Paul's Letter to the Colossians
DOCTRINE: CHRIST’S PREEMINENCE DECLARED Chapter 1
A. In the Gospel message 1:1–12
B. In redemption 1:13–14
C. In Creation 1:15–17
D. In the church 1:18–29
DANGER: CHRIST’S PREEMINENCE DEFENDED Chapter 2
A. Beware of empty philosophies 2:1–10
B. Beware of religious legalism 2:11–17
C. Beware of man-made disciplines 2:18–23
DUTY: CHRIST’S PREEMINENCE DEMONSTRATED Ch. 3–4
A. In personal purity 3:1–11
B. In Christian fellowship 3:12–17
C. In the home 3:18–21
D. In daily work 3:22–4:1
E. In Christian witness 4:2–6
F. In Christian service 4:7–18
The Epistle to the Colossians
Introduction
Paul’s Epistle to the Colossianss regarded as including the most elevated view to befound in the Bible
it focuses on the most relevant insightsand counsel for Believers - even in ourday.
To the messenger of the church in Laodicea, write: “The Amen, the witnesswho is faithful and true, the originator of God’s creation, says this:‘I knowyour actions, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold orhot. Since you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am going to spityou out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich. I have become wealthy. I don’tneed anything.’ Yet you don’t realize that you are miserable, pitiful, poor,blind, and naked.” Revelation 3:14-17ISV v2.0
Jesus of Nazareth is sick of lukewarm, useless Christianlifestyles.
But he doesn’t leave the Laodicean pastor without a solutionto the problem:
Therefore, I advise you to buy from me gold purified in fire so you maybe rich, white clothes to wear so your shameful nakedness won’t show,and ointment to put on your eyes so you may see. I correct and disciplinethose whom I love, so be serious and repent! Look! I am standing at thedoor and knocking. If anyone listens to my voice and opens the door, Iwill come in to him and eat with him, and he will eat with me. To the onewho conquers I will give a place to sit with me on my throne, just as I haveconquered and have sat down with my Father on his throne.‘Let everyonelisten to what the Spirit says to the churches.’ Revelation 3:18-22ISV v2.0
The whole Western world that only a short time ago was saying,
“I am rich. I have become wealthy” I don’t need anything.”
is nowabout to find out from personal experience what it will mean to hear the3rd horseman of the Apocalypse cry out,
“A quart of wheat for a denarius,or three quarts of barley for a denarius.” (Rev 6:6, ISV).
All of this trouble comes on the world from a God who loves us and whocorrects and disciplines those whom He loves.
And that’s why this messageis going to be your road map through the times of trouble that are aboutrefine God’s children and judge all of God’s enemies.
The counsel contained in Colossians will explain what thelife of faith is as it is intended by its Author,
a divinely orderedpreparation for the rulership in the coming Kingdom.
to be firmly entrenched “overcomers” who have no need ofexhortation.
In the words of the centuries-old carved in a gothic, medieval alphabet on a towering, ornate cathedraldoor right in the heart of a small town in Germany.
Translated into modernEnglish, the words take the form of a frightening poem.
You call me eternal, then do not seek me.
You call me fair, then do not love me.
You call me gracious, then do not trust me.
You call me just, then do not fear me.
You call me life, then do not choose me.
You call me light, then do not see me.
You call me Lord, then do not respect me.
You call me Master, then do not obey me.
You call me merciful, then do not thank me.
You call me mighty, then do not honor me.
You call me noble, then do not serve me.
You call me rich, then do not ask me.
You call me Savior, then do not praise me.
You call me shepherd, then do not follow me.
You call me Way, then do not walk with me.
You call me wise, then do not heed me.
You call me Son of God, then do not worship me.
When I condemn you [and claim I do not know you], then do not blame me.
Paul’s Epistles
Paul wrote 13 letters.
Three of them are “First & Seconds,” leaving 10 addressees,
Three of the ten are pastors
The remaining seven Paul wrote to Seven Churches.
The Seven Churches - “The Things that Are” (Rev 2-3)
Why these seven?
Why not Jerusalem? Antioch? Rome? Lystra? Iconium?Et al.
“He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit says tothe churches.”
Levels of Application:
1) Local: actual churches. Researched archaeologically by Sir Wm.Ramsey...
2) Admonitory: “..churches”: all of them. Each message applies toeach, to some extent.
3) Homiletic: “He that hath an ear...” Applies to us.
4) Prophetic. In their particular order, they lay out the history ofthe church.
[They fill the gap implied in Daniel 9:26, and betweenRev 12:5 and 6, etc.]
