Volume IV
The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Colossians.
With John Brown’s marginal references, notes and reflections · Vol. IV, p. 420
Colosse was a large and populous city of Phrygia, in the north-west of Lesser Asia, where (not the apostle Paul, but) Epaphras, or some other faithful preacher, had planted a church. To establish those Christians in the faith, in opposition to the heathen philosophers, and especially to the judaizing teachers, Paul wrote them this epistle; in which, after salutation, thanksgiving, and prayer for them, he, in a most exalted manner, represents to them Jesus Christ, in his glorious dignity and gracious fulness, as infinitely preferable to all philosophical notions and Jewish ceremonies, ch. i. ii.; and exhorts them to improve their union to and fellowship with him in holy duties, personal and relative, ch. iii. iv.
[Colosse was a city of Phrygia-Pacatiana, in Western Asia. It is said to have perished in a violent earthquake, in the tenth year of the reign of Nero, and shortly after the date of this epistle, which is generally assigned to A.D. 62. It was afterwards restored, and Constantine Porphyrogenitus says that in his time it was called Chonæ; and is supposed to have occupied the site of a village now called Konous. By whom the church of Colosse was founded is not recorded; but it would appear from ch. 2. 1 that Paul had not that honour, though they feel for him as children, during his imprisonment, and he, for them as a father in the Lord. The tenor of the epistle, especially ch. 1. 3-6, indicates a healthy state of the church; while the warnings and precepts of holiness which it conveys clearly show that no present attainments can supersede the necessity of that watchfulness and prayer which are employed by the Spirit as the safeguard and the nourishment of the life of God in the soul. C.
The church at Colosse was composed chiefly, if not exclusively, of Gentiles; yet false teachers of a judaizing tendency had found their way into it. and were attempting to corrupt the purity and simplicity of their faith, ch. 2. 13-23. The principal errors against which Paul warns the Colossians are:—(1) Ritualistic observances, fasts, feasts, and ceremonies, which were necessary under the Mosaic dispensation as types of Christ, but are useless and pernicious under the spiritual dispensation of Christ. (2) Angel-worship, which had then begun, being borrowed in part from heathen mythology, and which has since been productive of the grossest superstitions. (3) Bodily austerities—asceticism in fact; under the vain impression that by weakening and enervating the physical powers, the soul would attain closer communion with God. (4) Jewish theosophy, which, attempting to attach a deep and mystic meaning to the plain narratives of Old Testament history. and an allegorical sense of a fanciful and absurd character to the whole Mosaic ritual, perverted the meaning of Scripture, and tended largely to corrupt the purity of Christian truth. The Jews of the Alexandria school especially professed to be able in this way to fathom profound mysteries which the initiated alone could apprehend. These corruptions seem to be referred to in ch. 2. 18. P.]