COLOSSIANS
So, Colossians . . . Like Ephesians Colossians has a more general tone than the specificity of letters like Romans or Philippians (leading most mainstream scholars to reject Pauline authorship of Colossians). Hence, the historical background and occasion of this letter is more uncertain than other Pauline letters. It seems, though, that the author sought to address two problems. On the one hand, this Gentile church was being tempted to fall back into a pagan lifestyle and attitudes. On the other hand, they were beginning to accept heretical teaching: obeying the Mosaic Law and having an overinflated view of angels.
The basic outline of the letter is as follows: opening greeting (1:1-2), thanksgiving and prayer (1:3-14), the greatness of Christ extolled (1:15-29), the unpacking of the mystery of Christ (2:1-23), ethical exhortations (3:1-4:1), concluding remarks (4:2-9), and final greetings (4:10-18). Let’s now look at the flow of Paul’s thought.
He begins by extolling the Colossians’ faith in Christ (1:3-8). Their faith prompts him to pray for them (Col 1:9-12). Essentially, Paul prays that they would become more like Christ. He describes Christ-likeness in terms of being “filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom” and “walking in a manner worthy of the Lord.” Knowing God’s will is never just an intellectual exercise—it’s always a matter of the will: of choosing to do God’s will. Too many Christians approaching the issue of knowing God’s will from an experimental perspective: ‘I’ll see what it is 1st, then I’ll see if I want to do it.’ That’s a completely wrong attitude to have. We need to be committed to doing God’s will upfront. In other words, we should be “all in” even before the “cards” of God’s will have been dealt to us. Doing God’s will is true, biblical wisdom; in other words, the bible says that if you do God’s will you are wise; if you don’t you’re a fool!
Paul’s prayer prompts him to extol the surpassing greatness of Christ (Col 1:15-20). Many scholars believe that this short section of text (i.e., vv. 15-20) constitute a popular, early Christian hymn, which Paul is quoting. This little ditty describes Jesus in some extremely lofty terms. Jesus is God: Paul calls him the “image” or icon (in the Greek) of God; i.e., to see Jesus is to see God b/c Jesus is the “icon” of the invisible God. Paul says that Jesus is the Creator and the goal of creation. He is the Sustainer—without him creation would all fall apart—and Jesus is the Redeemer, having reconciling the lost to God through the cross. It is to this ministry of reconciliation that Jesus called Paul to be an apostle (1:25-29).
In chap. 2 Paul warns the church about succumbing to any kind of false philosophy. It seems that the false teachers in Colossae emphasized—or overemphasized—the role of angels (something that’s still common today!), and they preached obedience to the Mosaic Law. Question: What do you think would be the attraction for Gentiles to follow a set of Jewish laws? Paul tells his readers that the way to resist their false teaching is by recognizing Christ’s supremacy (Col 2:2, 9-10; cf. 1:15-20), by holding fast to apostolic teaching (Col 2:6), and by recognizing false philosophy for what it really is (Col 2:8): it is human wisdom not divine wisdom, consisting only of human rules and regulations, and it stands in complete opposition to the work of Christ. Re. the Mosaic Law: he says that physical circumcision required by the Law prophetically pointed forward to true circumcision: circumcision of the heart (Col 2:11; cf. Rom 2:28-29; Deut 30:6). In fact, Paul asserts that all of the Mosaic Law has come to its ultimate fulfilment and finds its greatest significance in Christ (Col 2:16-17).
Paul then goes on to offer some ethical exhortations in chap. 3. He says that Christian ethics must be based on the believer’s position in or union with Christ (Col 3:1-3); b/c of this spiritual union we must turn away from the sins of the old, sinful nature (Col 3:5-9). Instead, we should embrace the virtues of our new nature in Christ (3:10-17). These virtues make themselves felt in our different social relationships (3:18-4:1). Thus, wives should submit to their husbands, husbands must love their wives, children are to obey their parents, fathers ought not to exasperate their children, slaves should obey their (earthly) masters, and masters must treat their slaves well. Question: By addressing the issue of slavery in the way that he does here—i.e., he doesn’t call for its abolishment—does that mean that Paul actually approved of slavery?
In his closing remarks, it seems fitting that, having prayed for the church at the start of his letter, he now encourages them to pray—that they would be “devoted” to this task (Col 4:2). He also asks them to pray for him: for open doors to preach and for clarity in his message (Col 4:3-4). When it comes to reaching outsiders/unbelievers, we need “wisdom” (Col 4:5-6). As mentioned above, biblical wisdom is more life-oriented than knowledge-oriented: “wisdom” means living skilfully before watching eyes. In other words, in light of God and his revelation, how should you live? The wise person lives skilfully, i.e., they live according to God and his ways. Not to do so—not to change your life in light of God and his Word, not to align your life with his ways—only makes you a fool.