Thanksgiving in Colossians

In the second Bible study in this series on the Letter to the Colossians, titled Identification, we studied Paul’s introduction of himself and Timothy and his greeting to the church at Colossae. This greeting of Paul’s identified him as an apostle, a sent out one, of Christ by the will of God. Paul identified himself as a Christian and one who goes out to proclaim the Gospel. By this, the church of Colossae could recognize he was one to whom they should listen. Paul had credentials. Next in the greeting, Paul called Timothy “our brother.” With these two words, he identified to the Colossian believers that Timothy, too, was a believer and one who traveled with and learned daily from Paul. He was one they should consider highly, too. The people of Asia Minor, which included Colossae, knew of Timothy as one of their own since he grew up in their part of the world. The Colossians identified with Timothy as a man of Asia Minor. Paul, being from Tarsus, of Asia Minor, identified as one of their own, too. Between Paul and Timothy, their backgrounds covered people from Asia Minor who had Greek and/or Jewish backgrounds, just as the Colossian church comprised people from Greek and Jewish backgrounds. With the words of Paul’s introduction and greeting, he led the people to identify with him and Timothy and prepared them to listen and heed what he wrote to them in this letter.

With verses three through eight, Paul prayed about the Colossian brethren. This prayer was a thanksgiving to God for the faith of the Colossian Christians, love toward their brethren, and hope for their final reward. Notice, this prayer speaks of a multidimensional Christianity-upward to God, outward to other believers, and forward to eternity - shown by three words, faith, love, and hope.

Thanksgiving

To God

“We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, always praying for you…” (Colossians 1:3 [NASB])

Paul, as Jesus’ sent out one, who identified with Christ and the Colossian Christians, offered a prayer of thanks to God. The word “thanks” comes from the same Greek work from which eucharist comes. The Greek word is eucharisteo. It means to give thanks acknowledging God’s grace works well for our eternal gain and His glory. For God’s grace, Paul thanked Him. Each time a Christian partakes of communion/eucharist/Lord’s Supper, he or she gives thanks for the grace God gave him or her through Jesus Christ. The Lord’s Supper is a time of remembrance of what Jesus did for believers and thanks for His grace He gave through it. Paul said the same thing in this opening of his prayer. He remembered with and for the Colossae Christians what Jesus did for them with His life, death, and resurrection, and he thanked God for the grace He gave them, which they accepted as His gift of love.

With the phrase “to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Paul began reminding them of who Jesus is. He alluded to the theme of this letter - Jesus, the Son of God, fully divine. Paul prayed to God, the Father of Jesus Christ, the Son who died and rose from death to give grace, mercy, and salvation. To this One, the One in whom Paul, Timothy, and the Colossian church had faith, he interacted. In this prayer, Paul pointed anew to the supreme deity of God. Because of God’s grace works in and for the Colossian saints, Paul thanked Him. He acknowledged grace and faith come only from God. Paul prayed in faith, praying in the way the Father desires, according to the Father’s heart, that the Colossian church would be persuaded completely and be full of faith in Him. He said he prayed always for the Colossian Christians. Paul prayed according to God’s will continually and in the way He moved him to pray for them. He was connected intimately with God and, through Him, intimately connected with the Colossian believers. He identified with God as His saved and sent out one. Paul identified with the Colossian Christians, too, as one who was a sinner saved by God’s grace through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

Faith and Love

“…since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love, which you have for all the saints…” (Col. 1:4 [NASB])

Paul had heard of the faith and love of the Christians in Colossae. He would have heard it from the man he discipled who was from their region, Epaphras. Because Paul spent lengthy periods of time in Asia Minor on his second and third missionary journeys, he could have learned about the believers in Colossae at those times or from the people who wrote to him. What Paul heard is for what Paul thanked God. He noted their faith, pistis, in Jesus Christ. Notice, this belief is not in one’s self to do things, such as good works, or be things. This belief is in Jesus, the One who saves people from their sins and makes them righteous. Pistis means belief and true faith in Jesus as a gift from God. This faith gift from God is what persuaded them of the truth of Jesus Christ. As they acted on this faith, it produced more faith, so they grew in their relationship with God and in their service to Him. As any believer applies what they know, hear, and receive from God, more faith grows in them. They mature and bear fruit.

