What the book is
Colossae was a small town in the Lycus valley of Asia Minor, near Laodicea and Hierapolis. Paul had never been there: the church was founded by Epaphras, one of its own (1:7; 4:12). Paul writes from prison, having heard of their faith and of a teaching that troubled them, one that seems to have mixed Jewish food laws and festivals with visions, self-denial and the worship of angels. His answer is Christ himself. At the heart of the letter is a song about him:
The Son is the image of the unseen God, the firstborn who stands above all creation. For in Him everything in heaven and on earth was created, the seen and the unseen, whether thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities. Everything has been created through Him and for Him.
Who wrote it, and when
The letter is from Paul and Timothy (1:1), and Paul adds a greeting in his own hand (4:18). It is closely linked to Philemon: both mention Onesimus, Archippus, Epaphras, Mark, Luke and others, and Tychicus carries it with Onesimus (4:7–9). The church has always read it as Paul’s. Many scholars agree, dating it to his imprisonment in Rome around AD 60–62, or earlier from Ephesus. Others think a follower wrote it in his name after his death, pointing to differences of style and teaching from the letters no one disputes, and to its closeness to Ephesians. Of the two, more scholars accept Colossians as Paul’s own.
How the book is laid out
- Thanks and prayer (1:1–14): for the Colossians’ faith, love and hope, and that they may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will.
- The song of Christ (1:15–20): the image of the unseen God, through whom and for whom all things were created, the head of the body, the church, who made peace through his cross.
- Paul’s work (1:21–2:5): reconciled through Christ’s death, and Paul’s labour for the mystery, “Christ in you, the hope of glory”.
- Fullness in Christ (2:6–23): rooted in him, warned against philosophy and human tradition, buried and raised with him in baptism, and freed from rules about food, festivals and the worship of angels.
- The new life (3:1–4:6): set your minds on things above, put off the old self and put on the new, and the household instructions.
- Greetings (4:7–18).
How Open Word Bible translates Colossians
Firstborn (1:15). “The firstborn who stands above all creation.” The draft reads “firstborn” as rank, the one with the rights of the firstborn, supreme over creation, not the first thing created; the footnote gives the other readings. See “Firstborn of all creation”: rank or origin?.
The fullness (2:9). “All the fullness of God’s own being dwells in him bodily.” The key words of the letter are kept the same throughout, among them mystery, faith and grace.
The elemental forces (2:8). As in Galatians, the phrase can mean the basic powers and principles thought to govern life in this world, the ABCs of religion, or spiritual beings who rule it. The draft says “the elemental forces of the world” and gives the other senses in a footnote.
The worship of angels (2:18). Does Paul mean worship offered to angels, or joining in the angels’ own worship in heaven, seen in visions? The draft reads the first, marks the decision uncertain, and footnotes the second. The next words, about one who takes his stand on what he has seen, are just as uncertain, and their footnote sets out the readings.
What is lacking in Christ’s afflictions (1:24). Paul says that in his own body he is completing “what is still lacking in Christ’s afflictions”. The decision reads this as the sufferings still to be borne by Christ’s people, not as anything lacking in Christ’s death, and the footnote gives the other readings.
Nympha and the letter from Laodicea (4:15–16). The SBL text greets “Nympha and the church in her house”; some manuscripts make the name a man’s. And Paul asks the Colossians to read “the letter that comes from Laodicea”, a letter we no longer have.