Colossians Introduction

The Apostle Paul

Unimpressive on the Surface

A late 2nd century writing contains a description of his physical appearance. It describes him as a short guy, stocky, bald-headed and bow-legged with a uni-brow and a big nose (The Acts of Paul and Thecla). Not your most eligible bachelor. Not only was his physical appearance nothing impressive, but it appears that his public speaking ability, his eloquence was equally not so impressive.

There were false teachers in the 1st century who tried to use Paul’s appearance and lack of rhetoric skill to discredit him. In the letter of II Corinthians, Paul has to deal with such false teachers. In II Corinthians 10:10 he describes them saying, “For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech is contemptible.” He says in II Corinthians 11:6, still dealing with those same opponents, “Even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things.” So he wasn’t your Martin Luther King Jr. or Winston Churchill kind of orator. He maybe stumbled over his words, maybe regularly made mistakes and had to correct himself. His voice probably wasn’t booming and powerful.

It appears he had other disadvantages as well. From the book of Galatians we gather that he came to have some sort of problem with his eyes that gave him poor vision. In Galatians 4:15 he reminds the Galatians of how they loved him saying, “if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.” And then toward the end of the letter in Galatians 6:11 he says “See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.” He didn’t use a scribe to write Galatians. He wrote it with his own hand and he had to use large print. Why? Well, likely he had an eye problem.

But the early Christians of the latter half of the 1st century forward were absolutely convinced that this unimpressive man was a representative of the Lord Jesus.

The Early Christian Estimation of Him

The following are statements from early Christian leaders around the turn of the 1st to 2nd century about Paul.

  • A Christian leader named Ignatius from Antioch (A.D. 35-110) wrote to the church in Ephesus. Ignatius to the Ephesians 12:2 says, “You are fellow initiates of Paul, who was sanctified, who was approved, who is deservedly blessed – may I be found in his footsteps when I reach God! – who in every letter remembers you in Christ Jesus.”
  • Another 1st century Christian leader, Clement from Rome (A.D. ? – 101), wrote to the church in Corinth and he said in chapter 5, “… Paul showed the way to the prize for patient endurance. After he had been seven times in chains, had been driven into exile, had been stoned, and had preached in the East and in the West, he won the genuine glory for his faith, having taught righteousness to the whole world and having reached the farthest limits of the West. Finally, when he had given his testimony before the rulers, he thus departed from the world and went to the holy place, having become an outstanding example of patient endurance.” (I Clement 5:5-7).
  • Another Christian leader, Polycarp from Smyrna (A.D. 69-155), wrote a letter to the Philippians. Polycarp to the Philippians, 3:1-2, “I am writing you these comments about righteousness, brothers, not on my own initiative but because you invited me to do so. For neither I nor anyone like me can keep pace with the wisdom of the blessed and glorious Paul. When he was with you in the presence of the people of that time, he accurately and reliably taught the word concerning the truth. And when he was absent he wrote you letters; if you study them carefully, you will be able to build yourselves up in the faith that has been given to you“.

There was no question in the minds of those early Christians that Paul was a genuine servant and messenger of the Lord.

Here’s another opinion about him. It’s from the famous apostle Peter, toward the end of his second letter, II Peter 3:15-16. Peter wrote, “and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.” Noticed Peter not only viewed Paul as a beloved brother, endowed with wisdom from God, but regarded Paul’s letters to be on the same level as the sacred Scriptures.

Why did Peter and the early Christians have such a high view of Paul? And why should we? Several reasons.

One was…

Paul often performed extraordinary miracles.

The book of Acts testifies to occasions when he instantly healed the sick and the lame, cast out demons, raised Eutychus from the dead, and remained unharmed after being bit by a deadly viper. It says that in Ephesus “handkerchiefs and aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out” (Acts 19:11-12). And it tells of the Christians in Ephesus receiving the Holy Spirit when Paul laid his hands on them (Acts 19:6).

Sometimes in his letters Paul would reaffirm the faith of his readers in the gospel by reminding them of the miracles he performed in Jesus’ name in their midst. Like II Corinthians 12:12, “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance,  by signs and wonders and miracles.” (See also Galatians 3:5; I Thessalonians 1:5.) That’s an amazing statement. Paul didn’t just claim he could do miracles. He could tell people, “You know I did. You saw me with your own eyes perform miracles in the name of Jesus.”

Another thing that confirmed to the early Christians the genuineness of Paul’s apostleship was the fact that…

Usually he would not take money from those he preached to.

Whenever possible he would work hard at tent-making or something to support himself and his assistants and then preach and teach for free. So they knew he was not a conman who just claimed to have a message from God so people would pay him to preach. They knew he was not motivated by money.

They also knew that he was a true apostle because of…

His perseverance in his ministry.