This faith and its growth in a believer leads to agape love. Agape love can only come from being identified with Jesus Christ. People cannot manufacture it. This love that is true and devoted; it is pure. Nothing changes it. This love is not hot one day and cold another. Agape love is the pure love from Jesus Christ. Each characteristic of God - Father, Son, and Spirit - comes from this pure love. The agape love Paul said the Colossians showed was love “for all the saints.” These saints of which Paul wrote were other people whom Jesus made holy through the redemption He gives. The Colossian believers enacted their faith in Jesus with pure love for other believers in Jesus Christ. They showed the love of God to other Christians. This shows the Colossian believers’ identification with God. Their faith in Christ led to love of Christ pouring out from them towards the saints. They identified with Jesus and with other believers. These Colossian Christians grew in their faith and showed Christ’s love to others. They had a vertical relationship with God and a horizontal relationship with people that was Christlike, from agape love. For their faith acted upon as agape love lived out among other saints, Paul thanked God.

Hope

“…because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel…” (Col. 1:5 [NASB])

Paul began this next section talking of the third aspect of believers, hope. The first two were faith and love. Paul said in verse five, “...because of the hope…” Hope motivated the believers in Colossae. Hope without substance isn’t hope. Without substance, this describes just possibility. Hope that has a basis, a foundation, such as the Christian hope in Jesus that leads to an eternal reward, is something onto which they could be sure. The Colossian believers could trust and put their confidence in this reward, not because people told them about heaven, but because they believed unto faith in Jesus Christ and received salvation by His grace given because of His shed blood. That truth is the basis for Christian hope. Jesus never fails or lies. He is victorious over sin and death as the fully divine Son of God. The believers in Colossae held onto this hope laid up for them in heaven, which they gained when they heard and trusted in the truth, the Gospel. They lived out their faith with God’s agape love toward other believers because of the hope they had in Christ. The Colossian Christians’ faith, as God gave to them, was genuine as acknowledged by their actions of faith and because they looked toward the future of their completed salvation and acted in the present.

 

Word of Truth’s Sufficiency

“…which has come to you, just as in all the world, also, it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing even as it has been doing in you since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth…” (Col. 1:6 [NASB])

Paul is famous for his unending and complicated sentence structure. This phrase begins with the last words in verse five. It speaks of the Gospel. The word “Gospel” comes from the Greek word euaggelion, meaning the truth of the good news of the Messiah. Paul stated the Colossians faith, love, and hope came from the Gospel, the good news of the Messiah. This Gospel that came to them and which they heeded was the word of truth. Remember, God is the definition of truth, the source of truth. His character is truth. So, if something comes from Him, it is the absolute truth. Understanding this was important for the Colossian believers because they lived in a city and region bombarded by Greco-Roman gods, Babylonian gods, Greek philosophical thought, and Jewish legalism. This combination of influences with bits and pieces of ideas taken from Christianity led to the beginnings of Gnosticism. The truth from God of the good news, the Gospel, is absolute. Paul inferred no other philosophical thought or faith system is truth if it differs from God’s truth.

Paul continued explaining how they could know for sure this word of truth they received is the truth. He said a faith in the word of truth constantly bears fruit and increases. He said this word of truth is the same as what had been and was being presented in the entire world. The increase is the number of people from different tribes, nations, and tongues who believed in the truth of God. Know by its increase, its fruit. Just as it bore fruit in the Lycus River valley with actions of godly character and conduct, it was effective beyond there and bore fruit elsewhere, too. This fruit of the Gospel in believers’ lives didn’t just bud then die away, but word came of its growth and maturity. It increased and spread. So, too, did the faith of the Colossians grow richer and deeper. It matured in them. God’s truth didn’t need supplementation by other thoughts or religions. People need nothing else for the Gospel to save them when they believed in Jesus Christ. This word of truth, the Gospel, as the believers in Colossae listened to and understood it from Epaphras, is the grace of God. The Gospel preached to them, which they believed with the faith God gave them and the faith that grew and matured, is God’s truth and is sufficient for salvation from sins and receipt of eternal life with Him. Paul said no person needs to add anything to what they received from God’s sent ones to give them salvation and eternal life. Writing this in his thanksgiving to God foreshadowed what Paul's purpose was for this letter. Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient.