Introduction
Do heavenly bodies have any influence over our lives?
(Millions ofpeople consult their horoscopes every day.
In the U.S., 1220 of the1750 newspapers carry astrological data.)
Is there any relationshipbetween diet and spiritual living?
Does God speak to us immediately,in our minds, or only through His Word?
Do the Eastern religions haveanything to offer the evangelical Christian?
These very contemporary questions are among the very issues Paul dealt within his epistle to the Colossians.
Many Bible scholars haveconcluded that Colossians is the most profound letter Paul ever wrote.
[Unless we depend upon the Spirit of God to teach us, we will miss thetruths God wants us to learn.]
THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE LETTER
Some scholars do not believe that Paul wrote this letter at all. They give three major reasons.
They say Colossians contains many words and phrases which do not appear in any other of Paul's letters.
Men do not always write in the same way and with the same vocabulary especially when discussing new things.
They say that the development of Gnostic heretical thought developed much later than the time of Paul. If the Colossian heresy was connected with Gnosticism, then the Colossian letter must have been later than Paul time.
The great written Gnostic systems were notcodified until later.
The idea of two worlds and the idea of the evil of matter werepresent in Jewish and Greek thought predating Jesus incarnation going back several hundred years BC.
They say that the view of Christ presented in Colossians is far in advance of any of the other letters written by Paul.
- Paul speaks of the unsearchable riches of Christ.
The Christology of Colossians is an advance on anything in the earlier letters of Paul; but that is far from saying that Paul did not write it, unless we are willing to argue that his thought remained forever static.
A man usually only thinks out the implications of his faith only as circumstances compel him to do so; and in face of a new set of circumstances Paul thought out new implications of Christ.
- The seed of all Paul's thought about Christ as he presents him in Colossians does exist in one of his earlier letters.
Paul writes of one Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
1Co 8:5 For even if there are "gods" in heaven and on earth (as indeed there are many so-called "gods" and "lords"), 6 yet for us there is only one God, the Father, from whom everything came into being and for whom we live. And there is only one Lord, Jesus the Messiah, through whom everything came into being and through whom we live. [ISV]
In verse 6 is the essence of all he says in Colossians.
Colossians as the letter itself states was written by Paul.
THE TOWNS OF THE LYCUS VALLEY
Colosse was one of three closely situated cities in the LycusRiver Valley, where the Lycus River joins the Meander River, about 100 miles east of Ephesus (capital) in Asia Minor.
Its name is possibly derived from Colossus, a large statue.
Three important cities--Laodicaea, Hierapolis and Colosse - once existed there.
Originally they had been Phrygian cities but now they were part of the Roman province of Asia.
They stood almost within sight of each other.
Hierapolis and Laodicaea stood on either side of the valley with the River Lycus flowing between, only six miles apart, in full view of each other;
Colosse straddled the river twelve miles farther up from Hierapolis and Laodicea, the other two cities of the valley.
Col 4:13 For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis....
Col 4:16 When this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and you, for your part read my letter that is coming from Laodicea.
The Lycus Valley had two remarkable characteristics.
It was notorious for earthquakes.
Strabo describes it by the curious adjective "euseistos," which in English means "good for earthquakes."
More than once Laodicaea had been destroyed by an earthquake, but she was a city so rich and so independent that she had risen from the ruins without the financial help which the Roman government had offered.
As the John who wrote the Revelation was to say of her, in her own eyes she was rich and had need of nothing.
Rev 3:17 'Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,
The waters of the River Lycus and of its tributaries were impregnated with chalk.
This chalk gathered and all over the countryside built up the most amazing natural formations.
Lightfoot writes in description of that area:
"Ancient monuments are buried; fertile land is overlaid; rivers beds choked up and streams diverted; fantastic grottoes and cascades and archways of stone are formed, by this strange, capricious power, at once destructive and creative, working silently throughout the 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 traveller at a distance of twenty miles, and form a singularly striking feature in scenery of more than common beauty and impressiveness."
A WEALTHY AREA
Volcanic ground is always fertile; and what was not covered by the chalky incrustations was magnificent pasture land.
On these pastures there were great flocks of sheep and the area was perhaps the greatest center of the woollen industry in the world.
Laodicaea was specially famous for the production of garments of the finest quality.
The allied trade was dyeing.
There was some quality in those chalky waters which made them specially suitable for dyeing cloth, and Colosse was so famous for this trade that a certain dye was called by its name.
These three cities stood in a district of considerable geographical interest and of great commercial prosperity.
