4:7-18 Closing Greetings
Colossians
INTRODUCTION
Authorship. Not all scholars agree that Paul wrote Colossians. Some think that a *disciple of Paul wrote the letter in Paul’s name (probably with his approval, or posthumously in faithfulness to his teachings). Others think that Paul simply dictated this letter to a *scribe, as he did most of his previous letters (e.g., Rom 16:22); in any case the probable date of the letter was in Paul’s lifetime (see “Situation,” below).
By the time Paul wrote Philippians (the likely period also for Colossians), he was increasingly borrowing popular philosophic language (cf. Acts 19:9). But although Paul may borrow language from some of the false teachers to make his case against them, most of the language that is used in Colossians has parallels in his undisputed writings (which also differ from one another). Given the brevity of the letter, the probable use of a scribe, similarities with undisputed Pauline letters and the lapse of several years since his earlier letters, the differences between Colossians and the undisputed Pauline letters need not require different authors. Pseudonymous letters existed but were normally written long after the death of the person in whose name they were written. Because an earthquake devastated or destroyed Colossae around A.D. 60–64 and it was never completely restored, it is unlikely that a letter would be written even purportedly addressing the *church there after that date; nor could a forgery have gone undetected during Paul’s lifetime (which probably lasted till at least A.D. 64).
Colossae. Colossae was in Phrygia, where religion was practiced with intensity. There is evidence for a Jewish presence in Phrygia as early as the sixth century B.C.; this Phrygian Judaism seems to have mirrored its culture to a significant extent. Christianity likewise exhibited unorthodox tendencies in this region in subsequent centuries. Colossae was a small and socially unimportant city by this period; it is probably only one of many cities in which Paul’s students had founded churches (Acts 19:10); perhaps some received similar letters. As noted above, the city was severely damaged or destroyed by an earthquake around A.D. 60–64 and never completely restored, hence many scholars think that Paul wrote before that date.
Situation. Colossians 2 may indicate that Christians were attracted to mystical or *apocalyptic elements in a Judaism thoroughly influenced by Phrygian culture. A great number of backgrounds have been proposed for the error at Colossae: *mystery cults, broader *Hellenistic mysticism, Hellenistic Judaism, *Qumran-type Judaism and so on. The merit of considering these sources is that they all reflect some broader cultural ideas that played into the problems Paul confronted in Colossae; even Qumran parallels, while strictly limited geographically to Judea, provide evidence for some more widespread Jewish beliefs in this period. The one suggestion with little merit to sustain it is *Gnosticism, since full Gnostic systems cannot be dated this early. But that the Colossian error reflects one synthesis of different streams of thought that later developed toward Gnosticism is possible.
That some Jewish Sibylline oracles may issue from that region and the activity of later Christian Montanists there might suggest the possibility of ecstatic elements in local Judaism (2:18). Acts testifies that Paul was preaching *Christ to philosophically minded audiences in this period (see comment on Acts 19:9), and letters like Ephesians and Colossians give us an indication of Paul’s grasp of popular-level Greek philosophy and also some of the popular philosophical ideas that permeated both *Gentile and Jewish thought in mid-first-century Asia Minor.
Commentaries. J. B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon (1879; reprint, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1959), is still helpful; Ralph P. Martin, Colossians and Philemon, NCB (1974; reprint, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981), is also helpful; see now also Marianne Meye Thompson, Colossians and Philemon (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005). For more advanced work, important and useful scholarly commentaries include James D. G. Dunn, The Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996); Eduard Lohse, Colossians and Philemon, trans. W. R. Poehlman and R. J. Karris, Hermeneia (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1971); Douglas Moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon, Pillar (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008); Peter T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon, WBC 44 (Waco, TX: Word, 1982); Eduard Schweizer, The Letter to the Colossians: A Commentary (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1982). Some of my primary sources appear in Craig Keener, “Heavenly Mindedness and Earthly Good: Contemplating Matters Above in Colossians 3.1-2,” Journal of Greco-Roman Chistianity and Judaism 6 (2009): 175-90.
1:1-2
Introduction
The opening follows the standard form of ancient epistolary prescripts (name of sender, name of recipients and greeting). As is customary in Paul, “greetings” (Greek charein) becomes “*grace” (Greek charis); “peace” was a standard Jewish greeting, sometimes combined with “greetings” in Jewish letters (cf. comment on Rom 1:7).
1:3-14
Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Fruit Bearers
Thanksgivings to God or gods were fairly common in the openings of ancient letters. In Paul’s letters, they often introduce major themes, which were on his mind from the beginning of the letter. Thus they often function the way that exordia did in speeches, introducing what follows and beginning the letter with a positive relationship with the readers.
1:3. Regular Jewish prayer times included many blessings, and Paul’s prayer times clearly include many thanksgivings to God. Paul’s mention of thanks is not merely conventional, for the purposes of the letter.
1:4. News was often carried by travelers. The Colossians’ spiritual condition was reported to Paul by Epaphras, apparently Paul’s student working among them (1:7; cf. Acts 19:10), who was originally from their city (Col 4:12). Speakers and writers often started on a positive note, even if they planned to offer some correction.
1:5. Jewish texts spoke of future rewards already reserved for the righteous (the rewards sometimes depicted as treasures in heaven), hence early Christian readers would be familiar with the idea.
1:6. The image of God’s message bearing fruit may go back to Jesus’ teaching (Lk 8:11); the *Old Testament often compares Israel with a vine or other plant and summons them to bear fruit for God (e.g., Hos 10:1; 14:7-8; cf. Gen 1:28; comment on Col 1:10).
