This is a new series on the letter to the Colossians from the New Testament.

The letter to the church at Colosse was written by the Apostle Paul in AD 62. The church at Colosse was founded by Epaphras who because a Christian in Ephesus, and planted the church in Colosse, seeing the need there. The letter is addressed to the holy people in the church at Colosse. It was the smallest church to whom Paul wrote an Epistle. Colosse suffered a massive earthquake two years after this letter was written and the city was destroyed. 

Paul begins the letter with thanksgiving to God for the believers in Colosse and extends warm love to them. His prayer is that they make progress in the faith and in love for their Saviour, Jesus.

“For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, don’t cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love; in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins;”

Colossians 1:9-13

The preoccupation in this letter is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The supremacy of Christ is paramount in the mind of the Apostle and he addresses difficulties that the church is having and encourages them in the faith handed down to him by God and preached and taught by him as the Apostle to the Gentiles. 

Paul focuses on the person and work of Christ; the message of the gospel; dealing with false doctrine; focus on Christ in the Christian life; prayer.

Paul writes this letter from a prison cell, his last prison cell. He is still concerned about the churches of Christ and writes to them and cares for them, right to the last moment of his life. He is alone except for Luke and asked for others to visit him, even Mark, who was rejected in the past. He is cold and asks for his cloak and the books and parchments that he has in Ephesus. His protege Timothy is to bring them to him and bring the comfort he needs at this time. 

This Epistle is for the edification of the church at Colosse and also us who read it now. It points our view and our mindset to the Lord Jesus Christ and His preeminence in our lives. It takes our view away from ourselves and the pagan and distracting religion that is everywhere in all times and cultures and puts our focus on the LORD. 

I hope this series of writings will be an encouragement to you as a Christian and if you are not a Christian, that you will fix your mind on Christ and come to Him as the only Saviour of our souls and who holds our eternal destiny in His hands.