A Brief Overview on the Letter to Colossae

An Introduction to Colossians

Before diving into the introduction of this book, it is important to understand with the historical-cultural context is. A helpful quote to remind us all what historical and literary context is would be of benefit:

What exactly do we mean by historical-cultural context? Generally speaking, this kind of context involves the biblical writer, the biblical audience, and any historical-cultural elements touched on by the passage itself. Historical-cultural context relates to just about anything outside the text that will help you understand the text itself… Literary context, as we will see in chapter 8, relates to the context within the book e.g., the form a passage takes, the flow of argument within the book, and the meaning of the words and sentences that surround the passage you are studying. (Duvall & Hays, 2012, p. 118)

 The New Testament letter I chose to evaluate the historical and literary context was Colossians. This particular letter follows the standard flow of most New Testament letters: introduction, body, and conclusion (Carson & Moo, 2005; Duvall & Hays, 2012; Plummer, 2010). In addition, the letter also includes a very short greeting at the end of verse two and also has a beautiful opening prayer for the Church (Col. 1:3-14). 

 Colossians was written by the Apostle Paul and was directed directly at the Church of Colossae (Col. 1:1-2, 23; 4:18; cf. 2 Thess. 3:17). After the letter was read though, Paul wanted this letter to go beyond the scope of Colossae and for it to reach the Church of Laodicea (Col. 4:16). Colossians is known as a prison epistle and one can observe this fact within the text and other New Testament letters which confirm these conclusions. Paul was perhaps in Rome during the time he wrote this letter and perhaps even wrote to other churches and people during this time as well (Acts 28:16-31; Col. 4:3, 10, 18; MacArthur, 2003; Philem. 9, 10, 13, 23). If this is true, then this New Testament letter would have been written in A.D. 60-62 (Carson & Moo, 2005; MacArthur, 2003).

When it comes to the original audience and what it meant to them (i.e., historical context), Paul is writing to a group of believers in Colossae who were battling false teaching. This divisive teaching was giving Christ a place, but not the supreme place which is rightfully His alone (Carson & Moo, 2005; Col. 2:4-5, 8, 16-23; MacArthur, 2003). Paul then writes to refute this teaching and he emphasizes the supremacy of Christ (Duvall & Hays, 2012, p. 120-121). MacArthur (2003) points out, “Colosse was a city in Phrygia, in the Roman province of Asia (part of modern Turkey), about 100 miles east of Ephesus in the region of the seven churches of Revelation 1–3” (pp. 414-415). The population of Colosse was both Jew and gentile which is perhaps why this particular Church began to have trouble with “Jewish legalism and pagan mysticism” (MacArthur, 2003, pp. 414-415).

Moving gears away from the historical context and looking at some of the literary context, this letter has much to look at. Duvall & Hays (2012) remind us, “When it comes to interpreting and applying the Bible, context is crucial. In fact, we would go so far as to say that the most important principle of biblical interpretation is that context determines meaning(p. 149). Colossians has some of the richest statements regarding the Gospel and the deity of Christ. Examining the literary context (e.g., genre, words, sentences, paragraphs, immediate context, and the surrounding text) will be even more crucial to highlight these glorious truths (Duvall & Hays, 2012). For the sake of time and length, I will highlight just a few important things about this book regarding literary context.

1. This letter has a well-known early oral creed that was circulating in the early Church (Col 1:15–20; Klein, Blomberg, & Hubbard, 2004, p. 435).

2. Literary cause and effects are found throughout the letter. An important one is found in Col. 3:1 which says, “since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (Duvall & Hays, 2012, p. 57).

3. Conjunctions are found within this NT letter as well. Col. 3:12 has an important but perhaps kind of puzzling conjunction therefore. “In the preceding verses Paul tells the Colossians to put on the new self (see especially v. 10). Since they have put on ‘the new self,’ they ‘therefore’ should also put on new virtues—compassion, kindness, and so on” (Duvall & Hays, 2012, p. 60).

4. Prepositional phrases are important in this letter. “Examples of prepositional phrases in Colossians 1:2 are: ‘to the holy and faithful brothers,’ ‘in Christ,’ ‘at Colosse,’ ‘to you,’ ‘from God our Father” (Campbell, 1991, pp. 117-118). 

5. Active and passive verbs are important in this letter. An example can be found in Col. 3:1, “Since, then, you have been raised [passive] with Christ, set [active!] your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Duvall & Hays, 2012, p. 61).

6. The tone of this letter is important to identify. Unlike Paul’s tone to the Galatians which is a scolding type of tone (Gal. 3:1-4), Paul instead has a calm and explanatory tone with the Church of Colosse (Col. 3:1-4).