1:7-8. “Epaphras” was a common name; this may well be the same Epaphras of Philemon 23. But Philippi and Colossae are too distant geographically for us to think that this is the same person as Epaphroditus in Philippians 2:25, although that name could legitimately be contracted as “Epaphras.”
1:9. For unceasing prayer see Exodus 28:30 and 1 Samuel 12:23. Although philosophers sought “wisdom” and “knowledge,” Paul here emphasizes the Old Testament moral and relational sense of the terms (e.g., Prov 1:2-7).
1:10. On fruit bearing and growing, see Genesis 1:28 (“growing” appears especially in the *LXX), immediately after speaking of humanity being made in God’s image (Gen 1:26-27; cf. Col 3:10); and see comment above on 1:6. On “walk” (literally; KJV, NASB) or “live” (NIV, GNT), see comment on Galatians 5:16. *Gentiles sometimes spoke of people behaving “worthy” of God. Likewise, in Jewish tradition, “worthy” could mean “appropriate to” (2 Maccabees 6:23-24, 27), “deserving of (reward)” (2 Maccabees 15:21); Wisdom sought those worthy of her (Wisdom of Solomon 6:16), and the righteous who persevered would be “worthy for God,” like an acceptable offering (Wisdom of Solomon 3:5). The Old Testament spoke of knowing God relationally, in covenant with him (Jer 24:7; 31:34; Hos 2:20), an idea developed also in the *Dead Sea Scrolls.
1:11. Paul groups closely related terms here (“power,” “might”); *rhetoric could pile up terms with related meaning to dwell on a point, and such combinations also appear in the Old Testament, especially for praises of God (e.g., 2 Chron 20:6).
1:12-13. In the Old Testament, the “*saints” or “holy” or “set-apart ones” were Israel. Israel’s “inheritance” was first of all the Promised Land but in Jewish tradition pointed toward the ultimate possession of the world to come (see comment on Eph 1:14). Christians become heirs of these promises in Christ. “Light” and “darkness” were regularly contrasted as good and bad respectively (e.g., Ps 27:1; Is 9:2; 42:6; 49:6; 58:8-10; 59:9; 60:1), and this was often applied to the conflict between good and evil realms (in the Dead Sea Scrolls and often in ancient literature). Perhaps relevant to Colossians 1:13-14, Jewish people on the Passover described their deliverance from Egypt as a call “from darkness into great light” and redemption from slavery (Mishnah Pesahim 10:5). (Some scholars have suggested that the image of transferral from one kingdom to another here recalls the many peoples in the ancient Near East uprooted by powerful rulers and settled elsewhere. But if any image from human kingdoms was intended, the image of a provincial achieving Roman citizenship or Gentiles accepting the yoke of God’s *kingdom in Judaism might have been images more natural to Paul’s audience; see also comment on 1:14.)
1:14. “Redemption” meant freeing a slave by paying a price for that slave; in the *Old Testament, God redeemed Israel from their slavery in Egypt by the blood of the firstborn and the lamb. This would fit the image of transferring a captive people from one realm to another (1:13). *Philo also believed that the Logos, God’s Word, participated in redemption (cf. also Wisdom of Solomon 18:15); but this Logos background might be more relevant if it were mentioned as part of 1:15-17.
1:15-23
The Supremacy of Christ
Some of those in error at Colossae want to emphasize intermediate spirits and the forms of rigorous human spirituality found in their culture (see comment on 2:16-23); Paul insists that Christ is enough (cf. 2:6-15) and describes him in the language Judaism normally reserved for personified Wisdom. This image was a natural one for early Christians to describe Christ; Judaism personified God’s Wisdom as divine, and the roots of the image in Jewish tradition go back at least as far as Proverbs 8. (It is possible, as some have suggested, that Paul cites a two-stanza Christian hymn in 1:15-20; such citations occur without notice in other ancient literature. But despite the evidence and scholarly consensus that favor it, the theory falls short of proof either for or against it. Speakers sometimes employed exalted and even rhythmic prose, especially when praising deities.)
1:15. Here Paul describes Christ in terms Judaism reserved for divine Wisdom, which was portrayed as God’s archetypal image by which he created the rest of the world (cf. Prov 3:19; 8:27-30; Wisdom of Solomon 7:26-27; 8:1, 5-6; 9:1-2, 9; 10:1). This emphasis is particularly evident in *Philo, a then-recent *Diaspora Jewish philosopher who may reflect or represent some wider Diaspora Jewish ideas. He describes God’s Logos, his Word, as his image (e.g., Flight and Finding 101), through whom the cosmos was formed (e.g., Creation 25, 31; Special Laws 1.81).
“Firstborn” could refer to the position of authority and preeminence given to the firstborn son in the Old Testament (Gen 49:3-4; cf. the “chief” in 1 Chron 5:12 and its *Septuagint translation). (Jewish texts most commonly applied the term to Israel. Ancient Near Eastern kings were sometimes acclaimed as sons of gods at their enthronements.) This term could also be another title for God’s “Son” (Col 1:18; see Ps 89:27, although David was the youngest of eight sons). Both Greek and Jewish religion sometimes describe God or supreme deities as “First” and occasionally called some deities “the firstborn”; the emperor also claimed to be “first” among equals, the “equality” part being a rhetorical fiction. In Philo, the Logos was also God’s “firstborn” (Birth of Abel 119; Agriculture 51; Confusion of Tongues 146; Dreams 1.215), though Philo could not have imagined the Logos becoming human.
