In a bible study somewhat recently I heard that the medievals ranked the epistles, with some being considered important and others less-important because their contents were discussed in other epistles. Colossians was part of the latter category and, though I can't find the source for it, I do think that it reflects the general apathy towards the epistle to the Colossians. This should not be so, and even though it's real short, I think Colossians should be one of Paul's gratest hits, so imma post some passages from the book and explain why I think that way (mostly for polemical reasons lol). Just a warning: this is probably gonna be my longest post yet.
1:13-14 - I think this is an absolutely beautiful passage and works well as a prooftext for the harrowing of hell, as it talks about us being in the doing of darkness and moving to the kingdom of the Son. One cannot be moved from the domain of darkness if one was not residing in it, and one cannot be moved into the kingdom of the Son if one was already in it.
1:15-17 - What a beautiful image, contrasting the visibility of Christ with the invisible nature of God as spirit. It's an incarnation claim, because God is invisible, but in Christ, something visible is bound to the divine nature and thus, the one who created all things and holds all things together is one who is visible.
1:19-20 - This is the first of two excellent passages which destroys the Calvinist notions of the incarnation. How is it that the "fulness of God" dwell in Christ, the man, if you find Christ's divine nature without His human nature, and in doing so, Paul also shows the import of the incarnation with the notion that the atonement could only really happen if Christ died as both God and man because He had to reconcile the heavens and earth.
1.24, 29 - The fact that our sufferings and our good works unite us to Christ is SO COOL!
2.8 - Excellent prooftext for sola scriptura, since it rebukes men for following human traditions as opposed to Christ's words.
2.9 - An even better verse against the Reformed. Not only does the "fullness of deity"dwell in Christ, but it dwells BODILY, that is in the man Christ. It doesn't get much simpler than that.
2:11-12 - An excellent passage on baptism, as it contrasts the lack of circumcision to save with the ability for the sacrament of baptism to save us, as it is the circumcision without hands. In addition, it explains why baptism saves, that is, that it unites us with Christ's death so that we would be united in His resurrection.
2:13-14 - And if this passage isn't great for those who deny penal substitution, I don't know what is. There is a debt which we have incurred by our sins, for which the punishment is eternal death, as St. Paul says elsewhere, and yet they are destroyed by being nailed into Christ's hands. And it's more than just a prooftext, it's a beautiful image too!
2:16-18,20,23 - This is a great passage against the insistence on asceticism from Rome and the East ("they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh"), and on the improper view of angels they have.
3:1-4 - This goes hand-in-hand with 1:13-14, so that it paints a spiritual picture of the harrowing of hell. So our souls are bound to the realm of death, Sheol. Not bound for Sheol, but bound to it. But then Christ rescued us and now our spirits rest in Him in heavenly places, which is probably how we are able to share in the judgements of the angels, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians.
3:11 - Good stuff on the unity of all Christians.
3:1-4:1 - A summary of Paul's table of duties in Eph 5-6, though this one isn't as good.
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