Colossians: A Commentary

By David J. Landegent

Some people cant see the forest for the treesthey get so bogged down in details that they lose sight of what its all about. Others cant see the trees for the forestthey miss the wondrous details all around them. So why not look instead at both the forest and the trees?

This commentary on Pauls letter to the Colossians guides you in doing just that. Even though we will be exploring ancient biblical cultures and learning plenty about the Greek language, no prior academic training is needed. Technical terms have been set aside. Instead, with everyday language we will discover the big picture and revel in the fine details of this stunning letter, amazed by how God is still speaking these same words today to contemporary personal and social challenges.

We will not then be tourists rapidly zipping through Colossians as if on a monotonous interstate highway. Instead we will be hiking our way through this letter, step by step, phrase by phrase, finding joy in Gods truth and growing in our faith. Come and join the journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jun 6, 2017
• ISBN: 9781512773309

David J. Landegent

David J. Landegent is on a lifelong adventure of conveying God’s Word in everyday language—as a pastor of an evangelical church, a weekly columnist in The Sunday School Guide, and a lyricist rewriting over 4000 pop songs to reflect biblical truth. He and his wife live in South Dakota.

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Copyright © 2017 David J. Landegent.

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Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ® (ESV®), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All right reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations marked NRSV are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from The NET Bible© Copyright © 2005 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. www.bible.org All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-5127-7330-9 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date: 5/19/2017

This book is dedicated to my wife, Ruth Ann Landegent,

whose faith and encouragement made this book become a reality.

Table of Contents

A Translation Colossians

Preface

My Assumptions

My Approach

My Indebtedness

Introduction

Author

Recipients

Purpose

The Letter Itself

Colossians’ Place Among Paul’s Letters

Colossians And Ephesians

Pronouncing Greek Words

Abbreviations

Colossians 1:1-2   Grace To You

1:1a — The Apostle

1:1b — Timothy

1:2a, c — In Colossae, In Christ

1:2b — The Holy Ones

1:2d — The Blessing

Colossians 1:3–8   Prayers Of Thanks

1:3a — Giving Thanks (1)

1:3b — The Father

1:3c — Praying For You

1:4ab — Faith, Love & Hope

1:4a — Faith

1:4b — Love

1:5a — Hope

1:5b — The Word Of Truth

1:6 — The Fruitful Gospel

1:7-8 — Ephaphras

Colossians 1:9–14   Prayers Of Asking

1:9a — Thanking & Asking

1:9b — On-Going Prayer

1:9c — Being Filled

1:9d — Knowledge & Wisdom

1:10a — Walking Worthily

1:10b — Pleasing God

1:10c — Good Work

1:10d — Fruitfulness

1:11a — Empowered

1:11b — Joyful Endurance

1:12a — Inheritance

1:12b — In The Light

1:13a — Deliverance

1:13b — Darkness

1:13c — Relocation

1:13d — The Son

1:14a — Redemption

1:14b — Forgiveness

Colossians 1:15–20   Jesus’ Ministry

1:15a — The Image Of God

1:15b — Firstborn Of Creation

1:16a — All Things Created In Christ

1:16b — Heaven & Earth

1:16c — All Powers Created In Christ

1:16d — Through & Toward Christ

1:17a — Before All Things

1:17b — Together In Christ

1:18a — Head Of The Body

1:18b — The Primal-Power

1:18c — Firstborn From The Dead

1:18d — Firsting

1:19 — The Fullness

1:20a — Reconciling

1:21b — Reconciling All Things

1:20c — Having Made Peace

1:20d — The Blood

1:20e — The Cross

1:20f — Earth & Heaven

Colossians 1:21–23   Jesus’ Ministry To The Colossians

1:21 — Alienated

1:22a — Then & Now

1:22b — Reconciled

1:22c — Holy & Blameless

1:23a — If You Remain

1:23b — Foundationed

1:23c — Proclaimed To All

Colossians 1:24–29   Paul’s Ministry

1:24a — Rejoicing In Suffering

1:24b — The Afflictions Of Christ

1:24c — For The Sake Of The Church

1:25a — Paul As A Servant

1:25b — God’s Plan

1:25c — Filling Out The Word

1:26a — The Mystery

1:26b — The Mystery Concealed

1:26c — The Mystery Revealed

1:27a — God’s Will

1:27b — Riches & Glory

1:27c — The Mystery Among The Nations

1:27d — Christ In You

1:27e — The Hope Of Glory

1:28a — Warning & Teaching

1:28b — Complete In Christ

1:29 — Paul Empowered

Colossians 2:1–5   Paul’s Ministry To The Colossians

2:1 — Paul’s Struggle

2:2a — Encouragement

2:2b — Encouraged In Love

2:2c — Encouraged In Understanding

2:2d — Christ As The Mystery

2:3 — Treasures Of Wisdom

2:4 — Deception

2:5a — Absence

2:5b — Solidarity Of Faith

Colossians 2:6–8   Walk In Christ, Not In Captivity

2:6a — Receiving Christ

2:6b — Walking In Christ

2:7a — Rooted In Christ

2:7b — Established In The Faith

2:7c — Giving Thanks (2)

