COLOSSIANS

Sheila E. McGinn, Ph.D.

Colossians is a pseudonymous letter from a student of Paul writing in the last quarter of the first century, probably from Ephesus, the capital city of Asia Minor. While the letter is addressed to the church in Colossae – a city toward the south-western section of Asia Minor, in the northern portion of the Lycus River Valley – this is misleading, for Colossae was destroyed by an earthquake in C.E. 60-61 (Tacitus Annales 14.27; Eusebius Chronicon I.21-22). Rather than an occasional letter dealing with specific issues affecting a specific congregation, Colossians is better understood as a circular letter – an "encyclical" – intended for the churches in and around Ephesus, to refute false beliefs and practices influencing the entire region.

Purpose

The opening prayer (1:3-12) highlights three themes which recur throughout the letter and form the central foci of the discussion: faith in Messiah Jesus, love for all the saints, and "the hope laid up for you in the heavens" (1:4-5). The letter will correct false beliefs about Christ and about salvation, and will teach proper Christian beliefs and behavior.

The Christological hymn in 1:15-20 outlines the features of true faith in Christ, and its introductory and concluding transitions (1:13-14, 21-23) delineate the implications of this faith for the Christian’s heavenly hope.

Faith in Christ includes the following content:

1. Christ is the pre-existent Revealer of the one, ineffable God (1:15).
2. Christ himself is both Creator and Goal of the universe and all its creatures, earthly and heavenly, visible and invisible (1:16).
3. Christ has precedence in everything and sustains the universe in being (1:17).
4. The resurrected Christ is Head and Source of the church (1:18).
5. The Fullness (pleroma) of the Godhead resides in Christ (1:19).
6. Through Christ – and especially his death on the cross – God has reconciled not only human beings, but the entire cosmos, both earthly and heavenly (1:20).

1. The "holy ones" believing in Christ live already in the kingdom of God’s Son (1:13).
2. These former pagan sinners who engaged in immoral deeds (1:21) have now been rescued from the powers of darkness and sin (1:14).
3. Christ reconciled them through the death of his real, human body, and sanctified them – made them holy, blameless and irreproachable before God (1:22).
4. They are "holy ones" as long as they remain steadfast in faith and the hope promised by the [Pauline] gospel, a public pronouncement to all (1:23).

We find hints of the implications for behavior toward fellow Christians in #2, 7-10. If Christ is creator of all, then all people deserve respect as God’s creatures; this provides the basis for a notion of universal and inalienable human rights. If salvation includes living already in the reign of God (#7), rescue from sin (#8), sanctification (#9) and faithfulness to the gospel of reconciliation (#10), then the "holy ones" will live "blameless" lives, avoiding immorality and other behaviors that bring reproach or violate the relationship of unity among Christians. Guidelines for the Christian lifestyle will be made explicit in chapter 3.

Faith in Christ v. False Teachings & Practices

In this opening section, the author has laid the framework for the kinds of teachings – and concomitant behaviors – to be avoided by his audience. Col. 1:24-2:23 turns to the details.

Avoid Gnosticism

The emphasis on Christ’s real human body (1:22) and painful death on the cross (1:20, 22) implies that some were denying his full humanity. The focus on the creative and sustaining power of Christ (1:16-17) suggests that some were denying the goodness of the created world. These are features of a religious philosophy which later became known as Gnosticism.

In opposition, the author denies that Christians are enthralled to evil powers (1:13). On the contrary, even the invisible powers of the heavens were created by and are subject to Christ (1:16). Christ is not merely one of the many invisible and heavenly powers, but in fact is the Fullness of the Divine Reality, to Whom everyone and everything else in the entire universe is subject (1:18-19).

The entire universe not only was created by God in Christ, but also shares in the cosmic salvation brought about through Christ’s death on the cross. The life, death, and bodily resurrection of Christ reveal the fundamental Reality of the one, true God Who is Creator and Ruler of the universe. As a creation of the one God, the world is not evil but good, for it reveals Who God is – especially in the fully human being, Jesus the Christ. All of humanity and, in fact, all of creation is redeemed through the Christ event and has Christ as its sustaining power and ultimate goal. Human beings live in a universe which is subject to God’s beneficent plan, not to fate nor the stars nor chance (2:8-23). Those who know Christ have the gift of divine wisdom to deal with all of the challenges of life, because they know the One who is life’s Source and Goal.