1:16. The “invisible” creations of God refer especially to the angels in heaven who correspond to earthly rulers (see comment on Eph 1:19-23). Ancient Judaism accepted that God created both visible and invisible worlds. (Following *Plato, some Greeks emphasized in addition to the visible world the invisible patterns or images on which it was based.) Many Jewish writers, including Philo and even some Judean sources, gave angels or subordinate divine powers a role in creation; other Jewish and Christian writers (like Paul) are prepared to combat that view, as here.
Many Greco-Roman thinkers said that all things derived from, were held together in and would return to the Logos or nature or the primeval fire. In Jewish tradition, all things were created through and for God’s Word or Wisdom. (In variants of that tradition, they were created for the righteous who upheld his word in practice.) Using different prepositions, ancient intellectuals often distinguished kinds of causation, including material (“from”), instrumental (“through”), modal (“in” or “by”) and purpose (“for”); Paul employs three of these for Jesus here.
1:17. Many Greco-Roman philosophers said that all things were held together by Zeus or by the Logos, divine reason; by this they meant to emphasize the unity of the cosmos. Greek-speaking Jewish writers like Philo also emphasized that God’s Logos held the creation together, further identifying the Logos with divine Wisdom. In *Stoic thought, the Logos gave form to the primeval fire; in Judaism, Wisdom existed before all things and through it God created and then shaped the world.
1:18. “Head” could mean “authority” (2:10), “most respected or honored part” or “source” (2:19); on “body,” see comment on Romans 12:3-5 or 1 Corinthians 12:12-26. God was sometimes called “the beginning” in Jewish tradition, and the term was even more often applied to Wisdom and the Logos; it was a natural term for the one from whom all things began. (In v. 18, it could be applied to the beginning of the new creation, however, as with “firstborn” here.) On “firstborn,” see comment on 1:15. The *resurrection of the dead was expected at the end of the age; Jesus’ resurrection ahead of that time was seen as the proleptic beginning or inaugurating of that future event (1 Cor 15:23).
1:19. The Old Testament speaks of God’s choosing a place for his name to dwell, and delighting to dwell among his people, to dwell in Zion and so forth. Some suggest that “fullness” may refer to God’s wisdom or glory filling the world (as in the Old Testament and Jewish tradition), or to the fullness of God’s presence or attributes (as in Philo and other Jewish sources; cf. Col 2:9-10).
1:20-22. The reconciling even of the invisible powers (1:16) refers to their subordination rather than their salvation (2:15), “peace” being an end to hostilities. (In imperial propaganda, for example, the emperor was said to establish “peace” by subjugating his enemies.) Paul denies not their continuing activity in the world (2:8) but their real power to challenge Christ’s *kingdom. (One might compare Enoch’s mission to proclaim judgment against fallen angels in some early Jewish stories.)
1:23. Paul may intend the statement that the *gospel was announced throughout creation to counter the false teachers who claim secret, esoteric revelations (2:18). If “all creation” is meant literally (“everywhere” and “all the world” frequently appear in ancient *hyperbole), it might refer to the witness of creation (Ps 8:1; 19:1; 89:37; 97:6; cf. Rom 10:18). But here it is almost certainly a cosmic way (Is 51:16) of portraying that the gospel of Christ is for all peoples (Rom 1:8, 13; Mt 24:14). Jewish people generally believed that a person who rejected the covenant would be cut off from God; Paul similarly requires perseverance from those who profess Christ.
1:24–2:5
Paul’s Labor for Them
Because Paul can describe his labor in terms of conflict suitable to an athletic contest (1:29), it is significant that Greek athletes traditionally strove in pan-Grecian competitions not only for their own honor but also for that of the cities they represented. Paul’s sufferings are thus on the *church’s behalf (1:24; 2:1).
1:24. Many Jewish people believed that some suffering had to be fulfilled before the end would come. Many scholars have thus read 1:24 as saying that Paul was taking an extra share of these afflictions, sometimes called “the *Messiah’s birth pangs” because they presaged the messianic era. Others connect it with sharing Christ’s sufferings as part of union with Christ (a concept with fewer non-Christian parallels). A speaker could appeal to hearers who would think favorably of one who suffered on their behalf (e.g., *Cicero, In Catalinam 4.1.2 ). (Paul suffers “for their sake” [NASB, NRSV], apparently meaning as their representative, because they are part of the church; it is not, however, vicarious suffering, because Paul clearly believes that Christ’s suffering was sufficient in that regard; cf. 1:14; 2:8-10, 14.)
1:25. “Stewards” (cf. NASB) were managers of large household estates; they were often slaves or freedmen of high status. The phrase “fulfill the word of God” (KJV, literally) was sometimes used for obeying God’s word, sometimes for being an instrument in bringing it to pass; Paul here both obeys and fulfills God’s word by making it available to the *Gentiles.
1:26. The *Dead Sea Scrolls and other texts speak of “mysteries” in the Scriptures that only the spiritually enlightened can understand; for Paul, Christians are now enlightened (1:9, 12). This statement would refute mystics who claimed special, elite revelations belonging only to themselves (2:18).
