24 DeArmond
Austin DeArmond
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Col. 1:24-29 Analysis Paper
Personal Observations of the Passage
Personal Paraphrase-Paul rejoices in his afflictions because they are both on the Colossians behalf and are filling up whats remaining in the afflictions of Jesus. By the appointment of God, Paul labors to preach the whole Word of God that includes the mystery that was hidden in the OT, namely Gentile inclusion and the subsequent, personal indwelling of Christ in his people. Pauls ministry is devoted to creating mature disciples through the preaching and teaching of the gospel who will be presented before Christ one day. God works through Paul to accomplish this great task of discipleship.
Original Central Idea of the Text (CIT)- Paul, as a divinely appointed herald, steward and apostle of the mysteries of God, joyfully suffers on behalf of Gentile Christians while preaching and teaching that he might present them fully satisfied and matured in the knowledge of all that God is for them in Christ. The Colossians are beneficiaries and living examples of the plan of God unfolding which includes the engrafting of Gentiles within the hope of Israel.
Emphasis of the Text- The current pericope has at least three important emphases listed as follows:
1) In his ministry to the Church, Paul suffers for the sake of the Colossians maturity and daily felicity in Christ. The ministry of the apostles is a continuation of Gods ordained and unfolding plan for the universe. Their work does not preclude suffering and the growing pains of the in-breaking of Gods new creation reality began in the resurrection of Jesus. Their ministry exists to create faithful followers of Christ
2) The inclusion of the Gentiles within the covenant community of God is a continuation of God summing up all things in Christ. The mystery hidden for ages was that Gentiles would be included in the people of God; not that they would create a separate people of God (Eph. 2:1-3:11; Gal. 1:11-2:10, 3:1-18; Rom. 4; Acts 10: 11-18, 15).
3) Christs sufficiency for the believer is latent within the text. The false teaching is hollow and lacks what the believers truly need for holiness. The indwelling Christ in the temple of the believer is enough.
Questions from the Text- Why does Paul rejoice in his sufferings? Does this imply a deficiency in Christs work? What is meant by the Word of God in light of the fact that the NT wasnt completed by the time of the writing of this letter? What is the mystery hidden for ages? What is meant that Christ in you is the hope of glory? What is the energy Paul mentions in verse 29?
Critical Study of the Passage
Background of the Book and Passage
Authorship-Paul claims to pen the letter in the opening (1:1, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God), within the initial salutation and thanksgiving (1:23, of which I, Paul, became a minister.) and also at the end of the letter (4:18, I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.). The early church accepted the authenticity of the letter with the book listed in both Marcions canonical list as-well-as the Muratorian canon.[footnoteRef:2] Pauline authorship has recently been debated as a result of three streams of argumentation: 1) the language and style of the letter, 2) the theology and teachings of the letter, and 3) the relationship between the letter of Ephesians and Colossians. Some scholars argue that the language and style of Colossians is too diverse in comparison with other non-debated letters of the apostle. Responding to objection one, despite the frequent examples of hapax legomena, Colossians falls within the normal Pauline range.[footnoteRef:3] Differences in vocabulary can be accounted for in part by the necessary articulation of the Colossian heresy, a good amount of Pauline verbiage can be found within his other writings, and the number of hapax legomena lacks as convincing evidence against Pauline authorship because the sample group is so minuscule.[footnoteRef:4] Some others argue against Pauline authorship because the Christology of the letter is much more expansive than other Pauline writings, the picture of Christ as the head of the body is absent elsewhere, and the realized eschatology of Paul is relegated to almost absent status in favor of spatial language (e.g. In Christ). Furthermore, important teachings within other letters such as justification, torah, and righteousness are also deficient in Colossians. In response to the second objection, it should be noted that the cosmic Christ theme can be found in seminal form within his other writings (1 Cor. 8:6, 15:25-27; Rom. 8:18-31) and the picture of the Church as a body is also present elsewhere (Rom. 12:4-5; Gal. 3:28; 1 Cor. 12) albeit not as fully developed as in the letter to the Colossians.