10.02.06

Bible Study on Colossians - An Introduction

Posted in Uncategorized at 7:35 am by Perry

Colossians

Introduction:
Colossians is an epistle of the Apostle Paul written late in his ministry when he was imprisoned in Rome. The letter was written predominantly to gentile Christians of Colossae and Laodicea written in response to false teachers who had become prominent in the church. It is believed that the letter was written about the time of 60 - 62 A.D. only one to two years before Paul was martyred in Rome. The letter was written around the same time as the epistle Ephesians and the letter to Philemon to which Colossians shares many similarities in style and substance.
History:
(1) The Apostle Paul – Paul, the author of this letter, was an apostle of Jesus Christ who was integral in establishing the NT church by his ministry. Many of our most cherished doctrines (i.e. justification by faith and freedom from the law) were expounded by Paul in his epistles (letters). The bulk of the NT was written by Paul. As an apostle, Paul held the highest office among early believers along with the other apostles (the 12 disciples) who were personally called by Jesus Christ. Paul often felt compelled to defend his apostleship as he was the only apostle to be called by Jesus post-resurrection

(2) Paul’s Relation to Colossae – Paul himself had never been to the church at Colossae. Instead, the church had been planted through the ministry of Epaphras (Col. 1:7) at Colossae in the region of Phrygia. At the time that the letter was written, Paul was imprisoned in Rome in the final years of his life when he was either in prison or house arrest for openly preaching the gospel during the persecution of Nero or Dem. When Paul wrote the letter, it is believed that the church at Colossae was flourishing and growing rapidly.
(3) Purpose of the Letter – The letter to the Colossians was written by Paul in response to reports he had received, most likely from Epaphras, concerning the increasing popularity of false teachers within the church.  These false teachers were believed to have fallen into two camps, both of which were addressed by Paul in his letter. The first group of false teachers were Jewish zealots, or judaziers, who were attempting to integrate OT
laws and regulations into Christian doctrine (of which Paul addresses in Col. 2: 16-23). The second group were Jewish mystics who were introducing Gnostic teachings into orthodox Christian doctrine with heretical teachings concerning the deity of Christ (of which Paul addresses in Col. 2:6-15, 1:15-23) suggesting that Jesus was neither fully man nor fully God. Finally, Paul speaks extensively about his ministry and imprisonment (Col. 1:24 – 2:5) to encourage the believers.

Authorship:
It is believed by most orthodox Christians that the epistle to the church at Colossae was in fact written by the Apostle Paul but there are other biblical scholars who dispute this claim.
- Evidence Against Pauline Authorship
(a) External Evidence – there is no significant external evidence to support
an argument that Paul did not write the letter to Colossae. In fact,
external and not internal evidence provides the strongest support for
Pauline authorship.
(b) Internal Evidence – The two main arguments against Pauline authorship
are linguistic and theologically based. Some scholars suggests the
labored style of Colossians is not reflective of Paul’s writings and not
consistent with the conditions under which the letter was written (in
prison in response to heresy). Others suggests that the vocabulary used in
the letter is unique to this letter but one must remember Paul’s extended
education. Finally, some scholars suggest that the theology expounded
by Paul is again unique to Colossians but this view is not widely held and
is marginal.
- Evidence to Support Pauline Authorship
(a) External Evidence – The epistle was quoted by many writers of Paul’s time (Ignatius, Barnabas, Polycarp and Justin Martyr) quote from the epistle in their writings and attribute the work to the Apostle Paul. The epistle was included in both the Marcion canon and the Muratorian canon which were the first two canon’s of NT scripture.
(b) Internal Evidence – The linguistic style is very similar to the writing in Ephesians which is an epistle with undisputed authorship of Paul. The letter to the church as Colossae, though, has a much more labored format and structure reflective of both Paul’s old age and conditions of imprisonment at the time that this letter was written. Also, there are striking similarities not only to Ephesians but also Philemon in structure, format, vocabulary, and people mentioned in the body of the letter. Essentially, to deny Pauline authorship for Colossians, one must also deny his authorship for the letters to the Ephesians and to Philemon as the similarities are so striking.

 

Outline of Colossians:
I. Salutation (1:1-2)
II. Orthodoxy: The Sufficiency of Christ Explained (1:3–2:7)
  A. Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Colossians (1:3-14)
    1. Thanksgiving for the Colossians’ Faith (1:3-8)
    2. Prayer for the Colossians’ Knowledge and Growth (1:9-14)
  B. Hymn to Christ the Lord (1:15-20)
  C. Affirmation of Christ the Reconciler (1:21-23)
  D. Paul’s Commission concerning the Mystery of Christ (1:24–2:7)
    1. Paul’s Past Labors Aimed at Perfection in Christ (1:24-29)
    2. Paul’s Present Concern regarding Defection from Christ (2:1-7)
III. Heterodoxy: The Sufficiency of Christ Denied (2:8–3:4)
  A. The Sufficiency of Christ Restated (2:8-15)
    1. Statement against Heretics (2:8)
    2. Restatement of Christ’s Sufficiency (2:9-15)
      a. Christ our Authority (2:9-10)
      b. Christ our Power (2:11-12)
      c. Christ our Victor (2:13-15)
  B. The Colossians’ Practices as a Denial of the Sufficiency of Christ (2:16-19)
  C. The Colossians’ Practices as a Contradiction of Corporate Life in Christ (2:20–3:4)
    1. Death with Christ Means Death to Human Regulations (2:20-23)
    2. Resurrection with Christ Means New Perspective (3:1-4)
IV. Orthopraxy: The Sufficiency of Christ Experienced (3:5–4:6)
  A. Experienced Individually (3:5-17)
    1. Negative: Putting off the Old Man (3:5-11)
    2. Positive: Putting on the New Man (3:12-17)
  B. Experienced in the Home (3:18–4:1)
    1. Wives and Husbands (3:18-19)
    2. Children and Parents (3:20-21)
    3. Slaves and Masters (3:22–4:1)
  C. Experienced in Relation to Others (4:2-6)
    1. In Relation to Paul (4:2-4)
    2. In Relation to Unbelievers (4:5-6)
V. Final Greetings (4:7-18)
  A. Commendation of Tychicus (4:7-9)
  B. Greetings from Paul’s Co-Workers (4:10-14)
  C. Greetings from Paul (4:15-18)

 
NOTE: The outline of Colossians along with many of the arguments both for and against Pauline authorship were taken from Dr. Daniel Wallace’s “Introduction to Colossians”.

 

LINKS

Introduction, Argument, and Authorship - Dr. Daniel Wallace
John Calvin’s Commentary on Colossians - John Calvin
John Gill’s Commentary on Collosians - John Gill
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on Colossians - Matthew Henry

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