PPE-02 Paul and the Colossians

There is a famous story by the American author Mark Twain called “The Prince and the Pauper.” In this story, a prince invites a poor beggar into his castle and, for fun, the two exchange clothes. As the story goes, the beggar, being mistaken for the prince, is kept in the castle and lives the life of a prince. But the prince is mistaken for the beggar and is thrown out of the castle. Now, had the prince known that he would be thrown out of the castle, I’m sure he never would have agreed to change clothes with the beggar. Dabbling in such simple fun could never be worth losing so much.

In some ways, the situation in the city of Colossae during the first century resembled the story of “The Prince and the Pauper.” The Christians in Colossae were being tempted to exchange their great privileges in Christ for the practice of pagan forms of worship. So, Paul wrote an epistle to remind the Colossians of the tremendous riches and royal privileges they enjoyed in Christ, the King over all. And he warned them of the serious consequences of trading these blessings for the meager benefits that idolatry pretended to offer.

This is the second lesson in our series Paul’s Prison Epistles. We’ve entitled this lesson “Paul and the Colossians.” In this lesson, we’ll be studying Paul’s canonical letter to the believers in Colossae. As we’ll see, while Paul was in prison, he wrote to the Colossians in response to heretical teachings that introduced the veneration of lesser spiritual beings into Christian worship. Our study of Paul and the Colossians will divide into three parts. First, we’ll explore the background of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. Second, we’ll investigate the structure and content of this letter. And third, we’ll focus on its modern application. Let’s turn first to the background of Paul’s letter to the Colossians.

Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ, and writing letters from prison was an aspect of his authoritative ministry as Christ’s representative. But Paul’s letters were not just collections of authoritative teaching. Rather, they were also very personal and pastoral, motivated by love and concern for the churches and people to whom he wrote. In this sense, Paul’s letters were also “occasional.” That is, they were written to address specific issues in particular times and places. For this reason, as we study Paul’s letter to the Colossians, it’s important for us to know something about the occasion that prompted Paul’s writing. We have to ask questions like: “What problems did the Colossians face?” and “What motivated Paul to write to them?”