[footnoteRef:5] Spatial concepts are used in the service of eschatology and hints of the already/not yet eschatological theme are present throughout the authors argumentation (Col. 1: 22, 28 3:1-6, 24, 4:11).[footnoteRef:6] Other responses to the charge of vocabulary and stylistic differences can be explained by the possible use of an amanuensis and the fact that Paul was writing to a church he himself did not personally found.[footnoteRef:7] The paucity of other teachings found elsewhere in Paul is also unconvincing. Pauls letters are not systematic treatises concerning theological topics but reactionary letters seeking to address certain issues within first century churches. Different situations call for specific and varied responses. There was no need for the use of every Pauline concept in every letter.[footnoteRef:8] Lastly, the apparent similarity of Ephesians and Colossians speaks against Pauline authorship in favor of one of the letters being an imitation. A possible response could be to articulate the varied differences between the two letters by noting the significant number of passages in Colossians that have no parallels in Ephesians (e.g. Col. 1:6-8, 15, 17, 2:1-2, 5, 9, 11, 16-18, 20-23) and a great many passages in Ephesians that are without parallel in Colossians (e.g. 2:4, 7-11, 17-20, 22, 4:4-5, 7,9-12, 14, 17).[footnoteRef:9] An argument that an author sounds too much like himself elsewhere to actually be himself appears simply ostentatious and disingenuous. The authenticity of the letter can be confidently affirmed in spite of the aforementioned objections. [2: P.T. OBrian, Letter to the Colossians in The Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, Gerald F.Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 150. See also Michael Martin, Letter to the Colossians in The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Chad Owen Brand, Charles W. Draper, and Archie England. (Nashville, TN.: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 318. ] [3: D.A. Carson, Douglas Moo, and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1992), 332.] [4: Ibid., 332-33. ] [5: P.T. OBrian, The Letter to the Colossians, 151. ] [6: Ibid., 151.] [7: David Garland, Colossians and Philemon. (Grand Rapids, MI.: Zondervan, 1998), 20-21. ] [8: Carson, Moo, and Morris, 333.] [9: Margaret Y. Macdonald and Daniel J. Harrington, Colossians and Ephesians. (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2000), 5. ]
Place of Writing-The place of writing and date of the letter are quite debated amongst various scholars. What is clear is that the letter to Philemon and Colossians were probably written in relatively close temporal proximity to each other for the following reasons: the five same persons are mentioned in Pauls greetings in both letters, namely, Luke, Mark, Demas, Aristarchus, and Epaphras ( Col. 4:10-14; Phlm. 23-24), Timothy is named as the coauthor in both letters (Col. 1:1; Phlm. 1), a sending of Onesimus is referred to in both letters (Col. 4:9; Phlm. 10, 12, 17), Archippus is mentioned in both (Col. 4:17; Phlm. 2) and the two letters are undersigned with Pauls own hand (Col. 4:18; Phlm. 19).[footnoteRef:10] The provenance of the letter is usually assigned to either Rome or Ephesus. Arguments for each location are listed below.[footnoteRef:11] [10: Michael F. Bird, Colossians and Philemon: A New Covenant Commentary. (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2009), 9-10.] [11: Ibid.,11-15. ]
Rome
Ephesus
Paul experienced a prolonged imprisonment in Rome mentioned in Acts 28:16.
Paul visited Ephesus multiple times and an imprisonment may be implied from 1 Cor. 1:8.
Paul calls himself an old man in Phlm. 9 which indicates he was writing at the end of his life.
The location of Ephesus to Colossae makes for a more plausible flight for Onesimus.
The theology of the letter is a maturation and development of his thought.
Pauls request for a guest room Phlm. 22 is more realistic given an Ephesian imprisonment.
Rome would be a good place for a runaway slave to hide.
Paul does not mention some important events that would have affected the Colossian Christians.
Rome was the preferred view of patristic writers.
There is no clear reference to Timothy being in Rome, but he can be easily placed in Ephesus.
The dominant viewpoint of Rome as the place of writing seems best because it does not require the creation of other imprisonments not mentioned in Acts. Furthermore, the only sources for historical reconstructions scholars have are the book of Acts and the Pauline corpus itself which make the endeavor difficult. That Paul was imprisoned in Rome is clearly evident within early history of the church (Acts 27-28).
Date- The date of the letter depends on the place of writing. If writing from Rome, the letter was likely penned around A.D. 60-61. If writing from Ephesus, the letter could be quite early as A.D. 52-55.[footnoteRe
