Paul's Letter to the Colossians

Background

• Written by Paul the Apostle during one of his imprisonments.
• Addressed to a church in Colossae that Paul did not start.
• The church was founded by Epaphras, a co-worker of Paul, who updated Paul about the community.
• Epaphras mentioned cultural pressures tempting the Colossians to turn away from Jesus.
• Purpose: Encourage the Colossians and challenge them to a greater devotion to Jesus.

Structure and Key Themes

1. Jesus as the Exalted Messiah

• Opening focuses on Jesus being the exalted Messiah.
• Paul's suffering in prison is for the exalted Jesus.
• Addressing cultural pressures and exploring new life through Jesus's resurrection.

2. Opening Prayers

• Paul thanks God for the Colossians' faithfulness and love.
• Prays for their growth in wisdom and understanding about Jesus.
• Includes a poem about the crucified and exalted Messiah.

3. The Poem

• First Stanza:

  • Jesus as the true image of God.
  • Embodies God's character and purpose.
  • Shares in the identity of the creator God.
  • Source of all creation, powers, and authorities.

• Second Stanza:

  • Jesus brings about a new creation, head of a new body.
  • His resurrection as a prototype for new humanity.
  • God's presence dwells in him.
  • Through Jesus’s death and resurrection, reconciliation with humanity and creation.

4. Paul's Suffering

• Paul's suffering in prison is a participation in Jesus's suffering.
• His hardships are a cause for joy, announcing Jesus as the resurrected Lord.
• Creating a new multi-ethnic family, with Jesus dwelling among them.

5. Cultural Pressures

• Combination of mystical polytheism and pressure to observe Torah laws.
• Pressure from Jewish Christians to follow Torah laws like kosher diet, sacred days, and circumcision.
• For Paul, conformity is a failure to grasp Jesus's true role and sacrifice.
• Jesus triumphed over spiritual powers and fulfilled Torah laws.

6. New Humanity

• Followers of Jesus join a new humanity.
• Challenge to set their minds on spiritual matters where Jesus rules.
• Encouragement to live as new humans in the present.
• Characteristics of new humanity: mercy, generosity, love, transcending ethnic and social boundaries.

7. Practical Application

• New humanity in Roman households:
  • Jesus as the true Lord.
  • Wives and husbands, parents and children, slaves and masters redefined.
  • Transformed household dynamics around Jesus’s rule of love.

8. Conclusion

• Request for prayer.
• Tychicus and Onesimus deliver the letter.
• Onesimus, a former slave, to be greeted as a brother.
• Paul reshapes societal structures around Jesus’s liberating rule.

Overall Message

• No part of human existence remains unaffected by Jesus's rule.
• Live in the present as if the new creation has arrived.
• Invitation to re-examine and transform all aspects of life through Jesus.