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*Text*: The Book of Colossians and Colossians 1:1-2
*Title*: The Introduction and the Overview of the book of Colossians
*Theme of Colossians*: /Jesus Christ: The pre-eminent and all-sufficient Savior/
*Introduction*
* *
The book of Colossians is a helpful book for our current times.
The material that Paul writes about is very important to believers today.
People today are excited about science.
There in the past hundred years, there has been more scientific progress than in thousands of years before.
Many debates take place about creation and evolution.
There are also many issues concerning science and ethics; such as, should people be able to have abortions.
People today are also very excited about angels and astrology.
There are hundreds of unbiblical books that have been written about angels.
This is also obvious since horoscopes are so important to many people.
Some religions are also trying to promote that their “visions” are above Gods Word.
They say that they have seen a vision, and they make their vision more important than what God’s word says.
The book of Colossians talks about all these issues.
In this book, Paul talks about Christ being over all creation and science (1:15-18).
Paul also says that worshiping angels and astrology is not correct (2:18).
In 2:18, Paul also says to not let a person that has visions and revelations cheat you or deceive you by his ignorance.
As you can see, this book has a lot to do with the current issues of our day.
I would say that Colossians is a very important book for all believers to study and examine thoroughly.
Read Colossians 1:1-2
*Overview and Outline of the Book*
This book is also important in its doctrinal and practical content.
The first half of the book contains doctrine about the deity of Christ, reconciliation, redemption, and the nature of the church.
The second half of the book contains practical information about the church, family, and the Christians life in general.
If you would study Ephesians and Colossians together, you would notice that the two books are very similar.
We will probably refer to Ephesians often to look at parallel passages.
The following outline was taken from John MacArthur’s commentary on Colossians.
This outline is not as thorough as some other outlines that are available, but it is a shorter outline that will be very helpful for us to see the contents of the book.
I.
Personal (1:1–14)
A.
Greetings (1:1–2)
B.
Thanksgiving (1:3–8)
C.
Prayer on behalf of the church (1:9–14)
II.
Doctrinal (1:15–2:23)
A.
The Person and work of Christ (1:15–23)
B.
The ministry of Paul (1:24–2:7)
C.
The sufficiency of Christ versus worldly philosophies (2:8–23)
III.
Practical (Chaps.
3–4)
A.
Living the risen life (3:1–9)
B.
Putting on the new man (3:9–17)
C.
Managing the Christian household (3:18–4:1)
D.
Conducting one’s speech (4:2–6)
E.
Imparting greetings and farewell-s (4:7–17)
*The Author, Date, and Place of Writing*
* *
In the first two verses, Paul identifies himself as the author (he also refers to himself as the author in 1:23 and 4:18).
Many of the early church fathers spoke of Paul being the writer of Colossians.
The book is closely related to the books of Ephesians and Philemon.
Paul wrote all three books near the same time.
It is estimate that Paul probably wrote the books sometime during A.D. 60-62.
This was during Paul’s Roman imprisonment (Acts 28:16-31).
Therefore, this book (along with Philippians, Philemon, and Ephesians) is referred to as a “Prison Epistle.”
Some have supposed that Paul was imprisoned somewhere else other than Rome, but Rome is probably the most likely place from which Paul wrote this book.
*Background and Setting of the City and church of Colossae*
* *
Colossae was a city in the Roman province of Asia (part of western Turkey).
The city of Colossae was about 100 miles (____ kilometers) east of the city of Ephesus.
On the map you can see Ephesus near the coast, and Colossae a little more inland.
The city was located on the Lycus River, in the Lycus valley.
There were mountains right around the city, with Mt.
Cadmus rising 8000 feet high (____ kilometers).
* *
During the fifth century B.C., Colossae was a thriving city with plenty of wealth.
One Greek historian in 481 B.C. wrote, “Colossae, an inhabited city, prosperous and large.”
At that time, its wealth was from black wool and dyes made from nearby chalk deposits.
During the fifth century B.C., Colossae was the middle of a major trade route, but by Paul’s day, the major road had been moved to go through Laodicea and Hierapolis.
Both of these cities are mentioned in the book, probably since they were located within just a few miles of each other.
The people of Colossae were mostly Gentile, but there was a large Jewish community.
The church was probably started during Paul’s 3-year ministry at Ephesus (Acts 19).
Paul did not start the church himself, but it was probably started by one of his converts, Epaphras.
Paul says in 2:1 that he had never been there.
In 1:5-7, Paul mentions that the people of the church of Colossae have been learning from Epaphras, “who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf.”
Paul knew about the church and had probably been near Colossae, and perhaps even in Laodicea and Hierapolis, but he probably was not the founder of the church.
*Purpose for writing the Book*
* *
Paul had one main purpose for writing to book of Colossians, to refute a heresy that was destroying the church.
The founder of the church, Epaphras, was so concerned for the church that he personally went to Rome to tell Paul about the heresy (1:7-8; 4:12-13).
Paul then wrote back to the church to explain the error of the heresy that was being taught.
This heresy is commonly called the “Colossian Heresy.”
The Colossian Heresy taught Jewish legalism, the necessity of circumcision for salvation, observance of the ceremonial rituals of the OT law, and rigid asceticism.
It also taught the worship of angels and that people should have mystical experiences.
All of these things were incorrect, so Paul wanted to make sure no one in the church was deceived (2:8).
The Colossian Heresy will be explained in more detail when we come to it in the text.
As mentioned before, Paul wrote the books of Ephesians and Philemon near the same time as he wrote Colossians.
Tychicus was the person taking this letter to Colossae.
In the New Testament times, there was no postal system.
If a person wanted a letter sent, then he would have to find some one going to the same destination of the letter and ask that person to deliver it.
Tychicus was going to Colossae to return Onesimus, the runaway slave, to his master Philemon.
Philemon was probably a member of the church of Colossae.
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