1:27. That this mystery would be made known among the Gentiles had been prophesied (e.g., Is 66:19) and was now being fulfilled (1:25). *Old Testament writers often said that God dwelled “among” his people Israel (Num 35:34), and on a personal level, “within” some of them (Gen 41:38; Num 27:18; Dan 4:8, 18; 5:11, 14; 1 Pet 1:11; more often, “filled,” “rested on”; less relevantly, except to how some recent converts might hear Paul, some philosophers spoke of divinity or a deity within humans). But no one expected him to dwell among the Gentiles—indeed, on the personal level, within them (Col 2:12; 3:4, 16).
1:28. This teaching leads to their maturity or completion; cf. 1:22; 1 Corinthians 2:6 and 3:1-2; 2 Corinthians 11:2 and comment on Philippians 3:12-13. (Stoics viewed the ideal wise person as complete, but rarely believed that they attained that ideal.) Thus teaching Christ would lead to the hearers being prepared for the final day (1:22-23). “We” presumably includes Epaphras (1:7) and other proclaimers as well as Paul; “every person” again probably implies the free inclusion of Gentiles in God’s plan (1:27).
1:29. Philosophers commonly used metaphors from athletic competition, such as “strive” (KJV, NASB) here (the image is much rarer in the Old Testament, e.g., Jer 12:5). Divine empowerment “within” (NASB, NRSV) has very limited ancient parallels apart from Old Testament texts about the *Spirit’s enabling God’s servants; Paul’s language here would have impressed ancient hearers in a special way (see introduction to Rom 8:1-11).
2:1. He continues the athletic image of 1:29 (“struggle”). Although Paul had never met most of the Colossian Christians personally, he expresses his longing for them; this was a common element of ancient “letters of friendship.” Colossae was in the Lycus Valley and not on an easy route from Ephesus. Like Colossae, Laodicea was in Phrygia; it was roughly ten miles west of Colossae.
2:2-3. Ancient sages (including *Gentiles but also common in the Old Testament and Jewish wisdom writers) often spoke of wisdom as the true wealth (in the Old Testament, see Job 28:12-19; Ps 19:10; 119:14, 72, 127, 162; Prov 3:13-15; Is 33:6). Writers sometimes also spoke of “hidden” treasures, a dream especially valued by the impoverished multitudes.
2:4. Sages often criticized professional public speakers for their unethical use of persuasion at all costs, regardless of truth. Many educated people in antiquity were trained and skilled in persuasive speech.
2:5. Letters often served as a surrogate for one’s presence while one was absent, as ancient writers sometimes pointed out (cf., e.g., *Cicero, Letters to Friends 1.7.1; Letters to Atticus 12.53; Dio Chrysostom, Epistles 3; Symmachus Epistles 1.84). Saying that one remained with someone “in spirit” was an expression of intimacy and affection. The point is intimacy, not metaphysical unity (see comment on 1 Cor 5:3).
2:6-15
Complete in Christ
2:6. “Walk” (KJV, NASB) or “live” (NIV) was a regular term for behaving according to God’s laws (see comment on Gal 5:16), and “receive” was often used for Jewish teachers of the *law passing traditions on to their students. Paul thus exhorts the Colossians to continue in what (and whom) they were taught, not according to mere human traditions (2:8).
2:7. Paul combines agricultural and building images here, as in 1 Corinthians 3:9 (see comment there). The *Old Testament prophets used this language for Israel (if they obeyed God, they would take root, be planted, built up, etc.), and early Christians probably took this language from their preaching of the Old Testament.
2:8. Paul uses philosophical language in his letters (including this one), but his source of knowledge is God’s revelation in *Christ (2:2-3, 6), not the finite human reasonings of philosophers (2:4). Even though only the most educated went on to study *rhetoric or philosophy, the influence of these disciplines permeated the ancient world. Because philosophy in this period grappled most often with moral and ethical issues, new Christians in the culture now struggling with the same questions would naturally be interested in philosophers’ ideas. *Diaspora Jewish writers praised “philosophy,” and some, like Philo, combined it readily with ecstatic experiences (cf. 2:18). (*Josephus, a Palestinian Jew writing for a non-Palestinian Gentile audience, even calls Judaism a “philosophy”—Against Apion 2.4, 47—and describes the different Jewish movements as philosophical sects. The *Letter of Aristeas, *Philo and even *Justin Martyr’s Trypho approved of and were skilled in Greek philosophy, and many Jewish apologists, including Philo and Josephus, accused the Greek philosophers of plagiarizing Moses.)
On “traditions,” which characterized especially Pharisaic teachers in Palestine, see comment on 2:6; Greek *disciples also “passed on traditions” of their teachers’ sayings. “Elementary principles” (NASB) translates a term that can refer to the personified forces of nature, spirit beings or “spirits” (NRSV, GNT; cf. NIV, ESV), as in Galatians 4:9 (cf. Colossians 2:10); but here it may refer, as usually, to elementary principles (the term is often used of the alphabet). If this is the case, Paul affirms that the simple message of Christ is much more profound than the greatest secular wisdom could be. (Philosophers also addressed cosmology, debating the universe’s basic “elements.”)
2:9. *Stoics spoke of the deity as being filled by all things, usually in a pantheistic sense; Greek-speaking Jewish writers modified this language to refer to God’s rule encompassing all things. For Philo, the “fullness” can be the sum total of the powers manifesting God’s rule, denoting God’s all-sufficiency in himself; much later Jewish mystics spoke of the heavens around God’s throne as his fullness. Other Jewish writings spoke of God’s *Spirit, wisdom or glory filling the world, as in the Old Testament, which may be more to the point here.
