Colossians.
Colossians.
§ 263. Colosse was the principal city of Phrygia in Asia Minor, near Laodicea. There Epaphras, a fellow worker of the apostles, had gathered a congregation by preaching the Gospel. The apostle directed this Epistle to the inhabitants of that city. Although the people of Rhodes are found to have been called “Colossians” [Colossenses] because of their famous Colossus, the apostle nevertheless addresses not them but residents of Phrygia. The occasion for its writing was this: The Colossians had been attacked by false teachers. Some of these, who had come from Judaism, were confusing Moses with Christ and were arguing that the ceremonies of the Law were necessary for salvation. Some, who had been converted to the Christian faith from heathenism, were urging human rules from the teachings of the philosophers. At Epaphrus’s request, therefore, Paul wrote this Epistle to them from his captivity in Rome to strengthen them in the true faith and safeguard them against the false teachers.
It consists of four chapters in which, according to his usual method, (1) he fortifies the truth of the faith; (2) he hands down rules for life and behavior—both general rules, common to all Christians, as well as specific rules proper to certain groups, namely, to wives and husbands, to children and parents, to slaves and masters.