Travelers from the west coast of Asia Minor would walk up the Maeander River Valley on their journeys east. If they continued passed Laodicea, along the Lycos River, they would reach the Phrygian city of Colossae in a mountain valley about 125 miles from the coast along a major trade route to Persia.
In the first century AD, Colossae was the chief city of the Lycos Valley, famous for its purple-dyed wool. Paul passed near this region on his missionary trips, but we are never told whether he visited the Lycos Valley or Colossae in particular. Nevertheless, the Early Church has left us his Letter to the Colossians, which shares many characteristics with his Letter to the Ephesians.
This blog post is adapted from Lutheran Bible Companion Volume 2: Intertestamental Era, New Testament, and Bible Dictionary.
Historical and Cultural Setting of Colossians
Epaphras, among those who visited Paul during his Roman imprisonment, came from Colossae. He brought Paul news of the Gentile church that had been founded there, probably by Epaphras himself (Col 1:5–8), working under the direction of Paul or at least with Paul’s full approval (1:7). Epaphras had good news to bring. He could speak warmly of the Colossians’ faith and of their love; the Gospel had grown and borne fruit in Colossae as everywhere (1:6). But what had brought Epaphras to Rome was his anxiety for the Church at Colossae, not his pride in it. The Christians of Colossae and of neighboring Laodicea were still holding to the Gospel that they had received, but that pure loyalty was being threatened and undermined.
Purpose and Recipients of Colossians
The Church at Colossae was threatened by a new teaching that was in many ways strikingly similar to the Gospel that Epaphras had preached there. Both the new teaching and the Gospel originally preached in Colossae proclaimed a non-national, universal religion. Both recognized the great gulf that exists between God and natural man. And both proffered a redemption that would bridge that gulf. But the new teaching was in the last analysis an utter distortion of the Gospel that Epaphras had proclaimed. Epaphras sensed the difference, but could not, perhaps, analyze and define it well enough to be able to oppose it vigorously and effectively. He therefore appealed to Paul, wise in the ways of Greek and Jew alike, keen in insight, and ready to do battle for the truth. Would Paul help him?
It is difficult to get a clear and consistent picture of the heresy that threatened Colossae, for Paul in his Letter to the Colossians does not so much oppose it argumentatively as overwhelm it by confronting it with the whole riches of the true Gospel of Christ. It seems to have been a religion of self-redemption of the “Gnostic” type. Built upon a Jewish or Jewish-Christian basis, it was a fusion of Greek and Asian ideas and combined at least three elements. One of these elements was theosophic, that is, the new teaching claimed to have and to impart a secret, profound knowledge derived from God; Paul speaks contemptuously of a “tradition” and a “philosophy” (Col 2:8). Another element was ritualistic: stress was laid on circumcision (2:11); questions of food and drink, festivals, new moons, and Sabbaths were deemed important (2:16). A third element was ascetic: Paul speaks of prescriptions of abstinence (“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch,” 2:21) and of a “self-made religion,” of “asceticism,” and of “severity to the body” (2:23). We are left to conjecture how these elements were combined into a system.
Paul’s references to the “worship of angels” (2:18) and to “elemental spirits of the world” (2:8, 20) indicate what was the heart of the danger present in this teaching. Other powers besides the Christ were being proclaimed and invoked as mediators between God and man; the ritual and ascetic aspects of this religion probably represent means of placating or of obtaining contact and communion with these powers. What Epaphras, with a sound Christian instinct, surely sensed and what Paul clearly saw was this: the new teaching called into question and obscured the unique greatness of the Christ and the complete sufficiency of His atonement. What made this heresy all the more dangerous was the fact that it claimed not to supplant, but to supplement, the Gospel that the Colossians had received. The new teaching would, so the new teachers claimed, carry the Colossian Christians beyond their rudimentary Christianity to fullness and perfection; hence Paul’s repeated emphasis on the fact that the Colossians are complete and full in the Gospel that they have received, that in the Christ whom they know they can find all the treasures of divine wisdom (2:2–3, 9–10; cf 1:28).
Summary of the Contents in Colossians
Colossians 1:1–23 Faithful Epaphras established a tiny foothold for the kingdom of God at Colossae and nearby cities. Now this young church is threatened by false belief, which directs people away from Christ and His work to themselves. But God does not give up. He uses Paul, Timothy, and other faithful servants to establish the truth and love of Christ in their hearts.
Paul cares very much for these new Christians, and he knows that God cares for them even more. Unfortunately, false teachings that lead people to look to themselves instead of looking to God compete for the Colossians’ attention. Paul says we have assurance that Christ’s work reconciles us to God because of who Christ is: the image of the invisible God, the Creator, the one who is preeminent over all things.
Colossians 1:24–2:23 All people suffer because of the fallen nature of the world. But Christians are called to a special form of suffering for the sake of Christ: rejection, ridicule, and persecution. False teaching has infiltrated the Colossian Church, and it is not the teaching of Jesus Christ. Seeking guidance and security from creation rather than from the Creator will end in disaster. The Christian faith can not be replaced by man-made religion.
Colossians 3–4 What is the good life? Prosperity, popularity, pleasure? No, it is the life we receive from Jesus, including gifts that we cannot make or purchase: forgiveness, love, peace, and thankfulness. People have to work together, but the heart of the old nature is to seek personal advantage, which causes frustration, resentment, and violence. Paul urges us to resist this temptation. He presents to the Colossians and to us a beautiful explanation of Christ’s person and work.
Martin Luther on Colossians
“Just as the Epistle to the Galatians resembles and is modeled on the Epistle to the Romans, comprising in outline the same material that is more fully and richly developed in Romans; so this epistle resembles that to the Ephesians and comprises also in outline the same contents.
“First [Paul] praises and wishes for the Colossians, that they continue and increase in faith. He delineates what the gospel and faith are, namely, a wisdom which recognizes Christ as Lord and God, crucified for us, which has been hidden for ages but now brought into the open through his ministry. This is the first chapter.
“In chapter 2 he warns them against the doctrines of men, which are always contrary to faith. He depicts these doctrines more clearly than they are depicted anywhere else in Scripture, and criticizes them in a masterly way.
“In chapter 3 he exhorts them to be fruitful in the pure faith, doing all sorts of good works for one another, and he describes for some various stations in life the works which are appropriate to them.
“In chapter 4 he commends himself to their prayers and gives them greetings and encouragement.” (AE 35:386)
Scripture: ESV®.
Quotation in blog is from Luther’s Works: American Edition, vol. 35, p. 386 © 1960 by Augsburg Fortress. Used by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.
Blog post adapted from pp. 551–53, 555–56, 559 in Lutheran Bible Companion, Volume 2: Intertestamental Era, New Testament, and Bible Dictionary © 2014 Concordia Publishing House. All rights reserved.
Read more summary content covering every book of the Bible by clicking the button below.
