Deeper Commentary
CHAPTER 4
4:1 Masters, give to your servants what
is just and equal. Knowing you also have a master in heaven- Our
relationships with others should be governed by our sense of relationship
with the Lord Jesus. If we are but His slaves, then we will deport
ourselves appropriately in any secular position of authority which may be
our lot. The even handed attitude of the Lord Jesus to us, without
favouritism, was to be reflected by masters not having favourites amongst
their slave; and certainly not giving them unjust compensation for their
services. For the Lord's attitude to us is ultimately "just and equal".
Indeed, Paul's thought is repeatedly that we are the unjust, but are
justified by faith in His grace. Our Master died for us, "the just for
unjust" (1 Pet. 3:18). And even if we have to deal with unjust servants,
we are to remember that God sends His rain on both the just and the unjust
(Mt. 5:45). This command follows on from the comment in the previous verse
that there is "no respect of persons" with the Lord Jesus, and that
believing masters who abused their slaves would be judged for this (3:25).
4:2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with
thanksgiving- This is the very language of the earliest church, who
are repeatedly set up as our example (Acts 1:14; 2:42,46). The difficulty
of prayer is to persevere in it, not making requests as a passing shot,
but continuing in prayer. And any requests are to be framed within
constant thanksgiving for what the Lord has given us already, not least in
His Son. The same word is used about continuing in prayer in Acts 6:4 and
Rom. 12:12. "Vigilant" means 'keeping awake', and is used of the disciples
in Gethsemane failing to do this as asked (Mt. 26:38,40,41). We can read
it quite literally- do not drift asleep whilst praying. For who of us is
not concerned about our tendency to do that. The appeal is for mental
focus, not allowing prayer to slip into mere ritual, a repetition of the
same themes and phrases. And "thanksgiving", deep gratitude for what we
have been given already, which will help us in this alertness.
4:3 Meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door
for preaching the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for the sake of
which I am also in chains- This prayer was indeed answered,
because Phil. 1:13 ["So that my bonds made Christ manifest throughout the
whole Praetorian guard, and to all the rest"]; 4:22 ["All the saints greet you, especially they that are of Caesar's
household"] report that Paul's witness in chains
led to the conversion of people right within Caesar's household.
Paul's witness (presumably via the soldiers he was chained to) had
led to conversions within the extended family and slaves of Caesar's
palace; although according to Romans 16 there were already some believers
there. Through all the hard things that happened to Paul, the Gospel had
entered the very elitest centre of the Roman empire. Josephus even
suggests that the Empress Poppaea may have been favourably inclined to
Christianity. This is an encouragement for all time that even the worst
experiences and situations have a role to play in the extension of the
Lord's saving way amongst men. And Paul realized that, hence "especially
they...".
Opening doors is the language of release from prison (Acts 5:23; 16:26). So although in prison, Paul felt that his chains would as it were be loosed, he would no longer feel so limited, if he could spread the Gospel. I pray each day to meet the right people, or as Paul put it, for a door to be opened for preaching. Paul had earlier written of how a great door had been opened to him to preach the Gospel (1 Cor. 16:9). He may well have prayed for this, for the allusion is to how prayer is a knocking which opens doors (Mt. 7:7). If we want such open doors, they will be given to us. For to pray for that is surely to pray according to God's will. But all the same, Paul asks others to pray for him in this matter; and his success in prison is a parade example of how this prayer will be answered. We could read Paul's words here as asking for strength to be bolder in preaching. But it's likely he is asking that he be released from prison so that he can preach "as I ought to". But he wasn't, and his basic desire to preach was the request which was heard. He wasn't released, but he had huge success in spreading the Gospel where he was, despite his apparent limitations. We too may feel that we "ought" to be able to go here and there on the surface of this planet to do "missionary work"; when in fact we may be given great success despite our equivalents of Paul's "chain" and frustrating imprisonment. Perhaps "as I should / ought" implies some frustration with the Lord, as if to say 'I ought to be out there preaching, but you are restraining me'. Hence his comment that he is "in chains" when he "ought" to be preaching. The parallel in Eph. 6:19 has Paul asking for prayers "that utterance may be given unto me" to preach the Gospel. The idea of the Greek there is "permission and power to defend one’s self in a court of justice". He clearly senses the injustice of the situation and wants justice and freedom from prison, as "ought" to happen, so that he could preach again. But he had to learn that he was overlooking how he had bound others, and how the Lord was bound in order to make the witness of the cross. And he did in fact make a very powerful witness himself whilst in bonds. The whole thing about Paul's chains is an essay in the way that submission to the frustrating 'ties that bind' is in fact the path to true freedom. And yet despite 'getting it' theoretically in the way he wrote about his chains and imprisonment, the reality of the daily frsutration seemed to get the better of him on a personal level. In his final days, Paul 'got it'. He understood that although he was bound, the word of God was not bound (2 Tim. 2:9). Through preaching that word, he had acted outside of his chains, he had breached the apparent limitations from the ties that bound him.
