The Book of Colossians

Colossae was a small town in the Lycus valley, and Paul had never been there; the church was planted by Epaphras, "our beloved fellow servant... a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf" (Colossians 1:7), who came to Paul in prison worried about teaching seeping into the congregation. Paul answers from "a Roman imprisonment" the letter never locates, writing alongside its twin letter to Ephesus and the note to Philemon, carried by the same messenger, Tychicus, with the returning slave Onesimus beside him (4:7-9). His prayer for these strangers is that they would be filled with the knowledge of God's will, "bearing fruit in every good work" (1:9-10), giving thanks to the Father who "has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (1:13-14).

Then the letter rises into the hymn of 1:15-20, the most concentrated Christology in Paul. "He is the image (eikon, εἰκών) of the invisible God, the firstborn (prototokos, πρωτότοκος) of all creation," firstborn as heir and preeminent one, the psalm's word for the Davidic king (Psalm 89:27), "for by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together (synesteken, συνέστηκεν)" (1:15-17). The universe is not self-supporting; it coheres in a person. And the one who holds the cosmos also heads the church: "He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness (pleroma, πλήρωμα) of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things... making peace by the blood of his cross" (1:18-20). Creation and cross are one arc: the hands that hold all things together are the hands that were nailed. Paul's own commission inside that arc is "the mystery hidden for ages... Christ in you, the hope of glory" (1:26-27).

Chapter 2 names the danger. Something was being offered at Colossae as an upgrade to Christ, "philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world" (Colossians 2:8), a blend the letter sketches in fragments: food and drink rules, festivals and new moons and sabbaths treated as required (2:16), asceticism and severity to the body (2:23), visions, and "the worship of angels" (2:18). Against every version of Jesus-plus, Paul sets one sentence: "For in him the whole fullness of deity (pan to pleroma tes theotetos, πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος) dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority" (2:9-10). Deity in fullness, dwelling bodily; and the church already filled in him. There is no residue of God left over for a rule or an angel to supply. The shadow texts get their proper dignity and their proper limit in the same breath: "These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ" (2:17).

The center of the chapter is the cross described as a legal and military event at once. "You, who were dead in your trespasses... God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt (cheirographon, χειρόγραφον) that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross" (2:13-14). The handwritten certificate of everything owed, nailed up like a notice, canceled where everyone can read it. And then the triumph: "He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him" (2:15), the language of a Roman victory procession, with the powers the Colossians were tempted to appease marching as the defeated captives. That is why the letter is so unimpressed by regulations that "have indeed an appearance of wisdom" but "are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh" (2:23): rules can fence the flesh; only a death and resurrection replace it. "If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why... do you submit to regulations?" (2:20).

Chapter 3 turns the hymn into a wardrobe. "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God... For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory" (Colossians 3:1-4). The imperative rests entirely on the indicative: because you died and rose with him (2:12), put to death what is earthly, "sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry" (3:5), and take off the old self like a worn garment, anger, wrath, malice, slander, lying (3:8-9). Then dress: "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony" (3:12-14). In the renewed image "there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all" (3:11), the eikon of chapter 1 now being restored in a community (3:10; Genesis 1:27).

The household is where the clothing gets worn: "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts... Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God" (3:15-16). Wives and husbands, children and fathers, servants and masters each hear their word, and every station receives the same leveling clause: "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men... You are serving the Lord Christ" (3:23-24), with masters reminded that they also have a Master in heaven (4:1). The letter closes with walking in wisdom toward outsiders, speech "gracious, seasoned with salt" (4:6), steadfast prayer, and a window into Paul's company: Tychicus and Onesimus carrying the letter, Epaphras "struggling on your behalf in his prayers" (4:12), Luke the beloved physician, and instructions to trade letters with Laodicea (4:16). The last line is written in Paul's own cramped hand: "Remember my chains. Grace be with you" (4:18). For Sanctum of Spiritborn, Colossians is the supremacy lane: the Christ in whom all things hold together, the debt nailed up canceled, and a fullness that leaves nothing for a rival power to sell.

Paul, the Figure, writing to a church he had never seen.

Epaphras, the Figure, the planter who prayed in agony for Colossae.

Onesimus, the Figure, the returning slave who carried the letter home.

Tychicus, the Figure, the messenger of the twin letters.

Sanctum Christology, the hymn of 1:15-20 in the church's confession.

Sanctum The Book of Ephesians, the twin letter carried by the same hand.

Sanctum Union with Christ, died, raised, and hidden with him.

Sanctum Forgiveness, the record of debt nailed to the cross.

Bible Reader, Colossians in Greek and English.