Book of Colossians Summary: A Complete Animated Overview

Summary

Paul's letter to the Colossians was written during his imprisonment to encourage believers to remain devoted to Jesus despite cultural pressures. He highlights Jesus as the exalted Messiah and explains how his death and resurrection bring about a new humanity. Paul challenges the Colossians to reject mystical polytheism and Jewish law adherence, urging them to live in the present as a reflection of the future new creation. The letter also reshapes household relationships, promoting equality and love, and concludes with a message of liberation and transformation under Jesus' rule.

Takeaways

• ✉️ Paul's letter to the Colossians was written during his imprisonment, addressing a community he had never met.
• 🏛️ The church in Colossae was started by Epaphras, Paul's co-worker, who visited Paul in prison and shared news about the Colossians.
• ⚖️ Paul wrote to encourage the Colossians in their faith and address cultural pressures leading them away from Jesus.
• 👑 The letter emphasizes Jesus as the exalted Messiah, central to creation and the new humanity through his resurrection.
• 📜 Paul includes a poem in Chapter 1, highlighting Jesus as the true image of God and the firstborn over all creation.
• 🔄 Jesus' resurrection brings a new creation, where believers are part of his body, the new humanity.
• 🔗 Paul warns against cultural pressures, such as mystical polytheism and following the Jewish laws of the Torah, which could compromise faith in Jesus.
• 🛐 Jesus' death and resurrection are sufficient, fulfilling the Torah laws, freeing believers from spiritual powers and old obligations.
• 💡 Paul challenges believers to live as new humans, characterized by mercy, love, and transcending ethnic and social boundaries.
• 🏠 Paul redefines household structures around Jesus' self-giving love, transforming the Roman patriarchal system.

Q & A

What was the primary reason Paul wrote the letter to the Colossians?

Paul wrote the letter to encourage the Colossians to address cultural pressures that were tempting them to turn away from Jesus and to challenge them to a greater devotion to Jesus.

Who started the church in Colossae, and what was their connection to Paul?

The church in Colossae was started by a co-worker of Paul named Epaphras, who was from Colossae. Epaphras visited Paul in prison and updated him on the Colossians' situation.

What does Paul emphasize about Jesus in the opening movement of the letter?

Paul emphasizes that Jesus is the exalted Messiah and that his suffering in prison is for Jesus, whom he considers the true ruler over all of creation and the head of the new humanity.

What is the significance of the poem in Chapter 1 of the letter?

The poem in Chapter 1 highlights Jesus as the crucified and exalted Messiah. It has two stanzas: the first focuses on Jesus as the true image of God, and the second emphasizes Jesus' role in bringing about a new creation through his resurrection.

What cultural pressures were the Colossians facing, according to Paul?

The Colossians were facing pressures from mystical polytheism, which tempted them to view Jesus as just another deity, and from Jewish Christians, who pressured them to observe the laws of the Torah, such as kosher diets and circumcision.

How does Paul address the Colossians' fear of spiritual powers and their relationship to the Torah?

Paul reminds the Colossians that Jesus triumphed over spiritual powers through his death and resurrection, freeing them from any obligation to these forces. He also explains that Jesus fulfilled the laws of the Torah on their behalf, rendering additional observance unnecessary.

What does Paul mean when he challenges the Colossians to set their minds on things above?

Paul is encouraging the Colossians to focus on the transcendent reality where Jesus rules from heaven over all creation. This focus should inspire them to live as the new humans they will become when Jesus returns to transform all things.

How does Paul redefine relationships within a Roman household in the letter?

Paul redefines Roman household dynamics by placing Jesus as the true Lord, advocating for mutual respect and love between husbands, wives, children, and slaves, transforming traditional authoritarian structures into relationships shaped by self-giving love.

What is the significance of Onesimus being mentioned in the conclusion of the letter?

Onesimus, a former slave to a Colossian Christian named Philemon, is now presented as a beloved brother in Christ. Paul requests that the Colossians and Philemon no longer treat Onesimus as a slave but as a fellow member of the Christian community.

What is the central message Paul wants to convey to the Colossians through this letter?

Paul's central message is that every aspect of human existence, from suffering to household relationships, must be transformed by the loving and liberating rule of the risen Jesus. The Colossians are called to live in the present as if the new creation has already begun with Jesus' resurrection.

Outlines

00:00

📜 Paul's Letter to the Colossians and its Purpose

Paul writes to the Colossians while in prison, despite never meeting them. The church was founded by Epaphras, who informed Paul of their faithfulness but also the cultural pressures they faced to turn from Jesus. Paul aims to encourage them to remain devoted to Jesus and address these issues. The letter highlights Jesus as the exalted Messiah, Paul's imprisonment for the Messiah, the cultural temptations, and the new life Jesus offers through his resurrection.

