Introduction to the Book of Colossians

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:30:37utc

COLOSSIANS

Paul wrote this letter in prison, probably under the same circumstances as when he wrote the epistle to the Philippians. All the discussions regarding the place of his imprisonment in the Philippian epistle are similar here.

One of the differences between this letter and the preceding one is that the apostle had not founded the church himself, and he did not know the people to whom he wrote personally. We gather from ch. 1:7 that Epaphras was the first person to preach the Gospel in Colosse and that he had informed Paul about the condition of the church. Evidently Epaphras was himself a Colossian. We read in ch. 4:12 "Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured." The Colossians were on Paul's prayer list, together with the church in Laodicea. Both cities were situated in the Lycus valley in Asia Minor. A third city in the vicinity was Hierapolis. In Paul's time, Colosse was probably the least important of those three places. The time of her glory was past.

Most commentators stress the fact that Paul wrote this epistle because he wanted to oppose false teachings in the church. There is no doubt that the letter contains warnings, but the general impression is that Paul gives in this letter a blueprint of intercession for the church. It sounds as though he prays for them aloud, so they can hear what he says and their lives can be changed by the grace of God. This method of admonishing through prayer is very effective. It can only be used by people who understand the value of prayer and who realize that transformation of a persons life and spiritual growth are the work of the Holy Spirit. Without intercession and the influence of the Spirit of God there will be no understanding that spiritual growth is of vital importance. Therefore, in our interpretation of this epistle, we will not emphasize false doctrines that are exposed and admonitions that are given, though they are clearly there, but our emphasis will be upon Paul's intercession for the spiritual growth of a church which he does not know personally.

If we outline the letter we can see that the stress in the first part is upon doctrine. Unger's Handbook of the Bible gives three divisions:

I. Doctrinal exposition 1:13 - 2:3

II. Doctrinal polymicisme 2:4 - 3:4

III. Doctrinal matters 3:5 - 4:6

One has to manipulate the verses quite a bit, however, to make them fit this mold.

The epistle tells us just as much about that church as about Paul's vision of church planting. Paul shows us that being rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of the Son God loves is the beginning of the hope which is stored up for us in heaven. The word "hope" occurs several times in this epistle. We may consider this to be the theme.