Content: Paul wrote to the church in Colossae to fortify it against false teachers who might try to impose strict rules about eating and drinking and religious festivals. Paul shows the superiority of Christ over all human philosophies and traditions. He writes of Christ’s deity (“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” [1:15]) and of the reconciliation he accomplished with his blood. He explains that the right way of living in this world is to focus on heavenly rather than earthly things. God’s chosen people must leave their sinful lives behind and live in a godly way, looking to Christ as the head of the church (1:18).
Authorship: Paul wrote while in prison, probably about the same time as he wrote to the Ephesians (ESV)*
* Wikipedia summarizes on what “basis” Paul’s authorship is questioned by liberals as authentic:
The epistle’s language doesn’t seem to match Paul’s, with 48 words appearing in Colossians that are found nowhere else in his writings and 33 of which occur nowhere else in the New Testament.[13]
Koester, Helmut. History and Literature of Early Christianity, Introduction to the New Testament Vol 2. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co, 1982, 1987
This goes a long way to show how desperately that school of theologians is bent to prove their theory in the face of plain evidence to the contrary: Since Paul explicitly acknowledges Timothy as a co-author (Col 1:1), a limitation to only Paul’s vocabulary would question his authorship rather than support it.
The epistle features a strong use of liturgical-hymnic style which appears nowhere else in Paul’s work to the same extent.
Kummel, Georg Werner. Introduction To The New Testament, Revised English Edition, Translated by Howard Kee. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1973, 1975
They must admit: There are hymnic elements all over his epistles, e.g. Ro 11:33-36; 1Cor 15:53-57; Gal 1:3-5; Eph 1:3-6; 5:14; Phil 2:5-11; 1Tim 3:16; 2Tim 2:11-13
The epistle’s themes related to Christ, eschatology and the church seem to have no parallel in Paul’s undisputed works: “Compared to undisputed Pauline epistles, in which Paul looks forward to an imminent Second Coming, Colossians presents a completed eschatology, in which baptism relates to the past (a completed salvation) rather than to the future: “…whereas Paul expected the parousia in the near future (1Thes 4:15; 5:23; 1Cor 7:26)…”
The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, Edited by Raymond E. Brown, S.S., Union Theological Seminary, New York; NY, Maurya P. Horgan (Colossians)
Who is fooled by such obscurantism? The claim that Colossians presents “a completed eschatology” is not only a self-contradiction in terms – there is no such thing as a completion of the “last days” (eschaton) until the last day – it also flies in the face of the evidence: The future return of Christ is no less future in Colossians than anywhere else, Col 3:4.
The congregation has already been raised from the dead with Christ … whereas in the undisputed letters resurrection is a future expectation…
The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, Edited by Raymond E. Brown, S.S., Union Theological Seminary, New York; NY, Maurya P. Horgan (Colossians)
The difference in eschatological orientation between Col and the undisputed letters results in a different theology of baptism… Whereas in Rom 6:1–4 baptism looks forward to the future, in Col baptism looks back to a completed salvation. In baptism believers have not only died with Christ but also been raised with him.” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary”
Don’t be led astray, read Paul yourself: Colossians looks no less to the future than Romans, because also in Colossians, this new life is still hidden in Christ until His future return, Col 3:3-4.
Conversely, if we were not already raised with Christ spiritually, Paul could not have asked the baptized also in Romans to already walk now in the newness of that life, Ro 6:4.
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