7. Connections within the text of Colossians are important as well. One important connection to draw from the text can be found when comparing Col. 1:3-8 with 1:9-14. Duvall & Hays (2012) summarize these connections by saying, 

In the first paragraph, Paul and Timothy have heard of the Colossians’ initial saving faith and love, and Paul and Timothy are thanking God for this. However, they do not stop at simply thanking God for new believers. They continue in the second paragraph to pray that these new believers will move on to maturity, being filled with the knowledge of God’s will, doing good works, and continuing to grow in the knowledge of God (pp. 96-97). 

Lastly, word studies are very important in this letter. One of the most crucial words to understand in this letter is the word firstborn (Klein, Blomberg, & Hubbard, 2004). A careful word study on this word concludes the following:

Paul is not saying is that Jesus was the first created being like the Jehovah Witnesses would tell you, but rather Jesus is preeminent in: position, privilege, rank, uniqueness, and heir over all things (Dockery, 1992; Grudem, 2004; Klein, Blomberg, & Hubbard, 2004; MacArthur, 2006; Melick, 1991; Sproul, 2005). If one just quickly surveys the Bible, one sees that firstborn is not speaking of chronological birth order but rather privilege, rank, rights, position and heir (Exodus 4:22; Jerimiah 31:9; Psalm 89:27; Revelation 1:5). Furthermore, Jesus is identified once again as the creator of all things and then Paul explicitly makes sure that every reader knows that Christ existed before all creation (Col. 1:16-17; Sproul, 2005). 

 Speaking of verse 17, MacDonald (1995) rightly points out:

Paul says, “He is[italicsadded] before all things,” not “He wasbefore all things.” The present tense is often used in the Bible to describe the timelessness of Deity. The Lord Jesus said, for instance: “Before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:58; p. 1994)

As you can see from our quick survey or historical and literary context, one can gain a tremendous amount of understanding in the New Testament letter to the Colossians if one takes careful considerations regarding these two different types of contexts.

References

Campbell, D. K. (1991). Foreword. In C. Bubeck Sr. (Ed.), Basic Bible interpretation: A practical guide to discovering Biblical truth. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook.

Carson, D. A., & Moo, D. J. (2005). An introduction to the New Testament(Second Edition). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Dockery, D. S. (Ed.). (1992). Holman Bible handbook. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

Duvall, J. S., & Hays, J. D. (2012). Grasping God’s Word: A hands-on approach to reading, interpreting, and applying the Bible(Third Edition). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Grudem, W. A. (2004). Systematic theology: An introduction to Biblical doctrine. Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House.

Klein, W. W., Blomberg, C., & Hubbard, R. L. (2004). Introduction to Biblical interpretation. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2003). The MacArthur Bible handbook. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Jn 1:3). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments. (A. Farstad, Ed.). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Melick, R. R. (1991). Philippians, Colossians, Philemon(Vol. 32). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

Sproul, R. C. (Ed.). (2005). The reformation study Bible: English standard version. Orlando, FL; Lake Mary, FL: Ligonier Ministries.

Plummer, R. L. (2010). 40 Questions about interpreting the Bible. (B. L. Merkle, Ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic & Professional.

Jesus is Eternally Begotten, Firstborn, and the Beginning of God's Creation?

Eternally Begotten

In some translations in the Biblical text, the English word begotten (John 1:14; 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9), first-born (Colossians 1:15), and beginning have all caused opposition to Christ’s deity. Early Christians had to defend and prove why these accounts in scripture did not at all diminish the divinity of our Lord and Savior. One of the first issues was found in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten [italics added] Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (NASB). This English word for begotten is the Greek word monogenes (μονογενής, 3439) which morphology shows in this context is an adjective and means alone of its kind regarding relationship, or only, or unique (Soanes & Stevenson, 2004; Vine, Unger & White, 1996). This term is never meant to communicate creation or born in the space of time, but rather demonstrate a relational bond (Bird, 2013). Hebrews 11:17 is an excellent example of this showing us the true meaning when speaking about Abraham offering up his only begotten son. The sense of this word in Hebrews means unique, and the same Greek word is used in John 3:16. Bird also goes into length about how there was a considerable controversy which is known as the Arian controversy which communicated that Jesus was a created being and only the Father existed at one point of time (Bird, 2013; Grudem, 2004). 