Paul's frequent reference to "chains" perhaps overlooked the fact that the Lord was 'bound' and led to His crucifixion [s.w. Mt. 27:2; Jn. 18:12,24], and yet that led to the greatest witness of all time. The same word is used of how Paul had "bound" Christians (Acts 9:2,14,21; 22:5- quite an emphasis). This is not mere poetic justice, but rather because the Lord seeks to help us understand how we have made others feel; because we are going to spend eternity with them. This is one way in which He brings about the unity of the Spirit, even if those we are thus 'united' with by experience are far from us, or even dead.
Paul had used the word for "chains" to describe how he was "bound
/ chained" in the Spirit (Acts 20:22) and was prepared to accept whatever
the Spirit led him to. He fully recognized the Spirit said in every town
he passed through that chains were awaiting him (Acts 20:23). He said that
he was "ready not to be bound only, but also to die" (Acts 21:13). And yet
it is one thing to say this; and quite another to accept the apparent
frustration this brings. "Remember my bonds" (Col. 4:18) reflects the pain
he felt about them; "... except these chains" reflects his frustration to
Agrippa (Acts 26:29), especially as the Romans themselves twice commented
that he was unworthy of 'chains' (Acts 23:29; 26:31 "This man does nothing
worthy of death nor of chains"). He was in chains, therefore, because the
Spirit wanted him to be in chains; he speaks of his "chains in Christ"
(Phil. 1:13), "a prisoner of Christ... the chains of the Gospel" (Philemon
9,13), and that for the Hope of Israel he was bound with a chain (Acts
28:20)- not for any legitimate human reason. But he was frustrated by
them, although he at these times did get the point about them.
4:4- see on Mt. 26:35.
Pray that I may speak boldly, as I should- As noted on Eph. 6:20,
Paul himself admits a tendency not to preach, to hold back from giving his
all to fulfil that commission he had received to testify of the Gospel of
God's grace (1 Cor. 9:16). He asks his brethren to pray that he would be
able to "make it manifest" more than he did (Col. 4:4 cp. Eph. 6:20). As
noted on :3, this prayer was powerfully answered in the conversion of
slaves and others within Caesar's household. "Speak boldly" is literally
'to manifest'. Paul earlier told the Romans that the Gospel is now made
manifest [s.w.] to all nations (Rom. 16:26, also 2 Cor. 2:14; Tit. 1:3).
But this is dependent upon our efforts to make it manifest, and even Paul
felt that he was failing in this and needed prayer to achieve what was
potentially possible. The Gospel has been made manifest to us (Col. 1:26
s.w.) and we therefore are to manifest it to others.
4:5 Walk in wisdom toward those that are without, redeeming the time-
In a preaching context, Paul tells us to "redeem the time", or "be buying
up the opportunity" (Col. 4:5 RVmg.); we are to urgently snap up every
opportunity to preach. And walking wisely towards those "without" is a way
of witnessing to them. Closer analysis of "redeeming the time" reveals
that this is in fact a quotation from the LXX of Dan. 2:8, where
Nebuchadnezzar tells the wise men that they want to 'redeem the time,
because you know that [the decree for their execution] is gone from me'.