2:8a — Don’t Be Captivated

2:8b — Empty Deceit

2:8c, f — Human Tradition Or Christ

2:8d — Elemental-Orders

2:8e — The World

Colossians 2:9–15   Attached To Christ

2:9 — Fullness Of Deity

2:10a — Being Filled In Christ

2:10b — Head Of All Powers

2:11a — Circumcised In Christ

2:11b — A Circumcision Without Hands

2:11c — Stripping Of The Body

2:11d — The Circumcision Of Christ

2:12a — Buried With Christ

2:12b — Raised In Christ

2:12c — Raised Through Faith

2:13a — The Dead Made Alive

2:13b — The Granting Of Grace

2:14a — Wiping Away The Debt-Note

2:14b — The Crucified Debt-Note

2:15a — Stripping The Powers

2:15b — The Victory Of Christ

Colossians 2:16-23   Detached From Christ

2:16a — Let No One Judge You

2:16b — Eating & Drinking

2:16c — Holy Days

2:17 — Shadows

2:18a — Humbling Practices

2:18b — The Worship Of Angels

2:18c — Visions

2:18d — Pride

2:19 — The Body And The Head

2:20 — Dead To The Elemental-Orders

2:21 — Worthless Prohibitions

2:22a — Decay

2:22b — Human Commandments

2:23a — Self-Willed Worship

2:23b — Ineffective Rules

Colossians 3:1–4   Seek The Things Above

3:1a — Seeking Things Above

3:1b — At The Right Hand Of God

3:2 — Thinking The Things Above

3:3 — Hidden With Christ

3:4 — Revealed With Christ

Colossians 3:5–17   Live In Love In The Church

3:5a — Necrotizing Sins

3:5b — Bad Desires

3:6 — The Wrath Of God

3:7 — Sins Of The Past

3:8 — Sinful Anger

3:9 — Strip Off The Old Man

3:10a — Clothed With The New Man

3:10b — Renewed In God’s Image

3:11 — One In Christ, All In Christ

3:12a — Chosen, Holy & Loved

3:12b — A Heart Of Compassion

3:13 — Granting Grace

3:14 — Love

3:15 — The Peace Of Christ

3:16a — The Word Of Christ

3:16b — Teaching Through Song

3:17a — All In The Name Of Jesus

3:17b — Giving Thanks (3)

Colossians 3:18–4:1   Live In Love In The Household

3:18 — Wives

3:19 — Husbands

3:20 — Children

3:21 — Fathers

3:22a — Slaves & Obedience

3:22b — Slaves & Sincerity

3:23 — Working For The Lord

3:24a — Inheriting A Reward

3:24b-25 — No Partiality

4:1 — Masters & Justice

Colossians 4:2-6   Live In Love In The World

4:2 — Attend To Prayer

4:3a — An Open Door

4:3b — Speaking The Mystery

4:4 — The Necessity Of Speaking

4:5a — Conduct Before Outsiders

4:5b — Snapping Up The Time

4:6a — Gracious Words

4:6b — Responding To Others

Colossians 4:7–18   Grace Be With You

4:7-8 — Tychicus The Messenger

4:9 — Onesimus, The Former Slave

4:10-11 — Jewish Co-Workers

4:12-14 — Non-Jewish Co-Workers

4:15 — Nearby Churches

4:16 — Letter-Sharing

4:17 — Encouraging Archippus

4:18 — Final Greetings

Works Cited

Topical Reference

Endnotes

A translation

Colossians

The words placed inside brackets are not in the Greek text, but are implied by the grammatical indicators of the Greek language. Some words are hyphenated to indicate that they are one word in Greek.

GRACE TO YOU (1:1-2)

¹ Paul (an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God) and Timothy (a brother); ² to those in Colossae, the holy-ones and faithful brothers [and sisters] in Christ; grace to you and peace from God our Father.

PRAYERS OF THANKS (1:3-8)

³ We give-thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, at all times when praying for you, ⁴ having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the holy-ones ⁵due to the hope being kept for you in the heavens, which you previously heard about in the word of truth, the good-message ⁶which is making itself present to you—even as in all the world it is fruit-bearing and growing, so also among you, since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth, ⁷ just as you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-slave, who is a faithful servant of Christ for us, ⁸ the one who informed us of your love in the Spirit.

PRAYERS OF ASKING (1:9-14)

⁹ Because of this, we also, from the day we heard, have not stopped praying for you and asking in order that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and Spirit-oriented understanding, ¹⁰ to walk worthily of the Lord in every form of pleasing, in every good work fruit-bearing and growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹ being empowered with all power in accordance with the might of his glory in all endurance and patience with joy, ¹² giving-thanks to the Father for qualifying you for a share of the inheritance of the holy-ones in the light, ¹³ [the Father] who delivered us from the authority of darkness and relocated [us] to the kingdom of the Son of his love— ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins—

JESUS’ MINISTRY (1:15-20)

¹⁵ [the loved Son], who is the image of the unseen God, the firstborn of all creation, ¹⁶ for in him were created all things in the heavens and on the earth, the seen things and the unseen things, whether thrones or lordships or primal-powers, or authorities; all things through him and toward him have been created; ¹⁷ and he is before all things, and all things in him stand together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body (the church), the primal-power, the firstborn from out of the dead ones, in order that in all things he [himself] would be firsting, ¹⁹ for in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell ²⁰ and through him to reconcile all things toward him— having-made-peace through the blood of his cross—whether things on the earth or things in the heavens.

JESUS’ MINISTRY TO THE COLOSSIANS (1:21-23)

²¹ And you, once being alienated and enemy-minded in evil works, ²² he now reconciled in his body of flesh through death, to present you as holy and unblemished and blameless before him, ²³ if indeed you remain in the faith, being foundationed and settled, and not moving from the hope of the good-message which you heard, which has been proclaimed to every created-being under heaven, of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

PAUL’S MINISTRY (1:24-29)

²⁴ Now I rejoice in sufferings for you, and I fill up that which remains to be completed of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for [the sake of] his body, which is the church, ²⁵ of which I have become a servant according to the household-management-plan God has given to me—for you—to fill-out the word of God, ²⁶ the mystery which was being concealed from ages and from generations, but now is revealed to his holy-ones, ²⁷ to whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is, Christ in you, the hope of glory; ²⁸ whom we declare, warning every person and teaching every person in all wisdom, so that we may present every person complete in Christ; ²⁹ [a goal] for which I toil, striving by means of his energy, which is energizing me with power.

PAUL’S MINISTRY TO THE COLOSSIANS (2:1-5)

¹ For I want you to know how great a struggle I have over you and those in Laodicea and as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, ² in order that their hearts would be encouraged, having been drawn together in love and toward all the riches of the full assurance of understanding, toward the knowledge of the mystery of God, [which is] Christ, ³ in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are concealed. ⁴ This I say so that no one may con you with a convincing word. ⁵ For even if I am absent in the flesh, yet in spirit I am with you, rejoicing and seeing your orderly-formation and the solidarity of your faith in Christ.

