As the Lord wills, on Sunday morning, September 2, 2012, we will begin a new sermon series at Faith Baptist Cabot from the Epistle to the Saints at Colossae with a focus on the supremacy of Christ in all things. But before we begin a little background might help.

Somewhere around 62 to 65 A.D., the Apostle Paul sent a letter to the saints in Colossae. The city sat in the Lycus Valley alongside the river Lycus in the area of the old Phrygian kingdom in what is now west central Turkey. At one time Colossae had been an important city situated on an important trade highway from Ephesus to the East, occupying the pass through the Cadmas mountain range to the east. But by the time of Paul’s letter, the city had decreased in importance and size as the neighboring cities of Hierapolis and Laodicea had grown in prominence.

The city of Colossae was inhabited largely by the descendants of the Phrygian kingdom along with an admixture of Greeks with the Greek language and Greek culture. There was also a considerable Jewish population transplanted to the region by Antiochus the Great (225-187 B.C.). The result would have been a culture of confusion with a mixture of mysticism, angel-worship, asceticism, Judaism and whatever other philosophies had crossed through Colossae during its time of prominence.

The church in Colossae was likely founded by Epaphras (1:7). Epaphras may have been converted during Paul’s three year stay in Ephesus, a city one hundred miles east of Colossae. With the mentioning of Archippus in both the letter to the Colossian church (4:17) and to Philemon (1:2), it appears that the central gathering place for the saints in Colossae was the home of Philemon.

As Paul dictates the letter, possibly to Timothy (1:1), he does so while under arrest in Rome. He has not personally visited the city of Colossae and does not know all of its membership personally. However he has heard of their faith and love (1:4), probably from Ephaphras. Epapharas may have visited Paul in Rome and shared with him both the good news of the church as well as certain troubling issues prompting this letter.

The theological trouble in the church was due to the influence of the mixed-up religious culture in which it existed. The heart of the issue revolved around the person of and work of Christ, whether He was in and of Himself sufficient for all things. “These theosophists promised to their followers a deeper insight into the world of spirits, and a nearer approach to heavenly purity and intelligence, than the simple Gospel affords.”  (Utley, 1997)

One need not read far into the letter to find Paul making his point quite clear: Christ is sufficient and supreme over all. “A recurring theme in Colossians is the complete adequacy of Christ as contrasted with the emptiness of mere human philosophy.” (Utley, 1997)

A.T. Robertson sums up the church and Paul’s response succinctly: “These saints and brothers are in Colossae, not a large city and probably not a strong church, but the cause was in peril and that was enough for Paul’s interest to be aroused.”  (Robertson, 1959)

As we consider Paul’s letter nearly two millennia later, its purpose and content could not be timelier. The supremacy and sufficiency of Christ is under constant attack, both secularly and religiously. This inspired epistle reminds us and assures us that in spite of competing philosophies and alternate paths to so-called higher knowledge, Jesus Christ is the very image of the invisible God (1:15). He is sufficient. He is supreme over all.

Works Cited
Robertson, A. (1959). Paul and the Intellectuals The Epistle to the Colossians. Nashville: Broadman Press.
Utley, R. (1997). Paul Bound, the Gospel Unbound: Letters from Prison. Marshall: Bible Lessons International.