Bible Commentaries
Colossians

It may be that Paul sent this Colossian letter to the smallest and least important city in all of his writings. At one time Colossae (Colosse) had been a great commercial center, in an area world famous for its production of wool. But by the first century the city had greatly declined.^(F1) The Scottish Bible scholar and commentator, William Barclay, says "It remains a strange and wonderful fact that Paul wrote the letter which contains the highest reach of his thought to so unimportant a town as Colossae then was." ^(F2)

The reason Paul ventured writing to such a small and insignificant place was because the church there had begun to be entangled in a dangerous heresy. The exact nature of the Colossian Heresy has long been debated by scholars. Clearly, it was some early form of Gnosticism, perhaps with a touch of legalistic Judaism and even with some pagan elements involved. The Gnostics, following Greek ideas, felt that matter was evil and that only the spirit and the spiritual realm was good. They therefore felt the world and all in it, including human flesh, was defiled and unredeemable.

To the Gnostics it was unthinkable that a good God could have made such an evil world. They felt it was rather created by an evil god. It was also unthinkable that the good God could have had anything to do with evil matter and certainly it was not possible for the Son of God to have come to the earth in the flesh. Obviously, such a doctrine would deny the Incarnation, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of Jesus. The Gnostics felt that there were several emanations (Gk. aeons or angelic beings) between God and evil matter. It was needful for humanity to come to God through these intermediaries.^(F3) To do so would require the special knowledge that was available only through these false teachers.

Paul addressed this heresy from prison and therefore this epistle, as well as Ephesians, Philemon and Philippians, are called the "Prison Epistles." Traditionally it was thought that Paul wrote these epistles from his time of imprisonment in Rome. However, there is some thought today that he may have been imprisoned for a time in Ephesus, and that this epistle could have been written from there. If Paul wrote from Rome, as popularly assumed, the date of this epistle would have been in the early 60s. ^(F4)

This epistle is very similar to the book of Ephesians. It is said that 75 of the 155 verses in Ephesians have a parallel in Colossians. Both books were written by Paul while he was in prison, and both were delivered by Tychicus. Both were written to the same general area of Asia Minor. Both deal with Christology and emphasize that Christ is the head of the church. They both encourage Christian living as well. Colossians actually forms the basic outline of Ephesians.^(F5)

Had there not been a heresy in Colossae this epistle may never have been written. The Texas Baptist professor, Bob Utley, remarks, "Thank God for the heretics at Colossae; because of them Paul wrote this powerful letter." ^(F6)