Whatever precise sense Paul means by “fullness,” he clearly means that access to all that God is and does is available only through Christ, a function ancient Judaism often attributed to divine Wisdom.
2:10. “Rule and authority” (NASB) probably refers to the angelic powers thought to rule the nations of the world (see 1:16; comment on Eph 1:19-23), a doctrine that is somehow central to the erring persons wishing to influence the Colossian Christians (see comment on 1:16; 2:18). Of the various possible meanings for “head” (1:18), “authority” or “ruler” makes most sense here, although Jesus is also their “source” (1:16).
2:11-12. Physical circumcision was normally said to be “in the flesh” (Gen 17:11). The Old Testament and some Jewish (mainly *Essene) texts speak of “spiritual” circumcision (Deut 10:16; 30:6), which in the *Dead Sea Scrolls can enable one to overcome the evil impulse (see comment on Rom 7:14-25). Paul might here play on the Greek idea of the body as a “tomb” from which one must escape for mystical experiences and for ultimate deliverance in death; if this view has been a temptation for his readers, Paul is saying that they have already experienced all the deliverance from flesh’s power that they need.
2:13-14. The term translated “written code” (v. 14, NIV) was used for “handwritten” (see KJV) notes, usually “certificates of debt” (NASB) with penalties attached. Paul intends his readers to think of an IOU before God; Jewish tradition also portrayed sins as “debts” before God. Jewish people used the term translated “decrees” (NASB) or “regulations” (NIV) for God’s laws; decrees were often posted in public locations. The Jewish people believed that their sins were forgiven when they repented; records of sins would be blotted out on the annual Day of Atonement. Paul says the *atonement occurred when the debt was nailed to the cross in Christ and thus paid. (Crucifixion did not require nails, but these were used in Jesus’ case; Jn 20:25; cf. Acts 2:23.)
2:15. On “rulers and authorities” (NASB, NRSV), see comment on 1:16 and 2:10. In 2:8 Paul used a word that could mean “take as a prisoner of war”; here the cosmic powers themselves are shown off as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession, an image familiar to Romans and presumably known to others throughout the empire (see comment on 2 Cor 2:14). In Roman triumphs, the general (in this period normally the emperor) dressed as the chief god Jupiter and led behind him humiliated captives, stripped of their possessions; prominent captives were the most impressive. Here Christ displays his triumph over the most prominent captives possible. (Ironically, though Paul was in Roman custody, the spiritual rulers behind the earthly ones were Christ’s captives.)
2:16-23
Avoid Human Religion
*Christ is sufficient (2:6-15); *ascetic additions to the *gospel would only detract from faith in it.
2:16. Asceticism was growing in paganism, and many viewed it as a means of achieving spiritual power or revelatory experiences. But this text clearly refers to Jewish customs; although much of Palestinian Judaism opposed asceticism, Judaism and Christianity in other parts of the empire often took on the characteristics of the surrounding culture. *Gentiles sometimes associated local Judaism with asceticism (even linking the sabbath with fasting, although the forms of Judaism we know about would not have permitted fasting on the sabbath). Gentiles mocked Jews as separatists especially on three issues: circumcision (2:11), special laws about food and drink, and special holy days. The “new moon” celebration was used to greet each new month; the sabbath was a weekly festival.
2:17. *Plato distinguished the “real” world of ideas from the shadow world of sense experience. *Philo developed Plato’s concept to argue that the invisible God was known through “shadows,” or copies, of his character, rather than through sensory vision. Writers by this period distinguished substance or body, the original reality, from shadows or mere copies; adapting their language, Paul believes that the *Old Testament prescriptions testified to genuine principles, but that those principles are fulfilled in Christ. Those with the reality did not need to depend on the shadows whose function was to point to the reality. Paul’s term for “substance” is also his term for “body,” perhaps pointing to the embodiment of new values in Christ’s physicality (1:22; pace Platonism and the ascetics in 2:23) and in the *church (1:18, 24; 2:19; 3:15).
2:18. Jewish literature often conjoined “humility” (“self-abasement,” NASB, NRSV) in a positive way with fasting. But when taken to an extreme, “humility” included ascetic practices designed to open oneself to “visions” and ecstatic experiences. Such practices became popular in second-century Christian asceticism. (Insufficient protein and sleep deprivation are known to induce hallucinations today as well.)
“What they have seen” (NIV) may be the language of visions (NASB, NRSV). It suggests that the erring people in Colossae may have been like the Jewish mystics, known from other sources, who regularly sought to achieve the heavenly vision of God through ecstatic revelations of God’s throne. Although these were attempts to simulate the experience of biblical visionaries like Ezekiel, the biblical visionaries sought only to heed God, not to achieve mystic experiences per se. On vain visions, cf., e.g., Jeremiah 23:32 and perhaps Ecclesiastes 5:7.
Jewish mystics and *apocalyptists sometimes claimed communications from angels (cf. Gal 1:8; in a positive vein, Acts 27:23; Rev 1:1). It appears that in Colossae, some were venerating angels; although this veneration violated the teachings of some Judean sects such as Pharisaism, some evidence indicates that many common *Diaspora Jews addressed prayers and petitions to angels, a practice that overlapped with magical spirit invocations. (Some Jewish literature, especially the *Dead Sea Scrolls but also other texts, spoke of the earthly community entering into the worship of the heavenly community, and some scholars think Paul attacks that idea here; but the book of Revelation might approve of joining heaven’s worship, and it is unclear that Paul would have reason to attack the practice.)
