Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

1:1 Paul, an apostle. Although Paul has likely never been to Colossae, he nevertheless feels a pastoral responsibility for this church. He writes to the Colossians with the authority of an apostle to assist the church in dealing with the problem of the dangerous teaching threatening its health (cf. 2 Cor. 1:1; Gal. 1:1). Timothy. See Introduction to 1 Timothy: Purpose, Occasion, and Background.

1:2 Colossae. A city in Phrygia, in the Roman province of Asia, Colossae was located on the Lycus River just over 100 miles (161 km) east of Ephesus. A significant earthquake occurred in the Lycus Valley during the reign of Nero (c. a.d. 60). Surface surveys of the site of Colossae have discovered inscriptions, a theater, a cemetery, and other structures. Coins point to official worship of the main Roman deities, plus the presence of mystery cults. Jewish presence in the Lycus Valley was likely strong, given the extant inscriptions and the literary references to Jews in Phrygia during the second and first centuries b.c. (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 12.147-153; Cicero, For Flaccus 68).