Gnosticism has appeal today just as in the first century. Many who think of themselves as Catholic Christians nevertheless deny the full and true humanity of Christ in various ways – e.g., the baby Jesus never cried; the child Jesus knew everything; the man Jesus never felt human emotions, never felt attracted to a woman, never had doubts about his ministry, never feared death, or never felt the torturous pain of the crucifixion. Catholics affirm the goodness of creation, yet we have not always recognized the divinely-established role which the material world plays in salvation. This also entails recognizing and celebrating the profound goodness of the human body and its role in salvation. The "resurrection of the body" which is affirmed in the Apostles’ Creed is no empty image, but an affirmation of the fundamental transformation and enduring significance of the material universe through salvation in Christ.

Avoid Elitism

Endemic to Gnosticism was an elitist attitude toward outsiders. Similarly, the "personality cults" which have arisen around some TV evangelists – even our own Mother Angelica – are signs of the natural (but base) human drive to surpass others by obtaining "secret knowledge" or superior wisdom. Colossians encourages us to pursue wisdom, but insists that true wisdom has become public knowledge through the revelation of Christ (1:25-28). We know we are on the right track when we focus our attention on the death of Christ rather than on glory. There can be no Christian "prima donnas." Nor can Christians – not even clergy, religious, or theologians – take the attitude of "know it all" in comparison to their fellows, for the wisdom of Christ is something available openly to all. All Christians have spiritual wisdom, but no one Christian has it all. We are to respect and learn from each other’s insights into the Christian life.

Avoid Superstition

"New age" religions are another contemporary movement akin to Gnosticism. The notion that one’s life is controlled by outside forces – whether fate, karma, the stars, demons or angels – has regained currency in recent years. The quantity of recent books on angels easily would bury your average parish school. What people seek from such speculations about angelic forces is either a clue to where they are going and why, or the power to combat fatalism. In response, Colossians proclaims a simple and yet profound message: Christ is All. If you know Christ, you need not worry about spiritual forces, whether angelic or demonic, for Christ is Creator and Lord of them all. Indeed, Christ is the Goal of the entire universe, so knowing Christ means having the answer both to the question of where one is going and why. The author’s message about angel speculation is simple: focus on Christ and let the angels do the same.

Love for the Saints: Living the Christian Life

Having laid down the parameters for which beliefs and practices to avoid, the author now turns to the behavioral changes necessary for the Christian life, and the beliefs and practices which should be embraced by his audience (ch. 3).

Avoid Vice; Embrace Virtue

If you focus on Christ, who is the one and only Lord, then you will live a new kind of life. Baptism gives Christians a new lease on life, with a focus not on material goods but on transcendent ones (2:11-14; 3:1-4). This means getting rid of the vices of a pagan (or secular) lifestyle and fostering the virtues of a new humanity "which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its Creator" (3:10). Characteristic vices to avoid are: porneia (fornication, adultery, incest, and other kinds of sexual misconduct), impurity, emotionalism, evil desire, greed (which is equated with idolatry), anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, abusive language, and lying (3:5-9). Also ruled out are racial, ethnic or class prejudice (3:11). A quick read of any newspaper demonstrates that this moral message of Colossians is just as needed today as it was for the original audience.

The vices fall basically into two categories: offenses against the body (porneia, impurity, and emotionalism), and abusive behavior toward others (wishing that something evil will befall someone, greed, lying, abusive language, etc.). The Christian is saved in the body, therefore how we use (or abuse) the body is of ultimate importance. And, the Christian is saved in the Body, the community of believers, therefore how we live among the Body of Christ also is of ultimate importance. Greed is the one vice singled out as tantamount to idolatry because of the way it eats away at the fabric of the community. Money is to be used to serve God, not oneself.

The ensuing list of virtues is perhaps the most well-known portion of this letter. Returning to the baptismal imagery used earlier in the letter, the author encourages his audience to "clothe themselves" not just with a white garment, but also with the new life it represents: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forbearance, forgiveness, charity, peacefulness and gratitude (3:12-16).

