The book of Colossians

At a glance

Chapters

4

Author

Paul, though authorship is debated

Written

Around 60 to 62 AD if by Paul

Written for

A church Paul had never visited, facing an unnamed teaching

Themes

the supremacy of Christ, sufficiency, new self, household

What it is about

Colossae was a small town Paul had not been to; the church was founded by Epaphras. Some teaching had arrived that involved dietary rules, festivals, angelic worship and self-denial, and the letter answers it without ever describing it fully.

Paul's response is not to argue point by point but to make a claim about scope: everything holds together in Christ, so nothing supplementary is required. The hymn in chapter 1 is where that case is made.

The practical section that follows has the household instructions and the line about working heartily, which was addressed to slaves — a fact worth keeping in view given how the verse is used now.

Where to start

Chapter 1, verses 15 to 20, which is the hymn and the letter's whole argument in six verses.

The chapters worth knowing

• Colossians 1 — The hymn — everything holds together in him — which is the letter's entire argument.
• Colossians 2 — The answer to the rival teaching: do not let anyone disqualify you with rules and visions.
• Colossians 3 — Setting the mind above, and the practical instructions that follow immediately.

What people get wrong about it

That 3:23 is a productivity verse for employees. It is addressed to household slaves, in a passage that then turns to their masters, and using it to demand more from workers reverses its direction.

Questions