Letter to the Colossians (Part Thirteen)

Part Thirteen of the New Testament Survey Series

Khen Lim



Image source: thebiblejourney.org

Heresy has very ancient roots. It began the moment someone decided he hated God or felt He was worth challenging. And so he developed narratives that went against God. Those narratives have since developed into something far bigger, more serious and dangerous.

From the days of Moses and the Golden Calf through all of ancient times, heresy has spread throughout the world. In Asia Minor where Christianity had begun to take root during Paul’s days, heresy remained rife simply because where God is to be found, there will always be those who detest it.

Paul’s letter to the Colossians was simply the apostle’s response to a threat of serious heretical nature to the church in Colossae. He knew of the danger that had crept into the church (although we are not told how) and he was clear that the Colossians were given two maligned views of Christ.

Firstly Christ’s humanity was denied and secondly, His full deity was rejected (2:6-8). And in both instances, early elements of Gnosticism were evident but they could also be a mix of Jewish asceticism and Greek philosophy. We say “early elements” because full-blown (recognisable) Gnosticism has not yet begun at that time. So these are likely the nascent view of something far bigger that would come later.

Avid readers of Pauline narratives might also be aware that this was also a time when faux teachings were abundantly used to attack early churches. These came in the form of Judaistic intervention where Jewish Christians were made to feel obliged to submit to Jewish law typified by enforced circumcision and the indulgence of traditions (2:8-23, 3:11).

With all these going on, Paul rose to the occasion and successfully directed the Colossians to understand in the sufficiency of merely being fully in Christ (1:15-23, 2:9-15) and live lives “raised in Christ” (3:1-17).

Paul’s letter to the Colossians is a doctrinal instruction that centres on how he confronts the heresies. Here, he uses two approaches – he reaffirms the truth being the deity of Christ and he outlines the false philosophies that are behind the challenge to malign the Son of God (1:15-2:23).

The letter is also a comprehensive dissertation of sorts with practical encouragement to conduct life with family and friends in the Christian way (3:1-4:18) as well as how one should behave in the company of outsiders and unbelievers (4:2-6).

Although verse 1:13 substantiates Paul as the writer of the letter with Timothy receiving credit (1:1), modern biblical scholars don’t think so as they point to three possible areas of contention: 

-         Unfamiliar language and writing style

There is no reason not to accept that Paul had to be different in his choice of words when tackling a very tough and serious subject like heresy. 

-         Theology unlike anything from Paul

Modern scholars may think it is untraditional but many of us can say the same about Paul’s other letters. The richness of his theology here is essentially a matter of responding to the different situations and readership (1:16-20, 2:9-10, 12-13, 19, 3:1). 

-         Suspicious similarities with his letter to the Ephesians

Modern scholars claim it is hard to accept that the apostle would write the same letter twice and therefore they have come to some sort of conclusion that possibly, one of the two is a counterfeit written by an unknown party who had attempted to copy Paul’s original.

The problem with this claim is that scholars are blind to the simple notion that if something is worth repeating or reiterating, it is Paul’s prerogative to restate it and perhaps do so more emphatically.

Paul’s letter to the Colossians is part of the collective we now refer to as the Prison Epistles. In simple terms, this means that it was written while he was in prison somewhere. Popular wisdom suggests Rome but it could also be in Ephesus or Caesarea. Some say it was written from his prison time in Caesarea.

However we must also consider the other three letters to the Ephesians and Colossians and to Philemon. All of these were written in the same time period and very likely from the same one prison location. Therefore if the letter to the Colossians was written from Caesarea, then we must contend that all of the Prison Epistles must also hail from the same place.

Seen from this argument, we are somewhat closer to Rome or Ephesus (but not Caesarea) and between the two, the former is likelier especially if we subscribe to the letter being written around 61AD. If it were any earlier, then Ephesus might be the better option. Although no one really knows for sure, consensus appears to lean towards Rome.

Although we know that the letter was written to the church in Colossae, the word ‘church’ could actually refer more to a ‘house church’ than the likes of which we find in Corinth or Ephesus at that time. While Colossae was a major city with significant economic and financial means, it was but a pale imitation of its grandiosity by the time Paul wrote his letter.

Admittedly he had never visited Colossae in his life time but he had considerable experience living in Ephesus, which was only 100 miles to the east (of Colossae). The close proximity between these two cities raises the distinct possibility that Paul could have had some contact with Epaphras who established the Colossian house church.

Epaphras (Image source: pinterest.com)

And so we could piece together the picture that perhaps Epaphras had gone to visit Paul who was imprisoned in Rome to tell him of the grave crisis with the Colossian church community. Epaphras would have made the effort to do this because these were unchristian teachings making their rounds within an essentially new Christian community.

Centring on syncretism (a disturbing blend of Jewish and Gentile beliefs and practices), they threatened to drive a wedge into the Christians in Colossae and derail the church. As noted earlier, an embryonic version of Gnosticism was also emerging at the same time, spreading the untruth that man could overcome evil and corruption simply by being ascetic and trusting in his own inner strength and willpower. In other words, God was not needed when man could be so capable and self-sufficient.

The question we end this with is why do all this sound so familiar today?

Part Fourteen (First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians) will be available on March 9 2016