Faithful to Christ

“…just as you learned it from Epaphras, our bellowed fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf…” (Col. 1:7 [NASB])

Paul identified he knew from whom the believers in Colossae heard the Gospel. The verb Paul used is a prolonged verb. What they learned began at a point in time and they kept learning, so it became a part of their lifestyle, continuing to learn from experience as they walked with Christ each day. Paul acknowledged the believers in Colossae not only believed, but they kept on believing and grew in their faith. They matured and increased, as he said in verse six. They learned and kept on learning by living with Jesus every day. Paul mentioned Epaphras because he trusted what he taught and preached to them since he personally discipled him. He knew Epaphras taught the truth of God. Additionally, by mentioning Epaphras, Paul reminded the believers of Colossae to remember and hold on to the truth Epaphras told them. Don’t let anyone water it down with other philosophical thoughts or faith systems.

Paul called Epaphras a “beloved fellow bond-servant.” This phrasing meant Epaphras was one of them; they followed Christ together. Both Paul and Epaphras identified with Christ. He called him a bond-servant. A bond-servant is someone who voluntarily submits to another person. It doesn’t occur by force, authority, or monetary debt. Epaphras, like Paul and Timothy, accepted the truth of the word, the Gospel, and voluntarily submitted to Christ as His Lord and Savior. Wherever God told Him to go and to whoever God told him to speak, Epaphras would obey. God controlled his life because he gave it to Him. By this, Epaphras was a bond-servant of Christ. Besides being a beloved, fellow bond-servant, Paul said Epaphras was faithful. This word comes from the same root word as the word “faith” in verse four, pistos. Epaphras did not begrudgingly obey God. He did not say, “I’ll do anything, except not that, God.” He was a faithful servant. Epaphras, fully persuaded of the truth of the Gospel about Jesus Christ, lived a life of growing and maturing faith upon which he obeyed God. Inspired by Jesus, he carried out His plans for each person to hear the Gospel. Epaphras lived and breathed to tell the Gospel. He became a teacher of the Christian faith as a beloved and faithful bond-servant of Christ. Epaphras’ cause, his purpose for telling others about Jesus, was three-fold. He acted because of the call Christ had on his life. Epaphras identified with Christ. He, too, acted with other men and women to make sure each person heard the Gospel. Epaphras identified with other sent out ones. Finally, he acted out of agape love for other people. He did not want any person to die without knowing the grace, salvation, and eternal life that faith in Jesus gives. He identified with unsaved people because he had been an unbeliever. Because of Epaphras’ faithfulness to Christ, the Colossian Christians could trust completely in the truth Epaphras taught them. They didn’t need new teachers or to add other things to what Epaphras taught them. Epaphras’ faithfulness to God and to the people of Colossae shows pure love, agape love. Epaphras’ and Paul’s faith, hope, and love, resulted in proclaiming the word of truth and being faithful to Christ.

By the Spirit

“…and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.” (Col. 1:8 [NASB])

In verse three, Paul said he and Timothy had heard of the faith in Christ of the Colossian believers. He did not state from whom he gained that information. In verse eight, Paul wrote that Epaphras told them of Colossians’ faith. A young pastor reported to his mentor/discipler what was happening in the church he planted in Colossae. He wanted Paul to know what was happening in the Lycus River valley. Epaphras excitedly told what was happening in Colossae and the growth he saw in the believers. The first sign of belief in Jesus in a Christian’s life is the love that flows in and through him or her, outward to people and upward to God. Epaphras told Paul of their love. He didn’t tell them of philia love, deep friendship, but of agape love, a love for everyone that has its source in God. The Colossian believers, according to Epaphras, identified with Christ and identified with other believers. He said they did it in the Spirit. Identification with Christ and other believers is not recognizing them, but more than that. Identification is recognizing and loving them without considering their worth. Just as God loves each person. The Colossian Christians’ identification with Jesus and other believers came from love. The Colossian Christians did not love from their own capacity, but with the capacity and unselfish love of God. Epaphras told Paul of the Colossian believers’ maturing faith, Paul wrote.