There are other allusions in Col. 4 to Daniel: captivity, earnest prayer,
thanksgiving, making manifest wisdom to the world as we ought to, walking
in wisdom in the eyes of the world. Daniel and his friends urgently
devoted every moment of their lives to prayer in order to redeem time, so
that they would be delivered; and Paul took as it were a snapshot of their
frantic urgency, and applies it to each of us, also living in Babylon.
"The days are evil", the world around us is insidious- and therefore we
must redeem the time from it (Eph. 5:16). Or it could be that 'the evil
days' refers to the great and special day of evil, at the second coming
(Eph. 6:13, in context; Ps. 37:29). In view of the coming of that day and
the judgment it will bring, we ought to have a deep sense of the future we
might miss, and the urgency of our present position; and devote ourselves
therefore to redeeming the time. The sure coming of that day is an
exhortation to the believer, "that he no longer should live the rest of
his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. For the
time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the
Gentiles... [for we] shall give account to him that is ready to judge" (1
Pet. 4:2-5). Peter's message is that there's no need to spend time living
as the world does, tickling the desires of our nature- for we already
spent enough of our time doing that. We are men and women living under
judgment, and therefore should devote our lives to the service of God's
will.
4:6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you
may know how you ought to answer each one- "Always" demands
consistency; it is easy to talk nicely at times, but to live and speak
like this as the atmosphere of our language demands much more. Our
experience of grace should empower this consistency, our word choice and
intonation will reflect the grace we have received. Living in this
atmosphere or spirit of thinking will mean that we somehow naturally find
the right words to speak, rather than struggling to respond rightly every
time we encounter a provocative conversation. "Each one" presumably refers
to "those without" of :5. But it equally applies to our words to our
brethren. The command to have salt and therefore peace with each other
(Mk. 9:50) is fulfilled, Paul saw, by watching our words (= Col. 4:6).
Salt was a symbol of covenant relationship with God (Lev. 2:13); yet in
the NT this salt stands for love, peace and kind speaking the one to the
other (Mk. 9:50; Col. 4:6). This is the result of true membership in
covenant relationship; a true and abiding love for all others in covenant.
4:7 All my affairs shall Tychicus make known to you, the beloved
brother and faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord- In an
age where communication was very limited, "the messengers of the churches"
travelled around the known world taking messages and news (2 Cor. 8:23).
We should be making the same effort to be bound together with others
within the Lord's body, and surely the age of easy communication has
arisen in order to allow us to do just that. Let us not abuse it but use
it for the purpose the Lord intended.
4:8 Whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that you may know
our state and that he may comfort your hearts- The sole reason
Tychicus was sent all the way from Rome to Colosse was to carry news of
how Paul was faring in prison; see on :7. Paul assumed that the Colossians
were desperately worried about his state in prison, and "for this very
purpose" sent Tychicus to comfort them.
4:9 Together with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is
one of you, they shall make known to you all things that are done here-
As the Lord sent out the disciples in pairs, so it would seem that
Tychicus and Onesimus were sent together. Onesimus was "one of you",
originally from Colosse and known to them. "All things that are done here"
presumably refers to the kind of regime Paul was experiencing in prison,
as well as the real state of things under Nero's terror against the
Christians. Paul has to emphasize that Onesimus is faithful, because he
would have been known only as the runaway slave. He is again called "the
beloved brother" in Philemon 16. Paul would therefore have been writing
the letter to Philemon at the same time as he was writing to the
Colossians. As noted on Phil. 1:1, a fair case can be made that the prison
epistles were all written quite close to each other, when Paul was no
longer dwelling in his own hired house in Rome but was suffering the
results of Nero's persecution of the Christians. In this case we note all
the more his focus upon the spiritual wellbeing of others, when he was
himself in such a time of crisis.
4:10 Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, with Mark the cousin
of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions: if he comes to you,
welcome him)- Aristarchus is called Paul's fellow worker when he
writes about this time in Philemon 24. The prisoners saw themselves as
actively working for the Lord despite their apparently reduced freedoms.