WALK IN CHRIST, NOT IN CAPTIVITY (2:6-8)

⁶ As you therefore have received the Christ—Jesus the Lord—walk in him, ⁷ having been rooted and being built up in him, and being established in the faith just as you were taught, overflowing in thanksgiving. ⁸ Watch out that no one will be captivating you through philosophy and empty deceit which are according to human tradition, according to the elemental-orders of the world, and not according to Christ;

ATTACHED TO CHRIST (2:9-15)

⁹ for in him [that is, in Christ] dwells bodily all the fullness of the deity, ¹⁰ and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all primal-powers and authorities, ¹¹ in whom also you were circumcised with a circumcision made-without-hands, by the stripping of the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ, ¹² having been jointly-buried with him in baptism, in whom also you were jointly-raised through faith in the energizing-work of God who raised him from the dead ones. ¹³ And you, being dead in the transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he [God] made you jointly-alive with him [Christ], having granted-grace to us for all transgressions. ¹⁴ Wiping-away the handwritten debt-note against us, which opposed us with its decrees, he [God] has taken it from center-stage, having nailed it to the cross. ¹⁵ Having stripped the primal-powers and the authorities, he [God] exposed them openly, triumphantly-parading them in him [Christ].

DETACHED FROM CHRIST (2:16-23)

¹⁶ Therefore, let no one judge you in eating and drinking or in respect to a festival or a new-moon or sabbaths, ¹⁷ which are a shadow of coming things, but the body [that cast the shadow is] of Christ. ¹⁸ Let nobody disqualify you, insisting on humbling-practices and worship of angels, claiming-access to the things which he has seen, vainly being puffed up by his mind of flesh, ¹⁹ and not gripping the head, from whom all the body, being supplied and drawn together through its joints and connecting-tissues, grows with growth from God.

²⁰ If you died with Christ to the elemental-orders of the world, why, as though living in [that] world, would you come under its decrees, ²¹ Do not touch; do not taste; do not contact! ²² all of which goes to decay with use? [Such decrees are] according to the commandments and teachings of men, ²³ which indeed are a word having wisdom in self-willed-worship and humbling-practices, the unsparing-treatment of the body, but they are without honor [in going] against the filling-full of the flesh.

SEEK THE THINGS ABOVE (3:1-4)

¹ If therefore you were jointly-raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, sitting at the right-hand of God. ² Think the things above, not the things on the earth. ³ For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God; ⁴ when Christ (your life) is revealed, then also you—with him—will be revealed in glory.

LIVE IN LOVE IN THE CHURCH (3:5-17)

⁵ Necrotize, therefore, the parts [of you which are] of the earth: sexual-sin, impurity, passion, bad desire, and greed (which is idolatry)— ⁶ because of these the wrath of God comes. ⁷ In these you also once walked when you were living in them; ⁸ but now, you, throw-off all these: wrath, anger, bad things, slander, filthy-talk from your mouth. ⁹ Lie not to each other, having stripped off the old man with his practices, ¹⁰ and having clothed [yourself] with the new [man], which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created him. ¹¹ Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but all and in all is Christ.

¹² Clothe [yourselves], therefore—as God’s chosen-ones, holy and being loved—with the heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, ¹³ bearing with one another and granting-grace to each other if ever anyone has a grievance. Just as the Lord has granted-grace to you, so should you [grant-grace to others]. ¹⁴ Over all these things, [put on] love, which is the connecting-tissue of completeness.

¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ, to which you were called in one body, arbitrate in your hearts; and be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and warning each other in all wisdom with psalms, hymns and Spirit-oriented songs, singing by grace in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ And in all of whatever you do—in word or in work—[do] all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving-thanks to God the Father through him.

LIVE IN LOVE IN THE HOUSEHOLD (3:18-4:1)

¹⁸ Women, submit to [your] men as fitting in the Lord. ¹⁹ Men, love [your] women, and do not be embittered against them.

²⁰ Children, obey [your] parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing in the Lord. ²¹ Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become dispirited.

²² Slaves, obey in all things [your] lords according to the flesh, not by way of only-when-watched service, as people-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. ²³ In whatever you do, work from the soul, as for the Lord and not for men, ²⁴ knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. Slave for the Lord Christ, ²⁵ for the one doing wrong will receive-back what he did wrong—and there is no partiality. ⁴:¹ Lords, give justice and equal-treatment to [your] slaves, knowing that you also have a Lord in heaven.

LIVE IN LOVE IN THE WORLD (4:2-6)

² As for prayer—attend to it, being-watchful in it with thanksgiving, ³ praying at the same time even for us in order that God would open for us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ for which I have been bound, ⁴ in order that I may reveal it as is necessary for me to speak. ⁵ Walk in wisdom before those outside, snapping up the time. ⁶ Let your word always [be spoken] in grace, being seasoned with salt, [so as] to know how it is necessary for you to respond to each one.

GRACE BE WITH YOU (4:7-18)

⁷ Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow-slave in the Lord, will make known to you all the things about me. ⁸ Him I sent to you for this [reason]: in order that you may know the things concerning us and that he may encourage your hearts. ⁹ [I sent him] along with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you; they will make known to you all the things here.

¹⁰ Aristarchus my fellow-prisoner-of-war greets you, [as does] Mark, the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you have received commands; if he comes to you, welcome him), ¹¹ and Jesus called Justus—these alone being from the circumcision who are [my] fellow-workers in the kingdom of God, [and] who have been a comfort to me. ¹² Epaphras, who is one of you, a slave of Christ Jesus, greets you, always striving for you in his prayers in order that you may stand, complete and being fully-assured in all the will of God. ¹³ For I testify for him that he experiences much hardship for you and those in Laodicea and those in Hierapolis. ¹⁴ Luke the beloved physician greets you, and [so does] Demas.

¹⁵ Greet the brothers-and-sisters in Laodicea and Nympha and the church in her house. ¹⁶ And when this letter is read to you, make [arrangements] in order that it be read in the church of the Laodiceans, and that you read the one [forwarded] from Laodicea. ¹⁷ And say to Archippus, See to the service which you received in the Lord in order that you may fulfill it. ¹⁸ The greeting is [written] in my—Paul’s—hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.