05:04

✝️ A Poem Celebrating the Crucified and Exalted Messiah

Paul begins his letter with two prayers, thanking God for the Colossians' faith and love, and praying for their growth in wisdom. At the center of chapter 1 is a poem that explores Jesus as the true image of God and the firstborn over all creation. The poem draws from the Old Testament and emphasizes Jesus' role in creation and the new humanity born from his resurrection. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus reconciles humanity and all creation to God. Paul refers back to this poem throughout the letter to show its transformative power.

🙏 Paul's Suffering and the Hope in Christ

Paul sees his suffering in prison as participation in Jesus' suffering and a cause for joy. He announces the surprising news that the resurrected Messiah is forming a new multi-ethnic family, and that the Messiah dwells within his people, giving them hope. The Colossians are warned against falling into cultural pressures such as mystical polytheism and Jewish legalism, both of which distract from Jesus' fulfillment of the law and his triumph over spiritual powers through his resurrection.

👑 The New Humanity in Christ

Paul encourages the Colossians to focus on the risen Jesus who rules from heaven. Rather than thinking of heaven as an escape, they should live in the present as new humans united with Jesus. Their old humanity, marked by sinful behaviors, is dead. In its place is a new humanity shaped by mercy, love, and forgiveness. This new humanity transcends all divisions of ethnicity and social status, uniting everyone in Christ.

🏠 Transforming Roman Household Dynamics

Paul redefines the authoritarian Roman household structure around Jesus' self-giving love. He challenges the traditional power held by male patriarchs over wives, children, and slaves, calling for mutual love and respect. Husbands are to love their wives sacrificially, parents are to raise their children with patience, and slaves are to serve their masters as if serving Christ. Masters are urged to treat their slaves as fellow members of Jesus' body, emphasizing the transformative nature of Jesus' rule in every aspect of life.

🔗 A Radical Challenge to Roman Society

In the letter's conclusion, Paul reinforces his earlier teachings by introducing Onesimus, a former slave of Philemon, a Colossian Christian. Paul asks the church to welcome Onesimus as a brother, signaling a revolutionary challenge to societal norms regarding slavery. Paul closes by reminding the Colossians that the rule of the risen Jesus touches every aspect of life—suffering, moral integrity, household dynamics—and calls them to live as if the new creation has already come.

Keywords

💡Colossians

The Colossians were the recipients of Paul's letter, a church community in Colossae that Paul had never visited. The letter addressed both their faithfulness to Jesus and the cultural pressures they faced. Paul wrote this letter to encourage them in their devotion to Jesus and to correct any misunderstandings.

💡Epaphras

Epaphras was a co-worker of Paul who founded the church in Colossae and updated Paul on their situation. He informed Paul about the church's faithfulness as well as the challenges they faced from cultural and religious pressures.

💡Exalted Messiah

Paul presents Jesus as the exalted Messiah, meaning he is the risen Lord and king over all creation. This concept is central to the letter, as Paul uses it to explain the supremacy of Jesus over other deities and powers the Colossians might be tempted to follow.

💡Mystical Polytheism

Mystical polytheism refers to the religious environment of the Colossians, who had grown up worshiping a variety of Greek and Roman gods. Paul warns the Colossians against blending their worship of Jesus with their old practices, emphasizing Jesus as the sole Lord.

💡Torah Laws

Paul addresses the pressure from Jewish Christians for non-Jews to follow the laws of the Torah, including dietary laws, observing sacred days, and circumcision. He argues that these laws are unnecessary for salvation, as Jesus has fulfilled them through his death and resurrection.

💡New Creation

The new creation refers to the new way of life that Jesus's resurrection opened up for believers. Paul encourages the Colossians to live as part of this new humanity, which is characterized by virtues like mercy, generosity, forgiveness, and love, transcending old divisions like ethnicity or social status.

💡Poem about the Messiah

This poem, located in chapter 1 of the letter, is central to Paul's message. It explores the dual role of Jesus as the true image of God and the one who brings about new creation. Paul uses this poem to highlight Jesus's divine authority and role in reconciling humanity and creation to God.

💡Suffering

Paul emphasizes that his own suffering in prison is a participation in Jesus’s suffering and is a source of joy. He views his hardships as part of his mission to spread the gospel, demonstrating that suffering for Jesus is not a defeat but a path to greater glory.

💡New Humanity

The new humanity refers to the transformation that believers undergo by joining their lives to the risen Jesus. This new way of living is marked by virtues that replace the old human tendencies like destructive speech and immorality. Paul encourages the Colossians to live in line with this new identity.