It's all a great encouragement to us, that no matter that the ties that
bind, we can actively labour for the Lord. "Mark" is likely the "Marcus"
of Philemon 24; another hint that the letters of Philemon and Colossians
were written about the same time and may well have been carried together
to Colosse by Onesimus. If Mark was the relative of Barnabas, we can
better understand why Barnabas found a patience with him which Paul
apparently didn't. Paul was aware that he had fallen out with Barnabas
over Mark, who had 'departed from' Paul and returned to the Jerusalem
church- all language which suggests a spiritual division between them,
perhaps because Mark couldn't cope with the mass appeal to the Gentiles
which Paul was making. But now towards the end of his life, Paul urges
them to forget all that and accept him amongst them. For Mark now is with
Paul, apparently also his fellow prisoner. All tensions between brethren
over interpretation and acceptance of third parties are all somewhat
irrelevant once both of them are sitting together in prison for Christ. We
too need to focus as far as possible on what we have in common, which is
so much, indeed, "all things".
4:11 And Jesus who is called Justus, who are of the circumcision.
These only are my fellow-workers to the kingdom of God, men that have been
a comfort to me- Paul graciously speaks of some brethren "who are of
the circumcision [party]" as his "fellow workers unto the Kingdom of God",
noting that they are "men that have been a comfort unto me" (Col. 4:11
RV). The circumcision party understood things very differently to Paul- he
is ever arguing against their position, showing that circumcision profits
nothing. And yet these brethren whom he here refers to were still
acceptable to him as fellow workers, and he even took "comfort" from their
fellowship. I find that a beautiful example of how tolerance can be
practiced; despite the fact Paul was right and they were wrong, the simply
reality that they were mistaken on this point, he could still work with
them and be encouraged by them. He didn't reason: 'If you don't agree with
me on this point, well, we're not working together, that's it, goodbye, I
can take nothing positive from you by way of fellowship or encouragement'.
In fact we could read the AV translation as implying that although Paul
had many fellow workers, out of them all, the ones who were a personal
comfort to him were these brethren who were of the circumcision party:
"Aristarchus... Justus, who are of the circumcision, these only are my
fellow workers... which have been a comfort unto me". Justus was in common
use among Jews and proselytes, as “denoting obedience to the law". Yet
Paul the apostle of grace and the end of the Law found great comfort in
him, and worked together with him "to the Kingdom". The Kingdom of God is
not now literally established upon earth, but we as believers are under
God's kingship. We are therefore His Kingdom. Paul and his brethren in
prison were workers within and towards the Kingdom. There is nothing
better than when man has an end in view for his labour; and that end for
us is glorious, nothing less than men and women entering God's Kingdom at
the last day.
4:12- see on Col. 2:1.
Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you,
always striving for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and
fully assured in all the will of God- Perhaps Paul had watched
Epaphras on his knees in the same prison cell, 'wrestling' as Jacob did in
prayer, for the perfecting and assurance of his home church back in
Colosse; for he too "is one of you". Prayer is no bedtime lullaby; it is a
real wrestling, not just on occasion, but "always". Faith is a certain
hope that really, we shall be saved and live eternally in God's Kingdom.
He prayed that they would 'get it', and be fully assured that this was
indeed God's will for them. For our salvation is so often linked with the
will of God. Epaphras was following Paul's example, who constantly prayed
that they would be filled [s.w. "fully assured"] with the knowledge of
God's will (1:9). If these brethren were sharing the same prison
accommodation, we can understand how attitudes to prayer would be so
contagious. Knowing God's will doesn't have to mean that we know the will
of God for us in every situation. It is part of the journey of faith and
trust that we do not. But His will is for our salvation in His Son; this
we can know and experience.