Thoughts to Consider

Have you understood everything Paul said in this six-verse passage of Scripture? Paul was very precise in what he said. He packed much into his sentences with many dependent clauses. Paul, like any good teachers and mentors, began this letter and his thanksgiving to God for the Colossae church with the good news of the growth of these children of God in love, faith, and hope, the three aspects, or as R.E. O. White says, “the dimensions,” of Christian experience. He thanked God for the people of Colossae who had become Christians because of their faith, which manifested itself through the love and hope that comes from God. Paul recognized these co-heirs in Christ identified with God and with other believers. Paul briefly reminded these believers that Jesus is fully divine, and His sacrifice is sufficient for salvation. They did not need to add another philosophical thought or faith system to Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection to receive salvation and an eternal inheritance in heaven. Paul encouraged the Colossian believers further by telling them what they had heard from Epaphras came from a fellow beloved bond-servant of Christ, just as he himself is an apostle of Jesus Christ by God’s will.

Consider these questions as you process today’s Bible study.

• Has your faith in Jesus shown in love for other believers?
• Have you lived out your faith by telling someone the word of truth?
• Do you look with expectation to receive the hope God laid up for you in heaven?
• Does your faith keep you strong and steadfast in your faith in Christ?
• Have you mixed anything else into your belief in Christ because it seemed like the right thing to do, things like ancestor worship, idol worship, sacrificing animals when you sin?
• When people look at you, do they see a faith in Christ that bears fruit and mature constantly by your heart, words, and actions?
• Are you continuing to learn and grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus?
•  If you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, what keeps you from believing in Him as your Savior?

Paul wrote to the Colossian Christians to do more than boost their morale with his thanksgiving to God. He foreshadowed of the theme for this letter in his prayer we studied today. Jesus is fully divine, and His sacrifice is sufficient for the salvation of every person who repents and believes in Him as the Son of God. As always, Paul’s love for other people caused him to teach and correct them so Satan’s deceptions would not lead them astray.

Paul would later pray for these believers to have the knowledge of God’s will with spiritual wisdom and understanding, to live a life worthy of God, bearing fruit, increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with God’s might and power, ensuring and being patient with joy, and giving thanks to God, the One who qualified them to share in the inheritance of the saints. (Colossians 1:9-12)

For us today, we must ask ourselves if we are persuaded fully of the truth of the Gospel about Jesus Christ. Does it impel us to live a life of growing and maturing faith shown by obeying God? We should ask ourselves if we live a life worthy of God. Paul, Epaphras, and Timothy did. Where do you stand with Jesus now?

For next week, re-read Colossians 1:9-12.

If you want to talk about this Bible study or want to know about Jesus so you can receive the salvation from sins He offers, contact me through the contact form on my website. I will write back to you.

“[I] am giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.” (Colossians 1:12 [NASB])

Thoughts from Another Home ©: Identification

Thoughts from Another Home ©: Identification: The people of Colossae lived in a mixed bag of cultures, philosophical thoughts, and religions. They lived in an area called Asia Min...

Identification

The people of Colossae lived in a mixed bag of cultures, philosophical thoughts, and religions. They lived in an area called Asia Minor, specifically the Lycus River valley, where a major crossroad traversed from east to west. The Babylonians, Romans, Jews, and Greeks influenced the lives of the people. To these people in the 1^st century AD, Paul wrote while imprisoned. About the Christians in Colossians, he heard good things and things about which he needed to teach and correct.

As Paul almost always did in his letters, he gives a foreshadowing of his teaching in the opening statements. He opens with by introducing himself (vs 1), giving a greeting (vs 2), then praying over the Colossian brethren (vs 3-8). That prayer of thanksgiving leads directly into the principal topic and teaching of this letter.

The Greeting

Identification with the Sender

“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother…” (Colossians 1:1 [NASB])

Paul introduced himself to the believers in Colossae. Though he had spent extended time in Asia Minor on his 2^nd and 3^rd missionary journeys, he had never been to Colossae. It was during one of those journeys, probably the 3^rd journey, that Paul discipled Epaphras, the founder and pastor of the Colossian church. What is important about Paul’s introduction of himself to the Colossians are the credentials he gave? He told them first he is an apostle of Jesus Christ. An apostle of Christ is an ambassador of the Gospel commissioned by Jesus Christ to go preach. Paul was sent out by Christ. The authority for his apostleship came from Christ. Remember his Damascus road experience in Acts 9. Christ called and sent out Paul as an ambassador of the Gospel. As an apostle of Christ, Paul was identified with Christ.

The next part of verse one says he was an apostle of Christ by the will of God. Paul had not decided on his own to be an ambassador, an apostle. God willed it. He chose Saul even while he persecuted the people of the Way, the Jesus-followers. God had a purpose to use Saul, later known as Paul, to reach the Gentile world. When Saul met Jesus on the Damascus road, he became a completely changed man with a new agenda. His life turned around 180 degrees from persecuting Christians to proclaiming the Gospel, from taking the lives of believers to leading them to the Source of Life, and from enforcing every jot and tittle of the Law to reinforcing believers by teaching the Gospel as given to Him by God. Paul repented, he turned 180 degrees from facing away from Jesus to facing and following Him.

Paul never went alone to where Jesus led him to proclaim the “mystery of God.” Another believer traveled with him, whether that person was a believer before Paul met him or her or that believer became a Christian because of Paul’s proclamation. Paul dedicated his life to learning and mentoring other believers. On a journey in which men arrested him, Paul identified with the person who resided with him. On this journey, Timothy was with him. Paul called Timothy “our brother by God’s will.” The people of Asia Minor either knew Timothy or knew of him. Timothy’s family raised him in Lystra about 360 miles east of Colossae. His grandmother and mother, who were Jewish and later became Christians (2 Timothy 1:5), and his Greek father raised him with the knowledge of Jewish Scriptures. Paul took Timothy with him on his journeys and mentored him. Timothy was a companion, mentee, and co-worker of Paul.

Why was it important for Paul to tell the Colossian believers about himself and Timothy? Paul wanted these believers to understand that he identified with Christ. Christ appointed him as His ambassador. Paul wanted the Colossian believers to realize who Timothy was, too. Timothy identified with Christ, as one saved by Him and called to service for Him. 

Identification with the Recipients

“To the saints and faithful brethren who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.” (Colossians 1:2 [NASB])

Paul wanted the believers in Colossae to realize he and Timothy identified with them, as well as with Christ. How do we know Paul wanted the believers in Colossae to identify with him and Timothy?  He wrote to the “saints and faithful brethren in Christ.” Paul made known to whom he was writing. He wrote to the saints. Saints are people set apart by God, those whom He made holy by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus’ death. Paul and Timothy were saints, too, as he explained in verse one. Paul added the Colossian Christians were faithful brethren in Christ. “Faithful” comes from the Greek word pistos meaning one who is persuaded and who has the fullness of faith about Jesus. Paul wrote to the ones who received faith from God and believed it to the full, without doubt. He called them brethren, too. A person of the brethren is a person who is a member of the same religious community of others who believe similarly, in this case people who believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. With these titles for the believers at Colossae, Paul said they identified with Christ as saints set apart by God’s redeeming grace. The Colossian believers identified as faithful because the faith they received they had in full and lived based on it. They identified as brethren who were actively part of the community of Christ in Colossae. The Colossian Christians, Paul, and Timothy identified with each other as followers of Christ. Saints identify upwards with God, and brethren identify horizontally with other Christians.

Paul added a blessing to his salutation. He said, “Grace to you and peace from God.” This blessing from Paul meant “May God’s undeserved favor be on you.” This quietness and rest of heart, soul, mind, and body is the peace that comes knowing, fully trusting, God will take care of you. This trust requires full faith as saints. It requires being identified with Christ through His life, death, and resurrection.

The Colossae church comprised Jews and Gentiles. Paul was a Jew from Tarsus in Asia Minor called by Christ to preach to the Gentiles and Jews. Timothy was a man raised as a Jew by his family and was a Greek because of his father. Yet, more than these, Paul and Timothy were Christians. They identified with Christ and with the Colossian Christians. The Colossian believers could identify with Paul and Timothy as saints and faithful brethren in Christ and as Jews and Greeks of Asia Minor.  Their identification was heavenly and earthly. Paul and Timothy’s identification with Christ and the people of Colossae gave them the right and privilege to preach, teach, and correct the heresies flowing around the Colossian believers. The Colossian believers would trust what Paul taught them as from God and out of love for God and them.

Thoughts to Consider

Paul gave the Colossian Christians his credentials. He showed them how he was like them in several ways, as a saint and part of the brethren. Paul included Timothy as part of his greeting to tell of his credentials, that he, too, is a Christian called by God and from Asia Minor. His blessing of this church in Colossae reminded them of who God is and for them. It served as a springboard for Paul’s purpose in writing this letter.

• Does God still call people to teach and correct the beliefs of others, especially Christians who have become lost in the whirlpool of cultures, philosophical thoughts, and faiths?
• Would people consider your credentials as highly as Paul’s, as saint and brother, because of your faith, and your actions and words that came from your faith?
• Are you like the Colossian Christians who heard the Gospel, but allowed other cultures, philosophies, and faiths to enter your reasoning and potentially water-down your faith?
• How do you think the Colossian believers will react to what Paul will teach them in this letter?
• How would you react since you have read this letter from Paul?
• Why do you think Paul put a heavy emphasis on brethren, faithful, saints, apostle, and brother?

Paul knew why God had him write to a people to whom he never physically preached or taught. His relationship with God prepared him to be His instrument even from prison to teach, correct, and proclaim the Gospel of Christ. With Colossians 1:3-8, we will learn of the Christian triad of faith, love, and hope. Were the Colossian Christians in danger of losing one side of this triad because of other cultures, philosophies, and faith systems? Paul prepared them for his correction of their confusion. What must we do so as not to be confused and or water-down the faith that we originally received and believed?

For next week, re-read Colossian 1:1-8. Be prepared to answer these questions again after re-reading those verses.

“May you give thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.” (Colossians 1:9, 12 [NASB])

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Thoughts from Another Home ©: Background of Paul's Letter to the Church at Colos...

Thoughts from Another Home ©: Background of Paul's Letter to the Church at Colos...: "We give thanks for God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you…"           (Colossians 1:3 [NASB])

Colossians - beloved and besieged by multicultural thoughts, philosophies, and faiths.

Understand what was happening in Colossae and realize why Paul wrote to them. Then, learn how it is relevant in your life.

Join me on this first study of a new Bible study series on the letter to the Colossians.

Background of Paul's Letter to the Church at Colossae

"We give thanks for God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you…"           (Colossians 1:3 [NASB])

When considering any biblical letter written to a group of people, we must understand their history, geography, economy, the church to whom it’s written, the issues being addressed, and the person writing the letter. Before we dive into studying Colossians, we must understand who they are, why they think and act the way they do, and what was occurring in the church at that time. Paul expands for the readers of the Letter to the Colossians what issues the Colossae church experienced. He wrote about Christology to the Colossian Christians, specifically, the deity of Christ and fullness of life in Him. This Bible study will teach about the location and history of Colossae, the church at Colossae, how Paul’s relationship to it, and the date and purpose of this letter.

The Location and History of Colossae

Colossae was a thriving multicultural city in the southwest quadrant of Asia Minor on the Lycus River in what is now Turkey. It was about 9 miles from Laodicea and 6 miles from Hierapolis. Colossae was on a historic commercial and military route that allowed their economy to flourish.