💡Household Structure

Paul challenges the authoritarian Roman household structure by reshaping it around Jesus’s teachings. He advises husbands, wives, children, and slaves to act in ways that reflect the self-giving love of Jesus, transforming the power dynamics of the traditional Roman family.

Highlights

Paul's letter to the Colossians was written during one of his imprisonments for announcing Jesus as the risen Lord.

The letter is addressed to a church community Paul had never met, founded by his co-worker Epaphras.

Paul wrote the letter to address cultural pressures tempting the Colossians to turn away from Jesus and to encourage greater devotion.

The opening section of the letter focuses on Jesus as the exalted Messiah and how Paul's suffering in prison is for the exalted Jesus.

Paul includes a poem about the crucified and exalted Messiah, reflecting imagery from Genesis, Exodus, Psalms, and Proverbs.

The poem emphasizes Jesus as the true image of God, the firstborn of all creation, and the king of both the old and new creations.

Through Jesus' death and resurrection, God has reconciled himself to humanity and all creation.

Paul shows how the truth of this poem transforms his own experience of suffering in prison.

The Colossians faced pressures from both mystical polytheism and Jewish Christians, but Paul emphasized that Jesus' work was complete without need for laws or polytheistic practices.

Jesus triumphed over spiritual powers and fulfilled all the laws of the Torah, freeing the Colossians from fear and obligation.

Paul challenges the Colossians to set their minds on things above, living as new humans whose lives are joined to the risen Jesus.

He addresses the old humanity characterized by distorted sexuality and destructive speech, replaced by Jesus' new humanity of mercy, generosity, forgiveness, and love.

Paul reshapes the Roman household structure around Jesus' self-giving love, emphasizing mutual respect and honor in Christian households.

Paul introduces Onesimus, a former slave, asking the Colossians to receive him as a beloved brother, reshaping Roman societal structures.

The letter invites readers to re-examine all aspects of life—suffering, temptation, morality, and power dynamics—through the lens of Jesus' transformative rule.

Transcripts

Paul's letter to the Colossians.

It was written during one of Paul the apostle's many imprisonments for announcing Jesus as the risen Lord.

The letter is addressed to a group of people that Paul had never met

who made up a church community that he did not start.

This church in Colossae was started by a co-worker of Paul's named Epaphras who was actually from that city.

Epaphras had recently visited Paul in prison and he updated him on how well the Colossians were doing overall.

But he also mentioned some of the cultural pressures tempting them to turn away from Jesus.

So Paul wrote this letter to encourage the Colossians to address the issues that Epaphras had raised

and then to challenge them to a greater devotion to Jesus.

The letter's design and flow of thought are pretty easy to follow.

The opening movement focuses on Jesus as the exalted Messiah.

Paul then goes on to show how his suffering in prison is for the exalted Jesus.

Then he addresses the pressures tempting the Colossians to turn away from Jesus.

After this he explores the new way of life that Jesus's resurrection opened up for them.

The letter opens with two prayers.

Paul first thanks God that he learned from Epaphras that the Colossians have been totally faithful to Jesus,

showing love for God and their neighbors all because of the hope they have in the new creation that Jesus has in store.

He moves on to pray that they would grow in their wisdom and understanding about Jesus.

Then Paul has placed a poem here to help the Colossians and us do exactly that.

It is the centerpiece of chapter 1, a poem all about the crucified and exalted Messiah.

It has two parallel stanzas.

It is crammed with language and imagery from the books of Genesis and Exodus, from the Psalms and the Proverbs.

The first stanza explores how Jesus is the true image of God.

In him the full character and purpose of God is embodied in a human.

He is the firstborn, an Old Testament phrase about Jesus' royal status over all creation.

He shares in the very identity of the one true creator God.

By him, all reality, all powers and authorities, spiritual and human, have been created.

It is in Jesus the Messiah that we discover the very author and king of creation.

In the second stanza we discover he is also the one bringing about a new creation.

He is the head of a new body, which refers to Jesus' people

who were the new humanity of which his own resurrection existence is a prototype.

In him, God's glorious temple presence dwells.

So, it is through Jesus's death and resurrection that God has reconciled himself to humanity,

to all spiritual powers, to all of creation.

It is a remarkable poem and Paul will keep referring back to it as he goes on in the letter.

He first shows how the truth of this poem transforms his own experience of suffering in prison.

He is being punished for announcing to the Greek and the Roman world that Jesus is the resurrected Lord and king of all.

So his suffering, he thinks, is not a sign of defeat.

It is actually his way of participating in Jesus's own suffering, done as an act of love.