4:13 For I bear witness that he has worked hard for you and for those
in Laodicea and for those in Hierapolis- On :11 we noted that Paul
considered these brethren, along with himself, to be 'working' for the
Kingdom's cause whilst incarcerated. In :12 he observes how Epaphras was
always striving in prayer "for you". I suggest therefore that the hard
work [AV "great zeal"] in view refers to the work of prayer. And he also
prayed not only for Colosse but for those he knew in Laodicea and
Hierapolis.
4:14 Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you- Luke's
loyalty to Paul had led him to accompany Paul on the journey to Rome,
including the shipwreck; and perhaps he remained in Rome as Paul's
personal physician. Luke was with Paul at the very end of his life (2 Tim.
4:11). We could therefore conclude that Colossians was written at around
that same time. I have argued the same for Philippians (see on Phil. 1:1).
In this case, Paul ended his days with desperate appealing to others to
see the reality of the great hope he had; his focus was outward, not upon
himself, but upon the spiritual welfare of others. However, 2 Tim. 4:10
contrasts the faithful Luke with the less faithful Demas, who left Paul,
"having loved this present world". Colossians would therefore have been
written slightly earlier than 2 Timothy. But the fact both Luke and Demas
are mentioned together suggests the time gap was not that great.
It could be argued that Paul gives
greetings from Jewish brethren, and concludes his list of them in :11:
"...and Jesus who is called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These
only are my fellow-workers to the kingdom of God". He then in :12-14 lists
Gentile brethren. If this is correct, then Luke was a Gentile. And his
Gospel and Acts of the Apostles do indeed sound written [albeit under
inspiration] from a Gentile perspective, ofte pausing to explain Jewish
things as if he expected non-Jews to be reading or hearing his work. He
addresses his Gospel to "Theophilus", 'lover of God', the kind of name a
Gentile proselyte would take.
4:15 Greet the brothers that are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the
church that is in their house- This could mean that the church in
Laodicea met in the home of Nymphas. For Laodicea is the context both
before and after this mention of Nymphas [some manuscripts offer Nympha, a
female name, and read "her house"]. We tend to assume that the size of
'churches' today was the same in the first century; but there is no
archaeological evidence for dedicated Christian meeting places in the
first century, although there is ample for the existence of house
churches. The perversions which the Lord later criticizes in the church at
Laodicea would likely have all occurred in the lounge or side rooms of a
large house. Nymphas may well have been "the angel of the church" to whom
the Lord's letter to Laodicea was addressed (Rev. 3:14).
4:16 And when this letter has been read among you, take steps to have
it read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and you also read the letter
from Laodicea- The letter from rather than to
Laodicea may refer to a circular letter which was being passed around the
churches, and was to come from Laodicea to Colosse. The letter in view may
well be Ephesians (see on Eph. 1:1). The wish for letters to one church to
be read to another indicates that we are wrong to think these letters are
merely Paul writing to one specific church, and that the principles have
no relevance to us. They clearly do, for even originally the letters were
to be read to other churches for their instruction.
4:17- see on Acts 12:25.
And say to Archippus: Take heed to the service which you have received
in the Lord, that you fulfil it- Archippus was part of the house
church of Philemon (Philemon 2; possibly the son or relative of Philemon).
His ministry ["service"] was perhaps to minister there whilst Epaphras and
others from there were away in Rome. This would suggest that the Colossian
church met in the home of Philemon. if we are "in Christ", then we receive
a ministry; receiving the ministry is predicated upon being in Christ, and
therefore every baptized believe into Christ has a ministry, something to
do; but we must "take heed" that we "fulfil it". To "receive" Christ (s.w.
2:6) is to also receive a unique role in His body, a ministry, a path of
service.
4:18 I Paul write this salutation with my own hand. Remember my bonds-
As he signed the letter, Paul would have been aware of this chain. There
is here the stamp of circumstantial evidence that what we read in the
Bible is authentic; for signing a letter would lead to reflection on the
chain.
Grace be with you- The charis or gift of the Spirit
was what Paul so wished to be experienced by all believers. And he often
prays for this. We cannot therefore read this as a standard ending to a
letter, which in any case would more likely have read "I wish you peace".
Paul really felt that his prayerful wishes for them would have effect in
practice.
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