In response to this controversy, the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD added a qualifier in the text before the word begotten which was the word eternally. In our lecture this week it states the rephrase to eternally begotten stresses “that the Son's beginning is not a temporal event, but an eternal relation between Father and Son could not have a beginning or otherwise He would not be fully divine since eternality is a divine attribute.” (“Lecture 2,” 2015). The early Church felt so strongly about this when comparing this same Greek word with other Gospels and letters that they thought whatever begotten meant; it did not mean created (Grudem, 2004). This is why we see this phrase appear in many of the famous creeds that the Church put out for years to come; the Nicaean Creed (A.D. 325; revised at Constantinople A.D. 381), the Chalcedonian Creed (A.D. 451), the Athanasian Creed (fourth-fifth centuries A.D.), and the Articles of Religion (1571: Church of England). It was in these Church creeds and Articles that the Church made abundantly clear, that the word begotten does not mean created but rather eternally present; highlighting the deity of Jesus Christ (Grudem, 2004).

Firstborn

Furthermore, Grudem (2004) also explains first-born in Colossians 1:15 speaks of primacy instead of creation as well. It was the first-born in the Hebrew culture which held all the authority, the rights, and privileges. This would all be handed over to Jesus (Philippians 2). A couple of examples in scripture make this clear. First-born is talking about preeminence in a position, not concerning birth order. We read in scripture that David is the last son of Jesse but in Psalm 89:27, David is said to be the first-born. In another case later in scripture, we read about Ephraim and Manasseh. Manasseh was born first, but the bible says that Ephraim was first-born in Jeremiah 31:9. Other scriptures can be used, but these two show the point when comparing scripture with scripture, first-born speaks of primacy, power, position, authority, rights, and privileges.

The Beginning of God’s Creation

Finally, one of the Jehovah Witnesses’ favorite passages to debate with Christians about is found in Revelation 3:14, “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation [italics added].” What on Earth does this mean? The Greek word “ἀρχή” “arche” in the transliteration form means beginner, originator, or initiator (Hamilton, 2012; Ladd, 1972, MacDonald, 1995). This lines up as well when compared with Colossians 1:15 which says Christ is the firstborn of all creation. The word firstborn is talking about preeminence in a position not in terms of birth order as I have already pointed out (Ex. 4:22; Jeremiah 31:9; Psalm 89:27). If you think about it concerning JW theology, it is crystal clear that Jesus here in Revelation 3:14 is the initiator of all creation. Jesus is the agent that God used to create all things as the apostle Paul and John have stated (1 Cor. 8:6; John 1:3; Poole, 1853). So, concerning the meaning, I would completely agree that this is speaking of Jesus the creator of everything which Jehovah Witnesses would accept but why they try to use this verse to push the agenda of Christ being created does not suffice for their argument.

Moreover, Jesus tells them that he is the beginning of God’s creation (Rev 3:14). This is not to be understood as though Jesus was created, for elsewhere in Revelation Jesus announces that he is the first and the last (Rev 1:17; 2:8), “the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Rev 22:13). The references to Jesus as the Alpha and the beginning cannot point to a time when He was created or began himself, for the same things are said about the Father, who identifies himself as the Alpha and the Omega (Rev 1:8) and as the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end (Rev 21:6). Jesus and the Father are both referred to as “the Alpha” and as “the beginning” in Revelation, and the point is not that they had a point in time when they themselves came into being but rather that they are the beginning. As the HCSB translates it, Jesus is the “originator.” That is, with the Father, Jesus began all that is. This puts Jesus in a uniquely strong position to offer counsel that the church will want to hear. Finally, one needs to remember that the text doesn’t say that Jesus had a beginning, but rather, He is the beginning (MacArthur, 2006).

References

Bird, M. F. (2013). Evangelical theology: A Biblical and systematic introduction(p. 96). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Grudem, W. A. (2004). Systematic theology: An introduction to Biblical doctrine. Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House.

Hamilton, J. M., Jr. (2012). Preaching the Word: Revelation—The Spirit Speaks to the Churches. (R. K. Hughes, Ed.) (p. 121). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

Ladd, G. E. (1972). A Commentary on the Revelation of John (p. 65). Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Lecture 2. (2015). HTH-201: Christian Theology I. Phoenix, AZ: Grand Canyon University.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Re 3:14). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments. (A. Farstad, Ed.) (p. 2360). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Poole, M. (1853). Annotations upon the Holy Bible (Vol. 3, p. 958). New York: Robert Carter and Brothers.

Soanes, C., & Stevenson, A. (Eds.). (2004). Concise Oxford English dictionary(11th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). Vine’s complete expository dictionary of Old and New Testament words. Nashville, TN: T. Nelson.