Colossians: Christ over all
Colossians is Paul's letter from prison to a church he had never visited. Christ, in whom all God's fullness dwells, is over all creation and every power, so the church needs no philosophy of rules and powers: raised with him, it is to seek the things above.
About the book
Colossae was a small town inland in Asia Minor, near Laodicea and Hierapolis (Colossians 4:13). Paul did not found the church: the Colossians learned the gospel "from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant" (Colossians 1:7), and many had never met Paul face to face (Colossians 2:1).
The letter comes from "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother" (Colossians 1:1) and closes in Paul's own hand: "Remember my chains" (Colossians 4:18). Tychicus carried it, and with him went Onesimus, "who is one of you" (Colossians 4:9), the same Onesimus as in Philemon; Epaphras, Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke send greetings in both letters. The church has held that the two were written together, traditionally while Paul was a prisoner in Rome, about AD 60–62; some scholars think of Ephesus. It belongs to the era the map under the Jesus tab calls the church (c. AD 30–90).
Many scholars doubt that Paul wrote it. Its long sentences, words and style differ from his other letters, and its teaching on Christ as head of the church seems further developed; so they think a disciple wrote it in Paul's name, or Timothy at his direction. Many other scholars, among them evangelicals, who stress the authority of Scripture and the telling of the gospel, hold that Paul wrote it: a new subject called for new words, and its people and circumstances fit Philemon, which almost no one doubts is Paul's.
The letter answers what Paul calls "philosophy and empty deception" (Colossians 2:8): rules about food and feasts, the worship of angels, harsh treatment of the body. Exactly what it was, scholars debate.
How it unfolds
| Chapters | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1:1–2:5 | Thanks and prayer; Christ over all things; Paul's labour for the church |
| 2:6–23 | Rooted in Christ: beware of human philosophy and rules |
| 3:1–4:6 | Seek the things above: off with the old self, on with the new; the household |
| 4:7–18 | Tychicus and Onesimus; greetings and charges |
Key passages
At the letter's heart is a passage in praise of Christ:
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Colossians 1:15-17
‘Firstborn’ does not make him the first thing God made, since the next words say all things were created in him. Wesley takes it to mean "begotten before every creature; subsisting before all worlds, before all time, from all eternity" John Wesley. Angels and powers are his creatures, not rivals to be served.
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form. And you have been made complete in Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
Colossians 2:9-10
Made complete in him, the church has nothing to add by rules, self-denial or visions. That he is truly God and truly man is taught in Truly God and truly man, in the doctrine course.
So life changes: "since you have been raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God" (Colossians 3:1). Those who have put on the new self know no wall between Greek and Jew, slave and free, and their households, wives and husbands, children and fathers, slaves and masters, are to live in the Lord. One sentence gathers it all: "whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Colossians 3:17).
The book and Christ
Colossians reads Israel's feasts and Sabbaths in the light of Christ: "These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ" (Colossians 2:17). In Matthew Henry's words, "When the substance was come, the shadows fled" Matthew Henry. As the risen Jesus explained himself from "Moses and all the Prophets" (Luke 24:27), the shadows of the old covenant point to him.
At the cross our debt was dealt with. God forgave us, "having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us" (Colossians 2:14), and by the cross the powers were disarmed. Humankind, made in God's image in Genesis, is now renewed in Christ, who is that image, "in knowledge in the image of its Creator" (Colossians 3:10).
Reading it
Colossians takes about fifteen minutes. Read it at one sitting, then a chapter a day for four days, beginning with Colossians 1.
Read Philemon straight afterwards: the same men carried both. Tychicus also carried Ephesians (Ephesians 6:21), which shares many phrases with Colossians. Paul wanted this letter read in the church at Laodicea too (Colossians 4:16); read it aloud, as its first hearers heard it. Then go on to 1 Thessalonians.
Practice
- Practice 1 of 6
Who first brought the gospel to the Colossians?
- Practice 2 of 6
Who went with Tychicus to Colossae, and appears again in Philemon?
- Practice 3 of 6
What does ‘the firstborn over all creation’ mean in Colossians 1:15?
- Practice 4 of 6
What does Colossians 2:16-17 say of the rules on food and drink, feasts and Sabbaths?
- Practice 5 of 6
Why do many scholars doubt that Paul wrote Colossians?
- Practice 6 of 6
In Colossians 3:1, what are those raised with Christ to do?
Reading to the end marks it read; tap to switch it.
Related topics
Lessons from the Bible, the church's creeds and classic commentary. Each book's author and date are given as the church has received them, and scholars who see them otherwise are presented fairly. Scripture quotations: BSB.