Good Morning.
First- a huge apology to you all. I just responded to your Thursday (Chapter 12) and Friday (Chapter 13) comments. And I am just getting to writing the introduction that I said would be done by Sunday! I went for my monthly COVID test early Friday (negative!) and then did weekly shopping and then got side tracked for the rest of the weekend! Today is really a work day for me!! Lots of writing and catching up! I am excited that we are starting a new book. Colossians is a brief and interesting book!
Colossians is a very "cosmic" book sweeping across all levels of tome for humanity. It almost reads like a sci-fi adventure novel at times!
The letter is attributed to Paul (the first two words in my translation are, "From Paul..."), but there has been some discussion lately on the true authorship of it as the unusual cosmic perspective is so unlike Paul's style. For us, let s just assume Paul wrote this epistle. If written by Paul, it is dated to about 55-60AD (Paul's first imprisonment) ; if not Paul, then some people say dates could be as late as 90AD!
The city of Colossae was a small town in western Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). It was part of the Roman Empire, as were the neighboring cities of Laodicea (10 miles west) and Hierapolis (16 miles northwest), about 110 miles east of Ephesus. These three cities were especially well known for their textiles; Colossae was well known for producing a beautiful scarlet dyed wool. Colossae was a center for pagan cults, mystery religions, and exotic spiritual pursuits. This is one impetus for the letter- these "false teachers" were denigrating the deity of Jesus and teaching that Jesus was not God. There was also a large Jewish population, and many were Hellenized (integrated into the Greco-Roman life).The city was quite large and very prosperous until about 61AD whn a large earthquake devastated the region.
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| Map of Asia Minor |
- The Cosmic Christ- lord of the church, ruler of the universe
- Realized Eschatology- the benefits associated with end-times (eschatology) are available now!
- Knowledge and Maturity- we are to continually develop and grow spiritually throughout our life
Pastor Paul
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