Preface

MY ASSUMPTIONS

I am an evangelical Christian who believes Colossians is part of God’s Word revealed by the Lord for the sake of individual Christians as well as the church. I also believe it is what it claims to be—a letter from the apostle Paul to the church in Colossae. Although Paul was not conscious of it at the time, I believe that the process described in 2 Pet 1:21 (concerning the OT prophets) also applies to him: he was moved by the Holy Spirit to express the word of God. Again, unknown to Paul but discerned by the church, his words to the Colossians were not only spoken by Paul and written by his secretary, but they were breathed-out by God and thus are profitable for teaching, reproving, correcting, training and equipping God’s people (a truth declared in 2 Tim 3:16-17, specifically in reference to the OT). So I do not regard the book of Colossians as a dead document from the past, a literary corpse that needs to be dissected so that we can write an autopsy concerning what was healthy or diseased about it. Rather, I am convinced that the book of Colossians is the Word of God, alive and active, sharper than any two-edged sword (Heb 4:12). I may be the one reading and interpreting this book, but in a more profound sense it is reading and interpreting me—and all who read it.¹

So for all those readers who seek to hear, understand and obey the word of God, the book of Colossians comes as a divine gift, written by Paul, inspired by the Spirit and presently moving into our open hearts. I trust that those who use this commentary will be delighted, convicted and encouraged by all they discover in this letter, so that their faith and love will grow.

MY APPROACH

Before I ever went to seminary, I was already a dedicated student of God’s Word, who wanted to grow in my knowledge and obedience. But I would be frustrated by the fact that the available books were either too general or too technical (the latter assumed a working knowledge of Greek and other scholarly terms). I particularly remember trying to figure out what solipsism meant, since it was not even in my dictionary. This commentary is written for people who want to gain a fuller understanding of Scripture, but may not have a degree in biblical studies or be familiar with scholarly lingo. My goal is to dive deeply into the text, but use a vocabulary that could be understood by any interested high school (or even middle school) student. Thus I have eliminated big words and specialist language as much as possible—avoiding terms like eschatological, Pauline, and even theological (although quotations from some authors may use such terms). I write this way, not only because I think the non-scholarly section of the church is underserved by today’s commentaries, but also because the original letter of Colossians was written to non-scholars as well.

My method was to write first—using only the Greek NT, the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the OT available in Paul’s day) and English translations to discern the meaning of Colossians—and then research other texts, both ancient and modern. I did this in order to listen to the text without being prejudiced by the issues that have caught the attention of the scholarly world. My hope was to observe at least a few things from a fresh perspective, prior to the input of other scholars. Subsequent research was still needed, however, to correct my previous understandings and raise issues I had not earlier considered.

Although many commentaries like to inform readers about controversies in the text, and then list which commentators are on which side of the debate, I have generally avoided that. I occasionally note scholars who offer a differing opinion, but not as frequently as more technical commentaries do. Stacking up one set of scholars against another doesn’t strike me as very helpful (unless one is working on a research paper).

This commentary will go into a lot of detail, especially with how the words and ideas are used in Colossians and other books of the Bible. Some might even say there is so much detail that, as the saying goes, they can’t see the forest for the trees. While there is always the danger of looking so closely at details that one misses the big picture, the opposite problem can also occur—people can’t see the trees for the forest. By not paying attention to details, we may only notice the big picture and see only a generalized forest that looks like every other forest we’ve seen before. If we are to think of God’s Word as living bread for the soul, then I want us to savor each morsel rather than gulping everything down in a fast-food manner. Or if we are to regard God Word as a treasure, I think it’s important not only to stand in awe at the vastness of the Bible’s wealth, but also to linger long in exploring the facets of each Scriptural gem. But in spite of my attention to details, I never want to lose sight of the big picture either.

During my research into how the Greek words found in Colossians are used throughout the Bible, I not only had to look in the NT, but also the ancient Greek translation of the OT known as the Septuagint (a word that refers to the seventy men who supposedly made this translation). The Septuagint was used during the NT era and it is quoted many times by NT writers, including Paul. In some cases, especially Psalms and Jeremiah, the numbering of verses in the Septuagint differs from the numbering in the Hebrew and English OT. I do not always indicate these variations in numbering, unless I am actually quoting the Septuagint using the New English Translation of the Septuagint (NETS), or referring to verses in the Septuagint that are not in Hebrew or English Bibles. When this is the case, I will place the letters LXX before the chapter and verse (LXX is the Roman numeral for 70 and the common scholarly shorthand for the Septuagint). Readers should also be aware that the Septuagint includes the apocryphal books found in Roman Catholic Bibles. Even though I do not regard these books as inspired by God, it’s still important to include them in our study because the NT writers likely knew of them and were influenced by how Greek words were used in those books to tell the story of God and his people.

In each section, my first order of business was to translate Colossians myself, and I will be the first to admit, the sentences are stiff. But that’s by design. I tried as much as possible to put the words in the same order as in the Greek and not add too many words that were not there. My goal was also to keep grammatical elements the same from Greek to English—so nouns were translated as nouns, adjectives as adjectives, verbs as verbs, etc. In addition, I attempted to be consistent in translating commands as commands, infinitives as infinitives (verbs with to in front of them) and participles as participles (those are the verbs that often end with ing). And when the same word was used more than once in the letter, I tried to translate it the same way in most cases.² When I felt it necessary to add clarifying words that were not in the text, I placed those words in brackets. Sometimes a single Greek word could only be translated accurately with a phrase, so I would sometimes hyphenate the phrase so that the reader would know this was originally one Greek word.

I refer to a lot of Greek words in my discussion, but I knew I could not count on the readers to know various elements of Greek grammar and how words change in spelling depending on how they function in the sentence. Nor could all of that be taught or explained in this commentary. So rather than getting into all those complexities, I wrote out only one form of each Greek word, using English letters instead of Greek ones. Nouns and adjectives are given in their singular nominative form. Verbs are given in their first person, present, singular form (such as I come). Only occasionally did it seem necessary to refer to more grammatical details (such as the genitive or dative case), and in those instances I hope I explained them sufficiently. (See the end of the introduction for a guide on pronouncing the Greek terms.)

Except for my own translation of Colossians, nearly all other biblical quotations come from the English Standard Version (ESV). Since the ESV did not translate the Apocryphal parts of the Septuagint, however, quotes from those books came from either the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) or the New English Translation of the Septuagint (NETS).

Readers will notice that as I proceed phrase-by-phrase through each section, I not only print out that phrase, but also repeat some of the surrounding context. It’s not that people can’t turn back a few pages to look it up, but my guess is that most people do not do this, and thus quickly lose awareness of the context.

It’s also common in many commentaries for authors to refer to other Bible verses simply by listing the references, assuming that the reader could look them up if they wanted. Again, my hunch is that most people don’t actually look them up. So in many cases I not only listed the references, but also either quoted the verse or provided a summary of it. In that way you can actually see the parallels yourself instead of taking my word for it.

Since most people who use commentaries do not read them cover-to-cover, but dip into them at places of concern to them at the moment, I will often refer the reader to earlier discussions.

As for inclusive language, I have endeavored to make my pronouns as inclusive as possible in reference to humanity, but I have retained masculine pronouns in reference to God. This does not mean I regard God as a male figure, but I believe it’s less problematic—at least at this stage of the evolving English language—to follow the biblical forms of speech in referring to God. I hope that those who disagree with my decision can still find truth in this commentary.

At the end of each section in this commentary is a hymn I’ve written. The hymns, set to familiar tunes, draw out the main ideas of their corresponding portion of Colossians. I did this because of my conviction that if you can’t sing your beliefs to God or about God, then it’s questionable how true or important they really are.

MY INDEBTEDNESS

Since Paul frequently expressed his gratitude to God and urged his readers to do the same (especially in Colossians), I would like to offer up my own words of thanks:

I thank the Lord for breathing out this portion of Scripture.

I thank the apostle Paul for being a willing instrument of God’s Spirit in writing this letter.

I thank my parents John and Audrey Landegent, pastors, Sunday School teachers, leaders and professors who instilled in me a love for God’s Word.

I thank Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan; Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa; and Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, for allowing me to use their libraries for research.

I thank the two congregations I served while writing this book (Central Park Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan; and First Reformed Church in Volga, South Dakota) for giving me time to research and write.

I thank Dr. Earl William Kennedy and Dr. Jim Brownson for reading over some portions of this book and offering their input.

I thank my sister-in-law Nancy Landegent, and my wife Ruth Ann Landegent for helping to proofread this lengthy book.

And I especially want to thank my wife for encouraging me to write this commentary, even though it meant that a lot of my free time would be used up doing so. This book is dedicated to her.

Introduction

AUTHOR

The apostle Paul was a man called by God to lead the way in bringing the good news of Jesus to those who were not Jews. He was an unlikely candidate for this position, because at one time he had been zealous for Jewish ways, so much so that he actively persecuted the followers of Jesus. But that all changed when the Risen Lord confronted him on the Damascus Road, and gave him his new calling in life.

Paul was faithful to that calling, and worked diligently, especially in various cities of Asia Minor, Macedonia and Greece, in preaching the gospel to the Jews first, but also to non-Jews. Nearly everywhere he went, people came to believe in Jesus for their salvation, and so a church was formed. Although Paul was frequently unable to remain long in one place—mostly because of persecution, but also because of the Spirit’s leading—he did not want to leave these new believers to fend for themselves. In order to continue nurturing them in the faith, Paul did five basic things: (1) he prayed for them; (2) when he was able, he made return visits; (3) he appointed leaders from within the congregation; (4) he sent his own ministry team members to give guidance; and (5) he wrote letters to further encourage them in following Jesus.

Usually Paul sent these letters to churches that he himself had founded (as is true of 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and 1-2 Thessalonians), but in the cases of Romans and Colossians, he wrote to churches he had never visited before. But even though Paul had never met the Colossians, they had come to the Lord indirectly through his ministry, for they heard the gospel from someone that Paul had converted.

Although this letter claims to be written by the apostle Paul—a claim which I accept—many scholars are doubtful. They argue that it was written by either one of Paul’s associates or a later disciple of Paul’s, who attached Paul’s name to this letter to give it greater credibility. Scholars describe writings like this as pseudonymous.³ We have many examples of such writings in the ancient world, even among Jewish writers and people claiming to be Christians. For instance, many Jews and Christians were intrigued by 1 Enoch, which falsely claimed to have been written by the biblical figure of Enoch, a righteous man who never died, but was taken to the Lord’s presence (Gen 5:21-24). We also have many examples of gospels supposedly written by other figures (such as Thomas, Philip, Peter, Judas, etc.), but the content of these gospels indicates they were actually written at a later time.

Some scholars claim the original readers knew at least some of these writings were pseudonymous, but accepted them anyway as a kind of pious fiction, as if people were saying, Everyone knows Enoch didn’t really write this book, but the content is so helpful we’ll just look past that. I’m skeptical. Even though some forms of religious literature (gospels, apocalypses, testaments, etc.), were written under other people’s names, it was not a widespread practice to write letters in that way,⁴ especially not with the kind of incidental details found in Colossians.⁵ Whenever it was done and discovered, they were quickly rejected as fraudulent.

The argument that Colossians was not really written by Paul is based on two basic elements: the style of writing (including vocabulary) and the content of the writing (Moo 2008: 30).

Style. With regards to style, the issue turns on matters of vocabulary and grammar.

(a) Vocabulary. Of the approximately 1582 words used in Colossians, 33 words appear only once in the NT.⁶ This fact, however, does not mean too much. All of Paul’s letters contain only-used-once words.⁷ Especially notable is Philippians. Even though it is widely regarded as having been written by Paul, it has about the same number and percentage of only-used-once words as Colossians.⁸ Why Paul used these unique words may vary from one instance to the next. It could be due to the use of different secretaries, different stylistic choices or different subject matters.⁹ It would not be surprising if the frequency of unusual terms increased whenever Paul criticized the teachings of others, perhaps borrowing their terms and re-purposing them, or employing an unusual term that was especially suited for counteracting the false teachings. Even though it may be difficult to determine what the distorted teaching in Colossians was about (see below), it’s important to note that nearly half of Colossians’ only-used-once words (15 out of 33) are found in Col 2:6–23, the section of the letter specifically dealing with misguided teachings. The following words from that section, then, are particularly likely to have either been borrowed by Paul from his opponents, or been deemed by Paul as particularly useful in combating their ideas:¹⁰

• sulagōgeō (verb, to captivate, Col 2:8)

• philosophia (noun, philosophy, Col 2:8)

• thēotes (noun, deity, Col 2:9, related to the common word for God, theos),

• sōmatikōs (adverb, bodily, Col 2:9)

• apekdusis (noun, stripping, Col 2:11, related to the verb apekduomai used in Col 2:15 and 3:9)

• cheirographon (noun, hand-written document, Col 2:14

• prosēloō (verb, to nail, Col 2:14)

• neomēnia (noun, new moon, Col 2:16)

• katabrabeuō (verb, to condemn, Col 2:18)

• embateuō (verb, to enter, Col 2:18)

• dogmatizō (verb, to come under decrees, Col 2:20)

• apochrēsis (noun, consuming, Col 2:22)

• apheidia (noun, unsparing treatment, Col 2:23)

• ethelothrēskia (noun, self-willed worship, Col 2:23)

• plēsmonē (noun, filling-full, Col 2:23).