2:19. Ancient medical literature sometimes described the head as the source of life for the rest of the body.
2:20-21. Union with Christ in death was sufficient (cf. 2:11-12); adding ascetic rules (2:18) was useless (on “elementary principles,” see comment on 2:8). The “decrees” (NASB) or “rules” (NIV, GNT) may be Jewish “regulations” (NRSV), as with the cognate term in 2:14. (Although the language with which Paul describes them in v. 21 has been compared to descriptions of *Pythagorean asceticism, the language could fit Old Testament purity rules just as well.) Most Jews outside Palestine still kept the food laws, and some Jews forbade even touching particular foods (*Letter of Aristeas 129); other Old Testament laws explicitly decreed one impure for touching some things (e.g., Lev 11:39; 15:5; Num 19:11; but cf., e.g., Mt 9:25). (This application would be especially appropriate if Paul thought of people adding to those rules, as Jewish teachers noted that Eve or Adam her tutor apparently added “Do not touch” to God’s “Do not eat”—Gen 2:17; 3:3.)
2:22. Those influenced by philosophical thought recognized that transitory, perishable things were much less valuable than what was eternal. “Human commands and teachings” (NIV, NRSV) is an allusion to the Greek translation of Isaiah 29:13, which Paul’s hearers might also recognize from the Jesus tradition (Mk 7:7).
2:23. Pagan philosophers (especially Stoics) often spoke of freeing oneself from bodily pleasures so one could concentrate on the contemplations of the soul. Some elements of paganism were tending toward asceticism, which became still more prevalent in the second century. (Pagans converted to Christianity may have also thought Christianity tended toward asceticism, with its countercultural emphasis on avoiding premarital sex and drunkenness; Judaism was sometimes similarly misinterpreted as ascetic. This misinterpretation of Jewish and Christian morality may have disposed some of the converts toward genuine asceticism after their conversion.) But for Paul, “beating down the flesh” is worthless for dealing with fleshly passions.
3:1-11
Living Out the Dead Life
Paul’s premise is that the Colossians have died with *Christ (2:20); therefore trusting the finished work of Christ and living as what they are in him, rather than following human religious regulations (2:21-23), will produce holy living.
3:1-4. In *Plato’s famous *parable of the cave, centuries before Paul, shadows on the wall (cf. 2:17) merely reflected the real world above. Many people by Paul’s day believed that the heavenly realms were pure and eternal, in contrast to the temporal and perishable world below. Philosophers thus became known for meditating on heavenly things (many repeated the joke about the philosopher who fell into a ditch because he was staring at the heavens). Jewish *apocalyptic writers also distinguished between the heavenly and earthly realms, emphasizing the purity of God’s realm in the upper heavens.
The Jewish mystics creating problems at Colossae may have been seeking these upper realms through mystical experiences (2:18). For Jewish mystics, the goal was vision of God’s throne; for some philosophers, the goal was vision of the ultimate deity, who was pure mind and separate from the world of matter. For Paul, by contrast, the object of heavenly contemplation is Christ. In the context, this includes Christ’s character or heavenly values centered around Christ (3:10-17), available because those who died and rose with Christ were also exalted with him (cf. 2:20; 3:1, 5, 9-10; Eph 2:6). The phrase “heavenly matters” was sometimes used this way.
3:5-7. Other Greco-Roman writers (including Jewish ones like the author of *4 Maccabees) also listed vices and warned against passions. Paul might emphasize their “earthly” body because the erring people influencing *church members had adopted a popular Greek view in which one’s soul was heavenly and eternal but one’s body earthly, perishable and sometimes thus viewed as unimportant. Paul uses their own language to emphasize that it does matter what one does with one’s body.
Paul does not believe in “beating down the body” (2:23), but he is willing to speak of amputating appendages or “putting them to death” in a figurative sense. Perhaps borrowing an image from Jesus (Mk 9:43, 45, 47), Paul here describes passions as “members of the body.” (The body was not evil, but indulging all its desires without observing God’s restrictions was. *Philo speaks occasionally of the soul’s needing to extinguish the body; but most thinkers recognized that morally therapeutic amputations were ineffectual, such as postadolescent castration, which did not remove sexual desires; they would mean such statements metaphorically.) But one puts to death the sinful lifestyle by depending on one’s finished death in Christ (3:3-4), not by harsh treatment of the physical body (2:18, 20-23). The sins Paul lists here are typical sins *Gentile converts to Judaism would have committed before their conversion.
3:8. Greco-Roman (the Stoic Zeno, Diogenes Laertius 2.93) and Jewish teachers (see 4 Maccabees and the rabbinic commentary Sifra) sometimes had a second list of subordinate or less obvious vices following the first list, announcing that these too should be removed. In contrast to the more obvious vices of 3:5 practiced primarily by Gentiles, even Jewish people grappled with the sins listed here.
3:9-10. “Take off” and “put on” (NIV) may reflect the image of armor used by Greco-Roman moralists or Jewish tradition’s occasional image of being “clothed” with the *Spirit, although Paul could also have simply concocted his own image of spiritual clothing (which he uses frequently; see comment on Rom 13:12); there is nothing profound in the fact that ancient peoples had to put on and take off clothes. (Some scholars have argued that this is a baptismal image. Because *baptisms in Jewish ritual baths were normally performed naked, disrobing and being clothed again afterward would make sense. We can hardly imagine, however, that John’s public baptisms in the Jordan [Mk 1:5]—which probably included men and women—were done in the nude, and we have no clear evidence of how non-Palestinian churches practiced baptisms in this period.)
