At least three Epistles, and probably four, were prepared about the
same time by the Apostle Paul at his place of imprisonment in Rome, and
sent by the same messengers to the Roman Province of Asia. One was the
Epistle to the Ephesians; a second, the present letter; a third, the
Epistle to Philemon, who was a resident of Colosse; and the fourth is
alluded to in this Epistle
(4:16)
as the Epistle to the Laodiceans, but has been thought by some to be
identical with the Ephesian letter. Three cities are named in this
Epistle which lay contiguous to each other in the bounds of the ancient
Kingdom of Phrygia, but in the last half of the first century were
embraced within the proconsular Province of Asia, of which Ephesus was
the capital, which had Christian congregations, and two of these were
honored with Epistles
(4:13).
The ruins of these cities have been identified, and the close
association of Colosse and Laodicea is witnessed by the fact that they
were only a few miles apart on opposite sides of the valley of the
Lycus, a short distance above where it enters into the larger river
Meander.
Colosse was a city of considerable size more than four hundred years
before the date of this letter, when visited by Xenophon as the Ten
Thousand marched up into Central Asia, and is mentioned by Herodotus
still earlier. At this time, however, it was overshadowed in importance
by Laodicea, and at the present the ruins are less imposing than those
of either Laodicea or Hierapolis.
We learn in the Sixteenth Chapter of Acts that Paul, on his second
missionary journey, passed from Cilicia through the pass in the great
Taurus chain of mountains, which has always been the highway from the
coast to the interior; paused a little while in Lydia; took Timothy in
his train of attendants, and then passed through Phrygia and Galatia.
And, a second time, after his European tour, he returned and "went over
all the country of Phrygia and Galatia, strengthening the disciples"
(Acts 18:23).
Yet it is probable that he did not personally plant the gospel in
Colosse, and possibly did not even pass through the valley of the
Lycus. The words of
Chapter 2:1,
are understood to mean that he had never met with the church in person,
and indeed there is a marked difference between the tone of this letter
and the familiar personal appeals of letters addressed to churches that
he had certainly planted, like those of Philippi and Galatia.
Besides, Epaphras seems to be named
(1:7)
as the founder, or at least the evangelist, of the church. Yet, since
Epaphras must have been one of his own converts, and was working under
his general supervision, Paul held himself responsible for its
condition, and looked after its welfare, as after all the churches
planted within the sphere of his labors.
It is easy to discover from certain portions of the letter why it
was written. Phrygia was a sort of border land between religions. The
light, joyous polytheism of the Greeks here met the deep, solemn
mysticism of the East. In addition, large colonies of Jews had been
transplanted from Babylon to this region by one of the Macedonian
monarchs of Syria, and brought with them a Judaism which had been
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doctrines of Zoroaster. The Epistle gives us ample ground for
concluding that there was danger of these mongrel philosophies
corrupting the simplicity of the gospel of Christ, and that Paul's
object was to fortify the church against doctrine which would result in
evil. In the notes of the passages which refer to these doctrines, this
will be discussed more at length.
While there is a marked difference between this Epistle and that to
the Ephesians, there is in some portions a striking similarity. Indeed
there is not only a parallelism in the thoughts, but often in the
language. The most natural way to account for this is to bear in mind
that the two letters were written at the same time; were written to the
same part of the world to congregations surrounded by conditions which
were in many respects similar, and whose spiritual needs would be much
alike. Under such circumstances it would be strange if two letters from
the same writer did not bear a strong resemblance. It would be
interesting to call attention to these parallel or similar passages,
but the limited space the plan of this work allows will not permit. One
who is curious to follow this comparison will find it given in full in
Paley's Horae Paulinae.
Concerning the genuineness of this Epistle, it has always had a
place in the New Testament Canon, and has never been questioned except
by Baur, and some other critics of the Tubingen school who have thought
that it gave too high an exaltation to Christ. This might be answered
by replying that it exalts Christ no more than Philippians and other
Epistles which are conceded to be of Pauline origin. Their theories
have been overthrown not only by historical arguments, but by the
internal evidence of the Epistle itself. Indeed, as Meyer remarks, "the
forging of such an Epistle as this would be far more wonderful than its
genuineness."
It was written at Rome, during Paul's imprisonment, probably in
A. D. 62, the same date as Ephesians and Philemon, and was sent
to the church by the hands of Tychicus
(4:7)
and Onesimus
(4:9).
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