Paul’s ministry was the most unhealthy, unprofitable, painful, life-threatening, stressful work a man could do. Five times, because of his ministry, Jewish men tied his hands between two pillars, stripped him of his garments and lashed him thirty-nine times. Can you imagine? Two thirds of the blows, they would deliver to his back, one third of the blows to his front (according to the Jewish Mishnah). On five different occasions, Paul experienced that! Three times Romans beat him rods until he was a bloody pulp. It was an illegal punishment to do to a Roman citizen, as Paul was, but they didn’t even bother to find out if he was a Roman citizen, they so hated him. One time in Lystra a whole bunch of people with rocks in their hands, circled around Paul, and pounded him with rocks until he was no longer moving and flinching and they’d thought they’d killed him. They drug his body outside of town and left him for the Christians to bury. Read the second half of II Corinthians 11 sometime, where because of what was going on in the Corinthian church, Paul felt he had to list the sufferings and hardships he’d had to endure for his ministry. It’s hard to imagine one man going through all that’s listed there. What on earth would possess a man to keeping getting up after those experiences and just go on to the next town and do the same thing, preach the same stuff that got him in such trouble at all the previous places? The only explanation that makes any sense, why Paul would never quit in his ministry, is that Paul really believed what he claimed, that he’d seen the risen Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus and that the Lord gave him a message to preach that saves people from sin and death and the Lord wanted him to keep preaching it.

The early Christians also knew Paul was a true apostle of Christ, because…

Everywhere he went his ministry resulted in new groups of beautifully transformed people.

For instance the church in Corinth, I Corinthians 6:9-11 tells us that when Paul came to them they were fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers and swindlers. But after a little time with Paul these people were transformed into honest, trustworthy, moral, doers of good deeds and worshipers of the true and living God.

Over much of the known world where Paul had gone he left this trail of churches that weren’t there before, full of beautifully transformed people. And it was especially remarkable because his personal presence was unimpressive. He was unskilled in speech. He had bad eye sight. I bet his body hurt and ached all the time from the beatings and things he’d been through. How could a weak afflicted challenged little man like that accomplish something so huge without the Lord working in and through him?

Further confirmations of Paul’s apostleship were the transformation of Paul’s own life and the harmony of his teaching with what the other apostles were teaching.

Those confirmations were not just for the early Christians. For all the same reasons we can be just as confident in Paul’s apostleship and trustworthiness.

I say all that because I’d like us to study a letter from Paul in the NT, his letter to the church in Colossae. We need to understand, as we open up to Colossians or any other letter from Paul, that we’re moving into holy ground. We’re not just going to read words of a man. But we’re going to read words of a messenger of God.

Background Situation of Colossians

Something else that’s important to understand as we open up a letter from Paul is that it was not written to us. Certainly God had our benefit in mind when He providentially worked to have Paul write these letters and preserved them for us. But they weren’t written to us. Paul wrote to specific churches or individuals in specific places with specific circumstances and problems and concerns that he was addressing. And when something is not said to you but to somebody else, especially someone in a different time and place, it can be very helpful to understanding what’s said to know something about the original speaker, audience and situation.

Take for example this statement I made, “Kids, don’t pick anymore raspberries.”  What did I mean? How should you interpret that? Without knowing me and the situation in which I said it you might think that for some reason I think raspberries are bad for kids. Or you might think I’m just selfish and don’t want kids taking my raspberries. Or you might interpret my statement to suggest that I’m concerned about the welfare of raspberry plants and don’t want them damaged by uncareful children. But if you know me and what the situation was you’d know that none of those ideas are true. I made that statement to my kids in the backyard at our old house who had already picked every ripe raspberry in the bushes and had gone to picking the hard light colored unripe ones. So what I meant was let’s leave the rest of the berries alone so they can ripen and be good to eat later and then we’ll pick them. So situation clarifies the meaning of what’s said and done.

Often in the NT letters there are clues in the letters themselves that give us an idea of the background situation. So with the rest of our time here I want us to try to get some idea of the situation in which the letter of Colossians was written.

In the last verse of the letter, Paul says, “Remember my imprisonment.” Paul is in prison when he writes this, which we can see in other verses as well (Colossians 4:3). Most scholars believe that he’s in prison in Rome… the Roman imprisonment that you read about at the end of the book of Acts where he’s under house arrest until he goes to trial before the emperor.

In that confinement Paul is visited by the one who originally brought the gospel to Colossae, a man named Epaphras (1:7). It was this visit from Epaphras and the report about the Colossian church that Epaphras gave to Paul, that prompted Paul to write this letter. Notice two passages in the letter that suggest this.

  • Colossians 1:7-8, speaking about the gospel in the context, it says, “just as you learned it [the gospel] from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.” So Paul was not the one who brought the gospel to these Colossians. It says they learned it from Epaphras. 2:1 suggests that Paul had never even met most of these Colossian Christians. But Epaphras for some reason has come to Paul in prison and informed him about the Colossian church.
  • Colossians 4:12-13, “Epaphras, who is one of your number, a servant of Jesus Christ, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and Hierapolis.” (Laodicea and Hierapolis were nearby cities to Colossae in the Lycus River Valley.) Notice Epaphras was deeply concerned about the Christians in Colossae and the nearby areas. And notice what Epaphras was praying for on their regard. Two things. One, that they may stand perfect or mature. He’s praying for their spiritual maturity. And two, that they may be fully assured in all the will of God. Were the Colossian Christians lacking assurance? Sounds like it if Epaphras is praying fervently that they may be fully assured.