The Babylonians ruled Colossae between the 6^th and 4^th centuries BC. Because of the trade route that went through Colossae, people from other nations influenced the city and region, Romans, Babylonians, Hebrews, Greeks, and the Phrygians. The Roman empire ascended in power and took Asia Minor from the Babylonians in the 2^nd century BC. Antiochus, the Hellenistic king of the Seleucid empire, transported 2000 Jewish families from old Babylonia to the Colossae region during the 2^nd century BC.

During Roman rule, Colossae and Laodicea developed a significant wool production and weaving trade. Additionally, the Romans built a road called Via Egnatia, which bypassed Colossae. Because of Via Egnatia, the Colossae trade dropped significantly, and Laodicea and Hierapolis became bigger economic concerns. An earthquake destroyed Colossae in the early 60s AD, turning it into a village that never regained its economic stature in the region. Between the Roman road and the earthquake, Colossae became a village as people immigrated to Laodicea and Hierapolis until it was abandoned in the 8^th century AD.

The Church at Colossae

Colossae had people of various backgrounds living in and traveling through it. These people brought assorted philosophies, faith systems, cultural backgrounds, and traditions. The people of Colossae experienced cultures, thoughts, and faiths like any major metropolitan city in the 21^st century. This often meant mixing them to make a new faith system. This mixing is called syncretizing.

The Greco-Roman world influenced the people of Asia Minor, as did the Jews and Persians. Greek philosophers rejected the idea of gods. Greeks, Romans, Persians, and pagans brought ideas of a pantheon of gods with their required appeasement and the unattainable hope of salvation. The Jews brought a monotheistic idea of faith and an extreme form of monastic Judaism. Monastic Judaism, called Essenism, contained a tiny minority of Jews. How each effecting culture worshipped a god or gods or intellectualized life without gods affected the residents of Asia Minor.

The people of Colossae lived with a cosmic mindset in that many cultures influenced their thought, faith, and daily lives. Paul, when writing to the church at Colossae, set forth Christ in a cosmic context. He taught that Christ is not way above us and unreachable. He explained the body and material things are not evil and the spiritual and intellectual are not the only good like the earliest form of Gnosticism. As Paul believed and taught, informed by the teaching and wisdom of the Holy Spirit of Jesus, Jesus created the universe (all matter), so that makes it good, just as God said in Genesis. The universe depends on Jesus, so He is near. All things were created for Him, for Jesus’ pleasure, purpose, and glory. All wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. Paul explained without Christ all things pass away, but that Christ came to earth to restore it. These mean Jesus is not subordinate to the world. Nothing more is needed to restore people and the universe to Him than what he has done and is doing.

• Neither negating the body nor believing in levels of spiritual beings (Gnostic thought).
• Neither angelology (mystic Judaism) nor other gods (polytheism).
• Neither the worship of stars, sun, and moon (paganism), or promoting intellect and reason (Gnostic thought and Greek philosophy) over faith.

Jewish ideas of faith sometimes mixed with pagan ideas in Colossae. This nontraditional Jewish thought and faith included angel worship, entrance into the heavens, and heightened spiritual experiences. The Jewish thoughts on faith stressed the sabbaths, circumcision, the law, prohibition of certain foods, and keeping religious festival and new moon holy days. The pagan influence came from a idea that relies on ways of reasoning based on human traditions, such as believing in angels. They had a fear of heavenly beings. Pagan ideas of worshipping created elements such as sun, moon, and stars occurred. These ideas included animistic elements of worship. Paul taught Christ has superiority over “thrones, demons, and authorities” (1:16) to combat these false teachings in Colossae.

Gnosticism was in its very earliest form in the 1^st century AD.  It was a philosophical dualism that considered the body and anything material as evil while all thought, knowledge (gnosis), and spiritual things were good. Salvation for these Gnostics came by knowledge where they considered the enlightened few as “advanced” Christians. Only an elite few had the secret “advanced” knowledge of God and salvation. Gnosticism was a mix of intellectual thought and spiritual elements. Only these few would be saved, and they despised all other people. Gnostics liked to use the words “secret”, “mystery”, “fullness”, and “knowledge”. They denied the full incarnation of the deity in Jesus. Because they deny the full deity in the incarnated Jesus, Gnosticism supposed Christ’s sacrifice was insufficient. Paul taught the deity fully dwelled in Jesus’ incarnate body and His sacrifice reconciled all things to Him. (1:19-20)

