Paul’s Letter to the Colossians

Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:9-10

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There were clearly some specific challenges to the faith at Colosse that Paul was seeking to address. While we do not know the precise details of the so-called 'Colossian heresy', we can piece together some information:

• It involved the worship of angels and other 'beings' which removed the focus from Christ
• It tended to priviledge other, new sources of wisdom and insight over the 'old-hat' gospel
• It favoured an ascetic lifestyle of ritual and self-denial which tended to create pride

In the face of this opposition Paul re-emphasised the power of a simple faith in Christ.

Colossians emphasises the massiveness of Christ in God's purpose. He is absolutely pivotal to everything God has done. And after his resurrection God has exalted him above all except Himself, giving him all authority and power, and making him the firstborn of God's new creation. Small wonder then, that Paul should say that 'in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge'. He urges that we should never allow ourselves to forget this. There is no room for intellectual debate to get around it, no room for supposed visions or insights which change it or supplement it. Christ is all we need, and anything which sways us from that conviction is wrong. It may be cunning; it may be clever. But it will be wrong.

The preaching mission at Colosse had been spearheaded by Epaphras, and the church there appears to have been founded without an actual visit by Paul. Epaphras himself may have originally heard Paul preach at Ephesus. Now, as Paul lay in prison in Rome in A.D. 60-61 (Acts 28:30), Epaphras was with him, and Paul used the opportunity to write to the believers at Colosse, and perhaps to help Epaphras out with some of the issues he knew were troubling the young community. Paul probably wrote Ephesians and Philippians around the same time, and the letter to Colosse was intended to be read by the community at Laodicea also (4:16).

There are many, many similarities between Colossians and Paul's letter to the Ephesians: similarities of vocabulary and theme, and whole passages which are very reminiscent of passages in the other books (more details in the pdf). Both letters were written at a similar time in Paul's life, and evidently similar topics were on his mind. There is a difference, though, both in terms of the focus (Colossians puts more emphasis on Christ, Ephesians on his bride the church), and the 'danger' they are seeking to avert (Ephesians a pseudo-'knowledge' that came from liberalism and moral freedom, perhaps, whereas Colossians a pseudo-knowledge that came from asceticism and self-denial).

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There are a lot of references to 'knowledge' and 'wisdom' in Colossians, and a lot of references to the revealed 'mystery' of God's purpose (just as there are in Ephesians). It's a great exercise to follow this theme through the letter, and to note Paul's emphasis on what is truly valuable knowledge (he uses the language of treasure to describe it), and what is a waste of time.

While no one may be teaching the 'Colossian heresy' (see 'Key Facts') today in quite that form, the dangers are real. There is always a tendency for humans to impress themselves by what they can do, and arrive, in the end, at what Paul calls 'will-worship' (the worship of one's one works, determination, or whatever). There can be a tendency to think that new thinks which sound sophisticated and modern must be right But Paul says 'let no one spoil you through philosophy or vain deceit.' When human beings start to consider themselves 'smart' by looking away from what God has done, then from God's perspective they start to lose the plot.