Interpretation of the Epistle of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Colossians

The city of Colossae and the founding of the church at Colossae Place and time of writing the message Reason and purpose of writing the message Division and content of the message In the Asian region of Phrygia, in the valley of the Lika River, during the time of Ap. Paul there was a fairly large city called Colossae. Subsequently, the name of this city disappears from history and in its place a new small city appears - Khony, in which the famous miracle of the Archangel Michael took place in the 8th century. It was a rich city and stood on the road leading from the depths of Asia to Ephesus, which was the religious center of Asia Minor. It is unknown when the first seeds of Christianity were brought to Colossae. Perhaps the Jewish proselytes who came from Phrygia to Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and witnessed the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and other believers introduced the Colossians to the Gospel of Christ. But the church of the pagans of Colosse (Col 2:13) was founded by one of the disciples of the Apostle Paul - Paul himself was not in Colosse (Col 1:6, 2:1-3) - Epaphras, who was a citizen of Colosse (Col 1:7). When Ap. wrote his message to the Colossian Church, it was already firmly established and, consequently, had more than one year of existence. The Epistle to the Colossians was written by the Apostle from Roman bonds (Col 4:3, 18), precisely from his first bonds (from the spring of 62 to the spring of 64). This is evidenced by the fact that Apostle, according to the depiction of the Epistle to the Colossians (Col 4:7-14), enjoyed significant benefits in his bonds and could receive various visitors, and this exactly coincides with the depiction of the first bonds of the Apostle in the book. Acts (Acts 28:16–31). Then the Apostle, in his letter to Philemon, written at the same time as the letter to the Colossians, expresses the hope of visiting Colossae if released from prison. Meanwhile, being in Caesarea bonds, the Apostle himself demanded judgment from Caesar (Acts 25:10–12). It is clear that there, in Caesarea, he could not dream of the opportunity to visit Colossae: his case had to be decided only in Rome, and only in Rome could he express hope for liberation. The founder of the Colossian Church, Epaphras, came to the Apostle Paul in Rome to ask the Apostle for advice regarding the false teaching that threatened the Colossian Church. This false teaching could captivate the Colossian Christians. - What kind of false teaching this was - this is said at the conclusion of the interpretation of the second chapter of our message. The apostle could not calmly react to the danger that threatened the church that was founded by his disciple. In addition, Epaphras undoubtedly informed him about some shortcomings in the moral life of the Colossian Christians, and both of these circumstances served as the reason why the Apostle addressed the Colossians with a message. The purpose of the message, naturally, was to put an end to abnormal phenomena in the life of the Colossian church and to warn believers against being carried away by new false teaching. Church tradition agrees that this epistle is a genuine work of the Apostle Paul. The Apostolic men cite some passages from this letter, and Clement of Alexandria directly says that the letter to the Colossians is the work of the Apostle (Paul). Only in the 19th century did doubts begin to be expressed about the authenticity of this message, but, strictly speaking, all these doubts do not have any serious basis. The main thing that biblical negative criticism points out is the extremely exalted presentation of this epistle about the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and the details about the world of spirits and about the relationship of Christ to this world. In other epistles, critics say, which undoubtedly belong to the Apostle Paul, we do not find such Christological details, and there the Apostle does not seem to rise beyond the idea of ​​Christ as a heavenly man, the second Adam. In addition, they point out some special words and phrases of the Epistle to the Colossians that are not found in the undoubtedly authentic works of the Apostle Paul. As for the difference in language, first of all, it cannot speak against the authenticity of our message. Indeed, even in the undoubtedly authentic Pauline epistles, the language is often different - one in one epistle, another in another (compare, for example, the 1st and 2nd Epistles to the Corinthians). There is also nothing in the content of the message that would contradict the undoubtedly authentic messages of the Apostle Paul. Firstly, it is completely untrue that in the undoubtedly authentic works of the Apostle Paul there is no teaching about Christ as God. It is enough to remember only what the Apostle says about Christ in the last chapter. to Rome (Rom 9:4, 5) or in 1 Cor (1 Cor 8:4–6) and other places. And then, secondly, in the undoubtedly authentic letters of Paul, in places they also speak about Christ’s relationship to the world of spirits (see Rom 8:38–39, 1 Cor 15:24–28). Other criticisms are too subjective to be worth mentioning. The only thing worthy of refutation is the critics' claim that the Epistle to the Colossians, in places, repeats the Epistle to the Ephesians. They say precisely that the Epistle to the Colossians is an abbreviation of the Epistle to the Ephesians, made by some disciple of Paul. But there is nothing to be embarrassed by this circumstance. Firstly, expressions about Christ that are apparently similar in both epistles, upon closer examination, turn out to have their own special nuances in thought (cf., for example, Col 1 and Eph 1 or Col 1 and Eph 2, etc.), and secondly, the undoubtedly similar places in the 3rd and 4th chapters are explained by the fact that both epistles arose under the same conditions. Both epistles were written by the Apostle almost at the same time (the epistle to Ephesians - earlier), transmitted through the same person and were assigned to churches adjacent to each other (the epistle to the Ephesians, as a conciliar, was also read in the churches neighboring the Colossian Church). The Epistle to the Colossians can be conveniently divided into two parts - dogmatic-polemical or doctrinal (Col 1:3-2:23) and moral (Col 3:1-4:6), with a preface (Col 1:1-3) and conclusion (Col 4:7-18). A detailed overview of the content by chapter is given in the interpretation of the message itself. Of the patristic interpretations of the Epistle to the Colossians, the conversations of St. John Chrysostom, interpretation of the blessed. Theodorit, Theophylact. Then there is an explanation of Ecumenius, Ambrosiastes, etc. Of the Russian interpretations, the most thorough and extensive are the works of Bishop Theophan (interpretation of the letters of the Apostle Paul to the Colossians and Philemon) and Ya. Mukhin. Message of St. Apostle Paul to the Colossians. Experience of isagogical-exegetical research. Kyiv 1897 p. 276. Of the new foreign works about this message, the most outstanding are those of Meyer. Epistles from Captivity (edited by Haupt 1897), Paul Ewald's Epistles of Paul to the Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon (in Zahn's commentary ed. 2nd 1910) and Dibelius. The Epistles of the Apostle Paul to the Colossians, Ephesians and Philemon (1912) You might be interested in: