PREFACE
I have just finished my exposition of Paul's letter to the Philippians, and am now beginning an exposition on Paul's letter to the Colossian believers. I am using my same format I have used in all my expositions of writing the verse out in the Authorized Version, and then a literal translation from the United Bible Society Greek New Testament, LGT - Literal Greek Translation. I have taken every precaution to follow the context, by checking with Greek scholars at my disposal, by checking out the literal meaning of the wording, as well as the historical background, in order to try and communicate as close as I can, to what Paul intended to say to the assembly at Colosse. I also want to communicate what the assembly understood by the letter, and therefore what we can receive from this letter as well. God continue to bless us as we study this wonderful letter.
INTRODUCTION
I. WHERE AND WHEN THE EPISTLE WAS WRITTEN
Colossians is one of the epistles Paul wrote when he was imprisoned in Rome. The others were Ephesians, Philippians and Philemon. Paul wrote this epistle about A.D. 62. This little assembly met in the home of Philemon.
II. THESE FOUR ARE COMPANION EPISTLES
"Four messengers left Rome unobserved, but they each was carrying a very valuable document. Tychicus was carrying the epistle to the Ephesians over to Ephesus where he was the pastor or the leader [I prefer leader] of that church. Epaphroditus was carrying the Epistle to the Philippians, as he was the pastor or leader in Philippi. Epaphras was carrying the Epistle to the Colossians; apparently he was the leader of the church in Colosse. Onesimus was carrying the Epistle to Philemon. Philemon was his master, and Onesimus, who had run away, was returning to him.
These four are companion epistles and together have been called the anatomy [or framework] of the church. We can see that the subjects of these epistles cover all aspects of the Christian faith:
Ephesians is about the body of believers called the church, of which Christ is the head.
Colossians directs our attention to the head of the body who is Christ. The body itself is secondary. Christ is the theme. He is the center of the circle around which all Christian living revolves. Colossians emphasizes the plaroma; Christ is the fullness of God.
Philippians shows the church walking here on earth. Christian living is the theme; it is the periphery [outside edge] of the circle of which Christ is the center, Philippians emphasizes the kenosis, Christ becoming a servant.
Philemon gives us Christianity in action. We would say it is where the rubber meets the road, or in that day it was where the sandals touched the Roman road. It demonstrates Christianity worked out in a pagan society" (McGee).
III. PURPOSE OF THE EPISTLE
"Epaphras did not come in vain, for Paul was tremendously stirred by the peril to Christianity from the Gnostics (hoi gnostikoi, the knowing ones). He had won his fight for freedom in Christ against the Judaizers who tried to fasten Jewish sacramentarianism upon spiritual Christianity. Now there is an equal danger of the dissipation of vital Christianity in philosophic speculation. In particular, the peril was keen concerning the Person of Christ when the Gnostics embraced Christianity and applied their theory of the universe to Him. They split into factions on the subject of Christ. The Docetic (from dokeo, to seem) Gnostics held that Jesus did not have a real human body, but only a phantom body. He was, in fact, an aeon [spirit only] and had no real humanity. The Cerinthian (followers of Cerinthus) Gnostics admitted the humanity of the man Jesus, but claimed that the Christ was an aeon that came on Jesus at His baptism in the form of a dove and left Him on the Cross so that only the man Jesus died. At once this heresy sharpened the issue concerning the Person of Christ already set forth in Phil. 2:5-11. Paul met the issue squarely and powerfully portrayed his full-length portrait of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Son of Man (both deity and humanity) in opposition to both types of Gnostics. So then Colossians seems written expressly for our own day when so many are trying to rob Jesus Christ of His deity. The Gnostics took varying views of moral issues also as men do now. There were ascetics with rigorous rules and licentious element that let down all the bars for the flesh while the spirit communed with God. One cannot understand Colossians without some knowledge of Gnosticism" (A.T. Robertson).
Another false cult that harassed the church was the Essenes. "Asia Minor was a great cultural center, but it was also a center for heathenism, paganism, and the mystery religions. There was already abroad that which is known as Gnosticism, the first heresy of the church. There were many forms of Gnosticism, and in Colosse there were the Essenes. There are three points of identification for this group:
They had an exclusive spirit. They were the aristocrats in wisdom. They felt that they were the people - they had knowledge in a jug and held the stopper in their hands. They felt they had the monopoly of it all. As a result, they considered themselves super-duper in knowledge and thought they knew more than any of the apostles. Paul will issue them a warning in the first chapter: 'Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus' (Col. 1:28). Perfection is not found in any heresy, but in Christ Jesus. All wisdom is found in Him.
They held speculative tenets on creation. They taught that God did not create the universe directly, but created a creature who in turn created another creature, until one finally created the physical universe. Christ was considered in this long series of creations. This was known in pantheistic Greek philosophy as the demiurge. Paul refutes this in Colossians 1:15-19 and 2:18.
Another identifying mark of this group was their ethical practice of asceticism and unrestrained licentiousness. They got the asceticism from the influence of Greek Stoicism and the unrestrained licentiousness from the influence of Greek Epicureanism. Paul refutes this in Colossians 2:16, 23 and 3:5-9.
IV. COLOSSE
"The form of the name appears to have been both Kolossai and Kolassai, the former being probably the earlier.
The city was in Phrygia, in the valley of the Lycus, about ten or twelve miles beyond Laodicaea and Heirapolis. The region is volcanic, and the earthquakes common to large portions of Asia Minor are here peculiarly severe. The tributaries of the Lycus carried calcareous matter, which formed everywhere, deposits of travertine, said to be among the most remarkable formations of this character in the world. 'Ancient monuments are buried, fertile lands overlaid, river-beds choked up, and streams diverted, fantastic grottos and cascades and arches of stone formed by this strange power, at once destructive and creative, working silently and relentlessly through long ages. Fatal to vegetation, these incrustations spread like a stony shroud over the ground. Gleaming like glaciers on the hillside, they attract the eye of the traveler at a distance of twenty miles, and form a singularly striking feature in scenery of more than common beauty and impressiveness' (Lightfoot).
"The fertility of the region was nevertheless great. The fine sheep, and the chemical qualities of the streams which made the waters valuable for dyeing purposes, fostered a lively trade in dyed woolen goods. All the three cities were renowned for the brilliancy of their dyes.
"Colosse stood at the junction of the Lycus with two other streams, on a highway between eastern and western Asia, and commanding the approaches to a pass in the Cadmus mountains. Both Herodotus and Xenophon speak of it as a prosperous and great city; but in Paul's time its glory had waned. Its site was at last completely lost, and was not identified until the present century. Its ruins are insignificant. Paul never visited either of the three cities. The church at Colosse was the least important of any to which Paul's epistles were addressed" (Marvin Vincent).
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