In the last issue of this article, we began looking at the Letter to the Colossians. One of the letter’s most striking passages speaks of the cosmic Christ; that is, its language about the status and significance of Jesus transcends his historical life and goes back to the beginning of creation, the cosmos. Pick up the letter and read chapter 1, verses 15-20.

You will find that these extraordinary statements affirm in slightly different language what we find in the first chapter of John’s Gospel. There Jesus is the Word of God become flesh, the Word who was in the beginning with God and through whom God created everything. Here, Jesus is the image of the invisible God and in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. As the firstborn of all creation, all things were created through Him and for Him. Through Him and His death all things on earth and heaven have been reconciled. As in John’s gospel, this is incarnational theology: in Jesus, we see what God is like.

Think about this and what is also shared about the Person of Jesus in the article about the Fathers of the Church (page 8).

Many scholars think this text is an early Christian hymn used and perhaps adapted by the author. If   so, these affirmations are earlier than Colossians and shared by other developing streams of Christian traditions such as what we will find in John’s Gospel.

The author also cautions the community about the teachings and practices   advocated by unnamed teachers. There is no scholarly agreement about who they were. But the     author’s message is clear: live the life you see in Jesus.

The author then names the things that one must do in the name of Jesus. (read 3:12-17).

The letter then closes in chapter 4 with final words of advice and greetings. Specific persons are named. This specificity is one of the major reasons why some think Paul himself wrote the letter. But if Paul didn’t write this letter, what are we to make of the specificity of the greetings? Was it part of a deliberate forgery – was somebody deceitfully and maliciously pretending to be Paul? Or was it a follower of Paul seeking to adapt his message to a latter generation? Is Colossians an extension of Paul’s thought? Or the beginning of a subversion of Paul’s radicalism? The jury is still out.

Regardless of who the author is of this letter, the Church regards is as inspired – prompted by God’s Spirit to be written – and has a message for us. Some scholars believe that the letter was written by Epaphras, one of Paul’s Ephesian converts and a member of the Colossian Christ-Community.

Take time to read it!