature of the apostle (4:18)
1. OPENING GREETING
Colossians 1:1 (ESV)
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother…
Paul begins this letter in the normal way that everyone else in the first century Mediterranean world did. The Bible uses the means of communication of its day. If Paul were alive today, he would have been on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok.
The normal opening of a letter introduced the sender and the recipients of the letter. Paul is an apostle of Christ Jesus. He never claims to be one of the twelve. He came to faith later and with a different mission. God called him as an ambassador to declare that God was calling everyone into His kingdom, Jew and gentile alike with no respect of persons into God’s True Israel. It was God’s will that Paul does this. It wasn’t something that he chose to do on his own. It is great to desire things in God, but it is important to remember that God chooses whom He will for the purposes that He has designed. No one else could have done Paul’s job. No one else can do yours.
Paul includes Timothy who he simply calls “our brother.” The reason we call one another brother and sister is because we are family. We are baptized in Jesus’s Name and filled with His Spirit. The greatest thing you can be is a member of this family. Some wish they could be like one of the OT prophets. Jesus said that the person who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than the greatest of the OT prophets. You’re in the family! Timothy is included in a number of Paul’s letters alongside him as sender. He was elevating Timothy and transferring authority to him by doing this. Timothy was his continual work companion.
Colossians 1:2 (ESV)
2 To the saints and faithful brothers[a] in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
There is more than meets the eye in this verse. The recipients of Paul’s letter are called “saints and faithful brothers.” Saints is not a technical term for the most righteous people in the church or for the departed righteous. It means those who God has set apart for His special purpose. They are holy unto God. Paul sees them like Balaam saw Israel as he stood beside Balak’s altars attempting to curse them. Balaam makes a profound statement, “I have not beheld iniquity in Israel.” You and I know the flaws and foibles of Israel, but God called them holy, and that’s all Balaam could see! Paul also calls them faithful, same group. They are faithful because they keep showing up. You don’t get good to get God, you get God to get good. Amen!
The saints and faithful ones are “in Christ in Colossae.” This is a setup for everything else Paul has to say to them and what the Spirit is saying to us. They were in Christ by trust in the faithfulness of Jesus through baptism of water and Spirit. To be “in Christ” means that it is the realm in which they/we live out our lives. Everywhere we go, we are in Him. There is strength in understanding that! He gives us our identity. We belong to Him. They are simultaneously “in Christ” and “in Colossae.” God chose them to be where they were on location in that small local church, in that community. They were chosen and set apart for a purpose in Christ where they were. So are we. God has chosen us in Christ to represent Him here in Deer Park, TX or wherever you live in the Greater Channel area. This epistle was to be read by the surrounding churches as well.
Paul wishes two things for them, grace and peace. We live the Christian life by the empowering gift of God’s Spirit and the room He gives us to grow into what He wants us to be. Along with that is the peace that comes from knowing that we are complete in Him, that’s what peace is, completeness. We are definitely not complete in ourselves, no matter what we do or achieve, we continually fall short of God’s standard. And so, He extends grace and peace to us. This grace and peace come from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not enough to know God as Father. Both the Jews and the tribal peoples of Africa knew that there was one Creator God above all others, but we must know that one God as He has revealed Himself in the Man Christ Jesus. Paul is going to expound on this over and over again in Colossians. Jesus is the Fulness of the Godhead manifest in Bodily form. He is first in all things because He is God!