Of the 21 other only-used-once words in the rest of Colossians, 11 of them are closely related to terms that Paul does use in his other letters, which means it would not be that unusual for Paul to use them here.¹¹ In light of all this, it’s not surprising that most scholars do not believe that vocabulary is a good way to determine authorship (Moo 2008: 30).¹²

(b) Grammar. Others point to grammatical differences between Colossians and other letters widely-acknowledged to be written by Paul. Consider the following differences:

• Debating style. In other letters, Paul often engages in a debate with an imagined opponent, putting words in their mouth and then answering their objections. This would often include rapid fire series of biting questions … and the direct and pointed appeals to the readers (Thompson 2005: 2).¹³ By contrast, Paul does not speak so frankly in Colossae. But this may be because Paul does not know this congregation as well and does not feel it would serve his purposes to be so direct.¹⁴

• Small words. Every writer/speaker has their favorite little expressions to move from one sentence to the next (such as well, for instance, yet, and as well). Those who doubt Paul’s authorship of this letter point out that Paul does not use some of his favorite little expressions in Colossians as frequently as in his other letters.¹⁵

• Synonyms. Colossians often pairs up words that mean nearly the same thing, which some argue is not as common in his other letters.¹⁶

• Stringing nouns together. Somewhat unique to Colossians is a tendency to string many nouns together, connecting them together by using the genitive case (which is often indicated in translation by the word of).¹⁷

• Participles.In 25 instances, Colossians uses participles to lead into another statement—a writing style Paul only uses 31 times in the seven letters widely-acknowledged to be written by him (Schweizer 1976: 18).

Although scholars often point out these grammatical differences, they often overlook the similarities between Colossians and other letters written by Paul (R. Wilson 2005: 14). For instance, compared to the rest of the NT:

• only Paul’s letters use the word kai in the phrase because of these things also (Col 1:9; 1 Thess 2:13; 3:5; Rom 13:6, ESV).

• only Paul refers to God’s people as his holy ones (Col 1:26; 1 Thess 3:13; 2 Thess 1:10).

• only Paul uses the verb charizomai to refer to forgiveness (Col 2:13; 3:13; 2 Cor 2:7, 10; 12:13).

• only Paul uses the phrase en merei, meaning in respect to (Col 2:16; 2 Cor 3:10; 9:3).

• only Paul refers to every good work or good work in the singular (Col 1:10; 2 Cor 9:8; 2 Thess 2:17; Rom 2:7; 13:3; Phil 1:6).

Differences in grammatical style need not indicate a different author. Stylistic variations can also be due to different audiences and situations, as well as changes in the author’s own way of speaking.¹⁸ Witherington (2007: 2) contends that what we see in Colossians is not someone other than Paul writing the letter, or an aging Paul changing his writing style, but a mission-minded Paul adapting his style to match his audience. Paul himself writes in 1 Cor 9:19–23 (ESV) about his own ability (and desire) to adapt to his different audiences: . . . I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some (see Houlden 1970: 136). It could be that in Colossians (and Ephesians) Paul is using the Asiatic style of rhetoric to fit his target audiences in the province of Asia. With Asiatic rhetoric (in contrast to Atticizing rhetoric), sentences are longer,¹⁹ use more flowery language and pile up words that have similar meanings (Witherington 2007: 4–10, 18, 102, 104, 128). In addition, those who think someone besides Paul is responsible for the stylistic changes have not accounted for the fact that there are stylistic changes within the letter of Colossians itself,²⁰ so that the second half of Colossians sounds more like Paul’s other letters than the first half (see especially the debating style of Col 2:16–3:4). Another important factor is that Paul often used secretaries, and there may have been some leeway in how secretaries changed the phrasing of what Paul dictated to them.²¹

From all of these points and counterpoints, it’s plain to see that issues of writing style cannot determine whether Paul wrote Colossians.

Content. More commonly, those who doubt Paul wrote Colossians often indicate that what this letter teaches varies from what Paul teaches in other letters.²² Some, for example, point out that some of the key concepts so characteristic of Paul are missing (or virtually absent) in Colossians. For instance, this letter seldom mentions the Holy Spirit,²³ righteousness, the law, sin (in the singular) or justification;²⁴ nor does it say much about the end times. The fact that some of these themes are missing could indicate it was not written by Paul if Colossians was a systematic presentation of Paul’s overall teaching. But it’s not a systematic presentation; it’s a letter written for a particular purpose.²⁵ If the Colossian church is not wrestling with issues of the law (as in Galatia) or the Holy Spirit (as in Corinth), but with some other new teaching, then why should we expect Paul to measure up to our ideas of what he should write. Besides, in some cases, there is more here in Colossians on certain subjects (such as the end times) than some give the letter credit for. To say that the real Paul could not express what is found in Colossians imposes an unwarranted limitation on Paul’s intelligence, versatility and originality (Bruce 1984: 29).

