Last time we started our look at the book of Colossians by talking briefly about the author and the city of Colossae itself. Today I want to focus more on the intended audience of the letter by looking at the church in Colossae. Again looking at the first two verses in Colossians we read, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy our brother: To the saints in Christ at Colossae, who are faithful brothers. Grace to you and peace from God our Father.”
The Church Itself
The first thing is to take a little background look at the Colossian church itself. This was a church that would have never been mentioned in the Net Testament if this letter was never written. That is because this was a church that Paul did not start nor even visit, instead Paul heard of their faith. This was a church that had more than likely started due to Paul’s ministry in Ephesus, in which the Gospel went out through all of Asia from there. It was probably in Ephesus that Epaphras and Philemon came to faith in Christ. These were two ordinary guys which God used to start ministries and churches in the three cities of Colossae, Laodecia, and Hierapolis. As with the city itself the church was predominately Gentile with a diverse background which probably led to some of the issues Paul deals with in the letter. Now in looking at Paul’s greeting we also see three things about the church that he reminds them of.
Saints
The first thing Paul tells the Colossian church is that they are saints, or that they are holy. This is a familiar address Paul uses in his letters to the churches, Galatians and 1 & 2 Thessalonians are the exception. The concept of a saint in Paul’s day was not how we view a saint today. Today when we think of a saint we think of a dead person that the Catholic church has granted the status of sainthood to after meeting a certain set of criteria. To Paul a saint was someone set aside for God’s purpose, or in other words a believer. You see it is not anything they did that made them saints, but it is all what God did; as it was through Christ that God made them, and makes us, holy.
Faithful
The next thing Paul states about the church is that they were faithful. You have to remember this was a church that started through hearing from others that more than likely brought the Gospel to Colossae after hearing it while in Ephesus, yet they held fast to their faith. In fact Paul later expresses praise in hearing about their faith. This was a young church started by regular ordinary people, no apostles, missionaries, or pastors started it, and when they faced an issue Epaphras probably told the church that they should seek advice from Paul on the issue. Rather than stray they sought out godly counsel to help correct wrong teachings that were trying to creep their way in.
Brothers
Finally Paul called the church in Colossae brothers. This demonstrates the unity that is shared among believers, we are all part of a family and as such work together. This sense of unity shows that we are not supposed to go at it alone, instead we should be willing to help each other out in times of need. I have often heard with some branches of the military the concept of “no man left behind,” as Christians we should have a similar concept that we should not allow each other to fall. We should encourage and life each other up, pray for each other, and when one of us falls we should be willing to help bring them back to Christ. The unity of the believer, the brotherhood of faith, means we should be willing to help and protect each other from falling into the grasp of the enemy. Paul exhibits this concept in that he doesn’t leave the Colossian church to their own devices, which he had no direct ties to the church to warrant his involvement, but because they were fellow believers that was the only reason needed for Paul to step in to address the issues that they were facing. So what were these issues? Well we will look at that next time.
