Letter 7 of 14 · Overview available
Colossians
Christ is supreme over creation and redemption; in him you have been filled — so live the new life.
Paul never visited Colossae; Epaphras founded the church (1:7). A teaching combining elements such as special days, food rules, ascetic practices, and "worship of angels" (2:16–23) threatened to make Christ one power among many. Its exact nature is debated.
Paul responds with a magnificent poem (1:15–20): Christ is the image of the invisible God, firstborn over creation, in whom all things hold together, and through whom God reconciles all things by the blood of his cross. Chapter 3 calls believers, raised with Christ, to set their minds on things above.
- Date
- c. AD 60–62
- Written from
- Rome (in custody)
- Recipients
- The saints in Colossae
- Chapters
- 4
- Stage
- Imprisonment
- Author
- Paul the Apostle
Sent from Rome with Tychicus and Onesimus, together with Philemon (Col 4:7–9).
Scholarly note: Received as Paul's by the early church; some modern scholars question its style. Its shared names with Philemon tie the two letters together. Sources
Why Paul wrote it
Epaphras's report about the church and its challenges.
Why it matters today
It guards the uniqueness and sufficiency of Christ against additions.
Related Acts passages
- Acts 19:10
The World Behind the Letter
Colossae was a declining town in the Lycus Valley near Laodicea and Hierapolis, with Jewish and Phrygian religious influences.
Purpose and Problems
Literary Structure
- 1
Thanksgiving and prayer · 1:1–14
- 2
The supremacy of Christ · 1:15–2:5
Hymn; Paul's labor.
- 3
Fullness in Christ vs. false teaching · 2:6–23
- 4
The new life · 3:1–4:6
Put off, put on; households.
- 5
Greetings · 4:7–18
Key passages
Passage-by-Passage
Theological Themes
My Notes
Sources
- James D. G. Dunn, The Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon (NIGTC, 1996)
- Douglas J. Moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon (PNTC, 2008)