Those scholars who believe someone else wrote Colossians are not facing up to what that means for this letter’s ability to convey God’s truth. While it may sound noble for someone personally acquainted with Paul (or a later disciple) to address the issues of his day by sending a letter under Paul’s name containing what Paul would have said if he had been here, the fact that this writer makes such great efforts to fool his readers undermines his noble cause. In other words, this other writer is going out of his way to intentionally deceive his readers about who authored it. Such efforts to give the air of authenticity would actually mean the letter is a deceptive (and unacceptable) forgery instead of a carrier of truth.²⁶ So if this letter is not substantially from Paul and approved by Paul, we should dismiss it as unworthy of being included in Scripture.²⁷

Why is this issue important? In part because those who assign Colossians to another unknown writer almost always use this as a reason for dismissing (or at least de-emphasizing) some of its truth-claims. M. Barth and Blanke (1994: 114) observe that with regards to Colossians the verdict ‘inauthentic’ leads to a depreciation and devaluation of some element, at times even of the essential substance and character of this letter. Even though many of the writers declare that if Colossians was not written by Paul it would still be a valid part of the canon, nonetheless it gets treated as if it were a step down from the heights of Galatians and Romans. How much better to interpret it on its own terms, as a letter written by Paul. From this perspective we are in a much better position to see how its message fits with the other letters from Paul (Seitz 2014:22–24), rather than picking and choosing which insights are more like the real Paul (at least according to our tastes) and thus more valid.

If we are to think of Paul as the genuine author of Colossians, as I do, it raises the question of when he might have written it. This, however, is unclear. The only circumstance we know for sure is that Paul is under (probably Roman) custody. It’s uncertain if he is confined in Rome, Ephesus, or some other location. It’s possible Paul wrote this letter during the time-frame covered in the book of Acts—perhaps a letter from Ephesus (during an unrecorded prison term) or while imprisoned in Caesarea as he waited for the Roman authorities to act on his case. More likely he wrote it after the end of the book of Acts, perhaps while confined in Rome as described at the end of that book.²⁸ But if Paul had been released after the end of the book of Acts, as many scholars believe, then Paul may have written this letter during a later imprisonment. And unlike the optimistic mood of Phil 1:25, one does not get the impression that Paul thinks he will be released in the near future.

Regardless of which position one takes about Paul’s authorship, it is indisputable that Colossians was regarded as part of the New Testament early on. It is included in P⁴⁶, the earliest papyrus manuscript we have of the NT (copied about 200 AD). Both Tertullian and Origin, writing in the early 200’s mention it as a letter from Paul (see Sumney 2008: 12).

RECIPIENTS

Paul is writing to the church in Colossae, a community in the Roman province of Asia (which today is in the southwestern part of Turkey), about 120 miles inland from Ephesus, the capital of the province.²⁹ Colossae was located on the south bank of the Lycus River (modern day Çürük-su), which runs roughly in a southeast to northwest direction, and joins with the Meander River (modern day Büyük Menderes) that flows toward the Aegean Sea, but not directly by Ephesus. Immediately to the south of Colossae was a high ridge of difficult-to-cross mountains, but there was a road running roughly east to west that linked the eastern part of Asia Minor with the western part. From ancient times to the present day this valley has provided the easiest route through the mountains of Phrygia (Caird 1976: 158). Bruce (1984: 3–5) summarizes its ancient history well, showing how it was a part of the Phrygian kingdom for about 500 years (1200–700 BC), and then in succession was incorporated into the kingdom of Lydia, the Persian Empire in 547 BC, Alexander the Great’s Macedonian Empire in 334 BC, and then back and forth between the Seleucid realm and the kingdom of Pergamum, until finally it came under the control of the Roman empire in 133 BC.

When the Persian emperor Xerxes (485–465 BC) traveled through Asia Minor during his failed attempt to invade Greece, he traveled the Lycus Valley and came across Colossae which the Greek historian Herodotus described then as a great city of Phrygia where the Lycus descends rapidly (The Histories 7.30). About 80 years later, the Greek military leader and historian Xenophon led his men through this area and camped at Colossae for a week. He called it an inhabited city, prosperous and large (Anabasis 1.2.6). It was a thriving center for the textile industry and produced a dark reddish wool known as Colossian wool (Moo 2008: 26). By Paul’s day, however, Colossae’s importance appears to have diminished,³⁰ perhaps because newly-constructed roads bypassed the city.³¹ Not long after Paul wrote this letter, the area was hit by a massive earthquake which we know significantly damaged nearby communities, but we do not know how much Colossae was affected.³² Unfortunately, archaeology has not shed light on this issue because the site has never been excavated.

Colossae may have been many days journey from Ephesus, but it was not isolated. Colossae and two other cities nearby formed a triangle, with Colossae in the southeast corner, Laodicea lying twelve miles west of Colossae and Hierapolis six miles north of Laodicea (and fifteen miles northwest of Colossae). They were all in the Lycus valley, with Laodicea and Colossae on the south bank and Hierapolis on the north (Dunn 1996: 282). Other than the brief reference to Hierapolis in Col 4:13 (which states that Epaphras worked hard for the churches in all three communities), the city is not mentioned elsewhere in the NT.³³ Laodicea, however, is mentioned four times in Colossians (Col 2:1; 4:13, 15–16) as well as in the book of Revelation. That church was one of seven to receive messages from Jesus, and their message was mostly negative in tone (Rev 1:11; 3:14–22). It had become far more prosperous than Colossae, known for banking, textiles and a medical school. When Laodicea was destroyed by an earthquake in 60 AD, it was rich enough to rebuild without help from Rome (Tacitus’ The Annals 14.27).

Although most of Paul’s church letters were written to churches he had planted (such as those in Corinth, the province of Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, and Thessalonica), Colossians and Romans were the only ones written to churches founded by others.³⁴ So how did the churches in Colossae, Laodicea and Hierapolis come into existence? The best guess is that they were formed through the evangelistic work of Epaphras, who regarded Colossae as his hometown (Col 1:7–8; 4:12–13; see also Philemon 23). Scholars speculate that Epaphras first heard and responded to the gospel when he heard Paul preach during his long stay in Ephesus, somehow joined Paul’s ministry team, and then returned to his hometown area with the message of Jesus.³⁵ There is no proof, however, that this is what happened. Others speculate further that some factions in those churches were rebelling against Epaphras’ leadership and this letter was written in support of his work, which is why Paul calls attention to his good work in both the beginning and end of the letter. Again, however, there is no evidence of this in the letter. But even though Paul’s connection to Colossae was only an indirect one, as an apostle to non-Jewish people, Paul wants to encourage these believers in their faith and to warn them against distortions of the gospel. Apostles may have had special ties to the churches they had started, but since the whole world was their mission field, it would not be unusual for an apostle to speak to other congregations as well (Garland 1998: 40).