Paul explained to the Colossians an “advanced” (elitist) Christianity, as proposed by the earliest thought system of Gnosticism, is false and unnecessary. He said the syncretizing of intellectual thought with Christ’s sacrifice as an “advanced” Christianity is false. Paul wrote to deal with a reported problem with false teachers who taught a mixture of Christianity influenced by Greek philosophy (an early Gnosticism), Jewish legalism, paganism, and Greco-Roman worship of gods. This was the Colossian heresy. Paul wrote to the Colossians to teach them how to settle and correct these problems and influences on the people in the church and in their community. In brief, the Colossian heresy was a mixture of Jewish mysticism, a very early form of Gnosticism, Greek philosophy (which helped form the ideas of the Gnostics), pantheism, and paganism. Paul challenged these false worldviews that some Colossian believers proclaimed.

Paul’s Connection to the Colossae Church

Though Paul never visited Colossae on his missionary journeys, his connection to them was strong. During two missionary journeys, he spent extended time in Ephesus and the surrounding area so that “all Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” (Acts 19:10 [NIV]) Archippus, Epaphras, and Philemon heard the Gospel during Paul’s time in Asia on his third journey. Epaphras was probably the founding pastor of the churches in Colossae, Laodicea, and Hierapolis (1:7). Epaphras, short for Epaphroditus, was Greek and so the church most likely was Gentile with possibly Jewish believers, too. Though Paul had probably not visited Colossae, he had close connections to them through these men who came to believe in Jesus during his earlier visits to Asia. Because of his great love for the Christ, his desire to share the Gospel and train people as disciples, and because of his close ties with Epaphras, Archippus, and Philemon, Paul cared deeply for the Christians of Colossae. 

The Date and Purpose of the Letter

Bible scholars posit a couple possibilities for the date Paul wrote this letter because he dealt with imprisonment a few times during his ministry. In the letter to the Colossians, he told the Colossians he wrote while imprisoned (4:10). Did Paul write this letter during his confinement in Rome, Ephesus, or Caesarea? Local judicial leaders imprisoned him in each of these cities. If he wrote the letter to the Colossians while imprisoned in Caesarea or Ephesus, the letter would date to the mid-50s AD. If Paul wrote it during his Roman imprisonment, then it would date in 59 or 62-63 AD.  Good reasons for each dating exist, but none of them are definitive enough to end the query. Most commentators opt for the 62-63 AD dating. That means the order of Paul’s writings puts the letter to the Colossians between his letters to the Romans and the Ephesians.

Paul’s purpose for writing to the Colossian church consisted mostly of addressing the Colossian heresy as noted above in “The Church at Colossae”. In writing about this heresy, he strove to confirm what Epaphras taught them about Jesus, who He is, His nature, and His works, including His time before and after living on earth. Paul reaffirmed the deity of Christ and fullness of life in Him, as he said in Colossians 2:6-7. “Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.” [NASB]

Thoughts to Consider

The time of Paul’s writing of Colossians is from over 2000 years ago. Is it relevant for today? Consider the thoughts on life, faith, death, beings with supposed power, and the afterlife that people proclaim as their ideology. Use these questions to guide your thinking.

• Do any of the things you hear or believe align with what Paul wrote about to the Colossians?
• What belief do you have that falls into categorizing material as bad and spiritual as good?
• Do you think there are levels of spiritual beings before the ultimate level of God’s kingdom?
• Have you heard of people praying to their ancestors or some lower god to plead for them before a supreme god?
• Do people you talk to consider faith irrational and shut it out of their minds and lives?
• Based on your answers to the above five questions, how would you approach the person with a biblical response?

Each of these questions address the elements Paul wrote about in his letter to the Colossians. We will study in detail what Paul said regarding them and then will consider how it can direct us as we sift through our own ideas, thoughts, and faith. To prepare for our next Bible study, read through all four chapters of Colossians, then re-read Colossians 1:1-8.

"…may you be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord…" (1:9b-10a [NASB])