"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 6th
and 4th 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 2nd century BC.
Antiochus, the Hellenistic king of the Seleucid empire, transported 2000 Jewish
families from old Babylonia to the Colossae region during the 2nd
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 8th
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 21st
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 1st
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])