“Old person” and “new person” probably allude respectively to Adam, in whom the old humanity lived (in the light of Jewish concepts of corporate personality and the use of ’adam as a term for “human” in Hebrew), and to Christ. An allusion to Adam is the likely import of “image” and “created” in 3:10 (see Gen 1:26). The language of “renewing” fits Jewish teaching about a new creation arriving with the messianic era at the end of the age, which Paul believes has been inaugurated in Christ, the new Adam (see comment on 2 Cor 5:17); it has come, but believers living out the life of the new age in the old age must continually realize their participation in this newness to behave accordingly. The renewal may also reflect the language of the *Old Testament (Ps 51:10; cf. Ezek 18:31), especially language about God’s work in his people at the end (cf. Ezek 11:19-20; 36:26-27).
3:11. Of all peoples in the empire, Greeks, fiercely proud of their own heritage, were often the most intolerant of Jewish people. Circumcision divided Jews from non-Jews. In the Greek language, which was widespread by Paul’s time, “barbarians” technically still meant all non-Greeks, although some non-Greeks broke down these categories differently (e.g., some Alexandrian Jews claimed to be Greeks, even though this claim infuriated Alexandria’s ethnic Greeks). Scythians were generally considered the most barbaric, cruel and anti-Greek people (although some ancient writers portrayed them as “noble barbarians”). “Slave and free” was one major way of dividing humanity socially, although some slaves were more advanced socially than many free persons. “Christ is all” may mean thus that he, rather than any human divisions, rules all of human life.
3:12-17
Rules for the Christian Community
The parallels with Ephesians here are so close that many scholars believe that Ephesians copied and expanded Colossians. When a letter purportedly from Paul diverges significantly from another Pauline letter, some scholars attribute the different letter to another author. But when the letter with differences also exhibits similarities to another Pauline letter, some scholars say one writer copied the other one. Neither line of argument is adequate by itself, however, without substantial evidence for non-Pauline authorship. Paul may have sent out similar instructions to different churches in this period of his life, or even allowed an assistant to revise some basic instructions for different congregations (see comment on 4:16). *Scribes were sometimes tasked with drafting material in documents based on already available material.
3:12-13. “Chosen,” “holy” and “beloved” (NASB, NRSV) were all terms that the *Old Testament applied to Israel. For “put on” (KJV, NASB) see comment on 3:10. Paul includes a list of virtues, also a standard literary form in his day.
3:14-15. Love often appears as an important virtue in antiquity (sometimes as the chief virtue in Judaism), but it appears repeatedly in early Christian literature as the supreme virtue, in a manner not consistently paralleled in any other body of ancient literature (e.g., for some “wisdom” was the dominant virtue, or *Aristotle’s four cardinal virtues dominated). “Peace” (v. 15) probably especially means “among one another,” in unity (v. 14); this virtue was highly valued in both Jewish and other Greco-Roman literature.
3:16. Whereas Ephesians 5:18-19 emphasizes the Spirit in worship, Paul in Colossians is concerned with erring persons who have not recognized the full sufficiency of Christ; he thus emphasizes the “word of Christ” here. On the worship, see comment on Ephesians 5:19.
3:17. Ancient culture was pervasively religious, but most pagan religious practices were ritual observances that did not cast moral influence over one’s daily life and ethics. For Paul, by contrast, every aspect of life must be determined by Christ’s lordship.
3:18–4:1
Rules for the Household
*Aristotle had developed “household codes” directing a man how to rule his wife, children and slaves properly. By Paul’s day persecuted or minority religious groups suspected of being socially subversive used such codes to show that they upheld traditional Roman family values. Paul takes over but modifies the codes (though less in Colossians than Ephesians). See the more detailed discussion on Ephesians 5:22–6:9.
3:18. All ancient moralists insisted that wives should “submit” to their husbands, though few would have stopped short of using the term “obey,” as Paul might do here (cf. 3:20, 22; see comment on Eph 5:33).
3:19. Although the ancient instructions to husbands normally stressed how he should rule his wife, Paul stresses instead that he should love her.
3:20. Throughout the ancient world (including under *Old Testament *law, Deut 21:18-21), minor children were expected to obey their parents; although Roman law allowed the father to demand obedience even of adult children, adults no longer living with their parents were normally expected only to honor their parents.
3:21. Most ancient fathers and educators beat their children as a matter of course; like a minority of ancient moralists, Paul advocates a more gentle approach to child rearing.
3:22-25. Ancient law treated slaves as property as well as treating them as people, and their obedience was expected. Many, however, considered slaves generally lazy (an attitude easy to understand in some cases, since slaves rarely shared the profit of their own labors). The admonition that slaves devote their work to the Lord relativizes the master’s authority (cf. 4:1); “not pleasing people” was also common advice in ancient Jewish ethics. For more on slavery in general, see the introduction to Philemon.
4:1. Some Greek and Roman philosophers warned that masters themselves could become slaves someday (unlikely as this was), so they should treat their slaves rightly. Aristotle attacked philosophers in his own day who said that slavery was against nature and therefore wrong. By contrast, Paul clearly believes all people are by nature equal before God; although he does not address slavery as an institution here, what he does write thus suggests that he does not favor it. Although he has no control over the system, he can warn masters to keep in mind their status before God. For an example of a situation in which he does have more potential influence, see Philemon.
