Sermon Tone Analysis

Colossians

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Colossians 2:1-

Colossians 3:1-25

Colossians 4:1-

COLOSSIANS INTRODUCTION

1. Read book

a. Outline of the book.

2. Colossae.

a.

Where is it?

About 100 miles east of Ephesus and about 12 miles from Laodicea, which is one of the 7 churches written to in Revelation for the lukewarm approach to the gospel.

b.

What was its significant?

There was nothing unique about Colossae at the time of Christ or Paul.

Several hundred years before the town had been on a major east to west inland route and sat at an intersecting southern trade route.

It had and certainly enjoyed much more notoriety or predominance but by the time the Romans had expanded into the regain of Asia Minor, Colossae was nothing much to speak of.

Many commentators report on its insignificants as a hamlet yet it had a letter sent specifically to its church by the Apostle Paul.

It was an extremely diverse town and at one point had a large population of Jews.

Marcus Tullius Cicero writing a letter back to Rome reported that there was a large some of money taken from the region, which had been collected as Temple Tax.

The reason Colossae has a letter sent to it by Paul was the heresy that was growing in the town.

We’ll get to that later

c.

Who brought the Gospel?

Epaphras a fellow servant of Christ had delivered the Gospel to Colossae, v7 of chapter 1 reads “just as you learned it from Epaphras… He is a faithful servant.

It is likely he had received the gospel from Paul during the 3 years he was in Ephesus you can read about that in .

So the people of Colossae knew of Paul and of the gospel, he preached.

3. When and where was the letter written?

a.

The strongest evidence is that Paul wrote this from Rome and that would have been about 62 - 63 AD after he was arrested in Jerusalem, imprisoned in Caesarea for 2 years, shipwrecked on Malta and then finally arriving in Rome as documented in Acts starting in Chapter 22:27 through the end of Acts in chapter 28.

b.

There is virtually no evidence that the letter was written in Caesarea.

Although Luke documents that, he was allowed visitors to minister to him he does not document one name of a saint who visited.

He also was not allowed the freedom he was in Rome being under house arrest.

c.

There is some who believe that it may have been written in Ephesus during a possible imprisonment there.

This might explain some of the many trips made by some of the brothers from the churches in the region of Phrygia.

These are documented in Colossians, 1:7 by Epaphras, Onesimus to Ephesus and Colossae in and and Paul’s discussion of coming to see Philemon in the letter written to him in v22.

Nevertheless, even with these other possibilities most commentators agree that the first Roman imprisonment, “generally fits the facts better than the Caesarean and Ephesian theories.”

Most evidence strongly supports that this letter; Ephesians, Philippians and Philemon are all written in Rome and distributed by Paul’s fellow workers in Christ Jesus to their designated recipients.

4. The author.

a.

I don’t think we need to look into this much.

The early church fathers certainly believed this was written by Paul or Saul of Tarsus his Jewish name.

b.

Some people find difficulties with the differences in the theology expressed in letter when compared to other letters by Paul.

I think these are mostly limited to more recent (late 1800s to 2000s) liberal students of the New Testament.

5.

There are some very important themes in Colossians these include:

a.

The doctrine of salvation

b.

Christian liberty

c.

Christian ethics

d.

Prayer

e. Slavery

f.

The Christian Sabbath

But the most important emphasis is on Jesus Christ and his position as it relates to the universe and the church.

So the epistle is all about the greatness of Christ’s person and our position in him through faith.

Paul’s intention is to bring Jesus Christ to the fore, because he must be acknowledged as Creator and Redeemer.

4 very clear points:

a. Christ stands supreme and unique’.

He is before all things, he created all things and he is first over all creation (1:15–18).

b.

He is the Savior who delivers us from Satan, makes atonement and brings forgiveness of sins (1:13, 14; 2:14, 15).

c.

This epistle clearly points to the greatness of Christ’s person and our position in him through faith.

d.

Paul’s intention is to bring Jesus Christ to the front of our thought, because he must be acknowledged as Creator and Redeemer.

6. Paul the Jewish Saul

a. Paul was a Scholar:

If you recall from Acts chapter 5, the teacher and Pharisee Gamaliel who was the Rabban – our teacher as opposed to Rabbi, which meant, “my teacher.

Had put Peter and John put outside the temple when they had been taken into custody and questions by the rulers of Israel.

He warned the Sanhedrin that they must be careful with these men, these followers of Jesus.

V38 – 40 “So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them.

You might even be found opposing God!”

So they took his advice, and when they had called in the apostles, (Peter and John) they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

This same Gamaliel was the teacher of Saul of Tarsus and Saul was a good student.

b.

Paul was a Pharisee (meaning separated one)

He was a member of a sect of the Jewish religion dating back to the intertestamental period.

There were about 6000 in the days when Herod was king.

They developed a very detailed system of rules that were intended to help the Jewish people keep the 613 laws in the Pentateuch.

d.

Paul was inspired

God equipped and prepared him to be His messenger by his tutelage under Gamaliel and through his conversion on the road to Damascus.

Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit to grasp the deep things of God.

He brought together the Old Testament revelation about the Messiah and first hand facts of Jesus work and ministry.

Paul himself reveals in “But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.”

Then after 3 more years he went up to Jerusalem to consult with Peter and James the Lord’s bother.

He didn’t just claim knowledge but he was confirmed through his conversion and the works brought forth by the Holy Spirit.

With that said we will move into the scripture and to night I am only going to cove the first 2 verses.

At 2 verses a Friday that’s about 47 weeks we should be done next year in October taking holidays and special occasions into account we will be done in about October of next year, Just kidding.

Let’s pray.

So we have already discussed Paul’s claim and approval and an Apostle ( a sent one) of Jesus Christ.

There is not many in the church at Colossae that would not have know his name and the authority he carried for Christ.

This opening as many of you know was typical of the Greek letters in Pauls day and the people receiving the letter wouldn;t want to flip to the last piece of parchment or unroll the scroll to the end to know who this message was written by.

Now we see Timothy.

our brother