Note that the author envisions this behavior being exhibited in church gatherings, not just in family life. Church meetings should involve reciprocity – teaching and admonishing one another – and should include grateful songs to God. Every act of one’s life should be done "in the name of the Lord Jesus" (3:17) – that is, for His sake and for His glory. No slackers allowed.

Our author does not have non-Christians in view in this section, but we cannot assume that he would water down this list of virtues in terms of behavior toward them. The one place where behavior toward non-Christians specifically arises is in 4:5-6, where similar standards apply: the readers are encouraged to be wise, to use their time with outsiders profitably, and to speak graciously with them, answering their questions or challenges about Christian faith and life.

Embrace Apostolic Tradition

Our author uses Paul’s name in this letter not only to support the teaching being presented here, but also to highlight the necessity of using apostolic tradition as a touchstone for the Christian faith. Paul, Timothy, Epaphras, Onesimus, Tychicus, Mark, Jesus Justus, Aristarchus, Luke, Demas, Nympha and Archippus are the twelve apostles and church leaders mentioned by name (1:1, 7; 4:7-17). In so doing, the author affirms that this woman and each of these eleven men agree with the message taught in this letter, and can provide reliable guidance in the Christian life. Because these leaders are true to the Pauline gospel, they can help others to understand it more fully. In fact, precisely their role as leaders is to pray for, encourage, and strengthen in faith the communities which they serve.

Incidentally, note that our author considers these twelve named persons as the only explicit guarantors of the apostolic tradition (cf. 4:10-11). For this student of Paul, the apostolic tradition precisely is the Pauline tradition. The list of names omits many persons well known as apostles from other New Testament books, and contains no one from the usual list of persons later thought of as "the twelve apostles." In addition, perhaps the most interesting feature of the list is that the names are not exclusively male; Nympha, a significant woman leader in the Pauline communities, is given at least the same status as the men. These factors illustrate two important but little-known features of the Pauline tradition:

1. The deutero-Pauline author of our letter is not in total agreement with other contemporaneous developments in Christianity which derive their apostolic authority from the Twelve, including such persons as Peter, James, and John.
2. The Pauline tradition valued, respected, and encouraged women’s leadership of church communities from the beginning through at least the last decades of the first century, when this letter was penned.

So, we can take heart that disagreement about what precisely constitutes the apostolic tradition is not a modern invention but, indeed, is as old as the phrase itself. And we can see the seeds of the tradition renewing itself in the divergent resources available in this apostolic tradition, and the value of leadership by both women and men in these early Christian communities.

Household Duties (3:18-4:1)

I have saved this portion of the letter to the end, rather than discussing it in the sequence in which it appears in the letter, because it originated as an isolated piece of tradition which then was inserted into the letter, either by our author or by a later editor of the letter. In its present position, it interrupts the basic flow of the letter. It also contradicts principles laid down earlier in the letter, so it is more fitting to address these issues at the end of our discussion.

There were many similar lists of household duties in the ancient world – called "household codes" – so the interesting features of this list pertain to how the traditional formula has been adapted for a Christian household. The basic schema involved the duties of wives, children, and slaves. This list devotes four times as much attention to the duties of slaves, which suggests that slavery was a troublesome issue for the author (or editor) and he wants to use this code to resolve the problem. His solution is to tell Christian slaves to obey their masters even better than they did before their conversion, knowing that they will be rewarded by the Lord Christ, not simply their earthly masters (3:22-25).

The other remarkable feature of this schema is that it includes duties for husbands, fathers, and slave-masters, not just for their subordinates. The duties of each pair are not equivalent, nor are the paired relationships egalitarian; there is no glossing over this. However, it is a significant innovation to find any explicit duties whatsoever of the superior party toward his inferiors.

One of the deplorable features of the history of interpretation of this text is how precisely this point has been overturned. Much attention has been given to the submission of wives and obedience of children and slaves, but very little preaching has been devoted to the duties of husbands to love their wives and treat them with kindness (3:19). Nor has there been much discussion of how fathers ought to treat their children so that they will not "lose heart" (3:21). Rather than eliminating the prerogative of the male householder to abuse his wife and children, as this expression of the code would do, this very text has been used to support the abusive impulses of male family heads. And slaveholders in this country would not have been able to engage with impunity in such heinous treatment of their slaves if preachers had focused on warning them about the masters’ duty to treat their slaves with justice and equity (4:1).