4:2-6
Rules Beyond the Community
4:2-4. For an “open door” as opportunity, see comment on 1 Corinthians 16:9. Keep in mind that Paul is in Roman custody. Most prisoners lacked access to washing or haircuts, though Paul may be in a lighter form of custody here (see comment on Acts 28:16).
4:5. The *New Testament often uses “outsiders” for “those outside the *church.” It may be related to a term used by later Jewish teachers for those who did not understand the *law, but it is a natural image by itself, perhaps more analogous to the way Jews viewed *Gentiles in general. “Redeeming the time” (KJV, literally) probably means “making the most of the time” (NRSV). (Cf. Ps 90:12. The *LXX of Dan 2:8 uses the phrase for trying to gain a delay.)
4:6. “With grace” (KJV, NASB) can mean with gracefulness, pleasantness and so forth (closer to the classical Greek usage of “*grace” than the usual New Testament usage); see comment on Ephesians 4:29. Salt was a preserving and flavoring agent; thus Paul probably refers to speech designed to make sense to outsiders and be relevant to them (cf. the common ancient depiction of pleasant speech as “honeyed”). When a particular *rhetorician recommended salting one’s words properly, he seems to have meant sarcastic wit; in this context, Paul seems to mean instead a gentle answer (cf. Prov 15:1).
4:7-18
Closing Greetings
Letters often closed with greetings from others, because letters went out irregularly and undependably (whenever someone was traveling to the recipients’ area).
4:7-8. News was often carried by word of mouth via travelers. Hosts usually asked their guests about people they both knew elsewhere. Such news bearing was thus normally only incidental, but Paul sent Tychicus for the purpose of bearing news. Personal news from custody or during war was sometimes dangerous to put in a letter, entrusted instead to a discreet traveler who could supplement the letter.
4:9. Because Paul is writing from imprisonment (4:18), this Onesimus could be the same one as in Philemon 10 (cf. perhaps 2 Tim 1:16), at a later period. An Onesimus became bishop of Ephesus by the early second century, but we cannot be certain it is the same one Paul mentions here.
4:10. Both Aristarchus (Acts 20:4) and Mark (Acts 13:13; 15:37-39; 2 Tim 4:11; cf. 1 Pet 5:13) were junior colleagues of Paul in ministry. “Fellow prisoner” could mean that Aristarchus was also a captive, but it might be figurative, simply meaning that he accompanied Paul, who was in custody (cf. Acts 27:2).
4:11. “Jesus” (which can also be translated “Joshua”—GNT) was a common Jewish name. Many Jewish people used a second Greek or Latin name resembling their more traditional Jewish name, and this “Jesus” bears also the Latin name “Justus.” That Paul sent greetings from Jewish and Gentile workers engaged in spiritual ministry together would have struck ancient readers as far more profound than most modern readers can guess.
4:12. “Striving” (“wrestling”—NIV, NRSV; “laboring”—NASB) is a term that can designate conflict or athletic competition signifying great exertion; philosophers and others often used it metaphorically (see comment on 1:29; cf. Gen 32:24?). Paul thus depicts prayer as a form of spiritual conflict or discipline crucial to their mission (4:2-4).
4:13. Recommendations could speak of another’s fondness for the letter’s recipients (e.g., Pliny, Epistles 7.31.1). The three largest cities of the Lycus Valley in Phrygia were Colossae, Laodicea and (six miles from Laodicea) Hierapolis; in this period Colossae was the least significant of the three. Hierapolis hosted healing cults, a temple to the emperor and the reported entrance to the underworld; it also had a significant Jewish presence in this period. Laodicea was a wealthy commercial center, despite its somewhat remote location.
4:14. Physicians were well educated but were often slaves or *freedpersons, with relatively low social status. Although most physicians were men, women physicians (most often but not limited to midwives) are known. Empirically valid observations existed alongside folk traditions, superstition and guesswork; there were no board-accredited physicians, and different schools of medical thought existed. Pagan healing cults (such as that of Asclepius) allowed for medical practice alongside prayers to a deity; views varied somewhat in Judaism, but later hospitals evolved especially from the eventual Christian practice of caring for the sick in late antiquity. Although I deem it unlikely (based on the geographic distribution of “we” in Acts), some have suggested that Luke studied medicine in Laodicea (where there is evidence of a prominent medical practice) or practiced for a healing cult in Hierapolis (before his conversion); the readers seem to have heard of him. *Papyri attest that some Jews did bear the Greek name “Demas” (cf. 2 Tim 4:10), but in this context (Col 4:11) Demas seems to be a Gentile.
4:15. Early manuscripts differ on the gender of “Nympha,” but *scribes would more likely change a woman’s name into a man’s name here than the reverse; hence the feminine form “Nympha” is probably original, giving her a position of influence in a house church.
4:16. Paul’s letter to the Laodiceans is no longer extant, although some scholars have suggested that it is our current letter to the Ephesians (contrast comment on Eph 1:1; but the circular letter could have gone to Laodicea, the nearest location it went to Colossae); like Ephesians, it may have been similar to Colossians. Nearly all reading was done aloud, and letters to groups would naturally have been read to the whole group by one person, because even in urban areas most people could not read well. In a church service, Paul’s letter may have been read alongside *Old Testament Scripture, although it is unlikely that either Paul or his earliest readers guessed that some of his letters would become Christian Scripture.
4:17. Archippus may have been Philemon’s son or at least a colleague in his house church (Philem 2).
4:18. Writers usually dictated letters to scribes but often closed with a signature in their own handwriting.