Introduction to Colossians by Stephen Ricker

INTRODUCTION TO COLOSSIANS

STUDY 1 QUESTIONS
STUDY 1 COMMENTS
OUTLINE
MAP OF PAUL'S FIRST AND SECOND MISSIONARY TRIPS
MAP OF PAUL'S THIRD MISSIONARY TRIP

Before analyzing the text of any book of the Bible, it is well to learn the historical background. Also, it is best to make a mountain top view of its general contents.

PAUL'S TIMELINE FROM CONVERSION TO SECOND ARREST
1. Paul meet Christ on the road to Damascus, and thus became a Christian (35 A.D.), five years after Pentecost. (Acts 9:1-22, 26:4-23)
2. Paul in approx. 41 A.D., fourteen years before the writing of 2 Corinthians in 55 A.D., was caught up to the third heaven where he heard revelations and also inexpressible things. (Galatians 1:11-12; 2 Corinthians 12:1-7)
3. Paul sneaks out of Damascus and goes to Jerusalem and with the help of Barnabas he meets the apostles for the first time. After preaching in Jerusalem his life was threatened. So he was taken to the port city Caesarea and sent to Tarsus, his hometown. (Acts 9:23-30)
4. Something passed and Paul returned to Antioch. (Acts 13:1) Paul and Barnabas were sent on their first missionary journey which was from 46 to 48 A.D. (Acts 13-14)
5. The Jerusalem counsel held initiated and attended by Paul and Barnabas in either 49 or 50 A.D. (Acts 15)
6. Some believe that Paul wrote Galatians while at Antioch between the first and second mission trips in 48 A.D.
7. Paul and Silas left Antioch to go on Paul's second missionary trip in early 50 A.D. He went through Tarsus on the way to the churches in Galatia where young Timothy joins them. (Acts 15:36-16:10)
8. The same year crossing the Aegean Sea arriving at Philippi. (Acts 16:11-40)
9. They flee Philippi after considerable time there and went to Thessalonica were they spend considerable time. (Acts 17:1-9)
10. Paul and Silas flee from Thessalonica to Berea. Since Timothy is not mentioned, it is possible that he stayed in Thessalonica or Philippi and then rejoined Paul in Silas in Berea.
11. Paul fled to Athens from Berean persecution, leaving Silas and Timothy in Berea. (14) Paul asked Silas and Timothy to join him in Athens. (Acts 15, and 1 Thess. 3:1-2)
12. Timothy rejoined Paul at Athens and was sent back to Thessalonica. (1 Thess. 3:1-5) Since Silas is not mentioned, it has been conjectured that he went back to Philippi when Timothy went to Thessalonica.
13. Paul moved on the Corinth. (Acts 18:1) Silas and Timothy came to Paul in Corinth. (Acts 18:5, and 1 Thess. 3:6)
14. Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians and sent it to the church. About six months later in late 51 or early 52 A.D. Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians.
15. Most believe that Paul wrote Galatians while in Corinth or perhaps when he arrived back at Antioch at the end of his second mission trip (late 52 A.D.)
16. Paul returned to Ephesus during the early part of his third missionary journey. (53 A.D.) He stayed there for two years. (Acts 19:1-20)
17. Paul left Ephesus to visit the congregations he had went to on his second missionary trip. (Acts 19:21-20:1)
18. Paul stopped at Corinth on the looped journey where he penned the letter to the believers in Rome. He made a short stop in Ephesus and then went to Jerusalem. (56 A.D., Acts 20:2-38)
19. Paul ended the third missionary trip in Jerusalem. He presented a gift that was collected for the poor and needy in Jerusalem. (57 A.D., Acts 20:39-21:16)
20. Paul was arrested in Jerusalem when the Jews tried to kill him. (57 A.D., Acts 21:17-40)
21. Paul is transferred to Rome to stand at trial before Caesar (59-60 A.D., Acts 25:10-28:16)
22. Paul awaits for trial in Rome under house arrest. Acts is penned by Luke who was with Paul. (60-61 A.D. Acts 28:17 to end)
23. Paul underwent his first Roman imprisonment during which he wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Philemon, and this letter. (61-62 A.D.)
24. Paul was released from prison between 62 and 64 A.D.
AUTHOR
1. That Colossians is a genuine letter of Paul is not usually disputed. In the early church, all who speak on the subject of authorship ascribe it to Paul. In the 19th century, however, some thought that the heresy refuted in ch. 2 was second-century Gnosticism. But a careful analysis of ch. 2 shows that the heresy there referred to is noticeably less developed than the Gnosticism of leading Gnostic teachers of the second and third centuries. Also, the seeds of what later became the full-blown Gnosticism of the second century were present in the first century and already making inroads into the churches. Consequently, it is not necessary to date Colossians in the second century at a time too late for Paul to have written the letter.
2. Instead, it is to be dated during Paul's first imprisonment in Rome, where he spent at least two years under house arrest (see Ac 28: 16-31). Some have argued that Paul wrote Colossians from Ephesus or Caesarea, but most of the evidence favors Rome as the place where Paul penned all the Prison Letters (Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians and Philemon).
PLACE: COLOSSE-The Town and the Church
1. Several hundred years before Paul's day, Colosse had been a leading city in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). It was located on the Lycus River and on the great east-west trade route leading from Ephesus on the Aegean Sea to the Euphrates River. By the first century A.D. Colosse was diminished to a second-rate market town, which had been surpassed long ago in power and importance by the neighboring towns of Laodicea and Hierapolis (see 4: 13).
2. What gave Colosse NT importance was the fact that, during Paul's three-year ministry in Ephesus, Epaphras had been converted and had carried the gospel to Colossae (ef. 1:7-8; Ac 19: 10). The young church that resulted then became the target of heretical attack, which led to Epaphras' visit to Paul in Rome and ultimately to the penning of the Colossian letter.
3. Perhaps as a result of the efforts of Epaphras or other converts of Paul, Christian churches had also been established in Laodicea and Hierapolis. Some of them were house churches (see 4: 15; Phm 2). Most likely all of them were primarily Gentile. Epaphras appears to be the lead pastor (Latin for shepherd) of one if not all three congregations. Paul's letter to Philemon (one chapter) should be studied after this letter.
PURPOSE - The Colossian Heresy
1. Paul never explicitly describes the false teaching he opposes in the Colossian letter. The nature of the heresy must be inferred from statements he made in opposition to the false teachers. An analysis of his refutation suggests that the heresy was diverse in nature. Some of the elements of its teachings were:
  1. Ceremonials. It held to strict rules about the kinds of permissible food and drink, religious festivals (2:16-17) and circumcision (2:11; 3:11).
  2. Asceticism. "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!" (2:21; ef.2:23).
  3. Angel worship. See 2:18.
  4. Deprecation of Christ. This is implied in Paul's stress on the supremacy of Christ (1:15-20; 2:2-3,9).
  5. Secret knowledge. The Gnostics boasted of this (see 2: 18 and Paul's emphasis in 2 :2-3 on Christ, "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom").
  6. Reliance on human wisdom and tradition. See 2:4,8.
2. The elements seem to fall into two categories, Jewish and Gnostic. It is likely, therefore, that the Colossian heresy was a mixture of an extreme form of Judaism and an early stage of Gnosticism (see Introduction to I John: Gnosticism; see also note on 2:23).

As you conclude your overview of Colossians, ponder over the key verses 1:19-20: "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."