Names of the Book
English: | Colossians |
Greek: | Κολοσσαίος |
Transliterated: | Kolossaios |
Other names: | Paul's epistle to the Colossians |
Who
Wrote the book: | Paul |
Are the key people: | Paul, Timothy, Tychicus, Onesimus, Aristarchus, Mark, Epaphras |
Is it written to: | Believers in Colossae |
What
The work Messiah has done (Colossians 1:1-2:23) |
The work believers should do (Colossians 3:1-4:18) |
When
Was it written: | c 60 CE |
Did the events occur: | c 59-60 CE |
Was it canonized: | c 70-170 CE |
(see the Timeline of the First Century) |
Where
Was it written: | Rome (while Paul was in prison) |
Did the events occur: | Colossae, Laodicea |
Why
Colossians was written to inform us that: |
Yeshua is G-d. |
Yeshua is the head of all believers. |
Believers have union with Messiah. |
Legalism, asceticism, and mysticism are false teachings. |
Introduction
Paul wrote his letter to the believers in Colossae to counter the teachings of ascetic Gnostics. Gnosticism teaches that a person is saved only by special knowledge [Greek gnosis], which the Gnostic masters happened to have. Their false teachings held that everything spiritual was good and everything physical was bad. As such, the Gnostics were teaching believers to abstain from sanctifying their lives physically and enjoy the good things that G-d had given to them but to engage in "self-abasement and severe treatment of the body". Paul declares Messiah's deity and encourages the believers to let no one to act as their judge in regards to their observance of the Law because their observance is a shadow of what is to come and the substance of which is Messiah Himself who is the head over all believers. Paul concludes with a series of greetings and words of encouragement to believers in Colossae and Laodicea.
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