The religious environment of Colossae was shaped by both a strong paganism and the presence of many Jews. Although Colossae was part of the Roman province of Asia, it was also in what the ancient world regarded as the area of Phrygia, an inland part of Turkey known for religious superstitions designed to alleviate people’s fears of supernatural powers. If Ephesus was known as a center of magic and superstition (Acts 19:19 records that new Christians burned their expensive magic books), Phrygia was even more so. Colossian coins from this time testify to the worship of deities like Isis, Serapis, Helios (a sun god), Demeter, Artemis and Men (a moon god). Other deities worshiped in the area (Sabazius, Dionysius, Attis and Cybele) were likely honored in Colossae as well.³⁶ Forms of worship included procession and sacrifice, lamentation and jubilation accompanied by musical instruments, finally dances culminating in mutilation, even self-castration, performed in frenetic ecstasy (M Barth & Blanke 1994: 11). The people of this region had no difficulty in believing in gods and goddesses who made appearances and did wonders (see S. Mitchell 1993b: 11–13). This background may explain why Paul focuses on spiritual powers in Colossians more than in any other of his letters (see C. Arnold 1996: 158–159).

But Phrygia was not only a pagan stronghold. In 213 BC, the Greek leader Antiochus III (who ruled over an area from Asia Minor to Babylon) transported two thousand Jewish families from the Babylonian area to the region of the Lycus Valley (Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities 12:147–153) hoping that their loyal presence would bring stability to the region. They were assured they would have full religious freedom in their new home (M. Barth and Blanke 1994: 13). Various inscriptions show that many Jewish settlers were present (see Bruce 1984: 11–12), probably conducting business along the trade routes. By 62 BC we know at least 11,000 free Jewish males were living in the same district as Colossae. According to Cicero, the Romans seized a significant amount of Jewish gold from that area which had been given to support the temple in Jerusalem, enough to indicate that 7,500 to 14,000 adult Jewish males lived in the region (Pro Flacco 68, see Dunn 1996: 21 and Bruce 1984: 10–11 for more details on this). These Jews not only influenced the pagans around them,³⁷ but the Jews were also strongly influenced by the pagans. Magic flourished among the Jews despite strong and persistent condemnation by the religious authority (Alexander 1986: 342; see also C. Arnold 1996: 32–60, 80–83, 95–98, 150–155 for more on magic and the veneration of angels among Jews).

This mixture of pagans and Jews in the area does not mean the Colossian church was evenly divided among them. Since Paul describes his readers as once being alienated and enemy-minded in evil works (Col 1:21) who had earlier walked in all kinds of impurity and idolatry (Col 3:5–7) and the uncircumcision of your flesh (Col 2:13), it’s likely most of the Colossian believers were not Jews, but converts from paganism. It’s also telling that Colossians contains no explicit quotation from the OT³⁸ or any reference to the law (see Moo 2008: 27–28), which Paul would have been more likely to do had he been writing to Jewish Christians. These pagan converts, however, may well have been influenced by Jews in the area, and also gained greater awareness of OT teachings once they entered the church.

PURPOSE

While some might think Colossians should read like a book meant to satisfy the needs of the scholarly world for new ideas clothed in academic rigor, it’s often forgotten that Colossians is a letter written to ordinary believers in the first century who may not have been acquainted with philosophical theories. As Tidball (2011: ix) put it, This letter was written to farmers and traders in wool who would have had no formal education and many of whom would have been illiterate. The readers were ordinary people—not post-Enlightenment theological graduates—eking out an existence in a precarious world. It’s also telling that Paul wrote a letter, not an essay. Letters, unlike essays, were not sent to engage in academic arguments. Rather, letters served many different purposes, and in the case of Colossians some of those purposes included unifying relationships, conveying information, celebrating and defending truth, giving advice and warnings, making corrections, sharing love, and strengthening faith.

Many scholars assume the letter was mostly written to warn the Colossians of a dangerous set of ideas and practices circulating in their church. While it’s true that these issues dominate chapter 2, it’s not so clear that the whole letter is written against them.³⁹ Perhaps these wrong-headed ideas and practices created the need and urgency for Paul to write the Colossians in the first place, but he had so much more to say to them than what not to believe.

A few scholars like to think the letter is focused on leading the disciples toward mature character development, much as the moral philosophers of that day would do with their disciples (Talbert 2007: 175–176). Paul, however, was very different from these philosophers because he emphasized the role of Jesus in character development. Although Seneca might advise his friend to Cherish some man of high character, and keep him ever before your eyes, living as if he were watching you (Epistulae Morales, 11.8–10), Paul would speak rather of Christ living within his people, empowering them for holy living.

If any general purpose can be discerned in Colossians, it is that of encouraging these new believers.⁴⁰ Paul has not met them, but he knows they—like all believers living as a religious minority in a suspicious or hostile society—needed encouragement. He mentions this purpose in Col 2:1–2 (For I want you to know how great a struggle I have over you and those in Laodicea … in order that their hearts might be encouraged) and also in Col 4:8 (in that Tychicus was sent in order that you may know the things concerning us and that he may encourage your hearts).

Encouragement can take many forms (as it does in this letter). It is encouraging:

• to know that someone as well known in Christian circles as Paul is aware of you, is thankful for you, and remembers you in prayer (Col 1:1–3, 9–12; 4:18).

• to be told you are doing well in living out your faith (Col 1:4–6; 2:7).

• to know that the person who introduced you to faith in Jesus is someone who can be trusted (Col 1:7–8; 4:12–13).

• to be reminded of everything God has already done for you through Christ (Col 1:13–14, 21–22; 2:11–15).

• to realize afresh that your faith in the Lord is well-placed, for Jesus has power over all powers and created things (Col 1:15–20; 2:9–10, 15).

• to know you can face your own difficulties because the Lord has helped others face even greater troubles (Col 1:24–27; 2:1–2; 4:7–9).

• to hear proclaimed the great things God has planned for your future (Col 1:27–29; 3:4).

• to be told that those who think your faith is deficient are wrong about you and that you already have all you need in Christ (Col