The Epistle to the Colossians – Content and Purpose of Writing

By Prof. A. Lopukhin

The City of Colossae and the Founding of the Church in Colossae

In the Asian region of Phrygia, in the valley of the Lycus River, at the time of the Apostle Paul, there was a relatively large city of Colossae. Later, the name of this city disappears from history and in its place appears a new, smaller city, Choni, where in the 8th century the famous miracle of the Archangel Michael took place. Colossae was a wealthy city located on the road that led from the interior of Asia Minor to Ephesus, and was one of the religious centers of the region.

It is not known when the first seeds of Christianity were planted in Colossae. It is possible that Jewish proselytes who came from Phrygia to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost and witnessed the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and other believers also introduced the Colossians to the Gospel of Christ. But the church among the Gentiles in Colossae (Col. 2:13) was founded by one of the disciples of the apostle Paul, Paul himself had not visited Colossae (Col. 1:6; 2:1–3) – Epaphras, who was a resident of the city (Col. 1:7). When the apostle wrote his letter to the Colossian church, it was already well-established and had therefore existed for several years.

Place and time of writing the letter

The letter to the Colossians was written by the apostle Paul during his imprisonment in Rome (Col. 4:3, 18), and more precisely during his first imprisonment – ​​from the spring of 62 to the spring of 64. This is evidenced by the fact that, according to the letter to the Colossians (Col. 4:7–14), the apostle enjoyed considerable privileges in prison and was able to receive various visitors. This is fully consistent with the description of his first Roman imprisonment in the book of Acts (Acts 28:16–31).

Furthermore, in the Epistle to Philemon, written at the same time as the Epistle to the Colossians, the apostle expresses the hope of visiting Colossae after his release. While imprisoned in Caesarea, however, the apostle himself requested to be tried by Caesar (Acts 25:10–12). It is obvious that then, in Caesarea, he could not have hoped to visit Colossae: his case had to be decided in Rome, and only there could he express his hope for release.

Reason and purpose of writing the epistle

The founder of the Colossian church, Epaphras, came to the apostle Paul in Rome to ask him for advice regarding a false teaching that was threatening the church in Colossae. This teaching could have carried away the local Christians. What exactly it was is considered in the conclusion of the interpretation of the second chapter of the epistle.

The Apostle Paul could not remain indifferent to the danger that loomed over the church founded by his disciple. In addition, Epaphras undoubtedly informed him of some shortcomings in the moral life of the Colossae Christians. These two circumstances became the occasion for the apostle to address the Colossians with a letter. His natural goal was to put an end to the abnormal phenomena in the life of the Colossian church and to protect the believers from being carried away by the new false teaching.

On the authenticity of the letter

Church tradition unanimously recognizes this letter as an authentic work of the Apostle Paul. Apostolic men cite separate passages from it, and Clement of Alexandria explicitly states that the Letter to the Colossians is the work of the Apostle Paul.

It was not until the 19th century that doubts began to be expressed about its authenticity, but in fact they are not based on sufficiently serious arguments. The main objection is connected with the unusually exalted teaching of the epistle about the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as with the details concerning the spiritual world and the relationship of Christ to it. Critics claim that in the other epistles, which undoubtedly belong to the Apostle Paul, similar Christological details are not found, and that there the Apostle supposedly does not go beyond the idea of ​​​​Christ as a heavenly man and a second Adam. In addition, some peculiar words and expressions are pointed out in the Epistle to the Colossians, which are not found in the unquestionably authentic works of the Apostle Paul.

As for the differences in language, they cannot serve as evidence against the authenticity of the epistle. Even in the undoubtedly Pauline epistles, the language is often different, one in one epistle and another in another, as, for example, in the First and Second Epistles to the Corinthians.

And in the content of the epistle nothing is found that contradicts the unquestionably authentic epistles of the Apostle Paul. First, it is completely false to claim that the teaching about Christ as God is absent from the undoubtedly Pauline writings. It is enough to recall what the apostle says about Christ in the Epistle to the Romans (Rom. 9:4–5), in the First Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 8:4–6), and elsewhere.

Secondly, in the undoubtedly authentic Pauline epistles, there are also places where the attitude of Christ to the spiritual world is spoken of (cf. Rom. 8:38–39; 1 Cor. 15:24–28). The other considerations of the critics are too subjective to merit detailed discussion.

It would be necessary to refute the claim that in places the Epistle to the Colossians repeats the Epistle to the Ephesians. According to critics, the Epistle to the Colossians was an abridged version of the Epistle to the Ephesians, composed by some disciple of Paul. But this circumstance should not cause doubt either. First, the outwardly similar expressions about Christ in the two epistles, upon closer examination, turn out to be carriers of different shades of meaning (cf., for example, Col. 1 and Eph. 1; Col. 1 and Eph. 2, etc.). Second, the undoubtedly similar places in the third and fourth chapters are explained by the fact that the two epistles arose under the same conditions. Both were written by the apostle at almost the same time, the Epistle to the Ephesians a little earlier, were transmitted through the same person and were intended for neighboring churches. The Epistle to the Ephesians, as a conciliar epistle, was also read in the churches adjacent to the Colossians.

Division and content of the epistle

The Epistle to the Colossians can be conveniently divided into two parts: dogmatic-polemical, or doctrinal (Col. 1:3–2:23), and moral (Col. 3:1–4:6), with a preface (Col. 1:1–3) and a conclusion (Col. 4:7–18). A detailed overview of the content by chapter is given in the interpretation of the epistle itself.

Source in Russian: The Holy Bible or Commentaries on all the books of St. Writings of the Old and New Testaments: In 7 items / Ed. Prof. A.P. Lopukhina. – Ed. 4th. – Moscow: Daru, 2009. / T. 7.