Still, it is not just the history of interpretation of this text that is problematic. This code accepts a Greco-Roman pattern of domination/submission as normative not only for the wider society but also for the Christian community – or, at least, for the Christian household. In so doing, it inevitably conflicts with earlier segments of the letter which insist that the gospel sets one free of control by the "principalities and powers" because of the universal Lordship of Christ (cf. 2:15). In chapters 1-2, the Lordship of Christ, the Creator, makes ineffectual the power of other beings who are mere creatures. While this household code, in comparison with others of the time, limits the power of human lords, conversely it also uses the power and authority of the Lord Christ to reinforce what remains of the power of those very human lords (3:18, 20, 22-25). The household code directly contradicts the author’s claim that there is no longer slave or free in Christ (3:11). Even more, it undermines the letter’s central message that Christ is Lord and there is no other Power over those who belong to Him.

Why would the author – or even a later editor – have included something in this letter which contradicts its central point? The last of the letter’s three themes provides a clue.

Hope in the Heavens

Colossians portrays baptism as the event when Christians die to sin and death and also are raised up with Christ (2:11-13). Christians no longer "belong to the world" (2:20), so they should focus on heavenly rather than earthly things (3:1-3). Throughout the letter, the author portrays this ‘not belonging to the world’ as bringing freedom in various ways: freedom from ritualism, asceticism, angel worship and calendar observances, from immorality, vice and prejudice, and freedom for worship of the one, true God Who in Christ is Lord of all. These freedoms from earthly habits apply precisely to Christians who live in this material world. The "hope in the heavens" provides the motivation for behavioral and attitudinal changes in this present world – including the overcoming of racial, ethnic, and class prejudices (3:11), acceptance of women as leaders (4:15), and reciprocity in communal life and worship (3:1-17).

The household code presumes an alternate view of this heavenly hope, one which postpones its applicability to the life to come. It assumes that life in this world remains the same, not simply in terms of how outsiders perceive believers, but also in terms of how Christians treat each other. If the heavenly hope breaks into this life at all, it does not prevent Christians being chattels of one another because they all belong to Christ (cf., e.g., Gal 3:26-29; Phlm 15-20). Rather, this future hope is used to justify heightening Christian wives’, children’s, and slaves’ responsibility toward their husbands, fathers, and masters – and perhaps softening the hearts of Christian husbands, fathers, and masters toward their chattels. In the world to come, this may change, but not yet.

Conclusions

As it stands, the letter "to the Colossians" strives against itself. The main body of the letter argues that the Lordship of Christ means that the Christian is rescued from slavery to the social and religious pressures of the Greco-Roman world for a life of freedom in service to Christ alone and in community and mutuality with other Christians. The household code in 3:18-4:1 marks a reversal of this freedom in acquiescence to the divisive, patriarchal social norms of the day. The reasons for this cultural compromise are manifold and too complex to discuss here. The important point for our purposes is that the subordinationism of the household code is not part of the Christian message of the letter; it is a statement of the common, Greco-Roman (pagan) belief about social relations. (As such, this means that Col 3:18-4:1 should never be proclaimed in the liturgical assembly.) The Christian message of the letter is found where the author confronts the social, religious, and moral norms of the day and teaches a higher way than that found among the pagans.

This is precisely what study of the Scriptures does: it shows us the "higher way" that cannot be found simply among the conventional, secular norms of our times. Colossians shows us that way of faith in Christ, love for the saints, and hope in the heavens. It also shows us how strong are the societal pressures that must be overcome to remain true to that devotion to Christ as the One Lord of all. We may not always succeed in resisting these pressures – as was true for the redactor of this letter – but the struggle is everything, "so that [we] may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as [we] bear fruit in every good work and grow in the knowledge of God" (1:10).

This article was first published in Catechist, the Official Magazine of the National Catholic Catechists Society 33, 7 (April/May 2000): 54-59.

ADDITIONAL READINGS & RESOURCES ON PAUL: