An Overview of the Book of Colossians :: Religion, Paul

A letter from a prison for the Christian freedom Paul writes a letter from a prison in Rome to the Christians of Colossae admonishing and encouraging them that Christ and his gospel will free them from the heretical human regulations being imposed on them. (Colossians 2:6-23) He assures them that Christ has freed them from debts of sins by canceling the record of all sins through death on the cross. (Colossians 2:14) The background of the Letter to the Colossians Colossae was a part of the Roman province of Asia Minor, which is now Turkey. When Paul was in a Roman prison, Epaphras, leader of the church in Colossae, came to Paul in Rome with news about the church of Colossae. Epaphras informed Paul that the Colossians were troubled by a new teaching that was contrary to the gospel which he had been preaching to them. Paul was sorry to hear about the new teaching that claimed a profound knowledge apart from Christ (Colossians 2:8), an emphasis on following prescribed rituals (Colossians 2:16) and the worship of angels (Colossians 2:18). Colossians caught in the wind of fine discourses The Christians of Colossae were in a crisis of faith. Their faith was swaying in the wind of gnostic theories that were spreading in the Roman Empire at that time. According to these theories, all come from a cosmic soup that had been boiling for ages with impressive celestial families of angels or eons, male and female, who devour each other, fuse into each other and finally imprison sparks of spirit in material bodies. In this way people are manufactured who put on a series of successive existences. These kinds of theories affected the faith of the Colossians and went away from Christ. Paul’s teachings to the Colossians 1) Supremacy of Christ Through his Letter Paul establishes the absolute supremacy of Christ. He points out how they can be led astray by the false preachers. He shows that angels or invisible powers are nothing compared with Christ. He is neither agent nor intermediary of a creative adventure without a true creator. He states that Christ is the image of God and in him all things were created. (Colossians 1:15-16) 2) Christ is the fullness of knowledge Paul maintains that in Christ one can find the real knowledge, fullness, and completeness. Paul asserts that Christians have no need for human philosophy and wisdom to be complete since they are complete in Christ, in whom they have the divine wisdom of his gospel and the perfect, complete salvation.