Overview of the Book of Colossians
Purpose:
To affirm and explain the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ in opposition to all other powers and attempts to gain. salvation.
Date: c. A.D. 60
In earlier days, Colosse, a city on the Lycus River in southeastern Asia Minor, had been prosperous and large, enjoying a thriving wool industry and a strategic location on a main overland trade route between Ephesus, 100 miles to the west, and the Euphrates River, some 400 miles to the east. In the days of Paul, however, Colosse had declined in the face of the growth of two sister cities in the Lycus Valley: Laodicea and Hierapolis. In Paul's day, Colosse was a fairly inconsequential market town. It was easily the least significant city to which any of Paul's surviving letters was addressed.
Paul wrote to help members of the Church in Colosse hold firmly to the truth that God had already accepted them by virtue of their union with Christ. While perfection, or maturity, still stood before them as a goal (Col. 1:22-23, 28), they already enjoyed "fullness in Christ" (Col. 2:10), the perfect One.
It is difficult to reconstruct the precise elements of false teaching to which Paul responded because the epistle is less a critique of error than a positive statement of the sufficiency of the person and work of Christ. However, certain features of this false teaching do surface.
First, it claimed to be a "philosophy" (Col. 2:8). As was often the case in the Hellenistic period, the word philosophy did not refer to rational inquiry, but to occult speculations and practices based on a body of "tradition" (Col. 2:8).
Second, this false teaching appears to have been strongly dependent on Judaism. It placed much value on legal ordinances derived from the Old Testament, such as food regulations, Sabbath and New Moon observance, and other prescriptions of the Jewish calendar (Col. 2:16). The mention of circumcision (Col. 2:11) also points to the Jewish nature of this false teaching, but it does not suggest that the Old Testament rite was a central issue in Colosse, as it was in Galatia (see Overview of the Book of Galatians).
Third, the role of angelic spirits was an important element in this teaching. Three key factors point to this:
Notes from the NIV Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible, Dr. Richard Pratt, ed. (Zondervan, 2003).(1) Paul stressed Christ's superiority to and victory over "the powers and authorities" (Col. 2:15; see also Col. 1:15-16, 19; 2:10, 18-19). He wanted the Colossians to stand strong in their commitment to Christ as the Lord of all.
(2) The phrase "the basic principles of this world" (Col. 2:8, 20; cf. Gal. 4:3) may also point to angelic beings. Although some interpreters in the past associated this expression with Jewish legalism, a pagan identification is more likely. The Greek word stoicheia, which the NIV84 translates as "principles," may also be translated "elements." In the first century this term was used in the Greek world to refer to gods of stars and planets, and even to the physical elements (earth, wind, fire, and water) that were thought to control the destinies of men and women (note that these same elements are still taught to contain spiritual power in certain sects of satanism and witchcraft today). For instance, the Phrygian god Cybele and her lover Attis are known to have been transformed by popular pagan piety (though the dating is obscure) into astral and cosmic powers. Parallel developments took place in Jewish traditions, which opened the way for mixing Judaism with these pagan beliefs. Some Jewish thinkers merged angels with astral powers thought to be protecting the planets. Moreover, intertestamental Jewish literature envisioned Israel caught in the middle of a conflict between two kingdoms led, respectively, by good and evil powers that claimed her allegiance. The victory of the good powers over the evil was the promised result of Israel's repentance, full obedience and perfect Sabbath observance. It appears that the Colossians also may have come under the influence of a syncretistic piety - partly Jewish, partly pagan - that encouraged obeisance to these astral or cosmic powers.
(3) The role of angels in this false teaching is also evident in the phrase "the worship of angels" (Col. 2:18). Early Christians understood angels to be agents in creation and in the giving of the law (Acts 7:53; Gal. 3:19; Heb. 2:2). The teaching in Colosse confused the limited role angels legitimately have as "ministering spirits" (Heb. 1:14) with the larger cosmic role being accorded them in some Jewish quarters, as well as the role attributed to astral powers outside Judaism. As a means of overcoming fear of the astral or cosmic powers, and under the guise of revelations the "philosophers" received in ecstatic states, the Colossians were being urged to pursue a regimen of asceticism, abstinence and angel veneration.
Paul wrote to oppose these false teachings, whatever their source. He rejected ceremonialism (Col. 2:16-17), asceticism (Col. 2:21, 23), and angel worship (Col. 2:18). Paul exalted Christ as supreme over all and as the source of all wisdom (Col. 1:15-20; 2:2-3, 9).
Dr. Richard L. Pratt, Jr. is Co-Founder and President of Third Millennium Ministries who served as Professor of Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary and has authored numerous books.