The Letter to the Colossians

Context of the Letter to the Colossians

As a deuteropauline letter, Colossians was most probably not written by Paul himself. The letter contains no information about its place of composition and reflects, in the style of pseudepigraphical fiction, information about Paul: he is in prison (cf Col 1:24, 4:3,10,18), but in the company of a number of coworkers in the Gospel, of whom Tychicus will probably carry the letter, whilst Onesimus and Mark will also depart for Colossae (cf Col 1:1-8, 4:7-14). The letter thus predisposes knowledge of Paul's co-workers as well as knowledge of the same type of false teachings as opposed in Galatians. This leads one to conclude that the author is portraying Paul as continuing the struggle against, for him, the falsifications of his gospel. It is closest to the life of Paul, probably having been written around 70 CE.

The Colossian Christians lived in the Lycus valley, some 170 km inland from the sea at Ephesus, with two other New Testament towns, Laodicea and Hierapolis, close by. The author of the letter did not personally visit Colossae, but Epaphras informed him of its inhabitants’ situation. Epaphras was ‘one of them’ and seemed to have played a major role in planting the church in all three neighbouring towns (see Col 1:7,8; 4:13). From the letter one can gather that he must also have brought disturbing news about ‘heretical’ teachings being propagated in Colossae. The problem seems to have been caused by a ‘mistaken’ piety that had been propagated among the people, leading to an ‘improper’ way of life. It may have been caused by an outside group of Jewish mystics who opposed the preaching of the gospel. They could have claimed that by mystical ascension they could take part directly in heavenly worship with the angels around the throne of God. The author warns the Colossians against people who might lead them astray with ‘beguiling speech’ (Col 2:4) and by ‘philosophy and empty deceit’ (2:8 RSV), ‘which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.’ (2:8 NIV). They were being lured by an ‘appearance of wisdom’ into a ‘self-imposed worship’ with a faked humility and a harsh discipline of the body, which demanded that they avoid handling, tasting or touching things of this world and strictly observe festivals and holy days (Col 2:20-23).