THE UNIMPORTANT CITY
Originally the three cities had been of equal importance, but, as the years went on, their ways parted.
Laodicaea became the political center of the district and the financial headquarters of the whole area, a city of splendid prosperity.
Hierapolis became a great trade-center and a notable spa.
In that volcanic area there were many chasms in the ground from which came hot vapors and springs, famous for their medicinal quality;
people came by the thousands to Hierapolis to bathe and to drink the waters.
Colosse at one time was as great as the other two.
Behind Colosse rose the Cadmus range of mountains and she commanded the roads to the mountain passes.
Both Xerxes and Cyrus had halted there with their invading armies, and Herodotus had called her "a great city of Phrygia."
But for some reason the glory departed.
Hierapolis and Laodicaea are both to this day clearly discernible because the ruins of some great buildings still stand; but there is not a stone to show where Colosse stood and her site can only be guessed at.
The fact remains that in this town of Colosse there had arisen a heresy which, if it had been allowed to develop unchecked, might well have been the ruination of the Christian faith in Asia [Turkey].
THE JEWS IN PHRYGIA
These three cities stood in an area in which there were many Jews.
Many years before, Antiochus the Great had transported 2,000 Jewish families from Babylon and Mesopotamia into the regions of Lydia and Phrygia.
These Jews had prospered and more of their fellow-countrymen had come into the area to share their prosperity.
So many came that the stricter Jews of Palestine lamented the number of Jews who left the rigors of their ancestral land for "the wines and baths of Phrygia."
Laodicaea was the administrative center of the district.
In the year 62 B.C., Flaccus was the Roman governor resident there.
He sought to put a stop to the practice of the Jews of sending money out of the province to pay the Temple tax.
He did so by placing an embargo on the export of currency
In his own part of the province alone he seized as contraband no less than twenty pounds of gold which was meant for the Temple at Jerusalem.
That amount of gold would represent the Temple tax of no fewer than 11,000 people.
Since women and children were exempt from the tax and since many Jews would successfully evade the capture of their money, we may well put the Jewish population as high as almost 50,000.
THE CHURCH AT COLOSSE
The Christian Church at Colosse was one which Paul had not himself founded and which he had never visited.
(Col 1:7) just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf,
(Col 2:1) For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face,
(Col 4:7) As to all my affairs, Tychicus, our beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow bond-servant in the Lord, will bring you information.
Paul classes the Colossians and the Laodicaeans with those who had never seen his face in the flesh (Col.2:1).
But no doubt the founding of the Church sprang from his teaching during his three years in Ephesus
- the whole province of Asia was evangelized, so that all its inhabitants, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord (Acts 19; 20:17-38).
“all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus...” (Acts 19:10).
Colosse was about one hundred miles from Ephesus and it was no doubt in that campaign of expansion that the Colossian Church was founded.
Two men, Epaphras and Philemon (Phile 19), who were in Ephesus, seem to have been primarily responsible as founders (Col 1:7) of the church in Colossae.
Epaphras apparently carried the thrilling news of the Gospel to his family back home in Colossae (for example. Mark 5:19).
And He did not let him, but He *said to him, "Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you."
Philemon had a church meeting in his home (Phile 2).
It is likely that Apphia and Archippus were respectively the wife and son of Philemon, and Archippusmay have been the local leader of the church.
(Col 4:17) Say to Archippus, "Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it."
THE OCCASION
Paul wrote to the Colossians about 60-62 AD, while he was imprisoned in Rome. (Acts 21:17-28:31).
One purpose for the letter was to correct the heresy that had sprung up in the Asian city of Colossae.
While Paul was a prisoner in Rome under house arrest, he met a runaway slave named Onesimus who belonged to Philemon, one of the leaders of the church at Colossae.
Paul led him to Christ, and then wrote Philemon, asking his friend to forgive Onesimus and receive him back as a brother in Christ.
About the same time, Epaphras showed up in Rome because he needed Paul’s help.
In his status report, some new doctrines were being taught in Colossae and were invading the church and creating problems.
The Epistle itself gives it as being due to the arrival of Epaphras from Colossae (Col 1:7-9; 4:12f ).
He is probably one of Paul’s converts while in Ephesus who in behalf of Paul (Col 1:7) evangelized the Lycus Valley (Colossae, Hierapolis, Laodicea) where Paul had never been himself (Col 2:1; 4:13-16).
Since Paul’s departure for Rome, the “grievous wolves” whom he foresaw in Miletus (Acts 20:29f) had descended upon these churches and were playing havoc with many and leading them astray much as new cults today mislead the unwary.