So his hardships are actually a cause for joy.

He is imprisoned for the surprising news that Israel's resurrected Messiah is creating a new multi-ethnic family.

And more: just as the divine glory dwelt in Jesus, so Jesus dwells in and among his international family.

Or, as Paul says, the Messiah is in you all, the hope of glory.

Paul then addresses the cultural pressures that are tempting the Colossians to turn away from Jesus.

They were confronted by a combination of mystical polytheism along with

a pressure to observe the laws of the Torah.

So, all these new Christians had grown up worshipping the various Greek and Roman gods who govern different arenas of human life.

Many simply included Jesus as one more deity that they could worship.

There was also a great pressure from the Jewish Christian community

for these non-Jews to complete their commitment to the Messiah by following all of the laws found in the Torah.

Specifically, he mentions eating a kosher diet, observing sacred days and circumcision.

It is very similar to the problem he addressed in the letter to the Galatians.

For Paul, to give in to either of these temptations is compromised.

It is a failure to grasp who Jesus really is and what he did on their behalf.

The Colossians used to live in fear of spiritual powers and elemental spirits,

as Paul calls them, but Jesus triumphed over these through his death and resurrection.

He freed the Colossians from any obligation to them.

In the same way, Jesus fulfilled on our behalf all of the laws of the Torah,

which never had the power to transform the selfish human heart anyway.

So, what Jesus did in his life and death and resurrection lacks nothing.

It doesn't need to be supplemented by following the laws.

He is the reality to which all of the laws of the Torah were pointing anyway.

Instead of the laws, followers of Jesus have the power of his resurrection to change them,

which is what he goes on to explore.

Following Jesus means joining his new humanity because their lives have now been joined to the risen Jesus' life.

This is why Paul challenges the Colossians to set their minds on things above, where the Messiah is seated, or rules, at God's right hand.

Now Paul does not mean here, think about how you will one day leave Earth and go to heaven.

Rather, the heavens are the transcendent place from which Jesus rules now over all of creation.

From there, he will one day return here to transform all things,

or, as Paul says, when the Messiah who is your life is revealed, you too will be revealed with him in glory.

So, Paul challenges them to live in the present as the kinds of new humans they will one day become.

He uses the image of their old humanity characterized by distorted sexuality and destructive speech.

For Christians, that humanity died with Jesus and has been replaced by his own new humanity,

which is characterized by mercy and generosity, by forgiveness and love.

This humanity transcends the ethnic and social boundary lines of our world to create, in Paul's words,

a people where there is no one Greek or Jewish, circumcised or uncircumcised, slave or free,

but the Messiah is all and is in all people.

Paul then gets really practical.

He shows the Colossians what this new humanity might look like in a first century Roman household,

which was a highly authoritarian institution where the male patriarch held the power of life and death

over his wife, children and slaves.

Not so in a Christian household.

Here the risen Jesus is the true Lord.

So in the Lord, the wife allows her husband to become responsible for her.

And the husband is subject to Jesus by loving his wife and placing her well-being above his own.

In a home where Jesus is Lord, children are not objects but are called to maturity and to respect.

Parents are to raise their children with patience and understanding.

Christians who are slaves are to honor their human masters precisely because they are not the real master. Jesus is.

And Christians who have slaves are to understand that this slave is not their property,

But rather, a fellow member of Jesus's body to be honored and embraced in love.

Paul is walking a very fine line here.

He is reshaping the most basic Roman institution around Jesus, who rules by his self-giving love.

So while he does not abolish the household structure outright,

the exalted Messiah demands that it be transformed

almost beyond the point of recognition for any Roman living in Colossae.

You can see this most clearly in the letter's conclusion.

After a request for prayer, Paul applies these instructions about Christian slaves and masters.

We discover that Tikecus is the one carrying and reading this letter to the Colossians.

He is accompanied by a certain Onesimus who was a former slave to a Colossian Christian named Philemon.

We discover from another letter addressed to Philemon that Onesimus had escaped from his master.

It was a crime worthy of imprisonment.

But Paul asks the whole church to greet Onesimus as a faithful and beloved brother in the Lord.

In the letter to Philemon, Paul says that he should receive Onesimus no longer as a slave, but as a brother.

Talk about ending the letter with a punch!

So, in the letter to the Colossians, Paul is inviting us to see that no part of human existence

remains untouched by the loving and liberating rule of the risen Jesus.

Our suffering, our temptation to compromise, our moral character, the power dynamics in our homes,

all of it must be re-examined and transformed.

We are invited to live in the present as if the new creation really arrived when Jesus rose from the dead.

And that is what the letter to the Colossians is all about.