Several verses suggest not only the fact that the Colossian Christians were lacking assurance but also what caused their doubts.

  • Colossians 2:4, I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument
  • Colossians 2:8, See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”
  • Colossians 2:16, Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to these certain things.
  • Colossians 2:18, Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize…
  • Colossians 2:20, If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!

Apparently there’s some kind of erroneous teaching(s), some kind of teaching(s) that is not “according to Christ,” that they’re hearing that has them shaken up and made them unsure about God’s will and their standing with Him.

It’s difficult to pin point exactly what all was being taught. It’s hard to put a simple label on the false teaching, like we can for instance with the false teaching dealt with in Paul’s letter to the Galatians. There it was simply Judaistic teaching, telling the Gentile Christians that unless they’re circumcised and follow the Law of Moses, unless they become Jews as well as Christians, they cannot be saved. But it’s difficult to put a simple label like that on the false teaching dealt with in Colossians. There was definitely a Jewish component to the teaching, as we’ll see. But it appears there were also other ideas from other religions and philosophies. Syncretism is often a word used to refer to the Colossian heresy that was troubling this church. Syncretism is when you combine two or more religious and/or philosophical traditions. Colossae was a diverse community. It had a lot of Gentiles, but according to some ancient writings, like those of Josephus (Antiquities 12.3.4) and Cicero (Pro Flacco 28), we know there was a large Jewish population in the city as well. It was located on an important highway where it got people of all different ethnicities and religions coming through. It would be a place exposed to the latest ideas in the world via travelers. Likely many in Colossae were syncretistic, following a bit of this religion and that and this philosophy and that, and likely the Colossian Christians were being pressured to do the same.

Some verses in chapter 2 indicate some of the additional practices the Colossian Christians were being told they needed to do.

  • Colossians 2:11-12, Paul tells them that in their response to the gospel and baptism they were circumcised in a greater more significant way than physical circumcision. Why does he say that? Likely because they were hearing that physical circumcision was important.
  • Colossians 2:16-17, “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day —  17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.” Food, drink, festivals, new moon, Sabbath day were matters addressed in the Law of Moses. Sounds like the Colossian Christians had people judging them on the basis of whether they followed what the Law of Moses said about those matters. Jewish neighbors perhaps would say, “Hey, I noticed that you eating that fried catfish. You know, don’t you, that the Law of God says you’re not supposed to eat that? I’d hate to be you if you don’t change your ways.” So this Christian is thinking “My goodness! Am I wrong for eating this good ol’ fried catfish? Am I sinning by eating it?” Or they’d say, “You know, Passover is coming up. What’s your family doing for Passover?” “Uh, nothing.” “Nothing!? How can you not do anything for Passover and think that you’re close with God? I mean there’s plain instructions about observing the Passover in the Scriptures.” It was causing these Christians to be unsure of their relationship with God.
  • But then here’s another thing they were being told was important. Colossians 2:18, “Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement…” And look at 2:23, “These are matters which have to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.” So it appears they had some acquaintances who took pride in asceticism. They’d be real severe on their bodies, maybe eat very little, wear rough uncomfortable clothing and sleep on the ground. They looked really holy and spiritual because of it. And they’d say to these Christians perhaps things like, “You just eat whatever you want, don’t you? And you wear those soft clothes. I bet you sleep on a feather bed, don’t you? You’re a very fleshly self-indulgent person, aren’t you?” And the Christian is thinking, “Wow, you know, maybe I am. Maybe I’m not okay.”
  • Another thing they were being told was important – In 2:18, after self-abasement is mentioned, then it says “and the worship of angels.” From what I read, in this time and culture, worshiping angels or appealing to angels for help and protection from evil spirits was very common, as many ancient inscriptions and documents can attest. A couple examples: In an ancient Roman cemetery in Asia Minor, there’s been found a bronze amulet designed to be worn around the neck for protection from evil spirits. In the inscription are the names of angels (some you’ll probably recognize). The amulet has this inscribed on it, “Michael, Gabriel, Ouriel, Raphael, protect the one who wears this amulet.  Holy, holy, holy….  Evil angel Araaph, flee, O hated one; Solomon pursues you.” Another example, 30-40 miles north of Colossae, there’s been found a grave inscription that says, “If anyone tries to bury someone else here, he will have to reckon with God and the angel of Roubes.” There’s lots of findings like that, indicating that the worship of angels and calling on angels for help and protection was popular. So these Christians were maybe being told, “Angels are powerful beings that can really affect the circumstances of our lives here and in the afterlife. If you want to be alright, you not only need the favor of Christ, but you need to get some of the good and powerful angels on your side.”

Well, all of this teaching, when you think about it, implies that adherence to the gospel and simply a good relationship with Christ is not enough. It suggests that Christ is insufficient to supply all our spiritual needs, that in addition to Christ, we need the help of other spirit beings and whatever credit before God is gained by keeping the Law of Moses and asceticism.

Well, what is it that we need ultimately, spiritually, eternally? Who all do we need on our side? What do we need to do? And what is unnecessary? That’s what the book of Colossians addresses.

– James Williams

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *