Colosse

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints-- the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. (Colossians 1:1-6)

Colosse is situated on the great east-west trade route across Asia Minor where the roads from Sardis and Ephesus join, about 20 kilometers from Hierapolis and 16 from Laodicea. The city was built over the Lycos river at the head of a gorge on one of the tributaries of the Maeander, about 5 kilometers from Mt. Cadmus.

Two streams, one from the north and the other from the south pour into the Lycos and disappear under the city. The chalky deposits in the water gradually formed a natural petrified arch, beneath which the current flowed giving rise to superstitious beliefs about angelic appearances. The archangel Michael, for instance, was believed to be their protecting saint.

Colosse was a prosperous mercantile city renowned for its wool and cloth-dyeing industries from as early as the 5th Century B.C during the time of the Lydian and Persian Empires. Xerxes, for instance, visited Colosse in 481 B.C. and Cyrus the Younger in 401 B.C. The city gave its name to 'collossinus', an unusually coloured wool, probably dyed dark red or purple. By the time Paul wrote his epistle to them, however, the city had declined in influence eclipsed by its neighbouring cities (Colossians 4:13, 16). This was in part due to the re-routing further west of the road from Sardis to Pergamum to ensure it went via Laodicea instead.

Paul had spent three years in Ephesus in which, "all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord." (Acts 19:10). During this time Epaphras, Philemon, Onesimus, Archippus and Apphia, who were all from the region of Colosse, came to faith in Jesus Christ (Philemon 2,10, Colossians 4:9, 12). Epaphras returned to Colosse and helped found a church there (Colossians 1:7). He also ministered in the cities of Hierapolis and Laodicea (Colossians 2:1; 4:12-13). The church at Colosse met in the home of Philemon (Philemon. 2). It is possible that Apphia and Archippus were his wife and son, and that Archippus was the pastor of the church (Colossians 4:17).

There was a significant Jewish presence in the area since Alexander the Great settled Phrygia with Jews from Babylon. Cicero estimated that over ten thousand Jewish men alone lived in the Laodicea-Hierapolis-Colosse area. The distinctive features of religious life in Colosse included not only the local pagan worship of Cybele and superstitions concerning angels, but also a mixture of Jewish legalism, gnosticism and Eastern mysticism. It was this cocktail of error which Paul refuted in his letter to the young Church there (Colossians 2:8-9,16-23).

Paul uses the vocabulary of the gnostic heretics, such as 'fullness', 'wisdom', 'perfect', and 'complete' but invests them with Christian meaning to describe our relationship with Jesus Christ. The little word 'all' is used 30 times to stress the pre-eminent, universal and completed of Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:15-18; 3:11). We therefore don't have to worry about angelic mediators or legalistic practices. Colosse reminds us not to let anyone "deceive you by fine-sounding arguments" (Colossians 2:4), that "no-one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy" (Colossians 2:8), or "judge you by what you eat or drink" (Colossians 2:16). We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ.

It was Paul's hope that he would visit Colosse after his anticipated release from prison in Rome (Philemon 22). It is not known whether Paul did so. Shortly after Paul wrote his letter, the towns of the Lycos Valley, including Colosse, were destroyed by a major earthquake in 61 A.D. Although rebuilt, Colosse gradually declined in influence, increasingly overshadowed by Laodicea and Hierapolis. The legacy of Colosse is therefore not its secret rituals or prized coloured wool but the good news that everyone who believes in Jesus Christ becomes part of his body, the church, of which he is the Head (Colossians 1:18).