St. Paul sent this letter, together with that to Philemon and the circular which we call "Ephesians," by Tychicus from Rome, probably in A.D. 60. He alludes to his imprisonment twice incidentally, and again with pathetic simplicity in the postscript added by his own hand, "Remember my bonds."
[Sidenote: Character and Contents.]
Some difficulties are connected with the heresy taught by the religious agitators at Colossae. It is plain that their {173} teaching affected both doctrine and practice. They appealed to visions and a knowledge of the celestial world (ii. 18), and therefore set up a worship of angels which tended to thrust Christ from His true position in the creed of the Church. They treated the body with unsparing severity (ii. 23), they abstained from meat and drink, and paid a punctilious attention to festivals, new moons, and sabbaths (ii. 16). St. Paul calls these practices "material rudiments" (ii. 8), elementary methods now superseded by faith in Christ. Moreover, it is almost certain that literal circumcision was practised (ii. 11). These things point to Judaism. And yet St. Paul does not seem to be rebuking a return to the Judaism of the Old Testament. He could hardly have described a compliance with Old Testament injunctions as an "arbitrary religion" and "doctrines of men" (ii. 1, 22, 23). It might be Pharisaism, but if we look in the direction of Judaism, it is most natural that we should think of a Judaism resembling that of the Essenes. The Essenes were vegetarians, they avoided wine, they kept the sabbath with special scrupulousness, and had some secret teaching about the angels. These resemblances have tempted some commentators to identify the false teachers with the Essenes. But there is nothing to prove that the Essenes worshipped the angels, and St. Paul makes no mention of the Essene veneration for the sun, or their monastic life, or their elaborate process of initiation. Besides this, the principal community of Essenes dwelt by the Dead Sea, and it is very doubtful if any existed in Asia Minor.
It is best to confess our ignorance. All that we can say is that the scruple-mongers at Colossae taught doctrines which had points of contact with Essenism. They employed some affected interpretation of the Old Testament. They also were influenced by heathenism in their conception of half-divine beings intermediate between God and the world. How far they held any definitely dualistic view of matter we cannot tell. {174} But their system was a mischievous theosophy, which they endeavoured to popularize under catchwords like "wisdom" and "philosophy." The fact that there was at this time such a widespread tendency to adopt an exaggerated asceticism and theories about mediatorial spirits, makes it unnecessary to suppose that the Colossian heresy need be affiliated to any particular school of speculation.
The Epistle consists mainly of a more or less indirect argument against the insidious "philosophy" of the heretics, with an exhortation and personal notes.
Perhaps we account most naturally for the broken order and lax coherence of this letter, by the suggestion that, as St. Paul dictated it, there was present with him a sense of almost nervous hesitation. He has exactly a gentleman's reluctance to do an ungracious action: while he knows that it is his duty to warn the Colossians of a serious danger, he knows that unless he does so with much tactful delicacy, they will resent his interference. So he begins by saying what polite things he can about them, and instead of going on at once to talk of the heresy, he first says with plain significance that he perpetually prays for their perfection in knowledge, activity, and constancy. An incidental allusion to God's method for human salvation gives St. Paul an opportunity for making a digression—one of the most important statements in the New Testament—concerning the nature and work of Christ (i. 14-20). He shows the Colossians what views they ought to hold concerning Him. This would keep them from giving to the angels what is due to Christ alone. Christ is the Redeemer. He was born prior to all creation, even the angels, and all creation coheres through union with Him (i. 15-17). He is the Head of the Church in virtue of His resurrection, and as embodying the full number of divine attributes (i. 18, 19). He is the Saviour of angels and men by His death, and in this salvation the Colossians ought to share (i. 20-23).
It seems that now he will deal with the heresy, but again he {175}
postpones it. He breaks in with a digression of a pastoral character.
He speaks of his commission to preach (i. 24-29), his anxiety even for
Churches that he has never visited (ii. 1-5), and he exhorts the
Colossians to continue in their original faith (ii. 6, 7).
At last he enters upon the main business of the Epistle and begins dogmatic controversy. After a warning against spurious philosophy, he asserts that Christ is the sole incarnation of Deity, to whom all spirits are subject (ii. 9, 10). This is the true doctrine: God has not divided His attributes among a group of angels; all are to be found in Christ. And the true method of salvation is simply that union with Christ which begins with baptism, the Christian's circumcision. In it we receive that forgiveness which was won for us when Christ died, and both blotted out the Law and triumphed over evil angels (ii. 13-15). The apostle then directly condemns the practices of the false teachers—their anxious and mechanical conduct with regard to food and seasons, their intrusion into celestial secrets and their doctrine of angel-worship, their loose hold on Christ the Head, symptoms of an affected humility which is no real check against the indulgence of the flesh (ii. 16-23).
He then turns to practical exhortation. In the bracing words made familiar to us by the Epistle for Easter Day, St. Paul bids the Colossians leave the gently stimulating exercise of intellectual theorizing and listen to the stern demands made by Christ on life and character. They have risen to a life hid with Christ in God; they must make dead the faculties of sensual action, angry thinking, and evil speaking: this is implied in forsaking heathenism for the universal Christ (iii. 1-11). Live quietly in peace and love, show a gracious life in a gracious worship, consecrate your words and deeds by doing all in the name of the Lord Jesus (iii. 12-17).
Then the special duties of wives and husbands, children and fathers, slaves and masters, are dealt with. Prayer and thanksgiving are enjoined on all alike, and the Christians are bidden {176} to "buy up the opportunity" of furthering the cause of God in their dealings with the outer world, having their speech seasoned with the salt of wholesome wisdom (iii. 18-iv. 6). A few words are said about Tychicus, Onesimus, and other friends, including "Luke, the beloved physician," and the Epistle ends with a farewell which St. Paul wrote with his own hand. Before writing it, the apostle directs that this letter should be read at Laodicea, and that the Colossians should procure another letter which had been left in that city. This was probably the so-called Epistle to the Ephesians.